tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116084152011-04-21T20:36:57.489-04:00Regular Rants from a Pragmatic LiberalSpitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comBlogger1041100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1120627308725366032005-07-05T23:40:00.000-04:002005-07-06T01:21:48.733-04:00

This post at dKos makes me sick. First, social conservatives are nothing like the Taliban. Is James Dobson a nut job? Absolutely. But associating the movement he leads with ultra-reactionaries and terrorists accomplishes little. So I'd like to spend a post talking about values. I'd much prefer to talk about the state of some East Asian economy or pointing out one of the few times Tierney has

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1120392064138750862005-07-03T07:48:00.000-04:002005-07-03T20:52:05.786-04:00

I admit, I was one of those people who sat back and sarcastically thought the Huffington Post was doomed to failure. Well, turns out that not only was I wrong, but it produces some fairly solid output.My favorite recently is Adriana's regular "Russert Watch", in which she duely informs us not only who Russert's guests will be but also what questions she would like to see come out of Timmy's mouth

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1120104877502870232005-06-29T23:48:00.000-04:002005-06-30T00:16:53.976-04:00

Since I had to stay late for work today, I'm pretty pooped. However, I have a solution!Since I don't get Fox News (or MSNBC, yet I get CNN, CNNHN, and CNBC), I occasionally of late have travelled to their attempt to beat CNN.com's new video (Fox has failed, CNN.com video is, in my opinion, wonderful). But CNN.com video will put me to sleep sometimes, and this won't:John Gibson's My Word [video]

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119924862369930062005-06-27T19:50:00.000-04:002005-06-27T22:14:22.380-04:00

Today's NYTimes Krugman Op-Ed: "The Chinese Challenge"For a liberal, I must admit I'm not the biggest Krugman fan. The fact is that I'm fairly economically conservative, although I stop far short of the sell-out-to-the-business lobby so characteristic of Bush and DeLay.My first reaction to his column was that either 1) he didn't put much heart into it, and covered it really because it is an

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119916183200663652005-06-27T19:42:00.000-04:002005-06-27T19:49:43.220-04:00

Well, after what we'll call a long weekend due to some connectivity issues, I'm back and in a especially bloggy mood. So many things to talk about. There's the Supremes, Hillsborough County, and plenty more. But today's NYTimes has the usually unfortunate combination of Krugman and China, so something tells me I'm gonna talk about that first, although I'm in a rare multi-post mood.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119581103488707332005-06-23T22:44:00.000-04:002005-06-23T22:45:03.493-04:00

Can't seem to stay connected for more than a minute or two for the past 2 days...be back as soon as I get this resolved.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119419758234385552005-06-22T01:04:00.000-04:002005-06-22T01:55:58.243-04:00

I was going to post something about the broadcast flag today (something I studied while in college), but I came across a utterly fascinating post by Juan Cole. Cole, a Professor of History at UMich usually dedicates his blog to the Middle East and mostly Iraq. His post, titled "History and Genetics in Madagascar" is slightly off his usual subject matter, and far off mine, but quite interesting.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119316789931276372005-06-20T21:06:00.000-04:002005-06-20T21:19:49.940-04:00

I honestly can't believe I'm doing this. But days after his comments, the debate over them still rages on. Ultimately, the media got lots of ratings with the whole Amnesty Int'l bit and now Durbin is next on the chopping block.My take? When politicians decide to go for imagery over substance, they deserve to take a beating like this. What's furthermore annoying is the fact that his speech

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119228705908229182005-06-19T20:39:00.000-04:002005-06-19T21:04:18.053-04:00

Seems that Joe Biden might be running in '08. Watch the video at C&L. I like some things about Biden, he's strong on defense and he isn't coy with the press, at least not as much as others.But more importantly, having Kerry, Clinton, and Biden running will give the Democratic party a real chance to make a decision. Clinton will likely be the most consensus candidate and she'll probably win. But

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119159751488709602005-06-18T23:27:00.000-04:002005-06-19T01:42:31.506-04:00

GAY MARRIAGEEd Kilgore is like a political semi-deity:they seem to understand that any chink in the argument that homosexual behavior is a "libertine lifestyle," a mental illness, or a disease, will expose them to a terrible series of moral and even theological dilemmas:For them, the issue isn't one of civil rights, because the term implies something inherent in the individual -- being black, say

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1119087847591465822005-06-17T23:21:00.000-04:002005-06-18T05:44:07.596-04:00

PLACING BLAMEPolitics has always been a blame game. It's Bush's fault, the Republicans, the Democrats, and of course the Media.Maybe we should blame the American People every once in awhile. Honestly, politics and journalism is merely a reflection of the people of this country: their lack of concern, their tendencies to compartmentalize, and their own hypocrisies.Bloggers love to find

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118980242438785132005-06-16T23:28:00.000-04:002005-06-17T00:15:04.440-04:00

I've wanted to talk about Social Security for awhile now. John Tierney's column the other day, makes an interesting argument for private accounts. Unfortunately he takes the mother of all logical leaps by merely describing how bad the current system is (ie, what Bush has been successful at doing) and describing how, in a perfect world private accounts would be better (as if, in a perfect world,

