Handy Haversack of news

My "to be blogged" folder is now taking other folders hostage and is making demands. Since I don't negotiate with terrorists, I decided to clear out the folder a bit. Let's dig into our Haversack, shall we?

• Obama cuts $17 billion off of the budget. The bright side is this is quite a bit better than the $100 million he started with. The downside is this is less than half of one percent of the $3.4 Trillion budget he pushed through. On the balance, it is good to cut spending...Still not enough to impress me. Also, since most of these cuts are likely to be nixed by Congress, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference.
• Sarah Palin to get the coolest M4 EVER! The NRA has custom designed a M-4 just for the Governor. From the all white paint job, to the .50 cal round it uses, to a neat little nameplate, this weapon is really cool.
• Oklahoma tells Federal Gov't to back off. The OK State Congress passed a bill, similar to Texas, that "would tell [the Federal] Congress to 'get back into their proper constitutional role.' The resolution states the federal government should 'cease and desist' mandates that are beyond the scope of its powers." This may just be political posturing, but I still like the tone.
• Pedophiles must be protected...Veterans, not so much. During a House Judiciary Meeting where they were discussing a hate crimes bill, an amendment was proposed to exclude pedophiles from being a protected status. Every Democrat voted it down. During the same session, an amendment was proposed to protect veterans under the bill. As Red State reports, "Not only did the Democrats vote it down, but Cogresswoman Debbie Waasserman Schultz attacked the Republicans for even thinking veterans might need protection under hate crimes legislation." I think hate crimes legislation is silly to begin with (and unconstitutional), and ought to be gotten rid of. But if you have to have it, do it right.
• Ann Coulter delivers the smackdown. Here's the exchange, and it is priceless. To paraphrase: Joy Behr: "You are a supporter of waterboarding, but you don't want to be waterboarded yourself." Ann Coulter: "You are pro-choice, but you don't want to be aborted." Whammy.
• Environmentalist sailors rescued at sea by...wait for it...an Oil Tanker. The irony is delicious. A group of greenies start on a 5k mile emission-free sailing trip to Greenland. After winds capsized them, solar panels were destroyed, and their wind generator kicked the bucket, they had to be saved by the Oveseas Yellowstone. Yes, Big Oil to the rescue again.
• Hey Unions: The Secret Ballot works. A group of nurses in a hospital in Louisville are getting a lesson in the ballot process. Twice, when a petition to vote on unionizing was passed around, a "clear majority" of nurses signed the petition for the union. Yet, when the results from the subsequent secret ballot were tabulated, a majority of nurses voted against a union. The NY Times spins this as showing why the Card Check rule needs to be adopted. Secret ballots obviously don't work! Actually, this shows exactly the opposite. When the vote is public, people can be intimidated, threatened, etc. When the vote is secret, there is no way to harm someone for voting one way or another. That's what secrete means. Therefore, since the secret ballot is more accurate, and it overwhelmingly goes against the union, that implies that the public ballot (or "card check") method is not accurate. There I go, using logic again. Silly me. Facts don't belong in political discussions.