Links?

I’ve noticed that there’s a bit of weirdness going on in the links on BitsBlog. Some links show as underlined and some do not. There’s no clear patter, yet what is what. Not quite sure what’s driving it. I’ve spent several hours already with the CSS and the problem isn’t there, I think.

Looking at the plugins now.

Update: (Bit)

OK, it’s not any of the plugins.  However, I do note that IE7 and FP 3.01 react differently to the code. Not sure what that’s about. I’m still working on it.

John Hawkins has a story up that you’re not going to hear from the Dinosaur Media. Wouldn’t want to offend our Muslim brethren, after all. Fox covered it, though. The guy’;s name: Mosab Hassan Yousef.  Jonathan Hunt interviewed him.

I’d urge you to go and see. The points Yousef makes are of a kind to ones we’ve made here, since 9/11. Mostly that Islam cannot exist for long in the modern world.

I believe that all those walls that Islam built for the last 1,400 years are not existing (sic) anymore. They don’t recognize this. They built those walls and made people ignorant because they’re afraid. They didn’t want people to discuss anything about the reality of Islam, about the big questions of Islam and they asked their followers, the Muslims, ‘Don’t ask about those certain questions.’ But now, people have media. If the father closes the door for his daughter not to leave the house, she’s going to go behind her computer and travel the world.

Not only is this hopeful, from our perspective, but it also explains some of the militancy we see from Islamic Extremists. What we are seeing is the last gasp of the 14th century, people. I said in “Enlightening Islam”:

The very reason that those hardline Islamic states are so concerned about the insertion of democracy into Iraq is because they see ….apparently more clearly than we… that democracy, for all its faults, has one major advantage ; That it by its very nature injects social change, by way of what I will call “Social Darwinism”. Such evolution has no chance whatever under, say, a Saddam… but it DOES stand a chance under a Democracy. Under a democracy, the ideas and ideals of western culture will filter through, as they have every other place where Democracy has been installed. Japan, for example. South Korea. Etc.

This change will undoubtedly allow a more western attitude, and thereby will create the environment in which Islam’s Luther can stand forth. But this isn’t going to be a quick process. It’s going to be along slow and likely (given whom we’re dealing with) very bloody process, because changing hearts and minds is always the longest , slowest, hardest job there is. And, of course, that assumes we actually have the courage to see it through.

I suggest that this is one of the first steps to that end.

John has a lot more. Go and read.

Addendum: (Bit)Part of a note just now to Hawkins:

It’s clear to me that what we’re dealing with from the Islamic hardliners is a fear-reaction. It does much to explain the sudden outburts of violence over the last couple decades. It’s my take that this transition has taken it’s first steps, in Yousef.

The Genie, pardon the punny euphemism, is out of the bottle, now, and they won’t be able to stop it, though I grant they can slow it down. How much they slow it down depends utterly on how many of us in the west keep up the fight, and how many bend over forward in the name of ‘openness’ to accept the Sharia law these animals seek to impose on the world.

Say what you will about the Barack Obama campaign, neither the canidate nor his campaign is grounded in reason.   Jeff Emanuel, Red State,  notes that the BO campaign has taken to calling a Nine Eleven Truther part of the Bush/Cheney Attack Machine.

If you have followed the news the least bit since Nine Eleven and have a room temperature IQ or better, you know that the Nine Eleven Truthers are not fans of the Bush administration.   That is the facts of life in the real world.  Meanwhile in BO’s world of delusion, they have their own private alternative reality.  Is it your?

We are all Falcons. Repreted in full because a free press is important to a free natoin.

