Right Of The Star

Friday, May 16, 2008

Late Day Today

Can't post early today but I will be back~~late afternoon~~ this weekend sometime.
DKK

Update -- Wow, I am a V-8 running on 2 or 3 cylinders, can't spell, can't really think straight. Meds aren't clearing anything up. If it weren't for Firefox spell check you wouldn't be able to read this. Sorry.
David

Hillary's Point

Just a thought, is Hillary staying in this to make sure the wacko left like those in the fever swamps of the Kos understand that they really can't do squat without the traditional Democrats? They do need to learn that lesson -- they failed to learn it after their bruising loss against Lieberman.

Just a thought.
DKK

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Obama Capitulates -- Agrees Bush Foreign Policy Is Correct

Today in a stunning turn of events Barack Obama gave the nod to President Bush's foreign policy and agreed, almost completely, with his stance on Iran.

“Let’s not confuse precondition with preparation,” said Gibbs of any talks with Iran. “Obviously these meetings would be full of preparation. But we’re not going to sit down and engage Iran, unless or until they give up their nuclear weapons program.[”]
Obama Communications Director Robert Gibbs

It has been pointed out repeatedly that Obama's original position (yep, there is video AND text from his own website both at Hot Air) Captain Ed points out at Hot Air:

Without preconditions. That means without Iran guaranteeing anything, let alone the big prize of their nuclear program. Gibbs’ statement makes absolutely no sense in context of Bush’s remarks or Obama’s previous statements. If Iran gave up its nuclear weapons program today, Bush would open diplomatic contacts with Iran and might even consider a summit. He’s made that very clear over the last few years, holding out WTO sponsorship and normalized relations in exchange for just that concession.If Obama now says he won’t meet with Iran until they surrender their nuclear-weapons program, how exactly does that differ from Bush? And how does that fit with his previous statements about having talks “without preconditions”?

He concluded with:

If Gibbs wants to eliminate the confusion on these points, then he needs to start with Barack Obama, who apparently has no clue what preconditions mean. Maybe he should have learned that before running for President.

DKK

Sean Penn -- Obama Voted Inhuman and Unconstitutional?

”I don't have a candidate I'm supporting and I'm certainly interested and excited by the hope that Barack Obama is inspiring,” he said, but went on to accuse him of a “phenomenally inhuman and unconstitutional” voting record.

What the hell is Sean Penn saying? Obama's ultra liberal voting record is unconstitutional?

Penn Continued:

”I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be,” Penn said. “This is the most important election, certainly in my lifetime, and maybe ever.”

This is the active threat from the far left. They are frustrated as hell with congressional failure to implement their agenda, particularly on the war. If Obama thinks he is going to do the same thing, appeal to the left to get elected then acting realistic he has another think coming.

There is a great risk here that an Obama presidency would be disastrous for the Democrats as well as the country on the whole. If he goes with the far left he will alienate the center and right -- the majority of the country. If he doesn't go with the far left he will alienate them causing them to become even more vocally radical.

Remember, the only Democrat elected to the White House in the last three decades is the candidate that chose the moderate middle ground (and never achieved 50 % of the popular vote). If Obama is picked it will be for the reason Carter was picked, and most likely with the same results.

DKK

Telegraph UK

Failed Policies Of The Past Are Not Change

The Misery Index currently stands at 8 (5% unemployment and 3% inflation).

Toward the end of the Carter administration, the administration that best reflects the policies Barack Obama espouses the Misery Index stood at 22 (7.8% unemployment and 14.58% inflation).

If Obama wants to link McCain to a third Bush term he better be careful of who he is emulating himself.

I'd take a third Bush term with an 8 on the misery over a second Carter term at 22 any day!

The RNC noticed the similarities and made this effective ad:

Obama is proposing, "change," but his change idea of change is to go back to policies that failed the American people.

Will America vote for a third Carter term with policies that failed, miserably, so miserably in fact that they topped out the Misery Index at it's highest point since 1948?

What Is A Conservative?

To be a conservative is, in my definition, is somebody that believes in the power of the individual, somebody that believes, please let me make my decisions, that I have a right to succeed and not be penalized for it. I have a right to fail and have no one run to me if I don't want them to run to me. A conservative believes I have a right to manage my family, I have a right to discipline my family in the way I see fit, as long as it is not criminal. A conservative believes I have the right to worship God, I have a right to worship the God of my understanding, and I do not have the right to jam my version of God down anybody else's throat or my version of no God down anybody's throat. A conservative believes live and let live. That's what a conservative believes. A conservative believes in the smallest amount of government, the smallest government you can get without anarchy. That's what a conservative believes.

DKK
Glen Beck

Femanist, Racist, or Just Funny

Getting sick of the whole racism charge? So are Jackie and Dunlap!

DKK

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Rockford Bucking Trend On Red Light Cameras?

