Gee. Fox News didn't report any of this. But then, neither did CNNABCNBCCBSAP.
Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying
Yah, it's from Greenwald's site, and I don't think I could spend 10 minutes with him before disagreeing with ....most anything he says.
But there are SOME things on which we can agree, and 'pre-emptive SWAT raids' happens to be one of them.
This is horsehockey (if the report is true--and there are a LOT of them.)
And the National Lawyers' Guild affiliation doesn't help with me, either.
But IF--repeat: IF these stories are true, then there's reason to commence worrying.
Nestor indicated that only 2 or 3 of the 50 individuals who were handcuffed this morning at the 2 houses were actually arrested and charged with a crime, and the crime they were charged with is "conspiracy to commit riot." Nestor, who has practiced law in Minnesota for many years, said that he had never before heard of that statute being used for anything, and that its parameters are so self-evidently vague, designed to allow pre-emeptive arrests of those who are peacefully protesting, that it is almost certainly unconstitutional, though because it had never been invoked (until now), its constitutionality had not been tested.
"Conspiracy to commit riot?" C'mon, guys. My CHILDREN 'conspired to riot' when school started every year. Didn't get them real far, of course, as they were dragged out of the house and into the Commodious Van...
There's a lot at the link to think about.
UPDATE: There's more here:
What I wrote earlier about these conventions being a sort of “war gaming” exercise for federal, state and local law enforcement community seems to have been quite inspired. I spent a good deal of time yesterday in the “calm before the storm” in downtown St. Paul, outside the Excel Center, that is, as close as I could before the 10-foot steel gates that sliced the center’s parking lot in half and wrapped around like menacing fortifications kept me from getting much closer. Cops and apparently military, in all shades of tan and blue and black uniforms, many carrying long sticks, and donning riot helmets, others on horseback, still others packing plastic handcuffs and heavy weaponry, far outnumbered the curious conventioneers, media, and local onlookers wandering around yesterday.
...I wondered what the party faithful would have thought of this spectacle say 50 years ago? What struck me then — and this sounds cliche — was how undemocratic it all felt, and yet the media continues to cover these things like they are a party event. An American event. Truth is, unless you are ticketed, credentialed or one of the event’s Very Important Pols, go away. You are nothing if you don’t belong. In fact, you might be treated as nothing less than a potential threat if you get close enough to the perimeter.
Of course, it was the same in Denver.
All THAT tells us is that the Party-In-Government (PIG Party) is with us to stay.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The "OODA Loop" Analysis
Orv Seymer makes a good case for this.
Please allow me to explain what the OODA Loop is. It is an acronym for Observe-Orientate-Decide-Act and it is a concept that was developed about 50 years ago by the Late Col. John Boyd.
...The most important aspect of the OODA Loop are the orientation and the decision phases. In fact the decision phase is likely the most important phase. It is the ability to make decisions faster than your opponent that causes him to become disorientated and make mistakes, both physical mistakes and mistakes in judgment. Keep in mind that it is more important to make faster decisions rather than the best decision. You still have to make good decisions but it is more important to make good decisions quicker than your opponent.
It has been said that Boyd has developed the most profound change in military tactics since Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War.
...I can only speculate but I think that John McCain is well schooled in the tactics of the OODA Loop and he is using those tactics to his full advantage
...Within a little more than 12 hours after the finish of Obama's speech, McCain is out announcing his VP pick and it a complete surprise to almost everyone, especially the Obama campaign. While the Obama campaign was all geared up to attack Pawlenty, McCain got "inside of his loop" by announcing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, almost out of the blue.
When I saw Barack Obama and Joe Biden on Friday morning TV program and they were asked about McCain's VP pick, they both looked like they were completely disorientated and did not know which way was up.
Hmmmmm.
Clearly, the McCain campaign views a campaign as war by different means. It's the reverse-plus-one-step-removed of Klausewitz' observation, but it fits.
And clearly the Obama campaign is thinking in a much more 'conventional' sense: "It's all jolly well fun between us boys, and we'll use the same old/same old and get the same old, plus a few, and we win!"
(If you don't think "same old/same old" applies, folks, look how the Dems are desperately trying to tie McCain to Bush--which (I remind you) was LAST campaign's "war." Or look at the Biden pick. Talk about same-old/same-old!)
McCain's not playing that game. He's using the IntertubeWeblogthingie to MUCH greater effect than Obama's boyzzz. He's using graciousness (as Orv points out.) He's NOT using GWB to any degree worth noticing. And he dropped a bag of sand into their oilpan with the Palin nomination.
In short, he's fighting an un-conventional war against a hoary formula-politics which is best identified with (surprise!!) Mayor Daley and the Ward-Heeler gang.
The penultimate strategic 'tell' will be whether or not McCain pulls out the Rovian GOTV battleship. (And by the way, Rove's GOTV was just like the Chinese Army's approach to war: "keep sending men until the other guy gives up." It wore out staffers AND volunteers.) Obviously, some GOTV will be in play. But will it be special-ops? or infantry?
Damn! This is fun!
HT: McMahon
Please allow me to explain what the OODA Loop is. It is an acronym for Observe-Orientate-Decide-Act and it is a concept that was developed about 50 years ago by the Late Col. John Boyd.
...The most important aspect of the OODA Loop are the orientation and the decision phases. In fact the decision phase is likely the most important phase. It is the ability to make decisions faster than your opponent that causes him to become disorientated and make mistakes, both physical mistakes and mistakes in judgment. Keep in mind that it is more important to make faster decisions rather than the best decision. You still have to make good decisions but it is more important to make good decisions quicker than your opponent.
It has been said that Boyd has developed the most profound change in military tactics since Sun Tzu wrote the Art of War.
...I can only speculate but I think that John McCain is well schooled in the tactics of the OODA Loop and he is using those tactics to his full advantage
...Within a little more than 12 hours after the finish of Obama's speech, McCain is out announcing his VP pick and it a complete surprise to almost everyone, especially the Obama campaign. While the Obama campaign was all geared up to attack Pawlenty, McCain got "inside of his loop" by announcing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, almost out of the blue.
When I saw Barack Obama and Joe Biden on Friday morning TV program and they were asked about McCain's VP pick, they both looked like they were completely disorientated and did not know which way was up.
Hmmmmm.
Clearly, the McCain campaign views a campaign as war by different means. It's the reverse-plus-one-step-removed of Klausewitz' observation, but it fits.
And clearly the Obama campaign is thinking in a much more 'conventional' sense: "It's all jolly well fun between us boys, and we'll use the same old/same old and get the same old, plus a few, and we win!"
(If you don't think "same old/same old" applies, folks, look how the Dems are desperately trying to tie McCain to Bush--which (I remind you) was LAST campaign's "war." Or look at the Biden pick. Talk about same-old/same-old!)
McCain's not playing that game. He's using the IntertubeWeblogthingie to MUCH greater effect than Obama's boyzzz. He's using graciousness (as Orv points out.) He's NOT using GWB to any degree worth noticing. And he dropped a bag of sand into their oilpan with the Palin nomination.
In short, he's fighting an un-conventional war against a hoary formula-politics which is best identified with (surprise!!) Mayor Daley and the Ward-Heeler gang.
The penultimate strategic 'tell' will be whether or not McCain pulls out the Rovian GOTV battleship. (And by the way, Rove's GOTV was just like the Chinese Army's approach to war: "keep sending men until the other guy gives up." It wore out staffers AND volunteers.) Obviously, some GOTV will be in play. But will it be special-ops? or infantry?
Damn! This is fun!
HT: McMahon
There's a Better McCain
Some folks point out Cindy McCain's money.
They don't bother to talk about what she DOES with it.
[Cindy McCain] visited Mother Teresa's orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she saw 160 newborn girls who had been abandoned. The nuns handed her a small baby with a cleft palate so severe that she couldn't be fed. Another baby, also just a few weeks old, had a heart defect.
Worried they would die without medical attention, Cindy applied for medical visas to take the girls back to the United States. But the country's minister of health refused to sign the papers. "We can do surgery on this child," an official told her. Cindy, frustrated, slammed her fist on the table. "Then do it! What are you waiting for?" The official, stunned, simply signed the papers. "I don't know where I got the nerve," Cindy said.
When she arrived in Phoenix, she carried the baby with the cleft palate off the plane. Her husband met her at the airport. He looked at the baby. "Where is she going," he asked her. "To our house," she replied. They adopted the little girl and named her Bridget. Family friends adopted the other little girl.
Last week in Vietnam, Cindy relived that time as she talked to a young Vietnamese mother at a hospital in tiny Nha Trang. The woman clutched a tiny newborn with a severe cleft palate. Ditching her handlers, she went over to talk with her. "Where's the interpreter?" Cindy said. In tears, the woman told Cindy that she had been denied a consultation by the Operation Smile workers because they feared her baby was too sick to be helped. "I had a baby just like yours," Cindy slowly told her, allowing the interpreter to translate. She played with the baby's tiny fingers, recalling that her own daughter had been written off as unsavable.
She joined the mother in the observation room and listened as cardiologists told them they feared the baby might go into cardiac arrest if they were to operate. As the mother cried, Cindy, through an interpreter, told her that she knew exactly how she felt and patted her back. "That baby deserved a shot," she said, "just like Bridget did." In the end, the doctors decided to perform the surgery.
I'd take a Palin/McCain (Cindy) ticket, too...
HT: Caveman
They don't bother to talk about what she DOES with it.
[Cindy McCain] visited Mother Teresa's orphanage in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where she saw 160 newborn girls who had been abandoned. The nuns handed her a small baby with a cleft palate so severe that she couldn't be fed. Another baby, also just a few weeks old, had a heart defect.
Worried they would die without medical attention, Cindy applied for medical visas to take the girls back to the United States. But the country's minister of health refused to sign the papers. "We can do surgery on this child," an official told her. Cindy, frustrated, slammed her fist on the table. "Then do it! What are you waiting for?" The official, stunned, simply signed the papers. "I don't know where I got the nerve," Cindy said.
When she arrived in Phoenix, she carried the baby with the cleft palate off the plane. Her husband met her at the airport. He looked at the baby. "Where is she going," he asked her. "To our house," she replied. They adopted the little girl and named her Bridget. Family friends adopted the other little girl.
Last week in Vietnam, Cindy relived that time as she talked to a young Vietnamese mother at a hospital in tiny Nha Trang. The woman clutched a tiny newborn with a severe cleft palate. Ditching her handlers, she went over to talk with her. "Where's the interpreter?" Cindy said. In tears, the woman told Cindy that she had been denied a consultation by the Operation Smile workers because they feared her baby was too sick to be helped. "I had a baby just like yours," Cindy slowly told her, allowing the interpreter to translate. She played with the baby's tiny fingers, recalling that her own daughter had been written off as unsavable.
She joined the mother in the observation room and listened as cardiologists told them they feared the baby might go into cardiac arrest if they were to operate. As the mother cried, Cindy, through an interpreter, told her that she knew exactly how she felt and patted her back. "That baby deserved a shot," she said, "just like Bridget did." In the end, the doctors decided to perform the surgery.
I'd take a Palin/McCain (Cindy) ticket, too...
HT: Caveman
Politics Is Hot!!
Ordinarily my long-suffering wife is perfectly happy to leave politics to me, which is natural. Men are simply more inclined to discuss politics than are women, who have much more important things to do--like raise children, watch budgets, and look for Christmas gifts for family members year-round.
But now and then, the 'politics is Hot!' button gets pressed. Don't ask me what triggers it, because I don't have an answer.
There were two previous occasions--not even (strictly speaking) "political"--when the love of my life went bonzo, watching every available moment of coverage. The first was the Clarence Thomas hearings. The next was Reagan's funeral.
Now the Palin nomination. The Beloved has watched about every minute of coverage available on Fox, NBC, and ABC. And she has become zealous about it, to the extent that she will not tolerate any cynicism from me. Period. For that matter, she's not encouraging positive remarks, either.
It's something she's simply going to absorb, completely, with no input from me or anyone else in the family.
Huh.
But now and then, the 'politics is Hot!' button gets pressed. Don't ask me what triggers it, because I don't have an answer.
There were two previous occasions--not even (strictly speaking) "political"--when the love of my life went bonzo, watching every available moment of coverage. The first was the Clarence Thomas hearings. The next was Reagan's funeral.
Now the Palin nomination. The Beloved has watched about every minute of coverage available on Fox, NBC, and ABC. And she has become zealous about it, to the extent that she will not tolerate any cynicism from me. Period. For that matter, she's not encouraging positive remarks, either.
It's something she's simply going to absorb, completely, with no input from me or anyone else in the family.
Huh.
Another Way to Look at Man
Wonder why people do what they do? G K Chesterton has the answer.
CARLYLE said that men were mostly fools. Christianity, with a surer and more reverent realism, says that they are all fools. This doctrine is sometimes called the doctrine of original sin. It may also be described as the doctrine of the equality of men.
--Heretics
CARLYLE said that men were mostly fools. Christianity, with a surer and more reverent realism, says that they are all fools. This doctrine is sometimes called the doctrine of original sin. It may also be described as the doctrine of the equality of men.
--Heretics
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Gustav Prep in New Orleans
Reported via Free Republic:
We just got a call from Devline Rossell, a charter captain based out of Venice, Louisiana. He was shopping in New Orleans to get some supplies before the arrival of Gustav (currently listed as a tropical storm that has left at least 22 dead in the Caribbean) and reported that the item most in demand was not food, clothing or shelter.
“I just left a sporting goods store and you would think that the number-one selling item would be plywood or potable water or gasoline right now,” he said. “Apparently it is AR-15s and .223 ammo. I watched at least 20 people buy AR-15s and cases of .223.”
FWIW, they were not buying 'cases' of .223 ball, the military .223. You can't get those anymore, except on rare occasion--and you'll pay a fortune for them.
More likely .223 target, or .223 "heavy" (extra lead grains) are available in those quantities.
In any case, those are prudent folks.
We just got a call from Devline Rossell, a charter captain based out of Venice, Louisiana. He was shopping in New Orleans to get some supplies before the arrival of Gustav (currently listed as a tropical storm that has left at least 22 dead in the Caribbean) and reported that the item most in demand was not food, clothing or shelter.
“I just left a sporting goods store and you would think that the number-one selling item would be plywood or potable water or gasoline right now,” he said. “Apparently it is AR-15s and .223 ammo. I watched at least 20 people buy AR-15s and cases of .223.”
FWIW, they were not buying 'cases' of .223 ball, the military .223. You can't get those anymore, except on rare occasion--and you'll pay a fortune for them.
More likely .223 target, or .223 "heavy" (extra lead grains) are available in those quantities.
In any case, those are prudent folks.
Favre to Chicago!
An emailer reports as follows:
The NYJets have decided they do not want Favre and returned him to the Packers yesterday.
Ted Thompson immediately traded Favre to the Chicago Bears.
In return, Chicago has given back Egg Harbor, the Dells, Rhinelander, and the left lane of all Wisconsin interstates PLUS Hy. 41.
Additional details at 10:00 PM.
The NYJets have decided they do not want Favre and returned him to the Packers yesterday.
Ted Thompson immediately traded Favre to the Chicago Bears.
In return, Chicago has given back Egg Harbor, the Dells, Rhinelander, and the left lane of all Wisconsin interstates PLUS Hy. 41.
Additional details at 10:00 PM.
Andra moi ennepe, mousa, poloutropon, 'os mala
Maybe 3 of you will recognize the title line (and using English letters to imitate the Ionic didn't help, did it?)
Well, you can have the translation from IowaHawk, who does a DAMN good job with Homer.
Well, you can have the translation from IowaHawk, who does a DAMN good job with Homer.
Another Commie Beneficiary of Annenberg Foundation
My, my.
Blithe notes that the Annenberg Foundation awarded $175K to a fellow who commented on this post from a Lefty Chicago online publication.
The commenter is Mike Klonsky.
He is Mike Klonsky, who is named as a major Chicago Annenberg Challenge beneficiary, he and William Ayers picking up a bundle — $175,000 –– for “small school workshops.”
Blithe did a little digging and found a blog-entry from a fellow named Diamond, who observes:
[Klonsky is] one of the most destructive hardline maoists in the SDS in the late 60’s who emerged from SDS to form a pro-Chinese sect called the October League that later became the Beijing-recognized Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist).
As chairman of the party, Klonsky travelled to Beijing itself in 1977 and, literally, toasted the Chinese stalinist leadership who, in turn, “hailed the formation of the CP(ML) as ‘reflecting the aspirations of the proletariat and working people,’ effectively recognizing the group as the all-but-official US Maoist party.” (Elbaum, Revolution in the Air, 228).
Observes Blithe:
Klonsky was a “red-diaper baby,” son of a Communist Party USA founder, writes Elbaum (p. 102). He’s a type, in other words, one who ate and drank Marxism but in later years, being no dummy, saw that there was no future in communism, so turned to radicalism — as in public school systems, the bigger the better. In Chicago, if not sooner, he found Ayers, who found Obama, who at best has been a useful idiot.
One wonders if the deceased Mr. Annenberg had ANY IDEA what his money was used for...
Blithe notes that the Annenberg Foundation awarded $175K to a fellow who commented on this post from a Lefty Chicago online publication.
The commenter is Mike Klonsky.
He is Mike Klonsky, who is named as a major Chicago Annenberg Challenge beneficiary, he and William Ayers picking up a bundle — $175,000 –– for “small school workshops.”
Blithe did a little digging and found a blog-entry from a fellow named Diamond, who observes:
[Klonsky is] one of the most destructive hardline maoists in the SDS in the late 60’s who emerged from SDS to form a pro-Chinese sect called the October League that later became the Beijing-recognized Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist).
As chairman of the party, Klonsky travelled to Beijing itself in 1977 and, literally, toasted the Chinese stalinist leadership who, in turn, “hailed the formation of the CP(ML) as ‘reflecting the aspirations of the proletariat and working people,’ effectively recognizing the group as the all-but-official US Maoist party.” (Elbaum, Revolution in the Air, 228).
Observes Blithe:
Klonsky was a “red-diaper baby,” son of a Communist Party USA founder, writes Elbaum (p. 102). He’s a type, in other words, one who ate and drank Marxism but in later years, being no dummy, saw that there was no future in communism, so turned to radicalism — as in public school systems, the bigger the better. In Chicago, if not sooner, he found Ayers, who found Obama, who at best has been a useful idiot.
One wonders if the deceased Mr. Annenberg had ANY IDEA what his money was used for...
Palin's Independence
A more hard-bitten Conservative blog reaction:
John McCain’s never seemed to me to merit his “maverick” moniker, but the Palin pick is clear evidence of an independent spirit. He met the women only in February, barely knows her, yet was clearly sufficiently smitten to disregard all professional party insider advice and the heavy neocon lobbying to choose Joe Lieberman, Bill Kristol’s pick to ensure Americans will be fighting Mideast wars in perpetuity. Watching McCain camp followers react to the choice is a bit like seeing the middle aged heirs of a very rich man feign pleasure when they learn Daddy has decided, very late in life, to marry a woman he just recently met, who happens to be forty years his junior.
If you don't think that is accurate, then look no further than "PowerLine" today:
...there are two streams of thought in the Republican party about how America should relate to the world, and one of them is the Buchanan/Chuck Hagel approach. And there are three main possibilities when it comes to Palin: (1) she agrees with what is now the mainstream, Bush/McCain approach, (2) she agrees with the Buchanan/Hagel approach, and (3) she hasn't thought much about it.
My guess is that the answer lies somewhere between (1) and (3). But I'd rather be able to examine a track record than guess...
PowerLine is always ready to Fight Wars--preferably in the Middle East. Somehow, they conclude that "mainstream" = "fight wars."
They're wrong, of course. If the Surge hadn't worked as well as it did, the polls would be radically different than they are today.
John McCain’s never seemed to me to merit his “maverick” moniker, but the Palin pick is clear evidence of an independent spirit. He met the women only in February, barely knows her, yet was clearly sufficiently smitten to disregard all professional party insider advice and the heavy neocon lobbying to choose Joe Lieberman, Bill Kristol’s pick to ensure Americans will be fighting Mideast wars in perpetuity. Watching McCain camp followers react to the choice is a bit like seeing the middle aged heirs of a very rich man feign pleasure when they learn Daddy has decided, very late in life, to marry a woman he just recently met, who happens to be forty years his junior.
If you don't think that is accurate, then look no further than "PowerLine" today:
...there are two streams of thought in the Republican party about how America should relate to the world, and one of them is the Buchanan/Chuck Hagel approach. And there are three main possibilities when it comes to Palin: (1) she agrees with what is now the mainstream, Bush/McCain approach, (2) she agrees with the Buchanan/Hagel approach, and (3) she hasn't thought much about it.
My guess is that the answer lies somewhere between (1) and (3). But I'd rather be able to examine a track record than guess...
PowerLine is always ready to Fight Wars--preferably in the Middle East. Somehow, they conclude that "mainstream" = "fight wars."
They're wrong, of course. If the Surge hadn't worked as well as it did, the polls would be radically different than they are today.
UPDATE: Even MORE Polling Problems for Obamama
As if the below weren't bad enough, it gets worse for Obamamamamama and Sancho.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday is the first to include reaction to both Barack Obama’s acceptance speech and John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate. The numbers are little changed since yesterday and show Barack Obama attracting 47% of the vote nationwide while John McCain earns 43%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 49% and McCain 45%.
Essentially, it's margin of error--and that's BEFORE Palin.
Comments Morrissey:
In other words, except for the fundraising activities associated with it, the Obama speech was essentially a bust.
I did see the last 10 minutes or so, and it was not exceptional, either in delivery or content. And although I'm not Peggy Noonan, I do know something about speechifying. Just sayin'....
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday is the first to include reaction to both Barack Obama’s acceptance speech and John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate. The numbers are little changed since yesterday and show Barack Obama attracting 47% of the vote nationwide while John McCain earns 43%. When “leaners” are included, it’s Obama 49% and McCain 45%.
Essentially, it's margin of error--and that's BEFORE Palin.
Comments Morrissey:
In other words, except for the fundraising activities associated with it, the Obama speech was essentially a bust.
I did see the last 10 minutes or so, and it was not exceptional, either in delivery or content. And although I'm not Peggy Noonan, I do know something about speechifying. Just sayin'....
Palin's "Trooper Problem"
Well, as usual, there's more to the story than the LeftoSphere wants to tell you.
Of course, there is nothing that has suggested Palin had any direct involvement with pressure brought against her former brother-in-law, and it was her aides that were accused of wanting the state trooper fired.
And perhaps part of the reason the governor's aides wanted this trooper fired wasn't because he was part of a divorce, but because he shot a cow moose... out of season.
It could also have been because he was caught driving drunk... in a patrol car.
May be it even might have had something to do with the fact he tasered his 11-year-old-son.
I think the HIRING of this moron should be investigated, not the firing....
But hey--he could always run on the (D) ticket for AG/Wisconsin, right?
HT: Confederate Yankee
Of course, there is nothing that has suggested Palin had any direct involvement with pressure brought against her former brother-in-law, and it was her aides that were accused of wanting the state trooper fired.
And perhaps part of the reason the governor's aides wanted this trooper fired wasn't because he was part of a divorce, but because he shot a cow moose... out of season.
It could also have been because he was caught driving drunk... in a patrol car.
May be it even might have had something to do with the fact he tasered his 11-year-old-son.
I think the HIRING of this moron should be investigated, not the firing....
But hey--he could always run on the (D) ticket for AG/Wisconsin, right?
HT: Confederate Yankee
The O-and-Savior's Numbers: Wrong Way
As the ever-astute Shoebox points out, not only did McCain suck all the oxygen out of what shoulda/woulda/coulda been O's air over the weekend--but O-and-Savior and his trusty companion, Sancho, have another and larger problem:
A majority of likely voters and Catholics are at odds with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on the critical issue of abortion and “when life begins,”
And this:
Would you support or oppose a ballot measure in your state that stipulates only marriage between a man and a woman will be legally recognized?” [Roughly opposite the O-and-Savior position]
Fifty-eight percent of likely voters said they would support such a measure, while only 36 percent would oppose it. Among likely voters who are Catholic, 60 percent would support the ballot measure, and 36 percent would oppose it
Seems that all McPain has to do is allow the O-and-Savior and Sancho to speak. Then the 60+% conservative majority of Americans will respond.
A majority of likely voters and Catholics are at odds with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on the critical issue of abortion and “when life begins,”
And this:
Would you support or oppose a ballot measure in your state that stipulates only marriage between a man and a woman will be legally recognized?” [Roughly opposite the O-and-Savior position]
Fifty-eight percent of likely voters said they would support such a measure, while only 36 percent would oppose it. Among likely voters who are Catholic, 60 percent would support the ballot measure, and 36 percent would oppose it
Seems that all McPain has to do is allow the O-and-Savior and Sancho to speak. Then the 60+% conservative majority of Americans will respond.
Really Big Savings?
These numbers are extremely large.
A program that provides birth control and other reproductive health services to minors and low-income women saved state health programs an estimated $487 million from 2003 through 2007, a state report says
...or about $125 million/year.
The report, by what is now the state Department of Health Services, also found that the program met its primary purposes of preventing unintended births; reducing Medicaid spending on births to low-income women; and improving reproductive health care
OK...
The average cost of each birth that year was $5,791. The child, mother and father, if the child’s parents are married, also would be eligible for state health programs after the birth.
Uh-huh...
The report was done in March. But Newman, who also is executive director of Family Planning Health Services Inc., which operates seven clinics in central Wisconsin, did not learn of the estimated savings until this week.
“It’s 15 times what we expected,” Newman said. “It’s remarkable.”
$125 million/year?
A program that provides birth control and other reproductive health services to minors and low-income women saved state health programs an estimated $487 million from 2003 through 2007, a state report says
...or about $125 million/year.
The report, by what is now the state Department of Health Services, also found that the program met its primary purposes of preventing unintended births; reducing Medicaid spending on births to low-income women; and improving reproductive health care
OK...
The average cost of each birth that year was $5,791. The child, mother and father, if the child’s parents are married, also would be eligible for state health programs after the birth.
Uh-huh...
The report was done in March. But Newman, who also is executive director of Family Planning Health Services Inc., which operates seven clinics in central Wisconsin, did not learn of the estimated savings until this week.
“It’s 15 times what we expected,” Newman said. “It’s remarkable.”
$125 million/year?
Friday, August 29, 2008
Palin: The Signal of "Change"
Quite a pick.
At first, I thought that McPain was being too clever by half--trumping Obama with a woman. But some would read that as sexist, I suppose, in the hyper-sensitive world of Lefties.
The real motives became clear as she spoke, and as I read the various opinions on the inter-blogo-spheric-net:
"Change" is the word. McPain actually may trump Obamamamama on "change"!
More to follow, of course--the Convention speechifications should prove enlightening.
But both McPain and Palin are clearly 'non-conventional' Pubbies. On the other hand, Obamamamama's speech last night boiled down to "more of the same" Democrat yappaflappa about "investment" and "taxes,"--and, of course, anti-Bush.
Well, McPain is an "anti-establishment" guy (and not all to my liking...) and Palin certainly qualifies in the same category.
This will be fun, folks!
At first, I thought that McPain was being too clever by half--trumping Obama with a woman. But some would read that as sexist, I suppose, in the hyper-sensitive world of Lefties.
The real motives became clear as she spoke, and as I read the various opinions on the inter-blogo-spheric-net:
"Change" is the word. McPain actually may trump Obamamamama on "change"!
More to follow, of course--the Convention speechifications should prove enlightening.
But both McPain and Palin are clearly 'non-conventional' Pubbies. On the other hand, Obamamamama's speech last night boiled down to "more of the same" Democrat yappaflappa about "investment" and "taxes,"--and, of course, anti-Bush.
Well, McPain is an "anti-establishment" guy (and not all to my liking...) and Palin certainly qualifies in the same category.
This will be fun, folks!
Only in Madistan...
Un-friggin'-believable.
Madison police would no longer be allowed to fine the homeless for public urination and sleeping in parks under ordinance changes to be introduced soon by Ald. Brenda Konkel.
With limited shelter space and no new city programs for the homeless population coming down the pipe in 2009, Konkel said the ordinance changes she will introduce at a City Council meeting in September are intended to spark a discussion about how the city treats the homeless
Umnnnnhhhh...
Under the equal-treatment laws, why only "the homeless?"
HT: Scoffer
Madison police would no longer be allowed to fine the homeless for public urination and sleeping in parks under ordinance changes to be introduced soon by Ald. Brenda Konkel.
With limited shelter space and no new city programs for the homeless population coming down the pipe in 2009, Konkel said the ordinance changes she will introduce at a City Council meeting in September are intended to spark a discussion about how the city treats the homeless
Umnnnnhhhh...
Under the equal-treatment laws, why only "the homeless?"
HT: Scoffer
"Law and Order" in Denver?
This is disturbing.
Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.
...The sheriff's officer is seen telling Eslocker the sidewalk is owned by the hotel. Later, he is seen pushing Eslocker off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic, forcing him to the other side of the street.
I suppose that the first matter to be resolved is whether or not, in fact, the hotel actually "owns" the sidewalk.
If they do, well, the producer was in the wrong.
But that is not the commonly-accepted understanding. Sidewalks have, by and large, been treated as 'public property,' owned by the municipality. In fact, most munis have a "60-foot rule," (or similar), meaning that the land 30 feet on either side of the centerline of a street is PUBLIC property.
I don't really care that the ABC guy was looking for dirt on the Dems. He could have been doing the same thing in St Paul, with the Pubbies. Makes no difference to me whatsoever.
I do NOT like the attitude of the cops, nor their un-professional aggression.
And I particularly do NOT like the restriction on information-gathering by a nationally-known news organization.
Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.
...The sheriff's officer is seen telling Eslocker the sidewalk is owned by the hotel. Later, he is seen pushing Eslocker off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic, forcing him to the other side of the street.
I suppose that the first matter to be resolved is whether or not, in fact, the hotel actually "owns" the sidewalk.
If they do, well, the producer was in the wrong.
But that is not the commonly-accepted understanding. Sidewalks have, by and large, been treated as 'public property,' owned by the municipality. In fact, most munis have a "60-foot rule," (or similar), meaning that the land 30 feet on either side of the centerline of a street is PUBLIC property.
I don't really care that the ABC guy was looking for dirt on the Dems. He could have been doing the same thing in St Paul, with the Pubbies. Makes no difference to me whatsoever.
I do NOT like the attitude of the cops, nor their un-professional aggression.
And I particularly do NOT like the restriction on information-gathering by a nationally-known news organization.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The Very Loyal Dissent
Derbyshire, a fellow curmudgeon, takes on the Ollie Optimist (enthusiast) Club.
Every age has its characteristic follies, and those follies have their correctives. The folly of the present age in America is a facile, infantile optimism, that recognizes no limits to human abilities or the wonders that can be wrought by politicians, bureaucrats, and generals. The corrective is a firm, measured pessimism.
The natural home of that fool's optimism in this age is the political Left, so the corrective must come from the Right.
...We must revive the fine tradition of conservative pessimism. In this age, optimism is for children and fools. And liberals.
