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 July, 2008

July 10, 2008

Run Jesse, Run!

by @ 5:48. Filed under Politics - National.

With just a few days left to file for a possible Senate run, Jesse Ventura is playing coy with the media about his true intent.

In a morning report from NPR, Jesse seemed to be providing the latest inkling that he was going to enter the race:

That’s the reason I run. Not to sell books. I run because it angers me,” Ventura says.

and

All you Minnesotans, take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide, if you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you.

Of course, as Jesse is prone to do, later in the day he told people the press didn’t get his quotes right:

I gave [NPR] the reasons why I would run,” Ventura said. “But I said ultimately, it will come down to whether I want to change my lifestyle and go to that lifestyle or not.

As I’ve said before, I would really like to see Jesse run. If he actually files I won’t have any problem finding things to write about until mid November!

That said, I went back and looked at the most recent poll from Rasmussen  showing a three way Minnesota Senate race. The short take on the poll shows Coleman winning a three way race and Jesse taking more from Franken than Coleman. In fact, with Franken’s ongoing revelations of “oops I forgot,” I wouldn’t be surprised that Franken goes further down as more of his support gives up on him and moves to Jesse who is really Dem lite. The revelation in my latest look at the poll is in the favorable/unfavorable ratings for each of the candidates.

The voting percentages for each of the candidates is roughly equal to 100% of their “very favorable” percentage and about 1/2 of their somewhat favorable percentage. This obviously works in Coleman’s favor as he has a total favorable of 51%. We’ve known for a while that Franken is a very unhappy man and it appears that Minnesotans recognize that in that 50% say they have an unfavorable opinion of him. The “revelation” was in looking at Ventura’s. Ventura’s unfavorable rating is 62%! and 38% have a Very Unfavorable rating of him!

In today’s NPR report, University of Minnesota political scientist Lawrence Jacobs says Ventura could win:

He’s coming in with about a quarter of the vote, and he’s not even declared his candidacy. That is much better than where he was in 1998, where he started off in single digits and frankly was a joke candidate

Jesse may be starting from a better place but today, unlike his last run, people in Minnesota know Jesse. For Jesse to win he would need to convince a lot of people that the charicature that was Jesse as Governor is no longer the charicature that would be a Senator. That will take A LOT of convincing.

Oh, and did I mention that Jesse is a 9/11 truther? I’m sure that fact alone will help his cause significantly!

July 9, 2008

Real Men of Genius, North Carolina edition

by @ 16:45. Filed under Compassionate Lieberals.

I was going to lead off tomorrow’s Scramble/Open Thread Thursday with this, but it’s just too good to keep you waiting until tomorrow.

Mary Katharine Ham gives the “Real Men of Genius” treatment to a gubmint drone who gave up his cushy government job rather than honor the request of North Carolina Governor Mike Easley (D) to fly the American and North Carolina flags at half-staff to honor the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R).

Name That Party – crAP edition

by @ 11:18. Filed under Presstitute Follies.

(H/T – Don Surber via Lawhawk)

Former Congressman Gary Condit’s (D-CA) lawsuit against author Dominic Dunne alleging slander over the death of government intern and paramour Chandra Levy was dismissed yesterday. While Reuters properly identified Condit’s party and McClatchy didn’t identify at all, the original crAP dispatch dispatch from Erica Werner slandered the Republican Party in the sixth paragraph (thanks to Google for keeping the original dispatch handy; I do have a screenshot ready just in case this goes into the memory hole):

Condit, a former Republican congressman from California’s Central Valley, has denied any involvement in or knowledge of Levy’s May 2001 disappearance at age 24, or her death….

I do have to note that the current dispatch has the correct party affiliation.

Considering the Condit/Levy affair was the biggest news item on September 10, 2001, I rather doubt that it was an honest mistake. No wonder why The News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted™ doesn’t want to be quoted.

The Morning Scramble – 7/9/2008

by @ 10:29. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

It’s nice to have a reason for the song. Mary Katharine Ham provided one with anotherwise-unnoteworthy story on a dog-on-dog attack in DC.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpkVnBQy5kU[/youtube]

