Site Tuning

Got some work done on tuning the server cache for the right sidebars.  They were rebuilding far more frequently than needed, and that was costing serious page resolution time. It’ll take some more work I’m sure, but we’re much closer.

Also re-added the TTLB for no particular reason. I’ve not exactly been happy with that particular mess of late, but I’m willing to be fair.

CNN is reporting:

Paul Newman in a still from Cool Hand Luke

Paul Newman, the legendary actor whose steely blue eyes, good-humored charm and advocacy of worthy causes made him one of the most renowned figures in American arts, has died of cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was 83.

Always rather liked him.

Addendum:  (David L)

Yes Paul Newman was a great actor.   However I don’t see Newman as a still.   Newman was man of action, who made anything he did look sexy.  I’d be tempted to post a video of Rules in a Knife Fight, but this may be what I consider the quintessential Newman scene, video:

[wp_youtube]kNyl6gXLMLQ[/wp_youtube]

Yes I too was a wee bit jealous of rather liked Newman.  Didn’t every man wish to be like Paul Newman?

More IMDB.

Last night, The Anointed One tried to claim that he’d never said he’d meet with the leaders of North Korea, Iran Cuba and so on without preconditions.

[wp_youtube]WV3nq5vjMhM[/wp_youtube]

That’s what he says now. But what is the comment that the charge is based on? Roll that beautiful Bean Footage….

[wp_youtube]e3Oj7Jn9rv4[/wp_youtube]

So, in short, Obama lied to America last night. OR perhaps he lied back then. Or both.

Or, maybe, he’s just willing to say whatever is required at the moment for the purpose of getting elected.

Update;(Bit)

Oh, my. Somehow, the vid seems to have disappeared. Gee, perhaps someone decided it was too much to have BO’s own words out there?  I think I’ll leave the link up, though, just to keep the sore spot showing. But, here’s another copy. Guess they couldn’t knock them all down.

[wp_youtube]oSFSUbMWenU[/wp_youtube]

Another copy in case they zap THAT one.

[wp_youtube]e3Oj7Jn9rv4[/wp_youtube]

Obama is now a proven liar, with no preconditions.

McCain won.  Obama spent far to much of his time being defensive, and stammering, and leaning on pharses like ‘since the great depression’.  Add to that, the meme that Obama’s been pushing, along with the leftie blogs,  all week as regards McCain being afraid to debate the Anointed One; Clearly, if the exchanges of tonight are of any indication, there was nothing to be afraid of from Obama. So, the aire of  Obama’s inevitability takes yet another hit, possibly a fatal one, given time.

That said, there was no single event during this debate that will be on the reels for the next few cycles… the kind that will change this race.  Then again, first debates aren’t really known for such major happenings, either.  One thing that may end up in the public eye for a while is the number of times Obama told everyone that McCain is correct, and that they agree on such and such. I doubt such things are going to make much difference among independents, and for Republicans it’ll end up being naught but a snicker point. But from the Democrat party base, I suspect Obama will be taking some heat.

Not 30 seconds in, and Obama has already invoked “The worst ________ since the great Depression”

Third rail warning.

Good news Bit, old white guys have been vindicated.  The late Washington Mutual’s last ad, video:

[wp_youtube]BJ7EIKbnnkw[/wp_youtube]

WaMu’s last press release:

WaMu Recognized as Top Diverse Employer—Again Company ranks in top ten of Hispanic Business’ Diversity Elite and earns perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index
SEATTLE, WA (September 24, 2008) – Washington Mutual, Inc. (NYSE:WM), one of the nation’s leading banks for consumers and small businesses, has once again been recognized as a top employer by Hispanic Business magazine and the Human Rights Campaign.

Hat tips: video and quote, Steve Sailor.  photo, Art of the Possible.

To which  Mark Krikorian asks “Cause and Effect?”

