Tuesday's trackings

WAR ON TERROR UPDATE: this is encouraging...
"Hundreds of Pakistani villagers who have formed an anti-Taliban militia battled for the fourth day Tuesday to remove the Islamic militants from a region of northwest Pakistan."
They're outraged over a recent suicide bombing attack at a local mosque.
Here's a thought: maybe the war on terror--remember, something the, gasp, Bush administration spoke of?--isn't as unpopular as some think.

BIASED MEDIA COMMENTARY WATCH: a commentator from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School decries the fact that prominent Republicans are already beginning to make statements in preparation for the 2012 presidential campaign, and writes:
"President Obama must govern in a political environment where Republicans are already in full campaign mode. There are many reasons behind the polarization that defines Washington, but the endless campaign is one of the most important."
Ah, yes. The permanent campaign. And do you know who was a master practitioner of it, both before and--importantly--during his presidency? William Jefferson Clinton.
Yet guess who wasn't mentioned, not once, in the above linked article...

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers split a doubleheader with the White Sox, winning the first game, 5-4, but losing the second, 6-1. There were positives and negatives. On the positive side, I see Marcus Thames not only is back from the DL, but is hitting the ball hard and adding to the offense. And it was good to see Armando Galarraga battle hard and keep his team in the game in that afternoon tilt. But in the night game, it's apparent the Tigers had very few good at-bats, and Jeremy Bonderman, in his first start after a long rehab, didn't have it. Has he lost his old velocity for good? That's the question. Still, if the Tigers can somehow get a win out of Dontrelle Willis tonight, then they might just have Verlander and Jackson going in the last two games of this series, and that could bode well...
Meanwhile, the Cubs were off. And the Rangers unfortunately lost the opener of a long home stand to Toronto, 6-3...largely because dependable Scott Feldman didn't have his best stuff, and Elvis Andrus failed to get a squeeze bunt down in the 6th. Hopefully tonight will go better.

IS THE GOP AND CONSERVATISM DEAD? DEPT: again, nope--for example, yes, Obama is personally popular; but his stands on certain issues definitely aren't:
"While 67% of Americans view President Barack Obama favorably, his overall job approval rating and his ratings on specific areas are less positive. At the low end of the spectrum, only 45% of Americans approve of Obama's handling of federal spending, and 46% of his handling of the federal budget deficit."

Monday's musings

BOOK SUGGESTION: conservatives, read Christopher Buckley's memoir of his mother and father's deaths but, also, of their lives (his father of course was William F. Buckley Jr.) It's called "Losing Mum and Pup", and what it will do is illuminate an area of WFB Jr.'s life that maybe we haven't known much about yet--WFB as a father. You'll see him in all his glory; and you'll view his flaws, too. You'll learn something about life, and about death and what we go through when it comes.

OBAMA FOREIGN POLICY UPDATE:
It appears that North Korea is joining Iran in refusing to respond to Obama administration overtures. And here so many folks thought Bush administration bluster was the culprit:
"North Korea convicted two American journalists and sentenced them Monday to 12 years of hard labor for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States."

CULTURE WATCH: It ain't easy being a social conservative these days...:
"I’m still holding out for Mr. Right, but with all the pressure my roommates place on me and the way they embarrass me, sometimes I think Mr. Okay will have to do.” That’s not dialogue from a Sex and the City episode. It’s Andrea Moscoe, 20, who is a “committed chick,” according to Cosmopolitan magazine, preserving her virginity despite being in college and “living in a house with five sex-crazed girls"...Brooke Shields would tell them to just get on with it, already. In an issue of Health magazine, the Blue Lagoon actress and mother of two daughters named her biggest health-related regret: “I think I would have had sex a lot earlier! . . . I think I would have lost my virginity earlier than I did at 22.” At 20, Miss Moscoe gets what Shields, at 44, doesn’t. Moscoe tells Cosmo: “My roommates always tell guys I’m dating about my virgin status, and tease me. I think it’s because they are insecure and want the guys to get scared off or because they’re jealous that I’m stronger than they’ve been.”

OBAMA ECONOMY UPDATE: here's some information that hasn't gotten much play yet:
"National unemployment rate the month that the stimulus was signed into law: 8.1 percent. National unemployment rate today: 9.4 percent."
Remember this when you read the administration's boasting about how many jobs its "stimulus" package will create this summer. Remember too that at some point Mr. Obama will own this economy...

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: well, let's just say the Detroit Red Wings weren't quite as old, tired, and swept away by the Penguins' "momentum" in game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals as some thought...
The Wings won 5-0 over Pittsburgh Saturday night, completely dominating the game, and now go for a second straight Cup tomorrow night.

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers wound up winning two of three against the Angels, pulling one out yesterday 9-6 on Clete Thomas' grand slam in the 8th inning. This came on top of Edwin Jackson's gem of a pitching outing Saturday, as he and the Tigers edged the Angels, 2-1. We'll take 'em however we get 'em...
Meanwhile the Cubs beat the Reds 6-3 in 14 innings, to take two of three this past weekend. The Cubs got another good start from young Randy Wells; and maybe Alfonso Soriano is coming around--his homer in the 14th inning proved to be the game-winning RBI.
And look at the Texas Rangers--they won two of three over the weekend in Boston, including a win yesterday, 6-3. Solid play, good hitting from Michael Young and Nelson Cruz, a good start from the embattled Vincente Padilla, and solid relieving from Darren O'Day and C.J. Wilson. The Rangers went 0-7 in Boston last year. But this year is different, and this team remains firmly ensconced in first place. Are they for real???

Friday's fish fry

There's a lot to do today, so some of the entries below will be brief...

OBAMA SPEECH UPDATE:
Victor Davis Hanson points out another danger in the president's speech to the Muslim world yesterday--the danger of moral equivalence:
"Whatever a well-meaning President Obama thinks, occasional American outbursts against Muslims are not analogous with the terrorism directed at Westerners or the hostility toward Christianity shown in most of the Muslim world. Try flying into Saudi Arabia with a Bible, as compared to traveling to San Francisco with a Koran. One can easily forsake Christianity; one can never safely leave Islam. European worries about headscarves are not the equivalent of the Gulf states’ harassment of practicing Christians. Sorry, they’re just not."
He's right. Read the whole thing. Moral equivalence is a frequent failure of the left--remember for example the endless equating, during the Cold War, of minor American sins with such things as Soviet gulags, its domination of Eastern Europe, etc.
And by the way, despite Obama's speech yesterday, today Iranian leaders continue to thumb their noses at the president's overtures.

THE LEFT AND ABORTION UPDATE:
Tim Rutten writes in the LA Times:
"Over the years, no abortion-rights advocate has physically harmed an
antiabortion partisan."

Hmmm. That's true--instead, abortion-rights advocates stick to facilitating the harming of unborn children. Several million of them, in fact.

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: the Detroit Red Wings have a big battle on their hands now in the Stanley Cup Finals, as they allowed a shorthanded goal last night to completely turn the momentum of the game Pittsburgh's way, and the Pens went on to win, 4-2. The question now is--can the Wings respond at home Saturday night and get the momentum back?

BASEBALL DIARY: the Cubs were rained out. The Tigers blew a game to the Red Sox yesterday they easily could have won, as Dontrelle Willis let a 3-0 lead get away by walking 5 men and generally blowing up in the 3rd inning; the Red Sox got 6 runs out of it. The Tigers' bullpen's inability to put out the fire and Tiger hitters' inability to score runs didn't help, either.
For the Texas Rangers, they had a great shot to win 2 of 3 in New York. But it didn't happen--their starter Brandon McCarthy blew a 5-1 lead and a Melky Cabrera home run just into the first row of the new Yankee Stadium's short-porch left field led to an 8-6 Ranger loss.

