Hillary's Ghost

This ABC report is about show of unity with party's leaders Tuesday in Washington. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid praised Hillary. But the interesting part?

Read the comments. Oh boy.

This kind of anger toward Obama shown on an ABC news site sends a thrill up my leg.

;-)

Also, have you guys seen this site? Sweet.

When Mayors lose their mind

via Fox News

Jewish Democrats...

.....Come on over!!!!!!!

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is attracting elite Jewish Democratic donors who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and are concerned about Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) stance toward Israel, say McCain backers who are organizing the effort to court Democrats.
........

Stephen Muss, the Florida developer, is the biggest Democratic donor and fundraiser to pledge his support for McCain and the Republican National Committee, said a GOP official. Muss has given tens of thousands of dollars to help Democratic candidates in recent years, including $80,000 to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics and CQ MoneyLine
........

Jewish Democrats are concerned about Obama for several reasons. While stumping in Iowa last year, Obama told Democratic activists, “Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.”
Some Jewish voters interpreted the statement as a sign that Obama would be overly sympathetic to the Palestinian side in future peace negotiations with Israel. And some are concerned about a senior Obama adviser’s comments regarding the influence of American Jews on foreign policy. Merrill “Tony” McPeak, the former Air Force chief of staff, told the Portland Oregonian newspaper in 2003 that the political influence of the Jewish community had hampered efforts to negotiate peace in the Middle East.
Obama has also caused some alarm among Jewish Democrats by pledging to negotiate with leaders of nations that have taken hostile stances against Israel, such as Syria and Iran.

The growing sympathy of Jewish Democrats toward McCain is epitomized by Lieberman, a self-described independent Democrat from Connecticut.

History Lesson

From Grand Old Partisan:

On this day in 1964, Everett Dirksen (R-IL), the Republican Leader in the U.S. Senate, condemned the Democrats' 57-day filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Leading the Democrats in their opposition to civil rights for African-Americans was Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV). Byrd, who got into politics as a recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan, spoke against the bill for fourteen straight hours. Democrats still call Robert Byrd "the conscience of the Senate." In his speech, Senator Dirksen called on the Democrats to end their filibuster and accept racial equality.

Sadr City and Victory

Does the average American know this story? I don't think so.

From the Stars and Stripes:

When Task Force 1-6 took control of the area in early May, they entered a cesspool of violence. For the Baumholder, Germany-based infantrymen, much of the fighting centered around the construction of a three mile security wall that separates Jamilla from Sadr City’s main residential areas to the north.

The wall was constructed in response to the fighting that erupted in March in Sadr City, which functioned as a launching point for mortar assaults on the nearby Green Zone.

The soldiers of 1-6, who were continuing work started by other units assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, faced contact with the enemy within 24 hours of being on the job. Encounters with rocket-propelled grenades, sniper fire and mortars were a daily occurrence, commanders said.

But since the wall project was completed more than two weeks ago, firefights has been replaced with intelligence gathering, civic engagement and reconstruction.

Regarding victory, The New York Post has this:

AMERICA has won, or is about to win, the Iraq war.

The latest proof came last month, as the Iraqi army - just a few months ago the target of scorn and abuse from Democratic politicians and journalists - forcefully reoccupied three cities that had served as key insurgency bases (Basra, Sadr City and Mosul).

Sunnis and Shias alike applauded as their nation's army compelled insurgent militias to lay down their arms.

.......

In a Washington Post interview, CIA Director Michael Hayden said we're witnessing the "near strategic defeat of al Qaeda in Iraq."

I think we are all going to get what we want sooner, rather than later...an end to this war. But we on the right (and America) get the icing on the cake.

Victory.

via Mudville

Hillary's Out

via Allah

The Press and Race

I watched Howard Kurtz Sunday on CNN talk about the role of the press during this fight between Hillary and Obama. He was asking his guests if the press showed favoritism toward Obama during the primary fight.

It would be disingenuous to say that the press did not give much more favorable coverage to Obama. The question that should be asked is why? Did they do it because they were caught up in the Obama/first black president thing? Or did they do it because they can't stand Hillary or were tired of the Clinton political machine? Even this were true, it isn't the media's job to decide who they like the best and give the best coverage to that person. It's unethical in my opinion. It's time for the press to cover a Presidential campaign with the fairness and scrutiny they learned in journalism school.

Remember when an advisor in the McCain campaign, Mark McKinnon stepped down because he didn't want to create ads against Obama in the general election? He said, "I would simply be uncomfortable being in a campaign that would be inevitably attacking Barack Obama. I think it would be uncomfortable for me, and I think it would be bad for the McCain campaign."

Why? Because Obama is the first black to win his party's nomination for President??? I don't think Obama himself wants to be judged by that. As Kurtz pointed out on his show, if we really have moved beyond race in this country, then the press will treat Obama just as they would a white candidate.

So one would like to ask McKinnon why he would have felt comfortable running ads against Hillary, but not Obama?

The fact that Obama is the first African American to win his party's nomination is a historic and proud moment for America and for blacks, but the last thing we should do is treat Obama differently because of it. It is exactly that that we have tried to rise above all these years.

The Media should treat Obama the exact same way they treat McCain. Ask the same questions, reveal the flaws that emerge, emphasize the issues that each candidate believes in, and let's judge these candidates by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Someone very wise said that one time long ago. I hope the press pays attention. Because otherwise, it's just wrong.

Jimmy Carter's 2nd term

McCain has found a perfect way to combat this ridiculous mantra of Obama's that McCain would be a Bush third term:

In an interview to air later tonight on Nightly News, McCain tells NBC's Brian Williams that while Obama might criticize him for representing a third Bush term, Obama seems to be running for a second Carter term. Part of the transcript...
Williams: Is it going to be tough to run with an incumbent party for the White House, given this economic backdrop?
McCain: I-- I think it's-- it's tough. But I think the American didn't, people didn't get to know me yesterday. They know me. They know that I have fought for restraining spending, which Senator Obama has been a big part of, with earmarking (UNINTEL) projects. They know that I have been a strong fiscal conservative, and they know I understand the challenges that they face.

They need a little break from-- from their gasoline taxes, and they -- and they know that -- we've got to get spending under control. And we've got to become independent of foreign oil. Sen. Obama says that I'm running for a Bush's third terms. It seems to me he's running for Jimmy Carter's second.

When you can't tell spoof from rhetoric

"..this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"

I read these words of Obama's on another blog and honestly thought it was a spoof. I didn't realize that he actually said them in his speech in St. Paul, Minn until I read the George Will column that BigDog sent me:

"Journalists consider themselves crusty, unsentimental creatures who, their battered fedoras shoved back on their heads, have slouched out of Ben Hecht's 1928 play "The Front Page," oozing skepticism from every pore. Actually, they are round-heeled romantics, such pushovers for a new swain that they did not laugh until their ribs squeaked when Barack Obama concluded his triumphal St. Paul, Minn., speech..."

