ScaifeNet because we can't let Soros have all the fun...

There’s going to be a public hearing on “saving the Internet” tonight.  It’ll be at the auditorium at South High (3131 19th Avenue South in Minneapolis). No, that’s really what they’re calling it; here’s the email: From: Josh Silver, FreePress.net [mailto:info@freepress.net] Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2010 11:01 AM To: [redacted] Subject: Why you should join me and Al Franken on Thursday Dear [...]

I was thinking about long lost loves the other day. And I walked into a grocery store – and from half a store away, I saw a familiar profile – one I’d not seen for…years?  Decades?  A generation? I walked over there, telling myself “there’s just no way”, setting expectations nice and low. But is was true; it [...]

There's a front page article in today's WSJ called Mexico Under Siege: MONTERREY, Mexico--A surge of drug violence in Mexico's business capital and richest city has prompted an outcry from business leaders who on Wednesday took out full-page ads asking President Felipe Calderón to send in more soldiers to stem the violence. The growing violence in Monterrey, long one of Mexico's most modern and Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03781053410876242483noreply@blogger.com

I ask my DFLer friends why they plan on voting for Mark Dayton. “Because Tom Emmer is an angry extremist white man!” “Because Target is anti-gay!” “Because Emmer will cut the budget”… …and so on. But none of those responses answers my question; why are you voting for Mark Dayton? Open thread for liberal commenters:  Why are you voting for Mark [...]

I remember meeting my first “tracker”.  It was at the “Patriot Picnic” at Boom Island Park in 2006.  We had then-House-candidate Michele Bachmann and Senate candidate Mark Kennedy on the show.  The “tracker” was a surly, scrawny little guy whose demeanor screamed “latté-drinking, Ben Folds-listening, someday-Smart-Car-buying Macalester Anthropology major who needs a crap job [...]

Okay, let's suss this one out:

There's a new argument emerging among supporters of the Ground Zero mosque. Distressed by President Obama's waffling on the issue, they're calling on former President George W. Bush to announce his support for the project, because in this case Bush understands better than Obama the connection between the war on terror and the larger question of America's relationship with Islam. It's an extraordinary change of position for commentators who long argued that Bush had done grievous harm to America's image in the Muslim world and that Obama represented a fresh start for the United States. Nevertheless, they are now seeing a different side of the former president.

That can't be right, can it? George W. Bush, former president, a/k/a Chimpy McHitlerburton, scourge of all that is good and just, needs to get in the game? Must be a delusion. Still, Byron York marshals the evidence:

"It's time for W. to weigh in," writes the New York Times' Maureen Dowd. Bush, Dowd explains, understands that "you can't have an effective war against the terrorists if it is a war on Islam." Dowd finds it "odd" that Obama seems less sure on that matter. But to set things back on the right course, she says, "W. needs to get his bullhorn back out" -- a reference to Bush's famous "the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!" speech at Ground Zero on September 14, 2001.
York also quotes Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post and onetime New Republic writer Peter Beinart, both longing for Bush's help on setting things right. Beinart in particular seems to be shining the W. equivalent of the Bat Signal over the lonely city:

"Words I never thought I'd write: I pine for George W. Bush," Beinart wrote Tuesday in The Daily Beast. "Whatever his flaws, the man respected religion, all religion." Beinart longs for the days when Bush "used to say that the 'war on terror' was a struggle on behalf of Muslims, decent folks who wanted nothing more than to live free like you and me…"
Help us, Obi W. Kebushi -- you're our only hope!

One thing has been remarkably consistent about the post-presidential period of George W. Bush -- unlike his immediate predecessor, W. has maintained a very discreet silence about the work of the man who succeeded him. I'm confused why now he would should heed the calls of his detractors and get back into the arena. After hearing how stupid the man was for all these years, I would have thought his malaprop-strewn opinions were worthless and his duty was to slink away in shame, never to return. Instead, the bien pensants want him back in the game?

As a bright former New Yorker once said: strange days indeed. Most peculiar, mama.

It’s 8PM, and I’m out on the patio at Keegans again, at “Meet Tom Emmer” night.  Not that there’s going to be a lot to liveblog – I’ve met Tom Emmer! – but I’m here with a computer, so why not?  About 21 people out here so far, and I expect more.  Emmer isn’t here [...]

