Too Good To Be True: Miracle Pill Can Make You Fit Without Moving a Muscle

Now there's no excuse to not be a lazy bastard.

An 'exercise pill' that makes the body fit without moving a muscle has been hailed by scientists following stunning test results.

The drug fools the muscles into thinking they have exercised long and hard, rapidly burning fat and boosting fitness.

The couch potato's dream, it gives the benefits of exercise without leaving the sofa.

Billed as 'exercise in a pill', it could combat ills from obesity to muscle-wasting diseases.

Even the frailty of old age could be eased by the drug's muscle-building powers, the US scientists believe.

Ronald Evans, one of the researchers and a world-leading biologist, said: ''We have exercise in a pill.'.

Professor Evans, of the Salk Institute in California, showed that the drug, which is known as AICAR, boosts fat burning and stamina in inactive mice.

'Couch-potato' animals that took AICAR for four weeks burned more calories and had less fat than untreated mice.

And when tested on a treadmill, they could run almost 50 per cent longer than untreated mice.

Effectively, the creatures had become fit without moving a muscle, a feat that Professor Evans said left him 'blown away'.

'It is tricking the muscle into "believing" it's been exercised daily,' he said.

'It's basically the couch-potato experiment and it proves you can have a pharmacological equivalent to exercise.'

Saudis Arrest 55 at 'Gay Party'

Those vice police are keeping busy over in Saudi Arabia.

RIYADH: Police have arrested 55 people at a party allegedly held by homosexuals at a farm near Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia.

David Dicang, the Philippine Embassy’s labor attaché in charge of the Eastern Province, said, “I know that some Filipinos have been arrested in that area and we are trying to help them.”

He said he could not comment on the nature of the case. “ I can’t confirm or deny reports that are circulating in the media...I am working with the police to help the detained Filipino workers,” said Dicang.

According to a report on Al-Arabiya TV, two young men were allegedly found wearing women’s makeup and dancing on stage in what has been described as a gay party.

The report said the detainees were handcuffed when arrested.

According to police, drugs and alcohol were found at the farm and that many of those arrested were Filipinos and Pakistanis.

'Imminent Domain': Father Holds Son’s House Hostage

If Islam isn't a mental illness, can someone please explain this?

A young Saudi man did the right thing: Before marrying his betrothed, he rolled up his sleeves and built a house. But according to yesterday’s Okaz daily, the father of the man decided to take family liberties by claiming the house for his second wife. The problem started when the father decided to marry a second woman, but his first wife simply refused to allow the woman to live with her under the same roof. Seeing this shiny new house nearby that his son had built, he decided to claim it for his second wife. When the son expressed his opposition to his father’s claim to imminent domain, the father told his son he had two choices: Postpone his marriage or convince his mom to let the new mother-in-law live under the same roof. With his dreams for a summer marriage shattered, the son decided he would do both: Postpone his marriage and spend this year trying to convince his mom to take in the new wife.

Good luck with that.

Speaking of insanity, the Saudi vice police are out enforcing the ban on cats and dogs.

Yes, really.

“The ban was based on the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) saying that it’s forbidden to give or accept any money related to the selling or buying of dogs,” said Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, head of the commission in Makkah province.

“It’s also prohibited to keep a dog inside home. A dog can be owned for purposes of hunting, police duties, guarding houses and property, and by farmers for herding cattle and sheep,” he added.

But how will people find dogs that can be used for security or hunting purposes? “Like they used to in the old days,” said Al-Ghamdi after a pause.

Laith, a 25-year old pet owner, said he bought a new cat two days ago at a famous pet store in Jeddah. “Nothing has changed. All pet stores are still selling cats and dogs. It’s just one of those regulations that are issued, yet never implemented,” he said.

Muslims are discouraged from keeping dogs inside their homes because they are not considered clean animals. However, in two separate Hadiths narrated by Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), which means the cat-loving companion, the Prophet (pbuh) told his companions of the virtue of saving the life of a dog by quenching its thirst.

He referred to a man whom Allah blessed for giving water to a thirsty dog. And the other was a prostitute who filled her shoe with water and gave it to a thirsty dog. For this deed she was granted the eternal paradise.

I guess that really is the world's oldest profession.

'Internationally Recognized Defender of the Earth'

Wow. Fawning drivel nonpareil.

Absolutely embarrassing that a media outlet would actually print this. Then again, it's as if they took the Obama template and replaced his name with that of The Goracle.

Al Gore, long mocked as an exaggerating bore, seems certain to land a lead role at the Democratic National Convention as an internationally recognized defender of the Earth.

Eight years after losing one of the closest White House elections ever, Gore is being embraced by party faithful as the Nobel Peace Prize-winning crusader against global warming, and one of the most successful failed U.S. presidential nominees in history.

While the Democratic Party has yet to announce its lineup of convention speakers, the former vice president is on an anticipated short list of headliners at the four-day gathering in Denver that opens on August 25, party aides say.

"He'll receive a tremendous reception," said Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, a convention delegate.

"A lot of us still feel he was cheated" in the 2000 vote, Harkin said. "If he'd been president, we wouldn't have had these (Bush administration) messes the past eight years."

"Also, we admire his tenacity in protecting the environment. Many share his vision on what needs to be done," Harkin said.

In traveling the world to warn against the threat of climate change, Gore, 60, routinely draws packed crowds and has earned rock-star status among young supporters.

Good grief, did Gore author this himself?

It gets worse.

"He's charismatic. He's a strong orator. He has a presence that draws you in," George Chipev, a 20-year-old Georgetown University student, said afterward in listing attributes that even Gore backers admit he lacked in his White House bid.

Added Beth Camphouse, 21, a student at James Madison University: "Al Gore is one of the few public figures challenging my generation to do anything. He's inspirational."

What planet are these people living on?

"You've got to give Al Gore credit," said Shirley Anne Warshaw of the Center for the Study of the Presidency. "He became a star by rising above politics with his passion for the environment. He's now international leader on an issue more and more people care about. There has been no more successful defeated presidential candidate."

Media Wall Protecting Silky Pony Appears Ready to Crumble

As bad as the liberal media bias is in the United States, rarely are we treated to a more pathetic display than the recent effort to hide all news about John Edwards and his love child from the public, as if we weren't aware of the story.

Well, there are signs the media wall of silence protecting Edwards is slowly beginning to crumble.

The News & Observer out of North Carolina today notes Silky has been running scared from the press.

It was only three weeks ago that John Edwards was fielding media questions on his chances of filling the Democratic Party's vice presidential slot on Barack Obama's ticket or a potential Cabinet position in an Obama administration.

On Wednesday, however, the former U.S. senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee was eager to duck the press when the questions took a tabloid turn.

About a dozen reporters and photojournalists attended a speech Edwards gave to an AARP Foundation symposium on poverty and aging in Washington. Afterward, he avoided most of the waiting reporters, at least some of whom wanted to question him about recent reports in the National Enquirer that alleged an inappropriate relationship with a former campaign videographer.

Citing unnamed sources, the Enquirer published a story in October claiming that Edwards was having an affair with a woman who filmed a series of campaign videos. The story resurfaced last week in the online version of the Enquirer, which claimed that Edwards had visited the woman and their "love child" July 21 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Jeff Thomas in the San Jose Mercury News takes a swipe at his own dead-tree media.

So what's all this about squeaky-clean Democrat John Edwards and a sordid sex scandal? What, you haven't heard? If that's the case, then maybe you're one of the few remaining Americans who get most of their news from those dead-trees-and-ink thingies.

