Hmmmmmm

Bin Laden

Any one ever see those two together?

Fusion Report 31 Oct. 008

Rick Nebel of EMC2 explains what the recent flurry of contracts from the Navy (New IEC Fusion Experiment Contract) was all about.

This isn't a big deal. This is small, interim funding. It's called staying alive until they make a decision.

At least they are going to be able to keep the team together until a decision is made.

This is not unusual in business. I was once hired for a contract by an aerospace company for some very special work and was paid (at a very good rate) for six months to surf the Internet. Just so I wouldn't take a contract elsewhere. When the project was finally authorized I did my job and the team I worked with got it done on time and under budget. Not the norm in aerospace.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Cult Of Personality

The last day or so I have been looking at the The Mass Psychology of Fascism and how to Escape from Freedom. Not the books. Stuff on the net. Let me start with Ali Sina's discussion of the cult of personality.

There are other disturbing similarities. Like Hitler and Khomeini, Obama also likes to create a cult of personality around himself. As stated above, when a large number of a population is discontent, a charismatic leader can seize the opportunity and present himself as the agent of change. He can create a cult of Personality by associating himself with the idea of change. He convinces everyone that things are terrible and a drastic change is needed. He then casts himself as the only person who can deliver this revolutionary transformation that everyone is waiting for. He portrays himself as a benevolent guide; the only one who cares about people and their needs and can pull them out of their alleged misery. In reality, they have no clue about how to address the problem - have no experience, no track record. But they are convincing because they are self assured.

These revolutionary leaders need foes. They exaggerate the problems. They make everything look gloomy. They lie, cheat and slander their opponents while casting themselves as the saviors of the nation. Hitler chose the Jews to blame for everything that was wrong in Germany. Khomeini made the Shah and his westernization plans his scapegoats. Obama has chosen President George W. Bush to smear. He can rally people around himself, as long as he can instill in them the dislike of Bush and equate his rival, McCain to him. Sigmund Freud wrote, "It is always possible to bind together a considerable number of people in love, so long as there are other people left over to receive the manifestations of their aggressiveness" (Civilization and Its Discontents).

A cult of personality is excessive adulation, admiration and exaltation of a charismatic leader, often with unproven merits or achievements. It is similar to hero worship except that it is created specifically for political leaders.

Hmmm. Does that sound like something you have seen lately? There is way more and it is all good. So read it.

And then we have Fouad Ajami discussing Obama and the Politics of Crowds.

There is something odd -- and dare I say novel -- in American politics about the crowds that have been greeting Barack Obama on his campaign trail. Hitherto, crowds have not been a prominent feature of American politics. We associate them with the temper of Third World societies. We think of places like Argentina and Egypt and Iran, of multitudes brought together by their zeal for a Peron or a Nasser or a Khomeini. In these kinds of societies, the crowd comes forth to affirm its faith in a redeemer: a man who would set the world right.

As the late Nobel laureate Elias Canetti observes in his great book, "Crowds and Power" (first published in 1960), the crowd is based on an illusion of equality: Its quest is for that moment when "distinctions are thrown off and all become equal. It is for the sake of this blessed moment, when no one is greater or better than another, that people become a crowd." These crowds, in the tens of thousands, who have been turning out for the Democratic standard-bearer in St. Louis and Denver and Portland, are a measure of American distress.

On the face of it, there is nothing overwhelmingly stirring about Sen. Obama. There is a cerebral quality to him, and an air of detachment. He has eloquence, but within bounds. After nearly two years on the trail, the audience can pretty much anticipate and recite his lines. The political genius of the man is that he is a blank slate. The devotees can project onto him what they wish. The coalition that has propelled his quest -- African-Americans and affluent white liberals -- has no economic coherence. But for the moment, there is the illusion of a common undertaking -- Canetti's feeling of equality within the crowd. The day after, the crowd will of course discover its own fissures. The affluent will have to pay for the programs promised the poor. The redistribution agenda that runs through Mr. Obama's vision is anathema to the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and the hedge-fund managers now smitten with him. Their ethos is one of competition and the justice of the rewards that come with risk and effort. All this is shelved, as the devotees sustain the candidacy of a man whose public career has been a steady advocacy of reining in the market and organizing those who believe in entitlement and redistribution.

Yep. It is a pretty good con. And he is very close to pulling it off. Very close.

One of the big clues for me that a lot of people see through him is that many people only half in jest call him "Dear Leader".

There is a bit I came across a while back claiming his success with at least part of the crowd is due to hypnotic techniques.

THE EVIDENCE IS HERE: This document contains over 60 pages of evidence and analysis proving Barack Obama’s use of a little-known and highly deceptive and manipulative form of “hack” hypnosis on millions of unaware Americans, and reveals what only a few psychologists and hypnosis/NLP experts know.

The entire paper is located here.

I found this on another forum, contributed by one of the more certified liberal loons. On first blush my sentiments were "yeah right." But because it was Sunday morning and a slow news day, I decided to indulge my curiosity and my funny bone and have a look see into this assertion of mass hypnosis by one Barack Obama.

Needless to say, what I found was not only intriguing, but captivating in both presentation and common sense reality. What this writer has to say and the way that he presents his argument, not only captivates the imagination? But also causes the reader to call forth the images of their own personal recollections, while the author utilizes his own observations and experience to make his points and his arguments for the assertions he is representing.

You know. That does indeed seem far fetched. But there is a method behind the madness. Deduction and reasoning.

And as I read th author's presentation the thought kept bouncing back at me that these are the very same techniques and principles (as being described) employed and deployed by all successful "preachers" and "charismatic speakers" historically. And that someone at some point had simply sat down and applied analytical thinking and deduction to the process of successfully leading people through manipulative speaking.

And where better to learn these techniques for a young Barack Obama, than at the feet of the professed and by observing and emulating the performances of charismatic preachers and others in his own life.

This is where Barack Obama had his "Eureka moment" in my estimation.

Now that does make sense. Preachers tend to come in styles. The styles tend to cluster. Obama's job is a tough one. He has to translate a preaching style that worked on the South Side Of Chicago into one that will work on all of America. That is a tough one.

I am in the process of reading the pdf and I would have to say that it is slow going at first. Here is an excerpt from the beginning that I think is key.

Dr. Erickson discovered while working as a therapist, that he could hide therapeutic hypnosis within the normal content of an inconspicuous conversation with the patient, and avoid much of the patient’s conscious resistance that normally accompanied hypnotherapy.18 Dr. Erickson realized the subconscious mind was always listening, and understood better than anyone before how to access it, and implant suggestions into it. What Dr. Erickson did was figure out how to put people into trance and hypnotize them and implant suggestions with seemingly normal conversation. He discovered that people could achieve this heightened state of hyper-suggestibility without the traditional difficultly-induced coma-like state traditionally associated with hypnosis. Though his pioneering understanding, he was able to do the same and much more often with simple plays on words and embedded meanings in a single sentence. The entire field of “covert hypnosis”, or “conversational hypnosis” is based on Dr. Erickson’s techniques, and is now primarily used by hypnotists and psychiatrists.19 Conversational hypnosis is often referred to as Ericksonian hypnosis. The word “hypnosis” is never mentioned and there is nothing overt to give away that hypnosis is being used. It is impossible to detect unless you know precisely what to look for. Hack versions of these techniques are unfortunately taught to be used as persuasion tools for salespersons, and even more unfortunately also for men looking to enhance their success picking up and seducing with women.

The story really doesn't get going until pdf page 15 where the description of how Obama uses the techniques. It discusses his Denver 2008 Convention speech. So if the beginning bores you jump to page 14 or 15 and dig in.

NLP was mentioned previously, so what is this NLP stuff? It is Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Let's look at what the wiki has to say.

NLP was co-created by Richard Bandler and linguist John Grinder in the 1970s through observation and imitation of gestalt therapist Fritz Perls, family systems therapist Virginia Satir and psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson. The originators emphasized modeling of excellence as the core methodology, that is, the observational and information gathering methods they developed to define and produce the models of exceptional communicators. They also claimed that the basic assumptions of NLP draw from aspects of neurology ("neuro-"), transformational grammar ("linguistics") and cybernetics ("programming"). It has often been promoted as an art and science of effective communication and defined as 'the study of the structure of subjective experience'. Others put more emphasis on the tools, techniques and applications specific to contexts such as psychotherapy, business management and communications training, motivational seminars, personal development, and teaching.

Motivational seminars? That sounds a lot like a political rally. I'd be surprised if all candidates didn't use those techniques.

So can those techniques be taught? Neuro-Linguistic Programming for Dummies thinks so. I haven't read the book so I can't comment.

So what is the antidote to all this? Study the product before you buy. Be sure it is what you want and that the price is acceptable and know the techniques being used on you so you won't be bamboozled.

If you would like to listen to a perfect example of hypnotized Obama supporters just click on the link. Howard Stern does a fine job of ferreting out some people who do not know their product. At all.

Amazon has a set of videos explaining the techniques by Derren Brown. It looks interesting. Especially when he is seducing the girls. I'm sure such techniques could be used in the other direction by the ladies. If they knew how.

Here is a supposed example of street hypnosis by Derren Brown on YouTube. What do you think? I think that he does have some success but his failures are edited out. What makes me think that? I was never moved by Obama and now he grates on my nerves. If he grates on your nerves:

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

You know. It just came to me. It is all about Jeddi Mind Tricks. He is not the President we want. We can move along now and vote for McCain.

Watch Obama in action with appropriate music:





Update: 31 Oct 008 1357z

Commenter who, me? had this to say in the comments:

I was intensively trained in NLP in 1989, by some of the best and most ethical, with some overlap of Erickson methods. I've studied and used it professionally since then, in partnership with clients for the changes they explicitly want and need and agree to.

For the most part the article is accurate.

The difficulty with using it for argument is that NLP is derived from long-standing persuasive techniques, and thus BO can be regarded simply as good at giving pre-scripted persuasive speeches.

However, the elements are there as described. Notice particularly the Big Code Words -- nominalizations. The practitioner is taught to find the subject's favorite nominalizations, the ones resonant with life and promise for the listener --"criteria" words. The practitioner need have no hint of what the specifics are. Betsy Newmark refers to public education now operating on such "motivational" abstractions, thereby priming voters for this kind of packaged appeal.

I have avoided watching Obama's speeches. So I haven't directly calibrated his lulling pacing, tonal delivery, etc. But astonishing to me is, after 19 years of close attention to my own and others' thought patterns, I was finding a kind of "drag" toward Obama -- not the candidate but the voting target -- though I do not support him. As I anticipated going into the early-voting booth, I felt especially I needed to pay close attention, not to somehow go blank and vote for him. I've never ever felt that concern in any other election, as to any other candidate.

In short, both reading the article and noting with astonishment something in the air seemingly affecting me in spite of myself, there's a lot to this. But an a-logical demagogue-ready collective-mentality population really is key, otherwise the slick Package Nominalizations, gestures, and emotion-infused appeals to free-floating futile-program-based idealism wouldn't be so effective delivered wholesale.

That is VERY interesting.

Some MDs discussing the pdf paper. It is very interesting pro and con. Thanks to commenter Penny at Classical Values. Here is a very interesting comment from the "MDs discussing" link:

William D Horton, Psy. D. Says:
October 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm

I am the co-author and technical advisor/expert for the article. My name is on it in several of the placements, but through an error, not all. I broke it down as a way to understand the Obama sudden rise to power. The co-author wants to remain behind the scene as he is fearful of negative feedback. I personally have respect for the skill Senator Obama uses these skills. I just wanted to point out the deep emotional response he elicits. I have talked about this on several radio shows and other outlets. If I had it to do over I would have removed partisan aspects, but I do stand by the techical aspects of the article.

William Horton Psy. D. CAC Master Hypnotist and NLP trainer

BTW the William Horton link goes to NFNLP - The National Federation of NLP.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Stand Up And Fight

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

H/T the Jager Gazette

Fat Angel

It Is October - Surprise!

Since we love rumors around here let me pass on another one. According to The Obama File a tape in which Michelle Obama is castigating racists for working for the defeat of her husband will air on FOX some time in the next few days (given the typical election calculations it will be out some time today - the Friday before elections). I discussed the tape a couple of weeks ago at Totally Unverified. Here is what the Obama File has to say:

A final agreement has been reached between African Press International (API) and Fox News Network (USA) on the dates to air the Michelle Obama tape arising from a discussion Mrs. Obama had with the API two weeks ago. The show will take place any day/time from now, with a 15 minutes alert on when it is to take place. Other programmes will be interrupted. This is a precaution taken to avoid interference from any quarter.

In the agreement, Fox News Network will broadcast 39 minutes of the 54 minutes long tape. The whole tape cannot be aired unedited due to security reasons and especially due to the explosive political temperature in the country because of the Presidential elections that is just around the corner, November 4th.

The tape will be aired in two portions by two separate units in the Network. API’s representative will appear live in one of the shows.

So what do I think? The whole thing seems strange including the secrecy and all. Obviously Michelle knows who she talked to so the whole idea of needing security to protect any one - including FOX News - seems just a little nuts. But who knows? It might happen.

October surprises generally happen on the Friday before the election and to insure the maximum dissemination with minimum rebuttal the news usually breaks around noon Eastern Time. About 1600 GMT for those keeping Coordinated Universal Time.

Of course the Obama camp will have their October surprise ready too. So we may have competing October surprises for a change. It will be interesting and should provide a lot of blog fodder if any of this happens.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Another Rumor

Our Country Deserves Better PAC sent me an e-mail with the following information.

New polling in Michigan shows that the Obama/Biden campaign has plunged 11% in the polls over the past two weeks!

Two polls, one internal poll and one private, show our efforts for the past 2 weeks to sneak in and take this state for McCain/Palin are paying off. As you know, we stepped up our efforts in Michigan after Obama's campaign pulled most of their advertising and staff out of the state, believing the state was "safe" for Obama.

So while few people have been paying attention, we've been spending several hundred thousand dollars on TV advertising to defeat Obama in Michigan. We brought "The Stop Obama Tour" bus tour through Michigan for two swings - holding 13 rallies across the Upper and Lower peninsula of Michigan. (You can see pictures from some of our events below - we'll be sending out some news coverage of our efforts in a future email... we're definitely getting the word out!)

And we're not done! Tomorrow we'll launch another statewide ad blitz in Michigan from Wednesday-Friday. We're asking for your financial support once more so we can keep this ad blitz continuing through the final weekend before the Nov. 4th election.

Donate $5 - $5,000 online here.

So is there any truth to this or is it just hype to get donations? I don't know. All I can say for sure right now is that the trend is not Obama's friend. BTW Rassmusen in their latest poll has Obama 53% and McCain at 43% in Michigan. So is Michigan close or out of reach? The best way to tell will be if the McCain Campaign sends Johnny Mac or Sara P. to Michigan some time between now and 4 Nov. Or if Obama makes a surprise visit.

New IEC Fusion Experiment Contract

FedBizOpps.gov has a solicitation for a bid for more experiments by EMC2, Doc Bussard's company now being run (at least on the experimental side) by Rick Nebel.

The Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, China Lake, CA intends to procure on an other than full and open competition basis a service to provide: 1) Research of Electrostatic "Wiffle Ball" Fusion Device. The contractor is to specifically investigate the required instrumentation to achieve spatially resolved plasma densities and spatially resolved particle energies. This requirement is sole sourced to Energy Matter Conversion Corporation, 1202 Parkway Drive, Suite A, Santa Fe, NM 87501, as the only company in the world investigating and developing this type of device.

What does that mean in terms of progress with the Bussard Fusion Reactor? It means that the experiments delineated in the Fusion Report 29 August 2008 had at least enough success to warrant further work.

Dave Price has some thoughts and more details.


Cross Posted at Classical Values

It Will Not Be Approved

The Register UK is looking at how Greenpeace views fusion. Greenpeace is suspicious. Yes they are.

The (Joint European Torus) JET reactor in Culham, Oxfordshire was completed 25 years ago, and work is underway on ITER in Cadarache, France, a €10bn facility, backed by six countries (including China) plus the EU. The Czech Republic has a smaller-scale reactor, called Compass. All use magnets to force a fusion of two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, releasing enormous amounts of energy. Eventually, it's hoped, more than goes in. ITER is designed to produce 500MW for 300 to 500 seconds with an input of 50MW.

"We'll certainly have it in fifty years," ITER's Neil Calder told the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation last week. But not if Greenpeace has its way.

Yes, the fuel for fusion is abundant, and far more productive than fossil fuel - one litre of seawater can produce as much as 30 litres of petrol. It's much safer than nuclear fission. And it doesn't release CO2. So what's the problem?

"Governments should not waste our money on a dangerous toy," Jan Van de Putte of Greenpeace International said when ITER was announced in 2005. Van de Putte predicted it will never be efficient - so why bother?

Spokesperson Bridget Woodman said: "Nuclear fusion has all the problems of nuclear power, including producing nuclear waste and the risks of a nuclear accident."

(Which must break the record for the number of false and contradictory assertions you can cram into a 17-word sentence. But that's par for the course these days. When you hear a phrase like "sustainable energy" the opposite is usually intended - the speaker is referring to an energy source that won't sustain anything for very long or very reliably.)

Actually fusion has very few of the problems of fission power. There is no radioactive debris left over from the splitting of atoms. The nuclear waste problem is tractable because you can choose the materials that will become radioactive from neutron bombardment by design. Short half lives and low probability of activation are the order of the day. And the risk of a serious nuclear accident? Pretty close to zero. Why? First if you turn the reactor off (with an electrical switch) it stops. If you break the vacuum, it stops. At most a few minutes worth of fuel are in inventory in the fusion reactor. For a fission plant there is at least two years of fuel in the reactor at first start-up. And there is almost no residual heat in a fusion plant unlike fission plants which must be cooled for days after a shut down due to the residual heat produced by fission products.

I think the following exemplifies the Greenpeace attitude.

Two of Greenpeace's co-founders, Patrick Moore and Paul Watson long since departed: Watson to run his own anti-whaling group and Moore criticising its anti-human, anti-development agenda. "By the mid-1980s, the environmental movement had abandoned science and logic in favor of emotion and sensationalism," Moore lamented.

Fusion seems to exemplify what Moore means: an anti-modernity superstition. Greenpeace doesn't understand what fusion is, but whatever it is it will be scary, it will be bad, and it must be stopped.

I do like some fusion reactor designs better than others. Here is my favorite: Easy Low Cost No Radiation Fusion. Actually the title is somewhat of a mistake. It should be "Low Radiation" as the reactor will have some neutron output. However, it will be greatly reduced from that of a fission plant or other fusion designs. You can read more about it at: World's Simplest Fusion Reactor Revisited. If you want to get in on the research, you can do it by Starting A Fusion Program In Your Home Town. It is not very expensive. With scrounged materials under $1,000. If You go first class and buy everything off the shelf about $100,000. And if you want to join the low cost fusion experiments community may I suggest IEC Fusion Technology blog. There are links to various source materials and discussion groups on the sidebar.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Huge Democrat Turnout Advantage In Florida

Kim Priestap reports on early voting in Florida. Democrats seem to have a big advantage in turnout.

Democrats are beaming that their party is outperforming the Republicans in early voting, releasing numbers Wednesday that show registrants of their party ahead 54 percent to 30 percent among the 1.4 million voters who have gone to the polls early.

"We're thrilled at the record turnout so far," said Democratic Party of Florida spokesman Eric Jotkoff. "It's a clear indication that Democrats want to elect Barack Obama and Democrats up and down the ballot so that we can start creating good jobs, rebuilding our economy and getting our nation back on track."

But party breakdowns for turnout aren't the same as final tallies, and at least one poll offered a different view for the campaign of Republican John McCain.

A Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll gave McCain a 49-45 lead over Democrat Barack Obama among Floridians who have already voted.

And Republicans continued to show a traditional strength, leading 50 percent to the Democrats' 30 percent in the 1.2 million absentee ballots already returned.

I wonder if the PUMA vote is having an effect? I looked into that at The PUMA Question. My conclusion? The PUMAs are being very underrated.

