Zee Links and Minifeatures: June 2008 Archives

Carnival of Real Estate

Carnival of Personal Finance

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Clark: McCain a hero, but lacks command experience

Underscoring during a national television appearance a position he has been expressing for several weeks, Clark said performing heroic military service is not a substitute for gaining command experience.

General Clark? If John McCain hasn't done anything like that, the Barack Obama, who never served, never took the training, never had any reason to gain understanding, is even weaker. John McCain has been serving on the Armed Services Committee. He may not have commanded a squadron in wartime, but he commanded a squadron that was prepared to go to war. And he certainly served. Furthermore, with his unpopular calls for the "surge" long before the Bush administration got on board, he's certainly earned a certain amount of credibility as understanding current military issues.

No, John McCain wasn't a commanding general in time of war. But he's seen combat, and he has commanded, and he has earned credibility on his knowledge of military issues. Barack Obama seems determined not to.

Obama did the right thing: disowned the comments right away. But General Clark can be viewed as taking himself out of consideration for the Vive-Presidency. Obama still needs to get him out of a position of speaking for his campaign, but this is a start. You can only disown what you don't implicitly endorse. Yes, it may have been the politically intelligent thing to do, but it was also the right thing, and Barack Obama got it right. We can all give him the benefit of the doubt as to why, providing he does carry through. If he wants real credibility on his action, Wes Clark cannot be permitted to speak for the Obama campaign in the future

More at Hot Air

Snark via Instapundit:

The Saddest Thing About Barack Obama's Available Military Expertise...

...is that though he has Wes Clark in his corner, the only person he knows with the experience of getting a bomb on target is Bill Ayers.

Not precisely fair, but accurate.

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Private Papers

The causes of this paralysis are clear. Action entails risks and consequences. Mere thinking doesn't. In our litigious society, as soon as someone finally does something, someone else can become wealthy by finding some fault in it. Meanwhile a less fussy, more confident world abroad drills, and builds nuclear plants, refineries, dams and canals to feed and fuel millions who want what we take for granted.
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Department of the Blazingly Obvious: Hypermiling techniques dangerous, illegal

They include rolling through stop signs to avoid braking, turning off a car's engine or shifting into neutral to coast down hills, over-inflating tires to decrease rolling resistance against pavement, and other techniques.
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Can a Man Be Raped by a Woman?

You may be surprised.

Very surprised.

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Seven Words You Can't Say in the 2008 Campaign

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Amusing Dog story: Took Hilda to her grandparents for the week yesterday. Ever since we got back, Julia (the puppy) has been obsessively guarding little Ramona. She thinks in dog terms. We went away from the house with two kids, came back with one, ergo we had an accident and lost a kid. She didn't even want to come sit on the couch with me when I was reading last night, preferring to watch over sleeping Ramona.

(I'm not certain whether Mellon has just been through it before, or if she's just incapable of doing anything about it)

Powerline notes the difference between Obama's actions and what he's saying about DC vs. Heller

Question: Has anyone ever seen Obama and Two Face at the same time?

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Gaateway Pundit notes the airbrushing of another Obama advisor.

I'm getting the urge to write a parody based upon Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" (with a nod to Weird Al's parody "Another One Rides the Bus"). Call it "Another One Under the Bus"

Queen's original

The Weird Al parody

Original Lyrics

Obama walks warily down the street,

With the brim pulled way down low
Aint no sound but the sound of his feet,
Campaign Bus ready to go
Are you ready, are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat
Under the bus his buddies go
To the fist bump beat

Another one under the bus
Another one under the bus
And another one gone, and another one gone
Another one under the bus
Hey, Im gonna get you too
Another one under the bus

How do you think we're going to get along,
Without Tony now that he's gone
You took him for everything that he gave,
he helped him buy his home

Rev. Wright, are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat?
Under the wheels Grandma goes
To the fist bump beat

Chorus
Another one under the bus
Another one under the bus
Another one under the bus
Another one under the bus
There are plenty of places you can toss a man
And run him to the ground
You can wheel him
You can hit him him
You can toss him out and leave him
At the side of the road
But he's ready, yes he's ready for you
Not standing on his two feet
Down the road his bus does run
Jumping to the fist bump beat

(Gosh - less than ten minutes!)

