More Obama Fascism.

Cartoon by Glenn McCoy.

PUMA has an excellent article which reinforces my post on fascism in the Obama/Democrat movement below.

The title is, “When Obama’s Brownshirts can’t do it, he sends in the lawyers…” which pretty much sums up the style of the campaign.

It first pointed to a harassment campaign against radio station WGN-AM to try to prevent them from airing an interview with David Freddoso the author of an anti-Obama book.

This was done before when the switchboard of the Tribune-owned station was inundated calls and e-mails about an hour before an Aug. 27 interview with Stanley Kurtz, a conservative writer who examined Obama's ties to former 1960s radical William Ayers. A WGN producer said Monday night's response was about the same as when Kurtz was on the station.

They then go on to mention the threat to the groups organizing the rally against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking at the UN who were warned that their tax status would be ‘looked into’ if they allowed Sarah Palin to speak at the rally after Hillary pulled out.

The latest is that Obama’s lawyer, Robert Bauer has sent notice to station managers warning them,
not to air the NRA’s new anti-Obama “Hunter” ad if they want to stay in the FCC’s (Federal Communications Commission) good graces. This is the ad involved: -



Meanwhile Gateway Pundit reports “Obama Goon Squad Shuts Down Macsmind Blog.”: -

HT Delaware Libertarian.
This is MacRanger of Macsmind. As you know I was hacked by operatives of the Obama Campaign last month. Well, it happened again. Basically they flooded the site with “sql bombs” according to the host that caused the shared server to stop running. Subsequently be had to disable the site. This had to do with running the “Obama wants to Disarm America” post which more than 2 million people viewed on the site.

This is the video they object to.

Code Pink Meets their murderous hero.

I promise I do not regularly frequent the site I quote. I followed a link over from the Carnival of the Insanities.

It is difficult to decide whether Code Pink is totally naïve, incredibly stupid, or know exactly what they are doing and in fact it is a lot worse than the other options.

Leading CODEPINK activists and other peace organizations meet with Iranian president in New York

NEW YORK — Calling it a “major step forward” in relations between Iran and the United States, leading activists Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans of CODEPINK Women for Peace — along with more than 150 other U.S. peace group representatives — met Wednesday afternoon with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad here following his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

At the meeting at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, coordinated by interfaith peace group the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the peace activists talked to Ahmadinejad about their desire to strengthen people-to-people ties between the two countries. They presented several proposals for the Iranian government to consider and copies of a petition signed by 50 U.S. mayors all over the country calling for diplomatic engagement with Iran, not military action. The petition, promoted by CODEPINK, illustrates how local U.S. leaders are anxious to move national resources away from military intervention and into reinvestment in infrastructure, schools and health care. CODEPINK proposed taking a delegation of U.S. Mayors to Iran to create “sister cities.” ……..

The CODEPINK women proposed inviting American and Iranian artists to build a “peace park” in Tehran, a memorial dedicated to people-to-people commitment to peace and diplomacy between our two countries. …..

The meeting, which took place in a cordial and positive atmosphere, was considered a great breakthrough. 
“It’s rare for a head of state to take time during an official U.N. visit to meet with the peace community, especially in a situation where the host government—represented by the Bush administration—is so hostile,” said Evans, co-founder of CODEPINK. “The fact that the meeting took place and was so positive is, in itself, a major step forward.”

I was unable to discover the actual number of mayors in the US, but 50 of them is probably no big deal, even though it is too many.

These idiots completely misunderstand what the whole thing is about, America is not hostile to Iran. Iran is hostile to the US and all free countries, is attempting to develop nuclear weapons, threatens friends of the US and has to be resisted. If Iran were to desist from acting provocatively, and stops interfering with its neighbors and destabilizing the region, there would be no problem.

As for such a meeting being unusual, there is nothing unusual for a national leader to meet with idiots who will suck up to him. It is of course unusual for citizens of a nation to suck up to a national leader who regularly calls for “Death to their nation.”

Traveston Swamp, "Call to Arms"

PROTESTING ... the dam meeting at the Gympie Showground attracted thousands of objectors. Picture: Rob Maccoll From "Courier Mail."

I am not generally a supporter of ‘green’ causes. On those occasions when I have found myself among these people I generally find them to believe in some bizarre form of intellectual purity, to the point where anyone who is on their side but not whole heartedly is considered a bigger bastard than those totally opposed to them.

The Save the Mary River campaign however while having some green support, mainly from Sen. Bob Brown, who I personally dislike but have to admit, is genuine in his cause, is not considered left wing enough for most of these people.

It is composed mainly of local residents who are contesting the Labor governments plan to expel them from their homes and properties, in order to build the ‘Traveston dam’, a massive shallow algal swamp to supply the water needs of Brisbane. It will cover something like 20,000 acres to an average depth of 6 meters (20 feet).

Huge areas of prime farmland will in fact be covered by very shallow water in full sunshine creating a massive evaporation problem, with a disproportionate heating factor when considered against dams built in suitable locations. The inevitable result of this will be toxic algal blooms damaging the entire basin below the dam.

There are plenty of other more suitable sites available, however the decision was made on political lines. A former Minister, Kate Malloy who was forced to resign over her opposition to the proposal admitted that the site was chosen because the electorate was not likely to ever vote Labor.

In other words these people are being singled out because they have a history of not voting for the sort of people who do this type of thing. The dam is an obsession with the state government to the point that we saw the rather bizarre spectacle of the Premier insisting that the dam will be built “even if it is not feasible.”

I have received an Email from "TravestonSwamp.info" alerting me to a project they are working on at the moment: -

We are working on a book for the Save Mary Campaign to be distributed across Australia within the next month. The book will be a cost-effective, eye-catching, heart-touching booklet which will be a vibrant, insistent "call to arms", asking Australia to rise up and join us in our campaign to stop the proposed mega-dam on the Mary River.

It will aim to reach people around the country who have time and energy to support the campaign, but who are not necessarily frequent users of the internet.

Using the wonderful images which have been created and offered by Arkin Mackay, Chris van Wyck and others, we wish to team these with poems, songlines, letters from children, cartoons, quotes, and accurate as well as succinct facts about what we stand to lose in the Mary river catchment area, from its beginnings to the Sandy Straits. Finally, a powerful section on what people around Australia can do to stand with us and stop the proposed mega-dam on the Mary River.

The book will be designed in a cost-effective format which will still contain full-colour images and have heart-reaching impact.

We are seeking sponsorship for the book with the following plan:

$200 to sponsor a "page"

$500 to sponsor a "half-chapter"

$1000 to sponsor a "chapter"

Sponsors will be acknowledged and thanked in the back of the book.

Please email Adele Coombs at >fairlierose@yahoo.com< with your name and telephone contact details if you would like to be a sponsor.

For those with a few bucks to spare I recommend this cause.

Fascist Obama tactics.

Image is one I knew would come in handy and downloaded it some months ago. Unfortunately I can't remember from where, so my apologies to the originator.

HT Libertarian Republican.

