Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Gee, High Prices Drive Down Consumption -- Markets Work

U.S. motorists, paying record prices for gasoline, drove less for a seventh consecutive month in May, pointing toward the first annual drop in road travel since 1980.

``$4 per gallon may have been the trigger point we've been looking for,'' said Kenneth McGill, managing director for travel and tourism at consulting firm Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts. ``It's interesting to see Americans finally reacting to the price of gasoline by rationing consumption.''

Vehicle-miles traveled on all U.S. roads fell 3.7 percent in May from a year earlier, the Federal Highway Administration said in a report today. The seven-month slide is the longest streak since 1979, agency spokesman Doug Hecox said.
DKK
Bloomberg News

Psycho B-woman In Congress Is Going to Save The World -- Her Plan Is Like Cutting Off Oxygen To Prevent Starvation!

 Nancy Pelosi, our hero!
“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she says impatiently when questioned. “I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy
 She's Superman!  The Dark Knight!  Spiderman!  Ironman!  All rolled into one -- with a huge chip on her shoulder.

“The goal,” she says, “is to give an answer to people who all over the country say to me, ‘How did you go from the kitchen to the Congress, being a housewife to the House speaker?’ And it was just a short little story of that.”
Seriously, I could care less -- what kind of small minded world does Nancy live in where people believe anyone cares anymore -- HEY NANCY, IT'S THE 21ST CENTURY!

How can not drilling our own oil save the world if, as her party keeps repeating, there isn't very much oil there anyway?  What, Alan Colmes always said in the past was that there is only 6 months worth in ANWR -- that won't destroy the world but it does allow her to expand her control over every aspect of your life!


Hey Nancy, maybe if you weren't so bitter and stuck in the last century you could actually worry about America and by extension the world, because if you drive our economy into the ground I guarantee you that the rest of the world is going to get there faster and harder!. 


Withholding access to US oil to save the world is like withholding oxygen today to keep someone from maybe starving to death in 10 years or so.

What kind of mental illness leads one lady to believe that she alone can save the world?  She is more likely to starve millions all for the sake of that ego driven psychosis.
DKK
Politico writes a fawning piece on Nancy Pelosi!

Daily Trek -- July 29, 2008

What'd I miss?

Everything you need to know to stay informed each day in 5 minutes or less!  Read your regular news and include this and you will be able to participate in most any current events discussion.
---------------------------
Clear Channel unveiled online radio network of more then 900 stations.

The US could be headed for orange alert level (heightened) because of so many high profile events (Olympics, two conventions, election).

John Voight wrote a scathing Op-Ed that hits Obama and the Democrats hard, it's pretty good and true.

Did Chavez get taken by China?  Chavez bought tons of new equipment with the understanding that China would build a refinery that can handle his dirty oil, but they don't appear to have held up their end.

Amadinejad says he met with a Presidential Candidate during his visit to NY last year.  He was left with the impression that Americans and the world are with him.  I don't buy it, I think the guys is bat shit crazy!

First the state of IL doesn't seem to have hardly any of Obama's State Senate papers and now Columbia can't seem to locate his senior thesis!

Bob Novak was diagnosed in Boston with a brain tumor.

The AP is completely unbiased, right:
Republicans on Saturday blocked the Senate from considering a bill next week that would nearly double federal aid to help the poor pay heating and air-conditioning bills
Although a dozen Senate Republicans support the measure, most voted with GOP leaders who would rather spend the time trumpeting their call to expand offshore oil drilling before Congress takes six weeks off for vacation and the presidential nominating conventions.
SEIU is under investigation for forcing its members to pay dues into a their PAC that is used to support Democrats.

Al-Qaeda chemical weapons expert Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar was Monday in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan.

The rest of the world is gobbling up all the gas, oil, and coal they can get, and laughing while the Democrats and eco-wackos force us to diddle.
--------------------------------------
Apologies to Say Anything Blog -- their server is down again and I can't get the links to some of the posts above so I used to original sources.
DKK

While Obama Shuns Preconditions Prior To Meeting With Iran, They Make It Clear That Their Preconditions Be Met Before Meeting

Recent interviews I've held with three authoritative Iranians suggest that Tehran will have preconditions of its own. Before coming to the table, these Iranians say, the United States would first have to end its "hostile policies" toward their country. The most important step pushed by all three is one already promised by Obama: setting a timetable for the complete withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq. Other moves, however—like ending economic sanctions—would conflict with Obama's campaign pledges and be even more controversial in Washington.
DKK
Newsweek

Hope In One Hand And Sh*t In The Other -- See Which One Get Filled Up Quicker

Of course sane people know the answer is the other hand, right?

However, not everyone is sane anymore. MoveOn is now convinced that hope is all we have left -- and it will lead to a chicken in every pot!
DKK

Gateway Pundit: Stupidest. Liberal. MoveOn.org. Ad. Ever.

The Obama Rainbow Tour -- After The Tour Hangover

There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? 

Evita - Rainbow Tour
The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.…

As for the difference between the tracking and USA TODAY/Gallup polls, Frank [Newport, chief Gallup pollster,] says not to read too much into it. “Statistical noise” may be largely to blame.

...

The percentage of adults 18 to 29 who say they’re likely to vote has dropped < em>20 points since March. But why?
Hot Air

Why Do Europeans Love Obama?  Victor Davis Hansen.

If the story behind the story of the canceled troop visit has run its course, one question remains: Why didn’t Mr. Obama leave his aides behind, even the retired general, and make the visit by himself?
“Even him going alone would likely be characterized by some as a political event,” Mr. Gibbs said in an interview on Monday, adding, “He decided not to put the troops in that position.”
Patterico

Obama's answer to his lack of a bump and his inability to even match the lead his party has in the polling numbers -- drum roll -- racism!
Answer: Pretty well. He’s not playing the race card. From Newsday:
“The point is, with change comes some risk, and I combine two things,” he said. One is a shift in policies, the other a biography he said will take people time to process. “They’re going to keep their powder dry and get as much information as they can the next three months,” he added.
Don Surber


DKK

Church Shooter -- More Info

Despite the reports that stated he had a problem with Christians, reports to date say that Jim D. Adkisson had a problem with the liberal beliefs of the Unitarian Church itself.

The actual reasons will come out as the investigation continues.
DKK

Monday, July 28, 2008

Sanctuary Policies -- Increased Crime

Sanctuary County:
Overall crime in Fairfax County increased by nearly 22 percent for the first quarter 2008 compared to first quarter figures from last year.

Overall, property crimes, including burglary, larceny and car theft increased 24 percent, echoing “what appears to be happening in other localities in the region,” police said.
County Without Sanctuary:
Recently, Prince William County reported a 19.3 percent decline in crime, with chairman of the Board of County Supervisors Corey Stewart attributing the downturn to the hard line the county has taken toward illegal immigrants.
Right next door to each other.
DKK
Michelle Malkin -- Sanctuary v. enforcement in neighboring counties: a natural experiment.

Gove Schwarzenegger Vetoes Global Warming Indoctination!

California public students will stick to reading, writing and arithmetic, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided as he vetoed a bill late Friday that would have required climate change be added to schools’ curriculum.The measure, sponsored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, also would have required future science textbooks to include climate change as a subject.In January, the state Senate approved the bill, SB 908, by a 26-13 vote.

Only two Republicans supported the proposal.In his veto statement, Schwarzenegger said he supported education that spotlights the dangers of climate change. However, the Republican governor said he was opposed to educational mandates from Sacramento.”I continue to believe that the state should refrain from being overly prescriptive in specific school curriculum, beyond establishing rigorous academic standards,” he said.

