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In response to several debates I’ve had with Glen about the subject, I posed the question over at Lean Left. Some interesting responses in comments. Have a look.

Dr. Helen asks “Is Obama Feminized?”

Answer- Yes.

William F. Buckley has just passed away, according to this news report. Buckley is without a doubt, one of, if not the father of the modern conservative movement. Well actually, today’s modern movement, has veered a little bit off course from Buckley’s ideas. But nevertheless, the man had a huge impact on policy. He will be sorely missed.

Music City Oracle writes

Mr. Buckley probably did more to revive conservatism as a political movement than any person in the 20th century.

Many observers considered the ascendancy of Ronald Reagan to be a triumph of National Review.

More from Rustmeister, View From the Porch, Appalachian Scribe, Ned Williams.

It’s like this. I understand that using Barack Obama’s middle name when referencing him can be a sneaky way to remind people that Obama is not “one of us”. It is in fact, a good example of what I talked about in this post. I understand where Mack is coming from, and can only assume that a principled “racist pointer-outer” like himself felt the same level of outrage when Clinton supporter Bob Kerrey made worse comments. The same goes for Sharon.

I am a little uncomfortable though with the way McCain handled the situation. If he had not brought attention to it, nobody would likely be talking about it today. But McCain just had to get in front of the camera and once again say “I’m not like those other Republicans.” It’s like he couldn’t wait to do that.

I guess it is good to get this sort of thing out of the way. Now Republicans know that they can’t use Obama’s middle name. I am sure there are a few more things that are off limits in regards to Obama.

This Politico article discusses how afraid the GOP is of saying something that might be perceived as racist.

“You can’t run against Barack Obama the way you could run against Bill Clinton, Al Gore or John Kerry,” said Jack Kemp, the 1996 GOP vice presidential nominee, who expressed concern that the party could be reduced to an “all white country club party” if it does not tread cautiously.

“Being an African American at the top of the ticket, if he makes it, is such a great statement about the country,” he added, “Obviously you have to be sensitive to issues that affect urban America. …You have to be careful.”

So basically, Obama is not to be treated the way that any other Democratic candidate would be treated. I understand this, but I also find it ironic that what they are really saying is that Obama is not to be treated equally. Oh well I guess that is the times we live in. Right or wrong, it is what it is.

UPDATE: Music City Oracle says “Don’t do it!” Bob Krumm says “Sorry Bill, this is wrong.”

UPDATE II: Bill Hobbs responds to the piling on.

Turkey has taken a look at the Hadith and found it…unpalatable. This is very good news; I have always felt that Islam is in dire need of reform (as Christianity has reformed to it’s present state of pulled teeth). From the BBC…

Turkey is preparing to publish a document that represents a revolutionary reinterpretation of Islam - and a controversial and radical modernization of the religion.The country’s powerful Department of Religious Affairs has commissioned a team of theologians at Ankara University to carry out a fundamental revision of the Hadith, the second most sacred text in Islam after the Koran.

The Hadith is a collection of thousands of sayings reputed to come from the Prophet Muhammad.

As such, it is the principal guide for Muslims in interpreting the Koran and the source of the vast majority of Islamic law, or Sharia.

“This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation. Not exactly the same, but… it’s changing the theological foundations of [the] religion.”
Fadi Hakura, Turkey expert, Chatham House

But the Turkish state has come to see the Hadith as having an often negative influence on a society it is in a hurry to modernize, and believes it responsible for obscuring the original values of Islam.

It says that a significant number of the sayings were never uttered by Muhammad, and even some that were need now to be reinterpreted.

This is great news; I’ve not heard of any other form of Sharia that’s not hardliner-sanctioned.

But you think that those silly cartoons printed in Danish newspapers evoked a negative response? Ha! I think the fatawa will be flying, soon enough.

I would say this will ferment some real al-Qaeda negative responses. Maybe this will take some of the attention off of the ‘Great Satan’ in the Middle East, and cause the eye of Sharia to focus more on Turkey.

