Back Home Again...

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Gone Fishin'...

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Diane Lane Photo of the Week...

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Rudi, the golfing chimp...

photo from BBCNews

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Rehnquist Retirement Imminent...

Per SCOTUS Blog, Novak just told CNN that the Chief Justice will make his announcement as soon as Air Force One hits U.S. soil - sometime after 4:15pm

UPDATE: Now it's scheduled to land at 4:50pm

ANOTHER UPDATE:
...or not. Now they say forget it.

Whatever...

Posted by: Gary at 03:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Unemployment lowest since September 2001...

But you gotta love the way the Washington Post couches the news: "Job growth tepid, jobless rate drops". U.S. employers added 146,000 jobs in June but that's "tepid" because analyst expectations were 188,500. What a freaking joke!

But the decline in the unemployment rate to 5.0 percent was a nice surprise, since Wall Street had expected it to hold at 5.1 percent. The drop was mostly due to a paltry 1,000 increase in the work force, which includes those looking for work as well as those who have jobs. [my emphasis]

Paltry, huh? If it was 5.2% instead of 5.1% because of 1,000 jobs I highly doubt the folks at the Post would have described the amount as "paltry". It would be cataclysmic!

The real story is that, for all practical matters, the unemployment rate can't drop much further. And why is the drop such a "surprise"? The economy has been chugging along nicely for the last two years! And you can thank the Bush tax cuts for that one. Just like in the sixties under JFK and just like in the eighties under Reagan, meaningful reductions in the income tax rates led to higher tax receipts, deficit reduction, strong economic growth and lower unemployment rates.

But you're not going see the MSM connect those dots.

Say, wasn't this kind of disdain for such news around during Clinton's watch? Umm...NO! Look at the numbers Jayson at Polipundit presents. The unemployment rate for June 1997 - five months into Clinton's second term - was 5.0% as well. And, damn me, if they couldn't praise Bubba enough for it!

Posted by: Gary at 12:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Chief Justice Fred Thompson?

Gullyborg has a theory. And I must say, I like it.

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Flock of sheep jumps to its death...

The Washington Post is reporting that nearly 1,500 sheep leapt off a cliff in Turkey:

In the end, 450 dead animals lay on top of one another in a billowy white pile, the Aksam newspaper said. Those who jumped later were saved as the pile got higher and the fall more cushioned, Aksam reported

MoveOn.org is currently trying to figure out a way to blame George W. Bush for the tragedy.

Posted by: Gary at 11:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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UK Solidarity Flag...

Updated the sidebar flag from plain Union Jack to a very cool US/UK blend. Don't know the original source, but I "appropriated" it from Groovy Vic.

UPDATE: The source is Are You Conservative?.

Hat tip to Wuzzadem, via Groovy Vic!

Posted by: Gary at 10:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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London defies terrorists...

Return to the Tube and buses in large numbers.

As the capital prepared to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II this weekend, there was the same resolve that life would go on whatever the terrorists had hoped to achieve.

Never doubted for a second...

Posted by: Gary at 09:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The West and it's common enemy...

The editors of OpinionJournal.com point out the importance of unity in the wake of the London bombings. All the bickering over the last few months about Guantanamo in the U.S. and the visible disunity expressed by the Western allies has clearly emboldened the terrorists. When we show weakness they are encouraged to strike again, as the impression - true or false - is a lack of conviction in fighting them.

The solidarity that existed after 9/11 splintered all too easily in the wake of Iraq, and it hasn't returned even though both Mr. Blair and President Bush have been re-endorsed by their electorates. France has been especially unwilling to let NATO play a larger role in Iraq, as if the main security threat to Europe isn't the terrorism that has its wellspring in the Middle East. Only yesterday al Qaeda's wing in Iraq claimed it had killed Egypt's ambassador to Baghdad and promised to kill "as many ambassadors as we can." The terrorists believe Iraq is the central battlefield in the war on terror, even if some in the West still don't.

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Two more SCOTUS retirements?

Kathryn Lopez at NRO's Corner is rumor-mongering:

In the last half hour the new rumor that is keeping political geeks awake: Rehnquist and [John Paul] Stevens resign tomorrow.

That would mean today. If this is true, Democrats are going to lose their minds.

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We are all Britons today...

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One tiny issue with "Sith"...

Not the most appropriate time to be discussing a movie given today's events, but this has been rattling around in my head since I saw "Revenge of the Sith" again last night.

