August 6, 2008
THE FREER THE MARKET THE FURTHER THE PEAK:
The falling price of oil explained (Robin Pagnamenta, 8/06/08, Times of London)
While oil consumption in China and India remains robust, a loosening of fuel subsidy regimes has helped moderate demand in those countries too.Demand from China, in particular, is expected to fall over the next few weeks during the Olympic Games as the Government has ordered factories to close to improve air quality and because of public holidays.
Other factors are also at play.
A Saudi pledge in June to pump an extra 500,000 barrels of oil per day has helped to ease fears about a global supply crunch this year.
There are also signs that financial investors are exiting the market, helping to deflate what some believe may in part have been a speculative bubble.
ISN'T THE COMPARISON KIND OF RACIST?
Is there sinister subtext in McCain ads? (MICHAEL MOYNIHAN, 8/6/08, Politico)
[I]t is with a certain amount of puzzlement that many observers have watched the issue of race injected into the campaign. Last week, after the McCain team released two seemingly innocuous, though pointed, advertisements — one accusing their opponent of vapidity, the other of messianism — a steady stream of mainstream, Obama-friendly commentators and bloggers cried foul. In a video titled “Celeb,” McCain juxtaposed Obama with famous paparazzi quarry Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. To most, the message was clear, if a little ham-handed: Like Hilton and Spears, Obama is famous for being famous; he's more flash than substance.But was there a deeper message? In the past week and a half, the liberal blogosphere has become a virtual Bletchley Park of racial cryptographers teasing out the sinister motives and subtexts of McCain’s campaign advertising.
In a web-only column, The New York Times editorial page charged that the ad was a “racially tinged attack” like the one that “ran against Harold Ford, a black candidate for Senate in Tennessee in 2006. That assault, too, began with videos juxtaposing Mr. Ford with young, white women." The American Prospect’s Ezra Klein huffed that the McCain campaign is “running crypto-racist ads.” Bill Press, former co-host of CNN's Crossfire, proclaimed that the “Celeb” spot was "deliberately and deceptively racist." Polk Award-winning blogger Josh Marshall wrote that “the McCain campaign is now pushing the caricature of Obama as a uppity young black man whose presumptuousness is displayed not only in taking on airs above his station but also in a taste for young white women."
The online hyperventilation quickly passed through to the Sunday chat show circuit. If this wasn’t dog-whistle politics, said Democratic strategist Donna Brazile on "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," then “why not use Denzel Washington or Bono?”
Because they're gifted artists not mere celebrities? Mr. Washington, for instance, might be the finest living male actor in the world today. Barrack Obama barely makes the top 100 legislators in the current Senate.
WE LIKE THE IDEA OF A BLACK PRESIDENT...:
Poll: Trouble Signs in Obama's Lead (MASSIMO CALABRESI, 8/06/08, TIME)
With three months to go before election day, Obama's advantage is largest on atmospheric issues: he is seen as far more likeable and a greater force for change than McCain. Asked which candidate is most likeable, Obama beats McCain 65% to 20%; as for which is the real candidate for change, he leads 61% to 17%. Obama also beats McCain 48% to 35% on who understands voters' concerns best, another key indicator of appeal.But on specific issues, Obama is treading water or sinking a bit. On the number one issue of the campaign right now, the economy, Obama leads McCain 43%-39%, compared to 44%-37% reported by TIME's poll in June. Despite his highly touted tour of Europe, the Middle East and Afghanistan last month, Obama may be in something of a late summer slump. The poll shows that voters have increased their faith in McCain's ability to manage the Iraq war, favoring him over Obama by a margin of 51%-36%, a five point jump since June. And voters boosted their belief that McCain would do a better job in managing the war on terror than they did in June, favoring the Arizona Senator over his colleague from Illinois by a 56%-29% margin, up from 53%-33% in June.
...but we're not going to elect a Northern liberal one.
THE SCARY THING IS... (pointless profanity alert):
Just Throw the Damn Ball, Tom Brady: New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady will go down in history as the greatest football player never to go down in history. And he's still smiling. (Tom Chiarella, 8/06/08, Esquire)
Question number one is more like: When you've won three Super Bowls, gone undefeated in the regular season, when you've broken the record for most touchdown passes--when you've done all that, why aren't you the face of the game? Why don't old ladies (outside the rusty ZIP codes of New England, anyway) know who the hell you are on sight? Why aren't you Jordan?He speaks. He laughs. He wants none of the granola. "Very different game," says Tom Brady. "I play a complicated position in an intensely team-oriented game. A basketball player has to play defense. I'm not even on the field half the time."