Members of the so-called Main Stream Media - yes, including this one - have treated the story of an alleged Edwards affair as if it were just another space alien story out of the National Enquirer. But wait! It is indeed the Enquirer that is out in front on this story, but it appears they have slightly more to go on than a UFO sighting.

They say they caught Edwards taking a back elevator to a woman's Beverly Hilton Hotel suite at 2 a.m. last week, and when the stakeout team tried to talk to him about what he was doing there, he bolted back downstairs and hid in a bathroom for 15 minutes before security intervened. The Enquirer says it has photos (and video?) of the whole encounter.

It gets even stranger. The alleged other woman (remember, Edwards is married to Elizabeth Edwards, who is suffering from incurable cancer) is the woman that the Enquirer reported last October was pregnant with Edwards' child. The Edwards campaign's response to that was that, no, the child's father is actually a close, married, aide to Edwards. That's loyalty!

Wired notes the pathetic attempts at Wikipedia to shield the public from information they've known for a week.

Some users wondered why the celebrity gossip site like TMZ.com and The New York Times' John McCain lobbyist affair stories could be relied upon, but not a tabloid like like The National Enquirer.

Even the far left McClatchy News Service wonders why Edwards is running for the hills.

That old friend of the Edwards, Ann Coulter, checks in with her typically understated commentary.

The mainstream media really seem to imagine they can prevent Americans from knowing information by refusing to mention it in newspapers or on TV.

For those few Americans without an Internet connection and to whom I have not faxed the National Enquirer stories: Evidence is accumulating that John Edwards is right -- there really are "two Americas." There's one where men cheat on their cancer-stricken wives and one where men do not cheat on their cancer-stricken wives.

To put it another way, it would appear that ambulances aren't the only things John Edwards has been chasing lately.

Over at The American Thinker, James Baker notes Lover Boy might just have himself some IRS problems.

Heh.

John Edwards allegedly has been funneling $15,000 a month in hush money/child support to his mistress Rielle Hunter. Has he paid a gift tax and avoided money laundering pitfalls? The mother of his love child reportedly received the funds through an intermediary named Andrew Young, who claims to be the child's father in behalf of his friend Edwards. Nearly everyone (but people who rely solely on the MSM for news) knows this courtesy of the National Enquirer,

AT editor Thomas Lifson raised the question of tax liabilities for these transactions, and the possibility of money laundering regulations coming into play with these transfers.

Here in New Jersey, a local columnist has had enough of the cover-up.

A lot of my fellow right-wingers say this is a classic example of liberal media bias. Imagine if Mitt Romney, who is a Republican equivalent of Edwards, had been caught in a similar situation, they say. By the next morning the story would be on the front page of every paper. By the next evening, Leno and Letterman would be competing for the best polygamy punch line.

But this story has been ceded to the internet, where Slate's Mickey Kaus asks, "Will this be the first presidential-contender-level scandal to occur completely in the undernews, without ever being reported in the cautious, respectable MSM?"

I, for one, hope not. We in the MSM had so much fun with the Gary Hart-Donna Rice scandal back in 1987, and this one looks to be just as good. In that one, you may recall, the Miami Herald staked out presidential contender Hart's townhouse and saw the lovely ex-model leaving it. The Enquirer contributed the famous photo of Rice sitting on Hart's lap on a yacht appropriately named "Monkey Business."

Perel said there are photos in this case as well, though he's not releasing them yet. Of course, there's no more proof of an affair in the Edwards case than there was in the Hart case. There are simply a lot of good questions. Edwards already squirmed out of one such query at a press conference, but his political career appears to be over unless he can talk his way out of this one.
...
So it's time the major media picked up the story. It's not merely the stench of liberal bias that bothers me but the unfortunate reality that we in the MSM are giving up a good story to the internet. And if we in the major media continue to cede such stories to the internet, we won't be major much longer.

The vast majority of the media's credibility will be in ashes pretty soon if they don't come clean.

They've run out of excuses.

Dude, Where's My Recession?

Despite the best efforts of the Democrats and media to portray the economic slump as the next Depression, the GDP rose in the second quarter to 1.9%.

Not great, but not a recession either, as all the experts had predicted.

The government said Thursday that economic growth picked up in the second quarter as tax rebates energized consumers somewhat. The rebound followed a treacherous patch where the economy actually jolted into reverse at the end of 2007.
Skip to next paragraph

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that gross domestic product, or G.D.P, increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the April-to-June period.

Hazards of Naked Sunbathing

Ouch.

A naked sunbather had to be rescued by firefighters after he fell down a slope head first - and landed upside down with a metal spike stuck in his groin.

Naturist Gavin Rigby, 34, was left stranded on top of the eight inch spike for half an hour after the bizarre accident.

Three firecrews including one armed with special cutting equipment arrived at the scene along with police and an ambulance.

He was eventually freed by six firefighters who managed to lift him of the spike.

Mr Rigby had been sunbathing with pals by Haslar Lake, in Gosport, Hants, yesterday afternoon when he got up to stretch his legs.

He walked away from the group but lost his footing and toppled head first down the short slope.

Gavin landed on the eight inch metal spike, which was protruding from the ground.

Apparently, he was drunk.

A naked sunbather suffered minor injuries when he became impaled on a rusty metal spike during a drinking session with friends.

The 34-year-old had been drinking with two friends and his girlfriend near Haslar Lake, in Gosport, Hampshire, yesterday afternoon when he decided to sunbathe naked.

As he went to go to the toilet, he slipped and was impaled through the groin on the 8in iron spike.

Grim News: Only Five Americans Soldiers Killed in Iraq Combat in July

You'll see some variation on the numbers, but for the purpose of demonstrating how well in command of the situation we are in Iraq, it's worth noting combat death of American forces are now at their lowest point since the war began in 2003.

Not that any Democrats will notice and give thanks to the military and our Commander-in-Chief, who today noted significant progress.

The number of U.S. combat fatalities in Iraq hit a new low this month, according to the latest statistics.

Reuters, citing data from icasualties.org, says hostile fire has claimed the lives of five Americans since July 1. Four troops died in accidents or the like, Reuters says. The bodies of two missing soldiers were recovered this month, too.

That's a big improvement over July 2007, when 66 Americans died in combat.

Only five deaths. That's about an average weekend for the community Obama organized in Chicago.

There is a rapid decline from 23 last month and 15 in May.

In a further sign of stability, oil output in Iraq is now at it's highest level since the war began.

Iraq's daily oil production is at its highest level since the March 2003 U.S. invasion, in large part thanks to improved security, according to a Pentagon audit.

``Iraqi oil production set new records this quarter, with output reaching 2.43 million barrels per day, the highest quarterly average since the invasion,'' Stuart Bowen, the Defense Department's inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, wrote in his 18th quarterly report to Congress on the expenditure of $50 billion in U.S. economic aid. Production fell to 1.3 million barrels a day during 2003.

Meanwhile, the battlefield is increasingly shifting to Afghanistan, where the death toll was higher than in Iraq.

In Afghanistan, 20 members of the U.S. military have been killed so far this month, the second highest toll in Afghanistan, after June, when 27 U.S. troops were killed there. As of Tuesday, at least 491 members of the U.S. military had died in the Afghanistan region since 2001, according to the Defense Department.

How Long Until Obama Throws the Dalai Lama Under the Bus?

You know if push comes to shove, a putative President Obama won't do a damn thing to help the Tibetans, though he's at least paying lip service.

