With apologies to Whiteboard,

I just had to borrow this and, ah, change Sandy's question

Remember my mention of Sen. Lindsay Graham as a miserable

little bastard? Well, he's got company in plenty:
The candidate was outraged - just outraged - at the country's sorry fiscal state.

"We have managed to acquire $13 trillion of debt on our balance sheet," he fumed to a roomful of voters. "In my view, we have nothing to show for it."

And that was a Democrat, Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado, who voted "yes" on the stimulus, the health-care overhaul, increased education funding and other costly bills Congress approved under his party's control.

Faced with a potential wipeout in November's midterm elections, candidates such as Bennet are embracing budget cuts with the enthusiasm of Reagan Republicans.
And they expect people to believe this shit.

I'm going to steaborrow this from Ace, just because it sums it up nicely:

Speaking of people not hearing about things,

including big battles, the discussion in comments about the China-Burma-India theater in WWII reminded me of a story:
Guy I know had an uncle in the Marines in the Pacific. The family had heard nothing for about three months and his mother was just sure he was dead and the notification had gotten lost somewhere. So they called the Red Cross who called the Marines and started a "Is he or isn't he?" process.

About two weeks later, on a little flyspeck island in the western Pacific the uncle's captain walked up, handed him a letter and ordered "Write your folks! I'm NOT going through this again."

About two weeks after that a letter arrived home, and mom ripped it open to read
Dear Mom and Dad,

War is Hell.

Your loving son,

He doesn't know if she EVER forgave him for that.

Friend called the other day, the dryer

wasn't working right, someone had said "You need to clean out the vent hose" and she and mother had no idea how. So I ran over, found a lot of lint inside but there was a section I couldn't reach into, so said I'd be back today with the shop vac to clean it out.

Imagine this: the vent runs from the dryer down to the wall, into the garage, down to the floor under the cabinet where the water heater sits then sharply up to the pipe through the exterior wall. I started working the vac hose in, heard it sucking up clumps of lint, then it started that "I'm pulling in a lot of stuff" noise, and then the shutoff on the vac tripped. WTH? Shut it off, opened it up and it's full of lint and water.

Yeah. The water heater had just been replaced because of leakage, and it that stretch where the hose ran under it some of the water got into the hose with the lint and made a plug. And a puddle. I had to dump the vac twice more before I was done cleaning it out, but when left the air was flowing well, and I had them leave it blowing a while to dry the hose out.

Never ran into that before.

Tam has a post on chickens,

which are apparently the latest 'Be Kind To Gaia' thing("They give us eggs!" etc.) and what happens with uppie-enviroweenie types when the hens get old. I've known a few people who kept a few and considered the eggs a bonus: the big reason to have them was bugs. Any bugs. The chickens kept everything from grasshoppers to ticks down. Mice too, as chickens will eat ANYTHING.

In the comments Marja mentioned having had the 'piglets are cute' scared out of her as a kid by adult pigs, which reminded me of a time I was helping Dad at a farm where he was working part-time; he and the farmer both pointed out a big sow and very specifically told me to stay the hell away from her AND the fence anywhere near her, as she was a bad-tempered bitch(they put it more politely) and WOULD try to take a bite out of you. The farmer said he had to be careful around her, worst when she had a litter but she was nasty the rest of the time, too. A little later I got a look at her teeth, and staying away was not a problem.

Was about a year after that in Vo-Ag that the teacher gave us a lecture about pigs that included "Some are nasty, and they will get you if they can." Reinforced the lesson: just because something is domesticated doesn't mean it won't kill you.

Not just the Israelis, how is ANY civilized society supposed to make peace

with these bastards?

There are reasons I started borrowing the phrase 'palisimians'; this is a fine example of a couple of them.

Here's another:
The Mount of Olives, an ancient—from biblical times Jews have buried their dead here—and a holy cemetery in Jerusalem, is being used by Muslims as a garbage dump.

Jewish graves have been desecrated and destroyed. Muslims regularly lead their donkeys across the gravestones.

Muslim children play soccer among the dead.

