Zee Links and Minifeatures: August 2008 Archives

Neighborhoods of La Mesa: Connecticut Avenue

The Obama campaign is trying to suppress an campaign ad. Indeed, they want to file charges against the man who sponsored it

Meanwhile, Obama himself is funneling money to ACORN for advocacy work through a false front.

Hope and Change? The introduction of totalitarian (see: China, Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe)tricks to intimidate political opponents probably isn't what most of his backers have in mind.

Way to stay classy.

If Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity was saying something like this about Markos Moulitsas, what would the reaction be?

Michael Totten: The truth about Georgia

Like MIchael Yon, He's supported by reader donations.

A classy move by John McCain In a switch, McCain to Obama: "Well done"

Congratulating him on becoming the nominee, and spending his own campaign funds to do it.

Found it on You Tube

This could be indicative: McCain VP possibility cancels Denver appointments

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, in Denver to help provide counterattacks against the Democratic Party convention, canceled participation in a news conference and other appearances, a Republican official said.

It was unclear whether the cancellation had any significance to McCain's vice presidential search.

What other reason could he have for suddenly canceling appointments? A sudden illness in the family about covers it, and if that were the case, he would have said so.

Pawlenty is 47 - the same age as Obama. I think Mitt Romney or California's Duncan Hunter would be better, electorally, and help more in the actual governing, but Pawlenty is more of an outsider (always an asset), and his political agenda isn't quite so hardened. There's also the relative youth factor to consider. Assuming McCain wins and retires after one term, Pawlenty would be just about perfectly placed to succeed him - something Hunter will never do, and Romney would be getting up there in age as well in another 4 to 8 years.

Dog Bites Man. Another ACORN fraud in Ohio?

ACORN has a long history of alleged fraud in their registration drives. All of their improprieties have gone to the benefit of Democrats, and Democrats have not stinted on their appreciation. Here in Minnesota, failed gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch diverted thousands of dollars to ACORN from a lawsuit settlement as Attorney General. Democrats in Congress sent millions to ACORN as part of the economic stimulus plan in February and in the housing bailout bill in April.

I expect the cold hard fact to have zero impact on how the economy is reported: Economy grew 3.3% in Q2.

Thus far, we have yet to have a single quarter of negative growth, and 3.3% growth is pretty darned good. But certain media groups, determined to paint George Bush as a failure, are spinning everything down.

Or could it be that we've just gotten so spoiled by nearly eight years of good economy under George Bush that slower growth feels like a recession? Or (say it softly) are they using the collapsing news business as their metric?

Is America Ready To Send Its Political Opponents to Jail?

Most totalitarians at least wait until after they're in power to suppress the opposition.

More on Obama attempting to suppress information at Q and O

They told me if George W. Bush was elected, political dissenters would be marched off to jail in leg irons and denied attorney representation. And they were right! Denver Protesters denied access to attorneys, forced to march in leg shackles

The ACLU issued a stinging rebuke to the Denver Police Department Wednesday, alleging that the department may have violated laws and constitutional rights of protesters arrested outside the Democratic National Convention.

Speaking of the previous item: Here's what real oppression looks like:

Statement from the Family of Imprisoned Opposition Leader, Hassan Baoum

Carnival of Real Estate

This is what political repression looks like: Imprisoned journalist denied insulin and family visits

Obama introduces running mate Biden

At 3 in the morning, via text message, Obama chooses Joe Biden to be his running mate.

And here I really thought Obama's experimentation with recreational drugs was decades in the past. This seems to be evidence that I was wrong.

Joe Biden has a paper and video trail decades long of saying stupid things, politically incorrect things, and things that just plain piss people off. Not to mention he's about as "insider" as it comes, and has all the lobbyist ties that the opposition research folks over at the RNC will love.

If I were trying to come up with a pick for Obama's VP that says his campaign rhetoric of "hope and change" really is as empty and fake as everybody suspects, I couldn't have come up with one as good as Joe Biden. And if I was looking for a Vice Presidential choice that told anyone who pays attention to actions that any move to the center I pretend to make in the general election is an act, Joe Biden (after Obama, one of the most left wing senators) would show up second or third on that list, too.

Yeah, I favor McCain. But this was a stupid, unforced error on Obama's part. He had at least half a dozen better choices available to him. I'm still wondering if Hillary has a couple hundred convention floor aces (aka superdelegates who have only been pretending to be Obama supporters) up her sleeve. But if I were a Democratic supporter, that's what I'd be praying for right now, instead of wondering.

