Say Anything Blog

Hello Kitty was bad enough when it was merely a way to decorate an asian schoolgirl's pencil box. Now it has become a threat to western civilization itself.

Exhibit A:

Exhibits B and C:

I always knew the Japanese would finally get their revenge and find a way to completely subvert our way of life. If the Air Force adopts Hello Kitty as a fighter paint scheme, which seems inevitable now, I swear I will have to go seek asylum in Cuba.

Crossposted from Ken McCracken

"Aggressively inarticulate."

Too true.

(h/t Ed Driscoll)

Crossposted from Ken McCracken

Because, you know, demanding that whole chunks of Europe be put under his authority simply because the people of those areas spoke German was hardly unreasonable.

The editor in question, Bruce Ramsey, has now quietly edited his post to make it sound less Hitler-friendly.  And who can blame him?  Shilling for Obama even to the point of minimizing Hitler’s ambitions in Europe in the 1930’s is just plain embarrassing.

Complete with “Oh my God” goodness from John McCain.

Of course, nothing bad did happen after our withdrawal from Vietnam.  I mean, what’s a few million slaughtered and oppressed Vietnamese people right?

The problem is that liberals like Harkin are the same people who tell us that nothing bad will happen should we pull out of Iraq.  Should we really be listening to these people when it comes to foreign policy?

Liberal talk radio host Taylor Marsh points out that, despite Obama’s seeming inevitability, Hillary has stronger support in key swing states.

Remarkably, even as the mainstream media writes her obituary, in general-election surveys Clinton still out-polls “presumptive nominee” Barack Obama in the key battleground states of Pennsylvania and Ohio. And, based on her strong primary performances, Hillary gives the Democrats tangible hope in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee for the first time since 1996.

Despite Hillary’s dogged determination I think Obama will win the nomination, and that will be the Democrats’ downfall this year.  Looking back at the last three Democrat Presidents - Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Johnson - it’s clear that all three won the Presidency because they campaigned as moderates.  They maybe didn’t govern as moderates, but they were perceived and accepted as such by voters.

Obama has no such appeal.  He is the most liberal Senator in the US Senate and has a cadre of connections to far-left interests from black nationalist leaders like Jeremiah Wright to rabidly anti-war America-haters like William Ayers.  That sort of thing might not matter in the urban centers of America, but the road to the White House runs through places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.

If Obama doesn’t increase his appeal in those places he’s sunk.  And given some of his comments about “bitter” rural Americans clinging to god, guns and bigotry toward people not like them the likelihood of that happening is between slim and none.

Simplistic rhetoric about “greedy oil companies” aside, the truth is that these high gas prices aren’t any better for the oil companies than they are for the average gas-buying American.

After last year’s stellar profits, American refiners are going through a traumatic period. In a time of record gasoline prices, some of them actually lost money in the first quarter, and for virtually all refiners, profits are down sharply.

Experts say the refiners are caught in a double bind. The price of their raw material, oil, is rising because of strong global demand. At the same time, consumption of gasoline in the United States is falling as a result of slower economic growth and consumer efforts to conserve.

However much the companies would like to raise gasoline prices enough to pass along the full increases in oil, analysts say they have been unable to do it. Oil prices doubled in the past year, while wholesale gasoline prices rose a mere 39 percent.

“Refiners are having a terrible time,” said Lawrence J. Goldstein, an economist at the Energy Policy Research Foundation.

Those who are demanding that the state of North Dakota build a state-owned refinery should be paying particular attention.

And why shouldn’t she?  Given that she’s wanted to give up in Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to the machinations of terrorists and their state sponsors like Syria and Iran since the first days of the invasion it’s not like she’s on their side.

Pelosi is something of a nonentity to average Iraqis. If they know who she is at all, she is generally seen as an antiwar caricature figure, someone whose views on U.S. troop withdrawals are widely considered unrealistic.

Pelosi has said she wants to see most U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the 2008, a time frame virtually no Iraqi political leader sees as feasible. Not even Mahdi Army militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, the fiercest advocate of a U.S. withdrawal on the scene, has called for such a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces. Rather, Sadr contends that the Americans should simply announce a reasonable timetable for the departure of U.S. forces.

The lack of popularity of Pelosi’s views was evident in the fact that her first day on the ground Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not make an effort to see her. Maliki is currently in the northern city of Mosul overseeing a crackdown on insurgent networks there. But the city has been largely quiet in recent days, and there was no obvious pressing reason for the prime minister to skip Pelosi’s arrival.

