No Runny Eggs

The repository of one hard-boiled egg from the south suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (and the occassional guest-blogger). The ramblings within may or may not offend, shock and awe you, but they are what I (or my guest-bloggers) think.

Archive for April, 2008

April 30, 2008

Roll bloat – groggin’ edition

by @ 18:00. Filed under The Blog.

I do have to thank the Waukesha County bloggers for letting me stop in the blog n grog last night. It’s been so long since I was in downtown Waukesha, I was surprised at all the two-way streets there now.

‘Twas good to see Asian Badger, Dean, silent E (side note; I’m still a padawan), and Sancho again, and finally meet Mr. Ol’Broad, Jeff of FivePoints, Chris Lufter and Darryl Enriquez. Since I don’t seem to have all of their blogs on the roll (yet), seems I’ve got some more bloating to do…

Darryl Enriquez
Hobo Springs
FivePoints

Operation Chaos/NRE Spring Hill campaign resuming fire

by @ 15:38. Filed under Politics - National.

Just in case you missed the announcement in today’s Scramble, Operation Chaos has now resumed, and the NRE Spring Hill order is to make sure the flat-spinning Obama campaign augers into the ground. A word of caution; since we are in a 2-v-1 the hard way, do not lose track of the other target.

The Morning (er, Afternoon) Scramble – 4/30/2008

by @ 14:10. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

Sorry about being late. I guess I should’ve put the causation of the reason I’m late up yesterday; I crossed the 124th Street line to attend the first Waukesha “Blog n Grog”. Note to self; bloat the roll again. Oh well; let the KevHead National Anthem (and something Ed promised would enter the outro rotation on his radio show) be the peace offering…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mioGewkWVdo[/youtube]

Tom McMahon lays odds on Barack Obama’s chances. Looks like it’s time for a Hussein Summer offensive.
– Or maybe not; Allahpundit wants to keep on pumping .50 cal shells into the flaming, flat-planing Obama campaign just to be sure.
John McAdams goes deep into the memory hole for a reason to wish for a 20 mm cannon or so in the nose to put into said flaming, flat-planing campaign.
– My local EIB affiliate is an hour behind, so I’ll have to trust General Allahpundit when he says to reinstate the NRE Spring Hill campaign.
Slublog launches yet another Instant Classic Slu-Shop.
Curt uses a song that won’t appear on the Scramble to launch the latest broadside on Obama.
Jim Geraghty (on Ed’s show now) found another Obama inconsistency, this time on commenting about pending cases. Care to guess whether Obama supports practices that tend to promote vote fraud?
– One last Wright bit; JammieWearingFool traces the Wright sabotage of Obama’s campaign to the disinviting of Wright to Obama’s announcment of his candidacy.
Lance Burri distills the ‘Rat campaign to a cartoon classic (he notes the drink of the same name may help as well).
Kate has the ANWR cartoon of the day. Too bad all 3 of the Stooges are opposed to drilling for our own oil.
Owen quotes Jim Sensenbrenner on corn-a-hole (never mind Sensenbrenner voted FOR the big corn-a-hole mandate). I do recommend going through the comments for a potential late-summer time bomb for pump prices.
Emperor Misha I explains (as only he and perhaps Ace can) why concealed carry is good. Do also click through to Kim du Toit’s choice observations. Now, why can’t we here in Wisconsin have legal concealed carry to counter the goblins’ illegal concealed carry?
Aaron breaks out the haiku to introduce Badger Bites Ver. 2.0. Wise choice to let him start things out, Jib (I think).
Bruce proves the blogosphere is relevant.
Fred Keller cobbles together some whoppers of Gorebal Warming fairy tales.
Jo Egelhoff has reason #982 to keep an eye on what the Legislature does in special session. Specifically, the leaders of the bipartisan Party-In-Government are attempting to attach ratification of the Great Lakes Compact to the budget repair bill.

Al Franken, funny as ever

by @ 12:03. Filed under Politics - National.

I knew Al Franken was an alleged comedian but I thought he was serious about running for a Minnesota Senate seat.   Turns out Franken was just telling a long, expensive joke.

I wrote hereabout Franken’s tax troubles.  

Yesterday, the latest shoe dropped as Franken admitted that he had unreported income in 17 states. He remained quick to point out that it was his accountant that made the mistake not Al himself.

