"congenitally unable to govern"

Lefty Jonathon Chait in The New Republic:

Why the Democrats Can't Govern

The last Democrat who held the White House, Bill Clinton, saw the core of his domestic agenda come to ruin, his political support collapse, and his failure spawn a massive Republican resurgence that made progressive reform impossible for a decade to come. The Democrat who last held the White House before that, Jimmy Carter, saw the exact same thing happen to him.

At this early date, nobody can know whether or not Barack Obama will escape this fate. But the contours of failure are now clearly visible. In Obama's case, as with his predecessors, the prospective culprit is the same: Democrats in Congress, and especially the Senate. At a time when the country desperately needs a coherent response to the array of challenges it faces, the congressional arm of the Democratic Party remains mired in fecklessness, parochialism, and privilege. Obama has made mistakes, as did his predecessors. Yet the constant recurrence of legislative squabbling and drift suggests a deeper problem than any characterological or tactical failures by these presidents: a congressional party that is congenitally unable to govern.

I think Obama and Pelosi deserve at least as much blame as Reid or the Senate in general, but given the source this is an interesting take anyway.

The euphemism treadmill

This passage from a James Taranto piece on the Obama administration's silly decision to stop using the term "enemy combatants" to describe enemy combatants.

The president is shrewdly employing what evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker calls the "euphemism treadmill," described in a 2001 MIT press release about a Pinker speech:

Why have the San Diego and Boston city councils recently banned the word "minority" as derogatory, when its literal meaning is neutral? He suggested this exemplified a "euphemism treadmill," in which a word for an emotionally charged concept is replaced, in hopes of redefining people's attitudes toward the concept. But instead, the new word becomes tainted, prompting the search for yet another fresh word, and so on.

Pinker said linguists had already noted the process with concepts as diverse as toilets ("lavatories, bathrooms, restrooms"), disabilities ("crippled, handicapped, disabled, challenged"), and old folks ("elderly, golden agers, senior citizens"). Thus, "Negro" became "black," which led to "African American"; "Oriental" became "Asian"; "Hispanic" became "Latino." This shows that changing a word is not enough to change attitudes, and indicates how far we have to go in achieving racial progress, he said. "We know we will have achieved equality and mutual respect when terms for ethnic minorities stay put."

Of course we've all taken notice of this phenomenon, and probably even made fun of it. But I never knew the official name for it (other then the, yes, euphemism "political correctness").

I'm not sure what they plan to call them now. The Europress prefers "youths," and I have to admit that the thought of Obama using that is delicious.

Smoothies, etc

Following up on an earlier item, our long national (err, New Jersey-an) nightmare is over…the Brazilian wax is back in the Garden State! I love his comment: “The last thing we needed were back-alley bikini waxes.”

So it’s again safe to vacation in New Jersey…assuming Cleveland is booked or something.

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Stan Van Gundy was right to be bitter about a three second violation called on Dwight Howard - with less than 10 seconds left in a game in Cleveland that the Magic trailed by 2 – which led him to say, “You won't see that call again. That, I guarantee you. You will not see, with the game on the line, a 3-second call in the last 10 seconds. That's part of the reason they're 30-1 at home. They're a very good team, and when you get calls like that [expletive], you're in pretty good shape.”

It turns out that in around 10,000 games since 2002, there has never been a three second call in the last minute of a game that is 3 points or closer. In fact, there have only been 22 three-second calls even in the final minute, and all but three of those were from games in which a team had a lead of at least seven points.

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Trade war update:
“When the U.S. closed the southern border to Mexican trucking last week -- in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- Mexico promised to retaliate. Yesterday it did, releasing a list of 89 U.S. products that will face new tariffs of 10% to 45%.”

Putting the interests of the Teamsters ahead of the American people, and in particular California/Oregon/Washington (and, oddly enough, Wisconsin) citizens…great plan! I’m sure they can afford any job losses that result from decreased exports.

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The green vision: a leading environmental adviser to British PM Gordon Brown says that half of Brits need to die. For the good of the planet, you know.

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The great Thomas Sowell on the economic crisis:

“…our present economic crisis has developed out of politicians providing solutions to problems that did not exist— and, as a result, producing a problem whose existence is all too real and all too painful.

