Erick Erickson at Redstate has some updates on Rehnquist.
*** Update ***
This afternoon, maybe?
Joe Gandelman has much more.
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Erick Erickson at Redstate has some updates on Rehnquist.
*** Update ***
This afternoon, maybe?
Joe Gandelman has much more.
by John Cole| 6 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
It seems Hurricane Dennis is making its (his?) move:
The first rain from Hurricane Dennis started falling Friday on the Florida Keys as the storm barreled toward the Gulf of Mexico, and forecasters warned that it might score a direct hit on the island chain.
Even if the eye passes to the west, they warned, hurricane-force winds extended up to 50 miles from the center, and tropical storm-force winds stretched up to 140 miles out.
Key West’s streets were calmer than usual early Friday, the result of an evacuation order issued a day earlier, but the Category 4 storm could batter the islands by evening, forecasters said. Morning breezes were expected to grow into stronger winds, joined by heavier rain and storm surges.
Forecasters also warned Gulf Coast residents from Florida to Louisiana to be ready for Dennis to come ashore by Sunday. With top winds at 135 mph, the storm is already ”extremely dangerous,” the National Hurricane Center said. Dennis was blamed for at least five deaths in Haiti.
Other than giving me an opportunity to use the completely unoriginal title to this post, the reason I post this is that when I read the story in the Times, I experienced a case of deja vu. Turns out it wasn’ deja vu at all, but a little thing we call memory:
Hurricane Dennis formed over the western north Atlantic on august 24th…about 225 miles east of Turks Island and the southeastern Bahamas. After strengthening to a hurricane on the 26th…Dennis produced near-hurricane conditions at Abaco Island on the 28th. Winds increased to a peak of 105 mph later on the 28th and this intensity was maintained until early on the 30th when the hurricane was centered about 115 miles off the southeast U.S. coast.
We just had another Hurricane Dennis in 1999, which leads me to ask- what are the rules for naming these damned things? How many times have we had multiple hurricanes that have the same name?
Ask, and people provide answers:
There are six lists of names that are used over and over, so it stands to reason that the 2005 names are the same as six years ago, 1999. The names of huge storms are retired, like Andrew.
The list is here.
Thanks.
by John Cole| 11 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
The Schiavo ‘investigation’ is over:
There is no evidence that Terri Schiavo’s collapse 15 years ago was caused by criminal activity, said a prosecutor asked by Gov. Jeb Bush to look into the case.
Bush, who asked State Attorney Bernie McCabe to further investigate Schiavo’s case after her autopsy last month, responded Thursday by saying he considers the state’s involvement with the matter finished.
“Based on your conclusions, I will follow your recommendation that the inquiry by the state be closed,” Bush said in a two-sentence response to McCabe. The governor is vacationing in Maine and couldn’t be reached for further comment, said officials in his office.
In asking last month that McCabe look again into what put Schiavo in a persistent vegetative state, Bush had cited an alleged gap in time between when Schiavo’s husband Michael found her and when he called 911 as something that remained unsettled.
McCabe said, however, that while such discrepancies may exist in the record, Michael Schiavo’s statements that he called 911 immediately had been consistent.
“This consistency, coupled with the varying recollections of the precise time offered by other interested parties, lead me to the conclusion that such discrepancies are not indicative of criminal activity and thus not material to any potential investigation,” McCabe wrote in a letter to Bush accompanying his report dated June 30 but not released until Thursday.
There is no evidence of criminal activity. That doesn’t mean there might or might not be some evidence that just hasn’t been found. That doesn’t mean that the evidence has or hasn’t been overlooked. It means that there is NO EVIDENCE that Michael Schiavo did anything wrong, and anyone who continues to smear Michael Schiavo claiming he ‘may have caused this’ or who claims that the autopsy ‘doesn’t rule out abuse’ should be repeatedly ridiculed, scorned, and then complety ignored. In that order.
And that includes Mark Fuhrman.
If you have something that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Micahel Schiavo did something to his wife, by all means bring it up. But right now, the autopsy reports, the hospital records, the nursing home records, the Governor’s office, the police, and the State’s Attorney give all the allegations to date no merit. If you have something that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that Micahel Schiavo did something to his wife, by all means bring it up. But right now, the autopsy reports, the hospital records, the nursing home records, the Governor’s office, the police, and the State’s Attorney all say the allegations have no merit. The only things fueling speculation that Schiavo did something to his wife are mean-spirited rumor mongering and out-right smears, and this should finally end those. It doesn’t matter how strongly you feel about this issue- you don’t get a license to run around accusing people (or hinting, or suggesting, or intimating) of comitting henious crimes like murder without any evidence.
