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.

Obama Terrifies Me!

Me too darlin, me too

Vid HERE.

And it ain'r because he doesn't remind me of the current Presidents on US currency.

And btw, LEAVE BARRY ALONE!

Another Ludacris Affiliation

Charles Rex Arbogast / AP

Just how many dogs does this guy have to sleep with before the MSM admits he has fleas?

A song by rap star Ludacris criticising Barack Obama's opponents has been called "outrageously offensive" by the US presidential candidate's campaign.

Politics As Usual calls President Bush "mentally handicapped", and insults both Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

"Ludacris is a talented individual but he should be ashamed of these lyrics," said Mr Obama's spokesman Bill Burton.

Coldest Summer....EVER?

Reminiscent of a Twilight Zone episode. How long before the Global cooling hysterics start coming out of the woodwork.

Gloomy summer headed toward infamy

Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.

That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.

This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.

Rachael Ray Has Her Own Dog Food Line

"I get more out of what little boobs I have as anyone on earth" otherwise known as little Miss Cleavage is becoming quite an enterprise....

What will they think of next? It looks like they've run out of ideas for people food when it comes to the Rachael Ray empire. Because now she's moving on to dogs!

She just launched Nutrish, a line of dog food, or as she likes to call it, pet cuisine. Rachael originally came up with the concept for her own pup, a pit bull named Isaboo.

Rachael says, "Look, we all want the best for our furry family members. And that's exactly why I worked with experts in pet nutrition to create Rachael Ray Nutrish. My Isaboo loves food and treats made with simple, natural ingredients."

Speaking of Duped

Funny, but when I first read the story about Obama's "private" wailing wall note being released I was bemused by the breathless indignation of his campaign and the MSM over something that could do nothing but help him. Now I know why I got that hinky feeling, it was a set up....

Obama Campaign Collaborated With Media On Release Of Western Wall Note

The Obama Campaign collaberated with the Israeli news media to publicize the note that Barack left at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. An Israeli paper was duped by the junior Illinois Senator’s campaign to publish the note.

The Israeli Insider broke the news:

What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the “private” prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.

Obama says he got 'hustled' by German tabloid

Perhaps a man who is so easily "hustled" by a second rate tabloid from a second tier country isn't quite prepared to be leader of the free world....

Barack Obama says he was "played" and "hustled" by German tabloid daily Bild after they published a rather embarrassing unauthorized article the day after his popular speech in Berlin last week.

Bild reporter Judith Bonesky's article, "Bild reporter in the gym with Obama," published on July 25, gushes with sexual innuendo over Obama's "firm rear end" and "well-trained arms," and ends with the phrase, "WHAT A MAN!" The article features a candid shot of the reporter with Obama, and both are smiling.

But Obama told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd over the weekend that his encounter with Bonesky at the Berlin Ritz Carlton gym was a set up.

Headline of the Week

Obama in Berlin: "ICH BIN EIN BEGINNER"

Last Thursday, Sen. Barack Obama gave a speech in Berlin to a throng, which hung out to hear him after a rock concert that included free beer. (The mainstream media, which is doing everything to get him elected, didn't tell you the attendance was manipulated in this way, nor that this is far from the first time the Obama campaign has pulled this stunt to manufacture a large audience.)

The speech he gave was galling in its moral equivocation, stunning in its factual and historical wrongness and insulting in its belittling of America and her people the victims of 9/11 in particular.

“Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for president, but as a citizen – a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.”

SO SOOO very true.

Soy Linked to Lower Sperm Count

Kumbaya singing Vegan nimrods can't procreate, cooooooool.

Eating a half serving a day of soy-based foods could be enough to significantly lower a man's sperm count, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

The study is the largest in humans to look at the relationship between semen quality and a plant form of the female sex hormone estrogen known as phytoestrogen, which is plentiful in soy-rich foods.

"What we found was men that consume the highest amounts of soy foods in this study had a lower sperm concentration compared to those who did not consume soy foods," said Dr. Jorge Chavarro of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, whose study appears in the journal Human Reproduction.

California Bans Trans Fats

You regulars know that I have always railed against the government for trying to "protect" us against ourselves. You can't legislate against suicide and their attempts to excessively regulate cigarettes and to a lesser degree alcohol are perfect examples. That being said "trans fats" are truly nasty things. Having personal experience with heart disease, I happen to believe that these hydrogenated atrocities are responsible for the lions share of artherosclerosis and associated conditions existing since the 20s. The government and AHA have wrongheadedly demonized saturated fats and cholesterol as being the culprits. They are not only wrong they are damned wrong, trans fats ARE killing us.

