The Mush in California's Middle - George F. Will

"Becoming governor in 2003, when Gov. Gray Davis was recalled, Schwarzenegger promised frugality. But even adjusting for inflation and population growth, spending has increased 20 percent under Schwarzenegger. The $102 billion general fund budget is $15 billion in deficit. This year Sacramento will swallow 9.58 percent of personal income, up from 8.78 under Davis, who was recalled because . . . does anyone remember?"

And Now a Moment of Realism - WSJ.com

"Job security and job satisfaction are both high in America too. 'In Gallup's August 2008 survey, 48% working Americans said they were completely satisfied, and another 42% somewhat satisfied. Only 9% were dissatisfied with their jobs.' And sorry, Lou Dobbs, that war on the middle class and the outsourcing of America that you complain about every night? Americans aren't buying it. Only 8% worry about their jobs being outsourced to foreign competition. Scott Hodge of the Tax Foundation tells me this squares with the economic data. 'Very few jobs are lost each year to companies moving jobs offshore,' he says."

www.mysanantonio.com >> Jonathan Gurwitz - There is not much that is bipartisan about Barack Obama

"But just as in Springfield, Obama proved to be nothing more than a shrewd and opportunistic partisan. He could have joined the bipartisan “Gang of 14” that negotiated a halt to divisive judicial nominations, but didn't. He could have been a leader for bipartisan compromises on immigration, terrorist surveillance and energy, but wasn't.

According to a Washington Post database, Obama votes with his party 96 percent of the time, which makes him tied for the eleventh most partisan member of the Senate. At 96.6 percent, his running mate Joe Biden is the eighth most partisan senator.

By comparison, John McCain votes with his party 88.3 percent of the time which — here's a comment on the true nature of bipartisanship in Washington — makes him 65th in the partisan rankings."

Biden Wanted to Break Up Iraq - WSJ.com

"At the Democratic convention, Joe Biden had the opportunity to showcase his foreign policy experience. Yet his principal and most recent foreign policy initiative -- his plan for the soft partition of Iraq -- was glaringly absent from his acceptance speech. When Barack Obama named his running mate, he ticked off Mr. Biden's work on a range of other foreign policy issues -- from chemical weapons to Bosnia. But there was no mention of Mr. Biden's plan for Iraq."

YouTube - The Amazing Lyrebird of Australia - Unseen Footage

And now for something completely different:

Barack Obama : Political Career Timeline

Interesting bits (excerpted):

* 1996, Jan - Obama has his four competitor petitions invalidated; he emerges as the only candidate

* 2001 - Obama receives legal services contract with Illinois firm owned by Robert Blackwell, Jr. A few months later, Obama writes a letter on Illinois Senate letterhead in support of a tourism grant for a different Blackwell company. The next day, "Obama's U.S. Senate campaign received a $1,000 donation from Blackwell... In the presidential race he is credited on Obama's website with committing to raise $100,000 to $200,000 for Obama's campaign."

Obama reported $98,158 income for providing legal services; $80,000 was from Blackwell's firm."Illinois ethics disclosure forms are designed to reveal possible financial conflicts by lawmakers... Obama did not specify that EKI provided him with the bulk of the private-sector compensation he received... he attached a multi-page list of all the law firm's clients, which included EKI among hundreds."

* 2003 - Obama begins running for US Senate; the leading Democratic candidate will withdraw in 2004 due to a sex scandal that Obama's campaign urged the Chicago Tribune to report.

* 2004, Jun - Obama's Republican opponent withdraws due to sex scandal

* 2005 - Obama purchases land from neighbor and now-indicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko

* 2007, Mar - Obama endorses controversial Chicago alderman Dorothy "The Hat" Tillman, who reportedly "[deployed] city resources to hire her family and reward campaign contributors."

* 2007, Apr - Controversy over Obama's MySpace page

* 2007, May - Obama's campaign releases its sophisticated Facebook application, only hours "after the company launched the developer platform." TechPresident argues that Facebook gave the Obama camp an advantage: "the other campaigns found out about Platform’s with the rest of us, on Friday, May 25" and reports that "Chris Hughes, a co-founder of Facebook, is working on the Obama campaign.

I went to the source page to find out what Obama has done with his life other than run for office.

Answer: Not much.

But then many of the candidates today fall into that unfortunate pattern. Once you subtract out military, community service, working on other people's campaigns, or being on a political staff of some sort, there is nothing left. They groom themselves (or are groomed by others) for a political life and never look back.

How are we that much different than the British, with their House of Lords?

Themes for the Barackathon - HUMAN EVENTS

"First, as they did in 2004, the Dems will stage a parade of their leaders proclaiming fealty to “the troops,” complete with a long line of veterans and retired generals who will declare their belief that Obama-Biden are their most faithful friends. That snow job melted in 2004 because the parade included so many Dems -- including Barbara Boxer and Barney Frank -- who have based their careers on contempt for the military.

This time, the Dems will do it better. Look for John Kerry to lead the pack condemning the “swift-boating” of Obama, and others to praise Obama’s promises to rebuild the military. And through the week, no one will try to penetrate the rhetoric."

Isn’t it About Time for Obama to shoot his Goose? - HUMAN EVENTS

"And this brings us to the question which is burning in my mind right now: Isn’t it about time for Obama to shoot his goose? After all, like Hillary, Ford, and Kerry, he has nothing in common with southerners. He hates everything they love. He hates guns, he hates the U.S. military, he hates the fact that we are winning in Iraq, and he hates the fact that we are the world’s sole superpower. His latest push for universal pre-school also proves his disdain and distrust for the family and parental control over education; both of which are near and dear to the hearts of southerners."

My Way News - Jailed Cuban punk rocker to stand trial Friday

"Authorities arrested the 39-year-old lead singer of Porno para Ricardo at his Havana home on Monday, shortly after the band had completed work on a new album. Cuban law defines 'social dangerousness' as behavior contrary to 'communist morality,' and police use it to detain offenders before they have a chance to commit a crime."

Here we call it Political Correctness.

It is not punishable by jail time (yet).

Joe Biden: Hair We Can Believe In - HUMAN EVENTS

"Dismissing his theft of Kinnock's speech, Biden said at the time: 'So what if I didn't attribute it to Kinnock? I can't quite understand this. If I was making up who I was, then that's one thing.'

But Biden was making up who he was. And he was making up what kind of country this is."

Emphasis mine.

Obama, Biden's Son Linked by Earmarks

"Since Obama announced his selection of Biden on Saturday, attention has focused on Biden's lobbying connections as well as his son's lobbying activities. R. Hunter Biden is one of many relatives of members of Congress who work as lobbyists."

Working for change!

Paper currency and checks also accepted.

Google LatLong: From Google Maps to gold medal

"After returning home to Boise, Idaho, I exported the GPS data to several different formats, one of which I was able to launch with Google Earth. I was then able to trace the entire course from the comfort of my home half a world away and find a similar route to train on back in Boise."

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

"'I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,' Biden said. 'I mean, that's a storybook, man.'"

Why Microsoft and Intel tried to kill the XO $100 laptop - Times Online

"Nicholas Negroponte had a vision: to build a $100 laptop and give away millions to educate the world’s poorest children. And then the fat-cat multinationals got scared and broke it..."

This may be a dupe. Too lazy to look, plus developing related stories, etc.

Perot Charts » Charting Government Fiscal Irresponsibility

"The American people must wake up and face the reality that promises made in the past will soon bankrupt this nation. These problems are explained in an easy-to-understand chart presentation discussed further at the bottom of this page. Comments to the charts and other material described to the right are encouraged."

He's BAAAACK.