Of course, this is nothing new:

Jewish burials were halted in 1948, and massive vandalism took place from 1948-1967. During the nineteen years of Jordanian rule, 40,000 of the 50,000 graves were desecrated. King Hussein permitted the construction of the Intercontinental Hotel at the summit of the Mount of Olives together with a road that cut through the cemetery which destroyed hundreds of Jewish graves, some from the First Temple Period. After the Six-Day War, restoration work began, and the cemetery was re-opened for burials.

More here.

Back in junior high I had an idea for a joystick-steering car;

but it didn't look like this
and it still had foot pedals for gas & brakes.

Mercedes SCL600 concept car. My, how things are changing.

I'm kind of disgusted I forgot to mention Beslan

Sept. 1, 2004. Islamist terrorists attack a school and take lots of hostages. At the end 334 hostages dead, 186 of them children. Which is not counting the rapes and tortures inflicted by the terrorists. Yeah, brave islamic warriors raping children.

This is what the enemy is, and what they'll do here if they get the chance.

Let's start off with Sen. Lindsey Grahamnesty(RINO-SC)

and his 'reaching out to the tea party':
Graham won't be up for reelection until 2014, but conservative activists' anger toward him suggests he'll face a primary challenge in four years. He said that he'll keep pressing forward toward consensus.

"I'm not a Barry Goldwater Republican; I'm a Ronald Reagan Republican," he said. "If this country's going to survive, we've got to work together in a common-sense way."
Translation: "I'm going to keep betraying conservatives and libertairians, so back off!" For this treacherous sack of crap to call him self a Reagan Republican...


I'm sure all those people who paid cash to attend Rangel's birthday party are just SO happy he's spending those 'campaign funds' to pay legal bills.


Would somebody please inform the Stupid Party that if they try to nominate Gingrich for President, it'll likely be the death knell for it? They do that and there WILL be a third party, because the idiots at the RNC & Co. will have proven they just won't listen or learn.


The unfortunate reality is that — because of media bias — eco-terrorism will continue to be ignored until someone dies, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars in economic damage already caused by groups like the ALF and the occasional high=profile case such as Lee or Joseph Stack.
Hell, when they do manage to kill somebody- more likely a bunch of people- a lot of the media weenies will still try to blame it on Bush and conservatives. And will still make excuses for the terrorists.


So an imam in Australia calls for Geert Wilders to be murdered and beheaded. And this is the same clown who referred to women not walking around in a tent to be 'cat meat'. Go choke on this, Feiz

And Mr. Wilders needs to kick someone in the intelligence services in the ass:
The PVV leader was yesterday informed in detail about the matter. Wilders says he is shocked, and last night consulted Eric Akerboom, National Coordinator for Counterterrorism (NCTb). “I urgently want to know why the NCTb and AIVD never informed me about this.” He also asked “what kind of consequences this has for me,” and called the recording “terrible”.
They didn't inform him because either they're effing morons or they're being PC-at-any-cost and didn't want to make the poor imam look bad.


Texas Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson steered Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarships to relatives and the children of relatives, and got busted by the Dallas Morning News. Gabriel covered this story a few days ago.

Cathy over at the Splitters forwarded me a video of Anderson Cooper interviewing Johnson by phone, in which she explains very clearly how she accepts full responsibility, she made a mistake, she didn't know the rules, she paid back all the money, and she's so ready to move on.
'Moving on' should include 'being thrown out of that taxpayer-supplied office'; someone needs to point out to a bunch of her voters "You have kids or grandkids who could have used one of those scholarships? They never had a chance to get one because this bitch was giving them to relatives and friends kids; do you want to REWARD her for that?"


So Nanny Bloomberg may not just be a socialist jackass, but a corrupt socialist jackass...


Oh a happy note, Midway is supporting the Gunblogger Rendezvous and shooters in general; good place to get stuff. If you're one of the people who'll be there,
You bastards.


