Hey Democrats, You Disinvited the wrong 'Guest'!

So, the whiny Democrats managed to get Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin dis-invited from the anti-Iran rally outside the UN next week. Too bad that none of the Democrat politicians had the balls to call for the US to refuse Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad entry into the US. Despite being the leader of Iran, he still needs to apply for a visa to attend UN meetings. While the US has agreed to grant most every visa application for UN purposes, they always reserved the right to refuse visas and do refuse visas. So far just not for this maniac.

From last year's visit:

The State Department had to seek a special waiver for Ahmadinejad from the Department of Homeland Security because of unresolved allegations that he was involved in the 1979-81 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, in which 52 hostages were held for 444 days. - Washington Post

He is scheduled to speak this next Tuesday at the UN, provided he gets a visa. According to this news report (US Presidential Nominee Calls for Talks to Iran - FARS News) he is still waiting for one.

Now eleven Republican Senators have asked the State Department not to issue Ahmadinejad a visa:

Dear Secretary Rice:

The 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly will begin on September 16, 2008 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. We are aware that President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his officials want to participate as members of the United Nations (UN).

As you know, the Reagan Administration denied Palestine Liberation Organization leader, Yasser Arafat, a visa to participate at the UN General Assembly in 1988 for his connections with terrorist acivities. We oppose President Ahmadinejad’s participation at the UN and ask for you to exercise your authority to deny his entry to the United States.

President Ahmadinejad is a clear adversary of the United States and other democratic nations that uphold liberty and freedom. Iran’s leaders continue to pursue the development and acquisition of nuclear weapon capabilities. They continue to support terrorist organizations around the world, which have been linked to training insurgents in Iraq. Iran also regularly threatens our close ally, Israel. Most recently, President Ahmadinejad called Israel a “germ of corruption” and stated that they will be “removed soon”. These actions demonstrate Iran’s destructive intentions rather than a constructive dialogue.

We understand that President Ahmadinejad’s presence in the United States is permitted under umbrella of P.L. 80-357, the United Nations Headquarters Agreement. However, we must convey our belief that at this time, Iranian leaders should not be allowed to enter the United States, even under the auspices of the U.N. It is unfortunate that the United Nations allows Iran to participate in the General Assembly. When leaders are openly working against the international community‘s efforts to address problems of concern, we should not provide them a bully pulpit.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and we look forward to your response.

Sincerely, [Note: Republican Senators] John Barrasso Wayne Allard, Jim Bunning, Christopher Bond, Richard Burr, Saxby Chambliss, Thad Coburn, Jim Inhofe, Lindsey Graham, John Thune, George Voinovich. Mike Enzi - (Found at Little Chicago Review)

The Democrats are very concerned about making sure that Sarah Palin does not get a free soapbox to benefit from, lest she steal away more previously-loyal Democrat supports. This is a perfect example of how screwed up Democrat priorities are in that not only do they not have a problem with Iran taking advantage of this soapbox to insult and threaten us* and others, but they also have no problem in talking with Iran as Senator Obama has pledged to do if elected President. Why wait Senator? Why not go for the photo op next week.

* Note that Senator Clinton was ready to speak out and take a stand against him.
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MSNBC -Beyond Bad

I don't get much time to watch any news. If I can, I'll try and catch World News Tonight on ABC. Last night I had some free time and while I normally prefer CNN and Fox News, I put on MSNBC to see what all the fuss is about Keith Olbermann.

Wow is that guy bad. If the people in charge of MSNBC think this is news then they should be fired. Just as bad was the new lady anchor that followed his show. I think she ranted for about 10 minutes before stopping to take a breath and only because she needed to give her guest an opportunity to speak. There is no news coverage there. There isn't even opinion there. It's just crap.

I am a GE shareholder and I am not amused. Come to think of it, I currently own a little Microsoft as well. They should sell their share like they want to and let NBC rebuild this station from scratch.

People hate Fox News? At least they are never screaming at the TV camera. they also have Geraldo...

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US Army Jeep in Zurich, Switzerland - Photo

While in Zurich I ran across this old US Army Jeep:

It still looks good!
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Man in Attempted DC Mugging Pulls Concealed Handgun in Defense

There is news of two very surprised robbers who choose their intended victim poorly:

Shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday, a retired police officer was walking his dog in the 5900 block of 13th Street in Northwest when two men approached him with a gun and tried to rob him, police said.

The officer pulled out his gun and the robbers shot at him. The officer then returned fire, police said. - NBC4, washington, DC

My understanding is that even under the DC gun ban, retired policemen are allowed to own handguns. I will also assume that he was carrying the concealed weapon legally. This is a right that the rest of the DC population does not currently have, nor is this something the local DC Government plans to permit as part of their changes to their gun laws in response to the Supreme Court's Heller decision.

