Author: Robert Barrimond

Where’s the Devil?

University of Chicago: Obama was a ‘professor’:

“The [Clinton] campaign also sent out a press release quoting a 2004 Chicago Sun-Times column that stated of Obama’s professor claim: ‘Several direct-mail pieces issued for Obama’s primary campaign said he was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He is not. He is a senior lecturer (now on leave) at the school. In academia, there is a vast difference between the two titles. Details matter.’
But in a statement, the university said its senior lecturers are considered professors.”

(Via CNN Political Ticker.)

Yes Hillary, details do in fact matter.

Colmes makes a Wright

Colmes speaks to a mixed-race couple about Rev. Wright and the media smear of Obama.

Taking back the Party


What happens when the little guy gets a voice in politics. Wow. For the first time in my adult life I’m proud of my country! 😉
UPDATE:

Crazy!

msnbc.com video: Obama on the economy

msnbc.com video: Obama on the economy:

(Via MSNBC.com.)

Wages and incomes for middle class America have been flat for far longer than Obama intimated. In real dollar terms, they’ve been stagnant for decades where the top earners’ incomes shares of national income have quintupled. So in terms of basic fairness and even sound long term economics, you’ve got to pay the piper. Rich folk: do you want to be pigs who get fat or hogs who get slaughtered?

Obama Casts Wide Blame for Financial Crisis and Proposes Homeowner Aid – New York Times

Obama Casts Wide Blame for Financial Crisis and Proposes Homeowner Aid – New York Times:

“‘Instead of establishing a 21st-century regulatory framework, we simply dismantled the old one,’ he said, ‘aided by a legal but corrupt bargain in which campaign money all too often shaped policy and watered down oversight.’”

(Via The NY Times.)

I’m always for keeping things balanced. One thing he can’t say without losing his bid is that a 21 century framework has to be structured so that debtors shoulder some responsibility. While I’m sure many were hoodwinked and bamboozled, many others simply got greedy and gorged on cheap debt. They have to be taken to the shed as well. Let’s hope Barack leads in an effort to setup such a system.

Tapes’ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases – New York Times

Tapes’ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases – New York Times:

“‘They thought they were saving themselves from legal scrutiny, as well as possible danger from Al Qaeda if the tapes became public,’ said Frederick P. Hitz, a former C.I.A. officer and the agency’s inspector general from 1990 to 1998, speaking of agency officials who favored eliminating the tapes. ‘Unknowingly, perhaps, they may have created even more problems for themselves.’”

(Via The NY Times.)

You don’t beat the lawless by becoming like them.

Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online – washingtonpost.com

Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online – washingtonpost.com:

“When Christen Braun decided it was time to learn more about the presidential candidates, the 28-year-old high school teacher from suburban Pittsburgh turned to Google — right where Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign was waiting for her.
Her search triggered an ad for Obama’s Web site, which prompted Braun, a Republican, to sign up for the Democratic senator’s e-mail list — and then to make her first political contribution, for $25.”

(Via The Washington Post.)

How Obama’s campaign treats us like adults and wins us over, unlike some we could mention! 😉

Macworld | Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest

Macworld | Gone in 2 minutes: Mac gets hacked first in contest:

“Miller, best known as one of the researchers who first hacked Apple’s iPhone last year, didn’t take much time. Within 2 minutes, he directed the contest’s organizers to visit a Web site that contained his exploit code, which then allowed him to seize control of the computer, as about 20 onlookers cheered him on.”

(Via MacWorld.)

Apparently, Safari has, or at least had, issues. The Airs shipped with 10.5.0 and there have been several security updates to the OS and Safari. I’d love to know what version exactly of the software was hacked.

When I Became a Man

I was recently told old saw: “When you are young and not a Democrat, you have no heart. When you are old and not a Republican, you have no brain.” The implication being that being a liberal or progressive is good-hearted naivete and that as one grows older, and supposedly in wisdom, one must understand certain realities. It’s like Paul telling us that when he became a man he put away childish things.

I was recently told old saw:

When you are young and not a Democrat, you have no heart. When you are old and not a Republican, you have no brain.

The implication being that being a liberal or progressive is good-hearted naivete and that as one grows older, and supposedly in wisdom, one must understand certain realities. It’s like Paul telling us that when he became a man he put away childish things.
As I celebrated my Lord’s resurrection today, I thought about the friend who told this to me and I wondered how old I would have to be to outgrow Luke 6:20-38.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples [Jesus] said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. [Note Jesus’s priorities.]
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
[This is where most people stop, but reading on…]
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
[This is usually where we pick things back up…]
But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit (is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.

Why was there woe to the rich and comfortable? I think the answer is located in the Master’s next words:

And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye. A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

If growing old is to outgrow that, may I die young.

Race Talk

What Politicians Say When They Talk About Race – New York Times:

“[Obama] spoke of black anger and white resentment and the significance of race in American history; his purpose was political but he spoke with seriousness and gravity and at length. Whether the speech helped or hurt him remains to be seen. But the moment was unlike virtually any in the more than 40 years since the triumphs of the civil rights struggle tore up party alignments of the past and tamped down explicit discussion of race by presidents and major-party candidates addressing the American people.”

(Via The NY Times.)

Good overview of the speech. What’s truly sad is the fact that, predictably, the conservative scream machine revels in it’s own ignorance, i.e. racism simply doesn’t exist. They hold to willful ignorance despite empirical evidence. Ah well, lets hope that saner minds prevail.