October 20, 2008
— Gabriel Malor Adam Liptak, the N.Y. Times' Supreme Court reporter, had an article in yesterday's paper about conservative criticism of District of Columbia v. Heller, the gun rights case from the Court's last term:
Two prominent federal appeals court judges say that Justice Antonin ScaliaÂ’s majority opinion in the case, District of Columbia v. Heller, is illegitimate, activist, poorly reasoned and fueled by politics rather than principle. The 5-to-4 decision in Heller struck down parts of a District of Columbia gun control law.The judges used what in conservative legal circles are the ultimate fighting words: They said the gun ruling was a right-wing version of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that identified a constitutional right to abortion. Justice Scalia has said that Roe had no basis in the Constitution and amounted to a judicial imposition of a value judgment that should have been left to state legislatures.
This is an intriguing idea and I'm sure it will eventually sell a few books for enterprising jurists and lawyers (hey!), especially once the first round of post-Heller circuit splits are established, but I don't think it's very persuasive. The claim that Heller is the conservative Roe is sensationalism. The mere utterance is intended to draw your attention and distract you with shock value. It does not withstand scrutiny. more...
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— Open Blog Subtitled: Get used to it.
I for one welcome our new Democratic (sic) Overlords. ItÂ’s been working out just great in the Pacific Northwest these past four years. TheyÂ’ve been quite benevolent leaders, except for a couple of (thousand) items.
This is from a local radio talk show host, Dori Monson, who captured the essence of the mindset behind government hiring and spending. The Washington Dept. of Transportation pulled down the job posting, for a “Financial Manager” position, after it was exposed, but here’s how it starts out:
”Have you ever dreamt of the day that you had millions of dollars and where to spend it? Did you think about where and how you would spend it.”
Screen capture of the job posting at the link, and it goes on and on from there. I’m thinking about applying for the job myself. Looks like it pays better than the scraps I get from Ace (who also makes me work overtime and on the weekends), plus when I asked him “how do I get out of this chickenshit outfit,” he referred to me as “Hicks.” You'd think by now he knows my name is "Hudson," but whatever. Gunnery Sgt. Hartman was not pleased with my antics. NCOs on the Galactica really don’t put up with much bullshit like that.
But never mind that. The City of Seattle is also, in the words of my little radio buddy, continuing its Jihad on cars. This after the incident a few months back where rabid bicyclists attacked a motorist for daring to actually drive on the street. Take a look at the sign on the link and then spend an hour or so scratching your head (or your crab lice infestation) on this one. (SDOT, (i.e. Seattle Dept. of Transportation,) has also changed its press release after scrutiny, but the original text is preserved on the link)
Whatever. ItÂ’s local. But itÂ’s a microcosm of whatÂ’s headed your way in the very near future. Or nationally. Perhaps globally. Faced with these circumstances, thereÂ’s really only one question to ask, assuming you can dig it:
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11:02 PM
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— Purple Avenger I don't know which side did this, but its fucking flat out unacceptable behavior. The perps need to be hunted down, exposed, and prosecuted if possible. I'll put up $100 towards a reward fund for anyone willing to step forward with information about the perps that leads to their conviction.
A dead bear was found dumped this morning on the Western Carolina University campus, draped with a pair of Obama campaign signs, university police said....“It looked like it had been shot in the head as best we can tell. A couple of Obama campaign signs had been stapled together and stuck over its head,”
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08:01 PM
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— Ace Five Feet of Fury and TNOYF combine for a brutal one. more...
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07:37 PM
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— Jack M. Polls.
The Obama Glee Club at the Politico took a 5 minute break from singing his praises today, to report on a curious fact: exit polls tend to, get this, OVERSTATE Obama's support.
Really, Politico? You don't say. It's not like Conservatives and PUMA's have been making this claim since Super Tuesday. Oh wait. Yeah, we have.
