A Few Modest Proposals

(1) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be barred from spending any money on lobbying or on campaign contributions

(2) The salaries of all employees of Fannie Mae and Freddi Mac should be adjusted to federal civil service guidelines

(3) Likewise, the salaries of the employees of any financial institution that must be bailed out by the taxpayers should be adjusted to civil service guidelines

(4) Former officials of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac such as Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick should be required to forfeit all compensation they earned.

(5) All financial institutions undergoing federal bailout and their employees should be barred from making any contributions to politicians

I'll bet that over a hundred different artists have recorded this song. But this woman does the best by far. I'm sure my readers have a good idea of what I think of Joan's politics. But I just don't concern myself with the political rants of artists. Joan can go ahead and say she thinks that Sarah Palin is a lizard for all I care. I'm not listening to anything but her music.

Here's a neat site that tells all about the song.

Poem of the Week: Dante's Inferno

«S'i' credesse che mia risposta fosse

a persona che mai tornasse al mondo,

questa fiamma staria sanza più scosse;

ma però che già mai di questo fondo

non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero,

sanza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.

Canto XXVII: 61 - 66

Obama's Advisor on Mortgage and Housing Policy Matters

If you vote for Obama, here's who will be advising him on mortgage and housing policy. Franklin Raines, the Clinton Administration crook who looted Fannie Mae to the tune of $90 million and presided over disastrous policies that caused bubbles in the housing market and massive mortgage loan defaults. Here's what the WaPo had to say about him back in July:

In the four years since he stepped down as Fannie Mae's chief executive under the shadow of a $6.3 billion accounting scandal, Franklin D. Raines has been quietly constructing a new life for himself. He has shaved eight points off his golf handicap, taken a corner office in Steve Case's D.C. conglomeration of finance, entertainment and health-care companies and more recently, taken calls from Barack Obama's presidential campaign seeking his advice on mortgage and housing policy matters.

Yet another reason not to vote for Obama.

Hat tip to Little Green Footballs.

A Stupid Idea... From a Stupid Man

Anyone can make a mistake. It's a quite natural part of being human. But it stands to reason that once you make a mistake, you stop doing it. It takes a real idiot to keep doing whatever you were doing wrong.

That is why Paulson's plan to 'rescue' the financial system is a bad idea.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced plans Friday to quickly set up a "bold" government program to take over troubled mortgage assets from financial institutions, along with other efforts to step up the purchase of mortgage-backed securities. "The federal government must implement a program to remove these illiquid assets that are weighing down our financial institutions and threatening our economy," Mr. Paulson said in prepared remarks for a press conference.

More immediately, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- which were taken over by the government earlier this month -- will increase their purchases of mortgage-backed debt, he said. To facilitate that effort, Treasury will also expand the MBS purchase program it announced earlier this month.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the ultimate source of the problem. By providing a ready market for mortgage loans that were made to people who could not afford them, and secured by houses that were overpriced in the housing bubble, Fan and Fred created this problem. Washington players like Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick made fortunes while overseeing this mismanagement.

So why the hell are you expanding the activities of Fan and Fred in the mortgage market? We need to get both of those companies out of there.

Mr. Paulson, why don't you try giving some consideration to those of us who did NOT purchase more house than we could afford? Those of us who did not take out mortgage loans that we had no hope of repaying.

And what about those of us who do NOT work for Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley?

Hillary Afraid of Sarah...Cancels Joint Appearance at UN Protest

Whatsamatter, PIAPS? Why don't you want to appear with Sarah?

Hillary Rodham Clinton canceled a planned protest appearance outside the United Nations on Monday after learning that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin would also be there. "This was never billed to us as a partisan political event," Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines told the Associated Press.

Of course, we know that Hillary would never get involved in any partisan political event. I wonder if Hillary was afraid that Sarah might mistake her for a moose?

CBS News Investigates

Here is a list of the headlines concerning the President/VP candidates on CBS News Investigates:

KTVA: Reaction to New Troopergate Evidence

Palin Shuns Reporters

Palin Troopergate

NYT: Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes

Rumor Watch: Governor Sarah Palin

KTVA: McCain camp "stonewalling" Troopergate

Palin: Government Can Fix Social Ills

McCain camp "stonewalling" "troopergate" (again)

Primary Source: Life in Wasilla

The Sarah Palin Phenomenon is Doomed

State Probing Palin's Troopergate

Palin Puts Spotlight on Alaska

Reality Check: Sarah Palin's Claims

CBS Evening News: How the Alaska Governor Really Stacks Up on Earmarks

Sarah Palin's Political Past

Photos: John McCain

Sarah Palin Swimsuit

Washington Post: Palin Slashed Funding for Teen Moms

FBI Probes Possible Obama Death Threat

KTVA Anchorage: McCain camp "stomewalling" "Troopergate" (third time)

Score:

Sarah Palin 17

John McCain 4

Barack Obama 2

Joe Biden 0

ABC News Blotter

Here is a list of the headlines on ABC News Blotter that concern the upcoming presidential election:

Suit Filed to Stop Palin Troopergate Probe

Fired Official: Governnor Palin Did Not Tell The Truth to ABC

Palin Backstab? Commissioner Praised Then Fired

FIRED OFFICIAL: Governor Palin Did Not Tell The Truth to ABC (again)

Critics Question Palin's Record on "Epidemic" Rape, Domestic Violence in Alaska

"Troopergate" Inquiry Reaches Palin Husband

Palin Backstab? Commissioner Praised Then Fired (again)

PALIN'S RECORD ON PORK: Less Sizzle Than Reported

LIBRARY SNAFU: Did Sarah Palin Try to Ban Books?

