What Really Matters To The Teachers Union? Hint: It Ain't Teaching

I was wrong. I used to believe that the teachers’ union didn’t give a darn about the children they educated and that their sole priority was money. I now know better. Money isn’t number one with the teachers’ union. Doctrine is.
Back in September, the state of Washington was awarded a $13.2 million grant from the National Math and Science Initiative. The NMSI is the creation of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Dell Computers’ Michael Dell and others who are concerned at how poorly prepared American students are to participate in the high tech sector of our economy. Currently, only 18 percent of high school seniors qualify as adequately proficient in science. With a decreasing number of American students graduating with the minimal math and engineering competence necessary to fill the high tech labor pool, these businesses have a vested interest in promoting education in these fields.

More and more, computer and software firms are forced to look abroad for the talent needed to satisfy their labor requirements. Microsoft already outsources a considerable proportion of its software engineering to Communist China. The same United States Congress that has tried every underhanded trick to grant amnesty to illegal aliens has been reluctant to increase the number of work visas for high tech workers. This has created so severe a shortage of competent engineers that it has become an impediment to growth. Unable to find or import the labor they need, our high tech firms have been forced to outsource an ever-greater share of their engineering work, with economic and national security ramifications. For example, computer chips, hard drives and other peripherals imported from China have been found to be infected with trojans and trapdoors that would give Chinese intelligence access to our networks.

Understanding that the current political and educational environment will not solve the problem, the NMSI has endeavored to develop more home grown talent, by encouraging and rewarding education in the needed specialties.

For those who do not practice willful ignorance, the problem stands out in vivid relief. Our teachers know not of what they teach or how to teach what they do know. Two-thirds of all American physical science courses are being taught by teachers who did not major in the subject that they teach. One third of all pupils enrolled in math classes are being taught by non-majors. And, considering that, as a major in college and as a profession, education generally collects those who struggle to keep their heads above water in the shallow end of the aptitude pool, even these woeful numbers overestimate the condition of our math and science education.

Math and science education is so substandard in Washington that the state has repeatedly postponed full implementation of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning graduation requirements. It will now be at least 2013 before the math and science WASL is enforced. And teachers know that all they have to do to force further postponements is to continue doing a lousy job. That’s known as a perverse incentive.
If you want a second opinion, the Scholastic Aptitude Test scores for last year’s graduating class were the lowest in six years.

When the grant was announced, Governor Christine Gregoire crowed, “This award will help us provide significant additional support to teachers and students and, ultimately, will move us closer to a world-class, learner-focused education system.”
But then, her most loyal political benefactors, the Washington Education Association, got involved. The WEA decreed that certain clauses in the grant conflicted with the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the state. Specifically, the offending passages would reward teachers whose classrooms yield the best results. To the WEA, this qualifies as merit pay, and the WEA does not tolerate merit pay.

And so, because the WEA would not permit the state to fulfill its end of the bargain, the state had to give the money back. The Washington Education Association would rather see Washington’s children founder in perpetual mediocrity than allow the infection of merit pay to gain a toehold in the state.

It’s pitiful that while even Red China has permitted market incentives to inject vigor into its economy, American teachers’ unions elect to pursue the same sort of model that has made North Korea and Cuba the cesspools they are. If not for the parasitic passive absorption of vitality from the culture and economy it rejects, the WEA’s prohibitions would yield a similar squalor in our schools.

It’s doctrine first, money second and students last.

Barack Obama Disputes Barack Obama

I guess this is just more evidence of Obama's impeccable judgment. He's never, ever wrong.

Obama: Who Needs Facts When You're Such A Talented Liar?

Barack Obama recently blamed Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh for inciting a 100% increase in anti-Hispanic hate crimes. Aside from the loathsome Clintonesque smear, there has not been a 100% increase in anti-Hispanic crime - not even close. He just made it up.

Obama: The Christian Right Is Tearing Us Apart?

Gateway Pundit has turned up some amazing Obama video about who the source of division is in this country. And no, it's not his church. It's yours.



Here's Obama unfiltered with Anne Coulter's take.

What Does Peace Look Like To Democrats

According to John Kerry, it looks like this.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) believes that on September 11 "we were basically at peace."

Asked to clarify his remarks, specifically asking about the attacks on the U.S.S. Cole during Barack Obama campaign conference call, Kerry said, "well, we hadn't declared war," The Hill's Sam Youngman reports.

Asked if al Qaeda was a threat at the time, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee said, "well yes, obviously they were a threat. But, fundamentally we were not at war at that point in time."

Kerry also called John McCain "out of step with history and facts."

(Editor's note: John Kerry thinks ANYBODY is out of step with history and facts?)

UPDATE: Responding to Kerry's claim, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz said: "It’s absolutely critical that the next Commander in Chief understands the challenges America faces. Yet it’s clear that Barack Obama has a thin understanding of history and fails to grasp the threat of terrorism."

"After a week’s worth of examples demonstrating Obama’s lack of preparedness to serve as president, his campaign is understandably desperate to shift the focus. Considering it’s now been 873 days since Obama visited Iraq, any suggestion that he even understands what’s happening on the ground is laughable."

I'm Certain That Barack Obama Knew Absolutely Nothing About Michael Pfleger

When he slipped a $100,000 earmark into the federal budget for the radical priest.

"Typical of Mr. Obama’s earmarks was a $100,000 grant for a youth center at a Catholic church run by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, a controversial priest who was one of the few South Side clergymen to back Mr. Obama against Mr. Rush.

Father Pfleger has long worked with South Side political leaders to reduce crime and improve the community. But he has drawn fire from some quarters for defending the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and inviting him to speak at his church. Father Pfleger, who did not return calls for comment, is one of the religious leaders whose “faith testimonials” Mr. Obama has posted on his presidential campaign Web site."

Another Foreign Leader For Barack Obama

The Iranian Mullahs have chosen their man, and it's he who must not be middle named.

Iran Releases Film Criticizing Christianity - Riots Don't Erupt Throughout Chistendom

Gateway Pundit is keeping tabs on the Iranian retaliatory strike against Fitna.

The running tally so far,


** 0 Christian riots
** 0 Embassies torched
** 0 Imams murdered
** 0 death threats
** And, 0 major media reports on its release.

