On Bill Maher

In keeping with this blog's tradition of being far behind the bleeding edge, I just wanted to write a bit about Bill Maher. He stirred up the blogosphere during Pope Benedict's visit to Washington and New York. He called the Pope a Nazi and accused him of being an apologist for pedophilia.

This generated a modest furor of course. Did conservatives get Maher fired? Nope. Did they Maher to apologize to Catholics or the Pope? Nope. Did it change anything? Not really. Personally I don't think it ever will. Bill Maher is a seldom funny, arrogant, smug comic who has found a market niche entertaining people who share a world view similar to his. They're the people who don't respect religious folk, and people who know that conservatives are stupid and/or evil. Conservatives and conservative Christians are not part of his audience, just people for Maher to mock and be contemptuous of. He doesn't care if he offends them. HBO doesn't care as long as he makes HBO money.

Perhaps it would be better if we ignored the jerk instead of giving him free publicity.

Unlike the LA Times, I think John McCain earned that disability pension.....

Lest one thinks

that Democrats have cornered the market on stupidity and intolerance, witness the campaign of Tony Zinkle ... . (via Little Green Footballs)

It's stuff like

this that makes me feel unwelcome in the Democratic Party. What a demonstration of the virtues of embracing diversity and tolerance.

Today at the MIA

Today is what is called a 'fine spring day' up here, so a break was taken from politics today to visit the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see the John C. Weber collection of Japanese art. Since photography isn't allowed in the exhibit, I had to settle for a photo of the replica teahouse and garden that's part of the permanent collection.

I admit to being an ignoramus about art, but there is just something about the look of the Japanese screens, fans, the tea house that I just find greatly appealing. It's sort of a combination of simplicity with meticulous fine detail that just fits my sense of what's right.

A livelier Star Wars

Just some nostalgia from years ago... . Not better, just different. James Last's version of the MECO Star Wars theme.

A little self-exmination blogging..

This post over at Althouse prompted me to take a look at the posts on this little blog to see what kind of blog it is. It seems that I've become a male political blogger of sorts. Funny thing is, I'm not a very political person. This blog started as a place to vent after the Wellstone "memorial" and as a place to express myself on whatever caught my fancy. This included stuff like Project Runway, astronomy pictures, weather, occasionally sports, and lots of politics.

Why politics? It may be my inner curmudgeon prompts me to write about stuff that annoys me. Politics as a subject has a pretty high annoyance factor with me. Since I live in St. Paul and DFL elected officials are thick on the ground, I find lots of things about the DFL to be annoyed about. I get the chance to see the Minnesota DFL and their friends in the press work up close and they are a constant source of disappointment. The GOP isn't much of a power here, but I suspect that if they were, I'd be annoyed with them too. Certainly Jason Lewis wouldn't think much of this place, if it was worth noticing... .

This development looks like something from the movie "Enemy of the State" . I don't believe that fighting jihadis justifies this kind of domestic surveillance. I think I agree with the Democrats' view on this one.

Democrat Bigotry on Display

Via Tom Maguire, (who has much more to say about it) this post from the "Big Tent Democrat" at TalkLeft just reinforces my dislike of the way Dems are unable to listen to a Republican without labeling them as a racist or bigot or some other derogatory term. Apparently, if one disagrees with a liberal Democrat that person must be evil in some way. Republicans of course are racist by default. I'd call them jackasses, but that would insult the good name of donkeys worldwide.

Spring in Minnesota

Worth a thousand words... mostly unprintable ones.

Welcome Back, James!

I see that James Lileks is once again gracing the pages of the print edition of the Star Tribune. About bloody time. Now, how about adding via subtraction by firing Nick Coleman?

Obama's Speech

Am I deluded, or was the Kim Ode/Patricia Lopez story about the effects of Barack Obama's speech on racial issues just a little one-sided? They mentioned one person who was critical of Obama's effort. Everybody else, it seems, was sure that white folk just don't understand. Would it have hurt that much to have actually paid some real attention to what his critics were saying? How hard would it have been to report the reactions of more than one person critical of the speech, as opposed to getting one critical opinion, followed by every other person they quoted being critical of those who did not like what Obama said?

Of course that might have been confused with objective journalism, and we can't have that at the Star Tribune, can we now?

Who's to blame for McCain?

Over the past couple of weeks, I've a lot of comments from alleged "true conservatives" on blogs expressing sentiments like this:

Again, dont blame me if Obama or Clinton win in November. Blame the people that brought us McCain. If they were really interested in winning the general election, they would have known better than to nominate this liberal.

Well, I'm going to go with the " blame it on conservatives " option here. More specifically, the failure of conservatives to produce a GOP candidate better to their liking.

Setting aside differences over policy, I've seen three complaints about how McCain won. He didn't get the majority of Republican votes. He got a lot of support from independents and Democrats in the open primaries. He's been foisted on conservatives by the GOP establishment. Horsehockey.

John McCain didn't cheat to win the nomination. He won it by the rules established by the Republican party. He got more votes than any of the other candidates, enough to win 50% + 1 of the delegates. It's not McCain's problem that the "true conservatives" couldn't find a candidate to unite behind. If conservatives don't like open primaries, get the rules changed to make them closed. It's not like there wasn't time between the 2000 election and 2008. The notion of the GOP Establishment forcing McCain down conservative throats doesn't pass the smell test either. This would be the same establishment that McCain went against so often, on issues like spending, taxes, and campaign finance reform. The GOP establishment didn't really start lining up behind the guy until he started winning primaries. In short, conservatives have only themselves to blame for the current nominee.

