You can do even greater miracles than me...just like it says in the bible. The only catch is you have to pass a rigorous spelling test. It's easy. Just try not to spell what you don't understand. Jesus
Oil and Trouble by Bill O'Reilly "The gas station guy in my town is exhausted from climbing the ladder every day in order to change the price sign. Of course, it's up, up and away. High gas prices, I predict, will become the biggest issue in the presidential campaign. This week, Republican senators blocked a Democrat-sponsored bill that would have imposed a "windfall profits" tax on the five major oil companies. Since these companies made about $36 billion in profits in the first quarter alone, "windfall" may be understating it. The GOP says the bill would not have lowered gas prices as any tax punishment would be passed along to gasoline consumers. But let me break this to the Republicans gently: Folks are angry with the oil companies. Unless you guys can help bring some relief to beleaguered American working people, the Democrats will wipe you out. Of course, both parties are at fault. Every president in the last 50 years has whiffed on alternative energy. While Brazil emphasized flex-fueled vehicles operating largely on sugar-based ethanol, our presidents and congresspeople took junkets to the Middle East to hug Saudi Arabian oil sheiks. And now, as Reverend Wright is fond of saying, the chickens have come home to roost. The gangsters that run OPEC understand that technological advances will diminish oil demand down the road. So, they are accumulating as much cash as possible right now. It costs Saudi Arabia about $2 to market each barrel of oil. Last week, those huggable Saudis charged the world $138 for that barrel. The oil apologists say it's a "supply and demand" thing. Sure. Here's a bulletin: When you limit the supply, as OPEC is doing, the demand will skyrocket. Yeah, China and India are using more oil. Yeah, the U.S. dollar is weak. But in most competitive businesses, if your customers want more product -- you put out more product. Not in oil. OPEC keeps production down to maximize profits. So, enough. The oil scam is hammering the U.S. economy, and, if Iran keeps causing trouble, gas prices might double from here. Israel stated this week that it will take military action against Iran if it continues developing nukes. Since I believe the crazy mullahs actually want that to happen because it would inflame worldwide jihad, this is an obviously a crisis situation. Congress must mandate by law that American car and truck manufacturers begin to produce a high percentage of flex-fuel vehicles. Once that law is passed, gas stations will begin installing alcohol-based fuel pumps. Congress must also drop import tariffs on alcohol-based fuel so countries like Brazil can sell them to us. We simply have got to get away from the oil cartel. It's a national security issue. What say you, John McCain and Barack Obama?"
IMAO: Just Curious "The One-Man Gaffe Machine rolled on in Pennsylvania over the weekend: Things did not go as flawlessly at a town-hall-style meeting on Saturday in Wayne, Pa. Picking an audience member for the final question of the day, Mr. Obama called out, "The young lady in the Coca-Cola T-shirt." "It says 'recycling,'" she corrected him. "Oh," he replied, shrugging. "Iâm getting old." Wonder if anyone in the MSM will ride his ass for being a befuddled coot who doesn't know the difference between waste management and a soft drink?"