He pretends to be sorry for missing the Dalai Lama when he was in the U.S. last week, but he had the Egobama World Tour of Self-Glorification to take care of.

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama has sent a letter to the Dalai Lama backing the rights of the "people of Tibet", a spokesman for the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader said.

"I wanted to take the opportunity to reassure you of my highest respect and support for you, your mission and your people at this critical time,'' Obama said in the letter, whose receipt was confirmed by the Dalai Lama's office yesterday.

Obama's Republican presidential rival John McCain met the Dalai Lama to discuss Tibet last week in Aspen, Colorado, where the spiritual leader addressed a Tibetan cultural seminar.

Obama, who has been on a whirlwind foreign trip meeting world leaders, expressed regret in the letter that "our respective travel schedules will prevent us from meeting" during the Dalai Lama's visit to the United States.

But he said he hoped the letter and the meeting with McCain "will make clear that American attention to and backing for the people of Tibet is widespread and transcends the divisions of our political contest''.

The Secretary of the Dalai Lama Chhime R Chhoekyapa confirmed the Dalai Lama received Obama's letter sent on July 24 but declined to make any comment.

Hillary Plotting 2012 Strategy?

Sure could be. I floated the idea a while back suggesting she'd announce her plans to run on January 21, 2009, right after John McCain is sworn in.

And you never know considering the way The Anointed One is stumbling in the polls of late.

IT sure looked like Hillary Rodham Clinton was plotting her political future at a secret ladies-only dinner in Washington the other night.

The New York senator was guest of honor at Tuesday's hush-hush powwow that raised speculation about a possible White House run in 2012. The gathering was hosted by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and attended by Ellen Malcolm, founder of Emily's List, which supports pro-choice, female Dems; Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), chair of the New Democrat Coalition; and Hilary Rosen, former Recording Industry Association of America CEO, who's now political director of the Huffington Post.

A source tells Page Six they all met for dinner at Charlie Palmer Steak, a chophouse noted for its cellar of 10,000 bottles of wine and spectacular views of the Capitol.

"You could say Hillary met with her homegirls. They're all very powerful and important women," our insider said. "It's highly unlikely they were plotting anything around the VP spot because Hillary knows Barack Obama isn't going to pick her. They were probably planning her future."

Good timing, of course, since the group pushing an Obama-Clinton ticket has shut down.

An effort to urge Barack Obama to pick former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton as his running mate is shutting down under the assumption she is not a contender for the No. 2 spot.

The two former Clinton staffers who started the group Vote Both say Obama's decision to offer Clinton a prime-time speaking role at the Democratic Party nominating convention and other signals suggest Obama will not chose her.

I think that was a foregone conclusion, and it certainly didn't help when Obama's good pal called her a bitch for the whole world to hear.

Mrs. Clinton is a political animal and will never take her humiliating primary defeat in stride. She wants revenge and there indeed will be hell to pay for those who get in her way the next time around.

As usual, she and Bill are still keeping financial secrets, which means to me they're still on the playing field.

It Takes a Blogger

Just words, just promises.

That's all Barack Obama offers.

When it comes to the heavy lifting, well, that takes a blogger.

I'm sure Golden Boy would show up if it were for a good photo op.

Previous background:

Save Obama School: The Site and The Non-profit
Saving Obama School
Raising A Village

H/T Jonn Lilyea.

Update: Well, word has circulated and some blog heavyweights have gotten on board for a good cause.

See Michelle Malkin and Gateway Pundit. Hopefully more to follow.

Headline of the Day: 'Eating Penis Overshadows Leaked Olympics Opening Ceremony Video'

Maybe not just the day. This could be one for the archives.

WITH just eight days before the Beijing Olympics begin, not much could overshadow incredible leaked footage of the 2008 Games opening ceremony - until we got video of Garry Linnell eating a penis.

Lots of penises, to be honest. But more of that in a minute.

Huh?

Oh, OK, it's a food thing...

The day I ate penis for lunch. By Garry Linnell.

Let's be honest.

We came to China not for the Olympics, or the promise of new democratic freedoms, or even the chance to buy some cheap electronic equipment and flog it off to friends for a profit back home.

No, we came here for the food, in all its bizarre, exotic glory. Take your pick.

Scorpion kebab? Roast dog leg? Deep fried worm? And for the absolutely fearless, what about the ham sandwich on offer at the Olympic media centre?

But nothing, surely, beats the diced, gristly thing dangling from my chopsticks.

Welcome to Guolizhuang, a Beijing restaurant specialising in animal penises and testicles.

The locals refer to it as a petrol station for men and a beauty parlour for women, so devoutly do they believe in the health-giving properties of animal genitals.

Read the rest.

Sounds rather, um, unappetizing.

Hey Barry O. This is How It Is Done

Jawad Karim al-Bolani, minister of Interior in Iraq, visited wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Tuesday. (Penny Starr/CNSNews.com)
I am sure this is a visit that means a lot to not only the wounded soldiers recovering but to the staff at Walter Reed. You just know the sentiments expressed by the visiting dignitary was heartfelt and sincere unlike the flowery words and empty gestures of self anointed president elect Barry O.

“We have come … to express our gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices made by these great warriors, soldiers, in freeing the Iraqi people and in helping us in Iraq recover from tyranny and dictatorship,” Jawad Karim al-Bolani, Iraq’s minister of the interior, said through a translator to a handful of journalists in the lobby of the medical center.

The Mark Of A True Leader

The Messiah's campaign spinmeisters have been desperate to show that their empty suit isn't simply another milquetoast like Dhimmi Carter.

Today, they got their wish.

"We could save all the oil that they're talking about getting off drilling if everybody was just inflating their tires and getting regular tune-ups. You could save just as much." -- Barry-O

Change.

Change we can believe in.

Spit.


H/T Breitbart

'They Tell How They Are Going to Kill My Son, Like Cutting His Head Off'

Nothing like those peaceful animal rights wackos. They're portrayed as harmless animal lovers yet they often turn quite violent.

Funny how that works.

When a 1,000-pound wild hog was shot last year in Alabama, 11-year-old hunter Jamison Stone couldn’t have been happier. But his prize photos of the 9-foot-long boar have continued to cause a stink, one the Stone family can’t seem to shake.

The backlash has only grown worse, with one group calling for the hunters' prosecution.

"It is unbelievable what my family has been through over the past year," Mike Stone, Jamison’s father, told The Birmingham News. "It has taken 10 years off my life."

An online petition has garnered more than 800 signatures from around the world demanding prosecution for what activists are calling animal cruelty, according to the newspaper. Rhonda Roland Shearer, a New York City organizer seeking punishment for the hunting team, says it took three hours for the “monster pig” to die after the animal was shot 12 times with a pistol.

"My concern is that this case has brought a negative image to Alabama and to hunters who hunt ethically," Shearer told the News. Shearer has demanded investigations from the county and federal attorney’s offices and two conservation departments, but no charges have been filed.

Why an "organizer" from New York gives a hoot about Alabama is anyone's guess.

But her fight is not over.

“There are people all over the world who are outraged," she said.

Nothing like fomenting feigned outrage for your cause. Of course, this nutcase Shearer probably give a shit about the consequences of her action.

The Stone family is feeling their wrath.

"You should see some of the emails and hear some of the calls we have received," Jamison’s father said. "They are explicit. They tell how they are going to kill my son, like cutting his head off.

"It has had us scared to death ... All I did was to take my son on a legal hunting trip."

