Angels&Demons

Cern: Angels & Demons - The science behind the story.

PKS 0745-191: First Complete X-Ray View Of A Galaxy Cluster

PKS 0745-191: First Complete X-Ray View Of A Galaxy Cluster

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Since we're on a Science kick this evening how about some more cool stuff on the Universe?

CDF Vs. DZERO: And The Winner Is...

CDF Vs. DZERO: And The Winner Is...

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Some truly geeky but exciting stuff - the discovery of the Omega_b particle!

Hubble's Universe

The Cygnus Loop Supernova Remnant
Credit: J.J. Hester (Arizona State University), and NASA.

For those who appreciate the beauty of the Universe, here is a site to visit and go OOOH, AHHHH!

Herschel and Planck Launch

Herschel and Planck space telescopes lift off

“With Herschel we can resume the pioneering work undertaken with ISO, ESA’s first infrared space observatory operating in the second half of the 90s, and we are building upon the experience gained to date by the world wide scientific community in the field of infrared astronomy,” said David Southwood, ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration. “We now have much more advanced technology at our disposal. Together with our partners across the world and with the scientific community, which have been waiting for this unique moment for a long time, we will work hard to fulfil Herschel’s ambitious promise, confident that we will achieve a revolutionary breakthrough in the urgent quests of today’s space science.”

“Planck is ESA’s first mission dedicated to the study of relic radiation from the Big Bang, designed to continue the marvellous work undertaken over the last 20 years by Russia’s Relikt, and NASA’s COBE and WMAP satellites,” Professor Southwood continued. “With Planck, we are pushing the boundaries of our knowledge to the very limits of what can be observed according to theory. It is a tremendous technical challenge but helping to bring about a great leap forward in our understanding of the origin and perhaps the fate of our Universe will be a tremendous reward too!”

Some more here.

And a video of the launch:

More Interesting than a Sotomayor

Phoenix's Greatest Hits

Just one year old, the Phoenix Lander has some remarkable accomplishments under its belt

More interesting and more accomplished than Obama's judgette.

Not as I say, but as I do - What the?

Interesting read: Judge Sotomayor and Race. I don't know the author Tom Goldstein, so I cannot say what his leanings are. So, do we give the judge a pass?? I don't think so, she said what she said and that requires some explaining - again, regardless of how a white male nominee performed as judge regarding race, if he had said what she has said there would be no one stepping up claiming he misspoke and that is what all of these defenders miss. Also, this is the Obama's nominee - free pass not allowed after the way he overreacted to Alita and Roberts, both of whom are stellar judges compared to the Obama's wannabe.

Sotomayor's remark termed 'poor' word choice. Read the entire article.

So, instead of the White House talking for Sotomayer, why can't Sotomayor talk for Sotomayor? Either she stands by her remarks or you ask her to stand aside. The left started this whole personal attack mode way back when, Bork, Clarance Thomas, both Alita and Roberts, and so far I have heard little out of the right when it comes to personal attacks of Sotomayor. She made those comments and now she needs to either stand by them and explain them or tell us why she has all of a sudden changed her mind. She hasn't changed her mind it is just that now she is a nominee for a high position in government and her remarks have created a controversy. Being a true leftist when your current set of principles get you into trouble you abandon them and pick up a new set - until they get you into trouble. The funny thing is, the Obama shares those same views or he wouldn't have nominated her but instead of standing by his candidate he "reading her mind" and informing his flock that she really didn't mean what she said. Of course the republicans should treat Sotomayor with due respect but they shouldn't play lap dog to the Obama. A couple of clips from the article:

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele, guest-hosting Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" radio show, said Friday that critics should not be "slamming and ramming" Judge Sotomayor, but need to make a "cogent, articulate argument" against her on substantive grounds.

"We don't need to play this the way the Democrats have played it in the past," he said.

Asked about the racism charges, Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, called them "terrible."

"This is not the kind of tone that any of us wants to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent," he said in an interview with National Public Radio. Mr. Cornyn represents a state with a large Hispanic minority and also is heading the Republican campaign effort in the 2010 senatorial races.

Something tells me that the Repubs are going to roll over on Sotomayor without asking her to stand up and defend herself. Maybe Steele ought to send out a set of acceptable questions that the Repubs on the review committee can ask:

1. Tell us Ms. Sotomayor, what has been your most enchanting moment during your time on the bench?
2. If a really tough case regarding a favorite national color came to the high bench, would you chose red or some other color?
3. How many members of the Supreme Court are there?
4. Do you have any other Hispanic judge friends that we can put on the bench - we'll kick Alita and Roberts off to make room.
   

Someone who actually thinks!

Victor Davis Hanson: Reflections On an Age Now Fading…

US Thoughts

Conservatives are flummoxed about the Sotomayor news, and have been warned by the likes of Chris Matthews and David Gergen that the nomination is a shoo-in, regardless of Justice Sotomayor’s statements about the less desirable characteristics of white males as judges, and the desire to enact policy from the appellate bench.

I think we are in an Orwellian time, and it is not just explainable by identify politics. Remember the grilling of Alberto Gonzales and the hysteria over Miguel Estrada. So the point is not just having a so-called minority profile, but having one compatible to the ‘progressive’ left. If an African-American nominee (cf. Justice Thomas) or Hispanic proves to be conservative, then race can often count against them, inciting a sort of furor on the left that such independent thinking individuals are not suitably deferential to liberals for their trail-blazing work.

Or perhaps the liberal mind feels that de facto it is beyond racial reproach, and therefore can engage in a sort of viciousness that exceeds even that shown non-minority conservatives. In short, the inspirational story of a Hispanic is relevant only to the degree that the nominee favors an agenda of the elite progressive left-without that requisite ideology, the candidate is reduced to an ingrate or a victim of false-consciousness, or a traitor of sorts.

Greenhouse Gas Bag

This story at the Washington Examiner has a kind of funny title: NKorea test-fires another missile in defiance of UN.

"In defiance of UN," as if NK ever paid any attention to the UN. So, what does the Obama propose to do about the latest NK behavior? Yep, talk about it. The quantity of greenhouse gas emissions from the Obame on NK should qualify him for EPA sanctions and at the very least he ought to buy a few of those carbon credits he yack's so much about. It has been a long time since I last heard so much wasted verbiage on a subject that could use some real direct action. While the Obama and the UN expend CO2 bloviating about all of the sanctions NK has violated Kim Jong Il and his band of merry mad scientists fire off missiles and collect data on their performance and something tells me they may be planning another underground test soon. Kim is openly taunting the US and pushing our buttons. He knows that the worst that will happen to him is some harsh words from the Obama - maybe some brow furrowing thrown in for good measure - but unless the Obama stops with his socialization of our country and actually focuses on something other than his navel then Kim will continue to act with impunity. China and the US don't share the same policy goals for North Korea so it would seem that we are wasting a lot of energy trying to get them on board with real action. Kim is either jerking our chain for the giggles of it because he knows he can or he is actually trying to provoke us - most likely over the Korean peninsula. NK is dangerous now, but the longer we wait it will become more dangerous. We can speculate that NK has no other Nukes available right now so if something is to be done then now is the time. If the Obama doesn't want to stand up for the world (or even a small piece - America) then let's let the Israelis take care of it. They have a real proactive leader. We can all get together and talk when the dust has settled.