I'm Sure Barack Obama Doesn't Know Anything About This Either

Just another Sunday at Barack Obama's church.

Nancy Pelosi Praises Iran's "Goodwill"

Don't expect this interview to get wide exposure from the Mainstream Media.

Nancy Pelosi speaking to the San Francisco Chronicle: "Well, the purpose of the surge was to provide a secure space, a time for the political change to occur to accomplish the reconciliation. That didn’t happen. Whatever the military success, and progress that may have been made, the surge didn’t accomplish its goal. And some of the success of the surge is that the goodwill of the Iranians-they decided in Basra when the fighting would end, they negotiated that cessation of hostilities-the Iranians."

Obama Supporters Crap On Police Memorial

This sort of places Barack Hussein Obama's indifference to Memorial Day in perspective.\

Portland police officers have asked for an apology after they said organizers of a Barack Obama rally set up Porta-Potties on a memorial honoring fallen officers.

Earlier this month, 75,000 people gathered in Waterfront Park in downtown Portland to hear Obama speak at a pre-primary rally.

Officer Thomas Brennan, a seven-year veteran with the Portland Police Bureau, said he was happy to help at the rally after being called in on his day off.

"On short notice, a lot of people had to cancel trips. But they were glad to do it," Brennan said. "It was very memorable, in more ways than one."

Brennan, who controlled the crowd near the Portland Police Memorial, noticed several Porta Potties set up in the middle of the memorial. Brennan had been at the site five days earlier for an annual memorial service and a flag was still set at half mast on the day of the rally.

"There was plenty of room elsewhere so space wasn't an issue," Brennan said. "So someone used some really poor decision making, whoever elected to put them there. I mean, it's somewhat hallowed ground, I guess you could call it."

Barack Obama: Change That Not Even The New York Times Can Believe In

He's been for it and against it so many times, that it's hard to keep up. Although the New York Times gives it a go.

Mr. McCain, who has almost daily raised Mr. Obama’s stated willingness to meet with the Iranians, hit the theme again Wednesday, asking a crowd in Reno, Nev., “Why is it that Senator Obama wants to sit down with the president of Iran, but hasn’t yet sat down with General Petraeus, the leader of our troops?”

Later, Mr. Obama dismissed the critique, saying: “This is a typical sarcastic comment that doesn’t have anything to do with the substance and is patently untrue, since I just saw General Petraeus when he was testifying in Washington.”

This week, Mr. Obama said that he was still considering meeting with Iranian leaders, though he would not necessarily guarantee a direct meeting with Mr. Ahmadinejad.

“There is no reason why we would necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad before we know that he is actually in power,” Mr. Obama told reporters. “He is not the most powerful person in Iran.”

Last week, Mr. Obama offered a similarly nuanced explanation about meeting with President Raúl Castro of Cuba, saying he would do so only “at a time and place of my choosing.”

The caveats belie the simple answer Mr. Obama gave during a debate last summer, when the issue was first raised in a major public forum. Without hesitation or qualification, Mr. Obama said he would hold direct talks with America’s enemies, drawing strong and immediate criticism from his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Mariah Carey Throws Like A Girl

Well, with high heeled "athletic shoes," what can we expect?

It's Official: Barack Obama Is An Empty Suit

The Washington Post probes beneath the facade and finds nothing.

When Obama changed his mind and decided to run for president after only two years in the Senate, however, he effectively dismissed the importance of policy proposals, declaring in one speech in early 2007, "We've had plenty of plans, Democrats," and in another: "Every four years, somebody trots out a white paper, they post it on the Web." He cast his "new kind of politics" in terms of his ability to transcend divisions and his unique biography and offered few differences on issues from Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and the other Democratic presidential candidates.

The Post does not believe in his "change" either.

Obama's domestic policy proposals, including expanding health care to all Americans and offering tax cuts for the middle class while raising taxes for those who make more than $250,000 a year, differ little from those that Clinton and other Democrats have proposed during the primaries. His ideas for solving the nation's housing crisis are similar to those of congressional Democrats, offering aid to people who cannot pay their mortgages and proposing a second economic stimulus package.

Obama, like many congressional Democrats, has pushed for more education funding, a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, and immigration legislation that would create a path to citizenship for people who are now in the United States illegally.

Sound like Democrat Party same ole, same ole to me too.

2008 - A Space Odyssey

Is it an obelisk?

Obama's Uncle SAILED Into Auchwitz, or Buchenwald?

It just gets curiouser and curiouser. Apparently, Obama's great uncle liberated neither Auschwitz or Buchenwald because, he was in the Navy.

Much more here.

And more here.

Here's a list of all WWII veterans from Kansas. Not one of them named Charles Payne enlisted on December 8 as Obama claimed that his great-uncle did. The only one with his great-uncle's middle initial joined the Navy.

Will the MSM even look?

More Problems With Ethanol As Fuel

Not only do our corn ethanol subsidies cost us a bloody fortune while doing nothing to reduce our oil consumption, it's screwing up our cars too.

Environmentally Friendly Bombs

I wish that I could say that this is the stupidest thing I've every heard.

Unfortunately, it isn't. I can recall when the Clinton administration changed the refrigeration units on our nuclear weapons because they didn't want freon released into the atmosphere during a nuclear war.

Yahoo Or Google

I'm inclined to favor Yahoo. Google shows more respect for Ramadan than our fallen soldiers.

Barack Obama: Hanford, Never Heard of It.

