It seems Hinchey is standing by his statements in the midst of a gathering blogstorm.

Now it seems someone has taken his/her hatred a little too far. This morning at six thirty the police were called in to investigate a bomb-like device. As of now the complete mall area has been closed off. According to WHCU, Cornell and Ithaca hazardous department officials are investigating what they say are the materials for a home made bomb.

“An LGF reader was present in the audience and happened to be recording as Rep. Hinchey launched into a barking moonbat conspiracy rant worthy of Democratic Underground, telling the audience he believed the fake CBS memos were planted by Karl Rove to discredit Dan Rather, and divert attention from President Bush’s ‘draft dodging.’

“When our reader asked Hinchey if he had evidence for these charges, he first said, ‘Yes, I do,’ but when asked a second time he admitted he did not.

“Our reader pressed the issue, ‘Don’t you think it’s irresponsible to make charges like that?’ Hinchey replied, ‘No, I don’t, I think it’s very important to make charges like that …”

The transcript is here, and the audio (very good quality, 2.7 MB) is here.
(Hat tip: Lorie Byrd at Polipundit).

That is, until now. Perhaps in a bid to attract more hardcore liberals to the polls, Arcuri has decided to take on a much more nuanced stance on the Act. According to Take Back NY-24th’s post early this morning:

I got a telephone call this morning from a Democratic office holder in my town informing me that Michael Arcuri has finally reversed his endorsement of the Military Commissions Act, and now opposes the law. This person told me that the Arcuri for Congress campaign has promised people to announce Arcuri’s opposition to the Military Commissions Act on the Arcuri for Congress web site.

I regard this source as very credible. This source also told me that this statement promising to declare opposition to the Military Commissions Act has been made by Michael Arcuri to several different people.

The blogger immediately called the campaign headquarters, but was told that Arcuri’s position hadn’t changed one iota.

A rumor like this swirling around just before election day seemed curious though, and there had to be more truth to the fact than first apparent. Consequently I rang up the campaign headquarters and asked them if anything had changed.

And it has. Although earlier Arcuri supported the Military Commissions Act whole-heartedly, according to the lady I spoke with Arcuri now “has a lot more reservations” and would “work to reform the law”. After listening to Cheney’s speeches on the interpretation of the law Arcuri’s support has become more nuanced. However, I never was able to get a clear answer on whether he would now have voted for the law as is.

Trying to have it both ways? Well, it’s not the first time Arcuri has done that.

Update: From liberal blog Irregular Times:

Democrats in Michael Arcuri’s district are thus left today wondering why they should trust anything that Michael Arcuri tells them.

Indeed.

Resolution Regarding the Intellectual Diversity Initiative

Whereas, intellectual diversity acts as the lifeblood of the academe, serving to ensure that students are educated¹ rather than indoctrinated²;

Whereas, this is an idea held especially dear at Cornell, given its stated commitment to fostering an atmosphere of “Open Doors, Open Hearts,” and, particularly important in this case, “Open Minds”;

Be it therefore resolved that the Student Assembly recognize the importance of such diversity by supporting, both in word and in spirit, the attached initiative, thus signaling its desire for all precincts of this university to do the same.

(more…)

1. Education is defined as “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life” (Dictionary.com Unabridged [v 1.1]. Retrieved April 26, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/education). [↩]
2. To indoctrinate is “to instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., esp. to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view” (Dictionary.com Unabridged [v 1.1]. Retrieved April 26, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/ browse/indoctrinate). [↩]

“The next President similarly will have two appointments immediately (replacing Stevens and Souter), and there also is a very substantial prospect that a Democrat would quickly be in a position to appoint a third (replacing Ginsburg). In fact, if a Democrat wins, there will be something of a race for the exits.”

Goldstein further points out that if a Democrat president wins in 2008, and the three replacements (for Souter, Stevens and Ginsberg) will likely be young and able to sit on the court for several decades.

Considering these prospects, it is crucial that we elect a conservative who will not back down from appointing strict constructionist judges in the mold of Justices Thomas and Scalia to the bench. We can’t let Bush’s legacy of Roberts and Alito go to waste.

We have always held our federal judiciary in high esteem, even at a time when most of our institutions are under assault. However, if judges continue to act like politicians they will get the respect currently given to politicians. It is already rapidly headed in that direction. The antidote for this, of course, is good judges.

On the political scene on campus there is sad news. Cornell’s two right of center newspapers — The Cornell American and the Cornell Review — have decided to merge into one paper. The new paper will start publishing next fall, will take the name of the Review and the slogan of the American — Limited Government. Traditional Values. America First.

Although perhaps it’s good that the Review will no longer be ashamed of traditional values, I still think this development is on the whole very bad for the conservative scene on campus. Competition is good. If a conservative didn’t feel at home or like the people in one paper, he or she could join the other paper. There was room for diversity and there was the ability for both papers to focus on different aspects of the campus left. The more conservative groups that can host speakers the better.

I also can’t understand why either newspaper would think it is in their best interest to merge, or why Eric (the old editor and chief and one of the founding members of the Cornell American) signed off on the deal. Maybe they just want to split up the work?

Although we often didn’t agree, I was always very proud that Cornell had two conservative papers on campus. Unfortunately that is no longer true. . .

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Healthy new-born babies may have been killed in Ukraine to feed a flourishing international trade in stem cells, evidence obtained by the BBC suggests.

Disturbing video footage of post-mortem examinations on dismembered tiny bodies raises serious questions about what happened to them.

Ukraine has become the self-styled stem cell capital of the world.

There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases.

But now there are claims that stem cells are also being harvested from live babies.

I find it curious and commendable that the BBC notes that there are “There is a trade in stem cells from aborted foetuses, amid unproven claims they can help fight many diseases.”

LifeSite News has some more on this.

Land mentioned Romney with McCain and Brownback as someone who might be able to get the evangelical vote. Contrary to the assumptions of the media elite Land thought Romeny’s mormonism wouldn’t be a problem. According to Land:

I have people tell me well you know a Mormon can’t be elected. Well, I disagree with that. I think that if you look at the polling that says that thirty-seven percent of Americans would not vote for a Mormon, the majority of those are seculars who don’t like religion anyway and look at Mormonism as religion on steroids. Most evangelicals understand that we’re voting for a commander-in-chief and not a theologian-in-chief, and it’s going to depend on where they stand on the issues whether or not they’ll get the support of Evangelicals.

I think Land is right. The issues a candidate stands for matters more than the church they go to to most evangelicals. Just ask Harriet Meiers.