YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP!

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building' by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return." You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying ' Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?' You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French? 'Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.' You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. Then you should know enough to have your passport ready. 'The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it. 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hardlook. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to. ' You could have heard a pin drop.

Move America Forward and Hot Air Teaming Up to Support Our Troops



Announcement by Michelle Malkin:

"I’m excited to announce a very special event Hot Air will be participating in on June 26. Save the date. We’re teaming up with Melanie Morgan’s Move America Forward and UStream to present an 8-hour web-a-thon with the goal of sending the largest single shipment of care packages to U.S. troops in American history." LINK

Please go to the link and get all the information on this wonderful endeavor.

New York Times Resorting to Extortion?

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has released a story about how low the New York Times has evolved. The Times has told the McCain camp that if they are not included in the pool of reporters that will get a glimpse of McCains medical records, they will go negative on the story:

Gray Lady fighting dirty against McCain campaign? Update: NYT Ethics Policy

posted at 6:30 pm on May 21, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Does the New York Times leverage access to campaign events through threats of negative news articles? According to one source at the McCain campaign, the answer is yes...........

All of that brings us to today. It’s no secret that the McCain campaign believes the Times to be dishonest in its reporting on the candidate, and they decided not to extend an invitation to the Times for the media pool at the release of the medical records on Friday. According to my source close to the part of the campaign that deals with these issues, they have invited a variety of media outlets, including national-reach newspapers, wire services, and cable-news networks into the pool, but told the Times that they would not receive any credentials for the event.

This prompted a conversation between one Times editor and the campaign staff. Again according to the source, the editor told the campaign that the Times would take a negative view about the release of the records if an invitation was not forthcoming. It was clear that an invitation to the pool would change the nature of the coverage. READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE.

The New York Times posted this story today at their political online site:

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain is set to release 400 pages of medical records, including documents related to his melanoma surgery in August 2000, to a tightly controlled group of reporters on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday, the campaign will allow a small pool of reporters access to the records from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific time in a conference room at the Copper Wind Resort in Phoenix, near the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. The reporters will be allowed to take notes but not remove or photocopy the records. Campaign officials said they were imposing the restrictions to prevent the actual records from wide dissemination.

The news organizations in the pool, selected by the campaign, include ABC News, The Arizona Republic, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, Reuters, The Washington Post and, possibly, a newsmagazine. LINK

Rovinsworld posted in comments at the Hot Air post:

Perhaps if the New York Times had agreed to talk (view) the information “WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS” they may have been included in this release.

It will be interesting to see how they follow up on their threat to go negative. I’m guessing an AP or a Reuters writer will go ugly enough that the Times can just copy the text while hiding under the covers.

From MrLynn:

" The NY Times (”the paper of record”) still wields enormous influence on other newspapers around the country, and also on the newsrooms of hundreds of TV stations. Most people still get the bulk of their news (if they get any) from TV first, and local papers secondarily. So what the Times says becomes de facto gospel.

If we in the blogosphere, a relatively small coterie of news and political junkies, can keep shining a bright light on this roach-infested kitchen where the NY Times serves up its daily menu, maybe some customers will gradually start looking elsewhere for more fulfilling news and commentary." MrLynn on May 22, 2008 at 8:22 AM

Longtime commenter and colleague Keemo also states the obvious:

"Wonder what it must be like to be a stock holder of the NYT; watching as this dinosaur sinks in the quick sand of corruption and unethical behavior. Liberalism, a mental disorder…"
Keemo on May 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM

definably developing............

The Mockery of the Democratic Party.......by John McCain




Sounds a bit like the "old man's" ready to eliminate the competition?

"Rare Success" in Iraq

New resident Ed Morrissey (from formally Captain's Quarters) at Hot Air has posted another success story that involves the progress in Iraq:

Mahdis sign over Sadr City to Maliki, victory celebrations in media pending

Get ready for more celebrations of Moqtada al-Sadr in the American media. Earlier today, he signed over control of Sadr City to the Nouri al-Maliki government in Baghdad, effectively ending his grip on any territory in Iraq. In the document, the Sadrists recognize the elected government as the sole legitimate authority in Sadr City and everywhere else in Iraq:

“We have signed the agreement today,” said Khalid al-Attiyah, the deputy parliamentary speaker from the main Shiite political bloc, United Iraqi Alliance.

Al-Attiyah said the cease-fire went into effect on Sunday and Iraqi forces will be allowed to enter the area as early as Wednesday and “take over the security there.”

The statement said “the government will decide on the number of Iraqi forces to be deployed in Sadr City to achieve security, in order to refrain from asking help from foreign forces,” a reference to the U.S. military.

“Any attack against residential areas, government offices and the Green Zone are prohibited from Sadr City or from another area,” the agreement said.

The cease-fire stipulates that Iraqi forces have the right to “impose the law and to pursue illegal situations.”

The government will allow the Mahdis to retain personal small arms, but anyone with anything heavier will be subject to arrest or attack. Those efforts continued today to clear Sadr City of splinter elements who have not accepted the cease-fire, with several more radicals killed by Iraqi and American forces. The agreement will not keep Maliki from imposing his will on the Baghdad suburb any more than a similar capitulation did in Basra, where Maliki uprooted the Mahdis from control after several years.........Link

Meanwhile the New York Times gets around to recognizing this piece of history calling it a "rare success":

Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, the oil-saturated city of Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old.

In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias....... Link

Earth to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the anti-war left nutcases: We are winning this war in Iraq and the Iraqi people are stepping up while our troops are close to claiming VICTORY! This will bring our troops home much quicker than passing meaningless legislation or the media's obsession with reporting only the setbacks while ignoring real success that gets RARELY REPORTED.

The Players Championship
(Classless sportwriter misses the fairway by a mile)

Any golf enthusiast (those who loves the game and the competition that even percolates on a Sunday afternoon between friends with 15 handicaps) who saw the drama unfold this past weekend in the Players Championship, couldn’t help but appreciate the “game” of Paul Goydos and the story behind his unexpected accent to the top of the leaderboard for most of the weekend. In fact, Goydos’ three bogys in the last five holes and a clutch par saving putt by Sergio Garcia on the 18th, (that was playing to a 4.9 stroke average) made the sudden death return to the famous seventeenth island hole almost anti-climatic.

But surely one thing the sport doesn’t need is a low-life senior sportswriter who decided to inject “class” into the story. According to Cameron Morfit---- Senior Writer, Golf Magazine----a Paul Goydos victory would have some how made the tournament a “classless” or “second-class” event:

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — A gust of wind won the 2008 Players Championship on Sunday. Pete Dye won the Players. And ultimately, to the great relief of everyone who hoped for a first-class winner at the "fifth major," Sergio Garcia won the Players. (Link)

Morfit goes on in his story about the lack of “class” players in the tourney that included top players in the world rankings with talent like Mickelson, Els, Furyk, Olgilvy, and now #10 Garcia. To insinuate that a Goydos victory against this field of world class talent would make the victor some one other that “first class” speaks volumes about the writers solipsism and classless journalism.

