The Chris Moeller Archives

Are the "Girlie-men" fighting back?

Arnold Schwarzenneger still has trouble avoiding references to his film career, but he's now starting to express some major regrets about ever seeking the Governorship of California.

I never opposed the special election of 2003, even though it was engineered by high-powered, low-principled political operatives. The result, it seemed, was an accidental outbreak of democracy and representative accountability.

But Golden State residents should have backed Arianna.


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Another safeguard against American-applied torture is being peeled away. The U.S. Senate voted Thursday to strip "enemy combatants" of their right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts through lawsuits. If the move is approved by the House, the law would nullify a 2004 Supreme Court decision, as well as deny GitMo inmates access to any federal court to challenge the rationale for their detention. (Who needs checks and balances when you have the frathouse fun of Abu Ghraib?)

The vote passed the Senate 49-42, due specifically to the support of five Democrats. They are: Mary Landrieu (LA), Ben Nelson (NE), Kent Conrad (ND), Ron Wyden (OR), and Joe Lieberman (CT).


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Enjoy this dissection of the comedy and First Amendment heroism of Sarah Silverman. Funny lady, as that baffoon Larry King would say.


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Three cheers for Chris Carpenter, 2005 National League Cy Young winner! (Applause break.) Chris becomes the first Cardinal to win since Bob Gibson in 1970, and by my count, the first National Leaguer, at least, to win it pitching with a reconstructed shoulder.

Two other elements about the voting please me: 1) Voters presumably accounted for the fact that Carpenter had gone 18 consecutive starts without losing, and his team had won the last 17 of his starts at the time they clinched the division. His last four starts in September were meaningless. For once, the watered down Wild Card playoff system didn't bite the Cardinals in the ass. 2) Someone... anyone... on the Cardinals has been rewarded for the fact that the team has won 205 regular season games over the last two years. Tony LaRussa's apparently not the reason. Albert Pujols? We'll find out next week.

posted by CM @ 10:50 AM