Absolut Hope

First round's on me.

Backstory here.

Another Obama poster

Junior Cub Reporter Biff Spackle located this one in an Obama campaign office in Boston.


Two reactions: Hillary has endorsed Obama; and William Ayers must not be a liability for the Obama campaign in blue states.

The price of appeasement

This is London:

Washington is laid to waste. The Capitol is a blackened, smoking ruin. The White House has been razed. Countless thousands are dead.


This is the apocalyptic scene terrorists hope to create if they ever get their hands on a nuclear bomb.

The computer-generated image below was posted on an Islamic extremists' website yesterday.

Prior to 9/11, we tried the Democratic approach to fighting terrorism. An escalating series of attacks culminated in catastrophic blows against Manhattan and Washington.

Our era must grapple with extremists who seek access to tiny war-machines capable of unimaginable destruction.

The thought of another Carter-esque, weak-willed appeaser as President is disturbing, at best.

Hat tips: AJ Strata and Larwyn

Quote o' the day

Charles Krauthammer:

If you doubt the arrogance [of the global warming crowd], you haven't seen that Newsweek cover story that declared the global warming debate over. Consider: If Newton's laws of motion could, after 200 years of unfailing experimental and experiential confirmation, be overthrown, it requires religious fervor to believe that global warming -- infinitely more untested, complex and speculative -- is a closed issue.

Update: Gore visits Gaia.

Matalin and Carville both excoriate Scott McClellan

In response to a question at a conference in Boston last night, Mary Matalin and James Carville took turns eviscerating Scott McClellan and his new book.

As a publisher, Matalin said she had turned down McClellan's book because it was "incredibly boring." Other mainstream publishers also nixed it.

It wasn't until one of George Soros' favorite publishers -- affiliated with The Nation magazine -- decided to work "very closely" with McClellan that the book came into being.

In light of that relationship, Matalin called attention to McClellan's introduction, noting the almost miraculous changes to the narrative.

Writing it wasn’t easy. Some of the best advice I received as I began came from a senior editor at a publishing house that expressed interest in my book. He said the hardest challenge for me would be to keep questioning my own beliefs and perceptions throughout the writing process. His advice was prescient. I’ve found myself continually questioning my own thinking, my assumptions, my interpretations of events. Many of the conclusions I’ve reached are quite different from those I would have embraced at the start of the process. The quest for truth has been a struggle for me, but a rewarding one. I don’t claim a monopoly on truth. But after wrestling with my experiences over the past several months, I’ve come much closer to my truth than ever before.

[Emphasis in original.]

I'll call particular attention to the statement "[many] of the conclusions I’ve reached are quite different from those I would have embraced at the start of the process."

Matalin noted that in two years of attending meetings with McClellan he contributed absolutely nothing -- implying that he was truly an empty suit. Writing at the National Review, Peter Wehner echoed that thought.

...what appears to be Scott’s existential journey has led him to make sweeping and reckless allegations that are at odds with reality. He would have us believe that the Bush administration was, at bottom, massively and deeply deceitful and corrupt — but this has only dawned on Scott since he started writing his book, years after the fact. Let’s just say that for these revelations to spring forth as if truth were like a time-released capsule, in which things magically get clearer with the passage of time (and the signing of book contracts), is, well, suspicious. And my former colleagues are absolutely right to point out that Scott not only never raised any objections contemporaneously, in meetings or with his superiors; in fact, he said almost nothing at all, at any time, about anything of consequence.

Remember that Bill Clinton called Bill Richardson a "Judas", Matalin asked. This is "worse than Judas" and stated that McClellan "sold his soul" (to the devil, or Soros, take your pick).

Carville got into the act as well. With Cajun disgust dripping in his voice, Carville said it was "incredibly disloyal. You work for the president. You don't do these things."

When Carville and Matalin both agree that you're a disloyal empty suit, it's pretty safe to assume they're on the money.

Grim Milestone reached as Michael Moore passes 450 lb. barrier

New York (BP) - A case of Twizzlers™ and a Wendy's Triple Bacon Cheeseburger pushed Michael Moore over the 450 lb. barrier, a grim milestone in his fight to lose weight.

