elfs | News we can all use: Romney, Hillary, and Japanese Schoolgirls

First, if you're living in a cave, John McCain has become the nominee on the Republican Side, as the Mittster drops out of the race. I get the feeling there was an awful lot of pressure on poor Mitt up to this point, mostly because the party really, really needed McCain to start making his case, looking pretty and calm, while Clinton and Obama continue to race against each other in the Democratic slog.

Secondly, Hillary Clinton has joined McCain, Huckabee, and Romney in refusing to pledge to respect and restore the Constitution. Ron Paul and all of the other Democrats have signed on to either the conservative American Freedom Agenda or the liberal American Freedom Campaign, both of which call for more or less the same thing. Here's the conservative version:

The American Freedom Agenda's (AFA) mission is twofold: the enactment of a cluster of statutes that would restore the Constitution's checks and balances as enshrined by the Founding Fathers; and, making the subject a staple of political campaigns and of foremost concern to Members of Congress and to voters and educators. Especially since 9/11, the executive branch has chronically usurped legislative or judicial power, and has repeatedly claimed that the President is the law. The constitutional grievances against the White House are chilling, reminiscent of the kingly abuses that provoked the Declaration of Independence.

That Hillary won't sign on is a sure sign that something is wrong with her view of Presidential power.

[Edit: As

blaisepascal points out, the above about Hillary is completely untrue, and I've already pushed my annoyance at being misled from a usually reliable source upstream.]

[Edit 2: Ed Brayton has corrected his statement. Good man.]

And finally, a meat packing company in Japan is seeking to copyright the term 女子高生, Joshikosei, or "Japanese Schoolgirl," and is planning a line of "Japanese schoolgirl meat products" (paging Wednesday Addams, Wednesday Addams to the white courtesy telephone, please) including gyoza, meat pies, and more.

Yum.