Chicago Politics of Change?

A Chicago pol's wife gets a 200 grand salary bump (almost tripling her compensation) and a year later hubby seeks to channel a million bucks to the wife's employer. Good old time Chicago poltics, right?

Apparently not, because the candidate in question is running on a platform of change, and he seems like such a nice fellow. Leon H. Wolfe of Redstate is being awfully judgmental here isn't he?

DKK
American Thinker Blog -- Obama's odd coincidence

Al Qaeda In Nigeria?

Okiro said, “The Al-Qaeda network has threatened to send time bombs to Nigeria. The AIG Surveillance should intensify surveillance while the CP Airwing, CP Border Patrol and the CPs of all the commands should be on the alert and ensure that these items (bombs) do not pass through their end.”

Is al Qaeda planning an attack on Nigeria?
DKK
Gateway Pundit -- Al-Qaeda Plans Attacks on Nigeria

They Still Hate Guns

When moderator Charlie Gibson pointed out that Obama's handwriting was on a 1996 candidate survey that said he favored banning handguns, Obama flatly denied his writing was on the questionnaire, contradicting what a campaign staffer had told Politico weeks earlier. Asked if he still supports licensing and registering guns, Obama said he favors "common-sense approaches" to gun control like keeping guns from "the mentally deranged." When Clinton was asked if she maintains her past support for licensing and registration, she too sidestepped the question, saying, "What might work in New York City is certainly not going to work in Montana."

DKK
The Weekly Standard -- We're All Gun Nuts Now

Hezbollah Pulls Back -- Endgame

So it ends not as a formal coup but as an informal one, with the government temporarily brought to its knees to remind it who’s boss.
(...)
Why the pullout this morning? Per yesterday’s post, they don’t want to run the country, they want a safe base of operation against Israel and its western allies without interference from the Lebanese government. Mission accomplished

DKK
Hot Air -- Hezbollah withdrawing from Beirut

Obama Changing His -- What, Flat Out Lied -- Nevermind

“But nobody said he would initiate contacts at the presidential level; that requires due preparation and advance work.”

The problem is, Barack Obama did say he’d meet with Iran unconditionally, in front of a lot of people, at the CNN/YouTube Democratic debate last July.

Little Green Footballs catches the flip.

Interesting it was still on his website and can be seen in a screen capture at Gateway Pundit.

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

DKK

How Obama Neutered The Clintons

I keep reading post after post of how Obama beat, bested, or defeated Hillary. None of these are accurate descriptions of what happened.

Obama preemptively neutered the Clintons, period.

Let me explain:

At the beginning of the race, prior to it narrowing to Obama versus Clinton, Obama began his Hope tour. Nondescript, nonspecific, and completely nonthreatening, but well choreographed, including swooning and fainting throngs.

Occasionally he would throw in comments about the old way of campaigning and how that was the evil way of the, "others." All the while his surrogates, sometimes his campaign, and on occasion even the master himself attacked the Clintons (later on he attacked McCain, often unfairly -- but that was okay because he had already sold it).

Basically he appeared to move above the negative even managing to label it as Clintonian. When your name becomes a tactic you really can't disengage yourself from that label.

At the same time his campaign made a preemptive strike labeling minor criticism as racial and constantly appeared poised to do so again at even the faintest hint.

This combination meant that Obama not only defined the playing field but he wrote the rules of the game in the process removing the Clinton's proven weapons. Playing to win was no longer PC if it meant actually pointing out your opponents flaws.

In the Democratic party, controlled by the far left as it currently is, this effectively neutered the Clintons before the race even began.

Any attack Hillary made was Clintonian or racist. She could no longer bring up issues that may have won it for her. Any question of Obama's electability was radioactive. Associations and judgment about his, "friends," things that will matter in the general election, Reverend Wright, William Ayres, or Tony Rezko were instant death! The Media could no longer be trusted to bring these things to the fore because they were as caught up in the dream as the throngs at the rallies!