Why, Senator Reid!
Williams claimed that on two occasions he delivered to Reid at least $10,000 in cash from Mustang Ranch owner Joe Conforte as early as 1970, during Reid’s lieutenant governor campaign. The lie detection test, dated May 30, confirms the veracity of Williams’ statements that Reid built part of his campaign war chest with his ties to Conforte.

The Reid-Conforte relationship began when Reid asked his campaign manager to meet the brothel owner, Williams said. The Mustang Ranch operator was known in political circles as a tracker of Nevada’s races and generous donor.

“Reid implored me to take this meeting because he did not want to be spotted huddling with Conforte. I agreed,” Williams said.


And pointed out by Rodger(along with the above) is this piece of Democrat skulduggery:
Yesterday, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed Executive Order No. 62, declaring a State of Emergency in advance of Hurricane Earle. In doing so, Perdue suspended the right of state residents to use or carry firearms outside their premises.
...
In recent years, two North Carolina bills could have prevented infringement on individual rights under state of emergency laws. Under Section 3 of House Bill 257: “No Seizure of Lawful Firearms in Emergency,” sponsored by Rep. George Cleveland (R-Onslow) and three other legislators, lawfully possessed firearms and ammunition would have been exempted from the state of emergency law.

Despite support from the state’s primary gun group, Grass Roots North Carolina*, and others the bill died when it was denied a committee hearing by Democrat leadership, including Speaker Joe Hackney (D-Chatham, Moore, Orange) House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman (D-Davidson) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Representative Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson).

The issue became more urgent in February, when the town of King declared a state of emergency in response to an impending snowstorm and posted the entire town against the sale and purchase of firearms and ammunition.

In response, GRNC worked with Rep. Mark Hilton (R-Catawba) to revamp the bill and introduce it again, with stronger language on the state of emergency issue, during the second year of the legislature’s two-year session as HB 2031. Referred to the House Judiciary I Committee, chaired by anti-gun Rep. Deborah Ross, that bill too died when Democrats denied it a hearing.

On which note, I'll leave you for a while.

Survival preparation site

In the comments to my "The water's off" post, Arthur put a link to this article on using calcium hypochlorite to treat water.

Handy thing to know.

Also, Insty linked to this "How I got prepared" article, good reading.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Sometimes I love g

I've asked this before, but I'll throw it out again:

Anybody know where to find bullets or a mold for .45 Colt for a 220-250 grain hollow-base wadcutter? The only thing similar I can find for .455 is the RCBS, which is 250 grains but has a long round nose. Lots of .45 wadcutters and semi, but no hollow-base.

Had a chance to look at one of these yesterday

though I didn't get to fire it: Webley-Fosbery Automatic Revolver. Yes, 'auto revolver'. See those zig-zag tracks machined in the cylinder? When you fire the upper receiver slides back on the lower and both cocks the hammer and rotates the cylinder to bring the next chamber into battery. That lever at the top of the grip is the safety; it was intended that you could carry it cocked & locked(though I have no idea how solid the safety was).

Good history of it and 'how it works' at the link. I'll say take the Webley Mark VI, make it taller and you've got an idea how it feels. And cocking the hammer does nothing but; to rotate the cylinder you have to hold the barrel and rack the upper back and forward.

Interesting old piece, this is the first one I've been able to handle and only the third I've ever seen. The one I looked at was in .455, six shots; the .38 version held eight.

A fine example of the things people have dreamed up with firearms. I was told that it shoots very well and quite accurately; I hope someday to find out for myself.

These are the people we're supposed to trust

to decide who's ALLOWED to own what?
My daughter gave her daddy a gun for his birthday. As a law-abiding citizen he went to transfer ownership. Ten days later a letter arrived from the Department of Justice — transfer denied, stated my husband is a felon and he can’t have fire arms. Shock: He knew he was not a felon, had bought and registered guns for years, and now that department states that he is a felon since 1972 and can’t have any guns.

