The sun seems a little bit brighter, the sky a little bit bluer, the birds a little more happy. Why?

The shamnesty bill is dead. Again.

Hopefully someone will remember the garlic and the wooden stake and the silver bullet this time. (Okay, that's for vampires, zombies and/or werewolves, but hey, that's how bad this bill is/was.)

Michelle Malkin has the best roundup of today's shamnesty activity. The vote was 46 yeas, 53 nays to invoke cloture. So it was not just a loss but, since 60 yeas were required to invoke cloture and go to a vote, it was a crushing, decisive, Tampa Bay beating the Raiders in the 2003 Super Bowl loss.

Congratulations to the Democrats who bucked the negligent and incompetent leadership of Harry Reid and Chappaquiddick Ted: Baucus, Bayh, Bingaman, Brown, Byrd, Dorgan, Harkin, Landrieu, McCaskill, Nelson, Pryor, Rockefeller, Stabenow, Tester and Webb. (Ok, and to Sanders, the "independent" socialist from Vermont.) Obviously, some of them had ulterior motives and probably thought the bill was not liberal enough, but it was a good vote nonetheless.

And on the other hand, boos and hisses and a swift kick in the a** to those RINOs who voted for shamnesty: Bennett, Craig, Graham, Gregg, Hagel, Kyl, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, Snowe, and Specter (and to Sen. Lieberman, the other "independent"). This "Gang of Twelve" should be the starting point of your NADD list (Not Another Damn Dime).

What did we learn from the two debates over shamnesty?
(1) The American people want immigration reform which focuses primarily on border security.
(2) The American people do NOT want another 1986-style citizenship/residency giveaway.
(3) An omnibus-type bill which tries to address every aspect of immigration & border security will NOT pass.
(4) McCain's campaign is dead. Buried. Sealed in the crypt.

The university now has so many separate identity-group graduations that scheduling them not to conflict with one another is a challenge. The women’s studies graduation and the Chicana/Chicano studies graduation are both set for 10 AM Saturday. The broader Hispanic graduation, “Raza,” is in near-conflict with the black graduation, which starts just an hour later.

Some students are presumably eligible for four or five graduations. A gay student with a Native American father and a Filipino mother could attend the Asian, Filipino, and American Indian ceremonies, plus the mainstream graduation and the Lavender Graduation for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered students.

[O]n campus, assimilation is a hostile force, the domestic version of American imperialism. On many campuses, identity-group training begins with separate freshman orientation programs for nonwhites, who arrive earlier and are encouraged to bond before the first Caucasian freshmen arrive. Some schools have separate orientations for gays as well.

Conservative Bulldog is back! After a long hiatus, CB has returned. Hopefully, I won't spend 6 months between posts anymore!

Since CB's one endorsement (Joe Lieberman, 2006) was a ringing success, I thought I'd take a second swing at tempting fate by making another endorsement:

FRED THOMPSON FOR PRESIDENT

Fred Thompson has a reliable, conservative Republican record - combined with an unusual amount of decency and common sense. More conservative than Giuliani and McCain, more national experience than Mitt, and - unlike most of the rest - a chance at winning.

If you'd like to sign up to support Fred Thompson's (soon-to-be-declared) candidacy, click on the link above to go to I'm With Fred, Thompson's website.

• When did the HRC become aware of the existence of the e-mails?
• Did the HRC provide the e-mails to this individual, or vice versa?
  
• Did anyone at HRC advise the staffer on the timing of the e-mail release?
• Was the blogger hired by the HRC as after-the-fact "compensation" for publishing the e-mails?
• Or did the HRC hire the person with the understanding that the staffer would anonymously start a blog to embarrass and in the process "out" Rep. Foley?