Homocon

After I finished editing the Pure Idiom Halloween podcast, I poked my head out the dark cave of my computer room and discovered, much to my delight, that mom and dad had stopped fighting over Harriet Miers and decided to kiss and make up.

I always hate it when mom and dad fight, but adults with strong convictions disagree now and again, and now that Miers is out of the running, even those that lent her nomination their support are breathing audible sighs of relief at the prospect of another supra-type Roberts' level nomination out of the whole debacle. I've been reading comments on some sites where alleged Conservatives are whining that the Right was so mean and (stomps foot) just plain beastly about the Harriet Miers nomination that they're retiring in shame from political junkie land and they'll stick to watching "Desperate Housewives" in the future, thank you very much.

Oh, grow up (and good riddance).

I wasn’t one of the pundits who took a viral dislike to the idea of Miers on the SCOTUS bench, but I'm not as informed on legal precedence as a good number of my peers, and I have enough presence of mind to understand that, while Miers may have been a good-enough nomination for the Supreme Court, “good-enough” is appropriate only when you might be playing Trivial Pursuit or chasing after an Oscar, not when there's a full-fledged tug-of-war going on between two opposing philosophies (Deconstructionist vs. Constitutionalist) regarding the role of the judiciary in American society.

But since a nomination to the Supreme Court is neither trivial, nor a game of Hollywood fantasy where the one who most realistically simulates an orgasm for a room full of cameramen gets the Golden Statuette (and a lot of hooting and hollering from one's peers), I'm impressed with the fact that the hard-core politicos of the Right, despite my initial misgivings, stuck fast to their principles and literally scuttled a second-tier SCOTUS nomination right off the map.

Speaking of maps . . . oh, where was I? Yes, Harriet Miers.

While the more sensitive (read: liberal leaning) among the Conservatives are dabbing at their eyes with plush, hypo-allergenic tissues and bemoaning the toll that the Miers hubbub has visited upon their uber-delicate sensitivities, the Conservatives who believe that ideas truly do matter, and that qualifications for a Supreme Court nomination extend beyond personal friendship with the President and a thumbs-up to the Constitution, are busy marshaling the troops for a show of force in support of the new nomination.

So much for the alleged Conservative Crackup.

Anybody who thought that Conservatives were headed for a crack-up just because Conservatives demand the very best candidate for a job, regardless of gender or skin color, are bound to be sorely disappointed as the groundswell of support for Judge Alito gathers, swells and rushes across the blogosphere to ultimately drown the Senate Confirmation hearings in waves of fact, well-considered analysis and downright spot-on journalism.

Which means that Slow Joe Biden and Vagina Monologue Feinstein will get their harebrained asses handed to them by the Conservative blogs (yet again), and we'll have a unanimously confirmed and superbly qualified addition to the highest court in the land.

Long live Judge Alito.

Now, back to the more important, burning question that inflames the tender soul and has been the cause of countless nights of restless, agonized fretting for tens of millions of Americans . . . Scooter LIbby who?

Posted by at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Agh! It's finally finished after days of furious editing, and just in time for your Halloween enjoyment. You can dowload Part Two of the Pure Idiom Halloween podcast, "Night of the Living Left" at the Pure Idiom website, or you can click on this link here to download it directly.

Nathan and Scott, our two secret agents of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, plus Tinkerbell their talking cat, kidnap Alice Cooper from his Halloween night concert, storm evil Professor Churchill's house and struggle valiantly to save the world from an infestation of brain-eating commie zombies. Alice Cooper turns out to know Karate, and Tinkerbell discovers that cold zombies taste like chicken.

Pure Idiom Podcasts contain explicit language, and all impersonations of people, and depictions of places and events (real or otherwise), are entirely fictional and meant for entertainment purposes only.

Enjoy!

Now, where did I put my candy corn . . .

Posted by at 8:25 PM | Permalink

Part One of the Pure Idiom Halloween Podcast, "Night of the Living Left", is now available for download either at the Pure Idiom website, or you can click here to download it directly.

Nathan, Scott and Tinkerbell fight off a commie zombie invasion led by Professor Ward Churchill (all impersonations of real and unreal people are strictly fiction, and are for entertainment purposes only). They visit a Zionist Elder for advice, and use the Impossibility Engine to stock up on zombie killing weapons.

Part Two will be available over the weekend. Enjoy!

Posted by at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Okay, kids -- it's crunch time again. I'm deep in the midst of editing the second episode of the Pure Idiom podcast, "Night of the Living Left", where our two secret agents of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy (and their cranky Libertarian cat) must save themselves (and the world!) from the mindless commie zombies of the left.

Will they survive? How can one dastardly university professor control so many dead brains? Why are Chairman Mao's entrails on display in a house on affluent island? And what does Alice Cooper have to do with any of this at all!?

We're hoping to have the Podcast ready for your Halloween weekend, at the latest, so stay tuned . . .