Like most liberals, Franken has been running on a platform of corporation and CEO bashing. He continues to wail about unaccountability and how corporations take advantage of the common folk. It now appears that Franken has been speaking from experience. Not paying workers comp insurance for his common folks and signing off on false returns seems to be just the kind of thing that Franken has been decrying.

I had never found Franken particularly funny. His material struck me as more mean spirited than witty. It now appears that I had been looking for humor in the wrong place. It turns out that the joke is actually Al Franken.

No time, no time

by @ 8:34. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I feel a bit like Alice’s white rabbit….sans mind altering substances. Late night of travel and I’ve got to work so I’ll leave you with this to “mull” over today:

Red Wing boy takes first place in Minn. mullet contest
Mullet

Isn’t this codified as child abuse?

Read all the horrifying details (multi-generational abuse) here.

 

April 29, 2008

NRE Spring Hill campaign holding fire

by @ 15:40. Filed under Politics - National.

In case you missed the update from the Southern Command relayed through the 10,000 Lakes Observation Post, Rush Limbaugh (CinC-EIB) has called for an operational pause on Operation Chaos. In accordance with that, and at the suggestion of Shoebox (see that link), the NRE Spring Hill campaign is now in a holding pattern awaiting the next target. Instant review of the mission objectives:

– Obama not the inevitable nominee – CHECK
– ‘Rats at each others’ throats like it is 1860 – CHECK
– No sleep ’till Denver – TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITY

I still have ammo, avgas, and an itchy trigger finger. It’s now a balancing act to keep this pot boiling and not exploding until August.

The Rock vs The Big Chill

by @ 15:00. Filed under Politics - National.

(H/T – Asian Badger)

Yes, it has come to a cheesy Flash game from the New York Post. It’s just like real life; s/he who hits the hardest with the mostest wins.

Sometimes the Frog Jumps

by @ 14:38. Filed under Miscellaneous.

There’s an urban legend that states that if you put a frog in water and increase the temperature slowly, the frog will not notice the change in temperature and eventually be killed by the hot water.   This experiment has been tried by many aspiring “scientists” and I have no doubt that many frogs have found their final rest as result.   However, not every frog succumbs to the increasing heat, sometimes the frog jumps.

And so it happened today.   With pressure mounting over the ongoing antics of Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama felt he could no longer paddle around in the verbal repartee of “I wasn’t there when that was said” or “those were just sound bites and not representative of a 30 year career” and attempted to jump out of the Jeremiah Wright hot water.

I watched and listened to Obama’s press conference.   The water was so hot that he actually took questions from the press which he had been avoiding for weeks.   I found his  claims and statements  incredulous.  

Barack claimed that Wright had become a caricature yesterday at the National Press Club.   As a part of his comments Wright reiterated his belief that the US government could be responsible for causing and distributing aids.   Caricature?   “Ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities?”   I don’t think so.   If anything, Wrights display at the National Press Club removed the argument that his earlier quotes were caricatures.  

For a candidate who is telling us that the key difference for him is his judgement, he now wants us to believe that in 20 years he was not aware of the positions of Wright.   Positions that even we who had never heard Wright’s name prior to 4 months ago, are acutely aware of….really?   Either Barack believes us to be fools or the quality of his judgement is seriously in question.   If Barack is no longer able to differentiate himself on his judgement, what else would cause people to believe that he has the experience required to be President?

Just because a frog jumps it doesn’t mean that it will survive.   Sometimes the frog jumps but doesn’t clear the pot and ends up succumbing to the boiling water.   Sometimes the frog jumps, clears the pot but it succumbs to the damage done prior to the jump.   Yes, sometimes the frog jumps, clears the pot and lives to tell the tale, at least until thrown into another pot of water.  

I’m not sure yet which version of the post jump frog Barack will be.   I think it safe to say that if he survives, this will not be the last time Barack is swimming in hot water.

It’s a one-way border

by @ 9:27. Filed under Immigration.

(H/T – Silent E)

Fox News has the story of one Army Spc. Richard Raymond Medina Torres, who was arrested by Mexican border police after he inadvertantly drove over the Bridge of the Americas in between El Paso, Texas, USA and Juarez, Mexico with a licensed AR-15 and a licensed handgun in the trunk and attempted a u-turn to get back into the US. Because foreigners are generally prohibited from having firearms in Mexico, Spc. Medina Torres is now in Juarez’s toughest prison and awaiting trial on charges that would get him between 3 and 10 years.