Huh. Who then to compare oneself to? Here, the Brady makes a first little frog step to predictability, giving props to his secret sharer, his umbral twin, his shadowy other. "There's one guy whose game I love. That's Peyton," he says. Of course! The sole equal. "Being in the system I've been in for eight years, with the same coach and the same offense, when we call a play, I've run it hundreds of times. Peyton and I share that. When you practice an entire NFL season, that's 123 practices. A hundred and twenty-three practices with sixty plays a practice, you know, that's six thou--that's a lot of plays. And then you have all the game situations, and that's another eight, nine hundred plays a season, so I know where all those mistakes come in. I mean-- [Beat.] I have a memory, and I can just eliminate mistakes when they come up because I've already made them." There it is. The first of the blindingly clear declarative statements, the stunningly abstergent, one-size-fits-all axioms that consistently dot the wisdom of the Brady.
Like so: The Brady says he admires his father above all others. Calls his father "selfless." Yet his reasoning isn't couched in anecdote or childhood memory. He doesn't seem to be talking about a person at all, really, instead skipping over the man to generate a life lesson. "We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it's only us. And we're only responsible to make ourselves happy. Too often in life, something happens and we blame other people for us not being happy or satisfied or fulfilled. So the point is, we all have choices, and we make the choice to accept people or situations or to not accept situations. If someone lies, well, you had a choice to trust that person or not. I think the way my father raised me, well, he trusted everybody. And that worked for him."
He is wary, the Brady. That must be why he outlines a position paper on trust rather than tell a simple story about fishing with his pop. There's a wedge of hurt behind his pronouncements, or anger. He's overly level. It's hard to say what burned him, what turned him into a man so inclined to openly burnishing his emotional calluses. And who can ask, what with the ashy-hot 405 unspooling beneath the chassis? "I trusted everybody for a long time," he says. "Over the last, whatever, fifteen years of my life, that doesn't make me as happy."
...the Pats schedule is so easy this year he may be in line for his best season.
OH, TO LIVE ON...
Taco Mountain (Seattle PI, 8/06/08)
3 pounds ground turkey2 1-ounce packets taco seasoning
2 9-ounce bags tortilla chips
2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
1 16-ounce jar salsa
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 small head of lettuce, chopped or shredded
In a very large (preferably nonstick) skillet, cook turkey, stirring often to break up pieces (if it is sticking to the pan, add a little oil.) Add taco seasoning to taste and stir well to combine. Cook until no trace of pink remains.
On a very large platter, make a layer of chips. Top with cooked turkey, cheese, salsa to taste, tomatoes and lettuce.
AREN'T WE AT LEAST UP TO THE LOAVES AND THE FISHES BY NOW?:
'Obama Fatigue' Could Follow Avalanche of News Coverage: A new poll finds voters might be beginning to tire of Obama's high media profile (Kevin Whitelaw, August 6, 2008, US News)
Nearly half of Americans say that they have been hearing "too much" about Obama lately, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.While a wide majority of Republicans unsurprisingly say that they have heard too much about the Illinois senator, 51 percent of independents agree, along with as many as a third of Democrats.
Almost everybody seems to think that Obama is getting the greater part of the attention. The poll found that more than three quarters of the public reports having heard more about Obama in the past week or so than about McCain.
We aren't known for our patience with messiahs.
WHEN PATRIOTS RAN HOLLYWOOD THEY BLACKLISTED COMMUNISTS...:
My concerns for America (Jon Voight, July 28, 2008, Washington Times)
The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.The Democrats have targeted young people, knowing how easy it is to bring forth whatever is needed to program their minds. I know this process well. I was caught up in the hysteria during the Vietnam era, which was brought about through Marxist propaganda underlying the so-called peace movement. The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away.
Those same leaders who were in the streets in the '60s are very powerful today in their work to bring down the Iraq war and to attack our president, and they have found their way into our schools. William Ayers is a good example of that.
Thank God, today, we have a strong generation of young soldiers who know exactly who they are and what they must do to protect our freedom and our democracy. And we have the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, who has brought hope and stability to Iraq and prevented the terrorists from establishing a base in that country. Our soldiers are lifting us to an example of patriotism at a time when we've almost forgotten who we are and what is at stake.
