***UPDATE - While Bernie's site is still down, local NBC affiliate WPTZ has details on Willie Nelson stumping for Bernie.***

At the moment Bernie's campaign site, Bernie.org, is down so I can't go there and get you a direct link to the Willie Nelson ad, if it's even online. I saw the commercial just the other day and I'm not sure that it was ever on Bernie.org to begin with, but it's a safe assumption that it was because most campaign sites feature the TV ads and additional web ads. I fear that this new Willie news may have caused them to remove it by the time the site comes back up.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - Country singer-songwriter Willie Nelson and several fellow musicians were charged with misdemeanor drug possession by Louisiana police after a search of their tour bus on Monday turned up marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.

State Police seized about 1-1/2 pounds (0.7 kg) of marijuana and two-tenths of a pound (91 grams) of mushrooms from the bus, Williams said.

Nelson and four other passengers on the bus were cited for possession and released, while the driver had his commercial driving privileges suspended in addition to being cited for possession. Nelson faces possible jail time of up to six months and an unspecified fine, police said.

More to come hopefully, once Bernie's site is back up... Plus I hope to post the new Rich Tarrant ads, probably in a separate post, but they are currently available at BerniesRecord.com. Pretty damning ads. For previous posts with Tarrant's "Bernie's Record" ads, see here and here.

Here's a classic I just dug up on YouTube. I think it's a couple months old, but just recently uploaded.

 

For whatever reason, the YouTube user who uploaded this CNN video isn't allowing embedding, so you'll have to watch it at YouTube.

Blitzer excerpts Soros's book, noting where he compares President Bush to Nazis. It didn't take a genius to make Soros look like an idiot over this comparison, so Wolf "So poor, and so black" Blitzer was up to the task. While Soros started out defending his iditotic comparison, he later admits to maybe going "too far". Which is a bad enough excuse when you "misspoke", but come on, this is a book you would certainly have thought about before you had it printed up. Then he later says maybe he should have kept it to himself. No, if that's what you think, by all means say it, but expect to be called an idiot... idiot.

Anyway, big deal, Soros compared Bush to Nazis... what Democrat hasn't, right? I agree, it's not that big of a deal. What I find interesting, is that he bases his conclusion on the old "politics of fear" talking point. You know "Bush is playing the politics of fear", meaning he's trying to make us feel unsafe so that we vote GOP because they traditionally get the national security vote. My question to you is this: Who's really playing the politics of fear?

I can't count the times, over the past few days, weeks, months and years that I've heard Democrats say "We are less safe" because of Iraq, or any number of the President's other policies. "We are less safe" is to 2006 what "Bush misled us" was to 2004. But saying "We are less safe" is the picture of politics of fear is it not? Please tell me where I'm going wrong if you think I am, though I have a feeling this is just par for the liberal hypocrisy course.

The best defense I can see someone offering is "but they are speaking the truth, because we are less safe". But the fact is, that is a matter of opinion. I would, and the president would, argue that what he's saying is true and necessary too. But regardless of basis in reality, saying "we are less safe" is about as political as you can get. Go ahead, check out this news search, I'm not exaggerating at how big of a DNC talking point this has become.

 

*UPDATE 9/17/06 10:45PM - AllahPundit reports that the Bush Assassination movie has won a prize for revealing a "larger truth". AP has also taken note of Hillary's repudiation of the movie.*

(h/t Drudge)

I may not like anything else about Hillary, but at least she had the sense to say this about the ridiculous Bush assassination movie.

"I think it's despicable," Clinton said of "Death of a President," a fictional film that features a staged assassination of the president in 2007. "I think it's absolutely outrageous. That anyone would even attempt to profit on such a horrible scenario makes me sick."

I almost hesitate to criticize her because I'm glad to see those comments, but this wouldn't be RightWinged.com if I didn't. This isn't Hillary bashing by any means, but I wonder why we're only hearing this reply now. Certainly she's been asked about her opinion of the film before this? This was almost becoming old news already.

The only other criticism isn't directed at her, but at the rest of the Democrats in Washington. Shouldn't they have the balls to make a statement on this? Is that their job? No. But they sure want to run their mouths about plenty of other things that aren't their jobs either, and they are all about demanding apologies, etc. Hell, just last week they threatened ABC and ABC caved and edited their film. Did they belong in that arena either? No. The point is, if they are going to come out talking about that movie and other pop culture topics, and Harry Reid is going to quote Olberman, couldn't they at least condemn the Bush assassination film?

