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Posted by: Open Blog at 07:07 PM | Comments (10)
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Altamont, NY, gathered to thank three Congressional Medal of Honor Winners Recipients.

From the Albany Times-Union:

"I think I can say for all of us veterans, thank you to the town of Altamont," said John Finn of San Diego, a Medal of Honor recipient who has friends locally. He also celebrated his 100th birthday Sunday with a cake and a round of patriotic songs. He actually turns 100 next month.

Finn, who served in the U.S. Navy, was joined by two other medal honorees, Army veterans Francis Currey, 83, of Selkirk, and Nicholas Oresko, 92, of New Jersey.

On a day where we've seen a whole lot of evil, it is still worth noting that we're surrounded by a whole lot of good. To paraphrase some Jedi quotation somewhere, "...in the presence of even the tiniest spark, darkness is driven away. In the presence of good, evil can only retreat."

Thanks always to these brave men, and to all of you who have donned your country's uniform. May you always be a beacon of good... a beacon of light.


Update: CavMedic asked that I alter the wording to call them recipients, not winners, as it's not a contest. So noted, and so altered. Thanks again.

Posted with permission from Ace. To my knowledge, Open Blog is not currently declared.

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:11 PM | Comments (4)
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I never got this whole deal. I never thought she was a remarkable singer -- just competent and good. And people were giving her extra credit for being unattractive. Which I didn't get -- who says unattractive people don't have good singing voices? Why should we be terribly surprised by this? We're no longer surprised by blind musicians, after all.

And unattractive musicians aren't exactly uncommon. Joey Ramone just emailed me to say "Yeh."

Anyway, after losing a bit of media glow after cursing a couple of times in public (including saying "F--- you" to a competitor's performance on tv), the "hirsuit frump" lost.

Althouse thinks it "feels right" that she lost after having acted "bitchy" in public. Meh. In one case strangers were baiting her, trying to "wind her up" as the British say.

I'm reminded of Barry Gibbs (or one of the BeeGees, anyway) talking about "first fame" and how everyone acts like a dick during it. Bill Murray, too (I think), said something along the lines of "it's not whether you act like an a-hole when you first become famous -- everyone does -- but how much of an a-hole you act like and for how long and how quickly you can get back to being human again."

Then again, I thought the hype was way out proportion to her actual ability and I'm not surprised her support turned out to be soft and evanescent.

Posted by: Ace at 09:53 AM | Comments (6)
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I'm kind of afraid to post this.

George Tiller, the Wichita doctor who became a national lightning rod in the debate over abortion, was shot to death this morning as he walked into church services.

Tiller, 67, was shot just after 10 a.m. at Reformation Lutheran Church at 7601 E. 13th, where he was a member of the congregation. Witnesses and a police source confirmed Tiller was the victim.

No information has been released about whether a suspect is in custody.

...

Tiller has long been a focal point of protest by abortion opponents because his clinic, Women's Health Care Services at 5701 E. Kellogg, is one of the few in the country where late-term abortions are performed.

Protesters blockaded Tiller's clinic during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests during the summer of 1991, and Tiller was shot by Rachelle Shannon at his clinic in 1993.

Tiller was wounded in both arms, and Shannon remains in prison for the shooting.

Thanks to gg.

Posted by: Ace at 08:20 AM | Comments (5)
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So, what did you do last night? I'm guessing it didn't involve 3 Air Force jets, several USMC helicopters and adoring crowds.

"I am taking my wife to New York City because I promised her during the campaign that I would take her to a Broadway show after it was all finished," the president said yesterday after touching down at JFK for an intimate night on the town.

...The first stop after touch ing down at JFK was a meal at a low-key, but elegant, Greenwich Village restau rant, Blue Hill, which boasts farm fresh, locally grown dishes.

...Then it was up to Broadway, where they had tickets at the Belasco Theatre for "Joe Turner's Come and Gone," a play by August Wilson about a man coming to terms with the history of slavery.

The final tab for the President's night out....

Dinner and two tickets? A couple of hundred bucks

Transportation and security? Certainly well north of $100,000 (uneducated guess...it probably approaches a $1,000,000 or more)

Knowing the press has your back? Priceless.

I'm of two mind about this. A President shouldn't be a prisoner in the White House and the simple fact is it's expensive for him to do anything. It's just the reality of the modern world.

What does bother me is that had George W. Bush or any Republican had done this, especially during this economy, the Democrats and their press mouthpieces would be going nuts.

Just another one for the file I guess.

Of course the real question is, did the President 'get lucky' last night?

Posted by: DrewM at 06:22 AM | Comments (16)
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I wondered about this my own self. How come she's not walking back her comments?