OFF TOPIC:

PowerLine is reporting that George Galloway, the kos kid's latest "hero", turns out to be just another first-class liar: "The staff of Senator Norm Coleman's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations gave a press briefing to preview a new report on George Galloway's testimony before the subcommittee last May . . . The findings revealed in the Subcommittee’s report have been substantiated by personal interviews with high-level members of the Hussein regime, oil traders with personal knowledge of Galloway’s involvement, and extensive bank records that provide a conclusive paper trail and corroborate Galloway’s personal knowledge and involvement in the Oil-for-Food scandal."

Winds of Change buttresses the report with a Telegraph UK article which details Galloway's refusal to deal with an Iraqi Kurdish woman who seeks to confront him about his explicitly anti-American, anti-British and anti-war views: "Mrs Raper finally escaped Iraq in 1991 but only after suffering imprisonment, torture and rape. She has been burnt by one of Saddam's chemical bombs, and she has been anxious to tell Mr Galloway about her experiences with the dictator, whom the MP has visited eight times, once telling him: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability" . . . "

What is it with anti-war people and their fawning admiration for dictators? Bush equals Hitler but Castro is Mother Theresa? Ay yi yi . . . what a topsy-turvy world we live in.

OFF TOPIC 2:

Michael Barone on The Plame Game: "Well, you know, the initial statute which people identified as the one that put Rove and Scooter Libby, the Vice President's chief of staff, into jeopardy, as the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. I doubt very seriously that there will be any indictments under that statute. That's a very narrowly drafted statute, and it requires for conviction that the person whose identity was disclosed was a covert agent in a foreign country within the preceding five years . . . So far as I know, that's not the case here . . . I mean, Karl Rove and Scooter Libby are apparently in trouble because they told the truth about somebody (Joe Wilson) who was telling lies."

Posted by at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The NRA must be breathing a sigh of relief, and so must the manufacturers of firearms in the United States, over the recent bill that passed the House in a margin of 283-144 that protects gun manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits by local governments and victims of firearm misuse.

The bill allows lawsuits to go forward if there is a defect in the design or manufacture of a gun, or if weapons dealers knowingly sell firearms intended for criminal activity, but the legislation prohibits civil liability actions in any state or federal court against the firearms industry, while dismissing any and all pending legal actions against manufacturers and dealers.

Unsurprisingly, there are those who insist that this bill is "shameful", such as representative Robert Wexler, Democrat-Florida (and people marvel that the NRA commits most of its political fundraising to Republican candidates), claiming that the passage of the House bill is more a testament to "the power of the gun lobby" rather than the testament to common sense and the politics of personal responsibility that it actually is.

"I just find it an absolute travesty that these people who are going to be killed (and) maimed by weapons that have been negligently handled (will) have no recourse," said Senator Diane Feinstein in a comment on the passage of the bill, conveniently neglecting to mention that the United States currently has a sprawling legal and law enforcement system dedicated exclusively to providing recourse to those who are victims of criminal and negligent acts.

Whatever with Diane Feinstein. She's the exact same kind of "absolute travesty" who insists that we need extra Hate Crime penalties against criminals when our legal and law enforcement systems already punish those who commit acts of violence . . . against anybody . . . period . . . no matter their color, gender or sexual proclivity. And before the gay lobby jumps all over my back, I recall reading that gay "advocates" were dancing on the tables over the recent ruling in Kansas that struck down unequal punishment of homosexuals regarding sex with minors. That's all fine and good, and exactly what needed to happen, but guess what ladies and fellers -- if you don't want unequal punishment for yourselves under the law, then stop f**king demanding unequal punishment for others under the law (which is the purpose of Hate Crime legislation). No crime victim is more important than any other crime victim, and no criminal deserves a greater punishment because his victim was a woman, or a gay or black, just as no criminal deserves a greater penalty simply because he may be a man, or gay or black.

And is it just me, or doesn't the whole "Hate Crime" thing smack of 1984? Dang, and here I thought that it was only the Republicans who were all Orwellian and sh*t.

In more encouraging news, the House also passed what it calls, "The Cheeseburger Bill", in which the House voted 306-120 to ban frivolous lawsuits by consumers who claim they became obese from eating too much of a food company's high-calorie product.

So much for my latest get rich quick scheme . . .

So, two strikes for personal responsibility. I'm very impressed. And even more impressive still, the senate voted down a pay raise for itself!

*gasp*

Though not after the House voted to keep it, so the conflict between the two bodies has yet to be worked out. But seriously, the Senate voted 92-6 to forgo an automatic annual pay raise of $3,100, saying they have to reduce government spending after the huge expenses caused by Hurricane Katrina. Forgoing the raise will save the federal treasury about $2 million, which is about the price of one toilet seat at the Pentagon (or 10 hammers), but hey, it's a start.

