Funyuns and Mountain Dew

Silence speaks volumes

2010-01-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

Here's Ann Althouse on Justice Alito unwittingly seizing the media spotlight from the SOTU:

Isn't it fascinating that the lengthy, amplified, magnified speech of the most powerful man in the world with his big captive audience — in the magnificent room and in smaller rooms all over the country — are outweighed by one man's headshake and silent mouthing of 2 or 3 words?

And isn't it ironic that, right when we saw the judge's minimalist expression that overwhelmed the President's torrent of words, Obama was railing about the "powerful interests" that would use their great wealth to speak far too much during election campaigns?

This is just another example of Obama's greatest weakness: his inability to be "presidential." Calling out the hunched and frail Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a public jeering (as it appeared televised) is no way to lift yourself above the partisan fray.

Why Obama is doomed

2010-01-28T15:14:00.000-08:00

Watching the State of the Union last night I was expecting President Obama to begin healing his wounded image. What I saw simply confirmed what I've believed about the Obama administration from day one: there is no one behind the wheel of this car. Instead of taking the only rational course - moving to the political center - Obama doubled-down and tied his fortunes (and those of the Democratic Party) to an overly ambitious and already dead reform platform.

Obama could of used this speech to reverse (or at least stall) the negative momentum Democratic hopefuls are facing in the upcoming midterms. Instead of giving those candidates useful talking points and lines of attack, he stuck with the same three-pronged campaign model he ran in 2008. 1) Bush and Republican bashing, 2) the Cult Of Obama, and 3) Empty platitudes about "hope" and "change."

The strategy of running against Bush is crude, intellectually corrupt, and quite possibly effective for one more campaign season. But I wouldn't want to bet the Senate on it. The fact is, Bush will ultimately be judged almost solely on foreign policy, and history is likely to be kind on that front (assuming Iraq stays stable). At some point "Bush" will no longer be a four-letter word.

As for "hope" and "change" - it's all well and good to campaign on "hope" and "change." An alarmingly high percentage of the electorate will buy into such buzzwords, as we've seen. A new take on the classic "Beltway Outsider." A very nice position for a politician to find himself. It has won elections in the past and will win more in the future.

But here's the problem in a nutshell:

a) The electorate has to believe you are the engine of change. At this moment in time Obama hasn't been able to deliver. Health care is dead. Jobs will not recover in time for the midterms. Cap-and-Trade is going nowhere fast. Don't Ask Don't Tell will stall in Pentagon backrooms. Gitmo will stay open. And this string of setbacks come in the midst of the most advantageous political atmosphere in memory. And now, to make matters worse, the Republican Party - which was utterly defeated and in a smoking heap of ashes just months ago - is now energized and on a winning streak.

b) The electorate has to believe you'll be around long enough to see change through. As of right now, how many people believe Obama will win a second term? Hands please? No one? That's what I thought. If the netroots are any barometer of the true Obama base (and it seems pretty likely that it is) there is very little "hope" within the Obama base and the Democratic Party at the moment. It may be a self-fulfilling prophecy that Obama is doomed because his base believes he simply cannot win.

This puts Obama - and his cult of personality - on precarious political ground. He's been here for a year and already his base is jumping ship, tired of losing and convinced that Obama cannot change the momentum.

That is why it is dumbfounding that Obama would not use the State of the Union to move to the political center. I find it plausible that in 2012 the economy will be such that Obama can breeze to reelection (its the economy after all, stupid). But what of 2010? Right now Obama needs a win. In fact, he needs several. If Democrats lose substantial ground in these midterms - which looks increasingly likely - the political landscape beyond becomes mighty dangerous.

The Rise and Fall of a Blogoshpere King Maker

2010-01-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

Johnathan Dee of the New York Times has a very interesting glimpse inside the rise and fall of Little Green Footballs. Forgive me for sounding immodest, but it reminds me of my previous foray into the blogosphere. Don't get me wrong - at PG's height it was still only a tenth of the size of LGF's readership today, and so the problems were likely only a tenth of the size of Charles Johnson's. But the constant bickering among commenters, threats of violence, violations of privacy, accusations of censorship, and political posturing were enough to drive me away for three whole years now.

As for LGF, I've been a loyal reader for years now, and while I have generally agreed with Charles' world view, I have rarely agreed with the way he chooses to administer his blog. On my blog I very rarely found it necessary to censor comments or ban trolls outright. And on a blog such as LGF, which by design fosters such rousing debate and often seems to beg for dissent (even from loyal Lizards), using such broad action and inflammatory rhetoric comes off as intellectually bankrupt.

Of course Dee's article also speaks volumes about the ego of Johnson. Let's face it - even the blog in the center of everybody's attention is just a blog. Johnson accomplished some amazing things in his time. Rathergate was probably the blogoshpere's finest moment. But ultimately you're just a guy in front of a keyboard like the rest of us, not a king maker. This is a lesson that Kos and Andrew Sullivan could learn from (as soon as the seething rage and "heartache" caused by the very whisper of Charles Johnson's name passes).

Joker enters the Blackberry generation

2008-12-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post on my brand new Blackberry 1310 Curve. Mind you, that fact would be much more impressive if I wasn't sitting 8 feet from a computer, but you gotta start somewhere. Hopefully this will be the kick start I need to get back to blogging. Handheld access to both blogger and news will get the juices flowing. Expect this blog to go to a short comment/moblog type of area.

Merkel Calls for Gitmo Closure

2006-01-13T13:08:00.000-08:00

Germany: new Chancellor, same rhetoric:

But Bush rejected a suggestion by Merkel that the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be shut down.

The camp on the U.S. Navy base there is "a necessary part of protecting the American people," Bush said. Merkel said she raised the issue with Bush, and she described it as one of the differences between the United States and Germany.

"There sometimes have been differences of opinion, I mentioned Guantanamo in this respect," Merkel said.

Merkel has expressed criticism of the facility. Germany rebuffed an appeal by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales not to release a terrorist accused of killing a Navy diver in an airplane hijacking in 1985.

And after Bush went the diplomatic route and said nothing of that whole David Hasselhoff thing. Seriously, what the fuck is that about?

Back

2006-01-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

There were many things I could have blogged about during my hiatus. In fact, I started pounding away on the keyboard a number of times, before having one of those "what the fuck am I doing" moments, and backing away. Only one of those posts got far enough along to wind-up in my "drafts" folder - this quick response to All Things Beautiful's blogosphere-wide challenge:

Am I the only one who thinks any list of "the ten worst Americans" has to include Thomas Jefferson?

