(vid h/t: Ragnar)
bi·as [bahy-uhs] –nounOh yeah, THAT media bias (and this one, even more blatant). Look out, folks! It's gonna be the Old West again, America's streets are gonna run red with blood!
- a particular tendency or inclination, esp. one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question; prejudice.
According to Democrats, patriotism no longer has anything to do with the flag or loyalty to and love of one's country. Cue the new change: Patriotism now means eating "healthy."
As part of the effort to make the August 25-28 convention the greenest ever, the Democrats' guidelines for food catering include one that strikes at the heart of Southern cuisine: no fried food.I dunno about that, but it sure is a new "-ism."
No fried chicken. No fried catfish. No fried green tomatoes. No fried okra. No fried anything.
In promoting healthy eating habits, the Democratic guidelines say every meal should be nutritious and include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, purple/blue and white."
"It's the new patriotism," says Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, the driving force behind the greening of the Democratic convention.
What do the liberal justices on the Supreme Court have in common with Saudi Arabia? They both condone pedophiles:
Supreme Court: No death penalty for child rape
5-4, with Kennedy joining the liberals to make a majority and the conservatives in dissent, the same posture for most “values” cases these days and just the latest reminder that Americans are fully justified in their cynicism about how the Court goes about deciding these things.Saudi Marriage Official Says 1-Year-Old Brides OK
Saudi marriage officiant Dr. Ahmad al-Mu’bi told Lebanese television viewers last week that it’s permissible for girls as young as 1 to marry — as long as sex is postponed.Sex OK at 9, says Saudi cleric
“You can have a marriage contract even with a 1-year-old girl, not to mention a girl of 9, 7 or 8,” he said. “But is the girl ready for sex or not?” What is the appropriate age for sex for the first time? This varies according to environment and tradition,” al-Mu’bi said.
"The Prophet Muhammad is the model we follow. He took 'Aisha to be his wife when she was 6, but he had sex with her only when she was 9."
Looks like it doesn't take much time to become an expert in "change." Only about 143 days. (h/t: Fuzzy's Dad)
Just how much Senate experience does Barack Obama have in terms of actual work days? Not much.I'm still no fan of McCain, but she makes a damn good point.
From the time Barack Obama was sworn in as a United State Senator, to the time he announced he was forming a Presidential exploratory committee, he logged 143 days of experience in the Senate. That's how many days the Senate was actually in session and working.
After 143 days of work experience, Obama believed he was ready to be Commander In Chief, Leader of the Free World, and fill the shoes of Abraham Lincoln, FDR, JFK and Ronald Reagan.
143 days -- I keep leftovers in my refrigerator longer than that.
In contrast, John McCain's 26 years in Congress, 22 years of military service including 1,966 days in captivity as a POW in Hanoi now seem more impressive than ever. At 71, John McCain may just be hitting his stride.
You may not be aware of this, but your doctor does not routinely test for HIV unless you ask. So ask. Or get tested for FREE today (and test results are available within 20 minutes).
There was a landmark ruling today by the Supreme Court in the case of District of Columbia v. Heller where they declared Washington DC's ban on handguns to be unconstitutional. Of course, it was a 5-4 split decision with the four liberal justices deciding against private ownership of firearms.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in U.S. history.Yeah, nowhere to be found aside from the main purpose of the Constitution being to limit the power of the federal government. Justice Kennedy sided with Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito on the constitutionality of private gun ownership. As suspected, Scalia wrote the majority opinon. Stevens and Breyer wrote the nanny-state dissent.
The court's 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision went further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.
The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."
The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.
Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said that an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment was adopted.
The Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home," Scalia said. The court also struck down Washington's requirement that firearms be equipped with trigger locks or kept disassembled, but left intact the licensing of guns.
In a dissent he summarized from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."
He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."
Suddenly, with the general election looming, Obama discovers that his campaign’s statement was inartful. This seems rather puzzling, because before he ran for public office, Barack Obama was supposed to be a Constitutional law expert. One might expect the “inartful” excuse on wetlands reclamation or some other esoteric matter of public policy, but the Constitution is what he supposedly studied at Columbia and Harvard. One has to wonder whether Obama has any competence even in his own chosen field to have seven months go by before realizing that he got the Constitutional question wrong.And Jonathan Leffingwell quips:
[...]
