Not-so-random thought: 2010 Midterms Edition

How many House and Senate seats could the GOP win back if they had one simple, cohesive message:  No more bailouts. 

Certainly, recruited candidates could be mavericky on other issues from district to district, but I think that by 2010 an anti-bailout message could be very popular.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 03:09 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Note to Allahpundit

If an economist is endorsing a government stimulus package, they can no longer be accurately described as a "conservative" economist. 

At least not as far as I'm concerned. 

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 02:55 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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He's so deified, even his Friends are deities!

They get their own acronym, too!

Charles Ogletree has a good shot at making the list. The Harvard Law School professor is a longtime Friend of Barack Obama. He joked yesterday that "I think that he will use the BlackBerry to not only address issues of critical concerns with FOBO but to also check in on the performance of all Chicago sports teams."

There are friends, then there are Friends of Barack Obama (FOBO).

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 02:47 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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I Have A Great Idea To Cut Spending

Let's release prisoners early.

"It's the length of stay that is driving our high incarceration rate in this state," Department of Corrections Director Patricia Caruso told reporters. "People just do a lot more time."

About 12,000, or one-fourth, of Michigan's 48,000 prisoners are beyond their earliest release date. That's down from 17,000 when Granholm took office in 2003.

Policymakers want to pass laws limiting the parole board's discretion to hold inmates beyond their minimum sentence. The requirement would start with prisoners sentenced after April 1 of this year, so those in prison now wouldn't be affected -- though the board already has taken steps on its own to reduce the number of inmates being held beyond their earliest release date.

Outside experts analyzed the prison system during a yearlong review requested by the Democratic governor and legislative leaders. The bipartisan report released Thursday by the Council of State Governments was backed by legislators and administration officials who worked on the project.

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RIP, Cranky

RIP

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Obama's Fault: Keyboard to Chair Interface Problem

The only way to secure a computer is to turn it off and unplug it. - Old IT Saying

It seems the public fister just can't live without his fucking Blackberry.  Of course, their going to let him keep it even though there is an amazingly good reason they shouldn't:

Still, hackers can plant malicious software on a BlackBerry from afar. One existing piece of software, for example, can transform the device into a mini-radio receiver, allowing eavesdroppers to hear any conversations near it.

Others can detect the phone's location by way of signals it sends to nearby cellular towers, turning it into a homing device.

In fact, according to a database maintained by the Department of Homeland Security, at least 16 potential chinks in the BlackBerry's security armor have come to light since 2004. "Of course, the president's location is usually fairly publicly known#8212;he's within the White House or a building," said John Pescatore, vice president for Internet security at research firm Gartner Inc., who worked on communications security for the Secret Service in the early 1980s. "However, somebody could have the ability to figure out he's on this floor or that floor," he said.

Ultimately, the biggest concern may not be someone hacking into Obama's BlackBerry but targeting the devices of people he's communicating with, said Johannes Ullrich, chief research officer for the SANS Technology Institute in Bethesda, Md., which trains network security and system administrators.

Obama probably would not lose his BlackBerry, with dozens of Secret Service agents around to keep an eye on it. But if one of his e-mail correspondents lost his or her device, agents would not be there to scoop it up.

Security concerns are not the only consideration for Obama. Work-related communications of executive branch employees could become public records after the president's term is through.

What the fuck is he thinking?  Once again, his behavior forces me to believe he is just not a serious person.  He doesn't, in any way, understand the gravity of the position he now holds. 

But wait, it gets worse:

The newspaper said the Obama team, which ran a technology-savvy campaign, has been faced with a morass of security regulations, which bar private e-mail accounts and instant messaging.

Fuck.  Me.  With.  A.  Lubed.  Hammer.

Are they fucking serious?  Did it ever occur to them that the reason the previous administration didn't allow private e-mail and instant messaging is because those technologies are fundamentally and inherently unsecure.* 

The previous administration didn't allow them because being able to share pictures of kittens in bowls of yarn and super fucking important virus alert information was just slightly less important than... I don't know... securing the communications and informational integrity of the world's most powerful nation.  A nation, I might add, that is at war and has more enemies than any other entity in the history of Earth.

