Sultry Beauty on September 17, 2008 at 10:53 AM

A succinct summary of the silliness.

In contrast to David Brooks, William F. Buckley always seemed to appreciate those who were less intellectual than he was, which included most of the people in the country.

BTW, I’m sorry if my post sounded really snarky. I didn’t mean it to be.

:(

Kai on September 17, 2008 at 12:12 PM

Yeah…I could have done without the “comrade” bit.

:(

I’m starting to think they’ll use any reason to keep the pump prices up. Crude Oil just went down to under $93 a barrel this morning, a drop of almost 40% from its peak, I believe. That price drop hasn’t even come CLOSE to trickling back into consumer’s pockets. Can someone tell me what gives there?

52Ranger on September 17, 2008 at 9:06 AM

Who is *THEY*, comrade? The fat cats in the smoky boardroom that control the price and fill their pockets?

What gives, is that the US has a “weak” refinement infrastructure and a good portion of it resides in the Texas & Louisiana area. Due to Ike, crude oil shipments have been disrupted, refineries have been shutdown and oil production in the gulf has gone offline. In short, oil is cheaper, but we have lost some of the ability to transport it in, refine it and transport it to the pump.

I’m no expert and I bet Limerick might be able to explain it better. My wife worked for a local gas distributor and schooled me once on how the system really works. It’s actually kinda scary how fragile the entire system is.

A neat little piece by George Will. It might be related.

I stand with Laura Ingraham. Boy, I miss Brian!

The FACT is that McCain’s already picked Palin and would be death to the campaign to change at this point. And who with kind of acceptable qualifications Brooks talks about would pump up the base and come out for McCain: Mitt? Pawlenty?

What’s the point in going in this direction? If you want to point this stuff out about Palin ad infinitum without a juxtaposition with Obama/Biden then this is basically irrelevant. Is the point here that we should skewer McCain/Palin ticket as lacking in experience so that people won’t vote for them? The alternative has more experience and strength? Is this what we’re saying? Which combination has the more experience to lead our nation? The fact simply is one or the other is going to lead. Or is this just sour grapes because you didn’t get the ticket you wanted? Either way it shows for as much intellect the elite of the right have, it doesn’t count for one ounce of common sense.

Go ahead you guys, die on that intellectual sword. I imagine your faces all squished up with puckered mouths and the large doses of laxatives needed to reverse your anal retentiveness. But please spare me your laundry list of complaints of ineptness when you elect Carter/Mondale Redux and the economy tanks.

If you think the way to win this is by saying we need someone who can talk more intellectually and come across like Mr. Wm. Buckley instead of down home like Ronald Reagan I would say you’re off your rocker. As much as I loved Wm. Buckley he wasn’t the Independents ‘go-to-guy’ and as much as the media and others said Reagan was stupid and should stick with Bonzo the monkey he was one of the most beloved with Independents. Keep it up. It shows that your intellect has your head where the sun doesn’t shine.

Biden is notorious in the Senate for his long-winded questions and his inability to limit his comments to questions during interviews and floor debate, and Republicans and the McCain campaign have been banking that Biden’s ego and frustration over the lack of attention focused on him will drive him to overcompensate during the debate.

If Palin wants to win the foreign-policy portion of the VP debate, all she has to do is mention Biden’s plan for dividing Iraq into three countries, each of which would be weaker than the current unified Iraq, ripe for takeover by Iran and Syria. Compare that to McCain’s troop surge, which gave the Iraqi government the time to come together, and Maliki the courage to take on both Al-Qaeda and the Iran-friendly Al-Sadr forces.

Well, people generally want term limits so they can shirk they responsibility. It’s the responsibility of the citizenry to hold politicians accountable. If you delegate that responsibility to the system itself, you are in a much worse position. It is, in fact, a government answer to a government problem. I don’t want any solutions that take the people out of the equation.

You seem unaware of who it is that passes an amendment. The people are certainly not out of the equation. I suppose you would call the first constitutional convention a “government solution to a government problem”. Libertarian claptrap.

It’s a solution that bears more problems, not less. And it is, at it’s essence, just a way for the citizenry to shirk it’s responsibility because it’s lazy.

By that definition, the entire Constitution is a way for the citizens to “shirk their responsibility”. We should just scrap that silly First Amendment and let the people hold the government accountable if they violate free speech or freedom of religion instead of hiding behind the Constitution.

You *can* add to the Constitution but when I was a boy we were taught that little manuever was for BIG things.

I was thought that it’s for whatever things the people consider big. Term limits would seem to qualify.

“I am glad to say that her instincts appear to be sound.”

David Brooks, RINO Ass-Clown

Happily, McCain and virtually the entire right half of the GOP realized that he was not going to get elected with a David Brooks-style-countryclub-RINO as his VP running mate, and he made a stunning, highly nuanced, and somewhat risky choice in Palin.

She is not running for President, and I am pleased about that. Neither of the candidates on the Dem ticket are qualified to run the country in any way; both are mentally unstable; Obama isn’t fit for elected office of any kind.

So, for Brooks to sit in his token Republican chair in the NY Times, surrounded by treasonous scum, and dryly observe the principles of governance that might be rent by a Vice President Palin is being priceless. It’s just stupid.

