A consequence of winning: the public continued to give Obama good personally-like marks even as they opposed his policies. Now that he seems neutered, boxed in, checked -- no longer such a threat to disrupt their lives and the American way of doing things -- his approval seems to be rising.

It is not yet clear if Obama's approval rating will stay above 50% in the coming days; his approval rating in each of the individual days comprising the latest three-day average has remained near the 50% mark. The current 50% average over the last three days could reflect a temporary increase in optimism that Gallup sometimes sees at the beginning of a new year. The latest numbers also come at a time when the president was on vacation in Hawaii and out of the political spotlight, following a highly publicized pre-Christmas session with Congress that resulted in the passage of several major pieces of legislation.

Obama's current approval rating is 80% among Democrats, 47% among independents, and 16% among Republicans in the three most recent days of polling. The figures for independents and Republicans are slightly higher than what Gallup has measured for Obama in recent weeks.

That's not a super-good thing for Obama, that the public's saying We like Obama's leadership when he is not in fact leading as he wishes but bowing to the leadership of others. That wouldn't make a good campaign theme-- Vote for me, I Promise That I Have Learned to No Longer Trust My Own Judgment.

Obama's big advantage going forward is people's general preference for the status quo and general aversion to change. Because Obama created new facts on the ground, he created a new status quo, and Republicans will have their work cut out for them as they attempt to change that.

That was always their plan -- ignore popular wishes, impose a new status quo on them against their will, and then count on people's apathy and resistance to change to now start counting in favor of the status quo they were originally against.

That doesn't mean we shouldn't do these things; we have to, we promised. It's just going to be difficult, and we'll have to always cast our position as return to the true status quo, and not permit Obama and his Democratic spokesmen in the paid media to cast our moves as undoing set policy. Obama's policies aren't set and undoing them is not a change but a restoration of original conditions, all for the good.

In poling news from Rasmussen, the number of voters calling the economy a "very important" issue hit its highest level since the panic of 2008.

The new finding is up five points from 82% in late October and has consistently been the issue voters place the highest level of importance on since regular tracking began several years ago.

Rasmussen also finds the GOP at its highest level of public identification since 2004.

The number of American adults calling themselves Republicans in December increased by one percentage point from November to 37.0%.

Also in December, the number calling themselves Democrats fell by a point to 33.7%.

Those figures reflect the largest number of Republicans in the nation since December 2004 and the lowest number of Democrats ever recorded in tracking since November 2002.

ItÂ’s the second straight month that Rasmussen Reports polling has found more people identifying as Republicans than Democrats. Prior to November, that had never happened before.

Even if Rasmussen has a small 2-3% Republican skew, it's the change that's important. That is, even if you assume Rassumssen polls too many Republicans and too few liberals, their own findings would still show a shift to the Republican side of things.

Posted by: Ace at 10:10 AM | Comments (146)
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Not a real-life superhero, I guess, but more of a real-life Kick-Ass sort of aspirational hero.

Guy's got guts -- he says he's been stabbed while out on, um, patrol.

“My name is Phoenix Jones,” said the man.

...

On Monday night, the fully-clad superhero and Dan met.

...

“Phoenix” explained his whole super suit, including bullet-proof vest and stab plates, to Dan.

“That’s a Taser night stick. And I have Mace slash tear gas over here,” said Phoenix.

Then it was time for Phoenix to get back out on the streets, maybe not quite a super man, but an extraordinary one.

“So when I walk into a neighborhood, criminals leave because they see the suit,” said Phoenix. “I symbolize that the average person doesn't have to walk around and see bad things and do nothing.”

Since people are thinking it, I'll say it: Yeah, it's possible this is a publicity stunt, with the "car thief" actually a confederate of "Phoenix Jones," contriving a minor crime for "Phoenix Jones" to thwart. The car thief was conveniently unapprehended.

But, as Mulder says: I want to believe.

Video at the link. The guy's "super-suit" looks suspiciously svelte for something that supposedly is bullet-proof with stab-plates.

Too good to leave at the sidebar.

This story has been going on for a while. Some time back, a group of wannabe-real-life-superheroes started patrolling Seattle. Here's some of that background:

He has a day job but wears a costume underneath his street clothes in case he encounters crime. He carries a “net gun” and has a sidekick named Buster Doe.

