Open Threads

New York Mayor Will Not March Without Sopranos

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday he will not march in the Columbus Day parade because organizers have refused to let him bring actors from the hit television show “The Sopranos.” The Italian-American group Columbus Citizens Foundation, which has run the parade for 58 years, asked Bloomberg to rescind his invitation to two Sopranos cast members because it was “deeply offended by this program’s extremely negative and ugly stereotyping of our people.

Apparently no one has told Mayor Boomberg, the Nanny of New York, that some of the Sopranos characters smoke. He’d probably march without them if he knew that.

New York Mayor Will NotPost + Comments

I watch it every time I stay in on Friday nights, but sometimes the WSJ Editorial Board on CNBC is up there with watching paint dry. Tonight was one such night.

I watch it every timePost + Comments

Congratulations, Jonah.

Congratulations, Jonah.Post + Comments

Compare and Contrast

According to the Nobel site:

Teddy Roosevelt received the prize in 1906, while President, for this reason:

But what has especially directed the attention of the friends of peace and of the whole civilized world to the United States is President Roosevelt’s happy role in bringing to an end the bloody war recently waged between two of the world’s great powers, Japan and Russia.

Woodrow Wilson received the prize in 1919, while President, for these reasons:

As the name of President Wilson comes to the fore on this occasion as the recipient of the Peace Prize, I know that the award is accompanied by the thanks of the people of Norway, because in his celebrated Fourteen Points the President of the United States has succeeded in bringing a design for a fundamental law of humanity into present-day international politics. The basic concept of justice on which it is founded will never die, but will steadily grow in strength, keeping the name of President Wilson fresh in the minds of future generations.

Jimmy Carter received the award in 2002, 22 years after being beaten to a bloody pulp in his last election for these reasons:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2002 to Jimmy Carter, for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.

Oh, this too:

“It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current administration has taken,” said Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Nobel committee. “It’s a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the U.S.,” he added.

Compare and Contrast According toPost + Comments

When I am Right, I am Right

Earlier, I predicted that the New Republic would attempt to use to their advantage the fact that Republicans are decent enough to follow EXISTING election code in Montana. In fact, here are my exact words:

Nothing yet from The New Republic, although I am willing to bet that they will continue to defend the Lautenberg/Toricelli switch using this exact case as evidence that candidate switching will not happen frequently. Of course not- Mark Racicot believes in the rule of law.

Here are the New Republic hacks today, justifying the unjustifiable:

Then later in the day came word that the Republican U.S. Senate nominee in Montana, state Senator Mike Taylor, was dropping out of the race after his opponent, incumbent Democrat Max Baucus, aired a commercial so hard-hitting it quickly expanded Baucus’s lead from 19 to 33. Surely these developments undermine our earlier bloviating about the trivial precedential value of the New Jersey case.

Actually, no. At the time, we confidently predicted that there would be almost no situation in which a party would find it worthwhile to substitute one candidate for another after the state’s deadline for doing so–usually only a couple of weeks out from election day. That prediction remains perfectly intact today. While some rank-and-file Pennsylvania Republicans have indeed floated the idea of a Fisher-Schweiker substitution, it’s turned out to be entirely idle chatter. As The Washington Post reported yesterday, “Republican officials emphasize that nothing of the kind is being contemplated”–presumably because the disadvantages (i.e., looking like you’re trying to hijack an election) outweigh the advantages. Meanwhile, in Montana it appears that Taylor dropped out of the Senate race completely of his own volition–and not under pressure from the party. And while Montana Republicans are considering putting forth another candidate as a write-in–and even that probably won’t happen–there is basically zero chance they’ll follow New Jersey’s example and replace Taylor on the Senate ballot.

Predictably, the party of Clinton marches ever onward. The nerve of these people.

When I am Right, IPost + Comments

Does This Count as Multilateralism?

First the American People.

And the British.

Then the House.

Then the Senate.

Now the French.

Russia next?

Does This Count as Multilateralism?Post + Comments

Jimmy Carter, Man of Peace

Carter finally wins the Nobel Peace Prize, and with this presentation, any hopes of Bill Clinton EVER shutting up on international affairs completely and permanently disappear.

William Sjostrom comments (link via Instapundit):

The Wall Street Journal (subscription only) reports that in awarding the prize to Carter, the committee said:
“It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current administration has taken,” said Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Nobel committee. “It’s a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the U.S.,” he added.
I think it is interesting that neither the Washington Post or the New York Times picked up this line. Are they covering up just how degenerate the committee is?

If they really wanted to kick this administration, they would have manufactured a reason to give it to Clinton (Ireland, maybe). Also, as the Instapundit noted, let’s remember the company Carter now keeps.

Greg Hlatky of A Dog’s Life fame says it best:

TOTAL BANKRUPTCY… Jimmy Carter – international Mary Worth, white-bread version of Jesse Jackson, whose every foreign policy effort came to utter grief, who opens his mouth only to say something foolish – has won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.

Ibk! Gaaack! Spew!

Jimmy Carter, Man of PeacePost + Comments