EU Behind by 75 Years

Sorry I didn't post yesterday - I'm back now.

Telegraph: "It will take the EU until 2072 to reach US levels of income per capita, and then only if the EU income growth exceeds that of the US by 0.5pc," the study said.

Thanks to GR.

"War on Terror"

NYT: This morning in Financial Times, the Homeland Security Department’s top intelligence official became the latest prominent leader to say that the phrase [war on terror] should be dropped. “It is interpreted in the Muslim world as a war on Islam and we don’t need this.”


So Muslims consider Islam, quite literally, synonymous with terrorism? Oh, well if that's the case, remind me never to take a taxi anywhere ever, ever again.

(Kudos to The Corner for the lead)

Army Suicides

I don't really like this graph:

Another Catastrophe?

In Iceland: The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.1 magnitude quake hit at 3:46 p.m., with its epicenter near the town of Selfoss, 30 miles east, southeast of the capital, Reykjavik.

China, Myanmar, and now Iceland? It's obviously Armageddon.

UPDATE: This guy was there.

Tech Comment

I just realized my blogroll link to The BoBo Files was dead. I basically forgot to put in the full url in the html code - complete stupidity on my part. Anyway - sorry to Bob. Check his stuff out, by the way... he's a little nutty, but it's good material in general. I blog with him over at BBB as well.

Key House Races

Some of the key House races from Rothenburg Report:

PURE TOSS-UP (7 R, 7 D)

AL 5 (Open; Cramer, D)
AZ 1 (Open; Renzi, R)
CA 11 (McNerney, D)
FL 16 (Mahoney, D)
KS 2 (Boyda, D)
LA 6 (Cazayoux, D)
MN 3 (Open; Ramstad, R)
MS 1 (Childers, D)
NJ 7 (Open; Ferguson, R)
NY 26 (Open; Reynolds, R)
NM1 (Open; Wilson, R)
OH 15 (Open; Pryce, R)
OH 16 (Open; Regula, R)
PA 10 (Carney, D)

TOSS-UP/TILT REPUBLICAN (7 R, 1 D)

AK A-L (Young, R)
IL 10 (Kirk, R)
LA 4 (Open; McCrery, R)
NY 13 (Open; Fosella, R)
NY 29 (Kuhl, R)
NC 8 (Hayes, R)
TX 22 (Lampson, D)
WA 8 (Reichert, R)

TOSS-UP/TILT DEMOCRATIC (1 R, 2 D)

GA 8 (Marshall, D)
NH 1 (Shea-Porter, D)
NJ 3 (Open; Saxton, R)

I'm worried about the Shays election in my home district - CT 4. Rothenburg claims it's a Republican lean. That may be true, considering Shays has held the seat for going on 20 years, but he is the only Republican Congressman left in Connecticut.

What a Temper:

If that's a temper, I'm Rambo.

Creepy Pictures in Texas Case

Literally photographic evidence that Jeffs is a creep. The girl is 12.

Kirsten Dunst - On Campus

Today after school, we got word that Kirsten Dunst was working on a movie (All Good Things, expected in 2009) on campus - my high school is technically on a college campus. A few friends and I made our way down to the trailers and hung around for a while. I used my Minuteman credentials to try to get in and talk to some people - maybe get an article out of the thing. (I was in until it started raining, and they ran out of time for me). Anyway, I did get to see Kirsten Dunst. It was awesome. I waved as she stepped into her trailer. She - get this - smiled and waved back. 

Yeah, not bragging or anything, but, uh, we kinda had a connection. It was cool.

So what if I'm a stargazer. 

Misunderstanding Racist Guilt

Megan McArdle:

"Note the way that Matt conflates feeling guilt over racism with caring about racism, or prioritizing its amelioration. These things are not the same. Plenty of conservatives (not to mention non-guilty liberals) conclude that personal guilt for the racism of others is nonsensical, but are horrified and moved to action when confronted by actual racism."

It's an interesting topic, liberal confusion. Very often in political debate, they seem to misunderstand - or intentionally misportray - the conservative view. This is a good example here by Megan.

"It's also worth noting that the presidential candidate who has done the most to exploit the racism of others this election season is liberal Democrat Hillary Clinton, whose campaign, though bullish on sexism, has spent a lot more time talking about how it is constrained by political correctness in its campaign against Barack Obama than being concerned with actual racism."

