The Snowball Opts Against Melting in Hell

Carl Cameron over at Fox is reporting:

WASHINGTON — Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008, FOX News has learned.  Bayh made the decision depsite having made several visits to test states like Iowa and New Hampshire, and raising millions of dollars toward a possible White House run.

This should not be a shock to anyone.  Despite the fact that he’s raised $10 million for a possible action run, he never really had a chance at the White House. in the end, 10 million from individual backers, probably doesn’t mean all that much in the face of the amount of money that the Deaniac Democrats are going to be pouring into the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Today’s Project Hero is written to recognize the efforts of PFC Ross McGinnis.

Go and read….… and wonder.

BBCT also goes to BlackFive, who also does an extensive writeup on PFC McGinnis.

I am struck by one comment at BlackFive.  The writer quotes General George Patton:

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died, rather we should thank God that such men lived.”

Pam M, at Blogmeister, issues a dire warning, “Hillary Making the Rounds:”

Gak! Just when you thought it was safe to turn on your television again, Hillary Clinton is getting ready to do the talkshow circus — er, circuit.

Dusting off her ten-year-old book It Takes a Village(which is being re-issued,) Clinton is the Today Show and The View, where her adoring sycophants await. (The only fly in this ointment is that Katie Couric is no longer at Today, ready to slaver at her idol’s heels. Alas, Clinton will have to make do with second-best Meredith Veira.)

This is not quite another Rose Garden campaign, but neither is it the Tim Russert, Wolf Blizter, Bill O’Reilly circuit either. Can any person unwilling to face O’Reilly really be considered a presidential contender”

This evening I’m going to take the time did you do this year to one of seven animal co-inhabitants of Casa De Bit.  Ray.

Ray belongs to Donna, my wife.  Wait, scratch that.

Donna belongs to Ray the cat, who, in turn, tolerates me.

In this photograph, Ray is spreading Christmas cheer the only way he knows how.  He’s sleeping.  Yes, he has all four paws in the air. This does not indicate that Ray has passed on to that great litterbox in the sky, despite his total lack of movement. Rather, it indicates Ray is totally at home in his environment, and totally relaxed.  This is a state that will immediately shift to high alert, if the cupboard where the cat food is kept is opened for any reason.

The Santa in the picture, is one that my wife was given when she was three or four years old.  She has a tendency to put him in lesser used chairs around Christmastime.  I’ve never questioned why, thinking it rather cute.  But when I saw Ray snuggling up against him, I knew I had to break out the camera.

Truth be told, Raymond snuggles up against everybody.

And everything.

Including the dog.

The dog, for her part, can’t quite seem to get the body language correct.  And Ray spooks every once in awhile, as a result. But for the most part, they get along just fine thank you very much.  On cold days, I’ve even seen them snuggled up together, in the dogs bed….  Which, I’m sure, Ray thinks of as his and out on loan to her.

Speaking of ownership of the bed, he thinks the bed where my wife and I sleep, is also his.  Which, not to be to indelicate about this, can make for some interesting situations when we’d like to pay attention to each other.  Confused meowing is sure to be heard in that situation.

Raymond was a stray.  We obtained a met the local animal shelter.  He’s turned into a member of the family.  The only thing that he does not do well is travel. That’s sad, because that’s something we do quite a bit of.

I’ll introduce you to the other cats, and to the dog eventually.

No arguments, Billy, with any of it.

But I really have to say once again that the only time you ever see Democrats talking about “bipartisanship” is when they realize they’re vulnerable.  One health problem, and that newfound strength they thought they had in that one vote senate majority, suddenly becomes vulnerability again… And the constant bleating for “bipartisanship” reflects this vulnerability.

The fact of the matter is was and remains, that the state in question has long been Republican, and the same people that elected Johnson, elected Thune. the argument that “the people spoke and wanted Democrats” rings hollow, thereby.

All of this is for naught in any event.

