John Cox and Allen Forkum are calling it quits. Although I rarely agreed with them from an editorial standpoint, they were undeniably talented.
On the other hand, the profoundly crapulent Chris Muir keeps on distorting the human body, facts, and the laws of humor (Rule #1: Be funny) and watching Cox & Forkum call it quits is like hearing that the members of one of your favorite bands all died in a plane crash... and James Blunt is still alive.
Hey! More World Cup and soccer stuff!Having a rough season of her own...
For, hopefully, the last word on Greg Ryan and Hope Solo, we turn the blog over to the Lovely & Talented Casey from comments below:
As a soccer player of 15 years now, and a defender, I know what it is like to have a keeper change from one you have played with for a while to one that you haven't played with at all. IT SUCKS. You don't know what the keeper is going to do because you are not used to them. Ryan should have taken into account that the defense wouldn't be used to Scurry because it a realatively (sic) new defense who didn't play with her in the '99 World Cup. They would have no idea how she would play. And although the US team played flat, changing a keeper at the last moment can cause the defense to play flat which can cause the midfield to play flat and so on. It affects the entire team not just the ones playing back there with her.
Secondly, I completely agree with what Solo said. Although, she may have taken a shot at Scurry, she said what was on her mind and, I think, the only reason her team didn't back her up is because after seeing what happened to Solo, they were afraid that Ryan would do the same thing to them. Solo said what was on her mind and I completely admire her for that. She didn't sit back and take crap like that when she knew she could have done a better job. As a player, she is one of my heroes.
As for the team, Ryan is gone... Solo will be back next year. --The L&T Casey
More good World Cup stuff by someone very knowledgeable (as indicated by her correct claim that Michelle Akers is the greatest woman player ever) here, courtesy of gttim
The L&T Casey has also given me permission to comment ("tactfully", her word) on her college soccer experience.
It's been a rough start, but that was to be expected when she chose to go with a program that is only 14 months old and is already on its second coach. The result: 0-8 on the season.
Recruited as a defender she was recently moved to center mid, a position she hasn't played since she was fourteen. (A move, by the way, I predicted would happen after watching her practice with the team before the season started. Casey has mad foot skillz.) Having had the opportunity to see the team play last weekend in Utah and Arizona, I would say that they have a ways to go, but you have to give them credit for not giving up. Playing against programs with 20-24 players, they have a bench with only five subs of which, on any night, only two or three are healthy. After games , they look like a MASH unit, sporting enough ice bags to replace the polar ice cap. Casey has played every minute of every game, the last two with a sprained vertebrae in her back which prevents her from taking a deep breath, and that's just fine with her. The time played...not the injury and that breathing part.
Anticipating that she will be playing in the midfield for the next few years, she is going to change her training for next summer, and instead of playing soccer (she was supposed to go play in New Zealand for two weeks) she is going to work out at a local boxing club to improve her foot speed and for the cardio workout. Learning how to effectively punch people is just a bonus.
More importantly she is playing a program where she is having fun, playing a lot, and isn't under so much pressure that it feels like a job. I think that is why they call it 'play'.
It's nice to know that DadMitt (and his contributors) are cool with the idea of the campaign paying for his kids to take leave from their jobs to go to baseball games in Boston, Cincinnati, Baltimore, and a couple of football games in Florida under the guise of campaigning.
He really is a good dad.
Meanwhile, JonJon Romney can't wait for the playoffs to start.
Hopefully someone will unstrap him from the MittMobbile over-the-cab bunk to watch.
I don't care if you like womens soccer or not. Go read this.
Ryan said he made the decision to leave Solo off the team after meeting with the team's leaders. Kristine Lilly, who is playing in her fifth World Cup, said Solo "going public has affected the whole group, and having her with us would still be a distraction."
Uh, that's fine. But while we're talking about distractions, where were you, Lilly, Stephanie Lopez and Carli Lloyd when your coach made the biggest distraction of all in deciding to bench Solo to start Scurry less than 48 hours before the semifinals? It was that move that ultimately failed miserably and had you Americans looking tired and, yes, distracted when Thursday's game kicked off.
Maybe Lilly and Abby Wambach followed some other unspoken, unwritten rules. Like sticking up for a teammate. Maybe they went behind closed doors to ask Ryan what the heck he was thinking. If you're so worried about teammates attacking teammates, how about a coach shooting a whole team in its collective foot?
Ryan's right. His players should have a say in whether Solo is to be included in the consolation game. And guys, I'm glad you spoke up. But was your conscience -- not to mention your allegiance -- as loud when your coach made the wrong decision?
Since I spent the better part of my formative years attempting to to master the art of One-handed Vulcan Bra-clasp Flick (in an attempt to boldly go where no man had gone before) I don't have the Star Trek chops to really get into this, but.... remind me again why anyone takes the National Review seriously.
I mean, besides employing Jonah Goldberg, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and Cliff May...
By the way, I am nerd enough to admit that it's pretty cool that there is now a Criterion edition of this. Of course, I was only nine at the time that it came out and I quit using it as the touchstone of my political outlook when I was about...oh, maybe four blocks away after leaving the theater.
Republican presidential candidates discussed the importance of reaching out to people of color during a minority-issues debate Thursday night and criticized the four leading GOP contenders for skipping it.