Posted by at 8:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

After reading Malkin's roundup of increasingly negative conservative opinion on the nomination of Harriet Miers (though, to be fair, Michelle Malking is happy to post increasingly negative reports about anything that doesn't scream "Close the Fickin' Borders Already!" from the rooftops), it sounds very much like Miers might not make it past the confirmation hearings. While John Roberts impressed the hell out of nearly everyone grilling and/or watching him during his own confirmation hearings (resulting in a confirmation that was split only by those Democratic Senators who've made it part of their campaign platform to oppose anything the Bush Administration offers), there is little optimism that Harriet Miers can do the same.

I was listening to Talk Radio the other day, and the explanation for the nomination of Harriet Miers was offered as thus: "Karl Rove was distracted by the Plame case, which left Bush unsupervised."

Ouch.

Speaking of ouch, I'm always surprised at a liberal blogger's rush to suspect the worst of our military when representatives for terrorist detainees cry "torture" and "mistreatment", especially when there are no witnesses of the mistreatment, and no corroboration of the charges. Yesterday it was the Koran flushed down a toilet, today it's the alleged forced insertion and subsequent yanky-yank on "dirty" feeding tubes, without lubricants or anesthetics, for detainees who've gone on a hunger strike. The blogger (Rachel Neumann, the "Rights & Liberties" Editor at Alternet, of course) even chides the American media for not being compassionate enough to the plight of the detainees (if you can believe it): "For more than three months, 200 detainees at Guantanmo Bay have been on a hunger strike to draw attention to their mistreatment. But they were perhaps overestimating the compassion of the American media, as their strike has gotten very little press and generated even less concern."

Shhh, quiet -- I'm attempting to imagine a world where our media doesn't care more about the feelings and well-being of Rachel's poor put-upon terrorists than about Americans themselves, especially Americans who voted for George Bush (or, as Jane Smiley might call them, "The Unteachably Ignorant Red Staters").

Despite the fact that military medical personnel (who are the same doctors with the same education and skill set as the kind that civilians like you and I see on a regular basis) adamantly deny the accusations of mistreatment of terrorist detainees, stating that each detainee receives the same quality medical treatment as anyone else in a Naval hospital, it's the terrorist detainees that an anti-war blogger believes rather than our own doctors -- because, well, Bush is Hitler, which must only mean that our military medical staff has to be Mengele.

*rolls eyes*

Even M*A*S*H, a 70's era holdover of a television show that was highly critical of the Korean War effort, and war in general, didn't attempt to portray our own military doctors as cruel and barbarous sadists, bent on torturing and harming the declared enemy.

But it's the 21st century, and Alan Alda has completed his transformation into Howard Dean.

Amnesty International is also in on the act (not that anyone is surprised), complaining that the U.S. is violating the hunger-striking detainees' rights because we're keeping them alive -- "force feeding" them through tubes in the nose. Force feeding. It sound so brutal when you put it that way, but "force feeding" is called "nasogastric tube feeding" when described by non-hysterical, non-raving, apolitical medical personnel, and it's a procedure that's used on children, the elderly, cancer victims and even sick pets. It's exactly the same procedure that was used to keep Terry Shiavo alive for years, and yet no one seemed to consider it torture in her case.

So why is nasogastric tube feeding considered torture in a Guantanamo medical facility, and yet standard medical procedure administered to keep children suffering from cancer from starving to death in an American hospital? Oh, right, because in this case it's administered to a terrorist by a military doctor during the Bush Administration.

Silly me, sometimes I forget the nuances . . .

Oh, and there's also "startling new allegations" (not evidence or proof, mind you, just allegations) of sex torture at Guantanamo, too. Perhaps they made them watch old Teletubbie videos?

ADDENDUM:

Funny, on the way to work this morning I heard G. Gordon Liddy discussing how conservatives can best get the Miers nomination withdrawn while saving face for the Bush Administration . . . this Harriet Miers stuff is almost funny, if it weren't so weirdly divisive.

Less than moderate conservatives have jumped all over the "Not One Of Us" bandwagon with this issue, directing their criticism towards both Miers and the President. Personally, I voted for the President because I agree with his philosophy about bringing long-overdue democracy to the Middle East, not because I thought he was an ideological conservative. And I always assumed that President Bush was re-elected precisely because he came across as sincerely in-touch with the majority of voters rather than as some die-hard right-winger locked up in notions of political purity (and you know who you are).

Come 2008, who do these "right of the righties" think is going to be nominated by the Republican Party for President -- Bill Frist? I don't think so. We'll get either a Giuliani or a McCain, both political moderates with their feet planted firmly in social realities. John Kerry lost the election not because Bush was wildly popular, but because he appealed to only one half of the voting population (just like Bush). Nobody wants another tight, divisive race, and I see the RNC leaning towards centrism the next go round.

Posted by at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

And I'm not talking about Charlize Theron. But can someone please tell me why I just re-watched the 1998 remake of 'Godzilla' . . . ?