What was the problem that didn't exist? It was a national problem of unaffordable housing. The political crusade for affordable housing got into high gear in the 1990s and led to all kinds of changes in mortgage lending practices, which in turn led to a housing boom and bust that has left us in the mess we are now trying to dig out of. “

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Dwight Howard has 10 games of 15 rebounds and 5 blocks this year. The rest of the league combined has 4.

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I did not see this play, but from KD’s description it sounds like a classic:

[Sebastian Telfair] was also credited with an offensive foul (and, by extension, a turnover) for fouling Chris Paul while he was passing.

I'll repeat, and expound. Sebastian Telfair made a two handed kick-out pass from the left elbow, part of his arm grazed Paul, and Telfair was called for the foul. I've never seen that, at any level. He fouled him, while passing the ball.

It may have been the worst call I've ever seen. And I have a film projector that plays a clip of Scottie Pippen's "foul" on Hubert Davis in my darkened den, 24 hours a day. Silently.

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The Kings were 0-28 against the Eastern Conference before somehow sprinting out to a 15-0 lead over the Knicks in the Garden and going on to blow them out 121-94 (they subsequently lost to Philly at home to finish the year 1-29). They are a reasonable 14-26 against the West.

Following up on an earlier item, our long national (err, New Jersey-an) nightmare is over…the Brazilian wax is back in the Garden State! I love his comment: “The last thing we needed were back-alley bikini waxes.”

So it’s again safe to vacation in New Jersey…assuming Cleveland is booked or something.

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Stan Van Gundy was right to be bitter about a three second violation called on Dwight Howard - with less than 10 seconds left in a game in Cleveland that the Magic trailed by 2 – which led him to say, “You won't see that call again. That, I guarantee you. You will not see, with the game on the line, a 3-second call in the last 10 seconds. That's part of the reason they're 30-1 at home. They're a very good team, and when you get calls like that [expletive], you're in pretty good shape.”

It turns out that in around 10,000 games since 2002, there has never been a three second call in the last minute of a game that is 3 points or closer. In fact, there have only been 22 three-second calls even in the final minute, and all but three of those were from games in which a team had a lead of at least seven points.
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-38-337/That-Was-a-Rare-Three-Second-Call.html

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Trade war update:
“When the U.S. closed the southern border to Mexican trucking last week -- in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement -- Mexico promised to retaliate. Yesterday it did, releasing a list of 89 U.S. products that will face new tariffs of 10% to 45%.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123742090606978583.html#mod=djemEditorialPage

Putting the interests of the Teamsters ahead of the American people, and in particular California/Oregon/Washington (and, oddly enough, Wisconsin) citizens…great plan! I’m sure they can afford any job losses that result from decreased exports.

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The green vision: a leading environmental advisor to British OM Gordon Brown says that half of Brits need to die. For the good of the planet, you know.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5950442.ece

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The great Thomas Sowell on the economic crisis:

“…our present economic crisis has developed out of politicians providing solutions to problems that did not exist— and, as a result, producing a problem whose existence is all too real and all too painful.

What was the problem that didn't exist? It was a national problem of unaffordable housing. The political crusade for affordable housing got into high gear in the 1990s and led to all kinds of changes in mortgage lending practices, which in turn led to a housing boom and bust that has left us in the mess we are now trying to dig out of. “
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/sowell031709.php3?printer_friendly

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Dwight Howard has 10 games of 15 rebounds and 5 blocks this year. The rest of the league combined has 4.

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I did not see this play, but from KD’s description it sounds like a classic:
[Sebastian Telfair] was also credited with an offensive foul (and, by extension, a turnover) for fouling Chris Paul while he was passing.
I'll repeat, and expound. Sebastian Telfair made a two handed kick-out pass from the left elbow, part of his arm grazed Paul, and Telfair was called for the foul. I've never seen that, at any level. He fouled him, while passing the ball.
It may have been the worst call I've ever seen. And I have a film projector that plays a clip of Scottie Pippen's "foul" on Hubert Davis in my darkened den, 24 hours a day. Silently.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Behind-the-Box-Score-where-NOLA-knows?urn=nba,149080

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The Kings were 0-28 against the Eastern Conference before somehow sprinting out to a 15-0 lead over the Knicks in the Garden and going on to blow them out 121-94 (they subsequently lost to Philly at home to finish the year 1-29).