"I think this is a disgrace that they are not here," Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback said. "I think it's a disgrace to our country. I think it's bad for our party, and I don't think it's good for our future."
[...]
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody this week, Romney bristled at the accusation that his decision to skip the debate is an indication of how much — or how little — his party cares about minorities.
"Of course we care about minority voters. We're not entirely brain-dead," Romney said. "We want people in the entire country to vote for us — Hispanic voters, African-American voters — we all want them in the primary and in the general."
Romney turned the tables on the debate's sponsors, the Public Broadcasting Service and Morgan State University, saying, "You call for one in the last couple of weeks in September, which is the last part of the quarter, most of us have got things lined up."
Romney, McCain and Giuliani have skipped debates or forums sponsored by the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials and by the National Urban League.
He has a point ( although not about the "entirely brain-dead" part); why should the big guys go pander to people they have no chance of carrying when they could be out shaking down rich gullible white people for campaign funds?
Besides who wants to answer questions like, "Congress ordered the creation of an entry-exit system called US-VISIT back in 1996, and our government spent $1.7 billion to develop the program. In December, the GAO (Government Accountability Office) said an entry-exit system still doesn't exist and the government has abandoned plans to create it. We know that some of the 9/11 hijackers entered the United States legally on visas, and then just never departed when their visas expired. What are you going to do to make sure that visitors leave the U.S. when their time is up? And where's my motherfucking ice tea?"
Ed Padgett gets up from the dinner table, slams down his soup spoon, and declares that he is no longer going to sit silently by while someone tears down our country, or General Petraeus, or free enterprise, or some other stuff that been eating at him:
For several years I have found MoveOn.org to be an inspirational anti-war group, but the past few weeks they have been an embarrassment to all Americans with their attacks upon President Bush and General Petraeus. I subscribe to the MoveOn newsletter, and even considered hosting an anti-war rally in San Dimas, but now I want no part of this radical group and will remove my name from their newsletter subscription.
Last week a very dear friend contacted me regarding a threatened lawsuit over what MoveOn considered copyright infringement over t-shirts listed on Café Press. The four banned slogans are pictured for the first time ever, here on this blog. Why is it, MoveOn organization can dish it out to our president and general, but feels threatened by simple slogans against them?
Gee. I don't know Ed. Why not ask some of the people on your blogroll?
MORE BLOGS AND WEB SITES Ace of Spades Chris Gulker Herald Examiner Hugh Hewitt LAPD Blog Little Green Footballs Michelle Malkin Miles Think Native Intelligence Newspaper Blog Patterico Peregrination Save Our Trade Website Speedcat Hollydale Stop, Look, Listen, Hope Text Unlimited Twenty Year Club
I checked with them. It appears that MoveOn.org is a front group for George Soros, an Islamojihadirastafascist who hates America and spends his ill-gotten fortune on bloggers, gifting them with high-end electronics, designer chocolates, and Miatas every time that they make fun of Bill O'Reilly....who is a big racist poopyhead, by the way.
Ahem. Blue. With a tan leather interior this time.
Greg Ryan finds his scapegoatHope Solo must die for Greg Ryan's sins
Lets face it: U.S. Women's National Team head coach Greg Ryan fucked up. Multiple times.
He took Hope Solo, coming off of three consecutive shutouts, and replaced her with 36 year-old Brianna Scurry against a fast and agile Brazilian team and the end result was the US team getting their ass handed to them. And when Solo pointed out what everyone was thinking he canned her.
U.S. Women's National Team head coach Greg Ryan, team captain Kristine Lilly and forward Abby Wambach confirmed Saturday in a press conference in Shanghai, China, that goalkeeper Hope Solo would not be a part of the team's preparation in advance of the USA's third-place match with Norway on Sunday.
Ryan made the decision in consultation with his team, sighting the disruption caused by Solo's comments to the press following a loss to Brazil in the tournament semifinals on Thursday evening in Hangzhou.
"We did not have Hope attend practice today," said Ryan to a press gathering in the team hotel. "She will not be attending the game tomorrow (Sunday). We have moved forward with 20 players who have stood by each other, who have battled for each other, and when the hard times came – and the Brazil game was a hard time – they stood strong. Now it is the 20 that have stuck together that will be ready to go out and compete against Norway. That’s our whole focus, and that’s what we’re going to do."
The team's leadership echoed those comments, making a point to highlight how this team has stuck together across their 22-year history.
While I don't agree with Solo throwing Scurry under the bus, I think even less of the team, whose performance in the tournament can best be described as underwhelming (1-0 against Nigeria?...puh-leeze) doing the same to Solo. And they're just giving cover to Ryan who may very well be the Marty Schottenheimer of soccer. He puts Scurry in because of her reaction time..and she gets beaten on two shots that require good reactions. A communication breakdown between the defenders and the substitute keeper (who hadn't been playing in the tournament) in all likelihood results in an own goal. And, with his team down 2-0 in the second half he pulls forward Heather O'Reilly out of the game and subs in... a defender.
WTF?
So how did that work out for you Greg?
So it was that, already down two goals in the second half, Ryan substituted defender Tina Ellertson for forward Heather O'Reilly.
"We brought Tina on to defend Marta, and I thought she did a very good job," Ryan said. "And we tried to push Christie Rampone up the field, because Christie is very good at not only defending but attacking going the other way."
