Braden's Corner Of The Net

Independence Day

Braden — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 00:02:29 GMT

Since I will be off until next week, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of my readers a happy and safe July 4th.

I also request all of you to take some time to read the following:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

    He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
    He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
    He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
    He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
    He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
    He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
    He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
    He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
    He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
    He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
    He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
    He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
    He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
    For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
    For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
    For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
    For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
    For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
    For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
    For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
    For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
    He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
    He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
    He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
    He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
    He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

You can expect postings to be more "regular" after I get back.

Until then ....

Behave yourselves.

Messing around With Flickr

Braden — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:35:16 GMT

I finally buckled and signed up for a Flickr account. Actually, I am glad I did.

Click here to see my first set which is an Autumn theme.

Not bad, aye?

How To Speak Democrat

Braden — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:40:47 GMT

Magnificent!

Tablet PC Blogging

Braden — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:11:24 GMT

The Ball Is Now In The Court Of The Democrats

Braden — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:39:55 GMT

Well, it is now, since Bush asked Congress to clear the way for drilling.

What do you say now Democrats? How do you like the pressure being put on you? Will you make the proper decision? Will you have the American people bend over and grab their ankles as you attempt to punish the oil companies by not allowing them to do their job yet again?

It's time to drill. No more excuses.

WASHINGTON -- The environmental movement, only recently poised for major advances on global warming and other issues, has suddenly found itself on the defensive as high gasoline prices shift the political climate nationwide and trigger defections by longtime supporters.

GOOD!!!!

Opposition to offshore drilling -- once ironclad in places like California and Florida -- has begun to soften. Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida on Tuesday eased his opposition to new energy exploration off the coast.

GOOD!!!!

"Floridians are suffering, and when you're paying over $4 a gallon for gas, you have to wonder whether there might be additional resources that we might be able to utilize to bring that price down," said Crist, a Republican.

At the same time, pressure to drill is mounting.

GOOD!!!!

President Bush today is expected to call on Congress to lift the ban on new offshore drilling, and a House committee will consider a proposal to relax the moratorium.

GOOD!!!!

John McCain, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, opposed new offshore drilling in his 2000 presidential campaign. He said Tuesday that he now supported lifting the long-standing ban.

GOOD!!!!

"I believe it is time for federal government to lift these restrictions and put our own reserves to use," the Arizona senator said in a Houston speech on energy security.

GOOD!!!!

Much of the nation's coastal waters are off-limits to new oil and gas leasing until 2012 under executive orders first issued by Bush's father,President George H.W. Bush, in 1991 and extended by President Clinton in 1998. In addition, Congress has taken action annually since 1981 to preclude drilling in coastal areas.

But high petroleum prices have caused policymakers to begin rethinking a variety of issues, including opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to energy exploration and imposing mandatory limits on greenhouse gas emissions from oil refineries and power plants.

GOOD!!!!

"For years I have argued that we should avoid offshore drilling and tapping into underground reserves in ANWR until there was an emergency that left us with no choice," Rep. James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.), a longtime backer of the drilling ban, said recently. "That time has come."

Wrong! That time was here long ago. Bill Clinton had his chance, but he vetoed a bill to open up ANWR to drilling back in 1995.

The developments are the latest indication of the growing power of energy prices to overwhelm other priorities.

"We're seeing a large shift in public attitudes toward exploration," said C. Jeffrey Eshelman of the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America, expressing hope that McCain's change of heart "breaks ground for others to follow."

Environmentalists are increasingly concerned. Richard Charter of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund called this "the most risky year in 29 years" for the drilling ban.

The environmentalists should shut their faces, step aside, and allow progress to take place. The American people are slowly waking up to the environmental movement. To that, I say this.

In one sign of concern, an effort to pass a major climate-change bill stumbled this month amid complaints from Democrats as well as Republicans that it would drive up energy prices.

McCain, in reversing his long-held position in support of the offshore ban, said he continued to oppose drilling in the Arctic refuge, an environmentally sensitive wilderness that he said deserved to stay off-limits.

Wrong. We need to drill in ANWR, Mr. McCain. Don't be insane. It's time to drill.

Environmental groups, as well as McCain's Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, argued that renewed offshore drilling would not increase supplies or lower prices for years. They warned that new drilling off California and other states would carry the risk of pollution.

There are no risks. The technology exists for safe drilling with minimal negative impact to the environment.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a senior advisor to McCain's campaign, acknowledged in a conference call to reporters that new offshore drilling would have no immediate effect on supplies or prices.

But he added: "There is an important element in signaling to world oil markets that we are serious."

Congressional Republicans have been seizing on high energy prices to ratchet up the pressure on Democrats to allow more domestic drilling.

