One Man's Vote

RALEIGH, N.C. — A combative Barack Obama said Tuesday that Republican John McCain "doesn’t know what he’s up against" in this election and challenged his rival to stop questioning his character and patriotism.

So basically, John McCain is a big meany who should just step back and let himself get run over by a cipher in less than three months. Is that it?

Mr. O, I think you have that exactly backwards. I'm not a huge John McCain fan, but if you don't think he knows what he's up against, you are even less qualified to be president than I thought you were.

And Mr. O, this entire election is about character...YOUR character. Which there doesn't seem to be very much of.

When you make statements like this, you need to be prepared to back them up. Perhaps you should answer the question Mr. McCain poses. What exactly is it about your character that makes you qualified to lead this country? You have sixty seconds, and you may not use the TelePrompter™.

But the truth is, you got nuthin'. You're an empty suit with the hand of every liberal fascist in the country up your back. You have no experience, no program, no real traction, and damn near no time to prove otherwise. You, sir, have peaked...and you're looking kind of peaked. So get over your pique, already.

If this be racism, make the most of it, but I honestly don't care what color the man's skin is. I do care that he's an empty suit and that we need more than platitudes about hope and change to get us through the next four years. And sadly, he is probably going to set the political hopes and dreams of African-Americans back fifty years by the time this is over.

Car Lust breathes heavily in re: the 1970 Camaro.

Echh.

The last Camaro I liked was the '69 R/S. My dad had one. 307 V8, nothing flashy, but that was the first car I ever rode 100+MPH in. Dark metallic blue. The only minus was that it had an automatic (but that was so Mom could drive it if the need arose).

He traded it in '71 for a 3/4 ton pickup truck for his business. A couple of months later he had the truck in for some warranty thing and asked if they'd sold the Camaro. They had; to a nice young lady who within two weeks had totalled it.

I think for the rest of his life, he wished he'd kept it. I wish he'd kept it, too. The damn things are going for anywhere from $30-70K in appropriate condition.

Gotta admit, the Chinese are good.

"It's unfair that people keep saying the Chinese are too young to compete," Lu told reporters in Mandarin on his way out of the National Indoor Stadium. "If they think they can tell someone's age just by looking at them, well, if you look at the foreign athletes, they have so much more muscles than the Chinese. They are so strong. Do you then say that they are doping?"

Sheesh. There are at least two of those girls who can't possibly be 16 years old. Whether or not one of them appears to have recently lost a baby tooth that we generally lose at about 10 years old.

As far as big rippling muscles and well-developed bodies, that's called "generations of eating well -- including meat products". Except for the past 50 years or so (and probably not even that long), most Chinese haven't eaten the way we do (and frankly, most probably still don't). And by the way -- I didn't notice any lack of muscle in their male gymnasts. So what about doping in that case, Coach Lu? Or are we only talking about our girls, who actually eat a decent diet, and happen to look womanly at 16?

I saw a comment over at Rachel's that put forward a good idea -- make the qualification weight-based rather than age-based. Seems like it would be a lot more fair that way.

And like some other people commented: Why would we ever trust the Chinese to be telling the truth here? I'm sorry, but in every sport -- every sport -- in which I've seen them compete, I could see the fear behind the athletes' eyes that said "If I blow this, I'm sunk".

That's no way to run an Olympics team. And that's why the whole Olympic ideal is a sham.

I've had cause this morning to ponder the difference between "elite" and "elitist".

In my way of thinking, "elite" means the best of the best, a rank and title to which all can aspire and even attain by dint of hard work and discipline, and by following the rules laid down for the particular elitism adhering to whatever elite group we're talking about -- one of which is to be proud of their elitism yet humble about their achievement. E.g., "elite unit", "elite cadre", "they're the elite of the bunch". See: Navy Seals, Army Rangers, SAS, etc.

Whereas "elitist" means a bunch of poseurs who claim to be the best of the best, whether they are or not, and who freeze out people they don't like, regardless of their demonstrated level of elitism, which may actually be higher than that of the elitists who don't like them. E.g., "elitist shit", "elitist bastard". See: Just about any left-wing "progressive" bunch of fascists, e.g., the Democrat Party.

Am I wrong?

of the Great Burning.

We've had a ton of brush in the side yard, mostly since last winter when a 70mph wind blew the top out of the maple tree in the front yard. Since then we've had a few other branches blow down and I just never had time (or dry weather) to get out with the chain saw and cut up the big stuff.

So I was going to cut the grass today and Sally was going to do some gardening, and we decided instead to go after this giant pile of brush. Sadly I don't have a "before" picture, but here's what's left of it after several hours of breaking down and burning:

Here's the cleared area...this was completely covered with tree limbs and brush five hours ago:

Aaaaand here's what's left of all the stuff we cleared:

(Please note that I have no intention of burning the treated timbers; they're going to be carted away to the landfill.)

