March 2008 Archives
(H/T to Ed Morrissey at Hot Air (where my trackbacks no longer work - *sigh*))
Ed points out an article in the Telegraph for the "selected, not elected" file:
Plans for Al Gore to take the Democratic presidential nomination as the saviour of a bitterly divided party are being actively discussed by senior figures and aides to the former vice-president.The bloody civil war between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has left many Democrats convinced that neither can deliver a knockout blow to the other and that both have been so damaged that they risk losing November's election to the Republican nominee, John McCain.
Former Gore aides now believe he could emerge as a compromise candidate acceptable to both camps at the party's convention in Denver during the last week of August.
Two former Gore campaign officials have told The Sunday Telegraph that a scenario first mapped out by members of Mr Gore's inner circle last May now has a sporting chance of coming true.
I find this to be an unlikely scenario. The screams from both Clinton and Obama (and their supporters) would be deafening if this were serious. And I wonder how the voters in 48 states would feel about getting the Florida/Michigan treatment when their votes don't mean squat at the convention.
Still, it's nice to dream - having Gore run again would be delicious. Videos of his bearded, pot-bellied unhinged rants against the U.S. after losing in 2000 would flow freely. The exaggerations and downright falsehoods of his "award-winning" movie (along with his hypocritical gas-guzzling lifestyle) would be discussed again and again. And his holier-than-thou, condescending tone would once again fill the airways to alienate voters of all stripes.
Please, Al. Run. Run.
Nothing really new in stories like this one, but they're still fun to read:
Party fears tight Obama-Clinton finishWASHINGTON - For all their delight in soaring voter registration and strong poll numbers, some Democrats fear the contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton might have a nightmarish end, which could wreck a promising election year.
Enjoy.
Just in case you haven't seen it and don't want to mess around with torrent, I've decided to host a copy here:
I wonder where he gets ideas like that? Certainly he didn't hear it in church...
Turns out Hillary wasn't lying on this one. She actually was involved.
Clinton twice addressed audiences of schoolchildren at Belfast's Musgrave Park, in September 1998 and May 1999. She declared that Protestant and Catholic youths must learn to play together but needed a safe place to do it — and helped plant a tree on the spot where a special cross-community playground would be created. Belfast did have other parks.
There. Don't all of you Hillary supporters feel better? Good. Please don't read any further. The next paragraph is for the rest of us.
Nearly a decade later, Musgrave Park remains as it was: a well-groomed, rather lonely place sandwiched between a hospital and a highway, where adults jog and walk their dogs amid birdsong and spring flowers. The Belfast group touting the "Play for Peace Fund" silently shelved the idea within months although Clinton often referred to the project as an inspiration to a divided world.
So inspired that they ditched the project. She even fails at playground politics.
Update: Welcome Real Clear Politics readers!
This is your irony of the day. If you don't see it, I can offer no help for you.
Dean laments the fighting between Hillary and Barack as "too personal".
Also, there's this for the "selected, not elected" file:
"You bring both sides together and say, `Don't you think it's time that the two campaigns made a deal on how we're going to do this?'" Dean said.
It's the Christian thing to do, really. After railing against rich people for 30 years, he's decided it's time to walk a mile in their shoes - you know, just to gain some perspective:
Via AP/Yahoo:
DENVER - Republican John McCain launched his first television ad of the general election Friday, a spot that shows him imprisoned in Vietnam and calls him "the American president Americans have been waiting for."As Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton continue to battle for their's party's nomination, the Republican Party's presidential pick hopes to set the tone for the campaign and start defining himself before Democrats have a chance to do it.
He's only going to run it in New Mexico for now, presumably because he doesn't want to start competing for attention with the nasty bickering from Clinton and Obama just yet. Here it is, though:
Not bad - I think it's a good start. If the Dems continue to act like children, it will make a nice contrast in tone for folks to see. He can't stay positive forever, though. When Obama finally gets past Hillary (assuming conventional wisdom pans out) he's going to go negative right away, and the DNC won't wait that long - Dean loves attack ads too much. I'm looking forward to seeing how McCain responds when the mud starts flying.
