No Runny Eggs

Whale meat is the most carbon friendly meat to eat!   Who knew?

Next we’ll hear that polar bear fur is the most carbon friendly clothing material!

Talk about your law of unintended consequences!

OK, it may snow alot and be nasty cold for a few days out of the year, but we don’t have this kind of problem…

link

about him……

“I’m a proud conservative liberal republic — conservative Republican. Hello, easy there. Let me say this. I am a proud conservative Republican and both of my possible or likely opponents are liberal Democrats.”

See the link here.

I apologize for being late to the news, but William Buckley passed away this morning. May God comfort the Buckley family.

That’s the title of this article in the New York Times.

I have to believe Terry Press of Dreamworks was referring to  the search for Hollywood’s  soul when he was quoted saying

”I don’t think Hollywood knows where its place is yet.”

Well, at least their looking.   I wonder if they’ll ever find one?

Sorry about that, but I have more-important things to do (like defrag the hard drive and sleep). Unless Shoebox sets one up, I recommend catching Stephen Green’s drunkblog, Michelle Malkin’s liveblog, or Free Republic’s rolling live thread. Besides, I can’t stand PMSNBC, and the liquor cabinet is strangely empty after the last ‘Rat drunkblog.

No, I’m not shocked that  students don’t have an understanding of history or literature!!!  

I’m shocked that someone needed a study done to figure that out!

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana

Byron York interviewed  two of the folks alleged to be on McCain’s short list for VP. While much of the interview had South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty agreeing with McCain on policy issues, they disagree on two of McCain’s signature issues: Illegal Immigration and McCain/Feingold.

I would never be confused about who’s actually driving the bus if either Sanford or Pawlenty were chosen by McCain. However, it would be hard to  hold strictly to  “McCain doesn’t care about conservatives,” if he were to pick a VP who has a starkly different view on key issues that have gotten McCain sideways with the base.

First, the bad news:

– Bryan Preston has left Hot Air for a producer’s slot on the Laura Ingraham show. I am going to miss, among other things, the Ventilators.
– Ed Morrissey is closing Captain’s Quarters. I know, I never did get around to putting the Captain on the roll (too much bloat already), but I did keep an eye on his site from time to time.

Now, the good:

– The reason Ed’s closing down CQ is because he’s replacing Bryan at Hot Air. He’s definitely moving on up.

This is wrong on so many levels.

I’m just wondering….do you think they might have this backwards?

Isn’t stress a cause of obesity?

If The Hammer’s take on the NYT’s sliming of John McCain doesn’t win Video of the Year this year, I don’t know video.

Now, who here didn’t see that sliming from the NYT coming?

Over the past couple of weeks there has been increased postulating about who McCain will pick for VP. On the short list and getting more press as of late, is Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota.

If you’re not from Minnesota you’re probably asking “who the heck is Tim Pawlenty” and “Should I be happy or scared?” I feel a little bit like Yenta when I say “You could do worse!”

You can see a bit more of Pawlenty’s history here. Of particluar note is that Pawlenty has come out of the southern ‘burbs. This area of Minnesota is known for being conservative’s conservative territory. We’ve elected John Kline (kicking out a longterm, embedded Democrat) for the past 2 terms and likely again this, and supported Bush 55%/45% in ’04 (don’t snicker, remember, this is Minnesota!).

Pawlenty’s political claim to fame includes:

• Being the House Majority Leader that led tax cuts while surviving Jesse Ventura’s hubris.
• Being a solid party person as he has twice stepped out of campaigns that he would have been a significant contender, if not winner in, because the Republican party preferred someone else. The most recent of these gave us Norm Coleman as Senator.

So where’s the downside? First, Pawlenty has been completely sucked in by Gorebal Warming. He established the Minnesota Climate Change Advisory Group. These folks have come up with all kinds of good ideas like: basing insurance on the number of miles you drive and adopting the California emmission standards (yeah, the standards that even California can’t adopt). Fortunately, Pawlenty has tossed most of this to the side but the fact that he is even dabbling here tells me that he just can’t avoid looking at the polls.

Second, taxes. Pawlenty has been OK on taxes. As I mentioned, he led the charge to reduce income taxes back when he was Speaker of the House. However, while he has thus far held the line on “no new taxes,” every time an issue of taxes comes up he appears to waffle. Following the collapse of the 1-35W bridge last fall, all people politic were scrambling to figure out how they were going to pay not only for this one but for replacing all a ridiculous number of bridges in the state as “don’t cha know, they’re all falling down.” As the Democrats looked to use the event as an opportunity to raise every tax they could get their hands on i.e. gas tax, sales tax, motor vehicle fees, Pawlenty “reached across the aisle” and intimated that he would be open to an increase in the gas tax. Fast forward to the current session and yes, the Democrats have it all on the board. Because the Democrats control both houses, the increases will pass. The question will be whether a: Pawlenty will veto them and b: whether he will actually rally the Republicans to sustain the veto. My thinking is that “A” will definitely happen and if he really wants to be McCain’s VP “B” had better happen. I don’t think McCain is going to pick someone who is questionable in an area where he is already considered mushy.

