Yep, that's Obama, alright. But in his campaign's swarmy double-speak, he's flexible.

Obama flip-flops on public funding, shows off his new seal and plays the race card; all in one news cycle. Amazing. Quoting Ed Morrissey from The Anchoress' post, and then her observation:

Just as with his untrue statements on Republican financing and 527s, Obama seems content to issue lies and smears in order to inflame the electorate. There is more than a little hint of McCarthyism in this tactic. Joe McCarthy waved pieces of paper around and claimed to have lists of Communists in government that he never substantiated. Obama likes to accuse Republicans of racism without any proof, either, while apparently discounting the real race-card playing in his own party.

If he has proof that the Republican Party and/or John McCain plan racist attacks on him, let him show it. If he doesn’t, then Obama is guilty of his own racial pandering and should apologize.

[...] Obama has several times told us that the people he knew yesterday are not the people he knows today. Perhaps the vote he knows today is not the vote he knew yesterday?

What does all of this say about Obama’s character? Nothing terrifically impressive, not yet. Apparently some see “change”, but I see same old, same old.

Michelle Malkin has more on the Obama's new seal. Along with a creepy reference to Revelation 20.3 in the teaser (you have to go back to her home page to see the teaser for this post).

Macranger (h/t Fausta) notes,

As I noted before the seal shows what appears to be an eagle in retreat with it’s back turned on the Flag. Couple this with Obama's desire to "Remake" and "Disarm" America and we have all the reason in the world to be alarmed and ask questions.

Scared Monkeys calls it a faux seal for a faux candidate. Bingo!

...Obama is nothing more than a scripted, fauxto-shopped 21st century, internet age candidate. Obama has all the zeal of a Hollywood movie President and maybe that is the reason for the need to show he is Presidential-like … even if he just plays one on TV.

Obama is the gift that keeps on giving to his opponent McCain. In fact, McCain's spokesman Tucker Bounds responded,

“I think we can all agree that we need presidential candidates that are serious enough not to play make-believe on the campaign trail.”

“It’s laughable, ridiculous, preposterous and revealing all at the same time,” Bounds said.

Perfect adjectives for the candidate of no substance, no really new and workable ideas, no experience, no character, no integrity, no love of country, no humility. In other words, just another Bear of Little Brain, lost outside his Hundred Acre Wood. But with a big budget and the media in his back pocket.

USAToday had a recent article on shrinking towns in the Deep South. Read it and try to remember the last time you sat on the porch and listened to the crickets as night fell.

Try to remember swimming holes, stick ball, creeks with mutant frogs, riding your bike for miles on end, picking burrs out of your clothes, walking through pastures (watch out for the cow paddies!), shelling peas, snapping beans, shucking corn, hiding in a barn, catching fireflies, riding a horse, riding a tractor, chasing chickens, eating fresh-picked blackberries out of your hat, creepy boys down the road, red clay in your cleats, the smell of a well-oiled catcher's mitt, knowing all your neighbors, white gloves at church, dinner on the grounds, homemade ice-cream, the first breeze of the day, old lady perfume, fresh cut grass, fried chicken, real Coca-Cola in the little green bottle, homemade biscuits, eating peaches so juicy they ran down your chin, the cool snap of the evening at high school football games.

Try to remember.

You know that old saying. I think it should be the slogan for this election cycle. McCain Blogs has a great post today on the Obama Hundred Acre Wood Foreign Policy Plank. Un-freak-n-believable! Big O wants to give OBL access to US courts, if he's captured. But he doesn't want to do it in a way that will make him a martyr. How, pray tell, do you do that, O Great Blowhard in the Sky? And now that he's pronounced this little nugget of wisdom, like everything else he's spouted, it will be off-limits for further questions. Further questions are always too mean and racist.

Sound bites are easy: having the record to back it up? Non-existent.

Before everyone gets their drawers all in a wad and restart the construction on their fallout shelters, just wait a day or two. Five bucks says he'll flip-flop.

Tigerhawk is spot-on when he drop-kicks the Dems and their whiny "failed strategies" through the goal posts.

The wire service that shall not be named is reporting that Barack Obama said that Osama bin Laden is still free because of Republican "failed strategies." Perhaps. But that is no different than saying he was both free and able to attack the United States in 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2001 because of Democatic "failed strategies." Free he may be to live in his cave under constant fear of betrayal, but for the last six years -- since Bali, really -- the only targets he has been able to hit are unarmed Muslims or hardened Western military targets that are ready to face him. That is one rather large difference between Republican "failed strategies" and Democratic. I mean, if we're going to be partisan about it.

If Congress has their way, driving long distances for sport and pleasure will be just fond memories. Rather than accessing energy when America desperately needs it, Congress proposes a bill that will enact a massive indirect tax burden on every sector of our economy while creating new and exciting career opportunities for lobbyists and environistas and pads OwlGore's bank account. Just how out of touch with everyday American reality are these folks??? Cap'n Ed gives the Econ 101 lesson:

Any policy that drives up energy costs will have a disproportionate effect on lower-wage earners and those with fixed incomes. Energy prices affect prices of all goods brought to market, which erodes buying power through inflation. We saw this in the 1970s when Congress, as it does now, restricts domestic development of energy supplies and attempts to tax or regulate energy production.

