Friday, April 04, 2008

Juan remembers MLK and dismembers Barack Obama

 
On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s tragic assassination, Juan Williams writes:

Mr. Obama's major speech on race last month was forced from him only after a political crisis erupted: It became widely known that he'd sat for 20 years in the pews of a church where Rev. Jeremiah Wright lashed out at white people. The minister cursed America as worthy of damnation, made lewd suggestions about the nature of President Clinton's relationship with black voters, and embraced the paranoid idea that the white government was spreading AIDS among black people.

Here is where the racial tension at the heart of Mr. Obama's campaign flared into view. He either shared these beliefs or, lacking good judgment, decided it politically expedient for an ambitious young black politician trying to prove his solidarity with all things black, to be associated with these rants. His judgment and leadership on the critical issue of race is in question.

While speaking to black people, King never condescended to offer Rev. Wright-style diatribes or conspiracy theories. He did not paint black people as victims. To the contrary, he spoke about black people as American patriots who believed in the democratic ideals of the country, in nonviolence and the Judeo-Christian ethic, even as they overcame slavery, discrimination and disadvantage. King challenged white America to do the same, to live up to their ideals and create racial unity. He challenged white Christians, asking them how they could treat their fellow black Christians as anything but brothers in Christ.

...as his campaign made headway with black voters, Mr. Obama no longer spoke about the responsibility and the power of black America to appeal to the conscience and highest ideals of the nation. He no longer asks black people to let go of the grievance culture to transcend racial arguments and transform the world.... And he chooses not to confront the poisonous "thug life" culture in rap music that glorifies drug use and crime.

Instead the senator, in a full political pander, is busy excusing Rev. Wright's racial attacks as the right of the Rev.-Wright generation of black Americans to define the nation's future by their past. He stretches compassion to the breaking point by equating his white grandmother's private concerns about black men on the street with Rev. Wright's public stirring of racial division...

...when Barack Obama, arguably the best of this generation of black or white leaders, finds it easy to sit in Rev. Wright's pews and nod along with wacky and bitterly divisive racial rhetoric, it does call his judgment into question. And it reveals a continuing crisis in racial leadership.

What would Jesus do? There is no question he would have left that church.

Hat tips: Atlas and Larwyn

"I have lived in the EU's future, and it doesn't work."

 
Vladimir Bukovsky asks "Is the European Union the new Soviet Union?" (hat tip: Reliapundit):

...How was the Soviet Union governed? It was governed by fifteen unelected people who appointed each other and who were not accountable to anyone. How is the European Union governed? By two dozen people who appoint each other and are not accountable to anyone, and whom we cannot sack. How was the Soviet Union created? By coercion or very often with the military occupation of the Red Army. How is the European Union created? Admittedly not by armed force, but by coercion and bullying, making it impossible for any other country to live outside it economically. It is like a shot-gun marriage...

The Soviet Union had in its constitution the right of secession for the constituent republics. It existed for propaganda purposes, particularly as there was no actual procedure and even to talk about it was considered a crime against the territoriality of the Soviet Union. I was amazed to discover that more or less the same situation exists in the European Union. You can enter it but you can't quit. No one said so far you cannot quit but a procedure is not in place. That seems to be very similar to what I used to know.

The Soviet Union was a very aggressive country; it couldn't exist unless it spread its own model of socialism further and further. The moment it stopped spreading, it started collapsing and I suspect that the same thing is true of the European Union. Although economically it makes no sense for them to attract more new countries, they impose enormous pressure on the half-developed Eastern European countries and some other European countries like Switzerland to join the union. It seems to be ideological. They used to be told in the Soviet Union that the purpose of its function was to create a new historic entity, the Soviet people.

We were supposed to forget our nationalities, our ethnic traditions and customs. Growing up in Russia, you couldn't tell a Ukrainian from a Russian; it was not supposed to be mentioned, for we were supposed to be one entity. The same seems to be true of the European Union. They don't want you to be British or French. They want you all to be a new historic entity - European. One of the grand purposes of socialism was always the destruction of the national state. The old belief was that the state would wither away - with some help from them. And that's exactly what we observe in Europe. The purpose of this agglomeration from Brussels is to absorb nation states, so that they should cease to exist...

A tiny PC disguised as a phone

 
If you need more proof that the handheld smartphone is fast evolving into a tiny, full-blown PC, you need only check out the new LG enV2.

The EVDO-capable phone flips open to expose a decent keyboard and a 2.4-inch color display with dual speakers! There's also an external 1.4-inch color display to boot.