States giving yellow light to revenue-light cameras
Missouri House votes against intersection red light cameras

Texas Red light camera revenue sits unspent

Dallas City Hall has idled more than one-fourth of the 62 cameras

North Carolina Appeals Court Rules Against Red Light Cameras

Washington State initiative could stop red-light cameras

New Mexico Governor Signs Law Limiting Ticket Camera Profit

So why is Rockford pushing for them when studies show that extending the yellow by 1 second would better improve safety?

Some think it is the money.

The RRStar (Register Star Online) blogs addressed this:
In Chambers -- Senators Put Red Light on Red Light Plan
Sweeny Report -- What’s your problem with nabbing red-light runners, Senator?
DKK
Knoxville News

Labels, Tags, Catagories

Starting now I will be including labels on posts, forgive me if I forget one every now and then.
DKK

The Bush Effect in Serbia

The pro-Western coalition’s surprisingly strong showing came just three months after protesters outraged by Kosovo’s Feb. 17 independence declaration set fire to part of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade.

That anger had stoked expectations of an electoral backlash and a Radical victory that would have squelched Serbia’s efforts to prepare for eventual EU membership. The Radicals had vowed to steer the country away from the West and toward Russia, and openly defy international demands for the arrest of Gen. Ratko Mladic and other fugitive war crimes suspects.

Michele Malkin has more including this about Russia:

It’s one breathtaking defeat after another for the failed KGB regime of Vladimir Putin. First NATO moves decisively towards missile defense and admission of Ukraine and Georgia (both countries have recently repudiated ties with Russia in national elections), and now Russia can’t even hold on to its “little brother” Serbia. At home and abroad, Putin’s policies bring only misery and humiliation to the people of Russia, the same neo-Soviet bitterness with which they are already well acquainted.

But I thought Bush had destroyed America's standing in the world. Strange how all these nations elect leaders that go out of their way to praise and promise to have closer ties to us when our standing is so low.
DKK
Michelle Malkin -- Respected abroad: surprising Serbian elections yield another ally

Daily Trek -- May 14, 2008

Every now and then I get backed up with items that I could post but didn't have time for.

In the past I would do a, "Daily Trek," on my original blog, LifeTrek. I think I will carry that over to here when I get behind. These are noteworthy posts I just didn't have time to get to . It's basically a link dump.

If you like the format let me know.
David

Daily Trek -- May 14, 2008

LGF has a list of the, "skeletons," in Obama's closet, "I have never witnessed a presidential election in which a major candidate had this many skeletons in his closet."

Obama is clueless on Lebanon, as Powerline points out, "Obama may well fail to comprehend the first point and believe the second, just as naive leftists of an earlier generation thought that Ho Chi Minh was, at root, an agrarian reformer."

Democrats want to transcend race, but in a Mississippi ad the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) sent out a flier that accused a Republican of wanting to save a statue of the founder of the KKK -- the were wrong, it was Jefferson Davis, but Wizbang Blog wonders if that wasn't race baiting?

TalkLeft: "West Virginia is not an anomaly. Obama's white working class problem is EAST of the Mississippi. It is not just Appalachia. It MUST be addressed. Calling West Virginia names is not going to solve the problem."

The Telegraph UK notes, "Paul McCartney 'horrified' as his eco car is flown 7,000 miles from Japan." Remember the study a couple years ago that did the numbers showing a Hummer in total from dust to dust is actually more environmentally friendly then a Prius because of the transport, mining, and disposal costs? Here is their site - they have an update for 2008.

“A rather prominent flag pin is on Obama’s lapel, for the second straight day. Here’s guessing he won’t lose it until after the general election." Paterico's Pontifications

While attacking John McCain as a continuation of George Bush Senator Christopher Dodd forgot how many years a President serves saying, "America can't afford six more years of George Bush." Hot Air has the video here.

Will one in five Democrats defect defect to the Republicans? Ace has the poll.

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Okay, that is enough for now -- there is more, but it will have to wait.
DKK

Still More -- Bush Interview

Q Now, Mr. President, President Carter recently told Charlie Rose the next President could change America's image in 10 minutes. Here's what he said: "I think the next President could change the image of this country around the world in 10 minutes by making an inaugural speech that would start off and say, 'As long as I'm President we will never torture another prisoner, as long as I'm President we will never attack or invade another country unless our own security is directly threatened.'"

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, well, what he ought to be saying is, is that America doesn't torture. If the implication there is that we do now, then he's wrong. And you bet we're going to protect ourselves by the use of military force. What he really is implying is -- or some imply -- you can be popular; if you want to be popular in the Middle East just go blame Israel for every problem. That will make you popular. Or if you want to be popular in Europe, say you're going to join the International Criminal Court.

Popularity is fleeting, Michael. Principles are forever

DKK
The complete interview is here -- I found it!
Via Gateway Pundit

Most Likely to Succeed

A 6th-grade teacher in Jackson, Miss., asked her class to take a survey to determine which of their classmates were most likely to get pregnant, die and contract AIDS before graduation from high school.

Now the father of the honor student selected as most likely to get pregnant wants the teacher fired, according to local station WAPT.

Curtis Lyons said he found out about the survey when his daughter came home from Chastain Middle School Monday.

