Barack Obama Officially the Democrat Nominee

In honor of Obama's acceptance of the Democrat Nomination I am reposting Obama Fortuna:

Obama trying to silence critics Pt. 2

The party of free speech and open minded debate is at it again...

The Obama-Ayers link has Obama's campaign very concerned. Why else would the send out this email to their supporters:

In the next few hours, we have a crucial opportunity to fight one of the most cynical and offensive smears ever launched against Barack.

Tonight, WGN radio is giving right-wing hatchet man Stanley Kurtz a forum to air his baseless, fear-mongering terrorist smears. He's currently scheduled to spend a solid two-hour block from 9:00 to 11:00 p.m. pushing lies, distortions, and manipulations about Barack and University of Illinois professor William Ayers.

Tell WGN that by providing Kurtz with airtime, they are legitimizing baseless attacks from a smear-merchant and lowering the standards of political discourse.

Call into the "Extension 720" show with Milt Rosenberg at (312) 591-7200

(Show airs from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. tonight)

Then report back on your call at http://my.barackobama.com/WGNstandards

Kurtz has been using his absurd TV appearances in an awkward and dishonest attempt to play the terrorism card. His current ploy is to embellish the relationship between Barack and Ayers.

Just last night on Fox News, Kurtz drastically exaggerated Barack's connection with Ayers by claiming Ayers had recruited Barack to the board of the Annenberg Challenge. That is completely false and has been disproved in numerous press accounts.

It is absolutely unacceptable that WGN would give a slimy character assassin like Kurtz time for his divisive, destructive ranting on our public airwaves. At the very least, they should offer sane, honest rebuttal to every one of Kurtz's lies.

Kurtz is scheduled to appear from 9:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. in the Chicago market.

Calling will only take a minute, and it will make a huge difference if we nip this smear in the bud. Confront Kurtz tonight before this goes any further:

http://my.barackobama.com/WGNstandards

Please forward this email to everyone you know who can make a call tonight.

Keep fighting the good fight,

Obama Action Wire

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Facts on Barack and William Ayers:

William Ayers was involved with the Weather Underground when Barack Obama was eight years old, and Barack has roundly condemned their actions.

Last night on Fox News, Kurtz tried to radicalize an education reform program in Chicago called the Annenberg Challenge. The Challenge was funded by Republican Walter Annenberg, introduced by Mayor Daley and Republican Governor Jim Edgar, and one of its initiatives was even praised by John McCain.

Kurtz claimed on Fox News that William Ayers recruited Obama to the Annenberg Challenge -- a flat out lie. Ayers did not serve on the board of the Challenge, and he had nothing to do with Barack's recruitment. Some more background on Stanley Kurtz:

Stanley Kurtz Is Tied To Bill Kristol's Conservative Think Tank. Kurtz is a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. The Policy Advisory Board includes: William Kristol. [Bio, policy advisory board, EPPC website, accessed 8/27/08]

Stanley Kurtz Was A Research Fellow At The Hoover Institution. In 2004, Stanley Kurtz was a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. [Boston Globe, 3/10/04]

Stanley Kurtz Claimed That Same Sex Marriage In Denmark Led To A Decline In Marriage Resulting In 60 Percent Of Children Being Born Out Of Wedlock. Stanley Kurtz stated: "Data from European demographers and statistical bureaus show that a majority of children in Sweden and Norway are now born out of wedlock, as are 60 percent of first-born children in Denmark. In socially liberal districts of Norway, where the idea of same-sex registered partnerships is widely accepted, marriage itself has almost entirely disappeared. [Boston Globe, 3/10/04]

Analysis Of Statistics On Marriage In Scandinavia Was Debunked. "Kurtz's argument -- which O'Reilly embraces -- is that when legal rights are accorded to gays, through some unspecified process heterosexual couples begin bearing children out of wedlock and refuse to marry when they otherwise would. There are many government policies that alter the incentives to get and stay married, and thus have direct and unsurprising effects on marriage; for instance, the availability of no-fault divorce leads to more divorces, and laws providing the same rights for cohabitating heterosexual couples as married couples lead to fewer marriages, as couples make private commitments to each other without seeking the imprimatur of the state. But neither Kurtz nor O'Reilly has provided a plausible justification for their belief that extending rights to gay couples harms heterosexual marriage." [Media Matters For America, 6/3/05]