McCain Alaska Ally Criticizes Palin Probe

Investigation into Palin Now On Fast Track

Fired Alaskan Official Says Palin Hasn't Been Truthful (third time)

Palin Aide Ducks State Probe

Tanning Bed to Troopergate: Palin Aides Kept Scrambling

NEWSWEEK: A McCain Lawyer Scrambles to Block a Palin Ethics Inquiry

AP: McCain Campaign Releases "Troopergate" Emails

SALON: The Pastor Who Clashed With Palin

Should Biden Share Blame for Foreclosure Crisis?

Palin Could Be Deposed in State Probe

On the "Troopergate" Inquiry Reaching Palin's Husband (again)

"I Would Not Trust Palin to Empty the Kitty Litter Box. I think she is getting a little giddy about the fact that she might be able to start WWIII with Russia and bring about the 'End of Days' and thus creating the biblical environment for the second coming of Christ..."

'October Surprise' Over Palin Investigation?

WATCH: Hillary Clinton on Economy, Palin

Score:

Sarah Palin 21

John McCain 3

Joe Biden 1

Barack Obama 0

(Hat tip to Drudge)

Are Democrats Afraid They're Gonna Lose?

They certainly are not acting very confident. Their attacks on Sarah range from comical to hysterical to ridiculous. Caroline Baum has a good idea of why they act so scared:

No, the real reason the Democrats are scared to death of Palin's popularity is because if they lose this election, it will mean they are bankrupt as a party.
If the Democrats can't win a presidential election after eight years of an unpopular president, five years of an unpopular war, in the face of a lousy economy, a collapse in the housing market and overwhelming sentiment that the country is on the wrong track, it means something is terribly wrong.
This is as good as it gets for a party out of power. A loss in November would be embarrassing -- no, humiliating -- to the Democrats.
If they lose in '08, they will have no one to blame but themselves. Sarah Palin has raised the odds of a Democratic loss. That's why she has to be destroyed.

In a democracy, those who govern derive their power from the consent of the governed. The Democrats have won only three of the last ten presidential elections because the policies they advocate are unpopular, especially with white voters. Probably the most unpopular of all are the racist, so-called "affirmative action" programs that give preference to a member of a minority group over a white. Many whites, myself included, have experienced the unpleasant effects of racial discrimination.

It is likely that both Barack and Michelle Obama were given racial preference when they were admitted to the elite universities they attended. These policies were supposedly put into practice in order to correct past injustices. But the vast majority of the people who are being punished had nothing whatsoever to do with the injustices. And the influx of blacks and hispanics from foreign countries into the USA shows that this is not such a bad place for them at all.

So long as the Democrats continue to advocate racist policies, they will continue to lose elections.

Should Women Be in Power?

The answer is yes, provided they are qualified and have the right ideas. A woman like Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi would take the country in the wrong direction and cause more harm than good to the women's movement.

I recall during the reign of the Clinton administration, whenever anyone criticized Hillary for her ridiculous attempt at nationalizing the health care system, or whenever anyone criticized her for her numerous ethical lapses (Whitewater, Castle Grande, cattle futures trading, Travelgate, selling pardons, etc, etc), some pundit on the left would attack the criticizer and claim that they were "afraid of seeing a woman in power" or something to that effect.

So where are the pundits now that Sarah Palin is being savaged? The answer is that they could care less about Hillary's or Sarah's gender. The left were engaging in gender baiting in order to pursue their political agenda. Peter Brown has some interesting thoughts on the subject:

This election will go a long way toward settling the question of whether groups that purport to speak for American women really do, or merely represent a narrow band of those who tend to be politically active, upper-middle-class and left-leaning.
It is worth remembering that Hillary Clinton got about 10 million votes from women in the Democratic primaries, but expectations are that roughly 62 million women will vote this November. Most of those 52 million are among the majority of American women who shy away from calling themselves feminists because they see it as having a negative connotation, and most of those who didn’t vote in the primaries tend to be more moderate and less interested in politics.
The fact that Gov. Palin doesn’t come from Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco; that she didn’t go to an Ivy League school; that her husband works with his hands; and that she has family problems to which many of these 52 million can relate on a nonpolitical plane makes her attractive to them.
Much more so than Sen. Hillary Clinton or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who are now the country’s highest-profile women politicians. Their views, values and way of life could not be more different from those of Gov. Palin.
If Gov. Palin becomes Vice President Palin, the clearly political National Organization for Women, the National Abortion Rights Action League and Planned Parenthood, as well as a host of other officially nonpolitical but left-leaning women’s groups, have a problem.
How could such groups and their political allies claim to speak for American women when the country’s highest-profile female politician represents everything they don’t?