As the cost of goods goup, the proportion of disposable income declines, which means that people wind up buying less. This proportional effect on disposable income increases for those earning less, who use a higher percentage of their wages for essentials. The squeeze results in a lower standard of living for those who can ill afford it, while remaining more or less a nuisance for those in the higher tax brackets.

Across the board, however, consumer confidence will drop and capital investment will dry up. The economy will start declining as prices rise in this manner as investors move to defensive postures. The economy will turn towards “stagflation”, that condition we saw thirty years ago that resulted from economic mismanagement but at the core was caused by energy shocks. And Lieberman-Warner promises a return to those policies.

It will be the '70's again, but without The Circle.

Or Tinker Bell.

Everyone else has a shot at our crude oil resources... why not us? Why must we freeze, while Saudi princesses dance around in Tiffany tiaras? It's the Democrats, stupid.

First she threatens to "step in" to end the Democratic nomination race. Step in WHAT, I wonder? Sounds more like the parental threat of "don't make me come up there or you'll regret it!"

Then she THANKED Iran for bringing peace and stability to Iraq. Iran's idea of peace and stability for their neighbors is kinda like the eerie quiet you experience after a tornado has ripped your house apart.

Delusional is the word that comes to mind when pondering good ol' Nancy. A word that falls in the same category as communist and socialists and marxists and... (fill in your favorite ideology here). Just ask Siggy; he can spot it a mile away.

Where's that scarf?

UPDATE: Fausta quotes Betsy:

Pelosi is so hung up with trying to prove that the Iraqi government is failing because to acknowledge otherwise would be to hint that something has gone right in the past year with our new strategy in Iraq. And she can't do that because she is politically invested in that strategy's failure and her party's efforts to pull the rug out from under those efforts. So her solution is to praise the "goodwill" of those who are behind a lot of the violence that we see in the entire Middle East. Her ignorance and partisan approach to reality is breathtaking.

I can't help but think, as the conservative side puts aside their differences and hit their knees for the man who had up until yesterday been an enemy, if he'd been Republican, how he would be reviled and cheered into his grave.

Poor Caroline. Ted is the last one of her parent's generation - her last connection, if you will - to the days of her childhood. Add her to your prayer list as well.

Obama needs to lance his own boil, before worrying about the "constant sore" of Israel in US foreign policy. Incredible. Ab-so-lute-ly incredible. Just lately, Ahmadinejad said almost the same thing, calling Israel "filthy bacteria." I wonder if they traded notes before study hall.

Obama takes the American ethnic word-game double-standard one step further:

Here we have the man himself using the middle name that no evil conservative may speak:

“This is a guy who spent some time in the Muslim world, has a middle name of Hussein, and appears more worldly and has called for talks with people, and so he’s not going to be engaging in the same sort of cowboy diplomacy as George Bush,”

Here we go again; it's just hunky-dory for him to use his middle name to puff his status with Islamofascists but it is absolutely forbidden for us to point out that there may be some significance to his obviously Islamic name and the way he may be viewed by the Muslim world.
American blacks have been working a sly con on whites for far too long with this business of, "It's OK for us to use certain words and expressions with impunity but if you honkies say it it's a racist slur."

Sissy Willis asks the BIG question

Thinking about the power behind the throne, whom would you rather have as first lady/rogue, Michelle, Bubba or Cindy?

Who would give away the silverware first, while the CIC is busy giving the country away? After all, The Messiah that Will Save America doesn't need no stinkin' silverware.

By the way, the Latin quote in the title was shamelessly plucked from Alexandra's comments. Translated, it means "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived." I thought it was appropriate, especially when discussing the Obama's.

Attorneys for Clayton County commissioners filed a claim Thursday in Atlanta Federal Court seeking protection from legal liability arising from the actions of Sheriff Victor Hill.

[...] The filing alleges that Hill's "objectionable actions, policies and practices concerning management of the county jail and sheriff's office personnel negatively impact Clayton County's reputation and endanger the citizens of Clayton County and the State of Georgia."

[...] Since that time, Thursday's filing alleges, "sheriff's personnel have filed more than 67 appeals and grievances with the county's civil service board alleging illegal, improper and unethical employment policies and actions."

My, my...Victor has been busy. And don't forget he's running for reelection. I wonder if he will try to strong-arm the results of this election, in typical thug fashion.

What I wonder is at what point does the DOJ (or even DHS) get involved? What a fabulous place for a terrorist sleeper cell to set up its nest...close to the interstate, close to the airport, close to a base, incompetent/uncooperative law enforcement, declining home values/schools/job opportunities (plenty of raw materials for recruitement), the list goes on and on. Victor must be very proud of what he has wrought.

Bill Richardson, former DemWit presidential candidate, visited Hugo Chavez this weekend to ask for his "intervention" in hostage negotiations with FARC. A commenter at Fausta asks

when did Gov. Richardson decide the world needed another Jimmy Carter?

Gateway Pundit also has lots of links as well as pictures of the three hostages.