I think most fans would agree that the final turn of Anakin Skywalker to the dark side was almost unbelievably too quick. Granted you have a lot of plot to cover in 2 and 1/4 hours and Lucas was very big on Anakin's desire to save Padme as the primary motivator for the turn, but it was a little too rushed. I mean in one scene he has his light sabre drawn against Palpatine when he discovers he is the Sith Lord they have been looking for and all of a sudden he's kneeling before him pledging himself to Darth Sidious' teachings.

So what could have made a difference in the film without making it much longer?

I had an idea. Anakin is already somewhat disillusioned about the Jedi at the time he approaches Mace Windu with his discovery of the Chancellor as Sidious. His future as a Jedi is already in doubt considering his secret marriage and impending fatherhood. Now, Mace Windu doesn't exactly embrace Anakin upon hearing his news about Palpatine, but neither does he hold it against him. But maybe he should have. Perhaps it would have been more effective for Master Windu to have said to Anakin:

"And how is it that you came by this information when none of us could sense it? Why is Palpatine so trusting of you? It's because he is using you like he always has. And that is why the council cannot trust you...and can never fully trust you. Anakin, you may be a Jedi Knight but the council will never make you a Jedi Master."

Kind of gives Anakin a little more motivation to burn his bridges with the Jedi, doesn't it? I don't know, I could second guess that damn thing to exhaustion and it won't make any difference. It is what it is.

And I've also decided incidentally that Episode III is, in fact, my favorite of the six-movie saga. It's only been my sentimental attachment to "Empire Strikes Back" that's kept me away from this conclusion.

Posted by: Gary at 03:12 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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London update...

Sadly, the death toll is rising. Most recent count is 33.

With the transit system shut down and the traffic congestion I suspect a lot of medical treatment will be delayed, resulting in more deaths. I hope I'm wrong but I'm afraid this nightmare won't end for a while.

UPDATE: A Union Jack is now posted in the side-bar to express solidarity with the British in their moment of grief.

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"We shall prevail, and they shall not"

PM Blair spoke of Britain's resolve at the G-8 summit in the face of these barbaric attacks on innocent civilians in London today.

Ed Morrissey puts in plainly:

If [Al Qaeda] thinks that they can frighten Blair and the British out of the war on terror by bombing London, I believe they are quite mistaken. Another lunatic used terror on Londoners on a much more massive scale for years at a stretch, thinking that the same kind of attacks would panic the British into surrendering, or at least into withdrawing from the conflict. The Blitz did neither. It hardened British resolve to stamp out the cancerous philosophy of fascism and to destroy the governments that used it to oppress their own people, commit genocide on ghastly scales, and attack peaceful civilian populations to further their political goals.

Hitler didn't succeed at his campaign of intimidation. Osama bin Laden won't either. Put simply, the British are not Spaniards. They will arise in fury and a renewed sense of mission to stamp out the bloodthirsty terrorists who have committed this heinous act -- and we will stand with them to do so, just as they have stood with us these long years since 9/11.

The British as much as any other people understand that fear only empowers their enemies. I'm not knocking Blair, but if Churchill were around today he would have lit up a stogie and said "Is that all you got, you pansy-asses?"

Our thoughts and prayers here in the U.S. are with the families of the victims and for those wounded who fight for survival. We will always be there for our oldest and dearest friends.

Hate cannot win. Hope will not let it.

Posted by: Gary at 09:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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George Will on George Allen...

Will has a column recounting the VA Senator's recent trip to NH and some analysis on his prospects for 2008.

The ideal Republican candidate can meld two Republican tendencies that are in tension -- social conservatism and libertarianism. Social conservatives have no complaints with Allen, and libertarians vibrate like tuning forks to his invocations of ``Mister Jefferson,'' as Virginians refer to their saint of minimal government.

A good mix that will make GOP voters take a serious look in three years.

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Sith Happens!

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Brits strike back at French...

As if beating them out for the 2012 Olympics wasn't revenge enough...

Hey, I'm always up for some French jokes, and these are some good ones. My favorite:

Q: Why do French naval ships have glass bottoms?
A: To see all their other ships.

:-D

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Schumer bomshell: "We are going to go to war over this"

Well, not a bombshell to Republicans who shouldn't be at all surprised, but Drudge breaks the story: Source on Amtrak train from NY to DC overhears the conversation Sen. Chuckie Schumer had on his cell phone with an unknown politcal ally.

Schumer later went on to mock the “Gang of 14” judicial filibuster deal and said it wasn’t relevant in the Supreme Court debate.

“A Priscilla Owen or Janice Rogers Brown style appointment may not have been extraordinary to the appellate court but may be extraordinary to the Supreme Court.”

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