I have always had the feeling that the Obama campaign tended to be based on the old time personality cult ideology, the sort of thing that Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Milosevic, Castro, Chavez, et al relied on, and Putin seems to be trying now.

This trend being brought into American politics is something I find very disturbing, as it is more the sort of thing we are used to seeing in Eastern Europe, and areas where tribal politics are still the order of the day.

Americans of all political colors should reject and vote against this phenomena before it entrenches itself into your culture.

The personal symbolism of the campaign is consistent with this, such as his use of Roman columns, the phony presidential seal, not to mention the stuff from his sycophants. I owe this one to Ben and Bawb’s Blog: -

According to the Washington Times, fanatical supporters of Presidential hopeful Barack Hussein Obama have decided that the Illinois Senator needs his own "salute". According to the article...

"Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama's nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility for our future," says Rick Husong.

"We thought, 'Let's try and start a movement where even while walking down the street, people would hold up the O and you would know that they were for Obama,' "

More worrying is the extremism of his supporters, which is reminiscent of the above persons. Nothing seems to be too a level for them to sink to, from attacking the children of opposing candidates down to infants, hacking into private web sites and posting personal information from them, violent action as seen outside the Republican National Convention, and threats of legal action against donors, they do it all.

Now in true totalitarian style they are threatening to use the power of state law enforcement against opponents of their chosen one, as reported in a Gateway Pundit post, “Missouri Sheriffs & Top Prosecutors Form Obama "Truth Squads" & Threaten Libel Charges Against Obama Critics.” -

More Hope and Change for Missouri...

St. Louis and Missouri Democrat sheriffs and top prosecutors are planning to go after anyone who makes false statements against Obama during his campaign. This is so one sided I can't even begin to describe how wrong this agenda is. ….

St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce and St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch are threatening to bring libel charges against those who speak out falsely against Barack Obama.

KMOV aired a story last night, that stated that St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, both Obama supporters, are threatening to bring criminal libel charges against anyone who levels what turns out to be false criticisms of their chosen candidate for President.

This is more serious than just a couple of Dixiecrat good ol boys and their KKK mates using a bit of muscle to force submission. This is a matter of state officials using the power vested in them to intimidate political opponents, just like the ‘good old days of the Wermarcht’.

This has elicited a strong response from Governor Blunt a Republican with good libertarian credentials, and a strong supporter of first amendment rights: -

Gov. Blunt Statement on Obama Campaign’s Abusive Use of Missouri Law Enforcement.

JEFFERSON CITY - Gov. Matt Blunt today issued the following statement on news reports that have exposed plans by U.S. Senator Barack Obama to use Missouri law enforcement to threaten and intimidate his critics.

“St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch, St. Louis City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce, Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, and Obama and the leader of his Missouri campaign Senator Claire McCaskill have attached the stench of police state tactics to the Obama-Biden campaign.

“What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment.

“This abuse of the law for intimidation insults the most sacred principles and ideals of Jefferson. I can think of nothing more offensive to Jefferson’s thinking than using the power of the state to deprive Americans of their civil rights.

The only conceivable purpose of Messrs. McCulloch, Obama and the others is to frighten people away from expressing themselves, to chill free and open debate, to suppress support and donations to conservative organizations targeted by this anti-civil rights, to strangle criticism of Mr. Obama, to suppress ads about his support of higher taxes, and to choke out criticism on television, radio, the Internet, blogs, e-mail and daily conversation about the election.

“Barack Obama needs to grow up. Leftist blogs and others in the press constantly say false things about me and my family. Usually, we ignore false and scurrilous accusations because the purveyors have no credibility. When necessary, we refute them. Enlisting Missouri law enforcement to intimidate people and kill free debate is reminiscent of the Sedition Acts - not a free society.”

Unfortunately this response is not strong enough, these nazis should be immediately stood down pending dismissal for abuse of their positions.

The Debate.

Cartoon by Payne.

This is the first time I have had the opportunity to see a debate in a US Presidential election.

I was surprised at how docile an affair it was, I somehow expected a bit of fireworks, but it turned out to be very civil. The moderator impressed me as I am more used to the Australian system, where the position is normally given to someone more partisan – from the left.

We have a phenomena in ours called “the worm,” which is a line that follows the attitude of a hundred ‘swinging voters’ who have a little device on which they indicate their approval or disapproval of what they are hearing from the combatants. The Australian media likes to tell us what to think. For those in America, you are not missing anything; it’s a bloody annoyance.

Still debates can come up with some surprises. In one of the Queensland state elections some years ago, the deputy opposition leader and shadow treasurer was Joan Sheldon. Joan was being portrayed fairly successfully as some sort of little old lady who had the position as a sop to women. She was expected to show up poorly in the debate against the Labour treasurer.

Joan tore him to pieces, chewed him up and spat him out in little pieces, and ended any speculation as to her abilities. The best part was that the moderator, a former Labor staffer, was doing his best to protect him and she dealt with him as well. I never underestimated her again.

My impressions of this one; Obama did better than I expected, (I always thought he opposed the surge and was under the impression that he said it wouldn’t work) but then he has always lied with conviction.

McCain performed well and got the experience thing across well, although I feel he needs to be a bit more aggressive. He let Obama get away with too much.

I doubt that the debate will change too many minds, there was nothing there that will convince the supporters of either candidate that their man lost.

Democrats Lie on support for oil production.

Americans may be a little premature in celebrating the reluctant decision by the Democrats not to reinstate the bans on oil drilling and shale oil production.

Realising that the ban was forcing up oil prices and they would suffer in the election for it, they very publicly made a show of appearing to withdraw from their avid support for it. This was a sham.

Democrats believe in what they have always believed, that Americans should be restricted in their access to oil. They still do. That way they can point to the massive cost of imports and use it as an excuse for higher taxes, excises, and presumably some sort of government intervention in the supply and distribution of energy supplies.

The first attempt at reinstating the ban is already under way from them, using the current financial bailout as a smokescreen to cover a ban on shale oil.

Town Hall released details today.

Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid is trying to ban shale oil exploration while most members of Congress are focusing on the $700 billion financial bailout.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.) posted the text of Reid’s proposed ban on shale on his Senate blog Thursday afternoon. "It would be an insult to all Americans if Senate Democrats worked to bailout Wall Street while damaging our future prosperity by banning development of vast energy reserves in oil shale,” a DeMint staffer wrote.

Colorado Sen. Wayne Allard’s (R.) staff also sounded the alarm once they got wind of Reid’s plans. Allard’s state would be directly affected by the shale ban, as most of the nation’s shale depositories are in the Western states.

Approximately 800 billion to 2 trillion barrels of oil are estimated to be located there.

The congressional ban on offshore drilling and shale exploration is set to expire on September 30. Conservative proponents of domestic energy exploration have declared October 1 “Energy Freedom Day” to celebrate the ban’s termination. …….

Buried in the depths of a 77 page amendment to be moved by Slippery Harry and Bob Byrd (The Dixiecrat and former Klukker who spoke for fourteen hours to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964), is a short passage: -

SEC. 1602. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including section 152 of division A of H.R. 2638 (110th Congress), the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009, the terms and conditions contained in section 433 of division F of Public Law 110–161 shall remain in effect for the 19 fiscal year ending September 30, 2009.

