Friday, June 06, 2008

Democratic superdelegate: Hillary had racist strategy


New Jersey's premier newspaper -- The Star-Ledger -- claims that Hillary plays dirty. I'll alert the blogosphere.

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews [received] from a top member of Clinton's organization and that the caller explicitly discussed a strategy of winning over Jewish voters by exploiting tensions between Jews and African-Americans.

"There have been signals coming out of the Clinton campaign that have racial overtones that indeed disturb me," Andrews said at his campaign headquarters in Cherry Hill Tuesday night after he lost his bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination... Frankly, I had a private conversation with a high-ranking person in the campaign ... that used a racial line of argument that I found very disconcerting. It was extremely disconcerting given the rank of this person. It was very disturbing."

You're saying Hillary resorted to a low-life gameplan? What's next? Darkness at night followed by increasing lightness?

Amazon makes some improvements to its home page


The design is definitely less busy now.

And it loads faster.

Sorry. You may have noticed I have a tendency to be sarcastic. Amazon had a significant outage today that hit all of the news wires.

The telco monopoly gets bigger: thanks, FCC!


Kevin Martin and the FCC are at it again, assisting Verizon in its quest to reconstitute Ma Bell.

Update: CNet gets around to asking whether Is the Verizon-Alltel deal good for consumers? Obviously, that's a rhetorical question. Or satire.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Markos Moulitas-brand White Strips


This is Markos Moulitas.

This is Markos Moulitas had he spent more than half a decade in a prisoner-of-war camp.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Also: Fausta has more on HaliKosis.

What to wear when the wife has chores for you


Hat tip: Bern

The Water Bridge


This is a channel-bridge over the River Elbe and joins the former East and West Germany, as part of the unification project. It is located in the city of Magdeburg, near Berlin. The photo was taken on the day of inauguration.

Six years, 500 million euros, 918 meters long... quite a feat of engineering.

In 2003, Deutsche Welle described the opening of the €500 million water bridge.

Engineers first dreamt of joining the two waterways as far back as 1919. Construction to bridge the Elbe river near Magdeburg actually started in the 1930s, but progress was halted during the Second World War in 1942. After the Cold War split Germany the project was shelved indefinitely, but things were put back on track following reunification in 1990.

Taking six years to build and costing around half a billion euros, the massive undertaking will connect Berlin’s inland harbor with the ports along the Rhine river. At the center of the project is Europe’s longest water bridge measuring in just shy of a kilometer at 918 meters. The huge tub to transport ships over the Elbe took 24,000 metric tons of steel and 68,000 cubic meters of concrete to build.

Unearthing the secrets of Stonehenge


CNet:

Now that's a pretty impressive tombstone...

New research suggests that Stonehenge was used as a cemetery for more than 500 years, much longer than previously thought...

The new findings also show that people used the area as a burial site long before placement of its trademark stones (or sarsen stones) was complete.

I always took Stonehenge for granite...

Heh.

Barack Obama's not the person I once knew


Gateway Pundit:

Barack Obama on close friend and mentor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, April 29, 2008:

The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate, and I believe that they do not portray accurately the perspective of the black church.

Barack Obama on close friend Fr. Pfleger, May 29, 2008:

As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that that unites us. That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause.

Barack Obama on his church of 20 years, May 31, 2008:

I am not denouncing the church. I am not interested in people who want me to denounce the church because it's not a church worthy of denouncing. And so if they’ve seen caricatures of the church and accept those caricatures despite my insistence that's not what the church is about, then there's not much I can do about it.

Barack Obama on close friend Tony Rezko, June 4, 2008:

I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.

After his whimsical speech to AIPAC, Barack Obama was officially "un-endorsed" by Hamas.

"Obama’s comments have confirmed that there will be no change in the U.S. administration’s foreign policy on the Arab-Israeli conflict," Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri [said], "...Hamas does not differentiate between the two presidential candidates... because their policies regarding the Arab-Israel conflict are the same and are hostile to us, therefore we do have no preference and are not wishing for either of them to win."

It doesn't take much to imagine Obama's reaction.

