Maggie's Farm

How do you think Sarah did? Many Dems were impressed.

Tape of it on previous post today. (That t-shirt is available via here)

As Lifson said yesterday:

The same sort of swells who laugh at Sarah Palin as trailer trash categorized Ronald Reagan as an amiable dunce when in a charitable mood, spelled his name Ray-Gun, and felt ashamed to have a graduate of Eureka College, not some Ivy League campus, representing America on the world stage.

Ronald Reagan never let the contempt of the cultural, literary and journalistic elites bother him. He simply spoke over their heads directly to the American people. And changed the world. In Sarah Palin, we may well have a figure able to do the same.

The Left and the Dems have merged. Strange how that happened. Bill Clinton just stood there with his finger in the dike.

NYC drives away its middle class; Houston doesn't. Glaeser in City Journal

The Guide to Top U.S. Colleges for Conservatives, Old-Fashioned Liberals, and People of Faith   

From Coyote: "I have written on a number of occasions that I thought it odd that the left (and women's groups in particular) don't see a contradiction between their support for government health care and their long-held abortion beliefs that people should be free of government coercion when it comes to decisions about their body and their health." Read the sad story from the NHS. 

Solar panels: check the numbers before buying

Is 3-D printing on the way? Totally cool.

How's your sex life? Quiz.

Women often pick men who look like Dad

Brit bien pensants sacrifice their kids on altar of "common good"

A quote from a home-schooler, at Pajamas:

We believe everything you need to know about parenting can be gleaned from Little House on the Prairie. Growing up in wildly dysfunctional households, we both learned that you can do much worse than the Ingalls family. We decided when we got married that our home would be better than what we knew as children. The foundation is love, order, and relentless application of rules like: Eat all your vegetables, and Mind your manners, and Don’t push your brother’s head into the toilet.

Private tuition hits $50,000/year

Tiger notes the news that AGW causes cooling. Athlete's foot, too.

E.D. Hill, FOX fox and mother of 8, wrote a book about being a parent.

Will the Hadron Collider kill us all? I sure hope not. That would be a bummer.

Dick Morris: Attacks on Palin certain to backfire. Related: A Lib is ashamed of these attacks. Related: Joe Biden says Palin is qualified for the job. Related: It's a deep rot in the press. Related: Press infallibility

Related: Note subtle propaganda in photos below (h/t, Dust My Broom):

PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome). Also, Anchoress on the hatred. Plus Anchoress with a blog summary of the nonsense.

Obama campaign is behind the smears. This "new politics" of personal destruction could backfire.

"This pathetic effort of Obama" Driscoll

Biden caught in yet another lie

McCain's hidden depths. Newsweek

McCain and his ex-media base

The NYT eats crow and declares Anbar victory

The McCain party is just beginning

Obama's ten worst ideas. Foreign Policy

"You want a culture war?" You've got one.

"We were moved by his campaign slogan, “Vote Obama: He’s better than you’ll ever be.”"

Re Joe Lieberman:

Think about this, how much attention would it receive -- how much of a honking big deal would it be -- if the former GOP Vice Presidential nominee was speaking at the Democrat convention? This is a HUGE deal guys! It will not be played that way by the media. They will either downplay it or they will adopt the Keith Olbermann/Chris Matthews strategy of labeling Liberman a Tokyo Rose traitor.

Joe Biden's class act.

"If McCain can get the votes of all the women who were pregnant at their weddings, it will be a landslide."

Related: Obama's Mom was knocked up by a guy with a family in Africa at age 17 while single. Guy married her before the kid was born, then took a hike. Should she have had an abortion? NRO

Villainous: Palin Offers Both Sides A Disturbing Look In Mirror. Indeed.

via Right Wing Prof:

If I’d been Obama, I wouldn’t have wanted that Annenberg report released either. Here’s executive experience for you: $160 million dollars wasted.

Barney Frank: "Attack Palin's family." Well, he survived that revolting little mess with his own "household," didn't he? As I recall, it was a gay hooker running a gay prostitution ring and dealing coke, living in his house. Nice call, Barney.

Obama's bounce persists. People want "change."

Bird Dog advised me that every young person who can qualify needs to spend some time in New York to earn their Boy Scout Basic Urban Life Skills merit badge. I bought my suits and begin my new job this morning, which is sort-of journalism-related - but not a newspaper and much better-paid. (Papers aren't hiring anyway, these days.)

Yesterday I took a stroll through Little Italy, Chinatown, and the East Village. NYC is a carnival of vitality, and everybody looks young, attractive, busy, and lively. New construction is everywhere: my bedroom window overlooks a new high-rise going up. I will post when I am able. Not daily, I am sure, but I think I can enjoy this colorful life for a while. Hope and change. I won't be a stranger to Maggie's because I like this site so much.