Claimed That The National Nursing Shortage Was The "Fault Of Feminism." In 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported, "Back at National Review Online, contributing editor Stanley Kurtz makes the same point! He, too, says women shouldn't be trying to play by men's rules. Of course he has a slightly different take. According to Kurtz, the national nurse shortage is the fault of feminism, for bringing about "the replacement of a traditional ethic of sacrifice by a post-'60s ethos of self-fulfillment." Kurtz stated at the time "Nursing was once built around a spirit of feminine compassion and sacrifice. In the new, feminist world, that is unacceptable." [Los Angeles Times, 7/21/2002]

Stanley Kurtz Stated That The Harvard Faculty No Confidence Vote In Lawrence Summers Would Cause "Lasting Damage To The Cultural Left." On March 19, 2005, Stanley Kurtz stated on the National Review Online website, "I think the vote of no confidence in Lawrence Summers is a wonderful thing. Harvard continues to discredit itself with the American public. The faculty is trapped. If Summers resigns, this extraordinary example of political correctness will come back to haunt Harvard, and the entire academy, for years. But if Summers hangs on, the faculty itself will have been humiliated -- checked by the very fact of public scrutiny. Either way, Harvard is tearing itself apart. So long as the public simply writes of the academy, the mice can play. But the intense public scrutiny in this case puts the captains of political correctness into a no-win situation. Like the closely watched Susan Estrich fiasco, this battle is doing lasting damage to the cultural left. As they say, sunlight is the best disinfectant." [National Review Online, 3/19/05]

The Obama Action Wire is a grassroots rapid response group for supporters to fight smears, spread the truth, push back on misleading media, and take positive action.

Forward this email to everyone you know or sign up for the Obama Action Wire now.

More proof that the only free speech is their speech, and when they hear something they don't like, they attempt to silence that speech. In this instance they are shouting down the speech they disagree with; but where we really have to be worried is how they plan on shutting us up with the fairness doctrine.

It would be nice if the email had taken the time to identify with particularity what exactly constituted the "baseless smears" with some hard facts refuting them. The Obama campaign only appears to be taking issue with Kurtz's assertion that Ayers didn't recruit Obama to be a member of the board they served on. They also claim that the Annenburg Challenge wasn't radical (a non-issue) and claim that Obama was 8 when Ayers was actively a terrorist. So what if Obama was only 8 when Ayers was an active Terrorist? Ayers is an unrepentant former terrorist and he and Obama appear to have a personal and political relationship. I think it is safe to say that Ayers is an America hating terrorist. So too is Osama bin Laden. Obviously there is no fair comparison between what Osama did and what Ayers did, so please do not misunderstand the point of the following analogy: If a Presidential candidate received funding, political help, and friendship from Osama bin Laden 25-30 years from now (Assuming Osama could live that long), would it be at all relevant if the candidate was only 8 on 9/11? The point I am making is this: Ayers is a "former" terrorist, has been pictured standing on the American flag in recent years, and whose only regret with regards to his terrorist past is that he didn't do more (not my words, his).

By anyone's estimation, Ayers is a bad dude. Strike that, by anyone except Obama's standards, Ayers is a bad dude.

I did a little more looking into the relationship between Obama and Ayers. If you haven't read this piece from February in the Politico, it is something you have to see...

Obama once visited '60s radicals

I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers’ house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,” said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the informal gathering at the home of Ayers and his wife, Dohrn. “[Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.”

Obama and Palmer “were both there,” he said.

So, if this is true, the allegation that Obama's political career began in Ayer's living room is right on point.

With regards to Obama calling Ayers respectable and mainstream, those words don't appear to come from Obama directly, but his campaign website did take that position for a while. Hot Air has a nice explanation of it.

Doing The Jobs Americans Won't Do...

Let them in! They do the jobs American's won't do! American's don't want to work out in the fields. They are only migrant farmers, right?

