Say Anything Blog

Clear as mud:

ST. LOUIS - Barack Obama said Saturday that he was surprised at how the media has “finely calibrated” his recent words on Iraq, and denied that he intends to anything but end the war if he is elected.

“I was a little puzzled by the frenzy that I set off by what I thought was a pretty innocuous statement,” the expected Democratic presidential nominee told reporters flying with him to Missouri from Montana. “I am absolutely committed to ending the war.”

On Thursday in North Dakota, Obama said that “I’ll ... continue to refine my policy” on Iraq after an upcoming trip there. With a promise to end the war the central premise of his candidacy, the Obama campaign has struggled over the past two days to push back against Republicans and others who say his recent statement could be a softening.

So what Obama is telling us now is that he’s already made up his mind on his Iraq policy and that a visit to the country, something that has been recommended even by liberal rags like The New Yorker so that Obama can update his outdated stance on the war, won’t do a thing to change it?  And that his previous comments about “refining” his stance after a visit to the country weren’t really meant to imply any refinement at all?

That would be a blatant admission of lying on the campaign trail, and if it’s the case, why even bother visiting the country?

By the way, I think it’s rather sad that Obama would come to a red state like North Dakota and talk a bunch of phony baloney about refining his Iraq position, only to leave the state and tell the national media that what he told the rubes out in fly-over country was, in fact, phony baloney.

Personally, I thought the rumors circulating about Barack Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate were put to bed when Daily Kos posted a copy of Obama’s birth certificate which the Obama campaign promptly acknowledged was genuine.

Now, however, some serious questions are being raised about the provenance of the birth certificate image posted at the Daily Kos.  An apparently government-trained documents expert named Jay Mckinnon has posted faked images of Hawaiian birth certificates on the internet, and those fakes share a lot of similarities to the image of the birth certificate purporting to belong to Obama:

One image created and posted by opendna is what he describes as a “blank template” of a State of Hawaii Certification of Live Birth. Only two data fields are filled in: the ISLAND OF BIRTH ("Oahu") and the HOUR OF BIRTH (7:24 PM). Neither of the images have a posted date stamp, but embedded EXIF information contains the time stamp of June 12 at 8:24am, the same day and time Daily Kos posted the purported Obama birth certificate.

Both images lack two salient characteristics present in the Barack Obama birth certificate images claimed by the Daily Kos blog and Obama’s “Fight the Smears” site. The Field under CERTIFICATE NO is blank whereas on the purported “Obama birth certificate” that area is blacked out as if to conceal a real number. In addition, the two documents posted to the opendna account lack the reversed date (June 6, 2007) that appears at the bottom of the purported “Obama birth certificate.”

However, the ISLAND OF BIRTH and the HOUR OF BIRTH is identical on the “Haye I.B Ahphorgerie” and blank certificates as well as the purported “Obama birth certificate,” which also claims 7:24 pm as the HOUR OF BIRTH and Oahu as the ISLAND OF BIRTH. The odds of an identical time occurring by chance in two certificates is 1440 to 1. Either the former is derived from the latter, or the latter is derived from the former.

If “Haye I.B Ahphorgerie” were derivative of the purported “Obama birth certificate,” it would have meant that—in a matter of minutes on the morning of June 12, 2008, opendna would have had to tracelessly erase all fields (save ISLAND OF BIRTH and the HOUR OF BIRTH), and to painstakingly remove the blacked out area near CERTIFICATE NO and the reversed date that appears at the bottom of the purported “Obama birth certificate.” Given the complexity of the background pattern, it would have been difficult to do this without leaving behind traces of the extractions. For what motive would one want to do this?

At first blush I thought the birth certificate controversy was rather silly.  Just another derivative of the constant furor over Obama’s funny-sounding name.  Like maybe some of the people demanding to see the birth certificate were thinking that if Obama’s real middle name turned out to be “Mohammed” his campaign might be sunk.

But this issue has serious consequences attached to it.  If it turns out that Obama wasn’t born in the United States, for instance, he may not be eligible to run for the Presidency.  The Obama campaign has been less than forthcoming about this birth certificate, despite rumors circulating about it for months now, and that’s only added to the controversy.  Why is the Daily Kos the only place where Obama’s birth certificate has ever appeared?  Why hasn’t Obama just issued his birth certificate, something that would both stop the rumor mills and make his critics look foolish for taking up the issue?

