This is a great post highlighting the truth that Obama didn’t dare reveal when he was patting himself on the back on stage for being so great.

See Talk Straight.

I like all of the points and the rebuttals, but there were two that stood out for me:

(Obama) Deception #5:
“Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don’t have that chance.”

The Truth:
In 2007, Obama proudly accepted the endorsement of the Chicago Teachers Union and used this endorsement to justify his educational reform agenda. What he did not disclose was the CTU’s inexcusable handling of Chicago’s school crisis. Chicago’s public schools send students home after only 5 hours and 45 minutes each day due to budget shorfalls. Only 54 percent of high school freshmen graduate, and only 6 percent will earn a college degree. Nearly 70 percent of Chicago students fall below state testing standards. Yet, Chicago’s teachers haul in over $80,000 per year, and the CTU has indignantly opposed extending the school day. In his years as an Illinois state senator, as well as his US Senate career, Obama has never attempted to address the problem in his home state, and has never taken a position that placed him at odds with the CTU. To do so would risk losing the backing of this imporant lobby, so he continues to play old-style Chicago politics, once again. That is not putting education first. That’s putting politics first. And it’s disgusting. ¹

(Obama) Deception #9:
“So I’ve got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.”

The Truth:
Barack Obama did not put his country first when he broke his promise on public financing. ² He did not put his country first when he refused to debate McCain in town hall meetings. ³ He did not put his country first when he spent 20 years under the radical and hatemongering tutelage of Jeremiah Wright, then ditched him when the truth was revealed. ⁴ He did not put his country first by cutting a killer deal for a Chicago mansion with his best friend Tony Rezko (a convicted felon). ⁵ He did not put country first when he went before 200,000 screaming Germans, yet refused to visit wounded American soldiers at Landstuhl hospital after finding out that he could not bring cameras with him. ⁶

What I particularly like about this is that Talk Straight isn’t linking to itself the way Moveon.org did when it was giving references. You have to wonder why it is that moveon.org felt it was necessary to do that when denouncing Palin for having conservative values; is it because they twisted the quotes or articles that were cited? Why not just link to the source?

We should keep Straight Talk in our sights for Obama campaign lies, you know they’re better at lying than telling the truth.

I am adding a footnote because CNN’s link has gone missing.⁷

Seems like a lot more work than it needs to be, but I guess lies are the fuel that gave him his stellar rise in politics.

1. Freddoso, David (August 11, 2008) “They Wanted More School - Obama on Education Reform” National Review Online, retrieved on August 31, 2008 from here.[back]
2. (6/19/2008) Obama Public Financing, CNN.com - URL gone missing - http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/19/obama.public.financing/index.html[back]
3. Pickler, Nedra (June 13, 2008) “McCain, Obama fail to agree on Townhalls”, retrieved on August 31, 2008 from WTopNews.com http://www.wtop.com/?nid=213&sid=1420536[back]
4. Sweet, Lynn (April 30, 2008) “Obama Denounces Wright; WRIGHT’S REMARKS | A day after simply distancing himself, senator denounces pastor“, Chicago Suntimes retrieved on August 30, 2008 from http://www.suntimes.com/news/sweet/922796,CST-NWS-sweet30.article[back]
5. Rhonda Schwartz and Justin Rood (February 20, 2008) “Obama Discloses New Rezko Details; Obama Toured His Now-home With Rezko Who Was Under Investigation AT the Time“, ABC News Blotter story, retrieved on August 30, 2008 from http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4315880&page=1[back]
6. John McCormack (July 25, 2008) Obama and Landstuhl, Cont., The Weekly Standard, retrieved online on August 31, 2008 from http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/07/obama_and_landstuhl_cont_1.asp[back]
7. Matthew Balan (June 19, 2008) CNN Goes Easy on Barack Obama’s Flip-Flop on Public Campaign Financing, Newsbusters[back]

Wow, someone dropped a link to McCain’s daughter Meghan’s blog which is called McCain blogette– pointing to the pictures behind-the-scenes of Sarah Palin and her family, and I was very impressed with what Meghan and her pals have going on there.

These three young chicks include Meghan herself; a professionally-trained photographer, Heather Brand; and a very young and already accomplished videographer, Shannon Bae. Together they are putting up behind-the-scenes type items and narrative that help you get to know McCain personally outside of the campaign; even though it’s from the campaign trail.

From left to right-(Mrs.) Cindy McCain, Meghan McCain and John McCain

John McCain sure is surrounded by a lot of strong women. The young women at McCain Blogette are a perfect example of this; the announcement of Sarah Palin as his veep choice should have come as little surprise.

I’m going to bookmark their site, because it sheds a little more light on the GOP’s presidential candidate and where he is coming from.

And from his daughter, no less.

What a cool idea.

Thomas Sowell has a great piece up on “Change in Politics” -regarding Obama and why the “change” rhetoric is merely repeating the failures of FDR regarding the economy, but points out that at least FDR had the sense to be strong on national security.

Obama doesn’t have FDR’s sense, although he shares the love for social programs.

Obama’s minions have been busy creating obfuscations regarding Sarah Palin, which is a good sign. LGF pointed out the connection to “Fight the Smears” and anti-Palin websites, which seems to indicate that “fightint the smears” involves inventing smears against political opponents. Their hysteria has involved a number of insults to McCain, as well.

