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Selected News For Nov 8 – Nov 14

This thread is for the busy bees of S&L to post news items themselves.

In order to make the articles as readable as possible, please try to stick to the format described in the first of these weekly editions here.

Of course articles that fit under the topic of a recent thread should be posted there. As always, remember to excerpt heavily and to provide a link to the original source.

Related Articles:

This article was posted by Steve Gilbert on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 12:00 am. You can leave a response.

107 Responses to “Selected News For Nov 8 – Nov 14”

BillK

November 8, 2008 at 2:31 am

Really? It’s not a civil rights issue? Shocking!

From the Los Angeles Times:

Gays, blacks divided on Proposition 8

For many African Americans, it’s not a civil rights issue.

By Cara Mia DiMassa and Jessica Garrison

For Trebor Healey, a 46-year-old gay man from Glendora, Tuesday’s election was bittersweet.

He was thrilled that the nation elected its first African American president. But he was disappointed that black voters, traditionally among the most reliably liberal in the state, voted overwhelmingly to ban same-sex marriage.

He understands that there are differences between the civil rights battles of blacks and gays: For one thing, he notes, gay people have a much easier time blending in. Still, he says, he thinks it’s sad that “people do not equate one civil rights struggle with another.”

Many black voters didn’t see it that way.

“I was born black. I can’t change that,” said Culver City resident Bilson Davis, 57, who voted for Proposition 8. “They weren’t born gay; they chose it,” he added, reflecting a commonly held belief that many researchers dispute.

Although many of the state’s black political leaders spoke out against Proposition 8, an exit poll of California voters showed that black voters favored the measure by a ratio of more than 2 to 1. Not only was the black vote weighted heavily in favor of Proposition 8, but black turnout — spurred by Barack Obama’s historic campaign for president — was unusually large, with African Americans making up roughly 10% of the state electorate.

The exit poll didn’t ask voters why they voted the way they did. But Madison Shockley, pastor of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Carlsbad and among the roughly one-third of blacks who opposed Proposition 8, said the vote was understandable. “Black folks go to church, probably more than the Caucasian population, and the churches they go to tend to be very traditional.”

Los Angeles resident Christopher Hill, 50, said he was motivated by religion in supporting Proposition 8. Civil rights, he said, “are about getting a job, employment.”

Gay marriage, he said, is not: “It’s an abomination against God.”

One complicating factor was that both sides in the campaign had plausible reason to claim Obama’s support. The president-elect strongly stated his opposition to the proposition, calling it “divisive and discriminatory.”

But he has also said in public speeches that he opposes same-sex marriage. In the days leading up to the election, some Democrats received “robo-calls” on their cellphones containing an excerpt from such a speech.

“Here is Barack Obama in his own words on the definition of marriage,” the call began.

Then the voice of Obama speaking to a crowd comes on: “I believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian, it is also a sacred union. God is in the mix.”

A narrator then urged a yes vote on Proposition 8.

California Democratic Party consultant Roger Salazar was among the recipients of the call.

“They saw the Obama tide coming and they were trying to capitalize on it,” Salazar said, adding that the call was “manipulative and deceitful,” given the candidate’s stated opposition to the amendment.

Still, those efforts, combined with a push by dozens of African American ministers and commercials and mailers arguing that children would be subjected to a pro-gay curriculum should the measure pass, had an effect on voters like Pasadena resident Doris Tucker.

Tucker, who is African American, said she voted for “all the good things,” especially Obama and Proposition 8. “I don’t think it’s right,” Tucker said of gay marriage. “They shouldn’t let it go on.” …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....1616.story

This one will be fun to watch.

You’ll also notice that “many researchers say” is apparently now the journalistic standard for whether something is true, whether it be anthropogenic Global Warming or whether homosexuality is a chosen behavior.

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BillK

November 8, 2008 at 2:42 am

Finally, Sarah stands up for herself.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Sarah Palin fires back at ‘jerks’

The governor and her aides dispute claims about her foreign-policy knowledge and $150,000-plus wardrobe.

By Seema Mehta and Maeve Reston

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin swung back hard Friday against aides to John McCain who have criticized her foreign policy knowledge and pricey wardrobe purchases, calling them “jerks” who were too cowardly to speak publicly.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee told reporters in Anchorage that a recent Fox News report — which cited unnamed campaign sources as saying she did not know Africa was a continent and could not name the countries involved in the North American Free Trade Agreement — was false, and that her comments were taken out of context.

<b.”That’s cruel. It’s mean-spirited. It’s immature. It’s unprofessional, and those guys are jerks if they came away with it, taking things out of context, and then tried to spread something on national news. It’s not fair and not right,” Palin told CNN in an interview.

Palin’s fierce defense was part of a broader push-back Friday by her loyal aides as she resumes her duties as governor and tries to repair some of the damage done in the rough-and-tumble of the campaign. Although Palin has brushed off questions about whether she will run for president in 2012, her supporters are eager to correct what they see as unfair attacks.

And McCain himself has privately expressed sadness and displeasure over former staffers’ emerging criticism of his running mate, an aide said.

Since the Arizona senator’s defeat Tuesday in the presidential election, some of his aides have said that as much as $30,000 in clothing was purchased for Palin after the Republican convention in September. That would be on top of the $150,000 in wardrobe purchases made for the Palins by the Republican National Committee, which were reported in September and October Federal Election Commission filings.

The aides — who spoke on condition of anonymity while discussing the campaign’s inner workings — asserted that some members of Palin’s traveling staff charged clothing for the nominee and her family on their personal credit cards and submitted reimbursement requests to the RNC.

The campaign has said that at least a third of the $150,000 in purchases — which included a $75,063 spree at Neiman Marcus and a $49,426 trip to Saks Fifth Avenue — were returned.

In a phone interview Friday, McCain foreign policy advisor Randy Scheunemann, who prepared Palin for her debate with Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, bristled at the charges that Palin lacked a basic understanding of Africa and NAFTA. He too said that the reports were inaccurate.

“The real Sarah Palin is not the caricature put out by these dishonest leakers,” Scheunemann said. “The reality is she is a tough, capable, knowledgeable and focused politician. . . . Whoever these people are and whatever position they had in the campaign, they certainly never had John McCain’s best interests at heart.” …

http://www.latimes.com/news/po.....9123.story

Truly, this is the real Sarah Palin and I’m amazed it was published at all:

As for the clothing, Stapleton said, the campaign brought in a New York stylist and gave her a “blank check” to outfit Palin during the convention — a characterization disputed by McCain aides, who say the stylist was authorized to purchase just six outfits.

Palin “had no idea” about the amounts being spent on her clothing, Stapleton said. “She was sequestered in the hotel, and the only time she was allowed to leave was to watch Sen. McCain speak and to give her own speech.”

When the stylist appeared with bags of garments, Stapleton said, Palin showed displeasure — and was stunned by the $3,500 price tag for one jacket.

“She said, ‘No, no, no, no, no. I would never wear this at home, I would never wear this outside of home. This is too much, this isn’t me,‘ ” Stapleton said.

Campaign officials told Palin she should wear the jacket, Stapleton said, and eventually the governor relented. Palin never saw a price tag after that, Stapleton said.

Several Palin aides said that the governor may have requested certain clothing items be purchased after the convention, but that she never told staffers to put them on their personal credit cards.

Tracey Schmitt, who served as Palin’s traveling press secretary, said, “Any purchases that were made by campaign aides have been or will be reimbursed.”

In response to allegations that as much as $40,000 was spent outfitting the governor’s husband, Todd Palin, Stapleton said: “Two people were told to go clean up Todd . . . so he could look the part. They went and purchased . . . two suits. I’m not sure two suits add up to $40,000.”

Palin had asked that any clothing that did not belong to the family be removed from the campaign plane in Phoenix before she left for Alaska on Wednesday. But it never was, and when the Palins landed in Anchorage, 14 suitcases were brought to their house. Half belonged to Palin and her family. The remainder were full of the purchased clothing, paperwork and other items.

Aides were at the Palins’ Wasilla home Friday sorting through the luggage, and will return any clothing and accessories that don’t belong to them to the RNC, Stapleton said: “All of it is going back.”

Palin made that clear in her interviews Friday. “The RNC purchased clothes. Those are the RNC’s clothes, they’re not my clothes; I never forced anybody to buy any,” she told CNN. “I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr Pepper once in a while.”

Brava, Sarah. Brava.

“I never asked for anything more than a Diet Dr Pepper once in a while.”

We love her even more.

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BillK

November 8, 2008 at 2:59 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

Election over, Jeremiah Wright is talking again, now on media and Obama

By Andrew Malcolm

Here’s a name from the not-so-dim past:

The retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose incendiary video sermons caused such a furor last winter/spring when his parishioner of 20 years, Barack Obama, said he’d missed the bad ones and could no more disown his pastor than his own family.

But then Obama did a few weeks later.

Anyway, in a sermon in Connecticut last night, according to another video just below, Wright suggested that he was a pawn of the media to get at Obama, which sounds kind of like what Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was saying about the media attacking Sen. John McCain through her.

So that can’t be right.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.co.....right.html

Here’s a link to the video:

http://www.latimes.com/video/?.....Id=3111717

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Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

November 8, 2008 at 3:07 am

BillK,

I e-mailed Gov. Palin today thanking her for the grace and eloquence she showed under conditions I wouldn’t have been able to myself. How she weathered such unjustified personal attacks so gracefully was incredibly impressive to me. The woman has class.

I hope that she has learned well and puts those lessons to good use in 2012

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BillK

November 8, 2008 at 7:07 am

LMGS, I should do that as well.

I know it’s the circles I travel in, but every single person I’ve talked to who isn’t a rabid Democrat simply loved Palin and there isn’t one of them that wasn’t energized by her and her presence.

I only wish I had had the chance to meet her on the campaign trail.

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Diane

November 8, 2008 at 7:30 am

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Hiring Emanuel shows Obama’s hand
If you hire a shark, does that make you a shark? If you send in an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too?

President-elect Barack Obama, practitioner of consensus and preacher of civility, made a singular statement by choosing Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, the first hire of the new administration.

“Brilliant, hardworking, in some ways he may be a good yin to Obama’s yang. But I was very surprised because he has a very different personality type from those around Obama,” longtime Chicago political consultant Kitty Kurth said by phone Thursday.

“I had first met Rahm after the ‘88 presidential campaign, on Mayor Daley’s ‘89 mayoral race. He was always brilliant but a complete hardball player. The first six or seven times I met him, he never remembered who I was. . . . I never had anything he needed, so he didn’t need to know who I was.”

There are a million stories about the 49-year-old, profane, pirouetting, ballet-trained Emanuel.

Whether it’s ripping up contributions of political donors who lacked the good survival sense to write a bigger check, or mailing a dead fish to express his extreme displeasure or repeatedly stabbing a steak knife into a table to punctuate a list of Democratic politicians he was putting on a “dead” list, Rahm Emanuel mastered hardball long before Chris Matthews peddled it on TV.

Would Emanuel be displeased by the above description?

Nope. He revels in the legend.

http://tinyurl.com/5d9c9j

I can’t tell from the article whether the author is admiring or appalled, but either way it seems we’re in for an interesting four years with the Uniter in office.

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sheehanjihad

November 8, 2008 at 7:41 am

Palin was a rock in the face of the most appalling character assasination by the media, by the democrat party, by the left, but most of all, by her own party. She showed such grace and unflappable stoicism in the face of the senseless and sophomoric attacks that I was, and still am impressed with her courage under fire.

She represents what the GOP should be….and thus their fear of her. Too many entrenched weakling spineless bureaucrats quake in their shoes at the prospect of having to actually stand for something other than their own jobs…..so they snarl and lash out like the dogs in the manger that they are.

The good side of this is that Sarah Palin is fully aware of who her enemies are, fully aware of the lengths that groups including her own party with go to to discredit her, fully aware of what she can expect if she decides to run in 2012. They all are exposed.

That, plus the fact that all of the dirt that could possibly be used against her has been thrown, and it didnt stick to her. They have pretty much used up all of their ammunition to use against her should she decide to challenge the very system that seeks to destroy her out of their own petty fears.

Note to Sarah Palin: Run in 2012. Hand pick your staff. Do what you do best. Be yourself. You will win.

Note to anyone running for office in the future: Do NOT hire or have on your staff ANYONE who worked on the McCain campaign. Not even as a volunteer. They only want a job, and your interests will not be served. They have no honor.

They are just like the RNC and the GOP….. They are self serving weakling cowards, and loyal only to who has the money to buy their loyalty. Discard these ineffective failures if you seek a victory.

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BillK

November 8, 2008 at 7:56 am

Shocking!

From a sympathetic AP:

Islamists Post Internet Video Urging Obama to Abandon War on Terror

BAGHDAD — Two Iraqi insurgent groups called on President-elect Barack Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and abandon the war on terror, an Internet monitoring service reported Friday.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, self-styled head of the Al Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a speech posted on an extremist Web site that it would be better “for you and us” to “withdraw your forces,” according to the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors militant Web sites.

You do not interfere in the affairs of our countries,” he continued in an apparent reference to Muslim dominated nations. “We, in turn, will not prevent commerce with you, whether it is in oil or otherwise.”

Al-Baghdadi blamed the global financial crisis on the wars “launched in Muslim countries” and said he was issuing the call on behalf of “my brothers in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Chechnya,” SITE said.

The U.S. military says al-Baghdadi is an actor who provides a voice for Al Qaeda in Iraq propaganda.

In a separate statement, the Mujahedeen Army, a Sunni insurgent group, urged Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq or face “days that will be more difficult than the nightmare experienced by his predecessor.” …

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,448904,00.html

Let the uh, “testing” begin.

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Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

November 8, 2008 at 8:23 am

“urged Obama to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq or face “days that will be more difficult than the nightmare experienced by his predecessor.”

The only nightmare GWB experienced was from the traitors on all sides in THIS country. I would say judging by the results in Iraq, the way your ass has been handed to you at every turn Moohamad boy, you are the one who experienced the nightmare.

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sheehanjihad

November 8, 2008 at 8:34 am

Note to terrrorists: we are already experiencing a nightmare thank you. Now go put on your vest, walk to the nearest mosque, gather everyone around you, and do what you do best. Die.

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curvyred

November 8, 2008 at 11:24 am

http://www.foxnews.com/printer.....ba,00.html

[B]Shall we work on stimulating Cuba’s economy?[/B]

“Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Tuesday called the Bush administration’s decision to tighten restrictions on relatives of Cubans who want to visit the island or send money home strategic blunders and promised to reverse the measures if elected.

The Illinois senator leapt into the long-running and often bruising debate over U.S.-Cuba policy with an op-ed piece published in The Miami Herald.

“The primary means we have of encouraging positive change in Cuba today is to help the Cuban people become less dependent on the Castro regime in fundamental ways,” Obama wrote.

“Unfortunately, the Bush administration has made grand gestures to that end while strategically blundering when it comes to actually advancing the cause of freedom and democracy in Cuba,” he added.

He said that was true of the travel and money restrictions imposed in 2004, adding that the move isolated those on the island from “the transformative message carried there by Cuban Americans.” He promised to grant Cuban exiles unrestricted rights to visit their families and to send remittances home.”

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curvyred

November 8, 2008 at 12:30 pm

“Hawaii officials to count Obama grandmother’s absentee ballot”

“An absentee ballot filled out by Barack Obama’s grandmother, who died on the eve of the US election, is to be counted in Hawaii, according to election officials.

Madelyn Dunham, who was 86 when she died of cancer on Sunday, had sent an absentee ballot because of her declining health.

It arrived at the elections office on October 27, and went on to be processed like any other absentee vote.

Although the law would normally require that an absentee ballot cast by someone who dies before election day to be discarded, Kevin Cronin, the Hawaii elections chief, confirmed that it would still be counted, as the elections office did not receive a list of deceased residents – which included Dunham’s name – from the state department of health before Tuesday.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl.....rackobama2

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Steve

November 8, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Funny, we have heard all about Obama’s grandmother’s vote — but nary a peep about her funeral, or whether the President Select will attend the event.

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curvyred

November 8, 2008 at 1:26 pm

SG,

I had the same thought today. I wonder if he will attend?

I guess deceased people (no disrespect intended) really can vote in hawaii;

“Kevin Cronin, the Hawaii elections chief, confirmed that it would still be counted, as the elections office did not receive a list of deceased residents – which included Dunham’s name – from the state department of health before Tuesday.”

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texaspsue

November 8, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Hey Liberals Make Great Speedbumps, what is the e-mail address? The only address I found said that you couldn’t put political info/messages on it.

SG,curvyred
I was also wondering that same thought.. DID they have a funeral service?

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Steve

November 8, 2008 at 3:14 pm

Well, it looks like there have been reports about Obama’s grandmother’s funeral and I just missed them.

From the Associated Press

Obama to honor late grandmother during December visit to Hawaii

By HERBERT A. SAMPLE
Thursday November 6, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama will visit Hawai’i in December to honor his grandmother “Toot,” who died two nights before the election, and to relax with his family before he takes the reins of the federal government in January.

Campaign officials will not specify when Obama will arrive. He, his wife Michelle and his two daughters have vacationed in Hawai’i during the winter holidays in recent years…

Obama planned to stay home in Chicago this weekend, with a blackout on news announcements so that he and his staff can rest after a grueling campaign and the rush of their victory Tuesday night.

No plans for Dunham’s funeral or memorial service have been announced.

It is not uncommon for funerals to be held more than a week after the death of a Hawai’i resident because of the time it takes for loved ones to fly to the Islands, said Jerry Andrade, funeral home manager of Borthwick Mortuary, which is handling Dunham’s arrangements.

He added that visitation and funeral services tend to be larger affairs in Hawai’i than in the rest of the United States because residents here often have large families and collections of friends.

“Everybody is so close here. Everyone is related to each other,” he said…

http://tinyurl.com/6cgjwe

Maybe it’s just me. But doesn’t it seem like the media always find an excuse for Obama?

He is delaying her funeral until December. But we are assured that everybody in Hawaii does that.

Sure they do.

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Steve

November 8, 2008 at 4:19 pm

Sorry for deleting your comment, NBTD. But I just don’t want to give the WBC any publicity whatsoever.

It’s all they want. That, and the lawsuits.

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jobeth

November 8, 2008 at 4:59 pm

First there are strange methods for O’s birth in Hawaii and now there are strange customs for his grandmother’s funeral. Seems to be a lack of the normal paper trails the rest of us leave. Me thinks somethin’ smells fishy. But then Hawaii is surrounded by fish. Just me thinkin’ again.

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texaspsue

November 8, 2008 at 9:01 pm

From the Bulletin:

Farewell To Sweetness & Light

By James G. Wiles, For The Bulletin

Well, that didn’t take long. Fresh from his election victory on a platform of being a uniter, not a divider, President-elect Barack Obama has just made his first presidential appointment. Guess who? Chicago Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his White House chief of staff.

