Posts from — July 2008

Over at Conscience of a Liberal, Paul Krugman reminded me of this piece in the ONION from January 17, 2001 – Bush: ‘Our Long National Nightmare Of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over’.

It is satire, but it damn sure isn’t funny.

That is the iconic symbol of The New Yorker. The top-hatted gentleman with the monocle is Eustace Tilley. In Wikipedia’s article on The New Yorker they note that the founder wasn’t a populist:

Harold Ross famously declared in 1925 prospectus for The New Yorker: “It has announced that it is not edited for the old lady in Dubuque.”

The New Yorker is assumed to be a “liberal” magazine, but the only instance of the editors endorsing a candidate was in 2004, and it was in reaction to the mess created by the Hedgemony.

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Position: 36.8 N 61.6 W. [10 PM CDT] Updated
Movement: Northeast [055°] near 6 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph.
Wind Gusts: 75 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 996 mb.

Bertha is currently 360 miles North-Northeast of Bermuda and moving out to open ocean.

Bertha is now the longest lived July tropical storm on record, beating out a storm in 1916.

CNN covers a major pain for some people who have to fly: Ex-prosecutor on terror list: Fix it

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department’s former top criminal prosecutor says the government’s terror watch list likely has caused thousands of innocent Americans to be questioned, searched or otherwise hassled.

Former Assistant Attorney General Jim Robinson would know: He’s one of them.

Robinson joined another mistaken-identity American and the American Civil Liberties Union on Monday to urge fixing the list that’s supposed to identify suspected terrorists.
…

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When some people are given lemons by life, they make lemonade. When the Obama campaign was given a bottle of Château Lafite Rothschild, they turned it into vinegar.

When a couple of leftwingers living in isolation on the “Redneck Riviera”, like the Pensacola Beach Blogger and myself can recognize something as an all too accurate portrayal of the media coverage of Obama, how do you explain the absurd reaction of the “important leftie bloggers” living in the Northeast and California.

Even the Canadians are wondering what’s going on in the CBC piece, Obama campaign says New Yorker cartoon goes too far.

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Position: 33.8 N 63.7 W. [10 PM CDT] Updated
Movement: North-Northeast [015°] near 9 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph.
Wind Gusts: 85 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 995 mb.

The center is 120 miles North-Northeast of Bermuda, and tropical storm force winds are about over. They have recorded over 4½ inches of rain at the airport.

Invest 94L continues to move West to provide more interest later in the week.

La Fête Nationale
Bastille Day

Thank you for the help with the Revolution.

Happy Birthday Александра.

Some background.

I realize that Bertha hasn’t really been providing any gripping drama after the early spin up to Cat 3, but 94L is out in the mid Atlantic and will probably be at least Tropical Depression 4 in the morning.

Bertha is on track to be the longest surviving July tropical event on record, after just missing out on the longest lasting hurricane record.

This is unfortunate: via CNN – Snake-handling pastor arrested

FRANKFORT, Kentucky (AP) — The pastor of a Kentucky church that handles snakes in religious rites was among 10 people arrested by wildlife officers in a crackdown on the venomous snake trade.

More than 100 snakes, many of them deadly, were confiscated in the undercover sting after Thursday’s arrests, said Col. Bob Milligan, director of law enforcement for Kentucky Fish and Wildlife.

Most were taken from the Middlesboro home of Gregory James Coots, including 42 copperheads, 11 timber rattlesnakes, three cottonmouth water moccasins, a western diamondback rattlesnake, two cobras and a puff adder.

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Update: CNN is now confirming the report and raised the death toll to nine.

The BBC just reported [no US media is covering this yet]: Heavy Afghan losses for US troops

At least eight US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan in clashes with Taleban militants.

US commander Daniel Dwyer told the BBC the soldiers had been killed in clashes in the north-east of the country.
…

A Nato statement says US soldiers and members of the Afghan National Army came under attack in Kunar province, near the border with Pakistan.

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Position: 30.5 N 63.1 W. [10 PM CDT]
Movement: North-Northwest [325°] near 3 mph.
Maximum sustained winds: 65 mph.
Wind Gusts: 75 mph.
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 140 miles.
Minimum central pressure: 990 mb.

Bertha is 160 miles Southeast of Bermuda and very slowly moving in that direction.Bermuda will get minimal tropical storm force winds in a few hours if Bertha maintains its present moment.

CNN reports: McKinney running for president as Green candidate

(CNN) — The liberal environmentalist Green Party nominated former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney as its presidential candidate Saturday.

McKinney, 53, held off three rivals to win the party’s nomination during its convention in Chicago, Illinois. She picked journalist and activist Rosa Clemente as her running mate.

It is always good to have choices.

One of the lesser evils that was spawned by the invasion of Iraq are the number of otherwise sane and intelligent people who refuse to simply acknowledge they screwed up when they supported the invasion and move on with their life.

This was a major problem for Hillary Clinton, but an even bigger problem in the media. Politics explains Mrs. Clinton decision, but nothing but ego explains the media.

Over at Hullabaloo Tristero looks at George Packer who is complaining about Obama’s Iraqi withdrawal plan.

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