Lt. Col. West's statement on Rep. Klein and the ZOA

Lt. Col. Allen West, who is seeking to unseat Rep. Ron Klein in Florida's 22nd District, released the following statement today regarding the Human Events story on Rep. Klein and the Zionist Organization of America:

We believe that Mort Klein was put in an untenable position by Ron Klein or his supporters. Alan Bergstein was given the choice of resigning from either the ZOA or from his volunteer support for Allen West. We are not aware of any Ron Klein supporters who received a similar phone call.

Mr. Bergstein resigned under protest from the ZOA. To our knowledge, no mention was made of tax status concerns but even if the question had been raised, the remedy was an over-reaction.

Mr. Bergstein honored the group's rules when he set up the candidate forum that started this ball rolling. Allen West appreciated the hospitality extended to him by the local ZOA and also honored their rules in his comments to them.

This argument is not--and should not be--between Allen West and the ZOA. It is more properly directed at Ron Klein, without whose inappropriate pressure this would not have occurred.

Donna Brosemer

You can donate to Lt. Col. Allen West here.

***Cross-posted at Down the Ticket***

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 04:03 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Americans love Obama when he's not, ya know, actually in America

July 26: Obama 49, McCain 40.

Today: Obama 46, McCain 42.

Nice.  Apparently 54% of Americans don't want America to "return to our best traditions."

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 02:31 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Prof. Hopenchange

The New York Times' Caucus blog has dug up some of the final exams from Barack Obama's law class at the University of Chicago, in case you're interested.  Or need something to put you to sleep.

(h/t)

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 07:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Whole lot of shakin' going on

We just had a 5.8 earthquake centered not too far from where I live.  So far, no damage to the house, though some crap got knocked off shelves.  Oh, and for those of you who don't live in areas that get earthquakes, that stuff you've heard about animals knowing that they're coming beforehand is bunk.  My dog would have slept through the whole thing had I not jumped up and yelled "Holy shit!"

Update: There doesn't seem to be any significant damage throughout the region, though it was felt from Ventura to the Mexican border, and as far east as Las Vegas.  Phone service seems to be spotty, though, as people are trying to get through to loved ones.

I just talked to my mom, who was in the pool at a physical therapy session while it happened, and that apparently wasn't a fun experience.

All in all, a lot of shaking and rumbling, but not a catastrophe.

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Man, I So Want To Go To The Olympics!

Well, that is, if I want to breathe filthy smog (as if there was any other kind) and have my lungs burned from the inside out as if I was a villain getting killed at the end of a sci-fi movie.

It appears as though a really awful smogstorm has decided to settle in on Beijing just in time for the Summer Games.

The grayish haze was one of the worst seen in Beijing in the past month despite tough traffic restrictions imposed a week ago to help reduce pollution.

The city's notoriously polluted air remains one of the biggest question marks hanging over the games, which begin on August 8.

'The air quality in August will be good,' Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, told reporters on Sunday. He did not explain the reasons for his optimism.

Du blamed the thick haze on a combination of fog and light wind unable to blow away the pollution, but he said pollution levels now are 20 per cent lower than one year ago in similar weather conditions. He did not provide any details.

'Our job is to decrease the pollution as much as possible, but sometimes it is very common to have fog in Beijing at this time,' Du said.

You know, I am not a scientist, but that smog looks bad.

Posted by: eddiebear at 10:28 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Southwest Michigan, As Experienced By A Moron

Holland, MI was wonderful. The weather was excellent, though the water at the beaches was a bit chilly. But it sure beats the hell out of St. Louis weather right now.

Anyway, here is the sublime:

This is Lake Michigan from Tunnel Park.
To the ridiculous:

Here we are at the petting zoo portion of the Dutch Village. They gave my daughter the biggest goat to walk. So, I had to take over. STupid thing just wanted to eat from the food dispenser.
To the awesome (Warning: Excessive Orange Crocs alert!)

Here I am at Holland State Park, exuding Orange Awesomeness.

