Did You Know...

That Jon Voigt was out of his mind? Check out a snippet of this op-ed he wrote in the Washington Times:

"Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset.

The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America."

The good news? This totally gives me a chance to post up a pic of Angelina Jolie.

Roar.

More Honest Poltics

Now they're just being silly:

"Only a celebrity of Barack Obama's magnitude could attract 200,000 fans in Berlin who gathered for the mere opportunity to be in his presence. These are not supporters or even voters, but fans fawning over The One. Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day, demand "MET-RX chocolate roasted-peanut protein bars and bottles of a hard-to-find organic brew -- Black Forest Berry Honest Tea" and worry about the price of arugula."

I said it once, and I'll say it again: If McCain wins in this election then the US will have to be the DUMBEST country in the world.

This Video Makes Me Feel Like A Loser

But good at the same time. Just to note, I've been studying guitar and bass on an off for the last 10 years and I can barely play scales. This guy...well just check out the video:



Hat Tip: Dish.

Multi-Million Dollar Advice

Guess we now know why Hillary lost. She was listening to this idiot.

And here's the kicker...she paid him 4.3 million! That's not leadership I can believe in.

Asshole of the Day

Jesse Washington with his article, "Can minority journalists resist applauding Obama?"

I'm foaming at the mouth right now so I'll let MY inject the snark:

"Say what you will about Michelle Malkin, but I'm pretty sure she can resist applauding Obama. Meanwhile, can white journalists resist applauding John McCain? I'm sure a handful of them can, but McCain's received some instances of favorable press coverage over the years and the vast majority of that has come from white journalists."

Will McCain Credit the Surge For This?

From Atrios:

"The war is still over.

A suicide bomber helped kill at least 36 people and wounded 116 others after detonating explosives during a rally in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a police official told CNN.

Three female suicide bombers killed at least 29 people and wounded 85 others in central Baghdad, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. Most were Shiite pilgrims

On Sunday afternoon, seven pilgrims were gunned down in a town south of Baghdad."

Obama is right. The decrease in violence is because the Iraqis created a political solution that had little if anything to do with the surge. Pumping in 20,000 troops to a country the size of Texas was bound to have little effect, and even those sagacious 'generals' who have to be consulted on everything said that, ultimately, the problem of violence in Iraq would have to be solved through political means. It should be remembered that stuff like the above can happen at will in Iraq and the troops, who do perform admirably, can do little to stop it. Debating on how great the surge is really misses that point.

People Are A-Holes: Germany Speech Edition

So you're the first African-American candidate seriously considered for President of the United States. You're very popular world wide and following the advice of your opponent you decide to visit Iraq. And while you're out there you decide to make a lap around the rest of the middle east and Europe because the weather's nice and they're like important or something and you might have to like deal with them later. And while you're in Europe you decide to give a speech in Germany cause they have a really big space and you wanna talk to people cause people (200,000 in fact) want to hear you speak.

And so you give this speech, which is historical for many reasons: a black US Presidential candidate speaking across the sea talking to people who don't even speak his language and look, well, less tan, and you talk about coming together and you talk about fighting poverty and you talk about combating the terror of violence, of hunger, of suffering, and you compliment your audience on their accomplishments and you compliment your own country as well and you tell them that you're 'a citizen of the world', a way to bridge the gap between you and them. You're as eloquent and inspiring as you've always been and for the first time since 9/11 you see Europeans waving American flags rather than burning them.

For a moment shit seems pretty damned good.

So what happens then?

Well of course you're attacked and criticized.

This reminds me of that Chris Rock skit about how men can't satisfy women:



He calls himself a 'citizen of the world', oh he's saying he's too good or too big or too much for just America. He says he loves America, oh now he's ignoring the world. He doesn't wear a flag pin, oh now he's too good for us. He wears a flag pin, oh now he's pandering. He makes a good speech, he's too intelligent, he makes a bad speech...oh wait that hasn't happened, so he's an elitist.

If Obama discovered a cure for AIDS people would probably complain that the cure gives you headaches. I'm done.

A Response to Feist

Homothugs.

Conversation With the Wife

So last night I came across this article from Mickey Kaus regarding the supposed John Edwards' affair. I didn't really read it but knowing what a big fan of Edwards my wife is, I decided to play around with her. I went to the bedroom, where she was just about to fall asleep, and said:

Teethwriter: Hey honey, guess who had an affair and a love child?

Teethwife: I'm trying to sleep.

Teethwriter: Come on, guess.

Teethwife: I don't know. (Snicker) You?

