Palin Nation
I have decided to “out” myself. As a bit of an experiment I started a side blog dedicated to a single subject, Sarah Palin. I call it Palin Nation. She is, and will continue to be, a news generator and great source of interest not only to the political types but to the general public as well. Love her or hate her, if McCain pulls this one out we will all look back at his decision to choose Palin as veep as the deciding factor in the entire race for the white house. The more I have studied and contemplated her selection, the more I am impressed with the boldness of McCain’s choice and the dramatic effect it had on the race. It was directly correlated to Obama failing to pick Hillary as his running mate and thus allowing McCain to outflank the Obama camp.
This was perhaps the boldest stroke in a presidential campaign in a generation. Whether it succeeds or fails is yet to be seen, but from a sidelines perspective it was a powerful calculation that so far has paid off in a variety of ways. It completely obliterated Obama from the front page, negated his convention ‘bounce’, erased his lead in national polls, is very attractive to successful, white, middle class women, and has left him nearly speechless since her selection. A huge gamble on his part, yet one that may win the seasoned warrior the white house.
The Right has not been so fired up since the ‘92 run of Buchanan (partial elements), the 1980 election of Reagan and the nomination of Goldwater back in 1964. Palin has changed the dynamics of this race though whether it will be enough to eclipse the Bush bungling of the last few years remains to be seen. But I have upped the chances of a McCain victory from 30/70 to 40/60. We eagerly await the coming polls and whether or not McCain can retain the momentum the he now has and that so quickly deserted the Obama campaign.
GOP Convention Bounce
We won’t know til saturday-sunday how much of a bounce McCain/Palin got, but Obama’s numbers from last week are dropping daily.
From RealClearPolitics.com
Gallup tracking - Obama +4 (that’s a 4 point drop from monday)
Rasmussen - Obama +2 (that’s also a 4 point drop from monday)
CBS News - Tie. (that’s a drop of 8 points from their poll the previous weekend)
What does this mean? Well, the numbers aren’t reflecting the convention yet and won’t for a few days so this is probably reaction to Palin, which is good news for McCain any way you cut it. Palin has weathered the initial storm and come out ahead.
UPDATE: Obama’s lead has shrunk further since the Beast looked this afternoon. The RCP average has him at +2.6. The next few days should be fascinating - here’s why:
Obama came into his convention in a dead heat. So any bounce he got in the polls would push him into plus territory. That’s the upside of having the first convention. The downside is that you don’t get to enjoy the full run of that bounce because the next convention is likely to blunt it. McCain’s Palin announcement the day after Obama’s acceptance speech is a classic example. What should have been Obama’s victory lap turned into a stumbling scramble a scant 12 hours later.
What we saw over the next several days was sort of a classic interference pattern. So many political stones were thrown into the data pool that the rings rippled into each other, making it all very hard to read.
McCain’s challenge as the second conventioneer stems from the fact that for him to get into plus territory he has to negate all of Obama’s bounce and then surpass it, just to pull ahead a few paltry points. However, unlike Obama he doesn’t have to worry about a competing convention to blunt his movement, so his bounce (assuming he gets one) can play out over a longer period of time. The Beast predicts +2 McCain in the RCP.Com poll average by wednesday next week.
The reason he’s the dragging this out to Wednesday is because weekend polls always overstate Dems strength but tend to settle out by mid or late week.
BTW - the CBS poll showing the race at dead even is not a tracking poll so the the Beast bets Rasmussen and Gallup will arrive at the same conclusion by Monday.
That is all.
Meghan McCain
I’ve been visiting Meghan McCains blog for the last couple of days and it is interesting to see the back stage and personal look into the lives of the families of McCain and Palin. Worth a vist.
Andrea Mitchell vs. Balloons
This had to be the funniest moment at either convention, even funnier than Giuliani making the sea of straight-laced conservative Republican delegates turn into the Apollo Theatre. I can’t embed video from MSNBC (Please, Dave? Can we add that?), but head over, it’s well worth your while.
Snark of the Day
You can’t help but admire the way John McCain refuses to exploit his wartime service for political gain.
Say what you mean…
The past few days I’ve watched and listened to all the GOP pundits circle the wagons around Palin. Roll the film please…
McCain’s second term? Open thread
Wess alluded in an earlier post to a “buzz” about John McCain only running for one presidential term. This question is mostly for the McCain supporters but I leave it open for whomever cares to comment. John McCain recently celebrated his 72nd birthday. With modern medicine being what it is that is not that old and the man obviously has all of his faculties fully intact however he will be 76 if and when he comes up for a 2nd term. Obviously a lot can happen in four years and for all we know he could very well be in great health come 2012.