We might never know what negotiations take place when Democratic presidential candidates woo the party’s superdelegates for their votes. The ironically misnamed Democratic Party goes to some lengths to insulate its nominating process from the great unwashed, in part by reserving 20% of its national convention delegates to unelected so-called “superdelegates.” These superdelegates are free to choose whom to support for their party’s nomination independent of the votes cast by the little people. They may cut whatever deal with the candidate that they wish in exchange for a vote at the national convention. This mutual back scratching would probably not rise to the dignity of Otto Von Bismark’s sausage making analogy. But thanks to what was revealed in response to an innocent question Monday, we can eliminate from consideration any conversations regarding issues critical to the state of Washington.
Just before the Oregon Democratic primary Tuesday, Barack Obama was floundering in his most unnatural element, extemporaneous speaking during a question and answer period, when he was asked what he intended to do about cleaning up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
“Here's something that you will rarely hear from a politician, and that is that I'm not familiar with the Hanford site, so I don't know exactly what's going on there. Now, having said that, I promise you I'll learn about it by the time I leave here on the ride back to the airport.”
While it’s refreshing to hear a politician admit that there’s something out there about which he is not the world’s foremost authority, Obama’s ignorance on this issue is really quite unforgivable because of what it says about him and for what it reveals about Washington’s governor and the rest of Washington’s Democratic superdelegates.
Hanford is the site where plutonium for the second of the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan, ending World War II, was made. It is considered one of the nation’s most contaminated environmental sites. Currently, the federal government spends about $2 billion dollars per year on cleanup efforts. Even so, the site remains the stuff of a comic book nightmare. The only thing missing is Blinky, the three-eyed fish of Simpsons cartoon fame. He probably died of radiation poisoning.
Supposedly, Hanford cleanup has been a top priority with Washington’s Congressional delegation, all of whom from the Democratic side of the aisle are superdelegates, as is King County Executive Ron Sims, former Speaker of the House Tom Foley, state party chairman Dwight Pelz, along with several other party hacks, and Washington Governor Christine Gregoire. Ms. Gregoire has announced her intention to support Barack Obama at this summer’s Democratic National Convention.
It is well known that considerable horse trading occurs as the candidates try to entice superdelegates to commit their vote. From all I can tell, there are no rules. One can even purchase a superdelegate’s vote for straight up cash. Hillary Clinton even sent her daughter out on a date with a pimple-faced 21-year old superdelegate.
So, what did Christine Gregoire discuss with Barack Obama before committing her vote to his candidacy? Well, judging by his response in Oregon Monday, it was not the state’s number one environmental issue. Not only was Barack Obama unaware of the issue, the videotape of his response indicates that he seems never to have heard of the place. Clearly, whatever sweet promises Governor Gregoire extracted from Barack Obama before publicly committing to his candidacy had nothing to do with Hanford. And considering how high the Hanford cleanup ranks on most Washingtonian’s agendas, one wonders if any other issues of interest to the state came up. It’s more likely that Gregoire’s political ambitions were at the top of her wish list.
I anticipate that Barack Obama’s side of the bargain will consist of several trips to Washington this fall to help Christine Gregoire raise campaign cash.
Other Washington politicians who have committed to Barack Obama without raising the issue of the Hanford cleanup are US representatives Adam Smith, Brian Baird, Rick Larsen and Jim McDermott, along with the aforementioned Dwight Pelz and Democratic National Committee member Pat Notter.
I suspect that we could imagine a long list of issues that are of critical importance to Washingtonians and to the state of Washington that were never raised as these practitioners of the oldest profession auctioned off their virtue. This certainly gives the lie to any notion that politicians are in there sacrificing themselves for our interests. The promises they make are just another means to achieving their own selfish ambitions.

Joe Biden - Bullshit

Obama - Planning For When America Doesn't Matter

This New York Times photo shows what Barack Obama is reading - "The Post American World," about a time when America no longer matters. Hmmmm. I often get the impression that this is just what Democrats want to bring about.

No wonder he doesn't want to bother with wearing flag pins or putting his hand over his heart when the National Anthem is played.

Hat tip: The Blogfather.

Patrick Buchanan Sinks Below The Seattle Times

So, according to Patrick Buchanan, WWII could have been avoided if only we had appeased Hitler a little more.

Chamberlain's negotiated deal with Hitler averted a European war -- at the expense of the Czech nation. That was appeasement.

German tanks, however, did not roll into Poland until a year later, Sept. 1, 1939. Why did the tanks roll? Because Poland refused to negotiate over Danzig, a Baltic port of 350,000 that was 95 percent German and had been taken from Germany at the Paris peace conference of 1919, in violation of Wilson's 14 Points and his principle of self-determination.

Hitler had not wanted war with Poland. He had wanted an alliance with Poland in his anti-Comintern pact against Joseph Stalin.

But the Poles refused to negotiate. Why? Because they were a proud, defiant, heroic people and because Neville Chamberlain had insanely given an unsolicited war guarantee to Poland. If Hitler invaded, Chamberlain told the Poles, Britain would declare war on Germany.

This is bullshit! After the Munich conference, Hitler was furious because the groveling West had deprived him of his pretense for the war he was seeking. He didn't just want to unite Germans. He wanted "lebensraum" too.

Not even the Seattle Times was willing to suck up to Obama and Hitler this much.

Obama's Dietary Dictatorship

Is arugula on Obama's approved food list?

If so, how much?

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

We're The Media, And We Can Lie If We Want To

It's a free country, and NBC uses that freedom to deceive its viewers.

Keith Olbermann - It's Not A Matter Of If He Lied, But When He Lied

Olbermann now says that he did not mean to call American servicemen and women "cold-blooded killers." Unfortunately, the prosecution in this case has an unimpeachable witness - Keith Olbermann.

Seattle Times Standards Fall Below That Of The Blogosphere

As noted here Saturday, the Seattle Times was not content to defend Barack Obama against charges of appeasement. The Times defended Adolph Hitler's takeover of Austria and the Sudetenland.

Needless to say, the Times caught hell. So, they sanitized and airbrushed their earlier piece.

The Seattle Times Defends Hitler

While most Democrats went ballistic over George Bush's presumed criticism of Barack Obama, the Seattle Times went one better, and defended Adolph Hitler.

What Hitler was demanding at Munich was not unreasonable as a national claim (though he was making it in a last-minute, unreasonable way.) Germany's claim was that the areas of Europe that spoke German and thought of themselves as German be under German authority. In September 1938 the principal remaining area was the Sudetenland.

So the British and French let him have it.

In a way, I'm okay with this. If the Seattle Times wants to join George Bush and me in equating Barack Obama with Neville Chamberlain, I welcome them to the club.

Update: Seattle Times caught airbrushing.

Back To Posting

I was out of town for a few days and returned sick. So, I haven't been a very good blogger for the last week. I'll be getting back into the rhythm now.

Change Somebody Believes In

Here's yet another example of Obama's decisiveness.

Was Jimmy Carter's personal Middle East diplomacy a good thing or a bad thing? Barack Obama needed to take the electorate's temperature before taking a stand. That's not leadership.