Fausta has even more in today's Latin America Carnival.

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. Even for the anti-human-race party. Gov. Richardson must be thinking he's pulled off some kind of coup himself. Does he really have these three soldiers best interests at heart? Does he really think that a lying, murdering thug dictator will listen to any line of reasoning (regardless of the decibel level of whining) unless it is accompanied by mountains of cash? And guns? And nuclear warheads? Has the angling for a worthless Vice-President slot on an equally worthless ticket for a completely clueless party come down to this? Who can visit the vilest of foreign leaders and get the most camera time? Ha! I visited Syria... no I visited Hamas.... no I visited Venezuela. Well, I visited MORDOR, so I win. Gimme the damn flag pin, I'll wear it.

Evidently the Logan Act has no teeth since he is just another warm body in a long line of seditious morons, aiding and abetting our enemies. If you hate America, why don't you move out? Move to some sunny/frigid clime where the flame of your hatred will be nurtured and fed by others who feel the same! I'm sure Raul or Chavez or Putin or Ahmad-duh-wheres-my-dinner-jacket can fix you right up.

Yesterday Pelosi, who I now consider an enemy of America, changed the voting timeline rule on trade pacts from 90 days to whenever.

This is the first time in history that Congress failed to approve a major trade pact.

Monica Showalter of Investor's Business Daily yesterday afternoon describes why this is an evil move (yes, I am choosing my words carefully - it is an evil thing Pelosi has done)...

[...] Nancy Pelosi has covered herself in a cloak of shame and infamy. Unfortunately for us, everybody in the hemisphere will have to pay the consequences.

The message Pelosi has sent the world is that in America, the only superpower in the world, political squabbles take precedence over security interests.

So sad, when your compulsive BushHate drives all sense of logic from your feverish, liber-otomied brain. Nancy, you will be the FIRST one they will force the burqua on, don't you see that? This is not some garden party, replete with Hermes scarves and finger sandwiches. This is a war, a very long war. And your continued stupid and selfish behavior is getting in the way. Time for you to step aside. Or be impeached.

The other day, I wrote a funny little bit about my favorite GasBag, Al Gore, that was picked up by American Digest (Thanks for the Vanderleun-a-lanche, Gerard!). So I'm pokin' around my Dashboard....oh look, 3 people read it....oooo...now it's 4...ooo...ooo. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but some referrals by a site called gorehub.com. Gullible me, I click the link and nearly choke on my sweet tea! There's ol' Al, sitting in some lounge on a cruise ship, with that "Come Hither" look on his face, just waitin' like a spider to spring into the 2008 race and save the country from sure doom and damnation. Dear heavens, it took me a while to get my breath. Go check it out, but put down any liquids first.

Gentle readers, in our time together you've come to learn that I have a pretty snarky vein especially when it comes to bad manners, the Trade School, politicians, village idiots and just general all-around buffoons (oops, there's ol' Al, again!) . Today you will be happy to know that I found the cure to my affliction (h/t Grouchy Old Cripple)

Now whether or not I'm a good patient, remains to be seen.....

Also, congrats to NiceDeb for being invited to join The Cotillion.

Previously: Stop the Crescent Memorial

Yes, it is that scary.

Obama really won over his base, he won over the American media. They loved that speech.

His Base. THE Media. This is getting uglier by the minute. He seems so enamored of himself - to the point of forgetting that the office is not about the man (or woman), it is about the NATION. George Washington once called it "The Arduous Trust." The framers and founders of America used the tenderest words and phrases in describing the young nation - similar to those you'd use with a new wife or a newborn infant.

And Obama wants to change it all. Even while his true stripes are being uncovered, one at a time, he continues to play the politically expedient Pied Piper.

Lionel Chetwynd sums it the speech hype quite nicely:

... the teaching opportunity I hoped you would evoke: not explaining Wright’s outrage to me, but explaining his outrageousness to him. That’s how we’ll reach the postracial era: by no longer justifying ourselves with what was, instead speaking to what now exists. Not deny the past, but recognize that’s what it is: past.

You say you are devoted to Reverend Wright because he brought you to Christ. I can only imagine how powerful a relationship that forges. But, my imperfect understanding of the Christian Faith tells me you can do him an equally magnificent service: You can help bring him back to Christ. Show him redemption and salvation lie not in the satisfaction of doing little dances in a pulpit while you slander good and decent people. Teach him that great leadership and Christian love abjures the very filth – and I pick that word deliberately – that he spews on an apparently regular basis. After all, Senator, you know our government did not invent the HIV virus to kill African-Americans. You know, Senator, this is not the United States of KKK America. You know the truth of 9/11. At least you should. Both you and Michelle have benefited mightily from the new spirit that has come to America in the last two generations. I thought you were part of that. I thought you were post-racial.

But in your silence, in your justifications, in your facile instruction to contextualize, you seem just a more presentable version of those dreary self-promoters, Sharpton, Jackson, Bakewell and the rest. Surely this is not you. Please, Senator, be brave. Lead. From a position of honesty where context is our daily reality, not drawn from bitter memories, no matter how justified they once might have been. Deny Jeremiah Wright your comfort of “context”. Be Presidential. To all Americans.

