I love how all of a sudden everyone is going out of their way to find new ways to discredit Hillary Clinton. Drudge, bastion of all things correct, proper, and interesting, posted the following headline (it was in red earlier today):

LAWYER HILLARY GRILLED 12-YEAR OLD OVER ‘RAPE’; attacked child’s credibility…

Hmmmm… So what’s the whole story? From the linked article…

Hillary Rodham Clinton often invokes her “35 years of experience making change” on the campaign trail, recounting her work in the 1970s on behalf of battered and neglected children and impoverished legal-aid clients.

But there is a little-known episode Clinton doesn’t mention in her standard campaign speech in which those two principles collided. In 1975, a 27-year-old Hillary Rodham, acting as a court-appointed attorney, attacked the credibility of a 12-year-old girl in mounting an aggressive defense for an indigent client accused of rape in Arkansas - using her child development background to help the defendant.

The case offers a glimpse into the way Clinton deals with crisis. Her approach, then and now, was to immerse herself in even unpleasant tasks with a will to win, an attitude captured in one of her favorite aphorisms: “Bloom where you’re planted.”

So… As a court-appointed attorney, she vigorously defended her client.

The nerve of her.

Next thing you know they’ll be telling us she paid parking tickets.

Fidel Castro, long suspected dead by anyone with any insight into world politics, is stepping down. In the place of one brutal dictator that Hollywood fawns over and sucks up to will be the brother of the brutal dictator that Hollywood fawns over and sucks up to. Not much is going to change in Cuba. The people will still be poor, oppressed, and mistreated, and the Castro family will live like kings on their stacks of US Dollars all over the island.

In fact, Cuba has shopping malls where the only currency accepted at all is the US Dollar. Think about that. A country we can’t legally trade with prefers our currency to their own in a shopping mall.

Since Fidel Castro has taken control of Cuba, and the United States started its embargo, Cuba has fallen into disarray. Part of it is related to the fact that Fidel Castro is a brutal bastard who holds his power by maintaining an insane level of fear in his people. Part of it is that the tourism business that was fostered by being a few mere miles off the coast of Florida is now dead. Part of it is that, despite all logic, the US continues to keep this embargo going.

In China, journalists are regularly “disappeared” for writing anti government articles or postings on websites. In Saudi Arabia, women are stoned if they’re the victims of rape (this happens in other “friendly” countries like Pakistan as well). Russia continually strikes back at “separatists” with brutal and complete dominating force and with little regard for the human rights issues involved. Mexico’s prisons are some of the worst and most dangerous in the world. Indonesia is a country that’s so brimming with hatred that when their country was under 10 feet of water from the Tsunami, they wouldn’t accept money and medical aid from Israel. Today, George W. Bush’s White House announced that we’ll be increasing aid to Gaza and the West Bank, parts of the Middle East that are controlled by an elected terrorist government.

It defies logic that when taken into account all those facts that we choose to not do business with Cuba over its human rights record or the fact that their government is run by a brutal dictator. The idea that a brutal dictator like Castro is no good to do business with while a brutal government like Hamas is okay to talk to and send aid to is something we really need to reconcile.

As we stand on our high horse, Cuba is dying. Oh sure, you’ll never hear that from the media; they love Castro and love portraying him as a strong leader with a great literacy rate and free healthcare for all his people, but the truth is the truth. Cuba’s economy would get an instant boost from increased tourism from the United States. This is indisputable. The infusion of money into small merchants and shop owners would lift the economy up in a profound way. That is also indisputable.

Holding on to this embargo is accomplishing nothing. The Castros will never step down. The Cuban people are suffering and poor. In the meantime, we still deal with dictators and despots on a regular basis while chastising the Cuban government for being the same.

If that makes sense to you, then so be it, but that, to me, sounds more than a tad hypocritical.

It’s time to end the embargo and stop punishing the Cuban people.

Image courtesy of Rudi Heim on Flickr

It’s probably safe to say that you have arrived as a politician when your audience applauds when you blow your nose.

Yes, just a day before a debate in Texas, Sen. Barack Obama has a head cold.

And about a half-hour into a speech here, the Illinois Democrat announced that he had to take a quick break. “Gotta blow my nose here for a second,” Obama said.

