Election, NADA - New American Dark Ages

An Antichrist Obama in McCain Ad?

Please, god, spare us these small-minded dimwits. peace, mjh

As the ad begins, the words “It should be known that in 2008 the world shall be blessed. They will call him The One” flash across the screen. The Antichrist of the Left Behind books is a charismatic young political leader named Nicolae Carpathia who founds the One World religion (slogan: “We Are God”) and promises to heal the world after a time of deep division. One of several Obama clips in the ad features the Senator saying, “A nation healed, a world repaired. We are the ones that we’ve been waiting for.” The visual images in the ad, which Davis says has been viewed even more than McCain’s “Celeb” ad linking Obama to the likes of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, also seem to evoke the cover art of several Left Behind books. But they’re not the cartoonish images of clouds parting and shining light upon Obama that might be expected in an ad spoofing him as a messiah. Instead, the screen displays a sinister orange light surrounded by darkness and later the faint image of a staircase leading up to heaven. Perhaps the most puzzling scene in the ad is an altered segment from The 10 Commandments that appears near the end. A Moses-playing Charlton Heston parts the animated waters of the Red Sea, out of which rises the quasi-presidential seal the Obama campaign used for a brief time earlier this summer before being mocked into retiring it. The seal, which features an eagle with wings spread, is not recognizable like the campaign’s red-white-and-blue “O” logo. That confused Democratic consultant Eric Sapp until he went to his Bible and remembered that in the apocalyptic Book of Daniel, the Antichrist is described as rising from the sea as a creature with wings like an eagle.

An Antichrist Obama in McCain Ad? — Printout — TIME

Dump Duhbya

Study says most corporations pay no U.S. income taxes | U.S. | Reuters

 Study says most corporations pay no U.S. income taxes | U.S. | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.

The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.

More than half of foreign companies and about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.

During that time corporate sales in the United States totaled $2.5 trillion, according to Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who requested the GAO study.

Study says most corporations pay no U.S. income taxes | U.S. | Reuters

Election

A Modern Fable

Once upon a time, a tortoise and a hare were running for president. The hare ran rings around the tortoise, who griped, “yeah, sure he’s fast, but can he lead?” “Sure he’s a celebrity, but can he lead?” “Sure, he’s beating me, but can he lead?”

The hare didn’t listen the tortoise. (Truthfully, he was so far ahead he could scarcely hear the old crank.) He ran on, steady and true, to the cheers of the massive crowds near the finish line.

Miles, back, the tortoise’s few supporters grumbled. “This tortoise isn’t slow enough.” “He’s shuffling in the wrong direction.” “I miss the prince who turned into a turd.” The tortoise didn’t listen. (He couldn’t really hear all that well.) He plodded on, grumbling about how unfair it was to race a hare with all the advantages hares naturally have in a society dominated by old tortoises.

Closer to the finish line, angry turtles appeared among the crowd. “He’s a celebrity, he can’t lead.” “He’s biased against tortises!” “He hates what we love and loves what we hate.” “The biased media shows him closer to the finish line.” “Tax! Tax! Tax!”

The race was over: the better runner won. It seems celebrity and inspiration aren’t bad ingredients for leadership, whereas whining is for losers. Meanwhile, the tortoises gathered over a cup of old turtle soup to argue how best to undermine the winner. peace, mjh

Dump Duhbya, Election

I Feel the Incentive to Give this Guy the Finger

Michael Boskin, former head of the President’s Council on Economic Advisers under Present George H.W. Bush, concludes that Senator Obama’s proposed increased top tax rates would decrease the incentive to work and cause serious problems in the economy.

Huh. I thought being stinking rich decreased one’s incentive to work. If you’re poor, you have the greatest incentive to work: starvation. Unless, of course, you’re completely demoralized by the belief that only the Rich have rights and opportunities.

Are Republicans and Independents really going to swallow the whole Tax and Spend bullshit yet again? Can they really ignore the fact that, indeed, we *need* to spend some money on something besides endless war, and, gasp, maybe the Rich are in a position to help? peace, mjh

loco

Dim Foley

I’m reminded by Dim Foley that “it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.”

Dan Foley says, “Barack Obama seems to think the only way to win this election is to destroy the very credibility our country has taken centuries to build. Barack and his merry band of far-left advisors believe that if they spend any time talking about the successes of this country, it will hurt their candidate and their chance to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.”

First of all, no one has done more to damage America’s (and the Republican Party’s and Conservatives’) credibility than George Duhbya Bush. Duhbya has nearly wrecked the nation. Secondly, it did not take centuries to establish our credibility. The world has repeatedly embraced us with optimism. We have, indeed, renewed that credibility after blunders, just as we will when Duhbya’s back to clearing brush fulltime.

Foley opines, “Now, don’t get me wrong: I believe candidates should try to win, and do everything in their power to do so. But this win-at-all-costs and destroy-everything-in-your-way strategy is a recipe for disaster.”

Of course, Foley believes in win at all cost — he’s a Republican and that’s their operating principle. As for recipes for disaster, being a Republican is one, voting Republican is another (recall the last 8 years). peace, mjh

PS: This is from Heath Haussamen on New Mexico Politics by Heath Haussamen

A weekend article in the Albuquerque Journal examines a state-government insurance contract that has paid thousands of dollars to outgoing House Minority Whip Dan Foley.

Chaves County Commissioner Harold Hobson — a Foley critic — has asked the attorney general to look into the situation in which Foley, an Allstate insurance agent, helped his company win a state contract last year that pays him a 10-percent commission on all policies sold, according to the Journal. Some 500 government employees in New Mexico have signed up for the supplemental cancer, accident and universal life-insurance policy.

Foley has been a lawmaker since 1999 but lost the June primary and will leave office on Jan. 1.

Yippee!

Uncategorized

Where I’ve been and where I’m going

Almost two weeks ago, I accepted a big project from Wiley Publishing. I’m co-authoring a book on digital cameras and photography. The schedule is crazy — crazier than my Vista book, in fact. (If such things can be measure, it’s 4 times crazier.) I’ll report more about the project in a few weeks — when it’s over.

Immediately upon accepting a killer schedule, I left town to go camping. (Wiley knew.) Six of us went camping just north of Chama in a favorite spot. It rained several times every day and every hike ended in the rain — one ended in hail. It was green, cool, and wet, none of which New Mexico is right now, as the monsoon pauses.

The high point of the trip was having hummingbirds sit on my finger for up to a minute at a time as I held my hand over my head, next to a feeder. Pure delight — one of those top ten joys, though, I suspect, anyone could get the hummers to do the same with enough hummers, food and patience.

The second great thrill of the trip was sighting a magnificent hummingbird, both a description and the species name. The magnificent is two to three times larger than its cousins. Our trip ornithologist (we know how to travel) says the farthest north the Mexican magnificents have been reported is the Gila, in New Mexico. This female was way off-course.

There are pictures and more commentary, all of which have to wait a few weeks.

I’ll just take one moment to give the finger to Jason Daskalos, who thinks the world is out to get the poor-little-rich-boy. I’ll roll my eyes at Tim Cummins, who uses more water in a year than we do in ten. I grin at John McCain sacking groceries while Obama addressed 200,000 Germans — er is doch Berliner.

bis spaeter,
mjh

[cross-posted to all my blogs]

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." — Sam Adams