Thursday's throwdowns

BASEBALL DIARY: it's shaping up as a tough week for the Tigers--they lost again last night to the Red Sox, 10-5. And don't be fooled by the final score--the Tigers trailed 10-0, and then only got some runs largely thanks to Red Sox errors and walks. Fact is, the team isn't hitting; and pitchers such as starter Armando Galarraga and reliever Nate Robertson aren't getting the job done, either. The AL East is sure shaping up as the American League's toughest division; the Central? Not so much, with the Tigers' performance this week vs Boston being exhibit A.
But the Cubs edged the Braves, 3-2 in 11 innings. Still not much offense--but Ted Lilly pitched well and Kevin Gregg set the Braves down in order in the 11th to get the save.
And the Texas Rangers played a very solid game, beating the Yankees, 4-2. Scott Feldman again kept the ball down and got lots of ground balls; Michael Young and Elvis Andrus played very good defense behind him; and C.J. Wilson and Frankie Francisco closed the game. The Rangers had to play well in order to cool the Yankees off; it helped that Yankee starter Andy Pettite was off his game...

OBAMA MIDDLE EAST SPEECH UPDATE: you can read about the speech here.
He tries very hard to reach out to both sides of every question, to split differences...and I don't sense that he said anything very new. I am glad that he said this:
"We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security -- because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women and children. And it is my first duty as president to protect the American people."

But there was a lot the speech did not do, as David Gelernter on NRO points out:
"It’s easy to denounce the murder of 3,000 innocents on 9/11 — which the president did. It’s much harder to condemn the Arab crowds who danced in the streets afterward — which the president did not do. It’s easy to decry the long years of “tension” between the Muslim world and the U.S., but much harder to discuss the liaisons between Arab leaders and Nazi Germany, followed by the era of Soviet client states armed to the teeth and dedicated to the mass murder of Israelis. It’s easy to denounce President Bush’s America, but much harder to give it due credit and to uphold the honor of the United States and not just the honor of Barack Obama. “I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein,” said the president. Ultimately? And is this a belief, or is it a fact?

IS THE GOP DEAD? DEPT: Nope--a new poll shows the Republican candidate for governor in New Jersey, Chris Christie, with a 13 point lead over the incumbent, Jon Corzine.

Wednesday's wash

KEEP AN EYE ON HIM DEPT:
On who? On Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who's accomplished a lot there and won re-election in 2008 with nearly 60% of the vote--and who's been visible lately and has some ideas:
" Conservatism will become credible again if it's forward-looking, constructive and friendly and connects with the lives of everyday people, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told a conservative audience Wednesday.But conservatives will have to be patient because the public wants it to spend some time in the penalty box. "Our fellow citizens will eventually say, `All right, we'll listen. Did you learn anything? Did you hear us? Do you have any new, good ideas for us?'" Daniels said. "And if we do, and we will, I have every confidence that freedom and those who expose it cannot be kept down for long."
Good advice. Don't be surprised if Daniels becomes a player on the national stage in 2012.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CORRUPTION WATCH:
More problems for Democratic congressman John Murtha (PA):
"...a budget watchdog group says there are growing ethical questions for Murtha. "He gets contracts to his district. He expects people who want to do business in his district to give him campaign contributions," said Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "If you look at what's swirling around him, he's got a lot of reason to be concerned."
Republicans need to hammer away at this stuff.

YOUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AT WORK--DETROIT VERSION:
"Audits conducted at every Detroit Public School show sloppy bookkeeping, employees using school funds for personal loans and missing cash receipts, findings that could lead to criminal indictments in some cases, Emergency Financial Manager Robert C. Bobb said today. All but five of the 194 schools audited skirted district requirements by not providing support for expenditures, not preparing bank reconciliations, not getting appropriate signatures on checks and, in some cases, deliberately misappropriating funds, according to officials."
And heaven forbid that any of the poor families in Detroit should have a chance at a voucher, which might allow them to escape these failing schools and allow their children a shot at a better education.

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: it was a tough night last night for the faves. The Detroit Red Wings last night didn't play badly--they outshot Pittsburgh, on the road, for the game and totally dominated the second period. But they couldn't get the puck in the net, while the Pens capitalized on their chances, and won 4-2. But the Wings still lead 2-1 in the series, making game 4 another chance for them to grab a stranglehold on this thing...

BASEBALL DIARY: it was a tough night for the Detroit Tigers, too--they lost last night at home to Boston, 5-1. It was rookie Rick Porcello's first loss as a starter after 5 straight wins. He didn't pitch that badly, but the Red Sox, a very good, experienced club, made him pay for his mistakes. Again the key for the Tigers is that they didn't hit--they had 9 hits, but went only 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position. I predict the Tigers will look this month and next for another bat they can add to this lineup, in trade...
It was a tough night for my other teams, too. The Cubs blew a 5-0 lead and lost to Atlanta, 6-5 in 12 innings. The bullpen blew this one, erasing a fine start by rookie Randy Wells. One can point especially to Carlos Marmol, who came in and walked two batters and hit another...
Meanwhile the Texas Rangers continue to have a hard time matching up with the hot Yankees, losing last night, 12-3. Vincente Padilla had a bad start--walking too many guys, being constantly in trouble. Plus the Yankees hit several 3-run homers--that never helps.


ON THE MURDER OF ABORTIONIST DOCTOR GEORGE TILLER:
Some say the pro-life movement as a whole bears responsibility for it. Not so, wisely notes the editors of National Review:
"Without abolitionism there would probably have been no John Brown. Without anti–Vietnam War activism, no Weathermen. (At the very least, disturbed and violent people would have found other outlets for their rage.) The abolitionists and the antiwar movement could not reasonably have been asked to foreswear passionate advocacy of their causes in order to minimize the chance of violence. Pro-lifers cannot reasonably be asked to stop saying that George Tiller spent his days killing young human beings — especially since what they say is true.
What any group of activists can reasonably be asked is to condemn violence and to do the best they can to root out anyone who does not condemn it. This pro-lifers have done and are doing. They can also be asked to do and have done one more thing: to support the just punishment, by legitimate authorities, of murderers."
Bingo. We must do what Abraham Lincoln did in the wake of John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry in 1859---state that, yes, Brown agreed with anti-slavery politicians such as Lincoln in thinking slavery wrong, still that did not give him the right to foment violence against the state and the break the country's laws. It should be noted that conservative and pro-life leaders immediately denounced Tiller's murder. That can't always be said about liberals and the nuts in their midst.

PRESIDENT OBAMA SAYS SOMETHING DUMB DEPT:
He claims that the United States is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world." Hmmm:
"...of the approximately 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, there are about 200 million Muslims in Indonesia, 196 million in India, 165 million in Pakistan, 132 million in Bangladesh, 75 million in Egypt, 64 million in Iran, 33 million in Morocco, 32 million in Algeria, 31 million in Afghanistan, 26 million in Iraq, 25 million in Ethiopia, 24 million in Saudi Arabia, 20 million in China, and 15 million in Russia, to name just a few countries. In fact, there are 2 to 3 times as many Muslims in Burkina Faso (approx. 7.5 million) as there are in America. So obviously, one can see why the president would say the United States is "one of the largest Muslim countries in the world."
Ooops. Let's see how much play this gets in the news media.
If George W. Bush had said something like this, he'd be savaged for the next week.