I wonder if the “no-borders” crowds that Michelle Malkin is tracking will spend so much as a second on Spc. Medina Torres’ case. Somehow, I doubt it; hence the title.

The Morning Scramble – 4/29/2008

by @ 7:55. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

I’m in that kind of mood; I missed Van Halen in town last night…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykUgaR6kmSE[/youtube]

– Which city is next to get the B4B nuking? Tune in and find out.
Ace channels Lt. Frank Drebin on Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s latest episode of foot-in-mouth disease.
Brian says with regard to Barack Obama’s latest claim of “bipartisanship”, “Like preacher, like parishoner.”
Amanda Carpenter has today’s number – $2.3 billion. That would be the cost of the earmarks requested by Hillary Clinton, easily the biggest porker in the Senate. I’ll be filing that for use after August.
Zip is having vulgarity-filled second thoughts about Operation Chaos/NRE Spring Hill campaign. Hang tough, Zip. You too, Shoe.
ZP gives Iran no chance against Barbie, Warrior Princess.
Anwyn wonders if Mary Poppins will survive the PC movement.
Katie Favazza is looking for whacked-out letters to the editor.
Dad29 bemoans Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner’s lack of committment to kill the corn-a-hole mandate. Come on, Jim; if Kay Bailey Hutchison can do it, you can.
Random10 has the anti-Gorebal Warming graphic of the day. But, but, but the acolytes told us that tropcial warming was real, and the ultimate proof of Gorebal Warming (oops, looks like that’s not happening).

Time to call a Cease Fire on Operation Chaos

by @ 7:01. Filed under Miscellaneous.

While I can’t say that I understand what dynamics are causing this, and Rasmussen still shows McCain leading either Democratic candidate, a recent poll indicates that Hillary Clinton is now leading John McCain in a national poll by 9%.

I think it’s time to call a cease fire on Operation Chaos for the following reasons:

  1. With Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, his wife, it appears that Barack Obama has not only proven to be mortal but an unvetted mortal as well.   In fact, in a recent poll the “Obama concern factor” has dropped by 17% amongst Republicans.
  2. Even in a general election it appears unlikely that Barack Obama will be able to move to the center.   He has staked out positions so far to the left on significant issues it would be hard to come back with any credibility.   With Hillary, well, credibility has never been an issue for the Clintons.   They find ways to sway with the polls and convince people that that’s what they meant all along.
  3. Hillary moving ahead of McCain in this significant fashion would suggest that the rumored divide within the Democratic party where BO supporters won’t vote for Hillary and vice versa appears to be more rumor than fact.
  4. While slipping a bit, Hillary still has a 5 point lead in a recent poll for Indiana.
  5. While still down in recent polls, Clinton’s about to get the endorsement of North Carolina’s Governor.

It’s been a lot of fun watching the Democrats squirm and complain about Operation Chaos.   I think the Operation has done it’s job.   Even without the ongoing support of Operation Chaos valiant men and women Hillary is now assured of staying in the race to the convention or until forced out by a preemptive vote of the Super Delegates.   Speaking of which, There is growing concern within Democratic ranks about BO’s electability.   We don’t need to be reinforcing the notion of Hillary being more electable in the final primaries.

My hat is off to Rush and the operatives of Operation Chaos.   Please welcome the returning operatives with the respect and honor they deserve!

(Update:   As of 1:30 Central Time, Rush has called for an operational pause.   Stay tuned for further instructions.   This has been a public service of your local Operation Chaos outlet.)

BDS and now FDS?

by @ 7:00. Filed under Business, Miscellaneous.

Bush Derangement Syndrome has been with us nearly as long as President George W. Bush has been in office.   People afflicted by the syndrome believe that all of the world’s and country’s ills, regardless of the facts or the Bush Administrations involvement, are the result of something that President Bush has done or caused to be done.   BDS has led to serious incivility in the public arena.   Worse, it prevents public discourse on solutions to numerous  issues as those afflicted with the syndrome are unable to rationally or logically respond with any answer other than “BUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSHHHHHH!”  