Implicit in his position is the assumption that the other ticket does not rend these inviolable principles, and in this he is profoundly incorrect.

Congress redraws voting districts to make sure everyone in the House now has a good shot at staying in it.

FALSE.

House districts are drawn by state legislatures.

Here is a quote of the day:

I’m filling up my gas tanks tomorrow because I should. That’s the internal memo from my company to the employees we received this evening. My company is a petroleum carrier in TX, LA, OK, ARK, NM, CO, AZ, NV, MS, MO and a couple of odd states here and there that services close to 500 stations.

Ike bites again. The question is will he bite Barry or Johnny? I’m hoping like hell the memo is some sad twisted joke from a drunk CEO.

Limerick on September 17, 2008 at 12:40 AM

I’m starting to think they’ll use any reason to keep the pump prices up. Crude Oil just went down to under $93 a barrel this morning, a drop of almost 40% from its peak, I believe. That price drop hasn’t even come CLOSE to trickling back into consumer’s pockets. Can someone tell me what gives there?

-Aslan’s Girl

God does not exist. He is being itself beyond essence and existence. Therefore to argue that God exists is to deny him.

Tav on September 17, 2008 at 1:36 AM

Thanks for the self-contradictory postmodernist babble.

Claiming exhaustive knowledge about God in order to deny His existence is a nice debater’s trick.

landlines on September 17, 2008 at 2:59 AM

You know… that’s a damn good idea. The savings on travel costs, DC residences, duplicate staff and all the other nonsense would likely be enough to pay off the national debt within 1 term. Run the whole shebang on GoToMeeting.

The side perk is that they’ll no longer have the excuse of “I was working in my district” when they don’t show up 70% of the time.

For Congress, I would favor fairly generous term limits of 18 years in the Senate, and 12 in the House. I just don’t see what a Robert Byrd or Teddy Kennedy contributes after all those years.

theregoestheneighborhood on September 17, 2008 at 1:58 AM

I have what I think is a better solution to this problem:

Let members of Congress have as many terms as they can get from the voters, but make all Congressmen telecommute so that they are forced to spend most of each year in their home states!!!

This would divide the influence of Washington lobbyists by 50 (since they wouldn’t be able to walk over and touch our Congressmen most of the year), and multiply the influence of Congressmens’ actual home-state constituents by 50!!

The states could enforce this by classifying anybody who did not spend most of the year actually in the state as ineligible to be a Senator or Representative.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United States of America.

I think it is time to take this country back from the Government Political Class, the MSM, and the Democratic Leftist……………. what say you?

“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun beam in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself; and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.” – Alexander Hamilton, 1775

………….. or the MSM, because they just “said” so.

It couldn’t be that much worse then what we have.

I always thought we should pay house members 10 million per year. It would get rid of the bribery (i.e influence peddeling) but it would also give a major incentive for every Tom, Dick, and Jane to run for office. It would be like your idea a lottery for the winner.

unseen on September 17, 2008 at 2:16 AM

I’d probably opt for leaving the pay the same to make it less attractive for people to want to be there. Keep it like an extended jury duty; nobody really wants to be there and they all want to get back to their regular lives. So they put in their time and do the job for a year.

It couldn’t be that much worse then what we have.

I always thought we should pay house members 10 million per year. It would get rid of the bribery (i.e influence peddeling) but it would also give a major incentive for every Tom, Dick, and Jane to run for office. It would be like your idea a lottery for the winner.

Yes a war with Russia would directly impact Alsaka. the North Slop would be a prime target so would the pipeline. As well as the military bases. the fact that russia is next door to alsaka gives a clear reason why Gov Palin would think twice about going to war. Her people would be directly impacted most.

unseen on September 17, 2008 at 1:05 AM

Here’s a radical thought:

Everyone is preaching (both Left and Right) about how the ordinary folks should get more involved in service to their country. As the House of Representatives is supposed to represent the “will of the people”, why not have a lottery draft of all people of voting age to serve 1 year terms in the House. They’d get an exemption from work (like folks in the military get) and would be paid as representatives. And as it would be a pure “luck of the draw” lottery, you’d have less chance of having supporters of a particular party having a majority all the time. The Senate would stay the same with career politicians.

I agree on the Senate. I disagree with the thought that increasing the size will bring more party play. With a decrease in the size of their district, House members will be able to directly campiagn instead of having to raise millions for reelection. they will hear the peoples voice more and will be less likely to go agains their wishes.

I have no problem with spliting terms up.

Besides the economic impact I am wondering about the political impact. Will it be the drillers or non-drillers who take the heat?

Limerick on September 17, 2008 at 1:13 AM

We need new refineries.

Time to brook to task on trumping the sierra clubbers.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/09/13/abc-news-edited-out-key-parts-sarah-palin-interview

Why wasn’t that story bigger news? Palin’s real answers were so much better!!!

ABC cut her off at that Russia is close enough to see in Alaska. She really said that that was important because it shows how small the world is and how important it is to maintain good relations with them if it is at all possible!!!!

I knew something was up with that editing. ABC basically showed a parody. It was like Jay Leno editing to make her look stupid! Charlie Gibson is anti-American.

I can’t even begin to understand why anyone would think Obama has anything at all to offer! And to sell their souls for him. It’s just unbelievable.