Wednesday, March 05, 2008

It's 3AM and somewhere a phone is ringing

 
It's 3AM.

Your children are safe and asleep.

But there's a phone ringing in the White House. Something's happening in the world.

It's 3AM and the President just received a phone call.

The President's husband is missing.

A President's got enough to worry about, right?

(Voice-over): I'm Barack (name redacted) Obama, and I approve this message.

Photo: Eight years after Bill Clinton left the DC area...

 
The third grade class photo at Beltway Elementary School.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Joe Wilson (husband of Valerie Plame) attacks Saint Obama

 
Over at the Stuffington Roast, serial storyteller Joe Wilson has formally attacked Barack Obama, calling his judgment "hollow" and his record "empty":

There is no credible reason to conclude that Obama would have acted any differently in voting for the authorization had he been in the Senate at that time. Indeed, he has said as much. The supposed intuitive judgment he exercised in his 2002 speech was nothing more than the pander of a local election campaign, just as his current assertions of superior judgment and scurrilous attacks on Hillary Clinton are a pander to those who now retroactively think the war was a mistake...

...It is hard to discern whether Senator Obama is a man of principle, but it is clear that he is not a man of substance. And that judgment, based on his hollow record, is inescapable.

I love it when a plan comes together!

Hat tip: The Astute Bloggers

Intrade says it ain't even close: Hillary's toast

 
Prediction Market Intrade pegs Hillary's chances at precisely between slim and none.


"Want straight answers on what will happen in politics and current events? Answers without partisan bias or wishful thinking? You can't do much better than the prices at Intrade."

                                    -- Professor Robin Hanson, Professor of Economics, George Mason University

Photo o' the Day: 'Yes, we CAN'!

 
Even now, at the tail end of primary season, certain themes have begun to emerge and they are worth passing along. Even though she has faced a long, sticky streak of defeats, Hillary has pushed hard to remain a firm and regular candidate.

Having found her own voice, she's released much of what was inside her, eliminating the doubts while bearing down upon her goal. She has fertilized the minds of her listeners and left the droppings of her wisdom along the campaign trail. No longer is she the butt of jokes; her campaign runs have been truly impressive, squeezing out every last vote.

Though she had plunged in the polls, it's entirely possible she can pull a remarkable comeback out of her --er-- hat and flush the competition.

Photo of Hillary's makeshift office in Austin, Texas: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images. Hat tips: Gateway Pundit and Larwyn. With apologies to National Lampoon's Dr. Humphrey C. Cornholt, Principal, C. Estes Kefauver High School.

Barack Obama's Honesty Parade (#192): NAFTA and Canada

 
BARACK OBAMA HONESTY PARADEWhile campaigning in Ohio, Barack Obama has vehemently criticized NAFTA and free-trade in general.


Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that Obama's senior economic adviser told Canadian officials not to worry about Obama's anti-NAFTA rhetoric... it was all a pack o' lies political posturing.

On Monday, a memorandum surfaced, obtained by The Associated Press, showing that Austan D. Goolsbee, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago who is Mr. Obama’s senior economic policy adviser, met officials last month at the Canadian consulate in Chicago.

According to the writer of the memorandum, Joseph De Mora, a political and economic affairs consular officer, Professor Goolsbee assured them that Mr. Obama’s protectionist stand on the trail was “more reflective of political maneuvering than policy.”

Translation: Obama lied for political expediency.

Hope. Change. Great slogans for Obama's campaign. They don't mean anything, but they're great slogans.

Hat tip: Larwyn

The Obama-Ahmadinejad virtual joint press conference

 
Dictator and Candidate agree: US must retreat from Iraq to give Iran a chance to fill the power vacuum, dominate the region, and take gasoline to $5 a gallon.

hmadinejad repeatedly referred to Iraq as a "brotherly" neighbor, but showed no gentler side toward Baghdad's American allies. He blamed the United States for spreading terrorism in the region, demanded the United States withdraw its forces and dismissed allegations that Tehran is training Shiite militants who target U.S. troops.

