Southern Idiots?

A quote from this NYT piece:

Along the Atlantic Coast, parts of the “suburban South,” notably Virginia and North Carolina, made history last week in breaking from their Confederate past and supporting Mr. Obama. Those states have experienced an influx of better educated and more prosperous voters in recent years, pointing them in a different political direction than states farther west, like Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, and Appalachian sections of Kentucky and Tennessee.

(snip)

...Many of those counties, rural and isolated, have been less exposed to the diversity, educational achievement and economic progress experienced by more prosperous areas.

That's right, you didn't vote for Obama because you are all a bunch of backwoods rednecks who cling to your guns and religion.

Eh, expect more of this browbeating till Texas goes blue.

Go Vote

There's nothing else to be said.

Of Planks and Eyes

CORRECTION: SHE MADE IT UP!

Sad.


From the Telegraph via IraqPundit

Both presidential rivals are working behind the scenes to calm the increasingly incendiary atmosphere on the campaign trail, which erupted with lurid claims about Mr Obama's links with the former terrorist Bill Ayres and a lynch mob atmosphere at McCain rallies.

Two Democratic sources with knowledge of the thinking in the Obama camp say that forming a partnership with Mr McCain would prove that Mr Obama will reach across the aisle and also help rehabilitate Mr McCain, who many Democrats believe has been pushed by hardline advisers into making increasingly desperate attacks on his rival.

Wow, sounds serious. A lynch mob atmosphere? I feel afraid. Someone else must have also been afraid...after all, no follower of Hope and Change would have done this without provocation. Wait, wait, why does that story not sound surprising? Ok, granted, you cannot let one monster be representative of all Obama supporters, but the point is that the current media narrative of "angry Republicans" is a gargantuan double standard in light of this attack.

Interesting tidbit at the end of the article. Seems if McCain would play nice, Obama is willing to reward his honorable service with...

[A] Democratic strategist who talks regularly with Mr Obama's senior advisors added: "Obama has said all along that he will work with the best people, regardless of party affiliation. John McCain has experience and he used to have a record of bipartisanship. We're all going to need to pull together when this is over."

Mr McCain will not be offered a cabinet job, but Mr Obama may ask him to spearhead a bipartisan overhaul of veteran's affairs, an issue close to Mr McCain's heart.

Well, isn't that a great show of The One's infinite mercy and grace? Such compassion! Wait, if McCain is an erratic old man, why would they stick him in Veteran's Affairs? I thought he was on the verge of psychosis?

12 days to go.

Higher Learning Isn't What It Used To Be...

No sirree bobcat. (via Moe Lane)

I'd post the vid, 'cept I'm too disgusted by it. Arrogant college kids treating their parents like they are toddlers who need directions to the bathroom is hardly a way to earn votes for your candidate, much less respect for yourself. I get the vague feeling that someone at Moveon.org has some lingering resentment at not being allowed to go the protest the Vietnam War as a tween. Just a feeling though.

...Although, if this is the new standard of ads the Left is implementing to get votes, I'm all for it. Two of the actors are from Gossip Girl. Yep, you can't beat people who portray hormonal, sex-crazy teens when choosing who you want as the sirens for the other side.

Last Note: If "coolness" is the new way of picking the leader of the free world, then I might consider moving to Canada. At least they can pick them right.

Jesse Jackson steps into middle of street, apparently waiting for a bus.

Well, I can't seem to find it in me to be surprised by this.

As the lone working democracy in the Middle East, Israel deserves our full support. What the dear Reverend doesn't seem to realize is that the only other interests in the region are the destruction of the Jewish state. The irony here is that someone with a title like his should understand that just from a cursory reading of the Bible or even a glance at history.

Paging Obamabus, this is not the Jackson you used to know.

As It Stands

During the Democratic primary, Republicans such as myself advocated that we crossover and vote for Hillary in the hopes that a protracted campaign would help shatter Obama's halo bestowed to him by a sympathetic media. It did what we wanted it to, it brought up names such Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers. But has it backfired? As we enter into the home stretch of the general election, have we doomed ourselves by inoculating people against the charges that we fling against Obama now? His connections to the now infamous ACORN may be our last bullet to stop the juggernaut, but there is no guarantee that it will work.

Call me pessimistic...but I do not think we have a good chance come November. I remember the run-up to the Bush-Kerry election. I remember that although Kerry had a lot going for him, it was clear to many that it would be a close race in the end. Not so here. It's very much a cliche now, but change is in the wind. We are no longer in the middle of a visible war and instead in the middle of an economic crisis that has been wrongly blamed on the Republicans.