It's a slight contradiction, don't ya think?

Happy Memorial Day (Again)

We already went over this, but I like Chris Muir's cartoon today, so here:

Happy Memorial Day - for another 48 minutes.

Gay Marriage: Shut Up, Turek

I just read this article by Frank Turek on Townhall talking about the implications of gay marriage. Here's an exerpt:

"The law is a great teacher, and same sex marriage will teach future generations that marriage is not about children but about coupling. When marriage becomes nothing more than coupling, fewer people will get married to have children.

People will still have children, of course, but many more of them out-of wedlock. That’s a disaster for everyone. Children will be hurt because illegitimate parents (there are no illegitimate children) often never form a family, and those that “shack up” break up at a rate two to three times that of married parents. Society will be hurt because illegitimacy starts a chain of negative effects that fall like dominoes—illegitimacy leads to poverty, crime, and higher welfare costs which lead to bigger government, higher taxes, and a slower economy."

The opening argument is a little weak. Fewer people will get married to have children? I hope people are getting married for more than just simply having children. Marriage isn't simply a blind attempt to reproduce, as far as I know. I was under the impression that, according to the strict conservative that Turek seems to be, marriage was an expression of love between two people. Once those two married people decided to have children after marriage, they could then cross that bridge; at the time of legal and religious marriage, though, future children aren't meant to be the primary motivation.

Also, "The law is a great teacher, and same sex marriage will teach future generations that marriage is not about children but about coupling." So, because gay people are getting married, I won't want to have children in my marriage? Right... uh... I'm doubting it. 

Gay marriage, in fact, will be quite a positive. Their legal bond will open up a whole new venue for adoption (already possible, but isn't often pursued due to legal complications, etc.). All the ideas pursued in the second quoted paragraph will actually go in the other direction. 

You lose.

Fidel Supports Obama - It's a Wonderful Day

Fidel Castro: "Were I to defend [Obama], I would do his adversaries an enormous favor. I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him and about expressing my points of view on his words frankly."

Translation: I would say I support Obama, but then he'd lose, so I'll just quietly cheer him on so maybe, one day, he'll kill conservatives and swear the loyalty of the United States to Cuba.

Don't vote for Obama. Vote McCain this November. It's the right thing to do.

Ha. Get it?

Happy Memorial Day!

^

Be back later.

Good Job Aanauld

PJ:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may have endorsed McCain for president, but his economic stewardship will likely be fatal to the Arizona senator’s chances of winning the Golden State.

California’s economy is performing so poorly that it is singlehandedly making the rest of the nation’s economy look worse than it really is.

Mars Stuff

A spacecraft to Mars is supposed to be landing near the north pole today. Hopefully it will, but:

"The time it takes the Phoenix Mars Lander to streak through the atmosphere and set down on the dusty surface has been dubbed "the seven minutes of terror" for good reason. More than half of the world's attempts to land on Mars have ended in failures."

To be more specific, humans are currently batting .384 (5/13) for Mars landing attempts. Considering the money and effort to get there, you would think someone would just think to put the equipment in a big ball of iron and hope to God it lands, but obviously that hasn't happened yet.

And an interesting quote from Al Jazeera:

"It's kind of like going to Vegas. If you have high odds, you play a number of times, eventually one of them is going to bite you," Barry Goldstein, project manager of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

SATs

I got a 1940 on the SATs. That's a 1340 on the old 1600 scale, for all you old-school readers who can't figure that out.

• 730 on critical reading (yes!)
  
• 610 on mathematics (eh, I'm not much of a math guy)
• 600 on writing (what the hell).

I'm taking it again to get those last two up. Colleges look at the combined score (best score on each section from all tests), so the 730 stands no matter how I do the second time around. I'm looking to break 2000. 

Israel Almost Killed Who?

Air traffic controllers spotted a suspicious aircraft heading into Israeli airspace from the Sinai peninsula on Monday and made several attempts to establish contact. When the pilot failed to respond to their urgent requests, the Israelis scrambled two fighters to intercept what they feared could have been a terrorist attacker.

It turned out to be Tony Blair. Good job on the part of his obviously intelligent pilot.

Photo Guy

I don't know if I have pointed it out before, but this guy is good. He runs a blog where he just posts his photographs. They basically kick ass.