Schwarzenegger added that the state’s Integrated Waste Management Board’s Office of Education and Environment, along with California’s Environmental Protection Agency, are creating an environmental curriculum for K-12 students that includes climate change issues.Simitian had said his bill wouldn’t dictate what to teach; rather, it would require the state Board of Education and state Department of Education to decide how the topic would be covered and which grades would study it.

While global warming is included in high school classes as it pertains to weather, the subject is not required to be covered in all textbooks, according to the California Science Teachers Association.
Watts Up With That

General Petraeus Isn't Jumping On The Obama/Media Band Wagon For A Timetable

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq isn't buying the increasingly popular idea of a publicly stated timetable for American troop withdrawal.

Gen. David Petraeus, the Iraq commander, said in an interview with McClatchy that the situation in Iraq is too volatile to "project out, and to then try to plant a flag on a particular date."
McClatchy

Energy Equals Prosperity -- There Is No Replacement Yet -- That's Why The Eco-waco's Want It Regulated Out Of Existance!

To judge by actions, not words, the carbon-warming view hasn't come close to persuading a political majority even in nations considered far more environmentally enlightened than China and India. Europe's coal consumption is rising, not falling, and the Continent won't come close to meeting the Kyoto targets for carbon reduction. Australia is selling coal to all comers.

On the far side of the environmental curtain China already mines and burns more coal than any other country. Together, China and India control more than one-fifth of the planet's vast coal reserves. Dar predicts--very plausibly, in my view--that the two countries may fire up a new coal plant as often as once a week for the next 25 years, adding about twice as much coal-fired generating capacity as the U.S. has today. Persian Gulf states are planning significant coal imports, because coal generates much cheaper electricity than oil or gas.

In developing countries the political survival of the people at the top depends on providing affordable fuel for kitchens, farms, fertilizer plants, steel mills, highways and power plants. Oil and coal are the only practical fuels at hand.
DKK
Instapundit

It's The Gas Pump, Stupid!


DON WADE:  HOW TO GET ELECTED IN 2008 
The new bumper sticker for this year’s winning political campaign, regardless of who the candidate is, will be:
                                    IT'S THE GAS PUMP, STUPID!
Because the American people want one thing more than anything: their American lifestyle. And that lifestyle is threatened by a couple of things:
1. Oil prices
2. Environmental extremists
The winning political message is going to be:
You elect me, and I will vote yes ---to drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico.
You elect me, and I will vote yes ---to drilling for oil off the Atlantic Coast and the Pacific
                                                        Coast.
You elect me, and I will vote yes ---to drilling in Alaska’s Anwar.
You elect me, and I will vote yes ---to oil shale extraction in Colorado.
I will vote yes for more refinery construction.
I will vote yes to nuclear power plants.
I will vote yes to wind farms and hydro-electric dams.
I will vote yes to subsidizing research into alternative energy sources.
Vote for me and my energy plan will radically reduce your gasoline price at the pump.
Vote for me and every product you buy at the supermarket will come down in price radically because the energy to produce it will plummet. 
Vote for me because I want what you want… the American way of life.
                                                                                              
I don’t know which candidate will express this message, but the one who does… will win. And that’s not just the presidential race, that’s in the congressional races, as well.
If you embrace that message, you will be elected because that’s what Americans want. 
                                    IT'S THE GAS PUMP, STUPID!

Don Wade AM co-host of the Don Wade and Roma show on WLS
DKK

Daily Trek -- July 28. 2008

What'd I miss?

Everything you need to know to stay informed each day in 5 minutes or less!  Read your regular news and include this and you will be able to participate in most any current events discussion.
---------------------------
Odd, that as Europe's left is having a hard time staying alive, much of this country seems enamored of the most radically leftist candidate ever

Islamic terrorists took credit for a bombing in India, one of many recent attacks.  The NYTimes fails to identify them as such.

Are you ready for your kids to become Climate Cops and report on climate crimes?

US Lawyer Urges Iran to Sue US Over Nukes


AUSTIN BAY SAID A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO that Moqtada al-Sadr was going to die the death of a thousand cuts. And now even the New York Times is noticing that that's what's happpened.

How does Al Gore's recent call for radical changes in energy production and transmission add up in the real world?  Did I mention Al Gore is an idiot? 

Two blasts rock Istanbul, Turkey, killing 17.
-------------------------------
DKK

He Hated Christians and Christianity -- Shotgun Wielding Man Kills 2 In Church!

A shotgun-wielding man opened fire at a Tennessee Unitarian church during a children's play Sunday, killing two adults and wounding seven more before worshippers tackled him, officials said. A suspect, Jim Adkisson, 58, was charged with one count of first-degree murder, a city official said.

CNN

The man accused of a mass church shooting this morning was described by his Powell neighbors as a helpful and kind man, but one who had issues with Christianity.
Knoxville News
DKK 

Put Him On The 'Dead List' -- That Is Where He Was Willing To Put You!

Shia LaBeouf was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving Sunday after an early morning wreck in which the "Indiana Jones" star injured his hand and knee, authorities said.
CNN

It is time this came to an end.  Look, I don't care if he drinks or whores around or even falls so low that he is seen getting out Paris Hilton's car without his underwear!

I do, however, care when these idiot 'movie stars' get on the road and drive when they are so toasted that they risk killing and maiming innocent people.  People who just happened to be in the way of this jerk who is just earning his street cred that ends up enhancing his star power. 

That needs to stop!

It is time Americans shun these stars!  Over 40,000 people are killed on our highways every year and alcohol is implicated in 40% of those deaths!  Celebrities treat DUI's like a badge of honor and it is becoming more common and accepted then smoking is today.

I suggest starting a celebrity, 'Dead List,' where those foolish enough to drink and drive languish for a minimum of two years.  They get no movies, no interviews, and the paparazzi ignore them.    They are willing to put you and I on the permanent Dead List without thinking each and every time one of these false heroes get behind the wheel drunk! 

They need to know that there is a real penalty.  Not the slap on the wrist the courts give, but something serious enough to get their attention!  Something like two years in obscurity!

I would be more inclined to go see Transformers II if the studio announced that Shia was on the 'dead list' and they had to use someone else.
DKK

'Dead List' -- Celebrities who should be shunned for two years because they were willing to kill you and I without giving it a second thought!  

Shia LaBeouf -- Date Added -- July 28, 2008. Earliest date eligible for our attention July 28, 2010!;

Democrats Are Lost In ANWR Wilderness -- Even Snopes Reports The Truth!

Snopes -- The Truth About ANWR.

How Not To Deal With Terrorists -- It Isn't Bush That Fueled Terrorism -- It Is The Democrats!

The message was, "You had these opportunities, America. You didn't do anything," FBI agent George Crouch Jr. testified Friday at Salim Hamdan's war crimes trial.

The United States could have killed bin Laden in Khartoum, Sudan, before he moved to Afghanistan in 1996, Hamdan told his interrogators. They could have killed him after al Qaida's 1998 twin bombings at the U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Or after the October 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole, at the port of Aden in Yemen, which left 17 U.S. sailors dead.

Instead, "Bin Laden was emboldened." So he struck with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, leaving nearly 3,000 dead.
DKK
Gateway Pundit -- OBL's Driver: Clinton Administration Emboldened Bin Laden

The Obama Rainbow Tour -- Day 9 -- Returns Home -- Visits Doctor!

There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? 