When I thought it was a spoof, I laughed. But now it just makes me want to throw up. Could Obama be any more full of himself? Does he really see himself as "healing the planet?" You know what? I believe he does. That's the thing. He is one of these left wing "visionaries" who sees all things possible through government programs and soaring rhetoric.

Read his whole speech. It's the promise of rainbows and fairies. All we have to do is chant "We believe" over and over and the impossible becomes possible.

Give me a freakin break.

Obama could have been a case study for Thomas Sowell's book. "The Vision of The Anointed." A book that reviews the smug know it all attitude of the left, who think they are "anointed" to take care of the rest of us. But first they need to be in power.

Obama is the elite liberal intelligentsia that Sowell writes about. He feels he is morally and intellectually superior to the general population and only wishes to "help' them live their lives in a manner that he sees as better. Because, you see, they don't know any better and need leaders such as himself to show them the way.

But this isn't a world of rainbows and fairies and it never will be. It is a world that needs more than fancy words and a heart of hope to keep us strong, protect us, and grow our economy.

You will never hear about rainbows from McCain. He is a reality type guy. He sees the world as it is.

Update: To further the absurdity of all this, Jesse Jackson Jr. had this to say about Obama's nomination:

"the event itself is so extraordinary that another chapter could be added to the Bible to chronicle its significance." (via Newsbusters)

Look, I can understand the pride of having the first black man nominated for President. No doubt about that, but this kind of over the top gushing only diminishes the significance of it in my opinion.

In case you missed it....

Bush never lied.

Saw this at HotAir and BigDog sent it to me.

This has become such a large part of the left's narrative that I doubt anything will change their minds. But the truth rarely does with them.

Let me continue to make my point

Or at least I will let Thomas Sowell continue to make it for me. This is for all of you who feel like you will just stay home this election: (emphasis mine)

There is one big difference between now and the 1930s. Although the West’s lack of military preparedness and its political irresolution led to three solid years of devastating losses to Nazi Germany and imperial Japan, nevertheless when all the West’s industrial and military forces were finally mobilized, the democracies were able to turn the tide and win decisively.

But you cannot lose a nuclear war for three years and then come back. You cannot even sustain the will to resist for three years when you are first broken down morally by threats and then devastated by nuclear bombs.

Our one window of opportunity to prevent this will occur within the term of whoever becomes president of the United States next January.

At a time like this, we do not have the luxury of waiting for our ideal candidate or of indulging our emotions by voting for some third party candidate to show our displeasure — at the cost of putting someone in the White House who is not up to the job.

Senator John McCain has been criticized in this column many times. But, when all is said and done, Senator McCain has not spent decades aiding and abetting people who hate America.

On the contrary, he has paid a huge price for resisting our enemies, even when they held him prisoner and tortured him. The choice between him and Barack Obama should be a no-brainer.

via LST

Are we paying attention?

In the spirit of the discussion we are having in the comments section of the previous post, I give you Michael Ledeen of the WSJ as he describes how other evil regimes and leaders throughout history were ignored or played down as not as scary or deadly as they turned out to be. He reminds us that we must learn from history or we are bound to repeat it:

By now, there is very little we do not know about such regimes, and such movements. Some of our greatest scholars have described them, analyzed the reasons for their success, and chronicled the wars we fought to defeat them. Our understanding is considerable, as is the honesty and intensity of our desire that such things must be prevented.

Yet they are with us again, and we are acting as we did in the last century. The world is simmering in the familiar rhetoric and actions of movements and regimes – from Hezbollah and al Qaeda to the Iranian Khomeinists and the Saudi Wahhabis – who swear to destroy us and others like us. Like their 20th-century predecessors, they openly proclaim their intentions, and carry them out whenever and wherever they can. Like our own 20th-century predecessors, we rarely take them seriously or act accordingly. More often than not, we downplay the consequences of their words, as if they were some Islamic or Arab version of "politics," intended for internal consumption, and designed to accomplish domestic objectives.

Clearly, the explanations we gave for our failure to act in the last century were wrong. The rise of messianic mass movements is not new, and there is very little we do not know about them. Nor is there any excuse for us to be surprised at the success of evil leaders, even in countries with long histories and great cultural and political accomplishments. We know all about that. So we need to ask the old questions again. Why are we failing to see the mounting power of evil enemies? Why do we treat them as if they were normal political phenomena, as Western leaders do when they embrace negotiations as the best course of action?
........

Then, as now, the initiative lies with the enemies of the West. Even today, when we are engaged on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, there is little apparent recognition that we are under attack by a familiar sort of enemy, and great reluctance to act accordingly. This time, ignorance cannot be claimed as an excuse. If we are defeated, it will be because of failure of will, not lack of understanding. As, indeed, was almost the case with our near-defeat in the 1940s.

One of the reasons I am such a strong supporter of McCain is because he does understand all this. He has lived and served our country in the face of an evil enemy. He bears the scars. He understands the price.

The Simple Truth

From The Weekly Standard via HotAir.

This must be emphasized again and again:

“What would have happened if Obama’s bill had passed? There is no way to know for sure, but it seems likely that, facing less resistance, Al Qaeda in Iraq would have continued to gain strength, the fragile Iraqi Security Forces would have collapsed, as would the fragile Iraqi government, militias would have flourished–and the United States would have departed under fire, accepting a humiliating defeat in the war against al Qaeda that would have reverberated globally.

For any voter trying to choose between the two candidates for commander in chief, there is no better test than this: When American strategy in a critical theater was up for grabs, John McCain proposed a highly unpopular and risky path, which he accurately predicted could lead to success. Barack Obama proposed a popular and politically safe route that would have led to an unnecessary and debilitating American defeat at the hands of al Qaeda.”

This is called leadership my friends. One can always take the easy road. But it is the road of difficult choices that gives us the men and women meant to lead.

Exactly

The Gay Patriot points out a most profound truth:

the greatest enemies of gay people are not social conservatives in the West who may question (what they call) our lifestyle and oppose legislation benefiting us, but Islamic theocrats who execute gay people in jurisdictions where they predominate and seek to destroy the nations with political systems which allow us to live freely.

I have several conversations with my lefty friend, dave bones across the pond, about similar thoughts. Although dave is not gay, he does live an alternative lifestyle. I tell him that I am amazed that he doesn't see the threat that the radical Muslims pose to his very life, and how it is only conservatives who seem to understand this. The one thing I do know that dave bones understands is that we in America would be the first to defend him and his life if necessary, as we would for gays. I have posted several times about executions on gay youths in Iran for example. How many leftwing blogs have you read that report on this?