Some children will be left behind. You cannot "remake the Middle East" or "defeat evil." The poor will always be with us. Black and white will never mingle together in unselfconscious harmony. Corporations will not research and explore without hope of profit. Russia will not become Sweden. Forty million immigrants speaking a single language will not assimilate.
Conservatives used to know all this.
Some — the infallibly sapient Roger Kimball, for example — still do
Others--some who call themselves "conservative"--betray their liberalism, or more accurately, they simply deny Original Sin.
HT: Vox
Every age has its characteristic follies, and those follies have their correctives. The folly of the present age in America is a facile, infantile optimism, that recognizes no limits to human abilities or the wonders that can be wrought by politicians, bureaucrats, and generals. The corrective is a firm, measured pessimism.
The natural home of that fool's optimism in this age is the political Left, so the corrective must come from the Right.
...We must revive the fine tradition of conservative pessimism. In this age, optimism is for children and fools. And liberals.
Some children will be left behind. You cannot "remake the Middle East" or "defeat evil." The poor will always be with us. Black and white will never mingle together in unselfconscious harmony. Corporations will not research and explore without hope of profit. Russia will not become Sweden. Forty million immigrants speaking a single language will not assimilate.
Conservatives used to know all this.
Some — the infallibly sapient Roger Kimball, for example — still do
Others--some who call themselves "conservative"--betray their liberalism, or more accurately, they simply deny Original Sin.
HT: Vox
"Fraudulent Concealment": Belleville Diocese Pays
This is not (necessarily) going to make Abp. Dolan's day:
In a rare civil judgment against a US local church, an Illinois jury yesterday found the diocese of Belleville guilty of "fradulent concealment" of the records of an abusive priest, ordering the diocese to pay $5 million in damages to a survivor who claimed five years of abuse in the 1970s.
The jury found that the diocese had "fraudulently concealed" evidence that Kownacki, 73, of Dupo, was known by church leaders from reports as early as 1973 to be a violent rapist and child sex offender but kept reassigning him to parishes without warning the public.
Similar charges are being litigated in Milwaukee at this time.
In a rare civil judgment against a US local church, an Illinois jury yesterday found the diocese of Belleville guilty of "fradulent concealment" of the records of an abusive priest, ordering the diocese to pay $5 million in damages to a survivor who claimed five years of abuse in the 1970s.
The jury found that the diocese had "fraudulently concealed" evidence that Kownacki, 73, of Dupo, was known by church leaders from reports as early as 1973 to be a violent rapist and child sex offender but kept reassigning him to parishes without warning the public.
Similar charges are being litigated in Milwaukee at this time.
Obama Wanna Play Rough? Don't Go There
Obamamamamama's boyzzz just don't like the Ayers connection.
So they want the US Department of Justice to 'investigate' the donor(s) who made this video possible.
Well, the target of the Obamamamama-ites' campaign thinks that two can play that game.
Of course, should the Department decide to yield to the pressure from the Obama Campaign and undertake its requested ‘investigations’ of donors to politically related conservative causes, the Department would necessarily be required to do so in an even-handed, non partisan and non-ideological approach. In that regard, the Department would be required to review all donors to all causes and political / policy organizations, whose contributions exceed $5,000 per calendar year to any such causes, the vast majority of which are donors to liberal causes, not conservative ones.
Based on calculations from the Center for Responsive Politics (www.crp.org ) the following are leftwing donors whose substantial contributions to political causes in the last three election cycles have consistently landed each of them on the top donors list and surely each of these donors warrant the Department’s review, scrutiny and prosecution, if the Obama Campaign standard is to be applied evenly:
George Soros:
2004: $23,450,000
2006: $ 3,542,500
2008 (to date) $ 4,650,000
Steven Bing:
2004: $13,852,031
2008 (to date) $ 4,850,000
Peter Lewis:
2004: $22,997,220
2006: $ 1, 624,375
2008 (to date) $ 850,000
Herb and Marion Sandler:
2004: $13, 008, 459
Linda Pritzker:
2004: $3,300,000
2006: $2,101,000
John Hunting:
2006: $1,647,000
2008 (to date) $1,243,000
Alida Messinger
2004: $ 3,580,200
2006: $ 1,042,000
2008 (to date) $ 883,000
Pat Stryker:
2006: $ 1,331,293
2008 (to date): $ 300,000
Jon Stryker:
2006: $ 1,271,313
2008: $ 604,054
The missive also mentions the group which announced that it would be "targeting" donors to Conservative causes for reprisals. (They did not mention Epic Systems.)
OK, Obama. Let's play.
HT: Malkin
So they want the US Department of Justice to 'investigate' the donor(s) who made this video possible.
Well, the target of the Obamamamama-ites' campaign thinks that two can play that game.
Of course, should the Department decide to yield to the pressure from the Obama Campaign and undertake its requested ‘investigations’ of donors to politically related conservative causes, the Department would necessarily be required to do so in an even-handed, non partisan and non-ideological approach. In that regard, the Department would be required to review all donors to all causes and political / policy organizations, whose contributions exceed $5,000 per calendar year to any such causes, the vast majority of which are donors to liberal causes, not conservative ones.
Based on calculations from the Center for Responsive Politics (www.crp.org ) the following are leftwing donors whose substantial contributions to political causes in the last three election cycles have consistently landed each of them on the top donors list and surely each of these donors warrant the Department’s review, scrutiny and prosecution, if the Obama Campaign standard is to be applied evenly:
George Soros:
2004: $23,450,000
2006: $ 3,542,500
2008 (to date) $ 4,650,000
Steven Bing:
2004: $13,852,031
2008 (to date) $ 4,850,000
Peter Lewis:
2004: $22,997,220
2006: $ 1, 624,375
2008 (to date) $ 850,000
Herb and Marion Sandler:
2004: $13, 008, 459
Linda Pritzker:
2004: $3,300,000
2006: $2,101,000
John Hunting:
2006: $1,647,000
2008 (to date) $1,243,000
Alida Messinger
2004: $ 3,580,200
2006: $ 1,042,000
2008 (to date) $ 883,000
Pat Stryker:
2006: $ 1,331,293
2008 (to date): $ 300,000
Jon Stryker:
2006: $ 1,271,313
2008: $ 604,054
The missive also mentions the group which announced that it would be "targeting" donors to Conservative causes for reprisals. (They did not mention Epic Systems.)
OK, Obama. Let's play.
HT: Malkin
Pelosi Dodge/Duck on Abortion, Chapter 3 (Biden, Too)
Queen Nancy has a NEW story on her abortion problem.
A spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the speaker's position as a "pro-abortion Catholic", not because the Church is unclear on when life begins, as earlier stated, but because Catholics routinely contravene "clear Catholic teaching" against abortion.
In a statement praising Pelosi's appreciation for "the sanctity of the family," Brenda Daly, speaking for Pelosi, said, "While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe to that view."
Brenda Daly's statement says that Pelosi is not justified in her pro-abortion stance due to vague Church teaching, but on the basis that many other "Catholics" also violate Church teaching
This from someone who is, by title, the most important law-maker in the House of Representatives?
"Well, Mom and Dad, Suzie and Billy and Joey get to drink at the prom. Why can't I?"
As it turns out, Queen Nancy is, essentially, plagiarizing Joe Biden.
Just like Pelosi, in an April 27, 2007 interview, also with Meet the Press, Biden defended his support for abortion with references to ancient Church leadership, which he interpreted as questioning abortion. "Even within our own church, there's been debates about life, you know, from, from 'Summa Theologica,' Aquinas, and 40 days to quickening and right to, you know, you know, Pius IX, animated fetus doctrine and so on."
The Windbag deliberately sprays foofoodust on the question. The Church has taught, since the 1st Century, that abortion is a grave moral evil, no matter the 'quickening' or 'animation.' St. Augustine speculated ONLY on the 'degree' of gravity--never on the fundamental question. Thomas Aquinas speculated on the 'moment of ensoulment,' NOT on whether abortion was a grave evil.
There is some debate as to whether these people are liars or ignoramuses. In either case, they should not hold responsible office in the United States of America, whose first principles were listed as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
No accident that "life" was first listed.
A spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended the speaker's position as a "pro-abortion Catholic", not because the Church is unclear on when life begins, as earlier stated, but because Catholics routinely contravene "clear Catholic teaching" against abortion.
In a statement praising Pelosi's appreciation for "the sanctity of the family," Brenda Daly, speaking for Pelosi, said, "While Catholic teaching is clear that life begins at conception, many Catholics do not ascribe to that view."
Brenda Daly's statement says that Pelosi is not justified in her pro-abortion stance due to vague Church teaching, but on the basis that many other "Catholics" also violate Church teaching
This from someone who is, by title, the most important law-maker in the House of Representatives?
"Well, Mom and Dad, Suzie and Billy and Joey get to drink at the prom. Why can't I?"
As it turns out, Queen Nancy is, essentially, plagiarizing Joe Biden.
Just like Pelosi, in an April 27, 2007 interview, also with Meet the Press, Biden defended his support for abortion with references to ancient Church leadership, which he interpreted as questioning abortion. "Even within our own church, there's been debates about life, you know, from, from 'Summa Theologica,' Aquinas, and 40 days to quickening and right to, you know, you know, Pius IX, animated fetus doctrine and so on."
The Windbag deliberately sprays foofoodust on the question. The Church has taught, since the 1st Century, that abortion is a grave moral evil, no matter the 'quickening' or 'animation.' St. Augustine speculated ONLY on the 'degree' of gravity--never on the fundamental question. Thomas Aquinas speculated on the 'moment of ensoulment,' NOT on whether abortion was a grave evil.
There is some debate as to whether these people are liars or ignoramuses. In either case, they should not hold responsible office in the United States of America, whose first principles were listed as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
No accident that "life" was first listed.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
First Time I've Ever Seen This
It's a bit unsettling.
The O-and-Savior is running a new ad--the usual: McCain=Bush=suppression of the peoples, vs. Obama=suppression of the suppressors....
Yadayadayadayada...
At the end, the tagline:
The O-and-Savior is running a new ad--the usual: McCain=Bush=suppression of the peoples, vs. Obama=suppression of the suppressors....
Yadayadayadayada...
At the end, the tagline:
Obama. President.
I have never seen that before, and it was a bit unsettling. I'm not prepared to call it "presumptuous," because it's not....quite.
But it runs the risk of being offensive to some--especially those who think the title is won, not arrogated.
Michelle My Belle's Oratory, (Condensed Version)
As usual, Planet Moron has the goods.
For those of you who missed Michelle Obama’s speech, here is the condensed version:
Craig Robinson (intro)
Michelle is my sister.
We were working class.
Our father died.
She has daughters!
Michelle Obama
I have a mother and a brother!
My father is dead, though.
But I have daughters!
Did I mention my father is dead? Because he is. He was really sick, too!
We were working class. Barack was working class too. We were all working class.
I have children. I mentioned that, right?
Barack left Wall Street where he made other people money and went into public service where he spent other people’s money. I bring it up because that’s better!
My father was sick. Not sure if that was already clear.
I love this country!
I left a law firm where I made money to go into public service where I could spend other people’s money, just like Barack. We have so much in common!
Barack is going to make everything super great!
He’ll do that by bringing us together with sharing and hope and threads or something.
For those of you coming in late, I have a daughter.
So, just to recap: 1) Father dead. 2) I have daughters.
Vote Obama.
Yay America!
You choked up there a little at the end, didn’t you? It’s okay. There’s no shame in it.
I'm sorry to report that I missed the original, but happy to have read the Dick and Jane version.
For those of you who missed Michelle Obama’s speech, here is the condensed version:
Craig Robinson (intro)
Michelle is my sister.
We were working class.
Our father died.
She has daughters!
Michelle Obama
I have a mother and a brother!
My father is dead, though.
But I have daughters!
Did I mention my father is dead? Because he is. He was really sick, too!
We were working class. Barack was working class too. We were all working class.
I have children. I mentioned that, right?
Barack left Wall Street where he made other people money and went into public service where he spent other people’s money. I bring it up because that’s better!
My father was sick. Not sure if that was already clear.
I love this country!
I left a law firm where I made money to go into public service where I could spend other people’s money, just like Barack. We have so much in common!
Barack is going to make everything super great!
He’ll do that by bringing us together with sharing and hope and threads or something.
For those of you coming in late, I have a daughter.
So, just to recap: 1) Father dead. 2) I have daughters.
Vote Obama.
Yay America!
You choked up there a little at the end, didn’t you? It’s okay. There’s no shame in it.
I'm sorry to report that I missed the original, but happy to have read the Dick and Jane version.
Voter Mismatches? Ahhh, Screw It!
So say the three retired judges who blocked any action that would have required voters to show ID at the polls if they hadn't corrected any mismatched information.
Names? Sure:
Michael Brennan, William Eich and Gordon Myse
Three others thought it would be a good idea to check ID's.
Tom Cane, Victor Manian and Gerald Nichol
Pretty clear which of the above like maintaining the integrity of the vote in Wisconsin.
Also pretty clear which of the above don't really give a rip about vote-integrity in Wisconsin:
Michael Brennan, William Eich and Gordon Myse
Remember those names, folks.
Michael Brennan, William Eich and Gordon Myse
The "Who Gives a Rip" judges.
Names? Sure:
Michael Brennan, William Eich and Gordon Myse
Three others thought it would be a good idea to check ID's.
Tom Cane, Victor Manian and Gerald Nichol
Pretty clear which of the above like maintaining the integrity of the vote in Wisconsin.
Also pretty clear which of the above don't really give a rip about vote-integrity in Wisconsin:
Michael Brennan, William Eich and Gordon Myse
Remember those names, folks.
Michael Brennan, William Eich and Gordon Myse
The "Who Gives a Rip" judges.
Pelosi to Bishops: "Shove It!"
Queen Nancy does not like what she's heard from several Bishops and Cardinals (who are, after all, specifically charged with teaching Church doctrine--as opposed to politicians, who are...ahh, nevermind.)
Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, said in a statement Tuesday that she ``fully appreciates the sanctity of family'' and based her views on conception on the ``views of Saint Augustine, who said: '... the law does not provide that the act (abortion) pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation ...'''
The statement from Rigali and Lori said ``uninformed and inadequate theories about embryology'' in the Middle Ages led ``some theologians to speculate that specifically human life capable of receiving an immortal soul may not exist until a few weeks into pregnancy. While in canon law these theories led to a distinction in penalties between very early and later abortions, the Church's moral teaching never justified or permitted abortion at any stage of development.''
The operative terminology here is "penalties." Daly is parsing with very poor foundation. The fact that there were across-the-board penalties for abortion is foremost. The degree of penalty is secondary.
It's not all that much different from 'Law and Order,' where the discussion revolves around whether the perp should be tried for 1st-degree or 2nd-degree murder, folks. It's still murder.
Pelosi's stiff-necked resistance to instruction has larger implications.
The Obama campaign has asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to shut her mouth, but in as nice a way as they possibly can. That isn't to say they aren't mad about her recent activities.
"It's like 'Thanks, madam speaker, you've done quite enough. Please move along,'" says one Obama adviser. "She got us stuck on three different issues that we wanted no part of. She's no master strategist, no matter what she may believe. You may see more of her, but if her mouth is open, what comes out won't be anything that our campaign wants anything to do with."
Queen Nancy thinks that defining "the beginning of life" is within HER paygrade; Obama, a Presidential contender closely associated with Queen Nancy by Party affiliation, does not think it is within HIS paygrade.
Brendan Daly, a spokesman for Pelosi, said in a statement Tuesday that she ``fully appreciates the sanctity of family'' and based her views on conception on the ``views of Saint Augustine, who said: '... the law does not provide that the act (abortion) pertains to homicide, for there cannot yet be said to be a live soul in a body that lacks sensation ...'''
The statement from Rigali and Lori said ``uninformed and inadequate theories about embryology'' in the Middle Ages led ``some theologians to speculate that specifically human life capable of receiving an immortal soul may not exist until a few weeks into pregnancy. While in canon law these theories led to a distinction in penalties between very early and later abortions, the Church's moral teaching never justified or permitted abortion at any stage of development.''
The operative terminology here is "penalties." Daly is parsing with very poor foundation. The fact that there were across-the-board penalties for abortion is foremost. The degree of penalty is secondary.
It's not all that much different from 'Law and Order,' where the discussion revolves around whether the perp should be tried for 1st-degree or 2nd-degree murder, folks. It's still murder.
Pelosi's stiff-necked resistance to instruction has larger implications.
The Obama campaign has asked Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to shut her mouth, but in as nice a way as they possibly can. That isn't to say they aren't mad about her recent activities.
"It's like 'Thanks, madam speaker, you've done quite enough. Please move along,'" says one Obama adviser. "She got us stuck on three different issues that we wanted no part of. She's no master strategist, no matter what she may believe. You may see more of her, but if her mouth is open, what comes out won't be anything that our campaign wants anything to do with."
Queen Nancy thinks that defining "the beginning of life" is within HER paygrade; Obama, a Presidential contender closely associated with Queen Nancy by Party affiliation, does not think it is within HIS paygrade.
Biden Perverts "Catholic", Too
...and he provides irony along the way. From today's Christian Science Monitor:
"The animating principle of my faith, as taught to me by church and home, was that the cardinal sin was abuse of power," he said in an interview with the Monitor. "It was not only required as a good Catholic to abhor and avoid abuse of power, but to do something to end that abuse."
So, Joe...in which scenario is the unborn child more powerful?
....Aaahhh. Nevermind.
More:
"My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine," says Biden, a six-term Democratic senator from Delaware.
Oh, yah. "Catholic social doctrine" actually begins in the womb, Joe.
You lying sack.
HT: Ignatius
"The animating principle of my faith, as taught to me by church and home, was that the cardinal sin was abuse of power," he said in an interview with the Monitor. "It was not only required as a good Catholic to abhor and avoid abuse of power, but to do something to end that abuse."
So, Joe...in which scenario is the unborn child more powerful?
....Aaahhh. Nevermind.
More:
"My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine," says Biden, a six-term Democratic senator from Delaware.
Oh, yah. "Catholic social doctrine" actually begins in the womb, Joe.
You lying sack.
HT: Ignatius
The "Public Service" Line of Crap
Via Dreher, this from Clive Crook:
It's starting to annoy me that Barack keeps telling us how he turned down Wall Street for a career in "public service". By this he means politics. Just how great a sacrifice is that? The kind of ambition that gets you into the Senate and maybe the White House is not exactly renouncing the world and all its temptations, is it? And now here we have Michelle doing the same thing. She gave up lawyering, she says, and chose "public service"--the kind that leads in due course to a 300k-plus salary. I've no problem with it. I just don't want to keep being asked to admire the sacrifice.
Aside from the ego-stroking office staff, the worship (and money) from various interest-groups, and the VERY nice pension and health-benefits, if you can assemble a few sentences into a book (or two) one can do very well, indeed in "public service."
And a $1million house in the in-burbs.
If "public service" is such a challenge, howcumizzit that virtually no "public servants" quit?
It's starting to annoy me that Barack keeps telling us how he turned down Wall Street for a career in "public service". By this he means politics. Just how great a sacrifice is that? The kind of ambition that gets you into the Senate and maybe the White House is not exactly renouncing the world and all its temptations, is it? And now here we have Michelle doing the same thing. She gave up lawyering, she says, and chose "public service"--the kind that leads in due course to a 300k-plus salary. I've no problem with it. I just don't want to keep being asked to admire the sacrifice.
Aside from the ego-stroking office staff, the worship (and money) from various interest-groups, and the VERY nice pension and health-benefits, if you can assemble a few sentences into a book (or two) one can do very well, indeed in "public service."
And a $1million house in the in-burbs.
If "public service" is such a challenge, howcumizzit that virtually no "public servants" quit?
The New Democrat "Drill Now" Scam
No wonder Kagen reversed course on drilling.
Nancy authorized it. Of course, what you see is not necessarily what's good for the country.
Call it the Pelosi Poison Pill Petroleum Piffle...
Human Events (8/25) in Capital Briefs, reports:
According to (D) leadership sources....Pelosi is insisting on adding numerous poison pills to energy legislation she is drafting. [The bill] is designed to immunize [House democrats]..
...it would include, among other things, a "renewable portfolio standard" ...[an] anti-coal provision ...require utilities to produce 15% of their power from wind, solar, and other renewable sources by 2020...
....also wants to eliminate various tax incentives for oil companies--a provision which would make gasoline more expensive...
Details matter. You can expect a lot of smoke-and-mirrors from Pelosi, who can (and does) lie grotesquely, if loudly, at the drop of a hat.
Expect Kagen to follow her lead.
Nancy authorized it. Of course, what you see is not necessarily what's good for the country.
Call it the Pelosi Poison Pill Petroleum Piffle...
Human Events (8/25) in Capital Briefs, reports:
According to (D) leadership sources....Pelosi is insisting on adding numerous poison pills to energy legislation she is drafting. [The bill] is designed to immunize [House democrats]..
...it would include, among other things, a "renewable portfolio standard" ...[an] anti-coal provision ...require utilities to produce 15% of their power from wind, solar, and other renewable sources by 2020...
....also wants to eliminate various tax incentives for oil companies--a provision which would make gasoline more expensive...
Details matter. You can expect a lot of smoke-and-mirrors from Pelosi, who can (and does) lie grotesquely, if loudly, at the drop of a hat.
Expect Kagen to follow her lead.
Things That Make You Think
So I'm on I-94 northbound, just south of Oklahoma Avenue, in the left lane.
And in the left-hand distress lane is a pile of parts--actually, two piles, separated by about 100 feet or so.
The front- and rear- brake-pad assemblies from a large truck.
First question: how in Hell did THAT happen? Where's the rest of the assembly--like, for example, the brake drum? Wheel?
And if the brake-pad assemblies managed to escape from the drum, without the drum coming off, HOW?
Hmmmmmm.
And in the left-hand distress lane is a pile of parts--actually, two piles, separated by about 100 feet or so.
The front- and rear- brake-pad assemblies from a large truck.
First question: how in Hell did THAT happen? Where's the rest of the assembly--like, for example, the brake drum? Wheel?
And if the brake-pad assemblies managed to escape from the drum, without the drum coming off, HOW?
Hmmmmmm.
"Down-Ballot" Impact of The O-and-Savior
Good analysis here.
First, the quote from Gallup:
Within the Democratic Party, Obama’s losses are primarily evident among the relatively small group that describes its political views as conservative. The 63% of conservative Democrats supporting Obama over McCain in Aug. 18-24 polling is the lowest Obama has earned since he clinched the Democratic nomination in June. At the same time, there have been no similar drops in support for Obama in the preferences of liberal or moderate Democrats.
Sez Morrissey:
It’s not just conservative Democrats, either, although that has to be Obama’s main concern at the moment. Blue-dog Democrats have to run for tough Congressional races in the fall, and they will get linked to Obama regardless of whether they publicly embrace him or not. If Obama is losing credibility among conservative Democrats, the Blue Dogs will find that Obama’s impact on their race will become a net negative and could cost some of them their seats — most of which they won from Republicans in 2006.
I'd suggest that we watch the Kagen race. If he imports Obama to joint-appear someplace, it tells us that Gallup is all wet.
First, the quote from Gallup:
Within the Democratic Party, Obama’s losses are primarily evident among the relatively small group that describes its political views as conservative. The 63% of conservative Democrats supporting Obama over McCain in Aug. 18-24 polling is the lowest Obama has earned since he clinched the Democratic nomination in June. At the same time, there have been no similar drops in support for Obama in the preferences of liberal or moderate Democrats.
Sez Morrissey:
It’s not just conservative Democrats, either, although that has to be Obama’s main concern at the moment. Blue-dog Democrats have to run for tough Congressional races in the fall, and they will get linked to Obama regardless of whether they publicly embrace him or not. If Obama is losing credibility among conservative Democrats, the Blue Dogs will find that Obama’s impact on their race will become a net negative and could cost some of them their seats — most of which they won from Republicans in 2006.
I'd suggest that we watch the Kagen race. If he imports Obama to joint-appear someplace, it tells us that Gallup is all wet.
Independent Businessman
I've spent several very enjoyable hours with AB, and have heard more similar stories, so I think when he talks about Big Pilot here, he's not making this up. Big Pilot runs a charter service with a VERRRRY nice jet plane, and is listed in the phone book. So now and then he gets phone calls about possible charters. Hereafter, BP= AB's pal, SC= Silly Customer
BP….Hello, Big Pilot Charters, Big Pilot speaking.
SC….I’d like to know if you can fly me and three others from xxxx to Denver on 8/24?BP….You’re lucky, I have just had a cancellation and can take you. Do you need a return flight?SC….Well, yes we do, on Sunday, August, 31.
BP….OK…now, you understand that I have to charge a “relocation fee” since I have to fly to your city to pick you up. Is that OK with you?
SC….Ummmm…..OK, I can see that. I’m going to the Democratic Convention, can you give us a discount?
BP….Fuck You. {CLICK}
Even if AB does NOT have 'the tape' he references, that's probably verbatim.
BP….Hello, Big Pilot Charters, Big Pilot speaking.
SC….I’d like to know if you can fly me and three others from xxxx to Denver on 8/24?BP….You’re lucky, I have just had a cancellation and can take you. Do you need a return flight?SC….Well, yes we do, on Sunday, August, 31.
BP….OK…now, you understand that I have to charge a “relocation fee” since I have to fly to your city to pick you up. Is that OK with you?
SC….Ummmm…..OK, I can see that. I’m going to the Democratic Convention, can you give us a discount?
BP….Fuck You. {CLICK}
Even if AB does NOT have 'the tape' he references, that's probably verbatim.
SOX: Constitutional?
For those of you who know and love Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), this could bear watching.
Sarbanes-Oxley was found constitutional by a 2-to-1 decision in the DC Appeals Court. Hopefully the Supreme Court will take the case.
The question posed by the case, Free Enterprise Fund and Beckstead and Watts, LLP v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board et al., ...is whether Sarbanes-Oxley's creation of an agency to police auditors of public companies violated the doctrine of separated powers
...The chief constitutional problem with the law is that the five board members at this new agency — the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the suit's caption — aren't appointed by the president...Instead the commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who are presidential appointees, get to do the hiring and firing for the new Oversight Board. And the firing can only be for cause
The O'sight Board is, therefore, a combination of judiciary and executive, according to the thesis.
HT: Lott
Sarbanes-Oxley was found constitutional by a 2-to-1 decision in the DC Appeals Court. Hopefully the Supreme Court will take the case.
The question posed by the case, Free Enterprise Fund and Beckstead and Watts, LLP v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board et al., ...is whether Sarbanes-Oxley's creation of an agency to police auditors of public companies violated the doctrine of separated powers
...The chief constitutional problem with the law is that the five board members at this new agency — the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of the suit's caption — aren't appointed by the president...Instead the commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who are presidential appointees, get to do the hiring and firing for the new Oversight Board. And the firing can only be for cause
The O'sight Board is, therefore, a combination of judiciary and executive, according to the thesis.
HT: Lott
AFSCME President: Our Union Racists a Problem
It's what he said, folks.
A prominent union leader on Tuesday blamed racism for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) failure to build a big lead over GOP rival Sen. John McCain.
Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said many workers are considering voting for McCain (R-Ariz.) because of his military service and status as a hero of the Vietnam War
McEntee said several union members had approached him, saying they could not vote for Obama because of his race. He also said some local union presidents have failed to support Obama out of fear.
“There are some local union presidents that are afraid — yes, that’s the word, afraid — to hand out literature for Barack Obama,” said McEntee.
Perhaps McEntee should review the history of the labor movement for a clue.
A prominent union leader on Tuesday blamed racism for Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) failure to build a big lead over GOP rival Sen. John McCain.
Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said many workers are considering voting for McCain (R-Ariz.) because of his military service and status as a hero of the Vietnam War
McEntee said several union members had approached him, saying they could not vote for Obama because of his race. He also said some local union presidents have failed to support Obama out of fear.
“There are some local union presidents that are afraid — yes, that’s the word, afraid — to hand out literature for Barack Obama,” said McEntee.
Perhaps McEntee should review the history of the labor movement for a clue.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
The Hustle
Went to the local branch of a large national bank today. Had college kid in tow.
She's off to another continent for a few months and we chatted with the Branch Manager about her preparedness. As I predicted to her (fruitlessly) the Bank did not have Euros in the vault and could not get them until long after she departs.
(Old fart 1, kid 0.)
Then we got The Hustle. It was pretty clear, even to the college kid, that this was....
...well, read on:
The Branch Manager pulled out the mental script and launched into a "what about an emergency?" line--in case she was unable to utilize her debit card while overseas---
His solution: a friggin CREDIT card! (Low, low, low introductory rate of a bazillion percent, plus...)
Why?
Would the Bank's debit card fail to operate overseas? Did he expect her to over-spend her (rather fat) account balance? Did Western Union go out of business yesterday? Are all the US ambassadorial offices in Europe closed until Christmas? Does the College Kid have NO friends with 50 Euros to spare? Will the Russkis execute another DDOS attack on the Bank network on the Continent?
Daddy waved him off, a bit forcefully, with a reference to the people who would be overseeing College Kid in Europe--competent, professional, years-over-there, yada yada.
Not deterred by that, the Branch Manager (maybe 29 years old) then pulled out Line Two: if she didn't have a credit card, she would not have a credit record, and likely wouldn't get a job after graduation because, after all, employers check credit records, and without one, she'll wind up sweeping coal-dust in some Public Works Project and be subject to a life approximating that of Oliver Twist, never well-shod nor well-groomed, and likely without running hot water in the walkup flat or Rescue Mission she's destined for.
I do not exaggerate (much.)
This 29-year-old twit was working on selling a credit-card to someone who simply doesn't need one--and drawing up fictitious scenarios about her Future Without a Responsible Job.
So happens I have some credentials on the topic of employment (I actually had jobs) and employment practices. I felt like reaching out and slapping the piss out of this twit--hard. First, for thinking that he was talking to a typical suburban dumb-chick--but even more, for thinking that the Old Fart in attendance was a box-of-rocks recently fallen from the loft in the hay-barn. Hey, fella! State Fair ended two weeks ago!!
The junior officer standing by was embarrassed, to say the least...
The Bank did not cover itself in glory, folks.
But that Branch Manager has a future in politics--or maybe at the State Fair, selling knives or mops, or wonder-chamois-cloths.
And the College Kid left without a credit card.
(Old Fart 2, kidz 0)
She's off to another continent for a few months and we chatted with the Branch Manager about her preparedness. As I predicted to her (fruitlessly) the Bank did not have Euros in the vault and could not get them until long after she departs.
(Old fart 1, kid 0.)
Then we got The Hustle. It was pretty clear, even to the college kid, that this was....
...well, read on:
The Branch Manager pulled out the mental script and launched into a "what about an emergency?" line--in case she was unable to utilize her debit card while overseas---
His solution: a friggin CREDIT card! (Low, low, low introductory rate of a bazillion percent, plus...)
Why?
Would the Bank's debit card fail to operate overseas? Did he expect her to over-spend her (rather fat) account balance? Did Western Union go out of business yesterday? Are all the US ambassadorial offices in Europe closed until Christmas? Does the College Kid have NO friends with 50 Euros to spare? Will the Russkis execute another DDOS attack on the Bank network on the Continent?
