A woman scorned

Hillary and her supporters are in a rage over sexism, as that could be the only explanation for her loss. Maybe it's not because she's a woman, but just a bad candidate? If anything, her sex has been a net benefit to her.

Animal rights

Here is an excellent essay on animal rights, by philosopher David Oderberg.

Global warming: the debate is over

Consensus! See! I told you it was real!

Gay marriage

One of the lesbians in this New York Times story says that all she wants is "the same rights that a 14-year-old girl in Arkansas has." She already has that right: to marry a man. And men have the right to marry a woman. What she and nobody has is a right to marry a member of the same sex, more than one person, a brother or sister, or anything else. Just because she chooses not to exercise that right, or does not find it to her liking, does not mean she does not have it.

Discrimination

Apparently many of Hillary's supporters believe that she was done in by "gender discrimination." But wait. Discrimination, in the bigoted sense, is to treat something different because of a trait irrelevant to the matter. Thus, discrimination is a double-edged word: the first is supporting Hillary just because she is a woman. The second is opposing her just because she is a woman. But if she is such an opponent of gender discrimination, where was she when supporter after supporter touted her as a woman first, and candidate second? If she really had a problem with it she would have said, "Don't vote for me because I'm a woman; vote for me because I'm the best candidate." It would appear that discrimination is only unacceptable to her when it harms her.

The same is true for Obama, of course. Expect cries of "racism!" to rise into a chorus as the campaign proceeds.

Hate murder, love the murderers

Can progressives "support the troops" when they see them as thugs participating in a genocidal conquest? You decide.

Shocker: TIME is the DNC's cheerleader

Just look at the covers for the last two years and watch the pattern.

Gingrich: We're all DOOMED

He lays out the facts and sees nothing but unending wreckage come the elections. He's right that the expectation that voters will elect Republicans not because the Republicans have presented a platform worth voting for, but because of anti-Democrat feelings, has proven to be wrong. What I part ways on are his suggestions on how the GOP can create that worthwhile platform. Many of his suggestions seem trivial, or too "inside baseball," to matter to ordinary voters.

BELIEVE

This isn't a parody; it actually ran next to an endorsement of Obama.

Is that... is that a unicorn in the background?

Ron Paul's supporters might be crazy, but at least they only call Ron Paul "The Only Man That Can Save America," not the Son of God.

The Barr is raised

Former Republican Bob Barr has decided to throw an anvil to a McCain struggling to stay afloat by running for President under the Libertarian flag.

He has problems with McCain. Trouble is, he voted for all of the things he's now going to be running against.

I don't understand people who want to torpedo their own ideals by voting for the Libertarian candidate. Third parties will never accomplish anything in this country except weakening the mainstream candidate closest to your beliefs. The only thing voting for Barr is going to do is get Obama elected, and that's going to lead to an America much less libertarian than one under McCain would be.

But at least they can pat themselves on the back for not compromising their beliefs.

DOOM: Republicans lose third election in a row

For the third time a Republican has gone down in flames in a special House election. We're 0-3. These are generally indicative of how the party will perform in the normal elections. What's worse, the latest loss was in a district that Bush carried by a whopping 25% in 2004. Yet they couldn't win even there.

My friends, the ship is sinking.

Compare, contrast

Fox news reporter tells McCain she's going to vote for him: shock, outrage, she is fired for breaking journalist standards of impartiality.

Obama wears jeans while reporters fawn over him like giggling schoolgirls: it's filed under "breaking news."

"McCain is just four more years of Bush"

I'd rather have a third term of Bush than a second term of Carter.

"Obamatopia"

That's not creepy or anything...

Obama: the buck stops here with my staff

Apparently the last ten flip flops and gaffes he made are all the fault of his staffers. Staffers: the gift that keeps on giving.

See, Obama's too much of a "big picture guy," too focused on Hope and Change, to bother with silly little details like actual policy and strategy decisions for his own campaign.

NYT admits Obama's Muslim past

So... he lied, right? Apparently that's what the politics of hope and change are all about.

Ten year old girl gives birth after being raped by illegal immigrant

Doing jobs Americans won't do.