"The presence of foreigners in the region has been to the detriment of the nations of the region," Ahmadinejad said during a news conference. "It is nothing but a humiliation to the regional nations."
The Democratic front-runner, who favors a rapid withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, was asked how he would respond as president if al-Qaida had a resurgence in that country after American troops left... "If al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad," he said.

Sen. Obama's answer lacked clarity and directness, but the implication was that he would be willing to send U.S. troops back into Iraq to quell an insurrection by Muslim extremists... Sen. Obama quickly clarified his comments, explaining that he does indeed know al-Qaida is in Iraq. Then he returned to the more familiar ground of anti-war rhetoric. He blamed President Bush and Sen. McCain, who backed the Iraq war resolution, for al-Qaida moving into Iraq.

Put simply, Obama's rhetoric on this topic has shifted as rapidly as his faux repudiation of NAFTA. In an interview with Christopher Wills, Obama stated:

America cannot afford to withdraw immediately, said Obama, an early opponent of invading Iraq. That would create more chaos in Iraq and make it "an extraordinary hotbed of terrorist activity," he said at a meeting of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association. It would also damage America's international prestige and amount to "a slap in the face" to the troops fighting there, he said...

Democratic Senate candidate Barack Obama said Saturday he would be willing to send more soldiers to Iraq [Ed: i.e., a "surge"] if it is part of a strategy that the president and military leaders believe will stabilize the country and eventually allow America to withdraw.

Proof positive that Obama is as shifty as any other politician; his charismatic calls for hope and change ring as flat as Hillary's.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Hillary: well, Obama... could... be a Muslim...

 
On the March 2 edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, Steve Kroft interviewed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton regarding the persistent rumors that Obama is a crypto-Muslim.

KROFT: One of the things that we found in Southern Ohio -- not widespread -- but something that popped up on our radar screen all the time, people talking about it, this idea that you're a Muslim.

OBAMA: Right. Did you correct them, Steve?

KROFT: I did correct them.

OBAMA: There you go.

KROFT: Where's it coming from?

OBAMA: You know, this has been a systematic email smear campaign that's been going on since, actually, very early in this campaign. Clearly, it's a deliberate effort by some group or somebody to generate this rumor. I have never been a Muslim, am not a Muslim. These emails are obviously not just offensive to me, somebody who's a devout Christian who's been going to the same church for the last 20 years, but it's also offensive to Muslims because it plays into, obviously, a certain fear-mongering there.

KROFT: It happened again last week when this photo of Obama, in ceremonial African tribal dress during a visit to Kenya, was featured prominently on the Internet and attributed to people in the Clinton campaign. Senator Clinton disavowed any knowledge of it.

KROFT: You don't believe that Senator Obama is a Muslim?

CLINTON: Of course not. I mean, that's -- you know, there is no basis for that. You know, I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn't any reason to doubt that.

KROFT: And you said you'd take Senator Obama at his word that he's not a Muslim.

CLINTON: Right. Right.

KROFT: You don't believe that he's a Muslim --

CLINTON: No. No. Why would I? There's no --

KROFT: -- or implying, right?

CLINTON: No, there is nothing to... to... base that on, as far as I know.

KROFT: It's just scurrilous --

The reaction from the left wing blogs and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) was predictable.

Newsweek: All You Need Is Hate

Stuffington Roast: Hillary Crossed the Line

MSNBC: It's close

MyDD asks "what's with the weird qualifiers?"

Media Matters shrieked that it was all a distortion.

Bob Cesca took it at face value: "In case you missed it, Senator Clinton basically said that there could be some truth to the rumors."

Cliff ("never heard of him") Schecter said, "This crossed the line. I am officially angry. Take my word for it."

Drudge Retort asked Hillary to "please shut up."