The questions deserve answers from Obama himself, I think, and until he provides them this controversy is only going to grow.

A preemptive strike against Americans who may be poised to flee an impending Obama administration’s tax-and-spend policies?

You probably didn’t notice this little provision inserted into the Heroes Act of 2008, passed by Congress on June 17.

The headlines in the press release about the law were about the increased benefits for veterans and families of deceased military.

But Richard Kohan of Price WaterhouseCoopers drew my attention to one section of the act—the portion that states anyone voluntarily giving up his or her citizenship will be taxed on ALL of his assets as if he or she had sold them—paying capital gains on assets that have increased in value, even though they have not been sold!

That’s right. While everyone in the media is focused on keeping aliens out of America, Congress has voted to lock its citizens—or at least a good portion of their assets—into—America! Maybe they’re thinking that patriotism won’t be enough to keep the smart money from recognizing the coming increases in the tax burden.

Ask yourself: What revenue need in the government does this tax serve?  If your answer is “I don’t know” you begin to see why taxation for any purpose other than raising revenue necessary for government is a very bad thing.

By allowing politicians to pass things like “sin” taxes into our tax code for the purpose of deterring certain types of behavior - or passing tax exemptions and deductions for things like buying a hybrid vehicle to encourage certain types of behavior - we’ve opened the door to politicians being able to control us through taxation.

A sort of back door tyranny.  The founders never intended that government should dictate to us what vehicles we can drive, etc. but by using the power of taxation the government can exert that control anyway, albeit in a more limited sense.

We should demand that the tax code be simplified, and that taxation be limited to revenue-raising purposes only and not bouts of social engineering or outright attempts to deny citizens the liberty to move as we see in this instance.

I was truly saddened… and angered… to read this story.  It would be nice to know that Britain has a death penalty… and would use it.

A man has been charged with killing a former soldier allegedly attacked on a bus after telling thugs not to swear in front of a lady.

Stan Dixon, 60, had been fighting for life since the attack on Saturday but died in hospital yesterday, police revealed today.

A 23-year-old man initially arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm with intent has now been charged with the murder.

Mr Dixon, renowned for his traditional values, was travelling home with his 41-year-old partner on Saturday evening when he heard the group’s bad language.

He asked them to refrain from swearing in front of a woman - but the couple were met with a torrent of abuse.

To avoid any further confrontation, they decided to get off at an earlier stop than they had planned.

But as they stood at the doors of the bus, which was nearing Mr Dixon’s home in Horden, County Durham, two of the gang allegedly pushed him in the back.

The father of three fell forwards off the bus, on to the road where he collapsed unconscious with major head injuries.

This is not at all unlike all those young thugs in this country who feel compelled to share their taste for 600 watts of vile, foul-languaged Gangsta’ Rap with anyone and everyone within ten car lengths.

But there is another, more universal lesson to be learned from this incident:  Avoiding a confrontation with evil, a form of appeasement, can have its own, deadly consequences.  Neville Chamberlain was a WWI veteran who tried to avoid confrontation.  The price paid for his appeasement was hideously spread all across the globe.

Because it was the right thing to do.

Alas! Further fallout from this unpopular war...1250 of our troops re-enlist in Baghdad on the Fourth of July!

Hat tip Hot Air

Cross Posted at Proof Positive

Once on the short-list of VP candidates, Wesley Clark’s recent foot-in-mouth performance has reportedly caused him to be crossed off.

Nearly a week after his controversial “Face the Nation” appearance last Sunday, retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark is taking a break from the presidential campaign — but many Democratic insiders think he has already been crossed off the list of Barack Obama’s potential running mates. . . .

“On a scale of 1 to 10, Clark’s words were a 10 in terms of unhelpfulness,” said one Democrat who has helped manage past presidential campaigns.