Dumb and Dumber

Obama’s silly gift to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Best Buy collection of 25 classic American movies on DVD, drew a ton of abuse on blogs, as you would expect. Included among the slams was a suggestion that the president and his minions might not know that North American formatted DVDs would not play in Europe, and everybody had a good laugh at the joke that they could be so dumb.

Well, turns out it’s not so funny, because they really are that Clueless:

While not exactly a film buff, Gordon Brown was touched when Barack Obama gave him a set of 25 classic American movies - including Psycho, starring Anthony Perkins on his recent visit to Washington. Alas, when the PM settled down to begin watching them the other night, he found there was a problem.

The films only worked in DVD players made in North America and the words "wrong region" came up on his screen. Although he mournfully had to put the popcorn away, he is unlikely to jeopardise the special relationship - or "special partnership", as we are now supposed to call it - by registering a complaint.

Good thing we have sophisticated international travelers running things now, instead of those Texas yokels, huh?

Demagoguing education

From factcheck.org, some lies used by Oabam to make his case for funneling more money into public schools (read: teacher's unions).

* The high school dropout rate hasn't "tripled in the past 30 years," as Obama claimed. According to the Department of Education, it has actually declined by a third.

* Eighth-grade math scores haven't "fallen" to ninth place compared with other countries. U.S. scores have climbed to that ranking from as low as 28th place in 1995.

* Obama also set a goal "of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world" by 2020. But in terms of bachelor's degrees, we're nearly there. The U.S. is already second only to Norway in the percentage of adults age 25 to 64 with a four-year degree, and trails by just 1 percentage point.

AIG bonuses should be paid

After reading up on the issue, I can't find any reason why the AIG bonuses should nto be paid, or why recipients should be punished with 90% tax rates, as Democrats in Congress are trying to push through (Is there any problem for which their preferred solution is something other than confiscating more money? Does the 14th Amendment even matter?). Or give that portion of the money back, the Republicans' silly symbolic proposal.

Powerline runs down the facts:

* All of these payments, as to AIG's troubled financial products division, are retention bonuses, not performance bonuses.
* The money is not going to anyone responsible for the implosion of AIG--those people, who were in the credit default swap area, are gone.
* These retention bonuses were promised to AIG employees who are responsible for winding down the company's financial products division. At the beginning, this division had a potential exposure of $2.7 trillion. Winding down AIG's book of business in this area was a dead-end job, and there was a great likelihood that the people responsible for the work, who knew the most about the products involved, would take jobs elsewhere.
* In late 2007 or early 2008, AIG made a deal with these employees: if they would stay at AIG until specified conditions were met, i.e., either certain business was wound down or a given period of time had elapsed, they would receive a specified retention bonus.
* As to all of the employees involved, they satisfied the terms of the bonus by wrapping up a portfolio for which they were responsible and/or staying on the job until now. As a result of the efforts of this group, AIG's financial products exposure is down from $2.7 trillion to $1.6 trillion.

As John notes, the underlying problem is the government getting involved with running an insurance company in the first place.

UPDATE 3/19/09: AIG CEO Ed Liddy, who is getting grilled by congressional morons and taking heaps of abuse in the press, makes...this is not a typo...a salary of $1 a year. Yes, that is ONE dollar a year.

Fashion advice, etc.

Remember, children: Real Men Don’t Wear Green.

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This is odd:

“The Obama administration is considering a plan to charge the private health insurance of veterans for treatment of service-related ailments that currently are paid for by the Department of Veterans Affairs”

So they want to socialize health care for all Americans…except veterans? Huh?

The Obamateur Hour continues…

UPDATE 3/19/09: Obama has backed off this idiocy, but the problem is that he could conceive of such a thing in the first place.

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Powerline reader Patrick Yun wonders how the AIG kerfuffle is any different from the way Congress operates:

“A real life example of what we, as taxpayers, do for our government. It is for the most part, an incompetent, poorly and inefficiently run business, and taxpayers are essentially forced to bail it out with rising and never ending taxes. Then the members of congress increase their benefits and pay despite their poor performance.”

You’re preaching to the choir here, Patrick.

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Phoenix scored 154 points on 107 possessions Sunday night, no overtime, just 48 minutes of play.

That’s unimaginably good. To give you an idea of how good that offensive rating (points per 100 possessions) of 143.9 is, the Lakers lead the league this year with an offensive rating of 110.8.