Daddy waved him off, a bit forcefully, with a reference to the people who would be overseeing College Kid in Europe--competent, professional, years-over-there, yada yada.
Not deterred by that, the Branch Manager (maybe 29 years old) then pulled out Line Two: if she didn't have a credit card, she would not have a credit record, and likely wouldn't get a job after graduation because, after all, employers check credit records, and without one, she'll wind up sweeping coal-dust in some Public Works Project and be subject to a life approximating that of Oliver Twist, never well-shod nor well-groomed, and likely without running hot water in the walkup flat or Rescue Mission she's destined for.
I do not exaggerate (much.)
This 29-year-old twit was working on selling a credit-card to someone who simply doesn't need one--and drawing up fictitious scenarios about her Future Without a Responsible Job.
So happens I have some credentials on the topic of employment (I actually had jobs) and employment practices. I felt like reaching out and slapping the piss out of this twit--hard. First, for thinking that he was talking to a typical suburban dumb-chick--but even more, for thinking that the Old Fart in attendance was a box-of-rocks recently fallen from the loft in the hay-barn. Hey, fella! State Fair ended two weeks ago!!
The junior officer standing by was embarrassed, to say the least...
The Bank did not cover itself in glory, folks.
But that Branch Manager has a future in politics--or maybe at the State Fair, selling knives or mops, or wonder-chamois-cloths.
And the College Kid left without a credit card.
(Old Fart 2, kidz 0)
Cdl. Egan: Gloves-Off on Pelosi
Here's a guy who doesn't do the nice-nice dance.
STATEMENT OF HIS EMINENCE, EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN CONCERNING REMARKS MADE BY THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age.
We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith.
Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.
Edward Cardinal EganArchbishop of New York
The USMC couldn't have issued a more direct and forceful statement, short of an armed assault.
HT: Fr. Z
STATEMENT OF HIS EMINENCE, EDWARD CARDINAL EGAN CONCERNING REMARKS MADE BY THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Like many other citizens of this nation, I was shocked to learn that the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America would make the kind of statements that were made to Mr. Tom Brokaw of NBC-TV on Sunday, August 24, 2008. What the Speaker had to say about theologians and their positions regarding abortion was not only misinformed; it was also, and especially, utterly incredible in this day and age.
We are blessed in the 21st century with crystal-clear photographs and action films of the living realities within their pregnant mothers. No one with the slightest measure of integrity or honor could fail to know what these marvelous beings manifestly, clearly, and obviously are, as they smile and wave into the world outside the womb. In simplest terms, they are human beings with an inalienable right to live, a right that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is bound to defend at all costs for the most basic of ethical reasons. They are not parts of their mothers, and what they are depends not at all upon the opinions of theologians of any faith.
Anyone who dares to defend that they may be legitimately killed because another human being “chooses” to do so or for any other equally ridiculous reason should not be providing leadership in a civilized democracy worthy of the name.
Edward Cardinal EganArchbishop of New York
The USMC couldn't have issued a more direct and forceful statement, short of an armed assault.
HT: Fr. Z
Quip of the Day
From Hugh Hewitt, via BlitheSpirit:
"Slow Joe is the perfect running mate on a perfect ticket for a party betting on wind to solve the energy crisis."
Damn, that's good.
"Slow Joe is the perfect running mate on a perfect ticket for a party betting on wind to solve the energy crisis."
Damn, that's good.
McCain Going All-Biden?
So last night John McCain appears on Leno's show and gets the question about houses.
He launches into his POW experience and mentions that he did not have a kitchen table at the Hanoi Hilton.
What the hell is THAT all about?
He DID manage to mention, indirectly, that it Cindy's family's wealth had something to do with the number of residences--which is all he had to say.
Did Kerry ever mention, by the way, that he served in Vietnam?
Perhaps McCain was playing to the 3.2 people in the USA who don't know about his sterling and heroic past.
OK. Now they know, John. Let's get on with it.
He launches into his POW experience and mentions that he did not have a kitchen table at the Hanoi Hilton.
What the hell is THAT all about?
He DID manage to mention, indirectly, that it Cindy's family's wealth had something to do with the number of residences--which is all he had to say.
Did Kerry ever mention, by the way, that he served in Vietnam?
Perhaps McCain was playing to the 3.2 people in the USA who don't know about his sterling and heroic past.
OK. Now they know, John. Let's get on with it.
Another Ally-With-Problems?
The President of Georgia, who seems to think that having the US as an ally means he can tweak the nose of The Bear with impunity, is not our only problem.
Now there are problems with Maliki, President of Iraq.
Reports over the last week have suggested that the Iraqi government, under the direction of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, wants to completely disband the some 99,000 Sunni fighters on the American payroll. That they have been largely credited by the US with chasing al Qaeda out of town seems not to matter to Maliki’s now-emboldened government, which apparently sees them (perhaps rightly so) as a potential threat down the road. In a surprisingly candid admission that got no mainstream news coverage, Gen. David Petreaus said last week that Maliki hasn’t been doing its part to give these Sunnis jobs — as promised — in exchange for their help in The Surge
Oh, great. But that's hardly all:
Two days later, the Los Angeles Times reports Maliki has launched “an aggressive campaign to disband a U.S.-funded force of Sunni Arab fighters that has been key to Iraq’s fragile peace, arresting prominent members and sending others into hiding or exile as their former patrons in the American military reluctantly stand by.”
Well, that's one way to make certain of re-election: simply push the other guys out of the country, or into jail.
Now there are problems with Maliki, President of Iraq.
Reports over the last week have suggested that the Iraqi government, under the direction of Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, wants to completely disband the some 99,000 Sunni fighters on the American payroll. That they have been largely credited by the US with chasing al Qaeda out of town seems not to matter to Maliki’s now-emboldened government, which apparently sees them (perhaps rightly so) as a potential threat down the road. In a surprisingly candid admission that got no mainstream news coverage, Gen. David Petreaus said last week that Maliki hasn’t been doing its part to give these Sunnis jobs — as promised — in exchange for their help in The Surge
Oh, great. But that's hardly all:
Two days later, the Los Angeles Times reports Maliki has launched “an aggressive campaign to disband a U.S.-funded force of Sunni Arab fighters that has been key to Iraq’s fragile peace, arresting prominent members and sending others into hiding or exile as their former patrons in the American military reluctantly stand by.”
Well, that's one way to make certain of re-election: simply push the other guys out of the country, or into jail.
The Guerilla Advantage: Your Ignorance and 'SmallMoney'
P-Mac explains that SmallMoney funds terrorists (or guerillas, if you prefer.) He quotes WaPo's Craig Whitlock article:
"Although al-Qaeda spent an estimated $500,000 to plan and execute the Sept. 11 attacks, many of the group's bombings and assaults since then in Europe, North Africa and Southeast Asia have cost one-tenth as much, or less.
"The cheap plots are evidence that the U.S. government and its allies fundamentally miscalculated in assuming they could defeat the network by hunting for wealthy financiers and freezing bank accounts, according to many U.S. and European counterterrorism officials."
The point? That 'Big Petrodollars' are not really required to finance the Wal-Mart budgets of these characters. (This is something that John McCain hasn't yet figured out either, judging from his remarks last night on Leno's show...) They do very well by running small-time scams, and could almost execute their ops with the proceeds from purse-snatching.
So purchasing oil from the Arabs ain't necessarily "funding terrorism."
Whitlock is not the first to note this. Another blog (Counter-Terrorism) also brought up the topic in the last week or so, and argued that deploying large armed forces to counter terrorists is going to bring diminishing returns--that really, SOG's could be a better investment, assuming the intel is available to find the critters.
Another interesting finding, from MI5: terrorists are not necessarily "religiously literate," and are generally lower-social-strata folks (at least in the UK).
Terrorist suspects, the study found, are mostly British nationals and the remainder are, with few exceptions, legal immigrants. Still, while some are well-educated and some are not, most are employed in low-grade jobs suggesting a lack of economic mobility and social integration are a big part of the problem in the UK.
Many lack religous literacy and are therefore susceptible to radical interpretations of extremist preachers or internet sites. There is evidence, British analysts suggest, that a well-established religious identity could protect against violent radiclization. In other words, the problem may not be too much but too little religion.
This, of course, could put Robert Spencer out of business.
Expect a counter-attack. There are several very potent interest groups which will not like the line of thought--Spencer is hardly alone. I can think, for example, of a Middle Eastern country which has been very happy to identify "terrorists" with "Islam." And while some elements of the Pentagon could gain, the 'Large Forces' bunch will not.
Lessons:
1) Terrorism, like guerilla warfare, is cheap, and does not require Government or Big Wealth backers (although that may exist);
2) Likely terrorists are socially-isolated and not upwardly mobile;
3) It is not really Mohammedanism--rather, it is a lack of Mohammedanism.
Interesting, eh?
"Although al-Qaeda spent an estimated $500,000 to plan and execute the Sept. 11 attacks, many of the group's bombings and assaults since then in Europe, North Africa and Southeast Asia have cost one-tenth as much, or less.
"The cheap plots are evidence that the U.S. government and its allies fundamentally miscalculated in assuming they could defeat the network by hunting for wealthy financiers and freezing bank accounts, according to many U.S. and European counterterrorism officials."
The point? That 'Big Petrodollars' are not really required to finance the Wal-Mart budgets of these characters. (This is something that John McCain hasn't yet figured out either, judging from his remarks last night on Leno's show...) They do very well by running small-time scams, and could almost execute their ops with the proceeds from purse-snatching.
So purchasing oil from the Arabs ain't necessarily "funding terrorism."
Whitlock is not the first to note this. Another blog (Counter-Terrorism) also brought up the topic in the last week or so, and argued that deploying large armed forces to counter terrorists is going to bring diminishing returns--that really, SOG's could be a better investment, assuming the intel is available to find the critters.
Another interesting finding, from MI5: terrorists are not necessarily "religiously literate," and are generally lower-social-strata folks (at least in the UK).
Terrorist suspects, the study found, are mostly British nationals and the remainder are, with few exceptions, legal immigrants. Still, while some are well-educated and some are not, most are employed in low-grade jobs suggesting a lack of economic mobility and social integration are a big part of the problem in the UK.
Many lack religous literacy and are therefore susceptible to radical interpretations of extremist preachers or internet sites. There is evidence, British analysts suggest, that a well-established religious identity could protect against violent radiclization. In other words, the problem may not be too much but too little religion.
This, of course, could put Robert Spencer out of business.
Expect a counter-attack. There are several very potent interest groups which will not like the line of thought--Spencer is hardly alone. I can think, for example, of a Middle Eastern country which has been very happy to identify "terrorists" with "Islam." And while some elements of the Pentagon could gain, the 'Large Forces' bunch will not.
Lessons:
1) Terrorism, like guerilla warfare, is cheap, and does not require Government or Big Wealth backers (although that may exist);
2) Likely terrorists are socially-isolated and not upwardly mobile;
3) It is not really Mohammedanism--rather, it is a lack of Mohammedanism.
Interesting, eh?
Parenting....
From a friend:
The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.
'Hello ? '
'Is your daddy home?' he asked.
' Yes ,' whispered the small voice.
May I talk with him?'
The child whispered, ' No .'
Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, 'Is your Mommy there?'
'Yes.'
'May I talk with her?'
Again the small voice whispered, 'No .'
Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?'
' Yes ,' whispered the child, ' a policeman '.
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?'
' No, he's busy ', whispered the child.
'Busy doing what?'
' Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman ,' came the whispered answer.
Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?'
' A helicopter ' answered the whispering voice.
'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.
Again, whispering, the child answered, ' The search team just landed a helicopter .'
Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, 'What are they searching for?'
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle...
' ME .'
Why parents drink ..
The boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had not phoned in sick one day. Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.
'Hello ? '
'Is your daddy home?' he asked.
' Yes ,' whispered the small voice.
May I talk with him?'
The child whispered, ' No .'
Surprised and wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, 'Is your Mommy there?'
'Yes.'
'May I talk with her?'
Again the small voice whispered, 'No .'
Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, 'Is anybody else there?'
' Yes ,' whispered the child, ' a policeman '.
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, 'May I speak with the policeman?'
' No, he's busy ', whispered the child.
'Busy doing what?'
' Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman ,' came the whispered answer.
Growing more worried as he heard a loud noise in the background through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked, 'What is that noise?'
' A helicopter ' answered the whispering voice.
'What is going on there?' demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.
Again, whispering, the child answered, ' The search team just landed a helicopter .'
Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, 'What are they searching for?'
Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled giggle...
' ME .'
Monday, August 25, 2008
Realtors' Spin
Don't you just love the spin from Realtors?
Sales of existing homes rose in July, surpassing expectations...
Then the reality-check:
...as buyers snapped up deeply discounted properties in parts of the country hit hardest by the housing bust
And it gets more interesting:
the number of unsold properties hit an all-time high
Which is not really the Realtors' problem--but it's making homebuilders unhappy.
Sales of existing homes rose in July, surpassing expectations...
Then the reality-check:
...as buyers snapped up deeply discounted properties in parts of the country hit hardest by the housing bust
And it gets more interesting:
the number of unsold properties hit an all-time high
Which is not really the Realtors' problem--but it's making homebuilders unhappy.
Pelosi: Delusions, Not Facts, on Catholicism
These remarks by the corrupt Ms. Pelosi are merely an extension, demonstrating that the corruption extends to her cerebral cavity's innards.
Brokaw got to the question of abortion/when life begins.
I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, [really?] this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. [Largely to find excuses for her position.] And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. [Maybe Thomas Aquinas said that. In 1250 or so, before OB/GYNs were invented...] We don’t know. [Wrong. YOU prefer NOT to know.] The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose. Roe v Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child–first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There’s very clear distinctions. This isn’t about abortion on demand, [Flat-out lie, think "health/wellbeing of the woman" tripe] it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and–to–that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god. And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this [Yah. Tertullian, around 275 AD or before, discussed it--and the Didache before him--and both UNequivocally condemned abortion.]
Then the real shocker: Brokaw says that the Catholic Church, of which Pelosi claims to be an "ardent" member, defines the beginning of life as conception.
And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that.
This is, my friends, the very definition of "deluded." For her to claim that the Roman Catholic Church arrived at its definition of abortion 'in the last 50 years or something...' tells me that Ms. Pelosi, at the very best, is suffering from serious brain damage.
From ProEcclesia, quoting Abp. Chaput of Denver:
Ardent, practicing Catholics will quickly learn from the historical record that from apostolic times, the Christian tradition overwhelmingly held that abortion was grievously evil. In the absence of modern medical knowledge, some of the Early Fathers held that abortion was homicide; others that it was tantamount to homicide; and various scholars theorized about when and how the unborn child might be animated or "ensouled." But none diminished the unique evil of abortion as an attack on life itself, and the early Church closely associated abortion with infanticide. In short, from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong.
Corrupt, yes. Catholic? By baptism only.
There's a fine discussion at the link (below.)
HT: MWBH
Brokaw got to the question of abortion/when life begins.
I would say that as an ardent, practicing Catholic, [really?] this is an issue that I have studied for a long time. [Largely to find excuses for her position.] And what I know is, over the centuries, the doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. And Senator–St. Augustine said at three months. [Maybe Thomas Aquinas said that. In 1250 or so, before OB/GYNs were invented...] We don’t know. [Wrong. YOU prefer NOT to know.] The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose. Roe v Wade talks about very clear definitions of when the child–first trimester, certain considerations; second trimester; not so third trimester. There’s very clear distinctions. This isn’t about abortion on demand, [Flat-out lie, think "health/wellbeing of the woman" tripe] it’s about a careful, careful consideration of all factors and–to–that a woman has to make with her doctor and her god. And so I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins, human life begins. As I say, the Catholic Church for centuries has been discussing this [Yah. Tertullian, around 275 AD or before, discussed it--and the Didache before him--and both UNequivocally condemned abortion.]
Then the real shocker: Brokaw says that the Catholic Church, of which Pelosi claims to be an "ardent" member, defines the beginning of life as conception.
And this is like maybe 50 years or something like that.
This is, my friends, the very definition of "deluded." For her to claim that the Roman Catholic Church arrived at its definition of abortion 'in the last 50 years or something...' tells me that Ms. Pelosi, at the very best, is suffering from serious brain damage.
From ProEcclesia, quoting Abp. Chaput of Denver:
Ardent, practicing Catholics will quickly learn from the historical record that from apostolic times, the Christian tradition overwhelmingly held that abortion was grievously evil. In the absence of modern medical knowledge, some of the Early Fathers held that abortion was homicide; others that it was tantamount to homicide; and various scholars theorized about when and how the unborn child might be animated or "ensouled." But none diminished the unique evil of abortion as an attack on life itself, and the early Church closely associated abortion with infanticide. In short, from the beginning, the believing Christian community held that abortion was always, gravely wrong.
Corrupt, yes. Catholic? By baptism only.
There's a fine discussion at the link (below.)
HT: MWBH
G K C on Women
This should set the Feminazis buzzing.
THERE are only three things in the world that women do not understand; and they are Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
--What's Wrong With the World
He's right, of course, if you think about it.
THERE are only three things in the world that women do not understand; and they are Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
--What's Wrong With the World
He's right, of course, if you think about it.
ART: The Dem Platform; and Response to Sykes' Question
Simple platform, and acronymic-friendly too.
To obtain Prosperity for All, the Democrat Party proposes three methods:
They should be used in combination for maximum effect.
Charlie asked why the Left has a fixation with referring to Republicans, and specifically Bush, as 'Hitler' redux.
It's what the shrinks call "projection," Charlie. Look at the salient features of the Dem platform and you find the same kinds of things that the Nazis endorsed, to a greater or lesser degree.
The Left wakes up, looks in the mirror, and sees George Bush.
To obtain Prosperity for All, the Democrat Party proposes three methods:
1) Abort Our Way to Prosperity
2) Regulate Our Way to Prosperity
3) Tax Our Way to Prosperity.
They should be used in combination for maximum effect.
Charlie asked why the Left has a fixation with referring to Republicans, and specifically Bush, as 'Hitler' redux.
It's what the shrinks call "projection," Charlie. Look at the salient features of the Dem platform and you find the same kinds of things that the Nazis endorsed, to a greater or lesser degree.
The Left wakes up, looks in the mirror, and sees George Bush.
Kristol: Edging Toward Insanity
BillyBoy Kristol, warmonger-with-a-grin, suggests that McCain can, indeed, dump on the base for the sake of Mo'War.
Kristol puts it more subtly, describing Lieberman as a “bold choice” and a “country first” selection,...
...Kristol pooh-poohs Lieberman’s liberal voting record, writing “…he is pro-abortion rights, and having been a Democrat all his life, he has a moderately liberal voting record…” An interesting description, making it appear that his Democratic party ties somehow coerced Joe into voting against his conscience. And, in reality, Lieberman is much more liberal than that except on foreign policy issues. NARAL Pro-Choice America rates him at 100% on pro-abortion voting while in Congress and the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gives him an 87% on homosexual issues. The NAACP gives him an 86% favorable rating on affirmative action. Not exactly a normal Republican, is he?
Whatever, BillyBoy. Kill babies for the sake of Mo'War.
HT: The American Conservative
Kristol puts it more subtly, describing Lieberman as a “bold choice” and a “country first” selection,...
...Kristol pooh-poohs Lieberman’s liberal voting record, writing “…he is pro-abortion rights, and having been a Democrat all his life, he has a moderately liberal voting record…” An interesting description, making it appear that his Democratic party ties somehow coerced Joe into voting against his conscience. And, in reality, Lieberman is much more liberal than that except on foreign policy issues. NARAL Pro-Choice America rates him at 100% on pro-abortion voting while in Congress and the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) gives him an 87% on homosexual issues. The NAACP gives him an 86% favorable rating on affirmative action. Not exactly a normal Republican, is he?
Whatever, BillyBoy. Kill babies for the sake of Mo'War.
HT: The American Conservative
Georgia: State Dep't Agreed w/Russia
Gee.
Maybe 'taking out Russia' over the "invasion" isn't a good idea, and the NeoCon warmonger crowd will have to find a new cause.
The US ambassador to Moscow, endorsing Russia's initial moves in Georgia, described the Kremlin's first military response as legitimate after Russian troops came under attack.... This was the first US admission that Georgia was the aggressor in South Ossetia and showed cracks in their hitherto solid support for president Mikhail Saakashvili.
Somebody should send a memo to BillyBoy Kristol.
HT: Vox
Maybe 'taking out Russia' over the "invasion" isn't a good idea, and the NeoCon warmonger crowd will have to find a new cause.
The US ambassador to Moscow, endorsing Russia's initial moves in Georgia, described the Kremlin's first military response as legitimate after Russian troops came under attack.... This was the first US admission that Georgia was the aggressor in South Ossetia and showed cracks in their hitherto solid support for president Mikhail Saakashvili.
Somebody should send a memo to BillyBoy Kristol.
HT: Vox
Michelle, My Belle v. Poor Minorities
Umnnnhhhh....
Michelle Obama is on leave from her $317,000-a-year job at the University of Chicago Medical Center, which is now under scrutiny - along with Obama campaign chief David Axelrod and two other staffers - for a scheme that, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "steers patients who don't have private insurance - primarily poor, black people - to other health care facilities."
"The medical professionals who have come to me are accusing the university of dumping patients on its neighboring institutions," Toni Preckwinkle, alderman for the 4th Ward, told the paper.
Well.
One can hardly afford $317K if one actually takes patients who cannot pay...
HT: Powerline, quoting Andrew Breitbart
Michelle Obama is on leave from her $317,000-a-year job at the University of Chicago Medical Center, which is now under scrutiny - along with Obama campaign chief David Axelrod and two other staffers - for a scheme that, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, "steers patients who don't have private insurance - primarily poor, black people - to other health care facilities."
"The medical professionals who have come to me are accusing the university of dumping patients on its neighboring institutions," Toni Preckwinkle, alderman for the 4th Ward, told the paper.
Well.
One can hardly afford $317K if one actually takes patients who cannot pay...
HT: Powerline, quoting Andrew Breitbart
Bike Paths: Environmental Danger
Planet Moron discusses the enviro-dangers of a proposed bike path in Maryland. Seems to me that they are universally applicable to bike-paths.
--We’re not just talking about a simple old-fashioned bike trail as it must be built to accommodate increasing numbers of middle-aged mothers and their fertility drug induced triplets in massive three-across jogging strollers, packed with diaper bags, sippy cups and gray-market prescriptions for Vicodin.
--Wrecked bikes could end up littering the sides of the trail as Washingtonians accustomed to driving their cars attempt to send text messages, fix their hair, heat up a burrito, make obscene gestures to fellow riders, and peddle all at the same time.
--Two words: Powerbar Wrappers.
--You think hybrid drivers produce excessive levels of smug?
--No, seriously, have you seen Barack Obama in a bicycle helmet?
Enough to scare me...
--We’re not just talking about a simple old-fashioned bike trail as it must be built to accommodate increasing numbers of middle-aged mothers and their fertility drug induced triplets in massive three-across jogging strollers, packed with diaper bags, sippy cups and gray-market prescriptions for Vicodin.
--Wrecked bikes could end up littering the sides of the trail as Washingtonians accustomed to driving their cars attempt to send text messages, fix their hair, heat up a burrito, make obscene gestures to fellow riders, and peddle all at the same time.
--Two words: Powerbar Wrappers.
--You think hybrid drivers produce excessive levels of smug?
--No, seriously, have you seen Barack Obama in a bicycle helmet?
Enough to scare me...
Another Biden-Problem: Manufacturers
It's no surprise that Biden worships Moloch/abortion. (HT: Overlawyered)
His record would indicate that he'd also like to abort manufacturing:
110th Congress (2007-2008): 11% — unofficial
109th Congress (2005-2006): 11%
108th Congress (2003-2004): 18%
107th Congress (2001-2002): 0%
106th Congress (1999-2000): 29%
105th Congress (1997-1998): 38%
He's also a special pal of the Trial Lawyers (another Doh!):
Record on legal votes, 106th-109th Congress: 0%
And as far as he's concerned, you can freeze in the winter and walk to work, too:
Record on energy votes, 106th-109th Congress: 18%
(NAM statistics)
His record would indicate that he'd also like to abort manufacturing:
110th Congress (2007-2008): 11% — unofficial
109th Congress (2005-2006): 11%
108th Congress (2003-2004): 18%
107th Congress (2001-2002): 0%
106th Congress (1999-2000): 29%
105th Congress (1997-1998): 38%
He's also a special pal of the Trial Lawyers (another Doh!):
Record on legal votes, 106th-109th Congress: 0%
And as far as he's concerned, you can freeze in the winter and walk to work, too:
Record on energy votes, 106th-109th Congress: 18%
Hope/Change=Abort/Sue...and if that doesn't work, shut off the energy.
(NAM statistics)
Madonna Endorses Obama
...and I'm sure he's happy about it.
Pithy comment from Moonbattery:
This latest endorsement should give Obama a lock on the crucial postmenopausal prostitute vote
Pithy comment from Moonbattery:
This latest endorsement should give Obama a lock on the crucial postmenopausal prostitute vote
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Dear Sen. Biden: Please Stay Away from Communion
That's not my line, folks.
That's Abp. Chaput of Denver.
Biden "has admirable qualities to his public service," Chaput said in his statement. "But his record of support for so-called abortion 'rights,' while mixed at times, is seriously wrong. I certainly presume his good will and integrity — and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion, if he supports a false 'right' to abortion."
Evidently the (now-deceased) Bishop of Delaware also did not care for Biden's "fanatically pro-abortion" voting record.
HT: Rocco
That's Abp. Chaput of Denver.
Biden "has admirable qualities to his public service," Chaput said in his statement. "But his record of support for so-called abortion 'rights,' while mixed at times, is seriously wrong. I certainly presume his good will and integrity — and I presume that his integrity will lead him to refrain from presenting himself for Communion, if he supports a false 'right' to abortion."
Evidently the (now-deceased) Bishop of Delaware also did not care for Biden's "fanatically pro-abortion" voting record.
HT: Rocco
He Took on the IRS--and Won
Not only did he win, but the victory may mean something to a LOT of people.
It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute
Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.
The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.
A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.
More at the link. If you owned a policy with a mutual insurance company that went public, you got common shares. This guy thought (and proved) that you're not liable for income on the initial value of those shares; thus your taxable capgains are only due if you sold the shares for more than their initial value.
Kudos!
By the way, he picked this fight with IRS when he was about 67 years old...
It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute
Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.
The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.
A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.
More at the link. If you owned a policy with a mutual insurance company that went public, you got common shares. This guy thought (and proved) that you're not liable for income on the initial value of those shares; thus your taxable capgains are only due if you sold the shares for more than their initial value.
Kudos!
By the way, he picked this fight with IRS when he was about 67 years old...
Fun Today in Eagle
The annual pilgrimage to McMiller happens today.
Some daughters will learn a bit more about safely using deadly weapons.
Papers will be punched; brass will be stowed in the cans.
Shoulders may ache a bit if they don't snug up that .30-06.
The smell of gunpowder in the AM, and PM!!
UPDATE: Wow, that place was busy. Must have been 150 shooters out there all day--space was tight on the 100 yard and 50 yard ranges.
Girls did OK. They're acclimated to the .357 6 gun and the 9mm semi now, and all save one have fired the .30-06 without permanent shoulder damage.
About 500 rounds fired, mostly .22LR. A good day altogether.
Some daughters will learn a bit more about safely using deadly weapons.
Papers will be punched; brass will be stowed in the cans.
Shoulders may ache a bit if they don't snug up that .30-06.
The smell of gunpowder in the AM, and PM!!
UPDATE: Wow, that place was busy. Must have been 150 shooters out there all day--space was tight on the 100 yard and 50 yard ranges.
Girls did OK. They're acclimated to the .357 6 gun and the 9mm semi now, and all save one have fired the .30-06 without permanent shoulder damage.
About 500 rounds fired, mostly .22LR. A good day altogether.
Civil Libertarians v. Biden
Not exactly a love-fest from The Agitator on Joe "Catholic" Biden:
But from a policy perspective, it’s a disaster. Biden has sponsored more damaging drug war legislation than any Democrat in Congress. ...Think the title of a “Drug Czar” is sanctimonious and silly? Thank Biden, who helped create the position (and still considers it an accomplishment worth boasting about).
Biden’s record on other criminal justice and civil liberties issues is just as bad. Opponents of the federalization of crime might note that the 1994 crime bill he sponsored created several new federal capital offenses. Biden also wants to expand federal penalties for hate crimes. He supports a federal smoking ban. His position on the federal drinking age is, and I quote, “absolutely do not” lower it to 18. He believes “most violent crime is related to drugs” (if he had said “drug prohibition,” he’d be closer to the truth). Biden also has an almost perfect anti-gun voting record. He said last year he favors “universal national service,” either in the Peace Corps or the military. Sounds like conscription to me.
...His seems to be a meddling, interventionist, Clinton-esque foreign policy. His first instinct seems to be that the U.S. military’s objective include some vague notion of “doing good in the world.”
... He’s an overly ambitious, elitist, tunnel-visioned, Potomac-fevered Beltway dinosaur, with all the trappings
As you can tell, The Agitator's positions are not entirely in agreement with mine (think drugs); I cite this as a matter of interest for the Innerleckshuls who read this blog.
By the way, The Agitator called this nomination in February!
But from a policy perspective, it’s a disaster. Biden has sponsored more damaging drug war legislation than any Democrat in Congress. ...Think the title of a “Drug Czar” is sanctimonious and silly? Thank Biden, who helped create the position (and still considers it an accomplishment worth boasting about).
Biden’s record on other criminal justice and civil liberties issues is just as bad. Opponents of the federalization of crime might note that the 1994 crime bill he sponsored created several new federal capital offenses. Biden also wants to expand federal penalties for hate crimes. He supports a federal smoking ban. His position on the federal drinking age is, and I quote, “absolutely do not” lower it to 18. He believes “most violent crime is related to drugs” (if he had said “drug prohibition,” he’d be closer to the truth). Biden also has an almost perfect anti-gun voting record. He said last year he favors “universal national service,” either in the Peace Corps or the military. Sounds like conscription to me.
...His seems to be a meddling, interventionist, Clinton-esque foreign policy. His first instinct seems to be that the U.S. military’s objective include some vague notion of “doing good in the world.”
... He’s an overly ambitious, elitist, tunnel-visioned, Potomac-fevered Beltway dinosaur, with all the trappings
As you can tell, The Agitator's positions are not entirely in agreement with mine (think drugs); I cite this as a matter of interest for the Innerleckshuls who read this blog.
By the way, The Agitator called this nomination in February!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
If or When Obama Loses...
A very savvy commenter at Grim's Hall (Southern Democrats, folks) has discerned the tactics and the long-term strategy.
First, we note that Salon has decreed that if Obama loses, it is due to racism, pure and simple. (H/T to Grim here, too...)
What with the Bush legacy of reckless war and economic mismanagement, 2008 is a year that favors the generic Democratic candidate over the generic Republican one. Yet Barack Obama, with every natural and structural advantage in the presidential race, is running only neck-and-neck against John McCain, a sub-par Republican nominee with a list of liabilities longer than a Joe Biden monologue.