GOOD!!!!

"For a long time, for appropriate reasons, we've been very sensitive about offshore drilling in California because of our beautiful Pacific Coast," Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) said recently on the House floor, adding that technology could allow for a second look.

Despite skyrocketing oil prices, efforts to weaken the offshore ban face stiff opposition.

"The people of California feel strongly about protecting the coast of California from offshore drilling. And so do I," Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Tuesday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes lifting the moratorium but "still absolutely supports" McCain, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for the Republican governor.

"They're going to disagree from time to time, and this is one of those cases," he said.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) decried McCain's stance. "He ought to know he'd ruin Florida's $65-billion tourism economy by allowing oil rigs off the coast."

You mean like what China is doing off the Florida coast right now, Mr. Nelson?

But as Bush adds his support to the drive to lift the ban, a new attempt is expected today in the House Appropriations Committee to allow drilling 50 miles or more off the coast.

The ban, inspired by a devastating 1969 oil spill off Santa Barbara, has prohibited drilling in most coastal waters except for parts of the Gulf of Mexico and areas off Alaska. Rep. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) expressed confidence that Congress would resist efforts to roll back the ban.

But Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) said he saw a shifting political climate.

"I think it's changed. And I think $4 a gallon has done that," he said. "This is compelling. I hear that from people everywhere I go."

Martinez said in the new climate, the nation needed resources.

"It's about how can we supply enough product so that there is more supply available to meet the ever-increasing demand," Martinez said. "And offshore may be a part of that equation."

GOOD!!!!

About time, too! And this is something I've also been saying for how long now?
I feel so smart right now. :-)

Damn That Man Made Global Warming! - Part XIII

Braden — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:13:08 GMT

So much for Al Gore's concerns for the planet:

Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month
Gore’s personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations

NASHVILLE - In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”

In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

In February 2007, An Inconvenient Truth, a film based on a climate change speech developed by Gore, won an Academy Award for best documentary feature. The next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered that Gore’s Nashville home guzzled 20 times more electricity than the average American household.

After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In the wake of becoming the most well-known global warming alarmist, Gore won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.

“Actions speak louder than words, and Gore’s actions prove that he views climate change not as a serious problem, but as a money-making opportunity,” Johnson said. “Gore is exploiting the public’s concern about the environment to line his pockets and enhance his profile.”

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a Nashville-based free market think tank and watchdog organization, obtained information about Gore’s home energy use through a public records request to the Nashville Electric Service.

Yep. So much for Al Gore being troubled over ~~global warming~~ climate change.

But don't forget, Al Gore can live his life status quo, while the rest of us are expected to change ours. Why, I should move closer to work so I don't use so much gasoline! Right?

Exactly how many times have I told you this?
But don't mind me, I belong in the same ranks as those who subscribe to believing the Earth is flat.

If Barack Obama Isn't A Muslim ....

Braden — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:00:54 GMT

Then why is he so sensitive about the issue? Can you freaking believe this?

Two Muslim women at Barack Obama’s rally in Detroit on Monday were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women’s headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate.

Hello? ACLU? Where are you? I can't hear you!

The campaign has apologized to the women, both Obama supporters who said they felt betrayed by their treatment at the rally.

Where is the public apology? If the McCain campaign did something like this, you can take it to the bank Katie Couric would be smiling ear to ear as she delivered the "news." But, since it's Barack Obama's campaign, she'll remain silent on the issue. So much for the media not being biased, right? We need the Fairness Doctrine reinstated like we all need a hole in the head.

“This is of course not the policy of the campaign. It is offensive and counter to Obama’s commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “We sincerely apologize for the behavior of these volunteers.”

Sure it isn't. Just like Michelle Obama's staff getting caught during a recent appearance at Carnegie Mellon University saying, "We need more white people."

Building a human backdrop to a political candidate, a set of faces to appear on television and in photographs, is always a delicate exercise in demographics and political correctness. Advance staffers typically pick supporters out of a crowd to reflect the candidate’s message.

Advance staffers? How about advanced "racists" instead?

When Obama won the North Carolina primary amid questions about his ability to connect with white voters, for instance, he stood in front of a group of middle-aged white women waving small American flags.

On the Republican side, a Hispanic New Hampshire Democrat, Roberto Fuentes, told Politico that he was recently asked, and declined, to contribute to the “diversity” of the crowd behind Sen. John McCain at a Nashua event.

But for Obama, the old-fashioned image-making contrasts with his promise to transcend identity politics and to embrace all elements of America. The incidents in Michigan, which has one of the largest Arab and Muslim populations in the country, also highlight an aspect of his campaign that sometimes rubs Muslims the wrong way: The candidate has vigorously denied a false, viral rumor that he himself is Muslim. But the denials at times seem to imply to some that there is something wrong with the faith, though Obama occasionally adds that he means no disrespect to Islam.