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In other NBA news, Miami played 6 overtime periods last week. Is it any pruprise that they ran out of gas Sunday, scoring 9 points in the 4th quarter to lose in Philadelphia?

I'm only going to say this once, etc.

A reminder, should you talk to or otherwise correspond with me in any way in the next three weeks: I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR F-ING BRACKETS!

As you were.

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I’m glad my girlfriend doesn’t live in New Jersey:

“The painful Brazilian wax and its intimate derivatives are in danger of being stripped from salon and spa menus if a recent proposal to ban genital waxing is passed by the state’s Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling.”

I love Instapundit’s lines: “READ MY LIPS: No new waxes!” and “New Jersey Politicians Support Bush.”

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Gee, here’s a shocking development: “European countries that have offered to help the Obama administration close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have begun raising questions about the security risks and requirements if they accept prisoners described by the Bush administration as ‘the worst of the worst,’ according to diplomats and other officials.”

Closing a prison that holds hundreds of the world’s worst mass murderers and war criminals, what could possibly wrong there?

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A sad truth from John McWhorter: “When you’re black and 14, often you have a choice between doing well in school and having black friends.”

The notion that a kid who reads a book or tries in school is “acting white,” pushed by hip hop culture and assorted other black racists, is doing untold damage to black youth. Let’s hope that the election of Obama will start to turn that tide, but I suspect that eradicating black racism will be even harder than eradicating white racism proved to be. White racists had far fewer enablers in the media and academia.

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From a Rasmussen poll: “American workers are far more likely to belong to the investor class than a union. Just 9% of non-union workers would like to join a union.”

Which begs the question…is it good politics for the president to push a massive transfer of wealth from the investor class to unions, even if Big Labor thinks that it has already bought that level of influence?

It’s clearly not good for workers or the country as a whole, so the only remaining question is whether it is good politics.

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Interesting contrast between how big media covered the Iraq antiwar protests of the past (multiply the number of participants by 10, put it on the front page) with how they are covering the current rash of “tea party” protests. Or rather, how they are not covering them.

They hide, hoping you won’t decide.

Mean to your Queenie

Sacramento Kings to play ASU in NCAA tournament

By J.E. Skeets

SACRAMENTO — After four months of uninspired ball, an additional 30 minutes weren't so tough to stomach. It's not like they were in a rush to go lose to the Wizards.

The Sacramento Kings men's basketball team, two wins behind the Clippers — the Steve Novak Clippers! — in the NBA cellar, gathered Sunday to watch the NCAA tournament selection show and learn its March fate.

The Kings watched as 63 teams flashed across two flat-screen televisions inside the Wizards' visiting locker room. Finally, it became official.

Sacramento, an 11th seed in the South Region, will meet 6th seeded Arizona State at American Airlines Arena in Miami. Friday's game is expected to start around 1:45 p.m. Eastern. The winner between third-seeded Syracuse and 14th-seed Stephen F. Austin awaits on Sunday if the Kings advance.

Star Kevin Martin jumped to his feet, slowly. Rookie Spencer Hawes raised his hands. Bobby Jackson leaned over and punched Donte Greene in the face.

"It just took forever," Hawes said. "I was kind of like 'What is taking so long? I know we're going, (but) if Sacramento does not pop up on one of the brackets, something bad is going to happen to somebody. Popcorn will be popped!'"

No need.

Not this time.

A year after getting snubbed by the selection committee, the Kings (14-52) had reason to celebrate.

"It's really important for us to frame it in the moment and to take this in for what it is now, and do it with a grateful heart," Kings' coach Kenny Natt said. "I don't feel personally any great need to try to place it in some historical slot. I'd rather much enjoy the moment and celebrate with these guys what they've been able to do this season. We're an NBA team in The Big Dance, not many other teams can say that. It's pretty special."

"Our guys have played in big games, our guys have played against outstanding competition — professional NBA squads," Natt continued. "But at the end of the day, it's just 'Hoosiers,' baby. The basket's 10 feet and it's the same size court. That, and we have Beno Udrih. I like our chances."

Not so much, etc.

Scattershooting while wondering what ever happened to Keith Owens:

The difference between Obama and Jesus: Jesus knew how to build a cabinet.