SPU cleared in discrimination case    By Debra Vaughn Smith , Special to The Falcon    Published: 10-7-1998

A federal agency has cleared Seattle Pacific University of racial discrimination charges filed by a former student.A separate internal investigation, headed up by Provost Bruce Murphy, also concluded there was no racial discrimination. Shakespear Feyissa, a senior at SPU last year, filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in April and with the university in May, alleging that the university had disciplined him more harshly than other students based on his race and national origin. “The evidence does not support a finding that the student’s race, national origin and/or sex were the basis for the university’s actions,” said Gary Jackson, director of the Seattle division of the Office for Civil Rights in a July 24 letter to SPU. The agency’s investigation spanned almost four months and included the review of written documents provided by the university and Feyissa, interviews of witnesses and analysis of 85 SPU student discipline records from five years. “We were pleased with the findings,” said Steve Moore, vice president for Campus Life. “It confirmed what we knew to be the case.” “Nothing is resolved,” Feyissa said in a phone interview Monday. “The Office of Civil Right’s finding doesn’t mean anything. SPU is still a school like the KKK, in my opinion.” Feyissa, an immigrant from Ethiopia, was suspended in January after Seattle Police arrested him as a suspect in an alleged sexual assault incident. Five days after his arrest, Feyissa was released unconditionally from the King County Jail, and prosecutors never filed charges. The university rejected two appeals to lift the suspension, citing not only his arrest but also “four previously reported incidents” and the need to “protect the university community.” In letters to the university and interviews with The Falcon last spring, Feyissa contended that he was denied due process and a fair hearing by SPU. He and his lawyer, Tom Dalglish, also accused the university of unfairly escalating the terms of his suspension. Feyissa’s complaints about a fair hearing and due process were never investigated by the agency or the university beyond their relation to racial discrimination, Murphy said. Murphy called Feyissa’s discipline “progressive and fair” and said there is “sound reason to believe that Mr. Feyissa is a threat to persons on campus.” “Mr. Feyissa was made aware of the school’s lifestyle expectations and standards, he was given warnings about his behaviors, and provided with resources and opportunities to help him succeed as a member of the community,” Murphy said. “He did not learn from these experiences and failed to follow the guidelines set out for him.” Feyissa said he reapplied for admission in August but was denied. “They refused to give me any explanation why,” he said. In an earlier interview, Moore said Feyissa had not applied for readmission. The agency released their findings in a July 24 letter to the university President Phil Eaton. The agency concluded that “(b)ased on the findings of the investigation, OCR cannot conclude that the university failed to comply … with respect to the issue investigated.” After reviewing 85 of SPU’s student discipline files from the last five years, the agency found that seven students were suspended more than one quarter. Of those, five were white, one was Asian and the other was Feyissa. Additionally, the agency found that there were nine students who choose to withdraw voluntarily or withdrew at the university’s request. Of these, eight were white and one was a black male. “[Feyissa] was unable to provide OCR specific examples or witnesses that could corroborate his allegation that non-minority and female students were treated in a manner different from him with respect to the suspension from the university and being denied access to university property,” the agency’s report said. The agency determined that there was,” …no student record with a history of misconduct and discipline as extensive as [Feyissa’s].” Murphy says the agency’s findings confirms and supports the findings of SPU’s own investigation. The university launched an internal investigation after Feyissa officially filed a complaint of racial discrimination charging SPU’s Office of Campus Life and Safety and Security with 11 charges. “The complaints were that the VP of Campus Life, other campus leaders and campus security officers discriminated against him on the basis of race — that they did not treat him as they did Caucasian students,” Murphy said. “I don’t feel at all that Campus Life is at fault in what they did,” Murphy later added. “I don’t think there was discrimination.” Moore, who upheld Feyissa’s suspension, called Feyissa’s treatment “absolutely a very fair process.” He added that the discipline process would not change as a result of this case. “We attempted every step of the way to respond to any new information that was provided,” he said. Murphy said the entire discipline process “was designed to allow him to return.” “The sadness to me in all of this is that we’ve not been able to help Shakespear [Feyissa], and we’d like to think we’re the type of university that does. But we couldn’t,” he said.

Feyissa said he was unsure of his future plans. “I don’t know yet,” he said. “I really don’t know. I was confident I was going back to school.”

Source:  Falcon, Seattle, Washington.

Background:  James Trranto, Best of the Web

.

