Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
by John Cole| 6 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Has there been any serious research into why human beings love pets so much? It seems to me that certain cultures are more in love with pets than others, as well. Part of me simply thinks it fulfills a human need to love and be loved unconditionally, which would explain why one of the signs of sociopaths is cruelty to animals at an earlier age, but that doesn’t explain the cultural divergences.
Just curious.
by John Cole| 8 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Richard Bennett discusses the attack on Microsoft for ‘pulling’ support for a gay rights bill. What is really at play- according to Richard, the AFL-CIO and free trade. Go check it out…
by John Cole| 4 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Go view this videotape of 11 Sheriff’s deputies tasing a man five times on the chest while taunting him, and tell me if they should have been cleared of any wrong-doing.
Yes, the man was wrong for his violent behavior, but it appears this was pretty clearly excessive force. At the least, tasering someone five times in the chest is negligent.
Did I mention the man was handcuffed?
by John Cole| 14 Comments
This post is in: Politics
Again, I think judges should just be voted on, yet I also am worried about the ramifications of breaking the tradition the Senate has followed for years. However, I find all this talk of compromise to be silly for several reasons:
1.) This is not something either side wants resolved with compromise, because both sides want their way and both sides want the issue. Democrats want to block the judges, alternately, they think it is in their political interest to paint all Republicans as extremists.
Republicans want to have these judges rammed through, and barring that, are perfectly content to paint all Democrats as obstructionist.
In the weird world of Washington, particularly with this case, compromise is not in the self interest of either party.
2.) I am probably going to regret giving Democrats this talking point, but for the life of me, I don’t know why the Democratic response to talks of compromise hasn’t been something along the following:
Talking Head: What about reports of a compromose on the issue of judical nominees? Are you making any progress?”
Sen. Reid: Compromise? The Senate has confirmed X judges (I don’t know the exact number), and we are only blocking a few extremists- to be exact, ten. In my world, that is a compromise.
Or something like that. It seems to me with our lapdog media, that would resonate in the meme circles. Are the Democrats just this incompetent?
by John Cole| 18 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
John Kerry still has not released his military records (paging Kevin Drum), but Decision ’08 is on it for us:
In a hastily organized news conference, a spokesman for the Perpetual John Kerry for President Campaign said the initial phases of “Operation Sign Form SF-180” were going better than expected. Specifically, in the 90 days since Kerry promised on national television to sign the form releasing his military records, the following milestones have been achieved:
– a pen has been procured from a Walmart on the outskirts of Little Rock “for substantially less than the $12,000 budgeted”;
– a special committee has been formed to discuss the best way to remove the cap from the pen;
Read the whole thing. (via the Powerline)
by John Cole| 2 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
They made the NY Times. No opinions here- just go check it out.
by John Cole| 4 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
It appears that Jennifer Wilbanks is alive and well:
A Georgia woman, who was found in New Mexico early Saturday and who said she had been abducted, admitted today she had made up the story because she was nervous about her upcoming wedding, police said.
Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz said Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, had told them she had taken a bus to Las Vegas, Nevada, and on Saturday had taken another bus to New Mexico.
Earlier, Wilbanks had told family members and police that she had been abducted by a man and a woman in a van. She was to be married Saturday.
“Agents and detectives learned Miss Wilbanks had become scared and concerned about her pending marriage and decided she needed some time alone,” Schultz said.
Glad she is alive, but a two things:
1.) Many modern weddings are a ridiculously cruel joke, and by my observations, have little to do with the relationship and everything to do with wasteful displays of extravagance and opulence. I have seen women ruin up to two years of their lives planning weddings, because everything has to be perfect. It puts an obscene financial burden on many parents, causes undue stress, and the myth of the perfect wedding needs to be stabbed in the back and buried face down. If and when I get married, I hope we elope, marry at my bride’s parents house, or in a small church. We can have fried chicken, rigatoni, wedding soup, and green beans served buffet style, and if the guests don’t like it, well, they can then quite literally eat cake.
Classy, aren’t I?
2.) Now that I know Wilbanks is alive and well, it would have been nice if she could have kept up the ruse for several more days…
Why, because by then we could have humiliated and ruined the career of the Nancy Grace, the loudmouth bitch who systematically condems anyone charged with a crime. The woman does nothing but posion the well for anyone charged with anything, is vindictive, nasty, spiteful, dishonest, and she contorts everything to create a presumption of guilt. When you confront her with her behavior, she always claims something along the line of “Presumption of innocence doesn’t mean I have to suspend my personal opinions.”
Can’t you just hear her saying things like this:
Why won’t he just take another lie detector test? Why does he want it to be videotaped? Why can’t he account for his time better that night? Look at him- he is well over six feet tall and she is just a skinny thing- that doesn’t say something to you? You know, I have heard rumors about him and other women, and they don’t look happy in their pictures together.
If you can’t imagine Grace saying all those things, it is because you haven’t been paying attention to Cnn’s own judge, jury, and executioner, whose own tragic past has turned her into a loathesome blight on society. I really enjoyed the time Scott Peterson’s father dressed her down. More here about “Hang em High” Nancy Grace- the woman is a real blemish on society, including this greatest hit on Richard Ricci- the man who was wrongly accused of kidnapping Elizabeth Smart, who died shortly after being arrested of an aneurysm (yes- Nancy Grace is enough to give you an aneurysm):
CALLER: Hi. Is it possible for the FBI or the law officers involved in the case to use sodium pentothal on Mr. Ricci and find out if he has any involvement with this girl