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[elfs]

Palin: Some Terrorists are More Terroristy Than Others

She can't even answer the question. Bryan Williams asks Palin if an abortion clinic bomber is a terrorist. Palin says:

There's no question that Bill Ayers via his own admittance was one who sought to destroy our U.S. Capitol and our Pentagon. That is a domestic terrorist. There's no question there. Now, others who would want to engage in harming innocent Americans or facilities that uh, it would be unacceptable. I don't know if you're going to use the word terrorist there but it's unnaceptable but it would not be condoned, of course, on our watch.

There's also no question that by the letter of the law, Ayers in a free man. Argue with that all you want, there is no law that can currently touch Bill Ayers. The guy who bombed the abortion clinic here in Washington in 2001 is also, by the definition of the law, a terrorist, and Palin is applying for the job of understudy to the nation's chief law enforcement officer, among other things. She should know the law and be ready to enforce it without pause or fail.

And is it just me, or is she signalling with her repeated phrase "innocent Americans" that her heart is with the abortion bombers who, after all, in their heart of hearts believe they're saving "innocent Americans" too?

John Holbo on 'Spreading the Wealth.'

[For modern 'conservatives'] if you have two societies and you know nothing more about them than that in one the rich are not so much better off than the poor, whereas in another the rich are hugely better off than the poor, you would default to the position that there was probably something 'regrettable' about the former arrangement. I call that nuts.

So do I. Holbo has a good look at Obama's economic politics and NRO Editor Jonah Goldberg's incoherent response to them. I strongly recommend reading it all.

McCain: It doesn't have to happen. McCain surrogate: It has to happen.

Talking Points Memo has a copy of a television ad in which McCain tells the American people that, according to Joe Biden, "Obama will be tested by the world," with photos of terrorists and Hugo Chavez and missiles and stuff, and ends with "It doesn't have to happen. Vote McCain."

But Attorney for the San Francisco Republican Central Committee and spokesman for the McCain campaign in California Tony Grayson told a crowd last night at Dominican University, "Whoever he is, the next president of the United States will be going to war against Iran."

It will happen. I guess that's not a test, then.

Scott McClellan endorses Obama.

McClellan's already in the doghouse for his book, What Happened, which was about his role as George Bush's spokesman during the runup to the invasion of Iraq, so this probably doesn't hurt him much: "From the very beginning I have said I am going to support the candidate that has the best chance for changing the way Washington works and getting things done and I will be voting for Barack Obama."

Michelle Malkin: If Reality Has A Well-Known Left Wing Bias, Then Reality Should Be Sent To Gitmo!

Malkin brings us the news that "thousands of people" are showing up at Sarah Palin's rallys and the MSM's reporting that "Palin is a drag on McCain's campaign" is all lies, lies, lies! It's Biden who's a drag!"

The Quinnipac poll taken Wednesday shows that Biden made 49% of those polled "more comfortable" voting for Obama, and 22% "less comfortable." In contrast, 37% of voters said Palin made them feel "more comfortable" voting for McCain, and 41% "less comfortable."

Damn that reality. "Reality may become twisted during sex." "Always use a new Reality with each and every sex act." "Reality should be kept out of the reach of Children."

10 Most Sought After Skills in Web Development

Although I am by no means a graphic designer, I can take mockups and convert them into XHTML layouts easily enough, and I can do Javascript and CMS widget development. I know Django, Rails, and Paste/Webware as development frameworks, and can handle EXT, Dojo, and Scriptaculous/Prototype. So I guess I'm good unless the economy tanks.

George Will nails the confluence of government overreach and financial mismanagement perfectly.

The almost erotic pleasure of spending money that others have earned and saved is one reason people put up with the tiresome aspects of political life. And now the government's response to the financial crisis, including the semi-nationalization of nine major banks, has blurred -- indeed, almost erased -- the distinction between public and private sectors.

Hundreds of billions of dollars that the political class would have liked to direct for its own social and political purposes have been otherwise allocated. That allocation, by government fiat rather than by market forces, must reduce the efficiency of the nation's stock of capital. Which in turn will reduce economic growth, and government revenues, just as the welfare state -- primarily pensions and medical care for the elderly -- becomes burdened by the retirement of 78 million baby boomers.

And this is why I usually count myself more conservative than liberal. Although his examples are anecdotal, they are also telling: governments strapped for cash continue to allocate billions of dollars to projects that don't increase economic efficiency, restrict individual sovereign rights (and responsibilities) granted in our Constitution, and contribute ultimately to more, rather than less, general misery.

And I have to say that, while Obama might want to concentrate on creating a new economic engine centered on American energy autarky, I don't see him standing in the way of the indecent left's impulses to regulate us further.

But I'm voting for him because I don't see John McCain reining in the indecent right's nastiest impulses to regulate individuals further and industries less, to continue the redistribution of wealth upward, or to spy on all Americans "for our own good."

McCain's aides already shopping around their resumes

Despite the ongoing rush of "We can still win this thing!" stories coming out of what remains of the indecent right, Politico is reporting that the RNC and the McCain campaign aren't talking and that McCain's aides are already shopping around post-election resumes. "We're in the finger-pointing and positioning-for-history part of the campaign," said one McCain strategist. "It's every man for himself now."

Whee!

Comments

[angharads-house.livejournal.com]

wow, this is made utterly of success: I possess exactly zero of the ten skills in question.

(but if you know of anyone who wants a FORTRAN algorithmist, I'm so there.)

[scyllacat.livejournal.com]

So I guess I'm good unless the economy tanks.

.... Err.... um, Elf? Don't look behind you.

I only mention because two of my friends in IT tech got laid off recently.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was wholly tongue in cheek.

[omahas.livejournal.com]

You need to work better on the tongue in cheek thing, my love. ;)

[scyllacat.livejournal.com]

Ah. I will blame this cold for my mild obtuseness today.

[zonereyrie.livejournal.com]

I thought it was very, very dry. :-)

[srmalloy.livejournal.com]

The "Obama will be tested by the world" ad really cries out to be parodied by taking enough of the ad to make it clear what the ad is, followed by a voice-over of "So will McCain" while showing a translucent plastic cup half-full of a yellow liquid.

[kengr]

I can't even watch those Palin interviews.

I have this dream of the media growing a pair and actually confronting candidates. Stopping them and saying "That wasn't what I asked, please answer the question".