I’m saddened by today’s un-endorsement. This isn’t the Sami Abu Zuhri I knew, but it demonstrates the clear need for peace in the Middle East. I encourage Israel to give Hamas what it wants.

In all seriousness: is Obama just a poor judge of people? Or just a liar? You make the call.

Update: At LGF, Stuck-in-CA offers an insightful answer: "Both. He has to lie because he has such bad judgment in people, and because he can't admit that he's one of them in ideology. But birds of...". Bubbalouey had some similar thoughts.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Let's go!!!!!!!!!


Hillary wuz robbed!

Let's all support her effort to reclaim the Democratic crown (which is rightfully hers!) in 2012.

Obama Action™ Trading Cards: fun for the whole family!



Baseball cards may have gone by the boards, but not Obama Friends™ Action Trading Cards!

Obama at AIPAC: Was he lying then or now? I'm guessing: now


NPR: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama delivered a speech on Wednesday, June 4, before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The speech comes the day after he secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination... In these prepared remarks provided by his campaign, Obama tries to allay doubts that some Jewish voters have expressed about his candidacy...

For a skilled politician capable of evading concrete positions, Obama's speech was characterized by an unprecidented series of fabrications, gyroscopic spin, and outright lies.

Recall that Barack Obama spent two decades attending a church that supported Hamas, attacked Jews and repeatedly honored Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

Now compare and contrast:

Obama at AIPAC:

...I will ensure that Israel can defend itself from any threat — from Gaza to Tehran... First, we must approve the foreign aid request for 2009. Going forward, we can enhance our cooperation on missile defense. We should export military equipment to our ally Israel under the same guidelines as NATO...

Lie. Obama opposes all missile defense technology.

Obama at AIPAC:

There is no greater threat to Israel — or to the peace and stability of the region — than Iran... while I don't want to strike too partisan a note here today, I do want to address some willful mischaracterizations of my positions.

Lie. Barack Obama told a crowd of 75,000 last month that Iran is not a threat.

Obama at AIPAC:

The Iranian regime supports violent extremists and challenges us across the region. It pursues a nuclear capability that could spark a dangerous arms race and raise the prospect of a transfer of nuclear know-how to terrorists. Its president denies the Holocaust and threatens to wipe Israel off the map. The danger from Iran is grave, it is real, and my goal will be to eliminate this threat.

Lie. In September 2007, a bipartisan effort in the Senate passed the Kyl-Lieberman resolution designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization. Obama vehemently opposed this effort and used the opportunity as a political tool to attack Hillary Clinton. Obama rewrites history by pretending his opposition to Kyl-Lieberman never happened, When given a chance to fight Iran's support of terror, Obama instead worked against the bipartisan effort to increase the economic pressure on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Obama at AIPAC:

Contrary to the claims of some, I have no interest in sitting down with our adversaries just for the sake of talking.

Lie. Obama's own website reads as follows: "Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions."

Obama at AIPAC:

I have been proud to be a part of a strong, bipartisan consensus that has stood by Israel in the face of all threats... I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself in the United Nations and around the world.

Lie: In January 2008, a Palestinian activist named Ali Abunimah described Barack Obama’s overnight switch from Pro-Palestinian activist to supporter of Israel.

Barack Obama is not distinguished from the rest of the [candidates], except by for how far he has moved to try to appease AIPAC and pro-Israel movements.

I remember, Amy—I knew Barack Obama for many years as my state senator—when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time.

I remember personally introducing him onstage in 1999, when we had a major community fundraiser for the community center in Deheisha refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. And that’s just one example of how Barack Obama used to be very comfortable speaking up for and being associated with Palestinian rights and opposing the Israeli occupation...

* * *

Obama's list of lies is getting so long, folks will soon need a data warehouse to keep track of everything.

Update: That was quick: "Obama's brilliant career as Defender of Israel lasts about one day."

Gateway Pundit has the essential summary.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

Sowell unspins Obama's fabrications


The brilliant Thomas Sowell unleashes the dogs of war on Barack Obama:

Despite clever spin from Obama’s supporters about avoiding “guilt by association,” much more is involved than casual association with people like Jeremiah Wright and Father Pfleger.