The Land of Disenchantment

Even New Mexico makes the national news on occasion and as usual not in a good light. WSJ: King of New Mexico.

Spinning so Fast I am getting dizzy.

He probably has the most thankless job out there, slinging BS for the Obama - this video is a classic case of groupspeak - or slinging crap. What a load. I am surprised that Robert Gibbs doesn't have liver damage from all of the alcohol he must have to consume to get up the courage to lie in front of a camera like that. The Obama and company need to own up to the facts regarding Sotomayor - it was her mouth into which she stuck her feet (both of them - thus the plural), no one else did that to her. If she is so damned smart then she was and is aware of what she said then and still stands by those words. If she is claiming the contrary, then she is immediately disqualified to be a Justice of the Supreme Court. Even the Obama is jamming her foot further down her throat!

They both end in "y"

Jonah Goldberg: Empathy v Impartiality

"Why make this complicated? President Obama prefers Supreme Court justices who will violate their oath of office. And he hopes Sonia Sotomayor is the right Hispanic woman for the job. Here's the oath Supreme Court justices must take: 'I, (name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as (title) under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.' Contrast that with Obama's insistence that the 'quality of empathy, of understanding and identifying with people's hopes and struggles' is the key qualification for a Supreme Court justice. ... [But] who says conservatives are against judicial empathy? I, for one, am all for it. I'm for empathy for the party most deserving of justice before the Supreme Court, within the bounds of the law and Constitution. If that means siding with a poor black man, great. If that means siding with a rich white one, that's great too. The same holds for gays and gun owners, single mothers and media conglomerates. We should all rejoice when justices fulfill their oaths and give everyone a fair hearing, even if that's now out of fashion in the age of Obama."

And here at Legal Insurrection: Sotomayor's Disparate Impact

Whether Sotomayor's position in Ricci was shaped by her history of using lawsuits as a social tool, or a dispassionate review of the law as applied to the facts of Ricci, is fair game for analysis as part of the confirmation process. Sotomayor's involvement at PRLDEP deserves more scrutiny, and the NY Times should be credited with starting that scrutiny.

Regardless, the failure of Sotomayor and some of her two colleagues to recognize the absurdity of the City of New Haven's conduct in the Ricci case shows a profound lack of judgment, which hopefully will be remedied by the U.S. Supreme Court. And Ricci needs to be explored at the confirmation hearings even though two other appeals court judges voted with Sotomayor, since a collective lack of judgment does not excuse a lack of judgment.

Whites, with compelling stories, Need not Apply

John Derbyshire of at The Corner: Give Montana Girls a Chance

When did white working poor people disappear off the face of the earth? Where are the eager listeners to their "compelling stories"?

Was it really not possible to correct past injustices without creating an entire — and apparently permanent — class convinced that accidents of geography or biology have gifted them with special insight, wisdom, and "empathy"?

Obama's Nature

At Rasmussen's Reports: Sotomayor and Condescending Identity Politics

Persuading Others to Think Wrongly??

Power of persuasion, Slate: Sotomayor Sides with the Cops. I can't tell if this is good or bad - the jury saw the evidence differently but Sotomayor, whose mind seemed to be made up before the case was even argued, managed to persuade two other judges to change their minds - is this a case of persistent badgering until someone gets tired of it and relents or is this a case of making hard and logical arguments that convinces others of your position. Again, it is hard to tell from the article - seems to be the former, though.

65th Anniversary D-Day

I know that it is a week away but it is time to start our remembrances of D-Day - 6/6/1944. This will be the 65th anniversary of the allied landing on the beaches of Normandy.

Beards and Shaved Faces are Next

WSJ: Taxing Health Care.

McCain was beat up by the Obamocrats over this but now, it is a good idea, as would be expected from a government in desperate need to find new sources of cash to pay for all of their spending. I think in my current job - where I am a share holder of the company we are not exempt - we pay taxes on our health insurance benefits. I guess, that given I am being taxed for a benefit that someone else actually spends, I might rather have the cash and then buy my own insurance or invest in a health savings plan. The down side is that I lose the group rate. Certainly it is time as I have notes in several posts to revamp health insurance but one gets plain tired of tax, tax, tax to pay for unnecessary government spending.

Avoiding the Abortion Fight

Althouse: Do we know what Sotomayor thinks about abortion rights?

Hospice Care

My condolences to Mr. Kondracke on his loss and let me add my support to his message on the value and importance of Hospice Care, Congress should aid ‘good death’ like my mother's. My father-in-law, Bob Day (see here) passed away in peace and comfort last October under the care of Hospice of Spokane. Unlike Mr. Kondracke's mother, Bob passed away at the Hospice House, a beautiful and peaceful place where no one wanted for anything and everyone was treated with the highest regard and respect. It was truly an environment designed with the family as well as the patient in mind. One could not imagine a more serene and peaceful place to be during the last days or hours of life. So, yes, if Obama is to change our health care then please let him give consideration to the dignity of death and to the desire of those who must die to die with dignity and in serene peace.

If you believed what you thought, Think AGAIN!

Check this out at Gateway Pundit - lots of links to follow and evidence is damning - Hope, Change & Marxism: Did Obama Target GOP Donors In Chrysler Dealer Closings?

A Wasted Nomination

Hispanics have a right to be excited about the nomination of Sotomayor for a position on the supreme court (In a recent Pole at Rasmussen Reports: Hispanic voters favor confirmation by a 66% to 15% margin.), but that begs the question, are they excited just because she is Hispanic? She is certainly not the most qualified of any potential nominee, Hispanic or not, as I have to believe that there are other Hispanic judges out there that qualify for consideration. She is not a great legal mind - if she were then Harriet Miers would be on the bench today, because in terms of ability they about the same - Sotomayor has a slight upper hand being a federal appeals judge. Here rulings are overturned at the 70% level and many are considered shoddy pieces of legal reasoning. From her own words she paints herself as somewhat of a racist and at the very least an insensitive liberal ranter. She firmly believes in judicial activism and making law from the bench - again her own words. Clearly she knows how to spell constitution but I don't know if she has actually read it. Her demeanor during her nomination acceptance speech immediately struck me wrong and I had this urge to run away - it was that if I had a reason I would sue you white guy attitude. The nice thing about the blogs and the none fawning news media is that Sotomayor is being buried in her own sputum. If everything that she has said and done as a judge were transferred to a White nominee the white nominee would be resigning 5 minutes after their nomination. It all comes down to this - Obama chose her because she is a mirror of his own callous insensitive, self-centered, liberal and shallow self. Everything that she is, as it is for the Obama, is within the outer layer of her skin. She fails the Martin Luther King test for "content of character" because she has none. So, what I said for electing the first "black" president, applies to Sotomayor, her nomination is in no way that historic or significant - as it was inevitable, the trick was to nominate the right Hispanic - and Obama failed there as those who voted for the Obama failed.

Will he be man or machine? I'll be back!