Toward the end Hillary did hit on the only option left to here -- drinking with regular folk demonstrating to the Super Delegates that Obama could not win the voters that cling to their guns and God

Interestingly the Clintons were NOT neutered when it came to the Super Delegates, just with the Democratic voters. That is her ONLY hope now.

Unfortunately, it appears Obama may have managed to finally neuter them as well when he took 91% of the black vote.
DKK

Defining Obama

"To encourage a country with only rhetoric, rather than sound and proven ideas that trust in the strength and courage of free people, is not a promise of hope," McCain said, alluding to Obama's speaking skills and campaign theme. And in another jab he added, "I do not seek the presidency on the presumption that I am blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need."

DKK
Tribune -- The Swamp -- McCain paints Obama's portrait.

At least someone is on my wavelength!

I made virtually the exact same points as Mr. Kelly on May 8, 2008 at 2:38AM. (I then (4:39AM) posted a comment trackback on JustOneMinute's original post here, I also pasted my post around the net, like at Say Anything Blog at 3:38AM )


Mr. Kelly had more time to research his column of May 9, 2009, then I did in a blog post, but he hit every point.

It is nice to see great minds think alike and better yet to see the facts get out! I couldn't get anyone to link mine, but Mr. Kelly's got the word out that Obama is a lightweight. As Kennedy said of Kruschev, "He beat the hell out of me," and Obama is levels below Kennedy.

DKK

Stonewall Will Not Stand -- Obama, Ayres?

We may now understand why Barack does not wear a flag lapel pin. He's afraid that Bill Ayers will stomp on him. In reality, it will be the relationship with Bill Ayers that will empower the Republicans to destroy the candidacy of Barack Obama.

This is not a question of whether or not the Republicans will use this material. They will. So what is there to find? That is the area of greatest danger for the Democrats. Obama has lied about his longstanding relationship with Bill Ayers.

Why? What is he hiding? As I have pointed out before, 1995 was a critical year in the Obama/Ayers relationship. It was in 1995 that Barack was tabbed by Ayers to be the Chairman of the Annenberg Challenge (a failed $50 million project). That same year, Barack sat at a kitchen table with Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, Bill's wife, a plotted the ouster of Alice Palmer, who Obama took down in order to secure his place in the Illinois state senate.

If the Super Delegates do not insist on a full and complete disclosure from Barack Obama about his ties to Bill Ayers, the Republicans will force the issue in the fall. It is one thing to have a name that sounds like the terrorist who attacked us on 9-11. But it is an entirely different matter to be close friends with an unrepentant terrorist who bombed U.S. Government buildings.

There is no where to run. The relationship is genuine. This is a stonewall that will not stand.

DKK

Larry C. Johnson -- Via Instapundit

Another Obama Senior Moment -- How Many States?

But if John McCain did this -- if he mistakenly said he'd visited 57 states -- the media would be all up in his grill, accusing him of a senior moment.

DKK
Marc Armbinder -- From The "If McCain Did This" Files

Are We Ready for The First Post Patriotic President?

The issue of the lapel flag pin is a good illustration. Obama's explanation for its absence -- that it had become a "substitute" for "true patriotism" in the aftermath of Sept. 11 -- is perfectly rational. For a professor at the University of Chicago. Members of the knowledge class generally find his stand against sartorial symbolism to be subtle, even courageous. Most Americans, I'm willing to bet, will find it incomprehensible after 20 additional explanations, which are bound to be required. A president is expected to be a patriotic symbol himself, not the arbiter of patriotic symbols. He is supposed to be the face-painted superfan at every home game; to wear red, white and blue boxers on special marital occasions; to get misty-eyed during the most obscure patriotic hymns.

The problem here is not that Obama is unpatriotic -- a foolish, unfair, destructive charge -- but that Obama has declared himself superior to an almost universal form of popular patriotism.

