Riehl World View

Flex Fuel Mandates

Congress is considering new mandates on Flex Fuel vehicles. I posted on it at American Thinker. You can see the item at this link.

Looks Like Palin Email Hacker Might Just Get Caught

Combining this Register item with information noted by Michelle Malkin, looks like this guy might just be busted rather easily - assuming he was telling the truth:

"I read everything, every little blackberry confirmation… all the pictures, and there was nothing, and it finally set in, THIS internet was serious business, yes I was behind a proxy, only one, if this shit ever got to the FBI I was fucked,...."

If he used just one proxy, given this below from the first link above ... yeah, he just might be well and truly screwed. Probably the first time in the losers life.

"Usually, this sort of thing would be hard to track down because it's Yahoo email, and a lot of people use my service for that," he told El Reg in a phone interview. "Since they were dumb enough to post a full screenshot that showed most of the [Ctunnel.com] URL, I should be able to find that in my log."

...

To prevent abuse of the service - such as the occasional bomb threat or other illegal act that's been known to happen - Ramuglia logs each user's IP address, along with the time and web destination. That often isn't enough to track down people who access extremely popular websites. But in this case, the perpetrators included a whole string of random-looking characters when posting screenshots of Palin's hacked account. That will probably be enough for him to pinpoint the proverbial needle in the haystack.

The information at the moment is on a server at a Chicago colocation site owned by FDC Servers. Logs are automatically flushed after seven days, so the clock is ticking for law enforcement, who presumably are under intense pressure to protect the privacy of a candidate for the White House. Of course, there's always the possibility that Ctunnel.com was only one of multiple anonymization services the email hackers used to cover their tracks, but there's only one way to find out.

All Your Words They Belong To Us?

Not sure what to make of this? All needed background at the link.

"I checked with Governor Sebelius's staff and they said that the remarks are the property of the Obama campaign."

Here is the contact information for the campaign.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/contact

Director of Public Services
State Library of Kansas
300 SW 10th Ave Rm 343-N
Topeka KS 66612

Obama Beat Hillary Using Race, Now He's Trying It With McCain

From the Democratic primaries right up until now, people watching the Obama campaign have known what's going on - he plays the race card every chance he gets. This time it's Hispanics, but it's still the same approach. Being divisive is in his blood from his Chicago and Reverend Wright days. Maybe this time he finally went too far - even the media won't play along.

There are some real factual problems with this ad, which is titled “Dos Caras,” or two faces.

First of all, tying Sen. McCain – especially on the issue of immigration reform – to Limbaugh is unfair.

Limbaugh opposed McCain on that issue. Vociferously. And in a larger sense, it’s unfair to link McCain to Limbaugh on a host of issues since Limbaugh, as any even occasional listener of his knows, doesn’t particularly care for McCain.

Second, the quotes of Limbaugh’s are out of context.

Obama used race to beat Hillary in the primaries and he's trying to use it to beat McCain. America does not need a president who will seek to divide the nation along racial lines every time he makes a mistake. And I fear with his lack of experience, judgment and obviously class - Barack Obama will make plenty of mistakes if he ever does win.

This is reprehensible stuff he tried. The man is not only not qualified, frankly, he's unfit to sit in the Oval Office.

I Support Obama, But I'm Falling Down Drunk!

Ha! Here's a guy who supports and needs change.

Some more Barry fans here and here.

Did I Say Tank?

I recently pointed out how the media is in the tank for Obama. I should have said vat.

Jeremiah Wright Protege Picks Fight He Can't Win

The headline isn't to suggest that I believe Rush Limbaugh's a racist in the vein of a Jeremiah Wright. I don't believe Limbaugh is racist at all. He simply isn't politically correct, which is great. But did Obama really want to open up the door for guilt by association attacks on race during this year's Fall campaign?

Not only is this a destructive, unhelpful tactic that contradicts his claimed mantle as a post-racial candidate, opening up that line of attack is precisely what he has done.

While the attack is more likely to come from a 527 as opposed to the McCain campaign, Obama no longer has a leg to stand on in condemning such an attack. Real smart move, Barry. Keep it up. Picking fights with the potential to destroy your candidacy is a real bright strategy for winning, especially as those attacks will be factual and far more accurate than what you tried to pull off here.

