It’s a Lot Like Christmas
ArchPundit
Katherine Harris is running for the US Senate in Florida. Thank you.
Ralph’s Back, and Quite Amusing
Republicans are griping that the budget was only passed by doling out pork projects. No?!? In Illinois? Whodathunkit? Translation: This budget shouldn’t have been passed before the first of June and then Republicans would have gotten some of that pork.
Atrazine Special Coming Up!
Man catches 124 pound catfish in the Mississippi.
In the two weeks since Tim Pruitt hauled in a world-record, 124-pound blue catfish, he has been on ESPN and the “Today” show, set up his own Web site and been to Springfield, Ill., to promote fishing with the lieutenant governor.
I think I’d pay to see Pat Quinn try and hold a conversation about 124 pound catfish.
How Much Credit Does the Governor Get for the Session?
First, let me stipulate that as bad as I think the budget is, no one pays attention to that who isn’t already voting one way or another. Budgets are far too detailed for the average swing voter and just don’t affect their vote much.
The print press has pretty much given the budget as a win to Blagojevich and in the sense that it gets him out of the press and takes the primary attack against him out of play, that’s certainly true. Rich Miller’s column is pretty much the conventional wisdom, and it’s pretty much correct in terms of the budget helping the Governor out in a tough time.
I think that success is fleeting though. Next year, as pointed out in an interview with The Speaker, the budget probably won’t be much different and so going into the election one might be tempted to think Blagojevich has avoided his biggest problem.
But I don’t think he has, I think Rich points it out here:
Just about every reporter I know who is employed by a major media outlet is working on at least one big story about alleged corruption or shady practices within the Blagojevich administration. Not all of these investigations will bear fruit, of course, but we can expect plenty of negative reports in the days and weeks ahead. His “window” could close soon as reporters dig into the shenanigans at the Department of Central Management Services, the state lottery and allegedly hinky hiring practices all over the place.
The thing about the Administration is that by repeating endlessly the mantra that Blagojevich was changing the way the state does business, he’s legitimately set himself up to be held to a higher standard. Now, with the dam broken after the CMS audit and Tony Rezko appearing on every corner, every reporter who had a tip on something shady can go after it because the editors believe there is something worth going after. There’s smoke and so probably there is fire. As those pop up, some may be minor, some may be major, some may be devastating, but such stories never produce good results. One doesn’t go in looking for corruption and come out finding a well run agency. The stories have three possible results with varying degrees in each category:
1) Corruption
2) Incompetence
3) Story is killed
None produce good publicity and every story can start with the hook that while he ran in 2002 promising to change the way business was done in Springfield……
The advantage of keeping your nose clean as a politician is that generally reporters are well fed by campaigns and state government. They can go and get the differing sides to a policy dispute or cover an interesting angle to a press release and when it’s busy they can’t justify spending resources just combing through potential tips that’ll take a lot of time to track down. Under the game when there isn’t a big issue of corruption out there, it means that incumbents do okay and can build up name recognition and get credit for specific bills or programs. However, when a story breaks and it looks like there is blood in the water, everyone wants to break the hot story and to do that they have to start following up on rumblings in Springfield or Chicago and investigate–competition works for the public good.
Making it worse–the timing for the CMS audit and other issues comes as the Lege adjourns and the Springfield press now has a lot of free time on its hands to track down stories. Those efforts are likely to produce a drip, drip, drip effect with new negative stories on a consistent basis.
Add to that a grand jury investigation and a potential challenger in Devine and it gets very hard to get back on message for the administration. What he needs is a strong challenge from the right wing so he can define himself against conservative Republicans. But with a Republican primary most of the fire is going to be within the Republican circular firing squad and that won’t let himself define his positions in relation to them–and worse, a moderate like Topinka could emerge posing a real threat to him in a general election.
So the Governor did avoid a platform for the Republicans to attack him everyday, but he also freed up the press to investigate every orifice that Tony Rezko has.
