Well, the Lakers are now 1-1 in this tough stretch, with game in Dallas and San Antonio to come. Playing without Bynum (out two months), Ariza (out two months), Radmanovic (ankle sprain), and Mihm (sore achilles’) is rough, but Kobe was giving out assists like crazy.
Coby got to play too, since there was plenty of garbage time, which was nice since the Nuggets are the team his father George Karl is coaching.
In response to Governor Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget cuts across the board, University of California bureaucrats are threatening to turn away applicants despite the system’s pledge to accept every qualified California student.
This is just the old Washington Monument play: when an agency is threatened with budget cuts, it responds by threatening to cut the agency’s most popular service in a way that will get people emotional. The hope is that weak politicians will back down rather than firing the administrators and replacing them with competent managers who know how to make sensible cuts.
And well, given that Govenor Schwarzenegger is in a bit of an apologetic mood, the UC people just might beat the girly man with this trick.
If Republicans are starting to think McCain has it, then it may be over. This is a long standing pattern in the post-Nixon party:
- Ford defeats Reagan, making it Reagan’s turn.
- Reagan defeats Bush, making it Bush’s turn.
- Bush defeats Dole, making it Dole’s turn.
- Bush defeats McCain, making it McCain’s turn now?
Obviously there’s one break in the pattern, where nobody got a turn from a loss in 1996, but three of four isn’t bad.
If the pattern holds and McCain wins this, I wonder if Romney or Huckabee will get a turn.
The DCCC is not giving up on California’s 4th district despite the fact John Doolittle already dropped out. Now that it’s an open seat, the Democrats are naming it one of their ten targetted open seats, where national money will be spent trying to put Democratic repeat challenger Charlie Brown over the top.
“You’re a good man, Charlie Brown,” the Democrats are saying, remembering that he lost to the embattled* Doolittle by less than four points in 2006 but the problem is, with Doolittle out this district is Lucy Van Pelt. California 4 voters supported President Bush by 24 points in 2004, and Governor Girly Man by 50 points in 2006. It’s not going to happen.
So bring on the dollars, Democrats. Spend it all here instead of defending your own vulnerable freshmen.
Just a reminder: Red State has endorsed Eric Egland in this district, as a War on Terror veteran who can change the face of the party in Washington. However defeating the party veterans now jumping into the race will be tougher than beating John Doolittle, so he’ll need all the support we can give him.
* “Embattled” is of course the standard term for a Republican who has not actually been charged with any crimes, but just accused and investigated. In this case though, I use it to refer to a man who has lost the support of his home district, as Doolittle had.
Nurse Mayor Bloomberg may say he’s not a candidate for President, but he’s clearly thinking about it. He talked with Ross Perot’s ballot access expert today in a private Texas meeting. Says the AP:
Bloomberg met privately with Clay Mulford, who is well-versed in third-party ballot access and served as campaign manager for Perot, according to an individual close to the mayor. Perot sought the presidency in 1992 and 1996. The lunch meeting with Mulford comes less than two months before Bloomberg would be able to start gathering signatures to get on the ballot and meet Texas’ early deadline.
The last thing the Democrats need in this race is a left-wing former Democrat talking big on medical care. Run Mike Run!
The Lakers really, really are going to miss Andrew Bynum, and really, really should regret trading Caron Butler for Kwame Brown. Last night I think he had three turnovers in three possessions at one point. Worst hands in the league.
So here we are a week later from my last big standings post and now we have five teams with 12 losses instead of four teams with 11 losses. The only change in the standings being that the Hornets have passed the Spurs, trading fifth and sixth place.
You’d never know everyone bounced around like crazy in the last week.
What a mess. It’s like the Republican presidential nomination process, only fun because there’s nothing riding on it, heh.
When they stop having to take away gold medals from Olympians, then you have credibilty to bash MLB for not giving you their business.
So until then, keep your anti-American mitts off of real sports.
Sincerely, Neil Stevens
P.S.: Do you have any evidence that storing blood achieves anything, let alone your whole testing regime?
You know, I’m no fan of John McCain as a politician, I can recite backwards and blindfolded the case against him. However, the way some of his opponents have just gotten carried away since New Hampshire troubles me. It’s enough to make me want to just start beating the drum for the man just to annoy them.
It’s been said that some of Mike Huckabee’s supporters are supporting him purely to strike back at Rudy Giuliani. Well, maybe I could become a McCainiac for similar reasons. Heh.
In the Michigan primary runup, Mitt Romney made a pledge to Michigan voters: He would immediately bring the power of the Presidency to bear on manufacturers, working to revive the industry in that state. He also repeatedly said things that sounded a lot like code for state planned industrial policy. Here’s an example:
If I’m president of this country, I will roll up my sleeves in the first 100 days I’m in office, and I will personally bring together industry, labor, Congressional and state leaders and together we will develop a plan to rebuild America’s automotive leadership.
Message: All you Americans who work for Toyota, back of the line, maggots. Only UAW jobs count, no matter how much of your money we have to pour into it.
The result was that he got more votes in Michigan than any other Republican, which was his goal. But I’m sad to say he just lost me. I’ve now re-ordered my preferences for the Republican nomination, and Mitt Romney has now dropped a slot.
The new list:
- Fred Thompson
- John McCain
- Mitt Romney
- Rudy Giuliani
- Mike Huckabee
(List not to scale. Some gaps larger than others)
Sorry, Mitt. I backed you and defended you when you were saying the right things, regardless of your record. But you’ve now shifted your tune as soon as your Iowa/New Hampshire strategy failed. You’ve left conservatism behind, so now it’s time for me to leave you behind. I will no longer be defending you.
A Congressionally created committee is proposing we rase gas taxes by 25 cents, more than doubling the current 18.4 cent gas tax. It’s not all the fault of the Democrats though, according to this bit in the San Francisco Chronicle:
The committee recommends a 5-cents-per-gallon increase in the tax for each of the next five years along with per-container freight fees at ports, ticket taxes for passenger rail systems and the ability for state and local officials to impose congestion tolls and enter private-public partnerships. Absent those other sources, Heminger said, the gas tax would need to rise 8 cents per gallon for each of the next five years.
While the committee’s members agreed on the need for change, Heminger said, three members appointed by the Bush administration – including Transportation Secretary Mary Peters – oppose raising the gasoline tax. But the other nine members – five appointed by Republicans in Congress, four by Democrats – concur with the increase.
I would have a hard time thinking of a realistic tax proposal that would be more destructive than this. The merits of progressive taxation are debatable, but to pass a regressive tax like this at a time when our economy is already fragile, would be an attack on America.