Goodbye, sweetness and light. Mr. Emanuel, not to put too fine a point on it, is a thug, straight out of Tough Jews, the fine book by Rich Cohen which I used to give to clients. Before making a fortune as an investment banker (funny how national politics pays off that way) and entering Congress to represent the poor and the downtrodden, Mr. Emanuel was Bill Clinton’s political director in the White House. As such, he was a personal practicioner of the “politics of personal destruction,” so decried, so unconvincingly, by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the Clintons’ successful defense of President Clinton’s impeachment trial for perjury and obstruction of justice (a majority of the Senate voted to convict, but not the Constitutionally-required two-thirds), Mr. Emanuel was part of the pack. Opponents were investigated, attacked, blackmailed or exposed. Among the casualties of the Clintons’ smash-mouth defense were Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and his successor as Speaker, William Livingston.

Starting January 20, smash-mouth is back in the White House, this time acting on behalf of the Archangel Barack. Truly, it is a time of renewals…

Given his role in the Clinton Machine – and his support of Hillary in the primaries, Rahm Emanuel’s pick by Sen. Barack Obama might appear at first blush to be surprising. But Mr. Emanuel has long been comfortable moving between two worlds.

An Israeli citizen until he was 18 years old, he broke with other leading Democrats to vote for the Iraq War. His father was a member of the Irgun, the Jewish underground organization led by Menachem Begin which the British condemned as terrorists.During the 1991 Gulf War, Mr. Emanuel was a civilian volunteer in the Israeli Defense Forces.

Again, while supporting Hillary Clinton for president, Mr. Emanuel remained in good standing with Chicago’s Daley Machine. Yet, as I wrote earlier this year, the Democratic primary season featured a contest between the Daleys and Kennedys on one side and the Clintons on the other. Mr. Emanuel’s appointment as White House chief of staff shows effective he was in keeping one foot in each camp.

Then again, maybe the incoming administration is just going to be all Chicago, all the time.

The article goes on to suggest what steps the Republicans should take now.

And now, a thought experiment: what would Rahm Emanuel do if he had Congressman John Boehner’s job as House Minority Leader?

That’s easy. Put as many long-range torpedoes into the water aimed at Senator Obama’s ship of state before Republicans lose control of the Executive Branch as possible. Here are a few:

*Appoint U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Patrick Fitzpatrick as a special prosecutor so he can pursue his investigation of Tony Rezko and his corrupt dealings with Illinois’s governor and other creatures and spoilsmen of the Daley Machine. This will make it politically difficult for a President Obama to pardon Mr. Rezko and impossible for him to terminate Mr. Fitzpatrick as a federal officer come January 21 as a way of de-railing this investigation.

* Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate ACORN’s voter registration methods and its dealings with the Obama campaign.

* Appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Obama campaign’s on-line fundraising operation, including its disabling of the credit card security software on its on-line donations system. File a complaint with the Federal Election Commission regarding same.

* Appoint a bipartisan (love that word!) presidential commission to review the candidates’ fundraising in this election cycle and to recommend changes in federal election laws.

File ethics complaints against Sen. Chris Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank for their relationship with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Countrywide Mortgage.

Be it noted that, in his day, this is probably what Newt Gingrich would have done, too. It was then-Congressman Gingrich’s persistent filing of ethics complaints against then-House Speaker Jim Wright, D Texas, which eventually brought Speaker Wright down and made possible the Republicans’ re-taking of Congress in 1994 on the platform of the Contract with America.

http://tinyurl.com/6rv4dz

I agree with the article. Come on Republicans. It’s now or never. You know what they say, “no guts no glory”.

The headline is curious though. What’s up with that? Gosh SG, the name of your website is a common expression in the media these days. LOL

Leave Sweetness and Light alone. :-)

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sheehanjihad

November 8, 2008 at 9:07 pm

Republican party? We dont have no Republican party.

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texaspsue

November 8, 2008 at 9:18 pm

You’ve got a point there SJ. But, if you wear a hat it won’t show. ;-) (Sorry, I couldn’t resist.)

What was I thinking? I guess it’s the optimist in me. Conservatives really have a long row to hoe don’t they? Sigh.

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sheehanjihad

November 8, 2008 at 9:51 pm

Conservatives need a party who will represent them. That is what we lack. Actually, that’s what I meant Tex….get my “point”? lol

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texaspsue

November 8, 2008 at 10:07 pm

“Conservatives need a party who will represent them.”

I’ve noticed that all of the Conservative sites are pondering the “What do we do now?” question. John @ Powerlineblog suggests, “Conservatives should stop talking about media bias and start founding (or buying) some newspapers of our own. Of course, until that happens we’ll probably still complain about bias from time to time. PAUL adds: Or constantly, in my case.”

Well I say time’s a wasting. Somebody needs to step up to the plate and sort these things out. (Whoa, I just noticed, I’m a walking cliche today.) Rumor has it that Newt Gingrich wants to be RNC Chairman. I don’t have a take on Newt quite yet. Do you know if he is inclusive or divisive within the Party?

Touche SJ… LOL…..you bad.

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Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

November 8, 2008 at 11:18 pm

texaspsue,

The one I used was governor@alaska.gov. I don’t know if she’ll see it or not but I hope some of her staff will at least tell her that there are a lot of people out here who care about her and are proud of her.

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BillK

November 9, 2008 at 5:53 am

Hmmm, new tack – if you don’t like the election results, don’t pay taxes.

From a supportive AP:

Hollywood joins the furor over gay marriage ban

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Thousands of protesters are angry about California’s ban on gay marriage – and so are the stars.

Many celebrities grieved the passing of Proposition 8 in California this week. Some – such as Wanda Sykes, Rose McGowen and Lance Bass – attended a Wednesday protest criticizing the state’s gay marriage ban. Others – like Ellen DeGeneres, Rosie O’Donnell, Samantha Ronson and Melissa Etheridge – vented their frustrations online, on TV, and onstage.

Blocks away from the Thursday rally of more than 2,000 gay-rights advocates outside the gates of a Mormon temple, several stars – including James Cromwell, Patricia Clarkson, Anjelica Huston and Sean Penn – said they supported the protesters while walking the red carpet at the BAFTA L.A. Brittania Awards at Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel.

“I think it might be an idea to go out and join them shortly,” Penn said. “It was a shameful decision that was made.”

Etheridge, who exchanged vows with her longtime partner in a 2003 ceremony, declared she wouldn’t pay her taxes in a blog entry posted Thursday on TheDailyBeast.com. The gay Oscar- and Grammy-winning singer-songwriter said without the right to marry in California, she didn’t think she should have to pay taxes because “I am not a full citizen.“

“I don’t mean to get too personal here,” Etheridge wrote. “But there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes, too.” …

http://www.9news.com/life/ente.....;catid=343

OK, friends, what are the odds Etheridge will be arrested, charged or even fined for non-payment of her taxes?

Yep – zero.

Whereas you or I would have liens attached so fast it would break the sound barrier.

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texaspsue

November 10, 2008 at 12:47 am

Video of the day:

http://minx.cc/?post=277772

(AceofSpades)

What’s creepy is how excited the BO people were at his arrest.

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BillK

November 10, 2008 at 7:37 am

Seriously, this takes the cake.

Without ideology, what is the GOP?

From the Los Angeles Times:

Schwarzenegger urges GOP to move beyond ideology

The governor says it is important for his party to regroup and support spending on programs Americans want.

By Michael Rothfeld

Reporting from Sacramento — In the wake of crushing defeats for Republicans in last week’s national elections, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday that his party should regroup by moving away from some of its core conservative principles and embracing spending on programs that Americans want.

“I think the important thing for the Republican Party is now to also look at other issues that are very important for this country and not to get stuck in ideology,” the governor said in an interview broadcast on CNN. “Let’s go and talk about healthcare reform. Let’s go and… fund programs if they’re necessary programs and not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility.”

Schwarzenegger, a social moderate, long ago earned the enmity of many California Republicans who believe he abandoned some of the fiscally conservative views he espoused when running for office five years ago. They cite, for instance, his failed plan to dramatically expand health insurance in the state.

Last week, Schwarzenegger further angered Republicans by proposing a statewide sales-tax increase to balance the budget.

But the governor has not previously been so openly critical of the approach of the conservative bloc that dominates his party on the national level. He said that Republicans had “a very good party” and that he had no plans to leave it because he agrees with the GOP’s push to reduce restrictions on business and remain tough on crime.

Schwarzenegger said, however, that the GOP should support greater investment to build roads and fix schools and fund other “things that the American people want to have done.”

Republicans should not “always just say, ‘This is spending. We can’t do that,’ ” the governor said. “No, don’t get stuck with that. We have heard that dialogue. Let’s move on.”

Schwarzenegger told CNN’s John King that he believed Sen. John McCain would have won the presidency if not for the plunging stock market in the days leading up to the Nov. 4 election.

The governor deflected a question about whether McCain had displayed bad judgment in selecting Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....6979.story

So, in essence, the GOP should be… Democrats.

Got it.

Seriously, in case you need it again in big letters:

In the wake of crushing defeats for Republicans in last week’s national elections, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday that his party should regroup by moving away from some of its core conservative principles and embracing spending on programs that Americans want.

Many Americans already believe there’s no real difference between the parties; Ahnold wants to make that the truth.

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BillK

November 10, 2008 at 7:44 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

The law and Prop. 8

California’s Supreme Court will have to untangle two important legal questions.

By Goodwin Liu

Is Proposition 8 the last word on same-sex marriage in California? A debate that started this year in the state Supreme Court met its latest verdict at the ballot box Tuesday. But in the coming months, the issue will be back in front of the court, which has to sort through two important legal questions.

Proposition 8 adds a provision to the California Constitution that says: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,” effectively overruling the court’s May 15 decision allowing same-sex couples to wed. After the initiative passed, its opponents filed a legal challenge, claiming Proposition 8 should be invalidated because it was not enacted under the proper procedures for changing the state Constitution.

They have a good argument, but one that faces difficult precedents.

Article 18 of the state Constitution provides that the document can be changed by amendment or by revision. An amendment may be enacted by initiative with a majority vote, whereas a revision must first be passed by two-thirds of the Legislature before being submitted to the voters. (California’s Legislature has voted twice in recent years to legalize same-sex marriage, but the governor vetoed it.)

Does Proposition 8 qualify as a revision? Under the case law, it’s a revision only if it “substantially alters the basic governmental framework set forth in our Constitution.” Proposition 8 does exactly that, its opponents say, by eliminating a fundamental right for a specific group, and by limiting the judiciary’s constitutional role in enforcing equal protection and privacy guarantees.

Historically, however, the court has taken a narrow view of what kind of measure “substantially alters the basic governmental framework.” For example, neither Proposition 13, which capped property tax rates, nor Proposition 140, which imposed legislative term limits, were held to be a revision of the Constitution despite their far-reaching transformation of state government. Moreover, a 1972 initiative that reinstated the death penalty after the court had declared it cruel and unusual punishment was also deemed an amendment, not a revision, even though it directly limited the judiciary’s power to declare fundamental rights.

Nevertheless, there are good reasons for the California Supreme Court to rethink its jurisprudence in this area. Even if Proposition 8 does not “substantially alter the basic governmental framework,” there is no question that it targets a historically vulnerable group and eliminates a very important right. Changing the Constitution — the state’s paramount law — in such a momentous way arguably calls for deliberative rather than direct democracy. Indeed, as early as the nation’s founding, our constitutional tradition has favored representative democracy over simple majority rule when it comes to deciding minority rights.

http://www.latimes.com/news/op.....3332.story

Or, per usual, voters are smart when they vote for Obama but don’t have two brain cells to rub together when they vote of Prop. 8.

Remember, only liberal votes count.

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BillK

November 10, 2008 at 7:54 am

Time to bash Rush again.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Right-wing media feeds its post-election anger

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity dive shamelessly in, talking about the ‘Obama recession’ and other partisan lines.

By James Rainey

You have to give Rush Limbaugh a perverse kind of credit. At least when he is demonizing Barack Obama, fabricating Obama policies, blaming Obama for single-handedly causing the recession and the stock market crash, he doesn’t pretend to be fair.

Opening his first post-election rant against the president-elect, Limbaugh launched in with a certain relish. “The game,” he told his radio listeners, “has begun.”

Sean Hannity, on the other hand, insisted on feigning a post-election detente, telling his Fox News television audience last week, “I want Barack Obama to succeed.”

Didn’t he think anyone would notice that, just a moment later, he was back parroting the failed campaign argument that Obama is a “mystery”?

“I fear [this] is the guy that has these radical associations 20 years ago,” Hannity added, an odd way of demonstrating support for the new commander in chief.

A healthy skepticism is not only the media’s right but its obligation. Indeed, commentators at many mainstream outlets — including the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal — have already argued that Obama’s best bet to succeed will be if he hews to a centrist path.

But many on the losing end of last week’s election want to hold on to their anger. And there are those in the media — led by the likes of Limbaugh and Hannity — only too ready to feed that animus, along with their own ratings.

“The Obama recession is in full swing, ladies and gentlemen,” Limbaugh told his radio audience of 15 million to 20 million on Thursday. “Stocks are dying, which is a precursor of things to come. This is an Obama recession. Might turn into a depression.”

Apparently the tanking of the real estate market, record losses in the auto industry, and massive failures in the banking and investment industry have very little to do with our problems. The economic system is collapsing, Rush wants us to know, because it anticipates the tax increases Obama has pledged on capital gains and for the highest income earners.

But maybe that shouldn’t be so surprising, because radio’s Biggest Big Man also assures us that the Democrat welcomes “economic chaos” because it gives him “greater opportunity for expanded government.” In a time when the nation calls out for cool leadership and rational discussion, Limbaugh stirs the caldron, a tendency he proved in a particularly grotesque way last week when he accused Obama’s party of plotting a government takeover of 401(k) retirement plans.

“They’re going to take your 401(k), put it in the Social Security trust fund, whatever the hell that is,” Limbaugh woofed. “Trust fund, my rear end.”

A slight problem with Limbaugh’s report: Obama and the Democrats have proposed no such thing.

The proposal, in fact, emanated from a single economist, one of many experts testifying to a congressional committee.

The president-elect has thus far shown as much interest in taking over your 401(k) as he has in moving the capital to Nairobi. (If you look hard, you might find that one somewhere out there in the blogosphere, too.)

To broadcast such a report — so drained of context as to constitute a lie — would be a shameless act at any time. But Limbaugh needlessly stirred the fears of the millions he holds in his thrall — making the 401(k) thievery sound like nearly a done deal. Shameless.

Hannity and Limbaugh filleted Obama’s selection as chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, in a way that exposed their partisan gamesmanship.

Mainstream newspapers have filed plenty of unflinching accounts of Emanuel’s tough, occasionally ruthless tactics as a Democratic congressional leader and onetime operative in the Clinton White House. That assessment of bare-knuckle partisanship Hannity seized on. But it wouldn’t do to report another aspect of Emanuel’s record — his Clintonesque bent for the political center.

So the Fox-man simply created a new persona for Emanuel as, you guessed it, “one of the hardest left-wing radicals on the left.”

Ever open-minded, Hannity concluded, “I think they’re going to overreach, and I think we’re going to see the person that I think Barack Obama is. I think he is hard, hard left.”

Then, I kid you not, Hannity ended with this pledge: “We’ll see. We’ll give him an opportunity.”

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham apparently didn’t get the memo requiring Obama’s opponents to sink immediately and mindlessly into rank partisanship.

The South Carolina senator, one of Sen. John McCain’s closest allies in his bid for the presidency, praised Obama’s selection of Emanuel as “a wise choice.” He added that the new chief of staff could be a tough partisan, but was also “honest, direct and candid” and willing to “work to find common ground where it exists.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/po.....6330.story

Funny though, where are all the court cases challenging the election results as would be the case if McCain had won?

Where are the protesters, ala Prop. 8?

Nowhere? Hmmm.

I’m sure they’d have taken their pen in hand to chastise S&L as well if they knew this site even existed.

Note this piece is in the LA Times’ news section and is not marked or treated as an editorial.

Just plain old unbiased political news.

Just remember everything you read here is a lie because of our seething anger.

The same “right wing anger” CNN ran a story on last week and Rush discussed on Friday, proving once again the LA Times can’t even report new “news” – all they can do is recite the latest talking points from the DNC and the rest of the MSM.

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BillK

November 10, 2008 at 3:22 pm

A New York advertising agency takes credit for Florida’s Obama vote.

From Television Week:

‘Great Schlep’ Proved Power of Participation

By Daisy Whitney

Comedian Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schlep” video, which urged young voters to schlep to Florida to convince their Jewish grandparents to vote for Barack Obama for president, earned more than 15 million views online. The video is an example of a new trend in “participation advertising,” said David Droga, creative chairman of New York advertising firm Droga5, during a keynote session at the CTAM Summit in Boston today.

Droga5 created “The Great Schlep” campaign that consisted of a Web site, Facebook application and the popular video fronted by Ms. Silverman, also the star of the famous viral video “I’m F—king Matt Damon” earlier this year.

“We didn’t win the election for Obama,” Mr. Droga said. “We just helped him not lose. Fifteen million people watched the video, 1.5 million downloaded talking points and 25,000 signed up for the schlep. This is a participation medium.”

He added, “It’s our responsibility to stretch the canvas about how to have a dialogue and be transparent and emotional with our content. The days of being able to go through the motions and create advertising and bombard the consumer is over.”

http://www.tvweek.com/news/200.....r_of_p.php

Reflecting once again how sad it is that many youth apparently base their voting decisions on what they find humorous on YouTube.

Ironic that the generation that proudly boasts they are immune from advertising is… influenced by an ad campaign created by a New York advertising agency.

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BillK

November 10, 2008 at 4:34 pm

Whoopsie!

Scarborough Says a Naughty Word on MSNBC

By Michele Greppi

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” anchor Joe Scarborough dropped the f-bomb Monday, provoking a round of stunned you-can’t-say-thats from his on-air coterie.

Speaking from Washington, D.C., Mr. Scarborough was talking about President-elect Obama’s inner circle when he said, “These are good, steady, decent men who don’t go around flipping people off or saying ‘f–k you’ at the top of their lungs.”

He first protested that he was just retelling a story told a short time before by Jay Carney, the Time magazine deputy bureau chief in Washington who was appearing on the show.

“I didn’t use the word,” protested Mr. Carney.

“Ommm, honey,” “Scarborough” sidekick Mika Brzezinski said.

Once he was finally convinced that Mr. Carney’s use of the word had been off-air, whereas his was not, Mr. Scarborough offered “great apologies if I said the word, instead of the letter. My wife is going to kill me when I get home.”

“I’m going to go get some soap,” he said.

After a commercial break, Mr. Scarborough said his apology was aimed at the children he sometimes hears are in his audience and their mothers, but “adults” should get over it.

“Joe made a mistake this morning and apologized to his viewers immediately,” read a statement issued later by MSNBC. “As he noted, the language he used was completely inappropriate.”