I don’t think that attacking McCain’s military record is going to be helpful strategy for Obama and his Democrats period.  Clark was right that McCain’s service in the military, including getting shot down in Vietnam and spending five years being tortured by Vietnamese socialists, not necessarily qualifying him to be President.  But most Americans generally view military service as a positive for a candidate, and McCain’s story of pain and perseverance is particularly appealing.  So though Clark was right, his snide belittlement of McCain’s service is simply going to end up reflecting more on Clark than McCain.

And when you combine in Clark’s hypocrisy on this matter - remember that in 2004 Clark was telling us that John Kerry’s military service qualified him to be President - he just ends up looking like a horse’s ass.

On a related note, this had me chuckling:

At first, Clark moved aggressively to defend his remarks, scheduling additional press appearances and even updating his Facebook status to “Wes Clark knows that John McCain is largely untested and untried when it comes to matters of national security.”

A significant figure in American politics responding to a controversy by updating his Facebook status?

We are, indeed, in a new era of politics.

A good piece rounding up Obama’s various flip flops and deceptions from Jonathan Last.

Oops.

Now that tons of tomatoes have rotted and farmer have lost a huge stack of money over the fear that their tomatoes were the culprits behind a nationwide salmonella outbreak (if “outbreak” is the right word) our trusty government is saying, uh, tomatoes? Nevermind:

WASHINGTON - Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe.

New interviews with those who became infected found that many had eaten jalapeno peppers, often in salsa served with Mexican food, according to two state health officials. So far, none of the jalapenos taken from restaurants and from the homes of those who became ill have tested positive for Salmonella saintpaul.

I don’t mean to be critical - well, actually, yes I do - but it seems that the first impulse to blame tomatoes for the outbreak may have been just that - an impulse. And one that cost a lot of people a lot of money.  I wonder what they based it on when not one single tomato was found to have slmonella anywhere. Just asking.

Good job, guys. Now you know why the phrase “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” sends people scurrying for cover whenever they hear it.

Here’s that unity candidate you’ve been hearing so much about telling us about the evils of the white man’s greed.

That’s from the audio book version of Barack Obama’s Dreams from My Father.  Here’s an excerpt:

[T]he pastor [Rev. Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright] described going to a museum and being confronted by a painting title Hope.

“The painting depicts a harpist,” Revernd Wright explained, “a woman who at first glance appears to be sitting atop a great mountaintop. Untill you take a closer look and see that the woman is bruised and bloodied, dressed in tattered rags, the harp reduced to a single frayed string. Your eye is then drawn down to the scene below, down to the valley below, where everywhere are the ravages of famine, the drumbeat of war, a world groaning under strife and deprivation.

It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, aprtheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere ... That’s the world! On which hope sits.”

And so it went, a meditation on a fallen world. While the boys next to me doodled on their church bulletin, Reverend Wright spoke of Sharpesville and Hiroshima, the callousness of policy makers in the White House and in the State House.

Note that Obama, who has thrown Rev. Wright under the bus since the writing of this book, doesn’t disagree with Rev. Wright’s sermon at all in this narrative.  In fact, according to the book, he weeps at the end of it.

But isn’t alluding to “white man’s greed” a bit...racist?  Sort of like, oh I don’t know, Jews being blamed for the post World War I hardships in Germany?

And here’s more observations on this book written by the supposedly “post-racial” politics candidate:

Obama probably did not think about the presidential office possibility when he wrote the book “Dreams From My Father” as it is laden with racist categorizations. Obama categorizes people according to skin tone, as some are olive, pale, walnut, etc. Almost to the point of being laughable, if it was not so pathetic and scary. The last person to be that race obsessed in power started freakin’ WWII and murdered millions of innocent people.

My husband and I sat down one night and began counting how many times Obama used racial categorization or referred to race in his book Dreams From My Father. There are racial references made 179 times in the first 110 pages.

We got sick of counting at page 110 and sick of reading Obama’s racial trashing.

Very divisive stuff for a guy campaigning on unity.

Oh, and the terrorists are “worn out” too.

Murtha: I think they have 17 or so guidelines and they’ve solved 4 or 5 of them. . . .

