I'm rapidly running out of ways to criticize Barack Obama.  Over the past two years, I've been lamenting at various times (and in no particular order): Obama's inexperience, questionable associations, stated policy goals, inept assessments of world events, pandering to abortion extremists, Chicago-style thug politics, indiscriminate acceptance of donations, effete inability to relate to rural voters, hypocritical vice-presidential pick, nebulous and disingenuous center-left talk and finally his irritatingly frequent mental pauses when off the prompter.

At first, I went with inexperience.  Up until the Democrat primaries, I remained convinced that Clinton would get the nomination.  This was primarily because I had faith in the commitment to reason of my Democrat countrymen.  Quite frankly I believe that a Clinton ticket might have taken on Obama as VP and sailed to victory, while still acknowledging the political realities of our current situation (this isn't to say that I would have supported such a ticket, rather I think it would have simply been less awful).  Despite a late comeback from Clinton, Obama walked away with the nod.  Despite the same dirty politicking which gave him his Senate seat, and one very memorable use of the race card (Bill Clinton is a racist now?) the Democrat constituency decided to give Obama the opportunity to lead this country.

I thought then, foolishly, that we'd begin to see the press digging through his record in the Senate.  They'd form their narrative of his rise to prominence and fill in the gaping holes left by his campaign narrative.  Nope.  This is a separate issue, but the press has championed this man's candidacy from the start, downplaying serious concerns and trumpeting the story that Obama's people want told.  In a year that favors Democrats, with a candidate like John McCain agonizing over how honorable he must be instead of trying to win, and the race being within 4-7 points...imagine today's headlines if the so-called journalists in our news media had deigned to investigate Obama with half as much energy as they devoted to Sarah Palin...or Joe the Plumber.  Within days of daring to ask Obama a hard question in which the candidate revealed his socialist leanings, Joe's garbage had been thorougly rifled through.  They can't do that to a candidate for President?  They won't, and they didn't.

Over the next few months I would identify an issue, follow its progression through the mainstream news and through the blogs, and inevitably watch it die a limping, somewhat befuddled death.  So many times, I saw what I thought could not be ignored.  I thought each of these issues would finally begin the process of seriously investigating this man who wants to lead a federal government that I know he intends to grow dramatically.

Each issue was glossed over, roundly ignored, outright denied or rationalized.  I swear I saw Obama change his position and contradict himself, yet his supporters barely noticed. 

The cult of personality which has developed around this man is nothing short of alarming.  Do you remember the fainting?  The Berlin rally?  Try criticizing this man in front of people who have cheered themselves hoarse for a vision they can't even articulate.  They're roaring their approval for a cloud, a man who changes shape to become what people want to see. 

Nothing, no issue has stuck to him for more than a few days.  Not Jeremiah Wright, not his socialism, not the corrupt donation process on his site, not the voter fraud perpetrated on his behalf, not his idiotic foreign policy declarations...nothing.  And he is poised to assume the Presidency in what will be an historic, and historically bad, moment. 

This election may see a permanent leftward shift in our country.  Permanent.  You understand, of course, that the more power you give to government the less you have yourself?  And what it is given it rarely if ever gives back willingly?  This means that if universal healthcare doesn't work, we're stuck with it.  This means that if you work hard and become rich, you'll be taxed and your money given to those who don't work or who simply aren't as successful.  And you'll be stuck with that. 

I believe there has already been a shift in this country.  We used to be a nation of independent spirits, distrustful of the government and anyone telling us what to do with our property.  We've become, over the past 50 years, a nation of people asking "where's mine?" with an outstretched hand.  We've voluntarily sewn ourselves up in red tape.  We've seen our taxes increase to our detriment and decrease to our prosperity, yet we've learned nothing.

Maybe Obama really is the president this country wants.  Maybe he is the President this country deserves. 

Alright, so I think the consensus is that last night was 90 minutes we'll never get back again.

McCain let Obama get away with blaming Republicans for the current financial crisis, never making the case that Democrats are the ones who have presided over this process of opening up mortgages to people who have a history of not paying their bills. 

Obama predictably tread (trod?) water on foreign policy, but McCain didn't do much to exploit his opponent's weakness.

For a townhall format, Tom Brokaw certainly didn't open up the questions to the audience very much.  I would have liked to see Brokaw just call out the subject and stand back...too bad he seemed to think people wanted to obey time limits and politely change the subject before getting into anything worthwhile.

I wanted blood last night, and all I got was the same bullcrap.  I am now starting to think that McCain doesn't even want to win this thing.  There is so much ammunition he could use against Obama, even if he never mentioned Ayers again.  Rezko, Wright, the Chicago machine...just for associations. 

How about bringing up the fact that Obama still can't admit the surge worked?  You'll notice that Obama didn't respond to that, which by debate rules is a concession of the point...which makes McCain's earlier silence on Freddie and Fannie just as damning. 

