cnn

With $120 oil not seeming to follow the fundamental law of supply and demand many are wondering if the market is broken.

The Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates, saving Wall Street but sinking the dollar and driving up food and fuel prices. Investors, also called “speculators” by some, have been pouring money into commodities of all sorts, artificially driving prices higher in an attempt to squeak out healthy profits in the face of falling stock values.

But to many, all the financial voodoo is merely a distraction. The fundamental reality of oil - and the thing that makes it so attractive to investors in the first place - is that we are using ever more and finding ever less. High prices are necessary if we are to reduce demand, find new oil, and develop alternative technologies.

The dirty little secret of the left.  They love high gas prices and always have.  The only annoyance to them is that the high gas prices should be artificial and the excess money go to the government instead of oil companies.

Still, this seems like it would be a great campaign point to rail against the Democrats for policies (no drilling, carbon tax, no nukes) that resulted in the high gas prices.

Except that our candidate also votes against drilling and is sucking up to the global warming alarmists.  The only bright spot is he seems to be for nuclear plants.  So there goes that idea, but I guess that’s the consequences of having two Democrats and a pseudo Democrat to choose from.

Krauthammer

Clinton finally understood the way to run against Obama: back to the center — not ideologically but culturally, not on policy but on attitude. She changed none of her positions on Iraq or Iran or health care or taxes. Instead, she transformed herself into working-class Sally-get-her-gun, off duck hunting with dad.

…

There’s only one remaining chapter in this fascinating spectacle. Negotiating the terms of Hillary’s surrender. After which we will have six months of watching her enthusiastically stumping the country for Obama, denying with utter conviction Republican charges that he is the out of touch, latte-sipping elitist she warned Democrats against so urgently in the last, late leg of her doomed campaign.

Yep.  Meanwhile, the lefties and media will suddenly “find” many, many stories portraying McCain (who does not even use a computer) as an out of touch old man.

Youth versus age, optimism versus negativity, uplifting versus crotchety.

This is going to be ugly… for us.

I doubt it, for we’ve had stories like this every summer for the last four years (at least).  And this is an election year.  Still…

washingtonpost.com

The Federal Aviation Administration. The Social Security Administration. The National Science Foundation. The Treasury Department.

All could lose as much as a quarter of their employees by 2012, mostly because of retirements. They are not alone.

Across the government, about a third of full-time employees will retire in the next five years, according to estimates prepared by the Office of Personnel Management. The turnover could be even higher in the ranks of federal executives and supervisors.

Well, they will still be making their money from other peoples taxes, it will just come from a different bucket.

New York Post

Rather filed suit against his former bosses last year, charging they duped him into silence after the 2004 news report claimed the president had avoided going to Vietnam by pulling strings to get into the Guard, and then shirked his duties once he was in.

The story came under fire when some of the documents the report relied on were revealed to be forgeries, a charge Rather disputes.

“Since the fall of 2004, CBS has continuously acted to Mr. Rather’s detriment by directing him to publicly apologize, and thus accept the blame, for CBS’s mishandling of the broadcast, despite his blameless conduct,” the suit says.

Despite his blameless conduct????

Wow.  Translated, “I’m just a glorified news reader after all!”

Mess with economic laws at your own peril.  In this case, a strong dollar.

SPIEGEL

Early last year, when Airbus announced its so-called Power8 restructuring program, it figured it needed to cut costs by $3 billion annually to offset those losses. But since then the euro has risen another 20 cents against the dollar, to about $1.55 currently. That means Airbus needs to find another $3 billion in savings, according to ABN’s Morris. “It has become a matter of survival,” he says. “If things stay as they are, Airbus ultimately will be driven out of business.”

Sounds to me like more work shifting to the USA.  That’s already happened with the Airbus/EADS/Northrop Tanker arrangement.

Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, 2008 President, Veepstakes

George Stephanopoulos reports (via RealClearPolitics):

"I think it's very much a possibility and there are others around Sen. Clinton, other top Democrats who think the strongest ticket would be a joint ticket," George Stephanopolous, ABC News' chief Washington correspondent, said Monday on "Good Morning America."

The dream team ticket was discussed earlier this year, but fell by the wayside as both sides ramped up the rhetoric against each other, intensifying their battle for the Democratic nomination.

The talk has revived as Clinton now looks like an ultra-long shot for the presidential nomination, and her disappointed supporters are threatening to vote for presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., instead of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

"There are intermediaries discussing this very scenario," Stephanopoulos said on "GMA".

Absolutely. I expect this to be the natural outcome of this primary (also see Tommy's piece). At this point Hillary is doing enough damage, she can demand it if she wants it. And Obama has proven that he is extremely weak where Hillary is strong. He must be loathe to admit it, but he needs her.

