Tired of blogging.
Who Will Vet the Vetters of The People Vetting the People Vetting Obama’s VP?
Via Memeorandum, Jim Johnson steps down:
Obama and his campaign staunchly defended Jim Johnson against the charge that his ties to troubled mortgage lender Countrywide disqualified him from sitting on Obama’s vice presidential search committee, but Johnson just pulled the plug: He resigned as chairman of the steering committee just now.
“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept. We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process,” Obama said in a statement.
If prior to reading this post, you had no clue who Jim Johnson was, don’t worry, you are not alone. In fact, if you polled the country, about half of them would ask if you were talking about the former Cowboys coach, the other half would have no clue. Which is to say this is a story about nothing. The cable news channels might talk about it for a minute or two, and I am sure someone in the GOP will gloat over this before strapping on a wetsuit tonight, but this is really no big deal (although probably a sign of what is to come in the next few months- it will be hard to keep up with all of it). The only thing that matters is who the VP choice will be, not who vetted the choice. Quick: Who vetted John Edwards? Al Gore? No fair using google. The only reason some people remember who vetted Dick Cheney is because it was… Dick Cheney. How is that working out for the country?
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I Guess We Can Rule Out A Supreme Court Appointment
One of the highest-ranking federal judges in the United States, who is currently presiding over an obscenity trial in Los Angeles, has maintained a publicly accessible website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.
Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, acknowledged in an interview with The Times that he had posted the materials, which included a photo of naked women on all fours painted to look like cows and a video of a half-dressed man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal. Some of the material was inappropriate, he conceded, although he defended other sexually explicit content as “funny.”
Judge Kozinski, if you will remember, is the fellow who issued the scathing dissent in the US v Ramirez-Lopez (.pdf) that was so effective that even though the government won the appeal, they dropped the case. More here on Kozinski.
As a side note, I really don’t care what kind of freaky porn people are into, but if you are in public office you should probably know better than to do stuff like this. Even by accident.
*** Update ***
I do like this quote, though:
Kozinski told the LAT that he didn’t think any of the material he posted on his website would qualify as obscene. “Is it prurient? I don’t know what to tell you,” he said. “I think it’s odd and interesting. It’s part of life.”
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More Fun at the McCain Store
This place is the gift that keeps on giving. Via the comments section at the GOS, we see that you can also purchase the McCain Nautical Lapel Pin for the modest price of $200.00:
Take it away, GOS:
The flippin’ $200 boat lapel pin (what’s this, a yacht tax?), spells his initials with nautical flags. Thing is, nautical flags also refer to conditions. The flags mean:
J – Juliet – On Fire, Keep Clear
S – Sierra – Engines Going Astern
M – Mike – I Am StoppedPerfect metaphor for the whole dang campaign.
We rate this a “Heh-Indeedy!”
I Don’t Remember This John Kerry
Maybe it is because I am wholly and completely in the tank for Obama and I am filtering things differently, but I do not remember John Kerry being this aggressive:
John Kerry, who’s served in the past as Obama’s heavy-hitter on national security, expressed incredulity at McCain’s remark this morning that the timing of troops return is “not too important.”
“It is unbelievably out of touch and inconsistent with the needs of Americans and particularly the families of troops who are over there. To them it’s the most important thing in the world when they come home,” he said. “It’s a policy for staying in Iraq.”
Kerry and Obama aide Susan Rice also both said McCain is “confused” — a line some in McCain’s camp will surely take as a shot at the candidate’s age.
I remember him making a comment last week that sounded strident (I forgot to blog about it, but I remember saying “ouch” when I heard him utter it), and then there is this conference call in which Kerry was again on the attack. Is this a new and improved aggressive John Kerry, or am I predisposed to think of his comments more positively now that he is an Obama surrogate? Did he learn from 2004, or is he just a better surrogate than he was candidate (I know some people are terrible at defending themselves, but great at defending others).
*** Update ***
More aggressiveness here.
*** update #2 ***
I just watched Kerry rip into him on MSNBC- “John McCain admitted he does not know much about the economy, but now he is proving he does not know much about our Middle East policy.”
And I swear he looked like he was enjoying himself. More of this, Democrats.
Running Out of Hybrids
Time to ramp up production:
Even as car buyers stampede for vehicles with better fuel mileage, there are fewer hybrids, the gas-stingiest, to go around.
While sales of conventional small cars soared last month, sales of the most popular gas-electric hybrids were flat or down because dealers had fewer left. There was plenty of demand, but hybrid assembly plants are running as fast as they can, and some are short of components, particularly batteries.
When hybrids first came out, I wondered if they would ever really catch on, as the history of the American consumer love affair with the car has had one clear trend- every year the cars have more and more horsepower. There is just something visceral about the American love affair with the car, and you see it with the vehicles that the American car manufacturers put out year after year- new Mustangs, hemis, SUV’s, etc. The need for a giant vehicle penis is something I never really understood, and in fact I have lived for several years without a car in a place that has sub-optimal public transportation. To each his own, but cars are just not something that motivate me or interest me that much- when I think of a car, I think of an expensive pain in the ass. Others, to say the least, think otherwise.
At any rate, I always wondered if hybrids would take off with the masses- of course, I was aware there would be a tipping point with gas prices, but I wanted to know if people would feel “cool” in a hybrid like they do in current gas guzzlers. That question was answered the other day while on the bus riding to work, and I looked out and saw a kid with a mullet and a Steelers jersey, riding in a Toyota Prius with WV plates playing air guitar to his obviously loud stereo while sitting at a red light.
As gas prices continue to rise and then stabilize at a price that puts our casual use of gasoline financially out of reach for most Americans, I bet we will simply redefine what is considered “cool” when it comes to cars. I predict it will be gadgetry or the like in the interior, but in 20 years we will probably look back at the cars of the past few decades (60’s-present) in sort of a quizzical “WTF WERE WE THINKING?” kind of way.
Is There No Room For Common Sense Anymore?
New guidelines for who can be deployed to a combat zone:
The U.S. military command that oversees troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan wants to make it harder for combat commanders to send medically unfit troops to war zones, according to a proposal reviewed by USA TODAY.
The proposal from Central Command would add 16 medical conditions that would bar troops from deploying for combat duty. It would toughen a 2½-year-old rule requiring combat commanders to seek a waiver before sending troops who need medical care to a war zone.
At first, this seems like a rather mundane policy change, the kind that takes place in the military all the time. As times change, standards are altered, policies changed. However, if you keep reading the story, you see this:
Last year, 36 soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division from Fort Carson, Colo., were sent to war with medical problems, an investigation by the Army inspector general shows. Commanders sought no waivers for the 36 soldiers, according to the report released under a Freedom of Information Act request.
Six soldiers deployed with health problems were ultimately sent home. Two had shoulder injuries, two had mental health problems, one had a groin injury and a sixth could not carry a weapon, according to the investigative report.
Since last July, the Army sought deployment waivers for 22 soldiers with medical problems, Army spokesman Paul Boyce says.
Couldn’t carry a weapon? Was the CO of this unit brought up on charges? That sounds like complete and total insanity to me, and the notion that only 22 soldiers ARMY-WIDE have had waivers filed for them seems to be a bit on the low side.
What is going on (obligatory “You go to war with the Army you have” reference)?
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