PC World has more cool phones from the CTIA show.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Obama hands out concert tickets to deter Clinton turnout

 
A more jaded person might call it buying votes.

As former President Bill Clinton was extolling his wife's credentials, Obama's campaign office in Bloomington began giving away tickets to Sunday's Dave Matthews concert at Assembly Hall.

..."I was leaning toward Obama, but this sealed the deal for sure," [one student] said. "The Obama campaign announced this right as (Bill Clinton) was about to speak, and it brought everyone from over there to over here."

Methinks Obama's campaign staff learned their tactics from the masters.

Hat tip: Jason B.

Jeremiah Dice Clay


These tickets are hot!

Hat tip: Dennis Miller

Absolut Aztlan


Brian at Snapped Shot offers us a glimpse at Absolut Vodka's brilliant marketing strategy in Mexico City.

Absolut-ly revolting.

I will be boycotting this group of anti-American clowns, because the U.S. market must not be a significant concern for them. I hope you'll join me.

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Hillary's Marauders


Don Surber calls her "Gomer Clinton, USMC." That would be our beloved Mizz Hillary. Hubby Bill claims she attempted to join the Army while fresh out of law school but was turned down due to bad eyesight.

In fact, Don also wins our prestigious line' o the day award:

[Yeah], the Army was real picky in 1973, turning down Yale-educated lawyers like that in favor of the GED crowd like me...

Methinks Bill inhaled. A lot. And often.

Really: is there anything the Clintons wouldn't say or do to regain power, no matter how outlandish?

As an aside, Junior Cub Reporter (Level II) Biff Spackle located this photograph, a scoop that could easily result in his promotion to a Full Cub Reporter (Level I) and its concomitant $0.18/hr. raise.

Ask Ayman!


Al Qaeda's #2 lamb-lover Ayman Zawahiri has promised to answer a series of questions posed over the Internet. Some 900 questions have been submitted to an Al Qaeda website since December. In another exclusive, our Junior Cub Reporter (Level II) Biff Spackle gained access to the secret question database before it even got to Zawahiri. Some randomly selected questions:

Dear Dr. Zawahiri:

Can you please tell George W. Bush publicly that you and Al Qaeda have never been in Iraq so we can win the presidential election next year?

Best Wishes, Nancy P., SF, CA

* * *

Dear Dr. Z,

Have you ever considered writing for a centrist blog like mine? I think your personality, wit, charm and intelligence would be a phenomenal addition to our site.

Ta ta, A. Huffington, LA, CA

* * *

Dear Mr. Ayman,

I say that waterboarding is torture, but my GOP colleagues tell me that your insurgents use blowtorches, pliers, acid, and electric cables on your victims. Is that true and, if so, do you think any of those things are as bad as waterboarding?

Sincerely, Mr. C. Schumer, New York

* * *

Dear Dr. Qaeda,

Can you guys do something really, really crazy to get me out of the headlines for a while?

TIA, M. Ahmedinejad, Tehran

* * *


Dear Mr. Doctor Zawahiri,

If your group happens to gain access to a nuclear weapon and detonate it in a western country, would you be so kind as to purchase some carbon offsets to make up for any thermonuclear warming that might endanger our snowcaps?

A. Gore, Belle Meade, TN

* * *

Dear Dr. Zawahiri,

How can I help?

Sincerely, Keith O., NYC

Bill Clinton's tirade stuns California superdelegates


The San Francisco Chronicle reports that last weekend's private meeting between Bill Clinton and California's superdelegates turned fiery. When asked about Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama, a "red-faced" Clinton exploded.

"It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended," one superdelegate said.

According to those at the meeting, Clinton - who flew in from Chicago with bags under his eyes - was classic old Bill at first, charming and making small talk with the 15 or so delegates who gathered in a room behind the convention stage.

But as the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how "sorry" she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a "Judas" for backing Obama.

It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.

"Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that," a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.

The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media's unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama...

Is it just me, or is the entire Clinton campaign imploding before our very eyes?

Revenge of the angry journalists

 
You can't tell if any of the anonymous complainers are Mary Mapes or Dan Rather, but it wouldn't come as much of a surprise. AngryJournalist.com appears to the hub of staff discontent with the old school journalism industry.

Among the less fiery comments:

Who the hell told newspapers they were a prestigious place to work, or that good people would stick around for crap pay and crap schedules?


...I went $50,000 in debt for a degree in Journalism to discover that nobody is hiring, and my internships and experience no longer matter.