An MSNBC spokesman said there is no delay on the news channel’s live programming.

http://www.tvweek.com/news/200.....ty_wor.php

Well, as long as he apologized…

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texaspsue

November 10, 2008 at 5:11 pm

From FoxNews:

Obama Planning U.S. Trials for Guantanamo Detainees
The president-elect’s advisers quietly craft a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials

WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama’s advisers are crafting plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terrorism suspects in the U.S., a plan that the Bush administration said Monday was easier said than done.

Under the plan being crafted inside Obama’s camp, some detainees would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials. But, underscoring the difficult decisions Obama must make to fulfill his pledge of shutting down Guantanamo, the plan could require the creation of a new legal system to handle the classified information inherent in some of the most sensitive cases.

Many of the about 250 Guantanamo detainees are cleared for release, but the Bush administration has not been to find a country willing to take them.

Advisers participating directly in the planning spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans aren’t final.

The plan being developed by Obama’s team has been championed by legal scholars from both political parties. But as details surfaced Monday, it drew criticism from Democrats who oppose creating a new legal system and from Republicans who oppose bringing terrorism suspects to the U.S. mainland.

The move would mark a sharp change from the Bush administration, which established military tribunals to prosecute detainees at the Navy base in Cuba and strongly opposes bringing prisoners to the United States. At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday that President Bush has faced many challenges in trying to close the prison.

“We’ve tried very hard to explain to people how complicated it is. When you pick up people off the battlefield that have a terrorist background, it’s not just so easy to let them go,” Perino said. “These issues are complicated, and we have put forward a process that we think would work in order to put them on trial through military tribunals.”

But Obama has been critical of that process and his legal advisers said finding an alternative will be a top priority. One of those advisers, Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe, acknowledges that bringing detainees to the U.S. would be controversial but said it could be accomplished.

“I think the answer is going to be, they can be as securely guarded on U.S. soil as anywhere else,” Tribe said. “We can’t put people in a dungeon forever without processing whether they deserve to be there.”

The tougher challenge will be allaying fears by Democrats who believe the Bush administration’s military commissions were a farce and dislike the idea of giving detainees anything less than the full constitutional rights normally enjoyed by everyone on U.S. soil.

“I think that creating a new alternative court system in response to the abject failure of Guantanamo would be a profound mistake,” Jonathan Hafetz, an American Civil Liberties Union attorney who represents detainees, said Monday. “We do not need a new court system. The last eight years are a testament to the problems of trying to create new systems.”

Senate Judiciary Committee member John Cornyn, R-Texas, said it would be a “colossal mistake to treat terrorism as a mere crime.”

http://elections.foxnews.com/2.....detainees/

I guess we all saw this coming, but, I am still going to vent. What part of “terrorists” don’t they understand? The thugs were trying to kill our Troops on the battlefield. Now, we are suppose to bring them to the USA and treat them with kid gloves? Other Countries won’t even take these creeps. Sheesh!

(Just thought I’d mention, thank God we were able to get Sen. Cornyn reelected here in Texas.)

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JohnMG

November 10, 2008 at 5:47 pm

I have a solution.

Let every bleeding-heart, liberal, democrat, son-of-a-bitch (I know, I’m being redundant) pushing for the kid-glove treatment for these terrorist vermin, provide food, shelter, and 24-hour security within their own home at their own expense. No special security forces to protect them or their family. Nothing! If the a**hole cuts somebody’s throat in their sleep…….well, maybe they were just misunderstood, and someone should have sat down and talked with them.

For the rest of us sane people, I say permanently tattoo “terrorist” all over their body, especially across the forehead, turn them loose among the general population, and declare open-season on the lot of ‘em. Better yet, pay a bounty for each and every one of these jerk-wads.

Obama’s plans are insanity. I wonder how many doubters out there will still not concede that he’s a closet-islamist

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 1:50 am

From the AP:

Palin blames Bush policies for GOP defeat

By Gene Johnson

WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, amid speculation she’ll run for president in four years, blamed Bush administration policies for the defeat last week of the GOP ticket and prayed she wouldn’t miss “an open door” for her next political opportunity.

“I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door,” Palin said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. “And if there is an open door in ‘12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, Palin says she neither wanted nor asked for the $150,000-plus wardrobe the Republican Party bankrolled, and thought the issue was an odd one at the end of the campaign, considering “what is going on in the world today.”

“I did not order the clothes. Did not ask for the clothes,” Palin said. “I would have been happy to have worn my own clothes from Day One. But that is kind of an odd issue, an odd campaign issue as things were wrapping up there as to who ordered what and who demanded what.”

“It’s amazing that we did as well as we did,” Palin, who was Sen. John McCain’s running mate, said of the election in a separate interview with the Anchorage Daily News.

“I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration? If we’re talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing,” Palin said in a story published Sunday.

Palin has scheduled a series of national interviews this week with Fox, NBC’s “Today” show and CNN. She also plans to attend the Republican Governors Association conference in Florida this week.

Palin has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. She also could seek re-election in 2010 or challenge Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Still uncertain is the fate of Sen. Ted Stevens, who is leading in his bid for another term but could be ousted by the Senate for his conviction on seven felony counts of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts, mostly renovations on his home. If Stevens loses his seat, Palin could run for it in a special election.

Palin and McCain’s campaign faced a storm of criticism over the tens of thousands of dollars spent at such high-end stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus to dress the nominee. Republican National Committee lawyers are still trying to determine exactly what clothing was bought for Palin, what was returned and what has become of the rest.

Her father, Chuck Heath, said Palin spent part of the weekend going through her clothing to determine what belongs to the Republican Party.

“She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out,” Heath said. “That’s the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for. Nothing goes right back to normal,”

Palin’s father said his daughter told him the only clothing or accessories she personally had purchased in the past four months was a pair of shoes.

RNC lawyers have been discussing with Palin whether what’s left of the clothing and accessories purchased for her on the campaign trail will go to charity, back to stores or be paid for by Palin, a McCain-Palin campaign official said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the campaign hadn’t authorized comment.

The McCain-Palin campaign said about a third of the clothing was returned immediately because it was the wrong size, or for other reasons. However, other purchases apparently were made after that, the campaign official said.

In Wasilla, her hometown backers welcomed her, putting aside their disappointment over her unsuccessful bid.

Jessica Steele can’t wait to see what Sarah Palin does next – not with her political career, but with her hair.

“That’s something I want to talk to her about: What’s our vision for her hair?” says Steele, proprietor of the Beehive Beauty Shop and keeper of the governor’s up-do since 2002. “I can’t wait to see her and say, ‘OK, I’ve got you alone for three hours. Just relax, and how are you, really?’” …

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PALIN

She’s absolutely correct, of course, and is one of the very few elected GOP officials to recognize it.

Seriously, how can you not love this woman and how can what she has to say not give you some glimmer of hope for the future?

Yet the MSM pushes Ahnold as the future of the GOP; we know why.

The question is, who is the future, and if it’s Ahnold, where do conservatives go next?

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 1:53 am

Democrats prove again they’re anti-free enterprise:

Senator asks sites not to sell inaugural tickets

By Erica Werner

WASHINGTON (AP) — The senator overseeing Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony said Monday she’s writing to Internet sites like eBay asking them not to sell scalped inauguration tickets. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also said she’s crafting a bill that would make a federal crime of selling tickets to the historic event Jan. 20.

Feinstein, who chairs the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said she foresees overwhelming demand for the 240,000 available tickets and has heard reports they may be sold for as much as $40,000 online.

The tickets are supposed to be free to the public and distributed through congressional offices.

Lawmakers’ offices won’t get the tickets until shortly before the inauguration, to try to prevent scalping. In-person pickup will be required

“These tickets are given for free to people. This is a major civic event of the time, and no one pays for their tickets, and we believe no one should be required to pay for their tickets,” Feinstein said in an interview.

Besides eBay, Feinstein aides said they are looking at writing to Craig’s List and possibly other sites. An eBay spokeswoman, Nichola Sharpe, said the company was in discussions with the Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies but couldn’t comment until an outcome was reached.

Feinstein said she was readying legislation for Congress’ lame duck session, which begins next week, to make scalping the tickets a misdemeanor punishable by a yet-to-be-determined fine.

She said her own Senate office received 8,000 ticket requests the first day after the election.

Demand was overwhelming supply all over the Capitol. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., had received more than 15,000 ticket requests as of Monday morning, and his spokeswoman said they only expected to have about 500 tickets to give out, though allocations have yet to be made.

Feinstein said she’s also concerned about security for the event, which will occur outside the Capitol with crowds likely spilling over the National Mall.

“I am very concerned that this be as secure as is humanly possible. It’s a difficult area to secure and we need to give it special attention and that is in the process of being done,” she said. Feinstein said she was “of course” concerned that Obama would be a particular target as the nation’s first black president.

“We’re going to do everything we can to see that he is fully protected,” she said. Feinstein will be attending a security briefing Wednesday with the U.S. Capitol Police, the Secret Service and the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee.

Aides couldn’t estimate how many people would likely come to Washington, D.C., on top of those with tickets.

“If you don’t have a place to stay I think you ought to reconsider coming. It is very cold that time of the year and it’s going to be very difficult to get around,” Feinstein said. …

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s.....ON_TICKETS

So that’s what’s big on Feinstein’s agenda – making sales of inauguration tickets a federal crime.

Nice to know the Senate doesn’t have anything else on their agenda through the end of the year.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 2:10 am

From the Washington Post:

Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions

Stem Cell, Climate Rules Among Targets of President-Elect’s Team

By Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith

Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.…

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01856.html

Once again, just to prove the maturity of the left:

The team is now consulting with liberal advocacy groups, Capitol Hill staffers and potential agency chiefs to prioritize those they regard as the most onerous or ideologically offensive, said a top transition official who was not permitted to speak on the record about the inner workings of the transition.

In case anyone has forgotten (DeGette of course doesn’t care – not when more fetuses can be aborted) there has never been a single successful trial of anything related to embryonic stem cells; while adult stem cells, which have shown promise in clinical trials, are suffering from lack of funding because there’s no hidden agenda in them.

Meanwhile, all Planned Parenthood can think is “ka-ching!”

Ah yes, let the “healing” from the divisive election begin.

That way we can really stick it to Republicans come January.

[Moved to its own thread.]

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 2:27 am

I wish them luck against the evil corporations.

From the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal:

Alice.com will take on Wal-Mart

By Judy Newman

Two Madison serial entrepreneurs have landed more than $4 million for their latest business venture, and it won’t even go live until spring.

Brian Wiegand and Mark McGuire, creators of Jellyfish.com, an online shopping and social network, have raised $4.3 million in funding for Alice.com, an online market for household products. They won’t give details of the business yet, other than to say it will involve selling household essentials to consumers over the Internet, ranging from diapers and toilet paper to toothpaste, batteries and garbage bags, but no food products.

“It is going to innovate and disrupt (business) in the traditional retail space dominated by Wal-Mart and Target,” Wiegand said.

Products will be stored and shipped from an Indianapolis warehouse that Alice.com is outsourcing, Wiegand said. He said Indianapolis is a more efficient location than Madison for shipping products nationwide. Alice.com is still negotiating with FedEx and UPS for the shipping contract, he said.

The business, established in June, has 15 employees, including Wiegand and McGuire, and offices at 8215 Greenway Blvd. in Middleton, about one block from Jellyfish.com.

The funding round for Alice.com was led by Kegonsa Capital Partners and DaneVest Tech Fund. “It’s a pretty big round for this economy,” Wiegand said. “(But) even with our track records, it was challenging.”

He said the money will be used to build the Web site, hire a staff and market the business when it gets under way in spring 2009.

This is the fourth online business for Wiegand, 39, and the third for McGuire, 40. They sold Jellyfish.com to Microsoft in 2007 for $50 million and stayed to lead the company through May.

“Mark and I wanted to do another business. We were looking for a $1-billion-plus industry; this one is nearly a $300 billion industry,” Wiegand said.

“We’re really looking for a big one, this time,” he added. “To compete with Wal-Mart is pretty audacious.”

The business will have some social features and will be geared toward 18- to 34-year olds. …

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/biz/313799

Because nothing is more economically viable than shipping out individual boxes of toilet paper and batteries to homes via UPS or FedEx.

Silly me.

I’m sure its so much more environmentally responsible to UPS out a tube of toothpaste than have to pick it up at the local Wal-Mart.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 5:59 am

The video of Sarah and Greta is up at Fox News; each part runs around eight minutes.

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

Unfortunately she defends McCain as “the best leader we have in this country today.”

If that’s true, we’re much worse off than I had hoped.

Then again, I wouldn’t expect Sarah to say something like “McCain wasn’t a conservative – it’s not like he’s Bobby Jindal.”

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 6:33 am

Not surprising, but it’s rather rare for the Democrats to so blatantly flip off a majority of California voters.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Democratic legislators ask state Supreme Court to void Prop. 8

Opponents contend that a ban on gay marriage can only be done by a revision of the state Constitution involving the Legislature. The Prop. 8 campaign leader calls the effort ‘a Hail Mary.’

By Dan Morain

Reporting from Sacramento — Forty-three Democratic legislators, including leaders of the California Senate and Assembly, filed a brief Monday urging the California Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata and incoming President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg signed the friend of the court brief, filed with the state Supreme Court.

No Republican legislator signed the petition, though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, denounced the anti-gay marriage measure over the weekend.

With almost 11 million ballots tallied, Proposition 8 had 52.3% of the vote to 47.7%. Although many ballots remain to be counted, the 500,000-vote spread is viewed as insurmountable.

“The citizens of California rely on the Legislature and the courts to safeguard against unlawful discrimination by temporary, and often short-lived, majorities,” the legislators said in the document, written by attorneys at the firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

“This is a Hail Mary, no question about it,” said Frank Schubert, manager of the Proposition 8 campaign.

Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown’s office would be obligated to defend the initiative. But Schubert said that if the high court agrees to hear the case, backers of the initiative would seek to intervene to defend it.

In their brief, lawmakers described the 500,000-vote margin as a “bare majority,” and said it was “compromising the enduring constitutional promise of equal protection under the law.”

“Proposition 8 seeks to effect a monumental revision of this foundational principle and constitutional structure by allowing a bare majority of voters to eliminate a fundamental right of a constitutionally protected minority group,” the brief says.

“If Proposition 8 takes effect, this court will no longer be the final arbiter of the rights of minorities,” it continues.

The action contends that the ban, created by the initiative that defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, cannot be done by a mere constitutional amendment. Rather, it must be done by a revision of the entire Constitution and the Legislature would have to be involved.

As advocates of same-sex marriage turn to courts, protests, and perhaps a future ballot measure in an attempt to overturn Proposition 8, Schubert declared that the vote is “as over as Barack Obama’s election.”

The chief strategist for Proposition 8 said the best way to overturn the measure would be to place an initiative on the ballot that would repeal it. But he doubts that will happen.

“Politically, this was the best chance they could have possibly had,” Schubert said of the measure’s opponents. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....7607.story

I’d like to think that if they succeed, the Democrats will be one of those “short-lived majorities,” but I suspect even though some 70% of those voting for Prop. 8 were African-American, the African-American voters will remain staunch Democrats.

Is there any number of votes that Democrats wouldn’t consider a “bare majority?”

If Prop. 8 stands, be prepared for charges of vote fraud; frankly I’m surprised the issue hasn’t been raised already.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 6:40 am

More people learn how America works today.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Proposition 8 supporters vent frustration over continued protests

Some backers in Orange County, where the measure was passed by a larger margin than statewide, feel that the people’s will was expressed at the polls and should be upheld.

By Joe Mozingo

From his living room in Leisure World in Seal Beach, Larry Black has watched the anti-Proposition 8 protests on his TV. He’s read about the legal challenges to overturn the measure. And he has a thought.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Black, 66. “It’s the people’s vote. . . . That’s the way it should be. That’s it.”

Voters in Orange County passed the measure banning gay marriage last week by a margin of 14 percentage points, a larger victory than statewide.

On Main Street in Seal Beach on Monday, a sampling of supporters vented their frustration over the contentious issue dragging on after a clear win at the polls.

They related arguments made before the election — gay marriage would lead to laws permitting polygamy or bestiality, and that it goes against the “natural order.”

And they grumbled that the people’s will, as expressed in the voting booth, has been thwarted by California courts before.

Black and two of his friends had ridden their bikes from the Leisure World retirement community to Main Street to get some exercise and breathe in the ocean air by the pier.

Black says he believes homosexuals are born gay, have no choice in the matter and should be able to live how they want.

But the three friends said marriage is inherently between a man and a woman, and that widening the definition would put society on a path toward a murky kind of relativism, where traditional standards of morality disappear in a live-and-let-live atmosphere.

“You have to draw the line in the sand somewhere,” said Mike Mooney, 60.

Mooney fears the measure will be killed in the courts like Proposition 187, the controversial 1994 measure that barred illegal immigrants from receiving social services.

Richard “Mac” McConnell agrees.

“It makes me angry when the will of the people is not upheld,” said McConnell, 82.

“Under the Constitution it’s supposed to be, but it’s not anymore,” he said. “And that’s wrong.”

McConnell is one of the regulars who gather on the benches on Main Street and take in the sea breeze where the magnolias and vintage storefronts meet the plank pier.

He is not a die-hard conservative, nor a bigot, he says.

He usually votes Republican but this time he voted for Obama.

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....2091.story

Given he voted for Obama, he shouldn’t be surprised at the actions in California and should realize that President Obama will likely work to have gay marriage declared legal at the federal level anyway.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 6:46 am

The Governor also feels the voice of the people is worthless.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Schwarzenegger tells backers of gay marriage: Don’t give up

The governor expresses hope that Proposition 8 would be overturned as protesters continued to march outside churches across California.

By Michael Rothfeld and Tony Barboza

Reporting from Sacramento and Lake Forest — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday expressed hope that the California Supreme Court would overturn Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage. He also predicted that the 18,000 gay and lesbian couples who have already wed would not see their marriages nullified by the initiative.

“It’s unfortunate, obviously, but it’s not the end,” Schwarzenegger said in an interview Sunday on CNN. “I think that we will again maybe undo that, if the court is willing to do that, and then move forward from there and again lead in that area.”

With his favorable comments toward gay marriage, the governor’s thinking appears to have evolved on the issue< ?b>.

In past statements, he has said he believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman and has rejected legislation authorizing same-sex marriage. Yet he has also said he would not care if same-sex marriage were legal, saying he believed that such an important societal issue should be determined by the voters or the courts.

Schwarzenegger publicly opposed Proposition 8, which amends the state Constitution to declare that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

On Sunday, he urged backers of gay marriage to follow the lesson he learned as a bodybuilder trying to lift weights that were too heavy for him at first. “I learned that you should never ever give up. . . . They should never give up. They should be on it and on it until they get it done.”

The governor’s position on the fate of the existing same-sex marriages aligns him with California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, who has said he believes that the state Supreme Court will uphold the existing marriages as valid.

The 14-word constitutional amendment does not state explicitly that it would nullify same-sex marriages performed before the Nov. 4 election, although proponents say it will. Legal experts differ on this point.

