Mike Luckovich

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 8:05 AM | Link to this

Even the libs can’t hide it anymore:

{{{{Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki got a show of support from political leaders of both Shiite and Sunni Muslims in talks Thursday as he moved to further isolate anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army supporters following an Iraqi-led crackdown on militias.-Urinal}}}}

Bwa.

~~~~~

Crashing airliners full of passengers into office towers and sawing off people’s heads all the while chanting “allah akbar,” versus missionary to the world’s poor and needy, who’s side do you think the POS Urinal is on?:

{{{{A Saudi blogger has made a short video featuring alleged Christian extremists preaching violence and a Bible passage calling for war, in response to an anti-Quran film that sparked protests across the Muslim world.-Urinal}}}}

There is not even any plausible comparison but yet here we are comparing them.

It’s even more ridiculous when you realize that the vast majority of the Christian fellowships in the world are against the war in Iraq. Some “extremists” they are.

Now check and see what denomination calls for jihad against Jews and infidels OVER LOUDSPEAKERS IN THEIR CITIES AND TOWNS.

~~~~~

Will Colin Powell be “insane” and a “war monger” or will he be a “maverick” and a “voice of reason?”

{{{{“I’m looking at all three candidates … I have not decided who I will vote for yet,” said Powell, who donated $2,300 to McCain’s campaign last year.-Urinal}}}}

I’m sure the libs will let us know.

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 8:06 AM | Link to this

Even the goons at KNN are getting tired of the crap:

{{{{Hillary Clinton used her trademark laugh Thursday to deflect a question about the $800,000 her husband earned in 2005 giving speeches for a Bogota-based group that supports the Colombia free trade agreement — the same trade deal she currently opposes.-CNN}}}}

~~~~~~

Obambi finds another excuse to remain silent:

{{{{THERE ARE REASONABLE, if unpersuasive, arguments against boycotting the torch-lighting. Some fear that shunning the ceremony would create a nationalist backlash. But Obama’s answer is sheer twaddle. A million dollars in debt means the bank owns you; a trillion dollars in debt means you own the bank. The idea that the Chinese would launch an economic suicide attack is laughable.}}}}

{{{{Obama sat through Jeremiah Wright’s sermons for decades. Did he ever tell the racist and anti-American Wright that that he was wrong? He’s been a longtime acquaintance of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, two unrepentant Weather Underground terrorists; in 1995 he held a political fundraiser at their house. Did he ever tell Ayers and Dohrn that they were wrong to take gleeful pride in their violent past?}}}}

{{{{And most pressingly, if Obama follows through on the promise he made in a debate last July to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, will he tell any of them that they’re wrong?}}}}

Uh, no he wouldn’t.

~~~~~

And here you sit, broken hearted, tried to fly but you never departed:

{{{{The regulators got the message and went into panic mode. As is wont with government bureaucracies like the FAA, it proceeded to swing the pendulum waaaay back in the other direction - and hasn’t stopped. An industry-wide “audit” commenced, and FAA inspectors set about finding something - anything - awry with an aircraft to show Mr. Oberstar and other Congressional overseers that the agency was up to the job of enforcing federal maintenance requirements to the letter.}}}}

Ahhh, yes, the Bureaucracy is “on the job.”

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 8:10 AM | Link to this

{{{{There’s a lesson here, and it reverberates beyond the FAA and the airline industry. Mr. Oberstar and other Democrats in Congress would just as soon do to the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product and Safety Commission and other “consumer protection” agencies exactly what they’ve managed to do to the FAA inside of a month’s time. We thought we’d left this hypernanny state mentality in the 1970s, but with this Democratic Congress it is back with a vengeance.}}}}

~~~~~

{{{{California Republican John Campbell yesterday introduced in the House his “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is Act,” which would amend the tax code to allow individuals to make voluntary donations to the federal government above their normal tax liability. The bill would place a new line on IRS tax forms to make this easy.}}}}

{{{{Mr. Campbell says he has heard the “cries” of those wealthy Americans - Mrs. Clinton, Warren Buffett, Barbra Streisand - who reject the lower tax rates passed in 2001 and 2003 and complain that they and their fellow rich don’t pay enough. “It’s a great injustice that citizens wishing to fulfill their dream of paying more taxes cannot simply check a box on their 1040 form to make a donation,” he says. His bill would give liberals a chance to salve their consciences without having to raise taxes on millions of Americans who already feel overtaxed as it is.}}}}

Yes, wankers, put your money where your mouth is, not in your “charitable foundation in your name.”

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this

McCain Says Troops Need ‘Significant Educational Benefits,’ But Still Won’t Sign Onto New GI Bill

AND

McCain’s bizarre reluctance on the new GI Bill

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this

Countdown: President Bush’s Cruel Treatment Of Our Soldiers…..President Bush has decided to put a hold on troop withdrawals, but tries to give the appearance that he’s actually reducing troop levels. He also reduced tours of duty for our soldiers from 15 months to 12, but with a cruel caveat — it doesn’t apply to any troops currently in Iraq or those deploying before August.

AND

Bush isn’t just spending extraordinary sums on a disastrous war, he’s doing so in the most fiscally insane way possible — by becoming the first president to ever put a military conflict on the nation’s charge card, handing the bill to future generations.

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 8:18 AM | Link to this

In just the past couple of months, McCain has been confused about the relationship between taxes and revenues, confused about whether he thinks our current economy is strong or not, confused about why interest rates even exist, confused about his own no-new-taxes pledge, confused about his own Social Security policy, and confused about how he’d pay for yet another round of reckless tax cuts.

AND

Attorney General Michael Mukasey doesn’t want to say if the Yoo memo on the Fourth Amendment is still applicable. Great.

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 8:26 AM | Link to this

{{{Yes, wankers, put your money where your mouth is, not in your “charitable foundation in your name.”}}}

Ken Silverstein of Harper’s takes a look at Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) charitable contributions, noting that the senator is essentially the sole donor to the John and Cindy McCain Foundation, and his wife is its chairman and president”:

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 8:30 AM | Link to this

WASHINGTON - The whistleblowers who exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest Airlines told Congress their jobs were threatened and their reports of noncompliance were ignored for years.

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this

To whit:

{{{{There he traced and limned some of the development of Christianity, but he turned first to Islam. Faith in God does not justify violence, he said. “The right use of reason” prompts us to understand that violence is incompatible with the nature of God, and the nature, therefore, of the soul. God, he quotes an ancient Byzantine ruler, “is not pleased by blood,” and “not acting reasonably is contrary to God’s nature.” More: “To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm.” This is a message for our time, and a courageous one, too. (The speech was followed by riots and by Osama bin Laden’s charge that the pope was starting a new “crusade.”)}}}}

And who do you think is the “extremists?”

~~~~~

I may well have spent more time embedded with combat units in Iraq than any other journalist alive. I have seen this war – and our part in it – at its brutal worst. And I say the transformation over the last 14 months is little short of miraculous.

{{{{The change goes far beyond the statistical decline in casualties or incidents of violence. A young Iraqi translator, wounded in battle and fearing death, asked an American commander to bury his heart in America. Iraqi special forces units took to the streets to track down terrorists who killed American soldiers. The U.S. military is the most respected institution in Iraq, and many Iraqi boys dream of becoming American soldiers. Yes, young Iraqi boys know about “GoArmy.com.”}}}}

{{{{Iraqis came to respect American soldiers as warriors who would protect them from terror gangs. But Iraqis also discovered that these great warriors are even happier helping rebuild a clinic, school or a neighborhood. They learned that the American soldier is not only the most dangerous enemy in the world, but one of the best friends a neighborhood can have.}}}}

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 8:41 AM | Link to this

Gosh, I also overslept this morning. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t the first one to post in the morning. After all, I have no life and this is the highlight of my pathetic day.

