Election Thursday (And Some Other Awesomeness)
It's Election Thursday! Only one more to go after this! Also, even though the stock markets are still going through their out of body experience, oil is way down and the dollar is up even further - two factors that will help the United States recover faster. If these trends continue (and actually, they're related), we could have the best exchange rate with the Pound that I've seen since I started following it.
Okay, before the election stuff, a couple of quick news items.
Iran, Russia, and Qatar may be considering the formation of an OPEC-style gas cartel. Given how lousy OPEC is already, another version of OPEC would probably be every bit as bad. Also from Iran: close followers of the news may remember a few weeks ago, when the United States announced that it was considering forming a 'think tank' in Tehran. Well, at the risk of being accused of a delayed response, the Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (who I've recently lampooned) claims that the whole thing is nothing but a Republican ploy aimed at stealing votes from Obama. Aside from the obvious part about Ali Larijani being a total moron, it's interesting to note the following section:
Gee, I thought Senator Obama claimed that he'd never said that? Hear me now and believe me later, folks: Fars News Agency wouldn't be quoting it if he hadn't said it in the first place.
The BBC quotes a report from Reporters Sans Frontiers that claims that nations like the United States and Israel are stifling the media through concern for security. According to the article:
Last time I checked, the American administration and Congress are routinely - nay, constantly - lampooned and accused of everything from incompetence to conspiracy by the media. It just goes to show you how much you can count on paragons of virtue and objectivity like Reporters Sans Frontiers and the BBC.
I can't and don't talk about my current job on the blog (largely because it's boring), and I didn't talk about my last job (mostly for security reasons). However, just because I can't, doesn't mean that I can't point you to media sources that discuss some of what I've seen (at the first one - as I mentioned, my current job would bore everyone to tears). That absolves me from commenting, while showing some of the amazing stuff that I've been able to witness and assist with. The BBC (yes, the same BBC that I just criticized) did an audio documentary back in August that I just found last night. You can listen to the podcast, and in the BBC's zealous attempt to be fair and objective, they almost gave the situation a fair shake. Another piece, older and with some video footage, is at USA Today. One of my co-workers showed me an open-source, approved for public release book titled 66 Stories of Battle Command that consists almost entirely of old stories from exercises.
Today's video is the first in a two part series on Nintendo Entertainment System music: Marcos Kazan plays the "Dr. Wily's Castle" theme from Mega Man 2
I neglected to mention it earlier this week, but I made a couple of purchases on Amazon earlier this week, and I'll probably make a couple more purchases before the end of the week. I ordered a Gilbert XT 300 Training Rugby Ball, and a set of shirt stays. The rugby ball arrived today, completely deflated, so I'm going to stop in to Disc Golf Champ and Disc Golf Wife's place tomorrow to use their air pump. By the end of the week, I hope to order two Multicam hunting shirts (one for me, and one for my dad's birthday that was two months ago), and the Red vs. Blue Sarge shirt and Sarge beanie from Rooster Teeth. Once I have this stuff ordered, my game plan is to sort of lock down my finances and live on the cheap for a while.
Okay, time for Election Thursday.
* * *
There have been a lot of election stories lately, and some of them I'm just going to smash through.
First, the most effective campaign poster that Senator McCain could use. Second, the most ridiculous item of the week: al Qaeda supporters back John McCain for president. Well... Not exactly. The London Times appears to have a penchant for misleading headlines today. The article actually reads:
That's pretty much the same thing that the terrorists were saying about President Bush in 2004: if the crazy war-monger Bush gets re-elected, we can win. Now al Qaeda has lost in Iraq and they're trying to divert to Afghanistan. There's so much spin on this one, it makes my new rugby ball look like a cubical rock. Moving on.
Next, the latest edition of NewsBusted:
Okay, now on to the serious stuff.