Murtha: I think the short term it (the Bush Surge) has reduced incidents. I’m not sure if it’s because the Iraqis are just worn out but certainly the way they are doing it today it makes a big difference. It used to be we broke down doors. We went in and we killed people inadvertently. Now they’re much more careful about it.

Murtha says he thinks that “they” (apparently Murtha doesn’t consider himself a member of the country that’s at war in Iraq) have achieved “4 or 5” of the “17 or so guidelines” that need to be achieved in Iraq.

The reality?  Our nation set out 18 benchmarks for success in Iraq, and of those 15 have now been achieved.

Discussion question: How scary is it that this guy, who clearly either has no idea at all what’s going on Iraq or knows but chooses to dishonestly ignore it, is a member of Congress?

Remember, Rep. Murtha was the guy Democrats chose to put on point when it came to Iraq policy circa 2005.  Remember all those news stories about the “hawkish” Democrat who was now opposing the war?  The liberal left put their faith in Murtha to lead them to a withdrawal from Iraq.

That Murtha has been so horribly wrong about Iraq just shows how wrong the left in general has been about the war.

Interesting...

Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian.

The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body. . . .

“Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises,” said Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam.

Anyone want to posit a guess as to which political leaders are suppressing this report?  And why?

“Big oil” gets a lot of flak for using its considerable political clout to manipulate the political issues surrounding its industry.  While that’s no doubt true, though not necessarily to the extent claimed by the oil industry’s critics, when will the biofuel industry come under the same file for using its money and political clout to manipulate political issues for its own benefit?

The biofuel industry wouldn’t exist as it does today without heavy taxpayer subsidies.  Yet we’re supposed to believe that biofuel companies are the good guys and oil companies are the bad guys?

Even after Hillary went out and campaigned with Obama:

A growing number of Clinton supporters polled say they may stay home in November instead of casting their ballot for Obama, an indication the party has yet to coalesce around the Illinois senator four weeks after the most prolonged and at times divisive primary race in modern American history came to a close.

According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday, the number of Clinton supporters who plan to defect to Republican Sen. John McCain’s camp is down from one month ago, but—in what could be an ominous sign for Obama as he seeks to unify the party—the number of them who say they plan to vote for Obama is also down, and a growing number say they may not vote at all.

We’ve heard a lot about the lackluster support McCain has gotten from conservatives in the GOP, and while those reports are absolutely true it seems as though Obama has no real enthusiasm advantage when it comes to his own party.

Bob Owens says that Republicans, and those who oppose simply giving up in Iraq in general, should welcome Barack Obama’s recent shifts away from a hard line “withdraw at any cost” position:

Republicans should welcome any change of heart from Obama, as recognizing American progress in Iraq could only benefit both countries.

I’ve got two reactions.

First, Obama should be hammered for this policy shift because I don’t think it’s sincere at all.  The shift itself has been far too insubstantial to this point, and even if Obama adds more substance to it I don’t believe him.  I think any shift at all from Obama on Iraq will be little more than a campaign promise and soon forgotten after election day.

Second, I think Obama is actually getting more flak from the left than the right over his shift on Iraq.  Which is telling.  Mainstream Americans don’t want to fail in Iraq, especially now that we’re so achingly close to success.

Obama’s left-wing base isn’t the mainstream.

Ostensibly to conserve fuel since one less day of commuting will mean less gas used, apparently, but how many people are going to increase their fuel consumption during those three day weekends?

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Starting next month, it will be “TGIT” for Utah state employees. As in: “Thank God It’s Thursday.”

In a yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state’s energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees.

They will put in 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday, and have Fridays off, freeing them to golf, shop, spend time with the kids or do anything else that strikes their fancy. They will get paid the same as before.

“One of the jokes is that one of the biggest benefits will be for golf courses,” said Ryan Walker, 49, an information technology director. He said he is looking forward to tackling items on his long-neglected “honey-do” list (As in: “Honey, do this” and “Honey, do that"); camping; and traveling more around the state.

Traveling more around the state?  Doesn’t sound like he’ll be conserving fuel.

So will this work?  Doesn’t seem like it would.  If they’re keeping state offices and such open an extra two hours, is that not an extra two hours of energy consumption for the other four days of the week?  And an extra two hours of government vehicle usage?