Moore's intestines were unavailable for comment.

Headline o' the day

Hot Air: McCain to Obama: You’ll meet with Ahmadinejad but not Gen. Petraeus?

Hey - they're Democrats! And their only real enemies are Chimpy McBushitler and the U.S. Armed Forces.

The immortal words of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)

In a House hearing on gas prices, executives of the large oil companies were asked for a "guarantee" that prices would go down if the areas surrounding the United States ("The No Zone") were opened up for exploration and drilling. The president of Shell Oil answered the question.

  "I can guarantee to the American people -- that because of the inaction of the United States Congress -- ever-increasing prices unless the demand comes down. And the five dollars will look like a very low price in the years to come if we are prohibited from finding new reserves and new opportunities to increase supplies."

Rep. Waters didn't like that answer.

  "And guess what this liberal is going to be all about!"

  "This liberal will be all about socializing --- uh... uh..."

  "Uhm... ... ... will be about... ..."

  "... ...Basically... ..."

  "Taking you over. And the government running all of your companies."

* * *
The word, of course, is "nationalize" and the Hugo Chavez gameplan hasn't worked out so well for Venezuelans.

And check out the poor schlub sitting next to her. You can almost read his mind. How the heck did I get stuck sitting next to this national embarrassment?

If Waters is really the best that Californians can do, I would recommend that residents start evacuating now.

Search parties attempt to locate the word "quagmire"

The word 'quagmire' has been missing from the mainstream media's lexicon for many months now.

It seems to have gone AWOL. Won't you please help? It's for the children... we can't let them lose this precious and useful word.

Oh, the humanity! Iraq's shocking "Triangle of Debt"

Iraq's infamous "Triangle of Death" has transformed itself into a miasma of mortgage payments. Violence has given way to more basic human urges: like capitalism.

The U.S. military says violence across Iraq has reached its lowest level in more than four years after successes this year in breaking al-Qaida's and other Sunni insurgents' hold in western Iraq and -- more recently -- government crackdowns in the southern city of Basra and northern city of Mosul.

But the success in the "Triangle of Death", centered on the town of Iskandariyah, is perhaps the most dramatic...

The news isn't good: real estate prices are soaring; there is a limited supply of homes; and sales of desirable properties frequently result in bidding wars.

...some say it's almost impossible to find a place to live with sales prices doubling in certain neighborhoods and the most affordable homes being snatched up as soon as they're placed on the market.

"Day by day, the prices are increasing and I keep on decreasing my options," said Hussam Jassem, 35, a government worker who earns about $400 a month, a typical middle-class salary. A 750-square-foot home in a lower-middle-class neighborhood costs about $150,000. In the upper-middle-class neighborhood of Karada, a 2,300-square-foot plot of land alone costs $350,000.

I blame Bush. This capitalism thing is getting out of hand.

Hat tips: PrairiePundit and Larwyn

Odds are it's a post-Zakaria world instead

Fareek Zakaria, author of "The Post-American World", is reported to have received his own show on CNN.

I think this calls for a new book.


Hat tip: Larwyn. Linked by: Mitchell Langbert. Thanks!

Spotted another Obama poster

Junior Cub Reporter (level two) Biff Spackle snapped a photo of this poster in O'Hare Airport.

It would appear that Obama's comrades in Illinois have been busy.

McCain crushes Obama's foreign policy direction like an eggshell

Today John McCain employed everything but brass knuckles and a two-by-four on Barack Obama's egregious attempts at "foreign policy" (via Gateway Pundit and Larwyn):

"Senator Obama said the war was lost. Senator Obama said we had to have a specific withdrawal as soon as possible which would have been chaos, genocide, increased Iranian influence; Al-Qaeda restoring much of their strategy; Shiite-Sunni conflicts and we would have to come back."

"We are succeeding. Every indicator showed that the surge strategy has succeeded. Senator Obama was wrong in wanting to surrender. And, I will never surrender."

You gonna put some ice on that?