I think it's nap time. Oh, and time to send an email to Algore to let him see the works of our hands, yea verily, we have converted dead wood to carbon in the air. Global warming my ass.

UPDATE: As noted, I don't have a before picture, but I do have a picture of the main part of what we cut up and burned today, from the day after it fell out of the tree it belonged to:

A few larger pieces are still out front waiting for me to take the chain saw to them but I managed to get most of it around the side back in early spring, joining two large branches out of one of the back yard trees that had fallen in my neighbor's yard the fall before. It was quite the mess and I'm frankly surprised that a) nobody called the health department on us, and b) that no critters had made a home in it.

Although with regard to a), my neighbor on the other side of the house has a lawn that looks like the barrio in East L.A. -- the only thing missing are some chickens and a rooster -- so maybe it isn't a shock after all.

the lights went on at Wrigley.

I was there. Standing room only. Rained out in the middle of the third. Jody Davis and associates body-surfing on the tarps. And me and my three buddies from Philly, Chicago, and San Jose, taking it all in.

A good time was had by all.

(Yes, I copied this from last year's post. Sue me. Besides: The Cubs can't even arse themselves to notice. Today is a day game, for crap's sake.)

(Huh. I guess they did arse themselves, for the first time I can recall: Chicago remembers 'Opening Night'

I'm standing in the upper deck on the first base line about halfway down.

And yes, I still have my souvenir hat, shirt, program, and possibly ticket stub, if it's still in the program. I intend to be buried with them.)

Group Plans Campaign Against G.O.P. Donors
By MICHAEL LUO
Published: August 7, 2008

Nearly 10,000 of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes across the country will probably receive a foreboding “warning” letter in the mail next week.

The letter is an opening shot across the bow from an unusual new outside political group on the left that is poised to engage in hardball tactics to prevent similar groups on the right from getting off the ground this fall.

Led by Tom Matzzie, a liberal political operative who has been involved with some prominent left-wing efforts in recent years, the newly formed nonprofit group, Accountable America, is planning to confront donors to conservative groups, hoping to create a chilling effect that will dry up contributions.

"Chilling effect", eh? What makes this different from fascist tactics in the '20s and '30s?

Sieg Heil!

Via Instapundit, who notes that he hopes these folks will wear "appropriate attire" when they do their confronting. It would certainly make it easier to pick them out.

Maybe what the right needs is some rapid-reaction teams to confront the confronters.

Truly, the man and his supporters are fascist wanna-bes, if not fascists, period.

[...] And now, if a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above. "Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama's nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility for our future," says Rick Husong, owner of The Loyalty Inc.

Sieg Heil!

/snark

(Besides, this "sign of progress" looks like a big fat goose egg. As in zero, zilch, nada.)

LATER: Jonah says some lefty emailers are claiming this is a joke. It's no more of a joke than anything else Obama and his campaign have floated -- they sent up a trial balloon and got shot down. To claim this is a joke is to claim that the entire Obama campaign is a joke.

Wait a minute...

/more snark

Sheesh.

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos in Washington said the encounter "stemmed from a momentary misunderstanding as to the exact location of the U.S.-Mexican border."

Story here.

Sounds like they could use it in Wisconsin.

Criminal investigations could be launched against at least six voter registration workers who tried to add dead, imprisoned or imaginary people to the voter rolls, according to the Milwaukee Election Commission and the organization that employed them.

Officials are reviewing some 200 to 300 fraudulent voter registration cards, Sue Edman, the commission’s executive director, said Wednesday.

And even though the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now caught the fraud and reported it before the cards were turned in, the incident revived a four-year-old partisan debate over the integrity of Wisconsin’s voter registration process, as political groups step up efforts to sign up voters for the Nov. 4 presidential election.

Huh. Imagine that. /irony

And who, exactly, was involved?

In about 12 cases, deputy registrars paid by ACORN were “making people up or registering people that were still in prison,” said Carolyn Castore, ACORN’s state political director.

Try Googling "acorn vote fraud" and see what you come up with -- I got 81,900 results. Turns out ACORN has been involved in vote fraud scandals for years. Why would anyone hire them to hire voter registration workers?

USPS screws the pooch again. No wonder dogs dislike postmen.

Collectors Discover Flag Stamp Has 14 Stripes

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

By Sara Bonisteel

Fox News

NEW YORK — The devil, as they say, is in the details.

So when an astute stamp collector recently discovered that one of the Old Glorys in the U.S. Postal Service's "Flags 24/7" series appears to have 14 stripes, it was bound to send a wave of excitement through the philatelic community.

"Is there any icon better-known to Americans than their own flag?" said Fred Baumann, a spokesman for the American Philatelic Society. "This is something somebody should have caught along the way."

