Commonwealth Conservative has some good posts on the governors race, a seat we Republicans should be embarrassed we lost in the first place.

In addition, it’s a great place to keep an eye on that presidential hopeful George Allen.

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Alec Baldwin is still having issues with his ex-wife, Kim Basinger, over the custody of their daughter. And, he is trying to deal with this anger. In a recent interview, he stated:

“But I’m keeping things in perspective. Not letting it consume me and eat me up with anger as it used to. I stopped that when one late night I was on the street so unhappy and filled with rage that, in a fit, I smashed my phone against a lamppost. A black lady walking by said to me, ‘Alec Baldwin, you got to get hold of yourself.’ So I have.”

Why does it matter that the woman was black, Alec? Would you have continued to hit the lamppost if the woman dispensing advice had been white?

Though extolling its virtues ceasinglessly, Sarah and I haven’t been practicing capitalism at MooreThoughts – at least until now. There’s now a Paypal tip button on our sidebar (er, middle bar), and a few more commercial exploits to come.

If you like what Sarah writes, and certainly to a lesser extent what I write from time to time, we would appreciate your support. At least covering the maintenance expenses of the blog would be nice. In the meantime, continue to blog we will.

I knew that the new president of Iran was a sweetheart the first time I saw him. Earlier this week, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared that Israel must be “wiped off the map”. Funny, I thought that the schools in Iran never put Israel on their maps in the first place. Problem solved!

The remarks coincided nicely with the annual “We hate Israel!” rally held in Tehran on the last Friday of Ramadan. Demonstrators were happy to copy their leader’s comments onto posters and shouted the need for map alteration with glee while burning Israeli flags and also shooting guns at the flags (very effective).

Ahmadinejad is obviously a bit green in the ways of international diplomacy in the Middle East. He needs to learn, like the leaders of Syria and Saudi Arabia (among others) have, that you at least have to pretend that you don’t want to kill every Jew on the planet. Oh, the missteps of a novice.

Just released (Drudge doesn’t even have it up yet) – Harriet Miers withdraws herself from the SCOTUS nomination.

Okay, Mr. President – there’s your mulligan. Now let’s get someone Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi will not like.

The “Harriet Miers Nomination” category on MooreThoughts will, without regret, be closed.

We have just passed the 2,000 mark for fatalities in Iraq. Some either a) misguided or b) evil people are taking particular joy in this as a “milestone”. I meant to write on this yesterday, but wasn’t feeling well and make it a habit never to post anything without a smidgeon of clarity on which to rely. Actually, Bob Krumm already did a good job, and there is very little constructive I can add to what Bob has already said.

What I can do is pile on. I’m on the MoveOn.org email list (got to keep your enemies closer, right?). This is the text of an email I just received moments ago

Yesterday we reached the sad milestone of 2,000 killed in Iraq. But for the most part, the national media are ignoring this tragic milestone. The men and women who died deserve better.

Together, we can help make sure the media report on this moment. At more than one thousand vigils tonight, tens of thousands of us will gather to draw focus to this sad day. We’ve also added to our campaign a respectful and emotional TV ad that honors those killed in Iraq and asks, “How many more?”

Obviously, MoveOn.org is disappointed that the Bush administration is not suffering a larger political price for the 2,000 soldiers who have lost their lives. Of course, MoveOn and company have not harked on the 1,998 or 1,999 fatality as there is far less political punch for the offing. I give MoveOn credit for unabashed inappropriateness – their contention that “the men and women who died deserve better” certainly merits consideration. The men and women who have died in Iraq do in fact deserve better – they deserve to not be political fodder for an anti-American organization.

Note that for all the attention MoveOn.org wants to pay to the 2,000 fatalities from the war in Iraq, they speak to not one of the accomplishment those 2,000 made possible. The failure to recognize the benefits of the sacrifice demonstrate the hollow morality of the MoveOn position. Such a warped reality does the public debate a disservice, exulting a negative without noting that the sacrifice, as great as it has been, pales in comparison to the changes brought on by it. The world is being made better by American involvement in the Middle East. The debate is no longer if democracy can be planted in the Middle East. The question now is when democracy will consume the Islamofascists and destroy the last remaining secular dictatorships of the Middle East. The free people of Iraq, with the outgrowth of creativity and ideas that freedom brings, will not be contained within Iraq’s borders. Syria, and Saudi Arabia, and Iran’s political dynamics will over time change dramatically with a democratic Iraq in their midst. The inevitable trade and commercialization of Iraq will engender a more concrete stability, pushing Islamic fundamentalists further and further to the fringe of society.