One bit of advice:
If your daughter needs you to go back out to the car to get her pink My Little Pony purse, just try not to run into some drunken rednecks. Just sayin'

Posted by: eddiebear at 11:33 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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David Brooks! skewers Obama

Under the word RINO on the dictionary, there is a good chance you'll see a picture of David Brooks, but he really nails this one.  Why it took so long for him to recognize the emptiness of Obama's rhetoric is beyond me (Okay, the fact that he spends too much time at Pravda NYT is why), but he finally sees it.  The good news is that if Brooks can finally get his bullshit detector calibrated and see Obama for the vapid tool he is, others can too.  Since I saw Brooks' piece at Hotair with this headline, it gives me an excuse to break out this,

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 12:20 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Normally, A Story About A Young Lad Wandering Into A Hooters Would Be Awesome

But not this time.

It appears as though a five-year-old in Dallas snuck out of his day care and crossed I-35E (which I have been told is an extremely busy stretch of Interstate) and wound up in a Hooters Parking Lot.

Employees of Hooters found the child safe about 5:20 p.m. He left the child care center in the 2300 block of San Jacinto Boulevard, crossed the Interstate 35E northbound service road and Dallas Drive, bought a soft drink at a service station and walked to Hooters, where an employee found him in the parking lot and called police.

Deborah Pugh, who owns the child care business, said Wednesday that the boy asked to go to the bathroom and then slipped out a fire exit door, which must, by law, remain unlocked.

“It was just really fast,” Pugh said. “When the parent came for him we said he was in the bathroom. But we looked and realized he wasn’t, and we called police.”

And yet this daycare center is still allowed to operate.

Posted by: eddiebear at 09:57 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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For Some Reason, I Have A Bad Feeling About This

I dunno. To me, the thought of the Russian military "considering" stationing bombers in Cuba just doesn't seem kosher.

...the aircraft under consideration were Tu-160 and Tu-95 MC bombers. Russia gave up in 2001 a base in Lourdes, Cuba, which had been set up during the Soviet era.

The former commander of this base, Lieutenant-General Mikhail Oparin, was quoted as welcoming the idea. 'Russia's air fleet must work towards a presence in every corner of the world,' he told Interfax news agency. The US, after all, had bases worldwide.

'An extended radius of action for our air force could be a response to the one-sided action of the USA in setting up a strategic system on Russia's borders,' he added.

The newspaper said that from a technical point of view there would be no problem basing Russian bombers on Cuba for a limited period. However, Moscow's view on doing this was unclear.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, while he was still president, had threatened 'reprisal measures' if the US went ahead with basing its missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. He warned that Russia was able to target central Europe with its own missiles.

Russia views the planned deployment of ten US missiles in Poland and a radar facility the Czech Republic as a threat. However, the presence of Russian bombers on Cuba would provoke an international conflict, the Izvestiya report said.

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

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McCain to name VP this week?

Yes he will, according to Bob Novak:

Sources close to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign are suggesting he will reveal the name of his vice presidential selection this week while Sen. Barack Obama is getting the headlines on his foreign trip. The name of McCain's running mate has not been disclosed, but Mitt Romney has led the speculation recently.

I'm excited, even though my gut is telling me this is going to be a huge disappointment.

Update: In case you were interested, here are my favorite potential VPs: Gov. Sarah Palin (Ak.), Gov. Mark Sanford (S.C.) if he cleans up his act, Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), and (shrug) Gov. Mitt Romney. 

While trying to make that list, I found it was hard to find any VP I would fully and enthusiastically support apart from Palin.  That's depressing.

If McCain chooses a mavericky VP, I'm going to spend the next four years or so doing everything I can to get Gov. Palin to run in 2012.

***Thanks for the link, Gabe!  Everyone make sure to check out the rest of doubleplusundead!

***Also, thanks to Stop the ACLU for the link! 

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 05:01 PM | Comments (15) | Add Comment
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Soccer "Friendlies" Usually Are Not So Friendly

I hate soccer. I especially hate how these grass diving Euroweenies somehow seem to snag hot pieces of ass despite their douchebaggery. But one thing I always love about "The Beautiful Game" is how the hooligans usually wind up rioting at the various events.

Well, it turns out that "friendly" matches end up in the same fashion as the various club matches in Europe. That is to say, in riotous fashion.

The fights, which overshadowed West Ham United's 3-1 win, began when a handful of West Ham supporters, some wearing the team's claret and blue colors, entered the northeast corner of the stadium where the Crew's most boisterous supporters typically gather.

Crew supporters began directing chants toward the rival fans, and fights quickly broke out between more than 100 Crew fans and at least 30 West Ham fans. Columbus police officers and Crew Stadium security staff eventually separated the groups.