Added: Here's another small sign of things to come. Although the article linked above is about a new McCain ad, look at the picture AP (who has been in the tank for Obama for some time) chose to accompany it:
They just can't help themselves, can they?
Update: I bet AP got a few emails from the McCain campaign. The picture has now changed:
Got a full schedule, so may not post until this evening.
In the meantime, why not visit a few of the blogs listed on my blogroll?
A question about the Lewinsky scandal surprised Chelsea Clinton on the campaign trail yesterday:
INDIANAPOLIS - Chelsea Clinton had a quick retort Tuesday when asked whether her mother's credibility had been hurt during the Monica Lewinsky scandal."Wow, you're the first person actually that's ever asked me that question in the, I don't know maybe, 70 college campuses I've now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business," Clinton said during a campaign visit for her mother, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Much as I like Michelle Malkin, I have to disagree with her assessment. There's plenty about Hillary to pick on without asking Chelsea this type of question just to watch her squirm. I'm not saying Michelle's wrong, mind you. It's just one of those lines I would prefer not be crossed.
In the interest of disclosure, though, I should let you know that there was a similar situation in my family (except my parents were not famous and they wound up getting divorced over it). So maybe I'm just unable to see this objectively.
H/T Hot Air (where video is available)
After a week of silence, it seems that Hillary is unwilling to let the Rev. Wright story fade away:
"He would not have been my pastor," Clinton said. "You don't choose your family, but you choose what church you want to attend."
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark if she keeps the pressure on.
Obama responded in his customary way - by sending someone else out to do it:
"After originally refusing to play politics with this issue, it's disappointing to see Hillary Clinton's campaign sink to this low in a transparent effort to distract attention away from the story she made up about dodging sniper fire in Bosnia. The truth is, Barack Obama has already spoken out against his pastor's offensive comments and addressed the issue of race in America with a deeply personal and uncommonly honest speech."
I wonder - if Obama had not tossed Grandma under the bus, would the speech have been just "personal" instead of "deeply personal"?
The Reiddler is waxing mysterious about the Democrat primary.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
Asked about it last week, Reid said he remains convinced the nominee will be decided well before the August national convention. He wore a serene and mysterious smile.But Reid isn't one for lengthy explanations. The conversation went like this:
Question: Do you still think the Democratic race can be resolved before the convention?
Reid: Easy.Q: How is that?
Reid: It will be done.
Q: It just will?
Reid: Yep.
Q: Magically?
Reid: No, it will be done. I had a conversation with Governor Dean (Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean) today. Things are being done.
I just want all of you on the left to remember this, and this phrase:
Selected, not elected
Enjoy!
Considering the success and popularity of the Mars rover program, you'd think they could find another area to trim. Perhaps some enterprising NASA fans could help them find the $4 mil (PDF) needed to keep the rover alive.
Hey, I wonder how Dr. Death feels about the rights of robots to be "put to sleep"?
By now, most of you are surely aware that Hillary made up the story about dodging sniper fire out of whole cloth. Her campaign offers no reasonable explanation to accompany their characterizations of "misstatement" and "minor blip". Had Hillary ever landed in a dangerous region under hostile fire (or the threat of same), they would have been quick to trot the details out as proof that Hillary simply remembered a detail or two incorrectly but her underlying story was indeed true.
Since that hasn't happened, we're left with the curtain completely pulled back in a way we rarely see when it comes to our politicians. So the blogosphere is having fun with the somewhat threadbare (in this case, anyway) "misspoke" language being utilized by Hillary's campaign. My favorite comes from John Hinderaker at Powerline:
It Lacked the Added Virtue of Being True
Follow the link for video of the CBS report that hammered the stake through Hillary's tale. Adding additional comic interest is that this helps Obama, whose resume is even thinner than Hillary's.
Via Fox News:
Women, Want a Healthy Marriage? Marry Man Uglier Than You, Study SaysThe best marriages are those where women marry men who are less attractive than themselves, research has found.
Psychologists who studied newlyweds found men who were better-looking than their wives were more likely to be unhappy and have negative feelings about their marriage.
In couples where the wife is more attractive, both partners tended to be very content.
