Pants.

The scourge of letter carriers from time immemorial. Mile after interminable mile of heat, sweat and inevitable chaffing. And in these 2-income times, not even the respite of removing the "Postal Blues" for the occasional frustrated house-wife.

Well, if letter carriers in Seattle have their way, relief is on the horizon. Gone are the long, sweaty days for Admiral James T. Cock and his twin ensigns when he is transported through his rounds in a comfortable kilt. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:54 PM | Comments (29)
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Compare and contrast time.

Obama in full:

I strongly condemn the outbreak of violence in Georgia, and urge an immediate end to armed conflict. Now is the time for Georgia and Russia to show restraint, and to avoid an escalation to full scale war. GeorgiaÂ’s territorial integrity must be respected. All sides should enter into direct talks on behalf of stability in Georgia, and the United States, the United Nations Security Council, and the international community should fully support a peaceful resolution to this crisis.

McCain in part:

"For many years, I have warned against Russian actions that undermine the sovereignty of its neighbors. Unfortunately, we have seen in recent days Russia demonstrate that these concerns were well-founded.

This afternoon I spoke, for the second time since the crisis began, with Georgian President Saakashvili. It is clear the situation is dire. Russian aggression against Georgia continues, with attacks occurring far beyond the Georgian region of South Ossetia. As casualties continue to mount, the international community must do all it can to avert further escalations. Tensions and hostilities between Georgians and Ossetians are in no way justification for Russian troops crossing an internationally recognized border. I again call on the Government of Russia to immediately and unconditionally withdraw its forces from the territory of Georgia.

...I am pleased the U.S. has agreed to facilitate the transfer of Georgian troops serving bravely in Iraq, who are now unfortunately needed to defend their own country

The bold in each statement is obviously my emphasis and I think nicely illustrates the differences between the two candidates.

UPDATE: Now that he's had time to crib from McCain's paper, Obama has released a new statement that sounds a little more like someone who knows what the hell they are talking about and not some inexperienced 'citizen of the world'.

Here's part of the new, tougher statement.

I just spoke separately with Secretary Rice and President Saakashvili about the grave crisis in Georgia. I told President Saakashvili that I was deeply concerned about the well-being of the people of Georgia.

Over the last two days, Russia has escalated the crisis in Georgia through itÂ’s clear and continued violation of GeorgiaÂ’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. On Friday, August 8, Russian military forces invaded Georgia. I condemn RussiaÂ’s aggressive actions and reiterate my call for an immediate ceasefire. Russia must stop its bombing campaign, cease flights of Russian aircraft in Georgian airspace, and withdraw its ground forces from Georgia. Both sides should allow humanitarian assistance to reach civilians in need. Russia also must end its cyber war against Georgian government websites. GeorgiaÂ’s territorial integrity must be respected.

Apparently someone looked it up and told Obama whose side we are on. Alas, the original statement is the true Obama, wishy washy equivalency.

Thanks to Gabe for the heads up on the new Obama statement.

Below the fold, what liberals will most likely call scaremongering. Personally, I just think it's a little perspective. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 04:48 PM | Comments (139)
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Apparently her sister is more interested in standing up for her than she is. I'm sure Silky is broken up over his inability to clear his name.

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Hunter said through her attorney that she will not be party to such a test "now or in the future."

The attorney, Robert Gordon, called Hunter a "private" person who is "not running for public office" and would not comment further.

"She wishes to maintain her privacy and her daughter's privacy," he said in the statement. "Furthermore, Rielle will not participate in DNA testing or any other invasion of her or her daughter's privacy now or in the future."

If Hunter sticks to that position, it will ease the pressure on Edwards, who on Friday dropped his earlier denials and admitted to having an affair with Hunter in 2006 but denied being the father of the child.

Hunter's decision also makes it easier for mainstream news outlets to move on from this story. Had the story continued, it would have made their job of protecting Barack and avenging Elizabeth much harder

There's an outside chance that last paragraph was not actually part of the original story.

Just curious...does anyone know where Fred Baron was today?

h/t Instapundit

UPDATE: Edwards wasn't happy that ABC promoted the interview. Did he really think they'd run it unannounced? Protect Elizabeth only goes so far. Plus, it looks like it was Brian Ross' efforts that pushed Edwards to go public

Posted by: DrewM at 03:45 PM | Comments (104)
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'Cuzzin' I'm informed I have to go to some stupid thing.

Posted by: Ace at 03:08 PM | Comments (17)
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Come for the delicious anti-Scandism, stay for the alarming results of determined desexualization/resexualization of men.

The article Dr. Helen is citing seems to be some kind of women's magazine, so in all likelihood it's hyped-up and overstated as to the trends it claims to discover. Still, there's gotta be something here.

The author, Elizabeth Debold, sets out to Scandinavia to find out how "gender equality" is playing itself out in that culture. She starts out the article describing how in Sweden, for a man to pee standing up is increasingly considered to be "the height of vulgarity and possibly suggestive of violence." Debold seems surprised to find out that gender equality is not all it's cracked up to be, especially when she discovers that the new equality is nothing more than "patriarchy in drag."

