The Exercise of Vital Powers

Tell your Tivo to record Lawmakers on PBS. Its a daily recap of what our Representatives [sic] are doing under the Gold Dome.

I’ll be posting the drinking game shorty. :)

HT: Robbie

Why did H&R Block have to restate its earnings?

…the company said that it will restate its results for fiscal years 2005 and 2004, as well as previously reported quarterly results for fiscal 2006. The restatement pertains principally to errors in determining the company’s state effective income tax rate, resulting in a cumulative understatement of its state income tax liability of approximately $32 million as of April 30, 2005. The company estimates that the restatement will result in a 7-cent decrease in earnings per share in fiscal 2005 and a 2-cent decrease in earnings per share in fiscal 2004.

This kids, is the definition of Irony.

Apparently the General Assembly has resolved all the important issues facing Georgia.

Bobby Franklin decided we need an official state dirt.

I guess the fact that Georgia is #50 in the nation in SAT scores doesn’t bother Mr. Franklin. If it weren’t for Cynthia McKinney, I’d recommend they name Mr. Franklin as the Official State Dirt Bag.

I suppose Portgate is the best name for this latest scandal silliness.

Best write up yet is here

These comments show that Newt really gets it (now):

In Mr. Gingrich’s view, the problem with the Tom DeLay era in Congress was that Mr. DeLay was “the Hammer.” He demanded loyalty above all else, and the Republican conference was too top-down. The party governed to maintain power, and so lost touch with its electorate. And here he adds a warning: “Our natural majority in the country is a very reform majority. It’s the taxpaying majority. It’s the people who do not trust Washington, do not like seeing their money wasted, are not impressed with pork–if anything, they’re irritated by it. And either the House and Senate Republicans are going to move substantially in the next few months or they’re going to run a very real risk of losing the fall election.”

… “From a Republican perspective they’ve got to be strongly in favor of passing the tax cuts permanently. And I think this goes back to the question of who votes in an off-year election. Our base are the people who work and pay taxes. Our base cares about abolishing the death tax permanently and it cares about extending the tax cuts.” And then the kicker: “If our base sees that it can’t rely on a Republican Congress to do something that’s profoundly Republican, I think there’s a grave danger.” He spells it out: Come fall, “people will just stay home.” (source)

Newt really borked the Contract with America and the impeachment. I’m really curious what he has to say now about what he did then, and what he learned from the experience. If I wasn’t planning on Law School in the fall I’d drive up to Cobb county and volunteer for is campaign.

[Egyptian Grand Imam Mohammed Sayyed] Tantawi said the Danish prime minister must apologize for the drawings and further demanded that the world’s religious leaders meet to write a law that “condemns insulting any religion, including the Holy Scriptures and the prophets.” He said the United Nations should impose the law on all countries.

HT: Volokh Conspiracy

Here is a text book example of how the Main Stream Media really sucks at informing the American people. Read this article on Presidental Blunders.

Now tell me, what steps could Buchannan have taken to avert the Civil War? How could Madison have kept us out of the War of 1812? In fact, we won the War of 1812 and proved our ability to be an independent state. Was getting into that war a bad thing?

What were the consequences of the Embargo Act of 1803? What makes it so great a blunder to out rank Andrew “Justice Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it!” Jackson’s genocide of the Cheerokee Indians in the Trail of Tears?

That CNN article doesn’t even bother to link to the conference, the report or anything with more information.

Quick round up of interesting tech news.

A Canadian group has developed a program to enable people in free countries to allow people in less free countries (think China) to access the forbidden parts of the Internet. It reminds me of the mathematician from Jurassic Park who said, “Life finds a way”. So does information.

Space Elevator companyLift Port has managed to get their robot to climb 1500 ft. Only 61999.65 miles to go!

Finally some House Republicans are stepping into the whole Google/Yahoo/Microsoft in China issue by proposing a bill that would prevent US companies doing business in China from housing their servers in China. I’m not too keen on that legislation. I might support a measure that requires companies to store personally identifiable information in countries not on the State Department’s list of nations it deems repressive to human rights. However, this measure as it is currently being touted will hinder American competitiveness overseas and would grant advantages to companies from countries with a less stellar track record of protecting freedom of expression.

Oh, and Cold Fusion is a reality

You might be surprised, but the 2006 and 2008 elections are already being decided by the courts. How can this be?

Well, it started when Justice O’Connor announced her resignation and Chief Justice Rehnquist died. President Bush was able to nominate two justices to the Supreme Court - one replacing Justice O’Connor typically called the swing vote. By all accounts the court has moved to the right.

There are several abortion related cases working their way up the appellate system right now. Gonzales v. Carhart is a challenge to the federal partial birth abortion ban and Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood is a challenge to a New Hampshire state law requiring parental notification for minors wanting an abortion.

Should the Supreme Court uphold either of these laws (or the soon to be law South Dakota abortion ban), it would be a boon to the Democrats. Just like fear of Al Qaeda and Gays drove the Republican’s conservative base to open the checkbooks and run to the polls, the prospect of a Supreme Court over turning all or part of Roe v. Wade will mobilize the feminist base of the Democratic Party in a way that Kerry, Dean, or even their hatred of Bush, could never do.

The pro-life radicals in the Republican party may win their little victory in the battle over abortion, but they may cost us the culture war.

The prairie fire of ‘06, which threatens to clear Congress of its “Contract with America” deadwood.