This is just sad.  And stupid.  And will lead inevitably to a major security breach or legal trouble for Obama or both. 

Verdict:  Dumb

Other things that are Obama's fault:

• Not only closing Guantanamo but closing all overseas "secret holding facilities" and eliminating any interrogation techniques that aren't in the Army Field Manual.  Verdict:  Evil
• Eleventy Billion Dollars to "stimulate" our debt shaft and massage our "economic prostate."  Verdict:  Dumb
• Got sworn in again, making him the third president to take the oath twice.  Verdict:  Smart.

Running total -

• Smart Things Obama Has Done:  1
• Dumb Things Obama Has Done:  3
• Evil Things Obama Has Done: 1

* - I don't mean insecure, I mean unsecure.  Insecure is how you feel when you think your nose is too big.  The use of private e-mail and instant messaging is the exact opposite of secure.  Shitty hackers can violate the pathetic safeguards on AIM.  World-class hackers will face-rape Yahoo's smiley face.

 

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 09:25 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY)

It looks like the 2nd-term Representative from upstate New York will be taking Hillary clinton's spot in the Senate.  The Albany Times-Union has a rundown of challengers for her newly competitive House seat. 

I think this is the best choice Gov. Paterson could have made, incidentally.  She has a 100% rating from the NRA and isn't for amnesty.  Or, at least, isn't as bad as the rest of the Dems.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 09:11 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Important breaking news!

Something of vital importance to the fate of our Republic has transpired in Washington:

The first family settled into their new lives in the White House on Thursday as President Barack Obama won an important personal victory: He gets to keep his BlackBerry.

Welcome to the next four years of your lives, boys and girls!

Posted by: Sean M. at 08:42 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Some sort of response is required

to the Googlebomb.

Terrorist sympathizer?

Murderer of tiny foreign fetuses?

Socialist in sheep's clothing?

Further suggestions are appreciated.

Posted by: Alice H at 08:14 PM | Comments (23) | Add Comment
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Change! Obama urges Israel to open borders with Gaza

But don't worry, he totally loves Israel and stuff.  You can tell he does because he appointed pro-Israel Rep. Rahm Emmanuel as his Chief of Staff.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 05:36 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Believe the Politico: Bunning needs to go

Normally, I would pass a story like this off as another attempt by the MSM to build a meme for defeating a Republican.  Not this time, though.  It's true.  Jim Bunning needs to announce his retirement after this term:

While Bunning has shown no sign that he’s ready to retire, there’s little evidence he’s prepared for the tough, expensive campaign that looms ahead.

Bunning will need to raise millions to mount a serious defense of his seat, but he is already well behind pace with only $175,000 in his campaign account through September, the latest a report was available. Worse, he isn’t expected to hold his first fundraiser until April.

Bunning barely squeaked through in his 2004 re-election campaign against then state senator (and current lieutenant governor) Daniel Mongiardo.  Remember?  That was the election where Bunning stated that Mongiardo looking like one of Saddam Hussein's sons, among other things.  Embarrassing. 

His retirement would clear the way for some new blood in the Republican political establishment in Kentucky:

Still, there are signs that Bunning could face a serious primary challenge from Kentucky’s 36-year-old secretary of state, Trey Grayson.

Grayson has already heard from leading GOP fundraisers and supporters urging him to run, said spokesman Les Fugate, adding that Grayson wouldn’t rule out a primary challenge against Bunning.

“I don’t think he will ever close the door on any opportunity, and he’s not considering it right now, but you never say never,” said Fugate.

Trey Grayson won statewide election as a Republican in 2007 at the same time GOP Gov. Ernie Fletcher lost re-election by 20 points.  GOP Rep. Geoff Davis from Kentucky's 4th District (where I grew up) is also a potential challenger, but since I didn't get hired in his DC office after two interviews, I'm going to be spiteful and support Grayson instead.

If Bunning decides he's in this for himself, he's likely to face a strong, strong challenge from Attorney General Jack Conway.  And Conway will win.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 05:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hey Look! More Pricks than Usual at the Mississippi Capitol

At least these people won't be "sticking it to me." I mean, like these folks are.

