I debuted the song “The Same Mistake” here last night. It’s all part of my crazy project to have professional musicians record songs I wrote in the 1990s. Details on the project here.

Consistent with my pattern, I am publishing the lyrics here tonight. I’ll go ahead and include the song again with the lyrics, below the fold. As I said last night in a comment, the lyrics may be a little goofy, but it has one of my favorite couplets of any song I have written:

Insulting your intelligence would not concern me now
There’s not much chance that it would take offense

The lyrics are meant to be heard and not just read, so hit the play button and follow along as Northern Pikes lead singer Jay Semko sings a song I wrote.

(more…)

Not a shock — just surprising (OK, not surprising) that it took this long:

The Justice Department said Tuesday its independent investigation found “insufficient evidence” to charge George Zimmerman with federal civil rights violations in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

Attorney General Eric Holder said the evidence did not meet the “high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution,” but the decision should not end efforts to explore racial tensions in the justice system. The decision closes the federal investigation.

“This young man’s premature death necessitates that we continue the dialogue and be unafraid of confronting the issues and tensions his passing brought to the surface,” Holder said in a statement. “We, as a nation, must take concrete steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future.”

Don’t attack and beat guys with guns, would be one way to do that, Mr. Holder.

[guest post by Dana]

Scott Walker, refusing to kowtow to the media’s shameful “gotcha” game, is instead shrewdly taking advantage of the “press” he’s been getting and using it as a fundraising springboard. This in spite of his insidious and cowardly behavior which is causing Dana Milbank’s head to most amusingly explode.

In a bold move, Walker refused to be baited in answering the latest “gotcha” of whether he thought Obama was a Christian:

“To me, this is a classic example of why people hate Washington and, increasingly, they dislike the press. The things they care about don’t even remotely come close to what you’re asking about.

Team Walker, recognizing an opening, sent the following email out to supporters:

Governor Scott Walker has always believed in standing up for big, bold ideas.

And he refuses to be distracted by the small, petty, and pale ideas that the “gotcha” headline writers for the Liberal Media want to talk about. He refuses to be drawn into the sideshow of answering pointless questions about whether and how much President Obama loves our country. To Governor Walker, what matters are ideas, issues, his record, and results. If you agree, please stand with him with a contribution of $10, $35, $50, $100, $250, or more.

When you have a record like President Obama and the Democrats’, the last thing you want to talk about are results. That is why their defenders in the mainstream media love to distract the public. That is why they sensationalize the news, promote Democrat propaganda, and demonize Republicans.

Enough is enough.

Now is the time to stand up against the publicity hounds and the journalistic pack, and help Governor Walker fight back with a “Friends of Scott Walker” contribution of $10 or $100 or $1,000 or whatever amount is right for you. Your support will show the clueless and mindless journalistic herd that you know what matters most and that it is not the pointless minutiae that they are pushing.

Of course, not everyone thinks Walker is being smart about his handling of the press:

The challenge for a new presidential candidate is not limited to coming up with a cogent answer for how you would win the war against ISIS or raise wages. You’ve also got to come up with a strategy for handling the circus. You can engage, duck, or turn it to your advantage. Walker is trying to transform a duck into a weapon by making the press an issue.

Time will tell, but for a lot of us, enough is indeed, enough.

–Dana

UPDATE BY PATTERICO: I think Walker is leaving some rhetorical opportunity on the table. I think he should say, as I have said here recently: “I don’t know if Barack Obama is a Christian or not. What I do know, however, is that he used his claimed Christianity to sell an opportunistic political lie about his beliefs on gay marriage to the American public. I think we need leaders who won’t lie to the citizens, about their religious beliefs or anything else.”