  • Let’s start right off with the Obamination Express; there’s a lot of material today – Ed Morrissey caught Barack Obama tossing English under the bus.
  • Owen found fiscal responsibility stuck under the rear wheels of the Obamination Express.
  • Ed Driscoll has more Obama words well past their expiration date – his philosophy of campaigning.
  • Shoebox found even more curdled Obama words – his view of the danger posed by Iran.
  • The conspiratorial Chris (there are just too many Chrises in my feed reader) sings the Obamination Flip-Flop Song.
  • Silent E uses the opportunity of yet another Obamination Flip-Flop to unleash Barack HUSSEIN ObamaUrkel.
  • Jazz Shaw found a solution to the fuel crisis; use the “refined” Obama positions as high-test gasoline.
  • Geoff discovered Denial is a river in the aisle of the Obamination Express.
  • JammieWearingFool discovered the presstitute photogs are back to their Glowbama photographic tricks.
  • Jim Geraghty calls Strike Three on the third Obama ad’s accuracy. Too bad this isn’t baseball.
  • Jessi is a bit confused on what change the Jr. Senator (in whichever way it can be sliced, whether one talks about Illinois, the ‘Rat candidates for the nomination, or the presumptive nominees) is offering.
  • We’re finally done with the Obamination, so let’s hit the ‘Rats some more – Michelle Bachmann notes the House ‘Rats want to shut up their fellow Congresscritters on blogs.
  • Ed Morrissey (back for round 2) says it’s even worse in the World’s Most Deliberative Body.
  • Mary relays the John McCain smackdown of draft-doding Bill Clinton.
  • Brian explains the difference between an Iraqi-crafted withdrawal timetable and a ‘Rat-crafted one.
  • Janet Evans says, “Like terrorist father, like terrorist son.” My hope for the younger bin Laden’s immediate future (quoting Uncle Jimbo) – “Predator sends Hellfire, now it’s all bad (all bad). Remote sniping yeah, we’re cool like this.”
  • Gabriel Malor explains Authorizations for Use of Military Force.
  • Moron Pundit challenges lieberals (including the presumptive Pubbie nominee) to explain why covering thousands of square miles of land underneath solar panels is preferable to drilling on a copule thousand acres of Arctic wasteland.
  • Todd Lohenry asks, after hearing Joe Lieberman say that Red China’s thirst for gas is growing at 8 times ours, why the focus is not on drilling. He does answer his own question; it’s about the economic crippling.
  • The Unreal one asks whether any country taxed its way into prosperity. Yet half the country meets Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity.
  • We’re finally out of the ‘Rat end of the pool – Josh Schroeder is not happy about the RNC trying a bill collector trick.
  • Michelle Malkin has 15 things we should know about La Raza, which is being actively courted by both candidates and both parties.
  • Christian Schneider has a real way to go green that’s being blocked by a lot of locales; letting ones laundry dry in the sun.
  • More Moron Pundit – he has the Moron Food Pyramid. You’ll have to see it to understand why I put this item where I did.
  • JammieWearingFool notes black holes are going into the memory hole of Political Correctness.
  • Edward Christie observed that crime does pay, at least for British presstitutes.
  • Lawhawk has today’s dose of UN FAIL – once again, thugs walk into a UNprotected (note the lack of a hyphen) refugee camp to beat up on the refugees. This time, it’s in Zimbabwe.
  • Dad29 has shocking (literally) news for those of you who can still afford to fly; the DHS wants to put shock bracelets on you.

Grave Danger? Is There Any Other Kind?

by @ 9:23. Filed under Politics - National.

In yet another incident showing Barack Obama’s inability to hold a position, he now announces Iran to be a “Great threat,” after it test fired nine missiles. In an interview this morning  on Good Morning America, Barack said:

“Iran is a great threat. We have to make sure we are working with our allies to apply tightened pressure on Iran,

What? A great threat? Is this the same Barack Obama who just six weeks ago ridiculed John McCain for saying Iran was a great threat by saying:

I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezula, their countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to the US.

Maybe Barack considers a “great” threat to be less of a threat than a “serious” threat? If so, it would show Obama out of touch with the majority of America for most of America learned from “A Few Good Men” that when it comes to individual or national security/danger, there is only one kind, and it’s always grave.

What is missing from this story?

by @ 7:12. Filed under Presstitute Follies.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel acted as a megaphone for a conglomerate of groups moaning that the poor economy and high oil prices are squeezing seasoned citizens. They run through the usual bogeymen of health care, mortgages, rent, food, and transportation, but miss the fat 15,000-pound elephant in the room – TAXES. Gee, I wonder why.

Say it Ain’t So!

by @ 5:22. Filed under Miscellaneous.

In another strike of the blinding obvious, the SEC has finally determinedthat the large credit rating agencies responsible for assigning credit ratings for the bundled subprime loans, had conflicts of interest in determining those ratings.

Pause

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

Deep breath.

Back in March I gave you information about  what the typical subprime loan and “bond” (actually bundled loans) looked like.   It wasn’t a pretty description!  I stated at the time:

On the one hand I’m mad. Over 75% of the subprime loans reviewed in this study received the highest bond rating of AAA. How stupid is that when you look at the make up of the borrowers. With real interest rates nearly 5% above the norm, it was clear that there was significant risk in this package. I hate the government involved in business but someone needs to step in and change the way that bond rating agencies do their rating.

Beyond the “irrational exuberance” of ever increasing real estate prices, a big piece of shame for the subprime debacle needs to go to the rating agencies.

The rating that the agency gives the various debt instruments has a large impact on the market’s appetite for that debt. Under “normal” market circumstances, if the agency were to give a rating that was lower than expected, the market would expect higher risk and respond by demanding a higher interest rate thereby increasing the overall costs for the issuer. The impact would be that mortgage providers would have charged higher interest rates to the borrowers and that would have allowed fewer of the mortgages and less of the debt to come on the market. If the rating came back with an unexpectedly low rating (which it should have in at least some of these loans), it could have prevented the issuer from finding a buyer at all and that would have cut short future issuance of subprime loans.