Conservatives may disagree with gay lifestyles, but we would stand and defend their right to live as they wish. We fight the ones who hang them from cranes. We understand the danger.

The Gay Patriot goes on to report on violent acts upon gays in Europe. Read the whole thing.

via NRO

Update: BigDog reminded me of this piece by Bruce Bawer, a gay American who thought he might find more tolerance in Europe.

He was wrong:

Once an oasis of tolerance, Europe is slowly but surely succumbing to Islamization. "Sharia law may still be an alien concept to some Westerners," writes Bruce Bawer. "But it's staring gay Europeans right in the face -- and pointing toward a chilling future for all free people."

.......

The reason for the rise in gay bashings in Europe is clear - and it’s the same reason for the rise in rape. As the number of Muslims in Europe grows, and as the proportion of those Muslims who were born and bred in Europe also grows, many Muslim men are more inclined to see Europe as a part of the umma (or Muslim world), to believe that they have the right and duty to enforce sharia law in the cities where they live, and to recognize that any aggression on their part will likely go unpunished. Such men need not be actively religious in order to feel that they have carte blanche to assault openly gay men and non-submissive women, whose freedom to live their lives as they wish is among the most conspicuous symbols of the West’s defiance of holy law.

Multiculturalists can’t face all this. So it is that even when there are brutal gay-bashings, few journalists write about them; of those who do, few mention that the perpetrators are Muslims; and those who do mention it take the line that these perpetrators are lashing out in desperate response to their own oppression.
........

The number of reported gay-bashings in Amsterdam now climbs steadily year by year. Nearly half Muslim, the city is a front in the struggle between democracy and sharia, under which, lest it be forgotten, homosexuality can be a capital offense

Read the whole thing.

Hillary: "It's still all about me"

If you saw the "concession speech" today then you know this was exactly what the speech was all about. I just couldn't believe it. I am not exaggerating when I say that 90% of the speech was about her and 10% about Obama. I can't imagine Obama asking her to be the V.P. after a concession speech that barely mentioned him.

This speech was all about how Hillary has paved a way for women. Sadly for women like me, she isn't paving the way for the kind of woman I would want leading this country.

There were moments, that I have discussed before, when I actually felt sorry for Hillary during this campaign. But in this speech she reminded me of all that I disliked about her. Her self involved narcissism, her ego inflated belief that she knows better. Her misguided and dangerous belief that government is the answer to every problem Americans have.

I can't explain how happy I am that, at least for a while, I don't have to see the Clintons on the political stage every single day.

I really do believe that the candidates for President this time represent something different for each party. McCain was never the favorite among conservative Republicans. The party turned toward "The Maverick" that went against his party time and time again. Democrats turned away from the corrupt power couple that led the party for so long in so many ways.

It may actually be a refreshingly different Presidential race and I am looking forward to it.

Update: Mark Hemingway at NRO was at Clinton's speech. He had this interesting tidbit:

I just returned from the Clinton rally, and I don't know if this really came across on TV but there was a surprisingly audible number of boos every time Obama was mentioned. There were also a lot of people who didn't clap for him.

The majority obviously are enthusiastic about Obama, but the boos sort of took everybody in the press area aback when she first mentioned his name.

Friday Funny

But it's not suppose to be funny. He's serious. This is just so typical of the new age wishy washy feel good gobbly gook garbage that we will be forced to listen to for the rest of the election cycle. Still funny though.

Obama is a "Lightworker."

This just isn't the person I knew...

Remember when Obama said this about his Rev. Wright after Wright's press club rant?

"The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago."

Yet another person Obama just didn't really know:

"This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew," he said, adding that the charges against Rezko "once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform."

And he says he literally didn't know William Ayers. Ayers was just an "aquaintance."

Good grief.

The Meeting

FirstRead:

From NBC's Ken StricklandSen. Dianne Feinstein, a long-time Hillary Clinton supporter, told reporters today that she got the call from Clinton late yesterday afternoon asking to use her home for a meeting with Obama. Feinstein said she's offered up her house in previous conversations after Tuesday's final primaries.

"They just want an opportunity to meet together alone," she told reporters. The meeting started about 9:00 pm ET.

"I received them. Put them in the living room, two comfortable chairs facing one another and left." No staff, no security, just water for candidates. One person from each campaign sat in Feinstein's study. "They talked. I went upstairs and did my work."

About an hour later... "They called me when it was over. I came down and I said, 'Good night everybody. I hope you had a good meeting.' They were laughing, and that was it."

The California senator refused to give any other details about the conversation. "They got along very well," she said.

She added later that one of her lamps was missing though.

;-)

First Principles

Rightwing sparkle is back! Yes, yes. Save your cheers and sighs of relief. She is prettier than I. Anyway, the dog is going for a nap. This will be my last post. As our British friends would say, "Cheers!"

Hugh Hewitt gives a concise and informative speech about the first principles of Conservatism. For our friends on the left, if you really want to know the conservative mind, this will help. For those on the right, Hugh is well spoken, well worth hearing.

Show Trial Mark Steyn is being persecuted by a kangaroo court in Canada.

The UN might be getting a clue on how to Feed the Poor.

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a real way to "Feed the World" — ease export limits and cut tariffs on imports. In other words, let the global market work. In opening the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization's three-day Rome summit on solving the global food crisis, Ban chided countries that have responded to world food shortages by limiting exports or enacting price controls. "They only distort markets and force prices even higher," he said."

Exactly right! Color me astounded.

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." - Mark Twain

Beach pics!

We stayed in Pensacola, which is close to my old stomping (sunning?) grounds of Gulf Shores, Alabama. Beautiful white sugar sand and clear green/blue water. Perfect. I have some parasailing pics I wanted to share, but I can't find them now!

Really?

So while I was sunning away on a beach in Florida, Hillary seems to have actually lost the Democratic nomination. I'm still in a state of shock. I just can't believe it.

Somebody took what the Clinton's wanted and they are still alive to tell the tale. No cat was taken, no suicide, no plane crash. Wow. Obama did it.

Not Exactly Rocket Science gets it right (although a bit harsher than I am, I'm with her vibe):

I've disliked Hillary as long as I can remember, something about these type-A balls-out b*tches really bothers me. Now, as most of you know, I'm a real b*tch, myself. I don't take sh*t and I play the game as hard as I can. But I have standards. I can take a note from Laura Bush's camp, too. More flies with honey, and all that. There are lines I won't cross.

