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You knew this was going to happen eventually. It’s like Godwin’s Law.

Godwin’s Law with Spongebob Squarepants.

Since I’m not feeling bloggy today, feel free to discus amongst yourselves.

• The Olympics (my take: boring)
• Russia is at war with Georgia
• The John Edwards affair now acknowledged by the media
• President Bush says to drill, price of oil plummets
• Political stunt becomes movement, Republicans stay in D.C

If anybody needs me, I’ll be watching NFL preseason football.

At least we don’t have to worry about ManBearPig.

Right?

Right?

Right?

…“Under Bush.” So says Hillary ‘Mrs. Bill Clinton’ Clinton?!?:

There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation under the Bush administration.

So unlike 1993–2000. And that’s just while the Clintons were in the White House. Their shady dealings go way beyond just Mrs. Bill’s time in the White House.

Two points I wanted to make here: first, that this piece is like the kettle is calling the pot a kettle. Second, that who exactly is always exploiting these things? Let’s go down the list, shall we?

In the past few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded.

Like, say, China? You know, China. The formerly not–on–the–most–favored–nation–list–before–Mr.–Bill–put–them–on China.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but American businesses are in the business of making themselves money, not paying taxes.

In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, for example, FEMA…

Did what they did on Bill Clinton’s watch.

Only faster.

While touting fiscal responsibility, President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater. While calling for earmark reform, the president has allowed no-bid and questionable contracting throughout the federal government to dwarf earmark spending by a 10-to-1 ratio.

Quick, everybody, name a company that’s American owned that builds ports.

GO!

Alright, let’s check our answers. The correct answer to the question is…Haliburton. That would be the list. Hard to contract something to another company when another company doesn’t exist.

And earmarks? Are you kidding? Are you aware that the Democrats in Congress control spending? That’s the thing that galls me the most.

There’s more there to chide, but it doesn’t really matter. In calling for changes in the way government does business, she’s basically saying that the government (which has proven to be clumsy and inefficient) is the savior to our problems. To that, this quote from another famous American politician:

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

President Ronald Reagan

The family had lived in the rundown rental house for almost three years when someone first saw a child's face in the window.

A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out, one neighbor remembered.

Everyone knew a woman lived in the house with her boyfriend and two adult sons. But they had never seen a child there, had never noticed anyone playing in the overgrown yard.

The girl looked young, 5 or 6, and thin. Too thin. Her cheeks seemed sunken; her eyes were lost.

If you can get through the story of Danielle without tears, you are a robot.

If it’s Aircraft Brand™, it has to be good!™

Is that supposed to get rid of smelly aircraft, or just aircraft that have low odor?

Just watching this today amazes me just how much I’ve changed. It looks like the Democrats bought this guy out lock, stock, and barrel in the 1960s. Back when I was in high school, they warned us about this sort of thing. Now they encourage it.

[Via]

Action

Saddam had no ability to make weapons of mass destruction.

Inaction

With every opportunity available, Obama played basketball instead.

For a couple of days, I’ve tried to come up with a salient, cogent way to put the tragedy at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in perspective. A man went into a church and started killing people. There is no justification for the murder of these people (not any murder of people). There are no words that can describe the loss of security, and more importantly the loss of life those people left behind must endure. This is, ironically, one of the purposes of the church, to minister to people.

But as I was grasping for reason in yet another unreasonable time, I knew that there’s a brief window of opportunity to make sense of anything. After that window closes, then the people will fall into their own habits, and cling back to their own beliefs, no matter how bigoted or thoughtless.

So was the case with a writer who would consider himself better than those who he does not agree with. RJ Eskow is a bigot:

Who really killed those Unitarians? Was it the preachers who spread hatred and intolerance? The politicians who court and flatter them instead of condemning their hate speech? The media machine that attacks liberals, calls them "traitors" and suggests you speak to them "with a baseball bat"? The economic system that batters people like Jim Adkisson until they snap, then tells them their real enemies are gays and liberals and secular humanists?

If you ask me, it was all of the above.

You killed them, Pat Robertson. You killed them, Pastor Hagee. You killed them, Ann Coulter. You killed them, Dick Morris and Sean Hannity and the rest of you at Fox News.

Pouring salt in wounds. Adding insult to injury. Lashing out at the very people whom you need to help you. How very, very predictable.

A simple test of logic would prove that quoted passage wrong. Take the number of conservative Christian gun owners, and figure out the number of times a gunman has opened fire in the middle of the congregation. Thousands of opportunities a week, and only one? Perhaps it wasn’t the books on the shelf, but the demons in his head?

Many people have no need for the God of the Bible. They only need the God of Validation. This is the definition of bigotry.

THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!

So. Models. Can’t wait to hear the invasion plans for this one.

REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (JERUSALEM) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008

REUTERS/Eliana Aponte (WEST BANK)

I’m not sayin’ anything…I’m just sayin’.

ADDED: The pictures keep getting better.

This is what happens when you design things by committee. I can’t tell you how much this reminds me why I got out of PR.

The amount of time to remind me why I never put Michelle ‘One Note’ Malkin back in the old RSS FeedReader of Legend™.

You know that relative of yours, the one you never visit? That one that seems just fine until somebody accidentally brings up the wrong subject. Then it’s hours of ranting and raving about how the universe would be so much better if everything fit into their neat little view. That one.