But the organizers and member groups of MoveOn.org do not see this, nor care to see it as the good of the free world and the noble sacrifice of Americans is not the issue with which they are concerned. Their cause is one of destruction – they exist to destroy the world order in its current state. The primacy of America on the world stage is the target. The ultimate sacrifice our soldiers have made across the world is but the latest tool.

UPDATE Here’s the description of the latest ad, pulled from the same email

Our ad uses the images of a coffin in the desert with a solemn trumpet playing in the background. As a narrator reads the names of some of those killed in Iraq, the ad asks the question, “How many more?” The parents or widowed spouse of those killed gave us permission to use the name of their loved one in the ad.

At a time when reporters are getting tired of reporting on the death and destruction in Iraq, it’s up to us to help make sure that the human cost of this war is recognized. Together, tonight, we’ll do just that.

FURTHER UPDATE More analysis in the comments to this post.

EVEN MORE UPDATE Here’s the link to the MoveOn.org commercial. Tokyo Rose couldn’t have done it better.

LOCAL UPDATE Bruce Berry of the Nashville Scene piles on as well. Of course, no concern with accomplishment, but only with the number.

AND MORE Glen Dean notes the macabre nature of the far Left.

AND EVEN MORE Jason Cox of The Southern Scholar joins the hit parade marking the 2,000 fatalities in Iraq, and continues to give Southerners a bad name

And for what? So that a president could finish what Daddy started? So we could corner the crude market? To eradicate a so-called “imminent threat?”

This is the most important question: For what?

Daddy? Grow up, please. My point on historical obliviousness lives on. Corner the crude market? Yeah, there’s evidence of that. Imminent threat? Tom Daschle began using that term – the case Bush made was that we should act before Iraq becomes an imminent threat. Go ahead, and read the transcripts, if you dare. The “imminent threat” talk is the equivalent of a political urban myth borne out of Democratic talking points.

If you can’t answer “for what?”, you need to do some more scholarly reading of history. For “what” is clear, and has been explained ad nauseum by the administration, on this blog, and across the blogosphere.

UPDATED COMMENT Be sure to read Bob Krumm’s comment below. An excerpt

So if I seem a bit outraged, it’s because I am. And it’s because I know that I speak for nearly every military man and woman there now: Should I be called to serve in Iraq, and should I perish there, I will haunt for all eternity any who falsely mourn my loss to advance their petty little political agenda.

Absolutely.

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I’m a couple of weeks late in mentioning this, but I felt some serious Terp pride when one of my alma mater’s professors was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. That makes two Nobel winners currently on our beautiful campus (you’ve got none, UVA … take that!).

Professor Thomas Schelling won this honor for this work in game-theory analysis. The other current UMD professor with a Nobel to his name is Williams Phillips from the Physics Department.

The University of Maryland has come a long way in the past twenty years. The school now has a top honors program and is ranked 18th among all public institutions in the country (55th among all colleges and universities). I’m proud to be a graduate of that school and I will be thrilled if our firstborn decides to be a Terp. I’ve been singing the Maryland fight song while patting my belly … we’ll see if there’s any effect.

I am not a James Bond aficionado. In fact, I have never seen a single James Bond movie (which disturbs Nathan to no end). However, I get the concept of 007. He’s seductive, cocky and strong. I am familiar with the actors who have played James Bond, and I know of my husband’s distaste for Timothy Dalton in the starring role. From this largely uneducated perspective, I did not like the pick of Daniel Craig as the new James Bond. He’s not particularly attractive, he doesn’t look any younger than Pierce Brosnan (which, apparently, was a big reason a new Bond was deemed necessary) and I think he’s a bit slimy.

Now, Mr. Craig has come out with the statement that he hates handguns because “handguns are used to shoot people”. He also prefers his martinis straight up, and claims that no one drinks their martinis like Bond anymore. I know that James Bond is a character and that actors often play people to whom they cannot relate. However, James Bond is a special case in our popular culture. The fictional man and the actors who play him take on a special aura. At least wait until you are no longer playing the role to let us know that you abhor the very essence of the character! Next thing you know, Daniel Craig will be telling the press that he doesn’t like sexually suggestive names for female leads, or the double meaning that can be found when describing your gun or your uncorked champagne.

