Obama And Wright (The Latter Gets Thrown Under The Bus)

Ken AshfordBreaking News, Election 2008Leave a Comment

Well, I think Obama is doing (as I type this) what he needs to do.  Here in WInston-Salem, he is STRONGLY denouncing Wright.

Hopefully, this will put an end to the matter.

UPDATE:  Reformed log cabin Republican Andrew Sullivan:

That was a very impressive, clear and constructive re-framing of the core message of his candidacy; and a moment given to him by Wright. No one will ever be able to say that Obama threw his father-figure and pastor under the bus. We all know that the reverse happened. We also know that this clear repudiation of Wright’s toxic, indeed "ridiculous" views on AIDS, 9/11 and permanent immiseration of people of color could not have happened unless Wright had made it necessary. Skeptics may wonder whether Wright actually deliberately did Obama a favor. I doubt it. But a favor it unintentionally is.

Maybe God does bring good out of bad. Maybe these racial and cultural divides can help us understand how better to move beyond them. Cynics may scoff – and certainly will. They will parse every nuance and try to paint Obama as another cynical, positioning pol. I don’t believe it. He has more sincerity and integrity than the vast majority of politicians, more honesty, and more resilience in a very tough spot.

And today, we found that he can fight back, and take a stand, without calculation and in what is clearly a great amount of personal difficulty and political pain. It’s what anyone should want in a president. It makes me want to see him succeed more than ever. It’s why this country needs to see him succeed more than ever.

Okay, then.

Next manufactured controversy?

UPDATE:  The video…..

NC Polls

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

Rasmussen. 4/28. Likely voters. MoE 4% (4/3 results)

Obama 51 (56)
Clinton 37 (33)

The demographic results in North Carolina are similar to the dynamics seen nationally and in most primaries—Clinton leads by fifteen points among White voters while Obama leads 80% to 11% among African-Americans. Clinton does well among White Women and older voters while Obama leads among those under 65.

Among White voters who earn less than $60,000 annually, Clinton leads by a 2-to-1 margin. Obama leads among White voters who earn more than $75,000 a year.

PPP (PDF). 4/26-27. Likely voters. MoE 2.9% (4/19-20 results)

Obama 51 (57)
Clinton 39 (32)

Obama is clearly the odd-on favorite here, but Clinton has narrowed the margin.

McCain’s Gas Tax Holiday Plan

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & Deficit, Election 2008, Energy and ConservationLeave a Comment

As a clear campaign ploy, McCain has proposed a gasoline tax “holiday” during the summer driving season.  Basically, it means that federal taxes will be cut from the cost at the pump, thus making gas cheaper.

Senator Clinton has endorsed a similar plan.

Good idea?  Nope:

But economists and energy analysts say it would have little impact on mitigating the rise in gasoline prices. In fact, it could lead to the opposite result.

The federal gasoline tax represents a flat fee of 18.4 cents a gallon nationwide. With gasoline currently averaging $3.39 a gallon, the tax represents a mere 5 percent of today’s pump price. While that’s not trivial, consider that gasoline prices have more than doubled since 2004.

The problem is that lowering gasoline prices at the pump would encourage more consumption. So in the long run, it would push prices up.

***

“You don’t want to stimulate consumption,” said Lawrence Goldstein, an economist at the Energy Policy Research Foundation. “The signal you want to send is the opposite one. Politicians should say that conservation is where people’s mindset ought to be.”

Mr. Goldstein said that instead of freezing the federal tax, the government should help lower-income populations pay for gasoline.  It would be cheaper and benefit those households that need it most.

Unlike McCain, Clinton’s plan also includes taxing the big gas companies, to make up for the lost revenue (which is used to make the roads better through the National Highway Trust Fund).  Problem with that is that the gas companies will just pass on the cost to consumers, and therefore, we won’t be saving anything.

The problem with rising fuel prices can’t be fixed with a bandaid like a "gas tax holiday" (which will only save you $25 to $30 bucks this summer anyway).

The only true solution is long-term, and it involves raising minimum MPG on cars, and conservation policies (car pooling, etc.).  That’s part of the Obama plan, and it’s the only one that makes sense.  Unfortunately, it’s not a politicallyt expedient as those proposed by the other candidates.  Hopefully, however, people won’t be lured by the dollar sign they think they’re seeing.

Sis And Family In The Paper

Ken AshfordPersonalLeave a Comment

Must not be much going on in Auburn Maine.

My sister and her family attended the local Empty Bowls Supper, and it made the newspaper.  (I went to the Empty Bowl luncheon last week here in Winston-Salem).  As the article notes, my nephew Zach was unable to attend.

But not to worry — his whereabouts were covered in another article in the same newspaper….