The reason why “normal” market forces didn’t work properly is due to the conflict of interest that the SEC “found” but has really existed for years. Rating agencies get compensated for providing their rating on a particular debt or bond issuance. The payment comes from the entity trying to sell or place the bond. If the rating agency gives a poor rating causing either higher interest costs or an inability to sell debt, they get no future business. If they make the debt easy to sell in the market, the rating agencies could expect to see additional business from the folks trying to sell the debt.

2005, 2006 and early 2007 were very heady days for the stock prices of the large agencies. Note any patterns?

So the agencies were getting paid by their customers, so what? Isn’t that how the market works? The answer is yes except when the incentive is so great that it skews your ability to provide an allegedly unbiased answer.

You may remember the name of a little accounting firm called Arthur Andersen. They used to do the audit for another company you may remember, Enron. At the time it was not unusual for large accounting firms to perform financial audits at a loss. They did this because they also typically had a relationship with the client to perform various consulting services. The consulting services were always higher margin and were what many accounting firms made much of their revenue from…in the day. After Enron’s collapse the SEC figured out that if you made a whole lot of money off of consulting services and virtually no money off of an audit, your client had the ability to hold the consulting services over your head to ensure an acceptable opinion on thier audit….even if they were doing things that weren’t exactly kosher…at least that’s what I’ve heard.

When an entity that holds itself out as independent, like CPA firm or a rating agency, has financial entanglement, it has the potential to destroy that entities independence. My opinion is that the rating agencies were completely focused on generating revenues and never thought that providing an “encouraging rating” would ever matter to anyone. They were wrong and we’re all being impacted by their unintended consequences.

July 8, 2008

Drinking Right – 1 Hour Warning

by @ 18:00. Filed under Miscellaneous.

This is the Emergency Blogging System. This is not a drill; drills go “Black-and-Decker Black-and-Decker Black-and-Decker.”

The July edition of Drinking Right begins in one hour over at Papa’s Social Club, 7718 W. Burleigh in Milwaukee. The usual crew will be there, along with James Wigderson and the lovely Doreen from Waukesha. So, if you’re not one of the lucky 42,000 or so who are headed to Miller Park to watch the debut of CC Sabathia (and if you’re reading this and aren’t in walking distance of the stadium, you’re already too late), head on down. Dickie’s got room for you.

A rare victory for business

by @ 15:36. Filed under Politics - Wisconsin, Taxes.

Honestly, the fact that the state Supreme Court was unanimous in handing down said victory (per JSOnline’s DayWatch) is even rarer. They ruled for Walgreen’s against a couple dozen high-tax communities, including Milwaukee, Madison, Cudahy, Hales Corners, Kenosha and Waukesha, that use rent payments instead of market value as the determinant of the value of the property various Walgreen’s stores are on. Walgreen’s has developers buy choice properties and build to Walgreen’s specs, and in exchange, they pay above-market rent to the developer, along with the property taxes. Those communities, up until today, were using the higher rent payments rather than what the developer could sell the property for.

Naturally, the communities are saying that they’ll have to increase taxes on everybody else. How about cutting spending for a change, like those of us in the non-government world have to do every time our disposable income drops?

Picturing the ‘Rat Energy policy

by @ 15:18. Filed under Energy, Politics - National.

Jett Atwood of T.G. Studios, known to us who inhabit the chat room at Ed Morrissey’s show as Sarjex, created an instant classic describing the ‘Rat energy “policy” of small cars and wind (H/T for the link – silent E)…

The Morning Scramble – 7/8/2008

by @ 8:53. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

Yes, I’m on time today. There are actually two reasons for the song today:

– Tonight is the July Drinking Right over at Papa’s Social Club (7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee, at 7 pm). Be there.
– While I won’t be in the Twin Cities at the beginning of September, I figure between Sean Hackbarth (he’s still jobless, so get him some cash so he can be there), Owen Robinson, Todd Lohenry and gopfolk, they’ll have a DR-Twin Cities during the GOP Convention.

