Winner's Curse
Milwaukee "bucked" the odds and nabbed themselves the #1 pick in the NBA lottery. While general manager Larry Harris is grinning from ear to ear I dread what they will do with the pick. The consensus #1 choice is Utah center Andrew Bogut. Let me be blunt: he's a big, slow, white guy. The Bucks have experience with drafting big, slow, white guys. Remember Randy Breuer? I've seen Bogut play a few games in post-season this year. He didn't impress me as a #1 pick. He could pass the ball a little and get rebounds, but he he blended in too much. I'm already declaring Bogut another Luc Longley (also from Australia) and Bryant "Big Country" Reeves. The Bucks should be very willing to trade down and take Arizona's Channing Frey and a veteran. Let someone else be the first pick sucker.
The Dust Settles on the Compromise
A day has pasted since the filibuster deal, and I'm still not ticked. All the deal did was end the fight temporarily. Democrats could start up another filibuster as soon as they felt "extraordinary circumstances" existed. Then Republicans could call the deal off. Sen. Graham said,
One of the major elements of the deal makes clear that if one of my seven Democratic colleagues decides to filibuster in the future because of an 'extraordinary circumstance,' I retain the right to vote for a rules change. It's my hope we never get to that point.
The result is three nominees get a vote, and Senate tradition still stands. That's better than getting no nominees a vote and possibly seeing a political disaster with the "nuclear option" losing because of Republicans.
What we do know is both parties' Senate leadership are quite weak. Neither Sens. Frist nor Reid have a firm grasp on their caucuses. I wonder if this show of strength by the "Filibuster 14" will move beyond the judicial battle.
"About that Filibuster Compromise..."
UPDATE: As this Cox & Forkum cartoon demonstrates Senate Democrats may turn trivial things into "extrodinary circumstances." It will require some intestinal fortitude by all Republican Senators. But that was needed anyway before the compromise. This will really come to a head when President Bush makes his first Supreme Court nomination that replaces a liberal justice.
New King's X
Very, very cool. New King's X! This is really, really cool! Don't believe me? Listen to "Alone."
I've loved the band since high school. They are a power trio in the vein of Rush. These guys I've meet on www.chaturbaterooms.com can all sing, love harmonies, feel the funk, and never felt the need to make 20-minute sci-fi rock pieces.
They've been off major lables for some time. When with Atlantic they mesmerised me with Gretchen Goes to Nebraska and Faith, Hope, Love. A lot of people really like the emotional heft and darkness of Dogman. (Me, I'm a sucker for their vocal harmonies.) Please Come Home...Mr. Bulbous was psychedelic but with emotional depth. Their most recent studio album Black Like Sunday had a few good songs, but it was strickly for the hard-core King's X fan. (The songs were ones lying around from the 80s.) I can't say anything about their double-CD live album because I still don't have it. Their new album Ogre Tones comes out 09.27. Now, if you're really gung-ho the band is selling a demo CD from their Dogman sessions.
When the Levee Breaks
With Katrina moving slightly to the east when it came ashore yesterday, I figured New Orleans lucked out again by not getting a direct hit by a powerful hurricane. Storm surges flooded the east, but today the levees broke engulfing 80% of the city. The beloved French Quarter with her old, romantic buildings is two feet underwater. It can't be good when so much of the city is underwater. Survivors are being sent to the already-damaged Superdome. Where they'll go next no one knows. To make matters worse, looters now roam. Local officals want martial law imposed. Yikes!
I've already donated to the Red Cross. I hope you will too. If you want to give to another charity the California Yankee has a list. Please give. Let's release one of the most power forces on earth: American charity. It helped tsunami victims last year, and it will help our fellow Americans right now. If you're tapped out or can't give you can always pray.
Anderson Cooper isn't the only television infotainment idiot. Add Fox News Channel's Steve Harrigan to the list. He proves that just because you have a Ph.D. it doesn't mean you're smart. I saw the moron standing at an angle toward Hurricane Katrina's high winds while talking about how Mississippi officials were telling people to just start driving north for safety. Harrigan isn't smart enough to heed the advice he told his jasmine live audience. What drove him to shelter was a piece of debris that almost hit him. He said he was taking cover but would be back out in an hour. Either Harrigan needs some extra dough and is getting hazzard pay from FNC or Katrina is his stupid way of dealing with his "adrenalitis."
Judicial Grandstanding
The Supreme Court again refusing to take up Terri's case isn't surprising. Nothing has really changed to get them to get involved. I'm ticked at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who gave Terri Schiavo's parents false hope. The court agreed to consider taking up the case only to issue a ruling against it 15 hours later. James Joyner calls the court's actions "incredibly cruel."
