I used to live in New Jersey, and you know what, it kind of sucks

And now there's this:

NEWARK, N.J. - Some business owners in this crime-plagued city say recent
enforcement of a 1966 ordinance banning some types of barbed wire and razor wire is making Newark more attractive - to thieves.

Burglaries are up 17 percent from 2007 through
November in Newark, which has a young, charismatic mayor who has vowed to help
the city rebound from decades of official inaction, incompetence and
criminality.The city is aggressively courting new investment and
development, but people who have been ordered to downgrade their fences say
officials are worried more about aesthetics than security.

John DeSantis, owner of a lot used by an auto-repair business in Newark's West Ward, says his property has been the site of more than a dozen burglaries
since the summer, when the city forced him to remove razor wire on top
of the 7-foot-tall fence that surrounds the lot.

(bolding mine) But at least theives won't get hurt!

DeSantis said he was surprised when a city official told him that the ordinance was being enforced to prevent passers-by or anyone climbing the fence from being injured by the barbed wire.

Umm, last I checked, the only way that a "passer by" can get injured on barbed wire is when that person tries to climb it, say, to go somewhere that person isn't allowed.

Quick quiz- Which political party has a deadlock hold on New Jersey?

Oh please, oh please!

Democrats threatening to shut down government over oil drilling debate:

The chairman of the House Democratic Caucus said Tuesday that House Republican
Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) would be the “author” of a government shutdown if
President Bush followed Blunt’s advice and vetoed any bill extending the federal
moratoria on new offshore oil drilling and shale-oil development. The moratoria
are currently set to expire on Sept. 30. “If Mr. Blunt’s recommendation to
the president is for a veto to force that, he’d be the author of the shutdown of
the government,” Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic
Caucus, said at a House Democratic leadership press conference attended by House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.).

If the democrats really go through with this, I predict a republican landslide.

Yet another reason to vote McCain

From the republican party's platform:

The new document says the U.S. “will pay a fair, but not disproportionate,
share of dues” to the U.N., and “will never support a U.N.-imposed tax.”

So, where's that in the democratic platform?

The Humor Campaign

A discussion of McCain’s “Humor Campaign”

Will it work? It’s hard to say. I’m thinking that it’s pretty much unprecedented in presidential elections, but it’s certainly grabbed a lot of attention during what is traditionally a very slow period in the presidential race, and people do appreciate a sense of humor (I think that John Kerry’s tendency to take himself far too seriously certainly worked against him last time, and we all remember the wooden Al Gore.) Of course, Bob Dole is a very funny guy (I doubt that he does the late night shows anymore, but when he did, they were a riot), but I don’t think that he ever attempted to capitalize on that during his campaign.

Plus, there’s this:

The laugh-laced attacks have offered Democrats an unappealing set of options:
Respond to the substance of the criticism and look humorless -- or play along,
and risk permanent laughingstock.

I think that Dems have risked appearing humorless a lot lately, pretty much since they got the reputation of having to make everything PC, so this might really play to that.

Arbitrary Windfall Profits

Wall Street Journal looks at what is, and what isn’t, a windfall profit that democrats would like to tax. Of course, if you don’t want to think any deeper than “Oil companies are evil” and “corporate America is greedy,” this probably isn’t for you.

“The point is that what constitutes an abnormal profit is
entirely arbitrary. It is in the eye of the political beholder, who is usually
looking to soak some unpopular business. In other words, a windfall is nothing
more than a profit earned by a business that some politician dislikes. And a tax
on that profit is merely a form of politically motivated expropriation. . .

It's what politicians do in Venezuela, not in a free
country.”

Of course, if you don’t want to think any deeper than “Oil companies are evil” and “corporate America is greedy,” this probably isn’t for you.