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

  • John Hawkins sums up why the GOP is in trouble. If the RNC doesn’t think that what happened to the Whigs and Federalists can happen to them as a result of their leftward swing at the explicit shunning of the right, I’ve got 50 reasons why that’s fatally-flawed thinking in the poll on the left sidebar (which taken by itself is a plurality).
  • On the flip side, Stephan Tawney dips into the history to give John McCain a bit of a boost; it seems that in 6 of the last 9 hotly-contested elections (defined by Gallup as either a July lead or a November victory of 6 or fewer percentage points), the July leader lost the popular vote. Barack Obama currently leads McCain by 6 points according to Gallup. That’ll give a lot of comfort to the 109 people who told me that they believe McCain will win the election (which I note is a majority of those who answered the NRE poll as of early this morning).
  • Matt Lewis is running a Veepstakes. My money’s on list #1, specifically the estrogen portion.
  • Emperor Misha I is definitely part of the nihilist crowd, especially after the RNC’s ad for McCain endorsing his statist, acolyte answer for Gorebal “Warming”.
  • Speaking of Gorebal “Warming”, Ace found yet another thing that causes it – cement. No, not the fact that it makes it easier to drive cars on; the mere fact that it is made. I wonder if the Gorebal “Warming” acolytes considered that going back to the 16th Century (or the 8th Century the Islamokazis want to take us to; there really is little difference in the tech) is simply unsustainable on a 6-billion-people planet.
  • JammieWearingFool doesn’t want to hear the Obamas whine about their kids not having any privacy after they pimped them out to a tabloid TV show.
  • Jim Hoft found yet another set of Obama’s words past its expiration date; his prediction that the surge failed.
  • The Vintage One found another set of words just waiting for the curdling to begin; his use of the past tense to describe his ongoing time in the Senate. Where did I put the garbage can? I think I’m going to be sick.
  • Kathryn Jean Lopez wonders about the possibility of a pair of odd-couple tickets. For the record, I don’t think Obama will go with a “bitter Bible-thumping gun-clinger”.
  • Plebian reveals the ‘Rat Goodie Bag that was supposed to be handed out in Denver.
  • Good Lt. deems the ‘Rat Congress as an Epic FAIL. When those who have a either a great deal of or quite a lot of confidence in Congress is less than those who have a great deal of confidence in the Presidency, and the latter is deemed incredibly low, that’s an Epic FAIL with a capital L. Gee, I wonder why this isn’t gleefully reported by the presstitutes.
  • In the Know has just one of the reasons why there is no confidence in Congress – they’re about to pass a bill that will spend $50 million a year on federal inspections for bed bugs.
  • Gopfolk has another reason why there’s no confidence in government; the dead are getting the tax rebate welfare stimulus checks.
  • Mark Pribonic explodes the myth of fixed income. Who here working in the private, non-union sector has had over the last 3 years the 10% increase in wages that Social Security recipients had?
  • Dad29 notes that Detroit is just a little bit worse than Milwaukee; instead of a two-bit Alderthug trying to shake down the entire city for cash, they have the Common Council president and wife of a senior ‘Rat Congresscritter doing it.
  • Kat says that Heller was just the first salvo, as DC is trying to ban all semi-automatic handguns. They either believe that by the time Round 2 gets to the Supreme Court, Kennedy will have “grown” some more into a full-fledged Lawgiver-In-Black or one of the conservatives will have been replaced by a L-I-B.
  • Lance Burri calls Epic Health Systems an Epic FAIL for trying to put the squeeze on supporters of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce because they defended their interests in the recent state Supreme Court race. Why am I not the least bit surprised that the CEO of Epic FAIL donated $24,000 to One Wisconsin Now, which didn’t exactly sit idly by, but tried to prop up soon-to-be-ex Lawgiver-In-Black Loophole Louis Butler?

What part of “Representative” Don’t They Understand?

by @ 5:43. Filed under Energy.

While many Americans believe our government form to be a Democracy, the proper definition of our government is a Constitutional Republic which is a form of a Representative Democracy. The details of the exact differences are unimportant for this post. My purpose was to ensure that folks aren’t confused that I’m confused about the whole Democracy/Representative/Republic issue as I get to this….

Amidst the clamor for lower gas prices from nearly all corners of America comes a Senator with a unique vision. Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey has initiated a bill that would not only retain the off shore drilling moratorium but make it permanent so that we would never be able to drill off shore, anywhere, anytime. Menendez’s bill is named The COAST Act.

Menendez uses a number of worn, easily refuted and alarmist answers to why drilling is the wrong way to go.

SurveyUSA today released a poll  surveying people from the area, about their willingness to drill off shore of New Jersey. It’s bad news for Senator Menendez.

Amongst the findings of the poll are:

  • 66% of the respondents are ready to drill.   Even 62% of Dems are ready to drill.
  • People are realistic about the results, 60% say prices will not go down immediately but eventually
  • About 17% of the respondents say they would never, ever drill under any circumstances (cue PT Barnum)

The Dems are digging themselves a big hole!   Nancy, Harry and company have decided that the “Do Nothing Congress” was going to finish the session doing what they do best, nothing.   That means that barring any Obama flipflop, nothing will be done to address the need for additional drilling prior to the November election.   I know there are some people who vote party above all else but with poll after poll showing the fuel prices are one of the top two issues and the Dems unwilling to do anything to help and in fact, proposing legislation that would compound the problem, is it really possible that there are enough “party only” people that will vote to maintain and possibly expand a Dem Congress?

One of Menendez’s reasons for not drilling off the New Jersey coast was:

No state on the West Coast will ever allow drilling, and since the Gulf Coast is excluded from the plan, the GOP is banking on the East Coast for production.

Menendez put out his press release on June 18, 2008. Ten days prior, SurveyUSA released a poll showing that 59% Californian’s agree that drilling should be expanded off the coast of California.

Has “The Big One” hit? Isn’t California still a West Coast state?

As for the time machine….It’s Menendez and the rest of the Dems that are trying to use the time machine….to send us back to the 18th Century!

 

It’s Only Gouging if I’m Not Getting the Money

by @ 5:40. Filed under Miscellaneous.