Sarah didn't go to Wellesley and Yale like Hillary, she went to the University of Idaho. She and women like her don't call themselves feminists because feminism is primarily a philosophy that demonizes men and advocates legalized discrimination against them.

The nomination of Sarah Palin for VP has been met with enthusiasm among Republicans, Independents, and even some Democrats. She is even more popular among men than women. This has exposed the left's ridiculous charges of sexism to be nothing more than cheap gender-baiting.

Our Leftist Media

I recall when I was a student at the University of Texas, I sometimes dated a young woman who was one of the producers of the evening news of one of the local network stations. This was some time in 1982 or 1983, when Reagan was president and the left were calling for his head. They were blaming the 1980-82 recession on him and were also accusing him of being hostile towards the Soviet Union. Many of them ominously predicted that he would plunge us into a nuclear holocaust.

I was a staunch supporter of Reagan, through thick and thin. At the time, he was one of the few politicians who openly proclaimed that socialism and communism are sheer lunacy. He stood up to the Soviets and did not try to appease them. He supported limited government at home.

I had a "Reagan '84" bumper sticker on my car. That was quite a bold statement at a leftwing university like the University of Texas in a leftwing town like Austin.

The first night this woman and I went out, we were were walking out to my car and she saw my "Reagan '84" bumper sticker. She almost had a conniption when she saw that. She loudly exclaimed that she couldn't stand Reagan nor anything he did. I decided not to debate politics that night. We had a pleasant evening after all and many more after that, but she never quite got over my bumper sticker!

That was my first direct experience with the leftwing ideology of the news media. We have seen most recently how the leftist media have become nothing more than shills for the Democrats. Read what Tod Lindberg has to say about the differential treatment between Republicans and Democrats

Remember reading the discussions of Vice President Al Gore's parenting skills in all the papers the day after his teenage son got busted for dope at high school? No? That would be because Gore called around to all the papers (including the Washington Times, where I was editorial page editor at the time) and asked us not to publish it, kids being kids and being owed some privacy. The newspapers didn't. That was then: Given a preposterous Internet rumor that Sarah Palin was never pregnant with her four-month-old baby but faked it to cover up for her daughter, Bristol was fair game. This was a judgment shared among Democrats and, coincidentally, the media (the same ones who were also all over the John Edwards love-child story, remember?).

Those clowns in the media have hit a new low. With few exceptions, most of them are nothing more than political hacks. And amateur ones at that.

Hurricane Hammers Houston

Anyone care to guess how long it will take the lefties to blame it on Bush? Or perhaps now they will blame it on Sarah. If you believed the articles written by people who call themselves 'journalists' nowadays, you would think she is the antichrist.

So what caused Ike to hit Houston so hard, lefties? Was it Sarah's proposal to drill in ANWR? Or was it because she failed to abort her baby son with Down syndrome?

Oklahoma's OK

If only the rest of the country felt this way:

John McCain is holding a two-to-one lead over Barack Obama in the Republican stronghold state of Oklahoma, according to the first Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters there this election year.
McCain has 63% of the vote versus Obama’s 32%.
Not only does the GOP presidential nominee have the backing of 95% of Republicans, but 41% of Oklahoma Democrats support him, too. Fifty-five percent (55%) of Democrats favor Obama. Unaffiliated voters are nearly evenly divided over the two candidates.

Canadian Green Party Leader Elizabeth May Says 'Canadians are Stupid'

h/t to Kate

Global Warming Justifies Breaking the Law

Up until now, the global warming hoax was largely a harmless lunacy. Reminiscent of the Flat Earth society or those who believe that the Apollo moon landings were staged. But now, some greenpeace terrorists have used the hoax as a justification for vandalizing a coal-fired electric power plant in England:

The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.
Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a "lawful excuse" to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of "lawful excuse" under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.
The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain's green agenda and could encourage further direct action.

And on what authority did the defendants justify the damage? None other than the moonbat-in-chief, James Hansen:

During the eight-day trial, the world's leading climate scientist, Professor James Hansen of Nasa, who had flown from American to give evidence, appealed to the Prime Minister personally to "take a leadership role" in cancelling the plan and scrapping the idea of a coal-fired future for Britain. Last December he wrote to Mr Brown with a similar appeal. At the trial, he called for an moratorium on all coal-fired power stations, and his hour-long testimony about the gravity of the climate danger, which painted a bleak picture, was listened to intently by the jury of nine women and three men.
Professor Hansen, who first alerted the world to the global warming threat in June 1988 with testimony to a US senate committee in Washington, and who last year said the earth was in "imminent peril" from the warming atmosphere, asserted that emissions of CO2 from Kings-north would damage property through the effects of the climate change they would help to cause.
He was one of several leading public figures who gave evidence for the defence, including Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Richmond Park and director of the Ecologist magazine, who similarly told the jury that in his opinion, direct action could be justified in the minds of many people if it was intended to prevent larger crimes being committed.