We used to call John Kerry a flip-flopper for his enbarrassing quote on his opposition to Iraq war funding. Obama has now changed position on almost every key position in this election, and exposed himself as incompetent as a Constitutional law analyst as well.
Wait, wait, lemme guess: “This is not the Constitution I knew”, right?---
Yesterday I wrote that despite Barack Obama’s claims that he believes in the Second Amendment, is a friend to gun owners, never supported a complete ban on handguns (despite a questionnaire from early in his career stating he did), etc., those claims are hard to balance with his approval of Chicago’s effective ban on handguns. In Obama's entire time in the city, there’s no record of him ever objecting to it.
Obama’s audacity on this issue goes even further.
Obama was named a director of the Joyce Foundation in late 1994, and remained in that position until late 2002.
During Obama’s tenure with the Joyce Foundation, donations to anti-gun groups increased dramatically. For example, in 1997 and 1998 the Violence Policy Center received $221,000 and $360,000 from the Foundation; those grants and donations increased to $1 million in 2000 and $800,000 in 2002. In all, during Obama’s tenure, the group received $15 million from the Joyce Foundation.
The Violence Policy Center, despite its name, never seems all that concerned with beatings, stabbings, immolations or explosions. No, they’re completely focused on gun violence, and they can effectively be called an anti-gun or pro-gun control organization.
Lest anyone think I’m mischaracterizing their objective analysis, note that their web site touts themselves as “the most aggressive group in the gun control movement.” Also note studies like their one from 2000 entitled, “Unsafe in Any Hands: Why America Needs to Ban Handguns,” which declared the idea that the Constitution would forbid a national handgun ban a “pure myth.” Also note the organization’s subtly-titled book, Every Handgun is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.
Barack Obama didn't attend the BET Awards, but that didn't stop attendees from talking about him.So is he saying that everyone will die if they don't vote for Obama, or that everyone who doesn't vote for Obama will be killed? Either way, the cult of Obama is really going off the rails.
"If we all register and vote, we will have the first black president in the history of America," Sean "Diddy" Combs told the crowd Tuesday at the Shrine Auditorium before chanting "Obama or Die" - a declarative remix of his neutral "Vote or Die" motto from the 2004 presidential election, when he attempted to boost the youth vote.
Dan from Gone Mild recently wrote a bitter post decrying oil companies' "obscene profits" (as if they're the ones gouging the American public) and trying to assert that McCain is bought-and-paid-for by "big oil" while the Obamessiah is benevolently seeking to bring "yeswecanhopechange" to America.
I felt the need to respond, as this hot-button issue really bugs me.
What makes our current gas prices obscene is the amount the government is allowed to steal: state and federal gasoline taxes far outweigh oil industry profits. Local, state and federal gas taxes consume 45.9 cents per gallon on average. For example, oil companies make 9.5 cents on every dollar of gasoline and oil sold, in payment for their investments in technology and their work to get their product to the retail customer. The federal government, on the other hand, sits back and collects 18.4 cents per gallon in tax.
Whisleblower isn't lying. Cuba has issued exploration contracts to companies from China, India, Canada, Spain, Malaysia and Norway.
Just because they're not yet "drinking our milkshake" doesn't make it a lie.
If Bill Clinton hadn't extended the moratorium on offshore drilling back in 1998 (and his veto on ANWR drilling in 1995), we wouldn't even be having this discussion. The "it'll take 10 years to impact gas prices" argument is tremendously short-sighted.
The longer we delay, the longer we extend our dependence on foreign oil and leave ourselves at their mercy. We certainly need to move ahead with renewable energy sources, but our need for petroleum isn't going to go away any time in the near future.
As far as natural beauty goes, current proposals call for drilling in the Gulf between 100 - 150 miles offshore. And as far as risks go, there are numerous platforms which were subjected to severe weather (even Category 5 hurricanes) with little to no oil spillage.
Domestic drilling for oil needs to be an essential part of our nation’s long-term energy policy, along with nuclear power, oil shale, and coal liquification (liquid hydrocarbon fuel available from American coal reserves exceeds the crude oil reserves of the entire world). There are environmentally responsible ways to use these resources, and we shouldn't shrink from them simply because oil companies stand to make a profit. Our economy is currently feeling the pain of that kind of class warfare mentality.
The Democrats think those with opposing view points should have their right to free speech...in a cage far removed from where they'll be meeting. "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Right, Dems?