Have I given up hope? No, but there is not much to hope in right now. For now, I just fight the good fight. I encourage other Republicans to do the same.

BAH

The whole mess with the economy is just a freaking monster. As far as I'm concerned, government is a pain the a** and we should have certain people, Republican and Democrat, held accountable for this. Back to the story... One should think that right now the complete focus should be on fixing the bloody mess. Yet, defying all possible common sense (politicians have a way of doing that), this just got thrown into the fray.

-.-

They're trying to ram through their ENERGY POLICY NOW? A majority of Americans want drilling and they decide to stick this in the economic plan? Fine. Do it. I dare them. I can't wait to see what happens on November 4th.

...

Politics is teh fail.

Note: I don't like the current plan to "fix" the economy.

Up To Now, The Georgian-Russian War

Just some analysis I put on a Facebook board in response to a poster's frustrations with the lack of support from the West:

Part of the problem is that there are mixed reports over just who broke the cease-fire between S. Ossetia and Georgia in the first place (I'm talking about the cease-fire that occurred BEFORE the Russians went in). If the Georgians broke it, then as far as the rest of the world is concerned, they were just asking to get their butts kicked by the Russians because the West is not willing to start World War III over Georgia's risky (but rightful) attempt to reclaim their territory. If the South Ossetians broke it, then Georgia did have a right to go all-out and Russia is completely in the wrong to "defend their citizens from Georgian aggression."

Although, even if Russia is in the wrong, I don't think that'll help Georgia's image much right now...the view that's being taken by the people that matter (*rolls eyes*) is that Georgia poked the Russian Bear and is getting the thrashing it should have expected. The only way Georgia can get help now is IF the Russians launch a *ground* attack on Gori or other major Georgia cities not a part of S. Ossetia...in which case the invasion will be exposed as a Russian attempt to retake or destabilize the country, an attempt that the West must oppose by force. The air attacks on other portions of the country, though in my book a sign that we should send in support, are not enough to move the other world governments to independent action.

I stand in solidarity with Georgia, as far as I'm concerned we should flying F-15s over the Russian tank columns right now as a warning to not go beyond S. Ossetia. Sadly, the political reality keeps us from doing that...for now.

Since then, there have been a couple developments that show their may be no turning back:

Mr. Putin made clear that Russia now viewed Georgian claims over the breakaway regions to be invalid, and that Russia had no intention of withdrawing. “There is almost no way we can imagine a return to the status quo,” he said in remarks on Russian state television.

The other:

Lavrov, Khalilzad said, told Rice "that a democratically elected president of Georgia -- and I quote -- must go." And the U.S. ambassador challenged Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin, "Is your government's objective regime change in Georgia, the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Georgia?"

"Regime change is an American expression," Churkin countered. And he scolded Khalilzad for revealing the contents of a secret diplomatic discussion.

The situation bears close monitoring. To add to that, there is this and of course, the Olympics.

A whole lot of gears are in motion around the world these days.

On this day...

If nothing else this day, please read this, the last paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. The added emphasis is mine, reflect on it.

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Happy Independence Day.

(Don't blow yourself up =p)

-Josh

Cowabunga

Scenario, you turn on your TV and the weatherman is screaming that a tidal wave is coming. You live quite a few miles inland, but you know you'll still get hit with some water. What do you do?

A. Do you run like hell for the boonies?

B. Get outside and put down some sandbags to protect what you can of your property?

C. Take your sandbags and go shore up a neighbor's house, because you don't like how your house has mold, so you want to punish it.

Think about it for a bit, I'll elaborate in the future.

"The Last Best Hope of Man on Earth"

"We cannot buy our security, our freedom from the threat of the bomb by committing an immorality so great as saying to a billion human beings now enslaved behind the Iron Curtain, "Give up your dreams of freedom because to save our own skins, we're willing to make a deal with your slave masters." Alexander Hamilton said, "A nation which can prefer disgrace to danger is prepared for a master, and deserves one." Now let's set the record straight. There's no argument over the choice between peace and war, but there's only one guaranteed way you can have peace -- and you can have it in the next second -- surrender.

Admittedly, there's a risk in any course we follow other than this, but every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face -- that their policy of accommodation is appeasement, and it gives no choice between peace and war, only between fight or surrender. If we continue to accommodate, continue to back and retreat, eventually we have to face the final demand -- the ultimatum. And what then -- when Nikita Khrushchev has told his people he knows what our answer will be? He has told them that we're retreating under the pressure of the Cold War, and someday when the time comes to deliver the final ultimatum, our surrender will be voluntary, because by that time we will have been weakened from within spiritually, morally, and economically. He believes this because from our side he's heard voices pleading for "peace at any price" or "better Red than dead," or as one commentator put it, he'd rather "live on his knees than die on his feet." And therein lies the road to war, because those voices don't speak for the rest of us.