Fred Thompson: A Supreme Error "Upon reading the opinion in Boumediene v Bush, one must conclude that the majority knew where they wanted to go and simply had to figure out how to get there. The trip was not a pretty one. How could it be when the justices seemingly wrote a map based on ideas cherry picked from over 400 years of established law and backfilled with justifications to create a new right for alien combatants that Americans themselves do not enjoy? They could have saved us all a lot of time if theyâd told us what was clearly on their minds. They donât trust military tribunals to deal with those accused of being enemy combatants, even if the tribunals are following guidelines established by Congress. That the government has probably detained some prisoners at Guantanamo for longer than they should have. And that Guantanamo should just be closed. Though they are willing to give it lip service, they donât really believe we are at war ⦠at least not a ârealâ war. Therefore, they should create a new right for our nationâs enemies commiserate with the displeasure that they and the rest of the âenlightenedâ people have with this âwar,â Guantanamo and the Bush Administration. At least this approach would have been an honest one and based upon about as much legal justification as the approach they took. But, instead â as Justice Scalia pointed out in his dissent â they for the first time in our nationâs history, conferred a Constitutional right of habeas corpus on alien enemies detained abroad by our military forces in the course of an ongoing war â a broader right than has been given to our own citizens. The court majority did so acknowledging that they could find no precedent to confer such a right to alien enemies not within sovereign U.S. territory The majority had simply decided that prior courts had denied such rulings based on âpractical considerations.â In other words in prior cases and prior wars it had just been too inconvenient to bestow the right of habeas corpus upon non-citizens in foreign jurisdictions. So, by focusing on what they saw as âpracticalâ instead of those pesky court precedents based upon the issues of citizenship and foreign territory ⦠and the Constitution ⦠the majority reached the conclusion they wanted to, since what is practical is subjective. One can only ponder the state of our nation directed by the subjective instead of the Constitution. As Chief Justice Roberts pointed out in his dissent, the court strikes down as inadequate the most generous set of protections ever afforded aliens detained by this country as enemy combatants. Among the problems the majority saw was the prisonerâs limited access to classified information, even though his personal representative is allowed access to it and can summarize it for the accused. Exactly what procedures would pass muster with the majority? Well, this has to be figured out by the habeas court later â and most certainly be challenged in endless rounds of further litigation. At this stage, no one can really tell the extent to which this decision is going to add to judicial confusion, additional administrative difficulty, time and attention of military personnel or how many more prisoners will be mistakenly released to join the at least 30 who were released from Guantanamo only to return to fight the United States. In reading the majority opinion I am struck by the utter waste that is involved here. No, not the waste of military resources and human life, although such a result is tragically obvious. I refer to the waste of all those years these justices spent in law school studying how adherence to legal precedent is the bedrock of the rule of law, when it turns out, all they really needed was a Pew poll, a subscription to the New York Times, and the latest edition of âHow to Make War for Dummies.â It is truly stunning that this court has seen fit to arrogate unto itself a role in the most important issue facing any country, self-defense, in a case in which Congress has in fact repeatedly acted. This was not a case where Congress did not set the rules; it did. But the court still decided â in the face of overwhelming precedent to the contrary â to intervene. This decision, or course, will allow for "President Bush Is Rebuffedâ headlines, the implication being that the Administration was caught red-handed violating clearly established Constitutional rights when in fact the Administration, and the Congress for that matter, followed guidelines established by the Supreme Court itself in prior cases. People can disagree over whether Congress got it right, but at least members have to face the voters. What remedy do people have now if they donât like the courtâs decision? None. If that thought is not enough to cause concerned citizens to turn out on Election Day to elect a new president, then I donât know what will be. I also find it just a tad ironic that in a case involving habeas corpus, which literally means that one must produce a body (or person) before a court to explain the basis on which that person is being detained, the decision of this court may mean more fallen bodies in the defense of a Constitution some of these justices ignored."
