Today the voters in Japan are headed to the polls and if the pre-election polling is correct the long dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is going to experience a defeat, quite possibly by landslide margins. The LDP has ruled Japan for almost all of the 54 years since the end of World War Two but they have suffered major losses recently, including the loss of control of the less powerful upper house. This time they are likely to lose control of the powerful lower house and may drop to less than...

The third time seems to be the charm as the Space Shuttle Discovery roared off the pad shortly before midnight Florida time. Soaring with it was migrant farm worker turned astronaut Jose Hernandez. He was quoted as saying that as high as he will be flying tonight his parents will probably be flying even higher. I can just imagine how correct he is. Imagine starting out life as a migrant farm worker from Mexico, you and your spouse have no better than a 3rd grade education. Toiling in the hot summer...

Reports coming out today that the Massachusetts legislature might try to change the succession law to allow a temporary replacement to be appointed to fill the Kennedy seat. I will be interested to see the legal foundation for such a change (if it indeed happens, obviously rumors tend to fly at a time like this). As far as I can remember from my law school days you generally can’t make a law retroactive in cases like this.

Just breaking, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) has died at the age of 77 after a battle with cancer. This marks the first time in 56 years that there has not been a Kennedy in the Senate. However I do not expect this condition to remain forever. The late Senator’s son Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) may well run for the Senate at some point and there are many Kennedy family members still in Massachusetts (including former Boston Congressman Joseph Kennedy). It means that only one member of the Joseph...

Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning and we’ve got another scrub. In this case it was an equipment issue with the failure of a Liquid Hydrogen valve to report proper closing. Obviously when it comes to Liquid Hydrogen you do NOT want to mess around with possible problems. Having volatile fuels leaking out at launch leads to some very messy outcomes. Right now they are on a 48 hour hold to check things out. They need to drain the tanks in order to properly inspect the valve. The indications now...

As many of you may know the space shuttle is scheduled for a Monday evening/Tuesday morning (depending on your location) launch. I have been a space nut since I was a little kid and if I could have my wishes I’d probably be on the shuttle myself. But failing that I am incredibly proud and inspired by the fact that one of the astronauts on the current mission comes from my hometown of Stockton, California. Even more inspiring is the fact that Jose Hernandez began his life as the child of migrant...

Nothing more to say. A soldier home from Afghanistan is greeted by one of the loves of his life.

I was just heading out to court when this broke, so excuse the shortness of the post. Scottish authorities have released Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the man convicted of his role in the terror bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988. The attack killed 270 people in the plane and on the ground. Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said that his terminal condition (he is dying of prostate cancer) and Scottish values bound her to release him. I have mixed views of this decision. On the one hand, the man murdered...

I don’t know whether President Obama has any musical talent or if he plays any particular instrument. But his actions over the past few weeks have made me start to wonder if he’s taking a page from the Clinton playbook. After his landslide defeat in the 1994 elections President Clinton adopted the the now famous triangulation strategy in which he pitted himself against Congressional Republicans on one side and Congressional Democrats on the other. The triangle game is, for me, most interesting...

Just another lesson for us Yanks from the wise Sir Humphrey

According to news reports the ‘missing ship’ wasn’t really missing as officials had good evidence of where it was the whole time. The secrecy was intended to protect the crew from a hijacking and the danger of being killed by those in control of the ship. I’m still not sure what is really going on here. I’m not saying the story doesn’t pass the smell test, it is possible that they had to do what they had to do in order to protect the crew. But I would say that...

John Simmons, left, and David Williams argue during a rally Saturday Aug. 15, 2009 in Atlanta. Several thousand people gathered in downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park to protest health care reform proposed by the president and Congressional Democrats. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Over the last few days we’ve seen stories that the White House is seriously considering eliminating the controversial public option segment of the health care reform plan. This news follows earlier reports that...