So why not allow those climate scientists who have not fallen for the hoax to give testimony for the prosecution? How about Viscount Monckton?

I hope we don't end up like this here in the USA.

Heather's pic was giving me the creeps. I had to put something easier on the eyes up on the blog.

Heather Mallick: Socialist Moonbat of the Week

With all the anti-Palin hysteria spewing from the left recently, there have been many strong candidates for Jungle Jim's coveted award of Socialist of the Week. But Heather Mallick, writing in the CBC's website, went to such effort that she deserves to not only win, but win an enhanced title of Socialist Moonbat of the Week.

There is such a wealth of riches in Heather's essay, that I don't know where to begin:

I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right.
So why do it?
It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman. They're unfamiliar with our true natures. Do they think vaginas call out to each other in the jungle night? I mean, I know men have their secret meetings at which they pledge to do manly things, like being irresponsible with their semen and postponing household repairs with glue and used matches. Guys will be guys, obviously.

Where to begin? For one thing, Republicans have more babies than Democrats. Leading me to conclude that if anyone is sexually inadequate, it is the Democrat men.

All my life I have heard the mantra of how the Republicans favor the rich and Democrats favor the poor and middle class. But now we hear derisively that Republicans have the 'white trash vote' sewn up.

I won't quote the entire essay. You can read it for yourself if you have a strong enough stomach. But she does return to the issue of people with lower incomes:

The conventioneers are nothing like the rich men who run the party, and that's the mystery of the hick vote. They'd be much better served by the Democrats. I know Thomas Frank answered this in What's the Matter with Kansas?; I know that red states vote Republican on social issues to give themselves the only self-esteem available to their broken, economically abused existence.

I want to know something, Heather. You have spoken quite derisively of poor people. You refer to them as 'hicks', 'economically abused', and 'white trash'. Yet you try to tell them that they would be better of by voting for people with political beliefs similar to yours. Do you really expect them to believe that you have their best interests at heart when you speak about them like that?

And are you really so surprised when these 'hicks' vote for Bush or McCain rather than Kerry or Obama?

Thomas Sowell Nails the Left ---- Again

I am trying to think of when I have ever disagreed with one word that Thomas Sowell has written. There must be something, but I have yet to read it. In his latest Op-Ed, Dr. Sowell gets to the essence of the problem of why the left are the left.. and why most working-class people aren't:

It is hardly surprising that young people prefer the political left. The only reason for rejecting the left's vision is that the real world in which we live is very different from the world that the left perceives today or envisions for tomorrow.
Most of us learn that from experience-- but experience is precisely what the young are lacking.
"Experience" is often just a fancy word for the mistakes that we belatedly realized we were making, only after the realities of the world made us pay a painful price for being wrong.
Those who are insulated from that pain-- whether by being born into affluence or wealth, or shielded by the welfare state, or insulated by tenure in academia or in the federal judiciary-- can remain in a state of perpetual immaturity.
Individuals can refuse to grow up, especially when surrounded in their work and in their social life by similarly situated and like-minded people.
Even people born into normal lives, but who have been able through talent or luck to escape into a world of celebrity and wealth, can likewise find themselves in the enviable position of being able to choose whether to grow up or not.
Those of us who can recall what it was like to be an adolescent must know that growing up can be a painful transition from the sheltered world of childhood.
No matter how much we may have wanted adult freedom, there was seldom the same enthusiasm for taking on the burdens of adult responsibilities and having to weigh painful trade-offs in a world that hemmed us in on all sides, long after we were liberated from parental restrictions.
Should we be surprised that the strongest supporters of the political left are found among the young, academics, limousine liberals with trust funds, media celebrities and federal judges?

Another homer, hit out of the park.

Another Argument Against Vegetarian Diets

The left, with their hatred of all things good, are often crowing about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet. They ignore the feact that many innocent children have been killed by incompetent parents who foolishly put them on meatless diets.

Now we have evidence that vegetarian diets are also unhealthy for adults. The lack of vitamin B12, which can only be obtained from milk, eggs, or meat, causes brain shrinkage:

A vitamin found in meat, fish and milk may help stave off memory loss in old age, a study has suggested.
Older people with lower than average vitamin B12 levels were more than six times more likely to experience brain shrinkage, researchers concluded.

It may be the case that the B12 deficiency is causing people to become stupid and demented and results in them making poor choices in life such as advocating vegetarian diets or voting for socialist politicians like Obama.