Hagee Endorsement

McCain apparently had a Nazi endorsing him. From what it sounds like, he's a pro-Jew Nazi. Weird. I kinda thought that was oxymoronic; on the same plane as a priest worshipping the devil. I guess that has sort of happened, though, hasn't it?

"Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well."

Farm Bill Overthrow

A $290 billion law overrode a Bush veto today. Rod Williams has some interesting comments here.

Gotta love the stab by Yahoo at the Democratic Congress that can't staple its papers:

"Omitted from the $290 billion, five-year law because of a printing mistake was a small amount of money to address a growing global hunger crisis. Democrats only realized the mistake on Wednesday, just before the House voted 316-108 to override Bush's veto.

The Senate joined the override Thursday with a 82-13 vote. Eager to begin a Memorial Day vacation, the issue of helping starving countries was left for another day."

Probably one of the funnier articles I've read. The bill is literally a big pile of pork, so I'm not disappointed, but if I got to choose what would be left off, I would have preferred the "mandatory labeling of country of origin on meats" over ya know, saving people and stuff.

"Republicans and the White House accused the Democrats of incompetence."

Damn, I would hope so...

And the 'American Idol' Winner is...

...this kinda homely lookin' dude.

Funny thing is, I really could care less about American Idol. I just noticed that he was, in fact, a goofy looking guy. Goofy looking = entertaining = quality blog material. Thus, I post.

Israel and Syria

Reuters: Israel and Syria said on Wednesday they had begun indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey, the first confirmation of negotiations between the long-time enemies in eight years.

That's progress, I guess. But as usual, nothing will come of it.

Marine Picture Almost Pops Out a Baby

Remember those crazy Marine pictures I posted a link to a few days ago? Yeah, well his seven-month pregnant newly-wed wife almost ran to the ER when she saw them. I don't blame her.

She saw her husband's grimace in the photographs posted to a blog she reads, and though the captions of the photos said he was unscathed, she couldn't buy it.

If it was RL, I'm simultaneously incredibly honored that someone actually reads this and sincerely sorry for the coincidental viewing.

More Primaries

This morning in the NYT:  Senator Barack Obama would like to begin shutting down the nominating contest with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday night as two more states — Kentucky and Oregon — hold their primaries. But he wants to do it subtly.

He is getting close.

And this is an interesting statistic: Exit polls also showed 73 percent of white women were going for Clinton in that state’s primary, as were 74 percent of white voters with no college degrees.

Kennedy's Terrible Diagnosis

As I'm sure you know by now, Kennedy's diagnosis isn't good:

I'm a bit disgusted in a few blogs, especially The Anchoress, due to their premature jump to objective discussion on the political implications of Kennedy's cancer. Regardless of his politics, the guy's been a civil servant for over 40 years. That's worth at least a little sentiment, isn't it?

McCain on SNL

I finally found that SNL clip I had been search for so unsuccessfully. Here it is:



It was funny, but he completely forgot to shake hands with Seth Meyers before walking off.

Glenn & Helen Show: Robert Kagan

I would recommend a listen here. Robert Kagan, the author of the new book, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, talks about differences in eastern and western politics, as well as those differences between European and Asian autocracy and democracies. I plan on reading the book, I recommend you do, too. Listen to the podcast first, though!

Speed Boat Jesus

Wow, the pictures today are quite impressive. Another cool one here:



FOX: Joe Peroceschi, of Muskego, Wis., was thrown from his boat, "Smokin Joe," during a race Sunday on Wappapello Lake in southeast Missouri.

He lived.

This Guy is My Hero

This is a Marine in Afghanistan in a gunfight yesterday. There are seven other pictures of the fight along with this one, go check them out.

FARC Rebel Rebelling Against the Rebellion... ooh

Eldaneyis Mosquera, also known as "Karina," was one of the most senior women in the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. She operated in the country's mountainous, northwestern region, where security officials blamed her for a series of attacks and kidnappings.

Read it.

Michael Yon and Michael Moore

Kind of on the same note, Michael Yon takes aim at Michael Moore: Many readers have complained that Michael Moore, in the conduct of his latest crusade against whatever he is against this month, has illegally used one of my photos on the banner of his website [It's the right-most photo in Moore's banner above]. Mr. Moore is not the first to have done so, and my readers can get pretty upset when it happens.

