Free Constitution

Final post. Farewell President Bush

2009-01-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

I suppose this is befitting for a final post here at this blog. He sure may not have been the greatest president, but I think we can all agree his presidency stands out among them all. From the beginning he's had it rough. And it only got worse. Few things are certain: he led us through it all and kept us safe.

Vid from Allahpundit.

Sick and tired, but it's been fun. Thanks

2009-01-11T19:35:00.000-08:00

Both literally and figuratively. I can't seem to shake this cold. It seems that for every year I age, my colds tend to last another day or two and increase in severity. It's not like I don't take care of myself.

As for the figuratively part, and besides being busy the last, well, couple years, I've been anything but motivated to keep this blog going. I've gone from a couple of hits a day, to thousands a day, and well, now am lucky to get more than a hundred visitors a day. Not complaining, just pointing out that my stats reflect my effort.

I think I'm calling it quits for this blog. Not cold turkey, but this blog is pretty much done. I've got another idea in the works, and maybe will return full-time next year under a new blog with a new name. New everything. Maybe.

And it's not very often I agree with liberals like Greenwald, but he has a point. And in a way I'm glad (though he's not). Obama looks to be centering himself. Including the Democrats in Congress. I mean, imagine if the next presidency was going to act how the congressional Democrats did for the last 8 years? They were insane with flaming rage only to be fanned by their base. God forbid.

And that doesn't give the rightosphere much opportunity. I'm sure there will be, but for right now, the blogosphere is pretty quiet, and consequently boring. I've never been one to care much about local or regional politics, obscurities, or any other niche outside issues of national significance, so I won't be doing this again, for a while at least.

Thanks for reading.

We're all equal under the law...

2009-01-09T14:44:00.000-08:00

Unless you happen to be more equal:

A 17-year-old Sheboygan girl was charged Thursday with misdemeanor sexual assault for allegedly having sex with her 14-year-old boyfriend.

Norma J. Guthrie, of 1034-A Michigan Ave., was in court a day after a 17-year-old Sheboygan boy was charged with a felony for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old girlfriend.

Via Fark.

What's next, bomb Pakistan? Obama plans to talk to Hamas

2009-01-08T15:55:00.000-08:00

Via Drudge:

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon President Bush's doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas - which could be initiated through the US intelligence services - would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency's ostracising of the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp.

There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on in his administration, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.

Unless the Guardian is misinformed, this will be at the very least, interesting to see. I don't what opening up talks with someone who wants nothing less than the extermination of a key ally will get us. Probably a just pissed-off ally, and that's if we're lucky.

Environmentalists call police on... beavers

2009-01-08T13:42:00.000-08:00

Heh.

Iran shuts down paper for calling Hamas terrorists, skies blue...

2009-01-06T20:54:00.000-08:00

The shocking thing here, unfortunately, is that Iran even had a paper like this.

The Iranian press watchdog shut down leading reformist newspaper Kargozaran on Wednesday over publication of a piece criticising Palestinian militants, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Kargozaran has been banned over a media offence and the case has been referred to the court," Mohammad Parvizi, who is in charge of domestic media at the culture ministry, told IRNA.

He said the ban was ordered over "a piece yesterday which justifies the Zionist regime's crimes against humanity in Gaza and portrays the Palestinian resistance as terrorists who cause the deaths of children and civilians by taking up position in kindergartens and hospitals."

Via Reason.

Harry Reid denies Burris his seat

2009-01-06T11:39:00.001-08:00

Admittedly, I enjoy the Democrats engaging in circus acts to cover their ass, often to the point of doing more damage to themselves than had the metaphoric shit hit the fan anyway.

But I agree with Reid; any appointment by Blagojevich would be and should be opposed. I don't think race has anything to do with it, rather the little institutional integrity the Senate has left ought to be protected regardless of its racial make-up. It shouldn't be another victim of Chicago politics.

NBC, Ann Coulter. Update: suckered

2009-01-05T15:31:00.000-08:00

Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter writes a book about liberal bias in the news media and their preferential treatment of Obama. So NBC bans her. Oh, good heavens no, not for that!

For being critical of Obama.

~~Way to prove her thesis there boys~~.

