HALF-FULL REPORT 07/25/08

The name – which is similar to that of both Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein – of a certain megalomaniacal naïve neophyte narcissist will not go mentioned here.

Instead, the HFR will gloat this week over the deserved misfortunes of someone constantly being mentioned as a possible sidekick assistant to the above un-named. 

Yes, it's the Breck Boy, making headlines in Tuesday's (7/22) National Enquirer:  Sen John Edwards Caught with Mistress and Love Child.  And get a load of the mistress' picture.  Isn't she a looker?  Can you imagine waking up next to that?

Last October, the Enquirer ran a story about Edwards cheating on his wife, whose cancer he was milking for the sympathy vote during his presidential campaign.  But the Enquirer never revealed her name, so her identity came as a big surprise to the public when it was revealed now.

A surprise to the public – but not to you.  For the day after that first NE story, on October 11, 2007 you learned her identity in The Breck Boy Is Cleared From The Presidential Field.   She's a New Age Bimbo named Lisa Druck, who now goes by the name of Rielle Hunter.  But as a TTP'er, you already knew that – a long time ago.

The HFR  raises its goblet of glee that the Breck Boy has been cleared from the vice-presidential field. 

***

Now let's have a beer on the beach – Huntington Beach in Orange County, California, where the Republican Party will triumph or die in November.

California's 46^th Congressional District is one of the safest Republican seats in the country.  A Democrat has never represented it, and for the last 20 years (since 1988) it's been held by fire-breathing conservative Dana Rohrabacher.

Go into most any bar in the district with Dana and watch how he's greeted with smiles and hugs.  Attend any Eagle Scout ceremony in the district, and there Dana will be to pin the medal on the young recipient personally.  Any constituent big or small can call Dana's district office up, and his or her problem will be taken seriously.

So why is Dana facing the most serious challenge to his re-election this year?

Because the moonbats are pouring money into the coffers of his challenger, the Democrat mayor of Huntington Beach, an attractive blonde named Debbie Cook.  She is a total eco-wacko. 

Debbie loves to make such pronouncements as "I believe we have squandered too much of our energy on unnecessary activities, such as driving cars."  Thus she has publicly supported "high gas prices as a way of deterring citizens from driving automobiles."  She then denounces Dana as a "political extremist."

This week, Dana, with eight co-sponsors, dropped a Bill – HR 6527 – into Congress.  He had noticed that the Bureau of Land Management, which controls 264 million acres of federal land (!), refuses to allow solar-energy projects.  After being ridiculed by Dana for this on the House floor (and thus on C-Span), the BLM lifted its moratorium.

Then the BLM informed the over 130 applicants that their solar-energy projects could not be approved until lengthy and expensive Environmental Impact Statements were filed and approved.

BLM land is mostly waste scrubland in the middle of nowhere.  Solar energy is supposed to be Holy Energy Grail, virginally eco-pure.  So Dana offers up legislation – HR 6527, the Emergency Solar Power Permit Act – that would "exempt any solar energy project on lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management from an environmental impact statement requirement."

Debbie Cook was outraged.  "Another example of Mr. Rohrabacher's extremism, of his not caring for the environment," she huffed.

Dana responded, "Once again, my opponent has demonstrated what she doesn't care about – people.  She cares more about lizards and insects than she does for people."

Naturally, Ms. Cook is bitterly opposed to drilling for oil and gas off the California coast – or anywhere else for that matter.

There simply could not be a better contrast regarding the key voter issues of energy and the economy than between Dana and Debbie.  It should be the contrast between Republican and Democrat candidates on every level throughout the entire country.

If the Pubbies can't win this race in California's 46^th, they can't win anywhere.  But if they go national with the contrast in the contest, making the choice clear in voters' minds nationwide, then they could win bigger in November than anyone has yet hoped.

***

Speaking of drilling for oil, and Congressmen.  On Monday (7/21), a clatch of Congresscritters led by Howard Berman (D-CA), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN building in New York.

It was a typical waste of everyone's time, full of political and diplomatic blah-blah.  Except for one question asked by one of Mr. Berman's colleagues that flustered Mr. Ban:

"Sir, I'd like to discuss the status of the South China Sea as international waters, and not the territorial waters of any one nation.  Some 80% by value of the world's shipping passes through this international waterway, and yet, on official Chinese government maps, all of it entire is claimed by China.

"Yesterday (7/20), newspapers in Hong Kong reported that China has threatened an American company, ExxonMobil, regarding a joint project with PetroVietnam.  The two have signed an agreement to explore for oil off Vietnam's south and central coasts.  China is claiming this would be a ‘breach of Chinese sovereignty.'

"What we need from you, Sir, is a clear affirmation that the South China Sea does not belong to China, that it is not China's territorial waters.  Will you provide it?"

Mr. Ban's face changed colors like a chameleon.  All he could do was stammer about how China is "being very helpful on a number of issues," as his eyes glazed over.  The Democrats in the delegation squirmed while the Republicans exerted all their willpower to avoid smirking or laughing.

"You should have been there," the fellow who asked the question told me later.  As you can guess, it was me who told him about the Hong Kong newspaper story and suggested the question.

But the real question is:  Will ExxonMobil give in to China's extortionist threats or not?  The threat, of course, is that if Exxon does the deal with PetroVietnam, it will kill any future business in China.  It's a big threat.

Yet it could be a big oil find at stake in what is clearly Vietnamese waters.  Exxon is quoted as saying it is "confident of Vietnam's sovereign rights to the blocks being explored."

Big oil stakes, big geopolitical stakes.  China cannot be allowed to claim the South China Sea.  If Exxon along with Vietnam has the moxie to stand up to China, a lot of other nations in the region would join them in demanding the recognition of the South China Sea as international waters.

Let's root for Big Oil on this one.  The HFR toasts Big Oil in hopes that it will stand up to Big China.