Later in Yon's post, he writes probably one of the most powerful paragraphs I've read in quite some time:

When someone’s grandmother disseminates the photo of Major Beiger cradling a dying girl in his arms, I allow the usage because I feel she is trying to share the human tragedy. When Michael Moore puts that same photo on his web site, alongside images of George Bush, John McCain and Hillary Clinton, the clear implication is that Farah’s death is their fault. That is a misrepresentation of the facts on the ground, as well as the story of the photo. Farah was killed by a suicide car bomb in Mosul on May 2, 2005. Major Bieger and other soldiers literally risked their own lives to save many children and adults that day, but Farah didn’t make it. Michael Moore apparently does not understand-or refuses to acknowledge-the moral distinction between a man who would murder innocent people, and a man who would sacrifice himself to save them. The photo, as I took it, is the truth, but Moore uses it-illegally-to convey falsehoods. His mind is that of a political propagandist who sees Farah’s death not as a human tragedy, but a tool.

Read the whole thing (linked above... it's interesting stuff.

Copyright on YouTube

I went to YouTube just a minute ago to see if I could grab a clip from McCain on SNL last night for the blog. Someone uploaded a four minute clip. Perfect, I thought. I clicked on it, and boom - an error message: "This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by a third party." See for yourself.

Damnit, NBC.

Mark Steyn and Democratic Touchiness - Cool

Mark Steyn: It says something for Democrat touchiness that the minute a guy makes a generalized observation about folks who appease terrorists and dictators the Dems assume: Hey, they're talking about me. Actually, he wasn't – or, to be more precise, he wasn't talking only about you.

A valid point here. I recommend reading the whole column - it's good stuff.

Huckabee Successfully Eliminates Himself from the Veepstakes...

Huckabee giving a speech to an NRA audience (via Althouse):

"That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak. Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor."

The first half was funny. Then he just turned into an idiot.

12 Noon

I have realized I tend to be a PM blogger. While I just discovered this, I'm sure any of my little handful of loyal readers established this quite some time ago. Either way, though, I guess if you're here for new content, I recommend you show up after the clock strikes noon on the east coast. 

Just being courteous   :-)

Kennedy in the Hospital

Ted Kennedy is in the hospital with what seems to be a stroke:

Kennedy was first taken to the Cape Cod Hospital emergency room at about 9 a.m., hospital spokesman David Reilly told FOXNews.com. He was airlifted out after an hour, reportedly to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Airlifting isn't good - it usually means someone's screwed. In this case, it appears to be the Democrats.

UPDATE: Test results aren't expected for 48 hours.

Islamablog

This is an interesting website. Fox has an article about it on its main page: 

When the blog, also called "The Ignored Puzzle Pieces of Knowledge," listed its top "scholars of Islam" and people to "take knowledge from," it wasn't hard to notice that the list of 63 names contained mostly known terrorists — including Usama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The site provides links to their works, all translated into English.

Revolution.Muslimpad's sleek, modern style includes collections of the latest videos of U.S. military Humvees exploding from roadside bombs in Iraq, as well as pro-jihad messages aimed at radicalizing readers.

To Clap or Not to Clap

While I don't see the problem, I'm predicting this becomes a big issue (mostly thanks to Instadude):

Obama: "And I have to say that when I delivered that speech, the room got really quiet. Nobody clapped."

LA Times: You'll never guess what. The room wasn't quiet at all. Obama, in fact, got a loud round of applause.

Watch the video, and you'll find they're both wrong. It was more of a courteous golf-clap:

Rocket Man Reaches 186 MPH

MSNBC: Some people go fishing on their day off. Yves Rossy likes to jump out of a small plane with a pair of jet-powered wings and perform figure eights above the Swiss Alps.

And I think it's gonna be a long long time

Till touch down brings me round again to find

I'm not the man they think I am at home

Oh no no no I'm a rocket man.

-Elton John

4-3 For Gay Rights

California just legalized gay marriage.

California Chief Justice Ron George: "In contrast to earlier times, our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation, and, more generally, that an individual's sexual orientation — like a person's race or gender — does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."

There is a smart judge in the country! Finally, someone realizes gayness isn't a governmental issue. 

Thank Go... oh, wait - God doesn't believe in liberty.

Chinese Tragedy

China: And in Dujuangyan, a 22-year-old woman was pulled to safety after three nights, her rescue broadcast and cheered on state television.