On a day where the conditions on the course brought most of the field to its knees, the performance of Paul Goydos was nothing but first class. The only classless performance was committed by Morfit and his pathetic article that failed to see the drama all golfers appreciate----the best in the world and the highest handicappers. Morfit definitely hit this one out of bounds.

Last Stand in Sadr City

Ed Morrissey has posted a story on the upcoming (and hopefully) final clash between Sadr's militias and Maliki's Iraqi government:


Big push coming in Sadr City

Iraqi soldiers have begun evacuating families from portions of Sadr City, a sign that a large offensive will start shortly against the Mahdi Army militia that have long controlled the sector of Baghdad. Two stadiums have been secured for sheltering the evacuees as the government of Nouri al-Maliki attempts to break Moqtada al-Sadr’s last stronghold and end mortar attacks on the Green Zone. Maliki also wants to end Iran’s influence in Iraq, which caused Iran to cut off security talks with Maliki and the US:

Iraqi soldiers for the first time warned residents in the embattled Sadr City district to leave their houses Thursday, signaling a new push by the U.S.-backed forces against Shiite extremist who have been waging street battles for seven weeks.

Iraqi soldiers, using loudspeakers, told residents in some virtually abandoned areas of southeastern Sadr City to go to nearby soccer stadiums, residents said. UNICEF says about 6,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Sadr City, most of them from the southeastern section.

U.S. forces have increased air power and armored patrols in an attempt to cripple Shiite militia influence in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Baghdad base for the Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The U.S. military is trying to weaken the militia’s grip in the slum and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes from Sadr City on the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and key Iraqi government offices. Link

The reporting by our esteemed left-wing media will be interesting to watch in the days ahead.

Gary Mayor Predicts Possible Indiana Shocker

Updated 11:12 p.m.By Alec MacGillis

As the fate of a nailbiter Indiana primary -- and possibly the course of the Democratic race -- hung on his city, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said just now that it might take a while yet to finish counting the vote in Lake County, which includes Gary, and said tonight his city had turned out so overwhelmingly for Barack Obama that it might just be enough to close the gap with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Let me tell you, when all the votes are counted, when Gary comes in, I think you're looking at something for the world to see," Clay, an Obama supporter, said in a telephone interview from Obama's Gary headquarters. "I don't know what the numbers are yet, but Gary has absolutely produced in large numbers for Obama here."

Clay said the results were late coming in from Lake County because of the large numbers of absentee ballots that had to be counted -- about 11,000. Under local practice, all of the cartridges from voting machines in Gary and nearby East Chicago are first collected at the local airport before being driven to the county headquarters to be tallied with the results from the rest of the county, he said. He said there were no major technical problems holding up the count.
"It takes a little time. We want to be sure that every vote is counted fair and right," he said. "I just talked to the director out there and they are working like junkyard dogs to get that done as soon as possible. They are taking some time but I told them to do it right. That's what taking the time."

Is anyone still up at CBS?

Democrats Final "Big State" Races Coming to a Close

What may look like the last chance for either Democratic candidate to move substantially ahead of the other Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton head into today's two primaries in North Carolina and Indiana hoping to make a "statement" that this race should be over.

RCP Polls this morning put Barack Obama at +8 in North Carolina and Hillary Clinton up by +5 in Indiana, which looks like if the polls are close, these two primaries will be pretty much another wash. With the exception of the obviously skewed (weighted) CBS/New York Times poll that shows both Clinton and Obama leading John McCain by double digits, the RCP shows Obama up by +1 and Clinton by +3. Throw out the CBS/NYT poll and McCain leads Obama and is dead even with Clinton. With 115 delegates up for grabs in No. Carolina and only 72 available in Indiana, Obama may very well come out of the day with a net gain in pledged delegates.

By tomorrow morning we, (the American electorate) may very well see the waters of the Democratic Party still just as muddied as the previous day. Look for the MSM to do their best to spin the results that will best fit their agenda, and ramp up their negative stories on John McCain.

I will leave this post open to additional script as the day progresses and the media rhetoric develops.........

Update: Drudge is reporting that Obama may have as much as a 15% lead over Clinton in NC. This will most likely over-shadow Clinton's percieved win in Indiana.

Update II: Zogby's latest telephone poll has Obama ahead in both states:

"The pair of surveys of the Democratic presidential contests shows Obama with a significant 14-point lead in North Carolina, winning 51% support to Hillary Clinton’s 37%. Another 12% said they were either favoring someone else or were as yet undecided. In Indiana, the race is clear as mud, as Obama holds a statistically insignificant lead of two points, winning 45% support to Clinton’s 43% support, with 12% either undecided or favoring someone else."

(it will be interesting to see where Zogby comes out here with his tele-polls)

It's the Economy Stupid --- Part 23

The New York Times may have put a little damper on CNN's producer’s agenda-driven economic tactics. CNN's "Issue # 1"----- ("it's the economy stupid") ----- that projects the doom and gloom of the nation’s economy might not have as much juice in the upcoming general election. Of course, when the "housing crisis" hit, (after four straight years of booming construction and inflated home prices finally hit it's ebb), the liberal mainstream media rode the mantra of economic doom praying for a market crash that would send us into their already proclaimed recession. Along the vain proclamation of Harry Reid’s "THE WAR IS LOST", the media's crescendo of economic disaster seems to have fizzled to the natural market forces:

Economic Clouds? Wall Street Sees Signs of Sunshine

By VIKAS BAJAJ

Published: May 2, 2008

Main Street may be struggling, but Wall Street is on a bit of a roll.
Despite a drumbeat of bad economic news, the stock market is up — almost 11 percent in the last few weeks. Junk bonds, those risky corporate I.O.U.’s, are rallying. The value of financial shares, bank loans, tricky credit derivatives — up, up, up.

Many on Wall Street, the epicenter of the credit mess, seem to think that the worst is over. For the first time in months, analysts and executives sound upbeat again. Many of them see a broad, sustained recovery in both the economy and the financial markets coming in the second half of this year, a prediction some market strategists call hopeful at best.

Of course these "strategist" could just as well be all those retired generals the MSM located that also said the war is lost.

"Financial stocks and the broader market surged on Thursday as the dollar strengthened and oil prices fell for the third day in a row. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed up 1.7 percent, to 1,409.34 points; the Dow Jones industrial average notched a 189.87-point gain, to 13,010; and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.8 percent. Another day or two like that, and those market benchmarks will be in the black for the year."

"It is a remarkable reversal in attitudes from just a few months ago, when the broader economy seemed relatively healthy but Wall Street was traumatized by billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses. Now, bankers and investors appear ready to look past the crisis to more profitable times, while consumers find themselves in a more precarious position as the job market weakens and banks make it harder to borrow money."