Which in turn cause Glenn Greenwald so jump off the deep end, yeah I know in Glenn’s case it a short jump, Salon:

While juxtaposing these two facts — (1) WaMu has a racially and ethnically diverse workforce and (2) WaMu collapsed yesterday — the National Review writer headlined his post: “Cause and Effect?” He apparently believes that the reason Washington Mutual failed may be because it employed and was too accommodating to large numbers of Hispanics, African-Americans and gays.

So what insight, if any, does Greenwld have into Krikorian’s mind?  None.  Rather Greenwald is incensed that Krikorian has the audacity to question the tenets of political correctness.

Now what is known about the late Washington Mutual?    One, it failed.  Two, WaMu was racist.  The video mocked old white men.   It said that any idea held by an old white man, must be wrong.  Imagine an analogous ad using women folk or people of color.   Yet if WaMu was governed consistent with their advertising campaigns, and rejected the advise of bankers based on their skin color and age, their failure indicates that they were taking bad advice.   Maybe WaMu should have heeded the advice of those old white male bankers?

As to the ilk of Human Rights Campaign, which would have better served the interests of WaMu’s former  employees, more diversity or more competent management?    Some would argue that diverity should be a company’s top priority.   I assert that is the real world the top priority is competency.   Those who disregard the priorities of the real world, do so at their own peril.

Note, do not argue that diversity in of itself is bad.   I do hold that diversity for the sake of diversity is a truly inane idea.   What would all those former WaMu employees standing in the unemployment line think?

IN case nobody noticed, the markets were up today… DJIA almost 122 points up

Should we point out I wonder that Banking Committee chair Barney Frank’s ex-boyfreind worked at Fannie Mae?

Welcome, dear reader, to the most intense nightly read on the ‘sphere: Bitsblog’s Nightly Ramble.

Lots going on.

• So, Ol’ Gaffe-O-Matic Biden and, one assumes, B. O. both think John McCain is wrong on security? Is that why they both voted against the Surge he called for? The one that won the war?
• Regarding McCain’s move to suspend his campaign for a bit while he tended to his senatorial duty, while Obama bitched like a two year old told he wasn’t going to get a new toy,  about not getting to debate the man. There’s a number of folks out there who have been saying the guy’s scared to debate Obama, BO included. Well, maybe in another universe. While I have no doubt that the Clintons have reasons of their own for wanting Obama to lose this election, Bubba said it well enough yesterday to repeat it… McCain wanted more debates than Obama finally agreed to. So, you tell me… Who’s afraid of whom? And what happens to that meme when McCain whips his butt, as I suspect will happen, and as has happened everywhere Obama has been forced to think on his feet?  Silence from the press and from Obama’s people, but I repeat myself.
• Is anyone suprised that Contrywide made loans to Jamie Gorelick? Yeah, the same woman. Her connection to the F&F meltdown will play heavy going forward. Just file this little connection away.
• Good news; One of the Haditha Marines is suing John Murtha. Let’s do this serially, guys. One at a time. Drag this stuff out for years, and just keep socking it to him. Keep dragging his backside into court. Over and over.  Being that Un-American, particularly while supposedly serving in high office,  should hurt, bigtime. It’s time to make an example of Murtha.
• Honorable Mention at the Caption Contest at OTB. And yeah, I gotta admit John Little deserved first… even I got a chuckle out of that one. 
• I spoke earlier today about Obama, Rezko and Illinois Governor Blagojevich, and the corruption going on there. One wonders if we’re not about to see a death of a thousand knives. The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that B. O. is under investigation for a misused grant. Apparently the $100,000 went to Obama cronies.
• More problems with Chinese foodstuffs involving Melamine. Lesson; Governmental control doesn’t solve problems. Is there a place one’s every move is under greater control, than in China? Yet this stuff keeps happening. Tell me again how massive governmental control and laws passed for everything under the sun and the stars, stopped this situation from happening.
• Glenn says this monring:
  

  PAULSON BEGS PELOSI FOR COOPERATION on bended knee. If he doesn’t get it, he should resign and publicly blame her.

