Blogs For Victory

Really does take a lot of guts to demand the closure of a loophole your party created and kept open, but Obama is proving himself up to the task of Democratic mendacity:

With the cost of gas a top issue in the presidential campaign, Barack Obama on Sunday will announce a plan to crack down on oil speculation by tightening regulations on energy traders.

The announcement is further evidence that an Obama administration would take an activist, populist approach to regulating business.

Obama wants to close a loophole in federal law that exempts some energy traders from regulations that govern other exchange-traded commodities. Democrats call this “the Enron loophole” because it benefited the Houston energy-speculation firm that collapsed in an accounting scandal.

In response, John McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said: “The truth is Barack Obama is following John McCain’s lead to close a Wall Street loophole that was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. John McCain has supported bipartisan efforts to close this loophole and will work to address abuses in oil speculation.

“Barack Obama has voted the party line for Democrats who claim the loophole is fixed. The fact that Barack Obama is attacking John McCain, despite McCain’s leadership on the issue, shows that Barack Obama is driven by the partisan attacks that Americans are tired of.”

Rather typical of the liberals – enact a “solution” which actually becomes the problem, pretend to be shocked by the results, blame Republicans for it and then present another “solution” to the problem, which merely starts the whole process over again.

While there is grounds for reformed regulatory oversight of the commodities market the plain fact of the matter is that oil will remain high – no matter what regulations we enact – as long as people are willing to pay a high price for it. Speculators have done a lot to drive up the price, but so has increased demand outside the United States – the solution, however, to high energy prices is not to seek a Evil Enemy to blame (which is the basic plan of Obama and his Democrats), but to find cheap energy to replace the expensive energy. In this area, McCain simply blows Obama’s class warfare, socialist nonsense right out of the water.

McCain proposes increased production of American oil; increased development of nuclear power; increased use of clean coal technology…Obama proposes a Carteresque “windfall profits tax” (as if oil companies should be punished because other people are willing to pay a high price for their product…perhaps we should do a “windfall profits tax” on whomever makes the next hot Christmas toy on the same theory – if people want it a lot and are willing to pay a premium for it, then you’ve done something wrong), increased regulation and proposes nothing which will actually add to America’s non-oil energy supplies.

We’ve got a choice in November – between the hidebound, liberal practices of the 60’s and 70’s, or the forward looking policies set afoot since Reagan became President in 1981. For all Obama’s talk of change, he’s really all about implementing the policies McGovern advocated 36 years ago. Past vs future at stake – and Obama is stuck in the liberal economic dark ages, as if he’s learnt nothing at all.

The word is that Tom Brokaw will fill in through the November elections.. but what’s really disturbing is who have been floated as permanent replacements for Tim Russert.

Interesting:

For the first time in the campaign, Republican John McCain in May raised about the same amount of money, $22 million, as Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain also closed the gap in the amount of cash the two parties’ presumptive presidential nominees have in the bank at their respective disposals as they enter the first phase of the general election.

McCain reported having about $32 million in cash for primary-related expenses at the end of May.

Obama reported having $43 million in hand at the start of June — but about $10 million of that is dedicated to the general election.

Obama’s fundraising in May marked a sharp dropoff after months of record-breaking donations. Even in difficult times, such as the key loss he suffered in Pennsylvania in April, Obama brought in a steady flow of cash that usually topped $30 million a month.

The surprising cash parity between McCain and Obama means the candidates begin the general campaign more evenly matched than many experts expected, although things could change swiftly given Obama’s ability to raise money through small online contributions.

According to Obama’s campaign, the drop in donations was caused in part by a shift in focus from bringing in big money to homing in on the delegates needed to clinch his party’s nomination.

At the same time, he was forced to burn through his cash reserve in the final round of primaries, which were hotly contested by a significantly underfunded Hillary Rodham Clinton.

That last bit is courtesy of Operation Chaos – and the report goes on to note that in May, Obama spent $27 million to McCain’s $12 million and that, in and of itself, justified the Chaos effort. The conventional wisdom is that Obama will just gear right back up and raise whatever amount he wants or needs. And, so far, Obama has been a fundraising phenomena…but I do wonder just how much more he can garner? If the well of Democratic money really bottomless, or will the half billion spent on the primaries have drained the collective bank account? Time will tell – but we can at least be sure that Obama won’t just be able to spend his way into the White House; McCain will be able to put up a fight which will force Obama to climb out of his shell and actually confront the voters, and that is the place where we can crush him. Obama as a version of the “un-named Democrat” is unbeatable…Obama as a further left version of McGovern is very, very beatable.

It will also be interesting to see which campaign paradigm works – Obama’s is a top-down, massively funded drive, while McCain’s is a decentralised lean and mean campaign. I’m beginning to believe that McCain might really be on to something here, and that Obama will just be an over-funded dinosaur trying to act like the latest sports car.

Don’t take my word for it…

18 USC Sec. 713 …
(a) Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

(b) Whoever, except as authorized under regulations promulgated by the President and published in the Federal Register, knowingly manufactures, reproduces, sells, or purchases for resale, either separately or appended to any article manufactured or sold, any likeness of the seals of the President or Vice President, or any substantial part thereof, except for manufacture or sale of the article for the official use of the Government of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

HAT TIP: The Weekly Standard.

