Election Analysis from Iowahawk

Probably the best satirist on the web:

Although I have not always been the most outspoken advocate of President-Elect Barack Obama, today I would like to congratulate him and add my voice to the millions of fellow citizens who are celebrating his historic and frightening election victory. I don't care whether you are a conservative or a liberal -- when you saw this inspiring young African-American rise to our nation's highest office I hope you felt the same sense of patriotic pride that I experienced, no matter how hard you were hyperventilating with deep existential dread.

Yes, I know there are probably other African-Americans much better qualified and prepared for the presidency. Much, much better qualified. Hundreds, easily, if not thousands, and without any troubling ties to radical lunatics and Chicago mobsters. Gary Coleman comes to mind. But let's not let that distract us from the fact that Mr. Obama's election represents a profound, positive milestone in our country's struggle to overcome its long legacy of racial divisions and bigotry. It reminds us of how far we've come, and it's something everyone in our nation should celebrate in whatever little time we now have left....

(link)

Zaphod tribute

So now I know with whom I blog.

Obama Wins

I always thought the first African American POTUS would be a conservative. I was wrong. President elect Barack Obama has ascended to the presidency because of three or four key phenomena:

1. A complicit and willing press. I hope Obama is everything he pretends to be, but we don't really know do we? While the press pours over Alaskan travel vouchers for footing errors and rail against Palin's expensive wardrobe, ACORN registers untold numbers of fraudulent voters, Obama's ties to ACORN go unmentioned and any other item that could possibly cast doubt on Obama's self reinvention as a mainstream Democrat disappear into the ether.
2. George W. Bush. Bush is a good man and was right on the primary issue facing the West today, Islamic Extremism. Other than that, he screwed the pooch. How else does Joe Biden become vice president of anything other than the Hair Club For Men?
3. The financial meltdown. If the financial shite hadn't the fan when it did, the GOP may have had a chance against such an ostensibly inexperienced candidate. It would be nice if one in ten American voters knew which administration repealed Glass-Steagal. See item one.
4. John McCain. You're a Maverick, I get it. Years of pissing in Republican ears are not without cost. To salve the GOP wounds and to shore up the base, McCain was forced to choose Sarah Palin, whom I like, but the choice removed the biggest cudgel with which to beat the upstart Obama - lack of experience. I don't know if any other choice for VP would have made a difference, but it's kinda hard to knock Obama's inexperience when a 72 year presidential candidate chooses a woman, no matter how promising, of scant experience herself. Again, the press in an amazing feat of intellectual flexibility found it easy to mention Palin's lack of experience every other breath while never noticing the same in Obama.

Change has come to America - an overview of B.O.'s acceptance speech

Change has come to America. I am typing this as Obama's acceptance speech shows on the TV.

But I can't help remembering the N.I.C.E. organization of CS Lewis' That Hideous Strength; I can't help but think of many other fictional novelties.

Obama's crowds bleakly applaud McCain's bow-down, and applaud (somewhat bleakly) Biden, and then cheered (the meglomaniac) 1st Lady Michelle & the first Lady's dog, like the 2nd Coming on a chariot, yet weak applause for the rest of his his family (racism, Michelle?)-- but real cheers for his campaign coordinator, etc, etc, heroic cheers. Why not? So its the politico's they know & love.

He says: "We will get there." Where? Who knows?

Of course, he indicates that "I will fail, as president, through setbacks," etc. But "we will make that change." "Values by which we won (weak applause) will heal the divides."

This guy is an inverse Bush.

Spend spend spend of the middle classes' wages, and Promise The World to the Outside, both right and left.

"If my daughters should live so long" (so as actually to come out of their Mother's womb before I might allow them to be killed) then we shall do it. But unfortunately, we've apparently decided against that Hope and Change, so my daughters might be dead..... might be killed as they came outta my wife's uterus, only several minutes old; only several months old since conception.

"I support that kinda change!" Which is NO change for the unborn.

The CNN Coronation of these people is scandalous and stomach-wrenching. We are now again living in the age of the Ceasars.

Hail Obama! That is what we must now cheer.

Predictions

It's no secret what I want to happen tomorrow. I'm not a big fan of McCain but an Obama victory combined with an expanded Democrat majority in Congress fills me with dread.

Stephen Green over at Vodkapundit sees the map this way going into tomorrow:



As a prediction/analysis, this looks pretty good to me. Obviously, team Obama has expanded the map. They've created numerous paths to victory. It's been a very strategically sound campaign.

McCain's path to victory is much much narrower. Early on, we'll be looking at Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Indiana and Ohio. If ANY of those states goes Obama's way, McCain doesn't win. If they all go to McCain, all eyes will shift to Missouri and Florida.

We'll know soon enough.

For dispirited McCainiacs here's this.

Now go out and vote!

Ammo Pricing

Apropos of nothing, I priced out the cost of a 1000 rounds of .223 or 5.56 mm, if you will, 55 grain FMJ shipped to my door:

Aim Surplus $249.07

Ammoman $259.00

Natchez Shooting Supplies $247.63

Cabela's $292.64 - With a very convoluted gimmick that gives you $20 off - hardly worth it.

Cheaper Than Dirt $262.67 - Out of stock.

Able Ammo $332.50

A1 Ammo $370.61, out of stock on nearly everything in .223.

Midway USA $322

J&G Sales $323.94

AmmoBank.com $450 +

Apparently it pays to shop around. I have ordered from Ammoman.com in the past and I like them because the price you see is the price you pay including shipping. Natchez is pretty straight forward as well. I hate to say this, but Cabelas seems to disappoint at every opportunity. They used to be so good, but now not so much.

Watching "Big Night" again

For those who are fond of cooking, Mediterranean culture, Italian Immigrants of early 20th century America, or of any of the following: movies like Bigfellas, Il Postino, Zorba, The Godfather; and TV cooking shows like Restaurant Makeover and the like; or S. Tucci's acting (at his best); or else the following type of book, Kitchen Confidential:

Then get a hold of the movie

Sometimes we are obliged to restate the obvious, Part 2

As reasonable human beings, we are sometimes obliged to restate the obvious.

The Westchester Institute has recently published a white paper (allow time for .pdf file to download) regarding the scientific rationale for establishing the moment at which human life begins.

Connected with this, and my garage sale, I have been re-reading a classic introductory textbook on Philosophical Logic, by Copi/Cohen. I was reminded of the classic informal fallacies of argumentation (which still apply in any debate about abortion, or indeed, about politics during a campaign/election year).

Informal Logic and Informal Fallacies form the critical guidelines of any discourse, public debate, or reasonable argumentation. Educate yourselves about these traditional rules of debate, and you won't go far wrong in the election, on human life issues, or even spousal relationships.

Q: Which informal fallacy applies -- "Women simply are not reasonable when discussing things; my wife, for example, just the other day...."?

Megyn Kelly just freaking rocks!

