Those krazy Kos kids are awfully upset about Samuel Alito.

So’s Chuck Schumer. C’mon Senator… you know you want to filibuster. Give in to the dark side.

**Update**

And the Brady Center gets into the act with this press release calling Alito “Machine Gun Sammy”. Why? Because of this decision in which Alito argued Congress had overstepped its bounds in banning all machine guns.

But to the Brady Bunch, never mind legalities, it all comes down to “why do you NEED one?”

Meet the new nominee, Samuel Alito.

I predict an attempted filibuster. I also predict it will fail.

Want to live like a rich Republican Senator? Then buy John McCain’s house.

His 11,000 square foot, nine bedroom, eight bathroom casual southwestern style home can be yours for only $4.25 Million.

No wonder he’s against making the tax cuts permanent. He doesn’t need them.

And you know what that means? Baby Pictures!

Here’s Jackson modeling his first Halloween costume.

(He’s a horsey if you can’t tell.)

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Scooter Libby’s been indicted.

…one count of obstruction, two counts under the False Statements Acts, and two counts of perjury.

Bad news for the White House, but worse news for the anti-Bush left. The idea that Plame was some kind of super-secret agenda seems to have gone out the window. If Plame was truly covert, one would think that Fitzgerald would have made charges on that basis, not on much weaker counts.

No Karl Rove frog march. No indication that Valerie Plame was covert. It’s not good news for the White House, but this is hardly what the Left was looking for.

Okay, now this is amusing.

And before anyone on the Right starts jumping up and down in glee (and that includes me), remember… this isn’t necessarily over.

Forget the impending indictments, the big story today is Porkins is dead.

Not to mention Sulu is gay.

My sci-fi world is crumbling around me.

I’m generally against dressing up my pets for holidays. It makes me feel like one of those old ladies with 25 cats and no friends. It gives me the creeps when others dress up their pets, especially for doggie weddings. *shudder*

But this costume made me laugh.

(via Professor Bainbridge)

With evil oil companies posting record quarterly profits and gas prices near record highs, talking points from both the left and the right are flooding the airwaves. Conservation vs. exploration, ANWAR and Halliburton…blah blah blah.

Some states are implimenting price caps and some politicians have gone so far as to propose windfall profits taxes (a la 1970’s) to punish those evil oil companies. The assumption here of course is that Halliburton and Cheney’s buddies are screwing the poor innocent consumer, forcing them to choose between perscription drugs and gas.

But who’s screwing who here? Let’s take a look at who is really profiting. This little fact is going to shock you:

Federal, State and Local governments have collected far more revenue from gas taxes than the largest U.S. oil companies have collectively earned in domestic profits.

since 1977, there have been only three years (1980, 1981, and 1982) in which domestic oil industry profits exceeded government gas tax collections. In the remaining years, gasoline tax collections consistently exceeded oil industry profits, reaching a peak in 1995 when gas tax collections outpaced industry profits by a factor of 7.3.

That’s right folks….while oil indusrty profits are skyrocketing, governments are making even more money in gas taxes. And unlike cyclical oil company earnings which rise and fall with the economy, gas tax receipts are growing at a steady pace.

between 1977 and 1985, the oil industry recorded relatively high profits—averaging nearly $33 billion per year, after adjusting for inflation. These good times were followed by ten years of relatively flat profits, averaging just $12.3 billion per year. In 1996, profits began to rise again but have been anything but stable, ranging from $9 billion to nearly $42 billion per year. Between 1977 and 2004, the industry’s domestic profits totaled $643 billion, after adjusting for inflation.

….

In contrast, federal and state taxes on gasoline production and imports have been climbing steadily since the late 1970s and now total roughly $58.4 billion. Due in part to substantial hikes in the federal gasoline excise tax in 1983, 1990, and 1993, annual tax revenues have continued to grow. Since 1977, governments collected more than $1.34 trillion, after adjusting for inflation, in gasoline tax revenues—more than twice the amount of domestic profits earned by major U.S. oil companies during the same period.

So there you have it. Governments are making more money than these evil oil companies. Yet it’s the evil oil companies that must be punished.

If our representatives in Congress really wanted to help ease the pain of gas prices, they’d cut the Federal gas tax. But that doesn’t make a sexy talking point.

