Considerettes

“How soon they forget.” Cliche? Not really.

In four of the five states for which exit polls are available — Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, and South Carolina — Democratic voters placed national security/terrorism at the bottom of the list. Only in tiny Delaware, on the east coast and not far from Ground Zero, did Democrats place more emphasis on the issue — and even then, it was in next-to-last place.

I wonder how many of these Democrats ever said something about “never” forgetting 9/11. Well, at least with more fervor than, say, never forgetting to visit their dentist at least once a year. How can you “never” forget, and then go on as if it never happened?

The creator of BottomFeeder, Jim Robertson, E-mailed me yesterday and said that he’s fixed the Atom functionality for use with how Blogger mangles interprets the Atom specs. Well it seems to have done the trick, so no need to wonder any longer if it’s worth a try; it is.

(And for BF users, click on System | Check for Updates, and you’ll get the fix.)

Yesterday, in his “Best of the Web Today” column, James Taranto referred to John Kerry’s wife Teresa as an African-American. Apparently, that generated an avalanche of E-mail criticizing him for that characterization, since she is white. But, as Taranto notes today, Mrs. Kerry was born and raised in Mozambique, and is a naturalized US citizen. “Born in Africa, citizen of America–that’s the definition of an African-American, right?”, he asks.

After a discussion of an E-mail that disputed this, Taranto gives his parting shot in his classic style:

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines African-American as a synonym of Afro-American, which in turn means “an American of African and especially of black African descent.” So apparently under common usage an American who was born and raised in Africa is less of an African-American than one whose family has been here for centuries. Even so, we have a dream that African-Americans will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the continent of their origin.

Humorous, yet deadly accurate.

Governmental mission creep:

ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers are considering a first-in-the-nation law that would require drivers who smoke to roll down the windows before lighting up with children in the car.

Best line in the article:

“That’s not to say that smoking in a car with small children isn’t wrong. It’s horribly wrong,” [State Senator Eric Johnson] said. “But if we’re going to make everything bad for you illegal, and then fine you $15 for doing it, we could balance the budget just on that.”

Legislating what you do in your car is not all that far removed from legislating what you can do in your living room. How soon before hey mull over a law requiring all windows in a house be open if people are smoking?

Silly, you say? Banning smoking in cars would’ve been called that 10 years ago.

Apparently, according to this post by the creator of BottomFeeder, the Blogger Atom feed is just a tad bit different from feeds they’d tested on. Atom’s spec hasn’t reached the 1.0 stage yet, so I guess a “Your Mileage May Vary” disclaimer is in order, depending on your news aggregator.

I’m betting they’ll have this worked out soon enough, although, like James Robertson says, “This is what I love about early adoption of in-development specs – everyone goes their own way, and tool builders end up having to support all the variations.” Ain’t programming fun? >grin<

Judge William Young sentenced Richard Reid, the “shoe bomber”, on Thursday, Jan. 30th. I don’t recall hearing it elsewhere, but the speech he gave to Reid after sentencing should remind us why there’s a war going on, and what we’re fighting for.

James Lileks has a great comeback for Patrick Stewart’s “wet blanket” toss onto the whole idea of manned space missions. Jean-Luc, we hardly knew ye.

David Limbaugh has a great article on all the ways that Kay vindicates Bush. Required reading before screaming “BUSH LIED!” one more time.

From the Washington Times:

BOULDER, Colo. — A few years ago, Jeff O’Holleran said he began to realize that he was different from the other boys he knew.

“I started having certain thoughts,” said Mr. O’Holleran, 19, a student at the University of Colorado (CU).

And he came out of the closet yesterday.

Yesterday, he said, it was time to come out of the closet. In the middle of a crowded university dining area, he took to the podium and announced, “I’m Jeff, and I’m a conservative.”

His tongue-in-cheek revelation came during yesterday’s “Conservative Coming-Out Day,” an event sponsored by the College Republicans that combined a mischievous sense of humor with a serious message on academic bias.

Too funny. And right on the money.

If marriage is no longer just the union of a man and a woman (as it no longer is in Massachusetts), then how soon will groups of 3 or 4 wishing to marry make their claims? This is not an “if”, but a “when”, given the direction the Mass. Supreme Judicial Court is forcing the legislature. If you are in favor of homosexuals marrying, but against groups of 3 or more marrying, what possible lines can you be drawing that would prevent the latter, but allow the former? And if you allow the former, what will you say to NAMBLA if they manage to reduce or abolish the age of consent, and ask for marriage between men and boys to be duly honored?

Homosexual marriage will be a bell that, once it tolls, cannot be un-rung. This is a one-way slippery slope. If you advocate going down it, do you really understand what’s down there waiting for us?