No Runny Eggs

“Community Organizer” has become a running joke in this campaign.  Sarah Palin compared her role as Mayor to Barack Obama’s time as a community organizer by saying, “Being a Mayor is a lot like a community organizer, except it has responsibilities.

Today’s Investor Business Daily gives a detailed look at what being a “community organizer” is in Barack Obama’s world. 

YOU NEED TO READ THIS ARTICLE!
A description of what community organizing looks like in Barack Obama’s world

“Our alumni are more than twice as likely as 18-34 year olds to . . . engage in protest activities,” Public Allies boasts in a document found with its tax filings. It has already deployed an army of 2,200 community organizers like Obama to agitate for “justice” and “equality” in his hometown of Chicago and other U.S. cities, including Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and Washington. “I get to practice being an activist,” and get paid for it, gushed Cincinnati recruit Amy Vincent.

and

When they’re not protesting, they’re staffing AIDS clinics, handing out condoms, bailing criminals out of jail and helping illegal aliens and the homeless obtain food stamps and other welfare.

The kicker?

Barack Obama was a founding member of the board of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies in 1993. Obama plans to use the nonprofit group, which he features on his campaign Web site, as the model for a national service corps. He calls his Orwellian program, “Universal Voluntary Public Service.”

What are the principles of this organization you ask?

Not all the recruits appreciate the PC indoctrination. “It was too touchy-feely,” said Nelly Nieblas, 29, of the 2005 Los Angeles class. “It’s a lot of talk about race, a lot of talk about sexism, a lot of talk about homophobia, talk about -isms and phobias.”

One of those -isms is “heterosexism,” which a Public Allies training seminar in Chicago describes as a negative byproduct of “capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and male-dominated privilege.”

(emphasis mine)

Does anyone have any remaining doubts whether Michelle’s statement that America is “down right mean country” was a slip of her tongue or a foundational belief?

If you had any doubts about the danger that Barack Obama is to this country, read the article. Your doubts will fade.

To hear Barack Obama tell it, his tax plan is one of “fairness” while John McCain’s gives “tax breaks to the wealthy.”  Obama wants to give tax cuts to the “middle class” and “tax the wealthiest 1%.” 

Obama’s words have a great populist sound to them.  Why is taxing the wealthy to pay for cuts for the less wealthy the morally wrong thing to do?

Let’s talk to our four year old.

Let’s imagine you found a wallet that contained $500.  How would you handle that $500?

If you were Barack Obama, you would take that $500, give it to a group you thought was needy and take the credit for the $500 contribution.

If you were John McCain, you would search the wallet, find the owner and return the $500 to the rightful owner.

From Webster:

Confer - to bestow upon as a gift, favor, honor

Barack Obama prefers to confer tax benefits on those he deems worthy.  John McCain will return the money to the rightful owners.

Simple, even for a four year old!

Here we go again. For those of you who don’t feel like sacrificing the big screen, Ustream’s carrying the St. Paul stuff…

Friends, Degenerates, Countrymen - get out those wallets! The hardest week of the easiest money (or at least broken bones) you’ll ever earn is upon us. Since I managed to off Knock-Knees Tony after a disastrous post-season, I’m back for another season of fun and mayhem to defend my 123-120-13 regular-season record ATS and 20-13-1 performance on the over/unders. As always, the lines are provided by our friends at Bodog, the team I’m taking will have the line next to it, and I will disavow any knowledge of you should you use these picks (especially my 2-a-week over/unders).

Washington @ NY Giants (-4.5) - Jim Zorn has a better chance against the G-Men than Jason Campbell.
Cincinnati (-2) @ Baltimore - Rookie QBs are not recommended.
NY Jets (-3) @ Miami - Dare I say it? DARE I SAY IT? Not yet.
Kansas City @ New England (-17; currently off Bodog’s board) - Welcome to Mismatch Central. Don’t worry about the “injured” right foot on Brady.
Houston (+6.5) @ Pittsburgh - Let there be HITS! Take the under-43 to give The Man a feel for this game.
Jacksonville (-3) @ Tennesse - This won’t hurt a bit; it’s going to hurt a lot.
Detroit (-3) @ Atlanta - If you’re looking for defense, this isn’t the game for you. I know we have another rookie QB, but take the over-41 in the Mistake of the Week™.
Seattle (+1) @ Buffalo - It’s too early in the season for Holmgren to start losing.
Tampa Bay @ New Orleans (-3.5) - This early in the season, it’s all about the emotion.
St. Louis (+7.5) @ Philadelphia - The Rams are too healthy to be giving up this many points.
Dallas (-6) @ Cleveland - I’m trying so hard to avoid “Matrix” references.
Carolina (+9) @ San Diego - If I were convinced the Chargers’ Big 3 were 100%, I’d gladly give the points.
Arizona @ San Francisco (+2.5) - It’s a Dog Day Afternoon and Kurt Warner’s wearing Milk Bone underwear.
Chicago @ Indianapolis (-10) - It doesn’t matter whether it’s Orton or Grossman at QB; this one will be over by halftime.
Minnesota (+2) @ Green Bay - I know it’s real tempting to take the prop bet that Aaron Rodgers won’t finish this game. DON’T DO IT!
Denver (-3) @ Oakland - Over/under on the number of Bronco picks of Russell - 2.5. Take the over.

