Mainstream Media Predicitions: Media Declares Obama the Winner

Media Declares Obama The Winner
The Winner
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com
October 20, 2008

---

When I logged onto Drudge this morning, I had a Rip Van Winkle moment. According to the headlines, Obama has somehow become president. Nope, its still October 20. The election hasn't been held yet. But you wouldn't know that by scanning the headlines of one of the major news outlets in America.

According to headlines on Drudge, Obama is in the process of planning his transition. His team is in place and already planning the nuts and bolts of installing 'The One' in the White House. "Under the direction of John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff under Bill Clinton, the transition effort includes a dozen separate groups divided into different areas of responsibility."

Bye-bye Bush. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

As Obama's transition team meets, others in the Obama camp are busy lining up an all-star Obama Cabinet. 'Barack Obama Lines Up A Cabinet Of Stars As John McCain Struggles On', the Times reports. “It’s important to send a signal,” an Obama adviser said. “With a comparatively new person in office and the awful mess we’re in, these appointments are going to resonate around the world.” Note the operative words: 'in office'.

Heady decisions, those.

Deciding who to reward, who to slight, and determining which 'experts' to install as the anointed one's top dogs. After all, he's going to need alot of help running the world.

Meanwhile, other headlines trumpet Pelosi's prediction of a 250-seat Democrat House. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says Democrats will expand their majority to 250 seats in the House next year and might have gone further if the party had more money." Note the operative word: 'will'.

Just in case anyone has any doubts that this election is over, Drudge has thrown in a token conservative, Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, whose article entitled 'Palin's Failing'
bemoans the fact that America still doesn't know....Sarah Palin. That's right. Hmmm..

Acting 'as if' an Obama presidency is a fait accompli, other media stories have been reporting about the cool election eve celebration bash being planned by camp Obama.

On the off chance we still haven't gotten the message, on the off chance a few Americans still believe the November 4 election actually determines the outcome of the election, we are treated to a cool story about how Ireland's largest bookie has decided to pay off more than $1 million euros to people who bet on an Obama presidency. I guess that means Obama has won.

The media has decided. Case closed. And those pesky polls, like Zogby's most recent one showing McCain trailing by only 3 points (the margin of error), have fallen into the left's favorite chasm, the 'fake but accurate' void which has become so popular on the left these last few years.

Now that Obama has been anointed, we are informed that he is going to change the world. Headlines on Drudge tell us so. 'Barack Obama Vows To 'Change The World'. An image pops up in my mind, unbidden: Barack Obama, shirts sleeves rolled up, bending over a babies' crib, extending his opening arms to the little tot, preparatory to changing his stinky diapers. What a guy, sensitive, wise, and not afraid to get poop on him. Our president. Swoon....

Before Joe the Plumber starts to slink off in defeat, I'd like to add my take.

I predict John McCain will win on November 4th. I base this on a firm belief in America. Sure, we've got a plethora of useful idiots who will pull the lever based on promises of utopia. But we also have all the guys in fly-over country. You know, the guys that actually research the issues and form their own views independently of popular opinion and media mantras - the ones that still value facts over perceptions and reality over spin. The ones whose voices have yet to be heard in this one-sided media orgy. Dare I say, the ones who will determine the outcome of the coming election?

As long as I'm making predictions, I also predict the Dow will go up, America will win the war in Iraq (oops, we already have, haven't we?) and Sarah Palin, the one that's failing, will be the one to continue what Ronald Reagan started. That said, whose set of predictions are you going to believe?

The left is hoping to win this election by manipulating voter's perceptions, by acting 'as if' the game is over. They know that perceptions are powerful things and they've decided that the media generated perception of Obama is enough to sweep him into the White House.

I have a friend who is grossly overweight. Despite this, she carries herself like a queen. After hanging around her awhile, my perception changes. I see her as beautiful, mostly because that's how she sees herself.

But no matter how beautiful she appears to me, my perception doesn't change the fact that she is still grossly overweight. And I haven't heard her sing yet.

by Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com
images: dbkp file

Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina

Article may be reprinted, with attribution

Gen. George Patton's Predictions about Russia

Patton had it right.

(excerpted from pattonhq.com)

RUSSIA AND RUSSIANS

We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it. This might mean war with the Russians, but what of it? They have no Air Force anymore, their gasoline and ammunition supplies are low. I've seen their miserable supply trains; mostly wagons draw by beaten up old horses or oxen. I'll say this; the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casualties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them. Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives.

One form of securing testimony used by the Russians is to hang a man by his wrists with bandages so that they will not cut or marks will be left. Then, two small incisions are made into the lower abdomen to allow a portion of the intestines to hang out. After the man has taken all that he can stand without dying, he is cut down, the incisions are sewn up, and he is restored to health with the promise that the operation will not be repeated IF he does as he is told.

I believe that by taking a strong attitude with the Russians, they will back down. We have already yielded too much to their mongolian nature.

