Diane Lane Photo of the Week

Here she is:

The "Perfect Storm", indeed.

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Tolkien Geek Update

The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter One is posted.

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And If "If"s And "But"s Were Fruits And Nuts...

...oh what a world it would be. Sigh.

My blog is worth $71,132.04.
How much is your blog worth?

h/t: MVRWC

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Asshat Of The Week

Michael Drennon, 26, of Philadelphia decided to rob a bank by slipping the teller a note demanding that she hand over some cash "the quicker the better".

Problem is, he wrote the note on one of his pay stubs. He figured that since he crossed off his name and address with a marker, he was OK. However, unlike this idiot, the authorities actually used some common sense and tracked him down.

"It wasn't a huge forensic undertaking," Steven Moran, Bensalem director of public safety, said Wednesday. "We just put it under a light."

Congratulations, moron. You're the "Asshat of the week"!

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Another Miers Post: Sorry, I Couldn't Resist

Back on Monday, I posted a whacky theory on this nomination. Today, Jonah Goldberg posts a snippet of an email he received:

I can’t believe everybody is missing the real story here. Bush doesn’t want Harriett Miers on the Supreme Court – he wants McConnell or Luttig. But he knew that, after Roberts, he couldn’t just send up another white guy, especially for O’Connor’s seat. So he sends up an obviously unqualified woman, knowing that she’ll generate intense opposition from both sides. And here’s where the subtlety kicks in – because her lack of qualifications are so apparent, he knows that the attack against her will be something like, “This is THE SUPREME COURT we’re talking about!!! Quality is what matters! Look at Roberts, he could recite from memory every constitutional case since Marbury v. Madison, and has probably written law review articles about the friggin’ THIRD amendment. How can we settle for anyone less?” So after Miers is forced to withdraw or voted down, Bush comes back with McConnell or Luttig, and says, “OK, you convinced me. I tried the quota thing, but you said it was too important. So I’ve decided just to go with the most qualified person out there.” And for good measure, he might throw in something like, “I’d like to thank my good buddies Chuck Schumer and Pat Leahy for pointing out my error. I couldn’t have done it without you fellas.”

Geez, the man is brilliant.

So it seems I'm not the only lunatic who's considered something like this. Ah, if only.

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Guardsmen In The Gulf Doing Us Proud

I'd like to take this opportunity to showcase a site that'll make you appreciate the work they do. National Guardsman, sent to aid our fellow Americans in the wake of Katrina, show you first hand their experiences on the Gulf Coast. I've included it in the "support the troops" section of the sidebar.

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How Bush Can Get His "Mojo" Back

Dan Henninger lays out a four-step program for Bush to get back on track.

1) Withdraw Harriet, nominate Edith (Jones)
2) Go to Baghdad
3) Nail the Greenspan succession
4) Embrace the (spending) sequester

Read his arguments here. Sounds like a plan to me.

H/T from Powerline

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Miers Nomination Going Down Like Monica Lewinsky

Sigh. Well, I was hoping for the best - some pleasant surprise, some information that those outside the White House weren't privy too, maybe even just a performance at the hearings that showed a solid, if unspectacular, nominee. As I said, I was hoping. But with every passing day, this nomination is looking more and more like a collossal blunder.

Yeah, I'm going to get a lot of "we told you so"s. But I'd rather come to my own conclusions based on as much information as possible. And the President must shoulder the blame for this fiasco. One day someone (perhaps several folks) will write a book and we'll get a first hand look into how this turned out so badly. But for now, it looks like the White House is standing its ground and we'll have to ride this one out. Unfortunately, it'll probably only get worse.

Byron York writes in NRO about what people close to the process are saying, and the mood right now is pretty pessimistic.

"It's been a gradual descent into almost silence," says a second source of the calls. "The meetings with the senators are going terribly. On a scale of one to 100, they are in negative territory. The thought now is that they have to end....Obviously the smart thing to do would be to withdraw the nomination and have a do-over as soon as possible. But the White House is so irrational that who knows? As of this morning, there is a sort of pig-headed resolve to press forward, cancel the meetings with senators if necessary, and bone up for the hearings."

It's a shame, really. However, now is not the time to keep piling on. The media are having too much fun with this and we don't need to be giving them more grist for the mill.

If the White House is going to move forward, then it's up to the Senators - on both sides of the aisle - to come to their own conclusions. Personally I don't see Miers' nomination surviving out of committee.

So unless something significant happens between now and then, I for one am going to step back and withhold comment. I think this process will be less painful if others do the same.

Update: 10:08am
Krauthammer sees a "face-saving" way out of this mess.

We need an exit strategy from this debacle. I have it.

Sen. Lindsey Graham has been a staunch and public supporter of this nominee. Yet on Wednesday he joined Brownback in demanding privileged documents from Miers's White House tenure.

Finally, a way out: irreconcilable differences over documents.