...I edited my college newspaper and was excited about a career in journalism. I got a job at a small daily in the middle of Nowhere, Ohio. The pay was low, the hours were long, and no matter how good my copy was, my editors would chastise me for not knowing about something that the competing paper knew about. As exciting as the newsroom atmosphere was, I got tired of being driven like a slave for $22,000 a year... I left the grind of daily journalism and got a law degree from Georgetown. I’m much happier now, and the pay is much better!

Caution if you visit: harsh language warning.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

March Badness: this month's Democratic bracketology

 
Ready to choose the most outrageous political gaffes vying for Democratic supremacy? You're in luck - I've tried to combine all of the 2008 political controversies into an NCAA-like tournament... it's fun for the entire family. Can you choose the first-round winners?

1 seed: Barack Obama worshipped for 20 years at a Church that supports Hamas and the Nation of Islam
vs.
16 seed: Hillary assaulted by snipers disguised as child greeters in Bosnia.


11 seed: Barack Obama backs a Taliban supporter in Kenya (his cousin, Raila Odinga).
vs.
6 seed: Hillary Clinton continues to hide her tax returns, her husband's Library donors, and her HillaryCare version 1.0 papers from public view.


8 seed: Barack Obama's directorship of the Woods Fund helped fund a variety of radical, anti-American causes.
vs.
9 seed: Democrats including Obama and Clinton decry our dependency on foreign oil while blocking safe energy alternatives here in the U.S.


13 seed: Barack Obama refuses to place his hand over his heart during the National Anthem and wear a U.S. flag pin on his lapel.
vs.
4 seed: CNN plants Democratic Party operatives in a Democratic debate to shield candidates from tough questions.


3 seed: Barack Obama throws his grandmother under the bus to save his own butt from Pastor Wright.
vs.
14 seed: Hillary Clinton's major donors include illegal aliens, poverty-stricken dishwashers, and a variety of other folks who can't readily be identified.


7 seed: Barack Obama marched with Louis Farrakhan; his Pastor visited with a terrorist dictator (Gaddhafi) with Farrakhan.
vs.
10 seed: Hillary Clinton sponsors every form of amnesty and rewards (including in-state tuition) for illegal immigrants, ensuring a renewed stream of uncontrolled immigration.


5 seed: Hillary Clinton's deep involvement in what some experts have called 'the largest election law fraud in history' during her first run for the Senate.
vs.
12 seed: An official Obama Blog by the New Black Panther Party endorses Barack.


15 seed: An official Obama Blog welcomes 9/11 conspiracy theorists.
vs.
2 seed: One of Hillary's bosses during her stint at the Watergate hearings fired her, saying she was a "liar... [an] unethical, dishonest lawyer."

* * *

Enter your first-round winners in the comments!

Obama to big oil: fill 'er up!

 
ABC blogger Jake Tapper reveals an oily misdirection on the part of Barack (name redacted) Hussein. Oops. Got the redaction part wrong... again. Hate when that happens.

[You may have seen a] Barack Obama TV ad where he's standing in a gas station saying the following:

"Since the gas lines of the ’70s, Democrats and Republicans have talked about energy independence, but nothing’s changed — except now Exxon’s making $40 billion a year, and we’re paying $3.50 for gas... I’m Barack Obama. I don’t take money from oil companies or Washington lobbyists, and I won’t let them block change anymore. They’ll pay a penalty on windfall profits. We’ll invest in alternative energy, create jobs and free ourselves from foreign oil. I approve this message because it’s time that Washington worked for you. Not them."

Factcheck.org today takes a look at Obama's claim to not take money from oil companies and concludes that the statement  "misleading" since according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics Obama has taken more than $213,000 from individuals (and their spouses) who work for companies in the oil and gas industry -- not to mention that two of Obama's top fundraisers are top executives at oil companies."

Apparently Obama learned his lessons well as an apprentice to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Harry "Land Deal" Reid, John "Unindicted Co-Conspirator" Murtha, William ("Freezer-burn") Jefferson and Ted ("Bubbles") Kennedy.

Read more: Why would some politicians support higher oil prices? Because they can. (Hat tip: Gman at LGF)

Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee, Hillary.

 
A new book on Hillary Clinton's first years after graduating law school may signal the end of her final campaign for public office.

Jerry Zeifman, a former counsel to the House Judiciary Committee for 17 years, takes you to a behind the scenes account of Hillary Clinton, in a book based on his personal experiences in dealing with her. In 1974, he had supervisory authority of a staff that included Hillary Rodham – who was then engaged in a variety of self-serving unethical practices in violation of House rules. In 1998, as consultant to a member of the Judiciary Committee that impeached President Clinton, he gained extensive personal insights into the unethical practices of Hillary Clinton in her White House “West Wing” office.