Obama doesn’t have any women in his organization, he didn’t chose a woman as veep, but what his campaign has been fighting for was to prevent Hillary Clinton from getting into the Oval office, and now to prevent another woman from having a role in this, -Sarah Palin.–with women’s votes.

The Obamanazis have been searching for a picture of Sarah Palin in a bikini. Why they think that would be disparaging, I don’t know - she was formerly at one time Miss Alaska; a beauty queen. But as see-dubya has pointed out, they tried that same bikini schtick with Michelle Malkin, and it didn’t work.

But they don’t realize that their disgusting ploys rarely work; it just goes to show that they’re bereft of class and civility.

Take a look at this post again and notice how many insults there are in it - without a shred of evidence or fact; it’s complete spin!

Mooseburgers for Everyone to Celebrate Palin, McCain’s VP Pick!
By Tracy DC ☮DC T☮ YesWeDid - Aug 30th, 2008

McCain chooses Sarah Palin for VP spot (after meeting her once) to woo disgruntled Hillraisers, to get financial support from his heretofore unexcited conservative base who was gonna vote for him anyway, as an attempt to reignite his fading image as a maverick, and because he fantasizes what the former beauty queen looks like when the hair comes down and the glasses come off.

That part about the hair coming down and the glasses coming off has been edited out if you go there now. The depiction of conservatives’ being disgusted with McCain up until this point, though, is completely true. But it’s about the only shred of truth in this blog posting at myobama.com

Moreover, I’m sure McCain is trying to figure out if she can be paid less for being a VP than his other strung-along would-be male picks since he’s against equal pay for women. The above must be the reasons since Palin’s experience does not qualify her to potentially be a heartbeat away from being the Leader of the Free World, even more troubling, when you consider whose 72 year old little off beat heart we’re talkin’ about, here.

He’s against equal pay for women - what? Where’s the proof of this? Palin’s experience is similar to that of Obama’s in years, and if you’re going to compare the two and call Palin inexperienced, then you’ll have to admit that Obama is, too. In fact, Obama’s veep choice Joe Biden, demonstrates Obama’s insecurity on the ‘experience’ issue, but also demonstrates that Obama is about politics as usual because Biden has a breathtaking 30 year career in the Senate - having accomplished a number of things during that period which are hardly items to brag about - such as defending the agents that murdered the people at Waco and a young boy, Sam Weaver. and a young mother holding her baby at Ruby Ridge, Vicki Weaver.

All this while completely disregarding Cindy McCain who is very accomplished in her own right, this person depicts McCain as a man who would not treat Palin equally, despite the fact that McCain - not Obama - chose a young woman running mate. Obama was fighting Hillary, and now he’ll be attempting to use women’s votes against Palin. Democrats don’t REALLY believe in ‘equality’ that’s why they have different rules for different groups. And the attack on Palin’s experience reflects this individual’s disconnect from reality, since although Palin’s inexperience is comparable to Obama’s, she has 7 years of executive experience, and being the governor of a state that is flanked by two foreign countries, Canada on the one side and Russia on the other. So she has an awareness of the threat that Russia poses moreso than Biden or Obama, despite Biden’s 30 years of politics as usual. That’s not to mention Biden being a barrel of gaffes. (Recall “you cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.” and “I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” )

They’re making points for the other side with this stuff.

To end on a positive note with regard to Palin, you can’t deny her superwoman status–three days after giving birth to her son with Down Syndrome (now 5 months), she was back in the office trying to make sure that polar bears aren’t considered an endangered species, that BIG OIL rules, that incest and rape victims do not have a right to abortion, and that creationism will be taught in school, that is, if one can’t home-school.

No worries about missing dinner for her big family of 7, she’s got that handled too. She’s a moose hunter and has enough frozen microwavable mooseburgers to feed an army stored up for a year! Can’t wait to debate her myself!

quite a bit of stereotyping going on there, heh?

Polar bears are not an endangered species. Palin is not about “big oil” but about energy alternatives. Taking our dependence off of foreign oil is something we should be actively seeking - and of course we won’t see the benefits of doing it for at least 5 years; that’s a given. We should also take proactive measures in order to activate dormant refineries.

How many incest and rape victims are impregnated by rape? She should examine her statistics. And what is wrong with creationism being taught in schools when there is no evidence of evolution in the fossil record, and evolution has never been witnessed? There is certainly more evidence for creation than there is for evolution; what that individual is doing is railing against Christianity as most ’scientific’ socialists do. The problem is when you look at the science, science backs up the biblical version of how the earth came into being; and is extremely scientific.

I would look forward to Palin debating this moonbat, that post demonstrates how moonbattery involves no rational thought.

Incidentally, all the talking ponts she brought up are out of an email that came from moveon.org:

• She was elected Alaska ’s governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.¹
• Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.²
• She supported right-wing extremist Pat Buchanan for president in 2000.³
• Palin thinks creationism should be taught in public schools. ⁴
• She’s doesn’t think humans are the cause of climate change. ⁵
• She’s solidly in line with John McCain’s “Big Oil first” energy policy. She’s pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won’t be ready for years. She also sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species—she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska.^{6 7 8 9}
• How closely did John McCain vet this choice? He met Sarah Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.¹⁰

Notice how many times moveon.org gives references to itself as proof. Although they’re citing outside articles, I think it’s rather funny.

