Have you ever noticed that clever and talented people usually have many talents.

McCain, though not exceptionally bright, can fly a plane (Okay, no jokes now … sure he crashed, but that was after being hit by a missile…), tells good stories when not on camera (see interviews with the cast of Faith of my Fathers), and is very funny (see his Streisand impersonations on SNL).

Anyway, McCain is not running as “The Genius Candidate.”

Does Obama have any talents? Any at all? Good campaigning doesn’t count, since he had no viable opposition in Illinois (Ryan had just been arrested, Alan Keyes was not an Illinoisan; and Obama was unopposed for the Democrat nomination), the presidential campaign is not over and winning the presidency is the only measure of success, and election campaigns are run by professionals.

Can he sing? No.

Can he play music? No.

Does he speak a foreign language? Apart from being able to recite the Adhan (Muslim Call to Prayer) in Arabic, no.

[Nicholas Kristoff, Feb. 27, 2007 recording, Published in The New York Times, March 6, 2007:

"Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

Allah is Great. Allah is Great.
Allah is Great. Allah is Great.
I bear witness that there is no god except Allah.
I bear witness that there is no god except Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
Make haste towards prayer. Make haste towards prayer.
Make haste towards welfare. Make haste towards welfare
Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
There is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.

الله اكبر
اشهد ان لا اله الا الله
اشهد ان محمدا رسول الله
حي على الصلاة
حي على الفلاح
الله اكبر
لا اله الا الله

Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah.
Ash-hadu an la ilaha ill-Allah.
Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasoolullah.
Ash-hadu anna Muhammad-ar-Rasoolullah.
Hayya 'alas-Salah. Hayya 'alas-Salah.
Hayya 'alal-falah. Hayya 'alal-falah.
Allahu Akbar. Allahu Akbar.
La ilaha ill-Allah.]

Is he a good prose writer? No. Mediocre and unoriginal, at best.

Can he write poetry? No.

Is he good at sciences, medicine, engineering? No.

Does he have any artistic talents at all? No.

Is he a good fighter? No.

Did he have a military career? No.

Has he made any money unrelated to politics? No. [His millions come mostly from his books, which would probably not even have been published if he weren't a politician.]

Is he a good speaker? Many people seem to think so. I find him ponderous, arrogant, monotonous (literally and figuratively), and devoid of style or charisma. Future historical perspective will no doubt confirm my analysis. He’s especially useless without a teleprompter. ("I've been to 57 States." "Um...ah...uh...ah...um...aah...uuhhhh...")

Is he a talented theologian? No. “In the Blue States we worship an Awesome God!” “I am my brother’s keeper.” Yaaaawn.

Is he an intellectual? No!

Does he understand history? No. (”The bomb that was dropped on Pearl Harbor.” Kennedy talked the Soviets into withdrawing from Cuba. Etc.)

Is he a good liar? No. “I have never been a Muslim.” Hey, moron, we can read your auto-bio! We can read the NY Times where you boasted that having been raised a Muslim, you could understand and reach out to ‘The Muslim World’.

Does he have any talent at all?
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Actually you're right that Barrack Hussein Obama does have links to Islam that the media doesn't report (well not yet anyway)

However......

Is McCain a war hero who was tortured ? No.

"Hero" John McCain as Phony and Collaborator: What Really Happened When He Was a POW?
Top Cop Says McCain Was Never Tortured

Is McCain pro-war who said the war could last a hundred years ? Yes.

Ron Paul: McCain's Reckless '100 years in Iraq' Comment Endangers Americans


Is McCain part of the corrupt and criminal New World order who seeks o destroy the constituion of the US ? Yes.

John McCain: Subvert the Constitution? Two Thumbs Up!

Bet hey, so is Obama so there is no choice except to get the public to understand the game is rigged.
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I have just received an email from an old YC friend and one time partner-in-crime who has lived and worked in the US for 25 years and made himself very rich as a result.

He is a red-hot Republican Bush (and Iraq war) supporter and if you thought I was right-wing he's somewhere out there with the late Gov. Wallace despite Wallace being a Democrat.

He hates Obama and not just because he's 'Black'. However he has sent me a detailed and cynical screed telling me why McCain is finished

My pal's ex-wife is somebody else's responsibility and his boys are studying in Europe.

Looks like its time for him to permanently join the Thai woman and child he supports and visits where possible. He's been talking of retiring to Thailand for years.

Good luck to him. My retirement is likely to come at any time in the form of a heart attack...

Or worse.
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There were a lot of people at the outset of the "war on terror" who thought it might last a century or more. What they failed to consider is that the West might lose it in less than ten.

The war in Iraq is a geo-political resource conflict between the West and everybody else. If the West is forced out of Iraq then it is finished. It will be only a matter of time before the petro dollar agreements are terminated and without those the American economy is no better than Brazil's. Without the credible threat of violence on a massive and sustained scale the West's many enemies will be emboldened and will at the very least wage an economic war against us which they can not lose.

It could well be that this economic war has already begun, that depends on whether or not you believe that Saudi Arabia has artificially restricted the flow of oil as an economic weapon or whether is genuinely can not increase production. Either way the effect is the same.

If Obama pulls the troops out of Iraq that will represent the final defeat of the West, as the withdrawal of the USSR from Afghanistan marked the final decent of that country.

