Three up; Three down

THREE UP
If fundraising is any measure, and quite frequently it is, Barack Obama is cashing in on a ticket to Pennsylvania Avenue. The presumptive Democratic nominee raked in a whopping $52 million last month, more than doubling Republican John McCain’s meager $22 million, if $22 million can be called that.
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Speaking of Iraq, domestic security forces there are making steady progress toward independence, so much so that officials are discussing U.S. troop reductions. This is the latest in a series of good news springing from the controversial surge. Wonder if anyone has considered an apology to Gen. David Petreaus, who was betrayed by many of his own, or the left’s own, last fall during hearings in the Capitol. Well, we didn’t think so.
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Local consumers of lattes and pricey, piping-hot cups of caffeine have been spared the suffering of losing local Starbucks shops. The chain is closing 600 shops nationwide, but those in Waynesboro and Staunton were not on the list of doomed stores released Friday. It’s a sign of faith in the bustling West End retail market. Pay, eat, drink and be merry.

THREE DOWN
Undaunted by his 2000 presidential election loss and buoyed by a Nobel Prize won for proclaiming an impending apocalypse brought on by global warming, Al Gore now declares that Americans should ditch fossil fuels in favor of carbon-free renewable energy within 10 years. Gee, this is a dandy idea, except for the fact that even environmental alarmists don’t think it’s possible. Perhaps we misunderestimate the man who brought us the Internet.
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Fighting terror is darned hard work. Sometimes Air Force generals need to unwind in their comfort capsules. The sealed rooms onboard military jetliners come with leather chairs, 37-inch flat-screen monitors with stereo speakers and full-length mirrors, doubtless to investigate the gleam of medals. The capsules sought by Air Force brass for three years are being built with counterterrorism money. Don’t we all feel safer?
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We’re no fans of Barack Obama and we are decidedly fans of free speech, so we get New Yorker’s satire in its cover depicting the Democratic presidential candidate and his wife in the garb of Muslim extremists. Still, we wonder if this is one cover the editors wish they could have back.