This looks innocent enough on its own, just standard political crap talk and easily overlooked, which was of course the intention.

“Freedom Works,” saved me the trouble of sorting through a lot of information to find just what this meant: -

It is only when you go to Public Law 110-161 that it becomes more clear. The specific section of relevance, section 433 of division F of Public Law 110-161 reads:



SEC. 433. None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to prepare or publish final regulations regarding a commercial leasing program for oil shale resources on public lands pursuant to section 369(d) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law109–58) or to conduct an oil shale lease sale pursuant to subsection 369(e) of such Act.

So here’s how it works, the Dems slip his through on the quiet, and presumably one on oil somewhere else, while maintaining their feigned acceptance of the peoples wish until after the election, then when everybody is looking towards more and cheaper oil in the future, they notice a couple of legislative obstacles.

“Aw Shucks, it can’t be done.”

You have to see this.

Long day, Just fooling round this evening, and found a trailer for “An American Carol.”

It sounds fantastic, and I am certainly not going to miss it when it arrives here.

For more try here.




Synopsis

The American spirit is celebrated in the outrageous and totally irreverent comedy An American Carol from David Zucker, the master of movie satire (Airplane!, The Naked Gun, Scary Movie 3 and 4).

In An American Carol, a cynical, Anti-American “Hollywood” filmmaker sets out on a crusade to abolish the 4th of July holiday. He is visited by three spirits who take him on a hilarious journey in an attempt to show him the true meaning of America.

McCain Wins 'Rick Warren' Forum, Obama whines.

This is getting back a bit but somehow I missed it, and in case you did as well here it is.

Owen Verdict encourages reverse intolerance.

The mind of a bigot is like the pupil of the eye. The more light you shine on it, the more it will contract. - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

I get along well with most people but there are a few exceptions, and Ron Owen is one of these. Ron is in my opinion, a bumptious, opinionated, overbearing, arrogant, argumentative, bigoted, know it all, who, while he is undoubtedly smart and successful generally presents as a buffoon.

Ron is a great supporter of the right of people to gun ownership and self-defense, but while I fully agree with him on this, his way of going about it is a real turn off.

I have been appalled at the constant efforts of the government and the police to pursue a vendetta against him to try to put him out of business. They have on a number of occasions raided him, and charged him with multiple weapons offenses, once with over a hundred, and have had the lot thrown out every time.

This sort of witch-hunt is totally unjustified and should stop. Apart from appearing to use the justice system a weapon of vindictiveness, it also makes it look completely incompetent.

Now I find myself supporting him again, or not so much Ron himself as the principle of free speech: -

From ‘The Australian.’

GUN lobbyist Ron Owen has been told he is entitled to express his homophobic views, but that he went too far with the bumper sticker: "Gay Rights? Under God's law the only rights gays have is the right to die."

Queensland's Anti-Discrimination Tribunal found Mr Owen guilty of inciting hatred against homosexuals with the bumper sticker when he parked his car outside the Cooloola Shire Council officers in Gympie, north of Brisbane.

The publisher of the ultra-right-wing pro-militia magazine Lock Stock & Barrel and former local councillor was also chastised on Monday for comments he made in the ensuing public outcry that engulfed the rural community.

The former president of the National Firearm Owners of Australia was taken to the tribunal by several local lesbians, who claimed they had been offended despite only one having seen the bumper sticker.

Two of the women were awarded $5000, with a third awarded $2500 in damages.

Tribunal member Darryl Rangiah handed down a 77-page decision, which also ordered Mr Owen to publish a written apology for inciting hatred and causing offence to the homosexual community of Gympie.

While I think this is offensive behavior on the part of Ron Owen, even rather juvenile, it is rather bizarre for the law to award damages to persons who claim to have been offended, but it is ridiculous that the award should be made to people who didn’t even see the thing.

We are all aware that homosexuality exists, some find it distasteful, most of us couldn’t care less about it but some just have to mouth off. This is pointless and stupid, but they are entitled to their views, and to express those views.

People have the right also to be offended, but being offended is only an emotion, and something to get over. Deliberately offending people is childish, stupid, and likely to cause trouble for the offender, but shouldn’t be a crime.

These people do not appear, according to what I have seen, to have approached him and asked him to desist, or to apologize as would be the normal thing to do if offended. Had they done so I would have more time for them.

There is, unfortunately a tendency by governments to rush into ‘feel good’ legislation to create laws that are supposed to make people more tolerant, which only create an ‘entitlement’ syndrome and a new category of intolerance, among the supposed victims of discrimination.

Acceptance of homosexuality and many other things has advanced over the years, brought about by society generally being more tolerant, the Owens of the world are now the dinosaurs, the out of touch. This has happened without any recourse to legislation, and should have been left alone to develop of its own accord.

Obama Campaign smears; Caught red handed.

Cartoon pinched from Dr Sanity.

I almost missed the Email referring me to this; my system thought it was spam. My system is based on the old Russian model. Russians who annoyed the leaders were sent to mental asylums, my system condemns any trash mail it identifies to spend eternity on liberal blogs, a similar fate.

The Jawa Report has done some remarkable investigative journalism, shame the old media has lost the knack of doing this.

In a recent article, “Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them [Updated]” they expose the Obama campaign as an active participant in the anti Sarah Palin smear campaign. They also detail how the campaign has tried to obliterate the evidence since their original posting: -

Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Those smears included false allegations that she belonged to a secessionist political party and that she has radical anti-American views.

Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.
The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod's firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as "astroturfing."

David Axelrod is Barack Obama's chief media strategist.

The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.
This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing fringe. Our findings follow.

WHO PRODUCED THE VIDEO?

[UPDATE: Within 1 hour of posting, "eswinner" has removed all videos from YouTube and began removing any traces of his activities. But we have the video and all relevant websites backed up.

If "eswinner" isn't Ethan Winner of the Publicis Groupe, then why did "eswinner" yank the video so quickly? Or if this was just an innocent homemade ad, then what does he have to hide? You'd think he'd want more attention for it.

I uploaded it to my YouTube acount from the original unwatermarked Google version (see below for explanation) and that is the version you now see embedded below. Here's a screenshot of the "eswinner" account before it was taken down.]

Who is behind this video against Sarah Palin? It alleges:

Sarah Palin was a member of an Anti-American separatist organization.
It claims that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party and cites The New York Times for that source. Then it quotes the founder of that Party with some pretty outrageous statements.

But here's what FactCheck.org says about that:

[Sarah Palin] was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982.

And The New York Times was forced to retract their earlier claim that Palin was a member of the party, blaming the error on the party's chair. That retraction was published Sept. 3rd, 8 days before the video was first made publicly available.

Sarah Palin wasn't even physically at the party's convention. The clip you see is part of Palin's videotaped welcome for the convention's opening in which she gives some general remarks about the need for party competition and then tries to draw some common ground on the need to reel in government spending. Hardly evidence of extremism or anti-American sentiment.

