The Anthrax Attacks - Solved?

One of the nation's top biodefense researchers has died in Maryland from an apparent suicide, just as the Justice Department was to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailing assaults of 2001 that killed five, the Los Angeles Times has learned.

Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who for the past 18 years worked at the government's elite biodefense research laboratories at Fort Detrick, Md., had been informed of the impending prosecution, people familiar with Ivins, his suspicious death and with the FBI investigation said.

Ivins' name had not been disclosed publicly as a suspect in the case that disrupted mail service and Senate business three weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Maryland scientist had for years played a pivotal role in research to improve anthrax vaccines, preparing anthrax formulations used in experiments on animals.Regarded as a skilled microbiologist, Ivins also had helped the FBI analyze the powdery material recovered from one of the anthrax-tainted envelopes sent to a U.S. senator's office in Washington, D.C.

Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital after having ingested a massive dose of prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine, said a friend and colleague who declined to be identified out of concern, he said, that he would be harassed by the FBI.

Fuck!  I wanted so badly to see whoever did those attacks go to jail and be execute for that crime.  Those attacks killed innocent Americans and injured an infant who was exposed.

Well, if there is any other suspects, I hope they get what's coming to them, but for me, when a suspect kills themselves, it speaks volumes of their guilt.

It doesn't prove they were guilty, but I know I wouldn't off myself if I was innocent.

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Losers And Whiners

We already know that Republicans hate government by the people. According to them, if you are not rich you are a "loser" who deserves nothing because you are not "contributing" to the corporate economy.

After New Orleans it was pretty clear that they also just hated the people. Recently McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm said the country's problems with the economy are a "mental recession," and said of people losing their homes, jobs, pensions and health care: "We have sort of become a nation of whiners."
Well, here is another example. Open Left found this. Here is Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, talking about the thousands who drowned in New Orleans:

So I don't want anybody telling me that we have to offset a disaster relief package for the Midwest where people are hurting, when we didn't do it for New Orleans. Why the double standard? Is it because people aren't on rooftops complaining for helicopters to rescue them, and you see it on television too much? We aren't doing that in Iowa. We are trying to help ourselves in Iowa. We have a can-do attitude. It doesn't show up on television like it did in New Orleans for 2 months.

People trapped in rising water, downing, were whiners "on rooftops complaining for helicopters to rescue them."

Conservatives say that the poor are "losers" who "made bad decisions" and shouldn't be "rewarded." Here is a typical example, at the Republican TownHall website,

Liberals feel an irresistible instinct to take sides with the less fortunate.

While the right wants to reward beneficial choices and discourage destructive directions, the left seeks to eliminate or reduce the impact of the disadvantages that result from bad decisions. In place of the conservative emphasis on accountability, the left proffers a gospel of indiscriminate compassion.

This leads directly, and inevitably, to the liberal passion to sanctify victimhood.

"Enlightened" lefties long to embrace and exalt all those who claim to have suffered from hard luck or oppression: the homeless, single mothers, "people of color," homosexuals, AIDS patients, feminists, convicted criminals, Native Americans, atheists, immigrants and many more.

[. . .] In fact, the recent hearings about the shabby treatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reade Medical Center represented a concerted effort to transform America's military into a victims group worthy of liberal sympathy.

. . . Moreover, raising taxes on high earners in order to provide more give-aways to the unproductive clearly punishes success while rewarding failure.

. . . Leftists feel virtuous and unselfish for invariably embracing the losers, but with this persistent preference it's society itself that loses most.

This is beyond nasty. This is hateful. Unfortunately it is just typical of what you find when you read conservative opinion these days. This is hatred of humanity.

People drowning in a flood are "complaining." The poor are "losers."

It is time to restore humanity to our discourse. It is time to reject these conservatives and their nasty, hateful excuses for their own greed and fear.

Incorrect.  We see people who ignore warnings, refuse to help themselves, and be fiscally irresponsible as "whiners".

The American people, not just Republicans, are tired of listening to those on the Left whine about how the government should have bent over backwards for Katrina, when people were warned upwards of a week in advance.

We're tired of STILL paying the rent for people effected by the hurricane almost 3 years later.  We're tired of giving money to people who don't appreciate it, ask for more, or refuse to use it wisely.

We're tired of paying for people who make bad business decisions, including Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and homeowners who bought more then they could afford.

We're tired of listening to people whine about how they had to cut Starbucks out of their daily lives because money became "tight".

They have NO CLUE about what it means to be truly poor.  There are people all over the world that DREAM of being poor in America.  Where you have food, clean water, medicine, and a roof over your head.

You can go to the dumpster's behind fast food places and eat better then 90% of Africa's citizens.

Yet, there's still people who bitch about having to sell their 3,500 square foot home because they can't afford it.

Put things in perspective before you get defensive about being called a "whiner", you just may be one.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Got Another One

Al-Qaida has posted a statement on the Internet saying one of its commanders in Afghanistan has been killed by a U.S. airstrike.

Abu Abdullah al-Shami was one of four al-Qaida militants who brazenly escaped from U.S.-run Bagram prison in Afghanistan three years ago.

Thursday's statement was dated July 14 and signed by the terror network's top Afghanistan commander, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed.

One down, many more to go.  What do you want to bet if we told Pakistan about it, they'd war the fucker?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

We Should Be Grateful

CRUDE oil prices above $US120 a barrel are "abnormal" and could fall to about $US78 under the right circumstances, OPEC president Chakib Khelil said in Jakarta yesterday.

"If the dollar continues to strengthen and the political situation (regarding Iran) improves, then the long-term prices will be about $US78," Mr Khelil said, adding the market was well supplied with oil.

Crude prices have doubled over the past two years but have fallen from record highs of $US147 a barrel earlier this month.

They were trading at around $US125 yesterday.

"There's a balance in the market," Mr Khelil said. "I would say stocks are at a good level and there hasn't been any disruption in demand."

Asked whether any members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries should cut production if oil prices continued to fall, he said: "No, I don't think so. Why should they cut production?

"They always want to make sure there's good supply and demand and to satisfy the demand."

Oh glory be when we can have oil at $78 a barrel!  We can have gas back down to $2.50 a gallon and the world will be right again.  Nevermind that gas was $1.80 only a few short years ago.

Unfortunately for them, many Americans and many auto makers are already shifting to more fuel efficient and electric cars.  People have been burned twice now by high oil prices, and we're simply not going to let it happen again because of terrorism and pure greed upon the part of OPEC nations.

You're too late guys, you should have done something about it a while ago.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Provoking War

Following are excerpts from an interview with Iranian Vice President Esfandyar Rahim Mashai, which aired on Al-Manar TV on July 28, 2008. Mashai reportedly said earlier this week that Iran is the friend of the nations in Israel and the U.S. The translation is based on the Arabic voiceover.

Esfandyar Rahim Mashai: The Islamic Republic of Iran did not, does not, and will not accept the legitimacy of this Zionist entity. No Iranian citizen or party will ever accept this.

[...]

The world should know that the Zionist regime is plundering and illegitimate. Its existence does not serve the interests of humanity. It is harmful to everybody. The plundering Zionist entity is close to its end. In my view, this regime is dead, and they are only postponing its funeral, while others believe that it is only in the process of dying. In any case, the era of the so-called Zionist entity has come to an end. This entity cannot confront the believing men of Hizbullah. We have seen how it admitted defeat after 33 days of aggression. Following that defeat, it is now among the dead. Therefore, we now witness consecutive victories by our brothers, the resistance fighters.

Anyone else take that as a direct threat?  Wouldn't the world turn on Dick Cheney if he made statements like this?  So why let Iran get away with it?