I don't know exactly what is meant by "viewing area" if the cage in question isn't within sight or sound of the delegates. But no matter. We wouldn't want that pesky First Amendment to get in the way of the Obamessiah's coronation, would we?A spat between groups planning protests during the Democratic National Convention and Denver and federal officials continues to build as one of the biggest political events of the year rapidly approaches.
City officials on Monday released additional details of an area for protesters during the convention, but an attorney for protest groups says they won't be near delegates at the Pepsi Center.
City officials say the viewing area will be encircled by wire mesh and it will not be enclosed at the top. The area will use 50,000-square foot zone within a 350,000-square foot parking lot next to the Pepsi Center, the site of the convention.
An entertaining five-part vidcast from a self-professed Democrat helping people learn how to discuss a few of the issues with Barack Obama's fawning supporters. (h/t: Moonbattery)
Part One: Racism
Part Two: Experience
Part Three: Lobbyists
Part Four: Distractions
Part Five: Barack's middle name
I saw this video this morning and simply couldn't believe it: some vile maggot named Michael Crook sneaking through a veterans' cemetery, reading the names on the tombstones, calling them "scumbags" and spitting on their graves. (h/t: Weasel Zippers)
Did you notice the dark circles under his eyes? Bluto makes an interesting observation:
"Periorbital melanosis, or dark circles under the eyes can be a sign of untreated viral hepatitis. Perhaps the creature in the video has been sticking dirty things in its mouth."Turns out, this anti-military asshat has been on the news for stuff like this before. Here he is being PWNED on Hannity & Combs for celebrating the deaths of our soldiers, calling them "leeches" and running websites with titles like "Forsake Our Troops". He is to the Left what Fred Phelps is to the right (oh, and he's also a holocaust denier, too). I wouldn't be surprised if he's invited to speak at the DNC convention or asked to blog on DailyKos.
U.S. Rep Thaddeus McCotter (R - Michigan) cuts through the doublethink with some handy charts. (h/t: Babalu Blog)
I'm sad to report George Carlin died of heart failure last night.
Although I disagreed with some of his politics, and was sad to see his comedy deteriorate in recent years into bitter, angry lectures, he was definitely a pioneer. And I respected the fact that he used to skewer the hypocrisy on both sides, as they're both equally worthy of ridicule. Yeah, some of his work was crude (reference the now-classic "Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television" routine), but the fart-in-church, turd-in-the-punchbowl, anti-establishment nature of his comedy is part of what appealed to me.
My favorite routines of his were firmly based on simple observations of the ridiculous that we too often overlook, like why we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway. Here's some of Carlin's good "stuff".
No tribute would be complete without his comparison of baseball and football:
Rest in peace, man.
(photo h/t: Blogmeister USA)
Looks like Obama is taking the title presumptive nominee a little too far. More "profound humility" we can believe in.
The Weekly Standard examines the law and wonders the same thing I did: isn't it illegal to misappropriate the Presidential seal?
Surprise, surprise; the useless tools on the UN Human Rights Council have weaseled out of any uncomfortable criticism of the horrific practices of Islamic extremists. Even the mention of the word "shari'a" is now taboo at the Council. They would much rather sidestep condemnation of the brutality their organization was formed to oppose, and instead leave the discussion of "honor" killings, beheadings, amputations, and stonings – and the Islamic laws and/or culture which perpetuate such barbarism – to smiling, well-rehearsed Muslim apologists. (h/t: Jihad Watch)
GENEVA: Muslim countries have won a battle to prevent Islam from being criticised during debates by the UN Human Rights Council. Religions deserve special protection because any debate about faith is bound to be “very complex, very sensitive and very intense”, council President Doru-Romulus Costea said Wednesday.
Scholars: Only religious scholars should be allowed to discuss matters of faith, he told journalists in Geneva.
While Costea’s ban applies to all religions, it was prompted by Muslim countries complaining about references to Islam.
Costea issued his “presidential ruling” on Monday during the eighth meeting of the council’s 47 members, which do not include the United States. The ruling will not affect findings by the council’s experts, just its chamber debates.
On Monday Egypt, Pakistan and Iran angrily protested attempts by a humanist group to link Islam to human rights abuses such as female genital mutilation and so-called honour killing of women. The interventions sparked a heated debate which threatened to sour the mood of the meeting. The council’s resolutions carry no legal weight but are intended to throw a spotlight on governments that abuse their citizens.