Oh really? You're not a Muslim, Barack? Then how do you explain the Associated Press documents which revealed you attended a Catholic School in Indonesia registered as a Muslim? And Barack, why haven't you made your birth certificate public? Surely Barack would like to make the air clear on the subject, no?

This is very interesting, wouldn't you say?

In Senator Obama's two books, "Dreams From My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope," he wrote that he spent two years in a Muslim school and another two years in a Catholic school while living in Indonesia from age 6 to 10. Islam is Indonesia's dominant religion. Approximately 88% of the population of Indonesia is Muslim, making it the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world. Indonesia has seen a dramatic rise in radical Islam in recent years.

Today, the LA Times reports that a childhood friend of Obama's claims that he did attend Friday prayers at the mosque--

The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque. "We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played, said Zulfin Adi, who describes himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends.

"His mother often went to the church, but Barry was Muslim. He went to the mosque," Adi said. "I remember him wearing a sarong.

Additionally, the LA Times recounts statements made by Barak Obama's third- and fourth-grade teacher--

"At that time, Barry was also praying in a Catholic way, but Barry was Muslim," Dharmawan said in Obama's old classroom, where she still teaches 39 years later. "He was registered as a Muslim because his father, Lolo Soetoro, was Muslim."

The Times additionally reports that Obama was a registered Muslim and attended weekly religious instruction on the Koran, the Muslim holy book--

Bugs have eaten Obama's file in the [middle] school's archive, said Vice Principal Hardi Priyono. But two of his teachers, former Vice Principal Tine Hahiyari and third-grade teacher Effendi, said they remember clearly that at this school too, he was registered as a Muslim, which determined what class he attended during weekly religion lessons.

In three months Barrack's campaign has gone from describing the U.S. presidential hopeful as never having been a Muslim and never having been raised as a Muslim to now having never having been a practicing Muslim.

What's with the semantics? Statements from Obama's campaign appear to have evolved, to say the least. While Barak's campaign states that the senator is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago, from what friends and teachers say, it appears that for some time as a child, Senator Barack Hussein Obama identified himself as a Muslim, studying the Koran in a Muslim school and praying to Allah on Fridays at the local mosque.

Speaking of birth certificates ...

Before any of you even get the chance to tell me this is real birth certificate, don't even bother; especially when you consider the source being Markos Moulitsas himself from the Daily Kos (I won't give Markos Moulitsas a link, so you will have to copy and paste it accordingly -- http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/12/11012/6168/320/534616). Finally, look carefully at the type face, since when did they have laser printers in 1961? Look even closer, where is the official seal of notary? It looks as if I'm not the only one who smells a rat.

“I was coming to support him, and I felt like I was discriminated against by the very person who was supposed to be bringing this change, who I could really relate to,” said Hebba Aref, a 25-year-old lawyer who lives in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. “The message that I thought was delivered to us was that they do not want him associated with Muslims or Muslim supporters.”

So much for Obama "Bringing America Together."

In Detroit on Monday, the two different Obama volunteers — in separate incidents — made it clear that headscarves wouldn’t be in the picture. The volunteers gave different explanations for excluding the hijabs, one bluntly political and the other less clear.

In Aref’s case, there was no ambiguity.

That incident began when the volunteer asked Aref’s friend Ali Koussan and two others, Aref’s brother Sharif and another young lawyer, Brandon Edward Miller, whether they would like to sit behind the stage. The three young men said they would but mentioned they were with friends.

The men said the volunteer, a 20-something African-American woman in a green shirt, asked if their friends looked and were dressed like the young men, who were all light-skinned and wearing suits.

Miller said yes but mentioned that one of their friends was wearing a headscarf with her suit.

The volunteer “explained to me that because of the political climate and what’s going on in the world and what’s going on with Muslim Americans, it’s not good for [Aref] to be seen on TV or associated with Obama,” said Koussan, a law student at Wayne State University.

The political climate? What ever happened to "A Record Of Bring People Together," Barack?

Straight from Barack's website, I captured the following snippet and circled the "obvious" (click image to enlarge):

"A Record Of Bring People Together" Since when?
Look at the last item contained in the above screen capture:

"He will personally deliver occasional fireside chats via webcast?"
Does Barack think he will be the next Franklin D. Roosevelt or what?

Ok, I got side tracked, moving on ....

Both Koussan and Miller said they specifically recalled the volunteer citing the “political climate” in telling them they couldn’t sit behind Obama.

“I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Are you serious?’” Koussan recalled.

No, they are not kidding, they are very serious.