In addition to giving $20,000 of his own money to Jeremiah Wright, as a state senator Obama directed $225,000 of the Illinois taxpayers’ money for programs run by Father Pfleger. In the U.S. Senate, Obama earmarked $100,000 in federal tax money for Father Pfleger’s work. Giving someone more than 300 grand is not just some tenuous, coincidental association.

...Does anyone seriously consider what it would mean for Iran to have nuclear weapons? They are already supplying terrorists with the means of killing people in other countries, including killing American troops in Iraq.

Sen. Obama has been downplaying the Iran threat, saying that they are just “a small country,” not like the Soviet Union. The people who flew planes into the World Trade Center were an even smaller group than the Iranian government...

Hat tip: Carpe Diem.

My new bumper sticker


"Cap-and-Trade": the largest tax increase in U.S. history


What would you say to your Congressional representative if they told you they were going to raise taxes on gasoline by $0.53 a gallon?

Yeah, I know. It's not printable on a family blog.

Democrats are marketing a bill -- "The Climate Security Act" (also known as "Cap-and-Trade") -- which will do precisely that while sinking the economy into a deep recession as surely as night follows day.

The Lieberman-Warner bill (America's Climate Security Act) represents the largest tax increase in U.S. history and the biggest pork bill ever contemplated with trillions of dollars in giveaways. Well-heeled lobbyists are already plotting how to divide up the federal largesse... The federal Energy Information Administration says the bill would result in a 9.5% drop in manufacturing output and higher energy costs.

Senator George Voinovich said that the bill "could result in the most massive bureaucratic intrusion into the lives of Americans since the creation of the Internal Revenue Service."

Liberal blogger Matt Stoller ("The Cap-and-Trade Scam") notes that such a system is already used in Europe... to ill effect.

Given these numerous drawbacks, cap-and-trade’s principal justification appears to its political feasibility. Many environmental activists assume that a global cap-and-trade program is more achievable politically than global carbon taxes, because most of the world agreed to Kyoto and most people resist higher taxes. On close analysis, the Kyoto agreement is too weak to signify a meaningful consensus for an effective cap-and-trade system. As we will see, numerous analyses of Kyoto have found that it would have very little effect on climate change even over a 60-year period; and the first effort to apply it in an enforceable way, the European Emissions Trading Scheme, is expected to have virtually no effect on emissions.

Furthermore, the bill ignores the real polluters and instead penalizes the U.S., which is already among the cleanest of all countries on a per-capita basis.


Satellite data indicates that Beijing, China is the "air pollution capital of the world."


The World Bank has warned China is home to 16 of the Earth's 20 most air-polluted cities.


The World Resources Institute reports that, "air pollution in some Chinese cities is among the highest ever recorded, averaging more than ten times the standard proposed by the World Health Organization... In Beijing, 40 percent of autos surveyed and 70 percent of taxis failed to meet the most basic emission standards."


USA Today reports that, "[d]ecades of... pollution have allowed industrial poisons to leach into groundwater, contaminating drinking supplies and leading to a rash of cancers, residents say. In this village, where the air has a distinctive sour odor, the rate of cancer is more than 18 times the national average. In nearby Liukuaizhuang, it's 30 times the national figure..."


AFP discovered that an internal Chinese government report found that nearly half a million persons die per year from pollution. Experts believe that, "China's rapid industrialization is leading to increasing environmental damage, with air pollution likely to rise five-fold in 15 years at the current rate."


Iran is another interesting case. Its pollution problems are visible throughout the capital city of Tehran.


In a single year, 10,000 people have died from pollution-related causes in that city alone.

It begs the question: why "Cap-and-Trade"? Consider the beneficiaries of this massive new tax.

