Hannah Garman, R.I.P.

I’ve been watching this little girl from afar without comment for some time, now.

Michelle says, last night:

Just wanted to take a pause from politics and policy and world affairs to let you all know that 5-year-old Hannah Garman has died.

Hannah was diagnosed with a rare, incurable brain tumor in October 2008. Hannah’s mother died of cancer three years ago. Many of you joined last December in sending prayers and well wishes to Hannah, who wished for Christmas cards from across the country. She touched so many of us. Her too-brief life reminds us how precious all life is. Her father’s love reminds us how precious all our children are.

(Sigh)

Indeed. I’d say more but frankly I don’t trust myself with it just now, so I won’t.

[Obama] called the idea that he’s gotten an easy ride from the press “very hard to swallow.” Delusional and totally graceless for a man who’s gotten the journalistic tongue bath he’s received from so many outlets (with the notable exceptions of a few in the White House press pool, who are great to watch).

Mary Katherine Ham, Weekly Standard.

Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read on the sphere, anywhere…. The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the “Have one on Me” Edition.

• Tea Parties, Iranian Style: Somewhere in my travels last night, I stumbled across a small blogger somehwere…(Small in terms of following, I mean to say)  that suggested a comparison between the Tea Parties here in the States and the reaction of the voters over in Iran, just now.  I’m sorry now I didn’t capture it. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but reconsidered it on the way into work this morning and since and now can’t find the link.  (Sigh… figures) The point of the article seemed to me to be that the protesters here in the states have it easy by comparison.  And that’s correct of course; Obama Militias have yet to open fire, or arrest large numbers of people for their positions. Nobody has been shot and killed for taking part in those protests as yet.  Looking at one point of similarly though, gives me pause…the attempt in both cases, at suppression of reports on the protests, and the size of them.  It also strikes me that the reason for the deadly nature of the protests there is the tolerance for a higher level of corruption before acting, in Iran. Culturally driven possibly, and equally driven by the fact that the government there is the only ones with the guns. A point for the second amendment types, certainly, but  there seems another set of links there, too, that deserves to be explored further.
• Sounds of Silence: Well, look, that’s all we’ve been getting from the White House.  Now, of course, they’ll tell us they’re “deeply troubled”.  But whereas Jack Kennedy would have said…..
  

  Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

  ……Barack Obama is no Jack Kennedy.    Look again at the quote. Strong words, not because of the value of the words themselves but because of the principle behind them… that liberty is worth fighting for. Worth any cost. And Obama is certainly no Reagan, as Ed Morrissey points up at Hot Air, using Reagan’s actions are regards Poland as his example…

  

  Ed Morrissey

  Reagan took a stand on freedom, where Obama sounds desperate for engagement with the forces of oppression. Germany’s Angela Merkel took a much tougher stand than Obama did, calling the oppression “totally unacceptable,” while all Obama can say is that it’s “deeply troubling”.

  It’s the difference between leadership and management. Reagan led, and he inspired the Poles to continue the struggle that eventually helped free half of Europe from iron-fisted domination by the Soviet Union. Obama wants to manage the crisis to keep from having to lead. Big, big difference.

  Indeed. The people of the country, both left and right are way out in front of Obama on this one. Obama is certainly no leader.   As Totten notes today, the reaction to Iran from both left and right has been universal…

  

  Totten

  A refreshing bipartisan consensus is emerging in the liberal and conservative halves of the blogosphere and the media in general. Visceral detestation of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran is all but universal.

  But, rather than leap in on the side of liberty, against the oppression there in Iran (Which would not only help the Iranians but the rest of the world.. a point which both ends of the political spectrum seem uncharacteristically to agree on, )  Obama now withholds comment, hoping apparently to win the day with his winning smile and a few shovelfuls of manure.  But to what end, I wonder? I was no fan of JFK, but you can easily pick out the differences between the two… on issues of freedom, JFK worked from the basis of principle…  as did Reagan…   and Obama can’t bring himself to take that principled stand. We needed a leader. We got Obama, instead.

