Yesterday he was "anguishing" over the vote and he won't sully himself with a filibuster but he'll vote against her in committee and on the floor.

"The law must control the judge; the judge must not control the law," Hatch said. "I have concluded that, based on evidence rather than blind faith, General Kagan regrettably does not meet this standard and that, therefore, I cannot support her appointment."

...

"The fact that her experience is instead academic and political only magnifies my emphasis on judicial philosophy as the most important qualification for judicial service," Hatch said.

He also said he was troubled by Kagan's admiration for judges with an "activist judicial philosophy," likely a reference to the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom Kagan clerked.

“Over nearly 25 years, General Kagan has endorsed, and praised those who endorse, an activist judicial philosophy,” he said. “I was surprised when she encouraged us at the hearing simply to discard or ignore certain parts of her record. I am unable to do that.”


A breathless nation waits for word from the RINO King...Lindsey Graham. Once again he was great in walking the nominee down the path into places where she could not explain herself or forced her to lie (the partial birth abortion memo, Harvard and military recruiting and activist philosophy) but he did similar things with Sotomayor and voted for her. I'd bet he's a yes.

Also of interest with be our old buddy Arlen Specter. He voted against Kagan when she was nominated to be Solicitor General partially on the grounds she wasn't forthcoming enough for him in her answers. She really didn't give much in these hearings. Will old Arlen vote no out of spite for Obama not coming to help him on the last day of his primary campaign or is he holding out hope for an ambassador gig? Whatever he does, it will purely out to further his own self-interest.

As for Hatch, it would be easy to say that Hatch is only doing this to avoid getting the Bennett treatment but he voted against Sotomayor as well.

Interesting note on Congressman Jason Chaffetz, the person many expect to primary Hatch in 2012, he voted to get out of Afghanistan last night.

I will vote in favor of two amendments to end the war and bring our troops home. Variety of reasons...go big or go home is one.

It will be interesting to see if that cools some conservative love for the guy (a lot of which is well deserved from what little I've seen of him).

Posted by: DrewM at 09:27 AM | Comments (68)
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We hadn't heard from Steele in quite some time. Well, break time is over, everyone back on your heads*.

This time Steele steps in it regarding Afghanistan.

"Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," he said. "But it was the president who was trying to be cute by half by building a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he is such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?"

And never go against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

Is Steele's position that we shouldn't have gone to Afghanistan after 9/11? That when things started going really badly there in 06-07 we should have left? That would put him at odds with just about every Republican, save perhaps Ron Paul.

If you look really hard and twist his plain words, you can kind of almost see that he's trying to say something about Obama's bad mouthing Iraq and claiming the US should have only focused on Afghanistan. That critique (which isn't what Steele really said) only works if Obama had come into office and cut and run. Considering he surged troops to Afghanistan and doubled down on it with the Petraeus appointment, it makes no sense.

There's simply no way to look at what Steele said and conclude he has the slightest idea of what he's talking about when it comes to the history of why we are in Afghanistan or what Obama has done there since coming to office.

As Bill Kristol says, it's time for Mr. Steele to leave the building.

*If you don't get the reference, it's an old joke.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:43 AM | Comments (134)
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You'd think that at least the celebrity angle would bring this to wide public attention.

You'd be wrong.

I write "likely" "honor" killing attempt because the media won't say that's why this young woman's brother and father attacked her.

But that's how it looks.

London Daily Mail:

“As part of their bail conditions, [the father and brother accused in the attack and threats] have to abide by an 11pm to 6am curfew and must not travel to London or contact an unnamed man.”

That last part – ‘contact an unnamed man’ gives the grisly clue to what triggered the murderous rage of the father and brother. The ‘unnamed man’ is clearly someone whom the young actress had been seeing. As a result of her association, the father and brother tried to kill her. In short, this was an attempted Muslim ‘honor killing’.

But the Daily Mail flatly refuses to state this obvious fact. You can read the article from top to bottom but not a single word of it identifies the father and brother’s murderous attack for what it is – an attempted honor killing. It gets worse – the Daily Mail won’t even identify the father and brother as Muslim. Why? It’s because the Daily Mail, like the media worldwide, quakes in cowardly fear of offending the ‘religion of peace’. Even when that religion orders a father to mercilessly slaughter his own child – as happened in this grisly case – the Daily Mail still won’t print the truth about the Muslim faith.

