Quote of the day - From an abrasive Mike Gravel: "I'm prepared to tell you that Americans are getting fatter and dumber." Refreshingly honest!

That was unnecessary - President Bush's speech tonight seemed like a perfunctory follow-up to General Petraeus' testimony. The Democratic response was just as predictable with amorphous grandstanding acting as a substitute for doing anything. No wonder Osama is cross with them.

What liberal media?

Only a day after Media Matters claimed that conservative columnists were over-represented in newspapers, a claim quickly diffused by the New Republic, there's this gem from the NY Post: "Times gives Lefties a hefty discount for 'betray us' ad"

The New York Times dramatically slashed its normal rates for a full-page advertisement for MoveOn.org's ad questioning the integrity of Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq.

Headlined "Cooking the Books for the White House," the ad which ran in Monday's Times says Petraeus is "a military man constantly at war with the facts" and concluded - even before he testified before Congress - that "General Petraeus is likely to become General Betray Us."

According to Abbe Serphos, director of public relations for the Times, "the open rate for an ad of that size and type is $181,692."

A spokesman for MoveOn.org confirmed to The Post that the liberal activist group had paid only $65,000 for the ad - a reduction of more than $116,000 from the stated rate.

So while the liberals whine that the top newspapers carry two more conservative columnists than progressive columnists, what we have here is nothing short than a direct political contribution by the New York Times for an anti-war group.

Extra - The legal minds on the conservative right are massing.

More - Rudy Giuliani forges his own ad and asks for the discount rate.

Governor Moonbeam - Red State nominates Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick for a 9/11 tribute suitable for second-graders. Can't we all love each other? No, no we can't, hippie.

Whatever pays the bills - Hey, I'm getting caught up on the past week's events and I can't not mention Britney Spears. Know why? Because "Britney Spears" and "Lindsay Lohan" = cheap traffic from errant Google hits. This account from the Superficial is hilarious because it claims that an inconsolable Britney ran off stage after the VMA awards because the camera added ten pounds. Or fifty.

BTW, Britney was recently cleared of dog abuse charges. However, I'm pretty sure her kids are surviving on Pixy Stix and Red Bull.

White House declares Certs a breath mint, Harry Reid insists it's a candy

How cartoonishly reactionary is the Democrats' own Senator Harry Reid? If President Bush announces he'll pull back 30,000 troops from Iraq, it's not enough! If Ted Olsen is proposed as the next attorney general, he shall not be confirmed! If George Bush prefers vanilla ice cream then - consarnit! - chocolate shall be the only choice for Americans. The great Oz Reid has spoken!

I'm back from Boston! - Aren't you thrilled? No? Oh.

Six years later

The movie "Swordfish" was on the other night, and this speech by John Travolta's super-patriot character struck a nerve:

Stanley: War? Who are we at war with?
Gabriel: Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb 10. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourist, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that is becomes unthinkable to attack Americans.

So, is American policy: you destroy two towers and we'll invade two countries?

Just sayin'.

Update - Oops, forgot about the Pentagon. Better make that three countries.

The Osama video - Is it a fake?

Boston trivia - Well, I'm here in Boston for the Optics East conference and things are kinda slow on Day 1. I considered going to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, but settled for football. Here's a fun fact though: you get free admission to the art museum if your name is "Isabella."

Everybody loves a list

Well, I'm off again to another business conference so blogging will be sporadic at best until a week from now. Such are the pitfalls of the solitary blogger; fortunately, few readers will be devastated. However, just to keep things rolling, here's my list of the best and worst band names. Feel free to add your own choices in the comments. Ta-ta for now.

Best band names:

1. The Undisputed Truth
2. Dropkick Murphys
3. Led Zeppelin
4. Big Brother & the Holding Company
5. The Velvet Underground
6. Three Dog Night
7. Devo
8. Booker T. & the MGs
9. Squirrel Nut Zippers
10. The Rolling Stones

Worst band names:

1. The Bee Gees
2. Duran Duran
3. The Polyphonic Spree
4. Bad Company
5. Maroon 5
6. Ronnie & the Daytonas
7. The O'Jays
8. Kiss
9. Timbuk 3
10. Boston, Berlin, Chicago, America, Europe, Asia, etc. (tie)

Discuss.

