In our recent rip-the-blog post several of you said they wanted to be able to comment on the Top Headlines. Some suggested a daily post for it. Well, let's give it a try.

I've stickied a link to these comments in the headlines column to the left (at the old site; if you're at the new site you should have no comment about the headlines because you can't see them there). Funny fish faces, g-spots, Thulsa Doom, our lost bikini babe...I'm sure there's something you want to talk about.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:31 AM | Comments (26)
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Well, it's about damn time!

Ice cream van jingles are to be curtailed by council bosses because they are too noisy.

Worcester City Council has decreed that chimes cannot exceed more than four seconds, barely enough for a verse of the Teddy Bears Picnic.

They have also been told they can't sound their chimes before 12pm or after 7pm and can only play music once every three minutes, reports the Daily Telegraph.

When I used to live in a certain blighted Northeastern city, there was this ice cream truck that would come up the street at 10 PM, chiming 'Pop Goes The Weasel' at 180 decibels, apparently out of fifteen huge concert amps strapped to the roof.

It was a very clever ice cream sales strategy. The truck rolled slowly up the street, rupturing windows and eardrums as it went. When the apartment building I resided in started shaking and losing bricks, all us newly-deaf people would run outside and buy an orange pushup.

Or a Toasted Almond bar. Man, I love those things. Nothing better on a hot summer night when there's blood shooting out of your ears.

Posted by: LauraW at 07:15 AM | Comments (12)
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This time from a campaign spokesman:

At a morning background briefing, reporters parried with senior advisers on the characterization of ObamaÂ’s speech Thursday in Berlin as a campaign rally. The outdoor speech at the Victory Column could draw thousands of people, similar to the size of Obama events in the United States.

"It is not going to be a political speech," said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."

"But he is not president of the United States," a reporter reminded the adviser.

The whole campaign thinks that they've already won. From any other group of people it would be "stunning arrogance given the mistake-prone campaign, its inexperienced candidate, and his dropping poll numbers." But this is the magic Obama, so simple faith should do it. Clap if you believe.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:13 AM | Comments (27)
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During his whirlwind stop in Iraq Obama found time to give an interview to ABC news. When asked if his judgment about the surge was wrong, he answered...

"Here is what I will say," Obama said, "I think that, I did not anticipate, and I think that this is a fair characterization, the convergence of not only the surge but the Sunni awakening in which a whole host of Sunni tribal leaders decided that they had had enough with Al Qaeda, in the ShiiÂ’a community the militias standing down to some degrees. So what you had is a combination of political factors inside of Iraq that then came right at the same time as terrific work by our troops. Had those political factors not occurred, I think that my assessment would have been correct."

The Democrats spent the months of the surge complaining that it was only impacting the military and security challenges in Iraq while doing nothing about the political situation. Remember the mantra of "no political progress is being made!"? Now that the political benefits of the surge are evident and can't be ignored, the Democrats turn on a dime and say all the political progress occurred independently of the surge, which they opposed, and would have happened anyway if we had bailed on Iraq as they demanded.

I guess hen you are the Messiah (or even a run of th mill Democrat) the normal rules of being responsible for what you say obviously don't apply.

A side note, I'm watching the Obama press conference right now. In response to a question on what the relationship between Israel would be like under His administration he just said, "Israel is a strong friend of Israel" and will be whether he or McCain is elected. Just another thing for the "If he were a Republican we'd be laughing at him" file.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:54 AM | Comments (41)
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Forget the lame German kvetching about the "problematic symbolism" of Obama's upcoming speech at the Victory Column. That's nothing but an invented controversy. This is a symbolic blunder worthy of our concern and objection.

According to security officials coordinating deployments of forces with the PA for Obama's Ramallah visit, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah's declared military wing, have been called upon by the PA to participate in the protection of Obama, particularly in securing the perimeter during a scheduled meeting with PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Brigades is listed as a terror organization by the U.S. State Department. The group took credit along with the Islamic Jihad terror organization for every suicide bombing in Israel between 2005 and 2006 and is responsible for thousands of shootings and rocket firings. Statistically, the Al Aqsa Brigades perpetuated more terrorism from the West Bank than Hamas, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Brigades leaders, speaking to WND on condition of anonymity, confirmed they will participate in protecting Obama as official members of the PA's security forces.

You do not overcome evil by arranging for it to guard you while you have a nice little chat with its master. If Obama had any stones at all, he'd cancel the trip to Ramallah unless terrorists are excluded from the security arrangements. Of course, if he excluded the terrorists in the PA, there'd be no one left to guard him. In fact, there'd be no one left to meet with. Which leads to the question: why the hell is Obama giving these thugs a hearing at all?

