Something Ain’t Wright, Here

Bluto, last night:

Newsweek, via anonymous sources, explains why Oprah left Obama’s church in this article, Something Wasn’t Wright:

According to two sources, Winfrey was never comfortable with the tone of Wright’s more incendiary sermons, which she knew had the power to damage her standing as America’s favorite daytime talk-show host. “Oprah is a businesswoman, first and foremost,” said one longtime friend, who requested anonymity when discussing Winfrey’s personal sentiments. “She’s always been aware that her audience is very mainstream, and doing anything to offend them just wouldn’t be smart. She’s been around black churches all her life, so Reverend Wright’s anger-filled message didn’t surprise her. But it just wasn’t what she was looking for in a church.” Oprah’s decision to distance herself came as a surprise to Wright, who told Christianity Today in 2002 that when he would “run into her socially … she would say, ‘Here’s my pastor!’ ” (Winfrey declined to comment. A Harpo Productions spokesperson would not confirm her reasons for leaving the church.)

Newsweek goes on to say that Obama joined the church partially to discover his racial identity, which was not a consideration for Oprah, who was “secure in her blackness.”

Yeah, yeah, fine. Whatever that means. And I’d expect this kind of commentary from NewsWeek, who has been in the tank for Hillary Clinton for some time, now.  But note that part I’ve highlighted above.

Now, look, we’ve been focused on Wright and his relationship with Obama, and rightly so… but what if Wright’s take on liberation theology isn’t all that unique? What is being said about black churches, here? IS Wrights kind of hatred, Wright’s kind of “the government lied’ crackpotism in short Wrights kind of anti-Americanism,  is simply par for the course, today?

Bluto says:

How admirable that concern for her money-making ambition led Oprah to leave Wright’s hateful pulpit. How sad that Obama didn’t recognize the danger to his political ambition.

And what a tragedy that neither Oprah nor Barack could recognize the destructive, bitter hatefulness that permeates this so-called house of God. Or just didn’t care beyond appearances.

What do you suppose the chances are that the reason they didn’t see the danger, or consider it on other ground is that they’ve been steeped in the hatred so long as to not recognize it? I’d say, rather high, myself.

One of the things I’ve always liked about WordPress is the ability to post-date posts. In other words, I can post stuff and tell the system not to release the post until later… even days later. Obviously, this can solve several problems. What I didn’t notice, until just recently, is the ping systems have some problems.

1: On post-dated posts, they ping as soon as I hit ‘publish’ not when it actually is visible by normal means. This means I start getting hits on stuff I’ve not even released yet. Google-generated hits to scheduled stuff if what tipped me off to the problem.

2: Let’s say we have a new post that goes up. THe post has an error in it, and we edit the post. That’s two pings, right there.

3: On each repeated hit, several things happen; My web server and database server get pretty much pinned out, as it generates an XML file, designed to tell the search engines what’s going on on this site. Trouble is, on repeated editing, each edit tries to re-gen the list, and the database slows down to a crawl, making the site inaccessable.

What I’ve found is a neat little plugin that will solve all this. According to the authors;

**After you install MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer:**

* When you create a new post, your blog will ping and notify all the ping services that it has been updated. This encourages search engines and different blog directories/services to index your updated blog properly.

* When you edit an existing post, it won’t send any unnecessary ping to ping services and saves your blog from getting banned by such services.

* When you post a future post by editing the time stamp, it will ping only when your post appears in future. It won’t unnecessarily ping many times when you schedule posts as WordPress does by default.
That second point is important to me here, since the Search engine traffic is our lifeblood.

Seems to be working well. If you’re running WP, in any version, you’ll want to look at this plugin. I’ll keep an eye on it and let you know how things work out.

This week, McQ passes along the amazing story of MSG Brendan O’Connor, putting together bits of the story from several sources. As always, worth a read.

Project Hero, is a worthy attempt on McQ’s part to remind us that we have heroes among us. Further, that these need to be honored as such. We at BitsBlog are proud to lend our voice to such a project.