There are all kinds of low class slime who are trying and will continue to try to wreck this country from the inside. Most of them don't know it, but they are actually working for the Russians. Some of them do know it, though. It doesn't matter whether they call themselves communists, socialists, or just plain liberals. That is what they are doing.

The Russians are mongols. They are Slavs and a lot of them used to be ruled by ancient Byzantium. From Genghis Kahn to Stalin, they have not changed. They never will and we will never learn, at least, not until it is too late.

Poland is under Russian domination, so is Hungary, so is Czechoslovakia, and so is Yugoslavia; and we sit happily by and think that everybody loves us.

We have destroyed what could have been a good race of people and we are about to replace them with mongolian savages and all of Europe with communism.

General Anders of the Polish II Corps told me that if his Corps got between a German Army and a Russian Army he would have trouble deciding which direction to fight.

The one thing which I could not say then, and cannot yet say, is that my chief interest in establishing order in Germany was to prevent Germany from going communist. I am afraid that our foolish and utterly stupid policy in regard to Germany will certainly cause them to join the Russians and thereby insure a communistic state throughout western Europe.

If it should be necessary for us to fight the Russians, the sooner we do it, the better.

We could have arrived sooner but for the fact that if one flies over Russian occupied territory they shoot at you. Nice friends.

If we have to fight them, now is the time. From now on, we will get weaker and they will get stronger.

The difficulty in understanding the Russian is that we do not take cognizance of the fact that he is not a European, but an Asiatic and therefore thinks deviously. We can no more understand a Russian than a Chinese or a Japanese. From what I have seen of them I have no particular desire to understand them except to ascertain how much lead or iron it takes to kill them. In addition to his other amiable characteristics, the Russians have no regard for human life and they are all out sons of bitches, barbarians, and chronic drunks.

It is said that for the first week after the Russians took Berlin, all women who ran were shot and those who did not were raped. I could have taken Berlin if I had been allowed.

The Russians have a lot of new heavy tanks of which they are very proud. The Marshall asked me how I liked them. I said that I did not and we had quite an argument. Apparently I am the first person ever to disagree with him.

At the dinner I stated that in my opinion Germany was so completely blacked out that so far as military resistance was concerned, they were not a menace and that what we had to look out for was Russia. This caused a considerable furor.

I believe that Germany should not be destroyed, but rather should be rebuilt as a buffer against the real danger, which is Russia and it's Bolshevism.

Russia knows what it wants. World domination. And she is laying her plans accordingly. We, on the other hand, and England, and France to a lesser extent, don't know what we want and get less than nothing as the result.

Let's keep our boots polished, bayonets sharpened, and present a picture of force and strength to the Russians. This is the only language that they understand and respect. If you fail to do this, then I would like to say that we have had a victory over the Germans, and have disarmed them, but we have lost the war.

I have never seen in any army at any time, including the German Imperial Army of 1912, as severe discipline as exists in the Russian Army. The officers, with few exceptions, give the appearance of recently civilized mongolian bandits. The men passed in review with a very good imitation of the goose step. They give me the impression of something that is to be feared in future world political reorganization.

RidesAPaleHorse

Quotes: Sixty War in Iraq Quotes

Everyone Has an Opinion on the Iraq War



Everyone seems to have an opinion--and a quote--on the War in Iraq: pro-War, anti-War, prognosticators, Hollywood stars and late night talk show hosts. We have sifted through hundreds of quotes, some as early as 1999, made on the War in Iraq and boiled them down to sixty.

Sixty Quotes on the War in Iraq

- - - - - - - - - - -


"Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier."
--Zell Miller (D) Georgia 2004


"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."
--Vice President Dick Cheney, on the Iraq insurgency, June 20, 2005


“We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country.”
--Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002


"Iraq is a manufactured conflict for the sake of geopolitical dominance in the area."
--Actress/radio host Janeane Garofalo


"There's a lot of peer pressure to not do positive stories out of Iraq... I think there's a sense that the administration got a pass during the hot days of war and now that the war is over it's time to even out the deck somewhat."
--Jerry Nachman






"Our enemies around the globe gain great advantage by having the United States mired in an Iraqi civil war. Clearly, continuing to pursue the president's flawed escalation policy until at least July 2008 is not in the national interest of the United States."
--Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.


"Iraq began destroying those missiles they don't have over the weekend. See, President Bush may be the smartest military president in history. First, he gets Iraq to destroy all of their own weapons. Then he declares war."
--Jay Leno



"Freedom's untidy, and free people are free to make mistakes and commit crimes and do bad things."
-–Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on looting in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, adding "stuff happens," April 11, 2003


"There's no connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq."
--Actor George Clooney


"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed."
–-President Bush, standing under a "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier, May 2, 2003


"I opposed going to war in Iraq. Sen. McCain was one of Washington's biggest supporters of the war."
--Presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama D-IL


“I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force– if necessary– to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”
--Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002


"The Canadian government continues to say they will not help us if we go to war with Iraq. However, the prime minister of Canada said he'd like to help, but he's pretty sure that last time he checked, Canada had no army."
--Late night show host Conan O'Brien