Some of the quotes from that BBC article…on female genital mutilation (that’s hopefully the first Islamicism to go on the scrap heap)

“Unfortunately you can even justify through alleged hadiths, the Muslim - or pseudo-Muslim - practice of female genital mutilation”

And, as in the Bible (especially the old testament) many passages were written to mold the ‘culture’ at that time in history to do things that promoted staying alive…prohibitions on eating pork or seafood for example, because of the lack of refrigeration caused a short shelf life of those products, and bacteria and parasites love that stuff uncooked.

“Some messages ban women from travelling without their husband’s permission… But this isn’t a religious ban. It came about because it simply wasn’t safe for a woman to travel alone.”

A thinking man, bucking the fundamentalists. The future Headless Horseman of Reform?

“You can find messages which say ‘that is what the Prophet ordered us to do’. But you can show historically how they came into being, as influences from other cultures, that were then projected onto Islamic tradition.”

The argument is that Islamic tradition has been gradually hijacked by various - often conservative - cultures, seeking to use the religion for various forms of social control.

Leaders of the Hadith project say successive generations have embellished the text, attributing their political aims to the Prophet Muhammad himself.

Muhammad was no saint (nor a very good prophet, either) but…baby steps, baby steps.

Let’s see how this goes over in some more…strident Islamic States, shall we?

I know what a turd looks like…what’s the equivalent of a Islamic Punch Bowl?

SayUncle has a really good post today in which he observes that “We’re Not Winning”, the we being small government types. It is a long post with lots of links in it. Please check it out. I won’t take any excerpts from the post but I will highlight this comment by Uncle to somebody that mentioned democracy.

Actually, democracy seems to be the culprit. People want free stuff and politicians line up at the public trough to shovel it to them.

What a perfect intro to this post from Facing South, which explains why we are losing and why it will always be a difficult battle in a representative democracy, where everybody is granted the right to vote.

There is nothing more detestable than populism and both parties engage in it from time to time. Populism relies on things like fear, envy, hatred, and resentment. In fact, if you take a look at the Seven Deadlies, you are pretty much reading the handbook on populism.

In Political Science class, you are taught that populism means socially conservative and fiscally liberal. Although that definition oversimplifies the term, populism usually does end up being that way. The populists on the right use social issues like flag burning and gay marriage to stir up the masses. Some right wing populists join their left wing brethren in railing against free trade and the global economy. Left wing populists love to stir up class envy and racial animosity. They divide the country into what the most detestable populist of all, John Edwards, calls “two Americas”.

The end result of a stirred up and angry mob is always another power grab by the government.

Lots of people seem to believe that the right to vote is the most fundamental right of all, but if this republic crumbles and all liberty is lost, wise people will look back and realize that unlimited suffrage is what destroyed it. Knowing that unlimited suffrage is here to stay though, the only hope for liberty is an educated America. Ignorance is like putty in the hands of the populists, but educated people do not buy into that kind of manipulation. A few of them are disgustingly smart enough to engage in it, but they know better.

Another thing that will help this nation and preserve liberty is a spiritual awakening. I am not talking about religion, but spiritual growth. The more people become generally happy and joyous, and free of anger and resentment, replacing those emotions with love and tolerance, the less likely they are to be stirred up by the negative message of populism.

Update: I changed the spelling of putty, so as to satisfy my intellectual inferiors. It is quite typical that someone like R. Neal would completely avoid discussing the context of the post, and instead make fun of one word that was misspelled.

What an awesome basketball state Tennessee has become. After cheering on the Vols Saturday night when they were playing the Memphis Tigers Thugs, I now look forward to seeing them lose to Vandy. Whatever happens though, the Vols still have the best coach in the game right now. I just think it is going to be tough to follow up the Memphis game with another road win, especially in Memorial Gym. If anybody has a ticket, send me an email. I’d love to go.

GoldnI has some things to say to you Vol fans. She also has a really cool photoshop of the Great Pumpkin, Coach Fulmer. Check it out.

Carole Borges is reporting that Iraqi farmers have found a new cash crop.

Just imagine if pot were legal. Could it help desperate Iraqi farmers create their own form of a “green economy”? NPR reports on the shift from opium growing to the cultivation of cannabis in Iraq….

This is great news. I would love to see a pot smoking epidemic overtake the Middle East. Think about it. Have you ever seen potheads fight? I think they should grow the heck out of this herb and distribute it among the terrorists.