Race and homicide - Jeff Jacoby stirs it up in the Boston Globe: "Destruction in black America is self-inflicted" Thank heaven that the NAACP is stepping up to address these critical issues of the day.

Extra - From yesterday's WSJ Online "NAACP at a crossroads": "The highlight of the NAACP convention in Detroit this summer was a symbolic burial ceremony for the n-word. In other words, the nation's oldest, largest and once-fierce champion of civil rights has been reduced to staging publicity stunts."

Blogger news - Steven Taylor over at Poliblog finished his manuscript today. How about that? Congrats, Dr. T!

Hillary on Social Security: lies and obfuscation

From First Read:

She focused heavily on the issues of Medicare and Social Security, saying, "Now you don't have to worry - when I'm president, privatization is off the table." Clinton added that reducing benefits and raising the retirement age is not the answer. "We need to get back to the fiscal responsibility that we had in the 1990s," she added. (If reducing benefits or raising the retirement age isn't the answer to making the system solvent, then what is -- raising taxes?)

It's not Hill's job to say what she would do, just what she wouldn't. Besides, Hillary would invoke pixie dust and divine intervention before she said the words "raising taxes."

While Clinton made a point to draw upon nostalgic pictures of the time the former President Clinton spent in office, she only mentioned him directly once. "When my husband left office, we had a secure Social Security system until 2055, and then, all of a sudden, the Bush Administration took us back into deficits."
Wait a second: Is that right? A 2001 Social Security Board of Trustees report said the program would remain solvent until 2038, not 2055. The Clinton campaign has yet to respond to messages First Read left seeking comment.

Don't wait by the phone.

Extra - Some background from International Business Times: "Introduction to Social Security"

More - From Captain Ed: "Obviously some action will need to be taken -- and if Hillary takes all of the other options off the table, then the only action left will be massive tax increases to pay for the shortfalls."

A New Yawker falls for NASCAR - Mark Kriegel on Foxsports: "As it happened, I didn't learn much about Junior, who finished fifth in absurd triple-digit heat at the California Speedway. But I might've learned a little something about NASCAR. It doesn't suck. Not at all."

Dude, that California race sucked, but glad you liked it. Now let's head back to Richmond for some real racing.

Parents of the year - The loving Moms and Dads to the children on "Kid Nation" waived the right to sue CBS if their kids died and signed away their right to decide medical treatment if their kid got hurt. I've said it before and I'll say it again: people will do anything to get on TV.

Give that kid a drink

Interesting story on Opinion Journal: "A family that wines together, shines together" on the relationship between social drinking within a family and problem/binge drinking when kids get older.

Several studies have shown that the younger kids are when they start to drink, the more likely they are to develop severe drinking problems. But the kind of drinking these studies mean--drinking in the woods to get bombed or at unattended homes--is particularly high risk.

Research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health in 2004 found that adolescents whose parents permitted them to attend unchaperoned parties where drinking occurred had twice the average binge-drinking rate. But the study also had another, more arresting conclusion: Children whose parents introduced drinking to the children at home were one-third as likely to binge.

"It appears that parents who model responsible drinking behaviors have the potential to teach their children the same," noted Kristie Foley, the principal author of the study. While the phrasing was cautious, the implication of the study's finding needs to be highlighted: Parents who do not introduce children to alcohol in a home setting might be setting them up to become binge drinkers later on. You will not likely hear this at your school's parent drug- and alcohol-awareness nights.

Once at a college party, I saw a freshman (a freshwoman, actually) get absolutely blitzed on two beers. Granted she weighed about 80 pounds, but it was obvious that the world of social drinking was new to her.

What's your second guess? - From Fox News "Iraqi Prime Minister Expects Favorable Report on His Government": "Iraq's prime minister said Monday he expects the U.S. ambassador and military commander to give his government favorable marks when they report to Congress next week and predicted passage of a law soon that could return more Sunnis to government jobs."

Update (8/4) - From Fox News: "Government Accountability Office Report Says Iraq Has Not Met 11 of 18 Benchmarks"

And an opposing viewpoint: "What's wrong with the GAO report"

Takin' the weekend off - Everybody chill

America's deep in the red - From the federal government to your Aunt Tillie, everybody's spending more than they have