Mr. Sun goes spotless.

Religion of peace wants to kill people.

Obese people are cause of global warming. I thought so.

Biggest ignored news story: Anbar handed over to Iraqis.

A bit of America: Blue Ridge foxhounds.

John isn't the John I knew. Who put the stick up his butt?

Do you really like Barak's interpretation of Karl Marx?

Hillary ready for 1012 2012. Why would anybody want power that badly?

Biden: draft-dodger, like so many others. Nothing to brag about.

Who is behind the Palin smear site? Obama. What a surprise. Didn't he say last week to McCain "You don't know what you're up against"? But there's an OODA loop, dude. Watch out! Sarah sells! As Camille Paglia says:

“We may be seeing the first woman president. As a Democrat, I am reeling,” said Camille Paglia, the cultural critic. “That was the best political speech I have ever seen delivered by an American woman politician. Palin is as tough as nails.”

Sarah is the modern face of feminism.

Related: The smear machine goes to work on Sarah. I guess they are afraid of her. Related: Pastor doesn't preach.

The Sea of Galilee is drying up. Unsustainable use.

Online college survival guide. Related: What's the return on your college investment? Related: College orientation as political indoctrination.

Dead ball? Obama has little-to-no bounce. Let's open a new can of balls. Related: Interpreting Obama's code words. Related: Jeremiah Wright is back!

Big storm they have down there today. The politics of Gustav. Dems say "hurricane is on our side, hahaha." Is that funny? It's psychotic partisanship to the point of not giving a damn about America.

Update: Gustav is weakening. I think that is because Sarah threatened to shoot the darn thing.

"Scholars" attack Palin. But as scholar Neoneo notes:

Truman lacked any hint of the outdoorsman/woman ruggedness that Palin exudes. That latter characteristic is reserved for another president sharing some traits with Palin: the muckracking, hunting, wild Western: Theodore Roosevelt. Other similarities: five children, not a great deal of prior national-level political experience (Teddy’s highest offices before being tapped for VP were Assistant Secretary of the Navy for one year and NY Governor for one year—although his military exploits with the Rough Riders had made him nationally known). Teddy was also extraordinarily young; at 42, he remains the youngest President ever.

And again, there were those wire-rimmed glasses.

Related: Palin is Commander of the Alaska National Guard. But what do they do? Lots.

Did you already read this? MSNBC Host Rips AP Reporter's Analysis of Obama Speech. That's our fair and balanced press. More from Brit Hume.

McCain and the OODA Loop

Photo from Conservatives find the girl of their dreams.

h/t, Gateway, who notes that Soros paid for that bus.

I didn't hear the speech, so no opinion. I see that McArdle says:

... it was basically standard Democratic Convention Boilerplate: nothing we haven't seen before from Obama, or for that matter, every Democratic presidential candidate in living memory.

Tiger thought he did a good job. Here's the real issue: Obama's stealth socialism

Here's Spike Lee with his Obama-worship:

"You can divide history. BB Before Barack. AB After Barack."

I hope he was joking. And the WaPo's Gerson has a public orgasm in print.

Neoneo said the other day:

...I’m puzzled when I see the starry-eyed acolytes, be they wedded to Obama or to Hillary. I have no idea how a grownup thinking person can invest that much love and hope in any politician.

But she knows why, and so do I.

The ten worst colleges in the USA. #1 worst? University of Bridgeport. Hampshire College also on that list.

More on how the economy is improving. More: the rebound

The greening of Fresh Kills landfill

PJ O'Rourke on God

Dr. Clouthier: Five reasons government medicine would be bad for the US

News you do not want to hear about

Stanley Kurtz at WGN. Remarkable show, calm and rational. Give it a listen - it's worth the time. Stanley Kurtz is the best and Milt, if a bit naive, seems like a reasonable person.

Related: Obamunists attack radio station. You can hear their attempts on the above radio link. This is getting strange and creepy.

If John McCain had attended a white supremacist church for 20 years, and shared a board membership with a skinhead terrorist and began his first foray into politics at a skinhead's house with his convicted terrorist wife, would it effect his campaign? Would it be mentioned?

The question is quietly raised: Is Obama the Manchurian Candidate?

The colossal Antonine ruler statues found in Turkey. Marcus Aurelius in photo.

Wonder what "Deep Green," aka "Deep Ecology" means? Here's wiki. I guess you might call it a pagan religion, more or less.

Oslo rots. It's not your grandfather's Oslo.