Serr8d, if this isn’t worthy of a photoshop, I don’t know what is.

We have a problem.

A twelve-month long drop in world temperatures erases global warming

Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile — the list goes on and on.

 And then, there is this.

Snow cover over North America and much of Siberia, Mongolia and China is greater than at any time since 1966.

The U.S. National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reported that many American cities and towns suffered record cold temperatures in January and early February. According to the NCDC, the average temperature in January “was -0.3 F cooler than the 1901-2000 (20th century) average.”

China is surviving its most brutal winter in a century. Temperatures in the normally balmy south were so low for so long that some middle-sized cities went days and even weeks without electricity because once power lines had toppled it was too cold or too icy to repair them.

Barack Obama has snagged another endorsement:

With a silver head of hair, a DNC chairmanship under his belt and 30 years in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Chris Dodd endorsed his one-time rival for the presidency with the air of a senior statesman anointing the next nominee.

“I believe that Barack Obama has the experience, the ability the vision to lead this country, to make a difference both at home and abroad,” Dodd said, adding later, “The hour is getting late. That opportunity is not going to last forever. I believe the world wants to see [the U.S.] get back on [its] feet again. And I believe that Barack Obama gives us the opportunity to do that.”

Dodd’s endorsement won’t make much difference in the race; as a presidential candidate his support hovered in the Dennis Kucinich range. But his decision to support Obama is another signal that national Democrats are increasingly seeing Obama as their likely nominee. As the superdelegates continue to pour in, Obama has to be feeling pretty confident.

Unlike a lot of observers, I don’t think Hillary Clinton is finished. She will make her stand in Ohio and Texas; if she wins both, she has a decent chance to rise from the ashes. But if she loses even one of these states–and it’s looking increasingly like she will–her campaign is finished and John McCain better start digging in for what will be a long and difficult campaign against a young and charismatic challenger.

Cross posted at Appalachian Scribe

How self-centered have Americans become? How does something like this happen?

On a school bus carrying 60 students (and the bus driver) a 14-year-old girl was molested and, Police say, raped by an 18-year-old Riverdale High School student, surrounded by other students who payed no attention.

No other student said anything or even tried to help her.

What sort of country are we living in?

From WSMV-4 NBC News… Read more »

Once again, government isn’t the solution. Government is the problem.

Justin does a great job of explaining the way things work in America these days.

So, for those of you who are still trying to catch up, this is how things work in America. The government decides something in the economy isn’t “fair”. The government then enacts some sort of legislation to fix the problem. This legislation causes a new, much worse problem. The government blames capitalism and calls for more of the same bad legislation to fix things.

I really wanted to take more than that excerpt. The paragraph that follows what I lifted, is of equal importance. Please read the whole thing.

Personally, I am glad that more people were able to get loans and that interest rates were low. People were given an opportunity. Some didn’t do so well with the opportunity, but I still think it is good that they got the opportunity.

Cross posted at  kingstonsprings-realestate.com, and fairviewtennesseerealestate.net.

Brian of Six Meat Buffet- “If the glaciers were melting as fast as Oscar ratings, I would be worried about the environment.”

A bunch of Hollywood leftists on an awards show hosted by John Stewart? Are you kidding me?

This is one of those rare occasions that I agree with this blogger.

So, really, the assertion that Nadar lost the 2000 election for dems is a red herring and shame on both Hillary and Barack for asserting as much.

Why so much focus on a Nadar run, when the wing-nuttier third party candidates have been more divisive than Nadar in the past?

The election was really close in 2000, so yes if Nader had not run, Gore would have won Florida. But Nader still has every right to be in this race, just like anybody else.

Rather than pressuring people not to run, maybe the other less principled, corporate liberal candidates should just stick to convincing people to vote for them.

Southern Beale also is making sense.

Will this hurt the Democratic nominee? Nah. Anyone voting for Ralph Nader these days isn’t going to vote for HIllary Clinton or Barack Obama anyway, no matter what they tell you.

Desperate times have arrived at the Hillary Clinton campaign as they circulating a photo of Barack Obama wearing Somali clothes during a visit to that country in 2006. This of course is intended to play into the “Barack-Hussein-Obama-is-a-secret-Muslim” nonsense that’s been floating around the internet and talk radio for a while now. Hillary is attempting to appeal to xenophobia and ought to be ashamed of herself.