As a commenter said in my comments section–at Obama rallies, they’re yelling O-ba-ma! And at McCain rallies, they’re chanting U-S-A! That’s about all you need to know about the two campaigns; one is to coronate a socialist dictator, the other is for service to our country. One is for strangling the taxpayer with blinding taxation, the other is for cutting the pork and special interests and returning us to representative government.

Should that happen, I can see the ancient carreers of people such as Dick Durbin and Joe Biden going by the wayside. I’d like to see a change in the rules for representatives - in that they have limited terms, and would not be allowed to behave as though they’ve been given a lifetime appointment.

Sarah Palin is about REAL CHANGE. She’s fought for it within her own party. She represents all that is good, and is a mother of five children, a lifetime NRA member, hunts and fishes, and loves moose stew.

She is refreshing and as Uncle Jack said in this post, Palin is turning the conservative base who was formerly disgusted by McCain, –around to voting for him.

Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, Is It Just Me?, Mark My Words, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Shadowscope, , Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Pursuing Holiness, Pet’s Garden Blog, third world county, , Woman Honor Thyself, A Newt One-McCain/Palin out front, Pirate’s Cove, , The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, , NN&V, Conservative Cat, Nuke’s, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, Political Byline, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, , Beagle Scout, and CORSARI D’ITALIA, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

1. Sarah Palin,” Wikipedia, Accessed August 29, 2008
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Palin/[back]
2. “McCain Selects Anti-Choice Sarah Palin as Running Mate,” NARAL Pro-Choice America, August 29, 2008
   http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17515&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=1[back]
3. Sarah Palin, Buchananite,” The Nation, August 29, 2008 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17736&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=2 [back]
4. “‘Creation science’ enters the race,” Anchorage Daily News, October 27, 2006
   http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17737&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=3[back]
5. “Palin buys climate denial PR spin—ignores science,” Huffington Post, August 29, 2008
   http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17517&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=4[back]
6. “McCain VP Pick Completes Shift to Bush Energy Policy,” Sierra Club, August 29, 2008
   http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17518&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=5[back]
7. [back]
8. “Choice of Palin Promises Failed Energy Policies of the Past,” League of Conservation Voters, August 29, 2008
   http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17519&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=6[back]
9. “Protecting polar bears gets in way of drilling for oil, says governor,” The Times of London, May 23, 2008
   http://www.moveon.org/r?r=17520&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=7[back]
10. McCain met Palin once before yesterday,” MSNBC, August 29, 2008
    http://www.moveon.org/r?r=21119&id=13661-9269374-KxrSd1x&t=8[back]

We’ve been talking about going on another little photo-related trip today.

I’ve settled on three places to chose from: The Chicago Botanic Garden, Fermi Lab, or - Crabtree Nature Center.

We blasted off in the pocket rocket to the Chicago Botanic garden this morning to take advantage of the morning coolness. It was a great little trip, and I’ll put up a few pictures from it. We didn’t get around to the Japanese gardens, but we did take in some of the sights; the rose gardens, the paths, the walled English gardens, and so on.

So much to see…we ran out of time because it was beginning to really heat up and get crowded.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a Panasonic Lumix that I’m having fun with. It has a 12x optical zoom, and I bought a 3x lens for magnification so I can reach the shot of birds and other wildlife that are usually out of reach from the elph. So…we are sitting at a picnic table at the zoo, and as I’m taking an occasional picture of the birds that have closed in on a recently vacated picnic table, I realized that I haven’t used my 3x lens yet, and that I could be missing some shots if I took the time to use it.

At about the time I’m realizing this, a very animated red squirrel showed up.

This squirrel looked different than the ones we have in our neighborhood, because it’s a RED - not a GRAY squirrel. As I pointed out to my husband, it looks different than the dirty-looking squirrels we have in our area.

Plus, he lept very high as he was bounding around, and he kept standing up like a meerkat.

So I scrambled to put the adapter and get the lens out of its case, and while I’m doing that, the squirrel makes his way into the bushes.

Ugh.

So I start to take the lens off and put it all away with the adapter, and he comes back out. So I take the lens out again, and start putting the adapter on again.

But while I’m going through all this, a little boy’s attention is now drawn to the little squirrel, and the little boy starts to squeal in dlight and begins chasing the squirrel all around the picnic area. Now my husband is laughing.

He had a lot of nerve laughing about this, it was serious business! That kid is ruining my shot and you’re laughing about it!

By the time I got it all together, the squirrel was up in a tree looking down at the little boy, I’m frustrated, and my husband is laughing.

My husband could relate to the little boy’s excitement about making a new little squirrel friend, but he also saw me trying to put that adapter and magnification lens on the camera, and knew what it was I was trying to do….and was laughing. I brought it up afterwards and he kept laughing.

Boys will be boys, I guess…whether they’re grown up, or wearing a diaper.

I wish the player was not set for automatic play.

Dick Morris appears on Newsmax TV and I have it embedded here. Open the post to watch. (more…)

Book links Obama to massacre of Christians
Senator’s continuing ally launches genocidal tribal violence

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has continued to support Kenya’s Raila Odinga, even after Odinga has been blamed for inciting tribal violence and slaughtering Christians, according to an explosive new book written by WND senior staff reporter Jerome R. Corsi.