Look, regardless of any other event, if it’s needed, if it comes to it and Tim Johnson turns out to be worse than what we’re seeing at the moment, they will keep Tim Johnson on life support indefinitely, so that they can maintain their hold on Congress.  Suddenly, they will be the fighting for the life of the individual (Johnson, specifically) regardless of written wishes of Johnson, wishes of the family, or anything else, unlike the position they took with that lady in Florida a couple years ago.

In short, they will become anything they have to be, do anything they have to do, to maintain power.  And in reality that’s all this ever was about.

The Associated Press is reporting that, “Carter Nixes Debate With Outspoken Prof Dec:”

Former President Carter turned down a request to debate Alan Dershowitz about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying the outspoken Harvard law professor “knows nothing about the situation.”

(…)

“I don’t want to have a conversation even indirectly with Dershowitz,” Carter said in Friday’s Boston Globe. “There is no need … to debate somebody who, in my opinion, knows nothing about the situation in Palestine.”

Now I am hardly a fan of Alan Dershowitz, yet I would not describe Dershowitz as knowing nothing about the situation in Palestine. Now I am a poker player, and I say that Carter is bluffing, and very badly.

Carter does not want, and indeed fears, debate. Carter wants fawning praise and interview no harder than one which would posed by Larry King.

Appendum:  I like what Besty Newmark, Besty’s Page, has to say:  “Jimmy Carter is an intellectual coward.”    Not only is Carter afraid to debate Havard professors, I’d bet he would not be willing to attempt to debate a high school history teacher.

Limbaugh makes an interesting point, yesterday, along the same lines as the “Welcome to the Bigtime” post, as regards the Webb campaign and bloggers, below…

RUSH: Here we go with Barack Obama. As you know, he was up in New Hampshire — do you know, by the way, TV ads for Barack Obama are going to start airing this weekend? Presidential ads for Barack Obama in New Hampshire start airing this weekend. Hillary, I think, is starting to get panicked because she’s called up all of Bubba’s old buddies, Carville and Begala and Joe Lockhart, she had them over to dinner to discuss what to do about this. Her team wasn’t there. They’re all one team, of course, but publicly Carville and Begala have said, (paraphrasing) “Well, we’ll help, but we’re not officially on the team.” That allows them to have more movement and latitude under the radar. Anyway, Obama up in New Hampshire being treated like a god making a speech. Now, apparently before he made the speech, Maureen Dowd had written something about his big ears. Obama, after the speech, made a beeline for Maureen Dowd who was in the audience to tell her that he didn’t appreciate her writing about his big ears. Now, there’s a lot of noise here and it’s very muddy. I’ll translate it for you, but here’s how it sounded.OBAMA (off mic): You talked about my ears, and I just want to put you on notice: I’m very sensitive about — What I told them was, ”I was teased relentlessly when I was a kid about my big ears.'”DOWD (purring): We’re trying to toughen you up

RUSH: “We’re just trying to toughen you up.” Here is what Barack Obama said.”You talked about my ears, and I just want to put you on notice: I’m very sensitive about — What at I told them was, ‘I was teased relentlessly when I was a kid about my big ears.'” Now, there are many aspects of this, folks, that we need to delve into and explore. For one thing, I mean you know me, if the guy’s sensitive about his big ears, we need to give him a new name, like Dumbo. But that doesn’t quite get it. How about Barack Obama Hussein Odumbo. Well, if he’s sensitive — stop to think about this. This is a man being lauded as the savior of the country, a presidential candidate ready to be anointed, and he can’t handle being teased about his big ears? He goes out to Maureen Dowd and says, I am putting you on notice? Is that a threat? I want to put you on notice?
Can you imagine, like I said yesterday, let’s say something about me — I’m very sensitive about whatever it is, X, and the papers write about it and make fun of it. Can you imagine if I sought out Maureen Dowd or anybody and said, “You know, I’m going to put you on notice. I’ve been teased about that ever since I was a kid, and I don’t like it.” That would be the whole column the next day about how thin-skinned I am, how I can’t take it, this and that, and I am a complainer and a whiner and I was trying to influence objective journalists and so forth. But instead, Mo Do says, “We’re just trying to toughen you up.” But this is revealing at a lot of levels. It is an overt threat to go out and say, “I’m putting you on notice.” I wonder what would happen if McCain did that. McCain, “You don’t say that about me! I’m putting you on notice, you hear, sister, you hear?”

