Star Trek Meets Monty Python

Great, or totally lame?



I think it's great.

AP: House Democrats Shut out the GOP

Jim Abrams sums it up. Makes me wonder if he's been reading the IP. (I'm never above shameless self-promotion):

Democrats deny they are seeking retribution for 12 years of perceived slights. They also say they are not reneging on the assertion, in their bill of rights, that bills should go through a process of open hearings and full debate where the minority party can offer amendments...

During the past week, Democrats pushed through, with limited GOP input, two major bills: One would take away the pensions of lawmakers who commit crimes and the second would give partial voting rights to delegates from U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

Earlier hopes of a new era of civility quickly dissipated with the pensions bill. Republicans claimed that, without their knowledge, Democrats made last-minute changes that were written on a napkin...

Tempers grew even shorter on the delegate bill.

Democrats were sensitive to the fact that not a single Republican amendment had been allowed over the first three weeks of the session. So they ruled a GOP amendment OK to debate — even after the sponsoring lawmaker decided to withdraw it.

Boehner then introduced a resolution criticizing Democrats for trying to force the amendment. That effort failed by a party-line vote...

It appears that Republicans will have to wait a bit longer before they see how sincere Democrats are about giving them a voice.

The House this week plans to take up legislation to fund most federal programs through Sept. 30, the end of the current budget year. This task was foisted on the Democrats because the last Congress, with GOP in control, failed to pass all but a few spending bills.

With the House trying to work out a deal with the Senate on that spending plan and Congress about to begin work on the 2008 budget, there is no time to open up the bill to proposed changes, Hoyer said.

"I want to tell you candidly," he told the No. 2 House Republican, Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, "that I believe there will not be a full opportunity" to offer amendments.

Check here, and here.

If he writes about Fizzy Fruit, Mr. Abrams and I will have speaks.

Coolest Hotel You'll See Today

It's the Radisson SAS hotel in Berlin. What sets it apart? The world's largest indoor hotel aquarium. It's about 35 feet across, and 80 feet or so high. If you stay in a room looking over the inner atrium, this might be your view:


And here's what the aquarium itself looks like:




More cool photos here.

Ohio Dems to Bring Back the Draft

That's right - Ohio Democrats - this isn't a federal draft. And it's not for the National Guard - or any other military service for that matter. Ohio's Secretary of State wants to institute compulsory service for poll watching:

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio's secretary of state is considering a plan to draft poll workers to supplement an aging work force and shorten the job's long hours, a spokesman said Saturday.

Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, plans to ask the GOP-controlled Legislature to authorize the proposal, Brunner spokesman Jeff Ortega said Saturday. Experts said Ohio would be the first state to use a draft.

Brunner believes the move would lower the average age of poll workers from 72 and ease the workload. Ohio has about 47,000 poll workers - or just over four per precinct.

Prospective poll workers would be notified by mail that they would be needed for two days of training and would be required to work an eight-hour election day. Currently, poll workers are in precincts for all 13 hours the polls are open.

Brunner met with House Speaker Jon Husted on Thursday, one day after bringing the idea up before an enthusiastic Ohio Association of Election Officials at their annual meeting, Ortega said. But the speaker gave the plan a cool reception.

``The first reaction is that we think voting and the democratic process is voluntary and not mandatory,'' Husted said. ``We agree on the goal. But this is not the only way to do it.''

Speaker Jon Husted is of course, a Republican. So once again we have a case where it is Democrats who actually push to create a draft. At least this time they didn't try to blame it on Republicans.

Ham Nation

Go check out Mary Katharine Ham (was that the name of the Church Lady?). She reminds us that the end result of the global environmental movement is frequently the continued impoverishment of the world's most vulnerable. The flip side of this of course, is that dynamic, growth-oriented capitalism is essential to clean water, clean air, and 'sustainable development:'

Our Faltering Economy

Strong sales of new homes, and durable goods orders. And all it took was a few months of a Democratic Congress!