The Rightosphere Temperature Check For June: McCain, Obama, And Election 2008 Right Wing News ( www.rightwingnews.com ) emailed more than 240 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to answer 9 questions. The following 64 blogs responded: Aaron's CC, The Absurd Report, All American Blogger, The Anchoress, AtlanticBlog, Bad Example, Baldilocks, BizzyBlog, Dispatches from Blogblivion, Blonde Sagacity, Bluey Blog, Keith Burgess-Jackson, Bookworm Room, Dr. Melissa Clouthier, Conservative Grapevine, DANEgerus Weblog, Dizzy Girl, Argghhhh!, Eckernet, Ed Driscoll, Election Projection, Cara Ellison, Elocutio, Musings, Extreme Mortman, Exurban League, Fetching Jen, Fraters Libertas, Freeman Hunt, Jeff Gannon - A Voice of the New Media, Ghost of a Flea, GOPUSA Northeast, Gocinatlanta, The Hedgehog Report, Hickpolitics, IMAO, (Brian) Liberty Pundit, Mainstream Libertarian, Midnight Blue, Moonbattery, Moxie, Newsbeat1, Noisy Room, No Oil For Pacifists, The Nose On Your Face, Pirate's Cove, Pal2pal, QandO, Matt Sanchez, Don Singleton, Sister Toldjah, Six Meat Buffet, Slobokan's Site Of Schtuff, Small Dead Animals, The Smallest Minority, Stolen Thunder, Solomonia, Knowledge Is Power, The Sundries Shack, dcthornton.com, Trying To Grok, Viking Pundit, Vodka Pundit, WILLisms The bloggers were asked to select answers to the following questions (because some bloggers skipped particular questions, gave answers that weren't listed, or gave answers that were difficult to categorize, there are not 64 responses to each question.) 1) If you had to guess today, who do you think will win the election in November? A) McCain: 34 (56%) B) Obama: 27 (44%) 2) Who do you think the Democrats' strongest candidate would be in November? A) Obama: 17 (27%) B) Hillary Clinton: 46 (73%) 3) In the Senate, do you think the GOP is more likely to... A) Gain seats: 5 (8%) B) Lose seats: 58 (92%) 4) In the House, do you think the GOP is more likely to... A) Gain seats: 8 (13%) B) Lose seats: 55 (87%) 5) Do you believe Barack Obama is... A) Moderate: 0 (0%) B) Liberal: 62 (100%) 6) Do you believe Barack Obama is patriotic? A) Yes: 12 (19%) B) No: 51 (81%) 7) Do you believe Barack Obama is an anti-white racist? A) Yes: 34 (54%) B) No: 29 (46%) 8) Do you believe Barack Obama is a Muslim? A) Yes: 11 (18%) B) No: 51 (82%) 9) Do you think Barack Obama is competent and experienced enough to be President? A) Yes: 5 (8%) B) No: 58 (92%)"
John Hawkins, Right Wing News: Why McCain Has Such An Uphill Battle One of the things I believe is that, like him or hate him, John McCain was the only candidate still in the running on Super Tuesday that had a chance to win. In other words, McCain has a decent shot to pull it out in November while Romney or Huckabee would have probably been struggling to prevent Obama landslides at this point. Take a look at this excerpt from the Politico and you'll see why that's the case, "Only twice in the 20th century has a candidate from the same party as a two-term president won the presidency, most recently in 1988, when George H.W. Bush replaced the term-limited Ronald Reagan, who was about twice as popular in the last year of his presidency as President George W. Bush is now. But the biggest obstacle in McCain's path may be running in the same party as the most unpopular president America has had since at least the advent of modern polling. Only Harry Truman and Nixon -- both of whom were dogged by unpopular wars abroad and political scandals at home -- have been nearly as unpopular in their last year in office, and both men's parties lost the presidency in the following election." I hate to say this because I think George Bush, like Truman, will be much more appreciated by future generations than he is today, but simply pointing at W., a Republican President with an approval rating hovering around 30%, is going to be a very effective argument against McCain. Yes, McCain is a moderate "maverick" who has a lot of disagreements with his fellow Republicans, but he is still a Republican in what's shaping up to be a terrible year for the GOP. Combine that with McCain's knack for infuriating conservatives and he's going to have a bumpy, extremely difficult road to navigate, if he's going to get to the White House -- even against a mediocrity like Obama, who's clearly too liberal, unpatriotic, anti-white, and inexperienced to be President.
Oil and Trouble ---------------------- I've never seen so many politicians standing around blabing with their hands in their pockets doing nothing. Thousands of words written about oil, and the best they can come up with is to tax away the profits, what a plan, sheesh. Plan B, of course, is to flip off people who drive SUV's. Corn, is so much more a refreshing idea after years of listening to "inventors" who have a car that runs on water, since the last oil crisis. Walk to work, fine, but please stand by with the gurneys for the fattys with bad knees. Bike to work? sorry no thanks, I cannot work with overheated testicles.