"Senator Obama has consistently offered his judgment on Iraq, and he has been consistently wrong. He said that General Petraeus' new strategy would not reduce sectarian violence, but would worsen it. He was wrong. He said the dynamics in Iraq would not change as a result of the 'surge.' He was wrong. One year ago, he voted to cut off all funds for our forces fighting extremists in Iraq. He was wrong. Sectarian violence has been dramatically reduced, Sunnis in Anbar province and throughout Iraq are cooperating in fighting al Qaeda in Iraq, and Shi'ite extremist militias no longer control Basra -- the Maliki government and its forces do."

Now that's gonna leave a bruise.

On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of McCain's closest friends, suggested on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the two travel to Iraq together. Asked about the idea today, McCain said sure.

"Sure it would be fine. I go back every few months because things are changing in Iraq," he told the Associated Press in an interview. "I would also seize that opportunity to educate Sen. Obama along the way."

McCain also used the opportunity to criticize Obama for not visiting Iraq since 2006.

"If there was any other issue before the American people and you hadn't had anything to do with it in a couple of years, I think the American people would judge that very harshly," McCain said. "He really has no experience or knowledge or judgment about the issue of Iraq."

Medic! We've got a bleeder!

Add these mistakes to the lengthy list of Obama boners and you could have a McCain TKO before the race has even begun.

Even Bill Clinton says so.

Former President Bill Clinton said that Democrats were more likely to lose in November if his wife Hillary Clinton is not the party's presidential nominee, and suggested some people were trying to "cover this up" and "push and pressure and bully" superdelegates to make up their minds prematurely.

"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.'"

He's gonna feel that in the morning.

"I love my country more than I hate John McCain." - Kim du Toit

New Obama Poster

I'm sold!

Happy Memorial Day: an Alternative Google Logo

Disapppointingly, Google failed to note Memorial Day with a special logo treatment. Last year Zombie held a contest and demonstrated that tasteful designs were not only possible, but quite straightforward.

In depicting a Memorial Day logo, I took the opposite tack. Had it not been for America's brave warriors, whose memory we mark today, there would be no Google.

Candidly, Google's management team is brilliant. They are certainly bright enough to recognize this simple fact.

Fuel prices: a handy guide

Every time you see this:

Remember this:

In Alaska, wildlife is thriving in the current Prudhoe Bay oil field. There, the caribou population has increased by over 900%; conversely, the caribou population in ANWR (with no human interaction other than very limited Indian hunting) has plummeted.

In the Gulf of Mexico, hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 109 oil platforms with "no loss of life or significant spills from any offshore well on the outer continental shelf."


Despite these facts, Democrats continue to block oil exploration in ANWR and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), where tens of billions of gallons of oil remain untapped. The red areas in the accompanying maps depict "The No Zone." These are the regions surrounding the United States in which Democrats have forbidden any oil exploration.


From the tiny spit of land within the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to the OCS, Democrats have uniformly opposed every form of exploration that would allow us to stop sending our funds overseas and given us the time to transition to clean energy technologies.


In the mean time, Cuba has leased drilling rights to foreign countries, which will permit them to drain the Gulf of Mexico of its oil. For example, Cuba recently granted China drilling rights in the Gulf. And, in fact, China will be drilling within 50 miles of Florida.

The Democrats continue to endanger our economic wellbeing and national security by keeping our vast storehouses of energy off-limits.

Vote accordingly in 2008.

Jimmy Carter Threat Level Advisory System

Looks we just moved to a new level.



He's like a fine wine... left open in the hot sun for days on end. He just gets worse with age.

Linked by: Gateway Pundit, Denny, RedState, Last of the Few, Fausta and Inoperable Terran. Thanks!

Carter: Iran a 'rational' nation; U.S. should establish friendly ties

Iran's FNA is reporting that former US President Jimmy Carter is urging Washington to resume friendly ties with Iran, a country he calls "rational."

Speaking at the Hay Festival yesterday, Carter suggested that the US should also provide nuclear power technology and fuel to Iran "as a show of goodwill."

"What happens if, in three years' time, Iran has a nuclear weapon? I'm not sure that is going to happen, but if it does, what do we do? They are rational people like all of us in this room. Do they want to commit suicide? I would guess not. So what we have to do is talk with them now and say to them we want to be their friends..."

