RedState takes a look at some possible FEC regulations and concludes:
RedState has received a copy of that draft (.pdf only)
by John Cole| 3 Comments
This post is in: Media
RedState takes a look at some possible FEC regulations and concludes:
RedState has received a copy of that draft (.pdf only)
by John Cole| 2 Comments
This post is in: Sports
And the Mounties did it again, in their best showing in the NCAA tourney since 1959, beating Texas Tech 65-60 on their way to the Elite Eight.
I am not going to sleep tonight.
BTW- Here is a great Mountaineer Basketball blog run by a WVU law student.
by John Cole| 28 Comments
This post is in: Politics
I just wanted to say that if you found my lengthy condemnation of the perversion of the judicial and legislative system mean-spirited towards those of religious faith, then you have missed the point of the post completely. I have no problem with individuals who are deeply religious- I have a major problem with people who are profoundly religious and think it is an ideal that should be foisted upon the rest of society. And that is precisely what Tom DeLay and his ilk are trying to do.
When I use the terms ‘jihad,’ and ‘zealots,’ and ‘radicals,’ it is because that is how I have grown to view them. Religion is a wonderful source of divine inspiration for many, and in the past I have defended the Pope from what I felt were unfair attacks. Religion and religious teachings can be a wonderful source of morality and a foundation of guiding principles and laws, but they should not be the law itself.
You can count the recent failings of the Republican party as an epiphany for me, something I should have noticed earlier, but didn’t, or maybe didn’t want to. As a Republican, I spent most of my life in the minority party, so maybe I overlooked some things now that my side was in power. The signs were there, though- the growing overt hostility towards homosexuals, the marginalization of out-groups, the general sanctimoniousness, the groupthink, all tied in with the corporate cronyism best exemplified by the give-away to the credit card industry.
I don’t think religion has lost its way. Who should we expect to defend the existence of Terri Schiavo if not the Pope and other religious leaders? I would demand nothing less, and I would lose respect for them should they change their beliefs to suit the fickle will of the people. But the Pope and religious leaders do not and should not set the legislative agenda, nor should we all be forced to live by religious mandate. Clearly we can still recognize the difference between calls for moral behavior and the attempts to impose a Judeo-Christian version of Sharia.
While religion may not have lost its way, I do think my party has, although I reject the idea of a conservative crack-up. This isn’t a ‘crack-up’ so much as it is an internecine struggle for the soul of my party, and if you really think about it, as I have for the past couple of weeks, we just aren’t very ‘conservative’ anymore anyway.
Unless, of course, conservative means a profound lack of respect for individual liberty and individual wishes, a blatant disrespect for the rule of law and an independent judiciary, a condemnation of federalism and an outright hostility to limited government, as well as bloated government and heavy regulation of all media, including political speech. Then, of course, we are real damned ‘conservative.’ We have become nihilists, saying whatever is necessary to achieve short-term gain while holding almost no principles, other than retaining our death grip on the different branches of government.
I don’t want any more of it, and if it means we need to lose power, so be it. We have already lost our way, and I personally find myself much more comfortable opposing the stupid laws that came pre-1994 than I do now, when my party is the one proposing even worse legislation. And to make matters worse, we have been more disciplined and more successful passing bad legislation.
Look at these quotes to see how far we have strayed:
“Remember that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have.”
“It’s political Daddyism and it’s as old as demagogues and despotism.”
“Politics is the art of achieving the maximum amount of freedom for individuals that is consistent with the maintenance of social order. ”
“You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.”
The Bull Moose is right- Barry Goldwater wouldn’t recognize our party anymore, and I get the growing suspicion that William F. Buckley doesn’t, either. Ever wonder why William F. Buckley has the position he does on our drug policy?
I am sorry if you are deeply religious and I offended you- that was not my intent. I want you to look at what these radicals we have elected are doing- systematically dismantling our democracy in the pursuit of cash and power.
I am sorry if you think I am all soapbox and no soap. There are plenty of other blogs out there for you that can and will give you the party line. I may be wrong about a lot of things, but my beliefs are genuine.
And I am sorry if I sound ‘shrill’ or ‘extreme’ or ‘unhinged.’ I confess- right now I am all of the above, but for good reason. I have taken a good look around, including in my own archives with their damning accuracy, and I just don’t like what I see. Let me just say that there is no monster as scary as the one staring at you in the mirror.
