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NASA Space shuttle fueling test looks successful
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
PC makers voluntarily supply Web filter in China
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
Limbo for Colombia family seeking hostage release
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
Marines suffer first casualties in Afghan campaign
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
Lawyer Rowe deciding whether to seek custody
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
James Frey writing teen science fiction novels
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
Serena, Venus reach Wimbledon final again
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
Kim sets course record at Congressional with 62
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
Votto leads Reds over Dbacks 3-2 in 10 innings
Southern Ledger - July 2, 2009 |
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WILL HARRY REID PULL A "GEORGE WALLACE" ON ROLAND BURRIS?
January 5, 2009 -
January 12, 2009
When scandal-ridden Governor Rod Blagojevich defiantly chose to appoint former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate he did not play the race card … he played the whole deck.
In the process, he put the Democrats in the Senate between the proverbial racial rock and a hard place. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made it clear that he will not allow Burris to be sworn in on Tuesday when the Senate assembles: but will he physically block Burris from the floor of the Senate?
On June 11, 1963, Alabama’s Governor George Wallace kept a campaign pledge to stand in the schoolhouse door to block integration of the state’s public schools. Governor Wallace physically stood in the doorway to block the attempt of two black students, Vivian Malone and James Hood, to register at the University of Alabama. When President John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard and ordered its units to the university campus, Wallace stepped aside and allowed the black students to enter. As a result of the incident, Wallace became a hero to some and a pariah to most. Does Reid want to follow his lead by blocking the only black Senator from the Senate floor?
The racial implications of “the mess that Rod made” were ratcheted up when the Chicago Sun Times reported that Reid called Blagojevich on December 3 and argued against the appointment of Chicago Congressmen Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Rep. Danny Davis, or Illinois State Senate President Emil Jones, all of whom are black. Instead, Reid reportedly wanted Blagojevich to select either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth, who is Thai-American and recently lost a bid to be elected to Congress, or Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who is white.
Reid’s conversation with Blagojevich was almost certainly captured on tape by federal prosecutors who have been tapping the governor’s calls, and it may ultimately be available for public consumption. In the meantime, most political analysts surmise that Reid’s concern about the potential appointment of one of the three black men was more about politics than racial prejudice. Those same political concerns apply to Roland Burris.
In 2010, the new senator from Illinois will have to face a statewide election to keep the seat. Reid and other Democrat leaders are concerned that the taint of the Blagojevich scandal attached to the selection will be difficult enough to overcome without any additional political baggage carried by certain individuals. Barack Obama was elected in Illinois thanks in part to a weak field, and but also because he was a youthful, charismatic communicator — the same qualities that carried him to victory in November.
Reid was clearly concerned that none of the three black men under consideration by Blagojevich would be able to follow Obama’s path to statewide victory. How Reid expressed those concerns to Blagojevich will reveal whether, or to what extent, race was a part of the discussion. That tape could eventually prove damaging to Reid’s own reelection prospects in 2010, especially if he mishandles the racially sensitive issue of the Burris appointment.
But electability was clearly on Reid’s mind on December 3, and remains an issue with the appointment of Roland Burris, who has previously lost several statewide primary elections in Illinois and hasn’t won an election since 1990. When Burris announced that he was seeking the appointment, he noted that he did not plan to seek election for a full term in 2010 and simply wanted to be a “caretaker.”
But now he says he plans to seek election in 2010 if his appointment sticks. He isn’t even in the Senate yet but he is already backing out on his promises.
If Burris does seek election in 2010, then the Democrats may face a bitter primary followed by a tough general election fight with Burris as their standard bearer. If he doesn’t run then, the Democrats have created an open seat fight in what may be a tough midterm election year. Neither of those prospects looks appealing to Reid, and leading Democrats who will be seeking to round up the 60-vote filibuster proof majority that eluded them in 2008.
Reid will almost certainly avoid the political catastrophe of a photo showing him or the Capitol Hill police physically blocking Roland Burris from the Senate floor on Tuesday. But Roland Burris is a ticking time bomb that still threatens to explode in the face of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democratic Party. The only question is when that bomb blows and how much collateral damage it does.
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OBAMA FLUNKS HIS FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL TEST BY APPOINTING HILLARY AS SECRETARY OF STATE. -
December 1, 2008 -
December 8, 2008
The selection of Hillary Clinton as his choice for Secretary of State reveals that President-elect Barack Obama does not limit his lack of appreciation for the Constitution to just the First and Second Amendments. While there has been plenty of analysis focused on whether or not this is a good political decision or not, the choice may actually reveal more about Obama’s respect or disrespect for the Constitution than about his political judgment.
The Emoluments Clause in Article I, secti... |
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WHY AL-ZAWAHIRI WOULD BE A LOUSY TALK RADIO HOST. -
November 21, 2008 -
November 28, 2008
The number two guy in Al Queda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has just released a new video/audio attack on President-elect Barack Obama and America. The 11-minute 23-second video features the audio message by al-Zawahri, who appears only in a still image, along with other images, including one of Obama wearing a Jewish skullcap. Ayman may be a heck of a terrorist, but in terms of vitriol, creativity, insult and nuance he would be a lousy talk host.
First of all, a demo tape that runs nearly twelv... |
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ARE TENNESSEE REPUBLICANS SET TO CLEAN HOUSE ON THE HILL? -
November 11, 2008 -
November 19, 2008
The historic election of a 50-49 Republican majority in the Tennessee State House has left Republicans with several unexpected and difficult choices to make in the next few weeks. How they handle these organizational and political challenges may have a greater impact on whether they retain their slim majority in the next election than the legislative policies they will enact in the coming months.
Republican Minority Leader Jason Mumpower is poised to become the first Republican Speaker... |
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WILL AMERICA COME TOGETHER AFTER THE ELECTION? -
October 30, 2008 -
November 4, 2008
The 2008 Presidential election has been long and bitterly contested by both sides. The passions of the political season will not subside quickly for those who immerse both heart and soul into the effort as so many campaign volunteers and activists do each election cycle. That is not a bad thing; nor is it new. The insults and attacks that we see today are somewhat tame compared to the personal assaults that typified American politics in our first hundred years of campaigning.
In the not... |
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WHY VOTERS ARE FURIOUS ABOUT THE BAILOUT PACKAGE. -
October 5, 2008 -
October 11, 2008
For the past several weeks voters were told by the White House, the so-called leadership of the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and numerous pundits on the airwaves that America faced utter economic collapse unless a $700 billion bailout plan conceived by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was approved immediately. Skeptics of both the “crisis” and the purported “fix” were denounced for not understanding the economic turmoil that would flow from delay of even a few more days.
Two... |
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