McCain-Rice 08

Now it is McCain's turn to pick his VP.

I hope McCain gently twists Condi's arms to get her to say yes to being his vice president. Tell her the party's nomination for the presidency will be hers in 2012 if they win this year.

If Condoleezza Rice joins the ticket, it is game over.

Obama-Biden 2008

That's the ticket.

UPDATE: any moment now...

UPDATE: Done deal!



thoughts on Joe Biden from David Brooks.

Is Obama the Anti-Christ?

Or is CNN crazy?

Right Blogs debunk Obama Smears, Left Blog debunk McCain Smears

Here's the Right helping barack obama Fight the Smears. Here's the Left doing the same for John McCain.

When Gore and Bush picked their Vice Presidents

Bush picked first and he selected Dick Cheney on July 25, 2000. The Republican National convention was held on July 31 - Aug. 3.

Gore picked his running mate Joe Lieberman on Aug. 8 2000. the 2000 Democratic National convention was held on Aug 14-17.

More: In 2004, the Democratic Convention (July 26-29) was held one month earlier than the Republican convention (Aug 30-Sept 2)

John Kerry selected John Edwards to be his running mate on July 6, 2004. (maaga...)

This year's Dem Convention at Denver will be on (Aug. 25-28.) As of now, wala pa ring vice president pick si Barack Obama.

The GOP Convention will be at Minneapolis on Sept 1-4. John McCain's campaign said he will reveal his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008.

Manila International Book Fair 2008 (Sept 12-16)

From 10:00am to 8:00pm daily, at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City.

Will Lebron, Wade, Carmelo and Kobe still play for the US team after the Olympics?

or will this be their last year as National Team Members? Will we still see them in the 2010 FIBA World Championships?

My gut tells me Lebron James and Kobe Bryant will skip 2010. Dwayne Wade and Carmelo Anthony are 50/50 in rejoining the National team.

Chinese Olympic Opening Ceremonies - Amezing and Creepy

From the FOX All Star Panel talking about the recent Olympic Opening show in Beijing.

JEFF BIRNBAUM: Some people were saying that the Chinese are creating an image by-- artificially through these games. I think that we're actually getting a fairly well-rounded view. It is both amazing--the precision of masses of people, especially at that opening ceremony was incredible. But it's also scary, creepy in a lot of ways, that--

FRED BARNES: The synchronized drums?

BIRNBAUM: It was all amazing. It was breathtaking and frightening and remarkable and eye-opening about how important and how far--how important this country is and how far it really has to go to become a fully-developed nation, where individuals are able to do things.

They are obviously not. I mean, the story about the little girl who wasn't beautiful enough to be put out front, the singer. The little flaws we're seeing are telling us as much as the perfection of these mass demonstrations.

And I think it's important for the world to view China, because it is so large and important, and we're getting a window into bolt kinds of China through these remarkable Olympics, in my view.

BRET BAIER: Charles?

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Like Jeff and Fred, I'm enjoying the sports. I like seeing Phelps, half man, half fish. I mean, the most amazing athlete I have ever seen.

But like Jeff, I'm still recovering from the opening ceremonies. I got that chill up my spine. It was "Triumph of the Will" Chinese-style. I mean it had all of these sweet elements. It had the fireworks, had the smiley face, had 2,000 drums, people acting in unison like computer graphics or automatons.

And then it had the little girls carrying the flag, handing it over to goose stepping soldiers in a chilling reminder of an earlier Olympics and an earlier time in a galaxy far away. It was really like a Nuremberg rally in modern garb.

My son had the best take. He said it was a cross between a North Korean mass rally and Cirque de Soleil. And it was quite chilling. It is the China that is controlled by this authoritarian regime. The trains are run on time, but a little scarily clean and neat and perfect.

The Village in May

This scared Ann Althouse

(via Althouse)

A Czar is Born

Ralph Peters: Bad Vlad wins war, dupes the west, and proves he's a genius.

THE Russians are alcohol-sodden bar barians, but now and then they vomit up a genius.

Prime Minister - and now generalissimo - Vladimir Putin is Mother Russia's latest world-class wonder.

Let's be honest: Putin's the most effective leader in the world today.

That doesn't mean he's good news for anybody - not even for the Russians, in the long run. His ruthless ambition and gambler's audacity may end terribly.

But, for now, give the devil his due: After a long string of successes, from his personal mastery of Russia's government and media to his coldblooded energy brinkmanship, Putin has capped his performance with a stunning success in Georgia.

Not a single free-world leader currently in office can measure up to Czar Vladimir the Great.

Following his turnaround of Russia from bankrupt kleptocracy to flush-with-cash autocracy, he's now openly determined to restore Moscow's old empire.

And he's getting away with it.

they're good at propaganda too.

Equally as remarkable was the Kremlin's ability to lead the global media by the nose. (Oblivious to the irony, a BBC broadcast yesterday portrayed tiny, poorhouse Georgia as a propaganda powerhouse and Russia as an information victim - an illustration of the Russian propaganda machine's effectiveness.)

Related (from Times of London): Kremlin: Conflict in Georgia a plot by Dick Cheney to stop Obama from being elected US President.

Ricky Rubio the next Magic Johnson?!?!?