With their nuclear program pretty much summed up as a covert weapons program, time is running very short for Iran to come out of this peacefully.  However, with rhetoric like this, that appears VERY unlikely.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Fake, But Funny

I came across this on Youtube and thought I'd share in the fun. :)

 

Travis

The "Quagmire"

Eleven US soldiers were killed in Iraq in July, the lowest monthly toll since the 2003 invasion, according Pentagon figures, highlighting what US commanders say is a marked drop in overall violence.

The number compares with the deadliest month of November 2004 when 137 American troops were slain, an independent toll by icasualties.org showed. The previous low was in May this year when 19 soldiers were killed.

Since the US-led invasion of March 2003 that toppled now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, a total of 4,125 US troops have been killed in Iraq, according to independent website icasualties.org.

The downward trend began in the middle of last year after a US troop "surge", although there were two spikes in bloodshed in March and April when fierce fighting erupted between Shiite militiamen and US-led forces.

Icasualties.org said the number of Iraqi civilian dead fell to 302 in July, the lowest since April 2005, from 373 in June while the toll among Iraqi security forces rose in July to 91 from 77.

The commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus, said in an interview published two days ago that overall violence was falling to almost "normal" levels.

But he warned that the trend could be reversed by "sensational attacks" such as two bombings on Monday that rocked Baghdad and the northern oil hub of Kirkuk in which about 56 Iraqis were killed and more than 200 wounded.

"If you could reduce these sensational attacks further, I think you are almost approaching a level of normal or latent violence," Petraeus told USA Today.

"The fact that the levels of violence have come down so significantly and stayed down now for some two-and-a-half months... indicates there is a degree of durability."

Wait, wasn't the war in Iraq "lost" not only a few months ago according to several prominent Democrats?  Weren't we in a "quagmire" that we couldn't get out of??

Now, don't get me wrong, 11 soldiers dead is 11 too many.  4,100 is too many.  But, let's look at it another way.  We're engaged in an active war against an enemy that hides amongst the skirts of women, the toys of children, and the sanctity of mosques.  Last war we had in 1991, there were 275 dead in a war that lasted about a month. 

It's a sad fact that soldiers that go to war can and do not come alive sometimes.

But, for those that wanted to throw in the towel, give into an enemy that was terrorizing a nation, and would set up a base of operations, I say this: Told you so, you cocksuckers.

Perhaps next time you wouldn't be so willing to let good men and women die in vain and not accomplish the goals that they worked and died for.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

John Edwards - Love Child Even More Plausible?

It was only three weeks ago that John Edwards was fielding media questions on his chances of filling the Democratic Party's vice presidential slot on Barack Obama's ticket or a potential Cabinet position in an Obama administration.

On Wednesday, however, the former U.S. senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee was eager to duck the press when the questions took a tabloid turn.

About a dozen reporters and photojournalists attended a speech Edwards gave to an AARP Foundation symposium on poverty and aging in Washington. Afterward, he avoided most of the waiting reporters, at least some of whom wanted to question him about recent reports in the National Enquirer that alleged an inappropriate relationship with a former campaign videographer.

Citing unnamed sources, the Enquirer published a story in October claiming that Edwards was having an affair with a woman who filmed a series of campaign videos. The story resurfaced last week in the online version of the Enquirer, which claimed that Edwards had visited the woman and their "love child" July 21 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

In October, the woman posted an online statement denying the first story. In December, an Edwards campaign worker claimed to be the father of the woman's then-unborn child.

On Wednesday, Edwards apparently ducked out a side area used by the kitchen staff in the fourth-floor ballroom of Washington's historic Hotel Monaco. Edwards emerged from a lower-level handicap ramp near the rear of the hotel with two men. When approached by a Charlotte Observer reporter, Edwards said, "Can't do it now, I'm sorry" and quickly walked past.

Asked what he was doing at the Beverly Hilton last week, Edwards said "sorry" and got into a waiting car with the other men.

I'd REALLY like to see the evidence that's been piling up against John Edwards.  There's even rumors that John is making $15,000 a month in child support payments, but he's doing it in a creative way, which may run him afoul of campaign finance laws.

Oh God, how I'd love to see John Edwards' face splashed across the front page of CNN showing him in trouble for banging a woman on the side, and paying her hush money through illegal means.

God, if you're listening, grant me this wish.  The world could use a laugh right now. :)

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Pakistan's "Help"

Pakistan says its intelligence agents have been accused by the US of alerting al-Qaeda linked militants before the US launches missile attacks against them.

Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar said members of Inter-Services Intelligence were accused of "tipping off" militants before strikes in the tribal areas.

Mr Mukhtar said that the Americans "mistrusted" the ISI.

His unusual public admission of the rebuke seems to mark a new low in ties between the US and Pakistan's spies.

'Who's in charge?'

Mr Mukhtar was speaking in Washington, where he is accompanying Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on his first visit to the US.

Speaking on Pakistan's Geo TV, he said the Americans had alleged that information about targets was being "leaked".

"The burning issue of course is as to who controls the ISI," he said.

The ISI is accused of supporting Taleban fighters in Afghanistan

"In their [the Americans'] view there are some people at some level in the ISI who tip off the Taleban at some level about impending missile attacks when these are shared with the Pakistanis.

"They [the Americans] have expressed displeasure over this."

Mr Mukhtar also openly admitted that President Bush had asked who was really in charge of the ISI during the visit to Washington.

The BBC's security correspondent Rob Watson says that relations between the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the ISI appear decidedly strained.

Our correspondent says that the stern message apparently being delivered to Islamabad was that Pakistan has to do more to tackle ties between the ISI and Islamic extremists based in the country's tribal areas.

American unhappiness with Pakistan's recently-elected civilian government could also embarrass President Musharraf and the Pakistani army, in addition to raising new concerns about the stability of the nuclear-armed state.

'Great institution'

The US no longer gives Pakistan advance notice when it targets militants in tribal areas, correspondents say.

I've been saying it for a long while now:  Pakistan isn't helping out, and is actually playing both sides of this war.  That's something that shouldn't be tolerated AT ALL.  Aid should be shut down, blockades for trade should be enacted, and other types of punishment.

Every time we go after Al-Qaeda's big fish, we seem to just miss them.  Wonder no longer as to why.  Personally, if they cost us Bin Laden, or any of his henchmen, I think we ought to find creative ways to get even. :)

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Massive Failure

Nancy Pelosi's book "Know Your Power" has debuted at a whopping #853 in Amazon's book ranking and is rated a nice, perfect score of 1 star.

Here's some comments from people who've had the misfortune of reading it:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?, July 31, 2008

By
Publius (NC) - See all my reviews

The absolute arrogance and hypocracy of this woman. No wonder Congress' approval rating is half of President Bush's. With American families suffering from the high price of ENERGY - not just gas (of which she seems to have an unlimited supply)she should be back in the House passing comprehensive energy reform legislation, not lining her pockets. Even her own party is abandoning her. The book is horrible by the way, I would never take advice from this woman to pass to my daughter. Try PM Thatcher for that one. Save the 16 bucks and put it in your tank.

 

Destined to the Discount Bin, July 31, 2008

By
Thomas J. Wasney - See all my reviews

At 9% approval one should have counseled Nancy not to write this horrible book.She wants to save the world?
Everyone knows that global temperatures have flat lined or declined since 1996 at the same time CO2 concentrations have gone up. There is no climate crisis.
Gas crisis, there is none.The USA sits atop of 2 TRILLION barrels of shale oil, TRILLIONS of cubic feet of gas, hundreds of billions of barrels of oil on land and off.The democrat/socialist party happily legislated against drilling and even exploration.