If you're a dog lover, particularly a dachshund lover, these folks will shortly have a large number available, due to a puppy mill raid.

HT: Don Surber

San Diego Special Edition

Another entry in my neighborhoods series is up: Neighborhoods of La Mesa: Griffen Park (Murray Street)

Sad, but true: My most popular article the last two months solid has been Deficiency Judgments: Recourse Loans vs. Non-Recourse Loans.

I write most of this site hoping that people will do a little bit of research before undertaking a half million dollar transaction. Judging by the search terms, that does not appear to be the case.

Getting Out of Paying Pre-Payment Penalties is another perennial favorite, and the search terms I get that lead to that aren't any happier.

Did nobody teach these people the old saw about an ounce of prevention? In real estate, it's a gross understatement.

Victor Davis Hanson lays the smackdown on an expatriate with rose colored glasses towards his adoptive country.

Absolutely vile. These were living, viable infants, alive but discarded with the trash.

I think abortion needs to be legal, but once they're outside of the mother and alive, there's another term that needs to be used for killing them or allowing them to die of neglect. "Abortion" only applies when they are still within the mother.

While we're at it, if this is a departure from politics as usual, I don't like direction it's going A nexus of cronyism at UC Medical Center?

You want repression? They'll show you repression

Poll shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama

"There is no doubt the campaign to discredit Obama is paying off for McCain right now," pollster John Zogby said. "This is a significant ebb for Obama."

It is just one poll, but the problem for Obama is that every one of McCain's criticisms of him has been substantially true. The problem for Obama is that when you're a major party nominee (or presumptive nominee), everything that you've ever done or said is going to be dug up and scrutinized, and there's plenty of documentable trail on Obama to turn away the centrist voters, who hold the balance of power in any election. When it comes right down to it, the only asset Obama has over John McCain is his emotional appeal. It's hard to keep emotions like that in charge for months in the face of a barrage of facts.

I'm not getting comfortable though. The Democratic convention hasn't happened yet. Hillary could still be the nominee. Unlike the Republicans, whose delegates were all elected based upon a promise to support a given candidate, the Democratic "superdelegates" are allowed to change their mind, and it wouldn't take very many. These are party insiders, one of Hillary's core support groups. The Dems could be using Obama for a stalking horse, while Hillary gets a long respite from opposition scrutiny. It could have even been planned in individual meetings - and nobody except Hillary and each individual superdelegate knows who they are until and unless they do change their mind and vote for her at the convention. That's a conspiracy that can be kept - for a few months anyway, as only two people know about any given superdelegate, and only one for sure.

This boosts Hillary's chance to actually win, as for several months everybody's been focusing on Obama, and it still sets him up as the future face of the Democratic party, giving him automatic frontrunner status when her term is over. I think she's got the brains and confidence to engineer such a thing. I question a lot of things about Madame Hillary, but her intelligence is not among them, and I don't think anyone questions her confidence. The only question is, did she actually do it? We won't know for sure until the convention, and even there, the superdelegates changing their votes could be presented as the result of slipping polls, Obama's miscues, or any one of a number of other things.

On the other hand, if Obama wasn't her running mate in such a scenario, the Democrats might do what forty years of Republican outreach have failed to do: Get more minorities to vote Republican. The Democrats aren't competitive if they don't get 70% of the hispanic vote and 90% of the black vote. This also accomplishes something else: Having he vice-presidential nominee give the candidate a large boost due to their own high profile.

On the other hand, Hillary isn't nearly so bad as Obama as far as her actual positions. She'd appoint the same sort of judges (the Democratic base would require it), but her administration policies and priorities would be more centrist than Obama's. So even if this gets her elected instead of McCain, it's not the immediate disaster an Obama presidency would be. I'd rather have McCain, of course. But Hillary as Democratic nominee would have the effect of limiting the damage.

Russians dig in as pullback drags on in Georgia

Russian forces on Wednesday built a sentry post just 30 miles from the Georgian capital, appearing to dig in to positions deep inside Georgia despite pledges to pull back to areas mandated by a cease-fire signed by both countries.

When somebody tells me they'll do one thing and does something else, I've got a pretty good idea which of the two they really mean.

