Chuck Schumer, senior and disingenuous Democratic senator from New York is on The Daily Show tonight.

I paraphrase, but I paraphrase accurately.

So far, he’s said that Clarence Thomas wants to establish different churches in each state, and that Thomas is completely against the commerce clause regulating anything, and therefore wants to roll back all civil rights legislation. Absurd. He’s either ill-informed or completely sadistic. I think it’s a little of both.

He also says that the vote on Roberts was a “close one” for him, and complains that Roberts answered questions too well, complaining that he had to reread the transcript every night from the hearing to see what Roberts’ answers meant. I’m glad that the senator openly complains about doing a thorough job.

Now he’s on Tom Delay. He just made a joke about the death penalty for Tom Delay – intimating the number of executions in Texas. I’m glad Jon Stewart even seemed uncomfortable on this one.

He’s done. Thank God.

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I took on the silly attacks regarding Dr. Boehm here yesterday. To quote myself (narcissistic I know – oh look, a mirror!)

Dr. Boehm and his wife seem to give to people who he likes or knows. That list includes George W. Bush, Forrest Shoaf, Jim Cooper, Bob Clement, Lamar Alexander, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, VolPAC, Steve Gill, Fred Thompson, the Republican Party of Tennessee, Bart Gordon, Bill Frist, George H. W. Bush and Bob Corker.

No liberal Democrats – only a few moderate ones. There are lots of Republicans and Republican organizations in that list, going back to the 1990 cycle. No national Democrats, and no far-left liberal Democrats are on that list.

Blogging for Bryant jumps on the bandwagon just as the wheels start coming off. The Tennessean gives TeamGOP some undue attention. Dr. Boehm’s support for Corker is quite simply not newsworthy – I wish our local newspaper had done a better investigation before running with the story (like, checked this blog first).

I do get the feeling that desperation is setting in – going after donors who have supported two President Bushes and Steve Gill is a far flung strategy at best

I can’t wait to see the next quarterly numbers.

Randi Rhodes is at it again. I really wish I wasn’t so addicted to her bile, but I’ll use the excuse that increased heart rate and the brain exercise of creating my rebuttals are good for the baby.

William Bennett said on his talk show that, “The crime rate would be substantially reduced if we aborted every black baby.” He went on to say that such a notion is morally reprehensible, but the statistics show such a theory to hold water. This is not the brightest comment to make, and I would never accuse Bennett of being a suave guy. However, Double R is now completely mispresenting the man.

Randi Rhodes took the comment as Secretary Bennett instead saying, “Only black people can commit crimes.” Of course, this is not at all an accurate paraphrase of Bennett’s comment. She lamented that this is how institutional racism is sustained in our culture. Then she said, “I didn’t know that George Bush is black. I didn’t know that Tom DeLay is black. This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen!” Perhaps it is all of the drugs that Randi Rhodes took in her earlier years, but I think it’s pretty cool that she can “see” words coming out of the radio.

I did agree with Ms. Rhodes, sort of, on one point. She said that she can’t believe these words were coming from the mouth of the man who used to be the Secretary of Education for the United States. I can’t believe that there even is a Secretary of Education for the United States. So, if I twist our thoughts around the way that this fine Air America host does, Double R and I see exactly eye-to-eye!

Four guards who killed a woman arrested on charges of food stamp fraud were indicted on reckless homicide and aggravated assault charges today. The story is here, in The Tennessean.

Southern Scholar notes the recent troubles of Delay and Frist, while quoting a Washington Post article. No problem there. The processes for both must be completed, and all investigations must be properly done.

However, this is wrong

A situation like this was good enough to send Martha Stewart to prison. What about ol’ Billy?

Martha Stewart was convicted of conspiracy regarding the insider trading charge, but also two counts of making false statements to a federal official and one count of obstruction of agency proceedings, things that Frist has not done. The likelihood that she would have been incarcerated had she not lied to the SEC and DOJ is slim. She likely would have been hit with a punitive fine, and that is all.

Plus, there’s no conclusive evidence of insider trading yet, anyhow. The cart is way before the horse on this one. If I were a Democrat, I’d be more focused on Delay. There actually might be some meat there. We’ll see.

And I certainly wouldn’t overplay my hand. With Howard Dean’s statement yesterday, it appears the DNC is already all in. Remember, there’s a sucker at every table. If you can’t tell who it is, it’s probably you. Let the investigators and prosecutors do their work unaided.

I can offer that advice because I know that the Democratic leadership won’t take it. Desperation makes for bad strategy, and worse tactics.

UPDATE I just remembered, Stephen Moore, formerly of the Club for Growth, had a good piece on the good intentions, bad effects of insider trading regulations in general. It’s worth a read, and for the most part, I do agree with Moore’s analysis.

