Medary.com

Not that NBC, ABC, and CBS have covered any of Bush's recent overseas trips with the fervor and intensity that they intend to cover St. Obama's Pilgrimage to the Land of Luther, and hence to the Levant and beyond  (Washington Post article):

The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama's trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza.

Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play.

John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the past four months, all unaccompanied by a single network anchor.

No bias there.  Nope, none at all.  Simply covering newsworthy news.  Yepper.  Yeppity-doo.

Via almost everybody in the Righiesphere.

 A large, well-designed study in Israel comes in with the results, via ScienceDaily:

Although participants actually decreased their total daily calories consumed by a similar amount, net weight loss from the low-fat diet after two years was only 6.5 lbs. (2.9 kg) compared to 10 lbs. (4.4 kg) on the Mediterranean diet, and 10.3 lbs. (4.7 kg) on the low-carbohydrate diet. "These weight reduction rates are comparable to results from physician-prescribed weight loss medications," explains Dr. Iris Shai, the lead researcher.

The low-fat diet reduced the total cholesterol to HDL ratio by only 12 percent, while the low-carbohydrate diet improved the same ratio by 20 percent. Lipids improved the most in the low-carbohydrate, with a 20% increase in the HDL ("good") cholesterol and, 14% decrease in triglycerides. In all three diets, inflammatory and liver function biomarkers was equally improved. However, among diabetic participants, the standard low-fat diet actually increased the fasting glucose levels by 12mg/dL, while the Mediterranean diet induced a decrease in fasting glucose levels by 33mg/dL.

Let's see . . . highest weight loss, best lipid (cholesterol) results . . . what more can you ask for?

Low carb diets are the way to go, it would certainly seem.  Somebody get the USDA and the American Heart Association on the line.

(And yeah, I see quite a few similarities between the low fat fetish of the nutrition industry and the global warming extremism of . . . well . . . a lot of folks.  Both are, I believe, fundamentally political viewpoints masquerading as scientific positions and are hence defended with arguments from authority instead of scientific inquiry.  More science, less religion, please.)

The Great Ape Trust in Iowa is taking in simian actors.   ScienceBlog:

The first of the new residents, 3-year-old Rocky and his 19-year-old mother Katy, arrived safely at Great Ape Trust on Saturday, July 12, from the Los Angeles area, where they had been privately owned by Steve Martin’s Working Wildlife, co-owned by Steve and Donna Martin. Their company specializes in providing trained animals for entertainment and advertising.

Wild and crazy?  Excuuuuuuuse me!

Iraq is quickly becoming the last war . . . i.e. a war that objective, on-site observers like Michael Yon increasingly believe we have won.

Afghanistan, on the other hand, due in large part because of Pakistan's frail political system, begins to slip back.

So, let's see . . . today, Obama gives a speech about Iraq (Iraq mentioned 53 times; Afghanistan; 15)  McCain, about Afghanistan (Iraq mentioned 21 times, Afghanistan 33).

Quiz:  Which one said this?

What’s missing in our debate about Iraq – what has been missing since before the war began – is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy.

Actually, there has been a thorough and continuing discussion in many circles about the strategic consequences of Iraq.  Obama and his leftist fellows are the ones who have been absent from this discussion, holding to an inflexible position of immediate withdrawal regardless of the strategic consequences of that action.

The New Yorker creates a cartoon lampooning what it thinks are the stereotypes on the right about Barack Obama.

The right, for the most part, snickers over the clumsy smear attempt by the lefty magazine.

The left goes apesh*t over the contemptable depiction of St. Obama.

Who's got a humor deficit here?

Or that's apparently what the Kansas City Star wants you to think with their laughable headline:

Bond now a McCain chieftain

No, you don't really need to click on the link--there's really not much of a story there, anyway. 

Let's play Flip the Bias, shall we?

McCaskill now an Obama matriarch

Nice, isn't it?  Sheesh.

Yeah, I rip on Barry a lot, mainly because I think evidence currently available indicates he's either an classic unprincipled Chicago machine win-at-all-costs politician, or a truly dangerous cult-of-personality hardcore leftist (I vacillate between those two positions).  But if he'd pull his leftie head out of his butt and say things like this more often, I might lighten up a bit (quote from the Kansas City Star):

"If we're serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, our own families and our own communities," Obama said. "That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework and setting a good example."

He added: "I know some say I've been too tough on folks about this responsibility stuff. But I'm not going to stop talking about it. Because I believe that in the end, it doesn't matter how much money we invest in our communities, or how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch - none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives."

Even I could vote for a Chicago pol who sounds this way often enough.  But it's still McCain, or even Barr, before I'd go for Obi-Wan right now.

South Dakota State University's women's basketball team leads all women's college basketball teams, from all divisions, in team grade point average again in 2007-08, as compiled by the WBCA:

NCAA Division I
South Dakota State is making quite a name for itself on the WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll as the Jackrabbits secured the top spot amongst NCAA Division I institutions for the third consecutive season. In addition to compiling the top GPA in their division, Aaron Johnston's team also claims the top overall team GPA amongst all divisions which is yet another distinction they have captured for the third year in a row. Aside from its classroom successes, South Dakota State also enjoyed another great year on the court as the Jackrabbits advanced to the Women's NIT before falling in the first round to Creighton.

"The women on our team have made our entire university and community very proud," said Johnston. "They have truly committed themselves to success in the classroom, on the court and in the community. Being recognized for the top GPA the third consecutive year is a tremendous accomplishment for our student-athletes."

That's three straight #1 finishes for the Jackrabbits.

Try to top that, Tennessee!

There's already enough unease in certain circles about Obama's neo-fascist tendencies without him going and saying scary crap like this:

"We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set," he said. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded."

So . . . Obama wants . . . a domestic army, not subject to posse comitatus?  Brownshirts?  What, exactly?  The people picking up the pieces after the Civil War didn't think that would be such a good idea.

Or this is, perhaps, another "inartful" statement by the master of oratory?  I'm not sure which is scarier . . . an Obama that actually means what he says, or an Obama as President who can't get out of his own rhetorical way.  When you're dealing with foreign leaders who don't necessarily have the best interests of Americans at heart, can you afford to be "inartful?"

The political left is fond of denouncing the "fascism" of the political right.  Do you suppose they will notice, creeping up on them, putting an arm around them and saying soothing and uplifting words, telling them to Hope for Change, the very thing that they most fear, but with a smiley face?

Via the Baltimore Sun's blogs through lonewacko.com and Protein Wisdom.

Michael Benson writes in the Washington Post:

Although NASA officials will never quite say so, their current attitude seems to be that the station is essentially a high-maintenance distraction, even a mistake. Their plan is to finish assembling the thing ASAP and hand the keys over to the Russians, Canadians, Europeans and Japanese, with minimal continuing U.S. involvement. This should happen by the shuttle's mandatory retirement in 2010. Meanwhile, we're still writing a lot of high-denomination checks and preparing the two remaining shuttles for risky flights to finish something we then plan to be largely rid of. This seems absurd. I have an alternative proposal:

Send the ISS somewhere.

Hat tip:  Instapundit