Obama is ashamed of you Americans who can only speak English.

"Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English--they'll learn English. You need to make sure you're child can speak Spanish...

"ItÂ’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup."

It's unreasonable and unfounded given the decades-long cultural decay on the Continent, but this cringing inferiority complex is widespread among leftists. They take it as a given that America isn't all that much of a much, but then they have to find some other place to point to as ideal. Owing to a sad lack of options, continental Europe seems to be the leftists' Platonic ideal of a society.

Can't speak a language other than English? You embarrass Obama. Please stay in your doublewide; DCFS will be there in a bit to pick up your children. Hopefully they will be less embarrassing after we've educated them.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:38 AM | Comments (118)
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Congress gets around to doing what it should have done weeks months ago. Democrats lost on almost all of their demands, including telecom immunity. Along the way, they got to show how serious they are about national security by...holding a lot of meetings. Well done, Nancy.

Okay, so I couldn't help the cheap shot at the Speaker. The real FISA action today is over in the Senate, where things should be all wrapped up by 12:30 eastern.

Before final passage, there will be three efforts to either eliminate or weaken the immunity section of the bill. Those efforts will take the form of three amendments offered by Sens. Dodd/Feingold, Specter, and Bingaman. The key amendment is Dodd/Feingold, which simply removes immunity from the bill and would let the lawsuits proceed. Dodd/Feingold requires a simple majority for passage. Specter and Bingaman require 60 votes. All should fail.

Following the three amendment votes, there will be on procedural vote and then final passage. If, as expected, all the amendments fail and the underlying bill passes, it goes directly to the White House for the President's signature.

Obama is expected to vote for the bill. Here's the flip-flop:

December 17, 2007: "Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill. Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same. It's not clear whether he can return for the vote, but under the Senate rules, the side trying to end a filibuster must produce 60 votes to cut off debate. Whether he is present for the vote or not, Senator Obama will not be among those voting to end the filibuster."

June 25, 2008: "My view on FISA has always been that the issue with phone companies per se is not one that overrides security interests of the American people. I do want accountability, and making sure that, as I've said before, that somebody is watching the watchers."

He is expected to vote along with most of his colleagues for cloture and to vote in favor of passing the bill.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 07:16 AM | Comments (20)
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The DNC has already placed unreasonable (sometimes impossible!) demands on participants and vendors at the Denver convention. Frustrated caterers have received the most discussion in the news, but now the news networks are showing a little frustration of their own. Moving Obama's acceptance speech from the Pepsi Center to Invesco Field has saddled them with expanded and unexpected costs. The consequence:

According to several broadcast executives, the networks will still cover all the major speeches. But beyond that, all options are open as they look for savings to balance out the anticipated costs surrounding the stadium event. The acceptance event is an unexpected departure from the traditional convention hall format for which they have spent months planning. [...]

“We're trying to figure out ways to cover what we need to cover and still stay in our budget,” said Bob Murphy, a 30-year veteran of ABC News and the executive in charge of the network's convention coverage. “The change in the schedule clearly has put some very severe cost issues on the table and we are trying to figure out how to deal with that.”

Among the options now being considered by broadcast executives is a reduction in staffing at the Democratic convention, with some news staff being asked to stay back in New York or Washington instead of traveling to Denver — though that is a measure the networks hope to avoid.

For the past year, Americans have tuned in to Election 2008 events in numbers that rival prime-time TV shows. Public interest in politics is higher than it has ever been. But news reporting is expensive and competition between networks is fierce. The DNC should have expected that a relatively late venue change would have unexpected costs.

UPDATE with Lefty Complaint: I'm highlighting this particular lefty response only because it is so stupid. I want as many people as possible to know what a freakin' idiot Jed Lewison is:

Is that really the message that they want to send about how they decide what's news? That they just look at the dollars and cents of the bottom line? What about news value?

Is it not newsworthy that on the anniversary of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, 80,000 Americans will witness an African-American accept a major party's presidential nomination for the first time in our nation's history? Is that not in fact a historic event?