The issue with Barack Obama's connections to the leftist group ACORN has been at the political forefront over the last several weeks, due in large part to widespread reports of voter registration fraud by said group. One of my favorite contributors at FSM, KT McFarland, has a very mature and level-headed article that explains why the ACORN issue is important. Another issue that's been hounding Senator Obama, and rightly so, has been Obama's statements about "spreading the wealth around" to the now-infamous "Joe the Plumber". The BBC has a profile of Joe the Plumber, where you can also witness the exchange between him and Barack Obama. If you haven't seen it, and you hope to work hard and get rich someday, you should go look. Of course, leftists have been making every attempt to discredit Joe the Plumber in the last week and a half, subjecting him to far more scrutiny than they've bothered to subject their candidate to. If the Obama campaign and its minions respond to this incident by trying to dig up dirt on Joe the Plumber, you know that this whole thing has hit them where they're weak.
Picked to be an asset for Senator Obama, who's been rightfully accused of being completely naive and inexperienced on foreign policy issues (in addition to numerous others), Senator Joe Biden has turned into one of the greatest weaknesses Obama has. The choice of Biden demonstrated Obama's arrogance and insecurity, as Obama's discomfort with the possibility of having Senator Clinton upstage him led him to refuse to make Republicans' worst fear a reality by choosing her as his running mate. Intended to cement the Obama campaign's foreign policy credentials, it was instead pointed out that Biden has basically been wrong on Iraq four different times (to include voting against the 1990/'91 Persian Gulf War). His "lunch bucket", "blue collar" roots are an absurd fabrication, and many of his statements during the Vice Presidential debate were pure fantasies (link, link). He's also famous for his gaffes, and he's been gaffing at epic levels over the last few weeks - one of his failures to coordinate his statements with his running mate has even formed the core of the latest McCain campaign advertisement. In addition, Biden raises a whole slew of ethics issues for the Obama campaign. Biden even claimed that paying higher taxes was patriotic! As one conservative comedy outfit pointed out, Republicans' best strategy is to just let Joe Biden keep talking. Doesn't Obama's choice of Biden serve as further evidence of his questionable judgment?
Last week, I posted a Glenn Beck column titled Voting against Obama doesn't make you a racist. Not to be outdone, the BBC has its own op-ed piece disguised as an objective hard news article: Will closet racism derail Obama? A more likely culprit is the Bradley Effect, in which people who are polled claim that they're going to vote for the black candidate in order to avoid appearing racist, when they actually end up voting for whichever candidate they damn well please. Many on the right believe that the Obama campaign generally, and non-campaign Obama supporters in particular, have cried "racism" a few too many times, and for issues that had nothing to do with race or racism. The truth is that although there are probably a handful of people out there who are voting for Senator McCain as a result of Senator Obama's race, there appear to be far more people voting for Obama because of his race. The McCain campaign has nothing to gain from even the slightest hint of racism, and they've gone to great lengths to stay away from it; as a result, I think that the accusations of racism against Senator McCain will actually hurt Senator Obama in the end.
As far as Senator Obama himself, there are a couple of interesting pieces about his actual past and political views that are worth checking out. One, from the Guardian of all places, discusses his likely gun policies - although Obama claims to respect the Second Amendment, his actual statements on the subject are far more reflective of his statement during the primaries about people "bitterly clinging to guns and religion". All indications are that, unlike the gun nuts who founded our country and wrote the Second Amendment, Senator Obama favors the most restrictive, draconian gun laws possible. There's also an interesting piece on whether or not Senator Obama could have qualified for a government security clearance if he weren't a politician - too little focus on the clearance aspect in my opinion, but an interesting review of some of Obama's personal history and contacts.
I've had a number of friends on the left, and obviously the news media, try to convince me that the election is essentially over, and that Senator Obama has basically already won. The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that this is still a horse race, and that means that McCain is stronger than any of the polls really indicate. Many of the polls that have shown Obama leading by an exorbitant amount have been conducted by completely disreputable entities - for example, the New York Times/CBS poll that showed Obama leading McCain by fourteen points. I don't put any stock in either outlet, as their reporting over the last several years has lost every last trace of reliability, accuracy, and objective credibility. More reputable polls have continued to show a much closer race.