DKK
Michael Gerson -- Washington Post
Via Don Surber

Mexican Internal War

Gunmen in Mexico have killed another top Mexican police official - just one day after the head of the national anti-narcotics effort was shot dead.

Esteban Robles headed the anti-kidnapping unit of the Mexico City police department. He was shot several times outside his home on Friday.

Mexico is attempting to crack down on the drug trade but have had repeated setbacks, at one point forcing a boarder town sheriff to request asylum in the US after his deputies had either been killed or walked off the job.

This happened in Mexico City and may indicate a striking back against the governments push.
DKK
BBC News

GIGO -- Climate Fraud

The computer models that predict global warming are ridiculously primitive. They still can't recreate the past accurately, let alone predict the future. As Howard Hayden, professor of physics at the University of Connecticut, says, they take "garbage in" and spit "gospel out."

DKK
Powerline -- Earth Slated to Continue Cooling

West Beirut Takeover by Hezbollah

Hezbollah gunmen seized control of west Beirut on Friday after a third day of battles with pro-government foes in the Lebanese capital pushed the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war.

The sectarian fighting had eased by early afternoon as the army and police moved across areas now in the hands of Shiite opposition forces who routed Sunni militants loyal to the Western-backed government.

AFP

Sunni's have called on allies to aid in the pending civil war. Al Qaeda appears to be listening and is calling for fighters to go to Lebanon and defend the Sunnis against the atrocities Hezbollah are perpetrating.

This could be a deliberate act to secure a save Hezbollah haven, perhaps in preparation for an attack of some type -- I haven't been following this story close enough, but Gateway Pundit has.
DKK
Gateway Pundit:
Al-Qaeda declares war on Hezbollah

Child Caught in Hezbollah Beirut Ambush (Video)

Hey, Do You Smell Hippies?

Greenpeace International has released a new report, entitled “False Hope: Why Carbon Capture and Storage Won’t Save the Climate,” which proves once and for all that “clean coal” is nothing more than a slogan aimed at greenwashing the image of an irremediably dirty energy source.
(...)
"Carbon capture and storage is a scam. It is the ultimate coal industry pipe dream,” said the report’s author, Emily Rochon, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace International. “Governments and businesses need to reduce their emissions—not search for excuses to keep burning coal.”

So, what's your realistic solution, Emily the genius? Come on, you have to have on. (And conservation or mass elimination of humans are not solutions.)

Once again we prove three things:
1)We have no idea what were doing when it comes to the environment and, "fixing," it.
2) Greenpeace has no clue about how the world works.
3) Greenpeace is nothing but a bunch of whiners that will never be happy as long as man is still on this planet.
DKK
Greenpeace

Iraqi's Didn't Capture al Qaeda In Iraq Leader

Following up on the report earlier that the suspected Iraqi al Qaeda leader had been captured, yep, not true.

Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the head of al Qaeda in Iraq, has not been captured, a senior U.S. military official told CNN on Friday.

Iraqi authorities said Thursday that al-Masri had been captured in Mosul.

As has been the case in the past it appears someone got too excited.
DKK
CNN

Is The Worst Over?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Thursday that the worst of the credit crisis is over, according to sources who attended a speech he delivered in New York.

Greenspan also said house prices still had a long way to fall and that it was unlikely they would stabilize by year-end.

DKK
Reuters

Obama Advisor -- Regular Contact With Terrorists

How do all these terrorist-sympathizing radicals keep mistakenly thinking that Obama is one of them?

One of Barack Obama’s Middle East policy advisers disclosed today that he had held meetings with the militant Palestinian group Hamas - prompting the likely Democratic nominee to sever all links with him.

Robert Malley told The Times he had regularly been in contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza but is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. Such talks, he stressed, were related to his work for a conflict resolution think tank and had no connection with his position on Mr Obama's Middle East advisory council.

“I’ve never hidden the fact that in my job with the International Crisis Group I meet all kinds of people,” he added.