Via Open Left, a quote:

There is a populist message at the convention: individual Americans versus a system of lobbyists, partisan bickering, fear-based character attacks, old white men and George W. Bush.  It might seem like weak tea and a bit inchoate so far, but it is possible Obama will tie it together, and ramp it up, in his speech.

Why government medicine remains a bad idea, at Pajamas:

Public healthcare becomes the default option, but it never outperforms private or semi-private care, as exhaustive comparisons of European healthcare regimes show. State-of-the-art care becomes harder to access, as incentives for healthcare providers, administrators, and consumers are all skewed by artificial constraints. Those without the money to obtain the best treatment, or the connections to pull strings, find it increasingly hard to get appropriate medical care. The most pernicious aspect of government provided health care, though, is in the rationing of medical care and services. When the commodity being mismanaged is healthcare, the results include injury, disability, and death. Chilling examples from Canada show why single-payer, universal healthcare is not the way forward.

Obama's sociopathic friend William Ayers said this:

Bring the revolution home, Kill your parents.

A good addition to our blogroll: Will Wilkinson's Fly Bottle

Do facts matter? Poverty level, unemployment better under Bush than with Clinton

The journey of a confident man. Politico

"Toga, toga, toga." And McCain has some fun with it too. Image via Ace. But is anybody watching this convention? I doubt it. I won't watch either one. What for?

The racism excuse is ready to go. Gimme a break.

Mini-cows. Get yours, now, before the prices go up.

You already read this: Totten on the truth about Georgia.

Yet another warning about global cooling. And now the Great Freeze begins, earlier than expected.

Who cares about Ayers and Dohrn? I do. Lefty fascist loony toons.

Clayton Cramer - Help find that good guy a good job. Preferably in Boise.

Wind farms are subsidy farms. No kidding.

A quote from Mona Charen:

I so wish I could support Barack Obama. It would be great -- truly magnificent -- to elect a black president of the United States. Watching the convention coverage on Monday night, I was moved by my friend Juan Williams' almost tearful reaction to Michelle Obama's address. He shook his head in amazement that an African-American woman was in the position she was. And it moved me to see how moved he was. I wish I could send Michelle Obama -- so attractive, so poised, so stylish -- a cyber hug. I'd wager that millions of other Americans, like me, would love to see someone like her as First Lady.

Or at least I would love to support the person Michelle Obama has conjured for us this week -- successful working-class girl who worked hard, upheld traditional values, and was rewarded by a great nation.

A robo-skeleton for the paralyzed. Cool.

I am not my brother's keeper.

The author of Love and Houses, Marti Leimbach, has a blog.

The return of Big Labor. I thought we had "evolved" beyond that mess. Look at this. Sheesh.

A modern social contract. Gates

Dem ex-Gov Rendell on Obama: Adlai Stevenson?  He is too kind. Adlai was spineless, but he did have depth and humor.

More on Obama and abortion. This goes beyond abortion. Is this what ladies want?

Bill is dissing Obama. Politics is so mature.

Dissent is unpatriotic - sometimes.

From Sowell:

There are countries in Europe that would love to have their unemployment rate fall to the 5.7 percent unemployment rate to which ours has risen. Yet those who seem to want us to imitate European economic and social policies never seem to want to consider the actual consequences of those policies. "Unacceptable" is one of the big weasel words of our time-- almost always said when the person who says it has no intention of doing anything, and so is accepting what is called "unacceptable."

Republicans won big, running as Republicans, in 2004. But once they took control of Congress, they started acting like Democrats and lost big. There is a lesson in that somewhere but whether Republicans will learn it is another story entirely.

When we hear about rent control or gun control, we may think about rent or guns but the word that really matters is "control." That is what the political left is all about, as you can see by the incessant creation of new restrictions in places where they are strongly entrenched in power, such as San Francisco or New York.

Insty notes:

BEWARE: In America, racism is everywhere! Everywhere people don't support Obama, anyway . . . .

Since about 50% of Dem primary voters voted for other than Obama, the rampant Dem racism is proven. No wonder MLK Jr. was a Republican. Same as Abe Lincoln.

"The big ideological defeat hidden by environmentalism" at Samizdata, who quotes Will Wilkinson:

Climate eschatology really is the ultimate in big lie crisis politics. The far-left has failed so comprehensively to make the case for its vision of society and economy that the only thing left to do is to brazenly and repeatedly assert that the world will literally collapse unless we implement this otherwise indefensible vision.

and

I think the point is that the clock really is ticking. If we don't "do something" soon, we'll probably see that we don't really need to do anything really dramatic, and then the window for radical social change will be closed. So I expect the volume to get much louder.

Any room left under the bus? Toss Ayers under it, now. Related: Where did Obama's mo go? Also, you just can't win with the Clintons. Obama was smart to keep away from them: they make a mess wherever they go (see video). Related: Nervous Dems want Obama to look strong. Metrosexuals aren't supposed to look strong.

