Today's The Day...

...when we could find out a lot more about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

An appellate court panel could decide as early as today whether to grant Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's request to stop the release of documents linked to the text message scandal.

City attorneys filed a request Thursday, hoping to at least temporarily halt Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr.'s ruling Tuesday to release all documents pertaining to a secret deal to keep private hundreds of text messages. The messages the mayor and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, exchanged showed they lied under oath at a trial last summer about having a romantic relationship.

I don't really know what sort of incriminating items might be among these documents, or what could even happen if there are such items. But maybe progress in this case will be progress for the City of Detroit--away from scam artists like Kilpatrick. (And not a very slick scam artist, at that.)

The paper defends itself here against verbal attacks on it by Kilpatrick. Don'tcha know it's a violation of civil rights to obtain text messages that have been sought in court for years and which incriminate a public official of perjury and who knows what else!

In going after the media and the Free Press, the mayor is trying to blame the messenger of the bad news when he's the one who created it.

We've expected this. It's a common tactic for people in trouble of their own making.

Precisely. But it works. (Remember Ken Starr?) Anyway, the Freep provides a handy timeline for the scandal.

American Politics Is Weird Lately

The worst part about Romney dropping out is that it not only means that only John McCain is left, it also results in Ron Paul getting over 20% in a caucus. Not that he won. But it's the principle of the thing.

Anyway, things could get better. I think John McCain will actually end up picking a real conservative as his VP, which is a necessary and sufficient condition to secure my vote. I just hope it's someone who can run for president in four or eight years; so, in other words, let it not be Phil Gramm.

Then again, things could get worse. After all, Barack Obama might be, as far as policy is concerned, the worst American presidential candidate since Jimmah Carter or George McGovern. Heaven help us all.

Well, at least Obama is an ethical, nice guy. Just look at this deceptive attack ad against John McCain (via Captain's Quarters):



Captain Ed Morrissey tackles the dishonesty in this ad here, in typical brilliant fashion.

There's Always Next Year

The Free Press reports:

2009 recruit Russell Shepard (Houston (TX) Cypress Ridge), a five-star quarterback much like Pryor, has U-M very high on his list.

Shepard, a lifelong University of Texas fan, visited the Longhorns over the weekend. But even though he got a scholarship offer from his favorite team, he told the Austin American-Statesman that he may have a different favorite than many would think.

“I would say Texas is still up there, but Michigan is really at the top of my list, especially if they don’t get Terrelle Pryor,” he told the paper. “I feel like I could go there and play right away. I’m also looking at Florida and LSU. Both of those schools have pretty good depth-chart situations for me.”

Oh, HECK yeah. And by the way:

Shepard is 6-foot-2 and weighs 183 pounds. He has 4.4 speed and is listed by Rivals.com as the class of 2009's No. 4 recruit.

Bwahahahaha.

Homework Calling, Part 2

Yeah, okay, so I'm busy!

Just an update: A good weekend for Michigan sports! Michigan's b-ball team beat Penn State at home, 68-63. The Wolverine icers skated into No. 1 ranked Miami, Ohio, and came away with a win and a tie for 3 points, taking the CCHA lead by a point. And Coach Rod just nabbed another prospect: Rivals 3-star WR Martavious Odoms. Still one more spot left...

See y'all tomorrow.

Slow Posting Day...

Sorry for the no-show in posting today. Homework calls, and I must answer.

I will leave you with this, the Incredulity of the Day: Minnesota basketball has its own show on the Big Ten Network? Really? I can think of another struggling program with a highly touted new coach who has more potential fans...okay, I know you're right. We're currently losing to Penn State by 3 at home...PSU has won one in their last eight. We haven't won more than one in our last twelve. *sigh*

Mike Huckabee For President Keeps Rowling On

(Disclaimer: I'm aware that the name changes that occur in this post are horrifying. Please bear with this, and try to muster a laugh at the truth in the metaphor. Thank you for your time.)

The candidacy of Gilderoy Lockabee has important lessons to teach us.

Governor Lockabee is a superstar to some conservatives, and an enigma to others. He has a winning smile and a way with the ladies, according to exit polls. He's charming and funny. He's taken over the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, although some of the most famous Aurors seem not to trust him over-much. On the other hand, masses of good people flock to him, drawn by his bold talk and apparently overwhelming credentials.

