From Obama’s speech (as retold by Ezra Klein): Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is [...]

From WaPo: The George W. Bush Presidential Center will include a “Freedom Institute” focused on a broad portfolio of topics, including the expansion of democracy abroad and education reforms of the kind Bush implemented during his presidency, according to organizers. Aside from a few really minor issues which defined the Bush presidency (i.e. torture, Gitmo, [...]

“How many former editors of the Harvard Law Review does it take to administer the Presidential oath properly?” Source.

Perhaps, in some alternate universe where Italian cars were known for reliability and value rather than performance and beauty, this might make sense: Chrysler LLC said today it was striking an alliance with Fiat S.p.A. that will give the Italian carmaker 35% of Chrysler in return for sharing technology, manufacturing and management. Advertisement The deal [...]

The freedom of people to choose their leaders is the root of liberty. -Dianne Feinstein No, Dianne, the root of liberty is first to choose whether to consent to being led. Hat Tip: Billy Beck

And hey, Valentine’s Day is coming up! (link mildly NSFW)

“So it goes. One man with a record of disrespect for the Constitutional limits on his power leaves the office of the presidency, and another takes over,” writes Anthony Gregory. If there is such a “mandate,” why is Markos Moulitsas elaborating about the “most technologically advanced protection vehicle in the world” — one which Obama [...]

“I pledge to be a servant to our president…” As Mike noted, several people (Radley Balko, Will Wilkinson, Jonah Goldberg) posted a YouTube video (which seemed to have gone down memory hole already) described by Michael Goldfarb as… …a bunch of B-, C-, and D-list celebrities, and Michael Strahan, resolving to take time out of [...]

Doug Bandow sums up what January 20, 2009 means for those of us who believe in freedom and limited government: Finally, after eight long years of wasteful spending, unnecessary war, and trashing the Constitution. Finally! Now the challenge begins to constrain President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress. Onward and upward. Exactly. Now that Bush [...]

…then here is something that should dovetail nicely with Doug’s post below: Picture source: REUTERS/Jason Reed h/t: Radley Balko, who also posted a video that was pulled just a few minutes ago. It featured a bunch of celebrities (so I know, it shouldn’t be taken seriously) but it included the line “I pledge to be [...]

Words of wisdom: Men( and any woman will tell you this ) are just men. Some are good, some are bad, but they all have their flaws. Let us not forget that he is a man, and only a man and that any man who holds the office will someday leave it. Let us pray [...]

Well, maybe I should say he partially caved. With less than 24 hours left in his presidency, Bush decided to commute Ramos and Compean’s sentences rather than granting full pardons. The Associated Press reports that the president chose to commute their sentences because he agreed with the court’s finding that the men broke the law [...]

Comes from this AP story on our soon to be President’s activities on the day before his inauguration: Then his motorcade headed for the Sasha Bruce House, a facility for homeless teens, where he grabbed a paint roller and helped volunteers who were fixing up rooms. “We can’t allow any idle hands,” he said. “Everybody’s [...]

TJIC, riffing on the Boston Globe, as the Globe writes an alarmist tale of the “crisis” of young Americans: The average college graduate has nearly $20,000 in debt. Oh noz! The average salary for college graduate jobs is $46,000. So, that’s almost five whole months of income to pay off the debt! My thought? $20K [...]

Meet the new “change” — same as the old change. Here’s soon-to-be Surgeon General Sanjay Gupta on the reform of medicinal marijuana laws: But I suspect that most of the people eager to vote yes on the new ballot measures aren’t suffering from glaucoma, Alzheimer’s or chemo-induced nausea. Many of them just want to get [...]

The District of Columbia intends to create Prostitution Free Zones during Obama’s inauguration.  From WUSA: District police have placed signs along 5th and I Streets. They read, “Warning, Prostitution Free Zone.” Those who disobey could be fined 300 dollars, and even jailed. But will the city’s plan work? DC City Councilman Jim Graham said officers [...]

MSM advice about Obama’s inauguration: So you’re attending an inaugural ball saluting the historic election of Barack Obama in the worst economic climate in three generations. Can you get away with glitzing it up and still be appropriate, not to mention comfortable and financially viable? To quote the man of the hour: Yes, you can. [...]

Oh, this is rich: West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the new chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, introduced legislation that would postpone the digital transition by almost four months. “I firmly believe that our nation is not yet ready to make this transition,” Mr. Rockefeller said in a statement. Congress began seriously considering delaying the [...]

Back in the day, antitrust regulators decided that including a browser with an operating system was an unfair competitive measure. But to this day, they’ve only ever enforced this against Microsoft, and the EU is still pushing: European antitrust regulators have told Microsoft Corp. that the company’s practice of including its Internet browser with its [...]