Out came a Kleenex (or perhaps it was a hankie), and he wiped his nose.

The near-capacity audience at the Reunion Arena, which his campaign said totaled 17,000, broke out in a slightly awkward applause.

If it walks like a cult and quacks like a cult…

Source

The iconic “Hillary as Hitler” photos are now popping up all over the place. This time on Wizbang.

Does it ever get old with these folks?

Romney’s campaign has gone off the deep end…

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign accused Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee of “a backroom deal” that gave the early Super Tuesday win in West Virginia to Huckabee.

Romney, who addressed the state GOP convention in person Tuesday, comfortably led the first ballot at the convention, leading to a three-way second ballot contest between the three contenders.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic reported Tuesday that, after the first ballot, McCain’s campaign called his supporters there and urged them to vote in favor of Huckabee.

“Unfortunately, this is what Senator McCain’s inside Washington ways look like: he cut a backroom deal with the tax-and-spend candidate he thought could best stop Governor Romney’s campaign of conservative change,” Beth Myers, Romney’s campaign manager, said in a statement.

HUH?

Does that make any sense to anyone at all?

via Buzzmachine

6 months ago, I stopped reading Gothamist cold turkey. I was annoyed that Jake Dobkin, the publisher, kept defending graffiti vandals as if they were doing some great community service in defacing people’s property. I also got tired of their agenda-driven reporting on news stories and their rabid left-wingism. Mind you, I’m not the type to ignore a site because I disagree with it, but blind blatant politics with an agenda turn me off. It didn’t last though, mainly because when Gothamist is good, they’re very good, and I’m back to reading albeit with a bunch of me shutting up and pretending not to notice their shortcomings.

Seeing as Gothamist rarely ever interjects any critical thought into their articles, this one really put me over the edge. After showing a warehouse with OBAMA painted on the windows, a sidewalk painted with Obama and Obamawick (a contraction of Obama and Bushwick) and some exploited kids doing a “Bakesale for Obama,” Gothamist concludes as follows…

It’s pretty safe to say many New Yorkers are aligned with the Democratic party, but it’s unclear who NYC’s registered Democrats will vote for on primary day - Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. Though in the highly unscientific survey of sights around the city over the past week (and year), it seems the senator from Illinois has an edge.

It’s unclear? Is it? Really? Now mind you, they do say their “poll” is unscientific, but whether their poll is scientific or not is not at issue. The part about it being unclear who New Yorkers are going to vote for is simply ridiculous to anyone who lives in this city outside of Park Slope, Greenwich Village, and Williamsburg. For anyone who would like to see it, here’s what people who actually use statistical data have to say…

Unclear? I guess if you call having an average lead of 23 points in the polls unclear, then we certainly might need to ask the question of who people want.

Give me a break, Gothamist.

Drudge is trying so desperately to dig up dirt on the Clinton campaign it’s laughable. In today’s attempt, he finds a White House photo with Tony Rezko. Who’s Tony Rezko? Well, Wikipedia enlightens us:

Rezko has raised funds for many politicians, both Democrats and Republicans. These include Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich,[3] Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Comptroller Dan Hynes, former Cook County Board President John Stroger, and Cook County Board President Todd Stroger.[citation needed] Rezko has also raised money for former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar and held a megamillion-dollar fund-raiser for President George W. Bush in 2003.[4]

The indictment of Rezko on federal charges has drawn attention to his relationship with Illinois Senator Barack Obama, and has created problems for Obama’s presidential campaign.[5][6] In November, 2006, Barack Obama drew media scrutiny because he had purchased his house in 2005, on the same day that Antoin Rezko purchased an adjoining empty lot. Obama subsequently bought from Rezko an adjoining strip of land from the empty lot. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama’s purchase of the land from Rezko may have created an increased value to Obama’s property beyond the actual purchase price by making the adjacent Resko property difficult to develop.[7] However, Obama acknowledges that the exchange may have created the appearance of impropriety, and stated “I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it.”[8]