I’m now beginning to see signs of FDS or FED derangement syndrome.   Second guessing the FED has been great sport for years.   There have always been segments of people who pontificate, hypothisize and hand wring over every move the FED might or does do.   That activity is OK, generally it’s harmless.   However, since the FED stepped in on the Bear Stearns deal I’m seeing more and more articles that are trying to link the FED to issues they or their policies come no where near.

One of the most recent and aggregious FDS arguments is in this opinion piece.

The article starts by calling the Bear Stearns move “reckless.” OK, I’m open to differing opinions on this one and at the time, honestly debated whether the move was “brilliant”, “idiotic” or somewhere in between. I’m not willing to say “nothing to see here, move along,” but each day that goes by in which the markets heal a bit brings me closer to saying “brilliant” or maybe “damn lucky”. In any event, using a term like “reckless” at this point seems…well…reckless.

From there the article makes the claim that the fall of the dollar “40%” as stated in the article, was a direct result of the Bear Stearns move. The FED certainly does have part of the responsibility for the slide of the dollar but many other things including the size of our Federal Deficit and the world’s expectations of our future economic health also have significant impacts. Where I see FDS is that the dollar had done nearly all of its slide PRIOR to the Bear Stearns deal and in fact, has rebounded slightly in the time since. If anything, the improvement of the markets which can be traced to the Bear Stearns deal has improved the dollar not impaired it.

The worst example of FDS in the article is the claim that the FED is responsible for food inflation and the food riots that have occurred in Africa. As previously stated, I don’t believe the FED’s Bear Stearns action caused a dollar decline or inflation.   However, let’s assume that they did.   While the Fed’s actions may have contributed to some food inflation it is by no means responsible for the world wide increase based on the following 2 facts:
1. All but one of the countries in Africa that have seen food riots, have their currencies pegged to the Euro. The Euro’s value has been the inverse of the dollar. As the dollar slides, the Euro has increased.
2. Even the US commodity food prices have risen at a rate far in excess of the change in the dollar. This fact means that something more than the dollar is driving the cost of food commodities.

So what’s moving food prices? I know it’s hard for the FDS folks to take in logic but today, even Condoleezza Rice recognized that  the chasing of biofuels has led to increases in food prices. So as not to be accused of having EDS (Ethanol derangement syndrom), I would also offer the rising cost of oil and speculation as other contributors to rising commodity/food prices.

FDS, while not generally fatal, is a horrible disease. If you find that a loved one has contracted FDS, take them immediately to a library and inject them with a good dose of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.

April 28, 2008

Blank feeds and WP 2.5, 2.5.1

by @ 19:52. Filed under The Blog.

There is a rather big problem for those that use the direct link to the feed-generating files in WordPress (i.e. wp-rss2.php, wp-rss.php, wp-rdf.php, wp-atom.php and wp-commentsrss2.php) on blogs that upgraded to WP2.5/2.5.1, either in their own feed readers or (in my case) as the feed FeedBurner reads. They don’t send anything out in many cases.

I found that out the hard way when my last 2 posts did not get sent out to the feed, and some comments made after the upgrade also didn’t make it out. Fortunately for you guys, the fix needed was entirely on my end as I switched FeedBurner to read the more-nebulous …/feed and …/comments/feed URLs (since I have Pretty Permalinks set up), and I have the FeedBurner FeedSmith plugin directing all of you to FeedBurner.

Unfortunately, those blogs I had my feed reader set to go to wp-rss2.php will have to be reset to read either the …/feed or …/?feed=rss2 URL, depending on whether they have Pretty Permalinks set up or not. That’s going to be a major pain in the ass.

Revisions/extensions (10:25 am 4/29/2008) – It is specific to WP 2.5.1. I haven’t seen any real mention of this in the WordPress forums, but as Peter has told me, the upgrade sure feels like going from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

R&E part 2 (10:34 am 5/3/2008) – Bringing up word of a patch from the comments. Thanks Nicolas.

Hi Steve,
There is a fix available at trac.wordpress.com ; that should avoid your users migrating from wp-rss2.php to /feed/

http://trac.wordpress.org/ticket/6460

Hope it helps,
Nicolas

Envirowhacko update – Cheddar edition

by @ 17:53. Filed under Envirowhackos.

