The Constitution Club

As a low level government functionary, the Beast is constantly reminded of his “responsibility” to remain ethical and transparent. One would wish that the folks at the top of the ladder felt similarly, but having worked in both the public and private sectors it’s pretty clear there are two standards. The same corporation that defines an hourly worker coming back from an (unpaid) half hour lunch a minute late as tantamount to theft seems to have no issues with the CEO throwing a birthday party for his second wife on the Island of Sardinia to the tune of two million – all funded through the employee stock purchase (slush) fund and written off as a business expense.

In any event, about once every two months or so the Beast is dragged from his cubicle and forced to watch some videotape or power point presentation about “respect in the workplace”. The general tenor of these videos seems to be aimed at teaching the white guys “How Not To Piss Off The Chicks And Minorities In Your Office”. The minorities seem to find this funny as hell and the chicks don’t care – they know that sometimes it’s impossible NOT to piss them off – and most kind of like to be hit on, as long as it’s from men they like. The only people who take this stuff seriously are the white guys who know they have the most to lose.

The point that gets drilled into us the most – and you may recognize this – is that “offense” is defined by law not as the intent of the speaker, but by the reaction of the listener. You can say something in all innocence and offend a person inadvertently, but that’s no defense! The standard is not what you meant to say but how what you said is received by the thin skinned loonie who gets his/her panties all a-twist.

And conservatives did not set this system up. Libs did this in the 80’s to make Sexual Harassment cases easier to win. remember Clarence Thomas anybody? Lefties swarmed the Networks to make the point that even if Thomas didn’t mean to harass Anita Hill he should still fry because she felt harassed.

A few years later panty chaser Clinton lurched into office towing a trawl of harassment cases and suddenly the “Always Guilty” crowd got a big case of laryngitis. The silence was deafening.

So what does this have to do with Obama?

He has been hinting for months that Republicans will play on racial fear to defeat him. Whether it’s how different he looks “from the other presidents on dollar bills” (Hint – there’s only one President on the dollar bill, but it may have been a while since he looked at such a low denomination) or “did I mention he’s black?” (as if we hadn’t noticed), Obama has been implicitly tarring the GOP with the racial brush.

And if we hold him to his own standard, the issue is not W.O.R.M. (What Obama Really Meant), but how his words are received by his targets. By LAW offense is in the eye of the beholder, and what he really meant is immaterial.

So whether he meant to call the entire GOP racists doesn’t matter. We feel that he has. We take offense – so by the standards put in place by his own party we are right. The ideology that pioneered the concept of “Racial Code” seems to discover nuance (“Obama was referring to the fact that earlier presidents were older and wore wigs, not that they were all white males…) only when it’s their own nuts in the wringer.

Now the only question is what kind of reparation does he owe us?

UPDATE

The Party Of Perennial Offense is now complain that McCain is being too sensitive!

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said McCain’s campaign was “misinterpreting” both the “tenor and the meaning” of Obama’s words.

“I think they should probably be a little less paranoid about parsing every word we say and a little more focused on actually addressing the challenges that Americans expect the president of the United States to take on,” he said.

Sensitivity for me but not for thee. How droll.

I have long had a “problem” with wanting to get my hands on various historical items as opportunity presents itself. Over the years I have managed to collect an interesting hodgepodge of historical postcards, bullets, currency, knives, newspapers and especially war medals. One of these days I’ll make a list and put it all in a post, perhaps with a few pics to make it more interesting. My office has taken on the look of a musuem more and and more as time has passed. Today I purchased a 1965 UK 1 crown coin commemorating Prime Minister Winston Churchill. I always enjoy holding a bit of history in my hands. Altogether it cost me $3.70 including shipping.

My wife likes to tease me and see the look of horror on my face when she says “you know all this stuff is going to end up in a garage sale as soon as you die” so now I may have to put it all explicitly in my will so that it is handed down to one of my children or future grandchildren who appreciates history. A man’s lifelong work should not be doled out for a quarter at a time on one’s front yard once he is finally dead and gone. It just doesn’t seem right. Some of it is worth quite a bit of money so I suppose she might ask 50 cents a pop for some of them…

“Those who would trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state have told us that they have a utopian solution of peace without victory. They call their policy ‘accommodation.’ And they say if we only avoid any direct confrontation with the enemy, he will forget his evil ways and learn to love us. All who oppose them are indicted as warmongers. They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer—not an easy one, but a simple one—if you and I have the courage to tell our elected officials that we want our national policy based upon what we know in our hearts is morally right… [E]very lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement, and this is the specter our well-meaning liberal friends refuse to face.”

—Ronald Reagan

There are at least ten different styles to choose from.

To get your sticker, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to;
NOBAMA Free Bumper Sticker
c/o Ted Jackson
2306 Frankfort Ave.
Louisville, KY 40206

You can read about Ted Jackson’s plan to distribute up to one million NOBAMA stickers by visiting McCainstore.com (not affiliated with the official McCain campaign).

UPDATE:  Also, be sure to check out the daily musings of Constitution Club as we examine the ongoing Presidential asipirations of the junior Senator from Illinios.  You’ll enjoy Obama’s Rolling Stone edification, the mocking of the Congress controlled by Dems, change we can’t believe in, and the coming fascist state (led by Obama and the Dems). 

Don’t just get the bumper of your car ready for the election, get your mind ready with Conclub!

I just read this story. It was a follow up to the wedding between these young kids that were so greatly affected by the Iraq war. Ty, after being severely disfigured by a bomb blast came home to an 18 yr old sweetheart who stuck by his side during the most traumatic period of his life. Shortly thereafter, they were married. Today I found out they have been divorced since January. There is no bitterness between the two and they both still care for each very much, but realized that they were too young to be married.

This story is very compelling and the courage that both have exhibited should show us all how to be better people.

Tyler Ziegel is an American hero if there ever was one. The ongoing battles he faces in his daily life make our small troubles pale in comparison. Thank you Ty, and may you find the happiness that you surely deserve.

Please take the time to read this very moving story

Theories, anybody?

Hussies? I find that beneath you Dave. Has it gotten so bad that you would stoop to that level of humor?