Asok opened up the season prediction pool over at The Wisconsin Sports Bar. Since I still have a key there, I’ll repost my no-study predictions for the season here:

NFC North
Minnesota (Good - Adrian Peterson is enough in this division. Bad - If an opposing team can figure out how to tackle AP, the Vikes are done. Record - 9-7)
Chicago (Good - They still have a special special team, and the aging defense should have a few stops left in them. Bad - That defense is aged, and the disappearance of Brett Favre from the division won’t mean they’ll go through fewer QBs than Green Bay. Record - 7-9)
Green Bay (Good - As long as injuries and tall physical receivers don’t hit the defense, they’ll be able to stop people. Bad - There will be 8 people crowding the offensive line almost every down, and the departure of Favre means they’ll be going through as many QBs as the Bears. Record - 5-11)
Detroit - (Good - I honestly can’t think of any. Bad - They’re still run by Matt Millen. Record - 3-13)

NFC East
Dallas
Philadelphia (wild card)
NY Giants (wild card)
Washington

NFC South
Carolina (by a tiebreaker)
New Orleans
Tampa Bay
Atlanta

NFC West
Seattle
Arizona
San Francisco
St. Louis

AFC North
Pittsburgh
Baltimore (wild card)
Cleveland
Cincinnati

AFC East
NY Jets
New England (wild card; do not overlook the Super Loser Curse)
Buffalo
Miami

AFC South
Jacksonville
Indianapolis
Tennessee
Houston

AFC West
San Diego
Denver
Oakland
Kansas City

Bonus nose pick - Jacksonville over Dallas in The Championship Game That Cannot Be Named.

Now that Sarah Palin has given her acceptance speech, it’s clear why the Left had reason to attack her….She’s Really Good!  But that’s really hindsight.  As I watched the attacks become more and more personal and vicious over the past 3 days, I kept wondering why?

It’s obvious that the Left doesn’t like Republican or Conservative women.  However, I’ve never seen the level of attacks that Sarah Palin has experienced in just 72 hours. While women like Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Elizabeth Dole and even Condoleezza Rice have been degraded, none of them have seen the full fledged, scorched earth approach that Sarah Palin has experienced.

As I’ve previously discussed, the Left is all about emotional responses, even to situations that require significant thought.  So, I know the response is emotional.  But, what was the stimulus for the level of emotion that is being vented?

I suppose part of it could be that the MSM, the Left and frankly just about everyone else, was surprised by Palin.  While Obama’s campaign had talking points on all of the other folks that were alleged to be on the short list, they completely overlooked Palin.  I could imagine that some of the ferocity was an attempt to catch up after having been caught flat footed.

I suppose part of it also could be that the announcement of Palin took Obama out of the news flow.  With an ego as big as Obama’s, I don’t imagine it was easy being upstaged…especially by a woman!

I also suppose it could be that the pick of Palin made Obama’s first public choice, his choice of Biden for VP, look silly.  Obama had first pick in VP.  Rather than picking the person who could shore up his party, extend his meme of “hope and change” and solidify his party, he, with his first pick, picked the equivalent of the kid who has been playing right field and batting ninth his entire career.  As an aside, I agree with Rudy Gulliani that Biden may want to ensure that he has the VP offer in writing.  As the days go on Obama is going to second, third, fourth and many more times reguess that choice.

All of those issues could be the reason why the Left has come unhinged but it doesn’t feel as if any one, or the combination of the three really explain what’s happening.

Yesterday, it finally hit me.

Who on the left, defines what a woman should be and how she should act?  Yup, the National Organization for Women (NOW). 

Who did NOW support for President?  Yup, Hillary Clinton

There’s a woman running in this election, what is her name?  Nope, not Hillary Clinton, it’s Sarah Palin!

And there’s the problem.  The left is all about identity politics; identity politics and making sure that the various groups maintain the identity of victimization that the Left has scripted for them.  African Americans are supposed to suffer from the ills of slavery and racism and unable to advance in the economic strata.  Teenage girls who become pregnant are supposed to be reliant on Planned Parenthood for their “pregnancy options” to ensure that they aren’t “punished by a baby.”  Women are scripted to be continually “rising” but never “attaining.” 

Sarah Palin represents not just a cracking of the glass ceiling ala Hillary Clinton, but a complete shattering of it if she and John McCain win.  A shattering brought to you not by the party of victimization but the party that believes an individual’s value is not defined by their identity, but by their abilities and their hard work.  This leaves the Left and especially NOW, nearly apoplectic.  Sarah Palin is exposing the false claims of victimization that NOW and the Left have spewed about women for over 40 years. 

NOW was organized in 1966.  It’s core mentality comes from women who came of age during the 60’s and early 70’s.  Those women are now in their 50’s and 60’s. 

The reason the Left has become so vicious towards Palin is a combination of the items I previously listed.  Those and Sarah Palin exposing and negating the victimization of women that has been perpetuated by groups like NOW.  NOW’s reason to exist, the thing that gets them up in the morning and gives them a reason to breath is about to be cut out from underneath them and that makes them mad.  But what really gets the cranky old women, the NAGs going, is that they are about to lose the love of their life not to a peer, another cranky old woman but to a smart YOUNGER WOMAN with a positive outlook on life.  Losing your love to a younger woman, no matter that it’s your own fault, really pisses them off!

It may be Thursday, but the NFL season starts tonight. There is but one song for this…

Actually, it’s a two-song, no blues allowed Scramble (thanks for the reminder, Shoebox, and it fits so well with today’s Day by Day cartoon)…

Before we begin, Alexander has a PSA for you - donate blood.