 

And my personal favorite:

This is a joke!, July 31, 2008

By
Jen - See all my reviews

Nancy has been a BIG disapointment. Based on her own poor judgement, she has absolutely no right to give advice to girls in America.

 

 

Ok, so I may come across as a bit of a prick for enjoying Nancy's massive failure, but can you blame me?  With her elitist, hypocritical, "blame others" viewpoints, I think I'm in the majority here.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Typical Politicians

"The President knows, as his own Administration has stated, that the impact of any new drilling will be insignificant - promising savings of only pennies per gallon many years down the road. Americans know that thanks to the two oilmen in the White House, consumers are now paying $4 a gallon for gas. But what Americans should realize is that what the President is calling for is drilling as close as three miles off of America's pristine beaches and in other protected areas.

"The President has failed in his economic policy, and now he wants to say, 'but for drilling in protected areas offshore, our economy would be thriving and the price of gas would be lower.' That hoax is unworthy of the serious debate we must have to relieve the pain of consumers at the pump and to promote energy independence.

"Today, the New Direction Congress will vote on legislation to bring down gas prices by taking crucial steps to curb excessive speculation in the energy futures market. The President himself could lower prices by drawing down a small portion of our government oil stockpile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The New Direction Congress will continue to bring forth responsible proposals to increase supply, reduce prices, protect consumers, and transition America to a clean, renewable energy independent future."

Let's see here.  Lie?  Check.  Blame others?  Check.  Offer no reasonable solution to the problem or alternative?  Check, Check, Check.

Hey Nancy, do us all a favor and either come up with a solution of your own, or shut the fuck up and enjoy your 9% approval rating.  At least Bush is pulling in mid 20%'s.

So, Democrats, enjoying the leadership that you elected in 2006?  Is it everything you hoped it would be?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Messiah Obama Knows All!

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, met with House Democrats yesterday, talking about his trip abroad and his observations.

Obama told the caucus, according to an attendee, "Nobody said this to me directly but I get the feeling from my talks that if the sanctions don’t work Israel is going to strike Iran." Others in the room recall this as well.

The notion that Israel is preparing for such an action against Iran's myriad nuclear facilities is not new, with conjecture heating up in May after an Israeli military exercise featuring 150 aircraft flying almost a thousand miles over the Mediterranean Sea in what was seen as a dress rehearsal for an air strike. Now that the Bush administration is engaged in diplomatic efforts with Iran, many Israeli officials are worried the US is getting soft on Iran, prompting Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak to travel to the US this week to meet with  Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Barak's office released a statement saying "a policy that consists of keeping all options on the table must be maintained."

Really Captain Obvious?!?!  My God, this man is a super genius!  We simply MUST elect him!  The Israeli's would attack a nation that has had it's leaders threaten them, when they are clearly going after a nuclear weapon?  Hmm...it all sounds so familiar...

Next Obama will claim the sky is blue and water is wet.  I can't wait!

I've been calling this for upwards of a year now.  If Obama can't see it until his little parade around the Middle East tour, then he's in for some nasty surprises if he takes office.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Guess What You Paid For - The Final Frontier

With none of the fanfare that usually attends a landmark bill becoming law, President Bush signed the huge housing rescue bill just after 7 a.m. Wednesday.

With none of the fanfare that usually attends a landmark bill becoming law, President Bush signed the huge housing rescue bill just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, shortly after he arrived in the Oval Office.

Only a few aides and administration officials were present, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Steve Preston and James B. Lockhart III, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The White House announced the signing by e-mail moments later.
The bill, the biggest overhaul of housing law in decades, provides a lifeline for an estimated 400,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, and provides assurances to the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose books are loaded with bad mortgages.

$300 BILLION dollars.  That's what this is going to cost.  There's about 300 million people in this country.  That's about $1,000 for every man, woman, and child in America.

This could have been a sound defeat for Democrats, but Bush decides to go down the path of least resistance, and make people like you and me pay dearly for it.

Remember when I was talking about "teaching a man to fish"?  This isn't it.  This is "giving a man a fish", on a GRAND scale.

So, when you read about how the "economy's in bad shape" it's because of people that don't take responsibility, and the enabler politicians who bail them out at the expense of hard working Americans.

If Republicans get destroyed in the elections this year, you can point to examples like this as being one of the main reasons for it.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

The "Mortgage Crisis"

More than 1,800 people showed up to help ABC's "Extreme Makeover" team demolish a family's decrepit home and replace it with a sparkling, four-bedroom mini-mansion in 2005.

Three years later, the reality TV show's most ambitious project at the time has become the latest victim of the foreclosure crisis.

After the Harper family used the two-story home as collateral for a $450,000 loan, it's set to go to auction on the steps of the Clayton County Courthouse Aug. 5. The couple did not return phone calls Monday, but told WSB-TV they received the loan for a construction business that failed.

The house was built in January 2005, after Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA and ABC's "Extreme Makeover" demolished their old home and its faulty septic system. Within six days, construction crews and hoards of volunteers had completed work on the largest home that the television program had yet built.

The finished product was a four-bedroom house with decorative rock walls and a three-car garage that towered over ranch and split-level homes in their Clayton County neighborhood. The home's door opened into a lobby that featured four fireplaces, a solarium, a music room and a plush new office.

Materials and labor were donated for the home, which would have cost about $450,000 to build. Beazer Homes' employees and company partners also raised $250,000 in contributions for the family, including scholarships for the couple's three children and a home maintenance fund.

ABC said in a statement that it advises each family to consult a financial planner after they get their new home. "Ultimately, financial matters are personal, and we work to respect the privacy of the families," the network said.

Some of the volunteers who helped build the home were less than thrilled about the family's financial decisions.

"It's aggravating. It just makes you mad. You do that much work, and they just squander it," Lake City Mayor Willie Oswalt, who helped vault a massive beam into place in the Harper's living room, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

But wait!  We have to feel sorry for these people who got a FREE HOME AND another $250k in donations.  We simply MUST have the government step in and rescue these poor people because they were lied to from the lender.....no wait, that's not right...They were trying to live the American Dream!....nope.

These people are the kings and queens of stupidity.  They had a 4 bedroom BEAUTIFUL home that most people bust their asses for their whole lives for PAID FOR IN FULL.  Yet, they squander it into trying to be greedy and open up a business and try to make even more money.

This is a perfect example of the "mortgage crisis" in action.  People get greedy by seeing shows like Flip This House, or they are greedy in trying to show off a bigger home then they can afford, and now all of a sudden they are trying to, and thus far succeeding, in getting stupid fucking politicians conned into hard working Americans to pay for a bailout.

Where the FUCK is my 4 bedroom home with a solarium?  Oh wait, that's right, I LIVE in a 4 bedroom home.  But guess what?  My home is about 2,100 square feet, and I EARNED my home.  I didn't have it given to me by a TV show.

This exactly the same problem that people face when you "give a man a fish".  People pour BILLIONS of dollars into Africa, the homeless, and other of the world's problems.  And what do we have to show for it?  Nothing.

How about you TEACH a man to fish?  Show them how to be fiscally responsible, get on their feet, or plant crops to feed their families?   If you give someone something for free, they'll just continue to expect the freebies to keep coming and they'll do nothing to help themselves, which is what your ideal goal is.

I need to go to bed, seeing fucking morons like this who are given free, luxurious homes only to squander them away just irritates me to the bone. Especially when they come crying to legislators about the need to "do something" about the "mortgage crisis".

GRRRR!!!!

Sell your home and get a FUCKING APARTMENT LIKE EVERY GENERATION BEFORE YOU!