Anyway, I read the Politico so you don't have to (you lucky, lucky bastards) and here is an interesting nugget buried in their article:
In theory, exit polls should match election results. But for all the care that goes into conducting accurate exit polls, errant results arenÂ’t completely uncommon. Respected polling analyst Mark Blumenthal found that during the Democratic primaries this year, preliminary exit polls overestimated Obama's strength in 18 of 20 states, by an average error of 7 percentage points, based on leaked early results.The reason? ObamaÂ’s supporters were younger, better educated and often more enthusiastic than Hillary Clinton's, meaning they were more likely to participate in exit polls.
See, Politico has finally figured out that in polling, there is this thing called "selection bias". There is also the related variable called "get the hell out of my face and leave me alone you nosy bastards." And exit pollsters, God love 'em, just don't seem to be able to figure out how to quantify this.
How bad is it? Check out 2004:
In the end, KerryÂ’s vote was overstated in 26 states. The same was true for Bush in four states, according to a detailed post election analysis by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International, who administer the exit poll for the NEP.
Funny how these errors almost always seem to overstate Democratic support all over the place, isn't it?
Now, this raises a question that Politico doesn't address. If an "enthusiasm gap" is responsible for skewing exit polls, why isn't an "enthusiasm gap" responsible for skewing pre-election day polling?
And if there were ever a year when one would be looking at polls and pondering "enthusiasm" doesn't it seem like that would be a metric that would be favoring Obama right now? After all, your own article says his voters have a history of getting all up in peoples face and "bragging" about their vote.
I'm just askin' questions, here. You know. Like journalists are supposed to do.
Anyway, make of this what you will. An average error of 7 points for the One is amazingly high, though, given that usually the margin of error is around 3.5%.
Meanwhile, as Politico begins hedging its Obama bets in the wake of tightening polls, Peggy Noonan has fired her lawn boy for failing to cut the grass in the counter-clockwise swirls that gives her home-field advantage in her gated communities croquet tournament.
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05:58 PM
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— Ace Card one.
From The Voice in My Head, which may have a preview of tomorrow's card.
Dems To Hold Hearings on Fannie and Freddie... After the Election: The most ethical Congress in history Washington.
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05:53 PM
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— Ace Background: The idiotic, unserious quote Adelman made that has been hung around our necks for six years.
The "cakewalk" quote -- actually Adelman's -- has been attributed to Cheney, McCain, and whatever other Republican the left feels like hanging it on.
It's the gift that's kept on giving.
And now, as penance, he gives us the gift of transnational socialism.
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05:21 PM
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— Open Blog (Thanks once again to Ace for letting me hijack the blog)
Sarah Palin made three appearances in Colorado today. I was fortunate to attend the rally at the Budweiser Events Center in Loveland, home of the Colorado Eagles hockey team. Northern Colorado is very hockey-oriented, and offered Palin a warm welcome! more...
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04:53 PM
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— Ace But there's proof.
This is disgusting. Even if the MSM had some legitimate reason to not report the blurb in the first instance, they are obligated to report the lie.
But they won't.
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03:58 PM
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— Ace Some progress:
The cost of short-term dollar loans dropped more than expected Monday, a signal that money markets are slowly returning to normal after threatening to derail the global financial system earlier this month, economists said.The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for three-month dollar loans fell to 4.05875%, down sharply from 4.41875% on Friday. The one-month rate fell to 3.75125% from 4.18125% on Friday.
Libor, which is set each day in London, is an indicator of short-term borrowing costs in the arcane -- but crucial -- interbank lending market.
The rate remains abnormally high, but it's climbed down from peaks set earlier this month as financial institutions all but halted loans to each other amid fears of further bank failures. The freeze in wholesale funding weighed on other types of lending, threatening a collapse of the credit system.
Later Monday, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in testimony prepared for delivery at a hearing before the House Budget Committee, said he was encouraged by signs a severe credit blockage was easing after massive efforts by governments around the world to recapitalize major banks and guarantee short-term bank debts.
"It is too early to assess their full effects," he said, adding that he's confident that the measures will eventually restore trust in the financial system and get normal credit flowing again.
Thanks to Jack Straw.
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03:43 PM
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