In “The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,” Corsi argues that Odinga’s protests following his loss to U.S.-backed Mwai Kibaki in Kenya’s 2007 presidential election led to a wave of tribal and religious violence aimed against Kibaki’s majority Kikuyu tribe.

The violence Obama’s ally was blamed for included the slaughter of some 50 Pentecostal Christians.

As WND reported earlier, during his first visit to Kenya as a U.S. Senator in 2006, Obama openly campaigned for Odinga, to the point where Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua accused Obama of meddling inappropriately in Kenyan presidential politics. Mutua charged during a television news video that Obama had become a “stooge” to Odinga during the Kenyan presidential election campaign. Obama’s father belonged to the same Luo tribe as Odinga.

In the disputed Dec. 27, 2007, presidential vote, Odinga charged he was denied winning the presidency by voter fraud.

After the election, Odinga pressed for a power-sharing arrangement in which he would be the prime minister in a government where Kibaki was president, with the two factions sharing a 50-50 power split in the cabinet.

Odinga’s claim led to widespread fighting that killed more than 1,000 people in the weeks after the election, leaving more than 350,000 Kenyans displaced.

While proving involvement is difficult, many in Kenya assumed the post-election violence was supported, if not organized, behind the scenes by Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement party.

Naturally Obama bloggers have tried to come here saying that this isn’t true.

But one doesn’t need to wonder about Obama’s Greek temple set up at the DNC; it’s merely tipping their hat to history and the Greeks’ throwing Christians to the lions in front of the crowds.

Update: It was actually the Romans who fed the Christians to the lions. The Greek Temples in fact housed cult statues and storehouses of treasures that were ‘given’ to the gods.

When you’re talking about polar opposites of the political spectrum - where pro life in the progressive world means ‘anti-choice’ instead of killing babies, where ‘war’ means you haven’t had enough arugula or peace and conflict studies (but you come to the rude awakening one day that there’s nothing you can do to stop them wanting to kill you - and all the ‘kumbaya’ isn’t going to stop them, and where dealing with terrorism is giving them rights that are not due them because terrorists do not abide by any rules and are not covered under the Geneva conventions…then you’re talking about people who believe in the opposite of what you believe. I believe in capitalism, they do not; I believe in God, they do not; and on and on down the line. Pick a subject. They believe in global warming, I do not; they believe Obama is a savior, I do not.

Look, I’ve been watching the meltdown of the Obamanazis over Larry Sinclair since my first radio show, which happened to be introducing Larry Sinclair’s allegations of homosexual sex and cocaine use in 1999 with Barack Hussein Obama. Since then, there have been a lot of other little tidbits that have come out about Obama that had nothing to do with Donald Young’s murder, or Barack’s homosexual tendencies and history over the years with men outside his marriage to Michelle.

But knowing that Michelle got up on stage and talked about the importance of family and about what a good dad Barack is…well…it turned my stomach.

Now, they’re jumping all over Sarah Palin, and some of what they’ve put into print is down right disgusting.

For example, there is the suggestion that Trig, her fairly new downs syndrome baby isn’t actually hers, it’s her teenage daughter’s.

There is a whole post which disparages McCain as being a sexist, as being a horndog who fantasizes over her taking her glasses off and letting her hair down (leftists are always jealous of attractive conservative babes), and pokes fun at her favorite food being ‘moose stew’ - with the headline “Mooseburgers for Everyone to Celebrate Palin, McCain’s VP Pick!”

Nasty, nasty, nasty! Nasty is what they’re becoming known for, along with pornographic comments and death threats.

Moonbats Already Stooping Low in Palin Attacks (That’s Van Helsing talking about the kossacks’ attack on her)

These outbursts of moonbattery simply point to the fact that McCain has made a really wise choice.

What I’d really like to see, though, if it’s possibly anymore - is a brokered convention where our choice for President is someone like Sarah Palin.

I’m not sure I’m falling for this, but I will continue to listen to what she has to say.

As far as I’m concerned, I think he’s wrong for America as president.

But…there is still time between now and November, I just might change my mind.

(That’s a big step; I never thought I’d hear myself say that.)

Back to the Obamanazi

McCain chooses Sarah Palin for VP spot (after meeting her once) to woo disgruntled Hillraisers, to get financial support from his heretofore unexcited conservative base who was gonna vote for him anyway, and as an attempt to reignite his fading image as a maverick. Moreover, I’m sure McCain is trying to figure out if she can be paid less for being a VP than his other strung-along would-be male picks since he’s against equal pay for women. The above must be the reasons since Palin’s experience does not qualify her to potentially be a heartbeat away from being the Leader of the Free World, even more troubling, when you consider whose 72 year old little off beat heart we’re talkin’ about, here. To end on a positive note with regard to Palin, you can’t deny her superwoman status–three days after giving birth to her son with Down Syndrome (now 5 months), she was back in the office trying to make sure that polar bears aren’t considered an endangered species, that BIG OIL rules, that incest and rape victims do not have a right to abortion, and that creationism will be taught in school, that is, if one can’t home-school. No worries about missing dinner for her big family of 7, she’s probably got that handled too. She’s a moose hunter and could have enough frozen microwavable mooseburgers to feed an army stored up for a year!