No, this isn’t a joke, this is actually happening.   The Minneapolis Park and Rec. Board has raised their rent for a tent from $20-$60 in 2007 to $50 – $10,000 in 2008.   Oh, and the $10,000 level  gets implemented just in time for  the RNC convention.

I heard an interview with the Park Superintendent on TV this evening. If there is a silver lining to this story, it appears no one from the Republican Convention has contacted the Park and Rec. Board to book their lavish tent. Good! I hope they don’t book an event. It will be very interesting to see what the Board’s rates are next year for events like the Gay Pride Festival! I hope that canvas rots in a corner unused!

July 7, 2008

Midwest’s MD-80s – not good enough for you, but good enough for Obama

by @ 17:53. Filed under Business, Politics - National.

(H/T – JammieWearingFool)

Barack Obama’s chartered Midwest Airlines’ MD-80, en route from Chicago to Charlotte, North Carolina, made an unscheduled landing in St. Louis after what the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported as the emergency slide in the tail cone of the plane deploying in flight. ABC News’ Sunlen Miller reported an abnormally large dip shortly after takeoff from Midway during bad weather.

I’m glad that everyone’s okay, but I have two questions:

– Why would an eastbound flight from Chicago divert to St. Louis?
– Considering that Midwest is grounding its MD-80s because they’re too fuel-inefficient, why did the Obama campaign decide to charter one?

The Morni…er, Afternoon Scramble – 7/7/2008

by @ 17:34. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

It’s just been one of those weekends…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKVGkfGI4Y0[/youtube]

  • Jim Geraghty has today’s Obamination Theme wrapped up in one convenient post. You know what they say about history.
  • Gawfer pulls in a letter from the future. There’s definitely short-term pain, but I’m not as optimistic as he is on the long-term.
  • Jim Hoft is shocked, SHOCKED that the woman two heartbeats away from the Oval Office conducted her own private foreign policy for the benefit of Communists.
  • Lawhawk has video of the rescue that San Fran Nan couldn’t stop.
  • Chris the head barkeep has 90 million reasons to like Milwaukee Brewers’ owner Mark Attanasio. As he says, we’re now at the Adults table.
  • Christian Schneider lists the winners and losers of the big trade for C.C. Sabathia.
  • Legalbgl calls for the banning of another Barry Bonds legacy – maple bats.
  • Emperor Misha I has some news not fit to print on this side of the pond. That’s right; we have to go to Britain’s newspapers (or the conservative blogosphere) to find out that Al Qaeda in Iraq is about to be pushed out of their last stronghold.
  • Gabriel Malor is shocked, SHOCKED to find out that 1 in 100 Club Gitmo (and other assorted overseas detention centers) “guests” has an existing FBI record.
  • Charles Johnson caught the News Organization That Cannot Be Quoted displaying their anti-American bias loudly and proudly. No wonder why the presstitutes at crAP don’t want us memorializing their utterances.
  • JohnJayRay blows yet another hole in Gorebal Warming – that “fast-melting” Greenland ice is strictly a result of seasonal changes, not any climatic change.
  • While We’re Winning the Fight On the Scientific End, We’re Losing It On the Political, Part 1 – BrianR is saying, “No!”, to McCain because of his status as a Gorebal “Warming” acolyte.
  • Doubleplusundead highlights the coming platform fight in St. Paul.
  • While We’re Winning the Fight On the Scientific End, We’re Losing It On the Political, Part 2 – Ed Driscoll reports California is requiring Gorebal Warming Scores on all new cars.
  • Fred uses one lieberal screwball idea to mess with another.
  • Nanny Statism Part 1 (and also Stupid Labels Part 2) – Slublog passes along the Stupid Label of the Week.
  • Gaius has this week’s dose of Microsoft FAIL – their plan to have people rent Office.
  • Nanny Statism Part 2 (and Why I’m Glad We Beat the Brits Part 1) – Sister Toldjah passes along news that the Brits are now going to start labeling 3-year-olds who say, “Yuk,” to foreign food as “racists”.
  • Nanny Statism Part 3/Why I’m Glad We Beat the Brits Part 2) – Jon Ham notes the British government is going to use the “kids are starving in China” canard to get those “racist” kids to clean their plates.
  • Antitote to Nanny Statism – Mary Lazich reports that bans on cell-phone use while driving don’t work. Now if she could convince her fellow Legislators,….
  • Headless Blogger has today’s dose of history, commuter-train edition. Simply reversing the letters on the money-losing abomination that was MRK (which failed long before I-94 opened up) isn’t going to suddenly make it a success.

Sorry about being late (again). I didn’t feel well at all this weekend (a bit better now).

Now on the NRE menu – Crow with side of foot

by @ 15:50. Filed under War on Terror.

(H/T – Disgruntled Truck Driver)

Remember that uranium yellowcake reference in the 2003 State of the Union speech? Guess what – Iraq had a whole shitload of uranium yellowcake. Indeed, the US just got done transferring 550 metric tons found after the invasion to Canada in 110 shipping containers and 37 C-17 trips. That would be 550 metric tons not found properly disposed of by the Bumbling Twins, Hans Blix and Mohammed ElBaradei.