In other, more interesting news, however, I discovered that there's a Limited Edition 30 DVD Box Set of all the Japanese version Godzilla films, called 'Godzilla: Final Box', including the 27 original Godzilla films, 3 bonus discs (including the American version of the original 1950' era film) and a vinyl recreation of the original Godzilla head -- and all for the low low price of $899.00!

Mmmm, I know what Santa's bringin' me fer Christmas!

They even left space in the box sex for the DVD release of the 2004 Japanese film, 'Godzilla: Final Wars', a 19 million dollar monster-movie extravaganza directed by "the Japanese equivalent of Quentin Tarantino" (and here I thought the U.S. had cornered the market on pompous windbag auteurs).

But for real life horror, just check here.

Stop the 21st century . . . I want to get off.

Though this made me feel just a wee bit better: "The words of (Hussein's) daughter, Raghad, sum up what large sectors of Arab public opinion feel. "This farce has already been judged by the people," she told an Arab satellite channel. "I could not be happier. How could I otherwise be when I am the daughter of a brave father, a lion. I swear he is a lion." But "lion" is not exactly the word many Arabs would use today to describe Saddam Hussein, particularly after seeing him pulled out of a hole in the ground by American soldiers nearly two years ago."

Perhaps she meant this Lion?

Posted by at 6:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night, while watching Jimmy Kimmel Live (the BF likes Kimmel, so I suffer through it, though complaining vociferously throughout as he stuffs a pillow over my face), I had the misfortune of catching an interview with Rosanne Barr, the queen of shoot off at the mouth, and think about it, like, never.

As if listening to Kimmel's increasingly leftist-flavored opening monologue isn't enough, Rosanne immediately launched into a Global Warming tirade, with references to our poisoned air and earth (natch), followed by a remark on how intelligent she is in comparison to George Bush, how she believes in astrology, that she's psychic, she gives all her friends psychic readings and that she's never wrong.

And she wasn't trying to be funny, believe me.

It's stupefying to me how celebrities will publicly diss the current administration as "idiotic" for the War on Terror while in the same five minutes passionately expound upon the "universal oneness" of all things, their latest tarot card reading, colonic cleansing and their fascination with the Kabbalah.

I guess this explains why she pals around with Michael Moore.

A lot of moderate Democrats are right on the money when they talk about how the cult of celebrity has damaged their party more than it's helped. Not because famous people can't motivate a crowd, but because a good number of celebrities (both left and right) are only as informed about politics and Washington policies as their latest cocktail party, and we all know how brilliant we think we are after a couple of gin and tonics . . . right?

Right?

*sound of crickets*

Hello?

Oh, hell. Let's just get down to brass tacks (thanks to Fort Liberty).

1.
President George W. Bush: Received a Bachelors Degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Barbra Streisand: Completed high school.
George Clooney: Dropped out of University of Kentucky.

2.
Vice President Dick Cheney: Earned a B.A. in 1965 and a M.A. in 1966, both in political science. Two years later, he won an American Political Science Association congressional fellowship.

Cher: Dropped out of school in 9th grade.
Martin Sheen: Flunked entrance exam to University of Dayton.

3.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell: Graduated from the City College of New York (CCNY), where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in geology. His further academic achievements include a Master of Business Administration Degree from George Washington University. Several schools and other institutions have been named in his honor and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country.

Jessica Lange: Dropped out of college mid-freshman year.
Alec Baldwin: Dropped out of George Washington University.

4.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: Attended Princeton University on Scholarship (AB, 1954).

Julia Roberts: Completed high school.
Sean Penn: Completed High school.

5.
Secretary of State and Former National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice: Earned her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science, Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of Denver in 1974; her Master's from the University of Notre Dame in 1975; and her Ph.D. from the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Denver in 1981. (Note: Rice enrolled at the University of Denver at the age of 15, graduating at 19 with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science (Cum Laude). She earned a Master's Degree at the University of Notre Dame and a Doctorate from the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies. Both of her advanced degrees are also in Political Science.)

Susan Sarandon: Degree in Drama from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Michael Moore: Dropped out his freshman year at University of Michigan.

6.
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge: Earned a scholarship to Harvard, graduating with honors in 1967.

Mike Farrell: Completed High school.
Janeane Garofalo: Dropped out of College.

Hmm, I know which side I'd pick on a rainy day.

Posted by at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Fox News, via the AP, is reporting today that the first case of the Avian Flu (or Bird Flu) has been detected on one of the Greek Islands, the first case of Bird Flu to have been confirmed in the EU proper, while over the weekend "tests on birds from Romania confirmed the arrival of bird flu in Europe — two days after it was verified on Europe's doorstep in the Asian part of Turkey."

The Financial Times states that Andrew Natsios, the head of the US Agency for International Development, notes that helping Southeast Asian countries battle and contain the H5N1 virus is "a bigger challenge than rebuilding Iraq," and once you take into consideration the seriousness with which the present administration approaches the rebuilding of Iraq, then you might have a clearer understanding of just how big a problem Bird Flu threatens to be.

