Bono and U2 seem to know what side the bread is buttered on. Apparently fuzzy sentiment only goes so far when it comes to dealing rationally with the sort of financial resources they have at their command.

U2 move their assets out of Ireland

The rock band U2 came under criticism yesterday after reports that it has moved a portion of its multi-million-pound business empire out of Ireland for tax reasons.

Based in Dublin, U2 have long benefited from the artists’ tax exemption introduced by Charles Haughey, the late prime minister. It is reported that the band’s move has been made in response to a £170,000 cap on the tax-free incomes introduced in the last Irish budget.

Another case of those pesky tax increases driving out investment capital. Stewardship trumps sentimentality again.

Does Forbes deal mean Bono has left it all behind?

One of the world’s foremost anti-poverty campaigners has invested in Forbes, the publishing company regarded as the ultimate mouthpiece of capitalism.

Former presidential candidate Steve Forbes, who is chief executive of Forbes and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, said: “This investment by Elevation Partners will now accelerate our pursuit of a number of very exciting opportunities… The team brings impressive experience and great expertise, and they are particularly strong in technology, media and entertainment innovations. Elevation Partners are the kind of entrepreneurs Forbes has been covering for years. Truly, they are the right people at the right time.”

BP shuts down Alaskan oil line

In a sudden blow to the nation’s oil supply, half the production on Alaska’s North Slope was being shut down yesterday after BP Exploration Alaska Inc. discovered severe corrosion in a Prudhoe Bay oil-transit line.

A 400,000-barrel-per-day reduction in output would have a major effect on oil prices, said Tetsu Emori, chief commodities strategist at Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo. “Oil prices could increase by as much as $10 per barrel given the current environment,” Mr. Emori said. “But we can’t really say for sure how big an effect this is going to have until we have more exact figures about how much production is going to be reduced.”

BOHICA! (Bend over, here it comes again.)

Whalen camp draws fire for farce

Lee Breard from Bruce Whelan’s Congressional Campaign pointed out some very dubious Wikipedia entries to a number of bloggers, including the Chief, along with a “regular” journalist type from the RC Journal who posted it in the paper’s Mt. Blogmore political blog.

The Chief frankly wondered why he bothered about it at all, given the wide-open nature of the Wikipedia, where anyone can make and/or modify articles without restraint. To my way of thinking this automatically forces one to run up a BIG caution flag about it’s “information”.

While Breard’s e-mail DID raise some degree of question about the topics noted in Woster’s article, bringing it up at all seemed to possibly be presenting them as having some degree of credability at least.

As Woster notes – not a good thing for Breard to have done, and it gives the Donks something to flog him about now – unfortunate, and MUCH better than Whalen deserves.

Raven Aerostar quits hot-air balloon business

Aerostar International, a subsidiary of Sioux Falls-based Raven Industries, is getting out of the hot-air balloon market.

A gradual decline in popularity of the recreational activity and rising liability insurance costs have made the hot-air balloon business unprofitable, Mark West, Aerostar’s president and chief engineer, said.

Aerostar, which Raven spun off in 1986, manufactures high-altitude research balloons, military parachutes, blimps, protective wear and advertising inflatables used in parades. The company will continue with its other lines.

The Chief has had the privilige of serving in the Sioux Falls Naval Reserve with Aerostar Pres. West as his Commanding Officer. West is an Annapolis grad, and later was a carrier pilot. IMHO he exemplified the very best that a Naval Officer could be.

The Chief recalls that he was an enthusiast for hot-air ballooning, but in the end apparently, business is ultimately business.

Thune not seeking GOP job

Sen. John Thune said Sunday that he would not seek the job as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a position seen as a springboard to the upper echelon of GOP Senate leadership. Thune confirmed in an interview with the Journal late Sunday afternoon that he had told Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, on Thursday that he would not run for the committee chairman’s spot.

Probably not a bad decision. Trying to achieve success with that job may be tough for the next couple of election cycles.

Thune hopes to attend some of those events while continuing his trips back to South Dakota on weekends to be with his family, make public appearances and meet with constituents. Added to a full work week in the Senate, that schedule wouldn’t offer much room for fundraising duties and campaign trips for other GOP candidates, Thune said.

But Thune said his decision now doesn’t mean he has given up aspirations for a leadership position. “This would have been one way to get on that track, but there are other ways, too,” he said. “Maybe there’ll be something down the road. We’ll see.”

