Quote of the Day

Obama wants to raise taxes and kill babies.

Palin wants to raise babies and kill taxes.

Rasmussen: Palin Draws 10-Point Bounce With Independents

For the most part the first initial readings coming from the Palin announcement have been very favorable...

Rasmussen reports good news for the McCain camp:

There have been significant changes in perception of John McCain in the two days of polling since he named Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. Since then, 49% of Republicans voice a Very Favorable opinion of McCain. That’s up six percentage points from 43% just before the announcement. Also, 64% of unaffiliated voters now give positive reviews to McCain, up ten points since naming his running mate.

All this despite Governor Palin being a relative unknown on the national scene. As a reminder, former community organizer Barack Obama’s pick of Joe Biden as a running mate was an eight point drag on their ticket.

Deja Vu All Over Again, DEAD HEAT

Barring aything earthshaking, the debates are going to clich it.

UTICA, New York - Republican John McCain's surprise announcement Friday of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate - some 16 hours after Democrat Barack Obama's historic speech accepting his party’s presidential nomination - has possibly stunted any Obama convention bump, the latest Zogby Interactive flash poll of the race shows.

The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.

Schwarzenegger Skipping GOP Convo; Thompson Gets a Promotion

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is skipping the Republican National Convention this week in Minnesota to manage an ongoing budget dispute in Sacramento. Republican officials say Fred Thompson will take his place in the prime-time lineup Monday night and onetime presidential candidate will have nearly three times longer to speak than he was originally given for his speech on Tuesday.

Schwarzenegger hinted that he might skip the convention at a press conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday. "The work for the people of California, and to solve this budget problem, is the most important thing right now for me," he said.

I'll take that trade off.

POWERLINE PI$$ES PANTS

Cmon guys, grow a couple.

DONE DEAL (Updated & Bumped)

photo via Jawa Breaking: Tim Pawlenty has stated that he got the call from McCain and that the VP choice is not him. Romney/Palin???!

UPDATEII: Romney out.

UPDATEIII:That's it, IT"S PALIN! GREAT FORM! I am working on confirmation from ny irrefutable source, will have confirmation within the hour.

UPDATEIV: MY high level source says it's SARAH!!!! This guy hasn't been wrong yet, I think it's OVAH

UPDATE V: Our source aka Harwood Garmegian says MCCain has pulled off the greatest head fake since the supposed invasion of Calais. It's Sarah Palin and "she will bring to the ticket the steadfast conservative ideals that made the Republican party win the hearts and minds of the American people in 00 and 04".

And if you don't believe me or HG... HERE

Opinipundit has one word and one word only to describe McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as Vice Presidentioal running mate....INSPIRED!

Second-quarter GDP revised up to a surprising 3.3% annual growth

But Shepard Smith told us the economy was "in tatters"?????

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- A revised reading on gross domestic product announced Thursday showed much better U.S. economic growth than previously reported for the second quarter.

GDP, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, stood at an annual rate of 3.3% in the quarter, adjusted for inflation, the Commerce Department said.

The revised results far surpassed the initial advanced estimate of 1.9% released late last month, which disappointed economists.

Many experts say the more than $90 billion in economic stimulus checks that reached taxpayers during the quarter helped boost GDP up from just 0.9% growth in the previous quarter.

In a related story Barack Obama was seen to have been beating his head against a concrete wall upon hearing of the news.

Pic of the Day

Democrats version of "Rage boy"

Durable-goods orders rise surprising 1.3% in July

Horrible recession! Depression! Crisis! Economy in tatters!.... or not,

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Signaling that some businesses have still been spending despite tight credit and a slow economy, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday that new orders for U.S.-made durable goods surged in July, rising 1.3%.
Strong transportation equipment demand boosted the result, Commerce reported. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had been looking for a gain of 0.2%.

Excluding transportation goods, July's new orders rose 0.7%.
Durable goods are big-ticket items designed to last three years or more. As such, new orders are very sensitive to economic expectations and serve as useful leading indicators of growth.

Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote that companies benefiting from the export boom are likely behind the increase in capital spending.

First Time McCain Leads Hussein Since June

RUH ROH.

PRINCETON, NJ -- It's official: Barack Obama has received no bounce in voter support out of his selection of Sen. Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate.

Gallup Poll Daily tracking from Aug. 23-25, the first three-day period falling entirely after Obama's Saturday morning vice presidential announcement, shows 46% of national registered voters backing John McCain and 44% supporting Obama, not appreciably different from the previous week's standing for both candidates. This is the first time since Obama clinched the nomination in early June, though, that McCain has held any kind of advantage over Obama in Gallup Poll Daily tracking.

No Excellence Shall Go Unpunished

We can't have winnners because if we have winners we have losers and we ABSOLUTELY CAN"T have losers...EVER!

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) -- Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho's coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.

But Vidro says he didn't quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league's field on Saturday urging the league to let Jericho pitch.

"He's never hurt any one," Vidro said. "He's on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?"

The controversy bothers Jericho, who says he misses pitching.

Having coached 8-12 years olds for several years now I can attest that this mentality pervades the local boards with a few vocal parents being the spearheads.

Jay at StoptheACLU has some cutting commentary.

Santa Barbara officials to back offshore drilling

If the most liberal bastion of the country wants it, the left better realize their present position is untenable.

Nearly 40 years after a disastrous oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, Calif., galvanized the nation and gave birth to the modern environmental movement, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is poised to vote today in support of offshore drilling.

Proponents of the measure contend that the United States cannot turn away from a homegrown energy source at a time when the country is dangerously dependent on foreign oil and technology has made offshore drilling safer than ever.

Opponents, however, deride today's vote to ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to change state policy and "allow expanded oil exploration and extraction in the Santa Barbara County region" as an exercise in polls, politics and posturing.

The vote is largely symbolic — the supervisors have no power to approve new offshore drilling, and the governor has come out against it. But it underscores both the issue's volatility and this coastal county's changing reality.

With gasoline prices hovering around $4 a gallon and a presidential election in the offing, even U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama in recent weeks cautiously have embraced the possibility of offshore drilling.

Bill Clinton not happy with convention role

Bubbah's pi$$ed he's di$$ed...

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) – Bill Clinton is perplexed and, frankly, not happy that he was asked to speak about national security Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention and not about the economy, the issue that he rode to the White House at another time of economic peril, a source close to the former president said Monday.

Some close to Clinton are encouraging him not to stick with the night’s theme of national security and add language about the economy in his remarks, in a way that Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, would frame it, the source said. It’s no secret that Clinton considers himself a highly effective communicator on the politics of the economy.

Dead Even

Appears that picking Biden was an inspired choice....or not

It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the presidency between the Illinois senator and Republican rival John McCain is all tied up.

In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Sunday night, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama with an equal amount supporting the Arizona senator.

“This looks like a step backward for Obama, who had a 51 to 44 percent advantage last month,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

“Even last week, just before his choice of Joe Biden as his running mate became known, most polls tended to show Obama with a single-digit advantage over McCain,” adds Holland.

Sunday Talk Show Lineup

Notice anything peculiar about 94.4% of the invited guests?

FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Govs. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Bill Ritter, D-Colo.; Robert Gibbs, Obama campaign spokesman.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Caroline Kennedy, co-chair, Obama's vice presidential search committee; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Govs. Kathleen Sebelius, D-Kan., and Ed Rendell, D-Pa.; Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill.

THIS WEEK (ABC): David Axelrod, Obama campaign senior adviser; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

LATE EDITION (CNN) : Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.; Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz.; Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Terry McAuliffe, Clinton campaign chairman.

Welcome NYT readers.

STEAM TEAM

It hasn't been said yet so I'll say it "Joe Biden is Barack Obama's Harriet Myers".