• Cue Steely Dan’s “Changing of the Guard“: Along with James Joyner, I note the changing of the Guard over at NRO, with KJL moving down to DC to take on the editor at large duties, and Rich Lowrey taking over Lopez’s job in New York.  I rather like Rich, having read a few of his books and reviewed one onlineJoyner The some years ago.   James is properly skeptical of some f the left wing reaction to the move.
  

  

  Joyner

  The leftist commentators thus far, in addition to saying some dreadful things about KLo, seem to think this is an indication that NR is tightening its belt and proof that conservative opinion magazines can’t sustain themselves on the free market. Given that we have no information about the new pay structure, I see no reason to think the former. The latter is doubtless true but we can strike the modifier “conservative.” No opinion magazine of any stripe has been profitable in my lifetime; they’re all subsidized in some fashion.

  Well, look, we all know every action anywhere is going to be spun as proof of the leftie mantra. I’m inclined to disregard their nonsense as such, therefore. While the rest of James’ comments are true enough I’m not even convinced this is a monetary move. It strikes me as reasonable to assume this to be a personnel decision, based on factors other than money, such as the personal preference of Lowrey and Lopez.

• Arrgh!!! (not all updates are good) This new WordPress update (2.8)  did something to the editor that really fouls me up in the weird formatics I’ve been using in the Nightly Ramble for the last year or so.. Took me about 15 minutes to get that NRO thing above, correctly; it kept dropping the block quote and misplacing the picture of James.  Of course the reason is that it’s not handing it well is someone’s attempt to shove W3 web standards down our throats, one of which is block quotes aren’t supposed to work inside line items, as we use them here.  Dumb, since all the various browsers work with them. I’m getting to the point where I’m considering an older HTML editor so  I can get my posts done without having to fart around trying to get past someone’s “better” idea of W3 implementation. Annoying.
• The Polls are in: Gallup reports: ?
  

  Thus far in 2009, 40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal.

  

  Graphic By BitsBlog based on Gallup Polling data

  Do you even begin to understand what an earthshaking majority this is for Conservatives?  Most ‘moderates’ will swing to the right if they see a principled conservative over there. So why aren’t the GOP in power? Simple… it’s because they’re not principled offering conservatives to the voters. These numbers bear out what I’ve been saying for a long time, now. Since Reagan, in fact. The situation is that Conservatives re the majority, and they have been for decades, now. That’s not changed since 1979,  and before.   Hey, GOP: Want to win?  The path to victory is frighteningly clear… frightening because you still haven’t figured it out.  The degree of success of GOP candidates is directly tied to how close to conservative principles they stand.  Offer us real conservatives to vote for, and the result will be a GOP landslide. McCainish types do not qualify. Another Bush like centrist doesn’t qualify either, nor is bending over forward for ‘the center’ required. Never has been.  Come back to the right, GOP. It’s the only way out of exile.

• BOOOO!!!!  Obama pushed his idea of medical reform at the AMA yesterday, and got himself booed off the stage. Well, this whole thing seems to be going swimmingly, for Obama. Support for his government healthcare plan is universal, except for the the voters, the insurance companies and now, the doctors.
•  Yeah, that’ll happen:  John Thune has put a bill up to force government to divest itself of any private companies by 2010 and prevents it from ever doing anything of the like again. We both know it won’t pass given the big government types running the place nowdays, but it’s a statement of principle, at least… and Thune has our support, here.
• No kidding, Glenn: It’s why I’ve never had much in the way for respect for Yglesias.  It’s one others, including some on the right, fawning over him as some kind of intellectual, and never quite understood the attraction.  To me, he’s invariably been a partisan hack… and a poor one, at that. Example: (Daniel Halper at Commentary:)
  

  Writing on the website of the American Prospect magazine, Matthew Yglesias writes:

  Ahmadinejad is in most ways a classic right-winger, a demagogic nationalist and cultural conservative. In a manner somewhat reminiscent of a Sarah Palin, however, he clothes this right-wing politics in a language of class resentment, painting his more pragmatic and reformist opponents as decadent elites out of touch with ordinary people. Unlike the populists of the American right, however, he merges this rhetoric with something resembling an actual populist economic agenda. The main element has been the use of oil revenue to expand the state sector of the economy in an attempt to distribute wealth more broadly throughout the country. This approach has gained Ahmadinejad a loyal following among the rural poor and public employees, but Iran’s objective economic performance has been disappointing, even during the great oil boom years.