Schwarzenegger’s comments came as protesters took to the streets for a fifth day in a row, sometimes marching to Catholic and Mormon churches that supported passage of the ballot measure.

Hundreds of Proposition 8 protesters in Orange County gathered down the hill from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest as several thousand congregants attended services inside the sprawling religious campus.

Martijn Hostetler, 30, of West Hollywood held a sign that read “Purpose Driven Hate,” a dig at the church’s celebrity Pastor Rick Warren, author of the bestseller “The Purpose-Driven Life,” who backed the ballot measure. “I don’t think Jesus would approve of a gay-marriage ban,” he said. “I don’t think God discriminates.” …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....9340.story

How many elected officals can tell voters they’re wrong before something gives?

Meanwhile:

“I don’t think God discriminates.”

Isn’t that kind of God’s job?

Recall the Bible says nothing about discriminating against homosexuals, but rather sets aside homosexual sex as a sin.

There’s got to be some late night comedian joke here about “of course there won’t be sex, they’ll be married.”

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wardmama4

November 11, 2008 at 9:16 am

Thank You to each and every Veteran here. And most especially to those currently serving.

-’ “These are good, steady, decent men who don’t go around flipping people off or saying ‘f–k you’ at the top of their lungs.”’-

Sorry Joe, S & L has two videos of B. Hussein Obama flipping HRC & JSM off and of course there is transcript of Rahm’s immortal f*** themselves:
-’I'll tell you this,” Emanuel shouted out to his staff. “The Republicans may have the 72-hour program. But they have not seen the 22-month program!

“Since my kids are gone, I can say it: They can go —- themselves!”‘-
http://tinyurl.com/69vn3b

So while Joe may have slipped and said the f word (for which he should apologise) he is dead wrong or is that dead wrong about this being a group of -’good, steady,decent men’-

And We The People are going to pay for all of the msm being dead wrong for the past two years.

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DW

November 11, 2008 at 10:53 pm

Today in the US, it is Veteran’s day, a well-deserved moment of pause to honour all those who set aside their lives and put that life at risk in some foreign place in the cause of freedom.
This site is fortunate to have a large proportion of such men and women among its membership.
North of the border, the tone is somewhat more somber as it is Remembrance Day -similar to your Memorial Day. We honour our war dead on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month -commemorating the moment the first world war ended.
Here is a video clip of the reception our current dead are given on their repatriation. This response by the public is something that simply started on its own -no one knows for sure who started it. What’s important is that it happens. Every single time one of those brave men (and one woman, so far) come home in a coffin.
The clip is three minutes long. The sources are not among our favourites: MSNBC by way of Canada’s Globe and Mail. But it shows how the people honour those of us who didn’t survive to enjoy that well-deserved day of recognition.
Please take a moment of your time for this.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com.....ogolitics/

A heartfelt Thank You and God Bless to all veterans on either side of the border.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 11:31 pm

From a confused AP:

Palin puts ‘brutal’ 2008 behind her, looks to 2012

By Ann Sanner

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has put the “brutal” 2008 campaign behind her and has the next presidential race in her sights. John McCain gave her a hearty thumbs-up, saying Palin didn’t damage his own White House bid.

Palin is stepping out with a flurry of national television interviews and a high-profile appearance at the Republican Governors Association meeting this week. It is a marked departure for a vice presidential candidate who was held to tightly controlled appearances for much of the fall campaign.

She’s indirectly but unmistakably put her name in play as a potential presidential candidate, saying she’ll “plow through that door” if it’s God’s will and conditions are right.

McCain on Tuesday laid the blame for his crushing defeat to Barack Obama mainly on himself and dismissed anonymous criticism of his running-mate.

“I’m so proud of her and I’m very grateful she agreed to run with me. She inspired people, she still does,” McCain told Jay Leno during a “Tonight Show” interview taped for broadcast Tuesday night. “I couldn’t be happier with Sarah Palin.”

McCain alluded to the difficult political environment for Republicans nationwide and conceded, “I could tell you a lot of things that we may have made mistakes on.”

“So, that’s the way it is,” he added in his first interview since conceding the election.

Asked by Leno to address griping about Palin from unidentified McCain operatives after the election, the Arizona senator said, “These things happen in campaigns.”

McCain never directly addressed the embarrassing controversy over Palin’s expensive campaign wardrobe purchased by the Republican National Committee, or statements by unidentified McCain aides who reportedly have said she was not prepared on foreign policy or other issues. The Alaska governor has said in interviews she did not ask for, or want, the $150,000-plus wardrobe for her and her family.

Palin has spoken forcefully to deny any responsibility for her ticket’s loss. She has blamed the policies of President Bush, the handicap of representing the incumbent party and the nation’s financial crisis for the GOP defeat.

“I think the economic collapse had a heckuva lot more to do with the campaign’s collapse than me personally,” the governor said in an interview broadcast Tuesday on NBC’s “Today” show.

Palin said she resents rumors she said were spread about her and her family during the race. “I did not know that it would be as brutal a ride as it turned out to be,” she said.

Her comments seemed aimed as much at the McCain operatives who have reportedly said she was ill-prepared on foreign policy and other issues as well as those who were astonished by her expensive campaign wardrobe.</b?

“I did not order up these clothes,” she told NBC. “The New York stylists who were already there and already orchestrating what the wardrobe should look like. Just like they have people to figure out what the staging and the lighting and everything else, the wardrobe, I guess, was a part of that.”

Palin was relatively unknown outside Alaska before McCain picked her to be his running mate in late August. She energized crowds on the campaign trail, particularly conservative voters, but drew criticism from some in the party for lacking the experience needed for the Oval Office.

Palin’s role at the Republican Governors Association conference highlights her newfound popularity.

She is scheduled to speak about the GOP’s future at Thursday’s meeting in Miami, but starts her day with an informal news conference with reporters. She’ll take questions for about 20 minutes before discussing the transition of the party with other leaders, organizers said.

Introducing her will be the chairman of the association, Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

She also has two separate interviews airing on CNN on Wednesday — one with late-night host Larry King.

Palin has been fielding questions about her political future since the campaign ended, most recently in an interview with Fox News on Monday.

“I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door,” she said. “And if there is an open door in ‘12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

Palin likely will have competition from other GOP governors and former governors for a 2012 White House bid. Among the potential candidates are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who failed in his candidacy this year; Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.

Several other Republicans are stopping later this month in Iowa, which holds the leadoff caucus in the presidential primaries.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a one-time presidential candidate popular with conservatives, is scheduled to visit Cedar Rapids and Des Moines while on a book tour. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also plans to tour flood damage in Cedar Rapids and attend an Iowa Family Policy Council dinner in Des Moines. …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....104S72.DTL

Romney and Huckabee. Great, just what we need to make sure the GOP sinks further into the mud of insignificance.

Meanwhile, note how the AP reports Palin’s defense of smears against her while carefully repeating each and every one.

“Unprepared?” Check.

“Expensive clothing scandal?” Check.

Meanwhile anyone who’s seen Palin’s interviews have seen she’s said she will worry about 2012 then, and if God shows her an open door, she’ll walk through – but right now leading Alaska is her priority.

The press sees that as her “being coy.”

All while the MSM wonders why she doesn’t get the hint and doesn’t just go away.

Note like the article above, many news sources have also run this piece under the headline “Palin blames Bush policies for GOP defeat” with much glee – but I’m sure all of us would agree with her.

Her quote, once again:

Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a $10 trillion debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration? If we’re talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing.

Yes indeed – Bush growing government at an astronomical rate had voters thinking “Like Obama would grow the government any faster?”

(Of course he will, and Bush will look like Reagan in comparison, but that’s another story.)

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 11:35 pm

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Anti-gay marriage group steps up for Prop. 8

By Bob Egelko

A group opposed to same-sex marriage wants to help defend Proposition 8 before the California Supreme Court, saying lawsuits seeking to overturn the Nov. 4 ballot measure threaten the initiative process.

Three suits filed the day after the election open the door to “step-by-step elimination of the people’s right to amend the Constitution by initiative,” attorneys with Liberty Counsel said Monday in papers submitted on behalf of the Campaign for California Families.

They said Attorney General Jerry Brown’s office, which plans to defend Prop. 8 in court, represents only the interests of state officials in “furnishing marriage license forms” and enforcing the law and can’t adequately speak for the voters who backed the measure.

Prop. 8, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, amends the state Constitution to allow marriage only between a man and a woman. It would overturn a state Supreme Court ruling on May 15 that granted same-sex couples a constitutional right to marry.

It is being challenged by two groups of same-sex couples, gay-rights advocates and local governments led by the city of San Francisco. They contend Prop. 8 violates fundamental rights of equality and interferes with the judiciary’s constitutional duty to protect minorities. Two of the suits argue that the measure amounts to a revision of the state Constitution, which can be placed on the ballot only by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature.

Calling the suits “patently frivolous,” Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver said in a statement Monday that “it makes no sense that four judges can rewrite the historic definition of marriage and more than 5 million people (who voted for Prop. 8) cannot restore it to its common understanding.”

The state Supreme Court has not yet said whether it will accept the suits for review and grant the plaintiffs’ request to block enforcement of Prop. 8, an order that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry while the case was pending. The justices could also address the validity of an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages that were conducted before the election.

The Campaign for California Families, a conservative religious organization, is asking to intervene in the case and take part in any hearings the court holds. The group that sponsored Prop. 8, Protect Marriage, has said it will also seek to intervene. If the court denies the requests, the groups could still submit written arguments.

A similar question arose earlier this year when the court was reviewing state laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. The court allowed the same two organizations to take part in oral arguments, where they contended the laws were valid because children are better off with opposite-sex parents. The state did not make that argument, and none of the justices writing majority and dissenting opinions in the case endorsed it.

The court eventually decided that the conservative groups were not proper parties to the case because their rights were not at stake. In the new filing, however, the Campaign for California Families argues that it has a right to defend the ballot measure that it helped to pass.

“None of the (state officials sued in the case) has the same interests that the campaign and its members have in preserving the people’s will as expressed in Proposition 8,” the group’s lawyers said.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....141LU9.DTL

Like there’s any doubt that Prop. 8 will be found “unconstitutional?”

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JohnMG

November 11, 2008 at 11:35 pm

Thanks, DW, the sentiment is appreciated.

I wish I knew to whom this quote should be attributed, but it is remarkable in its simplicity, and conveys the true significance of military service.

“A ‘Veteran’ — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve —
is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to
‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to, and including his life.”

And, yes, does that star spangled banner still wave,
O’er the land of the free, because of the brave.

May God continue to bless my brothers in arms.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 11:38 pm

From the AP – it’s time for the punishment to start.

Gay artists seek boycott of Sacramento theater

Gay and lesbian artists are seeking a boycott of Sacramento’s oldest performing arts company after its artistic director contributed toward Proposition 8.

Campaign records show Scott Eckern of the California Musical Theater contributed $1,000 to the voter-approved initiative, which wrote a ban on same-sex marriages into the state Constitution.

“Hairspray” composer Marc Shaiman is among those leading the boycott effort.

California Musical Theater is the state’s largest nonprofit musical theater company. It produces Sacramento’s annual Music Circus and plays at Broadway Sacramento and the newly opened Cosmopolitan Cabaret.

Eckern, a 25-year veteran of the company, issued an online apology through the theater publication, Playbill. He is the company’s chief operating officer and has been its artistic director since 2002.

“I honestly had no idea that this would be the reaction,” Eckern wrote. “I chose to act upon my belief that the traditional definition of marriage should be preserved. I support each individual to have rights and access and I understand that in California, domestic partnerships come with the same rights that come with marriage.”

Since the controversy erupted, he said he has donated $1,000 to the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

“I understand that my choice of supporting Proposition 8 has been the cause of many hurt feelings, maybe even betrayal,” Eckern wrote. “It was not my intent.” …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....927S55.DTL

He who does not think exactly the way liberals dictate shall be destroyed by the open-minded tolerant folks on the left.

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BillK

November 11, 2008 at 11:51 pm

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Catholics, Mormons allied to pass Prop. 8

By Matthai Kuruvila

Months before the first ads would run on Proposition 8, San Francisco Catholic Archbishop George Niederauer reached out to a group he knew well, Mormons.

Niederauer had made critical inroads into improving Catholic-Mormon relations while he was Bishop of Salt Lake City for 11 years. And now he asked them for help on Prop. 8, the ballot measure that sought to ban same-sex marriages in California.
The June letter from Niederauer drew in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and proved to be a critical move in building a multi-religious coalition – the backbone of the fundraising, organizing and voting support for the successful ballot measure. By bringing together Mormons and Catholics, Niederauer would align the two most powerful religious institutions in the Prop. 8 battle.

Ironically, it made San Francisco, center of the nation’s gay community, a nexus in the fight against the recently gained gay right to marry.

This Catholic-Mormon alliance was part of a broad pattern that underscored a critical difference between the rival campaigns: Yes on 8 sought to marshal support among many religions, while the No on 8 campaign often put religion on the sidelines.

“People of faith, really of every faith, believed that marriage was between man and a woman,” said Frank Schubert, political consultant to the Yes on 8 campaign. “They formed the core of our volunteer operation. They were largely responsible for the 70,000 contributions we got.”

Some clergy within the No on 8 campaign believed not enough respect was paid to religion.

“Their focus really wasn’t upon communities of faith,” said the Rev. Roland Stringfellow, who works with the Center for Gay and Lesbian Studies at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley and was an active organizer in the No on 8 campaign. Stringfellow said No on 8’s relative neglect of religion had a particularly profound effect on Latinos and African Americans, who hold strong religious views. “I really didn’t note particular outreaches to communities of color.”

Exit polls show that religious views had a profound effect on the result, spanning racial lines:

– 84 percent of those who attend church weekly voted yes.

– 81 percent of white evangelicals voted yes.

– 65 percent of white Protestants voted yes.

– 64 percent of Catholics voted yes. Catholics accounted for 30 percent of all voters. …

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/.....140AQQ.DTL

Of course, could you imagine the press even daring to look into how the Muslim community, not one for a high degree of tolerance for homosexuals, voted on Prop. 8?

Didn’t think so.

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DW

November 12, 2008 at 12:06 am

“A ‘Veteran’ — whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve —
is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to
‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to, and including his life.”

That says it all, John.

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Gila Monster

November 12, 2008 at 1:51 am

Ooh-Rah DW and JohnMG..!! Semper Fi and to hell with the libtards..!!

If you watched PBS tonight (POV), you’ll know why I’m PO’d to no friggin’ end..!!

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BillK

November 12, 2008 at 8:45 am

Stop watching PBS; they don’t even pretend to be unbiased anymore.

The last even remotely fair program to cover any political areas at all on PBS was Frontline’s Plague War back in 1998 which exposed the Soviet Union’s Biopreparat to the world, thanks to Ken Alibek. (Whom “experts” now poo-poo as having overstated the threat, naturally…)

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BannedbytheTaliban

November 12, 2008 at 9:15 am

This article isn’t something that would draw attention its self, but the way the AP is, lets say, spinning things makes me sick:

Troops begin to shift out of Iraqi cities

By Robert Burns – The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Nov 12, 2008 8:15:43 EST

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military in Iraq is abandoning — deliberately and with little public notice — a centerpiece of the widely acclaimed strategy it adopted nearly two years ago to turn the tide against the insurgency. It is moving American troops farther from the people they are trying to protect.

Starting in early 2007, with Iraq on the brink of all-out civil war, the troops were pushed into the cities and villages as part of a change in strategy that included President Bush’s decision to send more combat forces.

…..These moves coincide with priorities expressed by President-elect Obama during his campaign: reducing the U.S. military commitment in Iraq and putting more resources into Afghanistan. It also fits with Petraeus’ view that a more robust counterinsurgency approach is needed in Afghanistan, meaning not only a larger number of troops but also getting them spread out into more villages.

……….Stephen Biddle, a senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations and an occasional adviser to Petraeus, is among those who worry about the consequences of excluding U.S. forces from the cities.

“It gets us out of the way” should Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki decide to use Iraqi security forces to crush the U.S.-allied Sunni neighborhood militia groups who have been instrumental in attacking extremist elements of the insurgency, Biddle said in an e-mail exchange. Al-Maliki sees those militiamen, whom the U.S. has dubbed “Sons of Iraq,” as an internal threat to Shiite political predominance.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.co.....es_111208/

In his attempt to blow sunshine up the Big O’s big A, the author actually addresses the concern most logical and sensible people, namely the republicans, have about a cut and run policy. That is the left will actually get the civil war in Iraq they have been so desperately wanting. But when it does happen, I’m sure it won’t be because it is one of Obama’s priorities. No it will all be because of Bush, big Oil, neo-con, warmongers, etc. Which makes me wonder when the MSM and left will start to undermine our efforts in Afghanistan.

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gipper

November 12, 2008 at 9:50 am

From a nostalgic AP, who wants to return to a time when all was good and right in the world:

Obama taps veteran Dems for DoD, State handovers

WASHINGTON – President-elect Obama has hired former Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Sam Nunn to help shepherd his Pentagon transition, a spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Nunn, a former Georgia senator and veteran Democratic defense adviser, was once rumored as a potential running mate for Obama. Transition spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Nunn will perform “an informal senior adviser role throughout the defense transition process.”

Nunn’s role has been described by others, speaking anonymously because the transition teams have not been announced, as the leader of Obama’s defense transition. Similarly, a senior administration official said former Secretary of State Warren Christopher would advise Obama on his State Department transition.

Obama’s national security transition offices will work with the outgoing Bush administration to hand off management of two wars and complex diplomacy with North Korea, Russia and other nations. Obama has not announced his choices to be defense secretary and secretary of state.

Nunn and Christopher would be part of a national security brain trust for Obama that is heavy on former Clinton administration officials, including possible national security adviser James Steinberg, a former State Department official.

At the Pentagon, the large transition office would likely include former Clinton Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and former Clinton-era Pentagon comptroller Bill Lynn, officials said. The announcements are expected later this week.

“There’s a lot of disinformation out there,” Cutter said. “We’re working hard to put the agenda review teams together and expect they’ll be announced and inside the agencies by the end of the week.”

Clinton Pentagon officials turned think tankers Michele Flournoy and Kurt Campbell are also mentioned as part of the Obama transition office at the Pentagon. Clinton-era State Department officials Wendy Sherman and Tom Donilon are mentioned in similar roles at State.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Robert Burns contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....l_security

Sigh. So much for bringing change to Washington. So much for ending the partisanship, too.

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sheehanjihad

November 12, 2008 at 2:36 pm

Just heard…..Freezer Jefferson just lost his appeal, he is now open for prosecution on bribery and corruption charges. Pelosi will make sure he has the finest lawyers however, and the media will not carry one second of coverage.

