It seems like something.

Before Dave can say it, yes, it seems to be old.

A medley of John Williams' themes, a capella, with lyrics. All the lyrics are about Star Wars. Although, um, no Star Wars themes are present. more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:41 PM | Comments (97)
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Welcome to SaturdayCaturday all.

More On Balloon Boy's Family
Here's video from their 2nd appearance on Wife Swap and yeah they're nutjobs. He's an ass with anger issues and she's a Yoko-wannabe.

And how is it that he has so much time and money to 'invent' stuff? Well according to a poster at this site it seems like they're being supported by money from Japan - maybe from her family.

Given that she's admitted it was a planned hoax and they now have separate lawyers, he may soon be inventing 'watch your cornhole' gear.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:10 PM | Comments (850)
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I do think the question is "ridiculous" in this sense -- few in government, including the Courts, have much of an interest in precisely what the Constitution does and does not permit, does and does not outlaw, anymore.

As a practical matter, the Constitution is no longer much of restraining force on the actions of the government, except for a few key areas beloved by liberals. "Constitutional law" is now really mostly about political power. If you have the power to do it, you can do it.

Unconstitutional laws in the advance of the socialistic welfare state never pass, for if they pass, none dare call them unconstitutional.

A less-ridiculous question would be "Should members of Congress at least take the question of a law's constitutionality seriously?" Should they at least pay lip service to the Constitution any more?

As was seen in Pelosi's and Leahy's dismissive, disdainful remarks, they no longer even bother doing that.

Shouldn't they have at the very least pretended and made some sort of argument, or said, "I think we do have that power, but I'll have my staff look into it [and simply confirm what I'm claiming without really examining the issue]?"

Jazz Shaw writes that this is not a ridiculous question at all. At least, that is, in a hypothetical alternate universe where we were still a constitutional republic.

Which we're basically not anymore.

Via Hot Air's headlines.

Observation: This is a general observation; I don't have the rigor of actual research to back it.

But it seems to me that a very large part of "constitutional law" is now whether or not the government can deny this or that benefit to this person. A very tiny part is whether the government had any constitutional power to grant such benefits in the first place.

Posted by: Ace at 10:53 AM | Comments (403)
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The brother and father of a Marine fighting the war in Afghanistan have some solid advice for our politically-challenged Commander in Chief.

As family members of a Marine deployed in Afghanistan, we know the
importance of timely decisions in the heat of battle--indecision in the
field puts troops at risk and leads to casualties. Likewise, the
president's indecision about the next steps in Afghanistan is placing
the overall mission and the troops on the ground at risk.

Announcing his counter-insurgency strategy for Afghanistan this past
March, President Obama said, "If the Afghan government falls to the
Taliban or allows al-Qaeda to go unchallenged, that country will again
be a base for terrorists who want to kill as many of our people as they
possibly can." This commitment was clearly re-affirmed by the president
in an August speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Yet, the
president and his advisers are now engaged in a prolonged process of
re-thinking America's Afghanistan strategy. What has changed?

According to the White House, it would be irresponsible to act until
a credible resolution to the presidential elections in Afghanistan
emerges. But we fear, as many have reported, that the real reason for
delay is anxiety amongst civilian White House aides that an escalation
in Afghanistan will derail the president's domestic agenda. On the
latter, let us be clear--considerations of political expediency have no
place in the president's war room.

Man up Sir.

I think the rant I did just after he took office is particularly apt right now

Posted by: Uncle Jimbo at 09:18 AM | Comments (62)
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I don't really like shows, and sci-fi shows in particular, but this is well-done.

Airs Nov. 3, through November sweeps. Then it goes off the air until "early 2010."

On the political tip -- in the promos at the end for upcoming episodes, a reporter is set to interview the Vs' ambassador. "Just don't ask us anything that would portray us in a negative light," she says.

"Excuse me?" the reporter says, Frost/Nixon-ish.

The V ambassador then declares that FoxNews is not a "real news organization."

No not really. But the first part's accurate.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 08:57 AM | Comments (212)
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It's 65 degrees, sunny and breezy. Perfect day here.