BTW, a few of my aquaintances (for some reason I have no friends) told me my act may be getting stale and repetitive. If the rest of you agree let me know and I will take a break for awhile, although I can’t see how that could be. After all, I am a legend in my own mind.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 8:43 AM | Link to this

IThN 8:18

I don’t know what’s more amazing - continuing to recycle the same “charges” that have been addressed in earlier days (any opposition to Webb’s GI Bill proposal is “bizarre”) or repeating such incredible assertions as “Bush is the first president to put a military conflict on the nation’s charge card.”

While I’ll grant there’s a bit of hyperbole (the authors do know there’s not a national “charge card” Visa? American Express? don’t they? From their past performance, one can’t assume anything) - you just may want to see if we were in a nondeficit position at the end of WWII. Or the Korean War. Or Vietnam. Hint: try the US Treasury’s web site. Something I wonder if the authors you cite knew about but chose to ignore.

BTW - I broke out laughing listening to Spkr Pelosi and Sen Reid last night speaking about “We’re spending too much on the Iraq war. It’s too expensive…”

For the record, I do think they have a point (my left-wing bias). What’s funny is… are there any examples of their making similar, impassioned remarks concerning any domestic or foreign aid programs that are too expensive (my right-wing bias)?

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this

{{{{By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS April 11, 2008 8:26 AM Ken Silverstein of Harper’s takes a look at Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) charitable contributions, noting that the senator is essentially the sole donor to the John and Cindy McCain Foundation, and his wife is its chairman and president”:}}}}

DHIMMINEWS: I may be above your skill level here but I don’t remember McBushie running all over the country promising tax payer funded welfare to everyone, like Ku Klux Rodham does.

Moron.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 8:55 AM | Link to this

IThN 8:26

The point many keyed in on with the Clintons was that (nearly) all their charitable contributions went to the Clinton Foundation.

Do you have any information if this is also true for the McCains, or was the McCain Foundation merely one of several objects of their charitable giving?

BTW - a charity’s a charity. Foundations are required to disburse their funds, so this strike me as little more than exercising control over where you donation goes, as opposed, say, to giving to the Red Cross, where your dollars may go to one of may areas.

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this

blah blah blah blah blah Atlanta Urinal blah blah blah blah Klintoon blah blah blah blah Obambi blah blah blah blah KNN blah blah blah blah liberals blah blah blah blah etc. etc. etc. SAME SH!T, DIFFERENT DAY.

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 9:25 AM | Link to this

After listening to General Petraeus last night, I had trouble sleeping last night thinking about this:

Now, I realize that the “situation” in Iraq (I really don’t know what to call it anymore) is organic and things change, but my question now that Iran is so involved in the “situation” - another sovreign nation - who had a very recent 10 year “situation” with Iraq, isn’t it time to re-think what our goals there are?

Can we really continue with the rhetoric of the freeing Iraq and stopping terrorism rhetoric?

The Iran/Iraq war ended in 1988/89, give or take a few months, our first “conflict” with Iraq was in 1991, two years later (I’m not a date freak, so if I’m off a little, bear with me).

During the Clinton years, we kept an eye on Iraq and even bombed them in 1998 - all this time Iran is keeping an eye on the situation. Then 9/11, we invade Iraq (go figure). But anywho, Iran knew how all this would play out, because they live and know the politics of the region, and it seems to me, that now, Iran has actually benefited with this “conflict” more than anyone - we get rid of Saddam (sworn enemy of Iran), Iran seems sympathetic to the world and is supported by Russian and China (China people, China - and Russia, our sworn enemy during Cold War - communists too to boot) - and whose screwed in the process? Well, some could argue the U.S. and Iraq.

War is not about whose got the biggest guns, and rhetorical BS like “spreading democracy” and “freedom for all,” it’s about money.

One of the biggest mistakes, in my opinion, of this administrations tactics with dealing with Iraq and the ME, is the notion that the “American Way” can be transposed into the ME. We are a young naive nation resulting from a sociology experiment, but a very highly successful sociology experiment, and we are trying to dictate to other countries how things should be who’ve, despite a few name changes and a some minor border changes have been sovriegn nations for thousands of years.

More people live on that side of the Earth, and their needs and what is good for them is not the same as what our needs are. The tactics are different because the geography is different, and that creates different human needs.

Again, in my opinion, Americans highly underestimate the PATIENCE of these pe

By Tex

April 11, 2008 9:28 AM | Link to this

Duhng has strong feelings and he’s expressing himself well today, still showing the gradual improvement that makes us all so proud we’re here to help.

That’s a fine bit ‘o thinkin’ duhng, but try to edit, not many folks have the time to read all your feelin’s. I know you have lots of feelin’s but remember we have to share. That’s right other folks want to “finger paint with my mind” like you were sayin’ so clever…..here’s a cookie.

good girl!

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 9:35 AM | Link to this

Bosch’s rant continued:

Again, in my opinion, American highly underestimate the PATIENCE of these people.

Foreign policy is about diplomacy and respecting the needs of every sovreign nation, at least to me. And if you look at the perspective of some of these countries in the ME, it’s kind of like allowing an annoying teenager who thinks he knows everything telling a perfectly capable adult how to live their life.

If Bosch was president? I’d go back to the U.N. and get some multi-national support to help us get out of Iraq within a reasonable time frame, and with the help of the U.N. set some real goals that everyone can live with. This open-ended, ever changing, organic conflict that we are in now, will always be just that, until we end up in another World War, which I think, we can all agree is not the best option for anyone.

By @@

April 11, 2008 9:41 AM | Link to this

“Airworthiness”!

Now there’s an area of expertise where the Democrats excel ml.

“Hot” topic.

IN THE (HUSSEIN) NEWS @ 8:26:

The United Methodist Church, through monthly apportionments, donates to the UNCF. Should I tell them to cease and desist?

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this

{{{{By AJC Management April 11, 2008 9:11 AM blah blah blah blah blah Atlanta Urinal blah blah blah blah Klintoon blah blah blah blah Obambi blah blah blah blah KNN blah blah blah blah liberals blah blah blah blah etc. etc. etc. SAME SH!T, DIFFERENT DAY.}}}}

I must ask, as though it will do any good, how come the trolls never have an issue with DHIMMINEWS and the assorted dimwits?

And why do we never hear from the Conservatives whining about DHIMMI’s “act getting stale?”

Could it be that most Conservatives are not a bunch of busy body diaper wearing babies on a crying jag about what other people chose to do with their time?

Like the pinkos always are?

What’s the matter, you poor little put upon liberals, is it all too much for your puny overworked brains to, gasp, actually try to dispute something instead of embarking upon your obsessive compulsive paranoid schizophrenic stalker whine festivals, or are we really seeing the best you mouth breathers have to offer?

This is where my “act” is fresh and new every day, flushing out the morons so that normal well adjusted people can see what two faced hypocrites you libs are, telling us how great and civil they are, but yet turning right around and tossing their world famous liberal hate tantrums.

So obsess away, loser.

It’s all you got for me.

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 9:48 AM | Link to this

ITN,

About the Foundation, yes, that’s all on the up and up. It’s a private foundation and they can pretty much do what they want as long as they meet the 501c3 legal requirements, which I’m assuming they have done or it would be yanked.

By Tex

April 11, 2008 9:51 AM | Link to this

More finger paintin’ with my mind from duhng! good girl. now time for nap.

Funny, funny stuff, @@. I’ve got tears. where do you get the material! you’re so much funnier than pofo. unreal!

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 9:58 AM | Link to this

Also, just reading through the news this week, can anyone tell me:

and

By @@

April 11, 2008 10:03 AM | Link to this

Good grief! Leftwing bloggers will jump on anything.

“Is that really a naked woman reflected in Cheney’s sunglasses?”

NO! It’s Cheney giving you guys “the finger”.

By GOPher Think

April 11, 2008 10:10 AM | Link to this

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is likely to move its research on one of the most contagious animal diseases from an isolated island laboratory to the U.S. mainland near herds of livestock, raising concerns about a catastrophic outbreak.

Yet one more bright idea from the Republicans!!! Sheez do they give those guys stupid pills before they reach puberty or what???