Yeah right!


ICE: Nearly 600 detained in Miss. plant raid

Federal officials say nearly 600 suspected illegal immigrants were detained in a raid on a manufacturing plant in southern Mississippi, making it the largest such sweep in the country.

So American's won't work in factories anymore? I'm not buying it. These are jobs American's would be glad to do... but the factories seem to like fudging the books, not paying the taxes, and undercutting the hourly rate to someone who will take less. Not to mention that employers like this can exploit their workers without fear of their workers reporting it to regulatory authorty. To do so would risk deportation. It is disgusting.

And the whole argument about jobs American's wont do is garbage. More and more I see construction and landscaping creews full of illegals, fast food restaurants completely staffed with mexicans, and I hear of restaurants employing illegals in the kitchen where nobody is watching. While most American's wont work in fast food resturaunts or as kitchen staff, their kids would... if the jobs weren't already taken.

The same is true of working the fields. When I was a kid I still remember the neighborhood kids from miles around working in the fields for extra money. By the time I was a teenager the migrant farmers were working those fields. I don't remember the neighborhood kids telling they farmers that they wouldn't work there anymore.

The truth is we probably do need more workers. America's economy is still growing and if the millions of illegal workers left there would be a severe shortage of workers, but we have an immigration system in place and these people are breaking the law. Worst of all, they aren't coming here to assimilate and be part of the American Dream; rather, they come here to work for a few months or years, then go back, taking with them the fruits of their labor. They don't want a piece of the American Dream, they just want to steal a slice of the American pie.

Obama trying to silence critics?

The party of free speech and political dissent is at it again in an effort to ensure the only free speech is their speech. Barack Obama's campaign is reportedly furious over the following ad linking the new messiah to a former terrorist.

"It seems they protest a bit too much," American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston said. "They're going all of these routes—through threats, intimation—to try to thwart the First Amendment here because they don't have an argument on merit."

The Obama Campaign has apparently already addressed this issue in an ad attacking McCain.



This raises some interesting questions about what connection Obama has with Ayers. The Washington Post Blog addresses this by stating the only known link between Obama and Ayers is that they both served on a anti poverty group's board of directors, Ayers donated $200 to Obama's campaign, and they lived in the same neighborhood in Chicago.

So where does the allegation that Obama's political career began in Ayers'
living room coming from?

In researching this entry I have found numerous allegations that Ayers had invited people from the community to his home to introduce them to the aspiring politician, but I have no credible sources to support this. I have also read that Ayers hosted a dinner in Obama's honor which Obama attended. Again, these are things I have read but which I have no real evidence to support. If someone out there has some credible information on this topic, I would like to know about it.

Obama picks Biden

Obama picked this guy?!? Really? No, Really?!?



Well, I guess with Deleware in doubt he decided to shore up all those electoral votes (sarcasm). Honestly, I cannot think of a worse pick for Obama. What does Biden bring to the ticket? Executive experience? Nope. Age? Well yeah, but there are lots of candidates that could have done that.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy he picked Biden. Biden is an easy target. His loose tongue has got him into trouble in the past and will continue to get him into trouble....



But that isn't the only nice thing Biden has had to say about Obama...



I can't help but wonder if Obama's pick was an insurance policy. With Obama trailing in the polls and the Dem's starting to show buyer's remorse, Biden may prove a useful scapegoat for the young aspiring Obama. Only time will tell whether Obama throws biden under the bus. This assumes of course that Obama loses badly in the G.E.

Obama in France

Today presidential hopeful Barack Obama is visiting France and meeting with French President Sarkozy. Obama and Sarkozy held a joint news conference in which Obama pledged to make cutting carbon emmissions in order to stem global warming a key element of his presidency. Obama did not speak in French during his trip to France; however, my sources have indicated that Barack, on several occasions, was overheard using the phrase "merci beaucoup."

New Jib Jab Video

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

My Predictions... completely wrong

So, I couldn't have been more wrong about the primaries. I didn't think Barack could win the nomination and I didn't think McCain had a chance. Wrong on both counts. I don't think Obama is ready to be President and I don't like McCain at all. I don't have a horse in this race and don't have any idea who I will vote for. If I had to vote tomorrow, I guess it would be for Barr. Anyway, since I don't care for McCain or Obama I probably won't feel compelled to post very often. So that is that.