I’ve got two of them for you from today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Item #1 – Older cars to now be exempt from emission testing

Where do I go with this puppy? Before I got my Subaru, I used to cringe every time one of those testers mistook my car for a race car at Road America, so I’m glad that portion of the testing will no longer be done. However, if the goal were to get the most-polluting cars off the road, wouldn’t it behoove the state to test the cars most-likely to be polluting (i.e. the older ones)?

Instead, they’re going halfway to a cost-savings by only testing the vehicles with OBD-II diagnostics by plugging in a code reader. Most cars pass this test with flying colors, at least if the operators remembered to tighten the gas cap all the way for 3 months prior to testing. Moreover, they’re going to start “testing” new heavy-duty and diesel vehicles, and spend boku bucks installing self-service “testing”. Why not just jettison the entire regimen?

Item #2 – Focus of water quality to shift from Milwaukee to farms

I guess the envirowhackos think that almost-somewhat-not-quite-deep-enough tunnel is deep enough now. Either that, or they don’t think they can get us in the burbs to pay for separating Milwaukee’s and Shorewood’s sewers.

Question; if we’re supposed to burn our food, and we’re going to need every available cropland acre just for that, just how is that compatible with the coming assault on farmers?

Upgrading to WP 2.5.1

by @ 15:32. Filed under The Blog.

I still don’t much like the posting interface, but the biggest bugs of 2.5 have been ironed out, and Shoebox says he’s ready to go. Hopefully I don’t crash the place.

Revisions/extensions (4:11 pm 4/28/2008) – It worked.

R&E part 2 (4:23 pm 4/28/2008) – The nicest thing about 2.5.x is I don’t have to mess around with downloading and uploading updates to my plugins. WordPress now can handle the uploading of those updated plugins automatically. Of course, I have to remember the customizations I do with them.

Down goes the legal impediment to voter ID requirements

by @ 14:24. Filed under Elections, Politics - National.

(Now, who do I give this H/T to; I could go with Brian Fraley or Matt Lewis, but Katie Favazza and Sister Toldjah have them easily beat in the looks department, I haven’t linked to them in a while, and ST has the link to the decision from SCOTUSblog)

The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter-ID requirement 6-3. In a bit of an oddity, Mark Sherman, the AP reporter who wrote that piece, pointedly noted that the author of the opinion of the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens, was a dissenter in Bush v Gore in 2000.

A quick, non-lawyer review of Justice Stevens’ opinion of the court and Justice Scalia’s concurrence reveals the idiocy of opposing photo ID from both the liberal and conservative perspective. While I prefer Scalia’s reasoning, Stevens’ broad repudiation of the arguments against a photo ID requirement, specifically including the “partisan”, “undue burden” on the poor, and “undue burden” on the elderly arguments, ought to have Wisconsin’s Democratic Party reconsidering their staunch opposition to a voter ID requirement. Then again, I’m not hopeful that the ‘Rats will give up their permanent advantage of vote fraud made easier by the lack of a voter ID requirement.

Revisions/extensions (11:38 am 4/29/2008) – I would be remiss if I didn’t point you in the direction of a lawyer’s take, specifically Rick Esenberg’s take. He notes that, because it is Justice Stevens’ opinion that is the controlling one instead of Justice Scalia’s, the door is open ever-so-slightly for future challenges to voter ID requirements.

One Senate seat the Dems won’t get

by @ 12:17. Filed under Politics - National.

Democrats were hopeful that the Senate seat of Norm Coleman from Minnesota, would be one that they could get in their attempt to get a 60 vote,  filibuster proof majority.   The Dems felt that by running Al Franken, a candidate with high name recognition and strong liberal politics they could turn the seat in a state that recently elected one of the most liberal members of the Senate Amy Klobuchar.   It’s not going to happen.

Last month SurveyUSA released this survey  showing that Coleman was up by 10% with momentum in his direction.   This poll was taken around the time that it was revealed that Al Franken hadn’t paid workers compensation insurance for his employees in New York.   At the time Franken’s team had numerous and changing reasons for why the payment of the insurance, was an “oversight” (including “he wasn’t home”) but in the end agreed to paying a fine.

Team Franken thought that paying the fine would let them get back to running for Senate but they were wrong.   A new issue was raised alleging that Franken hadn’t filed California state income taxes for a period of years.   Again Team Franken moved into spin mode  alleging that it was another “oversight” and that Franken’s California corporation was to have been terminated as he hadn’t done business in California during that time. Once again Team Franken thought they could get pass the issue by paying the back tax and penalty.