Once Biden Twice Shy

I just wanted to express a few thoughts on Obama's selection of Joe Biden for VP.

First I think this is a gift to McCain. Vice Presidents should ideally be the attack dogs of the campaign but they also need to be level headed and stable, Joe Biden is neither. Historically he has been a man that indiscriminantly shoots opinions from the hip with an almost reckless abandon for the facts. His irrepressible mouth is legendary and should provide any number of gems the Republicans can use against the Odd Couple....the empty suit and the stuffed shirt. It's narcissism aplenty and it's going to be fun to watch.

This man has proven himself to be a consistently weak presidential candidate. His best shot in 1988 was derailed with him being outed as a plagiarist, it's gone downhill ever since. He's become a caricature of himself, a vitriol machine for the left devoid of both creativity and rational. Expect all but the far left of the American electorate to get their fill of this pretentious pufferian in short order.

Probably the biggest threat that McCain could encounter would have been the Obama/Clinton ticket, a guaranteed winner. That is now off the table as a certain percentage of disgruntled Hillary supporters will not get on the reservation. How many will bolt is the big question now. One thing for sure, I know John McCain as are many of us breathing easier

Update: This poll from last month illustrates that Biden does Obama less then no good:

Zogby

Likelihood to vote for Obama if he chooses Biden as VP?

Among democrats: more likely 6% less likely 22%

Among independents: more likely 11% less likely 13%

Among all: more likely 11% less likely 15%

Update: Memo to McCain: Palin or Romney, that is all.

Obama to Announce Veep Today (Updated and Bumped)

Chet Edwards????

WASHINGTON (AP) - Presidential candidate Barack Obama is hours away from naming his running mate, as little-known Texas congressman Chet Edwards is emerging as a finalist.

Democratic officials say that Edwards was one of the few Democrats whose background was checked by Obama's campaign, and he was a finalist for the job.

Edwards is among a small circle of people mentioned, including Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and Evan Bayh of Indiana.

Is it....GOOD-BAYH??

StoptheACLU has this: Company Printing Obama Bayh Bumper Stickers

Romney will eat him alive.

Update II: I gotta believe it's Biden. Intrade has him at 70+ (a 28 point jump in one day). And Obama's plane is landing in Delaware as we speak. Romney and "Plugs", it's perfect.

UPDATE III: A personal source IT'S BIDEN!

Oil falls 5.4 percent in biggest drop since 2004

Amazing what a serious push for domestic drilling can do...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Crude oil prices fell more than 5.4 percent on Friday in the biggest one-day slide since 2004 as dealers turned their focus to rising supply levels and weakening global demand. A rebound in the U.S. dollar encouraged the sell-off, applying downward pressure across the commodities markets by weakening the purchasing power of buyers using other currencies, dealers said.

A Nonsensical Equivalence

Obama: Russia, U.S. should not ‘charge into’ other countries

LYNCHBURG, Virginia - Democrat Barack Obama scolded Russia again on Wednesday for invading another country’s sovereign territory while adding a new twist: the United States, he said, should set a better example on that front, too.

The Illinois senator’s opposition to the Iraq war, which his comment clearly referenced, is well known. But this was the first time the Democratic presidential candidate has made a comparison between the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Russia’s recent military activity in Georgia.

“We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.”

This man is some sort of weird cloning experiment using the DNA of Jimmy Carter and Neville Chamberlain gone awry.

Another Obamanation

Listen to the lefts idea of compassion.

Local Clinton backers, McCain adviser meet

Hmmmm, what to make of this.

A brother of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and local Democrats who backed her unsuccessful presidential campaign socialized privately Monday with a top surrogate of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain.

The private gathering featured Carly Fiorina, Mr. McCain’s top economic adviser, and took place at the Dunmore home of political consultant Jamie Brazil, a longtime friend of Mrs. Clinton’s family who has signed on as paid national director of Mr. McCain’s Citizens for McCain Coalition.