You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & DeficitLeave a Comment

$7 a gallon in 5 years?

As oil prices soared to record levels in recent years, basic economics suggested that consumption would fall and supply would rise as producers opened the taps to pump more.

But as prices flirt with $120 a barrel, many energy specialists are becoming worried that neither seems to be happening. Higher prices have done little to attract new production or to suppress global demand, and the resulting mismatch has sent oil prices spiraling upward.

….The outlook for oil supplies "signals a period of unprecedented scarcity," an analyst at CIBC World Markets, Jeff Rubin, said last week. Oil prices might reach more than $200 by 2012, he said, a level that would probably mean $7-a-gallon gasoline in the United States.

Get Out Of Reno

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

ShutterBig earthquake coming?

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Scientists urged residents of northern Nevada’s largest city to prepare for a bigger event as the area continued rumbling Saturday after the largest earthquake in a two-month-long series of temblors.

More than 100 aftershocks were recorded on the western edge of the city after a magnitude 4.7 quake hit Friday night, the strongest quake around Reno since one measuring 5.1 in 1953, said researchers at the seismological laboratory at the University of Nevada, Reno.

The latest quake swept store shelves clean, cracked walls in homes and dislodged rocks on hillsides, but there were no reports of injuries or widespread major damage.

Seismologists said the recent activity is unusual because the quakes started out small and continue to build in strength. The normal pattern is for a main quake followed by smaller aftershocks.

"A magnitude 6 quake wouldn’t be a scientific surprise," John Anderson, director of the seismological lab, said Saturday. "We certainly hope residents are taking the threat seriously after last night."

Well, if it happens, I’m sure FEMA will be there to help, just like in New Orleans….

Interesting But Ineffective Solution To The Gas Problem

Ken AshfordEconomy & Jobs & Deficit, GodstuffLeave a Comment

Okay, then:

Rocky Twyman has a radical solution for surging gasoline prices: prayer.

Twyman – a community organizer, church choir director and public relations consultant from the Washington, D.C., suburbs – staged a pray-in at a San Francisco Chevron station on Friday, asking God for cheaper gas. He did the same thing in the nation’s Capitol on Wednesday, with volunteers from a soup kitchen joining in. Today he will lead members of an Oakland church in prayer.

Yes, it’s come to that.

"God is the only one we can turn to at this point," said Twyman, 59. "Our leaders don’t seem to be able to do anything about it. The prices keep soaring and soaring."

Well, before we get all holy-rolling, perhaps we can elect leaders who aren’t gas men themselves, we can conserve, and reduced our dependancy on foreign fuel sources.  Just a thought….

Wright? Riiiiight.

Ken AshfordElection 2006Leave a Comment

So it seems that black pastor Jeremiah Wright gave a speech at the NAACP and to the National Press Club this morning, and said some controversial stuff.

So I’ve decided I’m not going to vote for him if he runs for President.

Now can we get back to the issues?

For Women Looking For A Job….

Ken AshfordScience & TechnologyLeave a Comment

…move to England:

Scientists in the UK are seeking 150 women to eat chocolate every day for a year in the cause of medical research.

The trial, at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, eastern England, will test whether a natural compound found in cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate, could cut the risk of heart disease among women with diabetes.

A Belgian confectionist has created the special chocolate bar containing high levels of flavonoids — a plant compound that has been shown to reduce heart risk factors — to be used in the experiment. Soy, another natural source of flavonoids, has also been added to the bar.

The catch….

Participants, who must be postmenopausal women under the age of 70, will have their risk of heart disease tested on five occasions during the year to see whether change occurs.

Grant Swank Goes Off The Deep End

Ken AshfordRight Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

Over at Renew America, Grant Swank shows what he’s all about in what of his best screeds ever:

Muslim Michelle Obama lies for hubby

Right away, we’re off to a rousing start, Michelle Obama not being a Muslim and all.  But let’s stick our toe in.

In a Midwest rally, Michelle Obama says her husband works for America by climbing on "the shoulders of regular people."

Oh really?

No, not really.  Google this and see if you can find where she said it.  Apparently, the only place she said that her husband climbs on the shoulders of regular people (which, you know, doesn’t make any sense) is in Grant Swank’s column.

Listen up: one of those "regular people" categories B. Hussein Obama does NOT carry on his shoulders includes little boys and girls in women’s wombs.

He would have them stabbed in the neck upon birth — post-birth abortion. Yes, stabbed in the neck till dead.

Post-birth abortion?  Isn’t that, uh, murder?

B. H. O. said it was "horrific" that the Supreme Court banned post-birth abortion. Hillary Clinton joined him in slamming the Supremes. These two are filled with the "spirit of antiChrist" per the New Testament definition.

