She Flies With Her Own Wings

Ihr Völker der Welt...Schaut auf diese Stadt

2008-07-24T17:11:00.002-04:00

Video here, transcript here.

Can you envision Obama as President? After today's speech, the world emphatically answered yes. Obama nailed it. Right down to the Ernst Reuter-esque "People of the world - look at Berlin!"

Symbolism

2008-07-24T10:50:00.003-04:00

Malkin, trying desperately to hold onto the 'Obama is just like Hitler' narrative:

Germany awaits The One. After getting heckled at the Western Wall, a fact you will be hard pressed to find reported in the American media, Barack Obama has arrived in Germany.

Wasn't heckling a thing unhinged leftists did?

The Citizen of the World is ready for his photo-op: [...]

Yeah, never mind all that Nazi symbolism and stuff…

Really! If only she knew.

Maverick

2008-07-24T09:08:00.004-04:00

No worries, Barry, we won't take you to our North Sea platforms. Instead, we have 'die Kunst'!

By now it's pretty clear John McCain canceled the trip that was supposed to overshadow Barack Obama's speech not because of a few isolated thunderstorms hundreds of miles away from hurricane Dolly, but because of a slightly off-message backdrop.

The real question is: who comes up with this shit? Oil rigs are loud, dirty, flaregas-spewing things in the middle of an unforgiving ocean. And the ports of entry for the crude oil usually aren't much better. Places like these should be the last a presidential campaign ought to visit: not even the bloggers the American Petroleum Institute invited onto their platforms brought back pretty pictures to show. They're necessities of modern life, and that's why most of us turn a blind eye to the minor spills and malfunctions that happen there all the time. It kinda makes you wonder if these people really believe the crap they're trying to feed us:

Obamamania in Berlin

Nice

2008-07-24T09:02:00.002-04:00

One of the funniest parts about the video are some of the reactions from wingnuttia; who seemed to love it, but couldn't quite explain to themselves why.

Watch out for the....recoil!

2008-07-23T18:32:00.002-04:00

And try not to hit the guy in front of you.

Obama is Hitler

2008-07-23T10:53:00.007-04:00

Sooner or later, us liberals will just have to admit what I'm sure Jonah Goldberg already knows for a fact; that is that since Obama arrogantly wants to become President of Earth--like Hitler once did--is giving a speech in Berlin--like Hitler once did--and dares to advertise this speech in German on posters alerting people to take public transportation to the event--like Hitler once did...

...that Obama is, indeed, Hitler:

Uh...I mean Obama just kinda looks like Hitler...in an artistic sort of way...the shading immediately reminded me of none other than Hitler...but just the shadowing...I don't mean to imply that...uh...well there's that and then there's the color choice...and that he uses his profile...just like Hitler...without actually, you know, being Hitler of course...but we all know that he could be, you know, urh...eh, never mind.

You'd almost think that Republicans are worried about not being able to attract quite as many people to their speeches in Yurp like they once believed they did back in the days of...

The shading, the color choice, the slightly open mouth...reminds me of...I just can't place it...someone help me out here...

Update: More clear evidence Obama wants to be just like Hitler.

Φως-y, Φως-y!

2008-07-22T18:43:00.001-04:00

To an anatomist, Fos is flossy-flossy:

Obama flunks history?

2008-07-22T12:15:00.005-04:00

Ich habe einen Überidioten in meinen Television:

Ugh. Where to begin? Maybe the first sentence! Because JFK, following his "Ish bin ein Bearleener" speech at the Rudolph Wilde Platz, didn't have much to say while visiting the Brandenburg Gate:

Next, you just knew that it was going to be too damned tempting for the knuckledraggers at FoxNews not to bring up teh Nazi. The Siegessäule is "a monument linked to Adolf Hitler?" WTF does that mean in a city where just about everything else the Prussians built was in some way later "linked" to the Nazis? Other monuments "linked" to the Nazis include...the Brandenburg Gate:

Finally, as for the Siegessäule "not being any kind of symbol of multiculturalism and can't-we-all-get-along globalism," may I present the Loveparade:

Copycat

2008-07-22T09:13:00.001-04:00

I don't think "copycat" is the most effective word to use when reporting on a story about Palestinians, Israelis and bulldozers.