My husband called the Department of Justice. No, they could not tell him what his crime was or anything about it. They could only talk to him about it if he brought up what the crime was first. As he did not know what his crime was, he could not tell them and they refused to give him any information. Their answer was he would have to go to the police department and pay to have a Live Scan or copy of his record done. He did that. Three week later, still no answers.
Numerous calls with NO help from the boobs, until
One month later panic is about to set in, as hunting season is getting close. Another interesting piece of information: He bought his hunting license and deer tag before he tried to transfer that gift from our daughter. No problem, it was issued without the slightest objection.

One more final phone call to the Department of Justice stating we were going to hire an attorney. So, interesting, they now said, “Oh sorry. Someone made a mistake. You are not a felon. No we have not sent you a copy of your record (that we paid for). No, we won’t send you a letter saying you’re not a felon but we have flagged your file and you should not have any further problems.”

What is going on when a government agency can write a letter stating, “You are a felon, you may not have guns, no we won’t tell you what you did, but you’re guilty until you prove different?” Then, when we did not back off, “Gee, sorry. Guess you are not a felon, but we won’t put it in writing.”
What you have is what Californicated decided was a great idea; and this is one of the results.

And personally, I'd either record the conversation(with proper notice, of course) or DEMAND a letter("Or the lawyer gets involved and we go after you on all of this") from these clowns, because if they could 'make an error' like this once....

Pointed out by Uncle

The kind of people Obama likes to hang with

Meet Eddie York. He was a workingman whose story will never scroll across Obama’s teleprompter. A nonunion contractor who operated heavy equipment, York was shot to death during a strike called by the United Mine Workers 17 years ago. Workmates who tried to come to his rescue were beaten in an ensuing melee. The head of the UMW spearheading the wave of strikes at that time? Richard Trumka. Responding to concerns about violence, he shrugged to the Virginian-Pilot in September 1993: “I’m saying if you strike a match and you put your finger in it, you’re likely to get burned.” Incendiary rhetoric, anyone?

A federal jury convicted one of Trumka’s UMW captains on conspiracy and weapons charges in York’s death. According to the Washington, D.C.-based National Legal and Policy Center, which tracks Big Labor abuse, Trumka’s legal team quickly settled a $27 million wrongful death suit filed by York’s widow just days after a judge admitted evidence in the criminal trial. An investigative report by Reader’s Digest disclosed that Trumka “did not publicly discipline or reprimand a single striker present when York was killed. In fact, all eight were helped out financially by the local.”

In Illinois, Trumka told UMW members to “kick the s**t out of every last” worker who crossed his picket lines, according to the Nashville (Ill.) News. And as the National Right to Work Foundation (pdf), the leading anti-forced unionism organization in the country, pointed out, other UMW coalfield strikes resulted in what one judge determined were “violent activities … organized, orchestrated and encouraged by the leadership of this union.”

And from Glenn Beck the other day:
VOICE: So welcome Richard Trumka to Washington. I'm very proud, always very proud and very satisfied to have Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, our president, your president of the Party of European Socialists.
...
VOICE: And the co chair of the global progressive forum. Both have really worked tirelessly for progressive causes and now we are they are concentrating and we are concentrating how to achieve really this financial transaction text.

PAT: Oh.

VOICE: The AFL CIO has been working with Americans For Financial Reform. Now, we're very pleased that Paul has organized Europeans for financial reform which shares common principles with Americans For Financial Reform, including regulate speculative funds such as hedge funds and private equity funds, create a financial speculation tax or a financial transaction tax or a Robinhood tax, however you wish to refer to it.

VOICE: This is one of the most progressive people in the United States of America. I'm so proud to be declaring myself and defining myself as one of your friends.
Besides the general dirtbagginess of Trumka & The Socialists, please note that Mr. Hood was fighting the Sheriff & Co., the TAX COLLECTORS and enforcers for THE GOVERNMENT.

My emergency preparations aren't as good as I'd like,

but they do have their good points. Like waking up to no water because there's a main break in the area and having plenty to drink because of the jugs in the back room.

One of the big reasons I hate going vehicle shopping,

even just looking: when you haven't looked in years, the stickers are enough to cause a heart murmur.