In June, 2007 the Chicago Sun-Times published a story about letters Obama had written in 1997 to city and state officials in support of a low-income senior citizen development project headed by Rezko and partner Allison Davis. The project received more than $14 million in taxpayer funds, including $885,000 in development fees for Rezko and Davis. Before the Sun-Times discovered Obama’s letters in support of Rezko, Sen. Obama had told the Tribune, “I’ve never done any favors for him.” In response, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said “This wasn’t done as a favor for anyone, it was done in the interests of the people in the community who have benefited from the project. I don’t know that anyone specifically asked him to write this letter nine years ago. There was a consensus in the community about the positive impact the project would make and Obama supported it because it was going to help people in his district.” Rezko’s attorney responded that “Mr. Rezko never spoke with, nor sought a letter from, Senator Obama in connection with that project.[9] Obama had told the Sun-Times that Rezko raised “between $50,000 and $60,000″ during Obama’s political career. However, Obama has since donated all campaign contributions from Rezko to charity.[5]

In the South Carolina Democratic Party Presidential Debate on January 21, 2008 Senator Hillary Clinton said that Obama had represented Rezko, who she referred to as a slumlord .[10] Obama responded that he had never represented Rezko and had done work indirectly for Rezko’s firm for an estimated five hours.[11]

The excerpt in this article that stands out is this: “In the South Carolina Democratic Party Presidential Debate on January 21, 2008 Senator Hillary Clinton said that Obama had represented Rezko, who she referred to as a slumlord .[10] Obama responded that he had never represented Rezko and had done work indirectly for Rezko’s firm for an estimated five hours.”

So Barack Obama had a bunch of actual business dealings with Rezko. So what does this have to do with the Clinton campaign?

Turns out our good friend Matt Drudge found a photo of Bill, Hillary, and Tony Rezko…

Here’s the screengrab:

One photo? Her response on Today was textbook, and probably true. Are we now going to ascribe some crazy relationship based on a picture? Do you think people in the public eye like the Clintons who take thousands upon thousands of photos prescreen the people they shoot with before taking a picture?

Face it, it’s not the same as the dealings Obama had with the man, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this picture was “leaked” by the Obama campaign on the sly so they could say “Hey, look, she knew him too!”

UPDATE: Excellent Commentary Right here:

I’m not sure whether to be amused or annoyed at the blatant and poorly done attempt to somehow give political moral equivalence of a picture showing the Clintons with a slum lord to the actions of Obama’s business dealings with same said slum lord. The fact that anyone even thinks these can be counted as equal in nature is laughable.

For example, just because I met, spoke, and had a picture taken with Nursultan Nazerbayev when I was in a student exchange program to the then Soviet Union, doesn’t mean I can now be considered one of now Kazakhstan President Nazerbayev’s aides. Such a claim would be the height of stupidity a rightly scorned.

The fact that the Obama campaign or one of it’s supporters did this indicates to me just how weak Obama’s position is and they know it. So instead they play games to try to get people to ignore the truth of the record of which he claims to be so proud. He may be seen as affable and personable to most people, but if his actions run contrary to his own assertions and claims then he is shown to be just like every other politician. Perhaps even worse, because he lacks the qualifications, experience, and maturity for such high level politics.

Juvenile, even for Obama’s “feel good, ignore the truth” campaign.

Good thing that I support Mr. McCain.

I know I shouldn’t copy entire posts, but that one just really got me. Perfectly put, exactly correct.

Well said, Gray.

I don’t know a whole lot of Muslims who think this way, so I can’t really blame them for this. I blame guilty white people who think everyone has paper thin skin…

A story based on the Three Little Pigs has been turned down from a government agency’s annual awards because the subject matter could offend Muslims. The digital book, re-telling the classic fairy tale, was rejected by judges who warned that “the use of pigs raises cultural issues”. Becta, the government’s educational technology agency, is a leading partner in the annual schools award.

Source

Only an idiot (read: Only someone who writes at Metroblogging) could write something this utterly stupid:

In a phrase — not good
In a preview to Mayor Bloomberg’s “State of the City” address, ABC’s NJ Burkett said that Bloomberg will not raise property taxes. While that is good news for owners of homes, condos, and co-ops, it’s terrible news in other ways. First, it will mean budget cuts for the city payrolls, i.e. police officers, firefighters, teachers, and other city employees. Which leads to less disposable income, causing belt-tightening. Which eventually leads to less discretionary and luxury spending. Which either leads to less purchases, keeping things like cars and appliances longer rather than replacing them. Which eventually leads to layoffs in the retail sector. Which leads to……..etc,

And all this happens as NYers are looking at higher mass-transit fares, still-expensive gas, and higher tolls on NJ roads. OR, it COULD lead to more buying on credit, and bills they won’t be able to pay later. The ramifications for the NYC Metro area are endlessly scary!