“This council is not prepared to discuss religious matters in depth, consequently we should not do it,” Costea ruled after an emergency break to calm the situation.
Exciting proof that cloning is good for more than just duplicating sheep and mediocre Star Wars prequels.
A cancer patient has made a full recovery after being injected with billions of his own immune cells in the first case of its kind, doctors have disclosed.
The 52-year-old, who was suffering from advanced skin cancer, was free from tumours within eight weeks of undergoing the procedure.
After two years he is still free from the disease which had spread to his lymph nodes and one of his lungs.
Doctors took cells from the man's own defence system that were found to attack the cancer cells best, cloned them and injected back into his body, in a process known as "immunotherapy".
Experts said that the case could mark a landmark in the treatment of cancer.
[...]
Ed Yong, health information manager at Cancer Research UK, said: "It's very exciting to see a cancer patient being successfully treated using immune cells cloned from his own body. While it's always good news when anyone with cancer gets the all clear, this treatment will need to be tested in large clinical trials to work out how widely it could be used."
[...]
Genetically altered white blood cells have been used before to treat cancer patients but this is the first study to show that simply growing vast numbers of the few immune cells in the body to attack a cancer can be safe and effective.
Normally there are too few of the cells in a patient's body to effectively fight cancer.
[...]
The work raises hopes that this approach could not only offer a more effective treatment for skin cancer, or melanoma, which kills around 2,000 people in Britain alone, but be applied to other cancers too.
Surprisingly, this story isn't about that Saudi-funded Islamic extremist school of hate in Virginia, it's an American so-called educator pandering to intolerance.
Most children growing up in the US memorize the Pledge of Allegiance. But, in one Oregon elementary school, the kids won't be allowed to recite it at an end of the year assembly.I can't imagine why he'd be so afraid of the Religion of Peace.
The principal banned it that day so as not to offend Muslims.
Everybody knows Barack Obama is a lightweight with a severe lack of experience and dangerously naive positions on national security, but this is surprising even for him.
Barack Obama aide: Why Winnie the Pooh should shape US foreign policyThis is the kind of person chosen by the Obamessiah as his expert on foreign policy and our nation's security? A bear of very little brain, indeed!Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.
Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: "Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security."
The past couple days, ye olde blog has been sadly neglected for two reasons; I've been busy working some new freelance (a good thing when one is unemployed), and I haven't been feeling very motivated to write. Luckily, not everyone has been as blog-lazy as yours truly.
Contrary to popular opinion in the MSM, Barack Obama isn't the first politician to act as a community organizer. Guess which politician issued this very similar-sounding call for change and unity?
"The greater the readiness to subordinate purely personal interests, the higher rises the ability to establish comprehensive communities... This state of mind, which subordinates the interests of the ego to the conservation of the community, is really the first premise of every truly human culture."Yeah, I know, Godwin's Law and all that. It was too good to pass up.
Move over Cindy Sheehan, there's a new Sheriff of Absolute Moral Authority in town.
According to Sen. Dick Durbin (the asshat who equated American military personnel at Gitmo to the genocidal thugs of Nazi Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union, and the Khmer Rouge), "the hottest ring in hell" is reserved for anyone who dares question anything said by Michelle Obama.
Well, I know Michelle, she's been my friend, a friend of my wife, for many, many years. She can take it. She can handle herself. She's a very accomplished person. But I will tell you this: the hottest ring in hell is reserved for those in politics who attack their opponents' families. And if there are some Republican strategists who think that's the way to win the election, I think they're wrong.While normally I would agree with the assertion that a candidate's family is off limits, it's a little different in the case of Barack Obama because his wife is out there on the campaign trail, lecturing Americans on how bad they are and how her husband is going to "fix their souls." And according to Barack, whatever Michelle says is the message."
"(America is) just downright mean."Here's an idea; if Democrats don't want Michelle Obama to be criticized for things she says, she shouldn't out there stumping for Barack. I know it runs contrary to Democrat philosophy, but you can't have it both ways.
"For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country.""Barack Obama will require you to work. He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed."
"...we have to compromise and sacrifice for one another in order to get things done - that is why I am here, because Barack Obama is the only person in this race who understands that. That before we can work on the problems, we have to fix our souls - our souls are broken in this nation."