Teethwriter: Har har. No, your favorite politician John Edwards.

Teethwife: I don't believe it. John Edwards wouldn't do that. (And yes, I swear to God that's what she said)

Teethwriter: They reported it in Slate.

Teethwife: Sounds like a National Enquirer story. Now let me go to sleep.

So I leave her and look more into the story, and guess what? It IS a National Enquier story! Seriously, is the Right now looking to the National Friggin Enquirer to dig up dirt on DEMs? If your source is the NE, it might be time to hand in that reporting badge or at least your credibility.

PS: Honestly though...I sorta do believe Edwards did it. A married man doesn't take such good care of their hair unless they're getting a piece on the side. Fortunately for me I shave my head.

Feist Takes Over the Earth

It wasn't enough that Apple already had everyone over the age of 16 singing that damned 1,2,3,4 song, now thanks to this appearance on Sesame Street every child in America will be singing it and then teaching it to their children--forever.

In other news John McCain will be on Sesame Street to sing the song S-U-R-G-E (100 years in Iraq).

Is Wrestling Still Fake?

I don't know, this looks real to me:


http://view.break.com/539758 - Watch more free videos

Hat Tip: Sully

Sen. Patrick Leahy Will Not Be Intimidated By Thugs

Yep that's him:



I can see his reelection slogan now: Sen. Leahy stood up against the Joker, what do you think he'll do in Congress?

Breaking the N-Word Down

Ta-Nehisi Coates nails it.

I'm a writer and thus words are sacred to me. I don't believe in censorship, even when I am offended, and thus I believe people should be able to use the n-word. That being said, everything has context and consequences, and just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it. Use it at your own risk.

Will the Media Discuss Uncle Joe's Jewish Problem?

Looks who's more popular among Jews:

"Among the most high-profile Jews in Congress, Lieberman is viewed far more unfavorably than the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to a new poll. Only 37 percent of Jews view the Connecticut Independent in a favorable light compared to 48 percent who have a negative perception. As for Obama, 60 percent of Jews view him favorably while 34 percent view him unfavorably."

To be fair though, Lieberman's not popular among Democrats, Republicans, whites, blacks, Latinos, Cylons, Terminators...

Is Obama's World Tour a Success?

John Cole seems to think so:

"And one last point, one that seems to not be mentioned enough. All of this, everything positive that is happening for Obama on this trip- the coverage, the schmoozing of the media and the glowing coverage that will follow, the framing of Obama as capable to act on a world stage, etc., all of this is a direct result of an unforced error on the part of the GOP and the McCain campaign. They were the ones who demanded he go there. They were the kids who thought it would be cute to place a countdown ticker on their websites. I bet they disappear that bad boy pretty quick."

Looks to me that Obama is outwitting McCain every step of the way. I wonder if McCain will sound like Teddy KGB the day after the election:

The Obama-Maliki Thing Made Simple

From Elliot:

"Wow, take a break from the computer and television for a weekend, and look what I missed: The Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri al-Maliki, has basically endorsed the Obama plan for setting a withdrawal goal of 2010. The government of Iraq just walked up and kicked the McCain Campaign right in the nutsack. That's going to leave a mark."

That's probably why McCain's crew is set on the Super-Spin cycle. I'd say this makes a difference, but people probably don't care what Maliki thinks even if the happen to know who he is.

By the Way...

For those of you that thought that Greg Norman might win the British Open, you forgot one key fact...

He's Greg F'ing Norman!!!!

How Hard is it to Become Batman?

Apparently, it's pretty hard. But not as hard as being Batman.

For me Batman is cooler, but being as lazy as I am--I better be Superman. Less work, more flying.

How Deep Is Your Website?

According to Hilzoy, Obama's is much MUCH more deep than McCain. What a shock.

And Speaking of Superheroes...

...or rather Super-Villains, was I the only one who was surprised by the end of Dr. Horrible? Talk about dark! But it was precisely that conclusion that gave it some profundity. I liked it, and the music was pretty good too, that is, er, if you like music...

It sucks that you can't watch it on the web anymore, but for 4 bucks it's worth the itunes download.

The Dark Knight

No surprise, The Dark Knight was the winner at the box office this weekend trouncing its competition. It set the record for opening weekend sales coming in for 155 million. Second place was taken by Mamma Mia! which made 27.6 million.

And yes I saw it, and I thought it was phenomenal. I can't say much more about Heath Ledger than what's been said already, but what really got me was the depth of Chris Nolan's script that brought out the nuances in all of it's characters. More than just the best superhero movie, this deserves the mantle of the best movie of 2008. Sorry Tony Stark.

