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So I get up at 6 this morning to go to a meeting. Except that nobody told me that it was moved to next week. Other than that, how was my day? I'm glad you asked. I have a bit...

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.

Let the Saddam trial circus begin! Today saw an innocent plea, a long speech, and a scuffle with guards. A defiant Saddam Hussein pleaded innocent to charges of murder and torture as his long-awaited trial began Wednesday with the one-time...

Nearly one year since John Thune sent Tom Daschle packing (Ed: Back to Aberdeen? Oh, stop it.), the perpetual campaign keeps going, and going, and......

That, I say with considerable reluctance, is my judgment on the Harriet Miers nomination. Part of my reluctance comes from the fact that Powerline and Hugh Hewitt have been defending Miers. Hewitt is an authoritative voice in the conservative blogosphere,...

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.

Typepad has been acting screwy tonight, preventing my noriously crappy pseudo liveblogging of tonight's game. Top 8th: On to today's hot topic: the retractable roof at Minute Maid Park. Frankly, I could really care less if Houston opens or closes...

Bush: U.N. should act on Syria

Interesting stuff here. A UN investigation apparently uncovered, and even more astoundingly, RELEASED information that the Syrian government was involved in the assassination of Lebanese former PM Habiri, after he very publicly called for Syria to get out of Lebanon once and for all.

As soon as thst assassination happened, the Chief would have been willing to bet on that being the case, and I'm NOT a gambling man (that would have been no gamble at all, being in the category of a sure thing, like betting on the law of gravity).

A truly astonishing thing is that anything associated with the UN would find and release corroboration for this. Another truly astonishing thing is the administration seeming to have an expectation that the UN would be capable of making any sort of effective response to this.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the U.N. Security Council to hold those responsible for Hariri's death accountable.

"Hold them accountable.?" How so? Invade Syria? Send in the SEALs or Mossad to take them out? Cancel their VISA cards? The Chief would be surprised if the UN even got as far as a limp "wrist slapping" resolution expressing nominal regret at the dastardly deeds of the Syrians.

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