What other things should be considered by "true conservatives" before they vote Democratic or stay home? How about 4 possible Supreme Court vacancies in the next 8 years? How about the fact that there are not enough conservatives votes in the US to win a Presidential election by themselves. This means the GOP has to attract some moderates and independents (and possibly some conservative Dems) to win. So perhaps some compromises would have to made after all.

Downs and Ups

This has been an up and down week. One of the people I've worked with for years lost his eldest son in an auto accident, so I attended his son's funeral this week. When I spoke with my friend/coworker, what could I do or say that would help? Not a single solitary thing.
The same day as the funeral, we had a little congratulations party at work for another coworker who, after 13 years of effort, became an American citizen. I can have only respect for someone who becomes one of our citizens by choice rather than by accident of birth. Congratulations, Jay. (Personally, I think he's gonna frame those citizenship documents.)

Lean Times

for Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Pity Nancy Pelosi doesn't get it. Look, the merits of invading Iraq were debatable but if one styles themselves to be of the "reality based" community, isn't willful denial of the facts on the ground kind of silly?

(via Drudge)

McCain is doing well tonight

I wonder if Mark Levin's head will explode (figuratively)...

My First Caucus

After many years of just voting, I went to my first caucus tonight. Since I am not a member of any MN political party I didn't know if I would be considered to be rather like the skunk at a picnic, but I guess when you live in St. Paul and go to the GOP caucus they tend to want to make a fellow welcome.

In truth, the gent running the show seemed quite impressed with the turnout (district 67B for those keeping score) of about 150-200 people (my very unscientific guess) . I ended up as the Sgt-at-Arms for my caucus room, oddly enough. Fortunately the job mostly consisted of making sure the speakers adhered to the time limits for debating resolutions. Anyhow, if I had wanted to be a delegate for my precinct it would have been pretty easy to do (3 delegates + 6 alternates for the precinct, and 5 people present) , but it seemed to me that being elected a Republican delegate when I'm not a Republican wouldn't be cricket.

The straw poll was held first with Mitt Romney winning, followed by Mike Huckabee.

Deranged by McCain

I'm a political independent, so I don't have a dog in this fight until November, but I confess to having a problem understanding the hatred and vitriol currently being directed at John McCain by many talk radio hosts and other self-styled "true" conservatives. Under what criteria does 25 years of voting with conservatives eighty percent of the time make someone a liberal and a socialist? Those of Jason Lewis.

Why? After listening to his on-the-verge-of-incoherent ranting, it seems to be on five things.

• McCain believes that there is such a thing as man-made global warming.
  
• Immigration - supported naturalization for illegals, after legal immigrants have been processed first.
  
• McCain-Feingold.
• McCain opposed the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts.
  
• The press likes him.
  

Here's my opinion on these items (in order):

• The debate on global warming is at best unsettled. I think the Senator's proposals are premature, but do you really think the Democrats will produce something more sane? In what universe?
• McCain has conceded his error on immigration - what more do you want?
  
• What free speech has been stifled, really? The law has been unsuccessful and misguided, but the Supreme Court did not find it (in the main) unconstitutional, because money is not speech. More on the 1st amendment issue later.
• On the tax cuts. McCain opposed the cuts on two grounds, that upper income folks gained disproportionately, and that there were no provisions to limit spending. Lewis only talks about the first, calling it "class warfare". He conveniently ignores the spending side of McCain's objections, which show McCain's conservatism on government spending. Does he really think Hillary/Obama will act the same on spending? Again, in what universe?
• It is true the press is somewhat less hostile to the Senator than to some of his fellow GOPers, but that has much to do with him treating the press as something other than an enemy. Perhaps his opponents should try it. In any case, the Dems in the race get much better press than any Republican, according to Brent Bozell's media watchdogs.
  

In contrast to Jason's rants, let us take a look at McCain' s actions that conservatives should approve of:

• Voted against the Medicare prescription drug requirement.
  
• Has never in 25 years voted for a tax increase.
• Has always voted pro-life.
• Has authored/introduced a bill in the Congress to prevent the reinstatement of the Fairness Doctrine.
• Stoutly supported winning the war in Iraq, and the "surge", even when it was politically unpopular.
  
• In 25 years in Congress, has never used an earmark. He is one of the best in Congress at resisting unnecessary government spending.
• Voted in favor of conservative judges, including Roberts and Alito.
• Promised to work to retain the Bush tax cuts.
• Acknowledged his errors in the immigration debate, and agrees that immigration enforcement must come first.
  

By Jason's lights, John McCain is liberal. Jason Lewis is an idiot.

Lileks, Cub Reporter

The Star Tribune killed James Lileks' column and put him on to reporting local news stories. Personally, if they were going to reduce the number of local columnists, would it not be better to RIF Nick Coleman or Doug Grow instead of their most talented guy? Surely the Strib could survive the loss of one of its DFL hacks, couldn't it?

When Spinning...

The Strib should really read their own editorials:

Republicans in and out of the statehouse are doing their level best to gin up sticker shock over the Senate DFLers' proposed new fourth bracket in the state income tax -- with a 9.7 percent rate, the highest in the nation! The spinmeisters want every wage-earning Minnesotan to panic about an imminent raid on his or her paycheck. Minnesotans shouldn't ingest too much of such hyperbole.

Here's a hint for the spinmeisters at the Strib: If it's true, it's not hyperbole!

Oh, and one other thing. What compelling reason is there for Minnesotans to be the most highly taxed people in the nation?