I seem to be out of barbecue sauce, so you liberals are going to just have to eat that crow and your feet dry.

Revisions/extensions (5:38 pm 7/7/2008) – Ed Morrissey notes that the IAEA knew about this for the last 13 years, yet all they did was put a seal (which a commenter on the Hot Air thread notes wasn’t exactly fool-proof) on it, which was left unmonitored between the tail end of 1998 and the arrival of American forces in 2003. There are also a couple of other discrepancies in the comments.

July 5, 2008

So Not New That Even His Fund Raising FlipFlops

by @ 5:03. Filed under Politics - National.

In a report by the WorldNetDaily.com, a gambling expert at Focus on the Family, claims that the Obama campaign violated 37 state’s and a Federal statute prohibiting internet gambling. The concern is with Obama’s offer to provide a VIP trip to three winners chosen from people who make at least a $5 contribution to his campaign. According to Focus on the Family, the fact that a person needs to make a contribution to enter the drawing makes the drawing “gambling.” Most drawings of this type get around the “money for a prize” issue by using a “mouse typed” option that allows people to get an entry blank by sending in an entry directly or by getting an entry form by requesting one, Obama’s offer had no alternative option.

OK, in the scheme of things, this isn’t going to show on the radar screen of voter’s decisions. It is funny though that a candidate who is a lawyer, a “Constitutional Professor” and has the media agog about the mastery with which his campaign has been managed would get tripped up by such an entry level issue.

The candidate of “Hope and Change” has had a career’s worth of position changing in just the past couple of weeks: gun control, late term abortions, Iraq etc. I can only imagine that with Obama’s finance team thought flip flopping was now acceptable as a “New Politician” and they wanted to support the team by creating their own opportunity for Barack to say “Juuuuuuust kidding!”

July 4, 2008

The Morning Scramble – Independence Day 2008

by @ 9:44. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

TexasFred found today’s music…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMjFW9sBw2I[/youtube]

Here we go again with a mega-linkfest. No politics in this one; just a heap of people remembering why today is special.

I may or may not update this yet today to throw even more linkage outbound. If I forgot you, kick me.

Have a happy 4th, everybody.

Revisions/extensions (10:02 am 7/4/2008) – Round 1 of the additions…

  • Phelony Jones stresses the word “Independence”. Since she is a fan of pinup art, I’m not surprised she and William Teach used the same picture.
  • Shoebox adds himself to the Red Skelton Pledge video as he urges us to celebrate.
  • Sister Toldjah woke up with an extra spring in her step.
  • Add Mark McNally to the list of those quoting from the Declaration.
  • See-dubya remembers going shooting (both fireworks and guns) on the Fourth as a child.

R&E part 2 (8:33 pm 7/4/2008) – More incoming…

Celebrate Independence Day!

by @ 9:06. Filed under Miscellaneous.

I could write a diatribe about referring to this day as “the 4th” rather than Independence Day. But, for most of our readers, simply putting that sentence in will make the point.

Rather, I’d like to give you the attached video.

A couple of years back the Shoe family hopped in the box mobile and went to Branson, MO. If you’ve never been to Branson, the best way to describe the atmosphere is that you will go nowhere where God and Country are not celebrated. If you’re not happy with either, a trip to Branson would not be advisable.

While in Branson we saw a Red Skelton impersonator. I’m old enough to remember Red on TV. He’s another one of those folks who’s great skill was taken from us entirely too early. The impersonator did a pretty good job…looked a fair amount like Red and definitely had his mannerisms and voice inflections to a T. Near the close, the impersonator did Red’s famous explanation of the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m not a highly sentimental individual but for some reason, I was sad to the point of crying for most of that presentation. I suspect it had to do with my deep love for our Country and my concern for what is happening to it.

Anyway, I want to provide the opportunity for you to see this, if you haven’t. Watch it, learn it, live it!

Happy Independence Day!

July 3, 2008

Is it a Flipflop if You Don’t Actually Flip?

by @ 19:50. Filed under Politics - National.

In an interview  this week with “Relevant,” a Christian magazine, Obama said prohibitions on late-term abortions must contain “a strict, well defined exception for the health of the mother.”

Obama then added: “Now, I don’t think that ‘mental distress’ qualifies as the health of the mother. I think it has to be a serious physical issue that arises in pregnancy, where there are real, significant problems to the mother carrying that child to term.”

Wow! Barack Obama is now running limping to the center even on abortion rights!

Except he’s not.

The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is a bill (Senate 1173 and House 1964) that Barack Obama has said he would immediately sign if he was President. At a speech to  the Planned Parenthood Action Fund Obama said:

“The first thing I’d do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” Obama said in his July speech to abortion advocates worried about the increase of pro-life legislation at the state level.