OK. That is Florida which is looking pretty good right now. What about Maine and New Hampshire?

Tonight’s been a busy night, in that we’ve talked to a half dozen people on three times as many subjects - including Team Hillary members in New Hampshire and Maine, who we know well from the primaries.

Here’s the kicker: these people aren’t McCain supporters. Several are working for Obama now in both states, because they have political jobs and thus must tow the party line. Others are voting Green and no longer campaigning for anyone, but are tuned into things in their states.

We know nothing about New Hampshire or Maine and have never pretended to. We won’t start now. All we’ll tell you is what these people told us tonight, and it’s that they truly do expect John McCain to win both New Hampshire and Maine next week, for the reasons they gave below:

(1) In both states, they have never seen an enthusiasm deficit for Democrats like this. Hillary Democrats there say there are more “closet McCain supporters” than anyone can count. Despite what the media says, people are not enthused and fired up to go out and vote for Obama — quite the contrary: people are scare of Obama’s policies and will be voting McCain. The enthusiasm deficit in both New Hampshire and Maine is “as clear as day” according to those we spoke to tonight. They say they do not see anywhere near the level of Obama signs, stickers, buttons, etc. out this year, as they did Kerry, Gore, Clinton, and even Dukakis gear in years past.

Interesting. It seems that it is the Shrinking Media™ that is the most enthusiastic for Obama and the rest of America not so much.

It also looks like Joe The Plumber has had a big effect in Maine. And as Maine goes so goes the nation.

(2) We asked why people in these states are not voting for Obama and were told that in Maine, especially, a lot of it has to do with Joe the Plumber and redistributing the wealth. Much of Maine makes its living off the sea: fishermen pull in $200,000 or more a year in family businesses. Joe Biden’s slip that Obama really intends to define “wealthy” as $150,000 a year or above sent terror through Maine’s fishing community and other small business industries. We were told tonight that Maine and New Hampshire have more small family businesses that would be affected by Obama’s redistribution of wealth than we could imagine. Joe the Plumber resonated with these people — especially the fishermen.

And guess what? The Republicans have the wife of a fisherman on the ticket. Word is that Todd Palin is going to Maine to gather some votes. I think he just might get some.

It also looks like caucus fraud is also playing a part.

The other interesting tidbit that came out of the conversation tonight was that of the Hillary Clinton convention delegates who are openly supporting John McCain, the largest number of these people come from states that held caucuses.

We were told tonight that no one is yet picking up on the fact that Democrats in states that held caucuses, and who saw firsthand the fraud, voter intimidation, and other vile tricks Obama pulled in caucus states have NOT forgotten about any of this. These people are still LIVID that a Democrat dared to use Chicago fraud and intimidation to game the caucus system. The Clinton delegates from caucus states have been coordinating efforts amongst themselves for payback against Obama on November 4th, since no state will vote in a caucus then.

We’re told this is the reason that Iowa is so much closer than we ever dreamed it would be. Remember, we have insisted McCain would lose Iowa because of his opposition to ethanol subsidies. So, we’ve been baffled by McCain and Palin’s appearances throughout Iowa, or the fact internals we see show the state incredibly close. We never could figure out why — and it was so obvious this whole time. THE CAUCUS FRAUD Obama committed back in January is coming back to bite him in a HUGE way. Because of the ethanol opposition, McCain should be losing Iowa by large numbers — but the people we spoke to this evening says he’ll end up winning the state, largely because of Democrats who are so disgusted by the behavior of Obama’s followers during the caucuses.

This isn’t just Hillary Democrats either. It’s a large swath of Democrats who feel violated by the tactics Obama employed in their state — bringing thugs from Chicago across the Illinois border to vote in Iowa’s caucuses. People there remember the truth, and will have that in mind on November 4th.

It seems like Obama had a good strategy for winning the nomination (fraud and intimidation), but it is not playing well in the general election. So in terms of strategy Obama did well. In terms of grand strategy he is a failure. We have historical evidence of just such mistakes in warfare. The Austrian Corporal made the same mistake. Easy victories were not solidified by making friends with the populations of his new conquests. It turned out badly for him.

Obama did not cement his relationship with those he defeated by offering them a large consolation prize (Hillary as VP) to make up for all the rubbed raw emotions the caucuses created. When he picked Joe Biden he made the hill he had to climb much steeper. And then along comes Joe the Plumber in the last two weeks of the campaign to put a large hole in his campaign below the water line. And Obama keeps enlarging that hole by lowering the threshold for those who will see tax increases. First $250,000, then $200,000 and finally (so far) $150,000. Worrying people the most I believe is not the actual number, but the fact that it keeps going lower. Where will it stop? I think it will stop with a huge Obama loss on the night of 4 Nov.

Do we have any other anecdotes and fuzzy data points? Yes we do. The results so far in Nevada show that the Obama/pollsters turn out model is not near what has been hoped/projected (change we can believe in - heh).

Analysts have predicted that new voters, young voters and Hispanic voters will turn out in record numbers in this election. But as Nevadans continue to flock to the polls, turnout among those three groups is lagging, at least in the early going.

While turnout statewide was nearly 25 percent through Sunday, it was just 20 percent among Hispanic voters, 14 percent among voters under 30 and 15 percent among those who didn't vote in the last three elections, according to an analysis of state early voting records through Sunday prepared by America Votes, an organization that works to mobilize voters.

The data provide a glimpse into the composition of the more than 300,000 Nevadans who had taken advantage of early voting over the first nine days of the 14-day period. The information comes from proprietary databases that political action groups purchase from commercial vendors, cross-referenced with the public data the state releases showing who has voted.

Traditionally, older people, whites and people who vote consistently tend to turn out at the highest rates overall, said David Damore, a political scientist at UNLV. But this year, much has been made of the idea that the youth vote, the Hispanic vote and first-time voters would turn out at unprecedented rates, galvanized by a heightened political climate and the candidacy of Democratic nominee Barack Obama.

Hope springs eternal in the Democrat camp. No surprise there. It is part of their theme song this year.

"I would have expected those numbers to be a little higher," Damore said. "At the same time, the people who come out for early voting may tend to be the tried and true."

The idea that the electorate will be radically reshaped this year remains an open question, he said, and it's possible the Obama campaign faces a challenge turning out the untested voters it's relying on to win.

Recent polling shows Obama leading in the Silver State by varying margins. Democrats' hopes have been boosted by a tectonic shift in voter registration that has left them with more than 110,000 more registered voters than Republicans, but the GOP insists there's hope because the election will be decided by who votes and how.

"What Republicans have been saying is that registration is only half the game, and they have the tried and true model to get people out," Damore said.

U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., was in Las Vegas on Tuesday working to rally Hispanic voters for Obama. She said she expects high Hispanic turnout this year.

Expects and happens are two different things though. One point I have brought up before is that there is huge antipathy in the Hispanic community for the Black community. It boils down to this: Hispanics see Blacks living on the dole while they toil away at jobs like gardening and construction to improve themselves. No one likes free riders. People who are not pulling their weight. And for good or ill that is the Hispanic community's impression of the Black community they come in contact with.

So let me do a short analysis of why I think Obama will lose.

1. Caucus fraud rubbed Democrat voters the wrong way.
2. Failure to select Hillary was a failure to mend fences
3. Sarah Palin gave the Republican base and disaffected Hillary voters something to cheer about.
4. Joe the Plumber (a gift from the Maker) sealed the deal

But it is not over until it is over. Don't let any analysis - positive or negative - keep you from doing what must be done. And what is that you ask? Well I'll tell you. Again.

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Vote. Vote like your life and your country depended on it. It may. If we get a very strongly Democrat legislature it is critical that McCain/Palin have all the support we can show to keep the legislature in check. So even if you live in a state that is a foregone conclusion one way or another, your show of support will matter come 20 January 2009. Vote.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

HillBuzz Needs Your Help

HillBuzz needs your help with their get out the vote effort for McCain/Palin.

We need to ask for your help. We’re putting together a canvassing trip into Ohio this coming weekend to bring what we hope will be about 70 DeMcCrats for McCain and Young Republican supporters into Ohio to canvass for McCain/Palin in the Buckeye state. We’re $1,500 short of what we need to rent buses for this trip, and cover the accommodations and costs for our volunteers while there. We’re also buying as many DeMcCrats for McCain and other McCain/Palin buttons and stickers to hand out in Ohio as we can. This is a bipartisan effort here in Chicago — and the biggest push we’ve ever made for canvassing. It’s a long ride from Illinois to Ohio, and the bus is expensive. We’ve all scraped together what we can, but need help covering the rest.

So follow the link and go over there and donate if you can. Because:

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Another Anecdote

From the comments at HillBuzz Sara P speaks

Ok, I want to clear my conscious a little. Hopefully you could make a blog post to help some fellow clinton supporters out.

I work for a campaign and can’t wait for this week to be over.

I was doing it for a job. I was not a fan of any candidate but over time grew to love HRC.

The internal campaign idea is to twist, distort, humiliate and finally dispirit you.

We pay people and organize people to go to all the online sites and “play the part of a clinton or mccain supporter who just switched our support for obama”

We do this to stifle your motivation and to destroy your confidence.

We did this the whole primary and it worked.

Sprinkle in mass vote confusion and it becomes bewildering. Most people lose patience and just give up on their support of a candidate and decide to just block out tv, news, websites, etc.

This surprisingly has had a huge suppressing movement and vote turnout issues.

Next, we infiltrate all the blogs and all the youtube videos and overwhelm the voting, the comments, etc. All to continue this appearance of overwhelming world support.

People makes posts to the effect that the world has “gone mad”

Thats the intention. To make you feel stressed and crazy and feel like the world is ending.

We have also had quite a hand in skewing many many polls, some we couldn’t control as much as we would have liked. But many we have spoiled over. Just enough to make real clear politics look scarey to a mccain supporter. Its worked, alough the goal was to appear 13-15 points ahead.

see, the results have been working. People tend to support a winner, go with the flow, become “sheeple”

The polls are roughly 3-5 points in favor of Barack. Thats due to our inflation of the polls and pulling in the sheeple.

Our donors, are the same people who finance the MSM. Their interests are tied, Barack then tends to come across as teflon. Nothing sticks. And trust, there were meetings with Fox news. The goal was to blunt them as much as possible. Watch Bill Oreilly he has become much more diplomatic and “fair and balanced” and soft. Its because he wants to retain the #1 spot on cable news and to do that he has to have access to the Obama campaign and we worked hard at stringing him a long and keeping him soft for an interview swap. It worked and now he is anticipating more access. So he is playing it still soft.

This is why nothing sticks.

The operation is massive, the goal is to paint a picture that is that of a winner, regardless of the results.

There is no true inauguration draft or true grant park construction going on. There will be a party, but we are boasting beyond the truth to make it seem like the election is wrapped up.

Our goal is to continue to make you lose your moral. We worked hard at persuasion and paying off and timing and playing the right political numbers to get key republican endorsements to make it seem even more like it was over and the world was coming to an end for you all.

There is a huge staff of people working around the clock, watching every site, blogs, etc. We flood these sites. We have had a goal to overwhelm.

The truth is here. I could go on and on, but you get the picture.

I am saying this because I know HRC was better for the country, and now realize this. I was too late by the time I connected to her. To me Barack was just a cool young dude that seemed like a star. I didn’t know him or his policies, but now I understand more than I care to and I realize his interests are more for him, and the DNC and all working like puppets with dean. I always thought a president wanted the better good for the country. The end result I see is everyone dependent on the government, this means more and more people voting for the DNC. This means the future is forever altered. I don’t see this as america, so I am now supporting John Mccain.

Sarah Palin is a huge threat, and our campaign has feared her like you can’t imagine. If it seems unfair how she has been treated, well its because she has had a team working round the clock to make her look like a fool.

this is a big conspiracy and I am so shocked that its not realized.

We released a little blurb the other day that the Obama campaign was already working on reelection and now putting our efforts towards 2012. This was to make it seem like it was above us to continue caring about 2008. Trust me, its a lie. David is very smart, but its a sticky ugly not very truthful kind of intelligence.

Its not over yet, but I think the machine is working. And its a hill to climb.

I will be quitting my post on nov 5th and my vote will be for John Mccain. Fortunately, my position has been a marketing position and I don’t feel I had any part of anything I would feel guilty for. But I look forward to getting out of this as the negativity and environment upsets me.

I wish you all well, and goodluck.

PS my name is not really sarah. but I am a female and I understand your plight.

There is only one answer to efforts like these:

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

You might also like Sarah Palin Swimsuit Competition. There is video.

Scaring The Swingers

Even Howard Fineman gets it.

CHICAGO – Here’s my advice to Sen. Barack Obama’s supporters: Stop predicting that the Democrats will sweep into the White House and Congress come January with a mandate to expand Big Government.

That prospect, coupled with some of your candidate’s own tax and health-care plans, could scare swing voters you need next Tuesday.

I think it is already too late to unscare them. Such an effort might take a month or more. Obama only has 6 days. Call it The Joe The Plumber Effect. BTW Obama says taxes are only going up on those making over $250,000 a year (if you don't count the cancellation of the Bush tax cuts). Joe Biden says the real number is already at $150,000. And who knows. That number may go lower yet. The Democrats have lots of ideas that are going to cost real money. And fairness. Don't forget fairness. Even if it brings in less money.

McCain Has A Poll

The Wall Street Journal has a memo from the McCain Campaign. Let me just give one highlight that touches on something I wrote about yesterday: The PUMA Question.

* We are beginning to once again get over a 20% chunk of the vote among soft Democrats.

Importantly as well, our long identified target of “Walmart women” – those women without a college degree in households under $60,000 a year in income are also swinging back solidly in our direction.

Finally, in terms of critical improvement, even as this track shows more Republicans voting for us than Democrats supporting Obama, we are witnessing an impressive “pop” with Independent voters.

As I said during our Sunday briefing, we do substantially more interviews per day than any public poll, but, given the shift we were witnessing, it was my expectation that by Tuesday/Wednesday multiple public polls would show the race closing. A quick glance at Real Clear Politics would indicate this is happening by today, Tuesday, and that’s good!

Which goes back to some of the points I made in The PUMA Question. Sometimes anecdotes can give you advance warning of changes not yet recognized by polls.

The memo writer also notes that there are no good models for voter behavior in this election season. So it is all seat of the pants for both campaigns and the people who do public polling.

H/T The StrataSphere and HillBuzz comments.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Noah Has A Few Problems

May I highly recommend Noah Today by Mark C. Phillips. It is an update of a classic Bible story. Very funny.

H/T Tom by e-mail

The PUMA Question

In the comments on my post A Funny Thing Happened In The Voting Booth commenter Dr. Nobel Dynamite made the following point.

"Not to mention the PUMA factor." [that was me - ed.]

You need to turn off the propaganda for a while, my friend. Just because Neil Cavuto trots out a cigarette hag that claims to speak for disgruntled Hillary supporters doesn't make PUMAs anything more than wishful thinking from Fox.

No Bell,

In science/engineering we look at unusual results and outliers for undiscovered phenomenon.

It is more than possible that I may have discovered some interesting effects.

BTW the reports on the PUMA effect started in the high 30s. Dipped to the low 20s and then started rising again to the mid 30s. (that would be % of Hillary voters going for McCain). Since the last reports of that rise there has been no news of the PUMA effect. Did it just disappear? Or was it a case of "did not fit the narrative"?

A defection rate as a % of the total vote of 3.75% (roughly 20% [defectioon rate] of 1/2 [Hillary voters] of 37%[Dems in the electorate]) can be overcome. It will be offset by a 13% or so R defection rate (about 5% of the vote). If the defection rate is 40% of Hillary voters that is a 7.5% loss. Killer.

The question is: is that defection rate being measured accurately? Since the announcements of the PUMA factor have stopped, I'd have to say no. If it had dropped it would have been announced. If it rose above 40% it would be buried.

How about what DJ Drummond has to say on the subject of polls.

Gallup has noted the strength of early voting this year. The most significant points from that article are these; early voting is stronger than expected this year, and so far republicans have been just as eager to vote early as democrats. The third point is the most important signal of all. Says Gallup; "Early voting ranges from 14% of voters 55 and older (in aggregated data from Friday through Wednesday) to 5% of those under age 35. Plus, another 22% of voters aged 55 and up say they plan to vote early, meaning that by Election Day, over a third of voters in this older age group may already have cast their ballots."

The last two statements are very good news for McCain and bad news for Obama. This is because it demonstrates that enthusiasm to actually vote by republicans is equal to enthusiasm to vote by democrats. This runs directly against claims made in polling up to now, demonstrating that participation in polls is not directly related to voting this year. Second, the higher participation by senior voters and weaker participation by younger voters is directly in line with historical norms, again running against the poll expectations that this year would see a wave of young people voting but seniors staying at home. Gallup's own data proves this is not happening as they predicted, and the polls are therefore invalid in those respects, in addition to obvious flaws in the party weighting. The reasonable expectation from these facts, would be for Gallup to back down and correct its weighting to match the observed behavior. As of yet, Gallup has not taken that step.

Then we have this wonderful explanation of polling by Charlie Colorado at Just One Minute.

What we're hoping for the polls to tell us is how people will vote in the future. In order to figure that out, we start by asking some number of people how they would vote today.

Obviously, we don't and can't know how people would really vote (Obama could be caught with a dead girl and a live boy and Fox News with a camera.) But it's everyone's best guess, and they have a chance to answer "O" or "McP" or "undecided".

Now, if we could ask every single person who will be voting this question, we'd get a fairly precise number --- not exact, but pretty close. Asking 130 million people their opinion is pretty intractable, so they ask a much smaller number. There are mathematical reasons to let us make an estimate of the amount of error we get by just asking that smaller number, and that's where this "margin of error" comes from. The wy it works is basically like this: say we have 130 million red and blue marbles, in proportions of 51 percent red and 49 percent blue. Since they're well mixed, we can be confident that most of the time, if we scoop out a bucket full of 1000 marbles and count the colors, there will be something close to 510 red and 490 blue. It's extremely unlikely --- although possible --- that we'd scoop out 1000 blue marbles. It's also very unlikely that every time we scoop up marbles, we'll get exactly 510/490. But let's say we try it 100 times. Roughly 95 times out of 100, we'll get a count between 495/505 and 525/475.

That's exactly what the "margin of error" is: we know, mathematically, that 95 times out of 100, our random scoop will deliver a number plus or minus 1.5 percent (or, total, 3 percent) of the "real" value we'd get if we counted all the marbles.

The problem is that when we talk about a real poll, our "marbles" aren't perfectly mixed. If we were to, say, call the first thousand people in the Cambridge Mass phone book, that wouldn't represent the country as a whole very well. So instead, polling companies call a lot of people, carefully selected, and try to work backwards to what a "perfectly mixed" sample would have been like.

Now, say we were talking about the marbles example again. We know, because they were our marbles to start with, that exactly 51 percent of them were red, 49 percent blue. So when we scoop out 1000 of them, we have an "ideal sample" in mind. A little algebra lets us then compute what the perfect sample would have looked like, and it is going to come up 51/49 every time.

But now let's say we don't know what the real number is; we just think we have roughly 51 percent red when we start. now we scoop out 1000 marbles and apply the same adjustment; we think it's 51/49, and we scoop them out, checking each scoop. If they're really 51/49, the numbers we get should cluster around 51/49. If not, then we can compute what the "real" proportion is.

But now, what if we start with the wrong assumption that they're really 55 percent red, 45 percent blue? When we compute our adjusted values, we're going to "slant" what we think the real value is toward the red ones. we may compute a guess that it's really 53/47.

And that's where the polls are right now. Each one starts with an assumption, or model, of the real electorate. That assumption causes the values to slant one direction or another; how good that initial guess is will determine how good the eventual result is when all the marbles are finally counted.

A lot of the polls have fairly radical assumptions, like that people identify themselves as 40 percent D, 25 percent R, 35 percent independent. Those polls also show Obama with a big leads. Other polls have closer assumptions, and get smaller ranges. That's why I said above that the way to read the polls is really "IF the mix is really like this THEN the election results would be roughly so".