With the prime rate down to 2.0% it may be a bit difficult for the banks to restrict lending nor would they want to, but the Times writer here has to remain "bogged down". And as a general rule, employers cut their labor forces during the first quarter because, (also as a general rule), the volume of sales is usually at its lowest point. It’s a financial fact.

While the media's frenzy and over-reaction when an over heated economy (that left the MSM totally silent for the better part of three years) finally leveled off and corrections and profits were taken, the strength and wealth of this nation under the Bush administration policies of lower taxes and a "hands off" approach to natural market forces proves that an economy works best when the government stays out of the game. Yes, government spending policies have run amuck and need to be frozen. But if we put either Clinton or Obama into office, 800 billion in entitlement expansion and Hillary's "yes, I will raise your taxes" mentality will surely send this nations economy into a tail-spin.

While the remaining two democratic candidates march around the country proclaiming that "they will create jobs and put more people to work", neither of them realize that it is BUSINESS'S THAT CREATE JOBS THAT PUT PEOPLE TO WORK. And both them have policies they plan to enact that will be hardly business-friendly. Hillary plans to raise capital gains taxes to 39% and will not even commit to not raising payroll taxes. Both candidates plan to enact government sponsored health care plans that offer no explanation on how they are to be paid for. GUESS WHAT! ----- BUSINESSES AND AVERAGE SHAREHOLDERS OF "BIG BAD CORPORATIONS" WILL PAY FOR IT! Barack Obama claims he’s not slept since October on the Letterman Show. Putting either of these two into the White House will guarantee the people of this nation will go to bed with less money in their pockets while their socialist and redistribution of wealth policies become real nightmares.

Dear Mr. O'Reilly,

I'm having difficulty figuring out your position on Obama and Wright. You have been willing, if I am not mistaken, to give Sen. Obama a "pass" on whether he knew Wright's beliefs and the content of Wright's sermons. Last night, however, you apparently thought he made a "calculation" to sit in Rev. Wright's congregation.

I cannot understand why you are so credulous at a claim that is clearly incredible. (Don't take my word for it; ask Juan Williams.) Sen. Obama and Rev. Wright go together to the Million Man March, and we are supposed to believe that it was just this past weekend that the Senator discovered the Reverend's admiration for Farrakhan? It's really worse than this.

We are supposed to believe that Sen. Obama attends the church for 20 years and never once hears of the Black Liberation Theology that so animates the Rev. Wright. Sean Hannity has the Rev. Wright on for 5 minutes, and the Reverend is demanding of Mr. Hannity if he has ever read James Cone, and that unless Mr. Hannity knows the content of Black Liberation Theology, Mr. Hannity really isn't an informed interviewer. Yet, we're supposed to believe that the Reverend never makes the same demand of Sen. Obama? So, you really think, Mr. O'Reilly, that Sen. Obama is brought to Jesus by the Reverend, attends for 20 years, gives 25,000 to the church, receives a monthly newsletter, is married in the Reverend's church, has his daughters baptized there, prays privately with Rev. Wright before his presidential bid announcement, and the good Reverend never once says, "Barack, here's what we believe at Trinity...." And just so all we know exactly what it is that Sen. Obama didn't know until recently, and you apparently are more than willing to believe he didn't know, here is James Cone:

"Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community ... Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy."

I've known my Pastor only through his sermons and for far less than 20 years, and I know how he feels about abortion, the war, adultery, loving one's neighbor -- and I most certainly know that he does not believe that God is against anyone because of their skin color.

Now, you said on your show last night that the Reverend is a smart man, that he could figure out that he was damaging the Senator's campaign. And the Senator is not a smart man? He couldn't figure out in 20 years what the beliefs were of his chosen church? Your view is that he made a calculation? A calculation about what -- that he could sit in a church, whose Pastor held such beliefs, and not be expected to answer for it?

And here's why it still matters, despite your apparent claim that the Senator has now done what he needed to do. Sen. Obama may have now "disowned" Rev. Wright, something we were told he couldn't do. But he has yet to be honest about what he knew and when he knew of the beliefs of his Pastor. Unless, of course, you want us to have the same credulity that you seem to have about this matter. Yet the credibility of a candidate is extremely relevant to his bid for president. If we can't trust the Senator about something that he says go to the core of who he is, why should we trust him on anything else?

It's clear you would like the Senator to appear on your program. But you've always promised your listeners and viewers that the "spin stops here." Mr. O'Reilly, you may not be spinning, but your view sure looks like you are sliding all over the place. Mr. O'Reilly, tell your viewers clearly whether you think that Sen. Obama knew his chosen Pastor was racist and anti-American before well before 2008.

(author to be posted at a later date)

EARTHQUAKE!!! 5.3 ------ EUREKA, CA.

Version #3: This report supersedes any earlier reports of this event.This is a computer-generated message. This event has not yet been reviewed by a seismologist.

A moderate earthquake occurred at 8:03:06 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, April 29, 2008.The magnitude 5.2 event occurred 18 km (11 miles) ESE of Willow Creek, CA.The hypocentral depth is 18 km (11 miles).

Magnitude
5.2 - regional moment magnitude (Mw)

Time
Tuesday, April 29, 2008 at 8:03:06 PM (PDT)

Depth
26.3 km (16.3 miles)

Distance from

Willow Creek, CA - 18 km (11 miles) ESE (114 degrees)Blue Lake, CA - 42 km (26 miles) E (97 degrees)Hayfork, CA - 42 km (26 miles) NW (315 degrees)Eureka, CA - 56 km (35 miles) E (85 degrees)Sacramento, CA - 307 km (191 miles) NW (326 degrees)

I guess the Reno fellas didn't get around to reading this one. ?

Although this one was 35 miles away, I was holding on to my tv set (that sits on a four foot stand) and was moving about a foot back and forth. This was nothing compared to the 1989 quakes that hit 6.8 and followed with two 6.2's four hours apart. Most of our quakes occur off the coast here where we have a couple of major fault lines. The fact that this one was inland make me a little nervous about the next one.

"Perfect Storm" Continues.........

As Hillary Clinton defeated Barak Obama last night in Pennsylvania the Republican Party can't help but be pleased to see a Democratic nomination race continue as the two candidates march on to another primary and another round of self-denigration.

"This is exactly what I was afraid was going to happen," said Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat who has not endorsed anyone in the race. "They are going to just keep standing there and pounding each other and bloodying each other, and no one is winning. It underlines the need to find some way to bring this to conclusion."

