RISE OF THE EMPIRE
The end has come . . . Cool.

CROWD STORMS RESTAURANT OVER ALCOHOL
Shouting "God is Greatest", over 100 fascists attacked a restaurant in Bahrain because it served alcohol. The rioters, who are "opposed to the consumption of alcohol banned by Islam, also threw gasoline bombs at customers' cars parked outside the restaurant . . . ." Alcohol is immoral. Throwing gas bombs at dinner patrons an threatening diners with knives isn't.

These people really could use a drink. It might solve a lot.

PRETEND ENDORSEMENTS FOR SALE
Now this is funny, from an Ebay auction:

Have you ever been caught in a lie while running for President of the United States? If you want to make a current president jealous, look better in front of your political buddies who have real foreign relations experience, or if you are just a liar who got called out on your bogus campaign lies, this is the auction for you!!! I’ll pretend that I am the leader of a foreign nation that supports your candidacy for President of the United States until the elections in November.

As the imaginary leader of a foreign nation who supports your candidacy, I’ll play along with you with whatever you want me to say. If you want to tell some pesky Republican who calls you out at a campaign stop that I support you, I’ll back you up. If you want me to claim that Bush has ruined the reputation of the United States, I’m up to it. Just like you, I’m willing to say anything it takes to get you elected, I won’t mean a bit of it, and I'll change my stand on the situation when it is politically convenient.

Shipping/Handing charge for this item is $15.00, we only ship to Massachusetts. Payment must be received within 3 days of auction close. We accept Paypal (Mastercard, Visa, E-Checks), Money Orders, Certified Checks, or fraudulent donations from Moveon.org in US Funds and Cash. As soon as I receive your payment I’ll mail off the press release to CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS stating the fact that we have a relationship going back to the start of the Bush presidency. I am the ultimate online fake leader of a foreign nation!!!!


*****THIS DOES NOT MEAN I AM YOUR REAL SUPPORTER!!!!!This is only pretend!!!!!***** When our time is up, right before the election, I’ll send out another press release stating that this was all fake. Hey, I’m out for a buck, I’m not insane. But who are we kidding, if flip flopping on the issues makes a person less trustworthy, you would have dropped out of the race already.

This is a private auction your user id will not be shown on here!!!!

Even if you are a Kerry supporter, you have to think that's funny. Thanks to the Corner.

MORE IRAQ TRAGEDY
Baptist missionaries were killed in Iraq on Monday, and these deaths have a connection to the North Carolina blogging community. Two of those killed in the drive-by shooting were the parents of Scott Elliott, who runs the site Electionprojection.com, an excellent effort to try to analyze presidential polling data to project the electoral vote count. Scott has a brief post up, with a comment line if you want to express your condolences. Federal Review's thoughts are with Scott and all of the families of the dead in Iraq.

ANONYMOUS PEOPLE LIKE ME, THEY REALLY LIKE ME
Sounding like a schoolyard whiner, Kerry is going around saying he has met with world leaders and business leaders and they all want him to beat President Bush. Of course, he won't say whom he has met, and the media is having a hard time finding any meeting between Kerry and world leaders since 2002.

I guess it's fair game for Kerry to say that leaders of foreign countries want him to win. I just suspect he doesn't want to name them because an endorsement from France probably wouldn't be a net positive in U.S. polling. And since he has opened up that line of discussion, I don't think any Democrat will call foul when it is suggested that certain, more nefarious leaders and other terror-supporting despots also endorse Kerry.

Here's our cartoonist, back again.

IS IT A LIE OR AN EMOTIONAL PROBLEM?
Well, Kerry is making me want to apologize for ever suggesting in 2000 that Al Gore had less than a passing familiarity with the truth. As I recall, Al's prevarication was more about puffery. Al did something or other in Congress that appropriated funds for something to do with TCP/IP or DARPA or something, so he said he took the initiative in creating the internet. Exaggeration. Puffery. If I understand the claims that President Bush is a liar, it would seem he is being blamed for the same thing. Saddam is bad. "How bad is he?" So bad he's gonna be setting off some sarin canisters in Cleveland next week.

But I don't know what to make of John Kerry. You've heard of his support/opposition to the Israel's fence depending on his audience. Now, he tells Cuban-Americans he voted for Helms-Burton -- the act that punishes companies who do business with Cuba. Problem is, he didn't vote for it.

And then there's his stance on the Iraq war. We should not have gone, or maybe we should have, but not without international support. But, he didn't think we needed that support in 1997.

No, I don't know what to make of this. But I should probably consider whether I owe Al Gore and apology.

THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON
After killing a bunch of civilians in Madrid, the terrorists have achieved their goal of knocking Spain out of the coalition. I wonder if the PM-elect of Spain, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is one of those foreign leaders who have endorsed John Kerry.