In a slightly more fun, casual story for your Sunday reading, an interesting wager has broken out in the blogosphere. In what he calls a Challenge to Climate Change Skeptics, Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com is offering a rather hefty wager to all takers based on … the weather. It came in response to another blogger who claimed that this summer seemed abnormally cool – referencing the “year without a summer” of 1816 – and an inference that this somehow meant global...

Let’s say you have a baby in a stroller but you find a deal on a used appliance that you just can’t pass up. What to do? Fresh from the camera, another of those scenes that makes you ask, What the Heck? When you see images like this, they are often accompanied by stories about rednecks, trailers, and something south of the Mason-Dixon line. Except this one is an original, taken today, and it’s from New York. (If you decide to use this image, make sure to credit The Moderate Voice.) Ladies...

Patrick Edaburn pointed out last night that the Washington Post (not exactly a bastion of Right wing conservatism) reported on recent CBO findings which indicate that the proposed House health reform plan will actually drive costs up, rather than producing the savings we’ve been promised. The numbers don’t seem to be the issue here, since they appear to be clear to everyone except the plan’s backers in Congress. More amusing was Patrick’s prediction that Democrats and their...

Have to give a tip of the hat to Hot Air for one of these videos, presented for your enjoyment this evening. The other is from my old film production company. While you may fully disagree with my negative opinion of a public option in the ObamaCare health plan, the good folks at the Sam Adams Alliance have come up with a really well done video on health care rationing. Next up, in case you are worried that people are not the only ones burdening the health care system with their poor habits, you’ll...

With a hat tip to regular reader jwest in a previous article’s comments, we find the odd story of former Detroit city councilwoman Monica Conyers in the Detroit Free Press this week. I honestly thought this was a bogus story until I did a quick Google News search and the story seems to have more than sufficient bona fides to comment on. The federal grand jury indictment might say “United States of America vs. Samuel L. Riddle Jr.” But the name of Monica Conyers surfaces everywhere in the...

While the hopes of many were dashed last fall when Elwyn Tinklenberg somehow failed to unseat Congressional Reality TV Star Michele Bachmann, I for one didn’t regret the money I sent his way for the effort. Even though I still get the occasional fundraising letter from Tinklenberg’s campaign, it seems that a new challenger may be stepping forward to fight the good fight. Minnesota could again have one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country in 2010. It could be...

Since I know you all just can’t get enough of me, tomorrow morning at 7:45 am Eastern, I’ll be the guest on America’s Morning News with John McCaslin and Melanie Morgan in Washington, DC. The show is syndicated in cities across the country and you can see a list of stations at the link in case you’re in the broadcast area. If not, you can also catch their live feed online here. I believe we’ll be discussing my last PJM column, or the current state of affairs in politics...

Can’t we admit that the best legal representation is a right which should be available to all Americans? Aren’t we tired of those poncy, bourgeois bastages sucking up all best lawyers? It’s time.

If this National Journal report is accurate, Marco Rubio may be pulling a George Patton down in Florida, pivoting 90 degrees from his assumed target and heading for a new battle. Two Republican sources said today that even as former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio campaigns for retiring GOP Sen. Mel Martinez’s Senate seat, he has been calling around to top Republican donors and activists in the state to discuss the idea of switching from the Senate primary against GOP Gov. Charlie Crist and...

There’s a lot going on this week, with nary a slow news day in sight, and my co-host Cindy and I will be taking to the airwaves once again this morning for another edition of Mid Stream Radio in case you’d like to join us. Our guest will be Rick Moran of Right Wing Nuthouse (and occasional guest author here.) We’ll be figuring out exactly how awful our country must be to consider having CIA agents kill terrorists, as well as why we’re bothering with Sonia Sotomayor’s...

“Be Careful What You Wish For.” While I didn’t vote for Barack Obama, I must still confess that I was one of the ex-Republican, libertarian leaning folks who found reason to quietly cheer his election. On some of the key issues of the day, I was simply done with the GOP. I couldn’t stand our foreign policy under Bush and I was horrified at the prospect of having another Republican stacking the Supreme Court with more bodies in the mold of Roberts and Alito, throwing off the...

The confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor are dragging through their second day, and it’s getting harder to stay awake while watching them. Thus far, not only are there few surprises, but I tend to agree with Ben Pershing at the Washington Post, who has concluded that the Democrats no longer really care if they get a single Republican vote coming out of committee. They know they can get at least a few in the full Senate vote and this was a done deal before it started. The...

I was searching for some way to add to this analysis by Robert J. Samuelson at the Washington Post, but frankly I’m just not that smart. If you want to step back from the partisan walls and see why the Republicans have been doing a bad job at planning for the country’s economic future and the Democrats’ current plans are making it worse, follow the link and read the entire thing for yourself. Warning: None of you partisans on either side will be happy. But here’s a quick money...