Pelosi may not get much more warmth from the American military leaders she plans to meet either. Pelosi argued against sending additional surge forces to Iraq, a plan overseen by Gen. David Petraeus that is now widely credited with reducing the levels of violence in Iraq. Moreover, Pelosi made waves on Capitol Hill in November by saying U.S. troops were torturing detainees - an accusation generally not taken well by men and women in uniform of any rank.

Discussion question: What does the fact that Pelosi got a much warmer reception from the Syrian dictatorship than the elected Iraqi head of stated say about the Speaker’s politics?

Day after day the people we’re fighting against in the middle east commit atrocities.  They maim and murder in the name of a culture that treats women like property.  They launch attacks using women and children as human shields.  They use mentally handicapped children as suicide bombers.  They launch attacks on civilian targets.

Almost never does the media give the outright rotten nature of our enemies the attention it deserves.  But one US soldier makes a stupid decision to use a Koran as a target and suddenly the story is headline news.

Reuters even goes so far as to obtain pictures of the shot-up Koran and counts the bullet holes in it.

If the reporters held America’s enemies to the same standards as they hold America itself we’d see balanced news coverage coming out of the middle east.

After all the “appeaser” flak Obama...er...claimed for himself last week the media is out to show the world who the real appeaser is.  And they’ve got the proof from a bunch of anti-semitic, state-controlled Egyptian journalists to prove it!

(CBS/AP) Egypt’s state-owned press opened fire Saturday on U.S. President George W. Bush as he arrived for talks with regional leaders at the conclusion of a five-day Mideast tour.

The newspapers, whose management are all appointed by the government, criticized Mr. Bush’s speech Thursday in front of the Israeli Knesset for being overly supportive of the Israelis and not mentioning the Palestinians’ plight.

“The Torah-inspired speech of Bush raised question marks over the credibility of the U.S. role in the Middle East,” wrote Mursi Atallah, the publisher of Al-Ahram, the flagship daily of the state-owned press. “Bush aims to do nothing but appeasing Israel.”

Mr. Bush’s tour, which included stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia, represents another effort to push Mideast peace talks forward as his time in office winds down.

It’s amazing that the Associated Press would dignify this sort of “Bush is just doing the Jews’ bidding!” nonsense with a story.  It’s a bit like quoting Pravda to exonerate Stalin.

But hey, it’s criticism of Bush, so I guess the media won’t mind hopping in bed with the state-owned media of a Jew-hating regime.

And some economists are beginning to think that it won’t.

A funny thing happened to the economy on its way to recession: It has taken a detour.

That, at least, is the view of a growing number of economists, including some who not long ago were saying a recession was all but inevitable.

They note that stock and credit markets have steadily improved since the Federal Reserve intervened to keep Bear Stearns Cos. from bankruptcy in early March, while a series of economic reports have been stronger than expected.

It’s a good thing for this country that journalists are wrong more often than they’re right when it comes to reporting on the economy.

But the movie is going to need some updating.  After all, Reagan polished off the Soviets a long time ago and even with a healthy Fidel Castro the idea of Cuba pulling off a convention invasion of America to any widespread extent is laughable.

So who will the bad guys be?  Islamic terrorists?  They don’t fight conventional wars.  I’d say the best bet would be North Korea and/or China.  Or maybe Venezuela?

Knowing Hollywood, though, it’ll probably be a private force of Blackwater-type mercenaries hired by Republicans to usurp the White House from a Barack Obama lookalike.

Frankly, it was amazing Hollywood made the original version of this movie.

This is moral posturing and nothing more. Besides being completely ridiculous as well, that is.

Representative Paul Broun, a Republican from Georgia, has decided that our soldiers - who we train to fight for our country and who risk death and disablement every single day in the line of duty - just can’t be trusted with the moral complications involving a Playboy magazine:

Concerned that the military is selling pornography in exchange stores in spite of a ban, one lawmaker has introduced a bill to clean up the matter.

“Our troops should not see their honor sullied so that the moguls behind magazines like Playboy and Penthouse can profit,” said Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., unveiling his House bill April 16.

His Military Honor and Decency Act would amend a provision of the 1997 Defense Authorization Act that banned sales of “sexually explicit material” on military bases.

The new language would “close existing loopholes” in regulations to bring the military “into compliance with the intent of the 1997 law,” Broun said.

“Allowing sale of pornography on military bases has harmed military men and women by escalating the number of violent, sexual crimes, feeding a base addiction, eroding the family as the primary building block of society, and denigrating the moral standing of our troops both here and abroad,” Broun said.

So....let me get this straight. Aside from the points I’ve already made about these men who are willing to fight for our country not being able to handle the stirring, soul searing experience of seeing a beautiful, naked woman in a magazine (seeing your friends and enemies dead is alright though) there is another factor.