The US Senate last month voted to expend $3.9 billion in bird flu funds, most of the funds to go toward developing stockpiles of anti-viral drugs and vaccines. Tamiflu is considered one of the only effective medicines against the H5N1 virus at this time, though Relenza, a powder that's snorted through the nose, may also prove essential. Tamiflu and Relenza don't cure influenza infections, but can reduce the severity of the illness if taken within a 48 hour window of when symptoms begin. They may also help prevent infection if taken early, like, say, when a local or regional outbreak has been announced.

The reason that there are such concerns over the Avian Flu is because influenza viruses are prone to genetic mutations, which is why an annual vaccine has to be reformulated every year. Even with the existence of vaccines, medications and a typical human resistance to the average influenza virus, the flu virus "kills 250,000 people at a minimum globally, in an average season." But our existing seasonal flu vaccines provide no protection against the H5N1 avian flu as H5N1 has not yet adapted itself to human to human transmission, but with more than 60 cases of bird to human transmissions being reported across Southeast Asia, it's only a matter of time. Should the H5N1 virus continue to mutate at its present rate, we could be looking at a repeat of the 1918 H1N1 flu pandemic, which killed millions.

Governments across the world are stocking up on Tamiflu, from South Africa to Saudi Arabia to the UK, the United States, Kenya, Canada, Australia and more, with Brazil, the world's largest poultry exporter, enacting emergency measures to prevent an outbreak of the disease within its borders -- not because of the human risk at this point, but because all poultry infected with the virus must be destroyed, and such a move would cripple Brazil's economy (which exported $2.5 billion dollars of poultry in the first nine months of this year alone). Animal health and trade restrictions, as a result of outbreaks of the Avian Flu in the United States and Southeast Asia, have also slowed the growth of America's own poultry industry, causing a 12% drop in poultry exports in 2004, following similar declines in both 2002 and 2003, with a net result that U.S. poultry exports are down 22% from their 2001 record levels.

The cost of being unprepared for the H5N1 virus, in both human and economic terms, is predicted to be staggering (for the U.S. alone, costs are estimated at between $71.3 billion to $166.5 billion). Global agricultural damages caused by an outbreak of the H5N1 virus could reach into the trillions of dollars as nations are forced to isolate themselves in order to contain outbreaks, effectively shutting down all transnational shipping and trade.

"Since it is impossible to predict when and with what magnitude such a pandemic would hit, the only thing that would be fairly certain is that the market would experience increased volatility until the uncertainty of the situation wore off," said Global Forex Trading chief currency dealer Kurt Hoeksema. And while Michael Ryan, who heads the WHO's endemic and pandemic alert response directorate, is playing down the threat posed by the H5N1 virus, he did add that "the disease would remain a problem for the foreseeable future: 'The disease is highly endemic in many bird populations, (so) we will continue to be at risk for a significant period of time. It's going to be a long and exhausting process.'"

Posted by at 3:43 PM | Permalink

In an announcement that was most likely met with loud wails and a great gnashing of teeth by political fantasists on the conservative side, Condoleeza Rice has stated, emphatically, that she will not be running for President.

"It's not what I want to do with my life, it's not what I'm going to do with my life," she said today on NBC's Meet the Press. "I think I'm doing what I need to do, which is to try and promote American foreign policy, American interests, the president's democracy agenda at an extraordinary time."

Rice has been a consistent fantasy-candidate favorite over at Patrick Ruffini's website, where he hosts a monthly straw poll on potential Republican Presidential candidates for 2008 (Ruffini has just recently announced on his blog that he will be returning to the Republican National Committee to serve as eCampaign Director for the 2006 Congressional elections). Rice even out-polls, though just barely, Rudy Giuliani as the favorite 2008 candidate, so the announcement that she has no plans to run for President in 2008 is a low point for those who were longing to see a Rice vs. Hillary match-up.

But now that Ted Kennedy has publicly stated that he would support John Kerry for yet another tilt at the Presidential windmill, throwing into doubt the cohesion of the Democratic Party machinery behind Ms. Clinton, one wonders if it won't be a Hillary for V.P. push at the DNC, instead. You know, just to put her toe in the waters and see what the American public really thinks about her as a potential Presidential candidate . . .

OFF TOPIC:
To the delight of Sci-Fi geeks across the nation, Chewbacca is scheduled to become a United States citizen on Monday.

May the force be with him.

OFF TOPIC 2:
This is your liberal mommy on crack.

She squirmed her away across every producer's crotch in the industry and now her children can't even have ice cream? Sheesh.

Posted by at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

When Judge Roberts was nominated to the Supreme Court, it seemed like every Conservative pundit across the board tripped all over himself exclaiming that since George Bush had won the 2004 election, he'd won the right to nominate whomever he wanted, so the left needed to suck it up, grin and bear it. But now that Bush has nominated Harriet Miers, that very sentiment has vanished into thin air among the more conservative of the Conservatives. So does Bush have the right to nominate who he wants to the Supreme Court, or doesn't he? It's like the horse has been led to the water, but now everybody's complaining that it's drinking too much.