The specific language of the bill that Obama was addressing is:

(b) Prohibition of Interference- A government may not–

(1) deny or interfere with a woman’s right to choose–
(A) to bear a child;
(B) to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability; or
(C) to terminate a pregnancy after viability where termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman; or

(emphasis mine)

Looking at the language and listening to Obama, it seems like he is using a reasonable interpretation of what “health” is, except his definition of “health” is not what the Supreme Court has found in prior decisions. According to: The Supreme Court on Abortion: A Survey
by Mark Tushnet, from Abortion, Medicine, and the Law, Third Edition, 1986, pp. 162

“The final stage of pregnancy under Roe v. Wade occurs after the fetus becomes viable. After viability, the state could regulate or prohibit abortions unless they were “necessary, in appropriate medical judgement”, to preserve the life or health of the woman. This standard must be read, however, in light of the Court’s decision the same day in Doe v. Bolton, that clinical judgement “may be exercised in light of all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age — relevant to the well-being of the patient

(again, emphasis mine)

Obama is Co-Sponser  of the Senate version of FOCA, the bill that if unchanged and left to the Supreme Court, will likely allow partial birth abortions for a wide variety of reasons including claims of mental health impacts. Yet Obama claims mental health shouldn’t be a reason. That seems to leave me with only two conclusions about Obama’s interview comments:

1. This is another example of Obama backing off of an earlier commitment

or

2. Barack knows full well the implications of the Supreme Court’s previous decisions and his comments to a Christian magazine were nothing but deceitful pandering.

You decide.

Home invasion gear – man’s hat, woman’s coat, barbecue sauce

by @ 19:48. Filed under Miscellaneous.

(H/T – Mary)

This story of a man who was wearing the aforementioned items when he was confronted by the homeowner up in Appleton is just too rich. I wonder what part of the brilliant plan of hiding out from the FBI, who he claims was after him for giving secrets to terrorists, was the part that gave him away; the breaking-in, the whistling, the hat, the coat, or the barbecue sauce. Predictably, his defense attorney wants him loose on the streets of Appleton.

Jon Ham asked whether it was a tomato- or vinegar-based sauce. What, no mustard-based? Lemur King has a killer mustard sauce that goes great on pulled pork.

The Morni…er, Afternoon Scramble/Open Thread Thursday – 7/3/2008

by @ 14:29. Filed under Open Thread Thursday, The Morning Scramble.

Once again, I’m late, and this time, without video. Owen explains why. So much for the free lunch music…

  • Lawhawk proves once again that Gorebal “Warming” is all about permanently reducing the quality of American life, as the acolytes attack flat-screen TVs.
  • Ed Driscoll found all of the anti-Obama statements on the Hillary Clinton website and YouTube channel have fallen into the memory hole. They’ll be back.
  • Nick Schweitzer has a not-so-random thought or two on election fraud.
  • Mondoreb found a letter from OPEC to Congress thanking them for not doing anything substantive to reduce our dependence on them, like drilling now.
  • S. Weasel defines torture.

Harry Reid, meet Aaron Rodgers

by @ 5:27. Filed under Politics - National, Sports.

In a teary press conference earlier this year, Brett Favre told the world he was retiring. He seemed to be pretty clear that he was serious about it:

a news conference at Lambeau Field two days after he announced his retirement. “It’s been a great career for me, but it’s over.”

Now Brett Favre is inkling that is retirement may not be as retiring as he said earlier this year. I could go into whether this is a good or bad thing for Brett, the NFL, the Green Bay Packers etc. but I’ll leave that up to those who find the cheese hats fashionable.

What did strike me were the comments from Green Bays back up and thought to be now starting QB, Aaron Rodgers. In a separate article discussing his future as the QB for the Pack, Aaron is quoted as saying:

“I don’t feel I need to sell myself to the fans,” he said in the article. “They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut.”

Wow! For a guy who’s been in the NFL for all of 3 seasons, and has the same number of touchdown passes as interceptions (1), that’s pretty nervy. Sounds a lot like Harry Reid’s tirad on Mitch McConnell the other day. The only part that Aaron left out was something along the lines of, “Why are you afraid of supporting me? You think Brett’s coming back to take over? How stupid can you be? Brett’s retired! Who could possibly be afraid of a retired guy???”

Well Aaron, like Harry Reid, you may find that the guys you scoff at may have the last laugh after all!

The Nader Factor – redux

by @ 5:01. Filed under Politics - National.

A new poll is out showing that Ralph Nader is still polling about 6% nationally and Bob Barr is polling about 3%.

I wrote after he announced his candidacy, that I believed Nader would have an impact on the 2008 race.   Folks then and now continue to pooh pooh that thinking.   They naysayers kept saying that Nader’s vote would look more like his 2004 performance, about .4% of the total vote, rather than his 2000 total which was closer to 3%.

This latest poll gives me more reason to believe that Nader will have something that looks more like his 2000 performance, perhaps better.   The experts on the poll even now suggest that Nader will likely see his polling at about 3% as the election occurs.

I still believe that Nader could well be the spoiler in this election.

First, take a look at the first chart that I had in my original article.   Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are states where Nader’s % of the vote in 2000 were enough to change possible slim winning margins to losses.   They are also states where current polling suggests that when asked about a Obama/McCain race, McCain to be in either a winning position or within a couple of points.   It’s hard to imagine an Obama victory if each of those 3 states are lost.