  Agreed. And you know, this thing is stacking up as exactly what I caled it; this whole meltdown, I keep hearing would never have occurred, or would have been far less severe, had Fannie and Freddie gotten so far out of hand… and that in turn is linked to the Democrats and their efforts to get ‘affordable housing’. The bank failures? Same way. I say again; This is a failure of government, folks… government going too far, not a failure of not enough regulation on the private sector.

• Speaking of Glenn, why is Obama threatening the operating licenses of stations that run NRA ads? I say this in connection with Gelnn because he’s been the one really following this story. The Instant one has been keeping up with this stuff and has some links you’ll want to follow. One that stands out:
  

  “I fear that under the Obama administration, the lawyers sending these letters will be government employees.”

  Well, no freakin’ duh, people. That’s what all this is about. That noise you’ve been hearing about the reinstatement of the ‘fairness doctrine’? That is not just noise. This kind of thing, being described here, will be what we have going forward, by force of law, under and Obama administration, and/or under a larger Democrat majority. the Left-O-Sphere may well view that as a good thing. I do not.

• I see The Detroit Free Press saying Obama has a 13 point lead in Michigan. No shock that, except that in that state.. which has gone solidly Democrat the last several go-rounds (Mostly on the strength of the black population in Detroit) one would think he’d be leading by a far wider margin there. That he is not strikes me as a sign of trouble, particularly among unionists. You may recall there are a few of those there.
• Zogby is saying this election is going to be a McCain landslide. No, I’m not kidding, and yes, his arguments are reasonable.From the local fishwrapper, the Chronic Democrat:
  

  One of the country’s top pollsters was in Rochester on Thursday and suggested that the November presidential election will end in an electoral landslide, even though the candidates are running close.”Essentially the election is at equilibrium,” said John Zogby, president of Zogby International. “This election will stay close until the end.”

  Zogby said he thinks the race will turn in the last weekend before Election Day and though the popular vote will be tight, the successful candidate will win in a landslide.
  He likened this year’s election to the contest in 1980, when Ronald Reagan defeated President Jimmy Carter.

  “This may be and probably is the most important election in our lifetime,” Zogby said. “I don’t say that lightly.”

  Despite two books by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, Americans still don’t know enough about him. And if they don’t think they know him well enough by the time they vote, they’ll go with the “comfortable old shoe,” Republican Sen. John McCain, Zogby said.

  I guess I could live with that, yes. More importantly, though, I suspect the country will, as well.

• Finally, from the archives, tonight, a reminder of just the kind of moron we’re dealing with in BO. Hey, Barry, just a clue, since you appear to so badly need one. Next time you need a fake photo op with you conducting business near a flag, you might want to consider holding the phone the right way. You don’t gain much unless you get that part right. See…anyone who is dumb and disconnected from reality enough to think you’re actually talking on that thing is already voting for you, OK?   You’re welcome. Amazing, the services we provide here at BitsBlog. The job other Americans won’t do, I guess. At least, the Democrats and the Press… but there I go, repeating myself again.

Earlier this week the networks threw a major tantrum when the McCain campaign tried to limit their access to Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s meetings with foreign officials.

Today, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden met with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and completely excluded the press.

That from Little Green Footballs.

And they have a point. I said as much last night. For the scroll inhibited, here it is again:

Why all the concern over Sarah Palin her ‘shutting the press out’? Hume says it well:

The Associated Press and other media outlets reacted with alarm when the McCain camp kept reporters from attending a photo opportunity with Sarah Palin and foreign leaders at the U.N. on Tuesday. AP reporter Sara Kugler wrote that reporters were banned “so as not to risk a question being asked of Palin.”The McCain camp later relented, but there was no concern by the AP in July when Barack Obama conducted similar closed-door meetings with European leaders.

