That’s the rumor.

Of course, if Cheney is not going to try in ‘08, it makes sense for him to resign and Bush to pick his chosen successor.

Barking Moonbat thinks this is an end run around the Democrats, but I have to wonder, to conservatives really want Condi? Maybe this is an end run around conservatives. Davenetics doesn’t buy the rumor. Travis is a bit vitriolic (”flight suit boy”) and scared (”elevate Condi”).

Of course, the left is going nuts on this, because the rumor stems from the report that Fitzgerald may have flipped John Hannah, a senior aid to the VP, and that Cheney may be a target of the Plame probe.

I’m trying something new. There are lots of carnivals out there, and I’ve never participated or hosted, but there’s a first time for everything, right?

I like food, and so I’ve decided to host a Carnival of the Recipes, and I’ll be #65. Set your calendar for November 13th, when I’ll bump this post to the top of the blog with lots of deliciousness.

The theme of the day, with a nod to the elections and Veterans day the week before, will be “Red, White and Blue.” Any food that fits into a patriotic them is good, with one exception. No red, white and blue jello. Everyone already has that recipe.

UPDATE: The Carnival of Recipes #65 will be here. (I realized post facto that I couldn’t change the date on the post without changing the slug, so didn’t want to break any old links.

Thomas Ferraro is either confused or deceptive. You pick. His article is titled: “Miers says no one knows if she would ban abortion.”

Red State rants:

Reuters’ Thomas Ferraro shows his fundamental misunderstanding of Constitutional law and the Roe v. Wade decision in a piece simplistically titled, “Miers says no one knows if she would ban abortion.” To the apparently brain-dead MSM, this is exactly what the reversal of Roe v. Wade would instantly accomplish: banning all abortion in America.

Confirm Them echoes:

In reality, overturning Roe v. Wade would simply return this policy-making role to elected legislators instead of judges, as Redstate pointed out this morning. But not only the title of that ABC/WaPo/Reuters story is wrong — the content is wrong too:

Wow. These are some incredible Photoshops.

It’s a good reminder to not believe everything you see.

Much has been written about the irony of this. I wont’ even try to top it.

Bad Hedgehog: “another valiant Kennedy water rescue comes to naught.”
Zero Point: “the mother of all morbid ironies.”
One Big Dog: “Kennedy ignores flashback, attempts rescue.”
Bob Krumm: “I think I’d swim.”
Peat Bog: “it’s almost painful to talk about Kennedy, rescue, and water without bringing up..”
Brainster: “Thirty-six years too late.”
Dusty at Pathetic Rim: “Like Mike Tyson helping with anger management”
Woody: “It’s amazing what you can do if you’re not drunk”
Crazy Politico: “What he should have done was got that brave chick from NBC to come help”
Salient Points: “I’ll let you fill in the blanks”
Kurt at Frog-Man: “Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment”
Jay Tea: “Maybe we can transfer him from the Senate to the Coast Guard?”
Pardon My English: “… at least six people in Massachusetts who are glad Kennedy was around.”
Jay Anderson: “… this time he didn’t wait until the next day to notify the appropriate authorities.”
Political Teen: “0 for 2 for Saving People At Sea”
Conservative Schooler: “This is NOT satire.”

Yes, Jeanine Pirro is attempting to unseat Senator Hillary Clinton, but she went a step further and asked Clinton for cash.

“Whether it was my first campaign for district attorney in 1993 or my most recent re-election in 2001, your support has been a source of comfort and proved to be critically important to my election victories,” Pirro wrote.

Wolfson said that as far as Clinton can remember, she has never contributed to a Pirro campaign.

“But today, Hillary, I need to know if I can count on you to stand by my side in my campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton,” Pirro added.

“I need you and every New Yorker on my side,” Pirro wrote. “But most important in this difficult campaign, I need people like you who I can trust.”

[snip]

Or, as Pirro wrote in her appeal to the Hillary Clinton of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.: “You and I both know the U.S. Senate isn’t Hillary’s real goal.”

Pirro’s campaign manager said someone registered Hillary’s name on the campaign website. Funny stuff.

The politicker thinks she was working off the wrong list.

It Affects You has some more serious criticism, as does Matty N.