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

The Nutjobs Are Out In Force Today

And unfortunately, they are in positions of power in America and Iran.  First up, Nancy Pelosi:

Just call her Nancy the Navigator.

“I have always loved longitude,” Nancy Pelosi says before breaking into laughter. “I love latitude; it’s in the stars. But longitude, it’s about time. ... Time and clocks and all the rest of that have always been a fascination for me.”

“The Geographer,” Jan Vermeer’s portrait of a Dutch mapmaker staring out a window with a sea chart before him, is a favorite of the House speaker. But mostly, Pelosi is drawn to the explorers of the Age of Discovery — Balboa, Magellan, Vasco da Gama — all struggling at sea without an accurate way to measure East-West progress. And she is fascinated by the historic melding of science and politics in the race to find a solution, the modern chronometer — much as today’s world seeks answers such as an electric car battery in the energy debate that now consumes both Pelosi and Congress.

“Whoever makes that discovery, rules,” she says.

Eighteen months after taking power, the California Democrat will need to summon all her own navigation skills for the waters ahead.

And now, we have Ahmadinejad:

Iran's president on Tuesday blamed the US and other "big powers" for nuclear proliferation, AIDS and other global ills and accused them of exploiting the UN and other organizations for their own gain - and the developing world's loss.

But, he said, time was on the poor countries' side.

"The big powers are going down," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Teheran. "They have come to the end of their power, and the world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era."

Specifically, he criticized the indictment of Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir by an international prosecutor on charges of genocide in Darfur.

They say power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  I think just a bit of power has send the insane asylum aflame.  At what point do people from both nations say "that's it, you're outta here."?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Corruption Within

I can't stand corruption.  I point it out constantly on the Democrats side, so it's only fair to point it out on the Republican side.  And it's happened to one of the longest serving members of Congress, Ted Stevens.

The U.S. Justice Department indicted Alaska Republican Sen. Ted Stevens

on Tuesday on criminal charges related to improper disclosure of gifts and services valued at more than $250,000 in his home state.

Matthew Friedrich, acting assistant U.S. attorney general, said Tuesday that the government is charging the legislator with seven felony counts of making false statements between 1999 and 2006. Stevens was chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee from 1997 to 2005, except for the 18 months when Democrats controlled the chamber.

The Justice Department is alleging that Stevens, who is 84, accepted gifts from oil-services company Veco in the form of material and labor to renovate his private residence in Alaska.

"These items were not disclosed" on Stevens' Senate financial-disclosure forms, according to Friedrich.

The senator's lawyer has denied any wrongdoing by Stevens.

The indictment alleged that Stevens received substantial home improvements to property he owns in Girdwood, Alaska; automobile exchanges in which the senator got new vehicles worth far more than the used vehicles he provided in return; and household goods.

Stevens used his position and office on Veco's behalf, the indictment charged.

This is one of the same Republicans who was for the "bridge to nowhere" and earmarks up the ass.  I have no room for pity in the leadership of my nation.  If you're corrupt, you'll stand trial for it.  If you're guilty, I expect you to be thrown out.

I especially don't have any pity for anyone who spends my hard earned money on bullshit.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Obama Can't Admit Mistake

In his first public appearance after his whirlwind overseas trip, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday praised U.S. troops for reducing violence in Iraq, warned of worsening conditions in Afghanistan and said other nations were eager to see the United States work with them on mutual issues.

It is crucial, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said, "that we project ourselves on the world stage with a sense of humility and a sense that we are listening. . . . We are very clear about our own interests, but not so clear about other people's interests."

Obama reiterated that he would have voted against the troop "surge" in Iraq even knowing that many, including McCain, credited it with the recent reduction in violence. "It is fascinating to me to hear you guys reemphasize this over and over again," he said. "I have not heard yet somebody ask John McCain whether his vote to go into Iraq was a mistake."

Earlier Sunday, in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Obama acknowledged that he had failed to anticipate the sharp decline in attacks in Iraq, but he contended that President Bush and McCain had made the same mistake.

Credit to George W. Bush, Republicans, and military commanders in Iraq?  Nope.  Not going to get one ounce of credit for that.

Critical from the sidelines, even when you yourself didn't get the pressure to vote for or against the war to begin with?  Yep, you'll get plenty of that.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Judgement

Energy and the price of a gallon of petrol will no doubt be at the forefront of Nancy Pelosi’s mind this week when – as is her routine – she travels in from her regular hair appointment in Georgetown to Capitol Hill in a convoy of two SUVs.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives has a tough task at hand before Congress begins its August recess: ensuring that Democratic legislators do not return home empty-handed, without any proof that they are taking action to tackle record petrol prices.

One Democratic proposal that would have required the government to sell 70m barrels of light sweet crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve failed to pass the House last week.

So, the idea is to push for our SPR to release some of it's stocks to offset costs?  All the while, she's totting around in a convoy of TWO SUV's?

Is her head really that empty?  It's called the STRATEGIC Petroleum Reserve, not the "Let's keep prices down petroleum reserve".

It's designed to keep oil flowing in the event of an EMERGENCY.  High prices aren't an emergency, regardless of what people tell you.

Then, she has to convince idiots that her and other Democrats are "doing something" about the price of gas, which they have no control over.

This will go down as yet another one of her empty campaign promises.  "Vote for us, and we'll fix everything".  Yeah, it worked so well in 2006 didn't it?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Thanks a LOT

Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations.

The measure, regarded as the most significant housing legislation in decades, lets homeowners who cannot afford their payments refinance into more affordable government-backed loans rather than losing their homes.

It offers a temporary financial lifeline to troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- pillars of the home loan market whose losses have sparked investor fears -- and tightens controls over the two government-sponsored businesses.

Democratic leaders, recognizing that the measure could be one of the last items to become law during what's left of their abbreviated election-year schedule, tacked on an $800 billion increase, to $10.6 trillion, in the statutory limit on the national debt.

Conservative Republicans were vehemently opposed to the bill, particularly the help for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Critics charge the companies enjoy lavish profits in good times and wield their outsized political clout to resist regulation while depending on the government to bail them out should they falter.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., delayed the final vote because Democrats refused to allow him a vote on a proposal to ban the companies from lobbying or making political donations to lawmakers.

"We can't have the people who are supposed to watch over these organizations getting money from these organizations," DeMint said. "At least if we're going to ask the American taxpayer to be on the hook for billions, possibly trillions of dollars, let's stop this."

Thanks a lot Democrats and traitorous Republicans, including President Bush.  You've pushed us further into debt by basically buying votes.

You should be ashamed of yourselves by selling us out like this.  You've endangered the prosperity of generations to come by doing this short term type of thinking.

Here's how everyone voted if you're interested:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll519.xml

So, when do we pick up the pitchforks and torches?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Welcome To The Dark Side

Wisconsin Democrats on Friday ousted a delegate to their national convention for saying she would vote for Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain in November.

Embarrassed by a defection in their ranks, the Wisconsin Democratic Party's administrative committee voted 23-0 to strip Debra Bartoshevich of her status as a delegate to the Denver convention next month.

Bartoshevich was elected by party activists as a pledged delegate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from the 1st Congressional District in southeastern Wisconsin. But after Clinton dropped out of the race, Bartoshevich told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would support McCain over Democratic Sen. Barack Obama.

The June comments from Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old nurse and mother of two from Waterford, were seized on by the McCain campaign as evidence of his appeal to former Clinton backers. Within hours, the Wisconsin Democratic Party passed a resolution at its state convention supporting a challenge of her credentials with the national committee.

That's right!  You'll fall in line with the party's collective thought, or you'll be kicked out!

I thought Democrats hated the whole "1984" bit??