You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin -- just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." "There is a point beyond which they must not advance." And this -- this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said, "The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits -- not animals." And he said, "There's something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness."

-Ronald Reagan

Huckabee writing a Huckabook on his Huckabomb

Two weeks after the next president is elected, Mike Huckabee will publish a book sharing details on his failed bid for the White House and offering his vision for remodeling the conservative movement.

His vision for "remodeling the conservative movement"? From the guy who's campaign manager quite gleefully touted how he thought the Reagan Coalition was dead?

Mike Huckabee, go forth, run for the Senate, and leave us in peace. You were a populist, you didn't show yourself fluent enough in foreign affairs to guide us through the War we are in, and you had a penchant for driving away crucial members of our party (FisCons, Catholics, Mormons, etc.). Now you're going to write a book to prove...what? That you have new ideas to sustain us? Conservatism is just fine how it is. Reagan knew that, and so do we.

The Local Roundup

On possibly focusing on the wrong issue:
I'm only now gathering information on the city happenings, but just on the face of this I'm inclined to side with the property owners. "Restoring" downtown sounds fine and dandy unless it comes at the cost of downtown itself. I don't know why they're looking at image when it seems that they should trying to encourage growth. But as I said, I'm not very much into local issues...yet.

I sympathize with these people.
Enough said.

On running AGAIN:
Well...it's more or less an open secret that the Governor of Texas isn't exactly the most powerful guy on the block. Governor Perry has been ok for Texas, although that mess last year didn't really help him. One obvious benefit of his running for a third term is that it would keep good 'ol Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson from running. What I mean by that is that I think she should stay as an influential senior Senator in Washington instead of coming down here and being...well...a Governor. She'd be fine either way, but I'd rather have her representing Texas at the Capitol.

On people you didn't even know were in the Valley:
Huh, learn something new every day.

On newspapers and people with too much time on their hands:
I LIKE that post office. They're good workers. Sheesh, nitpickers...although maybe they should have seen if this guy would have taken it away for them. Not exactly a good day for the U.S. Postal Service.

Finally, on not just going away already:
The VMS Editorial does a fine job (note the Obama reference).

That concludes the Roundup for today.

"I Salute Thee, Hillary Clinton"

Now this is...interesting:



It could be asinine, but considering him...I don't care to give the man the benefit of the doubt.

ANWR

I'm writing a piece on ANWR, I'll update this sometime with excerpts.

Three More And It Would've Been Perfect.

From ScotusBlog:

The Supreme Court, in a sweeping rejection of claims of power in the
presidency, ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that the President does not have the
authority to order states to relax their criminal procedures to obey a
ruling of the World Court. The decision came in the case of Medellin v. Texas
(06-984). Neither a World Court decision requiring U.S. states to
provide new review of criminal cases involving foreign nationals, nor a
memo by President Bush seeking to enforce the World Court ruling,
preempts state law restrictions on challenges to convictions, the Court
said in a ruling written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.

It's always nice to see an International Organization get it's butt kicked by us Americans.



Technorati Tags: Supreme, Court, Medellin, Texas, world, court,

I Take It Sargent York Wouldn't Be Welcome Here...

From the StarTribune:

"A national tour featuring decorated veterans
from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan won't be stopping at Forest Lake
Area High School today as planned, after school leaders abruptly
canceled the visit.

Steve Massey, the school principal, said the
decision to cancel was prompted by concerns that the event was becoming
political rather than educational and therefore was not suitable for a
public school.

He said the school had received several phone
calls from parents and others, some of whom indicated that they may
stage a protest if the event took place.

"The event was structured to be an academic
classroom discussion around military service. We thought we'd provide
an opportunity for kids to learn about service in the context of our
history classes," Massey said. "As the day progressed, it became clear
that this was becoming a political event ... which would be
inappropriate in a public setting."

...Sooooo...I was under the impression that the Left was pro-troops at least? Where's Cindy Sheehan? Shouldn't she be outraged? Oh wait, she's out trying to topple Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Never mind.

...If you want my thoughts on it, I think it's an ABSOLUTE OUTRAGE. They go and they fight, maybe not even agreeing with why they are being sent out, but they go, fight, and even die for us nevertheless. They come back trying to tell their stories and they get thrown under the bus because speaking about the military in the positive sense is "too political." Despicable.