Instead of adding an offensive threat like Natasha Kai or Aly Wagner to try to force Brazil to play in its own end, Ryan made a defensive move to bandage a wound already inflicted.
In some ways, it was a fitting gesture for a national program at an uncertain crossroads.
With the game long since decided, Marta broke in on goal in the 79th minute and, with her back to goal, flipped the ball up in the air with the back of her foot. As the crowd started its collective inhale, she spun around Ellertson, corralled the ball, deked Cat Whitehill out of the way and fired home her second goal to push the score to 4-0.
On second thought, I was wrong about Ryan. he's not the Marty Schottenheimer of soccer. he's the Grady Little.
Grampa: "Dear Advertisers, I am disgusted with the way old people are depicted on television. We are not all vibrant, fun loving sex maniacs. Many of us are bitter, resentful individuals who remember the good old days when entertainment was bland and inoffensive. The following is a list of words I never want to hear on television again. Number one: bra. Number two: horny. Number three: family jewels."
Grandpa Simpson, who now goes by the name of "Snooper" (see here) makes a call to arms:
Once upon a time, our national leaders knew how to rally the population towards a patriotic goal...victory. Yes, there were the malcontents with socialistic leanings but they were widely ignored and placed in their proper place...obscurity.
Then, politics entered into the equation because they thought they knew better because after all, they were edjumakatid. I suppose had we lost WWI and WWII, the politicos would not have to be too big for their britches.
In WWI and WWII, our nation was able to determine the wickedness of the ways of the enemy. Apparently, not any longer. The nation would "Rather" play with their TIVOs and Nintendos and all manner of instant gratification. The threats we face as a nation both from without and within are masked by the inherent desire to be uninterrupted from our everyday and selfish lives as seen through a glass darkly.
At one time, if one of our citizens was kidnapped by a maniacal dictator, and their head was severed to make a point, the people saddled up and prepared to do battle. Not any more. This kind of patriotism died during the Carter administration and was slighty revived during the Reagan administration. It was completely buried by the likes of the Clintonistra and GWB, God bless him, doesn't have what it takes to rally the nation.
It is up to us in The New Media.
Some of us old salts know the deal and we know the drill.
Time to ruck up and saddle up. We have work to do.
And it will be like Pajamas Media, but with onions on their belts. And not the white ones...
Roy does a terrific job (see here and here) on Andrew Breitbart's tête-à-tête with David Ehrenstein in which Andrew plays the coy boy who picks on the girl (who he secretly really really likes and hopes that she secretly really really likes him), but all I could think about was Breitbart's absolute obsession over the fact that David is...you know: one of those. In fact, Breitbart is so overcome with the penumbra of teh David gay that he seems to lose the thread about "Hollywood values".
And this guy worked with Matt Drudge?
Mongo Santamaria!
It's a wonder Andrew doesn't spend his spare time playing matchmaker between Jodie Foster and John Hinckley Jr.
This must be that "compassionate conservatism" I keep hearing about
Guatemalan Pedro Zapeta slips into the country and spends eleven years washing dishes in Florida, at $5.50 per hour, and manages to save up $59,000 to take home to his family... and the US Government confiscates it. And how do conservatives see it?
I'm glad you asked.
Jason Aslinger, a "private practice attorney in Greenville, Ohio" sneers at Zapeta, "who, by the way, doesn't speak English" and ends with
But these issues don't stand in the way of CNN.com's weeping sympathy for the poor, uneducated, frugal dishwasher from Guatemala who made the "mistake" of getting caught.
While I have learned to expect a subtle, and not so subtle, undercurrent of racism in these people, as well as their complete lack of empathy for others, they will never cease to amaze me with their ability to act and speak like total dicks.
I got a late start this busy Monday morning. Lots of news breaking and we’ll get to all of it. But none of it was more important this morning than my son’s very first day of preschool.
Why doesn't Michelle homeschool her kids?
M is for Muslims. They'll cut off your head. N is for New York Times. They want you dead.
Last night, for the first time this election cycle, I watched a Democratic presidential debate. It was appalling. But it was also, in a way, encouraging. Before last night, I thought it was 50-50 that the Republican nominee would win in November 2008.
Now I think it's 2 to 1. And if the Democrat is anyone but Hillary, it's 4 to 1.
Not that Kristol would make any personal bets on this. He only bets with other peoples lives.
Pre-Friday Random TenJT gets all fucked up in some karaoke bar After two drinks he's a loser after three drinks he's a star Getting all nostalgic as he sings "I Will Survive" Hey baby can you bleed like me? C'mon baby can you bleed like me?
Halloween - matt pond PA Aw Shit Man - The Minus 5 0.28 - Texas Volvo Driving Soccer Mom - Everclear Sweet Jane - Cowboy Junkies I.G.Y. - Donald Fagen The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress - Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny The Ways Of The Wind - P.M. Dawn Creature of the Wheel - White Zombie Sukie In the Graveyard - Belle & Sebastian bonus randomness: Bleed Like Me - Garbage
Since Blackwater guys answer to no one the government is trying to make up some new rules. In the meantime, the mercenaries will just keep killing any swarthy people they want just to watch them die.
A crucial GOP fundraising committee is nearly broke, according to its latest monthly filing with the Federal Election Committee last week.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) reported $1.6 million in cash on hand and $4 million in debts as of Aug. 31. The group helps bankroll House campaigns for GOP candidates.