So... she got rescheduled. Was this stunt Ann's doing alone, or was someone at NBC in on it? Drudge got played, or he was more than happy to be a part of it. Who cares?

Britain allows police to hack PCs... sans warrants

2009-01-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

I can't pretend to be shocked anymore, this is typical 21st century Britain.

THE Home Office has quietly adopted a new plan to allow police across Britain routinely to hack into people’s personal computers without a warrant.

The move, which follows a decision by the European Union’s council of ministers in Brussels, has angered civil liberties groups and opposition MPs. They described it as a sinister extension of the surveillance state which drives “a coach and horses” through privacy laws.

The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room.

Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging.

"...from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage..."

Krugman on how to fix this mess

2009-01-05T10:13:00.000-08:00

His article goes something like this:

Friedman was an idiot. Keynes was a genius.

Krugman's solution is basically to spend money like it's going out of style. I don't know. But I do know I liked Lewis and Einhorn's article better. Different focus, but similar points.

Heh

2009-01-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

That's funny.

Via HotAir

Question

2009-01-04T12:38:00.000-08:00

I thought we were against any and all things Blagojevich when that recording came to light. And an appointment by him to Obama's senate seat would be and should be opposed.

So now that it happens to be a black man, and that it's looking bad for Reid & co. we're all for it?

This is how the Right spends their time in Valley Forge.

New year, new objectives.

2009-01-03T21:54:00.000-08:00

Although for many, they may not be so new:

The simple fact is that people can be fellow travellers on a path that leads to liberty without all marching in ideological lock-step. It just boils down to asking the question "do you want the state to have less control over people's lives or more control?" If a person can honestly answer that they think the state is too powerful and needs to be reduced, that is a fellow traveller.

This is the time to apply that test to Republican politicians, every last one of them... and drive any who fail that simple test out of the party by whatever means necessary. Now is the time for a figurative internal 'Night of the Long Knives'. This is the opportunity to destroy a great many political careers and remake the Republican Party into the party of constitutionally limited government and to start fighting the culture war that the party should have been fighting since the day Ronald Reagan left office with his job only half done.

Big tent, core principles. It's as if such an idea is foreign to the Republican Party, given their behavior the past several years.

Miscellany

2008-12-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

A few things I just felt like sharing...

From the ultimate Bush-shoe incident collection:

I damn near fell out of my chair when I saw that one.

Absurd: "I went to the bank and got $56 worth of rolled pennies and went down to the court house and they refused to take it. They told me to bring cash..."

Predictable: NY governor really likes your money.

Whoa: George Tenet, closet Jew-hater?

Nuance: Separate, but equal?

Ending the embargo on Cuba, still doubtful I think.

Tasty: "[B]efore Rod Blagojevich got into politics he was a bookmaker on the North Side who regularly paid the Chicago mob to operate."

Heh.

2008-12-07T11:59:00.000-08:00

I wonder if it might be time for Amazon to crank up a computer-generated apology sincerely apologizing if you were offended by receiving the incorrect sincere apology.

Via Instapundit.

A Day of Infamy

2008-12-07T09:55:00.000-08:00

"Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."

The ultimate zombie gun?

2008-12-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

I don't know, looks like he needs to improve the bayonet activation time. But a chainsaw/AR combo would be nice in such dire situations. (link warning: addictive bloody time-waster game)

Oops

2008-12-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

So what's the penalty for the illegal use of thermal imaging? In this case probably nothing, unfortunately.

More .gov ridiculousness.

Happy Thanksgiving.

2008-11-27T14:07:00.000-08:00

Heh.

In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume

George Will thinks SCOTUS royally f*cked the happily ambiguous 2nd Amendment

2008-11-23T14:54:00.000-08:00

Whatever old man. You are losing it.

The Second Amendment says: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Until June, the question was: Is the right guaranteed to individuals and unconnected with military service, or guaranteed only to states as they exercise their right to maintain militias? The court held, 5-4, for the former view.

An obviously mentally impaired columnist then goes on to assert that without this ambiguity, state legislatures are now burdened with having to conform to some weird kind of 2nd Amendment that only has one true meaning, not the old tried and true what-the-hell-ever-we-want-it-to-mean, meaning.

