Friday briefs

Damn, I was hoping it would have been completely destroyed: No such luck. The UN building survived. Go move it somewhere else, like to some other country, please.

Funny, how this doesn’t get worldwide headlines: The Palestinian hunger strikers were big news. Hundreds of Kurds about to die from a hunger strike in Turkish prison? Meh. Who cares? Jews aren’t involved, so it’s evidently not news.

Pennsylvania too? UN election watchers may be showing up in Pennsy, too. Oh, have them come to my town. I could use the laughs. Really, though, how freaking pathetic is it that the UN wants to waste time, effort, and money ensuring that U.S. elections are free and fair? What an effing waste of American tax dollars.

Empty gestures, Palestinian style: Mahmoud Abbas says he’s willing to sit down and talk with Netanyahu. Of course, when Bibi says yes, there will suddenly be conditions. It’s just words.

FEMA still sucks, and Bloomberg is a moron: New Yorkers are dumpster-diving for food, and Staten Islanders are saying there’s been little to no help for them. Of course, Obama will not be blamed for FEMA’s lapses, because national problems are only the president’s fault when the president is a Republican.

Posted in Israel, Politics, The One, Turkey, United Nations | 1 Comment

Post-hurricane panic: Yeah, we has it

How many times have you heard the old “You can smell I’m in New Jersey” jokes? The odor is a combination of swampland and oil refineries.

Well, here’s what happens when two of those odor-causing refineries go offline after a hurricane:

Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Energy reported four of six Northeast refineries affected by Hurricane Sandy had resumed operations at either normal or reduced capacities. Two refineries remained shut, including the large Phillips 66 refinery in Linden, which produces about 238,000 barrels a day.

“When you lose one of the largest refineries, that could have an impact (on supply),” said Laskoski. “There’s a small number of refineries in the Northeast to start with.”

That isn’t what’s causing the gas line problems, though. It’s idiots who have nowhere to go trying to top off their tanks and causing gas shortages.

The biggest problem, experts said, is that consumers are panicking and rushing to the pumps. In some cases, they see the lines, assume there’s a dire situation and decide they need to top off the tank.

Then, a type of herd mentality develops, sparking chaos across the Garden State.

“Unfortunately, that’s very typical behavior after a hurricane,” said Gregg Laskoski, a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy, a website that tracks gasoline trends. “Even if they know their car is going to stay parked, they still panic and go and fill up the tank. It exacerbates the problem.”

“It adds to severity of the price spikes and prolongs the time it takes for things to return to what might be considered normal,” he added.

My nephew spent an hour and 45 minutes in a gas line. When he got home, my brother told him about the 1970s, when our father sent us kids to go fill up his tank on odd/even days, and WE got to sit in line for hours.

Everything old is new again. Oh, and my [formerly] fellow NJans are adding fights to the mix. Video at the link.

Posted in American Scene | Comments Off on Post-hurricane panic: Yeah, we has it

Well, that was fun

Just spent the last half hour chatting with Ed Morrissey on his radio show. Fun, interesting, and now I want to do it every day!

Posted in Bloggers | 1 Comment

I’m on the Ed Morrissey show today

Three p.m., over at HotAir.

I’ll be talking politics, blogging, and my book.

Posted in Bloggers, Podcasts | Comments Off on I’m on the Ed Morrissey show today

Wednesday briefs

Hamas documents its own war crimes: Hamas released a video proving they fire rockets from civilian areas. And yet, there will never be a Goldstone Commission for their crimes. And of course, there will always be excuses made for them.

Mittmentum: Obama is being forced to campaign in formerly safe Democratic states. Methinks there may be a new president come January.

More rockets, more yawns from the world: Hamas thinks that Israel won’t go into Gaza now that the Muslim Brotherhood is ruling Egypt, so it keeps firing rockets into Israel. Yeah, I wouldn’t count on that. Especially since the U.S. election will be over in less than a week, and if Netanyahu was limiting his response because of that, well–the election is over next Tuesday.

Yeah, but they only do this because they want to convert us, or something: Not all Christians (I’m talking about you, PC-USA) hate Israel. Some of them actually rally in support of Israel. And don’t think we don’t notice, or appreciate it. Because we do.

American-Israel military cooperation: The biggest air defense drill of its kind, ever. Remember this when people insist that Israel gives the U.S. nothing back. Also remember that Israeli soldiers trained U.S. soldiers in combat to prepare them for going house-to-house in Iraq. Israel has our back.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Politics, Religion, Terrorism | Comments Off on Wednesday briefs

Another tree down

No damage except to the bushes.

Tree down

This one was damaged by its neighbor during last year’s hurricane. And those are words I never want to repeat: “last year’s hurricane”.

My family is safe, though the power is out through much of NJ. And only three people have died due to the storm (so far). Stay inside! It’s just as dangerous today as it was yesterday.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on Another tree down

On the radio

I’m going to be on the Ed Morrissey show tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4 p.m.

Keep an eye on Hot Air for a more direct link.