To state the obvious: Given the choice between "respecting" certain barbaric customs of the Islamist cult and protecting the basic rights and freedoms of citizens/women, the media finds this an easy call -- but not in the direction you would think.

Again: Consiglierte5.

Superman Vs. the KKK: The media has a lot of power to shame and teach. They praise themselves for this.

Except when you ask that they put this power into a service they don't agree with, then they cry impotence. Or that their sacrosanct code of objectivity prevents them from taking a stand on such controversial subjects as murder.

Did you know Superman was incredibly important in turning the KKK from a semi-respectable and feared organization into the national embarrassment it is now?

It's true, it's true.

But now? Nary a peep.

Posted by: Ace at 07:29 AM | Comments (154)
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The science may be settled, but apparently there's some error with the simple counting.

The actual number of scientists who backed that claim was “only a few dozen experts,” he states in a paper for Progress in Physical Geography, co-authored with student Martin Mahony.

“Claims such as ‘2,500 of the world’s leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on the climate’ are disingenuous,” the paper states unambiguously, adding that they rendered “the IPCC vulnerable to outside criticism.”

Via Consigliere5.

Posted by: Ace at 07:15 AM | Comments (43)
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It still sucks.

Expect to hear an awful lot of "hey, the unemployment rate went down to 9.5%".

Expect to hear very little of "650,000 workers left the workforce in June".

Meanwhile Captain Bullshit is laser focused on the only thing that matters, getting more Democrat votes in November.

Also don't miss the cheery news about initial unemployment claims.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 07:12 AM | Comments (34)
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FRIDAY!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:23 AM | Comments (145)
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Back when many of us were young 'uns, we made a few sheckels by delivering Grit to the farms and trailer parks in our little podunk burgs. (Some later carried on the tradition more literally by becoming gravel-haulers.) In any event, Grit carries the story of a brave young couple who are starting a raw-milk dairy...in Connecticut. Free enterprise, even in the beating heart of Blue America!

Occasionally, Dame Fortune smiles on the worthy even in these debased times. Consider the Mamaroneck grandmother who won $1 million in the New York Lottery. After taxes, fees, assessments, penalties, and surcharges, the grandmother in question will take home a princely sum of $11.25 to spend on whatever she pleases. Sometimes good things do happen to good people!

But alas! The grim financial news overwhelms the few bright flashes of optimism! It rolls in as a blood-red tide!

more...

Posted by: Monty at 03:12 AM | Comments (122)
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Hey all don't forget this is Day one of Ace-A-Thon 2010. It's thanks to the gullible generosity of semi-literate morons like yourselves that Ace doesn't have to go out and get a real job. So have a little pity for the poor Ewok and dig deep for some coin to toss his way. Times are tough and we'd hate to see him go feral and all bitey again. Or end up at <shudder> HotAir.

Hey How About Some Mario Soundtrack Violin-style

So I guess all those years he spent training at the conservatory weren't wasted after all. And that semester I spent mastering Super Mario Brothers wasn't wasted either for I now am completely prepared for the Koopa Troopa-apocalypse. Are you?

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:12 PM | Comments (658)
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Real or not? I don't know. I could check, but, does it matter?

The backstory, I guess, is that this guy is angry about his former teammates kicking him off World of Warcraft and Star Trek online, and he's letting you know how he rolls.

Thanks to mchstarblazer.

Posted by: Ace at 04:16 PM | Comments (229)
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Laura kicked it off in her own inimitable fashion but still plenty of time to pony up.

Once or twice a year we take it on ourselves to do what Ace wonÂ’t do for himselfÂ… demand you freeloaders pay up for all the shit he does ask you to support his work and keep this place a must read for all of us. ItÂ’s like our own version of DonÂ’t Ask, DonÂ’t TellÂ…he never asks us to do this for him and we donÂ’t tell him when itÂ’s going to happen. Which when you think of it, is a hell of a way to make a living.

Let me explain to you how this worksÂ…

Step 1: You give Ace money by clicking on the PayPal button on the left (on the left Laura)

Step 2: ???

Step 3: Ace profits (just enough not to have to try and get a real job, leave the blog and force you to do your damn jobs instead of hanging out here all day. You donÂ’t want that, do you?)

So please dig deep. Dig into your retirement savings, your kidÂ’s college money, even your vodka fund. Of course IÂ’m just kiddingÂ…about the vodka fund.

Celebrity Endorsements For Ace: more...

Posted by: DrewM at 02:14 PM | Comments (339)
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