So in the spirit of watching the fur fly (as it has been across the blogs ever since Miers' name rose up from what she now undoubtedly recollects as the blissful depths of anonymity), I've collected 10 excerpts from posts about Harriet Miers that cover the pros and cons, from the conservative viewpoint, of the Miers nomination. Follow the hyperlinks to the full articles. They're all worth reading.

1. "What distinguishes Miers from many, probably most Supreme Court nominees is that she has spent the large majority of her career in private practice. There is no shame in this. On the contrary, I would guess that a large majority of the best lawyers in the United States are in private practice. Not only would many of them make excellent Justices, there is a lot to be said for having lawyers with practical experience representing clients both in and out of the courtroom on the Court. I don't know how good a lawyer Miers is, but it is silly to imply that because she has been in private practice, for the most part, rather than in government service or on the bench, she isn't well qualified for the Court." From "More on Miers" at PowerLine.

2. "I don't really care much one way or the other if we get a Thomas-like conservative or a Souter-like conservative on that exalted bench. I am completely indifferent as to whether or not Roe v Wade continues along as is, or gets repealed. I don't particularly like legislating from the bench and prefer a strict constructionist approach to the Constitution; but I will live with whatever happens. I don't care . . . This (Global War on Terrorism) is far too important to waste our time on trivial differences in perspective about the judicial branch of the U.S. government." From "Can Harriet Miers Dance On The Head of a Pin?" from Dr. Sanity

3. "Among Republicans, 57 percent say they would vote for Miers, down 17 percentage points from the 74 percent that said they would vote for Roberts (July 26-27). Support for Miers among Democrats is 12 points less than it was for Roberts. It should be noted there is no gender gap on support for Miers as both men and women are equally likely to say they would confirm her." From "Fox New Poll: Miers Receives Mixed Reviews" at Fox News

4. "It's true. Little is known about the views of Harriet Miers. But what is known, through official and unofficial channels, paints a picture of a conservative Texas lawyer with rock-solid beliefs on life, strong religious convictions, and a modesty that should allay fears of a renegade Justice determined to remake society through the courts. John Roberts was the silver-tongued, inside-the-Beltway pick for the Court; Miers is the plain spoken red stater." From "Harriet Miers, Conservative" at Patrick Ruffini

5. "The problem isn't only that Miers is not openly a movement conservative but that she's as far from a public intellectual as anyone could possibly be. In one fell swoop, Bush flouted both his supporters' ideology and their sense of meritocracy." From "The Right's Dissed Intellectuals" at the Washington Post

6. "How many extraordinarily intelligent and perspicacious intellectuals managed to talk themselves into believing in Communism, including such later conservative luminaries as Whittaker Chambers, David Horowitz, and about half the founding staff of Bill Buckley's National Review? . . . There should be at least one person on the Court who is not an intellectual and has a natural immunity to the soulless absurdities that intellectuals can so readily rationalize. The Supreme Court needs a Gipper (like Miers) to slap the other justices across the face and say 'snap out of it!'" From "Bush Nominates Reagan to the Court!" at Big Lizards

7. "Using the courts to achieve political aims was once a liberal agenda, but many conservatives have since bought into the tactic. The liberal People for the American Way warned "against any terrible changes" to the court with O'Connor's departure, while the conservative Family Research Council called for a grassroots "fight" to confirm a nominee more to the right of O'Connor." From "Harriet Miers as balancing act" at the Christian Science Monitor

8. "Harriet Miers doubtless is a smart and skilled lawyer. Her credentials are undeniably impressive in many respects. Certainly more so than my own in most respects. But - and this is a big but - there are hundreds of lawyers in this country whose resumes, smarts, and skills are as, if not more, impressive as Harriet Miers. How did Harriet Miers get to the top of that pile? She got there by being George Bush's lawyer. As Bill Stuntz so ably put it yesterday 'Miers is more than a crony but certainly not less.' From "The Case Against Harriet Miers: The Baseball Analogy" at Professor Bainbridge

9. "Importantly, though, gender isn't the only diversity consideration that makes Ms. Miers such an excellent choice for the high Court. Her nomination also is welcome relief from the recent practice of appointing only candidates with prior judicial experience who graduated from elite law schools. The Court's history plainly shows that to be a great justice one need not possess either of these attributes. Yet many commenting on Miers's nomination are acting as if these are set in stone--prerequisites for service on the Court. They need a history lesson." From "Harriet Miers and the Myth that Great Supreme Court Justices Must Be Former Judges from Elite Law Schools" at Find Law's Writ