There is nothing there but exaggeration. In Ed Morrissey’s piece, What Palin does for McCain, and to Obama Ed explains that little bit about experience.

Palin spent her entire political career crusading against the political machine that rules Alaska — which exists in her own Republican party. She blew the whistle on the state GOP chair, who had abused his power on the same commission to conduct party business. Obama, in contrast, talked a great deal about reform in Chicago but never challenged the party machine, preferring to take an easy ride as a protegé of Richard Daley instead.

Palin has no formal foreign-policy experience, which puts her at a disadvantage to Joe Biden. However, in nineteen months as governor, she certainly has had more practical experience in diplomacy than Biden or Obama have ever seen. She runs the only American state bordered only by two foreign countries, one of which has increasingly grown hostile to the US again, Russia.

And let’s face it — Team Obama can hardly attack Palin for a lack of foreign-policy experience. Obama has none at all, and neither Obama or Biden have any executive experience. Palin has almost over seven years of executive experience.

Politically, this puts Obama in a very tough position. The Democrats had prepared to launch a full assault on McCain’s running mate, but having Palin as a target creates one large headache. If they go after her like they went after Hillary Clinton, Obama risks alienating women all over again. If they don’t go after her like they went after Hillary, he risks alienating Hillary supporters, who will see this as a sign of disrespect for Hillary.

The writer at myObama.com doesn’t know or want to recognize what there is to Palin which Morrissey spells out there. It’s the reason why she’s the subject of ridicule from the Obamanazis, which I see as a good sign.

The more unhinged they are, the more they go on full assault mode, the more you know you’re on the right track.

The writer mustn’t know a lot about Cindy McCain–she is very strong and accomplished in her own right. A pilot, among other things.

It appears as though the Obamanazi did a little editing since that post went up. Sweetness and Light has the full text.

Contrast and compare how well Palin has done in the google searches as compared to Biden.

Methinks the Obama campaign has quite a problem. Hat tip Patrick Ruffini on Twitter.

Vets for Freedom has released a new advertisement highlighting the success that our fighting men and women have had as a direct result of the surge in Iraq.

The ad also highlights Barak Obama’s disparaging remarks about the Surge - both before and during the fighting. Please help us continue running this ad throughout the country. (that’s an old link, I can’t find a ‘donate’ button on their website) The American people deserve to know the positions that Barak Obama has taken, and will continue to take, while our servicemen are still in harm’s way.

The thirty-second spot features three VFF members–all of which were part of the Surge–who personally attest to our success in Iraq; all three asking Senator Obama - point blank - to support their success, and the success of all troops, by supporting the bi-partisan resolution introduced by Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham recognizing the success of the Surge and expressing gratitude to the men and women who made it possible. (Senate Resolution 636, introduced July 31, 2008).

Your Donation of $100, $200, $500 or even $1,000 will go directly towards buying air time for this commercial. Senator Obama has said that he would still oppose the Surge in Iraq if given another opportunity, and has pointed to every outside factor - except the Surge - to explain improvements in Iraq.

It’s not enough to say you “support the troops.” Now is the time to demonstrate - in the Senate and across the country - that supporting the troops means recognizing, honoring, and supporting their incredible success.

—

Through email from Vets for Freedom. God bless our troops.

And McCain’s incredible introduction before she speaks. I’m not sure I like all that stuff about being a union member…you have to wonder sometimes who McCain thinks he’s talking to.

But stressing that public service is exactly what it says it is - SERVING THE PUBLIC - instead of special interests and leftists and terrorists with deep pockets, this looks pretty good.

But damn, I wish Palin was the candidate for President and not McCain. How much is she going to be able to influence his Maverick-ness?

“challenge the status quo” and “serve the common good”?

Apparently she has challenged the status quo in her own state of Alaska, by taking on people in her own party ‘for the common good’ of Alaskans.

Boy, I’ll bet the Obama/Biden camp are having conniption fits right now; they won’t be able to attack Palin on very much, considering her experience and record.

Hat tip to Cathouse Chat.

See also this insightful article by Ed Morrissey: What Palin does for McCain, and to Obama

My husband said these birds are finches; he’s right; after doing some research for male and female goldfinches, I found pictures almost identical to these.

This was somewhere around the kangaroo exhibit where the large ostrich-like emus were. It was in an area that was not fenced in, and these were simply local birds eating from flowers that had gone to seed.

My husband remarked that they were EVERYWHERE; they were flitting from one seeded former flower to the next, anxiously harvesting the seeds.

The bright yellow birds (the males) were not as easy to photograph as their paler counterparts (the females).

Goldfinch Female

Imagine how surprised I was when my husband had nailed what they were - and I wasn’t exactly sure.

This is the first time I’ve seen them close-up and personal, I’ve seen them at the Crabtree Nature Center and along the side of the road flying from branch to branch in bushes. I had the impression that they were smaller birds from those experiences, but this was a wonderful experience having them so close as to be able to take some reasonable pictures of them.

From my sister through email.

An email from Ireland to all of their brethren in the States…a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:

We, in Ireland, can’t figure out why you people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States.

On one side, you had a pants wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer who can’t seem to keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is married to yet another lawyer, who doesn’t even like the country her husband wants to run!

Now…on the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate ‘Mc’ terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship!!

What in God’s name are ye lads thinkin’ over in the colonies!