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118892032005505652005-06-15T22:40:00.000-04:002005-06-15T23:25:44.036-04:00

I was deciding whether to discuss an old (in blog time) John Tierney column on Social Security or an old (again, in blog time) LA Times article on Environmentalism. Obvious by the title, I chose the latter for now, but mainly because a new post by Ed Kilgore brought up the very same issue.NEW ENVIRONMENTALISMA couple months ago Nicholas Kristof wrote that the current environmental movement needs

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118716850256696042005-06-13T22:27:00.000-04:002005-06-13T22:40:50.263-04:00

I get all these political emails I don't have time to read, yet I save them anyway. Well today I went back and read one and it turned into quite the gem.TRADE AGREEMENTSThis New Democrat Dispatch boggles my mind. Read the whole thing. These facts are astounding:American goods and services exports grew by well over $200 billion in President Clinton's first term and also in

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118464748036398232005-06-11T00:32:00.000-04:002005-06-11T00:39:08.040-04:00

I always seem to wimp out on fridays. So super-short post.I'd just like to note a current debate going on in the liberal blogs right now. Of course, its about Howard Dean. Rabid Democrats run to his side and the centrists tell him to stop his antics.See Daily Kos here.See Bull Moose here.I honestly don't care what Dean says. But it wouldve been nice for him to prove the Sean Hannity's of the

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118389077169058352005-06-09T23:54:00.000-04:002005-06-10T03:38:45.766-04:00

Argh.POWERLINEBill Clinton. It's all his fault. Really. September 11th. The Recession. The Culture War. Oh, and let's not forget that while Al Gore invented the Internet, Bill Clinton invented Oral Sex.Paul Mirengoff has this obsession with proving that everything is Bill Clinton's fault. I was in a good mood today and decided to re-visit Powerline, a blog I haven't really visited since that

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118235799453912612005-06-08T08:38:00.000-04:002005-06-08T12:31:34.963-04:00

I've been doing lots of Florida Blogging lately, and since the future of Florida's voucher program is about to be dealt a { crushing defeat / enormous victory }, its got me thinking: why do Democrats dislike vouchers so much? I had, honestly, never really thought about it until now. Finally I concluded Democrats just are hopelessly unable to express just why moving public money into private

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118172364329938182005-06-07T13:41:00.000-04:002005-06-07T15:26:04.336-04:00

FREEDOM AND THE FUTUREIf you listen to Bush rhetoric, two key concepts arise more than any other. Those two concepts are, as should be obvious by the title of the post, Freedom and the Future. Freedom is the overwhelming justification for the Iraq war, it seems. The Future is the overwhelming justification for Bush's Social Security plan, it seems.I believe most Americans like both concepts

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1118053227884582982005-06-06T06:16:00.000-04:002005-06-06T07:05:08.923-04:00

Over the weekend while I was taking a break from blogging (and blogs in general), I noticed the Times article about Rumsfeld and China in my Inbox. Thinking Rummy couldn't have said anything truly stupid, I went back to my uneventful weekend. But this morning I read the piece. Jesus.CHINANYTimes quoting Rumsfeld:He said no "candid discussion of China" could neglect to address these military

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117854836533298052005-06-03T23:02:00.000-04:002005-06-04T00:06:42.906-04:00

I haven't paid too much attention to topics to blog about recently, which is just fine because it means I can catch up on articles I wanted to discuss. Articles like this NYTimes editorial on gerrymandering.GERRYMANDERINGPictures speak louder than words, so I'll remain fairly quiet for this post and we'll look at some wonderful Congressional Districts (keep in mind that state legislative

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117772376323044862005-06-02T23:08:00.000-04:002005-06-03T00:46:12.910-04:00

The last time I discussed CAFTA (link below), it was a Friday and I was tired so it was a short post. Well now its a Thursday of a short week and I'm still tired. At least I've got a better article to discuss this time.May 27, 2005CAFTAThe NYTimes isn't exactly the newspaper Bill O'Reilly describes it as. On Tuesday, the Times had an editorial encouraging a vote for CAFTA despite its troubles.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117675022132613882005-06-01T20:07:00.000-04:002005-06-01T21:17:02.140-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by Bruce Reed's article ("There's something rotten in Tom DeLay's Washington. Here's how to clean the place up.") in the Blueprint (the primary publication of the center-left Democratic Leadership Council). I was just going to put it in the Daily Aside at first, but I chose not to.CONGRESSIONAL REFORMWhen the GOP came to power in 1994 under Newt's leadership,

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117648013452897412005-06-01T18:45:00.000-04:002005-06-01T21:17:40.336-04:00

NYTimes (Editorial): "Repairing the Alternative Tax"Human Events Online: "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries"(at first I thought the books on the right-hand side were honorable mentions, aparently its an ad, quite unfortunate)NYTimes (Editorial): "Class and the American Dream"Glenn Reynolds (WSJ): "We the (Media) People"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117630793064572202005-05-31T23:59:00.000-04:002005-06-01T08:59:53.186-04:00

