Monday, April 21, 2008

Guilt by association or a verdict on judgment?

Hot Air points to a post at National Review by Andrew McCarthy:

Why is Barack Obama so comfortable around people who so despise America and its allies? Maybe it’s because they’re so comfortable around him.
He presents as the transcendent agent of “change.” Sounds platitudinous, but it’s really quite strategically vaporous. Sen. Obama is loath to get into the details of how we should change, and, as the media’s Chosen One, he hasn’t had to.

But he’s not, as some hopefully dismiss him, a charismatic lightweight with a gift for sparkling the same old vapid cant. Judging from the company he chooses to keep, Obama’s change would radically alter this country. He eschews detail because most Americans don’t believe we’re a racist, heartless, imperialist cesspool of exploitation. The details would be disqualifying.

Examples include:

The connection to William Ayers was no accident of geography. Michelle Obama picked him to sit on a panel with Barack in 1997 on juvenile crime, two years after meeting with them for support in his race for the state senate.
They participated in a panel together called “Intellectuals in Times of Crisis” in 2002, well after Ayers’ comments about being unrepentant for his terrorism got published on 9/11. Bernadine Dohrn participated in a panel at the same event.
Ayers and Dorhn joined the Obamas in celebrating the departure of Rashid Khalidi to a new post at Columbia University, after Ayers and Obama helped get Woods Foundation funds to Khalidi’s AAAN, to the tune of $75,000. Khalidi was a fanatical supporter of Yasser Arafat and a purported operative of the PLO. Khalidi hosted a fundraiser for Obama in 2000 as well.

DKK

Offensive Time

Twice in it’s history Time has used a different color boarder.

Black after 9/11 and now green.

The red cover boarder is copyrighted and trademarked. Do they not understand that trivializing their brand and brand identity is a bad idea, not to mention that it clearly puts the two events, global warming and 9/11 on a par.

To summarize, for feel good politics they are willing to:
a) Sully the efforts and heroics of those brave Marines of WWII,
b) Sully the tragedy of 9/11,
c) Sully the Time Magazine brand.

Good move there, or did I miss when they changed the title from Publisher to Pimp?
DKK

Guns and God -- Yummy!

But then, after all their hard work making believe they're into NASCAR and God, some Democrat invariably slips and lets us know it's all a big fake-out. They're like a gay guy trying to act straight who accidentally refers to Brad Pitt as "yummy!"

Ann Coulter, often offensive, but often right on!
DKK

EVIL TREE MUST BE DESTROYED!

The oldest tree in the world runs contrary to generally accepted beliefs on the climate and climate history!

Spruces, which according to Kullmann offer rich insight into climate change, had long been regarded as relatively newcomers in the Swedish mountain region.
The discovery of the ancient tree had therefore led to "a big change in our way of thinking," he said.

We really have no idea what we are doing, or at least not enough to make "crisis driven" changes!

DKK

Global Whoring -- We Really Have No Clue!

Look, cleaner air has caused Europe to warm.

Europe is heating up much faster than climate researchers expected, and now they think they know why: air made dramatically cleaner by anti-pollution programs. With less particle pollution clouding the air, more sunlight is coming through and the continent is getting warmer. (JammieWearingFool)

The ever present unintended consequences!

We are messing where we have no clue.

Eisenhower warned of The Scientific-Technological Elite running policy, he should have just called them Dumb Asses!
DKK

Saddam and Terrorists

Claims that there were no links between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda are wrong. Documents just released by the Pentagon prove it.

It's long and in depth!
DKK

Franken: What? I have to pay Taxes Too?

A short while ago New York accused Al Franken, who as a Democrat is running for Senate in MN, of failing to pay $25,000 in Workers Compensation Insurance premiums.

Now California says Franken failed to pay taxes for his company.

This may be the only funny thing the man has ever done!
DKK

Can't Pray In Silence

He sued the school board seeking to be allowed to bow his head and kneel when students led their own prayers. A lower-court judge found that should be allowed.

But Judge D. Michael Fisher wrote in the lead opinion Tuesday that Borden's past action of leading the prayers made his head-bowing seem inappropriate: "A reasonable observer would conclude that he is continuing to endorse religion when he bows his head during the pre-meal grace and takes a knee with his team in the locker room while they pray."

Looks headed to the Supreme Court.
DKK

Oh Look, A New Toy!

Obama, like Clinton and John McCain, has accepted donations from oil and gas company employees — $222,309 in Obama's case from donors from Exxon, Shell, Chevron and others, according to campaign-finance data. Two oil company CEOs have pledged to raise at least $50,000 each as part of Obama's fundraising team.

