How did that song go?

Oh yeah, that's how.
And watching, for pigs on the wing.
The ACLU is going to help a white supremacist busted for blogging about cops.

A couple weeks ago on a blog nobody reads there was a conversation about that blogger who had been arrested for blogging about/messing with police.
We weren't sure what was going to happen or even what should happen.

One especially unperspicacious guy wrote
The problem for Minitru, the ACLU and the rest of the Democratic social/political industrial complex is that they can't defend Nazis. If they do, their cocktail party invitations might dry up.

Well, the ACLU of VA is helping her. I went there to see if they were saying anything about Officer Wesley Cheeks, Jr, (professional shutter-upper), nothing yet, but saw the link way up there about this.

So good show ACLU VA. I wuz wrong.
If you don't get your cocktail party invites, I'll throw down for a couple. (rail drinks, no top shelf).

Posted by: Veeshir at 07:44 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 167 words, total size 1 kb.

Dumb Power: Obama seeking a "win" in Honduras

As I have maintained for some time (to invoke an Obama-ism), the administration is seeking a cheap "win" by pushing around the Honduran democracy. So sayeth Mary O'Grady in the WSJ. (h/t to the Thomas Jefferson Club)

O'Grady:

This administration needs a win. Or more accurately, it can't bear another loss right now. Most especially it can't afford to be defeated by the government of a puny Central American country that doesn't seem to know its place in the world and dares to defy the imperial orders of Uncle Sam.

A big question (at least in my mind) is whether Obama pushed this policy, or if some semi-rogue ideological twit in the State Department official was behind this. Probably some of both, but O'Grady's piece is pretty damning of State.

Prominent Hondurans, including leading members of the business community, complain that a State Department official has been pressuring them to push the interim government to accept the return of Mr. Zelaya to power.

When I asked the State Department whether it was employing such dirty tricks a spokeswoman would only say the U.S. has been "encouraging all members of civil society to support the San Jose 'accord'"—which calls for Mr. Zelaya to be restored to power. Perhaps something was lost in the translation but threats to use U.S. power against a small, poor nation hardly qualify as encouragement.

 Oh yeah, and State is twisting arms in Latin America to get other nations on board with the "accord".

"Dumb Power" defined.

Posted by: JoeCollins at 08:27 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 258 words, total size 2 kb.

Retired Lieutenant General Honoré considering primary run against David Vitter

As is noted by the article, all he's gonna have to do is say "Stuck on Stupid" and Vitter's done for.  Honoré and the soldiers under his command were about the only government agency that showed any competence at all in the aftermath of Katrina.  I'll be curious to see where he stands on the issues.  His competence as a leader isn't something I'm prepared to question.  If he's a solid conservative, this could be a very good development.

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 11:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 89 words, total size 1 kb.

Can we invade China naow?

We didn't really need those "smart phones, hybrid cars, or precision weapons", did we?

Posted by: Alice H at 09:13 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 19 words, total size 1 kb.

I can't wait for the polling numbers

The death of Senator Kennedy highlights a special example of political manipulation the Massachusetts legislature engaged in prior to the 2004 election.  Before 2004, US Senate vacancies were filled by gubernatorial appointment.  In light of the combination of an impending Kerry presidency and a Republican governor Romney, the legislature voted to take that power from the governor and force a special election about five months after a seat becomes vacant.  Kerry lost the presidential election, Romney was replaced by Democratic governor Deval Patrick.

Apparently Senator Kennedy in his infinite wisdom recognized early last July that there was going to be a sticky wicket in the case of his death.  He composed a letter to several members of Massachusetts government suggesting that a legal push be made to change the law back to its pre-2004 gubernatorial appointment ways.  Also in Kennedy's infinite wisdom, he didn't bother mailing off the letters until a week ago.  The Massachusetts legislature recessed August 4, and so no law was proposed or passed.

So besides Senator Kennedy's untimely death destroying the filibuster-proof Congress, it's possible that Massachusetts Democrats could lose a Senate seat due to their manipulations in 2004.  Surprisingly, a very recent Gallup poll shows only 29% of Massholes considered themselves liberal or very liberal, while 30% considered themselves conservative or very conservative. In light of the recent centrist dissatisfaction with government spending, and assuming the Skittle-shitting unicorns aren't going to be delivered in the next five months, I think it's quite likely that the next junior Senator from Massachusetts will be a Republican. The question remains whether the Massachusetts legislature will try an end run around their previous shenanigans and attempt to give the appointment power back to Governor Patrick.