"She was humiliated," Lyons said. "She's an honor student."

In wonder if Jamie Lynn Spears won that one too.

What's worse is that someone won, "Most likely to die before 19." And someone will get AIDS? What the hell.

This survey is just a bazaar, what the teacher could have been thinking is beyond me. I wonder how old she is? I get the feeling people in their early 20's are less inclined to know what is appropriate in education or what is tasteful and polite in society.
DKK
WND -- 6th Grade Survey

Oh, I Bet They Are Shaking In Their Briefs

Aussie Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has announced he may take Iran's President Ahmadinejad to court in the Hague. AFP reports:

Australia is considering taking Iran's president to the International Court of Justice for inciting violence against Israel, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Wednesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had threatened to eliminate the Jewish state and the government was taking legal advice on launching a case against him at the international court in the Hague, Rudd said.

"The Iranian president's repeated extraordinary statements, which are anti-Semitic and expressing a determination to eliminate the modern state of Israel from the map, are appalling by any standards of current international relations," he told Sky News.

"They are an incitement of international violence and what we have said in the past is that we will take legal advice, which the attorney-general is currently doing, on whether there is a profitable way forward here through the appropriate international legal mechanisms and we'll study that advice carefully."

DKK
American Thinker Blog -- See you in court, Mahmoud

Guns and God -- Wouldn't Be Caught Dead in A State Like That

Wow. Obama only wins 53% of WV DEM PRIMARY VOTERS in a matchup with McCain.
Holy cow. If even half that holds that's got to be terrifying for Obama. Also, his rather ungracious way of fleeing the state without making a concession speech tonight probably didn't do much to win over West Virgina voters for the general. Has his campaign just written the state off already?

DKK

The Corner on National Review Online

More On the Bush Interview

A question submitted from the online audience asked Bush whether he felt he had been misled about Iraq as he made the decision to go to war.

"`Misled' is a strong word," he said. "Not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was."

"Do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don't. I think it was just, you know, they analyzed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion," he added.

This is from the Yahoo report on the joint interview they did with Politico, Bush's first with online only outlets.

DKK

Yahoo News -- Bush disappointed with intel

Foreign University Studies -- Conservative

The University of Colorado is considering a $9 million program to bring high-profile political conservatives to teach on the left-leaning Boulder campus.

Critics say it's an idea whose time should never come.

CU officials want to create an endowment for a Visiting Chair in Conservative Thought and Policy.

The program would bring a rotating cast of scholars, historians, politicians and media personalities to a town often ridiculed by the political right as "the People's Republic of Boulder."
(..)
"Like Margaret Mead among the Samoans, they're planning to study conservatives. That's hilarious," Will told The Wall Street Journal in a story pubished(sic) Tuesday.

Believe it!

DKK

Daily Camera -- CU seeks right-wing prof

Bush in Israel and Middle East

Fox News just announced that President Bush has landed in Israel on a five day trip to the middle east. He will be celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary, working pushing for a peace plan with the Palestinians, and talking to the King of Saudi Arabia about oil prices.
DKK

Fear Mongering -- AKA Telling The Truth

President Bush warned in an interview Tuesday that the Democratic presidential candidates' plans to withdraw abruptly from Iraq could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States" and would "embolden" terrorists.

In a White House interview with Politico and Yahoo News — a president's first for an online audience — Bush said his doomsday scenario for a premature withdrawal “of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."
"The United States pulling out of Iraq or pulling out of the Middle East or not maintaining a forward presence would send all kinds of signals throughout the Middle East," he said in the Roosevelt Room. "And it would shake everybody's nerves, and it would embolden the very same people that we're trying to defeat.

This will be called politics of fear (of course climate "crisis" isn't), but if telling the truth causes fear then perhaps, just perhaps (and I know this is a wacky notion) there is something to be f'n afraid of?
DKK
Politco -- Bush warns of Iraq disaster

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Purpose and Updated Stats -- May 12, 2008

The content of the RRStar (online Rockford Register Star) blogs have an overwhelmingly liberal slant in both content, links, and quantity.

I established this blog in an attempt to provide Rockford with political balance and to demonstrate the type and quality of content the RRStar could offer to its readers.

Checking the stats of their political blogs it is clear that they need more of a balanced portfolio of political blogs.

Again, here are the political blogs available at the RRStar:

Applesauce is a prolific far left blog that addresses national issues. The content is mainly composed of links to the left wing of the blogosphere along with a short quips, photo, and video content. Occasionally there are longer posts that include opinions on the items linked. Comments are quickly answered, often with another quip.
In Chambers is a blog that covers Illinois state politics. It appears to be right of center but that could be the result of its adversarial nature to the current state administration. There is no real interaction in the comments.
Sweeny Report is a blog written by the Political Editor of the Register Star. Postings are sporadic, concentrating on local, state and national issues and are mainly short thoughts on events with few links.
Why We Vote is a group blog consisting of the thoughts of the members of the Register Star's voters opinion panel. The posts are mostly left of center (including those from the independents to date). The conservative member who was posting, sadly, passed away recently.