What the fuck is this idiot smoking? And I have to wonder if deep down she isn’t just a little bit bitter. Judging by her views, I’d be willing to bet she rents (because God knows she wouldn’t dare “own”) and lives somewhere in Brooklyn where you can find hipsters on each corner (probably Williamsburg, Park Slope or some other section of the city). The idea that lowering property taxes is a bad thing because of the other “effects” it’ll have on the economy makes me laugh, but her attitude toward “those people” is very typical of the kind of shit you come across in a city where there are very few owners and the people who can’t afford to be them are petulant and vindictive children.

Update: Oh, and just for shits and giggles, I found an old conversation with a bunch of armchair revolutionary douchebags on flickr about egging people’s cars. Seems they demonstrate exactly what I was saying earlier: No respect for other people’s property because they themselves own none.

Oversensitivity is the order of the day, lately. You can’t mention nooses now without arousing the anger of some crazy militant black person. In a recent discussion on the Golf Channel, a broadcaster made a joke (an admittedly tasteless one, but a joke nonetheless) about the only way to beat Tiger Woods involving a rope and a tree branch. Of course, this required immediate dsiciplinary action because black people (and in this case, out of convenience for offense, Tiger is black, not some bizarre mix) are to be protected and coddled like little children.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Golf Magazine ran a cover, and on the cover was a picture of a noose because, well hell, that’s what got the Golf Channel person fired.

What happened?

The editor of Golfweek magazine said he was overwhelmed by negative reaction to the photo of a noose on the cover of this week’s issue, illustrating a story about the suspension of a Golf Channel anchor for using the word “lynch” in an on-air discussion about how to beat Tiger Woods.

“We knew that image would grab attention, but I didn’t anticipate the enormity of it,” Dave Seanor, vice president and editor of the weekly magazine, said from the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

“There’s been a huge, negative reaction,” he said. “I’ve gotten so many e-mails. It’s a little overwhelming.”

Among the critics was PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, who said he found the imagery to be “outrageous and irresponsible.”

“It smacks of tabloid journalism,” Finchem said in a statement. “It was a naked attempt to inflame and keep alive an incident that was heading to an appropriate conclusion.”

An attempt to inflame? Where was all the worry about inflaming when the hairtriggers immediately suspended Kelly Tilghman in a complete overreaction to an off-the-cuff remark?

It’s amazing how all of a sudden even the mere mention of a noose can be considered appropriate. This is classic thought police material, folks.

I swear to God, I want to get right in his face and spit in it. He tramples on graves like no other ambulance chasing piece of garbage I’ve ever seen.

Tonight that piece of garbage took the stage and told the sad story of Nataline Sarkisyan. You’ll remember Nataline’s story. She had insurance and leukemia. Her doctors recommended a liver transplant, but Cigna refused, and then after massive protests relented and allowed the surgery, but it was too late, and Nataline died.

John Edwards spoke of her story as if it were emblematic of what was wrong with this country. While I’ve taken the position on numerous occasions right here on this blog that we need to deal with the problem of insured people not getting the care they need, this sensational case that everyone is latching onto isn’t necessarily the best outcome.

Why?

Because Cigna may have agreed with other doctors who believed that the surgery, given Nataline’s fragile health, may have been futile.

In a Dec. 11 letter to Cigna, four doctors had appealed to the insurer to reconsider. They said patients in similar situations who undergo transplants have a six-month survival rate of about 65%.

One of Nataline’s doctors, Robert Venick, declined to comment on her case. UCLA Medical Center staff refused to make her other doctors available for comment.

The case raised the question among at least one medical expert over whether a liver transplant is a viable option for a leukemia patient because of the immune-system-suppressing medication such patients must take to prevent organ rejection.

Such medication, while preserving the transplanted liver, could make the cancer worse.

Transplantation is not an option for leukemia patients because the immunosuppressant drugs “tend to increase the risk and growth of any tumors,” said Dr. Stuart Knechtle, who heads the liver transplant program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was not commenting specifically on Nataline’s case.