The prize pig, shot by Jamison Stone on an Alabama hunting preserve in May 2007, was 1,051 pounds and measured 9 feet, 4 inches from the tip of its snout to the base of its tail.

Sniveling Hypocrite Wexler Will Now Actually Pretend to Live in His District

Just imagine a Republican trying to get away with not having a residence in his own district.

I can't either.

But if you're a high prince of pomposity like the odious Robert Wexler, you can relax. You have the D after your name, so you can do whatever you want.

Besides, your idiot constituents will vote for you anyway, so you can just rent by the month until the election's over.

Rep. Robert Wexler is renting a home in his congressional district to quell criticism that his main residence is in the Washington suburbs.

Wexler said in a statement Tuesday that he knew some constituents were concerned after he said last week he hadn't had a South Florida home in 11 years. Wexler, his wife and three children have a home in Potomac, Md. Wexler uses his in-laws' house in a Florida retirement community to meet residency requirements.

The residency issue was raised by one of Wexler's opponents in the upcoming fall election, Republican Ed Lynch. Wexler, a Democrat, has represented parts of Palm Beach and Broward counties since 1997

It probably wouldn't make news for most Democrats, but since Wexler is one of the most annoying, grating and sanctimonious hacks on the scene, it's nice to see him squirm.

His in-laws are probably relieved too now that they don't have to collect his mail.

His spokesthing offers some really weak spin.

Eric Johnson, Wexler's chief of staff in Congress, said the critics' concerns about whether Wexler understands concerns about local tax levels don't wash.

"Not paying taxes here doesn't diminish his concern," Johnson said. "To claim otherwise would be like suggesting that since he's not 66 years of age and not on Medicare he couldn't be an articulate advocate [about Medicare]."

Johnson noted that Gov. Charlie Crist, who led the battle to pass the Amendment 1 property tax break that voters approved in January, isn't a homeowner.

That may be true, but at least he lives in the state, you fucking moron.

Obama's Rap Buddy: 'Make the White House Black'; Update: Under the Bus He Goes

Lovely new song from one of The Messiah's favorite rappers.

Question for Ludacris: Ever been thrown under a bus?

Mr Obama, who will face Republican John McCain in the presidential race this autumn, met Ludacris two years ago to discuss, what the rapper called, “empowering the youth.”

At the time, Ludacris said the meeting was like spending time with a relative.

The rapper is one of a number of musicians who have endorsed Mr Obama's campaign to become the first Black president.

Before he embarked on a tour of Europe last week, Mr Obama also stressed the importance of hip-hop in America, saying that rappers have the opportunity “to deliver a message of extraordinary power that gets people thinking.”

Listen to the lyrics: Calls Hillary a bitch and wishes John McCain were paralyzed. There's some thinking.

How special.

We won't even get into how he treats George W. Bush.



Meanwhile, Obama has snagged another killer celebrity endorsement.

Today The Times' eagle-eyed Harriet Ryan spotted Phil Spector, the famous rock entrepreneur and infamous date, showing up for a court hearing in Los Angeles wearing a very obvious "Barack Obama Rocks" pin.

Spector, you may recall, has some continuing legal troubles having to do with an actress, Lana Clarkson, turning up dead in his house after a date five years ago.

Change!
H/T Rush.

More here, here, here and here.

Update: That didn't take long.

Under the bus he goes.

As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to. This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics."

So why did Obama ever meet with the guy?

Religious Tolerance on Display: Muslim Mob Stones Christians

While we're constantly seeing purported efforts at Muslim and Christian dialogue and understanding, the tolerance only seems to be coming from one side, and it isn't from the Muslims.

Case in point: Muslim Mob Stones Christians in Eastern Ethiopia

A mob of Islamic extremists stoned Seid Ahmed and Musa Ibrahim [names changed for security reasons] in Jijiga, a city on border with Somalia. The attack is the latest attack against Christians in Ethiopia where the spread of radical Islam is fueling the persecution of Christians.

ICC (International Christian Concern) www.persecution.org says that on July 19, 2008, Ahmed and Ibrahim were going to a church meeting when they were confronted by nine extremist Muslims yelling anti-Christian slogans. The extremists started hurling rocks at the two Christians.

Ahmed, who is a church leader, was hit by eight stones and suffered a severe concussion and injuries on his torso. He was admitted to Karamara Hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

Ibrahim escaped physical harm as he fled the scene to call the police who never arrived to stop the attack. The mob finally dispersed when Ibrahim ran in the direction of the local police station.

ICC says that Jijiga is the capital city of Somali Regional State, which is one of nine states in Ethiopia. The majority of residents in Somali State are ethnic Somalis who are majority Muslim.

According to ICC, this is not the first time that Christians have been attacked in Jijiga. On August 5, 2007, the Ethiopian Full Gospel Church in Jijiga was bombed. Though the church was packed with five hundred people, no one was hurt by the explosion. The same church was attacked by bomb five years earlier.

ICC's Regional Manager for Africa, Jonathan Racho, said, "Unless the growth of radical Islam is curbed in Ethiopia, the attacks against Christians will continue to rise. Ethiopian government officials, particularly local officials in Muslim dominated areas of the country, should be made accountable for failing to protect Christians against such attacks."

You suppose this will be addressed at Yale?

Sure. And I have a nice tract of oceanfront property in Wyoming for you.

Via Jihad Watch.

Oh, and as for the Yale confab, get this:

The 29-page letter that Muslim clerics from the major sects sent to Christian churches said "the future of the world depends on peace between Muslims and Christians." It invited Christians to join with them on the basis of "what is common to us and most essential to our faith and practice: the Two Commandments" – love for God and love for one's neighbor.

Translation: Submit or die.

Stop the Presses: Greedy Trial Lawyer Paid Mistress Hush Money

Most of you have probably already read about the John Edwards affair and his love child, unless of course you rely on the lamestream media for your information.

Fortunately, we have have blogs to reveal the truth about oily politicians.

Anyway, as the media continues covering up the explosive Edwards scandal, the National Enquirer reveals more dirt on this loathsome political hack.

A NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered John Edwards’ mistress, Rielle Hunter – the mother of his “love child” – has been secretly receiv­ing $15,000 a month as part of an elaborate cover-up orchestrated by the former presidential contender.

The money is being funneled to Hunter by a wealthy colleague who was closely tied to the Edwards’ campaign. This same man is also shoveling cash to Edwards’ pal and former aide Andrew Young – who tried to take the heat off the ex-Senator by claiming he is the father of Rielle’s baby.

And The ENQUIRER is also exclusively revealing that Rielle’s baby is a girl named Frances Quinn Hunter and was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

“A super-rich pal – who was closely involved with the campaign finances – is helping John. It’s likely this man doesn’t know all the dirty details of John’s extramarital affair, but is acting out of loyalty and is not asking a lot of questions – only writing the checks,” revealed a source very close to the situation.

A year-long ENQUIRER investigation exploded spectacularly into the open on the night of July 21 when our reporters caught Edwards making a secret late-night visit to Rielle, 44, and their infant child at Los Angeles’ Beverly Hilton hotel.

Edwards, 55, was confronted by ENQUIRER reporters, but refused to answer questions and instead hid in a public men’s restroom until security escorted him off hotel grounds.

Does it get any lower than a guy sleeping around on his sick wife?

No, it doesn't.

But he's a Democrat, so apparently such behavior is just fine with our esteemed media.