Ah, back to China. Today's belated Topic of the Day was inspired by Sunday's Kristof op-ed entitled "The China Scapegoat".CHINAKristof:The most important diplomatic relationship in the world is between the U.S. and China. It's souring and could get much worse.I concur. However, I'd like to add that the relationship between Japan and China comes in a close second. The three most economically

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117406192291092022005-05-29T18:34:00.000-04:002005-05-29T18:36:32.296-04:00

Ephesians 6:4"And, ye fathers, provke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117336109123415662005-05-28T22:29:00.000-04:002005-05-29T00:31:33.803-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day just kind of came to me.IRAQHow the War should have been soldThis is probably my first Iraq Topic of the Day. I thought that if you wanted to hear something about Iraq you could go to Daily Kos, Eschaton, MyDD, or any conservative blog like Powerline and Hugh Hewitt. The other reason is that, in my heart, I am for this war. I believe in freedom and I believe that

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117341131339519362005-05-28T22:00:00.000-04:002005-05-29T00:39:06.310-04:00

Not many good blog posts on the weekendNYTimes: "Month of Talks Fails to Bolster Nuclear Treaty"NYTimes: "McCain Urging Accord on Bolton and Secret Documents"Financial Times: "The most dangerous idea on earth?"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117255550930343742005-05-27T23:27:00.000-04:002005-06-03T00:14:45.856-04:00

Just started work this week, so this is a TGIF-inspired short post. Although, I feel, I'm giving an important topic a healthy dose of injustice.Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by this Financial Times article, which is short but worth reading nonetheless.CAFTAThe Central American Free Trade Agreement is half-travesty, half-wonder. My primary thought on it is that if the White House was

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117256061894939782005-05-27T23:20:00.000-04:002005-05-28T00:57:31.656-04:00

Bull Moose: "Victory Strategy"Roger Bate (Weekly Standard): "The Shell Game Comes to Zimbabwe"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117166369744907162005-05-26T23:16:00.000-04:002005-05-28T00:49:35.130-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired, obviously, by a David Brooks column. It's titled "A Natural Alliance".DAVID BROOKS"A Natural Alliance"Liberal bloggers have a tendency to blow off David Brooks right out of the gate, almost no matter what. But his latest column seems to have generated more silence than ever. There's a typical mention and snide comment here and there, but overall, silence (

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117163726157455952005-05-26T23:03:00.000-04:002005-05-26T23:15:26.166-04:00

Jay Rosen: "Three Questions for Kevin Drum"Joe Gandelman: "Senator Arlen Specter Has Cancer And You Disagree With Him SO"Deccan Herald (India): "India, Pakistan discuss Siachen"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117082431084904072005-05-25T23:31:00.000-04:002005-05-26T00:40:31.093-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by the US House's passage of the Stem Cell bill that will allow for increased federal funding of therapeutic stem cell research. The bill should pass the Senate, unless Frist has the control over his party to not bring it to a vote (I doubt he does, so it'll pass). Since this will most likely be Bush's first veto, its worth some discussion.STEM CELLSI

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1117062710612414362005-05-25T19:08:00.000-04:002005-05-25T19:14:13.273-04:00

Stem Cell Edition...some pro, some con, some thought provoking. I'll post my take later tonight.New Donkey: "Just Another Baby-Kissing Pol"Matthew Yglesias (American Prospect): "Stem-Sold"Howard Fineman: "A Food Fight in the Big GOP Tent"William F Buckley: "Why Stop -- Anywhere?"Cardinal William H Keeler: "Killing embryos not progress"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116991738539355802005-05-24T22:32:00.000-04:002005-05-24T23:31:12.413-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by a rather nice email I received almost completely out of the blue. Almost all of the emails I get are related to some post which gets referenced on another political weblog, apparently this person has quite an interest in nuclear power, as do I. I'll discuss his email and his website in the post. So, I revisit the topic.5/17/05 Topic of the Day on Nuclear

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116992359216104772005-05-24T22:10:00.000-04:002005-05-25T19:07:59.466-04:00

New Donkey: "Who's Zoomin' Who?"Stem Cell Research Enhancement ActWonkette: "The Self-Deception of Bill O'Reilly"NYTimes: "Relations Fray as Japan Criticizes Chinese Official's Snub"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116907192269036522005-05-23T23:30:00.000-04:002005-05-23T23:59:52.270-04:00

NOTE: I started my job today, hence this short post. This whole going to work at 8am thing is going to get pretty interesting...THE FILIBUSTERApparently Owens, Brown, and one other judge are getting through, the others aren't, and the Senate rules still stand.I argue that this filibuster compromise is a pretty good deal for liberals. Owens and Brown are nuts, sure, but there's almost no way in

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116772857100568362005-05-23T22:40:00.000-04:002005-05-24T00:00:47.546-04:00

Crooks and Liars: "Bill Frist tries to save Face..."Powerline (Hinderaker): "Dissapointing, I'm Afraid"America Blog (Joe): "Dobson has been betrayed..."Bull Moose: "Dobson's Choice" (pre-filibuster news, still relevant)