Ooops

2008-07-18T10:09:00.004-04:00

Mention Al Gore and wingnuttia goes batshit insane.

Physics proves global warming is a dirty hoax!!!! BWAHAHAHA!!!! And it's all because scientists are waelthy playboys:

In other words, the science community had reasons to jump to conclusions. They got grants, they got attention, and they started getting all the hot chicks — well, at least they got money and felt important. Those are powerful motivators to reach conclusions that keep money and attention flowing, instead of concluding that they aren’t terribly necessary at all.

Wingnuts, of course, would never jump to conclusions:

Update 7/17/2008: After publication of this story, the APS responded with a statement that its Physics and Society Forum is merely one unit within the APS, and its views do not reflect those of the Society at large.

Oops.

Then there are John Tierney's 3 questions which should have merited it's own HEH but instead was only an "UPDATE". The three questions can be summarized as follows:

1.) He never said the tornado link was proven.
2.) He's testified before Congress that we should support nuclear, but that it's far more expensive than solar and wind and that it's also quite difficult to convince the public that it's safe.
3.) The Tennessee Center for Policy Research has a problem with math or they don't read their own press releases from a year before, since 17,768 is not 10% greater than 18,400.

Ooops 2.

And finally, there's this gem:

FOUR PEOPLE RODE A TAXI CAB TO AL GORE'S SPEECH!!! HYPOCRITES!!! GLOBAL WARMING IS A HOAX!!!

I'm sure they interviewed all the participants as to how they got there.

The church of coal

2008-07-16T23:39:00.005-04:00

These days I try to stay away from commenting on teh stupid found on wingnut blogs--preferring instead to comment on editorials and politicians--but the flesh of my fingertips is often too weak to resist National Review's Planet Gore:

Just back from a Baltic Sea cruise that provided an interesting perspective on “Green” Europe.

Passing through the Kiel canal in northern Germany — which shortcuts Denmark by linking North Sea shipping traffic to the Baltic — one is immediately struck by the forests of windmills.

Denmark. Forests. Wind. It reminds me of...

I am but mad north-northwest: when the wind is southerly I know a hawk from a handsaw.

--Hamlet

...Sadly, the internet hath no fury but a wingnut scorned by the secular humanist church of Al Gore:

While Germany hasn’t had an official state religion since the 15th century, the presence of windmills is evidence of the strong union of Green Church and state.

Interestingly, this throwback to state religion has also brought a return to the European skyline of yore: horizons peppered with windmills. Yes, the new models are sleeker than the old wood variety, but they are a symbol of how deeply Germany is in the grip of Greens who want a return to a "pre-industrial nirvana."

Or maybe the church of lignite was asking for a wee bit high of a tithe on the towns just a few kilometers south of that canal so they figured why not worship the pre-industrial-fascosatan WIND for a few decades...

Whoda thunk?

2008-07-16T10:30:00.003-04:00

WATB Lutz:

General Motors' product chief, Robert Lutz, vice chairman in charge of global product development, says he's been peppered with comments that the current sales and financial problems are no more than just deserts for the auto industry's lack of foresight.

Not so, says Lutz.

When today's models of big SUVs and pickups were being developed, Lutz says, "There wasn't a petroleum engineer in the world I know of who came remotely close to forecasting this (high oil and gasoline prices). Petroleum at the time was forecast to be $45 to $60 a barrel and pump prices around $2.15, $2.35.

Who could have ever predicted that encouraging single-occupancy commutes in vehicles getting 10 mpg from anti-pedestrian suburbs to downtown areas located 40 miles away might lead to problems? Certainly not the wankers who hyped the threat of small cars to motorists, hybrids to the blind, told us about unpopular public transportation, the evils of regulation, and the pipedream of sustainable development. They had no role in feeding us the milkshake.

