Being Barack, Or, We Don't Know Either

Break out a thousand violins - Barack bemoans his loss of privacy:

BUTTE, MONT. -- He hasn't had a vacation for months. He sees his family little more than once a week. And now as the presumed Democratic nominee for president, he can't go anywhere without being trailed by a full crew of journalists.

Reaching his limit, Barack Obama wriggled free of the campaign's fetters on July 4. Caught in Montana on his daughter Malia's 10th birthday, he improvised a party.

At the Holiday Inn Express in Butte, a city known for its copper mines and bordellos of old, Obama and family ordered a cake. They loaded an iPod with Malia's favorite songs and danced and sang. Obama later came close to tears, recalling that Malia told him "it was the best birthday she'd ever had."

"I know it sounds corny, but last night was actually one of those times where being in a Holiday Inn in Butte without a lot of fanfare. . . . I don't know whether she was just telling us what we wanted to hear, but I can tell you from my perspective it was one of the best times I've had in a long time," Obama told reporters aboard his campaign plane. Then he quickly turned and went back to his seat.

Run for President, win your party's nomination, lose privacy - gee, this whole cause-effect thing must be an eye-opener.  But I especially love this:

"I don't know whether she was just telling us what we wanted to hear, but I can tell you from my perspective it was one of the best times I've had in a long time..."

Oh my goodness - a parent who can't read whether his ten year old is having fun at a party wants to trot off to meet with America's foreign enemies without any preconditions (but lots of preparation!).  Well, maybe he can do a better job reading foreign adults.  A guess - he will come away convinced that they loathed Bush, admire him, and look forward to peace in our time.  Bold call, huh?

Betsy is not merciful.

Comments

[Porchlight]

I like Jonah but I do agree about the ego thing. Ever since centralcal (I think - or maybe Ann?) mentioned it a couple of months ago, I notice it all the time.

His book is valuable, though, even though he can't seem to stop talking about it. What I find really funny and eyeroll-producing is when he talks about his sales numbers and compares them to other books and authors. Sheesh. He should really give it a rest because that kind of thing makes it easy for critics to discount his work.

[Pofarmer]

I knew there was a reason we weren't hearing much about military enlistment numbers lately.

Latest Recruiting Numbers Underscore Strength of All-Volunteer Force

[Elliott]

Ann,

Nothing owed and no need to worry. You know I never tell.

[Ann]

I heart Elliott. :)

and

From your article Pofarmer:

"Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq, praised troops’ commitment to continue serving as he re-enlisted 1,215 servicemembers during a Fourth of July ceremony in Baghdad."

That was such a July 4th, USA moment and sadly, I only remember seeing it on the internet.

These guys are re-enlisting knowing they might have to salute the Messiah. God Bless America and the men and women that are brave, serve her, and honor her with such dignity and character. As Hit says, On My Knees.

P.S. Where is Soylent?

[scottl720]

pofarmer is correct,

FY08 recruitment is over 100% for all services to date. I beleive mid-level officers are particularly high, although i don't have a cite, just word around the office.

future leaders indeed, plenty of battle tested OIF vets to take the reins in the next decade, and they vote republican.

oh and Clarice, i'm just joshin' bout the lip gloss.

no more niters for me please :)

regards,
sl

[Ann]

I just read my last comment. Sheesh, don't go there!

Sorry, I am really worried that Soylent was called to Afghanistan because I believe he said he was on call and Hell is breaking out there just in time for the election.

Anyone have any news?

[JM Hanes]

I don't mind Jonah enjoying his success a little more than might be tasteful. When you're as bright as he is, though, it's all too easy to get lazy. Over the past few months I've found myself thinking that Kathryn Jean Lopez seemed to be taking up more and more real estate on The Corner. Maybe it's just that everybody else is taking up less and less.

[BobS]

I didn't know Soylent served in some way. Prayers for him and Jane's family.

[BobS]

After Hellboy back to back....its Burn Notice for the first time....good show

[MayBee]

jonah once wrote that some guy loved the sound of his own voice so much, he got in a big gray Buick and followed it around the block. (I'm badly paraphrasing)

It was so amazingly perfect that I will love Jonah forever.