Appeasement And Obama's Ingenious Argument

Wow! A lot of very important people got awfully angry when President Bush argued that appeasement of enemies was a bad idea.
Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) thundered, “This is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset ... and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”
The haughty, French-looking senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry, yelped that the president was, “playing the disgusting and dangerous political game Karl Rove perfected, which is insulting to every American and disrespectful to our ally Israel. George Bush should be making Israel secure, not slandering Barack Obama from the Knesset.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) squeaked, “For the President to make this statement before the government of our closest ally as it celebrates a remarkable milestone demeans this historic moment with partisan politics.”
Strong words. I don’t recall any of these guys speaking so harshly about Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. So what was it that got their panties in a knot? It was a history lesson. Speaking before the Israeli legislature, he noted that: “Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks rolled into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”
Now personally, I don’t see what is particularly controversial about that. Has anybody forgotten former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s famous “peace in our time” declaration after negotiations that handed over Austria and Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland to Hitler?
Actually, now that I think about it, a great many people probably never learned that in the first place and therefore cannot have forgotten it.
Well in any event, while a lot of people are ignorant of Chamberlain’s misguided diplomacy, most have heard of the events that followed. It was called World War II, the bloodiest conflagration in human history. The Soviet Union alone suffered at least 20,000 fatalities daily from the start of the Nazi invasion until the surrender of the Third Reich. At least 60,000,000 perished worldwide – probably more.
And even though I don’t see Barack (he-who-must-not-be-middle-named) Obama’s name in that paragraph, it was inferred that Bush was speaking about the likely Democratic presidential nominee. His communications director, Robert Gibbs, denounced the speech as an “unprecedented political attack on foreign soil.”
But although Obama now denies it and claims that he would only negotiate with Iran if it gave up its nuclear program, Barack Obama did in fact declare that he would negotiate with Iran without preconditions. And although they all have the tape, Obama has so far benefitted from the mainstream media’s reluctance to replay the incriminating clip. This is a kindness that they did not extend to Mrs. Clinton regarding her flight to Bosnia under sniper fire. But unfortunately for Barack Obama, we now live in the world of YouTube and are no longer restricted to what the mainstream media chooses to remember. Obama can be heard announcing his intentions to speak with America’s most virulent sworn enemies here.
But who needs the media? Barack Obama’s own website announces his intentions regarding Iran: “Obama is the only major candidate who supports tough, direct presidential diplomacy with Iran without preconditions.”
Amazingly, the words have not yet been airbrushed as of Thursday evening and can be read here. Just scroll down to the section on Iran. It’s in the third paragraph.
I’d love to know what secret “ingenious argument” he intends to use on our enemies that “will persuade them they have been wrong all along.” So far he has not constructed an argument sufficiently ingenious to clear up his relationship with his racist, anti-American pastor or with the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers. He might want to start by reconciling his shifting stories regarding his ties to Chicago’s sleazy political bagman, Tony Rezko. He has told at least three different stories on that one after the Chicago press corps disproved each previous story.
The indignation of the Obama camp shows that all recognize that his predisposition to nuzzle America’s enemies is a weakness. He is, after all, on record embracing his endorsement by the terrorist group Hamas.
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Another Barack Obama Tuzla Moment

But the media has chosen its candidate. Don't expect this to be shown over and over again on the evening news.

What Recession?

Who would want this on his wall? And who would pay $25-35 million for the privilege?

The painting challenges modern notions of beauty and elicits a reaction from everyone who sees it. That may have been precisely the aim of Freud, who told London's Tate Gallery in 2002 that he wanted his paintings to "astonish, disturb, seduce, convince."

My concept of beauty hasn't been challenged. I knew this wasn't beauty before and I still know that.

Half A Million Dead?

Any day now, I expect to hear Jimmy Carter find some way to blame the US for this.

Sources said 200,000 people were already dead or dying.

But the figure could rise to HALF A MILLION through disease and hunger if the nation’s hardline army rulers continue to block aid for the devastated lowlands of the Irrawaddy Delta.

That would dwarf the 230,000 deaths across South East Asia in the 2004 catastrophe.

All Chip Sealed Roads Lead To Pullman

I have no doubt that I was violating some environmental law as I bled into the ditch last Saturday. But I didn’t think about that until much later. As I lay on the side of the road I pondered how much I hated chip sealed roads.
There is a high likelihood that all chip sealed roads lead to Pullman. There are few routes out of Pullman that are not chip sealed. When I left Pullman for Spokane on highway 27, I was looking at about 80 miles of chip seal.
Even those of you unfamiliar with the term are almost certainly familiar with the surface. One can travel many, many miles on chip sealed roads around here. If you’re like me and drive a low priced car that transmits every little road imperfection into the cab, then you know that many area roads are so rough that it makes conversation difficult. This is a consequence of a resurfacing practice called chip sealing.
When a road is deemed in need of resurfacing, an oil or asphalt is sprayed on it and the fresh oil is covered with gravel. The road is then re-opened to traffic and the gravel is gradually pressed into the new asphalt surface by the weight of cars driving on it. The excess gravel is removed by being flung into the air by tires and into windshields. You then call your glass repairman who injects some sort of resin into the damaged windshield to prevent the damage from spreading, thus the name, chip seal.
At least that’s how I think the name arose. Don’t quote me unless you want to get in trouble.
But as bad as driving on a chip sealed road is, it is pure pleasure when compared to riding a bike on such a road. The roughness creates a shudder that is sent straight up the seat tube and into the rider’s fanny. Shockwaves are conducted up the fork and through the handlebars so that the hands and shoulders ache. That alone would make riding on chip seal exhausting, but it is exacerbated by the fact that chip seal causes so much rolling resistance that it’s like biking into a relentless headwind.
But as bad as all that is, nothing inspires a true hatred of chip seal like crashing on it. Last Saturday, I took a bad angle across some railroad tracks near Oakesdale and went down at 20 mph. One does not really slide across chip seal as much as one bounces off of it. The surface is just too rough for the human body to glide. I hit the pavement, bounced once, landed in the gravel on the side of the road and slid into the ditch. A pickup saw me go down. The driver slowed briefly, then after satisfying himself that enough life remained in my carcass that he could not steal my bike without a fight, accelerated away.
If that was you – thanks, I’ll never forget you.
Nearly two generations ago, I worked my way through college. One of my jobs was selling tires. It was not uncommon in those days for a good tire to last 50,000 miles. If one kept the tires rotated, properly inflated and maintained wheel alignment, 70,000 miles was not out of the question. That was before chip seal. Chip seal is like driving on sand paper. Tires are quite simply consumed. The practice may be the most cost effective for the highway department, but we all pay dearly for chip seal in worn tires and cracked windshields.
I’ve developed a system for scoring the area’s chip sealed roads that ranks them on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing a horrendously rough road and ten describing a road so bad that there are no adjectives adequate to describe it in the English language. Actually, roads too awful for words start with number two. Yes, there is such a thing as a ten. You can find one just northeast of Moscow on Mountain View Road. That surface looks like the coarsest sandpaper imaginable, from the perspective of a mouse. The road I crashed on was a six.
I have never wanted to hold any political office other than absolute dictator. Should that happen, my first order of business shall be to prove my benevolence by banning chip seal.

