Barack’s Rodney King- Like Diplomacy Won’t Protect Israel.

Ailing and aging, the 76-year old Democrat icon Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D) Mass. summoned fellow Democrats to rally behind Barack Obama’s pioneering quest for the White House Monday night in an emotional opening to a party convention struggling for unity essential in the fall campaign.

The repeatedly failed Presidential candidate looked out at a sea of white and blue signs paid for by Obama;s campaign bearing his name as he urged delegates in the hall and those watching at home to “rise to our best ideals” in the election. “Poor Ted” as his father Joe Kennedy referred to “Teddy” gave what may become his dying declaration.

Standing on the platform of a party that has repeatedly rejected him for the White House he cried,”The work begins anew, the hope rises again and the dream lives on,” Kennedy said in a strong voice, reprising the final line of a speech at the 1980 convention that brought a different convention to its feet. The senator has been undergoing treatment for a malignant brain tumor but seemed as coherent as ever.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged Monday that he would step up diplomatic pressure to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons admitting Israel feels that “its back is against the wall” and might take military action.

Campaigning In Iowa on his way to the Democratic convention in Denver, Obama was asked about rumors that Israel had “green lighted” an attack on Iran before the presidential election in November. Obama refused to comment on the rumors but acknowledged that Israel feels threatened. The simple fact is Israel’s decision is driven in large measure because it fears Obama’s election as an inexperienced, waffling White House occupant could doom it.

Xinhua

Both the Chinese men’s and women’s table tennis teams won the gold medal this week, with the women beating Singapore 3-0 Sunday and the men trouncing Germany by the same count. China has captured 18 of 22 table tennis golds since the sport was introduced in the Olympics in 1988, a feat that’s absolutely incredible when you consider how many countries play ping-pong and how little margin of error there is at the game’s highest level. When the Chinese need to be perfect at the table, they are — almost without exception.

I’d also like to say that watching ping-pong on TV is absolutely awesome. I pity the viewers in America who just aren’t getting much coverage — or getting it on MSNBC at 4:30 a.m. During one point in a Japan-Germany semifinals match, a Japanese player returned a shot with his paddle over his head — the spike came in that hard — and ended up winning the point. I was out of my seat and agape.

The “beating Singapore” link is a recommended read, and not just because it makes mention of cutie Li Jiawei, a native Beijinger who emigrated to Singapore because she didn’t make the Chinese national team. She’s not alone: her two teammates on Singapore’s team are also Chinese. To give you an idea of how difficult it is to make the Chinese squad: the world’s top five female ping-pong players are Chinese (Li Jiawei comes in at No. 6), as are the world’s top four men, according to the International Table Tennis Federation ’s August rankings. Let’s just say that “wall of champions ” in Peking University is filled with Chinese names.

But Li, we still like you.

POSTSCRIPT: Wired on “the truth about table tennis .”

Notice it’s all about Moore.

Number Six: DENOUNCE ME:

The Saddleback Forum will be broadcast live on CNN at 5PM Pacific Time, Saturday, August 16, 2008.

Rev. Rick Warren, of the monster Saddleback Church in south California will host both McCain and Obama at a forum on Saturday. Decided by a coin flip Obama will be interviewed first while McCain is sequestered so he can’t hear what Obama says and then the tables will be turned. McCain and Obama will meet briefly for a post forum handshake.

Warren will be the only one asking either candidate any question. Warren is an anti-abortion Southern Baptist who is nonetheless part of a shift away from the religious right’s strict focus on abortion and marriage. The environment, poverty and education have also become pressing concerns, especially for younger evangelicals.

Older-guard evangelical leaders who oppose broadening the agenda have been leaning on Warren. In a stream of statements in the days leading up to the forum, they implored him to press the candidates about their positions on abortion. Most self-described evangelicals are adamant on the abortion issue.

A TIME magazine poll finds that 80% of self-described conservative Christians say they will vote for McCain and 19% pick Obama. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 12 percent of respondents believe Obama is Muslim, and this forum can help him dispel that. For his part McCain has consistently said his faith was his foundation during the years in a North Vietnam prison camp where he repeatedly endured torture. Clearly Obama has more to gain than McCain.