They need to research it to a much greater degree as it has not been proven sufficiently. Untill that time they simply need to clarify the labels on grocery foods and insist on resteraunts etc to identify if hydrogenated oils are being used in the preparation of their foods. Let people choose as their life and health is, as it should be, in their hands.

LOS ANGELES — California, a national trendsetter in all matters edible, became the first state to ban trans fats in restaurants when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill Friday to phase out their use.

Under the new law, trans fats, long linked to health problems, must be excised from restaurant products beginning in 2010, and from all retail baked goods by 2011. Packaged foods will be exempt.

Offshore oil drilling -- cleaner than Mother Nature

Rare lucidity from the SPI...

U.S. offshore oil drilling is not perfectly tidy. It's only 99.999 percent clean. Indeed, since 1980 -- as MMS figures indicate -- 101,997 barrels spilled from among the 11.855 billion barrels of American oil extracted offshore. This is a 0.001 percent pollution rate. While offshore drilling is not 100 percent spotless, this record should satisfy all but the terminally fastidious.

Ironically, in terms of oil contamination, Mother Nature is 95 times dirtier than Man. Some 620,500 barrels of oil ooze organically from North America's ocean floors each year. Compare this to the average 6,555 barrels that oil companies have spilled annually since 1998, according to MMS.

Romney Tops List of VP Choices

Maybe McCain could have Mitt deliver all the major speeches.

With Washington abuzz over speculation that John McCain will announce his running mate this week to take some of the focus off Barack Obama’s overseas travels, over a third of U.S. voters say Mitt Romney will be the Republican vice presidential candidate.

The former Massachusetts governor and one-time rival of McCain’s for the GOP presidential nomination was the top vote-getter with 36% in a new Rasmussen Reports national survey taken last Friday night.

Among Republicans, Romney is the leading choice by far: 50% say they think he is the best running mate, and 47% think he will be picked by McCain. He is the top vote-getter among unaffiliated voters, too, with 34% expecting him to get the nod.

Forty-four percent (44%) of likely McCain voters believe Romney is the best choice, with 45% sure he will be the one who is actually chosen for the vice presidential slot.

MSNBC Now Sinks to Reporting "Scuttlebutt"

Amazing what passes for news when it bolsters their candidate...

Are reporters in the business of reporting facts or rumor? Andrea Mitchell, for one, has no problem sending along "scuttlebutt" that if true would be deeply damaging to John McCain.

Barack Obama's cancellation of plans to visit injured military members at bases in Germany has drawn considerable attention and criticism. On today's Morning Joe, Mitchell passed along a rumor that McCain used his Pentagon connections to sabotage the Obama visit.

McCain Now Leads in Must Win Colorado

It appears that as far as Obama is concerned, famliararity does breed contempt.

John McCain is now winning among likely Colorado voters, helped by a surge of sentiment blaming Democrats for the soaring price of gas, new poll results show.

The Quinnipiac University polls shows McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, the top choice among 46 percent of likely Colorado voters. Democrat Barack Obama is the top choice among 44 percent of likely voters.

A month ago, Obama held a 49-44 percent lead over McCain in the same poll.

Iraq banned from Summer Olympics

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The International Olympic Committee has banned Iraq from competing in the upcoming Summer Olympics games because of what it says is political interference by the government in sports.

An Iraqi Olympic Committee official said the IOC sent letters in Arabic and English confirming the ban.

The official said the seven Iraqi athletes who were to travel to China for the games in August are disappointed by the decision

That my friends is too ludicrous for comprehension. Especially considering where the Olympic games will take place.

The IOC is becoming more and more like the UN everyday.

Quote of the Week

'JERUSALEM IS NOT FOR SALE, OBAMA'.

Gas Tax For Thee But Not For Me

DNC host's tax-free gas

The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention has used the city's gas pumps to fill up and apparently avoided paying state and federal fuel taxes.

The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes.

However, Public Works spokeswoman Christine Downs told City Council members just hours before that host committee members were fueling up at the city pumps. The city does not pay taxes on the fuel for its fleet, and Downs said the host committee would not either.

The disclosure brought immediate scrutiny. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said the practice "would seem" to be illegal and referred the matter to the state Department of Revenue.

