Governor Dean Has Seen Boobs Before

In case you were wondering:

Howard Dean, a physician and a Democratic presidential candidate, on Monday dismissed as “silly” a government inquiry into whether indecency rules were broken during the broadcast of the Super Bowl halftime show when pop diva Janet Jackson’s bodice was ripped to expose her right breast.
“I find that to be a bit of a flap about nothing,” the former Vermont governor said. “I’m probably affected in some ways by the fact that I’m a doctor, so it’s not exactly an unusual phenomenon for me.”

Dean, who reportedly doesn’t subscribe to cable television, added:

“I don’t find it terribly shocking relative to some of the things you can find on standard cable television,” he added. “I think the FCC probably has a lot of other things they should be pursuing.”

I agree that a FCC “investigation” is contrived and silly. But I don’t think Dean is being particularly savvy in making these type of comments right after millions of kids (and their parents) saw JJ’s boob during the most watched TV event of the season.

Early Exit Poll Returns

Being reported about the Internet:
South Carolina: Edwards 44, Kerry 30, Sharpton 10
Oklahoma: Edwards 31, Kerry 29, Clark 28
Missouri: Kerry 52, Edwards 23, Dean 10
Delaware: Kerry 47, Dean 14, Lieberman 11, Edwards 11
Arizona: Kerry 46, Clark 24, Dean 13
Come on Oklahoma!! An Edwards victory would be A-OK.

Treading on Say Uncle’s Turf

Say Uncle is miffed that other Rocky Top Brigade members are stealing his gun blogging thunder. I thought I’d add insult to injury by chipping in with my gun expertise.
Three years ago I was hiking woods with someone who had a pistol. I’m not sure what kind it was, but it was a larger-sized one. With some reservation, I eventually accepted the invitation to fire it.
I’m don’t where my shot ended up; all I remember is the deafening bang. Apparently, I should have been wearing ear protection at the time, for my ears were ringing for the next couple hours. It sucked.

Ricin in the News

Three Senate office buildings are closed today after authorities discovered deadly ricin in a senate mail room.
Josh Marshall alerts us of this under-reported story from early January:

The FBI on Thursday offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to an arrest of anyone responsible for leaving a package containing the deadly poison ricin at a post office in October.
A letter inside the package said the author could make much more ricin and will “start dumping” large quantities of the poison if new federal trucking rules went in effect, according to information released by the FBI and other federal agencies Thursday.
The rules, which require more rest hours for truck drivers, took effect Sunday.
The letter, signed “Fallen Angel,” said the author was “a fleet owner of a tanker company.”

Coincidence?

AWOL?

The Washington Post has an article looking at President Bush’s National Guard service, or lack thereof.
There’s no definitive evidence either way. On one hand you have an officer who claims that Bush didn’t report during part of his enlistment, together with an absence of any hard evidence that Bush showed up. On the other hand you have Bush claiming he was there, and some friends saying Bush left for duty.
Whatever the case, it’s obvious that Bush didn’t take his Guard service very seriously. If he did, we’d have proof to settle this.

State of the State

Governor Phil Bredesen, who currently enjoys a 72% approval rating, gave his “State of the State” address last night. The governor also presented a budget calling for a 7.4% increase in spending, a majority of which is targeted toward TennCare, education, and state employee pay raises. There’s no tax increases.
Don’t we all long for the return of Sunquist more and more with each passing day?