I’m not expecting much to come from this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Obama gradually stops using his presumptuous seal if enough people raise questions.

In the meantime we’ll continue to make fun of Obama’s audacity.

Download a blank one to make your own. Email them to blogsforvictory [at] gmail [dot] com and we’ll post them.

UPDATE: We’ve got some submissions… They’re posted in the extended entry! Continue reading →

I know our liberal friends are very kindly advising us to make no issue of things like abortion and gay marriage during the 2008 campaign – ever solicitous of our conservative movement, liberals worry that if we campaign on these issues it might harm us at the polls – but it is good that Norma McCorvey, the “Roe” in “Roe v Wade” will let the American people know the truth about herself:

Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff “Jane Roe” in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, will appear in her first-ever television commercial to lament her role in the case.

Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, documented abortions have killed more than 50 million unborn babies in the U.S.

In the new commercial McCorvey says, “back in 1973 I was a very confused twenty-one year old with one child and facing an unplanned pregnancy. At the time I fought to obtain a legal abortion, but truth be told, I have three daughters and never had an abortion.”

“Upon knowing God,” she continues, “I realize that my case, which legalized abortion on demand, was the biggest mistake of my life.

“You read about me in history books, but now I am dedicated to spreading the truth about preserving the dignity of all human life from natural conception to natural death.”

McCorvey is now an active Catholic.

The commercial is produced by Virtue Media, which describes itself as an organization “dedicated to producing and airing powerful and life-saving television, radio commercials and educational films.”

Susan Gerdvil, Communications Director at Virtue Media, told CNA that the organization is working with different pro-life groups to air the commercial but a broadcast is not yet scheduled.

One wonders what motivates people to do that – take a young, frightened woman and bamboozle her into being the instrument of legalised murder? I mean, do the people who did this feel good about themselves? Did they really go home after “Roe” was decided and say, “thank God – now poor, confused women who are feeling abandoned will be able to get rid of a child they think unwanted at the moment”? The people who organized the case and carried it forward – up to an including the Supreme Court Justices who issued their essentially pre-decided ruling – didn’t care about McCorvey; she was just a convenience…a prop is a play, as it were. Joined up with mostly cock-and-bull stories of “back alley” abortions, McCorvey was presented as someone who just wanted to make her own decisions regarding her “reproductive rights”…I was very young, then, but I do remember how midlly it was all put. It was just for the really hard cases; it was a matter of privacy; we must save women from the horrors of “back alley” abortions…but, as with all such liberal ideas of ditching Judeo-Christian morality, the result was very different from the advertisement.

The exception became the rule – rather than just being a few hard cases per year, the floodgates were opened up and groups like Planned Parenthood starting making bank off the procedure, and thus relentleslly propagandised about how quick, painless and liberating it was. The alleged back alley abortionist now became an abortion provider, and just hung out a shingle. A monstrous crime was set in motion which has murdered 50 million so far.

In the fullness of time this will all come to an end. Everything must be paid for, but those who advocated for this, who called it something worthy of protection and proclaimed it a basic human right, they will have to pay the Judge a very high price, indeed.

‘Cause there’s ice in them thar hills:

The existence of ice on Mars was confirmed today by NASA scientists, the first time frozen water has been sampled on another planet. Water in liquid form is an essential ingredient for life.

Whitish, dice-sized chunks, which were dug from the rocky red soil and warmed in the sun, vanished four days after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Phoenix probe dug them up June 15. They confirm what NASA satellites have suggested for years: Frozen water exists several centimeters beneath Mars’s surface.

Scientists believe ice exists on planets including Pluto, though Phoenix is the first probe to confirm it on the ground. The survey is part of NASA’s theme in Mars exploration: follow the water.

“We’ve hit what we’re looking for,” said Mark Lemmon, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University in College Station and co-investigator on the NASA project. “The job now is to find out what’s mixed in with the ice.” He spoke at a press conference in Tucson, Arizona.

Now that we’ve found ice, I imagine that one day we might even find liquid water out there, and that opens up the prospect of finding life, even if only microbial. Question for the day: Given that it is next to impossible for life to be around at all on any one planet, would the existence of life on two planets right next to each other in one solar system indicate a design in nature?

Not that our readers are the ones to trust Newsweek, but really, don’t worry about that new Newsweek poll that claim Obama has a 15-point lead over McCain… which Newsweek reports under the headline “Barack’s Bounce.”

The only “bounce” in that poll is the number of Democrats sampled.

…and then there’s this point.

Darryl R. Sharratt, father of Haditha Marine Justin Sharratt, has given his take on the Haditha nightmare, the effects it had on Justin, his family, and the other Marines involved in what will undoubtedly be one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in military history.

Exclusively at Murtha Must Go!!

Obama is breaking his word, McCain is keeping his. President Bush still run rings around the Democrats, Pelosi and Reid still haven’t figured out how to run a Congress.

All in all, a good time to be a Republican.

Discuss these and any other issues you wish.