I'm Younger than I Am

You Are 34 Years Old

Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

What Age Do You Act?

My wife won't believe this; she thinks I'm in my 50s.

Hat Tip: ALa

Welcome Headlines in GWOT

Commandos go after Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, and identifying a trend.

McCain's Stumble; Giuliani's Fundraising

Novak covers both of these topics in his column:

Dour McCain
By Robert D. Novak
Saturday, January 27, 2007

Democratic strategists who had feared Sen. John McCain as the potentially unbeatable Republican candidate for president in 2008 were surprised and delighted by his dour appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" last Sunday.

One Democratic leader referred to McCain's performance, in suggesting President Bush's additional 21,000 troops may be inadequate, as "comatose." A Republican adviser to McCain said it was one of the worst performances ever on "Meet the Press." The senator's defender said he could not be expected to be cheerful about a plan to send additional U.S. troops in harm's way.

A footnote: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is picking up support for president among House Republicans, headed by former Speaker Dennis Hastert...

Dollars for Rudy

Texas Republican contributors are being solicited to spend $30,000 for dinner with former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani at the Houstonian Hotel in Houston Feb. 1 to finance his "presidential exploratory committee." The "private" dinner will follow a 6:30 to 8 p.m. cocktail reception, costing $2,100 a person and $4,200 for couples.

The best-known host of Giuliani's Houston event is billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens Jr., chairman of the private equity firm BP Capital Management. Also on Giuliani's Texas fund-raising team are Tom Hicks, whose company owns the Texas Rangers baseball team; oil industry executive Jim Lee; and lawyer Patrick C. Oxford.

A footnote: A Giuliani fund-raiser will be held Jan. 29 in Pacific Palisades, Calif., at the home of Bill Simon, the 2002 Republican candidate for governor of California, costing $2,300 a person and $4,600 per couple.

Tom Hicks is the owner of the Texas Rangers, whose former managing partner was George W. Bush.

Dems: We're Not Sitting on Our Hands

Steny Hoyer says that Democrats may update the resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq. It's an interesting idea - politically. To Democrats, it may seem attractive because it could shift the emphasis away from undercutting the President's authority, in favor of an affirmative move to prosecute the war:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats may push a new bill authorizing the use of force in Iraq -- replacing the 2002 bill that allowed the Bush administration to proceed with the war, a top Democrat said Friday.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer -- number two in the House behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- said that is one step Democrats might pursue to change conditions in Iraq.

After a series of congressional hearings on the war, "we will then explore appropriate ways to affect the policy and strategy being pursued in Iraq," Hoyer said in a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

"Possible vehicles" include spending bills for military and diplomatic activities in Iraq "and possibly a revised authorization for the use of military force in Iraq that more accurately reflects the mission of our troops on the ground," he said.

Next week, the Senate is expected to pass a bipartisan resolution opposing President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, and, Hoyer said, the House will likely pass an identical bipartisan resolution.

The problem is that it's hard to put lipstick on a pig. Congressional Democrats don't support the military effort in Iraq; the majority of Democrats wants to pull out as soon as possible. But as we have seen, they are unwilling to force a withdrawal by cutting off funds; they're unwilling even to cut off funds for the surge. So what will Hoyer's 'new authorization' call for?

Hoyer can try to change the focus, but the resolution has to say something. And right now, the Democrast won't go on the record forcing a pullout, and they certainly won't go on the record in favor of continuing the operation. And however strong their feeling about the mission and the President, they still can't escape the political calculus: they want the President to be entirely responsible for whatever happens, even as they carp and criticize.

Until that changes, Democrats are limited to talking. For now at least, that's all Hoyer's 'new authorization' represents.

Hoyer's rationale for the timing of this move is interesting though:

"Frankly, it is time for the president to accept that we are no longer involved in a nation-building exercise, we are involved in conflict resolution."

I remember back when we tried to avoid nation building. Times sure change, huh?