Obama in church

McCain: Hey, you know what we should do? Fight global warming

Are you ready for the John McCain global warming tour? Because apparently he's going to spend the next few weeks advocating for action on "climate change."

In an implicit rebuke to the Bush administration, McCain will say in remarks prepared for delivery at the Vestas Wind Energy Training Facility in Portland, Oregon. "I will not shirk the mantle of leadership that the United States bears. I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges." Referring to the Kyoto Protocols on greenhouse gas emissions the U.S. never signed, McCain added "I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto."

"We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," McCain will say. ""The most relevant question now is whether our own government is equal to the challenge."

But wait! There's more. He decided to spend his limited resources on a TV ad dedicated to the subject:


I love how he paints conservatives skeptical of global warming as if they're just denying the blatantly obvious. The so-called "consensus" that's often pointed to isn't even a scientific one. If it was, the results would be reproducible and there would, in fact, be no debate. And of course the best remedy for an ailing economy is more burdensome regulations. But at least it'll work. I mean, just look how that ethanol solution is working out.

The winner's circle

Obama has secured the coveted McGovern endorsement. Now all he needs are the endorsements Mondale, Dukakis, Carter, Gore, Kerry, the Buffalo Bills, and guys over thirty who still live with their parents.

Robert A. Nisbet on the 19th century

It can scarcely be argued that conservatism exerted any widespread influence on thought in the nineteenth century. For this was the century of great hope, of faith in what seemed to be the ineluctable processes of history, of faith in the natural individual and in mass government. All the major tendencies of European history—the factory system included—were widely regarded as essentially liberating forces. By them, men would be emancipated from the ancient system of status and from communities within which initiative and freedom were stifled. For most minds in the nineteenth century, conservatism, with its essentially tragic conception of history, its fear of the free individual and the masses, and its emphasis upon community, hierarchy, and sacred patterns of belief, seemed but one final manifestation of that past from which Europe was everywhere being liberated.

(Robert A. Nisbet, "Conservatism and Sociology," The American Journal of Sociology 58 [September 1952]: 167-75, at 172)

Finally: an American flag pin Obama can wear proudly

Fuzzy math

Apparently Obama has trouble counting:

"It is wonderful to be back in Oregon," Obama said. "Over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."

Are we counting Iraq now? Who knows about the other 6.

Obviously, he's just tired from the endless campaigning. (And yet the much older McCain is holding up well.)

But imagine the reaction had Bush said it.

TIME: "Is it time to invade Burma?"

So it's okay to invade Burma for purely humanitarian reasons but not when it's Iraq, even when we have national security interests at stake? If we're talking about humanitarian concerns, how about getting on board with the two wars we're already engaged in?

Operation Chaos suddenly relevant

After killing themselves over ways to write stories about Republican crossover votes in the Democrat primaries without mentioning Operation Chaos, the media and Obama campaign has suddenly decided that it's newsworthy, after all. But it's been going on for several primaries now, starting with Texas. Somehow I doubt the Obama campaign, filled with sharp-eyed poll sharks pouring over reams of data, would have just noticed it for the first time.

Or maybe they just realized that pinning Hillary's victory in Indiana on Republicans would be an easy way to cheapen it?

Rush himself noticed this:

I'm extremely proud of the Operation Chaos volunteers. I never doubted they would triumph in Indiana and I think it is a hoot the Obama campaign is crediting Op Chaos for giving Hillary a 7-point bump. It sounds like they are jealous I out-organized them.

I think it was a couple days after the PA primary, I said on air that if the Obama campaign wanted to end Operation Chaos, all they had to do was acknowledge it and say that the Hillary vote was tainted by voters who have no intention of voting for her in November.

Tonight, they followed my advice.

If it wasn't for Rush, Obama's victory in November would virtually be guaranteed. He was the Messiah; but the mask has slipped, and now he's just another politician with a fanatic base.

Karl Rove

When The Architect speaks, it pays to listen.

Blowback

I'm wondering if the length of the Democratic primary is going to backfire on those of us who are gleeful at the skirmishes between Obama and Hillary. Yes, they fought each other, but the Republicans did too over McCain, and it looks like he'll get their votes now. The long process brought in millions of new Democrat voters into the process, and Democrat turnout has been energized. Obama is a novice candidate, but many of his weaknesses which would have been exposed during the duel against McCain have already seen the light and been laid to rest, where they will be long forgotten come November.