There was a great column last week in the Wall Street Journal by none other than the infamous Karl Rove, titled Obama Hasn't Closed the Sale. If you're an Obama voter who's confident that the race is over, you should read it. If you're a McCain voter, dismayed that the race is over, you should read it. The latest word from the AP, who claimed a day or two ago that Obama's lead was widening, is that the race is neck and neck, with Obama's lead narrowing. For two reasons, this indicates that Senator McCain is probably leading Obama. First, as I mentioned previously, there's the Bradley Effect. Second, and perhaps more importantly, polling has been shown to consistently favor Democrats by around three points. When you factor in that the spread between the current polling numbers have Obama at 44% and McCain at 43%, and that this is well within a three-to-four percent margin of error, these factors all combine to indicate that Senator McCain is doing far better than the Media has been giving him credit for.
As I mentioned last week, I went to see Senator McCain and Governor Palin in person, and the amount of energy in the room was phenomenal. I know for a fact that Senator Obama has similar energy at his rallies, but I also know that these huge Obama rallies that people talk about often have free rock concerts at them that are promoted prior to the event, don't go reported in the media (unlike the Hank Williams, Jr. performance at the McCain-Palin rally that was unannounced prior to the event). At this point, a close race favors McCain, and if the messianic Barack Obama can't boast a decisive, majority lead in the polls, that's a direct indication that the election that should have been the Democrats' (and really, should have been Hillary's) is slipping right through the Democrats' fingers.
And don't get me started on Congress. With the Democrat majority running so many things into the ground, while President Bush's "mistake" in Iraq has turned from defeat to the fragile first stages of victory, and Congress' approval ratings a third of the President's, you can count on some bloodletting by the electorate. Whether the Democrats maintain their majority, add a couple of seats here or there, or get ousted like they ought to, it just plain isn't going to be pretty.
Check in tomorrow, folks. It's already AMF time for the week! Have a great day, stay safe, work hard, be happy, and long live G.I. John and Caribou Barbie.
Okay, before the election stuff, a couple of quick news items.
Iran, Russia, and Qatar may be considering the formation of an OPEC-style gas cartel. Given how lousy OPEC is already, another version of OPEC would probably be every bit as bad. Also from Iran: close followers of the news may remember a few weeks ago, when the United States announced that it was considering forming a 'think tank' in Tehran. Well, at the risk of being accused of a delayed response, the Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani (who I've recently lampooned) claims that the whole thing is nothing but a Republican ploy aimed at stealing votes from Obama. Aside from the obvious part about Ali Larijani being a total moron, it's interesting to note the following section:
US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said he favors direct talks with Iranian leaders without preconditions. However, his Republican rival John McCain has labeled Obama's policy on Iran as naive.
Gee, I thought Senator Obama claimed that he'd never said that? Hear me now and believe me later, folks: Fars News Agency wouldn't be quoting it if he hadn't said it in the first place.
The BBC quotes a report from Reporters Sans Frontiers that claims that nations like the United States and Israel are stifling the media through concern for security. According to the article:
The warning comes as the group publishes its annual 173-nation index of press freedom around the world.
RSF cited poor rankings by the US and Israel, and called for US political leaders to improve its situation.
Last time I checked, the American administration and Congress are routinely - nay, constantly - lampooned and accused of everything from incompetence to conspiracy by the media. It just goes to show you how much you can count on paragons of virtue and objectivity like Reporters Sans Frontiers and the BBC.
I can't and don't talk about my current job on the blog (largely because it's boring), and I didn't talk about my last job (mostly for security reasons). However, just because I can't, doesn't mean that I can't point you to media sources that discuss some of what I've seen (at the first one - as I mentioned, my current job would bore everyone to tears). That absolves me from commenting, while showing some of the amazing stuff that I've been able to witness and assist with. The BBC (yes, the same BBC that I just criticized) did an audio documentary back in August that I just found last night. You can listen to the podcast, and in the BBC's zealous attempt to be fair and objective, they almost gave the situation a fair shake. Another piece, older and with some video footage, is at USA Today. One of my co-workers showed me an open-source, approved for public release book titled 66 Stories of Battle Command that consists almost entirely of old stories from exercises.