Clinton got what she needed, (with a 55% to 45% ten point advantage), to continue her stance that she can win the "big" states necessary to win the electoral college votes in November. Clinton's problem, (and Obama's), is neither candidate appears to have the ability to convince the super-delegates to put an end to the race. As it stands right now, if either candidate gets the boot by the super-D's there will be just enough disenfranchisement in the general election to put John McCain in the White House. From today's New York Times:

"The results of the exit poll, conducted at 40 precincts across Pennsylvania by Edison/Mitofsky for the television networks and The Associated Press, also found stark evidence that Mr. Obama’s race could be a problem in the general election. Sixteen percent of white voters said race mattered in deciding who they voted for, and just 54 percent of those voters said they would support Mr. Obama in a general election; 27 percent of them said they would vote for Mr. McCain if Mr. Obama was the Democratic nominee, and 16 percent said they would not vote at all."

And from the Washington Post:

Gov. Edward G. Rendell, Clinton's top supporter in the state, described the victory at a post-election rally as an "earthquake" that would change the dynamic of the Democratic race. It came as a huge relief for Clinton aides, who say their only chance of an upset is to run off a string of triumphs.

Yet it was a relief for the Obama campaign, too. The senator from Illinois denied Clinton an overwhelming landslide in a state that played to her demographic strengths, with its many working-class, elderly and Catholic voters, and it put her back on uphill terrain. Obama continues to hold a huge financial advantage and a lead in pledged delegates that will be almost impossible for Clinton to surpass in the few contests that remain.

While all this is transpiring, the New York Times and the LA Times continue their own process of vetting McCain smear stories to see which ones will be worth re-publishing during the general election. So far, throwing mud on a military veteran that has far better national security and foreign policy credentials than the other two "cut 'n run" defeatist just doesn't seem to stick. Even the fragile economic concerns can not be shouldered completely by the Republican Administration when the Democratic Party will have been in control of the House and the Senate for almost two years by November. Pelosi and Reid have wasted too much time with over eight hundred over-sight hearings and surrender/retreat legislation to prove they can do the job they were elected to do, which was to solve the nations domestic ills. Instead, their partisan politics has destroyed much of their party's credibility. So much for the "new direction" promises the democrats made to the electorate that brought them into power. And now they have this "perfect storm" to deal with.

Raincoats and Popcorn required.

Update: The Dean 25 (credentials committee) is now kicking in the Michigan/Florida debacle into the "storm". This may be the makings for a hollywood script. Given the anti-war crap that flopped bigtime over the past year, the "producers" may have to give this a serious look.

Art Downs at Common Sense Political Thought puts the Obama-Clinton debacle in historical perspective.


The Apotheosis of Obama

April 21st, 2008 by Art Downs

There are often hints as the hype-mongers prepare to pull another fast one on the public. This is most often observed in the entertainment world as well as the mass-marketing of a product. Presidential candidates are usually the product of a seasoning process rather than the result of some ‘teaser’ type ad or catchy media blitz. Our campaigns have had their songs, images, and slogans but they were adornments rather than the basic product.

Our earliest presidential candidates were chosen by the respective party caucus and this seemed to leave the choice to the insiders. The ‘era of good feeling’ that followed the War of 1812 saw partisanship vanish on a National basis but the campaign of 1824 put an end to kinder and gentler politics when four contenders from the only National party fought it out in a contest where the first runner-up (John Quincy Adams) beat the Jackson and initiated four years of bitter complaining by the unselected candidate. The result was a party split and the birth of the Whig............Link

Cash Cow vs. National Security
House of Representatives-­Lawyers Lobby Holding Up Surveillance Bill

Saturday, April 12, 2008
by Rovin

Our House on Friday passed their version of the Terrorist Surveillance Bill leaving out the crucial text that protects communication companies from getting sued when they cooperated with the government after 9/11. There are currently over 40 lawsuits (in the billions) pending against the companies that could bring in millions for individuals and attorneys claiming that the wire-taps were illegally authorized by our government. President Bush plans to veto this version of the bill if it reach’s his desk.

WASHINGTON-AP - The House on Friday approved a Democratic bill that would set rules for the government's eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails inside the United States.

The bill, approved as lawmakers departed for a two-week break, faces a veto threat from President Bush. The margin of House approval was 213-197, largely along party lines.

Because of the promised veto, "this vote has no impact at all," said Republican Whip Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri.

The president's main objection is that the bill does not protect from lawsuits the telecommunications companies that allowed the government to eavesdrop on their customers without a court's permission after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. White House spokesman Tony Fratto called the measure a "political ploy" designed to give Democrats cover for their failure to grant full retroactive immunity to the telecom companies.

The vote sent the bill to the Senate, which has passed its own version that includes the legal immunity for telecom companies that Bush is demanding.

Without that provision, House Republicans said, the companies won't cooperate with U.S. intelligence....... Link to full story

While Nancy Pelosi and her powerful lawyers lobby continue to play games with our national security for monetary gain, our communication companies are left high and dry by being subjected to civil lawsuits. This was the same surveillance that prevented the London bombers plot to blow up planes crossing over the Atlantic.

For the record, the Democrats are claiming that they are protecting constitutional civil rights as their reason for leaving out the protections to the telecoms. While it’s ok for the government to pick up the tab on social service programs to the tune of billions, it’s apparently not ok to intercept phone conversations that plot to blow up Americans.

We should all thank Nancy and her party for looking out for our best interest.

San Francisco Protesters Get "Torched" by Route Change

AP and Washington Post Spin Troop Reductions Story

Meanwhile Pelosi and the Dumbocrats in the House continue their moonbattery:

"As Congress prepares to take up a new war spending bill, House Democratic defense appropriators agreed this week on three policy prescriptions: a government-wide ban on torture, a mandate that soldiers and Marines be given at least a month at home for every month in combat, and a withdrawal timetable that would be longer than past failed efforts and that would explicitly leave the details of withdrawal to military commanders."

While General Petraeus, Ambasador Crocker, and our President are all on the same page in protecting the gains made over the past seventeen months that have turned the corner in violence in Iraq, our Democratic "leadership" continues down the road of surrender and defeatism while pandering to their radical left anti-war crowd.

Angry Journalist

As CBS cuts jobs in their news division, there's a new website for the disgruntled journalist to vent their frustrations. Too bad they just don't get it------that they are catering to only half this nation with their liberal bias while blaming the Internet.


Angry journalists vent their frustrations to the world

They're angry at their demanding editors. They're angry about the mushrooming workload in shrinking newsrooms. They're even angry about other angry journalists.

But these angry journalists are happy they can now vent their frustrations to the rest of the world, courtesy of angryjournalist.com, a sort of online complaint board allowing ink-stained wretches to gripe anonymously.

Ironically, their anger is partly fueled by the Internet, which has forced newspapers and television networks to reinvent themselves with painful consequences for their staffs.

Here's a sampling of comments posted to this story:

4. Steve C. April 1st, 2008 - 9:00 pm

Hey, CBS just laid off a load of people today. You want to get angry guys? How about directing your anger at the management that allows you to produce that biased crap you try to pawn off as journalism. This ain’t rocket science fellas. The quality of journalism is a joke. Everyone knows it but you. And for the love of god,stop blaming the Internet. We go to the Internet because newspapers and network news are not doing their job, period.