Evita - Rainbow Tour


Just back from an eight-day trip to the Middle East and Europe, Barack Obama went to see a doctor Sunday night at the University of Chicago Medical Center to examine a sore hip.

"His hip has been sore from basketball for a few weeks, so he's going to see an orthopedic doctor," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
...
Obama left the hospital less than an hour after entering, telling a pool reporter that he had some X-rays done because of a basketball injury but "It's all good." "I think I'm going to be good in about a week."
It says more about John McCain that he appears to be the one with the physical stamina doesn't it. -- CNN

 Barack Obama: The Child - The Messiah - The Obamessiah 


Now that he has returned home it is time to ask if we are ready for a Post-America President?

At US News & World Report, Paul Bedard whispers that Blackwater handled Barack Obama’s security during his trip to Afghanistan and helped in Iraq:
What’s more, Obama was overheard saying: “Blackwater is getting a bad rap.”
Protein Wisdom

Did Barack Obama’s tour of Asia and Europe impress voters?  By and large, no, according to a Fox Opinion Dynamics poll.  A large plurality, almost a majority, saw it exclusively as a campaign event and almost three-quarters believe that it was at least in part a campaign event.  Only 19% thought it was exclusively a fact-finding tour in polling completed the day before Obama took the stage in Berlin.   
Two thirds believe the media wants Obama to win, the rest are those cocooned goofs that bought those Fox Blockers a few years ago when they were all the rage.

Barack Obama now leads John McCain among national registered voters by a 49% to 40% margin in Gallup Poll Daily tracking conducted July 24-26.

McCain responds to Obama canceling his visit to Landstuhl Hospital:
In Landstuhl, Germany, when I went through, I visited the hospital. But the important thing is that, if I had been told by the Pentagon that I couldn’t visit those troops, and I was there and wanted to be there, I guarantee you, there would have been a seismic event. And so, I believe he had the opportunity to go without the media. And I’ll let the facts speak for themselves.
Hot Air

With Obama's triumphant return to America, in essence his return to 'dance with the one that brought ya' I present you with the Rainbow Tour from Evita!



[Peron:]
People of Europe, I send you the Rainbow of Argentina

[Che:]
Spain has fallen to the charms of Evita
She can do what she likes, it doesn't matter much
[Aide #1:]
She's our lady of the new world with a golden touch
[Aide #2:]
She filled a bull-ring, forty-five thousand seater
[Che:]
But if you're prettier than General Franco, that's not hard

[Aide #1:]
Franco's reign in Spain should see out the forties
So you've just acquired an ally who
Looks as secure in his job as you
[Aide #2:]
But more important current political thought is
Your wife's a phenomenal asset, your trump card

[Chorus:]

[Peron and Aides:]
Let's hear it for the Rainbow Tour
It's been an incredible success
We weren't quite sure, we had a few doubts

[Peron:] Will Evita win through?
[Aides:] But the answer is yes

[Peron:]
There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now?

[Che:]
Now I don't like to spoil a wonderful story
But the news from Rome isn't quite as good
She hasn't gone down like they thought she would
Italy's unconvinced by Argentine glory
They equate Peron with Mussolini, can't think why

[Eva:]
Did you hear that? They called me a whore!
They actually called me a whore!

[Italian admiral:]
But Signora Peron it's an easy mistake
I'm still called an admiral
Yet I gave up the sea long ago

[Aide #2:]
More bad news from Rome; she met with the Pope
She only got a rosary, a kindly word
[Che:]
I wouldn't say the Holy Father gave her the bird
But papal decorations, never a hope
[Aide #1:]
She still looked the part at St. Peter's, caught the eye

[chorus]

[Peron:] Will Evita win through?
[Aides:] But the answer is ...
[Che:] A qualified
[Aides:] Yes

[Che:]
Eva started well, no question, in France
Shining like a sun through the post-war haze
A beautiful reminder of the care-free days
She nearly captured the French, she sure had the chance
But she suddenly seemed to lose interest
She looked tired

[Che:]
Face the facts, the Rainbow's starting to fade
I don't think she'll make it to England now

[Aide #1:]
It wasn't on the schedule anyhow

[Che:]
You'd better get out the flags and fix a parade
Some kind of coming home in triumph is required

[chorus]

[Aide #2:] Would Evita win through?
[Aide #1:] And the answer is
[Aide #2:] Yes
[Che:] And no
[Aides:] And yes
[Che:] And no
[Aides:] And yes
[Che:] No

[chorus]

[Aides:] Would Evita win through? But the answer is
[Aide #2:] Yes
[Aide #1:] Yes
[Aide #2:] Yes

----------------------------
DKK

Vice Chair Joint Chiefs Returns To Rockford -- Dedicates Memorial To Honor Fallen Korean Heroes!

On the drive through Rockford Sunday, Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright felt several emotions seeing the area where he grew up.

Cartwright, 58, graduated from the former West High School. Now, after 37 years in the Marines, he is vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making him the nation’s second-highest ranking military officer.

He returned to his hometown to speak at the dedication of the Tri-County Korean War Memorial.
...
“Should it be called the forgotten war?” he asked. “I think if you look around today, you know it is not the forgotten war.”

Several hundred people came in military uniforms, church clothes, T-shirts and jeans for Sunday afternoon’s dedication.

Hundreds from Northern Illinois gathered to honor those who fell in service to the Nation.

Photos of the General and the memorial at the link.
DKK
Register Star

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Daily Trek -- July 27, 2008

Just A Daily Trek and Rainbow Tour update today.

What'd I miss?

Everything you need to know to stay informed each day in 5 minutes or less!  Read your regular news and include this and you will be able to participate in most any current events discussion.
---------------------------
:Michael Barone says that the American people have begun to turn against the environmentalists after having a dash of cold water — or expensive gasoline — splashed in their faces.  They have awakened to the overblown catastrophe fantasies and have started demanding common sense policy from Washington.  And those politicians who stand it the way may find themselves looking for a new job" (Hot Air)

Spanish Police have arrested one of the financial coordinators of FARC.  Terrorism crackdowns continue as France arrest 5 ETA Basque terrorists.

 Yet at the same time 1/3 of Muslim students in Britain believe honor killings for religious reasons is justified.

Sending more troops to Afghanistan could backfire, experts say that mirrors what I said here.

Shiite Militia in Baghdad Sees Its Power Ebb -- Militias power diminished, So says the NY Times!  But that wasn't possible, earlier they had said it was a civil war that we couldn't solve with the surge!

The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. -- So says the AP, what, even the AP says it now?

What is an Organ Donor Car?  One of the trendy small cars that could prove dangerous on the wrong side of an accident at highway speeds!

Ahmadinejad brags about 5 or 6 thousand centrifuges!  All the better to process weapons grade uranium.

School choice is working -- in the heart of Euro-socialism, Sweden!

McCain met with the Dalai Lama!  It should be big news and it may still, but this week it's all about Barack isn't it!
-------------------------------------------
DKK

The Obama Rainbow Tour -- Day 8 -- London, The Man Needs A Vacation (So He Is Told!)

There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? 