The procedure “would be futile,” he said.

Futile.

Like John Edwards’ attempts to drag dead bodies out onto the stage with him to win an election.

What a piece of trash. Anyone who votes for this guy needs their head checked.

Oh yeah, they were pissed. In 2004, Mayor Bloomberg closed down a bunch of firehouses that would supposedly cripple poor neighborhoods and leave the streets loaded with piles of charred black people due to the callousness of the evil white Mayor. We heard how the plan was racist and bigoted, and how it was an affront to the poor people of color in New York City.

Except it didn’t happen and over the last two years, times have gone down although, the UFA in its typical posturing fashion points out that structural fire response times have gone up by 14 seconds. I understand the whole “every second counts” thing, but quibbling over 14 seconds sounds a lot like nitpicking to me.

Metro also notes that fire-related deaths are down dramatically…

A total of 96 civilian fire fatalities were recorded last year, the same figure recorded in 1927. Despite a Bronx blaze last March that killed 10 people, including nine children, there have been fewer civilian fire fatalities between 2002 and 2007 than in any other consecutive six-year period in recorded history.

Gothamist, for whatever reason didn’t comment on the story at all, going 100% factual instead, but I’ll say this. There are a lot of people in this city who owe Mayor Bloomberg an apology. The amount of FUD being popped around this city by the UFA, the Al Sharptons of the City and the other usual suspects has not matched the reality of what has happened in the city. As is usually the case, Bloomberg is right. He cut back where cuts could be made and no one was hurt for it except for the UFA who relies on keeping the firefighter rolls full of dues-paying members and for City Council members worried about re-election.

So my birthday is January 28th, and Circuit City sent me a nice $10 coupon for a purchase of $100 or more. I thought that was kinda cool because I do shop at Circuit City a lot (seeing as I hate Best Buy and there really are only two competing stores).

Anyway, upon further inspection of the coupon, I realize just how worthless it is…

Other than those restrictions, I can use it anywhere! Yay me!

Are they for real with this shit?

Let’s find out. Here’s a transcript of the Great Barack speaking truth to power last night after winning the Iowa Caucus (hey, did you know he’s black? I sure didn’t; it’s not like they were reminding us of that fact every ten seconds)…

You know, they said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

A common purpose? Hmmm… 3 candidates at the top separated by 10 percentage points total. Doesn’t exactly sound like a united front. Or, to put it differently, 16 delegates for Barack, 14 for Edwards, and 15 for Clinton. Oh yeah. There’s a mandate for ya. And just for the record, longshot Republican Mike Huckabee damn near doubled your vote numbers and delegates. Let’s not kid ourselves, sir.

Actual content rating: Zip.

But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do.

You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008.

What? Have a close election? The delegate system is closer to the electoral college system, Senator.

Actual content rating: Zip.

In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and in big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents, to stand up and say that we are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that’s consumed Washington.

Our time for change has come? My friend, Republicans didn’t line up because it’s time for change. They lined up because it’s time to vote. Anyone who wins is going to be change. It’s the nature of our election system.

Actual content rating: Zip.

To end the political strategy that’s been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.

Because that’s how we’ll win in November, and that’s how we’ll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

We are choosing hope over fear. We’re choosing unity over division,

Drivel. Hope… Change… blah blah blah.

Actual content rating: Zip.

You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don’t own this government - we do. And we are here to take it back.

Yep. With the help of PACs funded by lobbyists, which is how Mr. Obama makes most of his money. Oh, and don’t forget the special interests in Hollywood. I guess they do own the government.

Actual content rating: Zip. 1, if you count hypocrisy.

The time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.

Blah blah blah blah blah. More talking, still no substance. It makes ya feel real good, though.

Actual content rating: Zip.

And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that president for America.

I’ll be a president who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American, the same way I expanded health care in Illinois, by by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done. I’ll be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.

I’ll be, I will, I can, I am. How? Well, no one knows. He just makes a bunch of promises. Hey, he’s gonna get Republicans and Democrats to work together, though. That’s kinda cool. It’ll be interesting to see how he makes that happen considering he’s spent his entire campaign calling Republicans divisive, fear mongering, and bickering. You go Mr. Uniter Man.

Actual content rating: Zip.

I’ll be a president who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.

