UN says eat less meat to curb global warming | Environment | The Observer
People should have one meat-free day a week if they want to make a personal and effective sacrifice that would help tackle climate change, the world’s leading authority on global warming has told The Observer

Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which last year earned a joint share of the Nobel Peace Prize, said that people should then go on to reduce their meat consumption even further.

His comments are the most controversial advice yet provided by the panel on how individuals can help tackle global warning.

Pachauri, who was re-elected the panel’s chairman for a second six-year term last week, said diet change was important because of the huge greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental problems - including habitat destruction - associated with rearing cattle and other animals. It was relatively easy to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport, he said.

I’ve mentioned before that I think one reason Global Warming is the darling apocalypse scenario of the Left is because it allows them to tie just about every pet Leftist issue into one neat package and beat the rest of the world over the head with it.

So now we see that eating a hamburger is just as bad as driving an SUV.

I don’t know why they bother with these sorts of press releases. All they really mean and want to say is “See what the U.S.A. is doing? That’s bad. Don’t do that.”

I’m sure as heck not. Geez, where did the year go? How can it be football season?

Now Obama has dispatched Hillary to counter the threat of Sarah Palin.

Yeah, Hillary, the once “inevitable one” is now relegated to become attack dog of the Republican VICE PRESIDENTIAL candidate.

My, how the mighty have fallen….

Ug. Two weeks ago I had to spend over two grand to fix our Subaru outback, and today we found a leak in the Audi’s radiator, meaning a cost of over one grand to fix it. That’s well over three thousand dollars we’ve had to spend on auto repairs in the past month, at exactly the same time that we had to send our daughter off to college.

I always hear about how hard it is to be rich. But if you are rich, and you think rich is tough, try being poor one day and see how you like it. If you want my opinion, in pretty much every way possible, rich is better.

I try to walk at least 20 minutes every day. Usually I do that on lunch, but because my job frequently requires me to work through lunch, I tend to grab a half-hour anywhere I can in the day to do the walk. Today that meant I took my walk at about 1:00.

And it was chilly in Denver. I didn’t check the temperature, but my guess is that it barely hit 60 degrees today. In fact it’s been chilly for most of the week. It was downright cold at my house in the mountains, I needed a jacket to take the Cosmic Labrador out for her morning walk. I’m starting to worry that this is going to be a cold, snowy winter.

I love my iPod. I wish Intel, the company I work for, had invented them. If they had I might be kicking back on a beach somewhere enjoying a very extended retirement…

I recently added a relatively obscure song to my iPod, ‘Reflections of My Life’, by a band called The Marmalade from Glasgow, Scotland, the birthplace of my grandmother, by the way. ‘Reflections’ was one of their biggest hits topping the charts in the U.K. in 1970 and reaching #10 on U.S. charts the same year.

Do you remember the song? Do you like it? I sure do…

McCain’s speech was interrupted, what, twice tonight by churlish, childish, classless Leftist “protesters”?

How many times was a Democrat’s convention speech interrupted by Right-wing protesters? Has it EVER happened?

I am constantly struck in American politics by the abject immaturity of the Left, and their complete disregard for basic human civility.

These are the people who claim to be the tolerant ones.

I am seriously sick and tired of having to deal with it. They act like spoiled kindergarteners who didn’t get the cookie they wanted. How much of their behavior is due to their fundamental rejection of personal responsibility? Have they no shame? I mean really, have they no shame at all?

I think it would have been a good idea to mention this latest change of tone coming out of Obama.

FOXNEWS.COM - Obama: Surge Succeeded Beyond ‘Wildest Dreams’The troop surge in Iraq has been more successful than anyone could have imagined [except McCain], Barack Obama conceded Thursday in his first-ever interview on FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.”

As recently as July, the Democratic presidential candidate declined to rate the surge a success, but said it had helped reduce violence in the country. On Thursday, Obama acknowledged the 2007 increase in U.S. troops has benefited the Iraqi people.

“I think that the surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated,” Obama said while refusing to retract his initial opposition to the surge. “I’ve already said it’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”

I mean it took the Left almost a full election cycle to build up the level of hatred they have for GW Bush. Sarah Palin has managed to drive the Left into full derangement mode in less than a week. Why?

Here are my thoughts:

1. Sarah Palin is the absolute antithesis of the classic “feminist” ideal. She’s happily married and the mother of five children. She is ardently pro-life. She made her way into politics and now onto the Republican Presidential ticket and never once played the victim card. She made her way in the world on her own terms, on her own merit, and with her own grit and determination.
2. Sarah Palin is an authentic red-state middle-class product. She had no fancy prep school or Ivy League education. She was a female jock and basketball star. She (horrors) probably shops at Wal-Mart. She is absolutely lacking in the Left’s idea of “couthness”. She not only supports hunting, she actually HUNTS HERSELF. Omigosh, she uses GUNS!
3. Sarah Palin is a committed Christian. She doesn’t go to church for photo ops or pick a church to advance her political career, she goes to the church that fits her religious beliefs and worships there. To the Left this defines her as a “theocon”. In their mind that’s as barbaric as Genghis Khan.
4. Sarah Palin is beautiful. This is going to sound snarky, but I can’t help it after seeing gleeful Leftists attack her hairstyle, her lipstick, her dress and her choice of shoes. There is way too much of this going on for it not to be based on jealousy and envy. They attack her hairstyle as “twenty years out of date” because that’s a way for them to try to undercut her powerfully charismatic smile and appearance. It’s not fair that Sarah Palin should prove to be so formidable AND be beautiful to boot.
5. Sarah Palin is authentic. When she speaks about her faith and her family, she exudes authenticity. She doesn’t just give lip service to the power of choosing life, the love she has for her children simply radiates from her. When she speaks about her love of this country, and her admiration for the heroic story of her running mate, nobody doubts the sincerity of her words. There is no calculus visible there, she appears to be plainly saying exactly what she truly believes.