The attendees included Tony Rodham, Mrs. Clinton’s youngest sibling, his wife, Megan, and their two children; attorney Kathleen Granahan Kane, who coordinated Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign in Northeast Pennsylvania during the primary election; and Virginia McGregor, sister of Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty.

With the Democratic National Convention less than a week away, the gathering raises questions about the support Illinois Sen. Barack Obama can expect from former local supporters of Mrs. Clinton, who dominated at the polls in the Northeast in the April primary election. Mrs. Clinton won 74 percent of Lackawanna County Democrats to Mr. Obama’s 26 percent.

McCain takes 5-point lead over Obama-Reuters poll

As we said a few weeks back, the more the American people see of Obama, the less they see to like....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McCain has opened a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

McCain leads Obama among likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid 7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll.

The reversal follows a month of attacks by McCain, who has questioned Obama's experience, criticized his opposition to most new offshore oil drilling and mocked his overseas trip.

Thanks Bill for the heads up.

And this: Ohio Still Swinging McCain’s Way

And the Winner Is....

Blogosphere is ablaze with the speculation that Obama's VP is BIDEN!

We shall see.

Or maybe KS?

Rick Warren Says McCain Didn't Cheat

This is one time that having 98% 0f the MSM in your corner is not a good thing. Their silly feeble attempts to make excuses in an attempt to cover for a far less than stellar performance by their man is both juvenile and caricaturish. The American people may be gullible but they're not necessarily stupid and this schoolyard tantrum is having absolutely opposite the intended effect.

Rev. Rick Warren strongly denied rumors GOP presidential candidate John McCain had “cheated” at a political forum he hosted at his church Saturday evening.

“That's absolutely a lie, absolutely a lie,” Warren said in an interview with BeliefNet. “That room was totally free, with no monitors--a flat out lie.”

itchell said on Meet the Press Sunday, “The Obama people must feel that he didn't do quite as well as they might have wanted to in that context, because that -- what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.”

“He seemed so well prepared,” she added.

The McCain campaign pushed back hard against MSNBC for perpetuating the rumor Monday morning. McCain Campaign Manager Rick Davis sent a letter to the NBC News President Steve Capus that said, “"Instead of examining the Obama campaign's spin for truth before reporting it to more than 3 million NBC News viewers, Andrea Mitchell simply passed along Obama campaign conspiracy theories.”

Blog off

Sorry busy busy, be back Manana.

Obama Calls Right to Life Coalition Liars

Just preceeding last nights Saddleback forum BHO gave David Brody of CBN an interview whereby he called the RTLC liars...

Brody: Real quick, the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. I gotta tell you that's the one thing I get a lot of emails about and it's just not just from Evangelicals, it about Catholics, Protestants, main -- they're trying to understand it because there was some literature put out by the National Right to Life Committee. And they're basically saying they felt like you misrepresented your position on that bill.

Obama: Let me clarify this right now.

Brody: Because it's getting a lot of play.

Obama: Well and because they have not been telling the truth. And I hate to say that people are lying, but here's a situation where folks are lying. I have said repeatedly that I would have been completely in, fully in support of the federal bill that everybody supported - which was to say --that you should provide assistance to any infant that was born - even if it was as a consequence of an induced abortion. That was not the bill that was presented at the state level. What that bill also was doing was trying to undermine Roe vs. Wade. By the way, we also had a bill, a law already in place in Illinois that insured life saving treatment was given to infants.

Uh oh, not the best way to endear oneself to Evangelicals for a candidate to call their bretheran liars. The record clearly supports the RTLC in this matter and shows he rather than they are doing the lying.

Georgia to become NATO member: Merkel

Long overdo as the present conflict wouldn't have happened if Georgia was already a Nato member.

TBILISI (AFP) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Sunday in the Georgian capital that the ex-Soviet republic, currently mired in conflict with Russia, will join NATO.

"Georgia will become a member of NATO if it wants to -- and it does want to," she said before talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili in Tbilisi.