Denny: McCain Woos Hillary Clinton Supporters, as Clinton Delegate Defects to McCain "Something strange is happening on the way to the Democratic convention in Denver, Colorado this election cycle. Something different, something new, something brave and not just for the few. Something that Obama hadnât expected to happen is beginning to happen. It all started about a year and a half ago in New York. Bill Clintonâs wife, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, was going to run for the Democratic nomination for president as was widely speculated she would do, being one out of a total of 8 contenders back then. It eventually came down to just three, then only two. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. And thatâs when the trouble started. Hillary Clinton supporters saw the media pick Obama as their favored candidate. They saw and experienced how Oama supporters and many pro-Obama news organizations used overtly sexist language toward them and their candidate. They heard about strong-arm tacticts being used at some caucus events and out-right illegal campaigning being done in some instances. They saw how Obamaâs ex-pastor, Jeremiah Wright, along with his associations with terrorists and other racists, along with his previous drug use and his so-called eager willingness to to deal with rogue nations made Obama seem unfit to become commander-in-chief. They saw how Obama doesnât seem very patriotic, and they saw how his wife said she wasnât very proud of her country until just recently. They eventually came to see Obama as a corrupt liar and a complete political fraud. This election cycle they just donât seem to want to fall in line behind Obama like they did with previous candidate in years past as they would eventually rally around the winning Democratic nominee. First there was Operation Turn Down, then came PUMA, and now a local Democratic delegate from Wisconsin is standing by her announcement that she will vote for Sen. John McCain in November. Deb Bartoshevich of Waterford, who just so happens to be Racine Countyâs lone Clinton delegate to the national convention, said she was surprised by the huge reaction the press and others have given to her comment, which was reported on a newspaper Web site Friday. âI just didnât expect it to be like this,â Bartoshevich said. âItâs been nonstop.â âUnderstandably, there are people that are upset with me,â Bartoshevich said. âI had thought that Hillary was the better candidate, but everybodyâs entitled to their own opinion.â âIâm very dedicated to her,â she said. âI support my candidate that I was selected to be a delegate for.â Bartoshevich said she has been inundated with e-mails and phone calls from the national press since Fridayâs announcement, even from other delegates and people who have expressed their support. She said she hopes the party re-examines its selection process. âI just think the Democratic process for selecting a nominee is flawed,â Bartoshevich said. âI donât think anybody in the Democratic Party believed that it would be this close.â For now, she said, she just has to wait and see whether her spot at the convention will be taken away. âEverybody has the right to change their mind. Everybody has the right to express how they feel,â Bartoshevichsaid. âThis is why we live in America, this is what we call democracy.â âItâs extremely important that we send a message that Democrats in the state of Wisconsin will never support somebody who supports John McCain for president,â state party chairman Joe Wineke said to hundreds of party activists. âEverybody has the right to change their mind. Everybody has the right to express how they feel,â Bartoshevich said. âThis is why we live in America, this is what we call democracy.â People like Bartoshevich and the Operation Turn Down and PUMA Movements are the reason why Arizona Republican Senator John McCain is going to aggressively court Democrats thatâs arenât happy with their party right now. The Republican nominee hopes that Carly Fiorina, who as head of computer firm Hewlett-Packard was the most powerful businesswoman in the U.S., will win over Hillary Clintonâs supporters. âI have, time after time, urged my party âlook, we have a lot of women who are more than qualified, more than capable of governing this country,â McCain said over the weekend, using Fiorina as a role model. âAt the end of my first term, you will see a dramatic increase of women in every part of the government of my administration,â McCain promised. Fiorina is is being tapped by Republicans in a get-out-the-vote effort, and empathized with Hillary as she took questions from across the country during a McCain campaign âvirtual town-hall meeting.â âHaving started as a secretary and eventually become a chief-executive officer, I not only have great admiration and respect for Hillary Clinton and her candidacy and her leadership, but I also have great empathy, I must tell you, for what she went through,â Fiorina said. âI also believe though, if we are striving for a gender-blind, color-blind society, that we really ought to be focused on the person that we think will make the right judgments, the right decisions and have the right positions.â That person is John McCain, she said.""