Anyway, the Hillary love fest is over. Good job here Hillary, but don't expect me to be complimenting you again any time soon. I mean, me, someone who votes for the Congressional "Plantation" owners needn't compliment you, part of the "slave" party. "And you know what I'm talkin' about".

 

This is great:

C&F has more links to happenings around the assclown "Truther" movement, as does AllahPundit. I intend to check some more of this out later. The biggest issue is that there is growing popularity of these idiotic theories, mainly because I guess people don't take the time to check if there is debunking information. The scary music, quick images, and seemingly damning fast rattled off quotes seem to make a case. But plenty of people have slowed it down and torn these pathetic conspiracy theories apart, point by point. One of the best known examples would be the "Screw Loose Change - Not Freakin' Again edition". Now playing here at RightWinged.com:

And as always I have to include links to this thorough debunking specifically focused on the Pentagon portion of the conspiracy theories, as well as the Loose Change II viewer guide which is a point by point debunking companion to have in hand while watching the crockumentary (damn, thought I'd coined a term). And of course you should regularly visit the Screw Loose Change blog.

...Almost forgot to mention - Check out the creator of Screw Loose Change, Mark Iradian's site where the video is posted as well. Thanks to Mark for the great work on the vid.

 

Yesterday I semi-liveblogged developments in the story of the shooting spree at Dawson College in Montreal by some Columbine copycat loser.

Now we know that he injured about 20 people, killed one, and then killed himself after police shot him in the arm. As I stated yesterday, I'm waiting for Michael Moore's "Bowling for Dawson" to be out next year, after the major point he tried to hammer home in his lying film (yeah there was one before F911), was that America is more violent than every other country, and that Canada was specifically some great model for us.

Aside from the mainstream news developments, bloggers have found this loser's blog and photo album. (h/t AllahPundit)

I don't even want to put any pictures of him and his gun on my page, you can check them out for yourselves. Anyway, regarding his blog and photo album, they are part of a community site called "VampireFreak.com". I'm just wondering how it never occurred to him that he has to be one of the biggest POSs to belong to a site by that name. Actually, I suppose he knew and that was his excuse for shooting at innocent students. I guess the logic goes like this: The realization that he's a total fag ---- Solution? ----> Go on a shooting rampage.

I'm actually, genuinely suprised that no one has come out to blame Marilyn Manson or the Matrix for this. This is obviously ridiculous, but it's bound to happen, especially sense he'd actually been listening to Manson that day. Again, I don't subscribe to that type of blame game, but it sure gives ammo (no pun intended) to those that do.

On second though, I do have to point out how odd it is that these types always seem to be Manson fans. As an advocate of personal responsibility, I certainly could never blame Manson for the behavior of these nuts but I think he should consider what he's doing and ask himself why it is that murderous psychos gravitate towards his music. If you look through, this guy actually listened to a LOT of Manson ("Music" is stamped at the end of each post). Here he actually calls Manson a god, here a personal hero, and here he pledges allegiance to him.

And I must mention this post, where he adds the results of some annoying online tests. He came out as having an 84% chance of going postal and 86% chance of killing.

Now for the icing on the cake. Ace noticed in fagboy's profile (cached here), under his dislikes, he lists "Republicans", "American Government", "Country Music", "Capitalism", anything related to Christianity, and much much more. Shocking, huh? Be sure to check out the list at Ace's post. This sort of contrast with one of his posts where he mentions eatting an apple pie... what's up with that? Patterico weighs in on the dislikes list as well.

Well, time to end this post now that I'm thoroughly annoyed by this loser. What a pathetic cliche he was. I mean, he constantly rants against "Jocks"! What are you a character in some bad teen movie? Loser. Couldn't you have just ODed so we would have never heard of you?

 

(h/t Drudge)

This is not a political story, or really important at all, but it gives me an excuse to tell you what I think about Myspace.

Here's the story via AP by way of Breitbart:

A 22-year-old woman was arrested after authorities say she tried to hire someone to kill another woman whose photo appeared on her boyfriend's MySpace.com Web page.