Hey, can I be the hang out and get a government paycheck czar?? Obama to create cyber czar?

Interesting News

The Morning Must Reads at the Washington Examiner.

Have we learned Nothing?

"It has long, however, been my opinion, and I have never shrunk from its expression ... that the germ of dissolution of our federal government is in the constitution of the federal Judiciary; ... working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Charles Hammond, August 18, 1821

No magic here!

Science News: Deadly Mushroom Toxin Exposed.

Dang, Wrong job Again!

Michelle Malkin: Compare your to a California public employee's.

Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge, Say no more, Say no more!

Karl Rove: 'Empathy' Is Code for Judicial Activism.

Biden Broke my Teleprompter. Now What do I do?

Washington Post: North Korea Threatens to Attack South, Pyongyang Also Says Truce Ending War in 1953 Is Invalid.

The dog ate my copy of the Constitution!

60% Reversal Rate

History Repeats

Dick Morris: North Korea: The Whole World is Watching

But the most important actor is, of course, President Barack Obama. It is really he who is being tested. If he simply settles for ineffectual sanctions or a round of international condemnation, he will be showing a weakness that virtually invites exploitation by the rest of the world. If he only pursues diplomatic negotiations without economic or military clout behind them, the other aggressors - the latter day Hitlers and Tojos - will draw their own conclusions...

If Hillary meekly goes along with an Obama policy of accommodation, she will lose forever her ability to portray herself as a national security hawk - a crucial step for any woman running for president.

Come on, It's Funny!

I see you!

This is cool: North Korea Economy Watch

New Liberal Dictionary: Empathy, n, Justice for all, except Whites

Thomas Sowell speaks out: Sotomayor: "Empathy" in Action.

"...wise Latina woman..." NOT!

Hat tip to El Greco for reminding me to read my George Will: Identity Politics on the Supreme Court

Taylor has also noted this from a Sotomayor speech to a Hispanic group: "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion (as a judge) than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Says Taylor, "Imagine the reaction if someone had unearthed in 2005 a speech in which then-Judge Samuel Alito had asserted, for example: 'I would hope that a white male with the richness of his traditional American values would reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn't lived that life' -- and had proceeded to speak of 'inherent physiological or cultural differences.'"

Political Cartoons

I love political cartoons and Lisa Benson is one of the best.

Justice is Blind, except when it applies to Hispanics?

This is garbage that we are up against when it comes to someone like Sotomayor: Legal Realism Inform's Judges Views

However, Judge Sotomayor's critics on the right, including those in the originalist camp, fear that her approach may lead different parties in cases to get different results depending on the ethnic makeup of the court—which would contradict the idea that everyone is entitled to equal justice under the law.

Yes, that is exactly what we are afraid of - unequal application of the law. The left and their legal arm the ACLU always crow about the 14th Amendment, but only when it aids their case.

Hubble!

It is going to be hard waiting to see the first images from Hubble after its refurbishment by the team of Shuttle Atlantis, Mission STS 125.

Apollo II

To this day, nearly 40 years later, that's right 40 years, the 40th anniversary of man's first visit to the moon is this summer - July 16, 1969 - I remember where I was and what I was doing and I was not even 12 years old, my birthday being a few months later. I was spending time with my dad in Cottage Grove Oregon. I also remember the day, because it was the first time that I had ever been bitten by an ant - not those little piss-ants (sugar ants), no, it was one of those big ol ants. I was an avid follower of the Apollo program from its beginning right on through to it end with Apollo 17. I remember how disappointed I was when it was announced that Apollo 17 would be the last Apollo mission. Who can for forget ABC Science writer Jules Bergman - I worshiped that man and still consider him an American Hero. Here's a great link at Popular Mechanics.

Big DUH!

Well this is kind of gloomy: IRS tax revenue falls, along with taxpayer's income

The other deficit driver is government spending, which, the AIER's report says, is the main culprit for the federal budget deficit.

The White House thinks that tax revenue will increase in 2011, thanks in part to the stimulus package, says the report from AIER, an independent economic research institute. But it warns, "Even if that does happen, the administration also projects that government spending will be so much higher each year that large deficits will continue, and the national debt held by the public will double over the next 10 years."

Putting the "M" in Pathetic

Ann Coulter: I Feel Your Pain. Not Theirs. Yours

The truth is liberals couldn't care less about Sotomayor being Hispanic. Indeed, liberals often have trouble telling Hispanic people apart, as James Carville illustrated on "Good Morning America" Wednesday morning when he kept confusing Miguel Estrada with Alberto Gonzales.

"Empathy," in Liberalspeak, is nothing but raw political power.

Ann Coulter is always witty and well spoken - read it all!

"Ignore em, It's in da Bag"

Gingrich: Sotomayor ‘racist,’ should withdraw nomination.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs responded to Gingrich's criticism at Wednesday's briefing.

"I think it is probably important for anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they've decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation," Gibbs said.

The left knows that their candidate is a shoe-in given the right's inability to come together on anything and because the left has the numbers. So, as I have noted in a previous post Obama could nominate a trained ape and the left would vote it in without question and the right would be scratching their collective heads wondering why. Sotomayor is just the Obama testing the waters; she's an extremist and not so talented judge but she is nothing compared to the one that comes next if he gets a next. The Repubs need to get their act together and start understanding the ramifications to this country of all of their Kum-Ba-Yah-tic behavior. We don't have to agree with the Obama, we don't have to support the Obama and we certainly don't have to be nice to the Obama - he's doing none of that to us.

A not Forgotten Hero

Oh but I did forget to mention Bob Day, my father-in-law and a veteran who served for nearly 23 years in the Navy. Dear Bob passed away last October of a bout with cancer. Bob was born July 17, 1933 and was just 75 when he passed away last year. He enlisted in the navy in 1952 and served through some of this nation's most tumultuous times - The Korean War, The Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam. During the Vietnam war he served with the once secret VO-67 Squadron, whose mission included dropping sounding devices along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Bob retired in 1974 and became a postal carrier. He loved delivering mail in Spokane Washington, because it gave him a chance to be outside and to walk. His second career lasted nearly 20 year. He finally joined the retired crowd in 1992 and he and his wife Helen (my mom-in-law) started traveling. Their last trip was with Val (my wife) and I to St. Martin. That was in 2006.

Blog Email Test

Testing email blog updates: Kramer Vineyards

Richly Experienced Courtier

The 'Empathy' Nominee

As the first nominee of a popular President and with 59 Democrats in the Senate, Judge Sotomayor is likely to be confirmed barring some major blunder. But Republicans can use the process as a teaching moment, not to tear down Ms. Sotomayor on personal issues the way the left tried with Justices Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito, but to educate Americans about the proper role of the judiciary and to explore whether Judge Sotomayor's Constitutional principles are as free-form as they seem from her record.

Obama is a Nuclear Threat

The B-Team: WILLIAM J. PERRY, BRENT SCOWCROFT and CHARLES D. FERGUSON.