But this isnÂ’t the plot from a Hollywood movie. There are no special effects. This is real-life and Phoenix patrols SeattleÂ’s Capitol Hill neighborhood every week- stopping fights, feeding the homeless and helping folks who have run out of gas.

Unlike most movie superheroes, Phoenix doesnÂ’t have any super powers and he doesnÂ’t need them. He is made of flesh and blood and has gotten hurt. He deals with real criminals and puts his life in danger nightly.

“Phoenix, some people might ask if you’re crazy. Are you crazy?” I asked during a recent phone interview.

“Have you ever seen something that you thought was wrong or not fair? That you wanted to change? And then you just thought about it for days or weeks?” He said.

“Of course.” I answered.

“Well I haven’t. I don’t stand by and watch things happen that are wrong. When I see it I fix it. Does that make me crazy?”

RAIN CITY SUPERHERO MOVEMENT

Phoenix is a part of the Rain City Superhero movement, a group of superheroes that patrols the streets of Seattle.

The group includes Phoenix Jones, Buster Doe, Thorn, Green Reaper, Gemini, No Name, Catastrophe, Thunder 88 and Penelope.

...

Seattle police say there is nothing illegal about dressing up as a superhero, but it is dangerous and they do not encourage it.

"Phoenix Jones" claims the cops accept him as helpful and say hello to him and stuff.

In a "Kick-Ass" sort of moment, "Phoenix Jones" admits his "net gun" and "grappling gun" are ineffective -- the grappling gun cannot even support his body weight.

This is cute:

Phoenix Jones wants more superheroes to join the Rain City Superhero movement. But he says they must be qualified. And realistic.

Phoenix said, “I think people would find it’s far less romantic than it sounds. The hours aren’t so great. There’s no pay. That’s the reality.”

Also back at the link -- "Phoenix Jones'" old costume, which was more of a discount-store Shadow-like outfit, less like the Watchmen-like bodysuit he wears now.

Crazy, yeah, but maybe good eccentric crazy?

Posted by: Ace at 09:41 AM | Comments (89)
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I don't know if this is a good idea. It sounds good, I guess, to decentralize power and give backbenchers more of a say, and it sounds good to some, I guess, to give the minority (re: the Democrats) more power.

It's Boehner's attempt to say "We're different; we're consistent; we keep our promises."

Maybe it's a promise that shouldn't have been made.

On Wednesday the new speaker of the House of Representatives plans to offer a package of rule changes that, he says, will give minority-party members more of a say and decentralize power. In short, Ohio Republican Mr. Boehner is promising he'll be a different figure from many speakers throughout history—from Republican Joseph Cannon a century ago to his immediate predecessor, Democrat Nancy Pelosi—who kept a tighter leash.

But there's a reason so many speakers try to keep close control: It works.

"New speakers always say they want to have a more open process," says Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat. "Then the sheer demands of making the trains run on time and getting things passed requires that you change your mind."

The WSJ doesn't say what most of these changes are; it lists two of them...

• Lawmakers will be required to vote on whether or not to raise the federal debt ceiling, a move sought by tea-party representatives. Current rules let the House automatically raise the limit when they pass a budget.

• All legislation must be posted online 72 hours before going to the House floor to prevent party leaders from changing bills the night before House votes, as has been the practice over the years.

Here are a few more. These don't seem to be the decentralizing sort of rules.

One of the new wrinkles Boehner and company will add to how the House operates will be to read the Constitution aloud....

Reading the Constitution, a 4,543-word document that includes its 27 amendments, is a half-hour exercise that will occur on Jan. 6, a day after Boehner is sworn in.

...

Going forward, committees will broadcast their hearings and mark-up sessions online, lawmaker attendance will be recorded for each committee hearing and the debt limit will no longer be automatically increased with each new budget resolution....

Among the more controversial of Boehner's new rule changes are ones critics say will usher in more deficit-increasing tax cuts in the next two years. These rules represent another road to the anti-deficit rhetoric Boehner and Republicans spoke about on in their campaigns last fall. Current House rules call for a pay-as-you-go requirement that any tax cut or spending increase for a mandatory (i.e., entitlement) program must be offset by cuts in other mandatory spending or increases in other taxes to avoid increasing the deficit. Current rules also bar the House from using budget “reconciliation” procedures, special rules that facilitate fast action on specific budget legislation, to pass deficit-increasing bills.