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116738738175436432005-05-22T01:08:00.000-04:002005-05-22T10:42:39.223-04:00

Matthew 5:5"Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth"(the 3rd Beatitude, King James Version)

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116735459300868132005-05-21T23:16:00.000-04:002005-05-22T01:00:01.833-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by today's WashPost article as well as this blog post from WILLisms that was featured in Thursday's Aside.CHINAI talk about China a lot. Why? Because lately the only thing bloggers are talking about is the nuclear option which I, like the Senate Parliamentarian, a Republican, am opposed to, but that shouldn't be any surprise. I am, after all, a Democrat.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116735315047171152005-05-21T22:44:00.000-04:002005-05-22T01:00:28.853-04:00

Frank Rich (NYTimes): "It's All Newsweek's Fault"Stephen Schwartz and William Kristol (Weekly Standard): "Our Uzbek Problem"Washington Post: "China to Raise Tariffs On Clothing Exports"Balloon Juice (John Cole): "Doing More Damage Than Good"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116641171650405872005-05-20T21:26:00.000-04:002005-05-20T22:11:39.463-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by this NYTimes article which highlights a rather fascinating conundrum.THE EUROAlmost exactly a year ago I went off to Europe for about 10 weeks for a study abroad program. Those 10 weeks were packed with a myriad of learning (and fun) activities. The Euro, despite my distaste for its value over the dollar, was quite a convenient monetary system for a place

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116612116637748722005-05-20T14:00:00.000-04:002005-05-22T10:25:20.426-04:00

Balloon Juice (John Cole): "So Much For What We Stand For"Daily Kos (Plutonium Page): "Science Friday: cloning human stem cells"Instapundit: (collection of opinions on Uzbekistan)Instapundit: "More Wrong Notes on Stem Cells"

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116538231264280682005-05-19T18:22:00.000-04:002005-05-19T18:37:00.420-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by the simply awesome article in the NYTimes by Virginia Postrel on the Economics of Media Bias.THE MEDIAThis particular topic--specifically the business model of being biased--is something I've wanted to talk about for quite some time. I probably waited till now because this was the first time a respected news source came at it from the proper angle. Before

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116538951160127172005-05-19T17:30:00.000-04:002005-05-19T17:42:31.166-04:00

NOTE: This is a section I've wanted to do since I moved to the Topic of the Day posting style. Essentially, it should contain a couple articles and blog posts I think people of open minds should read. Hopefully I can keep it short (ie, 2-4 links). Some days I find 3-4 subjects I want to write about but can't find the time. If, after a day or two, I still have a full queue of topics, I'll

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116479010704752742005-05-18T23:49:00.000-04:002005-05-19T01:03:30.713-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by many things lately. This rant has really just been building up inside and I had to let it all out. Things like this and this (honestly, don't bother reading them, you've probably heard about it already, if not, you can guess what they're about). Now as a completely straight and well-educated (yes, the "educated" is important here) male, I feel some duty to

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116386524610529862005-05-17T23:05:00.000-04:002005-05-17T23:34:04.160-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by today's John Tierney column. While Tierney and I may differ in many respects, we essentially agree on nuclear power.Note: Today's Topic of the Day will be relatively short because I'm writing it in my car while jacking someone's hotspot and my battery is running low. Don't think I don't have much to say on this subject.NUCLEAR POWERThere are three main

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116302264531751152005-05-16T22:55:00.000-04:002005-05-16T23:57:44.543-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by this AP piece on abcnews.com.North Korea was also the Topic of the Day on 5/13/05NORTH KOREAFrom the article:South Korea, seeking to get North Korea to return to six-nation negotiations over its nuclear weapons program, hoped for a response Tuesday from the reclusive communist country. [...] Trying to ease rising tensions, South Korea on Monday promised a

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116217039028981632005-05-15T22:00:00.000-04:002005-05-22T10:43:09.823-04:00

Micah 6:8He has showed you, O man, what is good;and what does the LORD require of youbut to do justice, and to love kindness,and to walk humbly with your God?(from the Revised Standard Version)

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116215932602725412005-05-14T21:56:00.000-04:002005-05-17T00:05:28.043-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by yesterday's post plus a couple of nice articles I've found recently.CHINAThe People's Republic of China is in an interesting state of change. Over the next decade or two, China's economic and political power will only continue to grow. Is this a bad thing? Considering the impoverished state of the Chinese people, no. The question is how do we prevent the

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1116092627146033622005-05-13T13:37:00.000-04:002005-05-14T14:05:39.463-04:00

NOTE: This was supposed to be yesterday's topic of the day but my laptop batteries died so now I'm typing it all over again at a truckstop. As such I'm placing it so it looks like I typed it yesterday.Today's topic of the day needs little inspiration. But we can try this NYTimes article for one, but PRNK makes front page NYTimes headlines about every other day now, so just open a

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115954858903629692005-05-12T21:00:00.000-04:002005-05-12T23:27:38.913-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day is inspired by the happenings in the Sunflower State (although I prefer the term Jayhawker State...).INTELLIGENT DESIGNI originally started this post off by saying that I believed in intelligent design. I then went on to describe the difference between my version of Intelligent Design and the version that the Christian Right tries to push while pretending it is somehow