Those lines don't exist for women like Hillary Clinton. I have known many women like her. They're determined to step on the top rung of the ladder at all costs. It certainly has cost Hillary a lot. Even more than possibly the presidency. Friends, family, self-respect.

And after this loss, I feel sorry for her. She played the game hard. As hard as she could. She simply got outplayed by a force she couldn't counter, an opponent who possessed a power she couldn't touch: Mystique.

So, where is Hillary? The WaPo says it ends Saturday for her. I suppose that is when I will believe it, but in suspending her campaign she still leaves open the door of something coming out about Obama that will cause the superdelegates to take her back. You laugh, but this is the Clintons and this campaign season nothing seems too surreal to me.

Will she be the V.P. pick? I can't see how Obama refuses and risks making all those white women mad. Then again, there is alot of baggage with Hillary.

More later.......Gotta unpack!

When Do We Leave Iraq?

With Iraq toll down, U.S. more optimistic

This needs to be re-iterated. 6 years after the invasion, people seem to have forgotten all the arguements for and against the war that we debated quite extensively before the war.
Why We Went to Iraq by Fauad Ajami

"Liberal opinion in America and Europe may have scoffed when President Bush drew a strict moral line between order and radicalism – he even inserted into the political vocabulary the unfashionable notion of evil – this sort of clarity is in the nature of things in that Greater Middle East. It is in categories of good and evil that men and women in those lands describe their world. The unyielding campaign waged by this president made a deep impression on them.

Nowadays, we hear many who have never had a kind word to say about the Iraq War pronounce on the retreat of the jihadists. It is as though the Islamists had gone back to their texts and returned with second thoughts about their violent utopia. It is as though the financiers and the "charities" that aided the terror had reconsidered their loyalties and opted out of that sly, cynical trade. Nothing could be further from the truth. If Islamism is on the ropes, if the regimes in the saddle in key Arab states now show greater resolve in taking on the forces of radicalism, no small credit ought to be given to this American project in Iraq.

We should give the "theorists" of terror their due and read them with some discernment. To a man, they have told us that they have been bloodied in Iraq, that they have been surprised by the stoicism of the Americans, by the staying power of the Bush administration."

Reagan was mocked for his leadership in confronting Communism. He was told to compromise, that he was unreasonable even belligerant.

Reagan was right.

No one was impressed by poetry reading pansies emoting at the Berlin Wall, but Reagan's words demanding that Gorbachev tear down this wall resonated from eastern Europe to Siberia, around kitchen tables and in food lines. Prisoners in the Gulags tapped on the plumbing in code passing word of what Reagan said. It is men of conviction and steadfastness who change history.

More:

With the luxury of hindsight, the critics of the war now depict the arguments made for it as a case of manipulation and deceit. This is odd and misplaced: The claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction were to prove incorrect, but they were made in good faith.

It is also obtuse and willful to depict in dark colors the effort made to "sell" the war. Wars can't be waged in stealth, and making the moral case for them is an obligation incumbent on the leaders who launch them. If anything, there were stretches of time, and critical turning points, when the administration abdicated the fight for public opinion.

Emphasis mine.

When we entered Iraq, I knew it would be an 8-10 year commitment of troops, and probably longer for military support. that is the standard number for a counterinsurgency. Contrary to popular opinion - more specifically the deluded notions of academia, the media, and the peace movement types - insurgencies have a poor record of success against regular armies and established governments.

Now that success is undeniable: The enemy demoralized, the Iraqi army showing mettle, US casualties down, entire neighborhoods, cities and provinces turning against Al Queda, Iranian backed Shi'ite leaders scurrying away like cockroaces to Iran... there is a refrain from the left to the effect: "Can we leave now?" The answer is 'no'. One of the problems with the anti-military left is immaturity. Wars are commitments more serious than any marriage. Once you are in a war, you are in it to the end, no matter how long or bitter. Weshould leave when we are done and not before.


"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Winston Churchill

Its Thursday already?

No post yesterday. I was busy and went dancing all evening, then went to bed early for a 7:30 am root canal. Yay! Root canal went fine and now I have some time on my hands to blog.


Some people likethose energy drinks, like Red Bull. Try an anti-energy drink.

"Turns out, this is a carbonated, grape-flavored beverage spiked with melatonin, valerian root and rose hips." And apparently it goes well with vodka..... Zzzzzzzz.


"Utrecht police say a 21-year-old Dutch man is recovering after a "mooning" that went horribly wrong. " This guy is like an anti-hero.


I don't understand the attraction of tractor pulls. There are worse forms of entertainment, I suppose. This one is in the Netherlands. Does anyone know if tractor pulls started in Europe or is an American import?

Sometimes its exciting:

For Fun

I keep violating a rule of blogging: to keep posts small and readable. Instead I tend to post a bunch of things at once. I will try to do better.

And now for something completely different:

PETA protests mouse glue traps for some reason. Bikini goodness!

Bottled water gives women "smoker's lips"

I have always been critical of bottled water. Why drink bottled water when water from the tap is perfectly good and much cheaper? Only a few municipalities have crappy drinking water. My dance class has bottles of water for 50 cents, sitting in a basket at room temperature. There is a drinking fountain dispensing clean, fresh, COLD water right around the corner. Plastic is NOT an oxygen barrier. The fountain water has to taste better, and its cold.

Tall Tales, Taxes, and the Tawdry

Phony-Ops build the Obama Myth

Obama's appeal is that he is new and different, an agent for change. He is actually a hard left Chicago machine politico, just more of the same pandering, self aggrandizing, shady dealer. Why don't people see this? IMO, most people are just emotional.


Interstate Larceny New York wants to tax Amazon.com which is headquartered in Seattle.

This internet tax stuff has a really straightforward solution. The company's Point of Sale is the same place as their legal location, and whatever sales tax applies at that POS will apply to an internet order to that company. So, Amazon is in Seattle, okay, apply Seattle sales taxes - state and local.

The system we have wow is stupid. S-T-U-P-I-D. In South Dakota, for example, state law is that SD sales tax applies to whatever Internet or mail-order purchases made. So if I buy from Amazon, *I* am expected to go down to the local tax office, fill out the forms and attach copies of my receipts and pay taxes... on goods that were not sold in South Dakota. What is wrong with legislators who thought up this nonsense? Naturally no one does it except political office holders who might get in trouble for 'not paying their taxes'.

Will this cause tax competition between states, where low sales tax states find Internet businesses moving there to give their customers the best deal? Probably. What is wrong with that? Perhaps states should have an incentive to lower their sales taxes, and those that set their taxes too high should lose businesses.


