Thursday, January 31, 2008

Your Handy Candidate Comparison Chart

 
Whip it out in the voting booth on Super Tuesday (hat tips: Hugh Hewitt and Dan Riehl).

Support amnesty or rewards for illegal aliensYesYesYesNo
Oppose oil exploration in the USYesYesYesNo
Tax gas 50 cents a gallon more for global warmingYesYesYesNo
Restrict freedom of speech during electionsYesYesYesNo
Oppose Bush tax cutsYesYesYesNo
Close Gitmo, prosecute POWs in U.S. courtsYesYesYesNo
Surrender Iraq to IranYesYesNoNo

Vote accordingly.

Linked by: Ace o' Spades, AmerPundit, Conservative Belle, Freedom Folks, Gateway Pundit, Gina Cobb, GM Roper, Grizzly Groundswell, Inoperable Terran, Miss Kelly, and Pike Speak. Thanks!

The Time Tunnel

 

Welcome to another episode of... The Time Tunnel.

Bucky, I don't get it. What are we doing here?

Sir, we're dialing back the Time Tunnel to the era of the last Republican to run against a Clinton...

Why? Who cares?

We need to see what went wrong last time. Get some advice.

Especially if we have to run against Bill again. I mean Hillary. I mean both.

It's spinning up...

WHEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOOEEEOOO...

What the hell is that?

Bob Dole? Is that you?

Don't make the same mistake I did, Johnny.

You're an elderly war hero. I was an elderly war hero.

So what?

We already tried this. And lost. Badly. To Bill Clinton, no less.

You're tickin' me off, Bob! Why are you acting like such a nay-sayer?

Johnny, boy, it's a lot more fun getting free Viagra for life than running for President.

And it ain't gonna be any fun running against two Clintons...

Turn this freakin' machine off, Bucky! Now!!

G'bye, Johnny... don't say I didn't warn ya...

Sir, do you feel like dialing up another great Republican from the past?

Real funny, Bucky, real f****ng funny.

This climate-change situation is getting out of control

 
I spotted this "urgent winter weather" alert this morning. Al Gore is right - this climate-change thing is getting out of hand.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Hillary Clinton: the "Worst Abuser of Earmarks" in Congress

 
Twice in one year? Linking to the Huffington Post? No, I'm not feverish. John K. Wilson's "Clinton By Far Worst Abuser of Earmarks" is a must-read.

In the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill Hillary Clinton received 261 earmarks, more than five times the number of any other presidential candidate. According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, Clinton obtained 360 earmarks worth $2.2 billion from 2002 to 2006. This record establishes her as by far the worst abuser of earmarks among all presidential candidates in both parties.

Clinton's earmarks are an important issue for Democrats who worry about the growing corporate control over their party. But the earmark issue may be even more important in the general election because it could become the swing issue this fall allowing the presidency to remain in Republican hands.

Hillary Clinton's $1 million earmark for a museum to celebrate the 1969 Woodstock music festival could become one of the biggest issues of the 2008 campaign... [that] earmark raises further questions about [a] corrupt system... On June 21, 2007, Clinton and Charles Schumer's $1 million earmark for the Woodstock museum was approved by a Senate committee. Nine days later, billionaire Republican Alan Gerry, the driving force behind the museum, donated (with his wife) the maximum of $9,200 to Clinton's presidential campaign. That same week, Gerry and his family gave $20,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee run by Schumer. Since 2005, the Gerrys have donated $18,600 to Clinton.

This wasn't the only Clinton earmark in 2007 to raise questions about timing. On June 27, 2007, Clinton and Schumer earmarked $900,000 for the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where James D. Watson was the chancellor until he resigned in October 2007 for making racist remarks. Watson has donated more than $70,000 to political candidates and PACs, and gave $3,000 to Clinton's presidential campaign on May 17 and June 25...

A quid pro quo? Donations for earmarks? And Hillary's behavior smells like rotten fish heads? Who'da thunk it?

In 100 words or less, what's wrong with the world?

 
The incomparable Anchoress invites responses to the following question from readers and bloggers:

In 100 words or less, what's wrong with the world?

One hundred years ago, a British newspaper issued a similar challenge to its readers.

I'll place my answer in the comments. Feel free to do the same. I'll post noteworthy answers in updates to this post.


Per the Anchoress, maybe a good bitchfest will make us all feel better.

The Millau Viaduct

 
Email from Papa B.

Would you be apprehensive about driving across this bridge?

The Millau viaduct is part of the new E11 expressway connecting Paris and Barcelona and features the highest bridge piers ever constructed. The tallest 240 meters (787 feet) high and the overall height is an impressive 336 meters (1102 feet), making this the highest bridge in the world. It is taller than the Eiffel Tower.

Intriguingly, the Millau Viaduct is not straight. A straight road could induce a sensation of floating for drivers, which a slight curve remedies. The curve is 20km in range. Moreover, the road has a light incline of 3% to improve the visibility and reassure the driver.


It is an amazing engineering feat!


Wikipedia has more details on the Millau Viaduct

Clinton and Obama accuse each other of voter suppression

 
The Journal's Jackie Calmes is covering a campaign tactic that can only be described as disgusting. And Clintonian. But I repeat myself.

Five months after all Democratic candidates agreed Florida and Michigan wouldn't get delegates to the August presidential convention, Hillary Clinton now says they should -- a reversal that would benefit her now that she has won both states, unchallenged, following Tuesday's Florida primary.

But that, some Democrats fear, could ignite a racially charged fight rivaling conventions of the 1960s, should her contest against Barack Obama remain close to the end.