Professor David Smith, who directs the Oxford Project to Investigate Memory and Ageing, said he now planned a trial of B vitamins in the elderly to see if taking them could slow brain shrinkage.
He said: "This study adds another dimension to our understanding of the effects of B vitamins on the brain - the rate of shrinkage of the brain as we age may be partly influenced by what we eat."
Shrinkage has been strongly linked with a higher risk of developing dementia at a later stage and Rebecca Wood, the chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said further research was needed.
"This study suggests that consuming more vitamin B12 through eating meat, fish, fortified cereals or milk as part of a balanced diet might help protect the brain. Liver and shellfish are particularly rich sources of B12.
"Vitamin B12 deficiency is a common problem among elderly people in the UK and has been linked to declining memory and dementia."
Dr Susanne Sorensen, from the Alzheimer's Society said: "Shrinkage is usually associated with the development of dementia.

I shot some more dove on Sunday. I am marinading the breasts in red wine and will roast them for dinner tonight.

Instapunk Hits the Nail on the Head Again

When will the lamestream media jackasses of ABCCBSNBCCNN etc. realize just how far out of touch they are? Instapunk says of them

An ugly metaphor. The MSM is a bloated, rotten hog carcass that is about to burst open in the late summer heat and spill its maggot-riddled guts all over the nation.

Palin Accused of Causing Racial Animosity

Whenever the hatemongers of the left don't like what conservatives or libertarians are doing, yet they can't attack them directly, they accuse them of racism or of causing racial strife. Here's what Mary Mitchell has to say:

During her debut, Palin electrified the Republicans, but she also shook up every registered voter in the 'hood.
Besides mocking the historic breakthrough of Barack Obama emerging as the Democrats' nominee, Palin was relentless in her use of language that reinforces divisions among black and white voters -- particularly pitting small-town people against the rest of us.

Mary, your buddies in the Democrat party and their media lackeys are the ones who started the small-town versus big-town divide by saying that Palin was not qualified to be VP because she came from a small town. Where would you prefer she come from Mary? Some big town like... say Chicago?

And Palin never cut down people who live in big towns. She was merely responding to her critics.

And now this race-baiting jackass Mitchell has taken it a step further by implying that Palin is a racist simply because she defended people who come from small towns. As if there are no blacks who live in small towns.

So you can imagine what black viewers thought as they listened to Palin's acid sarcasm. Frankly, after watching her speak, it's easy to believe that she wouldn't hesitate to use her political power to punish her enemies.

Mary is projecting her thoughts into other people's heads, without bothering to ask any of them what they believe.

Then we get this tired old crap about Palin's brother-in-law, a charge that has been debunked many times:

Gov. Palin is under investigation in Alaska for allegedly trying to get her former brother-in-law fired from his job when he and her sister were going through an ugly divorce.

And then Mary betrays her own prejudice against people in small towns:

And for some of us, Palin reinforces every stereotype, rightly or wrongly, of what we think white people think in those small towns.

The smell of fear coming from the left is positively scary.

Sarah Palin Flamed by the Left for Hunting

I knew that we would hear from some animal-rights wacko about Sarah's hunting. Simon Barnes, writing the the Times onLine:

Sarah Palin is an obvious pseudonym. John McCain's Republican Party running-mate is clearly not a Sarah at all. It's Michael Palin in drag. There is more than a touch of Monty Python in the way that this pseudo-Palin has been launched upon the world - a fact neatly skewered in a letter published in these pages the other day. Margaret Leonard was taken with lines about Mrs Palin's “steadfast belief in the sanctity of life” and adds: “Given the pictures illustrating the piece, I find it extremely hard to believe this.” Palin was posing with the bloody corpses of animals that she had just shot.
Pure Python - a woman pouting at the camera surrounded by dead bears and neatly slotted moose, declaring that everything that lives is holy, and that she believes in the sanctity of life. The more you shoot, the more holy life gets. How can they fail to make her vice-president?

What was it that terrorist Ingrid Newkirk said, some thing like "A dog is a pig is a rat is a boy"? Thats how the founder of PETA feels and apparently so does Simon.

Killing is part of life, all right. I have seen the terrible drama of death in the wild world many times; lions killing slim and lovely antelopes called lechwe, leopards killing still lovelier impala, wild dogs tearing Bambi into pieces. The sight is undeniably thrilling, as well as being many other things. Life and death: questions don't get much more bigger, especially for the ones doing the dying.
But a carnivore that kills for food still represents an aspect of the sanctity of life - or at least, of the processes that make life work. Popping off a moose for fun seems to me a complete denial of these principles.

But of course, Simon doesn't mention the fact that predators in the wild also get a kick out of hunting. If he doesn't believe that animals enjoy hunting as much as humans, he should come watch my dogs hunt. You will never see a more joyous creature.

A Lefty's Worst Nightmare

Laughable

Jann Wenner, the Obama-supporting publisher of US Magazine was just interviewed on Fox. He was specifically asked what "Lies" are referred to in the title story of the above issue. His response was that they referred to the leftwing bloggers who lied about Sarah's daughter Bristol being the mother of the baby Trig.