"What were we supposed to do, just say, 'We don't beleive any of that,' and quit building profitable trucks?"

Yes! If the industry had spent half the time trying to make some sensible legislative approaches like increased fuel efficiency standards work for them that they did lobbying Congress against this legislation, GM's market capitalization might be still be higher than Mattel's.

And they wonder why we're no longer willing to eat the free-market shit they're feeding us!

Music video of the year

2008-07-15T15:58:00.003-04:00

This should become more popular than the "Bush was right" single:

A simplified message on oil

2008-07-15T10:26:00.008-04:00

Knuckledragging conservatives absolutely lurve this map:

ZOMG! DEMOCRATS ARE BLOCKING ACCESS TO 97% OF ALL THE OIL WE NEED TO KEEP OUR HUMMERS ON THE ROAD! ALL BECAUSE OF THE EEEEVIL ENVIRONMENTALISTS WHO HATE GOD AND OUR COUNTRY!!!

Why does the media feel the need to use this narrative? And why do Dems hold onto long drawn-out (albeit factually accurate) explanations about how little impact this oil will have on the price of gasoline?

Democrats and environmentalists said that even if obstacles to new drilling in the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf of Mexico were quickly lifted...

Democrats and environmentalists. Screw that: Dems aren't the puppets of environmentalists; they're opposed to this because of the thousands of families who've worked hard to save up enough money to buy a vacation home at the beach. These beach houses are rented out to other hard working families until the owners decide to retire in them. Subsequently, these homes are passed on to their children. Additionally, there are thousands of families who own restaurants and businesses in coastal communities whose livelihood depends on catering to tourists. One little oil spill can sour up many American dreams. Environmentalists have painfully little say in this matter.

Remember back in the days of "Healthy Forests" when Republicans urged professional biologists to butt out because of the superior "experience and judgment and hard work of local people"? [Come to think of it, how's that going these days?] In the case of off-shore drilling, Republicans graciously allow "states to have a say in what happens off their shores" knowing full well that the outer continental shelf is under federal, not state, jurisdiction. As Bush rightly said today: "the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil resources is action from the U.S. Congress." The Federal government is going to ram drilling down peoples throats whether they like it or not and the only thing standing in the way are Congressional Democrats.

Why do Republicans hate home owners and states' rights?

Then there's oil shale, which is an even simpler case for Democrats. It takes tons of water to squeeze a little oil out of the rock. In the West, ranchers desparately need that water.

Why do Republicans hate ranchers, home owners and states' rights?

Sharks!

2008-07-12T08:47:00.001-04:00

Wish us well. We might not survive our trip to the Cape this weekend!

Science is hawt!

2008-07-11T12:52:00.001-04:00

Yes, it's true...

2008-07-11T11:46:00.001-04:00

Obama's Brandenburg-gate

2008-07-11T08:21:00.005-04:00

Obama is hoping to speak in Berlin by the Brandenburg gate, and that's been making political waves for a few days now.

Much hilarity ensued:

First, Berlin and the US have a very special relationship owing in part to the immediate post-WWII period and the US response to it. In a way it's eerie, but Berliners--even those born much later--are instilled with a sense of gratitude to the US from a very early age. It's as though we're still dropping candy from the sky and as a result Americans living in Berlin can get away with a little bit more than most (I speak from personal experience). Thus, the Brandenburg gate and other open air sites are places for US politicians to come by and talk. The leaders of other countries very rarely request the use of these sites because it holds less meaning to either Berliners or their own constituents. So, no, no other leader of another country would think of doing this. But that doesn't show Obama as "not so humble". Moreover, traffic patterns around the Brandenburg gate have been modified so that it's not nearly as much of an inconvenience as some might think (cars don't actually drive through the gate): lots of events are held at the gate and most Berliners know to avoid it.