Oh yeah, right. Again, how will he do that? Nobody knows. He’s just gonna do it. And we need to trust him. Break out the harnesses, folks. Barackapalooza is in town.

Actual content rating: Zip.

And I’ll be a president who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home who restores our moral standing, who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century. Common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.

Genocide in the US? Nope. Disease in the US? Maybe. Climate change? Yeah. Let’s see you get something done there. Nuclear weapons? I can feel the disarmament cries already. 9/11 isn’t a way to scare up votes? Maybe, but it sure seems like a good way for you to scare up opposition… How he’s going to do all this is unknown, but he’s never let that stop him before.

Actual content rating: Zip.

Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa.

God help us.

And so I’d especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains, the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.

And while I’m at it on thank yous, I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail.

I know you didn’t do this for me. You did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

Nah, they just bought into some slick feel-good speak from a black guy who sounds white. To paraphrase Joe Biden, people are amused at a black man who doesn’t talk ghetto.

I know this. I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I’ll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa, organizing and working and fighting to make people’s lives just a little bit better.

I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this, a night that, years from now, when we’ve made the changes we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our children inherit a planet that’s a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united, you’ll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

Oh please. Spare me the “I grew up with a shitty name on shitty streets” speech. I can’t take much more of this from him and it’s only getting started.

This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.

What the fuck are you blabbering about? Everyone but the dumbest of the dumb knows a Democrat is going to win the White House this year.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who have never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.

Sure. The first clean articulate black guy. We get it.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the policies of fear and doubts and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Beat back the policies of fear? Three paragraphs ago, we heard about nuclear war, terrorism, climate change, disease and poverty. Is that not fear?

Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope. For many months, we’ve been teased, even derided for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path.

Hope? Feh. Your hope involves telling people what they should think. You admitted it, yourself.

It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.

Really? What have you fought for in Congress? I didn’t know your name at all until you ran for President. What leadership have you exhibited? Oh right. None. But hey, he talks real purdy.

Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford health care for a sister who’s ill. A young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Blah blah blah.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn’t been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq. Who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.

Blah blah blah.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire. What led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation. What led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause.

Blah blah blah.

Hope, hope is what led me here today. With a father from Kenya, a mother from Kansas and a story that could only happen in the United States of America.

Yep. You’re a role model, Barack. We get it.

Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

Hope is not the bedrock of this nation, sir. Hard work is. Sacrifice is. Only a Democrat could stand up during an election and spew forth the stupidity that “hope” defines this country. Is it “hope” that put you where you are? Or hard work? Think about it.

That is what we started here in Iowa and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond.

The same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can save this country, brick by brick, block by block, that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

Because we are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the United States of America. And in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again.

Thank you, Iowa

Yeah, thanks Iowa. An emboldened Barack Obama is just what we need. Rhetoric, drivel, and “hope.” A whole lot of speaking, but not a lot said.

Welcome to Election 2008.

Transcript via Guardian Unlimited

Did you see it?

Oh… You probably missed it…

Well whether or not you saw it is irrelevant. It’s causing a huge uproar in the blogosphere right now. Photographer Lane Hartwell is cheesed off because someone took a photo she posted to her flickr stream and put it into a parody video about the web. The band, not wanting to incur the wrath of a hyperbolic photographer removed the picture that appeared for less than one second, credited every other photographer whose image they used, and then reposted the video.

Not good enough for Ms. Hartwell, who, in the interest of “sticking it to the man” and getting paid is now invoicing the band for the use of her image.

As the Richter Scales stated in their blog, the video that used my image - without my permission - was viewed just under one million times on YouTube. In the end, the band opted not to work with me toward a fair resolution of the issue. I have to say that I’m very disappointed with the members of the band I negotiated with in good faith. I question whether they would have acted differently if they’d been contacted by Billy Joel’s management or the stock photo agency Getty Images.

I continue to maintain that individuals must be fairly compensated for their work. The Richter Scales have chosen another path. I believe the discussion generated as a result of this issue is healthy, necessary and will be ongoing. People who post their digital photos online should be able to do so secure in knowing that their imagery will not be used for commercial purposes without their permission.

