Well, that was odd.

I’m not going to bother speculating about her reason for resigning, other than saying I think there’s more to it than what she said in her speech. (Duh.)

What I will say: If she had/has her sights set on national office, this is not a wise move. I don’t think the folks who back Palin will take too well to her abandoning her post as governor in the interest of moving up in the political world. So much of her appeal was that she was a political outsider, loyal to her values and her constituents. Try as she may to say it’s better to leave office than be a lame duck, well – I call bullshit.

I’d also point out that every POTUS eventually becomes a lame duck, so if she’s actually eyeballing the White House she better start figuring out how to convince people she won’t up and quit that job, too.

I keep seeing leftists justifying the passage of cap-and-trade, a ~1500 page bill nobody had time to read, by saying “Well, nobody read the PATRIOT Act before they passed that!”

That’s the state of politics in our country, folks. Two wrongs now equal a right.

I was just reading a CNN biography of Neda Agha-Soltan, and thought this passage was worth noting:

A friend of hers interprets the fact that her body was released so quickly as a tacit acknowledgment by the government that the killing was carried out by government forces. That theory is supported by the fact that Iran’s strict gun-control laws mean private citizens cannot carry firearms, the friend said.

Governments do not fear disarmed people.

I received the following message from a good friend of mine earlier, and felt it was important to pass it along. Please redistribute generously – link here, repost, copy and paste to email, hang it up at the grocery store – this is a great idea, and needs to be spread far and wide.

Incidentally, my congressman – Walt Minnick – is one of the Blue Dogs, so I started my work on this effort by calling his DC office today. I plan to make more calls tomorrow.

Patriots,

We’ve got a country to save.  We wont be able to fight everything and win, but we can’t let what happened with the $787 Billion stimulus pork ‘n waste package happen again.  But unless we mobilize now, it will.

The Markey-Waxman “Cap-and-trade” Energy Tax bill, in the current form being considered by the House Energy and Commerce committee, would, according to the Heritage Foundation, have the following catastrophic effects by 2035:

1. Reduce aggregate gross domestic product (GDP) by $9.6 trillion annually;

2. Destroy 1,105,000 American jobs per year on average, with peak years seeing unemployment rise by over 2,479,000 jobs;

3. Raise electricity rates 90 percent after adjusting for inflation;

4. Raise inflation-adjusted gasoline prices by 74 percent;

5. Raise residential natural gas prices by 55 percent;

6. Raise an average family’s annual energy bill by $1,500 annually; and

7. Increase inflation-adjusted federal debt by 26 percent, or $29,150 additional federal debt per person, again after adjusting for inflation.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants the U.S. House to vote at the end of this week on the Waxman-Markey National Energy Tax (House Bill 2454).  We must kill the bill there, in the House of Representatives, before it reaches the Senate where it could passes with near certainty before being signed into law by the President.

We can’t settle for calling our own representatives–especially if where you live, your Congressional Representative is a far-Left Liberal.  We can’t hope it’ll be good enough if every single Republican in the House of Representatives votes against Waxman-Markey because Democrats have the majority.

We must target Democrats in order to stop this thing, but not just Any Democrats.  Democrats that are moderate-to-moderately Conservative.  Fortunately, they already identified themselves by forming the Blue Dog Coalition.

According to Wikipedia, their ideology (largely born out of the necessity to get votes in conservative regions like Texas and other southern states, and states in the heartland like Indiana), “the Blue Dog Coalition is often involved in finding a compromise between liberal and conservative positions. The Blue Dogs are viewed by some as a continuation of the socially conservative wing of the Democratic party prominent during the presidency of Harry S Truman.[citation needed] However, the only stated policy position of the Blue Dogs is fiscal conservatism…

“Despite the Blue Dogs’ differing degrees of economic and social conservatism, they generally work to promote positions within the House of Representatives that bridge the gap between center-right and left-wing politics. Blue Dogs are an important swing vote on spending bills and as a result have gained influence in Congress out of proportion to their numbers. They are frequently sought after to broker compromises between the Democratic and Republican leadership, generally lending a more conservative character to US politics.”

Here is a complete list of those sitting Representatives in the House, and their telephone numbers.  We need to call ‘em up, ASAP, and tell them to vote NO on H.R. 2454.