Confederate Yankee: Obama: The Bus List

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Wizbang on the end of the Gaza truce (is it truce number 971 or 972?)

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A modern day version of the Screwtape Letters

HT: Hot Air

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One final reaction to DC vs. Heller at Q and O, brilliantly dissecting the dissent.

Somehow, we've evolved a system where nine robed lawyers dictate to us what our rights are, and the other 300 million of us are expected to fall, sheeplike, in line.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't the original plan.

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I've learned that Holiday weeks are slow anyway, so I'm next week is probably a good time to decompress a little bit. Expect more reprints than usual.


Private Papers: Islam's War Doctrines Ignored

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More on Obama's PACs and Lobbyists Canard

According to OpenSecrets.org, just 1% of John McCain's contributions -- a whopping $960,990 -- came from PACs. Over $88 million came from individuals. legend Individual contributions $88,221,824 91% legend PAC contributions $960,990 1%

And lobbyists? $655,576.

Read the whole thing

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The MoveOn Smear, fact-checked

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via Instapundit, The Affirmative Action Matryoshka: Where Does It End?

To wit: being a racial minority or a homosexual or having "ethnic heritage" (don't we all have that?) is worth as many points as having an undergraduate degree in international studies, having a doctorate in international studies, and having authored a book on international studies . . . combined! Being 1/64 Cherokee or being attracted to other human beings with similar genitalia is worth as many points as speaking Mandarin, Swahili and Arabic . . . combined! (I could go on).
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Canada: The Stepford Nation

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Congrats to Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani, Winner of Amnesty International's Human Rights Media Award

If you've forgotten, he's currently in prison, sentenced to six years hard labor, and there was a real fear he'd get the death penalty.

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George Carlin mourned as counterculture hero

When he uttered all seven at a show in Milwaukee in 1972, he was arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, freed on $150 bail and exonerated when a Wisconsin judge dismissed the case, saying it was indecent but citing free speech and the lack of any disturbance.

The words were later played on a New York radio station, resulting in a 1978 Supreme Court ruling upholding the government's authority to sanction stations for broadcasting offensive language during hours when children might be listening.

"So my name is a footnote in American legal history, which I'm perversely kind of proud of," he told The Associated Press earlier this year.

George Carlin was inventive and clever with how he challenged boundaries, and if he uttered more profanity than some would like, he was always worth laughing with. Contrast that with some of his successors, who seem to believe that the seven words themselves should be enough for a laugh.

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Obama braces for race-based ads

I'm with Lindsey Graham on this one as far as what the Obama campaign is likely to do:

"Every word will be twisted to make it about race," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a McCain friend and adviser. When he and others confront Obama on issues such as national security and the economy, Graham said, it will have "nothing to do with him being an African-American."

Thus far, John McCain has played this straight on the issues - which Obama can't handle. The Obama campaign would dearly love to make this about race, which would guarantee a win for them. But the McCain campaign should be smart enough to not go in that direction, and stomp on any who do.

More at Sister Toldjah

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This is how the goons win: Making the cost in blood higher than their opponents are willing to pay.

Mugabe's rival pulls out of Zimbabwe vote

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew Sunday from this week's run-off presidential election in the beleaguered southern African nation, saying he could no longer participate in a race that's been marred by the widespread intimidation, torture, mutilation and murder of his supporters.

Unfortunately, this has two implications. The first is that the bloodshed goes on. The second is that the people who finally overthrow the goons are more likely to be goons themselves.

Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 and initially won praise for promoting racial reconciliation, has driven Zimbabwe to economic ruin with a host of failed policies, starting a decade ago with the seizure of white-owned farms. He staved off challenges in previous elections with intimidation and vote-rigging, according to numerous independent analysts and civic groups.

Not to mention the old standby of killing enough of the opposition that the rest won't vote.

Zimbabwe police attack opposition; leader flees to embassy

Heavily armed police arrested dozens of party members at the headquarters in the capital of Harare, said Fortune Gwaze, policy coordinator for Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change. Those arrested were party activists from rural areas who were using the offices as refuge after weeks of politically motivated violence that have left more than 85 opposition supporters dead, Gwaze said.
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via Instapundit, American Murder Mystery

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BofA-Scripted Bank Bailout Looks Awfully Similar to Dodd-Drafted Housing Bill

Mr. Dodd just happens to be one of those congresscritters who got a sweetheart deal from Countrywide CEO Angelo Mozilo.

