Where is the News?

The Washington Post is all excited because Patrick Fritzgerald, he of the Wilson affair fame, got rated.  Wow. Dan Eggen and John Solomon report:

U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald was ranked among prosecutors who had “not distinguished themselves” on a Justice Department chart sent to the White House in March 2005, when he was in the midst of leading the CIA leak investigation that resulted in the perjury conviction of a vice presidential aide, administration officials said yesterday

The ratings were done by one DOJ aide, D. Kyle Sampson.

Two facts.

One, Sampson rated all ninety-three United States Attorneys.   As Fritzgerald was one of the ninety-three means, he got rated.   So the fact that Fritzgerald got rated means nothing, nothing at all.

Two, the ratings, such as they were, were entirely the product of one person,  Sampson, and there is no evidence they represent anything more than Sampson’s opinion, such as it was.   So Sampson had an opinion and so he expressed it.   So what!

So to the WaPo, as Clara Peller might say:  “Where is the news?”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Luther Ingram, the soul singer who seduced audiences with his hit “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want to Be Right,” has died of a heart attack at age 69, his family said on Wednesday.

Ingram, who also co-wrote the Staple Singers’ hit “Respect Yourself,” died Monday in Belleville, Illinois, near his home in O’Fallon

Moxie has a Cathy Seipp update.

Word of what we’re up against: 

Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday.

The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint but was allowed through when soldiers saw the children in the back, said Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

“Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back,” Barbero said.

 

(Sigh) Murderous bastards. And no, I have no kinder words.

But you know… I’ve yet to see any blog on the left side of the street, even so much as MENTION this, as if they’re afraid to do so. Doesn’t take much to understand why. They might be forced to admit they’re wrong about Iraq.

Billy;

Erb is the kind of person who to my mind exemplifies why I don’t trust anyone from the left, at all anymore, any further than I can throw Jim Nadler. .

It’s also why I gave someone else there such a hard time, when I saw him falling into the trap of listening to that nonsense.

I address both situations as I see them… a serious danger, a siren call.

She ought to be.  The ad perfectly captures Mrs. Clinton’s cynical use of the word “conversation.”  View the video.   What do you think??

Liberals are now claiming a strange new theory of executive power — that it’s the bureaucrats, the “experts,” the permanent government in DC, that have almost all of the actual power in the executive branch, and the President is acting criminally when he presumes that he is the boss of them.

 Ace, Ace of Spades HQ.

We have an unelect, essentially democrat, permanent government, and  it is at war with our elected government.

BATON ROUGE -Gannett- Gov. Kathleen Blanco has made it official: she will not run for re-election.”I am choosing to do what I believe to be what is best for the state,” the governor said in a statewide television broadcast. “I will focus the next nime months on the people’s work, not on politics.”

In case you’re curious, that translates as: ” I’ve looked over the field, and I haven’t a hope in hell of winning reelection.”

Gee, I wonder why that would be.

And of course,  Bobby Jindal  running rings around her for the last number of months would be another motivation. Look for Sen. John Breaux to run for the spot as a Democrat… and lose.

Update:  (David L)   Paul, Wizbang, reports one, that John Breaux is in and  two, the state GOP has already run anti Breaux ads.  Way to go.

* The Music: The Outlaws first album, 1975. Yes, I seem to be in that neighborhood chronologically, for a couple of weeks now. This one is an old favorite. Probably the most powerful guitar album I am aware of… and I’m not talking about simply to loud and brash; I’m talking about talented playing. Not only can these guys sing.. and their harmonic structure as some of the best of the time, their playing is just flat out awesome. I said years ago, these guys should have a fire extinguisher nearby anytime they play. I still hold that statement true. Too bad, that their first album was so good, because it ended up being hard to top… Ala Boston, from the same time period.
* I appear to have taken two honorable mentions in the Caption Contest this week at OTB.

* You know, for all the hype about this Barrack Obama 1984 ad, I, for one, don’t think I’d be very pleased about having it done in my name. After all; let’s remember the original purpose of the ad… it was Apple computer who was trying to unseat the PC, with that ad. Apple spent an awful lot of time and money, trying to convince people that Apple was the simpler choice. They wanted to convince everyone that they were too stupid to run a PC. You may notice they didn’t succeed.

I can certainly accept the argument that anybody that votes for Hillary Clinton is dumber than a box of rocks… but I think most people are smart enough to recognize that Obama isn’t the answer to the question that situation poses.

