Say Anything Blog

I don’t know that putting parachutes on bears and sending them after bin Laden would work but I guess we won’t really know until we try.

The Who was pretty good for a bunch of old codgers and I’m happy to report that Pete Townsend’s nipple remained covered at all times.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss…so true.

Ezra Klein points to this.

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary “blanket hold” on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

That might slow down the confirmation process a bit…I wonder what his beef is?

According to the report, Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else:

- A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: “Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.” Federal Times offers more details on the tanker deal, and also confirms its connection to the hold.

- An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: “[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won’t build” the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based “at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.”

Well…I suppose a Senator should look out for his state’s interests but is holding up the nominating process really the way to go about it?

As a U.S. Senator, I believe that the review of judicial nominations is one of the most important responsibilities of the Senate, and I firmly believe that each of the President’s nominees should be afforded a straight up-or-down vote. I do not think that any of us want to operate in an environment where federal judicial nominees must receive 60 votes in order to be confirmed. To that end I firmly support changing the Senate rules to require that a simple majority be necessary to confirm all judicial nominees, thus ending the continuous filibuster of them.

Obstructionism. Pork barreling. Hypocrisy. Not the first time and not the last time I’m sure but worthy of note if only because the Senator succeeds in cobbling together such a neat and tidy package.

Instead of automatically fingering GOP activists, perhaps we should be digging a little deeper.

Irresponsible speculation? I put it to the reader that it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

PETA protester gets pie in face.

Despite the Republican victory in Massachusetts’ special election, the Democratic party still holds the White House and majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The victory does afford the Republicans the opportunity to use the filibuster or, more properly, the threat of the filibuster, in order to thwart the passage of Democratic legislation. Life is harder for the majority, no doubt about it, but for the life of me I don’t understand the angst and all of the wailing from the governing party and its supporters. If the opposition party uses the rules of government to slow down the legislative process then it is incumbent on the governing party to use the rules of government to maintain legislative progress. Just as the filibuster has evolved from the days of reading the phone book aloud on the chamber floor to today’s less physically demanding incarnation, so too can other mechanisms such as reconciliation for example.

If a majority party refuses to behave as a majority party then it doesn’t deserve its majority status and will surely lose it when it next faces the electorate. The ability of the Republican Senate to get stuff done despite its smaller majority demonstrates that where’s there’s a will there’s a way. The angst that I hear and read suggests to me that perhaps the Democratic party simply doesn’t have the will, in which case the GOP will be back in the driver’s seat sooner than anybody thought possible.

What do you do when the airline breaks your guitar and refuses to make good? You make a video which has more than 6 million hits on Youtube!

h/t Ken Levine

I’ve just finished reading a fascinating and most insightful post at the American Footprints blog, the gist of which is that America must remain true to its founding ideals in its battle against jihadism. Author Eric Martin relays thoughts surrounding the factors driving and impeding jihadist recruiting in the Islamic community and the example that American jurisprudence sets for people all over the world, especially in the case of potential jihadists.

It is the best piece I’ve read in a while and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

We tried this one in grade 7 but it didn’t work.

http://smartfootball.com/grab-bag/exactly-how-they-drew-it-up

Let the explosion of heads commence! I honestly think this is a pretty strange pick given Obama’s brief tenure and lack of achievements in the peace arena but it is an interesting comment on how many in the World have been viewing the development of American foreign policy over the past decade.

I had a good laugh at this video linked by Jonathan Turley. The clip is from the Canadian tv program, Just For Laughs Gags.

I’ve been poking fun at those who complained about Obama’s speech to the school children of America to be delivered tomorrow. Having skimmed through the text which was posted earlier today, I didn’t find anything too controversial…stay in school, work hard, expect a lot from yourself and your teachers, etc. It wasn’t until I recorded myself delivering the speech aloud and then playing it backwards that I fully comprehended the evil genius that is Barrack Obama.

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it.

became PROPERTY IS THEFT! YAH YAH YAH.

That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education –and to do everything you can to meet them.

became FOLLOW THE ONE! OBAMA ALONE KNOWS. OH BABY OH BABY

So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do.

became INITIATIVE AND SELF-RELIANCE ARE FOR DOPES! JOIN THE FAMILY. DO WAH DOH DOH.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

became GUNS ARE BAD! RAISE TAXES! LOVE THE U.N.

Shocking stuff and all the more insidious because so many will simply riff off of the written text or a conventional listen to the words. I scoffed at those who predicted this and I was wrong. I have learned the lesson that paranoid ranting and the nutzoid echo chamber are truly in the eye and the ear of the beholder.

They’re on the agenda according to Jerome Corsi writing on World Net Daily. Although the bill apparently doesn’t specifically include the camps, the vague language contained therein opens the door to their use by any regime fascist enough to do so.

Is the John Birch Society still around?

It had me wondering.