• Another First place at OTB’s Caption Contest. Two weeks in a row, now.
• Did you really expect better out of Klein, Billy? Really?
• Oh, and while I’m thinking of you, Billy, I more than grant that the seperation between laws an men is problematic, and just downright stupid. That said, there’s a lot of problems going both ways, here. Allowing Juries to rule on the validity of a law,  for example, that way lies the OJ Simpson verdit. On the other hand anyone who thinks we are not a nation of laws derived by men, should be seriously watching the arguments surrounding the ‘Fairness Doctrine’… which granted, a jury will never touch. But there it is; the concept of laws being faultless laid bare for all to see in all it’s ugliness. 
• John Hawkins has given BitsBlog an unexpected and much appreciated honor: Bitsblog is Blog of the day at the Conservative Grapevine.
• The girl’s still got it. Actually, if you want the honest truth, the look she has now, she reminds me rather strongly of someone I was steady with, 30 years ago. And trust me, that’s a compliment.
• And I’ll bet California folks still wonder why businesses are busy looking for the exits.
• So, Michelle says the Detroit Mayor is being alloed to show up at Denver without his monitoring equipment.  Wouldn’t want to make him out a criminal or anything. Personally, I’m thinking a particularly welcome sight would be him posing with Obama. You suppose soemone could arrange that?
• That John Edwards thing has taken a strange turn. Turns out there’s a little background… and we find it, of all places, at ESPN.
• Speaking of Edwards, Dan Riehl notes that the effort to protect Edwards goes on, even after his admission. I urge you to read the thing at Dan’s. Let’s just say it’s typical Democrat party politics.
• So, apparently Alter isn’t offended by people challenging someone’s patriotism, anymore, huh?  I suppose he’s playing to the audience. No, I really don’t expect better of either of them… even though the both of them were on the front of the line with tar and feathers to hand for challenging the patriotism of some key Democrats who acted against our country. Did they think nobody would notice the double standard?
• Note to Glenn Reynolds, last night:
  

  There’s a reason The Toyota Corolla gets no respect… They are the kind of car you drive when you don’t really like to drive, and you’d rather not.

  Perhaps that’s why they and other more utilitarian cars such as the Prius… sell so well among liberals, who these days always feel guilty about driving, anyway. It would have been ideal to run a comparison between such types and Terry Box. The two will NEVER see eye to eye because Box, being uncontaminated by the guilt syndrome the Al Gores of the world saddle American drivers with. LIKES to drive.

  That, you see, is the difference between the performance car driver (And dare I say it, in a lot of cases, the SUV driver), Vs the econobox driver, or the Prius driver. Anything more than the Corolla is considered “excessive”. It’s nonsense, but I’ve always considered guilt about driving to be utter nonsense, anyway.

• Here we go again, with Media Matters taking the lead this time, pushing the meme that the only reason Obama might not get elected is we’re all racists. Of course, another way of looking at this is that being racist is the automatic knee-jerk reaction offered to any objection to Obama, anymore. Apparently because the Obama folks have nothing to offer to the specifics within  Corsi’s book, “Obama Nation”,  they offer the race card instead, offering up crap like:
  

  “We are aggressively attacking the factual errors in this book, and making sure that everyone knows about the deeply offensive things Corsi has said that will give readers of any political affiliation pause and ample reason to question the lies he’s written,” Tommy Vietor, an Obama spokesperson, said in a statement.

  “This book is nothing but a series of lies that were long ago discredited, written by an individual who was discredited after he wrote a similar book to help George Bush and Dick Cheney get re-elected four years ago. This is his attempt to perpetuate those politics for four more years. The reality is that there are many lie-filled books like this in the works, cobbled together from the internet to make money off of a presidential campaign. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means necessary.”

  (BBCT: Armbinder)  Clearly, the intent is to try to discredit the man, but from what I’m seeing nobody is offering anything specific. Interesting, given this was the same tactic the guano-crazy left used in their attempt to defend John Kerry. Apparently, they think the tacic didn’t work last time because they weren’t yelling loud enough.  They must figure Obama being (Half) black is a better defense. All of which means they never did admit to themselves that the substance of the book was their biggest problem then… and now.

• Finally, WordPress software updates this weekend. A few bugs to squish. Outages should be minor enough you won’t notice them, but you never know.
• 

  Where's my KITTY LITTER?

  The Photo of the day is one I used on the old Blogspot site years ago. I ran across it this morning and busted out laughing all over again, and thought I’d share it. Have a great weekend.

