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K, so Joe Biden’s a liar.  That’s hardly big news, is it? It’s not like the American people bought a vice-presidential pig in a poke, after all.  But buying vice-presidential puppies from a … the  horror! … breeder, now that’s news.  Even more newsworthy is the governmental response.

In case you missed the basics, Lyin’ Joe was much quicker than his boss.  He wanted a pup, so he went out and got one – a German Shepherd from breeder Linda Brown in East Coventry, PA.  Ah, how sweet.

But not in whacko America.

After the local rag wrote up the story, readers started posting comments, says said local rag.  Ugly, hateful, insane comments:

Following a story about Brown and Biden in the Daily Local News, readers posted 131 comments, some chiding Biden for having the Secret Service with him when he went puppy shopping and others complaining he did not get the dog from a shelter.

Brown was taken to task for selling pedigree dogs.

Brown said she has read the comments, even the one that said she was sued.

“I’d like to meet that person,” Brown said, adding that she has not been sued.

Some people were outraged about the photograph of Biden holding a 5-week-old puppy, Brown said. But, the breeder points out, Biden only came to select a puppy on that visit, left it with its mother and returned three weeks later to take it home.

Brown was not only vilified in posted comments to newspapers but also on the Web site of People for the Ethical Treatment Animals, or PETA.

According to a Dec. 12 press release from the animal rights group, it aired its controversial TV commercials “Buy One, Get One Killed” in Biden’s home state of Delaware after he bought his dog from Brown. The commercial blames euthanization of animals in shelters on people who purchase pets from breeders.

Goodbye, choice.  Every decision we now make is monitored by those who deem themselves to be more pure than us, those who live on a higher moral plane.  Nevermind that supposedly sentient purebred dogs have a right to breed and bare pups just like mutts.  Doesn’t matter; mutts are morally superior.  Tell that to our purebreds, Cammie and Pepper.

But the outraged psycho-moralists were just the beginning of Brown’s problems.  Perhaps the shirts the agents of oppression were brown, too:

Brown also was cited for record-keeping problems and warned about maintenance and sanitation shortfalls by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.

“I was cited for a piece of kibble on the floor and five strands of dog hair. They took a picture of that, they walked around, snapped pictures and don’t tell you why,” said Brown, who disputes all the items where she was written up.

Brown’s case was heard by District Justice James DeAngelo in South Coventry on March 31. She was found “not guilty” for each citation, the judge’s office confirmed Wednesday.

Chris Ryder, press secretary for the Department of Agriculture, said Brown was inspected in December because of a complaint. He said it was department policy not to release the name of the person who complained.

Is it just me, or did Ryder’s comment sound like it fell just a bit short of an apology?  But then, why should an Agency of the State apologize for overtaking a private enterprise, terrorizing its proprietor, and actually bringing her up on charges that cause embarassment and worry, and take time and money to defend.  It’s her fault for daring to be an entrepreneur and not a government lackey.

What a sad, disturbing story.  And even sadder is this:  It happens all the time.

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How You Gonna Grow The Middle Class, Joe?

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ecent news reports tell us that Joe Biden’s big job in the Obama administration will be to increase the size of his much-loved middle class.  Just one question, Joe:

How much are you going to do that by lifting the poor up to the middle class, and  how much are you going to do it by taxing the wealthy down to it?

Just wondering …

Peanut Nutty

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ecently a school bus in an unnamed U.S. school district has hastily evacuated, then fully decontaminated. Why? Sarin gas? Smallpox pores? No, a peanut was seen on the floor. What hope do we have that our children will get a sensible education if education is in the hands of people who evacuate and decontaminate school buses because of a peanut?

As I usually do when confronted with a story I like, I turn to Stats Blog, where I found another example:

At this time of year many municipal elementary schools in the United States, including the one attended by my children, raise money by selling wrapping paper and candy. This year parents in our school were told that they could no longer pick up their purchases from their children’s classrooms. Instead they had to pick up their orders from a loading dock at specified times, to avoid a danger to the children.