He thinks he hit one of the two attackers. Unfortunately he was shot as well. It is hard to judge if he might have come out of this better if he had just given them what they wanted, but as a former cop, he surely knew that DC muggings are often very brutal. Take this other recent incident:

Brian Beutler, a leading liberal blogger was shot three times in the stomach during a mugging, I'm told by mutual friends (then confirmed by TPM). It's especially sad as this poor guy had no business getting shot -- some desperate guy wanted his cellphone. - AmSpec Blog

Washington, DC is a dangerous place. A place where if I could carry a concealed handgun, I would. However, for some idiot reason, the Democrats in charge of the city see us as the problem and not the criminals who are causing all the problems. they know who the criminals are as they keep dropping charges against them and releasing them from jail.

Previous:
Tell it to the Criminals - 3 July 2008
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AIG's Role in the Subprime Mortgage Mess Explained

I had posted a slideshow back in February (here) explaining the subprime mortgage mess. AIG is in trouble mainly because it insured many of the securities that these mortgages were resold under.

"But the Security was insured. What about the insurers?"

"Are you kidding? There is no way they have enough money set aside to cover this mess. They fucked up."

Click on the slides above to view the full slideshow and to review how we got here in the first place.

Previous:
The Subprime Mess Explained (SubPrime Primer) - 28 Feb 2008
*** Video: Real Estate Prices illustrated via a Roller Coaster Ride *** - 06 Apr 07
Interest Only - Worse than Renting - 06 Dec 07
*** Mortgage 'Rate-Freeze' Does Not Delay Loan Reset *** - 08 Dec 07

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Platinum Price Drops 50% in three Months!

Talk about an asset bubble popping!

As you can see, the other precious metals are not doing to well either, with gold well off its high of over $1,000 an ounce of a couple months back. While not getting much attention at the moment, it does seem that the gold bubble has burst as it returns to the price it was at a year ago. That makes sense as the run up of the price, just with oil and housing, was mostly related to people purchasing the commodity under the belief that it will always go up. Well, I guess all of this depends on where you bought in. If you bought gold a year ago, you're look at a ten percent appreciation, more or less depending on your costs, which is decent, especially in this current market. But you could have sold at well over $900. Not doing so looks kind of foolish now, and greedy.

(Graph found at Casey Research)

UPDATE:
Well, look what happens right after I post this:

NEW YORK (AP) - Gold prices exploded Wednesday—posting the biggest one-day gain ever in dollar terms—as fears of more credit market turmoil unnerved investors and triggered a flood of safe-haven buying.

Gold for December delivery rose as much as $90.40, or 11.6 percent, to $870.90 an ounce in after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after jumping $70 to settle at $850.50 in the regular session. That was the biggest one-day price jump ever; gold's previous single-day record was a $64 gain on Jan. 29, 1980. - Breitbart

Seems that the US Government bailout of AIG spooked lots of people. I am sure the Russian stock market collapse was a contributor as well. All I can say with all the crazy movements of stocks and precious metals is that in confusion there is profit, for someone. For me, I am just taking it easy and riding this storm out, buying stock whenever I get enough money to do so.

Previous:
Sell Signals on Gold - 30 January 08
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Dear RNC, How are those Earmarks Working out for you?

Today I received a fundraising letter from the Republican National Convention:


It starts out:

I don't want to believe you've abandoned the Republican Party, but I have to ask ... Have you given up?

Well lets see. I am pretty sure my answer would be something like:

Dear Mr. Morgan,

Thanks for your fundraising letter. In response to your question asking if I have given up, my response is that I have given up on the RNC as much as the Republicans in congress have given up on the goal of ending obscene congressional earmarks. Maybe if Republican members of Congress behaved more like their fellow Republican supporters wished they would behave, the RNC would not need so much money to whitewash over their bad behavior.

I am not going to waste my time and send back a message. My missing donation envelope is the only message they understand. I already sent one back noting that they need to kill earmarks and their response appears to be this BS form letter. Really, threatening that we have to support the Republican candidates simply because the Democrats are worse is a lousy way to sell your candidate. You might as well have members of Congress up for (re)election promise to steal less than their Democrat opponents.

This of course is just one more reason to support McCain/Palin because I sure hope he takes the first earmark-laden bill that reaches his desk and veto-kicks it back to Congress.