Hey, if you don’t like your jobs, maybe you could go to Hollywood and write some more of those anti-war movies. They keep making them and they all do so well. Hundreds of people have seen them.

3. Jon April 1st, 2008 - 8:56 pm

Oh…poor baby print journalists - grow up!! The world is changing at breakneck speed - oh sorry, that was the print journalism ‘profession’ the online world just passed by…I, for one, am delighted not to have to put up with the vile anti-American garbage from NYTimes, LA Times, etc. who all take their cues from whoever is angry with the US (i.e. Castro, Chavez, Ahmedijad, etc.)…perhaps your rags will be recycled into a proper use - say, toilet paper…long live online!!

7. K. West April 1st, 2008 - 9:55 pm

If journalists weren’t mostly liberal morons who are more interested in promoting their agenda than in reporting the news, they might still have a job. RIP, dead tree news.

9. brian April 1st, 2008 - 10:20 pm

WAIT a minute !! Isnt this supposed to be a recession made up by the media? HMMM the plot thickens!!

11. G. MAN April 1st, 2008 - 10:34 pm

Hey Left Wing Media,If you got off your tail and told both sides, instead of trying to push your left wing agenda down our throats, you might have a job. You are getting what you deserve!!!You need to be fair on both sides. The news people need to investigate the Democrats the same way they do the Republicans. The media should not have an agenda, but you do. You are in the tank for the Democrats.You guys wonder why advertising is down, circulation is down, it’s simple, you don’t tell the truth, ( DAN RATHER) and you only tell half the truth. It’s easy, JUST BE FAIR and you will have a job. If you keep going the way you are, you will all be out of a job. I can’t understand why someone at the N.Y. Times or the L.A. Times, can’t see this. After all the business the major newspapers in this country have lost, you would think it would be easy to see. You are playing to only half of the country with you left wing agenda. Right wing people can read also, but they don’t want to read left wing garbage.

12. Parker April 1st, 2008 - 11:12 pm

Most journalists and editors are left leaning because only leftist ideologues could put up with the horse manure that passes as a "humanities" education these days. (Hint: conservatives are driven out, denied scholarships, made to feel unwelcome in humanities departments - leaving almost only liberals in the journalism and teaching professions).

Why? Because 60’s generation leftists monopolize 99% of the humanities departments, teachers schools and journalism schools across the nation.

Cultural relativism, race and ethnic identity obsession, anti-Americanism, fascist feminism, pro-terrorist Middle East studies - a regular circus of PC, cult of victimization nitwits.

15. Justy April 2nd, 2008 - 12:46 am

Well it’s their own damn fault. When you only cater to 50% of your potential audience you only require 50% of the staff.

16. Mike April 2nd, 2008 - 1:10 am

Try as I might (granted, I’m not trying very hard)I can muster absolutely no sympathy for these self-described " journalists". The vast majority are nothing more than shills for the political left, "useful idiots" who hold themselves and their own views in high esteem. Perhaps if they even approached objectivity, there might be a market for them. The thinking portion of the populace wants facts, not agenda-based opinion reported as fact.

23. Mark April 2nd, 2008 - 3:21 am

I’d ask all of you journalist-bashing posters how they’d feel if they lost their jobs… but then I realized, you’re most likely unemployable losers anyway so you wouldn’t be able to answer.

24. brian April 2nd, 2008 - 3:26 am

I hope you are all replaced by minimum waged illegal aliens, the ones you have so desperately supporting.

25. al vander stoep April 2nd, 2008 - 3:29 am

There isn’t too much to add. Normal Americans are tired of having their country and morals trashed by a bunch of gutless liberals who will write anything to keep their propaganda jobs. Good luck in the real world, liars.

Mark (in comment #23 bolded) must be one of those poor souls that doesn't get the point that so many others are writing about-----and resorts to what a good DUer or a KOS kid would do when they can't win (or debate an argument) by attacking the messenger.

The sad facts are that the mainstream media is becoming neither when they proceed to advocate their left-wing liberal agenda and call it "journalism".

Update: I found a fair assessment of what a journalist has become in this Angry Journalist post:

Angry Journalist #2786:

I am glad to see journalists lose their jobs. Today’s journalists are no longer unbiased, impartial, or the guarantors of democracy in their role as the fourth estate.Instead, today’s journalists are extremely liberal and seem to be social engineers rather than journalists. They persecute religious beliefs, give a free pass to politicians they agree with, and try to dictate morality and social norms by altering the public’s perception of the issues of the day. Illegal immigration is okay, abortion is good, religion is bad, Bush is a liar, Clinton is great, porn is okay, censorship of any kind is bad, etc. Why don’t journalists just report the facts, and let the readers interpret things for themselves? The success of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, et al, should be a lesson for them. Not that Fox is entirely unbiased either; but Fox is a backlash to the liberal agenda pushed on the public by the mainstream media. But do they get it? No. Americans like traditional values and want to see their traditional values embraced in the mainstream media. “Oh, traditional values? So you want segregation back and you want women confined to the kitchen?” NO, damn it, no. It is the common refrain of the liberal media to characterize traditional conservatives as wanting to turn back the clock and bring back all kinds of social and economic evils.We just want the truth and we want love of family, God and country to remain the cornerstone of our lives. Instead, we feel very much on the defensive regarding upholding and keeping these values.But most of all, I am glad journalists are losing their jobs because while they are becoming INCREASINGLY liberal, they deny the charge of liberal bias even MORE loudly. How dare they? How can journalists be so blind to their own bias? Or perhaps they are not blind — perhaps they think the general public is stupid enough to accept their denials of liberal bias. We are not stupid. And now you are out of a job. Good riddance to you all.

Stupid is------as stupid does................

I can raise more money, (and spend it), better than you can.

In today's New York Times, (front page), two writers attempt to pose the short-failings of John McCain's fund raising capabilities. Some how raising more money, (and spending it faster than it comes in), shows "Presidential" qualities:

McCain Faces Test in Wooing Elite Donors

By MICHAEL LUO and GRIFF PALMER
Published: March 31, 2008

With attention focused on the Democrats’ infighting for the presidential nomination, Senator John McCain is pressing ahead to the general election but has yet to sign up one critical constituency: the big-money people who powered the Bush fund-raising machine.

Poor fund-raising nearly forced Mr. McCain from the race last summer, but it began to improve after his candidacy gathered momentum in January, helping him bring in almost $12 million that month. But he brought in slightly less in February, about $11 million, according to the latest filings to the Federal Election Commission.