[If the tactic as used] to defeat Illinois Sen. Obama, who is trying to become the first black president, "the most loyal constituency in the Democratic Party" -- African-Americans -- "will feel that they've been shut out of the party," he added. "And that will have huge repercussions -- not just at the presidential level, but in every race where African-American support can determine the outcome."

In September, the Democratic presidential candidates signed a pledge refusing to campaign in the states... Among the major Democratic candidates, only Sen. Clinton agreed to keep her name on Michigan's ballot. Supporters of Sen. Obama and former Sen. Edwards urged their voters to choose "uncommitted," in a bid to hold down her margin. The result was about 55% for Sen. Clinton and 40% uncommitted.

...Already the racial overtones are worrying party officials. The Clinton and Obama campaigns have traded charges of "voter suppression" in Nevada, South Carolina and Florida. Last week, before Saturday's South Carolina primary, Obama supporter Dick Harpootlian, a former state Democratic Party chairman, said he would be a poll watcher on primary day and "call the sheriff" if he saw Clinton supporters intimidating voters...

If nothing else, the story reminds me of a parable.

A young boy was trudging along a mountain path, trying to reach her grandmother's house. It was bitter cold, and the wind cut like a knife. When he was within sight of his destination, he heard a rustle at his feet.

Looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke. It said, "I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food in these mountains, and I am starving. Please put me under your coat and take me with you."

"No," replied the boy. "I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and your bite is poisonous."

"No, no," said the snake. "If you help me, you will be my best friend. I will treat you differently."

The little boy sat down on a rock for a moment to rest and think things over. He looked at the beautiful markings on the snake and had to admit that it was the most beautiful snake she had ever seen.

Suddenly, he said, "I believe you. I will save you. All living things deserve to be treated with kindness."

The little boy reached over, put the snake gently under her coat and proceeded toward his grandmother's house. Within a moment, he felt a sharp pain in her side. The snake had bitten him.

"How could you do this to me?" he cried. "You promised that you would not bite me, and I trusted you!"

"You knew what I was when you picked me up," hissed the snake as it slithered away.

Obama, you knew what she was when you entered this race.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

When cigarette ads were legal

 
You may remember this dude, wearing the world's largest collar, from the movie Boogie Nights.

Flammable face paint and a stray ash spelled a quick demise for Camel's "Smoking Clown" campaign.

Nothing says "celebrity endorsement" like Don Carter and his wife stroking the ol' lane blaster while puffing on Viceroys.

Mmmm. Low tar? That sounds delicious!

Let me see if I understand: I'm supposed to grab a dancing cylinder -- that's singing "Taste Me!" -- and stick it in my mouth? Riiiiiiiiight.

Mildness. Just what I think of when I see a hatchet-faced Lee Marvin stand-in who looks to be packing heat.

Sheriff Carl McCoy holds down a man's job. That's why he shoves cigarettes into his ammo belt instead of bullets.

If I remember correctly, Accuray sold radioactive sensing devices used to ensure product consistency. Remember, consumers, radiation and nicotine make for an addictively glowing experience!

A beautiful babe, a tiger, and a shotgun. Time to fire up a Parliament and ignite a massive brushfire.

* * *

I had to modify at least one of these things.

Hat tip: AdClassix

Good day?

 
Email from an unnamed guy named Chris.

When you walk out the door in the morning and see this in the sky...

Just go back in the house, pour another cup of coffee, and stay there. It probably isn't going to be a good day.

Hope Floats

 
Morris & McGann:

...Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the voters of South Carolina may have personally tolled the death knell for the Clintons’ reprehensible politics of personal destruction...

Remember how the Clintonites released Linda Tripp’s confidential employment files to Jane Mayer of The New Yorker after Clinton hit man Harold Ickes met with Tripp’s boss? Years later, the Department of Defense settled a lawsuit with Tripp for over $600,000 for invading her privacy. And then there were the stories branding Monica Lewinsky as a ‘stalker’ who was trying to hurt the president? Those were traced back to Sidney Blumenethal, a Clinton White House adviser, and the author of the right wing conspiracy theory that Hillary so loves. Of course, then it turned out that this ‘stalker’ had been called by the President from the White House hundreds of time and invited into the Oval Office for sex in the private kitchen. Then there was Gennifer Flowers –smeared by George Stephanopoulos and James Carville as a liar and opportunist. Eventually, Bill Clinton admitted under oath that he, in fact, had a sexual relationship with Flowers... And none of these folks have ever apologized for their as the brass knuckles enforcers of the Clintons.

Now the voters of South Carolina and the Kennedys have stepped forward and openly challenged the tawdry Clinton politics of personal destruction, their hit job on Obama, their use of the race card, their claims of dynastic privilege...

And Ted Kennedy, in his lofty endorsement of Obama, served notice on the Clintons that the days of their politics of personal destruction are over...

Apparently Senator Kennedy called the Clintons last week and demanded an immediate end to their transparent racial politics and attempts to destroy Obama. They ignored him. After the polls closed, Bill Clinton’s surly and irrelevant reference to Jesse Jackson’s showing in South Carolina twenty years ago was meant to diminish Obama’s victory. But the press and the public – and apparently Senator Kennedy – caught the unattractive performance on YouTube.

Hat tip: AdClassix. With apologies to the original National Lampoon.

The "Smart" Car

 
Daimler-Benz Smart Car
Est. Cost: $12,000 to $24,000, depending upon options
Mileage: city 33 mpg, highway 40 mpg
Base warranty: two years or 24,000 miles.

Toyota Yaris
Est. Cost: $11,300 to $18,000, depending upon options
Mileage: city 29 mpg, highway 36 mpg
Base warranty: three years or 36,000 miles (drivetrain 5 years or 60,000 miles).

So, which car is the "smart" car?

Monday, January 28, 2008