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Insiders see hint of Miers pullout

The beginning of the end on this nomination?

The White House has begun making contingency plans for the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as President Bush's choice to fill a seat on the Supreme Court, conservative sources said yesterday. "White House senior staff are starting to ask outside people, saying, 'We're not discussing pulling out her nomination, but if we were to, do you have any advice as to how we should do it?' " a conservative Republican with ties to the White House told The Washington Times.

Of COURSE not! Why think that?

The White House denied making such calls.

Ooops! As soon as ANYONE is called, the cat's out of the bag, especially in DC. As no less than Benjamin Franklin writing as the esteemed Bon Homme Richard noted: "Two can keep a secret, if one of them is dead."

But the conservative political consultant said that he had received such a query from Sara Taylor, director of the Office of White House Political Affairs. Miss Taylor denied making any such calls.

A second Republican, who is the leader of a conservative interest group and has ties to the White House, confirmed that calls are being made to a select group of conservative activists who are not employed by the government. "The political people in the White House are very worried about how she will do in the hearings," the second conservative leader said. "I think they have finally awakened."

There MAY be a better example of the Byzantine nature of political hardball as it's played Inside the Beltway, but the Chief would be hard pressed to name it.

One just KNOWS there will be more, MUCH more, to follow.

Brazilians Reject Proposed Gun Ban

Brazilians soundly rejected a proposal to ban the sale of guns in a national referendum Sunday, striking down the bid to stem one of the world's highest firearm murder rates following a campaign that drew parallels to the U.S. gun control debate.

With more than 92 percent of the votes counted, 64 percent of Brazilians were opposed to the ban, while 36 percent backed it, said election officials, giving the 'no' position an insurmountable lead. The proposal would have prohibited the sale of firearms and ammunition except for police, the military, some security guards, gun collectors and sports shooters.

There are a number of interesting ramifications and issues associated with this - aside from the primary fact that the Brazilians were not willing to cede full responsibility for personal protection to an all too ineffectual governmental system.

Some Brazilians said they resented the referendum because they feel the government is ducking its responsibility to keep the peace. "It's immoral for the government to have this vote," said Pedro Ricardo, an army officer in Sao Paulo. "They're putting the responsibility on us, but ... the way to cut down on violence is to combat the drug trade and patrol our borders."

Hmmmm. Sounds sort of familiar doesn't it!? Enforce borders? What a concept!

About 39,000 people in Brazil are killed by guns each year, compared to about 30,000 people in the United States, although the U.S. population is about 100 million more than Brazil's, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Hello? Come again? Does anybody know what the US Centers for Disease Control is doing collecting data on gun deaths in Brazil? One shudders to learn the answer.

Piggy backing on Jason's post regarding what's in Karl Rove's garage, I'd like to note a few things I found in Ken Blanchard's garage the other day: a hammer a measuring tape Jimmy Hoffa an oil stain Zuzu's petals a...

Ann Coulter Continues Criticism of Choice

Ann Coulter is no stranger to well delivered (and well deserved) invective, and she continues her barrage of criticism of the Harriet Miers appointment to SCOTUS in her inimitable style.

She goes beyond this, to note a more serious problem than the appointment itself:

The sickness of what liberals have done to America is that so many citizens ? even conservative citizens ? seem to believe the job of a Supreme Court justice entails nothing more than "voting" on public policy issues. The White House considers it relevant to tell us Miers' religious beliefs, her hobbies, her hopes and dreams. She's a good bowler! A stickler for detail! Great dancer! Makes her own clothes! That's nice for her, but what we're really in the market for is a constitutional scholar who can forcefully say, "No ? that's not my job." (Emphasis Added)

We've been waiting 30 years to end the lunacy of nine demigods on the Supreme Court deciding every burning social issue of the day for us, loyal subjects in a judicial theocracy. We don't want someone who will decide those issues for us ? but decide them "our" way. If we did, a White House bureaucrat with good horse sense might be just the ticket.

The super-hot button issue with both the left and the conservative side is Roe v. Wade. After commenting specifically on what is realistically describes as "the abortion holocaust" she reaches what the Chief considers as the most profound observation of all:

We've gone from a representative democracy to a (judicial) monarchy, and the most appalling thing is ? even conservatives just hope like the dickens the next king is a good one.

Indeed. We would be better served by remembering the old American Revolutionary slogan: "No King but King Jesus!"

The AP has an incredible story about the televised Saddam trial in Iraq. It's striking the different ways people choose to remember Hussein:The moment Saddam Hussein appeared, a Shiite housewife spat on the screen and then sat gnawing her fingers,...

Video Game Movie Leads the Weekend

Is this really important? Probably not, but it caught the Chief's eye as an old Doom I, II, and III player. It's a sad commentary on the silver screen when an FPS "first-person shooter" video game is the best that Hollywood can find to make a movie from.

Frankly, I'm surprised that it led the pack, but then again, no one can go far wrong talking down the quality of stuff (for the most part) being churned out by tinsel town. The other notable movie of late that attracted the Chief's attention was the libertarian Sci-fi flick "SERENITY", spun off from the sadly pre-maturely killed TV series "Firefly".

A friend sent me a story from the Chronicle for Higher Education (subscription required) which features a study indicating the overwhelming majority of all politically active professors at top law schools are Democrats. The survey is part of a paper...

Here you go: Joining his Nebraska congressional colleagues in the search for solutions to U.S. immigration problems, U.S. Rep. Tom Osborne's new bill would require illegal immigrants to briefly return home before coming back with new U.S. work visas. His...

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