Noted in the Wa Po:

Rep. John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat known for delivering federal money to defense contractors in his district, is now going to bat for a constituent’s company that was convicted last year of illegally exporting components of military equipment.

Murtha, chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, wrote State Department officials in late June urging them to meet with the president of Electro-Glass Products, a 50-employee company that was convicted in April 2007 of illegally exporting components of night-vision goggles to a company in India. The Mammoth, Pa., firm has been sanctioned by the State Department, and Murtha argues that the action threatens to put the firm out of business.

“Electro-Glass is a highly respected company known for its honesty,” Murtha wrote. He said the company, which manufactures small glass rings called “preforms,” would not have made the shipments “if they truly believed the shipments were in violation of the law.” He added: “It will be genuinely unfortunate if they are forced to close their doors.”

Given Murtha’s recent history, there’s a statement that’s open to question huh?

Yet another example why Jack Mrutha needs to be shown the exit.

Neal Boortz this morning:

So Hillary Clinton will get her way … sort of. She wanted a roll call vote at the Democrat convention and she got one. Now her “historic achievement” will be acknowledged.

Wouldn’t it be fun … I mean I know it’s impossible … but wouldn’t it make for great talk radio if Hillary actually made a run on Obama? A lot of people are getting a bit weary of The Chosen One. There’s some buyer’s remorse out there, perhaps not enough, but some. This week was very telling. Putin starts his program of Russian expansionism, John McCain identifies the culprit immediately and calls him out – while Obama pulls his “why can’t y’all just get along” routine and gums both sides until he figures out that there is a clear victim and a clear culprit. Come on .. how about a little excitement in Denver!

Frankly, I think Boortz under-estimates the buyer’s remorse out there. I think Hillary thinks so, too. She’s hoping she can shake this thing loose. Particularly, I think she’s hoping, and perhaps rightly so, that the buyer’s remorse is strong enough in the delegates to turn this thing around for her. It wouldn’t take much.

Remember, gang…  this is the one who suggested she wouldn’t let herself be nominated. Here is a woman who does nothing in the political arena without a plan. On that basis alone, though there are more, perhaps many more, she wouldn’t be doing all of this unless she thought it would be to her immediate advantage. If she thinks she’s got an advantage, there’s one thing we can be sure of: The myth of a unified Democat party is about to be exposed as such, at Denver.

Update: (Bit) I see now Billy has his own unique take on the matter.  You know, there are times I think he may have missed his true calling.

Addendum: (David L)

Ok Mrs. Clinton has a plan.  And Senator Oldsmobile had a plan to get the other side of the bridge.  Remember, no Clnton has ever won a majority in any national election.   The aura of the Clinton politcal machine is a par with the Kennedy Camelot.

If there is one thing that Barack Obama has demonstrated it is that he can not handle “distractions.”    Well as Jim Gerhaghty, National Review, demonsrates, the real world is full of distractions:

We may be on the verge of winning in Iraq, but Afghanistan is getting tougher. Pakistan is still an unstable cauldron of extremism where America has limited options. Iran is seeking nukes and the Israelis have an itchy trigger finger. The Russian bear is in the woods again, stomping on Georgia. China is rising and showcasing authoritarian capitalism as an alternative to Western-style democracy. If the FBI is right, one guy with no state or group backing managed to terrorize Americans in fall 2001 by slipping poisons in envelopes. Gas prices are dropping, but Americans won’t quickly forget $4 a gallon prices, nor the recognition that faraway pipelines and Nigerian political stability can suddenly affect them at the pump. Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac ran aground, the housing bubble burst, the border’s not secure

This is a real world, full of real problems.   We need a leader, and not a dope.

