27 June 2008

Thoughts on a long month

OK, so... it's been a very long month. A few too many long days, and the blog has suffered for it - apologies.

Let's catch up, shall we?
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California judges institute gay marriage; thousands of lightning strikes follow, causing hundreds of brush fires; Bay Area choked in smoke
Surely somebody should have seen this one coming...

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McCain comes out for CA Marriage Amendment

A play for California? This issue plus the gun issue could put Obama in trouble in a lot of places. If only he'd flip on ANWR drilling (and at $4/gallon, how can you not?) and get tough on immigration, he'd be a shoo-in. As it is, we're headed for another tight red-blue election season.

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DC Gun ban overturned as Supreme Court reaffirms constitutionality of Second Amendment in 5-4 ruling
...you mean we have four Supreme Court justices who don't think that rights enumerated in the constitution are "individual" rights? Yikes.

Still, this is a great victory for those of us who believe the Constitution means what it says and what the Founders meant it to say.

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McCain says Fred Thompson will help pick judges in his administration
See previous headline - or do you think Barack "bitter gun clinger" Obama will pick constitutionalist judges? Whatever else you think of McCain (more to follow...), this is surely the reason conservatives will wind up rallying to his side. Scalia is going to need reinforcements - and Ginsburg and Stevens are getting neither younger nor healthier...

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Supreme Court strikes down "millionaires amendment" portion of McCain-Feingold
The more times that awful law is challenged on constitutional grounds, the more it loses... Chalk up another one for Freedom of Speech.

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Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for raping children
A defeat for Jessica's Law, to be sure. Louisiana responds by mandating chemical castration for pedophiles - Any Senators here want to take up that challenge?

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Released Guantanamo detainee joins Iraqi suicide attack
Those of you pushing to close Gitmo - seven dead Iraqis for you to explain...

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Goose Creek Two update: Mohamed pleads guilty to terrorism charge, faces 15 years in prison
Fireworks... uh huh...

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South Carolina teachers experiment with "new math"
Y'know, because we needed for our educational system to look even more stupid than it already does. Is it any wonder we can't graduate literate high school graduates if "a-tooty-ta" is how we're teaching math to kindergartners?

Then again, I was doing algebra as I skipped kindergarten, so what do I know...

*****

House and Senate overturn abstinence education funding veto
(and thank you all for the kind notes...) I do still wish more of those other budget vetoes would've been upheld - we're still one bad breakfast away from a deadly prison riot, and the Dept of Corrections Boys also need reinforcements, and body armor equipment, and increased detainee space, and maybe another Supermax...

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Knotts beats Shealy in Senate 23 runoff
Come to think of it, I may need body armor, too...

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Bright beats Talley in Senate 10 runoff
Way to go, Somer!!

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I'd also be remiss if I didn't note with sadness the passing of some legendary broadcasters who shaped so many of us in the television age. Tim Russert, Jim McKay, and Charlie Jones - Gentlemen, all. Russert was the greatest political interviewer and TV personality of his generation - and taken far too soon. McKay was the voice of the Olympics - who can forget his coverage of the Munich tragedy, or the joy of the Miracle on Ice. Al Michaels may have had the memorable call, but when he was done, it was McKay who was with the celebrating fans in the Olympic Village summing it all up. Jones was the voice of the NFL and many Olympic sports for decades. The Beijing Games simply won't be the same this year.

Rest in Peace, you will not soon be forgotten.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Quite a time: quite a country, quite a fight for the constitution, quite a struggle for decency in America. I pray the lightening in CA doesn't spread to SC. Thanks for the good post Joshua