But in the end, it seems that the country club wing of the party (represented by one John McMalfoy) and the Democrats (think Hillatrix LeStrange) used him to sabotage someone whom principled conservatives could actually support. (Harry Potter? Nah, Romney Weaselly. Still...) And in fact, Lockabee's credentials don't turn out to be as rock-solid as they seemed. Turns out he's just a good-looking, well-spoken guy who's exceptionally good at memory charms.

Speaking of which, Lockabee needs to make his own candidacy a memory and end the primary contest, so McMalfoy can focus on picking a VP and letting conservatives know if he's serious about us by picking a solid candidate who can run in 2012 or 2016. I'd go with Mad Eye Sanford.

"Conservative Principles Are Timeless..."

The Wall Street Journal's Alfred S. Regnery today writes about how John McCain can reach out to conservatives.

First, he suggests nominating a conservative--specifically, Gov. Mark Sanford--as his VP rather than Lieberman, backstabbing Florida governor Crist, or Rudy Giuliani. Good idea!

Anyway, the column is good, but the best lines are these:

John McCain needs conservatives more than conservatives need John McCain. Those conservatives who are old enough recall the words of the last Senator from Arizona who ran for our highest office. I'd rather be right than president, said Barry Goldwater in 1964, to the wild cheers of his supporters. Conservative principles are timeless, and will outlast any politician.

Inspiration for real conservatives, and loathsome words to McCainiacs who now will go from insulting conservatives to attempting to coerce them into supporting their guy. (Don't be fooled when someone pushes the Iraq War or Supreme Court issue at you; does anyone really think a Democratic president will shoot himself in the foot by withdrawing troops just when order has been almost restored? Does anyone think a President McCain will really be able to appoint quality judges while working cozily with the Democratic-majority legislature? Get real.)Election 2008, Rudy Giuliani

Romney Withdraws From Race, TW2 Withdraws From Republicans

Romney withdrew from the Republican nomination at CPAC today.


So I changed my vote on the Facebook Election '08 page to: "I support the Libertarian Party in 2008." Yay third parties as temporary vehicles for protest!

Is it a bad sign that on the Newsvine feed for the Libertarian Party the third news item down is, "Cattle Disease Nearly Eradicated"? The Libertarian Party's prospects seem grim this election cycle. However, there ARE 435 opposing Congressional seats open in 2008...it's all about opportunity!

A Little Levin-ing...

(Via Michelle Malkin)

Mark Levin discusses McCain's putative nomination.

To say, from one's computer keyboard, that the Reagan coalition should unify behind McCain to prevent the specter of a Clinton or Obama presidency is, I believe, wishful thinking. Even here, where the smartest minds are trying to make the case, some use the perverse argument that Reagan wasn't all that conservative anyway, and that's a reason to back McCain. Not only does this defy history, but it offends those who lived through that history and were shaped by it. Moreover, Republican voters won't buy it. McCain is sitting on a one-legged stool, having broken the two other legs.

I think one important focus of Reagan conservatives should be to do all they can to protect as many Republican seats in the House as possible. There needs to be at least one elected part of our government that might be in a position to stem what could be a very unpleasant four years.

Bingo! More on this later.

Be Afraid, Big Ten, Be Very Afraid

Who says the Big Ten doesn't have speed?

Well, that's a thing of the past, at least for the consensus greatest team in the Big Ten (sample size: me). Check this out:

Player, position, forty time:

Terrence Robinson, RB, 4.4
Roy Roundtree, WR, 4.4
Michael Shaw, RB, 4.4
Darryl Stonum, WR, 4.4

Speedy kids, terrible players? All four-star recruits from around the country. One of them, Shaw, just de-committed from Penn State to go to A2. We also managed to surprise-nab Ricky Barnum, a 4-star OL recruit who had committed to Florida.

A good recruiting class gets better; we still haven't heard from Pryor though, and McGuffie seems to be rethinking his commitment to Michigan. That's alright, though...Terrence Robinson is actually a higher-rated all-purpose back.

Overall, a positive day for the Blue.

The McVeep

Who will McCain choose as his running mate once this terrifying primary season has concluded?

Mark Tapscott says he should announce his intention to select Senator Tom Coburn (R, OK), my favorite senator and an imposing porkbuster who is widely despised by free-spending senators from both sides of the aisle. Captain Ed Morrissey responds that he likely needs to keep the Huckabee option open for political purposes, at least until he's wrapped up the Republican nomination. I agree with Mark Tapscott here; Huckabee may be keeping up his candidacy because he hopes to be McCain's vice president, but it is not at all clear that Huckabee's supporters would flock to Romney more than to McCain, and there is much evidence to the contrary.

