• Video: Russert’s Son Speaks
• Boom?
• Gulp. Should I be worried about those hits from China?
• We used to get behind war efforts, too.
• Dog Bites Man: Democrats like tax increases
• More evidence that border enforcement works at the polls
• Bobby Jindal Supports Teaching ‘Intelligent Design’Well, you can’t get everything you want in a candidate, I suppose.

In one of the few halfhearted efforts to woo the conservative base, and possibly the majority of gas-grizzled Americans, John McCain will announce tomorrow that he is for the encouragement of domestic oil drilling… to some extent that he hasn’t really explained.

With the price of gasoline surging past $4 a gallon in many parts of the country, Senator John McCain called today for the lifting of the federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling for states that want to permit it.

He said that he also favors giving states incentives to allow exploration, part of an energy proposal that he said would be “very helpful in the short term for resolving our energy crisis.”

Currently America is sitting on its thumbs when it comes to utilizing our natural resources, even in areas that no yuppy overly eco-conscious tourists will ever see. And don’t think that by waiting we’ll end up with the last ace of the deck, many other powers are edging up to our borders in order to take advantage of the fuel we’re (as of yet) unwilling to pursue.

Babalu Blog has more information on how close the Chinese are to setting up shop in the gulf. Do you hear that sucking sound? It’s the American economy’s future getting slurped up like cheap chop suey.

So while it’s technically true that China is not presently drilling for oil on the Cuban side of the Florida straits it’s only because they haven’t gotten the logistics straight yet not because of a lack of interest or desire. The greater point remains. If Cuba can drill on its side (with Chinese or other help) where an ecological mishap will certainly affect us in South Florida then why shouldn’t American companies (which I am sure have a better record of safe exploration and drilling) be allowed to drill on our side. The risk is marginal and the reward is potentially great.

I think the answer is obvious. If you drill, you’ll encourage the continued use of an abundant and readily accessible resource. Also, you might annoy some ferns or something. So yeah, no economy for you. Just give it to the Chinese… who aren’t that bad to begin with. It’s not like they’re as oppressive as emperor Bush or anything.

Gateway Pundit illustrates how it should be done ala Brazil.

As a matter of fact, I bet most of you feel the same way I do…

Michelle Malkin has more background on McCain’s lukewarm history on domestic drilling.

Read much of what is over at Big Lizards about Obama’s proposed energy policies and you might get violently ill. Remember to go ahead and schedule a doctor’s appointment now so that you’ll be able to get in for an office visit by the Messiah’s second term thanks to universal healthcare.

Ace of Spades illustrates how the only thing standing between us and plenty of the sweet, sweet oil is a pesky mineral leftover from the age of blacksploitation films and (previously) record gas prices.

And finally, Hot Air has video of the usually kooky Cramar giving us a well deserved rant about the folly of blaming oil companies for being profitable. Are you listening, McCain?

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• the corner: A Campaign Slipping Away?
• Patterico’s Pontifications: L.A. Times Finally Understands What Was So Offensive About Wright — Now that Obama Has Resigned from Trinity Church
• Counterterrorism Blog: The Danger of False Assumptions
• JustOneMinute: Yet Another Intelligence Assessment

Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to do a Mother’s day post, as I was still trying to get used to my new schedule, but I hope to make up for some of that today. As it is I don’t have any unique and poignant insights to share on the timeless bond between parents and their children, at least nothing that we haven’t all heard before one way or another, but I can try to briefly reiterate the importance of family in our lives on this special day. At the very least I can touch on how important family has been to me.

I am lucky to have grown up with both a loving mother and father who would have gone to the ends of the earth to help me. In retrospect it seems like they often did spend their days teetering on the edge of the world just for me, but even as they went above and beyond they were also careful to make sure that I kept my blessings in the proper perspective. It was my parents who instilled a sense of constant wonder and appreciation for life’s ups and downs in me, which in turn became the foundation for my ideology.

As corny and contrived as the term ‘compassionate conservative’ sounds these days, it was truly my parent’s compassion that built my worldview. It was my mother’s zeal for learning and my father’s dedication that led me to not only seek out knowledge but to enjoy the pursuit. That encouragement to develop intellectually and spiritually has been their greatest gift to me. The desire to ‘be informed’ and indulge in the availability of knowledge has served me well; it has brought me to the person I am today, to the person I want to be tomorrow, and I try to impart the importance of education to all those that I meet- be they liberal, conservative, or a wishy-washy independent.

I’ll cut myself off before it all becomes too sugary but the point remains: I’m sure that your parents or loved ones taught you something in their own way, so take a few minutes today and let them know that you appreciate all their efforts!

I’ve fallen into the same dreary boat as the rest of my conservative brethren. We have nowhere else to realistically turn beyond the dreaded straight talk express if we wish to keep the Messiah out of the White House.

Our only choice becomes less attractive when spouting answers like this during conference calls:

Amanda Carpenter — How about drilling in ANWR, and where else can we drill? — Still opposed to ANWR but is open to more production on federal lands.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Lets keep those poor woodland creatures wandering the wastelands isolated from evil things like warmth and life. The microscopic stamp of land we’d be using in ANWR to lower the price of domestic oil and gas is much better off being left alone to collect more mold in the permafrost.

Yet McCain claims to be open to exploring domestic drilling opportunities elsewhere? Say what? It goes beyond hypocrisy or Kerryesque waffling. It’s just an old man gritting his teeth and digging in his heels when he knows he is wrong. He’s done similar doublespeak on immigration. Our nominee just can’t admit to being on the wrong side of the debate. Instead of sucking it up and just coming clean, we are treated to conflicting sentiments that come across at best uninformed or at worst disingenuous.

Here’s a motivational reminder for you to print out and hang up in your room. It’ll help brighten things up after you get laid off or have to telecommute because you can’t afford to drive to work anymore.

