links for 2010-11-23

Jonathan Strong of The Daily Caller assesses the chances that Democrats will sneak through the "DREAM Act" partial immigration amnesty in the waning days of the lame duck Congress. As feared, the conclusion is murky, given the criss-crossing array of potentially soft Republicans and potentially tough Democrats in the Senate. But a) a "proprietary vote simulation and prediction engine" called WhipCast gives DREAM a 33% chance of passage; b) Microsoft and other tech companies are pushing for it; and c) even more worrisome, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's spokesman gives a shockingly nonchalant answer when asked if stopping DREAM is a priority:

“I don’t have a whip count on it. … Our priority is making sure no one gets a tax hike and funding the government while reducing spending.”

I take that as a "no."
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DeMint et al will KILL the Dream Act…….

The Democrats are total morons for not finding their own hot mama before the Republicans did so first, or maybe I should have left off the qualifiers and called it straight: the Democrats are just plain morons, at least where women are concerned. The right wing, for whatever weird reason, has been much more receptive to outrageous and attractive female commentators who are varying degrees of insane or inane, but in any case are given a platform on Fox News and at their conservative confabs. Look at how great life has been for Megyn Kelly and Laura Ingraham and the assorted lesser lights. But there are no Democratic blondes, no riot grrrls on the progressive side of politics, no fun and fabulous women in the liberal scene who could pave the way for a Palin
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Read it all.

The LEFT is insufferable

Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details.

Aviation security officials would not name those who can skip the controversial screening, but other officials said those VIPs range from top officials like Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and FBI Director Robert Mueller to congressional leaders like incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who avoided security before a recent flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport.

The heightened new security procedures by the Transportation Security Administration, which involve either a scan by a full-body detector or an intimate personal pat-down, have spurred passenger outrage in the lead-up to the Thanksgiving holiday airport crush.
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Uh No…..

The Washington Post boasts some of the top liberal bloggers, such as Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent. Now the paper's bringing a conservative into the blog stable.

The Post has hired Jennifer Rubin, previously with Commentary magazine, to launch a new blog next month that "will provide critical news coverage and commentary, with an exacting eye on conservative policy-making and Republican campaigns, pundits and politicians," according to a memo obtained by The Cutline.

David Weigel wrote a blog on the conservative movement until June, when private emails surfaced in which he was harshly critical of some leaders on the right. He resigned over the flap.

But Weigel, now at Slate, didn't write his blog from a conservative perspective as Rubin is expected to do–even if some readers, and Post managers, thought he would be doing so. Another difference: Weigel was on the national staff, whereas Rubin and Sargent fall on the opinion side of the paper.
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A good edition

The Harris County Tea Party near the Alabama border campaigned far and wide in this month's midterm elections. Donations were mailed to tea-party candidates in Nevada and Alaska. There were multiple overnight bus trips to rallies in Washington, D.C.

The next stop, however, is closer to home: the local school board.

"Don't get me wrong, we're still going to engage in Washington, but now we're going after what is here locally. Our focus is turning to our community," said Kathy Ropte, the group's founder, over cola at a Blimpie sub shop, a popular local tea-party meeting spot off the town square. Aware that education consumes a big chunk of local property taxes, group members are combing through the salaries of every county school employee from the superintendent down.
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And, will increase their membership in gearing up to replace Obama in 2012.