Ranked teams playing each other: OU (25) at KU (21) at 2:30 CDT, and TCU (10) at BYU (16) tonight.

Hope everyone's having an awesome weekend. Also don't forget your moron NFL picks, morons.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:37 AM | Comments (116)
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You Can Untwist Your Knickers Now

A few days ago Dave in Texas blogged this bit of a speech from Lord Christopher Monckton. If you haven't seen it, I heartily encourage you to follow the link and check it out. It's short but poignant.

Lord Monckton is desperately worried that Obama will be a signatory at the Copenhagen conference, where a new and scarier climate change treaty is to be crafted.

Fortunately, plans for global wealth redistribution (enrobed in phony environmentalism) are foundering on the objections of India and China. So it looks like there won't be anything for Obama to sign, anyway.

Apparently, the Indians and Chinese recognize the direct connection between carbon emissions and standard of living. Having had more recent experience in that condition, they understand how living in a less-industrialized state is major suckage and misery. Not some Rousseauian fantasy that persists among the Birkenstocked crowd.

Oh, and there's also this:

Mr Obama flew to Boston yesterday to make the case for a wholesale American switch to clean energy, and to launch a six-week drive to persuade the world that the US is at last serious about joining international efforts to combat climate change.

He will have his work cut out. As a presidential candidate, he held out the hope of signing a cap-and-trade Bill in time for Copenhagen. Since then, a deep recession and months of delays on healthcare reform have pushed climate change into third place on the domestic US agenda, after financial regulatory reform. That reform is seen as essential for cap-and-trade because of the need to rebuild trust in complex financial instruments after “an incredible nativist backlash against new markets” caused by the banking crisis, according to Paul Bledsoe, a former White House official at the National Commission on Energy Policy.

It's sort of like seeing something glittering in a pile of ashes, yes, but it's something. This is the news I have for you today. Obama can't F us up because we're already so F'd up. Smile Morons, it's a good thing. I think.

From Drudge.

Posted by: LauraW at 06:23 AM | Comments (261)
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Meant to post about this earlier in the week when Pew released its latest global warming poll.

Fewer than ever believe:

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 4 among 1,500 adults reached on cell phones and landlines, finds that 57% think there is solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been getting warmer over the past few decades. In April 2008, 71% said there was solid evidence of rising global temperatures.

Over the same period, there has been a comparable decline in the proportion of Americans who say global temperatures are rising as a result of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels. Just 36% say that currently, down from 47% last year.

But Congress is hellbent on forcing cap and tax down our throats. Be sure to email a copy to gullible global warming goobers like Senators Lindsey Graham and Olympia Snowe.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:05 PM | Comments (85)
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TGIF all. So let's start the weekend off with a bang. A 20 kiloton bang that is.

Say Hello to my Little Friend, the Davy Crockett
What do you do when an atomic cannon is a little unwieldy? Well that's when you pull out the M-388 'Davy Crockett' atomic rifle.

It had selectable yield of 10-20 kilotons, weighed just 76lbs, and a range of only about 2 miles. And that actually was the main problem with it: the firing range was barely more than the lethal blast range, and the firers were pretty much guaranteed to be hit with fallout. So it was pretty much a desperation weapon. Still a total of 2100 were built and deployed with US Army forces from 1961 to 1971.

Note: There seems to be nomenclature dispute about the Davy Crockett - the video refers to it as the M65, but Wikipedia and most other sites refer to it as the M-388.

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:10 PM | Comments (1048)
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Last week's discussion thread was well-received, so I guess we'll do this for a while.

The naming convention for the show is...well, it makes things easy to remember. What were they running out of for the first three episodes? Air. What was the problem last week? Darkness. And the problem in this episode: Light.

When the show ended last week things looked like they were about to heat up on Destiny. I mean they were falling into a star. I have no idea why that means Lt. Hawtee and Chick Who Cries are getting it on.

If you're just joining the show and want to catch up, the episodes are available on Hulu for now. Stargate Universe airs at 9pm EST/PST.

Unrelated: And if you're killing time online this evening, the first eight minutes of V are available over here. Looks good.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:32 PM | Comments (140)
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