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sheehanjihad

November 13, 2008 at 2:46 am

Just to show how quick msnbc was to discredit Palin and keep things running against her….but, hahahahahahaaa!

http://www.comcast.net/article.....alin.Hoax/

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Liberals Make Great Speedbumps

November 13, 2008 at 3:29 am

SJ,

As if you were expecting anything else? They still fear her.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 4:21 am

sheehanijad, you should follow the format for posting artcles, as you deprived people of reading this gem in the article from the ever fair AP:

While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.

So, “just because the person who admitted to the leak doesn’t exist, that doesn’t mean the (patently false) story about Palin and Africa isn’t true.”

You’ve gotta love the AP’s monopoly in the MSM arena.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 4:23 am

From the AP, watch as a liberal gets a pass:

Lohan refers to Obama as `first colored president’

NEW YORK — Lindsay Lohan referred to President-elect Barack Obama as the country’s “first colored president” in an interview on “Access Hollywood.”

Describing her experience on Election Day, Lohan said: “It was really exciting. It’s an amazing feeling. It’s our first colored president.”

A spokeswoman for Lohan didn’t immediately return messages left Wednesday.

Interviewer Maria Menounos didn’t question the 22-year-old actress on her use of the term. “Access Hollywood” also didn’t cite her remark in its online story, but did post an “extended interview” video on its Web site that included the remark.

A spokesman for the syndicated entertainment news program said in a statement Wednesday: “We believe the word in question that Ms. Lohan used was unintelligible.” …

http://www.comcast.net/article.....say.Lohan/

Had this been a conservative, the pickets would have been surrounding their home by the time the article hit the press.

Instead the excuse is “the word used was unintelligible.”

No bias.

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imnewatthis

November 13, 2008 at 4:28 am

DW, that was such a touching video!

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 4:41 am

A rare admission of “failure” from the left, from an even further left press.

From a (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal editorial:

Mayor smart to give up failed IZ

It’s rare for a politician to admit he was wrong about the top policy proposal of his career.

So give Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz credit this week for announcing he will finally drop his failed “inclusionary zoning” law without a fight. The convoluted and expensive city law forcing developers to include lower-cost units in housing projects will expire Jan. 2.

Cieslewicz didn’t specifically use the word “wrong” to describe his once-prized mandate on developers. But his words were close enough.

“It is time for me to . . . admit frankly that inclusionary zoning has not worked,” the mayor wrote in a letter to the City Council on Monday.

Instead of creating hundreds of lower-income units to diversity neighborhoods and schools, inclusionary zoning (called “IZ” for short) produced hardly any units that actually sold.

The lesson for the mayor is simple: Government can’t do everything. It can’t tell people where to live or whom to live next to.

What it can do is help people live where they want, and can afford, to live.

Another big mistake was the mayor’s focus on getting lower-income, first-time home buyers into fancy new condos, rather than fixer-uppers.

More than 1,000 homes and condos are for sale right now in Madison for under $200,000. The city should focus on getting more families with lower incomes into those homes by assisting with down payments.

The $200,000 threshold may seem high for “affordable” housing. But many of the IZ units were priced higher than that. And it didn’t sit well with hard-working residents who already owned modest homes that they were having to subsidize new condos they couldn’t afford themselves.

The housing market has been stung nationally by bad mortgages that threatened to bring down the entire economy. That has kept real estate prices down, which is great for first-time buyers. But it also has tightened up credit and scrutiny of people’s ability to pay mortgages.

The mayor is now proposing a committee to recommend new approaches to encouraging housing for families of all income levels. That’s a better approach, as long as it incorporates private-sector input.

Letting go of IZ had to be hard for Cieslewicz. But continuing to cling to failed policy would have been even harder on the mayor and the very people he was trying to help. …

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/opinion/314066

This has got to be a prank; someone must have hacked the paper’s web site or secretly kidnapped and replaced their editorial board with people with a brain.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 4:48 am

From an amused AP:

Palin to give views on the future of the GOP

MIAMI (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is sending signals that she is open to running for president in 2012, but another potential candidate is sending a different message: Republicans can’t get ahead of themselves.

Palin, this year’s Republican vice presidential nominee, is going to talk to Republican governors Thursday in a panel discussion called “Looking Towards the Future: The GOP in Transition.” She’s already making it clear that she wants to be a big part of that transition.

She was asked Wednesday, after arriving at the Republican Governors Association conference, about speculation that she is the party’s future.

“I don’t think it’s me personally, I think it’s what I represent,” Palin told reporters. “Everyday hardworking American families – a woman on the ticket perhaps represents that. It would be good for the ticket. It would be good for the party. I would be happy to get to do whatever is asked of me to help progress this nation.”

Later, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told his peers that now isn’t the time to think about the next presidential election.

“Anybody here tonight that has thought about the 2012 presidential election needs to keep their eye on the ball,” Barbour, a former Republican Party chairman, told a reception for the governors and their supporters. “We don’t need to talk about 2012.”

Instead, he said the future of the Republican Party is with its governors since the GOP has lost power in Congress and the White House. With 38 governors’ seats up for election in the next two years, that’s what the party has to focus on, he said.

“That’s how you get your party back going. And if you think this is practice time for people running for president in 2012, they need to get back in line. The next two years are the years that matter,” Barbour said.

Palin didn’t attend events with the governors on Wednesday, instead choosing to do interviews with CNN. On Thursday, she planned a news conference before starting a panel discussion on the party’s future. While several of the governors at the conference are considered potential candidates in 2012, she is the only one acknowledging that she’ll consider it.

Among others talked about as potential nominees are Barbour and Govs. Charlie Crist of Florida, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota. Each had advice for the party, but none discussed their personal 2012 plans.

The governors, though, faced a lot of questions about Palin, who energized the Republican base but wasn’t as popular with independent voters in the election she and John McCain lost to Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

“Gov. Palin is a extremely talented person and she’s going to be one of the key voices for the party, for the Republicans, for a long time to come,” Pawlenty said. …

http://customwire.ap.org/dynam....._GOVERNORS

First, remember Palin’s only comment on considering it was she’d consider it “If God opens that door for me.”

Meanwhile I don’t disagree with Barbour completely, but what a way to eliminate any enthusiasm at all in your party, and quite frankly Governors have nothing to do with politics at the Federal Level these days – or what part of “Senator Obama” being elected President don’t you understand?

Seriously, Barbour’s smart but his attitude really grates.

His comment of:

And if you think this is practice time for people running for president in 2012, they need to get back in line. The next two years are the years that matter,

seems a sure way of ensuring the GOP’s slide into complete insignificance.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:04 am

From the very far left (Madison, WI) Capital Times:

The rise and fall of 401(k)

By Mike Ivey

Gretchen Lowe was understandably in no hurry to open the third quarter statement from her personal retirement account.
“I knew it wasn’t going to be good news, so I just let it sit on the table for a couple of days,” said Lowe, 70, an east side Madison resident.

When Lowe finally got up the nerve to look, she discovered her $100,000 account had lost more than $20,000 in value. And that didn’t even include October, the worst month for stocks in 20 years.

“Everybody tells you not to panic, that it’s all going to come back,” said Lowe, a retired Dane County Circuit Court employee. “But that was money I was planning to give to my grandchildren, and now it’s gone.”

Millions of Americans, many exposed for the first time to the risks of global markets, have seen the value of their 401(k), IRAs or other personal savings accounts nosedive in the wake of the current economic downturn and Wall Street implosion.

In just the past year, the value of stocks in 401(k) plans or other individual retirement accounts has fallen by nearly $2 trillion, according to Sept. 30 figures — the most recent available — from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

And given the ongoing sell-off — stocks were down another 4 percent last week — that decline is surely greater today. Many investors are now seeing retirement account losses, albeit on paper, in six figures.

Of course, younger workers who stay the course could well have time to recover, although critics note U.S. stock market returns have failed to keep pace with inflation over the past decade.

“To be honest with you, I haven’t even looked at my 401(k) account balance in over a year,” said Don Rogers, 48, chief financial officer at Demco International in Madison and father of three. “I figure I have at least another 15 years to wait it out.”

But those nearing retirement or already retired may no longer have time on their side. Some could be facing difficult choices in their golden years: going back to work, moving in with family or simply living in poverty. …

http://www.madison.com/tct/top5/313886

I simply don’t understand this.

Most every financial analyst, and every “retirement planning” booklet I’ve ever seen has said that you should be out of stocks and into cash-based funds if you plan to retire within the next five to ten years.

What then, is the reason for these fear-based stories (other than to push the new government-driven eliminate-the-401(k) plan)?

Could it be they as investors were too greedy to settle for a “safe” rate of return?

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:20 am

A great editorial from the WSJ from Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan:

Take Some Political Risks

By Paul Ryan

After two straight electoral defeats, it is time for a substantial party shake-up. We don’t need a feather duster; we need a fire hose.

We need to be honest about the root causes of our current financial crisis: loose money, crony capitalism and a lack of market transparency and information. We need to adopt a policy of sound money by requiring the Federal Reserve to focus exclusively on keeping inflation in check, as I’ve proposed with my Price Stability Act. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose excesses helped lead to the current mess, must be taken off the backs of taxpayers. We need a complete overhaul of our outdated financial regulatory system to emphasize market transparency and accountability.

The greatest threat to our nation’s future prosperity is the explosion of entitlement spending. Our entitlement programs are headed for a painful collapse that will bankrupt this nation and leave our children with an inferior standard of living. If we don’t tackle these problems, they will tackle us.

We must also offer bold alternatives to the destructive tax policies that the Democratic majority will work to enact. We must go beyond simply calling for lower taxes. We need a complete overhaul of our tax code. At a time of fierce global competition, the individual and business tax reforms I put forth earlier this year would encourage companies to invest in America, promote jobs here at home, and strengthen the paychecks of American workers.

We must take control of the health-care debate, and champion patient-centered alternatives to the socialized health-care proposals advocated by the Democrats. Health-care decisions should be made by individuals and their providers, not government bureaucrats or insurance company bureaucrats. We need to offer reforms that make health care more affordable, more portable and more transparent, while strengthening the social safety net.

We cannot simply put up roadblocks to the emboldened Democratic majority. We need to offer an alternative future. Absent reform, our federal government will double in size within a generation. We must change course from this path of stagnation, and we must have leaders willing to provide a path that keeps alive the American ideal and keeps our government limited.

Our party has become too fearful of our own ideas. Since 1997, congressional Republicans began a steady retreat from principled leadership to political expediency. A party built on spending discipline and government reform succumbed to the siren songs of government expansion and earmarked giveaways. Republicans squandered the opportunity to limit and reshape the relationship between the federal government and the individual. …

http://online.wsj.com/article/.....16573.html

Thus proving the GOP does have a few actual Republicans left.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:24 am

A bit more on Ryan from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Ryan steps up for GOP after party’s election losses

But Janesville congressman won’t run for House minority leader

By Diana Marrero

Washington – Rep. Paul Ryan has been in hot demand since his party lost seats in both chambers of Congress and the White House.

The Janesville Republican has appeared on national television news shows, has been mentioned in newspaper columns and even has been courted by some of his GOP colleagues to run for the minority leader position in the House. Ryan decided not to run.

On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published a guest column by Ryan in which he called for a “substantial party shake-up.”

“Our party has become too fearful of our own ideas,” he wrote. “A party built on spending discipline and government reform succumbed to the siren songs of government expansion and earmarked giveaways.”

In a phone interview, Ryan said Tuesday that he simply is doing his part to fill the leadership void within his party after the elections.

“There’s been a lot of elimination in our party,” he said. “My goal is to advance a policy agenda and be a policy contributor to the cause.”

Ryan brushed off speculation that he might be seeking the limelight to make a run for governor or the Senate someday.

Since last Tuesday’s elections, Ryan has been in constant communication with Republican colleagues as the GOP tries to figure out how to stay relevant over the next few years and dig themselves out of minority status in Congress.

“To me, it’s about going back to our roots as a reform party, as people of ideas,” he said.

Others in the party think Republicans should spend more time thinking about how to connect with moderate voters, arguing that it was those voters who abandoned the party in last week’s elections.

“It is indeed, as conservatives have been insisting in recent days, a center-right country,” Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, wrote in a recent opinion piece. “The question is how to appeal to the center again.” …

http://www.jsonline.com/news/34311034.html

But wow – does the National Review really believes the GOP’s future lies in appeal to the center?.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:29 am

More from a stunned AP:

Palin doesn’t rule out U.S. Senate run

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks to reporters Wednesday as she arrives at the 2008 Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami. Palin said that a woman would be good for the Republican presidential ticket in four years.

WASHINGTON — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Wednesday she would consider serving in the Senate if God gave her the opportunity and Alaskans wanted her to take the job. The state’s senior senator, Republican Ted Stevens, fell narrowly behind as the count resumed in his re-election bid.

Stevens, who has been in the Senate for 40 years, led by just over 3,000 votes when the Election Day count ended last week. He dropped three votes behind his Democratic challenger, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, late Wednesday as Alaska election officials counted 44,000 of an estimated 90,000 absentee and provisional ballots.

Even if he is re-elected, Stevens could be ousted by the Senate for his conviction on seven felony counts of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts, mostly renovations on his home. If Stevens loses his seat, Palin could run for it in a special election. She also could challenge incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski in 2010.

Palin, who was the GOP vice presidential nominee, has two years left on her term as governor. She told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that she wants to serve her constituents the best she can. “At this point it is as governor,” she said.

“Now if something shifted dramatically and if it were, if it were acknowledged up there that I could be put to better use for my state in the U.S. Senate, I would certainly consider that but that would take a special election and everything else,” she said. “I am not one to appoint myself or a member of my family to take the place of any vacancy.“

Pressed in a separate interview with CNN’s Larry King about whether she would serve out her term as governor, Palin said, “I will do what the people of Alaska want me to do.”

She added, however, “if they call an audible on me, and if they say they want me in another position, I’m going to do it. … My life is in God’s hands. If he’s got doors open for me, that I believe are in our state’s best interest, the nation’s best interest, I’m going to go through those doors.” …

http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....enate-run/

Wow, an elected official who wants to abide by the wishes of the people and won’t do whatever she can to advance her political career.

No wonder the MSM is so afraid of her.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:34 am

Today’s Palin hit piece from the normally “less far left than the Denver Post” Rocky Mountain News:

Like, ready to lead

By Vincent Carroll

So Sarah Palin is, like, ready to run for president in 2012 if, like, it is something that is going to be good for … no, wait: Let’s have her tell us, shall we?

“I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door,” she told Fox News this week. “And if there is an open door in ‘12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

Now, I’m not one who trashed Palin during the past two months, beyond mentioning her disturbing performance in the Katie Couric interview and her lack of knowledge of foreign policy. She may have been unprepared for the vice presidency, but the man who will actually take the job in January, Joe Biden, is an embarrassment in his own right — even if many journalists and stand-up comics were determined to give him a pass.

Unfortunately, Palin’s latest interviews provide fresh evidence for why Republicans should think twice before conceding front-runner status to her next time. To put it bluntly, at times she comes across as something of a chirpy lightweight — meaning the political left and entertainment media would continue to have a field day with her.

By contrast, it’s hard to imagine anyone seriously questioning the intellectual heft of, say, Bobby Jindal, the Republican governor of Louisiana who is frequently mentioned as another possible candidate. A graduate with honors from Brown and a Rhodes scholar, Jindal is both smarter and better educated than most of the liberals who regularly equate conservatives with dolts.

Oh, some would undoubtedly try to ridicule Jindal for an article he wrote in 1994 describing an exorcism he said he witnessed as an undergraduate a few years earlier. But mocking someone’s religious beliefs is notoriously risky, as is holding someone responsible for what he thought or did as a youth.

To be sure, Republicans are used to their presidential candidates being portrayed as simpletons by America’s intellectual class. Eisenhower was savaged for his alleged indifference to ideas (”the bland leading the bland,” was the sneer), while Ford, Reagan and both Bushes were widely decried as incurious ciphers.

Politics being what it is, such attacks can’t always be avoided. But that hardly means a party should actively invite them — as Republicans would if they resort to Palin again. …

http://www.rockymountainnews.c.....eady-lead/

The new “don’t nominate her, the Press will make fun of her” standard.

Let’s face it, if Jindal is the nominee, be prepared for the tolerant, sensitive MSM to run lots of cartoons showing he should be running a 7-11 or working a tech support hotline somewhare, not running a state let alone the country.

But Palin? She’s “chirpy.” She’s real. She of course must never come up for office again.

Nice.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:46 am

From the Palm Beach Desert Sun, an elderly woman who was carrying a cross in support of Prop. 8 was attacked by “No on 8″ protesters.

Woman to press assault charges from Prop 8 protest

By Nicole C. Brambila

The woman at the center of a disturbance that erupted at a protest against the gay marriage ban on Friday will be pressing charges, The Desert Sun has learned.

Phyllis Burgess alleges that she was assaulted as she carried a Styrofoam cross through the crowd at a No on Proposition 8 rally. The 69-year-old Palm Springs resident originally declined to press charges when asked by police and joked she felt lucky, at least she didn’t lose her wig in the tussle like Cloris Leachman did on Dancing with the Stars.

“I guess I didn’t see the gravity of the whole thing and how it was being portrayed to the public,” Burgess said. “People are incensed. They seem to want some kind of justice.”

What was planned as a peaceful candlelight service in front of City Hall took a hostile turn when the crowd began pushing and a cross was torn from Burgess’ arms. The cross ended up in pieces on the ground.

The crowd chanted, “Go home!” “Nazi!” and “shame on you!” as organizers pleaded with the crowd to ignore the woman. About 500 protesters attended the event, the largest in the county since 52 percent of voters approved Proposition 8, an amendment that banned same-sex marriage.

Palm Springs Police made no arrests, but say they spent about 40 minutes on Saturday trying to convince Burgess to press charges.

Lt. Dennis Graham said he tried to convince her how important it was to file a police report.

Detectives, he said, are reviewing video taken at the rally to try and identify possible suspects.

The charges likely would be assault and vandalism, both misdemeanors, Graham said.

http://www.mydesert.com/articl.....110028/-1/

Funny how if she had attacked the protesters, it would have likely been prosecuted as a felony hate crime.

But since her attackers were liberals, it’s just misdemeanor assault and a bitter, homophobic Palm Springs Police Department.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 5:54 am

From the Los Angeles Times, liberal lawmakers say “Why Wait?”

Congress isn’t waiting for Obama

Lawmakers are unveiling plans to expand health coverage and curb global warming. And Democratic leaders have called a lame-duck session next week to discuss an auto industry bailout.

By Janet Hook, Noam N. Levey and Peter Nicholas

Reporting from Washington — More than two months before he is sworn in, Barack Obama already is facing a Congress busily asserting itself on the timing and details of the president-elect’s agenda, including major issues like healthcare and economic policy.

Committee chairmen are unveiling legislation to expand health insurance coverage and curb global warming. Democratic leaders have called a lame-duck session next week to consider an auto industry bailout. And other economic stimulus measures may be enacted even before Obama is inaugurated.

The activity is in part a measure of the pent-up demand among Democrats who have had little legislative power for more than a decade. Obama, by contrast, has been constrained in an awkward limbo by his assertion that the country has “only one president at a time.”