$13 Billion Flop Ends

In March French lawmakers said au revoir to the country’s 35-hour workweek allowing employers to increase working hours - and pay - as the country struggles with high unemployment and stagnating living standards. The 35-hour week, a flagship policy of the former Socialist-led government that gave many people more time off but added to concerns about France’s declining global competitiveness. The bizarre policy went into effect on a trial basis in 1998 and was made mandatory two years later supposedly to force employers to hire more people.

Labor Unions were quick to demand the same pay for a 35-hour week that employers had paid for a 40-hour week. That’s the rub in ending the reduced work week. A parliamentary committee reported that the 35-hour week cost France more than $13 billion a year, casting doubt on a labor ministry study that suggested it had created 350,000 jobs between 1998 and 2002.

A 2003 study of 25 industrialized countries found only Norwegian and Dutch employees worked less time each year than the French, who worked an average 1,431 hours. German workers put in 1,446 hours, British 1,673 hours, Americans 1,792 hours and Koreans 2,390 hours. The policy is slowly changing but the first indication is French productivity is already trending up.

Hypocrisy of obstructionist minority, egotists and “nimbyism” harming everyone else.

Fifty-one percent of Californians support drilling off its coast bringing to 49 states that do support it. Some want to pursue only alternatives and most say do it all.

The Electric Power Research Institute estimates enough wave power can be extracted from coastal waters to account for about 15 percent of California’s electricity production. Wind could provide up to 110 percent, according to a Stanford University study published last year. Wind and Wave generated electricity could replace 125% of California’s electricity.

Offshore wind and wave technologies are promising, but untried. But, current wave technology is mature enough for demonstration testing.

Even before there are concrete plans to do either obstructionist are swarming all over the idea. Speculating about potential damage to the coast’s prized vistas and fish industry.

Northern California’s biggest utility company, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., would connect such wind and wave produced electricity to the power grid.

The Recreational Fishing Alliance is skeptical. concerned wave power may interfere with fisheries as the buoys bob up and down in the waves. Their biggest complaint right now, however, is that local fishermen and residents have had no say in the planning. Fishermen Interested in Safe Hydrokinetics, or FISH is battling for a role in the planning.

Both group frittered for months and missed a federal deadline has passed for gaining an official voice in the legal planning for the wave projects, alongside PG&E and federal energy regulators.

What was probably and hopefully a random act of violence by a troubled individual, put a damper overnight around the world but especially in the US and China for the victims and their families. Doubtless the family and friends of the attacker are aghast with regret for his actions.

This reminds me that mankind continues to have limits short of perfection, by any name, for reasons that will probably remain a mystery to me, but there is no mystery or question that conflict is part of our flawed character. The best efforts of an unopposed, authoritarian government in China which gave up communism for capitalism in order to try to improve the lives of their billion plus population, was unable to prevent this individual assault nor prevent the world from knowing about it now that they have begun their withdrawal from feudalism.

The Chinese government is not shackled by the kind of over ballyhooed “constitutional rights guaranteed” in our history by our constitution, in the words of hypocritical or at least misleading if not dissembling players on the public and private stage in the US. Don’t accuse me of anything, pay attention. I am proud of the US for it’s short role, in years, in human endeavors, all the while recognizing it’s many many imperfections and failures to live up to it’s ideals expressed in the constitution and in our rhetoric so much of the time. Proud, not prideful.

I am also proud, or better, thankful for recent Chinese governments for their conversion to capitalism and their best efforts to date, and understand that every Chinese citizen has every right to be proud of their country despite all that can rightly and severely criticized now and for much of their long 5,000 year history. All governments are made up of human beings inflicted with our varied human nature.

The US has been an active world wide player, for good and evil, mostly for good, at least from our perspective, for most of our short history. Various Chinese governments have spent most of their time horsing around the many smaller, feudal “countries” inside of their diverse territory, making most of their enemies inside of their own changing borders, while the US has many enemies outside of it’s borders. And given the human condition at the heart of this article, like the US, China will also become worthy of envy and the target of hatred, accumulating plenty of unavoidable enemies, not necessarily earned.