Obama supporter "A Bag full of Health and Politics" was incredulous: "Lest there be any doubt: Hillary Clinton is the worst kind of bigot, the poser who pretends to be tolerant... It figures, because it was Clinton who was behind the original incarnation of the smear, which appeared in Insight Magazine in January of 2007."

And Pat Dollard says Hillary's "throwing in 'kitchen sink' stuff, too... She is hitting Obama for not being candid about NAFTA, and she is even making some odd (and unpleasant) statements on his religion."

Well, I for one have no idea whether Obama is a Muslim or not. But I would recommend he steer clear of Malaysia for a while.

Also see: Gateway Pundit rolls up the extensive coverage.

The men in the white coats are searching for Wes Clark

 
The Real Revo has a sweet find: apparently, Wesley Clark believes that John McCain doesn't have the right kind of military experience to be President.

[Clark argues] that Hillary Clinton does have the right experience. That’s right. Wesley Clark claims that the type of military experience that John McCain has - 22 years in the Navy completing his career as a field grade officer, plus more than two decades on the Senate Armed Services Committee - doesn’t qualify him to be commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. He goes on to explain how Hillary’s experience better qualifies her. Really. I am not making this up.

[Brain-damaged Wesley Clark quotes redacted to prevent primal screams]

Wes Clark is arguing that eight years as first lady beats McCain. He states her time as First Lady “plus her years in the Senate” uniquely qualify her. But wait, John McCain has three times as many years in the Senate as Hillary so that part of her resume is less qualifying than that of McCain. So it must be her time as first lady that gives her the experience that trumps McCain’s more than two decades as a Naval Officer and experience as a combat veteran. Really.

It's hard to add snark to Wesley Clark's unhinged commentary. I'd call him deranged, but that would be an insult to the truly deranged.

The enlightened country of Malaysia

 
NST Online reports a 57-year old woman received a sentence of two years in jail for declaring herself an apostate.
:
The Kuala Terengganu Syariah High Court today jailed... Kamariah Ali two years for declaring herself an apostate in 2005. On Feb 17, the court ruled that the 57-year-old was still a Muslim, but judge Mohamad Abdullah had postponed the sentencing till yesterday to give Kamariah a final chance to repent.

Kamariah had been charged under Section 7 of the Syariah Criminal Offence Enactment (Takzir)(Tereng ganu 2001) for declaring herself an apostate to avoid action being taken against her at the Syariah Lower Court in Besut. For this she risked a three year jail term or a RM5,000 fine or both... However, he felt Kamariah was insincere when she said she had repented.

Mohamad said: "I am still not satisfied with the accused. When I walked into court and greeted her by saying ‘Assalamulaikum’, I observed you carefully (Kamariah) but you did not respond to the greeting.

“I also find the argument that you were influenced by another in declaring yourself an apostate to be weak. The difference between you and your friend is that you were born and raised as a Muslim and you even graduated in Islamic studies,” he said.

...Islam, he added, was not a religion to be ridiculed...

Well, I've learned a couple of things today:

* When visiting, be polite to everyone, especially "Judges".
* Barack Obama should avoid touring Malaysia. He could end up behind bars.

Obama's problematic directorship: the Woods Fund

 
Barack Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund's website.

While the Chicago Sun-Times provides a laundry list of Obama's problematic relationships (Rezko, Farrakhan, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, Austan Goolsbee), none may prove more ultimately damaging than fellow Woods fund directors William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

As others have mentioned, William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn were once notorious members of the Weather Underground, terrorist bombers who attempted to overthrow the United State Government.

William Ayers, quoted on Sept. 11, 2001: "‘Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon.”

[Ayers and Dohrn] disappeared in 1970, after a bomb - designed to kill army officers in New Jersey - accidentally destroyed a Greenwich Village townhouse, and turned themselves into authorities in 1980. They were never prosecuted for their involvement with the 25 bombings the Weather Underground claimed; charges were dropped because of improper FBI surveillance...