• Turk has the best of the Little Known Facts Tweet-A-Thon.
• Eric Erickson has another Little Known Fact; Sarah Palin doesn’t need a Teleprompter to deliver a devastatingly-good speech.
• Jim Geraghty suggested a killer line to Palin. I guess if The Indispensible One asks Palin to co-blog with him, I’ll definitely lose out in the co-blogging wars. Maybe if Shoebox did the asking,….
• Ed Morrissey found signs of fight in the PUMAs.
• Jim Hoft notes it wasn’t your average CodePinko that was PWN3D! when she tried to bum-rush the stage last night, but a Top 500 Obamination Bundler.
• More Jim Hoft and CodePinko - he crashed one of their rallies with more success. I believe that makes the score Gateway Pundit 1, CodePinko 0.
• Back to Ed Morrissey - he summarizes the Team Obama response - “Mom! Mom! Sister hit me back … and she hits too hard for a girl!” (emphasis in the original)
• Gopfolk offers some free advice to Team Obama. Money says they don’t take it.
• William Amos rolls tape on Joe Biden’s latest pandering to the nutroots. Hmmm, I thought the tickets were supposed to move toward the middle in the general. Besides, if memory serves, Biden chose to place Bill Clinton above the law along with every other ‘Rat Senator back in 1999.
• One more Ed Morrissey morsel - he discovered some rotting words from Biden on his former support for drilling. Guess we have to extend Jim Geraghty’s Maxim on Obama’s words to Biden’s - All statements from The Blunder Twins have an exipration date.
• Dad29 found the 52nd state of the ObamiNation - Denial. I forgot to mention yesterday that he also found the 51st - Panic. I humbly submit the 53rd - Desperation.
• Darryl Enriquez found just how touchy the ObamiNation is in Waukesha; they can’t even handle gentle jabs. Somebody please dispatch a WAHHHH-mbulance.
• Speaking of WAHHHHH-mbulances, William Teach orders one for Joe Klein, who can’t handle the blowback.
• Speaking of PWNAG3, Asian Badger found Megyn Kelly delivering the smackdown on US Weekly editor Bradley Jacobs’ candy-arse.
• Jihad Gene tapped Krazy Kim Jong-Il’s phone again and recorded a 3 am call.
• Staying with North Korea, Tom McMahon discovered a North Korean claim of a high-calorie ramen noodle. I’ll bet the EU won’t be complaining about genetically-modified foodstuffs.
• Cuffy Meigs found the Atlantic Fleet gained a Ballistic Missile Defense destroyer. The score is now PacFlt 16, LantFlt 1. Keep them coming.
• Chris the head barkeep found today’s Mr. No Luck Guy - someone at the WSOP Main Event who went all-in on 4 aces and got knocked out by a royal flush. Maybe he’ll want to tune in later today; after all, I was above .500 against the spread last year.
• Jeni brings the Envirowhacko Update of the Day - the Swedes have outlawed catch-and-release fishing. That’s it; I’m declaring war on Sweden on behalf of all fishermen.

I’ll have the ever-popular (or at least ever-goofy) NFL picks up later, and I’ll be live-blogging the McCain acceptance speech (or the first game of the NFL season, whichever is more interesting). Until then, the thread is yours.

This party’s starting at 7 (or thereabouts). Because I don’t trust the alphabet soup to carry the speeches, I’ll point you to Ustream’s live stream.