Joys of Islam: Taliban Scum Murder Afghan Woman, Dump Her in Sewer

Whenever we have a successful airstrike in Afghanistan, these mutants concoct stories about how we killed a wedding party or some such nonsense, and it's accepted as fact by a gullible (dare I say complicit?) media.

Yet when we see gruesome stories like this, it goes by virtually unnoticed with little fanfare.

Can you say double standard, boys and girls?

Pro-Taliban militants have shot and killed an Afghan woman accused of being a U.S spy in Pakistan and dumped her body in a sewer, a witness and intelligence officials said today.

The militants in North and South Waziristan have killed dozens of people they accused of being Pakistani government supporters or spies for U.S. forces based in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The killing of women, however, has been rare.

The body of Gulzada Bibi, a woman in her mid-thirties, was found with three bullet wounds in her chest near Degan village, some 35 km (22 miles) west of Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan, the officials said.

"A note pinned to her body said she belonged to Afghanistan's Paktia province and was caught with a satellite phone she had been using to spy for the U.S.," said, Abdullah, a resident of the village.

The killing came two days after a suspected U.S. missile attack killed six people in neighbouring South Waziristan, that Pakistani intelligence officials said had killed an al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert named Abu Khabab-al-Masri.

Shocker: More North Koreans Starving

So says the UN.

Conveniently omitted from the story is the one man responsible, Kim Jong-il. You'd think he'd actually merit some mention.

HUNGER in North Korea is at its worst since the 1990s, the United Nations said today, prompting the resumption of emergency UN food shipments after a two-year hiatus.

Devastating floods last year wrought havoc on the impoverished country, forcing millions to resort to eating grasses and roots to stay alive, according to the UN's World Food Program.

"I won't say that we are seeing an impending famine, (but) hunger levels are at their worst since the late 1990s,'' said Jean-Pierre de Margerie, the WFP's country director for North Korea.

"Between five and six million Koreans are in need of food assistance right now.'

In a just completed survey, he said, the WFP found that up to half the country was having to forage for foods and resorting to eating edible grasses and roots.

Meanwhile food prices at tightly controlled markets had in some instances quadrupled over the past three months, while the state-run government food distribution system had cut daily rations by nearly 70 per cent, he said.

The WFP began shipping emergency food to North Korea in June, and it will make an international appeal next month for up to $US500 million ($A525 million) in aid to begin flowing in September, he said.

So another half billion dollars will flow in, and likely zero of it will go to feed starving people.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Isn't Communism wonderful?

Gay Gossip Blogger Exposed as 9/11 Scam Artist

There are fewer creatures on earth lower thann people who ripped off 9/11 charities and pretended to have loved ones killed in the murderous attacks.

Well, meet Patric Ian Henn, a two-bit scumbag fraud who's now thankfully facing prison time.

He was known around Long Beach, Calif., as the "Boy About Town" — a flamboyant, self-styled Internet gossip meister who burst onto the town's political and social scenes.

But there was more to him than reliably showing up at gala events and declaring people "fabulous." The "Boy" was a man with a notorious past — one that caught up with him this month and has him facing extradition to Broward County.

Patric Ian Henn's West Coast party-hopping ceased when Long Beach police picked him up on a fugitive warrant for skipping out on his probation for a scheme related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, authorities said. Henn, formerly of Fort Lauderdale, obtained more than $68,000 in benefits from the American Red Cross with a phony, tear-soaked tale of his domestic partner perishing in the assault on the World Trade Center.

Henn, 33, pleaded guilty in January 2005 to grand theft, with Broward Circuit Judge Marc Gold sentencing him to 2 ½ years in prison followed by 12 ½ years of probation.

Henn also promised that once he got out of prison, he would pay back the money he wheedled under false pretenses from the Red Cross' Broward chapter.

But within four months of his November 2006 release from prison, Henn was on the run. And as of Monday, the Red Cross hadn't gotten a cent back from him, said Bill Epps, the Broward chapter's executive director.

Henn first appeared on the Long Beach social circuit late last year, showing up at events carrying an oversized patent leather red purse and with a cameraman in tow. He quickly became a fixture at grand openings, fundraisers, ribbon cuttings and other events, Long Beach councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga said.

He began posting video segments on the Internet, writing a blog and appearing on a weekly community television show. Sonny Bozeman, who hosts the show, said Henn's following was beginning to build.

Henn called himself simply "Boy About Town," Uranga said.

The newly constructed persona came crashing down when Long Beach City Hall received an anonymous e-mail detailing his past in Florida. He was arrested at his Pacific beachfront home about midnight on July 11.

The arrest didn't surprise Fort Lauderdale attorney Norm Kent, who unraveled Henn's fraud after Henn pressed for The Express, a South Florida gay and lesbian community newspaper, to do a story on him as the nation was still reeling from the impact of the events of Sept, 11, 2001. Kent, the Express' publisher at the time, delved into Henn's background and exposed holes in his story. Henn disappeared within days.

Pussy Galore: Jersey Cat Checks in at 44 Pounds

Normally in these parts when you think of Big Pussy, one name comes to mind.

Of course, more recently there's also this guy.

But who could imagine a 44-pound feline?

That is one fat cat!

Meet Princess Chunk, a 44-pound hunk of feline flesh, a cat so big that she needs a bathtub for a litter box.

Volunteers at a New Jersey animal shelter are trying to find a new home for the corpulent kitty - a really big home.

Officials at the Camden County Animal Shelter in Blackwood say they received the cat Saturday from Animal Control after she was found wandering around outdoors with no ID tags.

As hard as it is to fathom, volunteers think her owner might have lost her, which is as difficult a possibility to imagine as, well, as a 44-pound cat.

"I mean, how do you lose a 44-pound cat?" said shelter volunteer Deborah Wright.

Wright told the Camden Courier Post that volunteers named the cat Captain Chunk until they realized it was a girl.

It was probably hard to tell.

Usually when people talk about fat cats in New Jersey, they are talking about members of the state legislature. Or extras in a "Sopranos" shoot.

But when this portly pussycat came waddling along, they knew they had something different on their hands.

"She was probably fed table scraps, or may have a thyroid problem," Wright said.

Veterinarians say a healthy cat should weigh between 10 and 12 pounds, and that Princess Chunk's condition could be a combination of bad genetics and way too much Meow Mix.

The largest tabby on record tipped the scales at 46 pounds, 15 ounces. That cat, who lived in Australia, died in the 1980s at about age 10.

New York Times Shocked By Chinese Censorship

Useful idiots are always the last ones to figure it out.

They're aghast that Communists would actually lie to them!

Man, they're stupid.

Western journalists working at the Main Press Centre in Beijing say they could not access the website for Amnesty International on Tuesday, a claim that officials with the International Olympic Committee say they are investigating, according to Reuters.

The website’s unavailability came a day after Amnesty International issued a harsh report criticizing China for failing to live up to promises that it would improve its human rights record ahead of the Olympics. Kevan Gosper, chairman of the I.O.C.’s Press Commission, also said he would look into reports of slow Internet access at the Centre, which by the time the Games begin on August 8 is expected to welcome 20,000 accredited journalists.

Sam Zarifi, Amnesty’s Asia Pacific director, said he began hearing about the problem after he directed reporters working at the Main Press Centre to his website to view the recently released report. “It is really disappointing,” he said in a telephone interview. The Chinese government’s “one big, begrudging promise was that foreign media would have free access on all issues, everywhere.”

Always a stunner when those Communists go back on their word, isn't it, Sam?

