Hamas rejects compromise, peace with Israel

Count Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar among those who are opposed to any form of compromise or even peace with Israel. The Palestinian strongman, in a Jerusalem Post story, said this:

“Today marks the start of direct negotiations between someone who has no right to represent the Palestinian people and the brutal occupier, to provide a cover for Judaizing Jerusalem and stealing the land,” Zahar said.

While refrigerator filters may be rare in Israel, straight talk is even rarer, so let me ask the Obama Administration a straight question: Do you STILL think Israel’s the roadblock to peace, here?

Give me a break…

A drunk driver, a coward and a nobody walk into a governor’s race…

Even if you offered me briefcases full of money, it would be hard for me to select a desirable candidate this year in the Minnesota Governor’s race.

The GOP has a solid conservative in Tom Emmer, but he’s a two-time loser when it comes to DWI charges, and that’s one time too many in my book. You can have all the “right values” in the world, and if you don’t live by them, who cares? It’s going to be hard to cast a vote for Emmer as things stand now.

Trouble is, who else is there? The Dem’s best candidate, Matt Entenza, might have won me over, but finished a distant third. The winner, Mark Dayton, is and always will be a 9-11 coward in my book. He embarrassed the state enough by serving a term as US Senator; he’s done nothing to earn a reprieve from me… and he’d raise taxes uncontrollably.

Then there’s Independence Party candidate Tom Horner… a former speechwriter for GOP Senator Dave Durenburger back in the Reagan Era. Ehh. So what? He supports gay marriage and huge tax hikes, so he’s still a non-starter for me, as well as a nobody.

I’m really tempted to sit this election cycle out. With Entenza gone, there’s just no one to feel good about voting for.

Emmer atop GOP, but DFL’s a toss-up

The media was all over the Minnesota primary on Tuesday, and while Republican Tom Emmer won the GOP primary handily and Tom Horner won the Independence Party nod virtually uncontested, the fate of the DFL candidacy for Minnesota governor was in doubt as flash-flood conditions rocked the Twin Cities metro area.

While stations posted digital camcorder reviews of the night’s election results, mand Sony Handycams were in use as reporters rushed to track down the latest poll counts. Certain there were also many camcorders crowding the halls of all three Minnesota political parties, hoping to get that golden soundbyte that could encapsulate the night.

In fact, it is WonderfulPessimist.com’s belief that the DFL blew it tonight. Party nominee Margaret Anderson Kelliher held a narrow, 41-to-40.9 percent lead over veteran Democrat Mark Dayton for the nod, and either one is certain to be less appealing to mainstream Minnesota voters than Matt Entenza, who was running with former Fox 9 News co-anchor, Robyn Robinson.

Entenza is just as leftist as Kelliher and Dayton, but he has the advantage of a great “small town Minnesota kid made good” back-story that is unlike anything Kelliher or Dayton bring to the table.

Kelliher is a polarizing figure unlikely to appeal to tweener voters; her anti-Bush-centric primary campaign showed her to be out of step and out-of-tune with voters in a year when most voters no longer blame the current economy on Bush and Bush alone, but are disillusioned with Barak Obama. She played attack-style politics from the word “go” without ever stopping to make a strong, ideas-and-issues-based argument for why she would make a good governor.

By contrast, Dayton is an equally polarizing figure, but for different reasons; Minnesotans remember him as the cowardly Senator who fled Washington over a terrorist threat about an anthrax attack that never materialized; he retired after one term, in disgrace, and is hoping Minnesota voters have a short memory when it comes to his cowardice.

Both will be vulnerable to an effective campaign by Emmer, especially if he focused as much on ideas as he does on his opponents. Entenza would have been another story; he is the one candidate Emmer would have no chance against… basically because he’s likable.

Too bad he won’t get the chance. He looks great on any digital camcorde.

Waters, Rangel going down

California congresswoman Maxine Waters and New York congressman Charles Rangel share 16 ethical charges between the two of them, and could go a long way to aid the anti-incumbent sentiment currently placing Congress at all-time-low approval numbers. With mid-term elections looming, they could easily become the face of Nancy Pelosi’s so called “most ethical Congress in history.” That promise is sounding more and more hollow with each passing day.

