Upgrade is truly an upgrade

Lowcountry blogroll, a daily compilation of the offerings of bloggers in and around Charleston (aka: The Holy City) and the South Carolina "Lowcountry", has undergone a simple, sharp, clear, open-faced, easy to read upgrade. The sidebar listing of linked Lowcountry blogs has been doublespaced and moved to the left side of the frame; this permits American's natural reading practices to kick in. Bloggers in other parts of the country and the world can get fresh insights into Charleston and Southern ways via Lowcountry blogroll.

Ted Kennedy - A Little Republican Respect

In a recent speech to a Mississippi civic group, Sen. Trent Lott brought up Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's role on important domestic legislation, including Kennedy's latest push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws.
When Lott was finished, a man in the audience came up to him and said: "You did real good. But that part about Kennedy -- don't say that no more."
"He is the number one boogeyman for conservative Republicans," Lott said later of the longtime Democratic senator from Massachusetts. But, Lott added, "he is a good legislator, and you can't take that away from him." Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post Staff Writer, Wednesday, May 30, 2007; A11.

Catch 22, Texas Style

Down in Austin, Texas, a majority of the State House of Representatives is highly dissatisfied with the speaker and would like to replace him. To oust the speaker before his term is up, a lawmaker must make a parliamentary maneuver known as a motion to vacate, and a majority of the House must vote in favor of it. It's called a privileged motion, and a lawmaker must be recognized by the speaker before he or she may speak to the House to make such a motion. The speaker won't do this and claims there is nothing anyone can do about his refusal. The House members were yelling and screaming and fighting with the speaker Friday night until about 1:30am Saturday morning. The parliamentarian and his deputy reportedly resigned.

Who puts these lists together

Some people have the knack for getting right to the bone. Consider Mr. Benjamin Woods of Menlo Park, California. Time published a list of who it considers the 100 most influential people in the world. In Letters to the Editor some agreed, others disagreed and a teacher, understandably, bemoaned the absence of any educators on the list. But Mr. Woods had the last say: "These are supposedly the 100 most influential people in the world, but not a single professional bowler? Who puts these lists together?"

Is it worth it?

A news report tonight said scientists have proven mice can re-grow hair and this offers hope to men losing (or who've lost) their hair. It may not be worth pursuing, however, if you have to grow a tail, crawl around on all fours and rummage around garbage dumps.

The evil ones

David Letterman: "They had another Republican candidate presidential debate last night. Did you see those guys? Did you see the Republican candidates? I mean, they looked like the evil law firm in a John Grisham movie."

Faced with defeat GOPers will desert

A group of 11 moderate Republican congressmen went to the White House yesterday and told President Bush and some of his closest advisors the war in Iraq is hurting GOP chances at the polls in November 2008. Unless the situation improves by late summer or early fall he will begin to lose big support in the House of Representatives, they said. The one cardinal rule all politicians follow is "survival." You can bet your best underwear that any Republican congressman being challenged in November will jump off the ship in a heartbeat when faced with voter disfavor over continued support for a civil war. If the Iraqi assembly takes two months off this summer it is a foregone conclusion the situation in the fall will be no better than it is now: miserable. Our SC 1st district congressman, Rep. Henry E. Brown, was not among the moderates at the meeting. He has been issuing press releases accusing Democrats of undermining the troops in Iraqi by refusing to give President Bush another $100 million without strings. He ignores the fact that the Pentagon has enough money to keep things going well into July and a bi-partisan deal is in the works to provide funding through September when the next appraisal of the war will be made.

The three Cs.....

Something smells. Is it coincidence, collusion or conspiracy that the three strips on the front page of the Sunday comics (The Post & Courier, May 6, 2007) were each about dogs. I have nothing against dogs so long as they stay at home and off my lawn when nature calls. Charles Schultz is dead and the paper is running Classic Peanuts so we can't drag him before the court of public opinion. The other two need close watching. Jim Davis is the creator of Garfield and Lynn Johnston does For Better or For Worse. This is not the first time the leading three strips have had similiar themes on the same day. I don't believe in coincidence any more than I do the Easter Bunny (no Jelly beans arrived at my house this year until after Easter when I bought some on sale at Wal-Mart.) Collusion is a concept better associated with Exxon executives than cartoonists and conspiracy is a Washington beltway trait. Nevertheless this is a matter for serious attention among comics readers and if it happens again soon it might warrant a call to Homeland Security or Al Sharpton, which ever number is in your rolodex.

How success is measured

I thought David Letterman had the best line: the government hasn't caught Osama yet but they caught the madam who was allegedly running a network of hookers. And, one might add, they also have not caught James "Whitey" Bulger.