  Yes, Yglesias is referring to the same Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who calls for Israel to be wiped off the map, who denies the existence of the Holocaust, who calls Jews (whoops, Zionists) the “true manifestation of Satan,” and so on. But the main distinction between Ahmadinejad from Palin? The former is in favor of redistributing the wealth, which automatically makes him better than Palin in Yglesias’s mind.

  Halper of course has it correct. This is exactly the kind of contemptible  hackery I’ve come to expect from Yglesias.  It fascinates me anyone (other than the far left who seems to me desperate enough to latch onto such nonsense) takes him at all seriously anymore.

• Cover-up? Byron York wonders if the Democrats will try to cover up the Americorps firing scandal.  As if this was ever in doubt, Byron? Remember, a Republican lost the presidency over actions of the like.
• Bye Bye, Letterman:  Even assuming the “apology” is a genuine one, and I doubt it is,  it doesn’t make the offence go away, particularly given your record. You’re a hack, bub…  You used to be a passable comic, and host, 20 years ago. But you let yourself slip down to pushing a vicious  political agenda, and in the doing, you got vicious yourself… falling down to the level of  Dice Clay or Michael Richards. I have no sympathy for you at all.  You’ve made your millions….  Perhaps it’s time you went away, like they did, and for the same reasons.

Aaron Task over at Yahoo’s tech Ticker makes a point I’ve made here at BitsBlog several times:

Before this discussion goes any further, Jeff Matthews of Ram Partners, wants you (and presumably policymakers) to remember this: “The epicenter of the financial crisis that almost brought the world to its knees was the regulated portion of the U.S. financial system — in particular Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two of the most regulated entities ever created.”

Furthermore, “every publicly traded bank that has gone out of business had financial statements signed by their CFOs and CEOs,” the veteran money manager notes. Such assurances were prescribed by Sarbanes Oxley, the legislation that emerged in the aftermath of the corporate scandals at Enron, WorldCom and others earlier this decade.

The vid on that page goes further, saying that every bubble in history has been responded to by government, who attempted regulation to prevent it happening again. Such attempts are almost invariably failures, and the rare successes are only such by happenstance more than by planning.

So, needless to say, what is Obama and company planning? True to form… another failure:

On Monday, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers penned an op-ed piece in the Washington Post entitled A New Financial Foundation. On Wednesday, President Obama is expected to put his full weight behind this vision of a new regulatory framework for Wall Street.

Amazing that a self-proclaimed student of history could be so daft on such matters. Unless, perchance, fixing the problem isn’t the agenda at all?

The state is shooting her citizens in Iran, and all the one can promise is business as usual, Anne Gearan, Associated Press: 

“We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries, and we’ll see where it takes us.”

Gateway Pundit:

Shame! Obama’s Response to Iranian Violence– Mush (Video)

What a horrible response from the leader of the Free World.

Freedom isn’t such a ward word to say.    Obama should try it sometime.

A follow-up of Eric’s  Ramble:

Never Mind: So now, Joe Biden is willing to admit that everyone guessed wrong on how the stimulus was going to work out. well, no, not everyone, Joe.

Just Democrats. as specifically, those associated with the Obama administration, and those who are paid to tell Obama and company what they want to hear. Biden also allowed as how the millions of jobs ‘saved’ now ends up being substantially smaller than the Democrat spin had it, too. So, the BS’ed their way through puttinga record debtload on us and our children for generations forward? Gee, how comforting to know we’re getting hope… and change

The strutting Delaware Blue Hen, Joe Biden, keeps digging the hole deeeper, viidoe:

Hat tip:    Sweetness & Light.

Trancript:  DRJ, Patterio Pontifications.

Having dug his hole  Geoff, Innocent Bystanders, kindly fills in the hole:

• Obama reminds GOP in stimulus meeting: “I won” (Hot Air): 1/23/09
• House passes stimulus plan, but with no Republican votes (McClatchy): 1/28/09
• Pence Opposes Democrat Stimulus Bill: “It Won’t Work”: 1/28/09
• Economists say stimulus won’t work (St. Louis Post-Dispatch): 1/29/09
• Analysis: Stimulus Won’t Jump-start Economy (AP): 2/13/2009
• Sen. Cornyn: Stimulus Won’t Work (Fox): 2/13/09
• Republican Governors Step Up Attacks on Obama Economic Policies (Bloomberg): 2/23/09

Hat tip:  Laura W, Ace of Spades Hq.