A top Russian general, meanwhile, said Russia plans to construct nearly a score of checkpoints to be manned by hundreds of soldiers in the so-called "security zone" around the border with South Ossetia.

and one report from someone claiming to be a Georgian corporal

23 Russian tanks, APCS and heavy guns showed up at the base on Tuesday and demanded to be let in. The Georgians refused and the Russians left after a 30-minute standoff but vowed to return after blowing up facilities in the village of Osiauri, he said.

More of the Face of war:

The Ethnic Toll in Georgia

Both Russia and Georgia have hurled charges of genocide and ethnic cleansing at each other in the aftermath of the five-day war in the Caucasus

experts work on housing for displaced Georgians

They are primarily sheltered in schools, hospitals and previously abandoned buildings. Most come from the Gori area, where the fighting has been the worst, and the Georgian government hopes they will be able to return home once Russian troops leave, Finance Minister Nika Gilauri said.

149 dead in plane crash at Madrid airport

Spanair Flight JK5022 - bound for the popular Canary Islands off the West African coast during the height of Europe's summer vacation season - sped off the end of the runway, crashed and broke into pieces, reports said.

In other words, pilot error or mechanical failure.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Kathleen Parker illustrates in three quick emails the responses of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and John McCain to Russia's Georgian aggression.

Well, duh: Bush accuses Russia of 'bullying and intimidation'

President Bush on Friday accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation" in its harsh military treatment of Georgia, saying the people in the former Soviet republic have chosen freedom and "we will not cast them aside."

Bush ratcheted up his rhetoric against Moscow as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in Tbilisi, Georgia to pursue a diplomatic solution to the week-old crisis. Standing alongside Rice, pro-Western President Mikhail Saakashvili said he had signed a cease-fire agreement with Russia that protects Georgia's interests despite concessions to Moscow.

The problem is that President Bush appears to be just saying that, as opposed to doing anything about it. Of course, if Russia in committed to making contests into military ones, that trumps all other methods of dealing with a problem, at least in the short term. And President Bush is more than a little circumscribed by the current political situation.

Given the current situation in Georgia, is there much doubt what they're really saying?
Russia: Poland risks attack because of US missiles

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland's agreement to accept a U.S. missile interceptor base exposes the ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

The system scheduled for installation has no offensive capability worth mentioning. Yeah, it would be a bummer for those involved if a fragment of a missile came down on an enemy tank, but that would be a freak coincidence and it's not designed to damage anything but other missiles. All it really does is defend against incoming missile assaults, and if a certain unnamed country east of Poland has no intention of bombarding Poland with missiles, it makes no real difference to the situation. Worth making a fuss over? Not in the least, in that situation.

But a certain country to the east of Poland is making a big fuss. Appears to me like Russia threatened Poland with nukes while preserving a thin veneer of deniability of having made such a threat.

"Poland, by deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike - 100 percent," Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.

100 percent? Sounds like they know where such a strike would be coming from. Estonia? Doubt it. Belarus? Almost certainly not. Hungary? I don't think so. What is the one nation with nuclear weapons that has invaded Poland multiple times in the last century (Minimum of twice, in 1920 and 1939, and could be five or more times, depending upon how you count)? Hint: It's not Pakistan. And no, I'm not talking about the tourists in Krakow and Warsaw, either. Military force invading upon explicit instructions of their government. Do you think the government of such a country might have a vested military interest in Poland being unable to defend itself against atomic aggression? And why might they consider themselves to have such a vested interest? If they had no interest in invading Poland - again - there's no reason to get antsy about it and make threats.

Here's another hint: What still extant countries participated in the most brazen land grab of the last five hundred years, one bold enough to make our own western settlers blush with shame (as well as a major reason why the US has the Polish descended population it does)? Which still extant country considers Poland part of its Empire? I'll even make it easy for you: Run "Poland Partition" through a search engine of your choice. How about "Solidarity Trade Union" Ringing any bells yet?

At a news conference earlier Friday, Nogovitsyn had reiterated Russia's frequently stated warning that placing missile-defense elements in Poland and the Czech Republic would bring an unspecified military response. But his subsequent reported statement substantially stepped up a war of words.

I am Russia, hear me roar!

But what happens if Poland gives them what they want today? Do they have to listen closer, or do they have more independence of action with a missile defense? I submit that it's the latter - which is why Russia doesn't want them to have it.