For Liberals, Soldiers Are Victims

Memorial Day is about celebrating the triumphs of our men and women in uniform, living or dead. And, yes, it is certainly about remembrance of their sacrifices, and about mourning, though that mourning is vivified with the knowledge that their deaths were not in vain; that their sacrifices served noble ends, and that those ends -- the advancement or preservation of freedom - gave their sacrifices great worth and meaning.

For liberals, war is a no-win proposition. Since Vietnam, a compromised and venal United States engages in conflicts with enemies -- if they can be called that -- who are, at the very least, the nation's moral equivalents or, perhaps, like the Communist North Vietnamese, its superiors. Soldiers, when not despised by liberals (again, see Vietnam) are pitied as dupes, under-educated and unemployable youths who sought paychecks in the military.

And the consequences for these youths being duped into military service? Mental and emotional illness, drug and alcohol addiction, rage and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In fact, the latter is practically a rite of passage for men and women exiting the military, or so seems the liberal belief.

AK-47

Ironically, as Mr. Hodges tells us, Kalashnikov took his inspiration not from the well-machined weapons of the German army but from the redoubtable M-1 Garand carried by American GIs during World War II. For its part, the U.S. Army eventually followed the German example, choosing a light, finely machined, small-caliber weapon that until 1964 had been the province of local law-enforcement officers. When the Vietnam War heated up, the M-16 (designed by Eugene Stoner) was adopted wholesale by U.S. forces. In the hands of trained warfighters, it is actually a better weapon than the AK-47, an assessment that Mr. Hodges heatedly rejects and that, in any case, detracts not at all from the weapon's fame and ubiquity.

Intended to be maintained by the illiterate conscripts of the Red Army, the AK-47 eventually showed itself to be ideal for peasant armies, rebel guerrillas, child soldiers and drug lords. There are millions of Kalashnikov's automatic rifles in combat around the world. So iconic is the gun that it appears on the flag of Mozambique, crossed with a hoe as one of the essential implements of national liberation. For all we read of weapons of mass destruction, the homely AK-47 – costing as little as $100 from a Bulgarian factory – is the true WMD. It has killed far more human beings than all the nuclear, bacteriological and chemical weapons ever employed.

But it is not true, as Mr. Hodges would have us believe, that the AK-47 is the nemesis of American warfighters in Iraq. Most casualties there are inflicted by roadside bombs. "Small arms fire" now ranks third as a slayer of our soldiers and Marines, behind such mundane traumas as traffic accidents.

I don't believe I will buy this book. The AK-47 is a great battle rifle for most armies. You know that is 200 years some yahoo is going to show up at a fight with an AK.


Plfleger reveals himself

Selected exerpts:

"They told me it was down," Pfleger said. "Their live streaming had been down all day, and they didn't know whether it was back up. . . . I regret the dramatization that I was naive enough to believe was just going to be kept among that church."

This one is the best:

"This is a dangerous time in America, the freest country in the world," Pfleger says, "where you have to whisper your thoughts."

Oh please. Pfleger is a bigot, a racist, and a demagogue. He knows that his beliefs are ugly and unacceptable to civilized people. He tries to hide his bigotry from the general population, and was prepared to share is repellent views only with a church full of similarly minded racists.

"Dangerous time in America", my butt. He is entitled to have his ugly, dark opinions. No one is going to arrest him for expressing his views. He is upset that he was caught on camera so that people other than fellow racists were could see for themselves what he said. And THAT is what he is complaining about. Its an entirely self serving argument which makes his previous apology look insincere.

I am not a catholic, but the Catholic Church should defrock him now that they have incontrovertible proof of his behavior. Removing him from his post was a good start.


Followup:

Clinton is upset about the Vanity Fair article I blogged about on sunday. Aside from the name calling, Clinton referred to "... thenational media's attempt to nail Hillary for Obama" and "It's all about the bias of the media for Obama".

Well, no kidding. Previously, the media was in your corner, Bill. They covered for your sleaze and scandals and ate up every word you said, ignoring the gaffes and believing the fatuous lies. Now they aren't covering for you anymore, and they have a new fatuous liar to fawn over.



"The power to tax involves the power to destroy;...the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create...." -- Chief Justice John Marshall, 1819.

Odds and Sods

Scientists sign petition denying man-made global warming - 31,000 of them.

"It urged the US government to reject the treaty and said: "The proposed limits on greenhouse gases would harm the environment, hinder the advance of science and technology, and damage the health and welfare of mankind." "

"It added: "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of ... greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the forseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate. Moreover, there is substantial scientific evidence that increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide produce many beneficial effects upon the natural plant and animal environments." "

"The petition was reissued last year by the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, an independent research group, partly in response to Al Gore’s film on climate change, An Inconvenient Truth."

I am sure Gore will get right on that.

Global Warming hoopla will not die easily - there is too much money to be made. Plus, no amount of hyperbole is too innappropriate for some:

"Survivors of sex abuse by Christian clergy today responded with anger and shock to the Church of England bishop who said that everyone who failed to act on climate change was as guilty as Austrian child abuser Josef Fritzl"

"Victims accused the bishop of being "facile and demeaning" towards Fritzl's daughter, who was kept in a cellar for 24 years, raped repeatedly and who had seven children by her own father. "

Facile. Demeaning. Good words. Can't add more to that. Some people have an amazing ability to stick their foot in their mouths. It seems like, increasingly, its the 'politicized clergy', imo

"The Bishop, whose comments come at the same time as the Church of England is publishing a new report complaining about the quality of its clergy, said that was not accusing those who do nothing about global warming of being child abusers. "

Oh. Snap.


Are conservatives more honest than liberals? - Well, I dunno. Conservatives do seem to be more ideologically consistant, and liberals do seem to project their own neurosis on to their political opponents.


Humans can see into the future? Possibly the key to optical illusions.

Researcher Mark Changizi of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York says it starts with a neural lag that most everyone experiences while awake. When light hits your retina, about one-tenth of a second goes by before the brain translates the signal into a visual perception of the world.

Scientists already knew about the lag, yet they have debated over exactly how we compensate, with one school of thought proposing our motor system somehow modifies our movements to offset the delay.

Changizi now says it's our visual system that has evolved to compensate for neural delays, generating images of what will occur one-tenth of a second into the future. That foresight keeps our view of the world in the present. It gives you enough heads up to catch a fly ball (instead of getting socked in the face) and maneuver smoothly through a crowd.

Coooooooool.

Idiots are smearing themselves with Preparation H before they go into the clubs. Apparently this makes themselves appear more 'ripped'. one woudl think it would also make them smell. As one commentor on Fark observed: "Well it is ointment for irritating a**holes, right?" Kudos to the commentor Tastes Like Chicken.

