That was quick...
Saturday, August 23, 2008
The JoeBama Ticket: A First Look At Biden
Good summary of Biden found here.
WaPo Says "Loose Lips Sink Ships."
My Favorite Biden Clip:
Oh, those silly white people, always calling Obama clean and articulate: Joe Biden as the typical white person:
And who can forget some of our first memories of Senator Biden and the sham hearings to confirm Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Biden was the chairman that allowed that circus to occur. I think that confirmation was the most shameful in our history, as the confirmation hearing turned into a tabloid media event. Shame on Senator Biden for that injustice.
The Weekly Standard: Obama, Russia, Iraq
The Weekly Standard nails it this week with some outstanding articles.
Salient quote:
"Here is Obama's résumé: an Ivy League law degree, a few years of community organizing, seven years in the Illinois senate, three and a half years as a U.S. senator. Kind of modest. What has he accomplished in any of those jobs? Not much, not much at all."
"What's more, (the American people) realize that the Democratic party will control Congress for the next two years. There's no chance (unfortunately) that a conservative domestic agenda will be much advanced, no matter who's president. So moderates and independents wary of Republican governance or conservative enthusiasms will have little to fear from a McCain presidency. They may conclude they have quite a bit to fear from the team of Obama-Pelosi-Reid governing unchecked."
Friday, August 22, 2008
Bigfoot's Girlfriend Found Alive
The Dissociative Press
August 22, 2008 or so
Clear proof of Bigfoot was again discovered today, in what appears to be his "significant other primate." No name as of yet is known for this creature, though "Bighair" was suggested by those who purport to have seen the creature. The creature, after capture, has reportedly been sequestered in room 27 of Al Gore's home and eco-mansion.
Photo courtesy of the Al-Jazeera Nature Network.
UPDATE: Chuckie's Cool...
An update to an earlier story...
Forbes reports that Chuck Schumer will NOT be investigated for his role in IndyMac's collapse.
It includes a ridiculous comment from the CA attorney general, saying that Schumer didn't cause the bank's failure.
When was that ever the question??? IndyMac caused its own failure. The issue is whether or not Senator Schumer touched off a run on the bank, creating panic among its customers, who then put the nail in the coffin by demanding all of their deposits back.
Sort of like shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater that may or may not be about to burn down.
Forbes reports that Chuck Schumer will NOT be investigated for his role in IndyMac's collapse.
It includes a ridiculous comment from the CA attorney general, saying that Schumer didn't cause the bank's failure.
When was that ever the question??? IndyMac caused its own failure. The issue is whether or not Senator Schumer touched off a run on the bank, creating panic among its customers, who then put the nail in the coffin by demanding all of their deposits back.
Sort of like shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theater that may or may not be about to burn down.
Offensive Quote of the Day...
by who else?
Full doubleplusungood article, soon to be erased from history for the party's sake, found here.
"This week, Barack Obama's challenge is to select a running mate who's young, hip, and whose accomplishments in life don't overshadow Obama's. Allow me to suggest Kevin Federline."
-Ann Coulter
Full doubleplusungood article, soon to be erased from history for the party's sake, found here.
What's At Stake in Georgia
Insightful piece by Charles Krauthammer can be found here.
So much for that "peace dividend" we supposedly had in the 1990's. It's becoming more obvious every day that one of the biggest failures of both the Clinton and Bush II administrations is the failure to pull Russia into the civilized world. Now powerful, rich, and resurgent, we've lost her for perhaps a long time. Putin can rape and subjugate at will, take over entire industries, and control the media in his own country, all while enjoying extremely high approval ratings from Russians.
What will it be like to live in a world where Russia violently vies for the head position in world leadership while supplying terrorist states with weapons of mass destruction? We're finding out now.
Salient quotes from the article:
More great thinking by Victor Davis Hanson: Blame Everyone But Russia!
So much for that "peace dividend" we supposedly had in the 1990's. It's becoming more obvious every day that one of the biggest failures of both the Clinton and Bush II administrations is the failure to pull Russia into the civilized world. Now powerful, rich, and resurgent, we've lost her for perhaps a long time. Putin can rape and subjugate at will, take over entire industries, and control the media in his own country, all while enjoying extremely high approval ratings from Russians.
What will it be like to live in a world where Russia violently vies for the head position in world leadership while supplying terrorist states with weapons of mass destruction? We're finding out now.
Salient quotes from the article:
If conditions continue, Georgia will be strangled and Saakashvili will fall, to be replaced by a Russian client whom Russia will offer to deal with magnanimously. Russia will have demonstrated its capacity to destroy a neighboring pro-Western regime without full-scale invasion or occupation and with zero resistance from NATO. Eastern European leaders will observe this outcome with shock, rethink their reflexive move toward the West and, in time, begin to accommodate themselves to Russian ambitions. Every Russian objective will have been achieved.
That is why so much hinges on the next few weeks, a time of maximum pressure on the Saakashvili government. The goal of this war is to demoralize and dominate Eastern Europe. Its outcome depends entirely on one development: Whether Russia succeeds in bringing down what it contemptuously calls "the Tbilisi regime." The fate of far more than Georgia is at stake.