God bless America and the candidates we’ve chosen.

Even with the light posting schedule that I’ve been keeping (and I hope to change that problem soon) I just had to comment on this latest Obamination. If you hadn’t heard about it yet, get ready because this should be eating up the news cycle for the next week- even if the Obama camp tried to downplay it with a lazy weekend release.

Barack Obama said Saturday he has resigned his 20-year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago “with some sadness” in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and more recent fiery remarks at the church by a visiting priest.

“This is not a decision I come to lightly … and it is one I make with some sadness,” Obama said at a news conference after campaign officials released a letter of resignation he sent to the church on Friday.

“I’m not denouncing the church and I’m not interested in people who want me to denounce the church,” he said, adding that the new pastor at Trinity and “the church have been suffering from the attention my campaign has focused on them.”

Obama said he and his wife have been discussing the issue since Wright’s appearance at the National Press Club in Washington last month, which reignited the furor over remarks Wright had made in various sermons at the church.

So first we get chided for daring to criticize an upstanding religious leader such as Pastor Wright, who shines the good light of the lord on his congregation with such gems as “God Damn America” and accusations that the government created AIDS to kill black people. Then we’re told by Barack Obama himself that to denounce Wright for his outlandish B.S. is denounce the entire black community in what was one of the most over-hyped and poorly constructed speeches in recent memory.

We’re told that Wright’s long history of racist radical beliefs are no different than the purported unease that Obama’s white grandmother once allegedly felt at being approached by an urban youth on the streets alone. That poor granny is just as guilty misguided as the Rev, and that we should just deal with someone spreading hate because we’re just distracting from the real issues by bringing up their relationship.

Nevermind that Obama wrote in his own highly acclaimed memoir that he was so tuned into the Wright and his church throughout his life that he listened to tapes of the sermons college. Nevermind that Michelle Obama has been stepping dangerously close to Wright’s level of rhetoric over the last few months while on the campaign trail. Nevermind that Obama flat out lied about what he had or hadn’t heard at Trinity church for a few weeks and the media happily covered for him. Nevermind that he didn’t choose to reject the endorsement of Louis “Mothership Math” Farrakhan until he was called out about it by Hillary during a debate, albeit in a clumsy manner. Nevermind that Obama disinvited Wright from a campaign announcement BEFORE any of this broke in the MSM by telling him that “you can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public.”

After all of that, we’re supposed to believe that this issue is over now because Obama says it is? He said it was before. It ain’t, baby, it ain’t. If Wright’s words were the sort that could be swept under the rug, they would have been soundly rolled up in the man from Illinois’ closet again by now.

It’s a bad sign for your democrat campaign when you can’t even get your talking points straight with a friendly media source like the AP. First it says he left because of Wright’s comments, which we now know he has been aware of for quite some time. Then he’s leaving to protect the church from further scrutiny?

Please. This isn’t any closer to going away than it was after he delivered that mess of a religion speech a few months ago.

Show you agree here!

More on this at: Michelle Malkin | Ace of Spades | Hot Air | Wizbang |

When this first surfaced a few days ago, it was immediately labeled with the blaring red label RUMOR. I’ll reiterate that warning while adding my own two cents to the mix, but I don’t want to completely disregard this story.

Rumor has it that there is video of Michelle Obama “railing against ‘whitey’ at Jeremiah Wright’s church.”

If this is true, it could be lethal. It’s one thing to distance yourself from your pastor, but quite another thing to distance yourself from your spouse.

Might Rev. Wright be the one leaking the video?

Be warned: Again — this might be just be a rumor. Or it might be big — if it’s true. Stay tuned …

Certainly it screams ‘too good to be true’ but there’s also a certain logic to it. Given that the media (both liberal and conservative) largely ignored the Reverend Wright videotaped comments for well over a year, is it so unconceivable that there could be more videos from Obama’s church still left out there to be found? I believe so.

I mean, Wright’s most controversial comments came from a BEST OF video being sold by the church. Certainly it would take longer time for someone to actually dig up some dirt that they can’t purchase ready-made online complete with fancy graphics and promotions.

Still, if this existed, I’m sure Hillary would have found it by now. On the other hand (how many are we up to by now?) the former first lady has proven herself incompetent when it comes to confronting the messiah thus far, so could it just be another opportunity that has fallen through the cracks, waiting to be plucked up and dusted off by McCain in the general?

Most likely, this is just another fake fork in the kitchen sink barrage that Hillary has been engaged in since her ship started to sink. A spork of deception meant to make conservative mouths water and cast doubt in the mind of Democrat superdelegates.  But you just don’t know…

Only time will tell.

More on this at QandO and Ace of Spades HQ.

I’m in the middle of a rather big schedule adjustment, so posting will be sparse this week until I get used to things. I’m hope you’ll stick around!

(Let’s all hope that Hillary stays in it for a good while longer)

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Yes, but what he didn’t specify is that the “peaces” they wanted are itty bitty and made of blown-up Jew.

“There’s no doubt that both the Arab world and Hamas will accept Israel’s right to exist in peace within 1967 borders,” [Carter] said, adding that the Islamic group was prepared to “live as a neighbor next door in peace.” He also stated that the group was ready to accept a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.

The former president added that Hamas would not undermine Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ efforts to reach a peace deal with Israel, as long as the Palestinian people approved it in a referendum.

However Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said Carter’s comments “do not mean that Hamas is going to accept the result of the referendum.”

You can expect a resounding reaffirmation of these lofty statements from Hamas in the form of rocket attacks launched indiscriminately at Israeli women and children in the coming days. It’s just their way of saying “thanks for the visit!”

More on this: Yourish | Gateway Pundit | The Corner on National Review Online | The Corner on National Review Online |