Obama, I'd bet the farm you won't do it. Your allegiance to your race trumps your allegiance to your country. And THAT is why, if you are elected POTUS, you will fail. And the dream of freedom will fail with you.

One idea at the end, discussing the Muslim outrage over a trace amount of alcohol in British chips, gives me an idea (snark warning!).

And that agenda seems to be everywhere – from the big issues right down to British fish and chips. When it was revealed in late February that a popular British snack food contained traces of alcohol, a Muslim Council of Britain spokesman declared, “Certainly we would find it very offensive to have eaten food with alcohol.”

In turn, Richard Kimball voiced “a modest proposal, which I offer to British Food and Beverage industry free and for nothing: start putting a bit of alcohol in everything edible or potable.”

“It’s only a start, Kimball continued, “but from a tiny acorn the mighty oak does grow.”

What about carrying one of those little airplane liquor bottles in your purse? When approached by a scary stranger, yelling at you about your festive scarf, or that your ankles are exposed (O.S., you ignorant slut!), you can flick a few drops of alcohol their direction. Worked wonders on the Wicked Witch of the West.... get my drift?

Mark Steyn notes on The Corner

In Minneapolis last year, the airport licensing authority, faced with a mainly Muslim crew of cab drivers refusing to carry the blind, persons with six-packs of Bud, slatternly women, etc, proposed instituting two types of taxis with differently colored lights, one of which would indicate the driver was prepared to carry members of identity groups that offend Islam. Forty years ago, advocating separate drinking fountains made you a racist. Today, advocating separate taxi cabs or separate swimming sessions makes you a multiculturalist. [Emphasis-Admin]

Separate, but equal. Riiiiight. I remember how that was. Mark Steyn looks so young in his pictures. He's not old, like me. Did he ever see the separate entrances, the separate fountains, the separate everything - in realtime? Through the eyes of a child, who saw that "Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight" only applied on Sundays or to missionaries in far-away places? The multicultural mush-mouths have emasculated the West. What happened to the strong men, with steely resolve, who were not afraid to stand up for what they believe in? To protect their families? Their country? The threat now is not from some rising mustache halfway across the world - the threat is here. Now. Down the street. In the schools. In the workplace. At the ballfields. America is being threatened from within. That voice from the great northern wilderness, Mark Steyn, needs a bank of loudspeakers pointed toward America. His travails in Canada will be ours as well, soon enough.

UPDATE: GM Roper shares his answer.

Dr. Sanity liked Mark Steyn's quote, too.

Those who live and work around the Atlanta metro area are all too familiar with Clayton County making the news every morning, noon and night. While this soap opera of greed, avarice, entitlement and blatant stupidity swirls the entire county toward the abyss - who suffers?

Anyone remember the children? There are approximately 53,000 students in the Clayton school district. Approximately 3,400 of those are rising seniors. Faced with a senior year in a newly discredited school district; they are watching their college prospects, HOPE scholarship eligibility and literal FUTURE drying up before their eyes. All because of the selfish actions of nine adults and their posse of lackey administrators.

Is it any wonder that so many teachers are leaving for other systems?

Anyone remember the citizens? My family goes back at least five generations in Clayton County. The founders of churches and post offices and schools. The judges and teachers and farmers and businessmen and writers. Those who doggedly rebuilt after Sherman's visitation. The men and women who built Clayton by the sweat of their brows, on their knees daily entreating Divine Intervention for the small rural county just south of Atlanta. I remember riding my bike for miles, the old houses in Jonesboro, the huge, old trees, digging up mini-balls in my front yard, the slow pace of the Deep South in the grip of summer. The swimming holes, the teas, the old ladies in their gloves and hats on Sunday, the smell of talcum powder following them as they moved like a herd down the pews.

Is it any wonder that property values are dropping?

Did the quick decline begin with the snipers on the jail roof? The election of the current District Attorney? How many others face the wrath of her personal politics? If this is the face of the New New South, then "No Thanks". It's like the script of a bad gangsta' movie. The only people who enjoy watching it, are the people that were in it.

All I know is that the jewel that was once Clayton County is declining fast.

Sorry if the post seems disjointed - the whole situation just makes me madder than hell.

UPDATE: The Other Athens looks at the accreditation issue from a different perspective. Mind-boggling.

Today is one of those weather days in Atlanta that meteorologists only dream about. 3 seasons in one day. The Harmonic Convergence of the Dopplers. After this morning's excitement - we now have a tornado warning! Joy. Rapture.

Being sick and highly self-medicated; one tends to reflect on a wide-variety of topics. None related to the other - that's the fun of medication! More fun than adult ADHD - I'm sure Siggy knows whatever the syndrome is called - and guaranteed to be non-fattening!?!?

Steyn on WFB - the ultimate Double-Anti-Epigoli. Mark compares his style to Bill's

I am a considerably less elegant writer and listening to Bill reading my rough-and-tumble prose in his languid vowels was a bit like hearing Maria Callas sing "Yes, We Have No Bananas".