• The Pew polling says Obama and McCain are tied.
• Speaking of Obama one usually gets judged by those they hang around with. McQ points out today that Obama’s list of advisers is… well…
• The New York Times is reporting that Bill Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, was fatally shot in his office in Little Rockyesterday morning. We have no indication at this point that the killing was political in motivation. Indeed, my reading suggests that the guy was an employee at a car dealership belonging to Gwatney.  Even money, though that by the time you read this, someone will have spun it into something political, though. At the very least we’ll hear all about gun control again. Oops. Too late. Gateway Pundit has a fair roundup.
• Here comes another Democrat DA who thinks he can use his office to quell dissenters. You know, I don’t think he’s read the book on this topic… I’m not sure he’s gonna like how this turns out.
• Seems to be a trend about Democrats and quelling dissent. This time, John Edwards is the topic.
• And of course should we forget Denver’s plans for dissenters of Democrats?
• And of course Pelosi gets into the act, threatening Lieberman. Apparently, it’s tow the line or else with these people.
• Article on Fox talking about Bird poop treatments for your face. OK, turn your nose up if you will, but do you know what’s in the makeup you already have on your dresser, hon? Better you don’t know.
• A fair amount of freedback to my swipe at Kurtz last night. About 50/50 by my read. Yes, I’m aware the guys been around for a while and is more educated than I. This is supposed to impress me? Far as I can see, it makes the offense worse, not more explainable, or defensable.
• I’ve been pleased with YetAnotherJohn’s posting. He’s putting up really great stuff, and is a fine addition to what was already an impressive team of writers, here, myself DavidL and Fersboo.  I am as pleased with out collective output on this blog as I’ve been about anything in a long while.
• Camping maybe this weekend. At least a road trip down the Erie run. Supposed to be nice on Saturday. Wanna try and get a few more camping runs in before the end of the season.
• What would you do with a pound of cyanide? In Denver? Apparently this Canadian guy had an idea about that. He’s dead now, instead of his intended victims. His name? Saleman Abdirahman Dirie. The article in the Denver paper sugegsts the guy had a website though there seems some dispute if it’s his or not. I see Michelle has been following the story, too.
• Apparently being a progressive is whatever Obama says it is. Can I just say I’m unimpressed? Of course progressivism was always ill defined anyway. And ill advised, by my lights, but that’s another matter.
• And finally, what is the news of the latest problems in Denver? Is it that there’s not enough ‘natrual’ food? That the whole thing isn’t ‘green’ enough? That the people are using paper plates faster than any company picnic?  No, turns out that those who would be our environmental saviors don’t have enough Limos to go around. Doesn’t that just say it all? Just think of all the greenhouse gasses. Oh, wait. These are Democrats… their limos don’t emit greenhouse gasses.
• 

  A campfire at Lakeside Beach SP, NY

  The picture of the day is wishful thinking as much as anything. On the whole, my dear, I’d rather be camping. This one was taken at Lakeside Beach SP about 30 miles west of here, during a weekend stay there a few years ago.

There is, I think, something about a campfire that is comforting in ways most people cannot describe. I’ve done a lot of camping over the years, and I don’t care how fancy your arrangements get, from pup tent to 40ft 5th wheel RV… if there’s no campfire, the place is incomplete.

We’ve camped in 30 degree weather at times. We have a heated 21ft trailer. It’d be warmer to stay in the trailer. But somehow, you feel warmer still, sitting around a campfire. Strange, but true.

Interesting report from the New York Times:

TBILISI, Georgia — It was nearly 2 a.m. on Wednesday when President Nicolas Sarkozy of France announced he had accomplished what seemed virtually impossible: Persuading the leaders of Georgia and Russia to agree to a set of principles that would stop the war.

This certainly seems to fly in the face of the Rumsfeld construct of New Europe vs Old Europe…. an assesment I still agree with, for the record.  But then again, Sarkozy marks a massive change in direction for France, too, particualrly in terms of foreign policy.

Then again, in terms of effectiveness….

It soon became clear that the six-point deal not only failed to slow the Russian advance, but it also allowed Russia to claim that it could push deeper into Georgia as part of so-called additional security measures it was granted in the agreement. Mr. Sarkozy, according to a senior Georgian official who witnessed the negotiations, also failed to persuade the Russians to agree to any time limit on their military action.

So much for the power of negotiation. If you look closely, you’ll note nobody in the Dinosaur media asking Obama about his call for negotation, in every world conflict he speaks on. Obama has yet to understand that there are some people with whom negotiation is futile at best, and often counter productive. Sarkozy has proven that for us.