"The United States must let Iran know that we want to give them fuel and everything they need for a non-military nuclear program. Twenty-five years ago we cut off trading with Iran. We've got to resume trading to show Iran we are friends..."

Carter also criticized President George Bush, saying it was a "serious mistake and terrible departure" from the actions of previous US presidents not to engage with countries with which they differed.

"The president of the administration in Washington is the first one to have ever done this and I think we close off ourselves from any sort of rational accommodation of the views of other parties in order to reach out on major goals..."

Carter makes Neville Chamberlain look like Genghis Kahn.

Update: Carl has two interesting stories involving related coverage of Carter's speech: "George Bush might even face prosecution on war crimes charges once he left office" and "Israel has 150 nukes. Israel's security is my prime concern."

Linked by: Protein Wisdom. Thanks!

Obama: the movie trailer

It's a must-see.



Hat tips: Atlas and Larwyn

Mon Dieu! It's unmitigated France-bashing!

Selected a choice few from Denny's large collection.

Reclaim Conservatism!

GM Roper posts a call to action for conservatives.

Don't miss it.

Why I Continue to Run -- by Hillary Rodham Clinton

Based on a true story.

  This past Friday, during a meeting with a newspaper editorial board, I was asked about whether I was going to continue in the presidential race. I made clear that I was... and I pointed out (as I have before), that both Bubba's primary campaign, and Sen. Robert Kennedy's, had continued into June.

  Almost immediately, some took my comments entirely out of context and interpreted them to mean something completely different.

  I, for one, do not want an assassin to pop a cap at Obama, and would strenuously disagree with anyone advocating such an action.

  And I certainly do not want a former Arkansas State Trooper to accidentally ram a helicopter into his motorcade, tragically killing the young senator.

  Or have a chef inadvertently use a mislabeled bottle of Polonium to poison one of his dinners.

  I want to set the record straight: I was making the simple point that any of these things could happen and that America must prepare ahead of time for such a tragic day.

  But I was deeply dismayed and annoyed that my comment was so deeply misconstrued, especially when I represent the crime-free, scandal-free eight years of the first Clinton administration; and everything I stand for.

  Today, I would like to answer the question I was asked: Why do I continue to run, even in the face of calls from pundits, analysts, lobbyists, columnists, politicians, union officials, zookeepers and untipped waitresses for me to leave this race?

  I am running because I still believe I can win on the merits. With our unemployment hovering around 15%, the stock market at 1,000, and an ongoing civil war in Iraq, the stakes have never been higher.

  I am aware that -- mathematically speaking, it is imppossible for me to win. But mathematics is still a young science and certain arithmetic anomalies may yet be discovered that could secure a solid lead in delegates for my campaign.

  I am running because I believe that tearing the Democratic Party apart will help reunite the Democratic Party. In the end, if I can drive a huge racial wedge between the two major factions of the party, we'll all be better off.

  I am running because my parents did not raise me to be a quitter - they named me after Sir Edmund Hillary, after all, and living up to that name is simply who I am.

  Too many people still come up to me from behind at events, slap me on my ample, yet firm, derriere and urge me not to butt out of the race.

  I am running for all the men and women who have received billions of dollars of my earmarks; knowing that I can do so much more as president.

  People who deserve a shot at the American Dream - the chance to receive $5,000 baby bonds for every child they raise; government-subsidized healthcare like Cuba and the UK; and to fill their gas-tank with fuel made from some future break-through like the magic solar energy beans that Al Gore talks about.

  I believe I won a 40-point victory two weeks ago in West Virginia and a 35-point victory in Kentucky this past week because hard-working white voters prefer me, not my distinguished, but formerly drug-addled and preacher-challenged, opponent.

  But no matter what happens in this primary, I am committed to unifying this party by first tearing it apart. Ultimately, what Sen. Obama and I share is so much greater than our differences. Namely, socialism and the belief that government can do it better. This is our dream and -- together -- we will succeed in making America a third-rate economy.

  Thank you.