IMHO, if anyone inherits the mantle of the Great General, it will be Steyn. It's not just what you say, but how you say it. Mark may not send you running for the dictionary with each article (unless you happen to own a Canadian one), but he has that same elan that grabs your attention and holds it. Sometimes it pinches.

Also on The Corner (via SteynOnline) is a link to probably the most tasteless advertising I've ever seen. Like a slow motion car accident; you just can't look away.

Campaign spots are just as bad.

Speaking of tastleless, Chris Cuomo should find out what "Expendable" really means.

The 3 a.m. call. Snort.

Chavez hearts FARC and plays RISK with his leeeeetle friends (sorry I'm late Fausta!) Fausta is having a party and I can't go because College Girl's recital is the same day. Waaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!! I just hate having to choose.

I just don't get this mindset. Pardon me, ma'am your burqua is buzzin'.

Two down, eight to go. Following the rules, the board, it does not.

Erick at Peach Pundit tells his readers to use their dictonaries. Ob-vious-ly, they didn't read much of WFB. That is almost as dumb as THIS. Or THIS.

I'm exhausted. Back to the sofa for me!

Blackford Oakes introduced me to Mr. Buckley when I was freshly out of college. Apolitical back then, all I wanted was a good read by the pool. And I got one. I've been a big fan ever since. For a few years I took the print version of National Review and now the online version is an invaluable resource. One of the posts at The Corner (Kathryn Jean Lopez - from an email to her):

I am saddened by the passing of William F. Buckley, but our loss is Heaven's gain, and I'm sure the Good Lord told his angels to "Bring me a dictionary, Buckley's coming." --Terry

The NYT obituary also notes

Mr. Buckley’s vocabulary, sparkling with phrases from distant eras and described in newspaper and magazine profiles as sesquipedalian (characterized by the use of long words) became the stuff of legend. Less kind commentators called him “pleonastic” (use of more words than necessary).

And, inescapably, there was that aurora of pure mischief. In 1985, David Remnick, writing in The Washington Post, said, “He has the eyes of a child who has just displayed a horrid use for the microwave oven and the family cat.”

Ahhh, the world will now be short of ten-dollar words. Pity. RIP Old Friend.

UPDATE(S): Michelle has a nice round-up. Like me, she got hooked early.

"The unbought grace of life" (City Journal).

"The irrepressible and indomitable spirit" (Rick Moran).

"A serious man in an increasingly unserious time" (John Podhoretz)

Even those who disagreed with his politics, admired him. (Rick Perlstein)

The spark. (Scott Johnson)

The constantly "piqued curiosity". (Roger Kimball)

A Dawg's backstage meeting (Luke Boggs/AJC)

Elegant graciousness, personified (The Anchoress)

A William F. Buckley or a Jackie Kennedy may not often rub elbows with the hoi polloi, but when they did they used their best manners, because to do less would be disrespectful to the other, and demeaning to everything they had been taught by the great ones who came before. They had no difficulty engaging others outside their spheres because their security within themselves - part of which comes from that humility that recognizes the random vagaries of privilege - allowed that generosity of spirit.

Kimberly Del Greco, the FBI's Biometric Services section chief, said it is "important to protect the borders to keep the terrorists out, protect our citizens, our neighbors, our children so they can have good jobs, and have a safe country to live in."
Full story is at CNN below:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/02/04/fbi.biometrics/

The ACLU's Barry Steinhardt doesn't believe it will stop there with criminals or terrorists. "This had started out being a program to track or identify criminals," he said. "Now we're talking about large swaths of the population -- workers, volunteers in youth programs. Eventually, it's going to be everybody."

They seem to keep adding to the data they want from us. Does anyone out there think this is a bad thing?

Hillary is tired, too. As much as I don't like her, and quite frankly cringe at the very thought of her taking any kind of higher office, I think the way the media has jumped on this sad picture is deplorable. It's like the horrid crap you see in the British tabs where snapping unflattering pictures of drunken, disheveled celebrities is a blood sport. Fred always looks this craggy and lately, you could drive semi's through the bags under his eyes. Same for the rest, 'ceptin' for Obama and those VW ears. Why is society so cruel to women? While any man, of the same age, or even older, is glowing described as "distinguished." The Anchoress feels some sympathy and notes

Perhaps showing a woman wearing her miles on her face will help to erase the double standard that says men may be permitted to age gracefully while women must remain freakishly unlined, dewy and firm. Moreover, neither Bella Abzug nor Golda Meir nor Margaret Thatcher were plasticine, ageless beauties, and they were certainly taken seriously and respected. In fact, while I have elsewhere complimented Mrs. Clinton on her fabulous make-up in the debates - and whoever is doing her make-up for those things really is terrific - I have a bit more respect for the Hillary for seeing that she’s resisted going the-full-Pull-osi and drawing her face so tight she has to pee from her belly-button. I respect Annette Benning for the same reason.

"The-Full-Pull-osi." Ohhhhhhh... mountains of giggles. Gasssspppp... Ooops, sorry, ma'am, didn't mean to poke with that cattleprod.
Uhhhmmm... that'll leave a mark...

