Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

I’ve talked a bit about Rand Paul and the education he is getting now that he is the republican candidate for Senate instead of a Republican gadfly. It is an education that I was surprised he needed to get (although in fairness Mr. Dukakis Paul did make his own problems) but he is learning fast.

With the defeat of Bob Bennett we are now seeing the other side of the coin as the excellent Jay Nordlinger reminds us:

You know Sen. Bob Bennett, the Utah Republican who has been pushed aside by more sparky conservatives? You know all the good press — good liberal press — that Bennett is getting now? About how sensible and decent and patriotic he is? Such an admirable legislator? Do you remember Bennett’s ever getting such press, before he was upended by his fellow conservatives in Utah?

I don’t either.

Of course he doesn’t, as long as Bob Bennett allows the media to paint the tea parties and republicans as unreasonable ideologues he will be lionized by the press. If he had won the nomination he would just be another evil republican and worth ignoring.

Watch him become a regular commentator/guest any time the networks want to attack the tea parties.

by e-mail:

After nearly a week of criticism following revelations that he misrepresented his military record and five days after a press conference in which he expressed regret for his misstatements, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Richard Blumenthal apologized.

“At times when I have sought to honor veterans, I have not been as clear or precise as I should have been about my service in the Marine Corps Reserves,” Blumenthal said in a statement emailed to the Courant late Sunday by his spokeswoman, Maura Downes. I have firmly and clearly expressed regret and taken responsibility for my words. emphasis mine

Because nothing says firmness and strength like an e-mail sent by a spokeswoman!

There is weak and there is WEAK!

When I see stories like this one I’m convinced that the only reason why the current White House hasn’t gotten behind this idea is that they can’t be sure how they will vote:

“We affirm that all cetaceans as persons have the right to life, liberty and wellbeing,” they said in a declaration after a two-day meeting led by the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).

Oh and it gets better wales have ethics

He said that sperm whales have sonars to find fish that are so powerful that they could permanently deafen others nearby if used at full blast. Yet the whales do not use sonars as weapons, showing what Whitehead called a human-like “sense of morality.”

Liberty pundit adds the snark:

Right to life, liberty, and well-being? You mean, like, health care? Do we give them food stamps if the schools of smaller fish they so mercilessly eat by the hundreds thin out for a season? Do we require colonoscopies and breast-cancer screenings? Do we make abortion services available? Shouldn’t killer whales be culpable for their criminal acts when they kill a dolphin?

Are we going to stop at whales? Here’s the indication that we won’t: Participants at a University of Helsinki conference said ever more studies show the giant marine mammals have human-like self-awareness, an ability to communicate and organize complex societies, making them similar to some great apes.

Apes. Monkeys. Whales. Dolphins.

Is this going to lead to voting rights? Is that what’s behind this?

How long before the Massachusetts Supreme Court gets a brief concerning Whale Rights? Will they be eligible for heathcare and drivers licenses?

It takes an awful lot of education to be this foolish.

Yet another example of a Mass Pol discovering that decisions have consequences so to speak:

Massachusetts State Rep. Michael J Moran was rear-ended by a 27 year-old illegal immigrant on Friday. Boston’s Fox25 reports,

It gets more interesting he has apparently voted consistently for any kind of legislation to preserve, protect and defend the ability of illegal aliens to remain in the state and get benefits at the expense of the Massachusetts Taxpayer.
Meanwhile the person in question isn’t worried:

“I’m going to go back to my country, Mexico -Nothing is going to happen to me, man!”

Smitty has this to say about the potential coverage:

That said, it will be interesting to watch this “unfortunately undocumented societal victim of Bush-era injustice” move through the system.

Since it is difficult to pursue journalism while pandering, I’d expect this story to get rear-ended by a propaganda-drunk media.

Alas now I’m in Georgia so I can’t get to the bottom of this mess now but it will give me something to do when I get back.