(Via Gay Orbit)
by John Cole| 11 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
States spend nearly a quarter of a billion dollars a year on remedial writing instruction for their employees, according to a new report that says the indirect costs of sloppy writing probably hurt taxpayers even more.
The National Commission on Writing, in a report to be released Tuesday, says that good writing skills are at least as important in the public sector as in private industry. Poor writing not only befuddles citizens but also slows down the government as bureaucrats struggle with unclear instructions or have to redo poorly written work.
“It’s impossible to calculate the ultimate cost of lost productivity because people have to read things two and three times,” said Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, vice chairman of the National Governors Association, which conducted the survey for the commission.
My mangled writing only causes headaches.
by John Cole| 36 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Newsweek now has published the story about the possible Plame/Rove nexus that was previously mentioned by Lawrence O’Donnell. The story was penned by none other than Michael Isikoff, who no doubtedly will be served a fresh new heap of shit sandwich for being a ‘liberal hack:’
Now the story may be about to take another turn. The e-mails surrendered by Time Inc., which are largely between Cooper and his editors, show that one of Cooper’s sources was White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, according to two lawyers who asked not to be identified because they are representing witnesses sympathetic to the White House. Cooper and a Time spokeswoman declined to comment. But in an interview with NEWSWEEK, Rove’s lawyer, Robert Luskin, confirmed that Rove had been interviewed by Cooper for the article. It is unclear, however, what passed between Cooper and Rove…
Initially, Fitzgerald’s focus was on Novak’s sourcing, since Novak was the first to out Plame. But according to Luskin, Rove’s lawyer, Rove spoke to Cooper three or four days before Novak’s column appeared. Luskin told NEWSWEEK that Rove “never knowingly disclosed classified information” and that “he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.” Luskin declined, however, to discuss any other details. He did say that Rove himself had testified before the grand jury “two or three times” and signed a waiver authorizing reporters to testify about their conversations with him. “He has answered every question that has been put to him about his conversations with Cooper and anybody else,” Luskin said. But one of the two lawyers representing a witness sympathetic to the White House told NEWSWEEK that there was growing “concern” in the White House that the prosecutor is interested in Rove. Fitzgerald declined to comment.
In early October 2003, NEWSWEEK reported that immediately after Novak’s column appeared in July, Rove called MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews and told him that Wilson’s wife was “fair game.” But White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters at the time that any suggestion that Rove had played a role in outing Plame was “totally ridiculous.” On Oct. 10, McClellan was asked directly if Rove and two other White House aides had ever discussed Valerie Plame with any reporters. McClellan said he had spoken with all three, and “those individuals assured me they were not involved in this.”
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
by John Cole| 32 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Because this is now a respectable web magazine, it is my obligation to keep you as informed as the mainstream media. That is why they have all that privilege stuff, right? At any rate, here goes with the hard hitting news that makes my opinion really count:
1.) Sharks are predatory animals that eat meat. They have large teeth, a keen sense for blood, and they reside in the water. They are generally attracted to things they can eat, and thus, it is dangerous to swim where they are looking for food. I know this sounds like common sense, and two people who are bitten when swimming in shark infested waters is hardly worthy of a lot of attention, but this picture is really scary:
That could be you, so clearly we should talk about this every hour for the next two months. Here are some tips on how to not be turned into tuna helper, including this one:
“Avoid areas where sharks are known to be present “
How to tell? Easy- if you see a big fin, hear funny music that goes Du-Duhmp every few seconds, or if you feel your leg being ripped from your body and replaced with a large pool of blood, there is a shark present. Immediately get out of the area.
2.) Some people are itinerant fucktards. Ward Churchill is one of them. Ignore him, and if someone is dumb enough to email you ten times asking what you think of him and why you aren’t writing about him, instead of recoiling at the stupidity of the question, simply say “Ward Churchill is an itinerant fucktard.”
3.) Puppies are cute. Stealing puppies is uncool. That is why MSNBC has this hidden video of puppies being stolen as the top US News story of the day.
4.) Somewhere in America, a pretty white girl is missing. Film at 11.
That should about wrap up our news coverage for the day.
by John Cole| 24 Comments
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Elizabeth Book wins the right to bare her breasts, one step further in her fight to go topless anywhere men can. A Volusia County Judge rules Book was within her rights when she bared her breasts during a political protest as part of Bike Week in March 2004.
Daytona Beach city’s ordinance allows an exemption to its anti-nudity law as long as the nudity is part of a political protest or other constitutionally protected issue. The judge also threw out her arrest and $253 fine.
Books argues the law unfairly singles out young women who flash their breasts for the crowd. She feels women shoud be allowed to go without shirts wherever men can.
I couldn’t agree more.