 Maybe Sarkozy, for all that he represnts is still bound by old Europe after all.

I am angry.

I have begin to think that Howard Kurtz is the spirit of Walter Duranty.

“I don’t think the party favoritism charge holds up. Yes, the media went hard after two Republican senators, Larry Craig (who pleaded guilty in that bathroom incident) and David Vitter (who admitted calling an escort service). But they also pounced on New York’s Democratic then-governor, Eliot Spitzer (whose taste in prostitutes was revealed by the New York Times), and, famously, Bill Clinton (whose Monica Lewinsky mess was disclosed by The Post and hotly pursued by Newsweek).”

I gotta tell ya, Howard…. I’d like to be kind and charge you with gross incompetence, but there’s no way… no WAYthat someone as informed on such things as you claim to be could NOT know that your buddy,  Mike Isikoff sat on the Lewinsky thing… pretty much the way the Edwards thing was handled… until Drudge got into the act.   This was pointed out at the time and since.  The Spitzer thing had been rumored up here in NY for quite some time. As was the Edwards case.. that whole thing was hardly unknown, Howard, merely untapped by the MSM.  Where was the vaunted investigative ability of the NYT back then, particularly in light of the Troopergate scandals which the Times also fairly well ignored??  The MSM knew about this stuff Howard. They just didn’t bother dropping what they knew.

Since there is no way you could NOT have known this the Lewinsky story was spiked particularly after the thing has been torn apart for years and examined now, I classify your comments as bordering on the criminal in terms of your breech of the public trust.  Of COURSE it helps when there’s a law enforcement inquiry so the journalists don’t need to do the heavy lifting.  But apparently, you’ve forgotten that absent such public investigations, part of  the press’ job is to make up for that lack, particularly where malfeasance is concerned.. as in the Lewinsky matter.   You’re not in the role for how easy it is; you’re there to do a job.  That you don’t understand that, gives better explanation than you did in your piece why the Dinosaur media is superfluous. … yourself included.

Your claim of “The fact that big newspapers, magazines and networks have standards — that is, they refuse to print every stray rumor just because it’s “out there”” in light of “October Surprise” and the formal backless piece on John McCain (Formal backless = All rumor, no backing evidence whatever -Bit) recently in the New York Times, suggests those standards get selectively applied.  Had you forgotten them? Or is it that the mere mention of them derails the case you’re trying to make that the Dinosaur media isn’t biased?

I suggest you, sir,  have become naught more than an apologist for the Democrats, no better than the morons you rightly deride in your piece…  and that therefore you are therefore worse than useless. You’re an actual impediment to a free American society. When the gossipers of the world… the Drudge crowd and the Enquirerhave to take up the investigative line because the MSM won’t touch it, that’s bad enough. But for you to slither out and play this line defending them not doing their job is so far beyond the pale, it invokes the spirit of Duranty himself.

And.. Howie… Buddy…. trust me… that is no compliment.

Addendum: (Bit) I actually wrote this this afternoon. Now that I’m home and got to posting it,  I see after the fact Billy’s posted a few choice words as well.

In 1856 Chief Justice Roger Taney, Scott v. Sandord, described the rights of free men:

It would give to persons of the negro race, who were recognised as citizens in any one State of the Union, the right to enter every other State whenever they pleased, singly or in companies, without pass or passport, and without obstruction, to sojourn there as long as they pleased, to go where they pleased at every hour of the day or night without molestation, unless they committed some violation of law for which a white man would be punished; and it would give them the full liberty of speech in public and in private upon all subjects upon which its own citizens might speak; to hold public meetings upon political affairs, and to keep and carry arms wherever they went. And all of this would be done in the face of the subject race of the same color, both free and slaves, and inevitably producing discontent and insubordination among them, and endangering the peace and safety of the State.

Now I grant that the scope of the rights of free men were subject to debate. a debate which Taney did not resolve.   However I hold that the description of the rights of free men in 1856 was not a topic of debate.  Taney was simply describing accepted rights.  So while in 1856, the population which exercised the rights of free citizens was more limited, the rights themselves were more expansive.

