Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Sarah Palin Has a Best-Seller Even Before It's Published!


Politico.com has the following story:

Two days after the release date of Sarah Palin’s book was announced, it's already become the top seller at both Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.


Palin’s publisher announced Monday that the former governor of Alaska and Republican vice presidential candidate had finished her memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life," early and was moving the release date up from the spring to November 17.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27773.html#ixzz0SdXIdkZ8

Tired of Being Abducted by Aliens? Buy Some Protection for Under $30!

ALIEN ABDUCTEE FROM AUSTRIA WEARING A THOUGHT SCREEN HELMET SHE MADE FROM DIRECTIONS ON THIS WEB SITE. "I have been abducted by aliens for years and found stopabductions.com by a happy coincidence. The Thought Screen Helmet, invented by an expert, has stopped the unwelcome visitations and has raised me and my family`s quality of life. Therefore I highly recommend it." IF YOU ARE ABDUCTED BY ALIENS THE HELMET WILL WORK FOR YOU.

Not All Chicagoans Welcome the Summer Olympics

NBC Sports ran a story that starts like this:

"The mayor, the president and Oprah Winfrey may hope to return to Chicago from Copenhagen with the 2016 Olympic Games, but some around town hope the International Olympic Committee deems the Second City the second city.

"As in second to Rio de Janeiro. Or Tokyo. Or Madrid...."

Count on Michelle Malkin to write a few choice words of her own about cities prostituting themselves for the honor of hosting the Olympics.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

NOAA Issues Tsunami Watch for Hawaii [Cancelled]

Tsunami Watch for Hawaii [Update: tsunami confirmed, 8.3 quake]
NOAA | 09-29-09 | USGS

Posted on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 12:52:37 PM by Right_Handed_Writer

BULLETIN TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 1 NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI 805 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009

TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII

SUBJECT - TSUNAMI WATCH

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS ISSUED FOR THE STATE OF HAWAII EFFECTIVE AT 0805 AM HST.

AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS

ORIGIN TIME - 0748 AM HST 29 SEP 2009 COORDINATES - 15.3 SOUTH 171.0 WEST LOCATION - SAMOA ISLANDS REGION MAGNITUDE - 7.9 MOMENT

EVALUATION

BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA A TSUNAMI MAY HAVE BEEN GENERATED BY THIS EARTHQUAKE THAT COULD BE DESTRUCTIVE ON COASTAL AREAS EVEN FAR FROM THE EPICENTER. AN INVESTIGATION IS UNDERWAY TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS A TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII.

IF TSUNAMI WAVES IMPACT HAWAII THE ESTIMATED EARLIEST ARRIVAL OF THE FIRST TSUNAMI WAVE IS

0111 PM HST TUE 29 SEP 2009

MESSAGES WILL BE ISSUED HOURLY OR SOONER AS CONDITIONS WARRANT.

Tsunami Warning as follows:

TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 1804Z 29 SEP 2009

THIS BULLETIN APPLIES TO AREAS WITHIN AND BORDERING THE PACIFIC OCEAN AND ADJACENT SEAS...EXCEPT ALASKA...BRITISH COLUMBIA... WASHINGTON...OREGON AND CALIFORNIA.

... A TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH ARE IN EFFECT ...

A TSUNAMI WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR

AMERICAN SAMOA / SAMOA / NIUE / WALLIS-FUTUNA / TOKELAU / COOK ISLANDS / TONGA / TUVALU / KIRIBATI / KERMADEC IS / FIJI / HOWLAND-BAKER / JARVIS IS. / NEW ZEALAND / FR. POLYNESIA / PALMYRA IS.

UPDATE: The tsunami watche was cancelled about 11:00 a.m., HST.

More Political Cartoons for Our Time


I recognize that I'm taking a big gamble running the cartoon below, as any material critical of President Obama is considered treasonous, or at least racist.

Monday, September 28, 2009

2007 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) Discredited at Last

Ron Rosenbaum blurts out the ugly truth about a piece of disinformation that the leftist media used to clobber the Bush Administration with:

"Will all the pundits who relied on the discredited 2007 NIE on Iran now admit that they were wrong? That they bought into and kept citing, without any serious questioning, the now clearly politically skewed analysis in the so-called National Intelligence Estimate of that year? You remember: the considered consensus wisdom of the entire U.S. intelligence community, which misled the world into believing there was nothing to worry about Iran’s nuclear program, that it had virtually ceased. When, in fact, out of the three components of a nuclear weapons program, at most one might have been suspended, if that.