Its counterpart, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, reported $22.1 million, more than 10 times its Republican counterpart.
Campaign finance experts say the latest numbers portend an ill future for GOP candidates, particularly newcomers who haven't had years in office to build up a war chest. "If there's no money in the bank, it's going to be hard to take seats away from the Democrats," said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington, D.C.-based campaign finance watchdog group. Julie Shutley, a spokeswoman for the NRCC, disputed the dim forecast. "We believe we are going to have every resource that we need to be competitive," said Shutley.
....who then rushed down to the bank to cash her check before filling out an application at Quiznos.
Meanwhile - Romney forced to finance his own campaign because nobody likes him.
...and Giuliani fires his chief fundraiser who may now go to work for Romney. (Hint for Anne Dunsmore: If you go to work for Mitt Romney, your best source for campaign cash is from this guy named Willard Romney. I hear he's loaded.)
As for the world's laziest Presidential candidate, polls show that Fred Thompson would beat Hillary Clinton in his home state of Tennessee...so he's decided to take the week off, hang around the house, maybe toss back a few Cialis and see what pops up.
Twenty hours later Mitt's sphincter finally unclenchedWhat happens in the luxury box, stays in the luxury box
Quite frankly, I thought Christmas had come early when I saw the headline:
Romney Says Craig's Actions 'Disappointing'
When aides to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney booked him on CNBC's Kudlow & Company Tuesday, it probably wasn't to discuss sexual solicitation in an airport mens room.
But there it was -- the first question for Romney: "What is your comment on the Craig problem, sir?"
My first thought, and I'm guessing Mitt's first thought, was that the littlest Romney had finally snapped en route to meeting up with the MittMobile and needed to satisfy his urgings before driving with Josh to see the Worlds Biggest Maxipad or something. But, no, famous cokehead Larry Kudlow was talking about the moral failings of Mitt Romney's former Senate liaison Larry Craig.
But never mind that, they ended up talking about Bill Clinton getting a blow job.
Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.
The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code.
Any comment would be cruel. True, but cruel nonetheless...
(Updated): Bad news for K-Lo. Verizon changes their mind. Looks like she will be forced to have that abortion now.
Emceeing Saturday night's Best Friends rock-and-roll gala at the Marriott Wardman Park -- which raised $800,000 for the 15-year-old charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren -- the Fox News Channel star was trying to fill dead air during a lull in the entertainment.
Members of the "Best Men," as the sixth-to-eighth-grade boys in the program are called, were delayed getting onstage to perform a lip-synced rendition of the Four Tops standard "Reach Out (I'll Be There)." O'Reilly ad-libbed: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."
I anxiously await the Bill O'Reilly Big Book Of "Yo Mama..." Jokes.
A little more than a year ago, the Township Committee in this faded factory town became the first municipality in New Jersey to enact legislation penalizing anyone who employed or rented to an illegal immigrant.
Within months, hundreds, if not thousands, of recent immigrants from Brazil and other Latin American countries had fled. The noise, crowding and traffic that had accompanied their arrival over the past decade abated.
The law had worked. Perhaps, some said, too well.
With the departure of so many people, the local economy suffered. Hair salons, restaurants and corner shops that catered to the immigrants saw business plummet; several closed. Once-boarded-up storefronts downtown were boarded up again.
[...]
“I don’t think people knew there would be such an economic burden,” said Mayor George Conard, who voted for the original ordinance. “A lot of people did not look three years out.”
Riverside has a knack for voting for forward thinking mayors:
Some residents who backed the ban last year were reluctant to discuss their stance now, though they uniformly blamed outsiders for misrepresenting their motives. By and large, they said the ordinance was a success because it drove out illegal immigrants, even if it hurt the town’s economy.
“It changed the face of Riverside a little bit,” said Charles Hilton, the former mayor who pushed for the ordinance. (He was voted out of office last fall but said it was not because he had supported the law.)
“The business district is fairly vacant now, but it’s not the legitimate businesses that are gone,” he said. “It’s all the ones that were supporting the illegal immigrants, or, as I like to call them, the criminal aliens.”
Maybe VDare will come into town and open up a gift shop.
I get asked a lot what makes my Dad such an effective candidate. There are a number of important characteristics, but one of the ones that really strikes people that get to know him is his incredible energy level. The guy thrives on getting the job done in a pressure situation. The only person I’ve ever known with as much energy as my Dad is my grandfather, who (legend has it) used to play 9 holes of golf with 2 different balls at 5 am every morning. His only club was a 7 iron, and he would run from shot to shot. And then he began his day (as CEO of American Motors and later as a 4-term Governor of Michigan). My Dad inherited that energy and sense of purpose from his Dad. He doesn’t so much “march” in parades as he does run in them, from side to side shaking as many hands as he can along the way. He doesn’t take Labor Day off, he runs in a NH parade and holds 2 town halls and a press conference. He is earning support in the early primary states the old fashioned way, he’s earning it. He is holding town hall meetings, he’s meeting with local activists, he’s answering people’s tough questions. In the process, he is demonstrating the type of President he will be—someone who will work as hard as possible to do everything he can to make America stronger, someone who will listen to the people of America, someone who will surround himself with the best possible team of advisors, and someone who will just plain get the job done.