Now move the calander forward a century and half.   Liberals are in opposition to every right Taney articuluted.   Liberals oppose, the right to travel, the right of free speech and the right to carry arms.   Taney to his limited credit at least believed that white men had legal freedoms.  Today liberals don’t believe any person has any freedom.

• Are we really expected to accept Nancy Pelosi flip-flopping so quickly, from “Drilling is a hoax’ to ‘have the vote’?  Sorry, Nancy… Hans Christian Andersen you’re not. His fairy tales had more truth in them than yours.
• In the same vein, I note with interest a story in Useless Toady. It interested me because I have vivid memories of that day; We’d planned on going on vacation. Fostoria, OH if I’m not mistaken. we went despite ourselves, figuring the whole way was divided highway and freeway. Still, we saw some areas that hadn’t recoveed from that blackout. Is it really five years gone, now?
  

  Five years after the worst blackout in U.S. history, the nation’s electrical system is far better equipped to prevent another big outage, but significant shortcomings remain, federal officials, grid operators and consultants agree.
  Since the blackout on Aug. 14, 2003, which affected 50 million people in the Northeast, Midwest and part of Canada, federal regulators have approved standards for upkeep of the power grid. And utilities have new systems to monitor the network.”I can definitively say the events that led to the 2003 blackout are much less likely to occur,” says Rick Sergel, head of the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC), which enforces the new rules

  Well I’ll allow that sounds good.

  But there are still concerns:

  The USA still doesn’t have enough power plants and transmission lines to meet surging demand for electricity, which strains the grid, says Branko Terzic, an energy adviser for Deloitte Services and a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission member. Utilities have canceled plans for dozens of coal plants amid global-warming concerns; environmentalists have opposed new transmission lines.

  Well, this goes to the same kind of non-thinking that has us in a box over oil just now. Insta-Glenn sees the same story and quips:

  Should I buy a generator?

  I doubt it’d do any good. Look; in a sane world a generator would be a great thing to have. Yet, what do you propose running that generator on? Gasoline? Natural Gas? LP? All of it takes drilling, and the enviro-whackjobs have us bottled up there, too. And I’ll bet he’ll annoy someone’s idea of neighborhood noise limits, too.  I’m telling you, folks these people will have us with horses and candles, before they’re through. Guess who they’ll be voting for this cycle?

• I  remarked about Detroit earlier today, asking why in the hell anyone would want to live there. Apparently, nobody does, if the real-estate values are of any indication. Should we mention the obvious, that the place is Democrat party run? And again I ask… Guess who the people still in Detroit will be voting for this cycle?
• Whatever happened to Russian pragmatism and their habit of planning the bleep out of everything? One gets the idea they didn’t plan this one out too well.
• Trade Deficit is down, and our exports hit a record. Apparently part of the overall slowdown recently. But ths demonstrates pretty well that the free market model works best.
• I’m going to start posting a  photo of the day, as a part of these Nightly Rambles. They’ll all be mine of course. The first one we’ll do is from Fair Haven, NY, along about this time last year. those are long-burning red road flares they’ve surrounded the bay with. A memorable evening.
  

  FairHaven NY Night of Fire 2007

The Obama campaign has begyn notifying people who got tickets for the big acceptance speech at Invesco Field the final night of the convention.
Many of those who received tickets told 7NEWS they have come with a caveat.
Those viewers said the campaign told them they must volunteer six hours for the campaign by Friday in order to get a ticket.

Denver Channel, August 13, 2008

So while Obama is on vacation, he has decided that if his followers want to adore their fuhrer at the his giant rally, they must work to earn the free ticket. And they must complete this free work before Obama ends his vacation. I guess requiring 6 hours of work in the next 72 hours is one way to ensure a properly receptive crowd , you know, a crowd made up of stereotypical democrats who don’t have to work for a living so they have the spare time to slave away for Obama.

Addendum:  (David L)

Joe LIeberman riled the leftosphere, when he suggested that BO has “not always put country first.”   Memerandum had all kinds angery response.  LIeberman did not provide a specific examples, and I note the same argument can be made about John McCain with respect to Amensty and McCain-Feingold.