Actually, McCain's inclusion of either Tom Coburn or South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, another staunch anti-pork pol, might convince me to come out of the cave and cast my vote for McAmnesty, since it would at least give a real conservative a good chance to win the next contested election. Tom Coburn could use the executive position, since he's only been a legislator, and Sanford could use the national exposure.

Here's another interesting scenario: McCain could offer the vice presidency slot to a conservative (say, Sanford), and that conservative could refuse. Perhaps that could gain our conservative hero a national following among conservatives, deal a body blow to McCain's outreach to conservatives, and encourage conservatives to stay home and start working on the 2010 mid-terms. My only worry is that it could further break apart the Republican Party, our only vehicle for advancing the causes of liberty and national sovereignty. (Vocally opposing McCain when he's the Republican nominee also threatens this, but I believe it's a good calculated risk.)

Or Not...

Looks like Pryor WON'T be signing today, in fact.

That's probably a good thing. Couldn't take too much bad news over this short a period of time. Better to spread the misery out a little.

Not that I'm bitter. In fact, I'm happy. Aroma Borealis was offering paczkis today instead of doughnuts, in honor of the fact that yesterday was Mardi Gras. Which is kinda funny, considering that paczkis are a tradition precisely because they can't be eaten by celebrants of Lent, starting today. Fortunately, I never celebrated Lent growing up, being Baptist. Woot. And I have coffee, too. French Roast, in honor of the fact that our next President will be a Democrat. *shiver*

Ugh...

...Well, I never thought I'd say this but...GO HILLARY! We need someone to beat in 2012!

Since it seems that the McCain Party will be the new masters of the Republican Party, I shall be taking my vote elsewhere. I encourage all conservatives to do the same.

Another great decision by the party that gave you such inspirational moderates as Dole and Ford, and that impeccable fusion candidate, Richard Nixon.

Sit this one out, folks!!

GOP Adrift, Conservatism Confused

Michelle Malkin notes that a session at the Conservative Political Action Convention will be titled, "Is the GOP Lost?"

First, as far as the GOP is concerned, we do need to be worried. It's troubling that we couldn't coalesce around a single, broadly conservative candidate (unless, that is, Romney does in fact prevail today). I myself have said that I would not vote for McCain in a general election, and I stand by that. There is some talk, however, of starting a new conservative party or simply quitting on the Republican Party, and I can't go along with that. We do not have a parliamentary system, in which we would have influence based on the number of votes we get. It's a first-to-the-finish-line system, and thus you have to build a coalition and there can only be two major parties. Like it or not, the Republican Party must be our vehicle (barring some major switch between the parties, which is not unprecedented).

The only real alternative is to find ways to reclaim our party. The first way is not to vote for McCain in the upcoming presidential race, if indeed he is the nominee; we need to send a strong message to establishment Republicans that they're going to have to listen to us or lose. Second we always need to be working at the local level, engaging in debate and convincing our fellow Republicans of the virtues of a free market, a strong military, and a dedication to family values. I fear that conservatism's ascendancy lulled us into a false sense of security, and now we're discovering that voters' conceptions of what it means to be conservative have become confused. A lot of work went into launching the Reagan Revolution; we'll need a lot more to anchor again a party adrift from the ideals of freedom and human dignity that are too easy to cast by the wayside in favor of, as Rush says, "gutless" liberalism and collectivism.

Israeli Oppression of Suicide Bombers Continues Apace

(Via PowerLine)

An Israeli soldier continued his nation's long, horrific history of barbarism and oppression when he shot to death a second suicide bomber found among the victims of the Dimona bombing. HotAir has the video.

The two bombers, who were friends, represented Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, closely associated with Hamas. Wait, no...not Hamas, that other organization. Fatah. You know the guys. The ones led by the "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas, who recently declared three days of mourning for the dead murderer George Habash.

With moderates like Abbas, who needs extremists? By the way, if history is any indication, Abbas is likely well on his way to a Nobel Peace Prize.

After the Oslo Accords disaster, you would think that American politicians would learn. But George W. Bush has continued Clinton's failed strategy, and the next president will probably do the same. The "Roadmap To Peace" is useless unless both sides are negotiating in good faith; I can think of one side that isn't.

