As I’ve said elsewhere, the decision to have Dukes Of Hazzard extras run your party is brilliant. So brilliant.

* World’s fastest everything

Well, while I’m at it, how about I make a prediction for the Redskins this coming season?

Okay.

12-4. Yeah, I said it. 12-4. Be aware that in the ten years or so I’ve been making NFL predictions for the ‘Skins that I have never been correct, but like Dick Morris I still keep hauling out predictions anyway. The Washington Redskins will go 12-4 or better in the 2009 NFL season.

One of the continuing themes we’re seeing with the conservative movement’s attempts to recover from the last two elections is a search for leadership. The problem is that structurally conservatism has a strong tendency to gravitate towards the known – a mindset that’s part and parcel of an ideological movement that thinks America’s best days were in 1950.

As such, the new leadership of the GOP looks a lot like the old leadership – Gingrich, Limbaugh, DeLay, etc. Add to that I guess Ralph Reed who wants to start up the old Christian Coalition in some fashion. Of course, Ralph’s problem is that he left the Coalition in disgrace to the point where they lost their non-profit status and he got entangled with now-jailed conservative lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Oh, he also had a disastrous run for Lt. Governor.

Political parties in America tend to have their success when they face down what ailed them and come up with fresh voices and fresh takes on the issues. It could be the Reagan revolution, Clinton triangulation, Dean’s 50 state strategy, or some other fundamental change in how the party operates but the right seems to be locked in to retread action. Even George W. Bush tried for a while to at least dress up old school conservatism in the cloak of “compassion”. Sarah Palin isn’t subtle enough to do that with her clear desire to whip up the tired old culture war of us vs them.

Unlucky for us, conservatism failed America again under the last president, but unlucky for them as a movement they think the blind are the perfect navigators for the blind.

Yay, Politico named you to a perfectly arbitrary list! Look, I don’t have any serious problems with Rep. Edwards and she has so far demonstrated the kind of values I want to see in my Rep. that we weren’t seeing in Al Wynn. But trumpeting insidery lists from Politico is the path to faildom. Politico, in the larger sense of people in congress working for us, does not matter one bit. In fact, its an impediment to getting things done in congress thanks to the noise it shoots out.

Members of congress shouldn’t be trumpeting it when Politico lauds them. In fact, the less Politico is involved in congress, the better for democracy.

UPDATE: For you wingnuts watching this video and thinking it’s actual news and not the ravings of a right wing idiot begging for relevance I seriously ask you to ponder your lives and their worth. That is all.

Murdoch spoke in front of the paper’s new Hub setup, a serpent-like array of desks in the midtown newsroom that’s a clear reminder the paper’s no longer Bancroft-owned. Overhead, two giant video screens — one tuned to Fox and the other to CNBC — showed Sen. Al Franken’s appearance at the Sotomayor hearing.

Natalie Portman returns to the sci-fi fold to star as Jane Foster in the new Thor movie. Marvel Studios announced Tuesday that the Academy Award-nominated actress will play the earthling love interest to superheroic exile Thor (Chris Hemsworth). Producers describe the character as an “updated” take on the sweet Nurse Foster character featured in early issues of the comic book series.

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Netflix Inc. gained and bullish options trading jumped to the highest in 11 weeks on speculation that Amazon.com Inc. may acquire the largest U.S. mail-order movie service.

‘There’s heavy call buying and the stock is up on renewed takeover talk, with Amazon being mentioned specifically,’ said Fred Ruffy, the senior options strategist at WhatsTrading.com, a New York-based provider of options market analysis. ‘It’s pretty typical of speculative call buying.’

As prepared for delivery…

OPENING STATEMENT OF JUDGE SONIA SOTOMAYOR
Before the Senate Judiciary Committee
July 13, 2009

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also want to thank Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for that kind introduction.

In recent weeks, I have had the privilege and pleasure of meeting eighty-nine gracious Senators, including all the members of this Committee. I thank you for the time you have spent with me. Our meetings have given me an illuminating tour of the fifty states and invaluable insights into the American people.