In comparison, on the Democratic side, Senator Barack Obama raised $55 million in February and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton collected $36 million. As of the end of February, Mr. McCain had collected about $60 million in contributions over all, while Mr. Obama has raised the most of any candidate with nearly $200 million.............LINK

The New York Times thinks "elite money" is what makes for a good President. But who could be surprised at this articles intention, coming from the "queen of elite-grayed lady". What the Times (timely) does is release this story before more positive fund raising figures are released for March, which will show McCain gaining financial support from the various party fundraisers that have been reserved up till now. While the Times points out the huge difference between McCain and his Democratic foes, they also fail to mention how much money is left in Obama’s or Clintons coffers. It should also be pointed out that if these two can spend the vast amounts of millions of other Democratic “supporters” money ravaging each other, what would either one of them do with a fragile national treasury, (if elected). One has to wonder how much money will be left available when the Democratic candidates "sort out" who will lead their party into the general election, and how much will be left to draw from the same "wells" they have drained during the elimination process.

Removing Saddam Was A Bipartisan Effort----Attempts to re-write history is not!

Speaking of Memory Losses................Here's a Hillary Brain Fart:

Is this the "Day One" we are looking for?

RovinsWorld will be taking this week off to work on our local Jazz Festival......I'm the Band Driver Coordinator and a Board Member.

Reuters is hurting for news:

Small bomb explodes in Yemen market

ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - A small bomb exploded in a market in Yemen's southern port city of Aden on Wednesday but caused no casualties, witnesses said, a day after three mortars hit a school near the U.S. embassy in Sanaa.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the bomb, which went off near a bank, but residents said that the market was not busy at the time.

Correction: Turns out it was just our camerman passing gas. Sorry.

Revelation! -------- Paul Krugman Has a Good Point

Paul Krugman, the op-ed columnist at the New York Times wrote a piece yesterday that I find little fault within most of its context:

The B Word
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: March 17, 2008

O.K., here it comes: The unthinkable is about to become the inevitable.

Last week, Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, and John Lipsky, a top official at the International Monetary Fund, both suggested that public funds might be needed to rescue the U.S. financial system. Mr. Lipsky insisted that he wasn’t talking about a bailout. But he was.

It’s true that Henry Paulson, the current Treasury secretary, still says that any proposal to use taxpayers’ money to help resolve the crisis is a "non-starter." But that’s about as credible as all of his previous pronouncements on the financial situation.

So here’s the question we really should be asking: When the feds do bail out the financial system, what will they do to ensure that they aren’t also bailing out the people who got us into this mess?
Let’s talk about why a bailout is inevitable.

Between 2002 and 2007, false beliefs in the private sector — the belief that home prices only go up, that financial innovation had made risk go away, that a triple-A rating really meant that an investment was safe — led to an epidemic of bad lending. Meanwhile, false beliefs in the political arena — the belief of Alan Greenspan and his friends in the Bush administration that the market is always right and regulation always a bad thing — led Washington to ignore the warning signs.
LINK (registration may be required)

Also from Mr. Krugman:

"As I said, the important thing is to bail out the system, not the people who got us into this mess. That means cleaning out the shareholders in failed institutions, making bondholders take a haircut, and canceling the stock options of executives who got rich playing heads I win, tails you lose."

This is by far one of the toughest things I have ever done in my short three year stint of blogging. I agree with 90% of what Mr. Krugman has written here. (cough, cough!) Ouch, that hurts. Mr. Krugman is the epitome of the socialist leftist experiment and has had a pulpit to preach from for over a decade. While Mr. Krugman generally puts his party's affiliation and ideology ahead of what is in the best interest of the whole nation, in this isolated instance, I believe Mr. Krugman is right about the procedures that allowed a portion of the financial institutions to grant unqualified loans to far too many borrowers that should never have been considered. It is this policy, ("system"), that is currently choking a free market system that should in its own right be made to shoulder the burden of correction. Once again, the over-extension of credit to the general population has come home to roost and the "piper" must be paid. But who's the piper?

With the Fed setting precedence here by stepping in and backing the debt of Bear Stearns, it appears that it will be the tax payer that will ultimately pay this debt. How many other financial institutions will line up for the "bail-out" is any one's guess. Meanwhile the housing market will remain in a flux mode because stiffer restrictions must be used in the lending practices of the banking industry. And. I'm not comfortable if the restrictions are "self-implemented" when the industry itself could not show restraints in the past. If the Federal Reserve is going into the business of financial lending, they should also be expected to provide restrictions and at the same time demand interest on their "investments". Any other course would be just a recycle of the same mess they participated in that got us to this point.

Private Failings-----Spitzer Resigns

"I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me," he said during the 11:45 a.m. announcement. His wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, stood by his side in a similar fashion to his first public comments Monday, appearing tired and visibly upset."To every New Yorker and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for," he said. "There is much to be done, and I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people's work........ Link

What has become one of the biggest news storys of 2008, Mr. Spitzer's "private failings" will be examined for weeks ahead. What Client Number Nine does from here will more likely be in the private sector while he deals with his failure to his wife and family.

Now back to the economy stupid...........

And the Loser is.......Client Number Nine

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring

By DANNY HAKIM and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: March 10, 2008

ALBANY - Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month, according to a person briefed on the federal investigation. LINK

NY Gov Apologizes, but Quiet on Scandal

Allahpundit at Hot Air has details and comment

Expected to Resign............

Details ahead.........

John McCain Wins General Election-------By Default
by Scrapple-Rovin

November 5th, 2008

John McCain has been declared the official winner of the general election by default after the Democratic Party failed to field a candidate. Howard Dean, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman said it was a shame that his party could not find a solution to their nominating process. Even after the Democrats late August convention in Denver failed to produce a definitive choice to run against McCain, most of the party leaders thought their judicial process with top paid lawyers would solve the dilemma, but suits and counter suits ended up only filling the lawyers pockets while the deadline came and went. Many party insiders say the biggest flaw was the party taking their argument to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that had the reputation of writing opinions that even the Supreme Court could not decipher. The final blow to the party was when,(for the third time) the Supreme Court, (by a 9-0 decision) sent the decision back to the Ninth Circuit for further clarification. The Ninth said they could not return a verdict until after the return from their Thanksgiving break.

Dean said this would have never happened if the Clintons had not challenged the decision at the convention that handed Barak Obama the nomination. "I never imagined that those two morons would take the DNC to court over this process, and taking this to the Ninth Circuit was a kiss of death", Dean said.

Obama had come into the convention with a 140 delegate lead and 50 million lead in the popular vote. Obama's staff had indicated it was prepared to offer Mrs. Clinton the number two slot to solidify the party's chances in the general election, but the papers filed on the last day of the convention by the Clintons took that offer off the table. "I had "hoped" that we finally had an opportunity to "change" the partys direction, but those damned attournys had to get into the mix" said Obama.

President McCain and Vice President Bruce Willis will be sworn in on January 20th.