[kim]

I saw a big grey Buick in Oklahoma once with a bumpersticker that said 'If you don't have an oil well, get one'.

Well, sure, in that state, the Buick was sooner gray than not.
====================================

[kim]

Speaking of global warming, we were, weren't we, Colombia is loaded with coal.
==================================

[Elroy Jetson]

JM Hayes,
It's summertime. Everybody is taking a bit of a breather until early August.
Maybe K Lo is not taking any summer vacation. I like her observations for the most part, although I do think sometimes they are off base.
This going to be one hell of an election. I have a feeling I'm going to be up all night like I was in 2000 & 2004. Praying like hell...

[larwyn]

"..a certain two initialed blogger" - Hot off the presses at Atlas:
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/forensic-expert.html

But did you see this, found link at REZKORAMA..

http://redinktexas.blogspot.com/2008/07/obama-mob-flexes-its-muscle.html

The Obama Mob flexes it's muscle

By now, even the people living under rocks have heard about Obama's forged birth certificate. This is worrisome for a number of reasons. First off, that he and/or his campaign staff thought the general public was that stupid/gullible (well, on second thought, he DOES have a lot of supporters, maybe a lot of them ARE that stupid.), and secondly why on earth would they feel that they needed to submit a forgery? Is he a native US citizen or not? Or is this about his name? or his parent's religion? Either way, it is a reasonable thing to look at since after all, there is that little legal requirement that he be a native US citizen, and not just a naturalized one. One person put up a website for an online petition calling for the REAL birth certificate to be released, but within hours of it going up, someone, using the site operator's home address, left a veiled threat against the site operator and his family.

"Petition Closed

A veiled threat was made against myself and my family which included our home address, so I have decided to close the petition for good. It is truly sad that political discourse in our country has come to this. "

Sounds like Rezko's buddies are up to no good.....

posted by Rorschach @ 7/07/2008 10:00:00 PM

You have to read the entire post at Atlas, "techdude" gives his credentials, I'll but important parts here:

Q. Wasn’t the KOS COLB already declared real and this issue laid to rest? Haven’t you read the blogs? You cannot both be right.

A. If you are talking about the findings of a certain 2 initialed blogger [The Obama “Forged Birth Certificate” Myth Is Busted -ed] whose dubious findings are based on obviously false conclusions and a complete lack of basic information that was compiled in under an hour and was then picked up across the blogosphere and taken as the word of G-d even though it has absolutely no basis in fact then yes I have read that. That will be addressed once I compile all of my findings (there are many that I just did not bother to post at the time as I had wrongfully assumed that every already knew it was a fake) and the results of several experiments which may explain more than anyone ever wanted to know about that KOS COLB image and exactly how the forgery was created. I will also touch a little bit on the OpenDNA COLB versions but that really is a dead horse at this point as everything he has already admitted can be corroborated by looking at the images which are based on the pre-existing KOS COLB.

But for the fun of it I will beat that horse a bit longer just to prove a point and show how wrong some people can be when they begin to develop implausible theories that have no basis in fact – and how they loose all credibility when they start to make up their own facts or purposely misquote other people’s conclusions. It will be both entertaining and informative. And before we all go off in a huff let us not forget that there are more than one known official Hawaiian COLB's to work with. Now of course if you have two very differing opinions – one saying it is authentic and the other saying it is a forgery – only one can be correct. It is almost impossible to prove a negative such as trying to prove G-d does not exist but I assure you it is pretty easy to prove a document is a forgery by comparison.

That is why all of my findings are being made public (the good and the bad, the parts I can explain, and the unanswered questions that need further study or examination) – it is called peer review. For the ill-informed and the amature analysts that may have seen one too many episodes of CSI that means a point by point rebuttal showing how certain findings are factually incorrect or inaccurately interpreted or simply the admission and acceptance that the findings are correct. Calling me a doody-head and making even more implausible theories having no basis in fact is not generally considered a proper peer response but I will accept those if that is the best that you can offer.

Q. When will you post your final summary with all the goodies?

A. If I am able to conclude some interpolation of various bits of missing data before this weekend (7/12/2008) and I do not get any emergency calls that will take me away from the lab and if I do not keep finding more corroborating evidence for the summary – it should be completed and emailed to Pamela with all of the associated screenshots sometime next week.