Schilling for Senate

The Boston Herald notes that the idea of Curt Schilling for Senate is very popular on conservative talk radio in Massachusetts. However, Schilling isn't as sure that he's interested:

WRKO also put up an online petition yesterday asking people to choose between Schilling and Kerry. As of yesterday evening 800 votes had been cast and Schilling was leading by 96 percent.

Feinberg said he wants to build a real campaign around Schilling and will present him with the results of the online poll.

But Schilling may doesn’t feel he’s a good match for Capitol Hill.

“While I am a registered voter, I have too many problems with the political scene, and I don’t think I’d fit into it,” he said.

Schilling, who is planning to retire from baseball after this season, did give a glimpse of what he would do in a political office. His first task would be to “fire everybody and anybody who had anything to do with the Big Dig,” he said.

Schilling said in 2008 he’ll vote either for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), whom he called a personal friend, or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). “If they are both on the ticket it will be a tough choice,” he said.

Schilling is likely to be as strong as any other Republican candidate in Massachusetts, and probably stronger than many. But if he wants to pursue a political career, he'd probably be tempted to return to Arizona. He was born in the West (Alaska), went to college in Arizona, and is a hero in Arizona for pitching the Diamondbacks to the World Series. Plus, a Republican has a lot stronger future in politics in Arizona than in Massachusetts.

But Schilling does seem the type to take his own counsel, so who knows what he'll decide. And he sure would make a nice contrast with Kerry, wouldn't he?

And on another note, it is endlessly fascinating to me that so many athletes-turned-politician wind up being Republicans. Heath Shuler is probably the only Democratic former athlete I can think of right now (with Bill Bradley and Tom McMillen being the only others of recent vintage). On the other side, you have John Elway, Steve Young, JC Watts, Jim Bunning, Phil McConkey, Darrell Waltrip and Earl Monroe among the athletes who have sought office as Republicans, or considered it. And that's only off the top of my head. I am sure there are many others.

More Liberal Support for our Troops

Go check out the Crabitat, for a story about those whose ignorance we should pity. Our men and women in uniform deserve our full support. Those who are willing to give their last full measure of devotion to our country, and to each of us, deserve nothing but thanks.

Andy Roddick: Good Loser

If I had been routed like Andy Roddick was on the tennis court, I doubt I could have spoken this candidly about it:

After a 6-4, 6-0, 6-2 drubbing from Federer in the semifinals of the Australian Open, Roddick delivered a stream of deadpan one-liners and jokes that revealed a wry sense of humor.

He was asked what it was like to be on center court at the end of a Grand Slam semi in which he was sent packing in straight sets in just 1 hour, 23 minutes.

"It was frustrating. It was miserable. It sucked. It was terrible," Roddick said. "Besides that, it was fine."

Roddick was asked to explain the match starting from the point where the score was 4-4 in the first set.

"I got broken. Then I got broken three more times. Then I got broken two more times in the third set. Then it was over 26 minutes later. Is that what you saw, too?" he said.

Questions turned to Jimmy Connors, the former great who is now coaching Roddick and who the player had earlier said helped to boost his game and his confidence to the point where he believed he was ready to challenge nine-time Grand Slam winner Federer.

Reporter: "What did Jimmy say to you straight after the game?"

Roddick: "He gave me a beer."

What was Connors advice coming into the match?

"There was a lot of strategy talk," Roddick said. But, "It's not so much like, `If you're down 6-4, 6-0, 2-0 ...' We didn't really talk about that. Oops."

The performance is already available on YouTube. The good part of the press conference runs from about 40 seconds, for about 3 minutes:



My favorite line: 'My dad didn't raise me to run away.'

Hat Tip: Galley Slaves

Rooting for Curt Schilling

As a Yankees fan, I hate Curt Schilling.

Wait - hate is a strong word... but it is the right one, now that I think about it. Hate.

Nevertheless, he'll have me firmly in his corner if this comes to pass. I may even donate money.