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Jim Cramer fights back at Jon Stewart: “President Obama’s team, unlike Bush’s team, demonstrates a thinness of skin that shocks me. . . . Are they really that blind to the Great Wealth Destruction they are causing with their decisions to demonize the bankers, raise taxes for the wealthy, advocate draconian cap-and-trade policies and upend the health care system? Do they really believe that only the rich own stocks? What do they think we have our retirement accounts in, CDs? Where did they think that the money saved for college went, our mattresses?”

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Probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever heard: 10th President John Tyler, born in 1790, has two grandsons still living. When they talk about going back a generation or two, they mean business!

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A fact that doesn’t usually see the light of day, from the NYT: “Restrictions on embryonic stem cell research originated with Congress, which, each year since in 1996, has forbidden the use of federal financing for any experiment in which a human embryo is destroyed.”

Raise your hand if you had been led to believe it was Bush instead of Congress.

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Some lesser-known NBA nicknames.

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Democrats have hit on a new form of stimulus: steal the credit card numbers of a political opponent’s donors and use them to make fraudulent charges. Don’t look at me, I wasn’t the one who believed in this kind of change.

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Former teammate Mark Madsen on the Shaq flopping kerfuffle, the ultimate man bites dog story: “I played with Shaq for three years in Los Angeles and while I did see the big fella sacrifice his body and step in and take charges, I never once saw him flop in those three years. And the funny thing is that almost every team in the NBA tries to flop against Shaq. There are probably even coaches that teach their centers and forwards to try to flop on Shaq. So, this whole commotion about whether or not Shaq's play against Dwight Howard was a flop is so funny because everyone in the league tries to flop on Shaq and Shaq never flops back.”

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A former detainee at Guantánamo Bay has become the Taliban’s chief operations officer in southern Afghanistan. Good thing we’re planning on closing Guantanamo, so this kind of thing will become more common…you might even say it will explode.

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Noted fabulist Seymour Hersh has set tinfoil hatters atwitter with his tale of Dick Cheney hit squads (apparently not very good, since there are no known victims). Reason has a post on his loose relationship with the truth, with some classic comments. My favorite: “Sy Hersh has predicted 8 of the last 0 American invasions of Iran.”

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From one crook (Blagojevich) to another (Quinn) in the Illinois statehouse: Illinois Gov. to Propose 50% Increase in State Income Tax

Buyer's remorse, etc.

Scattershooting while wondering what ever happened to Demetrius Calip:

Mark Tapscott: “The contrast is no longer between the young, personable, historic candidate Obama and a creaky, cranky old Republican White Guy, it’s between what America thought it was getting in a President Obama (cool, reasonable and beyond partisanship) and what it now sees as the reality of a President Obama (government spending out of control, an uncertain hand on foreign policy, broken promises, more bureaucrats, etc. etc.). Put another way - what we see now is neither what we were promised, nor what we expected.”

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Bizarre box score of the year: in their loss to Cleveland, San Antonio had five players in double figures, but nobody scored more than 11.

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Random stat, from a study in the Journal of Macroeconomics: “a 1% increase in government size decreases the rate of economic growth by 0.143%.”

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Oh what a difference an election makes; Glenn Reynolds with some links showing that, suddenly, dissent is no longer the highest form of patriotism and that, suddenly, it’s ok to question the patriotism of anybody who disagrees with the president. None of those “Question O-thority” t-shirts tolerated there, I suppose. They said there would be change we can believe in, and they were right!

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On the same theme, it is apparently now not a problem for the president to twiddle his thumbs while FEMA responds late and weakly to a storm and many Americans, coincidentally mostly of a different race than the president, die. That the obvious analogy between Obama’s response to the early February winter storm and Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina was not drawn is yet another indictment of a mainstream press that has become nothing more than a vehicle for disseminating Democrat Party talking points.

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Lest you think this is a recent phenomenon, recall the beginning to the New York Times story on drunken Senator Ted Kennedy’s vehicular homicide of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969: “Tragedy has again struck the Kennedy family.”

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Nancy Pelosi rightly drew a lot of abuse for her statements that STD prevention stmulates (an unfortunate choice of words, that) the economy. I liked Mark Steyn’s take:

Makes a lot of sense. If we have more STD prevention, it will be safer for loose women to go into bars and pick up feckless men, thus stimulating the critical beer and nuts and jukebox industries. To do this, we need trillion-dollar deficits, which our children and grandchildren will have to pay off—but, with sufficient investment in prevention measures, there won’t be any children or grandchildren, so there’s that problem solved.