It was one of the strongest statements yet of support for Georgia's NATO membership bid, which is fiercely opposed by Russia.

Remember, Bush had this one called right from the start.

Quote oF the Week

Barack Obama: "I want to be President so I can be nice to people"

Just wow!

Liberals are meaner, cheaper, more willing to steal than Conservatives

OK, now tell me something I didn't know.

Peter Schweizer, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, has a new book out that is sure to drive the loony left, well, even loonier. In the new book Makers and Takers, Schweizer tells us “why conservatives work harder, feel happier, have closer families, take fewer drugs, give more generously, value honesty more, are less materialistic” than lefties in America.

This from his website:

*Seventy-one percent of conservatives say you have an obligation to care for a seriously injured spouse or parent versus less than half (46 percent) of liberals.

*Conservatives have a better work ethic and are much less likely to call in sick than their liberal counterparts.

*Liberals are 2_ times more likely to be resentful of others’ success and 50 percent more likely to be jealous of other people’s good luck.

*Liberals are 2 times more likely to say it is okay to cheat the government out of welfare money you don’t deserve.

*Conservatives are more likely than liberals to hug their children and “significantly more likely” to display positive nurturing emotions.

*Liberals are less trusting of family members and much less likely to stay in touch with their parents.

*Do you get satisfaction from putting someone else’s happiness ahead of your own? Fifty-five percent of conservatives said yes versus only 20 percent of liberals.
Rush Limbaugh, Ronald Reagan, Bill O’Reilly and Dick Cheney have given large sums of money to people in need, while Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Michael Moore, and Al Gore have not.

*Those who are “very liberal” are 3 times more likely than conservatives to throw things when they get angry.

Obama Campaign Angry That McCain Won't Disavow [Corsi's] "The Obama Nation"

And why hasn't Obama "disavowed" the several anti-Bush and anti-McCain books presently out? What a silly lightweight panty waist this man truly is.

I apologize, but isn't there an whiff of arrogance in the air today. Yesterday the Obama Campaign attacked John McCain for refusing to discredit Jerome Corsi's best seller The Obama Nation . Apparently the Obama campaign has not figured out that John McCain, not Jerome Corsi, is his opponent.

In a statement issued by Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan, he stated, "While the smears piled up and the lies were exposed, John McCain spent six days in silence and on the seventh day said we should have a sense of humor. "John McCain's response to this discredited book speaks volumes -- he is a George Bush candidate running a Karl Rove campaign with a Dick Cheney sense of humor."

Corsi's book which currently sits atop the NY Times best seller list is likely to remain in that slot for at least the next two week after the Obama campaign waited nearly 2 weeks to acknowledge the book. There attacks which almost two weeks after the release have only proven to fuel "buzz" around the book and increase The Obama Nation sales.

Russian general says Poland a nuclear 'target'

It's the Soviet Union again without the "union"......yet.

Poland has made itself a nuclear target for Russia's military by hosting elements of a US anti-missile system, a senior Russian general said as Condoleezza Rice arrived in Georgia to finalise a peace deal.

"By hosting these, Poland is making itself a target. This is 100 percent" certain, Russia's Interfax news agency quoted General Anatoly Nogovitsyn as saying.

"It becomes a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority," Gen Nogovitsy was quoted as saying.

Giant inflatable turd escapes

Initially I thought they had to be talking about Ted Kennedy.

Giant inflatable turd escapes moorings and brings down electricity line

An inflatable dog turd the size of a house has blown away from a modern art exhibition in a Swiss museum before bringing down an electricity line and smashing a greenhouse window.

U.S. Inflation Hits 17-Year High

It's oil folks. From production through processing and transportation it's all oil.

U.S. Inflation Hits 17-Year High As Increases Move Beyond Food, Oil By BRIAN BLACKSTONE August 14, 2008 9:15 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. inflation soared to a 17-year-high annual rate in July, a government report showed, led by gains in food, energy, airline fares and apparel.