Related, I think this is crazy talk:

All of us driven by a simple belief that the world as it is just won't do — that we have an obligation to fight for the world as it should be.

We are?

Why is it named "Shell Oil," or Royal Dutch Shell? Answer here. It's about seashells.(h/t Jungle Trader, who always has good tidbits)

More on the race-pandering rent-seekers who need Obama to lose the election. But they already have a plan: If he wins, he'll be a token black guy; if he loses, it will prove the depth of American racism. (Note semi-colon use.)

The Red Primer for Children and Diplomats

The dangers of excellence, in the pomo world. So why did they let Phelps swim?

Dunce du jour: Nancy Pelosi thinks that natural gas doesn't come from wells and isn't a carbon fuel. Double-dunce: She doesn't understand her church's stand on abortion.

The current Dems are McGovern redux. Rick Moran. No new ideas in 50 years, really. Stuck on faith in government, instead of faith in people.

A great Obama endorsement:

 "For our gay-lesbian- bisxexual-transgender rights to continue to grow and not further diminish, then we need to stand behind [Obama].

Ad he really does not want this story to get out. It's out.

The most retarded ways celebs go green. h/t, Attack

Dems favor global welfare? What a brilliant new idea.

Via Tim Blair:

Imagine telling somebody twenty years ago that by 2007, it would be illegal to smoke in a pub or bus shelter or your own vehicle or that there would be £80 fines for dropping cigarette butts, or that the words “tequila slammer” would be illegal or the government would mandate what angle a drinker’s head in an advertisement may be tipped at, or that it would be illegal to criticise religions or homosexuality, or rewire your own house, or that having sex after a few drinks would be classed as rape or that the State would be confiscating children for being overweight.

Imagine telling them the government would be contemplating ration cards for fuel and even foods, that every citizen would be required to carry an ID card filled with private information which could be withdrawn at the state’s whim. They’d have thought you a paranoid loon.

Photo via Theo, who is busy harvesting this week. He is a farmer.

Throw the speculators in jail! The good news? Home sales up. Bubble needed a little correction, same as the oil bubble. Beware of bubbles, suckers. It's musical chairs.

Hamas leader's son embraces Christ, and even the Dem church and state meme is no longer operational.

Why Obama would be bad for black Americans

An online beauty pageant for nuns

I agree with Insty. MADD should have a couple of beers and chill out a little. They have become cranks.

Where have all the real men gone? They are all around, if you just look.

Via Insty: Dems rally against teacher's unions. It's about time.

Darfur: depressing topic. Nobody knows what to do, and nobody wants to offend the Moslems.

Hey Al Gore: It's gonna be a very cold winter. But if you look at the poll on that article, most people want it to be warmer. Wussies.

From the editors of NRO. It begins:

The Democratic party that meets today in Denver is one that many of its forebears would hardly recognize and might abhor. The determination to face down our enemies that characterized Harry Truman, the willingness to cut tax rates that John F. Kennedy showed, the pro-life convictions that informed Hubert Humphrey and Ed Muskie, even the free-trading instincts that Bill Clinton possessed — all have been banished from the party of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

In place of these older political strains are a restless welfare statism; a hope, masquerading as a strategy, that we can talk and charm our way out of foreign crises; and a social liberalism that prefers the courts to do its heavy lifting. This party has found perfect exemplars of its ideology in its nominees.

Read the whole thing.

This is likely my last week as a regular at Maggie's, so I have been given a special vacation break dispensation to post ad lib. If I begin my new job after Labor Day thinking about this friendly Yankee site, I won't be doing what I need to be doing. And I need to get ready to move this weekend. My only issue is my guns. Guns to NYC? I will leave them with my buddy in Mass. I have no clue about NYC gun laws.

Volleyball is boring? Not if 1) you are playing or 2) pretty girls are playing in their underwear. h/t, Insanities.

Obama's tax plans would give you a 64% tax rate in California, for the self-employed. Bob Brinker. Would you work hard for that? Not to mention Obama's cap gains tax plans.

How Conservative are Americans? Just ask them. And how Left is Obama-Biden? Fred Barnes

Related: The "tender-minded". And speaking of tender...

I smoked a pork butt yesterday. Had some friends over for beers and pulled pork. Don't tell me that it isn't Yankee food. It is now.

Best ocean photos.

Gay parade, no vet parade. Are gays the new vets?

Who lied about Iraq?

Chronic plagiarist? Hey, that's old news. As somebody said, maybe he'll teach Barack to fish. I don't think Barry's Dad knew how to fish.