PS: To echo Orr and MY this was NOT a PG-13 movie.

The Most Awesome Blog Thread Ever

In response to criticism about blogs from David Appell, who says most blogs are worthless, MY ups the ante and wholeheartedly agrees:

"The only thing I have to say to defend myself from those charges is that I don't think the post was really about why I suck, it was about why the punditsphere as a whole sucks with me just as a prominent example. And he's right. To gain any worthwhile information about any topic whatsoever, you need to be reading the work of someone with real expertise. To develop real expertise requires years of study, research, etc. And years of study, research, etc. can't be adequately condensed into a blog post. Thus, blog reading is a completely worthless exercise and nobody should really engage in it. I started writing this blog as a hobby; I thought it would be a fun thing to do. And I not only continue to enjoy writing it, but people pay me to write it. But the mere fact that I'm writing it doesn't make it a worthwhile thing to read, which is why the overwhelming majority of Americans have never read this blog and never will."

To add to the irony Jason Zengerle then links to the above posts adding "amen" to the end of his, which then leads me to blog about it making this thread quite possibly the greatest waste of my time ever! Man, if this was any more awesome I'd be a ninja.

Quote of the Day

From Gib, on my post on Hancock:

"It's perfectly acceptable summer fare - it's fun, it's quick, and it's your duty as an American to see Will Smith movies that come out on the 4th."

:)

Question

I think I know the answer to Cole's question:

"One of the things I don’t understand about the whole McCain contraception/viagra thing this week is why insurance agencies wouldn’t want to provide coverage for birth control.

"Pregnancy costs lots of money and medical care, and that is if there are no complications. Babies cost money. Not only does pregnancy and the ensuing birth cost money, as every insurance policy I have been part of would offer coverage to dependents, doesn’t that mean the insurance company is also on the hook for the next 18 years? Not only do they have to pay for the pregnancy and the birth, but then they also get to eat every single health care cost for a child. Every e-room visit because they wrecked their bike and broke their arm. Every doctor’s visit for strep throat. And so on.

"So putting aside all the other issues (should government tell companies what they can cover, etc.), what I don’t understand is why WOULDN’T an insurance company want to provide birth control. From where I am sitting, it looks a helluva lot cheaper. Adding to that, why WOULD they want to provide coverage for viagra, as that will possibly lead to… more expensive babies.
Could someone break this down for me- is this just something in the actuarial modeling that I do not know, and that it is cheaper to deny birth control than it is to take the chance on paying for pregnancies? Or is it really just as simple as there would be a boomer riot if they had to pay for Viagra, but there is no such comparable pressure from people who would use birth control?"

Here was my comment:

Simple answer. They want women to have children, and are willing to pay the cost for the kid, because eventually...that kid grows up to get health insurance so the company can eventually screw them out of their money and the wheels on the bus go round and round.

Also this explains why they cover the V-pill--more kids.

Later on I'll be solving that middle east problem.

Those Damn Gay Nazis

Jesus knows this, this I know:

"Part II: In today's program Brannon exposes that lie that Hitler killed homosexuals. Even a homosexual writer admits that is false. Some of Hitler's inner circle were homosexual and bi-sexual. The Brown Shirts started as a homosexual and bisexual organization."

Obviously, that explains this:

Media Orgasm

Ambers:

"The press has a pretty good idea of Barack Obama's overseas schedule, although we've been asked to keep the details private for the moment and we don't know when he's going to Iraq and Afghanistan. Right now, swarms of Democratic advance folks are in Europe or traveling there, and the pressure on them to produce flawless events will be acute.

"Obama's trip to Europe will be a huge event...maybe as big as his convention, maybe as big as a debate. Sheer curiosity will translate into enormous crowds, even as most of Obama's events will be small and pooled. The European press will go ga-ga, uncritically. If Obama does speak at the Brandenburg gate -- and it's unclear whether he will at this point -- you could envision a crowd of more than 200,000 watching and cheering him."

So it's no surprise that Bush is pushing his weight around to stop him. By the way, doesn't it seem a bit ironic that Obama is going to attract such a huge crowd in Germany? Man what a difference 60 years makes.

The Hipster Timeline of Hip-Hop

Yep, just about sums that up. Happy gentrification everyone!

Hat Tip: Sound Taste

How Good Are Companies at Self-Regulating?