Separately, the number of U.S. workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell slightly as expected last week but remained at high levels consistent with a rapid erosion in labor markets.

Now lets see if the Republicans can levy blame on those that are responsible for ignoring that issue.

Better Things to Do

Beijing Is All Dressed Up, But No One Is Going

BEIJING, Aug. 13 -- Chinese Olympic organizers acknowledged Tuesday they were struggling to handle an unforeseen and baffling problem inside Summer Games venues and at the showpiece Olympic Park.

Not enough people.

Two weeks after announcing they had sold every one of the record 6.8 million tickets offered for the Games, Olympics officials expressed dismay at the large numbers of empty seats at nearly every event and the lack of pedestrian traffic throughout the park, the 2,800-acre centerpiece of the competition.

Expect heads to roll over this lack of "enthusiasm"

Abu Saeed al-MASRI Takes Well Deserved Dirt Nap!

EXCELLENT...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Saeed al-Masri has been killed in recent clashes with Pakistani forces in a Pakistani region near the Afghan border, a security official said on Tuesday.

"He was believed to be among the top leadership of al Qaeda," the senior security official said on condition of anonymity.

Al-Masri, which means Egyptian, was the senior most al Qaeda operative to have been killed in Pakistan's tribal belt since the death of his compatriot, Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, last month. (Writing by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Another ChiCom Fraud

Chinese officials have admitted deceiving the public over another highlight of the Olympic opening ceremony: the picture-perfect schoolgirl who sang as the Chinese flag entered the stadium was performing to another girl's voice.

The girl in the red dress with the pigtails, called Lin Miaoke, 9, and from a Beijing primary school, has become a national sensation since Friday night, giving interviews to all the most popular newspapers.

But the show's musical designer felt forced to set the record straight. He gave an interview to Beijing radio saying the real singer was a seven-year-old girl who had won a gruelling competition to perform the anthem, a patriotic song called "Hymn to the Motherland".

At the last moment a member of the Chinese politburo who was watching a rehearsal pronounced that the winner, a girl called Yang Peiyi, might have a perfect voice but was unsuited to the lead role because of her buck teeth.

I'm surprised they didn't kill Yang Peiyi and transplant her vocal cords into Lin Miaoke.

Threatening Bear

They want them back and it's becoming clearer on a daily basis that they're willing to do what's neccessary to get it done.

Russia Warns Baltics, Poland To Pay For Georgia Stance-Report

RIGA, Latvia (AFP)--Russia's ambassador to Latvia Monday warned the Baltic states and Poland that they would pay for their criticism of the Kremlin over the conflict in Georgia, the Baltic news agency BNS reported.

"One must not hurry on such serious issues, as serious mistakes can be made that have to be paid for a long time afterwards," Alexander Veshnyakov was quoted as saying by BNS.

Contacted by AFP, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Riga confirmed the ambassador's comments but declined to elaborate.

Unfortunately for Russia, these folks [as opposed to us] remember. Anti Commie solidarity, you gotta love it: Poland: Presidents Of 5 Ex-Communist Countries Head To Georgia

Clooney to Make Movie About Bin Laden's Driver

The one sidedness of this movie will be exceeded only by the amount of money it will lose at the box office...

George Clooney, already one of Hollywood's leading liberal voices, has embarked on what may be one of his most controversial projects: the story of Osama bin Laden's driver.

Clooney's production company, Smokehouse, has bought the rights to a book about Salim Hamdan, an inmate at Guantánamo Bay who last week was sentenced to jail for his role in helping the al-Qaeda leader. The book, The Challenge, is by journalist Jonathan Mahler and tells the story of Hamdan's capture and trial, defended by a US navy lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift. It has had a big critical success.

Last week Yemen-born Hamdan, who has already spent seven years in US custody, received a surprisingly light sentence of just five and a half years for being bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan. Prosecutors had billed the case as a key plank in the 'War on Terror', designed to show that terrorists could be dealt with by Guantánamo. They had described Hamdan as a member of bin Laden's inner circle who had knowledge of his terrorist plans.