Next thing you know they'll figure out they're being spied on.

Memo to Customs: Beware of Containers Labeled 'Gay Lube Oil'

I guess when you're an operation smuggling steroids out of Thailand, there's always the potential to have some language snafus when translating to English. But you might want to put someone on the payroll with at least a semblance of a clue and coherent command of the language.

Otherwise you commit a blunder so laughable even a sleeping customs inspector would have his radar (or is it gaydar?) ringing.

Australian Customs has seized more than 100 bottles containing illegal liquid steroids hidden inside sexual lubricant packaging.

Customs is investigating the sophisticated drug smuggling network after the bottles, labelled as "gay lube oil", were seized in five states since the start of the year.

The bottles contain prohibited performance and image enhancing drugs from Thailand.

Customs national manager of investigations Richard Janeczko said the so-called gay lube oil contained various active ingredients including testosterone and deca durabolin.

He said these drugs could not be imported into Australia without a permit from the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

"Despite the professionalism of this smuggling operation, Customs officers were not fooled by the labelling and its misdescription," Mr Janeczko said today in a statement.

Regular supersleuths they've got there.

A Real Democrat Party

Let this be a lesson to all the parents out there. Don't let your daughters grow up to party with Senator John Kerry.

Looks like Live Shot is a bit hammered.

The drunk girl seems to be saying "Shh, don't tell Mama T"

I'm John Kerry, reporting for duty!

View them all here, via here.

Update: Sure, Lurch, sure.

The senator’s office said the images of Kerry are nothing but a chance encounter on a dock, and Kerry kept on walking after being caught on camera, according to a statement sent to bostonherald.com this afternoon.

Kerry’s office demanded TMZ.com change the way it was posting the matter.

“The caption on this TMZ gossip website is completely erroneous and insulting, and it should be immediately corrected. As Sen. Kerry and two friends left dinner at the Straight Warf restaurant on Nantucket and walked down the dock, a large group on a boat recognized Senator Kerry and asked if they could have a photo taken. The group came off the boat and onto the dock, took a photo with Sen. Kerry and his friends, and then Sen. Kerry and his two friends immediately walked away. End of story,” said Kerry spokesperson David Wade.

He was for the photo op before he was against it.

'Manliness' Survey Shocker: Men Hate Women Drivers

OK, ladies, don't take it out on me. I'm just passing along the info here.

The vast majority of Australian men don't like to be a passenger when their partner is driving, and most don't believe women are good drivers, a new "manliness" survey has found.

In a survey of 3,000 readers of motoring mag Australian Top Gear, only 15 per cent said they felt comfortable when their wives or girlfriends were driving.

Almost half said they liked to point out serious flaws in their partners driving skills and many admitted they were embarrassed.

When reversed, most men said they couldn't handle being corrected by women.

More than 60 per cent said that when a woman pointed out a fault in their driving they "sail on at 160km/h in a 50 zone - the car has airbags after all".

More than 30 per cent said they would want to push them out the door.

Almost 40 per cent of respondents said they would want to call the divorce lawyers if their partner corrected their car knowledge in front of their mates.

Australian Top Gear editor Stephen Corby said it was testament to the late Peter Brock's comments that men would rather admit they're bad lovers than bad drivers.

For security's sake, I shall refrain from commenting on my wife's driving.

Going ... Going ... Gone! Obama 'Bounce' Evaporates

Apparently there was something to the Gallup/USA Today poll showing John McCain ahead by four points among likely voters. Now today's Rasmussen daily tracking poll has the Obama lead shrinking to two points, and only one point if you count leaners.

Polling on Thursday and Friday nights was very strong for the Democrat, leading to a six-point advantage in our Saturday morning release. However, polling for the past three days shows no trace of a bounce. The data looks very similar to results from the period preceding the speech and, with fourteen weeks to go, the race for the White House is a toss-up.

Just three days ago following Obama's well-orchestrated media tour of Europe his lead was six points.

So for all the sycophantic coverage, for all the denigrating of John McCain, for all the endless magazine puff pieces, Obama is watching it all disappear, unable to get to 50%.

Can you say empty suit, boys and girls?

'The Big Powers Are Going Down'

Another absurd claim from the hairy munchkin.

Iran's president on Tuesday blamed the U.S. and other "big powers" for global ills such as nuclear proliferation and AIDS, and accused them of exploiting the U.N. for their own gain and the developing world's loss.

But, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, time was on the poor countries' side.

"The big powers are going down," Ahmadinejad told foreign ministers of the Nonaligned Movement meeting in Tehran. "They have come to the end of their power, and the world is on the verge of entering a new, promising era."

The more than 100-member NAM is made up of such diverse members as communist Cuba, Jamaica and India and depicts itself as bloc-free. But most members share a critical view of the U.S and the developed world in general.

No doubt most Democrats agree with him. They hate that America is a powerful country.

Why, it was just yesterday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was welcoming statements from Ahmadinejad. I wonder why she'll have to say today?

Meanwhile, the psychotic dwarf revealed that he spoke with a presidential candidate last year.

Hmm.

Speaking of useful idiots, prominent Democrat Noam Chomsky adds some more America-bashing.

However, the influential American philosopher and author, Noam Chomsky, has a different view.

“I do not think the difference between participation and listening is a diplomatic quibble,” Chomsky told the Mehr News Agency in a recent interview.

“The Bush administration is under severe international and domestic pressure to rein in its radical extremism, which has led to catastrophes everywhere, and might bring about even worse ones” the American lecturer noted.

Take a breath, dude.

'Pelosi-Reid-Obama'

Always helps to remind undecided voters that The Messiah is part of the party that has the lowest Congressional approval ever.

How long until the Democrats call this a smear?

Whatever the case, it's nice to see the GOP get in the game.

It's about time.

Barack Obama returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to speak with House Democrats, and Republicans will try to spoil the party by linking the Democrats’ presidential nominee to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and their reluctance to allow votes on offshore oil drilling.

Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) will greet Obama’s arrival with a news conference in which they’ll assert that Reid (D-Nev.) and Pelosi (D-Calif.) are holding up votes on offshore drilling in order to protect Obama.

They’ll also begin to use “Pelosi-Reid-Obama” in the all-in-the-same-breath way that Democrats now use “Bush-McCain” — to make the parties’ popular candidates indistinguishable from their less beloved incumbents.

Pelosi has told Politico that she’s standing in the way on a drilling vote because she’s determined to use the speaker’s gavel to “save the planet.” Reid said Monday that he would allow votes on amendments to a long-stalled energy package, including one on drilling, and Republican leaders were skeptically considering the offer Monday evening.

Saving the planet? What hubris.

The attack on Obama and the Democratic leadership comes as some of the more partisan members of the House GOP — concerned that their party’s seemingly successful energy message isn’t enough to prevent electoral disaster in November — agitate for more aggressive attacks on the Democrats.

How is it an attack to point out Obama belongs in the same company as the incompetent Pelosi and Dingy Harry?

Another interesting line of attack is this:

In a preview, one GOP aide declared: “By November, every American voter will know the name of Charlie Rangel the way they knew Tom DeLay in 2006. Count on it.”

Of course the left will scream that it's racist.

When in doubt, cry racism.

'Go Away and Lose Some Weight'

Ouch.

Certainly this is bad for business. You have to figure these girls like to have a good time and their money is just as good as anyone else. Besides, the hot babes probably have drinks bought for them already.

A group of young women heading for a night out together were told they could not enter a club - because they were too fat.

