Bush’s SCOTUS nominee…

However much many progressives feel that John Roberts is outside the mainstream on many issues, there is no debating the fact that he is about as qualified a nominee as anyone can be. He will be confirmed and there will not be much of a fight. Instead of showing your cards in a fight against Roberts, the left most hold out against the next nominee. Once Rehnquist leaves the court, you can bet your life that Bush will nominate a “far-right” conservative. There is where the fight is. Bush is going to nominate conservatives. Our job is to make sure they are as moderate as possible. If we leave the ammunition in the clip, it will be possible to shoot down the next nominee and force Bush to nominate a moderate.

Basically, we have two options.

A) We fight Roberts, tooth-and-nail. He gets on the court, anyway. Rehnquist leaves, and is replaced by a James Dobson sound-a-like. We can’t fight this time. Our political and fund-raising capital has already been spent. “Well, it’s just those democrats crying wolf again.”

B) We don’t fight Roberts with everything we have. We scrutinize him, we investigate him, we question him, but we DO NOT filibuster him. Rehnquist resigns, and Bush nominates said Dobson clone. We still have all of our cards without seeming like obstructionists. Best case, the nomination is withdrawn or defeated, and Bush is forced to go more to the center. Worst case, Bush’s nominee gets through, but not without political baggage for a lame-duck president, the Republican congress, and aspiring Presidential nominees.

This is our shot. Pick your battle and go to work. Don’t shoot blanks at the lake….it only scares the ducks away.

Bush picks…

…John Roberts for the Supreme Court vacancy left by the retiring Sandra Day O’Connor. It should be an interesting summer in Washington.

Women in Iraq…

Here is more great news concerning the future of Iraq. I agree that they should be able to make their democracy inherent their own, however, don’t we have a duty to spread freedom, as well as, democracy. We done just this in the past. You only have to look as far as Japan and West Germany, post World War II.

Saw this on yahoo…

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The National Rifle Association said Monday it is pulling its 2007 national convention out of Columbus because of the city’s ban on assault weapons.

The City Council passed a ban July 12 outlawing the sale or possession of semiautomatic rifles with pistol grips and detachable magazines.

The gun owners’ organization had planned to hold its annual three-day event, expected to draw as many as 60,000 people, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

“The party is canceled because last week your City Council unanimously voted to revoke the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens in Columbus by banning perfectly legal firearms,” NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said.

Councilman Michael Mentel said the NRA knew when it scheduled the convention that the city was considering a weapons ban and used the Columbus law to seek publicity.

“I do think it is a ruse,” he said. “They knew exactly what was going on in Columbus.”
Mayor Michael Coleman said that the NRA and other groups won’t dictate city policy and that the ban will make the city safer, which will attract convention business overall.

Federal lawsuits have overturned two previous attempts by Columbus to ban assault weapons. The latest law attempts to avoid that by spelling out a distinction between legal sporting weapons and military-style assault weapons.

The NRA also considered Portland, Ore., and Reno, Nev., for the 2007 event.

The convention was expected to generate $15 million to $20 million for city businesses, but other groups have shown interest in meeting in the city the week the NRA was to have its meeting, said Paul Astleford,
president of the city’s convention and visitors bureau.

Honest question here… Do people really need these guns? I realize that most murders and aggravated assaults happen with handguns, but really, do you need a high end, high-powered military rifle? Just curious. And please, don’t right back about the Second Amendment. You aren’t establishing a militia with these weapons. I don’t think all guns should be banned. Hunting, while not necessary for survival for 99.9% of us, is an American tradition and a birth-right. However, does it take an AK-47 to kill a deer?

O’Henry would be happy…

MySpace has been bought up by News Corp. Irony in any form makes me happy.

http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050718MySpaceIsNowFoxSpace.html

Thought this was funny…

Newbie’s Rules for Living in Austin
1. First, it’s pronounced AWS-TUN. It doesn’t matter how they say it in other places.