There is an interesting addition to this question from Iowahawk who shows his math.

Works pretty well if you're interested in hypothetical colored balls in hypothetical giant urns, or growth of plants in a controlled experiment, or defects in a batch of factory products. It may even work well if you're interested in blind cola taste tests. But what if the thing you are studying doesn't quite fit the balls & urns template?

What if 40% of the balls have personally chosen to live in an urn that you legally can't stick your hand into?

What if 50% of the balls who live in the legal urn explicitly refuse to let you select them?

What if the balls inside the urn are constantly interacting and talking and arguing with each other, and can decide to change their color on a whim?

What if you have to rely on the balls to report their own color, and some unknown number are probably lying to you?

What if you've been hired to count balls by a company who has endorsed blue as their favorite color?

What if you have outsourced the urn-ball counting to part-time temp balls, most of whom happen to be blue?

What if the balls inside the urn are listening to you counting out there, and it affects whether they want to be counted, and/or which color they want to be?

If one or more of the above statements are true, then the formula for margin of error simplifies to

Margin of Error = Who the hell knows

Because, in this case, so-called scientific "sampling error" is meaningless, because it is utterly overwhelmed by non-sampling error. Under these circumstances "margin of error" is a numeric fiction masquerading as a pseudo-scientific fact, and if a poll reports it -- even if collected "scientifically" -- the pollster is guilty of aggravated bullshit in the first degree.

The moral of this midterm for all would-be pollsters: if you are really interested in how many of us red and blue balls there are in this great big urn, sit back and relax until Tuesday, and let us show our true colors.

Until then, fondle your own balls.

That can be fun. More fun is when you have the right kind of help. So today I want to ask for your help.

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

As to the fondling balls question. I'm looking for volunteers of the female persuasion. Urn fondling in return. Then maybe a cigarette afterwards.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

It Is Not About Race

Howard Stern goes to Harlem and asks some man on the street questions. You have to wonder why the Shrinking Media can't do stuff like this. Did I mention that the Christian Science Monitor is going weekly and the LA Times is laying off 75 more? And that there is a general circulation decline?

H/T Drudge Report

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A Funny Thing Happened In The Voting Booth

Red State has an interesting anecdote about some Democrats who got together to vote early.

Yesterday, I heard a great story from a friend who describes herself as a “Legacy Democrat” she says that everyone in her family has been a registered Democrat as far back as she can remember – parents, grandparents, great-grandparents… you get the picture. Well the other day, her and four of her friends, all proud Nevada Democrats piled into the car and together went to early vote for Obama.

On the way to their polling place, she said they were all very excited but she kept having this funny feeling in her stomach. Upon entering the voting booth, she said, the anxiety worsened and standing there poised to cast her vote a little voice or call it instinct began gnawing away at this life long Democrat (life long - well she’s only 35) She finally said “I can’t do it... I can’t vote for Obama, he’s just not ready” and voted for McCain.

She said she was shocked walking out of the polling place, she didn’t think she would ever vote for a Republican… Ever!!!

On the ride home with her four friends the mood was a bit somber I think she even called it sobering. About halfway home she let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, and told her friends she had voted for McCain and her reasons for doing so. Their reaction was shocking, even to her, all but one said they had done the same thing and for the same reasons.

Steve Foley goes on to discuss what he calls The Readiness Effect. Read the whole thing and follow the links. Steve has been on this for a while.

H/T The Infidel Bloggers Alliance

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Problem Is White People

Yep. White people are messing up the election. But there is a fix for that. Don't allow them to vote.

As a lifelong Caucasian, I am beginning to think the time has finally come to take the right to vote away from white people, at least until we come to our senses. Seriously, I just don't think we can be trusted to exercise it responsibly anymore.

I give you Exhibit A: The last eight years.

In 2000, Bush-Cheney stole the election, got us attacked, and then got us into two no-exit wars. Four years later, white people reelected them. Is not the repetition of the same behavior over and over again with the expectation of a different outcome the very definition of insanity? (It is, I looked it up.)

Exhibit B is any given Sarah Palin rally.

We are really lucky the white guy is no bigot. If he was some kind of racist bigot he would be saying things like "black people shouldn't be allowed to vote because of the color of their skin and because they are too stupid to make good choices". Which of course is not true. Except in the case of white people. So maybe I have this whole race thing in America wrong. I'm going to have to get with the program. Does the Aryan Nation accept Jews?

H/T Newsbusters

Cross Posted at Classical Values

You Have Too Much Money

This bit by Obama advocating wealth redistribution was up at Drudge but I got my hint from Hill Buzz. One point that Hill Buzz makes is that the Obots have not shown up to contest this bit of history. Here is their theory:

Whenever Obama is in trouble, these people clam up.

The worse something is for Obama, the quieter his followers get.

It’s how we gauge the impact of something around here.

Not a single Obamabot comment in the last hour. We’d usually have 30 of them in our spam filter in that hour.

NOT A SINGLE ONE.

Where did they all go?

Back to the mothership for new instructions.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The New Aristocrats

Sgt. Mom looks at the deep wounds Sarah Palin has opened in the guts of the American aristocracy. Sarah is not one of them. She is a mom with five children. Way above the 2.1 considered normal. She kills her own food. A job best left to the servants. All in all a backwoods rube not fit for polite society.

Our career-serving political class, the education establishment, the traditional news media, the people responsible for (in a good and in a bad way) for our movies and television entertainment — it seems of late that too many of them are singing with the same voice and the same song. Different words, perhaps, and out of some obscure motivation, but all to the same end, and now and again I detect some whisper of the same motivating contempt for the American public. Contempt for our tastes or lack of same, of our habits in shopping, amusing ourselves, our persistent attachment to religious beliefs, to habits of self-sufficiency, and our stubborn disinclination to do or believe as our self-nominated betters dictate — it’s all on very ugly display. The media gang-up on Joe the Plumber, for having the impertinence to ask a tough question of the favored candidate was just the most recent and most open, and the most unsettling display.

Really, what do these new aristos expect of the masses, the proletariat, the common citizenry? More and more I have the feeling that we are seen as a kind of herd animal, to be periodically sheared like sheep, relieved of whatever fleece or funds that the new aristos feel they could make better use of, to do as we are told, to not really consider our property, our children, or our earnings as our own. If the aristos decide that they require such things to be given up… well, then, fall in line the loyal peasantry. And don’t forget to smile.

We are being put back in our place, after a two-hundred plus year experiment of being responsible and independent citizens – not so much by actual physical repression, but by words … words and deeds wielded by the new aristos, to wreck our institutions from the inside, and water down those basic freedoms as established in the constitution, to shred free speech and condemn us to silence for fear of a mob – a mob directed by an unholy confabulation of the aristos. Not too late to go storm the Bastille though - on Voting Day. Don’t give up. Ever.

I'm down with that. Totally.

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

What The Captain Really Meant

I just came across this and it is located at some obscure site that may not have the longevity of blogspot. So I'm totally reposting it here for the humor and to make sure it is around for a while longer. From PPrune. You can read the Sharkbait 21 story there.

==

I stumbled upon this gem from a now long ago war in my archives and it occurred to me that there is probably an equivalent out there regarding the current fracas in Iraq. If there is, and someone willing to post it on a public site like this has access to it, I’d love to see it. I have the original audio tape of ‘What the Captain Really Means’ (along with the equally funny ‘Sharkbait 21’). WTCRMs was taped in a crew room by a group of USAF pilots in Vietnam around 1967, with the sound of jets taking off sometimes obscuring the words in the background.

Oh, and for Grandpa and people with similar feelings about the cousins, it was made tongue in cheek. Tongue in cheek, OK?

WHAT THE CAPTAIN REALLY MEANS...

(Serious, professional and very monotone American voice.) "The following statements were recorded when a civilian correspondent interviewed a shy, unassuming Air Force Phantom jet fighter pilot. So the correspondent would not misconstrue the pilot's replies, a Wing Information Officer was on hand as a monitor to make certain that the real Air Force story would be told. The Captain was first asked his opinion of the F4C Phantom.

Pilot: "Shit, it's so friggin manoeuvrable you can fly up your own ass with it."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that he has found the F4C highly manoeuvrable at all altitudes and he considers it an excellent aircraft for all missions assigned."

Reporter: "I suppose Captain you've flown a certain number of missions in North Vietnam. What did you think of the SAMs used by the North Vietnamese?"

Pilot: "Why those bastards couldn't hit a bull in the ass with a base fiddle. We fake the shit out of them. They're no sweat."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that the surface to air missiles around Hanoi pose a serious threat to our air operations and the pilots have a healthy respect for them."

Reporter: "I suppose Captain you've flown missions to the South. What kind of ordinance do you use, and what kinds of targets to you hit?"

Pilot: "Well, I'll tell you, mostly we aim at kicking the shit out of Vietnamese villages, and my favourite ordinance is napalm. Man, that stuff just sucks the air out of their friggin lungs and makes a son of a bitchin' fire."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that air strikes in South Vietnam are often against Viet Cong structures and all air operations are under the positive control of Forward Air Controllers, or FACs. The ordinance employed is conventional 500 and 750 pound bombs and 20 millimetre cannon fire."

Reporter: "I suppose you've spent an R&R in Hong Kong. What were your impressions of the Oriental girls?"

Pilot: "Yeah, I went to Hong Kong. As for those Oriental broads - well, I don't care which way the runway runs, east or west, north or south - a piece of ass is a piece of ass."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that he found the delicately featured Oriental girls fascinating, and was very impressed with their fine manners and thinks their naiveté is most charming."

Reporter: "Tell me Captain, have you flown any missions other than over North and South Vietnam?"

Pilot: "You bet your sweet ass I've flown other missions other than in North and South. We get fragged nearly every day for.. uh, those mothers over there throw everything at you but the friggin kitchen sink. Even the goddamned kids got slingshots."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that he has occasionally been scheduled to fly missions in the extreme western DMZ and he has a healthy respect for the flak in that area." (Translation: the 'extreme west' of the Demilitarized Zone was 'neutral' Laos, where most if not all of that section of the Ho Chi Minh Trail was located and where the Americans did not officially go.)

Reporter: "I understand that no one in the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing has got a MiG yet. What seems to be the problem?"

Pilot: "Why you screwhead! If you knew anything about what you were talking about, the problem is MiGs. If we got fragged by those peckerheads at 7th for those counters in MiG valley you could bet your ass we'd get some of those mothers. Those glory hounds at Ubon get all those frags while we settle for fighting the friggin war. Those mothers at Ubon are sitting on their fat asses killing MiGs and we get stuck with bombing the goddamned cabbage patches."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that each element of the 7th Air Force is responsible for doing their assigned job in the air war. Some units are assigned the job of neutralising enemy air strength but hunting out MiGs, and other elements are assigned bombing missions and interdiction of enemy supply routes."

Reporter: "Of all the targets you've hit in Vietnam, which one was the most satisfying?"

Pilot: "Oh, shit, it was getting fragged for that friggin suspected VC vegetable garden. I dropped napalm in the middle of the friggin pumpkins and cabbage, while my wingman splashed it real good with six of those 750 pound mothers and spread the fire al the way to the friggin beets and carrots."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that the great variety of tactical targets available throughout Vietnam make the F4C the perfect aircraft to provide flexible response."

Reporter: "What do you consider the most difficult target you've struck in North Vietnam?"

Pilot: "The friggin bridges. I must have dropped forty tons of bombs on those swaying bamboo mothers and I ain't hit one of the bastards yet."

WIO: "What the captain means is that interdicting bridges along enemy supply routes is very important and a quite difficult target. The best way to accomplish this task is to crater the approaches to the bridges."

Reporter: "I noticed in touring the base that you have aluminium matting on the taxiways. Would you care to comment on the effectiveness and usefulness in Vietnam?"

Pilot: "You're friggin right I'd like to make a comment. Most of us pilots are well hung, but shit, you don't know what hung is until you get hung up on one of those friggin bumps on that goddamned stuff."

WIO: "What the Captain means is that the aluminium matting is quite satisfactory as a temporary expedient, but requires some finesse in taxying and braking the aircraft."

Reporter: "Did you have an opportunity to meet your wife on leave in Honolulu, and did you enjoy the visit with her?"

Pilot: "Yeah, I met my wife in Honolulu, but I forgot to check the calendar, and so the whole five days were friggin well combat-proof. A completely dry run."

WIO: "What the captain means is that it was wonderful to get together with his wife and learn first hand about the family and how things were at home."

Reporter: "Thank you for your time, Captain."

Pilot: "Screw you, why don't you bastards print the real story instead of all that crap."

WIO: "What the Captain really means is that he enjoyed the opportunity to discuss his Tour with you."

Reporter: "One final question. Could you reduce your impression of the war into a simple phrase or statement, Captain?"

Pilot: "You bet your ass I can. It's a f**ked-up war."

WIO: "What the Captain means is it's a f**ked-up war."

===

Aren't they all.

On Being Right

I take no pleasure in being Right in my dark predictions about the fate of our military intervention in the heart of the Muslim world. It is immensely depressing to me. Nobody likes to be betting against the Home team.

Hunter S. Thompson

Reposting To Omaha

Michael S. Malone has a few words about the bias of the Shrinking Media in this election season.

The traditional media are playing a very, very dangerous game -- with their readers, with the Constitution and with their own fates.

The sheer bias in the print and television coverage of this election campaign is not just bewildering, but appalling. And over the last few months I've found myself slowly moving from shaking my head at the obvious one-sided reporting, to actually shouting at the screen of my television and my laptop computer.

But worst of all, for the last couple weeks, I've begun -- for the first time in my adult life -- to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was "a writer," because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist.

So what can be done about the occasional reporter who lets his enthusiasms run away with a story? Send them back to the Minor Leagues.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who think the media has been too hard on, say, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, by rushing reportorial SWAT teams to her home state of Alaska to rifle through her garbage. This is the big leagues, and if she wants to suit up and take the field, then Gov. Palin better be ready to play.

The few instances where I think the press has gone too far -- such as the Times reporter talking to prospective first lady Cindy McCain's daughter's MySpace friends -- can easily be solved with a few newsroom smackdowns and temporary repostings to the Omaha bureau.

No, what I object to (and I think most other Americans do as well) is the lack of equivalent hardball coverage of the other side -- or worse, actively serving as attack dogs for the presidential ticket of Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Joe Biden, D-Del.

If the current polls are correct, we are about to elect as president of the United States a man who is essentially a cipher, who has left almost no paper trail, seems to have few friends (that at least will talk) and has entire years missing out of his biography.

So if reporters can be corrected, who exactly is at fault for what we see in the press?

So why weren't those legions of hungry reporters set loose on the Obama campaign? Who are the real villains in this story of mainstream media betrayal?

The editors. The men and women you don't see; the people who not only decide what goes in the paper, but what doesn't; the managers who give the reporters their assignments and lay out the editorial pages. They are the real culprits.

And what can be done about them? It is easy really. Put them out of business. Turn off the TV. Cancel the newspaper subscription. And if you really want to hand them a shocker - vote McCain/Palin. Get your friends to do likewise. If McCain wins this election the Shrinking Media is going to have some 'splainin to do.

Computer Wars

Obama's Computer





McCain's Computer

Worth A Bucket

The folks at Hillbuzz have managed to corner a Real Pollster™ to find out what is really going on in this election.

I was having dinner a night ago with a friend of mine who is a statistician for a well-regarded private polling company. They do some work for Republicans in California, but most of the work they do is for Democrats or Democrat-leaning operations (Unions, etc.). Anyway, her shop was retained to do a few Presidential polls for targetted states on behalf of a union so the union could decide where to spend their ad dollars for the last week. They did Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Missouri. After mocking the hell out of the voter id spreads used by Rassmussen, Zogby, etc. (and this is coming from a committed Dem who will be voting for Barry O) she said the results of their polling lead her to believe that McCain will definitely win FL, OH, NC, MO and NV. She says Obama definitely wins New Mexico. She said that Colorado and New Hampshire were absolute dead heats. She said she thinks there is a 55% chance Obama holds on in Pennsylvania and a 75% chance McCain wins Virginia. She absolutely laughed at the public polls showing Obama leading Virginia–and pointed out that all of those polls rely on Dem turnout being +4 and as much as +7, when in 2006, Republicans actually had the advantage by +3. She also pointed out that the numbers for Obama in SWVA look absolutely awful and that McCain is running 10 points better then Allen did in NoVa.

And how about the public polls?

She said she has very little doubt that the public polling is part of a “concerted voter suppression effort” by the MSM. She said IBD/TIPP was the only outfit doing public polling that was “worth a bucket of warm piss”.

And what do I have to say to that? Those of you who have been paying attention can see it coming.

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

We Are The Ones

I was reading the American Thinker and came across this interesting characterization by a commenter of the PUMA Movement.

We are the ones no one was expecting.

Attributed to Darragh Murphy. No Quarter has some video of her. You can also visit her www site PUMA PAC.

China Is Having Some Problems

The world wide economic crash is affecting China in some good ways and some not so good ways.

Tao built River Dragon from a start-up with four employees into one of China's biggest textile printing firms in just five years. He had even grander dreams: He wanted to see his company's stock trade on Nasdaq alongside the likes of Microsoft and Intel.

The dreams are dead. River Dragon shut down on Oct. 7. Tao and Yan have vanished, leaving behind more than $290 million in debt and a lot of anger in this city 140 miles south of Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta. The company's demise put 4,000 workers on the street and jilted hundreds of suppliers and creditors.

The speedy rise — and speedier fall — of River Dragon is a depressingly familiar story in China these days. Thousands of Chinese factories have shuttered in the past year, done in by:

•An export-killing global slowdown that began with the collapse of the U.S. housing market and the ensuing financial crisis. Local textile merchant Fang Xingquan, a River Dragon creditor, is among many who believe a sharp drop-off in exports was a key factor in the company's demise.

China has not been immune to the property crisis.

The Chinese economy is absorbing another blow beyond crumbling exports: collapsing home prices. Nicholas Lardy, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, D.C., reckons a slowdown in construction could shave another 1 to 2 percentage points off China's economic growth.

"The property bubble is already starting to burst," says Yan Yu, a business management scholar at Peking University, researching the export center of Dongguan in southern Guangdong province. "House prices here in Dongguan have fallen by up to 50% this year," leaving many homeowners owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

"People have worked all their lives and believed the hype and bought overvalued properties, then saw their savings vanish," says independent economist Andy Xie in Shanghai. "That carries more political risk" than rising joblessness.

Well that is the bad news. How about the good stuff?

"Chinese authorities appear to be well aware of the global economic situation," JPMorgan Chase reported this month. The bank expects government to turn the spigot on spending, quadrupling the budget deficit to the equivalent of 2% of economic output from 0.5% this year.

The authorities aren't going to save everyone. The Chinese government has put pressure on small firms that foul the environment, pay miserly wages and turn out cheap products. "Beijing no longer wants to be the world's sweatshop for junk," CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets says in a recent report.

First, China cut tax breaks for exporters and imposed new export taxes on polluters, even targeting producers of disposable chopsticks. Then it introduced a labor law in January, requiring companies to give workers written contracts and making it harder for them to lay off employees or to hire informal part-time help.

The combination of tougher regulations, weakening exports, rising costs and a stronger Chinese currency has hammered thousands of small factories. The pain has been especially agonizing in Guangdong, a low-cost manufacturing center across the border from Hong Kong in southern China.

So it seems that even the silver clouds have a dark lining. Pollution will be declining, but so will jobs.

It will be interesting to see if China can weather the current economic storm.

The Wrong Parties

It should probably be the "wronged parties", but then we would be talking about citizens. Which will come up eventually but not quite in that context. And what is the context? Obviously some one is getting it. What the heck am I gibbering about? The inevitable political season wheeze that "we need to punish a given political party by seeing it defeated" in order to make it live up to its principles. Radly Balko is the latest purveyor of this trash.