Case closed.

Um…..not quite.
(more…)

McCain Salute

by @ 8:28. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Following up on my post below, here is the new McCain salute.
Help!!

Feel free to copy the HTML for your use:

<img src=http://img504.imageshack.us/img504/6139/mccain08ip9.jpg alt=Help!!/>

The Morning Scramble – 4/28/2008

by @ 7:14. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

No offense from the Brew Crew leaves me in Heartbreak Hotel…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1Qo1eaWF8c[/youtube]

Mary Katharine Ham brings back the Peeps. PEEPS!!!!
Lawhawk notes the continuing lawfare going on at Club Gitmo. Since when is having 3 squares a day and world-class health care considered grounds for insanity? Oh, that’s right; we’re talking about the marriage of convenience between the Islamokazis and the Left Lawyers, both of whom want to go back to a time before the Industrial Revolution.
Uncle Jimbo wants to take the COIN that’s been working in Iraq global.
The gang at IraqStatusReport.com translated Ayman al-Zawahiri’s latest pronouncements, and to the surprise of nobody that’s actually paying attention, he called Iraq the “most important arena” in the Global War on Terror.
Jim Hoft is puzzled at Barack Obama’s continued call for an immediate unconditional surrender to the Islamokazis in Iraq.
He also catches Howard Dean uttering one of George Carlin’s famous seven words while describing the Algore/Pelosi plan to try to stop Operation Chaos. Fight on, HowDea.
Professor Stephen Banbridge hopes we don’t repeat 80-year-old economic history. Unfortunately, economics and history are no longer taught in public schools.
Jim Geraghty asks whether Obama is running for President or Supreme Court justice. Bonus question from Jim; what portions of the Constitution beyond the Second Amendment does Obama consider optional? Well, we know both Hillary Clinton and John McCain consider the First optional….
Dr. Melissa Clouthier explains why Operation Chaos has taken root. Note to self; take John Hawkins’ advice and add her regular blog to the feed reader of bloat.
Michelle Malkin popped some extra-butter popcorn while the Paul-Nuts “joined” with the McCainiacs to make a mockery of the Nevada GOP convention. If only I had a horse in that fight,….
Doubleplusundead notes McCain is playing with fire in the South. Once again, the vitriol leveled at his “own side” wasn’t leveled at his “opposition”. Once again, if only we weren’t reduced to having to take a meager pleasure in Operation Chaos,….
Purple Avenger asks how gubmint will tell the difference between a Pilatus Porter cargo plane and a Cessna Citation. Asian Badger, care to explain how they won’t be able to tell?
– Speaking of AB, he has some advice for Wesley Snipes. S. Weasel, you might want to consult him; he does have experience with earning an income overseas.
Chris has the Gorebal Warming Buster chart of the week. Yes, the Winter That Won’t Die™ isn’t dead yet up in northwest Wisconsin.
Kate asks, “Why Twitter?”
Owen answers, “It can help you get out of an Egyptian prison.”

“Disneyland” in Baghdad?

by @ 7:00. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I saw this story last week about a developer who wants to build an amusement park in Baghdad.   The understatement of the article was the opening paragraph:

Llewellyn Werner admits he is facing obstacles most amusement park developers never have to deal with – insurgent attacks and looting.

Ya think?

Disney’s parks typically make some adjustments so that the attractions reflect some of the local culture and aren’t 100% American. So I got to thinking….what kind of adjustments would be made to “Disneyland – Baghdad?”

  • Mahdis of Sadr City– In the  Baghdad version of Pirates of the Caribbean we would see the Mahdi Army ransacking and running roughshod throughout scenes of Sadr City.   Rather than Johnny Depp making cameo appearances, we would see Muqtada al-Sadr peaking out from barrels and from behind burqas to see if it was safe for him to come out of hiding.
  • The Closet of Presidents – well, they’ve only had one that’s actually been elected.   It seems like it will be quite awhile before they will need an entire hall!
  • Small World – rather than scenes of happy children representing harmony of the countries of the world, this attraction will be dedicated to the countries and factions that the insurgents in Iraq represent.   Rather than hearing the refrain of “It’s a small world after all,” over and over, we would hear a refrain of “Death to all the infidels,” in  those same, nauseating children’s voices.  
  • Buzz Lightyear – As you ride through this attraction you’ll help Buzz save Iraq by eliminating Iranian agents.   The ride will be kid friendly because as we’re assured regularly by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iranian agents in Iraq are as make believe as the evil agents of Zurg!