If that means I am no longer a member of the good Republican club, then I will just have to live with it. I most certainly am not going to throw everything I believe out the window to become a Democrat, so I am going to remain shrill and extreme and unhinged and a member of the GOP until things start to change and we regain our focus, because right now I feel a lot like Dr. Frankenstein. Quitting the party would be the easy way out. I helped break this, I need to help fix it.
And with that, let me leave you with one more quote:
“Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.”
And it IS our liberty that is at stake.
*** Update ***
How about this for a bellwether? When you read Maureen Dowd, and say to your self, “Shit. She is 100% right,” it is time for some serious soul-searching.
by John Cole| 16 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Ward Churchill’s jackassery has been overshadowed recently, but the report on his behavior is now out at the Blogger News Network. The Instapundit comments that “the bottom line is that he’s in trouble for research fraud, etc., but not for his ‘little Eichmanns’ statement.”
Which is, IMHO, as it should be. Academic tenure should protect all speech, however controversial, however idiotic, however offensive. The real question should be how he got tenure in the first damned place.
by John Cole| 29 Comments
This post is in: Popular Culture
Saw this via Outside the Beltway:
Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer left his church last week after the pastor wrote him a letter suggesting “it might be easier for all of us” if he leave.
Greer, whose orders on the Terri Schiavo case have brought him criticism, is a Southern Baptist who attended Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater.
Though he had other unrelated problems with the church, Greer’s attendance faltered after a Baptist publication the church supported criticized his decisions in the Schiavo case. He stopped his donations to the church, but remained a member. He briefly discussed his relationship with the church in a March 6 St. Petersburg Times article.
Four days later, Calvary Pastor William Rice wrote Greer a letter: “I am not asking you to do this, but since you have taken the initiative of withdrawal, and since your connection with Calvary continues to be a point of concern, it would seem the logical and, I would say, biblical course.”
Rice’s letter became public when he sent a copy to the Clearwater courthouse. Rice also said the church supports keeping Schiavo alive, though he said he was “truly saddened and embarrassed by the level of harassment and vitriolic nature of so many comments that purportedly come from people of faith.”
Rice, who has been pastor at the church for five months, added: “But you must know that in all likelihood it is this case which will define your career and this case that you will remember in the waning days of life. I hope you can find a way to side with the angels and become an answer to the prayers of thousands.”
Greer responded with a letter severing his relationship with the church.
by John Cole| 7 Comments
This post is in: Republican Stupidity
David Winston, a Republican ‘Strategist,’ was just on Connected Coast to Coast, and started his opposition to allowing Terri to die with the following:
“I think we can all agree that Michael Schaivo is a questionable character…”
No. NO! AND NO, DAMNIT! I don’t f-ing agree he is a questionable character. I think he is a normal guy who was very in love with his wife. His wife hid her bulimia from him, it is a disease that thrives on secrecy, and then had a heart attack which caused grievous amounts of brain damage. I think he then, for years, held out hope that she would recover, but then decided this was not possible, and has tried to carry through with what he believed, through conversation and experience, were his wife’s intent.
Along the way, he fell in love with someone else- not out of infidelity, because Terri is for all intents dead and always will be, but because he just did. Someone being a loving husband, decent caretaker, and good father- that is how these jackasses define ‘questionable character.’
None of us can live up to these standards. Lying hacks. All of them.
Fortunately, Ron Reagan and Craig Crawford jumped in and shut this crap down right quick.
Crawfor just had him for lunch again, when Winston tried to say this wasn’t a right-to-die case. It most certainly is- it is not a euthanasia case, Mr. Winston.
by John Cole| 11 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
Let’s just keep in mind that depsite my recent distaste for the behavior of Republicans, stupidity is still a bi-partisan issue. Exhibit A:
Does the “culture of life” extend to the victims of gun violence?
That’s the question critics are asking after President Bush’s contrasting responses to the two events dominating national attention this week.
Although Bush made a special trip back to Washington from vacation to sign legislation offering a new federal right of appeal to Terri Schiavo’s parents, the president and his aides have said almost nothing about the mass shooting in Red Lake, Minn.