And by the way, the Center for Responsive Politics reports Kugler donated to the liberal 527 group America Coming Together (ACT) during the 2004 campaign. Kugler gave $342 to the now-defunct voter registration group. ACT closed up shop after being fined $775,000 by the Federal Elections Commission in 2007 for violations of federal campaign finance laws.

So, it ends up being much about nothing. The complaints are a political stunt, fostered by a press which itself is naught but a willing mouthpeice for Obama.

Barney Frank is not impressed with John McCain’s involvement in credit melt down:

“McCain is Andy Kaufman in his Mighty Mouse costume – ‘Here I Come to Save the Day,'” Frank said as he left a Thursday morning caucus meeting with House Democrats, saying the Republican presidential candidate’s decision to enter the mix “is not helpful

“He hasn’t been involved,” Frank said. “He doesn’t know anything about it

For his part Frank has long been involved in Freddie and Fannie mess.   His knowledge and insight are are less than impressive.   For our  part, we say that Bitsblog is not too impressed by Frank, about a one minute into the video:

[wp_youtube]VgctSIL8Lhs[/wp_youtube]

Hat tip: John McCormack, Weekly Standard.

Senator Chuckles, a/k/a  Charles Schumer involvement, priorities and judgement are also noted.   Note, both Frank and Chuckles linked tighter regulation of Freddie and Fanny to a decrease in “affordable housing.”   The red flags were raised and the ilk of Frank, Chuckles and Chris Dodd ignored the warnings.

Drudge just now, is heading his page with these links, copied in order:

Treasury Secretary down on one knee before Pelosi…
Pelosi says bailout plan has to pass…
Bush says action needed now…
Dems seek further $56 billion…

And doesn’t that… the last line in particular, say it all? $700BUSD in the bill, and Democrats want more money, and apparently are scotching the deal based on that. No matter how much money is involved, it’s never enough. Anyone still wondering why “Tax and Spend” is so often attached to Democrats, almost as a reflex?

WJBC/1230 is reporting:

Could Illinois Governor Blagojevich suffer the same fate as convicted former Governor George Ryan? Sources tell CBS 2 News Chicago that Federal agents claim to have enough evidence to indict Blagojevich on fraud and conspiracy charges. However, the report says the investigators aren’t the ones who make the decision to prosecute. That would be up to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and the Justice Department in Washington.

This set of charges is, essentially, based on testimony taken at the trial of Tony Rezko. Rezko, Blagojevich, Obama, are all names that keep coming up in that trial. Blagojevich,is an Obama supporter, of course, but more than this… the two apparently have had a working relationship as close as that between Obama and confessed bomber William Ayers.

And of course the mainstream is not paying attention to this story. Gee, I can’t think of why they wouldn’t, huh?  Perhaps they’re afraid of what they’ll find?

Personally, I’m waiting for Obama to make the now hackneyed statement that this is not the Blagojevich he thought he knew.

Addendum:(Bit) This post made the Chicago Sun Times website. Thanks.

Code Pink, declares victory in Berkley goes home.

Title: Mission Accomplished: One Year Testimonies at the MRS
START DATE: Wednesday September 24
TIME: 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
Location Details: MRS (Marine Recruiting Station)
64 Shattuck Square
Berkeley

As for the United States Marines, Stuttering Barry, Stop the ACLU, reports they are Present for Duty Sir!

The USMC Recruiting Center is still open. Code Pink is packing up and leaving. This means they prevailed?! In what warped reality do these crazy people live in??

Semper Fi.

Welcome to the deepest daily read in the ‘sphere… the Nightly Ramble. Lots going on, today… we’ve covered most of the business with the bailout bill, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on too… let’s get to it.