“I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — that this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq.”
--Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., April 19, 2007


“The president said, “Let’s send some more troops over there, and that will give the Iraqis the time to take care of themselves.” We sent other troops over there, and there are a lot of reasons the surge certainly hasn’t hurt. It’s helped. I recognize that.”
--Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., December 21, 2007







"There are American officials who consider Iraq as if it were one of their villages, for example Hillary Clinton and Carl Levin. I ask them to come back to their senses,"
--Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki after Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Hillary Clinton and other U.S. critics who have called for him to be replaced; Aug 26 07


"The former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions... It marks the end of the road for him and all who bullied and killed in his name... In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over. A hopeful day has arrived."
--George W. Bush after the capture of Saddam Hussein, December 15, 2003


"We are ready to sacrifice our souls, our children and our families so as not to give up Iraq. We say this so no one will think that America is capable of breaking the will of the Iraqis with its weapons."
--Saddam Hussein, before fighting started


"The latest rumor is the United States is working behind the scenes to try to find a 'safe haven' for Saddam Hussein. See if he agrees to step down and leave Iraq, we will relocate him. What a nightmare, where are you going to send a guy who thinks America is a nest of greedy imperialists intent on bleeding the third world of all their resources? I mean, besides Berkeley?"
--Jay Leno



"For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest. It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag."
--Zell Miller (D) Georgia 2004



"As you know, you go to war with the army you have, not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time."
-—Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, responding to a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq who asked him why troops had to dig through scrap metal to armor vehicles, Dec. 8, 2004


“One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line.”
--President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998


"Why do the President and Vice-President constantly change the subject when asked to explain why things are going so badly in Iraq? The answer is simple. They have been consistently wrong about Iraq, and the results speak for themselves."
--Sen. Patrick Leahy


"With the regime's feared security forces nowhere to be seen, Iraqis dared to cheer U.S. troops and attack the symbols of Saddam's rule. They danced in the streets, waving rifles, palm fronds and flags, and defaced posters of the longtime Iraqi president..."
--CBS News report, as U.S. forces entered the city of Bagdad; April 9, 2003

"Experts say that Iraq may have nuclear weapons. That's bad news - they may have a nuclear bomb. Now the good news is that they have to drop it with a camel."
--David Letterman






"We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."
–-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, on Iraq's nuclear capabilities and the Bush administration's case for war, Sept. 8, 2002


"This is a great day for the new Iraq. These two particular people were at the head of a regime, there wasn't just a security threat because of its weapons programme, but was responsible, as we can see from the mass graves, for the torture and killing of thousands and thousands of innocent Iraqis. And the celebrations that are taking place are an indication of just how evil they were. And I think what is so important is that people understand that if we are able to make the progress that we want to make in Iraq, that is going to open up not just new opportunities for Iraqi people, it is going to increase the stability of that country, of the region, and therefore the security of the whole of the world. So I think it is a very, very important move forward and I think it is great news."
--Tony Blair on the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons, July 23, 2003


“Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process.”
-- Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998


"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction."
--Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002.


"Saddam Hussein has a long history of harboring terrorists. Carlos the Jackal, Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas, the most notorious terrorists of their era, all found shelter and support at one time in Baghdad. Intelligence sources say bin Laden's long relationship with the Iraqis began as he helped Sudan's fundamentalist government in their efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction."
--ABC News report, January 14, 1999


"A lot of folks are still demanding more evidence before they actually consider Iraq a threat. For example, France wants more evidence. And you know I'm thinking, the last time France wanted more evidence they rolled right through Paris with the German flag."
--David Letterman


"I can think of a lot of words to describe Senator Kerry's position on Iraq; "consistent" is not one of them."
--Vice President Dick Cheney



“If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction program.”
--President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998


'The fact is that we wouldn't be in Iraq if it weren't for Democrats like Senator Kerry."
--DNC head Howard Dean



“Iraq’s search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power.”
--Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002



“In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program.
He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons.”
--Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002



"More coming out about Saddam Hussein. We now know he takes Viagra and he has as many as six mistresses. No wonder Congress is reluctant to take action against this guy - he's one of their own."
-- Jay Leno



"We've got to recognize that when we march into Iraq, we're setting up the card tables in front of every university in the Arab world, the Islamic world, to recruit for al-Qaida."
--MSNBC's Chris Matthews


The motivation for war is simple. The U.S. government started the war with Iraq in order to make it easy for U.S. corporations to do business in other countries. They intend to use cheap labor in those countries, which will make Americans rich.
--Film producer Michael Moore


"I can't tell you if the use of force in Iraq today will last five days, five weeks or five months, but it won't last any longer than that."
--Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld







"Saddam Hussein has raised the amount going to suicide bombers from $10 thousand dollars to $25 thousand. What's next, a health care plan?"
--Jay Leno


"Bombing the Murrah Federal Building was morally and strategically equivalent to the U.S. hitting a government building in Serbia, Iraq, or other nations."
--Executed OK City bomber Timothy McVeigh