More great thinking by Victor Davis Hanson: Blame Everyone But Russia!
We're Friendly...
I can't believe more people don't have a problem with this...
[hat tip: LGF]
If McCain had as one of his friends some white supremacist, who had, say, bombed a government building and then said "I feel like we didn't do enough", we'd never hear the end of it. It would be a three-week news cycle for the mainstreamers.
What matters most in a candidate is character and qualifications, leadership and values, and tactics (what are their plans and how will they execute them). So Obama should be judged on these.
However, his associations go a long ways towards determining character and judgement. And the point here is we see virtually nothing of this in the major media outlets. Obama has an unbelievably bad collection of skeletons in his closet when it comes to associations and what ideologies helped form his thinking, and the prevailing attitude seems to be we can't consider those things, we should simply believe in him because he'll change things and provide hope, whatever that means.
Hugh Hewitt wrote a nice piece on this.
[hat tip: LGF]
If McCain had as one of his friends some white supremacist, who had, say, bombed a government building and then said "I feel like we didn't do enough", we'd never hear the end of it. It would be a three-week news cycle for the mainstreamers.
What matters most in a candidate is character and qualifications, leadership and values, and tactics (what are their plans and how will they execute them). So Obama should be judged on these.
However, his associations go a long ways towards determining character and judgement. And the point here is we see virtually nothing of this in the major media outlets. Obama has an unbelievably bad collection of skeletons in his closet when it comes to associations and what ideologies helped form his thinking, and the prevailing attitude seems to be we can't consider those things, we should simply believe in him because he'll change things and provide hope, whatever that means.
Hugh Hewitt wrote a nice piece on this.
Dominoes..
Check out this excellent op-ed by the incredible Caroline Glick, at the Jerusalem Post.
Salient quotes:
Salient quotes:
It is often argued that Russia fears Islamic domination no less than the West. And while Russia certainly has good reason to be concerned about jihadists, its concern has not led it to act as an ally to the West in the West's fight against the forces of global jihad. To the contrary, like Iran and Syria and their affiliated terror groups, Russia views the US as its true enemy. Like them it seeks to exploit US weaknesses to advance its own position.
Russia understands that Iran's ideological foundations make it impossible for Teheran to ever reach an accord with the US. And it exploits the situation to its benefit.
Moscow built Iran a nuclear reactor. It supplies Iran and Syria with advanced weapons systems. Russia's alliance with Iran and Syria advances its interests in two ways: It weakens the US and it ensures that Russia will not be the target of an Iranian nuclear bomb.
But most importantly, looking ahead, both the US and Israel should take a lesson from their enemies. They must acknowledge that when they are strong and victorious, their allies are strengthened throughout the world. And when they are weak and dissolute, their allies also pay the price of their irresponsibility.
Op-Ed: Why We are Succeeding in Iraq
We always hear discussion about whether or not "the surge" worked. The surge, of course, did work - only Senator Obama is still in denial about that.
But a lot more went into gaining the upper hand in Iraq. Reading Michael Yon's book, "The Moment of Truth in Iraq", you see what an amazing job General Petraeus did before being in charge of the entire operation in Iraq (he was the commander of the 101st Airborne, which was in Mosul). General Patraeus is a master at counter-insurgency. This is not spy fiction novel stuff so much as it is working with local leaders, building trust, and rebuilding communities and infrastructure. Over and over, in various provinces and cities, the radically diverse Iraqi population came to understand that they could trust American soldiers and the American commitment to winning and staying.
These are at least some of the reasons we've turned around a dire situation in Iraq:
So boiling success in Iraq down to one sound bite doesn't do justice to the monumental effort by our troops and their leaders. We've shown that even when we do things wrong at first, we can adapt and learn and find the right leadership to get the job done.
Our values and character are winning this war.
But a lot more went into gaining the upper hand in Iraq. Reading Michael Yon's book, "The Moment of Truth in Iraq", you see what an amazing job General Petraeus did before being in charge of the entire operation in Iraq (he was the commander of the 101st Airborne, which was in Mosul). General Patraeus is a master at counter-insurgency. This is not spy fiction novel stuff so much as it is working with local leaders, building trust, and rebuilding communities and infrastructure. Over and over, in various provinces and cities, the radically diverse Iraqi population came to understand that they could trust American soldiers and the American commitment to winning and staying.
These are at least some of the reasons we've turned around a dire situation in Iraq:
- The surge - an increase in troops on the ground
- Intelligent leadership - good call by the President to put Petraeus in charge, and brilliant job by Petraeus in knowing what to do to turn the tide
- Al-Qeda - Al-Qaeda's true face was not much reported in the media. They are more mafia-like than jihadist. They drink, do drugs, visit prostitutes, and, above all, seem to stand for murder and power. Their violent acts perpetrated on Iraq are unspeakable - you name it, they did it. Michael Yon shows evidence of a mass murder - where even children were murdered along with (and probably in front of) their parents. It wasn't long before Iraqis could see the venerable nature of our troops and the absolute evil nature of Al-Qaeda.