I am having real trouble with my candidate, because he just seems unwilling to go on a sustained attack.  It's maddening. 

I often highlight the faults and crimes of radical Islam on this blog.  In an attempt to be fair, here's something from my own people.  This happens every year.  Every year.  The fight in Jerusalem is also a yearly occurrence.  Don't mess with the Orthodox, because apparently they carry iron rods around with them to church.  Even Franciscans got into the mix a few years ago. 

Very much highlights the necessity of everyone coming back to the fold of the Catholic Church, in my humble opinion.  But that's a religious matter.  In political terms, this kind of stuff highlights the very strong convictions that can lead to violence, even among a religion that explicitly asks its adherents to turn the other cheek.

Priests brawl at Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus

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Seven people were injured on Thursday when Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests came to blows in a dispute over how to clean the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Following the Christmas celebrations, Greek Orthodox priests set up ladders to clean the walls and ceilings of their part of the church, which is built over the site where Jesus Christ is believed to have been born. But the ladders encroached on space controlled by Armenian priests, according to photographers who said angry words ensued and blows quickly followed. For a quarter of an hour bearded and robed priests laid into each other with fists, brooms and iron rods while the photographers who had come to take pictures of the annual cleaning ceremony recorded the whole event. A dozen unarmed Palestinian policemen were sent to try to separate the priests, but two of them were also injured in the unholy melee. "As usual the cleaning of the church afer Christmas is a cause of problems," Bethlehem Mayor Victor Batarseh told AFP, adding that he has offered to help ease tensions. "For the two years that I have been here everything went more or less calmly," he said. "It's all finished now." The Church of the Nativity, like the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, is shared by various branches of Christianity, each of which controls and jealously guards a part of the holy site. The Church of the Nativity is built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born in a stable more than 2,000 years ago after Mary and Joseph were turned away by an inn.

Well, not one month after the Howard government of Australia lost out to the Labor party of Kevin Rudd, we have this charming bit of heroism.  Apparently, the whales are in trouble!  Japan is going to hunt 1000 whales this year, including the humpback.  This just won't do, so:

...the Australian government will be casting a different eye over the activities of the Japanese whalers in Antarctica - it plans to send a former P&O cruise ship, now converted into an armed vessel, to the region to monitor the hunting.

Never mind that if a conflict does occur, it will be because a foreign vessel interfered with the national sovereignty of Japan and its harvesting.  Can't get around that just yet.

But whales are so beautiful, you might say.  That they are, but they are not as beautiful as a human life, no matter how Japanese.  Or greenie.

The crew is trained for polar conditions and they will use 'super-telephoto' lenses to record the whale slaughter.

In addition, the ship will have two .50-calibre machine guns manned by a customs boarding party should a clash of any kind with the Japanese vessels occur.

Australia's new Labour Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has accused the former John Howard government of doing nothing to save the endangered whales, adding that nobody took seriously Japan's claim that it was conducting scientific research.

The Hell you say, Kevin Rudd. 

My friend W manages to find the most interesting sites on the Internet.  Apparently Cracked, the lesser-known periodical in the style of Mad, has switched to online content.  And it's hilarious.  Observe.

One contributor wishes for an improved Real Time Strategy game.  Wish number 14:

14. I want fat, left-wing documentarians carefully editing the only the most incriminating footage, countered only by low-IQ country music singers crooning my praises while in American flag-colored cowboy hats.

So my only question is this:  New Zealand has decided that potential drains on their healthcare system far outweigh the amount they will receive from these people in taxation, purchasing revenue, and talent?  Stupid Kiwis.

New Zealand bars British man's 'fat' wife

By Paul Chapman in Wellington and Graeme Baker

Last Updated: 8:45am GMT 20/11/2007

A British man who moved to New Zealand has been told by officials that his wife is too fat to join him.