Tuesday's trackings...

ECONOMICS WATCH: beware, the price of gasoline continues to rise...
In some parts of Indiana, it's now at $2.75 a gallon.
Beware, Obama administration--gas price hikes make Americans cranky.
And by the way, the Obama administration really needs to get it's facts straight concerning economic news:
"A Hill source calls my attention to the seemingly contradictory facts that the White House is claiming the stimulus has saved or created 150,000 jobs, while Labor Department statistics show the construction industry lost 245,000 jobs in March and April."
I thought the guys in this administration were supposed to be so "smart" and competent"...

BIG GOVERNMENT ALERT: President Obama claims he has no intention of "running GM"--that is, of deciding for example what kind of cars it should make and sell.
But at the same time he assures the mayor of Detroit that GM's headquarters won't be leaving Detroit.
Er, Mr. President, that's the kind of decision that the guy RUNNING GM makes...

SPORTS UPDATE: my favorite baseball teams all had last night off, but there's this--what of LeBron James quickly leaving the court after the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated from the NBA playoffs in an upset by the Orlando Magic? NBA Commish David Stern isn't happy:
"NBA commissioner David Stern says he has reached out to LeBron James about James' refusal to speak with the media after the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated from the Eastern Conference finals. But Stern is withholding judgment and not ready to makes his views on the incident public until he talks to James about what happened, he said Tuesday on ESPN Radio.
In an appearance on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd," Stern acknowledged he was not pleased that James, the league's reigning MVP, didn't meet with the media, or shake hands with the Orlando Magic, following the Game 6 loss Saturday night."

My take? Leave the guy alone. He makes a ton of money, and could just choose to not care that much if his team loses. Hey, he gets paid either way. But he competed awfully hard, and clearly was upset that his team didn't make it to the Finals, which they were favored to do. At the time, he was ticked. No great shock there. I note that the next day, he spoke to the media; he indicated no hard feelings about the Magic and their win; and he has a record of being a pretty decent and classy guy. It hurt too much to do any hand-shaking or talking right then; just accept that and let it go.

SOTOMAYOR UPDATE: Bob Herbert, the reliably-liberal NY Times columnist who regularly shouts out his leftism with all kinds of exclamation points and rhetorical questions, of course claims that conservative and GOP opposition to Ms. Sotomayor is based on racism and "bigotry."

Obviously he hasn't read conservatives such as Rich Lowry, who points out today that the conservative case against Sotomayor is--gasp--based on things she's actually said.
She has suggested that one's race and ethnicity can lead one to better judicial decisions.
If a white man ever said something like that, he'd be damned as a racist.
That's all there is to it.

Monday musings...

BIG GOVERNMENT ALERT, GM VERSION:
"President Barack Obama pushed a humbled General Motors Corp. into bankruptcy on Monday and said the federal government will act as "reluctant shareholder" when it assumes a 60 percent ownership of the smaller carmaker that emerges."
Uh-huh. Well, gosh, who can doubt that the federal government can fix GM?
It's done such a great job in winning the war on poverty, after all...
And by the way, note that even Clinton administration in-house liberal Robert Reich, who rarely meets a government program he doesn't like, is highly critical of the bailout...

HOW CAN CONSERVATIVES MAKE GOVERNMENT WORK, AND MAKE IT SMALLER, ETC ETC? DEPT:
Over at NRO, Rich Lowry have an interesting proposal, among many other good suggestions:
"Sometimes politics throws up issues that aren’t the least bit sexy and that conservatives have very little interest in. For example: traffic. Republicans have suffered in state after state from failing to attend to public concerns about traffic congestion. The most market-friendly solution to the problem — congestion pricing on private roads — tends to be popular once implemented, but road pricing is extremely unpopular to propose. Yet technology has made progress possible here. Replacing existing toll booths with flexible electronic-collection methods ought to be popular, since it speeds up traffic without raising costs overall. East Coast Republicans, in particular, ought to take note. If new systems work, they could quickly spread."
Read the whole thing...good stuff.

Michael Barone adds:
"...I think Republicans today should be less interested in moving toward the center and more interested in running against the center. Here I mean a different "center" — not a midpoint on an opinion spectrum, but rather the centralized government institutions being created and strengthened every day. This is a center that is taking over functions fulfilled in a decentralized way by private individuals, firms and markets. This center includes the Treasury, with its $700 billion of TARP funds voted last fall to purchase toxic assets from financial institutions and used instead to quasi-nationalize banks and preserve union benefits for employees and retirees of bankrupt auto companies."

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers yesterday shut out Baltimore, 3-0--behind a gem of a pitching performance by Edwin Jackson. And that came off of Saturday's solid start from Justin Verlander, won by the Tigers 6-3. So the Tigers salvaged a split in the series, thanks to some good pitching, and that is indeed so much of baseball. Three times in May Verlander and Jackson won back to back starts. That's one reason the Tigers are 7 games over .500 right now.
Meanwhile...the Rangers lost yesterday to Oakland, 5-4. Frankie Francisco, the team's closer, finally gave up a run, the first he's allowed all year, and that was the decider. But still...the Rangers won 3 of 4 over the weekend, including a 14-1 laugher Saturday night, and rallied from down 4-0 to tie the score in yesterday's game. They're still battling, playing well.
But the Cubs lost 8-2 to the Dodgers, as starter Sean Marshall was simply pounded, giving up 5 runs in the first. The Cubs did split their weekend series with the red-hot Dodgers, but they still need to play more consistently. Rich Harden's impending return from the DL may help.


FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: the Detroit Red Wings are just two victories away from winning the Stanley Cup, again, as last night they again beat Pittsburgh 3-1 (they won Saturday night by the same score). They're doing it with great goaltending by Chris Osgood, the ability to turn the momentum back in their favor even when the Penguins dominate for a time (last night the Pens completely controlled the last half of period 1; but out came the Wings in the 2nd period and racked up two goals with good pressure); and again, will and poise, even though this is an older team than is Pittsburgh, even though the Wings are beat up with injuries. There's still a ways to go, though; now they go on the road to undoubtedly a very hostile Penguin home ice crowd...

Saturday's stuff...

ECONOMY UPDATE: be careful, Obama administration, of that economic happy talk:
"The rising price of gasoline is putting pressure on cash-strapped motorists and throwing barricades into the path of a speedy economic recovery. The national average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas edged up to $2.488 on Saturday, from $2.467 the day before, according to motorist group AAA. That marks the 32nd consecutive increase. In that one-month period, the average price of gas jumped more than 20%."
I still think rising gas prices was something that really hurt the Bush administration in the polls...

SO YOU WANT TO PUT DANGEROUS TERRORISTS IN AMERICAN PRISONS, HMMM?
Our friends on the left say oh, no, they could never escape...but:
"GRADY, AR (KAIT) - Two men convicted of murder, including one in Greene County, escape from the Cummins Unit in Grady according to a state spokesperson. 39 year old Calvin Adams of Greene County and 32 year old Jeffrey Grinder of Washington County escaped from the Cummins Unit Friday evening, according to State Corrections Spokeswoman Dina Tyler. Tyler tells Region 8 News that the escape happened Friday evening, just minutes after the early evening count. Because of the timing, the escape went undected until the next count that occurred near 10:00 PM."