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Q and O on "inactive" oil leases.


Cavalcade of Risk

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Do The Right Thing (for everybody)

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UC Berkeley professor John Yoo on the Boumediene decision

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September 10th thinking and how well it's worked for us so far.

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Countrywide mortgage and conflicts of interest

Special loan pricing for influential congresscritters (cost: roughly $150,000) = $2.5 Billion of taxpayer bailout money.

1. What does campaign finance law have to say about this?
2. What does racketeering and corruption law say about this?
3. Is there any indication that the underwriters were directed or pressured to approve these loans from above?
4. Did Countrywide hold these loans themselves, or did they sell them off?
5. Were any of these sweetheart deals defaulted on?

I have a pretty fair idea about the answers to 1 and 2, and people do serious time for those sorts of crimes. The answers to 3, 4, and 5 might indicate much worse crimes.

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Q and O has a lot to say about how our energy policy came to be such a mess.

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After trashing John McCain for hedging on accepting public financing, Obama opts out.

"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections," Obama told supporters in a video message Thursday. "But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken, and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system."

That's right, blame your opponent for the 3:1 fundraising advantage you enjoy and decided to take full advantage of. "Oh, my opponent is so evil for raising fully one third of what I have raised."

I find this whole stance more than a little two-faced. Note to Senator Obama: You're not legally required to accept any money.

Barack Obama said Thursday he'll bypass the federal public financing system in the general election, abandoning an earlier commitment to take the money if his Republican rival did as well.

Note to voters: John McCain has not yet committed one way or another. Suppose Senator McCain accepts public financing? Would there be any doubt who would be more beholden to special interests?

And we've already seen that he's not going to stop the smears and attacks from his allies running so-called 527 groups, who will spend millions and millions of dollars in unlimited donations," Obama said.

Says the man benefiting from George Soros' and his sock puppets. From Open Secrets we find that the vast majority of the 527 money is going to the Democrats.

Democracy 21 has a list of press releases concerning illegal campaign activities of those 527s.

So who looks to be playing this election fair, and who looks to be trying to buy it?

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While we're on the subject of Obama, can you believe this level of stupidity and/or pandering?

Obama promises "bottom-up" economic growth

The economy is not working the way it should be, and that's going to be the goal of an Obama presidency - to make sure we've got bottom-up economic growth instead of the kind of tired, worn-out, trickle-down ideologies we've been seeing for so many years

There's a reason most growth is trickle down: It takes money to invest in major new business. Actually, the upfront investment right now is smaller than it has ever been in terms of the average person's earning power. Still, you've got to have some reasonably significant assets in order to fund a business.

Government programs aren't going to help this. How is Joe Ditchdigger supposed to bid on an interstate project? He's not. The assets and ability to build a half mile of interstate - or even just one freeway onramp - are so far beyond Joe as to render any attempt pointless. The small, individual stuff is called, "public assistance," and it doesn't help, either. Lowering taxes, lowering barriers to growth, coming up with loan programs that help people start small businesses - that's the way you help small people start. But the number of folks who become well off working for someone else is pretty much fixed by how many people have managed to start a small business and make it into a big business. The best way to become relatively wealthy always has been, is, and always will be owning your own business.

You don't make union members (which is who he was speaking to) wealthy through government action. The only way to help the union members is to help their employers make a bigger profit, which enables them to pay their workers more next contract time.

The whole concept is either mind-bogglingly stupid, promising something he knows he can't deliver, or possibly both.

Neither of these is a reason to vote for him. Quite the opposite, in fact.

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FYI, today marks three years that Searchlight Crusade has been going.

Break out the Mongolian Birthday Chant!

(They do have some of the stanzas wrong, but it gets the point across)

I started on Father's Day, but today is the calendar anniversary


Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Real Estate

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Outraged at the price of gas? You may want to read this before you vote: Democratic vs. Republican plans to deal with the energy issue.

I wrote this in September 2005.