All well and good and even laudable, but just more blather. It is time the Obama, instead of giving airy sound-bites to the fawning media and talking about UN-this, UN-that, tell them , the UN, to take a hike and deal with the situation directly. North Korea and Iran have learned that there is nothing to fear from a lot of hot air flowing from a politician's pie hole. It's time to put a real squeeze on both and then deal head on with China and Russia. The Obama cancelled the next generation warhead - his interest is not in securing America's nuclear safety but to gain browny points with his Euro-Trash friends by cutting America's nuclear shield. Obama has adopted the liberal mantra that if you get rid of Nukes the world will follow - sorry Mr. O, terrorists and rogue nations aren't lemmings like America's MSM.

Holey Boats Don't Float

WSJ: Foregone Foreclosure

Fitch found that a conservative projection was that between 65% and 75% of modified subprime loans will fall delinquent by 60 days or more within 12 months of having been modified to keep the borrowers in their homes. This is an even worse result than previous reports by federal regulators. Even loans whose principal was reduced by as much as 20% were still redefaulting in a range of 30% to 40% after 12 months.

The reasons for the high redefault rate aren't surprising. Many of the borrowers never could afford these homes in the first place, yet the political pressure has been strong to modify loans even for these borrowers. As home prices continue to fall in some markets, borrowers remain underwater and many of them simply walk away from the home and thus redefault. (Emphasis mine)

It's short, read it all!

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

WSJ Dennis Buchholtz: GM Bondholder Are People Like You and Me

We are not an unreasonable group. We understand that to save GM everyone will need to endure economic pain. But we are very troubled by the government's decision to give UAW retirees -- equal members, with the bondholders, of the unsecured creditor class -- preferential treatment. The government cannot be permitted to rewrite bankruptcy rules on a whim to selectively benefit equal groups.

Basic Obamonomics Mr. Buchholtz, the UAW spent millions electing the Obama so in his book they get first share of the spoils.

Liberal Supreme Courtier

And here I thought she was the least objectionable of the nominees on the Obama's short list. Boy was I wrong. The right has come out swinging on the Obama's nominee Sotomayor, the question is will the Republicans?? Obama is clearly playing politics with her nomination. They will be able to and get away with it, labeling anyone on the right who actually questions Sotomayor's qualfications to be a Supreme Courtier - and there are few, as a racist. And this even with the left's record of attacking Thomas and both of Bush's hispanic nominees for government positions. The left loves to call the right racists but the truth is the other way around. Obama has read the Republicans and sees a bunch of sniveling whiners who are afraid of being labeled racists just because they are doing their job. Again, it didn't seem to bother the left to attack minorities when they saw fit. I am actually siding with Rush Limbaugh on this nominee...

Calling Obama's Bluff

There is indications that NK has launched yet again, another missile. He apparently isn't getting the attention he wants from the Obama. I take a sinister view that his scientists are conducting a series of tests that will possibly culminate in something more disastrous. Kim Jong Il has called Obama's bluff. He knows that Obama is weak on foreign policy and is, in fact, quite disengaged from the whole affair. Getting up before an audience of the adoring press and giving a platitudinous sound bite that we the US are going to look stern and huff and puff our checks and hold our breath until NK stops being bad, carries not weight with psychopathic rulers like Kim Jong Il and if that don't work we are going to, "Tell Mom(UN)." Kim is just taunting the Obama and all the while his scientists are gaining valuable data on their missiles and Nukes and the US is doing nothing. I'll be the first to applaud the Obama if he actually stands up to NK. It is time to clamp down on that country China be damned.

Californians Win One!

Via Wall Street Journal News Alert:

The California Supreme Court upheld a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, but ruled that existing gay marriages will remain legal in the state. Gay rights groups promised a campaign of civil disobedience to protest the court's decision.

Update: Full story here.

A not so legal Beagle

Clearly Sotomayor was nominated not so much for her legal mind, though she seems to be capable. Her nomination was more about her liberal leaning and her personal journey. Obama was quick to point our her educational background and it is impressive, but I am one that judges a person less by the number of A's on their report card than by their actual ability to think. I suspect that the Republicans will be unable to oppose her appointment given their lack of numbers in the Senate. I would hope, though, that they do not shy away from a tough, yet fair, examination of her qualifications, including a thorough vetting of her ideological standing. I would also expect the Republicans to treat her with respect and not act like their Obamocrat counterparts have acted in the past when it came to Republican nominees. She will be appointed but it is important that everything about her has to be brought out in hearings. The Obamocrats will do well to not oppose the Republicans in their questioning of Sotomayor. It is possible that they may cut debate short to get her out of conference and onto the floor without much of an investigation. Let's hope that they act like adults and let the process go forward. It will be very important that her views that race and other not legal elements play a part in legal decisions be fully exposed. One of the biggest issues that rankle conservatives is that most liberal appointments to the Supreme Bench are ideologues who view the law as the least important element of a legal decision. Sotomayor will be no different and so it is important that it be made clear to the public.

Sotomayor

Wendy Long at NRO has some comments on the Obama's Supreme Courtier nominee: Sotomayor for the Court.

Supreme Court Pick

Obama pick for new Supreme Courtier: Sonia Sotomayor. Of those on the short list she was probably the least objectionable - extremely liberal but a good legal mind. Fortunately there will be no real change in the composition of the bench - right now.

Update: Take a look at this post by Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy:

I am also not favorably impressed with her notorious statement that "a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." Not only is it objectionable in and of itself, it also suggests that Sotomayor is a committed believer in the identity politics school of left-wing thought. Worse, it implies that she believes that it is legitimate for judges to base decisions in part based on their ethnic or racial origins. Stuart Taylor's comments on Sotomayor's speech are telling:

Any prominent white male would be instantly and properly banished from polite society as a racist and a sexist for making an analogous claim of ethnic and gender superiority or inferiority.

Imagine the reaction if someone had unearthed in 2005 a speech in which then-Judge Samuel Alito had asserted, for example: "I would hope that a white male with the richness of his traditional American values would reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman who hasn't lived that life" -- and had proceeded to speak of "inherent physiological or cultural differences."

During his press conference announcing Sotomayor Obama gets his tongue wrapped around his neck with all of his liberal speak about the importance of personal experience over the understanding of law. Then he has to throw out that it was a "Republican" president that first nominated her. Then he claims that she has more experience now than previous justices did when they were nominated. SAD. He should have shut up and let Sotomayor talk instead he has to keep pushing his foot deeper into his mouth. He is feeling very proud of himself right now as all arrogant liberals of excessive ego.

To rebut Obama's fawning intro to Sotomayor is another quote from Somin's post:

At the same time, her record is far less impressive than that of most other recent nominees, such as Roberts, Alito, Breyer, and Ginsburg...

Sotomayor also seems far less impressive than Diane Wood and Elena Kagan, reputedly her top rivals for this nomination. The current nominee's qualifications are likely better than Harriet Miers' were; but Miers' nomination failed in large part because of her relatively weak resume...

That said, Supreme Court appointments are almost never purely merit based. Sotomayor joins a long line of nominees who were chosen in part because of political, ethnic, or gender considerations.

Read Somin's entire post, it is worth it.