Former Governor Mitt Romney is cancelling his presidential campaign schedule in South Carolina this weekend after getting sick during a rush to raise money before the end of the month.
Romney had cancelled an appearance Tuesday in Bakersfield, California, to recuperate, but now he’s going to stay in Utah for the weekend after a stop there on Friday.
Aides say Romney picked up a cold during a busy span that saw him address a Republican Leadership Conference in Michigan last weekend and then head to the West Coast for five days of public and private events.
Must be some kind of a cold that's knocking the Energizer Mormon out for an entire week. But you have to admit that it will make a great excuse if his fundraising isn't up to par.
Whether it be at the film schools that graduate screenwriters and auteur directors or the theater departments and acting classes that used to develop our great actors; or the brothels, vomitoriums and gyms that produce the big stars of today, conservatives are conspicuously outnumbered or not represented at all.
Apparently Shannon Doherty is the best Andrew can come up with when it comes to "conservative stars".
As they say: you go to culture war with the drunken brawling actresses you have, not the drunken brawling actresses you wish you had.
The Hardest Working Candidate In America, Willard Romney goes an internets tube too far:
During the town-hall meeting, Romney played to the Silicon Valley crowd, some of whom work at nearby Google, Cisco Systems and Apple Inc.
At one point, the former Massachusetts governor spoke of his effort to provide every sixth-grader and beyond with an inexpensive laptop.
"I want our kids to know how to Google and Yahoo and everything else, so that when they do a report on George Washington, they don't have to go to the encyclopedia but they can go to Wikipedia and they can learn what's happening on an online basis as kids around the world are doing," he said.
The remark brought chuckles from the crowd, since Wikipedia has been criticized for the accuracy of some of the public contributions to its information-sharing Web site.
Later Romney swore "As President of these United States I will track down notorious Kennedy assassin John Seigenthaler even if I have to invade every grassy knoll in the greater Dallas metropolitan era." Then his son Tagg threw an American flag over his shoulders (the ones you can land a 737 on) while a recording of Living In America blared from the MittMobile's quadrophonic Blaupunkt sound system.
Alright? Who ruined our all-white all-male nation?White people posing with mythological beasts
Dennis Prager on that self-promoting bitch, Harriet Tubman:
Textbooks. A prime example of the left's view of truth is its changing the goal of high school American history textbooks from telling truth to promoting self-esteem among minority and female students by depicting more women and more non-whites in American history textbooks
As everyone knows, until the sixties, America was just one big Blue Collar Comedy Tour... only funnier.
He has now completely and officially jumped the shark. Will someone just send him a case of Jack Daniels so he can finish his complete and utter moral collapse?
That would be Tammy Bruce, who is not too thrilled with Ahmadinejad's visit,regardless of the fact that she once wrote a book called:
Remember, being a contrarian is her schtick.
Needless to say, her attack on our Commander in Chief during wartime, by calling attention to the shameful secret of his alcoholism, demands that someone should disavow and repudiate and tsk-tsk her comments. Then comes the shunning...
"Senator Clinton's refusal to denounce Columbia University for inviting Ahmadinejad to speak demonstrates weakness. Under Ahmadinejad, the Iranian regime has spoken openly about the destruction of Israel, has financed terrorism around the world and defied the international community as it pursues nuclear weapons. Instead of being given a forum for his propaganda, Ahmadinejad should be indicted for incitement to genocide."
Mitt on a company, run by a supporter and campaign advisor, that kills Iraqi civilians for profit:
Mitt Romney has remained mum on the alleged killing of 11 Iraqis by a company where one of his top advisers serves as vice chairman, even as the case has led to an uproar in Baghdad and Washington. Barack Obama, John McCain and other politicians have raised the possibility of tighter controls on the firm.
The top counterterrorism and national security adviser to Romney’s presidential campaign is Cofer Black, vice chairman of Blackwater USA.
The Iraqis died after guards employed by the private security firm opened fire following an alleged attack on a State Department convoy under their protection. Blackwater has a lucrative contract to guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq.
In last week's resolution that saluted Gen. David Petraeus and denounced MoveOn for calling him "General Betray Us," in a newspaper ad, Clinton's no vote was one of only 25, with 72 senators voting yes.
It is a sorry spectacle, and incomprehensible because her lurch is wrong in terms of policy and politically unnecessary. The far-left wing does not elect Presidents or usually even pick nominees. Ask Howard Dean.
And Clinton knows she is under additional scrutiny because she is the only woman ever to get this close to being elected President. Fairly or not, women, especially Democratic women who tilt left, are suspect on whether they will be social workers or commanders in chief in a security crunch. Now it will be much harder for her to convince skeptics.
Tellingly, Clinton voted for an earlier resolution Thursday that was almost identical to the one that passed except that it did not mention MoveOn. That resolution failed.
On September 20, 2007, Senator Hillary Clinton voted for a convoluted Democratic resolution to condemn (without naming it) the ad in which MoveOn.org referred to the U.S. commander in Iraq as "General Betray Us," while also condemning attack ads from Max Cleland's 2002 Senate race and John Kerry's 2004 presidential run.(Power Line's John Hinderaker noted: "So, in the Democrats' view, General Petraeus is just another politician and MoveOn's slander is just another campaign ad.") The measure failed to get the requisite 60 votes.