There are countless family members, friends, mentors, colleagues, and clerks who have done so much over the years to make this day possible. I am deeply appreciative for their love and support. I want to make one special note of thanks to my mom. I am here today because of her aspirations and sacrifices for both my brother Juan and me. Mom, I love that we are sharing this together. I am very grateful to the President and humbled to be here today as a nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

The progression of my life has been uniquely American. My parents left Puerto Rico during World War II. I grew up in modest circumstances in a Bronx housing project. My father, a factory worker with a third grade education, passed away when I was nine years old.

On her own, my mother raised my brother and me. She taught us that the key to success in America is a good education. And she set the example, studying alongside my brother and me at our kitchen table so that she could become a registered nurse. We worked hard. I poured myself into my studies at Cardinal Spellman High School, earning scholarships to Princeton University and then Yale Law School, while my brother went to medical school. Our achievements are due to the values that we learned as children, and they have continued to guide my life’s endeavors. I try to pass on this legacy by serving as a mentor and friend to my many godchildren and students of all backgrounds.

Over the past three decades, I have seen our judicial system from a number of different perspectives – as a big-city prosecutor, a corporate litigator, a trial judge and an appellate judge. My first job after law school was as an assistant District Attorney in New York. There, I saw children exploited and abused. I felt the suffering of victims’ families torn apart by a loved one’s needless death. And I learned the tough job law enforcement has protecting the public safety. In my next legal job, I focused on commercial, instead of criminal, matters. I litigated issues on behalf of national and international businesses and advised them on matters ranging from contracts to trademarks.

My career as an advocate ended—and my career as a judge began—when I was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. As a trial judge, I decided over four hundred and fifty cases, and presided over dozens of trials, with perhaps my best known case involving the Major League Baseball strike in 1995.

After six extraordinary years on the district court, I was appointed by President William Jefferson Clinton to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On that Court, I have enjoyed the benefit of sharing ideas and perspectives with wonderful colleagues as we have worked together to resolve the issues before us. I have now served as an appellate judge for over a decade, deciding a wide range of Constitutional, statutory, and other legal questions.

Throughout my seventeen years on the bench, I have witnessed the human consequences of my decisions. Those decisions have been made not to serve the interests of any one litigant, but always to serve the larger interest of impartial justice.

In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law – it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress’s intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand.

The process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged. That is why I generally structure my opinions by setting out what the law requires and then by explaining why a contrary position, sympathetic or not, is accepted or rejected. That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our justice system. My personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case.

Since President Obama announced my nomination in May, I have received letters from people all over this country. Many tell a unique story of hope in spite of struggles. Each letter has deeply touched me. Each reflects a belief in the dream that led my parents to come to New York all those years ago. It is our Constitution that makes that Dream possible, and I now seek the honor of upholding the Constitution as a Justice on the Supreme Court.

I look forward in the next few days to answering your questions, to having the American people learn more about me, and to being part of a process that reflects the greatness of our Constitution and of our nation. Thank you.

##

* Simon Pegg & Nick Frost on Paul
Really like those two guys

* Dog had fork stuck in its head for 3 days

* Wii rides the short bus

* Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe prioritizes 11yr old Scholastic reporter over big reporters

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Calling conservativism anything else is playing pretend.

So, just right.

As for global warming, why assume that every affect will be negative? I grew up in Michigan and would have been grateful for some global warming as I waited in the dark for the school bus.

Really, Michael Barone. Shut up. Its embarrassing.

From the White House:

READOUT OF THE PRESIDENT’S CALL TO JUDGE SOTOMAYOR

FROM PRESS SECRETARY ROBERT GIBBS

“President Obama called Judge Sotomayor from the Oval Office this morning to wish her good luck as she completed preparations for her confirmation hearing. He complimented the Judge for making courtesy calls to 89 Senators in which she discussed her adherence to the rule of law throughout her 17 years on the federal bench.The President expressed his confidence that Judge Sotomayor would be confirmed to serve as a Justice on the Supreme Court for many years to come.”

Dude, 89 courtesy calls?