One question is whether she is demanding that he pay her debt off. That could be a grating thing to do, and my initial response would be to go pound sand. But again, if she wants to be veep, she could probably get that spot and her debts paid off.

If this comes off, I hope McCain enjoyed his little holiday, because the funtime is over. We will now witness the power of this fully armed and operational battle stat... Oops wrong movie. Anyway, Obama and Clinton will come together, their supporters will come together, and they will destroy him with full on attacks and endless sniping. Age, ties to Bush, Iraq, connections to lobbyists, Keating five, temper and temperament, it's all out there and waiting. And it's going to be ugly.

Oh and one other stipulation that Obama should demand: Bill Clinton must NOT be a part of the package.

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Filed under: Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Humor, Veepstakes

Well both McCain and Clinton did vote to authorize the war in Iraq and have had severe disagreements with President Bush, they both support comprehensive immigration, campaign finance, the gas tax holiday.

Come to think of it, a bidding war might break out for Hillary!

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Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Primaries, 2008 President

Over or not over? I'm going to say... not over, but by any rights it should be. Final count in IN shows a Clinton victory, barely. And of course the dreadful drubbing she took in Indiana. Which means that Obama beat the line. According to the analysis by Jay Cost, Clinton did as well in IN as she did in OH with her constituent groups, but Obama has solidified his hold on the black vote and college educated whites.

Theres good news, but mostly bad news in there for Hillary. She has an argument that she can make that no Democrat can win on the strength only of the black vote and suburban college educated liberals, but that means the Democratic party would have to disenfranchise the driving force of their liberal base along with their most solid minority group. I can't imagine, even in the most brass knuckle politics environment, that scenario playing out. I think she's done. Whether she wants to accept it or not is another question.

One reason she may not accept it is that two very friendly Clinton states are coming up, WV and KY, both with heavy Appalachian contingents. She should blow out Obama here and if she does, she can make the electability argument again, although most electoral paths to victory for Democrats do not include Kentucky.

Let the rumor mongering begin. At 2am a report went out on ABC that she had cancelled all events and cleared her schedule, but as of this morning it appears a full campaign schedule is still in place.

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The Campaign Spot:

James Carville, to Eleanor Clift: “If she gave him one of her cojones, they’d both have two.”

Crude, crass, with a kernel of truth, typical Carville.

Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Breaking News, Primaries, 2008 President

I watched Obama give the speech of his political life Tuesday night, full of soaring platitudes. He's so good at the speechifying, I shudder to think of McCain (or Hillary) getting within an order of magnitude of his raw talent in the matter.

Maybe it was just pent up frustration, because I'm sure he's been wanting to give that speech ever since Super Tuesday, but unfortunately Hillary kept. On. Winning. Even after it was supposed to be long over. But tonight, with an overwhelming victory in North Carolina (nearly 16 points at this point) and even a chance at winning Indiana (a few points down and closing fast), he finally has the opportunity to give the big general election speech.

Key phrase: "This has been one of the longest campaigns in Democratic primary history." Note the use of the words "has been." As in, it's over now. Where he goes from here is easy, he can simply assume the mantle of the winner. Be gracious in victory, and let the chips fall. Most Democrats, it now seems clear, while they may be nervous about his chances, their hearts really are with him, and they really do not like Hillary. I now expect a full stampede of superdelegates, making this a fait accompli. I do not expect the Democratic leadership to risk outrage in the ranks in order to reinstall Hillary Clinton. He didn't collapse in the face of the Wright scandal. He's not John Kerry (at least in the speech making) and so, he's good enough to be the front man.

For Hillary it's gut check time, but I'll save that for another post.

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Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Primaries, 2008 President

I just watched Obama give the speech of his political life tonight, full of soaring platitudes. He's so good at the speechifying, I shudder to think of McCain (or Hillary) get within an order of magnitude of his raw talent in the matter.

Maybe it was just pent up frustration, because I'm sure he's been wanting to give that speech ever since Super Tuesday, but unfortunately Hillary kept. on. winning. Even after it was supposed to be long over. But tonight, with an overwhelming victory in North Carolina (nearly 16 points at this point) and even a chance at winning Indiana (4 points down and closing fast), he finally has the opportunity to give the big general election speech.