Evita - Rainbow Tour



Today, retired Lt. Colonel Joe Repya issued the following statement on Barack Obama’s cancelled visit to Ramstein and Landstuhl:
“The most solemn duty of a commander in chief is to fulfill his responsibility to the men and women who serve this country in uniform. Barack Obama had scheduled a visit with wounded American troops who have served with honor and distinction in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he broke that commitment, instead flitting from one European capital to the next. Several explanations were offered, none was convincing and each was at odds with the statements of American military leaders in Germany and Washington. For a young man so apt at playing president, Barack Obama badly misjudged the important demands of the office he seeks. Visits with world leaders and speeches to cheering Europeans shouldn’t be a substitute for comforting injured American heroes.”
Hot Air


"Times of London: 'Barack Obama: He came. He saw. He, er, left.',
Hold the coronation.
The JFK-wannabe did not win every heart in Europe."  
Includes a summary of quite a few reviews of his visit. Don Surber 
'You should be on the beach... You need a break' So says the leader of the Tories in Britain, David Cameron.
I do think that’s entirely conditions-based. It’s hard to anticipate where we may be six months from now, or a year from now, or a year and a half from now.
Barack Obama flipping back or back again or, does anyone really know, on Iraq troop levels.

Even as Barack sweeps through Europe some wonder about the rest of the world, "Barack Obama promised his Kenyan family members and villagers that he would assist their school but has failed to honour his pledge."

95% of base wanted nothing to do with him. I have met three troops who support him, and literally hundreds who regard him as a buffoon, a charlatan, a hindrance to their mission or a flat out enemy of progress. Even when the rumors were publicly admitted, almost no one left their duty sections to try to see him, unless they were officers whose presence was officially required.
So, how did that visit to the troops in Iraq go? Gateway Pundit


As thousands waited at the Sieges Saule monument in Berlin to hear Obama's sensational speech, a BILD reporter met Barack all alone - in the gym! Here's the incredible account of Judith Bonesky's meeting...

It's 16:02pm and I've been training in the gym of the Ritz Carlton hotel in Berlin. A man in a suit approaches me and says: "Barack Obama is about to come and train ..." Shortly after half past four and he actually arrives! Barack Obama is wearing a grey t-shirt, black tracksuit bottoms - and a great smile!

"Hi, how's it going?" asks Obama in his deep voice. My heart beats. "Very good, and you?" I say. Obama replies: "Very good, thank you!" (HT: Media Blog at NRO)
Simply orgasmic isn't he!  Glad he could work out instead of visit the troops!  American Thinker

In Berlin, hundreds of thousands will cheer a projection rather than a flesh-and-blood Obama on Thursday. After Inauguration Day, alas, Europe and the world will not face a Dreamworks president, but the leader of a superpower. Whether McCain or Obama, the 44th president will speak more nicely than did W. in his first term. He will also pay more attention to the "decent opinions of mankind." But he will still preside over the world's largest military, economic, and cultural power.

This vast power differential is what Germans and Europeans don't quite fathom in their infatuation with Obama. Their problem was not Mr. Bush, but Mr. Big--America as Behemoth Among the Nations, unwilling to succumb to the dictates of goodness that animate post-heroic, post-imperial, and post-sovereign Europe.
...The press certainly helped Obama get so far so fast; the question is, how far can he get if his campaign alienates them?...
...But, as Obama ascended from underdog to front-runner to presumptive nominee, the flame seems to have dwindled. Reporters who cover Obama these days grouse that Obama's flacks shroud the campaign in secrecy and provide little to no access. "They're more disciplined than the Bush people," a reporter on the Obama trail gripes...
More from TNR via Ace Of Spades
DKK

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Fox News Reports -- Obama Lowers Expectations, "May Be A Drop In Poll Numbers," From Overseas Campaigning

Reported on Fox and Friends today, but not online yet.  And since Redlasso has been shut by the likes of Fox News I can't show you.

Update:  Here you go -- NY Times reporting some of the same sentiments as Fox.

Perhaps he read this Rasmussen poll where 63% of Americans say his trip doesn't make him more fit to be President.  I think that was due to an error in judgment, he just couldn't help doing the German rally instead of just meeting the leaders of the world.  It made it look just like another campaign stop (in a country that can't vote) rather then a fact finding, experience gaining trip.


Power and Control makes this very excellent point:

In any case the differential between American growth rates and European growth rates is going to widen the divide. What can the Europeans do? Become more like Americans. In that sense his speech shows that Obama is going in the wrong direction. Americans do not want to join the European league (the phrase in America is bush league - har). He should at the very least be thinking of dragging Europe our way, rather than making efforts to drag America to theirs. That might have mitigated what will, I predict, be the downfall of the Obama campaign.
DKK

Daily Trek -- July 26, 2008

 Just A Daily Trek and Rainbow Tour update today.

What'd I miss?

Everything you need to know to stay informed each day in 5 minutes or less!  Read your regular news and include this and you will be able to participate in most any current events discussion.
---------------------------
CNN dying to prove there is no enthusiasm for McCain among younger voters interviews a fake College Republican who, predictably isn't and knows of no one who is enthusiastic about McCain.  Hmmm, go figure.

"Congress gives it to you without lubrication," bumper stickers available at Power and Control.  A truer bumper sticker has never been written.

Anchorage Alaska may end up having its coldest summer on record. 

Oh dear, Bin Laden's driver was not read his rights!  Do you know anyone who cares?  By the way, he also head Bin Laden brag about the number of innocent people killed that day.

The Senate Republicans are holding the line on their promise to not allow any legislation to pass until a serious comprehensive energy bill that includes drilling can be voted on -- Harry Reid loses it under the pressure.

Energy is the top issue for voters now -- Republicans are on the right side of this one.  I really can not figure out what is wrong with the Democrats.  They either figure a bad economy helps Obama or they are such captives of Gore's Law that they can't think straight any longer.

"The bill is HR 6615. Its title is 'A bill to provide for the transport of the enemy combatants detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Washington, D.C., where the United States Supreme Court will be able to more effectively micromanage the detainees by holding them on the Supreme Court grounds, and for other purposes.'"

"...The result threatens to be the first time since at least 1950 that lawmakers will go home for the August recess without either chamber having passed a single appropriations bill.
If drilling opponents really have the better of this argument, why are they so worried about letting it come to a vote?"

Just in case they thought they could get a sweetheart deal from Obama -- I wonder why they would have thought that --  he tells them to act now and not to wait for him.

Iran has a website where they demonstrate their wonderful military technology.  Problem is that, like the time they photoshopped the missile launches, some of the planes are fake.  Worse the photoshops though, these are photos of models -- as in plastic and some glue!

Back before her deadly DDT rant that cost millions of lives from malaria, Rachel Carson had written about global warming.  Only her information showed that the changes were from ocean changes, just like the recent testimony given by NASA.

John Edwards WAS at the hotel meeting his ex staffer.

Ooow, the UN wants to take the lead on counter terrorism.  Problem is they haven't even been able to define the term terrorism.

EXPLAINING the Northern Lights.

Toyota tops manufactures on CAFE numbers.

McDonalds sued for refusing to allow womens Muslim headwear.
--------------------------------------
DKK










 

The Obama Rainbow Tour -- Day 7 -- Paris And London

There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? 