It's not that Goodwin is lying (although he has a history of "making shit up") and it's not as if Goodwin gives a crap about the Petraeus ad. He doesn't. He's just taking his favorite hobbyhorse (Hillary the emasculating she-bitch/mommy state/wimmens) out for a ride again.
Not that he doesn't have other ponies in the barn:
While Iraq is a deeply unpopular war, that is primarily because we are not winning. If the surge continues to curb violence, and if the Iraqi government gets its act together, the nation's mood could shift and Clinton could find herself in a lonely hole a year from now.
Meanwhile Matt reads DadMitts new book and thinks it's complete bullshit and ponders legally changing his name to OJ Simpson Jr. to avoid the shame.
Just kidding. He was dazzled:
I just downloaded and printed my dad’s new booklet entitled “Strategy for a Stronger America”. Though I haven’t gotten through everything yet, I have to say that I’m very impressed, but not surprised at all. While other candidates stay in the shallow waters of generalities, my dad has outlined in a very detailed way how he would address today’s biggest challenges to ensure that America continues to get stronger. This is typical of his penchant for detail and analysis when solving problems which he does better than anyone I’ve ever known.
In fact DadMitt touched on some of the biggest challenges facing America, this weekend in Michigan:
Romney hit some of the themes he needs to — he spoke on being a "Change Republican" and emphasized family values in particular. He also pointed out his support for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which, with Thompson's rejection of it, makes him unique among the major Republican candidates.
But then he says he's going to move "In God We Trust" to the front of the new dollar coins instead of the side. Hmmm. I guess I'm all for it, but the crowd took a few seconds to applaud, and I think most people were as confused as I was. Is that a new campaign promise?
Plus, I haven't seen his delivery this bad in quite a while. (I have seen it this bad before.) He was very slow winding up, and the speech has a lot of really, really lame applause lines. I couldn't take much more after this one:
"I'll make sure that our future is defined not by the letters ACLU, but by the letters USA."
Since 9/11, when MoveOn.org deeply offended the supporters of General David Petraeus, the following soldiers have died in Iraq:
Staff Sgt. Terry D. Wagoner, 28, of Piedmont, S.C. Spc. Todd A. Motley, 23, of Clare, Mich. Spc. Jonathan Rivadeneira, 22, of Jackson Heights, N.Y. Pvt. Christopher M. McCloud, 24, of Malakoff, Texas Sgt. John Mele, 25, of Bunnell, Fla. Pfc. Brandon T. Thorsen, 22, of Trenton, Fla. Cpl. Terrence P. Allen, 21, of Pennsauken, N.J. Staff Sgt. Michael L. Townes, 29, of Las Vegas Spc. Joseph N. Landry III, 23, of Pensacola, Fla. Spc. Nicholas P. Olson, 22, of Novato, Calif. Spc. Donald E. Valentine III, 21, of Orange Park, Fla. Spc. Aaron J. Walker, 23, of Harker Heights, Texas Sgt. Edmund J. Jeffers, 23, of Daleville, Ala. Pfc. Christian M. Neff, 19, of Lima, Ohio Cpl. Graham M. McMahon, 22, of Corvallis, Ore. Pfc. Luigi Marciante Jr., 25, of Elizabeth, N.J. Capt. (Dr.) Roselle M. Hoffmaster, 32, of Cleveland, Ohio Spc. John J. Young, 24, of Savannah, Ga. and A Task Force Lightning Soldier died in a vehicle accident in Diyala province on Saturday 9/22.
The oldest soldier, a woman and a doctor, was 32 years old.
He's not General Betrayus. He's General Outlivedus.
Judith isn't going to be ig-NORED! so Rudy is responsive:
When you get to your third marriage, you take your wife's call -- even if you're in the middle of a speech to the National Rifle Association.
Rudy Giuliani was giving what could be one of the most important speeches of his presidential candidacy this afternoon -- speaking to a skeptical NRA audience -- when his cell phone rang.
"Let's see now, this is my wife calling, I think," Giuliani said as he fished for his cell phone in his jacket pocket.
And answered it.
"Hello dear," he said, apparently talking to his wife, Judith Giuliani. "I'm talking to the members of the NRA right now. Would you like to say hello?"
While the audience waited -- and waited -- patiently, Giuliani continued to talk to his wife.
"I love you," he said, smiling as he listened to the answer. "I'll call you as soon as I'm finished. Have a safe trip. Talk to you later. I love you."
As he put the phone away, he turned to the audience and added: "It's better that way," apparently a reference to the alternative -- letting his wife's call go to voicemail.
President Bush again called Democrats "irresponsible" on Saturday for pushing an expansion he opposes to a children's health insurance program.
[...]
At issue is the Children's Health Insurance Program, a state-federal program that subsidizes health coverage for low-income people, mostly children, in families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but not enough to afford private coverage. It expires Sept. 30.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers announced a proposal Friday that would add $35 billion over five years to the program, adding 4 million people to the 6.6 million already participating. It would be financed by raising the federal cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 per pack.
The idea is overwhelmingly supported by Congress' majority Democrats, who scheduled it for a vote Tuesday in the House. It has substantial Republican support as well.
After smothering efforts by war critics in Congress to drastically cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq, President Bush plans to ask lawmakers next week to approve another massive spending measure -- totaling nearly $200 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through 2008, Pentagon officials said.
If Bush's spending request is approved, 2008 will be the most expensive year of the Iraq war.
