Lawyers? Are Heroes?!

The guy in the White House has sparked something quite a bit larger than the tea party. And he's only been at it a week.

His "Muslim Ban," hugely part of his campaign, is going down before judges, protesters, and hopefully Congress now that we have enough Senate Republicans (McCain, Graham, Flake, at least) to reign it in.

What surprised me the most was the crowds cheering . . . the lawyers! Now, that's something you don't see every day!

Sarah Palin: Platitudinal Incoherence

Sarah Palin rambled in to Iowa this last weekend for the Iowa Freedom Summit. It's where early conservative hopefuls for President try to look good (not appear as total idiots) to gain support for the Iowa Caucus. Sarah gave a speech. This would be really funny if nearly half of America hadn't voted for her to be a heartbeat away. I'm still accepting apologies. Anyone?

John McCain, you have a lot to answer for. This never-ending disaster is of your creation. It negates all the good things you've done now and then that I actually supported (anti-torture, Bush plan on immigration - when you were on that, maybe some others if you give me a week).

I listened to the whole speech. If you can't take that, just listen to two minutes of this video. Any two minutes:

Why I Trust John McCain on Torture

He knows.

This is posted in the best effort to learn from the past. I'm not sure we have, so we need these reminders. Fortunately, John McCain, victim of North Vietnamese torture, is still in the Senate and can rebut most of those in his Republican Party who try to excuse or justify the use of torture by the United States. (OK, if you're still unsure whether "water-boarding = torture" I hope you can at least admit that anal forced-feeding is.)

Please, President Obama, No More Crusades!

Anonymous D expressed some hard truths the other day:

Getting tired of the "Obama threw away victory in Iraq" thing. There was never "victory" in Iraq. The conservatives, neo-cons and Fox News enthusiasts who blew up the world never admit to the mess they made--That it can never be put back together again--That the idea that democracy would flourish in this region was simply not true. It's a nice rhetorical device to blow something up and then blame the guy after you for not being able to fix it.

Let's face it,  Iraq will require a 50 to 75 year commitment. It will eat up men, women, and treasure. That should have been stated up front instead of 10,000 men or whatever the Neo-Cons thought. We will be there long after we're dead, and probably our children.

Mayor of the Munchkin City STILL Not King of the Senate

Senator (Not King) Mike Lee

Mayor of the Munchkin City

So our old friend, Senator Mike Lee, has been hanging around with a bad crowd. Pretty soon they'll whisk him away to Pleasure Island where he'll be smoking cigars, playing pool, drinking beer, and turning into a donkey. (If only). His best friends from the Senate are Tea-Party Ted Cruz and Ayn-Rand Paul. These guys are getting schooled by the Senate's Elder Statesman,. John McCain. (OK, if that last line is true then we're in big trouble.) But the best part was when Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, said on the Senate Floor this week:

New Honor Roll - Immigration

We'll try our hope again for bipartisan progress in the U.S. Senate. The "Gang of Eight" has presented its Immigration Reform compromise. My source this time is abcnews.go.com as I have given up on CNN for their very poor and irresponsible reporting on the Boston Marathon Massacre. At least they're not the unmentionable rag-piece from New York that ends in "Post."

Anyway, I have a new honor roll of potential statesman-like Senators. Interestingly, some of the same names appear on both lists. Most prominently is the repeat of failed presidential candidate, John McCain, who used to support such reasonable compromises - even on Immigration Reform - until he fell in with that bad crowd playing to the bottom of the Republican base. The same group that did in Mitt Romney.

Senator Lee Schooled by Former Home Teacher

The Senate voted 68-31 for cloture on the tea party senators' latest grandstanding attempt to filibuster any gun legislation. That's sixteen (!) Republicans! Majority Leader Reid sent his most conservative Dem, Sen. Manchin of W. Virginia, to negotiate with one of the most bendable blue-state tea-partiers, Sen. Toomey of Pennsylvania. This helps establish the Constitutional principle that the Senate is a masterfully designed political body made up of scores of prima donnas. And that's a good thing.

The honor roll of Republicans (in respectful blue, this vote only) is as follows:

Live-Blogging Republicans (Wed.)

This isn't even as much fun as the debates. I don't know how long I can tough it out.

I will make the commitment that in watching the Democratic Convention next week (there is no "Democrat" convention by the way), I will try really hard to call out their errors. I admit my preferences, but I will take off my blinders. And for heaven's sake, I hope they don't pound the dog on the car theme like the Republicans are pounding how they "built it." (At least the dog story is true unlike the manipulation of the President's words even if inartfully expressed.)

Well, I'd better get to blogging. John McCain is up. He just called Governor Romney his friend.

Dontcha Hate It When I'm Right?

Palin says she's not running for President. And as a final blow from the liberal, lame-streamers, Steve Jobs, the Thomas Edison of the iPod, dies and steals her headlines.

"Buh-bye!"

Sarah Palin's Big Speech

Not yet scheduled, but as I have long predicted, Sarah will one day give the big speech announcing she will not seek the Republican nomination. I thought I would get my draft out there in case she wants to use it.

(With many, many apologies to Sirs Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber)

A hush falls on the crowd as figures are seen on the balcony of the Casa Ice-ada. The the cry goes up from the crowd! "PALIN, PALIN, PALIN!" The voices of women and children rise to take over the chant, "Sarita, Sarita, SARITAAAAAAA!"

Republicans Need Better Issues

Sure, the economy and deficit need to be addressed. I'm just not sure how to trust the party of "deficits don't matter.*" But moving on from those challenging and controversial issues which are certainly enough for a healthy political debate in the upcoming campaign - as in "Where are the jobs, Congress?" I would like to propose that the Republicans come up with some better issues, or at least better arguments.

No. 1. End the silliness about Obama being a socialist. He's proved in the past couple of years that he is rather moderate in the main-stream of American politics. The more they make noise with the socialist/fascist/communist/Kenyan/Muslim business - none of which is true, they make others wonder if there's not something else about this historically unique president that troubles them. Or they just may fall into the "stupid" trap like the donald just did.

Sarah Palin Fair and Balanced

A friend with Alaskan connections referred me to a very good article by Joshua Green from the Atlantic. My friend said that it is very accurate as to how Alaskans thought of her before the 2008 campaign and how she is perceived now. What I really liked about this article was the even-handed treatment supporting my philosophy that there is good and bad in everybody. I admit I've been a little harsh on her, but I have my reasons.

Live-Blogging the State of the Union

[Now that I have a little more experience in managing my blogging, I am consolidating these posts on my live-blogging the State of the Union, Tuesday, January 25, 2011.]

I'm already 3 points up.  Justice Alito won't be there, Dems and Repubs are sitting together, and Daniel Hernandez will be sitting with the First Lady!

We're going to give live-blogging a try.  No one may care, but here goes!