Saturday, November 8, 2008

Instapundit.com -

WASHINGTON POST OMBUDSMAN: Yes, we were in the tank for Obama. Sorry about that! Plus, this: "One gaping hole in coverage involved Joe Biden, Obama's running mate. When Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated for vice president, reporters were booking the next flight to Alaska. Some readers thought The Post went over Palin with a fine-tooth comb and neglected Biden. They are right; it was a serious omission."


Wow! I can't believe it.......

More from Patterico....

Change we can live with....

Barack Obama's economic advisory board has been very good to him
"In fact, they gave $155,000 directly to Obama’s presidential accounts.

They and employees of their companies accounted for upward of $2 million in donations to the campaign, a Times review of Federal Election Commission records shows."

No Sh_t.....

Now You Tell Us

The L.A. Times reveals a truth many of us already knew, but that the electorate at large evidently did not — namely, that Obama oversimplified the foreign policy challenges he faced:

The other truth is that, even with wider international support, it may be impossible for Obama to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon, broker peace between Arabs and Israelis or stabilize African countries beset by civil strife. As Times correspondents explain on this page, the realities on the ground are more complex than presented by Obama the candidate.

It’s OK to say . . . now that he’s safely elected.

Welcome to France....

The Death of the American Idea
"I disagree with my fellow conservatives who think the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Frank liberal behemoth will so obviously screw up that they'll be routed in two or four years' time. The President-elect's so-called “tax cut” will absolve 48 per cent of Americans from paying any federal income tax at all, while those that are left will pay more. Just under half the population will be, as Daniel Henninger pointed out in the Wall Street Journal, on the dole. By 2012, it will be more than half, and this will be an electorate where the majority of the electorate will be able to vote itself more lollipops from the minority of their compatriots still dumb enough to prioritize self-reliance, dynamism, and innovation over the sedating cocoon of the nanny state. That is the death of the American idea — which, after all, began as an economic argument: “No taxation without representation' is a great rallying cry. “No representation without taxation” has less mass appeal. For how do you tell an electorate living high off the entitlement hog that it's unsustainable and you've got to give some of it back?"

Heh...

FREEDOM! Mandatory "community service."

Via Instapundit...

GAY ACTIVISTS attack blacks over gay marriage. "It was like being at a klan rally except the klansmen were wearing Abercrombie polos and Birkenstocks. YOU NIGGER, one man shouted at men. If your people want to call me a FAGGOT, I will call you a nigger. Someone else said same thing to me on the next block near the temple...me and my friend were walking, he is also gay but Korean, and a young WeHo clone said after last night the niggers better not come to West Hollywood if they knew what was BEST for them."

My goodness. All this hope, change and unity is getting kind of scary.

A reasonable question

Who Shall They Give my Money to Next!

Friday, November 7, 2008

Chris Matthews: My Job is to Make Obama Presidency Work

Shoot the lawyers.....

Oh, let’s not follow the money
The Washington Post reports that lawyers are successfully arguing that terror financiers can’t be blacklisted because it violates their fundamental rights.

This highlights the question of whether BHO can prosecute a war against al-Qaeda, even if he wanted to. The very sources of his political support vitiate against raising the commitment he will need from Europe and at domestically for a prolonged campaign in Southwest Asia. The Taliban request is implicitly based on the belief that the very sentiments that swept him into office will make it difficult for him to fight them. Are they right?

Thursday, November 6, 2008

As I said yesterday....

Michael Crichton’s Question
In memory of Michael Crichton, who died Tuesday, let us consider a question that preocuppied him: How do we separate science from religion in environmentalism? As a spinner of sci-fi horror stories himself, he had a finely honed skepticism for the apocalyptic scenarios presented by environmentalists. In a speech in 2003, he argued that environmentalism was a modern remapping of Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.

Read the link.....

Nick has me beat...

Three Predictions for Obama's America

But now that's all over with and we must ask the question: Will President Obama be a, coff-coff, game-changer?

