Midweek Musings There is a fine line between standing alone in the face of adversity as evidence of integrity and strength of character, versus standing alone because you're the only idiot in the room.  Most can agree, I believe, that Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who's also running for President, falls into the latter category rather than the former.

During today's debate, of course largely symbolic, on a resolution concerning the anniversary of 9/11, he was the lone Congressman to vote "no", citing political concerns over the war in Iraq and other things.  This is coming from the guy who advocates rename the Department of Defense the "Department of Peace", and "declaring peace" around the world.  Riiiiiight.  That's all the world is waiting for is a declaration from the United States, at which point all conflicts everywhere will magically be resolved....

_______________________________________

Finally, football season is in full swing, with the NFL schedule starting up this past weekend to complement the college season that started the week before.

In the pro game, already we've seen maestroes Peyton Manning and Tom Brady light up the field offensively, bonecrushing defense on display courtesy of the Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers, and a tragic spinal cord injury.  In college, the bonecrushing defense was courtesy of LSU, and we've seen the monumental collapse of traditional powers Michigan and Notre Dame (who play each other in an early-season futility bowl this coming weekend).

Whenever anyone asks me my favorite season, the answer is always:  football.
_______________________________________

The new song from She Wants Revenge is called "True Romance", and it sounds great.  It will be interesting to hear what new dark tunes they have come up with for the new album.
_______________________________________

Also great:  the new song "Radio Nowhere" from the Boss.  Springsteen changes styles nearly seemlessly from album to album, and this new song is a straight-ahead guitar-driven rock & roll tour de force.  Plus, it is right:  regular radio pretty much sucks.  As he says in the song:  I'm sticking with satellite.
_______________________________________

Fred Thompson finally officially jumped into the race for the presidency, choosing to "go it alone" on with Jay Leno rather than fight with the gaggle of candidates in the "official" debate on FoxNews.  Let's see, Leno gets five times more viewers, and Thompson would have the stage to himself (well, himself & Leno, of course) — any wonder why he chose the venue he did?

As for the debate itself, there are just too many candidates there, meaning that each one gets far too little time to express more than soundbites.  I didn't watch the whole thing, but I thought Guiliani got in a good zinger in response to a question about feeling safe in New York City:  he remarked about how anyone feeling unsafe in NYC should remember that he is something like 60% more likely to be a crime victim in Boston, effectively disarming both the question (I think which was based on a Fred Thompson quote) and taking a jab at Mitt Romney (former Massachusetts governor).

Other than that, the debate mostly featured some forceful ramblings from Ron Paul and some silly audience questions.  If you missed it, don't feel left out.  Now if we could just get Messrs. Tancredo, Paul, Hunter, and Brownback to quit the race, the other candidates could have more time to actually debate and not just harangue.
_______________________________________

Apparently Theodore ("Ted") Olson is at least among the frontrunners for the open position of Attorney General, to replace the incompetent crony Alberto Gonzales.  While he might be considered in some ways anathema to the left for his role in the 2000 election debacle (he argued the legal case for George W. Bush versus David Boies who advocated on behalf of Al Gore), he is highly qualified and would be a well-spoken advocate for justice and protecting individual liberty.  Of the "short list" candidates I've heard mentioned thus far, he is my favorite choice.
_______________________________________

From listening to the report of General Petraeus and analysis by conservative and liberal pundits, I've learned that the surge has been a military success/failure, that things are better/worse in Iraq, that would should be bringing back some/all of our troops soon/now/sometime, and we should continue/end the current policy because we are optimistic/pessimistic about the future.

Seriously, though, Petraeus does have a sense of credibility that most in Congress — Republicans and Democrats — don't have.  He's on the front lines, and I've read nothing to convince me that we should just leave Iraq.  Intelligent people can debate and disagree about how we should have handled things from the beginning, but what's important now is how to move forward, and I just don't see pulling out and leaving the country to Iran, Syria, and al Qaeda as the best answer (or the least bad).
_______________________________________

Regardless of whether or not one agrees with Petraeus or our involvement in Iraq, the moveon.org add denouncing Petraeus as "General Betray Us" was so far over the line it was ridiculous.  Kudos to Sens. Liebermann and (gasp!) John Kerry for having the guts to denounce a powerful member of the leftist coalition.