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.
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: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!
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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.

TNR via Power and Control Blog

...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