• Obama had better be thankful to Allah, or Gaia or whatever that the bailout thing comes up just now. If nothing else, from his point of view, it will give him some diversion from the reporting on The Annenberg files, the investigation of which is starting to bring fruit. Apparently, Obama and Ayers ahve a close working relationship, as we’ve been saying all along. Proof, Obama’s been lying to us.
• It strikes me that both our energy situation and our monetary situation, are self-made problems.  Problems handed us by people who thought government was the solution to problems they had to make up to get people to respond. Just roll that one around for a while.
• A wonderful snark from Victor Davis Hanson at The Corner:
  

  “In short, the problem is not whether we think the affable Biden’s latest slip/goof/outrage is important, but whether we think anything he says any more is important. The next time he tries to offer something serious, from the AIG matter and coal power to campaign ads and Sarah Palin, I think we are at the point where most will smile, ignore him, and think ‘That’s just Biden being Biden.’ He could give the Gettyburg Address tomorrow, and the public wouldn’t know whether he wrote it, whether he was going to retract it, whether it was true, or whether he was serious.”

  True. And it strikes me that anyone pushing such a person as one heartbeat away form the presidency has a long row to hoe to convince anyone that Sarah Palin is less qualified than ol’ Gaffe-O-Matic. Biden may well have more experience than Palin, but experience only counts if you’ve not demonstrably been a total screwup in that process, as Biden has.

• And, you know, I can’t help but wonder a bit. Jom Johnson… who was until recently on Obama’s VP selection comittee… I wonder if Biden wasn’t his selection.  It strikes me as somehow fitting that the the person who helped orchestrate the Fannie and freddie Meltdown, should also be the one pushing Biden as VP material. And lest you think he’s gone from the Obama campaign, Politico says he is decidedly not.
• Another Palin Smear disproved. And, another. Etc, Etc. Etc. Meanwhile, did you know that Obama and Biden both helped to keep the “Bridge to nowhere” alive? Yep. Nothng, however can stop the racist nonsense.
• PETA wants Ben and Jerry’s to use Human breast milk for it’s ice cream.  And how do we keep ’em barefoot and pregnant so we can get the milk, PETA? What to do with the number of babies such things would produce? Imagine the sheer volume, here, needed to make a single production run of chunky Monkey.  I mean even leaving aside PETA’s demonstration of a disconnection from reality, it must be said that this is a target rich environment. Imagine the names for the various flavors. New slogans, too… “Ben and Jerry’s… it’s just the breast:….”.  “Bet you can’t eat Just one”…. though I suppose they’d have to pay George Carlin’s estate to use that slogan.
•  Why all the concern over Sarah Palin her ‘shutting the press out’? Hume says it well:
  

  The Associated Press and other media outlets reacted with alarm when the McCain camp kept reporters from attending a photo opportunity with Sarah Palin and foreign leaders at the U.N. on Tuesday. AP reporter Sara Kugler wrote that reporters were banned “so as not to risk a question being asked of Palin.”The McCain camp later relented, but there was no concern by the AP in July when Barack Obama conducted similar closed-door meetings with European leaders.

  And by the way, the Center for Responsive Politics reports Kugler donated to the liberal 527 group America Coming Together (ACT) during the 2004 campaign. Kugler gave $342 to the now-defunct voter registration group. ACT closed up shop after being fined $775,000 by the Federal Elections Commission in 2007 for violations of federal campaign finance laws.

  So, it ends up being much about nothing. The complaints are a political stunt, fostered by a press which itself is naught but a willing mouthpeice for Obama.

• Reynolds, today, quoting MICHAEL SILENCE on why teachers should be using blogs.
  

  “All of them represent a relatively new style of writing. Anecdotal is out. Concise clarity is in. In these days of the Internet Attention Span, if you don’t get me in one sentence – two tops – then I’m gone. It’s safe to say George Will would not be on my aggregator. (Newpapers: hint).”

  Irony; what he’s describing here is Reynold’s formula. Reynolds, though has never been long on discussion. I see that as a frailty, frankly. What the heck can you discuss in that short a space though? No wonder complex matters like economics get by most people. You simply don’t have the space to dis….. (ack!)