Links and Minifeatures 2008 08 06 Wednesday

Over at my other site, the fourth in my series of Neighborhood articles is up:

Neighborhoods of La Mesa: Maryland Avenue

It's not news, it's Scrappleface: funnier and more clever than The Onion!

BREAKING: Zawahiri Dead, Global Warming Suspected

Debunking "straw man" arguments

via Instapundit, The Spoiled Children of Capitalism

I'll bet the Beijing government is angry:

Lopez Lomong chosen as American flag bearer at Beijing Olympics

BEIJING -- Another stunning chapter was added to the incredible story of Lopez Lomong when his U.S. Olympic teammates chose the Sudanese refugee as the flag bearer in Friday's opening ceremony at the 2008 Olympics.

That's gotta hurt.

But let us give the people who chose him a standing ovation. I don't think there's been a better statement made since Jesse Owens at the Berlin Olympics of 1936.

I'm glad he's American, even though I am sorry he had to go through what he did to get here.

Disgraceful: Baffling process suppresses military voting turnout

They're deployed overseas because they're serving the country. We should make it as easy as possible for them to vote. It's not like the military has any doubts whether they are a living citizen officially resident in whatever precint.

This one can't be laid at the feet of the military. It's the states and local registrar's that erect these hurdles. But DoD should see what it can do to fix the problem. It's probably not as important as making certain the troops get everything they need, materials-wise. But it's a lot more important than, say, congressional or presidential junkets, no matter who is making them.

One of Speaker Pelosi's middle class "handmaidens of the oil companies" has a rebuttal

With a hat tip to that same website, Neptunus Lex channels the ghost of Dr. Seuss

How far is the Washington Post in the tank for Obama? Page 1 stories of "unusual" donors to John McCain's campaign. Problem is that three out of four weren't donors after all, as a quick visit to opensecrets.org would have exposed.

So much for "layers of fact checkers"

If even half of allegations contained in this video are true, things just got a lot scarier.

I have not yet investigated. Most of it seems credible, although I'm more than a little concerned over stealing the elections complaint books that was captured in the video also. If we allow the electoral process to be subverted, where are we? No matter how "enlightened" the beneficiary allegedly is.

It could be the first actual smear of Obama I've seen this campaign. It could also be a harbinger of the end of democracy in this country.

Thoughtcrime: Something straight out of Orwell.

I've experienced it locally also. It's very hip in certain quarters to denigrate the humanity of those who disagree with you politically.

Yeah, I've heard Rush denigrate the priorities and the thinking of those on the left. But I don't listen to Rush when it's my choice, and even he doesn't say or act like their politics and priorities somehow make them less than human.

Hugo Chavez is defeated in the referendum he held to increase his powers even further, so he does it by decree