How dare they even consider cutting back just to save a few bucks -- especially after all the money they've made during this year's extended primary season.

He seems to be under the impression that news coverage is a public service provided regardless of cost. In his small mind, news networks should be begging for the opportunity to cover the convention. He's also got a reading comprehension problem since, if he'd read the article he links to (the same one I did), he'd know that the networks plan to cover all the speeches, including the "historic event" at Invesco.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:39 AM | Comments (53)
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Regrettably, no charts or graphs.

Denial ain't just a urinal trough at Invesco Field.

graphic courtesy of the Slublog gallery of Why Won't These Children Sleep When It's Nighttime Museum of 'Welcome to the Party Pal'

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 07:18 PM | Comments (37)
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Dude.

A Houston man was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Tuesday after prosecutors said he fatally stabbed his roommate during an argument about foot odor.

...

"The defendant said the victim had smelly feet," Vinas said.

...

Police said another roommate, a woman, told investigators that she heard the men arguing about foot odor. She said she saw Serrano stab Quintanilla-Vaquero. Vinas said the man was stabbed 16 times.

Posted by: Ace at 07:06 PM | Comments (28)
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"Red giant" is deemed iffy, but go right ahead with "white dwarf."

Posted by: Ace at 05:02 PM | Comments (51)
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Commenter xbradtc decided to do one of those impossible "what are the 10 best war movies ever?" posts.

These things are impossible, and subjective. But fun.

What is it about these films that draws us in? Or turns us off?

So I'm asking the moron guys: Fav war film and why?

Moron gals: Fav, (or least fav war film) and why?

I have theories and I crave the data.

Some Hollywood, but based on Patton's speech. From one of my favorites.

more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:17 PM | Comments (229)
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This, it seems, from a European, and a Muslim European to boot.

Whatever happened to leadership and honesty as presidential traits? I happen to believe that the only leader in the West to have these two admirable qualities in droves is the leader of the free world: George W Bush.

...

And when things did go wrong in Iraq, and there were calls to pull out, Mr Bush just followed his own counsel and doubled his bet with the Surge.

And he was right because Iraq is in a relatively better shape today than it ever was and Al Qa'eda is a shadow of its former self in that country.

This is a man who has the courage of his convictions.

LetÂ’s not forget how Europe does wars.

Usually we wait and wait until the enemy starts attacking, then we let them win a bit, then we fight until we are tired, then we just call the US to come over to clean our mess.

That is what happened in WWI, WWII, and the Balkans.

Bush is just showing us what a bunch of dangerous ditherers we are and we hate him for it. Naturally.

It's only been lately, faced with the upcoming election, that I've gotten over my dissatisfaction with Bush and realized, Wow, though he got a lot wrong, what a resolute leader, and wow, he did manage to get most of the big things not just right but courageously right.

Thanks to Conservative Belle.

The Anchoress, by the way, has been making this point for some time.

Posted by: Ace at 03:43 PM | Comments (93)
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Nobody Beats Rednecks In This Department

Very short video entitled 'Car Swing.'

Car Swing - For more of the funniest videos, click here

I can imagine being strung up on the top of this contraption, helplessly speeding down the road with bugs hitting my smile, when the driver slams on the brakes and the resulting 'swing' threatens to dash me to bits on the blurry pavement.

To the amusement of onlookers, who yell, "Niiiice!"

The spirit of Invention still runs strong. This is a great country.

Posted by: LauraW at 03:32 PM | Comments (18)
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Via The New Editor, which notes Obama's claims of being a lifelong supporter off welfare reform despite the inconvenient fact he was actually an opponent.

That's an AP picture, by the way. They have snapped dozens of halo pictures of Obama. They have been ridiculed for the practice by the right. But they don't care about that, and probably don't even know about it, because no opinions matter to them except those of their fellow leftists.

And their fellow leftists love this sort of Christ imagery for Obama.

If the MSM is promoting Obama as the actual Risen Christ, it seems unlikely they will bother noting that the central claim of his current ads are 100% false.

Thanks to AndyCanuck.

Posted by: Ace at 02:58 PM | Comments (23)
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