Key phrase: "This has been one of the longest campaigns in Democratic primary history." Note the use of the word, has been. As in, it's over now. Where he goes from here is easy, he can simply assume the mantle of the winner. Be gracious in victory, and let the chips fall. Most Democrats, it now seems clear, while they may be nervous about his chances, their hearts really are with him, and they really do not like Hillary. I now expect a full stampede of super delegates, making this a fait accompli. I do not expect the Democratic leadership to risk outrage in the ranks in order to reinstall Hillary Clinton. He didn't collapse in the face of the Wright scandal. He's not John Kerry (at least in the speech making) and so, he's good enough to be the front man.

For HIllary it's gut check time, but I'll save that for another post.

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The Enquirer - Get Fido a license

The letter went on to instruct Akin to fill out the enclosed dog license registration and pay the fee “so your dog can be legal.”

“I was just shocked,” said Akin. She just couldn’t believe that the county was policing dog licenses through news stories.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ There are so many people out there not paying their child support and they’re wasting their time on a $13 dog registration.”

But it wasn’t the first time the Auditor’s Office has gone this route.

“We’ve done it six times so far,” said Auditor Dusty Rhodes. “We’ve got a pretty hip staff and people are reading things.”

HT to NBS, and I agree.  Hip is probably not the best description.

Filed under: John McCain, Featured Stories, 2008 President

Who did John and Cindy McCain vote for in 2000? Arianna Huffington says it wasn't George Bush:

Original Post: At a dinner party in Los Angeles not long after the 2000 election, I was talking to a man and his wife, both prominent Republicans. The conversation soon turned to the new president. "I didn't vote for George Bush" the man confessed. "I didn't either," his wife added. Their names: John and Cindy McCain (Cindy told me she had cast a write-in vote for her husband).

The fact that this man was so angry at what George Bush had done to him, and at what Bush represented for their party, that he did not even vote for him in 2000 shows just how far he has fallen since then in his hunger for the presidency. By abandoning his core principles and embracing Bush -- both literally and metaphorically -- he has morphed into an older and crankier version of the man he couldn't stomach voting for in 2000.

As you might expect, this prompted some, er, reaction from the McCain campaign:

Asked why Huffington would make up her story about McCain not voting for Bush, longtime McCain aide Mark Salter - who has previously tangled with the Huffington Post - ripped into her. "Why would she make something up? Because she's a flake, and a poser, and an attention seeking diva. And that's on the record."

Mark Steyn at NR reminds us that McCain was the keynote speaker at Arianna's 2000 shadow convention. It seems they are not as friendly as they once were.

About the vote, yeah it's probably true. Passive aggressive voting is entirely in line with what we know about John McCains character and temper.

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Strickland’s checkmate. Dann vs. the world | Buckeye State Blog

I know, I’m biased, but I just have to say this is brilliant political move by the Governor to get the entire statewides, Sherrod Brown, and Chris Redfern on board. Instantly, they have distinguished our party from the Republican Party in how it handles its own. No longer can Kevin DeWine credibly link Dann to the rest of the party. We’ve divorced him. And we were willing to go where the Republicans, for purely political reasons, would not go– impeachment. The fact is that it was the Democratic Party, not the Republicans, who were the first to say that if Dann would not resign, then he will be removed from office involuntarily. Had the Republicans just said that this weekend. Had they not tried to be cute by calling only for special prosecutor while talking about the political ramifications in the fall for all races, Strickland wouldn’t have had the opening he seized this morning. The Republicans played the wrong hand, and Strickland & Co. outplayed them.

It’s cringe inducing, but on the facts, Modern is correct.  The GOP would have been better off if they had taken the amputation route shown above.  Even if, arguably (I assume we’re talking about Taft) his acceptance of gifts were not as severe.  Taft’s last year in office were a huge drag on the party as a whole.  Strickland must have learned something.

Although before Strickland goes too far along with the self-congratulatory back patting, there was another impeachment, with far more serious (and actual!) crimes that he didn’t think we’re all that big of a deal.  Via PainDealer.  And if Naugle is correct, Strickland has been sitting on information for awhile now. Even if Naugle is not correct, it’s impossible to believe that close associates and Democrats in Columbus were unaware of Dann’s friendly way of running his office.

So I think it’s clear that Strickland wouldn’t lift a finger until the media exposure happened.  So while I commend Strickland on doing the right thing now, and especially the right political thing, there’s plenty of evidence that Doing the Right Thing for Strickland is secondary to political considerations.

Filed under: Barack Obama, 2008 President

Folks, meet William Ayers. This is a picture of William Ayers stepping on the American flag in a deliberate display of disrespect to the flag and the nation for which it stands.

In the seventies, William Ayers was a terrorist who tried to bomb and kill people. He never served a day in prison, and now has a cushy job as a college professor.