These are the attraction descriptions that have slipped out from the tightly guarded planning process.   If you hear of more, make sure to give us a heads up in the comments!

Help!!/

April 27, 2008

And I thought they were serious….NOT

by @ 7:28. Filed under International relations.

On Thursday Hamas offered a six month cease fire to Israel.   Yesterday, Israel rejected that offer saying that the offer did not “appear serious.”

Not serious?   How could they possible come to that conclusion?   Could it have had anything to do with Khaled Mashaal, the Damascus-based Hamas leader  saying,

“It is (the cease fire)  a tactic in conducting the struggle … It is normal for any resistance … to sometimes escalate, other times retreat a bit. … Hamas is known for that. In there was a cease-fire and then the operations were resumed.”

or maybe it was this reassuring comment that gave the Israeli’s pause:

“We are ready to cooperate seriously from a place of power,” he said. “If Israel does not accept, then we welcome confrontation,” Mashaal said in the interview from Doha, Qatar.

Wow, those Israeli’s are pretty sharp. I’ve never had the pleasure, but I’ve been told that their airport security folks can just look at you and know whether you’re up to no good. They must have needed every one of them to poor over these comments to cipher out Hamas’ real intent.

As a parting shot, the same Hamas leader warned,

“If the blockade is not to be lifted from Gaza, then the Gaza Strip will explode.”

I don’t normally hold populations responsible for their thuggish governments. In most cases they had nothing to do with the thugs being in power. However, as Jimmy Carter pointed out last week,  the Palestinian people, fully aware of who they were and what they stood for, elected Hamas into power.   Until the Palestinian people awaken to the fact  and change  having a ruling party with a goal of exterminating another soverign country, they may get our sympathy but should not get anyone’s assistance.

April 26, 2008

Support McCain

by @ 10:17. Filed under Politics - National.

After my rant yesterday telling McCain to “shut up” about the North Carolina ad, I now feel compelled to atone and offer to you this suggestion for showing your support for John  McCain.   From David Hinz over at RedState:

I propose that each and every Conservative demonstrate his or her support for Senator McCain for President by purchasing a “McCain for President,” bumper sticker, or better still, two. Then we should all affix those bumper stickers upside down — as a clear message to the senator. As a former Navy flier, Sen McCain will understand that message only too well. As explained below, displaying an ensign or the American flag upside down is a message of danger. It means, “…a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”

As one of the posters at RedState mentioned, you’ll probably want to use two stickers because if you have just one upside down, people will just think you’re an idiot!

Update:   I forgot to mention that you can buy your stickers at www.JohnMcCain.com.   I bought 4 window variety this morning for $5 each.

April 25, 2008

Just Shut up!

by @ 9:55. Filed under Miscellaneous.

In a well publicized statement, John McCain has repudiated the North Carolina Republican Party over it’s ad that decries the endorsement of the two Democratic Governor candidates of Obama saying that Obama is too far left for North Carolina.   The commercial uses Obama’s link to Jeremiah Wright as evidence of Obama’s far left views.  

As a part of McCain’s statement he said North Carolina’s Republican Party was “out of touch with reality.”

Out of touch with reality?   Did I miss something?

In a poll done within days of the Jeremiah Wright revelations, the Pew Research Center found the following:

When asked whether they were personally offended by Jeremiah Wright’s comments, a majority of Independents (52%) and a significant majority of Republicans (75%) said they were personally offended.   Even Clinton supporters had a majority that were offended (59%).   The only group polled who didn’t have a majority that were personally offended by Wright’s remarks were people who were already decided, Obama supporters.

The person who seems to be “out of touch with reality” is John McCain!

Earth to John…….

The reality is that you are at best, accepted by the  conservative base and not truly supported by it.

The reality is that if the Democrats had a nomination process that made sense, they would have had a nominee in March and you would face double digit deficits in every poll taken.

The reality is the longer we keep the Democrats fighting (yes, while the primary focus is the Governor’s race, the ad surely helps reraise the concern about Obama) the better your chances get.