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I find this very encouraging: Study: Americans use Net to look beyond sound bite

"They want to see the full-blown campaign event. They want to read the speech from beginning to end," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew group. "It's a push back from the sound-bite culture."
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You know, before I readthis, I would have bet quite a lot (maybe not an arm or leg, but probably fingers and toes) that there was no tape of Michele Obama's alleged racist rant, and that in fact, there had never been such a rant. In fact, I thought it very likely that the whole thing was a Trojan Horse, meant to lure the opposition in and distract the public from investigating who Barack Obama is and what disasters his policies would be.

But when someone starts damage control before the existence of something is confirmed, that tells me that there may be some truth to the rumor. I'm still very much inclined to believe that there is no such tape. Even if there is such a tape, I've already devoted too much attention to it. It's the disaster Barack Obama would be as President on so many fronts that forms the reason to vote for John McCain.

Cults of personality have never been kind to democracies. Especially if they get into office, elected or not.

Do not take my word for it. Go to Barack Obama's own website, and get the information straight from what he's making available to the general public himself as far as his plans. Then research what that stuff really translates into. If you can still vote for him after understanding

Protein Wisdom and neo-neocon's takes are both very worth reading.


Private Papers on Ayaan Hirsi Ali

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Good Idea, Bad Timing

Q: What would happen if President Bush repealed this ban now?

A: Environmental extremists use it as a wedge issue in the election, screaming about how Republicans rape the environment. Mr. Bush isn't on the ballot personally, but they're going to do their damnedest to put him there metaphorically.

Q: Will there be a good time for Mr. Bush to do this?

Yes.

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Mugabe militias burn women and children alive

The reign of terror in Zimbabwe hit a new low for atrocities last week. Militias associated with Robert Mugabe have begun burning family members of the political opposition alive. Armed thugs looking for the head of the MDC in Mhondoro satisfied themselves with mutilating and murdering his wife instead, and it wasn't the first such attack for Mugabe's goons:

When will the world do something about Robert Mugabe?

I'd like for the answer to be "20 years ago", but given that unlike Saddam Hussein he keeps his atrocities inside the borders of the country he runs, there isn't the international pressure.

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It's not news, it's Scrappleface, but it's a sad commentary when the satire makes more sense than the Chicken Little articles we call news.

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How the Irish saved Civilization, Again

They've rejected the proposed EU Constitution. Proponents are griping that this means 1% of the population killed it for everyone. What they're not saying is that the Irish were the only EU members permitted by their government to vote on the abomination.

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Add this one to Dred Scott and Plessy vs. Ferguson: The Boumediene decision. It's a real contender for the championship: all time worst judicial blunder.

Supreme Disgrace

Looks more like Supreme Dictatorship to me. Or Oligarchy, if you want to get technical. I'm with the Chief Justice on this one:

What Boumediene v. Bush is really all about, as Justice Roberts wrote, is control of federal policy regarding enemy combatants. That is another way of saying this case was about power -- and Thursday's decision was a power grab.

Hot Air

The 5-4 decision reverses over 200 years of American war precedent, as well as turn the Geneva Convention on its head. Unlawful combatants now have more rights than POWs, whom the GC forbids access to civilian courts. POWs facing war-crimes charges have to be tried in military tribunals, not civil courts, but terrorists somehow now have better standing than those captured in uniform.
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Sanity on energy policy from Newt Gingrich and Hot Air.

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via Instapundit, Does the Obama Campaign Foreshadow His Presidency?

I'd say it's certainly likely to be indicative.

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Faster, please.

Why?

1. Space travel! The resources of the solar system become immediately accessible.
2. Gas prices become irrelevant
3. Pollution control
4. Quantum leap in standard of living
5. Hydrogen, the base fuel, is almost as common as political stupidity.
6. OPEC goes back to the same importance they had 200 years ago
7. No more oil price windfalls funding terrorists
8. No more burning food for fuel
9. Poverty as we currently understand it disappears

How many more reasons do you want?


100_7572[1]

I'm very proud of my older daughter, who earned an Advanced Level Presidential Award at her school assembly!

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Looks like even the professional appeasers in Foggy Bottom are getting tired of the Yemeni regime's antics:

The State Department Notes Distressing Trend

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Ancient cave linked to early Christians in Jordan

From the early time when Christians were a persecuted minority (as opposed to now in sharia countries and leftist strongholds, both of which have their own state religion of intolerance).