20th Century Authors - rediscovered in my garage

We are moving in late November (to a house in the same mid-town area of Toronto which we live in at present); so I have been forced, by the ancient Fates of "Storage space" and "Square footage", to reduce my library through what are benevolently called "Yard Sales" in Canada.

While sorting through 3 dead, blind mice (no photo available)--and other assorted rodential & marsupial problems--I've uncovered an assortment of authors whom I am now re-reading. These are (mostly) 20th century Christian authors, both American & British (with some Europeans too) - if you haven't read them yet, then do so now, and reap the rewards of Western Culture. Find whatever you can of these authors. Read what you find. You won't be disappointed. Significant background data about the British authors concerns the relationship between Eliot, Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, and Jones around the time of the two great wars.

My first re-read was C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters. See the text here (however much it is in need of editing). For anyone interested in Angels & their role in our lives, you must read the absolutely fascinating introduction (by C.S. Lewis) to the 1961 republication here, with just 3 mouse clicks forward; but most especially this book asks the big question -- "How are we to act as Christians in this our life on Earth?"--reading this book is like a "mini" Christian retreat. This book is particularly relevant as it was written (and recited via radio) during a time of war.

The no-brainers:

G. K. Chesterton
Hillaire Belloc
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Edgar Allen Poe
Herman Melville
Joseph Conrad
T.S. Eliot
C.S. Lewis
J.R.R. Tolkien
W.H. Auden
James Joyce
Flannery O'Connor
Graham Greene
William Faulkner
Ezra Pound
Francois Mauriac
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Interesting, yet under-read and under-rated:

David Jones (especially his epic poems)
Charles Williams (especially his 'supernatural' novels)
Walker Percy (especially his irony-laden novels)
Robert Lowell (poetry)
Richard Wilbur (translations and poetry)
Robert Penn Warren (everything)
Robert Fitzgerald (both his translations and his neglected poetry)
Allen Tate
Caroline Gordon
Paul Claudel
Georges Bernanos
Zbigniew Herbert

Sometimes we are obliged to restate the obvious

As Christians we are sometimes obliged to restate the obvious; Cardinal Egan of New York City has done so. R. T. Anderson over at "First Things" asks us to take a close look. Again. Cardinal Egan states:

"Have you any doubt that it is a human being?

If you do not have any such doubt, have you any doubt that it is an innocent human being?

If you have no doubt about this either, have you any doubt that the authorities in a civilized society are duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if anyone were to wish to kill it?

If your answer to this last query is negative, that is, if you have no doubt that the authorities in a civilized society would be duty-bound to protect this innocent human being if someone were to wish to kill it, I would suggest—even insist—that there is not a lot more to be said about the issue of abortion in our society. It is wrong, and it cannot—must not—be tolerated."

WTF: Sexually Ambiguous Nazi Assassins?

No, not this one, these guys. Click, read, be amazed. You can't make this shit up, you really can't.

Obama Talks About Wealth Distribution 2001

If we elect this man, we will deserve him - we can't say we haven't been warned.

Hat Tip: Billy Buru

More on this here.

VDH's brief take here.

The Smart Spunky Kid with the Fatal Disease

Dean Barnett has died. He was too young. Hugh Hewitt has more.

Rest In Peace, Dean.

Update: just thinking how odd it is my first response to this sad news was that he was too young. Of course, for someone with CF 41 wasn't young at all. It's a testimony that his affliction in no way defined him as a person.

Here's The Weekly Standard with a page linking to the many tributes to Dean coming in from all over the conservative blogosphere.

From The Onion: Guman Kills 15 Potential Swing Voters

Considering how vociferous the MSM has been in their advocacy of Obama, this parody doesn't seem too far over the top.

Sarah smacks "Slow Joe" around

(link via The Weekly Standard's blog)

Red Sox lose - depressed? Watch this again....

Whenever I feel a bit down (eg, after the Red Sox lose), I watch this:

Red Sox Lose

The Tampa Bays beat a damn fine Boston team to represent the American league in the World Series. Good luck to them they're a damn fine team too and will probably win the whole thing. You have to admire them. For years they were a joke in the AL East, today they became the American League Champions. Well done you marvelous bastages, well done.
If there was any doubt that summer was over it ended five minutes ago. This is a beautiful time of year in New England, with all the foliage and brouhaha, but it not without it's sadness:

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off - then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

I hear you Ishmael, I'll wait until after Christmas and I'll find some blue water to play in.

To watch, or not to watch

I have never watched the Red Sox (the worlds' greatest baseball club) actually win a World Series, or even an American League Championship. Should I watch today's game? I watched all of the games they lost against Tampa Bay, and saw none of the games they won.

I figure I have a mini-curse: so do I watch?

I just saw that they scored to take a lead in the 3rd against Tampa Bay in today's (Saturday's) game; but even such fleeting glimpses have been very unlucky in the past.

After a business trip, I sat late one night on the New Jersey Turnpike, listening to the car radio, only to hear a World Series lost by my team, the Red Sox. I did the same thing once again, but crossed my fingers and turned off the radio -- continuing home to CT -- only to discover in the morning that my team won the World Series.

I am a realist and a Thomist. I am a reasonable, conservative American. I don't believe in jinxes or Astrology or Ouija boards.

So why can't I watch my baseball team win?

John the Senator Hires Joe the Plumber

part one



part two

Liberals Learn Slowly

Hawaii ending universal child health care:
HONOLULU – Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.
Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families
were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.
"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

So, you give stuff away and are shocked that people would prefer not to pay for it?

Love That Dirty Water

This is just SICK - biggest comeback in 79 years!

Art History

I thought this blog might appeal to those interested, as I am, in Art History. Here's his e-blogger 'profile':

About Me
Millinerd (a.k.a. Matthew J. Milliner) is a Ph.D. candidate in art history at Princeton University. In a previous life he graduated from the same town's Theological Seminary. In the life before that he was a Youth Director at Media Presbyterian Church (PA). In the life before that he went to Wheaton College (IL). In the life before that he went to Haddonfield Memorial High School (NJ). In the life before that he was born and raised mostly in Jersey. In the life before that he did nothing, because Origen's doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul was condemned in 553AD.

More on Millinerd recently over at First Things.

Also interesting for Art aficionados -- read Paul Johnson's (relatively) recent great book, Art: A New History. I've been plowing (ploughing?) through it since early Summer.

Real Estate Agents

Our house is up for sale. We will be moving in late November.

Why is it that Real Estate Agents are just about the only so-called professional business people/entrepeneurs who will (more often than not) show up late for 'viewings', or else never show up at all, and also frequently leave your house unlocked -- and then proceed to arrogantly argue with you about whether or not they lack professionalism given the evidence?

If I were to do that in any other "profession", I would either be canned immediately, or else outta business.

Seven (respectable) Real Estate agents later, I still have no clue about this phenomenon, except that apparently it is one field where being an irresponsible loser is not necessarily a negative asset.