The long primaries meant that the Democrats spent much of the election fighting each other, but it also means that the winner will emerge strong and that there will be less time left for McCain to bring him back down to earth. McCain only got around 75% of the vote in the last two primaries, and has problems raising money. Meanwhile, Obama has more money than God. But McCain is a shrewd campaigner. The race exposed many exploitable weaknesses. It's too early to write the obituaries.

It's not over

The media is crowing over Hillary's defeat, but she isn't in any trouble that she wasn't in months ago. If she were going by the numbers, she would have dropped out a long time ago. The delegate math is irrelevant. It always has been. What matters are the super delegates, and whether or not she can win them over.

All we are saying is give peas a chance

Forget animal rights: it's time for plant rights! Plants have feelings too, you know. The Swiss have bravely taken the first step in heralding the banner of the next civil rights challenge: "At the request of the Swiss government, an ethics panel has weighed in on the 'dignity' of plants and opined that the arbitrary killing of flora is morally wrong."

Morally wrong? According to them, plants must be treated with "dignity." This means that "we may not use them just as we please, even if the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily."

People; plants. What's the difference? A salad is the moral equivalent of the Holocaust.

It's not fair; we try hard here in America to parody Europe, and then they have to ruin everything by doing it for us.

"The Empire Strikes Barack"

I love how Palpatine is Bill.

Global warming

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran

The drums of war loom over the horizon.

The US military is drawing up plans for a "surgical strike" against an insurgent training camp inside Iran if Republican Guards continue with attempts to destabilise Iraq, western intelligence sources said last week. One source said the Americans were growing increasingly angry at the involvement of the Guards' special-operations Quds force inside Iraq, training Shi'ite militias and smuggling weapons into the country.

Of course, we can't lift a finger without somebody leaking it to the press.

We have already, through Iraq, been fighting a war with Iran. They've been killing our troops in Iraq, supplying and training our enemies, instigating sectarian conflicts, giving the marching orders to the militias, infiltrating the Iraqi government, and rushing towards the atomic bomb. There is no way we can achieve a victory in Iraq so long as the insurgents continue to have a lifeline of support through Iran.

I don't know if our military can handle it, though. But if we're going to make a move, we have to do it before Iran becomes the next nuclear power. The window of opportunity is closing.

High gas prices

Many people are worried about high gas prices, so I sent my crack research team to investigate them. Here's what they uncovered:

• High gas prices were invented by John D. Rockefeller, who one day said to himself, "You know, I could charge a lot more for this."  Others say that business acumen was a big part of his success.
• Gas prices are largely affected by oil.  Oil production is set by amoral tyrants who scavenge in the desert and wear ornate mumus.  It may seem like a strange system, but no one has yet to suggest a better one.
• High gas prices hurt poor people the most, which is one of the benefits of it.
• One way to reduce gas prices would be biofuels which can reduce gas prices by cents a gallon at only the price of starving millions of people to death because of raised crop prices.
• High gas prices causes more people to ride a bike to work, which could lead to more people wearing bike shorts and thus an increase in false accusations of homosexuality.
• And accurate accusations.

Economic success in three easy steps

I keep hearing liberals and Ron Paul-ites—henceforth known as "Ronulans"—talking about how the economy would be going gangbusters if it just wasn't for that darn war. Isn't WW2 accredited for ending the Great Depression? If anything, by their logic, we should have more war. 100 years more, in fact! Let's not let good ideas die in the waiting queue.

To boot, most of that money goes to American companies, who surprisingly have to invest in the economy to do anything with it. In the long run, the war in Iraq may cost a lot, but it'll cost less than what it would cost to re-fight the same battle later, but on a much grander scale and on the enemy's terms. How much less costly would the second World War have been if Hitler had just been stopped at Poland?

In any case, liberals don't actually have an explanation for how ending the war would magically boost the economy.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY PLAN
1) End the war.
2)
3) PROFIT!

Besides, they aren't going to "put it back into the economy" anyway; we all know they just want to take that money and spend it on more government programs, except instead of it being spent on saving people from oppression it'll get spent on free condoms.