Blog Comment of the Day

John Edwards: You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself.

Just the same Mr. Edwards, I think we should beat you a while longer, just to make sure. [lafroste at FR.]

LOL, Touche lafroste.

Ukraine Aiding Georgia?

This thing could get very messy.

Russia says Ukraine helping Georgia

MOSCOW, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of encouraging Georgia to carry out "ethnic cleansing" in the separatist region of South Ossetia by providing arms, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"The Ukrainian government, which has been enthusiastically arming Georgian troops from top to bottom, was in fact encouraging Georgia to attack and carry out ethnic cleansing in South Ossetia," the ministry said in a statement on its website www.mid.ru.

It added that ex-Soviet Ukraine had "no moral right to teach others how to do things."

And this: 1,500 Reported Killed in Georgia Battle

Edwards Payed Hush Money

Well, he isn't gay.

NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered John Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter –the mother of his “love child” – has been secretly receiv­ing $15,000 a month as part of an elaborate cover-up orchestrated by the former presidential contender.

The money is being funneled to Hunter by a wealthy colleague who was closely tied to the Edwards’ campaign. This same man is also shoveling cash to Edwards’ pal and former aide Andrew Young – who tried to take the heat off the ex-Senator by claiming he is the father of Rielle’s baby.

And The ENQUIRER is also exclusively revealing that Rielle’s baby is a girl named Frances Quinn Hunter and was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

UPDATE: Ok its out, the story is true and another major Democrat leader is an admitted liar, go figure.

This brings to mind a quote from Men in Black: [National Enquirer] "Best investigative reporting on the planet.."

In all seriousness, they're pretty quirky but the NE is an equal opportunity offender and when they break something, it's usually big.

John Edwards receives the Father of the Year Award in New York, N.Y. on June 7, 2007.

Kinda reminds one of the significance of the Nobel Prize nowadays doesn't it.[R]

2 campaigns seek 'truth' about Obama's birth

This story just seems to get stranger and stranger...

Israel Insider is reporting that analysts working separately have determined the birth certificate posted on the Daily Kos website and later on Sen. Barack Obama's "Fight the Smears" campaign website is fraudulent, and now two different actions have been launched to try and obtain the truth about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee's birth.

The Israel Insider report said the two analysts it interviewed both have been "able to independently discern the name 'Maya Kassandra Soetoro' from artifacts left behind in the process of forging a new fake document for Barack from an image of Maya's original document." Maya is Obama's younger half-sister.

The report follows a posting from another researcher identified by the news publication as Techdude that the birth certificate is a forgery because it originally documented the birth of a woman in the 1970s.

Bin Laden Driver Guilty!

All in all it's good news.

A military jury convicted Salim Hamdan on charges of providing material support to terrorism at his hearing at Guantanamo Bay.

Hamdan was acquitted on additional charges of conspiring with al Qaeda to commit war crimes.

The US military accused him of transporting missiles for al Qaeda and helping Bin Laden escape US authorities following the September 11 attacks by driving him around Afghanistan.

McCains a Racist, McCains a Racist, McCains a Racist etc. etc. etc. etc..

Tallahassee Democrat reporter: "The fact that I was black was the only obvious reason I was kicked out" [of a McCain event]

As it turns out McCain's campaign team didn’t boot him, it was the secret service.

What the Night of the Living Dead Obamabots don't seem to realize is the more they hysterically and irrationally cry racism the more turned off to their message the average voter becomes.

Isolated Iran risks the same fate as Iraq -Gaddafi

TUNIS, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Iran risks going the same way as Saddam Hussein's Iraq in its confrontation with the West and is too weak to meet the challenges it faces alone, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said on Tuesday.

"What Iran is doing is pure vanity," said Gaddafi. "If a decision is taken against Iran, it will suffer the same fate as Iraq... Iran is no stronger than Iraq and will be unable to resist."