First let me stipulate that Dowd is a slimy dolt… right out of the box.

Beyond that, though… What he’s really suggesting, here is that people with that kind of thin skin are not going to last long in the public eye. Know what folks? He’s right. 

Which brings me back to the point I made earlier this morning… this is all part and parcel of political life, like it or not. 

Ya know what else? This applies to political Bloggers, and political beat news folks, every bit as much as pols.

Shaun Kenny:

If you are a Virginia blogger, chances are that the Webb campaign has an opposition research book on you. Bloggers that made the cut include Chad Dotson, Jim Hoeft, Ben Tribbett, Waldo Jaquith, Josh Chernila, Lowell Feld, Jim Riley, J.C. Wilmore, Jon Henke, and a host of others. These are not your typical background checks either… a significant amount of money was spent crafting the kind of opposition research one would typically find on a candidate running for public office.

It seems as if the Webb campaign made a strategic decision to unleash this opposition research if something damaging came out against their candidate, simply to personally slander the blogger making the claim.

Once source for this information described it as “Nixonian”. Not only were Republican bloggers thouroughly researched, but Democratic allies of Webb as well, in the event they turned on the Webb campaign.

He’s got a number of updates, that I think you will find of interest, too.

I note Henke has responded already, he’s suppsoedly one of the targets. I’m sympathetic to the complaints…. to a point.

But here it is, gang… this stuff is part of the bigtime, as distasteful, and morally questionable as it is. It’s been going on for years.  And hardly Nixonian, in the sense that he invented it; it’s been going on far longer… indeed, as long as the country itself has been around. (Good Lord, have you looked at some of the stuff coming out of the political fights of the early 1800’s?)

The amount of whining going on now from the bloggers in question strikes me as out of kilter with the reality of what the press has dealt with… and dealt out… in situations like this, for dozens of generations.  Did the bloggers really think themselves protected from such attacks? Did they really consider that when antagonizing the bear, the bear wouldn’t respond?

Oh, by all means, call them out when they pull this nonsense. But spare me the pretense that this is by any means a new thing,  or that bloggers, having attained serious visibility in the political world, should be immune to it.

Well it seems apparent that the accuser in the Duke faux rape case did have sex with at least one yet to be identifed male.    David Scott of the Associated Press is reporting that the accuser has given birth.

RALEIGH, N.C. — The woman at the center of the Duke lacrosse rape case is pregnant and reportedly gave birth Thursday night, roughly nine months after the party where she says she was raped by three men.

The pregnancy was confirmed late Thursday by a person familiar with the case, speaking to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Both Fox News and WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported she had given birth.

No pictures of the baby were posted with the story, and I admit I am curious.

The indentification in this case consisted of showing the accuser pictures of the Duke lacross team and asking her which players raped her.   Defense attornies have asked that identification be thrown out.  It is hopelessly tainted.  Am not a lawyer, but I do not see where the state has any case left.   Have reached the point where I feel the defendnts would be acquited even if I were to represent them.   Think I am not alone, in that regard.

WRAL confirmed Thursday that the accuser is pregnant and was admitted to a University of North Carolina hospital. WRAL also reported that she had delivered the baby Thursday night based on information from sources who have been reliable in the past. This time they were incorrect. WRAL has since learned that the accuser is not due to deliver until February.

Confusing story.

Update II:  The story gets a little clearer.   If the accuser had retained any crediblity it is gone.   She denied having had sex prior the alleged incident.   KC of Durham-in-Wonderland reports she in fact  had sex with five different men, none of whom played lacross for Duke:

Hume:

The head of the National Federation of the Blind says the federal judge who ordered that U.S. paper currency be changed to accommodate the blind was wrong. Marc Maurer writes in USA Today that Judge James Robertson’s ruling that currency discriminates against blind people is untrue, saying blind people are not barred from spending money, and in fact have ways of using it effectively.