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From the same column, an etymology lesson: “Stimulus” comes from the verb stimulare, which is Latin for “transfer massive sums of money from what remains of the dynamic sector of the economy to the special interests of the Democratic party.”

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You might be a Taliban if…you refine heroin for a living but have a moral objection to beer.

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Did you catch that Hamas legislators voted to introduce crucifixion to the Palestinian Territories? When your defining characteristic is the desire to exterminate Jews, you wouldn’t want to avail yourself of any of the tools of the trade, now would you?

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Don’t they really have to have a revote in the Minnesota Senate race? With more than 25 precincts having more ballots than voters who signed in (one ended up with 177 more votes than voters, even more were more ballots than there are actual voters in the precinct, but they counted them anyway), and opposite standards being used to count votes in different precincts, it’s pretty obvious that any result from the November election will not be legitimate.

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A “Those who don’t learn from history…” lesson from Walter Williams:

In 1893, there was a depression; we got out of it without a stimulus package. There was a major recession of 1920-21; though sharp, it quickly reversed itself into what has been call the "Roaring Twenties." In 1929, there was an economic downturn, most notably featured by the stock market collapse, after which came massive government intervention — you might call it the nation's first stimulus package. President Hoover and Congress responded to what might have been a two- or three-year sharp downturn with many of the policies President Obama and Congress are urging today. They raised tariffs, propped up wage rates, bailed out farmers, banks and other businesses, and financed state relief efforts. When Roosevelt came to office, he became even more interventionist than Hoover and presided over protracted depression where the economy didn't fully recover until 1946.

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And, of course, Japan tried 10 stimulus bills in eight years and trillions of yen in public spending in the 90’s, yet unemployment grew worse and the economy remained stagnant. The track record for massive government spending to combat an economic slowdown is thus: zero successes, two spectacular failures.

But I’m sure it’ll work this time!

Math geeks unite! etc.

Scattershooting while wondering what ever happened to Swen Nater:

Tuesday was Square Root Day, 3/3/09. I know I was partying, 7 years is a long time to wait for another chance.

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Some apologies.

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Sign of the times: The per capita rate of civilian killings in the border city of Juarez, Mexico in 2008 was nearly three-and-a-half times as great as the per capita rate of civilian killings in the Iraqi province of Baghdad

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More transparency in the Obama administration? Not so much: When Vice President Joe Biden spoke to the annual meeting of AFL-CIO officials at the plush Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach on March 5, television cameras were not allowed to cover his speech – on orders from the White House, Fox News quoted the AFL-CIO as saying.

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More evidence of the decline and fall of American Journalism. From the New York Times corrections page: “An editorial on Feb. 22 stated incorrectly that unlawfully entering the country is not a criminal offense. It is a misdemeanor for a first-time offender.”

Yes, a major newspaper editor did not know that illegal immigration was, you know, illegal. And still has a job, despite such fundamental ignorance.

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I was surprised to learn that Steve Nash, was the lowest-drafted player (15th) ever to win the MVP award. I would have guessed that some late first rounder or second (or later, in the old days) rounder would have done so at some point, given that some have become major stars.

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Ari Fleisher asks MSNBC why they are not "going after Democrat members of Congress for why they aren't distancing themselves from Keith Olbermann.”

I think it’s obvious: because the White House hasn't ordered them to.

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Just like Bush, but faster!: “From Election Day 2000 to Election Day 2008, the S&P 500 fell 29.8%. From Election Day 2008 til the afternoon of March 6, it’s down 33.3%.”

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Encouraging sign: Mississippi bans revenue-light cameras; Upon Governor Haley Barbour's signature, Mississippi would join Alaska, Arkansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin which have also banned automated citations (red-light and speed cameras) through judicial or legislative action. A similar ban passed the Montana state House of Representatives last month and currently awaits Senate action. An attempt to ban cameras in Missouri ran into a roadblock in a state Senate committee.

Hopefully Texas will see the light (pun intended) and follow suit; this is a scam whose time has passed.

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A note on buyer’s remorse from The Atlantic: “Like the college students who stayed up late to be inspired by his campaign rallies only to find Obama’s first significant action to be a stimulus program that will transfer about a trillion dollars from them to the Baby Boomers, Silicon Valley Obama supporters are likely to find that a government-dominated economic era will not a great one in which to start companies that threaten big incumbent corporations that have juice with the government. I hope they appreciate the irony.”