“I don't regret setting bombs; I feel we didn't do enough,” Ayers told the New York Times in 2001...

“Ayers was a terrorist. Bernardine Dohrn was a terrorist. Ayers has never offered one word of apology - he glories in it, thinks it’s terrific. And that to me is not what I would call acceptable or mainstream behavior,” said Dan Polsby, a former law professor at Northwestern who is now dean of George Mason University Law School. “If Obama takes a different view on that - well, OK, that’s data about Obama.”

Setting aside Obama's relationship with Ayers, the board on which they served together deserves additional scrutiny. And, in fact, the Woods Fund's investments appear to be quite problematic for Obama:

Arab American Action Network (AAAN): "supports expanded rights for illegal aliens... [and was] founded by anti-Israel professor Rashid Khalidi, former director of the PLO press agency and onetime moderator of PLO advisory committee."

AAAN views the United States as a nation wherein Arab citizens are routinely maltreated. To remedy this perceived societal injustice, the organization aims “to challenge government policies that violate the civil, political and human rights of the Arab American and Arab immigrant community.” Among these policies are “detentions, deportations and other attacks on immigrants that result from Homeland Security [measures]"

...AAAN’s hostile view of the Jewish state is further manifest in the organization’s reference to Israel’s creation in 1948 as Al Nakba (“The Catastrophe”).

Among the current luminaries of AAAN's staff are: (a) Vice President Ali Abunimah, who maintains the website ElectroicIntifada.com and is a Board member of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center; and (b) Executive Director Hatem Abudayyeh, who has condemned “the Israeli government and its military killing machine.”

* * *

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC): a "Radical Quaker organization that supports America's unilateral disarmament [and that backed] the Vietnamese Communists, Pol Pot, Fidel Castro, and the PLO."

In fact, AFSC recently formed a partnership with MEChA. MEChA is one of several groups that intend to "reclaim Aztlán" (the southwestern portion of the United States):

...we are a Chicana and Chicano student movement directly linked to Aztlán. As Chicanas and Chicanos of Aztlán, we are a nationalist movement of Indigenous Gente that lay claim to the land that is ours by birthright. As a nationalist movement we seek to free our people from the exploitation of an oppressive society that occupies our land...

Put simply, MEChA's mission is straightforward: overthrow the United States Government and establish a new form of government.

* * *

Midwest Academy: "[A] training organization that teaches radical activists tactics of direct action, targeting, confrontation, and intimidation."

In January 2004 [founder] Heather Booth was featured at the National Conference on Organized Resistance at American University in Washington, D.C. This radical conference featured speakers on such topics as "An Analysis of Politically Motivated Property Destruction as a Legitimate Tactic." Booth participated in a panel discussion with former Black Panther Party leader Elaine Brown and Cathy Wilkerson, who had been Editor of the SDS magazine New Left Notes and a member of the domestic terrorist radical group the Weathermen.

* * *

ACORN: a liberal activist group, notorious for voter registration fraud and even paying for votes using crack cocaine.

Operating in at least 38 states (as well as Canada and Mexico), Acorn pushes a highly partisan agenda, and its organizers are best understood as shock troops for the AFL-CIO and even the Democratic Party...

Acorn and its affiliates have pulled some real stunts in recent years. In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a Congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained Acorn's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier.

...Given this history, it's not surprising that Acorn is so hostile to voter identification laws and other efforts to ensure fairness and accuracy at the polls.

* * *

Put simply, Obama must explain not only his relationship to Ayers and Dohrn, but also his support of radical groups that support the overthrow of the United States Government.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Going to be in the DC area in July? Golf for a good cause...

 
The 2008 Ol’ Liberty Charity Classic Golf Tournament benefits The Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

The Special Operations Warrior Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) tax-exempt organization, which provides college scholarship grants, along with financial aid and educational counseling, to the children of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Special Operations personnel who were killed in an operational mission or training accident. The Foundation is a "Four-Star Charity" according to CharityNavigator.