By Who_really_cares?

April 11, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this

…Interesting….

It seems as if the McCain machine isn’t really raising much by way of fundraisers….and this paragon, this straight talking, honest, ‘let’s change campaign financing and bring back honesty ‘maverick’ has come up with a GREAT plan…

Instead of donating to HIM (as many conservatives/benefactors who are loath to do after his attempts at campaign finance reform ticked them off)…people can donate $28,500 to a ‘victory fund” for the fall…however, 2,500 would go to his campaign, while the rest to the rnc….however, that money that goes to the rnc, can be used towards mailings, phone banks, etc.

this man who wanted to close the loophole, has now created a crater for himself.

honesty? integrity?

maybe he’s really just too OLD to recall how this kind of CRAP was something he once stood in opposition to!

By Who_really_cares?

April 11, 2008 10:12 AM | Link to this

…Interesting….

It seems as if the McCain machine isn’t really raising much by way of fundraisers….and this paragon, this straight talking, honest, ‘let’s change campaign financing and bring back honesty ‘maverick’ has come up with a GREAT plan…

Instead of donating to HIM (as many conservatives/benefactors who are loath to do after his attempts at campaign finance reform ticked them off)…people can donate $28,500 to a ‘victory fund” for the fall…however, 2,500 would go to his campaign, while the rest to the rnc….however, that money that goes to the rnc, can be used towards mailings, phone banks, etc.

this man who wanted to close the loophole, has now created a crater for himself.

honesty? integrity?

maybe he’s really just too OLD to recall how this kind of CRAP was something he once stood in opposition to!

By GOPher Think

April 11, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this

WASHINGTON - Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality, The Associated Press has learned.

Ya know before I was undecided, now I think it’s time for an impeachment party!!! Wouldn’t ya just love to see this old buzzard in jail or at least see King George have to grant him a pardon?

By mountain man

April 11, 2008 10:20 AM | Link to this

Reading Andi I’m transported back 30 years to my counselor in training days at the South Carolina Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Different day and time. Same crazy talk.

By AmVet

April 11, 2008 10:39 AM | Link to this

I must confess, I am a bit puzzled about McCain’s reluctance to sign the new GI Bill.

Does anybody have any solid information as to why? Direct quotes? Anything substantial?

It appears to be a major PR blunder on his part. Especially to veterans and their families who are obviously in many cases already disenchanted with the “prosecution” of this mess..

The cost is chump change relative to the cost of the occupation, isn’t it?

I’ve seen numbers that the bill would cost us in one year what the occupation is costing in one week.

By Daumier

April 11, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this

Great cartoon Monsieur Luckovich! Bravo! It is your best work since yesterday’s! I am only beginning to peel back the unnumbered layers of meaning. Only after several viewings was I able to apprehend that you are making a kind of playful PUN on the word “grounded”, knowing all the while like the Pulitzer artist you are that the term as applied to children was a metaphorical borrowing from the aeronautical orginal! It is a kind of thinking person’s parlor game, this cartoon. No?

By Paul

April 11, 2008 10:56 AM | Link to this

Bosch

First the really important stuff (your rant was important but this is really important):

BSG tonight, Sharon and Helo rescue their Cylon-human hybrid.

I figure a reason you like the show is the way it deals with real-world issues: “war crimes” in the face of survival of the race; terrorism; abortion; evolving government; secrecy.

Great show.

Real quick ‘cause then I have to take care of other things: you are correct - given today’s situations what has evolved is different from what was. Did Iran see an opening and take it? Sure. But if not that opening, there’d be another. Does that change the situation as it was at the beginning? Sure. But the key factor is dealing with what is, not bemoaning the new situation and wishing for the old.

Democracy - much has been written that democracy is incompatible with Islam, as practiced by many in the Middle East. Interesting, isn’t it, that the proponent of that idea was a conservative Republican and the opponents were by and large liberal Democrats? (I sometimes wonder if Pres Bush had said “we need to support strong dictators his political opponents would have said, “no, no, democracy! Look at the Dem reaction to Bush support of Musharraf in Pakistan).

Real summarized: many ME regimes saw jihadists as an internal threat so exported them. See bin Laden regarding Afghanistan. Many ME countries lacked the mechanism for transfer to other kind of gov’t - from monarchy to essential dictatorship (Egypt) to “true” democracy. Hope was, take a country (Iraq) with an educated citizenry, developed middle class, quite (we thought) secular - get rid of a dictator, establish a democracy which will serve as a model for other ME countries, provide an example for other gov’t transitions and weaken the threat of jihadists in establishing their caliphate.

So much for the well-laid plans of mice and men.

Later -

BTW - those who aren’t at all concerned about a fundamentalist Islamic regime with nukes and a stated preference for genocide, are, I think, about as - not naive, but off the mark - as those who thought American-style democracy with no modifications would be a rousing, immediate success in Iraq.

By Hex

April 11, 2008 10:57 AM | Link to this

It blew dong dong, true, but I think Luckovich is in transition, like our army and like our campaign season.

We’re are in some kind of comedy limbo, and they keep lowering the bar. Jack be nimble, jack go under limbo stick.

I loved that song.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 11:01 AM | Link to this

Bosch -

Oh - if you were the head of Slobonia and the UN said “hey, how’d ya’ like to send a few thousand troops to Iraq and relieve the pressure on the Americans and coalition forces and show them the world is concerned?” you would say…..

“Oh boy, can’t wait”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Um, not my problem”

By Nomad

April 11, 2008 11:04 AM | Link to this

Bosch

Zebra - They believe the zebra fell off someone’s vehicle during transport. It was injured and taken to Auburn for surgery. Surgery went well and it will now live a happy full life at some reservation here in Georgia (Noah’s Ark I think). When it was reported to a cop, the story goes that he said “A zebra on the road? I gotta see this!!”

Lithonia - From what I gathered on WSB that there is a power struggle going on in Lithonia government. The mayor tried to fire the Chief of Police then the city council reinstated him and that is where all the crap started. The city council had the city halls locks changed. When the mayor and two staff members came for the keys, the two staff members were arrested because they didn’t give their names. They say that they were never asked.

I don’t know much more than that.

Have a great Friday!

NOMAD

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 11:27 AM | Link to this

Bosch,

You got a problem with zebras? I can’t believe you’re even down on frickin zebras! Leave the zebras alone, already. You never heard of free-range zebras before? Let them commute. Let them commute! LET THEM COMMUTE!

By @@

April 11, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

Bosch:

Don’t know where the little Zebra came from, but know where he’s going.

“Noah’s Ark” is a charitable organization that receives an annual donation from me in memory of a dear friend, former Police Chief here in Clayton County. It was his favorite.

Injured kids and animals - the perfect combination for healing.

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

Paul,

I agree with your assessment, but I think we do need to really look at how this has progressed and I don’t think of it as bemoaning what is to come, I think we really need to re-evaluate what the hell our objectives and goals are.

This complete open-ended nonsense has got to end - I don’t want to see the Iraqis slaughtered which is bound to happen if we just up and suddenly leave which is why we need multi-national support - we can not continue at this pace.

Go back to U.N. (as the crowd boos), but WITH A NEW PRESIDENT say, and not one who took the “we’re doing this be damned everyone else” attitude with the U.N. - say one who might admit that MISTAKES were made by said previous president and were to negotiate with U.N. so as to reach obtainable goals - I think Slobania would be more apt to help out.

I’ve always thought that Saddam Hussein might have even helped us out with Afghanistan and al-Qaeda, you know, if we hadn’t invaded his country and had him hanged, because evil dictators, like you said, don’t like these un-educated crazy jihadists causing trouble in their country, any more than we do (case in point, Texas polygamist camp which also kept me awake thinking about last night. I’ll rant about that later.)

Say, hypothetically, we were invaded by a huge al-Qaeda force here in this country. There’s lot of people I don’t like, but I’d fight with them to reach our common goal.