I’m on-time (I think)…

• Thomas Lifson describes why the America run by the presstitutes won’t be able to take down Sarah Palin.
• Cynical Alaskan explains how Palin has handled corruption. The takeaway - “In 2012 she will be President.”
• Ragnar wants the DUmmies and KOmmies to keep bashing themselves against the rock.
• Kate pictures the difference in experience between Palin and Joe Biden.
• Dad29 explains why there is Palin Derangement Syndrome.
• Jim Hoft found Barney Frank (D-MA, he of a prostitute ring out of his apartment fame) declaring Palin’s family fair game. Did he really want to go there?
• Geoff answers why Frank shouldn’t have gone there.
• LBG found an unusual alliance formed by the emergence of PDS - PUMAs and the VRWC.
• Michelle Malkin describes the four stages of conservative female abuse.
• Erick Erickson found the “Party of Privacy” invading Palin’s privacy so much that the portion of Palin’s Social Security number that is hardest to get is now out there.
• More Michelle Malkin - she found the “Kossified MSM” dipping into the classic “a cut in the rate of increase of spending on social programs is a cut even if it’s a threefold increase” jar in their attempts to slime Palin. While the presstitutes are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kos and Soros (more on that in a bit), it’s hardly a new tactic of the mathematically-challenged Left.
• Jim Geraghty found a key difference between Teams McCain and Obama; marketing their seconds. I only hope that the last item was put in at the suggestion of Mrs. Geraghty.
• Gaius noticed somebody missing from the blogosphere. He’s not dead, he’s not even resting, but he’s not the top-of-the-Scramble focus anymore.
• Mike found a direct link between Barack Obama and R. Hunter Biden (son of Joe Biden and ethically-challenged lobbyist). Again, I ask, “Did Barney Frank really want to go there?”
• Jim Geraghty found Team Obama forgetting who their running mate’s son is. What else should we expect from a campaign so threatened by its running mate, it offers no merchandise featuring that running mate?
• One more from Geraghty - he caught that forgotten ‘Rat running mate forgetting where the top of his ticket lives. Welcome to the Swimmer/CNN Osama bin Obama Club, Plugs.
• Mark McNally turns the tables on those calling for Palin’s head by asking when Biden will drop out.
• Thomas Sowell explodes the “experience” meme.
• Mark Hemingway found another item tossed under the Obamination Express - the ‘Rat evangelical outreach. I’m shocked, SHOCKED that someone who supports actual infanticide and who believes babies are a punishment would give a giant Foxtrot Yankee to those that choose life.
• Patrick dips back into the memory vault to remind us just how much Obama hates life for the unborn and those too stubborn to accept their murder.
• Swint reminds us that both halves of the ‘Rat ticket opposed the means that allowed us to hand over day-to-day control of Iraq’s Anbar province to the Iraqis.
• John Hawkins explains why Obama hasn’t pulled ahead.
• Slublog compares and contrasts the planned actions of Obama on McCain’s nomination night with the actions of McCain on Obama’s nomination night. It figures that “hubris” is one of the 9 reasons highlighted by John Hawkins.
• Faith Ammen wonders where the “first term” modifier the LeftStreamMedia loves to toss around Palin’s neck is for Obama. After all, he has never, ever run for re-election.
• JammieWearingFool found the ObamiNation ready to wage a race war if the “post-racial” candidate doesn’t win. Bonus - he wonders which side Obama will fight for.
• Owen caught Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle using a state aide to write his DNC speech. Since Doyle controls the continued employment by the state of all 6 members on the Government “Accountability” Board, I expect nothing more than a 6-0 whitewashing should things get that far, and further expect GAB counsel Jonathan Becker to be unemployed very soon.
• Martin illustrates that identity politics is all about the Marxism. That’s not entirely accurate; it’s a battle between the Trotskyites and the Stalinites (your guess on which are the PUMAs and which are the ObamiNation is as good as mine).
• James T. Harris asks a “what-if” question more geared toward those of us in Wisconsin, but very applicable for the rest of the country. I’ll say this; had Obama had more seasoning in the Illinois State Senate, he would in all likelyhood truly be the tollbooth-land version of former Wisconsin State Senator Gary George (D-Milwaukee Grafton), felon.
• Charles Johnson confirms that the presstitutes are now wholly-owned subsidiaries of Kos and Soros.
• Amy wonders where the coverage of the anarkids’ assault on the Twin Cities has gone.
• Emperor Misha I went into the bumper sticker business with the failure of Hurricane Gustav to repeat Katrina, and the disappointment of the Left.
• Shoebox explains energy mathematics to the four-year-olds.
• Ramesh Ponnuru has some bad economic news for the ‘Rats and Warren Buffet - Inflation-adjusted median family income was at an all-time high in 2007. Why doesn’t it feel that way? I blame ‘Rat-induced taxes and ‘Rat-induced energy inflation.
• Frank Lasee proves there is no real link between education spending and education results. Takeaway - despite a 0.37% drop in enrollment between 2000 and 2006 (the last year he has figures), there are 1.10% more teachers.
• Bill Quick chronicles the latest effort of Google’s attempt to take over the world from above; snagging exclusive rights on another photosat.

Guess I better start shopping for a new desktop; this thing is starting to freeze on me.

A good technique when working with four year olds, is to use “teachable moments.”  “Teachable moments” are not to be confused with disciplinary action required when your four year old has done something wrong.  Rather, a “teachable moment” general has nothing to do with your four year old.  It usually is an issue unrelated to your four year old, but is one that helps your four year think through something that may otherwise be a complex subject for them.

Today’s teachable moment has to do with energy production, specifically, oil production.

Approximately 25% of our domestic oil production comes from drilling that is done in the Gulf of Mexico.

Do you know what happens to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico when a hurricane, almost any hurricane comes across the Gulf?  Yup, oil rigs get shut down.  Maybe for just a few days, maybe longer.

Do you know what happens to oil rigs in the gulf of Mexico when a BIG hurricane, like Katrina or Rita come through the Gulf?  No, not environmental disaster.  These rigs have been built to put the safety of their crews and the environment first.  In fact, while there were about 13,000 barrels of oil that escaped as a result of the hurricane damage, the final study done for the MMS noted that there were no on shore impacts from any of the spills! Yes, that’s right, 25% of our oil production goes offline, some of it for several months.

Do you know which coastal state has never had a recorded hurricane?  Yes, Alaska has never had a recorded hurricane.  The waters around Alaska are too cold to allow one to form.

If you were going to increase oil drilling, would you increase it in the Gulf or would you go where hurricanes can’t strike?

Don’t quite get it?  Let me try another approach.

If you had $10 to bet on future energy would your rather:

A. Bet it on the extreme long shot of “Alternative Energy?”…if you win, you win big.  If you lose, you’re screwed.

B.  Bet it on the choice sure to lose money; just find ways to use less

C.  Bet on a proven doubling of your money by increasing drilling and opening oil shale fields.

Good answer, now you’ve got it!

This idea was started by Jessi at Wake Up America. It will appear here every Tuesday (whether I’m here or not; the only difference is I won’t be able to update the current gas price while on vacation) until Congress wakes up and allows a lot more domestic drilling (I’m not talking about just ANWR, or just off the Florida coast where Cuba, Red China and Brazil are preparing to drink our milkshake, or just the shale fields in the Rockies).