A Follow Up

To follow up on my previous post, Obama gave two speeches today regarding North Korea's test of a nuclear weapon. Neither had the force or commitment of the Lloyd George speech of 1911 (here) but in both cases the "audience," in the case of Lloyd George, bankers, and in the case of Obama, the American public, few paid much attention. In both cases the cause is/was a deep distrust of and distraction by the respective administrations. For Obama distrust does not apply too much to the liberal left - for them, in fact it is a misguided trust of Obama and a total unwillingness to accept that talk alone carries no weight if not backed up by real commitment. For those on the right it is both, a lack of trust and our distraction with Obama's massive waste of our money. The right has heard these words before, we heard them with Carter and with Clinton, they are airy and meaningless. Bush made an attempt to apply the left's blather approach to foreign policy with Korea and failed miserably.

Britain, faced with the massive spending and taxing by its government was little in the mood to think about German aggression. Obama has done a good job of distracting American's and for the most part he is ignoring anything that doesn't directly relate to his socialist agenda. So, when he tosses out a few harsh words no one listens, the left because they are too busy with their heads up his arse, and the right because we know that they mean nothing.

Sound Familiar?

"His city audience, whose minds were obsessed with the iniquities of the Lloyd George Budget and the fearful hardships it had inflicted upon property and wealth - little did they dream of the future - did not comprehend in any way the significance or the importance of what they heard. They took it as if it had been on of the ordinary platitudes of the ministerial pronouncements upon foreign affairs." - Churchill's assessment of the state of affairs with the British bankers following Lloyd George's speech to the Banker's Association 1911 during the Agadir Crisis. Winston Churchill, The World Crisis, Volume 1.

One doesn't have to work very hard at assessing how American society feels regarding the current crisis with North Korea. Their senses have been so severely and brutally assaulted by the Obama's massive and wasteful spending that we have little time to worry about the goings on in a distant nation - events that were brought on by this and previous negligent administrations.

Update: To put this post in context here is a link to Lloyd George's speech on 21 July 1911 at Mansion House.

The Preening and Primping Foreign Policy

Don Surber: We're-so-smart diplomacy failed

Here is an idea. Instead of spending the next 4 years preening and primping and comparing this administration to the last, how about finally accomplishing something worthwhile?

Instead of arguing over whether water-boarding is torture, how about getting the job done? You know, protecting the nation and the national interest. Find out why some tin-horn dictator whose people are shrinking can sneak a nuclear weapons test under the nose of everyone.

What a novel concept, doing ones job instead of just talking about it.

Caught off Guard

As a follow up to my earlier post here, a story at Fox News.

North Korea Nuke Test Round up

Blogger Don Surber: Lefties on North Korea

Forbes, Bahukutumbi Raman: Is Obama Another Jimmy Carter?

Also at Forbes: Nuclear Blast of Reality

And head over to William Jacobson's site for an interesting question: Will the Left Apologize to Bolton?

Too Funny!

Are women born this way?

Thanks El Greco!

World War I

Here's a great site for those interested in World War I history like myself: First World War.com.

Update: In 1918 at the age of 18 my grandfather on my mom's side, for whom I am named, Charley Bishop Reeve, did his duty and registered for the draft. I am not sure why he didn't end up serving in the service but he didn't. I suspect at the time that is had to do with being a primary provider for his family.

In 1918 my wife's grandfather Earl Francis Day went to Europe as part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). He was gassed at one of the battles, we are still researching which, but we believe that it was at the battler of Château-Thierry. I have included pictures of my Grandfather's registration card and Earl's grave site in Boone Iowa, with his WWI Vet marker.

TOTUS has the morning off

Fox News coverage, Obama, needing one more press conference to complete his morning talk routine, reading from notes, harsh words, head bobbing and furrowed brows - "North Korea bad, Thank you guys."

In Flanders Field

Via El Greco

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Three blind Mice!

Via Fox News: US Intelligence Agencies claim that they had no idea this test was coming. Don't they listen to John Bolton - he has been saying it was on its way for a week now. (See here).

Bolton is calling for the UN to expel North Korea from the UN. It is time for China to put up or shut up on NK.

Update: The intel agencies claim that they had not SIGINT, IMINT or HUMINT information indicating that NK was about to conduct a test - Hummmm, I wonder, has the Obama ordered all intelligence assets to be looking elsewhere - like Bush's Crawford ranch in Texas, or Cheney's Home in Wyoming - or more likely following Biden: Intel analyst, "There he is entering; walking up to a microphone. Ah, crap! I see what looks like his lips moving! ALERT, ALERT! Warn the Obama, Biden's about to say something!"

International Outrage

Via BBC News Asia-Pacific: Outrage of N Korea Nuclear Test

US President Barack Obama described the North Korean action as a "threat to international peace" and said international action was called for.

Note that Obama said nothing about the US talking unilateral action. For 3 years since the last test the US has been doing nothing to stop Korea from continuing its development of its Nuclear weapons program. The Bush administration started out tough but then went soft and the Obama administration hasn't even taken a stand - too busy on his spending binge to deal with important international events. Later today after he is finished with his Gum-Flapping schedule Obama is supposed to flap his gums some more with some really tough puffing and deep brow furrowing.

Continuing the above BBC story:

In a strongly worded statement, President Obama said the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles threatened peace and was in "blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council". (That's a big duh they've never paid any attention to the security council in the was and you knew that Obama. Did you deeply furrow your brows and puff your cheeks in mock outrage?)

"The danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants action by the international community. We have been and will continue working with our allies and partners in the six-party talks as well as other members of the UN Security Council in the days ahead," his statement said. (Like the International community gives a damn. Obama, I know that you are going to hate hate hearing this, but maybe it is time to Man-up and take charge of the international stage - pull your head out of the books and drop the girly-man personna and lead the charge - otherwise the next headline will be NK launches nukes at South Korea. Talk is cheap (well not entirely true when it comes to domestic issues - $10T and counting!))

North Korea Nuclear Test

Some news updates on North Korea's nuclear weapon test:

WSJ: North Korea Tests Second Nuclear Device, Fires Short-Range Missile

Guarding UK: North Korea tests nuclear weapon 'as powerful as Hiroshima bomb'

Gateway Pundit: North Korea Carries Out Nuke Test

NYTimes: North Korea Announces 2nd Test of Nuclear Device

Obama: Uh, Hillary, it's 3AM and somethings happened, can you get over here quick!

The Obama Diplomacy at Work - BOOOOOM!

2114 Local NM Time via Fox News - News that North Korea may have successfully tested another nuclear weapon!

Here's the Wall Street Journal: South Korea: Possible Nuclear Test Detected in North Korea

SEOUL – South Korea defense monitors detected an "artificial earthquake" in a region of North Korea on Monday morning and senior government leaders suspect it may have been a test of a nuclear device, a representative of South Korea's presidential office said.

The seismic reading, amounting to 4.5 on the Richter scale, was centered in the same county and province as the place where North Korea tested its first nuclear device in October 2006, the representative said. South Korean military and defense officials were trying to determine more deals.