The court gave the Schindlers a glimmer of hope because Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. wanted to scold politicians. He wrote,
Oh please! Maybe Congress and the President overstepped their constitutional bounds, and maybe they didn't. Since Judge Birch didn't feel the need to declare the late night, emergency legislation unconstitutional that question is up for grabs. As Captain Ed puts it, "Talk about judicial arrogance!" And at a grieving family's expense.
The Reason Behind Operation: Full Court Press
MSNBC's Brock Meeks missed the boat on the border patrol's new effort to stop illegals from coming into Arizona from Mexico. There's plenty of material on what the border patrol will do and whether it will be successful, but Meeks misses the reason why "Operation: Full Court Press" [NOTE: Homeland Security needs to borrow those military people who make cool operation names like "Operation: Iraqi Freedom."] started this week. The Minuteman Project starts Friday. Washington heard the "airhorn." Bryan Preston also thinks the MS-13 threat against Minuteman participants may also have something to do with the personel boost.
Will Operation: Full Court Press stop citizens from patroling the border? No, because one operation won't immediately win back trust.
"U.S. Agency Poised for Big Border Security Operation" [via InTheBullpen]
Some Balance
Next month, the National Press Club will be having a discussion asking "Who is a Journalist?" One of the invitees is Jeff Gannon. Originally scheduled to appear with the lame, conservative reporter were Ana Marie Cox, and John Stanton of Congress Daily. Due to the outcry of some MSM reporters more people were added for "diversity" and "balance." Now, Jim Drinkard of USA Today (who has never been seriously questioned about his role in the Rather memo flap), Garrett Graff of Fishbowl D.C., and Matthew Yglesias have been added. Yglesias says the NPC is asking a stupid question. He's "uncomfortable" but attending. Balance and diversity in the minds of the National Press Club means having a third-rate conservative versus five Lefties or to be generous, non-conservatives. What, Mark Tapscott or Bob Cox weren't available or couldn't find any conservative for the Live sex panel?
UPDATE: How dumb does this Homeland Security spokesman think we are?
Snoozer of a Night
Some, but not much valuable television time went to the convention tonight. I flipped on Sen. Frist, then flipped to The World Series of Poker.
Then I stumbled upon Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Breast cancer research is important, but backing Bush because he's for such research pales to the importance of winning the Islamist War. That got tiring so it was off to catch some Brewers baseball.
Then it was back to catch some of Ahhnold! (I think you're required to say his name in a unique way. Just like whenever you mention the death metal band Slayer, you must say "SLAAAYER!") His "then you are a Republican" passage was great and inclusive. All his movie quotes were hokey, but people eat that stuff up. Then it was back to the Brewers game (they finally won!).
Then back to the RNC to catch the Bush twins. They were hot, but told lame jokes with bad timing, and voices perfect for print. Did the organizers actually let the ladies write their own jokes? Or the minor league speech writing team was at work. I'll give them some credit. The hamster quip was ok.
Then it was back to more poker and baseball. I did without Laura Bush tonight. Like a Vice President, the First Lady, no matter how nice and sweet she appears, doesn't matter in my political calculus. They never win an election, but can hurt it--just ask Teresa Heinz Kerry. In the post-game coverage, Chris "Keeping it clean" Matthews once again had nothing bad to say about the Republicans. The GOP is doing their job.
Battleground Wisconsin
According to a Rasmussen poll, President Bush is head of Sen. John Kerry 48%-45%. We're getting to the point where polls actually start to mean something. This is good news for Bush. He narrowly lost the Badger state in 2000, but it has a few trends going his way. Even though the state has a Democratic governor and two Democratic Senators, Wisconsinites lived under a popular Republican governor, Tommy Thompson, for 16 years. We're not afraid to vote R. Second, recent scandals have helped Republicans. Two years ago, the liberal-dominated (yet non-partisan) Milwaukee County Board approved a budget-busting pension plan for county workers. This caused such firestorm that a number of county supervisors and the county executive were recalled and replaced with Republican or more conservative people. The Democratic State Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager was arrested for drunk driving and fined for improper use of a state vehicle.
There's an air of stink around the Democrats, but that won't be enough for strong Bush bashers. Winning Wisconsin will come down to GOTV--Get Out The Vote. In the past the Democrats have played this game extremely well. However, the GOP is mounting their biggest GOTV drive yet. It began last spring with training sessions and calling known Bush supporters. It has continued with finding places for lawn signs and working parades and fairs. The Dems are working hard in Madison and Milwaukee. The Republicans are working in the Milwaukee suburbs and the Fox River Valley to counter the liberal city vote. We'll see if the GOP's 72-hour operation is organized and effective enough to make Wisconsin a red state.