The times they are a changin' . . . or maybe not

So, Obama will have his JFK moment in Berlin today and since he has a prepared speech with a teleprompter, we are expecting no Uhms ...

Nothing yet on the mainstream about Edwards/girlfriend story but I suspect this story is NOT going away because pictures will be coming out soon . . . Slate has a theory on why this story is not being covered ~ I disagree with this theory, but hey ~ here it is: http://www.slate.com/id/2195869/

and to prove that history keeps repeating itself, Russian Missiles in Cuba? http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/24/world/main4288940.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4288940

and then there's this really original statement by Obama in Israel yesterday: "Never Again"

and then the BRILLIANT McCain campaign sits him on golf cart with elder Bush in Kennebunkport for photo-op . . . priceless (almost as well as Dole's campaign strategy) . . .

the times, they are a changin' ? I don't think so . . .

Ms Calabaza

Obama in Berlin today ~ Here's the Poster

"Ich bin ein leere Klage"

Translation: I am an empty suit

Antiwar Hypocrites
Original Article

AM I the only one who's noticed the silence? Mere months ago, left-wing bloggers and demonstrators were wailing Support our troops, bring them home! seven days a week. Now their presidential candidate has announced that he won't bring all those troops home, but will simply transfer combat forces from Iraq to Afghanistan - expanding that war. (He's discussed possibly invading Pakistan, too.)

Normally I don't like religion mixed with government, but . . .

OK, so I don't get this . . .

What? All in one news cycle . . .

New York Times 2Q profit drops 82 percent

NEW YORK (AP) - New York Times Co. says its second-quarter earnings fell 82 percent from the year-ago quarter boosted by a one-time gain. Meanwhile, print advertising revenue continued to shrink.

so what does management decide to to do?

New York Times to raise newsstand price to $1.50

NEW YORK (AP)- The New York Times [NYT] Co. will increase the Monday-Saturday newsstand cost of its flagship paper by 25 cents to $1.50, the publisher said today. Times Chief Executive Janet Robinson said the price increase for the New York Times will take effect Aug. 18. The company has already raised home delivery prices for the paper 4.5 percent in two separate hikes since last July.

and another one bites the dust . . .

Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night, July 21 . . . see Drudge Report.

Can you just picture this?

Shocked to see a reporter, and without saying anything, Edwards ran up the stairs leading from the hotel basement to the lobby. But, spotting a photographer, he doubled back into the basement. As he emerged from the stairwell, reporter Butterfield questioned him about his hookup with Rielle. Edwards did not answer and then ran into a nearby restroom. He stayed inside for about 15 minutes, refusing to answer

After we confronted him about seeing Rielle, Edwards looked like a deer caught in headlights! "He was clearly surprised that we had caught him at this very late hour inside the hotel. "Some guests up at this late hour watched the spectacle in amusement from a staircase nearby."

I wonder if Hillary was wishing he had won the nomination now?

Pathetic.

UPDATE: More on Congressional Sex Scandals here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/congress.htm

**and this one is for my Democrat friends or just folks who love to dis the Republicans - and it has videos!

http://www.badmouth.net/top-five-republican-gay-sex-scandals/

Please, please help me ... I can't take it anymore!

Obama orgy

Original Article

The blatant bias of the major national news media toward Barack Obama is now so overwhelming that it would not be worth noting, except that the election of a President of the United States is involved. It is a propaganda blitz that would make the Kremlin blush. By election day, we fully expect John McCain to be vilified as a Vietnam-era war criminal and worse.

UPDATE: http://www.breitbart.tv/html/136003.html

h/t: Ferfe

Radio host angers parents of autistic children
Original Article

NEW YORK - Radio talk show host Michael Savage, who described 99 percent of children with autism as brats, said Monday he was trying to ''boldly awaken'' parents to his view that many people are being wrongly diagnosed. (Snip) ''That isn't just freedom of speech, it is hateful speech when you say 99 percent of children with autism are brats,'' she said.

Today's Toon {{ click to enlarge }}

Today's Toon {{ click to enlarge }}

Uh-oh!