My Gas Price (south suburban Milwaukee County, Wisconsin): $3.759/gallon

America needs to drill here drill now. America is having a energy crisis, and we need to do something now!

Urge Congress to pass a bill to drill in America, where the United States has vast oil and gas resources onshore and offshore that are currently illegal to develop and therefore inaccessible.

U.S. law prohibits the development of approximately 38 billion barrels of undeveloped oil resources (19 billion barrels onshore and 18.92 billion offshore).

U.S. law prohibits the development of approximately 180 trillion cubic feet of undeveloped natural gas resources (94.5 trillion cubic feet onshore and 85.7 trillion cubic feet offshore).

Also…

CONGRESS RECENTLY VOTED TO MAKE IT ILLEGAL TO DEVELOP U.S. OIL SHALE RESOURCES

With oil prices at an all-time high, Americans are facing escalating gas, diesel, and aircraft fuel increases. Oil prices are projected to increase further.

Congress, however, has made it illegal to develop vast domestic oil resources in large parts of the United States.

The most startling Congressional prohibition on domestic oil production concerns the recently enacted ban on the development of oil shale resources in parts of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming in the Green River Formation. According to a Rand Study estimate, this reserve contains over one trillion barrels of oil, with 800 billion barrels fully recoverable, or three times the current oil reserves as Saudi Arabia.

If you haven’t already done so, first sign the petition to call for more drilling, then sign the one to get Congress back to DC so they can allow more drilling faster. Yes, Congress is back next week, but if my memory hasn’t failed me, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) plans on not allowing a clean vote on drilling.

Sorry about missing yesterday; I was still wiped out from my 700-mile bonzai run to Centerfield for the Grizzly Groundswell pre-convention party, where I finally met Shoebox, ran into Fausta and Eric (along with the Chicago Cannonball) again, and met Stix, Cyberpastor and Mrs. CP, and the gang from Grizzly Groundswell. Somehow, I didn’t get the word to guide Sean Hackbarth into the fun until after I was on the way back home; sorry about that.

In any case, that’s not why I’m running today’s song; it’s because see-dubya (who I’ve called “The Super Sub” for his guest-blogging stints on Hot Air and Michelle Malkin’s site) is hanging up his blogging spurs…

At least it was morning when I started this. You don’t want to know how many posts I went through to get to these.

• Jon Ham noted Sarah Palin, when offered an American flag to sign, signed the pole instead of the flag. If I weren’t already sold on her, that would’ve completed the sale.
• Ed Morrissey found the first female VP nominee calling Palin’s pick “historic”.
• John Hawkins explains why Palin was a “brilliant choice”.
• Selwyn Duke questions the wisdom of the pick (and that was before the Bristol Palin pregnancy became known).
• Speaking of that, Dr. Melissa Clouthier has the definitive wrap.
• BrewFan summarizes my thoughts on that.
• Tom McMahon expands the 4-Block World by 2 to explain the not-so-hypothetical.
• Uncle Jimbo reminds us that it is Alaska’s National Guard that’s running the ABM missiles poised to protect the US from missile attack. Care to guess their commander-in-chief is?
• Lance Burri and Jim Hoft report from the front lines of the protestors anarchists that have descended on the Twin Cities like locusts.
• Pam found some wayward protestors. It’s a shame the St. Paul police didn’t point them in the general direction of the Mississippi and invite them to jump in.
• Allahpundit found PUMAs continuing to desert the Obamination Express.
• Jim Geraghty is wondering if the Obamination Express will borrow from New Jersey. While they may yet dump Plugs, there’s no way they’ll get the head PUMA back up off the jungle floor.
• Ace laughs at the Obamination Express’ attempt to make experience matter.
• Bull Dog Pundit cheers the “experience” trap ensaring the bus. Guess that calls for a 2-song Scramble…

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q04_ClDxRsk

• RightwingSparkle has the latest Obamination Express sticker.
• Heather Radish crunches the numbers on small-town America.
• Ace found that Joe Biden, noted Mad Mullah cheerleader, told the Israelis that in the event he becomes Vice President, Iran will become nuclear. Either HopeAndChange doesn’t work on theocratic thugs or the Obamination Express really wants said theocratic thugs to have the weapons capable of igniting their apocalyptic visions (or both).
• Owen isn’t buying the pro-forma denials of the above item.
• Stephan Tawney found Biden unable to stick to his “no political attacks today” call. I’m shocked, SHOCKED that a DhimmiRAT would forget what he said.
• Mark McNally found the PUMA FAQ.
• Mary wonders where all the “free-speech” liberals are. I hate to break the news that they’re not about free speech, but about power by every means possible, especially if it involves hypocrisy.
• Professor Stephen Bainbridge notes there is no Rebel Yell on either ticket.
• Allahpundit notes that, in the event of an Obama win, things will be wide open on the Republican side come 2012 as there won’t be a “next in line” (i.e., no Mitt Romney).
• William Teach found an illegal alien doing two jobs Americans won’t do; working for a ‘Rat as a ranchhand and killing people.
• Michelle Malkin found the pressitutes couldn’t even wait until Palin was on-stage Friday to unleash their sexist insults.
• Allahpundit busts the first lieberal meme about Palin. It was all-too-easy for him because they cut apart his video to spread it.
• Jeni did what Charlie Sykes would call a flagrant act of journalism, went through the donations from Gannett higher-ups, and compared that to Gannet’s “Ethics” policy. I’m shocked, SHOCKED to find out that 30 Gannett bigwigs donated to the Obamination Express.
• Jim Geraghty asks whether the MLSM is just the Kos/Sullivan publicists. The fact that he asked the question ought to be a clue on the answer.
• John juxtaposes the presstitutes’ non-coverage of John Edwards’ love child with the non-stop Palin slams.
• Bill Quick notes that August will be the first month in a century without sunspots. Unspoken scientific fact; the last 3 mini-Ice Ages have been tied to a lack of sunspot activity.
• Fred Keller highlights recent events in the restoration of the Soviet Union.
• The Wisconsin Institute for Leadership held a memorial service for Wisconsin jobs. In the less-than-6-years of the Jim Doyle administration, there have been 4 (5 if the job gets filled) Commerce Secretaries.
• Jib has some odd Greek Wisconsin factoids.
• James Wigderson wonders whether the homosexual crowd is going to be successful in buying Wisconsin like they did Colorado.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