So in light of all this, I think we should say a special thanks to Senator Kennedy for holding on to those letters for a few extra weeks, and we should be sure to thank him again when the GOP gains a Senate seat.

Posted by: Alice H at 12:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 337 words, total size 2 kb.

I am an awful human being, part 11,746,268,001

The first thing I thought was, I'm so glad he didn't try to use guns for this.  I'm guessing he was just taking training for the zombie apocalypse a little too seriously.  When you run out of ammo, sometimes you just have to resort to the melee weapons.

Posted by: Alice H at 08:35 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

Cheney Vindicated?

Back in April Dick Cheney claimed that CIA documents specifically two memos would show that the enhanced interrogations authorized by the Bush administration authorized by the Bush administration prevented a number of follow-on terrorist attacks. He requested that the memos be declassified and was refused by the Obama administration. The Department of Justice however released highly redacted versions of the memos yesterday.

The full memos are available here and are embedded below.

Do they back Cheney's claims?

I hate to say it but as released they don't. Unquestionably they show that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was a valuable source of information but I saw no mention of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques so I can't honestly say that the memos back Cheney's claims. That said who knows what's in the the redacted areas and Cheney would have been able to read that information as the Vice-President so he still has a leg to stand on.

It should be noted that according to the New York Times the CIA Inspector General report, which I have not read yet, does note that enhanced interrogation did work in some cases:

The report found that the interrogations obtained critical information to identify terrorists and stop potential plots and said some imprisoned terrorists provided more information after being exposed to brutal treatment.

But the inspector general’s review raised broad questions about the legality, political acceptability and effectiveness of the harshest of the C.I.A.’s methods, including some not authorized by the Justice Department and others that were approved, like the near-drowning technique of waterboarding.

more...

Posted by: chad98036 at 10:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 271 words, total size 6 kb.

Numbers numbers numbers

I'm guessing Scott McInnis is going to win the GOP nomination for governor of Colorado. The party machine is thinking Josh Penry hasn't hung out in the Senate long enough. Numbers from Public Policy Polling (PDF warning) support that, but the really interesting poll result is from another poll (once again, PDF warning):

When Public Policy Polling surveyed Colorado in April it found Bill Ritter with an approval rating in the lows 40s and trailing Scott McInnis by almost ten points in a hypothetical contest. Four months later nothing has changed.

On a really ginormous downer note, I'm hoping that these poll results are just early polling number stupidity, because if the GOP nominates Schmuckabee for president we can give up any hope of ever regaining the reputation of the party of small government and fiscal responsibility.  And yes, I recognize that I'm jumping up and down with joy at one set of early poll numbers and cringing at another set.  Piss off.

(h/t RCP via RMR)

Posted by: Alice H at 03:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 169 words, total size 1 kb.

Obama leads all likely 2012 GOP candidates

2012 President

• Obama 49%, Gingrich 41%
• Obama 47%, Huckabee 44%
• Obama 52%, Palin 38%
• Obama 47%, Romney 40%

The Public Policy Polling survey of 909 likley voters was taken Aug. 14-17. The margin of error is 3.3 percent.

source

Here are the poll results. I don't actually know much about the outfit that did the poll.

Posted by: chad98036 at 12:46 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 62 words, total size 1 kb.

Arrested For Blogging

Every so often I come across a story upon which I don't have a clear opinion.   This is one of those stories:

A 34-YEAR-OLD woman, the mother of a 12-year-old girl, has been locked up in a Virginia jail for three weeks and could remain there for at least another month. Her crime? Blogging about the police.

Elisha Strom, who appears unable to make the $750 bail, was arrested outside Charlottesville on July 16 when police raided her house, confiscating notebooks, computers and camera equipment. Although the Charlottesville police chief, Timothy J. Longo Sr., had previously written to Ms. Strom warning her that her blog posts were interfering with the work of a local drug enforcement task force, she was not charged with obstruction of justice or any similar offense. Rather, she was indicted on a single count of identifying a police officer with intent to harass, a felony under state law.