"I was confident that you were coming to rescue me. I'm alive. I'm so happy."

But, officials appeared Thursday to be shifting their relief efforts from search-and-rescue to body recovery.

It's beginning to sound a lot like 9/11.

NYC

We went into New York City with our German visitors yesterday. I tried to post from an iPhone in the Apple Store on 5th Ave, but (I sound old - ha) the buttons are too small. It took me an hour to type in "regardi" so I gave up. Such a neat phone, though.

Politico Interview With Bush

Politico's Michael Allen interviewed President Bush. I read through the transcript (already linked), and I came away with a few thoughts.

Q Mr. President, I'm going to surprise you -- there's a question from a user, Bruce Becker, and he asks: Do you feel that you were misled on Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT: I feel like -- I felt like there were weapons of mass destruction. You know, "mislead" is a strong word, it almost connotes some kind of intentional -- I don't think so, I think there was a -- not only our intelligence community, but intelligence communities all across the world shared the same assessment. And so I was disappointed to see how flawed our intelligence was.

Ok, we all know Bush is an idiot. Every comedian in America, if not the world, incorporates his stupidity into their routine at some point. Every liberal has, and every conservative is starting to do the same. He's an idiot. It's settled.

My one question is - and this is a big one - how do liberals get away simultaneously tagging Bush as the most unintelligent President in our history while also claiming Bush 'lied' about WMDs as part of his massive plot to dominate the world's oil supply?He didn't lie about anything. He had no idea what he was talking about, and therefore was willing to listen to and believe whatever he was told. I don't believe Bush to be immoral; simply stupid.

-----

So "mislead" means, do I think somebody lied to me? No, I don't. I think it was just, you know, they analyzed the situation and came up with the wrong conclusion. 

-----

Q Mr. President, you haven't been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, it really is. I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal.

Well, that's very kind of you, Mr. President, but I think we would survive if you uh, took a weekend for yourself. Ya know, just let loose. Let Dick run things for a little while.

Clinton Wins West Virginia

Clinton won West Virginia as expected.

RCP: Two possible scenarios for tonight's vote in West Virginia: 1) it's dismissed as too little, too late for Clinton and doesn't change a thing or 2) her margin of victory is so big it reignites doubts about Obama's ability to win working class white voters in Rust Belt states and moves the narrative slightly back in Clinton's direction and away from the "it's over" theme that's pervaded coverage for the past week. Smart money is on the former, but given WV is the only game in town (as opposed to next week when the vote in Kentucky will be offset by equal coverage of the vote in Oregon), it will depend to a certain extent on how the media covers tonight.

I'm guessing the first, as RCP suggested.

Bob Barr's "Why I Want to Be President" Video

This is the Libertarian presidential hopeful, Bob Barr:


Two months ago, I would be all for him, but as you know, I've given up my libertarian ways.
On top of that, he, I don't know, just doesn't come across 'presidential.' He simply beats down the Bush Administration, and thinks that'll do the trick. If that was the case, though, Lewis Black could be president. He also whistles through his teeth when he speaks. It's kind of annoying.

"I have never and will never condone nation-building as an appropriate role for our military, or as a legitimate part of our nation's foreign policy."

Yup, sounds like a libertarian. He forgets Germany, Israel, France, Italy and Japan after World War Two. If we didn't build them up as powerful democratic nations, America wouldn't have the same powerful connections in trade and foreign relations as it does today.

More on China and Myanmar

Reuters: The death toll in China's earthquake climbed past 13,000 on Tuesday and looked likely to rise much higher after media said some 19,000 people were buried in rubble in just one area.

13,000 in China + 34,000 in Myanmar (that's a new number, as of today) = 47,000 in Asia so far.

I also read that the Myanmar toll is expected to reach 216,000. The source on that was the UN, though, so it's probably, well, wrong.

Here's a video of the earthquake. It's pretty intense.

Cool Kid on the Block = Hillary Clinton + (-Hillary Clinton) + (Barack Obama)^2

What an irritating title on my part! Anyway, The cool kid is Barack now: 

Hillary was a cool kid once, but now she's cool no more. What made her cool -- "She's a chick running for class President! How cool is that?!" -- has been trumped by the coolest Democrat cool of all -- "He's a black guy running for class President! Dude!" You can't get cooler than that. There is no American cool cooler than black cool, especially if it shows up in sharp suits and talks smooth with only a soupcon of ghetto speak.