Considering my track record with Bushie’s nominees this week, I sure hope Bushie doesn’t nominate Michael Luttig to replace Sandra Day O’Connor.

Pleasepleasepleaseplease don’t nominate Luttig.

Hehehe. Think it will work?

So Harriet Miers withdrawn her nomination to the Supreme Court.

How long before someone on the Left suggests her entire nomination was a Rovian plot to distract from any possible indictments handed down by Patrick Fitzgerald? You know, nominate her with the idea that she’ll withdraw the day indictments are handed down in order to distract the media with two big stories?

I give it 90 minutes. I’m sure you can find a comment either on Democratic Underground or Daily Kos.

Sorry for the lack of updates… just a busy day at work combined with feeling under the weather.

To make up for it, here’s a new picture of the beautiful Catherine in a poncho her mother knitted for her.

(click for larger image)

How stupid would the MSM look if Fitzgerald ended up indicting Joe Wilson or Judith Miller? It would certainly put all the hit pieces the MSM has put out the past week in a new light.

I have no idea what’s going on with the Fitzgerald investigation, but lest I be accused of hiding my head in the sand, I figured I’d open a thread for discussion.

Have at it.

Farrah pointed out to me this morning that the Mike Wallace story’s been picked up by Drudge.

Yay. I suspect this not actually the last outlet to pick up on the story.

Jim’s in trouble. Better mind your W’s and Q’s, Jim.

In another NR related bit of news, The Buzz is no more. I’m bummed. I really enjoyed reading Eric Pfeiffer’s stuff.

For anybody who believes one person can’t make a difference in this world, just look at Rosa Parks.

I understand the last few years haven’t been all that kind to Ms. Parks. I hope she’s now at peace, and I know she’s in a better place.

Not to disagree with Farrah, but I don’t think Bernanke is a pick that’s going to give way to cries of cronyism. Here’s some background

Bernanke, who gained a reputation as a monetary moderate while a Fed governor from 2002 to 2005, is chairman of the White House council of economic advisers in June. He is the former head of Princeton’s economics department and received his economics education at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The President picking his former advisor Glenn Hubbard, on the other hand, would have been seen as cronyism (in my opinion).

Bushie is expected to announce Alan Greenspan’s replacement this afternoon. Greenspan is expected to step down when his term expires in January. The Administration is looking to fill the position of Fed Chairman with some fresh blood.

According to the WSJ (subscription required), top three contenders for his replacement are…

For months, the three candidates cited most frequently have been economists Martin Feldstein of Harvard University, Glenn Hubbard of Columbia University and Ben Bernanke, chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease don’t let it be Bernanke.

Fed Chairman is one of the most important jobs in the country. Pick the wrong person, and the economy will suffer. I don’t want the discussion of the nominee’s qualifications to be focused on Bushie’s cronyism. This debate needs to actually have substance.

I hope those on the left agree.

**UPDATE**

Damndamndamndamn.

It’s Bernanke.

A good weekend for gun owners, freedom lovers, and those who believe self-defense is a human right.

FEMA’s rescinded its ban on firearms at its trailer park for evacuees in Baker, Louisiana. Previously, FEMA had banned firearms in the park, except for law enforcement.

Brazil handily defeated a gun ban referendum, 65%-35%. Just a few months ago, the UN was trumpeting polls showing the ban having the support of 70% of the population. I guess when it comes down to it, people really are smart enough to not vote to disarm themselves against criminals.

I have a theory about so called “zero tolerance” policies. I call it Farrah’s Theory of Zero Intelligence. The theory states:

Zero tolerance policies are designed in such a way that school officials don’t have to use their judgement when faced with a potential violation.

Unfortunately, my theory has proven to be true time and time again. Today’s support fot Farrah’s Theory of Zero Intelligence comes from Texas.

Destiny Thomas was fooling around with computer paper origami during class last week. Instead of folding her paper into a shape of a mini football and playing finger field goal kicking like kids would do, she folder her paper into a shape of a gun.

School officials were shocked and apalled by her actions. Destiny and two fellow classmates were suspended from school and assigned to an “alternative school” for 30 days for violating the school’s anti-gun policy.

