Count out Rob Portman

It looks like former Rep. Rob "Who?" Portman of Ohio won't be John McCain's vice president.  Not too surprising, but here it is anyway:

Portman has been rumored to be on John McCain's list of potential running mates, but says he hasn't been asked for the financial information required as part of a candidate's background check, and doesn't expect to be.

"I'm happy to help him, here in Indiana and around the country, but he's got a lot of great choices," Portman says.

As a boring, normal, white, male Bush Administration appointee who's never won even statewide office he was my first choice, but I guess given the timing of this statement, we can scratch him from the list.

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Cyberwar

More evidence that the Russian invasion of Georgia was very premeditated:

Weeks before physical bombs started falling on Georgia, a security researcher in suburban Massachusetts was watching an attack against the country in cyberspace.

Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks in Lexington noticed a stream of data directed at Georgian government sites containing the message: win+love+in+Rusia.

Other Internet experts in the United States said the attacks against Georgia’s Internet infrastructure began as early as July 20, with coordinated barrages of millions of requests — known as distributed denial of service, or D.D.O.S., attacks — that overloaded certain Georgian servers.

The Georgian government blamed Russia for the attacks, but the Russian government said it was not involved.

Sadly, it looks like they're going to get away with it. If the ceasefire holds Russia wins and if it doesn't Georgia definitely loses. Sometimes I wish we could just finally have it out with Russia and get it over with. The hardest part about living through history is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

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Russia to Belarus: Nice Country You Got There

Wouldn't want anyfing to get broke, would ya?

Russia's ambassador to Belarus said on Tuesday that Moscow could not understand why its western neighbour, nominally a close ally, had failed to offer the Kremlin open support in its conflict with Georgia. Belarus, whose President Alexander Lukashenko is accused by the West of crushing fundamental rights, has portrayed itself as a close Russian ally since the 1990s.

The two neighbours are committed to forming a merged post-Soviet "union state", though this has been put on the backburner, especially since 2007 when they quarrelled over energy prices.

"We are somewhat perplexed by the modest silence of the Belarussian side. You need to express yourself more clearly on such issues, especially as we have a union state," ambassador Alexander Surikov told a briefing.

For those of you who like to keep track of these things, the Russian invasion of Georgia is the most important story of the 21st century thus far. Yes, more important globally than 9/11. Here's why. After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, the world celebrated the end of the Cold War and the surging dominance of freedom and prosperity for all the world.

Dozens of ex-Soviet republics began building capitalist economies and freely-elected governments. Though slow in coming, prosperity did start to arrive in the more free, industrious countries. Well, there was another element common to those countries that prospered most. They were the ones least tied to the Russian government.

Countries like Belarus maintained very tight relations with the Russian Empire (we're not calling it anything but that until Putin is in a grave, at least) and was essentially a puppet state. "Legitimate" actions in Chechnya further demonstrated that the Bear's desire for empire and prominence hadn't abated just because the Politburo was no longer in charge.

Now, Putin's end-game has been made public and we are in a very dire situation. Russia claims they were only responding to Georgian aggression (that would be hilarious if it weren't so horrible) but, of course, their 'response' could never have been manufactured on the fly in a single day. Ask anyone:

Let's be clear: For all that US commentators and diplomats are still chattering about Russia's "response" to Georgia's actions, the Kremlin spent months planning and preparing this operation. Any soldier above the grade of private can tell you that there's absolutely no way Moscow could've launched this huge ground, air and sea offensive in an instantaneous "response" to alleged Georgian actions.

As I pointed out Saturday, even to get one armored brigade over the Caucasus Mountains required extensive preparations. Since then, Russia has sent in the equivalent of almost two divisions - not only in South Ossetia, the scene of the original fighting, but also in separatist Abkhazia on the Black Sea coast.

The Russians also managed to arrange the instant appearance of a squadron of warships to blockade Georgia. And they launched hundreds of air strikes against preplanned targets.

As is mentioned in this article, the cynisism involved in Russian actions is chilling. What we are witnessing is Russia's attempt at a return to empire with Putin as Tzar. I wouldn't make such a bold statement without the support of several events in the last several years including assassinations, violating airspace and other hostile, intimidating acts from Moscow. This hasn't happened in a vacuum.

Now we have a newly independent nation (and staunch ally of the United States) with Russia's boot on their throat and not one nation has lifted a finger to help them. Reigns are being tightened diplomatically on existing satellite states (Belarus) while nations who grew too independent are being reminded who is really in charge. To Russia, their sovereignty was a cute phase but it is time for them to stop playing around and come back into the fold.

Georgia is begging for help and the west absolutely must respond. Not with words or removing Russia from the G8 but with, at least, direct aid. If that isn't sufficient, Russia must be stopped militarily. Russian conquest of Georgia must not be allowed to stand any more than Iraq's conquest of Kuwait. Georgia is just the first domino in a long string of ex-Soviet nations on Putin's wishlist and it must not be allowed to fall. If the west allows an ally to be wholly consumed by the Bear, it will not sate the appetite any more than Czechoslovakia appeased Hitler.

That's a much bigger story than terrorism to me. This is the kind of story that leads to world war. Thing is, maybe it should.

We must stop them even if it means a real conflict with Russia. If there is to be a battle with the Russians (and now I think it is unavoidable in the long term) then let that battle be now.

Update: Or not (pick one). I don't buy it personally. Neither does Georgia.