Obama's Abortion Extremism

by Robert George
Oct 14, 2008
Sen. Barack Obama's views on life issues ranging from abortion to embryonic stem cell research mark him as not merely a pro-choice politician, but rather as the most extreme pro-abortion candidate to have ever run on a major party ticket.

Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.

Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals-even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals - who aggressively promote Obama's candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.

What is going on here? ...

link (via The American Spectator)

"If you want to shoot, shoot. Don't talk."

Nifty and informative article over at the Jerusalem Post about Israel's intelligence gathering biz, read the whole thing.
Hat Tip: Marc Fishman

McCain Critical of Obama's Radical Past

It's about time the American people knew who this Obama character really is.

Akathist: "Glory to God for All Things"

(An akathist - Greek, akathistos - is a hymn dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The word akathist itself means "not sitting" and derives from the fact that during the chanting of the hymn, or sometimes the whole service, the congregation is expected to remain standing in reverence, not being allowed to sit down.)

"...What is my praise before You? I have not heard the song of the cherubim, that is reserved for the souls of the righteous. But I know the praises that nature sings to You. In winter, I have beheld how silently in the moonlight the whole earth offers You prayer, clad in its white mantle of snow, sparkling like diamonds. I have seen how the rising sun rejoices in You, how the song of the birds is a chorus of praise to You. I have heard the mysterious murmurings of the forests about You, and the winds singing Your praise as they stir the waters. I have understood how the choirs of stars proclaim Your glory as they move forever in the depths of infinite space. What is my poor worship? All nature obeys You, I do not. Yet while I live, I see Your love, I long to thank You, pray to You, and call upon Your Name...."
                                                            -- Fr. Gregory Petrov

Gardner W Ruggles, 1932-2008

Gardner W Ruggles Sr, of Vernon, departed this life peacefully on Wednesday, October 8, 2008 with his family at his side. He was born in Portsmouth, RI and grew up in Rockville eventually leaving to serve in the Air Force in 1950. A few years after leaving the Air Force he began his own restaurant - the Igloo Drive-In in Vernon in 1963. The restaurant was a success. He expanded into catering, forming Mr. G's Catering a few years later. In 1979 he sold the businesses and moved with his family to Deland, Florida where he embarked on a new career in real estate. He worked for Watson Realty first as a sales associate and finally as a vice president. He managed Watson's Deland office until he retired in 1999. His first wife, Shirley (nee Schaefer), died in 1998. He married a second time to Irene Suchecki of Vernon and came back to Vernon in 2000.

He is predeceased by Shirley and is survived by his wife, Irene.

He is also survived by his four children, Gardner Jr of New Hartford, Elizabeth Woods of Savannah, GA, Gregory, also of Savannah, and Russell of East Longmeadow, MA, son-in-law Timothy Woods of Savannah, daughter-in-law Robyn Ruggles of East Longmeadow, grandsons William Woods of Tulsa, OK, and Walter Woods of Savannah and granddaughters, Stephanie, Sarah and Emily Ruggles of East Longmeadow.

He is also survived by a stepdaughter Laurie Mecca of Avon, her husband Len, their four children, Lauren, Allyson, Brian and Kim, stepson Steve Suchecki of Tolland, his wife, Holly, their three sons, Alex, Evan and Cole and stepson Michael Suchecki of Coventry, his wife Darlene and their three children, Daniel, Laura and Aubrey.

He is also survived by two brothers, Clarence Ruggles of New Britain and Michael Ruggles of Vernon, a sister, Barbara Bossidy of Manchester and a brother-in-law Russell Schaefer of Rochester, NY and his wife, Joan. And finally, by his rescue dog, Babe.

Update: A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Saturday, October 11 at 9 a.m. in St. Bernard's Church, Rockville, followed by Military Honors after the mass. Burial will be private. Calling hours will be held Friday Oct. 10, from 6-8 p.m. at the Newkirk & Whitney Funeral Home, 318 Burnside Ave., East Hartford. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Assoc.

eight more wins to go!

Jed Lowrie puts down the Angels 3-2 with ninth inning single.

BOSTON -- OK, so the guy who is here because Julio Lugo got hurt drove in the guy who is here because Manny Ramirez pretended he was hurt and the Red Sox celebrated after a win started by the guy who filled in when Josh Beckett got hurt...

link

Uighur Detainees May Be Released to U.S

A federal judge is considering whether to order a group of detainees held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay released into the United States, in what would instantly become a landmark legal decision in the years-long battle over the rights of terrorism suspects there.
The men, a small band of Chinese Muslims who have been held for nearly seven years, are no longer considered enemy combatants by the U.S. government, but they are caught in a well-documented diplomatic bind. Unlike other captives, they cannot be sent to their home country because Beijing considers them terrorists, and they might be tortured. The government released five of the detainees, known as Uighurs
(pronounced "WEE-gurz"), to Albania in 2006, but no other country wants to risk
offending China by accepting the others.

Brilliant, simply brilliant! What America needs now more than any other time in our history is more damned foreigners who are trained to kill and hate us. By all means release them from Gitmo into Washington DC and explain to us turnips how this is a good idea.

Wrong Decisions

Hours before Ike made landfall, Ettenger knew she had made the wrong choice. She called Burks and described the water pushing up under her feet, the propane tanks and other household items drifting by her windows, and wondered which would float better: her Jeep or her house.

When the pencil necks in your state's capital suggest you evacuate, you ought to think about leaving. If those same pencil necks use terms like "mandatory" and suggest you write your social security number on your limbs with permanent marker to make identifying your corpse easier for them, that's pencil neck for "get your dumb ass out". If only everyone spoke pencil neck, particularly people with 4 year old children who decided not to evacuate.

OJ Simpson Found Guilty

LAS VEGAS -- Thirteen years to the day after being acquitted of killing his wife and her friend in Los Angeles, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

Wouldn't be cool if OJ were actually innocent this time around and he ends up dying in prison in 20 years? The cosmic irony would be delicious. Fortunately odds are that he is, yet again, guilty as proverbial sin. Good riddance Juice!
OJ's attorney, Yale Galanter plans on appealing the verdict. Great. Let us all revisit that ugly time 13 years ago when it seemed that every White American believed in OJ's guilt and every Black American celebrated his acquittal.

Red Sox Beat Angels Like Red Headed Step Child

The Angels are a fine team, probably the better team, but the Red Sox continue to dominate them. Last night was no different:

“We never have quit,” Youkilis said. “We are used to it and immune from it. We’re not going to play a game in 2½ hours. You know, the games in the playoffs, I never even look at the time. It’s not like I’ve got something else to do. I know when the ninth inning is coming and the last out is recorded.”