North Korea several weeks ago issued a statement saying it was considering making a second test of a nuclear device. - MAY 24, 2009, 11:10 P.M. ET

Via NYTimes online:

SEOUL, May 25 (Reuters) - North Korea said it had successfully conducted a nuclear test on Monday, raising the explosive power and level of control of its nuclear device to a new level, its state media said.

"We have successfully conducted another nuclear test on May 25 as part of the republic's measures to strengthen its nuclear deterrent," the North's official KCNA news agency said. - Filed at 11:10 p.m. ET

Update: According to Reuters via the Washington Post the test was conducted at 0054 GMT (2054 ET).

Second Update: If my gonculations are correct then the yield based on a measured magnitude of 4.5 to 4.7 gives 5.6 to 11.2KT.

Oh!

Peggy Noonan: Those Who Make Us Say 'Oh!'

What's Needed is a Rational Discussion on Health Care

A couple of weeks ago a colleague and I got into a heated discussion about Obamacare. Like many smart people he has been sucked into Obama-vortex and seems to have lost any sense of reality - kind of like being on a very potent hallucinogenic. Unfortunately by the time the effects of the drug wears off this country will be in a world of hurt - these smart people will wake to a horrendous Socialist hangover. While I agreed with him that Health Care in America needs revamping - it has been in serious need of that for a couple of decades. Where the real disagreement arose was on causes and who's responsible. Of course he blamed the insurance companies while I went the other direction and blamed the government and the American people themselves. The difficulty in debating my colleague is that he suffers from Emotional Derangement Syndrome - a condition the seems to plague more and more liberals. After a half an hour of heated discussion I gave up and went back to my computer. He had bought into the Obama delusion lock, stock and barrel and there was no convincing him that there was another more sensible alternative. He argued entirely from emotion and not from a calm rational presentation of evidence. That will be how Obamacare takes over our country - via emotion.

Here is a list of very important articles to read on Health Care in America and the change, for the worse, that is coming with Obamacare. I highly recommend the first article by Dustin Chambers, What is Driving Healthcare Costs. I would cut in quotes but the entire article is quotable so I will let the reader go directly to the link and read it in its entirety.

What is Driving Healthcare Costs? - Dustin Chambers

Busting Healthcare Myths - Robert Goldberg

Obama Healthcare 2.0 - Thomas P. Miller

Another important article: What DO We Know About the Uninsured? - Thomas P. Miller

Great Memorial Day Landing at Edwards

The shuttle is safely home after a picture perfect landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Here's some video of the landing at WSJ online: Shuttle Lands at Edwards.

Street vs Book Smarts

So, it looks like I am going to be stuck on this intelligence/intellectual thing! The left was always quick to jump on Bush whenever he tortured a word or phrase. To them he was just a country bumpkin. On the contrary Bush is quite an intelligent man. Unlike the Obama, though, Bush is not cold and detached. Bush has the type of intelligence one wants and needs in a president -- Street Smarts. Obama, on the other hand is Book Smart. In a time of crisis which one would you want on your team, someone who will hold endless focus groups to better understand the enemies' feelings, or someone who will size up the situation then act decisively? If you need someone to read a poem at a coffee shop or stick flowers in the barrel of a rifle at a peace rally then take Obama. But if you need clear and decisive action the one you will want and need is Bush.

Not so Random Primes!

This is pretty cool: New Pattern Found in Prime Numbers:

In a recent study, Bartolo Luque and Lucas Lacasa of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in Spain have discovered a new pattern in primes that has surprisingly gone unnoticed until now. They found that the distribution of the leading digit in the prime number sequence can be described by a generalization of Benford’s law. In addition, this same pattern also appears in another number sequence, that of the leading digits of nontrivial Riemann zeta zeros, which is known to be related to the distribution of primes. Besides providing insight into the nature of primes, the finding could also have applications in areas such as fraud detection and stock market analysis (Ha! take that Obama!).

For the hardcore go here and download Luque adn Lacasa's paper - I did!

Intellectual???

Because I am always curious I looked up the definition of Intellectual - an adjective that is frequently applied to the Obama - the Merrium-Webster Dictionary online:

Intellectual: 1 a: of or relating to the intellect or its use b: developed or chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience : rational

I have no doubt that Obama is intelligent - well at least he is educated, I can't really comment on his intelligence but I have a problem with the definition as applied to the Obama - the part that says "chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience." Well, certainly the experience part applies because he has none, but the emotion part? Hummm. Being a emotional is the very definition of the liberal, and Obama epitomizes the definition of liberal. So, I have to conclude that the term Intellectual only partly applies to the Obama - No experience and we will leave the debate about his intelligence to another day.

Jihad Watch

Get your latest updates on Terrorist activities here at JihadWatch.org

Headin' to California

NASA has scrubbed the Shuttle landing attempt for Florida. The next attempt will be around 1140 ET for Edwards Air Force Base in California.

Update from Space dot com:

There are two landing options available on orbit 197 - the first at Edwards Air Force Base at 11:39 a.m. EDT (1539 GMT) and a second opportunity, just nine minutes later, at the Kennedy Space Center at 11:48 a.m. EDT (1548 GMT). The de-orbit burn for landing at Edwards would occur at approx. 10:24 a.m. EDT (1424 GMT); the de-orbit burn for a Florida landing would be about sixteen minutes later at 10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT).

Update, Update: Florida has been completely ruled out for today, so if the shuttle is going to land today it will be at Edwards. If there is no landing today then it is quite possible that White Sands here in NM will be opened for landing.

The Evidence

A very good and very detailed pre-election (October 8, 2008) article by Robert P. George: Obama's Abortion Extremism:

According to the standard argument for the distinction between these labels, nobody is pro-abortion. Everybody would prefer a world without abortions. After all, what woman would deliberately get pregnant just to have an abortion? But given the world as it is, sometimes women find themselves with unplanned pregnancies at times in their lives when having a baby would present significant problems for them. So even if abortion is not medically required, it should be permitted, made as widely available as possible and, when necessary, paid for with taxpayers' money.

The defect in this argument can easily be brought into focus if we shift to the moral question that vexed an earlier generation of Americans: slavery. Many people at the time of the American founding would have preferred a world without slavery but nonetheless opposed abolition. Such people—Thomas Jefferson was one—reasoned that, given the world as it was, with slavery woven into the fabric of society just as it had often been throughout history, the economic consequences of abolition for society as a whole and for owners of plantations and other businesses that relied on slave labor would be dire. Many people who argued in this way were not monsters but honest and sincere, albeit profoundly mistaken. Some (though not Jefferson) showed their personal opposition to slavery by declining to own slaves themselves or freeing slaves whom they had purchased or inherited. They certainly didn't think anyone should be forced to own slaves. Still, they maintained that slavery should remain a legally permitted option and be given constitutional protection.

Would we describe such people, not as pro-slavery, but as "pro-choice"? Of course we would not. It wouldn't matter to us that they were "personally opposed" to slavery, or that they wished that slavery were "unnecessary," or that they wouldn't dream of forcing anyone to own slaves. We would hoot at the faux sophistication of a placard that said "Against slavery? Don't own one." We would observe that the fundamental divide is between people who believe that law and public power should permit slavery, and those who think that owning slaves is an unjust choice that should be prohibited.