Summary, like I said, you could do worse. I view Pawlenty as very McCainesque; he’s a conservative but gee, I wish he was an unquestionable conservative.

Update: Yet another article about Tim Pawlenty.

The gubmint or the gubmint?

 The “Law of Unintended Consequences” is the only law that seems to be universally enforced. It has no party affiliation!

Mike Huckabee thinks he may be killing his political career.   But Huckabee tries to argue that his continuing candidacy is no different than those in history that were decided at the convention.

Huckabee tries to compare his action to Regan’s push against Ford in ’76. Only problem with that is that Ford wasn’t able to get a decisive delegate commitment prior to the convention. Also, Ford won that nomination  ultimately because he was the incumbent. I don’t remember Huckabee being incumbent of the Presidency.

Some of the “Nutcakes for Paul” want to draw an analogy to Lincoln’s ability to win the nomination as a dark horse. No prize their either. The convention of 1860 had no less than 4 viable candidates. Going into the convention the delegates were split along extreme geographical and ideological lines. I suppose Huckabee could claim a sort of a geographical mandate in the south except that McCain has won Florida, Virginia and South Carolina. As to ideology, it’s really hard to see any mandated difference between he and McCain on that front.

Maybe killing your political career? Mike, listen carefully here…

If you’re hope was to be VP, that’s dead. If McCain is consistent on anything it’s that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly. Nor does he suffer those that oppose him gladly. Yes I know you were there to help him in West Virgina but don’t take that as fondness. McCain used you just like he uses conservatives to get what he wants and than toss them aside.

If you’re hope is to take a run a Pres. in ’12 you can forget about that too. You’ve shown you have no more conservative credentials than McCain so you can get the true conservatives. You stand on a psuedo theocratical perspective which tosses the moderates out. The only folks who find you attractive are people who believe the “Baptist Pastor” part of your resume is important.   While it is important for some occupations and many avocations, becoming President isn’t among them.   You don’t have a big enough group to work from.

Finally, here’s the real problem with your future political career. The Rats are eating their own young. Even if one of their candidates gets a majority of delegates prior to their convention there will be a continuing split among them that should allow a unified Republican candidate to drive through. You’re dangerously close to becoming the person viewed as gumming the works for a party unification prior to the Republican convention. If the Republicans remain split going into the convention and lose the general election you will be remembered as key reason for that. People have long memories for folks they think are in it only for their own selfish purposes. If you want to be remembered along side Tonya Harding, as a person who kneecaps their rival because you couldn’t win straight up, keep at it. The only future you will have will be as the answer to a trivia question!

…so said a realtor that we worked with as we finished our tour of penance in Iowa and moved back to Minnesota. His point was that people shopping for a home will tell you all kinds of things that they “have to have” in their new home. However, when it came right down to it, they would be flexible on nearly all “essentials” if they found a house that met their basic needs and their budget. What’s this got to do with the Republicans?

Rasmussen Reports has a pollthat tracks monthly the generic preference for control of Congress. If you look at the box in the upper right you’ll see that the R’s have been pretty much at a double digit disadvantage from the oldest date listed, April ’07. No surprise here, the MSM has been telling us constantly how much more Joe Lunchbucket and Susan Soccermom like the Rats over the Rs. Then, an odd thing happened on the way towards elections. Take a look at the recent few months. All of a sudden the Rs are back to low single digit differences…in fact, I’d guess that they are probably within the error rate of the poll.   Heard any of that from the MSM?

So what happened? It could be a number of things; progress in Iraq, Bill’s racist comments, Nancy and Harry’s not so great adventure. I don’t have the evidence yet but I think it’s the economy stupid. Take a look at when the numbers turned, just in the past couple of months. What’s new since then, nothing really except that most folks have become convinced that the economy needs help.

Polls have been consistently showingthat the Rats are thought to be better at the economy. That never made any sense to me especially in the large margins that the polls showed. A real disconnect for me was after the last Rat debate when they talked to their focus group and asked about tax policy. All but 3 “independents” in the room said they were all for changing the taxes as Hill and BO want to do. Now unless they “clean up real nice,” these folks looked to be a pretty good cross section of America. It is/was inconceivable to me that the majority of them would see a tax increase and be OK with that. I think that as Hill and BO have continued to “out left” each other and Nancy and Harry have had their picture placed in all dictionarys beside the word “inept”, people have started to do some of the simple math of what a Rat president and Rat Congress will mean to their pocketbooks.  