Tories win... in London?

The Conservatives won in London. What's going on over there? It's like San Francisco electing a Republican.

Unemployment falls, Democrats and media hardest hit

You can almost feel the physical pain this reporter must be going through as she tries to write this story in a way that doesn't violate the overarching "worst economy ever" narrative.

You know, shouldn't we actually wait for the economy to, I don't know, actually recess before calling it a recession? Yes, we are possibly in a recession if we are now allowed to make up our own definition of what "recession" means. It's hilarious how the unemployment rate isn't the "real story" now, we're told. Funny, that didn't seem to be the case before, but there wasn't a sliver of hope that had to be dismissed back then.

She even manages a "keep hope alive" moment when she says economists still think that—keep those fingers crossed!—there's still a chance unemployment will hit 6% later this year.

Wright: I served, Cheney didn't!

Wright declared this when being accused of anti-Americanism. Yes, a man with absolute moral authority who is now impervious to criticism because of service, who joins these revered halls with:

• Lee Harvey Oswald.  A marine who showed the country what one man with a rifle can do.
• Timothy McVeigh: his "blow them all up" strategy is still legendary in all branches of the service.
• Benedict Arnold.  His love for America was so great that it caused him to betray it to the British.

It's only a matter of time until some liberal proposes carving these four on some hunk of granite somewhere.

Obama: after knowing Rev. Wright for 20 years, I'm shocked to learn his views

So, what he's saying is that he's either a liar or an idiot. Somehow I doubt he sat there for 20 years while this guy raved and hadn't heard anything.

Wright praised black supremacist Louis Farrakhan. Then he was quoted as saying, "I do not in any way disagree with James Cone. Jim is a personal friend of mine."

Who's James Cone? Why, a black liberation "theologist," of course, one whose teachings Wright buys into and spreads to his flock at his Church, with Obama nodding at the pews. Cone:

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community . . . Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

And Obama sat in this guy's church for 20 years and heard none of this.

Right?

Riiiight.

New McCain campaign slogan

Finally, one I can support.

Night falls: Hillary sweeps Pennsylvania

A drop of humanity for a sea of power.
Rebuking Obama, bitter racists from all across the great white state of Pennsylvania flooded the polls to carry Hillary to a crushing victory. Now who's bitter?

Hillary is like some sort of evil, dark force that can't be killed. No matter how many times she's struck down, like the Black Knight, she just gets up again for the next round.

Of course, Obama's supporters insist that she should drop out because she can't win enough delegates to win the nomination. Newsflash: neither can Obama!

If Obama has it all wrapped up, why hasn't he put Hillary away yet? She was trailing him by ten points going into the election. He outspent her 3-to-1. Instead of closing the deal, he told rural folks that they cling to God and guns because they're bitter and they responded by clinging bitterly to Hillary. He lost it.

No matter who wins, Obama or Hillary, the election will be decided not by voters, but by party officials who will hand the nomination to their choice.

Which makes the real winner McCain.

Historians invent time machine

Apparently 98% of historians know something we don't and have declared President Bush's presidency a failure. The thrust of their assessment hinges on Iraq. Now, if I didn't know better, I'd say that the conflict in Iraq is not finished yet, so it can't possible be history, can it? Did they suddenly develop the ability to see into the future?

Historians, as historians, can only account for what has already happened. The story of Iraq has not even finished being written. When they talk about the merits of the future they cease acting as historians and their opinions have no more weight than anybody else's. It will be a long time before we will be able to look back on the Bush presidency and fully account for all it has affected.

Artiste defends the indefensible

It looks like the case on that wonderful girl's art isn't closed after all. The "work" she did over a mound of dead children is an issue again.

Yale said it was a hoax. But as a university seeking to preserve its reputation they have an incentive to, shall we say, be reticent with the truth. After all, if some corporation had been caught in a scandal, would we simply take them at their word that nothing is wrong, and say "that's that"?

The student who "artificially inseminated" (what?) herself sticks by the story. All she concedes is that there's no way of knowing how many babies she killed, only that she impregnated herself incessantly over a nine month period and took abortive drugs at the end of each cycle. She even saved physical evidence and video taped herself.

How artistic.