If there is a sea-change in Congress, however, the GOP should be aware that it is not necessarily a shift toward conservatism that is fueling the current unrest, but a vast disillusionment with the Obama campaign promises versus the delivered results. While the GOP could turn the electorate toward conservatism, they will have to do more to accomplish that than ride the current wave of anti-incumbent discontent.

To turn this into a pro-GOP movement, the Republicans must sell their alternative ideas the the electorate as a solution to the current Carter-like national malaise, all the way up and down the socio-economic ladder from the blue collar worker to the wholesaler to the CEOs.

Otherwise, any re-taking of the reigns in Washington will be purely temporary and could easily shift against them a couple election cycles down the line; heck, it could even ensure the re-election of Barak Obama, if they play their cards unwisely. Make it about ideas, not ethics.

Obama’s mid-term theme: It could be worse

After two years on the job, that visionary fire-breathing agent of change, President Barak Obama, is now whistling a different tune: Don’t change a thing! Instead of acknowledging honestly that things are not good, Obama’s inspiring message in this time of national crisis is, in effect, “Well… it’d be worse with the other guys.”

That’s a tough, tough sell. Even if he were wearing some sharp-looking Ugg boots, it’d be a tough sell.

When Reagan faced a tough transition in 1982, his message was notably different and summed up by the phrase, “Stay the course.” It was a theme that said, “What we’re doing is working… Just give us a little longer.” And it worked.

That’s not the same message at all as “It’d be worse without us.” Could this be 1994 all over again? Let’s hope so!

Stone decries “Jewish control of the media”

Sometimes Oliver Stone is so leftist, even liberals have to admit he’s, well… liberal.

In whining about the challenges for getting his upcoming documentary, The Secret History of America, made, Stone hauled out the old, racist, anti-Semitic slur about “Jewish domination of the media.”

Stone cited this ghost-foe as the main reason it was such a struggle to get the documentary, in which he alleges secret US support of Adolph Hitler, made. Stone, who defended not only Hitler, but his modern protege, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, as well in an interview with the Sunday Times.

Among his more outrageous comments?

“Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed],” Stone said. “The Jewish domination of the media [explains the focus on the Holocaust]. There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years.”

The Anti-Defamation League’s Abe Foxman called Stone on the carpet in a press release, in which he said, “Oliver Stone has once again shown his conspiratorial colors with his comments about “Jewish domination of the media” and control over U.S. foreign policy. His words conjure up some of the most stereotypical and conspiratorial notions of undue Jewish power and influence.”

Of course, by Monday Stone had issued the typical, by-rote obligatory non-apology apology, but hopefully it’s too little, too late and Stone will soon be sharing a lake cabin and a Canon camera with folks like Mel Gibson.

Senator Laughing Stock sounds off

Former comic and current Minnesota US Senator Al Franken, otherwise known as Senator Laughing Stock, is trying on a new punchline. According to a report by The Hill, Franken told a Las Vegas gathering of liberal bloggers and other unemployed people that, “If Republicans take back Congress they’ll implement a truly dangerous agenda. Everything is on the table, from repealing healthcare reform to privatizing Social Security.”

Repealing health care reform? Sounds good to me! Someone needs to staunch the bleeding of our nation’s pocketbooks by President Obama, and Franken has made it clear he and his Democrat allies simply aren’t interested in, let alone up to, the job. So I say, fire up the electric fireplaces and let’s roast us some incumbents. Incumbent s’mores, anyone?

Further proof of… global cooling?

Reports this weekend are showing that both Los Angeles and Australia are reporting record temperatures: low ones, that is!

Australia had its coldest day in 100 years this weekend, while the City of Angels recorded a temp of 69 degrees in mid-July… one of the coldest on record, with a day from 10 years ago coming closest to being that chilly.

So while Algore fights off sex charges and cries about global warming, it’s pretty clear that the evidence keeps piling up that either there is no consensus anymore, or it was premature at best to claim there is one.