If this is the case then history will record that we failed out of weakness and cowardice. We have fought in Iraq like we did not want to win and we have exaggerated minimal causalities into something akin to the Somme. It appears we have degenerated to such an extent that we can not even be roused to defend our vital self interest. In which case defeat is inevitable and deserved.
[Rep]

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
If the West is forced out of Iraq then it is finished.

What a statement !
For a start, how can US (or the West) for that matter afford to keep fighting these massively expensive wars ?
Are you aware for example of the size of the U.S trade deficit ?
And what about the moral question of war ? (let alone the fact there is no enemy to defeat there)

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
It will be only a matter of time before the petro dollar agreements are terminated and without those the American economy is no better than Brazil's.

If the ecomnomic collapse does occur, it won't be due to Iraq or oil because Alaska has more oil than Saudi Arabia, but of course they won't drill there because they want to create the illusion of artificial scarcity.
And forget that some oil wells have been found to be "self replenishing" too.

Attacking Iran(for example) will have the effect that the price of oil could skyrocket !
Given that the dollar is linked to oil, any possible attack could mean bad bad news for the economy and trigger the collapse itself !

OPEC: Expect Unlimited Oil Prices With Iran Bombing

"It is clear that should an increasingly likely attack on Iran take place, the effects on the already shattered and dilapidated world economy would be devastating. Unlimited oil and gas prices will result in massive redistribution of resources from consumers to producers, and by making transportation and production that uses petroleum as an input, it will severely stunt economic growth. In short, war with Iran would kick off a worldwide energy crisis and an instant recession."

As Congressman Ron Paul succinctly stated last week before the House:

"In the last several weeks, if not for months, we have heard a lot of talk about the potential of Israel and/or the United States bombing Iran. And it is in the marketplace. Energy prices are being bid up because of this fear. It has been predicted that if bombs start dropping, that we will see energy prices double or triple. It is just the thought of it right now that is helping to push these energy prices up. And that is a very real thing going on right now."

You're right that China have huge dollar reserves that could bring down the dollar.
It's just that foreign governments like Saudi Arabia have been told to dump the dollar by the members of the U.S government and Alan Greenspam who are intentionally slagging off the dollar to ensure it's demise.

One thing is for sure - if it was about oil there would be no way the US would risk allowing an invasion of Iran !

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
Without the credible threat of violence on a massive and sustained scale the West's many enemies will be emboldened and will at the very least wage an economic war against us which they can not lose.

So you're saying we must threaten violence on a massive scale, so that our western economies survive ?
Despite the fact that economic collapse is being engineered ? Yeah right.
And what about "fairness of the marketplace" without resorting to war ?
You're talking like an Imperialist.

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
It could well be that this economic war has already begun, that depends on whether or not you believe that Saudi Arabia has artificially restricted the flow of oil as an economic weapon or whether is genuinely can not increase production. Either way the effect is the same.

If Saudi Arabia own the oil, are they under any obligation to sell it ?
Were Iraq under any obligation ?

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
If Obama pulls the troops out of Iraq that will represent the final defeat of the West, as the withdrawal of the USSR from Afghanistan marked the final decent of that country.

And (ironically) who organized and sponsored the Taliban to fight against the Russians in Afghanistan ?
Oh it was the CIA wasn't it, spearheaded no least by one of Obama's main advisors now - Zbigniew Brzezinski

Zbigniew Brzezinski to be the real power behind an Obama throne

"For those a bit sketchy on history, allow me to repeat a few key points at the risk of redundancy — both what would later become known as al-Qaeda and the Taliban emerged from the Mujihadeen in Afghanistan, a motley assemblage of religious fanatics used by Zbigniew Brzezinski, acting as Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, and his successors to attack the Soviet presence in that remote corner of the world. Brzezinski and the CIA teamed up with the brutal Pakistan military dictator General Zia ul-Haq to spread Wahabi fundamentalism far and wide in Central Asia and the Middle East. In fact, the United States preferred demented religious fanatics over the less mentally unstable."

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
If this is the case then history will record that we failed out of weakness and cowardice.

Oh so you're saying that if we fail to threaten/attack a country who hold their own oil reserves, then that is weakly and cowardly.

Funny I thought all wars were cowardly and disgusting but there you go....

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
We have fought in Iraq like we did not want to win

Ironically you're correct - same as Vietnam.
The war wasn't there to be "won", it is there to secure the oil and the defence contracts for the giant corporations.

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
and we have exaggerated minimal causalities into something akin to the Somme."

Oh sure - half a million dead is a minimalistic.
But strangely I though the media were under-reporting the casualities, not dramatizing or exagerrating them ? :-)

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
It appears we have degenerated to such an extent that we can not even be roused to defend our vital self interest.

You have degenerated Wowbanger, but then again, you never had that much to begin with.
Nice try though - try to tell people that "we must attack" and play on their insecurity, selfishness and greed
Despite the fact that it's all artifically created scarcity anyway designed to suck off the population. :-)

Originally Posted by Wowbanger TIP:
In which case defeat is inevitable and deserved.

Defeat of the criminal war mongers and the New World Order is inevitable and will be well deserved.

At least you're not saying it's about fighting Bin Laden or restoring democracy in Iraq - even you're not brave enough to sell people down that road of lies...
[Rep]