In our opinion the Palin smear video appears professionally produced. Especially revealing is the voice over, which has a ring of familiarity to it and which also sounds professional.

There is much more and damning, I recommend the above link to the article.

Jack Kelly, "Biden getting dumped."

A few days ago in a post ‘Biden, going, going, …..’ I mentioned that Steve Maloney had predicted that Obama would be forced to dump Biden off the ticket and replace him with Hillary.

Now, syndicated columnist Jack Kelly has noticed and written an article in the Washington Post, headed“Obama ticket duress?”

In what now seems the long ago days between the time Sen. John McCain chose Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and her acceptance speech, there was considerable speculation in the news media that Mr. McCain would drop her from the ticket.

This was entirely a media invention. There was no sentiment among Republicans for replacing Mrs. Palin, and Mr. McCain - whose loyalty to his friends nearly cost him his life in Vietnam - is not the kind of person who would desert his choice. ………

There has, of course, been no further speculation about dropping Sarah Palin from the ticket after her boffo performance in St. Paul, Minn. But my friend Steve Maloney (who first got me interested in Sarah Palin) says his sources in the Democratic Party tell him Barack Obama is being pressured to dump Sen. Joseph Biden from the ticket and replace him with Hillary Clinton, the switch to come just after the vice presidential debate Oct. 2. Speculation about such a switch has emerged on several left-wing blogs.

“It’s time to dump Biden and replace him with Sen. Hillary Clinton,” said Andy Ostroy on the Huffington Post Monday. “I’m starting to think that if Team Obama doesn’t do something dramatic fast, it’s gonna lose this election.”

On Thursday, September 18, 2008, Joe Biden said paying more in taxes should make us feel patriotic.

What might prompt such an act of desperation? The polls - which indicate the race is a statistical dead heat - are cause for concern, but not for panic.

This might be the reason: “Party elders also believe the Obama camp is in denial about warnings from Democratic pollsters that his true standing is 4 to 6 points lower than that in published polls because of hidden racism from voters,” wrote Tim Shipman in the London Telegraph Sunday.

When I posted I made the point that I felt it was difficult to see this working. I still think that this is the case, however I feel that there is a good chance that Hillary will be drafted onto the ticket against her better judgment or face a bleak political future.

The Clintons have both been accused of racism by Obama. Bill was extremely resentful about it and it is hard to imagine that Hillary would see it any differently.

The Obama campaign is blatantly misogynistic as reported here: -

The older woman who introduced him at a rally here (Flatrock, Mich.) called Mr. Biden’s Republican counterpart, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, a “bucket of fluff,” and he rewarded the woman as he took the microphone with an “I love you” and a gentle kiss on the head.

Interestingly one of the things Steve expected to happen was that Hillary would in the interim refuse to have contact or be seen with Palin until after the switch.

This would explain why Hillary tossed a hissy fit and refused to attend a rally against the barbaric Iranian president on finding out that Palin would be there. Subsequently Palins invitation was withdrawn after the Obama campaign threatened to take legal action to remove the tax exempt status of the organizations involved.

“...Sometimes it is one decision at one moment that determines the game, and one decision at one moment that shapes history. The presidents of major Jewish organizations had that moment to show the united strength of Jews and all Americans against Ahmadinejad, the man who proudly declares his plan to destroy Israel, assume dominion over the Middle East and rid democratic (small d) nations of the freedoms we cherish.

With the world watching New York, as the denier of one Holocaust and planner of another, steps into the public arena, there should be a wall of Americans standing together in opposition.”

Jack Kelly, a syndicated columnist, is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Post-Gazette.

Whoopi and hard luck stories.

Whoopi seems to specialise in getting herself into a total lather about the unimportant, seeming to see herself as a sort of unkempt Keith Olbermann.

Were Obama to be elected by some mischance Olbermann could fit in nicely as his Information Minister using the by line 'Washington Keith'. It kind of doesn’t have the same sound bite as 'Bagdad Bob', but the jobs the same, and would be handled the same.

In the above clip Whoopi gets her bowels in a knot about Palins reference to community organizers, who she maintains do have responsibilities. I have never heard of the position before and have never considered that such things existed. Communities usually just get together and do it themselves the way it should be.

She then goes on to quote Bidens family tragedy as the eqivalent of what McCain went through in Vietnam. This has to be the most ridiculous analogy I have encountered yet.

Biden lost a wife and two children in a traffic accident. This is indeed a tragedy and I and the vast majority of others on the other side of the fence to him understand this and sympathise over it.

McCain was shot down in the service of his country and endured five years of torture, the results of which still affect him today.

I don’t wish to belittle what happened to Bidens family, but it is something we all run the risk of having happen every time our families are on the road. We all suffer losses and grief, lifes like that.

Joe had two aneurisms, McCain had skin cancer, OK that’s bad luck in both cases.

To try to say that it is unfair for the Republican campaign to mention what McCain went through because of Bidens tragedy is just plain silly.

McCain was put in the position he was in by attacking a heavily defended target at low altitude knowing that it was at considerable risk to himself. After capture he refused parole in order to deny the enemy a propaganda victory that could be used to break the spirit of the remaining prisoners of war, knowing that he would cop a bad time for it.

To try to make some sort of comparison between the raw courage and tenacity of John McCain, and his triumph over extreme adversity, and someone who got unlucky in the daily risks we all face is just stupidity.

Its as dumb as her “Should I worry about slavery again.” She must be old, if its 'Slavery again'.

Big government and financial fiascos.

HT to Dr. Sanity for this one, inspired by her post, “Who Knew Ignoring Reality had Consequences?”

A lot of finger pointing is going on at the moment over the financial crisis of which Freddie Mac and Fannie May are the main area of contention at present.

Democrats are pointing the finger at the fact that this has happened on George Bush’s watch, and in this they are correct only to the extent that it has come to a head at this time. The roots of the crisis go much further back and are entrenched in populist political agendas from the previous administration which, were the potential for this event to have been foreseen, would have been almost impossible to get changed through congress.

The banks would have found it impossible to get the money which caused the housing bubble and distorted the whole economy, if it was not for an implied government guarantee of those loans.

It is in fact more than just the implicit guarantee that is at the heart of the problem, the blatant use of Fannie and Freddie as a mechanism of social policy since the Clinton administration is at the real root of the problem. The guarantee, implied or otherwise was the only thing that could make the whole thing work.

A recent in World Net Daily under the heading, “Guess again who's to blame for U.S. mortgage meltdown: Analysts point not to greed, but to social activist politics.” Has this to say: -

While many pundits are pointing to corporate greed and a lack of government regulation as the cause for the American mortgage and financial crisis, some analysts are saying it wasn't too little government intervention that cased the mortgage meltdown, but too much, in the form of activists compelling the government to pressure Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae into unsound – though politically correct – lending practices.