Bottom line for Joe and the Obamatards:  You broke it, you own it.

Welcome, one and all, to the  most intense nightly read anywhere on the ‘sphere… The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble

This is the White Board Edition

• Iran: I’ve not commented much on Iranian election, mostly because the thing was breaking so fast it was pretty much useless for me to comment on it.  Now that things have settled down a little bit, it is clear that what has happened is the election was rigged. It’s also clear that the government plans on using all powers available to maintain itself, regardless of the legality of the thing, or the will of the people.  Now, granted that polling in such places is questionable at best, but Ahmadinejad had nowhere near the lead in the polling that the voting reports gave him. Something, then, is amiss, here, at least from the persoepctive of anyone but the Mullahs and not unexpected by anyone who didn’t have their heads installed in their backsides, like a certain President.  Now, word this morning was that the Mullahs had ordered an investigation into charges of fraud. Anyone who thinks such an investigation is going to be on the level should drop me some feedback to arrange for your prompt and generous donation to the “Save the Bithead” fund… that kind of Niavete’ should be taken advatage of, before it fades away. Michael Totten over at Commentary, lays it on the line in the very first sentence:
  

  The Islamic Republic regime in Iran is vividly revealing itself as an enemy of the entire world.

  Quite right. Not that any of the record that Totten discusses is taken into consideration by the current US Presdient, or his supporters.

     So averse to this reality is Obama, that word on the street now is that Dennis Ross, Obama’s current Envoy to Iran will be canned by Obama shortly…. within the next day or two seems the timeframe. The reason? Ross is Jewish. Just ponder that for a moment. Now, there are a few other reasons, such as a more realistic view of Obama’s Iran policy and what really oughta happen with it:

  Washington insiders speculate that a number of reasons moved the administration to reassign Ross. One possibility is Iran’s persistent refusal to accept Ross as a U.S. emissary given the diplomat’s Jewish background as well as his purported pro-Israel leanings. Ross is known to maintain contacts with numerous senior officials in Israel’s defense establishment and the Israeli government.

  Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem surmised that another possibility for Ross’ ouster is his just-released book, “Myths, Illusions, and Peace – Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.”

  Ross, who co-wrote the book with David Makovsky, a former journalist who is a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argued against a linkage between the Palestinian issue and the West’s policy against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

  Ross and Mokovsky also raised the possibility of military action against Iran.

  “Tougher policies – either militarily or meaningful containment – will be easier to sell internationally and domestically if we have diplomatically tried to resolve our differences with Iran in a serious and credible fashion,” they wrote.

  Interestingly, that’s essentially the same argument I’ve made just recently. It’s also a point Totten addresses, quite clearly:

  

  Totten

  Obama Administration officials still hope they can talk Khamenei out of developing nuclear weapons and supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. This is delusion on stilts. Khamenei can’t even compromise with his own regime or his hand-picked presidential candidates. He placed them under house arrest, along with a Grand Ayatollah, and deployed thousands of violent enforcers into the streets. Not only does he confront the world, he is at war with his very own country.

  Understand the mind of a totalitarian. “Probe with a bayonet,” Vladimir Lenin famously said. “If you meet steel, stop. If you meet mush, then push.”

  The Khomeinists in Iran likewise only stop when they meet steel.

  Of course reality isn’t one of Obama’s strong suits, so Ross gets ignored, and likely pushed out much the same as Joe Lieberman.

   So much for Obama’s idea of a new start.  So much for  Obama and his “negotiate at all costs” attitude.  The lesson here, and it will go unheeded by the American left, is that there is some evil in this world which cannot be negotiated with. This is what constitutes Hope and Change. Victor Davis Hanson and Jennifer Rubin  Rick Moran and Roger Simon  weigh in on all this.

