YES!

Bush nominates Alito. My personal favorite would have been Janice Rogers Brown, but Alito is a good solid pick at first glance. Via Hewitt, here's some of his opinions.

Thank you, Mr. President. Now, if you could just whip out that veto pen for some of Congress' little pork projects...I guess it's just wishful thinking to expect that from a 'compassionate' conservative.

Update: Michelle Malkin, as usual, has the best roundup of reactions.

Here's a really good profile in (yep) the NY Times. Alito is all Jersey style, from Hamilton, which is close to our place of residence. More here.

Alito: "Judges should be judges. They shouldn't be legislators, they shouldn't be adminstrators." I'm doing a jig now.

No Rock for You

With the departure of Howard Stern to satellite radio, K-ROCK in NYC is moving to an all-talk format (with David Lee Roth being their headliner?). This means that the biggest radio market in the US is not going to have a single - not one - station playing new rock (there is one classic rock station).

I don't really care, everybody knows the best rock radio around these parts is WMMR in Philly.

The Libby Indictment

Some perspective from Wizbang. I like how he says Libby is being indicted for lying about how he told the truth about a liar.

I tell you what, if I ever have to testify before a grand jury, I'm not saying a word. If you don't say anything, you can't be accused of lying.

Misplaced Priorities

Sen. Coburn of OK wanted to transfer funding for a Japanese garden at the CDC ($60 million) over to providing drugs for folks with HIV. Here's the story.

Basically, Senators look stupid. Good move by Coburn. Sad to say, both NM senators (and one NJ, Corzine is here running for gov.) voted against Coburn.

Via Instapundit.

Sulu

is gay. Unsurprisingly, he is also into theater.

Wasn't he always flirting with Uhura? Or maybe they were just being girls...

Stu Pidassle

Maybe we're taking this a little too far...

From the great FARKster...

Didn't you guys solve this on a cabin trip?

Maybe that was a ladder...

Bridge to Nowhere

Bush Admin vs. CIA (Round 2)

Who do you think will win? If the last paragraph of this article rings true, it should be one helluva fight. One thing that gets me... why did Libby choose someone from the Times? Why not someone from the W-Post or WSJ?... Why not Novak himself? Just because Miller had published stories about WMD in the past, it made her a loyalist?...

Good

Withdrawn.

Brown, Luttig, McConnell, Alito, etc. please. Don't screw it up again.

Racist Astros

No wonder the Astros are losing - they're racist pigs! According to Joe Morgan, they have no blacks on the team!

My eyes are lying to me, or I guess this doesn't count. Or this. Or this. Apparently, "black" means "African American". The Astros are so racist that they single out blacks of American ancestry!

But wouldn't that then make them some other "ist"? Like "culture-ist"?

Man, I bet I'm so many "ists" that I don't even know about. Good thing I have liberals to tell me what I am.

World Cup next year!

I can't remember correctly but I think Tim and I of all the people on this list are the only soccer fans I believe. Maybe Erick too. In that note, what do you think of next year? Who'll take it all, etc. I'm surprised 4 out of the 5 African teams are brand new this year, could produce another Cameroon 90 or Senegal 02 (underdawgs going far).....It's the usual crowd from North America as well as South (unless if Australia beats Uruguay which I think they can and should). Usual crowd from Asia as well except for Iran instead of China this year - like a rehash of 98.

Most people will predict the usual Brazil to take it all, but I just can't see it. I can't see a team being in the finals 3 consecutive World Cups.....teams I can really see take it all would be either France, England (although they tend to choke in Playoff stages), Holland, or perhaps Argentina. But I'd solely say a tossup of either France or Holland. I don't think Japan or South Korea will go far as they did in 2002. Homefield goes a long way, and now they're in Europe. I'd be surprised if they can make it to the Rd of 16 (but really, it'll all depend on the group drawing).

United States should do well IAOI (if and only if) they get a good draw. If they get stuck with a group that has 2 exceptional teams, I can't see them advancing. Personally, United States got lucky in 2002. If Portugal had only tied South Korea (they had so many shots "called back" and 2 hit the crossbar), the US would've never advanced....then they played Mexico instead of Italy in the Rd of 16. Don't get me wrong, I think the US has VASTLY improved since the 90s, but until they beat a "big" team this coming World Cup (any of these would do for me: Argentina, Brazil, France, Italy, England, Holland, Germany), they're still just that "good team." I admit, I was stunned when they beat Portugal and tying South Korea (IN Korea) in 2002.....but they went on to lose to....Poland?

