Links and Minifeatures 2008 06 06 (D-Day plus 64 years)

Obama throws another associate under the bus: This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew

Rev. Wright, William Ayers, his grandmother, now Tony Rezko. The gang is all there, under the bus. As Powerline notes, he's used that phrase before.

Is there anyone whom he won't use that phrase on eventually, and can we risk a president who is this naive?

By the way, I searched for that quote on both AP and Reuters, without results. Long time close personal, political and financial associate of major politician found guilty on 16 felonies, and they don't report the politician's reaction?

Ed Morrissey has much more.

Senate committee highlights "untrue" statements later proved correct

Barry Campbell of enrevanche wins the award shares the best reaction to Vladimir Putin making comedy at the expense of his regime illegal.

So if you want to hear some good Putin jokes, hang out in Russian courts. Of course, if any Russian readers I might have want to email them here, I'll do my best to delete anything that might possibly be traced back to you. But use English, written in the Latin alphabet. Cyrillic alphabet text goes straight to the spam filter.

The same goes for China, Zimbabwe, Syria, Iran, and any other paranoid repressive totalitarian government that believes in this sort of nonsense. Or for that matter, organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas. Not that I could hope to beclown them any worse than they've already beclowned themselves.

Speaking of Zimbabwe, I was wondering when Mugabe would do this Police stop Zimbabwe opposition leader from campaigning, ban his party's rallies. Must be slowing down with age.

One senator is willing to put blame for gas prices where it belongs

Maybe it's because he has nothing to lose, but now that one of them has given a speech to that effect, maybe others will be willing to act.

Lobbyists not funding "my party"? Not quite

Gotta admire Obama in a way. It's not everyone who can spin faster than a turbine and still get good press for it. Only other person I know in that class was our 42nd president.

A publicity stunt, yes. But a good publicity stunt: Winfield's brainchild thrills Negro Leaguers (sorry about the Yahoo link)

Drafting the remaining Negro League players is an apology to them, that their careers ended before the Civil Rights era, and an acknowledgment that these men should have been major leaguers. It may be sixty years or so too late, but it says "We made a mistake" in no uncertain terms.

I'm only surprised they said it: Israel to attack Iran unless enrichment stops: minister

"If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Necessary though it may be, I kind of wonder if Iran is trying to get thrown into that briar patch. Why? Because of what happens next. Israel attacks, world - especially arab world - lines up with Iran.

Sanity from the Christian Science Monitor: Call the bluff on campaign fluff, talking about the economics of campaign speeches from an economics professor.

Figures don't lie, but liars do figure department: The New Direction: Unemployment jumps to 5.5%

The key paragraph from the AP Article:

The government said the number of unemployed people grew by 861,000 in May -- rising to 8.5 million. The over-the-month jump in unemployment reflected more workers losing their jobs as well as an increase in those coming into the job market -- especially younger people -- to look for work, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said.

In other words, businesses aren't hiring summer employees like they normally would, and that's far and away the largest part of the increase.

A well deserved tribute to Vaclav Havel.

Why energy independence won't happen any time soon

Argghhh! on responsibility and the cost of D-Day.

64 years ago today. It wasn't our first battle of the war, but the European Campaign was what decided it.

My father was too young, but his brothers (my uncles) weren't, as did my grandfathers. Too many of them didn't live through it, and the ones that did are leaving us now, hundreds per day. The only WWII veteran left in my family (or my wife's) is in his eighties. They saved the world, and came home and lived their lives as productive citizens, and never asked for any special considerations. To their way of thinking, it was their world, too. This sort of thinking has become considerably less common, to our great detriment. They should not leave us unthanked and unremarked.