...let's be honest: If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn't ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin.
Hmmm.
Next, here's the perspicacious and pertinent comment at Grim's:
In the long run, if Obama wins the Presidential election all this will die down and he'll retain control of the Party because he will have proved he can alienate some of the traditional Democratic groups and rely on his new coalition (young, elite, academic, etc added to African-Americans) to win. If Obama loses the Presidential election, things get interesting. Unless Obama can blame his loss on factors outside his control and make a believable case for why he should run again in 2012, those of his supporters who support *him* rather than the Democratic Party generally are going to wander off.
So clearly, if "racism" is the reason Obama loses, then he CAN blame his loss on 'factors outside his control' and retain viability for 2012--AND his supporters stay on board, AND he retains control of the Party.
It's now a "win/win" for Obama. He either gets the Presidency or the Party leadership.
Of course, that's assuming that he isn't found dead in the middle of an intersection in Arkansas.
First, we note that Salon has decreed that if Obama loses, it is due to racism, pure and simple. (H/T to Grim here, too...)
What with the Bush legacy of reckless war and economic mismanagement, 2008 is a year that favors the generic Democratic candidate over the generic Republican one. Yet Barack Obama, with every natural and structural advantage in the presidential race, is running only neck-and-neck against John McCain, a sub-par Republican nominee with a list of liabilities longer than a Joe Biden monologue.
...let's be honest: If you break the numbers down, the reason Obama isn't ahead right now is that he trails badly among one group, older white voters. He does so for a simple reason: the color of his skin.
Hmmm.
Next, here's the perspicacious and pertinent comment at Grim's:
In the long run, if Obama wins the Presidential election all this will die down and he'll retain control of the Party because he will have proved he can alienate some of the traditional Democratic groups and rely on his new coalition (young, elite, academic, etc added to African-Americans) to win. If Obama loses the Presidential election, things get interesting. Unless Obama can blame his loss on factors outside his control and make a believable case for why he should run again in 2012, those of his supporters who support *him* rather than the Democratic Party generally are going to wander off.
So clearly, if "racism" is the reason Obama loses, then he CAN blame his loss on 'factors outside his control' and retain viability for 2012--AND his supporters stay on board, AND he retains control of the Party.
It's now a "win/win" for Obama. He either gets the Presidency or the Party leadership.
Of course, that's assuming that he isn't found dead in the middle of an intersection in Arkansas.
Biden: A Pro-Abort "Catholic"
I didn't know this.
Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record
Biden is described as "relentlessly pro-abortion" by ALL, although he supports the Hyde Amendment forbidding Fed funding of abortion, and contra the Savior, he voted to ban partial-birth abortions.
Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record
Biden is described as "relentlessly pro-abortion" by ALL, although he supports the Hyde Amendment forbidding Fed funding of abortion, and contra the Savior, he voted to ban partial-birth abortions.
The Slippery Slope: NRLC (And See Update)
It's well-known that the Wisconsin branch of the National Right to Life Committee (Wisconsin Right to Life) is favored by the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Timothy Dolan, over the Catholic-dominated American Life League, whose local affiliate is Pro-Life Wisconsin. Certainly, the Wisconsin RTL leader, Barbara Lyons, is a charismatic, effective, and very bright woman; and WRTL has fought, at some expense, the Feingold 1st Amendment-Destruction Law to a standstill. Kudos are deserved.
(It can also be inferred that Kevin Fischer has a distaste for Pro-Life Wisconsin types; on yesterday's show he referred to people who objected to abortion-for-rape-and-incest-victims as "zealots," a term which has ALWAYS been a slur. See below for the possible rationale.)
Anyhoo, NRLC has a problem, and it's called "the slippery slope." From What's Wrong With the World:
Some of you may be old enough to remember that a ban on federal funding for research using tissue taken from aborted fetuses was a big deal in the Reagan and Bush, Sr., administrations. Then came William Jefferson Clinton and, with the cooperation of Congress, that ban on federal funding was lifted in 1993. The NIH could fund research using tissue from aborted children...
...The National Right to Life Committee reported faithfully on this subject and consistently opposed such funding, contending that it normalized abortion and made women think that perhaps they could "do some good" by having their child killed.
...In the same year, [2000] we find an article called, unambiguously, "Fetal Tissue Harvesting: An Ethical Free-fall," in which ethical arguments for and against fetal tissue use are expressly discussed and the pro-life position made clear
And then, something changed. My careful search of the NRLC archives indices from 2001 on has been unable to turn up a single further article in which such statements were made
What happened, of course, was a Presidential primary and election.
...from 2001 on, while the ethical disapproval is implicit in NRLC's very desire to point out that such research is failing to provide treatments, never again--that I can find--after 2000 do we find an express discussion of the ethical issue or an express statement of the usual pro-life arguments against it, nor do we find any discussion of federal funding
...NRLC whipped its members soundly into line to vote for George W. Bush. ...hesitations to do so arose from a number of sources, including Bush's support for legal abortion in cases of rape and incest and also his curious hesitation to talk about the issue at all.
Hmmmmm. "Rape and incest." How interesting!!
One of their reasons in several articles for their urgency was the possibility that if Bush were not supported in the Republican primary, the nomination might be won by John McCain.
Then, in 2002, word appeared briefly on the Internet: Bush's NIH had funded research using stem cells derived from aborted fetuses. Rather to everyone's surprise, it turned out that Bush's famous Aug. 9, 2001 "line in the sand" applied only to stem cells derived from unimplanted embryos, not to stem cells derived from aborted fetuses. There was no limit on federal funding for those stem cells to children killed prior to Aug. 9, 2001.
Oooopsie!!
NRLC came out in full defense mode. Their defense was two-pronged. First, they argued that the Bush NIH's "hands were tied" by the 1993 legislation permitting federal funding for aborted fetal tissue research. More importantly, and to head off the obvious question ("Then why doesn't Bush, and why don't you, try to get that legislation changed?"), they implied that Bush was right not simply to fund the research as (they said) required by law but to do nothing to urge that the state of the law be changed. The new worry was...wait for it...embryonic stem-cell research. That was the new focus, and that was where the energy should go, what with the possibility of "embryo farms" and what-not. Evidently, vocal and active opposition to federal funding for fetal tissue research was just soooo nineties
There will never again be a presidential candidate who will be asked by the major U.S. pro-life organization to make it clear in his campaign that he opposes the use of federal funds for fetal tissue research. The organization changed its priorities.
NRLC should be ashamed of itself, but then, with the Rockefeller Republican "rape and incest" endorsement of the 1970's, this is hardly a surprise.
Either you are pro-life, or not. Ain't no middle ground--for the simple reason that there is no "middle" between life and death.
And if being pro-life means that Kevin calls me a "zealot", or the Archbishop of Milwaukee likes the other guys, so be it.
UPDATE:
K. Fischer insists, strenuously, that he did NOT use the term "zealot" during his program, and he listened to the podcast to make certain of that. Further, he contends that this blog-entry mis-characterizes his position on the question of rape/incest. It's likely that Kevin will be writing his own entry on the program and the questions he raised.
(It can also be inferred that Kevin Fischer has a distaste for Pro-Life Wisconsin types; on yesterday's show he referred to people who objected to abortion-for-rape-and-incest-victims as "zealots," a term which has ALWAYS been a slur. See below for the possible rationale.)
Anyhoo, NRLC has a problem, and it's called "the slippery slope." From What's Wrong With the World:
Some of you may be old enough to remember that a ban on federal funding for research using tissue taken from aborted fetuses was a big deal in the Reagan and Bush, Sr., administrations. Then came William Jefferson Clinton and, with the cooperation of Congress, that ban on federal funding was lifted in 1993. The NIH could fund research using tissue from aborted children...
...The National Right to Life Committee reported faithfully on this subject and consistently opposed such funding, contending that it normalized abortion and made women think that perhaps they could "do some good" by having their child killed.
...In the same year, [2000] we find an article called, unambiguously, "Fetal Tissue Harvesting: An Ethical Free-fall," in which ethical arguments for and against fetal tissue use are expressly discussed and the pro-life position made clear
And then, something changed. My careful search of the NRLC archives indices from 2001 on has been unable to turn up a single further article in which such statements were made
What happened, of course, was a Presidential primary and election.
...from 2001 on, while the ethical disapproval is implicit in NRLC's very desire to point out that such research is failing to provide treatments, never again--that I can find--after 2000 do we find an express discussion of the ethical issue or an express statement of the usual pro-life arguments against it, nor do we find any discussion of federal funding
...NRLC whipped its members soundly into line to vote for George W. Bush. ...hesitations to do so arose from a number of sources, including Bush's support for legal abortion in cases of rape and incest and also his curious hesitation to talk about the issue at all.
Hmmmmm. "Rape and incest." How interesting!!
One of their reasons in several articles for their urgency was the possibility that if Bush were not supported in the Republican primary, the nomination might be won by John McCain.
Then, in 2002, word appeared briefly on the Internet: Bush's NIH had funded research using stem cells derived from aborted fetuses. Rather to everyone's surprise, it turned out that Bush's famous Aug. 9, 2001 "line in the sand" applied only to stem cells derived from unimplanted embryos, not to stem cells derived from aborted fetuses. There was no limit on federal funding for those stem cells to children killed prior to Aug. 9, 2001.
Oooopsie!!
NRLC came out in full defense mode. Their defense was two-pronged. First, they argued that the Bush NIH's "hands were tied" by the 1993 legislation permitting federal funding for aborted fetal tissue research. More importantly, and to head off the obvious question ("Then why doesn't Bush, and why don't you, try to get that legislation changed?"), they implied that Bush was right not simply to fund the research as (they said) required by law but to do nothing to urge that the state of the law be changed. The new worry was...wait for it...embryonic stem-cell research. That was the new focus, and that was where the energy should go, what with the possibility of "embryo farms" and what-not. Evidently, vocal and active opposition to federal funding for fetal tissue research was just soooo nineties
There will never again be a presidential candidate who will be asked by the major U.S. pro-life organization to make it clear in his campaign that he opposes the use of federal funds for fetal tissue research. The organization changed its priorities.
And where is NRLC today on the issue?
So, what about embryonic stem-cell research? That, after all, was Douglas Johnson's urgent reason for ditching the issue of fetal tissue research. That was the new thing, the dangerous thing, the thing we had to concentrate on. And now, NRLC eagerly supports a candidate who has always openly and vocally supported federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research
NRLC should be ashamed of itself, but then, with the Rockefeller Republican "rape and incest" endorsement of the 1970's, this is hardly a surprise.
Either you are pro-life, or not. Ain't no middle ground--for the simple reason that there is no "middle" between life and death.
And if being pro-life means that Kevin calls me a "zealot", or the Archbishop of Milwaukee likes the other guys, so be it.
UPDATE:
K. Fischer insists, strenuously, that he did NOT use the term "zealot" during his program, and he listened to the podcast to make certain of that. Further, he contends that this blog-entry mis-characterizes his position on the question of rape/incest. It's likely that Kevin will be writing his own entry on the program and the questions he raised.
Typical Democrat Fiscal Policy
Real-life is different from Gummint, Obama. In real-life, you don't have people with guns taking money for your whims.
Yesterday... Obama’s campaign abruptly suspended their advertising in several red states, including Georgia, which Team Obama had specifically spotlighted earlier as a possible takeaway
...Obama also has a fundraising problem, which seems counterintuitive for a campaign that had two $50 million months in a row. Unfortunately, they’re burning through their cash a lot faster than McCain, and with a lot less impact
In Gummint, burn-rate is irrelevant. One simply raises taxes (or issues bonds) and sends nasty folks to collect the money at gunpoint. In real-life, money ain't so easy to come by--especially if you're pissing it away faster than the competition.
The obvious solution? Promise "first-knowledge" of, say, your VP selection to obtain a million email addresses--for fund-raising purposes.
HT: HotAir
Yesterday... Obama’s campaign abruptly suspended their advertising in several red states, including Georgia, which Team Obama had specifically spotlighted earlier as a possible takeaway
...Obama also has a fundraising problem, which seems counterintuitive for a campaign that had two $50 million months in a row. Unfortunately, they’re burning through their cash a lot faster than McCain, and with a lot less impact
In Gummint, burn-rate is irrelevant. One simply raises taxes (or issues bonds) and sends nasty folks to collect the money at gunpoint. In real-life, money ain't so easy to come by--especially if you're pissing it away faster than the competition.
The obvious solution? Promise "first-knowledge" of, say, your VP selection to obtain a million email addresses--for fund-raising purposes.
HT: HotAir
Biden's Foreign Policy Gravitas
Yah, Joe will add lots of FoPo heavy.
Here's Joe in a staff meeting following 9/11:
Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his [Senate Foreign Relations] committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: "I'm groping here." Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we're not bent on its destruction. "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran," Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face. --Michael Crowley, The New Republic, 10/01
Yah, $200mill would go a long way towards buying a couple of nuke-labs.
HT: PowerLine
Here's Joe in a staff meeting following 9/11:
Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his [Senate Foreign Relations] committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: "I'm groping here." Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we're not bent on its destruction. "Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran," Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face. --Michael Crowley, The New Republic, 10/01
Yah, $200mill would go a long way towards buying a couple of nuke-labs.
HT: PowerLine
ACORN/Obama Connection
Given what the Milwaukee County DA already knows about ACORN's registration problems, this might be of interest to him, too.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat’s campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.
An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. — a subsidiary of ACORN — worked in “get-out-the-vote” projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.
In and of itself, that's not necessarily a big deal. Mistakes happen. But there's more. Seems that CSI is a very-favored entity.
A Trib analysis of campaign finance reports showed Obama paid CSI for services that stood out as unusual. For example, CSI received payments of $63,000 and $75,000 for advance work. Excluding the large payments to CSI, the average amount the Obama campaign spent with other organizations was $558.82 per check on more than 1,200 entries classified as advance work.
And even more:
CSI is a “separate organization entirely” from ACORN, he said.
“ACORN is a client of ours,” Robinson said. “ACORN has a lot of different partner organizations. We are a partner, but we are separate.”
Robinson is listed on several Web sites as national deputy political director for campaigns and elections at ACORN. He is also listed as political director at the nonprofit Communities Voting Together and as a consultant at Project Vote. He did not return phone calls or an e-mail request for a follow-up interview.
Money flows back and forth between ACORN, Citizens Services Inc., Project Vote and Communities Voting Together. ACORN posts job ads for Citizens Services and Project Vote. Communities Voting Together contributed $60,000 to Citizens Services Inc., for example, in November 2005, according to a posting on CampaignMoney.com. Project Vote has hired ACORN and CSI as its highest paid contractors, paying ACORN $4,649,037 in 2006 and CSI $779,016 in 2006, according to Terry of the Consumers Rights League.
Gee, those are familiar names. From the JSOnline article:
All of the workers targeted for investigation were paid employees of two liberal groups running voter registration drives, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the Community Voters Project.
One might, for example, determine if ACORN was paying Community Voters Project--or if the Obama campaign paid them.
Nothing illegal, of course.
As for 'organizing and canvassing for the benefit of communities,' here's a breakdown of Obama spending on ACORN:
$310,441.20 25-FEB-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$160,689.40 27-FEB-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$98,451.20 29-FEB-08 TRAVEL/LODGING
$74,578.01 13-MAR-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$18,417.00 28-MAR-08 POLLING
$18,633.60 29-APR-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$63,000.00 29-APR-08 ADVANCE WORK
$105.84 02-MAY-08 LICENSE FEES
$105.84 02-MAY-08 LICENSE FEES
$75,000.00 17-MAY-08 ADVANCE WORK
$13,176.20 17-MAY-08 PER DIEM
That's quite a lot of sound and lighting for 'poor folks.' Were these, perhaps, talent shows?
Of course, one can't have a shady Democrat/Lefty "organizing" outfit without an even-more shady union nearby:
...the 527 group Communities Voting Together(CTV), which is located at 1024 Elysian Fields in New Orleans, was also the address for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 100, and theaddress of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN),along with the Elysian Fields Corporation
And ANOTHER familiar name, connected with (surprise!!) Mrs. John F'n Kerry:
“Wade Rathke, President of Elysian Fields Corporation is also the chief organizer for SEIU Local 100, founder of ACORN, and a member of the Board of Directors of Tides Center and Tides Foundation,”
Hmmmmmmmm.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat’s campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.
An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. — a subsidiary of ACORN — worked in “get-out-the-vote” projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.
In and of itself, that's not necessarily a big deal. Mistakes happen. But there's more. Seems that CSI is a very-favored entity.
A Trib analysis of campaign finance reports showed Obama paid CSI for services that stood out as unusual. For example, CSI received payments of $63,000 and $75,000 for advance work. Excluding the large payments to CSI, the average amount the Obama campaign spent with other organizations was $558.82 per check on more than 1,200 entries classified as advance work.
And even more:
CSI is a “separate organization entirely” from ACORN, he said.
“ACORN is a client of ours,” Robinson said. “ACORN has a lot of different partner organizations. We are a partner, but we are separate.”
Robinson is listed on several Web sites as national deputy political director for campaigns and elections at ACORN. He is also listed as political director at the nonprofit Communities Voting Together and as a consultant at Project Vote. He did not return phone calls or an e-mail request for a follow-up interview.
Money flows back and forth between ACORN, Citizens Services Inc., Project Vote and Communities Voting Together. ACORN posts job ads for Citizens Services and Project Vote. Communities Voting Together contributed $60,000 to Citizens Services Inc., for example, in November 2005, according to a posting on CampaignMoney.com. Project Vote has hired ACORN and CSI as its highest paid contractors, paying ACORN $4,649,037 in 2006 and CSI $779,016 in 2006, according to Terry of the Consumers Rights League.
Gee, those are familiar names. From the JSOnline article:
All of the workers targeted for investigation were paid employees of two liberal groups running voter registration drives, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and the Community Voters Project.
One might, for example, determine if ACORN was paying Community Voters Project--or if the Obama campaign paid them.
Nothing illegal, of course.
As for 'organizing and canvassing for the benefit of communities,' here's a breakdown of Obama spending on ACORN:
$310,441.20 25-FEB-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$160,689.40 27-FEB-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$98,451.20 29-FEB-08 TRAVEL/LODGING
$74,578.01 13-MAR-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$18,417.00 28-MAR-08 POLLING
$18,633.60 29-APR-08 STAGING, SOUND, LIGHTING
$63,000.00 29-APR-08 ADVANCE WORK
$105.84 02-MAY-08 LICENSE FEES
$105.84 02-MAY-08 LICENSE FEES
$75,000.00 17-MAY-08 ADVANCE WORK
$13,176.20 17-MAY-08 PER DIEM
That's quite a lot of sound and lighting for 'poor folks.' Were these, perhaps, talent shows?
Of course, one can't have a shady Democrat/Lefty "organizing" outfit without an even-more shady union nearby:
...the 527 group Communities Voting Together(CTV), which is located at 1024 Elysian Fields in New Orleans, was also the address for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 100, and theaddress of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN),along with the Elysian Fields Corporation
And ANOTHER familiar name, connected with (surprise!!) Mrs. John F'n Kerry:
“Wade Rathke, President of Elysian Fields Corporation is also the chief organizer for SEIU Local 100, founder of ACORN, and a member of the Board of Directors of Tides Center and Tides Foundation,”
Hmmmmmmmm.
Voter Fraud/Intimidation?
Adding to the ....ahhhh..... excitement of watching HRC stalk The O-and-Savior at the Dem Convention, it seems that there's a bit of intrigue--and not very nice intrigue--in the Dem primary/Texas.
The link is to a 10-minute presentation (apparently by HRC Texas Dems) which accuses O folks of typical Democrat vote-manipulation and -fraud schemes.
Takes one to know one, I guess.
The link is to a 10-minute presentation (apparently by HRC Texas Dems) which accuses O folks of typical Democrat vote-manipulation and -fraud schemes.
Takes one to know one, I guess.
Obama Qualifications Lawsuit
This is interesting.
A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.
Philip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.
It would seem that this guy is not a complete nutbag, (although he is a Democrat and an attorney).
In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth, according to the lawsuit, Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, "apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight." As Sen. Obama's own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham--Obama's mother--gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth.
Berg claims to be filing the suit now to clear up any questions before The O-and-Savior is nominated and the Pubbies bring out the same issues.
If nothing else, this is good for popcorn-sellers.
HT: Clay Cramer
A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.
Philip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA) County, former member of the Democratic State Committee, and former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania. According to Berg, he filed the suit--just days before the DNC is to hold its nominating convention in Denver--for the health of the Democratic Party.
It would seem that this guy is not a complete nutbag, (although he is a Democrat and an attorney).
In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth, according to the lawsuit, Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, "apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight." As Sen. Obama's own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham--Obama's mother--gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth.
Berg claims to be filing the suit now to clear up any questions before The O-and-Savior is nominated and the Pubbies bring out the same issues.
If nothing else, this is good for popcorn-sellers.
HT: Clay Cramer
Feds Don't Show for Work: It's Bush's Fault!
What a deal!
The federal government has 2.6 million civilian workers, making it the nation's largest employer. But, it turns out a growing number of these workers are not working
...[Sen. Tom] Coburn [R-OK] commissioned the report "Missing in Action: AWOL in the Federal Government," which tracked the number of absent workers without leave, AWOL workers, across 18 government agencies from 2001 to 2007.
It found that federal workers missed nearly 20 million hours of work in the last six years, not including vacation time or sick leave. On average, 2.8 million hours of work are lost per year because of AWOL absences.
The numbers show the formation of a growing trend: Forty-five percent more workers are absent without leave throughout different government agencies than in 2001.
The report found the Veterans Administration and the Department of the Treasury to be the worst violators, together accounting for 60 percent of the lost hours.
D of T? Doesn't that include IRS? Who wants to test that? Capper? Capper??
Alright. All Together Now:
The union that represents many federal employees doesn't blame its workers, but rather the Bush administration
"To me it's a scathing indictment of the Bush administration, their total incompetence and mismanagement and disdain for government and running government," said Mark Roth, general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees/AFL-CIO. "Apparently, they are so asleep at the wheel that they're letting people go for months without any consequences."
At least it's not Scott Walker...
Interesting that nobody noticed the missing work until an actual Conservative asked for a report.
...20 million hours of lost work comes out to 10,000 years of work left unfinished...
10K man-years and nobody noticed? Sounds like a good reason to drop 10K Fed positions.
The federal government has 2.6 million civilian workers, making it the nation's largest employer. But, it turns out a growing number of these workers are not working
...[Sen. Tom] Coburn [R-OK] commissioned the report "Missing in Action: AWOL in the Federal Government," which tracked the number of absent workers without leave, AWOL workers, across 18 government agencies from 2001 to 2007.
It found that federal workers missed nearly 20 million hours of work in the last six years, not including vacation time or sick leave. On average, 2.8 million hours of work are lost per year because of AWOL absences.
The numbers show the formation of a growing trend: Forty-five percent more workers are absent without leave throughout different government agencies than in 2001.
The report found the Veterans Administration and the Department of the Treasury to be the worst violators, together accounting for 60 percent of the lost hours.
D of T? Doesn't that include IRS? Who wants to test that? Capper? Capper??
Alright. All Together Now:
The union that represents many federal employees doesn't blame its workers, but rather the Bush administration
"To me it's a scathing indictment of the Bush administration, their total incompetence and mismanagement and disdain for government and running government," said Mark Roth, general counsel of the American Federation of Government Employees/AFL-CIO. "Apparently, they are so asleep at the wheel that they're letting people go for months without any consequences."
At least it's not Scott Walker...
Interesting that nobody noticed the missing work until an actual Conservative asked for a report.
...20 million hours of lost work comes out to 10,000 years of work left unfinished...
10K man-years and nobody noticed? Sounds like a good reason to drop 10K Fed positions.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Obamamamama: Ignorant, Too
Evidently Obama has absolutely NO knowledge of the Middle Kingdom.
Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics , Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."
There is no industry in Beijing, period. All industry is in other cities, near the coast, because only a few miles of actual roadway exist, all leading to ports.
Air transportation in PRChina is a nightmare. There are zero small-plane FBO's (to speak of) and zero small-plane mechanics (to speak of.) Result: virtually zero private-plane transportation from point to point.
Once outside of Beijing and the manufacturing cities, there is virtually zero infrastructure for water, sewer, natural gas, and electricity.
And there IS the minor matter of horrific pollution--air and water.
But hey! It makes "good speech," no?
Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics , Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."
There is no industry in Beijing, period. All industry is in other cities, near the coast, because only a few miles of actual roadway exist, all leading to ports.
Air transportation in PRChina is a nightmare. There are zero small-plane FBO's (to speak of) and zero small-plane mechanics (to speak of.) Result: virtually zero private-plane transportation from point to point.
Once outside of Beijing and the manufacturing cities, there is virtually zero infrastructure for water, sewer, natural gas, and electricity.
And there IS the minor matter of horrific pollution--air and water.
But hey! It makes "good speech," no?
Liturgical Language "Understanding" Necessary?
Not by this testimony.
Lucia Otgongerel was born in Mongolia 30 years ago without hands or legs. She lived in a deep depression until 2002 when she converted to Catholicism and, as she explains, discovered “true joy.” Today she works in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, as a teacher for seven children with special needs.
Now Lucia claims, “I could not live without my faith.” She overcomes the challenges of her physical condition though an intense life of prayer: including the daily Rosary, meditations and study of the Bible in the midst of her predominately Buddhist country
...She recalls that in 2001 she began going to Mass because her sister was the friend of the bishop’s secretary. While she was interested in the celebration, she did not have much faith. She explains that she enjoyed the songs sung in English and the words continued to ring in her ears, though she did not understand the lyrics.
Faith in Christ began the following year and after praying the Rosary intensely, but with great difficulty at home. She realized the importance of prayer and decided to convert to Catholicism.
But as we all know, she would NOT have converted had it been Latin...
HT: Scelata
Lucia Otgongerel was born in Mongolia 30 years ago without hands or legs. She lived in a deep depression until 2002 when she converted to Catholicism and, as she explains, discovered “true joy.” Today she works in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, as a teacher for seven children with special needs.
Now Lucia claims, “I could not live without my faith.” She overcomes the challenges of her physical condition though an intense life of prayer: including the daily Rosary, meditations and study of the Bible in the midst of her predominately Buddhist country
...She recalls that in 2001 she began going to Mass because her sister was the friend of the bishop’s secretary. While she was interested in the celebration, she did not have much faith. She explains that she enjoyed the songs sung in English and the words continued to ring in her ears, though she did not understand the lyrics.
Faith in Christ began the following year and after praying the Rosary intensely, but with great difficulty at home. She realized the importance of prayer and decided to convert to Catholicism.
But as we all know, she would NOT have converted had it been Latin...
HT: Scelata
Doyle, Putin, Epic Systems, Wiley
Sykes posts a very, very insight-laden email.
...none of these attacks on WMC is coincidence. This attack, Louis Butler's, and all the other "WMC is the problem" voices out there are being orchestrated by Jim Doyle, who is still wanting to make WMC pay for not supporting him last election. He can't tube their legislative agenda because...it is indeed good for Wisconsin's economy and even he knows it. So instead, he's trying to make the Board go squishy, can effective staff, and neuter the group's influence. He's not kidding around.
Second, businesses better wake up...This is an organization you join to fight aggressively for your rights as a business person, to improve our competitiveness and wealth in the real world (not the tax subsidized fantasy land that the John Wiley's of the world live in), and to be the one voice of the folks pulling the cart standing up against the many voices of the folks riding in the cart. This is a real battle. Jim Doyle is dead serious. ...
The reason I happen to think this is 'insightful' is this: it lines up precisely with what's being said, openly, about the approval of the Wisconsin Climate Report. Parties who did NOT approve the report and parties who DID approve the report reported that they were under 'enormous pressure' to approve.
And I mentioned that Doyle's DNR has told the Legislature to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine, and that they are simply going to force utilities to spend hundreds of millions on new "cleaner" mercury-removing technologies--which will squeeze businesses even more.
That's Doyle showing us what makes him just like KGB Colonel Putin. The difference? Doyle didn't use tanks and bullets to kill off the opposition. He's just using serious regulatory pressure, boycotting (in the case of Epic Systems), and unhinged rants from officially "respectable" folks.
...none of these attacks on WMC is coincidence. This attack, Louis Butler's, and all the other "WMC is the problem" voices out there are being orchestrated by Jim Doyle, who is still wanting to make WMC pay for not supporting him last election. He can't tube their legislative agenda because...it is indeed good for Wisconsin's economy and even he knows it. So instead, he's trying to make the Board go squishy, can effective staff, and neuter the group's influence. He's not kidding around.
Second, businesses better wake up...This is an organization you join to fight aggressively for your rights as a business person, to improve our competitiveness and wealth in the real world (not the tax subsidized fantasy land that the John Wiley's of the world live in), and to be the one voice of the folks pulling the cart standing up against the many voices of the folks riding in the cart. This is a real battle. Jim Doyle is dead serious. ...
The reason I happen to think this is 'insightful' is this: it lines up precisely with what's being said, openly, about the approval of the Wisconsin Climate Report. Parties who did NOT approve the report and parties who DID approve the report reported that they were under 'enormous pressure' to approve.
And I mentioned that Doyle's DNR has told the Legislature to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine, and that they are simply going to force utilities to spend hundreds of millions on new "cleaner" mercury-removing technologies--which will squeeze businesses even more.
That's Doyle showing us what makes him just like KGB Colonel Putin. The difference? Doyle didn't use tanks and bullets to kill off the opposition. He's just using serious regulatory pressure, boycotting (in the case of Epic Systems), and unhinged rants from officially "respectable" folks.
The Case Against College Degrees
Obviously, this guy Murray has thought about the situation.
An educational world based on certification tests would be a better place in many ways, but the overarching benefit is that the line between college and noncollege competencies would be blurred. Hardly any jobs would still have the BA as a requirement for a shot at being hired. Opportunities would be wider and fairer, and the stigma of not having a BA would diminish.
Most important in an increasingly class-riven America: The demonstration of competency in business administration or European history would, appropriately, take on similarities to the demonstration of competency in cooking or welding. Our obsession with the BA has created a two-tiered entry to adulthood, anointing some for admission to the club and labeling the rest as second-best.
Best point:
Here's the reality: Everyone in every occupation starts as an apprentice. Those who are good enough become journeymen. The best become master craftsmen. This is as true of business executives and history professors as of chefs and welders. Getting rid of the BA and replacing it with evidence of competence -- treating post-secondary education as apprenticeships for everyone -- is one way to help us to recognize that common bond.
Re-thinking the college frenzy would have another advantage in Wisconsin: a significant reduction in the $1.++ BILLION dollar annual tax burden to support the barnacle-laden ship of the UW System, headed until recently by an un-hinged LeftyWacko named Riley.
An educational world based on certification tests would be a better place in many ways, but the overarching benefit is that the line between college and noncollege competencies would be blurred. Hardly any jobs would still have the BA as a requirement for a shot at being hired. Opportunities would be wider and fairer, and the stigma of not having a BA would diminish.