I’ve calmly talked my way out of more fights than I’ve actually had physical fights - and the physical fights leave scars and getting punched in the face isn’t all that great.

Oh, and on Friday’s, BSG trumps EVERYTHING!!!

EWWWW, can’t wait.

Yes, that’s EXACTLY why I love that show. Also too, when humanity is faced with severe crisis, things don’t go normal - I LOVED Lee’s speech during Baltar’s trial. He said basically that Baltar was on trial because we simply do not like him, and we are willing for him to be a scapegoat to clear our own consciences to absolve our own guilt. And, you know, what? He was right.

Nomad,

Thanks! I hope that little zebra guy is going to be okay. Good thing it wasn’t say, a tiger, that fell out of the truck.

Lithonia is in Gwinnett County - take it from there. What a mess.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this

AmVet

I looked at McCain’s web site (that’s an example of a source “document” - IThN) and didn’t see is specifically addressed.

My recollection is, though, that he’s more in line with GI Bill benefits that provide transition assistance without negatively impacting retention. We do have a force designed to be made up largely of career professionals, whereas the GI Bill was designed to provide education benefits to gazillions of draftees so we wouldn’t have an unemployment problem.

Rather like a head of a company says to one of her star performers, “Fred, you’ve been with us for four years, traveled a lot, long hours and we appreciate it. You know we adopted a Japanese model from the 70’s - we want lifetime employees, we pay competitive wages, free medical, noncontributory defined retirement after 20 years with the company, pay you an extra couple thousand dollars a month if we transfer you to the west coast or east coast or Florida because the cost of living is higher. We don’t lay people off, either.

“Your contract is up. We’d like you to sign another four-year contract, but if you don’t want to, we’d like to show you our appreciation by giving you a check for $200,000. What do you say?”

Fred: “Ma’am, is your VP for Hiring and Retention an idiot?”

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this

@@,

Thanks to for the link. Yes indeed a good combination.

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 11:39 AM | Link to this

I’m glad to see you’re being reasonable about this after all, Bosch. For a few minutes there I thought you were being just another Georgia xebraphobe. Live and learn, I say.

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

Glenn,

I’m cool with zebras, but I’ve never understood if they were white with black stripes, or black with white stripes.

Regardless, zebras are cool with me.

By Cobb County Commissioner Annette Kesting

April 11, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

At least the mayor of Lithonia doesn’t have to work with “white women” like I do!!!!

By Cobb County Commissioner Annette Kesting

April 11, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this

At least the mayor of Lithonia doesn’t have to work with “white women” like I do!!!!

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 11:55 AM | Link to this

Alas, I must go, I hope to make it back before happy hour because I also had some thoughts about this polygamist camp thing -

While I deplore the thoughts of children being forced to marry middle age men and have children - and I can not personally imagine being married to more than one person (one set of in-laws is enough), I couldn’t help thinking about these hundreds of children and how strange and scared they must be - they are being separated from their mothers and fathers, and it’s just kind of disturbing.

And while we look at these people with unbelief in the way they live, its the way they choose to live, and while I’m absolutely not condoning child and sexual abuse, there’s just something about all this that doesn’t set right with me.

I’ve always had a problem with someone telling another person they are just flat out wrong especially in terms of their spiritual beliefs.

Now, I could go into how other cultures practice polygamy (in Africa) and this has caused divides in the Episcopal Church - we westerners don’t understand polygamist bishops in Africa, and they don’t understand our acceptance of gay/lesbians, but I don’t have time to go into that right now - I have to go.

Anywho - maybe later.

By Bosch

April 11, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this

Oh, and one last thing - these polygamist are Christian, no?

Lots of ways to go with all this.

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 12:00 PM | Link to this

I think they’d look even cooler in sharkskin jackets and Ray-Bans. They’d get past any velvet rope in any nightclub that way.

Are they black-on-white or white-on-black? A leopard cannot change its spots, nor a zebra its stripes; but, unlike the leopard, the zebra is always at peace with itself. It is never confused by studies in “the gray area” that eateth not of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

No, a zebra is a chiaroscuro study in Manicheanism. Some days it embraces its whiteness, and is then white-on-black. Other days it embraces its blackness. Were it to do otherwise it would be no better than an infertile gray mule.

Zebras too are cools with zebras. A zebra knows itself. It may not always know its place, but it knows itself.

By AmVet

April 11, 2008 12:02 PM | Link to this

Paul, you know I like and respect you but alas, that “explanation” didn’t help much.

Perhaps it’s your “take on it”.

The ONLY tiny thing I’ve heard is some veiled phrase about this “administration” fearing it will hurt retention.

No lucid explanations and no REAL justification for IMHO, stiffing these guys.

I still say it further damages their “conservative” credibility as regards “supporting the troops”.

Bush’s brain, Cheney, et al, have tried at every opportunity to completely use these guys in the most reprehensible fashion, in the name of “the war on terror”.

And I fully understand that given their incessant ineptitude, they have few other realistic choices.

But IMHO to spin it any other way is just ludicrous.

But then as with so many, nearly countless other examples of double-speak such as “pro-life” or “mission accomplished” or “compassionate conservatism” it would not be good GOP propaganda to have one like “Support our War, Not the Troops!”.

Like mm said the other day, they can all go to hell.

By Disgruntled flyer

April 11, 2008 12:13 PM | Link to this

Gee, the courts strike down the airline passengers’ bill of rights and now the airlines are cancelling flights and telling the passengers to go fish. Coincidence…I wonder.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 12:25 PM | Link to this

AmVet

Just my take on figuring out McCain’s position.

With a little consideration of Webb’s tactics. Given the Dem leadership’s ineptitude on cutting off funding or taking other steps to force a drawdown, this is, what, Webb’s second initiative that would have the effect of reducing troop availability which would disrupt the rotation schedule. The first effort was to mandate times between deployments.

Do I think Webb cares about the troops? Yes. Do I think all of his initiatives are done solely because he cares for the troops? No.

By AmVet

April 11, 2008 12:45 PM | Link to this

Paul,

I just for the life of me cannot understand a “strategy” (given this administration and that word, it is a stretch, I know) that essentially says we are not going to fully reward you for your service and sacrifice, as a means to keep you in uniform!!

It reminds of the hilarious slogan, “The beatings will continue, until morale improves”.

But you know my feelings.

McCain, Webb, Hagel, Warner, Cleland, Kerry, etc. are all men of honor and have demonstrated service before self in country and/or in combat and as such are to be given some slack.

By Jesus

April 11, 2008 1:01 PM | Link to this

IMPEACH BUSH NOW!!!

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 1:05 PM | Link to this

The great funder of the kook dimokrats, Mister Moonbat Moneybags Himself, and the things that he dreams of at night:

{{{{The more Mr. Soros learned about the crisis, the more certain he became that he should rebroadcast his theories. In the book, Mr. Soros, a fierce critic of the Bush administration, faults regulators for allowing the buildup of the housing and mortgage bubbles. He envisions a time, not so distant, >>>>when the dollar is no longer the world’s main currency<<< and people will have a harder time borrowing money.}}}}

And the Treason Times just loves him XOXOXOXOXO.

{{{{The Face of a Prophet-NYTimes}}}}

Not even the slightest concerns or regards for the prominence of the economy of the United States, casual indifference to our economic well being, in fact, I detect that these libs have a longing, call it even an urgent desire, to see it fail.

We want them in charge of it?

Duh, freaking, duh.

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 1:33 PM | Link to this

Paul, Jim Webb does care about the troops and vets. He’s an angry man, but an honorable one. If his soul is getting lost in political shadows, that’s quite regrettable, but it happens to the best and he’s one of them. He’s a damn dirty Democrat, but he’s one of them.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 1:42 PM | Link to this

AmVet

I think the country’d be better off if we all cut these guys (and gals) a little slack. And if they cut each other some slack, too.

