Happy Monday.

Also, Happy First Day of Obama's Week-Long Vacation. Allegedly, he cannot destroy our healthcare system if he's out of town...

Oh yeah, and Happy Late-Night Posts. Scroll down for several posts that went up in the time of darkness yesterday.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:02 AM | Add Comment
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So, a few weeks after the Krauthammer remarks on Special Report, something dawned on me:

I was wrong.
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Posted by: Open Blog at 08:49 PM | Add Comment
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After suggesting that he wanted to "move forward" and not dwell on the past, it's not surprising that Obama's Department of Justice is reversing course on this. The President's support among his far Left base has waned as he adopted more and more Bush 43 policies of the War on Terrorism.

The President's refusal to go after the CIA and its contractors took the far Left pretty hard. They wanted a bloodletting, but he wasn't ready to set that precedent. And he didn't need to do it back in the "good old days"--the first months of his presidency--when he enjoyed overwhelming support.

When the C.I.A. first referred its inspector generalÂ’s findings to prosecutors, they decided that none of the cases merited prosecution. But Mr. HolderÂ’s associates say that when he took office and saw the allegations, which included the deaths of people in custody and other cases of physical or mental torment, he began to reconsider.

With the release of the details on Monday and the formal advice that at least some cases be reopened, it now seems all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow, posing significant new problems for the C.I.A. It is politically awkward, too, for Mr. Holder because President Obama has said that he would rather move forward than get bogged down in the issue at the expense of his own agenda.

The advice from the Office of Professional Responsibility strengthens Mr. HolderÂ’s hand.

The recommendation to review the closed cases, in effect renewing the inquiries, centers mainly on allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Justice Department report is to be made public after classified information is deleted from it.

Now that the President needs to recapture some of his lost political capital, here come the prosecutions.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:38 PM | Comments (5)
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One of the perks of the presidency is that you get to pick and choose when to play the race card.

Speaking to a liberal talk-radio show this past Friday, Governor Paterson blamed his disastrous summer on racial bias in the media. He went on to explain that President Obama has failed (so far; knock on wood) to cripple our healthcare system because of white-dominated media's "orchestrated" scheme to beat down black politicians.

The President's staffers were not amused.

Obama's team delivered a pointed message to Paterson within hours of the morning broadcast, multiple sources said.

It came in a call from White House political director Patrick Gaspard, who has deep ties to the New York political scene, to Larry Schwartz, the governor's first deputy secretary.

Gaspard wanted to know "why [Paterson] was dragging the president into" his troubles, said one source.

But although Obama's aides were unhappy, the sources said, the conversation was not hostile. Gaspard is reported to have complimented Paterson on his governor's mansion and cordially expressed a desire that nothing bad happen to it.

I may have made that last part up.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:20 PM | Comments (1)
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Happy Sunday all. Yeah I know it's a little early for the ONT but hey if you're reading this, it's pretty clear you didn't have anything better to do anyway. You'll be pleased to hear that genghis returns tomorrow. He says that despite poor decisions made recently, he has the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission and will open the pod bay door very, very soon now.

And to get you back used to the new normal I have carefully hidden one (1) kitteh somewhere within this post. You may break the test seal now and good luck!

Here are a few items for your enjoyment before the clampdown:

Item #1: The 15 Most Disturbing Movies Ever Made
I've heard of most of these, but the only one I've seen was Jacob's Ladder which I enjoyed but I don't remember it as being particularly disturbing. I Spit on Your Grave is infamous as the original rape-revenge movie and according to reviews the rapists are all dispatched in appropriately gruesome ways. I guess a 'vile bag of garbage' could be worth watching.

Item #2: Men Spend 1 Year of Their Lives Looking at Women
Women Spend 1 Year 4 Months of Their Lives Crying
Okay I'm pretty sure that these statistics are not related - at least not directly unless you're an fairly incompetent stalker. And of course everyone knows that men think about sex every 7 seconds.

Well except that like a lot of things everyone 'knows', it's just not true. The fact that men are able to focus for sustained periods of time on football games, finishing Call of Duty 2, grilling steaks, and sleeping skews the numbers to the point that this statistic simply can't be true.

Oh and other untrue 'facts' that everyone knows include that we need 8 glasses of water a day and that we only use 10% of our brain.

