Hawaiian like me

Watch the Secret Service detail in the last 10 seconds. The President's joking? There's good humor? They don't care. They're single-focused on watching for a threat. Which will only get worse when Obama is re-elected over Rmoney or Sanctorum.

(h/t John Cole at Balloon Juice)

Missing in action

Hop across the big pond for this report (h/t R. Neal on KnoxViews) on threats against President Obama. Maybe overwork is why the Secret Service couldn't be troubled to arrest William Kostric.

Who's MIA? The American media.

Strange fruit

Vicious, stupid bigotry from the extremes of American society (Anonymous at March 8th, 2009 11:18 am ET):

Making fun of [Meghan McCain] is terrible. What about the two nigglets in the White House? They'd look nice swinging from a tree, not on a swing.

This justifies a referral to the Secret Service, even if there's little chance of ever finding the bilious punk who posted it.

There's another issue worth raising: CNN moderates comments. They don't do it based on intelligence or insight. Abject stoopidity gets through all the time. SHOUTING, no problem. Raving illiteracy? Gotta have it - and I don't mean just third grade spelling mistakes.

They really don't like media criticism. This comment of mine is probably in moderation purgatory for all eternity:

Our media, focused on the really, really important things 'n' stuff.

Now CNN is letting through vile racism that proposes the lynching of the Obama girls, ages 7 and 10! (Anyone remember Birmingham?) I suspect they'll eventually kill the offensive comment, but that's too little too late.

At least other commenters are objecting. I'm against involuntary unemployment in general, but in this case I'd happily make an exception.

Update (3/9): CNN catches up:

Editor's Note: Comments violating CNN guidelines have been removed from this post along with the accompanying responses.

In the process, they conveniently suppress the outrage and their own culpability. No mention of any disciplinary actions they've taken...

Barack and his BlackBerry

Why is the Secret Service worried about Barack Obama carrying a BlackBerry? The news media hasn't said. They've pretended the question has to do with the Presidential Records Act, or they've quoted Obama alluding to the insecurity of his email.

Neither one of these explanations makes any sense whatsoever. I have a theory: The transmissions of any email PDA or even an ordinary cell phone make it a good locator beacon if you can hack its signal, and these commercial products weren't built for this level of secure use.

You'd think the President is easy to locate - just look for the zillion-car, heavily armed motorcade. But which vehicle is he in? That could really matter, and not in a good way.

The past that won't die

If you imagined that racism was limited to the benighted South, try again.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm joyful that my state has an African-American governor and that the President-elect is African American, a fact that still stuns me with its pure, unexpected surprise.

My mother prays for Barack Obama.  I say my small heathen prayers for him, too.  That's what you do when you have no control over his fate.  All I can say is that the Secret Service had better be on their toes.

I really hope that these alleged arsonists don't have any children - or at least don't participate in their raising.

Who'd take a shoe for this man?

When I first heard about this, it was described as much slower to develop. I heard that the Secret Service was asleep at the switch, but that's not true. Nonetheless, I hope the sharpest agents are where we need them - with Barack Obama.

The incensed Iraqi got both shoes off quickly. Good thing he wasn't throwing Robert Reid's shoes. (I'm sure this group was well searched before entering the room even for a surprise visit.) I hear the Yankees are sending a scout, since their still not satisfied with their pitching for 2009.

Duhbya showed some excellent reflexes. If Nouri al-Maliki had been the target, he'd have taken the pair smack in the kisser.

In the grand scheme of things, this was offensive but still pretty minor. Duhbya's crimes are much larger. Even so, the so-called journalist should be punished with some suitable community service that insults his dignity.

And Duhbya should keep his Secret Service detail right up until the day he starts his sentence at Leavenworth.