Is Ed Whelan Insane?

Wait. Don't answer that. I withdraw the question.

Why is he wondering why Doug Kmiec wouldn't acquire a judgeship under an Obama administration. Well, um, maybe it's because they agree on almost nothing. Oh, except for the idea that John McCain would be a lousy President. I don't think Kmiec was waiting with bated breath.

P.S. And a big Waaah for Mark Levin, who is also in need of some very serious confrontive therapy.

Happy Halloween

In honor of both the day and our war dead, one of my favorite Thomas Hardy poems: "Channel Firing".

That night your great guns, unawares,
Shook all our coffins as we lay,
And broke the chancel window-squares,
We thought it was the Judgement-day

And sat upright. While drearisome
Arose the howl of wakened hounds:
The mouse let fall the altar-crumb,
The worm drew back into the mounds,

The glebe cow drooled. Till God cried, "No;
It's gunnery practice out at sea
Just as before you went below;
The world is as it used to be:

"All nations striving strong to make
Red war yet redder. Mad as hatters
They do no more for Christés sake
Than you who are helpless in such matters.

"That this is not the judgment-hour
For some of them's a blessed thing,
For if it were they'd have to scour
Hell's floor for so much threatening. . . .

"Ha, ha. It will be warmer when
I blow the trumpet (if indeed
I ever do; for you are men,
And rest eternal sorely need)."

So down we lay again. "I wonder,
Will the world ever saner be,"
Said one, "than when He sent us under
In our indifferent century!"

And many a skeleton shook his head.
"Instead of preaching forty year,"
My neighbour Parson Thirdly said,
"I wish I had stuck to pipes and beer."

Again the guns disturbed the hour,
Roaring their readiness to avenge,
As far inland as Stourton Tower,
And Camelot, and starlit Stonehenge.

Obama Does Not Support The Fairness Doctrine

Charles Krauthammer, whose reputation as a knee-jerk dolt would be unrivaled were it not for the continued vitality of Robert Kagan, furnishes all good Americans with another characteristically over the top screed titled "Further Left than LBJ", in which he asserts that Obama is, well, further left than LBJ. Of course, they said the same thing about Clinton. And Dukakis. In fact, they used to say the same thing about McCain (and after hearing his mortgage proposal, I think they may have a point). I wonder why McGovern gets so little respect? Used to be he was the high water mark for Democratic Leftiness.

Anyway, I'm just not really in the mood to do a Full Fathom Five Fisking of Krauthammer's many unfounded claims and exaggerations. But one did leap out at me - the notion that the election of Barack Obama will mean a return to the "Fairness Doctrine". Now, the so-called Fairness Doctrine truly is an odious concept, and I would be very disappointed to see any former lecturer in Constitutional Law support it. So does Obama? In a word, no.

Sen. Obama does not support reimposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters," press secretary Michael Ortiz said in an e-mail to B&C late Wednesday.

"He considers this debate to be a distraction from the conversation we should be having about opening up the airwaves and modern communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible," Ortiz added. "That is why Sen. Obama supports media-ownership caps, network neutrality, public broadcasting, as well as increasing minority ownership of broadcasting and print outlets."

Thus Obama supports many other measures, all of which are debatable on their own merits. However, they lack a certain soundbite quality. Nonetheless Krauthammer, never one to feel overly hemmed in by the facts, simply makes up a policy position and ascribes it to Obama. Hey, it's worth a try.

Krauthammer. A delightful name for a delightful man. Sounds rather like a guest at one of Jay Gatsby's parties, doesn't it?

P.S. Jesse Walker has a pretty even-handed treatment of this topic.

Let's Get The Day Started Right

Let's forget all of this nonsense about how cute Sarah Palin is and take a look at a genuine hottie....the pro-Russian Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko. God knows we don't want to let either John McCain or William Kristol within a hundred yards of her or they're going to give away the store.

007 Yeast?

Interesting article in today's NY Times about a start-up brewery coming out of Brooklyn. I was especially intrigued by the properties of the yeast.

If there’s a unifying character among the various Sixpoint beers, he said, it would arise from “the positive attitudes of the people who work here.” Or it could be the house strain of yeast, a fast-acting agent called 007 that quickly ferments the sugars in the malt, yielding potent brews, and then settles out easily when it has done its work, so there is no need to filter the beers for clarity.

Now, this is a product that I could use. I wonder if anyone could tell me of a commercially available strain of yeast with similar properties?

Crittenden on Palin

Beautifully written, oddly moving piece by Danielle Crittenden a/k/a Mrs. David Frum. Maybe I just relate because my Dad was also a newpaper guy sans college degree.

However, I also think she touches on some of the reasons why women have responded so poorly to the Palin gambit. I truly believe that women wan't to succeed on the merits of their cases, not on the basis of some type of flagrant tokenism.

Joe The Plumber v. The Aztec Mummy

In the event that further evidence of the intellectual deterioration of the once feared Republican Party was necessary, I point you to Ace Of Spades who takes the line that the Party should draft Joe The Plumber as a candidate for office. Personally, I think Lindsey Lohan would be an even better choice, just as a matter of demographics, but de gustibus non est disputandum and all that.

Should they unleash The Mighty Joe upon us, the Democrats will have little choice but to dig deep into their bench and draft the Aztec Mummy, who has more Hispanic appeal and cultural cachet, and who is indisputably stronger on defense.

P.S. Why is it that every time I hear the phrase "Joe The Plumber", I start to hear the Bowie song "Joe The Lion".