Well, yeah - at least it works that way in my home. TB looks way better than me, and we're fairly happy.
Via AP/Yahoo:
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000. The grim milestone came on a day when at least 61 people were killed across the country.
Well, I guess we know what the topic of the week is going to be for the Democrat candidates. Expect more dishonest tripe from both as Obama claims his ignorance-based stance on the war shows better judgment than that of those who actually had access to intel, and watch Hillary spin like a top as she regrets basing her Iraq war vote on facts instead of opinion polls of the moonbat wing of her party. And both will attack each other on which plan for surrender waves the white flag faster and higher.
Lost in all of this will be the troops, some of whom have made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom while the left continues to actively undermine the morale and mission of those that remain.
As a military retiree, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the men and women currently serving their country. Your tireless devotion, courage, and professionalism are appreciated.
Via AP/Yahoo:
WASHINGTON - People should throw away cantaloupes from a Honduran manufacturer believed to be linked to a salmonella outbreak, the government said Saturday.The Food and Drug Administration issued the alert for the melons from Agropecuaria Montelibano. Grocers are advised to remove from their stock any cantaloupes from this company. People should check with stores to see if recently purchased cantaloupes came from Honduras.
So far, 50 people have become sickened in 16 states and nine have become ill in Canada after eating the cantaloupes. No deaths have been reported, although 14 people have been hospitalized, the FDA said.
The government also is seeking to detain all cantaloupes shipped to the United States by Agropecuaria Montelibano.
States where folks have become ill are Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
Via Fox News:
“No one should start a ministry with lynching, no one should end their ministry with lynching. The lynching was national news. The RNN, the Roman News Network, was reporting it and NPR, National Publican Radio had it on the radio. The Jerusalem Post and the Palestine Times all wanted exclusives, they searched out the young ministers, showed up unannounced at their houses, tried to talk with their families, called up their friends, wanted to get a quote on how do you feel about the lynching?” he said.The Sunday services made clear that the criticism surrounding Wright has not softened the church’s sermons, and that the controversy has in a way served as a rallying cry for this 8,000-member congregation.
“If I was Ice Cube I’d say it a little differently — You picked the wrong folk to mess with,” Moss said to an enthusiastic congregation, standing up during much of the sermon.
Yep, that should end the controversy.
Update: Video added:
Also see: Gateway Pundit - Obama's Church: Jeremiah Wright Was Lynched & Crucified!!
Erica Jong (author of Fear of Flying), on Huffington Post:
We have two great candidates--one a hard working, never give up eager beaver, and one an inspiring, heart-leapingly brilliant stallion.
A beaver and a stallion? At first I wondered if the article was satire, but considering the overwhelmingly depressing and humorless tone at the Huffington Post and among the left in general...
Here's more:
the sooner they bring the beaver and the stallion together, the better off we'll all be.
and she ends with this:
So let's stop talking about race and gender and let the beaver and the stallion both serve our country--in their own inimitable ways.
With frightening imagery like this, Ms. Jong could have been a top seller of horror novels.
From the Chinese government, no less:
China lashed out Sunday at critics of its crackdown on Tibetan protesters, describing U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as "habitually bad tempered"...
While the Chinese score few points in any other area, on this one they seem to have it nailed.
- Fixed a couple of links in the Blog Roll. Please take the time to visit a few of my friends.
- Due to complaints, I got rid of Snap Shots. That's the service that made the popups when you rolled the mouse cursor over a link.
- From my family to yours - have a safe and happy Easter tomorrow!
Cheers!
Via AP/Yahoo:
And Richardson told of the time, during one of the many Democratic debates, when his attention wandered and he didn't hear the question that came at him. Obama, then his rival, bailed him out by whispering to him that it was about Hurricane Katrina.
"He could have thrown me under the bus," Richardson cracked, "but he stood behind me."
I suspect Grandma would be grateful her grandson has limits. Though had he done so, Bill, rest assured it would have been a very nice bus:
Featured at the Bangkok International Fashion Week:
I'm sure Madonna will be grateful that this look is back in style. I'm not so sure anyone else will be.