According to this they're very good at discovering what will hurt people. It's just...they don't care:

"The sordid saga of elevated formaldehyde levels in the trailers supplied to Katrina victims is the kind of incident that makes you shake your head in awe at the shameful behavior of damn near everyone involved: The trailor manufacturers knew their products had unsafe levels of formaldehyde. One company, Gulf Stream Coach, even conducted internal tests on the issue back in 2006--but then hushed up the findings as "irrelevant" since FEMA apparently already knew about the problem.

"FEMA, meanwhile, did nothing with its knowledge--except reject Gulf Stream Coach's later offer to run addtional tests.

"Better still, corporate chiefs (and some Republican congressmen, of course) are now insisting that the trailer makers, despite knowing that their products were unsafe, should not bear any of the responsibility, because the government should have been clearer in establishing binding, consistent air-quality standards. "Instead of beating up manufacturers, we ought to give them a little vote of confidence," recommended Indiana's Dan Burton, citing the dearth of formaldehyde complaints pre-2006.

"Whatever else this line of argument accomplishes, it certainly draws into question that whole notion of self-regulation by industry. These manufacturers knew their products posed a health hazard. They had even conducted tests to prove it! But they apparently didn't feel compelled to do anything about the risk, because they hadn't been specifically ordered to by the federal government. Can't you just hear the board meeting debate now: Well, if the government isn't going to tell us exactly how far we must go to stop poisoning consumers, why on earth should we bother to try?

Katrina and FEMA: the disasters that keeps on hurting.

Hancock?

Stuff like this piques my interest.

Though it should be noted that Will Smith, historically, doesn't do his best work on Independance Day weekend.

What a Cakehole

Not a joke:

"President George Bush signed off with a defiant farewell over his refusal to accept global climate change targets at his last G8 summit.

"As he prepared to fly out from Japan, he told his fellow leaders: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

Cobra Commander has more tact. Please God, give me an impeachment for my birthday.

File This Under...

I'll believe it when I see it:

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this morning that the House Judiciary Committee may hold hearings on an impeachment resolution offered by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio).

"Kucinich is expected to offer a "privileged resolution" this afternoon calling on the House to look at whether President Bush should be removed from office for lying to Congress and the American public when he sought congressional approval back in 2002 for taking military action to invade Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein.

"Pelosi has said previously that impeachment "was off the table," so her comments this morning were surprising, and clearly signaled a new willingness to entertain the idea of ousting Bush, although no one in the Democratic leadership believes that is likely since the president has only six months left in this term."

I'd love for this to be true but, as John Cole recounts, the Dems haven't exactly been icons of opposition for a while.

Blowback?

If this is true, and sadly I can't see why it wouldn't be, then Pat Buchannan needs to lose his jobs:

"Pat Buchanan Advertises His Book On Neo-Nazi Radio Show


"You read that right. On June 29th, MSNBC personality and three-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan appeared on a neo-Nazi radio program to promote his new revisionist history of the Second World War, Churchill, Hitler, and the Unnecessary War: How Britain Lost Its Empire and the West Lost the World. James Edwards is the host of the program "Political Cesspool," the stated mission of which is to "represent a philosophy that is pro-White." Edwards and his colleauges seek "to revive the White birthrate above replacement level fertility and beyond to grow the percentage of Whites in the world relative to other races" and believe that "Secession is a right of all people and individuals. It was successful in 1776 and this show honors those who tried to make it successful in 1865."

"According to the researchers at the Anti-Defamation League, who listened to the show, Buchanan defended Charles Lindbergh, saying, "…his reputation has been blackened because of a single speech he gave and a couple of paragraphs in it where he said that … the Jewish community is beating the drums for war … but frankly, no one has said what he said was palpably untrue."

"Buchanan is in good company. Perusing the guest list of Political Cesspool, one sees Willis Carto, (perhaps the most prominent anti-Semite in America), Mark Weber (Director of the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust denial outfit) and Jared Taylor, the editor of American Renaissance, a eugenicist publication. A political cesspool indeed. Calling Buchanan a "brownshirt" a few weeks ago may have seemed a little impertinent at the time, but it's entirely accurate.


"As someone with an interest in the far-right and who has been following Buchanan's career for quite some time now, none of this is particularly surprising to me. What is surprising is that this man continues to fill airtime on MSNBC."

I don't know quite what makes me sicker; the fact that Buchannan did a neo-nazi show, or that this story was reported by James Kirchick who, in a recent bloggingheads episode with Matt Yglesias said that both Jesse Helms and Jimmy Carter were "malevolent forces in the United States." Ok, the former makes me sicker.