Since conventions no longer select candidates, what's their purpose now? To create a TV narrative. The narrative is always the same: "Things are terrible. We are wonderful."

"Hillary is like 'Are you kidding me?'" Dave Barry

Insty:

GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT: "According to a study by the Desert Research Institute, pollutant levels at the beginning of the 20th century were two to five times higher than current levels of pollution."

How to destroy a state (or country) - Malanga on New Jersey's gradual suicide. One quote:

...why has reform been so difficult? In part because the kind of big-government, tax-consuming policies that are doing so much damage have also given more and more residents a stake in the current system. State and local government employment is among the highest in the country on a per-capita basis, having increased by 15 percent from 2000 through 2006 alone. Hundreds of thousands of current and retired public employees aren’t about to vote for changing the system, for fear it would eliminate their perks and benefits.

Meanwhile, the state’s recent tax increases have fallen entirely on upper-income residents. Those earning more than $200,000 a year, who account for just 4.9 percent of households filing tax returns, are paying 60 percent of all personal income taxes. Jersey has even managed to make its onerous property taxes progressive by instituting a means-tested rebate program: higher-income residents don’t get cash back.

The effect of all this is to make New Jersey a place where just a few businesses and residents pay the freight while so many others are on the public dole, in one way or another, that reform becomes virtually impossible. Of course, such a system cannot sustain itself very long before collapsing, as some businesses balk at expansion, others (like the newspapers) shrivel, and declining opportunities stifle job growth. That’s why Jersey now lurches from crisis to crisis.

Is college worth it?

Consider a young man who is at the 70th percentile in language and mathematical ability. He is easily a good enough student to get into mid-level universities. As far as his “people skills” go he is average, but in small motor and spatial skills, he’s at the 95th percentile. The fellow could go to college and get a degree that would put him on track for a management job – where he probably wouldn’t rise far because he’ll be competing with many others who have better skills.

On the other hand, he could become an excellent electrician. If he were to do that, he would probably earn substantially more than if he became a manager and also enjoy far greater job security. Moreover, there is the important matter of personal satisfaction. Our young man will probably have far more of it in a career where he can see tangible results every day and quite possibly become his own boss.

Conclusion: “(G)uidance counselors and parents who automatically encourage young people to go to college straight out of high school regardless of their skills and interests are being thoughtless about the best interests of young people in their charge.” Murray has that exactly right. We need to break out of the mindset that you can’t be a success in life unless you have a college degree.

Obama hipsters! Iowahawk. h/t Jules

Clintonista whining. Sheesh.

We are all gonna drown! Greenland glacier does glacial things:

It is too early to say it is clearly global warming, Zwally said. Scientists don't like to attribute single events to global warming, but often say such events fit a pattern.

University of Colorado professor Konrad Steffen, who returned from Greenland Wednesday and has studied the Petermann glacier in the past, said that what Box saw is not too different from what he saw in the 1990s: "The crack is not alarming... I would say it is normal."

Besides a break from daily content production (which is usually just fun to do, if a bit time-consuming), we need this vacation to re-think our purpose here at Maggie's. It was never primarily a political purpose, but we all tend to get caught up in the thing-du-jour - especially in an election year.

That was never our original intention. Many other people do that better than we do, and we do not need to be an echo chamber. We did want to represent our traditional views, but to not get caught up in the daily frenzies. But the temptation is strong because we are passionate about our beliefs about the America we love.

And our original intention was never to feel any obligation for daily posts. We all have day jobs, but we - or I - got caught up in the fun of it, and we all read tons of stuff on these nets every day anyway. 

Futhermore, I have accepted a new job in NYC, beginning in September. Do not worry about me - I have a good 5-year contract. A big move. Can't let life stagnate, but it's not going to be like work in the countryside. I expect 14-hour days, and look forward to a fresh new challenge. Give me your best shot, Big Apple. I think I can take it, and too much comfort is not good for a young fellow. My huntin' buddy will take good care of my Springer, and put her to work more than I will be able to. She is a biddable gal, and promiscuous with her affection.

I will sneak these links:

The Village Idiots, notes a commenter at LGF. Yep.

The physiology of perversion. This actually makes sense.

The vicious cycle of Dem urban control. Duh.

Via Classical:

He's at least as fresh a face as Madeleine Albright.

Doctors vs. Economists.

Related: Harvey Cushing photo journal. Try that, economists.

Pure, delighted malice. SISU

Is this video the election?

Now, the new question: Are you an antisemite?

The ethos of authoritarianism in the Middle East. Maybe they love it. I hate it.