Ms. Boxer expects to scoop up auction revenues of some $3.32 trillion by 2050. Yes, that's trillion. Her friends in Congress are already salivating over this new pot of gold. The way Congress works, the most vicious floor fights won't be over whether this is a useful tax to create, but over who gets what portion of the spoils. In a conference call with reporters last Thursday, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry explained that he was disturbed by the effects of global warming on "crustaceans" and so would be pursuing changes to ensure that New England lobsters benefit from some of the loot.

...$802 billion would go for "relief" for low-income taxpayers... There's also $190 billion to fund training for "green-collar jobs," which are supposed to replace the jobs that will be lost in carbon-emitting industries. Another $288 billion would go to "wildlife adaptation," whatever that means, and another $237 billion to the states for the same goal. Some $342 billion would be spent on international aid, $171 billion for mass transit, and untold billions for alternative energy and research – and we're just starting.

Ms. Boxer would only auction about half of the carbon allowances; she reserves the rest for politically favored supplicants. These groups might be Indian tribes (big campaign donors!), or states rewarded for "taking the lead" on emissions reductions like Ms. Boxer's California. Those lucky winners would be able to sell those allowances for cash. The Senator estimates that the value of the handouts totals $3.42 trillion. For those keeping track, that's more than $6.7 trillion in revenue handouts so far.

The bill also tries to buy off businesses that might otherwise try to defeat the legislation. Thus carbon-heavy manufacturers like steel and cement will get $213 billion "to help them adjust," while fossil-fuel utilities will get $307 billion in "transition assistance." No less than $34 billion is headed to oil refiners. Given that all of these folks have powerful Senate friends, they will probably extract a larger ransom if cap and trade ever does become law.

In these turbulent economic times, Democrats are proposing to increase the price of gas, outsource millions of jobs to overseas providers, and create a massive new bureaucracy funded by your (additional) tax dollars.

The American Consumer summarizes the fatally flawed "Cap-and-Trade" approach.

By creating tradable financial assets worth tens of billions of dollars for governments to distribute among their industries and plants and then monitor, a global cap-and-trade program also introduces powerful incentives to cheat by corrupt and radical governments. Corrupt governments will almost certainly distribute permits in ways that favor their business supporters and understate their actual energy use and emissions.

Meanwhile, the world's worst polluters continue choking the atmosphere with toxic fumes and poisons.

Vote accordingly in 2008.

Google Maps: Traffic Predictions


They're as inevitable as death and taxes: more features from Google's services.

Google Maps now offers traffic predictions by day of the week and time of day. It's slicker than a fried bacon sandwich.

Breaking: Beckel says "shoe will drop on Obama... tomorrow"


Late-breaking email from Larwyn:

"shoe will drop on OBAMA regarding Michelle, tomorrow" Bob Beckel on FNC @ 6:23AM ET

He said he is hearing this from people he knows are credible. He thinks it is stupid of Repubs re timing.

He said it is a MAJOR SHOE. Was asked if it was worse than her thesis. He said much worse.

He also reported that all of Hillary's advance people were told to wrap it up in their states and return to HQ.

Now this could just be CLINTON COVERING HER TRACKS on the MAJOR SHOE!!

...We may be able to gauge the reality of the MAJOR SHOE by how many actually do come out TODAY. SHOE to drop tomorrow.

Getting tired of picking popcorn out of my teeth. Don Surber just announced he's switched to potato chips...

AJ Strata has the essential summary including alleged transcripts of the tape from two liberal blogs

Err... Pass the Twizzlers.

Update: RezkoWatch has more crucial info. Linked by: Instapundit, AJ Strata, The Anchoress, MarathonPundit, Michael Williams and STACLU. Thanks!

Monday, June 02, 2008

The photo Democrats never wanted you to see


"Ah don't care whatcha said... y'all doin' anything later while your husband's on the campaign trail?

1976: Hope and Change


Set the Wayback Machine to 1976, Mr. Peabody, to a time when hope and change were the watchwords of the Democratic Party.

Kind of like now.

Watch the commercial and shudder.

Photo o' the day: Mortarball


Via Pat Dollard.

Mortarball: the world's loudest sport.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Does the agreed-upon terminology include 'stinking corpse'?



Barack Obama's campaign website:

Diplomacy: Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.