"So I am here right now because I am married to the only person in this race who has a chance at healing this nation."
WTF?!
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.This is un-be-freakin-lievable. Just watch, the ACLU will now step in and give each terrorist milk and cookies (halal, of course) and a get-out-of-jail-free card.
In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."
It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than 6 years. Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Today the Court strikes down as inadequate the mostJustice Scalia's dissent similarly details many legal errors in the majority's decision, but goes even further:
generous set of procedural protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants. The political branches crafted these procedures amidst an ongoing
military conflict, after much careful investigation and thorough debate. The Court rejects them today out of hand, without bothering to say what due process rights the detainees possess, without explaining how the statute fails to vindicate those rights, and before a single petitioner has even attempted to avail himself of the law’s operation. And to what effect? The majority merely replaces a review system designed by the people’s representatives with a set of shapeless procedures to be defined by federal courts at some future date.
[...]
So who has won? Not the detainees. The Court’s analysis leaves them with only the prospect of further litigation to determine the content of their new habeas right, followed by further litigation to resolve their particular cases, followed by further litigation before the D. C. Circuit— where they could have started had they invoked the DTA procedure. Not Congress, whose attempt to “determine — through democratic means — how best” to balance the security of the American people with the detainees’ liberty interests, see Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U. S. 557, 636 (2006) (BREYER, J., concurring), has been unceremoniously brushed aside. Not the Great Writ, whose majesty is hardly enhanced by its extension to a jurisdictionally quirky outpost, with no tangible benefit to anyone. Not the rule of law, unless by that is meant the rule of lawyers, who will now arguably have a greater role than military and intelligence officials in shaping policy for alien enemy combatants. And certainly not the American people, who today lose a bit more control over the conduct of this Nation’s foreign policy to unelected, politically unaccountable judges.
I respectfully dissent.
The game of bait-and-switch that today’s opinion plays upon the Nation’s Commander in Chief will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed. That consequence would be tolerable if necessary to preserve a time-honored legal principle vital to our constitutional Republic. But it is this Court’s blatant abandonment of such a principle that produces the decision today. The President relied on our settled precedent in Johnson v. Eisentrager, 339 U. S. 763 (1950), when he established the prison at Guantanamo Bay for enemy aliens. Citing that case, the President’s Office of Legal Counsel advised him “that the great weight of legal authority indicates that a federal district court could not properly exercise habeas jurisdiction over an alien detained at [Guantanamo Bay].” Memorandum from Patrick F. Philbin and John C. Yoo, Deputy Assistant Attorneys General, Office of Legal Counsel, to William J. Haynes II, General Counsel, Dept. of Defense (Dec. 28, 2001). Had the law been otherwise, the military surely would not have transported prisoners there, but would have kept them in Afghanistan, transferred them to another of our foreign military bases, or turned them over to allies for detention. Those other facilities might well have been worse for the detainees themselves.
In the long term, then, the Court’s decision today accomplishes little, except perhaps to reduce the well-being of enemy combatants that the Court ostensibly seeks to protect. In the short term, however, the decision is devastating. At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield.
[...]
These, mind you, were detainees whom the military had concluded were not enemy combatants. Their return to the kill illustrates the incredible difficulty of assessing who is and who is not an enemy combatant in a foreign theater of operations where the environment does not lend itself to rigorous evidence collection. Astoundingly, the Court today raises the bar, requiring military officials to appear before civilian courts and defend their decisions under procedural and evidentiary rules that go beyond what Congress has specified.
[...]
The Suspension Clause of the Constitution provides: “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” Art. I, §9, cl. 2. As a court of law operating under a written Constitution, our role is to determine whether there is a conflict between that Clause and the Military Commissions Act. A conflict arises only if the Suspension Clause preserves the privilege of the writ for aliens held by the United States military as enemy combatants at the base in Guantanamo Bay, located within the sovereign territory of Cuba.
[...]
The category of prisoner comparable to these detainees are not the Eisentrager criminal defendants, but the more than 400,000 prisoners of war detained in the United States alone during World War II. Not a single one was accorded the right to have his detention validated by a habeas corpus action in federal court—and that despite the fact that they were present on U. S. soil.
[...]
What drives today’s decision is neither the meaning of the Suspension Clause, nor the principles of our precedents, but rather an inflated notion of judicial supremacy.