In other news, with the death of Osama Bin Laden and the surrender of Al Qaida in both Iraq and Pakistan, General Petraeus has announced that troop withdrawals will be accelerated to bring almost 80% of military home before Valentines Day. A ticker tape parade is scheduled in New York to celebrate the victory. The now defunct New York Times said the will publish a one time edition to cover the parade, but they would only use inbed reporters that they had recruited from Al Jazeera . Outgoing President George Bush said the part time employment of Mareen Dowd and Paul Krugman at Bush's Crawford ranch would depend on their ability to shovel horse shit. "I'm encouraged by their level of talent here", said Bush.

Update: It's being reported that the former states of Michigan and Florida may get around to re-voting to re-ratify their inclusion back into the United States after ceeding from the Union last summer. Both former governors implied that they preferred to move the dates of the ratification ahead of the schedule to resume their respective relevance according the the newly formed Election Workers Union.

(Rovin is on vacation)

Media Distortions on the Economy


Tom Blummer at Newsbusters writes about the distortions the media is putting out:

"It is reports like the one written up by Shobhana Chandra at Bloomberg yesterday on household net worth that make you wonder if everyday US citizens will ever get the information needed to accurately evaluate what's going on in the economy without doing more digging than they have time for -- or that they should even have to do":

U.S. Household Worth Fell for First Time Since 2002 (Update2)

U.S. household wealth fell in the fourth quarter for the first time in five years and borrowing slowed as home values plunged and lenders restricted credit, Federal Reserve figures show.

Net worth for households decreased by $532.9 billion from the previous three months, the first decline since the third quarter of 2002, according to the Fed's quarterly Flow of Funds report today. Housing-related net worth dropped by $176.4 billion.

Lower home and stock prices and reduced access to loans are prompting Americans to spend less and are driving up foreclosures. A slowdown in consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy, threatens to push the U.S. into a recession.

Incredibly, Chandra never told us what total US household net worth is, only supplying the amount of the decrease. Of course, many readers will see the $532.9 billion decline, a very big number, and think the worst -- that our portfolios are disappearing, that our homes are becoming worthless, and that the economy is irretrievably going into the tank (Was that the point, Ms. Chandra?).

Additionally, Chandra never told us what has happened to household net worth between the third quarter of 2002, the last time it declined, and the most recently reported quarter.

Here are the key numbers Chandra failed to report, including what has happened to household net worth in the past five years:

Household net worth at the end of 2007 was $57.7 trillion.

The $532.9 billion decline during the fourth quarter was a "whopping" 0.91% drop from the third-quarter peak of $58.25 trillion. It's a little difficult to make the case for a "threatened recession" based on such a small decline.

Here is how household net worth grew from 2002 to 2007:




Household net worth has increased over 47% since 2002 (about 27% after inflation during those years) -- and we're supposed to be breaking into a cold sweat because of a one-quarter decline of less than 1%?

Omitting the three items just noted borders on journalistic malpractice -- on the wrong side of the border..........Read the whole story here

I Smell a Rat

Literally, I do smell a rat. We discovered an infestation of rats last week near my place and the owner of the property put some bait out. Unfortunatley, one of the critters must have crawled up into the side of my wall and died.

Now the other part of the rat-smelling may belong to the producers of the Kingdom. While Reuters never seems to publish one positive accomplishment that goes on in Iraq, they do get the "if it bleeds" part down:

Baghdad blast toll rises, deadliest for months

By Michael Holden

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi police said on Friday 68 people were killed in coordinated bombings blamed on al Qaeda in a packed shopping area in central Baghdad on Thursday, making it the deadliest attack in the Iraqi capital for nine months.........link

Iraqi and U.S. officials said a roadside bomb had exploded first in Baghdad's mainly Shi'ite Karrada district, which was crowded with shoppers and vendors on Thursday evening.
Minutes later, as Iraqi security forces and locals gathered to tend to casualties, a second, larger bomb exploded. Women and children were among the casualties.

Police and the U.S. military said they believed the second blast was caused by a suicide bomber but Iraqi security officials said it appeared to have been another bomb planted at the scene.

(Gee wiz....let me guess.....where have we seen a version of this production before? Would the first ten minutes of the Kingdom work for the terrorist who start with a smaller explosion, (or attack), and then work up to the big one that takes out medical responders, investigators, and more people trying to identify their loved ones?)

(Even the synopsis leaves out a "small" tidbit of info on how the terrorist succeed after their initial attack----the second planted explosive goes off after the first attack when medical responders and investigators are on the scene, including FBI agents......nice job providing terrorist with the "one-two" punch for effectiveness)

Perhaps Hollywood can come up with some more splendid plots to help the terrorist write their real life story's of mayhem and catastrophes?

Reuters did find a way to bury the good new in this story too:

It was against the background of improving security that General David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, announced plans to withdraw five of the 20 U.S. brigades operating in Iraq.

That would mean overall U.S. troop levels falling from around 160,000 to about 140,000. On Thursday, the U.S. military said the second of those returning brigades, totaling some 2,000 soldiers, was leaving Baghdad as part of the draw down.

Earth to liberal Democrats--------troops are coming home-----victorious.

Pro Golfer Apologizes for Killing Hawk

By TRAVIS REED
Associated Press Writer

Is there something a little fishy about how Mr. Reed writes this story?

Isenhour started again when the hawk moved within about 75 yards, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer Brian Baine indicated in a report.

Isenhour allegedly said, "I'll get him now," and aimed for the hawk.

"About the sixth ball came very near the bird's head, and (Isenhour) was very excited that it was so close," Baine wrote.

A few shots later, witnesses said he hit the hawk. The bird, protected as a migratory species, fell to the ground bleeding from both nostrils.

"He just kept saying how he didn't think he could have hit it, which I think is a stupid thing for a PGA Tour golfer to say," Senger said. "He can put a ball in a hole from hundreds of yards away, and here he is hitting line drives at something that's, I don't know, a couple hundred feet away?"

Let's see......75 yards times 3 feet per yard comes out to 225 feet. Most of the best pros in the world at 75 yards away may put a golf ball within five feet of the hole on a putting green. Hitting the shot fifty times from the same location a pro may get within a foot or two. After Tripp Isenhour's ninth shot (attempting to hit line drives) he nails the bird dead on? I think the military should sign this guy up to hit hand grenades into enemy fortresses with this kind of accuracy. Now for the record, I'm not condoning the "results" of Isenhour's shot-making abilities-------but I do question the implication by the writer and Mr. Senger that Isenhour was deliberately attempting to kill the bird. The top twenty pros in the world could have fired over a hundred golf balls at this bird and would not have achieved the same result.

This is the Leadership Promised on Day One

The Washington Post releases a five page story about the inner workings of the Clinton campaign and the utter chaos of the "organization":


Even in Victory, Clinton Team Is Battling Itself

By Peter Baker and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, March 6, 2008; Page A01

For the bruised and bitter staff around Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Tuesday's death-defying victories in the Democratic presidential primaries in Ohio and Texas proved sweet indeed. They savored their wins yesterday, plotted their next steps and indulged in a moment of optimism. "She won't be stopped," one aide crowed.