So I open the floor to McCain supporters. Are you voting for a one term president or do you expect him to run in 2012? How much, if at all does the Palin nomination sway your opinion with regards to a second McCain term?
Sarah Palin’s speech at the RNC: September 3rd, 2008 - full text
Here is the prepared text of a speech given by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, as released by the party.
Checking up on old girlfriends (I’m really not a stalker)
I have been helping a tad with the my high school class of ‘89 reunion that will be taking place next year. We have been utilizing facebook to network and easily and without cost once again connect with one another. I have communicated with multiple people and old friends who I haven’t ‘talked’ with in twenty years or so. What a trip. I ended up being asked to be the classmates.com coordinator for the reunion and I contacted about two dozen “lost” classmates this evening. I was feeling a bit nostalgic tonight so I did a bit of “spying” on a few old girlfriends just to see how they turned out. This young lass was a firecracker but we didn’t last long at all. I was only in eighth grade and she was a freshman in high school at the time. We rarely saw each other. It was bound to fail though we always remained cordial and decent friends throughout the rest of our school years. She wore the best perfume and I remember the smell of it to this day. Her best friend was my seventh grade girlfriend and her and I have been back in touch for the last several of years.
Labor Day, York Beach Maine, 2008
A few pics from the big family cookout over at York. It was hosted by Beast-Uncle Larry and Aunt Connie to celebrate their 52nd wedding anniversary. They pulled a swiftie: insisted the family “bring nothing” then snuck out for 20 big lobsters! Told us this was going to be a “reverse anniversary” wherein they celebrate US.
The Beast Son Playing Bocce Ball
Will Obama call for it’s death?
Sarah Palin and her husband have just issued a written statement stating that their 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant. She plans to keep the baby and marry the father. Once wonders if Obama considers this a “punishment” for Bristol and believes that she should kill it and bury it in a landfill instead. Any guesses on how the netroots bottom feeders will attack Sarah and her daughter for this situation and for her carrying the baby to term?
John McCain’s newly named running mate confirmed the story after rumors circulated on the Internet that Palin’s 4-month-old son was actually her daughter Bristol’s child….
…We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us,” the Palins said in the statement. “Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.”
The Palins asked the media to respect their family’s privacy.
“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”
Give me that old time religion
If anyone has ever watched the 1941 film about the most highly decorated soldier of WWI, Seargent York, they will remember the powerful scene where York is converted and becomes a Christian as the pastor and the congregation sing “Give me that old time religion”. This is a rare and apparently just rediscovered rendition from a Professor Johnson and his Gospel Singers complete with a bit of good old time preaching. I really enjoyed it. This version reminds of the old “Negro spirituals” that have played such an important role in Christian worship in America.
Sarah Palin’s speech - full text 08-29-08
Governor Sarah Palin delivered the following remarks after John McCain announced that she was joining the ticket as the nominee for Vice President: (more…)
She should have gone with the red one
Or perhaps even the blue one…
Hillary’s pantsuit collection
Another anti-Obama email
The Left is famous for its ‘netroots’ and its grassroots supporters and its armies of wide eyed, college kid door knockers, but this election I have seen an enormous amount of person to person contact of the NOBAMA variety. People who rarely send me political stuff have sent me a variety of anti-Obama grassroots propoganda as well as some of those great and memorable pics of Obama in fun little African Muslim getups. This is just the latest example that I received today from an old roommate of mine who is now a member of the state patrol in my home state. You’ll have to excuse all the “>’s”, I don’t have a good email cleaner program.
DC Bartenders Reveal All
You mean the line “Hey, why don’t you come back to my place and check out my collection of Phillps Andover lacrosse pennants” doesn’t work?
DC Bartenders reveal their political secrets
Who’s a better tipper? Democrats 60 percent, Republicans 38 percent.
Who is more likely to order a drink straight up? Republicans 82 percent; Democrats 14 percent.
Who is more likely to order a fruity (pink) drink? Democrats 58 percent, Republicans 34 percent.
Who has the better pick-up lines? Democrats 74 percent, Republicans 14 percent.
Who is better at giving a toast? Democrats 63 percent, Republicans 36 percent.
Who is more likely to arrive first for happy hour? Republicans 50 percent, Democrats 48 percent.
Who is more likely to be the last to go home? Democrats 53 percent, Republicans 46 percent.
