I haven’t read any conspiracy mongering regarding Obama’s flubbed Oath of Office, other than at Acephalous, so hopefully this item from Drudge will put the whole, stupid issue to bed:

At 735 pm, Roberts administred the oath of office again to obama in the map room. Robert gibbs said the wh counsel, greg craig, believes the oath was fine Tuesday, but one word was out of sequence so they did this out of a “an abundance of caution.” “We decided it was so much fun…” Obama joked while sitting on a couch. Obama stood and walked over to make small talk with pool as roberts donned his black robe. “Are you ready to take the oath?” Roberts asked. “I am, and we’re going to do it very slowly,” obama replied. Oath took 25 seconds. After a flawless recitation, roberts smiled and said, “congratulations, again.” Obama said, “thank you, sir.” Smattering of applause. “All right.” Obama said. “The bad news for the pool is there’s 12 more balls.”

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case challenging a state law that allows illegal immigrant students who attended a California high school for at least three years to pay the in-state tuition rate.  Residents of other states can be charged more than three times the in-state rate.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the decision in Martinez v Regents of the University of California ”could affect hundreds of illegal immigrant students who attend community colleges, Cal State and UC campuses and who say they would not be able to afford a higher education if required to pay out-of-state tuition.”  The case is being watched closely, as nine other states have similar laws.  A federal law prohibits special tuition rates for illegal immigrants unless the same benefit is extended to all U.S. citizens.

Plaintiffs don’t think it’s fair that U.S. citizens should pay a higher rate than illegal aliens.  Illegal immigrant students fear that they would not be able to afford the higher tuition.

That the affected students are even allowed to enroll in California schools at any tuition rate is a travesty.  If the plaintiffs prevail, then presumably many illegal resident students will drop out, freeing space in taxpayer-funded schools for citizens and legal residents.

UPDATE: Facing budget cuts, the UC Regents voted last week to reduce freshman enrollment this fall by 6%, or 2300 students.  This despite the fact that UC freshman applications have increased by about 3%.  The CSU system is considering a similar cut.

To quote one such moron…

“Out of the 2 main parties since 1980, they spend less.

Cold. Hard. Fact.”

Boy…  Sure was hard for THOSE numbers to come out how he liked…  Considering over the last 28 years the Dems have only held the Presidency for 8…

I wonder…  What would the numbers look like if we went by who controlled congress over the last 28 years?

I was wondering if we could compile a list…  A list of things that President Barack “I Cause Tingles” Obama has promised during the campaign that have since become null and void by either his words or his actions.

My personal favorite, frankly, was the oath to at first bar lobbyists from working within his administration, then saying they could work in his administration – just not in areas in which they used to lobby – to appointing William Lynn (a lobbyist for the 3rd largest defense contractor) to the position of Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Corr (a recent anti-tobacco lobbyist) to Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, and appointing as Energy Czar (I swear to God I must be the only person creeped out by these “czar” titles) someone married to an energy lobbyist…

And that’s just three.

So go.  Gather for me examples.  Sources for the original statement would be great, and then citation for the violating or modifying act.

I’ll update as you provide (once a day at least), and I’ll see about keeping this at least on the front page.  I suspect it will become long, and I suspect it will be a project that keeps us all busy for months…

Today’s the day.  No one will notice.  The ultimate Take Out the Trash Day.

The NY Times to be exact.  Carlos Slim, owner of much of Mexico, has bailed out the money-losing Newspaper of Record.  In a complex transaction, Slim has provided $250 million and received 6-year notes paying 14% and warrants for about 10% of the company (he already owns 7%).  The Times takes pains to point out that the Sulzberger family’s control remains intact due to the super voting rights of their special share class.

No doubt the editors of the Times will insist on their vaunted editorial independence, never mind who signs the paychecks.

Why do I get the feeling that Heather MacDonald is an insufferable pedant and a holy horror at dinner parties?

Bill Kristol, attending a private meal with President-Elect Obama and a group of conservative journalists, writes,

After a dinner with him that I attended last week, as we said our goodbyes, I overheard one of my fellow conservatives say softly to the president-elect, “Sir, I’ll be praying for you.” Obama seemed to pause as they shook hands, and to thank him more earnestly than he did those of us who simply — and sincerely — wished him well.

A nice moment.  An interesting contrast to the liberal scolds who are always promising to leave if the political winds don’t go their way.  Faith binds us together and all that.

Heather MacDonald, devoid of any instinctive sense of charity, weighs in, writing,

Obama’s politeness is admirable; I can imagine another response to the revelation that your interlocutor is contacting God on your behalf.

First, there is no reason to imagine that President-Elect Obama does not believe in God.

Second, I have to ask: what response, pray tell?  I’ve always wondered at the acknowledgement of the weight of responsibility the crown bore when the phrase “God save the King” was used in the highest sense of seriousness.  My reading is that the praying columnist meant something very similar.

In addition, I would hope that for even the densest, most aggressive atheist, praying and talking to God are two completely different activities.  They may both be completely useless, but they stem from different states of mind.  I didn’t get from Kristol’s description that the fellow thought that he was a prophet.

Atheism doesn’t have to be stupid.  Or am I the pedant now?