Evita - Rainbow Tour

What's the use in mourning if there is no one there to see you do it (paraphrase Absolutely Fabulous):
Pentagon officials tell NBC
the problem was that Obama’s request to visit Landstuhl included two members of his campaign staff — retired Major General Jonathan S. Gration and Jeff Kiernan. US military officials in Germany informed the campaign the two political operatives would not be permitted on base.
Pentagon officials say Gration was the campaign’s point of contact at Landstuhl in arranging Obama’s visit and “got torqued” when he was told he would not be permitted to join Obama. It was Gration who later suggested to reporters that the Pentagon short-circuited Obama’s visit. 
Jim Geraghty wrote yesterday: “A very interesting email from a source I must protect suggests that Obama’s visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center had the green light until a campaign staffer raised a stink about going with Obama.”
And today Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs strongly hinted that Gration’s exclusion was what led to the campaign’s last-minute decision to scrap the visit.
“Based on the information that we received from the Pentagon,” Gibbs said, “anybody on the staff that was related to the campaign including General Gration a two start [sic] general” would not be allowed to go to Landstuhl.
Patterico

Junior Ill. Senator Barack Obama is on his way to France today. By the end of this media junk-it, he will have visited several foreign countries throughout Europe and the Middle East.
I would just like to say ... oh, heck - Barack already said it better than I ever could:
It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they all speak French, they speak German, and then we go over to Europe (laughter) and all we can say is ‘Merci Beaucoup.’ (Laughter ensues) Right?!”
Ironic that about all Obama can muster up is "Merci Beaucoup" while traveling abroad.
BERLIN (AFP) — US presidential hopeful Barack Obama was due in Paris on Friday a day after telling a vast crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin that Americans and Europeans must tear down walls between estranged allies, races and faiths, in a soaring challenge to a new political generation.
Not even a merci beaucoup!
Reihl World View




200,000 . . . or 20,000? Obama's Crowd in Berlin -- looked like more then 20,000 to me, remember there was food and music after his speech!
"During the big anti-Bush demonstration after the fall of Baghdad, there were 250,000 people. And it looked totally different from yesterday. Then, you couldn't move all the way from the Brandenburg Gate to the Technical University [on the western side of Tiergarten park, another kilometer beyond the Siegessäule]."
World Politics Review Blog

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama met with British Prime Gordon Brown in London Saturday on the last leg of his weeklong overseas tour.
Obama waved and smiled at the media outside Brown's residence at 10 Downing Street but made no comments as he walked inside.
Brown decided not to greet the U.S. senator on the doorstep because he did not grant the same honor to Obama's rival, John McCain, when the Republican candidate visited in March.
Obama's visit in London is more low-key than the other stops on his trip. He plans no major news conferences and is expected to make his only remarks to reporters as he departs his meeting with Brown.
Earlier Saturday, Obama met with former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who now serves as the Middle East envoy for the "quartet" of the United States, European Union, Russia, and the United Nations. The two posed for the cameras at Obama's hotel but made no statements.
Obama also plans a meeting with British opposition leader David Cameron, head of the Conservative Party, following the talks with Brown.
CNN

Major Garrett: If Obama spent more time visiting troops, he’d know they don’t only watch Fox News

No one doubts that our partners in the coalitions in both Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered losses on the battlefield, and of course every loss is tragic.  However, Barack Obama tells NBC’s Brian Williams that Americans have ignored the “serious losses” that NATO allies have taken in Afghanistan, scolding us for our lack of appreciation for their effort.  Unfortunately, this dumbs down the definition of serious to such a degree that our losses look positively catastrophic.
Hot Air

In Berlin, Obama was just making up facts! His fiction about Belfast is even worse than his story about Airlift flights turning back.

Obama speech text:


"Not only have walls come down in Berlin, but they have come down in Belfast, where Protestant and Catholic found a way to live together;"


Quoting from a 5/3/2008 USA Today article:


"Ten years after peace was declared in Northern Ireland, one might have expected that Belfast's barriers would be torn down by now. But reality, as usual, is far messier. Not one has been dismantled. Instead they've grown in both size and number."
American Thinker Blog


Yes, another tedious climate change post.

Among many curious moments in Barack Obama's speech in Berlin on Thursday, this line takes Gorean liberties with the facts:
As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya.

"As we speak"? You have to love the royal "we."

In any case, as we write, Barack Obama is just wrong. Sea levels have been declining, not rising, for the last two years.
TigerHawk


“If the real Messiah came back to the Holy Land, the coverage couldn’t be any more thorough, and it probably would be a good deal less adoring.” — Kevin O’Brien, the Plain Dealer. 
Don Surber

Israelis know in their kishkahs that Obama isn't here for Israelis. Obama is here for the American Jewish vote. The rank and file Israeli knows that Obama is an outsider here as well as there. There is no connection. There is only coldness and calculation. The AP picture of Obama with Olmert in the Jerusalem Post was a joke--the Two Yo-Yo's, a good buddy called it. Obama isn't even attempting to look at Olmert.
Gateway Pundit
DKK

Redlasso Tool No Longer Available -- Networks Losers Long Term As They Fail To Adapt To New Media

For those who grew up in the Napster era, the music industry’s emphatic protection of its copyrights in music content is very familiar territory. However, the aggressive shutdown of music download websites has plagued the music industry as a bad public relations move for many years. Despite a shift to legalized digital downloading, the music industry continues to suffer lagging sales.

Today, one must wonder whether other media conglomerates have learned from the mistakes of the music industry—or is history simply poised to repeat itself? On May 19, 2008, NBC, FOX, CBS, and Allbritton Communications served a cease-and-desist letter to the blogger-friendly website, redlasso.com
JETLaw blog

Redlasso, the video site that allows bloggers to post clips of television content, has shut down its beta in response to a recently filed lawsuit by Hulu-backers Fox and NBC.
In May, Fox, CBS and NBC issued Cease and Desist notices to Redlasso for copyright violation, which the company largely ignored. In June the company established a “Media Advisory Board” headed by a number of ex-studio execs that they hoped would help smooth things over with the networks.
TechCrunch

So much for that experiment.  I hope they can get a compromised reached soon.  The sad thing is this is the same type of thing the music industry went through.  Instead of working to form a new business model that included supportive use on the net and expanding choices they would rather drive a business plan of limiting what is available in an attempt to force use of their old model.

I don't know of an alternative yet, but I will try to find one that has the flexibility to select specific content.
DKK

Update copied from later post:

You know, the more I have though about the whole Redlasso thing it really makes me wonder the logic.  Imagine I put up a snippet from say, Special Report and say it's a good one.  How many more possible viewers do they get for the two later airings of Special Report that day who go there just to see that snippet in context.  Free advertising driving ratings, now lost because of the inability to adjust to changing technologies.  Oh and the Hulu service supported by NBC and Newscorp is very limited and the videos are not breaking news.
DKK

Friday, July 25, 2008

Obama's Idea Of Change -- Apologizing For Being America!

So now he has to go apologize for the United States of America. What is it? He's black, he's running for President of the United States, "We haven't perfected ourselves." You know, that's a key phrase, by the way, is one of the things that drives liberalism is the fact that they think people and institutions can be perfected. They think they can be perfect. And when nothing is perfect, then everything's wrong. But this is just beyond the pale. He's talking to Germans and making excuses for the United States of America, which to this day defends and protects Germany? (interruption) Exactly right. This is insulting. It is demeaning. "We have made our share of mistakes. There are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions." This is Iraq. But he's not a candidate, folks. He's just a guy strolling through the forest there who happened to see a microphone and a podium.

He says, "Oh, there's about 100,000 people out there. I think I'll go make a speech." This is change. But ladies and gentlemen, if you are wondering when you hear Obama talk about change, this is it. The change is: America sucks, America's deficient, America's guilty, but America is now willing to pay the price because we have a Messiah who understands the faults, the egregious errors made by the United States and her people. We are racists, sexists, bigots, homophobes. We discriminate against people who worship differently than we do, have skin color different from ours, and we have not always behaved properly in the world. And we torture. And we, of course, are biased against people who want to get into our country illegally. We have a lot to pay for. Not to mention that we are primarily the country responsible for climate change, shrinking the Atlantic coastline, melting the Arctic ice. This is the change. You want change? This is the change.
DKK
Rush Limbaugh  Via Powerline

Scientists Discover What Everyone Knew About The Lottery -- More Importantly, There Is Something Called The 'Journal of Behavioral Decision Making'

A new Carnegie Mellon University study sheds light on the reasons why low-income lottery players eagerly invest in a product that provides poor returns.