There is something to this. The Sox seem content to grind it out in October. No matter what happened during the season, in October both teams started from 0-0 to start the ALDS. Now the angels find themselves flying across country to the Friendly Confines of Fenway Park to face the tender mercies of Josh Beckett down 0-2. Rots-O-Ruck my friends, Rots-O-Ruck. Perhaps they can take the next game if Beckett is still hurting. If Becket's well, I don't like their chances. On the bright side the Angels know for sure now, as if they any doubt, the answer to that age old question; "Who's your daddy?"

The Economic Organization of a P.O.W. Camp

We reached a transit camp in Italy about a fortnight after capture and received ¼ of a Red Cross food parcel each a week later. At once exchanges, already established, multiplied in volume. Starting with simple direct barter, such as a non-smoker giving a smoker friend his cigarette issue in exchange for a chocolate ration, more complex exchanges soon became an accepted custom. Stories circulated of a padre who started off round the camp with a tin of cheese and five cigarettes and returned to his bed with a complete parcel in addition to his original cheese and cigarettes; the market was not yet perfect. Within a week or two, as the volume of trade grew, rough scales of exchange values came into existence. Sikhs, who had at first exchanged tinned beef for practically any other foodstuff, began to insist on jam and margarine. It was realized that a tin of jam was worth l/2 lb. of margarine plus something else; that a cigarette issue was worth several chocolate issues, and a tin of diced carrots was worth practically nothing.

Read the whole thing, it's fascinating.

Barney Frank Tumbles With Bill O'Reilly

Two questions and a joke:
1. Is it wrong to wish you could be there to hand them both razor sharp hatchets?
2. Is this what passes for informed discourse these days?
and
What's the difference between the American viewing public and a proctologist?
The proctologist only has to look at one asshole at a time.

Palin Biden Debate

First off, what does it say about American journalism that the moderator of a Vice Presidential debate is a journalist, no matter how well qualified otherwise, who has written a book about the success of one of the Presidential candidates set to be released on inauguration day January 2008? If the networks can't find a demonstrably impartial moderator, perhaps they should investigate their hiring practises.
As for the debate itself, who cares. It wasn't a debate of ideas per se, it was a dog and pony show to spout sound bites. Those who went in liking one candidate, likely left preferring the performance of that candidate.
I like Sarah Palin, but I cannot listen to her with out having Fargo flashbacks. (UPDATE: See this post from VDH) Ten minutes listening to Joseph Biden reminds you that you can't spell Joseph Biden without B. S.. In this day of YouTube and Google, why would he try to get away with whoppers like this:

October 2, 2008 Joe Biden: Can I clarify this? This is simply not true about Barack Obama. He did not say sit down with Ahmadinejad.

July 23, 2007 Anderson Cooper: Would you be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries? OBAMA: I would. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration — is ridiculous.

October 3, 2008 10:57 a.m. Obama Biden Website: Obama supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.

That my friends is called a lie, or fib if you will. Is it possible that this is just an honest mistake or that Biden miss spoke? No. Here's why. Biden himself admonished Barack Obama in July for saying he would meet with Ahmadinejad without preconditions:

Afterward, other candidates echoed Clinton’s criticism. Sen. Joseph Biden, who has emerged as the clear-eyed antiwar realist in the Democratic race, told National Review Online that the idea of a president meeting with Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and others was “naïve.” “World leaders should not meet with other world leaders unless they know what the agenda is, so you don’t end up being used,” Biden said. “When I went to meet with Milosevic before the war, the condition I met with him was that no press would be available, I’d only meet him in his office late at night, and I wouldn’t dignify being seen with him.”

Hope and change indeed.
Major Hat tip to Andy McCArthy

Women's Shelter Cuts Bernhard After Gang-rape Joke

BOSTON - A women's shelter on Wednesday cut headliner Sandra Bernhard from its annual benefit after she said Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin would be gang-raped if she ever visited New York.
Many guests at Rosie's Place, a Boston shelter, have been victims of violence, public relations director Leemarie Mosca said. "In light of our mission, we don't think violence against women is a laughing matter," she said.

Who could have possibly known that gang rape isn't funny?

How the markets really work

very dry

hope this ad gets a LOT of play...

also this from today's WSJ

Soap

Being somewhat neat, I love soap. In Deerfield Massachusetts the Yankee Candle factory sells scented candles in every imaginable scent by the dozen. As a guy I don't care about candles, but I would love such a place that sold Bronnley soaps by the scented dozen. If only. Here in no particular order are my favorite types of soap:
Matchbox Bus Soap - when I was a kid I got a red Matchbox Bus made out of French milled soap in my Christmas stocking. The thing lasted for weeks and was probably the first time I noticed that not all soaps are equal.
Pears Glycerine Soap - I love the way this stuff smells. It doesn't last as long as a French milled bar but you can wash your hair with it, which makes this a must a have in your shaving kit when travelling.
The Soap in Men's Lavatory at The Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library, Fitchburg State College - When I was in the Air Force I would hang out and read at the Library at Fitchburg State College. They had nice clean restrooms with this nifty smelling liquid soap in the white plastic dispensers with the chromium steel spring valves on the bottom. Sometimes it's the little pleasantries in life that are most memorable, like a surprisingly pleasant public lavatory.
Bronnley Soaps - This is it boys, the real deal. What a 1968 Glendronach Single Malt is to a Chivas cow piss, Bronnley soaps are to what you are probably using. Pricey, but they last for weeks on end and well worth every penny. My favorite is Sage, which they don't make any more so try the Lavender or the English Fern.
Spanish Black Soap - Maybe too heady for some, but I like it. The best thing about this stuff is that after showering with it when you wet your skin again, either through sweating, rain, swimming, whatever, you get a faint whiff of it.

So I am interested in reactions to this post re: the situation

September 26, 2008
A Conservative Case for the Paulson Plan
By Robert T. Miller

As I write late on Thursday evening, some conservative Republican senators and representatives are opposing the Paulson bailout plan because they think that the government should not intervene in the market—that it is better to let financial institutions that took risks that turned out badly for them bear the consequences of their actions. As one of the freest of free marketeers, I want to explain why that thinking is wrong-headed.

Read the whole thing.

'Lynching' Franklin Raines and How Fannie Mae Isn't 'Broke'

(via American Thinker)

more recommended reading...

another boatload of posts re: the financial crisis...

from Dafydd ab Hugh:

Democrats Try to Hijack the So-Called "Bailout"

from the WSJ:

The Public Deserves a Better Deal

Pandora's Bailout

Fixing the Paulson Plan

from the American Enterprise Institute:

The Cascading Financial Crisis: A Review of Work from the American Enterprise Institute

How the Democrats Created the Financial Crisis

Blame Fannie Mae and Congress for the Credit Mess

Resistance Is Futile

Crisis Intervention in Housing Finance

and this from Francis Cianfrocca:

What If We Don’t Get A Bailout?

(still working my way thru Big Lizard's post and the AEI posts)

Burning Down the House

(via Instapundit)

Obama Threatens TV Stations Who Air NRA Ad

Here's the ad, the story can be found here.