Glenn

Maybe we can get back to the time when people could be on opposite sides of an issue or in opposing parties and still respect each other’s views (see AmVet’s earlier post). I think a lot of people feel that way, but some of these hyperpartisan groups - they’re real “for me or against me” types. The fact they criticized Pres Bush so much for that remark is just another in the long line of ironies -

Later -

By bon scott

April 11, 2008 1:50 PM | Link to this

Oh jeez, Andie-pettycoat… you are SUCH the hypocrite…

This is where my “act” is fresh and new every day, flushing out the morons so that normal well adjusted people can see what two faced hypocrites you libs are, telling us how great and civil they are, but yet turning right around and tossing their world famous liberal hate tantrums.

Hey, buddy… you DEFINE rants and ravings here. And for the most part, your whining is about as fresh as a month old bucket of KFC. Personally, I’d get tired after awhile of insulting the same people day after day just because they don’t see the world exactly the way you do. Oh well… keeps you busy, off the streets and out of trouble… The Lord works in mysterious ways…

You do have your moments, though. Thanks for the link to the wsj article. Very interesting read. I still don’t think we have any business there, but our men and women in Iraq are doing the best they can with the challenges they face and the tools they are given. I am not being sarcastic. My thanks for your link is sincere.

Bosch, your “rants” also make for interesting reading.

@@, you are so right about the Cheney bru-ha-ha. If that’s a naked woman reflected in his sunglasses, then I’m the Queen of England.

Later.

By getalife

April 11, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this

“Speier, who won Tuesday’s special election to complete the term of the late Rep. Tom Lantos, went right to work with a speech calling for action on a process to bring the troops home from Iraq. She mentioned Sen. John McCain’s observation that the United States could be in Iraq for 100 years. “History will not judge us kindly if we sacrifice four generations of Americans because of the folly of one,” she said.

Some Republicans booed. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, walked out of the chamber. Speier, an 18-year state legislator known for taking on tough issues and interests, was nonplussed at the mini-controversy.

“The truth is, I think it was a minority of Republicans that were booing - and they represent a minority of Americans.”

Need more Dems with spine.

By Buy Danish

April 11, 2008 2:13 PM | Link to this

{{{AJC Management

April 11, 2008 1:05 PM }}

Too bad George Soros didn’t warn Americans about ACORN’s loan programs.

Here are a few of the fabulous benefits they offer!

{{UP TO 100% FINANCING - One of the finest if not the finest Zero Down Mortgage loan programs in the nation.

NO MORTGAGE INSURANCE - That means the money that you would have used to pay mortgage insurance can now be use to buy more house. As much as $20,000 to $70,000 more house

NO CREDIT SCORES - I don’t care if your score is 500, or as it is for some of the buyers using this program, no credit scores. All that matters is whether you are paying your bills on time for at least the last 12 months.

UNDOCUMENTED INCOME (UP TO $1,200 PER MONTH) - That’s right, if you do backyard mechanic work or you are a waitress and have tip money or you do a daycare biz, you may be able to count up to $1,200 of that undocumented income into your monthly income, even if you don’t report it on your tax returns. That alone has helped more families qualify for significantly more home then any other program I have seen.}}

Magic!

By Nomad

April 11, 2008 2:15 PM | Link to this

Bosch - You are welcome.

Regarding your 11:58: You are right. It can be taken several ways. However, I would say that you would find many people, especially in the south, that would consider the polygamist group a cult since they are so far out of ‘mainstream’ western religious beliefs. I threw Western in there to focus on the non-Muslim, Hindu, and Buhddist religions. Western would include the large denominations such as Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopalians (SP?), or basically those protestant groups created out of the Catholic church. I am getting in deeper than I wanted. You can reply from here.

NOMAD

By Devastator

April 11, 2008 2:37 PM | Link to this

Bill Clinton does it again:

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, and Domenico Montanaro * Now Bill “misspoke” — twice: Stumping in Indiana yesterday, Bill Clinton resurrected the Bosnia sniper fire story, per NBC/NJ’s Mike Memoli. “[T]here was a lot of fulminating because Hillary, one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated, and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995,” he said. “Did y’all see all that? Oh, they blew it up.” He went on to say, “I think she was the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to go into a combat zone. And you would’ve thought, you know, that she’d robbed a bank the way they carried on about this. And some of them when they’re 60 they’ll forget something when they’re tired at 11:00 at night, too.” He said something similar at a later stop. How many things were wrong in his remarks? She didn’t just once misspeak — at 11:00 pm — about the Bosnia story; she did it numerous times, and not just at night. The trip, moreover, took place in ’96, not ’95. And Hillary wasn’t the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to visit a combat zone; Pat Nixon went to Saigon in 1969, as Politico’s Ben Smith reminds us. What was Bill thinking? Bill may be one of those pols who believe you confront a negative, instead of ignoring it. And if you show that you don’t believe a negative, then folks won’t hold it against you as much — at least those are the lessons Bill learned in ‘92 and ‘98, right?

What happens when press secretaries are away: By the way, just asking: If Bill had a traveling press person with him yesterday — he didn’t, in case you’re wondering — would the former president have made the mistake TWICE? Seriously, why was Bill Clinton traveling without a campaign press chaperone yesterday? In the words of Ted Knight in “Caddyshack”: “Bil-ly, Billy, BillyBillyBilly, Billy, BillyBillyBilly, Billy.” Seriously, what was the former president thinking when he decided to bring up the Bosnia story and then do so with the incorrect facts? Watching Bill on the trail makes folks wonder whether he could have held up to scrutiny in 1992 had YouTube and instant fact-checking existed back then. No one has seemed less prepared for the intense scrutiny of this campaign than Bill. He seems to forget that even when he’s in rural Indiana, he’s on the national stage.

By Likkkoduh Loves Dick Cheney

April 11, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this

With or without the Cheney ;->~

That’s not a woman in Cheney’s glasses - that’s a shemale - me!

Getting ready for Dick to shoot me in the face!

Duh!

By AmVet

April 11, 2008 2:44 PM | Link to this

Guess which Presidential candidate wrote the following?

Hint: It’s no Democrat. Or Republican.

April 15 is around the corner.

Could the corporate executives of this country please stand up and show a little appreciation?

To the taxpayers who subsidize them? And bail them out?

How about the $30 billion bailout of reckless Bear Stearns as the most recent and egregious example?

I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that April 15th of each year be designated Taxpayer Appreciation Day, a day when corporations receiving taxpayer subsidies, bailouts, handouts and other forms of corporate welfare can express their thanks to the citizens who provide them.

Taxpayer dollars have often funded discoveries made by NASA, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.

In many instances the rights to those discoveries were later given away to companies that brag about them as though they were the fruits of their own investments.

Taxpayer dollars have played a major role in the growth of the aviation and aerospace, biotechnology, computer, pharmaceutical, and telecommunications industries - to name only a few.

Though corporate America insists it must file yearly income taxes just like everyone else, it is responsible for a sharply decreasing portion of federal tax dollars - despite record profits.

Corporate tax contributions to the federal budget have been steadily declining for fifty years, while the major burden falls on the back of the average taxpayer.

Clearly corporations that believe they are self-reliant are often, in fact, dependent on taxpayer funds to maintain their financial viability.

The least they could do is thank us.

To the employee taxpayers in these giant corporations - make your bosses toast you before leaving for home on April 15.

Which is why we need something like Taxpayer Appreciation Day - if only for the irony of it all, if only to galvanize our sense of just plain wrong.

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 2:56 PM | Link to this

{{{{By bon scott April 11, 2008 1:50 PM Hey, buddy… you DEFINE rants and ravings here. And for the most part, your whining is about as fresh as a month old bucket of KFC. >>>>Personally, I’d get tired after awhile of insulting the same people day after day just because they don’t see the world exactly the way you do.<<<< Oh well… keeps you busy, off the streets and out of trouble… The Lord works in mysterious ways…}}}}

bonnie: If you are serious about what you say then consider this for a second (and this also applies to quite a few more bloggers-)

Look at all the posts that I have made this day and show me one that specifically references another blogger, save for the one or two that were replies to another person engaging them in policy discussions.

