Some good advice…

The Other McCain offers some good advice for lazy Bloggers. (Like me!)

Unlike McCain, I could care less, if I ever make a top Bloggers list.

One of the main reasons is, when people start putting you on a pedestal, you start having to live up to the hype.

One thing I do not want to be noted for is hype. I want to be noted for my honesty.

The problem with the hype crowd is that, there is usually no substance to the hype. There are a few exceptions to that rule, but 90 percent of the time, it’s mostly hype and only mostly hype. 

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Yes, I know about the Sarah Palin e-mail scandal

Yes, I know about the email story. No, I’m not quoting it or putting any of those pictures here. As it might cross into legal issues, and quite frankly, jail sucks.

There’s a little funny story behind my finding out about it.

As a Blogged about earlier, I had to attend a memorial service for my Dad’s Sister, who died on Sept 10.

Well, that few hours, turned into about a 5 hour event and seeing I was living on about 4 hours sleep, from like the previous evening. I was dog tired.  Hell, if someone would have told me that the Russians were firing nukes at the United States, I would have most likely have told them, that as long as they didn’t land in my bedroom, I didn’t honestly give two flips, as I was tired and going to sleep. Needless to say, my bed was looking mighty fine by the time I made it back home.

Anyhow, I finally awoke from my slumber around 7:30, Hell, I slept through a Pizza delivery. I never sleep through a pizza delivery, ever.

So, anyhow, I woke up, put my glasses on, and got my pizza slices out of the microwave, and I took a bite and opened my news source and this story was the headliner. I nearly choked on my pizza! 😯 😮

Now I said all that to say all this. My reaction to this story is….. Well, basically, Yawn and if you’re a big time Government person like Palin, Why the hell would you use a web e-mail service like yahoo anyhow? That just doesn’t strike me as very smart at all.

I mean, The Republicans are trying to run this narrative that they’re so much better than the Democrats. Needless to say, this is not helping further that narrative at all.

You can follow the story and see the opinions at Memeornadum and TechMeMe. Me? I’m going back to bed. I need more sleep. 😛

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Ted Stevens, on trial and still pulling the bucks….

Now that is pretty darned talented! Or at best, slick. 

Via The Hill:

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is busy fending off federal charges and scrambling to retain his seat, but that hasn’t affected his appetite for earmarks.

Stevens has secured the most earmarks in the Senate defense appropriations bill, according to an analysis by The Hill. The Hill reviewed projects requested by individual members that made it into the spending measure.

Stevens’s earmark share in the defense bill is more than $200 million. The indicted senator is likely to tout that haul on the campaign trail.

Senate appropriators recently disclosed close to $3 billion in project requests that were not included in the Pentagon’s budget request for fiscal 2009, according to a calculation by The Hill and Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS). That is more than $2 billion less than what the Senate disclosed last year.

Sens. Stevens and Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, top the list with about $215 million in earmarks each.

Stevens stands out because he made the majority of requests by himself, sharing only a few with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). By comparison, many of Cochran’s requests come together with Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) or other senators.

Stevens relinquished his spot as the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Defense panel in July after being charged with seven counts of concealing more than $250,000 worth of home renovations and gifts from a now-defunct oil-services company, Veco Corp. Cochran stepped in as the ranking member of the Defense panel to replace Stevens.

The longest-serving Republican senator has pleaded not guilty and is hoping to clear his name before he faces Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich (D) in the November election. Stevens last month easily won the GOP primary.

Just like in previous years, Stevens — who stepped down before his panel officially marked up the bill — is once again able to secure funds for a wealth of programs benefiting Alaska.

I got to hand it to the guy. He can bring in the cash. Even while being investigated by the feds. That’s pretty darned good. 😀

Although, I do not think that many others would call that talent. Dirty rotten no good….well, you know… Perhaps. But Talent? Nah. slick? Possibly.