The venue? The spectacular Lake Presidential Golf Club in Upper Marlboro, Maryland (east of the DC area). Visit the 2008 Ol’ Liberty Charity Classic website for registration and sponsorship information.

Barack Obama's Honesty Parade (#309): Energy & Climate

 
BARACK OBAMA HONESTY PARADEBarack Obama on "global warming" (or is it "climate change" now? I forget).

[We must] deal with an energy situation where we are sending $800 million [a] day to some of the most hostile nations on earth and melting the polar ice caps in the process.

Why are we sending $800 million a day to pay overseas?

Because Democrats have blocked all oil exploration around the continental United States.


The accompanying map depicts "The No Zone." This is the region surrounding the United States in which Democrats have blocked oil exploration. From the tiny spit of land within the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to the Continental Shelf, Democrats have uniformly opposed every form of exploration that would allow us to stop sending our funds overseas and give us the time to transition to clean energy technologies.


In the mean time, Cuba has leased drilling rights to foreign countries, which will permit them to drain the Gulf of Mexico of its oil. For example, Cuba recently granted China drilling rights in the Gulf. And, in fact, China will be drilling within 50 miles of Florida.

While countries such as China suck oil out of the Gulf, Democrats continue to stonewall against sensible energy policies.

And are we really "melting the polar ice-caps"?

Actually, the verdict is in: the last twelve months have seen a long drop in world temperatures that literally wipes out a century of warming.


In fact, solar data suggests our concerns should be about global cooling. The sun's 'disturbingly quiet' cycle suggests the possibility of a "Maunder Minimum," which presages a massive cooling event.

Solar activity fluctuates in an 11-year cycle. But so far in this cycle, the sun has been disturbingly quiet. The lack of increased activity could signal the beginning of what is known as a Maunder Minimum, an event which occurs every couple of centuries and can last as long as a century.

Such an event occurred in the 17th century. The observation of sunspots showed extraordinarily low levels of magnetism on the sun, with little or no 11-year cycle.

This solar hibernation corresponded with a period of bitter cold that began around 1650 and lasted, with intermittent spikes of warming, until 1715. Frigid winters and cold summers during that period led to massive crop failures, famine and death in Northern Europe...

As for the polar ice caps?

The Antarctic (South Pole) is seeing "record levels of... sea ice":

The Southern Hemisphere sea ice area narrowly surpassed the previous historic maximum of 16.03 million sq. km to 16.17 million sq. km...

And how about the Arctic? On February 15, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported that Arctic sea ice has seen a "significant increase" in size following an extremely cold winter.

There's an upside to the extreme cold temperatures northern Canadians have endured in the last few weeks: scientists say it's been helping winter sea ice grow across the Arctic, where the ice shrank to record-low levels last year. Temperatures have stayed well in the -30s C and -40s C range since late January throughout the North, with the mercury dipping past -50 C in some areas. Satellite images are showing that the cold spell is helping the sea ice expand in coverage by about 2 million square kilometres, compared to the average winter coverage in the previous three years... If temperatures remain cold this winter, Langis said winter sea ice coverage will continue to expand.

Energy & Climate

With respect to both energy independence and "climate change", Barack Obama's truthiness leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm Doug Ross and I approved this message.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Obama's "Ringing" ad -- a response to Hillary's "Children" ad

 
It's 3AM.

Your children are safe and asleep.

But there's a phone ringing in the White House. Something's happening in the world.

When that call gets answered, shouldn't the president be the one candidate who had the courage to do nothing after 9/11?


Who understood that the real threat is Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, not Al Qaeda in Iraq, and certainly not other terrorists who don't call themselves "Al Qaeda."

In a dangerous world, shouldn't our leader be someone without a whit of experience but who has an excellent speaking voice?