Obama:The Surge Was a Bad Strategy

That's my story and I'm sticking to it! What a silly pompous ass, vid HERE.

British forces kill third Taliban commander in as many weeks

As successful as the Taliban in Afghanistan has been according to the MSM and left, they certainly are losing a lot of commanders...

KABUL (Reuters) - A senior Taliban commander in southern Afghanistan surrendered to Pakistani authorities and British forces killed another leader, dealing a "shattering blow" to the militant group's leadership, the British army said on Tuesday.

Hours after his surrender, another senior Taliban commander, Abdul Rasaq, also known as "Mullah Sheikh", was killed in a British missile strike 15 km (9 miles) north of the town of Musa Qala in Helmand on Monday morning, the British army said in a statement. Three other insurgents also died.

Rasaq headed Taliban actions around Musa Qala and was active in the insurgency for a number of years, it said.

Less than Half Americans Don't Believe We Cause Warming

Good old run of the mill common sense is alive and well in America today and trumps pseudo scientific elitism every time.

Fewer than half of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center believe humans are causing global warming, and a declining number even believe the Earth is experiencing a warming trend.

The survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, finds "roughly half, or 47 percent, of Americans say the Earth is warming because of human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels."

Nearly as many, 45 percent of respondents, contend the higher Earth temperatures are due to "natural environment patterns," that no global warming exists, or that causes cannot be scientifically determined.

And it's people like this that are setting the record straight:

U.S. Senate Hearing: Climate Scientist Says Warming of 'last 100 years is mostly natural’

Indiana AAA

As a former Hoosier (always a Hoosier at heart) I congratulate Gov. Daniels and all right minded legislators of Indiana who have exhibited uncommon common sense and fiscal restraint. It pays off guys....

INDIANAPOLIS— For the first time in the state's history, Indiana's credit rating has been raised to AAA, the highest rating assigned by the independent credit rating agency Standard & Poor's Ratings Service (S&P).

The upgrade from AA+, the state's rating since January 2006, "reflects the state's continued strong management that has led to the property tax reform that has realigned state and local spending and is not expected to impact the state's long-term financial performance.

As Iraqis stop living in fear, end of Iraq war is at hand (headline as written)

'The war in Iraq is over. We won. Which means the Iraqi people won."

When I wrote this on my Web site a few days ago, I set off a mini-firestorm. Perhaps because I have spent more time embedded with combat troops in Iraq than any journalist I know - and have interviewed countless Iraqis and members of the coalition military.

But I stand by my words, just as I stood by my assertion of February 2005 that Iraq was in a state of civil war, and later understood that Al Qaeda was its proximate cause. Those statements went against the vested interests of both Bush supporters who didn't want to admit how bad the situation was in Iraq, and war critics, who didn't want to admit that much of it was Al Qaeda's fault.

Back then, both sides brought out their dictionaries and muddied the water by arguing semantics: What exactly do you mean by a civil war? What exactly do you mean by Al Qaeda?

Read the whole thing, it's not only accurate, it's good.

Is Media Playing Fair?

Believe it or not I actually don't have a problem with this whole matter. As long as he receives adequate scrutiny and they refrain from the genuflecting adoration and breathless puff peices, I'm cool with it.

NEW YORK — Television news' royalty will fly in to meet Barack Obama during this week's overseas trip: CBS chief anchor Katie Couric in Jordan on Tuesday, ABC's Charles Gibson in Israel on Wednesday and NBC's Brian Williams in Germany on Thursday.

The anchor blessing defines the trip as a Major Event and - much like a "Saturday Night Live" skit in February that depicted a press corps fawning over Obama - raises anew the issue of fairness in campaign coverage.

The news media have devoted significantly more attention to the Democrat since Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her campaign and left a two-person contest for the presidency between Obama and Republican John McCain, according to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

Pelosi blocks vote on Bush request to lift ban on offshore oil drilling

The Democrats will pay for this in Nov. Just how much is anyones guess.

WASHINGTON – A plan to lift the ban on coastal drilling is stalled on Capitol Hill, for one simple reason: A Californian who opposes President Bush's proposal is calling the shots in the House of Representatives.

Despite growing public support for ending the ban, even in California, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco said she won't allow the immediate vote the president wants.

"I have no plans to do so," Pelosi said last week.

Sunni group rejoins Iraq cabinet

They're all beginning to realize either become a part of the solution or become completely irrelevant.