Maurer says the cost to society of changing currency would be much greater than the benefit to the blind. And he says that the idea, “implies that we can’t look out for our own best interests and are generally helpless and incompetent.”

It is, however, as good an example of over the top judicial activism, as one may find today.

Tomorrow’s the company Christmas party…. the internal one. Everyone in this small company is being asked to being a dish to pass, and it ends up being an all-day nibble festival. It’ll be a fine day.

Time was, years ago, that are used to bring three parts full of chili to such events. Normally, back in the day, these three pots were marked ‘mild’, ‘hot’ , and ‘Holy $#!+’.

After the third year of having some jokester shuffling the signs, and seeing Sally Secratary turning green as she screamed…” THAT’S MILD???!!?!?!”, I finally gave up the practice. These days, I simply turn out a mild to medium hot chili that’s usually fairly good.

It’s getting to be an expensive proposition to do this though. Maybe seven bucks worth the burger, some tomatoes, some onions, some “baby bella” mushrooms, a little onion, and the rest according to taste. Ah, well, it’s worth it. I work with a good crew.

-=-

I wanted to pass along a couple of pictures that were passed along to me by readers last year. I never got the chance to use them last season because I didn’t see them until well after new year’s. But now seems as good a time as any to post them.

in case you don’t recognize it, I will tell you up front that these are pictures from Arlington national cemetery. They do this, every year. Every headstone in the place, gets a wreath. Every person buried at Arlington, is remembered with honor, and perhaps there is no time they are honored more than during the holiday season.

The Arlington Wreath project was started on the order of fifteen years ago by the president of the Worcester wreath company in Maine, who apparently decided to send holiday wreaths to Arlington is a way to honor the country’s fallen soldiers . each and every year without fail since then 5000 or so evergreen wreaths are made up in the state of Maine, and then decorated , men loaded on a truck bound for Arlington.

The last I heard, there was supposed to be a wreath laying ceremony this morning at Arlington.

Longtime readers of this blog will recall that my wife is something of a fan of one Trace Adkins. Truth to tell, I like him as well… and particularly admire him for recording this one, which this story reminds me of. I know… copyright laws, and all… I hope Trace doesn’t mind, because I think this says it so well, what I feel looking at these pics.

I never thought that this is where I’d settle down,
I thought I’d die an old man back in my hometown,
They gave me this plot of land, me and some other men, for a job well done,
There’s a big white house sits on a hill just up the road,
The man inside he cried the day they brought me home,
They folded up a flag and told my mom and dad, we’re proud of your sonAnd I’m proud to be on this peaceful piece of property,
I’m on sacred ground and I’m in the best of company,
I’m thankful for those thankful for the things I’ve done,
I can rest in peace, I’m one of the chosen ones, I made it to Arlington I remember daddy brought me here when i was eight,
We searched all day to find out where my granddad lay,
And when we finally found that cross,
He said, “son this is what it cost to keep us free”
Now here I am, a thousand stones away from him,
He recognized me on the first day i came in,
And it gave me a chill when he clicked his heels, and saluted me. 

And everytime I hear twenty-one guns,
I know they brought another hero home to us

We’re thankful for those thankful for the things we’ve done,
We can rest in peace, ’cause we are the chosen ones,
We made it to Arlington..

yea dust to dust,
Don’t cry for us…

We made it to Arlington.

Right Wing News has interviewed Congressman Duncan Hunter, a former Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and a former ranger in Vietnam, who is one of the Republican contenders vying for the presidency in 2008.

The interview was wide ranging and covered everything from partial birth abortion to Israel to a Balanced Budget Amendment. Here are a few quotes to give you an idea of what it’s like:

Duncan Hunter on the New York Times:

“Liberals who are often wrong, never unsure.”

Duncan Hunter on his son:

“Duncan Hunter: Note that my son Duncan did two tours in Iraq as Marine Lieutenant, the last one in Fallujah.

John Hawkins: Is he back home?