"The president led us into the Iraq war on the basis of unproven assertions without evidence; he embraced a radical doctrine of pre-emptive war unprecedented in our history; and he failed to build a true international coalition."
--House Speaker Nancy Pelosi


"No country in history ever sent mothers of toddlers off to fight enemy soldiers until the United States did this in the Iraq war."
--Activist Phyllis Schlafly


"Before our kids start coming home from Iraq in body bags and women and children start dying in Baghdad, I need to know, what did Iraq do to us?"
--Actress Susan Sarandon


"Iraq's elite Republican Guard is doing so badly they're changing their name to the Democratic Guard."
--David Letterman



"A devastating commentary on the war in Iraq is that we have been unable to spend money on infrastructure."
--Sen. Charles Schumer


"Now, it isn't gong to be over in 24 hours, but it isn't going to be months either."
--Richard Perle, Chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, 7/11/02


The war in Iraq will end, our troops will come home, Bush will be impeached and he will be brought to justice.
--Cindy Sheehan


"Our military superiority is so great -- it's far greater than it was in the Gulf War, and the Gulf War was over in 100 hours after we bombed for 43 days... Now they can bomb for a couple of days and then just roll into Baghdad... The odds are there's going to be a war and it's going to be not for very long."
--Former President Bill Clinton, 3/6/03


'The only way the French are going in is if we tell them we found truffles in Iraq."
--Radio host/comic Dennis Miller


"Cliches about supporting the troops are designed to distract from failed policies, policies promoted by powerful special interests that benefit from war, anything to steer the discussion away from the real reasons the war in Iraq will not end anytime soon."
--Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX


"My name is Saddam Hussein. I am the president of Iraq, and I want to negotiate."
- Saddam to U.S. troops who captured him; Dec. 13, 2003


"We got him."
--Then U.S. governor of Iraq Paul Bremer announcing the capture of Saddam; Dec. 14, 2003


"Vietnam was a lie but at least there was a political agenda. It was the domino theory. Iraq is about nothing but George Bush's ego laced with imperialist ambitions. And it was helped by your government."
--Actor Donald Sutherland


"I think we should take Iraq and Iran and combine them into one country and call it Irate. All the pissed off people live in one place and get it over with."
--Comic Denis Leary


"The criminal little Bush has committed a crime against humanity."
- Saddam, on first day of invasion; March 20, 2003


"Bush's war in Iraq has done untold damage to the United States. It has impaired our military power and undermined the morale of our armed forces. Our troops were trained to project overwhelming power. They were not trained for occupation duties."
--Financier George Soros


"What happened today is unbelievable, it's a great joy that I can't even express. I can't believe what I'm seeing on television--Saddam led to the gallows where he hanged tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis by the same method."
--Mohammad Kadhim, a journalist in Basra; Dec 30, 2006


"As fighting in Iraq intensifies, President Bush delivered his supplemental war budget to Congress. The money will cover 30 days of fighting, then we'll be sent one war every other month until we cancel our subscription."
--Craig Kilborn


by Mondoreb
images: NYTimes
Sources:
* Iraq War Veterans.org
* Dumb Quotes about the Iraq War
* Iraq War Quotes
* Iraqi War Late Night Show Quotes
* Iraq Quotes
* Iraq Retrospective: Read The Quotes That Sent Us To War
* FACTBOX-Iraq war, the notable quotes
* Reasons for War with Iraq
* Obama, McCain Clash on What to do About Iraq
* Two Harry Reid Quotes
* Quotes on the House Hearing on Iraq

Astrology and Politics: DBKP Stories

DBKP ASTROLOGICAL POLITICS: DBKP.com stories about astrology and politics. UPDATED: June 8 2008 * D.C. Madam Suicide and Astrology: Was Death Written in the Stars? * Barack Obama Astrology: A Stalking Horse Candidate? * Clinton & Obama Astrology Forecast - Feb 14th, 2008 * Hillary and Obama: Astrological “Styles” of Communication * Astrological Look at the 2008 Presidential Election * Mitt Romney: Is a Win Written in the Planets and Stars? * John McCain: Is the Presidency Written in His Stars? * Hillary Clinton: Will Astrology Predict a Presidential Win? * Huckabee: Stars and Planets Align for Presidential Win? * Obama: Astrologers Predict Obama’s Run for the White House * Republican Presidential Candidates: 2008 Astrology Predictions * Democrat Presidential Candidates: 2008 Astrology Predictions

compiled by Mondoreb
image: dbm enterprises

DBKP's Today in History: January 19, 2008

SUICIDES, WAR!, TERRORISM, DISASTERS, PREDICTIONS, CHICKENS, BICYCLES, EXECUTIONS, CREEPY, PATENTS, COURTS, PROGRESS, DISCOVERY, COMMIES, NAZIS, PROGRESS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA, WOMEN, LABOR, CROWDS, WOMEN, JEWS, SUPREME COURT, WATERGATE, MASONS, REPUBLICANS, PARDONS, SOCIETIES, BEAURACRACY, GAMES, DIPLOMACY, PRO WRESTLING, WILLS, SPORTS, SCANDAL, BIRTHDAYS, BORN, and DEATH



SUICIDES

1981 Muhammad Ali talks a despondent 21 year old out of committing suicide.

WAR!