BAGHDAD, July 19 (UPI) -- A group of disgruntled Sunni Arab lawmakers have rejoined Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's cabinet in a key reconciliation step, observers say.

Six ministers from the Sunni Accordance Front, which left the government a year ago to protest Shiite unwillingness to share power, have rejoined al-Maliki's cabinet, the BBC reported Saturday. The move was hailed as an important step in persuading the country's Sunni Arab minority to participate in upcoming provincial elections.

An Accordance Front spokesman, Salim al-Joubouri, told the BBC that the bloc's candidates would attend the next Iraq cabinet meeting.

Olbermann calls Bud Day a "clown"

I'd like to think that Olbermann says these things because he just an attention whore unfortunately the imbecile actually believes it.

Vile MSNBC Obamabot Keith Olbermann has outdone even himself with his "Worst Person in the World" segment tonight. He gave that award to America's most decorated living veteran, Bud Day, calling him a "clown" because he said recently he was not prepared to bow the knee to the "Muslims," referring to Muslim terrorists who seek to destroy America. Olbermann went nuts on Day, calling him a racist and religious hater. Of course, Olbermann never mentioned that Day is America's most decorated living veteran, and did not show one ounce of deference for a man who has given so much for his country.

Every American should demand that MSNBC/NBC force Olbermann to apologize for speaking of this great man in such a disrespectful fashion. Every single night, Olbermann shows America who the "clown" is -- and it is not Bud Day.

Bush, Maliki agree 'time horizon' for US drawdown

Unfortunate timing for Barack Hussein...

TUCSON, Arizona (AFP) — US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki have agreed on "a general time horizon," not an "arbitrary timetable" for a drawdown of US forces, the White House said Friday.

In talks by video conference Thursday, Bush and Maliki said improving security conditions in Iraq should allow for including that goal in a pending long-term diplomatic and security pact, said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"Improving conditions should allow for the agreements now under negotiation to include a general time horizon for meeting aspirational goals -- such as the resumption of Iraqi security control in their cities and provinces and the further reduction of US combat forces from Iraq," she said in a statement

California as No. 1....as in taxation

Way to go Arnie.

New York City has long been the highest tax jurisdiction in the United States, but California politicians are proposing to steal that brass tiara. California faces a $15 billion budget deficit and Democrats who rule the state Legislature have proposed closing the gap with a $9.7 billion tax hike on business and "the rich." There's a movie that describes this idea: Clueless.

The plan would raise the top marginal income tax rate to 12% from 10.3%; that would be the highest in the nation and twice the national average. This plan would also repeal indexing for inflation, which is a sneaky way for politicians to push middle-income Californians into higher tax brackets every year, especially when prices are rising as they are now. The corporate income tax rate would also rise to 9.3% from 8.4%. So in the face of one of the worst real-estate recessions in the state's history, the politicians want to raise taxes on businesses that are still making money.

One bright note concerning Californias 15B shortfall; It makes it all the more likely that they will look at authorizing and taxing offshore drilling as a means of generating a potential windfall of revenue.

3.9m acres in Alaska Freed for Drilling

It's a start.

The US federal government on Wednesday said it would open 3.9m acres of land in a designated petroleum reserve in Alaska for drilling as a means to help curb rising petrol prices.

“This is welcome news at a time when Americans are paying record prices at the pump,” said C. Stephen Allred, assistant US Secretary for Land and Minerals. “Together with proposed new production from other offshore and onshore areas, these increased supplies will help to stabilise energy costs.’’

The Alaska decision follows one by President George W. Bush on Monday to lift a presidential ban on drilling on the US outer continental shelf, off Florida. That decision still requires Congress to lift a separate ban on the area before the area can be leased for development

Romney's VP Stock Rising

Up 9+ points on Intrade today.

Quote of the Week

"The atmospheric greenhouse effect is a flea on the back of an oceanic elephant and the influence of CO2 but a microbe on the back of the flea and the influence of anthropogenic CO2 but a molecule on the back of the microbe."

Stephen Wilde

Sniffer dogs to wear ‘Muslim’ bootees

Good grief...

Police sniffer dogs will have to wear bootees when searching the homes of Muslims so as not to cause offence. Guidelines being drawn up by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) urge awareness of religious sensitivities when using dogs to search for drugs and explosives.

