Month: December 2007

We’ve all heard about teflon presidents. Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are both frequently cited as examples. Is Hillary Clinton also made of teflon? To tell the truth, I never really thought of her as the teflon type. But how about a Hillary made of “long-lasting PVC”? Yeah, I know it’s just a dog toy…

I must not be paying enough attention to the news. From the tone and huge New York Times headline in today’s Inquirer (and, no doubt, in many other newspapers), you’d almost think that Bush went to war against Iran based on faulty intelligence. (Or might as well have.) And once again, our warmongering president has…

The Volokh Conspiracy is having a discussion of women in combat. Here is my 2¢. I remember reading where being a woman in combat had a number of positive effects (in the current environment). They connect with the females in the population better. Very helpful when fighting an insurgency. They also shame Iraqis who are…

There are some serious analyses of the religious issues facing Romney in the Republican race, and this one by Mark Tapscott is a good example. On the other hand, there are some not so serious analyses (at least some that shouldn’t be taken seriously), such as the view that a ‘Vote for Romney is vote…

The New York Times has an article on the new Congressional mandate to raise average vehicle mileage standards from 27.5 mpg to 35 mpg. We have been here before. The standards have usually turned into perverse incentives. SUVs were the result of discontinuing the station wagon, because the station wagon was a passenger vehicle. Perversely…

In response to Obama’s show of strength in Iowa, Hillary Clinton has gone on the offensive, starting with a barrage about the “superiority” of her “comprehensive” health care plan, and moving on to a literal attack on Obama’s character: ….asked whether she was saying this was an issue of character when it comes to Senator…

A front page story in today’s Inquirer (featuring a picture of convicted murderer Jerome Whitaker, who shot a police officer after his release) promised to tell me how this thug “came to be armed” In an apparent hit attempt, a gunman fired into a parked car at 15th and Sansom Streets, wounding two men and…

Here’s the latest picture (taken yesterday) of the roses that still cling (barely) to life on my porch. And a picture of them a month ago: Nothing is forever, but considering that they’re December roses, they’re lucky to be alive. Then there’s this. I think it’s kind of pretty. But trust me, it’s a lot…

The election results in Venezuela don’t look good. Apparently, people down there are willing to vote away their freedom. In what was probably a harbinger of things to come, the eve of the election appears to have been punctuated by government-backed anti-Semitism: Police raided Venezuela’s main Jewish social club on the eve of a national…

Hillary. She’s inevitable. Right? The very politically astute Ann Althouse links Frank Rich, who thinks she might not be: [T]he Republicans have fallen into a trap by continuing to cling to the Hillary-is-inevitable trope. They have not allowed themselves to think the unthinkable — that they might need a Plan B to go up against…

One of the greatest challenges in blogging is to write about something without knowing anything about it. While I was delighted and honored to be asked by Pajamas Media to cover last night’s Iowa Democratic debate, despite my best attempts, there was no way for me to possibly watch it, because it was broadcast on…

I’m glad Duncan Hunter had the good sense to call this seeming yahoo on the “gun toss.” My initial suspicion was that he’s about as much of a gun toting redneck as the school teacher who was arrested for the Columbine remarks. “Jay Fox lifetime member of the NRA.” Really? I’m a “life member” of…

Although I wrote a post about it earlier, I have no idea what is happening at tonight’s Iowa debate, because it is being broadcast on an elite network called HDNet that only five people in the United States can receive. But there’s some severe weather, and it is unclear whether Hillary will make it: Des…

I hate insurance companies. Seriously, I really do, and I always have. There’s just something about the idea of paying for something you might never need (and don’t want to use at all) which makes me instinctively recoil. Then on top of that, what really rankles me is that when you do need to make…