Category: Uncategorized

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…

Commenter Sue at Just One Minute had this to say: I was reading something today that had quotes from the people of Alaska about Palin. One was a democrat who had liked her before she ran for VP. He didn’t realize her religious beliefs, her abortion beliefs, her belief that marriage was between a man…

While I don’t know whether Michigan is more beautiful as an overall state than Pennsylvania, the Ann Arbor area is really nice, and unlike the Philadelphia area, you don’t have to drive far to see nice countryside. The view from my driveway isn’t so bad either. That was taken as I got in my car…

Not to be a nag, but I updated my previous “building not a tent” post to include a link to Ilya Somin’s discussion of a (Social) Conservative-Libertarian alliance. Also I added a link to Jonah Goldberg’s post on the peripherally-related subject of conservative theory to my Prop 8 discussion. I want to return to the…

From the comments at Honest Government And Fiscal Responsibility by commenter auh2ogirl: The fact that prop 8 was voted through, as prop 2 was here in FL, was in large part due to the black and latino vote, yet Obama won FL and CA tells me that the time for candidates to be elected on…

I was having an ongoing discussion with a social conservative, Rick, at Just One Minute about the place for libertarians in the Republican Party. He doesn’t think there should be any place for them. So I said: And Rick, Goldwater was quite a libertarian. We need to put him down the memory hole. Yes? No…

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own…

Out Magazine editor Aaron Hicklin has a piece in the Guardian titled “The success of Proposition 8 in California was one negative consequence of Obama’s victory” and he goes into some detail discussing something that isn’t getting much play in the American press — that black voters (many of whom were voting in unprecedently large…

I have one of the most liberal comment policies in the blogosphere. No authentication or sign-in is required, and I almost never delete comments for offensiveness. (See these gems if you doubt me.) I have on rare occasions edited a comment when people have asked me to. But as I’ve said many times, this is…

The problem with social conservatism with respect to candidates winning elections is that it gets the monkeys screaming. That does not help win elections. Soothe the monkeys. Tell what you want to accomplish. 1. Clean out the corrupt – Start with our own house. 2. Fiscal responsibility 3. We don’t want to change your life…

You know. That looks to me like a McCain dirty trick. Bringing out the charge with barely enough time for Obama to respond.

The very same people who don’t want the Fairness Doctrine want the FCC [Federal Communications Commission] to limit pornography on the air. So said Chuck Schumer, in remarks widely interpreted as a comparison between talk radio and pornography. While talk radio and pornography have little in common, that’s not the point. What’s being concealed by…

I’m a bit skeptical about the claim by Fox News that Sarah Palin “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent.” Actually, Fox’s Carl Cameron doesn’t accuse her of that directly; he claims he was told. By, uh, “folks.” His exact words: “Well I wish I could have told you back at the time, but all…