Most important in an increasingly class-riven America: The demonstration of competency in business administration or European history would, appropriately, take on similarities to the demonstration of competency in cooking or welding. Our obsession with the BA has created a two-tiered entry to adulthood, anointing some for admission to the club and labeling the rest as second-best.
Best point:
Here's the reality: Everyone in every occupation starts as an apprentice. Those who are good enough become journeymen. The best become master craftsmen. This is as true of business executives and history professors as of chefs and welders. Getting rid of the BA and replacing it with evidence of competence -- treating post-secondary education as apprenticeships for everyone -- is one way to help us to recognize that common bond.
Re-thinking the college frenzy would have another advantage in Wisconsin: a significant reduction in the $1.++ BILLION dollar annual tax burden to support the barnacle-laden ship of the UW System, headed until recently by an un-hinged LeftyWacko named Riley.
Sushi-Screwed
Heh.
For the arugula crowd: a couple of Manhattan HS girls ran DNA tests in various chi-chi joints.
They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species.
Quoted by Dreher.
By the way, what are you eating if it has 'UN-identifiable DNA'?
For the arugula crowd: a couple of Manhattan HS girls ran DNA tests in various chi-chi joints.
They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species.
Quoted by Dreher.
By the way, what are you eating if it has 'UN-identifiable DNA'?
Charlie Sykes Calls It Wrong/Mid-Course Correction
Charlie's not real pleased with booking and jailing the library-book scofflaw.
And in order to make his point, he's editing the facts. (It's how polemics work, of course.)
The woman didn't return some books and then ignored several mailed notifications.
THEN SHE IGNORED THE COURT SUMMONS and DATE.
Charlie wants to forget about the above line--but that's not possible if you wish to relay the story honestly.
She was in-slammer-ized because she ignored the Court date--not because she did not return the books.
Obviously, it was a very quiet day for the Grafton cop shop. And I'm certain they'd rather have more important things to do.
The fact remains: the girl was NOT booked for failure to return the library books. She was perp-walked for ignoring the Judge.
Too bad, but it happens.
AHAHAHA!
Update: Charlie acknowledges that ignoring the court date was the reason for the cuffs...
Better.
But there's more. Charlie also wants to make an analogy between Blockbuster (e.g.) and the Public Library.
Wrong.
The Public Library happens to be funded by the taxpayers. Blockbuster is not.
Better analogy? Maybe the parking-tickets (misuse of the public street and space) would be the closest. Both parking tickets and library-book....ahhhh....forgetfulness....are violations of taxpayer-funded entities.
His larger point is that there are some things so minor that the handcuff/jail routine is a bit much--but that happens to be POLICE PROCEDURE. The cops don't HAVE to cuff a library-book scoffer, except that the lawyers (and the cop unions) have mandated that as policy.
Should collection agencies handle this stuff? Maybe. But collection agencies are not ideal vehicles for this sort of stuff, either.
And in order to make his point, he's editing the facts. (It's how polemics work, of course.)
The woman didn't return some books and then ignored several mailed notifications.
THEN SHE IGNORED THE COURT SUMMONS and DATE.
Charlie wants to forget about the above line--but that's not possible if you wish to relay the story honestly.
She was in-slammer-ized because she ignored the Court date--not because she did not return the books.
Obviously, it was a very quiet day for the Grafton cop shop. And I'm certain they'd rather have more important things to do.
The fact remains: the girl was NOT booked for failure to return the library books. She was perp-walked for ignoring the Judge.
Too bad, but it happens.
AHAHAHA!
Update: Charlie acknowledges that ignoring the court date was the reason for the cuffs...
Better.
But there's more. Charlie also wants to make an analogy between Blockbuster (e.g.) and the Public Library.
Wrong.
The Public Library happens to be funded by the taxpayers. Blockbuster is not.
Better analogy? Maybe the parking-tickets (misuse of the public street and space) would be the closest. Both parking tickets and library-book....ahhhh....forgetfulness....are violations of taxpayer-funded entities.
His larger point is that there are some things so minor that the handcuff/jail routine is a bit much--but that happens to be POLICE PROCEDURE. The cops don't HAVE to cuff a library-book scoffer, except that the lawyers (and the cop unions) have mandated that as policy.
Should collection agencies handle this stuff? Maybe. But collection agencies are not ideal vehicles for this sort of stuff, either.
The Continuing Idiocy of Customs/Homeland "Security"
First-hand testimony, from a newsletter. Eric Fry (actually, his children) was the victim in this instance.
"What do we have here?" a rotund Customs officer cheerily exclaimed, as he stared into the monitor of his X-ray scanner.
"Wuddah you got, Pete?" a fellow officer replied.
"Two handguns," said the officer named Pete, nodding his head with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Metal?" the colleague asked.
"Yep," said Pete. "Let's open this bag up and take a look."
"Um, they're just toy guns," your editor explained. "They belong to my 9-year old son."
"Did Air France just let you cruise on through with these when you boarded the plane in Paris?" Pete asked.
"Yes," your editor replied. "Why wouldn't they? This is checked baggage. Not carry-on."
"Well," the other officer replied, rocking back on his heels, "it's just that these firearms don't look legal."
"They're not firearms," your editor said. "They're toys. We bought them in a French toy store."
"But they're metal," the officer countered.
"That's right," your editor agreed. "They're metal toys."
"I understand what you're trying to say, sir. But guns like these aren't legal in the United States. I'm going to verify that with the commanding officer."
"Okay," your editor sighed. "But what do you believe is the problem with these toy guns?"
"Well," the officer answered, "they don't have any red tips at the end of the barrel to indicate that they are toys. Toy guns have to have a red tip on the end of the barrel. And they're metal. So they look like real guns."
"Okay," your editor persisted. "So let's pretend they aren't toys. Let's say they're real guns. Would that be a problem? If we say they're real guns, can I keep them?"
"No," the officer answered. "Toy guns like this aren't legal in the U.S."
"I got that, but real guns like this are. So let's say they're real."
"Well, sir, that's not possible," the officer insisted. "These are illegal guns. May I have all of your passports please? Go sit over there and the commanding officer will be with you in a little while."
Obediently, your editor and his children occupied four of the seats reserved for the accused-but-not-yet-condemned Customs violators. The youngest of your editor's four children was fighting back tears. These were his brand new toys after all. And they were REALLY cool. He was planning to use them in the James Bond movie he is filming.
The oldest of your editor's three children was utterly disgusted. "Can you believe this? Two minutes after walking out of this airport we could buy real handguns that could actually do some harm to someone. So who do these guys think they're protecting?"
"Well, I'm not sure they're protecting anyone," your editor agreed. "But it looks like they're trying to protect their jobs. Did you see those tables by the X-ray scanner with tonight's confiscated items? They were full of potted flowers, raw eggs, coconuts and other agricultural contraband. These 'guns' were probably the biggest haul of the night."
"That's pathetic," your editor's oldest son scoffed.
"Welcome to America," his father replied. "We've got more handguns per capita than almost any country in the world, but if a 9-year old brings a toy gun through Customs, his Dad's a criminal…And guess what happens next? My name goes into some vast government data-base as a gun smuggler…Hopefully, I won't be detained."
A few moments later, the commanding officer approaches with a couple of official documents in his hand and a very grave expression on his face.
"May I speak with you a moment, sir…away from your children?"
"Sure," your editor replied, trying to fight back laughter.
"This is a very serious offence," the officer began. "Now I realize that you were just trying to bring toy guns through Customs, and that you probably didn't even know that you were breaking the law. So we're just going to let you go with a warning. But let me give you this document that states we have confiscated these guns and will be destroying them."
"Okay."
"I just want to emphasize," the officer continued, "that we take this kind of thing very seriously."
"I noticed."
"Of course you would know that these are toy guns," the earnest officer explained, "But if I were a law enforcement officer and I saw you out on the street brandishing one of these guns, I would probably drop you."
"I can see that," your editor replied, secretly referring to the macho mentality of the Customs officer.
"We just can't let things like this through Customs," the officer insisted.
"Fine," your editor replied, hoping that monosyllabic responses would discourage the officers from continuing their asinine commentary. "So does this piece of paper that you're handing me mean that I'll be whisked into a dark room every time I return to the States? I do a lot of traveling. So I hope you guys didn't blackball me, just because my son bought two toys guns."
"Ohhh noooo," the highest-ranking moron replied. "You won't have any trouble. We've just put a file in our records that tell us that you tried to bring illegal look-alike guns into the country. That's all."
"Uh huh. Got it. Can I go now?"
"Sure and thanks for your cooperation."
Your editor's response to this inquisition was less a result of cooperation than coercion. He said what he believed he had to say, not what he wished to say. He was not aware of any other viable options, except to pretend that toy guns posed a threat to national security and to feign respect for this particularly ridiculous aspect of the law
Of course, he could have been dressed as a Mexican military-member and simply walked across the border in West Texas...
"What do we have here?" a rotund Customs officer cheerily exclaimed, as he stared into the monitor of his X-ray scanner.
"Wuddah you got, Pete?" a fellow officer replied.
"Two handguns," said the officer named Pete, nodding his head with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Metal?" the colleague asked.
"Yep," said Pete. "Let's open this bag up and take a look."
"Um, they're just toy guns," your editor explained. "They belong to my 9-year old son."
"Did Air France just let you cruise on through with these when you boarded the plane in Paris?" Pete asked.
"Yes," your editor replied. "Why wouldn't they? This is checked baggage. Not carry-on."
"Well," the other officer replied, rocking back on his heels, "it's just that these firearms don't look legal."
"They're not firearms," your editor said. "They're toys. We bought them in a French toy store."
"But they're metal," the officer countered.
"That's right," your editor agreed. "They're metal toys."
"I understand what you're trying to say, sir. But guns like these aren't legal in the United States. I'm going to verify that with the commanding officer."
"Okay," your editor sighed. "But what do you believe is the problem with these toy guns?"
"Well," the officer answered, "they don't have any red tips at the end of the barrel to indicate that they are toys. Toy guns have to have a red tip on the end of the barrel. And they're metal. So they look like real guns."
"Okay," your editor persisted. "So let's pretend they aren't toys. Let's say they're real guns. Would that be a problem? If we say they're real guns, can I keep them?"
"No," the officer answered. "Toy guns like this aren't legal in the U.S."
"I got that, but real guns like this are. So let's say they're real."
"Well, sir, that's not possible," the officer insisted. "These are illegal guns. May I have all of your passports please? Go sit over there and the commanding officer will be with you in a little while."
Obediently, your editor and his children occupied four of the seats reserved for the accused-but-not-yet-condemned Customs violators. The youngest of your editor's four children was fighting back tears. These were his brand new toys after all. And they were REALLY cool. He was planning to use them in the James Bond movie he is filming.
The oldest of your editor's three children was utterly disgusted. "Can you believe this? Two minutes after walking out of this airport we could buy real handguns that could actually do some harm to someone. So who do these guys think they're protecting?"
"Well, I'm not sure they're protecting anyone," your editor agreed. "But it looks like they're trying to protect their jobs. Did you see those tables by the X-ray scanner with tonight's confiscated items? They were full of potted flowers, raw eggs, coconuts and other agricultural contraband. These 'guns' were probably the biggest haul of the night."
"That's pathetic," your editor's oldest son scoffed.
"Welcome to America," his father replied. "We've got more handguns per capita than almost any country in the world, but if a 9-year old brings a toy gun through Customs, his Dad's a criminal…And guess what happens next? My name goes into some vast government data-base as a gun smuggler…Hopefully, I won't be detained."
A few moments later, the commanding officer approaches with a couple of official documents in his hand and a very grave expression on his face.
"May I speak with you a moment, sir…away from your children?"
"Sure," your editor replied, trying to fight back laughter.
"This is a very serious offence," the officer began. "Now I realize that you were just trying to bring toy guns through Customs, and that you probably didn't even know that you were breaking the law. So we're just going to let you go with a warning. But let me give you this document that states we have confiscated these guns and will be destroying them."
"Okay."
"I just want to emphasize," the officer continued, "that we take this kind of thing very seriously."
"I noticed."
"Of course you would know that these are toy guns," the earnest officer explained, "But if I were a law enforcement officer and I saw you out on the street brandishing one of these guns, I would probably drop you."
"I can see that," your editor replied, secretly referring to the macho mentality of the Customs officer.
"We just can't let things like this through Customs," the officer insisted.
"Fine," your editor replied, hoping that monosyllabic responses would discourage the officers from continuing their asinine commentary. "So does this piece of paper that you're handing me mean that I'll be whisked into a dark room every time I return to the States? I do a lot of traveling. So I hope you guys didn't blackball me, just because my son bought two toys guns."
"Ohhh noooo," the highest-ranking moron replied. "You won't have any trouble. We've just put a file in our records that tell us that you tried to bring illegal look-alike guns into the country. That's all."
"Uh huh. Got it. Can I go now?"
"Sure and thanks for your cooperation."
Your editor's response to this inquisition was less a result of cooperation than coercion. He said what he believed he had to say, not what he wished to say. He was not aware of any other viable options, except to pretend that toy guns posed a threat to national security and to feign respect for this particularly ridiculous aspect of the law
Of course, he could have been dressed as a Mexican military-member and simply walked across the border in West Texas...
MADD's Lies With Statistics
As you know, there are liars, damned liars, and those who lie with statistics...
MADD has done its knee-jerk dance about a proposal to drop the drinking age from 21 to something lower. 18 and 19 seem to be the early favorites.
And MADD hauls out studies to support their position. But the studies are.....ah.....selectively interpreted.
MADD’s preferred “science” ignores a very interesting working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research that shreds the oft-cited correlation between adoption of the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act (FUDAA), which forced all states to have a minimum drinking age of 21, and a reduction in alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
Yah, but, as pointed out by other researchers:
The paper, penned by Jeffery A. Miron and Elina Tetelbaum, points out that prior research consistently errs by including states that were unaffected by the law — the 12 states that had adopted a minimum drinking age of 21 long before FUDAA was passed and forced states to do so. Those states — for reasons unrelated to the federal law — experienced a dramatic decrease in alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the 80s and their inclusion in previous studies led many researchers to falsely conclude that the FUDAA was the key factor in the national trend.
That trend, however, began well before the FUDAA was passed in 1984. As the study notes: “[T]he decline began in the year 1969, the year in which several landmark improvements were made in the accident avoidance and crash protection features of passenger cars.” The study also recognizes that medical advances probably deserve a great deal of credit for the reduction
Like 'em or not, airbags, belts, and collapsable bumpers actually do reduce fatalities and injuries--no matter the condition of the driver.
As to the "legal age," all you have to do is scan the newspapers' 'Police Reports' section to find out that children are drinking, indeed.
HT: The Agitator
MADD has done its knee-jerk dance about a proposal to drop the drinking age from 21 to something lower. 18 and 19 seem to be the early favorites.
And MADD hauls out studies to support their position. But the studies are.....ah.....selectively interpreted.
MADD’s preferred “science” ignores a very interesting working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research that shreds the oft-cited correlation between adoption of the Federal Uniform Drinking Age Act (FUDAA), which forced all states to have a minimum drinking age of 21, and a reduction in alcohol-related traffic fatalities.
Yah, but, as pointed out by other researchers:
The paper, penned by Jeffery A. Miron and Elina Tetelbaum, points out that prior research consistently errs by including states that were unaffected by the law — the 12 states that had adopted a minimum drinking age of 21 long before FUDAA was passed and forced states to do so. Those states — for reasons unrelated to the federal law — experienced a dramatic decrease in alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the 80s and their inclusion in previous studies led many researchers to falsely conclude that the FUDAA was the key factor in the national trend.
That trend, however, began well before the FUDAA was passed in 1984. As the study notes: “[T]he decline began in the year 1969, the year in which several landmark improvements were made in the accident avoidance and crash protection features of passenger cars.” The study also recognizes that medical advances probably deserve a great deal of credit for the reduction
Like 'em or not, airbags, belts, and collapsable bumpers actually do reduce fatalities and injuries--no matter the condition of the driver.
As to the "legal age," all you have to do is scan the newspapers' 'Police Reports' section to find out that children are drinking, indeed.
HT: The Agitator
Feds' War on Guns Continues
Let's face the facts. The Second Amendment was not written for hunters. And it was not written exclusively to protect the right to self-defense.
It was written to allow citizens to overthrow the Government, if necessary.
But just because there IS a Second Amendment doesn't mean that the Government has to like it. After all, they recognize threats to their personal comforts and authority.
So--one simply eviscerates the 2A by other means.
ATF gets that, and re-defines "manufacture" of guns, thus opening the door to simply shutting down the industry which manufactures guns.
Comments an attorney who is very familiar with the issues:
How they reconcile with the GCA 68 definition of firearm as the receiver (so that manufacture = making the receiver) is beyond me. By their definition, a person who assembles receivers to other components is also a manufacturer, as is a gunsmith who regularly sporterizes military guns into hunting rifles
That's the point, of course.
It was written to allow citizens to overthrow the Government, if necessary.
But just because there IS a Second Amendment doesn't mean that the Government has to like it. After all, they recognize threats to their personal comforts and authority.
So--one simply eviscerates the 2A by other means.
ATF gets that, and re-defines "manufacture" of guns, thus opening the door to simply shutting down the industry which manufactures guns.
Comments an attorney who is very familiar with the issues:
How they reconcile with the GCA 68 definition of firearm as the receiver (so that manufacture = making the receiver) is beyond me. By their definition, a person who assembles receivers to other components is also a manufacturer, as is a gunsmith who regularly sporterizes military guns into hunting rifles
That's the point, of course.
Robyn Shapiro: A Shameful Shill for Abortion
The WaPo finds one "ethicist" to defend Fascism on the abortion front.
Right here in Milwaukee.
The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.
Gee. You mean that health professionals cannot be forced to kill babies?
The proposed regulation, which could go into effect after a 30-day comment period, was welcomed by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others as necessary to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways. Women's health advocates, family planning advocates, abortion rights activists and others, however, condemned the regulation, saying it could create sweeping obstacles to a variety of health services, including abortion, family planning, end-of-life care and possibly a wide range of scientific research.
"It's breathtaking," said Robyn S. Shapiro, a bioethicist and lawyer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "The impact could be enormous."
Also note the editorializing in the graf: "Conservatives....abortion opponents" are fighting against "women's health advocates." (Unless, of course, those 'women' are pre-born babies. They get the DP, no questions asked.)
...supporters and critics said the regulation remains broad enough to protect pharmacists, doctors, nurses and others from providing birth control pills, Plan B emergency contraception and other forms of contraception, and explicitly allows workers to withhold information about such services and refuse to refer patients elsewhere
Meaning that the Bush Administration has more courage on "Plan B" than does the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Timothy Dolan.
Robyn Shapiro, "ethicist" has been a shrieking shill for abortion for a long time. It's about time that the Medical College of Wisconsin demands her resignation.
HT: NewsBusters
Right here in Milwaukee.
The Bush administration yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services that violate their personal beliefs.
Gee. You mean that health professionals cannot be forced to kill babies?
The proposed regulation, which could go into effect after a 30-day comment period, was welcomed by conservative groups, abortion opponents and others as necessary to safeguard workers from being fired, disciplined or penalized in other ways. Women's health advocates, family planning advocates, abortion rights activists and others, however, condemned the regulation, saying it could create sweeping obstacles to a variety of health services, including abortion, family planning, end-of-life care and possibly a wide range of scientific research.
"It's breathtaking," said Robyn S. Shapiro, a bioethicist and lawyer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "The impact could be enormous."
Also note the editorializing in the graf: "Conservatives....abortion opponents" are fighting against "women's health advocates." (Unless, of course, those 'women' are pre-born babies. They get the DP, no questions asked.)
...supporters and critics said the regulation remains broad enough to protect pharmacists, doctors, nurses and others from providing birth control pills, Plan B emergency contraception and other forms of contraception, and explicitly allows workers to withhold information about such services and refuse to refer patients elsewhere
Meaning that the Bush Administration has more courage on "Plan B" than does the Archbishop of Milwaukee, Timothy Dolan.
Robyn Shapiro, "ethicist" has been a shrieking shill for abortion for a long time. It's about time that the Medical College of Wisconsin demands her resignation.
HT: NewsBusters
Kagen's Money: DC and Chicago
Interesting, but not surprising.
Kagen (D-Wacko) gets more than a third of his campaign funds from out-of-state.
Gard (R-Partisanship) gets only 6% of his funds from out-of-state.
Even MORE interesting:
Kagen's two largest metro-area money sources are the DC metro and CHIGAGO! (Evidently Kagen is favored by FIB's.)
HT: ClayCramer, for tool-use demonstration.
Kagen (D-Wacko) gets more than a third of his campaign funds from out-of-state.
Gard (R-Partisanship) gets only 6% of his funds from out-of-state.
Even MORE interesting:
Kagen's two largest metro-area money sources are the DC metro and CHIGAGO! (Evidently Kagen is favored by FIB's.)
HT: ClayCramer, for tool-use demonstration.
The Health-Care War Is Coming
Long article by Phil Klein in the American Spectator makes the case that the Left is going to implement 'single-payer' (that's Gummint, folks) health plans--but piece-by-piece. And it is a propaganda war, where (as usual) the Fascist Left has controlled the language, thus the perceptions.
There are, of course, sensible alternatives to the Lefto-Fascist plottings.
HEALTH-CARE ANALYSTS OFFER several ideas for reforms that would usher in a consumer-based market. Most pressing is the need to change the tax code that makes the country overly dependent on employer-based policies. The purist free market reaction would be to simply scrap the benefit altogether, which would lead to higher salaries with which individuals could purchase their own insurance and which would save the government $200 billion in tax subsidies. The more politically palatable option would be to extend the same tax status to individuals purchasing insurance on their own, which would lower the ranks of the uninsured and allow people to maintain their insurance when they leave their jobs.
Another reform would be to allow individuals to purchase insurance across state lines, which would create a national market that would help consumers get around onerous regulations.
A change that Herzlinger believes is crucial to an efficiently functioning market would be requiring hospitals and doctors to disclose data on patient outcomes and publish prices, so that consumers can make informed choices.
... there are several other solutions offered for how to cover the very sick.
Herzlinger would prefer organizing things the way they do in Switzerland, where there is a consortium of insurance companies. The companies that take on the higher-risk patients receive compensation from the companies that get the healthier patients in a system that resembles revenue sharing in Major League Baseball.
So what plans are favored by the candidates?
John McCain's health-care plan actually goes a long way toward addressing the most egregious problems with the system. His proposal would provide tax credits to individuals and families for purchasing health insurance, thus ending the tax code's discrimination against the individual market; he would move to allow people to purchase insurance across state lines; and he would improve transparency.
In contrast,
Obama...ended up with a plan that, if implemented, would expand the role of government in health care while decimating the private insurance industry. So while it would be inaccurate for conservatives to charge that Obama's plan would represent "socialized medicine" in the immediate term, there's no doubt that it would put America on the pathway to socialized medicine.
That's because Obama's plan uses the favorite method of the Fascist Left: incrementalism.
In the end, Conservatives cannot just 'scream Socialism!!' to win this battle. The crypto-fascists are adept at code-talk, psychological manipulation, and incrementalism.
After all, they convinced Romney, who (fortunately for him) left the Governor's chair in Massachusetts before his "RomneyCare" program blew up in the State's face.
UPDATE: Owen has a related post which demonstrates the cost-problems in Gummint Health.
There are, of course, sensible alternatives to the Lefto-Fascist plottings.
HEALTH-CARE ANALYSTS OFFER several ideas for reforms that would usher in a consumer-based market. Most pressing is the need to change the tax code that makes the country overly dependent on employer-based policies. The purist free market reaction would be to simply scrap the benefit altogether, which would lead to higher salaries with which individuals could purchase their own insurance and which would save the government $200 billion in tax subsidies. The more politically palatable option would be to extend the same tax status to individuals purchasing insurance on their own, which would lower the ranks of the uninsured and allow people to maintain their insurance when they leave their jobs.
Another reform would be to allow individuals to purchase insurance across state lines, which would create a national market that would help consumers get around onerous regulations.
A change that Herzlinger believes is crucial to an efficiently functioning market would be requiring hospitals and doctors to disclose data on patient outcomes and publish prices, so that consumers can make informed choices.
... there are several other solutions offered for how to cover the very sick.
Herzlinger would prefer organizing things the way they do in Switzerland, where there is a consortium of insurance companies. The companies that take on the higher-risk patients receive compensation from the companies that get the healthier patients in a system that resembles revenue sharing in Major League Baseball.
So what plans are favored by the candidates?
John McCain's health-care plan actually goes a long way toward addressing the most egregious problems with the system. His proposal would provide tax credits to individuals and families for purchasing health insurance, thus ending the tax code's discrimination against the individual market; he would move to allow people to purchase insurance across state lines; and he would improve transparency.
In contrast,
Obama...ended up with a plan that, if implemented, would expand the role of government in health care while decimating the private insurance industry. So while it would be inaccurate for conservatives to charge that Obama's plan would represent "socialized medicine" in the immediate term, there's no doubt that it would put America on the pathway to socialized medicine.
That's because Obama's plan uses the favorite method of the Fascist Left: incrementalism.
In the end, Conservatives cannot just 'scream Socialism!!' to win this battle. The crypto-fascists are adept at code-talk, psychological manipulation, and incrementalism.
After all, they convinced Romney, who (fortunately for him) left the Governor's chair in Massachusetts before his "RomneyCare" program blew up in the State's face.
UPDATE: Owen has a related post which demonstrates the cost-problems in Gummint Health.
Fascism's Progress: California
The California Supremes are good for one thing, anyway.
They illuminate the path of fascism.
First we had their arrogant overthrow of California law banning same-sex "marriage."
Now we have their arrogant overthrow of conscience.
Physician’s groups, religious rights attorneys, and pro-life groups say a California Supreme Court decision issued Monday takes away the right of doctors not to violate their own consciences – and they vow to fight it.
“It really is as if California has banned its citizens from having moral consciences,” said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative group. The ADF is defending two San Diego-area Christian doctors who the court said were required to artificially inseminate a lesbian, even though doing so would have violated their religious beliefs.
...In the unanimous decision, Justice Joyce Kennard wrote: “Do the rights of religious freedom and free speech, as guaranteed in both the federal and the California Constitutions, exempt a medical clinic’s physicians from complying with the California Unruh Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation? Our answer is no.”
The docs in the case are consistent:
Benitez alleged that the doctors refused because she is a lesbian. The physicians deny the allegation, saying they don’t inseminate any unmarried women
One suspects that SCOTUS will be more concerned about the First Amendment.
They illuminate the path of fascism.
First we had their arrogant overthrow of California law banning same-sex "marriage."
Now we have their arrogant overthrow of conscience.
Physician’s groups, religious rights attorneys, and pro-life groups say a California Supreme Court decision issued Monday takes away the right of doctors not to violate their own consciences – and they vow to fight it.
“It really is as if California has banned its citizens from having moral consciences,” said Gary McCaleb, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative group. The ADF is defending two San Diego-area Christian doctors who the court said were required to artificially inseminate a lesbian, even though doing so would have violated their religious beliefs.
...In the unanimous decision, Justice Joyce Kennard wrote: “Do the rights of religious freedom and free speech, as guaranteed in both the federal and the California Constitutions, exempt a medical clinic’s physicians from complying with the California Unruh Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation? Our answer is no.”
The docs in the case are consistent:
Benitez alleged that the doctors refused because she is a lesbian. The physicians deny the allegation, saying they don’t inseminate any unmarried women
One suspects that SCOTUS will be more concerned about the First Amendment.
Channel 12 Anchor Unhappy With Poll
Last night's Channel 12 anchor-ette was very, very unhappy with a Channel 12 poll.
Here's their question:
A Grafton woman was arrested for failing to pay library fines and skipping a related court date. Do you think that was necessary?
The majority, 53%, agreed that arrest was appropriate, and the anchor-ette was shocked! SHOCKED!!, I say by that result. Wasn't hard to tell at all by listening to her inflection.
Here's their question:
A Grafton woman was arrested for failing to pay library fines and skipping a related court date. Do you think that was necessary?
The majority, 53%, agreed that arrest was appropriate, and the anchor-ette was shocked! SHOCKED!!, I say by that result. Wasn't hard to tell at all by listening to her inflection.
DNR: "Screw You!" to Lawmakers, Doyle Fine with That
The "Damn Near Russia" part of Wisconsin government is doing its namesake-dance.
The Republican-controlled Assembly Natural Resources Committee voted 7-6 after an all-day hearing to object to the rules unless the state Department of Natural Resources erases reduction goals for other pollutants and prepares a full-scale study of the rules' economic impact.
The vote likely won't stop the rules from becoming reality as they're currently written, though.
DNR Secretary Pat Henderson said the agency won't comply with the committee's request.
That's because Pat Henderson, "public servant," is backed 100% by DarthDoyle, who is bound and determined to crush Wisconsin business.
Why?
Because Wisconsin business exercises 1st Amendment rights during elections. And because an economic impact study would demonstrate that the DNR's mandate would impose a disastrous indirect-tax increase in electric rates.
Think that the fall of the Soviet Union was final?
Think again.
The Republican-controlled Assembly Natural Resources Committee voted 7-6 after an all-day hearing to object to the rules unless the state Department of Natural Resources erases reduction goals for other pollutants and prepares a full-scale study of the rules' economic impact.
The vote likely won't stop the rules from becoming reality as they're currently written, though.
DNR Secretary Pat Henderson said the agency won't comply with the committee's request.
That's because Pat Henderson, "public servant," is backed 100% by DarthDoyle, who is bound and determined to crush Wisconsin business.
Why?
Because Wisconsin business exercises 1st Amendment rights during elections. And because an economic impact study would demonstrate that the DNR's mandate would impose a disastrous indirect-tax increase in electric rates.
Think that the fall of the Soviet Union was final?
Think again.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wanna Talk Housing, Obamamamama?
All neatly packaged into 30 seconds.
Friends and neighbors in Chicago.
It ain't how many houses you have. It's who "helped" you buy 'em.
Friends and neighbors in Chicago.
It ain't how many houses you have. It's who "helped" you buy 'em.
Left Hand, Right Hand, Mercury!!
As noted in a combox here (but I actually did think of it first) it's clear that Our Congress has little concern about mercury in the environment--or they wouldn't have mandated mercury-filled lightbulbs for the entire USA.
Perhaps DNR/Wisconsin (Damn Near Russia) should sue Congress before they jack up "clean mercury" requirements beyond realistically-do-able limits.
Or maybe we should merely throw our used lightbulbs at the Capitol in DC?
Perhaps DNR/Wisconsin (Damn Near Russia) should sue Congress before they jack up "clean mercury" requirements beyond realistically-do-able limits.
Or maybe we should merely throw our used lightbulbs at the Capitol in DC?
VP Selections: Better Ideas
You haven't heard of these? Then you're not reading Planet Moron.
VP selection possibilities:
OBAMA:
Barack Obama
Pro: Easily Barack Obama’s favorite person in the world. In fact, he likes him so much he wrote two books about him.