OBAMA ANTHEM LYRICS
All hail the messiah
Obama, Obama
The path to the new socialist motherland
Our savior, our savior
Obama, Obama
The leader more famous than Lindsay Lohan
Bow down and praise the one
Give him your money and your guns
Give us a country
That makes your wife proud
Lord Barry heal the bitter ones
White and Clinging to faith and to guns
Hope for the change of the hope of the change!

Hat tip Beagle Scout and Glenn Beck. This is the Glenn Beck Parody base on the Hymn “Gimn Sovetskogo Soyuza” (The National Anthem of the Soviet Union)

I don’t really think it’s a parody; the campaign and Scott Covington and his sychophants should use it.

I saw this at Michelle Malkin’s, where she put up a post celebrating McCain’s choice for VEEP.

I’m just wondering if McCain’s choice is going to make that much of a difference, considering his history as far as working with John Kerry to normalize relations with Vietnam at the expense of POW/MIA families by burying that issue forever, and numerous other things - such as preferring to work with democrats rather than people in his own party.

If Palin was running for President, though, I’d vote for her in a heartbeat.

But…she has a 4-month old downs syndrome baby at home. As VEEP, how much attention will she be able to give this newborn child with a disability? The flipside of this, of course, is Obama’s reaction to Jill Stanek’s testimony of holding a downs syndrome baby for 45 minutes while it died - after picking it up out of a soiled laundry area of the hospital she was working in. Jill Stanek’s testimony about children born alive after their mothers attempt to abort them–is sad and compelling. Obama had little sympathy for the downs syndrome child whose mother didn’t want him; while Palin fairly recently gave birth to one with the same defect.

This is one tough cookie in my estimation, a brand new mother like that, joining McCain as his veep candidate….

Update: Third World County:

Well, surprise, surprise, surprise. Sarah Palin was on MSNBC with some Mass Media Podpeople Chicky, and Palin knocked me for a loop. The Q&A went something like this:

Mass Media Podpeople Chicky: “*Blah, blah blah blah?*”

Palin: “*Rapid-fire, on target, forceful, clear, sensible answer without a buncha meaningless buzz words*”

Lather, rinse, repeat.

No bullshit! I was stunned. A politician talking w/o bullshit? Look for the apocalypse.

Lame Cherry puts it quite well in Sarah Palin: America’s Chance:

Pretty in life usually does not mean a great deal inside, but in Sarah Palin one finds a lady who carried a down syndrome baby last year to full term and delivered that baby in putting into life all of the things in the Bible, the United States Constitution and what so many people who talk of “life” have nothing to back up what they are saying but words.

There is something telling about a lady who has invested now her remaining life to nurture one child that the world said she could have aborted.

Of course what LC is referring the Obamaworld/nation which is so clueless, it can’t figure out when life begins. I’m going to have to put this to prayer.

Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, Is It Just Me?, Mark My Words, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Shadowscope, , Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Pursuing Holiness, Pet’s Garden Blog, third world county, , Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate’s Cove, , The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, , NN&V, Conservative Cat, Nuke’s, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, Political Byline, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, , Beagle Scout, and CORSARI D’ITALIA, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Stingray bay was a place full of an odd excitement that I didn’t share.

Young families were there with their children, and lifted them up to lean over into a pool where live stingrays were swimming around and a nurse shark. I didn’t find the nurse shark in there, but the whole experience kind of gave me the willies.

There was a lifeguard type of a person with a microphone who was coaching people regarding how to “pet” them.

People were encouraged to pet the stingrays, and the stingrays apparently like to be petted.

One lady said “go ahead! They’re soft!”

And I thought to myself, no thanks, I’m here to take in the sights, not pet the wildlife.

I found it to be a very strange place, the idea in itself rubbed against the grain, although I don’t know why.

We should strive to understand creatures like this, but I don’t think it’s right to teach people that they are totally harmless and can be stroked like a pet domestic dog.

They were gliding gracefully by, flying through the water like water borne birds - they were strikingly beautiful; but although I’d washed my arms up to my elbows, I wasn’t interested in touching them, and neither was my husband.

We went to Brookfield Zoo today and captured a lot of incredible pictures with our cameras. First, we stopped at the Butterfly Exhibit, which I’ve been dying to see since I first heard about it. It ends in the beginning of September, so I was anxious to try out the cameras - all of them - and for Steve to try his hand at taking some pics, since I don’t think he’s taken the time to do it before this.

I was right about that; he hadn’t. He was surprised at what he was able to accomplish with his elph; I was thrilled at what I was able to do with both the elph and the panasonic lumix. Steve really needs a digital camera to take the place of his fancy nikon that needs film.

Here are some of his butterfly pictures:

One of the dark swallowtail butterflies rested on my cap, and I was afraid to move.

It was a very fruitful trip in that the butterfly pictures - and scores of others - turned out to be breathtaking.

Here are a few of my butterfly shots.

I was so taken in by the variety of butterflies (particularly the different types of swallowtails), that I neglected to take some good shots of the monarchs, but luckily, Steve managed to get a few pictures of them.

Well it looks as though I got more monarch pictures than I thought. I think all of the butterflies in this picture and the next, with the screen in the background, have several monarchs in the picture, but I’m no expert. Maybe they’re viceroys.