I'm paying attention to other sports as well (particularly football and basketball), but usually around fall of a year before the World Cup is when I become soccer attentive. That being....now.

Oh, is it true Gov Richardson is refunding NM residents for gas prices? I heard about that.

A Preview of the Miers Hearings

I saw this last week, but it's so funny I needed to link to it.

A Must Read..

Marvin Laird's take on the lessons we must apply to keep this war from being "another Vietnam."

It's a long article, but probably one of the most important statements we as Americans should review and be mindful of as it comes down to 'crunch time' in Iraq...

TPTC Biblioteca?

What do y'all think of starting an internet library? I'll make a list of my books at home and post them as a comment, then others can do the same. If someone wants to read a book, either e-mail or post a request here and the owner will send it by mail. Postage should balance itself out if we're all borrowing.

Just a thought. I've seen several books I'd like to read lately, but didn't want to buy them or wait for weeks for the library to call me.

Affirmative Action Time

for boys. I can't wait to take advantage of my new "oppressed group" status.

I wonder why the 43-57 gender gap on college campi wasn't evident at Tech? Heh, don't answer that.

Ah, so there's a term for it now

A while back our little blog here was inundated with a spam like substance, what a mess. I felt like throwing up and then punching the screen. Fortunately, Muztan noticed a procedure to verify comments and we've been golden since. I recently learned that this albatross, even worse than spam now has a name itself, splog...

Bono: "I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people"

Via Drudge...I guess the AP writer left out the rest of his comment: "I'm actively campaigning for a Nobel Peace Prize to help convince myself of my own moral superiority"...what a jackass.

Reverse Psychology

I knew it! I knew if I remained pessimistic about the Astros winning the NLCS that they would actually win it! See, I let my guard down in Game 5, thinking Lidge had the game sealed up with one strike to go and began celebrating - and then Pujols (IMO the best hitter in the game right now) dashed it all to bits. Last night I remained pessimistic until the final fly ball. So finally after so many agonizing years of watching Rangers and Astros baseball, the World Series is coming to Texas. Eeeeeeexcelent.

Hero of the series: Phil Garner - he outmaneuvered one of the best in baseball (La Russa). Or maybe Chad Qualls, who pitched I don't know how many innings of perfect setup relief.

Now I get ready to watch them lose the World Series (wink, wink....)

Chumpsky's Trust Fund...

See!

Everyone's a capitalist... Though he really is a capitalist pig.

Timdido?

You going? If so, I'm jealous. Saw Coulter earlier this year but me thinks this would be more informative, although not as entertaining.

Teachers make $250,000/yr in 2025...

...according to US economic productivity trends. How come we don't hear about this from our economists? Instead all we get is ramble about the deficit.

Slick Dick?

Hmm... I always wondered what caused Mr. Morris' estrangement with the Clinton's. Here is an interesting possibility.

Breaking News: Man Insignificant

Heh.

This is terrible news!

We're going to have all these half-breed race mongrels running around the country! Wait, what? Are you pointing at me?

The well-played violin

A most compelling article from Accuracy in Media of the roots of Islamic radicalism and their common bond with the MSM of hatred of Judeo-Christianity. I believe we should all examine the Qur'an and decide for ourselves such a heavily consequential issue. Our (global) attitude towards it may decide the fate of humanity.

The article is followed by a rare examination of the brainwashers of Cindy Sheehan and their ties to violence in communist countries.

I don't know about this...

vote-by-phone? Seems like it's open to fraud.

This can't be good

Filipino spy in the White House. He was on the Bice Fresident's stapp.
Fellow FilAm Michelle Malkin has a lot more.

I second that...

emotion on the new nomination of Harriet Miers to SCOTUS. I'll wait for the legal minds to pronounce judgment before really deciding how I feel, but right now it kinda seems like an "affirmative action" pick, if you know what I mean - a real weaselly way of avoiding his chance to shape the Supreme Court.