Same old in a new package. Someone really should have read the manual before they unpacked this one! USA Today.
DKK

Could Carter Save His Reputation?

How could Jimmy Carter really move the world forward without being a useful idiot for the dictators and terrorists? The WSJ gives some suggestions:

- In Egypt, Mr. Carter could give an address at the newly established Middle East Freedom Forum. He could call for the immediate release of George Ishak, a lawyer and democracy activist who helps coordinate the liberal Kifaya ("Enough") movement and was arrested by security forces last Wednesday. He could pay a call to journalist Gameela Ismael, the wife of Ayman Nour. Mr. Nour, who contested the 2005 election against President Hosni Mubarak and took 8% of the vote, has spent the past two years in prison on trumped-up charges of electoral fraud.

- In Saudi Arabia, Mr. Carter could raise the case of Fawza Falih, an illiterate woman who was convicted of "witchcraft" and sentenced to death on charges that she used sorcery to render a man impotent. He might also seek out the now famous "Qatif Girl," the woman who was gang-raped by seven men and, as a result of her "crime," sentenced to 200 lashes.

- In Jordan, Mr. Carter might find time for Jihad Momani, editor of the weekly "Shihan," who in 2006 was arrested for reprinting the Danish cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. "Muslims of the world be reasonable," he wrote in an editorial that ran alongside the cartoons. "What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?"

- With the Palestinians, Mr. Carter could denounce the Hamas-operated Al Aqsa TV, whose programming includes a Sesame Street-like show that urges its young viewers to "get rid of the Jews."

- In Syria, Mr. Carter could ask to meet with representatives of the National Council of the Damascus Declaration for Democratic Change. A dozen leaders of this pro-democracy umbrella group were arrested in December on charges of "spreading false or exaggerated news which would affect the morale of the country"; Human Rights Watch charges that at least eight of the men signed false confessions under torture.

But he won't.

DKK

Red Chameleon

In, A Living Lie, Thomas Sowell gives insight into Obama.

I have referred to Obama as a Chameleon for years and now others are beginning to see it.

There is, of course, not a speck of evidence that Obama has ever transcended party differences in the U.S. Senate.
(...)
Like so many others on the Left, Obama rejects “stereotypes” when they are stereotypes he doesn’t like but blithely throws around his own stereotypes about “a typical white person” or “bitter” gun-toting, religious, and racist working-class people.
(...)
It is understandable that young people are so strongly attracted to Obama. Youth is another name for inexperience — and experience is what is most needed when dealing with skillful and charismatic demagogues.

DKK

China's Number ONE!

China has already overtaken the US as the world's "biggest polluter", a report to be published next month says.
The research suggests the country's greenhouse gas emissions have been underestimated, and probably passed those of the US in 2006-2007.

BBC

DKK

Hair Trigger

"Geraldine Ferraro said it right," Johnson added. "The problem is, Geraldine Ferraro is white. This campaign has such a hair-trigger on anything racial it is almost impossible for anybody to say anything."

BET founder Bob Johnson.
Yes, and Americans are getting sick of it.
DKK

Guns and God -- Hauteur

And what are the grounds for his supercilious disdain? If he were a war hero, if he had a career of remarkable civic achievement or public service — then he could perhaps be excused an unattractive but in a sense understandable hauteur. But what has Barack Obama accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?

Bill Kristol in the NYTimes nails the problem with Obama's remarks on the head!
The Mask Slips.
DKK

Guns and God Pennsylvania

Barack Obama: What’s the matter with Pennsylvania?

Protein Wisdom analyzes "Bittergate" and why the left doesn't get it. A Kinsleyian “gaffe,” where a candidate accidentally says what he really thinks.
DKK

SF Gun Ban Ilegal

State Supreme Court ruling ends San Francisco gun ban move.

DKK

More Guns and God

Liberals won't get this, and reading at places like DU or Kos think Obama was right but:

By refusing to acknowledge that the lumping of Americans of faith together with racists and xenophobes is empirically insulting, he essentially restates his position and digs in: Religion, racism, xenophobia are just “refuges” (his new word) for people who are not as privileged as he. Really repugnant stuff.

Ankle Biting Pundits.
DKK

Barack's condescension reveals a man out of touch with the rhythms of American life to a degree that's hard to fathom. As Michelle says, they "chose" to "leave corporate America", and Barack became a "community organizer" and she wound up a 350-grand-a-year "diversity outreach coordinator". I've no idea what either of those careers involve, and most of us seem able to get along without them. But their remoteness from the American mainstream perhaps explains why the Obamas seem to have no clue how Americans live their lives.

Steyn at The Corner.
DKK

Right Of The Star