Either way, it's nice to see that not ALL Democrats are drinking the kool-aid about Obama.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

More Then Meets The Eye

So, I didn't get much thought to the "love child" John Edwards story, because it was being reported by the National Enquirer.

Well, it looks like this story just might be true:

A hotel security guard told FOXNews.com he intervened this week between a man he identified as former Sen. John Edwards and tabloid reporters who chased down the former presidential hopeful after what they're calling a rendezvous with his mistress and love child.

The Beverly Hilton Hotel guard said he encountered a shaken and ashen-faced Edwards — whom he did not immediately recognize — in a hotel men's room early Tuesday morning in a literal tug-of-war with reporters on the other side of the door.

"What are they saying about me?" the guard said Edwards asked.

"His face just went totally white," the guard said, when Edwards was told the reporters were shouting out questions about Edwards and Rielle Hunter, a woman the National Enquirer says is the mother of his child.

So, he's obviously shaken by the event.  He's been in front of millions of people before, so it's not simple stage fright or something like that.  They've obviously hit upon something that Edwards doesn't like one bit.

Edwards this week has repeatedly refused to comment on the Enquirer report. Asked about it on Thursday at an event in New Orleans, he said: "I have no idea what you're asking about. I've responded, consistently, to these tabloid allegations by saying I don't respond to these lies and you know that ... and I stand by that."

Personally, if a tabloid came to me and said "you've fathered a love child", I'd laugh it off, simply because it's not true.  I'd call them out with their "evidence" and show them to be the liars that they are.

But John Edwards isn't doing that.  He could offer to take a DNA test and make the results public.  A simple cheek swab will show if he's the father or not.  Plus, he can have the samples destroyed afterwards if he's really paranoid about his privacy.

But he doesn't, and that speaks volumes.

Normally, I don't care about such things.  If say, another politician came out and said "I sleep around on my wife because the sex has simply dried up", then that's their business.  What I'm enjoying most about this is John's massive amount of hypocrisy.  He paints himself as a family man and now it's showing that he's not.

But it's not the first time he's been hypocritical.  We all remember the famous photo of him getting into an SUV while asking others to give up theirs:

And his hypocritical nature about a book he wrote.

And his hypocritical nature about terrorism.

And his hypocritical nature about "two Americas".

and the list goes on and on.

 

Travis

Obama's People Spin

So, Obama was supposed to go to a US military hospital and visit wounded troops.

He then canceled because "it would look like a campaign stop, and would be inappropriate".

Well, that's not entirely the truth:

A U.S. military official tells NBC News they were making preparations for Sen. Barack Obama to visit wounded troops at the Landstuhl Medical Center at Ramstein, Germany on Friday, but "for some reason the visit was called off."

One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama's representatives were told, "he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers."  In addition,
"Obama could not bring any media.  Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama's visit."

The official said "We didn't know why" the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn.  "He (Obama) was more than welcome.  We were all ready for him."

So, anyone care to spin this any particular way?

Travis

9/11 Conspiracy Theorists Denied

Osama bin Laden's driver witnessed the al-Qaeda leader being briefed on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and overheard him express satisfaction that the death toll had exceeded expectations, an FBI interrogator testified Wednesday.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, now held at the U.S. military prison here, had said under questioning six years ago that bin Laden was "happy about the results" of the terrorist strikes because he had expected "only" 1,000 to 1,500 people to die, former FBI agent Ali Soufan told jurors at Hamdan's military trial.

And, Hamdan inadvertently admits guilt:

Soufan said on cross-examination that the information Hamdan heard about terrorist attacks usually came after they occurred, not before. "He never told me he had previous knowledge except . . . when bin Laden tells him that there is an operation coming," Soufan said.

So, he testifies that Bin Laden admits to involvement in the 9/11 attacks, which blows conspiracy theorists' ideas out of the water that our government was involved.  AND, he admits that Bin Laden told him that an "operation is coming".

He knew already that Bin Laden had attacked civilian targets with the embassy bombings as well as the USS Cole attack.

So, therefore, he's guilty as hell in my book, and not this "poor guy who's only a driver" bullshit he's trying to peddle.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

9/11 Conspiracy Theorists Denied

Osama bin Laden's driver witnessed the al-Qaeda leader being briefed on the day of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and overheard him express satisfaction that the death toll had exceeded expectations, an FBI interrogator testified Wednesday.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, now held at the U.S. military prison here, had said under questioning six years ago that bin Laden was "happy about the results" of the terrorist strikes because he had expected "only" 1,000 to 1,500 people to die, former FBI agent Ali Soufan told jurors at Hamdan's military trial.

And, Hamdan inadvertently admits guilt:

Soufan said on cross-examination that the information Hamdan heard about terrorist attacks usually came after they occurred, not before. "He never told me he had previous knowledge except . . . when bin Laden tells him that there is an operation coming," Soufan said.

So, he testifies that Bin Laden admits to involvement in the 9/11 attacks, which blows conspiracy theorists' ideas out of the water that our government was involved.  AND, he admits that Bin Laden told him that an "operation is coming".

He knew already that Bin Laden had attacked civilian targets with the embassy bombings as well as the USS Cole attack.

So, therefore, he's guilty as hell in my book, and not this "poor guy who's only a driver" bullshit he's trying to peddle.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Bucket Of Salt

Now, you need to take this with a huge bucket of salt, but there's eye witnesses who claim that John Edwards not only has a mistress, but also a love child.

At 9:45 p.m. (PST) Monday,  Edwards appeared at the hotel, and was dropped off at a side entrance. NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporter Alan Butterfield witnessed the ex-senator get out of a BMW driven by a male companion and stroll into the hotel.
Said Butterfield: "Edwards was not carrying anything. He walked in alone. He was wearing a blue dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was looking around nervously before he entered the hotel.
"Once inside, he interestingly bypassed the lobby and ducked down a side stairs to go to the bottom floor to catch the elevator up - rather than taking the elevator in the main lobby. He went out of his way not to be seen."
Meanwhile, Rielle had reserved rooms 246 and 252 under the name of the friend who had accompanied her from Santa Barbara, Bob McGovern. Rielle was in one room and McGovern was in another with her baby. This allowed her and Edwards to spend time alone, a source revealed.
Edwards went out of the hotel briefly with Rielle, they were observed by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER and then went back to her room, where he stayed until attempting to sneak out of the hotel unseen at 2:40 a.m. (PST). But when he emerged alone from an elevator into the hotel basement he was greeted by several reporters from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.
Senior NATIONAL ENQUIRER Reporter Alexander Hitchen asked Edwards why he was visiting Rielle and whether he was ready to confirm that he was the father of  her baby.
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 questions from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER about what he was doing in the hotel. A group of hotel security men eventually escorted him from the men's room, while preventing the NATIONAL ENQUIRER reporters from following him out of the hotel.
Said reporter Hitchen: "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."
Meanwhile, Rielle's friend McGovern also refused to answer any questions from the NATIONAL ENQUIRER or offer any explanation for her meeting with Edwards.
The Edwards "love child" scandal drew international press attention after the NATIONAL ENQUIRER published a blockbuster investigation about the politician in our Dec. 31, 2007 print edition.

Now, normally I wouldn't report on this as it's from the National Enquirer, a magazine my grandmother enjoys.

However, there's numerous news outlets reporting on this as well.

http://www.slate.com/id/2195869/

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/FineOnMedia/archives/2008/07/the_national_en.html

 

Oh this would be sweet if true.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Guess What You're Paying For?

The House on Wednesday voted 272-152 to pass sweeping legislation that will offer up to $300 billion in assistance to troubled homeowners and throw government support behind mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The nearly 700-page measure will now go back to the Senate, where final passage is expected. It's not clear when the vote will occur because of a Republican filibuster threat.