I discuss the issues and any bitterness that I may exude is directed at liberalism as an institution, albeit with a few colorful nouns and adjectives sprinkled throughout.

Now, for the fun part, go back and count how many posts are specifically about me and only me, not the issues, no debate, just, how did you put it, rantings and ravings?

Are you insinuating that I should limit my comments to only insulting other bloggers and threatening their families like the more “civil” and “non personal” participants do?

Seriously, why am I always the issue?

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 3:36 PM | Link to this

Memo Signed By Bush, AUTHORIZING TORTURE, Surfaces

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 3:40 PM | Link to this

McCain Adviser Ralph Peters: Military Strain From Stop-Loss Policies Is ‘A Myth Of The Left’…….Yesterday, Bush finally announced that he would be “cutting Army combat tours in Iraq from 15 months to 12 months.” This move came after months of warnings from his top military advisers. “The current demand for our forces exceeds the sustainable supply,” Army Chief of Staff George Casey said back in September. This week, Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen noted he was “very public for many months that we need to get off 15 month deployments as fast as we can.” In July 2007, Gen. Colin Powell also observed, “[T]hey probably can’t keep this up at this level past the middle of next year, I would guess. This is a tremendous burden on our troops.”

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 3:45 PM | Link to this

OOPS THEY DID IT AGAIN

By @@

April 11, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this

(((Presidential contender Barack Obama, known for his oratorical skills, played the “strong, silent type” when he was practicing law, according to a feature Monday in the Chicago Sun-Times.)))

(((The paper reviewed cases Obama worked on while he was at Miner Barnhill & Galland and found that other than making introductions, he stepped aside “to let other lawyers do the talking.” The only time he appeared before the 7th Circuit and Judge Richard Posner, Obama never lost his cool and won, the paper notes.)))

(((As an associate, Obama is quoted saying he did mostly research and writing. “I was one of the ——>better<—— writers. I ended up doing the more ——>cerebral<—— writing, less trial work,” he says. “That’s actually something I regret—not doing more trial work.”)))

(((One of his most celebrated victories was a push, on behalf of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.)))

Connecting the dots.

Soros works with ACORN.

Soros endorses and is funding Barack Obama.

Soros, through ACORN offers mortgages - the same kind of mortgages that have left people in a financial bind or homeless.

Obama did the “cerebral writing” in a case representing ACORN.

Hey! maybe Obama will be writing “those mortgage contracts” for ACORN.

Giving people a PUSH right off the cliff.

Load up! Soros, ACORN & Obama are taking voters for a ride.

Unbelievable!

By Ben Waiting

April 11, 2008 4:04 PM | Link to this

“Seriously, why am I always the issue?”

If you intentionally put yourself out there as a jerk, it should come as no surprise when other people notice.

By IN THE (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 4:14 PM | Link to this

ACORN working to save homes from foreclosure

By Wookie

April 11, 2008 4:15 PM | Link to this

better to be a jerk than a jerkof-f

woooonnnnnnnnnnnnnk

By Buy Danish

April 11, 2008 4:21 PM | Link to this

In recent years, ACORN has received funding from many foundations, including but not limited to the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Minneapolis Foundation;>>>> the Open Society Institute;<<<< the Public Welfare Foundation; the Surdna Foundation;>>>> the Woods Fund of Chicago;<<<< the Scherman Foundation; and the Ben and Jerry’s Foundation.

Of course the Open Society Institute is George Soros, and The Woods fund boasts famous board members Barack Obama and Weatherman, Bill Ayers.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 4:28 PM | Link to this

AmVet 2:44

Gotta be Nader.

Devastator,

I wrote a note including you yesterday morning. Just a couple concerns about Obama.

IThN 3:36

Yawn. Yesterday’s news. Endless recycle. Diminishes the outrage.

But in a legal sense, it’s inaccurate. If a specific practice is defined one way, then a critic calls it something else, guess which one rules? It’s kinda like an “I did not have sex” statement (right wing bias) or “Bush really really really LIED!” (left wing bias).

your 3:40

Let’s see, tours are reduced from 15 months to 12 and ThinkProgress says stoploss is causing stress? Can you explain that?

Peters said stop loss isn’t new, been around and used decades and is not a surprise to soldiers. The enlistment contract is for N years active and N years reserve (even for retirees, FYI) and ThinkProgress “thinks” this leads to sustainability issues?!!?

Using stop-loss is a symptom of the problem - not a cause.

If Lt Col Peters is advising McCain, maybe ThinkProgress could get their own military advisor? Might help them clarify their advocacy.

By Buy Danish

April 11, 2008 4:31 PM | Link to this

From a 2003 profile -

In 1992, Soros won the title the “man who broke the Bank of England” when his speculations and machinations helped devalue the British currency.

{{{Many governments believe that he triggered the Asian economic crisis that began in 1997, was involved in the Mexican bailout with their President Ernesto Zedillo. Most recently, Soros worked on the Euro, pushing the U.S. dollar down to a near all-time low.}}

And -

{{{Soros gives millions to U.S. groups advocating everything from gay rights through the legalization of marijuana and the acceptance of assisted suicides to campaigns against Republicans and President George Bush. Gorgeous George will continue to work with groups such as San Francisco’s Tides Foundation & Tides Center, whose boast is that they have created a new model for grant-making, >>>>>”one that strains the boundaries of U.S. tax law in the pursuit of our leftist, activist goals.” <<<<

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 4:33 PM | Link to this

Something a dimokrat is unable to understand:

{{{{Exxon’s $40.6 billion profit for 2007 is dwarfed by its $404.5 billion revenue and $199.5 billion crude-oil expense. Of course Exxon’s sales have swelled: Americans pay more for gasoline as OPEC charges record cartel prices for crude, and rising global demand exceeds stagnant supplies. While Exxon’s 10 percent profit outpaces the oil industry’s 8.3 percent average gain, Coca-Cola’s 20.7 percent profit margin and Microsoft’s 27.5 percent turnover should make Exxon’s executives jealous. When will Congress denounce Coke and Microsoft’s “corporate pillage?”}}}}

{{{{Planes, trains, and automobiles someday may operate on fuel squeezed from shredded junk mail and pulverized rap CDs. Until then, refined petroleum propels vehicles today. And yet oil languishes beneath our sovereign soil, even as Americans go jobless and our republic meanders into recession.}}}}

{{{{Will we finally grow up and harness our resources, or will we childishly weep over imaginary threats to wildlife, dispatch supertankers of cash to the Middle East, and watch our petrodollars sponsor bomb belts and exploding aircraft?}}}}

You’re going to childishly weep, right, liberals?

By Paul

April 11, 2008 4:45 PM | Link to this

Buy Danish 4:31

Y’know, Soros is really rich and uses his money to get advocate for issues important to him. Fair enough.

What I have a problem with, though, is the same issue the Dems pointed out about so many family-values Reps or ministers - hypocrisy.

For a guy who goes on and on and on about fairness, equality, helping people - who then runs his Quantum hedge fund as a Caribbean operation to shield his money (also investors and what he does with the money) from US tax - that says all I need to know about the man.

BTW - notice how many on the Left who rail against the multimillions hedge fund managers make - (last I knew, they paid tax at the 15 percent capital gains rate, not the thirty-something percent margin rate of the income tax) absolutely adore Soros? Go figure -

By Hex

April 11, 2008 4:46 PM | Link to this

That’s a very good post, duhng, you done good. The attack against “dimocrats”, (which is the cleverest word of all time btw), shall surely win the white house for the conservatives!!

Duhng, you done it again.

By IN THE SAD (Hussein) NEWS

April 11, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this

Obama Accepts Over $1 Million From Subprime Lending Industry

Senator Obama has taken more money from the top 10 issuers of subprime loans than Hillary Clinton. Senator Obama has received $434,420 from the top 10 issuers of subprime loans.

Obama received $11,250 from Countrywide

By Buy Danish

April 11, 2008 4:49 PM | Link to this

Flashback to 1988 and an AJC story about Maoist tactics to force banks to make loans to uncreditworthy home buyers, and of course ACORN was working their magic.