The guidelines, to be published this year, were designed to cover mosques but have been extended to include other buildings. Where Muslims object, officers will be obliged to use sniffer dogs only in exceptional cases.

Where dogs are used, they will have to wear bootees with rubber soles. “We are trying to ensure that police forces are aware of sensitivities that people can have with the dogs to make sure they are not going against any religious or cultural element within people’s homes.

Archbishop of Canterbury: 'Christian doctrine is offensive to Muslims'

Unforunately Judaism, Hinduism and every other belief on earth is offensive to Muslims. BTW dhimmitude and in particular sharia is offensive to all the aforementioned as well as the vast majority of seculars in the world so perhaps Archbishop YOU should STFU.

Christian doctrine is offensive to Muslims, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today.

Dr Rowan Williams also criticised Christiaity in history for its violence, harsh use of punishments, and its betrayal of its peaceful principles.

His acknowledgement of Christian faults came in a highly conciliatory letter to Islamic leaders calling for an alliance between the two faiths for 'the common good'.

It risked fresh controversy for the Archbishop in the wake of his pronouncement earlier this year that a place should be found for Islamic sharia law in the British legal system.

District Leaders Announce New Handgun Regulations

District residents will be able to keep a handgun in the home for self-defense but that right would be limited to the home and not outside it, city leaders said today, announcing new gun regulations in response to the Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down the city's handgun ban.

Gun owners will have to pass vision and written tests, provide a photo with their application to register a gun, and submit their weapon for ballistics testing. Guns will also still require trigger locks.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and interim Attorney General Peter J. Nickles announced the regulations alongside D.C. Council Chairman Vincent G. Gray (D), Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) and several other council members.

It ain't gonna fly....

The 5-4 majority decision said: “3.The handgun ban and the trigger-lock requirement (as applied to self-defense) violate the Second Amendment.”

It doesn't get any clearer than that and the feeble attempt by the mayor and council to nip at the edges of this ruling will be struck down in short order.

Pres Bush Lifts Offshore Drilling Ban

As we used to say "now it's time to get down to the nut cuttin"...

In a Rose Garden statement on Monday, the president plans to lift the ban. But by itself, the move will not lead to more drilling off America's coastline.

Congress must still lift its own legislative ban before offshore drilling can happen.

White House press secretary Dana Perino says Bush is acting now in hopes of spurring Congress to act. So far, lawmakers have shown no interest in doing so.

Kos says WTF

Kos kids too stupid to know when the press is on their side

McKinney for President as Green Candidate

One thing...she actually makes Obama look rerasonable.

(CNN) -- The liberal environmentalist Green Party nominated former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as its presidential candidate Saturday. Cynthia McKinney represented a suburban Atlanta, Georgia, district for six terms as a Democrat.

Cynthia McKinney represented a suburban Atlanta, Georgia, district for six terms as a Democrat.

McKinney, 53, held off three rivals to win the party's nomination during its convention in Chicago, Illinois. She picked journalist and activist Rosa Clemente as her running mate.

But it Looked so Real!

A "man wearing a T-shirt depicting a cartoon character holding a gun was stopped from boarding a flight by the security at Heathrow's Terminal 5," The BBC reported on June 1.

Brad Jayakody, from Bayswater, central London, said he was "stumped" at the objection to his Transformers T-shirt.

Mr. Jayakody, a clean-shaven young man with eyeglasses and short hair, said the incident happened in mid May, when he was challenged by an official during a pre-flight security check.

"He says, 'We won't be able to let you through because your T-shirt has got a gun on it'," Mr. Jayakody told reporters.

"I was like, 'What are you talking about?'

"(The goon's) supervisor comes over and goes, 'Sorry, we can't let you through and you've a gun on your T-shirt.' "

It wasn't even loaded!

Tony Snow, Former White House Press Secretary and Fox News Anchor is Dead at 53

An articulate conservative voice and a truly good person. He will be missed on both sides of the aisle.

Tony Snow, the former White House press secretary and conservative pundit who bedeviled the press corps and charmed millions as a FOX News television and radio host, has died after a long bout with cancer. He was 53.

A syndicated columnist, editor, TV anchor, radio show host and musician, Snow worked in nearly every medium in a career that spanned more than 30 years.

Snow joined FOX in 1996 as the original anchor of FOX News Sunday, and hosted Weekend Live and a radio program, The Tony Snow Show, before departing in 2006. A sometime fill-in host for Rush Limbaugh, Snow said he loved the intimacy of his radio audience.