A credible report of Russia conducting ethnic cleansing

A new entry in my neighborhoods series is up: Neighborhoods of La Mesa: Northmont

I have also just accepted an invitation to write for a new blog sponsored by a fairly well-known corporation on consumer mortgage issues. I don't want to give any details lest I upset some applecart inadvertently, but they should come out within a couple of weeks.

Chasing the Mythical 'Obamacan' Masses

In fact, John McCain's share of the Democratic vote has typically--and surprisingly--been larger than Obama's share of the Republican vote.

China Makes Policing an Olympic Event

Uniformed guards are on major overpasses and bridges, surface-to-air missile batteries are reported to have been set up beside key Olympic facilities, and X-ray machines and metal detectors have been placed in the city's subway system. Vehicles entering the outskirts of Beijing must go through security checks--resulting in long delays. The post office has temporarily banned the sending of all liquids and some electronics.

Meanwhile

British Journalist Roughed Up & Arrested For Covering "Free Tibet" Protest In Beijing

Show of hands: Is anyone actually surprised by this? Anyone? Bueller?

Silly Senator, Ethanol is for food

Putin sticks out tongue, taunts world, says, "make me!"

Russia: 'Forget' Georgian territorial integrit

Russia's foreign minister declared Thursday that the world "can forget about" Georgia's territorial integrity, and American and Georgian officials said Russia appeared to be targeting military infrastructure - including radars and patrol boats at a Black Sea naval base and oil hub.

Russia is playing this game for keeps. Penalties and sanctions from trade organizations and all that presuppose that the merchants have some power in the political set-up. In this case, not really. Putin has spent the last eight years silencing dissent in Russia's entrepreneurial class, and making sure his foot is securely upon their neck. Net result: the people that we're counting on to help keep Putin in line have no ability to do so, and if they don't want to end up like others of their class, no willingness to try.

Another APTN camera crew saw Russian soldiers and military vehicles parked Thursday inside the Georgian government's elegant, heavily-gated residence in the western town of Zugdidi. Some of the soldiers wore blue peacekeeping helmets, others wore green camouflage helmets, all were heavily armed. The scene underlined how closely the soldiers Russia calls peacekeepers are allied with its military.

This is no surprise. If we had US Peacekeepers in a country we invaded, we'd expect them to cooperate with the rest of our military. The incredible thing is that Russian troops, with Russia's activities as they were and interests in re-acquiring Georgia, were ever named and accepted as peacekeepers in the first place.

The Russian General Prosecutor's office on Thursday said it has formally opened a genocide probe into Georgian treatment of South Ossetians. For its part, Georgia this week filed a suit against Russia in the International Court of Justice, alleging murder, rape and mass expulsions in both provinces.

Posturing for the media. For what it's worth, there's probably some merit in the Russian charges - which wil be the figleaf the rest of the world pulls down to cover the far worse Russian transgressions, as well as the provocations that led to Georgia choosing a military option in the first place. Still, it was criminally stupid of the Georgian president to attack with overwhelming force poised close by, and incredibly incompetent of our own State department not to make certain the Georgians had timely warning, as well as a frank assessment of the US power to intervene in case of military confrontation - which is to say "none."

The good news just keeps coming:
Pentagon puts hold on USAF cyber effort

The Pentagon this week delayed and may kill the Air Force's nascent Cyberspace Command, according to a memo obtained by The Associated Press. This comes as Russia used a major computer network attack to begin its assault on Georgia.

How stupid do you have to be to de-emphasize a command that is designed to prevent the enemy from telling your computers to bomb your own troops - and may be able to tell the other side to bomb their own troops?

There are about 3 million attempted penetrations of Defense Department networks every day, according to the Air Force.

3 million reasons per day that this is important, and they still did it? Someone's brain has completely fossilized.

A senior military commander told the AP, however, that the mission to defend U.S. military networks is better vested in U.S. Strategic Command, which has the military responsibility for cyberspace across all services and commands.

Yes, but it's a combined arm, which means that the cyber warriors will tend to get short shrift as opposed to their own command that concentrates on their own operations.

Airlines association sues FAA on slots auction

Sounds smart - until you have 800 or 1000 bodies on the ground, and an airport that's closed for hours, and you're trying to explain to the aggrieved relatives exactly why those planes came together. Nor is two airplanes the limit for crashes taking place on the airport tarmac. Scenario: 747 landing, bounces off MD-11 on the runway and into a line of planes taxiing out for departure - or into the terminal area.

