PunditGuy

I’ll be back to a more normal condition later this evening, and as if almost by magic, this blog will wake up simultaneously.

UPDATE: 8:45 PM PDT – Back in business. Blogging to resume shortly.

I’m trying to cope with two problems right now. One you already know about – my lack of broadband. The other thing is a head cold that invited a nagging cough to the party. Nothing less than smite I’m sure. Life isn’t so grand at the moment. That would explain the lack of blogging over the past couple of days. It’s just been too hard to cope with both ‘things’. But I did manage to crawl around the web a little bit tonight, and here’s what I found.

Rudi Giuliani says he’ll consider a run for the presidency in 2008. That’ll start the saliva running with some folks. Me? It depends on who joins him in the primaries. Rudi is a wee bit liberal for me, so for the moment, I’ll let his bus go by.

What a waste. 21 elderly people died when the tour boat they were on sank after it capsized. Apparently, it happened after another boat went past it too fast. The wake was enough to tip the tour boat over. No one could confirm that any of the passengers were wearing life jackets.

No matter where you go today, it’s likely that someone within 100 feet of you will have a video camera, be it a cell phone or the traditional type. Such was the case when a suicide bomber blew himself up in a restaurant in Bali yesterday. 26 people died. I saw the clip on NBC News, but I have yet to find a direct link on the net. My lack of bandwidth has limited my browsing ability. The video is chilling. People sitting, talking, eating and drinking. Completely unaware of what was about to happen to them. I think that kind of video is the worst kind to watch.

We should hear about the next Supreme Court nominee this week. After all the theatrics that was the John Roberts confirmation, I’m burnt out on the thought of the whole thing starting over again. Talk about deja vu – I’ve read a few statements from Democrats over the past couple of days. The same cast of characters are repeating the same threats of a filibuster. Yawn. Wake me when it’s over.

I still think New Orleans is finished. I’m not fooled one bit by the recent ‘good PR news’ about citizens moving back and businesses reopening. Police Superintendent Compass resigned (in part) because he didn’t want people moving back into the city. He knows what it looks like. It’s a mess. And it’s not safe. One things for sure, you can’t depend on the safety of the drinking water. And guess what you find after you drain water from buildings that have been submerged for weeks? Mold. The dangerous to humans type. It’s no wonder some are never going to return.

No body can fool Army Lt. Gen. Russel ‘Whupass’ Honore. He’s seen a lot during his time in Louisiana, and he knows first hand how hard it’s been for those trying to piece their lives back together.

I’m sure we’ll keep hearing about stories like this for quite awhile. I just hope we learn as much as we can from the experiences of Katrina and Rita to protect ourselves a little more the next time this happens. And it will happen again. 

This is bizarre. Someone who wanted to commit suicide blew themself up outside the stadium at the University of Oklahoma. Most of the suicides I’ve heard about occur in private, and they’re discovered only after a loved one goes looking for them. For whatever reason, this person wanted to make a statement, and national news headlines. They succeeded in doing both.

I know George W. Bush has seen higher poll ratings during his presidency, but for some reason the Left really wants to pile-on now. Why? What does this accomplish? Do they think they can keep this talk alive for the next 12 months with the hope of effecting 2006 races? If so, they better pick another strategy.

I’m going to hit a special milestone this week. Check back on Wednesday.

Yes, that’s the year 1994. Why is that significant? Because that was the last year in which I had to dialup to the Internet. In the last half of 1994, I had 768 Kbps DSL installed in my home.

And I can hear you thinking — “So what?”

I’m connected to the Internet right now at a blistering 31.2 Kbps. Yeah, dialup.

It’s killing me. Like, there’s no oxygen in the room.

I’m at a time share resort and you’d think that all modern time share resorts would have WiFi by now right? Or at least a DSL connection in the room. Not this one. Nope. I’ve got a freakin phone line connected to my laptop. What’s worse is, the business across the street from here has WiFi. In fact, the WiFi is OPEN and not encrypted. I’ve spent the last 3 hours trying to hack my way in…to no avail.

His DHCP isn’t working correctly, so no IP address for me. No high speed internet for me.