He did everything within his power (from slander to blatant treason) to destroy any national unity George Washington had built in those early years of the American experiment. And unlike his Republican partner-in-crime during that time, James Madison, Jefferson contributed precious little to the future of his nation other than whatever simple coincidence would deliver to him. Not to mention that his vision of America as a Virginiaesqe plantation society included the kind of institutionalized racism history and many of his contemporaries are known to have abhorred, and his own words ("all men are created equal") rendered hypocritical. We can only be thankful that Jefferson proved as improvident as any politician in American history.

I'm a Hamilton man, myself... in case you couldn't tell.

$33,000

2005-12-09T09:32:00.000-08:00

That's how much failed columnist Margo Kingston spent on her failed blog, Webdiary, in four months.

Congressman John Campbell

2005-12-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the newest member of the US House of Representatives. In a way, Campbell limped across the finish line (which isn't too surprising, considering his candidacy didn't get anybody hot-and-bothered with the exception of Hugh Hewitt), but he did fight off some reasonable competition in the process. I'm sure his handlers are shaking their heads over the percentage point he lost between the primary and general (and of course his showing in the primary was - at least for some - disappointing to begin with). But in the end, it doen't matter one bit - their man now sits in one of the most powerful seats in congress.

Two things that jump out at me: the embarrassing defeat for Gilchrist, finishing well behind an amnesty advocating Democrat, and the extraordinarily poor showing of the Libertarian Party in both the primary and general (Cohen couldn't even pull %1 of the vote in either). You'd think the LP would have a decent following in OC, especially in a race featuring an unimpressive "bona-fide" conservative and a venom-spewing, anti-immigration freakshow.

Still Breathing

2005-11-23T10:05:00.000-08:00

Just knocked-out the last of three term papers that were due within a week of each other. Also, I recently started a new job and the holidays happen to be the busy season, so I'm picking up a ton of extra hours. I'd say that over the past two weeks, I've spent 95% of my time either at school, work, the library, or bed.

Weather Report

2005-11-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

Six days until Thanksgiving, and this morning I stepped out of the house wearing blue board shorts, a short-sleeved white tee shirt, and sandals. God, I love Southern California.

Greatest Hits: The Duelfer Report

2005-11-10T12:27:00.000-08:00

Originally posted on October 7, 2004, this breakdown of the Duelfer Report quickly became the most-viewed post in the history of Pearly Gates, thanks to my first (and only) Instalanche. If memory serves, it also led to one of the longest and most satisfying comment threads, which, sadly, has been lost.

I don't have the time or patience to read the entire 1000+ page Duelfer report, but here are the key points gathered by the Special Advisor to the Director of Central Intelligence on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Saddam wanted nothing more than to escape sanctions.
Saddam's primary goal from 1991 to 2003 was to have UN sanctions lifted, while maintaining the security of the Regime. He sought to balance the need to cooperate with UN inspections - to gain support for lifting sanctions - with his intention to preserve Iraq's intellectual capital for WMD with a minimum of foreign intrusiveness and loss of face. Indeed, this remained the goal to the end of the Regime, as the starting of any WMD program, conspicuous or otherwise, risked undoing the progress achieved in eroding sanctions and jeopardizing a political end to the embargo and international monitoring.
Indeed, the UN's Oil for Food program gave him his escape route.
The introduction of the Oil-For-Food program (OFF) in late 1996 was a key turning point for the Regime. OFF rescued Baghdad's economy from a terminal decline created by sanctions. The Regime quickly came to see that OFF could be corrupted to acquire foreign exchange both to further undermine sanctions and to provide the means to enhance dual-use infrastructure and potential WMD-related development.
"[A]cquire foreign exchange... to further undermine sanctions..." So you need foreign support to help undermine global security and regional stability in exchange for oil. Who do you turn to? Sounds like a job for the French to me: (via Puppy Blender)
Saddam Hussein believed he could avoid the Iraq war with a bribery strategy targeting Jacques Chirac, the President of France, according to devastating documents released last night.

Memos from Iraqi intelligence officials, recovered by American and British inspectors, show the dictator was told as early as May 2002 that France - having been granted oil contracts - would veto any American plans for war.

[snip]

Saddam was convinced that the UN sanctions - which stopped him acquiring weapons - were on the brink of collapse and he bankrolled several foreign activists who were campaigning for their abolition. He personally approved every one.

To keep America at bay, he focusing on Russia, France and China - three of the five UN Security Council members with the power to veto war. Politicians, journalists and diplomats were all given lavish gifts and oil-for-food vouchers.

Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister, told the ISG that the "primary motive for French co-operation" was to secure lucrative oil deals when UN sanctions were lifted. Total, the French oil giant, had been promised exploration rights.

Iraqi intelligence officials then "targeted a number of French individuals that Iraq thought had a close relationship to French President Chirac," it said, including two of his "counsellors" and spokesman for his re-election campaign.

They even assessed the chances for "supporting one of the candidates in an upcoming French presidential election." Chirac is not mentioned by name.
Are you listening Mr. Kerry? This is the real world. These are our "allies".
While his WMD programs had been dismantled after the first Gulf War and had not been reconstituted, Saddam intended to produce WMD when sanctions (which were rapidly deteriorating) disappeared.
Saddam wanted to recreate Iraq's WMD capability - which was essentially destroyed in 1991 - after sanctions were removed and Iraq's economy stabilized, but probably with a different mix of capabilities to that which previously existed. Saddam aspired to develop a nuclear capability - in an incremental fashion, irrespective of international pressure and the resulting economic risks - but he intended to focus on ballistic missile and tactical chemical warfare (CW) capabilities.

[snip]

Iraq Survey Group (ISG) judges that events in the 1980s and early 1990s shaped Saddam's belief in the value of WMD. In Saddam's view, WMD helped to save the Regime multiple times. He believed that during the Iran-Iraq war chemical weapons had halted Iranian ground offensives and that ballistic missile attacks on Tehran had broken its political will. Similarly, during Desert Storm, Saddam believed WMD had deterred Coalition Forces from pressing their attack beyond the goal of freeing Kuwait. WMD had even played a role in crushing the Shi'a revolt in the south following the 1991 cease-fire.
Saddam continued to actively seek and preserve the intellectual ability to produce nuclear weapons.
Starting around 1992, in a bid to retain the intellectual core of the former weapons program, Baghdad transferred many nuclear scientists to related jobs in the Military Industrial Commission (MIC). The work undertaken by these scientists at the MIC helped them maintain their weapons knowledge base. As with other WMD areas, Saddam's ambitions in the nuclear area were secondary to his prime objective of ending UN sanctions.

[snip]

Although Saddam clearly assigned a high value to the nuclear progress and talent that had been developed up to the 1991 war, the program ended and the intellectual capital decayed in the succeeding years. Nevertheless, after 1991, Saddam did express his intent to retain the intellectual capital developed during the Iraqi Nuclear Program. Senior Iraqis - several of them from the Regime's inner circle - told ISG they assumed Saddam would restart a nuclear program once UN sanctions ended.