Second, I believe the Nader effect may not have seen its peak yet.   Over the past couple of weeks Obama has been making attempts to move to the center.   Obama has flipflopped on gun rights and FISA throwing his furthest left supporters into tizzies.   As Obama continues to attempt moves to convince middle America that he’s “just like them,” I would expect the Left’s margins to do a little peeling and end up in Nader’s court.   I’m not suggesting that Nader will ever be a serious contender.   All he has to do pick up fractions of, or maybe 1% additional in a couple of states and that could spell the difference in what is likely to be a close electoral race.

Yea, Bob Barr is still there and some may argue that he could impact McCain in the same way that Nader impacts Obama.   I really don’t expect that to happen.   My reasoning is that McCain is pretty much McCain.   the Right (far, near or inbetween) already know where McCain stands.   McCain started left of center (at least that’s the perspective of nearly all on the Right who didn’t initially support McCain or maybe Huckabee) so I just don’t see his moves any more annoying than what folks on the Right believe him to already be.

The Nader factor will be one to watch. I can’t imagine the newest poll is helping the Obama people sleep any better at night.

July 2, 2008

The Morni…er, Afternoon Scramble – 7/2/2008

by @ 17:49. Filed under The Morning Scramble.

I warned you today would be a recovery day. It’s a good thing too, because Mary came across the reason why I’m no longer featuring Summerfest acts; they pulled the US Army display.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHsDa9_HSlA[/youtube]

  • Wyatt Earp remembers that it was this day 232 years ago that the Second Continental Congress voted to adopt the resolution for independence from Great Britain.
  • Frank Lasee expounds on the meaning of freedom.
  • Mary Lazich reprints a letter from Rep. Mark Gundrum, who is serving in Iraq. Bravo Zulu, sir, and see you when you get back.
  • Matt Burden remembers who thought The Surge wouldn’t work. Why am I not surprised to see both Barack Obama and Wesley Clark on that list (I’ll be back to them in a bit)?
  • How much progress? Warner Todd Huston caught the presstitutes including our allies’ casualty numbers to try to keep the anti-war American spin machine going.
  • Sean Hackbarth is keeping track of the benchmarks the ‘Rats suddenly forgot about because Iraq is better than 83% there.
  • Of course, not all the news from Iraq is good; Dr. Rusty Shackelford found Hezbollah setting up shop in Iraq. Say, isn’t that a 25-year itch that needs some extra-strength medication?
  • Uncle Jimbo says, “Character matters.” If only John McCain weren’t so stubborn in eviscerating the First Amendment, granting amnesty to Mexicans here illegally, and killing the economy on the altar of Gorebal “Warming”,….
  • Moron Pundit decodes the message of Hugh Gubmint – “You’re too stupid to live your lives.”
  • Dad29 caught soon-to-be-ex-Justice Loophole Louis Butler being the decisive vote on a case in which a party donated to him. Need I mention that it was a liberal group, and Loophole voted in their favor?
  • Headless Blogger dips into the dustbin of history to explain why we don’t have tracked trolleys anymore. No wonder why the liberals got history excised from the schools; it’s so much easier to repeat the failures if nobody remembers why they failed the first time.
  • Bryan Maersch explores why MATC taxes are going up 4.9% this year. If MATC president Darnell Cole got his most-recent raise while working in the private sector, especially with MATC’s (lack-of-)performance, the presstitutes would be having a 30-ton cow.
  • Moe Lane eviscerates Dingy Harry Reid on energy.
  • Speaking of the Dingy One, see-dubya caught him going to the Nazi attack. Now, what’s the principle that says the first one to the Nazi references loses?
  • Update on yesterday’s stupid union item; Lance Burri now reports Baraboo’s public employee union is going to drop their grievance about not being called first to fill sandbags.
  • Now, it’s Obamination Time. Heather Radish asks Obama why he wants to kill Canadians with his plan to nationalize American health care.
  • The Unreal One has the Obamination Demotivation Poster of the day.
  • Flip notes that the drive to 100% taxation will really take off with an Obamination Administration.
  • Jim Geraghty has today’s Expired Obamination Words – that 16-month withdrawal pledge isn’t a deadline.
  • Jonah Goldberg found a rather-interesting (in the Chinese, likely Red, sort of way) group organized on the Obama campaign site.
  • Duane Lester found another recipient of a sweetheart mortgage deal – your presumptive ‘Rat nominee for President.
  • Ed Morrissey isn’t buying the Obamination Excuse that it was competition for a hot new successful ‘Rat pol. Oh, I don’t know; buying pols is standard operating procedure in Chicago.
  • Zip does the math on Obama’s experience. If you took the over-150 days between swearing in and creating a Presidential Exploratory committee, rip up that ticket because it’s worthless.
  • Bus & Driver update, part 1 – Jim Geraghty found Obama pulling Clark up from under the front bumper of the Obamination Express.
  • Bus & Driver update, part 2 – Fred found George Soros and company under the wheels.
  • Bus & Driver update, part 3 – Charles Johnson found there is a bigger bus than the Obamination Express.

Hey, it’s still before 6 pm here in the land of cheese and beer, so it’s not Evening Scramble yet :-)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

[No Runny Eggs is proudly powered by WordPress.]