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115865795233974912005-05-11T20:42:00.000-04:002005-05-11T22:43:15.273-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by this Avedon post at Atrios that I read a couple days ago. Some people are really scared of electronic voting. People claim there is no way to make it secure. Well, that's not exactly true...ELECTRONIC VOTINGBefore I begin, let me lay out that I consider myself an expert on information security. Although I've never done anything with electronic voting, I

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115781278475977672005-05-10T22:43:00.000-04:002005-05-11T18:36:42.663-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day was inspired by all the bickering over tax reform, capital gains, state intangibles tax, etc.Warning: Today's Topic of the Day might piss some of you far-lefters off.THE AMERICAN DREAMIf you say that the American Dream is to live in a country where every single person has a decent standard of living and no one gets left behind, I have a tip for you: move to Scandinavia.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115651755115480572005-05-09T11:14:00.000-04:002005-05-09T11:15:55.123-04:00

I gotta modify it a little bit, but in searching for a new template I wanted one that would look better for my longer posting style. The old template's text was so skinny it involved a significant amount of scrolling to read the entire post.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115647499801400792005-05-09T09:33:00.000-04:002005-05-09T11:36:13.160-04:00

Today's Topic of the Day is inspired by Bob Herbert's Column. A must-read for a solid summation of this Administration's bumbling Iraq effort and what they've done to get away with it.Today's Topic of the Day is also inspired by Bush's visit to the Netherlands, where he lectured the Dutch about freedom. I'm sure all those civilians whose parents risked their families lives by participating in

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115494920127899272005-05-07T15:13:00.000-04:002005-05-07T15:42:00.166-04:00

I'm packing up all my stuff today and moving tomorrow, so some extremely light posting unless I get some urge to pontificate. Meanwhile, I've been looking through blogger's provided templates...too many people use this exact template and its getting on my nerves. I'll have to put some of my web development skills to the test. Let me know if any of you have ideas on what might make the

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115391121887253142005-05-06T10:27:00.000-04:002005-05-06T10:52:03.076-04:00

As a Roman Catholic, I enjoy reading parts of Scripture. Slacktivist (via Atrios) reminds me of one of my all time favorite verses:"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115290991677998412005-05-05T06:43:00.000-04:002005-05-05T07:03:11.736-04:00

Apparently not as much...Freedom House's 2005 Global Press Freedom Rankings drops us to #24, tied with Canada and former Soviet Satellites Latvia and Estonia. When you combine fake town hall meetings with the Helen Thomas incident and replacing her with Jeff Gannon, you can expect as much. (Oh and this is one of the latest developments...)This is, honestly, quite pathetic. And the White House

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115204585194043052005-05-04T06:24:00.000-04:002005-05-04T07:05:48.480-04:00

What a sexy topic...budgets!But seriously, this country's budget process is drastically flawed. Ed Kilgore has some thoughts on it here. But essentially the problem is simple: power.Budgets are actually very short documents, see this year's for an example. The Budget Committee essentially sets upper limits for spending and then Appropriations Subcommittees get to decide how to divide up the

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115087627569013362005-05-02T22:33:00.000-04:002005-05-02T22:33:47.570-04:00

Thank you Glenn Reynolds.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1115046589117070022005-05-02T10:51:00.000-04:002005-05-02T11:09:49.120-04:00

This post on Slashdot rather annoys me. The notion that evolutionary theory is "flawed" is somewhat off base. In fact, evolution is a unifying theory--a theory of how to create theories, if you will. It is a theory that allows researchers a decent framework from which to work.When Creationism was the unifying theory, scientists were quite puzzled what to make these bones in the ground we know

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114980025715198102005-05-01T16:18:00.000-04:002005-05-01T16:40:25.716-04:00

This seems to be the gift that keeps on giving. I just finished reading today's David Brooks column. I'm somewhat skeptical that his version of the "deal" is exactly as Reid put it, but I could definitely see that so long as Bush nominates a moderate, Dems shouldn't filibuster. I've been saying that there are three groups in the Senate right now: Democrats, New-Guard Republicans, and

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114978239838552322005-05-01T16:04:00.000-04:002005-05-01T16:10:39.840-04:00

Keeping with the fringe elements of social conservatism, Andrew Sullivan (HERE) has a great post yesterday about some of the fundamentalist elements of his party.I've stopped reading Powerline because they've gotten way too hypocritical, so I'm gonna read Sullivan on a more regular basis.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114977445227117622005-05-01T15:38:00.000-04:002005-05-01T15:58:46.776-04:00

Ok ok, this guy has been going off the deep end for quite some time. Unfortunately, since our President happens to wade in fairly deep water, sometimes Robertson gets treated by the main-stream media as a cultural icon, and representative of the rest of America.The religious right, which I estimate makes up less than 10% of the voting population, seems to have taken two close elections

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114707564102455022005-04-28T12:36:00.001-04:002005-04-28T14:49:58.006-04:00