The butterflies were fluttering everywhere, which made me a little nervous, since I was afraid I would have an immediate response to brush one off if it decided to light on me - they are so delicate, it wouldn’t take much to kill one. Luckily, it only happened on my cap, and I didn’t feel it.

There was lovely music softely playing that matched the magic of what we were witnessing in the exhibit. It was screened in, and there were so many butterflies that we needed to step carefully, lest we stepped on one that stopped to rest on the pathway. They were everywhere.

Little children were there - very excited to see what they were seeing; but the lady that briefed us on how we were to behave said not to touch them, to step carefully, and not to pick the flowers because they serve as the butterflies’ food.

This little girl didn’t seem to be all that interested, and her mom was trying to have her look.

I think this is one of only two monarch pictures I captured.

There are tons of pictures; I took over 400 of them, which is why I have more to show off. Steve is now looking at a Nikon and a Canon Rebel; I’m partial to the Rebel myself, after having read reviews and shopped some; but the Lumix was in my price range, and I bought it used and then beefed it up with a 3x lens to popo the 12x zoom in a little closer for those long shots.

The monkeys’ expressions were a little bit eerie and they seemed to be quite interested in the parade of people walking by looking at them.

This one in particular struck some interesting poses.

Several people commented on just who was on display when he settled into this pose.

When we were in the tropical exhibit where the monkeys are, the gorillas were somewhat amusing. And the people who were talking to their children explaining what they were watching was even more amusing. One young man was talking to his kids, and said…”See that grumpy guy over there in the corner? I’ll bet he’s the dad. And it looks like he just got home from work.”

I have more, and I’ll take a look to see if there’s anything else I want to share.

There are a couple of funny stories to tell, but I’ll reserve those for a different post.

All in all, we got a little sun in, a little relaxation, and tuned the world out for a while.

As always, I appreciated watching young families and their little children - particularly when they had very small babies in tow.

What if a Chinese rebel pulled off the biggest practical joke in history, and nobody got it?

In contrast to architect Paul Murdoch’s dirty trick (trying to plant a terrorist memorial mosque on the Flight 93 crash site), Zhang Yimou’s trick at the Beijing Olympics was moral, beautiful, and hilarious.

In case you missed it, the Beijing closing ceremony was an extended dramatization of the sexual act, ending with the fertilization of an egg.

Here is a still image of the final tableaux. After the circle of a thousand yellow-clad egg-girls has finally been penetrated by the couple hundred bouncing sperm-boys, the sperms rush to the center to form the nucleus of the fertilized egg, while the egg girls spread out to form the albumen:

Here is the video (two minutes):

If this WMV file won’t play on your computer, you can try reading this post over at Error Theory, where Alec’s original Blogger Video upload might still be working. (Access to the video is difficult because the NBC footage cannot be posted at YouTube or Google Video. The full video has been available at uZood. We claim that our shorter clips are FAIR USE, based on news value.)

Zhang Yimou’s drama began with WHAT LEADS to the fertilization of an egg (1 minute):

In between The Act and its result was a parade of floats, dramatizing the journey of the sperm through guess which body part:

Anatomical drawing, for comparison.

Wondering where the ovaries are? Floating 40 feet above the entire production:

No anatomical drawing needed to recognize this. Georgia O’Keefe would be scandalized.

But the performance wasn’t just a sex scene followed by a biology class. The whole production is rendered out of passion and spirit, which connect to the wellspring of spirit in the middle part of the performance, where the circulatory “chi” of the Tai Chi masters is depicted by lit circular bicycles, circulating through bordered pathways around the still pulsating sexual center:

Chi bicycles circulate the pathways of spiritual energy before passing through the red center itself, presumably symbolizing the delivery of the chi to the zygotes.

The philosophy behind this representation may be Taoist or Buddhist, but the result is hardly distinguishable from Catholicism, which also sees the spirit inhabiting the body at conception (an idea that the Chi-Coms, with their policies of forced abortion, might prefer to suppress).

In all a beautiful, profound, life affirming, and wonderfully amusing practical joke. The fertilization of the egg at the end is meant to be the punch line, confirming everyone’s suspicions about the obvious POSSIBLE sexual connotations of the preceding. This is not hidden folks. You are SUPPOSED to get it. (Original expose here.)

Choreographer Zhang Yimou is China’s most decorated film-maker, with a long history of butting heads with Communist censors, and of making sexy female-centered movies. It is not surprising that he would find a female-centered ode to procreation irresistible.

If some of his Communist overseers were in on the trick that is great news. If they have that much humor, maybe we can feel a bit better about them. The other possibility is that Yimou was able to keep his overseers from seeing enough of the production at once to figure it out. That would be a magnificent story of defiance, which will be lost if people don’t get it!

Life affirming vs. murder-cult affirming

This makes two examples of semi-hidden symbolism in a mega-scale production. We have architect Paul Murdoch’s dirty trick and Zhang Yimou’s wonderful, beautiful and very funny trick. Zhang is the good twin to Murdoch’s evil twin. In contrast to Zhang’s life-affirming symbolism, Murdoch is hiding the most disgusting tribute to evil and murder ever concocted.

If we can break the story of the good twin, and see Zhang’s production properly celebrated for what it truly is, that spotlight will shine on the evil twin as well, and reveal him for what he truly is. Zhang’s trick should also be a much easier story to break, and not just because half the world saw his production. If people are loathe to witness evil, either out of political calculation, or simply because they want to give the benefit of the doubt, everybody loves a good joke.

