Mere Rhetoric

No, Of Course Palin's Political Career Isn't Over

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:21:45 -0800

Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part - I thought she was McCain's best choice before he picked her, I thought she was a great candidate after he picked her, and I thought she'd make a good President some day - but really? The career of a 45 year old woman who is beloved by an increasingly alienated conservative base is over because she says she's going to take care of her kids?...

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WH Funneling Stimulus Money To Competitive Rural Districts

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:57:33 -0800

Almost a dozen Cabinet officials are being dispatched to campaign in various rural districts over the summer: The White House is making sure it reaches voters in crucial swing districts. The itinerary laid out by the White House for its just-announced "Rural Tour" includes several politically competitive districts, which would give the Obama administration a chance to make its case to people who...

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Daily Mail Very Confused About Flags Being Waved By Marine-Heckling British Protesters

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:26:45 -0800

The lede: A homecoming march by Royal Marines returning after a bloody tour of Afghanistan was hijacked yesterday by anti-war protesters. Five militants waving Iraqi flags screamed 'genocide' and 'not in my name' at soldiers from 3 Commando as they marched from Buckingham Palace to Parliament. Some of the protesters also tried to use a megaphone to drown out the Royal Marines band but were...

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Official WH Photo: Old Lincoln Looks On At New Lincoln

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:40:37 -0800

Taken on June 1st, during some announcement about how the government was taking over the auto industry, and published on the White Houses's Flickr stream. I'm supposed to include a disclaimer stating that my use of this picture does not "in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House." Just in case that was unclear: Subtle, no? I wonder what...

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Clinton: Iran Protests Are An "Internal Matter"

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:06:43 -0800

I'm getting the quote via Voice of America. Nothing like using the US's flagship public diplomacy outlet - the one that gave hope to hundreds of millions of anti-Communist dissidents - to sell out pro-democracy protesters: Clinton, appearing at the State Department's daily press briefing, said she did not want to speculate on Iran's political future, but she that the reported recount is unlikely...

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Prominent Jewish Democrats Double Down On Obama. Unpersuasively.

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 09:14:02 -0800

This was inevitable. Wexler supposedly got out-and-out screamed at by FL constituents a few weeks ago for dishonestly defending Obama during the campaign. Other Jewish Dems are hearing the same thing: conservatives got Obama exactly right, while his liberal defenders set up the Jewish community for a predictable bait-and-switch. Two things seem to be making Obama's Jewish supporters nervous. The...

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Obama Increases Aid To Arab And Muslim Regimes, Zeros Out Funding For Iranian And Egyptian Democracy Mvmts

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:55:25 -0800

Now this is just getting silly: In the latest in a recent series of increased American assistance efforts for Arab and Muslim states, U.S. President Barack Obama has allocated an additional $150 million to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The regimes leading Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and even Saudi Arabia have all benefited from recent American policy...

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Reader Poll: What's The Dumbest Thing That Iraq Czar Biden Has Said About Iraq?

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 06:38:51 -0800

Rahm's spin to Newsweek about this bizarre appointment was that Biden "knows the players... he brings a lot of experience and expertise on this issue to the table." Which is weird, because he actually seems to know nothing about the players and keeps making experienced, expert recommendations that would trigger full-blown regional wars. Here are your candidates for Biden's dumbest Iraq-related...

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HuffPo: Neda's Killers Are A Lot Like Israeli Jews, Aren't They?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:28:14 -0800

From the blog that brought you a breathless "Gazans have no food" story underneath a picture of a fully-stocked Gazan kitchen, this gem: The antisemites on the Left finally have their "Israel is just like the killer Iranian regime" post. Max Blumenthal at The Huffington Post equates the Iranian regime thugs who killed protester Neda Agha-Soltan to the Israelis: "When the mainstream American...

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Taliban: Please Consider The Pakistan Peace Deal Officially Scrapped

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:58:02 -0800

Pity. I really thought that the most recent peace deal - designed as it was with the explicit intention of "placating extremists" - would work out: Taliban militants in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan say they have pulled out of a peace deal with the government, raising the prospect of wider unrest as the Pakistani army extends its efforts to eliminate insurgents. The militants in North...

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Human Rights Watch Holds Saudi Fundraiser, Promises To Demonize Israel

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:50:08 -0800

So let me understand this. Human Rights Watch, which is staffed in part by pro-Palestinian activists, produces inaccurate reports "discovering" that Israel commits war crimes... The IDF on Tuesday questioned the credibility of a Human Rights Watch report which claimed that Israeli attacks with guided missiles fired from aerial drones killed civilians during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier...

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And Now, A Humanoid Robot That Transforms Into A Car [Video]

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:57:22 -0800

An entirely original concept, implemented elegantly: I'm assuming that someone's gamed this thing out and concluded that there's no scenario under which half humanoid / half car robots become a problem. Previously: * Neat - War Of The Worlds Style Tripod-Legged Robots... Wait, What? [Video] * And In This Week's News Of Robots That Will Soon Enslave Us... * Neat - Autonomous Robots With...

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Figures: Iran Walks Out On Israeli President During Interfaith Conference

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 08:29:20 -0800

Not as good as the time that Peres attended a Saudi interfaith conference which had to be moved from Mecca to Madrid because, you know, Jews. But still a nice little example of quotidian Islamic Jew hatred: Carrying out their threat, the Iranian representatives staged a walkout during President Shimon Peres's keynote address at the interfaith conference in Astana, Kazakhstan on Wednesday...

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Britney Spears To Star In Sci-Fi Holocaust Romance

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:13:05 -0800

True: Is American mega pop star Britney Spears set to return to the big screen, seven years after starring in the box office flop Crossroads? According to reports, Spears has been offered a part in the upcoming Holocaust film The Yellow Star of Sophia and Eton, which integrates time travel, concentration camps and a love story. If she accepts the role, Spears will be taking on the title role of...

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Obama: Passing Cap And Trade Is A Lot Like Freeing The Slaves, Isn't It?

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:34:46 -0800

Just a quick reminder that clinical narcissism works two ways: the narcissist belittles the accomplishments of others when they're beyond his reach and he elevates what he's accomplished to their level. Which one's going on here is a little unclear but it's definitely one of the two: House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) enlisted two senior committee members to...

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