This man might not look like hero material, but I'm really starting to admire Denny Hastert. As you likely know by now Republicans, under Hastert's leadership (not DeLay's) have reversed the ethics changes they made. I guess its ok to flip-flop if you're a Republican. But this was clearly led by Hastert, and it might easily be the cause of DeLay's downfall. NYTimes: "I am willing to step back,

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114706195441294182005-04-28T11:06:00.000-04:002005-04-28T12:43:23.686-04:00

(sorry for both the pun and the fact that I haven't posted much lately, been gearing up for exams)It looks like Trent Lott--who, by the way, has been making pushes to be majority leader again after Frist retires in '06--has noticed that the White House has come to DeLay's aid but never comes to his: The Hill Like all politicians, Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has a long memory.Asked yesterday about

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114584023358840682005-04-27T02:26:00.000-04:002005-04-27T02:40:23.360-04:00

In a baffling roll-reversing decision by the US Supreme Court today, Scalia and Thomas voted with the Gun-Control lobby along with Kennedy while the rest of the Supreme Court voted WITH the gun lobby. The case, Small v U.S., presented the question of whether a conviction in another country (in this case Japan) prohibited one from buying a gun in the United States. Essentially, current law

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114394180161633922005-04-24T21:50:00.000-04:002005-04-24T21:56:20.163-04:00

For all the Bush Administration's tough talk on Democracy, they did little to nothing in Zimbabwe and now have let Togo turn away from democracy as well. I don't think the results are in yet but the massive amount of fraud seems to indicate this election might just be a hoax, similar to Zimbabwe.Publius has far better coverage than I could ever give on the subject.Hopefully there are enough

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114391635280427912005-04-24T21:01:00.000-04:002005-04-24T21:13:55.280-04:00

I'm way to P'd off to make any commentary about this. I suggest you read Atrios' post because he's (barely) able to put words around it.What if these people voted for Kerry because they believe in gay marriage or they are pro-choice? If they were loons that didn't want the U.S. to remain a leader in the telecom industry then I could understand not sending them. But these are all telecom

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114379143357950242005-04-24T17:32:00.000-04:002005-04-24T17:46:31.433-04:00

Fascinating article today in the Washington Post. They basically lay down a case that the Ethics Committee CANNOT ignore. Its against House Rules to pay for a trip with non-profit money if that non-profit will be reimbursed with a lobbyist's money. But that wasn't the case at all. DeLay paid for his London trip, among others, with Abramoff's own American Express. Talk about smoking gun.This will

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114249312561874322005-04-23T05:15:00.000-04:002005-04-23T05:41:52.563-04:00

Being a liberal Roman-Catholic, I've seen a lot of discussion on the new Pope. I've kept to myself on the issue but, alas, our media has done a murderous job of creating problems where there are none and ignoring problems that do exist.WaPo's Richard Cohen did a decent job. The fact is that the Catholic church ignores reality in many cases. Some times they ignore reality because they must take

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114247540083396642005-04-23T05:08:00.000-04:002005-04-23T05:12:20.083-04:00

One of the great things about the most well-known conservative bloggers is that they're mainly lawyers (Glenn Reynolds, the Powerline bunch, etc). This means they aren't the anti-judiciary sect and they'll willingly admit that the christian right is going a little too far in their judge-bashing.See this Instapundit post.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114220703027537752005-04-22T21:40:00.000-04:002005-04-23T00:12:29.616-04:00

Read this kos post. I despise hypocrisy. The GOP has every right to want an up-or-down vote on the Senate Floor. But when Senators and GOP spokesmen and strategists go around saying how Democrats are "undemocratic" in their use of the filibuster, that's just a flat out lie. I might be too young to remember when they used it last (because I was in middle school when the GOP gained the majority),

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114215302392118482005-04-22T20:14:00.000-04:002005-04-22T21:50:10.363-04:00

Quote:However, on religious issues there can be little or no compromise. There is no position on which people are so immovable as their religious beliefs. There is no more powerful ally one can claim in a debate than Jesus Christ, or God, or Allah, or whatever one calls this supreme being. But like any powerful weapon, the use of God's name on one's behalf should be used sparingly. The religious

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114108952660080672005-04-21T14:37:00.000-04:002005-04-21T14:42:32.660-04:00

My specialization and research in school is wireless networks. Hence WiMAX is an exciting topic for me. Looks like Intel is putting out an intial chipset. While things are not WiMAX certified yet, equipment manufacturers will take some time to come out with the necessary base stations as well as individual cards for desktops and other units.For those non-tech junkies, this will have

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114107694586780162005-04-21T14:19:00.000-04:002005-04-21T14:21:34.586-04:00

Instapundit:I THOUGHT WE WERE TRYING TO GET "BIG MONEY" OUT OF POLITICS: I guess it isn't working.There must be twenty times the number of millionaires that are conservative than liberal, why do conservatives always pick on Soros? O'Reilly demonizes him and right-wing bloggers seem to think he's super-evil yet ignore individuals like Ken Lay?