Police officers were forced to step in and defuse tensions after the manager of the club allegedly told the group of about six women to 'go away and lose some weight'.

Georgina Mason, 23, said she was 'disgusted' at the way they were treated.

'The bouncers said we were not allowed in because we were too big,' she said. 'I told them not to be ridiculous.'

Miss Mason said she had demanded to see the manager of the Havana Club in St Helier, Jersey.

'He would not look at me directly but said they'd received too many complaints about fat people,' she said.

'He told me to "go and lose some weight before you come in - fat people are bad for business".

World's Heaviest Drinker

No, it's not a Kennedy.

A tropical shrew with a taste for alcoholic nectar has been identified as the hardest-drinking creature in the world.

Pentailed tree shrews have such an appetite for alcohol that each night they imbibe, weight for weight, the equivalent of a human downing up to nine glasses of wine.

Their capacity to hold their drink and keep a clear head, however, puts human boozers to shame. After a night supping at the jungle bar the shrews are not even unsteady on their feet, let alone being copiously sick or starting drunken fights.

Drink up!

'He Was Not Interested in What We Had to Say'

He being, of course, the future President of Earth. Why should He listen to anybody when He has all the answers?

Of course, those answers might be different tomorrow, depending on focus group polling and spin from his media handlers.

Amir Taheri lays the smackdown on Obama's World Tour of Self-Absorption.

Photo Ops and Fecklessness.

TERMED a "learning" trip, Sen. Barack Obama's eight- day tour of eight nations in the Middle East and Europe turned out to be little more than a series of photo ops to enhance his international credentials.

"He looked like a man in a hurry," a source close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said last week. "He was not interested in what we had to say."

Still, many Iraqis liked Obama's claim that the improved situation in Iraq owed to Iraqi efforts rather than the Gen. David Petraeus-led surge. In public and private comments, Obama tried to give the impression that the Iraqis would've achieved the same results even without the greater resources America has poured into the country since 2007.

In private, though, Iraqi officials admit that Obama's analysis is "way off the mark." Without the surge, the Sunni tribes wouldn't have switched sides to help flush out al Qaeda. And the strong US military presence enabled the new Iraqi army to defeat Iran-backed Shiite militias in Basra and Baghdad.

Nevertheless, in public at least, no Iraqi politician wants to appear more appreciative of American sacrifices than the man who may become the next US president.

Iraqis were most surprised by Obama's apparent readiness to throw away all the gains made in Iraq simply to prove that he'd been right in opposing the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein. "He gave us the impression that the last thing he wanted was for Iraq to look anything like a success for the United States," a senior Iraqi official told me. "As far as he is concerned, this is Bush's war and must end in lack of success, if not actual defeat."

Even so, Obama knows that most Americans believe they're still at war with an enemy prepared to use terror against them. So he can't do what his antiwar base wants - declare an end to the War on Terror and the start of a period of love and peace in which "citizens of the world" build bridges between civilizations.

Read the rest, for it is devastating.

In other words, don't wait for any TV talking heads to read this.

Fear of Democrats Helps Boost Economy

Through increased gun sales.

Go figure.

Austin-area firearms dealers may have the Democrats to thank for brisk sales this summer.

The prospect that the next presidential administration might favor new gun-control laws has gun enthusiasts bringing dollars and concerns to local firearms stores ahead of the November election.

Some Central Texans have been talking about laws from the 1990s — passed under a Democratic president and Congress — that restricted semiautomatic rifles, governed the sale of high-capacity magazines and mandated waiting periods before customers could receive handguns. Their worries have translated into higher sales at local gun stores, store owners say.

"I don't care if it's the iPod, the market wants what it thinks is limited and restricted," said Alice Tripp, legislative director of the Texas State Rifle Association. "If it's something you've been thinking about owning, you're going to go to some trouble, some expense to get it while it's still out there."

Before the 1994 federal assault weapons ban took effect, buyers sought to purchase the rifles and magazines that would soon be illegal to buy in stores, leading to limited supply and higher prices, Tripp said.

This summer, sales at McBride's Guns in Austin are 10 percent higher, compared with the same time last year, said store owner Joe McBride.

"Our regular client base is very concerned about anti-gun legislation if the wrong people get elected," McBride said, adding "what they see as the wrong people."

H/T DanThePainter.

Now Trailing McCain Among Likely Voters, Obama Hastily Plans Trip to Foreign Land: The U.S. Senate

Sure, he's popped in for a few votes and photos ops, but maybe he should take his day job a bit more seriously before anointing himself President of Earth.

Especially now that those halcyon days of last week seem so far away.

Could it be the people realize what a colossal phony this guy is?

Republican presidential candidate John McCain moved from being behind by 6 points among "likely" voters a month ago to a 4-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama among that group in the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. McCain still trails slightly among the broader universe of "registered" voters. By both measures, the race is tight.

The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.

Among registered voters, McCain still trails Obama, but by less. He is behind by 3 percentage points in the new poll (47%-44%) vs. a 6-point disadvantage (48%-42%) in late June.

Results based on the survey of 791 likely voters have margins of error of +/- 4 percentage points -- so McCain's lead is not outside that range. Results based on the survey of 900 registered voters also have margins of error of +/- 4 percentage points.

Of course, there is some wild fluctuation among polls, but one must wonder if Obama can't even crack 50% with the unrelenting media fawning boosting him, then there are surely danger signs ahead.

Somewhere tonight, Hillary cackles.

Question: How long until Obama comes out for drilling off the coast, now that he'll be pretending to care about domestic issues?

Blatant Media Manipulation: Obama Camp Pre-Approved Leak of Western Wall Note

Just disgusting, but all too typical of this carefully choreographed charade known as the Obama campaign.

What initially seemed to be a journalistic scoop of dubious moral propriety now seems to be a case of an Israeli paper being played by the Barack Obama campaign. Maariv, the second most popular newspaper in Israel, was roundly criticized for publishing the note Obama left in the Kotel. But now a Maariv spokesperson says that publication of the note was pre-approved for international publication by the Obama campaign, leading to the conclusion that the "private" prayer was intentionally leaked for public consumption.

At around 5am last Thursday, Obama arrived at the Kotel, or Western Wall, abutting the holiest site in Judaism, the Temple Mount. Accompanied by the Rabbi in charge of the site, Shmuel Rabinovich, he reportedly heard Psalm 122, which contains a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem, touched the wall briefly and then deposited a note of prayer into a crack between the ancient stones, in keeping with the tradition of visitors to the site. On his way out, he was briefly heckled, with one man calling out that "Jerusalem is not for sale" and "Remember what you see here." Trying to drown out the critics, a few supporters chanted his name.

Subsequently, it was reported that a yeshiva student filched the note that Obama placed in the wall and then Maariv published it in the next day's newspaper.

For that "scoop" the paper has come under fire. Yediot Aharonot, the country's most popular daily, published an article Friday saying it had also obtained the note but decided not to publish it, to respect Obama's privacy. Other Israeli media outlets initially ignored the story, or picked it up only after the initial publication had triggered a controversy.
...
However, it now appears that Maariv had collaborated with the Obama campaign in getting the "private" prayer, with its "modest" supplicaton to the Lord, out to the public, buffing his Christian credentials and showing his "humility."

A Ma'ariv spokesman was quoted in the Jerusalem Post as saying that "Barack Obama's note was approved for publication in the international media even before he put in the Kotel, a short time after he wrote it at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem."