The Tennessean has a short piece this morning on the increasing popularity of placing surcharges on insurance premiums of smokers. The article states that health care costs related to smoking are $75.5 billion each year, with an additional $92 billion lost each year in productivity.

I am 100% in favor of such measures being taken by companies. Like insurance incentives for taking part in diet or exercise programs, these steps promote good health and save money. Also, why should companies be held liable for lifestyle choices? Some people claim that this practice is discrimination. I agree, but it is warranted. People who choose to eat at McDonalds (or Burger King or Taco Bell … I don’t want to sully the good name of McDonalds alone) four times a week should be viewed less favorably when insurance decisions are being made than a person who chooses steamed vegetables and fish. I like my Quarter Pounder as much as the next guy, but I’m fully aware that I’m not doing my body any favors each time I ingest a bite of that salty, fatty treat.

I have never been a smoker, but I know from friends that kicking the habit is incredibly difficult. I am not minimizing the issue and stating that if people care about their health, they will magically stop smoking tomorrow. However, we have known for around forty years that smoking is bad for our health. I believe that anyone who is under the age of 50 and has chosen to take up the nasty habit must be completely responsible for the consequences. (I hate those ridiculous tabacco lawsuits as well.)

As expected, Tom DeLay posed for a mugshot that could not be used by those who oppose them. Air America has decided on this alternate shot for their new T-shirts. The hosts of the great radio station must be very disappointed, because they had been salivating over the forthcoming mugshot for weeks. I guess the Billy the Kid take-off will have to do.

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Go give Jeff Soyer over at Alphecca a birthday present by increasing hits to his site.

He’s a conservative gun nut in Vermont, for goodness sake. He deserves it!

The Chattanooga Times Free Press has begun a series on lobbying in the state government, effectively one-upping The Tennessean from yesterday.

The front page of the Sunday edition is here.

The article on Sunday is here, and the second in the series today is here.

Courtesies of Tennessee Tax Revolt.

To follow-up on my post yesterday, Donald Sensing posts these telling numbers

Voters and polling comparisons

Registered voters – January: 14.3 million; October 15.6 million.

Numbers of polling centers – January: 5,677; October

5,852 with most of the new centers going to Sunni regions.

Al Anbar polling centers increased from 33 in Jan. to 171 in Oct. (indications are that more than 200,000 additional people voted in Anbar)

Nineveh polling centers increased from 88 in Jan. to 230 in Oct. (nearly 400,000 more voted this time)

Poll worker applications – January: 110,000; October 450,000.

Total poll workers – January: 108,000; October 171,000. Early projections are that more than 60 percent of those registered voted.

Voting Rights Changes Since January

Iraqi Security Forces guarding polling stations outside their provinces were allowed to vote.

U.S.-held detainees that had not been convicted of a crime were allowed to vote.

Election Security

Total attacks in Iraq – Jan. 30: 299 attacks; Oct. 15: 89 attacks

Total attacks against polling places – Jan. 30: 108 attacks; Oct. 15: 19 attacks

Number of civilians killed – Jan. 30: 30 deaths; Oct. 15: three deaths. Overall there were 34 deaths on Jan. 30 and 10 deaths on Oct. 15.

Total number of suicide bombers – Jan. 30: seven; Oct. 15: zero.

Security Forces

Ministry of Interior Forces – January: 79,116l October: 106, 112

Ministry of Defense Forces – January: 56, 949; October 93, 959

Logistics

MNF-I moved most of the materials in Jan; Iraqi contractors conducted most of the movement and logistics in October.

Voting supplies were moved into warehouses three days earlier than in January with no shortages of supplies reported.

Numbers from US Central Command

Unfortunately, New Jersey’s race for governor is leaning to Democrat Corzine

The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows US Senator Jon Corzine (D) widening his lead once again over businessman Doug Forrester (R) in the New Jersey’s race for Governor. The numbers: Corzine-49%, Forrester-40%.

A new Quinnipiac University poll showed very similar numbers: Corzine-50%, Forrester-43%. Polls some 10 days ago had the race very tight in the very Democrat leaning state now Corzine has some breathing room.

