Links and Minifeatures 11 03 Thursday
Number one sign that Alito will be confirmed: Democrats Push to Delay Alito Hearings. If someone is fighting a delaying action, it's another way of saying "Lose slowly and maybe something will happen". In this case, they're just hoping the delay enables them to find something they can derail him with. Note to Spector and other judiciary Elephants: Push like hell to hold them ASAP. Like tomorrow. Yesterday would be even better.
My first reaction on seeing that the Donkeys forced the Senate into closed session was that it was a response to Alito's nomination, playing to their base for brownie points because they know they can't defeat Alito. Indeed, if you read the article, that's aluded to: Democrats Force Secret Senate Session. Anything to distract attention.
Captain's Quarters reports on TV networks attempting a draft dodger smear on the nominee. My take is that he served a commitment which was declared equivalent. Volunteering to fight in the front lines, as John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush did, is not necessary. Serving honorably and fulfilling your commitment is. Alito seems to have done that. But CNN seems to remember the issue had some traction against certain Donkeys. Big hint: that's because those Donkey's gamed the system (Kerry) and didn't fulfill their commitment (Clinton).
Michael Barone talks about how, unlike the days of Robert Bork, the left no longer has a stranglehold on the public dialog, so any borking is likely to be met with counter-force on the right. He also directs me to a David Corn article proposing that the Donkeys explicitly politicize the nomination of Alito. The question I would ask of Mr. Corn is "Then what?" Win or lose, you've given the Elephants a fight to energize their base, which is larger than the Donkey base. Furthermore, by explicitly politicizing it, you're going to push a lot of the undecideds away from you, something the Donkeys can not afford. Next question: If the Supreme Court becomes all about politics, why are we even bothering with this fig leaf called qualification? Why not fight over whether Hillary Clinton or Ann Coulter is going to be the next justice? There may be some on the extremes who want that, but I can tell you that the vast majority in the center - including most of the base for both parties - do not. I have this thought, you see, that the majority of the people in the country want judges who at least start out in considering a case on its merits, rather than by its political implications.
Ann Althouse clears the record when a reporter took what she said to mean something a little different.
ED: Update corrected spelling of Ms. Althouse's name.
Chortle!.
Money quote:
The chart indicated we were a mile and a half" from the coral reef when the ship ran aground, Constantino told AFP
Does anybody actually believe this? Anybody? Buehler?
Carnival of The Vanities is up!
For the Californians reading this: Eric's Grumbles has an excellent take on why you should vote Yes on 77.
Interesting! Hints of Early Stars May Have Been Found
Captain's Quarters notes that corruption as well as faulty design had a role in the New Orleans levees failing. The Donkeys want to blame Army Corps of Engineers. A more likely culprit is the Louisiana state political machine, which controlled and awarded most of the flood control money.
Opinion Journal makes a point that needs to be made over and over and over again in "Race to the Bottom" (Third Header). Just because you're a member of a minority does not mean you're not a racist.
La Shawn Barber has probably the best take on the Paris Riots that I've seen. I do not agree with her that Islam is inherently violent, but do agree that Islamic violence is tolerated and encouraged by co-religionists to an extent that Christianity hasn't seen since the Inquisition began to decline in the late sixteenth century. We cannot afford to be any more tolerant of those who encourage violence (let alone contribute money to it!) than those who actually commit violence. No other major world religion today tolerates or advocates religious (or other!) violence to anything like the degree that Islam does. This can change, or we can exterminate it, or it will exterminate us. I'd prefer option one, but that's got to come from within the Islamic world. Nobody can force it on them. I'll take option two over option three every time, just the same as I am perfectly willing to kill in self defence and will have no moral qualms over it whatsoever. The two situations are precisely analogous, albeit one on a wholesale, the other on a retail, level. I'd rather not have to do it, but the confrontation is not of our making, and we have done everything that any court could possibly expect a reasonable person to do and then some. My personal weapon of choice is a good strong light to illuminate intolerable practices, but without a willingness to exterminate the revealed cockroaches as they scatter, this is useless. If we have to put a bullet in the head of every last person who supports jihad or terrorism and adopt their children out to parents of other religions (or none), so be it.
I regard this as more good than bad: S.D. makes neglected property an issue. I sympathize when it's a property owner with no available cash to do the rehabilitation, and with a property that is not eligible for a loan. Also, when it's an estate in dispute and the heirs can't agree, there's nothing that can really be done until final resolution of the probate. But even the worst case projection for collapsing real estate value I've seen is still well above property values from just a few years ago. We can't expect the neighborhood to put up with eyesores forever, and all of the other problems that go with neglected property. So it's a case of fix it up or sell it.
NASA isn't the only place that can do spectacular things in space: Japan's Hayabusa Closes in on Asteroid Landing Site
China Reportedly Shuts Down Blog. Except that the story says they actually only blocked it. This is a better written story, with an actual interview, and the information that it's actually defunct (I was hoping to be able to toss the guy a link to raise his search engine ranking even more). This has a little more. Here's an article on the actual shutdown.
Tim Worstall has more, including the text of Wang Yi's thank you and the place to visit in order to vote for him (or anyone else nominated) for BOB and here is his nomination page.
Too weird not to link: Man Kills Buck With Bare Hands in Bedroom
The SEC has issued a warning about online investing. The actual guide is Online Brokerage Accounts. I noticed that I had neglected to add the SEC to my resources list to the right on the bottom. It's there now, and useful.
I love seeing stuff like Muffy the Liberal Slayer over at Wizbang. Money quote: "Sometimes, the baby seal comes up with a shotgun."
This is not so much a liberal versus conservative thing as it is a mindless compassion versus intelligent consideration thing.
Mudville Gazette has the link to a new book about celebrity hypocrisy Michael Moore owns Halliburton
The Immigration Blog has the goods on where to report illegal aliens. No guarantees they'll actually do anything, of course, but you will have tried a legal means.
The Democrats are working on a 2006 version of the Republican Contract With America. The link is here. Looks basically good, especially the Secure America for Our Children Act (if it has any teeth), but except for the Quagmire Avoidance Act, which I sincerely hope is a sop to their base because the whole premise is stupid, they all seem like good ideas. Unfortunately, I don't think any of them are "hot button" issues that will resonate the way the Republican Contract did with voters. (Except the Quagmire Avoidance Act, which according to my understanding of the military and political situation, is plainly stupid denial of the facts, no matter how the legacy media is framing it). Nonetheless, I'm glad to see the Donkeys working on ideas for a national agenda of their own.
Dean's World is where I found the link, and he's got some very worthwhile comments of his own on the issue. He seems to mostly agree with me, but I suggest you read him yourself.
One thing studying military history will give you is an appreciation for the possibility of sneaky tactics, and not just military. Given Pelosi's past history, I have a reasonable suspicion (in the possibility sense of the term, not the innuendo sense) that the rest of it is a smokescreen to make it seen like the so-called "Quagmire Avoidance Act" is backed by the majority of the voters when in fact that is the part everyone went along with in order to get the rest of it.
Armies of Liberation has at least three new good articles on Yemen since the last time I had a chance to look. Saleh's trail of bodies. Death Threats for opposition figures. The ruling party steamrollering an opposition attempt to change from Presidential to Parliamentary authority. Go read her whole front page.
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