DKK

Ace of Spades -- Obama Fires Advisor -- For Conducting Talks With Terrorist Hamas

We'll Take That -- Burma Aid Halted

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's junta seized U.N. aid shipments headed for hungry and homeless survivors of last week's devastating cyclone, prompting the world body to suspend further help on Friday.

The U.N. said the aid included 38 tons of high-energy biscuits and arrived in Myanmar on Friday on two flights from Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates.

"All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated," U.N. World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said. "For the time being, we have no choice but to end further efforts to bring critical needed food aid into Myanmar at this time."

It's all about control.

DKK

Associated Press

When Political Editors Go Bad -- Rockford's Own Rosie Edition

That might not do the trick, however. Americans are focused on the economy, and they’re not too concerned anymore with the war in Iraq and the “War on Terror.” The GOP can’t win unless they scare people to death.

The only way to refocus Americans on the bogeyman of danger — International Terrorism — is to do what George W. Bush may do, in an effort to help McCain win the presidency and the GOP to avoid disastrous losses in Congress:

Sometime this summer or early fall, an “incident” will occur that causes the U.S. to retaliate, probably with air-strikes, possibly escalating to sending in Marines.

Inevitably, the “incident” will be in the Middle East region, most likely Iran, or maybe Syria, or it could be an attack on Israel by Iran.

Do I think the incident will be staged? Obviously I don’t know. But my knowledge of history informs me that we’ve done it before.

Yep, the not so rare quadrennial, "evil Republicans will attack to retain power," BDS has made its appearance here in Rockford -- at our very own Register Star Blogs! Chuck Sweeny's own Sweeny Report. He then proceeds in listing, "wag the dog," incidents (Pearl Harbor, Gulf of Tonkin, USS Maine, Iraq).

While there may end up being a justified attack, does anyone not afflicted with BDS really think that this would benefit McCain at this point? The media has so denigrated Bush for 5 years on Iraq that there is no reason to believe it wouldn't be spun to demonstrate his falling down on the job and McCain's support for Iraq endangered us all -- our only salvation is Obama!

The sad thing is Chuck's knowledge of history that he mentions is really lacking.

Here is a copy of my reply:

No Rosie, there YOU go again!

Oh, wait, this isn’t Rosie O’Donnells blog - sorry.

While a person can take virtually any event in history and skew them to fit their current political purpose it would not be accurate or historically correct to do so. Particularly for a journalist who suggests that the current President may attack another nation for purely partisan reasons.

For example:
Gulf Of Tonkin — (as Rosie would say, “Google it!”) In 1995 General Giap admitted that the first attack of August 2 DID in fact occur. The NSA report specifically said the report was NOT political but was intended to cover up intelligence errors — the Johnson administration was not given correct information, they did not massage the info to initiate a war.
USS Maine — You yourself admit:

So, who or what caused the Maine to explode and sink? To this day, the U.S. Navy says it doesn’t know.

In addition the Maine was NOT used as causus belle. As a matter of fact it was the media that latched on to that in an effort to pressure McKinley to war that HE DID NOT WANT.
Pearl Harbor — despite 10 investigations to date not one piece of evidence has been found proving foreknowledge by a member of the administration.
Iraq — The Iraqi resolution contained more then 20 justifications. In addition a study in 2006 of the pre-war debate discovered that the media was the first to use the term, “imminent threat,” and that was picked up by Democrats in congress but was never used by the administration which specifically said it was not yet imminent. (This has been investigated and debated repeatedly — If you want to start a debate I will leave that to you.)

Strange you didn’t mention Clinton’s attacks on Iraq or Bosnia in your, “wag the dog,” scenarios. Or were those beyond reproach?

While I agree that war and almost everything every government does is political from a historical perspective your suggestion of multiple political conspiracies falls apart when the historical facts are included in the narrative, particularly the available contemporary facts.

We all make the best decisions we can with the information available at that time — while history may not always validate that decision that in no way means the decisions were conspiracies.

DKK