Voight ignites a blog storm in Hollywood (JEFFREY RESSNER, 8/6/08, Politico)
Voight’s piece slammed Democratic candidate Barack Obama, praised GOP contender John McCain, and even repudiated his own Vietnam War protests as the naïve flailings of a deluded youth. It was a stunning bit of self-revelatory memoir from the now-conservative “Coming Home” star.The political blogsosphere, of course, went ballistic. Then Jeffrey Wells, who runs the movie and pop culture site Hollywood-Elsewhere.com, took Voight to task for his right turn, and wrote that if he were a studio executive he might think twice before hiring Voight for any future film work. “[Voight is] obviously entitled to say and write whatever he wants,” wrote Wells. “But it's only natural that industry-based Obama supporters will henceforth regard him askance. Honestly? If I were a producer and I had to make a casting decision about hiring Voight or some older actor who hadn't pissed me off with an idiotic Washington Times op-ed piece, I might very well say to myself, ‘Voight? Let him eat cake.'"
Voight seemed particularly taken aback by Wells’ blog postings, which many have interpreted as a call for blacklisting the actor. “It’s out of line to insinuate that we should blacklist people for speaking their minds,” Voight told Politico.
...if it isn't run by patriots any longer why shouldn't it blacklist them?
SEE THE WEAK HORSE:
Bin Laden driver convicted at Guantanamo of aiding terror (Carol J. Williams, August 6, 2008, Los Angeles Times)
A military jury Wednesday convicted Osama bin Laden's driver of providing material support to terrorism but acquitted him of the more serious charge of conspiracy.Salim Ahmed Hamdan quietly collapsed in tears at the defense table...
ALL THINGS TO ALL MEN REQUIRES A PROFOUND VAGUENESS:
Why Barack Obama Is Still Your New Bicycle: San Francisco writer and meme creator Mathew Honan explains BarackObamaIsYourNewBicycle.com, Twitter publicity, and what it's like to have the Obama campaign favorite his photo on Flickr (Jen Phillips, August 05, 2008, Mother jones)
Mother Jones: What was the genesis of the site?Mathew Honan: My wife Harper and I are both avid cyclists. Harper is absolutely consumed with cycling; it's what she talks about all the time. Just before Super Tuesday she just went full-bore Obama. It was all she could focus on. She was canvassing, making phone calls, spent all Super Tuesday standing outside with Obama signs around town. So I said to her, "Barack Obama is your new bicycle." She thought it was funny; I thought it was funny. And then on February 13, I was going home from the library on the bus and I started thinking how Barack Obama is kind of like the whole country's new bicycle. I had the idea for the site around 5 p.m., and it was live by around 9 p.m. [...]
MJ: Why do you think it's been so popular?
MH: I think to some extent it is kind of an empty vessel. I've had people convinced it's an anti-Obama site. I've had people convinced it's a pro-Obama site. And I didn't intend it as either of those things. I was just trying to comment on the fervor there is for Obama and the excitement that he has generated in his supporters. I think it was popular because people who didn't necessarily support Obama found it funny.
It's almost as if he doesn't get that the "new bicycle" is the empty vessel, yet another illustration that when liberals are funny it is because the humor is conservative.
THE SKINNY ON TRIBALISM:
Tinker attacks Cohen over religion (Josh Kraushaar, 8/06/08, Politico)
The campaign of Democratic attorney Nikki Tinker is now overtly using race and religion to attack freshman Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), a white Jewish congressman representing a majority-black Memphis district.Just days after airing a racially charged ad connecting Cohen with the Ku Klux Klan, the Tinker campaign is up with a new ad not-too-subtly attacking him over his religion.
“Who is the real Steve Cohen, anyway?” a narrator says in the ad as a child is heard praying in the background . “While he’s in our churches clapping his hands and tapping his feet, he’s the only senator who thought our kids shouldn’t be allowed to pray in school. Congressman, sometimes apologies just aren’t enough.”
If you're looking for racism in politics, you look to the party of particulars, not the universal one.
NO MATTER HOW HONEST AND ABOVE BOARD MAVERICK USUALLY IS...:
That's Totally Hot: Paris Hilton Responds to McCain (Ken Wheaton, 08.06.08, Advertising Age: Campaign Trail)
Hilton comes off as a celebrity version of Joe Lieberman in the video, offering a hybrid bipartisan solution to the energy crisis by combining elements from the energy policies of McCain and Obama. To be honest, after Obama's most recent "shift" on energy policy, Hilton's plan sounds exactly like his. After offering her solution, Hilton adds: "I'll see you at the debate, bitches."
...it's hard to believe this wasn't co-ordinated with the Hilton family--which supports him--to further associate the Unicorn Rider with bubble-headed bimbosity. Doesn't hurt that she seems more masculine than him either.