Shimaa Abdelfadeel’s story was different. She’d waited in line outside the Joe Louis Arena for three hours in the sun and was walking through the giant hall when a volunteer approached two of her non-Muslim friends, a few steps ahead of her, and asked if they’d like to sit in “special seating” behind the stage, said one friend, Brittany Marino, who, like Abdelfadeel, is a recent University of Michigan graduate who works for the university.

When they said they were with Abdelfadeel, the volunteer told them their friend would have to take off the headscarf or stay out of the special section, Marino said. They declined the seats.

After recovering from the shock of the incident, Abdelfadeel went to look for the volunteer and confronted her minutes later, she said in an e-mail interview with Politico.

“We’re not letting anyone with anything on their heads like baseball [caps] or scarves sit behind the stage,” she paraphrased the volunteer as saying, an account Marino confirmed. “It has nothing to do with your religion!”

It doesn't? Then why did you deny them the seating? In other words, it's a flat out lie.

In most work and school settings, religious dress — such as Jewish yarmulkes, Sikh turbans and Muslim hijabs — is permitted where secular clothing, such as baseball caps, is not.

“The scarf is not just something she can take off — it’s part of her identity,” said Marino.

And "identity" is what it's all about. Let this be another example of liberals and their identity based politics.

Photographs of the event also show men with hats in the section behind Obama and former Vice President Al Gore, though not directly behind the candidate.

Abdelfadeel, like Aref, felt “disappointed, angry and let down,” she later wrote.

She said she was “let down that the Obama campaign continuously perpetuates this attitude towards Muslims and Arabs — as if being merely associated [with] one is a sin.”

If you think that was a let down, just wait until Barack wins the White House.

The two women’s friends who witnessed the incidents were disappointed, too. Aref’s friend Miller said he was “shocked” by the contrast between Obama’s message and their experience.

Welcome to liberalism, folks.

“He was the one candidate who you would expect to stand up for something like that — and behind the scenes, you have something completely contrary to what he was running on,” said Koussan, Aref’s other friend.

Again, I say, welcome to liberalism.

Aref and her friends complained to the campaign, and after those complaints and an inquiry from Politico, Obama’s director of advance, Emmett S. Beliveau, called her to apologize.

An Obama aide also noted that the campaign has no policy against the candidate’s appearing with women in headscarves: The next morning at Wayne State University, Obama posed for a picture with a student wearing a hijab.

What a joke. Can you believe this? And where is Katie Couric on this?

Photographs from a Seattle rally earlier this year also clearly show a couple in Muslim garb behind the candidate.

The administrator of the Muslims4Obama group on Obama’s website, which is not a formal part of the campaign, also said she had “not heard anything regarding Muslim supporters being steered away from sitting behind Sen. Obama at the event” and noted that he had Muslim supporters present at events in Minnesota, including one at which he stood with a Muslim member of Congress, Keith Ellison.

Aref said she was glad Obama had apologized, but she was not entirely satisfied.

Obama should make a public apology, that's for sure. Why? Because the same would be expected if McCain's campaign staff did the same thing.

“I think this is a much bigger deal than maybe they’re perceiving it as,” she said, noting that Obama had placed a personal call to a television reporter he’d dismissively called “Sweetie.”

“An apology from him personally would be better,” she said, then reconsidered. “If they are true to their word, I think it would suffice to have an invitation to their next rally and have seats behind him and show up on TV.”

Yep. Welcome to Barack Obama's "Record Of Bringing People Together."

Photography Intermission

Braden — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 10:48:07 GMT

(click image to enlarge in new window/tab)

Democrats And Gas Prices

Braden — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:58:11 GMT

I wonder what kind of spin our friendly Democratic friends will put on this:

Nancy Pelosi? About that pledge you made in 2006 ....

In the interim ....

Let's all remain steadfast with our continued support of the insane madness of not drilling for our own oil while we all sit back and watch our wallets bleed to death as we continue to "wait patiently for the renewable alternative energy sources." In fact, let's punish the oil companies with a "windfall profits tax" for not allowing them to drill for oil. That's right, we'll keep the oil companies from doing their job, and then we'll punish them for it. That right there is what I call "Democrat common sense."

In the meantime, we'll all be flat out broke, but that's okay; it's such the small sacrifice to save the environment. After all, a lot of us should move closer to work so we don't have to consume so much gasoline during our daily commute to work.

The stupidity of the Democrats (along with the environmentalists), who support this absolute madness should never be underestimated.

H/T To Crushliberalism and to Powerline for the chart.

Photography Intermission

Braden — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 01:23:42 GMT

I shot this photograph September 4, 2005 at the Oglebay Park Good Zoo.

(click to enlarge in new window/tab)