Doesn't George Bush realize that todays unhealthy low-income child will grow up to be tomorrows cannon fodder? It's almost as if he is trying to handcuff the neocons....
Investor Business Daily, which is the Wall Street Journal for the Soldier of Fortune crowd, goes after George Soros, which can best be summarized by this:
In fact, pick any cause that seeks to weaken the U.S. and it's hard not to find Soros' name on its list of financial backers.
Which gets Special Ed all hot and bothered to the point of off-handedly mentioning that Soros is, you know, a money-grubbing Jew:
IBD believes that Soros works as a political nihilist. Showalter, in her interview on Wednesday's Heading Right Radio broadcast live from IBD's offices, says that Soros has a pattern of undermining government institutions and democratic processes. He uses instability to make money in his currency speculation, racking up billions while nations reel from the effects of his trading.
Chris Muir also joins in:
Well, he's no Julius Streicher But it's nice to know that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will have someone to hang with during his visit.
Sally Field and her ilk don’t really mean they want just any mom or woman to run the world, what she really meant when she talked about moms taking over is that leftist women should run the world. Notice that the women who are always talking about how great and different things would be if women were in charge never mention real women leaders like Condi Rice or Margaret Thatcher because they are conservatives. Unlike some leftist women who think that their sex puts them beyond the human traits of aggressiveness and violence, Rice and Thatcher understand that the realities of national security mean that negotiation and “making nice” with the schoolyard bully does not always work.
And are these leftist women really the great humanitarians they imagine themselves to be? To answer that question, let’s turn to Allure magazine....
Next week she will discuss the compulsive sexual behavior of Larry Craig by citing the Cosmo article: Ten Ways To Keep Your Man In Your Bed and Out Of Airport Bathroom Stalls.
Suspicious Minds - Pete Yorn (live) We're An American Band - Yo La Tengo I Love Rock N' Roll - Joan Jett Rollercoaster - M. Ward Washington Bullets - The Clash Tell Me What We're Gonna Do Now - Joss Stone Brigitte - Stereolab A.D.I.D.A.S. - Korn ( I have no pride) Carry Me Ohio - Sun Kil Moon A Sight For Sore Eyes - Tom Waits bonus on the road tune: Sugar Cane - Space Monkeys
We were getting ready to leave on Wednesday and the dogs had already been shuttled off for boarding, so I dug up some old ones, They all kind of look alike, but it's not like they have any hobbies, other than tearing the bed apart and having pillow fights, that I can take pictures of.
Greetings from Phoenix, land of A Really Nice Airport In The Middle of Friggin' Nowhere..
Today Willard "Mitt" Romney, who recently polled behind John Cox (who is the answer to: What was Larry Craig looking for in the men's room?) at the Value Voters Hoohah & Jesus Jamboree, continued his presidential run against Hillary Clinton... unaware that he's got a bunch of other white guys standing between him and a nomination that he will most likely never ever get a whiff of, much less make it his bitch. Sez Mitt:
"Hillary Clinton had a choice. She could stand with our troop commander in Iraq, or she could stand with the libelous left wing of her party. She chose the latter. The idea that she would be a credible commander-in-chief of our armed forces requires the willing suspension of disbelief."
"Hah! Boo-ya, Hill", said the man who spent his Vietnam war years bunkered down in Paris, emerging occasionally to knock on doors and annoy the French...which is actually why they hate us to this day, and when we asked for help invading Iraq and they said "non", we asked why and they replied "Meet!" and then made an incredibly rude noise. You can look it up...
Mitt, you may remember, has his own little military detatchment; kind of a Blackwater for Mall Cop Flunk-outs:
In an apparent violation of the law, a controversial aide to ex-Gov. Mitt Romney created phony law enforcement badges that he and other staffers used on the campaign trail to strong-arm reporters, avoid paying tolls and trick security guards into giving them immediate access to campaign venues, sources told the Herald.
The bogus badges were part of the bizarre security tactics allegedly employed by Jay Garrity, the director of operations for Romney who is under investigation for impersonating a law enforcement officer in two states. Garrity is on a leave of absence from the campaign while the probe is ongoing.
Not to mention that the Romney family had five chances to serve with the military in Iraq....but they instead chose to go to Iowa and face the wrath of the butter-pat cow.
That took a willing suspension of courage.
If Mitt becomes President, we'll all be speaking either Russian or French within six weeks of his inauguration.
Before getting to the true subject of this post, I just want to state that children who can't behave themselves in restaurants should be pepper-sprayed, then, while they writhe and scream on the floor, they should be berated in such an obscene and vicious manner that it crushes their little dreams and their spirit propelling them into a life of downward-spiraling self-destructive behavior to include, but not limited to: illicit drug usage, random anonymous sexual encounters, illiteracy, poor dental hygiene, misspelled tattoos, and the ultimate degradation - becoming an Amway independent sales agent.
There. That ought to give you guys something to talk about in comments.
In the meantime, the delightful and well-traveled mrs tbogg and I are going on a little roadtrip for the next few days to watch the lovely and talented Casey play that funny European futbol game that she so dearly loves. We will be visiting exotic locales which will include but will not be limited to: Phoenix, Las Vegas, and St. George, Utah where I hear I can pick up a few extra wives at the state package agency. Those Mormons, what a bunch of crazy libertines : 3.2% beer and 3.2 wives....