Er. No kidding. But at least the artist doesn't appear to be at fault:

David E. Failor, a manager of Stamp Services for the Postal Service, said the extra stripe came from a design flaw. A white line, he said, was added to provide definition to the flag.

"It was not part of the original artwork," Failor said. "Normally we would send the change back through our fact-checking process. In the case of this change we didn't do that so the mistake was not recognized. It was brought to our attention after the stamps were issued."

(...)

The Postal Service plans to let the "Flags 24/7" series stay on the market, extra stripe and all, and will continue to be printed until the next stamp-price increase.

"They will remain on sale as is," Betts said. "But we acknowledge the error."

Well, that's good. I'd hate to see all those stamps go to waste and the price of postage have to go up AGAIN.

Let's face it: Most police work is reactive, not proactive. If you think for one minute that the police authorities anywhere are spending the vast majority of their time trying to prevent rather than to solve crime, I think you are living in a dream world.

So it's nice to see this in today's Indy Star:

"Indy's just getting nuts, man," said Byron Alston, director of Save the Youth, an Eastside neighborhood social services program. "We can't blame the police no more. It's up to us."

Well, regardless of bad grammar, no shit, Sherlock. The fact is that you never could blame the police. The problem was right there on your doorstep, in your community, and you should have dealt with it firmly.

If people had taken that attitude back in 1998 when we had 162 murders (one of them the lady who lived right across the hall from me, who was shot dead in the common foyer by her idiot ex-boyfriend about six feet from where I was sleeping in my bedroom) instead of whining about how the police weren't doing their job, maybe we wouldn't be in this situation today.

And this is in the running for "most stupid thing I've ever heard of."

The harsh reality of the rise in recent homicides will be on display today as a procession of hearses winds through Indianapolis streets.

Marion County funeral directors will lead the "Stop the Violence -- Peace in the Streets" hearse caravan starting at 5:30 p.m., from Glendale Town Center.

"The overall purpose is to promote peace in the streets and to show the community, especially the young people, that death is final," said Angela Grundy-Sallee, who helped organize the event.

The line of up to 20 hearses will leave the mall at 6101 N. Keystone Ave. from the parking lot facing Rural Street. The 32-mile route around the city's Eastside is expected to take a little more than an hour.

And absolutely no criminal is going to care.

This brings to mind my recent post on the futility of political action. Don't make big splashes in hopes of Jesus moments amongst the criminal class -- it's not going to happen. Go home and bring your children up to respect life, authority, and other people's property. Keep them off drugs and off the streets. Make sure they don't drop out of school. And insist that communities police their own instead of expecting the police to do it for them.

Online shopping seems to be the way I buy just about anything these days except clothes (and I just bought a new Geoffrey Beane tux shirt through Amazon, so even that isn't sacred) and groceries.

The only problem is: What the fuck do you do with all the boxes?

I hate flattening the damn things and then you have to either bundle them up for the trash or find someplace that accepts them for recycle. While we certainly do save on gasoline by ordering online, it seems like all that one-time-use cardboard is a serious waste. (Yeah, I know, it's probably recycled to begin with. I still have to dispose of it, and the recycling industry is probably one of the biggest polluters on the planet, so I don't recycle unless I am a guest in your home and you're militant about it.)

It's a conundrum.

Indeed.

Via Kathy. (Happy Birthday to Kathy's blog! Be sure to hit her tip jar, she needs the cash to fight the Power.)

Observe:

A British judge trying a knife-crime case stunned the court by pulling out a blade.

Campaign groups blasted Judge Roger Connor after he brandished a knife in front of a teenage defendant charged with wounding someone with a blade.

The 16-year-old’s lawyer asked Connor if he was committing an offense — and was told it was acceptable because the blade was less than 3 inches long.

Connor got out the folding black-handled knife at Oxford Crown Court to show how it worked. The boy, who denies wounding with intent and assault, had admitted using a knife and claimed he needed only one hand to open it.

Connor asked: "It happens I have a folding knife in my pocket. You need two hands to open it, don’t you?"

Under English and Welsh law it is an offense to carry in public a blade longer than 3 inches without good reason.

Furious anti-knife crime campaigners called last night for the judge to be fired.

"He should lose his job. One teenager a week is being murdered on the streets of Britain and here he is brandishing a knife," Lyn Costello, co-founder of the Mothers Against Murder and Aggression campaign group, said.

"Enough is enough – we need to get tough on knives in this country and our judges should be handing out tough sentences, not brandishing their own."

"We need to get tough on knives in this country."

Just like you got tough on guns? And see how well that worked out.

Any country that coddles its criminals and jails self-defenders gets what it deserves. The judge should have stabbed the little shit and let him die in a pool of his own blood. That would have sent a message. (Just kidding. Sort of.)

Oh, and I can open my electrician's knife one-handed. But it has a four inch blade, so I guess I'd be in violation in England.