1861 Georgia becomes 5th state to secede.

1861 MS troops take Fort Massachusetts an Ship Island.

1862 Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (Fishing Creek, Logan's Crossroads).

1915 1st German Zeppelin attack over Great Britain, 4 die.

1941 British offensive in Eritrea.

1941 British troops occupy Kassalaf Sudan.

1942 Japanese forces invade Burma

TERRORISM

1975 4 mail truck assault on El Al B-747 in Paris, escape to Iraq.

DISASTERS

1917 Silvertown Essex's ammunition factory explodes; 300 die.

1947 SS Himera runs aground at Athens, kills 392.

1982 Heater explodes at Star Elementary School-Oklahoma, kills 6 kids & teacher.

1985 4 die in a car & train crash in Buda IL.

PREDICTIONS

1922 Geological survey says US oil supply would be depleted in 20 years.

CHICKENS

1939 Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin sets chicken-plucking record-4.4 seconds.

BICYCLES

1903 New bicycle race "Tour de France" announced.

1984 Francesco Moser bicycles world record time 50,808 km (he is the first man to break the 50 km/h barrier).

EXECUTIONS

1793 French King Louis XVI sentenced to death.

CREEPY

1809 Edgar Allan Poe - Boston, author (Pit & the Pendulum) born.

1971 Beatles' Helter Skelter is played at the Charles Manson trial.

PATENTS

1825 Ezra Daggett & nephew Thomas Kensett patent food storage in tin cans.

1915 Neon Tube sign patented by George Claude.

COURTS

1984 California Supreme Court refuses to allow quadriplegic Elizabeth Bouvia to starve herself to death in a public hospital, she appeals and is later granted the right to die.

PROGRESS

1903 1st regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England.

1937 Millionaire Howard Hughes set a transcontinental air record by flying his monoplane from Los Angeles to Newark in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds.

DISCOVERY

1840 Antarctica discovered, Charles Wilkes expedition (US claim).

COMMIES

1970 UCLA fires Angela Davis for being a communist.

NAZIS

1983 Klaus Barbie, SS chief of Lyon in Nazi-France, arrested in Bolivia.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

1955 "The Millionaire" TV program premieres on CBS.

1955 1st Presidential news conference filmed for TV (Eisenhower).

1961 1st episode for "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is filmed.

1988 "48 Hours" premieres on CBS-TV.

WOMEN

1966 Indira Gandhi elected India's 3rd prime minister.

WATERGATE

1979 John N Mitchell (former AG) released on parole from federal prison.

LABOR

1944 The federal government relinquished control of the nation's railroads following settlement of a wage dispute.

CROWDS

1977 World's largest crowd-12.7 million-for Indian religious festival.

JEWS

1986 Israeli premier Simon Peres visits Netherlands.

1986 Spain recognizes Israel.

1993 Israel recognizes PLO as no longer criminal.

SUPREME COURT,

1970, President Richard Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court; however, the nomination was defeated because of controversy over Carswell's past racial views.

MASONS,

1871 1st Negro lodge of US Masons approved, New Jersey.

REPUBLICANS

1987 Guy Hunt becomes Alabama's 1st Republican governor since 1874.

PARDONS

1977 In one of his last acts of office, President Gerald Ford pardoned Iva Toguri D'Aquino, an American who had made wartime broadcasts for Japan.(Tokyo Rose)

SOCIETIES

1886 Aurora Ski Club, 1st in US, founded in Minnesota.

BUREAUCRACY

1998 During a ceremony in Atlanta commemorating the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Vice President Gore announced that the Clinton administration would propose increasing spending on civil rights by $86 million.

GAMES

1955 "Scrabble" debuts on board game market.

PRO WRESTLING

1991 Sergeant Slaughter defeats Ultimate Warrior for WWF championship belt.



1992 Nature Boy Ric Flair becomes WWF champ at Royal Rumble.

1992 Rowdy Roddy Piper beats Mountie to become WWF Intercontinental Champ.

DIPLOMACY

1920 US Senate votes against membership in League of Nations.

WILLS

1967 Herr Karl Tausch writes shortest will "Vse Zene" (All to wife).

DICTATORS

2003 President Fidel Castro and millions of other Cubans voted in parliamentary elections where all 609 candidates ran uncontested.

SPORTS

1952 PGA approves allowing black participants.

SCANDAL

2007 Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in a lobbying scandal.