Update: Insight from Stratfor:

The Russians have announced a halt to military operations. This is in large part because they have achieved their political goals — they have demonstrated their ability to carry out a complex military operation, and they have shown that the United States and Europe cannot respond militarily. What the Russians want to do now is replace Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. If they occupy Tbilisi, they make him a martyr. If, however, they simply halt operations, in due course recriminations will begin inside Georgia over his decision to attack South Ossetia and his lack of preparedness for the consequences.

The Russians also know that a prolonged occupation of Georgia would inevitably result in guerrilla warfare against the occupying forces. The Russians were bled by the Chechens, and they do not want to risk a long, draining occupation of Georgia. Their goal was not to end Georgian sovereignty; rather, it was to force the Georgians to readjust their foreign policy away from the United States and toward Russia. Regardless of personnel changes, Georgia will be enormously more careful in its actions in the future, and much less confident of its relationship with the United States.

Sounds about right. More importantly, it shows Putin and the Georgians that the Russians do own the ex-Soviet states in reality if not on paper. I kind of hope the Georgians keep fighting.

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Gettysburg "witness tree" severely damaged in storm last week

Witness trees are trees that live on the battlefield and living during the Battle of Gettysburg.  There are only three healthy witness trees left now.  The tree was struck by lightning and split, odds are it won't survive. (h/t)

Posted by: doubleplusundead at 07:17 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Illegal Immigrants Are Doing Another Job Americans Won't Do

Namely, be more susceptible to AIDS.

And if they are deported, they can take the virus back home with them, the researchers told an international conference on AIDS in Mexico City.

"They are in a new environment, they are discriminated against, they are living in harsh conditions, sometimes just in boxes covered in plastic near the farms where they work," said George Lemp of the California HIV/AIDS Research Program at the University of California, who studied 458 Mexicans before and after they left their homeland.

"When people live that way, they engage in high-risk behavior," Lemp said in an interview.

About 11 million Mexicans live in the United States, more than half of them undocumented, and a recent U.S. crackdown on illegal immigrants and increase in deportations could make the danger of HIV infection worse, conference delegates said.

The men in the study were three times more likely to have sex with a prostitute in California than they were before leaving Mexico, Lemp's research showed. They were five times more likely to have sex while using drugs or drinking and 13 times more likely to have sex with another man.

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Invasion

Can you imagine the "ZOMG Imperialist American Bullies Outrage!!!1!one!" this would have elicited if the roles had been reversed?

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was held at gunpoint Sunday night by members of the Mexican military who had crossed the border into Arizona, but the soldiers returned to Mexico without incident when backup agents responded to assist.

Agents assigned to the Border Patrol station at Ajo, Ariz., said the Mexican soldiers crossed the international border in an isolated area about 100 miles southwest of Tucson and pointed rifles at the agent, who was not identified.

It was unclear what the soldiers were doing in the United States, but U.S. law enforcement authorities have long said that current and former Mexican military personnel have been hired to protect drug and migrant smugglers.

The local Border Patrol union's website characterized this sort of thing as something that "has been going on for years" and laments that the Federal Government "will undoubtedly brush this off as another case of 'Oh well, they didn't know they were in the United States.'"

Oh, and am I the only one who's less than impressed by the Mexican government's response to this?

Ricardo Alday, spokesman at the Mexican Embassy in Washington, said Tuesday that Mexico and the United States are engaged in "an all-out struggle to deter criminal organizations from operating on both sides of our common border."

"Law enforcement operations have led, from time to time, to innocent incursions by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement personnel and military units into the territory of both nations, and in particular along non-demarcated areas of our border," he said.

Yeah. Both U.S. and Mexican personnel. Whatever you say, Ricardo.

No need to secure that border, though.  Nope.

(h/t)

Posted by: Sean M. at 07:20 PM | Comments (44) | Add Comment
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Finally, A Reason To Watch The Olympics!

I just hope NBC shows more Women's Beach Volleyball and less of that useless Gymnastics crap.

Here's an unrelated (but still worthy) photo I found somewhere:

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Some holes Rep. Cantor's VP prospects

It had been reported earlier that Rep. Eric Cantor or Virginia is being vetted as a possible vice president.  This, of course, means that we were bound to have reports from unnamed Hill staffers in various GOP offices deriding his service (emphasis in the original, because I'm too lazy to delete the HTML):

That comes just as word has spread -- mainly by his own people -- that Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, an unknown to most Americans, is considered a top candidate for Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential pick. Cantor is viewed as a conservative in the vein of Ronald Reagan, but unlike other high-profile GOPers in the House, he has little or no legislative or policy hallmarks to inform the general public.

"He's great with PR and having his staff post on blog sites and jumping on the bandwagon for issues, but when it comes to actually getting those issues framed and set up, he hasn't done much heavy lifting," says an aide to Rep. Roy Blunt, the House GOP whip. "His strength is fundraising and as a face for the camera. And that's probably what McCain needs right now."

Cantor is a prolific fundraiser, however, particularly along the "K Street" corridor in Washington. Those ties to lobbyists are largely what has the McCain campaign concerned and are the focus of the campaign's vetting.

Eh, if Rep. Blunt's staff is as on the ball as he is, I'd take this criticism with a grain of salt.  But I guess if McCain wants to fight the election on Hopey McChange's terms, then raising some K Street cash should disqualify Rep. Cantor.

Posted by: It's Vintage, Duh at 09:00 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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A new look at an old murder case

Patterico looks at the relationship between a prisoner, former LA Times journalist Chuck Phillips, Death Row Records, Suge Knight and the murder of Notorious B.I.G.  It can be a bit convoluted to follow, but is quite interesting, and I recommend it, especially if you're interested in the whole Biggie/Tupac story.

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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."

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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)

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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.

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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'

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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,

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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.

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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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