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It’s free abortions in Arkansas for hurricane evacuees.

Despite protests from abortion opponents, Little Rock Family Planning clinic director Dr. Jerry Edwards said he has already performed six free abortions. The clinic usually charges between $525 and $600 for a first-trimester abortion.

That’s some savings – leaves a lot left to spend on that FEMA debit card on things like diapers, formula…oh yeah, you won’t need that.

Absolutely lovely.

The link from FNC here.

Tennessee Tax Revolt and the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, both first class organizations, have issued a six point plan as a letter to the governor and state legislature

1) Recording and posting all House and Senate floor, committee and subcommittee votes on final action for any bill on the General Assembly website within two hours of the vote.

2) Providing that every bill scheduled for a floor vote for final action be made available in fully amended form on the legislative website 72 hours before the vote.

3) Amending both the Open Records Act and Open Meetings Act so they apply to the proceedings of the General Assembly.

4) Offering video streaming and archiving of all Senate and House general sessions and committee sessions.

5) Requiring FULL disclosure on the legislative website of amounts spent by those that employ lobbyists or spend money to influence legislation and completely outlawing contingency lobbying fees.

6) Prohibiting lobbyists from serving on State boards and commissions

Brought to my attention via the courtesy of Adam Groves.

MTSU School Spirit — Example #781: One of my former high school students is now a junior at MTSU. He stops by my office frequently to chat about sports, current events, etc. He has been a huge Vandy fan for as long as he can remember, and that allegiance has continued despite his enrollment at Murfreesboro’s fine institution of higher learning (he would be the first to admit that MTSU school spirit eludes him). He was wearing a Vanderbilt T-shirt and hat yesterday as he entered the campus rec center. A fellow MTSU student walked up to him and said, “Vandy’s having a great year! Who are they playing this weekend?”

It’s so exciting that the great mid-state rivalry between these schools is reaching a fevered pitch of determined apathy as the game approaches!

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Yeah, but Bredesen is not taking a hard stand, unless there were other comments at the Rotary Club that did not make it into the press report

“I’m not interested in an income tax in a second term,” Bredesen told reporters after a speech to the Nashville Rotary Club. “I don’t think you need it. … I don’t think one is warranted and, frankly, I don’t intend to propose one.”

Not intending to propose one and sitting on one’s hands while one is proposed are two very different things. I guess we’ll see. Until Bill Purcell, Bredesen was one of the most prolific taxing mayors in Nashville’s metropolitan history. Hobbs closes on Bredesen’s rhetorical pirouette nicely

Having made his statement opposing the tax, Bredesen can not now be allowed a free pass on the issue. His predecessor made much stronger statements against the income tax, and then pushed hard to pass one. Bredesen’s opposition to the anti-income tax pledge, and his recent statements opposing limits on state taxes and spending should be more thoroughly explored by the Republican Party’s candidate for governor. Will Bredesen back his opposition to the income tax with active support of a constitutional amendments to ban the income tax? Will he actively support and campaign for other taxpayer-protection measures such as amending the state constitution to strengthen the “Copeland Cap” controling the growth of state spending?

Probably not – and voters ought to know that.

If Governor Bredesen was truly opposed to more taxation for Tennesseans, a real cap would be proposed. TABOR would be advocated. Spending cuts would be targeted. But for now, all we have is a “lack of interest.” People get new hobbies every now and again – Bredesen has shown great favor to taxation in the past, for no other purpose than expanding the size of a bloated and ineffective municipal government. There’s little reason to fathom he would be forever uninterested in more taxation on the state level. He just wouldn’t “propose” it.

How about this, Governor – how about a sales tax cut? Revenues are up, are they not? Or is there a plan to spend that money we should know about? Adam Groves hits on another potential albatross

But that’s only half the story. It also looks like he’s warming up to certify another Democrat in the State Senate. In Memphis, the Shelby County Election Commission certified the election of Ophelia Ford to her brother John Ford’s seat. Ford won by a margin of 13 votes after provisional ballots were counted, but Terry Roland her Republican opponent has filed suit in Chancery Court requesting an new election. The Election Commission for the first time in memorable history certified the election with a non-unanimous vote split along party lines. State election law requires the governor, secretary of state and state attorney general to certify the results, and Gov. Phil Bredesen said Monday it’s his duty to certify the results unless a court blocks the process. Lt. Governor John Wilder (D-Somerville) who may be in charge of the Senate’s legal requirement to hear challenges to an election to the State Senate says he will promptly appoint a committee to investigate and report, either in a special legislative session this fall or for its regular session in January. Ford, once the results are certified, however, can take the oath of office immediately.