BIRTHDAYS

Actress Jean Stapleton is 85. Actor Fritz Weaver is 82. Actress Tippi Hedren is 78. Former PBS newsman Robert MacNeil is 77. Movie director Richard Lester is 76. Singer Phil Everly is 69. Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 66. Actress Shelley Fabares is 64. Country singer Dolly Parton is 62. ABC newswoman Ann Compton is 61. TV chef Paula Deen is 61. Rock singer Martha Davis is 57. Singer Dewey Bunnell (America) is 56. Actor Desi Arnaz Jr. is 55. Comedian Paul Rodriguez is 53. Actress Katey Sagal is 51. Reggae musician Mickey Virtue (UB40) is 51. Actor Paul McCrane is 47. Actor William Ragsdale is 47. Tennis player Stefan Edberg is 42. Rock singer Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe) is 40. Singer Trey Lorenz is 39. Actor Shawn Wayans is 37. Rock singer-musician John Wozniak (Marcy Playground) is 37. Actress Drea de Matteo is 36. Comedian-impressionist Frank Caliendo is 34. Actress Marsha Thomason is 32. Actress Jodie Sweetin is 26. Actor Logan Lerman is 16.

BORN

570 Mohammed Islamic prophet (Koran)

1736 James Watt, inventor of the steam engine, was born in Scotland.

1807 Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was born in Westmoreland County, Va.

DEATH

1990 Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh Indian guru, dies at 58

1998 "Rockabilly" pioneer Carl Perkins died in Jackson, Tenn., at age 65.

2007 Denny Doherty, a member of the 1960s folk-rock group the Mamas and the Papas, died near Toronto at age 66.

January 19, the 19th day of 2008. There are 347 days left in the year.

compiled by Mondoreb
[images: bigrock]
Sources:
* Today in History
* Today in History



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Headlines in 2029

Welcome To the Future, Baby!


France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica; No other country comes forward to help the beleaguered nation!


Supreme Court rules punishment of criminals violates their civil rights.


IRS sets lowest tax rate at 75 percent.


Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.



Spotted Owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock.


DEA Agents Conduct Biggest Caffeine Bust at Maxwell House; CEO Perp Walked Under Watchful Eyes of S.W.A.T. Team


Postal Service raises price of first class stamp to $17.89 and reduces mail delivery to Wednesdays only.


Baby conceived naturally! Scientists stumped.


Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage.


Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.


George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.


85-year $75.8 billion study: Diet and exercise is the key to weight loss. Average weight of Americans drops to 250 lbs.



Senate still blocking drilling in ANWR even though gas is selling for 4532 Pesos per liter and gas stations are only open on Tuesdays and Fridays.



Average height of NBA players is now nine feet, seven inches.


Global cooling blamed for citrus crop failure for third consecutive year in Mexifornia and Florexico.



Japanese scientists have created a camera with such a fast shutter speed they now can photograph a woman with her mouth shut.


Abortion clinics now available in every High School in United States .


Massachusetts executes last remaining conservative.


New federal law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, fly swatters and rolled-up newspapers must be registered by January 2030


Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California . White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language.


Florcubeurico voters still having trouble with voting machines.

by RidesAPaleHorse
[images:freakygaming;ibd;sfgate;]



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

What Winning the Iowa Caucuses Will Tell Us: Might As Well Flip a Coin

A Concise History of How Iowa Winners Have Fared Later
"Although the Iowa caucuses are more than a century old, their national impact on the selection of presidential candidates is a fairly recent phenomenon."
--from the Iowa Caucuses website

Winning the Iowa caucuses--the focus of intense interest to members of the media class--is not exactly the kiss of death.

But it's not exactly any indication of future success, either.

Speculation, rumors, hearsay, attacks, and endless polling are studied and pronounced upon wisely. Untold barrels of ink and billions of pixels are employed to spread the latest "news" of Iowa.

The candidates are soberly judged on their performance, their perceived performance and their non-performance from every conceivable angle.

The candidates criss-cross the Midwestern state by any and all means: Fred Thompson by bus; Hillary Clinton in the Hill-A-Copter; and, the other candidates by more conventional means.

The media attempts to read the tea leaves, the candidates press the flesh and the rest of the country largely ignores what happens in the Hawkeye State.

And how have the winners of the Iowa caucuses fared after they left the Prairie State and continued on to be judged by the rest of the country?

It is very much a mixed bag.

Since 1972, in contests which did not involve a sitting president, coming on top in Iowa have guaranteed the winner absolutely nothing.

Of the eight Democrat caucuses in Iowa that didn't involve a sitting president, three of the winners (John Kerry, 2004; Al Gore, 2000; and Walter Mondale, 1984) have went on to capture the nomination.

Four others (Tom Harkin, 1992; Richard Gephardt, 1988; and Uncommitted in both 1972 and 1976) have failed to excite voters in the rest of America.

Of the four Republican contests in Iowa that didn't involve a sitting president, two went on to the nomination (George Bush, 2000 and Bob Dole, 1996) and two other failed (George H.W. Bush, 1980 and Bob Dole, 1988).

Democrats who didn't set the Iowa cornfields on fire, but recovered to secure their party's nominations were Bill Clinton in 1992 (3%), Michael Dukakis in 1988 (22%) and George McGovern in 1972 (23%), all third in Iowa. Republicans who overcame their start in Iowa were Ronald Reagan (30%), second in 1980 and George H. W. Bush, third in 1988 (19%).

