News: June 2008 Archives
There's something fishy about the Obama-related grafitti in Orlando.
The Orlando Police Department found dozens of city owned vehicles vandalized Saturday.
The vandal or vandals appear to have political intentions; most of the vehicles were spray painted with anti Obama sayings, with ‘Obama’ misspelled several times. Some of their vehicles had their gas caps removed. ...The person or persons left a business card with political ramblings and other phrases such as ‘How ‘Bout them Gators’ and ‘Legalize Marijuana/ Stop Building Prisons’.
It seems clear that the perpetrators aren't conservative Obama-haters. Check out the card the vandals left behind:
Doesn't seem pro-McCain, does it? Maybe disgruntled Hillary supporters?
Today's SCOTUS ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller was a strong statement protecting one of our most valuable civil rights: the right to self-defense. The reactions from various politicians are especially interesting considering that while an expected 100% of Republicans quoted approve of the decision, so do three out of five Democrats.
It's not unusual to see male-bashing for the sake of attempted comedy -- after all, white men are the only allowable targets for ridicule these days -- but Barack Obama really hit the right notes with his Father's Day address. He wasn't male-bashing: he laid out some very legitimate, and very constructive criticism that the black community in particular needs to hear. (And has heard from Bill Cosby, among others.)
In an address that was striking for its bluntness and where he chose to give it, Mr. Obama directly addressed one of the most delicate topics confronting black leaders: how much responsibility absent fathers bear for some of the intractable problems afflicting black Americans. Mr. Obama noted that “more than half of all black children live in single-parent households,” a number that he said had doubled since his own childhood.“Too many fathers are M.I.A., too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.”
Accompanied by his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, who sat in the front pew, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, laid out his case in stark terms that would be difficult for a white candidate to make, telling the mostly black audience not to “just sit in the house watching ‘SportsCenter,’ ” and to stop praising themselves for mediocre accomplishments.
“Don’t get carried away with that eighth-grade graduation,” he said, bringing many members of the congregation to their feet, applauding. “You’re supposed to graduate from eighth grade.”
This speech will certainly appeal to family-value voters, as it is no doubt intended to. From the transcript we can see some parts that even made The New York Times too uncomfortable to print:
We know that education is everything to our children’s future. We know that they will no longer just compete for good jobs with children from Indiana, but children from India and China and all over the world. We know the work and the studying and the level of education that requires.
A mention of globalism that doesn't denounce the competition but instead encourages Americans to rise to the challenge. Nice.
And the speech itself contained an unexpected admission from a Democrat that wasn't in the prepared text:
The change we need is not just gonna come from government. It's not just gonna come from a president. It's gonna come from us. It's gonna come from each and every one of us. We need families to raise our children.
What?! The government isn't the solution to all our problems? Holy crap, who'd've thunk it? It's not in the transcript, but apparently Obama said it.
Update:
Oooo, and there's this:
But we also need families to raise our children. We need fathers to realize that responsibility does not end at conception. We need them to realize that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child – it’s the courage to raise one.
Wait wait wait... the responsibility of fatherhood begins at conception? What about motherly responsibility? Does that responsibility preclude elective abortion?
And it's the doctor who goes to jail?
Violence broke out at the gas pumps in Orange County. Police say a La Palma doctor waiting in line to buy gas at the Costco warehouse store in Cypress grabbed a tire iron and confronted a motorist who cut into the line.Sgt. Tom Bruce said the doctor was arrested and booked for investigation of brandishing a deadly weapon in a rude, angry or threatening manner, a misdemeanor.
Witnesses told police the doctor was in line at the pumps Monday evening when another vehicle cut in front of him. When the doctor confronted the motorist with a tire iron, the other driver locked himself in his car and called police.
Who in their right mind would be willing to confront a line-cutting stranger at a gas station without some sort of weapon? This sort of thing is why we left California.
I've got friends in the industry, and from what I've heard restaurants are some of the hardest small businesses to run successfully. That said, it's still pretty sad that the United States Senate couldn't even keep their cafeteria in the black. There really is no such thing as a free lunch, but through privatization the Senate might at least get cheap, high-quality food.
Year after year, decade upon decade, the U.S. Senate's network of restaurants has lost staggering amounts of money -- more than $18 million since 1993, according to one report, and an estimated $2 million this year alone, according to another.The financial condition of the world's most exclusive dining hall and its affiliated Capitol Hill restaurants, cafeterias and coffee shops has become so dire that, without a $250,000 subsidy from taxpayers, the Senate won't make payroll next month.
The embarrassment of the Senate food service struggling like some neighborhood pizza joint has quietly sparked change previously unthinkable for Democrats. Last week, in a late-night voice vote, the Senate agreed to privatize the operation of its food service, a decision that would, for the first time, put it under the control of a contractor and all but guarantee lower wages and benefits for the outfit's new hires. ...
"It's so bad that the Senate hasn't yet figured out that House 'Taco Salad Wednesday' trumps any type of entree they have to offer," said Ron Bonjean, a former press secretary to both the House speaker and the Senate Republican leader.
But don't worry! The government will do a great job running our socialized health care system.
(HT: The Pirate.)
Rumors of a Michelle Obama "whitey" video abound, including that it will be released tomorrow and that Hillary is working her hardest to build plausible deniability so she doesn't look the villain. Supposedly the words spoken by Mrs. Obama are something like this:
“Once again, the white man keeps us down, what’s up with Whitey, Why’d he attack Iraq, Why’d he let Katrina happen, Why’d he leave millions of children behind. This is the legacy the white man gives us”
The repeated "why'd he" could also be/sound like "whitey", which makes the alleged transcript more credible.
(HT: also Instapundit.)
Senator Ted Kennedy is having brain surgery right now. I wish him well. I'm not sure why the health problems of a person I don't know, like, or respect have attracted my attention so acutely. I've been praying for him though.
Update:
It's just a rumor at the moment, but there may be a video of Michelle Obama ranting against "whitey" from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ.
But the real reason for Obama’s extraordinary freakout is that he fears the release of the videotape, reported here, of Michelle Obama in the pulpit of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s church railing against “whitey.” And we don’t mean Whitey Ford. Four Republican sources have told me that the tape exists. I’ve also been informed that Karl Rove and his allies have a copy of it and are using it to raise funds for independent expenditure groups. The tape, I’m told, will be disclosed as the GOP October Surprise. It’s a ticking time bomb.
Apparently some television network has the video. Bryan McAffee points out that if the rumors are true this video will be a game-changer.
Of course, if true, the implications are going to be very far reaching and we will either see SDs [southern Democrats] start to go for Hillary in droves, or McCain wins in a 50 state landslide. I don’t know if this will turn out to be a legitimate tape or not, but there is a lesson in here for both parties to learn. The reason why people who have only served for 2 years as a Senator don’t run for POTUS is not about experience per se, its about vetting. Say what you want about Hillary, by now we know all her dirty laundry, from the Rose Law Firm, to buying cattle futures and travelgate. Everything we need to know about Hillary has already been out there and discussed, believed or dismissed. The same cannot be said about Obama. In fact, we know very little about the man. Having lived in Illinois for 15 years, I can tell you that Chicago politics is very corrupt. There is all sorts of slime and corruption that goes on in that particular arena. The fact is, Obama has not been vetted. We do not know everything that he has been through.As to why the tape has not yet surfaced, rumor is the GOP is holding it for a fall surprise. I’m sure Hillary wishes she found that tape first (if it exists).
I can't decide if I want to video to come out before the Democrat's convention, or before the general election. I know one thing though: I love rumor and innuendo!
