Patterico's Pontifications

9/22/2005

Beldar on Rita

Filed under: Current Events — Patterico @ 11:04 pm



A couple of days ago, I e-mailed William Dyer (aka Beldar) to ask if he was leaving Houston, and he replied that he probably wouldn’t. I’ve been a little worried about him since then, and I was happy to see this post discussing the situation and explaining why he’s staying:

There’s essentially nothing on the local media to remind folks that, for example, Houston isn’t dependent on vulnerable levies, below sea level, and in between a huge lake and the Mississippi. The man-on-the-street interviews with those planning to stay are always spun to make them look crazy.

How the actual storm will turn out remains to be seen. And Nature may prove me wrong. Maybe by this time next week, everyone will be agreed that there ought to have been a complete, total evacuation covering all of Houston/Harris County.

But so far, IMHO, it’s mostly been a perfect [media] storm. Sheesh, does everybody on the TV news want to be the next Dan Rather?

(FWIW, Weiss and I are hunkered down, at home with my emergency supplies and a full tank of gas. I’ve seen three major hurricanes since I moved to Houston, plus a buncha lesser but still impressive tropical storms, and I *DO* respect Mother Nature. But I’d rather be emailing you from my living room right now than out-of-gas on a gridlocked interstate, and I think I have a rational basis for concluding that I’m also safer here. My ex, who lives nearby and has our four kids with her, independently came to the same conclusion, and I certainly won’t leave town while they’re still here. So wish us all luck.)

Good luck, Beldar.

I think he’ll be fine, by the way. He says in an update that he is well outside the mandatory evacuation zones.

Committee Confirmation Vote

Filed under: General — Angry Clam @ 7:34 am



[Posted by The Angry Clam]

You know, I’m listening to Senator Leahy’s speech, and he mentioned that he was encouraged that Roberts indicated that he would defer to Congress in commerce clause and spending clause cases.

Anyone want to bet that Leahy signs on to a public statement condemning the Supreme Court when it upholds the Solomon Amendment later this year, with Roberts’ vote?

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: Looks like part of my prediction is going down in flames. Several Democrat Senators on the Judiciary Committee are voting for Roberts. But Feinstein, Schumer, and Biden are all voting against Roberts. I gave them too much credit for being politically savvy, and I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. Some of these people might have had some credibility with fair-minded people who just weren’t paying close attention until now. A vote against Roberts destroys that credibility. Excellent. Bring on Luttig!

UPDATE x2 BY PATTERICO: Here is the transcript.

UPDATE x3 BY PATTERICO: And here is the final vote tally: 13-5.

Luskin’s Challenge

Filed under: Media Bias — Patterico @ 6:31 am



Don Luskin recaps the Krugman/2000 election affair, and challenges the New York Times to finally put Krugman’s correction in the print edition of the paper (and thus in the Web archives of Krugman’s columns).


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