Previous:
Rep. Tom Davis - Good Riddance - 19 May 2008
Omnibus Spending Bill Earmarks - $78.36 From Each Of Us - 19 Dec 2007
$20 billion in pork = $66 Each = AMT Fix - 18 Nov 2007
Murtha in My Pocket - 14 Aug 2007
There is simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget - DeLay - 14 Sept 2005
Alaska Screws over Rural Residents in Quest for Pork* - 4 May 2006
Alaska: All Your Taxes Are Belongs To Us* - 27 Aug 2006

* - Pre Governor Palin (In case you were wondering)
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Only in Russia: Oil Producers Losing Millions of Dollars

From today's Fairplay Daily News:

THE ABRUPT fall in the international price of crude oil below $90 per barrel has trapped Russian oil exporters, the second-largest in the world by volume after Saudi Arabia.

For the first time in their history, Russia's oil producers, led by government-owned Rosneft and publicly listed LUKoil, are transferring almost every penny they receive from customers for crude oil exports straight into the state budget.

Urals blend is now priced in Rotterdam at $88 per barrel. With the Primorsk FOB Urals price (ex-freight, clearing fees and port charges) at about $86/bbl, Russian companies are paying $68/bbl in export duties and another $17.40/bbl in oil extraction taxes. That results in more than $85/bbl being paid into the treasury in these two taxes alone.

Moscow bank analysts calculated that only meagre amounts go back to producers after tax and other costs are taken out, leaving the producers with an operating loss of $13/bbl.

A report by UBS in Moscow conceded that the Kremlin must rapidly raise its tax charges, saying that this is “a reminder of how vulnerable Russian oil companies are to a decline in oil prices”. - Fairplay

Of course once the profit is taken out of the product it makes little sense to actually do business, and even less so when the Government taxes you into the loss column. Even funnier in that everyone blames the oil companies for being evil and gouging customers...

So, just what is Russia doing with all that tax money? Just what is Russia going to do when the price of oil is $70 a barrel later this year and there is less money to steal?

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Eleanor Holmes Norton: Legal Gun Ownership = Biggest Terrorist Threat to Washington, DC

On the way home from work on Thursday, September, 11th, I was listening to NPR on the radio (on local station WAMU) where they did a short interview with Washington DC's Congressional Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton.

The discussion centered on Federal Funds spent to protect Washington, DC from a terrorist attack. The interviewer then asked what was the biggest act to protect Washington, DC from another attack (or what was the biggest threat to DC) and she basically said that the biggest 'terrorist threat' to Washington, DC was the push in Congress to permit legal gun ownership by Washington, DC residents. (Actually, she stated it the other way around in terms of defeating another bill that would have removed all local restrictions limiting legal gun ownership. But the meaning and end result is the same.)

Unfortunately, I am unable to locate the audio or transcript of the interview but I know what I heard. If anyone can locate that interview, I would love to put her exact words up here but seems that as she was a small part in a bigger story the transcript is not up. But how about that. Either she is comparing law abiding gun owners with terrorists or she is completely dismissing the terrorist threat. After all, on September 11th, the terrorists did not attack using guns, legal or not. They attacked using box cutters and hijacked commercial airliners.

Here is a link to an audio interview she did on 10 September.

"Why would we make the Nation's Capital a wide open country for guns seven years after 9/11?" - Eleanor Holmes Norton, 10 September 2008

She is clearly scaremongering and not only that; she is in effect demonizing law abiding gun owners. And you would think that people are trying to force DC to be the first District in the US to permit gun ownership and not one of the last. That people are going to be walking around DC with assault rifles and "Uzi handguns", just like the DC sniper and other criminals. There is the rub in all this in that all the current laws do is prevent lawful owners from owning firearms. The criminals already have the guns. She is also very disingenuously claiming that they will not be able to track who has guns, because the bill will ban handgun registration, as if they know who has the guns now, with the city swimming in gun crime.

Not only that but she completely distorts who the NRA represents, picturing it as an 'evil' lobby of the gun industry. Sure you can call it a lobby but for gun owners. And the only reason gun owners need a group to lobby Congress on their behalf, is because of Congressmen and women like Mrs. Norton who take a right and arbitrarily, and illegally, decide to take that right away from the law abiding because they don't have the stomach or willpower to put those who use the right in prison where they belong.

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No Moonbat Shortage Outside the White House

I went walking around Washington, DC on Sunday morning. As usual, there was no shortage of moonbats protesting around.

This was my favorite. I didn't get a chance to talk to him to point out that by using his line of thinking the Secret Service must be doing a great job since their task is to protect the President. That surely would include protection from arrest. Then again, talking to moonbats is not something I do if I can avoid it. I had seen this guy before. Here he is protesting Turkey outside the White House.