The danger? Some of the orders contained sealed tins of festive nuts. Out of an overabundance of caution the school decided not to allow any of the items on the premises.

Sealed containers!  In the hands of adults!  What are they afraid of, that a child with a peanut allergy and utterly no self-control will beat a teacher paralyzed by fear of physically restraining a child, rip the tin open, and commit suicide by nut?

“This allergy is just nuts,” by Nicholas A. Christakis, professor of medical sociology, Harvard Medical School, in the latest issue of the British Medical Journal, which is excerpted above.  Christakis goes on to say:

About 3.3 million Americans are allergic to nuts, and even more – 6.9 million – are allergic to seafood. However, all told, serious allergic reactions to foods cause just 2,000 hospitalisations a year (out of more than 30 million hospitalisations nationwide). And only 150 people (children and adults) die each year from all food allergies combined.

That’s about the same as the number of people in the U.S. killed by lightening each year. Should we ban thunderstorms? Continue Reading »

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W

hat you are seeing in this photo is not a hate crime; we have it on the authority of the Los Angeles Times:

“I’m not defending this; I’m not criticizing it. It doesn’t rise to the level of hate crime,” said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department …. (LA Times, emphasis added)

The two misogynists in the predominantly gay city of West Hollywood made no apologies for their display when the story broke (although they’ve since taken it down following demonstrations outside their home. Whatever their motivation, it wasn’t fear of being charged with a hate crime because they had the LAPD on their side.

So if hanging Palin in effigy isn’t a hate crime, what do you think of this?

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – University of Kentucky authorities were investigating Wednesday who hanged an effigy of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama from a tree on campus. …

Federal authorities have been notified, Todd said. He said the effigy violates the university’s code of ethics and won’t be tolerated. …

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan declined to comment specifically on the situation, but said an effigy can suggest a threatening tone or be an attempt to intimidate. He said the agency is “very proactive about addressing these matters.”

The feds have been called in? The Secret Service is taking it seriously?

And one about this?

NEWBERG, Ore. (AP) – A Christian university in Oregon said Tuesday it has punished four students who confessed to hanging a likeness of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama from a tree on campus. …

The FBI is investigating whether any civil rights were violated.

“A criminal investigation is much more rigorous than an academic one, obviously,” said Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman. She couldn’t say when the investigation would be complete.

An FBI civil rights investigation?

So why are these incidents raised to the level of requiring an investigation while the West Hollywood gay couple gets a pass?

A commenter on my first post on the West Hollywood obscenity half-heartedly offered an explanation: Women weren’t lynched for a century or more in the South, but blacks were. A valid point, but if it’s true, then it would also be a hate crime if instead of hanging the effigy they displayed Palin as a victim of domestic violence. And no reasonable person would ever think the authorities would get off their butts to investigate that as a hate crime or civil rights crime.

So I’m left with this: Hanging an effigy of a half-black man is a probable hate crime, but hanging an effigy of a white woman, especially if she’s a Republican, is not.

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J

oe Biden just did the nearly impossible – he has out-gaffed himself.

Finding himself in an unusual situation – tough, even hostile questions from a member of the media – he was faced with a question from Orlando’s WFTV’s Barbara West about Barack Obama’s “spread the wealth around” comment to Joe the Plumber.

By this time, he was already flustered by West’s first question, asking if he was embarrassed by ACORN’s “phony attempts to register voters,” and he blurted:

The only person who spread the wealth around has been George Bush and John McCain’s tax policy.

What happened to the Bush who rewarded only the richest of the rich? The Bush that is the anti-cornerstone to Obama’s tax policy? Here is Bidden admitting that trickle-down and low tax rates actually does spread the wealth around.

Kudos to West for treating Biden like everyone else treats Palin, with tough question pounding in after tough question. She followed up the Joe the Plumber question with a Marx quote – “From each according to his abiltiies to each according to his needs.” – and asking “How is Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?”

Biden’s response was not up to Palin’s level: “Are you kidding? Is that a question?”