Secondly, it may as well be written into law that the German federal government and the Berlin city government must be at odds with one another at all times. This is a tradition dating all the way back to when the Prussians decided they needed a capitol in the middle of their empire. So of course Merkel will consult with Bush on Obama and whether or not McCain would also want to campaign in Berlin. On the flip-side, though: of course someone from Wowereit's office will find out about that and leak it to the press. Duh...it's all part of the game!

Finally, AAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH! JFK's famous speech
WAS NOT IN FRONT OF THE BRANDENBURG GATE. Reagan gave his speech on the West side (for obvious reasons) of the gate. As far as I understand it, Obama will want to give his speech on the East side. That's where Clinton gave his speech. Subtle symbolism alert: facing east, welcoming the "new" countries of the former east block with the old cold war west supporting the rear. Presumably for anyone who was actually there at the time, Obama's speech might be more reminiscent of Clinton than of Reagan. Maybe McCain will want to face towards the West if he decides to show up in Berlin. Beware: Berliners have been known to boo conservative politicians.

No further comment required

2008-07-10T12:48:00.003-04:00

Wingnut bait:

GOODBYE air pollution and smoky chimneys, hello brighter days. That's been the trend in Europe for the past three decades - but unfortunately cleaning up the skies has allowed more of the sun's rays to pierce the atmosphere, contributing to at least half the warming that has occurred.

Since 1980, average air temperatures in Europe have risen 1 °C: much more than expected from greenhouse-gas warming alone.

Hook...Line...Sinker...

Sundries Shack:

I mean, who doesn’t like clean air?

I’ll tell you you who doesn’t like it. The Earth. The Earth doesn’t like clean air, at least not quite as much as Woodsy the Owl and that crying Indian led us to believe.

And your children and grandchildren are probably going to want it just a little bit dirty because, as it happens, clean air seems to contribute heavily to global warming. [...]

My guess is that in thirty years we’ll look back and find that this study is where the Cult of Climate Change well and truly jumped the shark. From today, their explanations are only going to get more ridiculous and hard to believe.

Don Surber:

A-ha!

So the problem with the SUV is not that it emits carbon dioxide (which is an essential ingredient to plant life) but rather its catalytic converter.

We’ve made the air too clean.

And remember how we banned spray-on deodorants because of global cooling in the 1970s?

That worked.

Too well. [...]

Look, it does not take a rocket scientist to realize that these people do not know what the hell they are talking about.

Moonbattery:

Once again we see that there is the farthest thing from a consensus on how human activity affects the climate — if it does at all. The only sure thing is that the climate will always change. Nonetheless the global warming hoax marches forward, as the governmedia self-servingly assures us that only totalitarian measures and a radical reduction in our standard of living can save the planet from cataclysmic doom.

The Earth doesn't like clean air? We banned spray-on deodorants because of global cooling?!? And of course the obligatory: bloggers are smarter than scientists!

Holy. Fucking. Shit. That's just too brilliant to say anything more about!

Next up from the world of science:

Pacific nations threatened with disappearing beneath the waves as sea levels rise have been given a partial reprieve – for a few decades at least. But Europe and North America could be at much greater risk of floods than previously appreciated.

Quick! Someone page Drudge!

Number one?

2008-07-10T09:57:00.003-04:00

I wonder how long it'll take for someone to point out that China is actually the biggest polluter.

President Bush, in his characteristically understated wit and charisma today fired a parting shot at the G8 who have the unrealistic expectation that the US should take the first step in emissions reductions, thereby giving away our entire economy to the real polluters of the world: China...

Update: We have a winner! Gateway pundit:

Not only has US President George W. Bush saved Iraq and the Middle East from total annihilation with his successful 2007 troop surge, not only has US President George W. Bush saved hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans from two of the most brutal regimes in history, not only has US President George W. Bush brought democracy and freedom to the Middle East and southern Asia, not only has US President George W. Bush protected the American homeland after the worst attack in US history, but now US President George W. Bush just saved the US economy from the global warming religionists. [...]

