He did it again and the entries have started. Here are my favorite so far:

The Sphinx Speaks

I think several speech writers were watching mystery men prior to the conventions this year. Here are a couple of quotes:

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.”
Palin

People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.Bill Clinton

There were a few more that I am having trouble finding moment. Here are some I made up (not necessarily my views). I hope none of them have been used.

We must bring the fight to our enemies before the fight brings our enemies to us.

We need to raise our interest in inflation before our inflation raises our interest.

We will withdraw our troops as soon as possible but it is not possible to withdraw our troops soon.

Instead of doubting the the benefits of drilling, we need to give drilling the benefit of the doubt.

We have changed the way individuals donated millions to millions of individuals donating change.

Attacks:

My opponent asks you to believe what he says but does he say what he believes.

Our opponents don’t believe you deserve change so they only offer the change they believe you deserve.

UPDATE: Doug tipped me Slate was inspired by my story or had the same observation. More likely the latter. The name for it is apparently Antimetabole. To borrow from bond I always knew Bill Clinton was a cunning linguist.

Ok, first McCain does a speech in front of a green screen. Now I see him packing in his lunch with Lindsey Graham at Schmidt’s Sausage and Fudge Haus (not kidding). Of course that is probably better than air lifting onto a failing oil rig (doh).

Presently the biggest story on these sites is a new senate bill cosponsored by Obama, Global Poverty Act. which calls our government to monitor whether we honoring promises made by president Bush in 2005 to the international community. It also calls for the development of a national strategy to deal with world wide poverty. Of course, the republican blogs have done a little name spin – “Global Poverty Tax” – and misrepresented what was being said. Not surprisingly I have not seen even one of these sites actually link to the bill itself. I will, HERE it is. Funny that a call for accountability would get so much criticism, huh. The bill describes one of the key vehicles for action on global poverty:

Mobilizing and leveraging the participation of businesses, United States and international nongovernmental organizations, civil society, and public-private partnerships.

It also reiterates the US goal in regard to poverty reduction:

The official goal of United States foreign assistance is: `To help build and sustain democratic, well-governed states that respond to the needs of their people, reduce widespread poverty and conduct themselves responsibly in the international system.’.

[sarcasm] Oh that sounds very out of line. [/sarcasm]

I have been following the Sketchup Buildings Blog for a little while now and I can’t help but notice that almost every day a new model of a building in Kabul is modeled. I can’t find a site for this development and I am not sure the motivation but it seems to be related to a German Computer Science/Mathematics professor. I imagine this may be part of reconstruction projects and planning. What I don’t get is why they were nice enough to make it public. In any case here are some more shots. I will make a fly through video when I get a chance.

Why are so few talking about Evo Morales? The President of Bolivia (and the Coca Growers Association). An outspoken admirer of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, Evo has claimed that he is the United States’ “worst nightmare.” Prior to his canadicy, Morales was the leader of the violent resistance to the US led coca eradication efforts. Now, as president, Morales has halted all such efforts claiming that the coca produced in Bolivia is for “cultural” purposes.

I understand that if we turned our focus toward every major world event we would have no time even to eat or drink but this one will directly impact the US. I wish I could claim that drug abuse only has Darwinian impacts but that is not even close to the case. The reality of the situation here is that unless more is done to counter (meaning diplomaticly and/or politically) Morales, cocaine imports will rise, drug abuse will become cheaper, crime will increase.

Ok, so I am not exactly a card carrying Piney but I did buy a plot in the Pine Barrens (aka NJ Pinelands) a year ago and I have no plans on moving. The Pine Barrens have many enemys and few advocates. I believe I have no choice but to resort to a certain level of activism to help protect my home and surrounding land. I’m sure Samost is planning to develop it next. He will likely sue me for this post like he has sued many of my neighbors and his own father to get what he wants.

Maybe we could develop an animatronic Jersey Devil to scare the developers off. And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!

I hope to produce a number of posts related to Pinelands Preservation and living half off grid as we do here. Maybe this will help bring awareness to the land whoring that goes on in this state.

There’s nothing more permanent than a temporary worker

Michael Teitelbaum, the former vice chairman of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform

Where are the substanative “for amnesty” arguments. What provisions are in this bill to shut down the border (think Israel type shut down) once amnesty is granted? A few more border patrol workers? please!