That's $1,000 for every man, woman, and child in America.  That will "assist troubled homeowners" who bought what they couldn't afford.  The same people like Patricia Guerrero who bought a beautiful home for almost nothing.  Who then went on to refinance and take out additional loans of $450k, then, when she got into trouble, took out an interest only loan that had a $2,500 a month payment.

You and I are going to pay for her idiocy.

She should move out, get an apartment, and rebuild like everyone else did.  Instead, moron politicians and whiners passed this when we can't afford it.

Watch the video in the news story about Patricia, and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

How is this fair to you and me?  How is it fair for us to pay for people who were clearly irresponsible?  This is why Congress and the President have such low approval ratings:  Dumb things like this.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Al-Jazeera Throws Birthday Party For Child Killer

Interviewer: Brother Samir, we would like to celebrate your birthday with you. You deserve even more than this. I think that 11,000 prisoners – if they can see this program now – are celebrating your birthday with you. Happy birthday, brother Samir.

Samir Al-Quntar: If you are asking whether I killed Israelis – I did, Allah be praised.

Interviewer: Including children?

Samir Al-Quntar: No. I am proud of this, and Allah willing, I will get the chance to kill more Israelis. As for the children, that's another story. A girl was killed during the operation, in the crossfire. In all the operations that involved capturing Israeli hostages, the hostages were killed by the bullets of the Israeli forces. In the operation of Dalal Al-Maghrabi, the [Israelis] fired like crazy on the bus, and killed a large number of Jewish hostages. In the Ma'alot operation, hostages were taken at a high school. [The Israelis] used anti-tank missiles to storm the school, killing many. The same thing happened in my operation. When we fired at them, in response to their fire, they began shooting in our direction like crazy. They are the ones who killed the hostages.

In the crossfire?  Her head was crushed by the butt of a rifle, and Al-Jazeera, a supposed news organization, is buying into this bullshit.  That makes them accomplices in my book.

He killed a 4 year old child, and Israel took it upon themselves to release him for the bodies of dead soldiers.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I think it was a bad move.

Of course, if Israel hunts them all down and kills them, then maybe I'll have been corrected. :)

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

China Can't Win The Olympics Fairly

A German television report on the availability of gene doping in China has stunned anti-doping experts shortly before the Beijing Olympics.

In a documentary by ARD television, a Chinese doctor offers stem-cell therapy to a reporter posing as an American swimming coach.

The report, filmed with a concealed camera, shows the doctor with his face blurred speaking in Chinese and offering the treatment in return for $24,000, according to a translation provided by the ARD television.

So, how many other athletes have chosen to go this route?  Anyone want to place any bets on how many of them are Chinese?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Charles Rangle Admits Ethics Violation

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) acknowledged yesterday that he hoped his personal entreaties to foundations and corporations would bring in donations to an academic center that bears his name.

Then tries to deflect it:

"Was my hope that these meetings would result in making financial donations to this important project with such an important public purpose? Of course," Rangel wrote to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), chairman of the ethics panel.

The congressman asked the committee to investigate him and wrote, "[I]f I inadvertently violated House rules, I am prepared to trust the committee's judgment and accept its findings."

"Inadvertently"?  Bullshit.  This guy is using every single loophole he can find to make his life better.  He's rented 4! apartments around the New York area at a significant discount, leases a $700 a month car at YOUR expense, and is blatantly breaking house rules and trying to cover it up as "inadvertently"?

That's a bullshit lie and everyone knows it.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Why Is The Press Not All Over This??

Couric: …if that comes to pass, "you cannot take out the final complement of combat troops. You need them in the theater," you would say?
Obama: I will always listen to the commanders on the ground. And I will make an assessment based on the facts at that time. As I've said before … I am not interested in a false choice between either perfect inflexibility in which the next 16 months or the next two years I ignore anything that's happening in Iraq. Or, alternatively, that I just have an open-ended, indefinite occupation of Iraq in which we're not putting any pressure on the Iraqis to stand up and … take this burden on. What I'm gonna do is to set a vision of where we need to go, a clear and specific timeframe within which we're gonna pull our combat forces out.

First off, no you don't.  Commanders on the ground have already said that your "16 month" timetable wouldn't work and would quote "be a disaster".

Couric: Before the surge, as you know, Senator, there were 80 to 100 U.S. casualties a month, the country was rife with sectarian violence, and you raised a lot of eyebrows on this trip saying even knowing what you know now, you still would not have supported the surge. People may be scratching their heads and saying, "Why?"
Obama: Well … because … what I was referring to, and I've consistently referred to, is the need for a strategy that actually concludes our involvement in Iraq and moves Iraqis to take responsibility for the country.
Couric: But didn't the surge …
Obama: And …
Couric: …help do that?
Obama: Let me finish, Katie. What happens is that if we continue to put $10 billion to $12 billion a month into Iraq, if we are willing to send as many troops as we can muster continually into Iraq? There's no doubt that that's gonna have an impact. But it doesn't meet our long-term strategic goal, which is to make the American people safer over the long term. If that means that we're detracting from our efforts in Afghanistan, where conditions are deteriorating, if it means that we are distracted from going after Osama bin Laden who is still sending out audio tapes and is operating training camps where we know terrorists' actions are being plotted.
If we have shifted away from the central front of terrorism as a consequence of enormous and continuing investments in Iraq, then that's a poor strategic choice. And ultimately, what we've got to do is - we have to recognize that Iraq is just one of our … security problems. It's not the only one.
We've got big problems in Afghanistan. We've got a significant threat in Iran. We've got to deal with Pakistan and the fact that there are safe havens there. Those are all the factors and all the issues that I've gotta take into account when I'm president of the United States.
Couric: All that may be true. But do you not give the surge any credit for reducing violence in Iraq?
Obama: No, no … of course I have. There is no doubt that the extraordinary work of our U.S. forces has contributed to a lessening of the violence, just as making sure that the Sadr militia stood down or the fact that the Sunni tribes decided to flip and work with us instead of with al-Qaeda - something that we hadn't anticipated happening.

Wrong.  You were caught off guard by the success of the surge in troop numbers and you're trying everything you can to undermine the credit where it rightfully belongs.

Secondly, take a look at Obama stammer and stutter his way through this entire interview.  You can plainly see that he's having problems confronting cold, hard, facts.

But of course, this doesn't prevent Democrats from playing "gotcha" politics that they previously denounced with McCain:

Aides to the Arizona senator dismiss the missteps as meaningless, noting that their man is far more accessible to journalists than Obama. "When you engage with reporters from 8:30 a.m. till 8 at night, you're bound to make a gaffe," says McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker. "People are yearning for the kind of president who takes tough questions, and that's who John McCain is."

Still think Obama's got what it takes?  If so, you aren't paying attention.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

I'm Becoming Disillusioned

I get my news articles from a variety of sources, and when the quality of these news sources becomes flaky, I tend to cast that source off and never deal with them.

That's why I'm saddened to find myself seeing poorer and poorer quality reporting coming from CNN.

Here's a perfect example:

CNN's been promoting this whole "Black in America" series for a while now, and to tell you the truth, it's done nothing but turn me off.

I think the only real reason why they are doing it is because of the Presidential election.

I've even seen a few episodes of these "news" stories, and I've got to tell you, I'm not impressed.

People that they've been interviewing have no special problems that any other American of a different color face. It comes across like some folks I knew back in the 90's who'd blame everyone else for their problems but themselves. "It's because I'm a BLACK man that X is happening to me".

Yeah....that's it.