Life Decisions International president Douglas R. Scott is urging Mattel Inc. to instruct it’s American Girl subsidiary to stop supporting Girls Inc.

It is not in the best interest of any corporation to get involved in such a controversial issue,” Scott said. “Mattel needs to stand down and stop giving its money and corporate endorsement to Girls Inc.”

This is in reference to Girls Inc.’s “Advocacy Statements” on abortion and sexuality, referenced in this post over at ProLifeBlogs.

We recognize the right of all women to choose whether, when, and under what circumstances to bear children. Reproductive freedom and responsibility are essential to other rights and opportunities, including pursuit of education, employment, financial security and a stable and fulfilling family life. Restrictions of reproductive choice are especially burdensome for young women and poor women. Girls Incorporated supports a woman’s freedom of choice, a constitutional right established by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 in Roe vs. Wade.

And…

To make responsible decisions about sexuality, pregnancy and parenthood, girls need and have a right to sensitive, truthful sexuality education; convenient access to safe, effective methods of contraception and protection from disease; and referral to comprehensive information, counseling, clinical and other services that support their responsible decisions. We recognize that any sizable group of girls includes those who face issues related to their sexual orientation or that of a family member and who face discrimination based on this sexual orientation. Girls have a right to positive, supportive environments and linkages to community resources for dealing with issues of sexual orientation.

Interesting law.

The ordinance reads no building operations, including erection, excavation, demolition, alteration or repair of any building in any residential area in the city, can be done on Sundays,” Codes and Inspections Director Ferrell White said.

The ordinance came up for debate last week after Codes Enforcement Officer Beau Herring ordered some contractors to stop working on a Sunday, only to find a family doing similar work on their home nearby.

City Administrator Ken York said he needs direction from the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on whether it is illegal for residents to paint or do other home improvement projects on Sunday.

I’m sure the original intent of the law was to provide residents with a day of peace, free of buzzing saws, pounding jackhammers, and ringing nails, but in the day of do-it-yourself weekend home improvement, it is time for this law to not just evolve, but to become extinct.

As a Mind & Media reviewer, I was recently sent a copy of Samuel J. Alibrando’s book “Nature Never Stops Talking” for the purposes of writing a review on Myopic Zeal. The subject matter of the book sounded intriguing, the tagline is “The Wonderful Ingenuity of Nature,” and as billed, the book is a collection of “bite sized” newspaper columns written by Mr. Alibrando.

In short, I was highly disappointed in this book, though to be fair, it may be a bit due to my expectations of the content. I was expecting each section to be detailed, scientific and awe inspiring, and yet none of these turned out to be true. After reading the first several chapters, I tried adjusting my preconceived expectations and began to read it from the perspective of reading it to a seven- or eight-year-old child, and that helped. That seems to be the approximate target audience that the author was shooting for; there is, however, a catch. The author, in an attempt to write casually, resorts to slang that should be relegated to email or instant messenger. The text is replete with “yeah,” “gonna,” (seriously) and “huh” and the occasional sarcasm flops because in parenthesis following it he insultingly states the obvious (”this is sarcasm”).

While there are some parts of the book that are clearly well researched, there are other sections where the author appears to have been up against a column deadline and taken shortcuts. I would much rather have seen a more scholarly, well researched and detailed discussion of each of the topics covered in the book, even if it took a several book series format.

The book is a great idea and the topics are intriguing, and while it did open my eyes to some new concepts, it left me feeling short-changed in both quality and quantity of content, as well as the actual writing itself.

UPDATE: In discussing my thoughts with Mr. Alibrando, I mentioned my concerns about the casual writing style and lack of scientific detail, and his response is completely reasonable. I share it with you here to present a different perspective.

Though I agree sitting up straight is better than slouching and in writing; formality would be superior to informality but for 12 years I have done that intentionally. This was also discussed at great length with my editors who concluded [not me] that it was important to retain that informal flavor to keep a certain “blue collar” feel to the book. To give some folks the idea that it was a regular guy talking so that they would not feel it was someone smarter than they would normally talk to.

[snip]

Ultimately Eric, it is kind of a marketing decision of who I am trying to reach – even kids.

I applaud the effort to bring the wonder of nature from a scientific perspective to the masses, but though I slouch, and often blog casually, is not my personal preference in a book discussing science.