And so many of the damn things are UGLY! Lots of 'cruisers' where the designers seem to think that style means "Make it bigger and heavier and they'll love it!" And not only do lots of speed bikes and crossovers have that damned 'butt up in the air for company' seating position, but they look like a beetle. A big ugly one.

I'm still hoping I can fix both the Vulcan's problems without it costing too much; but it gets above a certain point I'm going to be stuck with "How much is it worth to fix up an 18-year old bike that's not a classic or something?"

Uh, Sen. Reid? First, it was on the news and everything, y'know?

And second, you really don't get this here internet thing, do you?

And Harry? Petraeus IS a good guy; you're a lying treacherous backstabbing sack of shit.

You know the two differences between this case and a lot of others?

She got caught, and actually paid a price. Seems like most cases you hear of even when the woman is caught lying, nothing is done; the prosecutors 'don't want to be seen as anti-woman' and such bullshit.

Know what I think of when I hear that? A prosecutor and/or judge saying "Well, women lie, and holding them responsible for it is just trouble."

Bigoted fools.

Hey, Massachusetts, you elected this boob to the Governor's office

I hope you like him.
“It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t.”


And in other socialist crapweasel news,
and maybe even better
Thanks to Theo for the 'toons

It's confirmed: the SK government can't ship the Garands and Carbines here

because
“The transfer of such a large number of weapons — 87,310 M1 Garands and 770,160 M1 Carbines — could potentially be exploited by individuals seeking firearms for illicit purposes,” the spokesman told FoxNews.com.

“We are working closely with our Korean allies and the U.S. Army in exploring alternative options to dispose of these firearms.”
Yeah, because ALL the gangbangers just love the idea of having a three-and-a-half foot long nine-and-a-half pound rifle stuck down their baggy pants leg...

Utter bullshit, we and they know it and they don't care; all they care about is keeping honest citizens from having them. Them and any other firearm they can screw with the ownership of.

Dick having allowed the Mrs. to slip in some near-naked guys

the other day, I offer a palate cleanser:

A new definition for 'compensator':

cochlear compression device

from Guard Duck in the comments

In case you haven't heard, a nut-level enviroweenie has attacked

the Discovery Channel headquarters building. Explosives, gun, hostages, etc. Ace has a bunch of the original and updated reports. He also has the 'manifesto' of this clown, which includes
1. The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. ...
2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.
Notice a theme there?
4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn't, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??
Number five is fun:
5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans looking for nonexistant jobs!)
He really doesn't care for humans, do he?


Update: the cops shot him and the hostages are ok
Correction: he's assumed ambient temperature.

Two things: first, a new phrase just heard from Mark Steyn:

Emirs of Incumbistan for politicians making a career of it.

Second, way to go, Chesapeake Police Department!
The case spurred a flurry of discussion in the Chesapeake-Hampton Roads area about the use of informants and of SWAT-like forced-entry tactics to serve marijuana warrants. Readers’ comments on a local newspaper’s website, initially pro-police, soured against the department as details about the shoddy investigation came to light. The police, for example, had done almost no investigation to corroborate their informant’s tip.

So what did the Chesapeake Police Department announce in April? It won’t be reconsidering its policy of sending cops on volatile, forced-entry raids into the homes of low-level, nonviolent drug offenders. Nor will it change the way its narcotics officers deal with drug informants. Instead, the department announced, Chesapeake narcotics officers will be using a new and improved battering ram.

I'm going to start this with a truly idiotic idea in (fG)Britain:

A proposal for Britain and France to share their aircraft carriers was last night described as 'barking mad' by military experts.

Fury erupted after it was claimed that David Cameron was preparing to announce the measure in an attempt to save money.

As Theo says, "I think he jumped."

(If you're not familiar, look up 'Nelson' and 'Trafalgar')


Now for an example of, among other things, mission creep:
Malcolm Hay, who runs a business from his Kensington town house, sold hundreds of broken pottery pieces to a visiting dealer from Athens in 1999.

Eight years later, he was arrested by armed police at City airport in London. He was detained for two days after a European Arrest Warrant was issued claiming the items he sold had been stolen from the Greek state.

