Dyre Portents The Rantings and Ravings of a Radical Moderate Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 3 7028

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Holiday Hiatus/Linkfest 2007-12-27 08:24:40 I have my son for winter break so I'll be on hiatus till the Iowa primaries. Until then, as my belated Christmas present to you, I present the holiday linkfest. Just leave your blogs title and address in the comments of this post and I'll put a link here (as long as it doesn't promote anything illegal, immoral, or light beer). Feel free to link back. ...

A Gentle Reminder 2007-12-27 00:38:21 If you itemized your deductions last year and owed the IRS money and plan on owing next year this week would be a good time to donate to your favorite charity. After all NGOs are normally much more efficient than the federal government. ...

One of These Things is Not Like the Others 2007-12-24 00:32:59 Nativity set plus a four year old equals:(Click picture to enlarge)Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold there came three wise men, a golem called Optimus Prime, and a pirate captain named Jack....The Gospel According to Mattel 2:1 ...

Torture and the '08 Elections 2007-12-20 19:33:02 I've talked a fair bit about torture here and it's greatly influenced my decision making as to who I'm going to vote for. Over at TMV David Schraub concludes that the entire election is about torture. And he's right in that we do need to have a national debate about torture in order to decide what America is. However I think that the point his title makes needs to be explored in a different manner. To me the questions about torture are an excellent barometer of any candidate's morales. Here's the way I see it. If you ask the question WWJD in regards to torture the answer is readily apparent. However many candidates seem to be at odds with the beliefs they claim they have and their position on torture. If they can't follow the dictates of their own faith how can we expect them to follow "lesser dictates" like international law or the Constitution (or even tell the truth consistently for that matter)? There has to be some minimum bar for morality in a president and sadly enough th ...

Glow Softly and Carry a Big Stick 2007-12-19 23:27:10 Tired of paying high electric bills but don't want your Redstate reading friends making fun of your solar panels? Thanks to the new Home Nuclear Reactor from Toshiba your fiscal conservatism can now be nuclear powered!From Wired:If we lived in a world where everyone was (a) smart and (b) trustworthy, Toshiba's micro-sized nuclear reactor, small enough to fit in the basement or a large shed, would be a slam-dunk solution to the energy/climate crisis. Twenty foot long by six foot wide, the reactors produce 200kW of energy and run themselves: the entire thing is manufactured with the fuel within, and when it runs out, they can just send a truck to pick it up."Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction. The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor core. The whole who ...

OMG They Killed Kenny! 2007-12-19 22:23:19 or Hentish as the case may be.Looks like Blackwater is back in the news yet again first it was the murder of Iraqi citizens, then it was for its employees allegedly gang raping a coworker and now they've shot the NY Times dog.From Reuters:BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. embassy in Iraq is investigating another deadly shooting incident involving its Blackwater bodyguards -- this time of the New York Times's dog. Staff at the newspaper's Baghdad bureau said Blackwater bodyguards shot Hentish dead last week before a visit by a U.S. diplomat to the Times compound. Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell said the dog had attacked one of Blackwater's bomb-sniffer dogs while a security team was sweeping the compound for explosives.At this rate the next salvo of negative press launched against Blackwater will involve children. I'm betting that it will eventually be alleged that Blackwater employees were either found running a sweatshop using forced child labor or that they were caught sellin ...

Court Strikes a Blow Against Excessive Secrecy 2007-12-18 08:49:33 And it'll be hard for the right wing noise machine to claim the presiding judge is judicial activist this time. Why? Because in order to do that they'd first have to admit that Reagan was wrong.From the AP:WASHINGTON (AP) — White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws and let them keep their guests a secret.The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration, which has fought the release of records showing visits by prominent religious conservatives.Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence remain Secret Serv ...

Ron Paul Beats Own Fundraising Record 2007-12-17 00:10:37 If the momentum keeps going at the current rate he'll crack eighteen million for the quarter by midnight pacific standard time.From the Boston Globe:On Nov. 5, supporters of Ron Paul raked in more than $4.2 million in donations in 24 hours, mostly of them collected over the Internet.Today, they're at it again. Hoping to detonate what they call a "money bomb," the supporters started fundraising at midnight Saturday and have already raised $2 million as of about 10:30 a.m. today, more than at this point on Nov. 5, according to figures they posted online. They hope to collect a total of $10 million by midnight Sunday.Last time, they tied their fundraising to Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates a British mercenary who tried unsuccesfully to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. This time, they're seizing on the 234th aniversary of the Boston Tea Party and converging on this snowy city to rally.The WaPo confirms that this money bomb has met its goal and adds that he is the only candidate to ... Ron Paul

New Jersey Abolishes Death Penalty 2007-12-14 00:29:32 Looks like NJ Dems were able to push it through using a fiscal responsibility argument.From the WaPo:NEW YORK, Dec. 13 -- New Jersey lawmakers on Thursday became the first in the nation to abolish the death penalty since the Supreme Court restored it in 1976. Opponents of capital punishment hope the state's action may prompt a rethinking of the moral and practical implications of the practice in other states.New Jersey's Democratic-controlled General Assembly voted 44 to 36 on Thursday to repeal the death penalty and replace it with life in prison without parole. The action followed a similar vote by the state Senate on Monday. Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat and a death penalty opponent, has said he will sign the legislation....The U.S. Supreme Court has effectively declared a moratorium on executions since it decided to take up in this term the question of whether lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. In recent decisions, the high court has narrowed the use of ...