Ha! The way the cover is worded, it makes it sound like Sarah was telling lies.

How Low Will They Go?

The latest we are hearing is the Democrats have stolen Sarah Palin's social security number and have released it to the public. They did the same to Michael Steele a few years ago.

Don't be surprised if these losers start making threats against Sarah's children.

Fred and Joe

I just got through watching Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman speak at the Republican convention.

Thompson was excellent and inspiring. He spoke eloquently of McCain's tribulations as a POW in Vietnam. He could have also mentioned how many of the Democrats were were actively favoring the brutal Ho Chi Minh regime, but he didn't.

Lieberman made a direct appeal to Democrats and independents to vote for McCain. I hope it works.

More on the Left's Hysterical Fear of Palin

Andrew Bolt has a good essay on Palin Derangement Syndrome (PDS)

IF only Sarah Palin were just some famous guy's wife.
Then, as with Hillary Clinton, the women's groups and activists could love and pet her like a victim.
But the Governor of Alaska has torn up the script. Confounded the simpering stereotype.
Here is a caribou-hunting, moose-gutting, corruption-busting, oil-drilling, anti-abortion, beauty-pageant queen whose husband's greatest claim to fame is to win the world's most famous race for snow machines.
Her power is entirely her own. And it's the equal of any man's.
No wonder she's unleashed the fury of the castrated Left, which in fear has attacked her and her 17-year-old daughter with the vilest - and most misanthropic - smear campaign you'll have ever seen in politics.

How very true. The left believe that women should be shrill victims of the white capitalist patriarchy, and have their uterii scraped regularly. How Sarah could have five children, one with Down syndrome, is beyond their comprehension.

And there's one other advantage Palin has. Her critics, largely in the media, still underestimate her and, once again, underestimate her as a woman. How she's exposed the inner chauvinist of many of the Left, accustomed to thinking of female politicians as symbols, not individuals.

I can't wait to see Sarah debate blowhard Joe Biden.

Dove Opener a Gas

While all of you have been fretting over how many grandchildren Sarah Palin has, or wondering whether you will be able to swim the backstroke down Bourbon street, I have been up to more important pursuits: Hunting Doves!

We hunted a stock pond. Someone left a dead bull near there and it stunk abominably. We got there just at dawn and saw almost no birds until about 8:30 am. Then they started coming for a drink.

And they came.... and they came.... and they came...

We had one hell of a nice hunt. I got ten birds and my friend shot a limit. I brought Rocky with me to retrieve and he did good. Did several water retrieves and also blind retrieves on both land and water.

The only thing I didn't like about the hunt was my Browning 20 gauge semiauto. I gave it a thorough cleaning yesterday and it jammed after shooting less than one box of shells. Fortunately I also brought my Weatherby 12 gauge O/U and it performed admirably. I have had it with that Browning jamming on me. It has ruined several hunts by doing so, including two dove openers.

Want to Know the Latest Sports News? Ask the VP

Rangers 4, Celtic 2

Our guys beat the terrorists! Read about it.

Sarah, showing how she will wear Biden's pelt about her neck after she finishes debating him.

Vikings Endorse Sarah Palin

Hat Tip to American Thinker

Scholars Question Palin Credentials

You knew this crap was coming. A bunch of leftwing O'Bama supporters claim that Palin's credentials are the least for any major party ticket

John McCain was aiming to make history with his pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and historians say he succeeded.

So unconventional was McCain’s choice that it left students of the presidency literally “stunned,” in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. “Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who’s of presidential caliber,” said Goldstein.
“I think she is the most inexperienced person on a major party ticket in modern history,” said presidential historian Matthew Dallek.
That includes Spiro T. Agnew, Richard Nixon’s first vice president, who was governor of a medium-sized state, Maryland, for two years, and before that, executive of suburban Baltimore County, the expansive jurisdiction that borders and exceeds in population the city of Baltimore.
It also includes George H.W. Bush’s vice president, Indiana Sen. Dan Quayle, who had served in the House and Senate for 12 years before taking office. And it also includes New York Rep. Geraldine Ferraro, who served three terms in the House before Walter Mondale chose her in 1984 as the first woman candidate on a major party ticket.
“It would be one thing if she had only been governor for a year and a half, but prior to that she had not had major experience in public life,” said Dallek of Palin. “The fact that he would have to go to somebody who is clearly unqualified to be president makes Obama look like an elder statesman.”
And Alaska is a much smaller state than Illinois, the political base of Barack Obama, whom Republicans have repeatedly criticized for being inexperienced, having served nearly four years in the U.S. Senate after eight in the Illinois state Senate.

“Not to belittle Alaska, but it’s different than the basket of issues you deal with in big, dynamic states.” Dallek said.
Palin has no experience in national office. Before becoming governor in December 2006, she served as a council member and mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, which had a population of slightly more than 5,000 during her time in office.