Obama Fortuna

Haven't posted in a while, but here goes:

Merry Christmas!

It's been a long while since I've posted anything... I've been very busy.

I was searching youtube for Christmas videos and came across some of my personal favorites.

Enjoy!

Bing and Bowie: Peace on Earth / Little Drummer Boy



Bing Crosby: White Christmas


Mariah Carey: All I want for Christmas


Nat King Cole: The Christmas Song


Martina McBride: O Holy Night


John Lennon: Happy Christmas (War is Over)


Wham: Last Christmas



Merry Christmas everyone!

All Your Fakes Are Belong to Us

I am a lazy blogger. That is not to say that I am not reading the news, I am just not writing about it. Check my shared Google reader to see a small fraction of what I would be blogging about if I weren't so lazy.

Despite my failure to commit to blogging, I occasionally see something so good I just have to drop everything and write up a post.

When I was in college, I remember seeing All Your Base Are Belong to Us... which was a great video in every respect. Here it is:



Well the Jawa Report, one of my daily reads, posted a fairly well done video mixing the extremely popular AYBABTU with the fauxtography scandals involving fake pictures used by the press in their propaganda campaign against the United States in the War against Radical Islam.

Here it is:


It is very well done, it just needs to be updated with all the new fakes.

Like I said, I have been a lazy blogger the last few months, but this is one I just had to put up.

What is Hillary Hiding?

The net is abuzz with people asking, "Just what does Hillary have to hide?"

From today's LA Times:

Clinton's first-lady records locked up
Archivists say the documents at her husband's presidential library won't be released until after the '08 vote.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton cites her experience as a compelling reason voters should make her president, but nearly 2 million pages of documents covering her White House years are locked up in a building here, obscuring a large swath of her record as first lady.

Clinton's calendars, appointment logs and memos are stored at her husband's presidential library, in the custody of federal archivists who do not expect them to be released until after the 2008 presidential election.

A trove of records has been made public detailing the Clinton White House's attempts to remake the nation's healthcare system, following a request from Bill Clinton that those materials be released first. Hillary Clinton led the healthcare effort in 1993 and 1994.

But even in the healthcare documents, at least 1,000 pages involving her work has been censored by archives staff because they include confidential advice and must be kept secret under a federal law called the Presidential Records Act. Political consultants said that if Hillary Clinton's records were made public, rivals would mine them for scraps of information that might rattle her campaign.
Full Article.

So what is Hillary hiding in the millions of pages of records that she won't release? And which of her Democratic rivals will be first to call for their release?

I understand perfectly the need to protect the privacy of our citizens, and especially former first ladies; however, their privacy should be respected BECAUSE they are still ordinary citizens. When they decide to run for office, then these records become vital to the decision making process of the electorate. The voters should NOT be kept in the dark.

Gorical's Followers Now Blame Earthquakes, Volcanoes on Global Warming

We've parodied this tendency on the left for a while, suggesting -- for laughs -- that the left would blame any calamity on global warming, even those that obviously could not possibly have any connection to atmospheric warmth, such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Which are of course caused by plate tectonics and pressures beneath the earth's mantle, and couldn't tell if the earth's temperature had increased by 1000 degrees, nevermind 1.

But last year's parody becomes this year's Inconvenient Truth. And the Cult of Mother Gaia, in all its illogical theocratic glory, officially takes the inevitable step towards deistic teleological anthropomorphization.
- Ace

Hahaha "deistic teleological anthropomorphization"! Well said, Ace.

This in response to the absurd article up on the guardian:

The Earth fights back
Never mind higher temperatures, climate change has a few nastier surprises in store. Bill McGuire says we can also expect more earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides and tsunamis.
More.

Great Global Warming Swindle

As soon as the Great Global Warming Swindle came out I watched it and wrote a review. I've posted quite a bit about global warming.

In any event, The Jawa Report has it the movie posted now, please go see it.