Technorati Tags:

New Video by Vets for Freedom PAC

(Seen Originally over at HotAir.com)

This plopped in my e-mail inbox this morning…:

Click here to read the text of Senator Resolution 636

Click here to read the previous comments of B. Hussien Obama on the Surge. (PDF FILE)

Click here for the website of Vets for Freedom

Let’s support our troops. They’re doing the job, that the Communist Liberals in America, won’t do.

I don’t know about you. But I think scary Harry Reid and Mr. Hussein Obama will skip out on this vote. Like the America Hating Nazi Liberals that they are. 😡

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Terrorist attack on U.S. Embassy in Yemen

Video:

The Story Via CNN:

Suspected Al Qaeda disguised as security forces launched an explosive assault on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, Wednesday killing 10 Yemeni police and civilians, officials said.

The attack involved two car bombs, a spokesman for Yemen’s embassy in Washington said. Six attackers, including a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest, were also killed in the attack, Mohammed al-Basha said.

The attack involved at least four explosions — including at least one car bomb — and sniper fire, a senior State Department official said, adding that no U.S. Embassy employees were killed.

The heavily fortified compound in the capital of Yemen — the ancestral home of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden — has previously been targeted in attacks.

The U.S. official told CNN that the attackers initially opened fire outside the embassy’s security gate, then there was the main explosion followed by a secondary explosion.

At some point, snipers positioned across the street from the embassy opened fire on Yemeni first responders as they arrived on the scene, the official said.

Those killed include six Yemeni policemen and four civilians, he said, noting that the number of wounded is unclear.

Yemen believes al Qaeda is responsible for the attack, al-Basha said. Media reports said Islamic Jihad in Yemen — which is affiliated with al Qaeda — has claimed responsibility for the attack, but CNN could not independently confirm those reports.

Trev Mason, a British national who lives near the embassy, said he saw “a massive fireball” near compound.

“We heard the sounds of a heavy gun battle going on,” he told CNN. “I looked out my window, and we saw the first explosion going off — a massive fireball very close to the U.S. Embassy.

“The gun battle went on for a further 10 to 15 minutes, followed by two further loud explosions.”

The first explosion happened about 9:15 a.m. Wednesday (0615 GMT/2.15 am ET) and was followed by several secondary blasts, said U.S. Embassy spokesman Ryan Gliha.

I just wonder, will the democrats dismiss this as an attempt by the U.S. Government to scare people into voting Republican? I also wonder will Juan McSame turn this into a Political talking point? It is to wonder. 🙄

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Editorial: Sometimes acting like Michelle Malkin is a good thing

I sit here tonight, as a former “left of center” Blogger, amazed at what has become of the party, that I once used to just blindly vote for every year.  I fully understand what Ronald Reagan was referring to, when he quoted Al Smith in his 1964 speech called “Rendezvous with Destiny.”  It just seems to me that the Liberals in this country of ours, instead of listening to the other side of the political fence and possibly learning from them, are more interested in mocking them and living in their own altered state of reality. Conversely, I have been told that this is nothing new, Democrats have been doing this for years.

Earlier tonight, I was over looking around on a well-known liberal Blog called Crooks and Liars, which, for those of you who are not normally of the Blogging community is a rather humorous reference to former President Richard M. Nixon’s statement of, “I am not a crook.” John Amato, A liberal from California, runs that rather interesting Blog.  Earlier tonight, John made a rather flippant comment that burned me to my core, and as a result, I felt the need to write about it, and the person, of whom he was referring.

John Amato was reporting on a Conservative Radio host from Alaska, who rather idiotically, made some rather nasty comments about some women holding a Anti-Sarah Palin rally in Alaska, and also about him giving their personal cell phone numbers out, whereby causing some of them to receive threats.  The host was suspended a week, without pay, which I feel was ample punishment.  To be fair to the Host, he was not aware that the numbers given out were personal cell phone numbers.