Let’s all hope that China succeeds in developing a society that always chooses to compete internationally in the Olympics and on the battlefields of capitalism. A version of democracy which we would favor in the US may or may not emerge in China or elsewhere soon, including in those energy enabled countries, those sitting on and exploiting gas and oil resources for export, so let’s hope capitalism becomes a permanent olympic sport everywhere.

It may be the only common interest that maintains any control on any form of hate driven terrorism that has become a popular export in some parts of the world and which seems now to have a permanent spot on the world stage.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1551441/Obama-called-hypocrite-for-wife’s-Wal-Mart-link.html Here is a brief quote from the article above:

Yet, while her style and performance are winning plaudits on the campaign trail, a little-reported business interest of Mrs Obama’s has opened her husband up to one of the criticisms that politicians fear most - the taint of hypocrisy.

Not only does it appear that Hillary Clinton spews Hypocrisy with her association with Wal-Mart but it appears that Senator Obama’s wife, Michelle Obama has ties with the mega corporation too. The article sited in the link above clearly shows Michelle Obama’s ties with Wal-Mart. She quit her medical position in order to support her husbands campaign but she was re-elected to an Illinois based food processing company who’s largest client is Wal-Mart.

It’s funny that this is in direct contrast of what her husband preaches. Senator Obama supports labor Unions yet Wal-Mart will have nothing to do with Unions. Perhaps this type of hypocrisy is similar to his relationship with his pastor. Obama’s pastor clearly doesn’t like white people or America. He clearly supports radicals like Farrakhan. Yet, Obama chose to go to his church and listen to his sermons for 20 years. I believe Obama stated that he doesn’t share the views of the church. Why would he go to a Church he doesn’t share the views of?

Now his wife is directly associated with Wal-Mart. He clearly states he doesn’t support the views of Wal-Mart. Yet, his wife who supports his Campaign and speaks on his behalf is connected with Wal-Mart. Doesn’t everybody see how crazy this is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/20/us/politics/20walmart.html This article describes Hillary Clinton’s ties to Wal-Mart. She was on the board for 8 years. She still has current ties with them and Bill Clinton created free trade with China, who Wal-Mart is the biggest benifactor in the world from that act.

1. Don’t democrats stand against the principals of big business. Wal-MArt is one of the biggest corporation in the world.
2. Don’t Democrats stand for pro choice. Walmart phamacy won’t sell the morning after pill.

3. Don’t Democrats support labor Unions. Wal-Mart won’t hire Union Employees.

How can the dempocratic Party Continue To Exist With Such Flip Flopping Hypocrisy. Obama’s entire campaign was to get troops out of Iraq Immediately and now his stance seems similar to what Mccain has said all along. Obama gets money from big corpporations. He supports religious leaders who hate America. He makes predjudicial statements ,” My grandmother was a typical white person.” Yet, he promises false hope of change. His campaign is nothing more than the word change. Nearly everything he says is a flip flop. When he is caught in his flip flops his rebuttle is ,”I don’t think that was what I meant.” Does he not even know what he meant?

I don’t think since John Kerry or perhaps Al Gore or wait, Hillary Clinton has the world seen such a flip flopper. Kerry’s plans of ,”in my plan I will….” What was his plan???????? Al Gore when vice president for clinton stating that Iraq was a nation supporting terrorism and that we need to go to war with them. Then he totally changed his tune when he was running. Hillary one of the biggest War supporters out there flip floppinjg back and forth to what ever group she was speaking to.

Now we Have Obama who flip flops almost daily.

Does no one see the hypocrisy??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Grocery store tabloid-like story puzzler.

An Associated Press story by Steven Gutkin with an August 7, 2008 Jerusalem printed in many U. S. newspapers exaggerates, misrepresents, and contorts important facts. The story says “Israel is building up its strike capability… has purchased 90 F-16I fighter planes, and will receive 11 more by the end of the year.” The story also reports Israel has bought two more Dolphin class nuclear missile capable submarines from Germany.