Seems like a pretty dumb idea to me.

Via, oddly enough, the Huffington Post.  I’m not sure how “great” some of these are (who the hell is Heidi Montag?), but I don’t think we can go wrong with patriotic women’s swimwear.

My personal favorite:

That photo is like that famous Farrah Fawcett poster for a whole new generation.

It’s the Fourth of July, so the Friday Night Babe should have...something patriotic about her! Amanda Tapping, of Stargate fame…

Happy Independence Day!

Cross Posted at Proof Positive

Not a Steven Segal movie, but this guy:

The state of Florida recently passed a law permitting employees to keep firearms locked in their vehicles in the parking lot where they work. Not so fast, says Walt Disney World!

The giant resort has declared that much of its sprawling property is exempt from a new state law that allows Floridians with concealed-weapons permits to keep firearms locked in their cars at work.
Disney, which has 60,000 employees and a long-standing policy against allowing guns on its land, cites an arcane—and late-added—loophole in the new law, which took effect Tuesday.

Wait ‘til you hear the “loophole” they want to drive a Matterhorn ride through!

Disney cites language within Florida’s newly enacted “Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008” that creates an exception for companies whose primary business is to manufacture, use, store or transport explosives regulated under federal law.

What??? The primary business of an amusement park is to “manufacture, use, store or transport explosives regulated under federal law”? So, the fireworks in the park are their “primary” business? This doesn’t pass the smell test!

“I intended it to exempt places like defense plants, Air Force bases, things like that,” said Peaden, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. “But not Disney. Not at all.”

But on the same day that the House took its final vote on the gun bill, the exemption for explosives companies was revised so that it also includes “property owned or leased by an employer who has obtained a permit” under federal law for such explosives.

Disney has such a permit, for the extensive fireworks used in its theme parks. State Rep. Stan Mayfield, a Vero Beach Republican also involved in crafting the final legislation, said lawmakers had agreed to insert that exception at the request of a small group of lawyers representing several businesses and business groups—including Disney.

But Mayfield said nobody ever intended for the language to spare so much of the Disney resort, which covers about 30,000 acres.

“I don’t think anybody that voted for that bill expected Disney to be exempt,” Mayfield said.

So, thanks to a little slight of hand by Disney lawyers, the intent of the law is thwarted!
Let’s hear it for the heirs of Disneyland disregarding the spirit of the Second Amendment!

Hat tip HuffPo
Cross Posted at Proof Positive

Fox News picks up on a bit of deception from Obama’s first campaign ad of the general election which I posted about a week ago.

The campaign of 2008 started on July 1 when Obama launched his first national advertising buy of the season. How McCain responds and whether or not he does, will have a big impact in determining whether Obama can solidify or expand his current lead in the polls. As always, the media fails to cover the significant events of the campaign — but this is one of the most critical.

The Obama ad, which introduces him as someone who worked his way through college, fights for American jobs, and battles for health care also seeks to move him to the center by taking credit for welfare reform in Illinois which, the ad proclaims, reduced the rolls by 80%.

But there’s one problem - Obama opposed the 1996 welfare reform act at the time. The Illinois law for which he takes credit, was merely the local implementing law the state was required to pass, and it did, almost unanimously. Obama’s implication — that he backed “moving people from welfare to work” — is just not true.

With Obama running the ad in all the swing states (Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia), this gross usurpation of credit affords the McCain campaign an incredible opportunity for rebuttal.

This level of deception is what most people call “lying.”

It’s interesting to watch Obama take hit after hit from the liberal left as his campaign pushes to the center for the general election.

We all know that Obama isn’t going to stay in the center once he’s elected.  He’s just trying to look more conservative for the sake of getting elected.

We also know that the liberals are still going to vote for Obama.  He’s their messiah.  He may break their heart now and then, but what are they going to do?  Vote for McCain instead?  Or Ralph Nader again?

What’s perhaps most interesting is that Obama can’t be the New York Times/Daily Kos candidate and expect to win the general election.  What does this tell us?  That the New York Times and Daily Kos and all the other liberals who are upset about Obama’s move to the center don’t represent mainstream American ideals.