The new rule will be "cut-go" instead of "pay-go:"

The Republican majority instead plans to institute a “cut-as-you-go,” or “cut-go,” rule that says any new mandatory spending must be offset with spending cuts, not tax hikes, according to a blog post by spokesman Don Seymour on the Web site of incoming House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

“The new rules will reflect a new culture of fiscal discipline in Congress; no longer will the system be rigged in favor of ever-more (and sometimes automatic) spending hikes,” wrote Seymour.

He noted that the new rules would require legislation to show a long-term budget impact — four decades beyond current rules — to “prevent lawmakers from using accounting gimmicks and sleight of hand to hide the true cost of big government proposals.”

Immune from that requirement, however, will be any law to repeal ObamaCare. See, supposedly, CBO projections or whatnot still show ObamaCare "cutting" costs by $140 billion over 10 years; I doubt anyone really believes that, except Obama's media spirit squad. So apparently the rule will exclude cut-go balancing requirements from consideration in repealing that.

Posted by: Ace at 09:31 AM | Comments (71)
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Behold the awesome that is Antonin Scalia!

(Interviewer) In 1868, when the 39th Congress was debating and ultimately proposing the 14th Amendment, I don't think anybody would have thought that equal protection applied to sex discrimination, or certainly not to sexual orientation. So does that mean that we've gone off in error by applying the 14th Amendment to both?

(Justice Scalia) Yes, yes. Sorry, to tell you that. ... But, you know, if indeed the current society has come to different views, that's fine. You do not need the Constitution to reflect the wishes of the current society. Certainly the Constitution does not require discrimination on the basis of sex. The only issue is whether it prohibits it. It doesn't. Nobody ever thought that that's what it meant. Nobody ever voted for that. If the current society wants to outlaw discrimination by sex, hey we have things called legislatures, and they enact things called laws. You don't need a constitution to keep things up-to-date. All you need is a legislature and a ballot box. You don't like the death penalty anymore, that's fine. You want a right to abortion? There's nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn't mean you cannot prohibit it. Persuade your fellow citizens it's a good idea and pass a law. That's what democracy is all about. It's not about nine superannuated judges who have been there too long, imposing these demands on society.

Lefty heads explode, film at 11.

Posted by: DrewM at 08:26 AM | Comments (152)
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After months of hard fighting, some signs of hope?

The leaders of the largest tribe in a Taliban stronghold in southern Helmand province have pledged to halt insurgent attacks and expel foreign fighters from one of the most violent spots in the country, the senior U.S. Marine general in Afghanistan said Monday.

Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who commands coalition forces in the southwest, said the deal was struck between local elders in the Sangin district and Helmand Governor Gulabuddin Mangal with the consultation of coalition forces. The area has witnessed some of the heaviest fighting of the war.

However it is unlikely that the violence will cease immediately in Sangin as the die-hard Taliban leadership under the command of Mullah Mohammad Omar, which is based in the Pakistani city of Quetta, will keep fighting.

But the cooperation of the tribal leaders in the effort to rid the area of insurgents could help shorten the war in one of the most violent places in Afghanistan.

...Sangin is a strategic region for the Taliban and one they do not want to lose. It is a key crossroads to funnel drugs, weapons and fighters throughout Helmand and into neighboring Kandahar province, the spiritual heartland of the Taliban. It is also one of the last remaining sanctuaries in Helmand where the Taliban can freely process the opium and heroin that largely fund the insurgency.

“The insurgents have already begun to strike back savagely at those who desire peace but so far the elders remain steadfast,” Mills said in a statement.

Mills said that his forces would continue to push into Taliban and insurgent-controlled areas and would fight back if confronted.

According to MangalÂ’s office, the deal was struck on Saturday in the center of Sangin after 25 days of negotiations.

“As they are the majority in that area we can say this will be a successful process in that area,” Ahmadi said.

Sounds kind of like Anbar Provence in Iraq during the surge, doesn't it?

It's obviously still early and there's going to be more fighting but if the tribal leaders can deliver on this and/or provide support for the Marines battling the holdouts, that's got to be good news.