I missed this a week ago when it broke:
Retirement home tries a second renovation to rid itself of swastika shapeDECATUR, Ala. -- From the ground, the Wesley Acres Methodist retirement home looks like any other building. But fly over in an airplane, and the outline is unmistakable: It's one big swastika.
Prompted by complaints from a Jewish activist, the agency that owns the government-funded building is planning to alter its shape to disguise the Nazi symbol. The move comes just a few years after a $1 million design modification meant to quiet similar complaints from a U.S. senator.
And indeed, it does look similar to a swastika:
I have no problem with Jewish folks being offended by the symbol associated with the holocaust. What makes this a little over the top for me is the claim of conspiracy from Avrahaum Segol:
The latest push to rid the landscape of the broken cross shape follows complaints from Avrahaum Segol, the same Israeli-American researcher who last fall helped publicize a swastika-shaped barracks at Naval Base Coronado in San Diego. The Navy said it would spend about $600,000 to alter the building, which opened in the 1960s, but the work has not yet been done.Segol calls the Alabama retirement home a "sister swastika" to the building in California and says they were both part of a tangled, government-funded conspiracy to honor Nazis.
Segol claims the swastika shape of Wesley Acres in Decatur pays homage to the German scientists who came to nearby Huntsville after World War II and designed the rockets that put Americans on the moon.
Was there a conspiracy? Who knows? Here's the barracks in San Diego:
Unrelated to Mr. Segol, here's a town in Belgium that had to change it's fountain for the same reason:
Again, I don't question the offensiveness of the symbol. But if we've come to the point that folks have to scour satellite photos to find something offensive, maybe we all need to take a minute to reflect on how far we've come that there's so little left to pick at.
I'll admit it - I like Starbucks. Not many of us righties do, mostly due to the reputation they have as a gathering place for liberals. I don't care. I like the coffee. That Starbucks is a lefty cultural phenomenon means little to me when I'm in the mood for an overly-roasted caffeine fix.
They used to have a really rich chocolate drink that TB really liked, but when they removed it from the menu she soured on Starbucks. So now I only go when I travel.
I almost always tip when I go - yes, the coffee is expensive, but that's hardly the fault of the baristas - they don't set the price. So naturally I was drawn to this headline yesterday:
Starbucks ordered to pay back tips
Could it be that the tip jars are emptied into Starbuck's coffers and the poor baristas are denied? No, it's even worse - the shift supervisor who slings venti drips and dry pastries right next to the lesser-paid baristas has been benefiting from the tip jar as well:
SAN DIEGO - A Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered Starbucks Corp. to pay its California baristas more than $100 million in back tips and interest that the coffee chain paid to shift supervisors.San Diego Superior Court Judge Patricia Cowett also issued an injunction that prevents Starbucks' shift supervisors from sharing in future tips, saying state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities.
I might have a little sympathy if the supervisors sat in the back office browsing the web while the baristas slaved over a hot espresso machine, and maybe in some places they do. But the stores I usually frequent have a small staff. From the outside looking in, supervisors appear to be baristas with additional duties. If someone out there who works as Starbucks has a different perspective, please feel free to chime in. I'm by no means unpersuadable.
But we all tend to draw on personal experience when possible, so here's where I come from. While I was still active duty in the USAF, I had a string of second jobs. One was pizza delivery - a job where the employee expects that much of their income will be derived from tips. On nights when we were shorthanded on drivers (or just plain swamped), the shift supervisor (and sometimes the manager) would fire up their Corollas and deliver as well. I don't recall any of the regular drivers whining about lost tips or asking for a share, and I never heard the boss offering to forgo tips.
Now, I know that it might be a little different than having a communal tip jar, but isn't the underlying principle the same? The customer at Starbucks expects the folks serving the coffee to share the tips, if the supervisor is serving alongside the baristas, why should he/she be excluded from the spoils? Isn't it possible that some of the tips were intended to reward service provided by the supervisor?
"...state law prohibits managers and supervisors from sharing in employee gratuities." This one has me curious as well - if, during a rush, a supervisor waits tables in a restaurant, does he have to refuse tips (or give them away to the "employees")? Or does this only apply when there's a tip jar? I can understand the intent to prevent supervisors from skimming tips they didn't earn, but can't there be some circumstances where the supervisor is entitled to tips he/she has directly earned?