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114082381107085432005-04-21T07:15:00.000-04:002005-04-21T07:20:31.696-04:00

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline has a moment of sheer rational thinking. My only response is that there are some in his party that claim a moral mandate, those who don't believe in the "Big Tent" mentality. If you don't get them under control, that tent will shrink fairly quickly in the next couple years.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114027849194058832005-04-20T13:28:00.000-04:002005-04-20T16:11:54.003-04:00

We better hope so.While we tromp around in the Middle East, let's remember we'd have to defend both Taiwan and Japan if China decides to get real aggressive. Japan has basically been pulling a Germany lately trying to cover up its past. I'm not so much against that as I am Japan trying to, at the same time, push all the "good" things they did in China and the Korean Peninsula. Japan can't have it

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1114017391930205662005-04-20T13:06:00.000-04:002005-04-20T13:16:31.930-04:00

Looks like Matthew Cooper (Time) and Judith Miller (NYTimes) might be heading to jail for refusing to disclose their sources. The federal appeals court yesterday rejected an appeal. "It also serves as a firm rebuke to major news organizations and First Amendment groups who had weighed in on the case, legal experts said."This goes back to the Valerie Plame case. It's unfortunate that the U.S.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113965454074791202005-04-19T22:46:00.000-04:002005-04-19T22:51:58.296-04:00

If so many illegal immigrants have drivers licenses, why not revoke them? There are too many cars on the road right now, too much pollution and gas demand caused by those cars, and unnecessary wear on our road infrastructure cause by people who, for a large part, don't pay taxes.Maybe Lou Dobbs is wearing me down, but if we're going to take cars off the road, let's not limit American Citizens.BTW

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113962862043011472005-04-19T22:03:00.000-04:002005-04-19T22:07:42.043-04:00

People think they elect a person to a political office. In reality they elect a person and his/her staff. A congressman or senator's staff is just as important as the congressman or senator is. How could Mel Martinez answer every phone call from concerned citizens? How could he communicate with dozens of other offices on dozens of political issues? Not possible.The State of Florida elected

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113960004628849762005-04-19T21:13:00.000-04:002005-04-19T21:20:04.630-04:00

Powerline gives a decent version of the recent Bolton developments.I agree with Hinderaker that the Dems have had a fairly dubious method of assaulting Bolton. I was watching Norm Coleman speak during the confirmation hearing and he made the point that most of the people who testified had never known Bolton for more than a couple minutes, one witness merely had a three minute conversation with

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113959559643203072005-04-19T21:04:00.000-04:002005-04-19T21:12:39.643-04:00

There have always been limits on religious freedom, those limits have tended to parallel other 1st Amendment limits. But like those other freedoms, the limits on them are quite vague. In a case that the Supreme Court decided to take up yesterday, there's a conflict between our drug laws and the right of a religious group to import narcotics:The court said it will hear the government's appeal of

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113950417245019152005-04-19T18:27:00.000-04:002005-04-19T18:50:20.946-04:00

Looks like he might have gotten de-railed.Liberal Oasis: GOP Sen. Voinovich, 4:35 PM ET -- "...I wasn't present during the hearing on John Bolton ... I've heard enough today that I don't feel comfortable about voting for Mr. Bolton." GOP Sen. Hagel at Bolton hearing, 4:30 PM ET -- "I will vote for moving Bolton out [of committee], but I would also say, that doesn't mean that I will support his

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113867466699265912005-04-18T18:55:00.000-04:002005-04-18T19:41:33.073-04:00

Perhaps you might like a summary of what some of the conservative leaning press thinks about Tom DeLay...NYPost's Arnold Ahlert comments on Democrat's strategy. Points out how DeLay can't really get off the hook while the Democrats are boycotting the Ethics Committee. Notice how Ahlert never disputes DeLay's guilt or comments on whether the Ethics committee will make an honest, non-partisan

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113771595427710402005-04-17T16:49:00.000-04:002005-04-17T17:05:52.410-04:00

So I'm watching the NRA's Annual Convention on C-SPAN. Good Stuff. I'm all for a good deal of gun rights. But these people go a little far. For example, the 20 x 100 ft banner that was behind the stage read "The Second Amendment: America's First Freedom". I got kind of a chuckle out of this. Cause last time I checked, not only is the First Amendment (with its FIVE freedoms) placed in front of the

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113762970235595422005-04-17T14:23:00.000-04:002005-04-17T14:54:42.526-04:00

He's written about it dozens of times, but this is worth repeating. He starts out by listing some atrocities in the past that the U.S. Government has conviently ignored either because the situtation was too complex or too expensive:When Turkey was massacring Armenians in 1915, the administration of Woodrow Wilson determinedly looked the other way... A generation later, American officials said

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113702774155236222005-04-16T21:25:00.000-04:002005-04-16T22:37:03.106-04:00

What a fun topic.So I've been hearing for the past couple days about Justice Scalia and his rant on homosexual sodomy. So I went and read his dissenting opinion. Now I'm no lawyer, but my vocabulary ain't so bad, so I can swim my way through a Scalia rant if it'll prove entertaining, and this one certainly was worthy. Here are some fun quotes:There are 203 prosecutions for consensual, adult