California legislators have failed to agree on a resolution to the state’s $42 billion budget deficit.  While Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger warned last week that the Golden State faces insolvency, finance officials say that unless the problem is resolved, the state will have to send IOU’s next month instead of payments to state contractors, refunds to taxpayers, and grants to college students and low income and disabled residents.

State Democrats want to cut some programs and raise taxes to bridge the gap, while Republicans reject any plan that would increase taxes.  Since state law requires a 2/3 majority to pass, a budget must receive at least some Republican support to reach the governor’s desk.

Frustrated with lawmakers’ failure to send him a budget, Schwarzenegger suggested that legislators and the governor should lose their salaries and expense funds for each day that they miss the June 15 deadline for producing a budget.  The San Francisco Chronicle was unimpressed, calling it “a cheap stunt from a millionaire film star.”  (As one reader noted, that in itself was a cheap shot.  Schwarzenegger is not a millionaire film star; he is the @#$% governor.  I don’t see the Chronicle referring to Barack Obama by his previous job titles.)

While state politicians can’t agree on how to balance the budget, they are united in rejecting the idea that they should have to make any sacrifice of pay or perks.  Senate minority leader Dave Codgill (R, Fresno) says it’s enough that their pay is suspended during a budget stalemate.  “It just seems to me inappropriate to add a penalty just because it isn’t on time.  Is that what the people of this state want?  A budget that’s on time regardless of its quality?  I doubt that.”  Assemblyman Mark Leno (D, San Francisco) refuses to take any responsibility for the fiscal crisis.  “Why should I have my pay withheld when I’m being held hostage by a minority?”  (As previously reported here, and contrary to most other states, California lawmakers receive among their many perks free new cars.  And taxpayers foot the bill for their driving expenses.)

I get penalized at my job when I fail to complete a project on time.  If my department fails, we all get blamed.  We don’t get to pass the buck to someone else.  If elected officials are unable to perform their jobs, then they should notify their constituents and resign their positions.  I’m quite confident that we can find 120 capable citizens in this vast state who can take over and prepare a state budget that is reasonable, fair, and completed on time.

[by Justin Levine]

I’m pretty much on board with the assessments that the Bush Presidency has been a mixed bag, with more downs than ups. A more accurate assessment of a President never comes until years (sometimes decades) after he leaves office, since the effects of policies that are set in motion continue to make ripples in events long afterwards, even when the country changes direction. 

I have always felt that Bush was unfairly maligned for Katirna. I also always considred the “weapons of mass destruction” issue in Iraq to be an irrelevent sideshow that sometimes overshadowed the more important question of the overall handling of how the war was conducted (which itself does not seem all that impressive at the moment, though the jury verdict ultimately won’t come back on this for several more years). Even so, its always a dicey proposition to make hard judgements on issues such as these since its impossible to assess what state the world would be in today had Saddam remained in power. Anyone claiming to know that is simply lying in order to support their own political biases. 

I don’t give him as much credit for appointing Supreme Court Justices Roberts and Alito as some in the polically conservative camps do since he was only forced to appoint Alito after an outright revolt over his attempt to appoint Harriet Miers. While the Roberts appointment came first, a Miers appointment had the potential to negate much of the positive effects that Roberts had to offer. So any perceived achievement for judicial restraint and reasoning in this area belongs to the protesters, not Bush. 

I have always admired Bush for his decent temperament. He never seemed to have a big ego and never went out of his way to make arguments partisan (unlike the Clintons, whom I continue to despise because of these exact qualities). But an assessment of the Bush Presidency must be primarily based on actual policy decisions, more than personal temperament. 

With that all said, everyone assessing Bush’s legacy on all sides seems to have ignored what I consider to be his greatest domestic achievement (assuming that keeping us safe from terror attacks can be properly credited to Bush’s leadership and is also not labeled as a ‘domestic’ achievement).

Bush’s greatest achievement came relatively early on in his Presidency, so many have seemed to overlook it. This achievement has made the quality of millions of people’s lives much better – so much so that nearly everyone takes it for granted. Perhaps this is why nobody is talking about it.

So I will spare you the continued mystery [after the jump].

My vote for the greatest domestic achievement stemming from the Bush Presidency is (drum roll please)….

(more…)

And tomorrow, too.

Even though I voted for the other guy, and even though the inauguration hoopla is over-the-top and tiring, this event is still America at its best and worthy of the Flag.

It’s not about Obama, it’s about America.

Of me hating the media and the psycophantic circle-jerk it has become of Teh One…

This drinking game will likely kill you.

I do not recommend it.

David McCullough on the time it took for people to accept the proven fact that malaria and yellow fever are spread by mosquitos:

In the conventional understanding of history, human advancement is marked by specific momentous steps: on December 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers fly in a heavier-than-air machine and at once a new age dawns; in a hospital ward outside Havana Dr. Jesse Lazear dies a martyr’s death and the baffling horror of yellow jack is at last resolved. But seldom does it happen that way. Ideas too have their period of extrinsic incubation, and particularly if they run contrary to what has always seemed common sense. In the case of the Wright brothers, it was five years after Kitty Hawk before the world accepted the idea that their machine could fly.

The Path Between the Seas p 422