In Real Life

It has happened again:

An Egypt Air official told the paper an investigation revealed that the 48-year-old passenger, who owns a reptile shop in Kuwait, had hidden the Egyptian cobra in a carry-on bag. The passenger was trying to control the snake after it bit his hand and started slithering under the seats.

Need a little help from Samuel L. here:



It took me a little googling to decode the US Senate's rejection of the disability treaty yesterday, but it turns out it was, of all things, a home schooler issue.

The letter was organized by Senator Mike Lee of Utah, who said the treaty threatened US sovereignty and could force the parents of disabled children to send them to public schools. It drew the support of home-schoolers who also fretted that the treaty was, among other things, a sly way to force America to adopt laws enshrining “abortion rights, homosexual rights, and demands the complete disarmament of all people.”

You forgot evolution there. Anyway the home school angle explains Rick Santorum's involvement.

But despite that win, a couple losses for the GOP:

The Republican push to make it more difficult to vote this year — seen by many as a racially tinged attempt to keep Democratic turnout down — could not have failed more spectacularly, a top African American activist told a left-leaning think tank Tuesday.

Those Republican legislators flipped a switch with the African American vote, Hardy said, rekindling whatever enthusiasm had waned after 2008’s historic Obama win.

And where was that first of the month press release from A.J Spiker bragging about the Republican lead in Iowa voter registrations? Oh, yeah. Dems got the lead back. No bragging from me, since no party voters spiked even more, but TheIowaRepublican has an honest self-assessment:

The Democrats’ success can be attributed to their superior ground organization in the lead-up to the November 6 elections. The Iowa GOP held a registration edge of more than 21,000 at the end of July, but that lead quickly dissipated as Election Day drew closer.

The fact that Iowa Republicans held the lead three months before Election Day, but lost it in November, shows that the GOP Victory turnout apparatus was inferior.

TIR also has a good look a a recent conference on the caucuses.

Finally, Senator Jeff Danielson offers a just for fun map: all the towns mentioned in the country classic "I've Been Everywhere." I must make a correction, having spent a couple years as an overnight country oldies DJ. Hank Snow sang it first, way back in 1962, and Johnny Cash only covered it during his late-career American Recordings renaissance. But in fairness my memory is a little rusty; since it was a trucker song, I could have sworn it was by Dave Dudley.