"Will the congressional intelligence committees demand to know how such a deliberately misleading report was being leaked and fed to the public by half-baked pundits even after (we now learn) they knew that some part of the “intelligence community” knew — before the the NIE was issued — about the secret nuclear fuel facility we’re now reading about? ..."

Not everyone in the "intelligence community" supported this particular NIE. I, for one, suspected all along that it was a thinly disguised political tract, and that Iran had never abandoned its nuclear ambitions.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Dr. Paul's Diagnosis: All of the Czars are Unconstitutional

"With 28 remaining czars in the Obama administration after the departure of Van Jones, there has been a new call to bring transparency to shed light on the secretive nature of this group of individuals that operate outside the watch of government. Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) takes that sentiment a step further. In an interview with Dan Mangru of Newsmax TV, Paul said he believes that the czars are unconstitutional. 'They are not authorized (by the constitution), and not approved by the Senate, but Obama’s not the only guilty party.'” Read the rest of the story in Newsmax.com.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

What’s Next? Two-Ply Need Not Apply

This alarming news item appeared on my Facebook page today, courtesy of the Heritage Foundation.
Today at 12:11pm
First they came for your car. Then for your cheeseburger. Now those crazy environmentalists want to control how you wipe. No really. The Washington Post reports:

There is a battle for America’s behinds.

It is a fight over toilet paper: the kind that is blanket-fluffy and getting fluffier so fast that manufacturers are running out of synonyms for “soft” (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush is the first big brand to go three-ply and three-adjective).

It’s a menace, environmental groups say — and a dark-comedy example of American excess.

The reason, they say, is that plush U.S. toilet paper is usually made by chopping down and grinding up trees that were decades or even a century old. They want Americans, like Europeans, to wipe with tissue made from recycled paper goods.

So stock up while you can America, because Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi are coming after your bathroom. Again.

Not All Who Suffer from OCD Are Mentally Ill


This newly-published book was featured on NBC's "Today" show:

"What would you do if your previously normal child suddenly refused to bathe, burst into fits of rage, slithered along walls and wouldn’t walk out the front door? When Beth Maloney was faced with that situation she fought tooth and nail to reclaim her son, taking on members of the medical establishment who were too quick to label and treat him in a way that only made the symptoms worse. 'Saving Sammy: Curing the Boy Who Caught OCD' is her account of her remarkable and ultimately triumphant journey."

The boy, Sammy Maloney, was finally diagnosed with a strep infection, which attacked his brain (which is not common), and recovered after being treated with antibiotics.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Online Mental Health Counseling Is Convenient, but...

U.S. News and World Report has an article about telemental health counseling that mentions both the promises and pitfalls of a technique that is still in early stages of development.

"Therapy from afar. While the very notion of it makes some queasy, a growing number of people are seeking—and providing—mental-health help through nontraditional means, such as by telephone or videoconferencing or via E-mail or online chat. E-therapy petered out somewhat after the dot-com bubble burst, when several online "clinics" went bankrupt, but there's been a resurgence as technology has advanced, says John Grohol, a psychologist who is an expert in online mental health and founder of Psychcentral.com, a comprehensive website that features informational articles, support groups, professional blogs, self-help quizzes, and other resources for patients and professionals...."

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Yarr! We Almost Forgot Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!

The 19th of September is Talk Like a Pirate Day. UPI has the story.

Warning to Fellow Vets: Beware of This Scam!

Patient Care Group Scam

The Department of Veterans Affairs has received reports that veterans are being contacted by a "Patient Care Group" that is claiming they are helping to administer the VA's prescription medicine program. The "Patient Care Group" is saying the VA recently changed its pharmacy billing procedures, therefore a personal credit card number is now required for prescription payments in advance of filling those prescriptions. This is a scam! Do not provide credit card information over the phone to anyone who claims they represent the VA! The VA has not changed their pharmacy procedures, and they do not call and ask veterans to disclose personal financial information over the phone. If you should receive such a call, do not give them any information. Tell them you are busy and try to get a name and callback number. Report that information to your local police.

This advisory appeared on the VFW Arkansas Web site, but is being circulated through many other outlets.