The reality is that rather than on your opponents, you use your harshest criticisms and comments on those you should be most aligned with.

The reality is I’m getting sick and tired of hearing from you.   In the past few weeks you’ve flip flopped on the mortgage bailout, reiterated your nonsense about going green and joined the populist “CEO = bad people” meme.

If John McCain wants to “stay above the fray” that’s fine.   In fact, I don’t even mind if he asks the North Carolina Republicans not to run the ad.   John McCain crosses the line when he berates  people who should be  his supporters in a way that he claims to be above doing with his Democratic contenders.

The Morning Scramble – 4/25/2008

by @ 8:18. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

If this doesn’t make you at least tap your feet, I can’t help you…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmALL-V74Po[/youtube]

Jo Egelhoff is running for the 57th Assembly seat being vacated by Steve Weickert. I’m not waiting until either September or November to do this endorsement – Jo Egelhoff for the 57th Assembly District.
Madison Conservative comes back from an extended blogging break to let us know that Obama’s old friends are planning some shenanigans in the Twin Cities come September.
Michelle Malkin says that they won’t be alone.
Justin Higgins gives the business to one of his friends on Justice Antonin Scalia’s answer on abortion.
JammieWearingFool has the line that will explode liberals’ heads everywhere. After all, it was the Goracle that wanted the 2000 election in the courts.
Nick Schweitzer extends the “unintended consequences” theme to the true cost of ethanol subsidies.
Mark Pribonic ties a personal story to the potential corn-a-hole-fueled food crisis (or is it already here?).
John Adams goes back into history to defend anonymous speech.
Dave in Texas has this week’s example of the Culture of Badassery; a legally-blind man whups up on a home invader who claimed he was just there for his cat. I normally would send you straight to the version with the comments, but the comments aren’t exactly safe for work because it is AoSHQ after all.
John Hawkins assesses the state of the GOP. He’s a bit too kind to the Congressional leadership.
Doubleplusundead plays Name! That! Party!
Sister Toldjah smacks Howard Dean around like a pinata.
Slublog uses an instant-classic Slushop to mock Harry Reid’s attempt to prevent Operation Chaos from reaching its conclusoin. I don’t see any reduction in popcorn sales.
Uncle Jimbo delivers a well-placed TOT barrage on the media over their latest resurrection of Mookie Sadr.
Jim Lynch did not misunderstand Nancy Pelosi’s claim of misunderstanding.
CDR Salamander says, “Chavez, start worrying. The snake-driven 4th Fleet is coming back.”
Michelle Malkin has pretty much my reaction to the NC GOP ad linking a couple of Dem candidates for governor to Obama and Wright. Dare I say she’s on my short list of people to write in for President come November?
– In the wake of a completely-meaningless and, for Mequon residents, annoying protest against “Big Oil” by a local gas station, J. Gravelle takes on Big Air. Breathe, J.

I really should either put down a later time for this to hit the Net when I do some legwork the previous night, or not answer e-mail while I’m putting the finishing touches on this :-)

Consensus?

by @ 7:08. Filed under Miscellaneous.

Al Gore’s consensus appears to be less cohesive these days.

The International Climate Science Coalition has issued a Manhattan Declaration on Climate Change.   The ICSC was the group that was banned from participating in the UN’s Bali climate change conference last December i.e., they’re the good guys.   Amongst other things, the declaration states:

That current plans to restrict anthropogenic CO2 emissions are a dangerous misallocation of intellectual capital and resources that should be dedicated to solving humanity’s real and serious problems.

That there is no convincing evidence that CO2 emissions from modern industrial activity has in the past, is now, or will in the future cause catastrophic climate change.

That attempts by governments to inflict taxes and costly regulations on industry and individual citizens with the aim of reducing emissions of CO2 will pointlessly curtail the prosperity of the West and progress of developing nations without affecting climate.

That adaptation as needed is massively more cost-effective than any attempted mitigation, and that a focus on such mitigation will divert the attention and resources of governments away from addressing the real problems of their peoples.

That human-caused climate change is not a global crisis.

The Manhattan declaration now has at least 500 signers, 150 of which are either climate science specialists or scientists in closely related fields. That compares to the IPCC report that had about 100 similar individuals.

If that’s Al Gore’s definition of “consensus,” Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be worrying about who the Democratic nominee will be.

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