Political insiders who hope to gain some insight into who is going to win the nominations can keep a close eye on Iowa.

Or, they could save themselves a ton of trouble and just flip a coin.

by Mondoreb

DEMOCRATS * 2004 - John Kerry (38%), John Edwards (32%), Howard Dean (18%), Richard Gephardt (11%) and Dennis Kucinich (1%) * 2000 - Al Gore (63%), Bill Bradley (37%) * 1996 - Bill Clinton* (unopposed) * 1992 - Tom Harkin (76%), "Uncommitted" (12%), Paul Tsongas (4%), Bill Clinton* (3%), Bob Kerrey (2%) and Jerry Brown (2%) * 1988 - Richard Gephardt (31%), Paul Simon (27%), Michael Dukakis (22%) and Bruce Babbitt (6%) * 1984 - Walter Mondale (49%), Gary Hart (17%), George McGovern (10%), Alan Cranston (7%), John Glenn (4%), Reubin Askew (3%) and Jesse Jackson (2%) * 1980 - Jimmy Carter (59%), Ted Kennedy (31%) * 1976 - "Uncommitted" (37%), Jimmy Carter* (28%) Birch Bayh (13%), Fred R. Harris (10%), Morris Udall (6%), Sargent Shriver (3%) and Henry M. Jackson (1%) * 1972 - "Uncommitted" (36%) and Edmund Muskie (36%), George McGovern (23%), Hubert Humphrey (2%), Eugene McCarthy (1%), Shirley Chisholm (1%) and Henry M. Jackson (1%) REPUBLICANS 2004- George W. Bush* (unopposed) 2000- George W. Bush* (41%), Steve Forbes (30%), Alan Keyes (14%), Gary Bauer (9%), John McCain (5%) and Orrin Hatch (1%) 1996- Bob Dole (26%), Pat Buchanan (23%), Lamar Alexander (18%), Steve Forbes (10%), Phil Gramm (9%), Alan Keyes (7%), Richard Lugar (4%) and Morry Taylor (1%) 1992- George H. W. Bush (unopposed) 1988- Bob Dole (37%), Pat Robertson (25%), George H. W. Bush* (19%), Jack Kemp (11%) and Pete DuPont (7%) 1984- Ronald Reagan* (unopposed) 1980- George H. W. Bush (32%), Ronald Reagan* (30%), Howard Baker (15%), John Connally (9%), Phil Crane (7%), John B. Anderson (4%) and Bob Dole (2%) 1976- Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan

by Mondoreb
[image: istock]
Source: Iowa Caucuses - History of the Iowa Caucuses
Wikipedia - Iowa Caucuses



Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Bob Herbert: Economic Knowledge? What Economic Knowledge?

Bob Herbert says, "If it looks like a recession and feels like a recession ..."

To which anyone outside the cozy idealogical confines of the New York Times might be forced to take him by his shoulders and gently shake the man from his dreamy trance-like state. Herbert, is positively Cayce-esque in his ability to pull back the curtains of financial uncertainty, all while sitting in his office.

Nothing will reduce a thinking man to uncontrollable laughter faster than a journalist spouting economics. Thus, Herbert's "Recession? What Recesssion?" is a masterpiece of the genre.

“We have an economy that is based on increased debt,” said Mr. Hinchey. “The national debt is now slightly above $9 trillion, and ordinary working people are finding that they have to borrow more and more to maintain their standard of living."

“The average now is that people are spending close to 10 percent more than they earn every month. Obviously, that can’t be sustained.”

And the grand finale.

The chickens of our denial are coming home to roost with a vengeance. Meanwhile, the elites are scouring the landscape for signs of a recession.

Using such well-known economic terms as "gross domestic product" and "Consumer Price Index", Herbert continues his financial doomsday show, and one imagines the entire New York Times newsroom waving their lighters in the air at the finish.

"Look everybody! Bobby's gonna do his economics thing! Gather round!"

Herbert is as accurate a seer on the economy as he is on the war in Iraq and most other issues. When "Bush?" is the question, Bob's favorite answering mood is despair.

Who knows? Herbert's bound to get one right some day. This one could be it. If he is right, the New York Times will most likely have a party.

Then, maybe Bob Herbert can do his "Economic Wizard" routine again.

by Mondoreb




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The Coming U.S. Water Shortage: Newest Dire Prediction

[image:nasaexplores]

The next shortage for the United States that some predict? Oil? Gold? Food?

How about water. Those living in parts of many western states already know this as old news, but it's something new to many parts of the country.

Three states: California, Texas and Forida account for over a quarter of all the water used in the U.S. The government projects that as many as 36 states could face water shortages in the next 5 years.

More from the story by Brian Skoloff, at the AP:

An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn't have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York's reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster each year. Across America, the picture is critically clear - the nation's freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst.

The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.

"Is it a crisis? If we don't do some decent water planning, it could be," said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association.