The Least We Can Do

In keeping with our policy of being a military-friendly blog, we run the following story out of Missouri:

HIGH RIDGE, MO (KTVI - FOX2now.com) - An angry letter from a driver complaining about having to stop as a military funeral passed by has been met with dozens of even angrier responses. And the one written by the Jefferson County Sheriff has people cheering. That story begins near the intersection of I-270 and Gravois. On August 28th about 70 Patriot Guard riders were escorting the body of a local soldier from Lambert Airport to a funeral home in Cedar Hill.

The soldier was Sgt. Brian Woods, 32, who was shot and killed in Afghanistan. As has become a custom, the Patriot Guard motorcyclists helped law enforcement block intersections along the route for a few minutes so the casket and family could pass by.

But apparently one driver unhappy to be stopped, got into a loud argument with one of the motorcyclists blocking the way. And it did not stop there.

The next day the woman went on to send a complaining e-mail to Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer, even though it appears the incident actually happened in St. Louis County.

Among the things that driver wrote in the email, "this procession should never have been held during rush hour traffic!"

She went on to say, "I am proud of our country and sorry for the family, but they had no idea where I was going or anything else."

Sheriff Boyer, who is also a Vietnam veteran, promptly e-mailed a heartfelt response, which included this passage:

"My mother recently passed away. She was a World War II veteran, serving in the US Army. She would say 'Maybe you should pick up Sergeant Woods' ruck sack and carry on where he left off. Then you could see first hand what it really is to be inconvenienced.'"

Sheriff Boyer wanted employees of the county to know how he felt as well so he released copies of both emails.

And now they have hit the Internet.

By lunchtime Thursday, the sheriff already had about 150 emails thanking him for his response. The sheriff says he finds all the sudden attention embarrassing, and reminds us the real hero here was Sgt. Woods.

He is not disclosing what little information he has about the driver in part he says, "for her own safety," as you can imagine this is really getting people fired up.

Exchange of letters between complainant & Sheriff Boyer.

378 reader comments.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Carter on the Wrong Side of History (Again)


Here we go again! Ex-President Jimmy Carter has announced that resistance to Obama's health plan is a sure sign of racism, according to Colorado's own Stephen Green.

...Funny how the American people weren’t racists when we elected him. We weren’t racists when he Rahmed his $780 billion special-interest payoff through Congress. We weren’t racists when the polls supported the non-specific, hopey-changey version of his health care reform.

But when Americans pushed back — against having their heating bills doubled, against having their health care plans usurped — suddenly, now, yes, we’re racists. No less an authority than Jimmy Carter (and his peanut heads from Kos and HuffPo on down to Garofalo and other, even less successful, hangers-on) has said so.

So. Has the America which elected President Obama by a comfortable majority not even one year ago, become suddenly more racist than it was on November 8, 2008? Or, implausible as it may seem, has a center-right country unsurprisingly soured on a left-left President and his left-left-left-left-left enablers on Capital Hill and in the Washington press corps?

And could it be just barely possible, that even some center-left folks here in America be a little put off by their Commander-in-Cheif telling them to knock off all that oh-so-inconvenient “bickering” and back-talking?

It doesn’t take Occam’s razor to slice this one, does it?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

News About ACORN That the Leftist Media Won't Touch

Yesterday I got this eyebrow-raising report from Free Republic:

Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform July 20th 2009 | Committee Staff
Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2009 7:39:45 PM by rob777
Here is a July 2009 congressional report -- titled "Is ACORN Intentionally Structured As a Criminal Enterprise?" -- that accused ACORN of massive fraud, money laundering, and racketeering directed from the highest levels of the organization's management.

It appears that they have been investigated, but nothing seems to have been done until the light got shined on the corruption.

Source: http://www.capitalresearch.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/7-23-09-ogr-acorn-report.pdf

Another juicy item from the Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today":

The Wall Street Journal urges the U.S. Justice Department to undertake a criminal investigation of Acorn. This column echoes that call, although we wonder if the Obama administration is compromised here. The president, who as a candidate touted his background as a "community organizer," has extensive ties to Acorn. In February 2008, the Acorn Political Action Committee endorsed Obama over Hillary Clinton, and Obama's campaign Web site, Organizing for America, boasted of the candidate's support for the group:

When Obama met with ACORN leaders in November, he reminded them of his history with ACORN and his beginnings in Illinois as a Project Vote organizer, a nonprofit focused on voter rights and education. Senator Obama said, "I come out of a grassroots organizing background. That's what I did for three and half years before I went to law school. That's the reason I moved to Chicago was to organize. So this is something that I know personally, the work you do, the importance of it. I've been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work."