For a nominee who, unlike John Roberts, has practically no record on constitutional issues, such documentation is essential for the Senate to judge her thinking and legal acumen. But there is no way that any president would release this kind of information -- "policy documents" and "legal analysis" -- from such a close confidante. It would forever undermine the ability of any president to get unguarded advice.

That creates a classic conflict, not of personality, not of competence, not of ideology, but of simple constitutional prerogatives: The Senate cannot confirm her unless it has this information. And the White House cannot allow release of this information lest it jeopardize executive privilege.

Hence the perfectly honorable way to solve the conundrum: Miers withdraws out of respect for both the Senate and the executive's prerogatives, the Senate expresses appreciation for this gracious acknowledgment of its needs and responsibilities, and the White House accepts her decision with the deepest regret and with gratitude for Miers's putting preservation of executive prerogative above personal ambition.

Could it be that simple?

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My Historic General

William Wallace You scored 61 Wisdom, 73 Tactics, 64 Guts, and 46 Ruthlessness!

Like William Wallace, chances are you have no problem charging a larger, better trained, better equipped, better armed and armored English army with a band of naked drunken Scotsmen. I'm not contesting that you have balls. It's your brain function I'm worried about. Scottish soldier and national hero. The first historical record of Wallace's activities concerns the burning of Lanark by Wallace and 30 men in May, 1297, and the slaying of the English sheriff, one of those whom Edward I of England had installed in his attempt to make good his claim to overlordship of Scotland. After the burning of Lanark many joined Wallace's forces, and under his leadership a disciplined army was evolved. Wallace marched on Scone and met an English force of more than 50,000 before Stirling Castle in Sept., 1297. The English, trying to cross a narrow bridge over the Forth River, were killed as they crossed, and their army was routed. Wallace crossed the border and laid waste several counties in the North of England. In December he returned to Scotland and for a short time acted as guardian of the realm for the imprisoned king, John de Baliol . In July, 1298, Edward defeated Wallace and his army at Falkirk, and forced him to retreat northward. His prestige lost, Wallace went to France in 1299 to seek the aid of King Philip IV, and he possibly went on to Rome. He is heard of again fighting in Scotland in 1304, but there was a price on his head, and in 1305 he was captured by Sir John de Menteith. He was taken to London in Aug., 1305, declared guilty of treason, and executed. The best-known source for the life of Wallace is a long romantic poem attributed to Blind Harry, written in the 15th century.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 40% on Unorthodox You scored higher than 54% on Tactics You scored higher than 83% on Guts You scored higher than 47% on Ruthlessness

Link: The Which Historic General Are You Test written by dasnyds on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Freedom!!!!!!

Hat Tip to Robbo the Llama Butcher. And it looks like this makes me his nemesis. Mwa-ha-ha-ah-ah!

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"Peace Mom" Found

Not that most people were actually looking. But Aaron at Lifelike Pundits was curious. Here he lampoons one of her bizarro posts from Michael Moore's website. Funny stuff!

My favorite part is where she bitches that no one in Hollywood invites her to their parties. What a sad, strange little woman.

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It's Official: No Free Boners For Grandpa

Last summer I pointed out that this was coming down the pike, so I get to use the post title again. The story: Congress Pulls Plug On Viagra Subsidies.

The Senate on Wednesday passed without debate and sent to the president legislation that ends Medicare and Medicaid payments for erectile dysfunction drugs as part of a package that extends medical help for the poor and provides unemployment benefit aid to states hit by Hurricane Katrina.

As I said back then: sorry old man, but you're not paying for that little blue pill on my dime.

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Pork-Whacking!! Go, Tom, Go!!

Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn is on the floor of the Senate right now introducing a slew of amendments that would slice away many wasteful projects in the recent Transportation bill.

Club For Growth is blogging his speech.

This is major, folks. And it's causing a huge commotion in D.C. as it is attracting bipartisan support on one side and strong opposition on the other. Coburn's most famous target is the Alaskan "Bridge To Nowhere" but there are many others. Passage of even one of these amendments sets precedent that makes no pet project safe on Capitol Hill.

Stay tuned...

UPDATE: 2:35pm
WA Sen. Patty Murray threatens Senators who vote for the Coburn Amendment. Dum...Dum...DUMMMMMMM!

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Ben & Jerry's "Special" Kind of Capitalism

Stephen Moore, Conservative/Libertarian economist and former President of the supply-side think tank "Club For Growth", has an Op-Ed in the OpinionJournal.com today where he talks about his recent tour of the famous VT ice cream factory. Moore, who most Lefties would no doubt deride as a "heartless filthy capitalist pig", had some fun with the tour guide about the company's new $5 million "social awareness campaign".

Here our earnest tour guide raises his chin a bit and proudly declares that the first ads are dedicated to saving the family farm. When I burst out laughing, 22 sets of angry eyes glared at me. For the past 100 years, as the productivity of the American farmer has surged to unprecedented heights, the number of Americans working in agriculture to feed the world has fallen from 35 workers per 100 to two.