10. "To be qualified, a Supreme Court justice must have more than credentials; [Miers] must have a well-considered 'judicial philosophy,' by which is meant an internalized view of the Constitution and the role of a justice that will guide her through the constitutional minefield that the Supreme Court must navigate. Nothing in Harriet Miers' professional background called upon her to develop considered views on the extent of congressional powers, the separation of powers, the role of judicial precedent, the importance of states in the federal system, or the need for judges to protect both the enumerated and unenumerated rights retained by the people. It is not enough simply to have private opinions on these complex matters; a prospective justice needs to have wrestled with them in all their complexity before attaining the sort of judgment that decision-making at the Supreme Court level requires, especially in the face of executive or congressional disagreement." From "Cronyism" at the Cato Institute

Posted by at 2:53 PM | Permalink

I'm nearly finished editing and producing Part Two of Episode One of the Pure Idiom podcast: "Up and Away! (Hurricane Bruce)" -- I'd originally assumed that the podcast was lengthy enough to have to be divided into three segments, but, fortunately, I was incorrect, and Part Two will complete the pilot episode for Pure Idiom, and we can quickly get started writing and recording Episode Two.

UPDATE: Part Two of Episode One is now available for Download, (along with a reminder that the podcast contains language which some may find objectionable).

It's truly been a labor of love, as the vocal talents of Scott McCollum and Laurence Simon are spot-on in every sequence (making me play catch-up to their bag of vocal tricks), and I made the wise decision beforehand to purchase a pack of royalty free sound effects that you hear scattered liberally throughout the podcast (and which add much needed depth and presence to the story) . . . otherwise you'd just have three people reading lines into a microphone with dead silence in the background, and who needs more of that?

Thanks to all those who have been listening, and for the positive feedback so far. And don't forget to enter to win the CD audiobook set for Bruce Campbell's "Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way", our inaugural contest to get the Pure Idiom podcast rolling. For those who may be unaware of the existence of this fine B-List actor, Mr. Campbell is the star of the Evil Dead horror flick series (which brought the name of director Sam Raimi into Hollywood prominence -- "The Quick and the Dead" still remains one of my favorite films for its bizarre casting of Sharon Stone as the lead gun-shooter in a period-western, though the BF thinks it's a snore), and while Campbell has the dubious distinction of having starred in any number of failed television series and sci-fi channel stink-bombs, he's beloved by his fan base and has a loyal cult following, as Scott and I discovered when we went to meet him and get the audiobooks signed at an appearance he made at Scarecrow Video in Seattle's University District.

There must have been over three hundred people at the video store waiting eagerly to meet Campbell, and though I'm not one to be star-struck (or even the slightest bit interested in meeting or greeting pop culture celebrities), I was very much impressed by Campbell's rapport with his fans, his relaxed demeanor, his quick wit and his utter approachability. We had to wait for several hours before we could get the contest audiobooks signed (as the line was soooo long), and Campbell graciously agreed to record the two tag-lines for our podcast once we explained that we would review his audiobook on the podcast and give away free copies in an accompanying contest.

He's nothing if not a total product whore, is happy to have anybody plug his merchandise, and he's charmingly self-deprecating about it.

We have a list of other writers, actors, musicians and pundits that we hope to corral into recording lines for future podcasts, so stay tuned . . .

That said, while taking a break from the editing process last night, I was forced to run screaming from the living room when the video host for HD TV announced that they were next going to screen Bob Roberts, "written, produced, directed by and starring the great Tim Robbins" . . .

And yes, the video host actually said "the great Tim Robbins" . . . !

Aaaaaaiiiiieeeeeeeeee!

But the new video iPod has just been released, which helps to assuage the horror of hearing the words "great" and "Tim Robbins" in the same sentence. I am, however, desperately awaiting word on the release of Apple's rumored new powerbook, as I dropped my current version on the pavement outside the house a few months ago. Amazingly, the thing survived the bruising crunch against the slate without any screen cracks or major damage, but it did suffer a nasty dent in one of the front corners, and the battery will no longer hold more than six minutes of charge at a time, meaning that I'm tethered to an electrical outlet wherever I take my laptop . . . *sigh*

Posted by at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Part one of the first Pure Idiom podcast is ready to download over at PureIdiom.com (click on the hyperlink to go to the site). You can also download the audiofile directly here.

The Pilot Episode is titled "Up and Away!", and will be divided into three smallish segments (Part One is fourteen minutes long) for easier downloading. Part Two will be available later this week, and the last and final segment of the Pilot Episode, Part Three, will be ready next Monday.

Part One introduces listeners to the peculiar brand of Pure Idiom satire performed by the three main characters: myself, Scott McCollum of IMAO and Republican Radio, and Tinkerbell the Cat, voiced by Laurence Simon of This Blog is Full of Crap (and one of the key players in the Catblogging phenomenon). Plus there's an overview of the Impossibility Engine, the dramatic device that allows Pure Idiom to go anytime, anyplace, anyhow.

You can leave comments, suggestions and effusive praise regarding the Podcast at the Pure Idiom website. Happy listening!

The Podcast is rated PG for language.