Monday, September 14, 2009

Patrick Swayze, 57, Succumbs to Pancreatic Cancer!


Here's a picture of Patrick Swayze in healthier days, when he starred in "Ghost" with Whoopi Goldberg. MSNBC.com has an obituary.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Running the Printing Presses Has Consequences, Part 1

This is only the beginning of something that will not end well. The Telegraph (U.K.) has this story:

China alarmed by US money printing(china to buy gold)
06 Sep 2009 | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard,

China alarmed by US money printing The US Federal Reserve's policy of printing money to buy Treasury debt threatens to set off a serious decline of the dollar and compel China to redesign its foreign reserve policy, according to a top member of the Communist hierarchy

By Comment on this article Working for the Yankee dollar: Beijing is said to be dismayed by the Fed's recourse to 'credit easing' Photo: Reuters Cheng Siwei, former vice-chairman of the Standing Committee and now head of China's green energy drive, said Beijing was dismayed by the Fed's recourse to "credit easing". "We hope there will be a change in monetary policy as soon as they have positive growth again..."

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Know Thy Enemy



Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals" can work for anyone, not just leftists, and some "right-wing extremists" are giving the Obamaphiliacs a taste of their own medicine. Some of these rules are ruthless, but they work. Here are the rules to be aware of:

RULE 1: "Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have." Power is derived from 2 main sources - money and people. "Have-Nots" must build power from flesh and blood. (These are two things of which there is a plentiful supply. Government and corporations always have a difficult time appealing to people, and usually do so almost exclusively with economic arguments.)

RULE 2: "Never go outside the expertise of your people." It results in confusion, fear and retreat. Feeling secure adds to the backbone of anyone. (Organizations under attack wonder why radicals don't address the "real" issues. This is why. They avoid things with which they have no knowledge.)

RULE 3: "Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy." Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)

RULE 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules." If the rule is that every letter gets a reply, send 30,000 letters. You can kill them with this because no one can possibly obey all of their own rules. (This is a serious rule. The besieged entity's very credibility and reputation is at stake, because if activists catch it lying or not living up to its commitments, they can continue to chip away at the damage.)

RULE 5: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon." There is no defense. It's irrational. It's infuriating. It also works as a key pressure point to force the enemy into concessions. (Pretty crude, rude and mean, huh? They want to create anger and fear.)

RULE 6: "A good tactic is one your people enjoy." They'll keep doing it without urging and come back to do more. They're doing their thing, and will even suggest better ones. (Radical activists, in this sense, are no different that any other human being. We all avoid "un-fun" activities, and but we revel at and enjoy the ones that work and bring results.)

RULE 7: "A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag." Don't become old news. (Even radical activists get bored. So to keep them excited and involved, organizers are constantly coming up with new tactics.)

RULE 8: "Keep the pressure on. Never let up." Keep trying new things to keep the opposition off balance. As the opposition masters one approach, hit them from the flank with something new. (Attack, attack, attack from all sides, never giving the reeling organization a chance to rest, regroup, recover and re-strategize.)

RULE 9: "The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself." Imagination and ego can dream up many more consequences than any activist. (Perception is reality. Large organizations always prepare a worst-case scenario, something that may be furthest from the activists' minds. The upshot is that the organization will expend enormous time and energy, creating in its own collective mind the direst of conclusions. The possibilities can easily poison the mind and result in demoralization.)

RULE 10: "If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Violence from the other side can win the public to your side because the public sympathizes with the underdog. (Unions used this tactic. Peaceful [albeit loud] demonstrations during the heyday of unions in the early to mid-20th Century incurred management's wrath, often in the form of violence that eventually brought public sympathy to their side.)

RULE 11: "The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative." Never let the enemy score points because you're caught without a solution to the problem. (Old saw: If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Activist organizations have an agenda, and their strategy is to hold a place at the table, to be given a forum to wield their power. So, they have to have a compromise solution.)

RULE 12: Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)

A Thoughtful Blog Post in "Eternity Road"

Francis W. Porretto wrote the following essay, "Relief: A Sunday Rumination," that should resonate with many believers in the Christian world.

"..Anti-theists scoff at the idea that a benevolent God would countenance any degree of suffering among His creatures. Their usual argument is that an omnipotent, benevolent God could achieve any end He seeks without inflicting suffering or sorrow on anyone. Therefore, if He allows pain or sorrow, it's because He wills it -- which makes Him at least contextually malevolent, and therefore unworthy of worship.