BASEBALL DIARY: ugh, the Tigers played another poor game in Baltimore, losing again 7-2. Once again they were victimized by new Tiger-killer Luke Scott. Dontrelle Willis didn't pitch well, either. Is Baltimore joining Minnesota as a new house of horrors for Detroit??? It doesn't help that the Tigers continue to fail to hit consistently...
But it was a good night for the Texas Rangers, as they won both games of a doubleheader vs the Oakland As, 6-3 in game 1 and 5-2 in the nightcap. Again, the Rangers continue to get solid starting pitching, plus good work from bullpen mates C.J. Wilson and Frankie Francisco. And has anyone noticed Andruw Jones? He hit only .158 last year for the Dodgers, and many thought he was done. All he's doing now for the Rangers is hitting .303 with 5 homers; his home run in the 8th inning won the first game. Quite a turnaround...
Meanwhile the Cubs got another much-needed win, 2-1 over the Dodgers behind starter Ted Lilly. The Cubs have a number of injuries--but they have in fact won 3 of their past 4. They've just got to keep their heads above water...that right now is the story of their season. For the Rangers--keep up the pitching. Right now for the Tigers--score some runs!

Friday's fish fry

Blogging will be light today...was off for much of the day doing family stuff.
But there's time for a few things...

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers lost last night to Baltimore, 5-1. Armando Galarraga, who's been struggling as a starter, pitched better. But the Tigers went only 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Manager Leyland wasn't happy...and rightly so.
But the Cubs lost to the Dodgers, 2-1. They had big chances in both the 8th and 9th innings, but couldn't make them pay off. Frustrating...meanwhile, you have to hand it to the Dodgers, who have barely skipped a beat since Manny Ramirez's suspension. They continue to have the best record in baseball.


SOTOMAYOR UPDATE: Charles Krauthammer has it right today, on what the Right should do:
"Use the upcoming hearings not to deny her the seat, but to illuminate her views. . . . The argument should be elevated, respectful, and entirely about judicial philosophy."
Note though that Sotomayor and her backers are a bit on the defensive today...

Thursday's throwdowns

ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS RIDE AGAIN:
This time in Pakistan, where the Taliban apparently is behind several serious bombings over the past 24 hours. Note that Taliban leaders claim to be doing this because, according to them, the recent Pakistani offensive against them is supposedly being done at the behest of the United States. In other words, fervent anti-Americanism is again at the heart of all this.
Despite the fact that George W. Bush is no longer president. Barack Obama is.
Many of our liberal friends claimed repeatedly that Bush administration policies created new terrorists. So do these events mean that now Obama administration policies are creating them, too?

SOTOMAYOR UPDATE: so some on the left are "uneasy" about her, too--they fear she's not strong enough on abortion rights.
It wouldn't surprise me if this is why Obama chose her--she ticks off some on the left AND the right, thus appearing "moderate", centrist, etc...and thus difficult to beat.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UPDATE--it's hard to believe California's San Diego County is doing this:
"Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County. "On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county." David Jones told FOX News. "We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all," Jones said. A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited "unlawful use of land," ordering them to either "stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit," the couple's attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News. But the major use permit could cost the Jones' thousands of dollars just to have a few friends over."
Unbelievable. We'll have to follow this story. If necessary, this couple should definitely pursue this in court.



FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: The Detroit Red Wings are in the Stanley Cup Finals again--they beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-1, last night in OT to win their Western Conference final series, 4 games to 1. Given all the Wings' injuries, this was an impressive win. Good for Darren Helm, who scored the winning goal--he's worked hard in the minor leagues to earn his shot. Again, good job by the Wings of overcoming tiredness, maintaining their poise, and beating a good, tough young team.

BASEBALL DIARY: the Detroit Tigers won yesterday as well, beating Kansas City 8-3. Another good start from rookie pitcher Rick Porcello, who gave up only 2 runs in 6 innings. Timely hitting came from Placido Polanco, Josh Anderson, and Miguel Cabrera. The linked article wonders whether the Tigers can pull away in this division. Man, don't jinx 'em! It's still early. But yes, with their pitching, with all the youngsters stepping up, with question marks like Joel Zumaya, Dontrelle Willis, and Porcello doing the job, sure...the Tigers can win this thing.
But did I mention it's still early?
Meanwhile, the Cubs have won two in a row--they beat the Pirates yesterday, 5-2, despite Carlos Zambrano's tantum and ejection. They seem to be playing better--maybe they needed a big blowup to get them going (remember Lou Piniella's base-throwing tantrum of a couple of years ago, which led to a big Cub winning streak?) It's also important that Zambrano is back off of the DL.
The Texas Rangers though got pounded pretty good by the Yankees, 9-2. A.J. Burnett shut the Rangers down. It's unfortunate for Texas that they caught the Yankees while the pinstripers are on a hot streak. It would have been better to play them in April...

Wednesday's wash

AMERICAN IDOL UPDATE:
So some claim there's a "controversy" concerning Kris Allen's win.
Did AT&T provide free phones and power-texting lessons at Allen rallies in Arkansas?
Hmmm. But here's why I think we should be cautious: 1] Sounds to me like it was local employees of AT&T who did this--it was not a corporate decision. 2] How many phones? How many texts? How many extra votes did Allen receive? Did this really tip the balance? We don't know that yet at all. Can a few phones handed out at a rally or two in one state make that much difference? I'm not yet convinced.

SOTOMAYOR UPDATE: Newt Gingrich makes a good point:
"Gingrich pointed to a line in Sotomayor's 2001 speech to a Hispanic group in Berkeley that has drawn fire from some conservatives. "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experience would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life," Sotomayor said in that speech, describing how life experience can inform judicial opinions. On Wednesday, Gingrich tweeted: "Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a latina woman.' new racism is no better than old racism."

When it comes time for confirmation hearings, maybe Republicans should ask Ms. Sotomayor how anyone's life--be they black, Hispanic, white--in and of itself helps anyone understand the constitution and the law better than any other life. Could be interesting...

Further: Jonah Goldberg today gets at very well what's wrong with the Sotomayor/Obama emphasis on judges having "empathy":
"Obama and Sotomayor both assume that a firsthand understanding of the plight of the poor or the African-American or the gay or the old will automatically result in justices voting a certain (liberal) way. “I would hope,” Sotomayor said in 2001, “that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” This is not only deeply offensive, it is also nonsense on stilts. Clarence Thomas understands what it is like to be poor and black better than any justice who has ever sat on the bench. How’s that working out for liberals?...More important, who says conservatives are against judicial empathy? I, for one, am all for it. I’m for empathy for the party most deserving of justice before the Supreme Court, within the bounds of the law and Constitution. If that means siding with a poor black man, great. If that means siding with a rich white one, that’s great too. The same holds for gays and gun owners, single mothers and media conglomerates. We should all rejoice when justices fulfill their oaths and give everyone a fair hearing, even if that’s now out of fashion in the age of Obama."

And then there's Thomas Sowell, who further gets at an important point:
"Much is being made of the fact that Sonia Sotomayor had to struggle to rise in the world. But stop and think. If you were going to have open-heart surgery, would you want to be operated on by a surgeon who was chosen because he had to struggle to get where he is, or by the best surgeon you could find — even if he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had every advantage that money and social position could offer? If it were you who was going to be lying on that operating table with his heart cut open, you wouldn’t give a tinker’s damn about somebody’s struggle or somebody else’s privileges. The Supreme Court of the United States is in effect operating on the heart of our nation — the Constitution and the statutes and government policies that all of us must live under."
Bingo.