Update: The Herald notes that Massachusetts Republicans are talking about giving Kerry a tough race in 2008. No one would be happier than I to see it happen. But folks, this is Massachusetts we're talking about. They've voted for Kerry and Kennedy for years. Do you think they're going to wake up now?

Suddenly, I Can Afford Giuliani's Speaking Fee

Now he's free.

John Edwards' New Digs

I'd say that I've seen nicer, but I'm not sure I have.

Of course, the bigger scandal is Edwards' summer place. I think the home in North Carolina is mostly a rental property.

Anyway, what she said.

Joe Kennedy & Hugo Chavez: Perfect Together

This is disgusting:



Citgo can do whatever it wants to try to drum up business. But if Joe Kennedy had any self-respect, he wouldn't be a cheerleader for the authoritarian thug in Venezuela. Here's Kennedy's defense. But he might want to take a lesson from these folks, who understand what Chavez is about.

Hat Tip: ALa

Is Al Gore Running

Rolling Stone suggests that some people who know Al Gore are certain that he'll be running for President in 2008, and think he'd be the favorite for the Democratic nomination:

Indeed, Gore is unique among the increasingly crowded field of Democratic contenders. He has the buzz to beat Obama, the substance to supplant Hillary, and enough stature to enter the race late in the game and still raise the millions needed to mount a successful campaign. "Very few people who run for president can just step in when they want, with a superstar, titanic presence," says James Carville, the dean of Democratic strategists. "But Gore clearly is one of those. He's going to run, and he's going to be formidable. If he didn't run, I'd be shocked."

Look at what Gore has been up to lately, and it's hard to escape the impression that, on some level, he is already running for president. Over the past few months he has made high-profile appearances on the Today show, the Tonight Show and Oprah, and he displayed his trademark deadpan humor in a stint on Saturday Night Live. "He's keeping himself viable by keeping himself in the public eye," says Donna Brazile, who served as Gore's campaign manager in 2000...

But the nation's most experienced political strategists agree that Gore is carefully laying the groundwork for a possible run. "He's running in a nontraditional way, which has been powerful," says Bill Carrick, a veteran Democratic consultant. "It has made him look much more interesting than if he had just been the former vice president sitting out there and thinking about a run."

Gore has carved out a public role for himself that's usually reserved for rock stars and Tour de France winners. What Bono is to Third World debt and Lance Armstrong is to cancer, Gore is to global warming. "He's the indispensable character in the drama of the climate crisis," says Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "If it has a happy ending, he'll be the hero. If it has a tragic ending, he'll be the tragic hero." And like Bono, Gore can pack a house, even in red-state America: In January, tickets for a Gore speech at a 10,000-seat stadium in Boise, Idaho, sold out in less than twenty-four hours...

Gore's biggest opponent for the nomination would likely be Hillary Clinton -- and no one in the current field of Democrats is better situated to capitalize on her weaknesses than Gore. In September 2002, just before Clinton and every other Democrat who hoped to run for president voted to authorize the war in Iraq, Gore gave a no-holds-barred speech inveighing against the invasion. "The chaos in the aftermath of a military victory in Iraq," he warned, "could easily pose a far greater danger to the United States than we presently face from Saddam."

At the time, recalls Carrick, Washington insiders dismissed the speech as sour grapes. "The Democratic establishment all said, 'Oh, Al's just out there doing this because he's bitter. This just proves he's never going to run again.' But they all proved to be wrong and he was exactly right. There's nothing more powerful than that."

Thanks to his vocal opposition to the war -- and his decision to back Howard Dean's anti-war candidacy in 2003 -- Gore has all but sewn up the backing of the party's "Netroots" activists. Eli Pariser calls Gore "a close friend of MoveOn," and Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos, is equally unabashed in his support. "More than any other Democrat over the last four years, Gore has actually delivered," says Moulitsas, one of the Internet's most influential organizers. "If Gore enters the race, it's his nomination for the taking." In an online poll of 14,000 activists held in December by DailyKos, sixty percent voted for Gore. By comparison, Clinton received just 292 votes...