Blogging, such as it is, will continue, wireless connectivity and the Angel Moroni willing.
(Added) The boys, for those who are interested, will be spending the weekend at the vet a spa where they will be encouraged to lay around and eat and not do anything productive... kind of like an NRO cruise but without the Kate O'Beirne naked hot-tubbing.
Like actress Sally Field, I am a mom. Unlike Sally Field, I do not live in La-La Land. We breathe a different brand of oxygen. We hold diametrically opposed worldviews. We have nothing in common but stretch marks.
Contrary to tongue-tied Sally's incoherent Primetime Emmy Awards diatribe, childbearing and childrearing experiences do not bond all women in a universal sorority of non-confrontation. There are sheep moms. There are lion moms. We know which kind Sally Field is.
Michelle likes to categorize people. For example there are "good" people (made up of white people ...and Michelle), and there are "evil" people. They are brown. Unlike Michelle.
In fact, it seems like only last week that Michelle was discussing the difference between 9/10 people and 9/12 people :
But remembrance without resistance to jihad and its enablers is a recipe for another 9/11. This is what fueled my first two books, on immigration enforcement and profiling. This is what fuels much of the work on this blog and at Hot Air. Not every American wears a military uniform. But every American has a role to play in protecting our homeland–not just from Muslim terrorists, but from their financiers, their public relations machine, their sharia-pimping activists, the anti-war goons, the civil liberties absolutists, and the academic apologists for our enemies.
The Left greets such a commitment with mockery and derision, preferring instead to suck its collective thumb, play the grievance card, and engage in hindsight hypocrisy.
As the most infamous of all Internet leftists once said: Screw them.
The 9/10 crowd stubbornly refuses to connect the dots to see any connection at all between 9/11 and the Iraq war. But it is all of a piece, and the troops who joined the military after the terrorist attacks and volunteered to go back again and again see it clearly. Watch. “Kill them over there so they don’t kill us over here” isn’t just an empty slogan for them. They live and die for it. For their children and ours. In Iraq and around the world.
There are 9/10 people and there are 9/12 people.
As an example of a 9/10 person, Malkin presents Cindy Sheehan,
....a woman who lost her son in a needless war in the wrong country. A war designed to give people like Michelle Malkin the warm fuzzies by making them believe that if we invade their countries and kill enough of them over there, they won't be killing us over here. 9/10 person Cindy Sheehan is a tragic example of what the loss of a child and the ensuing grief can do to a person.
Then there is Michelle Malkin, she is a 9/12 person. Strong. Resolute. She will not submit.
She's not like Cindy Sheehan; she hasn't got time for sorrow. She's too busy John Doe-ing the brown folks, keeping America strong, boo-freaking-hooing the namby-pampy dhimmi sob sisters who would sell our great nation out to the be-burqa'd hordes who would drain our precious bodily fluids and ---- what? Really? Okay. I'll wait.
Sometimes, the world stops By Michelle Malkin • September 10, 2007 09:38 AM
I got a late start this busy Monday morning. Lots of news breaking and we’ll get to all of it. But none of it was more important this morning than my son’s very first day of preschool.
Right now, I’m just a misty-eyed momma.
It seems that there is a little 9/10 in Michelle Malkin too.
The only difference is that 9/10 Michelle Malkin's little boy will be coming home to his mother at the end of the day.
T.A. Frank at the Washington Monthly writes a long article on the indisputable fact that Bob Herbert is an amazingly boring columnist - - and, intentionally and unintentionally — Frank's essay is actually interesting.
Most likely Jonah will recommend more Simpson's quotes and an occasional request to his readers to help him research his column.
President Bush wishes that he could be alongside the troops in Iraq -- except that he's too old.
At least that's what he reportedly told a blogger embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq. In the first session of its kind, Bush spent almost an hour on Friday talking with 10 so-called "milbloggers," including two who participated by video conference from a military base outside Baghdad.
[...]
Bush didn't have to go out of his way on Friday to endear himself to his guests, who had been screened for sycophancy.
And as their ensuing blog posts make clear, they lapped up even his most timeworn talking points and hoariest stories.
For instance, Bush once again told his oft-repeated story about how his father fought the Japanese in World War II, but now he himself counts the prime minister of Japan as one of his closest allies. Apparently, it still chokes Bush up.
Ward Carroll of military.com wrote that Bush "grew very emotional as he made a linkage between his father's service in World War II and the fact that Japan is now an ally and then said, 'I've had meetings with the prime minister of the country he fought.' He actually teared up as he said that."
" CJ," an active-duty soldier and blogger, wrote: "Being right next to him, I caught a single tear attempt to roll down his left cheek before he casually wiped it away."
Matthew Burden, a former Army officer who blogs under the name Blackfive, wrote: "The President was very intelligent, razor sharp, warm, focused, emotional (especially about his dad), and genuine."
Overall, Burden wrote: "[I]t was very cool. The President of the United States slapped my hand and called me "brutha". Top that."
Consider it topped when, later that day, Matt Burden stole George Bush's baby's mama away from him.
I got sumtin' to say, and I need the world to hear it. I'm a lyricologist. I can rap about anything. Shrink, shrink. Blinkity-blink. Tried to make me think. Wanna go to my sink. And vomit. Clean it up wit' Comet. Earth is my planet. See? I'm the shiznit.
