Month: November 2008

Can the Republican Party become the Party of Goldwater/Reagan again?

Damn I wish I had more time. I’m in the middle of Missouri (can’t remember the town, but it’s halfway between St. Louis and Springfield), with huge stretches of road in front of me, and I’m running late. About all I have time to do is show the “view from my room” (does that sound…

Here is a funny bit I found in the comments at No Quarter. == The Heaviest Element Known to Science Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neut rons, giving it an…

Commenter Fritz in a reply to a comment by Edgar at Older Protestant White Guys had this to say about the “leave us alone” crowd in the last election. Edgar, you state that the “leave us alone” crowd are at fault for Obama’s victory. OK. I’m one of the “leave us alone” crowd and, while…

Yes, I’ll be on the road for several days, so my blogging for the next four days will likely be nonexistent, or at best occasional and brief. With any luck, M. Simon will be blogging up a storm. (While I drive through them!) So keep checking in; you never know!

What is twenty-five million all about? It is the number of people who have used marijuana in any given year. Since 1990 a reported 20.5 million people have used marijuana in an average year. From 1990 to 2005 annual usage was at its greatest reported level in 2002 at 25.9 million and its lowest level…

The man at ease? Bush. The man who looks totally afraid? Obama. It looks to me like he is going to have to make a lot of decisions he is not ready for. Not surprising for a man who voted “present” 130 times in the Illinois Senate. Cross Posted at Power and Control

I stumbled across a piece of nostalgia last night in the form of this Veterans Day column by Herb Caen — a guy I used to read daily who deserves the title of blogger, even if he never lived to see that. From The San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 9, 1986. TUESDAY IS another of those…

While I couldn’t find the latest horror story of radical gay anarchists invading a church in Lansing, Michigan in my daily paper, Glenn Reynolds linked it this morning (along with a more detailed account), and observed, This strategy seems quite unwise. I think the actions were evil and despicable. Whether they were unwise depends (unfortunately)…

Yes. The War On Drugs has turned into a shooting war. In fact it has been a shooting war for quite some time in Afghanistan. So how is that working out? Not well. Here is a bit from 2007 explaining what the DEA is doing in Afghanistan. Working first with the D.E.A. and then with…

In a piece titled “Minorities at war on Obamaland’s Western shore,” distinguished Canadian journalist Colby Cosh looks at the Proposition 8 conflict (including the latest nonsensical meme that gays who voted for McCain did so out of racism) and concludes, It’s enough to make you glad you live in a country where such matters are…

Please don’t crush my hope so early, Mr. Obama. So pleads Ann Althouse, reflecting on a truly dreadful idea — that Barack Obama might appoint Jamie Gorelick as Attorney General. While I didn’t vote for Obama, I’m not the type to say inane things like “DON’T BLAME ME! I VOTED FOR MCCAIN!” Slogans like that…

Considering the nature of the debate in my previous post about gay bigotry, I’m glad we’re not living in Germany. No, this is not another Nazi comparison; I’m talking about modern Germany, where it has apparently become illegal to accuse someone of anti-Semitism: In a tortuous ruling that threatens to have a chilling effect on…

Norman Ornstein discusses the hill Republicans have to climb to get back into power. In so many respects — culturally, ethnically, sociologically, internationally — the election of Barack Obama has altered the landscape. It also has changed the political terrain, making the path for Republicans to return to majority status in the electorate daunting —…

The Democrat Party is a coalition of the oppressed and formerly oppressed Americans. And who was doing the oppressing? Social conservatives of the Protestant variety. Here is one example dealing with the public schools. Separate Roman Catholic and Jewish schools were established in the mid-nineteenth century, first in New York City, and later across the…

I like technological breakthroughs, and the announcement in this article struck me as good news: Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb. The miniature reactors will…

Foobarista of foobarista left a comment at my post Republicans Stayed Home. This is what foo had to say: The reason McCain lost is the Republicans lost the “Leave Me Aloners”. The problem was that small-government Republicans got swept aside by those who got used to the comforts of Washington. “Compassionate Conservatism” didn’t help. Even…

So I’m trying to figure out why the Republicans lost. And I go back to one of the stats guys who misinformed me. Yeah I know. But he is an honest guy and is trying to figure out what his error was. Here is what Paul Marston has to say: As usual, the media has…

When I wrote yesterday’s post about the overwhelming black support for Prop 8, I had not read about the vile and sickening displays of racism displayed by gay demonstrators in Los Angeles. So, when I clicked this morning on Glenn Reynolds’ link from last night to Pam Spaulding’s post — “The N-bomb is dropped on…