LEAVWORLD: GRAFFITI POLITTI

I can only imagine how poor Howard Dean feels these days. If you didn't see Sunday's Meet the Press interview (I missed it, as well), read the transcript here ( link ). Some excerpts: MR. RUSSERT: So your personal view is that even if someone has won more elected delegates, if you think the other person would be a stronger candidate against John McCain, you'd opt for the other person? DR. DEAN: Tim, that is not my personal view. My personal view is, I am the chairman of this party, we have a set of rules that have been in place for a year and a half, and I am the person who's in charge of upholding the rules whether I like them or not. Are there some rules I might change next time around? Yeah, maybe so. But right now we're focusing on the rules we have. Look, that's all we've got. No--I feel like I'm the referee here at the NCAA finals. You know, you make some calls, but if you stick to the rules and do the right thing according the rules, you're go...

Imagine that you could "contribute" money to your employer, in return for benefits well beond the amount you pay them. It sounds like a good deal, until the company goes bankrupt. That's what would happen in the free market, but when the employer is a local, state, or the federal government, they raise taxes to cover the cost. This is the situation when public sector unions are allowed to contribute money to political campaigns. In NY State, public sector unions hold vast power over the political process, and the state is going bankrupt. All of the politicians who appoint the people to negotiate with the unions are recipients of union money, and "support" in their elections. Does anyone else see anything fishy about this? Citizens have the right to lobby the government, for any reason. Businesses, unions, and just about any group of citizens are allowed to contribute to, and lobby government officials for any cause. The problem is that whereas a union nornaly is...

Sen. Clinton's strategy of trying to win the popular vote total, as well as the large "Democrat-leaning" general election states was surely bolstered by her decisive win in PA Tuesday night. She was outspent by a huge amount, and Obama was leading in at least one pre-election poll. If I can make a betting analogy, the line was "coming down" on her win margin. Last week, it had to be "double digits," but by Monday, the "line" was down to 7, because of a few screwy polls that threw the averages off. Obama and Clinton both probably had access to better polling, which showed Clinton winning around her actual margin of victory, which was 10%. That's why Obama was in Indiana Tues. night. This win cements the ongoing success of Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos," which is an effort to make this primary as chaotic, divisive, and damaging to the Democratic party, before the general election. Before you start laughing, or getting ticke...

This is crossposted, with permission, from STOP THE ACLU . It was written by my buddy Jay. My take on this is at the bottom, in boldface. The ACLU were at the frontlines on bringing this to through the courts. Their position is to abolish the death penalty completely, so any argument they made on the "cruelty" of the lethal injection mode was only to set up for a greater argument to have the death penalty completely abolished. It was a pre-cursor towards setting a precedent. It comes as no surprise that the dissenters were Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter. Voting 7-2, the conservative court led by Chief Justice John Roberts rebuffed the latest assault on capital punishment, this time by foes focusing on methods rather than on the legality of the death penalty itself. Justice John Paul Stevens voted with the majority on the question of lethal injections but said for the first time that he now believes the death penalty is unconstitutional. The court turned back a ...

In a previous post (on my NEXTLEAV blog), I said " Now, I just hope Hillary's not having too many 'adult beverages.' " On cue, she gives us this image ( link ) of her, downing Crown Royal at "a bar." Again, I can't fault her. I'd be grateful for a "free drink," in her circumstances. Sometimes I think that my "offhand" comments are a little too prescient, but it's funny when I can directly highlight them this way. Of course, this whole post is "tongue in cheek." PS: I'm not an advisor to Hillary's campaign, though perhaps I should be.

For your consideration, another quote from the fictional Sen. Barry O'Blarney: "You go into some of these urban areas in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of big cities across the nation, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Sen. O'Blarney said. "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns and gangs and antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-white sentiment, or anti-police sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said. Would you vote for the fictional Sen. O'Blarney? How does his quote compare to the real Sen. Obama's quote: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama, an Illinois senator, said. "And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't li...

I'm no Dr. Thomas Sowell, but he's one of my greatest influences. He makes me think, and I give him honors for that. To Dr. Sowell: "Thank you, sir," and pardon my ripping off of your "random thoughts on the passing scene" title. Think of this as an amateur "homage." I hope everyone who reads this gets a laugh, or a serious thought. Mort Kondracke's latest column is about the problems in our education system. The problem with mister Kondracke's column is that it doesn't once mention "discipline," which is the the root cause of the US' lag behind the rest of the industrialized world in education. What good is "accountability" for teachers and principals, if there's no "accountability" applied to the the students? ( read it here ) Congress is browbeating Ambassador Crocker about Iraqi "political progress" during the "surge." The US Congress itself has been dithering on reform of Me...

It's been hard to keep up with all of the developments following the fall of Gov. Spitzer. This story isn't just about "client 9," or sex with hookers. It's about a pattern of abuse of power, starting from "day one." Those who aided and abetted his abuses are now feeling the heat, in the fallout from last year's "DIRTY TRICKS" scandal ( link to my last post on it ). This is a brief overview of the different ongoing investigations. We'll start with Albany DA David Soares. In addition to the problems with his current investigation ( link ), the State Investigations Commission is "investigating the investigations. We are seeking to determine the efficacy of the various investigatory efforts," according to SIC Chairman Alfred Lerner ( link to NY Post story ). This is something LEAVWORLD has been calling for, and I'm glad to see it happen. Next, and potentially bigger, is AG Andrew Cuomo's investigation into the NY State Po...

This summer's REAL blockbuster! You're getting a look at the "rough draft" here.