The Obama campaign has released new radio and TV ads in Spanish that seek to tie Sen. John McCain to anti-immigrant comments made by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The ads also suggest the Republican has "dos caras" -- "two faces" -- when it comes to his relations with Latino voters.

The Two-Minute Obama Ad

My honest take? If he tried to look anymore pleading in the thing, I'd expect puppy dog tears to break out - on him. And the visual looks off. He looks young, too skinny somehow - almost drained for a young guy.

Will all these words matter in the end, assuming he actually pays to run it much and the media doesn't dive completely in the tank and starts airing a two minute long ad as "news?"

I doubt it. I think the alleged substance will be mostly lost in the end like with any speech. He doesn't strike me as particularly presidential in it. But then I'm biased, so who knows.

I don't see this as anything but a waste of money in the end. But that's what Democrats do ... too many Republicans of late, too. More and more I am thinking this guy is really concerned about the debates and is doing everything he can to stick to giving prepared speeches as often as possible because it's all he has.

Blogs

I don't visit Facebook that much, not enough time. There's a link at right on the sidebar to become a member of my blog network there. Maybe this will work, as well.

In any event, I wanted to link a few blog friends. I don't do that as much as I should anymore, unfortunately.

Musings of a Mad Macedonian

No Liberal Spin

Palin Drone

Politico's Smith And Martin Just Don't Get It

I generally enjoy the work of The Politico's Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin, unfortunately their guffawing over Lynn Forester de Rothschild's bashing of Obama for his elitism demonstrates that they don't at all understand the term in a political context. Their take suggests something of a Leftist bias in that they seem to define the word in terms of wealth, or where one chooses to live. It has nothing to do with those factors at all.

elitism: 1: leadership or rule by an elite 2: the selectivity of the elite ; especially : snobbery <elitism in choosing new members> 3: consciousness of being or belonging to an elite

Sam Walton wasn't an elitist although he was incredibly wealthy. Ernest Hemingway wasn't an elitist because he lived some portion of his life as an ex-pat. Socialists define elitism in terms of wealth and genuine xenophobes define it in terms of geography. Conservatives and perhaps in de Rothschild's case moderates don't define elitism in those terms at all.

Evidently de Rothchild appreciates her good fortune in life and never allowed it to fool her into thinking she was or is actually better than anyone else. Imagine that. Call it elitism if you wish, some of us simply call it class. But is that true of Obama?

Witness what Obama said just last night, it absolutely reveals his elitist view.

Standing in the courtyard of the palatial estate, he said his campaign was dedicated to people who need jobs and health care and worry about their pensions and sending children to college.

"It's about those who will never see the inside of a building like this," Obama said.

Really? Why is that, Senator Obama? I thought your entire journey, such as you created it in two non-factual autobiographies was supposed to be the story and road map of precisely how one of the poor have nots might lift themselves up and join you - now up there basking in the apparently too thin air?

Did you pull the trap door closed behind you after you scampered up? Or have you been deluding yourself your entire life that you were somehow entitled to and qualified for something above and beyond what some average American might be entitled to enjoy? That's elitism in its purest form and clearly de Rothchild has figured it out.

See populist for another take then apply it to the Palin phenomenon and maybe you'll understand the point. If individuals in the media actually understood this they might stop laughing at or attempting to smear the Alaska Governor long enough to understand what a  genuine force she is and the greater one she might eventually become. That, so long as she doesn't forget where she came from, as Jr. Ill. Senator Obama seems to have done.

a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people

And yes, the Right has its elitists, too. Witness this exchange involving Laura Ingraham and David Brooks.

THE CONSERVATIVE ELITES ATTACK!

In today's New York Times, David Brooks launches a critique of Sarah Palin, essentially concluding that her populist appeal is dangerous and ill-conceived. He yearns for the day when "conservatism was once a frankly elitist movement," one that stressed "classical education, hard-earned knowledge, experience, and prudence." Brooks, like a handful of other conservative intellectuals, believes Palin "compensates for her lack of experience with brashness and excessive decisiveness."