Under the warrant, endorsed by the Labour government six years ago as a fast-track process for terrorists, foreign prosecutors do not have to show evidence to the British courts, but simply demand that the person be “surrendered”. In Mr Hay’s case, court papers in Athens show the alleged offence should not come under Greek jurisdiction because it took place in London. Mr Hay, 60, calls the entire affair “a false stitch-up”.
You think maybe? So a law supposedly enacted to deal with terrorists is- SURPRISE!- being used for other things because- at the least- it wasn't properly limited; anybody surprised?
...“The English involvement is what I find more upsetting and disgusting. Having been brought up and lived in this country, with all its values, I find it really hard to understand.
Guy, you have to understand that the people behind this don't LIKE the old British values; it all stems from that.
“It has allowed Greece to extend their jurisdiction, because they do not need to produce the evidence. That is despite the alleged wrongdoings happening in Britain – even the dealer I sold to says that.”
And in a fine example of "No shit?",
David Blunkett, the former home secretary who introduced the warrant, said he had been “insufficiently sensitive” about how it could be “overused”.


Insty has a couple of e-mails from friends in Mexico and about the subject:
“Shit’s about to collapse in MX and points south. It is frightening. I am seeing first hand, am traveling. Total anarchy and terror unfolding.” Well, that’s encouraging. All those counter-insurgency and nation-building skills we’ve honed in Iraq might come in handy closer to home.

Or, you know, we could just legalize drugs and pull the rug out from under the cartels.

UPDATE: A followup email:

It’s so complex. The USA unilaterally legalizing weed, as many have proposed, wouldn’t stop the violence — there are any number of possible outcomes to that. The causes are complex and brewed over time… all I know is that all signs are pointing to a far worsening situation down there, and increasing impact here.

Militarizing the border isn’t a solution, but having seen what I’ve seen, I’d be terrified if we weren’t hardening that border right now.
You can argue about legalization, but if you think that would make the cartels fall apart, I think you're dreaming. On the border, one of the reasons that, despite voting for him twice, I'd still like to kick George Bush in the ass was his refusal to act to strengthen our borders; some of the politicians involved more deserve tar and feathers(at the least) to hanging.

While back I talked to a troop who'd been stationed at a base near the border who said it was a local joke that every so often the artillery people reworked their solutions for setting up on the parade ground to shell the city over the border; the crap going on in Mexico makes me wonder if it's really a joke.


Back to some Brits doing it right:
The Taliban in Helmand are being killed by the SAS on an "industrial scale" with a quarter of senior commanders killed since spring, leading to a dramatic drop in British casualties.
Hooah!
The number of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) being laid by the Taliban in Helmand has reduced by a quarter in the last three months, which has been partly attributed to bomb-makers being killed by the special forces unit referred to as Task Force 42.

Intelligence figures passed to The Daily Telegraph show that at least 65 out of 240 senior Taliban on the "kill or capture" Joint Priority Effects List, with codenames such as Snowball, Commando Flood or Merlin, have been accounted for.

The SAS squadron operating in Helmand has had a significant effect on the Taliban's ability conduct operations, defence sources said.


I'll end this with Hanson on Obama's speech last night:
But there was something bizarre about his entire Iraq speech — it was as if it were being delivered by an exhausted Obama factotum, rather than the animate Obama of old. So we got a flat Iraq / flat Afghanistan / flat hope-and-change recession address. It almost seemed a chore.

Perhaps Obama’s ennui arises from the impossibility of squaring his circle. How could an erstwhile fierce critic of Iraq — as well as his diplomatic team (e.g., Biden with his loud wish to trisect Iraq, and Hillary Clinton with her “suspension of disbelief”)—convince us that Iraq was a “remarkable chapter”?

