Sevendust Rocks Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan

sevendustafghanistan Sevendust Rocks Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan

It’s their first USO tour but it sounds like it won’t be their last:

After the performance, Sevendust let a soldier from the crowd come up on stage and smash a guitar. They also gave him one of their guitars and gave other servicemembers a set of bongos and another guitar, practically giving away their entire set of instruments. “I think they were awesome,” said Air Force Capt. Vanessa Mahan, 455th Aerial Expeditionary Wing. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a hardcore band here, so it’s kind of refreshing. “

The band gave thanks and saluted the servicemembers for serving in the military.

“If it wasn’t for you guys over here, [the Taliban] would be over there, [in the United States],” Lajon “LJ” Witherspoon, Sevendust’s lead singer, said during the performance.

The band stuck around to ensure everyone who wanted an autograph, a free copy of their new CD or a picture with the band got one.

The members of Sevendust said they plan on doing another USO tour in the future.

“This, to us, has been the best thing that’s ever happened in our lives,” Witherspoon said. “As soon as you guys will have us back, we’ll be back.”

There’s more on the band at Sevendust.com.

Barack Obama Raises $52 Million in June

Not a bad month for Obama:

The Obama campaign rolls out its June fundraising numbers today, which meet the sky-high expectations the campaign faces and surpassed a recent wave of rumors of a relatively slow month.

The sum nearly equals Obama’s — and the American political — record of $55 million in February.

Spokesman Bill Burton emails that the campaign raised a total of $52 million in the month of June with an average donation of just $68, giving the campaign and the DNC have a total of nearly $72 million cash on hand.

If only money bought experience. Still, it’s useful but it can also be misspent (just ask Hillary Clinton about that):

First, Obama’s vaunted money machine will mean less than you might expect. Given his burn rate and how much McCain is raising, Obama may well end up with something like a 6-5 or 5-4 edge, not anything more decisive. Which makes Obama’s decision to run a 50-state campaign a critical gamble: He can run in Montana and Mississippi only as long as he can keep organizations and TV ads going in Michigan and Minnesota, too.

So Obama might raise a total of $500 million to McCain’s $400 million. It’s not quite the massive gap that many in the media would lead you to believe. Factor in the campaign’s respective strategies and the advantage arguably shifts back to McCain.

TVNewser: Jesse Jackson’s Hot Fox News Mic Reveals Another “N” Word

TVNewser claims to have a transcript:

Below is the partial transcript we received in our tips box, and confirmed to be authentic by Fox News Channel representatives.

Barack…he’s talking down to black people…telling n—s how to behave.

So, yes. Jesse Jackson did use the “N” word. But it was not directed at Barack Obama. Fox News and Bill O’Reilly have maintained there was more on the tape, but that the un-aired portion was not relevant to the issue at hand: about whether Obama was “talking down” to the black community.

Fine, it wasn’t directed at Obama but is directing it at every other black American acceptable? What’s he going to do now? Boycott himself? Michelle Malkin has posted a reminder of Jackson’s stated position on the use of the word:

On Monday, the civil-rights leader joined others in calling on everyone—blacks, whites, Seinfeld players, presumably included—to refrain from using the N-word, on stage and off.

“Its roots are rooted in hatred and pain and degradation,” Jackson told a Los Angeles press conference. “And whether it’s hatred toward African-Americans or whether it’s self-hatred, a concession toward it is still wrong.”

Jesse, I think we’re finally in agreement. Now get with the program.

Update:
Gawker on the Jackson apology:

Oh, also, Jackson apologized, again, and said this time he’s even more sorry. “There really is no justification for my comments and I hope that the Obama family and the American public will forgive me.” Then he probably muttered something under his breath about how everyone in Hymietown is out to get him, but there were no cameras around to catch it The End.

Probably.

How Many Weirdos and Psuedo-Scientists Does it Take to Prepare Lunch for Barack Obama?

Maureen Dowd’s latest piece, on the arrogant and humorless one, also offers a preview of what an Obama-led government might look like:

He’s already in danger of seeming too prissy about food — a perception heightened when The Wall Street Journal reported that the planners for Obama’s convention have hired the first-ever Director of Greening, the environmental activist Andrea Robinson. She in turn hired an Official Carbon Adviser to “measure the greenhouse-gas emissions of every placard, every plane trip, every appetizer prepared and every coffee cup tossed.”

The “lean ‘n’ green” catering guidelines, The Journal said, bar fried food and instruct that, “on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include ‘at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.’ (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of the ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel during transportation.”

Obama isn’t on the fringe with this stuff. He’s way out past the fringe and this utterly whacked-out nuttiness will trickle down into everything if he’s elected.

Total Confusion: French Energy Giant Still Wants to be Iran’s BFF

Last week the BBC said the deal was dead. Now, China View reports that the company never lost interest:

A senior official of French energy giant Total said that its company is interested in continuing cooperation with Iran in its oil and gas sectors, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Tuesday.

In a letter to Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari, Total Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie rejected recent reports on Total’s withdrawal from South Pars gas field, describing them as political propaganda, Mehr news agency quoted an unnamed Total official as saying.

“Total’s stance on Iran is quite clear. We are interested in continuing our activities,” the official said.

I’m still wondering if there isn’t more to this story than the “polticial propaganda” angle. Perhaps Iran gave a little unseen ground? Then again it’s not really hard to believe that Total is going for the oil and the BBC got their story wrong.