The paper added that is was "pleased" with its "journalistic accomplishment."

It appears that Obama made Maariv an instrument of his will. The paper, of course, was a most willing tool.

Clearly, being willing tools of the Obama campaign isn't limited to the America press corps.

What a fraud.

H/T Errol.

The Waiting is Over: Introducing Guy-liner and Manscara, Makeup for That Special Metrosexual

Here I was just the other day hailing gastrosexuals, but apparently the metrosexuals aren't yet going away. No, they're going to be more annoying than ever.

It's bad enough we have women farding in cars, but now we have to deal with some douchebags applying guy-liner?

Oy.

This whole guys wearing makeup thing wasn't so bad when it was limited to performers, but seriously, do we have to watch some trendoid schlubs applying -- gack! -- manscara?

WTF?

In an increasingly metrosexual world, perhaps it was just a matter of time.

But yesterday a high street store announced that it would start stocking makeup designed just for men.

'Guy-liner' and 'Manscara' to enhance the eyes of the male in your life, will appear in Superdrug this week.

Yesterday, the company's director of trading Jeff Wemyss insisted that its cosmetics - branded Taxi Man - are not just for transvestites.

He said: "These days you can be macho and wear make-up. If you look at people like Russell Brand and Robbie Williams, they both wear make-up and they are both very red-blooded men.

'Men are more obsessed with their appearance than ever before. There is no longer any pain in being seen to be vain.'

He added: 'We believe there is a real market for cosmetic products. The majority of our customers are women and we believe that these products will be bought by women for their partners, as well as by men themselves.'

I don't know where these cats are hanging out, but it sure as shit isn't anywhere I frequent. Maybe it's this 40-something, raising kids, heterosexual thing I have going on, but I look around and I don't see too many guys in North Jersey applying guy-liner.

Oof. I can't even believe I just typed it.

Yesterday Lucy Mines, the Daily Mail's beauty editor, cast doubt on whether the new men-only range of make-up would catch on with British men.

She said: 'I can imagine how some of the products, such as concealer, may be popular with men who want to hide blemishes.

'But I would have thought it unlikely that straight men would want to wear eye-liner or mascara. When I asked my male friends whether they would wear it, they all replied with a very firm "no."

Hot Air links. Thanks!

Democrat Family Values: Louisiana State Senator Beats Up and Robs Girlfriend, Then Gets a Lapdance

Of course after the fallout, he says it was just a misunderstanding.

A spokesman for state Senator Derrick Shepherd says he's expected to issue a public statement today with his ex-girlfriend, Thaise Ashford, about an incident in which the senator was arrested Saturday.

Allan Katz said Shepherd would say the incident was a misunderstanding and that they are still good friends. Jefferson Parish 1st. Assistant District Attorney Steve Wimberly wouldn't comment on whether this would have any bearing on the case.

Shepherd was arrested Saturday and booked with simple battery and theft over 500 dollars charges by the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office. Investigators described the argument as "violent" and that Ashford claimed he grabbed her by the arms and hit her in the stomach.

Naturally, he's not identified as a Democrat in this story.

Anyway, after the misunderstanding, Shepherd proceeded to have a couple of women over his place, one of whom was performing a lapdance, as noted by Conservative Punk.

Shepherd, D-Marrero, was arrested around 6:45 p.m. Saturday and booked with unauthorized entry of an inhabited dwelling, simple battery and theft over $500.

Shepherd was arrested at his residence in Stonebridge. The sheriff's office said there were two women in the house, one of whom appeared to be performing a lap dance on Shepherd, who was on a sofa.

This isn't the latest misunderstanding for Shepherd. Just recently he was indicted on federal money-laundering charges.

Surely just another misunderstanding.

Well now, in the time you could say corrupt Democrat, we find out Shephard won't be apologizing for anything.

A spokesman for state Sen. Derrick Shepherd said this afternoon that the senator had reneged on plans to publicly apologize for a fight with his ex-girlfriend that landed him in jail this weekend.

Allan Katz said Shepherd no longer planned to release a statement about an incident with ex-girlfriend Thaise Ashford, 29, who told police that the senator punched her in the stomach and stole $100 and her cell phone.

Katz said this morning that Shepherd would issue a public apology today saying he "deeply regret(s) that a private disagreement got out of hand and mushroomed into a major news story." The spokesman also said Ashford planned to drop charges and announced that the two had resolved their issues amicably.

Just another wacky weekend in the life of a Louisiana Democrat.

Grim News: Americans Driving Fewer Miles Means Less Taxes for Highway Projects

I was waiting for some media dipshits to come in with this angle and it didn't take long. I heard this reported in an ominous tone during an ABC News radio spot but found an item here lamenting how road projects could possibly suffer since people are now driving less.

An unprecedented cutback in driving is slashing the funds available to rebuild the nation's aging highway system and expand mass-transit options, underscoring the economic impact of high gasoline prices. The resulting financial strain is touching off a political battle over government priorities in a new era of expensive oil.

A report to be released Monday by the Transportation Department shows that over the past seven months, Americans have reduced their driving by more than 40 billion miles. Because of high gasoline prices, they drove 3.7% fewer miles in May than they did a year earlier, the report says, more than double the 1.8% drop-off seen in April.

So for months we've had nonstop, 24/7 coverage over the price of gas, so when people make the decision to cut back on unnecessary driving in order to save money, it's now being portrayed as a bad thing.

You. Just. Can't. Win.

Of course, to media types, less driving means less gas sold means less taxes, and since the media is 99% liberal, taxes are their mother's milk. Anything that reduces the tax flow to the government is thereby inherently bad.

Though they of course will never realize that cheaper gas will mean more gas sold resulting in more tax revenue.

The cutback furthers many U.S. policy goals, such as reducing oil consumption and curbing emissions. But, coupled with a rapid shift away from gas-guzzling vehicles, it also means consumers are paying less in federal fuel taxes, which go largely to help finance highway and mass-transit systems. As a result, many such projects may have to be pared down or eliminated.

So we've had it pounded over our heads that we need to move away from the evil gas-guzzlers and reduce oil consumption and then when we do, it's portrayed in a less than positive light.

If there's any shortage in tax revenue that goes to highway projects, you can be sure that tax will be added elsewhere.

But here's a novel concept: How about cutting funding from any of a thousand other bloated federal projects and diverting the money there?

Jon Voight: Obama 'Falls Short in Every Way'

God bless Jon Voight, one of the few Hollywood actors man enough to tell it like it is.

Man, the left is going to flip when this see this harsh dose of reality thrown at them.

We, as parents, are well aware of the importance of our teachers who teach and program our children. We also know how important it is for our children to play with good-thinking children growing up.

Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset.

The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.

The Democrats have targeted young people, knowing how easy it is to bring forth whatever is needed to program their minds. I know this process well. I was caught up in the hysteria during the Vietnam era, which was brought about through Marxist propaganda underlying the so-called peace movement. The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away.

Those same leaders who were in the streets in the '60s are very powerful today in their work to bring down the Iraq war and to attack our president, and they have found their way into our schools. William Ayers is a good example of that.

Thank God, today, we have a strong generation of young soldiers who know exactly who they are and what they must do to protect our freedom and our democracy. And we have the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, who has brought hope and stability to Iraq and prevented the terrorists from establishing a base in that country. Our soldiers are lifting us to an example of patriotism at a time when we've almost forgotten who we are and what is at stake.

Read the rest.

Thank you, Mr. Voight.

Contrast Voight with the idiotic bilge of this moron.