In September 2007, Senator Obama wanted all combat troops home by March 2008; a little later, he modified that by repeating that the U.S. should “immediately begin to remove our combat troops.” He declared that the surge, which saved Iraq, was not working and would have stopped it had he the power, and, indeed, cut off all funding. The point here is not hypocrisy, but rather an explanation of why Obama tonight seemed so unimpressed with his own argument.
Maybe he so aware of being full of crap that even the teleprompter couldn't help?
Also, the general framework of withdrawal was scheduled as part of the Bush/Petraeus status of force agreements with the Iraqis. Obama is to be congratulated for keeping to it, but chastised for suggesting that it was his own — and more so for not referencing the surge that made it all possible. So, again, it was a weird moment: Are we supposed to think that after 20 months a president is responsible for his own record (e.g., Bush need not be credited for his lonely, but critical support for the surge that allowed the withdrawal), but not quite responsible when it is inconvenient (Bush must be blamed for leaving a bad economy that Obama’s borrowing cannot cure)?

Next time you hear some media weenie praising themselves over Katrina coverage,

might remember- and remind people- about some of what came out:
And a columnist for London’s Independent newspaper offered a colorful and highly imaginative account that was published five years ago today:

“Reports from New Orleans ring like prophecies of the apocalypse. Corpses float hopelessly in what used to be a thriving and distinctive downtown; coffins rise from the ground; alligators, sharks and snakes ply the poisonous waters ….”

Few if any of the nightmarish accounts of violence, anarchy, and mayhem proved true.

No shots were fired at rescue helicopters. There were no known child rape victims, no bodies stacked like cordwood, no “bands of rapists going from block to block,” no sharks plying the flood waters.

As I write in Getting It Wrong, “the erroneous and exaggerated reporting had the cumulative the effect of painting for America and the rest of the world a scene of surreal violence and terror, something straight out of Mad Max or Lord of the Flies.”

The coverage of Katrina’s aftermath was no “quintessential” great moment in journalism.

Far from it.

As a bipartisan congressional report on Katrina noted in 2006:

“If anyone rioted, it was the media.”
Read it all.

More here, including from later on
About the inaccurate estimates of fatalities, the Times of London said it had become clear by in mid-September 2005 “that 10,000 people could have died only if more than 90 per cent of them had locked themselves into their homes, chained themselves to heavy furniture and chosen to drown instead of going upstairs as the waters rose.”

But the Times rationalized the flawed reporting, suggesting that it was inevitable: When “nature and the 24-hour news industry collide, hyperbole results.”

A weak excuse, that. Besides, post-Katrina reporting from New Orleans was more than hyperbolic: It described apocalyptic horrors that the hurricane supposedly unleashed.

So we have the contrast of the Zetas firebombing a bar

for whatever reason, contrasted with a plant trying to burn the house down.

Y'know, there are places in Mexico I'd like to see, but you add "You owe us free passage into your country" to "They may burn the place down with you in it", damned if I'm going.

CBS has a 'Rate the President' poll up

As of just now,
The Economy

---

A:
4.77%

B:
4.56%

C:
5.27%

D:
17.80%

F:
67.60%

Foreign Policy

---

A:
6.80%

B:
4.19%

C:
7.67%

D:
21.66%

F:
59.68%

Health Care

---

A:
7.14%

B:
3.01%

C:
2.87%

D:
8.31%

F:
78.67%

Afghanistan

---

A:
5.67%

B:
13.60%

C:
25.96%

D:
22.84%

F:
31.93%

Iraq

---

A:
5.79%

B:
10.08%

C:
24.39%

D:
23.77%

F:
35.96%

Threat of Terrorism

---

A:
6.63%

B:
4.92%

C:
9.74%

D:
21.19%

F:
57.52%

Energy and the Environment

---

A:
5.66%

B:
5.56%

C:
12.70%

D:
21.03%

F:
55.04%

Social Issues

---

A:
6.71%

B:
4.69%

C:
10.82%

D:
18.95%

F:
58.84%

Bipartisanship

---

A:
6.60%

B:
3.12%

C:
4.00%

D:
8.08%

F:
78.20%

Obama's Overall Job as President

---

A:
6.28%

B:
4.03%

C:
3.69%

D:
22.25%

F:
63.76%

Among the people voting, Barry's not feeling the love, it would seem.