Con: Possible unresolveable policy disagreements as Barack Obama rarely agrees with anything Barack Obama says. At least not for long.
McCAIN:
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina
Pro: A chick. Chicks dig that, right?
Con: Would have to spend most of first term showing McCain how to use a computer.
Alternative for McCain:
Former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond
Pro: Would make McCain appear younger by comparison.
Con: Dead.
VP selection possibilities:
OBAMA:
Barack Obama
Pro: Easily Barack Obama’s favorite person in the world. In fact, he likes him so much he wrote two books about him.
Con: Possible unresolveable policy disagreements as Barack Obama rarely agrees with anything Barack Obama says. At least not for long.
McCAIN:
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina
Pro: A chick. Chicks dig that, right?
Con: Would have to spend most of first term showing McCain how to use a computer.
Alternative for McCain:
Former South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond
Pro: Would make McCain appear younger by comparison.
Con: Dead.
DNR "90% Rule"--HOW Costly?
Something doesn't figure right.
P-Mac blogged about a proposed rule from DNR which would require utilities to reduce mercury emissions by 90% in the near-term.
Leave aside, for a moment, the alleged benefits--and focus on the costs.
Pat cited an article here, which quotes DNR as saying the increased cost would be 65-75 cents per kWH.
The agency did prepare a slightly expanded cost estimate for the Natural Resources Board this week, including costs for the multipollutant option for the state's 16 largest electric generating units. Those costs, the DNR stated, would range from between 65 cents and 75 cents per kWh
Umnnnhhhh...that increase will effectively close Wisconsin down, tomorrow.
Current per kWH charges are around 10 cents.
Don't get me wrong: I'm sure that DNR (Damn Near Russia) would be happy to get all those stinking people and factories out of Wisconsin. "Pristine environment", and all that...
P-Mac blogged about a proposed rule from DNR which would require utilities to reduce mercury emissions by 90% in the near-term.
Leave aside, for a moment, the alleged benefits--and focus on the costs.
Pat cited an article here, which quotes DNR as saying the increased cost would be 65-75 cents per kWH.
The agency did prepare a slightly expanded cost estimate for the Natural Resources Board this week, including costs for the multipollutant option for the state's 16 largest electric generating units. Those costs, the DNR stated, would range from between 65 cents and 75 cents per kWh
Umnnnhhhh...that increase will effectively close Wisconsin down, tomorrow.
Current per kWH charges are around 10 cents.
Don't get me wrong: I'm sure that DNR (Damn Near Russia) would be happy to get all those stinking people and factories out of Wisconsin. "Pristine environment", and all that...
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Just Another Registration Fraud
As Patrick noted, 32 more workers from ultra-lefty ACORN and Community Voters Project were turned over to the DA's office for prosecution.
But something truly strange, and certainly rare, happened in the newsroom of the JS. See if you can spot it.
All of the workers targeted for investigation were paid employees of two liberal groups running voter registration drives, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and the Community Voters Project.
The "L" word!!
As a gentle reminder, forty percent of ACORN's revenues come from US taxpayers.
But something truly strange, and certainly rare, happened in the newsroom of the JS. See if you can spot it.
All of the workers targeted for investigation were paid employees of two liberal groups running voter registration drives, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and the Community Voters Project.
The "L" word!!
As a gentle reminder, forty percent of ACORN's revenues come from US taxpayers.
A Jebby College Acting Catholic!!
I didn't know about this.
A University of San Diego decision rescinding a prestigious position to a Catholic feminist theologian has thrust it smack in the middle of a national debate over academic freedom versus adherence to church teachings.
Faculty and Roman Catholics are divided over USD's decision to withdraw the appointment of Rosemary Radford Ruether to an endowed chair. At issue is Ruether's position on the board of directors for Catholics for Choice, an abortion rights organization.
Two national women's religious groups have sponsored a petition with more than 2,000 signatures demanding that she be allowed to assume the post.
USD is standing by its decision
Congratulations to USD! How about a couple of nights' stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for the Prexy?
HT: AmericanPapist
A University of San Diego decision rescinding a prestigious position to a Catholic feminist theologian has thrust it smack in the middle of a national debate over academic freedom versus adherence to church teachings.
Faculty and Roman Catholics are divided over USD's decision to withdraw the appointment of Rosemary Radford Ruether to an endowed chair. At issue is Ruether's position on the board of directors for Catholics for Choice, an abortion rights organization.
Two national women's religious groups have sponsored a petition with more than 2,000 signatures demanding that she be allowed to assume the post.
USD is standing by its decision
Congratulations to USD! How about a couple of nights' stay at the Manchester Grand Hyatt for the Prexy?
HT: AmericanPapist
Another Liturgeist Joke
Fr. Z posts two, so I'll use both.
What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? ...or
You find yourself with two terrorists and liturgist and only have two bullets in your gun….
The answer to #1: you can negotiate with a terrorist.
The answer to #2: use both on the liturgist. The terrorists will be more respectful during your negotiations--in fact, they might be grateful!.
What’s the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? ...or
You find yourself with two terrorists and liturgist and only have two bullets in your gun….
The answer to #1: you can negotiate with a terrorist.
The answer to #2: use both on the liturgist. The terrorists will be more respectful during your negotiations--in fact, they might be grateful!.
More of This Is Good!
In West Virginia, men still have testosterone.
Nobody's going to tell Kerry "Paco" Ellison's customers they can't smoke at his bar.
The Black Hawk Saloon is Ellison's bar, and he'll run it as he sees fit.
"If I don't want to pray, I don't go to church," Ellison said. "If you don't want to smoke, don't come in here."
Today, Ellison and at least a dozen other bar owners across the county defiantly encouraged their patrons to smoke in violation of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's six-week-old smoking ban.
The Mommy-May-I department's response?
Health board President Brenda Isaac called the bar owners a "rebel group."
"This is a very small percentage of bars in the county," Isaac said. "It's too bad they're getting all this publicity. Most of the bar owners are very law-abiding."
T Jeff said it best: "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."
Nobody's going to tell Kerry "Paco" Ellison's customers they can't smoke at his bar.
The Black Hawk Saloon is Ellison's bar, and he'll run it as he sees fit.
"If I don't want to pray, I don't go to church," Ellison said. "If you don't want to smoke, don't come in here."
Today, Ellison and at least a dozen other bar owners across the county defiantly encouraged their patrons to smoke in violation of the Kanawha-Charleston Health Department's six-week-old smoking ban.
The Mommy-May-I department's response?
Health board President Brenda Isaac called the bar owners a "rebel group."
"This is a very small percentage of bars in the county," Isaac said. "It's too bad they're getting all this publicity. Most of the bar owners are very law-abiding."
T Jeff said it best: "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing."
Aggrandize Government? Or Worship It?
P-Mac essays on Dionne's blindness, and relays the question in indirect discourse.
For years, acquaintances have asked how I could possibly be Christian and yet be so mean as to not favor this or that aggrandizement of Washington.
"Washington," of course, is shorthand for "Gummint."
The simple answer is that Christianity (and Judaism, for that matter) require their adherents to 'glorify GOD,' not the Gummint.
The more complex one is that those who would aggrandize Gummints are worshipping the wrong god--the one which is Gummint.
Worse, their tendency is to confuse their own personal ideas of 'right' with what IS actually 'right,' or (worst of all), themselves with God.
Look no further than The O-and-Savior's "seas shall stop rising" for insight.
For years, acquaintances have asked how I could possibly be Christian and yet be so mean as to not favor this or that aggrandizement of Washington.
"Washington," of course, is shorthand for "Gummint."
The simple answer is that Christianity (and Judaism, for that matter) require their adherents to 'glorify GOD,' not the Gummint.
The more complex one is that those who would aggrandize Gummints are worshipping the wrong god--the one which is Gummint.
Worse, their tendency is to confuse their own personal ideas of 'right' with what IS actually 'right,' or (worst of all), themselves with God.
Look no further than The O-and-Savior's "seas shall stop rising" for insight.
The Dem Convention: This Will Be Fun
The Fat Lady has NOT sung, folks.
The question is: Will it be an easy nomination for Obama — or one of the grandest political ambushes ever pulled off … on the voting floor of the convention? --Tony Campbell, Washington Examiner.
It's impossible to imagine The Terminator, as a former aide calls her, giving up. Unless every circuit is out, she'll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave, crawl through the Rezko Memorial Lawn and up Obama's wall, hurl her torso into the house and brutally haunt his dreams. --Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
Frankly, when HRC forced a floor-vote on The O-and-Savior, it was clear to me that she thinks she can pull this off. The Hildebeeste is not stupid enough to force a vote knowing that she'll be crushed, folks.
HT: Moonbattery
The question is: Will it be an easy nomination for Obama — or one of the grandest political ambushes ever pulled off … on the voting floor of the convention? --Tony Campbell, Washington Examiner.
It's impossible to imagine The Terminator, as a former aide calls her, giving up. Unless every circuit is out, she'll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave, crawl through the Rezko Memorial Lawn and up Obama's wall, hurl her torso into the house and brutally haunt his dreams. --Maureen Dowd, New York Times.
Frankly, when HRC forced a floor-vote on The O-and-Savior, it was clear to me that she thinks she can pull this off. The Hildebeeste is not stupid enough to force a vote knowing that she'll be crushed, folks.
HT: Moonbattery
WEENER, Indeed: The $100 Million Failure of Nerve
McIlheran exposes the failure of nerve at WE Energies.
An extra $100 million... will be tacked onto power bills in eastern Wisconsin, $100 million that has nothing to do with generating that power, will not be a tax.
...The not-a-tax is part of the recent settlement between We Energies, nearly done expanding its Oak Creek power plant, and two environmentalist groups that have opposed the expansion at every turn.
The greens lost repeatedly in courts and before regulators. They likely would have lost yet again had they continued to fire their one remaining weapon, a claim that We Energies errs in drawing cooling water from Lake Michigan and must instead build $400 million cooling towers. Regulators had already told the enviros to go jump in the coolant, but investors wanted certainty, so We Energies and its partners paid the greens to go away.
With your money
The settlement with the Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin states that the utility will “request and diligently seek” to have regulators add the $100 million to power rates. It will not come from shareholders
You could connect the dots here. WE Energies also approved the execrable Wisconsin Climate Report, which (if its reccomendations are implemented) will push Wisconsin's economy back to the Stone Age. That's not a co-incidence.
Wanna have input on where your $100 million is going?
Screw you.
...unspecified good deeds related to Lake Michigan: to “address” the “impact of invasive species,” to “reduce” storm water runoff, to gussy up wildlife habitat. The projects “shall be of the type” outlined in a Department of Natural Resources’ wish list.
The projects may be nice — or not, not that you have any say — but they really don’t have anything to do with electricity, other than adding to its cost. “It’s just kind of a donation,” Martin said, by the utility, out of your pocket, to spare shareholders a small but lingering risk.
"Ratepayers" include you and me. But the single largest customer of WE Energies happens to be the City of Milwaukee, whose electric bill is a monster. Guess who pays THAT bill?
Other heavy-duty electric consumers include Roundy's Pick-N-Save, Milwaukee County and hospitals, not to mention manufacturing concerns.
Speaking of manufacturing concerns (and not off-topic): two members of the Wisconsin Climate Commission who refused to endorse the report have made changes in their Wisconsin footprint.
They closed up and left.
An extra $100 million... will be tacked onto power bills in eastern Wisconsin, $100 million that has nothing to do with generating that power, will not be a tax.
...The not-a-tax is part of the recent settlement between We Energies, nearly done expanding its Oak Creek power plant, and two environmentalist groups that have opposed the expansion at every turn.
The greens lost repeatedly in courts and before regulators. They likely would have lost yet again had they continued to fire their one remaining weapon, a claim that We Energies errs in drawing cooling water from Lake Michigan and must instead build $400 million cooling towers. Regulators had already told the enviros to go jump in the coolant, but investors wanted certainty, so We Energies and its partners paid the greens to go away.
With your money
The settlement with the Sierra Club and Clean Wisconsin states that the utility will “request and diligently seek” to have regulators add the $100 million to power rates. It will not come from shareholders
You could connect the dots here. WE Energies also approved the execrable Wisconsin Climate Report, which (if its reccomendations are implemented) will push Wisconsin's economy back to the Stone Age. That's not a co-incidence.
Wanna have input on where your $100 million is going?
Screw you.
...unspecified good deeds related to Lake Michigan: to “address” the “impact of invasive species,” to “reduce” storm water runoff, to gussy up wildlife habitat. The projects “shall be of the type” outlined in a Department of Natural Resources’ wish list.
The projects may be nice — or not, not that you have any say — but they really don’t have anything to do with electricity, other than adding to its cost. “It’s just kind of a donation,” Martin said, by the utility, out of your pocket, to spare shareholders a small but lingering risk.
"Ratepayers" include you and me. But the single largest customer of WE Energies happens to be the City of Milwaukee, whose electric bill is a monster. Guess who pays THAT bill?
Other heavy-duty electric consumers include Roundy's Pick-N-Save, Milwaukee County and hospitals, not to mention manufacturing concerns.
Speaking of manufacturing concerns (and not off-topic): two members of the Wisconsin Climate Commission who refused to endorse the report have made changes in their Wisconsin footprint.
They closed up and left.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
EPA v. Wisconsin
And the game continues.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay areas are violating federal clean air standards and may need additional anti-pollution regulations.
Gov. Jim Doyle had asked the agency to designate all of Wisconsin in compliance with clean air rules last year.
But the EPA says its review found that Brown, Columbia, Dane, Racine, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties either have unacceptable levels of fine particulate matter in the air or are contributing to problems in neighboring areas.That pollution is caused by coal-fired power plants and diesel engines and causes respiratory problems such as asthma.
The agency is proposing to designate the counties as non-attainment, which could mean tighter regulations on manufacturing companies and power plants.
If I were Doyle, I'd tell EPA to stuff it in their a**. There's little room left for "improvement" here without simply shutting industry down, altogether.
The Environmental Protection Agency says the Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay areas are violating federal clean air standards and may need additional anti-pollution regulations.
Gov. Jim Doyle had asked the agency to designate all of Wisconsin in compliance with clean air rules last year.
But the EPA says its review found that Brown, Columbia, Dane, Racine, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties either have unacceptable levels of fine particulate matter in the air or are contributing to problems in neighboring areas.That pollution is caused by coal-fired power plants and diesel engines and causes respiratory problems such as asthma.
The agency is proposing to designate the counties as non-attainment, which could mean tighter regulations on manufacturing companies and power plants.
If I were Doyle, I'd tell EPA to stuff it in their a**. There's little room left for "improvement" here without simply shutting industry down, altogether.
Pols Who Defend Abortion: Don't Recieve Communion
This comes as no surprise.
The prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week that Catholics, especially politicians who publically defend abortion, should not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion should be responsibly charitable in denying it to them if they ask for it, "until they have reformed their lives."
Obey, Kennedy, Kerry, Durbin, Barrett,.....
...he referred to "public officials who, with knowledge and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and Eternal moral law. For example, if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives. A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life," the archbishop said.
"If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege," he added.
"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop continued. "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to thinkthat the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion."
"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother's womb," he warned.
That's clear and simple.
Ya think it's clear and simple enough for the Wisconsin Bishops to implement? Ya think that the Wisconsin Catholic Conference will issue a letter (or two, or 20) warning certain folks about their aborto-support?
Paging Abp. Timothy Dolan, Bp. Morlino, Bp. Zubic, Bp. Listecki, Bp. Fliss...
HT: The Jester
The prefect of the Apostolic Signature, Archbishop Raymond Burke, said this week that Catholics, especially politicians who publically defend abortion, should not receive Communion, and that ministers of Communion should be responsibly charitable in denying it to them if they ask for it, "until they have reformed their lives."
Obey, Kennedy, Kerry, Durbin, Barrett,.....
...he referred to "public officials who, with knowledge and consent, uphold actions that are against the Divine and Eternal moral law. For example, if they support abortion, which entails the taking of innocent and defenseless human lives. A person who commits sin in this way should be publicly admonished in such a way as to not receive Communion until he or she has reformed his life," the archbishop said.
"If a person who has been admonished persists in public mortal sin and attempts to receive Communion, the minister of the Eucharist has the obligation to deny it to him. Why? Above all, for the salvation of that person, preventing him from committing a sacrilege," he added.
"We must avoid giving people the impression that one can be in a state of mortal sin and receive the Eucharist," the archbishop continued. "Secondly, there could be another form of scandal, consisting of leading people to thinkthat the public act that this person is doing, which until now everyone believed was a serious sin, is really not that serious - if the Church allows him or her to receive Communion."
"If we have a public figure who is openly and deliberately upholding abortion rights and receiving the Eucharist, what will the average person think? He or she could come to believe that it up to a certain point it is okay to do away with an innocent life in the mother's womb," he warned.
That's clear and simple.
Ya think it's clear and simple enough for the Wisconsin Bishops to implement? Ya think that the Wisconsin Catholic Conference will issue a letter (or two, or 20) warning certain folks about their aborto-support?
Paging Abp. Timothy Dolan, Bp. Morlino, Bp. Zubic, Bp. Listecki, Bp. Fliss...
HT: The Jester
Abp. Chaput on The Issues
Abp. Chaput of Denver wrote an essay for First Things.
...there’s no way for Catholics to finesse their way around the abortion issue, and if we’re serious about being “Catholic,” we need to stop trying. No such thing as a “right” to kill an unborn child exists. And wriggling past that simple truth by redefining the unborn child as an unperson, a pre-human lump of cells, is the worst sort of Orwellian hypocrisy—especially for Christians.
...We should remember that one of the crucial things that set early Christians apart from the pagan culture around them was their rejection of abortion and infanticide. Yet for thirty-five years I’ve watched prominent “pro-choice” Catholics justify themselves with the kind of moral and verbal gymnastics that should qualify as an Olympic event.
....sometimes the answer to the realities we face is not “yes, we can,” but “no, we can’t.” No, we can’t spend money like hedonists and outrun our debts forever. No, we can’t ignore the poor of the Third World and expect to be loved abroad. No, we can’t allow the killing of roughly one million unborn children a year and then posture ourselves as a moral society. No, we can’t make wicked things right by spinning them in a clever way.
Yes, folks, there is actually more than ONE issue.
...there’s no way for Catholics to finesse their way around the abortion issue, and if we’re serious about being “Catholic,” we need to stop trying. No such thing as a “right” to kill an unborn child exists. And wriggling past that simple truth by redefining the unborn child as an unperson, a pre-human lump of cells, is the worst sort of Orwellian hypocrisy—especially for Christians.
...We should remember that one of the crucial things that set early Christians apart from the pagan culture around them was their rejection of abortion and infanticide. Yet for thirty-five years I’ve watched prominent “pro-choice” Catholics justify themselves with the kind of moral and verbal gymnastics that should qualify as an Olympic event.
....sometimes the answer to the realities we face is not “yes, we can,” but “no, we can’t.” No, we can’t spend money like hedonists and outrun our debts forever. No, we can’t ignore the poor of the Third World and expect to be loved abroad. No, we can’t allow the killing of roughly one million unborn children a year and then posture ourselves as a moral society. No, we can’t make wicked things right by spinning them in a clever way.
Yes, folks, there is actually more than ONE issue.
Tonight's Olympic Watch
Ben Askren of Hartland.
8:30 Milwaukee time, 163-lb. freestyle wrestler from Arrowhead HS.
First-round.
8:30 Milwaukee time, 163-lb. freestyle wrestler from Arrowhead HS.
First-round.
Secret Files in Chicago
Well, ain't THIS interesting.
Seems that a reporter for NRO was denied access to 132 boxes of internal documents from the Annenberg Challenge project--which had on its roster one Barack Obama (as Chairman) and one Bill Ayers (as Founder). You remember Ayers--the domestic terrorist-Weather Underground/mild-mannered college professor who is the latter-day incarnation of Jekyll and Hyde.
NRO's Stanley Kurtz had been granted access to review 132 boxes of internal documentation from the Chicago Annenburg Challenge at the Richard J. Daley Library, only to have that access barred.
Kurtz seems to think Bill Ayers might be behind blocking access to these documents. It rather makes you wonder what information those documents may hold.
Funny thing about all those records which are off-limits and/or disappear. They are all connected to Democrat candidates.
Maybe they'll show up in the White House parlor about 3 years from now.
HT: Confederate Yankee
Seems that a reporter for NRO was denied access to 132 boxes of internal documents from the Annenberg Challenge project--which had on its roster one Barack Obama (as Chairman) and one Bill Ayers (as Founder). You remember Ayers--the domestic terrorist-Weather Underground/mild-mannered college professor who is the latter-day incarnation of Jekyll and Hyde.
NRO's Stanley Kurtz had been granted access to review 132 boxes of internal documentation from the Chicago Annenburg Challenge at the Richard J. Daley Library, only to have that access barred.
Kurtz seems to think Bill Ayers might be behind blocking access to these documents. It rather makes you wonder what information those documents may hold.
Funny thing about all those records which are off-limits and/or disappear. They are all connected to Democrat candidates.
Maybe they'll show up in the White House parlor about 3 years from now.
HT: Confederate Yankee
Obama Lies (Part 34,536)--Doh!
The O-and-Savior doesn't only lie about his support of utter barbarity such as post-birth abortions.
He also lies about 'being bi-partisan.' Here's Obamamamama making it up on the 'debate' last weekend.
Well, I'll give you an example that in fact I worked with John McCain on, and that was the issue of campaign ethics reform and finance reform.
Uh-huh.
Here's Freddoso's account of the same, as quoted by Hugh Hewitt:
After some work "McCain thought they had an agreement." Freddoso continues: "Then Obama's party leaders took him aside and set him straight. They had an election plan, and they weren't about to have [Obama] ruin that by working on both sides of the aisle to accomplish something substantive in 2006."
Freddoso then reprints the account of the Obama double-cross reported by Marc Ambinder, then working for the highly respect National Journal. Obama sent McCain a letter backing out of the effort.. McCain responded with a blistering rebuke. "I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable," McCain responded. "[T]hank you for disabusing me of such notions."
Oh, yah.
HT: PowerLine
He also lies about 'being bi-partisan.' Here's Obamamamama making it up on the 'debate' last weekend.
Well, I'll give you an example that in fact I worked with John McCain on, and that was the issue of campaign ethics reform and finance reform.
Uh-huh.
Here's Freddoso's account of the same, as quoted by Hugh Hewitt:
After some work "McCain thought they had an agreement." Freddoso continues: "Then Obama's party leaders took him aside and set him straight. They had an election plan, and they weren't about to have [Obama] ruin that by working on both sides of the aisle to accomplish something substantive in 2006."
Freddoso then reprints the account of the Obama double-cross reported by Marc Ambinder, then working for the highly respect National Journal. Obama sent McCain a letter backing out of the effort.. McCain responded with a blistering rebuke. "I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable," McCain responded. "[T]hank you for disabusing me of such notions."
Oh, yah.
HT: PowerLine
Monday, August 18, 2008
$100++Million Wasted: Tommy Thompson Rides Again
Well yah. It was "Stick-it-to-em" Tommy who signed off on the deal wherein Milwaukee Public Schools evaded a referendum (and ignored all the evidence) to borrow and spend $100+million.
Other players: Scott Jensen, Fred Risser, and the usual locals: Williams, Riley, Krug, and Riemer.
The deal was done in 1999.
Oh, by the way--that was Bishop Daniels who was posing for pictures with G W Bush, wasn't it?
One wonders if George got a ride in the Maybach.
Other players: Scott Jensen, Fred Risser, and the usual locals: Williams, Riley, Krug, and Riemer.
The deal was done in 1999.
Oh, by the way--that was Bishop Daniels who was posing for pictures with G W Bush, wasn't it?
One wonders if George got a ride in the Maybach.
The Fighting Irish
Although this Bishop is retiring from an English Diocese, his name seems Irish.
And he doesn't mince words about the English Bishops' Conference (analogous to the USCC) nor about his fellow Bishops' failures of courage.
The Bishop of Lancaster, the Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, will mark his retirement this month with a review of the state of the Catholic Church that strongly criticises the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales for its "divergent views" and failure to uphold Church teaching on same-sex couples.
The bishop, who recently deplored the state of Catholic education in a teaching document, says his colleagues seemed "surprised" that he had spoken out in defence of traditional values
The Conference's statements, says Bishop O'Donoghue, tend to be "flat and safe at a time when we need passionate and courageous public statements that dare to speak the full truth in love".
Gee. Here in the USA, we have Bishops who fail to teach on chemical-abortion "birth control" pills, and who fizzle-wizzle on voting for such cretins as Obama.
One wonders if Bp. O'Donoghue might wish to take up a few duties in the USA after his retirement.
HT: Holy Smoke
And he doesn't mince words about the English Bishops' Conference (analogous to the USCC) nor about his fellow Bishops' failures of courage.
The Bishop of Lancaster, the Rt Rev Patrick O'Donoghue, will mark his retirement this month with a review of the state of the Catholic Church that strongly criticises the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales for its "divergent views" and failure to uphold Church teaching on same-sex couples.
The bishop, who recently deplored the state of Catholic education in a teaching document, says his colleagues seemed "surprised" that he had spoken out in defence of traditional values
The Conference's statements, says Bishop O'Donoghue, tend to be "flat and safe at a time when we need passionate and courageous public statements that dare to speak the full truth in love".
Gee. Here in the USA, we have Bishops who fail to teach on chemical-abortion "birth control" pills, and who fizzle-wizzle on voting for such cretins as Obama.
One wonders if Bp. O'Donoghue might wish to take up a few duties in the USA after his retirement.
HT: Holy Smoke
JPII Smackdown of Old Marini
During the reign of John Paul II, the official Papal liturgist was a certain Mgr. Marini, who was a Suspect of the First Order to anyone who actually read rubrics...
At any rate, here's an interesting story.
I recall an episode when Old Marini told John Paul the Great that he should be standing and JP2 replied 'The Pope is kneeling'!
Heh.
That's about as close as a Pope gets to saying "Shut up!"
HT: Fr. Hunwicke
At any rate, here's an interesting story.
I recall an episode when Old Marini told John Paul the Great that he should be standing and JP2 replied 'The Pope is kneeling'!
Heh.
That's about as close as a Pope gets to saying "Shut up!"
HT: Fr. Hunwicke
You Think Georgia Is a Problem?
Clearly, the behaviors in Georgia (ALL of them: Russki, Georgian, and Ossetian) are fraught with short- and medium-term dangers.
That, however, is a picnic in the park compared to the possibilities in Pakistan.
Musharraf said he will turn in his resignation to the National Assembly speaker on Monday but it was not immediately clear whether it would become effective the same day. The chairman of Pakistan's Senate, Mohammedmian Soomro, was poised to take over in the interim.
It also was not clear whether Musharraf, a stalwart U.S. ally, would stay in Pakistan.
Musharraf was an SOB, but he was OUR SOB (just like Shaak'li in Georgia.) But Pakistan has some things Georgia will never have:
The Nuke. And a lot of Muslim fanatics.
That, however, is a picnic in the park compared to the possibilities in Pakistan.
Musharraf said he will turn in his resignation to the National Assembly speaker on Monday but it was not immediately clear whether it would become effective the same day. The chairman of Pakistan's Senate, Mohammedmian Soomro, was poised to take over in the interim.
It also was not clear whether Musharraf, a stalwart U.S. ally, would stay in Pakistan.
Musharraf was an SOB, but he was OUR SOB (just like Shaak'li in Georgia.) But Pakistan has some things Georgia will never have:
The Nuke. And a lot of Muslim fanatics.
Democrat Racism Exposed
Fred has the goods, and posted them; they are from an essay by Jeffrey Lord.
Samples:
The DNC Web site section labeled "Party History," linked here, is in fact scrubbed clean of the not-so-little dirty secret that fueled Democrats' political successes for over a century and a half and made American life a hell on earth for black Americans. Literally, the DNC official history, which begins with the creation of the party in 1800, gets to the creation of the DNC itself in 1848 and then--poof!--the next sentence says: "As the 19th Century came to a close, the American electorate changed more and more rapidly." It quickly heads into a riff on poor immigrants coming to America.
There is no reference to the number of Democratic Party platforms that either supported segregation outright or were silent on the subject. There were 20, from 1868 through 1948
There is no reference to "Jim Crow" as in "Jim Crow laws," nor is there reference to the role Democrats played in creating them. These were the post-Civil War laws passed enthusiastically by Democrats in that pesky 52-year part of the DNC's missing years
There is no reference to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, which, according to Columbia University historian Eric Foner, became "a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party." Nor is there reference to University of North Carolina historian Allen Trelease's description of the Klan as the "terrorist arm of the Democratic Party."
Of course, the United States Catholic Conference has selective memory, too:
There is no reference to the Democratic Convention of 1924, known to history as the "Klanbake." The 103-ballot convention was held in Madison Square Garden. Hundreds of delegates were members of the Ku Klux Klan, the Klan so powerful that a plank condemning Klan violence was defeated outright. To celebrate, the Klan staged a rally with 10,000 hooded Klansmen in a field in New Jersey directly across the Hudson from the site of the convention. Attended by hundreds of cheering convention delegates, the rally featured burning crosses and calls for violence against African-Americans and Catholics
There is PLENTY more at the website.
Few would claim that the Wisconsin Republican "Progressive" bunch was anything less than Eugenics, Inc., in the early 20th Century. I mentioned this little problem on this blogsite.
But fair is fair. And history cannot be erased, regardless of website technology.
Samples:
The DNC Web site section labeled "Party History," linked here, is in fact scrubbed clean of the not-so-little dirty secret that fueled Democrats' political successes for over a century and a half and made American life a hell on earth for black Americans. Literally, the DNC official history, which begins with the creation of the party in 1800, gets to the creation of the DNC itself in 1848 and then--poof!--the next sentence says: "As the 19th Century came to a close, the American electorate changed more and more rapidly." It quickly heads into a riff on poor immigrants coming to America.
There is no reference to the number of Democratic Party platforms that either supported segregation outright or were silent on the subject. There were 20, from 1868 through 1948
There is no reference to "Jim Crow" as in "Jim Crow laws," nor is there reference to the role Democrats played in creating them. These were the post-Civil War laws passed enthusiastically by Democrats in that pesky 52-year part of the DNC's missing years
There is no reference to the formation of the Ku Klux Klan, which, according to Columbia University historian Eric Foner, became "a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party." Nor is there reference to University of North Carolina historian Allen Trelease's description of the Klan as the "terrorist arm of the Democratic Party."
Of course, the United States Catholic Conference has selective memory, too:
There is no reference to the Democratic Convention of 1924, known to history as the "Klanbake." The 103-ballot convention was held in Madison Square Garden. Hundreds of delegates were members of the Ku Klux Klan, the Klan so powerful that a plank condemning Klan violence was defeated outright. To celebrate, the Klan staged a rally with 10,000 hooded Klansmen in a field in New Jersey directly across the Hudson from the site of the convention. Attended by hundreds of cheering convention delegates, the rally featured burning crosses and calls for violence against African-Americans and Catholics
There is PLENTY more at the website.
Few would claim that the Wisconsin Republican "Progressive" bunch was anything less than Eugenics, Inc., in the early 20th Century. I mentioned this little problem on this blogsite.