Celine Dion Covers AC/DC

I challenge you to listen to the whole thing. My gag reflex kicked in right about the time she started with the whole air guitar thing - those legs, those gangly, school marm legs clad in white polyester. I may need therapy to recover from this.

Well I guess I'm living in a biased society, alas

A bold new way to slam Whitey

Jonathan Kay, National Post Published: Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Jerry Seinfeld: Hello? Who is this? Donna Chang? Oh, I'm sorry, I must have dialed the wrong number.

Elaine: Benes Donna Chang?

Jerry: Should have talked to her. I love Chinese women.

Elaine: Isn't that a little racist?

Jerry: If I like their race, how can that be racist?
-- Seinfeld Episode #90, The Chinese Woman, Oct. 13, 1994.

Great question, Jerry. And I know exactly the guy who can answer it: Pierre Deschamps. On Friday, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (HRT) adjudicator became the first jurist in recorded human history to convict someone of racial discrimination for praising visible minorities.

Read the whole thing.

1.6 Tons of Manure, I Doubt It

The Daily Green has an article mewling about how concentrated animal feeding operations or CAFOS - essentially gigantic corporate meat farms, can pollute more than a city the size of Houston Texas. They cite this figure:

A single farm, raising 140,000 head of cattle, can produce 1.6 tons of manure every year, more than is produced by Houston, Texas.

1.6 tons of manure every year? 1.6 tons is barely a single Harry Reid press conference! If you're going to engage in fear mongering, at least try to get the facts close to straight. My guess is they meant to say 1.6 million tons of manure or the entire DNC output in 2008.

True In My Case Anyway

What Your Drink Says About You

Gimlet
Something about your personality makes otherwise normal people use words like “bounder” and “cad.”

Red Sox Make Post Season, Have Chance to Repeat

There was additional reason to celebrate. The Sox' clinch party came at the expense of the Yankees - who had been in the playoffs 13 consecutive seasons.

Heh.
Late September and October in New England is pretty much the most compelling reason to live here. Warm, dry days, cool nights each a little longer than the one before. The maple and the oak slip a little each day into their gaudy autumn colors.
Lately we've come to expect the Sox to make the post season and this year is no different. I hope they do well. If they don't, I wish those pesky upstarts from Tampa well and rejoice at the ignominy of the failed Yankee season.

Biden A Veritable Gaff Machine

Who could have foreseen that Joe Biden would say some stupid things? Some are even calling him a Gaffe-O-Matic.

Connecticut Democrats Ponder Lieberman Censure

Former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate and current US Senator Joe Lieberman, (D - for now - CT) has provoked the hamster like wrath of Connecticut Democrats by supporting Republican John McCain for POTUS. Go ahead, piss him off. Regardless of how he votes, if he caucuses with the GOP next year that's one more Republican and one less Democrat.

Good For You Joe

WASHINGTON - Barack Obama's running mate says a campaign ad that mocked Republican presidential candidate John McCain as an out-of-touch, out-of-date computer illiterate was "terrible" and would not have been done had he known about it.

A decent sentiment, if a little late. Is this evidence of latent character in the Obama camp or just another example of Biden being Biden?

Black Squirrel, NUTS!

So I am at the park the other day (Saturday) watching my daughter play, sitting on a bench in the shade of a chestnut tree, when all of a sudden half-masticated chestnuts start dropping upon me and - almost immediately - begin staining my hands and scalp with green spots. What's up with that? So I move down the bench a few feet, and again, mushy chestnuts dropping from the sky! So I move to the end of the bench, and again, mushy chestnuts from the sky, dropping all over me. What the?!?

So I move to the next bench, "outta reach" of the chestnut tree -- and the intentional civilian bombings ceased.

Now are squirrels nuts, or what? What about the just war theory? Pre-emptive strikes!?

Well, to my delight, as evening came on, the black little furry monster from upstairs came down to forage. And spontaneously, a group of 5 or 6 kids started chasing the little bugger all over the park, and it couldn't shake them. They were throwing sticks and stones at it and screaming. When the apparent father (a Torontonian at that!) started encouraging these kids, I was delighted. And the squirrel seemed to be having a grand old time. As they returned to the play area, I remarked to the man: "And thus, homo sapiens initiated the first ritualistic hunt for the elusive black ground squirrel. Scholars believe that fox-hunting began in a similar way." To my surprise (he was, after all, a Torontonian), he responded: "And whenever children start playing with sticks, a ritual killing ensues. God they're having fun!"

All of which reminded me that El D said basically the same thing to me, some many, many years ago.

Useful Idiot of The Week: Kent Higgins

BOSTON - University of Massachusetts officials on Monday quashed efforts by an Amherst campus chaplain to offer two college credits to any student willing to campaign in New Hampshire this fall for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Chaplain Kent Higgins told students in a Sept. 18 e-mail, "If you're scared about the prospects for this election, you're not alone. The most important way to make a difference in the outcome is to activate yourself. It would be just fine with (Republican candidate John) McCain if Obama supporters just think about helping, then sleep in and stay home between now and Election Day."

I wonder if you could get two credits for campaigning for John McCain, if not then Kent Higgins should be shit canned.

How We Got Here

Regarding our current financial crisis, there are a lot of voices out there. It can be hard to sort it all out.

Last night a friend sent me an email suggesting that much of the blame can be traced to the repeal of Glass-Steagal but that doesn't really make sense. (The bill repealing Glass-Steagal is called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.)

Glass-Steagal put a wall between commercial banks like Bank of America and investment banks like Merril-Lynch. Of course Bank of America just came to Merril-Lynch's rescue, which is to say: the repeal of Glass Steagal, at least in this instance, kept the problem from getting a lot worse.

Here's Megan McCardle on Gramm-Leach-Bliley:

"GLB had nothing to do with either lending standards at commercial banks, or leverage ratios at broker-dealers, the two most plausible candidates for regulatory failure here.

Most importantly, commercial banks are not the main problems. If Glass-Steagall's repeal had meaningfully contributed to this crisis, we should see the failures concentrated among megabanks where speculation put deposits at risk. Instead we see the exact opposite: the failures are among either commercial banks with no significant investment arm (Washington Mutual, Countrywide), or standalone investment banks. It is the diversified financial institutions that are riding to the rescue."

So if GLB didn't cause this mess, what did?

Here are some more articles by other super smart people that helped me understand how we got here and what the next move or series of moves should be:

How Washington Failed to Rein In Fannie, Freddie

Rein In Fannie, Freddie? Not Dodd

A Bad Bank Rescue

Explaining the root causes of the crisis.

That last link was via Baseball Crank who has a post which collects the recent articles by Francis Cianfrocca, a regular contributer over at Red State. Every one of his posts is worth your time.

Boiling it all down, in the banks that have failed there was way, way, way too much leverage. Using borrowed money is a real easy way to make money when the markets are moving in your direction. It's an even easier way to be wiped out when the markets move against you. Bank of America's capital ratios are estimated to be about 10-1. Merril-Lynch's were at least 30-1.