Why is this important? Because when Obama was looking to start his political career, Ayers was a close friend, donated money hosted a meeting that launched Obama's start in Illinois politics. Needless to say, Obama thought nothing of Ayers radical past, or anti-American leanings that continued on into the future.

Millions of Americans are disgusted by Ayers and others of his ilk, and while they can't do anything about Ayers non prosecution or his cushy job, they can punish Obama for associating with him. In other words, William Ayers is an electability problem. He can be pointed to while it is said, "These are Obama's friends, this is who he associates with."

So far Obama, by his statements, indicates that he doesn't understand what the big deal is. Which is even worse, in a way, indicating a naievete about the broad mainstream of American opinion toward the radical elements of the counter culture. And we wonder why he can't get the support of the bitter clingers? More at Michelle Malkin, among others.

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Strickland, other Dems, tell Dann to resign

Gov. Ted Strickland and other Democratic state officeholders on Monday called for embattled Attorney General Marc Dann to resign in the wake of a scandal over charges of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior in the attorney general’s office.

Strickland and the other elected officials sent Dann a letter late Sunday night that said he must resign in the best interest of his office and the party.

“We believe that your actions have irreparably harmed your ability to effectively serve the people of our great state,” the letter said. “The work of the Office of the Attorney General matters more, and is far more important, than any one person. In many, many cases it is all that stands between the people and the powerful. Sadly, we no longer have even the most remote hope that you can continue to effectively serve as Attorney General and that is why we are asking for your resignation.”

Ouch!  I do believe that sound you heard was that of a political career ending.  I’d feel sorry for the man, but everything I’ve seen indicates that Dann is second class pond scum.

Gotta call it out.  Strickland is late to the party, but this is the right decision for the state and for his team.  I guess the next question is who’s up next as AG?  The beloved by the lefty blogosphere Chandra, or an old Columbus party hack?

The CD is reporting (via JMZ) that Dann is taking a white knuckle approach to his job.  That’s not going to work.  In the face of overbearing pressure to leave, and the (I speculate here) promise of a relatively comfortable (and out of the way) position at a Democratic law firm somewhere, Dann will be carrot and sticked out of there in no time flat.

I mean it’s either man up or get impeached.  Perhaps Dann’s hero is Bill Clinton now?

I’ve been following a little bit of the Derbyshire-Berlinski dustup over Expelled and ID.  It’s quite a sight to see two intelligent and talented essayists go at it.  Here’s part of Berlinski’s latest:

National Review Online

In the United States, at least, creationism is a doctrine of Biblical inerrancy. Intelligent Design is otherwise. It is the thesis that living creatures appear designed because they are designed. It is said to be Darwin’s great merit that he successfully dissolved the appearance of design in life. Those who believe that the design of living systems is real believe correspondingly that Darwin’s theory is false, or, at best, incomplete.

Whether true or false, the issue is one of fact, and the inferences to which design theorists appeal are in common currency in subjects as diverse as political science, forensics and archeology. Seeing tallies scratched on a pre-historic ax handle, John Derbyshire — of all people! — might well conclude that they represent signs designating the natural numbers. The arrow of thought passes from the properties of an object to its classification as an artifact.

The question that Derbyshire has asked of an ax handle, design theorists ask of Derbyshire. Does he bear the marks of design?

Is it impermissible to ask this question? If so, why?

If not, whence the blood libel?

Like so many men who have reached late middle age, John Derbyshire suffers the impression that the “the barbarians are at the gate.� Women no longer topple blood-ripe into his lap. A “gaggle of fools and fraudsters� is everywhere disturbing his tranquility. Things that he treasures are under ceaseless attack.

Heh. ouch.  This was of course in response to Derbyshire’s review of expelled (without actually having seen it).

After the Mitt Romney fiasco, it’s nice to see that NR does still recognize talent and is comfortable seeing this range of views on the site.

The Corner on National Review Online

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Columbus Dispatch, and Cincinnati Enquirer have all called for Ohio AG Marc Dann to resign. I’ve posted excerpts from the editorials here.

If Dann resigns before September 24, Governor Strickland will appoint a successor who will have to run in a special election this November. If Dann holds on past then, his successor gets to finish his full term (through 2010).

Small rumblings now, but it’s an interesting story and easy to latch on to.  It’ll get bigger.  I’m going to agree with Modern Esquire here though.  It’s going to be tempting for the OGOP to overreach.  When your enemy is killing himself, just stay out of the way.

Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Featured Stories, Primaries, 2008 President

... would be using her backer's slim majority on the rules and bylaws committee to forcefully seat the Michigan and Florida delegations (which she has the majority).

At this point, it would give her a 55 point lead in the delegate count:

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