This is called progress. What is Ben & Jerry's proposed solution, anyway? To turn back the clock and abolish the tractor? Many Americans seem to be under the illusion that the small family farmer has lived a carefree idyllic lifestyle. In truth, this livelihood has traditionally involved backbreaking toil, work-days that last from sun-up to sundown, and monotony--which is why sons and daughters have been fleeing the farm for five generations. The only people who actually want to save small farms are people who've never worked on a farm.

The Ben & Jerry's ads moan that the corporatization of farming is a horrid trend. I couldn't help asking our tour guide during the Q-&-A why, if corporatization of farming is such a bad thing, that isn't also true of the corporatization of ice cream. Those same 22 pairs of eyes glare back at me.

It's hard to feel sorry for the allegedly aggrieved farmers who have "lost their land" to corporate greed. In Northern Virginia, where I live (and in many other areas), the farmers have sold their acreage for about 20 times what they paid and now they own million-dollar bungalows in Palm Beach, while the rest of us get to shop at glorious-though-crowded strip malls. It's a win-win.

At the end of the tour--which I highly recommend for the free scoops along the way--it's a relief to know that of all the dimwitted, touchy-feely, left-wing social causes Ben & Jerry's could waste $5 million on, this one will probably do society and our beloved capitalistic system the least damage. So as a lover of freedom, I can, in good conscience, shell out $4 a pint for Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, eat it out of the carton in one sitting--my arteries be damned--and still feel good about myself in the morning.

Now let's remember that Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield make a tidy fortune when they sold out to Unilever about five years ago. Hey, good for them. It was their idea, their product and their marketing strategy. They deserve the spoils. But it's kind of hypocritical for Liberals to attack free-market economics and give these particular "capitalist pigs" a pass simply because "they care, man".

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Rosanne: "I Could Totally Win Him In A Mind Contest"

This is pretty amusing:

Actress/comedian Roseanne Barr, who claims to be a psychic (“I channel the higher mind, the higher universal mind”), used the made-up word “overcomeable” and employed teenage phrases such as “like” and “totally,” insisted on Monday night's Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC that she would win a battle of intelligence with President Bush.

Like, yeah. Totally.

Hey, I know this is basically her "schtick", but you just know in the back of her little mind she believes it.

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More Kate!

That's what I want in tonight's episode.

Not nearly enough Kate last week.

Must.have.more.Kate

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Pictures That Need No Caption

Here's a good one:

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Pictures You Never Expected To See

Here's one:

Apparently, they enjoyed a nice lunch together today.

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So, You Think You Really Know Your Neighbors?

A man in the Seattle area was found to be running a sex farm out of his neighbor's barn. James Tait, 54, was only charged with the misdemeanor of trespassing since the State of Washington does not outlaw bestiality.

When interviewed by The Seattle Times July 15, the horse's owners said they had known their neighbors for years. The couple, who asked to have their names withheld to protect their privacy, said they were shocked when police showed them a home video of the July 2 incident that investigators seized from their neighbor's home. The couple identified their barn and their horse.

State Sen. Pam Roach is now drafting legislation that she hopes will lead to anti-bestiality laws in her State. Talk about closing the barn door after the horse has...

Nevermind.

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A Work Of Genius

Even though it looks like this is a joke, it's worth reading through. It had me fooled at first, though. The comments are a scream.

"Dhingers" beware! LOL

h/t: Ace

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Good News And Bad News For Dems

A new study by Democracy Corp has some good news for the Democrat party faithful:

"Every public survey shows a country ready for a political upheaval in 2006."

Unfortunately for them, here's the bad news:

"Right now, Democrats are not yet the answer for the growing majority seeking change," according to the memo, which lists [James] Carville and [Stan] Greenberg as authors.

If not now, guys...when?

Sean Higgins looks at the report in The American Spectator Online. Democrats talk a good game about "changing" but they can't escape the pull of the Liberal (and often single-issue oriented) interest groups that represent the make-up of their base. Even if Carville, Greenberg, et. al. could actually come up with alternative "ideas" to broaden their appeal, any attractive idea would run counter to the entrenched positions of these Liberal groups. So where does that leave them? Higgins explains:

Instead, they call for Democrats to attack Republicans as the corrupt tools of corporate lobbyists and push an agenda of health care, education, tax hikes on the wealthy and bashing energy companies -- the, umm, same policies they've been pushing for the last few years as the minority party.

To be sure, things are pretty gloomy for the Republicans right now and Democrats could indeed come out on top in 2006. But if they do, it won't be due to any innovative thinking on their part.

Every autumn, Democracy Corps comes out with a new set of polling data and the same conclusion: they need to do something different to win. With Red States growing in Electoral Votes at the expense of Blue States every year, how long will it be before Mary Matalin can convince her husband to just throw in the towel?

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