The Supreme Court banned post-birth abortion?   When?  Where?  And when did "B.H.O." and Hillary condmen the Supreme Court?

So while Michelle tries to make hubby buddy to "regular people," she conveniently dismisses the regular of regular people — innocent children in female bodies.

Michelle lies. Her hubby lies. Muslims lie to advance Allah’s Koran killing passages.

So says the Reverand Grant Swank, who doesn’t lie.  Way to represent Christianity, dude.

Further, Michelle in addressing her Sunday audience said that B. H. O. said his opponents spread fear of her spouse because of his youth and name.

His opponents spread fear? I don’t think so. They don’t need to.

Right, they don’t need to.  Just look at his middle name Hussein.  You don’t need someone to point it out to you.  It’s Hussein, for crying out loud.  You know what that means, right?  Just look at it.  LOOK AT IT!!!

What Michelle does not realize is that intelligent people can handle B. H. O.’s age and his name. What they cannot tolerate are his alliances to Islam and blackism, his left-of-left voting record in Congress and his anti-Christianity by declaring in his book, "Audacity," that Judeo-Christian heritage will be doused in favor of all religions blocked into one.

Except, no.  And the book is "The Audacity of Hope".  Not that Obama’s oppoonents are spreading fear….

Michelle says to her listeners that her hubby is "in the race for the White House. . .for change in everything."

Everything? Yes, Michelle underlined the word "everything."

Grant apparently saw the written text.

Well, on that she spoke truth.

B. H. O. would change our entire nation, and I mean our entire nation, in favor of Muslim aggressors and theological and political liberalism such as pro-homosexual activity. He wants human stem cell research and every sort of abortion possible.

He wants to eat babies for lunch, too.

What, it’s true!

Further, he will see to it that whites are put down and blacks are lifted up per Jeremiah Wright’s brainwashing for two decades. Though B. H. O. says not, he lies. He’s been brainwashed and now speaks out of the other side of his non-head. It’s typical political hypocrisy.

I see.  He doesn’t say he wants to do those things, but he really does want to do those things.

"The America people are ready to move forward," she proclaimed. With that, Michelle continued her rally speech with a litany of worn cliches. Cliches. And more cliches.

That is typical of course of B. H. O., too. "Change." "Unite."

Obamamaniacs are caught up in empty rhetoric. They love it. They cry over it. They cling onto every ragged word. That’s what is so utterly frightening to intelligent Americans.

Those who are dumb but mass hysteria excitable by cliché cheerleaders may vote The Boy on to PA Ave. That’s the crisis now facing this Republic.

Oh, Grant, Grant….

World Hunger

Ken AshfordDisastersLeave a Comment

I’ve been meaning to write about this for a long time, because it’s one of the most underreported stories (in my opinion) of the year.

The issue is world hunger.

Now, for those uninformed, you probably are aware that this is a constant problem.  But the problem of world hunger NOW is absolutely alarming.

The reason for the alarm?  Rising food prices.  They are absolutely skyrocketing.

Take, for example, the price of wheat, a worldwide staple of diet:

Wheatpriceslg

The same hold true for corn:

Corn_prices

As well as rice, which is up 74%.

This has created a crisis with the World Food Bank.  Says Robert Zoelick, President of the World Food Bank:

"In Bangladesh a two-kilogram bag of rice … now consumes about half of the daily income of a poor family," he said. "The price of a loaf of bread … has more than doubled. Poor people in Yemen are now spending more than a quarter of their incomes just on bread."

What’s driving up the prices?  Droughts, financial market speculators, and increased demand.  With corn, a lot of it is being channeled into making biofuels such as ethanol.  World grain stocks are at record lows and next year’s prices depend on the success of the next harvest in the northern hemisphere.  And it doesn’t look good.

The food crisis is so bad, that it is even affecting us here in the prosperous United States.  Just recently, Sam’s Club (Walmart) and Costco decided to limit the amount of bulk rice that individuals can buy, something they have never had to do before.  That’s right — there’s a run on rice, as people clamor to stock up on it, and both chains are concerned about their ability to supply it in the future.

Could we all be the next Joads?

So, what can you do?  Educate yourself.  Donate.  Support local activities.  It’s important.

Ignominious Honor

Ken AshfordBush & Co.Leave a Comment

Gallup:

President Bush has set a record he’d presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The previous record of 67% was reached by Harry Truman in January 1952, when the United States was enmeshed in the Korean War.

[…]

Views of Bush divide sharply along party lines. Among Republicans, 66% approve and 32% disapprove. Disapproval is nearly universal — 91% — among Democrats. Of independents, 23% approve, 72% disapprove of the job he’s doing.