His fans certainly believe so, attributing to the junior senator from the Land of Lincoln all manner of supernatural powers. He will, we can rest assured, singlehandedly make Iran, whose president literally exhausted himself hating on the Great Satan, and every other country in the world, bless these United States once again. He will raise average wages, either through passing pro-union legislation such as "Card Check" or through sheer force of personality. He'll make a beer that really does taste great and is less filling. He'll resolve that great epistemological conundrum that haunted Dr. Johnson and Bishop Berkeley's correspondence: Is Razzles a gum or a candy?


Read the rest. He does get serious for most of it....

Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are


You know, these things really do take time - how about 8 years?

Obama Aides Tamp Down Expectations
"President-elect Barack Obama has begun an effort to tamp down what his aides fear are unusually high expectations among his supporters, and will remind Americans regularly throughout the transition that the nation’s challenges are substantial and will take time to address."

Put on your brown shirt and go!

The Agitator: Rahm Emanuel’s Universe:
"So who gets to decide what constitutes 'community service'? Who gets to decide which causes and organizations will be credit-worthy, and which ones won’t?

Something tells me that you’d be more likely to get one of Obama’s vouchers by going door to door for one of ACORN’s living wage campaigns than, say, volunteering for a libertarian nonprofit organization that advocates against things like government-mandated community service."

Not too many....

Are there any adults left in the room?
Every time we have an election, the partisans confuse the fact that the independents disliked the opposition candidate, with the idea that the independents joined their party. The independents did not want to stomp the Democrats in 2004, and they do not want to stomp the Republicans now. They are not interested in advancing the electoral fortunes of the Democratic Party, any more than they were preparing to hand the Republicans a "permanent majority" in 2004. And when the various parties act as if it is so--as if the independents had actually voted to join their power-hungry two-minutes-hate, rather than voting for the guy they thought would best shelter them from the vicissitudes of fate . . . well, for the last few elections, they've had their asses handed to them on a silver platter two years later.

As always, Megan is on the money...

Note to Democrats
If the country is so progressive, how come Bush won the popular vote four years ago? Did all the center right people die? Or are American voters somewhat mercurial? Also, how come Bush had no mandate four years ago? Did the American voter get more mandative? Would John McCain have had a mandate if he'd achieved these kinds of numbers? Or would that be entirely different?

No need to answer. The rest of us already know what the answer is.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

RIP...

Michael Crichton Dies
Best-selling author Michael Crichton died unexpectedly in Los Angeles Tuesday, November 4th after a courageous and private battle against cancer.

This is a shocker. I have read many of his books, and I could rarely put them down once started. "The Andromeda Strain" was a great book; but turned out to be my wife's most hated movie ever - thanks to Arthur Hill. Crichton was, also, the first public persona I had ever read who had the courage to compare some modern day environmentalists to the old style religionists for their dogmatic and uncompromising ways. Farewell.....

I only have one question:

All I see and hear this morning tells me that I am supposed to rejoice in a victory for the end of racism in America and a new political/cultural era that will "change" everything because of it. So I ask you: Would all of this adulation, all of this euphoria, all of this self-congratulatory media lovefest and claims of post-racial progress still be there if we had elected say..... Condi Rice?

Take pause, my friends, before you answer..........

This will probably be the full extent of my blogging today. Frankly, I am nauseated by the front pages of most of the newspapers, especially the Times, and the TV coverage I have seen so far. The Messiah has not arrived, folks (especially for all of you secularists who insist on the separation of church and state). We have elected a new President who deserves our respect and support; but until he (note the small "h") puts his money where his mouth has been, until we see some substance underlying all of the campaign gibberish and platitudes of "change", until there is proof of something more than just being able to make Oprah quiver - I remain highly skeptical.

And I stand firmly by my predictions of yesterday.

Yes, it will be easy for the new administration to just outright take shit away from "the rich people" and make it seem as if will be helping everyone else. That is what Fascists do so well. It's when you find out after-the-fact that we all wind-up with nothing (except for the political classes, of course) that you wonder what the hell happened to that warm, fuzzy feeling you had at the "Vote for Change" rally just a couple-or-three years before.....

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Could someone please 'splain this to me.....