Zhang and Murdoch (Zhang is the surname) both needed for their symbolism to be semi-hidden. If it was too obvious, the hidden meaning would erupt in controversy and threaten the completion of the project. But the meaning couldn’t be too hidden. Once the production is a fait accompli, people have to get it. The symbolic accomplishment has to be demonstrable, or all is for naught.

The positive morality of Zhang’s display explains how he was able to get away with it. There can’t be a woman in that fertilized egg scene who, after multiple rehearsals, did not know that she was dramatizing the fertilization of an egg. There cannot be a man on spring shoes who did not know he was playing a sperm, but because it was beautiful and fun, everyone was willing to go along with the joke.

Ditto for any Chi-Coms who figured it out (probably as the performance date loomed). And why not? With such a lovely trick, if it comes out that the party knew, it will be to their credit that they let it proceed.

These dynamics of positive morality are not available to Paul Murdoch. For his evil scheme to advance, he needs a very different moral dynamic to be in play, a dynamic of willful blindness, where people look at the world in terms of what they think is most advantageous for them to see, instead of in terms of what is actually there. Unfortunately, this is the dominant cognitive style in much of America today.

It is no surprise that people who could choose a memorial that is laid out in the shape of an Islamic crescent and star flag would be determined not to be concerned that the crescent actually points to Mecca. After all, the crescent and star flag configuration is obvious:

Click for larger image.

Anyone who can be willfully blind to THAT can easily ignore what seems to them to be much more esoteric, like the orientation of the crescent. It doesn’t matter to them that the orientation of the crescent is actually the most important thing to Muslims, turning the crescent into the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. What MUSLIMS think? Why that is positively arcane, to anyone who finds it advantageous to think so.

To join our blogbursts, just send your blog’s url.

Trackposted to The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson’s Website, Is It Just Me?, Mark My Words, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Right Truth, DragonLady’s World, Shadowscope, , Leaning Straight Up, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Pursuing Holiness, Pet’s Garden Blog, third world county, , Woman Honor Thyself, Pirate’s Cove, , The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, A Blog For All, , NN&V, Conservative Cat, Nuke’s, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Allie is Wired, Political Byline, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, , Beagle Scout, and CORSARI D’ITALIA, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama
Will candidate follow other Dems who gave back jihad-tied funds?

And excerpt from the above-linked article at WND:

Jamal M. Barzinji earlier this year gave Obama $1,000, a gift that records show has not been returned. Other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Jim Moran, have refunded donations from Barzinji since federal agents raided his Virginia home and offices in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Obama’s top Muslim adviser resigned earlier this month over controversy surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Barzinji, who heads a network of Islamic charities and businesses.

Barzinji remains at the center of an active federal investigation into terrorist financing that involves recently convicted terrorist supporter Sami al-Arian. A grand jury is still hearing the widening case in Northern Virginia.

Communists for Obama, Socialists for Obama, Marxists for Obama and Jihadis for Obama. They’re all in it together, anyway - the goal to destroy America as we know it is evident and clear. It’s appalling that someone like this is running for president, particularly since there is reason to believe he’s not even eligible to run.

I think I’ve mentioned my “thing” for men with an accent before…and Alan Rickman is no exception; brits are extaordinarily attractive, regardless as to what they’re saying.

I would say just about anyone with an accent is attractive; as long as it’s REAL and not put on - such as Scott Covington’s Inspector Clousseau-like FAKE french accent.

When Rickman whispers shakespeare…I get a thrill up my leg. LOL

And of course, he morphs into all different characters…and adds his particularly blend of charm to each one.

I particularly appreciated his portrayal of the character who was out to get Tom Selleck’s character Quigley in Quigley Down Under. He even stomped his feet as the spoiled brat villain who gets everything he wants…which made me want to repeatedly rewind the tape.

He was also very good in Robin Hood and a few others…he’s a very good character actor.

Long hair, short hair, blonde, brunette or greying…doesn’t matter, this guy has that special SOMETHING…
that makes any project he’s involved in a pleasure to watch.

Men who make us dream….

Now when it’s Shakespeare…it is swoonworthy. Listen to him pour his chocolatey smooth voice out on Shakespeare’s “When Love Speaks”, Sonnet 130.

An interview with Rickman

C’mon and trackback! Put up a post that you think deserves some special attention from this past week.

Trackbacks have changed TO weekend trackback parties, which will be published on Friday -weekend trackback parties will now be for trackbacks from Friday through Sunday, a new one will go up on Monday, another on Wednesday, etc. I will have no More Sunday Trackback parties.

Here’s the link:

http://caosblog.com/8578

Here is the trackback link to this post:

http://caosblog.com/8578/trackback/

To trackback to any post just use the post slug or “permalink” and add trackback/ to the end of it.

One other thing.

I will be deleting trackbacks when the posts don’t show that you’ve linked here. Make sure you do as I did, below–either saying thanks to Cao’s blog and linking to this post, or mention that I have a trackback party, and link to this post. Otherwise the trackback will be deleted.

If you are unable to send trackbacks, then use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger.

Others with Open Trackbacks:

Add this Blogroll to your site