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers lose to the Royals last night, 6-1. Edwin Jackson didn't pitch badly at all for the Tigers--they just got beat by the very, very good Zach Greinke of the Royals (who is now 8-1 with 0.84 ERA). No shame in that...
The Texas Rangers beat the Yankees last night, 7-3. That was a good comeback win--the Rangers were blasted the night before. It was important for Chris Davis to hit 2 home runs--perhaps he'll break out of his slump. And again, the Rangers got adequate pitching...
Meanwhile the Cubs finally broke their 8 game losing streak, beating the Pirates, 6-1 in a rain-shortened affair. All played well--but they still have a lot of work to do...

WHY IS THIS GUY STILL IN THE U.S. SENATE? UPDATE:
"Sen. Roland Burris was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate."
In other words, several months ago, he lied...to all of us, members of his own party included.








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Thursday's throwdowns

So...President Obama makes a major speech on Guantanamo, the war on terror, etc...and:
"President Barack Obama forcefully defended his decision to close the Guantanamo detention camp Thursday and said some of the terror suspects held there would be brought to top-security prisons in the United States despite fierce opposition in Congress. He insisted the transfer would not endanger Americans and promised to work with lawmakers to develop a system for holding detainees who can't be tried and can't be turned loose from the Navy-run prison in Cuba. He spoke one day after the Senate voted resoundingly to deny him money to close the prison."

Well, politically speaking, if the president wants to tilt at that windmill, he can have at it; I'm convinced it's a political loser. But it's also bad policy. I'm intrigued by the following portion of his speech:
"Obama conceded that some Guantanamo detainees would end up in U.S. prisons and said those facilities were tough enough to house even the most dangerous inmates. Obama decried arguments used against his plans. "We will be ill-served by the fear-mongering that emerges whenever we discuss this issue," he declared."

But look, Mr. President, this isn't about "fear." It's about common sense. You claim these terrorists could never escape from one of our prisons; but you can't know that. Why take the chance? Why take the chance of having one of these terrorists loose in this country, endangering our citizens?

By the way, in response to the Obama administration, Dick Cheney makes a good point, saying, basically: the Bush administration kept this country safe from terrorist attack for over 2,600 days. We dare you to do better. Indeed...

A member of the Corner makes an excellent point concerning Obama's speech today, too:
"Obama argues that Gitmo serves as a rallying point for jihadists and al-Qaeda terrorists and that this makes the United States less safe. Question: How does the president address the fact that al-Qaeda struck and struck persistently before Gitmo?"

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers last night won their fifth game in a row, beating the Texas Rangers 5-3. Once again the main story was pitching--Justin Verlander with yet another quality start, allowing only 1 run through 6 innings. The Tigers also got some timely hitting--Brandon Inge hit a long home run; he's becoming a very important player on this team, as his solid defense at 3rd base is key, too. It's got to be a bit frustrating for the Rangers, who came into Comerica Park as a very hot team. But they should be comforted by the fact that they haven't played badly so far in the series. Rather, good pitching by the Tigers so far has beaten good hitting, once proving true that old baseball cliche.
But the Cubs lost 2-1 to St. Louis. Ryan Dempster, the Cubs' starter, pitched well. But Chris Carpenter shut the Cubs down. That's 3 losses in a row for the Cubs; good pitching, it seems, has slowed their momentum.

IDOL UPDATE: yes, small-town-Arkansas boy-next-door Kris Allen won it, horrifying the many Adam Lambert fans out there.
Why did Allen win? Try this: enough Americans just liked him a bit more. Liked what? Maybe it was his passion when he sang, his status as an underdog, his humble persona...all of it. They just liked him. That happens sometimes. In the 1948 presidential election, Harry Truman supposedly had no chance whatsoever to beat the favored Republican, Thomas Dewey. But Truman proved to be an indefatigable campaigner, who never quit and didn't care that people gave him no chance. The great historian David McCullough later surmised that such made a lot of Americans just flat-out like him, that fighter, that underdog. American Idol isn't nearly as weighty a contest, and Kris Allen was no give-'em-hell type. But he hung in there, and stayed true to who he was. A lot of voters just liked him. Maybe that's all it was...

Wednesday's wash

Iran once again gives the Obama administration a headache:
"President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran test-fired a new advanced missile Wednesday with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough to strike Israel, southeastern Europe and U.S. bases in the Middle East. The announcement will not reassure the U.S. government, coming just two days after President Barack Obama declared a readiness to seek deeper international sanctions against Iran if it shunned U.S. attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear program. Obama said he expected a positive response to his outreach for opening a dialogue with Iran by the end of the year."

Hmmm. Yes, we know President Obama "expects" that.
The question now, however, increasingly why he still does.

STILL DRIVING AND TEXTING:
"A quarter of American cell phone users admit to texting while driving, despite bans in seven U.S. states and several serious accidents recently, according to a report on cell phone use released on Wednesday."
Tell me, is anyone surprised by this? When I'm out, I still can see many drivers talking on their cells while driving. If they're willing to talk, they're probably willing to text, too. Normally, conservatives are all for liberty--but given that you put others in danger when you text and drive and thus become more likely to have an accident, in this case we need to have these laws enforced.

OBAMA UPDATE: National Review's editors point out even more problems with the auto emissions standards the administration announced yesterday...
"Announcing his plan to instate strict caps on auto emissions — a move his own administration says could add around $2,000 to the cost of each new vehicle by 2016 — Obama said, “If you buy a car, your investment in a more fuel-efficient vehicle as a result of this standard will pay off in just three years.” Obama’s hard sell — “This is a winning proposition for folks looking to buy a car” — is premised on some sketchy math. For one thing, experts outside the administration say the added per-vehicle cost could go as high as $8,000. You can’t save money getting more miles to the gallon if you can’t afford the car in the first place. For another, those estimated savings are based on the administration’s ability to predict gas prices seven to ten years into the future. If gas is still as cheap as it is now, savings on better mileage could be minimal. Even if gas prices go up, the savings Obama predicts might not materialize. Cars that are more fuel efficient are cheaper to drive, increasing the likelihood that people will drive more. That wouldn’t just offset the savings — it would also offset promised reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions and oil imports, to say nothing of adding to congestion. Then there is the evidence that tighter fuel-economy standards yield auto fleets that are more dangerous in accidents. The easiest way to make a car more fuel efficient is to make it lighter. Researchers from institutions as diverse as the Brookings Institution, the National Research Council, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute have shown that after the first federal fuel-economy standards went into effect in the 1970s, cars got lighter and traffic fatalities increased as a result. The National Research Council study found that federal fuel-economy standards contribute to about 2,000 deaths per year."

Gosh, wonder why the administration didn't mention any of that.
Bottom line--when the government intervenes in the economy, as it did here, and predicts all these wonderful things in the future, these are predictions that cannot be made with accuracy. The government cannot know all the economic conditions we'll be facing in years to come, and it cannot have all the information needed to know just how its intervention will affect the economy. Again, this is all as Friedrich von Hayek predicted so long ago...

WHY WE'RE GLAD ARLEN SPECTER LEFT THE GOP DEPT: why? Because now he's defending Nancy Pelosi...
"Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) took the opportunity Wednesday to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has come under fire in recent weeks over a controversy surrounding when she was told of the use of enhanced interrogation techniques being used by the CIA. "The CIA has a very bad record when it comes to — I was about to say 'candid'; that's too mild — to honesty," Specter, a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a lunch address to the American Law Institute. He cited misleading information about the agency's involvement in mining harbors in Nicaragua and the Iran-Contra affair."
Never mind that Speaker Pelosi has something like five different versions of her CIA briefing way back when. I suspect Sen. Specter is still worried about winning over Pennsylvania Democrats...