Howard Dean Slurs Independent Women

In the fevered mind of Howard Dean, Cindy McCain is not entitled to a life of her own.

Hey Howard, name one Democrat who spends as much of her own money helping people as Cindy McCain does.

Cindy McCain gives her time and money clearing minefields, buying medical equipment for destitute nations, etc. She does her best to do this quietly and not draw attention to herself. Tell me one selfless thing that Michelle Obama has ever done.

Wal-Mart Sales Up

What if they gave a recession and not everybody chose to participate?

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. says sales of groceries and items such as flat-screen TVs boosted its same-store sales in April above Wall Street expectations.

The world's largest retailer said same-store sales rose 3.2 percent, easily beating Wall Street's 2.1 percent growth forecast. Including fuel, same-store sales climbed 3.8 percent.

The sales figure, which counts only stores open at least one year, is considered a key measure of a retailer's fiscal health.

Same-store sales rose 2.6 percent at namesake Wal-Mart stores and 6.6 percent at Sam's Club, excluding fuel.

Total sales for the four weeks ended May 2 rose 10 percent to $29.18 billion.

Jobless Claim Decline Sharply - More Bad News For Democrats

Dude, where's my recession?

Women And Minorities Not Hardest Hit?

For once, men are bearing the brunt of bad news.

They eat from the same dishes and sleep in the same beds, but they seem to be operating in two different economies. From last November through this April, American women aged 20 and up gained nearly 300,000 jobs, according to the household survey of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). At the same time, American men lost nearly 700,000 jobs. You might even say American men are in recession, and American women are not.

See No Evil. Why Is The State Department Apologizing For North Korea?

The Bush State Department is channeling the Clinton State Department in its handling North Korea.

The fact that Mr. Hill and his boss, Secretary Condoleezza Rice, are marginalizing their own verifiers is further reason to doubt their North Korea deal. The diplomats want to deliver a "success" and are afraid that if the verifiers get a close look, they will expose it as a fraud. Among the uncomfortable questions: Where is all of the plutonium North Korea has produced over the years? What happened to the uranium program that Pyongyang once boasted about but now says does not exist? What exactly did the North proliferate to Syria?

No verification can deliver 100% certainty, and North Korea, with its history of cheating and lying, would be a difficult case under even the most stringent inspection regimes. The disarmament of Libya succeeded because Moammar Gadhafi decided to cooperate. There's zero indication that Kim Jong Il shares that frame of mind.

Somebody remind me, why should I vote Republican?

Guess What? Hillary's A Liar

Who knew?

A decade before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton admitted fudging the truth during the presidential campaign, federal prosecutors quietly assembled hundreds of pages of evidence suggesting she concealed information and misled a federal grand jury about her work for a failing Arkansas savings and loan at the heart of the Whitewater probe, according to once-secret documents that detail the internal debates over whether she should have faced criminal charges.

I'm shocked!

Al Gore's Tasteless, Yet Predictable Opportunism

I wondered how long it would take Al Gore to blame the Myanmar hurricane on global warming. The answer: Two days.

“And as we’re talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated,” Gore said. “And last year a catastrophic storm from last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we’re seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming.”

Sadly, that's an extraordinary exhibition of restraint for Al Gore.

Keep a lookout people, for the first Democrat to compare the Myanmar government's reaction to the hurricane to George Bush's reaction to Katrina.

Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals

Well, duh!

Has anyone ever actually listened to a liberal? All they do is bitch about how unfair the world is and how we're all gonna die if we don't take mass transit or....

Why Should Neo-Nazis Be Held Responsible?

After all, they weren't even born when Adolph Hitler gassed all those Jews. For that matter, why should Barack Obama be held accountable for his associations?

Obama Turned Eight In August 1969, The Days Of Rage Occurred In October 1969. Barack Obama was born on August 4, 1961. He turned eight on August 4, 1969. The Days of Rage, in which William Ayers participated, occurred in October 1969. [Obama Birth Certificate, UPI, 10/21/81]

Obama, Known By The Friends He Keeps

Barack Obama has tried to present himself as an opaque, two dimensional figure who repeats airy clichés that leave his fans swooning and permits the media to assign any meaning they choose. But, as a wise grandmother once said, show me your friends and I'll show you your future. We've met a few of Obama's unsavory friends. Frontpage Magazine introduces us to a few more, starting today.

Meet Father Michal Plfeger

Fr. Pfleger is very much a throwback to that time. One can hear it in the stridency of his sermons, which he delivers with a barking staccato that makes him sound like a prize-fight announcer. One can see it, as well, in the appeals he sometimes writes to his parishioners, which he signs with the now-quaint idiom of a New Left activist (“In the Pursuit of Justice”) and in the fire-and-brimstone zeal that sometimes crosses the line from provocation into outright belligerence. Even some of Fr. Pfleger’s supporters were discomfited when, during a May 2007 anti-gun rally at Chuck’s Gun Shop in Riverdale, Illinois, Pfleger issued the following threat to the store’s owner, John Riggio: “We’re gonna find you and snuff youth out.” Characteristic of his no-holds-barred style, Pfleger remains unapologetic about the incident.

Read it all

Associated Press Predicts The Future

AP evaluates a speech that wasn't given yet.

If only they could tell me what the stock market's going to do tomorrow.

Who, you ask, is Lewis Lapham and why is he famous? Here's why.