Regardless of who the Rats choose this Presidential election is going to be one of the starkest in terms policies and their impact on the average American.   Some have argued to the contrary but I still think America has an IQ level that is above the world average.   The Republicans need to be clear and concise in showing their ability to manage economic issues.   If they do, it will be a huge plus for November.   If they don’t or muddle it, we may as well start looking for property in Mexico.

Where to start with an interview like this with Charles Barkley?

First, Charles as Governor of Arizona….Charles would make Jesse Ventura appear to have been a well reasoned, self controlled, Rhodes Scholar.

Charles really likes and respects McCain but is decidedly prochoice and pro gay marriage. Has Charles bothered to check McCain’s position on these topics?

Charles is now a theologian. I’m no Biblical scholar but I can find my way from Genesis to Revelation….I missed the particular verse Charles is referencing. he must be reading that NRL (New Revised Liberal) translation of the Bible. That’s the version that keeps getting quoted as saying “I can do anything I want as long as I and only I, think it’s right!

Charles, go back to pontificating on basketball. I don’t think you’re particularly good at that either but at least you’re not doing any permanent harm to any mush head that  may take  you seriously!

An excellent article by Charles Krauthammer about the vacuousness (filled with hot air for those in Rio Linda) of Barack Obama. The question I have is whether folks will figure this out before  BOs singing John Mellencamp tunes in the Oval Office (OK, it’s a vague reference.   you’ll have to follow the link).

Thousands of people are still living in trailers that FEMA brought in to house the refugees of Katrina. Having been rumored for quite a while, FEMA now confirms that some of the trailers may have a problem with formaldehyde.

Symptoms of formaldehyde exposure can be as innocuous as watery or itchy eyes or a runny nose. At it’s worse, formaldehyde has been identified as a probable carcinogen.

But don’t worry about the formaldehyde levels! FEMA has an RV expert with the answer, "You can get it to dissipate very easily if you just ventilate it," he said. "People may just need to be shown how to open the windows."

Uh huh, and I guess for the next hurricane we should just show them how to roll up their pants legs?

I knew Cindy Sheehan was a one tune jukebox in the US but couldn’t she have learned a new tune for her international tour?

Appearing in Egypt, Sheehan has turned up to support the Muslim Brotherhood. Since we last saw her, Sheehan must have completed her JD as she’s apparently now an expert in international law and purports to deposit some of her new found knowledge on Hosni Mubarek.

I thought Sheehan might have found a new cause until I saw this quote in the article, “As a mother of a son who was killed in the war, I presented a letter to Ms. Suzanne Mubarak to realize how those women and children are suffering.”

You’re kidding me right? I guess this just proves the old adage: When all you have is a hammer, the entire world looks like a nail!

Because there is more to life than politics and sports, and because Florida has a lot of photogenic wildlife, I’ve made an executive decision to add Cabbage Hammock.

Spring is, after all, coming soon, and I figure we needed a reminder of what it looks like. The Gatorade Duels are today, pitchers and catchers report on Saturday, there’s 46 days to opener in Miller Park South and 50 days to the Home Opener.

Kev is back from his undisclosed, secure location, so Uncle Jimbo and he have delivered a double-header Freefly. In part 1, they take out Code Pink and Hezbollah, among others. In part 2, they deposit a fat hanging screwball from Congress in the cheap seats.

Go, watch and enjoy.

By now you’ve probably all heard about the flap where a Che Guevara flag was photographed at one of his Texas campaign offices. Yesterday Obama made an official response to the issue.

Amazing! Isn’t this the man about whom Chris Matthews said he got a “Chill run up my leg”  because his speeches were so motivating and moving?  “Inappropriate.” “Wasn’t mine”….that is the best, most verbose, most loquacious response he could come up with? I didn’t know that Obama’s campaign had been impacted by the writers strike.

 I wonder if Obama would have been as nonchalant had a swastika or a confederate flag been hung in the office?   I’ll bet he would have managed a slightly longer string of words in that case!

I can’t ever remember being in a conversation where I referenced another man by saying I felt a “thrill going up my leg.” Then again, I’ve never voted Democrat.

It seems that the folks putting on the Politics Online Conference at the beginning of next month have a contest called the Golden Dot Awards. It further seems that a certain brunette got herself nominated for Best Vlog, and voting is now open. It would be very nice to see MKH add to her trophy case, so go, vote for HamNation for Best Vlog. Do it as many times as they’ll let you.

As long as you’re there, Matt Lewis has a couple more suggestions; TownHall for Online Dream Team and Amanda Carpenter for Best Political Coverage (since I didn’t see Jim Geraghty, there’s no conflict of interest here).