"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." - Ronald Reagan

Rational About War

Hitchens reviews two tell-all books.

Feith was and is very much identified with the neoconservative wing of the Republican Party, and he certainly did not believe that Saddam Hussein was ever containable in a sanctions "box." But he is capable of separating his views from his narrative, and this absorbing account of the interdepartmental and ideological quarrels within the Bush administration, on the Afghanistan and Guantanamo fronts as well as about Iraq, will make it difficult if not impossible for people to go on claiming that, for instance:

There was no rational reason to suspect a continuing Iraqi WMD threat. Feith's citations from the Duelfer Report alone are stunning in their implications.

That alternatives to war were never discussed and that the administration was out to "get" Saddam Hussein from the start.

That the advocates of regime change hoped and indeed planned to anoint Ahmad Chalabi as a figurehead leader in Baghdad.

That there was no consideration given to postwar planning.

Emphasis mine.

Unfortunately, people will claim the anti-Iraq war canards no matter how weak and invented. Its easier to be intellectually lazy, believing unlikely conspiracy theories instead of evidence. I just bought Feith's book War and Decision, as well as Yon's 'Moment of Truth' as a premium for subscribing to Townhall magazine.


Afghan insurgents 'On the brink of defeat' - Neocon propaganda! oh, wait, British commanders are saying this.


"Miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari." Even war is better than a wretched peace. - Tacitus

Sunday Dispatch

This weekend has been beautiful. I have hardly paid attention to the spectacle of the Democratic conference regarding the Michigan and Florida delegates. As expected, they are allowing the delegates to count a half each. If Republicans were more like Democrats, they'd start making references to the 3/5ths Compromise.

I am reading "Where Have All the Soldiers Gone?" by James J. Sheehan. It traces the roots of European pacifism and the transformation of Europe into a Kantian vision of perpetual peace. I borrowed it from the library. I have noticed a trend in the Siouxland libraries favoring leftist ideology. They carry all the books from the political left, and only the occassional opposing voice. My taxpayer dollars at work financially supporting the other side. However, Sheehan's book is not necessarily showing the peaceful, prosperous European transformation as a good or natural thing. I think the thesis is key to understanding the cultural differences between Europe and the US.

On that subject, Victor Davis Hanson is in Europe and posts a Euromania dispatch.

I have admiration for the European Union’s unmistakable achievement in avoiding war for half a century, and its widespread prosperity—but it has come at a price. Given what Barack Obama has said about raising taxes, funding new entitlements, yielding to international consensus abroad, and seeing Americans in terms of various racial, class, and tribal constituencies, all with justified grievances, I think his notion of our future is what we see in European today—even as the Europeans grow increasingly restless about unions, high taxes, and their impotence in the world abroad. Apparently even two-hour lunches, no children, no church, no military, good food and the disco can get boring.

A note on Obama: in minute one, Euros gush; in minute two, the questions come; in minute three, they express concern (if they think you too might as well and so can be candid); in minute four, you sense they understand there is only one EU. So should the US become one too, they worry about who might play the US to the US?

In a sick way this speaks well of Obama: by his intent to turn the US into something like the EU, he is scaring some elites in the EU as never before. There can only be one socialist union: it requires a capitalist wide-open trading partner and a Nato-like ally to offer it free defense as well as an easy target for cheap invective. So the Europeans hint: “Please, don’t become quite like us—we need you as you are.”

Works for me. I prefer a Land of the Free, which entails a land where a person is free to fail. Europe of course is free to pursue their own destiny, I see no reason to follow. Europe is really behind the US in most measures of properity.

"The Association of European Chambers of Commerce in Brussels warned that the transatlantic gap had widened yet further in the past five years by all key measures"

***

"It will take the EU until 2072 to reach US levels of income per capita, and then only if the EU income growth exceeds that of the US by 0.5pc," the study said."

No reason to think that EU growth will exceed the US. Former Communist countries have a lot of catching up to do, and their growth rates have been marked, but if the EU imposes the kinds of regulations and tax rates they are likely to, those nations will plateau soon enough.

Roundup on the News:

US casualties in Iraq at all time low - In related news Iraq's oil production has risen. Good. Iraq needs the money. Say, whatever happened to the "We invaded for oil" meme? Seems the fools who said it are quiet about it now, given that we are NOT taking Iraq's oil and we are not benefitting from it. Awkward. Well, maybe not. They will come up with a rationalization.

Yes we can! - Win the war, that is. An yes, imo, the folks who want to withdraw the troops are defeatists. They would dishonor our nation, make the sacrifices that our troops have made futile, and cause endless trouble as well as more deaths in the future.

Clinton supporters wringing their hands about Bill's sociopathic behavior. Well, no kidding. He has always been this way. Whereas before his irresponsibility was a problem for our nation, now its a problem for Hillary and the left. Now, I guess it matters to them.

Homeless people make their home in Heathrow.

Michael Crichton predicted the extinction of mass media in 1993. Slate thinks he may be vindicated. This amused me: "Had Crichton's prediction been on track, by 2002 the New York Times should have been half-fossilized. But the newspaper's vital signs were so positive that its parent company commissioned a 1,046-foot Modernist tower, which now stands in Midtown Manhattan." As I recall, the NYT's used its influence to get the City gov't to condemn other people's property unjustly. I also recall at the time that analysts were not so positive on the NYT at the time of the construction. It was called a white elephant that would be a financial drag on the company which needed to become more innovative.

One a lighter note: Tiny, cute animals. Awwwww.... I notice at least one is photoshopped, but no matter! The dog with ducklings was particularly amusing to me.


"The brave and bold persist even against fortune; the timid and cowardly rush to despair through fear alone." - Tacitus

The War Today

U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda
Front page on the Washington Post no less.

"The sense of shifting tides in the terrorism fight is shared by a number of terrorism experts, though some caution that it is too early to tell whether the gains are permanent. Some credit Hayden and other U.S. intelligence leaders for going on the offensive against al-Qaeda in the area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where the tempo of Predator strikes has dramatically increased from previous years. But analysts say the United States has caught some breaks in the past year, benefiting from improved conditions in Iraq, as well as strategic blunders by al-Qaeda that have cut into its support base"

""One of the lessons we can draw from the past two years is that al-Qaeda is its own worst enemy," said Robert Grenier, a former top CIA counterterrorism official who is now managing director of Kroll, a risk consulting firm. "Where they have succeeded initially, they very quickly discredit themselves." "

Its easy to support terrorism when you don't have to live with the consequences. This explains much of the apathy or verbal support for terrorism. Likewise, its easy to dismiss the danger of terrorism or undercut our efforts against it when you live a safe, insulated and affluent life, certain that the consequences will not impact you personally.