[snip]

Initially, Saddam chose to conceal his nuclear program in its entirety, as he did with Iraq's BW (biological warfare) program. Aggressive UN inspections after Desert Storm forced Saddam to admit the existence of the program and destroy or surrender components of the program. In the wake of Desert Storm, Iraq took steps to conceal key elements of its program and to preserve what it could of the professional capabilities of its nuclear scientific community.

[snip]

Baghdad undertook a variety of measures to conceal key elements of its nuclear program from successive UN inspectors, including specific direction by Saddam Husayn to hide and preserve documentation associated with Iraq's nuclear program.
Saddam continued to actively seek an preserve both the intellectual and material ability to produce chemical weapons, which he intended to do once sanctions were lifted.
Saddam and many Iraqis regarded CW as a proven weapon against an enemy's superior numerical strength, a weapon that had saved the nation at least once already - during the Iran-Iraq war - and contributed to deterring the Coalition in 1991 from advancing to Baghdad.

[snip]

Iraq's acceptance of the Oil-for-Food (OFF) program was the foundation of Iraq's economic recovery and sparked a flow of illicitly diverted funds that could be applied to projects for Iraq's chemical industry. The way Iraq organized its chemical industry after the mid-1990s allowed it to conserve the knowledge-base needed to restart a CW program, conduct a modest amount of dual-use research, and partially recover from the decline of its production capability caused by the effects of the Gulf war and UN-sponsored destruction and sanctions. Iraq implemented a rigorous and formalized system of nationwide research and production of chemicals, but ISG will not be able to resolve whether Iraq intended the system to underpin any CW related efforts.

[snip]

The Regime employed a cadre of trained and experienced researchers, production managers, and weaponization experts from the former CW program.

[snip]

ISG did not discover chemical process or production units configured to produce key precursors or CW agents. However, site visits and debriefs revealed that Iraq maintained its ability for reconfiguring and "making-do" with available equipment as substitutes for sanctioned items.

[snip]

ISG judges, based on available chemicals, infrastructure, and scientist debriefings, that Iraq at OIF probably had a capability to produce large quantities of sulfur mustard within three to six months.

[snip]

A former nerve agent expert indicated that Iraq retained the capability to produce nerve agent in significant quantities within two years, given the import of required phosphorous precursors.

[snip]

Uday - head of the Fedayeen Saddam - attempted to obtain chemical weapons for use during OIF, according to reporting, but ISG found no evidence that Iraq ever came into possession of any CW weapons. ISG uncovered information that the Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) maintained throughout 1991 to 2003 a set of undeclared covert laboratories to research and test various chemicals and poisons, primarily for intelligence operations. The network of laboratories could have provided an ideal, compartmented platform from which to continue CW agent R&D or small-scale production efforts, but we have no indications this was planned.

[snip]

The existence, function, and purpose of the laboratories were never declared to the UN.

Does this sound eerily similar to the scenario put forward by John McCain in his RNC speech to anyone else?

Say what you want about the original justification for war- this report shows that Saddam was a grave and gathering danger who fully intended to create, and had no qualms about using, WMD. It fully justifies the war in my mind, even if you exclude Saddam's well-documented links to terror. Too bad the American media has shown no intention of covering this outside of the "no WMD stockpiles" angle. (What bias in media?)

Oh, and thank you to our French and Russian allies, who did everything they could to further his ambitions. If there were justice in this world Paris would be next on the United States' shit-list.

UPDATE: Some will still question whether the ability and intention of Saddam to create WMD necessarily made him an eminent threat. Consider the following:

Saddam could have produced mustard gas within six months of sanctions being lifted.
He would have produced deadly nerve agent within two years of sanctions being lifted.
Much of Saddam's biological warfare infrastructure was still in place at the time of the US-led invasion, which could have been up and running "within a few weeks to a few months of a decision to so".
Iraq would have faced great diffi culty in re-establishing an effective BW agent production capability. Nevertheless, after 1996 Iraq still had a significant dual-use capability, some declared readily useful for BW if the Regime chose to use it to pursue a BW program. Moreover, Iraq still possessed its most important BW asset, the scientific know-how of its BW cadre.

[snip]

In spite of the difficulties noted above, a BW capability is technically the easiest WMD to attain. Although equipment and facilities were destroyed under UN supervision in 1996, Iraq retained technical BW knowhow through the scientists that were involved in the former program. ISG has also identified civilian facilities and equipment in Iraq that have dual-use application that could be used for the production of agent.
Those facts, coupled with his continuing quest to acquire the ability to produce nuclear weapons, show that Saddam had the ability to create WMD within months of sanctions being lifted. Not only did he have the ability to create those weapons, he had the express intention of creating them according to interviews conducted by the Iraq Survey Group. And as we all know, he had no apprehension about using such weapons, as he had proven several times in the past.

The ability to create, the intention to create, and the will to use.
So all that was missing was a delivery system. Or not:
While other WMD programs were strictly prohibited, the UN permitted Iraq to develop and possess delivery systems provided their range did not exceed 150 km. This freedom allowed Iraq to keep its scientists and technicians employed and to keep its infrastructure and manufacturing base largely intact by pursuing programs nominally in compliance with the UN limitations. This positioned Iraq for a potential breakout capability.

[snip]

By 1991, Iraq had successfully demonstrated its ability to modify some of its delivery systems to increase their range and to develop WMD dissemination option...

[snip]

Iraq's decisions in 1996 to accept the Oil-For-Food program (OFF) and later in 1998 to cease cooperation with UNSCOM and IAEA spurred a period of increased activity in delivery systems development. The pace of ongoing missile programs accelerated, and the Regime authorized its scientists to design missiles with ranges in excess of 150 km that, if developed, would have been clear violations of UNSCR 687.

[snip]

ISG uncovered Iraqi plans or designs for three long-range ballistic missiles with ranges from 400 to 1,000 km and for a 1,000-km-range cruise missile, although none of these systems progressed to production and only one reportedly passed the design phase. ISG assesses that these plans demonstrate Saddam's continuing desire - up to the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) - for a long-range delivery capability.

[snip]

Given Iraq's investments in technology and infrastructure improvements, an effective procurement network, skilled scientists, and designs already on the books for longer range missiles, ISG assesses that Saddam clearly intended to reconstitute long-range delivery systems and that the systems potentially were for WMD.

So now Saddam has a clear ability to produce not only the weapons, but delivery systems capable of hitting Israel and US interests in the region as well. That's not even to mention the possibility of Saddam passing WMD to one of the several terrorist organizations to which he was linked- perhaps the most devastating delivery system of all, and the one most likely to be used against US interests.