• Iran (Non-) coverage: The general rule of thumb is if it doesn’t make the left look good, particularly if there an office at that time, it will never make print.  So it is with Iran.  And the reaction is already out there. So too, are the denials that there was a problem at all with Iran’s election. When the leftloons all start running blocker for this stuff… (sigh)
• Obama’s Anti-Israel stance: Then again, given the anti Israel stance of this administration, and its supporters, one cannot help but wonder if the lame -ass way we’ve been dealing with Iran wasn’t completely intentional.  Reynolds speaks to this point, yesterday. Hope and change….
• Meanwhile, in the Far East: Another of Obama’s negotiation commitments... North Korea, to be specific,  is failing… and failing badly. So badly in fact our longtime friends are looking askance at us. It’s all hope and change, of course.
• Never Mind: So now, Joe Biden is willing to admit that everyone guessed wrong on how the stimulus was going to work out.   well, no, not everyone, Joe.?
  

  Missed it by THAT MUCH

  Just Democrats.  as specifically, those associated with the Obama administration, and those who are paid to tell Obama and company what they want to hear.  Biden also allowed as how the millions of jobs ‘saved’ now ends up being substantially smaller than the Democrat spin had it, too. So, the BS’ed their way through puttinga record debtload on us and our children for generations forward? Gee, how comforting to know we’re getting hope… and change…

  Now, he does tend to excuse himself saying that the economy was worse off than the thought.  As has been demonstrated here and elsewhere however, the economy was not worse than they thought.  The plan didn’t work, but in fact made it worse.  Here again, we have Joe Biden in another Emily Latela moment. But more, I think; The message here is clear that this is not a failure that Obama wanted to admit himself, and so he sent Biden out to do it for him. A real profile in courage, this Obama.

• Healthcare, Ala Obama: … doesn’t seem to be working out so well, either. The Democrat plan figures $600 Billion in tax increases.  And we both know it’ll be many times that by the time we’re done with it.  So… More taxes, less healthcare.  Hope and change, for sure. The only positive thing about this is that the Democrats at the moment don’t have the votes to pass the bloody thing. Meaning, of course, given the near-super-majority the Democrats have in Congress, that a goodly chunk of their own think the thing is a disaster, too. Jeffrey Anderson weighs in here.
• Gitmo Prisoners to our streets after all? Yes, says AP. Don’t you feel all Hopey Changitude inside? One wonders, though, how many screwups the American people are going to put up with from this administration before a reaction occurs. My guess; this may in fact be the tipping point.
• Dick Durbin Insider Trading Scandal?  Glenn Reynolds  links us
• Let’s not forget about Chris Dodd
• Let’s also not forget the Americorps firing. Back in the 70’s, this was enough to bring down a presidency. (Can you say “Archie Cox? I knew you could. )  Of course then again, that was a Republican President, and the press was more than willing to go after him. With Obama being a Democrat, not so much.
• Let’s also also not forget the PMA group… and Jack Murtha and ethics issues.
•  And the Car Companies… and their investors… Who Obama refers to as ‘Terrorists’ when they wonder openly what’s happened to the rule of law.  Why would anyone invest in such a market where the rule of law is pushed aside at a whim if it benefits the current political power structure? Yet, this is the environment Obama has fostered, while claiming he’s going to get our economy moving again.
• Flooding the Field:  In looking over today’s Ramble so far, it occurs to me that any one of these issues would have been enough to start months of wall to wall coverage on the news channels, and wall to wall bitching on the leftie websites. We’d have so much info on the one issue, that the one issue would be a national debate. But two things work against that. First a reluctance on the part of the Dinosaurs to cover this stuff at all, given the rule about making Democrats look good or it doesn’t run… and the idea that there is so much corruption, so much bad policy, so much bad government, so many government screwups, that no mere mortal, or even a group of them, can cover them all. So most of it slides by us. Or, perhaps more correctly, we’re sliding by them, on our way down the chute.  Is this the ‘hope and change’ you wanted, America?
• Six Flags Over Bankruptcy:
  

  Superman-The Ride at Darien Lake. It's taller than this pic makes it, and faster. It's doing 80 at the bottom of this rise. Amazingly, on a clear day, you can see clear over to Grand Island New York, and the roller-coaster at Fantasy Island, there. Well... for a second or two, anyway. And yes, I know 'cause I've been on it.