Since Dave posted a little funny about Obama, which is a contrived attempt at humor at best, I thought I would post a couple of McCain videos that are actual REAL footage of REAL words being uttered by this aging, out of touch,past his political prime and utterly confused REAL candidate. Bush was bad enough at stumbling through Q&As, but I think McCain tops him. Watching this video makes me pull for Obama even more in the hopes that even though “untested” and ultra liberal, he will at least be able to present a speech and not make many of us wince in pain while watching.

This next video is a great one where Dr Paul pwned McCain during one of the debates. It’s been mashed up with Miss Teen SC slaughtering a pagent question. Now this is real Humor, although exceptionally sad when you realize this man is running for president and acts utterly clueless when under pressure. At least Miss Teen SC is a hottie and easy to look at while wincing.

Word of the day:
HUSSIES n. Female Obama supporters changing their middle names to Hussein

The following is what happens when you combine free speech, anti-Obama fervor, modern technology, youtube, and Eastern Europeans. Warning, this is not exactly politically correct.

VIDEO: The OBAMAnable Snowjob (rare uncensored)

The extent to which local governments go to protect the masses from themselves always amazes me.  From bans on trans-fatty foods to bans on smoking or drinking or guns or <insert vice here>, there is no limit to what activity a government-gone-mad can take away from people.  And Los Angeles demonstrates just how stupid city council members are when it comes to legislating for the health of its residents:

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a one-year moratorium on new fast-food restaurants in a low-income area of the city.

The moratorium unanimously approved Tuesday is a bid to attract restaurants that offer healthier food choices to residents in a 32-square-mile area of South Los Angeles.

Councilwoman Jan Perry says residents at five public meetings expressed concern with the proliferation of fast-food outlets in the community plagued by above-average rates of obesity.

Instead of worrying about protecting the citizens of their city by eliminating “sanctuary city” status for illegal immigrants, they place moratoriums on fast food joints so those citizens can’t become obese.  And yet those same citizens will continue to vote for corrupt Democratic politicians to run their city into the ground.  I guess you get what you vote for.

I, on the other hand, will continue to enjoy KFC and Taco Bell free from the restrictions of government bureaucrats. . . for now.

Variations of the “NOBAMA” bumper sticker concept are increasingly appearing on a road near you. This  Obamanation site shows a variety of pics of NOBAMA bumper stickers on vehicles. I am going with a different variant that I found on Ebay that should be ordered this week.

I prefer, and will be purchasing, this version for our two vehicles:

Senator Obama is a great unknown. I think seldom, if ever, has anyone gotten this far in the process and we’ve known less about them. He’s new, and he’s inexperienced. That’s one of the things that’s troubling to me, considering the times that we live in and that we’re going to be living in.”

“What we do know indicates that he is very typical. He is a young man on the move, very ambitious politically, been laying his groundwork for a long, long time to run for president. And he is one of the most liberal politicians in Washington. And he walks lockstep with the most liberal positions that come down the pike on every occasion.”

- Fred Thompson

Sorry for my recnet unexplained absence ladies and gentlemen but I spent the last week doing ummmm extnesive research in Las Vegas. In the course of my studies I have come up with a few observations . To wit:

Six days in Las Vegas is roughly 3 too many.

Taking the early flight out after the last day can lead to nothing positive.

addendum An airplane is the worst place in the world to be with a hangover

addendum addendum The healthy solution to the above problem is definitely not to just not bother going to sleep the night before.

You get a reciept every time you get a drink in a bar in Las Vegas regardless of whether you ask for one or not. Despite the fact that the first couple of days of my trip were actually for business purposes I highly doubt that I could get away with submitting ALL of those reciepts with my next expense report.

The Imperial Palace smells just a little bit like feet

Although prostitution may be technically illegal there it doesn’t seem to really be discouraged.

There’s a Bass Pro Shops in Vegas.

There seems to be some sort of shortage of Jameson out there which forced yours truly to drink Bushmills a few times.

Dry heat Shmy heat 107 degrees is HOT!!!!

Jimmy “JJ” Walker did not age well at all.

If you stay at the Hard Rock Casino Hotel and you’re too hammered to walk, the fine people there are actually kind enough to put you in a wheelchair and take you back to your room. For the record I just witnessed this…. didn’t experience it.

addendum According to the bathroom attendant that sort of thing happens all the time.

And finally even though you may be up at 4AM which is 7AM local time it is not a good idea to take that opportunity to wake your friends up. Come to think of it if you’re up drinking at 4AM leave the cell phone in your pocket regardless of what time zone you’re in.

“Whether we want to own up to it or not, the welfare state has done what Jim Crow, gross discrimination and poverty could not have done. It has contributed to the breakdown of the black family structure and has helped establish a set of values alien to traditional values of high moral standards, hard work and achievement.”

—Walter Williams

Well, it’s Shark Week on Discovery Channel again, folks. This one looks like it will suck as usual. They’ve rolled in all their series guys: “Mythbusters”, “Dirty Jobs” and “Survivor Man”. And we’ll be treated to the usual pious platitudes from PETA-Channeling, cognitively dissonant conservationists (“Sharks don’t really want to bite us.”). The beast is already yawning.

There was one high point in last year’s season, though. The documentary “Sharkman”. It featured a nutty South African who free swims with White Sharks. And he gets CLOSE, boys and girls!

From the Australian site LiveNews.com.

On the way to a quick lunch.

Diver Mark Rutzen is increasingly making a name for himself across the globe as a man who’swilling to get closr to sharks than any other.

The free-diver and former fisherman, who is currently diving off the coast of South Africa with Great Whites, touches and even rides the massive predators – in the wild.

Rutzen says the key to staying alive is a matter of manners.

“You have to introduce yourself to the animal, you can’t just go up to it and grab hold of it,” he told News Ltd.

He must not like that hand much.

“The biggest mistake any free-diver could make would be chasing the animal through the water.”

Rutzen says he relies on experience and a “telepathic understanding” to avoid becoming a meal.

Rutzen made his first big splash last season during Discovery Channel’s Shark Week in a show which featured him actually handling White Sharks. So far he’s been very, very lucky.

But unless he decides to retire suddenly, the Beast predicts

Erich Ritter's body minus about eight percent.

a future Steve Irwin moment in the making – it will be messy and most likely on film. Just ask Shark Week alum Erich Ritter, whose claims to be able to wade safely with Bull Sharks ended with the sudden removal of most of his calf muscle during filming.

