Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead Still In Charge

November 17th, 2010

Sheeeee’s baaaaaack…..

—Democrats in the House of Representatives voted 150-43 Wednesday to keep House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as their leader in the new Congress, a number of lawmakers said as they emerged from the caucus meeting.

I wonder what revenge she will extract against those members who suggested that maybe offering a new job to the pilot of the Hindenburg wasn’t such a good idea…

Republicans approve:

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

November 17th, 2010

Or “Democratic House Members Held Hostage: Day 15” (Imagine dramatic Nightline opening theme music here.)

You might have noticed we had an election a couple of weeks ago. Democrats didn’t do so well. Especially in the House, where Democrats lost 60 61 62 seats and counting. The House lead by Nancy Pelosi. The Nancy Pelosi who forced ObamaCare through despite widespread public opposition, a huge contributing factor in the democrats’ electoral slaughter.

Given that, common sense would suggest that Pelosi step aside and not run for Minority Leader. But Nancy Pelosi has never been one to let common sense stand in her way.

The voices are growing louder asking for Pelosi to step down.

On the other hand, her hardcore liberal supporters are rallying around her: “Her talents are unique.” Well, yes. Not even Tom Foley managed to lose 60+ seats in 1994. That takes the special kind of high-handed, self-righteous, tone-deafness that Pelosi excels in.

Blue Dog Coalition member Heath Schuler is threatening to run against her. Then again, if House Democrats are picking their next quarterback, maybe they’ll want someone with a higher lifetime passing rating then 54.3%.

The Congressional Black caucus has decided that they may not want to be lead by Pelosi.

Pelosi says it’s not her fault:

The California Democrat attributes the loss of at least 60 seats to high unemployment and “$100 million of outside, unidentified funding.”

“Any party that cannot turn (9.5% unemployment) into political gains should hang up the gloves,” she said.

  1. Funny, I don’t remember Pelosi complaining about all that unverified money Obama was raking in circa 2008.
  2. As far as 9.5% unemployment goes, her answer seems to suggest that she had no part in keeping unemployment so high. That’s not the case.

But now Democrats seem poised to elect her to Minority Leader later today. Republicans are already licking their chops over 2012 attack ads…

Joe Walsh Wins in The Long Run. Life’s Been Good to Him So Far

November 17th, 2010

Republican Joe Walsh wins over Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean by 291 votes. Now he’s gone from being an average ordinary guy to enjoying life in the fast lane as a U.S. Congressman. That brings the total of GOP pickups to 62.

Is you have any other Eagles-related puns, feel free to share them in the comments. (And yes, I know it’s not that Joe Walsh.)

(Hat tip: Instapundit.)

Symantic’s Extensive Analysis of the Stuxnet Worm

November 16th, 2010

Available here.

My hacking skills are pretty much limited to writing “Hello World” in Python on a good day, but even a cursory glance shows that Stuxnet is a very sophisticated beast indeed. Let’s hope it delivered a critical blow to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Charlie Rangel Found Guilty

November 16th, 2010

Of 11 of the 13 counts against him by the House ethics committee.

And what will Rangel be sentenced to for tax evasion, rent control fraud, etc.? Most likely, a strongly worded letter. He’ll get to live on in the 112th congress as reminder of Nancy Pelosi’s “most ethical congress ever.”

And how badly did his ethics problems hurt him at the polls? He won his race against Michel Faulkner by 86% of the vote. Maybe if he had killed someone on live television, his poll numbers might have dipped into the 70s…

Democrats Hold On To Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District

November 13th, 2010

Incumbent Democrat Ben Chandler eked out a win over Republican Andy Barr by 648 votes.

That leaves Republicans with a net gain of 61 seats in the 2010 elections, with six races still undecided.

Houston Redlight Cameras Coming Down Monday

November 12th, 2010

In the “old news is so exciting” department, Houston voters got rid of red light cameras in last week’s election. Well, voted them down, anyway. The usual red light sycophants were saying they couldn’t possibly shut them down until March, due to a 120 day notice contract with (yep, you guessed it) American Traffic Solutions, who you may remember from such hits as “We’re creating Astroturf PACs to keep us rolling in dough.”

(Here’s a hint: No city should set up red light cameras in the first place, since they create more accidents than they prevent, but if you do, how about adding a clause saying “Contract immediately void upon rejection by the voters?”)

However, this time the story has a happy ending: City Hall ordered the plug pulled on the cameras by 10 AM this coming Monday (November 15).

Every time voters get a chance to actually vote on the issue, red light cameras are defeated. Sadly, many local politicians still think its more important to line the city’s pockets (or maybe their own) than paying attention to the wishes of actual voters. Maybe with enough defeats like this, the whole red light camera scam will be pulled down for good.

I’d previously pointed out College Station voters getting rid of red light cameras.

This Week in Jihad

November 11th, 2010

Another week, another roundup of the World of jihad:

LinkSwarm for Thursday, November 11, 2010

November 11th, 2010

Another LinkSwarm of sundry sundries:

Solomon Ortiz Tries To Pull An Al Gore, Gets Bitch-Slapped By the State Supreme Court

November 10th, 2010

Remember during the aftermath of the 2000 election when Al Gore tried to get a recount done in just the counties that favored Democratic voters?

Well, soon-to-be-Ex-Rep. Solomon Ortiz just tried to do the same thing in the race he lost to Republican Blake Farenthold, asking for a recount of just three Nueces County precincts.

The Texas Supreme Court rejected his appeal, noting that state law requires all precincts to be included in the re-count.

Ortiz said he’ll refile the petition. A bit more information here, though it still doesn’t say which precincts. FWIW, here are the Nueces election night precinct-by-precinct results.