Dateline 2007 - Global warming threatens ski resort viability

Dateline today 2008. Record breaking snowfall causes delays.

Obama's not even elected yet and he's already rescued the snow in Switzerland.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 09:05 AM | Comments (41)
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"It's that fundamental belief — I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper — that makes this country work." - Barack Obama, July 27, 2004

Good thing he's not his aunt's keeper.

Or his half-brother's.

What's interesting about Obama's answer is that the term "brother's keeper" comes from the book of Genesis, and its use is actually defensive. Cain had just whacked his brother and when asked about it, his answer was "I know not. Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain was being snarky in an attempt to deflect attention away from the fact that he had just stashed his brother's body. It's not a biblical injunction to take positive action.

As Ed Morrissey points out at Hot Air, Obama did mention the biblical call to action on compassion later in the Saddleback forum:

“Americans’ greatest moral failure in my lifetime,” he said, “has been that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.”

What makes the story of Obama's aunt appalling to me is a quote that Bob Krumm found. It looks as though Obama's campaign may have found the least of his relatives and told them to zip it until after the election.

The media told us that when Obama visited his grandmother, it spoke well of his character. It seems fair to take the living conditions of his extended relatives as a similar glimpse into who this man is, and whether his personal actions match his lofty rhetoric.

Posted by: Slublog at 06:51 AM | Comments (127)
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Okay, so that's not exactly what he said but it's pretty much the gist of his "praise" of Obama's handling of the economic crisis.

"You know what he did?" Clinton said, heralding Obama's reaction to the financial crisis. "First he took a little heat for not saying much. I knew what he was doing. He talked to his advisers – he talked to my economic advisers, he called Hillary. He called me. He called Warren Buffet. He called all those people, you know why? Because he knew it was complicated and before he said anything he wanted to understand."

So it was too complicated for Obama to understand right away, he had to talk to smart people like Bill and...Hillary to make sense of it. The backhanded compliment is fine and delicate art. Bill Clinton is a master of it.

Have I mentioned the strange new respect I've developed for the Clinton's in the last year?

Posted by: DrewM at 06:28 AM | Comments (115)
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It's fall in Iowa, and since we can't enjoy the smell of burning leaves anymore here in our little Nanny State community, I have to look forward to a beloved holiday from my childhood. I have fond memories of watching people dress up and pretend to be something that they're not in order to scare people or fool them into handing over free stuff. It's also the night where roving gangs of thugs patrol the neighborhood and vandalize the property of anyone who dares put up decorations that displease them.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow's Halloween too. Too much candy and the same old bad jokes every year from the kids in costumes. It's not as big of a holiday as Election Day, but it's pretty cool.

Posted by: Russ from Winterset at 05:54 AM | Comments (49)
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Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:16 AM | Comments (92)
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Everybody's favorite mischievous Marxist.

Posted by: Ace at 12:12 AM | Comments (65)
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It's really pretty cute.

Here's an interview with some of the kids. Willie, the little guy in the middle of the clip, is worth listening to.

And by "worth listening to," I mean Helen Jones-Kelley just started digging into his files for delinquent juicebox payments.

He stepped into the spotlight. You bought the ticket, Willie. Enjoy the ride.
more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:23 PM | Comments (60)
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There are several War on Terror cases working their way through the courts right now and I was pleasantly surprised by a memorandum order from a federal district court judge on Monday in the case of Lakhdar Boumediene (yes that Boumediene). I heard that this one was coming last week, but was dreading the judicial response to this issue: "what is the definition of 'enemy combatant'"?

My initial response was that it's none of the courts' damn business to define the term "enemy combatant" as it applies to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. That's up to Congress and the President.

I'm pleased to report that Judge Richard Leon came to the same conclusion (PDF). And he spanked some judges on the Fourth Circuit at the same time.

The temptation is great to accept both sides' invitation at oral argument to engage in the type of judicial craftsmanship recently exhibited by no fewer than four distinguished Federal Circuit judges in al-Marri v. Pucciarelli... However, notwithstanding that temptation, I do not believe, on further reflection that it is the province of the judiciary to draft definitions. It is our limited role to determine whether the definitions crafted by either the Executive or the Legislative branch, or both, are consistent with the President's authority under the Authorization for the Use of Military Force...and his war powers under Article II of the Constitution.

Judge Leon eventually concludes that the Department of Defense's very first definition of enemy combatant back in 2004 is the proper one. Judge Leon was appointed to the bench by President Bush in 2002. It's sad that the first instinct after a court issues a decision these days is to check who appointed the judge.

I wrote about the al-Marri mess here.

In related news, the Guantanamo Bay Uighurs' case is proceeding quickly. The government's brief is here (PDF); it is absolutely persuasive on the question of whether Article III courts have the power to admit aliens to the United States (they don't); less so on the issue of keeping alien noncombatants imprisoned indefinitely. The Uighur's brief is due Friday. Oral arguments are still scheduled for November 24.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 10:09 PM | Comments (15)
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The hell, man?

Is everything a crime against the All Mighty State now?

Thanks to Maetenloch.

I'm Moving to Thailand: Where they don't labor under our restrictive Chistianist mores.

Thanks to BravoRomeoDelta.

Posted by: Ace at 10:07 PM | Comments (23)
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If you read the article, Keith Olberflamingdouche prompted him, but making Olbermann flaming douche is kinda redundant.

Posted by: Open Blog at 10:02 PM | Comments (45)
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