The Sunnis in Iraq, the favored political base of Saddam, learned the wages of supporting terrorists. Grievances cited by terrorists are just excuses, they are vicious barbarians who will subject everyone to their brutality.


'Now the American Forces Are on the Right Track'

'Nuff said.


VDH: Do we still have Grants or Shermans?

"A common complaint is that a worn-out military has lost the peace in Iraq and should withdraw in defeat. In fact, recruitments in June exceeded the military's goals, violence in Iraq is down, Shiite and Sunni terrorists are losing ground to the new military of a constitutional Iraq — and the junior American outsiders who engineered all that may soon be seniors on the inside."

IMO, the military is stronger because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are achieving success in deployments throughout the world. I recommend Robert Kaplan's Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts, which details the extent of American deployments. Our military has never been so widely deployed, so well trained or efficient, nor as effective. We spend 4.5% of GNP on the military, far less than the historical standard. We should consolidate our strategic success and cement our military prowess by raising it to 5% of GNP.


"Every attempt to make war easy and safe will result in humiliation and disaster." - William Tecumseh Sherman

Of Canine Interest

Adding rosemary to your steak could help prevent cancer.

Your dog wants steak.

Take your dog to the bar night in Minneapolis.

I would take my dog to the local brewpub which had an outside patio. Always a good time. He was a chick magnet.


"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." - Mark Twain

Carbon Atheist or Agnostic?

Czech President Vaclav Klaus articulated his skepticism of global warming at the National Press Club. I found the reaction of the journalists to be most instructive, their expressions were grim. It pained them to hear a global warming skeptic. I happen to agree with Klaus that AGW is a pernicious ideology similar to communist totalitarianism.

"Klaus called alarms about man-made climate change a "quasi-noble idea that transcends the individual in the name of something above him" and that it is being exploited by a new elite "certain they have the right to sacrifice man and his freedom to make their idea a reality.""

I like this guy. He stands up for his neighbors, telling the Russians that the missile shield is none of their business.

Krauthammer, by contrast, is a carbon agnostic.

"For a century, an ambitious, arrogant, unscrupulous knowledge class — social planners, scientists, intellectuals, experts, and their left-wing political allies — arrogated to themselves the right to rule either in the name of the oppressed working class (Communism) or, in its more benign form, by virtue of their superior expertise in achieving the highest social progress by means of state planning (socialism)."

"Two decades ago, however, socialism and communism died rudely, then were buried forever by the empirical demonstration of the superiority of market capitalism everywhere from Thatcher’s England to Deng’s China, where just the partial abolition of socialism lifted more people out of poverty more rapidly than ever in human history."

"Just as the ash heap of history beckoned, the intellectual Left was handed the ultimate salvation: environmentalism. Now the experts will regulate your life not in the name of the proletariat or Fabian socialism but — even better — in the name of Earth itself."

Emphasis mine.

Socialism doesn't work. Free societies where individuals make their own decisions are not only morally superior in the sense that liberty is more just and moral, but also the rational choice. Free societies are richer, more productive and even better for the environment.

Yet many people, even otherwise intelligent and decent people, believe that using coercion to impose their will on others will somehow result in 'social justice' and saving the planet, despite the empirical evidence to the contrary.



Related quote:
"It is, I suspect, no accident that it is in Europe that climate change absolutism has found the most fertile soil. For it is Europe that has become the most secular society in the world, where the traditional religions have the weakest popular hold. Yet people still feel the need for the comfort and higher values that religion can provide; and it is the quasi-religion of Green alarmism and what has been termed global salvationism - of which the climate change issue is the most striking example, but by no means the only one - which has filled the vacuum, with reasoned questioning of its mantras regarded as a form of blasphemy." - Nigel Lawson,

Odds and Ends

News of the Weird:
Elf ears. The latest in body modification for those who aren't planning a a successful career.

EU court to takes up question of if chimps are human.

Cool:
New Yamaha concept motorcycle. An 'exo-skeleton' capable of 75mph, 0-60 in 3 seconds.

There may be a huge biomass deep in the ocean. Simple prokaryotes which could be ancient.

Darwin swings and misses:
Girls sunbathe on railroad tracks.

Man inflates his son with air hose. Bonus: "Police were not expected to take action against the father, blaming the incident on pure stupidity, against which there is currently no law"

Greetings

I will be posting a few things in Sparkle's absence. I was caught off guard by this honor, so I have no great thesis ready. Will be posting presently.

I'm the one on the left.

BEACH!

I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow for a week. As all of you know, that means I will be in what I consider heaven on earth for the next week...THE BEACH. I may feel that way because of experiences like this as well.

BigDog is taking over for me, so check in because he is MUCH smarter than I am.

Making a statement for Cuba!

I love this story.

This Wall Street guy collects and invests in baseball cards. I didn't know this, but the baseball card companies also include famous people with "cut" signatures, not just baseball players. So one day he notices that Topps (a baseball card company) put out a Fidel Castro card. The Wall street guy was disgusted! How dare this company give Fidel this kind of publicity and credit. He knew he had to buy the card so it wouldn't circulate, and he did. But what to do with it? Inspired by the whole Rush Limbaugh/Harry Reid victory, he decided to deface the card and auction it on e-bay. He will give the proceeds to the anti-Castro, pro-freedom cause dedicated to human rights.

Here is the auction.

Here, in part, is his description of the card:

To more accurate reflect the true Castro legacy, the card has been altered so that it now includes numerous words and phrases pertaining to Fidel on both the front and back of the card. For example, phrases on the front of the card now include:

* mass murderer
* Communist
* El Manbu concentration camp
* Free Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Oscar Biscet!
And, phrases on the back of the card now include:
* firing squads
* author of the Camilo-Cienfuegos forced labor plan
* violator of peaceful journalists' free-speech rights
* Remember Pedro Luis Boitel!

Also, all bidders must be aware that the corners of this card have been damaged by whacking each corner against a rather hard table several times (these damaged corners represent the damage to Cuba done by Fidel). In addition, all bidders must be aware that the sides of this card have several small cuts in them made with a knife (these cuts represent the torture -- and worse -- suffered by thousands of political prisoners during Fidel's regime).

via NRO

Vets for Freedom Speak Out about Obama

From NRO:

On Friday, Vets for Freedom PAC released an advertisement featuring Iraq war veteran Sergeant Garrett Anderson. The ad points out that Senator Obama was unwilling to meet with Illinois veterans, has never met with General Petraeus, and hasn’t visited Iraq in over two years. The facts are the facts, and the ad speaks for itself.