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told "FOX News Sunday" he wasn't buying President Obama's attempt to walk back his Supreme Court nominee's controversial statement from 2001. Obama said Friday that given the chance Sotomayor would have "restated" that comment, and that she was merely trying to express how her experiences give her perspective on others' hardships.

"She didn't say that at all," Graham countered Sunday, suggesting Sotomayor's statement raises questions about her objectivity.

"What she said is that based on her life experiences is that she thought a Latina woman, somebody with her background, would be a better judge than a guy like me -- a white guy from South Carolina," Graham said. "It is troubling, and it's inappropriate and I hope she'll apologize."

I won't believe her either, because I don't have a journalism degree. I'm just waiting for her to make the effort. Has she yet?

Also, Lindsey, you goof. Thanks for setting up the "apology" settlement.

AH. DrewM reminds me this isn't unusual.

FINE.

Lindsey is still a goof for dangling the apology hook.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:11 AM | Comments (10)
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Notice: Posted by permission of AceCorp LLC.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:00 PM | Comments (3)
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The trailer is a little slow to get going but it's worth it. Trust me.

If you look very closely, I think you can see Brian Dennehy.

Next time your wife or girlfriend (roll with me on this) complains you never want to see any fancy foreign films with subtitles, fire up this baby.

(via Allah's Twitter feed)

Posted by: DrewM at 02:47 PM | Comments (18)
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Blackiswhite registers his gut-rumblings about the much-circulated 'wise Latina woman' quote and others. Blackiswhite has some other takes on the situation and his post is well worth reading in its entirety.

He points out that her statements are not only overtly and breathtakingly racist, as we have been arguing, but also that they violate the American Bar Association's Model Code of Judicial Conduct.

From BiW's caption of the commentary to Canon 1 of the Code:

Deference to the judgments and rulings of courts depends upon public confidence in the integrity and independence of judges. The integrity and independence of judges depends in turn upon their acting without fear or favor. A judiciary of integrity is one in which judges are known for their probity, fairness, honesty, uprightness, and soundness of character. An independent judiciary is one free of inappropriate outside influences.

It is entirely arguable now, whether or not La Raza is an 'inappropriate outside influence' anymore, since they've been invited to help shape US immigration policy. Yeah, that was snark. Well, half-snark.

However, there's no doubt about the 'favor' of this judge; that she believes white men to be inferior to her. That her ethnicity and background somehow convey upon her a greater natural ability to adjudicate. Why not also say that her ethnicity and gender also convey upon her a heightened natural ability to pick lettuce? Because that would be just as racist. This person has told us in no uncertain terms that she is not inspiring. Not intelligent.

Not judicial material.

He also quotes this part of the code regarding the appearance of impropriety.

The test for appearance of impropriety is whether the conduct would create in reasonable minds a perception that the judgeÂ’s ability to carry out judicial responsibilities with integrity, impartiality and competence is impaired.

Well, besides her aforementioned OVERT, OBVIOUS, AND PRECISELY ENUNCIATED RACISM, there's this.

That she believes appellate courts are "where policy is made." This link goes to a short clip of Sotomayor flaunting her huge brain and careful reason on youtube.

Which hardly inspires the confidence of people bringing cases before her, as they will (quite reasonably) believe that she will use any opportunity to use cases to shape policy in a leftward direction, rather than judge their cases fairly and according to established law. Thus eroding the public trust and confidence in the judiciary. Which according to the Code, is a major no-no.

From Blackiswhite:

I fear that she will be confirmed and appointed to the Supreme Court, and I reluctantly wonder how long I will be able to continue in my role as an officer of the court when I have no confidence in the judicial nominees of the government. It is kind of hard to convince your clients that they should be patient and work within the system when you yourself have doubts about its integrity. We all are damaged when Themis (or her younger Roman cousin Justicia) peeks, and the Pretender dishonors our entire profession with a nominee suffering from such obvious and open impairments to her ability to impartially perform her duties.

My emphasis.
Thanks to Blackiswhite, Imperial Consigliere.

Posted by: LauraW at 02:00 PM | Comments (1)
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Remember when O'Reilly attributed a comment left at Hot Air to an actual "blog posting"? It was supposed to be some sort of proof of rightwing extremism or something.

Just for fun Patterico joined (at a cost of $4.95) the O'Reilly website and found some questionable, to say the least, content.

It seems the staff of O'Reilly's website didn't enjoy having those particular bits of dirty laundry aired and have suspended terminated Patterico's account.

Hypocrisy, thy name is O'Reilly!

Posted by: DrewM at 11:54 AM | Comments (4)
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