[...]
Today the Court warps our Constitution in a way that goes beyond the narrow issue of the reach of the Suspension Clause, invoking judicially brainstormed separation-of-powers principles to establish a manipulable “functional” test for the extraterritorial reach of habeas corpus (and, no doubt, for the extraterritorial reach of other Constitutional protections as well). It blatantly misdescribes important precedents, most conspicuously Justice Jackson’s opinion for the Court in Johnson v. Eisentrager. It breaks a chain of precedent as old as the common law that prohibits judicial inquiry into detentions of aliens abroad absent statutory authorization. And, most tragically, it sets our military commanders the impossible task of proving to a civilian court, under whatever standards this Court devises in the future, that evidence supports the confinement of each and every enemy prisoner.
The Nation will live to regret what the Court has done today. I dissent.
The Incredible Hulk opens this Friday and has a surprise cameo by Iron Man/Tony Stark, forshadowing some upcoming Avengers spinoffs. So in the spirit of guest-starring superhero roles, here are a few famous movie lines as spoken by the angry green monster.
"Hulk sorry, did Hulk break your concentration? Hulk not mean to do that."
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into Hulk's."
"Yes, Greedo. Hulk was just coming to see your boss. Tell Jabba Hulk have his money."
"Hulk wish Hulk knew how to quit you."
"Frankly, my dear, Hulk not give a damn."
"Show Hulk the money!"
"Get your stinking paws off Hulk, you damned dirty ape!"
"Say "hello" to Hulk's little friend!"
"Hulk feel the need - the need for speed."
"Fifteen is Hulk's limit on schnitzengruben."
"Hulk smash you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!"
"Hulk funny how? Funny like, Hulk a clown, Hulk amuse you?"
"Hello. My name Hulk. You killed Hulk's father. Prepare to die."
Sounds like somebody's beginning to believe his own press. Here's a tidbit from Barack Obama's speech last week in St. Paul, Minnesota, as he assumed the Democrat nomination.
Good thing he's so profoundly humble, eh?"I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people…I am absolutely certain that generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick. This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."
I had no idea that churches, charities, hospitals, and even Medicare and Medicaid didn’t exist until the Obamessiah was nominated! And who knew that he was capable of lifting his Savior hand and causing the oceans to recede and the planet “to heal”?Al Gore, eat your heart out!
...do the media even care whether Senator Obama knows what he is talking about? Or is the symbolism of “the first black President” paramount, even if that means a President with cocky ignorance at a time of national danger?
The media have been crucial to Barack Obama’s whole candidacy. His only achievements of national significance in his entire career have been media achievements and rhetorical achievements.
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.
With all his expressed concern about the war in Iraq, he has not set foot in Iraq for more than two years-- including the very years when progress has been made against the terrorists there.
You don’t need to know the facts when you have cocky ignorance and the media behind you.
I haven't written a lot of details about my personal life over the past year because, frankly, much of it is depressing. And I'd rather not focus on things that will get me down. Those of you who've read my blog for a while know that I was laid off from my job last year after nearly 8 years at the same agency (that's quite a long time in the agency business, and it's the longest I've ever stayed at a single job). Since then, I've been doing all I can to stay afloat financially. And it hasn't been easy. The advertising market in Dallas in exceptionally tight right now and it's been very hard to find freelance work while I wait for an upper-level job to become available. Clients are scared shitless with all this talk of recession, so they slash their agency fees in anticipation of tough times. Agencies, in turn, wind up having to lay off employees because they can't afford to pay everyone's salaries with the reduced level of income from their clients. These same clients advertise less, which reduces their "top of mind" awareness among their consumers, which results in lower revenue for the clients in question. It's an aggravating (and short-sighted) self-fulfilling prophecy.
Excuse me, I'm getting sidetracked here. Suffice it to say I've been really desperate for work. I had a really good 8-month run with a big international firm which specializes in online advertising and promotions: real cool top-tier stuff for Fortune 100 clients. It paid about a third of what I used to make, but at least it was steady work and it paid the bills. But they've had to cut their freelance budget recently, so the half dozen freelancers they were employing were all let go until the budgets come back up (in the meantime, the agency just works their regular salaried employees to death).