Desoto school officials said the student code of conduct clearly states no weapons or replica of weapons are allowed on campus.

As you can see by the picture in the linked article, Destiny’s “replica” is no more than a folded piece of paper with a knot tied in the center. Heck, I do that with my straw wrappers at Sonic. Doesn’t mean I’m going to shoot the car hop for bringing me a coney with onions when I asked for one without. And I seriously doubt Destiny’s “replica” gun was a danger to anyone at her school. Unless the nanny state has gotten so bad that public schools are now on the lookout for paper cut inducing items.

Destiny knows the difference between a real gun and a piece of paper- she said so herself.

She said she had no intention of doing anything that would get her kicked out of school.

“I know not to bring a real gun, but I didn’t think a paper gun would get you in trouble,” Thomas said.

Destiny knows the difference between a real gun, and dead trees. Do school officials?

What was that theory again? Oh yeah, school officials not having to using their judgement.

Heh. I think I’m on to something here.

(via zerointellegence.net )

The last place I expected to see DeLay’s mugshot.

That is so wrong.

I ordered two.

Vaughn Ververs from CBS has a new piece regarding Wallace’s appearance at a Brady Center fundraiser last month. Here’s the word from the suits.

I spoke with Mason late yesterday and she told me how CBS News will deal with this issue in the future. Mason said that if Wallace “suggests a story that we feel is a potential conflict, we’ll look at it and if we see a conflict, we’ll turn it down.” I take that to mean we won’t be seeing Mr. Wallace doing any more stories involving Second Amendment issues.

I think Mr. Ververs is probably giving CBS a little too much credit, but we’ll see. The problem, as I see it, is that CBS seems to be moving the goalposts. First it was “if Wallace is identifiable with the issue, then he won’t be doing any more stories on that subject.” Now it’s “if we think there’s a conflict, he won’t do the story.” Well, who’s going to determine if there’s a conflict? Presumably Wallace won’t be doing any stories on the Brady Center any time soon, but what about the Violence Policy Center?

It seems like a very convenient way for CBS to sound tough without actually doing anything.

Clearly, however, Vaughn Ververs thinks there’s a problem.

When I first addressed this issue, it was with mixed feelings. I sympathized with Wallace and the explanation he provided me for his appearance. He emphasized what he saw as his humorous approach to his comments and his focus on his very good friend’s 80th birthday party. But I also found the fact he had brought a video addressing the gun issue to be troubling.

I have since seen some of Wallace’s remarks and am far less conflicted. In introducing the video, Wallace calls Heston the “self-righteous enemy of the Sarah and Jim Brady bunch.” Coming out of the video, he mocks Heston’s widely-seen comments that the government would take away his gun only from his “cold, dead hands.” And he referenced, we assume, the relatively unkown position on gun control of Chief Justice John Roberts, calling him part of “the legions of the already convinced.”

Wallace told me his appearance was “meant to be and was received as a joke.” If so, it was one that was out of my range of humor. Others present at the event stressed to me the relative lack of discussion over gun control or the Second Amendment, saying the primary focus by far was Buchwald’s birthday. I have not seen a tape of the entire event but have no reason to doubt that. Even so, Wallace did make reference to the issue in a way that made him identifiable with one side of this issue.

I trust Mason and CBS News to carry through with the pledge to turn down a Wallace story if there is a conflict involving his Brady Center appearance. It is the right thing to do. And I have no doubt that we’ll hear about it if that does not happen.

Well, you’ve got that right, Mr. Ververs.

Well, there’s at least one Republican upset by the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s called the bill disgraceful.

Bloomberg, facing reelection in liberal New York, broke ranks with national party leaders for the third time in a month to blast the bill.

“Granting the gun industry immunity will make it easier for criminals to get firearms and put our law enforcement officers at greater risk,” the mayor said.

Bloomberg last month rebuked Bush for suspending fair-wage protection for workers rebuilding the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. He also refused to back Chief Justice John Roberts, calling him too conservative to be the nation’s top jurist.

Ah, well that explains it. He’s running for re-election, and he’s not really a Republican at all.

I wonder what the left is going to use in their next fundraising pitch. I really am stumped on this one.