3 Up, 3 Down

3 Up

Joey Mason: A fifth-grade teacher at Waynesboro’s Westwood Hills Elementary School, Mason was tabbed by the district Thursday as its Teacher of the Year. She won high marks for her remarkable ability to capitalize on the strengths of her students and mitigate their weaknesses. That sounds like the definition of all things good, not only in teachers but as a model for life. 

Colliefornyah: Californians rejected a plan to close a budget gap as wide as the state is long by raising taxes by $16 billion. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose credibility has more holes than a honeycomb, waxed melodramatic about workers and criminals being turned onto the streets. Never mind, said voters, get cutting. Hasta la vista, stupid spending.

Gitmo: Hey, now, that Guantanamo Bay place has its good points. That’s the word from a slew of Democrats, including Virginia’s own Sen. Mark Warner, when faced with the prospect of detainees heading to their states. OK, so maybe they don’t dig Gitmo. But shutting the place down isn’t such a nifty idea when it means having terrorist suspects camp out in a prison in constituents’ back yards.

3 Down

Nancy Pelosi: Protected by her Democratic pals, the House speaker ducked a special investigation into whether she was told in September 2002 about the waterboarding of terror suspects. A Republican-led bill failed Thursday. The withering questions in her newser last week were pure torture for her. Oops. Did we say that out loud?

Abortion: Ouch! Touching third rails sure stings. A Gallup poll for the first time has found that a majority of Americans — 51 percent to 42 percent — identify themselves as pro-life. Noticeable in President Barack Obama’s recent speech at Notre Dame was his shift to the mantra of the previous Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who marched under the pro-choice banner but frequently spoke of reducing the number of abortions. Roe v. Wade still looks safe, but the opinion turnabout nonetheless intrigues.

Say it ain’t so, Joe: Memo to World: If you need me, I’ll be in my underground bunker, HERE AT THE NAVAL OBSERVATORY. Sincerely, Joe. Biden, our favorite veep, loosened his lips some more to spill a revelation to Newsweek’s Eleanor Clift about the location of his secret bunker. Biden’s posse of staff apologists denied this, saying he was referring to an upstairs work space. Obama staffers, meanwhile, scrambled to book Biden on a flight to Sudan or Somalia, or ... someplace.