I debated saying anything about this when I heard. Joyner, apparently, got to it first:

Sad and surreal: Earlier this week, Hillary Clinton told an Indiana crowd, “I hope that everybody will go to the [Kentucky] derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly for me. I won’t be able to be there this year — my daughter is going to be there and so she has strict instructions to bet on Eight Belles.”

Eight Belles finished second. Then, tragically, collapsed immediately after crossing the finish line, breaking two ankles. She had to be euthanized.

As James notes, there must be something to this somewhere of symbolism. I’d call it more an omen, myself.

The reason I wasn’t going to say anything in the end, and the reason I didn’t watch the race in the first place, was because it seems to be getting more rare, that we don’t end up with something of the sort happening, every year, and it breaks my heart, every time.

Sad, too, because I had a classic line about which was the better looking female…  Eight Belles, or HIllary Clinton. And yeah, I think the horse wins that one. A tighter butt, for one thing.

The funny part is, I watched the Flyers quite literally beat up on Montreal last night, and had no such issues, despite there being far more blood involved.  Of course, now I’ve opened myself up for a mass mailing from PETA. Sorry, that doesn’t sell, either. I don’t think this a case of Animal Cruelty, at all. Horses are made to run, they’re constructed that way… that’s what they do… and such things happen to them all the time, even when under less controlled conditions.

I like horses, and I can ride. But I’ve never been able to watch races the same way after a few times in a row of going to races or seeing them on the box, and being exposed to such accidents.

If Obama is as his wife says he is — impatient and angry — then he is far younger than his 46 years would indicate. And that presents a problem for the nation. Youth has many things to offer. Sound judgment and patience are not among them.

Don Surber.

Hat tip: Sister Toldjah.

The Telegraph:

Michelle Obama lifted the lid on the irritation felt by the leading Democrat candidate for the White House at the way anti-American outbursts by his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, have dogged his campaign.

He is said to be itching to turn all his fire on John McCain, the Republican candidate, who is benefiting most from Mr Obama’s protracted tussle with Hillary Clinton.

Poor Barrack. You want we should get a pity party going?

We’re tired of you, too, Obama. You could solve the problem by disappearing. But, you’re too power hungry to do that, aren’t you?

Here’s a news flash:

It isn’t questions about your character, that are your root problem. The questions are secondary.  At the root of your problem is your character.

Of course I’d not expect your wife, who you doubtless sent out to spread this word, and who has character issues of her own, to mention that. Particularly, her issues surround her anti-American attitude…how she feels about America… her statements there are not out of line with what Wright spewed, and what you’re trying to distance yourself from. The smart thing to do would have been to distance yourself from your wife the way you distanced yourself from Wright, for her blatantly anti-American remarks, and for the same reason. They were, after all, of a kind.

You surround yourself with racist anti-American bigots, and then wonder why people have questions about you?

Actually, I take that back. There is no ‘questions’ about you. We know you belong nowhere near governmental power.

At a family birthday party yesterday, I made a tongue in cheek reference to Mrs. Clinton as “The Smartest Woman in the World.”  My quip earned a disapproving glare from the honoree.

Sheer stupity is not the only explanation for Mrs. Clinton.  Gall and greed also work.  Not does Mrs. Clinton tell business how much profit they should earn, she now telling individual investors that they are making too much money, Colin Barr, Fortune:

Exxon Mobil’s (XOM) latest numbers continue to draw scrutiny. Exxon posted a 17% rise in first-quarter earnings, to $10.9 billion, or $2.03 a share, as the company benefited from the rise in energy prices. But shares fell 3% in afternoon trading, as the numbers missed Wall Street’s expectations and investors worried about an unusual production decline. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton indicated in an afternoon statement from her presidential campaign office that she’s enraged by the implication of Thursday’s selloff – that Exxon isn’t making enough money.

“There is something seriously wrong with our economy when Exxon’s record $11 billion in quarterly profits are seen as a disappointment by Wall Street,” Clinton said.