  James Joyner over at OTB tells us that Six Flags has gone belly up. This, despite the fact that there a attendance is up at all of their Parks.  Obviously, then,  the issue is one of debt load. 

  I suppose we can probably use the park near us here in western New York as an example; Darien Lake.  When Six Flags came in to western New York, they dumped a huge pile of money into the park, and made it essentially the roller-coaster capital of the northeast.  In the doing, they apparently  incurred far more debt load than they were eventually able to support.  I suspect that they figured that the debt load that they took on would have been supportable had they been able to kill off all the older Parks in the neighborhood.  That didn’t happen; their ridership is up too.  I get into it in some detail in the comments, over there.

  Personally, I am convinced that people are simply more comfortable with the older, and less glitzy Parks . For while, I considered the idea that it might have been just my personal preference, but the attendance figures would seem to give credence to the thought that it’s more than just me. That’s something the megaparks have not calculated with.

• Bye Bye Analog TV: Full power Analog TV fell silent over the weekend, as per plan. It’s been coming for well over a year now, and has been delayed once or twice along the way.  Scott Fybush does his usual good job describing what’s up here in Western NY.   Of course the idiots are out in force… some 700,000 calling a hotline to the federal government to come and fix their TV. Boortz notes:
  

  

  Boortz

  We are presented with a great opportunity here. Let’s get the names of all of the ignoranuses who couldn’t figure this thing out by Friday and get them converted to digital … with one condition. They surrender their voter registration cards. We have enough idiots voting in this country … and since there is no Constitutional right to vote in a federal election, we need to find ways to cull the herd. Clearly anyone who couldn’t figure out this analog-to-digital conversion thing isn’t bright enough to cast an intelligent vote. Sure … we need them. Someone has to cook the French fries … but we don’t need them voting.

  (grump) All that technology and all those resources just to deliver sludge like Oprah and American Idol. (/grump) Yet, why on earth would voter registration cards make much of a difference?  Their lack has seldom stopped people from voting before.

• A comeback is possible… KJL at The Corner:
  

  Gallup:

   Thus far in 2009, 40% of Americans interviewed in national Gallup Poll surveys describe their political views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This represents a slight increase for conservatism in the U.S. since 2008, returning it to a level last seen in 2004. The 21% calling themselves liberal is in line with findings throughout this decade, but is up from the 1990s.

  Now for the leadership … 

  … Which in fact, has always been the problem.. as I’ve been saying for years, now..

From feedback, I recrive word that yesterday was the birthday of Alois Alzheimer, German psychologist and neuropathologist, the guy who first identified what is today called Alzheimer’s disease. He was born today in 1864.

I actually had it on my ticker for yesterday but I …. ummmm… well…. you know….

• @melissatweets Sorry, melissa… I'm with @donsurber on this one.  #
• @melissatweets no question it has it's place… but not if you're going to get personal.  #
• @melissatweets remember, this is the same site that urged people to phtgh gop delegates in hopes of using em againt the gop.  #
• @michellemalkin whole thing reminds of Nixon firing Archibald Cox, doesn't it?  #
• @EdMorrissey firing an investigator? Nixon and Cox… it has the same smell execpt the dems won't care this time #
• RT @MelissaTweets: The dearth of cable news coverage on Iran isn't proof of MSM bias, it's proof that nothing interrupts the MSM's wknd off #
• @MelissaTweets Well, look, what kind of resources do they ahve on the ground there?  in reply to MelissaTweets #
• @MelissaTweets and for that matter, how many are interested in wartime pay?  in reply to MelissaTweets #
• @MelissaTweets I suppose, but not even sure I trust that at this point.  in reply to MelissaTweets #
• RT @PatrickRuffini: RT @jstrevino: Please note that all identified Twitterers from Iran have fallen silent in the past hour.  #
• @PatrickRuffini Cutoff of the whole net, I wonder?  in reply to PatrickRuffini #

There is a nascent cry for freedom, the natural yearning of all men, in Iran, video:

Hat tip:  Michelle

More, Jim Hoft, Gateway Pundit:

Madness! Obama Administration Silent As Iranian Students Are Slaughtered in Streets– Announce They Will Negotiate with Fraudulent Regime:.