It was not the reporting of the incident that annoyed me to my core, it was the rather offhanded, mean spirited comment that was attached to the reporting of that story, that warranted this Editorial.  The comment that sent me over the rails, the comment, that I feel, was a shot over the bow of a rather highly intelligent woman, who I feel is unique spokesperson for American Conservative values in this Country.

“Acting like Michelle Malkin does have some consequences after all.”

That, Mr. Amato, is over the line.  I will explain why. However, I do not expect you, being locked into your bastardly Liberal mindset, to understand why I feel so damned strongly about this. Nevertheless, I will try to make your rather simple liberal mind understand the questions I am about to ask you.  I realize it might be a crab shoot with you, but I am in need of a challenge this evening and you are the target of interest.

  1. Do you believe that Michelle Malkin’s due diligence in reporting on the war on terror is a hateful thing?  I would expect so, seeing most of you liberals believe that we should try to talk to people who want to see this Nation and everything it stands for destroyed.
  2. I suppose that you believe that Michelle Malkin’s reporting of the vandalism that happened to the Vietnam vets war memorial in Washington D.C. is a hateful thing as well?  This would not surprise me.  Seeing it is you liberals, who hate our military, to the point of wanting America to lose a war and return home in disgrace.  Vietnam proved that sir.
  3. I suppose you would disapprove of Michelle Malkin’s resolve to “Lan Astaslem” which is Arabic for “I will not submit/surrender?”  This is a pledge that we as Americans will not submit or surrender to Islamic extremists who want to strike fear into the American people and ruin our livelihoods, something that I also believe in, to my very core.  I say this because it is you and your Liberal friends wish to appease those who want to destroy this Nation.

Yes, Michelle Malkin and I do have our differences.  Her brand of Conservatism is a bit different from mine.  I do not agree with every thing that she writes.  I am not a “Malkin-bot,” a funny term that I gave to some of her supporters, who tend to be, what I and Andrew P. Napolitano like to call sheep. However, that is about where the differences end.  When it comes to matters of National Defense and Defending our Military against those who would like to see it destroyed, including brain-dead liberals like you, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid.  I am, in fact, in agreement with her on these issues.

In closing, let me simply say this.  The Democrats talk about change.  Well, this year is going to be a major change for me as well.  For the first time, since I have legally eligible to vote, I will be not voting for a Democrat.  This is because the party that I used to just blindly vote for, in every election has totally drifted beyond the point that I feel to be acceptable in American politics.  I am sorry, but I cannot and will not vote for a Party’s candidate, whose politics resemble that of Karl Marx or that of the Nazi Party.  Furthermore, I will not vote for a candidate whose party abdicated its core principles in the Primary and at the convention, just so they could hurry up and get their nominee.

This is to say nothing of the communist socialist agenda,  the wholesale slaughter of innocent babies, the outright attack of the Judeo-Christian Faith, The Promotion and advocating of the Atheistic movement and the furtherance of the Homosexual agenda, the promoting of Identity Politics within the African-American community, in response to a perceived and mostly falsely assumed attack on the Negro Race.

All of these things are why this Blogger will be voting differently on November 4, 2008.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

*snort* The straight talk express, slowly jumps the tracks….

…..and Just when you think you’ve heard it all, in this race…. There’s this!

This Via Politico.com

Asked what work John McCain did as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that helped him understand the financial markets, the candidate’s top economic adviser wielded visual evidence: his BlackBerry.

“He did this,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin told reporters this morning, holding up his BlackBerry. “Telecommunications of the United States is a premier innovation in the past 15 years, comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you’re looking at the miracle John McCain helped create and that’s what he did.”

Which got promptly BLASTED to hell and back by a former FCC chairman!

John McCain is so out of touch with America his economics adviser says he deserves credit for creating the Canadian company that invented the Blackberry. Message to Republicans: it’s American entrepreneurship our President is supposed to encourage.

The blackberry, is made in Canada.