"Home mortgages have been a political piñata for many decades," writes Stan J. Liebowitz, economics professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, in a chapter of his forthcoming book, Housing America: Building out of a Crisis.
Liebowitz puts forward an explanation that he admits is "not consistent with the nasty-subprime-lender hypothesis currently considered to be the cause of the mortgage meltdown." ……..

The following video is illuminating: -



OK we have the CEO calling Obama and Dems the "Family Conscience" of Fannie Mae, making large donations to them to look the other way, and the politicians doing so.

The Clinton administration used the banks to push the idea of getting minorities and poorer people into housing which led to people without the means to repay to get loans, which led to the derivatives market to support it and the whole fiasco.

Obama is attempting to make political capital out of the situation and is dirty himself.

Patrick Conlon found the following story at Astute Bloggers: -

Barack Obama has slammed the banking industry for its predatory use of sub-prime mortgages, which are pushing millions of American homeowners toward foreclosure.

But his campaign's Finance Chair, Penny Pritzker, owned a failed Chicago thrift that helped pioneer sub-prime financial instruments and faced accusations of abuse.

Superior Bank of Chicago went belly up in 2001 with over $1 billion in insured and uninsured deposits. This collapse came amid harsh criticism of how Superior's owners promoted sub-prime home mortgages. As part of a settlement, the owners paid $100 million and agreed to pay another $335 million over 15 years at no interest...

Liberal hate, venom, stupidity, and trutherism.

An example of Liberal hate tactics. (From Beccy.)

Probably the best thing the Democrats could have done to negate the impact of the Sarah Palin pick would have been to simply call it a bad choice shown some respect and sympathy for, say, “an inexperienced person thrown into the spotlight,” and dismissed her. Obama would have had to stay away from that one or anything like it as he has less experience.

Instead they launched a disgusting allegation that Trig was her grandson and that she and Bristol had swapped babies. They insisted that there was no evidence of a pregnancy before the birth, a story ruined by numerous photos of a pregnant Palin posted elsewhere.

When the news was released of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy a sensible way to approach it would have been to show empathy and understanding, after all aren’t the Democrats the touchy feely party of understanding and blamelessness.

Instead of this they launched into a rabid diatribe involving everything from bad mother to demands that Bristol should have had an abortion. One inane idiot even went so far as to announce that he was establishing a fund for the purpose of getting one for her.

Until the Palin nomination there were three main areas where McCain was having difficulties. The first was the libertarian wing of the party, who were twitchy about him and were looking seriously at voting Barr/Root. Palin has always had a good relationship with libertarians and the LP threat was reduced considerably.

The others were the religious right, and the conservatives, neither of whom really trusted him. Palin has good credentials among these people, but a teenage pregnancy could have been a problem. The outrageous reaction of the left threw them immediately into full support of the GOP ticket.

After a couple of weeks of this sort of thing and ever increasing ratings for McCain/Palin someone warned Obama that it wasn’t working and he told his people to lay off, as it was counterproductive. This didn’t work, and he himself has been as bad as the rest, making his ‘lipstick on a pig/old stinking fish’ remarks after this.

So at this point we have the situation where the left realize that it has been handled badly, so what do they do about it? Do they acknowledge that they are wrong and need to change course?

Not when there is a way to blame it on the Republicans with the help of good old trutherism.

The best example is a rather demented guy at ‘The Atlantic’ who says: -

It also occurs to me that in a way McCain and Rove have actually simply taken over the liberal blogosphere in some way. …….

McCain and crew realized early this cycle that they did not have a visible internet presence. So what did they do? They took over the liberal presence, they are manipulating the leading liberal blogs, just as they manipulate the MSM. All to their own advantage. And the blogs have all fallen for this hook, line and sinker. Does no one realize this?

They are all being played.
And Obama, god bless him, he gets it.

The difference between the elitists of the left and mainstream America (including mainstream Democrats) is so is so profound that Obamas crowd just totally fail to have any comprehension of it. In his own words: -

"In America we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient. We must unite in collective action, build collective institutions and organizations."

OK, he admits the American ideal of individualism is strong, but still wants the collectivist rubbish to be the order of the day, ‘Up yours you yobs.’

Again, this comes from Patrick Conlon in his post “Clinging to God, guns and the Bible redux.” Quoting Obama: -

The one thing that I want to insist on is that, as I travel around the country, the American people are a decent people. Now they get confused sometimes. You know, they listen to the wrong talk radio shows or watch the wrong TV networks, um, but they’re, they’re basically decent, they’re basically sound.

And Patricks comment: -

Gee whiz, Barackstar! I'm so glad you think we're "decent" but "confused" dude. Now how about wiping that elitist snot out of your upturned patronizing nose?

This is what Obama is up against, and what he simply cannot understand, the Palins are mainstream America, as Todd Palin exemplifies in these clips: -



We see a working guy, no tickets on himself, in touch with the realities, probably a bit better off than most, but really a fairly normal family man. The next is his introduction of Cindy McCain showing a wonderful sense of humor: -



It is no wonder the Democrat elite just don’t get it, they have had no contact with this.

Not letting facts spoil a good story.

Click to enlarge.

I am not certain who the originator of this is, but it was sent to me by Viv Forbes.

Recently one of the TV news programs (I can not remember
 if it was TV One or TV3) showed an item about a certain
 Lewis Gordon Pugh, a British canoeist, who was planning
 to paddle his canoe to the North Pole to draw attention
 to the (allegedly) dramatic melting of the Arctic sea ice.

He did not make it. Sea ice and a earlier than expected start of winter blocked him at 80.5 degrees north, while still 960 km from the Pole. But that did not prevent the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to congratulate him, or for Pugh to boast that he had traveled further north
 that anyone had kayaked so far.

The American meteorologist Anthony Watts, a well-known spoilsport, in his blog Watts Up With That, had to point out that in 1893 the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen found the Arctic so ice-free that he was able to paddle his kayak to above 82 degrees north, 160 km further than Pugh. How sad that history and nature keep on spoiling the fun of the global warming alarmists. …….

The expedition has three participants: the initiator for this expedition, the British lawyer Lewis Gordon Pugh, who obtained some fame last summer by swimming one kilometer at the geographical North Pole (he swam for 18
minutes in water temperatures of minus 1.7 degree Celsius).

Another participant is Sam Branson, son of the super-rich Richard Branson, famous for creating an airline and who is trying to improve its eco-image
 somewhat by making a lot of noise, together with Gore, about climate.

Number three is Robert Hegedus, a kayak champion. But they don’t paddle very much. They are being forced to remain on the accompanying ship (also because there is a polar bear in the neighborhood). We cite some passages from their report - with a lot of schadenfreude: 


It was very difficult to make progress this morning. The temperature has been going down dramatically and each time when the boys go into the water, is it a bit more difficult. We are seeing large pieces of ice and instead of sailing through them, we are forced to go round them. Now and then we crash against such a piece of ice, which causes pieces to break off. One such piece almost pushed
 Lewis out of his kayak. The water is now below zero and a few splashes can be very painful.

The water that swirls at the feet of the boys starts to freeze, which costs extra warmth. Robbie is suffering from sore toes.