Heather Michelle Kane was booked Tuesday for investigation of conspiracy to commit murder, Mesa Detective Jerry Gissel said.

She was arrested after she met an undercover Mesa police detective at a grocery store, gave the officer $400 and offered to pay an additional $100 once the woman had been killed, according to court records.

The records say Kane gave the undercover officer photographs taken from her boyfriend's social networking Web page of the woman she wanted killed. She also requested a photo of the woman's dead body.

It wasn't clear if the boyfriend and the targeted woman were romantically involved, Gissel said.

As I said, I only post this so I can make my feelings known about MySpace. I've long had a particular saying I like to use that I think sums it up:

 

I'm not sure how confident I am in these recent predictions, because I remember reading Steve Forbes making a similar one just over a year ago:

Forbes said the high oil prices currently dampening the US economy, which peaked at more than 70 usd a barrel yesterday as Hurricane Katrina headed for the US Gulf Coast, would fall to 30-35 usd a barrel within a year.

'I'll make a bold prediction... in 12 months, you're going to see oil down to 35-40 usd a barrel,' he said, according to Agence France-Presse.

'It's a huge bubble, I don't know what's going to pop it but eventually it will pop -- you cannot go against supply and demand, you cannot go against the fundamentals forever.'

I had cautious optimism about Forbes prediction, but have obviously been disappointed. While most Americans are being told that this is "supply and demand" because China and India are using so much oil now, anyone who's actually paying attention knows that is absolute crap. Speculation in the market drives prices up. Bad week in Iraq? Jack it up a few dollars per barrel. Unrest in Middle East, 'uh... could run off in to neighboring oil rich nations... jack it up more'. "Global Warming! Hurricanes! JACK IT UP! GONNA BE SUPPLY SHORTAGES!" The list goes on. But this is all crap, and not reflecting the realities. We've heard for literally over 100 years that the planet was running out of oil in a couple years and it's always proven wrong. Supply has kept up with demand all the way, and all this speculation is just that, wild speculation that doesn't reflect what's really going on.

Anyway, Forbes may have been wrong, or perhaps should have just said "in 18 months" instead of 12, because as we've seen oil prices start to sink significantly and some of that speculation has come out of the market, others are making some equally shocking predictions:

WASHINGTON — The recent sharp drop in the global price of crude oil could mark the start of a massive sell-off that returns gasoline prices to lows not seen since the late 1990s — perhaps as low as $1.15 a gallon.

"All the hurricane flags are flying" in oil markets, said Philip Verleger, a noted energy consultant who was a lone voice several years ago in warning that oil prices would soar. Now, he says, they appear to be poised for a dramatic plunge.

Crude-oil prices have fallen about $14, or roughly 17 percent, from their July 14 peak of $78.40. After falling seven straight days, they rose slightly Wednesday in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $63.97, partly in reaction to a government report showing fuel inventories a bit lower than expected. But the overall price drop is expected to continue, and prices could fall much more in the weeks and months ahead.

With fear of supply disruptions ebbing, oil prices began sliding. With oil inventories high, refiners that turn oil into gasoline are expected to cut production. As refiners cut production, oil companies increasingly risk getting stuck with excess oil supplies. There's already anecdotal evidence of oil companies chartering tankers to store excess oil.

All this is turning financial markets increasingly bearish on oil. "If we continue to build inventories, and if we have a warm winter like we had last winter, you could see a large fall in the price of oil," said Gary Pokoik, who manages Hedge Ventures Energy in Los Angeles, an energy hedge fund. "I think there is still a lot of risk in the market."

Should oil traders fear that this downward price spiral will get worse and run for the exits by selling off their futures contracts, Verleger said, it's not unthinkable that oil prices could return to $15 or less a barrel, at least temporarily. That could mean gasoline prices as low as $1.15 per gallon.

$15 a barrel!? I think that's a bit extreme, considering Forbes wasn't even going that far. But, I'm going to hold out hope, while thinking realistically.

More of the good...

Other experts won't guess at a floor price, but they agree that a race to the bottom could break out.

"The market may test levels here that are too low to be sustained," said Clay Seigle, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consultancy in Boston.

And now the bad...