Read the entire article.

More here:

Pray tell, Mr. Obama, what is it about the opinions of those who advocate these acts of wanton violence that is worthy of respect?

Please, don't wrap your response in the rhetoric of "choice." We aren't talking here about the right to choose between chocolate and vanilla. We are talking about the so-called right to choose to kill an innocent child. Where on God's green earth or in the Constitution does that "right" come from?

NOBAMA DAY

I think that it is time for Congress to pass a law declaring Mondays as NObama-day. On NObama days the press, the state run MSM, the talk-radio hosts, bloggers etc and so forth, and most important the Obama himself, cannot talk about Obama. Obama cannot give a speech or press conference or any public appearance of any kind - instead he has to stay at home in the Oval Office and actually do at least 1 day's worth of work. It is a win-win for all - we don't have to hear or see him - thus freeing our ears and eyes for more pleasant sounds and sights and we actually get some work out of him. You, know, being president is not just about being a talking head - it's a real job with real responsibilities - the constitution doesn't allow for a surrogate. So, for just one day a week - a measly 1/7th of a week we can be Obama free and remember what is was like when there was less noise in the world. Please contact your congress people and ask them to pass a NObama-day bill!

What Free Speech Means to Liberals

George Will: End Run on Free Speech.

Putting Things in Perspective

Dana Summers

Honoring the Brave

While out barbecuing and celebrating this 3-day weekend I encourage everyone not to forget what this weekend is really about - it's about honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice to keep our great nation free. I remember my father Vernie Thomas Rhodes (b. 1922, d. 1997), who went ashore at Normandy about a month after D-Day as a PFC in the 44th Engineer Combat Battalion (3rd Army, VIII Corps Maj. Gen. Troy H. Middleton). For the next year he slogged through the mud and blood with Patton's 3rd Army on their way to Germany. He was there at the Battle of the Bulge and went missing in action until they found him in a Belgian Hospital with frozen legs. His unit was overrun by German Panzers on the opening day of the battle. His battalion at the Defense of Wiltz was the last organized unit that made an attempt to leave the city - they lost 160 men, over half the battalion. For every man that managed to get out of the city there is a personal story of kindness from Belgian civilians. My dad died in 1997 from cancer and it was only after his death when I began researching his service during WWII that I learned of the great heroism of his battalion. He didn't talk much about his service in the war, like a lot of other veterans. A book that I highly recommend is: A Time for Trumpets, The untold story of the Battle of the Bulge, by Charles B. MacDonald.

Great Equivocator

Paul Greenberg has the best assessment of Obama's Notre Dame Screech I have read: The News That Didn't Happen:

The president did the politic thing at Notre Dame. Sidestepping the issue, he took refuge in Bill Clinton's smooth old formula about just wanting to make abortion safe, legal and rare. Even though that kind of passive acquiescence in abortion has resulted in its becoming anything but rare in this country...

If the American presidency really is what Teddy Roosevelt called it -- a bully pulpit -- it might as well have been empty last weekend. The church stilled its voice and the president said nothing at length with all due ceremony. And everybody could be at ease in Zion.

The surest way to win acceptance for any morally or ethically dubious practice is to accustom people to think of it as no big deal, just politics. Which is why the most significant aspect of the president's appearance at Notre Dame is that it had no moral significance at all. Beyond all the handshakes and nice gestures, nothing was happening. The moral numbness of American society remained undisturbed. And that may have been the only real news.

Read the whole thing.

Group Identity Trumps Ability

In 1963 Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a Dream Speech," in which he said:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Forty-six years later the liberals still have not heard that message - to them everything is about book's cover and not what's inside. Everything to them is about Group Identity - they look at a black man and don't see a person, they see a black person; they look at a women and don't see a person, they see a female. The same applies when it comes to sexual orientation - for liberals it is more important that someone is gay rather than just being a person. S. E. Cupp has a column over at Townhall-dot-com: Really Talented Performer Wins American Idol; Liberals Blame Christians. Apparently, for liberals it is inconceivable that someone other than the Gay Guy could win the American Idol contest.

Liberals are once again falling back on the only explanation they can ever muster when an anointed protégé or pet cause du jour loses: blame the backwards, hickish, intolerant Christian masses.

As long as the liberals cling to their outmoded and outdated views on race, gender and sexual orientation we will never reach our goal of a tolerant society. That Mr. Lambert did not win the Idol contest has nothing to do with his sexual orientation or whether or not Christians voted against him. Only the left considers sexual orientation to trump talent. I think that it is time for the left and liberals in general be required to actually sit and listen to what Dr. King actually said in his speeches - I have - I have the entire collection on my MP3 player and from time to time I listen to them. I think that the liberals might be shocked at how very little they understand about race, gender and sexual orientation relations - they might have to actually rethink things.

Ummmm, Beeeeer!

Beer blogging at Second Street in Santa Fe NM. One bar patriot reads the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam another surfs the web on his web enabled mini-computer. The IPA is great. I have been going to Second Street for over a decade now - almost since they opened for business. Their Brew Rod Tweet is one of the best, if not the best in the state of New Mexico and quite probably the west and southwest, though there are some pretty top notch brewers in Oregon. I do know that for me his IPA is the best in the state bar none. They typically have upwards of 8 brews on tap ranging from lighter Kolsches to heavier Stouts. All of them are good but my favorite is the IPA. The first beer that I ever had as Second Street was the Kidder Special Bitter - then I tried the IPA! I still drink an ESB once in a while and I always try a pint (or two) of the special brews when they come online. If there is a downside to Second Street I would say that it is the food. They have a pretty stock pub menu. One can't go wrong ordering a burger - top quality hamburger topped with any number of items from cheese to green chili and bacon! The fish-n-chips are pretty good and the green chili stew is darn good. The specials, though, are hit or miss and I usually avoid them. Lots of times I will have beer at Second Street and go somewhere else for lunch. Today, though, I wasn't in the mood to go elsewhere so I had the chicken pita. Good, but not great - the chicken was bland - used hot sauce and ketchup to add flavor.

At Second Street, if you are thirsty for top notch beer then you have come to the right place. If you are hungry you won't leave that way.

Obamanator the Talkinator

I saw the movie Terminator Salvation, great movie by the way, but I didn't see anything that resembled an Obama - could this be the first - the Obamanator! I don't think so, no one would ever confuse an Obamanator with one of the Terminator killing machines of Skynet. No, the Obama would be more like a Talkinator:

The Talkinator: I'll be talking!
Al Qaeda Terrorist: Ahhhh, run, before we are bloviated!

Delayed another day

The return of Space Shuttle Atlantis has been delayed another day because of bad weather at Kennedy in Florida and Edwards in California. Updates at Space.com.

Hubble Repair Mission Update

At Space dot Com: WAVEOFF! Shuttle Astronauts to Spend Extra Day in Space:

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Atlantis astronauts will spend an extra day in space after bad weather thwarted their planned landing on Friday. The astronauts are backing out of the pre-landing set up work and reconfiguring Atlantis for one more night in orbit.