A New Jersey man trying to exterminate insects in his apartment blew it up instead, the New York Daily News reported on Monday.
Isias Vidal Maceda was unhurt in the incident, but 80 percent of his apartment was destroyed, Eatontown, New Jersey police told the newspaper.
The accident occurred as Maceda was spraying for pests in his kitchen. Somehow the bug spray ignited a blast that blew out the apartment's front windows and triggered a fire that quickly spread, the newspaper said.
Police told the newspaper that the Saturday blaze also caused smoke damage to the apartment above.

So, does it make me an absolutely awful human being because I laughed out loud about this?

Ms Calabaza

Is your bank safe?

FerfeLabat has a great post today here:

http://www.ferfelabat.com/

It seems she had been reading about all the bank failures in the news, and although she was pretty confident her bank was solid, she decided to check . . . ayyyyyyyyyy!

Check your bank with her link.

The Audacity of BIAS !

NYT REJECTS MCCAIN'S EDITORIAL;

SHOULD 'MIRROR' OBAMA

An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the NEW YORK TIMES -- less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's 'My Plan for Iraq' has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles.'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece,' NYT Op-Ed editor David Shipley explained in an email late Friday to McCain's staff. 'I'm not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.'MORE In McCain's submission to the TIMES, he writes of Obama: 'I am dismayed that he never talks about winning the war—only of ending it... if we don't win the war, our enemies will. A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us. That is something I will not allow to happen as president.' NYT's Shipley advised McCain to try again: 'I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft.'[Shipley served in the Clinton Administration from 1995 until 1997 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speechwriter.] MORE A top McCain source claims the paper simply does not agree with the senator's Iraq policy, and wants him to change it, not "re-work the draft."McCain writes in the rejected essay: 'Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy. I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington. Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent. 'I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there,' he said on January 10, 2007. 'In fact, I think it will do the reverse.' MORE Shipley, who is on vacation this week, explained his decision not to run the editorial. 'The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.'Shipley continues: 'It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama's piece. To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.' Developing...

Ya think?

Is media playing fair in campaign coverage?

Television news' royalty will fly in to meet Barack Obama during this week's overseas trip: CBS chief anchor Katie Couric in Jordan on Tuesday, ABC's Charles Gibson in Israel on Wednesday and NBC's Brian Williams in Germany on Thursday.
The anchor blessing defines the trip as a Major Event and — much like a "Saturday Night Live" skit in February that depicted a press corps fawning over Obama — raises anew the issue of fairness in campaign coverage.
The news media have devoted significantly more attention to the Democrat since Hillary Rodham Clinton suspended her campaign and left a two-person contest for the presidency between Obama and Republican John McCain, according to research conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism.

full story here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080720/ap_en_tv/ap_on_tv_obama_s_trip
On the Net:
http://www.journalism.org/news_index

Can we afford this?

O's Health RX: Cover Illegals

Original Article

DEMOCRATS' single most important domestic proposal - universal health insurance - may blow up in Barack Obama's face when voters are exposed to the deadly details. Obama has said, proudly and often, "I am going to give health insurance to 47 million Americans who are now without coverage." But are they "Americans?"

Will Mini Go Electric?

BMW intends to use its Mini brand as a test bed for electric

BMW has announced plans to begin testing electric powertrains in its Mini brand vehicles. Several hundred Minis are currently being built at the company factory in Oxford, England, and will then be shipped to Munich, Germany, to receive electric powertrains, according to a statement from BMW Group. BMW will use electrically driven Mini test vehicles to refine alternative-fuel technology and assess its future potential for mass production, the statement said. BMW representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Automotive News Europe reported that 490 of the Minis will be leased in California and 10 will be used as show cars.

I totally want one!!!

Dear Barack Obama

Original Article

Dear Senator Obama, Welcome to Israel. When you arrive here on July 22, you will encounter a people intrigued by your candidacy and, given the current crisis of Israeli leadership, envious of your capacity to inspire. Issues that have worried some Americans about your background have scarcely been noted here. The whispering campaign labeling you a Muslim wasn't taken seriously by mainstream Israelis. Nor are we fazed by your middle name:

News you may not have heard . . .