In fact, Think Progress reports the following:

This is not the first time that McCain has tried to take credit for a technological innovation he actively opposed. In a 2000 GOP presidential debate, he took credit for E-Rate, a program designed to wire schools:

We took a major step forward when we decided to wire every school and library in America to the Internet. That’s a good program.

McCain, however, opposed E-Rate in the late ’90s, concerned about the impact it might have on the telecom industry. Groups such as the American Library Association were so outraged that they encouraged their members to contact obstinate senators, including McCain. More here on McCain’s paltry record as Senate Commerce Committee chairman.

I mean, I know think progress is a liberal joint and all. But, you cannot white wash history, at all. It seems McCain is trying to do just that. His staff is pulling lies out of their collective asses to try and make John McCain, errr…ummm, I mean, Juan McSame, look good and it is instead making him look like a total buffoon.

Seriously folks, this is turning John McCain’s campaign into a huge joke.

Then, there’s this. One of McCain’s own surrogates made this rather startling remark today:

Video:  (via HuffPo)

She tried to defend her remarks over on MSNBC. But you know the damage is done there man… Ouch!

I give her 24 to 48 hours and her butt will be under the bus and out of the McCain campaign.

Because you just have to know that Juan McSame is sitting there thinking, “Gee, Thanks a bunch Bitch, I give you a Job in my campaign and you cannot even defend me properly. Oy!”

Between this and the continued slamming by the Wall Street Journal, I predict a huge drop in the polls this week.

The Opinions in the Blogging World are flying about this one. Check it out over at Memeorandum!

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Interesting Quote….

I was looking around the news stories and I came across this quote about Obama’s Healthcare plan.

Quote:

Rising health costs push total employment costs up and wages and benefits down. The result is lost profits and lost wages, in addition to pointless risk, insecurity and a flood of personal bankruptcies.

Sustained growth thus requires successful health-care reform. Barack Obama and John McCain propose to lead us in opposite directions — and the Obama direction is far superior.

Sen. Obama’s proposal will modernize our current system of employer- and government-provided health care, keeping what works well, and making the investments now that will lead to a more efficient medical system. He does this in five ways:

– Learning. One-third of medical costs go for services at best ineffective and at worst harmful. Fifty billion dollars will jump-start the long-overdue information revolution in health care to identify the best providers, treatments and patient management strategies.

– Rewarding. Doctors and hospitals today are paid for performing procedures, not for helping patients. Insurers make money by dumping sick patients, not by keeping people healthy. Mr. Obama proposes to base Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and doctors on patient outcomes (lower cholesterol readings, made and kept follow-up appointments) in a coordinated effort to focus the entire payment system around better health, not just more care.

– Pooling. The Obama plan would give individuals and small firms the option of joining large insurance pools. With large patient pools, a few people incurring high medical costs will not topple the entire system, so insurers would no longer need to waste time, money and resources weeding out the healthy from the sick, and businesses and individuals would no longer have to subject themselves to that costly and stressful process.

Preventing. In today’s health-care market, less than one dollar in 25 goes for prevention, even though preventive services — regular screenings and healthy lifestyle information — are among the most cost-effective medical services around. Guaranteeing access to preventive services will improve health and in many cases save money.

– Covering. Controlling long-run health-care costs requires removing the hidden expenses of the uninsured. The reforms described above will lower premiums by $2,500 for the typical family, allowing millions previously priced out of the market to afford insurance.

In addition, tax credits for those still unable to afford private coverage, and the option to buy in to the federal government’s benefits system, will ensure that all individuals have access to an affordable, portable alternative at a price they can afford.

Given the current inefficiencies in our system, the impact of the Obama plan will be profound. Besides the $2,500 savings in medical costs for the typical family, according to our research annual business-sector costs will fall by about $140 billion. Our figures suggest that decreasing employer costs by this amount will result in the expansion of employer-provided health insurance to 10 million previously uninsured people.

Where is this quote found? New York Times? No. The Nation? Nope. The New Republic? Not quite. But rather the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal.