Excuse me, but who is supposed to be the next president? Hmmm. From Town Hall:

Rob Long asks "Isn't [Biden] sort of the stupid person's idea of the smart person's candidate?"  Yes, he is.  But that's not fair to stupid people.  Even stupid people who watched Biden embarrass himself during the Alito hearings --remember the "I hate Princeton" moment followed by the donning of the Princeton cap?-- know that Slow Joe is all tenure and no talent.

I missed this Officer Krupke moment.

Did Obama just lose the election? I don't think so, but I hope he will.

I will follow the rules, after that.

Hallmark does gay marriage

George Will on tough schools

Jules is back on the job

Is growing up in England as terrible as UNICEF says it is? A quote from Dalrymple's piece:

Consider one British parent, Fiona MacKeown, who in November 2007 went on a six-month vacation to Goa, India, with her boyfriend and eight of her nine children by five different fathers, none of whom ever contributed financially for long to the children’s upkeep. (The child left behind—her eldest, at 19—was a drug addict.) She received $50,000 in welfare benefits a year, and doubtless decided—quite rationally, under the circumstances—that the money would go further, and that life would thus be more agreeable, in Goa than in her native Devon.

Reaching Goa, MacKeown soon decided to travel with seven of her children to Kerala, leaving behind one of them, 15-year-old Scarlett Keeling, to live with a tour guide ten years her elder, whom the mother had known for only a short time. Scarlett reportedly claimed to have had sex with this man only because she needed a roof over her head. According to a witness, she was constantly on drugs; and one night, she went to a bar where she drank a lot and took several different illicit drugs, including LSD, cocaine, and pot. She was seen leaving the bar late, almost certainly intoxicated.

They're paying attention now. Noonan. One quote:

An attractive, intelligent man, interesting, but—he's hard to categorize. Is he Gen. Obama? No, no military background. Brilliant Businessman Obama? No, he never worked in business. Famous Name Obama? No, it's a new name, an unusual one. Longtime Southern Governor Obama? No. He's a community organizer (what's that?), then a lawyer (boo), then a state legislator (so what, so's my cousin), then U.S. senator (less than four years!).

There is no pre-existing category for him.

Obama has no position on the federal role in education? I have an opinion: it has no role whatsoever.

Note to John McCain: The correct answer is "My wife owns lots of real estate, some for investment purposes. I keep out of it."

Rank hypocrisy from George Soros

What's up with Joe Lieberman?

There are some things you can get away with saying in the grand $6 million radical chic apartments of Manhattan's Upper West Side, or in professorial homes in Chicago and Cambridge - or anywhere in San Francisco.

However, in the real America, you can't say idiocy like this. The guy is so out to lunch about America that he is indeed his worst enemy. Has he ever met any regular folks like me?

We don't want to be like China.

Re yet another kerfuffle today, from McCain's campaign:

Does a guy who made more than $4 million last year, just got back from vacation on a private beach in Hawaii and bought his own million-dollar mansion with the help of a convicted felon really want to get into a debate about houses? Does a guy who worries about the price of arugula and thinks regular people “cling” to guns and religion in the face of economic hardship really want to have a debate about who’s in touch with regular Americans? “The reality is that Barack Obama’s plans to raise taxes and opposition to producing more energy here at home as gas prices skyrocket show he’s completely out of touch with the concerns of average Americans.”

Wham. Bam. Do you really want to get in an air battle with a fighter pilot?

I know that the Lefty government types want me to cling to government - run by them. Most of them are medium moron shmoozers who can't hold a real job and never did anything productive with their lives. Why in the world would I cling to them?

My gun can help feed me - along with my job. And my God can feed me in other ways. I do not want anybody else's money, for anything. I just want the government to leave me the heck alone to make my own way, for better or worse.

That's my notion of human dignity.

Have you seen dignity?

Ignore continuation below - it's a glitch.

Paying for grades in NYC. At least it isn't tax $.

Berkeley grad: "Am I diverse enough yet?"

In the UK, "Sorry, old chap..." Blue Crab

Obama as the new Jimmy Carter. Dick Morris. But McCain "doesn't know what he's up against," threatens Obama. Maybe he'll be tougher with McCain than he would be with the Russians or the Jihadists. Related: The odd choices in Obama's career. Related: Obama's top marginal tax rates. Related: McCain will win by 9 points. Big Lizards. Related: Annenberg-gate

The White Mtns not for sissies. Neoneo

A speck of light in a dumb world: Vaclav Klaus

Bomb-dropping robot. Cool.

Asian Long-Horned Beetle makes it to New England. That is bad news. It kills Sugar Maples.

Space without the Russkis? Related: Appeasement vs. dialog

Hollywood: The media made me sleep with everybody. Related: Hollywood Commies as victims.

You don't have to finish your peas anymore: Obesity comes to China (h/t, And Rightly So)

Soros' secret Dem slush fund.