Which brings me back to why the Republicans need to get throttled: A humiliated, decimated GOP that rejuvenates and rebuilds around the principles of limited government, free markets, and rugged individualism is really the only chance for voters to possibly get a real choice in federal elections down the road.

What Radly fails to take into account is that it is the voters who choose the candidates. If you are trying to win in a conservative district you had better be running conservative candidates. (See Democrats, Blue Dog) So Radly, we don't have a government of the Parties. We have a government of the people. Want better candidates (according to your lights)? Get better people.

Radly: for good or ill we get the government we deserve. And for the Radlys of the world the answer is always the same: we need a better party. The Libertarians have been improving their party for 30+ years. So far the results are minimal. I propose a different tack. A long march through the institutions. Work to get a libertarian people. The libertarian government will follow shortly thereafter.

OH, yeah. Palin has more libertarian tendencies than I have seen in any other politician currently on the national scene. I'm voting McCain/Palin to give her a chance to show her stuff.

I ♥ Sarah'cudda and Johnny Mac

And for those of you who are a little short of love for the Republican ticket may I suggest:

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

I think people who try to steal elections (ahem, ACORN, hem) ought to be denied a victory on principle. It sets a bad precedent.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The No Sh*t Tour

Well, I was going to say "Crap", but I felt it was not colorful enough. Navy man's prerogative. Any way John McCain is doing a Joe The Plumber tour in Florida using his "Straight Talk Express" bus.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Republican John McCain is trying to keep Florida from swinging to the Democrats with a cross-state bus tour and a series of "Joe the Plumber" events aimed at blue-collar workers.

From Ormond Beach on the Atlantic Coast to Sarasota on the Gulf Coast, the Republican nominee was to ride his "Straight Talk Express" bus Thursday between stops focused on criticizing Democrat Barack Obama's tax plans and promoting his own proposals to cut them for individuals and businesses. He was visiting a building materials company, a doctor's office, a restaurant and a farm.

The route not only traverses the vote-rich "I-4 Corridor" through Orlando, in central Florida, but includes informal stops between the more formal rallies. Its goal was to boost McCain in a state George W. Bush won in 2000 and 2004, but which Obama is threatening to seize despite a strong GOP machine and McCain's endorsement by Republican Gov. Charlie Crist.

Let's hope McCain can hold on. We will know soon.

A. Hitler Big Obama Fan

What? You think this is some kind of Godwin joke? No my friends, it is not. It is for real. A. Hitler has made a Credit Card (CC) donation of $19.45 to the Obama Campaign. Obama has all the safeties turned off on his credit card (CC) verification system.

Frankly, its easier than I'd believe to do this. Courtesy of my (real) CC number and expiration date, the Obama campaign has just received a $19.45 donation from mister Adolf Hitler, whose occupation is "Dictator" at the company "National Socialist Party of Ger" (I got cut off). I captured screenshots to prove this.

No verification required. The listed address wasn't even close to my real address.

While I hate to think I'm giving any money at all to these bastards, its worth it to prove once and for all that they are engaged in fraud. I will verify whether my card gets charged and report back.

moleman

Which is how he got all those contributions from people like Good Will who works at "Loving" and whose profession is "You". It might explain how some people from the Gaza Strip were able to donate $33,000 to the Obama campaign.

And yet it seems like our Shrinking Media is shrinking from this story. I suppose we could get their interest up if we reminded them that it was Republicans who were pretending to be A. Hitler. True Progressives™ would have pretended to be Hugo Chavez.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Is California In Play?

Is California in play? You might think so given this report from Yreka, California in The Siskiyou Daily News.

Last week, Louise Gliatto, a volunteer at the Republican campaign office, handed out the last McCain-Palin yard sign. The last campaign button went a few days earlier. There is a good supply of McCain-Palin bumper stickers, however, and local Republicans have been visiting the campaign office to get them. At both offices, voters have been interested in information on the state ballot initiatives.

“A lot of Mount Shasta people have been coming in,” Democratic office volunteer Mike Cassady said of the Yreka office.

The Democrats are staffing a single office in Yreka, while the Republicans have opened offices in Yreka and Mount Shasta.

Before Monday’s deadline to register to vote, both offices were busy helping residents fill out registration cards. The Democrats also spent four days registering voters in front of Raley’s in Yreka. Cassady said several dozen voters from both parties were registered.

That is all very odd for a state that is not supposed to be in play. And the Republicans opening two offices to the Democrat's one? And how about those polls? Whatever they mean. Here is my motto from now until 0600z 5 Nov. 2008.


Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.


Cross Posted at Classical Values

Ripping Them A New One

Orson Scott Card is a Democrat. He is also a fierce critic of the press. The in the tank for Obama press.

An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

And then he goes on to name names. You know. The usual suspects. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Barack Obama, Franklin Raines (referred to as Freddie Raines). And then he says that the media today has no honor because it is helping to blame the crisis on Republicans when the Democrats were in fact the main drivers. That by not treating both parties at least somewhat equally they have lost their way.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe — and vote as if — President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats — including Barack Obama — and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans — then you are not journalists by any standard.

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a news paper in our city.

Sorry to say Mr. Card, but the internet is taking over the function of your local daily paper. Just a bunch of ordinary Joes with an interest in having their point of view heard. However, as is already obvious to you, there is a place for you on the internet. Keep up the good work. Oh yeah. Read the whole thing. En Fuego.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Something Strange Coming Your Way

Real Clear Politics has Obama up by 11 in Pennsylvania as of 22 Oct 008 0300z. And yet Governor Rendell is nervous about Pennsylvania and is asking Obama to return.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has sent two separate memos to the Obama campaign in the past five days requesting that the Democratic Presidential candidate—as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton—return to campaign in Pennsylvania, Rendell told CNN's Gloria Borger.

Rendell said the McCain campaign is clearly making a push to win Pennsylvania, given the recent visits by the Arizona senator, his wife and his running mate. As a result, he wants Obama to appear in western Pennsylvania, Harrisburg and one more “large rally” in Philadelphia. Democrats generally worry that the race is significantly closer than what recent polls have suggested. According to Rendell, there is also worry among Democrats the McCain campaign has successfully raised the enthusiasm level among Republicans in the state.

“I don’t want to be selfish,” Rendell said. “But I’m still a little nervous, so I have asked Obama to come back. We understand he’s got demands from 20 different states, but we’d like to see him here.”

Obama's support appears to be weakest in the western part of the state, a region Pennsylvania Rep. Jack Murtha recently called 'racist,' and one where he badly lost to Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.

Yeah. The Democrats have done a real good job in PA what with Obama's "bitter clingers" remark and others. Still the polls have Obama up by 11, well outside the margin of error, so that PA should be a waste of time in ordinary circumstances. So maybe the circumstances are not ordinary.

It also looks like the Obama campaign is having money troubles in Philadelphia. Specifically street money troubles.

When the Philadelphia Democratic Party's faithful gathered for their pre-election fundraiser last night, conversation among many anxious ward leaders kept coming back to the same question: Would Barack Obama come up with street money?

In the April primary, the presidential candidate spurned the Philadelphia tradition of distributing cash to ward leaders for Election Day operations, saying his campaign doesn't "pay for votes or pay for turnout."

Street money, typically between $100 and $300 per voting division, is used to pay expenses such as meals and transportation and sometimes pay election workers for their day's work.

Many thought Obama had changed his mind and would provide street money for the general election, but ward leaders said last night that they still hadn't heard of a commitment from the campaign.

"Honestly, they'd be crazy not to do it," said Lou Agre, leader of the 21st Ward in Roxborough and Manayunk. "We're the ones who can get those last five, six hundred people [in a ward] who haven't voted, and that's a big difference for the campaign."

City Democratic chairman U.S. Rep. Bob Brady said he's confident the Obama campaign will come up with the money.

But several ward leaders said Brady had told them he'd gotten no commitment from the Obama campaign, and Gov. Rendell said he didn't know what to expect.

"Who knows?" Rendell said when asked by a reporter. "I've recommended and Bob's recommended it, but we have no word, no word."

You know, the Obama campaign does not sound like a campaign that is flush with votes or money. Despite what the press is telling you.

Maybe Obama was thinking that with his ACORNs in a row he didn't need the regular party machine. No money, no votes. One way or the other. Of course this could just be a negotiating tactic by Obama to drive the price down. And Rendell's moves could just be his way of driving the price up. This lack of honor among the thieves could be a serious problem for an Obama administration.

And one other point I want you to keep in mind:

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Disruption Of Palin Motorcade

Would Obama supporters in Grand Junction, Colorado do such a thing? Well the odds are high even if the protesters are not named. Here is the CNN report. The gangsters call themselves "Red Pill". Evidently it is the kind of pill that makes you small.

And for those of you thinking that there is no hope, that Obama has it locked up, I have a few words for you:

Don't give it to him. Make him steal it.

Smerconish For Obama

A certain person named Smerconish who claims to be a Republican has come out for Obama. A giveaway is that this missive was published in the HuffPo among other places.

Mr. S lists five concerns where he thinks Mr. Obama has better ideas than John McCain. The five are Terrorism, where he thinks Iraq is was a mistake. Of course by those lights the landings in Libya in 1942 were a mistake when the fight was with the Germans. The Economy, where McCain's statement that the fundamentals of the economy are strong is the killer. And yet despite the melt down year over year housing sales in California are up 68%. That is not a sign of fundamental weakness. Mr. Smerconish must not be paying attention. And now we come to the Woman Thing. The VP pick. Despite Palin's having way more successful executive experience as Governor of Alaska than Obama has had his whole life, the S says it is not enough for VP. Now here we come to the real mush. Opportunity. Mr. Obama can be a role model to all the missing black fathers and elevate the black community because he is an articulate black guy. And it is true. With the help of Mr. Rezko, Mr. Obama may soon become one of the most articulate black men in the American prison system. Just the sort of role model missing in the Black Community. Mostly what we get is inarticulate criminals and the occasional Republican. And now, let me give you the final bit of mush in full.

Hope. Wednesday morning will come and an Obama presidency holds the greatest chance for unifying us here at home and restoring our prestige around the globe. The campaigns have foretold the kind of presidency we can expect from each candidate. Last Friday in Lakeville, Minn., McCain himself had to explain to a supporter who was "scared" of an Obama presidency that those fears were unfounded. Another told McCain that Obama was untrustworthy because he is an "Arab." Those exchanges were a predictable byproduct of ads against Obama featuring tag lines such as "Too Risky for America" and "Dangerous," and a failure to rein in individuals at McCain events who highlighted Obama's middle name, all against a background of Internet lore.

I will tell you what though. A full on socialist as President of the US who has lots of more radical Marxist friends does not give me hope.

Perhaps Mr. Smerconish didn't get the latest Joe Biden memo.

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

So much for "restoring our prestige around the globe". I guess Joe knows why Obama is "Too Risky For America". My hope is that enough of the electorate who haven't already figured it out will get the message by the time they vote in two weeks.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Fusion Report 20 October 2008

Alan Boyle brings us up to date on the latest news from the world of fusion. Of course I'm especially interested in what he has to say about Bussard Fusion and their progress to net power. I'll give you the short version:

"We've been pretty busy, but it's the same situation," Nebel told me today. "We're kind of in a holding pattern."

He's been able to keep the five-person team together and "doing a few things" during this holding pattern. There have been some rumblings to the effect that EMC2's results have been encouraging enough to justify pressing forward, but Nebel has declined to make a prediction about the project's future.

Nebel worries about the same kind of budget limbo that the U.S. ITER team is worrying about, even though his budget is an order of magnitude lower. Among the factors on his mind are the change in the White House and the changes in economic circumstances.

"The thing that usually gets hit the hardest is what they call discretionary funding," Nebel said, "and that's what we're looking at here. That'd be the biggest fear everywhere."

So the news is the same as it was at the end of August. No news. Alan Boyle has more on fusion power in general and Bussard Fusion in particular. You can also read my previous Fusion Reports by following the links in: Fusion Report 29 August 2008.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

You Can't Say That

Evidently in Britain there are fewer restrictions on polite conversation than there are in America. So Melanie Phillips says it:

You have to pinch yourself – a Marxisant radical who all his life has been mentored by, sat at the feet of, worshipped with, befriended, endorsed the philosophy of, funded and been in turn funded, politically promoted and supported by a nexus comprising black power anti-white racists, Jew-haters, revolutionary Marxists, unrepentant former terrorists and Chicago mobsters, is on the verge of becoming President of the United States. And apparently it’s considered impolite to say so.

Well. More like racist. But that is a minor quibble.

H/T Gateway Pundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A Racism Surge In America

You remember when Obama was way up in the polls? (Wasn't that like a week ago? - Yes it was [ed.]) Now that he is falling back in the polls Joe Biden knows why it is happening. Racism. It is like a disease. Once other people get infected it is on a matter of (not much) time until you get it too. And then the polls go down. Really. That is how it works. Vast swaths of America are just waking up and saying, "You know I just noticed Obama is black and I could never bring myself to vote for a black man, now that I have noticed."

ABC News' Matthew Jaffe Reports: As Election Day looms just over two weeks away, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., said Saturday that with Republicans firing "vicious" and "dangerous" attacks at Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., voters are "having a difficult time" opting for the man who would become the nation's first African American president.

"Undecided people are having a difficult time just culturally making the change, making the move for the first African American president in the history of the United States of America," the Democratic vice-presidential nominee said at a San Francisco fundraiser Saturday evening. "So we need to respond. We need to respond at the moment, immediately, not wait, not hang around, not assume any of this won't stick."

I think what they fear most is attacks by the plumbers brigades. And they are vicious and totally unfair. One of the most vicious attacks is repeating what Obama said in response to Joe The Plumber:

When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

Mr. Biden - it is not the racism you need to worry about it is

the socialism.

H/T Gateway Pundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Obama Camp Fears Republican Jews

The American Thinker quoting the Jewish Journal:

Barack Obama's campaign has decided advisers and representatives of the Democratic nominee for president will no longer debate officials from the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).

This prohibition led Wednesday to the canceling of a debate scheduled for Sunday at Valley Cities Jewish Community Center in Van Nuys organized by the Council of Israeli Community in Los Angeles. Larry Greenfield, California director of the RJC, said he still plans to show up. His counterpart, former Rep. Mel Levine, who is a Middle East adviser for Obama, will not participate in what would have been his fourth debate with Greenfield.

The American Thinker has this to say about that:

The Jewish intellectual tradition is built upon the foundation of vigorous disputation as the path to the truth. It would appear that with so many awkward questions about Obama's friendship with Rashid Khalidi, his 20 years in Reverend Wright's church, and his many anti-Israel foreign policy advisors, the Obama campaign is unable to withstand sustained scrutiny.

The Obama Camp's rationale for canceling? The Republicans tell lies and no truth the Obama folk have is strong enough to counteract the lies.

Bank Gave Rezko Special Deal On Obama Property

It seems that Barack "I am not a crook" Obama had some help when he bought his new house.

A former Illinois bank official, now claiming whistleblower status, says bank officials replaced a loan reappraisal that he prepared for a Chicago property that was purchased by the wife of now-convicted felon Tony Rezko, part of which was later sold to next-door neighbor Barack Obama.

In a complaint filed Thursday in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Kenneth J. Connor said that his reappraisal of Rita Rezko's property was replaced with a higher one and that he was fired when he questioned the document.

Mr. Connor, a real estate and commercial credit analyst at the Mutual Bank Corp. in Chicago, also noted in the complaint that the bank received a grand jury subpoena in October 2006 requiring it to produce information concerning Mrs. Rezko's purchase, including the bank's files on the property.

Needless to say, there have been a few critics of Mr. Obama's dealings with his close friends the Rezkos.

Critics of Mr. Obama's dealings with Rezko charge that the senator may have gotten a deal on his property purchase, noting that Mrs. Rezko paid the full asking price for her property on an adjacent lot. Both of which were sold by a single seller. Mr. Obama bought his house for $1.65 million - $300,000 below the asking price.

When the property was sold, Mr. Obama knew Rezko was under investigation on fraud charges.

The complaint said the Rezko loan was approved by Mutual Bank President and CEO Amrish Mahajan and others so that Mrs. Rezko could buy a 9,090-square-foot vacant parcel of real estate. It said that in January 2006, Mrs. Rezko and Mr. Obama, along with his wife Michelle, signed an agreement to sell a 10-foot strip of the property to the Obamas. At that point, according to the complaint, Mr. Connor's firm asked him to conduct the reappraisal.

And how about Mutual Bank Corp. President Amrish Mahajan?

A Chicago banker whose wife is accused of bilking millions from a no-bid state contract has helped raise more than a half million dollars for Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaigns since 2001.

Amrish Mahajan was a driving force behind his wife's drug-screening company, now facing questions about how it kept its long-standing state contract despite troubles with taxes, licensing and years of alleged fraud.A review of records and dozens of interviews reveal the company was built on Mahajan's deep Chicago political connections and its government business grew along with his reputation as a power broker in the city's Indian community.

He has been neither charged nor implicated in the fraud case.

Mahajan, 60, the president of Mutual Bank, is courted by city and state politicians as a man who can deliver support and money. He is referred to as "Uncle Amrish" by the businessmen who line the predominantly Indian corridor along Devon Avenue, by his bank customers, and even by one of the governor's children.

Mahajan's ties to Blagojevich run deep--including hiring the Democratic governor's wife last year as a real estate agent on $5.7 million in private land deals.

Blagojevich has acknowledged the family friendship with the Mahajans. But he has attempted to distance himself since a Tribune report last year revealed the real estate deals involving Blagojevich's wife, Patricia.

"I know Amrish," Blagojevich said last week. "There is no relationship now."

No doubt he is not the Amrish Blagojevich once knew.

So what is the bottom line on all this? It is fairly simple. Do you want to put the Chicago mob in charge of the Federal Government? A mob that wants you to share your wealth with them. Or else.

H/T No Quarter

Why Is Plumber Joe A Big Deal?

With all the heat on Joe from the in the tank media I think it would be a good idea to look at Obama's Joe Problem is not Joe. It is Obama.

Obama dropped the mask long enough to tell the truth to Toledo plumber Joe Wurzelbacher - who had asked the Democratic nominee why he wanted to jack up his taxes just for "fulfilling the American dream."

"I'm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year," Wurzelbacher had told Obama. "Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn't it?"

"It's not that I want to punish your success," Obama replied. "I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too . . . When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody."

Let me repeat the Money quote, just in case you missed it. Mr. Obama said:

When you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody.

Except that it was impossible to see that "spreading the wealth around" was not good for Joe the Plumber. Especially when Mr. Obama wanted to spread Joe's wealth around. Obama admitted he was a socialist. I think that is death in American politics. Which is why the Obama team has to change to subject.

Because

spreading the wealth around

has one big deficit, every one imagines that it is their money that will get taken. Because it is true. In a system based on thievery the advantage is to the thieves.

It took a team of plumbers to derail Nixon. It looks like it only took one to do in Mr. Obama. As long as we focus on the answer and not the questioner.

Bill Ayers Is Personna Non Grata

The renowned educationalist Bill Ayers will not be speaking at the University of Nebraska. The Omaha World Herald had this to say:

Just 11 days after next month’s election, the University of Illinois-Chicago professor, William Ayers, is scheduled to speak at a student research conference held by the UNL College of Education and Human Science.

Gov. Dave Heineman released a statement saying that UNL leaders should not allow Ayers, a 1960s radical-turned-professor at the University of Illinois, to talk during a campus event on Nov. 15.

“Chairman of the Board of Regents Chuck Hassebrook and President of the University J.B. Milliken should immediately rescind the invitation extended to Bill Ayers to speak at the University,” the governor said. “This is an embarrassment to the University of Nebraska and the State of Nebraska. Bill Ayers is a well known radical who should never have been invited to the University of Nebraska.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Nebraska, today said in a statement that he is disappointed that UNL invited William Ayers to speak on campus Nov. 15.

“His past involvement in a violent protest group and incendiary comments are not consistent with the agenda of unity that we need in America today,” Nelson said. “I encourage the university to reconsider this decision.”