Skipping Voting, Serena Williams Still Has a Say
"Williams said that, as a Jehovah’s Witness, she does not vote, but that did not mean she had no stake in the outcome on Nov. 4. As a prominent African-American, she said she was moved by the possibility of an African-American like Barack Obama becoming president."

Check it out ...

Lileks' Screedblog is back with a vengeance

Monday, November 3, 2008

Going "John Galt"?

RON HART:
"I cannot wait, as I need a break. And it will be nice to not be vilified by politicians. It will feel good to be liked again.

Wish me luck for the next few years. I am looking forward to a respite from hard work, taxes and creating jobs. It is a lot of responsibility that I will be able to 'shrug.' It is just as well, as I am tired of following my dreams anyway. It involves so much effort. I will see where those dreams are in four or eight years and catch back up with them then."

Don't miss the whole essay. Priceless....

Heh...

If McCain loses, I’m moving to France:
"France is more conservative and they’ve got better food. And isn’t that the grand tradition of Hollywood sore losers? Your man fails and you’re outta here. Just think - maybe I’ll meet Susan Sarandon. She’s supposed to be there, isn’t she? Or did she finally stay in Beverly Hills? Well, I won’t. It’s Bordeaux for me. I hear the red wine cancels out the cholesterol in the foie gras. What could be better?"

Ah! Suzy Creemcheese......

I feel the same way...

OBAMA 2012:
"A general consensus among political observers is that Obama's essential problem was that he was oversold and too naive and arrogant to realize he wasn't as his most devoted fans believed. A senior Democrat on Capitol Hill marveled: 'In 2008, this guy promised to send everyone to college, vastly increase foreign aid, create a 'civilian national security force' that was just a well-funded as the U.S. military, his wife said he'd fix our 'broken souls,' and he said he'd make the oceans stop rising, all without increasing the deficit. The amazing thing is he thought it was all true. He makes Jimmy Carter look like he should be on Mt. Rushmore.'

Another advisor compared Obama to Max Bialystock, the con man from the Mel Brooks' film 'The Producers.' In the movie, Bialystock sells 100% ownership of the play to dozens of investors. 'Barack Obama sold 100% shares in his presidency to every constituency imaginable and they all thought they were at the front of the line after inauguration day.'"

This is certainly lighthearted and a bit amusing. I, however, have a few more serious predictions: 1) This economy will persist, and probably deteriorate, under Obama / Pelosi management; 2) NONE (that's right - NONE) of the supposed Bush horrors - Guantanamo, Iraq, oil prices, illegal wiretapping, etc. - will be remedied as the Democrats figure out that you can't just wish bad people and circumstances away with nice thoughts; 3) Obama won't just be "tested", as Mr. Biden said regarding international events - we will be involved in a real live war (much more major than Iraq or Afganisthan) by the end of his first term; and 4) All of these failures will be just fine with the Obama base because they will be considered "necessary" for the safety of the country and a pragmatic method of consolidating power.

Sound familiar?

Sunday, November 2, 2008

I'll second that...

AMERICAN DIGEST:
"When you peel off the layers of signifying and symbolizing, of blathering and bamboozling, Obama lacks in the elemental qualities of manliness necessary to be President. Obama is like the onion in Peer Gynt. Take away the layers there's nothing at the core.

You’ll peel past many layers about helping people, about caring, about giving and devotion of the Obama onion. Those pungent peels taste good to the poor, the grasping, the gullible, the craven, and the rich-so-rich that nothing dents their days. The layers remain the common malarkey of the con-man who hopes that by stimulating your greed for grub or good feelings now, he'll be able to hoover your bank account later. It's an old con and it works. That's why con-men are always with us; not because they are so smart, but because so many are so stupid. Con-artists (and Obama is a brilliant flim-flam flinger) not only know this, they depend upon it.

Obama is very much a man with “a hand full of gimme and a mouth full of much obliged.” Just this morning, as he has for so many mornings, he wrote to me asking for five bucks. This after he squandered so many millions just last night with his noninfomercial for flaming narcissists of all five genders. It’s obvious the man and his minions can't handle money."