It does seems hard to say just how much BO prefers courting foreign favor than promoting American interests.  However BO does seem to be much more interested in courting the favor of the world citizens than protecting the interests the American taxpayer.   BO seems to favor aid to all foreigners and tax increases for all Americans. 

Michelle has posted an interesting quote:

“Obama didn’t require Germans in Berlin to work for him in order to cheer him at the Tiergarten. Why does Obama treat Germans better than Americans?”

BO does seem to have two standards, one for foreigners and another for the American tax payer.

James at OTB this morning examines an issue which the price of oil has been bringing to the fore, called “The Future of Suburbia”.   Now, look; I admit I pushed this one a bit off James’ intended thrust. I suggest you read it to see what angle James pursues, here. But I’m a little annoyed, frankly. Look at the discussions he brings in:

James Kunstler, for example, opines that,

There are many ways of describing the fiasco of suburbia, but these days I refer to it as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.

[…]

The suburbs have three destinies, none of them exclusive: as materials salvage, as slums, and as ruins. In any case, the suburbs will lose value dramatically, both in terms of usefulness and financial investment. Most of the fabric of suburbia will not be “fixed” or retrofitted, in particular the residential subdivisions. They were built badly in the wrong places. We will have to return to traditional modes of inhabiting the landscape — villages, towns, and cities, composed of walkable neighborhoods and business districts — and the successful ones will have to exist in relation to a productive agricultural hinterland, because petro-agriculture (as represented by the infamous 3000-mile Caesar salad) is also now coming to an end.

James suggests hallucinogenic compunds are being employed to come to this conclusion. While I do tend to agree, I think it runs deeper.  Kunstler is engaged in wishful thinking. He can’t understand for the life of him the attraction of the ‘burbs, particularly in light of what he sees as the great panic button issues of the day, oil prices and the global warming scam, etc. 

I have to tell you, though, I’m always annoyed as a matter of instinct when these discussions come up, particularly given oil prces of late, and the global warming scam.  I pull a quote from James of Kevin Drum:

But, as Kevin Drum rightly notes, suburbs aren’t an invention of government

Bold is mine. I tell him:

Quite correct, but it doesn’t go far enough. Suburbs are in fact an ESACPE from government, or at least they were at the outset. Which, by the way is why local town and rural governments tend toward more conservative people. Obviously, those are conclusions I’d never expect a Kevin drum to arrive at without force of arms.

But more, Suburbia is an escape from the population denisty and the problems thereof; That’s a problem nobody’s ever cured, and we have no reason to think they will.

There are other issues with the cities, as well… Concentrated people density means conentrated power of government and that means concentrated corruption, as well, of which Detroit is the most glaring example in the quiver right now. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to move there, can you?

And yet the great wet dream for the left is herding people back to the cities, which is of course where their power resides. Liberal politicians tend to do well in the higher population density areas… the cities, in short.. and outside the city, Conservatives/libertarians tend to do well. Gee, I can’t imagine why leftists would want to see Suburbanites forced intot he cities, can you?

All this is exactly why we see the left cheering the recent spike in oil prices and why we see the reluctance to drilling for oil domestically… the desire, in fact to keep the prices high, and keep suburban freedom away fromas many Americans as possible… and yes, that’s what it boils down to. They see this as the ticket to a massive return to urban America. The hope is, that such prices will take away the chocie of the suburbs or rural America for most Americans.

Given the problems of population density, what we see in today’s cities is what is in store for everyone forced back to the cities by high fuel prices. All for the political power of the left.

Sorry, but I don’t see that as a positive development.

This is where the politics of the left are dragging us; Back into the urban hell-holes we Americans escaped from deacdes ago. The tools to get us there are the global warming scam, lack of Domestic oil production, high taxes on transporation, leftist demands of government run mass transportation, etc. All for the political power it brings.  That’s what this is REALLY all about, people.

As I did earlier today with the ‘fairness doctrine’… I’ll ask, Does anyone doubt that if the Democrats maintain their hold on Congress, and/or if Obama gets to the White House, we won’t be pushed further toward that long held goal of eliminating Suburbia?