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Michael Barone with a sad tale showing that racism may be on life support but is still alive:

"Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers, wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, presides over a hearing where white witnesses are advised to leave the room. Congressman Conyers joined the Judiciary Committee in 1965, when the Chairman was Emanuel Celler and the ranking was Republican William McCulloch, co-sponsors of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. What would they have thought of this? As a nation, we have become more tolerant and inclusive in the years since 1965. Detroit, alas, seems to have moved in the opposite direction."

Rush issues a challenge

I haven't commented on the Dem's jihad against Rush Limbaugh, but this (from his show is an interesting gambit:

“If these guys are so impressed with themselves, and if they are so sure of their correctness, why doesn’t President Obama come on my show? . . . I am offering President Obama to come on this program — without staffers, without a TelePrompTer, without note cards — to debate me on the issues. . . . Just come on this program. Let’s have a little debate. You tell me how wrong I am and you can convince the rest of the Americans that don’t agree with you how wrong we all are. You’re a smart guy, Mr. President. You don’t need these hacks to front for you.”

This is brilliant in that there is no way that Obama would even consider debating Rush without a teleprompter or notes, Limbaugh's superior command of issues would be an embarrassment for the president (and, by extension, the country).

Obama is a superb orator, but only when reading prepared text. In spontaneous, uhh, situations he, uhh, doesn't have, uhh, quite the same, uhh, flair. Limbaugh speaks off the cuff for a living. It would just not be a fair fight.

But that's the genius of the whole thing. If Democrats want to point Limbaugh as the leader of the Republican Party (pretty ludicrous given how much he criticizes their actions...he's a conservative, not a Republican, folks), then they have to explain why the leader of their party is afraid to debate the leader of the opposing party. There is already talk of following the president around in chicken suits.

I was pretty sure that the strategy of attacking Limbaugh, cooked up by Paul Begala and team Obama along with leading journalists in October as it turns out, would ultimately backfire, I just wasn't sure how. But now I'm seeing that I'd like to be sitting on a warehouse full of chicken suits, I have a feeling that is an item that is going to do very well even in a recession.

UPDATE 3/7/09: I was asked why would Obama not refuse to debate Limbaugh, or just refuse to even address the subject, with the justification that Rush is just not significant enough for the president to waste time on.

But, you see, that would be an admission that the whole line of painting Limbaugh as the Republican leader is a lie.

It is true that he can avoid looking like a coward by admitting that they were liaring, but I'm not sure that helps. One way or the other it's hard to imagine this ending up doing anything other than empowering Rush and diminishing the president.

Enemies, real and imagined

William Jacobson on Obama's modification of a longtime presidential tactic:

What is it with this President? Obama has an obsessive need to find enemies against whom to campaign. When Obama's presidency is over, hopefully in four years (but likely eight years) there will be two sets of psychologists: Those who provide therapy to the American population which has seen its life savings and economic system destroyed, and those who analyze the psychosis of the Demonizer-in-Chief. [...]

Attacking lobbyists is not the point of Obama's latest ploy. Rather, painting anyone who opposes him as a "lobbyist" is the point. In attacking the "lobbyists" Obama is doing what he did on the issue of race during the campaign: Anyone who opposes me doesn't just have a different opinion, they are evil and dangerous to the rest of you. This tactic simultaneously generates support among the majority and silences the minority.

Other presidents have been accused of using "enemies" as a political rallying point. Almost invariably, however, these enemies have been foreign (the "evil empire" and "axis of evil"). Obama is the first president "in my adult life" to set American against American, to create enemies at home as a political rallying point, to create a climate in which law-abiding American citizens are singled out as being worthy of attack.

Yep, Barack has met the enemy, and he is us.

Spot the idiot

A Twilight Zone quote from Obama in his Saturday radio address:

"These steps won't sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business. I know they're gearing up for a fight as we speak. My message to them is this: So am I."

I'm not sure if he is that ignorant or if he believes that the American people are that ignorant, but neither is very comforting.

Lobbyists derive their power and influence from government spending. As government grows, so too does the lobbyist, in lockstep.

Special interests are what keep the Democrat Party viable, they are it's raison d'etre. It would not be an exaggeration to say that some of them "own" the party.

Whether Obama is lying or condescending here, this is a truly disturbing quote.