It’s not too kind towards McCain either.

Quote:

In contrast, Sen. McCain, who constantly repeats his no-new-taxes promise on the campaign trail, proposes a big tax hike as the solution to our health-care crisis. His plan would raise taxes on workers who receive health benefits, with the idea of encouraging their employers to drop coverage. A study conducted by University of Michigan economist Tom Buchmueller and colleagues published in the journal Health Affairs suggests that the McCain tax hike will lead employers to drop coverage for over 20 million Americans.

What would happen to these people? Mr. McCain will give them a small tax credit, $5,000 for a family and $2,500 for an individual, and tell them to navigate the individual insurance market on their own.

For middle- and lower-income people, the credits are way too small. They are less than half the cost of policies today ($12,000 on average for a family), and are far below the 75% that most employers offering coverage contribute. Further, their value would erode over time, as the credit increases less rapidly than average premiums.

Those already sick are completely out of luck, as individual insurers are free to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Mr. McCain has proposed a high-risk pool for the very sick, but has not put forward the money to make it work.

Even for those healthy enough to gain coverage in the individual insurance market, the screening, marketing and individual underwriting that insurers do to separate healthy from sick boosts premiums by 17% relative to employer-provided insurance, well beyond the help offered by the McCain tax credit.

The immediate consequences of the McCain plan are even worse. The McCain plan is a big tax increase on employers and workers. With the economy in recession, that’s the last thing America’s businesses need.

Finally, Mr. McCain does nothing to bend the curve of rising health-care costs downward. He does not fund investments in learning, rewarding and preventing. Eliminating state coverage requirements will slash preventive service availability.

The high cost-sharing plans he envisions will similarly discourage preventive care. And as he does nothing about the hidden costs of the uncovered — expensive ER visits, recurring conditions resulting from inadequate follow-up care.

To be fair, this was an opinion piece. But the very fact that this was even cleared to be published in the Murdoch’s paper, shows that there are people within the G.O.P. that are NOT happy with John McCain running for President. It also shows that there are people, powerful people within the G.O.P. that are working hard to destroy his chances of being elected.

I guess that is what happens when you stiff your base too many times. Some people may have forgotten about John McCain’s past stupidity, but some, have not. This is living proof of that fact.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Higher chance of AIG bankruptcy

This cannot be good…

Via Reuters:

Sept 16 (Reuters) – American International Group Inc (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) faces heightened probability of a potential bankruptcy filing by the holding company, a Credit Suisse analyst said Tuesday, a day after the insurer’s credit ratings were cut, jeopardizing efforts to raise cash necessary for its survival.

Shares of AIG, once the world’s largest insurer by market value, fell as much as 74 percent to $1.25 in early trade on Tuesday, as investors fretted over the company’s ability to secure desperately needed capital.

"While there is a chance the company can work its way through its liquidity problems if it can secure substantial bridge financing, we think this will be challenging to execute it in the current onerous credit environment," analyst Thomas Gallagher wrote in a note to clients.

Like I said before, if you’re invested in any of these banks. You have my sympathies. 🙁

Up to date numbers:

Dow

10,890.81
-26.70
(-0.24%)

Nasdaq

2,172.85
-7.06
(-0.32%)

S&P 500

1,188.62
-4.08
(-0.34%)

Chart:

image

While the temptation to politicize this whole thing is great. This has been coming for years. I just do not think that having a Democrat in the White House would change anything at all.

From the "WTF?!?!?!?!?" File

I won’t quote the whole thing, because it is an AP Story. But this cannot be very good at all.

Quote:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan’s military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. commandos, are certain to heighten tension between Washington and a key ally against terrorism.

[…]

“The orders are clear,” Abbas said in an interview. “In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire.”

Can someone remind me here again, why we didn’t just bomb these bastards into the stone age, when we went in there originally?

Oy… Another one of Dubya’s screw ups. The damned idiot. 😡