I see. So the fact that Palin was a city councilwoman and then mayor of Wasilla, and also a member of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, means that she "had not had major experience in public life".

And the fact that she comes from Alaska, population of 670,000 (47th out of 50) makes her less qualified than Joe Biden from Delaware with a population of 853,000 (45th out of 50).

And then we get the coup de grace

“If she had been around for two terms as governor — or been a senator — it would have been an incredible choice,” said historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. “Who else could he have found who appealed to the conservative base … and as someone who was a reformer?”

I just love it when they quote that plagiarist, Doris Kearns Goodwin. She probably admires Biden because he is also a plagiarist.

There is a strong aroma of fear coming from the left. They are afraid of Palin. Very, very afraid.

There Ya Go, Democrats!

The Democrats are running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They are desperately grasping for anything to discredit McCain's brilliant selection of Sarah Palin. Get a load of what Jonathan Alter, a 'journalist' who is essentially a mouthpice for the Democrats has to say:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's debut in Dayton on Friday was good political theater. She delivered a pitch-perfect speech (presumably written by McCain's ghost writer, Mark Salter) with a panache that suggests she could be a natural on the national stage.

Jonathan, can you name one politician, Democrat or Republican, who doesn't use speechwriters? Only when its McCain's running mate are they referred to as a 'ghost writer'.

"What is it exactly that the vice president does all day?" Palin offhandedly asked CNBC anchor Larry Kudlow in July. Kudlow explained that the job has become more important in recent years. Palin knows the energy crisis well, even if her claim on "Charlie Rose" that Alaska's untapped resources can significantly ease it is unsupported by the facts. But what does she know about Iranian nukes, health care or the future of entitlement programs? And that's just a few of the 20 or so national issues on which she will be expected to show basic competence. The McCain camp will have to either let her wing it based on a few briefing memos (highly risky) or prevent her from taking questions from reporters (a confession that she's unprepared). Either way, she's going to belly-flop at a time when McCain can least afford it.

You think she's going to bellyflop, eh Jonathan? Please go ahead and think that. Misunderestimate her as far as you can. Ask Michael Moore to make a movie about her.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!

Let the Whining Begin

Every Republican I have spoken with today has been ecstatic about the selection of Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate. And I am hearing the Democrats cry like babies about it, stressing her "inexperience". The biggest whine of all comes from Peter Scobilic at the New Republic entitled "An Astonishingly Arrogant VP Selection"

It may be John McCain's birthday, but it seems like he's the one giving out gifts today. The selection of Palin doesn't simply, as others have pointed out, undermine the notion that Obama is too inexperienced to be president; it gives Obama the chance to actually take the edge on national security while making John McCain's age a central issue of the campaign.

Could Sarah Palin conceivably manage this task? Her tenure as a small-town mayor and Alaska governor has given her no foreign policy experience whatsoever. True, Obama has little foreign policy experience either, as McCain and others have pointed out again and again. But during his time in national office he has demonstrated a clear commitment to the most pressing issues in American foreign policy. Take nuclear proliferation. Early in his tenure on the Foreign Relations Committee, Obama joined Richard Lugar's efforts to secure weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union. Obama's first trip abroad as senator was to Russia and Ukraine to learn more about those efforts firsthand. In 2007, he cosponsored legislation with Senator Chuck Hagel calling for ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and negotiation of a fissile material cut-off treaty. And he was the first major presidential candidate to embrace the steps laid out in 2007 by Sam Nunn, Bill Perry, George Shultz, and Henry Kissinger through which the United States would fight nuclear terrorism, reinvigorate the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and ultimately eliminate nuclear weapons.

I see no accomplishments by O'Bama in this list. Scobilic's reference to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty is particularly amusing. Does he believe that a country like North Korea or Iran, who are desperate to acquire nuclear weapons, could give a rat's ass about that treaty?

Most of what I have heard from O'Bama concerning foreign policy has shown little insight nor knowledge of foreign affairs. He merely repeats left-wing mantras like "Bush went against the wishes of our allies by invading Iraq", ignoring the fact that the governments of the UK, Holland, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Poland, Rumania, Albania, Australia, and Japan supported the invasion. He keeps claiming we made a mistake by invading, and says he will withdraw our troops, ignoring the fact that the war is largely over.

No doubt Michelle is right that the Obama-Biden team will have to be careful attacking Palin's frighteningly thin resume and tenuous grasp of foreign policy. But surely a campaign that has been charged with being too naïve to manage rogue state dictators can have a bit of fun with the idea that a one-time Miss Congeniality could effectively face down Vladimir Putin, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or Kim Jong Il. Surely, Obama's "eight is enough" quip ought to apply not only to President Bush's economic and foreign policy travesties, but to the elevation of mediocrity that has characterized his appointment of Michael Brown to FEMA and his nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. And surely we can agree that if the McCain campaign was desperate to transparently court voters put off by Hillary Clinton's loss, there is no dearth of women with far greater intellectual, executive, and political abilities--abilities that would allow them to assume the presidency in a heartbeat.