* Speaking of Obama, I see McClatchy running a story that’s sure to get something going among the blogs:

WASHINGTON _ The most liberal member of Congress running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination isn’t Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

It’s Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

And the Republican candidate who’s grown less conservative over his years in Congress? Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Those are among the interesting findings in a recent analysis of votes by all the members of Congress who are running for president.

They seem to have nailed down the second one. On that basis, I’m more inclined to accept the first one it face value.

* The Chi Trib ran an article this morning that the Justice Department rated U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald quite low… indeed, as low as a couple U.S. attorneys that were fired. Seems to me they got that one right. If there was a more inept, politically motivated prosecution of a case in recent history, I’m unaware of it. The DOJ called this one correctly…And, here again, on that basis I am inclined to accept the other firings at face value. The law of averages would seem to come into play on both these cases.

* I’m curious to know why the left is now making a great deal of noise about the White House supposedly seeking people who could replace Alberto Gonzalez. At my job, we would call that kind of thing contingency planning… we would also call anyone who didn’t engage in it “stupid”.

* Speaking of Gonzalez, did you notice the Senate’s power grab? For all of their talk, these last few years, about checks and balances, they don’t seem to be overly concerned about it now that they have a majority in Congress. Maybe somebody ought to wonder why, right out loud.

* Oh, and speaking of all of that, I’m glad to see that Mr. Bush has finally grown a pair… as regards handling the Democrats… But I wonder if it happened soon enough. Bush senior figured out in 1992, that bending over forward for the Democrats doesn’t make them like you any more. Indeed, like Klingons, they’ll see it as capitulation… as a sign of weakness… and act accordingly. The way to deal with these people is to kick butt and take names. As I say, I hope that the lesson he’s learned is soon enough to make a difference.

* I mentioned bumper stickers the other night. I’m still kicking the idea around, a bit. Here’s a woman a dozen extensive write- up on the topic… There’s a few interesting comments from readers, too.

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* I was happy to see that the rescue workers found Boy Scout Michael Auberry. I can’t wait for the court cases that are gonna come from the little episode.

* I often will take a snippet from Brit Hume to post on this site, and comment on it. Tonight, Brit is on fire, and it’s hard to choose. I’ll let you do that.

ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) – John Backus — whose development of the Fortran programming language in the 1950s — paved the way for modern software — has died. He was 82.

If you use a computer, you owe this man a debt of gratitude.

The Daily Mail(UK) reports on extremists’ demands to kill Knut:

At three months old, however, the playful 19lb bundle of fur is at the centre of an impassioned debate over whether he should live or die.

Animal rights activists argue that he should be given a lethal injection rather than brought up suffering the humiliation of being treated as a domestic pet.

No further comment.

More, Ann Althouse, Althouse.

Among the things I find amazing, this bit of brainlessness from Rosie O’Donnell is not.

What amazes ME is that Boortz finds this kind of thing at all unusual among Democrats.

You need to get out more, Neal.  This is simply par for the course. You’re good, man, but you keep seriously under-estimating the sheer stupidity of the left.

Clarence Page is a liberal, but among my more favorite ones.   Page is calm, articulate, well reasoned, polite and respects data.  In short Page is everything, that Al Franken and Keith Olberman,are not.

Elite academic insitutions, life Havard, achieve their racial quotas, diversity objectives by admitting large number of African immigrants, and these immigrants do quite well.  While admitting a well qualified canidate from say Nigeria bloosters both Havard’s political objectives and graduation rate, it does  nothing to further the idea that diversity is intented undo(1) the damage caused the legacy of slavery.

Via Real Clear Politics, Page questions the implementation of diversity:

But I also think we need to revisit the meaning of “diversity.” Unlike our current system of feel-good game-playing, we need to focus on the deeper question of how education can be improved and opportunities opened up to those who were left behind by the civil rights revolution.

Page argues that failure to meet the political objectives of diversity means that the diversity program needs to re-examined and retuned.

I am all for re-examination and retuning but have a different target.  I have grown tired of the idea that every time a black fails it is the fault of a white.   Does racial equality should mean equal racial responsibiity.

Before re-examining the admission policy of institutions like Havard, ask the question of what immigrants from places like Nigeria and Haiti doing right that native blacks are doing wrong?  Given the high degree of genetic similarity between immigrant and native blacks, I’d say that nature is not the answer.  If not nature, then maybe nurture?   Is black culture failing black youths?   Is Bill Cosby right?