Today's video is the first in a two part series on Nintendo Entertainment System music: Marcos Kazan plays the "Dr. Wily's Castle" theme from Mega Man 2
I neglected to mention it earlier this week, but I made a couple of purchases on Amazon earlier this week, and I'll probably make a couple more purchases before the end of the week. I ordered a Gilbert XT 300 Training Rugby Ball, and a set of shirt stays. The rugby ball arrived today, completely deflated, so I'm going to stop in to Disc Golf Champ and Disc Golf Wife's place tomorrow to use their air pump. By the end of the week, I hope to order two Multicam hunting shirts (one for me, and one for my dad's birthday that was two months ago), and the Red vs. Blue Sarge shirt and Sarge beanie from Rooster Teeth. Once I have this stuff ordered, my game plan is to sort of lock down my finances and live on the cheap for a while.
Okay, time for Election Thursday.
There have been a lot of election stories lately, and some of them I'm just going to smash through.
First, the most effective campaign poster that Senator McCain could use. Second, the most ridiculous item of the week: al Qaeda supporters back John McCain for president. Well... Not exactly. The London Times appears to have a penchant for misleading headlines today. The article actually reads:
It emerged today, however, that al-Qaeda supporters have been posting internet messages in recent days hoping for a victory by Mr McCain, even saying they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the US because it could tip the election the Republican’s way.
One message, posted on the extremist website al-Hesbah — which is closely linked to al-Qaeda — said that if the terror group wants to exhaust the US economically and military, then victory for the “impetuous” Republican candidate would benefit them because Mr McCain would continue “the failing march of his predecessor” President Bush.
That's pretty much the same thing that the terrorists were saying about President Bush in 2004: if the crazy war-monger Bush gets re-elected, we can win. Now al Qaeda has lost in Iraq and they're trying to divert to Afghanistan. There's so much spin on this one, it makes my new rugby ball look like a cubical rock. Moving on.
Next, the latest edition of NewsBusted:
Okay, now on to the serious stuff.
The issue with Barack Obama's connections to the leftist group ACORN has been at the political forefront over the last several weeks, due in large part to widespread reports of voter registration fraud by said group. One of my favorite contributors at FSM, KT McFarland, has a very mature and level-headed article that explains why the ACORN issue is important. Another issue that's been hounding Senator Obama, and rightly so, has been Obama's statements about "spreading the wealth around" to the now-infamous "Joe the Plumber". The BBC has a profile of Joe the Plumber, where you can also witness the exchange between him and Barack Obama. If you haven't seen it, and you hope to work hard and get rich someday, you should go look. Of course, leftists have been making every attempt to discredit Joe the Plumber in the last week and a half, subjecting him to far more scrutiny than they've bothered to subject their candidate to. If the Obama campaign and its minions respond to this incident by trying to dig up dirt on Joe the Plumber, you know that this whole thing has hit them where they're weak.
Picked to be an asset for Senator Obama, who's been rightfully accused of being completely naive and inexperienced on foreign policy issues (in addition to numerous others), Senator Joe Biden has turned into one of the greatest weaknesses Obama has. The choice of Biden demonstrated Obama's arrogance and insecurity, as Obama's discomfort with the possibility of having Senator Clinton upstage him led him to refuse to make Republicans' worst fear a reality by choosing her as his running mate. Intended to cement the Obama campaign's foreign policy credentials, it was instead pointed out that Biden has basically been wrong on Iraq four different times (to include voting against the 1990/'91 Persian Gulf War). His "lunch bucket", "blue collar" roots are an absurd fabrication, and many of his statements during the Vice Presidential debate were pure fantasies (link, link). He's also famous for his gaffes, and he's been gaffing at epic levels over the last few weeks - one of his failures to coordinate his statements with his running mate has even formed the core of the latest McCain campaign advertisement. In addition, Biden raises a whole slew of ethics issues for the Obama campaign. Biden even claimed that paying higher taxes was patriotic! As one conservative comedy outfit pointed out, Republicans' best strategy is to just let Joe Biden keep talking. Doesn't Obama's choice of Biden serve as further evidence of his questionable judgment?