Added: via John Noonan- Top US General in Eastern Afghanistan says, "We've really thwarted the momentum of the insurgency, and I think it's going the other way,"

Posted by: DrewM at 08:02 AM | Comments (27)
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Have all my hopes been electrocuted?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:49 AM | Comments (375)
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Well what's up Moron Nation?! It's Monday and well Monday's suck, especially with no NFL football game on but wait, at least there is a bowl game on. I would still have rather seen Stanford in the Rose Bowl but whatev. I dig tradition. Maet is up flying in the wild blue yonder which gave me an idea for a music selection for tonight. One of my fave songs of all time and frankly, one of the iconic scenes of 80's TV shows. Just awesome.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:55 PM | Comments (542)
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It's been an interesting season in the NFL this year, and by "interesting" I meant it sucked and good riddance. Speaking of suck, thanks to the bottomless pit of suckitude that is the NFC West, a 10-6 Giants team will stay home and shovel snow instead of advance to the playoffs.

So it wasn't all bad then, really.

Congrats to Reggie Bush's Birth Cert, who put up numbers like Client #9 on a 4-day weekend in Vegas.

Winners:
Reggie Bush's Birth Cert: 144
joltin' j: 142
JefFanMike: 140
Aristomenes: 139
Quarreyman: 139

People whose mother's think they're a catch:
Ben: 129
Russ from Winterset: 127
CDR M: 121
DrewM: 121
DiT: 105 baby. I rocked it.

Many thanks to Ben and CDR M for doing the actual work this year. Couldn't have done it without you men, much appreciated. Also don't forget the playoff thingy (password "valurite").

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 05:12 PM | Comments (37)
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Temporary being the first step to, "Thanks for your service. Now get out".

What a screwed up story this is. Here's yesterday's post if you need to get caught up before watching tonight's NBC report.

I love how Brian Williams begins his report by saying the stuff in the video isn't suitable for a family audience. Well sport, it wasn't intended for a family audience. It was aimed at an audience of adults who were spending 6 months at war.

As for Captain Honors...how they hell could he have put himself in this situation? It can't be a mystery to a US Navy Captain that repeatedly dropping 'fag' on videos and some of those other jokes was going to end well for anyone. I get that some of it was funny but dude isn't paid to be funny. As an experienced pilot and officer he has to have some situational awareness here.

All of that said, this stuff is 4-5 years old and his ship and crew are going off to war in a few weeks (I was unsure of that yesterday but the NBC report says they off to support operations in Afghanistan).

It's not like there are extra guys laying around capable of taking a 50 year old aircraft carrier to war. Enterprise is a one off with systems unlike any other carrier in the fleet. It would be hard to find a replacement at this time on a Nimitz Class ship, it's going to be almost impossible for Enterprise (though the Navy likely has a plan by now).

If Captain Honors goes down for this, expect some guys with stars on their shoulders to take a hit as well, it's not like this stuff was secret and yet he was still moved up in his career. How exactly did that happen?

If Honors is relieved as this report claims, you have to wonder if the top brass of the Navy really get that we are a nation that has been at war for almost a decade. Yes, this looks bad to civilians and yes, the videos show some questionable judgment but the bottom line is...what's best for the war effort?

Enterprise's last war cruise (with Honors as Executive Officer and the time when the videos were made) was a record breaking effort in support of the ground troops. Seems to me whatever was in these videos either didn't hurt the crews performance or maybe even helped. Either way, that's the consideration that should outweigh everything else.

As Lincoln said when people told him to remove Grant for the casualties his battles produced, "I can't spare this man--he fights."

Captain Honors fights and so far has only produced PR casualties. Are we sure we can spare him?

As always, Lex, CDRSalamander and Information Dissemination are great sources for all matters naval.

Oh...There's a support Captain Honors facebook page. It has about 3,800 supporters as of now.

Posted by: DrewM at 04:37 PM | Comments (214)
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As Joe Biden says, this could be a big effing deal.

...The technology, developed and tested at the No.404 Factory of China National Nuclear Corp in the Gobi desert in remote Gansu province, enables the re-use of irradiated fuel and is able to boost the usage rate of uranium materials at nuclear plants by 60 folds.

"With the new technology, China's existing detected uranium resources can be used for 3,000 years," the China Central Television reported...

Remember how nuclear power was pitched back in the 1950's? "Electricity too cheap to meter". It would be pretty cool if science delivered on that promise and shoved a barbed one up the enviros butts at the same time.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 03:30 PM | Comments (166)
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