BIG GOVERNMENT UPDATE:
"The federal government is spending $178,000 to better understand why drug-abusing prostitutes in Thailand are at greater risk for HIV infection, an endeavor taxpayer watchdogs are calling a huge waste of American taxpayers' money."
And so it is...

GOP UPDATE: questions of terminology...
"Republican Party leaders are trying to avoid a public confrontation over a GOP-led effort to rename the Democratic Party the "Socialist Democrat" party. The Republican National Committee is slated to vote on several resolutions Wednesday. Leaders already have softened one that would have pointedly criticized Republicans who supported recent billion-dollar bailouts. Party Chairman Michael Steele and others say the party should also drop the renaming resolution and focus on more serious problems."
I tend to think Steele is right here.
We'll never get most in the media to go along with this; instead, this will simply give our enemies more ammo to label us "extreme." Certainly some of what Obama and co. seek to do might fit under the label of socialism; but others are not, and we don't want to destroy the meaning of the word "socialist." Let's just focus on outlining the meanings and likely consequences of Democratic proposals, and not act like labels are the be-all and end-all of politics...

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers beat the Rangers last night, 4-0...and the entire story is Dontrelle Willis. Last year, he bombed...he walked 35 men in 24 innings and never won a game. And that after the Tigers depended on him to be one of the anchors of the rotation and give them 15 wins, at least. But there were injuries, an anxiety disorder...but now, perhaps that's all behind him. Last night he looked comfortable, threw strikes (he walked only two in 6 innings plus) and held a red-hot team to 1 hit. A good night for the Tigers. Let's hope the D-Train can keep it up.
The Cubs however lost 3-0 to St. Louis. What can one say, it was a great performance by Cardinal pitcher Joel Pineiro--he threw only 28 balls to the 28 batters he faced. But the Cubs have now lost 2 in a row; they need to stop the slide.

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: the Detroit Red Wings took the Chicago Black Hawks' best shot last night in game 2 of their Western Conference finals series (the Hawks outshot them, 39-38)...but the Wings capitalized on some breaks and Chicago miscues to win again, 3-2 in OT and go up 2-0 in the series. Give credit to the Black Hawks, who played well. But once again the Wings' poise, experience, and ability to transition to an odd-man rush when the other team turns over the puck won the day for them.

Tuesday's trackings

CIA officials are, privately, off-the-record, pushing back against the Obama administration today:
"Battered by recriminations over waterboarding and other harsh techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration, the CIA is girding itself for more public scrutiny and is questioning whether agency personnel can conduct interrogations effectively under rules set out for the U.S. military, according to senior intelligence officials."
If there's a major terrorist attack upon this nation in the next year or two, the Obama administration better ready itself to answer some tough questions.

GROWTH OF GOVERNMENT UPDATE: the Obama administration announces new fuel-efficiency regulations today on American cars...
"The new requirement is estimated to cost consumers an extra $1,300 per vehicle starting in 2016, but drivers will be saving at the pump. Obama estimated that a typical driver would save $2,800 over the lifetime of a car."
So that will be the justification--that it will mean less oil usage and that you'll save money on gas. Note however that the savings on gas over a car's lifetime is just an estimate, and that the price of gasoline can be powerfully affected by events out of our control--terrorist attacks, events in the Middle East. New regulations like this will cost everyone a lot of money, folks. Government regulation isn't free.

IS THE GOP DEAD? DEPT:
Democratic Senator and Majority Leader Harry Reid is up for re-election soon.
How do polls look for him? So far, not so good:
50% of Nevadans disapprove of him, according to a Mason-Dixon poll.
Right now, 35% of Nevadans would vote to re-elect him...
45% would definitely vote to un-seat him! Wow...
And by the way, also relevant to this subject is this: Democrats don't agree with the Obama administration's plans to close Gitmo:
"Senate Democrats threw cold water on President Obama's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center Tuesday, pulling money for the closure from a $91 billion war spending request and publicly opposing the transfer of any detainees to U.S. soil. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats not only oppose the release of detainees into the United States but also oppose the transfer of detainees to U.S. prisons. "We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States," he said, adding: "Part of what we don't want is for them to be put in prisons in the United States. We don't want them around in the United States."
Watch 'em fight...

CORRUPTION WATCH:
Big Democratic/Hillary Clinton fundraiser Norman Hsu convicted of violating campaign finance laws.
The key: remember this when your Democrat friends accuse the GOP of being "corrupt."

Monday musings

OBAMA UPDATE: is President Obama starting to "own" the economy? Some in Elkhart, IN, upon which msnbc.com is focusing as a good example of economic trouble, suggest that the "stimulus" bill hasn't brought the jobs and fast relief promised.

And by the way, any see Obama's speech yesterday at the University of Notre Dame as some kind of triumph for the pro-choice position. But Ramesh Ponnuru points out today correctly that this is incorrect:
"President Obama's speech at Notre Dame yesterday is another sign that pro-lifers are slowly winning the political battles over abortion. It was not the speech of a man who is confident that his position is right and popular. It was the speech of someone who is trying to minimize a problem—which is what the association with abortion assuredly is for the Democratic party. . . ."
Indeed--read the text of Obama's speech.
There's barely any defense of the pro-choice position in it.
He mainly urges everyone to disagree with civility. Ponnuru is right.

IS THE GOP DEAD? UPDATE:
Are Republicans/conservatives in deep, deep trouble? Nope:
"We've been hearing a great deal about how the troubles of the GOP have reduced the party to a mere one in five voters. Eh, maybe not, Gallup reports. They asked, "In politics, as of today, do you consider yourself a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent? (Asked of independents: As of today, do you lean more to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party?)" Their most recent poll, conducted May 7–10, splits 32 percent for each party, with 34 percent for independents. When they press the independents for which party they lean towards, it comes out to another split, this time 45 percent for each. In early April it had been 53 percent for Democrats, 34 percent for Republicans."

SPEAKING OF HATE, INTOLERANCE, ETC DEPT: did you know that David Axelrod, top adviser to President Obama--you know, the head of the administration that declares it's all about hope, love, and change--referred to Miss California, Carrie Prejean, as a dog?
All because she doesn't agree with many Democrats on the gay marriage question.
Why can't we all just get along?

BASEBALL DIARY: so the Tigers continue to be weekend champs, beating Oakland yesterday 11-7 to sweep another weekend series, and hopefully put the Minnesota nightmare behind them. It was good to see players such as Curtis Granderson and Ramon Santiago step up (who thought HE would be a power guy!) and to see Zach Miner do a solid job in relief. It is troubling though to see Armando Galarraga, earlier in the season one of the Tigers' most dependable starters, struggle yet again and fail to make it out of the first inning. But--there are rumblings that Jeremy Bonderman might return soon...

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: the Detroit Red Wings took a 1 game to none lead in their Western Conference finals series against the Chicago Black Hawks, winning yesterday 5-2. Nothing surprising from the Wings--they took advantage of the odd-man rushes and opportunities the younger, less-experienced Black Hawks gave them. The Hawks gave the Wings a lot of trouble this season, though, so this series has a long way to go. But it was good to see the Wings come off of a tough series, yet take of business.

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL UPDATE: so Tony Kornheiser will give up his duties on ESPN's MNF--apparently he has a fear of flying--and former Raiders/Bucs coach Jon Gruden will replace him. This may be a very good change--Gruden has an interesting personality, speaks well, and certainly knows the game. I'll miss Kornheiser a little bit, though--I thought he did a good job at getting at the larger importance of games and matchups, and at asking the questions ordinary fans wanted answered. But it will be interesting to see how Gruden does. MNF is no longer the huge attraction and event it used to be--the fact that it's now on a cable network, that the real prime games go to NBC for its Sunday night games, and the passing of Howard Cosell and such giants all have contributed to that. It will be interesting to see if Gruden's arrival and his outspoken ways can help ESPN make Monday Night Football a big deal again...