Hussein said there was evidence that the underground cave was used as a church by 70 disciples of Jesus in the first century after Christ's death, which would make it the oldest Christian site of worship in the world.
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A win for the good guys, and property owners everywhere:

Nev. rancher awarded $4.2M for 'taken' water right

It took this case seventeen years to work its way through the courts, but it was resolved correctly in the end

(the judge), based in Washington D.C., said the cancellation of Hage's grazing permit because of overgrazing and trespassing did not violate the Fifth Amendment because a grazing permit is a license, not property.

However, (the judge) said, the taking occurred when the Forest Service made it impossible for Hage to maintain irrigation ditches, which deprived the ranch of water and made it unviable.

And there was much rejoicing!

This has a lot of implications for other government takings. Rent Control ordnances. Development restrictions and zoning downgrades. Anything that restricts the ability of a property owner to enjoy that property. If someone bought it with the restriction in place, I can accept that they're bound, but for the past thirty years, government at various levels has been arbitrarily imposing new restrictions that curtail economic and physical usefulness of property. Unconstitutionally, IMHO.

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Thirty years past due and the lede was buried to make it appear a Democratic idea, but I'll take it:

Congress considering entitlement reform

At the centerpiece of that hearing will be a proposal, authored by Cooper and Republican Rep. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia, that would kick entitlement reform to a bipartisan commission like the one that has handled military base closings. The Cooper-Wolf panel would spend a year studying the nation's fiscal concerns before presenting Congress with a legislative package which it would be forced to vote on in its entirety.

and

The veteran Republican boiled over during a brief discussion about the mounting costs of these programs, scribbling pie charts on the back of a stray bill to demonstrate how the costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are eating up a greater percentage of the federal budget each year. Wolf and others have grown increasingly frustrated with the partisan politics that have plagued previous reform efforts.

"We're waiting for Godot," Wolf said.

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If people think it's a good idea to tax "windfall profits" of oil companies trying their best to keep a supply of oil flowing and stymied by congress, Scott Ott of Scrappleface has an idea you'll love.

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America's Stupidest Criminals: This is fraud with malice aforethought, and these people should go to jail, along with the real estate agents and loan officers who help them

Some Buy a New Home to Bail on the Old

In some cases, homeowners are coached through the buy-and-bail process by real-estate agents and brokers who see nothing wrong with it. Some blame the phenomenon in part on lenders' unwillingness to cut deals or restructure loans made when home prices were inflated. "It's just a business decision," says Linda Caoili, a Sacramento real-estate agent who is working with Ms. Augustine and others who are considering walking away from their mortgages. "If you're upside-down $250,000, why would you keep it? It just doesn't make sense."

This isn't a matter of a marginal case. This is someone intentionally telling a falsehood on their mortgage application, and someone who knows different helping them cover it up. It doesn't get any more cut and dried than that. See also perjury, and I find it incredible that these people are admitting to these activities in interviews with national media.

Nor are the lenders sitting idle and waiting for it to happen. This is going to kill the ability to use rental income to justify a loan if we're not all careful. And that's not in anyone's best interest.

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Thomas Sowell

Perhaps his greatest achievement has been running as a candidate with an image wholly incompatible with what he has actually been doing for decades. This man who is now supposedly going to "unite" us has for years worked hand in glove, and contributed both his own money and the taxpayers' money, to people who have sought to divide us in the most crude demagogic ways.

HT: Don Surber


Congratulations to Jane Novak of Armies of Liberation.

Let our thoughts be with her and her friend Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani for Monday (June 9th) as his sentencing is that day.

Later: it appears that the sentence is Six years hard labor.

This from the same court that finds it legal and even admirable when Yemenis murder Iraqis in Iraq. But writing about the Yemeni civilians suffering during Ali Mohsen's personal jihad in Sa'ada is punishable by six years in jail. Every journalist in Yemen is much less free now. And so is the world.

This is what censorship and repression look like. But it's still a victory of sorts, because it was looking like he was going to be sentenced to death.

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Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Real Estate


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.

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Senate committee highlights "untrue" statements later proved correct


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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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A well deserved tribute to Vaclav Havel.

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Why energy independence won't happen any time soon

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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.


Carnival of Real Estate (Thank you for choosing me!)