Bonus Feature: Deep Fried Bacon
How do you make bacon better? Why deep fry it of course! According to doctors each piece does take 30 minutes off your lifespan, but it's so worth it. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:38 PM | Comments (1)
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Costa Rica's plan to re-seat Zelaya in Honduras is flatly turned down.

Honduras's Supreme Court has rejected a Costa Rica-brokered deal that would have restored ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power and sternly warned that he faces arrest if he returns.

In a ruling late Saturday that fell in line with similar pronouncements by the military-backed regime, the high court said that Zelaya will not be allowed to return to power, and "cannot avoid having to submit to established procedures of the penal process" should he return to Honduras.

Is it just me, or has this turned into the Monty Python Spam skit.

The Husband, played by Zelaya.
The Wife, played by Honduras.
The waitress, played by Costa Rica.
And the Vikings, played by our very own State Department.

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Posted by: Open Blog at 03:41 PM | Comments (1)
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As Ace has been saying, incremental changes, but the trend is absofragginglutely clear:

Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14. These figures mark the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President. The previous low of -12 was reached on July 30 (see trends).

Prior to today, the number who Strongly Approved of the PresidentÂ’s performance had never fallen below 29%. Some of the decline has come from within the PresidentÂ’s own party. Just 49% of Democrats offer such a positive assessment of the President at this time.

I'm still not sure what the Approval Index is supposed to show except that many voters don't feel strongly one way or the other. Even "somewhat approve" Democrats will still vote Blue when given the chance. And the President, with majorities in both houses of Congress, only needs to keep those Blue-voting fools happy.

Really, the approval index (Strong Approve compared to Strong Disapprove) was only useful to bash the president while his overall numbers were still above 50%. He's below 50% now, which makes this the real story:

Crashing.

Click over to Rasmussen for more details. It's getting to be a daily treat reading these releases.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 11:08 AM | Comments (2)
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Tired of having to charge up the Hoveround? Then heading out the door only to roll around in the midst of one of those angry, sweaty, torch-bearing mobs with the ominous armbands tarring and feathering various elected officials over “health care reform?” No problem! We’ve gotcha covered! Or as this article proclaims:

“Coming to Your Door – The Great Health Care Debate”

”The debate over health care reform could soon be coming to your door. The arguments of how much we need and whether we need it hit the streets of Western Washington this weekend as the two sides of this debate took very different approaches to promote their arguments. A large group against any government-run health plan lined a Seattle street staging a large rally, while a group in support of president Obama's plan took the one-on-one approach, knocking on people's doors in 14 cities. In Burien, volunteers with Organizing for America canvassed neighborhoods with petitions and packets of information in hand. Dustin Lambrow said, "We're asking folks to sign onto the president's principals (sp. – Ed.) and then to make a care health insurance reform." Claire Acey took her 12-year-old daughter Kristina with her to knock on doors. "Well, can I put your name down as a supporter at least then?" she said to the occupant of one home. "Sure. We've got a list of people in the neighborhood. If you're in support, that'd be great."

Note to Gheyb: You stick with posts regarding obscure 19th century maritime laws and IÂ’ll stick with kittehs. Deal?

Posted by: Open Blog at 10:55 AM | Add Comment
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With the Great One going on about his cat in a cage, I was put in mind of this:

This is an open thread.

Oh, what the hell, one more kitteh pic below the fold. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:47 AM | Comments (3)
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With the resignation of Mel Martinez, the AP indicates that other Republican Latinos such as US Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balat are threatening to take their ball and go home.

"Republicans have to be able to get the Hispanic community to focus on issues where Republicans have the right solutions—and these are critical issues: the economy being number one," he said...

"What they see on television is a local or a state official speaking very negatively about immigrants and then what they see is that that person is Republican," said Diaz-Balart, who like Martinez supports a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

This is echoed by Rev Samuel Rodriguez, who the article says represents some 25000 Hispanic evangelical churches as the leader of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference.

"In the vast majority of their values, this party resonates with who I am—except they don't want me."

Nothing could be further from the truth, Rev Rodriquez. We would love your support and your vote. What we don't want is to sublimate one of the fundamental planks of conservatism, The Rule of Law applied to all equally, to pander to you or any other group.

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Posted by: Open Blog at 08:46 AM | Add Comment
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