How different the headlines would look over the last two months if, as I speculated last year, Mark Racicot had agreed to be Bush's attorney general ...
He was Bush's first choice to be attorney general, but took himself out of the running for family and financial reasons. Conservative activists objected to his candidacy because he was considered too moderate on some issues. Bush selected staunch conservative John Ashcroft, a former Missouri governor and senator.
Very different, indeed. W
Tom Daschle doesn't just block floor votes on judicial nominees, he also blocks floor votes on executive branch appointments, like the nominee for Department of Labor Solicitor General, Eugene Scalia:
"I don't think the votes are there at this point," Mr. Daschle told reporters. "And so I don't know that it merits a lengthy debate."
Mr. Daschle, South Dakota Democrat, said he made the assessment against holding a confirmation floor vote for Mr. Scalia after consulting with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The panel approved Mr. Scalia's nomination by one vote in October.
Daschle doesn't think Scalia deserves a floor vote becase he doesn't think the Senate will vote to confirm him? What kind of piss-poor excuse is that?
Pharoah Daschle, let our people go to a vote! W
Holy cow. A year ago, I thought Mark Racicot did a fantastic job at explaining the many problems with the whole re-count process in Florida, and I thought he was at the time an intelligent, articulate party spokesman headed for greater things.
Today I found out that the President has picked Racicot to chair the RNC. This is an interesting choice for the party at this particular time. While Ashcroft seems best at generating dissent, Racicot comes across as moderate, thoughtful, and trustworthy. Even those on the right who don't agree with his policies should recognize that the party needs a spokesman like him right now. The RNC chairman is not a policy figure, he's a politial figure, and I feel confident that he can calm much of the furor heading into the next election. W
Remember how nay-sayers thought Afghanistan would be this generation's Vietnam? Remember how Soviet generals warned us we would get massacred? Remember those who spoke in awe of the Afghan ability to wage guerilla warfare?
All that ended today. The United States has become the first nation, perhaps in thousands of years, to successfully invade Afghanistan and topple the existing regime. W
If you want to cause spammers nightmares, I can't think of a good reason why it's not legal to send them invoices if they persist in spamming you. I would beef up the language a bit, though - don't make it a "tacit agreement" but a contract.
snowcraft.net is a terminally cute snowball fighting game. W
Chris Raettig wrote a cool note on the power of blogging. W
Matt's post about Krispy Creme...
I love the doughnuts, but the store design, logo design, and brand positioning has always impressed me more.
...reminded me of something that has been bugging me.I grew up in the South, and there was a Krispy Kreme store on my way home from school. It had been there since, it seemed, about 1950. Everything the doughnuts were, this store looked - classic, quality, eternal. But until a few years ago, there weren't many KK stores around at all. Outside of Florida, I'd never even seen one.
The company has had great success expanding through franchises. But these are no mom-n-pop stores. In order to qualify, you need to be rich already.
We currently grant franchises on an area development basis. Specifically, our area developers are required to build multiple stores (10 or more) in a market. The minimum net worth requirement is $5 million or $750,000 per store to be developed which ever is greater. For instance, a 15-store market requires a minimum net worth of $11,250,000.
The net result is that new franchise owners have already become wealthy from owning other franchises, resulting in more and more and co-branding situations, like Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut under one roof. They're opening in corners of gas stations, convenience stores, and sandwich shops. Now, I understand that co-branding is the hottest thing in food franchising, but I think Krispy Kreme is making a huge mistake allowing franchisees to put its retail stores in tiny corners of gas stations. They totally lose that old-time feel that really gave Krispy Kreme its allure, and I think ultimately, dilute the value of the Krispy Kreme brand. W
Can a Republican possibly accuse Democrats of blocking judicial nominations? You'd better believe it, sister. W
Dear KPMG,
If you're going to sue me, please send all legal papers to my office address. Because if KPMG is so stupid that it has its agents sending e-mails like this out into the media, KPMG is stupid indeed. I agree with Jason, who also links to the intellectually-challenged KPMG.
With lots of linky love,
Mike W
Ashcroft defends his policies:
Ashcroft said the furor over many of his anti-terrorism policies has been overblown, in part because the measures sound more sweeping than they really are. One example he cited was the order allowing the monitoring of attorney-client conversations, which he said currently applies to just over a dozen prisoners and includes substantial oversight to ensure that their rights are not violated.
"The more you know about them, the more you support them," Ashcroft said.
It's true, I'm a little less offended by this right now, but freedom always escapes in gradual doses. Just remember the Sixteenth Amendment, promised only to apply to 1% of the population.
Far more alarming than Ashcroft's policies, however, is the warm acceptance of them by the sheeple:
A new survey by The Washington Post and ABC News shows, however, that six in 10 people agree that suspected terrorists should be tried in special military tribunals and not in U.S. criminal courts. Three of four surveyed also agree that it should be legal for the federal government to wiretap conversations between suspected terrorists and their attorneys.
To clarify, I don't think the measures are unconstitutional, but I also don't think that road leads us anywhere good. W
Was I going to post something here? W