I’m sure there are more reasons. But these are a reasonable sampling of them.

This is going to be an ugly campaign now. Sarah Palin will get the Clarence Thomas treatment for the same reason that Clarence Thomas got it. Sarah plainly does not know “her place” and does not offer sufficient homage to feminists, and as such, just as Clarence Thomas was called a “race traitor”, Sarah Palin will be maligned and smeared as a “gender traitor.”

I have no doubt that the Left is desperately searching for a new Anita Thomas to throw into this thing. I think this is going to become one of the nastiest elections in our history, and I sure hope Sarah is up to it.

Well, I couldn’t find one.

If I were pressed to come up with SOMETHING negative to say about it, I might have to say that it sets a standard for her that may be impossible to live up to.

But maybe she will.

I’ve been reading the lefty blogs last night and this morning, and based on the nasty, vicious comments made about Palin, the Left is hating her as much (and in the case of hyper-”feminists”, even more) than George W. Bush. And that’s a good thing. It has been a given in politics in my lifetime that the more the Left hates a Republican, the more the American people love them.

America loves Sarah Palin.

Pretty soon we’ll be talking about PDS (Palin Derangement Syndrome).

McCain’s looking pretty crafty this morning…

…according to a new book by Craig Foster, A Different God?, soon to be released. I happen to agree with the author’s thesis. I know many who visit this blog will reject it. I invite them to read the book and let the facts speak for themselves.

SALT LAKE TRIBUNE - New book says anti-LDS bias led to Romney’s downfall
Foster offers numerous examples of what he sees as religious bigotry, starting with polls, revealing how many Americans would not vote for a Mormon - from 43 percent in November 2006 to 30 percent in May 2007.

He describes media bias, noting a Pew Forum report that 35 percent of all religion-related campaign stories between January 2007 and April 2008 focused on Romney; only 4 percent looked at Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“It’s been nearly half a century since our political journalism has witnessed anything quite as breath-takingly noxious and offensive as the current attempt to discredit the former Massachusetts’ governor for his faith,” Foster quotes Tim Rutten of The Los Angeles Times as saying.

Foster cites the Religious Right as Romney’s key nemesis, a group that enthusiastically supported Huckabee in large numbers. These same folks, evangelical Huckabee supporters, weren’t satisfied with denying Romney the GOP nomination for President organizing to ensure he was also passed over for VP based almost exclusively on religious differences.

Of course, they’ll claim otherwise, but I’m skeptical. I’m quite certain any Mormon running for national office, even one without the baggage of a former governor of Massachusetts who, apparently, was once pro-choice, would inevitably run into the buzzsaw of evangelical bigotry.

While it is true that sufferers of BDS would like nothing more than to see Bush and Darth Cheney prosecuted for imaginary crimes, the rational, reasonable swing voters of Middle America will not be so keen to see the POTUS brought up on charges. Given their looney base is secure, the audience for this announcement is, frankly, a mystery to me…

GUARDIAN.COM - Obama might pursue criminal charges against Bush
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden’s comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats’ strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

“If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued,” Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

Best line: “Being Mayor of a small town is a lot like being a community organizer…. except you have actual responsibilities.” Man, just a perfect blend of humor, sarcasm and pure scorn. Obama, you just got pwnd!

Well, actually, I’m not. I’m an Independent and far too conservative for our modern-day Republican Party.

MSNBC.COM has posted some video clips of people at the Republican National Convention declaring why they are Republicans. Given the source of these clips (NBC) and knowing a little bit about video editing and message manipulation (I have produced corporate videos for a living), I fully expected to be treated to a parade of dim-witted troglodytes proclaiming their monosyllabic allegiance to the Republican Party. I’m a victim of my own cynicism I suppose…some of these folks actually represent the party quite well…

Instapundit.com
HOW THEY COULD HAVE KEPT THE PALIN PREGNANCY STORY OUT OF THE PRESS: Leaked it that John Edwards was the father

Still, it’s the best take on the “pregnant-gate” scandal yet. I actually laughed out loud.

Geez, I go to CNN, Fox News, CBS or even Drudge and all I see splashed all over the place are stories about Sarah Palin’s pregnant teenage daughter.

Even Obama has shown some level of class by saying that the story is off-limits and not relevant to Palin’s suitability as a Vice President. But the media rampage continues unabated, and seems to be accelerating.

This is the same media, by the way, that attempted to squelch the story of John Edwards’ possible love-child and acknowledged infidelity. This is the same media that attempted to bury the relationship between Obama and “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright, or Tony Rezko. No doubt the same media that warned its reporters away from the John Edwards story has sent dozens of “investigative” reporters to Alaska to dig for every rumor and innuendo they can find.

Now this is obviously a double standard at play. The only question is whether the double standard is one of male vs. female candidate or Republican vs. Democrat candidate.

In other words, are they going after Sarah Palin because she’s a woman, or because she’s a Republican?

If I were Sarah Palin’s media consultant I would tell her to make this a woman vs. man issue and to publicly play the victim on this, pointing out that nobody seemed to care when a MAN (John Edwards) was engaged in DIRECT infidelity, but when a WOMAN has a child who made a poor decision, suddenly that was fair game.

If she plays this properly, she may be able to turn this from a liability into an asset.

Now I hate playing politics this way, but my attitude would be “they started it.”