The Obama campaign’s response was to blackball WFTV, canceling an already scheduled interview with Jill Biden.

“This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election,” wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.

McGinnis said the Biden cancellation was “a result of her husband’s experience yesterday during the satellite interview with Barbara West.” (source)

The West interview is fascinating because it is so rare. We’re just not used to seeing these guys under the gun, and if the rest of the media had acted more like her, Obama would not be leading in the polls today.

Here’s the clip.

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“It is astounding that Joe Biden, the self-adulated ‘everyman,’ can’t believe that an American making less than $250,000 a year might still be opposed to socialism.” – McCain campaign spokesperson Ben Porritt

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orritt was responding to Joe “Foot in Mouth” Biden’s attempt today to trash Joe the Plumber.  Here’s what Biden told a national TV audience this morning:

“We’re worried about Joe the guy who owns the gas station, the barber, the grocer.  Ninety-eight percent of the small business people in America make less than $250,000 a year, and they’re going to get a real break under our plan. Joe the plumber, whose making over $250,000, is not going to get any more additional tax cuts with us.” (ABC)

Yeah!  That’ll teach that SOB plumber to be successful!  That’ll teach him to employ people!

Despite the rantings from the left (read the comments with the link above for a hefty dose), Joe the Plumber (and Joe the Plumb-Crazy) have been a big net loss for Obama and his Robin Hood tax plan.

The bottom line – and McCain/Palin should be saying this at every whistle stop – Obama thinks he’ll be better at spending your money than you’ll ever be, so he wants you to fork it over.  Even in these times of economic uncertainty that are screaming for slashed spending, Obama’s credo is, “Because big spending on government programs hasn’t worked out too well, we’re going to try spending even more and see if that works out better.”

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W

ho won the debate? That’s an easy one: Joe Biden beat Barack Obama. The contrast between Biden’s command of issues and willingness to speak his mind and Obama’s cool mutterings underscored that the man at the top of the ticket does not have the experience to be president.

Beyond that, Palin stood up well enough – although I was screaming messages she was missing at the screen (same goes for McCain).  And with her good performance, the campaign can move on.

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t may be missing some of the drama of a crouching run to avoid sniper fire, but Joe Biden’s harrowing tale of his Afghanistan helicopter experience is more of the same Wrong Stuff:  another attempt by a Dem get undeserved bravery credibility.  Says AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) – When Joe Biden tells voters he understands the threat posed by Afghan extremists, he dramatically illustrates one reason why: His helicopter was “forced down” on “the superhighway of terror.” Actually, snow, not the enemy, persuaded the helicopter pilot to land and wait out a storm.

The Democratic vice presidential candidate has repeatedly left that part out ….

I’ll give Biden some credit – being forced by bad weather to land anywhere in Afghanistan has got to be more nerve-jangling than strolling down a ramp, hugging a little girl, accepting some flowers and sashaying off to hobnob with officers, as Hillary did. But with his record of lying and plagiarizing stretching the truth and being confused over proper sourcing techniques, how much tolerance should we extend to Joe?

Biden uses the helicopter story to rally crowds, saying he knows where bin Laden’s hiding because he’s been there in the Afghanistan mountains … until his helicopter was forced down.  Putting al-Qaeda and “forced down” together without mentioning snow is done for a desired affect:  misrepresentation and (I know this is hard for you to grasp, given it’s Joe Biden) self-aggrandizement.

John Kerry was there (like he was in Cambodia at Christmas) and here’s how he explains it:

“We sat up there and traded stories,” Kerry joked. “We were going to send Biden out to fight the Taliban with snowballs, but we didn’t have to do it.”

He added: “Other than getting a little cold, it was fine.”

Biden also says that he was “shot at” while in Iraq. When called on that, AP says, Biden amended the tall tale to say the Green Zone quarters he was staying in shook from a nearby blast.  Tell a soldier who’s survived gun battles against al-Qaeda in Iraq that Biden’s comparing his experience to theirs and see how it flies.