"It's a tremendous loss for us who knew him, but it's also a loss for the country," Roger Ailes, Chairman of FOX News, said Saturday morning about Snow, calling him a "renaissance man."

And at least one blog anticipates the predictably classless reaction from the left and battens down the hatches.

HuffPost Closes Comments On Snow's Death Announcement

BTW has anyone noticed that when Tim Russert passed it was wall to wall coverage but Tony has gotten significant mention on only one network...Fox. Anyone surprised?

Texas County Official Sees Race in Term 'Black Hole'

A more appropriate description would be "Black A-hole".

DALLAS — What do "black hole," "angel food cake," and "devil's food cake" have in common?

They're all racist terms, says a Dallas County, Texas, official.

A county commissioners' meeting this week over traffic tickets turned into a tense discussion over race when one commissioner said the county's collections office was like a certain astronomical phenomenon.

"It sounds like Central Collections has become a black hole," Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said during the Monday meeting.

Obama: Kids Should Learn Spanish

You mean like George Bush?

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama lamented legislative pushes to make English the official language of the United States and said Americans should instead focus on making sure their children learn Spanish at a recent campaign stop.

“I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English only,” Obama told supporters in Powder Springs, Georgia on Tuesday. “Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with this. But understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they’ll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.”

He continued his thoughts by expressing embarrassment at Americans’ language skills compared to the Europeans. “You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual,” he said. “We should have every child speaking more than one language. It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beacoup, right?”

Reid: It's Bush's Fault

BWAAAAHAHAHAHA....this guy is priceless.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today pointed to President Bush’s unpopularity as an explanation for Congress’s single-digit approval rating.

"Any time you have a president that is down so, so far in poll numbers, it drags down a city councilmember. It drags down any elected official, including us, and we recognize that," Reid said when asked about Congress’s rating.

Rasmussen reported today that Congress’s approval rating has slipped to 9 percent—down two percentage points from last month, and the first-ever single-digit rating for Congress in Rasmussen’s history.

Polls this month show Bush’s approval between 29 and 30 percent. But Reid said pollsters told him Bush’s rating is lower.

Conspiracy Nut

Actor Donald Sutherland: Obama's Being 'Gutted' for Hillary.

Worst Congressional Approval Rating Ever

We asked just a little over two weeks ago how long it would be before we saw this. Well, now we know. Congressional Aproval Rating falls to single digits.

Obama denies protection for infants of botched abortions

There's liars and then there's damned liars....

A pro-life activist in Illinois says Barack Obama has repeatedly mischaracterized his opposition to the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act while he was a state senator.

The Federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act was signed into law in 2002 after receiving unanimous support from the U.S. Senate. The measure that forces hospitals to give medical care to abortion survivors -- if warranted -- even received the backing of liberal senators Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts ), Barbara Boxer (D-California), and Hillary Clinton (D-New York).

Obama now says he did not support the Illinois measure because it "lacked the Federal language clarifying the act would not be used to undermine Roe vs. Wade."

Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek recently wrote a column for WorldNetDaily.com titled "Obama's biggest lie about supporting infanticide." She points out Obama actively opposed the Born Alive Infants Protection Act for three years in the Illinois senate.

Laura Ingraham 's TV Show is History

I like Laura a lot but after watching only a few times one could predict that her new show on Fox was going to be shortlived.

DCRTV hears that Fox News has decided to end its 5 PM Laura Ingraham (right) experiment after just three weeks. The DC-based right-leaning host has already returned to her national radio show and will continue to fill-in on Bill O'Reilly's TV show. Fox will return to "America's Election HQ" at 5 PM, with rotating hosts.

AQI on Borrowed Time

Despite the very best efforts of the left in this country and around the world this thing is most decidedly coming down in favor of the good guys.

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.

The group has been reduced to hit-and-run attacks, including one that killed two off-duty policemen yesterday, and sporadic bombings aimed at killing large numbers of officials and civilians.

Growing Number say NO SALE

This has to change dramatically as Obama Hussein can't win with half of clinton's support staying home.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- One week after Sen. Hillary Clinton made a public show of unity with Sen. Barack Obama, a new survey suggests supporters of the New York senator are increasingly less likely to follow her lead.