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More class acts from the left during the Ball for wounded vets

After most of the acts bailed on performing at the last minute, and of course Our Lord and Savior too, George Clinton and P. Funk agreed to perform...great, until they decided to roll out a huge FUCK GEORGE banner.  They're claiming the banner was for George Clinton, but a bunch of the vets bailed on the ball as a result.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 02:41 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Hugo Chavez Might Want To Rethink His Campaign Pledges

Somehow, he portrays threatening to leave if the voters say "no" to him is a bad thing.

The Venezuelan leader also vilified his opponents as "colonialists" and "little Yankees" beholden to U.S. interests.

The column titled "Lines from Chavez" appeared in several Venezuelan newspapers for the first time and it is scheduled to appear three times a week. Chavez's friend and mentor, Fidel Castro of Cuba, also has written frequent newspaper columns over the past year.

Chavez, who has been in office since 1999, said he is putting "my entire future" in the hands of Venezuelan voters. The former paratroop commander said "this revolutionary soldier will do what the people command."

Opponents say that ending term limits would endanger Venezuela's democracy and push the country further toward Cuba-style one-man rule.

Venezuelans already voted down a similar measure to scrap term limits as part of a package of constitutional changes in 2007.

Posted by: eddiebear at 02:35 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Who knew that the Mumbai slums had an advocacy group?

Slumdog Millionaire was excellent.  I'm glad to see that it was nominated for a ton of Oscars today.  It's one of those rare occasions where I want a movie to win because it's good, not just because all the other nominees are so bad. 

But the rags-to-riches tale is unacceptable to some because, wait for it, the name "slumdog" is insulting:

Several dozen Mumbai slum residents protested the award-winning film "Slumdog Millionaire" on Thursday, calling the film's title insulting.

[...]

"I am poor, but don't call me slumdog," said Rekha Dhamji, 18, one of about two dozen slum residents who protested outside the home of one of the movie's actors, Anil Kapoor.

"I don't want to be referred to as a dog," she said.

Other protesters held up banners reading "Poverty For Sale," and "I am not a dog." One of them carried a puppy.

Yawn.  

Perhaps if anyone in India had seen the film (it's not released there until tomorrow), they would know that the only people who call the main character a slumdog aren't exactly "nice" characters.  Or maybe they'd appreciate that one of the main themes of the film is the value of people who do grow up in the slums. 

And seriously..."poverty for sale"?  No one wants to buy poverty, dummy.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 01:44 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Question to all those blue collar guys who voted for Obama

You feeling stupid this morning?  You should be.  Of course, if you're like Western PA, no matter how shitty the Democrats treat you, no matter how often they spit on you and degrade you, you'll just turn around and say "please sir, may I have another?" 

Oh, and there's this line from Rangel,

RANGEL: And one thing you can depend on, you don’t have to be worried about what the middle-class is gonna do. Things are so bad. They have to put food on their tables. Clothes for their kids. Get them in school. I think this is a tremendous opportunity for a stronger America.

No words can describe how disturbing it is to read that.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:38 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Best computer ever

Guy laser etches every level of Super Mario Land onto the top of his Eee. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:20 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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When Life Imitates A Country And Western Song

Dude loses his dog and his loaner car, all in one day.

A man driven to find his lost dog also lost his car after he drove onto the frozen Black River in St. Clair County, locked himself out of the idling vehicle, then watched as heat from the 1994 Buick's exhaust pipe melted the ice beneath it.  

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:19 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Maybe This Is Why My Dad Wouldn't Let Me Drive His Car

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:01 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Jeez, don't they write about anything else?

Someone (I think it was Moron Pundit, but I could be wrong) once asked me how I came up with the material for my "Presented Without Context" posts, and I told him that it was pretty simple: Just plug a word like "penis" into Google News.  Well, I was gonna do one of those when I noticed something...interesting:



Seven of the top nine results were from the UK's Grauniad newspaper.  It's like they have, um, something on their minds.

Posted by: Sean M. at 03:43 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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