No News Is Good News

Rich Galen notes some big news in the NY Times.

Way To Go, Joe

Sen. Lieberman lays into his own party. Well said.

Busy Day

I don't think that I'll be posting much of anything today - like it's a problem.

Stupid Government Tricks

Thanks in no small part to our own Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-6), internet gambling was largely banned last year. An effort is underway to reverse that asinine decision. The "we know better than you" crowd is revving up to stop a fairly commonsense bill sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). I don't think that the ban is going anywhere any time soon.

Crazy Man Endorses Giuliani

Pat Robertson is now in Rudy G's camp. I think that P-Rob's a loon, but his endorsement is gold in Republican nomination races: 1988-Bush; 1996-Dole; 2000-Bush. We'll see if the trend continues.

Shhhh...

More good news from Iraq. I wonder if this will make front page news like the most recent bad news did? Ahhh, who am I kidding?

Election Recap

Republicans did not hold on. If I may pat myself on the back, that 18.5 o/u for Repubs in the Senate looks pretty damn good with the GOP coming in at 19 out of 40.

So Dems have (as of now) picked up 4 seats in each house. It looked as though they would do better than that a few weeks ago. I think that the abusive driver fees didn't help them as much as they had hoped. Too bad Gov Kaine had to amend the trans. bill to exclude non-residents. Further, several Repub districts in each house trended more traditionally than seemed likely a few weeks ago.

It's still a significant win for Kaine and the Dems. Congrats. January in Richmond may be more interesting now.

GOP Holding On?

Polling Day

You have only about 3 1/2 hours left to vote here in Virginia. Get out there and do your duty.

Wow

Andrew Bacevich writes about the dumbest thing I've read in a while. I can't decide whether the question begging or the vague platitudinal blather is the worst of it.

Tuesday's Elections

Looks like we're gonna have a changing of the guard in Virginia's Senate. Republicans hold 23 out of 40 seats now. I'd say that their over-under for January is 18.5. I'm more inclined to support Republicans than Democrats, but I'm not so sure that this outcome would be all that bad. Having the General Assembly split during redistricting is probably a good thing.

I shouldn't be so quick to assume that the GOP will assume minority status in the Senate. If several of their districts work out the way you would normally expect, the Reps may be able to hold on. We'll know soon enough.

Well Said

J. R. Dunn of the estimable American Thinker pens a column on torture for RCP. Pretty well spot on, I'd say.

Breaking Good News

It looks as though at least two of the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are going to act like grownups after all. Good for them. I'll admit that may be treating Sen. Feinstein unfairly - but not Sen. Schumer.

More on Iraq

The WaPo reports on the decreased violence in Iraq - but notes some less hopeful items as well. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi wants to change the country's electoral system. He may have a very good idea - it's obviously hard for me to say. I do wonder if his very poor showing in the 2005 election has anything to do with his desire to change the rules.

(Mostly) Good News from Iraq

This LA Times article is worth a read. Here's a bit:

They say the decision to send 28,500 more troops to Iraq has made a difference by allowing them to send soldiers to live on the fault lines between Sunni Arab and Shiite neighborhoods in Baghdad, and to conduct sweeping offensives in provinces east and south of the capital against strongholds of Shiite Muslim militias and Sunni militants linked to foreign insurgents.

But others say that the picture is more complicated than that because those seeking to cleanse their neighborhoods of rival religious sects have largely succeeded. The civilian death toll plummeted nationwide in the last two months; the toll was 2,076 in January but 884 in September and 758 in October, according to the Iraqi Health Ministry.

It remains to be seen if local political progress will translate in progress on the national level. With losses among our troops and Iraqi civilians dropping, maybe optimism is justified.

Some Advice for Republicans

This perspective comes courtesy of Tony Blankley. I wonder if the GOP will have the wisdom to heed his warning.

The Politico

Do you read Politico.com? If not, here's something of an introduction. They have an article on voter anger today. The claim is that angry voters are fed up with Washington and that is bad news for Democrats. I suspect that things are somewhat more complicated than that. Plenty of voters are upset that Dems have not come through on the promises about ending the Iraq War. Do you really think that any of them are suddenly going to vote for Republicans because of it? I think that is a small cadre of voters who may vacillate between the two parties, but most of them will stick with the Dems in 2008.

The (Sort of) Sacking of Stanley O'Neal

Clarence Page hits all the right notes. I'm waiting to hear from Jesse and Al.

Do You Believe in Redemption?

Vivian Paige would like to know. I'm for yes. I hope that Alphonso Albert will get a chance prove himself in his new job.

The Evidence Mounts

I know that some people will always refuse to believe it, but another study points to sexual orientation as "genetically wired." I hear that there's gambling at Rick's, too.