(H/T photo:  Western Kentucy University )

1.  Yes you are right.  Technically it was affirmative action  which was meant to reverse the effects of slavery.  But nobody has yet ti explain what the purpose, if any, of diversity actually is.  Diversity is just the new liberal code speak for affirmative action, minus the rational.

If A.J. Strata is right, and I sure hope he is, President George W. Bush is about to bitch slap Senators Leahy and Schumer.  I am no fan of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, but I am adamantly oppposed to the disloyal permanent democrat party government.

The Wilson affair at the CIA was the result of permanent democrat party attempting to wrestle control of foreign policy from the elected president.

Like wise the McNulty affair in DOJ, was a coup attempt by the permanent democrat party government.

Gonzalez may be one horridly weak attorney general.  But it is important for the President to thwart the attempts by Leahy and Schumer to hijack his presidency.

* The Music: Tonight, I’m going electronica. Gert Emmens, an album called “Wanderer of Time”. Emmens is a relative unknown in the US, except in the rather esoteric world of electronica. The album reminds me of Tangerine Dream in it’s heyday. A little escapism, I guess… for reasons you’ll see.

* I see DavidL has made the column of Slate’s Caren Crockett. Cool. Nice to be noticed.

* No word as of this writing about Cathy Seipp, though you gotta know what’s happening there…

As earlier mentioned in the comments section, my mother is in the hospital. The doctor says that right now they’re just making her comfortable. She’s sedated, with painkillers among other things. Lungs collapsed so right now we just want to make sure she has dignity and is not in pain. The doctor says she has a couple days left. I want to thank all her readers for reading this blog, her friends for supporting her who made up “Team Cathy.” Through you all, I learned what a true friend was. I’m at her bedside now, holding her hand. I tell her she has 292 comments on the latest blog post..her last but she just squeezes my hand. She was very happy with this blog. In honor of her, if you can…support the American Lung Cancer Society and or adopt stray dogs and cats from the pound. Those were her causes. Thank you all so much. Will keep everyone posted.

I don’t expect good news to be coming out of this.  I hate to say it that way, but if you think about it, Cathy has been quite open and honest with us throughout this process, and it almost seems disrespectful to be less than brutally honest about it, now.  Longtime readers will know it’s not like me to pull my punches, anyway.  So, there is.

I always enjoyed Cathy’s style. We exchanged notes only occasionally, Usually involving something she’d written to which I had a comment. As I say, such correspondence was rare.

Despite the fact that we never really knew each other and hardly spoke, there’s something about what’s happening here, that leaves one with a certain feeling of helplessness. It’s been disheartening these last few months, to watch her health deteriorate, for reasons I’m not sure I have the words to describe to you…

Ya know, I have sat quietly by and watched countless bastards die, who richly deserved their fate.  And others who probably didn’t deserve the fate they ended up with. On rare occasions, I’ve commented on both of them. Sometimes kindly, sometimes harsh, and often I’ve been charged with being overly harsh in such situations.

This case, however, is different….. Something special…  Because, I think, we’re losing something special, here.  Not that she had any particular political insight. I disagreed with her occasionally.  Usually not. But that wasn’t her focus. Rather, I think, it had to do with her ability to allow the reader more directly into her thoughts than most writers can do.  It’s a rare gift.

(Sigh) And alas, not to be indelicate about this, assuming no changes, it’s about to become a little rarer.

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* Captain Ed has some comments and a tale to tell…

Last night, I had to have the First Mate sent to the hospital in an ambulance because her blood pressure could not stay under control. She’s in the ICU tonight, and will now likely stay in the hospital until her transplant late next week. The doctors have to stabilize her BP before she can handle the surgery that would stabilize her BP — so our frustration has grown tremendously the last few days.

However, my wife is blessed with a friend who will donate his kidney to save her life. Now that she has the proper supervision, her life is not in danger. I can still call her on the phone and talk with her. She is getting the best medical care available, and it is helping her.

I wish I could say the same for Cathy, and when I read her daughter’s post, the impatience and the frustration I felt all day today melted away. Please join me in prayers for Cathy, her brave and supportive daughter, and the entire Seipp family.  They will need them in the days ahead.

It’s true. Both families are in our prayers tonight, and I hope, your own.
Perhaps it’s just as well I don’t add anything more to tonight’s Ramble. I’m not in the mood, anyway.