- Iraqi forces - the most recently visible success story is our rebuilding of the Iraqi army, who are now already fighting largely on their own and winning.
- Our Soldiers - never in the history of humanity has a volunteer army given up so much in the way of luxuries and lifestyle at home to go and fight in a foreign land to literally make the world a safer place. I think that makes this generation of soldiers the greatest generation. Our military is stronger, more capable, more adaptive, and more magnanimous and trustworthy than any other in history.
So boiling success in Iraq down to one sound bite doesn't do justice to the monumental effort by our troops and their leaders. We've shown that even when we do things wrong at first, we can adapt and learn and find the right leadership to get the job done.
Our values and character are winning this war.
U.S. Troops Out of Iraq Before 2012?
Major media outlets are reporting that the U.S. and Iraq are close to signing a deal for withdrawal.
This is something that was inconceivable last summer - before the surge.
Not that you'd know this from most media coverage.
The WSJ today reports on the rise of the Iraqi Army, as it grows in strength and discipline, and is now beating back terrorism on its own - another fairly recent development.
This is something that was inconceivable last summer - before the surge.
Not that you'd know this from most media coverage.
The WSJ today reports on the rise of the Iraqi Army, as it grows in strength and discipline, and is now beating back terrorism on its own - another fairly recent development.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
What Bias???
Drudge reports that Obama is on the cover of TIME for the 7th time this year. Yes, that's 7.
UPDATE: McCain has been on twice. Well, that's not so bad. Obama's only been on the cover 3 times as much. No bias there.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Schumer Watch: Target of Bank Failure Probe?
Did Democrat Chuck Schumer precipitate the crash of IndyMac?
"In a letter to Attorney General Jerry Brown last week, 51 former IndyMac workers wrote: "From the day (Schumer's) letter was made public on June 26 until the closure of the bank, a run on the bank took place and the failure became inevitable."
Indymac is just one of the big banks and lenders that have become insolvent due to their mismanagement of mortgage lending. Fear only needs a trigger to unleash a wave of panic, and Schumer appears to have been that trigger.
Empircal Proof That Spitz Slower Than Phelps ;-)
What could've possibly made Mark Spitz slower than Michael Phelps?
The only logical conclusion - it had to be the mustache.
Mystery solved.
The Foreboding Bigger Picture of Russian Actions
From http://www.merriam-webster.com:
Foreboding: an omen, prediction, or presentiment especially of coming evil
Very ominous news appear on a daily basis - Russia is clearly happy to have a showdown with the U.S. and the West, if the rest of the West will participate, that is. Russia, authoritarian and newly wealthy, is asserting its hegemony wherever it can.
It doesn't take much effort to stand back a bit and think of all the of the ominous headlines brought to you courtesy of Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Consider some highlights of what is going on around the world:
- Russia is supplying Iran with nuclear technology and defensive missile systems
- Russia has now invaded a sovereign, democratic nation
- Russia is trying to extend its will by buttressing violent, terrorism-supporting regimes
- Russia can and does now use oil as a threat - from taking over the international companies within his borders to threatening all of Europe with cutting off its oil supply to them.
- Russia is supplying dictator-controlled Venezuela with arms
- Putin always feels the need to make outright threats, even nuclear, when former eastern bloc nations inch closer to the West.
Consider this about Russia:
- It was Putin who rained down violence on the breakaway province of Chechnya, yet he invaded Georgia when Georgia tried to quell violence in its own breakaway provinces
- Russia is NOT A DEMOCRACY. Putin controls television and newspapers, jails the opposition, takes over oil companies and jails their CEO's, and has hand-picked his own successor, validated with a sham election. Russia is an authoritarian state.
- Russia and China are permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, which means they have veto-power. Think of two authoritarian states that can veto any action the U.N. would take to resolve or head-off conflicts. This includes humanitarian efforts in Darfur/Sudan and Zimbabwe.
- Putin is the former head of the KGB, and thinks that the dissolution of the Soviet empire was, "the greatest geo-political disaster of the twentieth century."
- Although we don't see it here, Russian indoctrinates its children and saturates its press with the the idea that America is threatening Russia whenever NATO expansion is even considered, and when America forms stronger ties with newly independent, former Soviet-controlled states. Even more pernicious, high school history books now teach that Joseph Stalin, who arguably murdered more people than Hitler, is "the country's most successful Soviet leader ever."
- A look at Pravda is very telling
- From the BBC: "According to research by the Russian Academy of Sciences, three quarters of senior politicians have a background in the security forces and Russia's largest companies are now headed by former KGB men with personal ties to Vladimir Putin."
It seems unlikely that Putin's goals are one and the same as the former Soviet Union's - if one assumes that is the spread of communist ideology through all means. If Putin's goals are only to establish his own close-knit oligarchy as a means to personal wealth and power, and to do that he must restore Russian pride as a world power through threats, violence, and subjugation, in terms of practice and results, what is the difference between that and the former Soviet empire?
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