MORE SPORTS--MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL'S WORLD SERIES UPDATE: hey, it's-about-time-kinda good news time...:
"Major League Baseball is going to turn back the clock for the start of World Series games this season. The first pitch of World Series games will happen shortly before 8 p.m. this season, shortly after Fox's pregame show, which will now begin at 7:30. The new first pitch time is approximately 40 minutes earlier than World Series games in past years. This year will mark the first time in more than 30 years a World Series game will begin before 8 p.m., according to MLB.com."
Excellent--now maybe people who just can't stay awake until midnight or 1 in the morning will be able to see more of these games, and they won't always go until the wee hours. Good call, MLB...

Saturday stuff...

BASEBALL DIARY: last night was a much better night for the Tigers, as they pounded Oakland 14-1. They hit two grand slams--one came from Brandon Inge, the other from Ryan Raburn. And they got a very good start from Edwin Jackson. Let's hope the weird stuff that always happens to them in Minnesota is behind them...
In other games, the Cubs were rained out. The Rangers beat the Angels, 10-8, in a slugfest. It was a big win for the Rangers; they need to prove they can beat perennial Western division champ LA...and it was nice to see the power from Kinsler and Hamilton. It was a little worrying though to see the Angels put up 5 runs after two were out in the 9th. The Rangers still won...but that could build momentum for the Angels going into today. We'll see if the Rangers are good enough to prevent that.

In other news...hundreds of pro-life activists are flocking to the University of Notre Dame campus.
There they will picket President Obama's commencement speech tomorrow.
One good thing for conservatives about the coming of President Obama: he has, perhaps, awakened the pro-life, anti-abortion movement, in a way perhaps it needed.

Wow--even the NY Times has to admit that, when it comes to national security issues, "hope and change" hasn't meant that much change, after all:
"President Obama’s decisions this week to retain important elements of the Bush-era system for trying terrorism suspects and to block the release of pictures showing abuse of American-held prisoners abroad are the most graphic examples yet of how he has backtracked, in substantial if often nuanced ways, from the approach to national security that he preached as a candidate, and even from his first days in the Oval Office. Mr. Obama’s opening gambits as president were bold declarations of new directions, from announcing the closing of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to sweeping restrictions on interrogation techniques. He advertised both as a return to traditional American values, after the diversions taken by George W. Bush to the detriment of America’s image abroad and of itself. But as he showed this week in the way he dealt with those two hard cases, Mr. Obama has begun to scale back. Faced with the choice of signaling an unambiguous break with the policies of the Bush era, or maintaining some continuity with its practices, the president has begun to come down on the side of taking fewer risks with security, even though he is clearly angering the liberal elements of his political base."

Friday's fish fry

BASEBALL DIARY: the Tigers get swept at Minnesota, losing yesterday 6-5. Ugh. They waste a 6 plus inning, 13 strikeout, shutout performance by Justin Verlander. The bullpen then blew the game, giving up walks, big hits, and a 6-run seventh inning. Once again, the Metrodome is the haunted house. And as the linked article suggests, who are the Tigers? A good team? We were starting to think so, after last weekend's sweep at Cleveland. But now the team is back to just 1 game over .500, and not sure who they are...
But man, when it comes to the Texas Rangers, people are going to start asking--who are these guys? The Rangers won again yesterday, 3-2; they've now won 10 of 12. Once again, the team got a great start from Matt Harrison...and clutch home runs in the 9th inning from Hank Blalock and Chris Davis to pull the game out. They're getting decent pitching...look out...
Though we'll know more after this weekend--the defending division champ Angels come to town.
And the Cubs won again, their 4th straight, beating San Diego, 11-3. The Padres look to be in trouble...they've lost 11 straight on the road. But the Cubs did well taking advantage of it. Ryan Dempster gave them good starting pitching, going 7 strong innings. Bobby Scales, a career minor-leaguer, had two doubles; he's helping fill in for Aramis Ramirez. Just keep your head above water, Cubbies...

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE: whew! The Detroit Red Wings took game 7 of their series with the Anaheim Ducks, winning 4-3 on a late Dan Cleary goal, and they advance to the conference finals. It was impressive--no, not the fact that the Wings blew a 2-0 lead and the game came right down to the end. Rather, it was that they kept their poise...and, though the announcers on Versus suggested the Wings looked tired early in the third period, they regained their footing, and put on most of the pressure in the last 10 minutes of the game. That's what champions do.

So President Obama will continue using military commissions to try accused terrorists, and won't release photos of detainees--what does this all mean? Rich Lowry has it right:
"Dick Cheney is getting vindication from an unlikely source — the very Obama administration he’s bedeviling in all his TV interviews. The former vice president has dared to defend the Bush administration from the charge it ran a torturing, Constitution-shredding criminal enterprise for years under the guise of the “War on Terror.” He’s been duly subjected to the Two Minutes Hate — on an endless loop — from all the people who want him to slink to an undisclosed location never to emerge again....No, this is a job for a man with stomach of steel, who can take satisfaction in Obama’s Cheney-like turn. Obama has decided to “delay” the release of photos of detainee abuse — maybe secrecy does have an important role in national-security affairs. Obama is considering indefinite detention of terrorists on U.S. soil and reviving military commissions — maybe the system of detention and trials the Bush administration created wasn’t so lunatic after all."

And remember--when Democrats try to tell you that the Republican Party is full of "liars", ask them about Nancy Pelosi. Leon Pannetta, the Democrat who is now director of the CIA--even he suggests she's not telling the truth when she suggests the CIA lied to her and didn't tell her that waterboarding etc went on.

Thursday's throwdowns

Again, today is a light blogging day because I have so much grading to do. But here are a few items...

BEWARE OF ECONOMY HAPPY TALK, MR. OBAMA:

Chrysler announces today that it will close nearly 800 dealerships.

That means the loss of a good number of jobs.

BASEBALL DIARY:

The Tigers lose 14-10 to the Twins in extra innings. The Metrodome house of horrors continues to live up to its reputation...

But the Rangers rallied in the 11th inning to win again, beating Seattle 6-5. Hank Blalock is playing an important role for this team...

And the Cubs won again, beating the reeling San Diego Padres, 6-4. Alfonso Soriano continues to come up big...

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE:
The Dallas Mavericks season came to an end last night--but, the Denver Nuggets were clearly the better team.

Wednesday's wash

ECONOMY WATCH: the Obama administration continually tries to talk up the notion that recovery is coming. They'd better beware...
"Retail sales fell for a second straight month in April, a disappointing performance that raised doubts about whether consumers were regaining their desire to shop. A rebound in consumer demand is a necessary ingredient for ending the recession."
Update--this news ought to make the Obama people quiet the happy talk, too:
"The number of U.S. households faced with losing their homes to foreclosure jumped 32 percent in April compared with the same month last year, with Nevada, Florida and California showing the highest rates, according to data released Wednesday."

MEDIA BIAS UPDATE: here's an MSNBC headline on its website--"Cheney Attacks May Not Help Republicans." But read the whole story...
...and what you see is not one piece of solid evidence that his criticism of the Obama administration won't help Republicans. Not one. But what else is new...