I will be sending the band an invoice for their use of my image in the first version of the video. I hope they pay it as I’ll use the money to pay my lawyer and donate the rest to www.kids-with-cameras.org. Kids with Cameras is a non-profit organization that teaches the art of photography to marginalized children in communities around the world. This was the offer I proposed to the Richter Scales that they chose to disregard.

Individuals must be fairly compensated for their work. I would not argue such a thing, ever. That being said, however, individuals must also understand something called fair use.

The crux of Ms. Hartwell’s argument is that because her photo was used from her flickr stream, where her license says “All Rights Reserved” she has a right to collect payment for each use of the photo. She contends that because the use was commercial, she has a right to be paid. The only problem with that is that a parody video of a song isn’t exactly commercial use, is it? I could understand her point if the Richter Scales, the band in question, were selling the song, but they aren’t. As it is, she took the pictures at an event with the intent of using them for commercial purposes and you can bet she didn’t get model releases for Owen Thomas and all the other people she took pictures of that night, so isn’t it really a wash anyway?

Techcrunch, as always, is right on the money:

There have been arguments on both sides about whether the use of these images in the video would fall under the fair use doctrine of copyright law. Ultimately, only a court can decide. My co-editor Michael, who has a law degree from Stanford but is by no means a copyright expert, argues that it most certainly is fair use. Hartwell (and her lawyer) argue that it is not, principally because the image was used in its entirety without permission and the group who put the video up (the Richter Scales) stands to benefit from sales of their CD and concerts since there is a link to their site on their YouTube page.

Never mind that the Richter Scales is a not-for-profit a capella group that sold a total of eight CDs the week the original video was up. Under copyright law, it doesn’t matter. Damages are based on how much Hartwell could have sold those pictures for, and since she is a professional photographer, that would have been a lot. Unless, of course, all the publicity around the image has helped to drum up more business for Hartwell.

Like I say, you can argue both ways. Is the work transformative? Yes, the image takes on a new context within the video. Is it covered under parody if the video is not making fun of Hartwell’s image, but rather using it to make fun of Silicon Valley? Yes, because Hartwell as a Silicon Valley party photographer and the image in question of Valleywag editor Owen Thomas are both part of the very culture being parodied. (Thomas also happens to hail from Business 2.0—Time Inc. was right, that magazine was nothing but trouble). But Richter Scales took the entire image, and that is not allowed! Yes, but how do you take an “excerpt” from a photograph, unless you crop it? Anyway, a court might decide that the brief flash of Hartwell’s image in the original work constitutes an “incidental reproduction.” (And, no, I am not a lawyer).

Lane Hartwell should do two things:

1. Stop posting pictures on public sites and making them publicly available if you don’t want people using them in a fair use situation, or in more nefarious cases commercially (something I completely agree on). If you’re worried about your commissioned work being used elsewhere, don’t post commissioned work you do for others on the web. It’s not right, but it is reality that anything on the web is “stealable,” and while the Richter Scales didn’t really do anything wrong here, someone else might not be as pure of motive.

2. Apologize, call it a misunderstanding, and forget the whole “I’m invoicing them” thing. It’s utterly ridiculous and only serves to make Hartwell look vindictive and childish. As it is, a large majority of comments I’ve seen on the subject think she’s wrong altogether, so it may not be a bad idea to drop this thing and let the chips fall where they may. As it is now, she’s only inflaming the situation leading me to believe that despite her protests, she’s enjoying the fact that suddenly lots of people know who she is.

Kudos to the Richter Scales for responding so quickly and dropping the picture out of their video altogether and shame on Lane Hartwell for keeping this childish and idiotic crusade to punish a small-time band going.

Seesmic review.

My response to the idiotic claims of racism in the video below…

Consider the cake taken…

ALVIN — The father of a 13-year-old Alvin Junior High cheerleader said the school district overstepped its bounds when it suspended his daughter for taking a cell phone photo of another cheerleader getting out of the shower during a sleepover in his home.

“This makes me realize how little control I have over my daughter when the school district can take action on something that happened at my home on a Saturday,” Michael Bailey said.

Bailey said school officials overreacted on Nov. 6 when they suspended five eighth-grade students in the incident. Officials said it became a school issue when several boys were looking at the photo on the junior high campus.

“They acted on the hearsay,” Bailey said, complaining that officials suspended the students without seeing the photo.