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113658482417761522005-04-16T09:17:00.000-04:002005-04-16T09:34:42.420-04:00

Mr. Frist may want to re-read that little document he swore to protect when he placed his hand on the Bible (or, maybe the Bible isn't as important as '08). The U.S. Constitution: Article. VI. Clause 3: The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113529538994417332005-04-14T21:31:00.000-04:002005-04-14T21:45:38.996-04:00

While reading through various blog posts I had C-SPAN on in the background. President Bush was speaking at the American Society of Newspaper Editors Convention. The question session that followed was the same dribble of Bush not being able to express concisely our policy towards China, trying to communicate he understands both sides but won't change his position, etc etc etc. But then the last

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113494403779190142005-04-14T11:27:00.000-04:002005-04-14T12:00:03.780-04:00

I'm very quickly becoming a huge Ed Kilgore fan. On the issue of how Democrats deal with culture, I think he gets about as close to my personal thoughts on the issue.There's an inherent conflict between free speech and the so-called "moral values" movement. I happen to think that free speech is one of this country's greatest moral values. However, I can agree with that movement on a couple of

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1113168675357608332005-04-10T17:21:00.000-04:002005-04-10T17:31:15.360-04:00

While I was out in Dallas for a job interview this weekend, I happened upon a copy of the London-based Financial Times. The FT had dueling Asia-Pacific articles discussing the increasing tensions in that region: one about Taiwanese celebrating their role fighting alongside Japan in WWII, another about Chinese boycotts of Japanese goods.Now this has been going on for quite some time (China and

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112873881103815992005-04-07T07:35:00.000-04:002005-04-07T07:38:01.103-04:00

I may disagree with them quite often, but at least I respected them.Until Now.You see, when you make a mistake, you own up to it. They are spinning it now towards the media and how ABC/WaPo mishandled the situation, completely ignoring how they themselves handled it.I believe Harry Reid deserves an apology from the folks at Powerline.

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112827543683343182005-04-06T18:33:00.000-04:002005-04-06T18:54:12.610-04:00

Sometimes I think that Nicholas Kristof must lead a sad, depraved life. Positivity just doesn't seem to be his thing. There are a lot of bad things that are going on in the world, but if I were to dwell on them as often as Kristof, I'd likely shoot myself. But alas, he always has a good point:President Bush and other world leaders are honoring John Paul II in a way that completely misunderstands

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112742102312954312005-04-05T18:48:00.000-04:002005-04-05T19:03:04.330-04:00

It seems like you might have gotten the Delay itch. Now, in Pelosi's defense, this is the Washington Times we're talking about. So I'll consistently use the word might in italics until I see this re-phrased by an outlet that is not the conservative equivalent of CBS News.I should point out that I have thought for some time now that if the Democrats regain the majority, Ms Pelosi should not be

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112736562946788152005-04-05T17:20:00.000-04:002005-04-05T17:29:22.946-04:00

Cornyn is getting a farily predictable response from the Left. He's certainly giving Democrats some good talking points. Furthermore, hopefully they use it to fend off this nuclear option deal Mr Frist is pondering.But now, the Right is jumping on the anti-Cornyn bandwagon. Perhaps the best post I've read on this so far, whether a liberal or conservative blog, is this Glenn Reynolds post at

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112676714713635052005-04-05T00:10:00.000-04:002005-04-05T00:51:54.716-04:00

Thanks to Senator Cornyn (R-TX) and Tom Delay (R-TX), its time I laid out my GOP Judicial Activism Challenge.There's no good definition of Judicial Activism, so let's just define it as "making the Constitution say something it doesn't". The way I see it, there are TWO types of Judicial Activism: Significant Logical Leaps & Just Making Stuff Up. Obviously, making stuff up is a farther stretch of

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112615167065371142005-04-04T07:39:00.000-04:002005-04-04T07:46:07.066-04:00

Since I'm from Florida and since no one really reads this blog, I intend to discuss Florida politics on occasion. If you're interested in such, the links off to the right devote entire blogs to our politics in the Sunshine State.Congressman Jim Davis is my Congressman, and I'm a proud supporter. It looks like he's off to an early lead in the Democratic Primary, according to the Tampa

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112613203693446772005-04-04T06:51:00.000-04:002005-04-04T07:13:23.696-04:00

I first want to get off my chest to any Republican who might eventually read this post: I have no inherent problem with private accounts. I am not morally opposed to them. I do not worry about the political consequences of "every American having a stake in our future", etc etc. Under the right conditions, private accounts would be wonderful. Unfortunately, politicians have a tendency to put

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11608415.post-1112551658919414132005-04-03T14:00:00.000-04:002005-04-03T14:08:35.293-04:00

Hal Responded:No. He did not say he came "to replace the old way." FAR FROM IT. When Jesus was asked if he was giving changing the laws of God, he replied NO. I change not one jot or tittle of the law.He also said he was sent to pit mother daughter, father against son, brother against brother. Those who would accept him and his truth would be forever cast out by those who do not.He told his

Spitfirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10914328577122123330noreply@blogger.com