Does representative Broun think that a man who can be trusted flying a twenty million dollar fighter jet, or handling a 60 ton tank, or any number of other amazingly complex jobs - often in the heat of combat - can’t deal with Playboy?

Look, I’m not endorsing Playboy - or any other magazine of that nature - by any means and in fact I haven’t seen one in years. But in today’s world I understand it’s still pretty tame fare. To call it pornography is a stretch. And anyway, if those guys want pornography there is the internet universe that is full of genuine, hard core, dyed-in-the-wool porn. The push of a computer button will get them all they want.

Note to Representative Broun: In case you missed it, young men like to look at beautiful young women. Just letting you know.

This country already has a dual personality when it comes to how we treat our service men and women. On the one hand they can do all the things I described above and are expected to act as adults in a very rigid, professional, and often dangerous environment. On the other hand in many cases they can’t buy a beer because they’re not “adults” by definition of law.

And now we’re going to tell them that they aren’t adult enough to make their own choices of what magazines they read?

Please. Rep. Broun should save his moral posturing for church. Let’s treat our service men and women as adults, shall we?

First it was the Democrats lying about President Bush’s National Guard service and saying he didn’t have enough military experience.  Now the Democrats are trying to say that McCain has too much of a military background.  And that it’s “dangerous.”

Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, “and he has a hard time thinking beyond that,” Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday.

“I think he’s trapped in that,” Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. “Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous.”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The Democrats aren’t going to get anywhere by attacking John McCain’s military record.  The only constituency that appreciates such attacks is the liberal left, and the Democrats already have them locked up.  By engaging in this sort of attack the only thing the Democrats are going to do is unify moderate to conservative Republicans in defense of McCain against these attacks despite their doubts about McCain as a leader.

It’s one thing to dislike McCain’s policies . It’s another to stand by and watch the guy get unfairly bushwhacked by a bunch of liberals trying to undermine his proud and admirable military service.

Besides, with the far-left Obama being the likely nominee and already pulling the Democrats to the left this election cycle they can hardly afford to come off as a bunch of military-hating liberals with these sorts of attacks on McCain.

This June voters of Grand Forks County will be asked to approve an home rule charter giving the county more powers.  If you’ve been reading my past work on Grand Forks County you will know that I believe (and am willing to back it up) that they are a most dysfunctional organization.  Because of that I tend to not want to give them any more power.

Still the subject is a bit complicated.  Are their any benefits to the taxpayer?  The North Dakota Farm Bureau has weighed in:

“The proposed Grand Forks County Home Rule Charter just doesn’t measure up,” Grand Forks County Farm Bureau President Paul Galegher said. “If the voters of Grand Forks County adopt the proposed Home Rule Charter on the June ballot, it is very likely that the next step will be a county sales tax…

“We see a lot of problems with the proposed charter, specifically language that would give the county commissioners the ability to consolidate mill levies without a vote of the people,” Galegher said. “They would no longer need to fund the original intended use, and in many cases, these designated funds were approved by a vote of the people. Consolidating mill levies allows commissioners to supersede the will of the original taxpayers’ vote.”

Galegher said the proposed Home Rule Charter would grant the county commissioners authority to levy and collect new taxes, such as property taxes, sales and use taxes, gross receipt taxes, motor vehicle fuels and special fuels taxes, motor vehicle registration fees and more.

“We already pay federal and state gasoline taxes,” he said. “Why should we open the door to paying yet another gas tax — this time a county tax? Why is the ability to levy these taxes even in the charter at all? How many times to do we have to pay taxes on the same products and services? It’s time to stop these local taxes that just don’t measure up.”

I think that’s a very strong statement and a lot of great reasons to continue my opposition to the measure.  The Herald gave a proponent of Home Rule a chance to present the other side.

“They say it would be abused. The county has not levied to the maximum,” he said. “The County Commission has been very frugal in their dealings with property taxes .?.?. There’s no reason to fear this home rule.”

That’s a quote by Lloyd Omdahl, former Lieutenant Governor of North Dakota, contributing columnist for the Grand Forks Herald (I think he’s still active), retired UND professor and chaired the home rule committee for the county.  He’s a very prominent person and a strong supporter for the charter.

But really with all of those credentials can anyone take him serious.  He’s said that the county has been VERY frugal.  That’s absolutely wrong.  From 1997 to 2006 county property taxes nearly doubled at the same time the county actually lost population (that’s a 72% increases adjusting for inflation!).  That was before the jail fiasco when the county commission jacked up property taxes last year to cover their mistake.  By the way the (.?.?) in the quote was in the Herald article.  Maybe somebody there thought it was a remarkable statement as well.

