Mike's Noise

What A Deal! (not)

The Mavericks strike again?

Last night the Senate reached a compromise in which Democrats promised to allow a simple majority floor vote for three of President Bush's judicial nominees in exchange for the priviledge of fillibustering future nominees "under extraordinary circumstances" which of course is DemSpeak for "if they are conservative."

I'm not "mad" about this because this is how government works - you end up usually getting about half of what you want.  But this deal puts a considerable dent in the Republican majority armor, and no doubt will embolden Democrats to fillibuster any Supreme Court nominee they choose.  After all, the "extraordinary circumstances" criteria will not be determined by a bi-partisan committee vote, but will be left up to the discretion of any Democrat senator.  And we know how much Ted Kennedy loves conservatives.

So we'll no doubt see the fillibuster again when there is a Supreme Court vacancy, and we'll be back to square one again.  I just hope Bill Frist has grown a pair by then.

I was hoping that Robert "Sheets" Byrd would get the chance to provide hours of entertainment for us this week by bloviating in front of C-SPAN cameras.  Guess we'll have to wait.

LaShawn Barber has every relevant link you'll need.

UPDATE 5-25-05: The Senate held a cloture vote (that is, a vote to close debate) on the nomination of Priscilla Owen.  The vote was 81-18.  Remind me again who is out of the mainstream? 

The merit vote should take place today or tomorrow.

UPDATE 5-26-05: The Senate's merit vote was 56-43 in favor.  RINO Lincoln Chafee voted "no."  Louisiana Democrat Mary Landreiu voted "yes," and - surprise, surprise - Mr. Fillibuster himself, the honorable Robert "Sheets" Byrd, also voted "yes."  Another example of the fairness and dignity with which Byrd has always treated minorities (in this case a woman), right?  Oh, wait - never mind.

A Critical look at Bush's Christianity

Anyone who believes that all "Evangelical Christians" march in goose-step lockstep and hail George W. Bush as their supreme leader should check out this article by Lawrence Vance.

But I'm warning you now - if you're a liberal you're probably not going appreciate why Vance criticzes the President.  Hint: warfare is only part of the problem.

Rock Swings - again

(via A Small Victory)

Remember Paul Anka? 

"Diana"
"You Are My Special Angel"
"Put Your Head On My Shoulder" 

A successful songwriter, too.  Did you know that he penned "Johnny's Theme" for the Tonight Show orchestra?

But like another former teen idol, Anka apparently doesn't know when to quit.  Witness "Rock Swings," soon to be released by Verve records.

The arrangers are top-notch, and the musicians are a whos-who of crack New York session players.  And I'm sure that Anka can still belt out a Sinatra-style show tune with the best of them.

But come on.  Do we really need another album of rock tunes morphed into over-arranged Vegas-style big band swing arrangements?  When the Mark Fitchett Orchestra recorded "Led Zeppelin Reunion Tour - Vegas '99" everyone knew that it was a joke.

(Here's another Pat Boone link, with more sound samples.  Scroll all the way to the bottom.)

Unfortunate Star Wars Costumes

(via Michelle Malkin)

It had to happen ... the Parade of Unfortunate Starwars Costumes.  (No - these are amateurs, not actual characters from the movies.)

On second thought, remember the video of the kid playing Jedi Knight that made its way around the Web a few years ago.  The fallout from that little prank wasn't good. 

Maybe the owners of this site should keep their eyes peeled for lawsuits.

What are "mainstream views?"

To hear Senate Democrats bloviate about "mainstream views" you would think that every member of their party and every special interest group under their collective wing would be exemplars of moderation and middle-of-the-road American politics.

Of course we know that this simply isn't so.  But still it's tempting to have a little fun with these guys, especially now that their new religious belief system seems to be built around the concept of "mainstream views."

The very term itself connotates a milquetoast view of politics, in which both sides have merit, no one is wrong, and certainly any personal belief that gravitates toward either the liberal or conservative poles would immediately disqualify someone from assuming "mainstreamness."

Therefore we can assume that any judicial candidate, irregardless of the circumstances of their nomination, should have been so thoroughly inspected by Democrats as to their mainstreamness that no one of any political stripe - liberal or conservative - would have made it to a Federal bench during the last thirty years.

Of course we know that this simply isn't so either.

Bill Whittle is back

After months of promising us that he was working on a really, really good essay, Bill Whittle has finally published it.

And boy, is it good.

Bill, you and Steven Den Beste are the reasons that I started writing again, and also why I have about a dozen pieces sitting on my hard drive right now that I would have published a few years ago.  Compared to your stuff, they - well, they suck, and I just can't seem to get them to work at your level.

But I'll keep trying.  Maybe another ten years or so will do the trick.

"Riddler" Frank Gorshin dead at 72

His maniacal grin and energetic persona made "The Riddler" probably the best-remembered villain from the "Batman" TV series of the late 1960's.  But Frank Gorshin was also an Emmy-nominated actor - a nod he received for his portrayal of the alien Bele in the classic Star Trek episode "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield."

His initial fame came from being a crack celebrity impersonator, and he worked for years as an opening act in Las Vegas before landing the Riddler role.  He was also a recurring guest on the Ed Sullivan show, where his knock-out impressions of Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster left audiences rolling in the aisles.  His final stage appearance three years ago was a successful one-man Broadway show, "Say Good Night, Gracie," about the life of comedian George Burns.

We'll miss you Frank.

LA Timies obituary is here.

What do Ashlee Simpson and the grenade thrown at Pres. Bush have in common?

Nothing.

According to the FBI, the grenade was live.

If you need to catch up on the story, when the President spoke last week at Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia (that's the former Soviet state, not the home of Zell Miller) a member of the crowd threw a grenade toward the stage.  It landed about a hundred feet away and when it did not explode it was immediately seized by authorities.  Georgia president Mikhail Saakashvili was also on the stage at the time, so the possibility exists that the grenade may have been meant for him.  Authorities are still investigating and are tracking down leads as to the identity of the assailant.

By the looks of things, this was indeed an assassination attempt.

One of these things is not like the others

Ann Coulter today:

When ace reporter Michael Isikoff had the scoop of the decade, a thoroughly sourced story about the president of the United States having an affair with an intern and then pressuring her to lie about it under oath, Newsweek decided not to run the story. Matt Drudge scooped Newsweek, followed by The Washington Post.

When Isikoff had a detailed account of Kathleen Willey's nasty sexual encounter with the president in the Oval Office, backed up with eyewitness and documentary evidence, Newsweek decided not to run it. Again, Matt Drudge got the story.

When Isikoff was the first with detailed reporting on Paula Jones' accusations against a sitting president, Isikoff's then-employer The Washington Post -- which owns Newsweek -- decided not to run it. The American Spectator got the story, followed by the Los Angeles Times.

... No matter how I look at it, I can't grasp the editorial judgment that kills Isikoff's stories about a sitting president molesting the help and obstructing justice, while running Isikoff's not particularly newsworthy (or well-sourced) story about Americans desecrating a Quran at Guantanamo.

Exactly.

You go girl!

(Next time I'll play my hunch to Google the names of people when they stick in the back of my mind as being associated with something big that I can't quite put my finger on.)

Theocracy Pop Quiz

Here's the question - The following quote is by whom?

... the day will come when we will rule the entire world again. The day will come when we will rule America. The day will come when we will rule Britain and the entire world – except for the Jews. The Jews will not enjoy a life of tranquility under our rule, because they are treacherous by nature, as they have been throughout history.

A)  James Dobson
B)  Minister Louis Farrakhan
C) Sheik Ibrahim Mudeiris
D)  Tom DeLay