Bredesen ought not be so quick to certify these results and allow sufficient time for the legal process to work itself out. He certainly knows how to take his time when it comes to setting elections and awaiting the will of the people; perhaps he can use this expertise to allow a full investigation into how many votes Ophelia Ford stole to win this seat. Politically, as a Democrat, he ought to be sighing for relief that for the first time in recent memory there’s a possibility that a Ford will not be skulking around state government.

Blogging for Bryant has a good post and commentary on the sheer oddity of Van Hilleary’s “message” in this primary (I use scare quotes purposely)

I have heard all three candidates speak on several occasions. Bryant and Corker always talk about their qualifications for office. Hilleary, on the other hand, always starts by spinning his loss to Governor Bredesen in ‘02 as a positive, then he rails against “wobbly kneed Republicans.” That’s all fine and good. I’m no fan of “wobbly kneed Republicans” myself, but I would remind Hilleary that the reason he was the first Republican to lose statewide in TN since before 1994 is because he couldn’t get the support of those so-called “wobbly-kneed Republicans.”

Absolutely. When you have to start off by spinning a loss that you should have won, the rest of your message is on wobbly ground. It’s my recollection that the reason Van is not governor today is not because he couldn’t get the “wobbly kneed” Republican vote, but because he failed to get the conservative Republican vote.

The Republican nominee in the ‘06 U.S. Senate race will need the support of ALL Republicans to be successful. Hilleary likely declined to run for Governor again in ‘06 because he couldn’t garner the Republican support necessary to defeat Bredesen. Why would we want to nominate a candidate for U.S. Senate who’s still got fences to mend within the Republican party leftover from the ‘02 Governor’s race? Unfortunately, Van Hilleary is an electorally impaired candidate unable to win statewide in Tennessee.

You know who would appeal to all Republicans in the general election, as well as independents and some Democrats? That’s right – Bob Corker, who needs not apologize by facing East every morning on a daily basis to the State of Tennessee for Phil Bredesen’s governorship.

UPDATE From an anonymous comment on the above B4B post

Ed couldn’t beat a wobbly kneed republican in a primary. I love how you take Van out of context. What you never seem to mention is that Ed puts people to sleep, Corker has no passion and he recites from rote what he thinks republican primary voters want to hear. Its Van that gets most of the applause and the best reaction from people who are actually attendees.

Yes, they are applauding because he is finished, as his stump speeches average about 90 minutes, affected only by the phase of the moon. The fuller the moon, the longer and louder the speech.

Sometimes Ed gets on the stump and talks about the Civil War …what is that about??? Among other rambling that come out of Ed’s mouth.

You see, the Civil War was this war we fought between North and South 140 years ago, that significantly affected our national character and political landscape, and whose reverberations are still felt to this day. It was kinda important. Like, it was a war where 620,000 people died, you schmuck.

Ed talks about prosecuting the Fords well he quit b/c it was too hard and he got smacked around by Monica Lewinsky on national television but that doesn’t stop him from constantly talking about two experiences that some could say would cast him as a loser and a quitter

This is a blatant mischaracterization of Ed Bryant. I may be a Corker guy, but I like Ed a lot, too. Some would say such a statement signifies a complete misunderstanding of both situations. A “loser” and a “quitter”? A Van supporter talking about losing? Please.

Also, I find it amusing that it wasn’t until after Corker and Ed observed the amount of applause that Van was getting on the illegal immigration issue that they started incorporating it into their speeches.

Yes, this proves that Van is a leader.

I don’t know who told Bob Corker that Republican primary voters care about affordable housing …although he has tweaked his mayoral styled speech to be better suited to a Senate candidate he still has no idea what it means to be a conservative and what we believe in and it comes across as rehearsed and phony in his speech.

Try listening first. This is obviously someone who is not listening to what Corker is saying, and who knows nothing about the man.

Evidently, someone has been drinking the kool aid, and ought to be glad they post as “anonymous”.

Senator George Allen better be preparing a top-notch reelection campaign for his Senate seat out of Virginia, because he is going to have some heady competition. There are rumors circulating that Ben Affleck is considering a run at the Democratic nomination. He and his wife, Jennifer Garner, are said to be looking at homes in the Charlottesville area.

To my knowledge, the esteemed Mr. Affleck does not have any strong ties to Virginia. His wife is from West Virginia, but Ben may have learned in history class many years ago that West Virginia seceded from Virginia over that tiny Civil War matter. This was way before his wife was even a glimmer in an action-movie director’s eye.

I suppose with his wavering movie career, Ben Affleck was bound to look for a new profession. My bet was on house husband and father or tour guide for one of those duck boats in Boston, but apparently I was wrong. I can’t wait to see how Ben relates to the voters, particularly once he gets out of Arlington and Fairfax. I’m reminded of a painful Howard Dean rally in Iowa during which Martin Sheen recited a Native American poem. The farmers loved it!