It’s getting cooler of late, folks, not warmer. Global warming theory’s about as useful as broken fitness equipment.

When is the world gonna learn: Mel’s no good

When is the world gonna learn that Mel Gibson’s “no good, he’s no good, baby, he’s no good,” huh?

Just because a guy makes a movie about Jesus doesn’t make him a saint; Gibson got in trouble a few years ago for an anti-Semitic rant, and now Gibson’s proving his heart’s still in the same place: unrepentant.

The latest target of his hate-speech are blacks, as Gibson was recorded using the N-word frequently. I wonder if Danny Glover’s been told? After four Lethal Weapon movies, you’d think he might have something to say on the matter.

Anyway, even the best weight loss pills in the world won’t make Gibson attractive around Hollywood after this; William Morris Agency has dropped him as a client, and it’s all downhill from there, Mel.

Limbaugh joins LeBron

Radio host Rush Limbaugh had joined LeBron James in spurning New York and its escalating taxes for the more taxpayer-friendly environs of Florida; Limbaugh recently closed on the sale of his Manhattan apartment, selling it for about $11.5 million after paying around $5 million for it in 1994. That’s a decent capital gain for El Rushbo.

And it essentially completes Limbaugh’s move to Florida, breaking ties with the state that launched him to national stardom. Limbaugh has spent most of his time in Florida for the past several years, but the sale of his Manhattan apartment completes the severing of his Big Apple ties.

NBA superstar LeBron James chose Miami over New York when he decided to move from Cleveland in free agency, and the choice is estimated to keep an additional $12-$20 million in James’ pockets over the next five seasons. That’s not chump change, even for LeBron. It could even pay for a lot of much-needed adult acne treatments.

When will New York learn that raising taxes pushes people away and lowering them draws people in, creating a larger tax base pool to draw from?

Well, probably never; the state’s eternally Blue…

Dems worry as Obama becomes Big Bully

Forget about Orwell’s Big Brother; the Obama Administration is looking to become known by an even more ominous title: Big Bully. That’s the concern among the nations’ governors as the Obama Administration prepares to file suit against the state of Arizona because they don’t like the state’s immigration policy… which basically says, “Let’s act like we have one.”

Democratic governors are concerned primarily on the basis of how it could cost the party seats in this fall’s mid-term elections; they may not disagree with the challenge… they just want to win re-election first. Meanwhile, the GOP is warning how Obama’s bullying is basically an attempt by the Fed to grow its power even further beyond its Constitutionally-defined powers to make basically every law as something to be defined and decided at the Federal level.

That’s not a Constitutional Republic, folks; it’s socialism, and it’s about as useful as a 10-year-old taking prenatal vitamins.

RIP Nearly a century of hate

It’s not often considered good form to speak ill of the dead; yet with the passing of Democratic Senator Robert C. Byrd, one could almost make an exception. The eldest and longest-serving member of the U.S. Senate at age 92 at the time of his passing, Senator Byrd of West Virginia was at one time a Kleagle and an Exalted Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan.

Although he later claimed to have been involved for only a year or so, documents have surfaced showing his fascination with the KKK lasted for perhaps as much as a decade. Also, his public voting record of opposing black nominees while in officer certainly does little to ameliorate his claims to a changed heart.

As the politics of the nation shifted, Byrd made public claims to changing with them, but as recently as 2001 had made public comments in which the “N-word” was uttered by him, though in that case it was uttered in reference to white people. Despite the Democratic party’s modern image as the party of racial diversity, they tolerated Byrd and his record of bigotry right up until his death, throwing out every possible defense to protect him, including Kohler kitchen sinks.

While WonderfulPessimist.com appreciates the grief of those who will miss Byrd as an individual – a father, grandfather and so forth – it would be disingenuous to pretend this site mourns his passing. His membership in the U.S. Senate was a stain on this nation’s history, and only as time goes by can it ever be expected to fade from memory.

That being said, we do hope he made peace with his creator and found truth and forgiveness with him prior to his passing.