Look, certainly racism exists, but it exists across the entire spectrum of color of people's skin. I can go to certain parts of the country and get looked upon with disdain because I am white.

I blame no one for my problems, but myself. Do you know why?

Because I'm the only one that can fix them.

Sure, I COULD blame others, but what have I accomplished? What good does it do me to blame black people, Jewish people, Hispanic folks, or any other group of people for my ills when they clearly don't have anything to do with them?

It's all in an attempt to bring to the surface, racial tensions for ratings.

That's not news, it's CNN.

We as a nation have become the most powerful in the history of the world for a reason. We worked together. We encouraged others to come here and build a life for themselves and their families. We did it regardless of race, religion, creed, or financial status. We can and will do more.

Which is why Obama is wrong.

It's not "Yes we can". It's "Yes, YOU can.".

"Change" begins and ends at home. Start with yourself, work on making your life and the lives of your family better. Once that's fine, then worry about your neighbor. Get involved in your community, tutor a child, volunteer at a school, help out your elderly neighbor get around.

Make your immediate life better, and the rest will fall into place.


Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com

We're On Itunes!

I have FINALLY gotten around to doing a proper podcasting setup, and have submitted my radio shows to iTunes. It was approved earlier today and will be searchable and available within another day or two.

Once I have everything all uploaded and perfect, I'll give you all a link and you can go at it. :)

Travis

Sorry About Today

Hey folks.

Sorry about today. Technical difficulties made it impossible to post. I know, I know, calm down! Life will go on! Human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together...MASS HYSTERIA HERE!

Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com

But...But...They Do It TOO!!!

The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention is using the city's gas pumps to fill up on fuel, avoiding state and federal highway taxes, officials said today.

"There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them, and that concerns me," Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz said.

The issue came up during the council's weekly meeting with Mayor John Hickenlooper when the Public Works Department requested authorization to be reimbursed by the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee for use of "fueling facilities, fuel and car washes."

"By doing it this way, by running it through our Fleet Maintenance, that means that that fuel does not pay state or federal highway taxes," Faatz said.

Christine Downs, a public works spokeswoman, said the host committee is not paying the city's locked-in fuel rate but one that's based on the weekly cost of gas. Downs was unable to provide council members an example.

Downs said the contract with the host committee started in March and that $9,700 had been expended so far. The city anticipates making $466,125 total from the contract, she said.

Faatz asked if it was customary to have "fleets for dignitaries" not pay for highway taxes if they're using government fuel facilities.

Hickenlooper said it was.

"I believe this is only for elected officials, government dignitaries," Hickenlooper told Faatz.

"My understanding is in Washington or wherever where this happens on a regular basis, that it's standard operating procedure. I do know for a fact that they're doing the same exact thing in Minneapolis," which is hosting the Republican National Convention, the mayor said.

"Hummmmm," Faatz said.

Hummmmm is right.

Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee, said they're getting their gas at the pump.

"We're not getting a tax break on fuel," she said. "That's not the set-up at this end."

So, it's "standard operating procedures" to rip off citizens from thousand of dollars in tax revenues, and point the finger at Republicans?

Even if Republicans DID do it, which clearly they don't, do you think it's right to bypass the taxes on fuel for what Ms. Faatz correctly calls a "private party"?

This is a pathetic attempt to sidestep an obviously shady practice "but they do it too!".  5 year olds do that.  What's worse for them, is that Republicans DON'T do that, making them look worse.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Obama Not As Popular As You'd Think

Barack Obama sets out Tuesday on the most politically perilous part of his foreign trip - to Jordan, Israel and the West Bank, where his every word will be scrutinized by Jewish and Arab voters back home.

Obama's recent declaration that Jerusalem should be the undivided capital of Israel - and his immediate back-pedal - created confusion over the candidate's stance on the bitter Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

U.S. Jewish and Arab community leaders told the Daily News Monday that Obama has a "second chance" to define himself on Middle East policy.

After leaving Iraq, Obama heads first to Jordan before reaching Israel Tuesday.

Obama told pro-Israeli lobbyists last month that Jerusalem must "remain the capital of Israel and it must remain undivided." He and his campaign quickly retreated, saying Jerusalem's final status was up to the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate.

Nathan Diament, public affairs director for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, said Obama "blew it" with that speech. The controversy "raises the magnification of the microscope" on his trip "because people are going to be watching even more closely," he said.

Funny, I thought everyone loved Obama.  I thought he would shit sunshine and make everything and everyone perfect in every way.  It's just like I've said before:  He's a great speaker, when he has a prepared speech.  However, throw any kind of monkey wrench into it, and he fumbles....badly.

People lately have been talking about "change" from our energy, to our wars.  But, we need to keep our eye on the things that matter:  Energy independence, protection of allies, letting businesses that make bad decisions fail, and undermining hostile nations.

Until Obama shows that he's good at anything other than good speeches and denouncing the war in Iraq, I think he's in for a big, big problem come November.

I especially like how Obama is currently denoucing the obviously good results from the surge in Iraq troop levels.  People have pointed out that had we listened to Obama in the first place, we wouldn't be there.

I'll counter that with two points:

First, Obama was never under pressure to vote one way or another on the war.  He merely make statements that spoke of caution.

Secondly, and this is most important: Obama will have to make tough choices as President.  Some things will clearly be out of his control, and he will have to make decisions that are tough and messy.

If he's not willing to make those choices and appreciate obvious turn around's, then he's not fit to be President.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

If You're Not From Lesbos, You're Not A Lesbian

A Greek court has dismissed a request by residents of the Aegean island of Lesbos to ban the use of the word lesbian to describe gay women, according to a court ruling made public on Tuesday.

Three residents of Lesbos, the birthplace of the ancient Greek poetess Sappho whose love poems inspired the term lesbian, brought a case last month arguing the use of the term in reference to gay women insulted their identity.

In a July 18 decision, the Athens court said the word did not define the identity of the residents of the island, and so it could be validly used by gay groups in Greece and abroad.

You know folks, I think we've gotten to know one another over the years, and I think you all know I couldn't make something like this up.  It's just too funny.

Does the Greek court system have nothing better to do?  Do they have to hear every, single, one of the frivolous complaints that go through it?

I'd almost figure it would have gotten thrown out by the court clerk.

So Lesbians, you're not really Lesbians according to some people in Greece.  You'll have to come up with a new name for yourselves. :)

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Creative Insults

I can't say that I would go this route, but I will give points for creativity.

What's even funnier, is that this is from a member of Congress' homepage:

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Motor Pool Equipment

Osama bin Laden's driver went on trial at Guantanamo on Monday in the first U.S. war crimes trial since World War Two, nearly seven years after the September 11 attacks prompted U.S. President George W. Bush to declare war on terrorism.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who has admitted driving for the fugitive al Qaeda leader, faces charges before the controversial U.S. war court of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. He could face life in prison if convicted by a jury of U.S. military officers.

Prosecutors contend Hamdan, who is in his late 30s, was close to al Qaeda's inner circle and was on the way to a battle zone with two surface-to-air missiles in his car when he was captured in November 2001, shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Hamdan's lawyers say he is not a member of al Qaeda, and was merely a driver and mechanic in bin Laden's motor pool who needed the $200 monthly salary.

Oh yeah, motor pool's here in the Pacific Northwest ALWAYS carry SAM missiles.  It comes free with every latte' from Starbucks.

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Obama's To Blame For Cost Of Gas

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is launching a new television ad that blames Democratic rival Barack Obama for rising gasoline prices.

The ad, airing on national cable and in 11 battleground states, argues that the cost of fuel is rising because of opposition to oil drilling in the United States.