Technorati Tags: troops, not, allowed, school, cindy sheehan, lunacy,

Test test, I've just downloaded ScribeFire for Firefox. This be a test.

I'll delete this tomorrow.

Brief

Read this.

Meanwhile, in La La Land...

I thought that they were for the will of the people?

"Now i assure you that even though we didn't win the popular vote in many states WE DID PICK UP THE MAJORITY OF DELEGATES THAN ALL THE OTHER CANDIDATES IN MOST EVERY STATE EXCEPT A FEW." -Some Ronulan

With McCain now the GOP nominee, I've decided to pass the time until the convention by watching Ron Paul supporters run around with their heads cut off.

Breaking

This is just I heard a glimpse of...but it seems Valley AirCare 2 might have just been lost. They're searching for it in the Laguna Madre. More on this as I get more news...

Pray there has been no crash...

Man's on a roll....

More news in favor of Mr. Hope, Change, and Hope to Change. The Camelot Endorsement.

I can't bring myself to dislike Barack Obama the Person. He radiates hope and belief and America, qualities missing from today's Democrats. Too bad I can't stand Obama the Politician.

Last Note

A Chequer-Board of Nights is a site run by Pejman Yousefzadeh. I highly recommend him. He's also a contributer to RedState, which also has my highest recommendation.

He's Gonna Barack Your World!

Oh, and on a quick side note, he's NOT a Muslim.

Read this.

Read the comments on this.

I know it's CNN, but read this anyway.

And THIS (note the fact that those emails lied about being verifired, a crack in the foundation should be a sign to you that the whole thing could be off).

If we're gonna fight him, we might as well do it the honest way. Unsupported facts are hardly the way to win an election.

Obamarama

I spoke this morning with some friends at church. We discussed the various candidates, mourned for the loss of Fred Thompson, and voiced our opinions on who we'd prefer the Democrat nominee to be. I'm torn between the two most likely prospects for the Dem nod, Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. I would prefer Hillary to win because of the anti-Hillary vote it would bring out. As W.C Fields once said "I never voted for anybody. I always voted against." In a race with Hillary vs. Anyone, the possibility of a Hillary (and Bill) presidency would drive conservatives to the polls in droves.

Enter Barack Obama. A few months ago I wouldn't have really considered the ramifications of his nomination because he was far behind Her Inevitableness. But with his victories in Ohio, Nevada, and South Carolina, and endorsements from major Democrats such as Senator Kennedy, Senator Kerry, and Senator Leahy, he is now very much the front runner.

Obama has an edge in that he was elected to the U.S. Senate only 3 years ago, So he has escaped the issue that hounds Hillary: voting for the Iraq War in 2002. But the way benefits most from his short senate term is that it has helped him be seen as a Washinton outsider, someone who isn't involved in the grime of politics. His campaign's main theme is "Change" and "Hope". Things which resonate with American's right now who are worried about the economy and are tired of partisan fighting.

His nomination would bring out a general election characterized by a discussion of ideas, not personality. You liberals who are conniving, government-worshiping elites. Then you have liberals like Obama who are idealists, who really do want to change this world for the better. Sincere Idiots, if you will. The downturn being that he is nowhere near a polarizing of a figure as Hillary Clinton. Though we would have a decent election run, we would have more of a chance of conservatives who are dissatisfied with the party not showing up in November.

So...do I choose the polarizing insider Clinton? Or the sincere outsider Obama?

Neither! I endorse John Edwards! Because if we're gonna choose a pansy, we might as well go for broke!

In Sports News...

We're a fearsome breed, us Rio Grande residents, according to this.

Time to pick up the pace

Yes yes, I keep saying I will, but now I REALLY AM going to start posting more. Even if it's minor things like this:

The '08 elections have taken on a sort of circus type attention. With the withdrawal of both Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter from the race, personality wars seem to be the order of the day. While each candidate represents his own portion of party...

John McCain: DefCons and some FisCons.

Mitt Romney: AllCons (which would be fantastic...if he hadn't flip-flopped around to be an AllCon)

Mike Huckabee: SoCons.

Rudy Giuliani: DefCons and FisCons.

Ron Paul: All the aspects of the party that come out of the woodwork at night.

...the main reasoning behind choosing your candidate seems to be "electability". Apparently the Democrats are on the verge of taking the country, so we need to elect someone who is suave enough to appeal to everyone and his dog. So subsequently, the candidates either aren't getting enough scrutiny from the base, or are getting plenty, but their shortcomings are being overlooked for "the greater good".

It's a sad thing, but this race has degenerated into prize-over-principle politics on the Republican side.