But... back to Hillary. According to Bill, the first thing she will do upon her election is send him and Bush Sr. on a world-wide apology tour. Too bad he didn't ASK Bush Sr. first. Amazing how the media will report anything that oozes from either of the Clinton orifices as the gospel truth while either ignoring or misrepresenting anything else.

If Hillary has been so likable for so long, why do we have to be told that? It's obvious the shameful media are all suffering from Clinton amnesia or something more pathological, but the question I ask is, "Can I, please? Can someone please make her go away?"

UPDATE: That cackle, that steely voice, those red eyes. Stay out of her way or else. And don't forget the soap.

Jim at wizbang says, "With all the reasons not to vote for Hillary Clinton, "wrinkles" don't make it into the Top 100." (end update)

And while the nation is trapped in the Clinton spin/rinse/repeat, the enemy never sleeps. Mark Steyn is losing and so are we...

That's how nations die — not by war or conquest, but by a thousand trivial concessions, until one day you wake up and you don't need to sign a formal instrument of surrender because you did it piecemeal.

Now I live in the very same county I used to unknowingly visit as a child. Fourteen years ago, we moved here for the affordable housing, good schools, a reasonable commute and cows. Yes, you heard me. Cows. Where else could you see cows on your way to work? Rolling pastures, woods for miles, little cafes, two lane roads - the quiet ruralness of it all was comforting. I only wished it had lasted a little longer.

Losing Georgia noted the other day

“Douglas County has less greenspace per acre than metro Atlanta as a whole.” (Douglas Neighbor Newspaper cited)

While most studies are usually done with a hidden agenda, all you have to do is drive around this little county to see that this one hits close to home. Any space bigger than a sandbox is being dug up / paved over / built upon. Doesn't matter there is an entirely empty shopping center down the street - let's build another!

Lately, along with the spate of bad manners (and my readers know my opinions on manners - I've ranted enough about it here here, and here for starters) shown by everyone from the media to the clerk at the grocery store, there's been a good deal of talk around the county - basically "What Happened?". One day, we're the little forgotten neighbor to the West, the next we're just as over-developed and crime-ridden as the rest of Atlanta. So many factors go into making a community, for better or worse. How do city fathers navigate the tangled web of growth without ruining what attracts people to their town in the first place? When do you cross the line between building infrastructure to support residents and schools to the greed of development for the sake of expanding the tax base?

Greed, personified by The Ol' Grinch himself, used to be a sin. Along with lying, cheating, stealing, killing... you get my drift. Nowadays, everything is acceptable. But think for a minute (just a short, little minute), of the story of The Grinch. Remember his surprise when - after he'd stolen all the toys from Whoville, the honkers and sqonkers and the Roast Beast - he heard the Who's singing on Christmas morning? That he knew that Christmas (and therefore, ahem life) wasn't about greed or avarice or envy? Remember, his heart grew three sizes that day. What a lesson....

I'm still waiting for the Grinch's heart to grow here in DC.

(Cross-posted at Losing Georgia)

A few days ago, The Anchoress wrote about the press' gloom and doom:

Unfortunately, it is still true that until a new president is installed in the WH, preferably one with a D after the name, only the downsides are newsworthy, and that holds true in every subject. Every subject. My elderly family members are convinced that everything, everywhere, is going to hell, and they are fretful and terrified. They think everyone is out of work, the economy is in a recession, the war in Iraq is lost and there are no real terrorist threats - that’s just made-up stuff. They’re sure America is dying. They are sure the world is headed for famine. They are depressed and do not want to send out Christmas cards, because how can you do that when so much is bad in the world?

If you ask them to look around and wonder how people are buying tiny houses in Queens for a million dollars - while everyone is working, their neighbors are expanding their homes, new businesses are being constructed - if you point out that the the stores and restaurants are crowded - if you ask them how it is that France and Germany have elected America-friendly leaders who are making it a point to work with the unanimously hated President Bush…it does not compute; everything is bad. “All I know,” they say, “is what I hear, and it sounds like the world is going to come to an end soon, because how can it keep going? There is going to be a depression and nuclear war! The oceans are going to cover the whole coast! Everything is going to be lost! Little children are being allowed to get sick and die! Here! In America!” And of course, “everything about Iraq is bad. There is nothing good.”

All they know, you see, is what they hear.

The table this year will be fraught with frightened elders - who trusted the media for years to bring them the truth - believing the end is near.

Along the same vein, Fausta notes that as more and more scientists stand against the Global Warming Hooey Scam of All Time, the collusive press turns up the heat (no pun intended!). Still not enough mindless lemmings in the believer's queue? Let's scare them even more!

Also at Fausta, in the latest Carnival of Latin America are many instances of the same dark shadow. Even there people fight against oppression and genocide. But you'll never hear about it in the media. But at least they reported that another world leader told Chavez to SHUT UP. Maybe this little bug is reaching his expiration date.

It's sooo easy to be distracted by tin cup dic-tators and all the world's woes. That's what the business of scare-mongering is all about. The press has lost it's way when it's only function is to serve as a mouthpiece for power-hungry politicos and blood-thirsty dogmas determined to overthrow America. No wonder our seniors are so worried...they faced down Hitler with a steel-spined resolve bolstered by their faith that fighting evil was the right thing to do; not only for the good of America, but for the good of the world. Freedom has always had a price.