In the study, published in the July issue of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, participants who were made to feel subjectively poor bought nearly twice as many lottery tickets as a comparison group that was made to feel subjectively more affluent. The Carnegie Mellon findings point to poverty's central role in people's decisions to buy lottery tickets.

"Some poor people see playing the lottery as their best opportunity for improving their financial situations, albeit wrongly so," said the study's lead author Emily Haisley,a doctoral student in the Department of Organizational Behavior and Theory at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business. "The hope of getting out of poverty encourages people to continue to buy tickets, even though their chances of stumbling upon a life-changing windfall are nearly impossibly slim and buying lottery tickets in fact exacerbates the very poverty that purchasers are hoping to escape."

 Okay, so now we know what we already knew -- but we also know that there really is a magazine for everythingBe sure to pick up your copy of the Journal of Behavioral Decision Making for the full results.
DKK
Science Daily

Propaganda Art -- Obama Picks Winning Examples -- Too Bad Their Also Mass Murderers!

Certain precincts of the left are upset that conservative bloggers notice the creepy resemblance between Obama propaganda art and that of assorted demagogues. Now he is in Berlin, speaking at Hitler's favorite monument (moved to its location as the planned focal point of his reconfigured Berlin, to be re-named "Germania"). Teutonic Obama believers must be in charge of picking the poster art, and certain memories of poster art past are triggered by the latest Obama poster art, as noted  by blogger Dr. Melissa Clothier.

Lots of examples and comparisions at the link.
DKK
American Thinker -- Avert Your Eyes!

So Barack, How's That Diplomacy Supposed To Work -- Obama A Study In Failure

Iran signaled today that it will no longer cooperate with U.N. experts probing for signs of clandestine nuclear weapons work, confirming the investigation is at a dead end a year after it began.

The announcement from the Iranian Vice President, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, compounded skepticism about denting Tehran's nuclear defiance, just five days after Tehran stonewalled demands from six world powers that it halt activities capable of producing the fissile core of warheads.

Besides demanding a suspension of uranium enrichment — a process that can create both fuel for nuclear reactors and payloads for atomic bombs — the six powers have been pressing Tehran to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency's probe.
In the past I have referred to Bush as a chess player, could this move have been designed to prove to Europe and Obama learners/supporters the fallacy of their positions?
DKK
NY Sun

Executed Murderer's Last Words -- Vote Obama!

I'm not kidding:
Before he died Wednesday evening, death row inmate Dale Leo Bishop apologized to his victim’s family, thanked America and urged people to vote for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
This is the best endorsement he’s gotten since he picked up the William “Dollar Bill” Jefferson endorsement.
DKK
Patterico's Pontifications

Rice - NATO Warn Pakistan On Boarder Incursions

Pakistan needs to do more to prevent Taliban militants from launching attacks into Afghanistan from its territory, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday, echoing earlier remarks made by the chief of NATO.

Speaking in Australia, Rice suggested to reporters that a surge in Taliban-related violence in Afghanistan had its source in the restive semiautonomous tribal areas along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.

"We understand that it's difficult, we understand that the northwest frontier area is difficult, but militants cannot be allowed to organize there and to plan there and to engage across the border," Rice said. "So yes, more needs to be done."

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called Thursday for Pakistan to be more involved in tackling extremist bases on its soil.

Scheffer made the remarks as he visited Kabul amid increasing tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan over violence, including the bombing of the Indian embassy earlier this month that Pakistan has directly blamed on its neighbor's intelligence agency.

"I cannot think of anyone who would consider it acceptable that many terrorists from all over the world gather in a certain area and create mischief and havoc there," Scheffer told reporters, referencing militant bases in Pakistan.
DKK
Fox News

Bloomberg To Endorse McCain?

Fox is reporting that NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is having a press conference later today where he will, "if not endorse John McCain he will strongly support him."

Nothing online yet.
DKK

Daily Trek -- July 25, 2008

What'd I miss?

Everything you need to know to stay informed each day in 5 minutes or less!  Read your regular news and include this and you will be able to participate in most any current events discussion.
---------------------------
Republican States Gaining Power At Next Reapportionment.  That won't help for 2008, but will in 2012.  See if your state is one of those gaining or losing representatives.  Illinois is set to lose one seat.

As predicted the increase in minimum wage seems to have been accompanied by an increase in unemployment and inflation.

Obama criticized the President for going to the opening ceremonies of the Olympics so it would be really odd if he were to sponsor the games on TV.  But he did.

Why did FARC trust the hostage rescuers?  They were dressed as reporters.

How do Iraqi Islamists punish someone for being gay?  Gay rape?   "The men realized he was gay, Kamal said, when he took his shirt off and they saw his chest was shaved."  But pluggin him in the butt, well that was their duty, they didn't enjoy it!

While Obama tours Europe McCain is running ads in every Berlin, Paris, and London here in the United States, you know where they can actually vote for him!

Keeping Promises Among Partners -- Condoleezza Rice makes a compelling argument for passage of the Columbia Free Trade Agreement.

OBAMA GAVE UP ON IRAQ - OBAMA GAVE UP ON THE US MILITARY

Obama wondered if the President got to choose the new channel the military watches since all he saw was Fox News -- Too bad he is too partisan to bother with half the nation.

Man threatened, called racist for having an anti-Obama bumper sticker (showed someone peeing on the name Obama, image at link)

LA To ban building of fast food restaurants!

Obama is already working on his transition team and strategy!
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DKK

Green Sources Of Energy = Continued Poverty -- Just As The Greenies Hoped!

The economy is by far the No. 1 issue on most Americans’ minds. Gas prices are a close second. The two issues are intimately related. But the spike in oil prices this year is just the tip of the iceberg. Due to similar developments in supply and demand, electricity prices are set to skyrocket next year.

While American oil consumption has grown only 15% since 1973, electricity use has shot up 115%. Right now the U.S. has 760 gigawatts of power to meet consumption. We will need 135 gigawatts of new capacity over the next decade to keep the lights on, but right now only 57 gigawatts of power are planned. No matter what Barack Obama and Al Gore tell you, alternative energy sources cannot meet demand. Solar is still only one-tenth as efficient as the cheapest fossil fuels. Today 97% of our electricity comes from fossil fuels, nuclear and hydro power. Wind provides 1% and solar .01%.

The rest of the world knows that green sources of energy are inadequate to keep their people out of poverty. That is why around the world, from Europe to South America to Asia, countries are building coal and nuclear power plants at a dizzying pace while also drilling for oil wherever they can find it. Meanwhile, the United States, crippled by an out-of-control environmental movement, is refusing to develop needed energy sources.
DKK 
Morning Bell -- The world Is Powering Up While America Powers Down

Why Can't Obama Admit The Obvious

Why then can't Obama bring himself to acknowledge the surge worked better than he and other skeptics, including this page, thought it would? What does that stubbornness say about the kind of president he'd be?

In recent comments, the Democratic presidential candidate has grudgingly conceded that the troops helped lessen the violence, but he has insisted that the surge was a dubious policy because it allowed the situation in Afghanistan to deteriorate and failed to produce political breakthroughs in Iraq. Even knowing the outcome, he told CBS News Tuesday, he still wouldn't have supported the idea.