Iran: We supplied Zelzal-2 to Hizbullah

Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah.

This is nominated for the “DUH!” of the year. At least the cards are on the table for sure now.

The Chief’s guess (hope?): if Tel Aviv gets hit Tehran won’t be far behind!

Hurricane season defying forecasts

In May, government forecasters predicted 13 to 16 tropical storms, eight to 10 of which could grow into hurricanes, during the six-month Atlantic hurricane season that started June 1. The hurricane center will update its forecast Tuesday.

If we can’t manage reliable forecasts for a period of several months, we’re supposed to believe that the decades-out forecasts of alleged “human-induced global warming” are a valid basis for costly if not ruinous political and economic policies?

Short answer: DON’T believe it. If we DO have global warming, look to the sun as the driver for it. By the way, the Chief wishes he had a buck ($) for every time recently he has noted some talking head on the tube talking about a possible ice age caused by global warming. (Talk about an example of Orwellian “doublethink”!)

The Brink of Madness
Although the Chief has previously noted aspects of the current situation and the parallels to the historical events of the 30’s. The Chief humbly admits to NOT achieving the standards of this piece by the redoubtable VDH from National Review, which is extremely alarming to anyone with half of a historical brain.

When I used to read about the 1930s – the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, the rise of fascism in Italy, Spain, and Germany, the appeasement in France and Britain, the murderous duplicity of the Soviet Union, and the racist Japanese murdering in China – I never could quite figure out why, during those bleak years, Western Europeans and those in the United States did not speak out and condemn the growing madness….it is still surreal to reread the fantasies of Chamberlain, Daladier, and Pope Pius, or the stump speeches by Charles Lindbergh (“Their [the Jews’] greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our government”) or Father Coughlin (“Many people are beginning to wonder whom they should fear most – the Roosevelt-Churchill combination or the Hitler-Mussolini combination.”) – and baffling to consider that such men ever had any influence.

Not any longer.

Our present generation too is on the brink of moral insanity. That has never been more evident than in the last three weeks, as the West has proven utterly unable to distinguish between an attacked democracy that seeks to strike back at terrorist combatants, and terrorist aggressors who seek to kill civilians.

Read it and weep – and then get more bullets – you might need them!

Here are a couple of recent news items that have struck the Chief as having a somewhat weird?…strange?…whatever…quality from their juxtaposition.

Hezbollah’s Nazi Roots
Across the Middle East, radical Islamists yearn for a new Holocaust

This is NOT really very much news to a history buff like the Chief, who noted the historical collection when he posted this image in May 2005 as indicative of the direct historical linkage from das Reich to today’s Islamofascists:

Moslem Bosnian SS Troopers of the Handschar Div. on Parade in Sarajevo.

Sounding like a modern-day Hitler, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week repeated his call for the “elimination” of Israel, home to six million Jews. Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy army in Lebanon, shares that objective. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has urged the world’s Jews to collect in Israel in order to facilitate the task of exterminating them.

Sadly enough there is more to this…including photographs in this article (and elsewhere on the web) showing Hezball and Ham-ass goose-stepping around with Nazi salutes.

How does Sieg Heil go in Arabic? Which leads to the second story:

Olmert Favors German Forces

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he would welcome German troops participating in an international force in southern Lebanon, according to a newspaper interview published Friday.

German officials have not ruled out contributing soldiers to a security force, but Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that “we as Germans should approach this region with the greatest caution.”

I guess so!

Man Says Sex With Kids a Sacred Ritual

A man accused of sexually assaulting nine boys with physical or mental disabilities told a judge that having sex with children is a sacred ritual protected by civil rights laws. Phillip Distasio, who said he is the leader of a church called Arcadian Fields Ministries, represented himself at his pretrial hearing Wednesday. He is charged with 74 counts including rape, pandering obscenity to minors and corrupting another with drugs.

The Gospel of Mark, chapter 9:
36 And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
37 Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me….
42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

Verse 42 sounds about right! That WOULD be better!

A quick survey of the Wednesday Argus-Loser Liar Leader gives a quick summary of some of SD politics at this time:

Rounds seizes heavy advantage
Lookin’ tough for Donk opponent Jack Billion.

Herseth has big lead in new poll; Bush approval down
Here’s a bit of consolation for the Donks.

State’s vote on abortion has national significance
Finally, here’s the Argus’ (and Daschle’s)own Dave Krantz commenting on the upcoming abortion vote.