Out here in the Empire State, plenty of funds from the original Porkulus bill have arrived. But instead of going into shovel ready projects and the creation of new jobs, our perennially budget challenged state government has channeled the funds into making up shortfalls for their poor planning and inability to mange the public purse. New York state has used most of its economic stimulus funding so far to plug holes in its budget and has spent very little on new highway construction, according to...

I suppose I really have become a bit of a cold-hearted old curmudgeon in my golden years, because I know I should have a lot more sympathy for this poor girl. And yet, I still laughed. Teen Girl Falls In Open Manhole While Texting NEW YORK (CBS) ?It was an accident waiting to happen — an open sewer and a 15-year-old girl who was texting while she walked. Alexa Longueira, a high school sophomore, was walking along Victory Boulevard near Travis Avenue on Staten Island Wednesday evening when she...

I was alerted to yet another controversial court case involving the dreaded “morning after pill” by our friend Ed Morrissey at Hot Air. This particular drama is playing out in the 9th Circuit Court of appeals and deals with a pharmacy being told by the courts that they must provide Plan B. Pharmacists are obliged to dispense the Plan B pill, even if they are personally opposed to the “morning after” contraceptive on religious grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. In...

… well, with me, I suppose. The folks over at Jumping in Pools invited me to do a quick Q&A hit covering a range of topics including Sarah Palin, Porkulus Mk. II and some prognostication on Presidential races in 2012 and beyond. Since I know you can never get enough of my wit and wisdom here, feel free to swing by and say hi over there. http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/07/interview-jazz-shaw.html

As any of our more left leaning regular readers will tell you, I’ve not been shy about criticizing President Obama when I find him heading in directions which I feel are not in our best interest. And yes, I must admit to the guilty pleasure of giving the President the occasional poke in the ribs when he’s caught in some faux pas. Unfortunately, the recent kerfuffle over Obama allegedly admiring the rear view of an attractive young lady during his European tour qualifies as neither. I’ll...

Anyone remember a certain Democratic Presidential candidate last fall who complained bitterly (and correctly, in my opinion) about the many “signing statments” which George W. Bush used to skirt around legislation he didn’t care for? Yeah, me too. But it seems that, having moved his own bags into the West Wing, Barack Obama thought he’d give old W. some credit and take a shot at it himself on a new bill regarding the World Bank and I.M.F. The conditions on World Bank and IMF...

After the beating he took at that hands of Hillary Clinton in New York’s 2000 Senate race, plenty of observers thought that Rick Lazio’s political career might have drawn to a close. They may prove wrong, though, if the former congressman winds up being the next Governor of New York. Before you begin guffawing over the idea of a Republican taking the helm in this bluest of blue states, there are a few background facts you should consider. This is the subject of my latest column at Pajamas...

This evening at 8 pm Eastern, I’ll be joining the panel at The Rick Moran Show on Blog Talk Radio for “Palinpalooza.” The question before the combined sages of political prognostication will be, “Is Sarah Palin’s Career Dead?” I know what you’re thinking… how did we get such an obscure topic which absolutely nobody else is talking about? Well, that’s just how we roll. You’d never be able to guess it, of course, but I’ll be taking...

The “rule of law” is, when you stop to think about it, one of the most lofty, powerful concepts we have. Particularly in America, it embodies a meaning which goes beyond the generalized legal maxim that all decisions should be made by applying and respecting known, accepted principles from your body of laws. It’s really something more than that. It’s the idea that the body of laws itself is the final arbiter – that no person or group of people is equal to or above those...

Our mountain adventure draws to a close, as we prepare to head back down to civilization again. While I’m in for a bit more vacation time still, I hope that most of you at least had a nice, long weekend to relax and unwind from the daily grind. Last night I stepped outside and walked into a perfect moment, as the full moon was rising above the mountains, shining down onto the lake in front of me and the loons were singing in full voice. I captured it for you as best I could in the hopes of...

Poor weather can, on occasion, make for fine photography. Today’s specimen is a picture from yesterday evening, approaching one bay where bass are often found in years other than this one. It was a brief window between rain showers and fog was settling down over the forest and the lake. When that happens, all sounds become muted, as if cotton candy had been stuffed into your ears. At a time like that, it’s not hard to imagine the various sounds from the forest as all being caused by hulking...

Yes, you knew it was inevitable. Even though I’m on vacation, I had to be tempted out of hiding after Governor Palin’s bombshell announcement. With that in mind, I will direct your attention to my column this weekend at Pajamas Media. The actual title is, “Sarah Palin Commits Political Suicide,” but I really preferred, “So Long and Thanks for all the Fisheries.”