Wrong on three accounts. Do these people have day jobs? Are they as nutty at work as well? This guy was singing. At least he had a decent voice.

This one I thought was the funniest. Talk about Democracy. Washington, DC is the best example of Democracy. Because only in a screwed up place like Washington, DC can a disgrace like Marion Barry get elected into Government, after being convicted of a serious crime. (Well, OK, New York has Charles Rangel and New Orleans had re-elected William Jefferson, the congressman caught with a freezer full of cash he took in bribes. Just a couple examples...) These are all people who probably would not be in public service if the rest of the country had its say. Sometimes I wonder if these pockets of the country elect such people as their way of poking the rest of us in the eye. In the end, they are the ones who are suffering as by failing to elect the best in their neighborhoods, there is no greater pool of minorities that can then rise higher into national office.

Anyway, if the US is such a police state as all these moonbats think, could they be any more stupid for coming right to the White House to show the Government that they are onto them? After all, if the Government is that evil, what is to stop them from whisking these people away and dropping them into the Atlantic. If anything, this Government shows extreme tolerance.

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Maritime Monday 127 Posted At gCaptain

This week's edition of Maritime Monday has been posted at gCaptain.

Maritime Monday 127

You can find last week’s edition here.

You can find Maritime Monday 77 here. (Published 24 September 2007).

(Sleeping with the fishes: Illegal bluefin tuna ranching has links with the Mafia - Daily Mail, UK)

Previous Editions:
As linked below or click on the label ‘MaritimeMonday’:

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 36 - 37 - 38 - 39 - 40 - 41 - 42 - 43 - 44 - 45 - 46 - 47 - 48 - 49 - 50 - 51 - 52 - 53 - 54 - 55 - 56 - 57 - 58 - 59 - 60 - 61 - 62 - 63 - 64 - 65 - 66 - 67 - 68 - 69 - 70 - 71 - 72 - 73 - 74 - 75 - 76 - 77 - 78 - 79 - 80 - 81 - 82 - 83 - 84 - 85 - 86 - 87 - 88 - 89 - 90 - 91 - 92 - 93 - 94 - 95 - 96 - 97 - 98

gCaptain editions: 99 - 100 - 101 - 102 - 103 - 104 - 105 - 106 - 107 - 108 - 109 - 110 - 111 - 112 - 113 - 114 - 115 - 116 - 117 - 118 - 119 - 120 - 121 - 122 - 123 - 123a - 124 - 125 - 126 - 127 - 128 - 129 - 130

***

Drill Now - Pay Less - Vote GOP

These signs have popped up all around McLean, Virginia

I agree.

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Sunday Brunch - Photo

Nothing like a good brunch. In this case potatoes, onions, tomatoes and Bacon.

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Update: Benedict Obama 2008: Presidential Victory through defeat in Iraq

I wrote the following back in early 2007:

While the press may not be portraying Iraq as anything close to victory, the election is about two years away, and when people go to vote, they will be judging Iraq as is it is at the time that they vote, not at the time that the candidates have staked their position. - FFI, 18 Feb 2007

Now that we are getting close to the election, my comment is coming true:

Recent success in Iraq has spelled trouble for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, whose campaign was born out of anti-war sentiment and who must now acknowledge improvements while also shifting focus to other issues of importance to voters.

“Barack Obama has a real problem with Iraq,” said Doug Schoen, a political pollster and former adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

The latest polls show a drastic turnaround in public opinion when it comes to the Iraq war, where an ongoing troop surge has reduced violence and helped stabilize the country. - DC Examiner

His 'problem' is only going to get worse as the election approaches. That's a good thing because it means we are winning the War in Iraq and elsewhere overseas.

Previous:
Benedict Clinton 2008, Benedict Obama 2008: Presidential Victory through defeat in Iraq - 18 Feb 2007
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McCain's 90% to Obama's 97%

Here is one statement Barack Obama made about John McCain during his acceptance speech:

And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.

Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but, really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than 90 percent of the time?

(APPLAUSE)

I don't know about you, but I am not ready to take a 10 percent chance on change. - NY Times

What he did not mention is how often he votes with the liberal wing of his own party. That is after all the part of the Democrat Party that is running both houses of Congress.

He said McCain, far from being a maverick who’s "broken with his party," has voted to support Bush policies 90 percent of the time. True enough, but by the same measure Obama has voted with fellow Democrats in the Senate 97 percent of the time. - Factcheck.Org

Not exactly change, is it? At least not by his definition, and certainly not by any sensible person's definition either.

Obama, a 3 percent chance of change.
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