Randi Rhodes, at this very moment, is discussing the value of competition. She said that you should have to compete for everything, because that is how we end up with the best person doing the job. Her point is to chastise the Bush administration for their no-bids contracts with Halliburton. But, I find it amusing that a socialist who claims Reps. John Conyers and Sheila Jackson Lee among her heroes is trumpeting the values of the free market system. If only she would be consistent in that belief when considering … well … education, affirmative action, Wal-Mart, oil refineries, health care …

Cindy Sheehan and other protesters were arrested today for refusing to move along after several demands by the police.

Don’t worry, Cindy. I hear there are several groups that preach anti-Semitism, such as the Nation of Islam and Aryan Nation, that are quite prolific in prison. Just pick the one you like the best and make friends fast!

OK, you will more likely just spend a few hours hanging out with a few of D.C.’s “ladies of the night” and perhaps a couple of upstanding citizens who urinated in public. Call them your “comrades” and invite them to join you in your fight to free Palestine and New Orleans. I’m sure you’ll have a fan club in no time.

Maureen Dowd has actually made sense.

Great weekend of college football, not so much for the pros. Maryland finally won another game, and Nathan and I had a great time at the Vandy game on Saturday night. Our sports high was deflated by the disappointing play of the Titans and Steelers yesterday.

And, both of Nathan’s teams have been marred since the games came to a close. An overnight shooting involving three Vandy players (although the shooter is not thought to be a student) and now Travis Henry is facing suspension by the NFL for violating the drug policy.

So, with the legal edge, I say that my teams get the upper-hand over those of my husband this go-round!

The differences between those demonstrating today and those raving yesterday is marked. Glenn Reynolds notes it. The comparison is stark. Freaks here, and here, and patriots here.

There are so many to choose from, but I believe this one is my favorite. It shows how serious these people are, and how much they truly add to the national dialogue.

UPDATE Michelle Malkin has some good stuff, too.

FURTHER UPDATE The Southern Scholar has a post regarding the anti-war rallies last weekend that any apologist would be proud of – the point about the pro-war turnout is silly. That’s the policy in power. What’s there to protest about, really? When we conservatives protest, it’s like an adventure, for we understand enough about the world to know that protests and bongo drums have never changed anything – it’s like a mini-vacation, or a trip to Disney World. Plus, we tend to have jobs with real-world responsibilities. Most Democrats do, too – just not the moonbats who were demonstrating for totalitarianism this past weekend.

And when we do protest, we look good doing it.

Plus, our women shave, and don’t shriek like wounded hyenas spliced with irate banshees.

A tiff has apparently erupted between the Republican governor of California and a has-been actor. He started with a strong presentation at a California Nurses Association convention

To show he means business, the “Reds” star had Bening and his tough-guy pal Sean Penn by his side at the rousing anti-Arnold speech.

Whenever you mean business, bring along Spicoli

However, the actor’s qualifications for political activism are less then threatening.

The “Bonnie and Clyde” star, who romanced legions of actresses from Julie Christie to Madonna before settling down with Annette Bening, vowed to fight to defeat all Arnold’s ballot measures in November’s special election – and to knock him out of office next year.

“Arnold says he’s not in this for the short run. We have to show him – neither are we!” said [Warren] Beatty, a longtime Democrat activist who served as an adviser to Sen. George McGovern’s 1972 presidential campaign.

The results of that particular campaign are here. Of course, the governor has things in perspective

And to twist the knife, Schwarzenegger threw in the ultimate Tinseltown dis. “Look, he’s not working and he just feels like maybe he should get involved in politics,” the governor told The Associated Press.

Funny. Yet true.

But Schwarzenegger, 58, isn’t exactly quaking in his boots. The former Mr. Universe hurled a slew of new insults at Beatty just days ago, calling him “starving for attention … jealous … silly.

Perhaps Schwarzenegger shouldn’t elevate Beatty with such ennobling titles, but oh well – it’s possible that Beatty does have some sort of Love Affair with the governor’s status. It’s certainly true that Schwarzenegger has enjoyed The Fortune that Beatty has not. Beatty sees a Kaleidoscope of issues on which to attack the governor, and does seem committed to defeat Schwarzenegger, perhaps to Beatty at this point this crusade being The Only Game in Town. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Beatty take on Schwarzenegger in both the Town and County, in an attempt to Shampoo out the governor’s base. Beatty is holding out hope that with enough effort, Schwarzeneggar’s supporters will All Fall Down.

But for Beatty, he has some time left and some politicing to do. He’s seeing various shades of Reds, but as far as Beatty’s concerned, Heaven Can Wait.

UPDATED to add content.

Middle Tennessee is under a tornado and flood watch. Enjoy.