Rep. J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.): “Folks, that’s the bottom line: It’s government-paid health care,” . “It’s a bad bill for a bad time, and it’s coming under the false pretenses of trying to do something for children.” Statements like that are why the Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006, and why Hastert is no longer House speaker. He’s talking, … Read More
We Can’t Account For Weapons?
At least 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005 cannot be accounted for, the Government Accountability Office concludes in a new report. The Pentagon "cannot fully account for about 110,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 80,000 pistols, 135,000 items of body armor and 115,000 helmets reported as issued to Iraqi forces." The weapons vanished from the ledgers as … Read More
Vox Populi (and Minneapolis Bridge Collapse Updates)
James Hafner of Coon Rapids, MN wrote a letter to the editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, complaining about the new Minnesota Twins stadium (the groundbreaking ceremony, now postponed, was to take place today). In his letter, Hafner wrote: It sure looks like Carl Pohlad and the Twins could have paid for the entire stadium project and had enough leftover to … Read More
Minneapolis Bridge Collapse
Cheryl doesn’t like driving over bridges. I could never understand that. But okay. Now I can a little. Think back a few weeks ago to the exploding steam pipe in the middle of Manhattan, and perhaps you’ll recognize that one of the big issues to face this country in the next decade or two is our aging infrastructure. Things are, … Read More
Public Airwaves
I know that FCC regulations sounds like a boring topic for a post, but so I’ll make this short and sweet, and tell you why you should care. Some background first. Come February 2009, all television transmissions must be digital. What this means is that BROADCAST television (you know, the kind where you need antennae and "rabbit ears") will cease … Read More
That’s Some Protective God You Got There, Judge Roy Moore
"Judge"* Roy Moore: That same providential God has sustained America through two world wars, the Cold War and several other conflicts around the world. Through economic depressions, natural disasters, acts of terrorism and political strife, He has been our strength and stability. Only blocks away from where Washington gave that first Inaugural Address, terrorists brought down the Twin Towers of … Read More
Obama v. Clinton
There’s an emerging meme going around about the salient difference between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Andrew Sullivan put his finger on it: One difference between Obama and Clinton does not seem to me to have been stressed enough. They are of different Democratic generations. Clinton is from the traumatized generation; Obama isn’t. Clinton has internalized to her bones the … Read More
Crime Spree
Clever idea for a book. I love it. Two guys go on a crime spree across America, and write a book about it. It’s entitled "You Can Get Arrested For That". The laws they broke? Stupid ones. For example, it is illegal in Chicago to go fishing in your pajamas. So…. In Pittsburgh, it is illegal to sleep on … Read More
Unintentional?
Heh: THE call letters KUNT have landed at a yet-unbuilt low-power digital television station in Wailuku, Maui. Alarmingly similar to a word the dictionary says is obscene, the call letters were among a 15-page list of new call letters issued by the Federal Communications Commission and released this week. The same station owner also received KWTF for a station in … Read More
For What It’s Worth, My IQ Is 149…
…which may explain certain things from my teen years: We think we may have found the answer in a study entitled “Smart Teens Don’t Have Sex (or Kiss Much Either).” It’s one of those studies that isn’t that surprising on the surface, but the devil’s always in the details, isn’t it? Here are some highlights: • Students with IQs above … Read More
Duh, Ya Think?
Too little, too late: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged on Tuesday he was wrong in 2005 when he insisted the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes." It was Cheney’s most direct public admission of how badly the administration had underestimated the strength of America’s enemies in the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.