Evidently the visit by the world renowned Ayers has been canceled due to "safety concerns" - translation: some politicians are concerned with the safety of their jobs.

What is striking is that Ayers is an important deal politically in Nebraska. That says that the word is out on this mope and it isn't doing Obama any good in the rest of America either.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

An Excess Of Voters

It seems that six counties in Alabama have more people registered to vote than they have adult citizens.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Six Alabama counties have more people registered to vote than adults of voting age.

The Birmingham News compared the state's voter registration numbers with the Census Bureau's population estimates and found more registered voters than voting-age adults in Conecuh, Greene, Lowndes, Perry, Washington and Wilcox counties.

Statewide, the voter registration rolls equal 85% of Alabama's voting age population.

The News reported that the biggest variations were in Greene and Perry counties.

Greene County had 7,540 people on its voter rolls at the end of September, but the Census Bureau estimates its adult population at 6,834.

And why could this be a problem?

After Alabama's party primaries in June, Perry County District Attorney Michael Jackson asked the FBI to investigate an unusually high voter turnout and complaints about absentee voting in the west Alabama county. The FBI has not announced any results.

Secretary of State Beth Chapman says her staff is reviewing the numbers because bloated voter rolls can provide an opportunity for election fraud.

So far there are no reports of ACORN or Obama Campaign involvement.

Actually I think Obama is just trying to assist the move to a service economy. Suppose you need voter fraud nationwide to win an an election? Now you can just contract it out to one entity instead of having to make deals with every mob in every city. Economies of scale all around and you get to exploit idealistic college kids for minimum wage. With any kind of luck a good number of those kids will get felony vote fraud convictions and then there will be only one place they can get a job. With Obama's boys or those like them. So the system to a certain extent is self replicating. Especially if it wins elections.

H/T Ace of Spades HQ

Semiconductor Stocks

EDN Magazine has a report on the strength of various semiconductor companies going into the down turn.

FBR Research has touched on one of the trends this blog has been covering for the past few weeks: the idea that as macroeconomic conditions worsen, opportunity will arise for the stronger companies within the tech sector, and specifically within semiconductors, to increase their strength by acquiring their perceived weaker rivals.

Buy low sell high. If you can.

...in a report this week, the semiconductor market research company broke out a short list of companies (the "Haves") that it believes are positioned to benefit from these crunch economic times by buying lesser competitors, accelerating product development efforts, or buying back meaningful amounts of stock. FBR also noted other companies (the "Have-Nots") that could be forced to take drastic actions to ensure they remain competitive.

In compiling its Haves and Have Nots lists, FBR looked at free cash flow as a percentage of revenues; net cash/debt, in dollars; net cash as a percentage of revenues; share gainer or loser; expected degree of revenue decline; expected degree of revenue decline; margin leverage during sales decline; quality of management; and ability to execute share buyback.

As for the Haves, FBR named, in strength order, Broadcom, Silicon Labs, Intel, Maxim, International Rectifier, and Marvell.

I especially like International Rectifier. Power Electronics is growing at an astounding rate (hybrid auto demand and solar DC to AC conversion are feeding that) and IR is a leader in its field. They are also able to charge premium prices for their parts due to their leadership and outstanding quality.

A Job For Joe The Plumber

Cribbed From getliberty.org

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Barack The Plumber

For more information visit getliberty.org.

H/T Eric of Classical Values by e-mail.

So Weak They Have To Cheat

I have been thinking some about what all this voter fraud business means in the larger scheme of things.

It means that the left is on the wane in a very serious way. They can't win without cheating.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A Pawn

The Republican Party is a pawn of Joe the Plumber

200,000 Fraudulent Registrations In Ohio?

If I didn't know better I'd say some one was trying to steal an election in Ohio. Jennifer Brunner is the Secretary of State of Ohio. She is a Democrat. She is not interested in finding out if every one registered is actually eligible to vote.

The court's 9-6 opinion, written by Judge Jeffrey Sutton, suggested that voters whose driver's license number or Social Security number does not exactly match those found on databases maintained by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or Social Security Administration could be required to use provisional ballots instead of conventional ones.

"The thing that concerns me is that Judge Sutton indicated that these mismatched names could be subjected to provisional voting and nowhere in [Help America Vote Act] is that the case. The Help America Vote Act is really not meant to be used to disenfranchise or to help determine voter eligibility," Brunner said in an interview today.

"Essentially that provision of HAVA is basically supposed to maintain voter registration databases," she said. "It is not for determining voter eligibility. The interpretation that seems to be coming from at least that particular judge takes HAVA and uses it as a means to exclude voters from a regular ballot. That is a concern."

The full 6th Circuit's opinion overturned the decision of a three-judge panel at the federal court last week and restored the ruling announced last week by U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith.

Since Jan. 1, Ohio has 666,000 newly registered or updated voters -- all of whom fall under scrutiny by this latest court ruling. Brunner said an initial review found that at least 200,000 of them might have mismatched information. Once the office identifies all of the mismatched voters, Brunner will send the list to the county boards of election where the individuals have registered.

But state Republican Party Chairman Bob Bennett said Brunner's decision to not implement the verification system sooner without the court forcing her to do so has cost county boards of election valuable time reining in examples of fraud.

Well things of one sort and another have been going on in Ohio lately. For instance take the project called Vote From Home.

Something smells at 2885 Brownlee Avenue in Columbus, Ohio.

I strongly recommend that the Ohio Republican Party get on the case before it’s too late. Today’s the last day to challenge voters who registered early in Ohio before the run up to Election Day.

Here’s the stench: An entire houseful of young, non-Ohioan Democrat activists have used the Brownlee Avenue address to register themselves to vote in the Buckeye State and secure absentee ballots under extremely shady circumstances — all while mobilizing a large effort to register thousands of others for absentee and early voting. The activists are leaders of a group called “Vote From Home ‘08.” The group is self-identified as having “extensive experience with political organizing, election administration, and Democratic politics.” They were hailed as the “Justice League” by a Daily Kos blogger. Their Facebook page brags: “Want to turn the Presidential election blue in a key swing state? Vote from Home is a political organization that was founded by a team of young people for the purpose of assisting, aiding, and tracking voters to elect progressive candidates to the White House. Encouraged by the excitement of the 2008 elections and the movement around the Democratic candidates, Vote From Home will be in Ohio seeking to deliver 10,000 votes to Democratic candidates statewide.”

The Obama team has learned its Chicago politics well. Vote real early and quite often. Click the link if you want to get deep into the subject with way more details, videos, and links.

Some one is paying these people. It would be interesting to find out who.

H/T Ace Of Spades HQ who has way more on the 200,000 suspect registrations.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

He May Need 57 Copies

According to the Everett, Washignton Herald Net another suit has been filed asking Senator Obama to produce his documents before a Judge in Washington State.

Today, Steve Marquis of Fall City
filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court directing Secretary of State Sam Reed to get the proof – or remove Obama’s name from ballots.

Here is his press release.

He argues in a 30-page document:

“To avert likely civil unrest and a constitutional crisis…this complaint seeks to resolve such complaints prior to the election. It was incumbent on the candidates to present such documentation, but to date Mr. Obama has failed to do so.

Obama sought to put down this pesty rumor when he posted a picture of his birth certificate online here.

Senator Obama may need to get 57 copies of his birth certificate pronto if he is going to be ready to satisfy all the potential lawsuits.

H/T Atlas Shrugs. Atlas has links to background information if you are not up to speed on the controversy.

Plumber Joe

The above video shows the encounter of Plumber Joe Wurzelbacher with Senator Obama on the campaign trail. Joe is not a happy camper. He wants to buy a business. The business makes too much money, over $250,000, and Joe knows his taxes are going up under Obama.

Now here is where it gets tricky:

Obama said, "My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody. If you’ve got a plumbing business, you’re gonna be better off if you’re gonna be better off if you’ve got a whole bunch of customers who can afford to hire you, and right now everybody’s so pinched that business is bad for everybody and I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."

Nice attitude you got Senator. Is it supported by the University of Chicago Economics Department? I don't think so.

Now how do economies actually get better off? Not by spreading the wealth. They get better off by more production. Passing out money may be OK as an emergency measure but making it a permanent feature has the bad effect of reducing incentive. Which reduces output.

So the Senator wants to reduce economic output with higher taxes and reduce government income with higher taxes in the name of fairness. What is fair about an under producing economy?

Commenter Andrew at Classical Values has suggested this unedited YouTube version for those of who would want to see more. I also have another post up Joe The Plumber.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Joe The Plumber

Watch the above video if you want to learn a little about Joe the Plumber who was a feature of tonight's debate. I think he is going to be a cult figure. I wonder if he is going to come out with a line of pants and male undergarments?

And if you want to refresh your memory on how Obama got his start in Socialist Politics here are a couple of refreshers:

Socialists Win
The Senator Is A Socialist

H/T Gateway Pundit.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Totally Unverified

African Press International has a report of a communication with Michelle Obama that is very interesting if true.

When API told her that our online news media was only relaying what the American Bloggers and other media outlets had discovered through their investigations, Mrs Obama was angered and she came out loud with the following: “African press International is supposed to support Africans and African-American view,” and she went to state that, “it is strange that API has chosen to support the racists against my husband. There is no shame in being adopted by a step father.

That would tend to lend credence to the reports that the name on Mr. Obama's birth certificate is not Obama.

I'm Sick Of Politics

And I'll be glad when this election season is over. Twenty-one more days.

I Had Two Fininance Directors

Is having two Finance Directors worse or better than having two mommys? Hard to say. However, that is the embarrassing position Mr. Obama finds himself in.

Some people in Chicago claim she was Obama’s Finance Director for his 2004 Senate campaign. FEC Senate campaign records show she was paid a pretty penny as “Finance Director”.

However, people familiar with Obama’s 2004 Senate campaign say Claire Serdiuk was Obama’s Finance Director. Looking through everything we can see online for that 2004 campaign, Claire Serdiuk is consistently listed as the Finance Director - because that’s what she was.

There’s no mention of Vera Baker…but Vera Baker was paid as the “Finance Director” too.

What does it matter? It probably doesn't. Except that supposedly a jealous Michelle Obama had Ms. Vera banished from the Obama campaign and ultimately relocated to the Bahamas where she is supposedly being paid to stay away from American politics by a big Democrat donor - whose name is at this point unknown. Or at least not public knowledge.

So far there does not appear to be a love child involved.

Wouldn't it be ironic if there was no more to this than a hyper jealous wife? Of course there is the problem of two Finance Directors. It will be interesting to get Mr. Obama's explanation of his Table of Organization. If anyone asks.

Will You Still Need Me?

Stop Global Warming For Free

An easy low cost way of stopping global warming has been found.

All we have to do is keep the sun from having spots. Or at least greatly reduce their number thus weakening its output. It will cause a Little Ice Age.

So far it is working.

Now for the bad news. It seems volcanic eruptions follow solar output. High solar output correlates with fewer volcanic eruptions.

climatologist Cliff Harris and meteorologist Randy Mann, who, amongst other things, run a website called Long Range Weather, have created an absolutely marvelous long-term global temperature chart that wasn't in Gore's movie, and every climate alarmist in the media desperately hopes you never see it.

You can see the chart by clicking the link. It is very interesting.

...we believe that temperatures are beginning to cool again, particularly in north- central Canada where this summer there was only about 2 weeks between damaging freezes from late June into mid-July. One of our Harris-Mann Climatology clients went fishing between July 10-13 in northwestern Saskatchewan and reported "piles of ice" still on the ground in the region and temperatures close to the freezing mark.

Anecdotes are nice. How about some measurements?

How about a graph of earth temperatures. What does the graph show? Sharply declining temperatures with the current "global temp" equal to the global temp in 1940. So I guess reducing solar output is having the desired effect.

It looks like temps are going down very fast. We may need to burn a lot of coal just to keep warm. You don't suppose all this CO2 hysteria is a con, do you?

Socialists Win

Click To Enlarge
According to Gateway Pundit Obama had some interesting friends when he was learning the political ropes in Chicago.

Obama actively sought the New Party’s endorsement and urged the Marxist members to join his campaigns. The New Party went so far as to claim Obama as an official member of their organization. The New Party socialists were affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America.

Of course, Obama has a long history of relationships with Marxists. His first mentor in high school was noted Communist Frank Marshall Davis. He admitted he attended socialist conferences during his college years in his first book, "Dreams From My Father", page 122:

Not only do socialists win. They have plans.



Cross Posted at Classical Values

Who Is Barack Obama?

About 11 minutes

I have looked into Obama's birth certificate issues at:
The Birth Certificate
Democrats Against Some Entitlements
Obama Birth Certificate Issue Heats Up
Not A Citizen?
Juhah Benjamin On Obama's Birth Certificate

You can also find out more by searching Philip Berg Obama.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Ohio Voter Registers Multiple Times - For My Country

The lady being interviewed said, "I'll register over and over if it helps my uh you know. Plus I'm trying to do something for myself and my country." I was unaware that vote fraud would help the country.

Rumors Abound

A post yesterday on pro-Hillary HillBuzz claims that a contributer spoke with someone in the Chicago court system that a team of FBI investigators in ten states are putting together a RICO case for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. They are claiming that alleged undocumented contributions to the Obama campaign could potentially ensnare ACORN and, well, just about every Democrat they don't like.

Another rumor: Two Big Stories About ACORN Fraud in Ohio About to Hit.

10,000 duplicate/fraudulent registrations in Hamilton County (Cincinnati) and around 8000 bad registrations in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland). Cincinnati story should be out tomorrow, Cleveland one Sunday or Monday.

And yes the spirit of enterprise is alive and well in Ohio.

CLEVELAND - A man at the center of a voter-registration scandal told The Post yesterday he was given cash and cigarettes by aggressive ACORN activists in exchange for registering an astonishing 72 times, in apparent violation of Ohio laws.

"Sometimes, they come up and bribe me with a cigarette, or they'll give me a dollar to sign up," said Freddie Johnson, 19, who filled out 72 separate voter-registration cards over an 18-month period at the behest of the left-leaning Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

"The ACORN people are everywhere, looking to sign people up. I tell them I am already registered. The girl said, 'You are?' I say, 'Yup,' and then they say, 'Can you just sign up again?' " he said.

H/T Hot Air via No Quarter which has lots of links.

I have some links too:

Dark Ambition
Lawyers Without Licenses
Stealing The ACORNs
Barack Has Some Friends

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Oil Down

Oil dropped to $77.70 a bbl Friday. Interesting that we are in a financial panic and yet prices for commodities are going down. It has to do with the fact that expectations of reduced demand exceed panic buying caused by the failure of so many financial institutions. Another point is that the financial institutions are selling everything to raise capital.

The price of oil tumbled more than 10 percent Friday to its lowest level in more than a year, as traders feared that the global economic crisis will kill demand for crude.

Oil sold on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped $8.89 to close at $77.70 per barrel, its lowest price since Sept. 10, 2007. Caught in the sell-off decimating all financial markets, oil plunged $16.18, or 17 percent, for the week.

"At this point, it's just everybody trying to liquidate everything," said Peter Beutel, president of the Cameron Hanover energy risk management firm.

So how about the Saudis? What are their plans?

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has called a special meeting in November to deal with the plunge, and the group will probably cut production to shore up prices. Michael Lynch, president of the Strategic Energy & Economic Research consulting firm, said some OPEC members have signaled they want oil to stabilize around $80 per barrel. But if the economy worsens, they may not get their wish.

"I would be surprised if we go under $60," Lynch said. "But one question is, if you're the Saudis, and the price goes down to $60, do you try to push it up?"

A special meeting in November? That is approximately 15 trading days away. A lot can happen between now and then.

This decline in price should last a while for a number of reasons. One of the big ones is that in a down market some OPEC members will cheat and pump more that their allotment in an effort to get the money they need to keep buying off their subject populations. It is kind of perverse but the rational thing for suppliers to do in a rapidly rising market is to cut output. In a declining market the incentives are just the opposite.

I think Iran will be much less of a problem for the next few years.

Dark Ambition

So what is Mr. Obama's dark ambition? I'll give it to you in his own words from his book Dreams From My Father.

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout,I chose my friends carefully.The more politically active black students.The foreign students.The Chicanos.The Marxist Professors and the structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.We smoked cigarettes and wore leather jackets.At night,in the dorms,we discussed neocolonialism,Franz Fanon,Eurocentrism,and patriarchy.

Sounds like he was a Marxist at heart. And not very friendly to Western Culture. Not ready to lead - sure. My question is this: is he even ready to be an American with those kinds of attitudes?

H/T Gateway Pundit which has some nice links that are worth a look. Gateway also traces his ties to ACORN at least back to '92.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Update: 11 Oct 008 0453z

Evidently some one thinks there are copyright issues with the ad so it is no longer available on YouTube. You can still watch it here.

A Whisper In The Woods For Barry

Karl Rove has a few words about this election.

Mr. Obama's test is that voters haven't shaken deep concerns about his lack of qualifications. Having accomplished virtually nothing in his three years in the Senate except to win the Democratic nomination, Mr. Obama must show he is up to the job. Voters like him, conditions favor him, yet he has not closed the sale. He may be approaching the finish line with that mixture of lassitude and insouciance he displayed in the spring against Mrs. Clinton.

But here's a warning sign for Mr. Obama. Of recent candidates, only Michael Dukakis in 1988 has had a larger percentage of voters tell pollsters they believe he lacks the necessary qualifications to be president.

That mirrors what Spengler said around September 3rd. I quoted him in my piece Midway For Obama.

A New Secular Religion

OK. Here is the deal. Communism is a secular religion. Now we could attack it by countering with religion which means attacking not only the economic understanding but in addition you have to make a non-believer a believer. That is a two factor problem.

Easier to reduce it to a one factor problem. Define a secular religion that makes a republic work. We could call it Educated Patriotism.

Let me start with the first precept:

Honesty is the best policy

Here is the second:

Doubt. Even the truth.

Coming Up From Behind

Here is a video about a candidate who is coming up from behind.

I'd say if voter turn out was low enough that guy has a chance.

Too Risque - Needs A Coverup

It seems that Mr. Obama is not proud of his friends. It also looks like McCain is going after this with everything he has got.

I suspect this is not the end of this subject, either. I’d expect at least one more ad featuring John Murtaugh, the son of the judge whose home got bombed by the Weather Underground. Murtaugh, who is running for the New York state legislature, has already released a statement through the McCain campaign attacking Obama for associating with an unrepentant leader of the terrorist organization that tried to kill him as a boy. I’m certain he will happily participate in an ad to put a human face on Ayers’ terrorism.

Want to learn more about Obama's relationship with Ayres? I have links:

Axelrod Makes An Offering
Ayers And Obama Care About Children
Barney Frank Frankly Not Frank
Corruption Eruption
On The Verge
Where There Is Truth There Is Fire
So Many Choices
A Little Exchange

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A New Sigma

My friend Tom Ligon has just been inducted into the Sigma Society. Here is what Sigma does:

Many SIGMA members are Ph.D.-level scientists and engineers; all are science fiction writers who have spent careers applying their technical and literary talents in exploring the future of science, technology, society and cultures. SIGMA provides a significant pool of talent for volunteer pro bono consultation with the Federal government and other organizations which need the imagination that only speculative writers can provide.

SIGMA members have each committed to consult with Federal authorities for taskings on vital national issues for several days, for travel and lodging expenses only. For extended effort or research, compensation may be based on individual contracts, as appropriate. Current Federal employees may be available on detailee status.

All SIGMA activities are strictly voluntary, and any member can decline any proposed tasking or meeting for any reason, with no further explanation.

Tom was instrumental in starting the fusor movement (home made experimental fusion reactors) due to the encouragement of Dr. Robert Bussard. He also worked with Dr. Bussard on the Polywell Fusion power reactor (no net power though at the size of current experiments). You can read about that effort at: World's Simplest Fusion Reactor Revisited. There are links on the sidebar to the Fusor Consortium and lots of other good stuff.