Perhaps some would be comfortable with that knowledge. I am not one of them.

UPDATE: Instalanche. Sweeeeet.

First US Avian Flu Death Confirmed in Anaheim!

2005-11-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

Oh, the humanity!

Barone on Election Results

2005-11-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

Walking political almanac Michael Barone discusses the outcome of yesterday's elections with Bush fetishist Hugh Hewitt:

HH: I think when you look at turnout out here, though, Michael, you'll see, for example, in Orange County, it's below 40%. It's like 38%. So Arnold failed to get anything going in his traditional conservative base, and my question is, can you possibly win in California without motivating the conservatives?

MB: No. I think you have to motivate your base. Obviously in California, you've got to win more than your base, these days, in order to win, if you're on a Republican side. You've got to motivate the base. I think the turnout, as I've looked at it, is bad for both...the bad news again for both parties in California. We didn't see a surge of turnout as compared to the October, '03 recall election. Turnout was down 26%. It was down in Southern California, outside L.A. County, by 26%, and in the San Francisco Bay area by 27%. So in other words, the hard left did not get out a big vote in the Bay area. The hard right did not get out a big vote in Orange County. Both sides failed to produce the kind of votes they wanted form their reservoir of voters who came out in great numbers in 2004.

HH: Thirty seconds, Michael Barone. Any message here for 2006, that favors one party over the other?

MB: I think the message is that we have not seen, despite Bush's low job ratings, a major shift in the close balance between the two parties. Having said that, a minor shift in that balance can have important political consequences, either helping or hurting Republicans.

Interesting stuff. Barone promises more on California happenings on his blog in the coming the days. Perhaps he will discuss why conservatives in the Central Valley seemingly abandoned the Governor.

I can't get my head around why heavily Republican Kern County, with a solid turn-out (41%), would support 'parental notification' by a huge margin (64.6% 'yes' - the third highest in the state), yet emphatically reject half the Governors' agenda, and give only luke-warm support for the other half. It's a puzzling pattern that would repeat itself throughout the Valley (Kings, Tulare, Fresno...) and one that pokes holes in the "suppressed turnout" theory that most (including myself) have talked-up today, I would think.

Dear California,

2005-11-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

FUCK YOU!

Defeat

2005-11-08T23:25:00.000-08:00

Orange County: afloat on a sea of idiots.

That would be the map for Prop. 76 (budget reform), which, as expected, has been easily defeated.

A single reform initiative is still breathing - Prop. 75 (union dues), which is just barely passing at 50.3% 'yes'. But that's with only 8.4% of Los Angeles reporting. Orange and San Bernardino are still relatively early in their counts, but I doubt they'll make up the difference (especially not with the Bay-Area counties of Contra Costa and Alameda still counting).

On the bright side, California voters surprised me by emphatically rejecting the return of full energy industry regulation, and putting aside their communist sympathies for one night in deciding to not outlaw profit motive.

But none of that changes the fact that with each passing election, Nevada and Arizona keep looking like nicer places to live.

Statewide Early Returns

2005-11-08T20:12:00.000-08:00

With a measly 2.8 reporting:

    YES    NO
73  52.8  47.2
74  53.8  46.2
75  58.5  41.5
76  46.3  53.7
77  48.7  51.3
78  43.5  56.5
79  38.9  61.1
80  36.5  63.5

Once again, I would assume these are mostly absentee voters.

Measure D Going Down In Flames

2005-11-08T20:08:00.000-08:00

The first returns (absentee, I would assume) show Measure D failing by a 26.2% to 73.8% count. All the Prop. ~~170~~ 172 reallocation measures are failing by impressive totals.

Libertarian Voters Guide

2005-11-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

Tim Cavanaugh points to something that I should have seen last week - the Californian Libertarian Party's official position on the special election propositions.

I'm a little surprised to learn that I voted on a party line (though the LPoC sidesteps 73 - not surprising, considering the problem it posed for the growing number of Pro-Life Libertarians such as myself).

Fearless Predictions: 2005 Special Election

2005-11-08T11:56:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, the latest polls don't look good for the Governor's agenda. Of course, the polls have been inconsistent at best, and could very well be wrong. But even the best-case scenario at this point is two of the four passing, which, with the help the media feeding low expectations, could be spun into something of a victory. Or at least not too crippling a defeat.

For my part, I think we get there, with 75 and 77 sneaking through, 76 going down in flames, and 74 failing by high-single digits. Sure, 75 and 77 are the two "less important" initiatives, but they are also the two that will have the most positive effect for Republicans in future elections. So maybe the state goes to hell for the next five years under Warren Beatty. But some of us refuse to quit, and we'll get this state sorted out at some point, having laid the foundation in this election.

Predictions:

PROP   YES  NO
73     45   55
74     46   54
75     53   47
76     33   67
77     56   44
78     63   37
79     48   52
80     38   62

The results aren't in

2005-11-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

Statewide results can be found here, starting at 8:00.

OC-specific results will be here, with a new, uber-nifty ballot tracking system here.

Just Voted

2005-11-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

And for those of you interested, once in the booth I revised my position on 78, voting no.

As for the turnout, I took it as a bad sign that one of the poll workers recognized my last name from a family member who had voted four hours previously. Though I suppose it is a fairly distinctive name.

"Rollerball?" Seriously?

2005-11-04T11:07:00.000-08:00

I've never considered Jim Gilchrist a serious politician, but holy shit, this guy wants to be a US Congressman?

"I was elated that people were going standing up against the World Trade Organization, and I don't know that much about it except it's part of that big monster that wants to dominate the world and it goes back to that movie Rollerball made in 1974 where become nations of economies rather than sovereignties. The nation of IBM, the nation of Exxon Mobile, the nation of Wal-Mart...uhh there are no borders anymore, we are all slaves to these gigantic global enterprises and it's disgusting."

The entire Gilchrist campaign has been a train wreck, especially post-primary. It's been really fun to watch.

OCBlog, of course, has more...

Web Toy

2005-11-03T10:31:00.000-08:00

Here's a javascript that makes the table layout for any webpage visable (drag this link to your toolbar, so you always have it). It's a neat little toy that I've been using for a couple years now. I find it can be invaluable when I'm looking for fresh ideas and tricks in web design, or when I find a site I really like.

Note that I didn't create this. I just found it, and I can't remember where, as it was so long ago.

Plamegategate

2005-10-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

With I. Lewis Libby's indictments on false statements, perjury, and obstruction of justice (and subsequent resignation), we can now shut the book on the Plame Leak non-scandal. As reasonable commentators have held all along, it appears that no crime was committed in the "outing" of Valerie Plame, and no charges will be brought. Instead, the special prosecutor saw fit to indict one member of the administration for attempting a lone cover-up.