It took awhile for the whole house of cards to come tumbling down, but tumble they did.

By Buy Danish

April 11, 2008 5:00 PM | Link to this

{{By Paul

April 11, 2008 4:45 PM}}

Soros is a crook and a Socialist who is out to destroy capitalism, so I can’t put his advocacy in the “fair enough” category. If he really cares about all these foreclosed properties why doesn’t he use his own ill-gotten gains to help these people out instead of working with groups like ACORN who force rules on banks which make foreclosures inevitable.

He is a very dangerous man who supports very dangerous candidates.

From my previous link about ACORN in Atlanta circa 1988:

{{{Bank protesting in Atlanta hasn’t quite come of age, but it is growing. Two national community coalitions, with years of experience protesting and negotiating with bankers, are training neighborhood groups here. A dozen protesters from Atlanta attended a training session last weekend in Washington, where they debated bank regulators and joined in protests at several government offices and the home of Samuel Pierce, secretary of housing and urban development.

Atlanta banks are bracing for the storm. Trust Company Bank spokesman Willis Johnson has distributed an article by one group’s national organizer. Marked in yellow is a quote from Mao Tse-tung:

“Deception is not enough — the enemy’s leaders must be confused; if possible, driven insane.”

Johnson said, “You have to wonder about a man’s politics when he quotes from the `Little Red Book.’ “}}}

No kidding!

And -

{{That has been the first response in other cities where community pressure has been applied. Bankers point out that activists talk of “pulling off” a bank challenge the way robbers talk about a heist.}}}

That nails it.