You can also read a science fiction story Tom wrote on fusion which had its world premiere here in July of 2007. Getting Tuned Up.

Congrats Tom! And with any kind of luck you can help us to deserve the best future we can get, because if we don't deserve it the getting will be much harder.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

What Makes Him Qualified?

I have just come across a comment on Obama's questionable associates that explains why Mr. Obama is the most qualified to be President.

All of these questionable associates are what makes Obama qualified. If you can stay clean and still get the goals of your constituency met then you are headed for leadership.

I guess McCain does not have enough questionable associates in his background to become President.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Save Michigan

Our Country Deserves Better PAC is trying to raise $500K in 48 hours to try to win Michigan for McCain. Click on the link to contribute. Or click on this link to watch their videos. It also has a button for contributions. They are about 1/2 way through and have already raised $257,116.42 so they say.

I have no information about these folks, but getting a win in Michigan seems like a good idea.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Oil Is Going Down

The two best things in the world are oil prices and your significant other going down. A rather crude and oily way of putting it don't you think? I have no information on your significant other (any volunteers?), but I do have some news about oil prices.

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices swung higher Tuesday, snapping a four-day plunge as investors temporarily halted their frantic selling to see whether the government's sweeping economic bailout can stem a widening global downturn.

Light, sweet crude for November delivery rose $2.25 to settle at $90.06 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier trading as high as $93.02.

Prices had lost nearly $13 in the past four trading sessions as a widening economic crisis spreads overseas and undercuts energy demand forecasts.

Despite Tuesday's modest advance, analysts said crude's fundamentals suggest prices are headed lower.

"We've just seen a huge shift in sentiment where the focus isn't on supply anymore. It's on demand, and that demand continues to weaken," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

Galena, Illinois has the home of General Grant. It is a wonderful place to visit. Especially when the black smith shop is in operation. The smithy once gave me a hammered iron Estes Rocket launcher. I had taken the kids to his shop and he found out they were into model rockets at the time and insisted I take it as his kids were no longer using it.

Well any way it looks like the world is going to take an economic breather and efficiency will be improved. We haven't had a really good general trimback in a couple of decades. And lower oil prices are the foundation of the next rise.

It will set the stage for the next run at prosperity.

The Senator Is A Socialist

No Quarter has a fascinating article on Obama's past. It runs down in detail Senator Obama's socialist past.

Did you know that Barack Obama was affiliated with a leading national socialist party? Barack Obama didn’t include in his 2008 resume that he entered politics in the mid-1990s endorsed by Chicago’s leading socialists. This just keeps getting better and better. Barack Obama was an active participant in the 1990s, and a direct political beneficiary, of the Chicago New Party and, importantly, the Chicago DSA, a group of socialists affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America.

The Democratic Socialists of America are the U.S. affiliates of the Socialist International. So what did the Socialists have to say about Mr. Obama in his race against Bobby Rush?

Barak Obama is serving only his second term in the Illinois State Senate so he might be fairly charged with ambition, but the same might have be said of Bobby Rush when he ran against Congressman Charles Hayes. Obama also has put in time at the grass roots, working for five years as a community organizer in Harlem and in Chicago. When Obama participated in a 1996 UofC YDS Townhall Meeting on Economic Insecurity, much of what he had to say was well within the mainstream of European social democracy.

The UofC in question is the University of Chicago. And "well within the mainstream of European social democracy"? No wonder he is so popular in Europe.

So what is the conclusion to the No Quarter piece?

Barack Obama has a long-term and sustained relationship with the Chicago DSA, an affiliate of the Democratic Socialists of America, and with the Chicago New Party. He participated in multiple membership meetings and in DSA-sponsored events, repeatedly sought their endorsement. This does not answer all questions about Barack Obama’s past relationships with multiple socialist groups. What the media need to find out is this: Has Barack Obama broken his ties with them. If so, when and why?

The No Quarter piece has tons more details and lots of links. You should read the whole thing.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

My Fellow Americans

Yeah. I gag when I hear that too. So just remember, they are only politicians. And this one? I'd say John McCain was on fire.

Rather than answer his critics, Senator Obama will try to distract you from noticing that he never answers the serious and legitimate questions he has been asked. But let me reply in the plainest terms I know. I don’t need lessons about telling the truth to American people. And were I ever to need any improvement in that regard, I probably wouldn’t seek advice from a Chicago politician.

My opponent’s touchiness every time he is questioned about his record should make us only more concerned. For a guy who’s already authored two memoirs, he’s not exactly an open book. It’s as if somehow the usual rules don’t apply, and where other candidates have to explain themselves and their records, Senator Obama seems to think he is above all that. Whatever the question, whatever the issue, there’s always a back story with Senator Obama. All people want to know is: What has this man ever actually accomplished in government? What does he plan for America? In short: Who is the real Barack Obama? But ask such questions and all you get in response is another barrage of angry insults.

Our current economic crisis is a good case in point. What was his actual record in the years before the great economic crisis of our lifetimes?

This crisis started in our housing market in the form of subprime loans that were pushed on people who could not afford them. Bad mortgages were being backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and it was only a matter of time before a contagion of unsustainable debt began to spread. This corruption was encouraged by Democrats in Congress, and abetted by Senator Obama.

Senator Obama has accused me of opposing regulation to avert this crisis. I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed. But the truth is I was the one who called at the time for tighter restrictions on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could have helped prevent this crisis from happening in the first place.

Senator Obama was silent on the regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and his Democratic allies in Congress opposed every effort to rein them in. As recently as September of last year he said that subprime loans had been, quote, “a good idea.” Well, Senator Obama, that “good idea” has now plunged this country into the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

There is way more and it is pretty good. If you like that sort of thing.

In general you have a choice of two kinds of politicians. Those that will steal the silverware and those that will steal the house, its contents, and all the adjoining land. Elect petty thieves. They will be on the look out for the bigger thieves. If they can remember who they are. Difficult in Washington. Oh, well.

Axelrod Makes An Offering

David Axelrod is having a hard time explaining when Mr. Obama first found out William "Bomber Bill" Ayers was a domestic terrorist.

So when did Obama find out that Ayers had been a member of an organization the FBI called a "domestic terrorist" group, and had been for years a fugitive from the law?

“I don’t know," Axelrod said. "I mean it was sometime after their first meetings. And you know, he became aware of it. I don’t know the exact moment.”

He wasn't aware of who "Ayers" was?

“Yeah," Axelrod said, "I mean, the fact is that like a lot of people who, you know, didn’t live through that era -- particularly those who didn’t live though that era in Chicago -- It just wasn’t. I mean, when he came to Chicago, Ayers was advising Mayor Daley on school reform issues and that was his profile, was that he was an expert on education. “

So did he know who Ayers was when he went to his home in 1995?

“My understanding is that when he went there he did not," Axelrod said.

Reporters noticed that clause -- "my understanding is" -- and pressed further. Did Axelrod ask Obama if he knew Ayers' history when he first met with him?

"Yes," Axelrod said.

And he did not know?

"Yes," Axelrod said. "That’s what I’ve said – I answered the question when I was asked the other day. But no one’s suggesting that he never knew. I mean that’s not - we weren’t offering that.

To paraphrase Groucho Marx "Those are my answers, and if you don't like them... well, I have others." But they are going to be a hard sell. Because about four to eight months before Obama's political debut Ayers was working with Obama on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

It can't be the meet-and-greet fundraiser where they were "introduced" (As if - per The Politico, the fundraiser was in the second half of 1995; Obama was already chair of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which was kicked off in January 1995).

So Obama is rather incurious about the backgrounds of his associates. I suppose he is not the Bill Ayers he once knew after he found out who he really was.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Joyce Likes Obama

That would be the Joyce Foundation. Mr. Obama was a director of the Joyce Foundation from 1994-2002. He probably never heard about their gun control efforts and for sure it never came up at board meetings. Besides, Mr. Obama has a new position to cover all that just in case anyone has any doubt. After all he "Always said...."

Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has worked to assure uneasy gun owners that he believes the Constitution protects their rights and that he doesn’t want to take away their guns.

But before he became a national political figure, he sat on the board of a Chicago-based foundation that doled out at least nine grants totaling nearly $2.7 million to groups that advocated the opposite positions.

The foundation funded legal scholarship advancing the theory that the Second Amendment does not protect individual gun owners’ rights, as well as two groups that advocated handgun bans. And it paid to support a book called “Every Handgun Is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.”

Some campaign guy goes on to make a weak apology to the effect that there is no conflict with Obama's real position on guns and his being a director of Joyce. Because, you know, all those other positions were just ruses to get elected, but my real position is my last one.

It is possible.

Bill Ayers Is Just A Guy In The Hood

About 6 1/2 minutes.

No Subsidy No Market

Makers of solar voltaics are in trouble. Without government subsidies they can't stay in business.

Amid uncertain markets and policies, solar panel makers are gearing up factories with an objective of pulling down costs to a competitive level.

One market watcher said she will review her forecasts for solar panels according to the financial crisis in the U.S., along with uncertainty about renewal of federal tax credits and a pullback of major solar plans in Spain.

"Without incentives, we don't have a market," said Paula Mints, principal analyst, Navigant Consulting, speaking at a solar event sponsored by the IEEE.

Other speakers also gave their insights about a lack of federal funds for research in solar energy. Tim Anderson, associate dean of research at the University of Florida, said he hopes this scenario will change soon.

"The impact in the academic community is that no one goes to do research in photovoltaics because there's no funding available," he added. "But the promise of more money to come is out there, and people are adjusting to take advantage of this," he noted.

On the commercial level, a group of companies is expanding production of solar cells toward driving mainstream costs. "We're building the equivalent of a large scale nuclear power plant per year," said Richard Swanson, president of SunPower Corp., one of the top 10 solar panel makers.

SunPower has recently completed a second plant capable of employing 400,000 wafers a day and has plans for plants in Malaysia that will use as many as a million wafers a day. "We know how to produce panels that cost $1.50 per watt by 2012, and we have detailed quarterly plans to achieve it," said Swanson.

I think subsidies should be rolled back to zero over a ten year period, giving the industry time to adjust. BTW $1 per peak watt is the price point where the industry can fly on its own. We are a ways from that. A declining subsidy will make it happen faster than maintaining a subsidy or cutting it off cold.

Cribbed From Instapundit

"If prostitution is illegal, why is congress still operating?...we, the taxpayers, put up the money and they screw us."

H/T Instapundit

Voting Early Not Often

It seems like early voting in Ohio is not meeting expectations.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A weeklong period in which Ohioans could register to vote and immediately cast a ballot ended Monday with turnout that didn't quite match the expectations of election officials — or the campaign predictions that preceded it.

Early returns showed about 3,000 voters in Ohio's four largest counties took advantage of the disputed policy, a surprisingly low turnout to some elections officials.

The window was expected to benefit Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, as his campaign and advocacy groups pushed Democratic-leaning groups such as college students and low-income voters to the polls.

Through Sunday, 1,152 voters had taken advantage of the policy in Franklin County, which includes Columbus. In Montgomery County, home to Dayton, roughly 250 people had used it. And in Hamilton County, where Cincinnati is located, about 454 voters had taken advantage of the window by midday Monday.

Another 1,000 or so were expected from Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland and is the state's most populous county.

"With all the hoopla we were anticipating a whole lot more," said Montgomery County Board of Elections Director Steve Harsman.

That is encouraging news. One less method of possible significant vote fraud available. Part of it may be that an awful lot of attention was paid to early voting in Ohio so any shenanigans planned were called off. Of course since nothing happened the chances that there was a plan is a lot less likely baring other evidence. The short version: I got nothin'.

Some Interesting Friends You Have Senator

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

Cross Posted at Classical Values

A Joan Named Sarah

'Tis surprising to see how rapidly a panic will sometimes run through a country. All nations and ages have been subject to them. Britain has trembled like an ague at the report of a French fleet of flat-bottomed boats; and in the fourteenth [sic (actually the fifteenth)] century the whole English army, after ravaging the kingdom of France, was driven back like men petrified with fear; and this brave exploit was performed by a few broken forces collected and headed by a woman, Joan of Arc. Would that heaven might inspire some Jersey maid to spirit up her countrymen, and save her fair fellow sufferers from ravage and ravishment! Yet panics, in some cases, have their uses; they produce as much good as hurt. Their duration is always short; the mind soon grows through them, and acquires a firmer habit than before. But their peculiar advantage is, that they are the touchstones of sincerity and hypocrisy, and bring things and men to light, which might otherwise have lain forever undiscovered. In fact, they have the same effect on secret traitors, which an imaginary apparition would have upon a private murderer. They sift out the hidden thoughts of man, and hold them up in public to the world. Many a disguised Tory has lately shown his head, that shall penitentially solemnize with curses the day on which Howe arrived upon the Delaware.

Tom Paine

Money Following The Money Followers

Spengler explains why America with all its problems is still a safe haven for the world's capital. He blames it on hockey moms.

Why do Asian investors depend on American capital markets? Given the near breakdown of key sectors of the American market, one might expect Asians to bring their money home. Quite the opposite has happened: Asian currencies have fallen sharply against the American dollar.

Spengler says Asian markets can't absorb Asian savings. Which is rather odd. Given the low state of economic development and high returns on capital it would seem Asia would be an ideal place for Asian money. Yet it is not.

What does America have that Asia doesn't have? The answer is, Sarah Palin - not Sarah Palin the vice presidential candidate, but Sarah Palin the "hockey mom" turned small-town mayor and reforming Alaska governor. All the PhDs and MBAs in the world can't make a capital market work, but ordinary people like Sarah Palin can. Laws depend on the will of the people to enforce them. It is the initiative of ordinary people that makes America's political system the world's most reliable.

America is the heir to a long tradition of Anglo-Saxon law that began with jury trial and the Magna Carta and continued through the English Revolution of the 17th century and the American Revolution of the 18th. Ordinary people like Palin are the bearers of this tradition.

It is the basic honesty of ordinary people that make America work. When dishonesty rears its ugly head ordinary people go to work to clean out the pigsty. They wipe the lipstick off the pig and take it to the abattoir to eliminate the problem.

The fact that ordinary people safeguard their rights and have the means to challenge established interests does not exclude the possibility of fraud on a grand scale.

Asian investors were cheated by a conspiracy of the financial industry and the ratings agencies, which sold them ostensibly low-risk securities that turned out to be toxic. The just-approved US$700 billion support package for American banks sets America back to a regime of oligarchy, according to New York Times columnist David Brooks. Despite this fraud and its attendant humiliation, and despite the deterioration of governance in American markets, Asian investors are putting more rather than less money into America, judging from the decline of Asian currencies against the dollar in the course of the crisis.

One doesn't see demonstrations by wronged peasants in the small towns of America. There never were peasants - American farmers always were entrepreneurs - and the locals avenge injury by taking over their local governments, which have sufficient authority to make a difference. At the capillary level, school boards, the Parent Teachers' Association, self-administered religious organizations and volunteer organizations incubate a political class entirely different from anything to be found in Asia. There are tens of thousands of Sarah Palins lurking in the minor leagues of American politics, and they are the guarantors of market probity.

Rights. That is the key. In most of the world the people are servants of the government. In America they have this peculiar notion that government is the servant of the people. And where did that peculiar idea originate? In Anglo Saxon Culture. From the Magna Carta to the Constitution of the US of A. In Anglo Saxon Culture there is not just a belief in honest government but also a demand for it.

It is true that Asian economies depend on American consumers and an American recession is bad for Asian currencies. But why don't Asians consume what they produce at home? The trouble is that rich Asians don't lend to poor Asians in their own countries. Capital markets don't work in the developing world because it is too easy to steal money. Subprime mortgages in the US have suffered from poor documentation. What kind of documentation does one encounter in countries where everyone from the clerk at the records office to the secretary who hands you a form requires a small bribe? America is litigious to a fault, but its courts are fair and hard to corrupt.

Asians are reluctant to lend money to each other under the circumstances; they would rather lend money in places where a hockey mom can get involved in local politics and, on encountering graft and corruption, run a successful campaign to turn the scoundrels out. You do not need PhDs and MBAs for that. You need ordinary people who care sufficiently about the places in which they live to take control of their own towns and states when required. And, yes, it doesn't hurt if they own guns. Popular gun ownership places a limit on the abuse of state power.

You know maybe that old f**ker Mao was on to something when he said political power comes from the barrel of a gun. His problem was that he did not trust his own people with guns or political power. Uprisings of the people against their presumed masters can be so inconvenient. And that in a nutshell is the weakness of the rest of the world and the strength of America. Americans are jealous of their rights and will defend them with the barrels of their guns if push comes to shove.

The Battle of Athens, Tennessee should be a lesson to all American politicians. Let us hope the politicians learn their lesson before they wind up on the wrong side of the guns.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Ayers And Obama Care About Children

B. Obama and unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers were on a panel together in 1997 sponsored by the University of Chicago discussing Bill's book A Kind and Just Parent: The Children of Juvenile Court. Bill thinks the government can be a good parent to children as opposed to the bad parents who allow kids into a life of crime. Bill is also of the opinion that gun control will keep guns out of the hands of children. So how is that working in Chicago Bill? They have some pretty stringent gun control laws there.

Ayers, who spent a year observing the Cook County Temporary Juvenile Detention Center in Chicago, is one of four panelists who will speak on juvenile justice at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20, in the C-Shop. The panel, which marks the 100th anniversary of the juvenile justice system in the United States, is part of the Community Service Center's monthly discussion series on issues affecting the city of Chicago. The event is free and open to the public.

Ayers will be joined by Sen. Barack Obama, Senior Lecturer in the Law School, who is working to combat legislation that would put more juvenile offenders into the adult system; Randolph Stone, Director of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic; Alex Correa, a reformed juvenile offender who spent seven years in Cook County Temporary Detention Center; Frank Tobin, a former priest and teacher at the Detention Center who helped Correa; and Willy Baldwin, who grew up in public housing and is currently a teacher at the Detention Center.

The juvenile justice system was founded by Chicago reformer Jane Addams, who advocated the establishment of a separate court system for children which would act like a "kind and just parent" for children in crisis.

One hundred years later, the system is "overcrowded, under-funded, over-centralized and racist," Ayers said.

Michelle Obama, Associate Dean of Student Services and Director of the University Community Service Center, hopes bringing issues like this to campus will open a dialogue between members of the University community and the broader community.

Ah yes. Michelle. Our lady of the perpetual scowl. I can't wait until she gets her hands on the children of America. Not just the ones going to the University of Chicago.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

London We have A Nuclear Problem

It seems the Brits have built a number of shoddy nuclear plants. The results may be electrical shortages this winter.

In theory, at least, Britain now has 10 operating nuclear power stations, stretching from Torness on the Firth of Forth to Dungeness on the south Kent coast. Each has two reactors, and ministers boast that they supply about one-fifth of the power that keeps the lights on.

The reality, as an Independent on Sunday investigation shows today, is very different. The majority of the power stations are in dire trouble, and their failure is leading to the most acute concern in years that the country may run short of electricity this winter.

Two of the 10 have been idle for almost a year, with both reactors out of action due to corrosion. Another two have had one of their reactors closed down for months. And yet another two are having to run both their reactors at less than three-quarters of their normal power for safety reasons.

And even that is not the end of it. Of the four that are still in good working condition, one is due to shut down permanently in two years' time, a second is partially closed for routine maintenance, and a third is facing safety questions following the discovery of flaws in similar reactors in Japan.

The meltdown of Britain's nuclear capacity is largely responsible for an alarming tightening of electricity supplies that is forecast to start at the beginning of November, as demand rises sharply for the winter, and to continue until at least the end of the month.

An independent nuclear analyst, John Large, said last night: "It's all in a pretty sad state. The reactors are starting to break up; they are becoming knackered. There comes a point when you simply have to turn the things off.

"We have been lucky for two years with mild winters, but if we have a cold snap then I can see the lights blinking off."

How did things get so bad over there? This is just a guess, but I think the environmentalists have had a ten year head start. Not to worry. Power blackouts are coming to America thanks to the Governor of Kansas.