Predictably, the ad sparked fierce opposition from anti-war elements (here, here & here) who accused us of being a “right-wing 527 attack organization.” Except, they forgot to do their research. Vets for Freedom is not a 527, nor an attack organization. Our 24,000 members and 50 state chapters comprise a cross-section of America’s veterans—Republicans, Democrats, conservatives, and liberals—all of which are interested in one thing: victory in Iraq, Afghanistan, and overall the War on Terrorism.

Today, we are releasing a second ad, featuring Iraq war veteran and Vets for Freedom member, Specialist Kate Norley. CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE AD. Kate, who served 16 months on the front lines as a combat medic, asks Senator Obama two simple, but powerful, questions:

1. Senator Obama, when will you finally decide to go back to Iraq, to see the progress first hand?

2. And when will you finally decide to meet one-on-one, unconditionally, with General Petraeus?

The ad also talks about the incredible progress that has been made since Senator Obama last visited Iraq in January 2006: violence down 70%, civil war over, Al Qaeda decimated, political progress occurring, and the Iraqi Army taking the lead. The fact is—the surge has worked, and has moved America closer to overall success in Iraq.

It’s important that veterans ask the tough questions of our prospective leaders. Vets for Freedom PAC has no interest in attacking Senator Obama; we just want to know why he seems so uninterested about what is actually happening on the ground.

Democrats=Socialism

At least she spoke the truth about what they really want.

“And guess what this member* would be all about? This member would be all about socializing — er, uh. [Pauses for several moments] …. would be about … [pause] … basically … taking over, and the government running all of your companies.”

China's Sorrow

From the Family Research Center:

While it is of little comfort to the tens of thousands of grieving parents, China is making exemptions to the one-child policy in light of the May 12 earthquake. Officials of the Family Planning Committee have announced that "qualified parents" can petition the government to have another child if their son or daughter died in the quake. Parents who had more than one child "illegally" can receive permission to register the remaining sibling(s) as the "legal replacement." This glimmer of human feeling provides some hope that Communists leaders would further relax the policy; however, it cannot relieve the suffering of the many Chinese parents who have undergone forced abortion or sterilization at the hands of the totalitarian regime. We continue to pray that this catastrophe opens the hearts of China's leaders and awakens hope that a culture of life can take root even in an atheist state that rejects the Author of Life.

Read this paragraph again. Imagine the government telling you that you may have a "legal replacement" for your child. It's like some sick horror movie.

Sometimes I just can't believe what we stand by and allow.

Party on the Beach!

Reading through MSNBC's FirstRead detailing Hillary's swing through Puerto Rico this weekend brings about an almost surreal feeling. On Sunday she attended and spoke at an evangelical church:

Clinton has a big smile as the dancers perform in front of her, at first swaying subtly and then earnestly weaving back and forth and clapping to the beat. "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice in it," she says to the crowd. "And this is a church that rejoices."
......

She also says it's providence that has brought her here, and keeps her in the race. "I am very grateful that I have this opportunity to come to Puerto Rico to talk with you, to listen, to visit across from one end of the islands to the other with my message that there isn't anything we cannot do together if we seek God's blessing and if we stay committed, and are not deterred by the setbacks that often fall in every life," she says. "If I had listened to those who had been talking over the last several months we would not be having this campaign in Puerto Rico today."

I wish someone would search and see if Hillary ever in her lifetime uttered the words "if we seek God's blessings" or anything close to it while not campaigning. Huckabee or Bush says such a thing and and the left thinks we are heading for a theocracy. Hillary says it and they just yawn.

After Church:

Clinton has ditched her turquoise pantsuit and is now donning a bright pink tropical shirt as she arrives at the beach in Boqueron. Again she finds herself taken to the rhythms of a local dance ensemble and musical group, and is dancing in her own subtle way along with them. As the dance troop finishes, she reaches out her arms to beckon one of the young girls to come close, and gives her a big hug. The mayor of Boqueron, herself a woman, speaks briefly and says in English, "I love you." Clinton speaks briefly, saying, "I am very grateful to all of you. I want to tell you how much I love being here. This reminds me of very happy days."

She then starts toward the beach, and the local and traveling press ignores demands to keep a distance. A chaotic scene ensues as the press battles with some of the surprised beach goers in vying for Clinton's attention. But eventually the campaign finds a few strings of rope to keep a makeshift barrier around the candidate at all times. At one point as she walks past me on the sand, I say to Clinton that this sure seems a long way from New Hampshire, doesn't it. "It's great. So pretty here," she says. She then keeps pressing the flesh, as a drum band keeps a beat around her.

She's smiling broadly the entire time.

Later Clinton speaks at the Casa Cuba, a gathering place for Cuban ex-pats:

..she says. "I hope some day to be able to visit Cuba, and to be able to talk freely and walk freely and hear the desires and the needs of the people of Cuba. "But I will not give away the chance for real change. I think we must see evidence of reform before we allow the current government in Cuba to benefit from the prestige and power of a presidential meeting. They must show their good faith, and we will work with them if they do."

Take that Obama!

Later at Sabor Latino, a bar in San Juan:

As she mingles with the crowd, Clinton encounters the four network embedded reporters, some of whom have been following her for more than a year now. "You guys can drink, too," she says after raising her beer in our direction. One says that there might be plans for that later in the evening. "I think you would," she says.

And with the sounds of Enrique Iglesias' "Be With You" in the background, Aaron Bruns, another reporter is nodding along with it. Clinton then decides to very briefly dance with him, closing her eyes and nodding her head, before patting him on the shoulder and moving ahead. A somewhat bewildered Bruns can't believe what just happened, as some of Clinton's staff turn back to laugh at the scene.

Surreal enough for you? Who is this person??

Now, in case you haven't heard, that same Sunday Bill Clinton was in South Dakota saying that the Democrats were likely to lose if they don't nominate Hillary and had this to say:

"I can’t believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out,” he said at a South Dakota campaign stop Sunday, in remarks first reported by ABC News. “'Oh, this is so terrible: The people they want her. Oh, this is so terrible: She is winning the general election, and he is not. Oh my goodness, we have to cover this up.'"

The former president added that his wife had not been given the respect she deserved as a legitimate presidential candidate. "She is winning the general election today and he is not, according to all the evidence,” he said. “And I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running.”

I'm betting the behind the scenes atmosphere at the DNC is FRANTIC. Hillary is having the time of her life. She is sticking it in the faces of the DNC and Obama.

Just when I think that something rational will happen here and Hillary and Obama will make nice somehow and all this theatre will be over (how sad that will be!), Hillary just keeps on going like the energizer bunny and it's clear that her and her hubby are determined to keep their dream alive.

Don't you just love it???