A growing number of Clinton supporters polled say they may stay home in November instead of casting their ballot for Obama, an indication the party has yet to coalesce around the Illinois senator four weeks after the most prolonged and at times divisive primary race in modern American history came to a close.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday, the number of Clinton supporters who plan to defect to Republican Sen. John McCain's camp is down from one month ago, but -- in what could be an ominous sign for Obama as he seeks to unify the party -- the number of them who say they plan to vote for Obama is also down, and a growing number say they may not vote at all.

In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey completed in early June before the New York senator ended her White House bid, 60 percent of Clinton backers polled said they planned on voting for Obama. In the latest poll, that number has dropped to 54 percent.

Al Qaeda Expanding Recruitment Of Children

Dipping in to the "seed corn", the last desperate act of a dying effort.

Al Qaeda has successfully established a network for recruiting boys as young as 12 from across central Asia as it seeks new volunteers to enlarge its team of prospective suicide bombers and militants fighters, senior security officials from the Middle East have revealed to CBS News.

News of al Qaeda venturing into the former Soviet central Asian republics with a population that has a largely Muslim heritage marks a significant addition to reports earlier this year that the hardline group had recruited young boys in the Pak-Afghan border region.

Last May, a senior Pakistani security official showed a rare video clip to CBS News documenting a boy, barely 12 years old, using a machete to severe the head of a middle-aged man whom militants probably suspected as being a spy for the U.S.

Happy Independence Day 2008

Has McCain Chosen His VP?

As always I'm terribly leary of anonymous sources especially being offered up by a mag hardly known for their political savvy. That being said the author does make some legitimate points.

Sen. John McCain will choose businessman and former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney as Vice President, in his bid for the White House this November, a source closely connected with the McCain campaign, who asked to remain anonymous, told us earlier this afternoon.

Though others were close in the running, the choice ultimately came down to the money–not the man. According to our source, the campaign narrowed their Vice Presidential options to Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, the two most successful opponents of McCain in the bid for the Republican nomination. But despite Huckabee’s sway with far Right conservatives and evangelical voters, Romney packs the deepest fund-raising pockets.

As a successful businessman and prominent member of the staggeringly wealthy Mormon community, Romney brings with him the potential to raise “upwards of $60 million in 30 to 60 days, whereas Huckabee could only raise $10 to $15 million,” says our source.

U.S., Poland strike missile deal while Russia objects

Poland continues to be one of our greatest allies.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and Poland have reached a tentative deal to place part of a ballistic missile defense system on its territory, a plan that has drawn sharp objections from Russia, a senior administration official said Wednesday.

Poland's political establishment still has to sign off on the deal and determine the next steps, the official said.

The agreement came after several days of negotiations and less than a week before a planned visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Sunnis close to joining Iraqi government

Wait, the left says any progress in Iraq is smoke and mirrors!

BAGHDAD • Iraq's main Sunni Arab bloc is close to rejoining the Shia-led government, officials said yesterday, a move that would amount to a long-awaited political breakthrough.

Getting the Accordance Front to return to government after it quit nearly a year ago is widely seen as a key step in reconciling feuding factions after years of sectarian conflict. Sunni Arabs have little voice in the current cabinet, which is dominated by Shias and ethnic Kurds.

Asked if the Front was set to rejoin, spokesman Salim Al Jubouri said: "Yes. Many of our demands have been executed ... sharing of responsibility, the issuance of the
amnesty law."

Mitt Odds on Fav?

Hmmmmm, interesting

When former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney dropped out of the presidential race on February 7, GOP insiders and observers in the press figured he would be persona non grata in John McCain's campaign.

During the primary, the distaste that McCain felt for Romney (and, to an extent, vice versa) was palpable, surfacing quite clearly at times during debates. The two campaign staffs battled daily for the better part of a year, a bitter back and forth that furthered the storyline that the two men could never share a GOP presidential ticket.

And yet, over the last few weeks, Romney seems to be at the center of the national veep buzz. The Politico's Mike Allen penned a piece earlier this week entitled "Romney Tops McCain Veep List," in which he codified that conventional wisdom nicely.

Tuesday Funny

Grand Jury Clears Texan in the Killing of 2 Burglars

It's so refreshing when the justice system works.

HOUSTON — A grand jury on Monday refused to indict a 62-year-old man who fatally shot two burglars last November as they fled his neighbor’s house.

In a case that raised questions of ethnic bias, self-defense and property rights, the jury rejected charges against the man, Joe Horn, who is white. Both victims were illegal immigrants from Colombia.