My mixed feelings about this news reminds me of another
 paradox of this expedition – the fact that I spend my days now by paddling in freezing cold water, with a
 frozen, sore back, while I am trying to draw the attention of the world to its warming.

Klimatosoof writes that this trip reminds him of the
 attempt by two ladies (Bancroft and Arnesen) last year to reach the North Pole on foot and ski. They had to abandon their attempt because of the severe cold. Before their trip they had said that they expected to have to swim part of the way.

The above stories provoke several reactions. On one level it is very funny. On another level it is very sad. While on yet another level it highlights the all-pervading
 global warming hysteria. It also underscores the present lack of good education and training in critical thinking, 
 probably as a result of post-modernist education ideologies. 


Cheers, Gerrit


Mount Mulligan Mine Disaster.

These cable drums were blown 50 feet from their foundations following a coal dust explosion. They each weighed two tons.

I meant to get this up last night in readiness for today but got distracted and didn’t realise it was the 19th until I filled in some papers today.

In the 80s I went to do an exploration job on the Hodgkinson River and on the way noticed a rather spectacular sheer sided flat top mountain. Thinking about it I decided it had to be Mt. Mulligan, named after James Venture Mulligan, one of our legendary miners, and prospectors, and our most underrated explorers.

It is also the site of Queenslands most deadly mine disaster on the 19th of September 1921, with 75 men killed in a massive coal dust explosion.

Coming round a curve a couple of old chimneys came into view as well as the remains of a town, mainly house stumps. This was indeed Mt. Mulligan.

Passing out the other side of town, up on the right beside the road was a small cemetery.

The mining/exploration industry, while large is still close knit. During the Beakensfield rescue of two miners who were trapped for a fortnight, some miners just hopped on planes and went to Tasmania to see if they could help. There is a strong bond, especially among those who work underground.

It was a touching feeling to walk around among all of those graves, all bearing the date, 19 September 1921. Some didn’t even have proper markers, some one had simply tapped the name and date on a piece of flattened galvanised iron and laid it there. I think that was the saddest part of all.

A great article on it is found on Atherton Tablelands & Beyond.

Mount Mulligan, 170 klms west of Cairns, via Mareeba/Dimbulah is an impressive landmark whose underlying coal deposits supported a small mining town from 1914 until 1958. On the 19th September 1921, a massive coal dust explosion in the Mount Mulligan mine killed all seventy-five or perhaps seventy-six men working underground. The disaster was the greatest Queensland has ever seen. The town was situated at the foot of the mountain, a flat-topped, red-brown cliff which rarely failed to attract comment from visitors.

Mount Mulligan was a distinctive town because it was concerned entirely with coal mining, which wasn’t conducted anywhere else in the North. It was considered to be the absolute dead end and therefore, never attracted incidental travellers or commerce. The mine was never profitable and spent much of its life in the shadow of financial ruin. 

Mount Mulligan is chiefly remembered for the day seventy five miners died & the horror of that day, which left a deep impression on the entire community all those who assisted in the disaster. It has been noted that before this disaster, no deaths had occurred at Mount Mulligan and there was no cemetery. The ground was quickly consecrated and the burials held. Even today to visit that graveyard and read the headstones, is enough to make the devil weep.

It is also interesting to note that the day before, the game of cricket was called off, but in the cool of the evening, an impromptu party was held in the local hall and the town sung and danced until midnight. The single men had returned to the hotels still in high spirits and some had pillow fights. It was to be their send off. If only they knew. ………..

The explosion at Mount Mulligan was clearly heard in Kingborough, twenty kilometres from the coalmine.

The response to it was the instinctive one, with the women and surviving men of the town forgetting everything else and converging on the point where the ropeway entered the mountain face. The first runners met a dazed and coal-blackened man stumbling down the ropeway from the mine.

George Morrison was employed by Chillagoe Limited as a blacksmith and tool sharpener. He occupied a small wooden hut a few paces from the mine entrance where he maintained picks and other tools for the men working below. Nearly unscathed but badly shocked, Morrison had almost no recollection of the explosion when questioned by the Royal Commissioners a fortnight later. ……..

Obama Iraqgate.

If there is any justice in the world this act by Obama should be bigger than Watergate, bigger because it is looking like Nixon was a far more ethical man than Oby.

It is almost impossible to visualize the type of mind that would see a trade off of at least another years worth of casualties and deaths, as a fair deal in getting him the top job. Any shrink who ever takes on the job of getting into that mind and having a good look around, will need stress leave afterwards.

DNC member Lynn de Rothschild for McCain.

HT to Libertarian Republican on this one.

This one should cause some discomfort for Obama, although the excuse and attack machine is once again in action. Rather than dismissing matters like this some soul searching might be in order to try to avoid repeats but Obama seems to just toss them under the bus and move on.

From the Boston Herald.

WASHINGTON - A top Hillary Rodham Clinton fundraiser threw her support behind Republican John McCain on Wednesday, saying he will lead the country in a centrist fashion and accusing the Democrats of becoming too extreme.

"I believe that Barack Obama, with MoveOn.org and Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean, has taken the Democratic Party — and they will continue to — too far to the left," Lynn Forester de Rothschild said. "I’m not comfortable there."

Rothschild is also a member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee. She said she would be stepping down from her position on the committee but will not switch political parties.

She praised McCain for working with Democrats to pass legislation and for standing up to President Bush on the Iraq war.
"I just ask, who has Barack Obama ever stood up to? And that troubles me a lot,"

This video is from CNN, de Rothschild makes some quite interesting points when she gets a chance between the interviewers interruptions.

Well, sorry about that but it disappeared over night so we'll try this one: -

Why they Hate us

I always find the site 'Dr Sanity' educational, if ever you find yourself wondering if the left are even sane, drop over for your dose of sanity.

The Sanity Squad is a blogtalk radio show featuring Dr Sanity and three of her colleagues and this special edition is a beauty, there is an hour of it but worth the time if you have it.

Biden, Going, Going, .....

The selection of Joe Biden was generally greeted with delight by both sides, the Democrats because they are trained to greet with delight all decisions made by the beltway elite, the Republicans because Joe is a windbag who can be safely ignored.

The selection of Sarah Palin by McCain has however dampened that delight for the Democrats; they really needed someone effective, instead of someone whose only talent was to make Obama look better than him.

However an objective assessment by Steve Maloney has come up with the now fairly solid prediction that Biden will be replaced after the first debate, possibly by Hillary Clinton, although it is difficult to see this working.

Obama quite unfairly branded both Clintons as racists, Hillary for saying, “Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ……” and Bill for referring to Jessie Jackson’s unsuccessful campaign.

Obama again vilified Hillary for making an innocent remark about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. Hillary has not been subjected to the same degree of vitriol as Sarah Palin has been, but clearly she must realize that Obama is a misogynist.

I believe it would be almost impossible for a strong minded independent woman like Hillary to play second fiddle to an inexperienced person who is so childishly narcissistic that he thinks everything is all about him.