DEMOCRATIC PARTY CORRUPTION UPDATE: the next time a Democrat tries to claim Republicans are corrupt, ask them to comment on Democratic Rep. John Murtha...
"Robert C. Murtha Jr. has made a sizable living for years working with companies that rely on Pentagon contracts over which his uncle, Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., holds considerable sway. He has maintained that his uncle played no role in his defense-related work, much of it secured without competition. Newly obtained documents, however, show Robert Murtha mentioning his influential family connection as leverage in his business dealings and holding unusual power with the military. The documents add to mounting questions about Rep. Murtha, whose use of federal earmarks to help favored defense companies and whose relationship with a former lobbying firm are under scrutiny by federal investigators."

TERRORISM UPDATE: by the way, what really recruits terrorist wannabes to the cause?
Easy--terrorist victories--not our own supposed faults and mistakes, as Rich Lowry highlights well today.

FAVORITE TEAMS UPDATE: the Detroit Red Wings lost game 6 at Anaheim, 2-1. So now it's on to a deciding game 7. I didn't the Wings played horribly last night...but Anaheim played with just a bit more energy and desperation. They faced elimination, and it showed; and this proves why the old adage can be true, that clinching a playoff series on the road is one of the toughest things to do. Still. the Wings almost came back to tie the game, and still fired 38 shots on Duck goaltender Jonas Hiller. At home, the Wings should have the energy they need. Or at least, they'd better...

BASEBALL DIARY: it wasn't a great night for the Tigers, either, as they lost to Minnesota, 6-2. Minnesota's Metrodome, too, has historically been a house of horrors for the Tigers; seems like they frequently struggle there, lose bizarre games there, etc. Last night was no different--Tiger hitters had all kinds of chances to drive in runs, but didn't. Worrisome sign: Armando Galarraga is struggling big time, allowing 5 runs or more in each of his last four starts. All this needs to improve.
But the news was good on other fronts. The Texas Rangers have now won 8 of 10, beating Seattle 7-1 last night. Josh Hamilton came off the DL and homered. Scott Feldman to me is the big story--another quality start for him, allowing only 1 run in 6 plus innings. If the Rangers keep getting decent pitching...
And the Cubs won, beating San Diego 6-2. The team got another good start from Rich Harden; he's won 4 starts in a row. And maybe Milton Bradley is starting to hit--he hit two long home runs...perhaps if he gets hot, it will make up for the absence of Aramis Ramirez.

MAUREEN DOWD UPDATE: so a lot of folks are highlighting her unbalanced column today, mainly I guess because she said this about Dick Cheney...
"No matter if or when terrorists attack here — and they’re on their own timetable, not a partisan red/blue state timetable — Cheney will be deemed the primary one who made America more vulnerable."
So what she's saying is that Cheney's public statements today are somehow making America more vulnerable in the future to terrorist attack. That is indeed amazing.
What's even more amazing is that she doesn't explain why or how!!

Tuesday's trackings...

I'm busy grading final exams today, so some of these will be a bit brief, but there are definitely are some things to track today...

SCENES FROM THE RECESSION, INDIANA VERSION: home prices continue to fall...
"Home prices fell in nearly nine out of every 10 U.S. cities in the first quarter of this year as first-time buyers looking for bargains dominated the market.
The National Association of Realtors said today that median sales prices of existing homes declined in 134 out of 152 metropolitan areas compared with the same period a year ago. Prices rose in the other 18 cities. The median home price in Indianapolis was down 11.8 percent, to $94,600."

OBAMA WATCH: recently, in an interview with the NY Times Magazine, the president said something that was, well, rather scary concerning care for the elderly and decisions we will have to make...
"Another subject the president discusses with the Times is the problem of end-of-life care. He tells the story of his grandmother, who got an expensive hip replacement, then died two weeks later. President Obama says he “would have paid for that hip replacement just because she’s my grandmother.” At the same time, however, he notes that “whether, sort of in the aggregate, society making those decisions to give my grandmother, or everybody else’s aging grandparents or parents, a hip replacement when they’re terminally ill is a sustainable model, is a very difficult question.” Furthermore, he recognizes that Americans don’t want to hear that we will not provide expensive late-stage care, a la England. As the president puts it, “If somebody told me that my grandmother couldn’t have a hip replacement, and she had to lie there in misery in the waning days of her life — that would be pretty upsetting.” His answer to this question, however, is also somewhat upsetting — and not just because he calls denying care to the terminally ill “very difficult” and “upsetting,” but never “something we won’t do.” He says that “there is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place.” And not only will this be difficult, he claims, but he has trouble imagining “the country making those decisions just through the normal political channels. And that’s part of why you have to have some independent group that can give you guidance.” It is unclear what this group will look like, but the notion of some empyrean body, developed outside the normal political channels, making health-care decisions for the country, is a notion that makes me very, very nervous."

Me, too. Do we want the government to possibly have the power, some day, to tell us that, even though we want our elderly parents to have a certain procedure done, they can't have it?

YOUR EFFICIENT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AT WORK:
$800,000 in "stimulus" money went to re-pave a Pennsylvania airport runway that is used a whole three times per day.

Meanwhile, dead folks are getting government checks:
"Millions of Americans on Social Security are receiving $250 checks as part of the president's stimulus plan — including an Anne Arundel woman who died more than 40 years ago.
The woman's son, 83-year-old James Hagner, said he got the surprise when he checked his mailbox late last week....Social Security representatives said there is a good explanation. Of the about 52 million checks that have been mailed out, about 10,000 of those have been sent to people who are deceased. The agency blames the error on the strict mid-June deadline of mailing out all of the checks, which didn't leave officials much time to clean up all of their records."

WAR ON TERROR UPDATE:
"The 2008 Report on Terrorism of the National Terrorism Center documents not only a decline in terror attacks in Iraq, but an 18% decline in attacks worldwide, and a 30% decline in fatalities. The authors estimate that the relative pacification of Iraq accounts for only half the measured reductions. The Bush administration’s strategy of finding, harassing, and killing terrorists has doubtless played its role, making the lives of terrorists nasty, brutish, and brief. But another factor in the decline of terror is 4th Generation War — the factor that led some to hypothesize its invincibility. In 2008, 61% of the victims of terror were civilians, and a rising percentage of these were children. The same Ethernet that broadcast the grievance of the terrorists deglamorized them."
No wonder the Obama administration is copying more of the Bush administration's tactics in this war than Obama's backers care to admit...

FAVORITE TEAM UPDATE:
Hey, the Dallas Mavericks last night showed a lot of fight and a lot of heart, beating the Denver Nuggets 119-117 to avoid elimination in the NBA playoffs. What a performance by Dirk Nowitzki--44 points, 13 rebounds. A lot of people undoubtedly thought the Mavs, down 3 games to none in this series going into last night, stunned by the heartbreaking loss in game 3, would just mail it in, get beat, and let the season end. But they didn't. The odds are still heavily against them, as they still trail 3-1 in the series and now have to go to Denver, where the Nuggets have yet to lose in this year's playoffs. But at least the Mavs have one more shot, and they can always know that they went down fighting...

OTHER SPORTS NEWS:
Well, it certainly may be, as William C. Rhoden suggests, that Brett Favre is considering un-retiring...again...and playing for the Minnesota Vikings next season because that's where he always wanted to be anyway.
But I wish Favre wasn't doing this. Last year, sure, I thought it was great that he came back; I could understand that he hadn't gotten the game out of his blood, that he wanted to compete, and to me it was fun watching him play.
But now, a possible second un-retirement? It just starts to look ridiculous, and to make Favre look ridiculous. Don't do it, Brett.