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING... (via Lou Gots):
On the Second Amendment, Don’t Believe Obama! (NRA-ILA)
FACT: Barack Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.3FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership.2
FACT: Barack Obama supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.4
FACT: Barack Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people who use firearms in self-defense.5
FACT: Barack Obama supports gun owner licensing and gun registration.6
...that the most eagerly anticipated moment of this campaign is when the Unicorn Rider goes duck hunting this fall.
DIDN'T THESE GUYS GET THE NOAH MEMO? (via Glenn Dryfoos):
Do you want poppycock with that?: The City Council keeps serving up acts of irresponsibility. (Tim Rutten, August 2, 2008, Los Angeles Times)
If the Los Angeles City Council were a reality television show, picking the right title would be a challenge. "America's Silliest Local Legislators" has a nice sort of retro ring to it, but there's a certain appealing simplicity to "Empty Gestures" too.Either way, this week's unanimous vote to prohibit the construction of fast-food restaurants in most of South Los Angeles for at least the next year would make an excellent pilot.
The ordinance's ostensible purpose is to combat the county's highest obesity and diabetes rates -- 30% of South L.A.'s adults are overweight, and 11.7% suffer from diabetes. It's also true that the roughly 32 square miles south of the Santa Monica Freeway have a higher per capita concentration of fast-food outlets than the rest of the city, but far fewer restaurants or grocery stores of any type in absolute numbers.
If obesity were such a big problem among blacks then it wouldn't be a racial slur to note that the Unicorn Rider is skinny, which our betters assure us it is.
BLESSED WITH DIM OPPONENTS:
Obama responds: 'It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant" (Ben Smith, 8/05/08, Politico)
"They're lying about what my energy plan is," he says. And "they're making fun of a step that every expert says would reduce our oil consumption by 3 to 4 percent. It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."
These poor guys don't even understand the attack, as evinced by the notion that the facts are a defense. Every one of us grew up with a Dad in the neighborhood--hopefully not your own--who kept a notebook in his car where he wrote down his mileage and how much he'd put in the tank, the binding cracked because there was a tire gauge and old receipts crammed in the thing, the whole held together by a rubberband. He was the one who wore his pants with the waistband up around his nipples--remember him? The tire gauge meme suggests that Senator Obama is that guy, the nerdy AV club guy. When that's the accusation the worst thing you can do is engage in a condescending lecture about why you're right. No one cares how the film projector works, that's why only geeks joined the club.
N. B.: Speaking of which, here's our pick for the Obamessiah's new campaign song (our apologies for the "racist" physical reference contained herein):
DEATH, TAXES, FAT MAN WITH A SLIDER:
Yankees send Joba for tests on shoulder (Daily News, 8/05/08)
New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain will be examined by noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews today after undergoing an MRI exam on his ailing right shoulder.
Few things are more certain in life than that if you take a notoriously poorly conditioned pitcher whose out pitch is a slider and dramatically boost his pitch count you'll wreck his arm.
SPEAKING OF DONALD PLEASANCE...:
Real-life Forger of Great Escape dies: Airman helped plan PoW breakout immortalised in classic film (Elizabeth Stewart, 8/06/08, guardian.co.uk)
After his capture by the Germans, Dowling was taken for interrogation and sent to Stalag Luft III, a camp 100 miles south-east of Berlin specifically for airmen. It was there that Dowling carved out tunnels, forged documents and prepared maps for the real-life escape that inspired the 1963 movie. [...]He said his father had been happy to reminisce about life at the camp, where he captained Stalag Luft's Somerset team, keeping a record of all the scores and averages of the batsmen and bowlers. He passed the time writing a diary and a book on wines and cocktails, learning five languages from other PoWs and getting to know the ace fighter pilot Douglas Bader.
His most famous exploits came in early 1943 when he joined a group of men, led by Roger Bushell, to plot the breakout. The scheme involved hollowing out three tunnels, codenamed Tom, Dick and Harry, with each entrance carefully selected to ensure it was not spotted by guards.
Despite playing a crucial part in the plan, Dowling was not one of the men selected for the final escape. Three men made it home to the UK, while 23 were recaptured. Of the 76 escapees, 50 were shot, seven of whom were friends of Dowling.
"He felt angry, more than angry, that Hitler had 50 of the 76 escapees shot, and my father was friends with seven of them," said Peter Dowling.
It was the second time he had evaded death. Dowling missed a flight to Ireland on a bombing training mission in which the entire crew died. He never got over the guilt that he had survived.
In 1945 he escaped death in near Arctic conditions when the camp was evacuated because of the advancing Soviet army. Many of his friends and fellow prisoners died in the harsh conditions.