All numbers, area code 202:

* Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration
225-2801
* Baron Hill (IN-9), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy
225-5315
* Charlie Melancon (LA-3), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications
225-4031
* Heath Shuler (NC-11), Blue Dog Whip
225-6401

* Jason Altmire (PA-4), 225-2565
* Mike Arcuri (NY-24), 225-3665
* John Barrow (GA-12),  225-2823
* Marion Berry (AR-1), 225-4076
* Sanford Bishop (GA-2), 225-3631
* Dan Boren (OK-2), 225-2701
* Leonard Boswell (IA-3), 225-3806
* Allen Boyd (FL-2), 225-5235
* Bobby Bright (AL-2), 225-2901
* Christopher Carney (PA-10), 225-3731
* Ben Chandler (KY-6), 225-4706
* Travis Childers (MS-1), 225-4306
* Jim Cooper (TN-5), 225-4311
* Henry Cuellar (TX-28), 225-1640
* Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3), 225-5406
* Lincoln Davis (TN-4), 225-6831
* Joe Donnelly (IN-2), 225-3915
* Brad Ellsworth (IN-8), 225-4636
* Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8), 225-2542
* Bart Gordon (TN-6), 225-4231
* Parker Griffith (AL-5), 225-4801
* Tim Holden (PA-17), 225-5546
* Frank Kratovil (MD-1), 225-5311
* Jim Marshall (GA-8), 225-6531
* Jim Matheson (UT-2), 225-3011
* Mike McIntyre (NC-7), 225-2731
* Mike Michaud (ME-2), 225-6306
* Walt Minnick (ID-1), 225-6611
* Harry Mitchell (AZ-5), 225-2190
* Dennis Moore (KS-3), 225-2865
* Patrick Murphy (PA-8), 225-4276
* Glenn Nye (VA-2), 225-4215
* Collin Peterson (MN-7), 225-2165
* Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL), 225-2611
* Mike Ross (AR-4), 225-3772
* John Salazar (CO-3), 225-4761
* Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), 225-2965
* David Scott (GA-13), 225-2939
* Zack Space (OH-18), 225-6265
* John Tanner (TN-8), 225-4714
* Gene Taylor (MS-4), 225-5772
* Charlie Wilson (OH-6), 225-5705
* Melissa Bean (IL-8), 225-3711
* Mike Thompson (CA-1), 225-3311
* Dennis Cardoza (CA-18), 225-6131
* Jim Costa (CA-20), 225-3341
* Adam Schiff (CA-29), 225-4176
* Jane Harman (CA-36), 225-8220
* Joe Baca (CA-43), 225-2823

It would take a little over three hours to call of these numbers straight through, so feel free to break it up.  Just be sure to call as many as you can as soon as you can, especially the numbers at the top!

Feel free to modify this script to suit what feels comfortable to you.  It runs about a minute and 42 seconds.

“Good morning,

My name is <NAME> and I’m calling about the Waxman-Markey Cap-and-Trade bill that the Speaker of the House is urging a vote on as soon as possible, an issue that affects all Americans and not just those in your district.  Like those Americans, I care deeply about the environment and being responsible as we try to re-grow our prosperity in this country, but I strongly feel this bill is the wrong way to do it.

According to credible economists and their peer-reviewed academic research, this piece of legislation will kick our economy while it’s down.  At a time when we should be doing everything we can to make this the best place in the world for people to come and start a business, and create jobs, we’re going to make energy so incredibly expensive that they can’t afford to hire anyone.  And for families already struggling–whether by having to string together two-part time jobs or get by on unemployment–they will see their gasoline, heating and electricity bills shoot through the roof.

I know the sponsors of this bill have said otherwise, but I am telling you, I know other wise.  And I am also telling Representative <NAME> to vote against this legislation.  There aren’t too many issues more important than this one, and I’m afraid that how each Representative votes on this bill will matter to me and everyone that I know when it’s time for us to vote during the mid-term elections next November, 2010.

Thank you for your time.”

And for good measure, give Republican House minotiry leader John Boehner’s office at a call at (202) 225-6205 to reinforce, and remind his staffer that we’re out here, watching, and that we wont tolerate any give from the party in the House on this bill.  Remind his staffer that his and their re-election counts on standing strong against this bill.

I truly hope that you’ll join me in my mission to stop this madness, and tell everyone you know to help you too.

Thank you for your time.
- Dairenn Lombard
Los Angeles

Dairenn, I really appreciate your work in putting this together. You are a friend of liberty… now MOVE OUT OF CALIFORNIA! :)

Son’s Death Has Iranian Family Asking Why
…
At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue.

Upon learning of his son’s death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a “bullet fee”—a fee for the bullet used by security forces—before taking the body back, relatives said.
…

You know, I think this picture sums it up nicely:

Swing, Khamenei.

And, in doing so, I am engaging in an act that has been banned by the government of Iran.