Most of gore's closest associates believe that he is unlikely to run. "He's hanging out with interesting people, he's making money, but he's still having a serious impact on the political discourse," says Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democratic Network. "You could look at all that and say, 'My God, he'll never run for president.'"

But others who have worked with Gore insist that he is simply biding his time. "Gore seems committed to being a late candidate," says Dick Morris, the strategist who masterminded Bill Clinton's '96 campaign. "He's not going to be out front as a playmaker. He's going to wait and see if there's room for him..."

Letting others battle-test Hillary's viability as a front-runner has an added benefit for Gore: It allows him to put off a bruising political confrontation with Bill Clinton. Some insiders suggest that a reticence to take on his generation's most brilliant political mind -- and someone renowned as a take-no-prisoners campaigner -- is the primary factor keeping Gore off the roster. "It's one thing to distance yourself from Bill Clinton, as Gore did in 2000," says a Democratic strategist who has advised both men. "It's another to run against Bill Clinton when the former first lady is heading the field."

If Gore does decide to run, there is no question that his entry into the race would instantly reshuffle the deck. "He would dislodge a whole lot of Hillary support," says Luntz, "opening up this race so that anyone would have a shot." He would also have history on his side: Andrew Jackson and Grover Cleveland, both of whom won the popular vote but lost the presidency, reached the White House on their next tries...

But Gore's greatest appeal may come, ultimately, from what he represents to voters fed up with two terms of the Bush administration. "He'll be able to make the case that he should have been president already," says Carrick. "And that had he been president, things would have been a lot different, with the Iraq war being Exhibit A."

This, agrees Luntz, is Gore's greatest draw. "Democratic voters in 2008 are not only looking to turn back the last eight years, but to erase the last eight years," he says. "If I were working for Gore, I'd message around a single word: Imagine. 'Imagine if I'd been president instead of George W. Bush. Imagine where we'd be today.' "

It certainly seems that Al Gore is more popular today than he was 8 years ago, and you have to think that if he runs in 2008, there will be lots of people who'll wish that he had been President instead of Bush. But there's a big difference between that and voting for him in 2008.

Democratic primary voters will remember that Gore in 2000 ran in a time of peace and with the benefit of the 'great Clinton economy.' Looking back, 2000 looks like a new 'era of good feelings,' with the public blissfully unaware of the terrorist threat that was about to become front page news. And Gore ran a bad campaign and managed to lose. He was stiff and programmed, and managed to make a range of bad mistakes. From 'the kiss,' to his bizarre debate performances ('cluck-clucking,' and heading over to Bush's podium), to his managing to lose his home state, there are plenty of missteps for his rivals to point out. Reminded of them, will primary voters back Gore again?

His entry into the race would have an interesting effect on the Democratic side. There are recent polls that show him in third, behind Clinton and Gore - roughly on par with Edwards. I'm not sure how much you can tell from those polls though, since respondents may have already decided that he's not a candidate.

If Gore were to run, I would have to think his support would draw significantly from both Clinton and Obama. Some of Hillary's support probably comes from folks who are looking for a continuation of Bill Clinton's policies; they might see Gore as a better vehicle. Others who back Hillary because they see her as more electable than a neophyte like Obama, might also switch to Gore. From Obama, he would likely peel off some of the hard left, anti-Hillary crowd.

As the race develops though, I think Obama might benefit the most. If Gore joins Hillary and Obama in the 'Top 3,' then I think it helps Obama make the case for somebody new. Competing against Hillary and Gore, Obama can ask voters whether they really want to back in time 8 years - to the team that lost in 2000 - or whether they want to try something new. I suspect that could be a strong appeal.