Read the whole thing. It's a hysterically true rundown of the Democratic demographic. I kind of had the urge to, you know, pee in my pants half way through.

What the Hell

Can you please visit with some regularity, by any chance? This is a chart of my visits (red) and page views (yellow) over the past month. As you can see, I was please for a very short period of time.

Earthquake in China

7.9 in China: A powerful earthquake toppled buildings, schools and a chemical plant in central China on Monday, killing more than 8,700 people and trapping untold numbers in mounds of concrete, steel and earth in the worst quake in three decades.

This has been a pretty shitty month for, well, everyone. Everyone except Barack Obama. He's pretty happy. But everyone else is pissed off, and rightly so.

Married

Jenna Bush is married. 

"The wedding was spectacular. It's just — it's all we could have hoped for."
-George

Phoenix 53

Arizona authorities on Sunday found 53 illegal immigrants in a Phoenix home being held against their will by suspected smugglers demanding more money for their release.

Holding immigrants for ransom. How common is manipulating immigrants for cash? Very, I believe, but I'll get more details for you ASAP.

Divided Feminists

Boston Herald: No constituency is more eager to see a woman win the presidency than America’s feminists, yet — despite Hillary Rodham Clinton’s historic candidacy — the women’s movement finds itself wrenchingly divided over the Democratic race as it heads toward the finish.

That's because Clinton is, indeed, a man.

German Visitors and Pride

My family is welcoming in a German family in America for a week. My mom knew them in college, as the mother, Stephie, was an exchange student at her school. They are now on their way from JFK to our house, and should be arriving shortly. I'm sure I'll talk at length about conversations with them in later posts, but for now, I'd like to talk about American pride.


We spent the better part of this morning cleaning our house in preparation for these people. I've been vacuuming and mopping all morning. I, personally am doing it to keep my parents happy. But at a deeper level, I think, is a sense of pride instilled in all Americans. On my trip to Ecuador, our guide literally walked into random homes and ask if the family had time to see us. For starters, no one turned us down. But even more than that, at no point did they try to excuse or apologize for their messy homes or cluttered rooms. At all levels, they simply wanted us to take them for face value, see who they really were.

But Americans prepare for hours, even days for visitors. They want to display the best of the best, the pinnacle points in life as an American. It's an inner American pride, I think, that drives this. For better or worse, it's a uniquely American characteristic.

Sorry and Hezbollah

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday, I was visiting relatives in Maine with my family.

"Hezbollah TV says that Hezbollah-led opposition forces will withdraw all their gunmen from Beirut in compliance with an army request."

Here.

A Good 60th Birthday Present:

"I look into the eyes of each and every one of you and say that I have never taken a bribe. I never took a penny for myself."

Raising money for an election isn't really the same.

$124

Oil is up to $124 a barrel:

"Oil rallied back from early losses on Thursday to strike a fresh record above $124 a barrel as strong diesel demand outweighed signs of rising OPEC supplies."

Abdullah al-Badri: There is clearly no shortage of oil in the market.

Got damnit, Shell!

Podcasting

I'm considering a podcast. That's all I know. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

Happy 60th, Israel

Human Events: Despite being the freest, most democratic country in the Middle East, Israel is the whipping boy for the UN’s Human Rights Council, a discredited basket case of an organization that boasts some of the world’s worst human rights offenders as members, including China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Russia and Egypt. Roughly three quarters of the HRC’s resolutions in its first year were aimed at Israel, while brutal dictatorships such as Zimbabwe, North Korea, Burma and Sudan barely merited a mention.

Ironically, my history class today focused on post-war Truman reform, and we spoke quite a bit about the founding of Israel. Interesting stuff.

Paranoia in Myanmar

Here is an article from Yahoo News on US pressing aid to Myanmar.

Shari Villarosa: "It's a very paranoid regime."

I have been quite impressed with Yahoo's coverage of the Myanmar cyclone. Some of the other big guys (namely CNN and NBC) have been pretty weak.

Powerline Paul Calls it Early

Paul Mirengoff of Powerline: "I consider Obama the favorite. One can usually predict the outcome of the general election, and come pretty close on the margin, by considering just a few variables: how the economy is doing, whether we're at war and how popular the war is, which party holds the White House and how long it has held it, and how popular the president is.