I’ll be discussing politics, my history as a blogger, and my book.

Update: I’ll be on Wednesday’s show instead.

Posted in Life, Politics, Writing | Comments Off on On the radio

Hurricane update

While there is nothing spectacularly awful going on here, I could quite happily live the rest of my life if I never had to deal with another hurricane.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on Hurricane update

Still no rain

The hurricane is supposed to move wind and rain into the Richmond area sometime later tonight. So far, it’s been pretty quiet.

My friends and family in NJ, on the other hand, are going to get slammed tomorrow night through Tuesday.

They’re probably the ones that need the most prayers. Here’s hoping they all pull through okay. Stay safe, NJ. You’re getting a direct hit by a very mean storm at high tide during the full moon.

Oy.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on Still no rain

My front door sand berm

Last week, we had a Wroth of God storm that pooled in front of my door, making me extremely nervous about the upcoming hurricane, where we may get four or six or eight or however many inches of rain in a short period of time. So I started talking about sandbags, and Sarah suggested I get play sand, because she will then buy it from me after the storm for use in her children’s sandbox.

So I did.

Meryl's sand berm

And now, I’m ready for the hurricane.

Posted in Life | Comments Off on My front door sand berm

I hate hurricanes

Yeah, I’m prepared, but I still hate that a nasty storm is bearing down on me. Yeah, I’ll probably keep power, unless the lines leading into my development get hit, but I still hate hurricanes.

There is absolutely nothing to like about one. All you do is worry.

Time to go get a couple of bags of sand because last week’s Wroth of God storm put a lot of water in front of my door and makes me worry that I might get some coming in during Sandy.

Stupid hurricane.

Have I mentioned how much I hate hurricanes?

Posted in Life | 2 Comments

Friday briefs

U.S. forces told to “stand down” during Benghazi attack: This is a screw-up from the very first moment, and if it were a Republican administration, this would be front-page news in every newspaper across America. Instead, only Fox News and a few conservative media outlets are reporting that the CIA operatives were denied help in the midst of the battle. This should have been a presidency-ending story–which of course, is why the media aren’t covering it.

Syrian truces are just like Palestinian truces: In a word, nonexistent. Oh, and Hezbollah is fighting the rebels across the border. And Turkey is on alert as well. The fighting has already spilled across the Turkish border.

Iran, take note: The strike on the Sudanese weapons factory was a show of force to the Mad Mullahs.

Latest poll data: Wisconsin is all tied up. Go, cheeseheads!

So once we have a state, we’re ready to talk about a state with you: Yes, that is what Mahmoud Abbas said. Once the UN gives him a state, he’s ready to talk peace with Israel. Sure. Right. Uh-huh.

Posted in Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Politics, Syria, United Nations | Comments Off on Friday briefs

Narrative fail

President Obama was leading in the battle for women’s votes, by a double-digit margin, not very long ago. But he couldn’t keep that lead after the debates. But he kept trying to pull the “war on women” bullshit.

Then suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, Obama’s edge with women began to melt away. More than any other group, women have accounted for Romney’s surge in the polls, which has now given him a slim lead in the national popular vote and in some calculations of the electoral college. Women, it appeared, were not as firmly ensconced in Obama’s camp as they had seemed. Indeed, they were abandoning the president en masse.

The evidence that Obama finds himself bleeding women’s votes can be seen in how aggressively his campaign has sought to steer the conversation back to women’s issues. Campaigning a few miles from here on Friday, Obama stood at a podium flanked by “Women’s Health Security” banners; he was introduced by Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, and spoke against a backdrop of risers filled exclusively with women, holding turquoise “FORWARD.” signs.

But women, it seems, are a lot smarter than the Obama campaign gives them credit for. The top issue facing all voters is the economy. To coin a phrase, “It’s the economy, stupid.” Women’s issues? Only abortion shows up on the by-gender chart, and it’s in last place, with only one percent of women caring about it. The top two issues? The economy and unemployment, making up 64% of women voters most important issues.

Well, the latest AP poll out today has now show that Obama no longer has any advantage with women voters. The gender gap, she is gone.

Less than two weeks out from Election Day, Republican Mitt Romney has erased President Barack Obama’s 16-point advantage among women, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. And the president, in turn, has largely eliminated Romney’s edge among men.

Those churning gender dynamics leave the presidential race still a virtual dead heat, with Romney favored by 47 percent of likely voters and Obama by 45 percent, a result within the poll’s margin of sampling error, the survey shows.

Think it’ll stop the stupid “war on women” meme? Yeah, neither do I. But at least CNN pulled this abysmally stupid “study” claiming that women who are ovulating tend to vote for liberals.

You know what else is gone? My Facebook friendship with a liberal, who defriended me after I posted the top two links in this post. That’s the second liberal who has unfriended me on FB for my political views. They call themselves tolerant, and yet they show they are anything but.