The announcer in the ad says, "Gas prices—$4, $5, no end in sight, because some in Washington are still saying no to drilling in America. No to independence from foreign oil. Who can you thank for rising prices at the pump?"

A photograph of Obama appears on the stage as a voiceover of a crowd chants: "Obama, Obama, Obama!"

Hard to argue the point with him isn't it?  Obama and other Democrats TALK about getting off of foreign oil, but when it comes down to it, they don't want to do anything about it.  They like to say "well, it'll be 10 years before we get anything out of the ground".

Well, if we do nothing, it'll be forever before we get anything out of the ground.

How about we work towards more fuel efficient, or even no gas use at all for cars, and drill as well?  You know, just a thought.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Media Bias? You Bet

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.'

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.'

So, Obama didn't have to "rewrite" his piece, but McCain does?  And the NYT wants McCain's written rebuff to "mirror" Obama's?  How is that even remotely fair?

If you think there's no media bias against McCain, welcome to my blog Mr. Wonder.

Of course, Obama wasn't pushed to vote for or against the war in Iraq, AND he was against the surge in troops that proved unequivocally that it was a rousing success.

What else do you suppose Obama is wrong about?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

I'm Sure It's All Coincidental

There's probably no connection whatsoever.

But the New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza, whose long, long article on Barack Obama's early political days in Chicago's ward politics (available here) was the reason for the magazine's controversial cover by Barry Blitt depicting Obama as a Muslim, has been barred from traveling with Obama on his foreign field trip this week.

The elitist magazine claimed the cover's depiction was satirical of a Muslim Obama fist-bumping with a militant wife Michelle armed with an AK-47 beneath a portrait of Osama bin Laden while they burn a U.S. flag -- in the Oval Office.

Initially, the Obama campaign and John McCain's spokesman denounced the cover.

Later, a cooler Obama dismissed it as a weak attempt at satire amid much more important things to discuss.

More than 200 media folks applied to fly in Europe with the freshman senator. But, alas, the Obama campaign said it simply was not able to find a seat for Lizza. (Overdue hat tip to Mike Allen at Politico.com)

I'm quite sure that Obama would NEVER allow this kind of thing to happen out of spite and it's all just a scheduling conflict, or something..

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

How Accurate Is DNA?

A discovery leads to questions about whether the odds of people sharing genetic profiles are sometimes higher than portrayed. Calling the finding meaningless, the FBI has sought to block such inquiry.

State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles.

The men matched at nine of the 13 locations on chromosomes, or loci, commonly used to distinguish people.

The FBI estimated the odds of unrelated people sharing those genetic markers to be as remote as 1 in 113 billion. But the mug shots of the two felons suggested that they were not related: One was black, the other white.

What troubles me most is the FBI trying to block people from finding out how accurate DNA "matches" really are.  If I am accused of a crime, and an FBI guy says "his DNA was found", that's pretty much a slam dunk "guilty" verdict.

People see these CSI episodes and think that DNA is an all knowing, unblinking piece of evidence, and what's worse, is that they are saying the odds are 1 in 113 billion.  That makes everyone think that, "well there's 6 billion people in the world, this must be the guy".

It's extremely troubling that the FBI would seek to suppress this kind of information that the public deserves to know.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Saw The Dark Knight

I just got back from seeing Batman: The Dark Knight, and I must say, without all the hype, it's still a really good movie.  I especially liked the early part with the Joker's "magic trick".  I laughed hysterically, but of course, I have a dark sense of humor. :)

I won't give away any more, but if you're looking for a quality movie to see this weekend, you can't go wrong with the new Batman flick.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

HA!

New York tax filers reporting more than $375,000 a year in earned income may end up paying nearly 60% of their wages in taxes to the government under a Barack Obama presidency, economists who have analyzed his plan said.

The Democratic presidential candidate is proposing not only raising the federal income tax, but also adding a Social Security tax for those Americans earning more than $250,000 a year. For New Yorkers, that could mean that if the current Social Security rate is applied, the marginal tax rate, or rate on every extra dollar earned, could rise to 58%.

"This is a very eye-popping number," a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Alan Viard, said.

Mr. Obama has yet to clarify what that additional Social Security tax will be, although his campaign said it is not likely to be as high as 12.4%. Rather, it said the tax is not likely to run higher than 4%, translating into a marginal tax on wages of as much as 52% for New Yorkers, who are subject to income tax at the federal, state, and city levels. The current marginal rate is 42%, which would continue under the McCain proposal. Full calculations of these figures are available in the slideshow accompanying this article.

So, tell me New Yorkers, still want to elect Obama, when he's clearly going to tax the shit out of you, and the rest of Americans, while speaking of NO spending cuts like McCain is?  Still want to vote for Obama when he's givine $100 million dollars of OUR money to his wife's employer?

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Ding! Ding! Ding!

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday blamed the "two oil men in the White House," President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and their Republican allies in Congress for gas prices exceeding $4 a gallon.

Pelosi, a California Democrat, said multiple initiatives intended to lower high energy costs have passed the Democratically controlled House only to "run into a brick wall" in the Senate because they did not receive the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

"The price of oil is... is attributed to two oil men in the White House and their protectors in the United States Senate," Pelosi said in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

Pelosi said she would continue to oppose two policy changes that President Bush and congressional Republicans have been advocating: lifting the ban on offshore drilling and opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for oil exploration.

 

Anyone else's meter going off the charts?

 

How about this Nancy, if you use domestic supplies, you DON'T FINANCE MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES THAT HATE US.

Or.

You could stop your state from using as much energy as CHINA.

God, this woman is either brain damaged or should stop with the leftist bullshit.  It's clearly started to effect her judgement.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Why Am I Not Surprised

Israel accused six Arabs on Friday of trying to set up an al Qaeda cell in Israel and said one of them had proposed attacking helicopters used during a visit by President George W. Bush.

Israel's Shin Bet counter-intelligence agency said one of the suspects had used his mobile phone to film helicopters at a sports stadium in Jerusalem that was used as a landing site for Bush's delegation.

The suspect then posted queries on Web sites frequented by al Qaeda operatives, asking for guidance on how to shoot down the helicopters, the agency said in a statement.

Bush visited Israel in January and again in May.

Lawyers for the six suspects could not immediately be reached for comment.

The Shin Bet identified four of the suspects as Palestinian residents of Arab East Jerusalem and two as Israeli Arabs.

You mean the same Palestinians who celebrated the 9/11 attacks?

The same Palestinians who elected terrorist group Hamas as their government?

The same Palestinians who then whine because they don't get their own state?

Until they knock this shit off, I don't care what Israel does to them.  Sure, there's probably some good Palestinians out there, but I don't see them coming out in support of peace.

And if there's any Palestinians reading this, I will NEVER forget, and more importantly, NEVER FORGIVE the things I saw in the above video.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com

Someone's Paying Attention

When Michael Richards stunned a nightclub audience two years ago by shouting the N-word at a black patron, Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada was quick to join the Rev. Jesse Jackson in calling for a ban on the word's use.

Now that Jackson has let the word slip out, Masada says he wants the civil rights leader to do what comics do every time they say the word on a Laugh Factory stage - pay a fine.

"Unfortunately, Jesse Jackson has broken his own principles," Masada told The Associated Press on Thursday. "Jesse embraced the notion of fining talent for using such a word and he should be held to his own standards."

Well Mr. Masada, if Jesse Jackson were to be held up to his own standards, he wouldn't have been nailing his secretary and gotten her pregnant while still married, now would he?

Now, normally, I wouldn't chide someone for fooling around on their wife/husband.  That's not my business.  But when you tell me how to run my life and how I should act/talk/react to things, then the gloves come off.

 

Travis

travis@rightwinglunatic.com