Yet another reason I’m never getting into the popular kid’s club.

Great quote (and a little wishful thinking) from a reader at Power Line:

Wouldn't it be nice, he said, if there was some enterprise in the Twin Cities area whose business it was to research matters of interest to the public, write up and edit reports on such, and print such things on inexpensive paper that could be sold in newsstands?

It’s bad when a blogger out journalists a journalist. Sadly, this is becoming more and more common. Journalists need some sort of certification, don’t they?

This is not a protest.

This is a protest.

(Yes, this is a satire.):

1. Yes, he doesn't share my views on abortion, but so what? After all, aborted babies go to heaven. If they grow up, they might go to hell. Abortion on demand is the best form of evangelism ever invented. So, with Obama we'd continue to get over a million babies into heaven year, and Supreme Court Justices to insure that it goes on for another generation. Obama would push for more and more federal funding for abortions, which means we would be using state money for evangelism! How cool is that?! And I'm sure the ACLU would never call him on it. Yes, I know the Bible talks about "Thou shalt not murder" and caring for "the least of these," but let's not get legalistic and impose our Christian morality on others.

[Via]

One of the purposes of returning to full–time(ish) blogging was to engage the public with the ideas that religion is part of our everyday life. Regardless of what specific religion, we all have a varying relationship to the supernatural. I would even go so far as to say that some people value their supremacy over supernatural things to be what they would call their religion.

I won’t argue with that. That’s the central idea of Atheism, the belief that humans are not subject to some set of supernatural laws. It is the belief that myths are the natural outcome of fear and ignorance. Atheism can be convincing.

It would make sense then, that Atheism wouldn’t be popular in the armed forces, One of the ways the soldier keeps himself in good morale is through the use of the supernatural. The idea that someone or something is going to keep them safe, even though logic would say otherwise. Another manifestation of hope — whether it be real or imagined — is always encouraged.

After reading a story today about a Soldier who was decrying an ‘unconstitutional’ treatment by the US Army, I could see his argument. That would be, of course, if there was at least a token effort to research the most salacious claim in the article:

His sudden lack of faith, he said, cost him his military career and put his life at risk. Hall said his life was threatened by other troops and the military assigned a full-time bodyguard to protect him out of fear for his safety.

Excuse me, but WHAT?

The part about the bodyguard makes this entire story read differently. Of course, the reporter wouldn’t know (or care) that Army units only do that as a last resort. They just don’t have enough people around to babysit all day.

From my (admittedly limited) experience, I know there are only thee times you put a bodyguard on somebody:

1. They are a threat to other people (think sociopath)

2. They are a target of revenge

3. They are wholly incapable of performing their job (thus need protecting)

For the sake of argument, I’ll give him that he is the target of revenge. Okay, so where are the investigations? If the Haditha Marines taught us anything, it’s that the military will eat it’s own young long before any of us find out about it. Is there any more to this story than a claim of ‘intolerance’?

Probably not. But that’s more of an experienced–based gut feeling than from the (horribly biased, incomplete) known facts of the case. My opinion is that this is just a trouble–maker whose story got to the right desk, and now it’s part of the leverage in some political statement, and not about (and never was about) this kid.

"Our Pentagon, our Pentacostalgon, is refusing to realize that when you put the uniform on, there's only one religious faith: patriotism," Don King Weinstein said.

Um, yeah. What I thought.

Barak Obama, in a lengthy interview with Military Times:

“I do not presume that from the day I am sworn in, every single service man or woman suddenly says, ‘This guy knows what he is doing...’”

That’s actually the problem for Obama. Those people do think he knows what he’s doing and it sure ain’t in their best interests.

Watch this video and see as Sen. Murtha lavishes the troops with heaps of praise for the all their hard work and effort:

Q. Did President Bush’s ‘Surge’ policy work?

I think for the short term it certainly reduced incidents. I'm not sure whether it's because the Iraqis are just worn out, but certainly the way they are doing it today it makes a big difference.

It used to be we broke down doors. We went in and we killed people inadvertantly. Now they're much more careful about it.

Former Marine Sen. Robert Murtha (D–PA)

That’s right, it’s not because of the boots on ground — it’s because they insurgents are sleepy. Yeah, the same thing happened to the New England Patriots when they were trying to win that Super Bowl, they just got tired at the end. I mean, come on, it’s not like any team had to play a 19–game schedule before. The New York Giants won that game, not because they had a superior game plan or better players, but because the Patriots needed a nap.

This guy is needs to get a clue. Swiftly. He was wrong about the Haditha Marines, and he is wrong about this. Then again, I’ve seen this kind of cluelessness from him before. Makes me wonder what’s wrong with the voters in Pennsylvania, too.

While listening to this video, it got to the best (worst?) part in the end. That’s when Murtha starts regaling us with tales from yesteryear, when the president would actually act like he was listening. Yes, he reminds us how Bill Clinton actually consulted with him about security measures.

You know what that sounds like? You know that guy who constantly tells you about his buddy that was real popular, and how they were best friends? And how, back then, everybody thought they were so cool? Because they were together?

Murtha is that guy. That guy needs constant reinforcement from people who will just give him enough encouragement to keep him beholden.