Grudging Respect

After reading this posting from Swampland, I suppose I have to give Lil' Wayne is due.

Nutty News Of the Day

Yeah, I'm not one for calling the Eucharist 'the magic cracker', but this seems really over the top:

"Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn’t eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it. Catholics worldwide became furious.

"Webster’s friend, who didn’t want to show his face, said he took the Eucharist, to show him what it meant to Catholics.

"Webster gave the wafer back, but the Catholic League, a national watchdog organization for Catholic rights claims that is not enough. “We don’t know 100% what Mr. Cooks motivation was,” said Susan Fani a spokesperson with the local Catholic diocese. “However, if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like this might be it.”"

The, "We don't know 100% what Mr. Cooks motivation was..." irks me. Hey! Let's convict someone without looking at the evidence or giving him due process seems rather, I don't know, anti-American, or otherwise known as par for the course in the Bush admistration.

The Ultimate American Contest

I was wondering who'd won the great gluttony game this year:

"NEW YORK (AP) — Joey Chestnut achieved frankfurter immortality Friday, outdueling his celebrated Japanese rival in an epic hot-dog eating contest that pushed both of the gluttonous gladiators to the brink.

"In a seesaw struggle for the ages, Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi each consumed an eye-popping 59 hot dogs in 10 minutes, forcing an unprecedented showdown that tested the very depths of their distended stomachs.

"Under the glare of ESPN and facing a boisterous and sweaty crowd of thousands on Coney Island, Chestnut, the reigning champ, and Kobayashi, the six-time title holder, were forced to gobble down another five hot dogs in overtime."

Profile in Courage

I wish we had some democrats with this kind of grit:

"RALEIGH - L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.


"Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

"When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff."

Some of Helms' disgusting positions can be found here and here. He was not a man to be memorialized, he was a man to be forgotten.

Hat Tip: Sully

Quote of the Day

From Sanchez:

"DC is full of relatively affluent, educated white people and a mix of middle-class and crushingly poor black people. The historical reasons for this scarcely need rehearsing. And as a rule, affluent educated people do not go around robbing poor people with guns. That’s what lobbyists are for."

More Bushisms

The man is shameless:

"Well: he needs to given his own view of religion in politics. Here's the president's citation from Jefferson in his speech at Monticello on July 4:


"In one of the final letters of his life, he wrote, "May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

"Here's the original:


"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government."

If I did something like this in school I'd be brought up in front of disciplinary committee. Bush does it and he gets a pat on the head for being able to form a sentence.

Qualifications to be President

I've often thought that one of the greatest qualifications for President is managerial experience, and you discover what candidate has it based on how they run their campaign. If this is any indication of McCain's skill then we're looking at another keystone cop administration.

The Door Opens

Iraq again asks for a US timetable for withdrawal:

"BAGHDAD (AP) -- Iraq's national security adviser said Tuesday his country will not accept any security deal with the United States unless it contains specific dates for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces.


"The comments by Mouwaffak al-Rubaie were the strongest yet by an Iraqi official about the deal now under negotiation with U.S. officials. They came a day after Iraq's prime minister first said publicly that he expects the pending troop deal with the United States to have some type of timetable for withdrawal.

"President Bush has said he opposes a timetable. The White House said Monday it did not believe Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was proposing a rigid timeline for U.S. troop withdrawals."

Of course McCain isn't hearing none of it since his budget now depends on 'victory' in Iraq and Afghanistan which means that whether they like it or not we have to stay there until we 'win', whatever that means.

Irony Alert

"Bush: Russia's new president is 'smart guy'"

Sorry I Said Anything

Sigh. McCain vs. Clark day four:

"Three things have prolonged this story. First, Wes Clark's decision to not only not apologize but to keep appearing on TV to discuss the matter, which he did yesterday. Then, Obama's decision to not only not urge Clark to stand down but to say that the portion of his patriotism speech Monday in which he said no veteran should have his service questioned wasn't actually intended as a rebuke to Clark. And finally McCain's decision last night to shift gears from his "I want to talk about the issues" posture."I think it's up to Sen. Obama now to not only repudiate him, but to cut him loose," McCain told reporters aboard his plane en route to Colombia."

Do I think Clark should have said what he said? No. Do I think what he said was outrageous? No. Do I think the media should give McCain a pulpit for his 'outrage'? Hell no.

Could we just push up the election already?

Me On Yglesias On Steele

If I'm hearing MY right then I think Steele's an ass. Here's just as few of the things MY heard Steele say that irritate me like a nude walk through Poison Ivy:

"Says on a panel "white Americans have made more moral progress in the last forty years than any people in the history of the human conditions.""