Now let's see how the story (such as it is) is framed by the American left and their media enablers. We already know that the Democrats will exaggerate the charges against Libby for political use, as they have throughout the investigation (Howard Dean has already convicted him, no doubt). But will talk of "Bush Administration cover-up" and "Leak indictments" become the new "Plastic Turkey" in the media? Considering that the words of proven liar Joe Wilson are still taken as gospel by much of the media, I'd say that we're not likely to see a lot of context coming out of America's news rooms.

Miers Withdraws

2005-10-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't said much on the subject of the Miers nomination (because I'm no legal analyst or even a court watcher, and I don't play one on this blog), but I can't say I'm unhappy to see her go. Everything I've read about her raised questions, and the White House's assurance that she was blindly partisan enough just wasn't doing it for me. Short of a dazzling performance before the Senate Judicial Committee (with real answers about her judicial philosophy), I was inclined to oppose her nomination.

Not that that means anything to anyone.

UPDATE: As I've already stated at a couple of blogs, Alex Kozinski is my "dream nominee". But the possibility is just that - a dream.

Dear XM Radio,

2005-10-27T00:47:00.000-07:00

If you haven't installed terrestrial repeaters along a freeway, in a valley, in Southern California, where the fuck are you putting the damn things?

Sincerely,
Your subscribers

Air Force One at the Reagan Library

2005-10-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to be one of the first of the general public to step aboard the new Air Force One exhibit at the Reagan Presidential Library. It was an amazing experience. The new pavilion is awe inspiring, as is the museum as a whole. If you're ever in So. Cal, the Reagan Library is a must.

I got a few pictures, but was limited by the ban on flash photography, so most of what I did snap didn't turn out. I guess I should consider myself lucky, because cameras weren't even allowed on the plane (you'll have to see that for yourself).

The obligatory bronze "handshake" statue. Were he to put on that cowboy hat, you'd have the Gene Autry statue at Angel Stadium.

A genuine chunk of the Berlin Wall. The sense of history is stronger here than at any other place in the Library, and that's really saying something.

Your first look at Air Force One.

It's cramped quarters, let me tell you. Of course, it is only a 707, which, if you were to board one today, you would be awfully disappointed.

The center piece of the Air Force One tour is the circa-1988 laptop computers, which could only be considered "portable" with an airplane built around them.

The pavilion also includes a motorcade exhibit and Reagan's Marine One helicopter.

Checkpoint Charlie signals the beginning of the extraordinarily powerful Cold War exhibit.

And, of course, the memorial plaza.

UN Edited Out Incriminating Evidence

2005-10-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

The UN may be massively corrupt, but you can take solace in the fact that they're also massively incompetent. Here's the final report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Open it up in Word, then go to tools > track changes > highlight changes to see what they deleted.

The Bitter Taste of One's Own Medicine

2005-10-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Serial Rapist Greg Haidl will be sentenced as an adult, and could get up to 18 years instead of the two (!) his attorneys were seeking.

Do It Yourself, Do It Right

2005-10-21T13:13:00.000-07:00

From Gamespot.com's preview of Civilization IV, by Jason Ocampo:

After your first city is built, one of the first things you'll need to construct is a worker unit, which can construct improvements on the land outside your city. In previous Civs these improvements were limited to a handful (road, farm, and mine), but now there are a plethora of different resources and improvement options at your disposal. For example, you can now build windmills atop hills, watermills on rivers, wineries in vineyards, and much more. It can seem a dizzying array of choices, but thanks to automation, all you have to do is let the artificial intelligence take control of your worker, and it will go about building the best available option on each square, as well as link your cities together by roads. It's such an efficient process, and it improves the pace of the game immensely, since you no longer have to worry about micromanaging all those workers, like you did in previous Civs.

...

It's hard to state just how much "faster" Civ plays now that you don't have to worry about little details, like micromanaging workers.

...

These are higher-level decisions, and they are much more interesting than the repetitious tasks of earlier games, where 90 percent of your commands were to workers telling them to build a road or a farm.

Does anybody have the heart to tell Mr. Ocampo how many hours of his life he wasted simply because he didn't realize that worker automation has been a feature of the Civ franchise from day one? I've played games wherein single turns lasted 15 minutes or more - and that was without controlling 50-some odd worker units.

Anyway, the latest incarnation of the greatest game ever made hits shelves in four days. Don't be surprised if you don't see or hear from me for about six months.

Miers Market Crash

2005-10-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Take a look at the TradeSports market for the Miers nomination:

The strange thing is, I can't find anything specific that brought this on. It's simply a growing sense that Miers will be withdrawn. I certainly have my own doubts, but I'm not sure I wouldn't be a buyer right about now. Never (mis)underestimate Bush's political will.

I'm Smarter Than You: Special Election Edition

2005-10-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

Props 73-75

PROP. 76

State spending and school funding limits. Initiative constitutional amendment.

My vote: YES. Limits state spending increases to an average of the previous three years' growth. Sounds great, so that's a "yes." The problem is, who's going to actually cut the spending? Certainly not the Assembly. The amendment does give the Governor power and the leeway to lop-off significant appropriations, but with next year's budget due just a few months before Arnold faces re-election, I don't see him making unpopular but necessary cuts. And God forbid he loses next November! What will Governor Beatty do!?

PROP. 77

Redistricting. Initiative constitutional amendment.

My vote: YES. I'm not going to delude myself into believing that you can actually take the politics out of redistricting. You're never going to make a "fair" system when there are political lives on the line. But at the very least we can cast our vote for "more fair."

PROP. 78

Discounts on prescription drugs. Initiative statute.

My vote: YES. A though one. On the one hand, this is a common sense approach to the problem of prescription drug costs (Common sense? California?). It doesn't cost a whole lot (they claim about $10m, mostly for publicizing the program), there's no "penalize the rich tax" involved, and the drug companies aren't exactly getting screwed either (it's voluntary on their part).

On the other hand, government has no business providing such a service in the first place. Fair-weather libertarian that I am, this one gets a begrudging "yes."

PROP. 79

Prescription drugs discount. State-negotiated discounts. Initiative statute.

My vote: NO. Ah, now here's the kind of unadulterated crazy you expect to see in California politics. Puts a gun to the pharmaceutical industry's head and scraps every sensible, effective program that's already working. This initiative makes profit motive illegal for all intents and purposes.

And it goes without saying that such a plan couldn't get far in the Golden State without the approval of the State Employees' Unions (they get a new bureaucracy to play with) and trial lawyers (who will run wild under a broad new "profiteering" law). A horrible, horrible idea. In other words, it's a state Democrat's wet dream.

