At the conclusion of the Democrat Debate the candidates and Wolf Blitzer, the moderator, lit and smoked the same cigarette exhaling slowly while looking deeply and meaningfully into each others' eyes. The Hollywood types at the Kodak loved it like yoga in a hot room followed by a Malibu smoothie at Jamba Juice followed by…well you know, some good old fashioned political-style PDA. 

Cross posted at Red Marilyn.

Berkeley continues its attempt to rival San Francisco as the capital of Military Derangement.

It seems like it was mostly just the vigorous activities of Code pink, as noted in this blog, that accounted for the Military hatred, but now the City has climbed into bed with Code Pink in their battle against the Marine Corps. Via Michelle Malkin:

 Berkeley wants to treat military recruitment offices like porn shops

Only in Berkeley. Sigh:

In response to a Marine Corps recruiting office established in Berkeley last year, local activists are trying to make it more difficult for future recruiting centers to open in the city.

If passed by a majority of Berkeley voters, a proposed initiative would require military recruiting offices and private military companies in Berkeley to first acquire a special use permit.

To obtain this permit, a business must hold public hearings and a public comment period.

Well, with Fred Thompson resigning from the race, I found myself groping around for a candidate to support.

John McCain is out.  For many reasons, not the least of which is that he is more of a Democrat than a Conservative, Republican, or Libertarian.

Likewise, Mike Huckabee is a liberal in conservative clothing.

I like Rudy Giuliani, but it just seems like he doesn’t want it enough.  This isn’t europe, and we don’t coronate a leader by virtue of his past service.

So, of the people left in the race on the Right, I find myself left with Mitt Romney.

What do I like about Mitt?  All of his stands today are pretty much my stands.

What DON’T I like about Mitt?  Many of his past stands are NOT his current stands.

Some people say that he has Grown In Office.  I consider it political opportunism at best; flip flopping at worst.

My daughter attends a high school here locally and today they did a rally for Martin Luther King day.

To her surprise it was not what she expected it to be.  Here is her account:

It’s a sad day when any given student feels suppressed during an assembly about expression your rights. It’s a sad day when any given student looks around to her peers and wonders what exactly is wrong with her for not feeling the same. It’s a sad day when any given student gets angry about the suppression of her own opinion.

Today at my school was the Martin Luther King Jr. Day assembly. I sat down with my friends, prepared for an assembly discussing civil rights, the past, and what we can keep doing to avoid going back. I was prepared to shake my head at the lack of knowledge that racism wasn’t just black, but anyone else.

OK, not really. 

The great Bryan, myself and the blogger known as Andrew's Dad met tonight in a secret undisclosed location to somewhere on the East Side of Seattle to swill beer, plot the takeover of the world and make fun of Ken Schram.

We opened the meeting of the circle of trust by performing the secret war dance, handshake and then shouting "Holy Shnike" three times while bowing towards Mecca (Indiana, population 355).

OK that may not be how it went down.

Andrew's Dad and I met Bryan at one of his favorite hangouts in Kirkland, where he and his remarkable wife had gone to enjoy dinner and some trivia.  We wanted to drop in and toast his new opportunity in radio LA, and to thank him for the support he has given local bloggers over the last year or so.

Snow fell today in Baghdad for the first time in at least 100 years.  This Flickr photo of a man and his dog by myndtheef is from somewhere in Iraq.  Have a great weekend, all.

The Business and Media Institute has a report on a recent speach by former Secretary of State Madeline Albright (once seen dancing with North Korea’s Kim Jong Il, as he whispered into her ear that he wasn’t developing nukes)…

Quoth Albright:

Albright’s message centered on the need for equality – not just domestically, but also on a global scale.

“If we were all rich, that would be very nice,” Albright said. “If we were all poor, it would be too bad, but we would be the same. What the problem is now is the poor know what the rich have as a result of information technology and the spread, generally, of knowledge.  And, it creates a whole new host of problems in terms of disquiet and anger.”

I just don’t know what to say to that.  Let’s hear the money line again:

If you see a message announcing the site is undergoing maintenance, do not be alarmed.

I will be testing and modifying an updated site theme for the next few days, so I will have the site down for an hour or so at a time until complete.

Bear with me.  2008 is going to be a huge year and I want our site to be ready for it.

This was in the comments of this post, so I am reposting it for your enlightenment.

Thanks all. However, let me clear something up. Schram had nothing to do with my ouster. Kenny may have loathesome political opinions, but he’s a stand up guy. If I had been paired with him from the outset, The Tators would be killing Limbaugh and Dave Ross 9-noon (maybe not Limbaugh).

Regardless, Schram is a pro and (off air) a really good guy. Where I’m going (back) to, it’s all about good radio. Not boring authors or inside baseball “live Iowa coverage” at 8pm. Or forced banter. It’s good radio. Period. If you’ve ever heard Jim Rome’s sportstalk, that’s my new show. Only, I get to use the WHOLE newspaper. Any-hoo, I’ll keep Karl (LSU) updated as events warrant.

So let the rumours die, Ken did not get Bryan canned.

Carla Marinucci, a blogger for SF Gate on the campaign trail with Fred Thompson, described that candidate's last speech to 300 of his Iowa supporters today as emotional.  She seemed to think it had the air of "the end of the road", but admitted she might be "projecting".  Read her piece here.