TOPEKA, Kansas, May 1, 2008 (ENS) - Kansas will not have two new coal-fired power plants at Holcomb in the western part of the state. Late Thursday night, the Kansas House narrowly sustained the third veto of a bill to allow the plants by Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat.

The vote in the House was 80-45, four votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the governor's veto.

Closely watched as an indicator of the mood of the Midwest on coal power, the battle between the governor and the Republican controlled Statehouse over Sunflower Electric's bid to expand its Holcomb Generating Station has absorbed much of this legislative session.

The fight began last October when Kansas Secretary of Health and Environment Rod Bremby denied an air quality permit needed to proceed with construction because the two proposed 700 megawatt units would emit too much of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

It was the first denial of a coal power plant permit in the country based on climate change concerns.

Supporters of the new power plants in the Legislature passed a bill to allow the plants and strip the state agency of its power to block them. Governor Sebelius vetoed that bill and two more similar attempts.

Given the happenings in America it might very well be that my guess about Europe is not far from the mark. Of course there is a consolation prize in all of this. Things are worse in California.

H/T EU Referendum

Europe Takes A Dump

The EU Referendum has the details in a piece called Oh Shit.

"We face extreme danger. Unless there is immediate intervention on every front by all the major powers acting in concert, we risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared, unless they own gold bars."

This is Ambrose Evans-Pritchard giving his take on the fast unravelling crisis in Germany. Mind you, The Times is not much more encouraging and Euronews is citing an IMF spokesman saying that the Eurozone is facing its first "trial by ordeal".

Clearly, the "colleagues" see the danger. The Independent is reporting: "EU leaders tear up rules of eurozone". The headline is misleading as it seems to apply to the whole of the EU. The story tells us that: "Public spending curbs and rules against state subsidies will be thrown – temporarily – out of the window to rescue European banks from the abyss of the global financial crisis."

The EU guys have more with links. Give them a visit.

Bloomberg says the dollar is doing good against the Euro.

Oct. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Treasuries rose for a fourth day, sending two-year notes to their longest winning streak in six weeks, as stocks fell and European bank rescues added to evidence a global credit crunch is deepening.

Investors sought the safest assets as European governments rushed to shore up their faltering financial systems, pushing yields to a two-week low. Germany's government and financial institutions agreed a 50 billion euro ($68 billion) rescue package for Hypo Real Estate Holding AG and BNP Paribas SA joined a state-backed bailout of Fortis, Belgium's largest financial services company.

``The flight to quality into Treasuries is still king as we now see the financial crisis hit Europe at full scale,'' said David Schnautz, a fixed-income strategist in Frankfurt at Commerzbank AG, Germany's second-biggest lender. ``Treasuries are the overall safe haven.''

Big surprise there considering the state of the U.S. economy. I guess our consolation prize is that Europe is in much worse shape. It is a case of our central bankers being morons and theirs being idiots.

Omaha

Sarah Palin made a surprise visit to the town I grew up in. Omaha.

Sarah Palin's fans could give Obamaphiles a run in the devotion department if the more than 5,000 people who listened Sunday to her Omaha speech are any indication.

Palin's supporters hailed the folksy Alaska governor as a "real person" who could be one of their neighbors.

A "down-to-earth" person who has been maligned by Washington insiders and the mainstream media.

"She talks to us. She's one of us. She doesn't talk down to us like an Ivy League, Harvard person," said Craig Johansen, an Omaha sales representative who was referring to Harvard graduate and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Palin thrilled her Nebraska and western Iowa fans on Sunday with a 24-minute speech at the Civic Auditorium Music Hall. She led a familiar "Drill, Baby, Drill!" chant, took a few shots at Obama and tried to portray her running mate, Republican presidential candidate John McCain, as the real candidate for change.

The crowd roared when Palin - who is the nation's most famous hockey mom - accepted a sweatshirt and a jersey from the University of Nebraska at Omaha's hockey team. "I love that cheer - Go Mavericks," said Palin, who insists that she and McCain are the real mavericks in the presidential race.

Looks like Obama has been maved again.

"The pundits were saying, 'Check out where she's going. She's going to Nebraska.' The pundits were saying, 'The only reason she would be going there is because they're scared. They have to shore up votes,' " Palin said.

"I so wanted to reach into that TV and say 'no.' I'm going to Nebraska because I want to go to Nebraska," Palin said.

Palin's visit to Omaha was quick and it came with about 27 hours' notice. The Nebraska Republican Party didn't learn of the visit until Saturday afternoon. They quickly scrambled to find a venue, and sent out a request for help that was answered by more than 150 volunteers.

The volunteers made posters and did logistical work on the ground.

The short notice didn't have a big impact on attendance. On Sunday, people began lining up outside the Civic Auditorium at about 1 p.m. State GOP officials said they would have had several thousand more if they would have had a few days to prepare, but no one was complaining.

Before Palin reached the main crowd at the packed 2,453-seat Music Hall inside the Civic, she addressed the overflow crowd in Mancuso Convention Hall. Capacity at Mancuso is listed as 2,500 on the venue's Web site.

State Republicans had fervently hoped for a Palin visit.

"It was worth it," said Trey Ashby, 19, a Republican from Papillion who waited for six hours to see Palin with his sister Rebecca Albano, 23.

"She's a woman. She has kids. She has a career. She just seems like someone you could have a conversation with," said Albano, of Papillion.

Cheryl Martinez of Omaha called Palin "down to earth."

"She believes in things that basic Americans - normal Americans - believe in," said Martinez, 41, a marketing manager and a Republican.

The state's leading Democrat, U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, welcomed Palin to Nebraska, but took issue with her criticism of Obama for having associated at one time with a former member of a domestic terrorist group.

My guess is that she is going around working to nail the down ticket races in the hopes of getting a Republican House of Representatives when the McCain Palin ticket wins by an electoral landslide on 4 Nov.

My mom still lives in Omaha and is a die hard Democrat/Obama supporter. I'm going to give her a call a little later today to see if she has any reaction to the Palin visit other than "I don't like the sound of her voice".

There is a sort of live blog of the event at this link.

One other thing. No matter what the polls say:

Vote Dammit

There is no point in giving Obama the election. Make him work for it. Besides the polls could be wrong. It happens.

H/T Gateway Pundit.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Numbers Game

More than one person has asked me why the polls are so out of whack with what they see as their reality. So what is that reality? I think a few anecdotes are in order. First from commenter Daddy at Just One Minute.

Arriving in Indy about midnight I asked the 2 female bus drivers how did the ballgame come out and they both replied they weren't listening to any ballgame they had been listening to the debate. Both were enthusiastic and pumped, and extremely complementary of Sarah's performance, especially since they had been led to believe she was going to do so poorly. The female Cab driver was very jazzed as well and said exactly the same thing. Ditto for the check-in lady in the hotel. Later at The Redeye Cafe in downtown Indy for a 2 AM Guiness and Spanish Omelette (Yumm!), the bartender girls were also oblivious of ESPN and SportsCenter on the overhead TV's behind, and both were still complementing Sarah on her performance. All these girls were Colts fans, and they were acting exactly like they do when their Colts win a playoff game. I have no idea what any of their politics were, but it seemed that Sarah's performance was somehow something they took personally, and they were proud of how she did. I never did get any opinions from any guys what they thought about the debate since apparantly women do all the work after midnight in Indianapolis, but my unscientific survey of the working girls of middle America is that Sarah made a very big and a very positive impression. Whether or not it'll turn into votes for her, who knows.

Here is one from commenter Sharen at No Quarter.

Comment by Sharen 2008-10-04 23:19:36

Yesterday I was going to The Grove in Los Angeles, I don’t know where your at but if your not familiar with the area, its basically West Hollywood, and I was SHOCKED, SHOCKED by how many McCain/Palin signs I saw, I told my Mom to stop the car and I was like OMG LOOK AT ALL THESE SIGNS, I saw 1 Obama sign and the rest was a sea of McCain/Palin signs, around here in liberal Los Angeles county seeing McCain signs is very unusual, it must have gone on for two blocks, in total, 3 Obama signs, and the rest were McCain/Palin, TWO BLOCKS, I was like damn, am I in Orange County LOL. I swear if California goes Red I will eat my shoe, I don’t see it happening but ya never know

And finally one from Porchlight at Just One Minute.

Daddy,

Thanks for the Indy update. I am trying to figure it out. Wildly enthusiastic audiences for Palin, RNC fundraising for September 1/3 higher than their previous record, VP debate viewership 1/3 higher than previous VP debate, etc. Why isn't this showing in the polls?

So why isn't all this showing up in the polls? There are reasons. Some good. Some not so good. And some there is no way to account for.

So how about the good? Registrations for Democrats is way up. Rush Limbaugh with his Operation Chaos plan to derail Hillary got a bunch of Republicans to register as Democrats to defeat Hillary. So the pollsters believe the Republican party has lost support.

How about the bad? The newspapers and most TV networks are so obviously in the tank for Obama this year that they aren't even making a pretense of a pretense of objectivity. So they get the polls with numbers they are happy to report and that helps their candidate by depressing the other side.

And how about the no way to account problems with polls? People lie to pollsters. Unsourced anecdote: a nice sounding black lady calls and asks who you are voting for? Are some people going to be nice and say Obama when in reality it is going to be McCain? It happens.

Now how about some analysis by people smarter even than me. Let me start with A.J. Strata's view on cooking the polls.

Voter models are the essence of political polls. You take a sample of a few hundred or a few thousand people and predict how that sample can reflect 10s-100s of millions of people. If you are off by even a small fraction in your assumptions the bottom line could be off by 5, 10 or 20% (despite an MoE claim of a few points).

We have a perfect example of this in two Colorado Polls out recently. The first poll was commented on by our Reader MerlinOS2:

PPP just released a poll in Colorado which puts Obama up +7

Now what the issue is here is that the party split was

Dem 40
Rep 36
Ind 24

However August voter registration number per the spreadsheet available from the Secretary of State show the registration breakdown is

Dem 30.6
Rep 34.8
Ind 34.5

Details on the poll in question can be found here. Just this week American Research Group (ARG) also released a poll for Colorado (which is not used in the RCP poll of polls strangely). Its voter model was Dem 32%, Rep 35% and Ind 33%, very close to the ACTUAL voter registration levels noted by MerlinOS2. The result: McCain 48%, Obama 45% - a McCain lead of +3%. (Note: this polls also shows McCain tied with women)

These polls were taken at basically the same time in the same state. But we can see how the voter model can really change the bottom line (a 10% difference).

Go to A.J.'s for the links. And A.J. has more so if you want details give him a read.

Newsbusters looks at the fabrication side of polling. You know. They just make shit up. Again it is all about party weightings.

In the kitchens of the Associated Press, it's almost as if the wire service asked its chief cook -- er, pollster -- GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media, to do the following:

* Whip up a tasty, representative poll after the Republican Convention.
* Three weeks later, make the same dish, but this time adjust the mix of ingredients by radically oversampling Democrats and undersampling Republicans, thereby creating a false illusion of momentum in the campaign of Barack Obama, and of decline in John McCain's.
* Hope people don't notice the changes in the recipe.

Of course we don't know if the differences between AP-CfK's Sept. 5-10 and Sept. 27-30 results were created deliberately, but the results sure look suspicious (both polls are available at PDF links found at AP-GfK's home page).

Read the article if you want to check out the links. Me I want to look at some numbers and we do in fact have a few.

"Somehow," the sample make-up changed from 33-31 Democrat to 40-29 Democrat from the earlier to the latter poll -- a shift of nine points.

"Somehow," the Strong-Dem vs. Strong-GOP difference went from nothing to eight points.

"Somehow," the Strong-GOP vs. Moderate-GOP mix went from +3 to -3, a swing of six points.

Well Newsbusters has charts full of numbers and more text so for the numbers obsessed (hey there may be a key to winning the lottery in there) have a look. There is always more to learn.

I'd like to finish up with analyst DJ Drummond of Stolen Thunder whose motto is: A man must be accountable, else everything he does counts for nothing. Yep. Any way DJ looks at the Secret Poll

I have been working through the poll numbers for quite a while now, sorting out valid patterns from the fakes. I held off posting the true state of things for a long time, for a number of reasons, but I notice that some on the Right have begun to lose hope and make sounds of giving up. So I will tell you plainly, that

We Are Winning

and can only fall in this election if you give up. It's been a long road and the enemy has been his usual foul self, with lies and smears and everything we have learned to expect from people who put power above any moral or honorable precepts. It's close, but here's where we have been, and where we are:

August 31: McCain 41.77%, Obama 41.06%

September 7: McCain 42.45%, Obama 42.04%

September 14: McCain 45.71%, Obama 39.62%

September 21: McCain 44.48%, Obama 42.06%

September 28: McCain 42.73%, Obama 41.62%

And based on the demographic responses, once the undecideds shake out if we work as hard as we can and continue to keep faith, the final popular vote will be

McCain 51.59%

Obama 48.41%

Keys to remember:

This is not a football game or a baseball game, it's politics. Support is built up gradually and won bits at a time. Also, some of the best gains are not obvious at first, because some significant actions take time to develop. McCain and Obama both fell back a bit the last week of September, McCain because Republican support fell off a bit, Obama lost independents' support. This is a salient factor in where the candidates' opportunities and weaknesses lay.

Now I have cribbed everything DJ posted. Which is kind of like stealing. In fact it is stealing. In my defense it wasn't a long post and DJ answers some interesting questions in the comments. So do the right thing and give him a click. Plus his advice is critical: keep the faith. Do not give up. Make sure you and all your friends show up on election day.

I'm going to double down on the above comments. Here is what I say about all this. Again: Let us not give Obama the election by staying home depressed on election day. If he is going to win make him earn it. Get out and vote and make sure everyone you know gets out and votes. Make him know he was in a fight.

In other words fight the trolls on the blogs. And come election day get out the vote like your life and your country depended on it. Because it does. Even in a state like Illinois where I reside, every vote counts because it adds to the popular vote totals even if your state is going for Obama in the electoral college.

Vote Dammit

And if you want to do something about vote fraud read this, because polls aren't the only way the numbers are being cooked this year.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Lawyers Without Licenses

It seems like the Obamas paid a lot of money for law degrees and yet they no longer have licenses. That is kind of strange. Let us start with Barack and see if we can trace the demise of his law career.

Obama relinquished his Illinois law license in early 2007. Why would Obama give up something that provided his primary source of income and something he spent so much time and energy obtaining? Andy Martin filed a complaint in IL on March 13, 2007 stating that Obama had lied on his IL bar application. Obama had 17 outstanding traffic violations that he had failed to take care of. Mr. Martin discovered that Obama would not be prosecuted because he no longer had his law license. I contacted Andy Martin and this was his response:

“Nothing. Obama had already resigned as a lawyer and so they had no jurisdiction over him.”

“Not if they have lost jurisdiction over the individual. They can’t punish someone who has resigned, which is why so many corrupt lawyers in Illinois resign before they are disbarred.“

Well of course that isn't proof of anything except maybe law wasn't really what he wanted to do. Excepting for the time he represented ACORN in a voting access suit. Maybe now that he has those votes sewed up he is no longer interested in the law. Well, it is a theory.

So how about his esteemed wife Michelle. Our lady of the perpetual snarl. What ever happened to her career in the law?

A check of the State of Illinois Bar Association website shows no bar license for “Michelle Robinson” or “Michelle Obama”. It has been reported that Michelle Obama “voluntarily” gave up her law license in 1993, just five years after she got the license.

Why would a black woman who worked at a prestigious law firm in Chicago, who had graduated from one of the most prestigious law schools in the country, and who had endured the grueling task of sitting for the bar exam TWICE, then voluntarily give up her law license?

Many who have been admitted to the Bar go on to pursue other careers, but because of the process to get the law license, they usually maintain it in good standing. Barack Obama has placed his law license into “inactive” status since his campaign began.

While it has no bearing on Barack Obama, per se, it makes one very curious as to why this educated woman “voluntarily” gave up her law license!!

I'll bet that she couldn't keep up on the payments with her meager $300,000 a year salary from the University of Chicago Hospital. And Barry? Who needs to practice law when you are making them? No matter what happens to him next, he will never need a real job for the rest of his life. Especially if he gets that deal with free room and board Tony Rezko is apparently signed up for.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Obama: Disciple Of Satan

Let us see if we can follow how the descent into hell all began for Obama. Let us start with Community organizer Saul Alinsky and his friend the Devil and as in all evil, work backwards from there.

Alinsky's paragon of radicalism was Satan, to whom he dedicated the first edition of "Rules": "Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer."

Yes. And what a kingdom it was where men and women are eternally tormented. So I guess if the Community Organizer wins we have something to look forward to.

Did you know there is a letter going around praising the virtues of Camp Obama?

While the letter neglects to identify the source of that "experience," a slide on a camp blog linked to the Obama Web site offers a clue. Underneath a "Welcome to Camp Obama" banner, a trainer at Obama headquarters in Chicago is seen speaking next to a wipe board with the words "Saul Alinsky" scrawled across it.

Alinsky is the late Chicago socialist and street agitator who is considered the father of community organizing.

Another slide of a camp trainer identified as Mike Kruglik is equally telling. Kruglik happens to be the Alinsky disciple who first taught Obama hardball organizing tactics on the South Side. He was Obama's boss in the '80s. Kruglik now works for the Chicago-based Gamaliel Foundation, which trains and deploys radicals across the country.

Kruglik once declared Obama "the undisputed master of agitation," according to David Freddoso, author of the best-seller "The Case Against Barack Obama."

So what does Obama have to say about his Alinsky experience?

Obama calls his Alinskyite experience "the best education I ever had."

Just the kind of guy most people want to see elected President of the United States. Make sure all your friends see this. So they can vote for the right guy.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Lovely Friends You Have Senator

Whose Sock Puppet Is Obama?

A number of people have noted that Obama was looking off to the left a lot in the first debate with McCain. One of them is A. J. Strata and he has a theory.

We seem to go round and round again these days on whether candidates have ear pieces (and these days they can be impossible to detect since some can simply be a patch or something near the ear). I think many pols are wired to a back room of puppeteers.

What is the evidence? Look at the above video in light of what A. J. has to say:

Watch it a couple of times as be pauses after his mangled line. He looks left for a split second, indicating which ear he is talking to. He is not talking to the audience, he is not looking at anyone in front of him. And he is totally ‘off the stage’ mentally when he is talking. So either he has a line to God, or he has an ear piece.

I don't think that is proof positive. It sure is interesting though and that is what I say.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Is Soda Pop A Danger To The Environment?

In the year 2000 15 billion gallons of soda pop were sold in the USA. A 16 oz bottle of soda holds about 2.2 grams of CO2. So a gallon would hold 8X as much or 17.6 grams. So 15 billion gallons would hold 264 billion grams. Or 264 million kilograms. Or 264,000 metric tons. Or .264 million metric tons. In 2007 the USA released 5,984 million metric tons. So soft drinks represent .0044% of the USA's total CO2 output. Roughly. I'll bet even if you add in beer and champaign it doesn't amount to much. And if the sun is the real driver of climate and the heating and cooling of the oceans determines the amount of CO2 in the air, then all the CO2 the USA puts out still doesn't amount to much. At least as far as climate change is concerned.

Stealing The ACORNS

That is correct. There are people who hate the poor so much that they are stealing from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Yep. Stealing from ACORN.

ACORN, the venerable 38-year-old social justice organization, faces the fight of its life over an embezzlement scandal and leadership crisis that hits Orleans Parish Civil District Court today at 9 a.m.

In late May, the group's board was shocked to learn that the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke had stolen nearly $1 million from the organization and its affiliates eight years ago.

"It was like a bomb. Things just went bonkers," said Bertha Lewis, director of the group's New York office, who has taken over Rathke's duties on an interim basis. "Nothing like that had ever happened before."

The news has attracted national scrutiny of ACORN, which was founded in Arkansas in 1970 and maintains a strong political presence in New York, New Orleans and Washington. In fact, early versions of the Wall Street bailout under consideration by Congress called for the routing of some profits from the sale of troubled assets to activist groups like ACORN. That provision emerged as an early sticking point in the plan's passage, in part because of the current scandal.