First Things: When Not Aborting Is Immoral

Keith Pavlischek at First Things notes how people on the right and left view giving birth to Downs Syndrome children and large families:

From over on starboard side, Nicholas Provenzo of the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism is “troubled” by the implications of Gov. Sarah Palin’s “decision to knowingly give birth to a child disabled with Down syndrome.” He thinks “it is crucial to reaffirm the morality of aborting a fetus diagnosed with Down syndrome (or by extension, any unborn fetus)—a freedom that anti-abortion advocates seek to deny.” Here’s his line of thinking:

A parent has a moral obligation to provide for his or her children until these children are equipped to provide for themselves. Because a person afflicted with Down Syndrome is only capable of being marginally productive (if at all) and requires constant care and supervision, unless a parent enjoys the wealth to provide for the lifetime of assistance that their child will require, they are essentially stranding the cost of their child’s life upon others.

In short Provenzo looks at a Downs Syndrome child, does the math and concludes the child isn't worth it. If we are only a collection of clever tubes and chemical processes, maybe he's right. But I believe he's wrong. If human dignity has any meaning at all it starts with the assumption that all humans have the same rights as every other, specifically the right to life.
Over on the left Paul Ehrlich thinks large families are immoral:

I believe it is immoral and should be illegal for people to have very large numbers of children because they are then co-opting for themselves and their children resources that should be spread elsewhere in the world. You only get a chance to get your fair share.

What is a large family?

The issue is: What is the political position to take? In a country like the United States, we should stop at two. But if you had an ideal situation, you might have a lot of people who have no children at all, and some people who have as many as three or four because they happen to be particularly good parents, and are going to raise their children very well.

At the risk of seeming anti academic, these two schools of thought are exactly why academics should be kept as far away from positions of actual authority as possible. Provenzo and Ehrlich look at the problems facing the world, study them and apply their considerable talents to addressing them then subsequently come up with the exact wrong solution. I assert that their solutions rather than creating a pleasant Utopia, would create hell on earth. Where were these guys in eight grade when they showed the film strips about the last time some academics did the math and came up with the Final Solution?
Start with and preserve always the concept of equal protection before the law and you can never go too far wrong. Start with the presumption that some people are more deserving than others, no matter how well intentioned, and get ready for hell on earth.
Hat Tip: Cultman

The Way I See It #298987

Is it fair to put pointless, facile platitudes posing as profound insight on $4.87 cups of espresso and steamed milk? Is there room for yet more nuggets like:

We are the first generation in history that can end extreme poverty. That’s our good fortune, our challenge, and our responsibility.
-- Jeffrey D. Sachs
What he means is, he can take 47% of your income and redistribute it as he sees fit. The thought of creating new wealth, more productive crops and industry is far too passe'. Viva the Norman Borlaug Green Revolution - Borlaug has single-handedly done more to feed the world than any hundred men you care to name.

With all the food leaving our kitchens each night, I’m still astonished that this country has a hunger problem. There are hungry people in every community who cannot afford food. While I can’t help every family, I can start by helping one.
-- Tom Douglas
Yet more chiding of the well fed cattle, er customers by their moral and intellectual superiors.

Wild animals often do a much better job of caring for their offspring than we civilized and educated humans do. If we cannot keep children safe in their homes, how can we hope to make ourselves safe in the world?
-- Lee Grogg
Any Tiger cubs care to comment?

People often ask me if it is worth it to work at sea, isolated from the world, far from loved ones, seasick, and running on three hours sleep. To lay eyes on something never before seen by anyone, to learn something new about our planet, for that one moment of discovery – yes, it is all worth it.
-- Katy Croff
This is particularly true if you aren't very fond of your loved ones and addicted to caffeine.

Anger is contagious.
-- Sandra Cisneros
So are pat aphorisms! See there goes another one!.

Beware of turning into the enemy you most fear. All it takes is to lash out violently at someone who has done you some grievous harm, proclaiming that only your pain matters in this world. More than against that person’s body, you will then, at that moment, be committing a crime against your own imagination.
-- Ariel Dorfman
I heard that Patton felt the same way and wept on his death bed about liberating all those concentration camps by using his armored division, just like the Nazis would have done, except he was trying to get people out of the camps, not into them, but still.

You can learn a lot more from listening than you can from talking. Find someone with whom you don’t agree in the slightest and ask them to explain themselves at length. Then take a seat, shut your mouth, and don’t argue back. It’s physically impossible to listen with your mouth open.
-- John Moe
Not true, my jaw drops every time I hear liberal mewl about all that crazy shit they believe..

How have we become so addicted to petroleum oil? How would the world be different if we could make all our own fuel in our own country? For the last two years I have driven to work on soybeans. This is possible in our lifetime.
-- Martin Tobias
Who will rescue the preachy rescuer from his addiction to soybean oil? When will this madness stop?

Scientists tell us we only use 5% of our brains. But if they only used 5% of their brains to reach that conclusion, then why should we believe them?
-- Joseph Palm
A. Scientist never said that because it's not true, never was. B. Except in the case of Joseph Palm.

Have you noticed that dogs are the new kids? You take a walk with your kid and your dog, but nobody says, “What a cute kid!” Instead they say, “What a cute dog! What’s his name? Is he a rescue?” Maybe if I put a collar and leash on my kid someone will notice her.
-- Judy Gruen
Who could tell?

Worldwide, more than 40 million people are living with HIV and AIDS. Thirteen million children have been orphaned due to AIDS. Six hundred thousand children are infected with HIV each year. And 25 years into the AIDS pandemic, no vaccine or cure is in sight. The numbers speak for themselves. What are you doing to help?
-- Joe Cristina
I'm protesting the EVIL DRUG COMPANIES with ACT UP, that'll teach to spend billions on researching life saving drugs.

Children are born with such a sense of fairness that they will accept no less than equal treatment for all. I know – I have three. I hope that as they grow, they keep that sense of justice and learn to challenge the old adage that life’s not fair. It should be, in so far as we have control of it.
-- Beth Vanden Hoek
To liberal morosophs, children hold the answer to everything, not true. Lord of The Flies may be fiction, but it's less fictional than the belief that we are born perfect and degrade as we age.

Sometimes good art is simply creating an honest mess.
-- Stacy D. Flood
So sayeth talentless hacks the world over. (We meet the first Wednesday of every month at the learning annex, room 317)

Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.
-- Bill Scheel
Because God created you, dolphins and the rest of the universe in only six days. The best you could do is come up with this lame ass observation.

Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Wikis give us a place where anyone who is kind, thoughtful and intelligent can come and join us in building a better and more rational world.
-- Jimmy Wales
Until some prick with a gun comes and shoots them, takes their shit and sells it.

Children are living in a world surrounded by media. If we can use television to teach tolerance and respect and promote healthy eating, we can indeed change the world.
-- Gary E. Knell
How has that worked out for all those overstuffed couch potato children in the last thirty years there Gary?

