That brings the total Republican House gains up to 63 seats.
Republican Ann Marie Buerkle Takes NY25
November 23rd, 2010Americans Don’t Want to Ban Guns (But Democrats Still Do)
November 23rd, 2010According to the latest Gallup poll:
Americans’ support for stricter gun control laws has gradually declined over the last two decades, from 78% when this question was first asked in 1990 to 49% in 2008, and 44% in 2009 and again this year.
Also, 69% of Americans oppose an outright ban on handguns.
The fly in the ointment: 63% of Democrats want stricter gun regulations. So chances are, when a Democratic running for office says they’re in favor of Second Amendment rights, they’re most likely lying just as much as when they claim to be pro-life, and even if they aren’t, they still won’t hesitate to put gun-grabbers like Nancy Pelosi in positions of power.
(Hat tip: Alphecca.)
LinkSwarm for Tuesday, November 23, 2010
November 23rd, 2010Two days before Thanksgiving! Here’s a swarm of links from what should be a slow news week:
- Dwight gives his pimp hand another workout fisking the latest WaPo gun piece.
- He also notes that the Saxet gun show is back after a lengthy absence.
- The consequences of global population decline.
- Estonia joins the Eurozone just in time to get stuck with part of the bill for the Greek bailout. That is, if the Euro doesn’t collapse entirely…
- The New Madrid Fault may not be as dangerous as once believed.
- Obama on people protesting the TSA: Shut up and enjoy your groping.
- Thomas Sowell sees TSA policies as part and parcel of this administrations contempt for average Americans: “This administration is so hung up on political correctness that they have turned ‘profiling’ into a bugaboo. They would rather have electronic scanners look under the clothes of nuns than to detain a Jihadist imam for some questioning.”
- Federal pay cuts aren’t enough. We also need federal head-count cuts.
- The Wall Street Journal uses cruel facts and spiteful logic to shoot holes in the pet liberal theory that Democrats lost because Obama just wasn’t liberal enough.
- Republicans picked up about 680 state legislative seats on election day. They’ve picked up 10 more since.
Solomon Ortiz Concedes
November 22nd, 2010Blake Farenthold is now officially the next congressman from Texas’ 27th Congressional District. That brings the Republican totals up to a 62-seat pickup for 2010, with possibly as many as 64, and at least 241 seats in the House, the most Republicans have controlled in 60 years.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
Over 300 Killed During Holiday in Cambodia
November 22nd, 2010No word if any Kennedys were among the dead.
Yes, it’s a great tragedy, but this is all I could think of (NSFW):
Edit to add: Yes, that is my Fark greenlight. No, I didn’t realize this was the anniversary of the JFK assassination until somebody pointed it out. I already assumed I was getting an aisle seat on the express to Hell for making light of the tragedy anyway…
Incumbent Speaker Joe Straus Advertising…on Powerline?
November 22nd, 2010You may have noticed that the race for Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives is getting hot and heavy. So it’s no surprise to see current Speaker Joe Straus campaigning to retain his role. However, I must say it was something of a surprise to see him advertising (via Google ads) on Powerline. Here’s a capture of the ad I saw there (no doubt triggered by the fact my IP address is inside Texas):
The irony is that there are numerous voices in the Texas conservative blogosphere complaining that Strauss isn’t conservative enough:
- This chart suggests Straus is the least conservative of the three candidates running.
- Holly Hansen is not big on Straus.
- Neither is M. J. Samuelson.
Ken Paxton seems to be the choice of most conservatives who have chimed in on the race.
I was going to say that I had not studied the issue enough to be for or against Straus. But then I came across this Austin-American Statesman piece praising Straus for being “nonpartisan” and “moderate,” which is pretty much the kiss of death as far as I’m concerned, and a solid reason to vote for someone else as speaker, advertising on Powerline not withstanding.
LinkSwarm for Saturday, November 20, 2010
November 20th, 2010Time for another LinkSwarm, with a good dollop of Texas political news:
- Waiting for word on the Solomon Ortiz-Blake Farenthold recount? You’ll have to wait until Monday, since they stopped recounting for the weekend. Farenthold still leads by just under 800 votes.
- Things are getting a bit hairy down on the border.
- A look at congressional redistricting, with a good bit about Texas:
This state gains four districts. The Republicans used their mid-decade redistricting to create extremely Republican districts, forcing longtime Democratic incumbents out. They will probably relax these districts a bit now. With population trends, two districts will have to be in Houston, one in Dallas, and one in Austin; the growth is in heavily-Republican areas. The only real questions are how much they can shore up Blake Farenthold in the 80 percent Hispanic 28th, and whether they try to go after Democrat Lloyd Doggett in Austin, who had a surprisingly close 2010 race.
- On the other hand, the Washington Post notes that Republicans already dominate the Texas congressional delegation so extensively that gaining more than one or two additional seats will be very difficult to do.
- Not only are Democrats poised to lose Senate seats in 2012, but some of the seats they are most likely to lose are those of their least liberal Senators.
- The difference between how Ireland and Iceland handled their respective bank problems.
TSA Confiscates Nail Clippers from Soldiers
November 19th, 2010Soliders who were carrying guns.
That’s some mighty fine security screening you’ve got going on there, Lou…
(Hat Tip: Say Uncle)
Hey EX-Representative Bob Etheridge: Who are you?
November 19th, 2010Few at the beginning of this election cycle would have thought that Etheridge, first elected in 1996, was in any danger. Then this happened:
That, plus the Republican wave, was enough to doom Etheridge.
Now people can go up to Etheridge on the street and ask “Who are you?” The answer should be “An ex-congressman.”
The Bots Are Getting Smarter. (And Leon is Getting LARGER!)
November 21st, 2010(Sigh) I may have mentioned that I have to clear out a fair amount of comments spam that Akismet catches every day.
Well, whoever programs bot seemed to have figured out at least that this is a political blog, as I’ve been getting a lot of generic anti-Charlie Rangel comments on threads that have nothing to do with Charlie Rangel. Close, but no cigar bot guys. (Or, to put it in your own bot language, “Your cigar with excellent closeness you fail to reach.”)
But I can see a day when bot spam may start to mimic at least a semi-competent troll. As usual, there’s an XKCD for that:
Tags: Administrative, bot, Charlie Rangel, comment spam, Site Administration, spam, XKCD
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