The type of accusations mentioned above indicates to me that Obama has a serious anger management problem. Looking at his face during the 'lipstick on a pig' remark, and 'old stinking fish' one, I felt he was barely keeping it under control, and had to say it even against his own better judgement.

Hillary has made it clear that she does not consider Obama ready to govern and if she were nominated, it would be for the reason that he needs someone with experience to hold his hand and tell him what to do.

I doubt that Hillary would want to be his ‘wet nurse.’

The following is an article from the Nobama network indicating that there is reason to consider the possibility: -

ATTENTION: Hillary replacing Biden just after the VP Debate!!!!

Rumors are flying around the Internet that Obama is planning to relieve Joe Biden of his V.P. position and replace him with Hillary Clinton. But, I have a very credible source that told me that Obama IS going to make up an excuse (probably medical reasons) to get rid of Biden and replace him with Hillary. …

Keep in mind:
* Both Obama and Hillary said he did NOT vet her.
* Obama's choice of Biden was a sign of weakness (he had to pick him after the problems in Georgia because in 3 days he made 3 different statements about how the situation should be handled and showed his ineptness regarding foreign relations).
* The fact that he now needs Hillary is also a sign of weakness - he can't win without her.
* He is using Hillary to get what he wants, after he cheated her out of her win.
* He did not pick Hillary because he is arrogant and thought he could win without her AND he is sexist.
* It took the Republicans to get the Democrats to put a woman on the ticket.
* Hillary said that Obama is not qualified to be president, but she and McCain are.
* Hillary said that all Obama has done is make a nice speech - he will NOT be ready on Day 1.
* Hillary said, "Shame on you, Barack Obama," when he sent out direct mail that was filled with lies, i.e., she called him a liar.

I believe the health rumor thing actually has legs, as for a week or so I have been getting hits from Google searches inquiring about ‘Biden health.’ This will start around the end of the first VP debate when Palin wipes the floor with him, and the writing is on the wall, but the preparations are definitely under way.

Obloodybama advantage in troop losses.

Just what sort of piece of shit is this guy, wanting to end the war is one thing, we only differ in what we want the result to be, at least on the surface of it. The big O seems to want it in a way which, guess what, well one that suits him. Surprise, surprise, once again HE comes before all else.

From the NYP
.
WHILE campaigning in public for a speedy withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, Sen. Barack Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence.

According to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Obama made his demand for delay a key theme of his discussions with Iraqi leaders in Baghdad in July.

"He asked why we were not prepared to delay an agreement until after the US elections and the formation of a new administration in Washington," Zebari said in an interview.

Obama insisted that Congress should be involved in negotiations on the status of US troops - and that it was in the interests of both sides not to have an agreement negotiated by the Bush administration in its "state of weakness and political confusion."

"However, as an Iraqi, I prefer to have a security agreement that regulates the activities of foreign troops, rather than keeping the matter open." Zebari says.

Though Obama claims the US presence is "illegal," he suddenly remembered that Americans troops were in Iraq within the legal framework of a UN mandate. His advice was that, rather than reach an accord with the "weakened Bush administration," Iraq should seek an extension of the UN mandate.

While in Iraq, Obama also tried to persuade the US commanders, including Gen. David Petraeus, to suggest a "realistic withdrawal date." They declined.

Obama has made many contradictory statements with regard to Iraq. His latest position is that US combat troops should be out by 2010. Yet his effort to delay an agreement would make that withdrawal deadline impossible to meet.

Supposing he wins, Obama's administration wouldn't be fully operational before February - and naming a new ambassador to Baghdad and forming a new negotiation team might take longer still.

By then, Iraq will be in the throes of its own campaign season. Judging by the past two elections, forming a new coalition government may then take three months. So the Iraqi negotiating team might not be in place until next June.

Then, judging by how long the current talks have taken, restarting the process from scratch would leave the two sides needing at least six months to come up with a draft accord. That puts us at May 2010 for when the draft might be submitted to the Iraqi parliament - which might well need another six months to pass it into law.

Thus, the 2010 deadline fixed by Obama is a meaningless concept, thrown in as a sop to his anti-war base.

Debbie Lee on Clintons4McCain.

Here is another great Blogtalk radio episode from Clintons4McCain.

This one features Debbie Lee the mother of Marc Alan Lee, who was Killed in action in Iraq on 8-2-06. Marc was the first navy seal to die there. Debbie is an inspiration.



I can’t help but note the difference between Debbie and Cindy Sheehan. Debbie still of course grieves, but seems to have found comfort and commitment.

Cindy on the other hand has not managed to come to terms with it. While it is not a popular position among some of my readers, I must confess to a haunting feeling of sympathy for her. Losing a child would be a terrible thing to bear. I do however feel that the people she surrounds herself with would probably have little incentive to help her to deal with it.

In an effort to understand I looked up her son, Casey Austin Sheehan and found the following: -

Casey Austin Sheehan

In May 2000, Sheehan enlisted in the United States Army as a light-wheeled vehicle mechanic, MOS 63B. It has been reported that he may have considered enlisting as a Chaplain's assistant MOS 56M. (Sheehan had acted as an altar server during the Palm Sunday mass on the morning of his death).

Near the end of his active service, the U.S. invasion of Iraq began. Sheehan re-enlisted, knowing that his unit would be sent there. Sheehan's division, the First Cavalry Division, was sent to Iraq. On March 19, 2004, Sheehan's Battery C, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, arrived at FOB War Eagle in Sadr City. On April 4, 2004, Sheehan was killed in action after volunteering to be part of a Quick Reaction Force to rescue American troops.

He appears to be a man we should honour.

McCains and Media Bias and Bastardry.

I am not sure who is the originator of this one, but I’ll Put it up anyway: -

Well, I guess we know who everyone at ABC studio’s is being pressured to vote for……

I just finished watching Sen. and Cindy McCain on The View, and I’m still laughing at the transparent biased style of reporting offered by Barbara Walters (industry pawn, sadly), Whoopie Goldberg (militant bitch), and Joy Behar (professional offensive PIG and self-described comedienne)

The contrast between McCain’s interview vs Obama’s interview on the same show couldn’t be more clear. When Barry-boy was a guest, he was asked questions, and then offered vague, elaborate, meandering and nuanced responses, none of which actually answered their questions directly but nonetheless, had the ‘ladies’ of The View enraptured while they lapped up his KoolAid.

John McCain was barely able to get a couple of words out before Walters, Behar and Goldberg began a series of rapid-fire interruptions (a la the Gibson/Palin interview by the same network). The style and tone of the interview surpassed disrespect and quickly degenerated into plain and unmistakable unprofessionalism.

That interview, along with Palin’s by Gibson, was reminiscent of an interrogation rather than a professionally executed piece of journalism.

Not since the McCarthy era have I witnessed such propaganda called ‘objective journalism’; and like McCarthy, it seems that the media (fearing their own future?) has jumped into the Obama tank, and finds nothing wrong with such a blatant and irresponsible style of ‘reporting.’