And as Napoleon said (sort of), stupidity in politics is not really interesting.

For want of pity

2008-11-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

It's all around us.

California is now a valuable touchstone to the country, a warning of what not to do. Rarely has a single generation inherited so much natural wealth and bounty from the investment and hard work of those more noble now resting in our cemeteries—and squandered that gift within a generation. Compare the vast gulf from old Governor Pat Brown to Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. We did not invest in many dams, canals, rails, and airports (though we use them all to excess); we sued each other rather than planned; wrote impact statements rather than left behind infrastructure; we redistributed, indulged, blamed, and so managed all at once to create a state with about the highest income and sales taxes and the worst schools, roads, hospitals, and airports. A walk through downtown San Francisco, a stroll up the Fresno downtown mall, a drive along highway 101 (yes, in many places it is still a four-lane, pot-holed highway), an afternoon at LAX, a glance at the catalogue of Cal State Monterey, a visit to the park in Parlier—all that would make our forefathers weep. We can’t build a new nuclear plant; can’t drill a new offshore oil well; can’t build an all-weather road across the Sierra; can’t build a few tracts of new affordable houses in the Bay Area; can’t build a dam for a water-short state; and can’t create even a mediocre passenger rail system. Everything else—well, we do that well.

Change.gov "agenda" is back. Still wants your guns.

2008-11-15T17:31:00.000-08:00

From the office of the President-Elect:

Urban Policy...

Address Gun Violence in Cities: Obama and Biden would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent.

Don't worry, because he doesn't have the votes. Wait, what?

Here's a screenshot in case it inexplicably disappears, again.

New era.

2008-11-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

I'm not saying that's a good thing. But I think there are good things that come with an Obama presidency. For one, when you hear people shout things like Amerikkka!, they are now demonstrably full of shit.

I didn't sleep well last night, and I woke up this morning, went to the New York Times and fully expecting to see something that would make me ill, I saw in big bold blue letters O-B-A-M-A. I thought I would cringe. But I smiled. America did pick an underdog, a horrible underdog, but still. As if that was not enough, now the Times is pimping a blue map of the U.S.; almost every state voted more for Democrats than four years ago. Good for them. Doesn't bother me. John McCain was no inspiring conservative. Say what you want about who's to blame, but our voters stayed home last night. By contrast, Obama was inspiring to many, and his turnout reflects that. Now that I mention it, McCain was like Kerry, in terms of his inability to inspire.

Obama won on all fronts. That is inspiring even to a libertarianish conservative like me. With any luck, we can put up a worthy and formidable opponent in another four years. We need to start working on the groundwork for such a monumental task today.

Live Election Results. Update: PA goes for Obama. UPDATE: ABC, NBC, FOX calls OH for Obama

2008-11-04T15:14:00.000-08:00

Final update for this post: Iowa called for Obama. Looks like a big victory for Obama. I'm swallowing my anger, and there's plenty of it justifiably so, but if these projections are accurate, I congratulate Obama. But the truth squads, the bitter-clingy remarks, and the hubris better be nowhere insight after tonight. Or it's going to be a brutal four years.

Update 4: New Mexico called for Obama, Florida still not looking good for McCain so it's getting harder and harder for a McCain miracle.

UPDATE 3: ABC, NBC, and yes, FOX calls Ohio for Obama. If PA and OH are Obama's it's over for McCain. There is no realistic way to win, not even if McCain wins Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico. Then again, it's not over until it's over.

Update 2: Ohio and Florida are still not looking good for McCain. Frankly, even if McCain wins those two, good chance it will still hinge on Colorado. Iowa looks to go to Obama, but also an important state as things are now. I'm still keeping an eye on Pennsylvania as not many precincts have reported yet.. If PA changes to red, it's a whole new ballgame. But it's not looking good either.

Update: Obama gets all New England, and most networks have called PA for him as well, despite a complete lack of precinct reports. If that's true, McCain cannot afford to lose Florida AND Ohio, otherwise Obama safely wins with all his other solidly blue states. And Ohio is not looking good.

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Courtesy CBS News, these widgets will provide real time election results:

McCain or Obama?

2008-11-03T21:09:00.000-08:00

If you haven't made up your mind, God help you.