ANALYSIS-Colleagues brush off hard feelings, embrace McCain By Thomas Ferraro, Reuters.com "WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) - John McCain has cursed and bullied fellow Senate Republicans on a host of issues over the years. Yet McCain's colleagues are setting aside any hard feelings to embrace his White House bid -- for their own good. In doing so, many are also distancing themselves from Republican President George W. Bush, widely derided for the unpopular Iraq war, ailing economy and soaring gas prices. "We are going from rallying around one of the most disliked guys in the world, to a guy who is very well liked in America, but not so popular in the Senate," a Senate Republican leadership aide said. "We'll take that." Republicans hope McCain, long popular among independents, will give them a boost and hold down anticipated Democratic gains in the November congressional elections. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll found that Democrats enjoy a 19-percentage-point lead over Republicans, 52-33, when voters are asked which party they want to control Congress. By contrast, polls show Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama holding, on average, about a 5-point lead over McCain. "McCain is running well ahead of his party," said Andrew Kohut of the Pew Research Center, which conducts polls on the congressional and presidential contests. While Bush's approval rating has dipped below 30 percent, a recent Pew poll found 48 percent of respondents have a favorable opinion of McCain, with about 45 percent unfavorable, despite his dogged support of the Iraq war. "Republicans have a stake in McCain," said Stephen Hess, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution. "They hope he helps energize their party." "COLD CHILL" Sen. Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican who has had run-ins with a McCain, mostly over federal spending, experienced an election-year conversion. "The thought of him (McCain) being president sends a cold chill down my spine," Cochran told The Boston Globe in January. "He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me." Yet after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Cochran, who had been a Romney supporter, backed McCain, now the party's presumptive nominee. "He would be the best president," Cochran declared. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa says he and McCain stopped talking to each other for a "very long period of time" after a fiery 1992 exchange. Witnesses say the spat involved McCain cursing, both men shouting and standing toe-to-toe. It occurred during a meeting on whether Vietnam still held any American prisoners of war. McCain was a Vietnam war prisoner for 5-1/2 years. "In the last 15 years, I haven't had any problems with Senator McCain," Grassley said. A spokeswoman said Grassley has not formally endorsed McCain, but supports him. Initially, many Senate Republicans were reluctant to endorse McCain largely because of his temper and willingness to buck his party leadership and cut deals with Democrats. But as McCain, nicknamed "Senator Hothead," emerged as the front-runner, they rallied around him, including many whom he had offended. McCain swore at Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas at a meeting last year about a bill to revamp U.S. immigration laws that McCain helped craft with Democrats. PARTING FROM BUSH "John is very passionate," Cornyn said with a chuckle in recalling the incident. McCain later apologized. With polls showing most Americans believe the nation is on the wrong track and demanding change, Cornyn said he believes McCain is the only Republican who ran for president this year who could win the White House. "He's always been independent, and a bit of a maverick," Cornyn said. "People are looking at the future." At this point, Cornyn said, the 71-year-old Arizona senator is head of the battered Republican Party "whether he likes it or not." Republicans marched in lock step with Bush during his first six years in office. But they began separating from him on at least some issues after the 2006 elections, which saw Democrats win control of Congress largely because of the Iraq war and dissatisfaction with Bush. While McCain rallies party support, he still shows a willingness to break ranks with fellow congressional Republicans. He opposed a recent move by Republicans to help Democrats override a Bush veto of a $289 billion farm bill that McCain and the president denounced as excessive. The president, whose second term ends in January, has offered to campaign for McCain and other Republicans. But a senior Republican aide, citing Bush's unpopularity, said: "I don't expect any Republicans to campaign with Bush. None. Anywhere.""