Update: Yep, disappointment reigns in the conservative blogosphere, especially at Powerline, where Paul writes:

I was hoping that, because this is Bush's second term, he would thumb his nose at the diversity-mongers and appoint the best candidate. He thumbed his nose all right, but at conservatives.

They rightly agree that she might have an originalist judicial philosophy, but we don't know that. Right now, it seems she was picked because a) she's a woman and b) she is a Bush insider. Hugely disappointing - I find it harder to defend this President with every new decision.

It's not all long faces though - Hugh Hewitt sees a silver lining, but I think it's pretty thin. He says that Bush's pick was primarily about the GWOT and the current political climate - I think that's a ridiculous criteria for selecting SCOTUS justices. You should never nominate someone to a position like that based on a single issue. He also says:

As I wrote last night, Judges Luttig and McConnell are the most qualified nominees out there, but I think from the start that the president must have decided that this seat would be given to a woman, and it is very hard to argue that she is not the most qualified woman to be on the SCOTUS for the simple reason that she has been in the White House for many years.

I think that's BS. You should nominate the most qualified person regardless - that's what a conservative would do. And why does "being in the White House for many years" qualify anybody for the SCOTUS? Does that mean Hillary's eight years as a de facto White House counsel qualify her for the SCOTUS more than, say, Janice Rogers Brown, who has none?

Lt. Gen. Patraeus at Princeton

Tigerhawk reports. I missed it (and also Secretary Chertoff's talk) because, well, I'm a grad student. Those experiments won't run themselves! Needless to say, it's good reading, primarily because it gets into all the details that the MSM should be reporting but doesn't - either because it's boring or because it could be seen as positive coverage of the war.
Best part was that Gen. Patraeus quoted TE Lawrence - just because Lawrence of Arabia is one of my favorite movies. It's relevant, so I'll post it also:

We believed what TE Lawrence said: “Do not try to do too much with your own hands. Better the Arabs do it tolerably than that you do it perfectly. It is their war, and you are to help them, not win it for them."

Yep.

Why isn't this getting attention?

Suicide bombing in Oklahoma. Via LGF.
Update: Turns out he was really only a suicide bomber - some guy with mental problems.
More Update: A lot of unanswered questions, including ties to an Islamic center in Norman, so who knows at this point. Hopefully we find out.

Repubs: Power or Principle?

I missed this great editorial from the WSJ yesterday, which really gets to the heart of what has got me depressed about the GOP of late. The Dems seem to think now (given their recent actions towards DeLay) that it was the ethics problems of Rosty and Wright that swept Repubs to power, when in fact it was really the new ideas that Repubs were espousing. However, Repubs seem to be more interested now in just holding power:

The path back to public approval, and re-election next year, is to return to their principles ... It's not as if the agenda that Republicans ran on in 2004, or for that matter 1994, has been fulfilled. The question is whether Republicans still believe in that agenda, or whether their main ambition now is simply to stay in power. If a year from now voters continue to believe the answer is the latter, no amount of money or muscle will save Republicans at the polls.

My depressions stems from, for the lack of a better comparison, what I see as the conflict between the Fascists and the Commies during the '30s - two groups that stand for basically the same thing but are merely jockeying for power. It's not a perfect comparison because the GOP does still have core principles that are diametrically opposed to the Dems, but they certainly haven't been acting according to those principles. If it weren't for the Democrats terrible stance on the GWOT and interest in legislating power thru the judiciary (I give Bush much credit for the Roberts nomination, and he'll go up many points if he nominates a Luttig or McConnel or Brown), I'd probably withdraw from politics altogether.

Judith Miller Freed

Powerline asks all the right questions regarding why she wasn't freed earlier - everyone suspected she was protecting another source but who was it? Some thought another reporter, or maybe Joe Wilson himself. But the interesting bit is at the bottom of the post - she could have been doing it to ward off negative publicity surrounding a case in which she screwed up by "warning" a Muslim charity about an impending search warrant's enforcement.

If you weren't a news junkie dork over the summer, you should read Tom Maguire, since he's done a lot of writing and speculation on this matter. I like Mark Steyn for the Cliffs Notes version since he's such a great writer.