Interview With Ron Paul at RCP 2007-12-13 00:42:41 Over at RCP John Stossel has posted his most recent interview which is of Ron Paul. Here are a few highlights:What should government do? Ron Paul: Protect our freedoms. Have a strong national defense. Look at and take care of our borders. Have a sound currency. That was the responsibility of the federal government, not to run our lives and run everything in the economy and extend the interstate-commerce clause and the general-welfare clause to do anything they want to do. So defense, the military, police forces enforce contracts, and that's about it? That's it. We would have a court system to enforce contracts, and when people do harm to others, when they take property or injure property, or pollute a neighbor's air, I think there's a role for government to protect our environment through private-property rights. So keep us safe, enforce contracts, run the courts, pollution rules and otherwise butt out? Leave us alone? Basically that, which would mean if I'm elected, ... Ron Paul

Donklephant Donation Drive 2007-12-12 23:30:13 Over at Donklephant Justin Gardner has started his first ever donation drive. The purpose? As Justin put it:A significant redesign that will look better, have more community features and enable us to offer you more content from sources like news feeds, video feeds and more.Change our hosting plan so the site is more secure and loads faster.Hire an admin to keep tabs on the site so we experience virtually no downtime.Expand the site to include subdomains about technology, business, entertainment and more. This way you can get more of the news that’s important to you all in one place.So please drop by and join me in hitting Justin's tip jar. Thanks. ...

Clinton's Plan B 2007-12-12 00:45:02 Looks like Clinton is taking Obama seriously enough to have a back up plan after Iowa.From the WaPo:MANCHESTER, N.H. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton's backup plan if she falters in Iowa can be summed up in two words: New Hampshire.Clinton's Democratic team is preparing television ads here criticizing Barack Obama's health care plan and working to build what campaigns call a firewall. If the Obama presidential campaign ignites in Iowa, she wants to be ready to cool him off in a state where her organization is strong and her support has proven durable.This past weekend, the Clinton campaign already had volunteers going door-to-door with fliers criticizing Obama on health care. Possible TV ads to run against him also have been previewed in the state.Advisers to the New York senator acknowledge there's been uneasiness as Obama has risen in national and several early state polls, including Iowa and New Hampshire. But they insist their master blueprint emphasizing Clinton's experience, toughn ...

The Truth About Hunting 2007-12-12 00:38:59 Over at The American Thinker they have a highly interesting interview with Frank Miniter a senior editor of Outdoor Life magazine and also the executive editor of American Hunter magazine who recently wrote The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting. In the interview he addresses some of the most common myths about hunting:Miniter: Many nonhunters think hunters are simply bloodthirsty. I dare any nonhunter who feels that way to go to a hunting club, lodge, or hunting show and meet hunters, or simply to read a hunting magazine. If they do they'll find that hunters care deeply about our natural resources. I'm a bird-watcher, hiker, kayaker, wildlife photographer, and yes, hunter.Another underlying myth about hunting is that if you don't hunt, eat meat, or wear leather products you are somehow beyond reproach. This myth falls apart when you realize that every farmer-and this goes double for small organic farms-has to control wildlife populations lethally in order to have crops left t ...

Clinton Losing Lead in SC Polls 2007-12-06 23:24:46 She's down to within the margin of error against Obama.From Rasmussen Reports:New York Senator Hillary Clinton’s lead over Illinois Senator Barack Obama in South Carolina’s Presidential Primary has disappeared. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the race shows Clinton with 36% of the vote while Obama is the top choice for 34% of the state’s Likely Primary Voters....... Obama’s showing has improved significantly among black voters. He now attracts 51% of the African-American vote in South Carolina while Clinton picks up just 27%. A month ago, the candidates were even in this important constituency (Obama 46%, Clinton 45%). There is virtually no movement among white voters in the state--Clinton now earns 43% of the white vote, Edwards 22%, and Obama 17%. In the South Carolina survey, African-Americans constitute 49% of Likely Democratic Primary voters. The poll also notes that Huckabee is in the lead on the GOP side. Not at all surprising given the state in ques ...

Clinton Campaigner Swiftboated Obama 2007-12-06 00:55:09 Looks like a Clinton county chairperson was circulating some of those emails the WaPo mentioned last week.From TPM Election Central:A day after the Hillary campaign hit the Obama camp for bullying voters in nasty phone calls, the Hillary crew has just acknowledged that an Iowa county chair volunteering for the campaign passed along the now-notorious email that smears Obama as a Muslim by repeating the false claim that he attended a madrassa as a child. The Hillary campaign confirms that they are asking the county chair to step down from the campaign.What Hillary and her campaigners don't realize is that as long as Obama is publicly perceived as taking the high road they are going to have to play chess with him instead of fighting the usual mud slinging war. I think he's realized that he can't beat Hillary toe to toe in a slugfest and is trying to force her to play a more subtle game. If she doesn't adapt her tactics her current strategy will work against her. She'll be perceived ...