But fair is fair. And history cannot be erased, regardless of website technology.
Hung By His Own Petard
On political spending (or why John McCain's crusade against the 1st Amendment may be the end of John McCain)
But the most remarkable thing, I think about the map is how the toss-ups are fairly steady. McCain is strong in the places that he's campaigning and advertising. Now, he is a limited amount of states that he's advertising in. He's only in about 11 of the battleground states, Obama's trying to expand the playing field, he's advertising in 18 and you see that difference. In those seven states that only Obama's in, his numbers have moved up a lot more and obviously McCain hasn't, but in those other states, McCain's holding steady and even has a lead in some of them.
--Chuck Todd, Meet the Press, reported by John Lott
Doubly ironic for a Navy man.
But the most remarkable thing, I think about the map is how the toss-ups are fairly steady. McCain is strong in the places that he's campaigning and advertising. Now, he is a limited amount of states that he's advertising in. He's only in about 11 of the battleground states, Obama's trying to expand the playing field, he's advertising in 18 and you see that difference. In those seven states that only Obama's in, his numbers have moved up a lot more and obviously McCain hasn't, but in those other states, McCain's holding steady and even has a lead in some of them.
--Chuck Todd, Meet the Press, reported by John Lott
Doubly ironic for a Navy man.
Foreign Policy by Proxy: NATO
Vox makes the case that NATO is a problem, not a solution.
It is said that every organization which outlives its purpose seeks to preserve itself by finding a new mission. This is indubitably true of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as even its moniker betrays how far beyond its initial purpose are its current actions and deliberations. Once a defensive treaty between the U.S. and Western European countries to defend those nations from an aggressive and expansive Soviet Union that had rolled over Eastern Europe and was actively threatening West Germany, NATO has become an aggressive, expansive entity in its own right
This has consequences.
The danger of NATO is that the United States is putting not only the fate of its armed forces and its economy in the hands of petty politicians from petty nations, but it is also outsourcing its geopolitical strategy to those same individuals. It's not a question of whether foreign leaders are small-minded or great-hearted, because not even the wisest and most insightful foreign leader can possibly share the national interests of Americans living on the other side of the world.
Georgia is a warning to Americans of a real danger posed to them – not by Russia, but rather, by the member-states of NATO
Earlier I had thought that our State Department had blown the call in Georgia. After all, we have an ambassador there, who SHOULD have been working to control the Pipsqueak President in that country.
Day's editorial raises the possibility that it's even worse than that. Despite the "U S Government" signature on the paycheck of our ambassador, it's possible that the poor fool thinks he's working for NATO.
That confusion is dangerous.
It is said that every organization which outlives its purpose seeks to preserve itself by finding a new mission. This is indubitably true of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as even its moniker betrays how far beyond its initial purpose are its current actions and deliberations. Once a defensive treaty between the U.S. and Western European countries to defend those nations from an aggressive and expansive Soviet Union that had rolled over Eastern Europe and was actively threatening West Germany, NATO has become an aggressive, expansive entity in its own right
This has consequences.
The danger of NATO is that the United States is putting not only the fate of its armed forces and its economy in the hands of petty politicians from petty nations, but it is also outsourcing its geopolitical strategy to those same individuals. It's not a question of whether foreign leaders are small-minded or great-hearted, because not even the wisest and most insightful foreign leader can possibly share the national interests of Americans living on the other side of the world.
Georgia is a warning to Americans of a real danger posed to them – not by Russia, but rather, by the member-states of NATO
Earlier I had thought that our State Department had blown the call in Georgia. After all, we have an ambassador there, who SHOULD have been working to control the Pipsqueak President in that country.
Day's editorial raises the possibility that it's even worse than that. Despite the "U S Government" signature on the paycheck of our ambassador, it's possible that the poor fool thinks he's working for NATO.
That confusion is dangerous.
Tom Ridge: Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
The ex-Governor of Pennsylvania certifies his "Stupid Party" membership.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said Sunday he thinks Republicans would accept a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights.
"I think that would be up to, first of all, to John to decide whether he wants a pro-choice running mate; then we would have to see how the Republican Party would rally around it," Ridge said. "At the end of the day, I think the Republican Party will be comfortable with whatever choice John makes."
It's already been reported that the Republican Convention is not exactly going to be overflowing with attendees this year. While the MSM quotes some who state that it's a "location" problem, I have another theory:
Who cares?
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge said Sunday he thinks Republicans would accept a vice presidential candidate who supports abortion rights.
"I think that would be up to, first of all, to John to decide whether he wants a pro-choice running mate; then we would have to see how the Republican Party would rally around it," Ridge said. "At the end of the day, I think the Republican Party will be comfortable with whatever choice John makes."
It's already been reported that the Republican Convention is not exactly going to be overflowing with attendees this year. While the MSM quotes some who state that it's a "location" problem, I have another theory:
Who cares?
Not for "Cops" Show: Another Bad Raid
Militarizing the cop shops has its disadvantages--for residents.
Armed with a battering ram and shotguns, Buffalo police looking for heroin broke down the door and stormed the lower apartment of a West Side family of eight.
The problem is that the Wednesday evening raid should have occurred at an apartment upstairs.
Pennyamon alleges that after wrongly breaking into her apartment, police proceeded to strike her epileptic husband in the head with the butt end of a shotgun and point shotguns at her young children before admitting their mistake and then raiding the right apartment.
She says she’s left with a broken door, an injured husband, jittery children and — what bothers her most — still no apology from police.
The family did not have a dog, so the cops didn't kill it.
Lo and behold!! It was "the process!!"
“We can say comfortably that over 1,100 search warrants were executed last year and 580 to date this year and that, with such a high volume and such a fast-paced environment, it is understandable that mistakes could happen.”
Yah. That "UPPER" and "LOWER" stuff is hard to read at night.
Armed with a battering ram and shotguns, Buffalo police looking for heroin broke down the door and stormed the lower apartment of a West Side family of eight.
The problem is that the Wednesday evening raid should have occurred at an apartment upstairs.
Pennyamon alleges that after wrongly breaking into her apartment, police proceeded to strike her epileptic husband in the head with the butt end of a shotgun and point shotguns at her young children before admitting their mistake and then raiding the right apartment.
She says she’s left with a broken door, an injured husband, jittery children and — what bothers her most — still no apology from police.
The family did not have a dog, so the cops didn't kill it.
Lo and behold!! It was "the process!!"
“We can say comfortably that over 1,100 search warrants were executed last year and 580 to date this year and that, with such a high volume and such a fast-paced environment, it is understandable that mistakes could happen.”
Yah. That "UPPER" and "LOWER" stuff is hard to read at night.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Andrea Mitchell Is Iggy Pop?
Reported by the Other McCain:
This just in -- Republican sources are now saying that they believe NBC's Andrea Mitchell is actually 1970s punk-rock legend Iggy Pop. Officials at NBC News have not denied this, and thus there is mounting suspicion that the former frontman for the Stooges is now masquerading in drag as the anchorette of a little-watched MSNBC program.
That report part of a larger essay relaying some remarks by Pop/Mitchell.
This just in -- Republican sources are now saying that they believe NBC's Andrea Mitchell is actually 1970s punk-rock legend Iggy Pop. Officials at NBC News have not denied this, and thus there is mounting suspicion that the former frontman for the Stooges is now masquerading in drag as the anchorette of a little-watched MSNBC program.
That report part of a larger essay relaying some remarks by Pop/Mitchell.
For the Lawyers
Nothing like Having A Procedure to cover yourself, eh?
Local parish runs a notification:
"Safe Environment Training"--3 hours.
Who MUST attend?
All paid/unpaid staff.
All volunteer staffers who have any regular contact w/children
All parents of children in the parish school AND all parents of children in the CCD programs
All OTHER parishioners who have any regular contact w/children and are not part of the above.
The Parish rented Miller Park for the event.
Local parish runs a notification:
"Safe Environment Training"--3 hours.
Who MUST attend?
All paid/unpaid staff.
All volunteer staffers who have any regular contact w/children
All parents of children in the parish school AND all parents of children in the CCD programs
All OTHER parishioners who have any regular contact w/children and are not part of the above.
The Parish rented Miller Park for the event.
Obama: You Believe Me, or Those Lying NRTL Folks?
I've told my children that this is Obama's election to lose.
And he's doing his damndest. This from a column by Deal Hudson:
After the Saddleback debate, Obama was interviewed by Dick Brody from CBN. Brody asked Obama about NRTL reports that Obama had voted against a version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act that was virtually identical to the federal bill passed in 2002.
Obama says the folks at National Right to Life are "lying"!
He really did, I am not kidding. (Here is the rock solid evidence NRTL published last week about Obama's vote.)
(The NRTL press release states:
The documents prove that in March 2003, state Senator Obama, then the chairman of the Illinois state Senate Health and Human Services Committee, presided over a committee meeting in which the "neutrality clause" (copied verbatim from the federal bill) was added to the state BAIPA, with Obama voting in support of adding the revision. Yet, immediately afterwards, Obama led the committee Democrats in voting against the amended bill, and it was killed, 6-4.
Which simply establishes that Obama is the lying liar on this topic. Here's the link to the side-by-side comparison of the Fed/State bills in question.)
Says Deal Hudson:
Obama just made sure his support for infanticide is going to remain an issue for the remainder of the campaign. You don't call the nation's largest and most influential pro-life organization liars and expect the issue to go away.
Doug Johnson, the NRTL representative who published the evidence, is the most respected pro-life lobbyist in the country. Obama has made a serious mistake by underestimating his opponent.
Someone, somewhere, in the MSM will pick this up and run with it. They may well be friendly with HRC--whose position on abortion is ghastly, but not pure evil, as is the O-and-Savior's.
O may get his first forced rectal-exam-by-MSM in the very near future, and when ONE lie pops up, they will be looking for others.
And he's doing his damndest. This from a column by Deal Hudson:
After the Saddleback debate, Obama was interviewed by Dick Brody from CBN. Brody asked Obama about NRTL reports that Obama had voted against a version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act that was virtually identical to the federal bill passed in 2002.
Obama says the folks at National Right to Life are "lying"!
He really did, I am not kidding. (Here is the rock solid evidence NRTL published last week about Obama's vote.)
(The NRTL press release states:
The documents prove that in March 2003, state Senator Obama, then the chairman of the Illinois state Senate Health and Human Services Committee, presided over a committee meeting in which the "neutrality clause" (copied verbatim from the federal bill) was added to the state BAIPA, with Obama voting in support of adding the revision. Yet, immediately afterwards, Obama led the committee Democrats in voting against the amended bill, and it was killed, 6-4.
Which simply establishes that Obama is the lying liar on this topic. Here's the link to the side-by-side comparison of the Fed/State bills in question.)
Says Deal Hudson:
Obama just made sure his support for infanticide is going to remain an issue for the remainder of the campaign. You don't call the nation's largest and most influential pro-life organization liars and expect the issue to go away.
Doug Johnson, the NRTL representative who published the evidence, is the most respected pro-life lobbyist in the country. Obama has made a serious mistake by underestimating his opponent.
Someone, somewhere, in the MSM will pick this up and run with it. They may well be friendly with HRC--whose position on abortion is ghastly, but not pure evil, as is the O-and-Savior's.
O may get his first forced rectal-exam-by-MSM in the very near future, and when ONE lie pops up, they will be looking for others.
What's the Matter With Texas?
Hey, folks, this is the home of Wiggy's Cowboys...
Jim Greenwood said he never dreamed his HOA would have a problem with his new Ford F-150 pickup. Then he received the first of three notices threatening him with fines.
"Mr. Greenwood, you're violating a subdivision rule that prohibits pickup trucks in your driveway," the notice reads.
Stonebriar HOA rules allow several luxury trucks on driveways, including the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Avalanche, Honda Ridgeline and Lincoln Mark LT.
But most Ford, Dodge or Chevy pickups are restricted
The suburb of Dallas is called Frisco.
HT: Rod Dreher
Jim Greenwood said he never dreamed his HOA would have a problem with his new Ford F-150 pickup. Then he received the first of three notices threatening him with fines.
"Mr. Greenwood, you're violating a subdivision rule that prohibits pickup trucks in your driveway," the notice reads.
Stonebriar HOA rules allow several luxury trucks on driveways, including the Cadillac Escalade, Chevy Avalanche, Honda Ridgeline and Lincoln Mark LT.
But most Ford, Dodge or Chevy pickups are restricted
The suburb of Dallas is called Frisco.
HT: Rod Dreher
MADD'S Madness
MADD has a bad idea--and wants Wisconsin's Leggies to codify it.
Laura Dean-Mooney, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said today the Wisconsin Legislature should fight drunken driving by...allowing roadside sobriety checkpoints
(The elided text has to do with ignition interlocks for convicted offenders, an idea about which I have no objections.)
But this "roadside sobriety" stuff smacks of 4th Amendment violation, and not just at the margins. Pulling over a passel of motorists for a smell-check, or to dance on the roadside of I-94, for no particular reason other than "it will save lives" (a questionable assertion) is not law-enforcement; it's the State exercising power for the sake of exercising power because some people have problems with alcohol. Not exactly a good precedent.
Either one has probable cause or one does not. And since when is merely driving down the road "probable cause"?
This is not "for the children." It is not going to prevent drunken driving. It is merely unjustified intrusion, time-consuming, and, by the way, a utilization of resources (cop-time) which is questionable.
It's purely good intentions. Makes no difference that 38 other States allow random intrusions.
Ask Paul Bucher about how that idea plays...
Laura Dean-Mooney, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said today the Wisconsin Legislature should fight drunken driving by...allowing roadside sobriety checkpoints
(The elided text has to do with ignition interlocks for convicted offenders, an idea about which I have no objections.)
But this "roadside sobriety" stuff smacks of 4th Amendment violation, and not just at the margins. Pulling over a passel of motorists for a smell-check, or to dance on the roadside of I-94, for no particular reason other than "it will save lives" (a questionable assertion) is not law-enforcement; it's the State exercising power for the sake of exercising power because some people have problems with alcohol. Not exactly a good precedent.
Either one has probable cause or one does not. And since when is merely driving down the road "probable cause"?
This is not "for the children." It is not going to prevent drunken driving. It is merely unjustified intrusion, time-consuming, and, by the way, a utilization of resources (cop-time) which is questionable.
It's purely good intentions. Makes no difference that 38 other States allow random intrusions.
Ask Paul Bucher about how that idea plays...
Hemingway?
From The Agitator's notebook on his trip to Alaska:
On the flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage, I sat next to a rugged-looking guy. We got to chatting, and I explained I was on vacation, and was looking forward to visiting the art galleries and bohemian shops of Homer, the Kennai Fjords tour, etc. I then asked why he was headed to Alaska. He answered that he would be writing a motorcycle from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay (a 1,000 mile trip), where he’d go out on a boat with his brother to remote islands to hunt caribou a bow and arrow. At which point I thought, “I am not a man.”
By those standards, ....
On the flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage, I sat next to a rugged-looking guy. We got to chatting, and I explained I was on vacation, and was looking forward to visiting the art galleries and bohemian shops of Homer, the Kennai Fjords tour, etc. I then asked why he was headed to Alaska. He answered that he would be writing a motorcycle from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay (a 1,000 mile trip), where he’d go out on a boat with his brother to remote islands to hunt caribou a bow and arrow. At which point I thought, “I am not a man.”
By those standards, ....
Saturday, August 16, 2008
ICEL: The Land of the Greedy
Bernard Brandt took a look at ICEL's standard contract for use of ICEL v.1.0 language.
[T]ry finding any online texts for ICEL. Good luck. Or perhaps I should say, fat chance. Some good people have attempted to put ICEL texts online so that people could actually see what they said (or more to the point, did not say.) In each case, the minions of ICEL acted to make them take those texts off the internet.
I took the opportunity to access the ICEL’s statement on copyright, which includes their sample contract, which they impose on anyone so foolish to attempt to use their texts in a liturgical setting. Basically, if you were to use ICEL texts exclusively for a musical setting, ICEL charges between 10% and 11% of the price of the text as their share of royalties.
I will beg to point out that the standard in which most choral music publishers give to composers is 10 percent. In other words, if a composer were so foolish as to use an ICEL text for his or her work, all of the royalties would go to ICEL, instead of the composer. Is it any wonder why composers are somewhat less than willing to use ICEL texts?
But wait: it gets even better. The Sample Contract (which is on and after page 20 of the PDF text) states in Section 7 of the Contract that if anyone fails to pay royalties on the disputed text, that they forfeit all rights under the contract. In short, that means that all rights to their work goes to ICEL. How Christian. How generous of them.
But wait, there’s more: Under section 9 of the Sample Contract, in the event that the Publisher fails to keep the publication in print, the contract is void, and ICEL gets all rights in the work. Oh, yes, and under section 16 of the Sample Contract, in the event that the publisher becomes insolvent or bankrupt, all rights revert to ICEL as well.
An old friend of mine, very knowledgeable of the ying-and-yang in liturgical affairs, told me 15 years ago that ICEL's copyright policy was "all about the money."
There's little doubt that it was 'all about fidelity' to the original text...it never was.
HT: Aristotle
[T]ry finding any online texts for ICEL. Good luck. Or perhaps I should say, fat chance. Some good people have attempted to put ICEL texts online so that people could actually see what they said (or more to the point, did not say.) In each case, the minions of ICEL acted to make them take those texts off the internet.
I took the opportunity to access the ICEL’s statement on copyright, which includes their sample contract, which they impose on anyone so foolish to attempt to use their texts in a liturgical setting. Basically, if you were to use ICEL texts exclusively for a musical setting, ICEL charges between 10% and 11% of the price of the text as their share of royalties.
I will beg to point out that the standard in which most choral music publishers give to composers is 10 percent. In other words, if a composer were so foolish as to use an ICEL text for his or her work, all of the royalties would go to ICEL, instead of the composer. Is it any wonder why composers are somewhat less than willing to use ICEL texts?
But wait: it gets even better. The Sample Contract (which is on and after page 20 of the PDF text) states in Section 7 of the Contract that if anyone fails to pay royalties on the disputed text, that they forfeit all rights under the contract. In short, that means that all rights to their work goes to ICEL. How Christian. How generous of them.
But wait, there’s more: Under section 9 of the Sample Contract, in the event that the Publisher fails to keep the publication in print, the contract is void, and ICEL gets all rights in the work. Oh, yes, and under section 16 of the Sample Contract, in the event that the publisher becomes insolvent or bankrupt, all rights revert to ICEL as well.
An old friend of mine, very knowledgeable of the ying-and-yang in liturgical affairs, told me 15 years ago that ICEL's copyright policy was "all about the money."
There's little doubt that it was 'all about fidelity' to the original text...it never was.
HT: Aristotle
Non-Chickified Olympics
As Limbaugh has mentioned, coverage of the Olympics has been chick-oriented.
Doh. That's where the ad money is.
Here are some NON-chickified results I haven't seen elsewhere.
Men's 50m Free Rifle Prone (60 shots) Final U. S. Silver Medal: Matthew Emmons (lost by one point of over 700.)
Women's 10m Air Rifle (40 shots) Final U. S. 4th: Jamie Beyerle (503.5 was 1st, Jamie scored 499.8)
Women's 50m Standard Rifle 3 Positions (3x20 shots) Final U.S. 5th Jamie Beyerle (690.3 was 1st, Jamie scored 686.9)
Men's 10m Air Pistol (60 shots) Final U.S. Bronze Jason Turner, and 4th, Brian Beaman
Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (60 shots) Final U. S. 5th Keith Sanderson (1st place 780.2, 5th was 766.6)
Men's Double Trap (150 targets) Final U. S. GOLD!!! Walton Eller, and 4th, Jeffrey Holguin
Men's Skeet (125 targets) Final U. S. GOLD!! Vincent Hancock
Women's Trap (75 targets) Final U.S. Bronze Corey Cogdell
Women's Skeet (75 targets) Final U.S. Silver Kimberly Rhode
Woulda been nice to see some of those ultra-close matches, no?
Doh. That's where the ad money is.
Here are some NON-chickified results I haven't seen elsewhere.
Men's 50m Free Rifle Prone (60 shots) Final U. S. Silver Medal: Matthew Emmons (lost by one point of over 700.)
Women's 10m Air Rifle (40 shots) Final U. S. 4th: Jamie Beyerle (503.5 was 1st, Jamie scored 499.8)
Women's 50m Standard Rifle 3 Positions (3x20 shots) Final U.S. 5th Jamie Beyerle (690.3 was 1st, Jamie scored 686.9)
Men's 10m Air Pistol (60 shots) Final U.S. Bronze Jason Turner, and 4th, Brian Beaman
Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (60 shots) Final U. S. 5th Keith Sanderson (1st place 780.2, 5th was 766.6)
Men's Double Trap (150 targets) Final U. S. GOLD!!! Walton Eller, and 4th, Jeffrey Holguin
Men's Skeet (125 targets) Final U. S. GOLD!! Vincent Hancock
Women's Trap (75 targets) Final U.S. Bronze Corey Cogdell
Women's Skeet (75 targets) Final U.S. Silver Kimberly Rhode
Woulda been nice to see some of those ultra-close matches, no?
The Lousy-Mortgage Bailout Is Coming
"Level Three" assets are difficult-to-trade/sell. They are, basically, junk paper--or, in another short-hand, "sub-prime."If you want to know why the taxpayers will be on the hook--soon--for the sub-primes, all you have to do is look at the Nomenklatura on the lists above.
There is no way in Hell that these folks are going to take the losses which may well result from holding Level Three assets.
YOU will. Fannie and Freddie will be forced to eat all that slop, and the taxpayer will (eventually) eat the slop already digested by Fannie/Freddie.
Get the hint?
HT: Big Picture
Russkis: Crazy? or Just Typical?
Nah, not Georgia.
Poland.
Yesterday, in what may or may not have been a coincidence of timing, the U.S and Poland announced that after 18 months of negotiations, they have reached on an agreement whereby the U.S. will furnish Patriot missiles to Poland and will locate a missile interceptor base in that country.
The Russki response?
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia warns Poland that it may become a priority target for Russia in the event the USA deploys elements of its missile defense system on the territory of this East European nation. To put it in a nutshell, Russia may strike a nuclear blow on Poland, which is possible after the recent change of the Russian Federation defense doctrine.
Hmmmmm. Offhand I smell intimidation; the statement is obviously meant for consumption by Poles-in-the-street, not Western defense folks, who are well-aware of Russki 'doctrine' and tactics.
No question The Bear is unhappy with the direction of its former slave states, and unhappy with the West's "NATO for all!!" stance. The Bear is interested in maintaining a zone of influence, as is the US (think Mexico and Canada.)
But ham-handed threats of nuking ex-slaves is simply stupid.
HT: PowerLine
Poland.
Yesterday, in what may or may not have been a coincidence of timing, the U.S and Poland announced that after 18 months of negotiations, they have reached on an agreement whereby the U.S. will furnish Patriot missiles to Poland and will locate a missile interceptor base in that country.
The Russki response?
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia warns Poland that it may become a priority target for Russia in the event the USA deploys elements of its missile defense system on the territory of this East European nation. To put it in a nutshell, Russia may strike a nuclear blow on Poland, which is possible after the recent change of the Russian Federation defense doctrine.
Hmmmmm. Offhand I smell intimidation; the statement is obviously meant for consumption by Poles-in-the-street, not Western defense folks, who are well-aware of Russki 'doctrine' and tactics.
No question The Bear is unhappy with the direction of its former slave states, and unhappy with the West's "NATO for all!!" stance. The Bear is interested in maintaining a zone of influence, as is the US (think Mexico and Canada.)
But ham-handed threats of nuking ex-slaves is simply stupid.
HT: PowerLine
A Film to See!
One of Milwaukee's native sons--and a moviemaker who wins acclaim for his humorous flicks--will be releasing a spoof soon.
A must-see, folks.
An American Carol.
HT: Grim
A must-see, folks.
An American Carol.
HT: Grim
State Elections Division Blames Postal Workers (??)
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board has an Elections Division.
The Elections Division checks voter-registrations.
And they make very .....curious.....statements.
The state checks all voters, not just new registrants, against lists of felons and the dead, board spokesman Kyle Richmond said.
...some letters to legitimate Milwaukee central city addresses are coming back undeliverable, possibly because letter carriers fear those neighborhoods, said Nat Robinson, chief of the board’s Elections Division
Really? US Postal Service employees simply stamp "Undeliverable" on letters addressed to areas that they don't like to enter?
Sounds like a Postal Inspector issue--or it sounds like pure BS.
You decide.
The Elections Division checks voter-registrations.
And they make very .....curious.....statements.
The state checks all voters, not just new registrants, against lists of felons and the dead, board spokesman Kyle Richmond said.
...some letters to legitimate Milwaukee central city addresses are coming back undeliverable, possibly because letter carriers fear those neighborhoods, said Nat Robinson, chief of the board’s Elections Division
Really? US Postal Service employees simply stamp "Undeliverable" on letters addressed to areas that they don't like to enter?
Sounds like a Postal Inspector issue--or it sounds like pure BS.
You decide.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Milwaukee-Native Poncho Lady Takes Maryknoller Down
A Milwaukee native was the object of a faux-ordination (technically, an "attempted" ordination, invalid for matter).
And a Maryknoll priest was part of the ....ahhhhh.....ceremony. Now he's been asked to "visit" with the Maryknoll superiors about his participation.
Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois will meet Aug. 18 with the three members of his order's General Council to discuss his participation in a recent ceremony sponsored by Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
The Aug. 9 ceremony involved what Roman Catholic Womenpriests considers the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska to the priesthood.
The organization, which is not recognized by the church, has sponsored numerous ceremonies since 2002 involving reported ordinations of women deacons, priests and bishops. These ceremonies have led to the excommunications of all involved because women cannot be ordained Catholic priests.
Fr. Bourgeois is best known for his failed, but constant efforts to close the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA.
He may soon have to add two letters to his title 'priest.' The letters? E and X
And a Maryknoll priest was part of the ....ahhhhh.....ceremony. Now he's been asked to "visit" with the Maryknoll superiors about his participation.
Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois will meet Aug. 18 with the three members of his order's General Council to discuss his participation in a recent ceremony sponsored by Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
The Aug. 9 ceremony involved what Roman Catholic Womenpriests considers the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska to the priesthood.
The organization, which is not recognized by the church, has sponsored numerous ceremonies since 2002 involving reported ordinations of women deacons, priests and bishops. These ceremonies have led to the excommunications of all involved because women cannot be ordained Catholic priests.
Fr. Bourgeois is best known for his failed, but constant efforts to close the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA.
He may soon have to add two letters to his title 'priest.' The letters? E and X
The Ark and Sacred Music
This morning's sermon on the Assumption was thought-provoking. The priest developed the theme of 'completeness' of body and soul as a unity, and then mentioned that Mary, the Mother of God, is referred to as 'Ark of the Covenant.'
He developed that "Ark" concept a bit by stating that Mary was carrying the Word, as did the Ark of the Old Testament (which carried the Commandments)--and that the presence of the Ark signified "God-with-us" to the OT Jews.
Hmmmmmm.
Wiki tells us that the Ark was
...made of shittah-tree wood (acacia), known to the Egyptians as the Tree of Life and an important plant in traditional medicine...The Ark was covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy seat (Hebrew: כפורת, Kaporet), was surrounded with a rim of gold.
On each of the two sides were two gold rings, wherein were placed two wooden poles (with a decorative sheathing of gold), to allow the Ark to be carried (Num. 7:9; 10:21; 4:5,19, 20; 1 Kings 8:3, 6). Over the Ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward one another (Leviticus 16:2; Num. 7:89). Their outspread wings over the top of the Ark formed the throne of God, while the Ark itself was his footstool (Ex. 25:10-22; 37:1-9). The Ark was placed in the "Holy of Holies," so that one end of the carrying poles touched the veil separating the two compartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:8).
Briefly, they made it out of really good stuff, fitting for the Word--for "God With Us," Immanuel.
That particular concept, 'carrying the Word,' reminded me of part of the lecture of Cdl. Jos. Ratzinger given to the VIII International Church Music Congress in November, 1985. The lecture, entitled "Liturgy and Church Music," is reprinted in Volume 3, P. 193, of Divini Cultus Studium, published by the Church Music Ass'n of America in 1990.
Bear in mind the unity of body and soul, 'carrying the Word,' and the Assumption's reality as you read this passage from Ratzinger:
When the Word becomes music, there is involved on the one hand perceptible illustration, incarnation or taking on flesh, attraction of pre-rational and suprarational powers, a drawing upon the hidden resonance of creation, a discovery of the song which lies at the basis of all things. And so this becoming music is itself the very turning point in the movement; it involves not only the Word becoming flesh, but simultaneously the flesh becoming spirit. ...What takes place is an embodiment of incarnation which is spiritualisation, and a spiritualisation which is incarnation or em-"gody"-ment. Chritian "incartaion" or "embodiment" is always simultaneously spiritualisation, and Chritian spiritualisation is em-"body"-ment into the body of the Logos became man.
So the music which "enfleshes" the Word is like the Ark--or like Mary Immaculate.
Thus the archetypical Ark carrying the Word was covered in gold--the finest material. Thus Mary, the Immaculate Conception, was the finest and purest of humankind.
How does the music stack up against these models, or types?
Let's go a bit further with Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). Last week, he expressed some thoughts about reason and beauty.
But this creating "Logos" is not a merely technical "logos." It is broader than this, it is a "logos" that is love, and therefore to be expressed in beauty and goodness.
...Christianity involves precisely this epiphany: that God has become a veiled Epiphany, he appears and shines. We have just listened to the sound of the organ in all its splendor, and I think that the great music born within the Church is an audible and perceptible rendering of the truth of our faith: from Gregorian chant to the music of the cathedrals to Palestrina and his era, to Bach and then to Mozart and Bruckner, and so on... Listening to all of these great works – the Passions by Bach, his Mass in B minor, and the great spiritual compositions of 16th century polyphony, of the Viennese school, of all of this music, even by minor composers – suddenly we feel: it is true! Wherever things like these are created, there is Truth.
...When, in our own time, we discuss the reasonableness of the faith, we are discussing precisely the fact that reason does not end where experimental discoveries end, it does not end in positivism; the theory of evolution sees the truth, but sees only half of it: it does not see that behind this is the Spirit of creation. We are fighting for the expansion of reason, and therefore for a form of reason that, exactly to the point, is open to beauty as well, and does not have to leave it aside as something completely different and irrational.
Christian art is a rational form of art – we think of Gothic art, great music, or the Baroque art right here – but this is the artistic expression of a much broader form of reason, in which the heart and reason come together. This is the point. This, I think, is in some way the proof of the truth of Christianity: the heart and reason come together, beauty and truth touch
So Mary and the Ark were not merely 'functional.' They were beautiful, as well. The Ark, however, was pre-Christian, pre- the eschatology of the Cross and Resurrection. Mary, the new Ark, was (and is) archetype of the reality following those events.
Immaculate. Gold.
So again, how does that music stack up?