Cavalcade of Risk

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I usually vote in the morning, but I forgot until after I was already at the office. When I voted as I got home, the precinct workers told me I was only about the twentieth voter they'd seen all day.

For all of those who gave me portions of your vote, thank you. I figure my wife and I each ended up with about three votes worth of influence.

On the other hand, it doesn't seem to have helped enough. Prop 99 passed (I voted against, as this was a Trojan Horse to keep real eminent domain reform away. Those who stand to benefit from keeping the status quo spent millions vilifying 98 while offering this reform in name only in its stead) and Prop 98 didn't (I voted for it for many reasons). About 3.3 million statewide voted.

On the local front, A, B, and C all passed. I liked B, but A was purely for the benefit of public employee unions and C basically added to the bureaucracy for no good purpose. Total of about 150,000 voted - in a city with between seven and eight times that many people.

It's not for nothing that elections without a major office on top of the ticket are elections where out of the mainstream activists have the best chance of succeeding at the ballot box, and they know this.

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It's not news, it's Scrappleface

The senate has evidently found a not-so-new replacement for petroleum.

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How much will the candidates cost you in taxes?

FYI, $60 billion is roughly $200 for each and every resident of the United States. $300 billion is roughly $1000 per head. This includes children and those who are nonproductive, either due to retirement or disability. When you consider that there are only roughly 117 million taxpayers according to Wikipedia, that raises the bill to roughly $500 per taxpayer per year for John McCain's policies, $2500 per taxpayer per year for Barack Obama's. You might want to consider the cost when presidential aspirants are talking about new government programs.

Carnival of Personal Finance

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Twenty years too late: Obama quits Chicago church after long controversy

"I'm not denouncing the church and I'm not interested in people who want me to denounce the church," he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and "the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them."

Obama said he and his wife have been discussing the issue since Wright's appearance at the National Press Club in Washington last month, which reignited the furor over remarks Wright had made in various sermons at the church.

Translation: he didn't mind Rev. Wright's racist, hate-soaked sermons, or those of his replacement pastor. If he objected to those personally, he would have confronted Rev. Wright or left the church a long time ago instead of calling Rev. Wright his spiritual mentor and asking Rev. Wright to perform his wedding ceremony and defending him as late as two months ago against all comers. What he objects to is the fact that a much broader audience has now heard Rev. Wright preaching the same gospel of hate he's been preaching all along. The political fallout from that is costing Obama votes. More votes than the votes he's gotten from being a member of this racist church for the last twenty years.

Let's hypothesize what would happen if John McCain was in an anologous situation. Let's say he was a member of a church with a preacher who was a member of the KKK. Regardless of whether that preacher ever said the things from the pulpit that Rev. Wright was saying for at least the last twenty years, would you give him the benefit of the doubt? Obama knew a very long time ago the nature of the racists he was associating with. The only reason he's leaving now is that he's unwilling to handle the political heat it generates.

He didn't leave years ago when it would have meant something about integrity and what he really stands for. He's not staying now, as a statement of loyalty to people he believes accomplish more good than harm. He came and he stayed because he agreed and because it made him political hay. Now he's leaving because this association which made him important has become a hindrance. For all the soaring rhetoric of
Hope" and "Change," he's sure acting like he's more of the very worst of what he's preaching against.

On the other hand, FWIW, I believe rumors of a tape showing Michelle Obama ranting against "Whitey" to be just that: rumors. I'm pretty certain that if multiple news organizations had such a tape, and especially if Republicans or the Clinton campaign had such a tape, it would be out where everyone can see it. Okay, maybe not if Republicans had it. Their motivation would be to wait until Senator Obama had the formal nomination. But if the Clintons had such a tape, they'd use it immediately. Maybe if one news organization that's favoring Obama had it, they might make it disappear - if they were certain it was the only copy. Leave the possibility of multiple copies out there, and self preservation kicks in. Bottom line: Bismarck's famous quote about three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead. If such a tape existed, the odds are that it would be in all of our faces by now. Therefore, I don't believe it exists. This viewpoint is subject to revision if facts discovered in the future indicate my belief to be in error.

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Are conservatives more honest?

I think it's more complicated than that, but it's food for thought.

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John McCain demonstrates his knowledge of the situation

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Scott McClellan's lies

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This page is a archive of entries in the Zee Links and Minifeatures category from June 2008.

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