And then Clinton's advisers turned to their other goal: denying Mark Penn credit.

With a flurry of phone calls and e-mail messages that began before polls closed, campaign officials made clear to friends, colleagues and reporters that they did not view the wins as validation for the candidate's chief strategist. "A lot of people would still like to see him go," a senior adviser said.

The depth of hostility toward Penn even in a time of triumph illustrates the combustible environment within the Clinton campaign, an operation where internal strife and warring camps have undercut a candidate once seemingly destined for the Democratic nomination. Clinton now faces the challenge of exploiting this moment of opportunity while at the same time deciding whether the squabbling at her Arlington headquarters has become a distraction that requires her intervention.

Many of her advisers are waging a two-front war, one against Sen. Barack Obama and the second against one another, but their most pressing challenge is figuring out why Clinton won in Ohio and Texas and trying to duplicate it. While Penn sees his strategy as a reason for the victories that have kept her candidacy alive, other advisers attribute the wins to her perseverance, favorable demographics and a new campaign manager. Clinton won "despite us, not because of us," one said.

Sifting through the data yesterday, her divided circle offered other theories. Some credit field operatives who set up organizations in record time. Others cite strong Hispanic outreach in South Texas that held off a late Obama push. And even some Penn opponents grudgingly cite his television commercial that asked which Democrat is more prepared for a 3 a.m. crisis call at the White House.

In the days leading up to the Ohio and Texas contests, Clinton presented herself as the victim of media bias and displayed a sense of humor on "Saturday Night Live" at the same time her staff was holding daily conference calls attacking Obama on his trade record and for his ties to an indicted real estate developer. The yin-yang approach -- going positive and negative at the same time -- may not have been deliberate, but it seemed to work.

"There has been a long-term disagreement on strategy over whether to focus on character . . . or raising questions about Senator Obama," said one top Clinton aide who was at the core of the fight. "What's happened over the last two weeks is we've done both."

One of Clinton's favorite books is "Team of Rivals," Doris Kearns Goodwin's account of Abraham Lincoln's Cabinet, and she assembled her own team of advisers knowing their mutual enmity in the belief that good ideas come from vigorous discussion. But while many campaigns are beset by backbiting and power struggles, dozens of interviews indicate that the internal problems endured by the Clinton team have been especially corrosive.

They fought over Penn's strategy of presenting Clinton as a strong commander in chief rather than trying to humanize her, as aides such as admaker Mandy Grunwald and chief spokesman Howard Wolfson wanted to do. They fought over deployment of assets and dwindling resources, pointing fingers over the failure to field organizations in many states. They fought over how to handle former president Bill Clinton and his habit of drifting away from his talking points into provocative territory.

At the center of much of this turmoil has been Penn, the rumpled, brusque, numbers-crunching strategist respected even by his foes for his intelligence, if not his social graces. A trusted adviser to the Clintons since helping orchestrate Bill Clinton's reelection campaign in 1996, Penn mapped out a strategy emphasizing strength and experience but, in the view of critics, did not adjust adequately when it became clear that voters wanted change.

"I think about all camps think it's Mark's fault," said a Clinton White House veteran close to the campaign. "I don't think there is a Mark camp." Another person who has advised the senator from New York said: "Penn should have been let go. He failed the campaign in developing a message and evolving the message as things changed." ....Link to full story

And this is just the beginning of a five page story of the carnage and dissension within the Clinton Machines hallowed workings. It gets much worse by page four:

"Ickes was characteristically blunt on the conference call after Super Tuesday. It was quite likely that Clinton would lose the next 11 contests, colleagues recall him saying. Cecil had submitted plans for post-Feb. 5 states, but they had been rejected. The campaign had not initially thought the nomination battle would go beyond Super Tuesday and it was out of cash. "We were running on fumes," one aide said.

Nerves were raw by this point. Penn and Grunwald engaged in a 15-minute squabble that later made it into the media over which ad to run in Virginia. He wanted an ominous one called "Freefall" that warned of bad economic times, while she wanted one called "Can Do" featuring the candidate talking against patriotic music about solving problems. Cecil grew so exasperated, he stood up and left. "This is ridiculous," he said, according to people in the room. "You guys need to grow up. You're acting like kids. I've got work to do."

A more explosive example of the stress came a few days later. Phil Singer, the campaign's deputy communications director, emerged from a meeting on Feb. 11 and without explanation started angrily cursing the war room. "[Expletive] all of you," he shouted, according to a witness, then stormed out and did not return for several days.

Penn was growing increasingly aggravated by what he saw as an untenable management structure, which another aide described as an "oligarchy at the top." Penn had no real people of his own on the inside and chafed whenever Solis Doyle or Ickes got involved in his sphere. At one point, he and Ickes, who have been battling each other within the Clinton orbit for a dozen years, lost their tempers during a conference call, according to two participants.

"[Expletive] you!" Ickes shouted.
"[Expletive] you!" Penn replied.
"[Expletive] you!" Ickes shouted again.

Can we just imagine for a moment-------- (Hillary Clinton is the POTUS)---------there's a REAL crisis going on and the safety and security of the nation depends on a decisive and punctual response. There's no way a timely decision can be made in this Clinton White House because no one has gotten passed their egos, and Bill's in one of the rooms that's got a "keep-out" sign on the door. In all this confusion, a terrorist slips through the cracks of a weakened CIA and presto!, another New York building comes crashing down----------in the distance some one hears the faint sound of a phone still ringing. Ring-----ring------ring................ And it's only DAY ONE.

(Tomorrow, I will put Mr. Obama in the White House to be fair and balanced)

Fasten Your Seatbelts and Assume the Position!




(Hat Tip Allahpundit)

United States Ship New York (LPD-21), a San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock, is the fifth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the state of New York. The ship is designed to deliver a fully-equipped battalion of 700 Marines.

Shortly after 11 September 2001, Governor of New York George E. Pataki wrote a letter to Secretary of the Navy Gordon England requesting that the Navy bestow the name USS New York on a surface warship involved in the War on Terror in honor of September 11's victims. In his letter, the Governor said he understood state names are currently reserved for submarines, but asked for special consideration so the name could be given to a surface ship. The request was approved 28 August 2002.

Oddly enough, a previous holder of the name, USS New York (BB-34), had its keel laid on September 11, 1911, exactly 90 years to the day before the WTC was attacked.

Twenty-four tons of the steel used in its construction came from the small amount of rubble from the World Trade Center actually preserved for posterity. Steel from the World Trade Center was melted down in a foundry in Amite, Louisiana to cast the ship's bow section. It was poured into the molds on September 9, 2003. With seven tons melted down and cast to form the ship's "stem bar" — part of the ship's bow.[1] The shipyard workers reportedly treated it with "reverence usually accorded to religious relics", gently touching it as they walked by.[2] LINK

I don't know what's worse-----700 cranky Marines on a ship like this or the havoc they can cause once they hit land.