Neda is the woman – a philosophy student, only three years older than myself – who was murdered in Tehran in the protests over the fraudulent Iranian elections.

I believe this incident, more than any other single act, has now ensured that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and their Basij thugs are not only going to be deposed, but also dispatched in particularly nasty ways.

May they reap what they sow.

From the guy who brought us Hey There Khalilah:

I think I have a crush.

The Girl Child and I just walked over to The Sister’s house. On the way, I passed a car parked at an apartment complex sporting this bumper sticker:

It’s a Che Guevara quote: “The true revolutionary is guided by feelings of love.”

I didn’t have a piece of paper, and I didn’t want to paraphrase, so when I got to The Sister’s house I looked up a couple of quotes I’m familiar with and wrote them down. I’ll be leaving this note on the car when I pass back by:

“I carried out a very summary inquiry and then the peasant Aristidio was executed. …It is not possible to tolerate even the suspicion of treason.” – Che Guevara 1956

“Hatred [is] an element of the struggle. …A relentless hatred of the enemy, impelling us over and beyond the natural limitations that man is heir to and transforming him into an effective, violent, selective and cold kiling machine. Our soldiers must be thus; a people without hatred cannot vanquish a brutal enemy. We must carry the war into every corner the enemy happens to carry it: to his home, to his centres of entertainment; a total war.” – Che Guevara, “Message to the Tricontinental”

FEELING THE LOVE? STUDY HISTORY, not BUMPER STICKERS.
<3, A Revolutionary

This is better than the time I left a note because someone had a bumper sticker that said “It doesn’t take a war to power my bicycle.” The bumper sticker was on their truck.

Sorry about the PGB outage. PSA: If you switch your web hosting to monthly billing, they tend to appreciate if you, you know, pay them monthly. Ahem.

As an aside, I need to give a plug for Dreamhost. For whatever reason, the web panel didn’t like me much when I was trying to log in to re-up my account, so I emailed for help. I received a reply in less than ten minutes, sent them the information they needed, and received a second reply within ten minutes. First email to problem solved: 18 minutes. Quite impressive.

The Girl Child and I are back in Idaho, swine-flu free (thus far anyway). Thanks for all your well-wishes. Regarding the masks-on-the-airplane thing: I was aware of the airborne nature of the flu, but figured I’d a) give myself a barrier between stray sneezes/coughs and b) protect myself from myself, because I’m HORRIBLE about touching my face all the time. It’s a moot point, though, because I forgot I had the stupid thing. I did wash my hands A LOT.

Anyway, Feliz Cinco de Quatro. I am so glad we have a president soooooooooo much smarter than GWB, aren’t you?

Quotes from the public school strip-search case oral arguments:

JUSTICE SCALIA:  Any contraband, like the
15 black marker pencil that — that astounded me.  That was
16 contraband in that school, wasn’t it, a black marker
17 pencil?
18             MR. WRIGHT:  Well, for sniffing.
19             JUSTICE SCALIA:  Oh, is that what they do?
20             MR. WRIGHT:  It’s a permanent marker.
21             JUSTICE SCALIA:  They sniff them?
22             MR. WRIGHT:  Well, that’s the — I mean, I’m
23 a school lawyer.  That’s what kids do, Your Honor,
24 unfortunately, Your Honor.  But -
25             JUSTICE SCALIA:  Really?

…

JUSTICE SOUTER:  But you are — you are
4 saying basically there is — there is no general
5 understanding that people carry ibuprofen in — in their
6 undergarments.

…

JUSTICE BREYER:   So what am I supposed to
2 do?   In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years
3 old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day,
4 we changed for gym, okay?    And in my experience, too,
5 people did sometimes stick things in my underwear -
6              (Laughter.)
7              JUSTICE BREYER:   Or not my underwear.
8 Whatever.   Whatever.  I was the one who did it?    I don’t
9 know.   I mean, I don’t think it’s beyond human
10 experience, not beyond human experience.

—————

And a not so fun one:

JUSTICE SOUTER:        You — you say that the -
18 the point of my question, this is what I’d like you to
19 focus on — you’re entirely right, I would accept that
20 argument and I think that argument is entirely right, if
21 the stakes are lower.    If the risk of a mistake is going
22 to be less traumatic.    In the hypo that I gave, the risk
23 of the mistake may well be violent sickness or death.
24 And the thought process in the principal’s mind is, the
25 reasonableness analysis in the principal’s mind is
1 better embarrassment than violent sickness or death.
2 What’s wrong with that reasoning under the Fourth
3 Amendment?

For the SHIRE! CHILDREN!