The article says that this has happened on previous visits of U.S. officials. That may explain why no one seems to be making a big deal out of this. I suppose if we absolutely must have a diplomatic relationship with a leader who boasts of funding terrorism, there's nothing to do but give Abbas a pass. Indeed, both John McCain and President Bush have talked to him. And if we've got to talk to Abbas, well, we wouldn't want to antagonize him by asking him to have his terrorist buddies take the day off, now would we?

Update: Well, maybe we should be cautious about this WND story until there's some confirmation from other sources. The reporter, Aaron Klein, has a particular dislike for Obama, about whom he has written several gotcha! pieces, and has been involved in some shady activities in the past.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:28 PM | Comments (32)
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A Chinese man; they are negotiating with him via a Mandarin translator.

I'm glad that Obama's in Iraq, otherwise he'd be healing the man's soul through a simple smile.

I really couldn't take that. I just couldn't.

Article: Here. As of 10 pm, at least, he was still on the balcony.

Posted by: Ace at 04:05 PM | Comments (19)
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It would take a majority vote for the Supreme Court to reconsider the case which blatantly misconstrued public opinion about the death penalty for child rapists and which failed to discover a federal law imposing such a penalty. It is extremely rare for the Court to do so. Louisiana's petition is here (PDF).

We discussed the likelihood of a rehearing a few weeks ago. I continue to believe that the justices need to grant this petition---even if they know they're going to come to the same decision---if only to straighten out the horrendous reasoning in the majority opinion. Justice Kennedy's claims about "national consensus" and "the Court's own judgment" make a farce out of our entire system of justice. Even if he's too set in his thinking to overturn such ridiculous Eighth Amendment standards, certainly he can do a more credible job supporting his conclusions.

Since the case was handed down, there have been a few public opinion polls on the subject. This one is noteworthy because it shows majority public support for a harsher penalty than the one the Court invalidated.

The Supreme Court has recently ruled that a mandatory death penalty for child rape is unconstitutional. Do you favor or oppose the death penalty for persons convicted of child rape?

Favor: 55 percent
Oppose: 38 percent
DK/NO: 7 percent

I would have preferred that they have stated the law correctly (hint: no crimes are punishable by mandatory death sentences in this country and Louisiana's statute sure didn't create one), but it is telling that even with the overstatement a clear majority support the death penalty for child rape. If you're interested, the poll also has numbers on same-sex marriage, abortion, the Supreme Court in general, and Chief Justice Roberts in particular.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:04 PM | Comments (17)
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Uh-huh.

Meanwhile, we can enjoy the grisly spectacle of cadaver-hunting dogs and sheriffs digging holes in Casey Anthony's back yard. Maybe that's where the kidnappers are hiding.

Posted by: Ace at 03:51 PM | Comments (24)
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Answer: Because he's just that cool and bad-ass, and you can't hurt steel.

Allah notes that Jake Tapper warns us to expect McCain to claim that Obama can walk around without armor because security has improved so dramatically, largely due to the surge McCain championed and which Obama said couldn't help stabilize the country, and would in fact actually make matters worse.

Yes. Expect McCain to "claim" that.

I think we all know the real answer is that Captain Bullshit is impervious to bullets.

Posted by: Ace at 03:43 PM | Comments (29)
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Via It's Vintage, Duh at Doubleplusundead quoting Bob Novak:

Sources close to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign are suggesting he will reveal the name of his vice presidential selection this week while Sen. Barack Obama is getting the headlines on his foreign trip.

It's make or break time. If he picks Huck, he's lost me for good. If he picks Romney, he's won me. Anyone else, it'll take more consideration. There sure are a lot of bad choices out there.

Update: Does it make a difference that Michigan seems to be up for grabs? McCain needs to keep the states that the president won in 2004. To the extent he loses some of them, like perhaps Colorado or Iowa, he needs to find ways to make up the loss. Taking Michigan out of the Blue column would be a big help.

On the other hand, I've been saying that McCain should focusing on just one gameplan: Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico. Which prospective running mate can help with that?

More: If you want to share in my insanity, go play with the electoral votes at 270toWin.com. Thanks to liontooth for that. I hadn't seen it before, but I'm sure I'll be wasting plenty of time over there.

Strength Upon Strength? [ace] Although the conventional wisdom has always been about "balancing," somehow, a ticket geographically and ideologically, how much does a Veep balance anything? It's not like he's a partner.

Clinton rejected this and prospered. As did Dick Cheney (he balanced Bush's inexperience, I guess).

I hate to be all in the tank for my once-boyfriend, but what about Giuliani? Why not double-down on experience, dealing with terrorism, and all that jazz?

Doubling down on cancer, too, I guess, and it's not going to thrill any social cons, but... I don't know. Not sure adding a social conservative running mate is going to convince skeptics of McCain's social conservative bona fides anyway.

(PS, it's not so much that I'm in love with Giuliani as Veep, I just don't see anyone obviously stronger. More just speculating than advocating.)

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:16 PM | Comments (126)
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