Last week, they called me back in for a few days. And wouldn't you know it, I got a call shortly after from another agency (who pays much better rates) who wanted me for this week. So today, I've been running back and forth between shops, completing projects for both places. It's been extremely stressful, and I'll likely be working until after midnight. But hopefully I'll be able to get paid in a timely manner and will be able to pay my bills this month.
*sigh*
Anyhow, all that to say that I don't have time to blog to day. In fact, this entry is taking longer than I really have time for. But I needed a few minutes' break to eat anyway, so there ya go.
Hopefully, I'll have more time tomorrow. Hey, at least I've got some work. Being off for an entire week in May really hurt, so I'm just glad to be busy.
Today is the 64th anniversary of D-Day, when American troops stormed Normandy's Omaha Beach in the largest amphibious assault in the history of warfare (29,000 American soldiers dead, 106,000 wounded and missing).
Dave in Texas has an excellent post commemorating those brave soldiers who helped liberate Europe – and the world – from tyranny on this day in 1944.
Captain Ed, in typical grand fashion, memorializes "the moment America became the leader of the Free World."
Flopping Aces:
Will you remember how those boys became men, how they fought against a foe that never attacked us? Will you remember that they saw a threat, saw evil, travelled [sic] to far away distant lands, and confronted it wherever they found it-Africa, Sicily, Italy, the skies over Europe, the depths of the Atlantic, the churning seas off the Kola Peninsula, France, Luxembourg…anywhere they saw people who needed someone to fight for them.
Will you remember?
In an attempt to be civilized, we're putting on trial five of the vermin directly responsible for killing 2,973 people in the deadliest terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil. All five of the terrorists (including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the scumbag who claims to have personally beheaded Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002) have rejected legal representation and say they want to be executed.
GUANTANAMO – The accused mastermind of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks said he welcomed martyrdom at U.S. hands, as he and four codefendants faced trial for war crimes without the benefit of lawyers.So, it sounds like we have a consensus. They want to die, and we want them dead.
Thursday's arraignment at this isolated U.S. Navy base marked the first time that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the former No. 3 leader of al-Qaida, has been seen since he was captured in Pakistan in 2003.
Judge Ralph Kohlmann said he would set a trial schedule later.
Mohammed said he would welcome being executed after the judge warned him he faces the death penalty if convicted of organizing the attacks on America.
"Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time," Mohammed said. "I will, God willing, have this, by you."
Only one thing remains: how to do it. They're relying on our squeamishness to allow them a peaceful "martyrdom" with our namby pamby lethal injection. I say we deny them their fabled 72 virgins with one of the only things jihadists fear...pork. 
Mondale, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry, and now Hillary.
Keep a weather eye for oblivious libtards still bearing these stickers on their cars.
Ever since they both got into the race I've believed the '08 Dem ticket will be Obama/Clinton (after all, it's the ultimate guilt team). But the megalomaniac side of Hillary wouldn't even consider the possibility of settling for VP a few months ago when she hoped she could snag the Oval Office herself, regardless of the fact that mathematically she couldn’t beat Obama. So now that she's all but lost and Obama is anointing himself the Democrat nominee, she's trying to save face – and her self-entitled place in history – by offering herself up as Obama's Vice President.
There's only one problem: the Obama campaign hasn't asked her. 
And it remains questionable that he would want to bring on board the Clinton Dynasty who would, no doubt, be trying to elbow him out of the way at every turn. Let's not forget Hillary's eagerness to play dirty; leaking the story of his childhood education in a Muslim madrassa, circulating that photo of Obama in Somalian tribal garb and hinting that he'd be at risk for assassination like Robert Kennedy.
I sure don't want Obama to win this fall. I think his inexperience and naivety – coupled with his ideas to "change" America into a socialist nation – could be disastrous for us all. That said, he could and should pick someone much better than Hillary Clinton. His ticket needs a partner who is principled, trustworthy and honest, and she has repeatedly proven she is none of the above.
When America's enemies cheer one of our presidential candidates, it definitely makes me wonder why. (h/t: Infidels Are Cool)
Via City Journal: There are no campaign rallies or bumper stickers for him in Syria, no “Yes We Can” T-shirts on sale, but Obamamania has definitely infected the “beating heart of Arab nationalism,” as it once called itself. During my recent visit to Damascus, Syrian officials and the political elite seemed captivated by Barack Obama, well before it was clear that the Democrats’ charismatic young superstar would be the party’s presidential nominee.Given Islamic fundamentalists' attitude toward apostates, they might mean that more literally than we think.