Terrelle Pryor Will Decide on Signing Day

From the Freep:

Terrelle Pryor, considered the nation’s top unsigned high school football player, will announce his choice — probably either Michigan or Ohio State — during a nationally televised news conference Wednesday.

Well, finally!

Hey, if we can manage to get Terrelle Pryor, great. But if he goes to Ohio State, we'll be fine. A great program like Michigan's isn't defined by single recruits, no matter who they are. Rodriguez is an innovator, and I have confidence in his ability to find a way to use the remarkable talent Michigan already possesses to turn us into at least a decent football team this year. And I doubt we'll be seriously lacking for dual-threat QBs; it looks good for us to sign both Florida three-star Justin Feagin and Ohio three-star Dominick Britt.

Again, I'd love to get Pryor, but...I'm not going to worry myself about it.

I'm worried about tomorrow right now!

(Hat tip: MGoBlog)

The Three Trillion Dollar Congress

Mister, we could use a man like Grover Cleveland again.

That good man severely criticized the 51st Congress, derided as the Billion-Dollar Congress, for its free-spending ways and rode a wave of anti-spending dissent to re-election to the White House in 1892, despite having been defeated by Republican Benjamin Harrison in the 1888 election. The government's obscene billion-dollar budget would be approximately 6.1% of the nominal $16.4 billion GDP in 1892; the budget (hat tip: Michelle Malkin) released by President Bush today is approximately 22% of our 2007 GDP.

And now that President Bush has kept his promise to be a "compassionate" (read: extravagant with your money) conservative and Congressional Republicans so skillfully entrenched themselves by allying with K Street, a whole generation of my own personal friends thinks that the Republicans are traditionally bigger spenders than Democrats. (Despite, of course, the fact the the Republican presidential candidates are all talking about cutting spending, while the Dems are all discussing ways of increasing it. Unfortunately, for the Republicans, "all talking" is right.) And most of these guys think that the biggest budgetary problem is national defense spending!

From the article MM links to:

The 6 percent overall increase in spending for 2009 reflects a continued surge in spending on the government's huge benefit programs for the elderly - Social Security and Medicare, even with the projected five-year savings of $196 billion over five years. Those savings are achieved by freezing payments to hospitals and other health care providers. A much-smaller effort by Bush in this area last year went nowhere in Congress.

No one wants to be the person who cut benefits; that's political suicide. But continually punting it to the next administration until it simply can't be solved without disastrously painful measures? That's national suicide.

How did Mr. Cleveland try to cut spending? He "vetoed hundreds of private pension bills for American Civil War veterans." We all have things we want to spend money on, and some of them seem noble. But that's not what government is for.

This November, Cleveland won't be on the ballot, nor anyone like him. Like Reagan, his party left him; but now, so has the other party.

You Can't Win 'Em All

Wow. What a gritty performance by the Giants! The Patriots couldn't protect Brady, Brady looked uncomfortable throwing the long ball, and Eli Manning came up big in the clutch. I thought the Giants would cover the spread, but I certainly didn't give them much shot at winning the dang game!

Anyway, both teams played well, and it was a rare down-to-the-wire Super Bowl. I shouldn't feel too bad, from a Maize and Blue standpoint; they both have a Michigan man in important positions (WR Amani Toomer, for the Giants). Still, Tom Brady's the man, and it was hard to see him lose in a Super Bowl for the first time.

Well, there's always next year. Unless you're the Lions.

The Superest Bowl

With church and a Super Bowl party today, I will probably not be posting much of anything today. In lieu of any sort of meaningful analysis, I leave you with this prediction: Pats, 27-17, led by Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady, a Michigan Man. Go Pats!

Hopefully we have a good Super Bowl; though I'm rooting for the Patriots, I mostly want the game to be entertaining. Fortunately, tonight's game will make history either way: the Patriots will become the league's first ever 19-0 champion, or the Giants will deliver the ring to a second Manning with an incredible upset win.

As always, anything could happen. My surest prediction is this: I will eat too much pizza and too many chips. And be happy doing it.

That "Dude!" Commercial

The Wings' Brett Lebda just told the FSN-Detroit audience that he's a big Bears fan? Dude! Well...maybe when Detroit gets a football team, he'll change his mind.

I love the announcers calling the Wings-Bruins game tonight. They just ripped on the refs for making the wrong call on a clear non-penalty to give the Bruins a two man advantage for 1:48. That is seriously refreshing.