PROP. 80

Electric service providers. Regulation. Initiative statute.

My vote: NO. Do we learn nothing in this state? Had we not regulated the industry in the first place, the phrase "rolling blackout" would never have entered the lexicon. Please, let's truly open the industry to competition, and then watch as not only does service improve, but prices fall.

Jack Thompson: Charity is criminal offense

2005-10-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

Jack Thompson has called for the arrest of Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (the minds behind the webcomic Penny Arcade) after the two dared to make a $10,000 charitable donation in his name:

"As you may know, this incredibly violent Rockstar Games product is actually a 'cop-killing' murder simulator. There are a bunch of computer geeks out there who think that the video game industry has a constitutional right to paint a bullseye on your back and on your officers' backs... That is what this criminal harassment of me by Penny Arcade is all about. They're even selling an 'I Hate Jack Thompson' t-shirt, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. These idiots have been so careless as to post on their www.pennyarcade.com web site what they are doing regarding the harassment of me."

"I look forward to working with your fine Police Department to shut this little extortion factory down and/or arrest some of its employees."

"Idiots?" I'd say posting this entire thread was a fucking masterstroke. Go over there and read through the archives for the past few days. Who comes out at the victim? Who's the subject of harassment?

I'm sure there will be some sort of defense fund set up for Mike and Jerry. I'll post that info here when it happens.

Jack Thompson doesn't care about black people

2005-10-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

The continuing saga of everybody's favorite fascist... er... continues.

As you knew they would, somebody in the gamer community took Jack up on his offer in order to collect on the $10,000 charitable donation. Mr. Thompson responded as he always does: with a series of distortions, legal threats, and ad hominem attacks. Oh, and he's not going to follow through on the donation, either. It was just a clever "satire":

I'm not interested and won't be commenting on the mod. The satirical piece entitled 'A Modest Video Game Proposal' was intended to highlight the patent hypocrisy and recklessness exhibited by the video game industry's willingness to target cops, women, homosexuals, and other groups with some of their violent games. To be fair, though, you can't expect a bunch of gamers to understand the satire if they think that Jonathon Swift, the author of 'A Modest Proposal,' is the name of a new Nike running shoe...

...I will say this though, the 'video game community' (what's next, 'the necromancy community'?) surely seems exercised about someone who is a 'joke' and who is accomplishing nothing. You all seem rather bothered and worried about a nonentity. God is in this battle, and I am privileged to be a foot soldier. You all should be concerned, not about me, but about Him.

Yeah, because God just loves people who welch on their promises and withhold assistance to the needy. And I know this for a fact, because the man himself told me so over a game of Pong back in the 80's. All that charity and "love thy neighbor" shit? He seriously has no clue who started that. (Of course, that didn't stop him from availing himself of my generosity by cleaning out my fridge. That dude can put away the Mountain Dew, let me tell you.)

Anyway, in steps Penny Arcade once again, making that $10,000 donation - in Jack Thompson's name, no less - to the The Entertainment Software Association Foundation. Those guys rock, so hard.

Religion of SubjugationTM

2005-10-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Via LGF, Danish Muslims protest some unflattering editorial cartoons, in their normal, peaceful manner (with ample threats of violence):

Several thousand Muslims demonstrated in Copenhagen Friday against the treatment of Muslims in general and the images of Muhammad published by the newspaper Jyllands-Posten in particular. "We fear that this could lead to violence and extremism, and that young people can decide to carry out extremist acts. We call upon the government to ban degradation of religions and hope that Jyllands-Posten will respond to just criticism," [funny, I keep saying the same thing --ed.] said Danish Muslim Katja Hansen on behalf of imam Fouad Al-Barazi from the Hejrevej mosque.

Yeah, because banning free speech isn't the least bit extremist.

Schwarzenegger's "Rope-A-Dope"

2005-10-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

Ed Driscoll on the waxing fortunes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and his reform agenda:

Rather than respond in kind, the governor and his supporters held their tongues (and checkbooks) until about six weeks before the November election. This rope-a-dope aimed to lure Arnold's opponents into a state of complacency; the trap would be sprung in late September when the governor, we were told, would finally go on the offensive.
if that all sounds familiar, it certainly should: that was President Bush's exact re-election strategy. As I wrote early in September of last year, during the week of the Republican National Convention.

And that's not the only similarity to last November: one of the soon-to-be victims of this rope-a-dope is one John F. Kerry, who popped into California today to pick sides.

I'm Smarter Than You: Special Election Edition

2005-10-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

Let's take these three at a time, shall we?

PROP. 73

Waiting period and parental notification before termination of minor's pregnancy. Initiative constitutional amendment.

My vote: NO. First things first - I'm a pro-life libertarian. I firmly believe that abortion is murder, the Roe v. Wade decision was poorly reasoned and has no constitutional basis, and I will celebrate the day that we put abortionists put in prison next to all the other murderers for hire. BUT the fact remains, in this country today, as wrong headed as it is, abortion is considered a right. That's why I can't vote to deny it to only a certain segment of society.

I suspect that - if anyone actually reads this blog - I'm going to get some grief for this. Bring it on. I'm open to arguments on the subject, and I'm perfectly willing to change my mind on this one given proper persuasion.

PROP. 74

Public school teachers. Waiting period for permanent status. Dismissal. Initiative statute.

My vote: YES. It's not going to help, but sure, why not? Really, no matter how easy you make it to dismiss teachers, I don't see a great purge coming anytime soon - no matter how incompetent teachers may be. Speaking as someone who was a student in the public school system in the past few years, a purge is one of many steps that is needed to fix our schools. This won't do it, but it's a symbolic step in the right direction.

PROP. 75

Public employee union dues. Restrictions on political contributions. Employee consent requirement. Initiative statute.

My vote: YES. Your modern union is nothing more than a creatively titled PAC, which draws its donations at gunpoint. This is the biggest no-bainer on the ballot.

Schroeder cries, seethes, cries some more

2005-10-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Classy as always:

"I will not be a part of the next government -- definitely not be part of it," a tearful looking Schroeder told a rapt audience of union members in his home city of Hanover.

He quickly composed himself, hitting his stride in a passionate defense of a strong German state and lashing out at "Anglo-Saxon" economic policies favoured in Britain and the United States, which he said had "no chance" in Europe.

Good ol' Gerhard - you've got to admire his political focus. Germany is suffering through 12% unemployment and rising inflation, yet he still manages to find away to focus his base on those damn foreigners, no matter the issue!

In an apparent reference to Hurricane Katrina, Schroeder castigated Washington for liberal, hands-off policies that left it exposed in times of crisis. The Bush administration was widely criticised for its response to the devastating storm.