Last week, I posted a Glenn Beck column titled Voting against Obama doesn't make you a racist. Not to be outdone, the BBC has its own op-ed piece disguised as an objective hard news article: Will closet racism derail Obama? A more likely culprit is the Bradley Effect, in which people who are polled claim that they're going to vote for the black candidate in order to avoid appearing racist, when they actually end up voting for whichever candidate they damn well please. Many on the right believe that the Obama campaign generally, and non-campaign Obama supporters in particular, have cried "racism" a few too many times, and for issues that had nothing to do with race or racism. The truth is that although there are probably a handful of people out there who are voting for Senator McCain as a result of Senator Obama's race, there appear to be far more people voting for Obama because of his race. The McCain campaign has nothing to gain from even the slightest hint of racism, and they've gone to great lengths to stay away from it; as a result, I think that the accusations of racism against Senator McCain will actually hurt Senator Obama in the end.
As far as Senator Obama himself, there are a couple of interesting pieces about his actual past and political views that are worth checking out. One, from the Guardian of all places, discusses his likely gun policies - although Obama claims to respect the Second Amendment, his actual statements on the subject are far more reflective of his statement during the primaries about people "bitterly clinging to guns and religion". All indications are that, unlike the gun nuts who founded our country and wrote the Second Amendment, Senator Obama favors the most restrictive, draconian gun laws possible. There's also an interesting piece on whether or not Senator Obama could have qualified for a government security clearance if he weren't a politician - too little focus on the clearance aspect in my opinion, but an interesting review of some of Obama's personal history and contacts.
I've had a number of friends on the left, and obviously the news media, try to convince me that the election is essentially over, and that Senator Obama has basically already won. The truth, ladies and gentlemen, is that this is still a horse race, and that means that McCain is stronger than any of the polls really indicate. Many of the polls that have shown Obama leading by an exorbitant amount have been conducted by completely disreputable entities - for example, the New York Times/CBS poll that showed Obama leading McCain by fourteen points. I don't put any stock in either outlet, as their reporting over the last several years has lost every last trace of reliability, accuracy, and objective credibility. More reputable polls have continued to show a much closer race.
There was a great column last week in the Wall Street Journal by none other than the infamous Karl Rove, titled Obama Hasn't Closed the Sale. If you're an Obama voter who's confident that the race is over, you should read it. If you're a McCain voter, dismayed that the race is over, you should read it. The latest word from the AP, who claimed a day or two ago that Obama's lead was widening, is that the race is neck and neck, with Obama's lead narrowing. For two reasons, this indicates that Senator McCain is probably leading Obama. First, as I mentioned previously, there's the Bradley Effect. Second, and perhaps more importantly, polling has been shown to consistently favor Democrats by around three points. When you factor in that the spread between the current polling numbers have Obama at 44% and McCain at 43%, and that this is well within a three-to-four percent margin of error, these factors all combine to indicate that Senator McCain is doing far better than the Media has been giving him credit for.
As I mentioned last week, I went to see Senator McCain and Governor Palin in person, and the amount of energy in the room was phenomenal. I know for a fact that Senator Obama has similar energy at his rallies, but I also know that these huge Obama rallies that people talk about often have free rock concerts at them that are promoted prior to the event, don't go reported in the media (unlike the Hank Williams, Jr. performance at the McCain-Palin rally that was unannounced prior to the event). At this point, a close race favors McCain, and if the messianic Barack Obama can't boast a decisive, majority lead in the polls, that's a direct indication that the election that should have been the Democrats' (and really, should have been Hillary's) is slipping right through the Democrats' fingers.
And don't get me started on Congress. With the Democrat majority running so many things into the ground, while President Bush's "mistake" in Iraq has turned from defeat to the fragile first stages of victory, and Congress' approval ratings a third of the President's, you can count on some bloodletting by the electorate. Whether the Democrats maintain their majority, add a couple of seats here or there, or get ousted like they ought to, it just plain isn't going to be pretty.
Check in tomorrow, folks. It's already AMF time for the week! Have a great day, stay safe, work hard, be happy, and long live G.I. John and Caribou Barbie.
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