That's hard to fathom. Even if you believe that the invasion of Iraq was a grievous error — and it was — the U.S. should still make every effort to leave behind a stable situation. Obama seems stuck in the first part of that thought process, repeatedly proclaiming that he was right to oppose the war and disparaging worthwhile efforts to fix the mess it created. Hence, his dismissal of the surge as "a tactical victory imposed upon a huge strategic blunder."

The great irony, of course, is that the success of the surge has made Obama's plan to withdraw combat troops in 16 months far more plausible than when he proposed it. Another irony is that while Obama downplays the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq, he is urging a similar tactic now in Afghanistan.
The paper goes on to say that Obama should admit the truth just as McCain should admit that the war was a blunder to begin with -- that is just false conventional wisdom that is so devoid of facts that it becomes a throw away line.  But it's there -- back handed slap for McCain even as they criticize Obama.

The USA Today has no way to know how many terror attacks were avoided here at home because the terrorist took Osama's advice and flocked to Iraq where they met the most effective fighting force man has known.  They were shredded and now, as of today, they are losing ground worldwide.
DKK
USA Today via Ace Of Spades

Get America Moving Again By Getting Out Of The Way -- Senate Republicans Blocking All Bills That Don't Address Drilling Senate Republicans have threatened to block nearly all other bills pending before the August recess if Democrats refuse to vote with them on expanding offshore drilling.

Senate Republicans have threatened to block nearly all other bills pending before the August recess if Democrats refuse to vote with them on expanding offshore drilling.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said bills that do not pertain to energy can wait until after the August recess, with gas prices now surpassing $4 per gallon. McConnell and top Republicans indicated Wednesday they would oppose any procedural votes to take up other legislation, which require 60 votes to succeed. …

Following swift Senate action on the narrow energy bill, Reid wanted the Senate to approve a massive defense authorization bill, an overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, legislation to protect reporters’ sources, an extension of expiring energy tax incentives, and a major package of 33 bills held up by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

But Republicans are planning to keep the Senate on the energy issue until their demands are resolved. The massive housing-rescue package might be the only other measure that gets valuable floor time before the August recess.  (Hot Air)

Republicans could actually be serious about getting America moving again by getting out of the way!

House Republicans are strongly pushing The American Energy that is co-sponsored by our own Representative Don Manzullo (HR 6566).

There are even calls for the President to call congress back into session if they do not act before their recess, pulling a Truman:
Bush needs to do what Truman did in 1948. He needs to call a special 11-day session of Congress over the summer recess and force the Congress to come back to Washington (the recess is Aug.11-Sept.5th).
Bush could then deliver a message where he asks Congress to do their jobs - legislate (!!), for example:

(1) address the energy/gas crisis (i.e, offshore drilling and/or nuclear); and/or

(2) pass a budget — they have yet to pass one appropriations bill this year because as Pelosi and Reid admitted — they are waiting for Obama to become president to do a budget, which btw — is simply irresponsible and wrong.

I believe that the Democrats would whine and not pass a thing. Then Bush and McCain could hammer them for being a "do-nothing Congress." Moreover, McCain has the experience legislating to show up Obama in the Senate during a special session — it's his turf and I think he could make Obama look foolish.

I believe it would work because (a) congressional approval is lower than the president's approval (by about 20 points); (b) Rasmussen's tracking poll shows that the Democratic advantage on the "generic ballot" has decreased in each of the last 5 weeks (people are tired of blaming Bush); and (c) Pelosi is not liked at all (people will readily transfer their angst about the government to her).
It would do wonders for his popularity and if it backfires he really has nothing much to lose.
DKK

Green Doesn't Sell -- Which Should Be Good Since Greens Don't Really Care About Anything But Controling Everything

Last week, The New York Times noted that the advertising industry is pulling back from green-themed marketing, having “grasped the public’s growing skepticism over ads with environmental messages.

And advertisers’ concerns are buttressed by the recent sales figures for magazines that have published a “Green Issue” this year. Time’s Earth Day issue was the newsweekly’s third-lowest-selling issue of 2008 so far, according to ABC Rapid Report. A typical issue of Time sells 93,000 or so copies on the newsstand; the April 28 installment, which substituted green for red in the magazine’s trademarked cover design, sold only 72,000.

Elle’s May issue sold a mere 275,000 copies, versus the title’s year-to-date average of 328,500. The last issue of Elle to sell that badly was in May 2008—another green issue, probably not coincidentally.

Discover also published a green issue this year, and also took a hit for it, selling 86,000 newsstand copies, compared to an average of 117,000 in the first half of 2007. (Discover doesn’t participate in Rapid Report.)

The only magazine that didn’t take a bath on its green issue was Vanity Fair, which reported 370,000 single copy sales for May, only a little below its year-to-date average of 375,666.
Portifolio


A technological breakthrough might just allow CO2 to be "scrubbed" from the atmosphere. This from the Guardian:
It has long been the holy grail for those who believe that technology can save us from catastrophic climate change: a device that can "suck" carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air, reducing the warming effect of the billions of tonnes of greenhouse gas produced each year.

Now a group of US scientists say they have made a breakthrough towards creating such a machine. Led by Klaus Lackner, a physicist at Columbia University in New York, they plan to build and demonstrate a prototype within two years that could economically capture a tonne of CO2 a day from the air, about the same per passenger as a flight from London to New York.

The prototype so-called scrubber will be small enough to fit inside a shipping container. Lackner estimates it will initially cost around £100,000 to build, but the carbon cost of making each device would be "small potatoes" compared with the amount each would capture, he said.
You would think that this would be an environmentalists wet dream. The perfect solution to their problem! Turns out...not so much. This from the National Center for Policy Analysis:
While some see the scrubber as an efficient and economical way to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, many environmentalists oppose the technology because it allows people to use fossil fuels and emit carbon in the first place.
Doesn't that go to the heart of the agenda of the environmentalists? They're not really interested in solutions, just control. People shouldn't be able to emit carbon whether it has an effect on the environment or not.
Conservative Punk

Whose Moment Was That Again -- Today America and Berlin, Tomorrow The World!



DKK

Update:  Typing correction in title made.

Iraqi Olympians Banned From Games -- Wait, China Is The Host And Iraq Is Banned?

A few months ago, it seemed liked nothing could stop Iraqi sprinter Dana Hussain from representing her country in the upcoming Summer Olympics.

Then, the International Olympic Committee banned Iraq from competing because of what it says is the government's political interference in sports.

Hussain cried for hours after hearing the news, which arrived in the form of a letter to Iraqi officials.

"She hasn't stopped. It's like finding out that a close relative has died," said her coach, Yousif Abdul Rahman. Abdul Rahman attempted to console Hussain by assuring her that she could compete in the 2012 Olympics.
CNN

The Iraq government dissolved the National Olympic Committee in May and the interim IOC ban was put in place on 4 June.

Davies added that the Iraqi government had been asked to travel to Switzerland to meet the IOC to discuss possible remedies but failed to do so.

The committee which the government dismissed was elected in 2004, in line with the Olympic movement's regulations.

The Iraqi government said it took the decision to appoint a new committee because the previous one was corrupt and had not been functioning properly.
BBC News

Aliens Among Us -- The Really Alien Ones!

FORMER NASA astronaut and moon-walker Dr Edgar Mitchell - a veteran of the Apollo 14 mission - has stunningly claimed aliens exist.
And he says extra-terrestrials have visited Earth on several occasions - but the alien contact has been repeatedly covered up by governments for six decades.

Dr Mitchell, 77, said during a radio interview that sources at the space agency who had had contact with aliens described the beings as 'little people who look strange to us.'