It turn out this is old news. Israel has indeed taken delivery of 90 F-16I fighter planes so far and they can carry enough fuel to reach Iran without refueling, and Israeli will indeed receive 11 more by the end of next year. But, the first F16I deliveries starting in 2004 and they have been delivered at a rate of two per month since. Also Israel did buy two Dolphin submarines in 2006 from Germany reportedly capable of firing nuclear-armed warheads - in addition to the three it already had.

Gutkin also says “Israeli intelligence is active inside Iranian territory” as if that were news.

Despite a bellowing headline “Israel mulls military action for Iran nukes” the story is not substantive but simply sensationalism and should be on the Opinion page and not in a news report.

There is nothing new here and Associated Press editors should be ashamed of its portrayal otherwise. Local newspapers look silly or worse for printing such claptrap. What is unclear is what was the purpose of Mr. Gutkin’s report from Jerusalem and who if anyone is watching the Associate Press and local newspaper editors desk.

I must not have dreamed during a recent night of sleep because nothing was on my mind when I woke up.

Later, while sitting in a waiting room, I saw a title on an old Time magazine, “The Clean Energy Myth.” That jump started the blues.

Later, I head “Master Trader Sell High, Buy Low” Nancy Pelosi, repeatedly, on various 24/7 hypotainment channels, as if protesting in the 60s, chanting “FREE OUR OIL”.

After all, she says, drilling is a HOAX. Perhaps it’s just a case of mass hysteria that we think it goes on all of the time around the world.

Full fledged depression set in and I went to another Dr Office to pickup a stronger prescription and to take a look at the magazines there.

Here I digress: The obvious benefit of stealing magazines from waiting rooms is the cost savings.

Less obvious benefits are that this old “news” can be evaluated in light of subsequent new “news” or reformed “news” or more recently fictionalized “news”. After the passage of “time”, when we enter the historical phase of the “news”, which is supposedly the unemotional consideration of the surviving story (aka history), by non partisans, usually with a PhD for street cred.

Here I return: The glimpse of euphoria came when I read much of this Forbes article about a scientific breakthrough that may be a crucial part of a future solution to secure, local, clean energy, replicating photosynthesis. In my own way, I said a little prayer. For the future.

Then I remembered that no matter what we want or pray for, oil and coal are our only real bridge to the unknown future. The blues returned.

At some point, I remembered something a good friend told me a few years ago: “We should save some of this oil for our kids’ kids because we are going to run out of it.” Full fledged depression was again looming.

So I picked up the phone to see if my doctor had any new magazines in yet, while my mind relentlessly force rotated two thoughts in my head:

“Free Our Oil” and

my own dread that we may never run out of oil.

POSTSCRIPT: I throw the prescriptions away and keep the magazines. My insurance pays for the doctor. Cheap hypotainment if I walk to the Dr. BTW, if you have not read this Onion article about Al Gore, you will be glad once that is rectified.

Hypocrites and Crooks Abound in Newark New Jersey

Adventures of the Senator Mayor. Special position for special people

Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, 72, has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison on Tuesday for his role in the cut-rate sales of city land to his former mistress, 39 year old Tamika Riley, who got 15 months. James apologized to his wife of 44-years “for his human frailties.”

The judge in letting James skate, reduced his sentence from the requested 20-years said James “has accomplished much in his life,” and the prosecution request for up to 20 years “disappoints me and shocks me,”

James was the second African American Mayor of Newark and served five, four-year terms before declining to run for re-election. From June 1999 until leaving his position as Mayor in July 2006, James simultaneously served as Mayor of Newark and a Democrat New Jersey State Senator.

Sounds like there is plenty of hyprocirsy to go around in Newark, New Jersey.

Nuclear Power Conversations on an Airline

A stranger, new to flying, was seated next to a little girl on an airplane, turned to her and said, ‘Let’s talk. I’ve heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.’ The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, ‘What would you like to talk about?‘ ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said the stranger. ‘How about nuclear power?’ and he smiles.

‘OK, ‘ she said. ‘That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?’

The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl’s intelligence, thinks about it and says, ‘Hmmm, I have no idea.’

To which the little girl replies, ‘Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don’t know sh*t?