"The argument is founded on a questionable premise: that omnipotence allows God to contradict Himself within the temporal realm. That is, that He could make proposition A and proposition not-A simultaneously true within our material, time-bound realm. But that's as impossible for God as it is for Man..."

More Czars Than Russia Ever Had

Glenn Beck made the following statement on the resignation of Van Jones:

"The American people stood up and demanded answers. Instead of providing them, the Administration had Jones resign under cover of darkness. I continue to be amazed by the power of everyday Americans to initiate change in our government through honest questioning, and judging by the other radicals in the administration, I expect that questioning to continue for the foreseeable future."

One down, 31 to go (list of Obama's czars).

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Where Is the Equality of Sacrifice?


It never ceases to amaze me how many sacrifices people are willing to make, as long as they perceive that these demands on their time, talents, and resources are distributed fairly. Hugh Hewitt, in his latest Townhall.com column, brings up the ugly fact that tort reform is not on the table at this time, and that trial lawyers (who are among the most generous contributors to Democratic candidates and causes) are still a protected class.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Have Some Kimchi - It's Good for You

This Breitbart article sings the praises of Korean pickled vegetables.

"You know why there are so many beautiful women in Korea and Korean women have such smooth skin? It's because they have been grown on kimchi," claims Kim Sung-Hoon, who chairs an upcoming Gwangju Kimchi Festival.

Ultra-Cool: Color Photos from Russia in the Early 1900's


This is an intriguing set of pictures from a country that hasn't progressed that much in the past century. From Newsweek. The photo on the left (St. Nil Monastery) is not part of the collection, but was taken during the pre-Bolshevik era.

Kaleb Saves the Day

When a Yazoo County (Mississippi) school bus was threatened by a girl brandishing a loaded semi-automatic handgun, 6-foot-4, 255-pound Kaleb Eulls, who plans to play football for Mississippi State University, disarmed her with a well-placed tackle. MSNBC has the details.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Reassuring News: We Are All Mutants

A BBC News article says, Each of us has at least 100 new mutations in our DNA, according to research published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists have been trying to get an accurate estimate of the mutation rate for over 70 years.

However, only now has it been possible to get a reliable estimate, thanks to "next generation" technology for genetic sequencing.

The findings may lead to new treatments and insights into our evolution.

In 1935, one of the founders of modern genetics, JBS Haldane, studied a group of men with the blood disease haemophilia. He speculated that there would be about 150 new mutations in each of us....

Feminist Author Naomi Wolf Explains Away Muslim Suppression of Women

This just in from Pajamas Media, of which I cite a few excerpts:

Women in chadors are really feminist ninja warriors. Rather than allow themselves to be gawked at by male strangers, they choose to defeat the “male gaze” by hiding from it in plain view.

But don’t you worry: Beneath that chador, abaya, burqa, or veil, there is a sexy courtesan wearing “Victoria Secret, elegant fashion, and skin care lotion,” just waiting for her husband to come home for a night of wild and sensuous marital lovemaking.

Obviously, these are not my ideas. I am quoting from a piece by Naomi Wolf that appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 30th of August. Yes, Wolf is the bubbly, feminist author who once advised Vice President Al “The Climate” Gore on what colors he should wear while campaigning and who is or was friendly with Gore’s daughter. Full disclosure: I have casually known Wolf and her parents for more than a quarter-century.

...Well, what can I say? Here’s a few things.

Most Muslim girls and women are not given a choice about wearing the chador, burqa, abaya, niqab, jilbab, or hijab (headscarf), and those who resist are beaten, threatened with death, arrested, caned or lashed, jailed, or honor murdered by their own families. Is Wolfe thoroughly unfamiliar with the news coming out of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan on these very subjects? Has she forgotten the tragic, fiery deaths of those schoolgirls in Saudi Arabia who, in trying to flee their burning schoolhouse, were improperly veiled and who were beaten back by the all-powerful Saudi Morality Police?

...

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Grassroots or Astroturf?

A Health Care for America Now (HCAN) organizer is caught on tape outside the meeting instructing supporters on how to shout down opponents who get up to ask a question and how to block them from speaking at Rep. Jan Schakowski's town hall meeting. Gateway Pundit has the incriminating video.

UPDATE: John Hawkins, a columnist for Townhall.com, has "The Top 7 Most Embarrassing Town Hall Moments for Democrats."