He said supposedly real-life ET's were similar to the traditional image of a small frame, large eyes and head. 

NASA denies any knowledge but Mitchell seemed serious:
Mr Margerrison said: "I thought I'd stumbled on some sort of astronaut humour but he was absolutely serious that aliens are definitely out there and there's no debating it."

Officials from NASA, however, were quick to play the comments down.

In a statement, a spokesman said: "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe.

'Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue.' 
DKK
News.com

The Obama Rainbow Tour -- Day 6 -- The German Tennis Match, um Speech, sorry

There you are, I told you so
Makes no difference where she goes
The whole world over just the same
Just listen to them call her name
And who would underestimate the actress now? 

Evita - Rainbow Tour

Okay, Somebody Had To Say It -- Was Obama Orating Or Watching Wimbledon?

Here is the transcript of the Obama Berlin speech

And here is the video.

"Just Hours After Obama's " Non-Political" Political Rally in Germany, His Campaign Finance Director Sends Out Solicitations for Donations, Citing His Non-Political Political Rally"

Are Obama's heavy handed actions causing an End of the Affair with the media?

To say that Europeans are fond of Barack Obama would be an understatement. It seems that he has reached the same level of adulation and worship as he has in the United States. So when asked who Europeans would prefer to see elected as the next US president, it is no surprise that citizens of France, Germany and the UK all chose Barack Obama ... by a landslide. In the UK, Obama was favored 60-15. In France, 64-4. And in Germany, they chose Barack Obama by a margin of 62-10 over John McCain. Frankly, I'm surprised that the numbers were this low.

Now if it were up to people like Barack Obama, the opinions of these foreign countries would matter. Remember Obama's thermostat comment ... "We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK." What does it matter what other countries think about our habits? In fact, what business is it of our president? But the Europeans sure can't wait for this guy to be in power.

Now here's something that you won't hear from any of the networks when it comes to analyzing the European infatuation over Obama. Several months ago the Pew Research Center did some polling in Europe. That polling showed that 58 percent of Europeans want the United States to be weakened. They want a weaker America. Oddly, that 58 percent figure is pretty close to the margin for Obama. So how are you going to feel about European attitudes about our presidential election if you walk up to someone on the street and have this dialogue:
"Would you like the United States to be weaker or stronger."
"Weaker."
"Who do you support, then, for president?"
"Barack Obama"
Does anyone care to look into the motives behind this European love affair with The Messiah?
Neal Boortz

++ Paris Left Cold by Obama Visit ++
3:30 p.m.: While Obama’s Berlin visit has caused a stir, hardly anyone is interested in his trip to Paris on Friday. There are hardly any French media reports on the eve of his visit. There is merely some grumbling about the extensive itinerary for his trip to Berlin. “A speech in Berlin, five little hours in Paris,” writes French daily Le Monde.
Hot Air

Fox News poll: No bounce for Obama from trip, Maliki comments
Conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, three days after Maliki’s Spiegel interview dropped ... Head to head: Obama 41, McCain 40. On handling Iraq: McCain 47, Obama 39, a two-point gain since June. Maybe Obama’s position on the surge is starting to penetrate? There’s circumstantial evidence in the crosstabs. A quarter of independents and 15% of Democrats perceive “major improvements” in Iraq from the surge; many more see “minor improvements.” The fact that Obama’s popular with Europeans likewise is a wash. Democrats see it as positive, Republicans negative, and indies are split 26/25 — although people calling themselves “independents” these days are apt to include more disaffected Republicans so weigh that accordingly.
Hot Air

"Uh, it's a potentially bad thing if nobody shows up," Obama said, laughing. "You know, we're sort of on the high wire all of the sudden. It's like, 'I'm sorry, how many people does this accommodate? How many?'...We really have no idea what's going to happen. Sort of a crapshoot. I'm happy with the speech though."

A reporter noted that the campaign has been distributing fliers to Berliners to drum up attendance.

"Why don't you guys go out and distribute some fliers?" Obama asked. "Is that a conflict for you guys?"

Joked a cable news correspondent: "We have been. It's called television."
ABC

Afghan Troops: We got more thanks from the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than Barack Obama

McCain closing the gap? Update: Support for Iraq timetable decreases?

Reporters who have covered Obama’s biography or his problems with certain voter blocs have been challenged the most aggressively. “They’re terrified of people poking around Obama’s life,” one reporter says. “The whole Obama narrative is built around this narrative that Obama and David Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it’s not entirely true. So they have to be protective of the crown jewels.” Another reporter notes that, during the last year, Obama’s old friends and Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without permission.
TNR

Yes, Obama, they worked together because they feared Soviet tanks. They got together because of Truman, who suffered the lowest popularity of any sitting president. They got together because they knew war would come if they redeployed U.S. troops. They got together despite how they could have used the money to pay for infrastructure back home.

They got together because the only other option was to surrender separately.

Germany could no more stand on its own in 1948 than Iraq can in 2008 — something that Obama wanted to do.

If anyone should look at Berlin, it is Democratic Sen. Barack Obama Jr.
Don Surber

Before adoring throngs in Berlin and the entire world's media, Barack Obama stated that "many planes were forced to turn back" from the Berlin Airlift because of the bad weather. Great imagery, but contrafactual.

Obama should have
read my book before making his claim about the Berlin Airlift.   Barely a handful of the nearly 28,000 flights "turned back" in the face ir the cruel winter of 1948-1949.

Obama obviously has limited knowledge of the Airlift, and automatically assumes that the USAF would send up aircraft in prohibitively dangerous weather (it didn't) and that, once up, large numbers of pilots aborted their missions.

Ironically, just last month I contributed to an article in the German pub Flugzeug Classic on the US aircraft that went down in the Soviet Zone
.
American Thinker Blog

WOLF BLITZER: Did you get a sense, Christiane, that he actually delivered with his presentation, with his speech, his appearance in Berlin? Did people walk away seemingly satisfied or disappointed?

AMANPOUR: Well, I don’t think they were disappointed, and I’m not sure that they were thoroughly satisfied. I did ask some people as they were leaving what they thought. Everybody said good, good. But I was surprised that there wasn’t this sort of euphoria afterwards, given how many people had come to listen and how much it had been anticipated.
Newsbusters

McCain camp: Obama taking a 'premature victory lap'

Rob posted earlier on Obama skipping out on visiting the troops: Obama Skips Visiting US Troops In Germany To Make Time For More Campaigning In Front Of Germans.
Patterico’s Pontifications points to what could be the real reason!
One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, “he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers.” In addition,
“Obama could not bring any media.  Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit.”
NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski
What a class act! He could visit wounded soldiers, but no one would see him do it! In Barack’s world, What’s the percentage in that?
Say Anything Blog

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said during a visit to Sderot Wednesday that "Israel should not talk to Hamas as long as it poses a threat to its citizens."

"If someone was to fire at my house, where my two daughters sleep, I would do everything within my power to stop him and I expect Israel to do the same," he said.
But that is not what he said about diplomacy.

OBAMA Lures Massive German Crowd With Rock Bands, Brats & Beer!

SS DOUTHAT: "Yes, of course the Hitler comparisons are absurd, but I'd really like to know which genius on the Obama campaign thought it would be a good idea to have their candidate conduct a major campaign rally in Europe with three months to go till the election and their candidate, despite an incredibly favorable climate and a fumbling opponent, still clinging to a 2-4 point lead in the polls?"

Now it's on to Paris, London, then home -- wonder if they'll throw a parade when he gets back?
DKK
 
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