In reality hell is not such an intention of God as it is an invention of man. God is love and people are precious. Authentic truth is not so much taught or learned as it is remembered. Somewhere in your pre-incarnate consciousness you were loved absolutely because you were. Loved absolutely, and in reality, you still are! Remember who you are!
-- Bishop Carlton Pearson
What the hell sort of church is this gomeril a Bishop of? Perhaps he's just well meaning heretic engaging in wishful thinking.

We will end poverty and stop HIV/AIDS within our generation when guided by African principles such as ubuntu that underscore our interconnectedness. With greater compassion for others, we would no longer accept hunger and disease as facts of life.
-- Cedza Dlamini
Yet there they are and there they are likely to remain. Might I recommend being guided by Western principles like scientific inquiry to end HIV/AIDS and hunger and capitalism and free markets to pay for it.

BornAliveTruth.org Gianna Ad

All the noise about "choice" ends when there is a human child laying on a hospital table. How anyone could oppose protecting such people is beyond me.

One Word Answer: No!

Jay Nordlinger this morning over at The Corner:

I am no violet, and I know that politics is an ugly business. But I must say: The attempted destruction of Gov. Sarah Palin — by some of the worst forces in this country — is making me sick. You? For most of our lives, we have heard squawks from the left about civil liberties. Also about the “politics of personal destruction.” I know they hate her, politically and personally. But won’t some of them stand up against what is happening now? Just for the sake of a semblance of integrity?

No.

Barack Obama, unfit to be commander-in-chief

According to Amir Taheri in Monday's New York Post...

WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence...

Pete Hegseth has more.

Aaron in Buenos Aires

West Hartford bon vivant, web designer and cafe crony Aaron (above, far right) has gone south to beautiful Buenos Aires and started a blog about it, check it out here. Nice to see you keep regular cafe hours there as well Aaron.

Dexter visited BA once and reported back about the beautiful women, luscious, full bodied and affordable red wines, steak at every meal, excellent coffee made with heavy cream and a national youth fixation on the Ramones. What he didn't mention is that Argentina has some of the best fly fishing in the world. Explain to me again, why do I live in Connecticut?

Greece Vs. Germany

Hat Tip Cultman

Obama Campaign: McCain Out Of Touch, Can't Use Email

If only the Obama campaign could figure out why?

The Bradley Effect

Vodka Pundit Stephen Green contemplates the Bradley Effect:

Take every state where Obama leads by four points or less and give it to McCain, and you end up with a map that looks like this sometime late on November 4,
2008:

Read the whole thing, Green is one of those bloggers who makes me seem like one of those monkeys typing away at random in search of a Shakespearean sonnet.
If the Dems lose in November, and it's starting to look like a possibility, they are going to go ape shit, apoplectic, bat shit-crazy. They'll wonder whats so wrong with Kansas, Pennsylvania, Florida and New Hampshire that they can't see the perfection inherent in The ONE.

George Bush: The Dark Knight

Over at NRO TV Peter Robinson interviews author Andrew Klavan who compares Batman The Dark Knight to George W. Bush. He hit the nail on the head, watch it here.
For those of you unfamiliar with the movie, here's a scene with Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne and Michael Caine as Albert Pennyworth:

Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?
Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.
Bruce Wayne: Well today I found out what Batman can't do. He can't endure this. Today you get to say "I told you so."
Alfred Pennyworth: Today, I don't want to. [pauses for several moments]
Alfred Pennyworth: But I did bloody tell you.

In twenty or fifty years, when the Middle East is the home of prosperous, tollerant democracies the father of this success will be George Walker Bush. The Pelosii and Reids of this world will try to find a way to claim paternity, but the only thing they have ever screwed is up.

Animated Doppelgangers

McCain/Palin, Cotton and Peggy Hill. I don't know why I didn't see it sooner, the similarities are more than mere appearances.

seven years on....

(part 1)

(part 2)

(part 3)


Sometime today stop and say a prayer for those killed that day and for their families and for our military and their families.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Hate To Say I Told You So...

Back on Aug 27th I wrote:

This isn't a hard call, but I bet self described feminists won't vote for McCain/Palin and help Palin become the nation's first woman president in four or eight years because she is not a "real" woman by their standards.

Right on cue, stereotypical feminist Wendy Doniger, Professor of the History of Religions, University of Chicago’s Divinity School proves me correct with this perspicacious observation:

Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman. The Republican party's cynical calculation that because she has a womb and makes lots and lots of babies (and drives them to school! wow!) she speaks for the women of America, and will capture their hearts and their votes, has driven thousands of real women to take to their computers in outrage. She does not speak for women; she has no sympathy for the problems of other women, particularly working class women.

Pretense? Cynical? Are we to pay any attention at all to the pernicious musings of a Professor of Religious History, who seems, paradoxically, entirely immune to the lessons of both religion and history? A woman who denies another's muliebrity simply because the other chooses to live a life of faith, family and service? I thought the feminist mantra for to past thirty five years was choice, I guess that only applies to women who do what they're told.

Not to get bitchy or anything, but I think Wendy is a little peeved that Sarah has hipper specs. Not that appearance, grooming or attractiveness have any bearing whatsoever to a persons dignity, person-hood and value.

Lileks In Rare Form Today

Gee, someone peed on this guy's cornflakes:

John Doyle, the cleverest critic in Canada, comes right out and calls Palin an Alaska hillbilly.

“Cleverist” is a matter of opinion, but I’d suggest that when Mark Steyn gets a haircut, the shorn pieces fall to the floor and form, at random, cleverer observations in the form of Chinese characters.

Read the whole thing, it's pretty funny.

The Biden Effect

Joe Biden has been Barack Obama's running mate for less than a month, but already the young presidential hopeful has learned much at the masters knee, namely cribbing political cartoons for unattributed use.

Obama: Lipstick on a Pig

Is this what he means by hope and change, referring to a woman Vice Presidential candidate as a pig? I'd like to think he was misquoted or in the heat of his oration he misspoke, nonsense. He knew what he said and we all know who he was referring to. This man is a super genius! By throwing some red meat to his afficion, he risks further alienating more than half of the electorate. Simply brilliant. I can't wait until see how well he'll do for us when dealing with Medvedev, i.e. Putin, Achmedinajad and Chavez.

McCain: Hanoi Hilton, Obama: The Hilton

Poor Barack Obama, apparently he's been forced to stay in hotels while running for president:

“I hope you guys are up for a fight. I hope you guys are game because I haven’t been putting up with 19 months of airplanes and hotel food and missing my babies and my wife – I didn’t put up for that stuff just to come in second,” he said. “I don’t believe in coming in second. The American people can’t afford for us to come in second.”

Conversely, John McCain put up with airplanes and less than perfect accommodations too. While flying his 23rd bombing mission over Vietnam, McCain was shot down and spent five and half years in the Hanoi Hilton. He could have checked out after two years, but he stayed an additional three years refusing to break faith with his brothers in arms.