Keith Olbermann - The Most Busted Name In News

This guy gets paid for spewing this crap?



How can this guy combine such pomposity with such incompetence?

Jay Leno Calls Out Democrats On High Gasoline Prices

How Would You Like To Be: "famous for creating plaster molds of the penises of rock stars"

Apparently Cynthia "Plaster Caster" Albritton's fame is rather restricted. I've never heard of her.

Oprah Pays Attention, But Barack Obama Doesn't?

Oprah Winfrey once attended the same church as Barack Obama. She stopped.

Winfrey was never comfortable with the tone of Wright's more incendiary sermons, which she knew had the power to damage her standing as America's favorite daytime talk-show host. "Oprah is a businesswoman, first and foremost," said one longtime friend, who requested anonymity when discussing Winfrey's personal sentiments. "She's always been aware that her audience is very mainstream, and doing anything to offend them just wouldn't be smart. She's been around black churches all her life, so Reverend Wright's anger-filled message didn't surprise her. But it just wasn't what she was looking for in a church."

Howard Dean, Unrepentant Liar. The DNC and John McCain

Is the US "occupying" South Korea and Germany? Howard Dean isn't just a liar, he's an anti-American extremist.



A dishonest man, even by the standards of Howard Dean.

Cooking The Books For Climate Change

If the CFO of a big corporation did this kind of stuff, he'd go to prison. But the consequences of manipulating climate change data is far more serious and leftists have seized upon global warming as their latest excuse for a power grab.

ohn Goetz, writing last month in the science blog Climate Audit, analyzed the way NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calculates estimated global surface temperatures and showed that the addition of new, contemporary data could "have a ripple effect all the way back to the beginning of a [weather] station's history."

Goetz found 32 different versions of published global annual averages going back to Sept. 24, 2005, that showed the published figures – figures used as a baseline to demonstrate change through time – changing hundreds of times.

"On average 20% of the historical record was modified 16 times in the last 2 1/2 years," he wrote. "The largest single jump was 0.27 °C. This occurred between the Oct. 13, 2006 and Jan. 15, 2007 records when Aug 2006 changed from an anomoly of +0.43 °C to +0.70 °C, a change of nearly 68 percent."

Temperature anomalies – differences between the average measured global air temperature and some long-term mean – are primary data for studies of climate change.

The magnitude of the changes in the reworked historical data observed by Goetz – 0.27 °C – is more that a third of the total average increase in global air temperature near the Earth's surface – 0.74 ± 0.18 °C – that has occurred over the last century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

So what does this mean? It means that by manipulating the data to serve Algore, NASA has made itself the outlier among the three primary climate data sources.

The University of Alabama at Huntsville and Remote Sensing Systems provide data gathered by Earth-observation satellites. Satellite temperature data has the advantage of being gathered across the entire surface of the Earth, except for regions near the two poles, but it is unavailable for the period prior to 1978.

How do these other data sources compare to NASA?

According to Hadley's data, worldwide temperatures have declined since 1998 and the Earth is not much warmer now than it was than it was in 1878 or 1941.

Both the UAH and RSS satellite data agree with Hadley and show temperatures declining over the past decade with only a slight increase above the 30-year average between 1978 and 2008.

More recently, NASA temperatures indicated March 2008 was the third-warmest March in history. RSS and UAH showed the same month as only slightly above average globally and the second-coldest ever in the southern hemisphere.

Is there a political motive involved in NASA's data "massaging?" I'll take James Hansen's word for it on this one.

James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, warned in 2006 "we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change ... no longer than a decade, at the most" – the same week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a report saying the U.S.'s hottest year was in the past, 1936.

Give Seattle To Hugo Chavez

About 5 years ago, I proposed that the state of Washington rid itself of Seattle and give that nuisance to France. This was during the run up to the Iraq War and, at the time, there was little to distinguish between the anti-Americanism of the French government and the anti-Americanism of the Seattle city council – except for the fact that the French made their point using pretty good English. Seattle’s congressman-for-life, Jim McDermott, even traveled to Baghdad on a flight funded by Saddam Hussein to regurgitate Saddam’s propaganda for consumption by the world’s media. France’s president was similarly in the pocket of the Iraqi dictator. France just seemed like a more natural match for Seattle’s purple-haired, caffeine fueled weirdos than the rest of Washington, which is more down-to-earth.
My suggestion made news in the Seattle Times and gained me an interview on a Seattle radio station. But in the intervening years, conditions have changed and I’d like to take it back now and issue an apology – to France. I now propose that Seattle should be given to Venezuela.
And now I have at least a partial ally in Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. Recently, the esteemed mayor advocated secession from Washington, as doing so would free Seattle from the hicks who keep the mildew and moss capital of the world from achieving its proper status on the world stage.
“Our region should declare its independence,” Nickels thundered at a recent luncheon. “If we were a country, [our economy] would be just a little smaller than Thailand. We would be larger than Colombia, Venezuela. We are held back because our state and federal government still believe our economies are driven by wheat farms and timber logging.”
He was upset because his city is not receiving enough outside assistance in solving his region’s transportation problems and because the state legislature declined to violate the constitution by enacting gun control laws he wanted.
“We have rural legislators making decisions on things like the viaduct and whether we can keep our city safe,” Nickels whined.
I’m pretty sure that our local hick legislators would cast a similarly skeptical eye on other enlightened big city ideas of his, such as his 20-cent apiece tax on plastic shopping bags. It’s so sad that this creative Gulliver-like titan finds himself tied down by the intellectual Lilliputians from the far side of the Cascades.
But of course, the city of Seattle hasn’t shown much wisdom in solving its own transportation problems. A few years ago, the city voted to spend $1.5 billion to extend the monorail. What the heck was that supposed to solve? Does anybody really believe that the monorail is going to relieve road congestion? And then there’s Sound Transit, which vacuums up phenomenal amounts of money while its most optimistic proponents confess it could only reduce traffic congestion by about 1%.
Most people favor mass transit projects because they’re hoping that their neighbors will take the bus or the train or the monorail, and leave more space on the highway for themselves. Greg Nickels himself is part of that problem as he won’t use the bus, but expects everyone else to do so. It would make finding a parking space so much easier.
So, why Venezuela? Well, for one thing, Seattle and Venezuela deserve each other. I’d love to see Nickels, McDermott and Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez competing for television time. And I see little space between the ideology of Seattle’s most enduring politician, Jim McDermott, and Hugo Chavez, except that Chavez might be a little more respectful of wiretapping laws. Seattle should feel right at home as a Venezuelan province. And Hugo Chavez would welcome the additional votes as his attempts to consolidate his power into a dictatorship have encountered opposition at the polls. He would certainly appreciate the addition of a couple of million like-minded voters to propel his agenda.
I would also find it amusing to watch Seattlistas trying to impose their naive and self-righteous environmentalism on a developing country. In King County, you can’t clear blackberry bushes from your own land without permission. Even if Venezuelans seem to embrace Chavez’s socialism, if only by a thin majority, I doubt that they would tolerate the smug micromanagement style of a Seattle greenie.
We’d be rid of Seattle. Seattle would be rid of us. I’d be amused. Win, win, win.

