all-encompassingly

Howard Fineman of Newsweek accused the entire state of Kentucky of bigotry [based on some recent comments by Mitch McConnell].

Kentucky, Fineman said, is “a state where the nativist appeal outside of Louisville really works big-time.” The Republicans, he said, are “going to use whatever fear message they can. It’s aimed at Kentucky, for sure.”

I believe the Bluegrass state has just been called “nativist” without any evidence at all! Was Kentucky’s father a nativist? Was it educated in a nativist madrassa as a child? Did Kentucky just endorse the idea of a nativist cultural center at Ground Zero?

Ann Coulter points out some hypocrisy.

*Results may vary. See store for details.

President Obama has taken a lot of vacations. One blogger points out:

Obama spent nearly four years trying to convince the public that he not only was qualified for the job, but that he actually wanted it. And enough people bought into his hope and change to give it to him.

The same blogger posts this graphic (click to enlarge):

The entertaining chart doesn’t show it, but President Obama has golfed about 40 or 50 times during his presidency, in addition to these other breaks. There is nothing wrong with golfing or vacationing, but for a couple of things:

(1) The President repeatedly criticizes other people for vacationing in such places as Las Vegas.

(2) As Mark Levin notes, President Obama repeatedly promised us he would not be resting:

APRIL 9, 2009 – “And we will not rest until we reach a day when not one single veteran falls into homelessness”

MAY 11, 2009 – “I will not rest until the dream of health care reform is finally achieved in the United States of America”

NOVEMBER 2, 2009 – “We will not rest until we are succeeding in generating the jobs that this economy needs”

NOVEMBER 23, 2009 – “I will not rest until business are investing again, and businesses are hiring again”

JANUARY 28, 2010 – “We will not rest until we build an economy that’s ready for America’s future”

MARCH 5 2010 – “I’m not gonna rest & my administration is not gonna rest in our efforts to help people who are looking to find a job”

MAY 26, 2010 – “We will not rest until this well is shut, the environment is repaired and the clean up is complete”

JULY 8, 2010 – “My administration will not rest until every American who is able and ready and willing to work can find a job”

Follow the link and you will see this has been put into a handy presidential audio montage.

None of this stuff is done yet Obama is resting all over the place like your fat uncle after Thanksgiving dinner. I mean, give me a break.

This week, it was reported that FIFA may do away with ties in the group stage at the world cup to make the games more exciting. That change sounds interesting, but I have (what I think are) several better ideas. After the problems with officiating at this year’s tournament, someone suggested we all write Sepp Blatter urging rule reform. I haven’t yet, but here are my proposed rule changes:

1. Abolish the offside rule to open up the game and increase scoring. It is a dumb rule anyway and it is almost impossible to call offsides correctly in close cases. This is why about half of offsides calls go the wrong way.

Besides, the most exciting play in soccer is when a long pass is played to someone in front of the play. Teams will adjust by spreading the field defensively and the game will hardly notice the change — except that offense and fan excitement will increase. Bad refereeing will be marginalized with this change.

2. Institute instant replay sparingly. Offside, hand ball, and red card scenarios are where replay will be most useful. Maybe add a back judge behind the goal to provide another set of eyes in each penalty area. Have a delayed call like in the NHL where the play can be reviewed at the next natural break (stoppage in play) so as not to disrupt the game. Have a replay team up in the booth. Both basketball and hockey in the US have taken cues from the NFL model and that is great. The NFL was the first to make clarity and tranparency in officiating a reality. Soccer needs this very badly, if only at the world cup once every four years. This change will also help diminish the impact bad refereeing will have on games.

3. Shrink the penalty area by 1/3 or create a ball spot further out — like at the edge of the 18 yard box — for penalty kicks that correspond to edge-of-the-box fouls. Those fouls are whistled too rarely now, and if they are, they can disproportionately impact the game. This change will help insure that players decide the outcome of games, not referees.

4. How hard would it be to have a game clock like most every other sport?How hard would it be to put a guy up in a box who stops the game clock when there is an injury, etc? Then we could all see the time and not have to guess. I don’t mind this soccer quirk, but I think it would help the game’s popularity in the US.

That’s it. Also of note, about 12 years ago, Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald wrote one of the laziest columns imaginable on the US men’s olympic ice hockey team.

Recently, she redeemed herself in my eyes with a truly thoughtful piece on FIFA’s reluctance to modernize the game of soccer.

I mean, can we harvest the man’s DNA and raise up his clone to govern us?

Why can’t a living elected official explain the problems with the current path our nation is on as clearly as old quotations from Ronald Reagan can?

The stunning decline of Barack Obama: 10 key reasons why the Obama presidency is in meltdown

HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS COMING?

How do you throw a mosque under a bus anyhow? That bus is going to snap an axle pretty soon. — Palladian

Sad.

Whatever you think of Al Gore’s politics, his marriage with Tipper was a welcome contrast to you-know-who during the 1990′s. Unfortunate news today that they are getting divorced after 40 years of marriage.

A great collection of the Mitch Hedberg ads for the Jimmy John’s sandwich chain.

Listen:

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Please spare us the doomsday scenarios and predictions until you have read the law. Opponents of the law claim it will lead to racial profiling and discrimination. This is a possibility with any and every law. If Arizona wanted to stick it to hispanics, it didn’t need to pass an immigration law, it could have just told its law enforcement personnel to ticket and detain only brown-skinned people at all.

I haven’t been able to find the statistics, but I’d guess that between forty and sixty percent of the law enforcement personnel in Arizona are probably of hispanic origin. Why would these folks help the white man target their people unlawfully?

It makes no sense. Just like most of the criticisms of this law that I have heard.

A quick joke from a regular reader:

A lawyer dies and goes to heaven. “There must be some mistake,” the lawyer argues. “I’m too young to die. I’m only fifty-five.”

“Fifty-five?” says Saint Peter. “No, according to our calculations, you’re eighty-two.”

“How do you get that?” the lawyer asks.

Answers St. Peter: “We added up your time sheets.”

Check out the evil new Arizona law:

“Every alien…shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him…Any alien who fails to comply…shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and…fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than 30 days, or both.

Oh, wait. That’s 8 USC 1304(e). Federal law. Been around for decades. Surprisingly, it has not turned our nation into Nazi Germany.

Can people stop hyperventilating? For more on the Arizona law, read this.