However–I have another very liberal FB friend with whom I just had a knock-down, drag-out fight about Mitt Romney vs. Obama. We’re still friends. He says he’s used to it, because his family are all Reagan Republicans, and he’s the black sheep. Maybe we can still convert him. But it’s good to know that he’s not going anywhere. The other guys? Well, if they’re so easily offended, we weren’t really friends, were we? FB friendship is no substitute for the real thing. FB is really just a big BBS, when all is said and done.

Posted in Feminism, Politics | 8 Comments

Rocket fire from Gaza, bias from AP

Terrorists fired dozens of rockets into Israel today, wounding three foreign workers, two of them seriously. A day ago, a roadside bomb critically injured an Israeli soldier, who may not survive. The Iron Dome system stopped seven rockets from landing in Ashkelon. 72 missiles have been fired so far. So what is the AP spin on this story?

Gaza rockets draw Israeli strikes; 2 Gazans die

It takes the AP nine paragraphs to tell you that the foreign workers were wounded. Nine paragraphs. Remember that only the first three to five paragraphs make it into your local paper’s “World” section. Here is the lead that the AP is sending around the world:

Gaza militants pummeled southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortars on Wednesday, and Israeli airstrikes killed two Palestinians in a sharp escalation of violence following a landmark visit to the coastal territory by the leader of Qatar.

Hostilities have been simmering for weeks, but erupted into barrages from Gaza immediately after the Qatari ruler left the territory Tuesday. Militants from the ruling Hamas movement joined the fray, undercutting the emir’s appeal to avoid confrontation with Israel.

Oh, what a moderate man that emir is. He came with an offer of nearly half a billion dollars in aid for Hamas, but he supposedly told them to leave Israel alone. Because that’s what Hamas does, not, say, swear to destroy all of Israel.

By the way, Hamas isn’t even trying to deny that they’re behind the rocket fire. Remember they are now the governing body of Gaza, and the group the EU keeps insisting that Israel should talk with about peace. Sure. Peace. Because that’s really what they want. Just look at how they ask for peace.

Hamas’ military wing and a smaller militant faction claimed credit for the rocket and mortar fire.

The smaller group — the Popular Resistance Committees — said one of its members died in one of the airstrikes, and Gaza health official Dr. Ashraf al-Kidra said another Gaza man died of wounds sustained in an attack Tuesday night that killed two militants. No militant group claimed him as a member.

Note how the AP actually did have news about the Israeli workers’ injuries in the lead of the first story. But the anti-Israel day shift editor got hold of the story and made sure they moved that information out of the morning newspapers’ reach.

Rockets and mortars from the Gaza Strip pummeled southern Israel early Wednesday and an Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian militant, in a sharp escalation of violence following a landmark visit to Gaza by Qatar’s leader.

Several foreign workers in Israel were wounded in the rocket fire, and a number of militants were also injured in the air attacks, Israeli and Palestinian health officials said. Hamas security forces were ordered to evacuate their facilities for fear they would become targets of Israeli airstrikes, and some southern Israeli schools canceled classes.

If you think I exaggerate about the anti-Israel editing in the AP, you haven’t been following this blog for very long.

Posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Media Bias, Terrorism | 2 Comments

Tuesday briefs

Remember this guy also funds al-Jazeera: The dictator of Qatar, one of the supposedly more modern Arab states, is the first head of state to visit Gaza, bringing money and prestige to Hamas. Mark him in the “enemy of Israel” column. Oh, and the women? Well, they’re sitting in the back, veiled.

At the stadium, Gaza women piled into the back stands reserved for them hours ahead of the speech. They sat under the watchful eye of Hamas policewomen in uniforms of long blue robes, light blue headscarves and navy hats.

That’s right. Hamas has brought wonderful things to Gaza, like making the women as equal as they are in Iran.

He’s a right ugly old Israel hater now, isn’t he? Jimmy Carter opened his mouth, condemnations of Israel came out. Go figure. As for the AP, they put this in the next-to-last paragraph after blaming Israel for the lack of peace negotiations:

Carter and the delegation also expressed concern about the ongoing divisions between the main Palestinian parties, Fatah and Hamas, and vowed support for a Palestinian observer state status bid at the United Nations General Assembly in November.

He stated that Israel is not committed to the two-state solution. Yeah, because it’s not like Netanyahu actually used those words over and over again in speeches, about two states living side by side in peace. What a load of crap. Angry, bitter old anti-Semitic ex-president? Media bias? Yeah, we got that.

Selfish, self-centered publicity hounds: This struck me the other day. Look at the picture in this article of the so-called “peace activists” who tried to enter Gaza. It simply screams “Look at us, the brave activists who are going to try to bust through the blockade against all odds, aren’t we just the coolest things you ever saw?” It’s all ego, now. The only items that Israel keeps out of Gaza are weapons.

By the way, al Qaeda is not on its heels: In fact, it was about to murder Westerners in Jordan.

Posted in Gaza, Israel, Israel Derangement Syndrome, Media Bias, Terrorism | Comments Off on Tuesday briefs