The survey of about 100 bartenders in the Washington area was commissioned by Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. (maker of Jim Beam bourbon, Canadian Club whisky and Courvoisier cognac, among others) in collaboration with Clarus Research Group.
PAUL WALSH
McCain’s Three (Two) Advisors
During the forum on Saturday, one of the questions that were AUTHORIZED to be known ahead of time was “Who are the three people you rely on for wise advice?”
John McCain named:
 General David Petraeus |
 Rep. John Lewis |
 Meg Whitman |
Fine choices all.
Though McCain must have gotten a little “confused”, since John Lewis says he has no idea why John McCain would have named him. “Sen. McCain and I are colleagues in the US Congress, not confidantes. He does not consult me. And I do not consult him.”
Wow, how odd. Why did John McCain name somebody that he doesn’t really know that well. Certainly there would have been other names that would have been appropriate. He consults with Lindsay Graham a lot. Joe Lieberman too. Maybe that’s what happened. Lieberman and Lewis DO sound kinda similar. Both named Joe.
It’s like an awesome mind puzzle, isn’t it? Why did John McCain name John Lewis, of all people, even though he doesn’t really know him very well and doesn’t actually ask him for advice? WHY, I ask you, WHY?!
The Nutjobs are coming! The Nutjobs are coming!
It appears that a good number of the bottom feeding, Marxist Left will be descending upon Denver this coming week. On Sunday, August 24th, there will be an End the Occupations/End the War March & Rally from 9am - 2pm from the West Steps of the State Capitol Building to the Pepsi Center.
Here is part of the official billing:
Sunday, August 24: End the Occupations/End the War March & Rally 9am - 2pm
West Steps of the State Capitol Building to the Pepsi Center
This is being billed as Denver’s largest anti-war, anti-illegal occupations march and rally.
Speakers (Alphabetical):
Ida Audeh - Palestinian Refugee
Kathleen Cleaver - Black Panthers
Ward Churchill - Long-time Author, Activist, and Scholar
Mark Cohen - Re-create 68 Alliance
Chairman Fred Hampton Jr. - Prisoners of Conscience Committee
Larry Hales - World Worker’s Party and Re-create 68 Alliance
Larry Holmes - Troops Out Now Coalition
Ron Kovic - anti-war activist, veteran and author of Born On The Fourth of July
Cynthia Mckinney - Green Party United States Presidential Candidate
Glenn Spagnuolo - Re-create 68 Alliance
Bands:
David Rovic - State Capitol Steps, kicking of the rally
M1 and Stic.man of Dead Prez - State Capitol Steps, prior to the march
Blue Scholars - Concert at State Capitol, after the march
Jim Page - State Capitol Steps, during the rally
Across the street there will be a simultaneous Rally for Victory Over Islamonazis by those more closely aligned with my ideological preferences.
The American Victory Coalition has a permit for a rally at Pioneer Monument Park in Denver on Sunday, Aug. 24th. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, will be there, as will Vets for Freedom.
Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)
Since it now Sunday morning I believe an updated hymn may be appropriate. This is the updated version of what is probably the most recognizable and moving song in all Christendom, Amazing Grace. We sang this for the first time last Sunday in church and I liked it well enough to post it. I do still like the “original” hymn version as well. I can’t make it through this song without a moist eye and a humbled heart.
You can compare it to the original here. This young lady has an amazing voice and does this song justice.
Battleground States Get Redder Not Bluer - Plus Special Bonus: “Loseur Au Deux!”
Take this within the context of Andrew Sullivan’s lament:
Since Obama’s hubris in Berlin, he has lost almost every cycle of this campaign, and lost all of them quite badly. I’m not sure his campaign gets how far they have sunk, and how ineffectual and passive Obama has seemed these past few weeks. The total capitulation to the Clintons at the convention is particularly lame
From Real Clear Politics.com:
A month ago these were all blue.
And how about this for desperation?