The board took no action on the issue Tuesday.

Imagine what they’d do to all the boys if they knew how much pr0n was on their computers?

Vidiot has taken umbrage at Representative Steve King (R-IA) trying to get a resolution passed honoring Christmas and Christians. Like most on the left, he uncharacteristically launches into the hysteria that usually accompanies anything that starts with the word “Christ” and ties it into the establishment clause. Like most on the left, however, he also fails spectacularly to be consistent and instead uses the establishment clause in a conversation about Christianity and not about Islam.

What’s that you say?

Well, here’s the text of the resolution he went guano-loco over, HR 845:

RESOLUTION
Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.

Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world;

Whereas there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity the religion of over three-fourths of the American population;

Whereas there are approximately 2,000,000,000 Christians throughout the world, making Christianity the largest religion in the world and the religion of about one-third of the world population;

Whereas Christians identify themselves as those who believe in the salvation from sin offered to them through the sacrifice of their savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and who, out of gratitude for the gift of salvation, commit themselves to living their lives in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Bible;

Whereas Christians and Christianity have contributed greatly to the development of western civilization;

Whereas the United States, being founded as a constitutional republic in the traditions of western civilization, finds much in its history that points observers back to its roots in Christianity;

Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ;

Whereas for Christians, Christmas is celebrated as a recognition of God’s redemption, mercy, and Grace; and

Whereas many Christians and non-Christians throughout the United States and the rest of the world, celebrate Christmas as a time to serve others: Now, therefore be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;

(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;

(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

And here’s the resolution it was based on, commemorating Ramadan, HR 635:

H. Res. 635
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

October 2, 2007.

Whereas it is estimated that there are approximately 1,500,000,000 Muslims worldwide;

Whereas since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, some threats and incidents of violence have been directed at law-abiding, patriotic Americans of African, Arab, and South Asian descent, particularly members of the Islamic faith;

Whereas, on September 14, 2001, the House of Representatives passed a concurrent resolution condemning bigotry and violence against Arab-Americans, American Muslims, and Americans from South Asia in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States;

Whereas some extremists have attempted to use selective interpretations of Islam to justify and encourage hatred, persecution, oppression, violence and terrorism against the United States, the West, Israel, other Muslims, and non-Muslims;

Whereas some Muslims in the United States and abroad have courageously spoken out in rejection of interpretations of Islam that justify and encourage hatred, violence, and terror, and in support of interpretations of and movements within Islam that justify and encourage democracy, tolerance and full civil and political rights for Muslims and those of all faiths;

Whereas Ramadan is the holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal for Muslims worldwide, and is the 9th month of the Muslim calendar year; and

Whereas the observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan commenced at dusk on September 13, 2007, and continues for one lunar month: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world;

(2) expresses friendship and support for Muslims in the United States and worldwide;

(3) acknowledges the onset of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal, and conveys its respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world on this occasion;

(4) rejects hatred, bigotry, and violence directed against Muslims, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(5) commends Muslims in the United States and across the globe who have privately and publicly rejected interpretations and movements of Islam that justify and encourage hatred, violence, and terror.

Wow. The only thing I can assume is that Vidiot never saw the one that passed in October, because if he had, I’m sure he would’ve been equally annoyed, outraged, and indignant over the obvious attempt to establish a Muslim Caliphate right here in our own back yard. Seeing as Vidiot is touting his knowledge of the Constitution, I would think that he would also have a few similar choice words for Representative Eddie Johnson (D-TX) over his similarly worded resolution, and I await those words with baited breath.

Notice, I said baited, not held.

No shit fuckwad? You really want to own “Not safe for work?”

Entertainment Services namely providing a website featuring photographic, audio, video and prose presentations featuring comedic captions regarding current events and online discussions and/or reviews of web materials of an adult nature; Entertainment services, namely, providing a web site featuring musical performances, musical videos, related film clips, photographs, and other multimedia materials; Entertainment services, namely, providing on-line reviews of photogrpahs and /or web postings of an adult nature.

Nope. They’re not kidding. I can’t support Fark anymore. Frankly, this is ridiculous, and Drew Curtis should be completely and totally ashamed of himself for this one. A guy who was once a pioneer of the internet is now a money grubbing trademark whore.

Screw you Drew.

via Valleywag