"I do not want to name any catastrophes where you can see what happens if organised state action is absent. I could name countries, but the position I still hold forbids it, but everyone knows I mean America," he said to loud applause.

Hurricane Katrina - the strongest storm to hit the US in a generation - claimed 1,260 lives (or at least that is the official count at the moment). In 2003, a "heatwave" (I use scare quotes because I grew up in Bakersfield, California, where we call 100 degree temperatures "summer") killed 40,000 western Europeans. Where was the "organized state action" then, Gerhard? Where was the "European social model" to take them in its warm embrace?

So lets add it up, shall we? Floundering economy + "strong German state" + irrational fear of foreigners + "organised state action". It doesn't take a history major to see where this one is headed...

Jack Thompson is a dickbag

2005-10-12T11:19:00.000-07:00

Everybody's favorite fascist is at it again. Ambulance chaser, video game crusader, and all-around asshat Jack Thompson has challenged the video game industry to design and market a strange, ultra-violent, revenge fantasy of his own creation (digital projection much?). What point he's trying to make, I haven't the faintest clue (I suspect he doesn't either...), but as incentive he's offered to make the rather lame gesture of a $10,000 donation to an unspecified charity.

Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik has sent Mr. Thompson a reply, noting that the Penny Arcade community of gamers alone has raised over half a million dollars for children's hospitals in the past two years. I'm interested in seeing his response, but judging from his previous correspondence with gamers and free speech advocates, I'd say the chances of Mike receiving anything are slim to none, and even if he does, it won't be fit for publication.

UPDATE (2:30 PM): Mike has received the expected response from Mr. Thompson.

Michael Barone on Special Election

2005-10-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

Remember those SurveyUSA numbers showing Gov. Schwarzenegger's "reform agenda" slate of propositions polling well ahead? I concluded that they were highly suspicious, and likely an outlier. Well, Michael Barone has two new polls (one internal from the Schwarzenegger administration) that would seem to corroborate those impressive numbers. (Via OC Blog)

Good on ya', California!

BREAKING:

2005-10-11T20:14:00.000-07:00

Bush Appointee Thinks Bush is "Cool", Good Leader

Related: the Associated Press has officially run out of real news.

Sacramento Scorecard

2005-10-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

The Register's John Gittelsohn tabulates the batting averages of OC's Sacramento lawmakers. What he finds is hardly surprising; Republicans found their agendas bogged down in the legislature (but when they managed to sneak one through, their bills almost always avoided the Governor's veto stamp), while the three Democrats representing OC felled more trees, but had difficulty getting off the Governor's desk.

What a sorry state California is in when common-sense legislators like Dick Ackerman and John Campbell can't even get the most innocuous bills passed (remember the story behind Campbell's "Million Solar Roofs Initiative"?), while somebody like Joe Dunn (D- Mars) - he of the oil price caps - gets half of his drivel through.

Great Park plans delayed

2005-10-11T15:24:00.000-07:00

Agran and his cronies plan a vacation:

The Great Park board decided Monday to delay a decision to select a master designer until January to allow time to travel to Spain, New York and San Francisco to visit the three finalist designers' finished projects.

The decision was unanimous.

Of course it was...

Their Perspective

2005-10-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

Religion of PeaceTM Body Count

2005-10-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Here's a website (via LGF) that has taken it upon itself to catalogue every instance of Islamic terrorism since 9/11. Totaling up the columns, I came up with 17,586 dead, 37,916 injured - in just over four years. And I can't imagine this (or any list) could be considered "exhaustive".

Remember folks: "There is no terrorist threat."

The shot that launched a million tee shirts

2005-10-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

On this day in 1967:

Marxist revolutionary Ernesto 'Che' Guevara has reportedly been killed during a battle between army troops and guerillas in the Bolivian jungle.

A statement issued by the commander of the Eighth Bolivian Army Division, Colonel Joaquin Zenteno Anaya, said the 39-year-old guerrilla leader was shot dead near the jungle village of Higueras, in the south-east of the country.

Today, communists from around the world celebrate a life given to the "people's rebellion" by contributing in no small way to the capitalist establishment against which Guevara fought. God bless gullible college students.

Gov's agenda looking good

2005-10-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

For the first time, polling data suggests that all of Gov. Schwarzenegger's "reform agenda" slate of propositions look set to pass - and quite easily. This is a big shift from all previous polling, which suggested everything other than Prop. 75 (paycheck protection) going down to inglorious defeat.

                OCT. 4        SEP. 29
           YES  NO   UND   YES  NO   UND
Prop. 74   55%  44%   2%   43%  47%  10%
Prop. 75   60%  37%   3%   n/a  n/a  n/a
Prop. 76   58%  36%   6%   26%  63%  11%
Prop. 77   59%  36%   5%   33%  50%  17%

*note that these were two different polls, by different firms.

Are these numbers outliers, or are they connected to the long-awaited flood of pro-Schwarzenegger advertising after months of bashing at the hands of labor unions? The new pro-Schwarzenegger TV spot is particularly well made, I feel (with the woman looking straight into the camera and making the indisputable statement "Let's face it - Sacramento is screwed up!") but I doubt it could account for these massive shifts in public opinion. More likely one - or both - of these polls are bad samples. The small number of undecideds a full month before the election in the SurveyUSA poll gives me pause.

From the "Should be Child Abuse" Files

2005-10-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes with child:

Either one of those crazy bastards is coming out with a movie and they've jumped the publicity stunt into overdrive, or things have gotten terribly out of hand and Katie Holmes is actually pregnant. Although I could've sworn Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman adopted children because he couldn't get people pregnant. Something about not having any sperm or preferring sex with men. Whatever the reason, it doesn't make sense that he would suddenly be able to start knocking people up. I don't know what's going on here, but it's freaking me out, man.

Great. Just what the world needs: more Scientologists.

Also from the files, Nick Cage has named newborn son Kal-el (as in Superman):

Because Clark, or Lex, or Man-Lois would have been too subtle. Because Gwyneth Paltrow's kid is going to need a friend in the nurse's office every recess. And because Bizarro Superman Copola Cage is just too many letters to monogram on tiny feety pajamas.

Damn celebrities.

See you in December

2005-10-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

John Campbell will win the 48th district primary easily, though not with the 50% + 1 required to take the seat. That means we're going to see a runoff come December 6th.