Duncan Hunter: He is back home and he just finished his hitch with the Marine Corp and he went to Idaho to be a land developer and I got off the plane to see him and the front page of the Boise newspaper said, “Housing Collapse Hits Boise.” So, I said, “Dunc, you’re here just in time, as usual.” He said, “No, it’s going to be great.” So he’s optimistic…”

Duncan Hunter on San Diego border Fence:

“The fences, the double fence in San Diego that I led the effort on and funded over the last ten years or so, have been very effective.  It’s knocked back the smuggling of people and narcotics by more than 90%, stopped all the drive-through drug people, and would be a hindrance to terrorists should they decide to come across a land border between the US and Mexico and to California.”

Duncan Hunter also indicated that he supports a Balanced Budget Amendment, is perhaps the biggest proponent of building a fence on the border, wants to get rid of NAFTA and CAFTA, favors a 2/3 majority to raise taxes, and wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned.

From a philosophy standpoint Duncan hunter sounds like my kinda guy.  At least, so far. I don’t deny, that there’s a long way between here and there, and most of it for the likes of Hunter will be uphill.  But I’m encouraged by the reaction he’s getting from the rank and file.

Now I can see why Mrs. Clinton is scared.   Barack Obama offers Mrs. Clinton’s standard liberal litany, but with a darker complextion and with passion.   See the video, here.

Then like Mrs. Clinton, Obama’s politics is stuck in the previous century.  Note no mention of Islamofascism.   Just a John Kerry like hint that we become secure just by being nice to our enemies.

*Author’s tribute to the senior senator from Massachusetts.

 In the Washington Post, Anne Plummer Flaherty reports that Senator Bill Nelson(D-FL), pictured seating on the right, “Senator Defies Bush:”

Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, met with Assad after the State Department said that it disapproved of his trip.

(…)

“Assad clearly indicated the willingness to cooperate with the Americans and or the Iraqi army to be part of a solution” in Iraq, Nelson told reporters in a conference call following the meeting. The U.S. says foreign fighters often enter Iraq across that boundary.

The Logan Act is clear

Any citizen of the United States, wherever he may be, who, without authority of the United States, directly or indirectly commences or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government or of any officer or agent thereof, in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.

It is long past time to put an end to prima donna lone wolf wolf congressmen trying to conduct their own personal foreign policy.

Note:  In attempting to add the photo to my previous post  this subject, I so fouled up thE HTML code I just deleted the entire mess.  Life in the Blogosphere.

WASHINGTON -AP- Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson was in critical condition early Thursday, recovering from emergency surgery overnight, a hospital official said.

…

Johnson suffered stroke-like symptoms Wednesday, just weeks before his party, with only a one-vote majority, was to take control of the Senate. There was no formal announcement of the South Dakota senator’s condition. A person in the hospital’s media relations office, who declined to be identified by name pending a formal statement, said George Washington University Hospital was preparing to announce that Johnson’s condition was critical. He would not describe the nature of the surgery.

…

Apart from the risk to his health, Johnson’s illness carried political ramifications. Democrats emerged from last month’s elections with a 51-49 Senate majority. If he were forced to relinquish his seat, a replacement would be named by South Dakota’s GOP Gov. Mike Rounds. A Republican appointee would create a 50-50 tie, and allow the GOP to retain Senate control.

Well, now this is going to be interesting.

The only thing about a one vote majority, that I would consider an advantage, is that the republicans would at that point be able to set the agenda of what bills get discussed. As for changing the voting outcome, on those bills, a one vote majority doesn’t mean much of anything given the number of RINOs in the Senate.

Sorry, it just doesn’t.

But .. and here’s the interesting part of this…. if Johnson dies, how long do you suppose it will be before the Democrats start claiming they were cheated by means of poison or some such?

Maybe I shouldn’t be giving them ideas.

Update: (DavidL) Too late, to worry about preventing a liberal conspiracy.  It has already been hatched.  Michelle Malkin has the video link, here. I’d not exactly call these chicks rocket scientists, however Elisabeth Hasselbeck does seem to keep her head.

UpdateII: (Bit) Yeah well, the usual suspects over at the DU(h) are forever losing thiers… even the admins over there hadda step in.