It's fair to say that Ms. Strom was unusually focused on the Jefferson Area Drug Enforcement task force, a 14-year-old unit drawn mainly from the police departments of Charlottesville, Albemarle County and the University of Virginia. (Her blog at http://iheartejade.blogspot.com, expresses the view that the task force is "nothing more than a group of arrogant thugs.") In a nearly year-long barrage of blog posts, she published snapshots she took in public of many or most of the task force's officers; detailed their comings and goings by following them in her car; mused about their habits and looks; hinted that she may have had a personal relationship with one of them; and, in one instance, reported that she had tipped off a local newspaper about their movements.

On the one hand, all she was doing was exercising her right to free speech and that should never be an arrestable offense if not for its own right than that it may lead to a slippery slope of increasing government censorship.

On the other hand, I am deeply uncomfortable with the idea of a person broadcasting the location and activities of law enforcement officers engaged in very dangerous situations.  Her blogging could clearly cost the lives of police officers who were doing nothing more than their jobs.

On the other hand, the drug war is bullshit for the most part and is clearly involved in some of the most egregious personal freedom encroachments in the history of the Republic.

On the other hand, if this information is so secret and well guarded how the fuck does she know about it in the first place?  I'm inclined in that aspect to advise the police to tighten their lips a bit. 

I'm leaning toward saying that what she is doing shouldn't be remotely criminal so long as she is not intentionally privy to any secret information that may be dangerous in the wrong hands.  Being that she knows the information anyway, it seems that the real security breach is not her blogging but the fact that she knows it in the first place.

What do you Morons think?

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 03:43 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 508 words, total size 3 kb.

RIP Bob Novak 1931-2009

Goodbye, Prince of Darkness. 

I met him once at DC while an intern and he couldn't have been nicer. 

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 10:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

Man Dies By Metaphor for Obamacare

A little too ironic. 

Yeah, I really do think.

Related?:  Apparently, alcohol accounts for 50 FUCKING PERCENT OF RUSSIAN DEATHS!!!!!11

Wow. 

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 09:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 27 words, total size 1 kb.

WTF is Wrong With Wisconsin : Good on you, Mayor Barrett

Haha... once again I follow the "Don't Read Your Own Blog" rule too well.  Original, duplicate post below the fold.

Damn you, Eddie!
more...

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 08:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 396 words, total size 5 kb.

Those funny Muslims

Those darned Muslims just don't listen.  They don't listen when they're told that scantily-clad women are a good thing, they don't listen when they're told that women should be allowed to spread their legs whenever they feel like it, they don't listen when they're told that homosexuals probably shouldn't be executed (this guy is a notable exception), and they don't listen when they're told that it's immoral to have more than one baby per couple.

(h/t)

Posted by: Alice H at 12:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 79 words, total size 1 kb.

RIP Les Paul

Posted by: Alice H at 10:46 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 3 words, total size 1 kb.

This is why the death penalty is a good thing

If they'd executed the bastard back in 1988, there wouldn't be the outrage at having to release him now, would there?

This is why America is more awesome than any European country - we don't have to worry about Timothy McVeigh getting out of prison for prostate problems.   Granted, we've still got that sonofacumdumpster Terry Nichols parked in ADX Florence, but at least he's miserable there, where he's complaining that he needs a more high-fiber diet, hopefully because he's getting lots of foreign objects forcefully shoved up his ass without his consent and would prefer to have things nice and clean when it happens.

Posted by: Alice H at 06:33 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 114 words, total size 1 kb.

Specter Townhall coverage

Bringing back a little "pimp my blog".... Those looking for news and commentary on Specter's town hall in Lebanon, PA today would do well to check out my compadres over at PAWatercooler.com for in-state perspective.

The posts are still going up, but here are some of the ones up already.
"Cliff's Notes"
Specter not ruling out single-payer
Some Reactions
Hammered
Cap & Trade, EFCA questions

Posted by: JoeCollins at 12:14 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 68 words, total size 1 kb.

Stoner In Chief To Share The Love

Looks like it'll be cool for drug-crime convicts to get student loans soon. 

I don't have a strong opinion either way (I'd probably have a clearer opinion if pot crimes were legally distinct from crack or heroine crimes) but thought I'd put it on the radar.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 12:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 53 words, total size 1 kb.

This can't be good.

Oh yay.
Quote
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday charged that Colombian troops had enteredVenezuala...

Gee, I wonder whose side Obama will be on.

Did I say that with a straight face? I've been practicing is why I ask.

Posted by: Veeshir at 07:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

Billy, you dumb fuck

Cocaine contributed to his death. 

Posted by: Alice H at 03:52 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 9 words, total size 1 kb.