A lifelong Democrat, Jerry Zeifman has concluded that Hillary Clinton is ethically unfit to be either a Senator or President – and if she were to become President, the last vestiges of the traditional moral authority of the party of Roosevelt, Truman and Johnson will be destroyed.

Why is Zeifman so dead-set against Hillary?

At that time Hillary Rodham was 27 years old. She had obtained a position on our committee staff through the political patronage of her former Yale law school professor Burke Marshall and Senator Ted Kennedy. Eventually, because of a number of her unethical practices I decided that I could not recommend her for any subsequent position of public or private trust.

Dan Calabrese of North Star Writers Group provides an excellent summary.

...Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.

Why?

Because she was a liar,” Zeifman said in an interview last week. “She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidentiality.”

Aside from that, she was completely above-board.

Calabrese goes on to list a series of extremely disturbing practices initiated by Ms. Rodham, culminating in a startling turn of events. Hillary argued that the accused Watergate conspirators had no right to counsel.

The Judiciary Committee allowed [Justice William O.] Douglas to keep counsel, thus establishing the precedent. Zeifman says he told Hillary that all the documents establishing this fact were in the Judiciary Committee’s public files. So what did Hillary do?

“Hillary then removed all the Douglas files to the offices where she was located, which at that time was secured and inaccessible to the public,” Zeifman said. Hillary then proceeded to write a legal brief arguing there was no precedent for the right to representation by counsel during an impeachment proceeding – as if the Douglas case had never occurred.

The brief was so fraudulent and ridiculous, Zeifman believes Hillary would have been disbarred if she had submitted it to a judge.

So it would appear Hillary's pattern of ethical and behavioral lapses aren't exactly a recent phenomenon.

Unfortunately, it's not an April Fool's Day Joke at the DHS

 
Jacob Goodwin, writing at Government Security News, reveals a seemingly bizarre intelligence gap at DHS. Namely, that "DHS has no formal process to add names to [the] terrorist watchlist."

"The Department of Homeland Security has made very few nominations to the consolidated terrorist watchlist because its components are rarely originators of derogatory information linking persons to terrorist activities," explained a report submitted last month by the DHS Inspector General...

Perhaps for that reason, DHS does not even have in place an "overarching policy" that guides its various components on processing such nominations, said the IG’s report.

DHS components are certainly "consumers" of terrorist watchlist information. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) consults the watchlist as it processes about 1.1 million passengers and pedestrians at U.S. ports of entry each day. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) coordinates the investigation of watchlist individuals with the FBI. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) taps the watchlist as it consider approximately six million applications and petitions each year. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checks the watchlist against passenger manifests as it examines more than 50,000 commercial flights a day.

Nonetheless, concluded the IG, "DHS does not have a management directive, quality control process, or training program for the [terrorist] nomination process."

Sadly, it appears to be a legitimate gaffe and not a hilarious April Fool's Day press release.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Obama lied, his credibility died


The lies are coming fast and furious on the Democratic side of the aisle of late. And it's not just Hillary's tale of a midget sniper disguised as a child greeter in Bosnia. Gateway Pundit adds some tall tales emanating from Barack nnnnnnn Obama.

...the Obama campaign told reporters last year that it was an aide who filled out a controversial report.
...But, that wasn't true.

Not only was Obama interviewed about the answers on this controversial questionaire but he also scribbled notes on the bottom of the page!
The Politico reported:

During his first run for elected office, Barack Obama played a greater role than his aides now acknowledge in crafting liberal stands on gun control, the death penalty and abortion — positions that appear at odds with the more moderate image he has projected during his presidential campaign.

The evidence comes from an amended version of an Illinois voter group's detailed questionnaire, filed under his name during his 1996 bid for a state Senate seat... Late last year, in response to a Politico story about Obama's answers to the original questionnaire, his aides said he "never saw or approved" the questionnaire... They asserted the responses were filled out by a campaign aide who "unintentionally mischaracterize[d] his position."

But a Politico examination determined that Obama was actually interviewed about the issues on the questionnaire by the liberal Chicago nonprofit group that issued it. And it found that Obama — the day after sitting for the interview — filed an amended version of the questionnaire, which appears to contain Obama's own handwritten notes added to one answer.

Put simply, Obama's campaign attempted to mask the candidate's ultra-liberal positions by pinning the leftist positions on a lackey. But the Politico claims that was a fabrication. Clinton-esque, eh?