Richie Trezise, 35, a rugby-playing Welshman, lost weight to gain entry to New Zealand after initially being rejected for being overweight and a potential burden on the health care system.   Richie and Rowan Trezise have been battling to shed pounds His wife, Rowan, 33, a photographer, has been battling for months to shed the pounds so they can be reunited and live Down Under but has so far been unable to overcome New Zealand’s weight regulations. Mr Trezise, who moved to Auckland in September after shedding two inches from his waist on a crash diet, said that if his wife was not allowed to come out by Christmas they would abandon the idea of emigrating. His employer-backed skills visa was initially rejected by immigration officials when they discovered that his body mass index, or BMI, was 42, making him morbidly obese under New Zealand regulations. BMI measures a person’s weight in relation to their height. Anything over 25 is regarded as overweight, and 30 or above is obese. Mr Trezise, a submarine cable specialist and a former soldier, said: "My doctor laughed at me. He said he’d never seen anything more ridiculous in his whole life. He said not every overweight person is unhealthy or unfit. "The idea was that we were going to change our lifestyle totally and get outdoors and on mountain bikes and all sorts of activities." The couple, who both lived in Barry, Wales, were all set for a new life after Mr Trezise was headhunted by New Zealand’s Telecom. On her website, Mrs Trezise said earlier in the year: "We are fed up with life in the UK and moving to New Zealand. Auckland here we come!", but her entries end without mention of her difficulties in the face of immigration law. Robyn Toomath, a spokesman for Fight the Obesity Epidemic and an endocrinologist, said the BMI limit was valid in the vast majority of people. She said she was opposed to obese people being stigmatised. "However, the immigration department’s focus is different," she said. "It cannot afford to import people into the country who are going to be a significant drain on our health resources. "You can see the logic in assessing if there is a significant health cost associated with this individual and that would be a reason for them not coming in." New Zealand is critically short of skilled workers, and many large firms are intensively recruiting in Britain. Mr Trezise was recruited to supervise the Southern Cross Cable, which links New Zealand with Australia and the west coast of the United States. He is one of only four highly qualified specialist technicians working on the improvement of the cable. The New Zealand Immigration Service said it did not know how many people were denied entry to the country because of high BMI readings. However, comments posted on the Emigrate New Zealand website reveal that many people have been turned down after medical tests revealed that they were obese. Mr Trezise has private health care in New Zealand and his employer, Telecom, has a gym membership scheme.

Man killed in water-rage attack in Australia

Thu Nov 1, 2007 12:42am EDT

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - A man has been charged with murder in Australia after an elderly man who was watering his garden was bashed to death in an apparent case of suburban water-rage.

Australia is in its sixth year of severe drought and most towns and cities have imposed strict limits on household water use, prompting a rise in suburban arguments and neighbors informing authorities about those who waste water.

In the latest incident, police said 66-year-old Ken Proctor was using a hose to water the front lawn of his suburban Sydney home when a man walking past made a remark about water waste.

Proctor then turned the hose on the passer by, prompting a fight. He was knocked the ground and was punched and kicked. He was treated by ambulance officers, but died later in hospital.

Authorities said Proctor was not in breach of water restrictions, as he was using a hand-held hose and was watering his lawn on his allocated day. A 36-year-old man charged with Proctor's murder appeared briefly in a Sydney court on Thursday. He was denied bail and will remain in jail until his next court appearance on November 15.

Most of Australia, apart from parts of the island state of Tasmania and towns in the tropical north, have banned garden sprinklers, made it illegal to hose down cars and pavements, and allow gardens only to be watered on set days.

No I haven't read Al Gore's book. 

Here is an older clip from C-Span about Democrats and fiscal responsibility.  I feel sorry for the George Wendt-looking feller.

"Tomorrow I'm buzzing it all off. It's been a couple of years," said Zwier, who was lining up with his wife and two daughters - all in costume. The family planned to read the book aloud to one another on their flight back to the United States Saturday. They said anyone who complained would be offered ear plugs.

This is the most annoyingly insular family ever conceived.  What arrogance, that it bothers even me.  I should like to think that these people are even now being told by a federal marshall that they have to shut up or they will be charged with creating a disturbance.   Perhaps the newly shorn father will be handcuffed in front of his impressionable children.
Teaching your children to forgo courtesy for the sake of entertainment is abhorrent.  It breeds crappy, entitled grown-ups who fly to England because they can't wait for midnight in their own country.  Not only that, but this sorry family is callously disregarding the fact that nobody else on that long flight wants to be privy to their happy family moment.  Assuming that is one of the most annoying things about American parents these days. 
Nobody gives a damn about your kids and how precious they are.  Not when they are engaged in crap like this.  I hope one of those children has a soda dumped on his precious head while he's reading his new book.

While I'm at it, here are my predictions for the final book:

Deaths -- Ron, Snape, McGonagall, Lupin, Moody, Voldemort

Harry's generally unpleasant character turns have been the result of his link to Voldemort's growing power rather than standard teen angst.  Now that Voldemort is truly on the ascendancy Harry makes increasingly rash decisions and finds his commitment to fighting the good fight replaced more and more with simple vengeance.  Realizing this long before our hero, some character finds a solution to the problem outside of Harry (and the reader's) reckoning.  Springing it on our hero before he makes his big move, this character incurs Harry's resentment before the death of a principal shocks him out of it.  After defeating Voldemort through heavy losses and sacrifice and triumphing over his own inner darkness, Harry at last is free of his curse.  He settles down as a moderately talented magician, still famous but retreating, marries Ron's sister a few years later and is then surprised by a Dementor and slain.  Hermione never marries.
The.  End.