French search for stolen Semtex

BBC Original Article

French anti-terrorist officers are searching for 28kg (61lb) of Semtex explosive missing from a depot in the suburbs of the city of Lyon. France's interior ministry confirmed an investigation was underway, saying the manager of the site had been suspended.

UPDATE:

Semtex is a general-purpose plastic explosive. It was first made by the Semtín East Bohemian Chemical Works in the Czech Republic, it is used in commercial blasting, demolition, and in certain military applications. Semtex became notoriously popular with terrorists because it was, until recently, extremely difficult to detect, as in the case of Pan Am Flight 103.

Myth of Consensus Explodes:

APS Opens Global Warming Debate

Original Article

The American Physical Society, an organization representing nearly 50,000 physicists, has reversed its stance on climate change and is now proclaiming that many of its members disbelieve in human-induced global warming. The APS is also sponsoring public debate on the validity of global warming science. The leadership of the . . .

Today's Toons {{ click to enlarge }}

OUCH ! ! !

President Bush has been a "total failure" in everything from the economy to the war to energy policy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

In an interview on CNN, the California Democrat was asked to respond to video of the president criticizing the Democratic-led Congress for heading into the final 26 days of the legislative session without having passed a single government spending bill.
Pelosi shot back in unusually personal terms.
"You know, God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi replied. She then tsk-tsked Bush for "challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again."
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino defended Bush.
"What the president said is a fact - this is the longest a Congress has gone in 20 years without passing a single spending bill, so it's clear that the speaker is feeling some frustration at their inability to do so."

How everything in Washington is run . . .

Fannie, Freddie spent $200M to buy influence

If you want to know how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have survived scandal and crisis, consider this: Over the past decade, they have spent nearly $200 million on lobbying and campaign contributions.
But the political tentacles of the mortgage giants extend far beyond their checkbooks.
The two government-chartered companies run a highly sophisticated lobbying operation, with deep-pocketed lobbyists in Washington and scores of local Fannie- and Freddie-sponsored homeowner groups ready to pressure lawmakers back home.
They’ve stacked their payrolls with top Washington power brokers of all political stripes, including Republican John McCain’s presidential campaign manager, Rick Davis; Democrat Barack Obama’s original vice presidential vetter, Jim Johnson; and scores of others now working for the two rivals for the White House.
Fannie and Freddie’s aggressive political maneuvering has helped stave off increased regulation and preserve special benefits such as exemption from state and local income taxes and the ability to borrow at low rates.
When their stock prices took a dive last week, their government allies extended another helping hand with a plan for the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and, possibly, Congress to shore up the companies.
The housing crisis is sure to linger into the next administration, when the mortgage companies will inevitably be well-represented — no matter who’s in the White House.
Fannie and Freddie’s political contacts exist deep in the two presidential campaigns.

At least 20 McCain fundraisers have lobbied on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, netting at least $12.3 million in fees over the past nine years.

A spokesman for the Obama campaign declined to comment, noting only that former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson stepped down from his campaign post in June. His resignation came in the wake of charges that he collected more then $7 million in home loans at special, below-average rates.

When the bean counters make the decisions . . .

US Airways pilots: We're pressured to cut fuel

WASHINGTON (AP) — The pilots union for US Airways said Wednesday the airline is pressuring pilots to use less fuel than they feel is safe in order to save money.
US Airways Captain James Ray, a spokesman for the US Airline Pilots Association, which represents the airline's 5,200 pilots, said eight senior pilots and the union have filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration.
. . . US Airways recently crossed the line when it ordered eight pilots who requested "an extra 10 to 15 minutes worth of fuel" to attend training sessions, or "check rides," that could put their pilot licenses in jeopardy, Ray said. The pilots were supposed to report for their training sessions Wednesday, he said.
"We feel they're trying to set an example," Ray said. "Captains shouldn't be intimidated into thinking, 'If I say I need this fuel, they may send me for a check ride.' ... Cutting peanuts off the plane, that's one thing. But cutting a captain's fuel level below his comfort, that's another thing."

full story at AP

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Today's Toons {{ click to enlarge }}