(Voice-over): I'm Barack (name redacted) Obama, and I approve this message

60 Minutes gets duped again

 
Topic: another bogus hit-piece on the GOP... what else?

Gateway Pundit has all of the details on "Dana Jill Simpson." My goodness, she resembles James Carville, doesn't she?

* Dana Jill Simpson from small town (Rainsville) Alabama, went on "60 Minutes" and told an outlandish fable about her so-called interaction with Karl Rove.
* Karl Rove strongly denied the charges on Wednesday.
* Yesterday, the Alabama GOP demanded that "60 Minutes" show proof of the allegations or retract their story.

Put simply, no one in the GOP has ever heard of "Dana Jill Simpson" nor has "she" ever given any money to the GOP (according to OpenSecrets.org). You'd think CBS would get sick of being made a laughingstock...

Barack Obama's Honesty Parade (#183): NAFTA and jobs

 
BARACK OBAMA HONESTY PARADEBarack Obama's mailers to Ohio citizens hammer NAFTA as unfair to the state's workers.

Talk about the politics of fear!

Unfortunately for Obama, the brochure's content appears to be as truthful as the politician's image as a bi-partisan healer. According to the Wall Street Journal, thanks to NAFTA, Ohio's biggest trading partners are now Mexico and Canada:

Ohio workers would pay a heavy price for pulling out of Nafta. Canada and Mexico are the top two markets for exports from Ohio, accounting for more than half of the state's exports in 2006. According to the Ohio Department of Development, 283,500 workers in the state earn their living in the export sector, with machinery, car parts, aircraft engines and optical/medical equipment among the leading exports.

Hillary hits the red button

 
Hillary's new ad -- "It's 3AM, who do you want answering the phone" -- spurred a cacophony of harsh reaction from the left. Don Surber blog-wrangled some reactions into edible form and concluded:

The Kossers are going bananas. That makes the whole ad doubly good: It smacks Obama and makes the Kossers kry: "Clinton Campaign Stoops to Fear and Division."

Yea, the Kossers have been so bipartisan and willing to compromise over the years... maybe more Democrats agree with Obama's Kumbaya naivete, but most Americans want the president to act at 3 AM, not sit there and try to talk to the enemy — without preconditions.

Or someone who instead of pressing the button instead issues a press release denouncing "fear mongering."

Fear-mongering? I'll show you fear-mongering in a campaign ad...


01:18:42 PST: Port of Los Angeles

An unmarked cargo van drives cautiously into a warehouse complex adjacent to America's busiest container port.

04:18:45 EST: Port of New York, New Jersey Marine Terminal

A small van parks in an alley abutting the Customs facility at the East Coast's busiest seaport.

04:20:12 EST: In Dearborn, Michigan, six messages are sent to six different text pagers, three of which ride in a van in Los Angeles; three others of which sit in a van parked in New Jersey.

Two occupants in each van receive the messages. The text of each message reads: A'uzu billahi minashaitanir rajim. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

In the back of each van is a three-by-three-by-two plywood box, which contains a carefully packaged and shielded device. The occupants of each van meticulously unbox their respective devices.

Inside each device is a core of approximately 60 pounds of enriched uranium, produced in an Iranian nuclear reactor ostensibly for purposes of "clean, safe energy."

Once unboxed, each device exposes an igniter on one of its sides. The design of the igniter reveals that each device is a "gun-type" atomic weapon.

The gun device is similar to "Little Boy", the bomb detonated over Hiroshima. While such a design is obsolete for technically advanced countries, the gun method does not require significant engineering or manufacturing prowess. It is therefore perfect for terrorist organizations.

Within moments of the pages being received, a tidal wave of fire engulfs New York City.

And a massive plume of smoke rises over the Port of Los Angeles.

At 4:26 EST, secure phones throughout government begin ringing. Including one on the President's nightstand.

* * *

I don't know about you, but thinking about another Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton in the White House when the next terrorist attack occurs (which it inevitably will) isn't very comforting.