The fact that Obama wore the traditional local garb while visiting a foreign country should not surprise anyone with even the slightest understanding of international politics. As Bob Krumm points out, statesmen have worn the local garb during foreign visits for centuries.

Ultimately I think this will backfire for the Clinton campaign, only reinforcing the perception of her willingness to do anything to win. Hillary Clinton should also be careful about circulating such pictures, as there are similar ones of her available to anyone willing to look.

Cross posted at Appalachian Scribe

Ralph Nader has a point:

“The impeachable offenses of Bush outnumber any other list of impeachable offenses of any US president. Not only did he and Cheney violate their oath of office to uphold the constitution and the laws of the land, but they proceeded to impose a practice of torture, to arrest thousands of Americans without charges and throw them in prisons without lawyers. They spied on millions of Americans randomly without judicial approval. How many more impeachable offenses do those spineless, gutless, hapless Democrats need in the Congress?”

And yesterday, Nader with Tim Russert:

“If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form. You think the American people are going to vote for a pro-war John McCain who almost gives an indication that he’s the candidate of perpetual war, perpetual intervention overseas? You think they’re going to vote for a Republican like McCain, who allies himself with the criminal, recidivistic regime of George Bush and Dick Cheney, the most multipliable impeachable presidency in American history? Many leading members of the bar, including the former head of the American Bar Association, Michael Greco, absolutely dismayed over the violations of the Constitution, our federal laws, the criminal, illegal war in Iraq and the occupation? There’s no way.”

This stunt by the Clinton campaign is sure to backfire.

UPDATE: Just to illustrate the absurdity of the Clinton campaign circulating that photo, as if it is going to help her, I thought I would point to this photo in John Norris Brown’s post. Like John said, “statesmen have worn the local garb during foreign visits for centuries.” If I were a Texas or Ohio Democrat, I would take it as a personal insult that Mrs. Clinton my state’s residents as such easily manipulated ignorant rednecks.

In spite of the fact that his proposals do not differ that much from his opponent, most people like Obama, even people like me. Of course I would never vote for him, but that has nothing to do with my perception of his character.

White people, who are generally not evil and racist, like the fact that he is running for President of the entire United States. He doesn’t demagogue the race issue like others that ran for President before him. He just seems like a nice guy, nothing like this racist.

Talk about an endorsement his candidacy could have done without.

From Kenneth Vogel, in Politico….

CINCINNATI, Ohio — Hillary Rodham Clinton ripped Barack Obama Saturday for mailings his campaign is sending to Ohio voters that Clinton said distorted her record on NAFTA and universal health care.“Shame on you, Barack Obama,” Clinton said angrily when talking to reporters after a rally in a technical college gym here. “It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That’s what I expect from you,” she said, calling on Obama to repudiate and stop the mailings, which she waved demonstratively.

“Meet me in Ohio. Let’s have a debate about your tactics,” she said, calling the mailings “tactics that are right out of Karl Rove’s playbook.”

Don’t pick on me, I’m a girl!

Well, Hillary, if you want to win, then you had better learn that Karl Rove (That Magnificent Bastard^TM) defeated the best the Democrats could muster. Sounds to me like there’s an undertone of jealousy from Hillary, that Obama could actually beat her in the first place; so invoking the specter of evil Rovian politics makes her seem victimized. Democrats will wear the mantle of victimhood at the drop of a hat. Something as common as tying shoelaces, for Democrats. ‘Victim of this, victim of that…GET OVER IT!’

And, comparing Clintonian Politics and Rovian Politics…at least people don’t wake up dead from the latter. Vince Foster, anyone?

Not content just to bring up Rove, Mrs. William Clinton flings some dank, redolent BDS poo….Hillary compares Obama to George Bush, circa 2000!

She said Bush “promised change as a compassionate conservative, and the American people got shafted and we’re going to have to make up for it,” she said. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

Don’t you love it when the Dems talk dirty to each other? “Bush!” “Rove!”