2. Forget the traffic rules you learned elsewhere. Austin has its own set of traffic rules. There’s no book about them. All you can do is get in your car and hope you survive to learn them.

3. All directions start with “Go down Mopac…’cause you don’t want to geton I-35’.” No one knows for sure what ‘Mopac’ means.

4. Burnet Road, Braker Lane, and Lamar Blvd.have no beginning and no end.

5. It is impossible to go around a block and wind up on the same street that you started on. The Chamber of Commerce calls this a scenic drive.

6. The 8:00amrush hour is from 6:30am to 9:30am. The 5:00pm rush hour is from 3:30p to 7:15pm. Friday’s rush hour starts on Thursday morning.

7. If you actually stop at a yellow light, then you cannot be from Austin. You may only apply your brakes when the end of a yellow light and the beginning of the red light create a burnt-orange hue. This is Longhorn Country, after all.

8. If you like being an individual, don’t even think of working for Dell. You’ll be branded like cattle and made to walk all over town with your Dell Tag around your neck or clipped on to your belt loop. Ninety-eight percent of the people within a 200 mile radius work for Dell. When someone says “Michael Dell”, Dell employees are trained to face Round Rock, hit their knees, put their face to the ground, weep, and rock back and forth.

9. Just remember that Mopac IS Loop1; Capital of Texas Hwy IS 360; and U.S.183 IS Research Blvd., AndersonLand, Ed Bluestein Blvd.and Old Bastrop Hwy; 2222 IS Northland Dr.or Allendale Rd.or Koenig Lane. Don’t try to figure it out. Just accept it. If you question the intelligence behind this naming convention, people will simply tilt their heads to the right and stare at you.

10. If moisture is determined to be rain, and not sweat, all traffic must immediately come to a screeching halt; ditto for daylight savings time, a femal UT student applying eye-shadow across the street, or a flat tire three lanes over. Rubber-necking is considered just as enjoyable as plain old necking with the steamed up car windows.

11. DO NOT attempt to access any road after an apocalyptic event like snow, a UT football game, UIL weekend, the Republic of Texas motorcycle rally, a parade for Lance Armstrong, cycling event, another 10K run or the SXSW (South by Southwest Music Convention). Construction on I-35 AND U.S. 183 is a way of life and a permanent form of lifetime entertainment. Get used to it and start saving up your toll road money!

12. Attn: All telephone solicitors…DO NOT correct my pronunciation when I say I live in Manchaca, TX. It’s pronounced MAN-shack (just like a man living in shack). Also realize that the city of Manchaca (MANshack) is in Hays and Travis Counties, and there is also a very long street in Austin named Manchaca (MANshack)! The city of Manor and Manor Rd. are pronounced ‘MAY-ner’. We don’t like corrections on that either. And, for God’s sake, DON’T pronounce the ‘E’ at the end of Guadalupe. It’s Gwada-LOOP and we like it that way!

13. Burnet Road is pronounced BURN-it, not Bur-NET. Koenig Lane is pronounced KAE-nig not KOE-nig. The old airport (Robert Mueller) is pronounced Robert Miller and is on Airport Boulevard. The new airport (Austin-Bergstrom) is no where near Airport Boulevard. It’s in the city of Del Valle pronounced Dell Valley!

14. Keep in mind that the sloppily dressed ‘hippie’ in worn-out sandals and earrings is probably the latest IPO millionaire around here.

15. Stay away from the Congress Ave. bridge at sundown if you do not like the thought of being in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. (Largest Mexican Free Tail Bat Population in the US)

16. And, yes, we all know that there’s a man in a teddy and a tiara on Congress Ave. It’s Leslie and he probably makes more money than you do. (Surely, you have a homeless, celebrity drag queen that likes to run for Mayor where you live, too, right?)

**And you wonder why there are so many bumper stickers that say ‘Keep Austin Weird’!**

I got this off a blog from a girl named Meagan. It pretty funny for us who live here in the most un-Texan city in America. By the way, her blog is http://thehaven.sarafina1977designs.com/blog/blog.htm