Serves me right.

Have you ever tried to blog at 31.2 Kbps?

So here I sit. Remembering that godforsaken year, 1994.

It’s scary when an entire month seems like a week. That’s what September felt like for me. One week.

And here we are, October.

I’ve got lots of ‘life’ stuff to do today, so blogging will be light.

Have a good Saturday.

Bill Quick has a lot of interesting things to say today. Go, QUICKly.

I found this interesting. Jay Rosen and a bunch of other well known bloggers met with some of the bosses of big media to discuss the future of web development and cultural change. Here’s part of the story:

Big Media does not know how to innovate.

What capacity for product development do news organizations show? Zip. How are they on nurturing innovation? Terrible. Is there an entreprenurial spirit in newsrooms? No. Do smart young people ever come in and overturn everything? Never. Do these firms attract designers and geeks who are gifted with technology? They don’t, because they don’t do anything challenging enough. They don’t innovate, or pay well. So they can’t compete.

Go read the rest.

As if they didn’t have enough problems already (bad ratings, lack of revenue, terrible hosts), liberal radio network Air America now advocates violence against those who disagree with their political positions.

Host Mike Malloy told his listeners last night that Blogs for Bush writer Mark Noonan should be beat up, a lot. The audio has been captured, and you can listen to it here.

MORE: With Love, From Daily Kos

As you’ve no doubt learned by now, recently jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller was release late yesterday. I haven’t spent a lot of time on the Plame issue, mostly because I just wasn’t all that interested, and also because there were plenty of other bloggers covering it. There’s no sense in me picking the whole thing up now, so I’ll direct you to the people who have been following the complicated twists and turns of this story.

Blogs: Tom Maguire | Power Line | John Podhoretz | Needlenose | Patterico | Murry Waas | The Volokh Conspiracy | Hullabaloo | Anonymousliberal | Roger Ailes | Billmon | The Next Hurrah | Michelle Malkin | Captain’s Quarters | Outside The Beltway | Joe Gandelman | Running Scared | ScrappleFace |

MSM: Editor & Publisher | WaPo | Huffington Post | AP | WSJ | LA Times | The DAOU Report | Breitbart.com |

As for Mrs. Clinton, her vote shows her to be an extremist, to the left even of the Democratic Party. As New York’s other senator might say, she has drifted far outside the mainstream and is headed for an iceberg, and if she doesn’t stop rearranging the deck chairs before she finds herself in the fishbowl of a presidential campaign, she will have to row and wade frantically just to avoid sinking into the quicksand of a watery grave.

James Taranto, regarding Hillary Clinton voting against the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts.

Read any one of these quotes and you’ll agree — Cindy Sheehan is off her rocker.

“I don’t understand” the “Gold Star Moms who still support [Bush] and his war,” and “I . . . pray for these ‘continue the murder and mayhem’ moms to see the light.” [From her online diary, Aug. 27, 2005]

Saddam Hussein and Donald Rumsfeld are “kindred spirits.” [Online diary, Aug. 24, 2005]

Her son “was killed for lies and for a . . . Neo-Con agenda to benefit Israel.” [From an e-mail to “Nightline,” March 15, 2005]

The president and “his destructive Neo-con cabal” are “the biggest terrorist outfit in the world.” [From her essay, June 6, 2005]

“We are waging a nuclear war in Iraq right now. That country is contaminated. It will be contaminated for practically eternity now.” [San Francisco State University speech, April 27, 2005]

The Bush administration is “a bunch of f—ing hypocrites.” [San Francisco State University speech, April 27, 2005]

“If George Bush believes his rhetoric and his bulls–t, that this is a war for freedom and democracy, that he is spreading freedom and democracy, does he think every person he kills makes Iraq more free?” [San Francisco State University speech, April 27, 2005]

Bush “needs to sign up his two little party-animal girls. They need to go to this war.” [San Francisco State University speech, April 27, 2005]

” . . . [W]e have to impeach everybody from George Bush down to the person who picks up dog s–t in Washington. . . . ” [San Francisco State University speech, April 27, 2005]

Via Larry Elder