But the congressional clamor raises a question that will loom larger after inauguration day: Will Congress be leading or following the Obama administration as it gets its sea legs?

Congressional leaders say they will take their cue from the new president and are consulting with the Obama transition team even as they step out on their own. But after cowering for eight years under President Bush’s veto authority, many Democrats are champing at the bit.

“Congress is filled with people who have been working on these questions for a long time, and they’re not constrained,” said William A. Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former advisor to President Clinton.

Amid concern that economic problems may prompt Obama to delay action on healthcare reform, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) unveiled his own plan Wednesday and called for immediate action.

“The need is so great we have to act now with dispatch,” Baucus said, adding that he wanted Congress to send Obama legislation before summer. “We have no choice.”

Obama has been working to build strong relations with Congress by choosing lieutenants who are well known on Capitol Hill, including former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who is advising the president-elect’s team, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), picked as White House chief of staff.

Obama has consulted with party leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. And he has spoken with House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) about upcoming economic stimulus legislation.

One of Obama’s transition chiefs, John Podesta, said recently that Obama would proceed immediately with plans to cut taxes for the middle class, revamp the healthcare system and curb the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.

Rather than push for the plans sequentially, Obama aims to do them simultaneously, Podesta said. One of the projects of the transition team is to develop a strategy to do so. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....3199.story

So Democrats, the party in charge of both houses of Congress for the past two years have “had little legislative power for more than a decade?”

They’ve been “cowering for eight years under President Bush’s veto authority?”

Only in the fevered fantasies of the MSM.

Is there not one member of the MSM who will admit that “Change” is looking a lot like the Clinton Administration?

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 6:00 am

In the wake of one of the few rational SCOTUS decisions of late, environmentalists are, what else, whining.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Ruling unlikely to quell sonar storm

By David G. Savage and Kenneth R. Weiss

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington — Despite the Supreme Court’s ruling Wednesday that the nation’s security outweighs the need to protect marine mammals from high-powered sonar during Navy training exercises, environmentalists said the fight was far from over.

The court immediately lifted limits on the Navy exercises now being held 12 miles off the Southern California coast, in a victory for the outgoing Bush administration. But the decision doesn’t bind the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to follow the same policy.

Another set of Navy exercises is scheduled for February.

“We don’t know what the Supreme Court decision means for the next go-round. We will have a new commander in chief. It’s a new game,” said Mark Delaplaine, an analyst with the California Coastal Commission.

Lawrence J. Korb, a former Defense Department official who has been an advisor to the Obama campaign, said, “This says the Navy can do this. It doesn’t say they should do it. The new people could come in and say, ‘OK. Let’s find a way to do this differently.’ ”

Saying the court should defer to the military, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote that the Navy needs to train its crews to detect modern, silent submarines, and it cannot be forced to turn off its sonar when whales are spotted nearby.

“The public interest in conducting training exercises with active sonar under realistic conditions plainly outweighs” the concerns voiced by environmentalists, he said, speaking for a five-justice majority. This “does not strike us as a close question,” he added.

Environmentalists contend that the sonar has a possible deafening effect on the whales. Roberts questioned whether whales have indeed been harmed by sonar. He said the Navy had been operating off the California coast for 40 years “without a single documented sonar-related injury to any marine mammal.”

The Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmentalist groups strongly disagreed. They said studies conducted around the world have shown the piercing underwater sounds cause whales to flee in panic or to dive too deeply. Whales have been found beached in Greece, the Canary Islands and in the Bahamas after sonar was used in the area, and necropsies showed signs of internal bleeding near the ears.

Last year, the NRDC and several other groups went to court in Los Angeles to challenge the Navy’s plans to conduct 14 training exercises off the Southern California coast. They said the Navy failed to prepare an environmental impact statement and therefore had violated the National Environmental Policy Act. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/na.....7528.story

Of course the environmentalists should realize that their guy will stop these exercises in two months anyway.

Because if there’s anything at the bottom of Obama’s priority list, it’s national security, so those exercises scheduled for February will never, ever happen.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 6:06 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

Angrier response to Prop. 8 steps up

After a professional campaign failed to defeat the measure, a Web-based opposition is making itself heard.

By Jessica Garrison

Leaders of the campaign against Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in California, raised nearly $40 million and ran a careful, disciplined campaign with messages tested by focus groups and with only a few people authorized to speak to the media.

They lost.

In the week since, California has seen an outpouring of demonstrations ranging from quiet vigils to noisy street protests against Proposition 8, including rallies outside churches and the Mormon temple in Westwood as well as boycotts of some businesses that contributed to the Yes on 8 campaign.

Many of those activities have been organized not by political professionals and established leaders in the gay community, but by young activists working independently on Facebook and MySpace.

The grass-roots activism is a tribute to political organizing in the digital age, in which it is possible to mobilize thousands of people with a few clicks of a mouse. It has generated national attention — and set up a series of Saturday demonstrations that organizers hope will attract tens of thousands of people to city halls throughout California.

But the demonstrations also have raised questions about whether the in-your-face approach will alienate voters, who may be asked one day to approve gay marriage. Twice in the last eight years, voters have rejected it.

“I think the No on 8 forces have devolved into mob justice,” said Jeff Flint, a campaign strategist for the Yes side.

Some gay-rights advocates are pinning their hopes on court action. The day after the election, several lawsuits were filed that asked the California Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8. That effort has drawn backing from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, legislators and a number of government bodies, most recently the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

While they wait to see what the court does, gay rights activists say they are thinking of putting another gay marriage initiative before California voters — perhaps as soon as 2010.

If that happens, they say, they want to ensure that the mistakes of the last campaign won’t be repeated.

Some have criticized that campaign for failing to reach out enough to black and Latino voters, a majority of whom backed the proposition, according to exit polls.

Others have said that the campaign failed to engage people enough — including some gay activists now organizing protests.

“Too many of us . . . gay and not gay, didn’t get engaged enough in the conversations . . . about the real harm that discrimination inflicts,” said Evan Wolfson, executive director of the nonprofit group Freedom to Marry. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....4959.story

How long before these idiots start taking after their mentor Ayers and firebomb or blow up Mormon and Catholic churches?

Remember also, the left never, ever admits failure; they’re like virus that keeps manifesting itself over and over again at regular intervals where conservatives simply say “Oh well, I guess the public has spoken.”

That, frankly, is why, unless we change some of our tactics, we’re destined to lose on most every issue we consider important.

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sheehanjihad

November 13, 2008 at 7:20 am

here is the properly formatted story~! BillK helped. lol

MSNBC retracts false Palin story; others duped

NEW YORK — MSNBC was the victim of a hoax when it reported that an adviser to John McCain had identified himself as the source of an embarrassing story about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the network said Wednesday.

David Shuster, an anchor for the cable news network, said on air Monday that Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser, had come forth and identified himself as the source of a Fox News Channel story saying Palin had mistakenly believed Africa was a country instead of a continent.

Eisenstadt identifies himself on a blog as a senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy. Yet neither he nor the institute exist; each is part of a hoax dreamed up by a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

The Eisenstadt claim had mistakenly been delivered to Shuster by a producer and was used in a political discussion Monday afternoon, MSNBC said.

“The story was not properly vetted and should not have made air,” said Jeremy Gaines, network spokesman. “We recognized the error almost immediately and ran a correction on air within minutes.”

Gaines told the Times that someone in the network’s newsroom had presumed the information solid because it was passed along in an e-mail from a colleague.

The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.

Eisenstadt’s “work” had been quoted and debunked before. The Huffington Post said it had cited Eisenstadt in July on a story regarding the Hilton family and McCain.

Among the other victims were political blogs for the Los Angeles Times and The New Republic, each of which referenced false material from Eisenstadt’s blog.

And in July, Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones magazine blogged an item about Eisenstadt speaking on Iraqi television about a casino in Baghdad’s “Green Zone.”

Stein later realized he’d been had.

“Kudos to the inventor of this whole thing,” Stein wrote. “My only consolation is that if I had as much time on my hands as he clearly does, I probably would have figured this out and saved myself a fair amount of embarrassment.”

http://tinyurl.com/54vz9g

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Gila Monster

November 13, 2008 at 9:16 am

The hoax was limited to the identity of the source in the story about Palin — not the Fox News story itself. While Palin has denied that she mistook Africa for a country, the veracity of that report was not put in question by the revelation that Eisenstadt is a phony.

Hmmm, the source of the Palin smear was a hoax, but the story is still true, so MSNBC is still going forward with this smear even though they no longer have a credible “source” for this obvious political hack job?
I suppose it all makes sense in their warped view of the world. Morons!!

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 9:54 am

Hmmm, the source of the Palin smear was a hoax, but the story is still true, so MSNBC is still going forward with this smear even though they no longer have a credible “source” for this obvious political hack job?

I suppose it all makes sense in their warped view of the world. Morons!!

Their logic is more tortured than that.

An “anonymous” source in the McCain camp “leaked” the Africa story, which Palin denies ever happened as does the McCain campaign itself.

The hoax was the identification of the “leak.”

MSNBC claims that just because the identification of the leaker was a hoax, that doesn’t mean the “anonymously leaked” story was a hoax, so they maintain it’s true.

Of course this is one of those cool situations in that no matter what happens, the story can never be refuted in MSNBC’s eyes unless the original (spiteful, lying) source comes forward and identifies themselves for real, which of course they’ll never do as then they’ll be destroyed, not Palin.

It’s the classic “So, when did you stop beating your wife?” gambit.

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 10:01 am

From the Los Angeles Times:

Sacramento theater director resigns in Prop. 8 aftermath

By Mike Boehm

Scott Eckern, the Sacramento theater director whose political donation in support of California’s Prop. 8 ban on same-sex marriage turned into a lightning rod in the debate over gay rights, resigned Wednesday, saying he wanted to protect the California Musical Theatre, his artistic home since 1984, from further controversy…

http://www.latimes.com/enterta.....5878.story

Lest you forget how chilling this is, anyone not self-employed may now find themselves out of a job because of the blanks you have to fill out listing your position and your employer for almost any political donation…

[Moved to its own thread.]

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BillK

November 13, 2008 at 10:08 am

Full canonization has yet to occur, but it’s well on its way.

From the AP:

Museum collects Obama artifacts

Curators at the Smithsonian Institution wasted no time snapping up souvenirs from President-elect Barack Obama’s historic campaign victory and revealed plans Wednesday to re-create one of the campaign’s Virginia field offices in a future exhibit.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture, slated to open in 2015 on the National Mall, scooped up items that had been headed for the trash can — such as election maps, strategy boards, campaign literature and even a recliner from Obama’s campaign office in Falls Church, Va. — shortly after the election.

Most of the campaign loot would have ended up in the trash or been taken as souvenirs, volunteers said. The items may not be priceless artifacts, but they are “proof that we participated in one of the most historically significant elections in American history,” said museum director Lonnie Bunch.

http://www.latimes.com/enterta.....5878.story

Somehow I doubt anyone has “scooped up” a single item from either Hillary’s campaign or Palin’s, and NOW hasn’t said a thing.

Remember this is the same Smithsonian that was going to describe World War II in the Pacific thus:

“For most Americans, it was a war of vengeance. For most Japanese, it was a war to defend their unique culture against Western imperialism.”

http://www.afa.org/media/enolagay/03-001.html

with one of their advisory panel complaining that the pilots of the Enola Gay “never showed remorse for their mission.”

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sheehanjihad

November 13, 2008 at 11:24 am

What these revisionists fail to understand, or just ignore, is that the Japanese fought a war of total attrition, no quarter, no mercy with such ferocity that there was no choice but to fight back with the same brutality. There are no revisionists who were alive then, nor were they “there”, so all they can do is rely on their warped sense of “humanity” and not accept things as they actually were, choosing instead to inject their own morality as though that would somehow change what happened.

The Japanese population was being trained to repel the upcoming invasion by forming battalions of women and children armed only with bamboo spears. Everyone was expected to resist to the death, and untold thousands of suicide aircraft and watercraft were being readied. The Japanese had developed and fully intended to deploy chemical and biological agents, agents that were tested on Chinese prisoners, and people were instructed to commit mass suicide if they couldnt repel the Americans. That is the reality of it….

The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed over two hundred thousand people, and the atomic weapons were ordered dropped because of the total lack of regard for life and the fanatical defense of Okinawa. Faced with an entire population bent on killing or die trying, the Americans decided that they needed to force the Japanese to face the futility of their defense.

To expect the crews of the bombers to show remorse for killing those citizens is ludicrous. Their remorse was being felt for the estimated ONE MILLION allied casualties that would ensue if Japan proper had to be invaded. That, plus the untold millions of Japanese who would also be killed in their futile attempts to repel the invaders. No remorse was necessary, and it still isnt. The Japanese underestimated American resolve, and as such, they paid the price for starting the damn thing in the first place. Remorse is for those who werent there, and who have no idea what a war is like. It is easy to condemn the participants from your desk…..you cant smell the odor of rotting corpses from there.

Notice too that the revisionists have yet to wax nostalgic on Japanese atrocities, which are legendary. Have they demanded the same remorse of the genocidal actions of the Japanese Army, or the suicidal actions of the Japanese Navy, or the heartfelt remorse of the Japanese government and military leaders? Uh, no. It is easier to condemn America. To forget the reason why they are able to sit at their desks and wag their collective fingers at the very people who gave their lives for the freedom for them to continue to remain so appallingly ignorant.

The dropping of the atomic bombs saved a lot more lives than they took. Funny, in the grand scheme of things, I wonder if a member of that generation who gave life to the critics and moralists, would have been killed had the bombs not been used…thus not being able to sit back and point fingers with the freedom who’s cost exceeds their ability to recognize.

My father was on an escort carrier, on the way to invade Japan proper when they got the news that the war was over. Whether he would have been killed or not is a matter of speculation. But I exist because of the actions of a few brave men, and to the revisionists, I invite them to go to Arlington, get on their knees, and beg the forgiveness of those they condemn so easily. We are here because of them. The revisionists are here in spite of them.

The Smithsonian exhibit was the main reason I wont go back. Even after it was revised due to the storm of protest over it’s apologetic revisionist agenda. We fought back. And we won. That is history.

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JohnMG

November 13, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Thank you sj for an eloquent summary of just what was and is. My own father was 29 years old when he enlisted in the Marines. He made five amphibious assaults, Okinawa being the last one. He was aboard an APA when a kamikazi plane sent her to the bottom. For nearly three years he carried either a flamethrower or demolition pack as a combat engineer, an MOS where the life expectancy on the beach was measured in minutes. Of all his landings, Tarawa was probably the most vicious. He regarded the A-bomb a necessary tool to get the job done, and would back up from no one concerning its use. As you said, if you haven’t been there, keep your criticisms to yourself.

Maybe that’s where I get it from. Whenever I hear someone pontificating strongly on the VietNam war, I ask them where they served. Most of the time they didn’t, at which point I (usually) tactfully tell them to STFU! Not patiently do I suffer fools and idiots.

My son did service in Panama, and ironically, my oldest grandson just got orders to the “Rockpile”. Four generations of Marines serving in defense of this nation, three of which might never have otherwise had an opportunity but for the resolve of the first, and the use of nuclear weapons.

To those of you who don’t like it, I have this to say. Tell it to somebody who gives a shit. I haven’t got time to listen. Just remember who it was and who it is that preserves your right to remain so blissfully stupid without suffering severe consequences. Not that they would understand!

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clifcrds

November 13, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Stalinist Show Trials Act III

Act I was the greedy capitalist Oil Executives, Act II was the greedy capitalist Wall Street Executives, Act III . . . the Bush Administration.

Democrats to White House: Preserve your records

By PAMELA HESS, Associated Press Writer Pamela Hess, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 13, 11:56 am ET

WASHINGTON – Senate Democrats on the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees last week told the White House to preserve all records produced by the Bush administration and expressed “particular concerns” whether Vice President Dick Cheney’s office will comply with the law.

“We believe it is vital the presidential and vice presidential documents belonging to the American people be preserved, including those related to key national security decisions in which the (office of the vice president) played an important role,” the senators wrote in the Nov. 7 letter to White House lawyer Fred Fielding. The letter was obtained by The Associated Press.

The letter was sent by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sen. John D. Rockefeller of West Virginia and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. They asked Fielding to detail steps being taken to preserve White House documents and hand them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.

The senators asked whether the White House believes that any notes, document and records created in the White House by the president, vice president and their staffs may be destroyed without first consulting with the archivist of the United States, and if so which ones. It also asks whether Fielding has investigated a Washington Post report that some presidential orders are kept off White House records in a safe in office of the vice president’s lawyer.

“We have particular concerns … regarding documents in the possession of the Office of the Vice President,” the letter said. Citing ongoing litigation over the preservation of Cheney’s records, the senators wrote: “the declarations filed in that case by the Office of the Vice President raise serious concerns about its interpretations of the (Presidential Records Act).”

The 1978 Presidential Records Act requires all presidential and vice presidential records to be transferred to the Archives immediately upon the end of the president’s last term of office and gives the archivist responsibility to preserve and control access to presidential records. The law ended the tradition of private ownership of presidential papers, opening White House records to the public and historians.

In 2003, Cheney began asserting that the vice president’s office is not an entity within the executive branch.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto in an e-mail called the leak of the letter “a partisan attack by Senate Democrats.”

“We do not need to be reminded about the Presidential Records Act by Chairman Leahy,” he wrote.
A Senate official with knowledge of the letter said there is no indication the White House is destroying documents.

Cheney’s office is embroiled in a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington which is trying to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that makes them unavailable to the public.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said Cheney’s position on the status of the vice president’s office raises questions whether his records will be preserved in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.

In a deposition taken by CREW Monday, an Archives staff member who works on presidential materials said some of the vice president’s records generated in his capacity as the president of the Senate may be exempt from the law if they are “purely political or partisan.”

Records of Cheney’s dealings with the Republican National Committee would not require preservation under the act, Nancy Kegan Smith, the archives official, said during the deposition. Smith also said NARA has not made a final decision on the status of Cheney’s records produced when he acts as president of the Senate.

Clare O’Donnell, Cheney’s deputy chief of staff, was being deposed by CREW for the lawsuit Thursday.
The Bush White House has been most secretive in years, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

“The rate of classification activity hit a record high in the Bush administration. More information was classified more quickly than ever before. But what’s worse is that secrecy authority was used to conceal controversial policies involving domestic surveillance, prisoner detention and interrogation,” Aftergood said.

Human rights and civil liberties advocates are clamoring for more openness in the Obama administration.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200....._documents

I hope everyone here could read through all this hypocritical claptrap. I know I kept pinching myself to see if I was awake when I read;

The Bush White House has been most secretive in years, said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.

Obviously Mr. Aftergood was either asleep from 1992 to 2000, he was born in 2000, or like Hillary he is engaging in “willful disbelief” to ignore the fact that the Clintons had a bigger curtain covering their administration than the Wizard of Oz. Kind of reminds me of the time when the blind man went to the show and came back and told the deaf man what he saw . . . unbelievable!