Ritter also claimed to have an almost supernatural ability to sense the moods of these fish and he believed he could keep them off attack mode by controlling his breathing and heart rate.

Maybe so, but it didn’t work forever, did it?

Here’s the video.

Ritter survived his attack, so we got to see the video. The Beast suspect that when “SharkMan” inevitably becomes “SharkShit” we won’t be shown that footage. This will be a mixed blessing because, while blood and gore for blood and gore’s sake is not good, neither is taking crazy risks on camera, as Rutzen sliding down the gullet would prove.

Still, at least his show made Shark Week interesting last year. This year looks to be pretty drab.

She has haunting eyes…

Read the rest of this entry »

Like most everybody, except McCain and our own DFV, Obama was one hundred percent wrong when it came to “the surge”. In many ways, it was the deciding factor (along with the sometimes maligned Gen. Petraeus and his tactics) that drastically curtailed the violence and bloodshed in Iraq and probably “won” the war for the US and our coalition allies.

 It takes a lot to admit when you are wrong. It takes even more to admit you are wrong when you want to be the leader of the free world. It would take a statesman to embrace the tactics, concepts, ideas and policies that would lead to victory on the battlefield once you had adopted the poor policy of attacking the very tactics, concepts, ideas and policies that had brought success all across the board on nearly every level in a time of war.

Change? Yeah, I want change. I want Obama to change.

Barack on Iraq:

January 2007—”And until we acknowledge that reality, uh, we can send 15,000
more troops; 20,000 more troops; 30,000 more troops. Uh, I don’t know any,
uh, expert on the region or any military officer that I’ve spoken to, uh,
privately that believes that that is gonna make a substantial difference on
the situation on the ground.”

July 2007—”Here’s what we know. The surge has not worked. And they said
today, ‘Well, even in September, we’re going to need more time.’ So we’re
going to kick this can all the way down to the next president, under the
president’s plan… My assessment is that the surge has not worked and we
will not see a different report eight weeks from now.”

September 2007—”After putting an additional 30,000 troops in… we have
gone from a horrendous situation of violence in Iraq to the same intolerable
levels of violence that we had back in June of 2006. So, essentially, after
all this we’re back where we were 15 months ago… It is a course that will
not succeed.”

January 2008—”I had no doubt, and I said when I opposed the surge, that
given how wonderfully our troops perform, if we place 30,000 more troops
in there, then we would see an improvement in the security situation and we
would see a reduction in the violence.”

Now: “What I said was even at the time of the debate of the surge, was if
you put 30,000 troops in, of course it’s going to have an impact. There’s
no doubt about that.”

Two more banks bit it this week. Without the help of Schumer, may I note.

First National Bank of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, and First Heritage Bank, N.A., Newport Beach, California (owned by First National Bank Holding Company, Scottsdale, Arizona), were closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named receiver. The FDIC entered into purchase and assumption agreements with Mutual of Omaha Bank, Omaha, Nebraska, to take over all of the deposits and certain assets of the First National Bank of Nevada, Reno (also operating as First National Bank of Arizona, which recently merged into it), and First Heritage Bank, N.A., Newport Beach, California.

from the FDIC website: http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/press/2008/pr08063.html

“No bank runs or failures this year or anytime in the near future”.

Sure, keep believing it. The banking business has dug itself a very deep hole. When a moron like me who follows financial and commodities markets as a semi hobby (because my retirement money is invested in commodities) can see the trouble, and yells fire, everybody laughs. I’ve watched the energy and metals markets get manipulated like crazy in the past 6 months. They are not following historic patterns. Something is in the air. It does not take a genius to see it.

We should not bail them out. We should let the stockholders take the fall for being invested in such a poorly run enterprise. The reality is every American that is fiscally responsible will wind up paying through the nose with more taxes to cover these guys asses. I doubt the ones who actually created the problems will ever be hurt by their actions.

The dominoes are starting to fall. I predict next year to be one that goes down in history as far as economics goes.

Greed is not an American virtue, but it has become an American policy when it comes to banking. What was that Hollywood movie line? Oh yeah, “Greed is good.” Seems some of these bankers took that seriously.

It is my job to make the sheep think, and therefore not be sheep anymore….

 A fun Obama video

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As a public servant, I feel it is my duty to make sure all hot bloggers are present and accounted for.  I therefore present to you Blonde Sagacity.  ALa and her team are cutting edge and funny and do a good job of representing the right.  I think she has visited our humble blog before since I have been to her site in the past. 

Unfortunately for you single guys, she is married and pregnant (no I’m not a stalker, she posted something about amniotic fluid).  But fortunately she is a teacher and she posted a portrait of herself on her front page.  I suppose I should bite the bullet and post a picture of myself in order to drive traffic to our site.

Update: Of course you never get over your first love.  The original conservative hot blogger and love of our lives is MoK at Six Degrees of Blondness.  If we need to be aware of other conservative hotties that blog, do tell.

Okay kids, lets play ‘Real or Onion’; a game that tests your wits about what tools the lamestream media have become.  Their sell out for Obama has resulted in every major network sending their anchor to cover Obama’s trip to the Middle East.  Meanwhile, McCain gets a single photog when he arrives at some small American town.  I can’t wait until some network hack obtains a copy of a disciplinary report showing what a scoundrel a school-aged John McCain was in Arial or Times New Roman font.  But I digress.  Here are the nominees:

1. Obama: ‘We Have a Daunting Task’
2. Under the Mideast Sun–And the Microscope–Obama Stays Cool
3. ‘Time’ Publishes Definitive Obama Puff Piece

Answers after the fold Read the rest of this entry »

When you dare to attack the postions of THE MESSIAH or point out that, indeed, the Emperor wears no clothes these kinds of things are bound to happen. I’m kind of surprised that the New York Times didn’t just outright ask John McCain to withdraw from the race and endore Barack Obama.

The NYT Rejects and then Lectures John McCain

An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the NEW YORK TIMES — less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Recently Watchblog, a site I write for from time to time, had a catastrophic server meltdown. The former site editor decided to take the opportunity to escape from the reservation and start his own website while preserving the original watchblog style, format and concept. He invited yours truly to join his limited stable of writers on the new site named Poliwatch. Today my first post is up. It is a new and improved version of my Top Ten Reasons Barack Obama Should Not Be President. Be sure to check it out on the new site.