Normally here at TMV we generally discuss political issues, we sometimes discuss entertainment issues and once in a while the two subjects meld. I am not one for jumping on to celebrity causes but this is an exception to the rule. For those who are not familiar with the name, Eric Millegan is an actor best known for his role as Zach Addy on the CBS series Bones. He is also openly gay and has been a figure in the gay rights movement. Today however he has taken a step which I think is even braver than...

While we might have grown somewhat used to stories of piracy on the open seas, those events usually take place in some isolated part of the Indian Ocean or off the coast of Africa. But a story is now emerging that we may be seeing the first example of piracy in European waters. According to the stories a Maltese flagged ship sailed through the English Channel but never made it to Gibraltar. The story also indicates that there was some incident in Swedish waters where the crew was attacked by people...

In a ruling only slightly less surprising that a Daley win in Chicago the government of Myanmar has ‘convicted’ democracy advocate and opposition leader Suu Kyi of violating security laws. Needless to say this is not going to improve the junta and it’s standing in the world. Although it has been ruled (both as Burma and Myanmar) by a military junta since 1962 the regime has grown increasingly brutal over the past few years. As with many regimes around the world, the people suffer...

Just something to relax you when the well meaning debates get a bit heated.

In debating the subject of cash for clunkers I recently heard talk show host Tom Sullivan make some interesting comments. One point he made was the fact that the program is probably not really helping with the people it was intended to help. The theoretical goal of the program is to get polluting cars off the road and to get people into cars that are in better condition. The problem is that while the program does provide $ 3,500 to $ 4,500 in cash as a down payment it does not help people who can’t...

The director of a myriad of 80’s hits died of a heart attack earlier today. Our condolences to his family.

The Senate has voted 68-31 to confirm the nomination of Sonia Sotmayor to the Supreme Court Republicans voted 31-9 against the nomination while Democrats voted 59-0 in favor. Senator Kennedy did not vote. By comparison the Democrats votes 22-22 on the Roberts nomination and 41-3 against the Alito nomination, so the GOP falls somewhere in between those two votes. I am quite sure though we will see the various spin doctors try and play with this vote. She will be sworn in on Saturday.

The last few weeks there has been a lot of debate and discussion over the town hall meetings and the disruptions of those meetings by those upset over the health care proposals. I certainly agree with Joe that both sides need to lighten up a little bit. I’m a big fan of free speech but I do think that some of the protesters have gone a little bit overboard in their efforts to disrupt these events. At the same time however, I think it is worth remembering why some of these protests have come...

Former Congressman William Jefferson has been found guilty on 11 of the 16 charges against him, likely sending him to prison. Jefferson lost his heavily Democratic district in an upset last year.

North Korean’s Supreme Nutjob has ‘pardoned’ the two journalists they have been holding captive and they will be on the way home soon. Obviously this is good news but I’m not sure we really need to celebrate too much over what former President Clinton may or may not have done. The fact is that North Korea in effect kidnapped these two innocent women, held them hostage and didn’t let them go until they got the payoff of a visit from a former President of The United States. Certainly...

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has announced he will oppose the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. McCain indicated that he felt she was too much of a judicial activist. Since he voted against her nomination to the Appeals Court in 1998 this is at least a consistent decision. What impact it will have on his re-election campaign next year is unclear. On the one hand the move could help calm the hard right of the party who has been upset with him over the years. At the same time...

Now that members are beginning to announce their votes we can start tracking the total votes. The current count of yes and no votes are as follows, the remainder being undecided. Obviously we can assume most or all Democrats will vote yes but until they announce I won’t list them. We’ve also got a pool going in the replies. Feel free to chime in. YES: 22 votes (16D, 6R) NO:  24 votes (all R) Democrats are currently 16-0 on the nomination (trending for 60-0) Republicans are currently...

The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted 13-6 to send the nomination of Justice to Be Sotomayor to the full Senate. Democrats votes 12-0 in favor while Republicans voted 6-1 against. Sadly it seems that the trend which prevailed in the Roberts and Alito nominations is continuing. A full track of all announced Senators can be found here.