Yes it has. People are looking into ACORN. Fortunately the community organizer, Mr Obama, had nothing to do with ACORN. Besides using their campaign services. So we know ACORN worked for Obama. Did Mr. Obama ever work for ACORN? Of course not. Why would he do something like that?

In his capacity as an attorney, Barack represented ACORN in a successful lawsuit alongside the U.S. Department of Justice against the state of Illinois to force state compliance with a federal voting access law. For his work helping enforce the law, called “Motor Voter,” Barack received the IVI-IPO Legal Eagle Award in 1995…

OK. So maybe that is all. Nope. The Obama Campaign says he never organized with ACORN. So what gives? Well he did work with Project Vote. And guess what? Project Vote and ACORN share an office in Washington, DC. And they share job advertising. And ACORN has been the top independent contractor for Project Vote for a number of years. All this stuff with different names for the same business makes it seem like they were trying to cover something up.

I mean Mr. Obama is a proud Community Organizer. Why isn't he proud of working with a proud community organization like ACORN? Could it be their involvement and prosecution for vote fraud?

However, I think it best if we heard it straight from the horse's (what did you think I was going to say?) mouth. Mr Obama speaks about helping out voters.

I’ve been fighting alongside ACORN on issues you care about my entire career. Even before I was an elected official, when I ran Project Vote voter registration drive in Illinois, ACORN was smack dab in the middle of it, and we appreciate your work. — Barack Obama, Speech to ACORN, November 2007

So I guess that shoots down plausible deniability. I think he is going to have to work harder to keep his different stories straight.

So I started out with a guy stealing ACORNs and end up with ACORN stealing votes. You have to ask yourself a fundamental question: is there no honor among thieves?

Houston We Have a Logistics Problem

If you are interested in developing wind power on a large scale, tens to hundreds of megawatts, you have a problem. A logistics problem.

In what has to be one of the biggest ironies surrounding alternative energy, many of the objections to wind energy focus on its effect on nature. Yet while the critics fret about the birds, the views and the noise, there's a much bigger barrier to wind on the horizon, one that many of its biggest proponents haven't yet taken into account. Wind energy, it seems, is starting to become a victim of its own success.

"The worldwide demand for wind energy equipment is outstripping supply," says John Dunlop, senior technical services engineer for the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). The manufacturing base that produces the huge structural components, blades, generators and gearboxes that make up today's high-tech windmills simply can't keep up with the number of planned and ongoing installations. Dunlop points out wind turbines purchased today won't likely be delivered until 2011 or 2012. "That's the lead time right now," he says.

Those lead times are confirmed by key components suppliers too. "It's more like 2012 in most cases," says Parthiv Amin, president of Winergy Drive Systems, a subsidiary of Siemens Energy & Automation and maker of the gearboxes and power transmission components used in wind machines.

So how long does it take to build a factory that can take steel forgings and turn them into suitable gears and gear boxes? About three or four years. The tolerances are tight and the weight limits are similar to those found in aerospace. How about the generators? The same. So for the next four years or so wind installations are going to be limited to those already contracted for. Some one should tell Boone Pickens before he gets carried away with delusions of grandeur. Ramping up wind is not something that will get done in a few years. Not even in the decade Mr. Obama promises. It will take five or ten decades and any politician who promises you different is lying to you.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Spreading The Wealth While Robbing You Blind

Naming Names

Thanks to Eric of Classical Values I have this bit of news about the housing crisis.

Of all the characteristics of a successful politician, none is more essential than bare-faced cheek. Never has this been more evident than in the past fortnight, as senior Democrat members of the US legislature have sought to lay all the blame for the country's financial crisis on the executive arm of Government and Wall Street.

Neither of these two institutions is blameless - far from it. Yet when I see such senior Democrats as Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Christopher Dodd, Chairman of the Senate's Banking Committee, play the part of avenging angels - well, I can only stand in silent awe at the sheer tight-bottomed nerve of it. These are men with sphincters of steel.

What is the proximate cause of the collapse of confidence in the world's banks? Millions of improvident loans to American housebuyers. Which organisations were on their own responsible for guaranteeing half of this $12 trillion market? Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the so-called Government Sponsored Enterprises which last month were formally nationalised to prevent their immediate and catastrophic collapse. Now, who do you think were among the leading figures blocking all the earlier attempts by President Bush - and other Republicans - to bring these lending behemoths under greater regulatory control? Step forward, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.

I think the video clip above has given us a truly fine example of Barney Frank's a**hole of steel. I wonder if he can still get a date with out paying for it? You know what is really sad? He is probably going to get re-elected. And you know what is sadder? The Community Reinvestment Act has not been rescinded. So we will get to do this all over again in a few years.

Update: It seems Barney had a Fannie Buddy.

Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.

Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.

"It’s absolutely a conflict," said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. "He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?

How is it that these mopes keep getting elected and reelected to Congress? And how is it that a Democrat from one of the most Corrupt cities in America looks like he is in line to become the next President of the United States? Isn't flushing a trillion dollars down the drain enough? H/T for this update is Save Liberty in the comments at Classical Values.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Bailing On The Bailout

My Congressman Don Manzullo had this to say:

“Everything we’re doing to reach out to members is predicated on the fact that failure is not an option,” said Blunt spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier.

But not all of those efforts were fruitful. Blunt’s visit to the meeting of the Republican Study Committee (RSC) was met with criticism that leadership was asking them to vote for a bill that members now considered “impure” because of alleged pork projects.

Two sources said that Rep. Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) raised his voice to Blunt at the RSC meeting, telling him, “We elect you to represent us, and you aren’t doing it.”

Tell it like it is Don.

This turkey will not pass.

Without a clean bill it will not get enough Republican votes. Without a dirty bill it will not get enough Democrat votes. Do the math.

Update: It passed. So much for my powers of prediction.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Helping Voters In Ohio

Such earnest helpful people. I wonder how many will be touring Ohio for Obama? When Obama said he wasn't going to lose this election he wasn't kidding.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

H/T Hot Air

Lawyer For Terrorists Defends Obama

This is rather curious. Obama is supposed to produce his birth certificate to prove he is an American citizen. Instead of producing the paper, he is fighting the suit. From Atlas Shrugs.

Rather than just product the birth certificate (is he trying to hide something?) Obama's legal team filed a motion to dismiss. One of the Lawyers filing the motion was Joe Sandler (sandler@sandlerreiff.com) of the Washington law firm Sandler, Reiff, and Young (see the document below).

If Mr. Sandler's name sounds familiar it Should. He is the Leagal Hit Man for the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR is an organization with terrorist ties, and has been as an un-indicted co-conspiritor in the Holyland Foundation Hamas Funding trial.

Sandler's role for CAIR has been to stifle people from telling the truth about Islam. For example, last year he tried to get Jihad Expert Robert Spencer banned from speaking to the Young American Foundation by using a threatening letter. Sandler followed up by threatening columnist Mike Adams for writing about the Spencer incident.

Curious choice of lawyers. And producing the paper work should be pro forma. No big deal. Why fight it? Unless there is something to hide. Go to the Atlas Shrugged link above to get more details on the story and links. Verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry interrresting.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Obama Money Needs Investigation

Yep. Obama seems to be getting money from a lot of strange places.

An auditor for the Federal Election Commission is attempting to have his bosses seek a formal investigation into the collection by the Obama for President campaign of more than $200 million in potentially illegal political donations, including millions of dollars of illegal, foreign donations, and has sought a request for assistance from the Department of Justice or Federal Bureau of Investigation. But the analyst's requests have largely been ignored. "I can't get anyone to move. I believe we are looking at a hijacking of our political system that makes the Clinton and Gore fundraising scandals pale in comparison. And no one here wants to touch it."

One reasons cited by his superiors, says the analyst, is that involvement by the Justice Department or FBI would be indicative of a criminal investigation, something the FEC would prefer not take place a month before the presidential election. Such actions, though, have been used to scuttle Republican campaigns in the past, the most famous being the Weinberger case in the days leading up to the 1992 re-election bid of President George H.W. Bush.

The analyst, who declines to be identified for fear of retribution, says that on four different occasions in the past three months, he sought to open formal investigations into the Obama campaign's fundraising techniques, but those investigations have been discouraged. "Without formal approval, I can't get the resources I need, manpower, that kind of thing. This is a huge undertaking." And the analyst says that he believes that campaign finance violations have occurred.

The Obama campaign seems to be getting huge amounts of money.

More than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't disclose.

And questions have arisen about millions more in foreign donations the Obama campaign has received that apparently have not been vetted as legitimate.

Obama has raised nearly twice that of John McCain's campaign, according to new campaign finance report.

But because of Obama’s high expenses during the hotly contested Democratic primary season and an early decision to forgo public campaign money and the spending limits it imposes, all that cash has not translated into a financial advantage — at least, not yet.

We do have some of the names and they seem like some very nice people.

When FEC auditors have questions about contributions, they send letters to the campaign’s finance committee requesting additional information, such as the complete address or employment status of the donor.

Many of the FEC letters that Newsmax reviewed instructed the Obama campaign to “redesignate” contributions in excess of the finance limits.

Under campaign finance laws, an individual can donate $2,300 to a candidate for federal office in both the primary and general election, for a total of $4,600. If a donor has topped the limit in the primary, the campaign can “redesignate” the contribution to the general election on its books.

In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as “Will, Good” from Austin, Texas.

Mr. Good Will listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You.”

A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25.

In total, Mr. Good Will gave $17,375.

Following this and subsequent FEC requests, campaign records show that 330 contributions from Mr. Good Will were credited back to a credit card. But the most recent report, filed on Sept. 20, showed a net cumulative balance of $8,950 — still well over the $4,600 limit.

There can be no doubt that the Obama campaign noticed these contributions, since Obama’s Sept. 20 report specified that Good Will’s cumulative contributions since the beginning of the campaign were $9,375.

In an e-mailed response to a query from Newsmax, Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt pledged that the campaign would return the donations. But given the slowness with which the campaign has responded to earlier FEC queries, there’s no guarantee that the money will be returned before the Nov. 4 election.

Similarly, a donor identified as “Pro, Doodad,” from “Nando, NY,” gave $19,500 in 786 separate donations, most of them for $25. For most of these donations, Mr. Doodad Pro listed his employer as “Loving” and his profession as “You,” just as Good Will had done.

The Obama campaign has also received contributions from some people who are not very nice.

US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was apparently the recipient of nearly $30,000 in campaign contributions from a pair of Palestinian Arabs in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

While recently investigating online campaign contribution logs, Pamela Geller of the blog Atlas Shrugs discovered a curious set of entries from mid-2007 showing a series of contributions from two Arab men who listed their place of residence as "Rafah, GA."

Skeptical about the existence of a town in Georgia called Rafah, Geller did some digging and discovered that the contributions had in fact come from the Gaza Strip border town of Rafah.

It is illegal for a US presidential candidate to receive contributions from non-US citizens, or to receive in excess of $2,300 from a single individual.

Curious for more information, WorldNetDaily correspondent Aaron Klein tracked down the two Gaza Arabs, brothers Monir and Hosam Edwan.

The Edwan brothers said that they and many other Palestinians love Obama, and are confident he will be the US president to force Israel to surrender land for the birth of a Palestinian Arab state.

When pressed about their illegal contribution, the brothers altered their story and insisted that they had not made an online donation, but had rather purchased $30,000 worth of t-shirts from the Obama campaign website.

WorldNetDaily also learned that while Monir and Hosam are themselves believed to be non-religious, their clan is known for supporting Hamas.

That Obama has some very interesting supporters. If he wins the election I sure hope it works out well for all of us, but what I'm thinking is are all his supporters going to get their money's worth? I hope not.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

High Praise For Biden

Sen. Claire McCaskill has high praise for Senator Joe Biden. Joe she said,

“has a tendency to talk forever and sometimes say things that are kind of stupid.”

Thank the Maker he is not a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Physics Gets A Bad Rap

Barack Has Some Friends

And you can find out who they are by visiting BarackBook.com. Here are some typical entries:

Barack is watching the new BarackBook Web Video Here

==============

Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Governor Rod Blagojevich and Antoin "Tony" Rezko are now friends with Joseph Cari

===============

Barack Obama and ACORN are now friends with Madeline Talbott

The list of B. Obama's friends goes on for a ways. All people you will need to know if Barry O. gets elected. So check 'em out.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Add A Tax

Palin/Biden Debate Moderator Author Of Pro-Obama Book

I know you can't make this stuff up because you don't have to.

In an imaginary world where liberal journalists are held to the same standards as everyone else, Ifill would be required to make a full disclosure at the start of the debate.

She would be required to turn to the cameras and tell the national audience that she has a book coming out on Jan. 20, 2009 — a date that just happens to coincide with the inauguration of the next president of the United States. The title of Ifill's book? "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama."

Nonpartisan my foot.

Random House, her publisher, is already busy hyping the book with YouTube clips of Ifill heaping praise on her subjects, including Obama and Obama-endorsing Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick. The official promo for the book gushes:

"In 'The Breakthrough,' veteran journalist Gwen Ifill surveys the American political landscape, shedding new light on the impact of Barack Obama's stunning presidential campaign and introducing the emerging young African-American politicians forging a bold new path to political power.

"Drawing on interviews with power brokers like Sen. Obama, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, the Rev. Jesse Jackson and many others, as well as her own razor-sharp observations and analysis of such issues as generational conflict and the 'black enough' conundrum, Ifill shows why this is a pivotal moment in American history."

Ifill and her publisher are banking on an Obama-Biden win to buoy her book sales. The moderator expected to treat both sides fairly has grandiosely declared this the "Age of Obama."

This is so fricken unbelievable. What the hell is going on here. What the hell?

From Michelle Malkin:

Ask the Commission on Presidential Debates if she will acknowledge her conflict of interest: 202-872-1020.

And here’s the e-mail address of Janet H. Brown, Executive Director of the Debates Commission: jb@debates.org

Couldn't they get some one who could at least pretend to be neutral? No.

H/T Gateway Pundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Milk And Meat Must Be Rationed

I guess the moose hunt is on.

People will have to be rationed to four modest portions of meat and one litre of milk a week if the world is to avoid run-away climate change, a major new report warns.

The report, by the Food Climate Research Network, based at the University of Surrey, also says total food consumption should be reduced, especially "low nutritional value" treats such as alcohol, sweets and chocolates.

It urges people to return to habits their mothers or grandmothers would have been familiar with: buying locally in-season products, cooking in bulk and in pots with lids or pressure cookers, avoiding waste and walking to the shops - alongside more modern tips such as using the microwave and internet shopping.

The report goes much further than any previous advice after mounting concern about the impact of the livestock industry on greenhouse gases and rising food prices. It follows a four-year study of the impact of food on climate change and is thought to be the most thorough study of its kind.

What in the hell is a matter with these people? I can think of no better way to totally discredit the whole Man Made Global Warming Fiasco. Walking to shops? It is like they want us to go back 200 years. It is crazy. How do they expect to get farmers to buy in? Or meat packers?

I suppose there will be a resurgence of hunting to make up for the shortfall.

Obama Tied To Acorn

What a community organizer does. Or in the words of Stanley Kurtz: A community organizer helps get high risk loans for low credit customers. What ACORN does. What is ACORN then? An organization full of community organizers committed to mortgage fraud and vote fraud. Some real nice friends that Obama has.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Nationalizing Banks

In Europe. And you thought we had it bad in America.

The Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis, Britain's Bradford and Bingley, and Iceland's Glitnir, were all partially or fully nationalized after failing to roll-over debts in the short-term money markets, while the French state pledged support for the Franco-Belgian lender Dexia after the share price collapsed on reports of a capital shortage.

"The European financial sector is on trial: we have to support our banks." said French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He has reportedly ordered the state investment arm Caisse Des Depots to shore up Dexia, even though the bank is based in Belgium.

Germany's Hypo Real Estate, a commercial property lender, was rescued with a €35bn lifeline from a consortium of local banks. The lender has $560bn in liabilities, almost as much as Lehman Brothers.

Not only that money from Europe is rolling into America. Why? Look at some of the other problems in Britain alone.

Mortgage lenders were warned by the City watchdog on Tuesday to batten down the hatches and brace for “very difficult” market conditions next year as at least 1.4m homeowners face a sharp jump in loan repayments.

The Financial Services Authority said that there was “a very real prospect that conditions will worsen further into next year, in terms of both liquidity and credit risks”.

The bleak warning from the FSA comes as pressure builds on the Bank of England to cut interest rates as it prepares to meets for its monthly meeting.

Fresh evidence from Halifax, the country’s biggest mortgage lender, showed that the rate of the slowdown in the housing market is quickening. Last month prices fell by 1.1 per cent twice the rate of the previous month. The annual rate of growth fell to 6.3 per cent.

Halifax said the drop was the biggest monthly fall since last December and the first time it had recorded three months of consecutive falls since 1995.

So lets have a look at the Dollar vs the Euro.

The dollar mounted an explosive rally in the third quarter, persuading some investors that its long decline had finally touched bottom.

By late September, however, as markets grappled with the immensity of the U.S. financial crisis, the buck was back under pressure. It managed to finish the quarter on a high note, surging 2.6% against the euro Tuesday from a day earlier amid signs of turmoil in European banks.

Over the course of the quarter, the dollar strengthened 11.8% versus the euro, rallied 12% against the British pound and was little changed versus the Japanese yen. It was the dollar's best quarter against the euro since the European currency's inception in 1999 and the best against the pound in at least a decade.

Measured against a broad range of currencies in a Federal Reserve index, the dollar gained about 5% from the end of June through Monday, putting it back at levels that prevailed a year ago.

Still, problems may lie ahead. The size of the U.S. government's proposed bailout package and the numerous interventions by the U.S. Federal Reserve could hurt the dollar in the months and years to come.

A 2.6% rise in one day is pretty spectacular and indicates just how bad Europe's problems are.

So how bad is the mortgage crisis in Europe? Pretty bad.

The weekend’s events have highlighted European fragility in the financial crisis, note Citigroup analysts. In the UK, the eighth biggest mortgage lender (in terms of mortgage lending in 2007) has been nationalised. In all, four of the top 10 mortgage lenders have now been nationalised or required an emergency rescue since mid-07.
A major Benelux bank has required a public sector bailout, with the governments of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg jointly taking a 49% stake.
In Germany, the German government and a consortium of banks provided EUR35 bln to a large German Bank that is specialized on real estate and government funding.
In Denmark, trading in the shares of a small bank was stopped on Friday after the failure of one of the bank’s large customers, a property speculator, and the bank was sold over the weekend. In total, six minor Danish banks have now been sold/merged or bailed out by the state so far in recent months.

European house value erosion
Although each of these cases has particular features, they are not isolated events. Rather, they are symptoms of Europe’s major vulnerabilities to the credit crunch, note Citigroup analysts. These vulnerabilities stem from the large rise in corporate and household debt in recent years, international linkages, and the banking sector’s relatively low overall cushion of capital and underlying profitability.

Although the overall European housing boom has been smaller than that in the US, the surges in house prices in some countries – notably the UK, Spain, Ireland and France – have all exceeded the US so far this decade. In turn, house prices are now flat or falling across most European countries, with adverse economic and financial effects. The drop in house prices is causing weakness in housebuilding (especially in Ireland, France and Spain), adverse wealth effects on consumers (especially in the UK, Spain and Ireland) and widespread erosion of the value of mortgage collateral on lenders’ balance sheets. But, whereas the US housing adjustment has been underway for over two years, the European housing adjustment has only started last year. Most of the decline in European house prices probably still lies ahead.

Uh oh. What does that mean? While the US is coming out of the problem Europe is still in the middle.

So where am I on this? I have instructed my Congressman, Don Manzullo, to vote no on the bail out unless the Community Reinvestment Act which is at the core of the American mess gets fixed.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

What A Community Organizer Does

A community organizer helps get high risk loans for low credit customers. - Stanley Kurtz