Updated: And I just got ‘fired” for making the mistake of letting the owner of Watchblog know about this and for a couple of other emails that were circulating among the watchblog forum writers in regards to this. Easy come, easy go. I’ve been “fired” before, but never with such hostility, name-calling and false assumptions. Good stuff. Politics and Punditry is not for puffballs and the thin skinned.

This is from the National Enquirer, so take it with a grain of salt. But…

SEN. JOHN EDWARDS CAUGHT WITH MISTRESS AND LOVE CHILD!

Vice Presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards was caught visiting his mistress and secret love child at 2:40 this morning in a Los Angeles hotel by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER.

The married ex-senator from North Carolina – whose wife Elizabeth continues to battle cancer — met with his mistress, blonde divorcée Rielle Hunter, at the Beverly Hilton on Monday night, July 21 – and the NATIONAL ENQUIRER was there! He didn’t leave until early the next morning.

Rielle had driven to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara with a male friend for the rendezvous with Edwards. The former senator attended a press event Monday afternoon with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on the topic of how to combat homelessness.

But a months-long NATIONAL ENQUIRER investigation had yielded information that Rielle and Edwards, 54, had arranged to secretly meet afterward and for the ex-senator to spend some time with both his mistress and the love child who he refuses to publicly acknowledge as his own.

“The current Democratic mantra on energy is: ‘We can’t drill our way out of this problem.’ Apparently their plan is to talk our way out of this problem. Democrats are also alleging that the oil companies are sitting on millions of acres of oil but are refusing to drill—presumably because oil company executives hate the American people and perversely don’t want to make money. Manifestly, those acres are being explored for oil or have already come up dry. If the Democrats really wanted oil companies to find more oil, they’d allow oil companies to drill offshore and to drill in ANWR, which we happen to know is bursting with oil. But they don’t. They don’t want drilling. They don’t want more oil. They want humans to ride bicycles and then to die. We deserve it: We were mean to the polar bears. It’s good to know that in the middle of a crisis, the Democrats are still liars. As long as we’re fantasizing about ‘alternative’ energy sources, what we really need is a car that runs on Democrats’ lies.”

—Ann Coulter

“Generations from now we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment—when ‘the rise of the oceans began to slow.’ “

- Barack Obama

“Moses made the waters recede, but he had help. Obama apparently works alone.”

-economist Irwin Stelzer

Late July and August has become unofficial Great White Shark season off Cape Cod. Looks like it’s starting again. The Beast just received this email:

Dear Sirs

I saw your report on the probable shark attack off Chatham Beach last year, well this year, in fact this afternoon a seal carcass with a huge bite taken out of it’s flank was washed up on the beach. According to the Beach Patrol officer it is highly likely that this was another shark attack and it was noticeable that not only was there a launch patrolling the estuary but also a beach warden scanning the waters with powerful binoculars. It seems we are not the only ones enjoying the warm water!

Quite daunting stuff as I was swimming round the channel buoy last night!

This hasn’t made the news yet. Looking for more details and a pic if possible. Meanwhile, you readers can keep cool with this roundup of White Shark attacks off the Cape from last year at this time:

• Probable Great White Shark Attacks Seal Off Cape Cod Beach – Second Summer In A Row! August 6, 2007 – 7:56 pm

• Second Cape Cod Seal Attack: Eyewitness Says It WAS A Great White Shark. August 8, 2007 – 6:28 pm

• It’s Confirmed, The Chatham Seal Attack Officially Caused By Great White Shark. August 10, 2007 – 5:32 pm

• White Shark Spotted By Fishermen Off Northern Mass Coast? August 18, 2007 – 2:11 pm

As you may have noticed, many of us have been a bit scarce on Conclub and for that we apologize. I for one have been drafted by a variety of my friends, family, coworkers and readers to launch an independent bid for the white house. I may not win, but in this turbulent time of political uncertainty there is still room for a voice of reason and common sense. The truth may hurt, but I believe that the American people deserve better than what they have been receiving from both political parties. My cousin emailed me this clip of a news story about my entrance and progress in the race so far.

Dave for President!

The name most synonymous with accurate and trustworthy reporting from the field is Michael Yon.  When he proclaims that we won, I tend to believe him.  And then he writes a follow up to back up his statements:

But I stand by my words, just as I stood by my assertion of February 2005 that Iraq was in a state of civil war, and later understood that Al Qaeda was its proximate cause. Those statements went against the vested interests of both Bush supporters who didn’t want to admit how bad the situation was in Iraq, and war critics, who didn’t want to admit that much of it was Al Qaeda’s fault.

Back then, both sides brought out their dictionaries and muddied the water by arguing semantics: What exactly do you mean by a civil war? What exactly do you mean by Al Qaeda?

So I will be very clear what I mean when I say we have won the war. A counterinsurgency is won when the government’s legitimacy is no longer threatened by the insurgents, the government is able to protect its own people and the people are participating in the government. In Iraq, all three conditions apply.

I love watching the early campaign television spots of Democratic candidates still taking the brave stance of “getting us out of Iraq.”  These self-serving idiots may want to read Michael Yon from time to time to get a grip on the pulse of the war.  If they did, they just might realize that by the time they take office, President Bush will have already drawn down most combat troops.

Fred Thompson is no Gandhi

At what point is it okay to fight dictators like Saddam or the al Qaeda terrorists who want to take his place?

It turns out that the answer, according to Gandhi, is NEVER. During World War II, Gandhi penned an open letter to the British people, urging them to surrender to the Nazis. Later, when the extent of the holocaust was known, he criticized Jews who had tried to escape or fight for their lives as they did in Warsaw and Treblinka. “The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife,” he said. “They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs.” “Collective suicide,” he told his biographer, “would have been heroism.”

The so-called peace movement certainly has the right to make Gandhi’s way their way, but their efforts to make collective suicide American foreign policy just won’t cut it in this country. When Americans think of heroism, we think of the young American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, risking their lives to prevent another Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein.

Gandhi probably wouldn’t approve, but I can live with that.