This year, these "fundamentals" point to a Democratic victory of at least 10 percentage points.

Weighing against this outcome is, first, the fact that McCain is a better than average nominee in terms of electability. For one thing, he does not have a close association with the unpopular president. In addition, his appeal to independent and centrist voters is well known. Second, Obama may well prove a worse than average nominee. He lacks anything like the experience voters look for in a president, and he's an extremist as presidential nominees go, a perception that now is reinforced by some of his unusual associations.

At this stage, though, it seems more likely than not that these factors won't overcome the fundamentals."

You all heard that. Paul Mirengoff just called November for Obama. Already. Well, I disagree, and I can't wait to see him be wrong - again - this election season.

Thank God, 'You Can't Win This Nomination'

Thanks Drudge.

It's finally over, pending formalities. Will she cry at her concession speech? I bet no. She's not looking for women voters any more - she'll be back to her old 'balls to the wall' self.

Attention Hippy-Crites

I just read this article (thanks to Glenn Reynolds) on the Hollywood left's hypocritical loonies (this article calls them hippy-crites, but I'm sure we can come up with something better than that). Anyway, I thought I would take this opportunity to rant and rave about these nut jobs. 

Here's the thing. I love liberal hippies. The long haired, global warming obsessed tree-hugger liberals honestly make the world go round. Those who walk their talk, and smoke it too. They are, quite truly, some of the most simple living and happiest people in the world. I also believe we need people around to tell us when we're messing with the environment too much. (I think environmental issues are important, I just think, for the most part, government restrictions aren't necessary because these are issues that can be dealt with in the private sector. Again, for the most part, for all those about to call me out.) These environmental prophets are good people; honest people. We need them in our world.

It's the gas-guzzling liberals that get to me. Really, come on. If you're going to scream and yell about the environment, don't fly the private jet every flight, just make it once or twice a month. At least make it sound like you care about the issue you've decided to knock my block off about. These celebrities (ehem, stage right) dominate the television with their nonsensical gibberish, but don't manage to practice what they preach. And their prominence is what keeps them in the spotlight. They are like cockroaches; they disturb everyone and make the world a crappier place; they never go away. They use their power and wealth and prestige to keep themselves on ET and NBC to continue their nonsense. Then they find themselves on Oprah and The View, where they wave to a group of brainwashed blind bats cheering them and their private 747 on. And then they shove unwanted information into my ear hole via television. They rape my ear. 

No means no.

NC and Indiana

It's looking like a high turnout day at the polls in Indiana and North Carolina today, although that was expected. This is impressive, though:

Polling officials in Indianapolis said that they had set a record for voter turnout after being open for only six hours.

With so many even heats between Obama and Clinton, I'm unfortunately expecting to see the expected; Obama win NC and Clinton take Indiana. This race will never end.

Mildred Loving Gone at 68

Mildred Loving has died.

Althouse: It seems odd that she was only 68. Loving v. Virginia — the case in which the Supreme Court struck down a law that banned interracial marriages — ought to have been decided a long, long time ago. But it was not.

What Althouse said.

Bike Tour Pictures

Here are the promised Five Boro Bike Tour Pictures:

My friends Kevin, Claire, Nick and I in Battery Park before the tour.

The tour lineup on 6th Ave. at about 7:45 AM. The race didn't start for us way in the back until maybe 8:30. The fence to the left separates us from Ground Zero.

One of five bridges on the day.

The tour ends with a 3-mile ride on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. This is the view from the top looking down on the BQE. All those little dots on the northbound side are bikers. 30,000 total.

The end of the tour in Staten Island.

It was a great day. I recommend for anyone in the Tristate area. It's a great way to see the city.

UPDATE: My girlfriend, Claire, is disappointed I didn't cite my source. She took the pictures. I apologize to any curious passers-by deadened by my lack of sourcing. I'm sorry.

22,000

From 351 to 22,000 in a matter of days:

The cyclone death toll soared above 22,000 on Tuesday and more than 41,000 others were missing as the international community prepared to rush in aid after the country's deadliest storm on record, state radio reported.

...and I thought 4000 was bad.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds: "But this sucks, if possible, even more: 'Myanmar's reclusive military rulers insisted foreign aid experts would still have to negotiate with the government to be allowed into the isolated nation.'"