On Monday, the oil-producing cartel OPEC hinted that if prices fall precipitously, OPEC members would cut production to lift them. But that would take time.

"That takes six to nine months. If we don't have a really cold winter here [creating a demand for oil], prices will fall. Literally, you don't know where the floor is," Verleger said. "In a market like this, if things start falling ... prices could take you back to the 1999 levels. It has nothing to do with production."

 

It's about freakin' time!

Hezbollah acknowledged targeting civilians in rocket attacks on Israel, but said it fired in response to Israeli attacks - rejecting an Amnesty International report Thursday that accused the guerrillas of "serious violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to war crimes."

During the conflict, Hezbollah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 43 civilians, seriously injuring 33 others and forcing hundreds of thousands of civilians to take refuge in shelters or flee.

"The scale of Hezbollah's attacks on Israeli cities, towns and villages, the indiscriminate nature of the weapons used, and statements from the leadership confirming their intent to target civilians make it all too clear that Hezbollah violated the laws of war," Amnesty International's Secretary General Irene Khan said in a comment on the report.

The article basically repeats what those three paragraphs say a number of times, but you've got the gist.

The claim that the targeting of Israeli civilians by Hezbollah was a reaction to their own civilians being targeted is ridiculous. First of all, Hezbollah is a terrorist organization that is in the business of killing civilians and that is what they did for this entire war. That's how they roll. Israel, on the other hand, fires at terrorist fighters. It just so happens that those terrorists hide behind woman and children and fire their weapons from residential rooftops. Essentially the majority of civilian Lebanese deaths aren't even "collateral damage", rather they were killed by the Hezbos themselves, but making them targets.

This is just like Iraq. Our troops are less safe when they won't fire in to a Mosque, school, or hospital even thougth the terrorists will fire out at them. If the Israelis were being that weak, they'd have been screwed. They attack the enemy where they are, and it just so happens that the Hezbos hide amongst civilians for the PR. That way they can have Green Helmet parade dead childrens bodies around the next day, directing cameras, reseting for better angles, etc. etc.

 

I guess making Howard Dean the party chairman wasn't enough, we've seen the Democratic leadership make the most idiotic comments imaginable as if they're in a contest to outstupid Dean. And today, Kerry submitted his entry for the month:

Asked if he dreads the prospect of being “Swift-Boated” all over again, Kerry counters that he would relish such a fight.

“I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other,” he declares. “I am so confident of my abilities to address that and to demolish it and to even turn it into a positive.”

Yeah, because you did such a good time beating them back last time. Are you saying that now you've had time to formulate a response that will "kick their ass" so badly, that they won't be as effective as last time? If so, and if you're the one being truthful, why did it take you a bunch of downtime to come up with a way to combat the Swift Boat Vets? I mean, if you're the one telling the truth and who's right here, couldn't you have hit them back in 2004?

And despite the crappy second half of the year, yes I'm still a Red Sox fan, but don't try to appeal to me again by saying that your favorite player is some morphed player you invented called Manny Ortiz, after proclaiming yourself a big fan. Yes I am still annoyed by that you lying pandering clown.

Anyway, John O'Neill of the Swift Vets responded:

Kerry’s tough talk triggers laughter from John O’Neill, a fellow Vietnam veteran who helped found Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth and wrote a blistering 2004 book on Kerry, “Unfit for Command.”

“Well, he’s got eight times as much time to prepare for us as he spent in Vietnam,” says O’Neill, referring to Kerry’s short tour of duty.

I don't approve of mocking the amount of time someone spent there, and everyone should be praised for any service. But O'Neill has his issues with why Kerry was there, and how he got home. And of course there are the issues of lying about throwing his medals, lying about medals he was given, lying about being in Cambodia, meeting the enemy in Paris, Winter Solder, etc. etc., all of which came to light as a result of efforts by the Swift Vets. This isn't challenging your service, this is challenging your record of lying and politic playing with that service after making it an issue with your salute and "reporting for duty" speech.

None of this matters anyway, Hillary is getting the nomination but is unelectable, so you guys have already lost the 2008 presidential election.

 

Hopefully there won't be any interruptions in service, but I am working on transferring to a new server at the moment. It's supposed to happen this evening, but I'm not certain at this point.

Anyway, hang in there if you have any issues accessing the site.