So question for Mrs. Clinton and the rest of the Obamatards,   Iran does not respect her own citiznes.   There no reason to believe that she would respect any agreement sho woujld make with US.

I am agaostc as to the quetion of we should recognize the eesults of the Iranian election as legiimate.  However the Obama adminstration needs to make a human rights stand, and make it clear that we will not reward the Mullahs for being thugs.   Elections can be debated, not fundamental human right.

Barack Obama likes to think of global politics, not in terms of good or evil, but merely as misunderstandings, with the need for endless apologizing.     Yes, every world problem can be resolved with but sufficient groveling.

It only in the matter of domestic politics does the one sees things in the terms fo good and evil.   Support the one and y0u are good.  Oppose the one you are evil, or even better a terrorist. While the Obama administration,  shuus the term terrorism, with respect to real terrorism.  Team Obama uses the term terrorist to describe their political opponents.    From background, read Ed Morrissey, Hot Air:

Andy McCarthy, National Review:

Obama’s Idea of a Terrorist is a lawyer (Tom Lauria) for Chrysler bondholders who actually represents his clients interests, insists the government follow contract law, and won’t bend over for The One’s pals in the labor unions. Ed Morrissey has the details at Hot Air. Didn’t Secretary Napolitano explain to the President that it would better for all concerned if we refer to Lauria as “a man-causing-disaster”?

Shell we list the Indiana state teachers’ penion fuud as a sponsor of terrorism?

Comes McPhillips:

What Victor Davis Hanson says about David Letterman et al.

Yeah, Letterman, somewhere along the line, grew increasingly unhinged off the political side of his stale late-night mess. I’m not a Palin fan (liked her initially, respect many of her views, but simply cannot tolerate the rambling double-talk), but the attacks on her are so vicious that it reminds me of the everpresent heavies in old westerns, the slimey bad guys with tobacco juice sliding down the sides of their mouths, who were always ready to shoot a young earnest rancher for one reason or another.

Well, let’s face it, Martin, the description you give pretty much describes the reaction of  Democrats to about anyone  who dares to poke their head up out of the sand,  to the right of where Fidel Castro stands. You and I have both seen it for far too many years.

And as for Letterman, look; he’s doing what entertainers do… he’s playing to his audience. He knows on what side of the political isle his bread is greased. I tend to agree with Billy’s take on that part of all of this.  He’s being a leftist nutter because the majority of the people who are his followers are leftist nutters, as well.   That’s how he makes money.  In that regard, Letterman is much the same as Keith Olberman. Both hacks.

Sarah Palin

I must say, I don’t share Billy’s distaste for Palin,  suspecting that a lot of the nonsense you’re talking about can be directly attributable to the besotted McCain campaign. Remember, she was chosen to push the balance of the ticket right to counter McCain’s left-leaning, and backfired on McCain because her conservatism was far more  popular.

My read is that while she has some issues one could call minor… (particularly as compared to the current White House occupant and most of Congress)  her politics on the whole are a lot closer to the politics of most Americans than the majority of the current GOP leadership.

Hence their anti-grassroots reactions from the GOP leadership directed at her, and the reax of the left, inclduing Letterman. They both see her as a real threat for the same reason; She’s a conservative and conservatism is far more popular than they are.

Will she in fact be in the lead come 2012?   I figure that depends on our coming up with someone more consistantly conservative than she.  Who will that be? It’ll be the one who gives up the nonsensical  notion that being “Democrat light ” is “good”,  and acts accordingly. At the moment, for good or ill, the one individual doing that is Sarah Palin.

We’ve got the update in for the latest version of WordPress, v2.8.  All seems well.

Let me know via feedback if you see anything amiss.

Fathers on-screen and off,  Eric rambled:

John Wayne:  Finally, I know I‘ve linked James twice already, but this got by me yesterday, with all that happened to me yesterday and trying to write what became “Fathers”  and frankly I‘m annoyed with myself for missing it, particularly in that context. . James reminds us that yesterday marked the 30th year since John Wayne’s passing. I find myself mildly amused. My Dad was no John Wayne, certainly, but I wonder what he’d have said had he understood the connection

Well hold on Pilgrim.  Even John Wayne, the man, was no John Wayne, the character.    In real life, Wayne didh’t quite match his on-screen persona.   It is certainly no knock against a real life father that his was no John Wayne.   then considering Wayne the person, that might be a good thing.