I was in solitary confinement when my captors offered to release me. I knew why. If I went home, they would use it as propaganda to demoralize my fellow prisoners. Our Code said we could only go home in the order of our capture, and there were men who had been shot down before me. I thought about it, though. I wasn’t in great shape, and I missed everything about America. But I turned it down.
A lot of prisoners had it worse than I did. I’d been mistreated before, but not as badly as others. I always liked to strut a little after I’d been roughed up to show the other guys I was tough enough to take it. But after I turned down their offer, they worked me over harder than they ever had before. For a long time. And they broke me.
When they brought me back to my cell, I was hurt and ashamed, and I didn’t know how I could face my fellow prisoners. The good man in the cell next door, my friend, Bob Craner, saved me. Through taps on a wall he told me I had fought as hard as I could. No man can always stand alone. And then he told me to get back up and fight again for our country and for the men I had the honor to serve with. Because every day they fought for me.
I fell in love with my country when I was a prisoner in someone else’s. I loved it not just for the many comforts of life here. I loved it for its decency; for its faith in the wisdom, justice and goodness of its people. I loved it because it was not just a place, but an idea, a cause worth fighting for. I was never the same again. I wasn’t my own man anymore. I was my country’s.

Compare and contrast the two men, compare their words, contrast their actions. This choice isn't a hard one.

Separated at Birth: Mark Steyn and Samuel Colt

Welcome Mark Steyn readers, I am so not worthy... you may, however, enjoy this take on our European friends.

Obama Campaign National Finance Committee Member Criticizes Palin's Parenting

The hypocrisy doesn't get any thicker than this. Imagine the cacophony of hissy outrage if a conservative said this about a liberal female candidate?
Hat Tip: The Blog Father

"The Palin Breakout, Part 4"

from Hugh Hewitt's blog:

...The Obamains decying "mean-spiritedness" are diminishing Obama the former giant slayer turned victim. They think Sarah Palin, Rudy, Mitt and Huck are tough? Remember Obama is scheduling meetings with Ahmadinejad, Kim, and Chavez for '09...

Yeah, I was thinking that too.

Also, when Obama complains about Republicans being "divisive" - what the hell do they think it is when Democrats call Republicans "Fascists"? What a whiner.

I also loved this from the comments:

as Howard Cosell would say....
The Thrilla from Wasilla...Down goes Obama! Down goes Obama!

Speaking of Sulfur...

Let's see what Strinberg and Helium have been up to shall we?

Sulfur Hexaflouride

Cool, no?

Harold Simmons' Obama Ad

Is it fair for a US citizen to pay for and air spots like this that are critical of a candidate's affiliation with an unrepentant anti - American terrorist? The Obama campaign didn't think so, so they whined to the DOJ to try and get the spot removed and the financier, Harold Simmons in a jam. Of course they only succeeded in bringing attention to the ad, which shows how Obama clings to the paleo radical Bill Ayers. If there are any inaccuracies in the ad, I'd love to hear about them. The lack of denial from the Obama camp is deafening.
Every American voter should see this ad, consider making a donation to the American Issues Project.

Palinpalooza Continues...

Sarah Palin on her experience:

"I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too. Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities."

Ouch.

Mrs. Palin Goes to Washington

Thomas Lifson and Clarice Feldman over at American Thinker comment on the tension between Middle America and our ruling elites. Sarah Palin's nomination highlights that tension.

It's not just sexism that's driving much of the negative coverage of Governor Palin. There's also naked fear.

update: also, this from today's WSJ.

Oh! THAT Bill Ayers!

Steve Diamond has the story.

Perhaps realizing that there is no hope on the Ayers issue, the Obama campaign began its strategic retreat today. They trotted out a local ally in the Chicago school wars, Linda Lenz, to begin the effort. Her job: admit finally that, in fact, there was some kind of relationship between Ayers and Obama after all but "it ain't no big thang."

We'll see if this helps or only fans the flames...

Wondering when the media are going to finally get around to vetting Obama.

not just a former mayor and a governor...

She was also the chair and ethics officer of the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Beldar has more:

...Gov. Palin's service on the Alaska Oil & Gas Conservation Commission is significant. First, it marks the beginning of what's become a very in-depth exposure to the intersection between government and the energy industry. Alaskans in general tend to be more attentive to energy issues because so much of their state's economy and their state government's budget depend on that industry. But Palin has been focused heavily on energy more or less continually since 2004 — a claim that neither Barack Obama, Joe Biden, or (for that matter) John McCain can make.

Second, although she'd been a reformer and opponent of government corruption/favoritism since her time as a Wasilla city councilman and then mayor, she significantly expanded those credentials — at enormous potential political risk — in her capacity as the Commisson's ethics officer...

Read it all. Her qualifications COMPLETELY eclipse Obama's (and, btw, Biden's). When has Barry ever taken on corruption within his own party?

Sarah the Riveter

The OPV AIDS Debate

In 1992 Tom Curtis proposed a theory, called the OPV AIDS theory, which asserts that scientists testing Oral Polio Vaccines in the middle to late fifties in the Belgian Congo may have inadvertently created AIDS by using biological material harvested from chimpanzees infected with SIV, the simian immunodeficiency virus. Scary shit if it's true, but apparently it's not. Scientist have looked at the SIV virus endemic to the chimps in the area and have found, "SIVcpz is indeed endemic in wild chimpanzees of this region but that the circulating virus is phylogenetically distinct from all strains of HIV-1, providing direct evidence that these chimpanzees were not the source of the human AIDS pandemic."
I'm no doctor, nor do I play one on TV, but it seems to me that if the Oral Polio Vaccine were the culprit many, many more, if not all, of the people who took the OPV would have developed AIDS. This didn't happen. Besides, the way these vaccines were allegedly developed is that they were created in relatively small amounts on site, which were then sent abroad for further development into yet more vaccine. So if one drop of the starter culture is infected, every subsequent milliliter of vaccine will also carry that infection. Unless the biological media used to create the new vaccine is the source of the contamination, which is not what is alleged.
There are two ways in which a Simian retro virus can infect a human, you either have some sort of contact with a simian, which people outside of Africa rarely do or you are exposed to the simian virus through a vaccine, which happens whenever you take a vaccine developed in simian biological media. Since the SIVcpz of the chimps in question is phylogenetically distinct from all strains of human HIV, the simian - human transmission must have happened the old fashioned way, humans eating chimps, the mode of cross infection most of the medical establishment believes to be the culprit.
This question needs to be addressed fully, openly and honestly by all parties involved because it is imperative that people all over the world have confidence in life saving vaccines. Polio is on the verge of being wiped out the way Small Pox was, the few remaining hot spots are in Africa where the local populations are leery of the safety and efficacy of Western proffered vaccines. With stories like this who can blame them?