A story from last night's sermon illustrates perfectly the entitlement mindset that Democrats and liberals have hoodwinked many into believing, and thus hang their election hopes on.

A neighbor (say her name is Mary) sees her other neighbor (say her name is Nancy) and decides to make her a pie. She bakes a lovely pie the next day and takes it next door. Nancy is overwhelmed that her neighbor would be so thoughtful and thanks her profusely. The next week, Mary makes her another pie. When she takes it over, Nancy thanks her again, but with less enthusiasm. The next week, Mary makes her another pie. When she takes it over, Nancy just says "Thanks." The next week, Mary makes her another pie. When she takes it over, Nancy says, "Thanks, and you're a day late this time." The next week, Mary makes her another pie. When she takes it over, Nancy says "Thanks, but next time, can you make a cherry pie instead of apple? I'm getting tired of apple." The next week, Mary makes her another pie. When she takes it over, Nancy says "You know, if you put a little less sugar in the crust and didn't handle it so long, the crust wouldn't be tough." The next week, Mary has lots to do and forgets to make her pie. When she walked by Nancy's house, she stuck her head out the door and yelled, "Hey! Where's my pie?"

How quickly gratitude turns into a jaded sense of entitlement.

Ok, what's the point of this rant? Thanksgiving is one of our only truly American traditions. Sure, some people call it "the hateful, racist, you-stole-our-country holiday", because after all the First Amendment protects everyone's axe and their right to grind it. And sure, the holiday has been bent and twisted to suit marketeers and cooking shows. I can really do without the mini-bundt cakes with festive fall nosegays at each place setting that tie into the theme of....

Why don't we go back to the original idea? Simple people, pioneers really, expressing their pure and heartfelt gratitude for not starving to death over the harsh winter, not being killed by hostiles (regardless of their native inhabitant status - remember other European countries coveted this land and were willing to kill in God's name to take it) or mysterious disease, and sharing what food they had with those that would share it with them. A humble heartfelt thanksgiving. Not a holiday, but a state of mind.

Shouldn't that be our prayer every day?

Veterans Day came and went without even a mention at some schools. Nelson Guirado, a teacher and a parent, bemoans the fact that the only things our children seem to be learning about America is that it’s a “land filled with racism, prejudice, and unfairness.”

Related: No turkey for you - you stole our country.

As the writer's strike continues and even more jump on the bandwagon, opportunities await. I'm not talking about bloggers that aspire
to print or network gigs. My hope is that more people will begin to get their news from alternate (read - less or non-biased) sources. The truth - unfiltered. Imagine that!

If an Iranian told a lie in the woods, and there were no striking writers to spin it, is he still a liar?

Squatter's Rights only work if you're a Democrat.

Hillary whines on the playground - don't pick on me, or else.

...We’ll have to watch, now, to see if Blitzer follows orders and tiptoes around Mrs. Clinton, or if the Clintons have finally overplayed their hand and the press hits back.

Either way, Clinton has set the press up to look bad. If Blitzer kowtows to Hillary, he will be ruined as a “wuss.” If he treats her like the other candidates (which is all Russert did) he will be denounced as “mean, spiteful,” etc. Another bad man.

She is a creature of the press’ own making. They can unmake her too. If they dare.

She wants to tell you what to think, instead of what she thinks. Now really....does she think? Or does her expansive staff do that for her, too?

As I sat through the sessions, it occurred to me at one point that under Sharia law, none of this would be happening. The men and women couldn't be in the same rooms, the women couldn't talk to their friend's husbands, we'd have to eat apart as well. We couldn't play the hilarious Newlywed game, and heaven forbid, talk about married sex! No jokes, no card games, no Bibles, no books. We would have had to meet in secret since we're Christian and our small Sunday worship service would be illegal.

I tucked my little thoughts away, because after all, I was on retreat to rest and recharge and put the world on the back-burner for a couple of days.

Then Fausta posted a link to an excellent article over at City Journal by André Glucksmann. It all barreled back to me like that scene in "Somewhere in Time" when Christopher Reeve saw the penny. Outstanding - as they say, read the whole thing. Just a teeny tid-bit:

A better definition of terrorism is a deliberate attack by armed men on unarmed civilians. Terrorism is aggression against civilians as civilians, inevitably taken by surprise and defenseless. Whether the hostage-takers and killers of innocents are in uniform or not, or what kind of weapons they use—whether bombs or blades—does not change anything; neither does the fact that they may appeal to sublime ideals. The only thing that counts is the intention to wipe out random victims. The systematic resort to the car bomb, to suicide attacks, randomly killing as many passersby as possible, defines a specific style of engagement. When, after Saddam Hussein’s fall, terrorist attacks multiplied in Iraq, they spared no one, especially not Iraqis: schoolchildren in buses or on sidewalks, men and women at the market, the faithful at prayer.

He takes a view of violence, in particular, terroristic violence, through a very long lens and shows not only how war has changed humanity but how humanity changed the rules of engagement. No longer are there expectations on a soldier's behavior, because now we don't fight soldiers, we fight blood-thirsty self-appointed warriors in an endless loop of hatred. Like black holes in space, they suck up everything around them in their all-consuming nihilism.