Sabi raw ni Lang Whitaker. Hyperbole Hyperbole Hyperbole!

Ito ang assessment ko kay Rubio when I saw him in the ULEB cup finals this April.

i saw ricky rubio three times in ULEB. nothing spectacular about his game. i was expecting him to wow me by outplaying the older players. no luck.

but he did do okay against people who were twice his age. i guess i was expecting too much since he’d be dominating the game if he played against his 17 year old peers.

but no, i did not see anything special other than to say that HE BELONGED in that team. he did not look out of place against his elders.

here’s my scouting report on rubio: he can’t shoot the outside shot, but he plays terrific defense. good instincts. a decent passer. but in the finals against girona, it was rudy fernandez (playing alongside rubio) who usually handled the ball and played the point because he was a threat in the perimeter. rubio played off the ball. hmmm… i guess the joventut coach wanted to win and he wanted an experienced hand to control the offense.

I agree with M. Haubs though that Rubio is the defensive version of Steve Nash.

BTV Schedule for Men's Olympic Basketball (Philippines)

BTV Olympic schedule

8/22: 8:00 pm Semifinal - Game 1: Spain vs Lithuania
8/22: 10:15 pm Semifinal - Game 2: Argentina vs United States

UPDATE: Official BTV Schedule.

Obama must "Fight the Smears"

and "the Swift-boaters"

How to Stop Putin

Krauthammer:

What is to be done? Let's be real. There's nothing to be done militarily. What we can do is alter Putin's cost-benefit calculations.

We are not without resources. There are a range of measures to be deployed if Russia does not live up to its cease-fire commitments:

1. Suspend the NATO-Russia Council established in 2002 to help bring Russia closer to the West. Make clear that dissolution will follow suspension. The council gives Russia a seat at the NATO table. Message: Invading neighboring democracies forfeits the seat.

2. Bar Russian entry to the World Trade Organization.

3. Dissolve the G-8. Putin's dictatorship long made Russia's presence in this group of industrial democracies a farce, but no one wanted to upset the bear by expelling it. No need to. The seven democracies simply withdraw. (And if Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, who has been sympathetic to Putin's Georgia adventure, wants to stay, he can have an annual G-2 dinner with Putin.) Then immediately announce the reconstitution of the original G-7.

4. Announce a U.S.-European boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi. To do otherwise would be obscene. Sochi is 15 miles from Abkhazia, the other Georgian province just invaded by Russia. The Games will become a riveting contest between the Russian, Belarusan and Jamaican bobsled teams.

All of these steps (except dissolution of the G-8, which should be irreversible) would be subject to reconsideration depending upon Russian action -- most importantly and minimally, its withdrawal of troops from Georgia proper to South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

The most crucial and unconditional measure, however, is this: Reaffirm support for the Saakashvili government and declare that its removal by the Russians would lead to recognition of a government-in-exile. This would instantly be understood as providing us the legal basis for supplying and supporting a Georgian resistance to any Russian-installed regime.

There's more in that article. Read the whole thing.

"Like the Berlin speech, which has in the end become a liability for Obama, the mass rally will turn off more people than it will inspire."

from noted Obama supporter Andrew Sullivan.

Camille Paglia: When will those blasted presidential debates come?

the obama supporter is whining about the lack of issues-oriented debates during the hiatus that has allowed the repubs to "distort" obama's image:

Aug. 13, 2008 | When in tarnation will those blasted presidential debates arrive? This excruciatingly long hiatus between the end of the primary season and the national conventions feels like running in mud. The electorate desperately needs to see and compare the two major candidates operating together in an issues-oriented forum. Both Barack Obama and John McCain are being diminished by their helter-skelter jumping around like grasshoppers. And campaign ads on both sides have seemed rote, slick or silly.

As a supporter of Barack Obama, I've been alarmed by the steady tightening of the polls. And as a longtime listener of talk radio who witnessed the ruthless whittling down of John Kerry in the 2004 campaign, I have an increasing sense of foreboding. Obama is twisting slowly, slowly in the wind like a tempting piñata for right-wing cudgels. Given how new he is as a national figure (despite his bestselling books), this protracted summer delay is allowing opponents to fill the gap with a grotesquely distorted caricature of him.

And whose fault is it that we don't have enough debates this early for the voters to make an informed decision? McCain challenged Obama to 10 townhall debates (One a week) after the dem primaries were concluded, but Obama rejected it outright, in an effort to play it safe from now till denver.

The Explainer: The Perils of Partition (Video)

it's MLQ3's August 12, 3008 show. with DJB as guest.

Youtube video 1


Youtube video 2
Youtube video 3
Youtube video 4
Youtube video 5

The "All of the Above" Approach to Energy Independence

that's John McCain's new policy on Energy Independence. The "All of the Above" approach includes:

domestic drilling, nukes, concentrated solar, deep geothermal, clean coal, and whatever else Silicon Valley and heroic capitalists everywhere can dream up as we conduct a market-driven transition to a post-hydrocarbon economy.

Is it too late to replace Obama with Hillary?

after seeing the how the recent events in Georgia was unfolded, are the dems comfortable with Chicago Community Organizer as their nominee?

Is that the best the dems can do? Jimmy Carter redux?