Last year, a Clintonian spokesperson called Bush Comparisons “the worst kind of tactical political maneuvering”. Worse than, say, the Clinton’s history of interjecting race into their races?

From Mr. Bill Clinton’s campaign, in 1992…

“During his famed “Sister Souljah” moment in June 1992, Bill Clinton went before Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition and condemned the black rapper for seeming to justify the Los Angeles riots and advocate the killing of whites. “Her comments before and after Los Angeles were filled with the kind of hatred that you do not honor,” Clinton said. His remarks were cheered by establishment pundits, but they stirred controversy and resentment among prominent black political figures.”Clinton’s speech was arrogant, and it was cheap,” longtime civil rights activist Roger Wilkins told the New York Times. “He came there to show suburban whites that he can stand up to blacks. It was contrived.” The Reverend Jesse Jackson accused Clinton of staging “a very well-planned sneak attack, without the courage to confront but with a calculation to embarrass,” intended “purely to appeal to conservative whites.” Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel, now a top supporter of Hillary Clinton, labeled Bill’s behavior “insulting.”

And don’t forget Mr. Clinton’s early racial insensitivity, sending racist postcards from Georgetown University during the height of the Civil Rights Campaign…

Bill Clinton is a long-time master of political gamesmanship; if Rove has a Democratic counterpart, that person would be Bill…at least, in his heyday. Today, he’s relegated to the closet, to stay out of trouble. He’s carrying so much baggage that, if Hillary were just a New York Senator, unmarried to an ex-President, she might be much more palatable a candidate than is the woman we see who’s dragging Bill Clinton along with her.

Hell, if Bill were not her husband, I might look twice, and not be so dismissive…

Well, no. Read more »

You’ve heard about political prisoners in Cuba and China, well the Bush Administration has one in Alabama

A case that is so replete with good ole boy southern Republican corruption that many Republicans are speaking out against their fellow GOP operatives. 52 former states’ attorneys general from both political parties petitioned Congress to investigate the conviction of former AL Governor Don Siegelman, resulting in hearings held last fall. However, nothing could be accomplished because the Bush administration refused to hand over hundreds of requested documents vital to the investigation and Karl Rove and others refused to show up when subpoenaed. The first indictment against Siegelman was thrown out on the first day. So, when Siegelman decided to run for Governor again, Republicans apparently felt they couldn’t beat the highly successful Siegelman, so they conspired to convict him on bullshit charges. This level of injustice and typical Republican corruption makes me sick.

(CBS)

“I haven’t seen a case with this many red flags on it that pointed towards a real injustice being done,” Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general of Arizona and one of those who petitioned Congress, tells [60 Minutes] Pelley. “I personally believe that what happened here is that they targeted Don Siegelman because they could not beat him fair and square.” Woods says the case should never have gone to trial. “The prosecutor’s gotta look at it and say, ‘Hey, is this the sort of thing that we’re really talking about when we’re talking about bribery?’ Because what the public needs to know here is there is no allegation that Don Siegelman ever put one penny in his pocket.”

Alabama Republican operative Jill Simpson says Karl Rove asked her to try to prove the state’s Democratic governor was unfaithful to his wife in an effort to thwart the highly successful politician’s re-election. After tailing Siegelman relentlessly, she was unsuccessful and couldn’t find anything on him.

Rove’s attempt to smear Don Siegelman was part of a Republican campaign to ruin him that finally succeeded in imprisoning him, says the operative, Simpson.

Of course, Rove was too cowardly to speak to 60 Minutes or respond to a Congressional investigation.

This dialog I found especially revealing:

60 Minutes Scott Pelly:

“Help me understand something. You’re blaming the Republican administration for this prosecution. You’re saying it was a political prosecution. You are a Republican. How do I reconcile that?”

Grant Woods, the former Republican attorney general:

“We’re Americans first. And you got to call it as you see it. And you got to stand up for what’s right in this country”

Don Siegelman has six years and eight months to go on his sentence.

In case you missed it, watch/read the story.

UPDATE:

60 Minutes story on Siegelman was blacked out in ‘Soviet Alabama. ‘   Roves associates have been trying to swiftboat CBS.  Also, interesting to note that during Seigelman’s trial, his house was broken into twice as was his attorney’s office.  These thugs will stop at nothing.