Cute Ad.

Used car salesman strikes.

It is important for Mitt Romney to prove that he is serious by writing a serious book, and it is important for Mitt Romney to prove that he is popular by getting that book on to the New York Times Best Seller List. Hiring a ghostwriter and a Heritage Foundation national security ‘expert’ takes care of the (awful) book. The bestseller list, though, sounds like a tougher nut to crack, right? Not so! Just go on a speaking tour, and force institutions hosting you to buy tens of thousands of copies of your horrible book.

POLITICO got a copy of some sort of document from Romney’s recent tour, and learned that Romney ‘asked institutions to pay at least $25,000, and up to the full $50,000 price, in bulk purchases of the book.’ (This adds up to about 3,000 copies. So stop by Claremont McKenna College if you want a free copy of ‘No Apology.’)

Lord, protect us from these absolute morons.

Some of those Muslim terrorists:

Timothy McVeigh

Eric Rudolph

Irv Rubin

Ted Kaczynski

Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold

Bruce Edwards Ivins

James Von Brunn

Look at ‘em, all them Moooslims what killed ‘mericuns!

The media and the GOP have been pushing Democrats to give up this issue, claiming that nobody cares – without evidence. Now the issue has been polled, and surprise! the media and the GOP are dead wrong.

The poll finds that two thirds of registered voters, or 66 percent, are aware that outside groups are behind some of the ads they’re seeing. This makes sense, since the issue has dominated the media amid the battle over the huge ad onslaught against Dems funded by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s groups.

What’s more, an overwhelming 84 percent say they have a “right to know” who’s bankrolling the ads. And crucially, the poll also found that the issue is resonant when linked to the economy. A majority, 53 percent, are less likely to think a candidate who is backed by “anonymous groups” can be trusted to “improve economic conditions” for them or their families. People don’t believe these groups are looking out for their interests.

In Slate, Josh Levin explores a number of stories that echo that of The Blind Side’s Michael Oher. That is, black atheletes adopted by white families that end up flourishing.

For these guys, it’s a good ending – undeniably – but it’s a mark of failure in the black community that such a thing has to happen. This shouldn’t be happening, and if it is it shouldn’t be something happening multiple times.

I argued with some folks on Twitter about the Blind Side, as they complained about the supposed racist message of the white savior assisting the helpless black. But, as I argued then — this is what actually happened. Don’t be angry at Hollywood for telling a compelling story, but rather be angry at Black America for failing our kids this miserably.

And we all know it isn’t just the athletes. There are much more kids slipping through the cracks that don’t have the benefit of athletic prowess. Yes, there are outside factors, but the solution is inside black America. It has to start re-learning how to value the basic elements – hard work, family values, education, etc. All the sins of society are a pittance if you can’t emancipate yourself from mental slavery.

The differences between Babour and Obama would be delicious to note.

Faced with the prospect of squaring off in 2012 against the first African American president, some Republicans are begging the Governor of Mississippi to stay out of the running. According to Politico’s Mike Allen, ‘a handful of well-known Republicans’ will reach out to Gov. Haley Barbour (R) and ‘urge him, for the good of his party, to run for chairman of the Republican National Committee rather than the party’s nomination for president, as he currently plans.’

I’m guessing Gov. Barbour would have his time better spent getting to the bottom of the latest caper from the Duke boys.

Lord.

Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal is all set to crown capitalism as the rescuer of the Chilean miners.

If those miners had been trapped a half-mile down like this 25 years ago anywhere on earth, they would be dead. What happened over the past 25 years that meant the difference between life and death for those men?

Short answer: the Center Rock drill bit.

This is the miracle bit that drilled down to the trapped miners. Center Rock Inc. is a private company in Berlin, Pa. It has 74 employees. The drill’s rig came from Schramm Inc. in West Chester, Pa. Seeing the disaster, Center Rock’s president, Brandon Fisher, called the Chileans to offer his drill. Chile accepted. The miners are alive.

Of course, the drill from a private company had a key role in this rescue, but you know who else was involved?

NASA.

Yes, NASA. A government agency of the United States government.

NASA Engineering and Safety Center Principal Engineer Clint Cragg (right) consults with Rene Aguilar, deputy chief of rescue operations for the Chilean mine disaster.

NASA helped the Chilean government work on keeping the men alive and provided expertise on the rescue cages.

As part of the rescue operation, NASA offered expert advice on medical, nutritional and behavioral health issues. The NASA team also provided suggestions regarding the rescue cages that were specially-designed to pull the trapped miners out of the shaft that was dug over 2,000 feet into the Earth.

“The Chileans had a very limited set of requirements that they had given their own engineers with regards to how to design this cage, and that was primarily length, diameter, and weight,” said Dr. Michael Duncan, who led the team of NASA experts who traveled to Chile. NASA’s work in spacecraft design provided expertise with respect to medical requirements and design requirements. “We were able to provide them [Chilean engineers designing the rescue cages] with some thoughts,” continued Duncan.” Looking at the video of the cage, some of these things they’ve certainly incorporated into their design.”

Clint Cragg, a NASA engineer, was key in designing the rescue cages.

“I went down to Chile with two doctors and a psychologist from Johnson Space Center in late August about three weeks after the cave-in,” said Cragg. “Initially what the Chileans were asking for was medical and psychological assistance because of NASA’s experience in harsh environments.” But the engineer went along to see how else NASA might be able to help.

During his three days in South America, Cragg met up with a number of engineers in the Chilean Navy and others who were studying how to design a rescue capsule. “The team had a number of recommendations,” said Cragg. “One of my recommendations was that NASA could help flushing out some of the requirements for the rescue capsule.”

The Chileans took the NASA engineer up on his offer by email after he turned to the United States.

“I put together a team of engineers from almost every center around the agency,” said Cragg. “Over the course of three days we hammered out a 12 to 13 page list of requirements for the capsule and sent that to the Chilean Minister of Health.”

Cragg said the team offered about 75 suggested design features. One was that the capsule be built so a single miner could get himself easily in and secured. Another was that the cage be equipped with an oxygen tank. Another was that the capsule design include technology to cut down on friction it might encounter as it was being hauled up and down.

“After we had sent the requirements, I got some communication from one of the Chilean Navy commanders intimately involved in the design process of the capsule,” said Cragg. “He told me that they had incorporated most of the suggestions we had provided to them.”

Cragg has worked at NASA for seven years since he retired from the Navy. He says his colleagues’ efforts are one of things he’ll take away from this event after all the media excitement is over.

So yes, private industry had a key role in saving these men. But so did a government agency. Our government. Our NASA. And we should be proud as hell of them.

Link

ABC News’ Huma Khan reports: Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck is taking heat for not prosecuting a rape case five years ago on the basis that there wasn’t enough evidence.

The victim was a college student at the University of North Colorado when she was allegedly raped by an ex-boyfriend while drunk in her home. This week, she released tapes of her meeting with Buck, then a Weld County district attorney, who argued that there is not enough ‘proof beyond reasonable doubt’ to take the case up to the jury.

Read a transcript of the conversation HERE.

Buck told the victim that even though she never said yes to sex with her boyfriend, it appeared to be consensual because she called him over and had a prior relationship with him. Buck also warned the victim against filing any other motions because ‘it will be very public, publicly covered event.’