And if Gore were to get the nomination, it's unclear to me he would be a favorite in the general election. First off, the folks who stand on street corners yelling 'repent! the end is near' rarely win popularity contests. Gore's remedies for global warming are costly and extreme (just one example here), and some of the bloom will be off the rose once people re-examine his policy proposals. Further, one way or another, Iraq is not likely to be a deciding issue in 2008. President Bush will either have set a course for a withdrawal or draw-down (which I consider likely) or the Republican nominee will. So outside the Democratic primaries, I don't think opposition to the war will be a big issue.

Expect this issue to get a lot of attention, since the campaign has started so incredibly early. The media will be beating the bushes looking for some new angle, and a potential Gore entry might sell some papers. Nothing else is.

Hat Tip: Taegan Goddard

Left Again Pressing for Impeachment

If you ignore everything that Tom Maguire has written about the Plame affair, assume that Dick Cheney has broken the law, and then somehow convince people that Cheney's alleged lawbreaking constitutes an impeachable offense by Bush with regard to Iraq... then well, it must be time to impeach:

The news from former vice presidential chief of staff "Scooter" Libby's trial on charges of obstructing a federal investigation -- particularly the revelation that Vice President Dick Cheney wrote a memo that effectively confirms his intimate involvement in strategizing about how to counter the inquiry into the Bush administration's politically-motivated outing of CIA operative Valarie Plame -- should slowly but surely edge the prospect of impeachment back onto the table from which Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi removed it.

Cheney is expected to testify in the Libby trial and, if a federal jury rejects his testimony as less than credible, that would seem to create an appropriate opening for members of the House who take seriously their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution to entertain a discussion of impeaching the vice president...

The New Mexico impeachment initiative, one of several currently moving forward in state legislatures around the country, is designed to force members of Congress to take seriously the increasingly-popular demand that the president and vice president be held to account for misleading Congress over the Iraq war, supporting torture, engaging in illegal spying on U.S. citizens and using their offices to punish critics...

With President Bush and the Republicans still sinking in the polls, there's not much chance that Nancy Pelosi would foolishly toss him a lifeline like this. She's well aware that whatever message the voters were sending in November, it was not 'impeach the President.' However, it will be fun to watch the Democratic leadership try to respond rationally to people who regard Keith Olbermann as a newsman.

Update: Looks like the Nation is giving bonuses to people who write on impeachment. Liz Holtzman pens a piece as well. Ms. Holtzman seems to have made a career out of advocating impeachment recently. It's nice to see she can find work, given that her political career ended in negative campaigning and ethical improprieties:

New York City Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman's reelection bid collapsed before the September primary when a city investigation reported that she showed "gross negligence" in dealings with the Fleet Bank. She had given Fleet a lead underwriting role on a New York City bond seven months after Fleet loaned $450,000 to her 1992 U.S. Senate campaign. Holtzman, who became a national figure for her forceful questions in the Nixon impeachment hearings, found herself saying she "did not remember" if she knew that Fleet was seeking underwriting business when she met with bank officials about a campaign loan. What she did say was that she wished she "had done things differently

The Wave of the Future

If you like your soda carbonated, why wouldn't you want your fruit carbonated, too, right?

After all, it's just an effort to eat healthier:

It's Fizzy Fruit — whole grapes or slices of apples or pineapples carbonated in a secret process with the same carbon dioxide that's in soft drinks but without added sugar.

At a time of resolutions to eat better and calls for healthier snacks for kids, two powerhouses of food retailing, Wal-Mart and 7-Eleven, just began selling Fizzy Fruit in some stores in the Southeast and Southwest. Disney thinks enough of the product that it plans a March promotion for Fizzy Fruit cups tied to its upcoming film "Meet the Robinsons."

The fruit is raising eyebrows as one of the more unusual — if not provocative — food items in stores.

Food scientist Steven Witherly predicts kids may like it so much that overall fruit consumption actually could rise. But Witherly, author of the upcoming book "Why Humans Like Junk Food," warns, "The consumption of nonfizzed fruit may decrease."

Next up: carbonated soy, broccoli, and wheat germ.