I couldn’t agree more. I often wonder what a Thompson presidency would have looked like. He’d make a good president but he didn’t have the stomach for the cut throat circus that is the modern day presidential race. The rise and fall of both the Guiliani and the Thompson campaigns was striking to behold and yet little has been written about them. Rarely do you see candidates fall so fast without there being a scandal as the cause (think Gary Hart).

Liberal and conservative worldviews often collide for this reason: Disciplined conservatives put God first, family and country second and themselves third, while liberals tend to put themselves first, their country last, and serve gods made in their image. This is the most defining philosophical distinction between these two groups.

-Mark Alexander, the Patriot Post

“An opportunity society awaits us. We need only believe in ourselves and give men and women of faith, courage, and vision the freedom to build it. Let others run down America and seek to punish success. Let them call you greedy for not wanting government to take more and more of your earnings. Let them defend their tombstone society of wage and price guidelines, mandatory quotas, tax increases, planned shortages, and shared sacrifices. We want no part of that mess, thank you very much. We will encourage all Americans—men and women, young and old, individuals of every race, creed, and color—to succeed and be healthy, happy, and whole. This is our goal. We see America not falling behind, but moving ahead; our citizens not fearful and divided, but confident and united by shared values of faith, family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom.”

—Ronald Reagan

If you missed the earlier ones, watch them first.

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Every parent of kids that range in age from around 8 to 14 have gone through the same thing I am currently experiencing.  The problem is this: what is an acceptable level of popular culture that our kids can be immersed in?  It is my experience that most kids probably know more about cuss words or sexuality or drugs or alcohol than their parents want to believe.  As a middle school teacher for 10 years, I often found that kids know more than the adults in their lives have given them credit for.  And although I am now a high school teacher, conversations with DFV (he teaches middle school now) only confirms that kids from some very conservative homes have parents that are utterly clueless and are actually shielding them from todays culture at the childs peril. 

I bring this up in relation to two songs that I first resisted letting my kids hear, but then joyfully wanted them to hear.  The two songs are both very popular right now.  One is the number one song on the airwaves.  It is a song called Sittin in a Bar, by Rehab.  Because I couldn’t find a good video version, I encourage you to look it up and listen to it.  In a nutshell, the song details the travails of some loser who broke his parole, got the boot from his drugged up woman in a trailer park, stole her car, and is presumably headed back to jail for 10 years.  The radio version (the version my kids hear) doesn’t have the cuss words but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out the words.

The second song is a Snoop Dogg tribute to Johnny Cash called Buy My Medicine.  This is a great little diddy about some drugged up burn out that has a woman he only loves for her ability to keep him “medicated.”  In the song, he proclaims that “girl my loves gonna last just as long as I’m hiiiiigh.”  He also says that “you can trust every word that I say is a lie.”  Sadly enough, we all have probably known a  co-dependent woman that caters to the drug induced whim of some burn out loser.  And that is the point:  By helping kids understand these songs are meant to mock those lifestyles, we can aid them as they mature into thinking young adults.  These songs then, are good life lessons about what not to be. 

So now when I hear the opening guitar plucks of Rehabs hit song, or the funny twang of the Snoop Dogg country knock off, I reach for the radio dial. . . and turn it up.  My nine year old boy calls them the “loser songs” and my twelve year old girl and I ponder why people would put themselves in such situations. 

Here is a link to the Snoop Dogg song.  You’ll love this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks3w859ujbU

Via toldyou from Free Republic

Or perhaps we should call it “The Barries”?

A few months ago the Beast came across a fascinating analysis of this year’s campaign using “Game Theory”. Now, the only game theory the Beast knows is that if you try to take Asia while playing Risk you’re doomed. If you attempt it while playing the drinking game version of Risk, you could well slide into a coma. But we digress.

Here’s the thesis in a nutshell: in a bad year for the GOP, Republican voters chose to play it safe when they picked McCain. Yes, they weren’t going to get the big ideological payoff from him they might have reaped from a more conservative candidate, but that’s still better than losing the election whereupon they get zippo.

Dems, on the other hand sensed the political wind at their back and went with a higher risk candidate – expecting a bigger ideological payoff. The question is, did they go too far away from the center? Is Obama (as the Clintons suggest) unelectable?

Certainly after his campaign oozed across the primary finish line last spring it appeared not to be so. After all, Obama had done what no Republican had ever managed – he killed a Clinton. But just barely. In fact, had the Dems not screwed up their nominating process so totally with oddball “Apportioned” delegates, Obama would be stumping for Hil right now. And the frothy nutroots/black block voters loved him. But was it enough? Just barely: this was the first time in recent history that a breakout candidate in a Primary season actually lost momentum as he came closer to ultimate victory.

So Obama got a slight bump and entered the general election season with a statistical edge that remains tiny, but is real. How has he fared since?

Not well. The baggage he accumulated in the Primary continues to drag at his heels. First problem – he started on the defensive and can’t get out of it. Consider his attempt through surrogates to attack McCain’s war record. How did that go? Obama can’t score points off of his opponent to save his life. For example he refuses to do town hall meetings – no suprises there, McCain is best in a group setting off the cuff, but Obama clings desperately to his teleprompter because he can’t open his mouth without sticking his foot in it.

Because he ran as a “New” kind of politician he can’t turn to the old tactics of going negative without losing yet another layer of gilt. Meanwhile, he continues to score points off himself and even takes the occasional hit from McCain, whose campaign machine sputters along the breakdown lane at fifteen miles an hour with the right directional blinking on and off.

The Dems see this and it’s giving them the cold shivers. A statistical dead heat in July? In a Dem year? Cripes, even Dukakis had better numbers than that and he had decades of executive experience! Obama has been coasting on momentum he built up early in the Primary season when he was largely a Political cypher – a screen upon which voters could project whatever they wished. But it didn’t take long for hint of the real man to begin peeking through and signs of clear buyer’s remorse to start setting in.

Second problem – he’s on the wrong side of Iraq, Oil drilling, campaign finance reform and scads of other issues. But when he attempts to switch over to a less nutty position his lefty base bays and foams at the mouth in fury. They load his website with profane rants. The Hilaryites gloat. He’s pinned to his positions like chloroformed moth. Obama can’t win as a Liberal, but the Liberals won’t let him pivot to the center – even if it’s only for the General Election.