Can't beat 'em, join 'em

WSJ: The Climate-Industrial Complex

The partnership among self-interested businesses, grandstanding politicians and alarmist campaigners truly is an unholy alliance. The climate-industrial complex does not promote discussion on how to overcome this challenge in a way that will be best for everybody. We should not be surprised or impressed that those who stand to make a profit are among the loudest calling for politicians to act. Spending a fortune on global carbon regulations will benefit a few, but dearly cost everybody else.

Talking their way to climate change - CO2 emissions from Democrat windbags lead to Global Warming!

This is a scream, Democrats hire a speed reader to read their climate change bill. WSJ: Need for Speed (Read) to Pass Climate Bill:

Democrats in the House Energy and Commerce Committee have taken a novel precaution to head off Republican efforts to slow action this week on a sweeping climate bill. They are hiring a speed reader.

Gosh, we certainly wouldn't want to know what's in a bill that has such huge ramifications for our nation - to do so might cause our sensitive Demos heartburn. Kind of like the budget bill.

Update: Here's some more information about the climate control bill at the Washington Examiner:

"We don't want to put the economy in jeopardy," said Rep. Joe Barton of Texas, the committee's ranking Republican. He offered an alternative that would have scrapped the cap on greenhouse gases and pollution trading scheme, provide more incentives for nuclear energy and bolster research into capturing carbon from coal-burning power plants. It was defeated 35-19.

Another Democrat Skates

Breitbart.com: House rejects probe into Pelosi CIA claims:

"This is partisan politics and an attempt by the Republicans to distract from the real issue of creating jobs and making progress on health care, energy and education," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami.

This a classic move to change the subject on Pelosi's part. Well, maybe, Obama kind of like having Pelosi in the fire because that is distracting the public from the fact that jobs aren't being created and education still stinks and that to pay for the Obama's new health care and energy programs are going to cost more than all other government programs combined and cost 100s of thousands of jobs. Fine, let Pelosi skate, but from now on I don't want to hear any more whining from the Dems on setting a new moral tone for Congress - it ain't going to happen under their leadership - if how they are handling Congress can be called leadership.

Flip-Flops and other foot ware

I finally got around to reading Victor Davis Hanson's article: Doing Penance. A great read as is most of Mr. Hanson's work, read it all!

McCain a nice man

Tonight on Fox News' On The Record Greta Van Susteren has an interview with Senator McCain. How can one not like John McCain he is such a class act compared to the Obama. He's soft spoken and tells the truth and, and this is so important, he sticks to his principles. I voted for McCain even though I didn't agree with him on many issues, especially over the Gitmo detainees and the whole issue surrounding EITs. I knew he was going to lose to the more popular and dynamic Obama even though Obama flip-flopped like a fish on a boat's deck. McCain had a great message but couldn't deliver it when needed. He was continually being overshadowed by the Obama. Part of that is McCain's demeanor and part of it is MSM bias - Obama was their candidate and in their minds McCain was an also-ran. Had McCain a more dynamic personality he might well have done much better. Republicans would have voted for him in larger numbers had he beat down the Obama on all fronts - he just couldn't do it. Maybe next time McCain should take a page from the Cheney playbook. He is thumping the Obama severely!!

SCOTUS and National Security

I like this link via Michelle's post on Dueling Banjos in Washington, to a Megan Clyne article on a potential strategy to beat on any of the Obama's SCOTUS nominees: Grilling O's Nominees: GOP Recipe:

So what's a Republican to do? Focus on an issue likely to come before the Supremes on which they can slam Obama for picking an extremist and that makes for good politics: national security. (Emphasis mine)

Ignorant Voters

At the Gateway Pundit, Libs blaming California voters. Ignorance is Blissful!

The Biden Factor

Biden plays a role akin to that of ugly men who marry beautiful women - the idea was to keep the focus on the Obama but it seems to be backfiring. Bill Sammon has an article at Fox News on a new book by Newsweek journalist Richard Wolffe which asserts that:

President Obama is so "distracted by his vice president's indiscipline" that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Joe Biden.

"He can't keep his mouth shut," Wolffe quotes a "senior Obama aide" as saying of the gaffe-prone Biden in "Renegade: The Making of a President," set for release June 2.

I don't like Biden, never have, but I find it hard to believe that he can be that unable to keep his tongue under control. At first I thought it all a ruse to divert attention from Obama's incompetence - after all with out TOTUS Obama couldn't talk his way out of a wet paper bag, but now I am having to rethink things. Maybe Biden really is that incompetent, or he is over acting. I need to get this new book.

Cheney vs Obama

If every great debate between Dems and Republicans, (excepting the following, which pair of shoes goes best with this suit, should I wax or not, what is the last Paris Fashion or my favorite, Obama asks Biden, does this suit make my butt look fat?) the dems always show up packing a knife to a gun fight - and this time a dull (in all ways) Obama knife. Cheney's speech pulverized the Obama revisionist view of events. Maybe Obama should get his facts straight before he launches into any attempt to change history. Likewise, I would like to point out that only those on the left consider EITs to be torture and as such it is time to stop the liberal de facto movement. Just because the libs are in power now does not make their opinion the law of the land. Obama and company should probably read the memos that they made public and actually read the Constitution.

Update: Here's a short and sweet post by Michelle Malkin - Dueling Bangos in Washington!

Might have to head back to the Money Tree!

Bloomberg report, Fed not fully convinced that the current economic gains will be long term.

Federal Reserve officials, who see possible signs of “stabilization” in the U.S. economy, signaled they’re not convinced those improvements will persist.

Policy makers, meeting April 28-29 in Washington, saw “significant downside risks” to the outlook for the economy, with the global financial system still “vulnerable to further shocks,” minutes of the session released yesterday said.

Public wants Obama to stop whining and man-up

Washington Examiner: Poll, Public wants Obama to stop blaming Bush

By more than 3-to-1 Americans think it is time for the Obama administration to start taking responsibility (64 percent) instead of continuing to blame the Bush administration for mistakes (21 percent).

Obamanomics: A record 6,662,000 unemployed!

WSJ: Jobless Claims Fell in Latest Week

Initial claims for jobless benefits fell 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 631,000 in the week ended May 16, the Labor Department said in a weekly report Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had expected claims would fall by 7,000 after a surprisingly large spike in the previous week.

The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance rose to 5.0% -- the highest level since Dec. 25, 1982 but only a slight increase from the previous week.

Fortuitous Rebuttal

Although his speech had been planned for several weeks it is just coincidental that Former VP Dick Cheney is giving his speech immediately following the speech given by Obama's Teleprompter. It is certain that liberal critics will attempt Cheney has trying to one-up Obama's Teleprompter, but in fact it is likely the other way around. When the Obama found out that Cheney was planning a major speech on EIT's and Guantanamo, he, the Obama, asked the state run news agencies, NBC, ABC and CBS to schedule for him a slot of time in front of his cult to make his case for screwing up National Security. The nice thing about this is that we get to hear the other side of the story from someone who was there at President Bush's side on a daily basis when critical National Security decisions were made.

Link to Live Blogging of Cheney Speech.