I expect that the real harm done to Starbucks won't be the $100 million award. It will be from the supervisors who will now warm a chair in the back room instead of helping out at the counter. Service will suffer, and the baristas may have fewer tips as a result.
Added thoughts: What are baristas paid, anyway? Do they get 8-9 bucks an hour, or a sub-minimum "waitress wage"? Are their hours held back to a small number in order to avoid the baggage of full-time employees? And all the same questions about the supervisors as well. Would the answers change my view? Maybe - although the argument for supervisors to be less involved at the counter still gets stonger as sympathy for the baristas' claim to tips increases.
Welcome InstaPundit readers! And thanks again, Glenn. Are shift supervisors entitled to tips or just greedy? Feel free to join the conversation!
Clarification: The story specifies shift supervisors, not managers. If anyone stops by who knows otherwise, please chime in. But I assume that a shift supervisor is as I've observed - someone who's job description includes barista plus some additional duties, like locking up and putting away the money, etc. And what do you think of this kind of thing outside of California, where there may not be laws as specific? Are communal tips an entitlement for the lowest paid workers regardless of who provides the tippable service? Should a company be able to set rules regarding tips? Join in!
In the state of Michigan, Democrats want their delegates seated in the primary. While there's virtually no solution that would please everyone, some would be worse than others. Here's the most idiotic I've seen thus far:
Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, an Obama supporter and former presidential candidate, promoted the idea of evenly splitting the delegates between Obama and Clinton. "The best outcome is to come to an arrangement where the delegates are apportioned fairly between Senators Obama and Clinton, so the Michigan delegation can participate fully in the Denver convention," he said in a statement.
"Don't bother thinking for yourselves, Michigan - we'll tell you how to vote" somehow doesn't seem very democratic. Sen. Dodd has an odd understanding of participating fully, eh?
Via Hot Air:
Indeed. In other Obama/Wright news, Mike Huckabee has weighed in on the side of Wright. He thinks we should cut Wright some slack because Wright was just "caught up in the emotion" and lived through racism many years ago. Here's the video:
Of course, Wright wasn't railing against past racism, but current society. If you can't be with the one you blame, then blame the one you're with.
I didn't comment on the Obama speech, I was at work when it was broadcast and many other bloggers said mostly what needed to be said. In short, though, I think the pattern we're seeing emerge from Obama on this subject is fairly clear - a black person can dish out anti-American and racist tripe, even while in an official position of spiritual mentorship where his words are given more credence, and it's forgivable cause it's weighed against all the good that person's done. Besides, it's the fault of white folks who committed acts of racism in the past. It's like there's a special strain of Tourettes Syndrome affecting people of color, they just can't help it. Personal responsibility plays no part in the process. Oh, and it's also ok to teach these beliefs to children.
On the other hand, if you're one of the "rich white people" like Don Imus - then you deserve anything and everything that a vengeful nation can dish out. If your life is completely ruined, so much the better.
Is it wrong for me to feel that this is harmful to people of all races?
Good for a few laughs - check the expressions when they get hit:
Street FightObama and Hillary fight it out in hand-to-hand combat. |
| Play this free game now!! |
Mostly because Obama is blocking it - after all, he gains by disenfranchising the voters in Michigan and Florida because he doesn't run the risk of something going horribly wrong resulting in Hillary walking away with lots of gap-closing delegates.
The reason something might go wrong for Obama in Michigan is that Dem voters in large numbers (up to 72,000 Dems, and 247,000 Independents) voted in the Republican primary. This predates the famous Rush voters in Texas, BTW. Back then, Dems were all about tinkering with our candidate choices, now it might be the main reason that Michigan doesn't get a do-over:
LANSING, Mich. - One of the sticking points holding up a possible do-over election in Michigan is a rule that would ban anyone who voted in the Republican presidential primary from voting again.That ban would apply even to Democrats or independents who asked for a GOP ballot because Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major candidate left on the Jan. 15 Democratic ballot.