Re:  Chasity Bono in particualar and children of celebritues in general,     It is hard to make generalizations, but it seems to me that you do your childrne no favors by being rich and famous.    I don’t say that celebrities can’t be good parents nor that don’t try.    However there are plenty of parenting skills that money simply caa’t buy.

There ar heros and there are role models.  Wayne was the former.   We can hope that every father the latter.

Pile on the Pig, from,  Michelle:

People on Twitter are grumbling about that last paragraph but (a) given how peeved the sisterhood will be that they’re defending Palin,

And piling on the LSM, Amanda Fortini, Salon:

Imagine if, say, Michelle Obama, or Rachel Maddow, or Nancy Pelosi became the target of similar invective. The outcry from the left would be deafening. Shouldn’t liberals exhibit the same sort of decorous treatment we demand for ourselves? Sexist comments like Letterman’s and Cimbalo’s also evoke a troublingly insular, clubhouse atmosphere in lieu of an inclusive political party. What’s more, the gender-based stereotypes they conjure are as stale and ignorant as any voiced by the old Neanderthal right

Shell I take it as compliment that being called a Neanderthal is promotion up from Dinosaur?

And  even the NAG’s pile on.

Sarah Yans Matt Lauer,  Sarah Palin gives Matt Lauer  the Martin Yan treatment, she slices and dices him,  and Lauer never knew what hit him,  from Gateway Pundit:

Sarah Palin Nails It!
Sarah Palin tells Today host Matt Lauer that he is “extremely naive” if he believed David Letterman’s explanation of the joke he made about Palin’s daughter:

Palin destroys Lauer and she never raises her voice, gets rude or even breatks her stride.

Video:

More on culture,  I am a metric kind of guy, and it is kind of hard to find a metric for culture.   So am left with sharing Sarah’s view of collective culture but also lacking any hard metric to measure our culture.  

However I do have this thought:  What is the difference between being famous and being good?    We have a finite supply of fame.   It is simply not possible for everybody to have fifteen minutes of fame.    Howsomeever, we have an unlimtted capacity to be good.    Whereas it is simply not possible for everybody to be famous, it is possible for everybody to be good.

Which is why, I deplore the culture of self-esteem and self-gratification, and suggest a return to the cultural ideal of the Golden Rule, do unto otherrs as you would have them do unto to you.   All our children can become famous, but they can all become good persons which is infinitely better.

Culural comon ground, there are a myriad of ideas as to the appropriate roles for women in our culture.    However, aside from pervs like Letterman, I’d like to think that no matter what our view of women might be, we don’t want to see our daughters, or anybody’s daughter, raped,  Sarah Palin via David Chalian and Rich Klien,  ABC News:

Gov. Palin was apparently pleased to see women organizations speaking out against the comments and then proceeded to read from her BlackBerry an e-mail she received from someone she described as not a typical feminist. “Every male organization. . . should rise up and shout in defense of their daughters, their sisters, their mothers,” Palin read to NBC’s Lauer

That is all.

Barack Obama is noted for carrying a lot of grudes.   Among the first  thing BO did as president was to return a bust of Winston Churchill to the Brits.     The Obama adminstration has made it a point to deny any special relationship with Britian.   Now the Obmatards have proved it, from the BBC:

A senior US official has told the BBC Washington decided not to tell London ahead of time about a deal to resettle four Guantanamo detainees in Bermuda.

A diplomatic row blew up over Bermuda’s decision to accept the four Chinese Muslim Uighurs on a US request.

Bermuda is a British overseas territory but the US official said Washington had acted secretly to ensure success.

More from Gateway Pundit:

Team Obama Kept Gitmo Uighur Deal From Great Britain

Unreal! The Obama Administration kept the Gitmo Uighur deal from Great Britain– Even as they were negotiating with the British overseas territory of Bermuda to dump a few of the Gitmo detainees.

So much for the end of cowboy diplomacy.   So much for the Obama’s administration so-called smart diplomacy.    So much for having allies.