There is nothing wrong with an economic systtem which allows the individual investor to sell or buy when he alone see fits It is called the free market and no more productive system has existed.  Yet Mrs. Clinton feels that somehow the individual investor should seek approval from the state before they reap a profit.  I am sure that Hugo Chavez of the late Fidel Castro would agree with Mrs. Clinton.  Do you?

Mrs. Clinton will certanly never be mitaken for Milton Friedman.  Mrs. Clinton could be mistaken for Chavez, and Hugo’s enconomy is tanking.

Addendum; (Bit:)According to CNN Money, Exxon total “profits” if you don’t count exploration costs, were $40BUSD, in 2007. Their taxes, however, were $100BUSD.

And so, now perhaps we understand better why Wall Street sees those profits as being disappointing. They know the history of government where oil company profits are concerned.  Mrs Clinton can and will preen and posture over ‘obscene’ levels of oil company profits but will never acknowledge who is really making the big money, here; Government.

Also, we appear to have answered Mrs Clinton’s question about what’s wrong with the system. Government is involved with it.

McQ:

Many are taking the following quote of John McCain as an indication that one of the primary motivations for Iraq was oil.

MMmmpppffh.

If oil was the reason we went to war, then we might consider the Iraq war a failure. Of course that wasn’t the reason.

But remember when liberals were critical, saying we’d done exactly that?

As it stands we now have the Democrats in congress making legislation to get their hands on Iraq’s oil, under the guise of ‘payment’ for our helping to reconstruct Iraq. I wasn’t aware that humanitarian efforts were cash and carry, first off, and secondly, tell me again, who is after Iraq’s oil. Amazing what a year will do.

Heh… It’s almost fun to watch the pain of the New York Times, as they’re forced to relate:

LONDON — Boris Johnson, the floppy-haired media celebrity and Conservative member of Parliament who transformed himself from a shambling, amusing-aphorism-uttering figure of fun into a plausible political force, was elected mayor of London on Friday.

Mr. Johnson’s surprising victory was not only a triumph of his own singular style, but also a resounding public rebuke to the Labor government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a day full of such rebukes. As votes were tallied across the country after Thursday’s elections, it emerged that the Labor Party had suffered its worst local election results in at least 40 years.

With final votes in for the 159 local councils in which seats were being contested, Labor lost 331 seats overall, and the Conservative opposition gained 256. The Labor Party took an estimated 24 percent of the overall vote, placing it a woeful third behind the Conservatives, with 44 percent, and the Liberal Democrats, with 25 percent.

But it was the mayoral race, in which Mr. Johnson, 43, defeated the experienced Labor incumbent, Ken Livingstone, 62, by 1,168,738 votes to 1,028,966 votes, that was the biggest shock — a sure sign of a deep national weariness with the Labor government. London has been resolutely Labor in recent years, and its loss is a bitter blow to the national party .

I’m not so sure this was a judgment about Brown so much as it is about Livingstone.  I can’t see, frankly, extrapolating these kind of local elections to a referendum on Brown. Still, it seems clear that something has gone downside up in British politics, and I suspect much of is has to do with the Islamising of England, much of which is being accomplished at the level of the local counsels. the business with the pools is a fine example.

Nice to see they’re starting to wake after their decades long slumber. One wonders, however, if the damage is not already done.

Joyner this morning, notes:

New York is trying to collect taxes from online retailers who ship goods to the state, even if they have no brick-and-mortar presence. Amazon is suing, claiming the law is unconstitutional.

I tell him, in comments, there:

The audacity of stupidity and being too young to remember the Carter Administration.

May 1 (Bloomberg) — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama‘s proposal for a windfall profits tax on oil companies could cost $15 billion a year at last year’s profit levels, a campaign adviser said.