In just another indication that a slim majority of the American people voted in a Marxist regime to “rule” our country we will now be treated to more Soviet style show trails. But these next rounds of show trials will have even a more sinister Stalinist twist to them . . . they will be spiced with Trotskyism. It will be the former leader and his associates who had just previously been in charge of the government that will be paraded and humiliated in front of the public. I would not be surprised if the Commiecrats then take the next step and try to “air brush” any memory of the Bush Administration from the our history too.

Why can’t Republicans understand that when you reach out in bipartisanship to a Commiecrat it is seen as a sign of weakness . . . not friendship.

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DW

November 13, 2008 at 10:00 pm

WTF is this???!
From The First Amendment Center:

Fla. law against civilians wearing military uniforms ruled too broad

By David L. Hudson Jr.
First Amendment scholar
11.07.08
A Florida law prohibiting people from wearing military uniforms unless they are military servicemembers violates the First Amendment because it bars a substantial amount of protected speech, a Florida appeals court has ruled.

The case arose out of an incident at Orlando International Airport in May 2007. Fernando Montas wore a U.S. Army uniform while standing in an expedited security line for military and security personnel. A Transportation Security Administration agent at the airport noticed that Montas’ hair seemed much longer than that of someone in the military and asked him to produce a military ID. When Montas could not produce one, he was arrested and charged with violating Florida law.

In part, the law says a person not in the military commits a misdemeanor if he or she wears a military uniform and is not a member of that branch of the armed forces. The statute provides exemptions for actors wearing uniforms in theatrical performances, for cadets in any military school and for members of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Montas claimed that the statute violated his First Amendment and due-process rights. He contended that he wore the uniform to express his support for members of his family who are in the military. A state trial court agreed with Montas and ruled that the statute violated his constitutional rights.

Full article:
http://www.firstamendmentcente.....x?id=20858

Got that? He was wearing a uniform which he never earned the right to wear, in support of his serving family members -oh and he just happened to be standing in a security line which is expedited for serving members of the military.

Who’ll jump all over this opportunity first: left-wing posers who want to add some credibility to their anti-war protests, or terrorists who can come up with a reasonable facsimilie of a military ID card?

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DW

November 13, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Speaking of those who earned their uniforms, and as an adjunct to my Nov 11/10:53PM post, here’s another clip -this time of how the ones who make it home upright are received.
Again it’s from north of the “medicine line” but they’re all our troops over there -aren’t they? And it is heart-warming.
The world may be going nuts but there are still good sensible people out there.
(ironically, I first heard of this from an American)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....0&eurl

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 2:27 am

Here we go…

From the blog “LA Observed”:

Mormon temple in Westwood closed due to white powder

By Veronique de Turenne

First more than a thousand anti-Prop 8 protesters gathered at the Mormon temple in Westwood. Now, after employees reported receiving an envelope filled with white powder, the temple has been closed.

The Los Angeles Mormon Temple in Westwood, which was the target of recent protests by opponents of Proposition 8, has been closed because temple employees received an envelope filled with an unidentified white powdery substance, according to a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Spokesman Ronald Smith says a similar envelope was delivered this afternoon to the Salt Lake City Mormon temple.

The FBI and a Hazmat unit are on the scene.

http://www.laobserved.com/arch.....stwood.php

What a surprise.

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 2:50 am

More from the Los Angeles Times:

Proposition 8 protesters target businesses

Activists who oppose the ban on gay marriage are boycotting businesses whose employees or owners contributed money to the Yes on 8 campaign.

More than a week after the passage of Proposition 8, activists opposed to the ban on gay marriage have shifted their protests to new arenas — using boycotts to target businesses and individuals who contributed to the winning side.

The effect of the boycotts remains unclear. Merchants said that the overall poor economy made it difficult to tell whether their businesses were declining specifically because of the threats. But the protests have been highly visible and have drawn strong objections from backers of the initiative.

“No matter your opinion of Proposition 8, we should all agree that it is wrong to intimidate and harass churches, businesses and individuals for participating in the democratic process,” Ron Prentice, of ProtectMarriage.com, said in a statement. Boycotters were “unabashedly trampling on the rights of others,” he said.

Activists behind the boycott effort argue they are simply exercising their political rights.

“People are determining who their friends are, and who are not their friends,” said Fred Karger, a Los Angeles resident and retired political consultant. “I think people need to be held accountable for their financial support.”

The activists have pored though campaign contribution databases and then “outed” Proposition 8 donors on sites like Facebook.com and craigslist.com. “People are going to do what they want, and it’s in this society where you have campaign reporting that is all public information,” said Karger.

Some gay rights activists also have gone onto the restaurant website yelp.com, giving bad reviews to eateries linked to the Yes on 8 movement.

“This one star is for their stance on Prop. 8,” one poster wrote of El Coyote Mexican Cafe. “Enjoy it. . . . You deserve it.”

Hundreds of protesters converged on El Coyote on Beverly Boulevard on Wednesday night, and the picketing got so heated that LAPD officers in riot gear had to be called.

All because Marjorie Christoffersen, a manager there and a daughter of El Coyote’s owner, had contributed $100 to the Yes on 8 campaign.

Christoffersen, who is Mormon, met with protesters Wednesday and at one point broke down in tears, said Arnoldo Archila, another El Coyote manager. But the activists were not satisfied with her explanation and continued to post protests about her on the Web.

“She had a chance to make nice and blew it. I was almost feeling a tiny bit of sympathy for her. Not no more!!” wrote one blog poster, who also listed competing Mexican restaurants where diners should go instead of El Coyote.

By Thursday, Christoffersen had left town, said Archila, who said El Coyote employees — some of whom are gay — were left staggered by the protests, including more than 50 calls a day criticizing the restaurant.

“We are all a family,” Archila said. “If this is going to affect the business, its going to affect them. There are people who have to feed children and pay mortgages.”

Some activists are now turning their attention to Texas-based Cinemark, one of America’s largest theater chains, whose chief executive contributed nearly $10,000 to Yes on 8.

A prolonged protest could cause trouble for the Sundance Film Festival, which uses Cinemark screens to show movies during the January event in Park City, Utah. The state of Utah is a focus of some boycotts because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has its headquarters there, marshaled millions of dollars in contributions from its members for the Yes on 8 campaign.

Brooks Addicott, a spokeswoman for the Sundance Institute, said the festival received about 100 e-mails over the last few week, many of which had the same text, but it appeared that the efforts had peaked.

“Our position is that we have a festival that is essentially three months away,” Addicott said. “We are committed to having our 25th festival; it’s a celebration for us. We would be incredibly disappointed if people decided not to come because of a boycott.”

Officials at Cinemark did not return calls for comment. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....6761.story

Told you.

Despite the criticism, activists say they plan to continue applying pressure. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the CEO or if it’s the hostess that greets you at El Coyote. It really makes no difference,” said Gerry Moylan, 47, a Los Angeles Realtor who planned a night of picketing in front of the restaurant Thursday.

“If I’m going to eat dinner at El Coyote and part of my money is going to pay the hostess’ pay and she turns around and uses her pay to promote a proposition that takes away my rights, then I’m going to stop paying my money to her.“

You thought you had the right to donate to whomever or whatever you want?

Not any more. Not if you like having a job.

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 3:04 am

Remember, the left is completely opposed to anyone having money.

From the Los Angeles Times:

If Dubai sneezes, who gets a cold?

Conspicuous consumption by the super-rich fuels more than the U.A.E.’s economy.

By Rosa Brooks

So enough about the struggling middle class. In this global financial crisis, how are the really rich holding up?

To find out, I spent several days in Dubai, the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and world capital of conspicuous consumption.

So far, the ultra-rich are bearing up well. If the scene at Dubai’s luxury Burj al Arab hotel is anything to go by, there’s still robust demand for hotel rooms that start at about $1,500 a night and bikinis that cost $800. This level of consumption is impressive, especially when you consider that the super-rich must struggle with a serious unemployment problem — almost none of the designer-clad men and women who grace the Burj al Arab appear to have, uh, jobs. But they cope bravely with this situation, finding in it an opportunity to pay culturally enriching visits to Dubai’s many beaches, nightclubs and shopping malls.

OK, for us normal human beings, it’s hard not to be revolted by Dubai, which boasts the world’s tallest hotel (the aforementioned Burj al Arab, which is shaped like a sailboat and soars in solitary splendor over its own artificial island), one of the world’s largest indoor ski slopes and the largest shopping mall in the region. Crammed with cold-eyed Russian oligarchs, coked-out London pop stars and the spoiled princelings of global finance, Dubai is repulsive enough to make most ordinary mortals start rooting for the collapse of global capitalism. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/op.....249.column

See?

How dare you have money. How dare you spend it.

Never mind how many jobs are created at retailers where you shop. Or at hotels where you stay. Or manufacturing the goods you are purchasing.

No, the fact that you have money and are spending it is, in and of itself, evil.

Is it any wonder why many wealthy have cut back on their spending because they fear reprisals?

(The fact that this results in store closures and firing of employees in retail, hotels and manufacturing is just a result of the “bad economy” you see.)

Dubai is repulsive enough to make most ordinary mortals start rooting for the collapse of global capitalism.

That says it all and exposes their true agenda.

But is anyone surprised, and more importantly, is there anyone left who thinks it’s Brooks that’s revolting?

If you read many of the comments, the prevailing wisdom is, of course, that the only reason the “rich” have money is they obviously stole it from the honest, hard working poor. (And of course that wealth needs to be “spread around” by Governments, not left to somehow “trickle down.”)

Sigh.

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 3:11 am

More on the L.A. Mormon temple closure from the Los Angeles Times:

L.A. Mormon temple closed after suspicious envelope arrives in mail

The FBI is investigating the incident involving a white, powdery substance. Officials said it was unclear if the envelope had anything to do with protests against Prop. 8.

By Tami Abdollah

The Mormon temple in Westwood was closed Thursday afternoon after an envelope filled with an unidentified white, powdery substance was delivered to temple employees, Los Angeles police said.

About 3:30 p.m., a hazardous-materials team was sent to the temple at Santa Monica Boulevard and Overland Avenue, said LAPD Officer Karen Smith.

The temple has recently been the site of protests by opponents of Proposition 8, though it is unclear whether the envelope was related to protests over the gay marriage ban, officials said.

“It is unknown who it’s from or who it’s addressed to, or any of that,” Smith said.

Laura Eimiller, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said agents were investigating.

A similar letter was received at the Salt Lake City Mormon temple about 3:30 p.m. local time today, said Juan Becerra, a spokesman for the FBI’s Salt Lake City office.

“Our hazmat team as well as Salt Lake City Fire Department responded, collected the evidence, and it is now at the lab,” he said.

The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles issued a statement late Thursday decrying the incident.

“While the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center organized a peaceful demonstration against the involvement of the leadership of the Mormon Church in the deceitful Yes on Prop. 8 campaign, we decry the use or threat of violence. Just as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community seeks the right to be treated equally under the law, all Americans should have the right to live lives free from fear and violence,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, a gay rights activist submitted a formal complaint to the enforcement division of the California Fair Political Practices Commission alleging that the Mormon church failed to report the value of the work, including phone banks, commercials and other services, done to support the Proposition 8 campaign. …

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....6616.story

If that’s true, I certainly hope ACORN has provided financial statements revealing the value of their activities to sign up ~~Obama~~ new voters…

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 4:46 am

More scare-mongering from the UN and AP:

Huge Brown Cloud Over Asia Worsens Global Warming

BEIJING — A thick brown cloud of soot, particles and chemicals stretching from the Persian Gulf to Asia threatens health and food supplies in the world, the U.N. reported Thursday, citing what it called the newest threat from global warming.

The regional haze, known as atmospheric brown clouds, contributes to the melting of Himalayan glaciers, reduces sunlight, and helps create extreme weather conditions that impact agricultural production, according to the report commissioned by the U.N. Environment Program.

These so-called “brown clouds,” caused by the burning of fossil fuels, wood and plants, play a significant role in exacerbating the effects of greenhouse gases in warming up the earth’s atmosphere, the report said.

“Imagine for a moment a three-kilometer-thick (1.8-mile-thick) band of soot, particles, a cocktail of chemicals that stretches from the Arabic Peninsula to Asia,” said Achim Steiner, U.N. undersecretary general and executive director of the UN program during a news conference on the findings.

“All of this points to an even greater and urgent need to look at emissions across the planet because this is where the stories are linked in terms of greenhouse emissions and particle emissions and the impact that they’re having on our global climate,” he said.

The phenomenon complicates the climate change scenario globally because the brown clouds also help cool the earth’s surface and “masks” the impact of global warming by an average of 40 percent, the study said. …

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,451444,00.html

So, just to clarify, these brown clouds from burning fossil fuels “complicate” global warming because they help cool the earth’s surface and “masks” the impact of global warming by an average of 40 percent.

So if global warming is occurring, wouldn’t it make sense to encourage the burning of fossil fuels so these clouds completely counteract any effects?

Nah, that would be logical.

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 4:55 am

From the Times of London:

Vladimir Putin ‘wanted to hang Georgian President Saakashvili by the balls’

By Charles Bremner

Nicolas Sarkozy saved the President of Georgia from being hanged “by the balls” — a threat made last summer by Vladimir Putin, according to an account that emerged yesterday from the Élysée Palace.

The Russian Prime Minister had revealed his plans for disposing of Mr Saakashvili when Mr Sarkozy was in Moscow in August to broker a ceasefire in Georgia.

Jean-David Levitte, Mr Sarkozy’s chief diplomatic adviser, reported the exchange in a news magazine before an EU-Russia summit today. The meeting will be chaired by the French leader and President Medvedev.

With Russian tanks only 30 miles from Tbilisi on August 12, Mr Sarkozy told Mr Putin that the world would not accept the overthrow of Georgia’s Government. According to Mr Levitte, the Russian seemed unconcerned by international reaction. “I am going to hang Saakashvili by the balls,” Mr Putin declared.

Mr Sarkozy thought he had misheard. “Hang him?” — he asked. “Why not?” Mr Putin replied. “The Americans hanged Saddam Hussein.”

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: “Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?” Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: “Ah — you have scored a point there.” …

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/t.....147422.ece

It’s such a fun story, and propagates a lie that Americans hanged Hussein.

Recall that trial Hussein had in an Iraqi court?

Remember how he was found guilty?

Remember how Iraqis hanged Hussein?

But why let the truth derail a really good story, especially when it comes to a story about the President of France saving the President of Georgia from being “hanged by the balls” by Putin.

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 5:28 am

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the theft effort continues.

Franken seeks names of rejected voters

By Patricia Lopez

In the latest twist in Minnesota’s continuing U.S. Senate race, the Al Franken campaign hit Ramsey County with a lawsuit Thursday, seeking the names and addresses of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected.

The DFLer’s campaign hopes to force counties across the state to turn over the lists of rejected absentee voters who, if later found eligible, could tip the balance in the closest Senate race in the country. With Republican Sen. Norm Coleman 206 votes ahead of Franken, a hand recount is scheduled to begin next week.

Marc Elias, lead recount attorney for Franken, said that both Ramsey and Hennepin counties had rejected the campaign’s request, forcing it to take legal action.

Elias said that because Beltrami County had complied, the campaign had already learned of one woman, an 84-year-old stroke victim, whose absentee ballot was disqualified because her signature no longer matched that on her pre-stroke voter registration card.

“The state may not devise a regime where a woman, because she had a stroke, does not have the right to vote,” Elias said at Franken headquarters Thursday morning.

But Beltrami County Auditor Kay Mack later questioned the campaign’s account, saying her office hadn’t rejected any ballots because of mismatched signatures. Mack said there was one instance of an 87-year-old woman in an assisted living center whose ballot was rejected because it bore no signature or mark. The law, Mack said, is “very clear” about not accepting such ballots.

After being contacted by the Star Tribune with Mack’s account, Franken campaign spokesman Andy Barr said Thursday night that there may have been “some confusion about our earlier field report,” adding that the campaign is “still digging into the facts.” Barr said the issue does not affect the merits of their lawsuit. …

http://www.startribune.com/pol.....09514.html

Isn’t that wonderful?

It’s just like the MSNBC attitude regarding the Palin “leak” – “Just because the basis of our argument is fake doesn’t mean what we’re trying to con people into believing is wrong…”

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 5:33 am

From the Treason Times – I’m going to throw up now, something I suspect I’ll be doing more over the next four to eight years than a bulemic.

‘Renegade:’ A look at Obama’s new life

By Peter Barker

CHICAGO – A couple of weeks ago, Barack Obama headed to the Hyde Park Hair Salon for a trim. He greeted the staff and other customers and plopped down in the same chair in front of the same barber who has cut his hair for the last 14 years.

But when he wanted a trim, the Secret Service took one look at the shop’s large plate-glass windows and the gawking tourists eager for a glimpse of the president-elect and the plan quickly changed. If Obama could no longer come to the barber, the barber would come to him and cut his hair at a friend’s apartment.

Life for the newly chosen president and his family has changed forever. Even the constraints and security of the campaign trail do not compare with the bubble that has enveloped him in the 10 days since his election.

Renegade, as the Secret Service calls him, now lives within the strict limits that come with the most powerful office on the planet.

He has chosen to spend this interval before his Jan. 20 inauguration at his home in Hyde Park, which has in some ways been transformed into a secure fortress for his protection.

After two years of daily speeches and rallies, he has retreated into an almost hermit-like seclusion, largely hidden from public view and spotted only when he drops his two daughters off for school or goes for a workout at the gymnasium in a friend’s apartment building.

“This is a tremendous personal transition, as well, far beyond what anyone could imagine,” said Alexi Giannoulias, the Illinois state treasurer and a close friend. “Little things, like going to the gym, going to the movies, going to dinner with his wife, none of that will ever be the same again. Things that we take for granted.” …

http://www.startribune.com/pol.....31639.html

Awww, poor “Renegade.”

I’ll bet the Secret Service has lots of other names for him, but at least “Renegade” is printable.

More importantly, I wonder how “Renegade” feels about the New York Times printing his Secret Service “codename?”

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 5:37 am

Awww, poor Mitt.

From a tearful AP:

Facing Palin factor, Romney weighs whether to invest in 2012 bid or beyond

By Glen Johnson

BOSTON – Tagg Romney was in his office the other day when the door opened and in popped his father, Mitt Romney, dropping off the family dog.

It was a mundane task that highlighted Romney’s change in fortunes: Instead of managing a White House transition, or preparing to assume the vice presidency, the man who failed in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and was passed over by John McCain for running mate is focusing on his family and political interests.

And it may stay that way through 2012 and beyond.

The surprising ascendancy of McCain’s eventual pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and her popularity among some GOP conservatives have left Romney wondering whether he could wage a viable second campaign for the White House, according to friends and advisers.