...

A guy named Bo states, "We end up relating to women in a way that is more like woman to woman, not man to woman. We are feminized in our relationships, and they don't last."

There is constant fear in the men there that they are always doing something wrong, and who can blame them? They are told that they are somehow guilty of oppressing women from a young age. In Sweden, little boys are given dolls to play with and girls are given tractors. Pupils in Demark are sent to do traditional women's jobs because of an "equality" project. All of this indoctrination and brainwashing is, in my opinion, sick and abusive.

Orwellian. Or Bjorwellian, I guess.

Thanks to Suzy, or maybe Joe.

Posted by: Ace at 02:13 PM | Comments (45)
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Who doesn't love bullcrap pop-psychology? Here's a recent installment in the "What Your ______ Tells The World About You" genre of mental potato chips.

Aside from dog owners that would make a potential long-term mate, Diamond gives snippets of useful information, such as noting that a guy with a bichon frise is "great with children" and is the type of man who will dress up as a clown on birthdays or as Santa at Christmas.

I can kind of see that, actually. Bichons have great personalities, and a dude who has one of these little muppets (and walks it in public) doesn't give a hoot about looking like a goof from time to time. He just can't.

A woman seeking an immensely affectionate man may also want to stay away from the Pomeranian man.

Anybody out there confirm what she says about Akita owners (men who are overprotective)? I have my own bias against the breed that dovetails with her assessment.

Posted by: LauraW at 12:25 PM | Comments (98)
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This is probably bigger than his Air America audience was but still, it can't be a good sign for a campaign.

ThereÂ’s an old saying in politics that elections are won or lost one vote at a time

On Friday, DFL-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken demonstrated how true that saying can be, when a roundtable on veterans issues at BrigitteÂ’s Cafe his campaign scheduled drew only one participant.

Josh John, a St. Cloud resident who said he served in the Navy from 2000-04, had Franken to himself for an hour as he described difficulties he faced returning from his tour of duty and the help he received from his Veterans Services Office and the St. Cloud VA Medical Center.

I think the real victim here is Mr. John. The poor guy wound up spending an hour talking to Al Franken. Somehow I doubt even the most rigorous military training can prepare you for something as horrifying as that. The bastards being held at Gitmo aren't even subjected to such torture.

Posted by: DrewM at 11:07 AM | Comments (25)
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Good stuff. As you may have already known from the Enquirer, Reille Hunter was head over heels in love with this douche, and figured they'd be married one day. So neither she nor her sister is cool with the insinuations she's a political groupie humping anyone with a DNC Guest Pass.

And his interview is grippingly cocksuckerish.

Old Media Dethroned (?): Tim Rutten says so. I say no.

When John Edwards admitted Friday that he lied about his affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter, a former employee of his campaign, he may have ended his public life but he certainly ratified an end to the era in which traditional media set the agenda for national political journalism.

From the start, the Edwards scandal has belonged entirely to the alternative and new media. The tabloid National Enquirer has done all the significant reporting on it -- reporting that turns out to be largely correct -- and bloggers and online commentators have refused to let the story sputter into oblivion.

Slate's Mickey Kaus has been foremost among the latter, alternately analyzing and speculating on the Enquirer's reporting and ridiculing the mainstream media for a fastidiousness that has seemed, from the start, wholly absurd. Like other commentators, he repeatedly alleged that a double standard that favored Democrats applied to the story. Like the Enquirer's reporting, the special-treatment charge is largely true, as anyone who recalls the media frenzy over conservative commentator and former Cabinet secretary William Bennett's high-stakes gambling would agree.

...

...

It's interesting that what finally forced Edwards into telling the truth was a mainstream media organization. ABC News began investigating the Edwards affair in October, but really began to push after the Beverly Hilton allegations. When ABC confronted Edwards with its story (which confirmed "95% to 96%" of the tabloid's reporting, according to the network), he admitted his deception.

With that admission, the illusion that traditional print and broadcast news organizations can establish the limits of acceptable political journalism joined the passenger pigeon on the roster of extinct Americana.

It's not yet clear that Brian Ross forced Edwards' hand -- it could have been pressure from the Democrats to resolve this before the election (Protect Barack > Protect Elizabeth).

And Edwards, of course, says that he granted an interview to spare the Youngs and Reille Hunter further harassment by the tabloids, which seems to me to be the most likely reason of all for the story breaking. (At least according to the David "Sucker of Cock" Shuster school of journalism, which states that "very credible" sources, such as Edwards and his campaign agents, must be trusted implicitly as regards scandalous allegations about Edwards.)

But assuming that it was ABC News' pressure -- then Old Media has not really been dethroned. They kept the story out of the news, mostly, and only when one reporter with a bit of license to dig independently on stories pursued it did it actually break big. (It was Brian Ross, I believe, who first or most aggressively pursued that "Stop Sexual Predators" guy's blog-allegations against Tom Foley, too, and thereby vaulted that story into the MSM.)

Still, the public may have some questions about why the media all but refused to report on this.