Once Marcia Davenport lamented all the world had lost after the great wars. Beauty, innocence, majesty. Now those of us in America lament the loss of even more and wait for the next explosion.

For the first time in history, more people now live in urban areas than not. The efficiencies of living close together - energy, water, transportation, financial, communication - also grease the skids for small groups to terrorize populations, large or small.

Over the last few years, small groups’ ability to conduct terrorism has shown radical improvements in productivity—their capacity to inflict economic, physical, and moral damage. These groups, motivated by everything from gang membership to religious extremism, have taken advantage of easy access to our global superinfrastructure, revenues from growing illicit commercial flows, and ubiquitously available new technologies to cross the threshold necessary to become terrible threats. September 11, 2001, marked their arrival at that threshold.

Remember in school when you learned about castles and fortresses? They had moats, spikes and a wide variety of gizmos to keep the bad guys out.

But in the current evolution of warfare, cities are no longer defensive anchors against armored thrusts ranging through the countryside. They have become the main targets of offensive action themselves. Just as the huge militaries of the early twentieth century were vulnerable to supply and communications disruption, cities are now so heavily dependent on a constant flow of services from various centralized systems that even the simplest attacks on those systems can cause massive disruption.

Take a look at the months past....a plot to blow up the fuel tanks at JFK, missing railroad spikes, Fort Dix - shall I go on?

Iraq is a petri dish for modern conflict, the Spanish Civil War of our times. It’s the place where small groups are learning to fight modern militaries and modern societies and win. As a result, we can expect to see systems disruption used again and again in modern conflict—certainly against megacities in the developing world, and even against those in the developed West, as we have already seen in London, Madrid, and Moscow.

Practice makes perfect.

Be sure to read the part about the South American gangs disrupting São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. An American version of the same is MS-13. Alive and well in my home town.

The gangs’ rapid rise into challengers to urban authorities is something that we will see again elsewhere. This dynamic is already at work in American cities in the rise of MS-13, a rapidly expanding transnational gang with a loose organizational structure, a propensity for violence, and access to millions in illicit gains. It already has an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 members, dispersed over 31 U.S. states and several Latin American countries, and its proliferation continues unabated, despite close attention from law enforcement. Like the PCC, MS-13 or a similar American gang may eventually find that it has sufficient power to hold a city hostage through disruption.

Tie the hands of our military and law enforcement with PC-mumbo-jumbo and frivolous litagation, and there you go. Or better yet, corrupt them with the same greed and avarice that runs through the veins of these thugs. Now...not only to you get a field to practice on, but all the time you need to get it right.

I drive the streets of Atlanta every day and rarely see a police car. I see things that frighten me in broad daylight. The infrastructure is crumbling. After years of decreasing statistics, crime is on the rise. Other cities, large and small, in America are facing the same issues. Some are farther along than others on the timeline. Just a stove full of big soup pots - ready to boil over.

Some Macon residents have called for demonstrations and boycotts after the mayor of the middle Georgia city formally reached out to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with a declaration of solidarity.

Mayor Jack Ellis said the declaration -- sent about two weeks ago by courier -- was a message that local leaders can stand together despite disagreements at the highest reaches of government.

Some local leaders have blasted the mayor's decision to support Chavez -- who is a vocal ally of Iran and Cuba who has called esident Bush "the devil."

Former mayoral candidate David Corr said the mayor's comments were "an outrage." And state representative Allen Peake -- a Macon Republican -- said the mayor's action taints the town. He said "We need to be doing things in this community that show the tremendous positives of Macon."

Ellis praised the controversial leader as a champion for the common man who could offer aid to Macon's residents. Chavez has subsidized the cost of heating fuel for some American low-income citizens.

Ellis said "This is about a humanitarian effort. This is NOT about politics."

Outraged Middle Georgians let their feelings be known. They have never been a batch of shrinking violets. It takes some real intestinal fortitude to live down there in all this heat.

The mayor's decision prompted 20 pages of comments on The Macon Telegraph's online message board before the newspaper decided to take it down. Some called for demonstrations and boycotts to express their distaste for the mayor's move.

Ellis, a Democrat, is serving his second term as mayor and cannot seek re-election because of term limits.

But, ohhhhhhhh wait, but it gets even better.

He announced in February that he had converted from Christianity to Islam and was working to legally change his name to Hakim Mansour Ellis. He said he became a Sunni Muslim during a December ceremony in the west African nation of Senegal.

Yep. Yep. Yep. Now he's a Chavez-lovin'-Muslim and proud of it. Dear heavens above. He is entitled to his opinion, yes, and even his choice of religions, yes again. But publicly supporting a foreign leader who wishes all of us dead and using his elected office to showcase that support brooks on sedition. And embracing the religion that dreams of the annihilation of all things American is truly frightening. Instead of boycotts and demonstrations, the townspeople should be considering impeachment - after all, his newly radical views no longer represent the town that elected him. Or maybe the next thing we hear about will be "Mandatory Burquas in Macon". News at Eleven.

Sheeeshhhhh.....