The FAA is trying to relieve congestion of the "one thing goes wrong in a minor way and you've got two jetliners full of passengers in imminent danger of death" sort, and the airlines are so wedded to current practice that they're taking to the courts to prevent it.

Question: How many of the top executives at these airlines have taken the time to understand what controllers go through? That's a big enough problem with the FAA people. I don't believe I ever saw, or heard of, industry executives in the "C" class (CEO, CFO, COO) so much as taking a tour of an air traffic facility. Sat down and watched a controller work peak traffic? Nope. They seem to regard the FAA's air traffic division as a magic wand that's somehow to supposed to sort out everything they want to do, and miraculously, without delays. And that is what the controllers are being paid for. Nonetheless, there are limits, imposed by such thing as runway capacity, airspace limits, and the fact that airplanes have to be positively separated 100% of the time - 99.9999% is not good enough, as there would be multiple midairs per day if that were the standard.

Maybe the airlines are counting on being able to shove legal responsibility as well as public blame off onto the FAA when (not if) a controller makes a critical error that causes a couple of planes to meet going a couple hundred miles per hour. I heartily advise them to re-think this attitude. What they're doing is the rough equivalent of pulling out ten feet in front of a car going 60 mph while making sure the next lane over is full. Yeah, the FAA has problems. That's no excuse for putting them into a situation where the system is going to fail disastrously with one mistaek - and five hundred people just died because of something equivalent to a typo.

Here's a snapshot of live traffic (delayed 5 minutes)

Remains of cemetery found in Sahara

The human remains dated from two distinct populations that lived there during wet times, with a dry period in between.

The one constant about climate is change.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Georgian president says Russian troops have cut country in half

But a top official at the Georgian embassy in Moscow, Givi Shugarov, said Russian troops appeared to be moving toward Tbilisi and he alleged Russia's goal was "complete liquidation" of the Georgian government.

If all the Russians wanted was South Ossetia, there would be no need for this. Putin wants the soviet empire and soviet glory days back.

Russia trying to crush democracy, Georgia leader says

"We are in the process of invasion, occupation, and annihilation of an independent, democratic country," Saakashvili said at a news conference Monday.

"The goal of this operation is regime change in Georgia."

Saakashvili then abruptly ended his conference call with reporters, saying, "We have to go to the shelter because there are Russian planes flying over the presidential palace here, sorry."

Democracy is a threat to Putin and Russia's power. That and the economies of the West, which have been fueled by Democracy.

n an op-ed piece in Monday's Wall Street Journal, Saakashvili argued that the conflict is about "the future of freedom in Europe."

If Russia succeeds, Saakashvili said, it would mark the end of Western influence on any of the former Soviet republics.

"It is clear that Russia's current leadership is bent on restoring a neocolonial form of control over the entire space once governed by Moscow," he wrote.

and

"While we appealed to residents of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with our vision of a common future, Moscow increasingly took control of the separatist regimes," he wrote. "The Kremlin even appointed Russian security officers to arm and administer the self-styled separatist governments."

More, including a map of the campaign, at Powerline

More good sense at Q and O

Tigerhawk asks a very timely question: Where are all the condemnations from the so-called "anti-war" groups?

I suspect they're glad to see an evil ally of the oppressive US and George W. Bush's evil war get conquered.

No surprise for anyone familiar with them: Deliberate Decisions Are the Best

When it comes to making life-changing decisions, neither snap judgments nor "sleeping on it" trump good old-fashioned conscious thought, new research suggests.

But people are lazy. They want a magic bullet for decision making. There isn't one, except to get the facts and consider the implications carefully.

In all experiments, there was some evidence that conscious deliberation can lead to better choices and little evidence for superiority of choices made "unconsciously," the researchers said.

Even if you get something wrong, you're better off with deliberative decision making than "sleeping on it" or "snap judgment"

"Our research suggests that unconscious thought is more susceptible to irrelevant factors, such as how recently information has been seen rather than how important it is," Newell said. "If conscious thinkers are given adequate time to encode material, or are allowed to consult material while they deliberate, their choices are at least as good as those made 'unconsciously.'"