Now this is getting really funny. Scobilic has no clue of what Palin has accomplished in Alaska. She took on a corrupt political clique in her own party and came out on top. That says a lot more about her ability to deal with enemies than O'Bama's pledge to meet with dictators like Ahmadinijad or Chavez without preconditions.

Sarah Palin!

The more I learn about her, the more I like her. Read about how she locked horns with corrupt politicians in her own party, and won the battle.

I give McCain full credit for having the guts and intelligence to pick her. I hope Sarah becomes president some day. She would make a much better president than McCain, Obama, or that corrupt sourpuss with the thunder thighs.

Sarah Palin?

I don't know much about her, but my initial reaction is that she is a very good pick for VP. This might even be a slam dunk for McCain.

The Republican party needs fresh faces and fresh ideas. Sarah may be just what the doctor ordered.

One thing we know for sure: Leftwing journalists will be all over Alaska during the next few days. They will be talking to anyone who has had any dealings with Sarah at all. If she has any dirt under her fingernails, we will read about it on the front page of the New York Times. Contrast that with the media ignoring serious questions about O'Bama's relationship with terrorist William Ayers.

Here's Something O'Bama Doesn't Want You to Hear

Podcast of Stanley Kurtz on Milt Rosenberg's show on WGN.

Second Quarter GDP Growth Rate Revised to 3.3%

You know that Barack and his fellow socialists are unhappy about this:

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. economy was much stronger in the spring than first thought because of better exports and less inventory liquidation by businesses, according to a government report that surprised economists.

Gross domestic product rose at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% annual rate April through June, the Commerce Department said Thursday in a new, revised estimate of second-quarter GDP.
Originally, the government had estimated second-quarter 2008 GDP climbed 1.9%. First-quarter GDP increased 0.9%.

Democrats want the economy to falter, so they can increase their government intervention and make it even worse.

O'Bama Attempting to Stifle Criticism

As I have often previously asserted, the left do not believe in free speech. They will use whatever methods they can to stiffle dissent. That is why O'Bama is trying to shut up Stanley Kurtz on WGN radio:

In a surprising attempt to stifle broadcast criticism of its candidate, the presidential campaign of freshman Illinois senator Barack Obama is organizing supporters to confront Chicago's WGN radio station for having a critic of the Illinois Democrat on its main evening discussion program.

"WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears," Obama's campaign wrote in an e-mail sent to supporters. "He's currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. (Wednesday night) pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers."

But WGN offered to let the O'Bama campaign have their say:

Christenson also stressed that the Obama campaign was invited to send a representative to appear on the show to balance the discussion of the newly-opened documents. But the campaign headquarters just down Michigan Avenue from the station refused the request. This is not the first time Obama's organization has sought to steer supporters to influence a broadcast outlet airing criticism.

So why didn't you send someone to answer these 'lies, distortions, and manipulations', Barack? There is a whiff of fascism coming from your direction.

Hey Barack... Is there some reason you don't want people to be able to see this?

Bias Tobias

I shouldn't be surprised at all by this, but the brazenness of the leftwing media bias still has me floored. I was watching Bill Clinton's speech at the Democrat convention and then listened to Keith Olberman, Tom Brokaw and Chris Matthews comment on it.

They made no reference at all to the numerous lies, hallf-truths, distortions, and hypocrisy in the speech. All they had for Bill was the strongest type of sycophantic ass-kissing I have ever heard from a journalist.

Brokaw et al are not journalists at all. Merely court jesters for the Democrat party.

The Oinkubus Speaks!

Her Thighness is due to speak at the Democrat convention one hour from now. I located an advance copy of her speech:

I I I I I I I I I

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Me Me Me Myself

Universal Healthcare

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Me and bill

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

chelsea

I I I I I I I I I I I I

Anybody want some tips on trading cattle futures?

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Oh, I almost forgot... vote for obama.....

Me Me Me Me Me Me Me Me

Housing Prices Still Falling....Will They Fall More?

We are constantly hearing wailing and gnashing of teeth from the left coast, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and the northeast about how far housing prices have fallen and their fears that they may fall further

According to the indices, home prices in 10 major metropolitan areas fell by a record 17% from a year earlier. In 20 major metropolitan areas, home prices dropped 16% from a year earlier — another record drop.

The article goes on to say how far prices have dropped in some of the markets that were the hottest just a few years ago. Las Vegas dropped 28% from June 2007 to June 2008. Los Angeles 25%. Miami 28%. San Diego 24%. San Francisco 23%. Will they drop more?

I should hope so. It is not healthy for a city's housing prices to be so high that middle income people and young people cannot afford decent housing. When that happens, it turns the community into a third-world type of situation with an upper class and a lower class, but not much in between.

And the young people will be forced to move to the red states like Oklahoma where they might....*gasp*.... end up voting Republican. We can't have that, can we?