He's right, that is of course if, and that's a big IF the West has the stomach for it.

Palestinians donate $29,500 to Obama

They know as we do that BHO is now and will be in the future soft on terrorists.

JERUSALEM – Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are listed in government election filings as having donated $29,521.54 to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign.

The donations would violate election laws, including prohibitions on receiving donations from foreigners and guidelines against accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election, Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, told WND in response to a query.

The contributions also raise numerous questions about the Obama campaign's lax online donation form, which apparently allows for the possibility of foreign contributions.

McCain Up

It seems the more the electorate sees of Obama the less they like him.

Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll - McCain 47%, Obama 46%

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows the race for the White House is tied with Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 44% of the vote. However, when "leaners" are included, it’s McCain 47% and Obama 46%. This is the first time McCain has enjoyed even a statistically insignificant advantage of any sort since Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3 (see recent daily results). Tracking Polls are released at 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time each day.

A week ago today, Obama had a three-percentage point lead and the candidates were even among unaffiliated voters. Today, McCain leads 52% to 37% among unaffiliateds.

McCain is currently viewed favorably by 55% of the nation’s voters, Obama by 51%. That is the lowest rating for Obama since he wrapped up the nomination.

And then there's this: John McCain defeats Democrat Barack Obama, 50% to 44% (FLORIDA)

And also this: McCain leads in new Zogby poll

Highest Ranking Chemical and Biological Weapons Expert Confirmed Dead

DUBAI (AFP) - Al-Qaeda has confirmed the death of a chemical and biological weapons expert whose killing in a suspected US strike was reported by Pakistan, an Islamist militant website said on Sunday.

Abu Khabab al-Masri was among a group of "heroes" who joined "the caravans of martyrs," said a statement signed by Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, Al-Qaeda's general commander in Afghanistan.

Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed.

Pakistani officials had said that a July 28 missile strike in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area killed Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose full name was Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar.

Residents said a US drone launched the attack.

Photoshop of the Week

Sorry, couldn't help it.

House GOP Revolts Over Gas Prices

Every single Repupublican in the House should have been a part of this. This is the single most potent and may I say winning issue Republicans have going and they should be exploiting the Democrats insolent stubborness to the hilt.

At the stroke of 5 on Friday afternoon, House Republicans ended their half-day protest on the darkened chamber floor with a round of “God Bless America.”

That capped a wild day in the chamber, where Republicans, aides and tourists broke all manner of House rules to protest the Democrats’ decision to leave Washington for the five-week August recess without voting on a measure to open new land to domestic oil and gas exploration.

The uproar began shortly before noon, after members cast their votes along party lines on the question of whether or not to adjourn for the day.

A small band of Republicans, protesting the decision to adjourn without an oil vote, started to speak from the well—even though the lights weren’t on, the microphones were turned off and most of their colleagues were scrambling to catch flights out of town.

"Racecard, Don't Leave Home Without It"

Yesterday Obama campaign denied that the comment about “presidents on the dollar bills” was a reference to race. They claimed that Obama was referring to the fact that "he didn’t get here after spending decades in Washington".

Just confirmation that BHO is a liar as well as a race pimp.

Obama Aide Concedes 'Dollar Bill' Remark Referred to His Race

Sen. Barack Obama's chief strategist conceded that the Democratic presidential candidate was referring to his race when he said Republicans were trying to scare voters by suggesting Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."

The comment had triggered a charge Thursday from Sen. John McCain's campaign manager that Obama had "played the race card... from the bottom of the deck."

Iraq Casualties Lowest Of the War

Victory is at hand...

BAGHDAD, July 31 -- Five American troops died in July as a result of combat in Iraq, by far the lowest monthly U.S. death toll of the five-year war.

The number of Iraq-related American troop fatalities in July -- a total of 13 when noncombat deaths and the discovered bodies of two missing soldiers are included -- is a dramatic drop from just over a year ago, when more than 100 troops a month were confirmed dead for several months in a row.