Study: Networks gave Obama the nomination. Another good argument for the old smoke-filled rooms. One quote:

“At every step of his national political career, network reporters showered the Illinois Senator with glowing media coverage, building him up as a political celebrity and exhibiting little interest in investigating his past associations or exploring the controversies that could have threatened his campaign.”

From Junk Science:

I must ask a very serious and urgent question of our media. Why do you continue to talk glibly about current climate ‘warming’ when it is now widely acknowledged that there has been no ‘global warming’ for the last ten years, a cooling trend that many think may continue for at least another ten years? How can you talk of the climate ‘warming’ when, on the key measures, it isn’t?

Social justice or compassionate conservatism? Olasky

Moslem barbarism in Pakistan. We must learn to understand different cultures...and not make judgements. Right?

Clinton backers meet with McCain people in NY

Lost 700 lbs. Not skinny, yet.

McCain up by 5. Watch the $ begin to flow now.

Am I my brother's keeper? Obama's brother. WTH?

Lefty campaign follies. Sheesh, what immature idiots.

"No you can't." Things you can't say about Obama. h/t, Vanderleun

Punitive liberalism. Roger Kimball

The education of John McCain. David Brooks

Workplace discrimination against men. Dr. Helen

Obama is not a radical, says Dick Morris. Compared to whom?

No nudging, please. Cafe Hayek. I agree. Who are they to know what's best for me?

The looney tunes target Denver

The Europeanization of the Democratic Party

Jesus wants us to soak the rich. Good grief.

What the NYT views as a "complex attack"

ATMs in Baghdad. Sounds like peace to me.

In their own words: Why I support Obama

The man behind Woody Allen. Pretentiously written but interesting.

How Putin turns language on its head.

Erasing Obama's past. Powerline. Related: Obama desperation?

15 images you won't believe aren't photoshopped

The American Psychological Association wants to manipulate you into worrying about AGW. Is this their job? (h/t, Carnival of the Insanities)

New predictions of an Ice Age. Here we go again.

Is Obama the Howard Zinn candidate? Sounds like it. Interestingly, we now are blessed with a Howard Zinn comic book for those who wish to be bien pensant but don't read too good. (h/t, Jonah G)

What is "fair" about taking the money you earned? How can it be done fairly? Obama wants more "tax fairness." How do you get more "fair" than this:

As we come to the end of the Bush administration, the top 1% of American taxpayers already pay 40% of all income taxes -- the highest level in 40 years. The top 10% of income earners pay 71% of the taxes.

That is beyond fair, and it leaves 90% of the population as minimal contributors to the nation. There is an obvious danger in becoming a nation of 90% "getters" and 10% givers - and not the least being that you discourage the givers.

Fun with math. Right Wing Prof

The San Diego border fence, update

Weird Lefty stuff, including:

It is no disadvantage for those who thrill at enmity also to profess a universal brotherhood. There are many men who do not profess any such idea, or who do not do so with the demanded zeal, and who therefore make a most fitting object for hatred.

Ever hear of "juror" nullification? This guy was too smart to be on a jury.

Acid-burned Moslem women find new career.

Obama flat-out lied about abortion. To a pastor. More proof here. Related: Pelosi claims God blessed us with Obama. That is sick, sick, sick. Related: WaPo admits unfair and unbalanced coverage.

The truth about the Kilimanjaro snow.

Brits ignorant about the US.

Europe's population time bomb

Kobe Bryant says something ordinary - and it's treated like a big deal. I am glad he likes America, though.

Regulated utilities giving political donations? That ain't OK with me.

The oil bubble bursts, as predicted here, many times.

From Byron York on the Saddleback Forum:

This was not your usual political TV show. Warren — Pastor Rick, around here — asked big questions, about big subjects; he wasn’t concerned about what appeared on the front page of that morning’s Washington Post. And his simple, direct, big questions brought out something we don’t usually see in a presidential face-off; in this forum, as opposed to a read-the-prompter speech, or even a debate focused on the issues of the moment, the candidates were forced to call on everything they had — the things they have done and learned throughout their lives. And the fact is, John McCain has lived a much bigger life than Barack Obama. That’s not a slam at Obama; McCain has lived a much bigger life than most people. But it still made Obama look small in comparison. McCain was the clear winner of the night.

He did so well, in fact, that NBC accused McCain of "cheating." Saying that is cheating, but I guess it's like AGW: all weather is caused by it, just like anytime a Repub does well it's because of cheating. Betsy discusses this low-life maneuver further. This is getting dirty already.