Here’s a question you won’t have to struggle hard to answer:  Do you think the media will give Biden’s helicopter story equal play with Palin’s moose hunting from airplanes story?

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et’s take a break from all the newsy frivolity – the economic recovery plan, the market mayhem, Ahmadinejad’s latest threats against Israel, oh, I don’t know … the election – and deal with something really, really serious. Sarah Palin’s lip liner. We join the world’s largest leftyblog:

On September 10th, Wonkette received a tip that Sarah Palin’s lipliner is a tattoo.

From: C______@gmail.com>
To: tips@wonkette.com
Date: Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Subject: tip on Sarah Pallin Notes: Sarah’s sister in-law owns a beauty parlor in Wasilla…apparently Sarah’s lip liner is tattooed on…not sure what to do with that one.
leak to wonkette

So although the allegation comes in a strangely cryptic email and there is no actual proof that this procedure was performed, we’ve been studying Sarah Palin’s mouth very closely …

Are they obsessed? Yes, I’d say they’re obsessed. The 43.49% that say it is a lip tattoo are obsessed, the 23.24% that say it’s not are obsessed, and even the 28.68% who have studied and pondered and pondered and studied and just couldn’t make up their minds are terribly, terribly obsessed.

By the way, Incredible Daughter #2, who is trained in this sort of stuff (she’s not just a beauty, she’s a beauty professional) took one look at the picture above and said:

No way. It’s uneven … but WHO CARES?

Smart girl. Do you think we’ll see a poll next on whether Joe Biden’s got hair plugs? No, of course not. It doesn’t matter because he’s a man so let’s not get catty, and more to the point, he’s not a woman who has done the unspeakable sin of not goose-stepping with the bra-burners. Conservative women, we are led to believe by this obscene obsession withe Palin, aren’t allowed to think, work, run for vice president, and they certainly aren’t allowed to get lip liner tattoos.

Here’s a question that we conservatives might want to spend the next day or two on: Do you think Nancy Pelosi has a new face tattooed over her old one?

1 Comment »

J

oe Biden has had to back off an honest statement – using a pretty dishonest excuse in the process.

On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, Biden criticized the “McCain can’t use a computer” ad released by the Obama campaign, saying,

“I thought that was terrible by the way … if I’d have had anything to do with it, we never would have done it.”

It appears so clear and unobfuscated a statement wasn’t authorized by the campaign, so today Biden was in a familiar position:  backpeddling.  First he asked us to believe that he hadn’t seen the ad before condemning it, then:

“Having now reviewed the ad, it is even more clear to me that given the disgraceful tenor of Senator McCain’s ads and their persistent falsehoods, his campaign is in no position to criticize.” (WaPo)

What about the Obama’s nasty ad on McCain gave him any information about McCain’s ad?  The computer ad wasn’t about McCain’s advertising; it was about shaming him for having war injuries.

That’s the trouble with having to retract an honest assessment: The explanation never makes sense.  If the ad was so terrible that it never should have been run, whatever McCain does or does not do makes no difference in the assessment:  It’s still so terrible that it never should have run.  And Obama’s recent ads have certainly not been beacons of decency and honesty in any case.

So, in trying to clean up the unforgivable gaffe of being honestly, openly critical of something coming out of The One’s shop, Obama’s campaign has had to state that they’re going no holds barred and dirty on their political ads, and that they’ve got no problem with going to the scuzzy, wretched, dishonest pit of bad political advertising. After all, what’s one more broken promise from the politician who promised to be different?

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A Mighty Wind

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s wind power ready to step up, step in and replace tried and trusted energy-producing technologies? Well, this photo seems to say maybe not. I am reminded of a Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live when Amy Poehler reported:

According to a new report by the Energy Department, wind turbines can produce a fifth of the nation’s annual electricity needs within about two decades. Which could drastically reduce our dependence on foreign wind.

Twenty percent in twenty years – oh, great! Let’s just shut down the oil biz now and twiddle our thumbs ’til 2028. As Dylan said (in a line William Ayres really, really liked), “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”

Hat-tip: Jim Continue Reading »

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