Obama's campaign has said they're reviewing the re-vote proposal and refuse to comment further.
I expect them to still be reviewing it when the clock runs out. Right now, Obama has the nomination almost sewn up - add a couple of populous states and increasing Obama negatives and it could be a much stronger Hillary come convention-time. And those banned cross-over voters were likely Obama supporters whose absence would help Hillary.
It takes true audacity to take away the hope of over a million voters in Michigan just to further your own political ambitions, eh, Obama?
Holiday Inn Express may make you smarter, but shacking up with an extra-marital sweetie is better at Days Inn, according to the newly sworn-in Gov. David Paterson. He recommended it to his staff as well:
As part of that relationship, Paterson said, he and the other woman sometimes stayed at an upper West Side hotel — the Days Inn at Broadway and W. 94th St.He said members of his Albany legislative staff often used the same hotel when they visit the city.
Why? Convenience and price are apparently the answer. I checked the rates of the two discount hotels. $188.10/night for Days Inn vs. $228.00 for Holiday Inn Express (neither property offered "nooner" or hourly rates). Clearly the best choice for a penny-pinching Lt. Governor. As for convenience:
"It's convenient since it's only four subway stops from my Harlem office," Paterson said.
The versatility of Days Inn doesn't stop there, though. Once the affair has ended, it's a terrific place to patch things up with the ol' ball and chain:
He and his wife went to the West Side Days Inn when they were trying to rekindle the romance in their marriage, he said.They did so after a marriage counselor he used recommended they introduce "new and exciting things" into their relationship, Paterson said, and so they could be alone and away from their children.
New and exciting indeed. Here's a view of a typical room at Days Inn:
The effect of this endorsement on the highly competitive mid-priced hotel market remains to be seen, though, as Holiday Inn Express has the endorsement of former Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee:
Days Inn is part of Wyndham Worldwide (stock symbol - WYN) which closed at $19.25 (-1.42) yesterday. Holiday Inn Express is part of the UK-based IHG, and is currently trading at 746.00p (+10.00p). dontgointothelight.com is not publishing this post as a stock recommendation.
It's only fitting that with all the criticism that Obama's only qualification for office is the ability to give speeches, he responds to his first major PR crisis with... yet another speech:
According to Politico:
Barack Obama will give a major speech on "the larger issue of race in this campaign," he told reporters in Monaca, PA just now.
He could, you know, fess up that he knew all along that Wright had extreme racist views. But I'm with Gateway Pundit on this this one. It's far more likely that Obama will infer that anyone who finds the Rev. Wright's sermons repugnant are just simply racist.
Here's something of interest regarding the upcoming Pennsylvania primary:
On March 17, 2008 at the Urban Education Foundation - 4601 Market St., Philadelphia, PA - at 10:00 a.m., a panel of community leaders and elected officials who embrace Presidential Candidate Senator Barack Obama's message of inclusion and empowerment will convene a press conference to announce the date and scope of an upcoming free tax clinic targeting those Philadelphians (earning between $3,000-8,750) who traditionally do not file for taxes. This free clinic which will take place in early April at the offices of Solutions for Progress, a progressive public policy technology company providing services that directly assist low and middle income families to obtain public benefits easily and with dignity, is geared towards people who might be deprived from receiving a rebate as a part of the Federal Government Economic Stimulus Package, unless they file for 2007 taxes.
Nothing unusual, here - this is a typical election year kind of thing, right? The difference here is that these Obama supporters' aim is to have their candidate receive credit for the stimulus checks through the recipients' primary votes. Credit he doesn't deserve, since he couldn't be bothered to show up and vote on the stimulus bill.
I doubt that the contrast between Obama's talk and walk will make it into the pitch Solutions for Progress gives as they help fill out the forms.
Via AP/Yahoo:
ZURICH, Switzerland - Glaciers are shrinking at record rates and many could disappear within decades, the U.N. Environment Program said Sunday.
As far as I'm concerned, they're not disappearing fast enough. This one was spotted recently in Pittsburgh:
Here's a press release today from Sunshine Week, a "non-partisan open government
initiative led by the American Society of Newspaper Editors":