"Continuing with my Shelby Steele blogging, he went into what I thought was a really unfair attack on Barack Obama, drawing an invidious comparison between Obama and John McCain and Hillary Clinton on the grounds that we don't really know who he is. Instead, says Steele, Obama is running on a vague sense that he's a talented politician and a black guy. At first I thought he was going to take this in an unverifiably airy direction, but then he specifically said of McCain that if he's elected "we know what road that guy’s going to go down" whereas we don't know the same for Obama."

I thought about writing something to counter that, but time is too short to respond to BS.

Questions and Answers

Sully and others are confused by Obama's stance on gay marriage. On one hand he opposes it (but contends they should have civil unions) but on the other hand he defends California's ruling for gay marriage. Sanchez has a solution that makes perfect sense to me:

"As a very loose analogy, you can consider the position I think a fair number of people take on something like flag burning: They don’t like it, and they might be perfectly happy to have statutes banning it. However, given that the Supreme Court has determined that flag burning is a form of expression protected by the First Amendment, amending the Constitution to create exceptions in the First Amendment seems like a bad idea to them. Now, this isn’t quite my own position, since I think flag burning, like any number of other forms of offensive expression, ought to be protected. That said, if the Supreme Court had decided, on fairly narrow grounds, that flag burning fell into some recognized category of non-protected speech, I don’t know that I’d consider this an intolerable and crippling blow to our expressive rights, even though I’d disagree with the outcome. I would find it far more disturbing if we set a precedent that when the Court rules to protect speech that enough Americans find outrageous, we’ll have a big partisan push to change the Constitution. The underlying idea here is that, important as the case by case determination of the scope of certain fundamental rights is, what’s even more important is the structural principle that these determinations should not be a popularity contest, and ought to be isolated from cyclical politics to a great extent.


"I think that’s probably the reasoning that best accounts for the language Obama used, though I can think of a slightly different route to a similar conclusion. That is, you might think we shouldn’t grant marriage rights to gay couples where they don’t exist, but oppose taking those rights away in places where they’ve already been granted, and especially where gay couples have already begun to marry."

I mentioned before that Obama seems to have a nuanced and subtle view of legal issues, and this seems to fall in line with that. Ultimately though it seems that he has enough respect for the law as to honor it even when it doesn't coincide with his POV. That's enough reason for me to vote for him.

Netflix Pick of the Week

Check this out. Usually I hate Colin Farrell, who I think is about as overrated as this guy, but he kills in this movie. Funny, sad, thought provoking, and entertaining, In Bruges was one of the best movies of the year.

And yeah, I was in Bruges, and yeah, it is a shit hole. A beautiful shit hole, but as dull as a bowling ball.

The Bag I'm In

I feel Atrios' pain:

"One thing about blogging during the campaign is that you end up pissing people off on all sides. There are those who, understandably, think it's vitally important that Barack Obama be elected and so important that asshole bloggers like me should refrain from any and all criticism lest my mighty blog powers cause Obama to fail. And there are those that get mad because I'm completely in the tank and don't criticize Obama enough. And everyone in between."

And if you heard my dad's opinion of me when I criticize Obama you'd think I was Sean Hannity. What can you do?

As You Will

Here's an interesting stat about gun violence I didn't know. From Sully:

"Suicides accounted for 55% of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Do with it as you will.

And About What Clark Said

Sully has his comments here, and Kiko takes the other side here. I left some comments under K's post, but basically I wasn't too down with Clark's tone, or even the fact of why he should bring it up in the first place. No, I don't think it's a 'swiftboat' but it's heading in that direction. Is this really where Obama wants to go?

I think Marc is right on this point:

"Critics of McCain have used the same verbiage before, and used it as an insult. Historians and journalists who study the events will first notice that McCain spent five years as a POW; surely, that is the relevant fact, not the way he became a POW. One focuses on the means of his condition only to degrade the subsequent five years, as if to say, yeah, five years of torture was bad, but it was kinda dumb of him to get shot down. Referring to the shoot down strips away the relevant context: McCain was shot down on a daring combat mission whose target, as I recall, was strategically relevant. It wasn’t as if he wandered into Viet Cong airspace and was hit by a stray piece of metal. (By the way – and this is important – McCain admits in both the books he wrote about his Vietnam experience that he wasn’t a great aviator. So why even make the point?)"

Obama and Evangelicals

Sure you wanna go down this path?