Whoopie was going through contortions to try to get in a “Gotcha” … she wasn’t even pretending to be fair or unbiased. It made me sick. When everyone else clapped for Senator McCain and Cindy, she did not. Then she was fanning herself as if she was so hot under the collar she couldn’t contain herself.

It was deplorable. It was all of them attacking him over Roe vs. Wade and Whoopie even has to throw in the slavery comments in reference to his belief that he wanted people who would interpret the constitution the way our forefathers did.

Whoopie feigned fear then that what he mean’t was that McCain would want to return to slavery vis a vis strict constitutional interpretation. Of course McCain reassurred her that that was not the case. WTF!

This was an intelligent interview???? A fair one????? What a twisted way to get in a racist perspective of white men and slavery and attempt to attach it to McCain. It made me furious! I have been blocking the View and only watched it for this interview, but after watching the disrespectful and full court press attack by Whoopie and assisted by Barbara and Behar, I can’t stand this show and it’s back to being blocked!!

I was appalled when Barbara stated in response to Whoopie’s “fear of going back to slavery” responded with “Us white folk will take care you”. How come no one is getting all over Barbara’s a$ for saying that? I had to rewatch that part over on youtube just to make sure I had it right.

Does anyone else find that offensive? I actually found the whole interview offensive. It was such a clear attack. They constantly interrupted him, made faces to the camera (Whoopie), talked over him and came up with inane reactions to his statements
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

News flash:

Michelle Obama did not (as she claims) reject going to the 9/11 ceremonies at Ground Zero on Sept. 11th because it was her daughters' first week of school and she had to be home to support them.

According to the Toledo Blade newspaper, Michelle was out in Ohio CAMPAIGNING for Obama on Sept. 10, so I guess the fact that she wouldn't be home for the girls' first week of school didn't matter so much to Michelle when she had a chance to troll for votes in Ohio (where Obama seems to be in some electoral trouble).

Can either of the Obamas ever tell the truth about anything?

<< href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/michael-m-bates/2008/09/12/abc-news-why-wasnt-michelle-obama-9-11-ceremony">unable to pay her respects at the 9/11 ceremony, why did she spend yesterday campaigning in two states? >>

Michelle also campaigned in Indiana on Wed., so I guess she wasn't home in Chicago for her daughters

P. S. Michelle has claimed that she is always home for the girls at night, but on Wed. night, Michelle was campaigning in Cincinnati, speaking to a crowd at the National Black Baptist Convention meeting

Palin & Media Bias and Bastardry.

This was something I was looking at last night and was thinking of posting on it when I received the following, which saved me a lot of work. It was passed on to me by Steve Maloney from an address I didn’t recognize, so my apologies for not giving attribution.

The article was from News Busters who have a full rundown on the material that was edited out of the interview. The full article is a real eye opener.

Yesterday’s interview of Sarah Palin might have been a political success for the McCain campaign, but it was a shameful display of arrogance, snobbery, and elitism on the part of the Mainstream Media.

Sarah Palin might have looked a bit uncomfortable, all thanks to the pretentiously disrespectful first question that was launched at her, but she remained wholly in control of the subjects being discussed. The problem with the interview was both the HORRID editing that was given to her answers, which made her appear “talking point” obsessed, and also Charlie Gibson’s clearly condescending tone and demeanor.

The first question itself was not only arrogant on his part but offensive. In it, he asked her if she felt “ready” or “experienced enough” to have agreed to run for Vice President. When she firmly said “yes” to such a preposterous and insulting question (would ANYONE answer otherwise?), Gibson actually asked her if she thought that her confidence in this matter demonstrated a bit of “hubris” on her part.

What kind of journalists are we dealing with today? Did they EVER ask Barack Hussein Obama the same question and with the same tone? Obama is a mere junior senator, Palin is a GOVERNOR. How come Gibson didn’t ask Obama; “didn’t you recently admit in a press conference that running for President without even serving a day in the senate is irresponsible?”

The reason is quite obvious, if Gibson had asked Obama such a question, or even challenged him for his “hubris” on national television, every single Media pundit would have accused Gibson of racism and unfairness. But when they actually dare to ask these type of condescending questions to a truly accomplished woman (by any measure), they suddenly remain quiet, without a single mention of double standards and sexism (although I must admit that Mika Brzezinski, that well known Obama sycophant from MSNBC, actually admitted this morning that a man would NOT have been asked these questions in the same manner).

Of course, most of us already understand and personally know about the horrid bias that the Media exhibits on a day to day basis in favor of Liberals (in general) and Barack Obama (in particular), but when most people thinks about the aggressive ‘pop quiz’ style interview to which Sarah Palin was submitted to by ABC, it is quite clear that they did everything in their power, via questions and editing, to make her look as bad as possible.

When analyzed from this perspective, even after all of their efforts, they actually achieved making her look ‘more normal’ and ‘down to earth’ than any other politician in recent history, which in the end fits perfectly with her image as the “true people’s candidate”.

But let’s look a bit closer to a moment in the interview which the Democrats may be smart NOT to criticize about her performance: their odd discussion about the “Bush Doctrine”. This was another moment in which Gibson appeared to be “annoyed” at the fact that she asked for a bit of clarification regarding its import.

Let’s read what Richard Starr has to say about this part of the interview, which in my opinion, perfectly brings forth the problem with asking “quiz” type questions to candidates of this magnitude (thank you CC for bringing this excerpt to our attention):

Palin right on Bush Doctrine, ABC NEWS doesn’t even know what it means…

What Exactly Is the ‘Bush Doctrine’? It’s being taken in some quarters as revelatory of inexperience that Sarah Palin sought clarification when ABC’s Charlie Gibson asked her about the Bush Doctrine. To review, here is the passage from the transcript.
GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine?

PALIN: In what respect, Charlie?

GIBSON: The Bush — well, what do you — what do you interpret it to be?

PALIN: His world view.

GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war.

PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that’s the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better.

GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?

Gibson should of course have said in the first place what he understood the Bush Doctrine to be–and specified that he was asking a question about preemption. Palin was well within bounds to have asked him to be more specific, because, as it happens, the doctrine has no universally acknowledged single meaning.

Gibson himself in the past has defined the Bush Doctrine to mean “a promise that all terrorist organizations with global reach will be found, stopped and defeated”–which is remarkably close to Palin’s own answer.

more at ......http://savagepolitics.com/?p=1815

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

NO, Gibson, those are NOT the “exact” words.

Actual quote: “Let us pray our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.”
“Let us pray” makes all the difference in the world, right Charlie? Typical media trickery.
===========
Wow! that is a BIG OMISSION! That’s why she later said:

PALIN: I don’t know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is
that my son has made a decision.

But Gibson’s omission makes it appear she changed her position.

More athttp://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/09/11/wow

ABC News also cut a KEY phrase in her remarks in a church. They omitted the words "Let us pray" that Palin spoke before "our leaders are sending our troops to do God's will.

My eyes have really been opened to MAJOR media manipulation this election year. I always KNEW it existed, but the media's love fest with Obama is over the top!

They've concealed his lies and now omitted key parts of Palin's interview to make her appear a neocon and a lunatic.