The former businessman and one-time Massachusetts governor invested $47 million of his family fortune in this year’s failed race, undercut by those wary of his Mormon religion and skeptics who questioned whether Romney’s conversion to conservatism was genuine. Both points were highlighted by Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Southern Baptist preacher who beat Romney in the Iowa caucuses and occupied the same political terrain since overtaken by Palin.

“While (Palin) may not be popular with the winning majority that Barack Obama put together, she’s enormously popular with the losing minority that John McCain put together — and that pretty closely mirrors Republican primary voters,” said Rich Bond, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. …

http://www.startribune.com/pol.....49209.html

If Republican primary voters are conservative, what the #$@! happened this year?

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JohnMG

November 14, 2008 at 8:44 am

BillK; …..”I’ll bet the Secret Service has lots of other names for him, but at least “Renegade” is printable…..”

How long before someone with an overactive imagination finds a subliminal slur buried deep within his new ‘codename’, “Renegade”? You know. The ‘neg’ part. His Secret Service detail must be a bunch of closet racists. This calls for an investigation!

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BillK

November 14, 2008 at 9:47 am

Find the spin; those of you who are long-time readers of my posts will recall I’ve mentioned this before.

From CNNMoney:

Retail sales suffer record drop

Government reports a worse-than-expected 2.8% decrease; sales excluding autos also fell a much worse 2.2%.

By Parija B. Kavilanz

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — U.S. retail sales in October suffered the worst monthly drop on record as more Americans shunned discretionary purchases amid accelerating job losses in a worsening economy.

It marked the fourth consecutive decline in monthly retail sales.

The Commerce Department said Friday that retail sales fell 2.8% last month, compared with a revised 1.3% drop in September. September retail sales were originally reported to have dropped 1.2%.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com on average had forecast a decrease of 2.1% for October.

“These numbers reinforce the fact that we are in a recession,” said Michael Niemira, chief retail economist with the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

October’s decline is the worst since the Commerce Department adopted the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) standard to measure retail sales in 1992.

But based on the government’s prior standard for measuring retail sales, last month’s decline would be the worst since January 1987, when overall retail sales fell 6.5%.

Sales excluding autos and auto parts fell 2.2% in October, also worse than expected, compared to a revised 0.5% drop in September.

The forecast was for a 1.2% decline, according to Briefing.com.

Retail sales were extremely weak across most categories, led by a 5.5% drop in auto purchases last month. Sales at gasoline stations plunged 12.7%, largely because of plunging pump prices. Electronics stores suffered a 2.3% decline, while furniture store sales fell 2.5%.

“Consumers are aggressively cutting back,” said Scott Hoyt, director of consumer economics with Moody ’s Economy.com. “They’re not even taking the savings from lower gas prices and spending it in stores.”

Elsewhere, clothing sales fell 1.4% and department stores suffered a 1.3% drop in sales last month. …

http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/1...../index.htm

They admit it themselves:

Sales at gasoline stations plunged 12.7%, largely because of plunging pump prices.

The problem with sales figures is that they’re based on price, not on purchases.

So say, for example, you’re Best Buy. 40″ HDTVs are $2500 this year rather than $3500.

If you sell the same number of 40″ HDTVs as last year, your sales are now down $1000 per HDTV sold. Add things like Blu-Ray players ($399 for a Sony vs. $699 last year), DVD players (some are under $25) and DVDs themselves (older titles are now $5 or less) and the effect snowballs.

The same goes for retailers; if you visit most malls, there are lots of people buying, but the stores are all having massive sales in an effort to try and attract shoppers; discounts of 40% or more are not uncommon.

The result – lots of merchandise being moved, but at discounted prices that get reported as lower sales figures.

So if you’re buying things on sale, you’re wrecking the economy.

That doesn’t mean sales volume isn’t down as well, but rather that you need to pay careful attention to the actual figures being reported.

Of course let’s not forget the most important factor – most people have been unaffected by losses on Wall Street and the subprime mortgage crisis but rather have cut back spending as the result of the relentless messages of doom spread by the MSM day in and day out.

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Steve

November 14, 2008 at 11:15 am

From the OED:

renegade, n. (and a.)
1. An apostate from any form of religious faith, esp. a Christian who becomes a Muslim.

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JohnMG

November 14, 2008 at 11:35 am

What irony, SG.

It’s impossible to make this stuff up. Still, I wonder who was/is responsible for the choice of THAT codename, and, depending on who is responsible, will somebody’s head roll?

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GuppyNblue

November 14, 2008 at 12:26 pm

” An apostate from any form of religious faith, esp. a Christian who becomes a Muslim.”
In other words – a traitor.

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BannedbytheTaliban

November 14, 2008 at 2:01 pm

Maybe its time to bring back the freedom fries:

Sarkozy: US missile shield won’t help security

NICE, France — French President Nicolas Sarkozy undercut the American rationale for a U.S. missile shield in Eastern Europe on Friday by saying that the system would do nothing to improve European security.

Sarkozy’s comments were the strongest to date by an American ally against the missile-defense plans, which have infuriated Russia despite the Bush administration’s insistence that they are aimed at protecting Europe from Iran.

“Deployment of a missile defense system would bring nothing to security in Europe … it would complicate things, and would make them move backward,” Sarkozy said after a summit with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Medvedev smiled and pointed his finger at Sarkozy in approval after the comments from the French president.

…The governments of Poland and the Czech Republic said Friday they hope the new president will go ahead with the missile defense plans.

Medvedev argued against any such “unilateral” moves.

……Sarkozy, temporarily in charge of the 27-nation EU, insisted that the resumption wasn’t “a sign of weakness.”

He and Medvedev remained divided, though, over the continuing presence of Russian troops.

Medvedev insisted that a cease-fire deal brokered by Sarkozy has been “fully fulfilled,” while Sarkozy insisted that work remains to be done.

The European Union is Russia’s No. 1 customer and No. 1 investor. With the world financial crisis shaking markets in Europe and beyond, officials of the 27-nation EU say reaching out to Moscow is crucial to ensuring stability and to keeping Russia from shutting off its economy to outsiders.

Medvedev pointed on Friday to the lucrative trade between the EU and Russia, worth hundreds of billions of euros annually

http://www.wral.com/news/natio.....y/3958748/

Where to begin:

1. France is clearly showing even the right leaning members of its government are pro-socialist.
2. Yet their right-wingedness helps keep their eye on the ball, “trade between the EU and Russia, worth hundreds of billions of euros annually”
3. Not showing weakness, however, they are determined to ignore right and wrong for their own benefit
4. Obliviously Russia has learned the definition of unilateral from the American MSM. Seems at least three countries are interested in the missile shield.
5. Expect this kind of pandering from the newly minted Obamanation.

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BannedbytheTaliban

November 14, 2008 at 2:06 pm

Synonyms for renegade:

apostate, deserter, recreant, turncoat, desert, tergiversate, turn, fugitive, heretic, insurgent, mutineer, outcast

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BannedbytheTaliban

November 14, 2008 at 3:18 pm

I don’t know wheather to vomit or laugh:

Barack Obama the epoch-changer

Never has there been an American President who revealed so much of himself prior to taking to office, or launched upon such a public quest for personal discovery.

By his mid-forties, President-elect Obama had authored two memoirs of his scattered life, both of which became global best-sellers. His search for identity has been instrumental in his upward journey towards power.

Yet for all his “age of Oprah” candour, and for all the 400-plus pages of his beguiling autobiography, Dreams from My Father, to many he remains a frustratingly elusive and enigmatic figure.

Who precisely is Barack Hussein Obama, a politician who defies neat encapsulation?

…….Aged 10, Barack was sent back to Hawaii to complete his education – in Indonesia, he had spent two years at a Catholic school and two years at a Muslim school – while his mother remained in Jakarta.

…….In the city’s demoralised South Side, he worked on job training programmes and local housing projects. His grass roots campaigns soon brought him into contact with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, an exuberant local preacher.

The first time that Barack Obama listened to one of the preacher’s sermons, he broke down and wept. It was entitled The Audacity of Hope, which became the title of Barack Obama’s breakthrough speech at the Democratic Convention in 2004, and the book which launched his presidential campaign

……In 1992, he ran a voter registration campaign which helped the black candidate, Carol Moseley Braun, win election as a US Senator for Illinois (thus becoming the first African-American woman to claim a seat in the Senate).

…..Back then, of course, Jeremiah Wright was the most useful of political allies. So, too, was Tony Rezko, a Chicago-based political fund-raiser convicted this year of fraud and bribery. So perhaps it is no coincidence that his years as a Chicago politician get the least attention in his memoirs, for they reveal less attractive sides of his political personality: hard-nosed calculation combined with eager ambition.

Sure enough, Washington DC soon became the target of his ambitions. In 2000, after just four years in the Illinois State Senate, he tried to win the Democratic primary in one of Chicago’s US congressional seats. But he was defeated by the former Black Panther, Bobby Rush, another popular incumbent.

…Who is Barack Obama? For many of his admiring supporters, he is the very idea of modern-day America.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ame.....722951.stm

It is amazing how the liberal media can use his middle name, and I thought he didn’t attend a “Muslim school”. And not to worry, Wright is simply exuberant. Not to mention the blatant omissions we have all come to know. So lets see, we should be so happy to have a religious educated, Harvard legacy, with radical friends, with no political experience other then being a community organizer and leading a voter fraud campaign, senator who could only get elected in a district that formerly voted for a Black Panther, who beat Obama the first go round, as our ideal modern-day American President. Congratulations, we have the first affirmative action president!

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Steve

November 14, 2008 at 3:25 pm

From the Associated Press:

FEMA Trailers Sold as ‘Scrap’

Published: November 14, 2008

The government is selling travel trailers that were banned from use as emergency housing in disasters because many had toxic levels of formaldehyde. The units are being sold through the General Services Administration as “scrap.” The Federal Emergency Management Agency bought the trailers during the 2005 hurricane season. As of Oct. 27, FEMA had identified 10,000 units that could be designated as scrap and sold under federal law. The units are not intended as housing, a FEMA spokeswoman said, but could be used as office space or for storage.

http://tinyurl.com/5a4jzr

Funny how this article neglects to mention how much these trailers cost. Or how much the taxpayers are losing on sending 10,000 trailers to the scrap heap.

Why is that?

And why wouldn’t we want the Federal Government to be in charge of everything?

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1sttofight

November 14, 2008 at 3:50 pm

FEMA Trailers Sold as ‘Scrap’

This happens after ever national disaster.

A man i know bought several of them after hurricane Andrew for $500 each, brand new.

Sold them for $5000 each on average.

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Steve

November 14, 2008 at 4:04 pm

“This happens after ever national disaster.”

10,000?

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1sttofight

November 14, 2008 at 4:08 pm

Don’t know about the exact number but what I said is true.

He was a small operater and only bought 10 of them.
He owns a RV sales business in Rainsville, Ala.
If i had the cash, i would be there today bidding on them.

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clifcrds

November 14, 2008 at 4:12 pm

What is it about Commiecrats and their associates?

Boxer Aide Arrested for Distributing Child Porn, Media Mostly Mum

By Noel Sheppard
Created 2008-11-14 10:11

A high-level adviser for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Cali) was charged Wednesday with receiving and distributing child pornography.

UPDATE AT END OF POST: this is the second person with ties to Boxer arrested in the past year on similar charges.

Although Jeff Rosato was arrested and fired last Friday, this story has garnered very little attention from the mainstream press.

Do you think the media would have been equally disinterested if he worked for a Republican?

While you ponder, here are the details reported [1] by the Associated Press Thursday:
A high-level aide to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer has been charged in federal court with receiving and distributing child pornography.

The aide, Jeff Rosato, 32, was arrested last Friday. Boxer’s office fired him that same day upon learning of the charges. [...]

“On Friday, the Justice Department informed our office of criminal charges made against a Senate employee. Sen. Boxer has zero tolerance for crimes against children, and the employee was immediately terminated,” Boxer spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz said in a statement Thursday. “Our office is cooperating fully with the Department of Justice in this matter.”

Rosato had worked for Boxer since early 2005, beginning in her personal office as a legislative assistant and last year becoming a counsel to the Environment and Public Works Committee, which Boxer chairs. His areas of expertise included water policy, oceans and endangered species. [...]

According to an affidavit by FBI special agent Chad Gallagher supporting the criminal complaint and arrest warrant, Rosato was tracked through a now-defunct Google program called Google Hello. He allegedly exchanged hundreds of pornographic images with another user who’d been sharing child porn images and movies with an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old boy. [...]

A preliminary review of Rosato’s personal laptop computer, which was in his bedroom, found some 200 child porn images and some videos, according to the affidavit. “Many of the images and videos depict prepubescent boys engaged in sexual acts,” the affidavit stated.

Disgusting and disgraceful to say the least. Yet, for the most part, this story has been ignored or buried.
From what I can tell via a LexisNexis search, only Fox News has reported this matter on television; I found no coverage by any of the broadcast networks, CNN, or MSNBC.

Think that would have been the case if the senator in question was a Republican?

As for print, it appears despite the AP’s coverage, of the major newspapers, only the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post felt this story newsworthy, although neither gave it much space.
Most curious, Boxer’s hometown paper the San Francisco Chronicle (she lives in Marin County just across the Golden Gate Bridge) felt this matter wasn’t important enough to share with her most proximate constituents.

Liberal media bias? What liberal media bias?

*****Update: This is the second Boxer aide to be caught with child pornography in less than a year. As my colleague Richard Newcomb reported [1] in May:
Famed left-wing radio personality Bernie Ward of San Francisco, a former priest who had one of the loudest and most consistently anti-George W. Bush voices in the entire nation, was found guilty of possessing and distributing child pornography [2] on Friday and will serve at least five years in prison.

As the San Francisco Chronicle reported [3] at the time of Ward’s arrest, he used to work for Boxer (h/t NBer d4man [3]):
From 1982 to 1985 he worked for then-Rep. Barbara Boxer as her chief legislative assistant.

So, this is the second incident in twelve months of a Boxer aide being involved with child pornography.

Yet, for the most part, we hear crickets from the press.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/n.....mostly-mum

Gee . . . first we have “Cold Cash” Jefferson then we have “Real Estate” Wrangle then we have “Family Values” Mahoney and now this! Gives a whole new meaning to “No Child Left Behind”.

But I thought Nancy “San Fran Nanny” Pelosi promised the most ethical Congress in history?

Commiecrats lying to the American People . . . well knock me over with a feather!

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sheehanjihad

November 14, 2008 at 5:02 pm

And this is only what we have been able to learn! Can you imagine the things they have successfully covered up? Can you imagine how much the media is aware of but refuses to report it? Pelosi’s ethical congress is expert at being totally unethical because of the unprecedented free pass they are getting from the msm. She knows it, and she also knows she has a job to do before the rest of the country catches on.

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1sttofight

November 15, 2008 at 12:20 am

WHITE GUILT IS DEAD

By Tom Adkins

Look at my fellow conservatives! There they go, glumly shuffling along, depressed by the election aftermath. Not me. I’m virtually euphoric. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not thrilled with America ’s flirtation with neo socialism. But there’s a massive silver lining in those magical clouds that lofted Barak Obama to the Presidency. For today, without a shred of intellectually legitimate opposition, I can loudly proclaim to America : The Era of White Guilt is over.

This seemingly impossible event occurred because the vast majority of white Americans didn’t give a fluff about skin color, and enthusiastically pulled the voting lever for a black man. Not just any black man. A very liberal black man who spent his early career race-hustling banks, praying in a racist church for 20 years, and actively worked with America-hating domestic terrorists. Wow! Some resume! Yet they made Barak Obama their leader. Therefore, as of Nov 4th, 2008, white guilt is dead.

For over a century, the millstone of white guilt hung around our necks, retribution for slave-owning predecessors. In the 60s, American liberals began yanking that millstone while sticking a fork in the eye of black Americans, exacerbating the racial divide to extort a socialist solution. But if a black man can become President, exactly what significant barrier is left? The election of Barak Obama absolutely destroys the entire validation of liberal white guilt. The dragon is hereby slain.

So today, I’m feeling a little “uppity,” if you will. From this day forward, my tolerance level for having my skin color hustled is now exactly ZERO. And it’s time to clean house. No more Reverend Wright’s “God Damn America ,” Al Sharpton’s Church of Perpetual Victimization , or Jesse Jackson’s rainbow racism.. Cornell West? You’re a fraud. Go home. All those “black studies” programs that taught kids to hate whitey? You must now thank Whitey. And I want that on the final.

Congressional Black Caucus? Irrelevant. Maxine Waters? Shut up. ACORN? Outlawed. Black Panthers? Go home and pet your kitty. Black separatists? Find another nation that offers better dreams. Go ahead. I’m waiting.

Gangsta rappers? Start praising America . Begin with the Pledge of Allegiance. And please…no more ebonics. Speak English, and who knows where you might end up? Oh, yeah…pull up your pants. Your underwear is showing. You look stupid.

To those Eurosnots who forged entire careers hating America ? I’m still waiting for the first black French President.

And let me offer an equal opportunity whupping. I’ve always despised lazy white people. Now, I can talk smack about lazy black people. You’re poor because you quit school, did drugs, had three kids with three different fathers, and refuse to work. So when you plop your Colt 45-swilling, Oprah watchin’ butt on the couch and complain “Da Man is keepin’ me down,” allow me to inform you: Da Man is now black. You have no excuses.

No more quotas. No more handouts. No more stealing my money because someone’s great-great-great-great grandparents suffered actual pain and misery at the hands of people I have no relation to, and personally revile.

It’s time to toss that massive, obsolete race-hustle machine upon the heap of the other stupid 60s ideas. Drag it over there, by wife swapping, next to dope-smoking. Plenty of room right between free love and cop-killing. Careful…don’t trip on streaking. There ya go, don’t be gentle. Just dump it. Wash your hands. It’s filthy.

In fact, Obama’s ascension created a gargantuan irony. How can you sell class envy and American unfairness when you and your black wife went to Ivy League schools, got high-paying jobs, became millionaires, bought a mansion, and got elected President? How unfair is that??? Now, Like a delicious O’Henry tale, Obama’s spread-the-wealth campaign rendered itself moot by it’s own victory! America is officially a meritocracy. Obama’s election has validated American conservatism!

So, listen carefully…Wham!!!

That’s the sound of my foot kicking the door shut on the era of white guilt. The rites have been muttered, the carcass lowered, dirt shoveled, and tombstone erected. White guilt is dead and buried.

However, despite my glee, there’s apparently one small, rabid bastion of American racism remaining. Black Americans voted 96% for Barak Obama. Hmmm. In a color-blind world, shouldn’t that be 50-50? Tonight, every black person should ask forgiveness for their apparent racism and prejudice towards white people. Maybe it’s time to start spreading the guilt around.

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The Redneck

November 15, 2008 at 12:44 am

Beautiful. I do plan on quoting that.

Except that I’ll change “black French President” to “black French Prime Minister.”

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1sttofight

November 15, 2008 at 12:48 am

I got it in an email. Made me feel a whole lot better and figured it would yall too.

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The Redneck

November 15, 2008 at 11:51 pm

It did. I love it.

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