About ten days ago we were having a national discussion about Barack Obama’s abortion positions.  Along with his Saddleback performance, the issue was regenerated when tapes of his Illinois Senate floor debate, along with the transcript, surfaced.

One of the issues that Obama raised as onerous in the “born alive” bill, was having a second doctor involved to determine the viability of the child. 

From the transcript, Senator Obama discussing the need for a second doctor:

So — and again, I’m — not going to prolong this, but I just want to be clear because I think this was the source of the objections of the Medical Society. As I understand it, this puts the burden on the attending physician who has determined, since they were performing this procedure, that, in fact, this is a nonviable fetus; that if that fetus, or child - however way you want to describe it - is now outside the mother’s womb and the doctor continues to think that it’s nonviable but there’s, let’s say, movement or some indication that, in fact, they’re not just coming out limb and dead, that, in fact, they would then have to call a second physician to monitor and check off and make sure that this is not a live child that could be saved.

Further on, Obama adds:

…an additional doctor who then has to be called in an emergency situation to come in and make these assessments is designed simply to burden the original decision of the woman and the physician to induce labor and perform an abortion.

(Emphasis mine in both quotes)

A couple of things to note:

First note in the first quote that Obama is so far left on the abortion topic that he is unable to refer to a live baby as a “baby.”  Abortion extremists are loathe to refer to anything other than the birthling of a fully desired pregnancy a “baby.”  Giving anything other than this the term “baby” undermines their intent to keep anything unborn as nothing more than an inanimate object.  Calling it a “baby” undermines their desire to keep all abortion options open at all times.

Second, if you want some insight as to how Obama will handle Ahmadinejad, take another look at that first quote.  Obama didn’t even have the cojones to take a stand on whether they were discussing a fetus or a baby. He completely sidestepped the issue. Can you imagine him taking to Ahmadinejad? “I’d like to discuss your nuclear weapons or freedom tools, however way you want to describe them.” On the plus side, this may be the first core issue I’ve seen Obama hold to; he claimed it was above his paygrade to determine when life began, at the Saddleback debate and he had the same opinion back in 2002!

Third, this second doctor issue is a complete canard. When a premature birth occurs, it is very typical to have not only a second doctor, but a second medical team involved in the event. The obstetrician stays with the mother while the second doctor and team attend to the premature infant. In the event of a failed abortion what do we have? A premature infant! So if that is already typical procedure in most hospitals, why would that be onerous in this case? The answer to that is yet another quote from Barack Obama:

…that’s fine, but I think it’s important to understand that this issue ultimately is about abortion and not live births.

That last quote says all anyone needs to know about Obama’s position on abortion…it’s always about abortion, never about life.

After having been caught flat footed by the choice of Sarah Palin as the VP pick, Team Obama and surrogates have been scrambling this weekend to catch up.  In looking over the various stories posted, there appear to be two themes:

1. Palin is inexperienced
2. Palin campaigned for Gov. supporting the “Bridge to nowhere” and flip flopped after she won.

I don’t want to spend much time on the first issue except to say, Geraldine Ferraro.  Geraldine Ferraro had an entire 6 years of elected experience as a Congressional Representative from New York when she was tapped to be VP.  Evidently, 6 years of elected experience is adequate but nearly 8 years as Mayor and Governor (not counting 4 more years as City Council Person) aren’t enough.  I love that new math!

What about the Bridge to nowhere? 

I’ve read enough accounts that it appears sure that during her Gubernatorial campaign, Palin supported the bridge.  I’m also convinced that Palin changed her mind on the Bridge sometime in 2007.  However, I don’t think the “flip-flop” description fits on this one.

There appear to be a couple of different accounts as to why Palin changed her mind on the Bridge to Nowhere.  The first is provided by this article from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:

As for the bridge money, Palin contacted Young the day after the Minnesota bridge collapse about giving them the Ketchikan funds, Leighow said.

Young advised her that he thought it would violate public law and the subject did not come up again. Staff members who were present during their meetings said they had no recollection of the governor suggesting the funds could be used for other transportation projects in Alaska.

The second is outlined in this article from Business Wire:

Treat: To Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) for announcing the state would drive a stake through the heart of the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” and focus on other transportation priorities. Gov. Palin directed the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) to create a list of other uses for the $36 million in federal money that will be freed up with the desertion of the project. The DOT will also work to come up with a more financially responsible solution, such as improved ferry services, to serve the residents of Gravina Island. “Bridge to Nowhere,” RIP.

So what do we have?