8th’s McSweeney: Reported rapes and incest
Fascinating discussion in the Leader on Dave McSweeney’s view of when abortion is acceptable:
IL: You do allow for exceptions for abortion – the life of the mother and in the case of reported rape and incest, is that right?
M: Life of the mother, and reported cases of rape and incest. But what I?ve also said is that if on the final text of legislation rape and incest exceptions are not included, I would still vote for it. The reason I would vote for it is I think it?s imperative that we protect the unborn and I?ve been consistent and won?t back down from the view that in the cases of reported rape and incest.
IL: What makes the value of a baby?s life different if it was conceived as the result of reported rape or incest?
M: The distinction is whether it has been reported – not a question of the baby?s value. It insures that an incident has occurred. There have been stories and concerns in the past that someone could just say they were raped or a victim of incest. That creates too broad of an exception up to that point. That?s where I?m drawing the distinction – why I use the word ?reported.? Someone has to actually go to a police department and then be in a situation of reporting.
So taking this further—umm..so what if the police find it to be unfounded? Is the police department then to decide whether an abortion can take place?
Or more fun in trying to control women’s bodies, what definition of rape are we going to use? Does it have to be an aggravated sexual assault? Or just a lessor offense? Do the police have to agree? Or do we get to have a fun game of trying to figure out if it’s a false report? Do you prosecute false reports? And how do you know if it isn’t a rape that results in significant physical damage?
While I usually don’t buy that most pro-lifers just want to control women, the result of this kind of crap will almost certainly lead to just such a thing and resemble the Handmaid’s Tale a lot closer than anyone would like to admit.
At What Point Does Israel…
Just tell crazy evangelicals to go bug some other country
JERUSALEM — More than two decades ago, John Brown grew mesmerized by an evangelical preacher’s theory that the Bible hinted at a major oil field deep beneath Israel’s soil.
Now, armed with unshakable faith and millions of dollars from American Evangelicals, Brown is leading a major exploration he hopes will uncover a reservoir of black gold in a New Jersey-sized country that produces only 80 barrels of oil a day.
”It’s my destiny in life to come to Israel and help the people of Israel become energy independent,” Brown said Monday.
And then see them all die at the Rapture.
Dick and Barack Defending The Right to Privacy
Durbin was just on the floor defending the Court’s decision in Griswold vs. Connecticut. The justices struck down the ability of the state to regulate contraception by married couples. He, Barack and Snowe are introducing a resolution celebrating the 40th anniversary of the decision.
Knox Speech
Many have linked to it now, but the end of it was especially impressive:
Today, on this day of possibility, we stand in the shadow of a lanky, raw-boned man with little formal education who once took the stage at Old Main and told the nation that if anyone did not believe the American principles of freedom and equality were timeless and all-inclusive, they should go rip that page out of the Declaration of Independence.
My hope for all of you is that you leave here today with the will to keep these principles alive in your own life and the life of this country. They will be tested by the challenges of this new century, and at times we may fail to live up to them. But know that you have it within your power to try. That generations who have come before you faced these same fears and uncertainties in their own time. And that though our labor, and God?s providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other?s burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that distant horizon, and a better day.
Was John Kerry a Republican Plant?
On May 20, Kerry signed a document called Standard Form 180, authorizing the Navy to send an ”undeleted” copy of his ”complete military service record and medical record” to the Globe. Asked why he delayed signing the form for so long, Kerry said in a written response: ”The call for me to sign a 180 form came from the same partisan operatives who were lying about my record on a daily basis on the Web and in the right-wing media. Even though the media was discrediting them, they continued to lie. I felt strongly that we shouldn’t kowtow to them and their attempts to drag their lies out.”
You idiot, by not releasing the records you let them drag their lies out.
Aging Boomer
Looks like the Web Guys are having fun with Eric:
Jack sucks. Here in St. Louis they renamed it the Arch and I thought it might have some, I don’t know, good music from the past–no. It was like growing up in Central Illinois with the musical diversity being Top 35 and and classic rock. The only thing that saved me was WXRT was on satellite and my cable company carried it.