It’s been a solid two years since the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers last elected a Mayor.  Since Joe “Learned Foot” Tucci pulled the plug on Kool Aid Report, the lights at the MOB Secretary of State’s office have been off, the power bill’s gone unpaid, and the screen door is banging in the breeze – [...]

What if a group calling itself “Free Press” threw a public meeting to evangelize the idea of nationalizing the internet… …and it turned out that the leadership of the group “Free Press” was on record favoring the complete squelching of economic and personal freedom? That’d be…ironic, wouldn’t it? As PJ O’Rourke said, life is full of ironies, if [...]

As we began the march toward the primaries, and I saw that Mark Dayton had (according to the KSTP poll) a 13 point lead in the race over DFL-endorsed Margaret Anderson Kelliher, I sat back in my seat and wondered “Why?” Why Mark Dayton – a superannuated playboy with a 30-year habit of treating electoral office [...]

When he played for the Packers, I despised Brett Favre. And no, it wasn't solely because he often found a way to beat the Purple--often in dramatic fashion and almost always at Lambeau Field. It was the constant chorus of hosannas about how "nobody has more fun than Brett," "nobody loves the game more than Brett," "nobody is tougher than Brett," that not only flowed freely from the puckered lips Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03781053410876242483noreply@blogger.com

Remember all those shootings in Obama’s Chicago?  The gang warfare that’s made Chicago just about the most dangerous city between Juarez and Kandahar? Maybe not – the national media has been pretty hands-off on “gun violence” in Chicago since The One’s ascenscion. And it turns out that it’s even worse than the shooting figures indicate; in the [...]

It is my right, under the First Amendment, to walk into a biker bar and tell them that leather chaps look like gay S and M wear. Just because it’s my right doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Billy Joe Tubb, writing in South Carolina Traditional Values blog, takes on the real reasons for not building the [...]

Let's just say I prefer one over the other.

I’d always suspected this was true.   Now, we have documentary evidence. (Not remotely safe for work, or kids, or those with delicate senses of language or decorum).

One of the many pleasures of last Saturday’s MOB party was the formal debut of the MOB’s first baby, “Baby Moose”, who is the child of Hammerschwing Ben and Mall Diva, who – this is the funny part – met at a MOB event. As befits the child, nephew and grandchild of bloggers (the grands are [...]

I ran across this youtube video on NDNation today. It's pretty powerful. If only the Republican creampuffs would sack up and produce an this as an ad, or better yet some leaders that could articulate this message, there might be some hope for us.Nihilist in Golf Pantshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14363439123292045651noreply@blogger.com

The obvious solution to today's headlines:

Brett Favre couldn't come back until now because he was on the Rod Blagojevich jury, which also seems to have a very difficult time making up its mind on things.

As my previous post indicated, I now have some free time on my hands, and it occurred to me that this may be a good opportunity to dust off an idea I've had for some time. Basically, I think it would be funny to post some of the more annoying toys that have found their way into our previously quiet household. This first item, I've dubbed "Hell Tractor," because I have no idea how we procured this ridiculous thing, so I can only assume it arrived here via a portal from hell. It arrived sans batteries, which should have tipped me off that even Satan couldn't stand this thing in its fully-functional form. Originally, our son loved the tractor when it was just inanimate and innocent. But then I went and decided to see what the thing would do if I loaded in some batteries. Imagine my surprise when I first wiggled the farmer, which is totally not a euphemism for masturbation, but probably should be: Great howling crash wagons! The first time I fired that thing up, my son started screaming his disapproval, and really, who could blame him. It probably didn't help that the damned thing started cruising right at him. How could you see this coming at you and not start screaming? It also scares the hell out of the cats. When they hear Hell Tractor's engine sputtering to life, they run and hide either under the...

Minnesota's own (at least during the warm months of summer) Gary Larson looks at the real reasons why Target is being boycotted by groups like MoveOn.org and why companies like Target got involved in Minnesota politics in the first place in a piece at The Intellectual Conservative: That Target favors a candidate who wants lower taxes, particularly the state's excessive corporate income tax, is a Chadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03781053410876242483noreply@blogger.com