Name that Party, Detroit edition: Not one mention of the fact that he's a Democrat

This isn't any technical charge. He's out on bail awaiting trial for assault and perjury and various other corruption charges, including multiple felonies. During this period, he has violated the conditions of his release at least twice. And unlike the case of Ted Stevens, where he's accused of much less serious infractions and the press put his party (Republican) in the headlines and repeated it half a dozen times in the article, the AP couldn't be bothered to name Kilpatrick's political party once (to be fair, they did mention that his mother is a Democrat, although what relevance that has is beyond me).

Calls for France to rethink its Africa role

A bombshell of a report by Rwanda this week implicating high-ranking French officials in the arming and training of Hutu forces that committed genocide in Rwanda - could have been issued last November. President Paul Kagame sat on the 500-page study, approved by the Rwandan Senate, for months.

Okay, it's a nine and a half minute video. Anyone not susceptible to Jedi mind control will find it hilarious. The Vote Reaper

HT: The Anchoress

Absolutely vile: Threatening opposition campaign donors

They've been accusing Republicans of voter suppression for decades, even though the balance of evidence lies in the other direction. Now the left is openly attempting to intimidate likely Republican donors.

Georgia and Russia are at war

Ostensibly, the reason is Georgia's attempt to bring South Ossetia back under its control.

In reality, that's a thin excuse. Gorbachev and Yeltsin made a decision not to fight secession of the 14 former soviet republics. For one thing, they couldn't fight all 14 at once with the soviet military in the state it was in, not to mention the failed coup.

Putin has made it clear he wants the rest of the empire back, and has built his rule in large part upon appealing to those who long for the glory of the Soviet days. He's made it clear that he's looking for excuses to re-acquire the seceded republics, while they're trying to break further from Russia's orbit.

Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. Georgia has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership - a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.

The current president of Georgia deposed a soviet holdover in the Rose Revolution of 2003, putting Georgia squarely in Putin's cosshairs. South Ossetia, which wanted to reunite with Russia and whose de facto autonomous government is pro-Russia, is the excuse that he will use to justify conquest if he can.

More here

Bombs rocked Tbilisi early Saturday morning as the fight between Georgia and Russia over a breakaway region intensified and moved into the Georgian capital.

Tbilisi is the capital of all of Georgia, and it's more than a small distance away from South Ossetia. This should remove any doubts as to Putin's true objective.

When a politician tells an audience what they want to hear, that's business as usual.

When a politician tells an audience something they don't want to hear, that's conviction, because it always risks alienating the few votes they need to win in a narrowly divided country.

In corn country, McCain says no to ethanol support

McCain has never been shy about speaking against subsidizing ethanol when he is in farm country, though that stand helped to make him unpopular enough in Iowa that he skipped participating in its leadoff presidential caucuses in 2000 and again in 2008.

I don't agree with everything John McCain is campaigning on, but we need more people who realize it's not good for the country to do everything that everybody wants, simply to win a few votes on the margin.

And unlike his major opponent, he makes a habit of saying where he disagrees with people, even though it may cost him votes - which means there's good reason to believe it. Obama tailors his positions to the audience, telling some audiences one thing, the next audience something entirely different. What Obama was saying he would do was completely different in the primaries than what he is saying now that he has the Democratic nomination locked up. Where does he really stand? What does he really believe? It's hard to tell. The only real evidence is his past votes - and a president should not vote "present". You know where John McCain really stands on an issue, because he's willing to risk losing those voters, and pay the cost for his position.

Instapundit on the new Obama salute.

A threat on Obama's life? Very newsworthy! Stop the presses!

A threat on President Bush's life? Not so much.

Put the former on Page one. Edit out the latter. Somebody might say this sort of action says something about those who do it. They'd be right.

Especially in conjunction with this, what might a reasonable observer deduce as likely?

The Olympics start today. In Beijing, China. Home of one of the most repressive governments on earth, and the most widespread sponsor of other repressive governments.

I think the site selection committee needs to get fired.

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

Carnival of Personal Finance

Solzhenitsyn death leaves complex legacy in Russia

He spoke out against the communist abuses because he loved his homeland - but he wanted Russia to be powerful as well. By the time of his death, he was completely aligned with Putin.

But in his earlier years, he spent years as a prisoner of one of the most brutal, repressive regimes in history, in a system that has given it's name - Gulag - to a phrase of international horror, than an exile. He examined it without blinking, and stood up to be counted despite the personal cost. That's really speaking truth to power - not twitting an American president that since his term began has imprisoned precisely zero political opponents.