Third problem – money. Money? Yeah you’d not think that a problem considering all the gobs and gobs of it he’s raised so far. But he’s had to spend those gobs as fast as they came in to get past Hilary. And now that he’s eschewed public money he is totally dependent on his supporters, many of whom have become a tad disenchanted. As of this moment Obama and the DNC has an estimated $72 mil in the bank after reporting (two weeks late) $52 mil raised in June. McCain? With $22 mil last month he and the RNC have $95. Hmmm…

Forth problem – the MSM. They’re getting tired of having to drag his sorry ass past every self-made slip up. Of course he and they both know that no matter what he does the fawning press will provide cover, but this is not a normal political season. In times past when the media favored a Dem all they did was piss off Republicans, whom they had abandoned decades ago anyway and never had to deal with at fancy cocktail parties in Mathattan. This year the Hilary Dems are watching, too. And they do show up at aforementioned parties. How embarassing.

The WaPo took him to task yesterday for his Iraq stance. Amazing, but true. One has to wonder how much love media Obama will lose as he goes on.

Finally, there’s the McCain campaign itself. All it has to do is put down the remote, get off the couch and actually fight a bit (like normal Republicans) to actually beat Obama. We’re starting to see signs that may happen. Stick to the board, fellow gamers – there’s lots of play ahead!

“Woe betide the people who celebrate the release of a beastly man who bludgeoned the skull of a 4-year-old toddler.”

- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (story: Hezbollah celebrates prisoner swap, Israel mourns). There is a vast gap between the civilized and the uncivilized peoples of the world.  We saw that stark difference today. Coffin for coffin is the only trade I would ever agree to with such barbarians.

1)”The system isn’t working…when communities are terrorized by ICE immigration raids, when nursing mothers are torn from their babies, when children come home from school to find their parents missing, WHEN PEOPLE ARE DETAINED WITHOUT ACCESS TO LEGAL COUNSEL…”  – Speech to National Council of La Raza

-Cry me a river. As if our immigration and judicial system were not mucked up enough. I guess it really is necessary to provide a taxpayer funded attorney to every illegal immigrant awaiting deportation and to complain vehemently when law enforcement types decide to actually occasionally enforce the laws of this nation. I’m pretty sure both you and I shouldn’t have to pay for anything other that a quick bus ride to the other side of the border for those who are not here legally.

By a combination of negligence and design the pathetically porous borders have managed to bless the people of the USA with anywhere from 12 to 20 millions illegal aliens. Obama is right that “the system isn’t working”. It is weak, ineffective and not effectively choking employment opportunities and benefits for illegals while failing to round them up and ship them out as quickly as they manage to arrive here.

As long as Mexico continues to dump its poverty and political dysfunctionality north of the border and America continues to coddle them once they arrive, there will be no solution to the massive and unprecedented illegal immigration crisis. What’s good, though, is that Obama is twisting the arm of every American to learn Spanish, apparently so that we can communicate more readily with the millions upon millions of illegal aliens already in our midst.

2) “I could no more disown him than my own grandmother that once confessed to me she was afraid of black men she passed on the street.”

 – The infamous “throwing Grandma under the bus” quote delivered at a time when Obama was actually trying to defend hate speech peddler Rev. Jeremiah Wright. On multiple occasions Obama has made some disturbing comments in regards to race and he seems to struggle with his bi-racial heritage on a reoccurring basis.

3) “I’ve got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”

– Children are a punishment? Not a nice thing to say about one’s possible future grandchildren. That is if one of his daughters makes a “mistake” but decided not to actually sacrifice it on the bloody altar of convenience. His grandchildren might someday find it very interesting what “Grandpa Obama” thought about them before they were even born.

It is in fact this very type of attitude towards little ‘surprises’ that leads to people resenting their children instead of loving and accepting them. Just because a child is unexpected shouldn’t mean that it is antagonistically viewed as little more than a problem, inconvenience and undue burden that should automatically receive the death penalty for being ‘a mistake’ as defined by Obama.

4)“It’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations”.

– An elitist comment by an elitist delivered to a closed door group of elitists. Way to go Barack. I’d be mad but I’m a bit busy cleaning my gun and reading my Bible while angrily pushing one for English on the telephone. If I might take the liberty of quoting humorist and blogger Charlie Foxtrot:

“233 years ago, a group of bitter men clung to their guns and religion, driven by their antipathy towards people who weren’t like them. In the end, I think it worked out OK.” 

5)“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times… and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK. That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen.”

-Obama apparently calling for ration cards, government monitoring of your thermostat and the outlawing of your vehicle all at the same time. A totalitarian, socialist, nanny state mindset is not usually the best virtue to be found in a possible President of the United States. Can anyone show me in the Constitution where the government can tell me how much I can eat? That quote is downright disturbing, and perhaps a bit more revealing than the Obama camp would like to admit.

6) “We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old – and that’s the criterion by which I’ll be selecting my judges.”

-I guess asking for an impartial, objective judge who enforces the law and doesn’t legislate from the bench would be too much to ask. What was I thinking?

You can always tell a conservative from a liberal. One begins a sentence with the words “I think that…” while the other begins a sentence with “I feel that…” It’s not all about feelings and emotions; sometimes you’ve got to be able to think as well.

7) Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

-More nonsense that barely makes any sense to anybody, But at least he’ll bring “change”, and that is what is more important than anything, isn’t it? Not what kind of change, or the specifics of such change, or whether it is change for the better or for the worse. Does one dare mention the fact that change for the sake of change is intellectually adolescent at best?

We should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on a country through military force. In the past, it has been movements for freedom from within tyrannical regimes that have led to flourishing democracies; movements that continue today. This doesn’t mean abandoning our values and ideals; wherever we can, it’s in our interest to help foster democracy through the diplomatic and economic resources at our disposal. But even as we provide such help, we should be clear that the institutions of democracy – free markets, a free press, a strong civil society – cannot be built overnight, and they cannot be built at the end of a barrel of a gun. And so we must realize that the freedoms FDR once spoke of – especially freedom from want and freedom from fear – do not just come from deposing a tyrant and handing out ballots; they are only realized once the personal and material security of a people is ensured as well.