He developed that "Ark" concept a bit by stating that Mary was carrying the Word, as did the Ark of the Old Testament (which carried the Commandments)--and that the presence of the Ark signified "God-with-us" to the OT Jews.
Hmmmmmm.
Wiki tells us that the Ark was
...made of shittah-tree wood (acacia), known to the Egyptians as the Tree of Life and an important plant in traditional medicine...The Ark was covered all over with the purest gold. Its upper surface or lid, the mercy seat (Hebrew: כפורת, Kaporet), was surrounded with a rim of gold.
On each of the two sides were two gold rings, wherein were placed two wooden poles (with a decorative sheathing of gold), to allow the Ark to be carried (Num. 7:9; 10:21; 4:5,19, 20; 1 Kings 8:3, 6). Over the Ark, at the two extremities, were two cherubim, with their faces turned toward one another (Leviticus 16:2; Num. 7:89). Their outspread wings over the top of the Ark formed the throne of God, while the Ark itself was his footstool (Ex. 25:10-22; 37:1-9). The Ark was placed in the "Holy of Holies," so that one end of the carrying poles touched the veil separating the two compartments of the tabernacle (1 Kings 8:8).
Briefly, they made it out of really good stuff, fitting for the Word--for "God With Us," Immanuel.
That particular concept, 'carrying the Word,' reminded me of part of the lecture of Cdl. Jos. Ratzinger given to the VIII International Church Music Congress in November, 1985. The lecture, entitled "Liturgy and Church Music," is reprinted in Volume 3, P. 193, of Divini Cultus Studium, published by the Church Music Ass'n of America in 1990.
Bear in mind the unity of body and soul, 'carrying the Word,' and the Assumption's reality as you read this passage from Ratzinger:
When the Word becomes music, there is involved on the one hand perceptible illustration, incarnation or taking on flesh, attraction of pre-rational and suprarational powers, a drawing upon the hidden resonance of creation, a discovery of the song which lies at the basis of all things. And so this becoming music is itself the very turning point in the movement; it involves not only the Word becoming flesh, but simultaneously the flesh becoming spirit. ...What takes place is an embodiment of incarnation which is spiritualisation, and a spiritualisation which is incarnation or em-"gody"-ment. Chritian "incartaion" or "embodiment" is always simultaneously spiritualisation, and Chritian spiritualisation is em-"body"-ment into the body of the Logos became man.
So the music which "enfleshes" the Word is like the Ark--or like Mary Immaculate.
Thus the archetypical Ark carrying the Word was covered in gold--the finest material. Thus Mary, the Immaculate Conception, was the finest and purest of humankind.
How does the music stack up against these models, or types?
Let's go a bit further with Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI). Last week, he expressed some thoughts about reason and beauty.
But this creating "Logos" is not a merely technical "logos." It is broader than this, it is a "logos" that is love, and therefore to be expressed in beauty and goodness.
...Christianity involves precisely this epiphany: that God has become a veiled Epiphany, he appears and shines. We have just listened to the sound of the organ in all its splendor, and I think that the great music born within the Church is an audible and perceptible rendering of the truth of our faith: from Gregorian chant to the music of the cathedrals to Palestrina and his era, to Bach and then to Mozart and Bruckner, and so on... Listening to all of these great works – the Passions by Bach, his Mass in B minor, and the great spiritual compositions of 16th century polyphony, of the Viennese school, of all of this music, even by minor composers – suddenly we feel: it is true! Wherever things like these are created, there is Truth.
...When, in our own time, we discuss the reasonableness of the faith, we are discussing precisely the fact that reason does not end where experimental discoveries end, it does not end in positivism; the theory of evolution sees the truth, but sees only half of it: it does not see that behind this is the Spirit of creation. We are fighting for the expansion of reason, and therefore for a form of reason that, exactly to the point, is open to beauty as well, and does not have to leave it aside as something completely different and irrational.
Christian art is a rational form of art – we think of Gothic art, great music, or the Baroque art right here – but this is the artistic expression of a much broader form of reason, in which the heart and reason come together. This is the point. This, I think, is in some way the proof of the truth of Christianity: the heart and reason come together, beauty and truth touch
So Mary and the Ark were not merely 'functional.' They were beautiful, as well. The Ark, however, was pre-Christian, pre- the eschatology of the Cross and Resurrection. Mary, the new Ark, was (and is) archetype of the reality following those events.
Immaculate. Gold.
So again, how does that music stack up?
Teaching "A Day in the Life"
You have to be real careful with that stuff by Solzhenitsyn.
...under “classroom strategies” in the Norton instructor’s manual, teachers are told that they are likely to encounter the problem of students accepting the “truth” of what Solzhenitsyn has to say: “Because the story answers to most of the myths and preconceptions Westerners already have about Soviet life, the problem will be to make sure that students read it with the same degree of resistance with which they would normally confront any other piece of fiction.” Here we have the apologists for communism directing teachers: All that you’ve heard about the brutality of communism is merely part of our “myths and preconceptions.” Students must be reeducated to “resist” the testimony of Solzhenitsyn as dramatized in his fictional account.
Of course, for the thousands of "Ivan Ivanovitch"es who survived the Gulag, it wasn't really "fiction."
HT: Ace of Spades
...under “classroom strategies” in the Norton instructor’s manual, teachers are told that they are likely to encounter the problem of students accepting the “truth” of what Solzhenitsyn has to say: “Because the story answers to most of the myths and preconceptions Westerners already have about Soviet life, the problem will be to make sure that students read it with the same degree of resistance with which they would normally confront any other piece of fiction.” Here we have the apologists for communism directing teachers: All that you’ve heard about the brutality of communism is merely part of our “myths and preconceptions.” Students must be reeducated to “resist” the testimony of Solzhenitsyn as dramatized in his fictional account.
Of course, for the thousands of "Ivan Ivanovitch"es who survived the Gulag, it wasn't really "fiction."
HT: Ace of Spades
College Debate: Rules Are Different Now
Back in the day....ah, nevermind.
Here are two college debate professors engaged in....debate. Since it's a virtual guarantee that both are Lefties (note that they ARE 'professors,') perhaps this is just a warmup for the Democratic National Convention.
WARNING: Not for Childen!
HT: The Other McCain
Here are two college debate professors engaged in....debate. Since it's a virtual guarantee that both are Lefties (note that they ARE 'professors,') perhaps this is just a warmup for the Democratic National Convention.
WARNING: Not for Childen!
HT: The Other McCain
Bank Losses: Secondary Effects
Something else for the Gummint to consider--not that they will do so--but they were warned!
The massive losses taken by Wall Street Banks and Brokers is going to wipe out their profit for the next few years. About $500 Billion in write downs have already occurred. Best estimates for the total that will get written down range from $1 trillion to $2 trillion dollars.
That's not only very bad for the firms, their shareholders and employees -- its also going to be very challenging for the regions where they are headquartered and do much of their business.
In New York State, the 16 largest banks sent taxes totaling $5 million in the most recent reporting period; that compare with $173 million from the same period a year ago.
Taxes paid are down an astonishing 97%!
There are several large Banks with headquarters in Wisconsin, meaning that there will be LESS tax revenue showing up at the State's doorstep. We're not New York--the effect will be smaller--nor are Wisconsin banks bleeding at the rate of, say Citicorp, or Chase.
But there will be an effect.
My guess: the Legislature and Governor will continue spending as though nothing happened, leaving it to folks still present in Wisconsin to pay the bonded debt in the period 2030-2050.
The massive losses taken by Wall Street Banks and Brokers is going to wipe out their profit for the next few years. About $500 Billion in write downs have already occurred. Best estimates for the total that will get written down range from $1 trillion to $2 trillion dollars.
That's not only very bad for the firms, their shareholders and employees -- its also going to be very challenging for the regions where they are headquartered and do much of their business.
In New York State, the 16 largest banks sent taxes totaling $5 million in the most recent reporting period; that compare with $173 million from the same period a year ago.
Taxes paid are down an astonishing 97%!
There are several large Banks with headquarters in Wisconsin, meaning that there will be LESS tax revenue showing up at the State's doorstep. We're not New York--the effect will be smaller--nor are Wisconsin banks bleeding at the rate of, say Citicorp, or Chase.
But there will be an effect.
My guess: the Legislature and Governor will continue spending as though nothing happened, leaving it to folks still present in Wisconsin to pay the bonded debt in the period 2030-2050.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
An "Aha!" on Georgia: State Department Fouled Up
We've mentioned a few times that the Georgia situation is a parallel to Kosovo, not Iraq.
RadioMouthRanting-shallow-thinking-straw-man-creating notwithstanding, the situations in Georgia and Kosovo are almost precisely the same.
Now we have the shameless pandering, both from McCain, the War Guy (and his 'intellectual' predecssors, the NeoCons), and Obama, whose 'nuance' displayed almost total ignorance.
What a country!
At any rate, the point is made again in an article in American Thinker:
South Ossetia and Abkhazia are provinces (self declared Republics) within a sovereign country, Georgia. The populations of these two entities, non ethnic Georgians and mostly ethnic-Russians, rose to obtain separation based on their own perception of cultural identity. In comparative analysis they would be the equivalent of Kosovo's ethnic-Albanians. As in other ethnic conflicts, each side claim superseding ownership; but in the eyes of modern international law that is irrelevant after hundreds of years of settlement. An initial confrontation in the early 1990s (1992-1994) between Georgia’s post Soviet Government and the separatist movements led to agreements allowing for local autonomy for these two areas and for the deployment of Russian (CIS) Peacekeepers.
For almost 16 years this status quo survived while awaiting a final resolution of the conflict. As in many spots in the Caucasus and the Balkans, borders do not always correspond with nationalities and ethnicities. The agreement between South Ossetia and Georgia, blessed by Moscow, was the guarantee of stability, until times changed.
One of the major drivers of the Ossetia situation was the blunder of the West in Kosovo (and no, it was not simply defending the Kosovars against the Serbs--which was also questionable.)
The challenge began when during winter 2008, the US and the European Union decided to unleash Kosovo's separation despite Serbia's opposition. In international jurisprudence, breaking away entities need validation by the country the partition is going to affect. In Canada for example, Quebec would always need the other provinces to agree on separation. Agreement of "both sides" is usually sought.
But in the case of Kosovo, for international political motivations, including a gesture to please the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in the midst of a campaign to win hearts and minds, Washington and Brussels went ahead swiftly and endorsed Pristina's declaration of separation from Belgrade. The Western powers argued that going back to Serbia was out of question for the Kosovars; therefore going forward was the only option, despite Serbian claims inside the province
Well, ain't THAT ducky. The Muslims are happy!! Problem: Moscow was NOT happy.
The Russian statement was poorly covered in the international media. The release said the Russian Federation will recognize the efforts by South Ossetia and Abkhazia to secede from Georgia. It was a clear eye for an eye declaration, but it went unnoticed in the West. In an article titled "Be Wise on Kosovo," published on December 13, 2007 in the American Thinker, I warned that a chain reaction may begin elsewhere. The confrontations taking place today in the Caucasus were triggered strategically in the Balkans few months before. Russia was ignored on the shores of the Mediterranean, it responded on the shores of the Black sea. ...
So State and Brussels, in an effort to appease the Muslims, managed to slap The Bear in the chops. Not wise--on all counts.
(Note the Muslim gratitude for this. I'll wait while you write up the long list of nice things they've done lately to repay us for the favor....) Done? Good.
To the present:
From August 6 on, the Georgian offensive attempted to seize the capital of the enclave [S. Ossetia] and the Russian counter offensive pushed the Georgians out. Moscow accused Tbilisi's units of ethnic cleansing and Georgia's leaders counter-accused the Russians of invading all of their country.
In other words, the usual propaganda, from both sides.
Here's a case where the US just plain fouled it up, beginning with Clinton and continuing through the increasingly-incompetent tenure of Condi Rice.
Don't let the RadioMouths fool you.
HT: McIlheran
RadioMouthRanting-shallow-thinking-straw-man-creating notwithstanding, the situations in Georgia and Kosovo are almost precisely the same.
Now we have the shameless pandering, both from McCain, the War Guy (and his 'intellectual' predecssors, the NeoCons), and Obama, whose 'nuance' displayed almost total ignorance.
What a country!
At any rate, the point is made again in an article in American Thinker:
South Ossetia and Abkhazia are provinces (self declared Republics) within a sovereign country, Georgia. The populations of these two entities, non ethnic Georgians and mostly ethnic-Russians, rose to obtain separation based on their own perception of cultural identity. In comparative analysis they would be the equivalent of Kosovo's ethnic-Albanians. As in other ethnic conflicts, each side claim superseding ownership; but in the eyes of modern international law that is irrelevant after hundreds of years of settlement. An initial confrontation in the early 1990s (1992-1994) between Georgia’s post Soviet Government and the separatist movements led to agreements allowing for local autonomy for these two areas and for the deployment of Russian (CIS) Peacekeepers.
For almost 16 years this status quo survived while awaiting a final resolution of the conflict. As in many spots in the Caucasus and the Balkans, borders do not always correspond with nationalities and ethnicities. The agreement between South Ossetia and Georgia, blessed by Moscow, was the guarantee of stability, until times changed.
One of the major drivers of the Ossetia situation was the blunder of the West in Kosovo (and no, it was not simply defending the Kosovars against the Serbs--which was also questionable.)
The challenge began when during winter 2008, the US and the European Union decided to unleash Kosovo's separation despite Serbia's opposition. In international jurisprudence, breaking away entities need validation by the country the partition is going to affect. In Canada for example, Quebec would always need the other provinces to agree on separation. Agreement of "both sides" is usually sought.
But in the case of Kosovo, for international political motivations, including a gesture to please the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in the midst of a campaign to win hearts and minds, Washington and Brussels went ahead swiftly and endorsed Pristina's declaration of separation from Belgrade. The Western powers argued that going back to Serbia was out of question for the Kosovars; therefore going forward was the only option, despite Serbian claims inside the province
Well, ain't THAT ducky. The Muslims are happy!! Problem: Moscow was NOT happy.
The Russian statement was poorly covered in the international media. The release said the Russian Federation will recognize the efforts by South Ossetia and Abkhazia to secede from Georgia. It was a clear eye for an eye declaration, but it went unnoticed in the West. In an article titled "Be Wise on Kosovo," published on December 13, 2007 in the American Thinker, I warned that a chain reaction may begin elsewhere. The confrontations taking place today in the Caucasus were triggered strategically in the Balkans few months before. Russia was ignored on the shores of the Mediterranean, it responded on the shores of the Black sea. ...
So State and Brussels, in an effort to appease the Muslims, managed to slap The Bear in the chops. Not wise--on all counts.
(Note the Muslim gratitude for this. I'll wait while you write up the long list of nice things they've done lately to repay us for the favor....) Done? Good.
To the present:
From August 6 on, the Georgian offensive attempted to seize the capital of the enclave [S. Ossetia] and the Russian counter offensive pushed the Georgians out. Moscow accused Tbilisi's units of ethnic cleansing and Georgia's leaders counter-accused the Russians of invading all of their country.
In other words, the usual propaganda, from both sides.
Here's a case where the US just plain fouled it up, beginning with Clinton and continuing through the increasingly-incompetent tenure of Condi Rice.
Don't let the RadioMouths fool you.
HT: McIlheran
The Underdog: McPain
The American Spectator blog:
While we can drive ourselves crazy doing the electoral math between now and Election Day, here's the bottom line. In 2004, Democrats had a much worse candidate, and the electoral environment was much more favorable for Republicans, and yet Kerry fell just 18 electoral votes shy of becoming president. Looking at the election on a state-by-state basis, you can come up with a lot of scenarios whereby Obama gets to 270 electoral votes, but it's a lot harder to come up with a combination of states that will put McCain over the top. This isn't to say it can't be done, but amid all of the focus on the closeness of the daily national tracking numbers, it's important to keep in mind what an uphill climb this still is for McCain.
He likes being a "maverick." But that plays well only in Wisconsin--and maybe not this year.
While we can drive ourselves crazy doing the electoral math between now and Election Day, here's the bottom line. In 2004, Democrats had a much worse candidate, and the electoral environment was much more favorable for Republicans, and yet Kerry fell just 18 electoral votes shy of becoming president. Looking at the election on a state-by-state basis, you can come up with a lot of scenarios whereby Obama gets to 270 electoral votes, but it's a lot harder to come up with a combination of states that will put McCain over the top. This isn't to say it can't be done, but amid all of the focus on the closeness of the daily national tracking numbers, it's important to keep in mind what an uphill climb this still is for McCain.
He likes being a "maverick." But that plays well only in Wisconsin--and maybe not this year.
Greenspan: Try, Try Again
The Ayn Rand disciple tries prophesy.
Greenspan's first Real Estate bottom calling attempt came in late 2006 "I suspect that we are coming to the end of this downtrend, as applications for new mortgages, the most important series, have flattened out. I don't know, but I think the worst of this may well be over."
He repeated the calls many times since then. Most recently, in April 2008, when he said "the drop in U.S. home prices will probably end well before' early next year as the number of houses on the market diminishes, aiding an economic rebound."
Now, Greenie is pushing back his bottom call into 2009: "Home prices in the U.S. are likely to start to stabilize or touch bottom sometime in the first half of 2009," he said in an interview
Easy Al's Easy Prophesies. Only 25 cents at the State Fair booth...
HT: BigPicture
Greenspan's first Real Estate bottom calling attempt came in late 2006 "I suspect that we are coming to the end of this downtrend, as applications for new mortgages, the most important series, have flattened out. I don't know, but I think the worst of this may well be over."
He repeated the calls many times since then. Most recently, in April 2008, when he said "the drop in U.S. home prices will probably end well before' early next year as the number of houses on the market diminishes, aiding an economic rebound."
Now, Greenie is pushing back his bottom call into 2009: "Home prices in the U.S. are likely to start to stabilize or touch bottom sometime in the first half of 2009," he said in an interview
Easy Al's Easy Prophesies. Only 25 cents at the State Fair booth...
HT: BigPicture
Curious Dead Guy
So this guy is found dead.
Police confirmed Wednesday that they found about a pound of sodium cyanide in a Denver hotel room where the body of a Canadian man was discovered earlier this week.
Police spokesman John White identified the white powder as sodium cyanide, the crystal form of cyanide. Fire officials say they found a bottle containing about a pound of the white powder, or between a pint and a quart by volume.
An expert told the Denver Post that the amount of cyanide is enough to kill hundreds of people.
The medical examiner’s office said it is awaiting test results to determine whether cyanide killed 29-year-old Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, of Ottawa, Canada.
His body was found Monday inside Room 408 at The Burnsley Hotel, which is about four blocks from the state Capitol.
Isn't there a Convention coming up in Denver?
HT: Malkin
Police confirmed Wednesday that they found about a pound of sodium cyanide in a Denver hotel room where the body of a Canadian man was discovered earlier this week.
Police spokesman John White identified the white powder as sodium cyanide, the crystal form of cyanide. Fire officials say they found a bottle containing about a pound of the white powder, or between a pint and a quart by volume.
An expert told the Denver Post that the amount of cyanide is enough to kill hundreds of people.
The medical examiner’s office said it is awaiting test results to determine whether cyanide killed 29-year-old Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, of Ottawa, Canada.
His body was found Monday inside Room 408 at The Burnsley Hotel, which is about four blocks from the state Capitol.
Isn't there a Convention coming up in Denver?
HT: Malkin
More on Georgia
Jib starts the ball rolling, quoting Austin Bay:
Moving Georgia’s Iraq force home in US air transports was a reminder of US strategic reach. That was a military option and it has been employed. ...Using USAF cargo planes to bring humanitarian supplies is standard policy – but a C-17 is a US military plane. That is a message, a limited, careful, but calculated message, and constitutes a low-risk option ...The presence of US military training forces in Georgia is a message — one Russia chose to ignore. Beefing up the training and support mission is a military option...
Jib goes on to comment:
Georgia cannot be a member of NATO without significant U.S. presence. Why? Because it is impossible to defend without trip wires that, if tripped, Russia would know would trigger a major conflict. Prior to this event, the U.S. could not have begun to place these trip wires because it would have been castigated for its bellicosity and passive aggression towards Russia.
True. If Russia were to start training Mexican military and 'encourage' Mexico to re-take Aztlan (now known as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California), the US might not be happy. Those are "trip-wire" kinds of things.
Jib and a number of others seem to think that making Georgia a part of NATO is some sort of Good Thing. After all, the people of Georgia have elections and their current leader speaks and writes English, and his letters are published in the Wall Street Journal.
But if Georgia becomes part of NATO, of course, then NATO (including the US) is bound to defend Georgia against any military attack. We're all-for-one and one-for-all in the Democracy Is Best gang, particularly if the WSJ prints our letters.
Other folks, including this writer, don't agree that US military forces should be used that way. We have this "compelling national interests" thing that keeps bothering us--and no one, especially BillyBoy Kristol, the Happy Warrior of The National Review, has told us what the "compelling national interests" of the US happen to be in Georgia.
Forget the pipeline. It's useful for Europe, and claims that Russia will simply cut off the gas and oil are interesting, but not persuasive. There are work-arounds, albeit messy and expensive. And I repeat: that's Europe's problem. Most of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico, with some coming from the Middle East.
What GWB has decided to do is just fine: provide humanitarian supplies, maintain the friendship with Georgia, and make it clear to The Bear that we will not tolerate this sort of stuff.
What's a compelling National Interest to Europe is not necessarily a Compelling National Interest to the USA.
Keep that straight.
Moving Georgia’s Iraq force home in US air transports was a reminder of US strategic reach. That was a military option and it has been employed. ...Using USAF cargo planes to bring humanitarian supplies is standard policy – but a C-17 is a US military plane. That is a message, a limited, careful, but calculated message, and constitutes a low-risk option ...The presence of US military training forces in Georgia is a message — one Russia chose to ignore. Beefing up the training and support mission is a military option...
Jib goes on to comment:
Georgia cannot be a member of NATO without significant U.S. presence. Why? Because it is impossible to defend without trip wires that, if tripped, Russia would know would trigger a major conflict. Prior to this event, the U.S. could not have begun to place these trip wires because it would have been castigated for its bellicosity and passive aggression towards Russia.
True. If Russia were to start training Mexican military and 'encourage' Mexico to re-take Aztlan (now known as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California), the US might not be happy. Those are "trip-wire" kinds of things.
Jib and a number of others seem to think that making Georgia a part of NATO is some sort of Good Thing. After all, the people of Georgia have elections and their current leader speaks and writes English, and his letters are published in the Wall Street Journal.
But if Georgia becomes part of NATO, of course, then NATO (including the US) is bound to defend Georgia against any military attack. We're all-for-one and one-for-all in the Democracy Is Best gang, particularly if the WSJ prints our letters.
Other folks, including this writer, don't agree that US military forces should be used that way. We have this "compelling national interests" thing that keeps bothering us--and no one, especially BillyBoy Kristol, the Happy Warrior of The National Review, has told us what the "compelling national interests" of the US happen to be in Georgia.
Forget the pipeline. It's useful for Europe, and claims that Russia will simply cut off the gas and oil are interesting, but not persuasive. There are work-arounds, albeit messy and expensive. And I repeat: that's Europe's problem. Most of our oil comes from Canada and Mexico, with some coming from the Middle East.
What GWB has decided to do is just fine: provide humanitarian supplies, maintain the friendship with Georgia, and make it clear to The Bear that we will not tolerate this sort of stuff.
What's a compelling National Interest to Europe is not necessarily a Compelling National Interest to the USA.
Keep that straight.
Warren Buffett and the Death Tax
Buffett likes the "death tax."
Ever wonder why?
Well, Tim Carney lays out a couple of good possibilities in his book The Big Ripoff.
First off, Buffett's empire includes Safeco Insurance--which just happens to sell insurance packages which facilitate estate-planning. That means that if you own Company X which is worth $75 million, you can purchase an insurance policy which will pay your chilluns enough to pay the Federal Estate Tax.
Buffett will be happy to sell you that policy, at a profit, of course.
But the REAL money is here.
Imagine again that you have that Company and it's worth $75 million--but this time you did NOT buy Buffett's insurance policy. You assume room temperature, and the chilluns now have the business.
They have to come up with about $37 million or so, and fast. And they can't. The business' cash-flow won't support a loan of that size.
They are in a pickle, and decide to sell the business.
They are called "motivated sellers."
Nothing is more....ahhhhh....interesting....for a fellow who buys low and sells high than "motivated sellers."
And Guess Who buys and sells businesses??
How do you suppose he acquired the Buffalo News and Dairy Queen?
Ever wonder why?
Well, Tim Carney lays out a couple of good possibilities in his book The Big Ripoff.
First off, Buffett's empire includes Safeco Insurance--which just happens to sell insurance packages which facilitate estate-planning. That means that if you own Company X which is worth $75 million, you can purchase an insurance policy which will pay your chilluns enough to pay the Federal Estate Tax.
Buffett will be happy to sell you that policy, at a profit, of course.
But the REAL money is here.
Imagine again that you have that Company and it's worth $75 million--but this time you did NOT buy Buffett's insurance policy. You assume room temperature, and the chilluns now have the business.
They have to come up with about $37 million or so, and fast. And they can't. The business' cash-flow won't support a loan of that size.
They are in a pickle, and decide to sell the business.
They are called "motivated sellers."
Nothing is more....ahhhhh....interesting....for a fellow who buys low and sells high than "motivated sellers."
And Guess Who buys and sells businesses??
How do you suppose he acquired the Buffalo News and Dairy Queen?
"Psych/Abortion" Report: Where's the Data?
Here's what you'll see in the MSM:
A report from the American Psychological Association (APA) published this week claims that there is no meaningful connection between abortion and subsequent psychological disturbances in women. When a woman has a negative psychological consequence, says the report, it is likely only to be in cases where a "wanted" child was aborted for eugenic reasons.
Uh-Huh.
Here's what you WON'T see in the MSM:
The credibility of a new report on the mental health effects of abortion from the American Psychological Association is tarnished by the fact that the lead author, Dr. Brenda Major, has violated the APA's own data sharing rules by consistently refusing to allow her own data on abortion and mental health effects to be reanalyzed by other researchers.
Major, a proponent of abortion rights, has even evaded a request from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to deliver copies of data she collected under a federal grant. Because her study of emotional reactions two years after an abortion was federally funded, the data she collected is actually federal property. But in Major's response to 2004 HHS request for a copy of the data, Major excused herself from delivering the data writing, "It would be very difficult to pull this information together
Well, if my study of the LeftyBloglodytes doesn't have to be peer-reviewed, then do I have a bombshell report!!
...a researcher familiar with Major's work, David Reardon of the Elliot Institute, has seen portions of Major's unpublished findings. Reardon, who has published over a dozen studies on abortion and mental health, believes Major is withholding the data to prevent her findings supporting a link between abortion and subsequent health problems from coming to light
Doh!
"This is very troubling on two counts. First, the APA's own ethics rule, 8.14, requires research psychologists to share their data for verification of findings. Secondly, she is the chair of the APA Abortion Task Force which is, at least in theory, supposed to bring full and clear light to this issue. But how can we trust the objectivity of a report prepared by a task force composed exclusively of pro-choice psychologists, especially when the chair and lead author has a history of withholding data and findings which may undermine her ideological preferences?"
Umnnnhhh.....IPCC? That NASA twit? Hello!!
A report from the American Psychological Association (APA) published this week claims that there is no meaningful connection between abortion and subsequent psychological disturbances in women. When a woman has a negative psychological consequence, says the report, it is likely only to be in cases where a "wanted" child was aborted for eugenic reasons.
Uh-Huh.
Here's what you WON'T see in the MSM:
The credibility of a new report on the mental health effects of abortion from the American Psychological Association is tarnished by the fact that the lead author, Dr. Brenda Major, has violated the APA's own data sharing rules by consistently refusing to allow her own data on abortion and mental health effects to be reanalyzed by other researchers.
Major, a proponent of abortion rights, has even evaded a request from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to deliver copies of data she collected under a federal grant. Because her study of emotional reactions two years after an abortion was federally funded, the data she collected is actually federal property. But in Major's response to 2004 HHS request for a copy of the data, Major excused herself from delivering the data writing, "It would be very difficult to pull this information together
Well, if my study of the LeftyBloglodytes doesn't have to be peer-reviewed, then do I have a bombshell report!!
...a researcher familiar with Major's work, David Reardon of the Elliot Institute, has seen portions of Major's unpublished findings. Reardon, who has published over a dozen studies on abortion and mental health, believes Major is withholding the data to prevent her findings supporting a link between abortion and subsequent health problems from coming to light
Doh!
"This is very troubling on two counts. First, the APA's own ethics rule, 8.14, requires research psychologists to share their data for verification of findings. Secondly, she is the chair of the APA Abortion Task Force which is, at least in theory, supposed to bring full and clear light to this issue. But how can we trust the objectivity of a report prepared by a task force composed exclusively of pro-choice psychologists, especially when the chair and lead author has a history of withholding data and findings which may undermine her ideological preferences?"
Umnnnhhh.....IPCC? That NASA twit? Hello!!
Apes ARE Different from Humans
Well, that's a relief, although I know some folks....ahhhh, nevermind.
...the entire advocacy line that "humans and chimps share 98% of our genes" is plain false.
First, the 98% figure is probably overstated. An article in Science puts the actual figure at 94%. (Jon Cohen, "Relative Differences: The Myth of 1%, June 29, 2007). But even these figures are only measuring about 2% of our total genetic makeup - that is, those genes that code for proteins, the building blocks of our physical bodies and functions.
The vast majority of our DNA, known as "non-coding DNA" - sometimes called "junk DNA" because it was once thought not to have function - is very different in humans from most non-coding genes found in chimps and other apes.
Research continues as to the exact nature and functions of non-coding genes, but given the wide differences between human and ape non-coding DNA, even if the purported 98% genetic similarity to coding DNA is true, it is actually only 98% of a much smaller percentage of our total genetic makeup, perhaps as low as 98% of 2%.
Proponents of the Great Ape Project might reply in defense that the coding genes are the ones that really count, but that is not scientifically supported anymore...
Oh, well. Another "scientific" announcement all fall down. But there's always the chance that the theory will be called a 'non-debatable consensus.'
...the entire advocacy line that "humans and chimps share 98% of our genes" is plain false.
First, the 98% figure is probably overstated. An article in Science puts the actual figure at 94%. (Jon Cohen, "Relative Differences: The Myth of 1%, June 29, 2007). But even these figures are only measuring about 2% of our total genetic makeup - that is, those genes that code for proteins, the building blocks of our physical bodies and functions.
The vast majority of our DNA, known as "non-coding DNA" - sometimes called "junk DNA" because it was once thought not to have function - is very different in humans from most non-coding genes found in chimps and other apes.
Research continues as to the exact nature and functions of non-coding genes, but given the wide differences between human and ape non-coding DNA, even if the purported 98% genetic similarity to coding DNA is true, it is actually only 98% of a much smaller percentage of our total genetic makeup, perhaps as low as 98% of 2%.
Proponents of the Great Ape Project might reply in defense that the coding genes are the ones that really count, but that is not scientifically supported anymore...
Oh, well. Another "scientific" announcement all fall down. But there's always the chance that the theory will be called a 'non-debatable consensus.'