Either Palin rejected the Bridge to Nowhere because she thought the Federal Government could better use the funds elsewhere i.e. a major arterial that had just collapsed and needed replacing, or she felt that the price tag had gotten too high and that there were more cost efficient ways to solve the problem.

Washington is filled with people who believe that their entire value is determined by how much money they control. It’s filled with people who’s solution to every problem is to take more of other people’s money and throw it at their particular pet project.

Isn’t it refreshing to see an elected official actually use their brain, and the judgement we elected them for, and say “Hey, I know we were headed this way, but the circumstances have changed. Let’s find another solution!” In Washington, a person who tries that tack will either be labelled a “Maverick” or “inexperienced.”

If thinking that includes common sense, comes from “inexperience,” sign me up for a whole lot more of it!

In an article early last evening, the Politico reports:

Palin’s hubby and son not Republicans

(play dramatic conclusion music Duh, duh Daaaaaaaaaah!)

Are they suggesting that “hubby and son” wouldn’t or haven’t, voted for Palin? (by the way, would they use a term like “wifey” if Palin was male?  Or, as Heather points out, is “hubby” the male version of “Trophy Wife” which was the meme anytime the left talked about Jeri Thompson.) Are they suggesting that Palin’s husband and son would support Obama?

For those who may have a tough time keeping up, let me give you a likely and plausible explanation. While I struggle to remember the last, or for that matter if I have ever, voted for a Democrat, I’m not a Registered Republican. Why? Well, part of it is I don’t like being labeled part of any large group. It’s also because, especially over the past few years, I’ve been very dissatisfied with what the Republicans have been doing. Remaining unaffiliated gives me a clear conscience of supporting people like John Kline (my congresscritter) while still sending weekly emails and calls to Norm Coleman’s office as he hides behind the “R” label and does dumb things like joining the Gang of 16.

A big part of Sarah Palin’s story is that she has taken on corruption in Alaska. As I understand the information, a fair amount of that corruption was within the Republican party up there. If your spouse is coming home every day telling you about all the crap that the party they are a part of is doing, do you suppose you might be just a bit less enthusiastic about putting your name on the rolls of the assumed lock step agreement folks? I know I would.

Once again, Politico, what exactly is your point? It doesn’t appear you have one.

The day after the scene at Barackopolis was a day when Barack expected to awake and bask in the glowing adoration of a fawing nation and media.  A day when he expected to reaquire is Chi and his Mo.  Unfortunately for Barack, McCain drew Obama into a trap of his own ego.  He not only took the Chi and the Mo but made sure Barack will not see them again in this election, when he announced Sarah Palin as his VP choice.  (As a complete aside, I’ll admit I was wrong on Pawlenty but I was right about Mitt)

Hard to imagine much worse could happen to “The One” but in fact, the day ended worse than it began.

PR newswire released a poll this evening that showed:

A majority of likely voters and Catholics are at odds with Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on the critical issue of abortion and “when life begins,”

When asked:

Recently, Barack Obama was asked when he thought life begins, in reference to the issue of abortion. Obama responded by saying that decision was above his pay grade. Knowing that the next president may be able to appoint two or three U.S. Supreme Court Justices, who may be called to make rulings on the issue of abortion, do you support or oppose a president who does not know when life begins?

The response was:

Fifty-five percent of likely voters said they would oppose a president who does not know when life begins, while only 28 percent said they would support such a president. Among likely voters who are Catholic, 67 percent would oppose a president who doesn’t know when life begins, and only 19 percent would support him.

Uh oh!

But it gets worse. Do you remember Barack’s closing attempts to show his views were just like us regular folks? Do you remember where he suggested that opposition to gay marriage showed small mindedness?

I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination.

Well, this same survey shows that a majority of Americans still have “small minds.” When asked:

Would you support or oppose a ballot measure in your state that stipulates only marriage between a man and a woman will be legally recognized?”

The answer came back:

Fifty-eight percent of likely voters said they would support such a measure, while only 36 percent would oppose it. Among likely voters who are Catholic, 60 percent would support the ballot measure, and 36 percent would oppose it.

Barack appears to be on a roll. I’ll bet he didn’t expect to be rolling downhill at this point!

In case you missed it, as a counter to the Palin announcement, the Joebama team released a new theme song that highlights their team’s unique qualities. Joebama Theme Song

Or at least everybody should like Kung Fu Quip. Michael Turk, the proprietor, is busy creating a bunch of Little Known Facts About Sarah Palin on his Twitter feed, and that’s just a taste of what he does.

Revisions/extensions (1:45 pm 8/29/2008) - The same needs to be said for Sarah Palin Facts. My favorite so far - “Sarah Palin fishes salmon by convincing them it’s in their interest to jump into the boat.”

I’m making this one short-and-sweet, and it will last 1 week…

 Loading ...

A housekeeping item; I’m semi-retiring the longest-running poll here - “Who will be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012″. Depending on future circumstances, I may resurrect it.

This one’s definitely out of right (or at least right-center) field. The first joint appearance of the Republican ticket will be in about 10 minutes, and my first thought is, YES!!!!. Time to party….

I’m not going to try to keep up with all the rumors and counter-rumors on John McCain’s VP announcement, due at 11 am today. It is, however, the final countdown for all but one…

I had to mark a whole lot of items in the overbloated Feed Reader of Doom read so I could fire this one off, recharge the wireless mouse, and set up a live-blog (anticipating kicking that off about 10:45 am), so if this is a bit short, so be it. You’ve been spoiled with the multiparters.