The plan would target profit from the biggest oil companies by taxing each barrel of oil costing more than $80, according to a fact sheet on the proposal

Corporations, even the dreaded evil oil companies, do not pay taxes.    Corporations can only do one of two things with expenses   One, they pass  them on to their shareholders in form of lower dividends.   Two,, they can pass them on to the consumer in the form of higher prices.    There is no other option,a and neither lower the cost of gasoline as much one red cent.

So if the American consumer is the loser under BO’s plan, just who is the winner, Wall Street Journal.

You may also be wondering how a higher tax on energy will lower gas prices. Normally, when you tax something, you get less of it, but Mr. Obama seems to think he can repeal the laws of economics. We tried this windfall profits scheme in 1980. It backfired. The Congressional Research Service found in a 1990 analysis that the tax reduced domestic oil production by 3% to 6% and increased oil imports from OPEC by 8% to 16%. Mr. Obama nonetheless pledges to lessen our dependence on foreign oil, which he says “costs America $800 million a day.” Someone should tell him that oil imports would soar if his tax plan becomes law. The biggest beneficiaries would be OPEC oil ministers.

You lose.  OPEC wins. 

Common sense, sharp wit, great writing, have long known that Kyle-Anne could write, , mostly through American Thinker, Just just discovered she has her own blog.  Here she dissects BO rather well.

Mrs. Clinton’s adviser Claims Indiana slur video Is conspiracy.  That word coinspriracy sure has a familar ring to it.

Taxing our way to energy independce, Bloomberg.  BO does sure have a thing for taxes.

Geraldo, how does your foot taste? Does something good about BaBa WaWa’s tastes in men.

What bloody recesssion?

WASHINGTON (AP) – Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless reveals strains in the nation’s labor market.

Down is good Associated Press:

NEW YORK – Retail gas prices fell slightly Friday — the first time in 18 days they haven’t risen to a new record — and analysts say pump prices may be peaking for the year. Oil futures, meanwhile, soared after Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq injected some supply concerns into the market and the Labor Department‘s employment report gave investors reason to be optimistic about the economy

Here’s hoping it is the start of a trend.

Life in post-Castro Cuba:

HAVANA (AP) — Cubans are getting wired. The island’s communist government put desktop computers on sale to the public for the first time Friday, ending a ban on PC sales as another despised restriction on daily life fell away under new President Raul Castro.

Apparently not the Happiest Place on Earth:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A man apparently jumped to his death on Friday from the 14th floor of the Disneyland Hotel at the world-famous amusement park in Southern California, police said.

Turn about is fair playL Business Week:

Amazon.com is suing New York over a new law that requires out-of-state online companies to collect sales tax from shoppers in New York.

“We are challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted legislation in New York,” Amazon spokeswoman Patricia Smith said.

Seem to recall that former governor Eliot Spitzer was found filing lawsuits.

The Telegraph(UK) spent the week doling out their supposed list of the top fifty American political pundits.  The Telegraph‘s list is hardly worth mocking and definitely not worth linking.   Here is the take from JammieWearingFool

Take it with a grain of salt. They have Chris Matthews at Number 2, and nobody pays any attention to him, other than to make fun of him. Seriously, how is Matthews two spots ahead of General Limbaugh, the commander of Operation Chaos?

If Chrissy Matthews is number two, he ought to tell his number seven boss wants a raise, and a promotion.

DRJ, Patterico’s Pontifications, plucked the list:

1. Karl Rove, Fox News commentator and contributor to Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal.
2. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.
3. Sean Hannity of Fox News’ Hannity & Colmes.
4. Rush Limbaugh.
5. John Harris & Jim VandeHei, founders of Politico.com.
6. Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report.
7. Tim Russert of NBC.
8. Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart.
9. New York Times’ columnist David Brooks.
10. Mark Halperin, founder of ABC’s The Note and currently at Time’s “The Page.”

Best leave American political punditry to American pundits.   Save the Brits for droll humor.

?

Word from just down the road in Buffalo, that Johnathan Cote was laid to rest today.
Cote was a civilian worker in Iraq, who was kidnapped back in 06.