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 5:02 PM | Link to this

{{{{Ralph Appelbaum, who collaborated with James Polshek on the design of the building (the Newsuem), spoke at a press event for the museum’s opening in terms of the old cliché of journalists as watchdogs. But this is a poor metaphor. Watchdogs are supposed to protect property and vested interests. Journalists these days see their job as undermining and assaulting these things. They are more like attack dogs. By their nature, as the Newseum should make clear, the media are outsiders, belonging to the unrespectable world of the gossip and the guttersnipe. Now they want to join — indeed, to become — the official culture. They want to celebrate the ethos of the media, which is now pretty much all scandal, all the time, while simultaneously becoming respectable — the kind of institution to which monuments are built. It’s squaring the cultural circle. Perhaps by targeting children, the media has a shot at success – after all, children share the media’s enthusiasm for freedom without responsibility. Hopefully, nobody else will.}}}}

~~~~~

{{{{ After four years at one of America’s most esteemed academic institutions, Michelle recoiled at the thought of “further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant.” That the sky has been the limit for her, that she has managed to ride the “periphery” from Princeton to Harvard Law School, to one of the country’s top law firms, and to a plethora of prestigious institutional positions, has not much altered her perspective. Through the windows of her mansion on Chicago’s south side, American society still appears as a caste system.}}}}

Odd, isn’t it?

By RW-(the original)

April 11, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

I see finch is back on the streets. Good luck to you this time, finchie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Look at Obambi hatin’ on the townies.

{{{{{“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama said. “And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”}}}}}

And Michelle “Be Still my Heart” Malkin’s take on it.

Now, we don’t need to guess what he’s thinking when he’s on the campaign trail in rural and small-town Pennsylvania. Instead of hard-working, patriotic, faithful Americans, he sees “bitter,” “frustrated,” resentful scary people whom he’ll diss while sipping Chardonnay in Baghdad by the Bay.

By @@

April 11, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this

(((And they have different constituencies. ACRA claims —->ACORN has too little business savvy to command respect<—- from the banks; ACORN claims ACRA is just a bunch of white liberals with no community base.)))

Oh contraire, I think they have plenty of business savvy….political savvy too.

(((Still, they agree that minority and lower-income neighborhoods need to be organized. “My agenda is to build power in these communities,” Trapp said. —->”Kicking a* is power.”<—-)))

Whose a*?

Whose power?

Wise up people. Never trust a politician who promises that he/she can solve your problems - that they hold the key to Utopia.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 5:15 PM | Link to this

Buy Danish

I may not care for what he’s advocating, but I have to say it’s “fair enough” because it’s his money. Free speech and all that.

Your brought up another interesting issue, though. Much of his wealth has been derived from currency speculation. The Left so often criticizes those who obtain “nonproductive wealth” - what gains in jobs, manufacturing, services, etc? did the wealth create? In Soros’s case, as far as I can see, nothing.

(N-GA - possibly you can enlighten me here).

So if Soros was a right-winger you can bet the Left would be using that argument, among many others.

So I see a trail of people hurt from the sorts of speculations that made him rich.

Now it looks like he’s going to bring us SwiftBoat II - spearheading a group of investors to give Begala and Brock $40 mil to conduct McCain attacks. I’ll bet most will be of the namecalling, character assassin variety. Oh, get this - they say it’s necessary because the media “loves McCain and haven’t done a good job of reporting.”

Don’t these guys watch Saturday Night Live?

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this

get, Jackie Speier is the most shameless of all the CA demagogues. Maxine’s got a run for her money. So here we find Jackie still dripping behind her pretty ears, pretending that a senior Senator actually contemplated a century of American dead in Iraq when everyone in Washington knows that he said no such thing. Tom Lantos never would have uttered such lies, much less have begun his Washington tenure with them. Jackie’s off to a great start.

There’s a reason why CA took in McKinney.

By Hex

April 11, 2008 5:27 PM | Link to this

Well, the sisterhood of the traveling panties is together again. My work is done here, and so close to miller time, officially 6:00pm on any friday, (only have one drink, please), but anyway, look at these ready for primetime players! There’s buy danish, an overly sensitive trans-pest-ite who swings at everything. There’s RW, who has a website. Check out his favorite movies. Funny how movies can tell you all you need to know about someone. And I saved the best for last, duhng himself, I figure duhng must have saved wooten’s life in nam, maybe he threw himself on a geisha and caught the clap instead of wooten, or who knows, they’re troops so we honor and respect them, but at a distance, the very distance we can throw them, for veteran status doesn’t give them a license to Poison Pill this blog. All they spew is hate, hate from their bowels, which are like putrid rancid little pieces of dried baby poo that the cat ate and recycled……ew.

What the sisterhood of the traveling panties doesn’t know is that I read everything, and listen to everything, right and left and middle, I absorb it all because the USA is a spectrum of continually shifting demographic angst, and I just happen to have my finger on it’s clit. I know all . I see all. I am…….if you’ve read this far, duhng, you’re so served.

you got served. what a fall guy. what a maroon. I was just writing the worst sh!t I could think of, just to practice my act on you, and you were like, “Duh, I’m gonna git him for this, Duhhhh”

‘muff dread

By Paul

April 11, 2008 5:32 PM | Link to this

Hex

“only have one drink, please”

How Big?

By Hex

April 11, 2008 5:38 PM | Link to this

Well, like the fish that gets described when a fisherman liar hold his hand so far apart and everytime he tells it the hands get further and further apart, until the fisherman is nothing but a dirty, no good, lying yellow piece of commie loving, castro-fondling scum. (who needs killin’)

By Paul

April 11, 2008 5:42 PM | Link to this

Hex

Okay, so I’ll wait until he’s done with his story and that’ll be the “how big?”

Works for me -

Just hope he wasn’t fishin’ for minnows.

By Hex

April 11, 2008 5:49 PM | Link to this

Paul, you sure are jumping on these sins-of-my-old-age awfully fast. Look, expect a torpedo from the sisterhood at any sec…..uhhhhngn…..they got me….clean…..through…….the gizzard. Goodbye, Moses. Edward G Robinson should have never ratted you out. Okay, you can have two drinks. Miller time so close. Now lets not be imbibin’ B4 6:00pm which is the official any friday miller time. And only 2 drinks. That’s only fair, I think Officer Steve Rose certainly would appreciate pulling over a motorist just once who only had two beers, right? (oh, dont reach 4 that 1, duhng, that’s WAYYYYY over your head.)

Honest, I only had teen martooni’s

‘muff dread

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 5:51 PM | Link to this

{{{{INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama denounced huge pay packages for U.S. corporate chiefs on Friday in a drive to convert middle-class anger about the U.S. economy into votes.}}}}

Yeah, all you hicks need money to buy the guns you cling to.

{{{{“Some CEOs make more in one day than their workers make in one year,” Obama said, jockeying for position against rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in Indiana, which votes on May 6.}}}}

Why the horror! The inhumanity! The outrage of the greed mongering CEO monsters, run and hide everyone!

{{{{Barack Obama Lands $1.9 Million Book Deal}}}}

It’s a good thing you hayseeds don’t read books, eh?

By getalife

April 11, 2008 5:59 PM | Link to this

“If you are someone of faith, there is no conceivable way that it wouldn’t affect your politics.” — Tony Blair, on why God wanted the Iraqi children to be blown to bits.

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 6:00 PM | Link to this

Paul, this is what I meant about Webb, and please don’t ask how I know. There is a small and active fraternity of especially distinguished veterans, some of them recipients of the Medal of Honor. That group is very tight-knit, and they don’t give a damn about anyone’s race or party or place of residence. They just care about active-duty and deactivated Americans. Some of them are extraordinarily wealthy; some not in the least. Some of them are in positions of manifest power. All of them are exceedingly well connected. They help each other, comfort one another in tough times and celebrate one another’s successes. They talk every day. Every day. And if one of them does anything at all to compromise the interests of veterans or people in uniform, the rest come down on him very hard. (I would hate to be on the receiving end of that kind of moral dressing-down.) Jim Webb is one of them.

By Paul

April 11, 2008 6:10 PM | Link to this

Hex

‘When you’re seeing pink elephants and little green loonies, you know you have had tee many martoonis.’

By Paul

April 11, 2008 6:17 PM | Link to this

getalife

Was Tony Blair talking about jihadists?

Glenn,

I appreciate that. I suppose, then, in this case, his disgust with the war and his concern for the troops honestly dovetailed.

(The fact you noted the people were ‘recipients’ of the Medal of Honor - not ‘winners’ - lends immense credibility).

I also agree he comes across as quite angry. Seems a bit close to the edge, though. With or without justification, that can seep into bitterness, and that ain’t healthy.

By Lib=Imafookindentjob

April 11, 2008 6:24 PM | Link to this

Harken this comrades! Soros’ hatred for Bush goes all the way back to 1986 - an oil deal gone bad for Soros. In his own SOROILED words, “Bush was supposed to bring in the Persian Gulf connection, but it didn’t come to anything. We were buying political influence. That was it. Bush wasn’t much of a businessman.” Ugly George thinks Little George is a failed hustler who couldn’t be counted on to peddle influence for Soros. Ugly people are supposed to rule the world, not little people.

Soros leads libruls down the slippery oil slide all because Little George’s war cut off Soros’ Persian Connection to BIG FOOKIN OIL.

idiots! Idiots! IDIOTS!

I SAID IDIOTS!

By TW

April 11, 2008 6:26 PM | Link to this

Glenn - yet this elite group of military mighty men sit idly by and let ‘w’ use their fellow soldiers like a two year old does crayons? Don’t think so, Glenn. This elite group ain’t what you think they are, or they’re pretty gosh darn incompetent. Not unlike the guy sucking up the welfare who lives in the big White House.

There’s more to life than the tax code, Glenn. Quit fanning the smoke.

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 6:26 PM | Link to this

That’s my read of him too, Paul. But then, as AmVet would say, I’m not fit to carry the guy’s jockstrap.

By AJC Management

April 11, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this

{{{{HH: Now earlier today at Nationalreview.com, your colleague at the Corner there, Victor Davis Hanson, pointed out the delicious, if it weren’t tragic, irony that all the lefties are chasing the Olympic torch all over Europe, and now San Francisco, in an effort to make a meaningless gesture about the poor Tibetans. But where we actually could make lives better for people who’ve been oppressed by tyranny for a very long time, where we have overthrown an occupier, they want to run away in Iraq. It doesn’t make any sense, Mark Steyn.}}}}

{{{{MS: No, because in a way, Free Tibet, I mean, actually, I mention this in America Alone. It’s not really what the book’s about, but I just happened to mention it in passing. Free Tibet is the classic liberal cause. It’s the all-time great bumper sticker. You go to any college in America, they’ve got a Free Tibet society. Everyone’s got the bumper stickers. The left, God bless them, got the bumper sticker in 1957, they put it on the Ford Edsel, and every time they buy a new car, they peel the Free Tibet bumper sticker off and put it on the new car. It’s the quintessential liberal cause in that nothing has happened. Nothing is done. It’s a bumper sticker, and that’s where it ends, and Tibet is less free than it ever was, and in fact, has been comprehensively wrecked and undermined by the Chinese. But they don’t mind as long as they get their little bit of posturing out of it.}}}}

By getalife

April 11, 2008 6:32 PM | Link to this

“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Hillary, in comments to reporters just moments ago in Philadelphia, seized on Obama’s use of the word “bitter,” and said (transcript sent over by her campaign):

“I saw in the media it’s being reported that my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that’s not my experience. “As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves. They are working hard everyday for a better future, for themselves and their children.

“Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families.”

By Hex

April 11, 2008 6:33 PM | Link to this

My dad flew the jug in ww2, the f86 in korea and the goonie in vietnam.

He’s the veteran elite. I can coax details out of him after tee martoonis, but I honor, love and respect this man because he would never sell his wars.

Our flag: I dont think it means what glenn thinks it means.

By Hex

April 11, 2008 6:44 PM | Link to this

Isn’t that a little pathetic, wipemysnatch? I mean, obama sez something and then Hillary has to reflexively say the exact opposite and then rub it in?

Obama Landslide. because americans can smell poontang a mile away, sir.

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 6:44 PM | Link to this

TW,

I know you’re in anguish over the war, and of course I respect you for that. I do not mean to make these men out to be the puppetmasters of the universe. Please don’t take me to mean that peace is in their gift—-or anything like that. I was merely offering some intel about a particular Senator’s motives and grounding. I could tell you how angry many of these guys are about the war, but they don’t think en bloc about anything. They care preeminently about veterans. I’m sure you’ll understand then that they share an utter hatred for war. It’s that simple.

I presume you’re aware that as far as DoD is concerned USDVA is the boil on the butt of the gatekeeper at the second Southwest entrance to the Pentagon. These guys are determined to make that change in about nine months, even though they have a fighting man’s distaste for politicians. (An internal conflict for Webb? You bet.)

As for the fate of nations, who knows who the real oligarchs are. I don’t. Do you?

By WhatTH311

April 11, 2008 6:45 PM | Link to this

somebody told the libs they could change the world and now they’re running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to change EVERYTHING in the world.

WhyTH311 do they worry about the sky falling? it won’t hit ‘em in the head.

what head?

By Paul

April 11, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, The foresight to know where you are going, And the insight to know when you have gone too far.

Pleasant weekend, all -

By TW

April 11, 2008 6:54 PM | Link to this

Glenn - great words as usual - thanks. Trust this group was at odds with Rumsfled as well.

As far as oligarchs go - let those who put their treasure before another’s rice burn for eternity…

The devil dicriminates not for race, religion…or political party. At present, I hear the housing market is pretty good down there…

By Glenn

April 11, 2008 6:55 PM | Link to this

Hex,

He certainly is of the elite. I don’t get your reference to “selling wars”, or your implication that the national ensign is a code to which you and he hold the decryption key and others don’t. Are you referring to the half-dozen or so of them who have parlayed their military experiences into high office? What do you mean?

By Diddling Id

April 11, 2008 7:04 PM | Link to this

whatchoo (bless me) talkin bout Glenn? the hexster said nuttin bout sellin no wars.