OFF TOPIC:
Do yourself a favor and visit Prism Warden, where he discusses TIME Magazine's cover story on gay teens, and also Gay Patriot, where he posts on the gay left's failure to address the plight of homosexuals in radical muslim cultures.

Posted by at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Now that drugs are passe, free-love will more than likely send you to the doctor and perhaps even to the grave, and Rock and Roll is now sobered up and shilling for any company able to foot the bill, what's a proper rebellious teenager to do?

Why, embrace neo-fundamentalism, watch gory videos and blow things up, of course! Because, really, dating that black/asian/indian girl down the street doesn't piss off mom and dad anymore, coming out gay is just bland fodder for network sitcoms with laugh tracks, and who wants to move to a commune and "live off the land" only to do all the work while the cult leader impregnates your girlfriend?

Converting to fundamentalist Islam properly confuses the folks and alarms the neighbors, affording an immediate gratification for angry, disaffected youth that wearing a mohawk and piercing your lips just isn't capable of doing any longer. Your girlfriend (provided you can find one) will be properly submissive, and if she isn't, you have every right to stab, shoot or burn her to death, and should every cute girl you've ever stirred your loins toward turn you down for a date to the kegger (I know, again!), you can strap on some homemade chemicals, record a vengeance flavored video and then go blow up the entire football team!

But wait, there's more! Annoy your history teacher by denying the holocaust ever happened ("lies! exaggerations! conspiracy!"), and then ask him to "prove it" when he contradicts your clever grasp of world events. Wear a Palestinian kuffiyeh while protesting the free and liberal democracy you live in as racist, oppressive and blood-thirsty (an eloquent "F*ck the War!" t-shirt is also a lovely wardrobe choice, if your local ACLU chapter isn't sold out). And don't forget to stage a few intimidating photo-shoots and video sessions for the mainstream press -- I hear the BBC simply adores a thug, especially if they can use him for a headline!

Don't waste your time snorting cocaine and huffing off a hookah. That's for pussies who can't think past 1969. Grow a pair and become the ultimate focal point of fear and awe in your community -- embrace Islamic fundamentalism and give the finger to The Man! It's that simple.

Disclaimer: Islamic fundamentalism may have negative side effects if you're gay, female, rational, intelligent, optimistic, christian, buddhist, hindu, jewish, capitalistic, western and/or interested in freedom, choice, liberty and democracy. Indulge in Islamic fundamentalism only after consulting your psychiatrist, and don't drive or operate heavy machinery while under the Islamic fundamentalist influence, as this may cause untoward damage to the life and property of those unfortunate enough not to escape from the vicinity of your pimply, rage-addled, sociopathic a**.

Posted by at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

If you're wondering at the sporadic nature of Homocon of late, I've been using most of my recent spare time working to get a podcast up and running (well, that and helping the B-friend get the homocon household shaped-up and spit-polished for the selling -- and please don't tell me the real estate bubble has already burst . . . I don't want to hear it).

Scott McCollum from IMAO, Laurence Simon of This Blog is Full of Crap and yours truly have teamed up to bring our politically irreverent listeners an audio experience to remember, full of broad comedy (Scott) and clever asides (Laurence). I, ironically, play it straight.

Though we don't have our first official podcast up yet, feel free to take a look at Pure Idiom, where our future podcasts will be hosted. And while you're at the site, sign yourself up for email notifications if you want to be the first one on your block to know when the party hits town.

"But wait," I hear some of you say. "Why are you selling your house, especially after you just spent so much time and effort replanting and repainting?"

Well, thank you for asking, and I'm touched that you've been paying such close attention that you know how much blood, sweat and tears the two of us have put into our humble abode. But once the last coat of paint was drying on the walls and the yard was all trimmed, pruned, mowed and raked, we took a look around us, turned to each other and said, "It's beautiful. Let's sell it!"

*sigh*

"But where will you go," you ask. Why, I appreciate that you're so interested. And I have to admit that, should we be able to actually sell the house (because selling a house is, always, a bit of a gamble), we're not really sure where we'll go. But I think out of the country is the first step. I have a hankering to spend some time in Bangkok, Dublin, Shanghai, Guanacaste, Tokyo, Budapest, Oslo . . . so many places and only one short life.

Thank god for laptop computers and internet commuting.

But before the big move, there needs to be a big sale, and until then, there'll be more Homocon blog posts to follow, but right now I'm diving back down into audio editing land. Batten the hatches . . .

Posted by at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Pardon me, but . . . Harriet Miers who?

This pick was so not on anybody's radar. I think there was a collective 10 seconds of blank stare as her name was announced . . . but we're all going to hear waaaay more about her than I'm sure she ever considered anyone would wish to know.

But let's leave the whole gay thing out of it this go around, shall we? It was overdone last time, and just as irrelevant.

UPDATE:
The Conservative Grapevine has an excellent roundup of conservative reaction to the nomination of Miers.

Posted by at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)