The county is now in second place for property tax bills after the school.  They passed Grand Forks city last year. 

Clearly nobody can be taken seriously when they say that the county has been frugal with our property taxes.  They’ve been spending irresponsibly.  In fact every time I post on the county I challenge anyone to point out where the county has rolled back some recent spending increases in order to pay for part of the jail.  The voters need to tell the county commission to do everything they can to pay for their mistakes and quit acting like they have a blank check. 

Here’s some previous work I’ve done on the subject with links to go back to older works. 

The Bismarck Tribune reports today about staffers leaving the Duane Sand campaign.  Of course, Say Anything readers knew all about that 10 days ago.

Yikes…

BOSTON (AP) — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was hospitalized Saturday after becoming ill at his home, his office said. There was no immediate word on his condition.

A knowledgeable official said the Massachusetts Democrat was in the hospital after suffering stroke-like symptoms. The official declined to be identified by name, citing the sensitivity of the events.

Kennedy spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter confirmed in a statement that Kennedy went to Cape Cod Hospital on Saturday morning “after feeling ill at his home.” After discussion with his doctors in Boston, Kennedy was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for further examination.

“He is currently under evaluation that information will be released as it becomes available,” she said.

I detest Ted Kennedy’s politics, but I hope he’s able to make a full and speedy recovery from whatever this is.

On a related note, I’ve often wondered why politicians hang on to their offices even as their health fails and even the most routine of functions becomes a struggle.  I watch Ted Kennedy snoozing in the Senate chamber Senator Robert Byrd hobbling around Washington DC on canes and I wonder: Why don’t these guys just give it up?  Is the allure of power really that great?

At this stage of the game people like Ted Kennedy have probably achieved all they’re going to career-wise.  Why not retire and spend your sunset years in leisure with friends and family?

Partisanship aside, it pains me to see these people clinging to their political careers even as their health fails them.

Cool picture and explanation of Mar’s retrograde motion.

So....somebody wanted to build a road. Somebody else cried, “Wait! There are endangered crested newts there. We must protect them!”

So they did a study to the tune of a million pounds to find and protect the little critters - roughly two million dollars - and found out, lo and behold, there were no newts to be found anyhwere on the construction site:

Leicestershire County Council delayed a major road-building scheme for three months after evidence of great crested newts was found on the site. The species is protected by law, but after the authority paid hundreds of thousands of pounds for special newt-fencing and traps, not one of the rare creatures was discovered.

The action was taken on the strength of a report from environmental experts, which found there could have been between one and 10 of the 6in amphibians on the site.

Officials yesterday lodged a complaint with the government, claiming the outlay would have a knock-on effect on local services.

Too bad they weren’t polar bears. They wouldn’t have had to look so hard to find some of those. Heh.

Thanks to Barking Moonbat for this one.

Boy, I’m glad that they don’t need to focus on Zimbabwe, where white farmers are being forced off their farms and the farms are being turned over to the cronies of the local political machine. Or on Saudi Arabia or any number of other Muslim nations where just being a Christian is a crime. Or Darfur, where the slaughter of black Africans by Muslim militias continues without interruption. The list goes on and on.

Instead they’re coming here:

GENEVA (Reuters) - A special U.N. human rights investigator will visit the United States this month to probe racism, an issue that has forced its way into the race to secure the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

The United Nations said Doudou Diene would meet federal and local officials, as well as lawmakers and judicial authorities during the May 19-June 6 visit.

“The special rapporteur will...gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance,” a U.N. statement said on Friday.

This so powerfully, mind-numbingly stupid that I just can’t get a grasp on it. Are things truly that bad here?

Can we truly be put on the list ahead of the likes of Mugabe?

And I wonder just who he will be “gathering information” from? The left and their politically correct sock puppets in the media, as well as their pet politicians will no doubt be standing in line for this one.

Feh.

This guy is a piece of work:

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, facing a likely defeat in next Tuesday’s primary election, won’t travel to Kentucky before the voting, but said he hopes to have much more time to win over Kentucky voters before the November general election.

He also blamed Fox News for disseminating “rumors” about him and said that that and e-mails filled with misinformation that have been “systematically” dispersed have hurt him in Kentucky.

Amazing, but not surprising. The left’s favorite punching bag, Fox news, doesn’t fall in line with the MSM groupthink that worships the ground he walks on. Therefore it’s their fault that he doesn’t connect with the voters in Kentucky.

The fact that he hasn’t a clue about what middle America thinks wouldn’t have anything to do with it, would it?