ANWR Reserve Drilling

A nice Jay Leno video from The Heritage Foundation:



Democrats say drilling in ANWR wouldn’t produce any oil for 10 years — the same point they’ve been making for more than 10 years now.

Glenn Reynolds: "It would be nice to have some extra oil coming on line about now."

Clinton, etc.

My friend yesterday walked up to me, looked me in the eye and said, "Hillary Clinton should stop running for president and make me a sandwich."

Don't call me sexist, but I'm starting to agree.

Also: Clinton is up by 15 in the SD count according to RCP.

Yangon Cyclone

This is terrible: Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said Monday.

The cyclone hit the biggest city in the country, Yangon. And a quote from a grocery store owner: "The government misled people. They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared."

UPDATE: Most unfortunate, I think, is that the original death toll was just 351.

Five Boro Bike Tour

I was in New York City yesterday for the Five Boro Bike Tour. I do it every year - it really is great. Anyway, that's why I didn't post yesterday. I'm sorry. Pictures will be coming soon.

"How to Win an Election" and Red Money

Tom Reynolds on GOP campaign money: “We have to take the resources we have and use them wisely."

"No shit" should be the obvious response, but I just read How to Rig an Election by Allen Raymond, and he explained the whole money component in politics. His accusations aimed at the Republicans Party are a little farfetched, but I learned a good bit about the political underbelly. It really opened my eyes to how much money is required to even consider running in an election. The amount, for those of you interested in the specifics, is a lot.

After the SAT

I just got back from the SAT a little while ago. That was brutal. I followed intuition for the first half, but after hour three, the test starts playing games with your head. I'll be sure to let you know how I did, but do keep in mind that I will (most likely) lie about my score.

SATs

I'm done posting for today. I'm taking the SAT tomorrow, and somehow going to a decent college beats out writing a fifth post on my blog. I'm sorry.

Wish me luck.

President McCain

David Neiwert: "In his new ad touting his health-care plan, John McCain dubs himself "President McCain" at the ad's outset. In big block letters.

I guess the formality of that quaint anachronism we used to call an election isn't really much to worry about for Republicans anymore. After all, there's now the Roberts Court waiting in the wings to take care of it for them if the voters refuse to play along."


Ya know, Dave here may not like it, but I think it's got a good sound to it, 'President McCain.' Say it to yourself in front of the mirror. See, doesn't it sound good? It's a true, strong, powerful, 24-like presidential name.

Chinese Airport: yeah, it's big. But we can go on the internet here without being watched by government stalkers... we win.

Take a peak at the largest building in the world, China's new airport. You can keep your massive luxury airport, though, China; I'd much rather be in cramped LaGuardia, where I can peacefully hook up to the their wireless internet service for $12.99 an hour without government interference. Better than you can say.

Employee Cuts Fall

Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless reveals strains in the nation's labor market.

That's good, I guess, but beating out the recent months isn't exactly a rough task.

Good Job, Marty Parrish

It seems that the guy who asked this question, Marty Parrish, was the campaign office manager for Joe Biden and is now an Obama supporter.

Gateway Pundit: "Gee... Do you think if this would have been a Republican operative sneaking into an Obama town hall event asking offensive questions it might get some press?"

Oh, Gateway Pundit found his blog, too!

And here is a picture of him with Biden, just in case there were any doubters. Ah, the beauty of the internet... shouldn't have given the reporter your name, dumbass.

"I am not going back to prison. I will commit suicide first"

Good news: you didn't go back to prison. Bad news: you're dead.

"A woman convicted two weeks ago of being the ''D.C. Madam'' hanged herself Thursday, apparently making good on her vow never to go to prison for running a high-end Washington prostitution ring."

This is the same woman who served Senator David Vitter, as you may remember.

What is it with politicians and high-end prostitution?

Somalian al Qaeda Leader

It appears we killed Aden Hashi Ayro, the head honcho of al Qaeda in Somalia. Somalian government has been trying to shut up him and his rebel forces, but this guy named Mukhtar Ali Robow makes a valid point:

"Even if Ayro has been martyred, his beliefs live on. The men who he trained and consulted are still around."

Chinese Computer Spying

"What I just learned yesterday is that the Chinese government has issued an outrageous directive, in preparation for the Olympics .... American hotels have been ordered by the Chinese government to place monitors and filters on their Internet piping to facilitate spying on international guests and visitors," Brownback said.

The Chinese are on fire this year. Read the article here.