-Obama apparently slept through fifth grade history class. I wonder if he understands that both Japan and Germany (and a good number of other countries) had democracy imposed on them from the “barrel of a gun”. I’m just asking. This quote also contradicts his repeated efforts to abandon Iraq to the various groups of thugs waiting in the wings who wouldn’t mind making a play for power if the US abandons Iraq. So much for “free markets, a free press, [and] a strong civil society – cannot be built overnight”. Picking up your ball and going home in a huff in the middle of the game won’t accomplish those goals either.

In war you have to play to win, do whatever it takes to win, and accept no substitute for the destruction or neutralization of your enemy and the accomplishment of your goal. The Surge was two years later than it should have been, bitterly opposed by Obama and his cabal, and only McCain seems to have had it right all along. If you are going to fight, then you better fight to win. The enemy of Islamic jihadism, fundamentalism and radicalism has no such wavering, flip flopping, concern for the enemy and crisis of conscience. Neither should the heirs and protectors of Western Civilization.

Of the two major political candidates for president, one is willing to lose the war so that he can win the election. The other would rather win the war than win the election.

9) Like no other illness, AIDS tests our ability to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes — to empathize with the plight of our fellow man. While most would agree that the AIDS orphan or the transfusion victim or the wronged wife contracted the disease through no fault of their own, it has too often been easy for some to point to the unfaithful husband or the promiscuous youth or the gay man and say “This is your fault. You have sinned.” I don’t think that’s a satisfactory response. My faith reminds me that we all are sinners.

– Apparently no one is to blame for the behaviors and practices that spreads such deadly, but entirely preventable, diseases (except for the conservative who fails to cheerlead and excuse it). And to not call sin, sin, is to deny the obvious, obscure the truth, excuse the inexcusable and in the end only contribute to the devastating plague that has killed millions instead of acknowledging the truth that could save the lives of millions more. We are all sinners, but wallowing in sin and not recognizing that actions have consequences can have serious, and deadly, results.

10) “I found the tears running down my cheeks.” – from Obama’s book Dreams from My Father when describing the sermons Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

-It is one thing to rather callously hook up with a church for “street cred” to gain an entry into a certain voting bloc community (Wright was Obama’s ticket into acceptance by Chicago’s black community) but to subject one’s own offspring and spouse to racist, paranoid, twisted and anti-American vitriol as well as to those who advocate such sickening philosophies for years on end is not only questionable, but downright disgusting and objectionable. If a Caucasian presidential candidate had done the same he’d be lucky to garner 15% of the vote, but Obama is given the usual pass solely based on his race and ideology. What a tragic commentary on the current state of politics and statesmanship in this country.

And to show my generosity, kindness and willingness to go the extra mile I’d like to also add a couple more  “reasons” why Obama is pathetically unqualified to the be the next leader of the free world.

“The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation. When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign…- Barack Obama 03-14-08

Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely – just as I’m sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests, or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed.  – Barack Obama 03-18-08

Will the real Barack please stand up? Which is it? You can’t have it both ways. I demand answers and the truth.  By the way, it would appear that Mr. Obama is woefully uninformed on what actually comes forth from the average pastor, priest or rabbi. If anyone has actually watched the various clips of the good Reverand at his best it is amazing that Barry could stand ten minutes of that, let alone twenty-three years worth. Obama has defended, funded, entertained and encouraged what is little more than a rotten river of sludge from the man that has been his pastor for the last two decades. Shame on him for supporting and legitimizing such drivel.

In the end, I believe that the American people do not need the government to be their savior, doctor, nanny, nutritionist, psychologist, and mother regulating and dictating every aspect of an individuals life. We are free citizens not serfs, subjects or slaves.

Democrats are increasingly experiencing buyer’s remorse for anointing a puppet of the hard Left to be their presidential candidate. His inexperience, nanny state complex, and questionable views on a wide variety of issues should make all thinking and intelligent people take a long pause before voting for a person who is so stunningly unqualified, ill suited and unready to be the next President of the United States.

A single-digit month.

Looking at the coalition fatalities for the first half of July, 2008 shows something remarkable…something not yet noted by any mainstream news agencies or blogs.

At first glance, the stats show that 6 good Americans gave their lives for our country so far this month in Iraq.

But that number of 6 doesn’t tell the tale.

Looking more closely at the numbers, two of our lost soldiers were due to non-hostile work accidents (e.g. one was electrocuted).

But that doesn’t mean that we’ve lost 4 good men to combat this month…you see…two of those lost to combat were killed at the height of the Surge, way back in May of 2007. They are shown in stats for this month because that’s when their bodies were recovered.

This means that two of our grave losses were from last year, not this month’s combat…and two other losses were due to non-hostile causes.

In other words, for the first half of July, 2008, the U.S. has lost two good men to combat in Iraq.

This is not D-Day 1944. Thousands haven’t been lost on a single Normandy beach in minutes.

We’ve lost two in two weeks to enemy combat.

If the second half of July mimmicks the first, we’ll have a single-digit of combat losses in Iraq this month. – Southack from FreeRepublic.com

ICasualties.com has some good charts and figures when it comes to the Iraq War. If this trend continues I eagerly await the Left (and Andre in particular) trotting out their own “mission accomplished” banner as even they are probably bright enough to see that the insurgency is collapsing in Iraq, the Sunni’s have decided they want to have a say and stake in the coming Iraq, and Al-Qaeda has been both rejected by the population and devastated on the battlefield. The Jihadists unexpectedly decided to make their stand in Iraq (with the compliance and cooperation of the threatened Hussein government) and thousands of fleeing Afghani based Al-Qaeda types as well as like minded others from throughout the Islamic world prepared to carry out a guerrilla war on the soon to invading American forces. Since then they have waged a surprisingly bloody, bushwacking type of war but now there is only one combatant left standing in the desert, and his name is Uncle Sam. This war is winding down, and forestalling any panicky and ill timed mass pullout by a naive Obama White House, the true work of creating a new, stable post-war ally will begin in the Middle East.

We hope to have a friendly nation in which to keep an eye on Iran and Syria, protect the areas petroleum fields, provide stability in the region, protect Israel and make the areas despots a wee bit nervous. If the United States wishes to remain a superpower it needs to be willing to make the hard choices at this time to protect it’s interests in the region. The only other option is to throw our hands up and withdraw behind our ocean barriers and bury our head in the sand as a resurgent Russia and empowered China make a play for world influence, control and strategic advantage.