The Whore Lived Like A German

In some societies, that calls for the death penalty.

Unfortunately, some of those societies are now in Europe.

Hatin's crime, it appears, was the desire to lead a normal life in her family's adopted land. The vivacious 23-year-old beauty, who was raised in Berlin, divorced the Turkish cousin she was forced to marry at age 16. She also discarded her Islamic head scarf, enrolled in a technical school where she was training to become an electrician and began dating German men. For her family, such behavior represented the ultimate shame -- the embrace of "corrupt" Western ways.

It seems never to occur to these people to move back to where their culture predominates. But, to do that, they'd probably have to take a pay cut.

Marty Parrish Speaks

Former Joe Biden staffer, current Barack Obama lackey and practicing Baptist pastor Marty Parrish defends asking John McCain if he has ever called his wife a "cunt."



Background here.

As usual, Gateway Pundit is all over it.

Remember when the mainstream press used to investigate things? Me either.

Here's the video.



I just don't have what it takes to be a snooty Democrat. I'll just keep clinging to God and guns.

An Eighth Grader Reminds Mrs. John Conyers That She's An Adult

Mrs. Conyers doesn't think it matters.



There is hope for the future.

Al Franken - Homophobic Tax Cheat

I just don't like homosexuals. If you ask me, they're all homosexuals in the Pudding. Hey, I was glad when that Pudding homosexual got killed in Philadelphia." The smile became so broad it pushed his eyes shut. He couldn't stand it any longer. "Put that in, put that in," Franken laughed, leaning over the desk. "I'd love to see that in The Crimson."

Okay Al, it was in the Crimson. And now you can love to see it here as well.

This even predates his tax cheating.

Not Quite 007 Material

Three Iranian secret agents were busted as they stalked an anti-Syrian activist.

The Iranians said they were students at an Arab university but could not speak Arabic and needed a Farsi translator.

The Japanese Butter Crisis

Japan has plenty of rice. But they're running low on butter.

Shops are running short of butter because production hasn't kept pace with demand. That is partly because dairy farmers on Japan's northern Hokkaido island have cut raw milk output amid flagging consumption of milk in recent years. At the same time, dairy producers have allocated more raw milk to cream and milk-based drinks, which often make bigger profits than butter.

The butter shortage is somewhat ironic for Japan, where Westerners centuries ago were told they "smelled of butter."

Another Democratic Debate?

Just to prove they aren't elitists, the Democrats have appeared on professional wrestling and tossed back boilermakers. How about debating in Dale Ernhardt Junior's bar with Jackie Broyles and Dunlap as moderators?



I'm for it.

Team Hillary And Indiana's White Niggers (Update: Busted Dirty Trick)

They are probably bitter and cling to the guns and religion too.

Update: Faked?

This is starting to look like a dirty trick. Hey Obama! I thought that you were a different kind of politician. I guess maybe that's true. Not even Tricky Dick was this dirty.

National Watermelon Month

And they said that Nancy Pelosi couldn't get anything done. They were wrong!

On this very day your US House will vote to express its "sense" that "there should be established a National Watermelon Month." Later this afternoon, the people's House will move to consider whether to similarly express themselves over "National Funeral Director and Mortician Recognition Day." And then, in a separate bill, it will weigh in on setting aside a day of recognition for this nation's letter carriers.

Democrats Jump The Gun

This wasn't supposed to happen until October.

The Senate has unanimously declared John McCain a natural-born citizen, eligible to be president of the United States.

That is the good news for the presumptive Republican nominee, who was born nearly 72 years ago in a military hospital in the Panama Canal Zone, then under U.S. jurisdiction. The bad news is that the nonbinding Senate resolution passed Wednesday night is simply an opinion that has little bearing on an arcane constitutional debate that has preoccupied legal scholars for many weeks.

Article II of the Constitution states that "no person except a natural born citizen . . . shall be eligible to the office of president." The problem is that the Founding Fathers never defined exactly what they meant by "natural born citizen," and the matter has never been fully tested in court. At least three pending cases are challenging McCain's right to be sworn in as president.

Nevermind that "Since 1790, federal law has defined "natural born citizen" to include the children born abroad to U.S. citizen parents. Senator McCain's father, a U.S. Navy admiral, and his mother were U.S. citizens."

Another Democrat Deep Thinker

Bad News For Democrats

Unemployment rate falls.

But don't worry, the media will find a way to spin this into bad news for America.

Oh, here it is:

Workers with jobs saw scant wage gains.

Average hourly earnings for jobholders rose to $17.88 in April, a tiny 0.1 percent rise from the previous month. That was less than the 0.3 percent rise economists were forecasting. Over the last 12 months, wages have grown by 3.4 percent.

So, Americans aren't getting richer as fast as they were last year. Wait! Weren't the media trying to convince us that the economy was awful last year too?

Obama Confesses That He Is A Fraud - Media Swoon

The mainstream media have twice hailed Barack Obama speeches on race, and failed to notice that the speeches contradicted each other.

Obama's newest attempt to save himself after Wright's latest poisonous performance is now declared the new final word on the subject. Therefore, any future ads linking Obama and Wright are preemptively declared out of bounds, illegitimate, indeed "race-baiting" (a New York Times editorial, April 30).