Ironically, without Kruschchev wanting to discredit Stalin, his "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch" would probably have never been published, let alone anything else.

Where I come from, we call this lying by omission. Obama took in a comparable amount of contributions from oil company employees and executives in the same time frame, but that's okay, because he's really the good guy, while McCain is that Evil Republican? I don't think so.

the ad is here

via Instapundit, the Ohio Republican Party has a great response. The music makes this one worth watching.

Obama makes a shift, says tap oil reserves

Barack Obama proposed tapping the strategic oil reserve on Monday to help lower gas prices, reversing an earlier stance, and called rival John McCain a tool of big oil companies as rising energy costs took center stage in the U.S. presidential campaign.

In other words, with the direction of the political wind clear, he's trying to make it look like he's flipping to the majority opinion, but if you notice, all he's doing is talking about tapping the strategic reserve, which is a small and pretty static amount (70 million barrels, about three days supply), not bringing any additional sources of new oil online. He's still anti-drilling, and since John McCain favors new drilling, John McCain must therefore be a tool of big oil. It's like prices that have more than doubled in the last five years, the consequences of those rising prices of every segment of our economy, and serious concerns about the political stability of some of our largest suppliers don't exist.

What's mildly frightening is that Obama acts like he expects people to believe this. I mean, PT Barnum's classic underestimation ("One born every minute") not withstanding, there are limits.

The Republicans are keeping the pressure on Nancy Pelosi regarding energy

Wizbang has more.

Good. About time congressional Republicans started acting like something other than Democrats lite.

Another in my series on local neighborhoods is up: Neighborhoods of La Mesa: Vista La Mesa

Who qualifies for mortgage help and how to get it

In short, not many.

This is one of those times when government work seems especially like the love life of elephants

1) All the important business is done on a very high level

2) Any developments are announced with a great amount of trumpeting, noise, and fanfare (although Without fanfare, Bush signs mortgage relief bill: He's treating it for what it is. But then he's not running for any office, ever again)

3) Quite often there's nothing produced, and when there is, it's more difficult and takes longer than you'd expect.

(The second article, about signing without fanfare, says it'll help about 15% of the homeowners in trouble. I think that's significantly on the optimistic side - I'd say a max of 10%, perhaps only two or three)

Obama links McCain to 'reckless' GOP economics

"We don't need the same old tired answers," Obama said. "We need something new."

Of course, he declined to give any specifics as to exactly what his new answer is

"I'm ready to duel John McCain on taxes right here, quick draw," said Obama. That drew a quick retort from a McCain aide.

The response from McCain's aides was perfect:

"If Barack Obama wants this so-called duel then why did he and his entourage run for the hills when John McCain challenged him to 10 town halls," said McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

"These anxieties seem to be growing with each passing day," Obama said on a campaign trip in this economically ailing battleground state. "We can either choose a new direction for our economy or we can keep doing what we've been doing. My opponent, John McCain, thinks we're on the right track."

As opposed to the man who wants to raise and spend an extra $500 billion per year for a civilian law enforcement agency to be coequal to the Pentagon. Anybody want to volunteer how that's to help the economy? That's definitely not a "new direction" most people hoping for better economic opportunity would want. For that matter, can anyone give an example of a nation that's created that kind of thing without turning totalitarian, or being totalitarian in the first place? Any historical parallels come to mind as to how Obama wants to limit how he, his policies, and his family (who actively campaigns for him) are criticized? Especially considering that it's more likely all the pigs in the world will simultaneously sprout wings and fly than that the Democrats will lose control of Congress this year, and therefore the political opposition would be limited to filibusters in the Senate?

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's way past time to be concerned about the effects of an Obama presidency on our civil liberties as well as our economy.

Too good not to link: Al Gore Places Infant Son In Rocket To Escape Dying Planet

Good sense on lobbyists from Ed Morrissey

Nancy Pelosi adjourns Congress for a month. Republicans think there's unfinished business. So the Republicans are on the House Floor, talking about energy policy.

They can't accomplish anything legally. They don't have a quorum. But it's a good stunt, and making good use of social media to get the word out despite commercial media's determination to avoid covering it. It definitely shows where they stand on the issue, which is a lot closer to rational than where the Democratic leadership stands.