Monday 22SEP08

42 days to go..... so anyway, the always salient Bill Whittle has another post up at National Review Online, The Undefended City: "The pattern is always the same: at the height of a civilization's powers something catastrophic seems to occur — a loss of will, a failure of nerve, and above all an unwillingness to identify with the values and customs that have produced such wonders. The Russians say a fish rots from the head down. They ought to know. It may not be factually true that Nero fiddled while Rome burned, the saying has passed into common usage because the image as the ring of truth to it: time and time again, the good and decent common people have manned the walls of the city, and have been ready to give their lives in its defense, only to discover too late that some silk-robed son of a bitch has snuck out of the palace at midnight and thrown open the gates to the barbarians outside. And how is this done, this "throwing open of the gates?" How are defenders taken off the walls?" The Washington Times takes a sober look at all the "Palin-bashing" that seems to be all the rage amongst the short bus crowd and the potential repercussions thereof: "Not since the drubbing of Clarence Thomas during his 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings have liberals in Hollywood and the elite media so openly conspired to deny a minority the right to free thought and free expression of political ideals. Now Sarah Palin is exposing the Democratic Media Complex to a new generation, many of them open-minded women. Perhaps if he wins in November, the eminently tolerant John McCain will pick an openly gay person to serve high in his administration. That's when the real Democratic Party derangement will begin." The big news of the day which, in a sane and just world, should have been front page news and the lead story on every national "newscast": Dr.Rusty Shackleford has the goods on the "astroturfing" that Senator Obama's campaign is sponsoring. It is a well-researched expose and worth every minute to takes to read it. Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them [Updated] Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Those smears included false allegations that she belonged to a secessionist political party and that she has radical anti-American views. Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure. It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely: Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm. The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters. Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own.... The list goes on and on. Please read soonest. Ace has updates on this story as well. As I said before, we cannot allow the left to shape the narrative. more soon