Highway Patrol officers arrested one fan outside the stadium for disorderly conduct, Patrol spokeswoman Anne Ralston said. A dispatcher didn't know whether Columbus police had made any arrests inside the stadium.

This is the second incident Crew fans have been involved in this season

And to make all this even better, it involved Ohio.

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Mitt's in the tank

The McCain campaign has considered putting Gov. Mitt Romney on the bottom of the ticket. I wonder if they liked what they saw:

While Mitt Romney's set of paid PR minions are busy pushing out Mitt for Vice President spin, McCain campaign insiders say that while it's true they have polled Romney on the bottom of the ticket, the data confirms that such a move would be a political disaster for the party.

"Mitt tanks the ticket," says a McCain insider. "We lose fiscal conservatives. We lose social conservatives. We lose Catholics. We lose evangelicals. All the groups were spending time and money on bringing into the camp would be lost. He just doesn't help us enough to do something like this, as much as Mitt might think we should. He doesn't even win us Massachusetts."

Reached for comment, Sean Hannity said he would continue promoting Romney on his radio show as the best choice for vice president, because he knows the economy and "might" win Michigan. 

All kidding aside, my first reaction to this was very foolish.  I got excited.  Then I stepped into McCainWorld.  In McCainWorld, staffers see this polling info and say "See, a conservative like Romney sinks the ticket.  We need a moderate.  A maverick."  So instead of going for someone like Gov. Sarah Palin, they'll go for someone like Gov. Charlie Crist.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 11:57 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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Our Lord and Savior descends from the heavens and lands in Afghanistan

Obama is in eastern Afghanistan right now. Oddly enough, no reporters came with Him.  The fawning media must be having withdrawal symptoms, now that they've been denied His presence. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:58 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Dispatches From The Front

My brother is a Captain over in The Desert. He sent me some photos recently of life over there right now. Here is life on the base.

He said it is so shitty on base, the dust is the least offensive thing there.

I bet in Arabic, that says, "DPUD kicks Ass!"

Funniest thing is, He called on the 4th around 8PM STL Time and could hear the bottle rockets and shit going off back here in the background. He said it was what he heard when he first arrived there every night. Now, it's quiet. Except for when some hajji (the derisive term they use for the locals) has a "workplace accident" in his house.

I guess it must be safe enough for them to wear their standard covers on base. But they still have to have their M-4s (I think) at all times.

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"She Just Deserves Extra Love"

Take me pointing to this article as proof that we don't need universal healthcare and the less-well-known fact that I do, indeed, have a heart.

When she was just 2 weeks old, Emma Grace lay on an operating table, scrawny arms and legs spread out, tiny body dwarfed by the giant room full of steel and high-tech gadgetry. Her chest was raised so a surgeon could get to her faulty heart.

 No feet were pacing outside on her account, no eyes darting for updates.

 Before she learned how to smile or hold a gaze, Emma was given up twice — by her 23-year-old birth mother, a drug-user, smoker and drinker who knew she could never care for the baby, and by a 48-year-old adoptive mother who backed out when she learned of Emma's heart condition and of her own pregnancy by in-vitro fertilization.

Don't worry, it has a happy ending.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 04:08 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Under the radar

China and Russia both slapped down a UN effort to condemn Zimbabwe's crooked election a few days ago.  What Sino-Russian alliance?

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 03:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The Amazing U.S. Economy

Via Coyote Blog (I love this place, especially the environmental stuff) I find a fascinating article on just how great our economy is and has been through the years. 

Most impressive is just how much leisure time the average American has now.  Too bad it seems that most of us spend that time whining and bitching about how hard we have it.

I'd suggest reading the whole thing.

Posted by: Moron Pundit at 11:38 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Slipping in the polls

Damnit, we didn't even make the top five.  I mean, we got whupped soundly by France, people!  France!

Come on, we can do better than this!

Posted by: Sean M. at 02:21 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Anheuser-Busch to merge with giant Belgian brewer InBev

The agreed upon price for the buyout of Anheuser-Busch was $70 a share, up from the $65 initially proposed.  The company will now be known as Anheuser-Busch InBev. 

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 10:41 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Tony Snow has passed away

He was only 53.  Our prayers and condolences to the Snow family.  (h/t)

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 07:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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