On what grounds? This 20-year association with Wright calls into question everything about Obama: his truthfulness in his serially adjusted stories of what he knew and when he knew it; his judgment in choosing as his mentor, pastor and great friend a man he just now realizes is a purveyor of racial hatred; and the central premise of his campaign, that he is the bringer of a "new politics," rising above the old Washington ways of expediency. It's hard to think of an act more blatantly expedient than renouncing Wright when his show, once done from the press club instead of the pulpit, could no longer be "contextualized" as something whites could not understand and only Obama could explain in all its complexity.

Turns out the Wright show was not that complex after all. Everyone understands it now. Even Obama.

Barbara, You Ignorant Slut

Somehow, that famous line from Saturday Night Live came to mind today when I read that Barbara Walters confessed an affair with a married US senator.

After three decades of keeping mum, Barbara Walters is disclosing a past affair with married U.S. Senator Edward Brooke, whom she remembers as "exciting" and "brilliant."

Appearing on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" scheduled to air Tuesday, Walters shares details of her relationship with Brooke that lasted several years in the 1970s, according to a transcript of the show provided to The Associated Press.

A moderate Republican from Massachusetts who took office in 1967, Brooke was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the Senate. Both he and Walters knew that public knowledge of their affair could have ruined his career as well as hers, Walters says.

At the time, the twice-divorced Walters was a rising star in TV news and co-host of NBC's "Today" show, but would soon jump to ABC News, where she has enjoyed unrivaled success. Her affair with Brooke, which never before came to light, had ended before he lost his bid for a third term in 1978.

Update: Once you go black, you never go back.

Northwestern Covering Up For Obama

Whenever Jeremiah Wright opens his mouth, it's bad for Barack Obama. And since Jeremiah Wright won't shut himself up, why not just take his microphone away?

Wright, former pastor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, was selected to be honored at the June ceremony in Evanston, Illinois, on the recommendation of faculty committees, Alan Cubbage, vice president for university relations, said in a statement.

``In light of the controversy around Dr. Wright and to ensure the celebratory character of commencement not be affected, the university has withdrawn its invitation to Dr. Wright,'' Cubbage said.

Spike Lee Uncovers Another Right Wing Conspiracy

Fresh from exposing the vast right wing conspiracy's plot to blow up New Orleans levees, Spike Lee's uncovers meticulously plan and perfectly executed multi-decade scheme to torpedo Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

"The more he opens his mouth, the more damage he does," he told the Guardian yesterday.

For good measure, Lee hinted at a political conspiracy behind Wright's recent, contentious attempts to justify his remarks. "It looks like he's being paid to keep talking," he said.

We can't hide anything from this man.

Enjoy Your Virgins Asshole!

Another terrorist gets what he's always wanted - "death for the sake of Allah — at the hands of the United States."

Always happy to help out. If any other of you would like your fondest wishes granted, just give David Patraeous a call let him know where to find you. We're always happy to provide expedited trips to paradise. We don't guarantee the virgins though.

The Consequences Of Cut And Run

The military is often accused of fighting the last war. The Democratic Party is trying to lose the last war. America's surrender in Vietnam left us a morally enfeebled nation with no credibility in the world. That's just how the Democrats like us, which is why they are trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq.

As such, it's worth revisiting what happened the last time that Democrats forced defeat upon us.

Most people have never heard of Operation Frequent Wind, which ended on April 30, 1975, 33 years ago. But every American has seen pictures of it: the Marine helicopters evacuating the last U.S. personnel from the embassy in Saigon, hours before communist tanks rolled into the city. Thousands of desperate Vietnamese gathered at the embassy gate and begged to be taken with them. Others committed suicide.

Those scenes are a chilling reminder of what happens when a great power decides to cut and run. Two of the three presidential candidates are proposing to do just that in Iraq. We need to remember what happened the last time we gave up on an unpopular foreign policy, not only in humanitarian terms but in terms of American power and prestige.

Actually, the U.S. had won the war in Vietnam on the battlefield, just as the surge has done today in Iraq. Over Easter 1972, South Vietnamese forces, backed by U.S. airpower, crushed the last communist offensive, killing nearly 100,000 North Vietnamese troops.

The North was forced to sign peace accords in Paris recognizing the Republic of South Vietnam. The last 2,500 U.S. support troops went home. What they left was a fragile but sustainable peace, and an elected government in Saigon that was growing stronger every month.

But with 160,000 North Vietnamese soldiers still in South Vietnam, keeping the South free was going to require continued U.S. help, especially air support and military equipment if the North ever attacked again.

Democrats and American public opinion, however, had had enough. Much like Iraq today, the vast majority of South Vietnam had been pacified. Its government was taking on difficult but essential political changes, including land reform. The Democratic-controlled Congress, however, did not want to hear about success. They assumed failure in Vietnam would complete their rout of the hated Richard Nixon, who was already out of office thanks to Watergate, and position them for victory in the 1976 presidential election.

Meanwhile, the American public had been conditioned by the media to see Vietnam as a failed policy, and taught that America had gotten itself in the middle of a "civil war" which the Vietnamese had to sort out themselves. Once the last American troops left Vietnam, public opinion would never tolerate re-entry into a war widely seen as a blunder and endless quagmire.

But of course, Democrats didn't view these outcomes as consequences, but reward. It's the same attitude they have today.

Barack Obama - Another Inevitable Candidate Bites The Dust

Democrats don't seem to do very well when the media anoint them as the winner months in advance of the actual election.

Senator Barack Obama’s aura of inevitability in the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination has diminished after his loss in the Pennsylvania primary and amid the furor over his former pastor, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

The poll was conducted Friday through Tuesday, largely before Mr. Obama’s news conference on Tuesday, in which he denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., and may not have fully captured the impact of the controversy or Mr. Obama’s response.

But the survey found that Mr. Obama, whose lead in the race for the delegates needed to secure the nomination has given him a commanding position over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton since February, is now perceived to be in a much tighter fight. Fifty-one percent of Democratic primary voters say they expect Mr. Obama to win their party’s nomination, down from 69 percent a month ago. Forty-eight percent of Democrats say he is the candidate with the best chance of beating Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee, down from 56 percent a month ago.

One might think that the media, which does such a poor job of providing an accurate representation of the present would learn enough humility to refrain from trying to predict the future.

Average Person Hillary Can't Operate A Coffee Machine

That's hardly surprising, considering that after leaving office, her husband couldn't figure out how to operate ATM's or place telephone calls on his own.