John Campbell (R)   46.0%
Marilyn Brewer (R)  16.7%
Jim Gilchrist (AI)  14.4%
Steve Young (D)      8.9%
John Graham (D)      4.1%
Bea Foster (D)       3.3%
Don Udall (R)        1.6%
John Kelly (R)       1.2%

What a pitiful showing by Marilyn Brewer (that should be the last we hear from her... thank god). I know a lot of people were expecting better from Gilchrist, but this is about as well as I felt he could do. He would have finished a solid second had he run as a Republican, but his AIP tag gets him an easy spot on the general election ballot (not that it matters). Also, it's rather amazing that in Orange County, the sole Libertarian candidate (Bruce Cohen, 0.8%) can't even muster 1% of the vote.

BTW: The runoff participants will be Campbell, Gilchrist, and Young.

Liveblogging Test

2005-10-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

2005-10-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

"Very quiet," according to the volunteers at my polling place. On the other hand, I did come across the packed parking lot of a polling place on El Toro Blvd. If you've been down El Toro between the 5 and Jeronomo in the past year, you know that's no small feat.

You can grab results here as they come.

I've got mail!

2005-10-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's the final day for direct mail in the 48th District primary, and we get the first signs of life out of Jim Gilchrist:

Nice work. He comes right out and puts the focus on his issue (literally - your eyes can't help but go right to the yellow sign). I've been quite impressed with his team's design work all along - he has easily the most visually pleasing and iconic logo in the campaign, which works very well on yard signs, stickers and such. The inside of the mailer is a little cluttered and provides several news clippings which have no relevance to his campaign (Mr. Gilchrist has been in the news plenty in the past year - he couldn't have used any of those?), but other than that, it's a nice piece of work.

Still not going to vote for him, though...

As for the David Crouch mailer that arived on the same day: I don't vote for people who use clip art.

"A pit bull in size 6 shoes."

2005-10-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

I know nothing about Harriet Miers. Then again, no one does. No decipherable political ideology on that one. But if she's a close personal friend of the President (supposedly his most favored subordinate at the White House) then I'm sure he's "looked into her soul" and seen... something. For that reason I'm willing to put it on faith that she's a social conservative, but that gives us very little to go on where she stands on personal privacy and economic issues.

From a purely political standpoint, one thing jumps out at me: how badly the Bush administration was knocked off its stride by the death of William Rehnquist in the middle of a confirmation battle. They had the perfect candidate to replace Justice O'Conner - conservative, unknown, eminently qualified, unblockable. But after elevating Roberts to the position of Chief Justice (thereby replacing a conservative with a conservative and wasting their "perfect" candidate in a relatively easy confirmation fight), the administration is forced to take a gamble on yet another "stealth candidate" if it wishes to effect change in the court. Had Roberts been confirmed to replace the wobbly O'Conner, the battle to replace Rehnquist with a fellow conservative would have been far easier.

EU wants control of web

2005-10-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

Last time I heard such whining about the entitlement of the masses, it was in reference to Rearden Metal and railroads:

The European Union insisted Friday that governments and the private sector must share the responsibility of overseeing the Internet, setting the stage for a showdown with the United States on the future of Internet governance.

A senior U.S. official reiterated Thursday that the country wants to remain the Internet's ultimate authority, rejecting calls in a United Nations meeting in Geneva for a U.N. body to take over.

EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said a new cooperation model was important "because the Internet is a global resource."

A stalemate over who should serve as the principal traffic cops for Internet routing and addressing could derail the summit, which aims to ensure a fair sharing of the Internet for the benefit of the whole world.

The EU's spokesman went on to say that "the EU ... is very firm on this position," which I found to be particularly hilarious. You can be as firm as you want, Jacques, but don't mistake firmness for leverage. You want control of the web? You can march your armies on over here and take it. Until you're willing and able, you're pretty much shit out of luck. And until then, your Thought Police will have to keep their feet on the ground and their noses out of our business.

"Movement-Building"

2005-10-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Jonah Goldberg:

Please read this post by Garance Franke-Ruta over at Tapped on what "movement-building" demands of liberal bloggers. It certainly reads to me like she's upset that liberal bloggers are being too intellectually honest. The upshot of Franke-Ruta's position seems to be that deliberately distorting Bill Bennett's intent and meaning is a small price to pay to villify him unfairly and for the added bonus of angering-up southern blacks in order to get limousine liberals like John Edwards elected. And if Matt Yglesias or Brad DeLong see it differently, they should just be quiet -- for the sake of the movement.

I find this very illuminating. We get a lot of grief around here from time to time for supporting conservative politicians or figures -- including Bennett -- when liberals insist the only intellectually honest position is opposition and outrage. Therefore we must be operating in bad faith. And here we have someone at The American Prospect all but declaring that intellectual honesty is corrupting liberalism and its nakedly partisan ambition to attain political power.

Nice movement she's working on.

If you'll recall, this is the second time in as many weeks that we've seen the "ends justify the means" club used to beat down dissent from within the progressive movement. Last week it was the eminently resonable Mickey Kaus, who caught a world of shit (from Matthew Yglesias, ironically enough) for having the gall to suggest that the Dem's focus should be sound policy, rather than pandering to a specific constituency (a strategy that Kaus rightly notes has spelled electoral disaster for the party).

The American Left - so far removed from electoral success - no longer the party of Bill Clinton, but rather of Marcos Zuniga and Duncan Black - has reverted to it's old tricks: distortion, race-baiting, and pandering. And what's more, they're open about it. After all, they're taking us to a better place, and the ends justify the means. We'll all see that someday.

And while we're somewhere near the subject of Bill Bennett, be sure to check out Jeff Goldstein, who's been on f'n fire. At first I felt that Bennett was guilty only of being impolitic, giving the race baiting left an opening. But after reading Goldstein's comments, I have come to realize that Bennett is guilty of nothing. Any moral code that condemns a man for speaking his mind and stating undeniable facts is a sick and twisted morality. Let the pathetic Left attack - but we should not flagellate ourselves on their behalf.

Where I'm coming from

2005-10-02T10:02:00.000-07:00

You are a
Social Liberal
(70% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(95% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Temporary home

2005-09-29T23:02:00.000-07:00

This is only a temporary location while I'm working on a rather large project. Hopefully I'll be leaving blogger for greener pastures in the next month or so. In the meantime, this is where you can find my thoughts on politics, sports, and the web.

About Me:

Name: Richard Ceccarelli
Age: 20
Location: Orange County, CA
Stats: 5-11, 130 lbs. Black hair, brown eyes
Occupation: Student (Political Science major)

Hobbies: Baseball, sports in general (if there's scoring involved, I'm there!), politics, reading, web design.
Books: Atlas Shrugged, anything by Ayn Rand or George Orwell.
Music: Nine Inch Nails, Bjork, PJ Harvey, Classical
Teams: Angels, Ducks, Raiders, Clippers, Galaxy

Blogger profile

Nothing to see here

2005-08-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

Nope. Not a thing.