And that's not the only Obama puffery (hey, I'm trying to avoid the word lie here, okay?). Jay at STACLU notes a Washington Post Fact Checker piece that lays another Obama fairy tale to rest.

Will Obama get the same media treatment with his lies? Don't hold your breath. In a speech to a Selma, Alabama crowd meant to pump up his civil-rights movement authenticity and his Kennedy Camelot image, Barack Obama claimed that the Kennedy administration paid for his Kenyan father to travel to America on a student scholarship and therefore was responsible for his "very existence".

...However, the first march on Selma took place on March 7, 1965. Obama would have been about three and half years old at that time. For some reason the media never did the math on this.

Obama's speech in Selma asserts a haunting scenario mysteriously linked to "what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Junior was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama."

After bloggers pointed out that the Selma protest incident occurred a mere four years after Obama's birth, a campaign spokesperson asserted that the senator was actually referring to the civil rights movement as a whole, not a singular event.

More: On the Selma incident, Sister Toldjah and MacRanger are the go-to players. Regarding the bogus questionaire answers, Confederate Yankee and PrairiePundit are must-reads. Hat tip: Larwyn.

Hillary: in it to win it!

 
You know, there are some folks saying we ought to stop these elections.

I did not think we believed that in America!

We are strengthening the Democratic Party.

Chill out! We are going to win this election if we just chill out and let everybody have their say,

With Pennsylvania's help, I'll think I'll be the next president.

Let me tell you what my plan for this Party is:

We're going to win the revote in Michigan.

And Florida.

And we're going to win in Guam. And Indiana. And Puerto Rico.

And Indiana. And North Carolina. And Kentucky.

And West Virginia. And Oregon! And Montana!!

AND SOUTH DAKOTA!!

YEEEGGGGGAYAUAUAYYAAGGAGAGGAWWWWWWWW!!!

Rove speaks; Left erupts in death threats


During a speech Friday at George Washington University, Karl Rove had some harsh words for Barack Obama. Rove said Obama's actions in Congress are at direct odds with his claims that he will strengthen the military and intelligence communities to fight terrorists around the world.

In reaction, the fever swamp at ThinkProgress erupted, with the death threats coming fast and furious.

What’s to say? he knows he’s a traitor, and shouldn’t be surprised when he’s finally strung up.

And no, those are not horns and a tail, those look like neckbolts and a falafel.

Greatest facilitator of executive corruption in the 20th century! Ed: evidently the work of a youngster who missed the entire Clinton administration

(JBaddo:) We can arrange to have this guy found dead in a remote area at some point in the future. It doesnt have to be next week or a month from now. But it will happen. I just need donations from interested parties to make this happen.

The horns and tail get hung with a rope around the same neck.

Where do we send it JBaddo?

So you use a rope soaked in holy water. Just to make sure use silver bullets and a stake through what’s left of his heart.

I don’t know about tail and horns, but I know no heart when I hear it. He shows the same indifference to human loss as Cheney and deserves the same fate, namely trial at the Hague for crimes against humanity and the same fate as those tried at Nuremberg.

Rove is clearly a War Criminal and inherently an Evil Human Being. Right along with Cheney and the rest of the Krime Kabal that has resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the past 8 years. I don’t know about you guys buy it sure seems a hell of a lot longer than 8 years. A place in Hell is waiting for Bush, Cheney, Rove, Rumsfeld, Rice, Hadley, Wolfowitz, Powell etc. Pace, Gates, Patraeus will surely be there, too.

…and I thought TREASON in America was punished by death.

There's nothing like the enlightened left, where diversity of opinion and freedom of dissent are nowhere to be found. Instead, an echo chamber of homicidal silliness: Kill 'im! Nuremberg! String 'im up!

The Democrat Party is no longer just the Party of Weakness. It is also the Party of Outright Lunacy.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

China's freaky new Olympic venues


The "Bird's Nest" Stadium as depicted by an architect.

A model.

Under construction.

The "Watercube" will host the water sports.

Inside the Watercube.

The "Bird's Nest" appears ready.

Putting finishing touches on the Watercube.

Both venues are in close proximity to one another.

Pictures: Shanti, IaaC, Spiky247.

Obama's preacher born to privilege, not poverty


It turns out the man who hates America was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

The New Republic has the details: "Jeremiah Wright raised in privilege, not poverty." I guess his new 10,340-square-foot house won't be much of a change then.

Zombie's latest album: pro-U.S. rally in Berkeley

 
Via LGF, Zombie has another exquisite photographic extravaganza, this time capturing a pro-U.S. rally in Berkeley.


Click on either picture to visit.