“Don’t think that a few years of liberals in charge is that dangerous? Just take a moment to consider what liberals dream of doing once they gain absolute power. There is no aspect of our lives—none—that today’s liberals concede is off limits to the meddling use of government power. In their vision there is no dividing line between the public sphere and the private sphere. Limited government is a concept that makes no sense to them… Energy policies are just the tip of the iceberg—although control over energy gives government control over pretty much the entire economy already. In a world run by liberals literally no aspect of our lives will be outside the legitimate regulation of government. That is because anything—even what temperature you like to keep your house—can be turned into a matter of legitimate public concern. Everything we do, including breathing, eating and of course procreating, can be argued to have an impact on those around us or the great mother earth. And if it affects others, it can and should be regulated by those who know best, at least according to the liberals. Liberals want to regulate just about everything: where we live, what fuels we use, what car we drive, whether we can drive or be forced to use government mass transit, where we send our kids to school, what doctor we see, and even to what extent we express our approval or disapproval of others’ lifestyles. It’s hard to find something liberals don’t want to regulate. Is that a world you want to live in?”

—David Strom

I always liked and enjoyed Tony Snow. He always seemed to be a happy person who didn’t take life or himself too seriously (my personal philosophy). Cancer is a vicious enemy and Tony fought hard against it but lost in the end. My sincere condolences to his wife and family. He was a fine and honest man who loved life and his loss is being felt very deeply by many people. He was a proud and devoted father and was one of the ‘good guys’. FReeRepublic is in mourning. Reading the comment section will give you a great feel of what kind of man he was and the effect that he had on people. As a fellow Christian, I believe that our time on earth is brief, transitory, and just the intro to another life and existence. He is in peace now where there is no more pain, suffering or tears. This year death has claimed several “good and faithful servants” and Tony Snow could not be in better company than he is right now.  He will be missed.

Cancer’s Unexpected Blessings

When you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change

His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity—filled with life and love we cannot comprehend—and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms.

Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do? 

Last year this article appeared in the New York Post.

‘Wire’ Law Failed Lost GI: 10-Hour Delay as Feds Sought Tap to Track Jimenez Captors in Iraq

WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence officials got mired for nearly 10 hours seeking approval to use wiretaps against al Qaeda terrorists suspected of kidnapping Queens soldier Alex Jimenez in Iraq earlier this year, The Post has learned.

This week, Congress plans to vote on a bill that leaves in place the legal hurdles in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – problems that were highlighted during the May search for a group of kidnapped U.S. soldiers.

A search to rescue the men was quickly launched. But it soon ground to a halt as lawyers – obeying strict U.S. laws about surveillance – cobbled together the legal grounds for wiretapping the suspected kidnappers.

For an excruciating nine hours and 38 minutes, searchers in Iraq waited as U.S. lawyers discussed legal issues and hammered out the “probable cause” necessary for the attorney general to grant such “emergency” permission.

Finally, approval was granted and, at 7:38 that night, surveillance began.

“The intelligence community was forced to abandon our soldiers because of the law,” a senior congressional staffer with access to the classified case told The Post.

“How many lawyers does it take to rescue our soldiers?” he asked. “It should be zero.”

Today the body of Jiminez was discovered in Iraq. It is a sad day for his family, and an even sadder day for a country that insists on allowing inane, stupid policies and selfish politics to cost the lives of soldiers and in effect, aid and abet the enemy. To root for defeat and retreat in the face of the enemy while the nation is at war is probably one of the most vile things one can imagine. Yet that is mission, goal and fervent hope of an entire major political party and it’s leading contender for Commander in Chief. The effort to achieve victory has been constantly undermined and attacked at every opportunity and as an American and a patriot I am deeply ashamed that such people hold the slightest standing in society and have not been totally and completely ostracized by society as a whole.

That such sentiments, and the complete and utter stupidity that may have contributed to the death of several American soldiers at the hands of a vicious and ruthless enemies that respect no laws or decency, is a tragedy of almost unparalleled proportions. And it is one that should not be tolerated another second longer. Every American should be completely and utterly disgusted by the details of this story. I know I am.

May this hero rest in peace, and my his sacrifice not have been in vain.

From the LA Times:

“The federal government took control of Pasadena-based IndyMac Bank on Friday in what regulators called the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history.”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-indymac12-2008jul12,0,6071779.story

PG you said that there was no way any major banks would fail anytime this year or the near future when I was ranting about this very thing some time back.

So explain this to me. Is this being blown out of proportion or overhyped?

And for the record, I’m not being an ass about this. I respect your analogy and want to hear your take on what is happening, especially with the economics background you have.

If this is not some media overblown hype, it’s very disconcerting.

This week, Iranian Islamist Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad tested his new ballistic missile, the Shahab-3—range 1,250 miles. Next door in Iraq, 550 metric tons of “yellowcake” uranium ore, which Saddam intended to weaponize for use in his non-existent WMD program, were removed from Tuwaitha. (That’s enough for more than 100 medium-sized nuclear boomers.) And while al-Qa’ida has been routed in Iraq, there was plenty of evidence this week that jihadis are putting up fierce resistance in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Seems like this is as good a week as any to pause and ponder, “Who should be our next commander in chief?”

The most important constitutional role of our president is that of commander in chief—which is why every Patriot, every American, every human on the planet, should be deeply concerned about the prospect of a “President Obama.”

-Mark Alexander, Editor in Chief of the Patriot Post

This is just a partial excerpt of Jackson’s choice comments about the Anointed One. Fox News has withheld the more “damaging” statements. Speculation is that Jesse called his good friend Barack the “N” word or some other choice ugly insult. How long until the full thing gets leaked?

 ‘We held back some of this conversation… we didn’t feel it had any relevance to the conversation this evening. We are not out to get Jesse Jackson. We are not out to embarrass him and we are not out to make him look bad. If we were, we would have used what we had, which is more damaging than what you have heard’… – Bill O’reilly

“‘I wanna cut his f-—— nuts off.” – Jesse Jackson

And we are all tired of Obama talking down to people. He’s got that part right…

I like seeing political figures being honest and forthright as opposed to all this pathetic sucking up and groveling that Jesse’s been doing since this story broke. Good grief, grow a backbone and tell it like it is.

Obama already lost a nut named Jeremiah, he just needs to lose the other one that goes by the name Michelle.