As is historically fitting, our hopes lie in Virginia. (Hat tip to TeamGOP).

Under new leadership, The Tennessean’s investigative capacity has certainly improved. Today the paper focused on the lobbyist saturated government of the State of Tennessee. It’s disheartening for those who value accountable and effective representative government, but symptomatic of how things have worked in this state for way too long

The Tennessean has a full article today, page 1A above the fold, regarding Purcell’s decision not to run for a third term. The content is mostly unremarkable, primarily because Purcell gives little to bite into – for instance, why announce now? That question is never answered, and the announcement does little to enhance his political power for the rest of his term as Metro mayor. He has established his lame duck status beyond any reasonable doubt. That is, except for the hedge – proposing that the metro council be cut in half (his other amendment, regarding mayoral term limits, is without glamour). Such a proposal will certainly keep some councilmen in line, for fear of unemployment through downsizing. How many will remain loyal to a lame duck is the question.

But the announcement to not run for a third term is unremarkable. If George W. Bush came out tomorrow and announced he was not running for a third term, what would your thoughts be? So what, maybe?

Despite the media’s belief that mayoral term limits are a fuzzy issue, the only lawyer saying that Bill Purcell could have run for three terms was Karl Dean, the head of the Metro Department of Law, hired by Bill Purcell. The fact that he had even considered running for three terms tells you more than you needed to know about the man. And as he may have recently surmised, if he had decided to declare for a third term, he would have mired Metro in a mess of litigation for which no one would have wanted to be responsible, where even a legal win would have been a debilitating political loss. Maybe the decision not to run was made ex ante, or maybe after the political climate had changed, his mind changed as well, but the three term political straw man Purcell set up has been knocked down. He’s smart – it’s better to leave on top.

All other things being equal (they seldom ever are), I support the reduction in council size. But for some reason, I get this sneaking suspicion that the amendment to the charter will be poorly and confusingly worded, and will be on the ballot at the same time as the property tax referendum amendment in an attempt to cross-up voters (one the right answer being “yes”, and the other the right answer being “no”). I suppose only time will tell.

Purcell is also calling for independent audits of Metro. Funny how he didn’t want an audit of the school system or Metro prior to the boondoggled sales tax referendum last month. In these last two years the mayor is finally appearing to fulfill the role of responsible statesman. Timing is everything – he’s setting himself up for bigger things, no doubt. If I were Harold Ford, Jr., I wouldn’t get too comfortable just shellacking Rosalind Kurita.

But what does Purcell want his legacy as mayor to be known for?

When asked what he hopes his legacy would be, he said:

“I hope that it’s during the time I became mayor a general agreement was established in this city about what was important and that we would never stop doing those things that made a city great.”

If so, it will not be because of Bill Purcell, but due to effective opposition to his policies. I do hope that Bill Purcell governs our city responsibly through the remainder of his last term. Unfortunately, past performance says otherwise.

A new blog has arisen in the Nashville political landscape. From what I know, it appears to be someone who knows what they’re talking about, identified only by the moniker “the insider”. Make of it what you will, but “the insider” knew about Purcell’s meeting on Friday, which resulted in his announcement that he would not run for a third term on Saturday.

Good stuff. The more people watching Metro, the better off we will all be.

I just noticed that the Knox County GOP has a blogroll – how about the rest of the county party websites? I strongly encourage it.

Bob Corker supports and would have voted for the Coburn amendment (something that Lamar Alexander and Bill Frist did not do). From The Chattanoogan

U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker applauded Sen. Tom Coburn’s efforts in the United States Senate to “highlight the continued lack of fiscal discipline in Washington.”

Mr. Corker said, “By offering a series of spending cuts on the Senate floor, Sen. Coburn spoke for all of us who want immediate cuts in federal spending to offset Katrina spending. I talked to Sen. Coburn this afternoon and thanked him for taking a courageous stand against mindless deficit spending.”

On Thursday, Sen. Coburn offered an amendment in the Senate that would have shifted spending from the famed “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska to rebuilding the Interstate 10 bridge across Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans. This amendment was defeated 82 to 15.

“Whether it’s a bridge to nowhere in Alaska or an extra $10 million in travel for HUD conferences, senators should be willing to examine low-priority spending and just say no,” continued Corker.

Sounds rather conservative of him, if you ask me. (courtesies warranted for Conservatives for Corker)