• Plebian went behind the scenes to get the rejected ideas for the Obamination Coronation.
• S. Weasel has the lightning that threatened Stix near the end of last night’s drunkblog.
• Trail-Mix proves we were mishearing Obama’s slogan all along; it’s deceive, not believe
• Jon Ham summarized the speech the way I would have had I not actually been drinking extra-strength beer during that drunkblog.
• Tom McMahon goes back into history to do a comparo between Obama’s campaign and the last one to feature faux Greco-Roman architecture.
• Michelle Malkin has a new nickname for Obama - The Silencer. It’s fitting that Obama’s from the city that gave us Al Capone.
• Sister Toldjah found that Barack Obama is still Barack Obama’s worst enemy.
• Jim Geraghty goes into the recent-memory hole to prove Obama is not ready to have a debate.
• Ed Morrissey says the coronation was for the ‘Rat base. Guess it is a 2-song day after all…

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z7eZGRlKd0

• Speaking of Stix, he found the place for the Sunday bash, as well as his home base for his election coverage - Centerfield at 119 N 4th St in Minneapolis. I will have to cut out early because I’m pretty much persona non grata in the eyes of the “R”NC, and I have to be back in Milwaukee on Monday, but I’m more than game.
• Emperor Misha I found some real police suppression of the press in Denver; they had to protect the identities of the lobbyists paying for the ‘Rat convention and buying a ‘Rat Senate.
• Jim Hoft found that it isn’t just Detroit where Detroit Councilwoman Monica Conyers fights.
• Jon Sanders proves it’s all about the pursuit and maintenance of power for the ‘Rats. Say, there’s a certain warrior “religion” that also sanctions lies in the pursuit and maintenance of power; Islam.
• Chief has time-lapse video of the build-out of the no-Greek-columns RNC convention hall.
• Anwyn is shocked, SHOCKED that the more-overt knitting references are starting to make their way into the descriptions of TV shows. That reference violates Egg’s Rule #352 - Don’t use a thesaurus for the sake of using it.
• Ace notes that if the presstitutes can’t say anything bad about the economy, they won’t say anything at all. After all, a 3.3% annualized GDP growth rate in the second quarter is 230% higher than the official economist of the Obamination Express wants.
• More presstitute follies from Ace - he found that The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ isn’t immune from backlash over their theft of stories and price hikes for republication.
• Fred caught Mad Vlad Putin projecting his naked aggression in Georgia onto the man who thought he saw something good in his eyes. Who knew that the old hand from the KGB was a Leftist? </sarcasm>
• Fred Keller brings back the drive-in. I fondly remember the days of riding into (and later driving into) the 41 Twin (later 41 Twins) before Northwestern Mutual bought the land and started moving their operations out of Milwaukee and into Franklin.
• Larry Sandler found a new destination for Eggs On The Road - Marquette University for a debate on transit between Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barret scheduled for 9/9.
• I’ll close out with a story of what a real leader does - Matt Burden relays the previously-untold story of what happened at Eielson Air Force Base when Air Force One made a refueling stop. It’s times like that where I am proud to call George W. Bush my President.

Time to recharge the mouse. I hope it gets some good juice in the next hour and a half.

It’s been too long since I fired up Cover It Live, so I may as well fire it up for the acceptance speech coronation of Barack Hussein Obama II as the Democratic Presidential nominee. The fun will kick off at about 7:45 pm. Since this will almost certainly contain a lot of expletives, it will not be simulcast over at my corner hole in TownHall’s wall.

Programming note; if either Shoebox or I find items to blog about before the start, I will move this to the top of the heap.

Joining in the mayhem:
- The FReepers have been doing ‘Rat Patrol all afternoon
- The Morons are on the case
- The Lizards will start here (don’t ask me where they’ll end)
- RightwingSparkle is running a chat (I’m having a bit of a problem getting in there)
- Sister Toldjah has the updates that matter

(H/T - Allahpundit)

The McCain campaign will be airing the following ad tonight…

The Obama campaign response from campaign manager David Plouffe:

“(It is) a very nice gesture. We appreciate that. I wish more of his ads had that tone. But for tonight we appreciate it and will congratulate him next week on his nomination.”

My money says they’ll deliver the snarkasm.
I saw this commercial and the first thing I thought of was the refrain of this song…My Mom always told me it was best to “kill” people with kindness! Shoebox

Mary Katharine Ham may be too busy to blog, but she still churns out high-quality columns, this one on the Commerical Gap between Team McCain and Team Obama. There’s so much material covered, if I tried to excerpt a small part, I’ll miss the rest, so I’ll simply give my usual “Go. Read. Now!”

A couple of items:

- First, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve changed the embed code for Day by Day. For some odd and untraceable reason, a few people have been having problems with the mouseover JavaScript, so I switched to the standard iframe embed. As a bonus, it now displays the most-current strip instead of attempting to display the current day’s strip (which doesn’t exactly work when there is no “current day” strip).
- Those of you who put Akismet 2.1.7 on your blogs have probably noticed that you can’t delete spam. The folks at Automattic have released 2.1.8 to fix that, but for some reason that release isn’t triggering the “auto-discovery” feature in the newer WordPress builds. Until that happens, you can head to the WordPress Akismet plugin page to grab the ZIP file, unzip it, and upload the contents to the appropriate folder (…/wp-content/plugins/akismet).