The price tag for ensuring a reliable water supply could be staggering. Experts estimate that just upgrading pipes to handle new supplies could cost the nation $300 billion over 30 years.

"Unfortunately, there's just not going to be any more cheap water," said Randy Brown, Pompano Beach's utilities director.

It's not just America's problem - it's global.

Australia is in the midst of a 30-year dry spell, and population growth in urban centers of sub-Saharan Africa is straining resources. Asia has 60 percent of the world's population, but only about 30 percent of its freshwater.

The story goes on to tie the predicted shortages, with so many other things these days, to that boogiest of men global warming/climate change. So another ill chicken is supposedly coming home to roost.

The oceans will rise, covering which states? Weren't Florida and California included? So while 20 feet under water, they'll be bereft of water. Talk about an inconvenient truth: these dire predictions from climate change are going to require a clearinghouse to keep from contradicting each other.

Perhaps good news will come, as it often does in the mail. Battling the forces of a torrential downpour, the only thing that's there is the water bill.



DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.

Human Race Sub-Species Redeaux: An Update?

by mondoreb
[graphic: RidesAPaleHorse]

UPDATE: Sorta...
A few days ago this Daily Mail article appeared. Or one like it.

The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.

DBKP then did an article,Human Race to Divide into Two Sub-Species: What it Means for Left and Right. In it we basically said:

Now, the urge is strong to lament that it's going to take 100,000 years before the political spectrum divides itself clearly into the two branches that today we call "Left" and "Right". Left wingers will immediately recognize the knuckle-dragging, dim-witted, squat sub-species as the conservatives that they've come to know and love, so to speak.

However, as has been pointed out before, the Left with its fond attachment to things death-related, abortion rights and right-to-die primarily, may have trouble reproducing in the numbers neccesary to ensure the survival of the sub-species.

Before the Right injures itself, leaping into the air and high-fiving, there are counter-balancing forces: the Right's championing of the death penalty and fondness for action over words, i.e., war. Of course, the eagerness to wage war is a football that gets passed back and forth over the decades. It's only been 30 years ago that old-timers confidently asserted "Republicans get the country into depressions, Democrats, into wars."

So, how to react after reading the story? Breathe a sigh of relief that humanity has another 100,000 years to sort itself out? Shudder at this Brave New World prediction from a member of academia?

After careful consideration, one is prompted to head to the friendly confines of the nearest tavern; and once there, filled with a steely resolve to check out the cute auburn-haired chick in the heels standing by the door.

RidesAPaleHorse then responded: "I just couldn't help myself" and sent us the above.

And now, the first thing out of the box on a rainy Saturday sub-morning, we're praising his lack of self-control.




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Warning Over Oil Production Decline: Just Another Wrong Prediction

[photo:oil technology]
by Mondoreb

"Space travel is bunk."
--Sir Harold Spencer Jones, Astronomer Royal of the UK, 1957

Two weeks after Sir Harold made the above prediction, the Russians launched Sputnik. People in the business of making predictions often make them, hoping that no one will remember their wrong ones. That's the hope of Energy Watch Group, which released some details of an alarming study they've conducted.

More from the Guardian's Ashley Seager:

World oil production has already peaked and will fall by half as soon as 2030, according to a report which also warns that extreme shortages of fossil fuels will lead to wars and social breakdown.

The German-based Energy Watch Group will release its study in London today saying that global oil production peaked in 2006 - much earlier than most experts had expected. The report, which predicts that production will now fall by 7% a year, comes after oil prices set new records almost every day last week, on Friday hitting more than $90 (£44) a barrel.

Few will remember the famous prediction in the late 1800s of a Philadelphia newspaper which warned of "horse manure piled 4 feet high" in the streets. Or of Time's "New Ice Age" cover in the mid-1970s: one proposed solution in the magazine was to melt the polar ice caps.

Paul Ehrlich's famously wrong predictions about population, hunger and scarcity of resources also comes to mind when reading this report. Of course, global warming enthusiasts will jump on it as proof that "time is running out"--most likely for more expansion of government and less consumer satisfaction.

Other energy predictions contradict the EWG report. Those predictions are made by the companies and people who are putting their money where their mouths/predictions are: energy companies themselves, who have the most to lose if they are wrong. Yet this EWG "study" will be trumpeted as a means to frighten the ignorant into action--any action--to cure this non-problem. Bits Blog puts it this way:

You know, this business might actually be scary if we hadn’t been hearing exactly the same thing since the 1950’s. But the bottom line is that it’s no more true now, than it was then. Ya see… the one factor that they keep forgetting to add to the mix is that we keep finding new ways to discover the stuff.

The Guardian's article goes on to admit: "The results are in contrast to projections from the International Energy Agency, which says there is little reason to worry about oil supplies at the moment."

Predictions are a risky business. The Energy Watch Group's forecast will likely be no more accurate than the following prediction, made three years before Sir Harold's.

"You ain't going nowhere, son. You ought to go back to driving a truck."
-- Jim Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, in firing Elvis Presley after a performance, 1954

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