Actually, Mr. President, the US is number 2-- China took that crown this year.

That's awesome.

\ˈe-nər-jē\

2008-07-10T07:39:00.002-04:00

What, exactly, is a "bipartisan" energy policy?

These remedies are to be found in both supply and demand – and both Democrats and Republicans need to demonstrate their command of this fact. [...]

To Democrats:

Your claim that any oil we drill for now will not come on line for five years or longer – and will thus have no effect on prices today – is incorrect. Unlike past oil crises, where the spot price of oil (that is, today's price) rose more than forward prices, the oil price for delivery in 2012 is trading at $138 per barrel. The market is sending a clear price signal that our problem is in the future – because we do not have the will to curb demand or increase supply. [...]

As forward prices decline, watch how quickly the spot price comes down.

To Republicans:

A more accurate metaphor is the global energy market as a giant bath tub where more withdrawals (Chinese and Indian) are being made every day. The only consistent new supply to that tub is coming from periodically unstable and unfriendly places (Nigeria, Russia, Iran, Venezuela).

That last sentence should tell us something about the finger-wagging aimed at Democrats that came before it, no? We can try to wring the shale out of the Rockies or advance straws 20,000 leagues under the sea to get to the magic pony of the gazillions of gallons of milkshake we might theoretically have down there, but when it comes to quickly soothing our need there's no better place to go to than the pushers and dealers down in the seedy part of town. Who, by the way, aren't able to supply us like they once used to because they're drying up slowly.

That's not to say that some of the crap cannot be cut: we can probably begin to face the fact that there will be more domestic drilling at the end of the next President's term than at the beginning--will that happen in ANWR? who knows, but we will see more domestic production generally. Oil at $140.- a barrel and above will make it feasible to explore some of the more difficult areas and the public will increasingly demand it.

But the fact remains that Republicans will never be able to let go of their free-market fetishism unless a major purging of their party occurs. So, we can move forward into the reality of increased domestic production with irrational, alarmist Gowd wants 'Murcans to drahv Hummers alone from desolate suburbs 40 miles away from their work and the Demonocrats won't let us DRILL DRILL DRILL™ politicians in office; or we can go with a party that advocates a slightly slower approach to drilling, but doesn't cower in fear of the socialist bogey-[or shall we say "straw"]-man when it comes to some relatively straight-forward solutions. Like improving infrastructure--everything from smarter traffic signals in congested areas to increased public transportation to finally providing a dedicated track to AMTRAK's Acela train so it can go the speed that taxpayers paid for years ago. And providing government advice and assistance to construct walkable, more sustainable communities. And not having knee-jerk what-if-the-wind-stops-blowing reactions to improved technologies. And...well, we all know from the last 7+ years.

Over or under

2008-07-09T11:19:00.001-04:00

That is the question.

Science is kewl!

Well, it's a wrap then!

2008-07-09T09:58:00.003-04:00

We won. Because the surge worked. Fuck you, Democrats. McCain really only wanted it to feel like it's been 100 years. As long as we don't tell anyone the details of our withdrawal timetable, we agree with Maliki! Time to move on: let the Iraqis prepare their civil war re-enactments.

Besides, it's been at least four summers in a row that we've been looking for reasons to bomb the shit out of Iraq's neighbor.

Transhumanist stamina

2008-07-09T09:31:00.001-04:00

Heh:

A man would use the remote control to open the valve and allow the sperm to pass through when he and his partner wanted to conceive.

The implant, still in laboratory testing, would provide a much-needed alternative to vasectomy, a surgical procedure not easily reversed if a man changes his mind.

T. Boone Pickens,

2008-07-08T10:33:00.002-04:00

dirty hippie enviro-whacko who wants to ruin our economy and make the baby Jesus cry:

It'll take too long to get newkewlar up and going? And DRILL DRILL DRILL™ won't drive down demand? That's crazy talk!