A salute to you, and your co-workers, Jon, and your families.

• I’m hearing an awful lot of speculation lately, as regards the reaction of the American public were Jeremiah Wright and Barrack Obama white. Certainly the reaction would be different. They’d be ignored. Forgive the observation, but we already have a name for whites who spew anti-white hatred. We call them “liberals”. The American people have learned to ignore such matters as par for the course.
• Nice to see my old boss, from the old WVOR/100.5, Bob Bittner, picking up another station, WWBK in Brunswick, Maine. With 1kw on 900, he should have a fairly decent time of it, in that market.  This adds WWBK to WJIB/740 in Boston and WJTO/730 in Bath, ME to his collection. Not exactly flamethrowers, these stations, but between them, my read is he should have good groundwave coverage from just south of Boston to about 50 miles north of Brunswick. Interesting that he should own a station with that call. Back in the day, he and I both worked at separate times, another station on 1560 in Brockport NY that ran under those WWBK calls.
• I’ve been spending a good deal of time listening to Dennis Miller’s show on the way home from work lately and I find myself encouraged by his attitude about things. it’s carried locally on a DB basis on Bob Savage’s WYSL/1040, though I note that 8780/WHCU down in Ihtaca has it on live. So do a number of other stations. He gets a little too deep into his own shtick at times, but then again, he always did. But he’s likely as snarky a live commentator as you’ll ever find. And if you’ve been reading here for a while you may remember we value the snark, here. Now, if we could just get him out of O’Reilly’s clutches.
• BitsBlog site traffic is up again. We’ve had a very good week. Not too much a shock that most of the traffic is on the topic of the Obama / Wright thing. So much for the myth that it’s a ‘diversion’. It IS in fact what the people want to talk about.
• A third place at OTB’s Caption Contest. Not bad, but I think I’m losing my touch.
• Look, Bruce, the left has in many moments in truth, all of which they’ve succeeded in skating by over the years. One more such incident will be merely a drop in the ocean of moments of truth, that’ve been ignored. You are quite correct in noting that the opportunity arose and was passed by, but I think you’re asking too much to expect anything else, but them passing it by.
• By now you’ve seen the notes flying on the leftie blogs about Deborah Jeane Palfrey… these same lefties who leaped to Bill Clinton’s defense, claiming that we were all a bunch of conspiracy theorists, and who are now suggesting that the woman hanged herself, or was killed, because she knew too much about too many Republicans who were in her little black book. The context of this statement can likely be found in lesser quantity on any stable floor. That point aside, however, it should be pointed out that this is the classic hallmark of a conspiracy theory. At the very least, it can be said that Vince Foster didn’t hang himself with a rope that didn’t work. I note Sister Toldjah has more.
• I see Blue Crab Blvd using huge words like “epicycles.” it’s rather odd, because that was the word that was used when my wife used to get crabby every 28 days. That point aside, all of this goes to show very nicely that the enviro-nazis cannot afford to admit any doubts about their pet theories. If they did, why the whole thing would fall apart and besides which, Gaia would get angry at them.
• There’s an old adage about bringing a knife to a gunfight. What happens when you bring a gun to a fight with 500 pound bombs? Bluto has the answer.
• Bluto also notes the war on Barbie. Odd thing; Wasn’t it the militant gender feminists that were screaming about this not so long ago? Somehow I doubt that the Taliban, and NOW agreeing here, will even be noticed by the left. I dare to suggest you the possibility that each of their respective lines of reasoning to be equally vacuous. I stand a fair chance of being singled out for beheading by each group for doing so. But wouldn’t you just love to get them into a room to chat about the remainder of their respective agendae? Imagine if you will Randi Rhodes arguing with these people. After she puts her teeth in, of course.
• TGIF… Let’s see, yard work, prep work on the camper, some blogging work..Gotta get the truck inspected, and all that on Saturday. Rain both days. Figures. Perhaps I’ll be able to get the blog’s database trimmed up a bit, instead.