Partly, it’s Obama’s youth that makes him attractive to Syrians, roughly half of whom are under 18 and whose own president, Bashar Assad, is four years younger than Obama. “But it’s not just Obama’s age that we like,” says Obaida Hamad, a 32-year-old reporter for Syria Today, the country’s only independent, English-language magazine. “Syrians think that as a man of color, Obama may understand the Muslim and Arab worlds better than Hillary Clinton or John McCain,” he says. “And we are fed up with over a decade of American leadership in the hands of two families—Clinton and Bush. For us,” he says—diplomatically omitting the fact that President Assad, who has now ruled for eight years, succeeded his father, Hafez el-Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for three decades—“Obama represents new blood.”
Sleazy. Dishonest. Slimy. Scumbag.
Those are the ironic words former President Bill Clinton used to describe Todd Purdum, the author of Vanity Fair's new article about his less-than-presidential behavior on the campaign trail for Hillary.
HuffPo - The former president made the comment at a local campaign event after I asked him if Purdum's much-commented upon Vanity Fair story was weighing on his mind.Gotta love Clinton's projection. Here's a little taste of the article that got Bubba's boxers in a bunch:
Tightly gripping this reporter's hand and refusing to let go, Clinton heatedly denounced the writer, who is currently married to former Clinton White House Press Secretary, Dee Dee Myers.
"[He's] sleazy," he said referring to Purdum. "He's a really dishonest reporter. And one of our guys talked to him . . . And I haven't read [the article]. But he told me there's five or six just blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy," the former president said.
When I reminded him that Purdum was married to his former press spokesperson Myers, Clinton was undeterred.
"That's all right-- he's still a scumbag," Clinton said. " Let me tell ya-- he's one of the guys -- he's one of the guys that propagated all those lies about Whitewater to Kenneth Starr. He's just a dishonest guy-- can't help it."
Over the last few years, aides have winced at repeated tabloid reports about Clinton’s episodic friendship and occasional dinners out with Belinda Stronach, a twice-divorced billionaire auto-parts heiress and member of the Canadian Parliament 20 years his junior, or at more recent high-end Hollywood dinner-party gossip that Clinton has been seen visiting with the actress Gina Gershon in California. There has been talk of a female friend in Chappaqua, a woman in a bar at a meeting of the Aspen Institute, and a public sighting of Clinton, Bing, and a ravishing entourage in a New York elevator that, a former Clinton aide told me, led a business leader who saw them to say: I don’t know what the guy was doing, but it was so clear that it was just no good.National Review's Jim Geraghty notes: "Worse news for Bill Clinton: The picture of Angelina Jolie on the cover will probably make this issue fly off the newsstands."
None of these wisps of smoke have produced a public fire. But four former Clinton aides told me that, about 18 months ago, one of the president’s former assistants, who still advises him on political matters, had heard so many complaints about such reports from Clinton supporters around the country that he felt compelled to try to conduct what one of these aides called an “intervention,” because, the aide believed, “Clinton was apparently seeing a lot of women on the road.” The would-be intercessor was rebuffed by people around Clinton before ever getting an audience with the former president, and another aide told me that the effort was not well received by either Bill or Hillary Clinton and that some Hillarylanders, in particular, were in denial about the continuing political risks that Bill’s behavior might pose.
Video caption: "US Soldier firing SMAW at insurgent sniper hiding on a balcony in Baghdad, Iraq."
Don't mess with the bull, jihadi scum. You'll get the horns.
This past weekend was pretty busy for me, and I didn't have much chance to sit at the computer. We had lots of fun with our friends on Friday evening, sort of our own pizza and karaoke party in our apartment. traci's son graduated from high school on Saturday. And last night I took traci out for an early celebration of her birthday. Today, however, I am still looking for work after being without anything for over a week. And wouldn't ya know it, the rent is due. So I'm in heavy-duty scramble mode, looking for just about anything to bring in some moolah and prevent eviction.
Blog-wise, there hasn't been time to write anything. Hillary seems to be getting ready to bow out, especially given that her staffers are being encouraged to turn in their expense receipts. But I haven't even been able to watch the news to see if there's been anything bigger than that recently.
I'll be back tomorrow. With something new to post, and hopefully, a freelance gig.