"A lie can go around the world before the truth can get its pants on" - Mark Twain

Related, from Driscoll:

Deborah Howell, the Washington Post's ombudsman ombudswoman ombudsperson writes:

Democrat Barack Obama has had about a 3 to 1 advantage over Republican John McCain in Post Page 1 stories since Obama became his party's presumptive nominee June 4. Obama has generated a lot of news by being the first African American nominee, and he is less well known than McCain -- and therefore there's more to report on. But the disparity is so wide that it doesn't look good.

And if 2000 and 2004 are any indication--and they are--it's not like the media will do anything about it, of course.

Well, Ed, wouldn't you expect the Second Coming to be well-covered? But Obama-fatigue may be beginning. He might be a one-trick pony without the substance to go the distance. My theory is that he was originally running for the Vice Presidency.

Related, the McCain campaign is getting tougher:

McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis asked Sunday for a meeting with Steve Capus, the president of NBC News, to protest what the campaign called signs that the network is "abandoning non-partisan coverage of the Presidential race."

Speaking of the Second Coming, check out this video at Moonbattery. As he says, have bucket ready. Good grief.

I was already thinking that this election is between a naive youngster and an experienced adult man. Obama is a light-weight, with flash. Surber has some comments that sort-of support that view. Never forget that JFK beat Nixon by out-hawking him.

Roger has some thoughts about the "above my pay grade" comment. Mind you, I was on my boat and saw none of that forum, but it sounds to me like a crazy thing for a candidate to say, but having a clear opinion on this is above my pay grade at maggie's Farm.

Insty notes:

REMEMBER, if you don't support Obama it's because you're a racist. "Lurking just below the surface of any white person’s criticism of Barack Obama is racial bias."

That is a deeply racist and offensive notion - that I should vote for color rather than positions, wisdom, knowledge, and experience. Of course, it's really nothing but manipulation anyway.

I guess the race is tightening up, with McCain on the move. This will be interesting. Maybe the celeb Obama thing will wear out as things get real.

And finally, some more good news: McCain evolves into a supply-sider. One quote from the Wash. Times piece:

This weekend, Mr. McCain took his place with the Republican Party's most fervent of supply-siders. "I don't want to take any money from the rich; I want everybody to get rich," he said at Saturday's forum at the Rev. Rick Warren's Saddleback Church. "I don't believe in class warfare or redistribution of the wealth."

I'm going fishing this weekend, leaving now for RI where our boat is docked. I want to go alone this time, to clear my head. A Jimmy Buffet sort of weekend. Talk to myself a little about what I am doing with my life. Maybe out to Block or Cuttyhunk this time. Or maybe Fisher's Island or Gardiner's Island. I can't make up my mind. Not too far, just as long as it's an island with Ospreys and gulls overhead and big fish in the water to (mostly) catch and release. Sun, fog, or rain, I don't care. I just want to get back on (and in) the water again after a week on dry land.

Plus I have a brand new fly rod I want to use: my precious Orvis T3. I plan to feed on bass and/or Bluefish, and steamer clams two or three times a day. I will pick up 6 lbs. of steamers and a bunch of containers of potato salad and cole slaw from the store, plus a thing of butter. And Coors Lite and Doritos. And the box of splendid smokes my Editor sent me (Thanks much, BD. That was a very fine, thoughtful, and timely gift.). If I stop at Block, I may dine one night on the amazing fresh cod beer-battered fish and chips on the dock.

I will leave our devoted readers - those few are not away this weekend or these final weeks of August, with this bit of light summer reading:

From Strobe Talbott? Russia's ominous new doctrine.

The Sahara wasn't a desert. AGW, no doubt.

Why the swimming records are falling. It's technology.

Mohammed might like this: Arabian Butt Enlarging Cream. This should be marketed to buttless WASPS.

American corporate taxes highest in the world. America the Uncompetitive. How did that happen? Those taxes on business profits just screw the middle-class investor like me.

Those Clintons will never go away. Well-bred people know when they aren't wanted. More at Q&O.

NYT reporter - and his or her editor - didn't know the difference between gross and net. Good grief.

More on remembering the bomb, and forgetting why.

Pave the desert to get solar energy? Lots of critters live in the desert. Related: Pelosi changes her mind, again. Women do that.

Europe wins gold medal for defeatism. That's why they are called Euroweenies. I swear that Russia could march into Paris today if they wanted to.

The MSM goes after the #1 non-fiction best-seller.

Oil drops, dollar up. That is good, mostly. Bad for exports. There's no free lunch.

More on the Leftie loonies at the (otherwise) great University of Chicago

Communist Party endorses Obama. Duh.

Bush is the Truman of our times. I think so. Nobody's perfect.

Obama's tax plans are a war on working women. Wait a minute...he wants to lower taxes? Why am I confused?