...– I will de-geek it the best that I can while also including footnotes and references for those of you who are trying to follow along or teach yourself as you go.

In fact I may try to write it up as a step by step guide so you can follow along and recreate everything yourself in the comfort of your living rooms using freely available software if at all possible.

Learn to do it “on the cheap” as my grandmother used to say. The world needs more forensics geeks. And to the previously aforementioned 2 initialed blogger I just read your latest reply to my conclusions on your blog – and once I stop laughing, take a nap, and get this paid case done I will have to write up a very subjective reply but until then please stop typing you are really beginning to embarrass yourself. I mean seriously just stop it man. Oh gosh...I just read your replies to the comments left under your masterpiece of deductive reasoning and I just spit my coffee all over my laptop. Oh hey, I see here you are a “computer expert, which covers all aspects of computers and how they manipulate data” with an obvious grasp on your special version of reality...how do I get this crap out of the nooks and crannies of my keyboard since it is obvious you know all about crap?

Just one more question – since you claim you are “also a NASA engineer who focuses on and reviews computer and communications systems flight and ground. Documents are a simple niche in my world.” What computers does NASA use that run on paper? Or did you mean you read magazine articles about hardware reviews? Just asking. And as a busy NASA Engineer you are obviously busy engineering NASA or something to be able to spend more than a few minutes posting logical replies. [cat fight cat fight!] Now go send some money to support Ms. Geller's blog or it will be no more soup for you!

So the fun isn't done and yes, Pamela's started a BLEG this week as she's being included in bloggers covering the Repub convention and a few other events that cost some real coin.

Sorry all, I'm just not feeling well and can't keep up with all the napping I'm doing, so haven't read this thread.

Hope that you'll get my email address from Clarice, Tops, or Sara and email any requests or info that you wish me to distribute like new comments at Bob's etc.

Well, back to sleep. Will check when I wake up for updates as I haven't been to AJ's for days.

[Jane]

Bob.

My family is doing spectacularly - and I appreciate the thoughts so much. BIL has a little air in his stomach from the surgery - apparently that is a bad thing, so the Friday release has been postponed. My niece got home last night and she will go in to see her Dad today. We are very close so it's great to have her home. My sister is holding up much better than I would have expected.

Thank you again for remembering.

[MayBee]

Jane- I missed the information about your BIL. Whatever his troubles, please know that I am thinking about you. EEsh. Hospital stays and surgery are always so trying for all.

best--

[Jane]

Oh don't worry Maybee, he's doing great. If you want, you can read about it on the LUN.

And thank you for your kind words.

[Jane]

That was a bad link. This one is better.

[MayBee]

It was a good link, but it didn't tell me much about your BIL. (unless he's Barack Obama.)
;-)

[MayBee]

I didn't know you have a blog! What a treat!

Good luck to your BIL, that is a tough road. My FIL had bypass surgery several years ago. I saw him do really well when he took the after-care advice seriously- especially the regular exercise. When he started falling back on that (which is so easy to do), his health declined.

Did you know one of the current LA Lakers had open heart surgery and has recovered enough to play?

[MayBee]

Jane- I think you just got an instalanche.

[Porchlight]

Jane, thanks for the update on your BIL. I know what you mean about hospital folks. When they are kind (and they usually are) you want to kiss their feet. Best wishes to your BIL and his family as he recovers, and I hope you'll keep us posted.

And I didn't know you had a blog either! It's bookmarked. :)

[clarice]

AT hails the new Obama for Messiah website (great stuff to buy)
http://www.obamaformessiah.com/

[Jane]

Holy cow! What a day to come out about my blog!

[clarice]

Now we've all got our eyes on you, Jane. The big question is when the Jane and C Mudwrestle Radio Show hits the airwaves..

[Sue]

Mark Steyn is filling in for Rush today.

[Porchlight]

Listening now - thanks for the reminder.

[Jane]

I've been practicing Clarice. My writing has gotten worse for lack of practice. So I'm making an effort. Try not to look too frequently.

[clarice]

OK--Tell me when you're ready.

[Forbes]

"Obama hasn't had a vacation for months." Months?

Oh, please! Break out the violins.