The AP's whine that it's just durned hard to confirm an affair is ridiculous. As is obvious to almost everyone at this point, people connected with Reille Hunter, including she herself, were leaking to the media. They wanted to talk. Hunter's sister Melissa is an obvious suspect: She's angry as hell at John Edwards for screwing over her sister, and the original Enquirer reports cited angered friends reporting on the affair. Whether it was Melissa or not, the fact is that it seems someone was going to the media, rather than waiting for the media to come to her.

Is it plausible that the Angry Friend would only talk to the National Enquirer and no one else? Is it plausible she didn't think of any other media organizations to spill to?

No, it's not plausible. In all likelihood, there are a dozen reporters working for the MSM who got a call from the Angry Friend -- obviously in a position to know -- and were told the whole sordid story. They were fed the story from a "very credible" source, as David "Sucker of Cock" Shuster might term her, and yet still chose to neither report it nor follow up. They chose from the outset to bury the story.

And the MSM will continue covering itself with inglory. There's a huge story yet to tell, so obviously newsworthy it's not even worth debating -- and I don't mean John Edwards 99% likely paternity.

I mean The Greatest Pal a Guy Could Ever Want, Fred Baron, a kinda sleazy trial lawyer paying off his candidate's mistress without, I presume, filing FEC disclosures for his largesse (and of course without telling his good buddy Edwards).

Far be it from me to cast aspersions upon The Greatest Pal a Guy Could Ever Want, but there is almost certainly both corruption and outright illegality going on here, including, not incidentally, the fact that a fundraiser would have had complete control over John Edwards should he have become president. John Edwards would have been the leader of the US -- but only when Fred Baron decided to let him be. It reality, it would have been Fred Baron making any decision he had a personal, or financial, interest in.

This is obviously important and newsworthy. But then, I thought Edwards' affair and love-baby were pretty important and newsworthy, too. The MSM could attempt to redeem itself by pursuing the Fred Baron story, but I think they'll choose to keep the story as sleazy and sexual and personal and trivialized as humanly possible-- having embargoed the story thusfar, they will attempt to confirm their previous judgment that the story was unimportant by deliberately tanking a crucial story that would expose their judgment as hopelessly naive.

They also want to Protect Barack, of course, and it won't do to have a Democratic contender exposed as both corrupt and so compromised by his sexual urges as to be a bona fide national security risk.

Reille Hunter/John Edwards Sex Tapes! Well, not really. But a lot of Edwards' language is suggestive.

You Know Who I Want To Hear From? The Angry Friend. I want to hear her name every single MSM Sucker of Cock she gave the story gift-wrapped to.

Posted by: Ace at 10:36 AM | Comments (52)
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The Other McCain challenges us to a caption contest...sort of. Captain Ed is running this picture with the instruction to "keep it clean, please":

McCain thinks that we can do better since we are the most wretched hive of scum and villainy in the blogosphere.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:53 AM | Comments (135)
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The war between Russia and Georgia continues and intensifies.

There are reports of Russian bombing of civilian targets near Georgia's capital, Tblisi, in addition to military targets throughout Georgia. For the moment, it seems as if Georgia has lost Tskhinvali, the provincial capital of South Ossetia. Retaking Tskhinvali from South Ossetian separatists was the original goal of the Georgian offensive on August 8th.

Russian Gen. Vladimir Boldyrev claimed in televised comments Saturday that Russian troops had driven Georgian forces out of the provincial capital. Witnesses confirmed that there was no sign of Georgian soldiers in the streets.

Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili proposed a cease-fire Saturday. As part of his proposal, Georgian troops were pulled out of Tskhinvali and had been ordered to stop responding to Russian shelling, said Alexander Lomaia, secretary of his Security Council.

Russia did not immediately respond to Saakashvili's proposal. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had said earlier that Moscow sent troops into South Ossetia to force Georgia into a cease-fire.

It's not clear whether Georgia proposed to quit contesting Tskhinvali after they had already been driven out. What is clear is that Russia isn't satisfied yet. In addition to the apartment buildings destroyed in Gori, Russian jets have targeted Poti, Georgia's major port on the Black Sea and its only petroleum shipping terminal. Russia also came close to damaging the Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline which runs from Azerbaijan through Georgia and Turkey. The pipeline, which is currently shut down, is one of the recent projects which has tied the Caucasus more closely to the West.

Meanwhile, the separatists in Abkhazia, Georgia's other fractious region, have started their own attacks on Georgian forces. Russia also stations "peacekeepers" in Abkhazia, and there are reports that Russian air raids are being coordinated with separatist attacks in the region.

President Saakashvili is in full panic mode. He has asked for U.S. and NATO help, and is making appearances on U.S. and international media to describe the situation. It was a little embarrassing to watch him on CNN a few minutes ago. He was passionately describing the results of the Russian aggression in Georgia to which the CNN anchor could only work up a noncommittal "Oh, really?" Both sides have accused each other of ethnic cleansing.

A team of U.S., E.U., and NATO officials is assembling in Tblisi to broker a cease-fire. Prime Minister Putin is in North Ossetia supervising the conflict.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:03 AM | Comments (57)
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