Funny, I thought the Borg were Swedish not Russian
Dave’s Quote of the Day
“Russia’s attack on neighboring Georgia over two tiny separatist provinces is really about something much bigger—Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s desire to restore the former USSR’s might. Russia’s ill intentions clearly are on display in Georgia. In a fit of nationalist fury, it wants to teach Georgia and other former satellite countries that once made up the Soviet Bloc that its pro-Western rapprochement days are over. What better way than to invade a former republic, humiliate its leaders and then taunt the West for failing to come to its aid? As if that wasn’t enough, Russia immediately began threatening its other neighbors. A top Russian diplomat ominously warned Monday that Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Poland would ‘pay’ for criticizing Russia’s ‘imperialist’ policy toward Georgia. Russia’s claim to support independence from Georgia of tiny South Ossetia and even tinier Abkhazia is simply phony. Georgia, with its strategically important oil pipeline, has grown close to the U.S. —even sending troops to Iraq. Putin, furious at growing U.S. and NATO ties with Eastern Europe, wanted to emasculate Georgia’s military while deposing its pro-American President Mikheil Saakashvili. With his attack, it looks like he’s succeeding. The symbolism of the invasion, coming at the start of the Beijing Olympics, is unmistakable. This is Russia’s wake-up call to all of us. Communism may be dead, Putin is saying, but Russia isn’t.”
—Investor’s Business Daily via Patriotpost.com
Welcome Back to the 19th Century
What Putin wants, Putin may get
Apologists for Russia can point to lots of mitigating circumstances, starting with the biggest one of Christmas Day 1991, when the hammer-and-sickle flag over the Kremlin went down for the last time, and up went the Russian tricolor. Poof, and a whole empire from the Baltic to Kazakhstan was suddenly gone. Yes, that chilled the Russian soul, and so did Georgia’s love affair with the United States. How dare Georgia, the birthplace of Stalin, sidle up to the EU and NATO?
In the greater scheme of things, though, Georgia’s geopolitical crimes pale against a simple historical truth: 8/8 is payback for 12/25, when the Soviet Empire expired.
That, as Mr. Putin has told us, was the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” and ever since he was anointed neo-czar in 2000, he has been working hard, and as time went by ever more ham-handedly, to reverse the verdict of the Cold War — to regain what Russia had lost.
Well worth the read. Putin has finally decided to ‘tip his hand’ and throw down the gauntlet to NATO, Europe, and all the former Soviet Republics that managed to break free from Russian tyranny. Russia had a brief window of opportunity to grasp onto the concept of representative government and free markets. Instead, it is a land of rampant corruption governed by the KGB goons that were the source of so much misery under the old Soviet system
The Russian-Georgian War: A Challenge for the U.S. and the World
A definite “wise man speaketh” type column by Ariel Cohen, Ph.D. A must read for those who like to know why and understand what is happening around them.
As the Olympic Games opened, the tragic and ominous conflict between Georgia and Russia erupted as well. On Thursday of last week, South Ossetian separatists, supported by Moscow, escalated their machine gun and mortar fire attacks against neighboring Georgian villages. This past Thursday and Friday, Georgia attacked the separatist capital Tskhinvali with artillery to suppress fire. Tskhinvali suffered severe damage, thus providing the pretext for Moscow’s long-planned invasion of Georgia….
…
Russia’s goals for the war with Georgia are far-reaching and include:
- Expulsion of Georgian troops and termination of Georgian sovereignty in South Ossetia and Abkhazia;
- “Regime change” by bringing down President Mikheil Saakashvili and installing a more pro-Russian leadership in Tbilisi;
- Preventing Georgia from joining NATO and sending a strong message to Ukraine that its insistence on NATO membership may lead to war and/or its dismemberment;
- Shifting control of the Caucasus, and especially over strategic energy pipelines, by controlling Georgia; and
- Recreating a 19th-century-style sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union, by the use of force if necessary.
Edwards Scandal From The Priceless Howie Carr’s Perspective.
If you’re reading this with a beverage, please please do your keyboard a favor and set it down.
Ladies and Gentlemen, self-described muckraker and columnist for the Boston Herald, Howie Carr:
John Edwards scandal too much even for a moonbat
By Howie Carr
Sunday, August 10, 2008Now will you moonbats finally peel the Kerry-Edwards bumper stickers off your rusting Volvos and Saabs?
I’ve been telling you people for almost four years now how foolish you look, refusing to scrape off the reminders of yet another doomed Democrat ticket. This ongoing refusal to face reality has lasted longer than the Gore-Lieberman tantrum of 2000, which by 2002 had led GOP wags to festoon their SUVs with almost identical Sore-Loserman bumper stickers.
But after Friday, how can even a Prozac-swallowing moonbat’s moonbat continue to endure the snickers that a Kerry-Edwards bumper sticker cw0produces everywhere, including on Mass. Ave. in Cambridge?
Consider ex-Sen. Edwards’ smarmy confession. He’s guilty, he admits, but before sentencing, Your Honor, Sen. Edwards would like to make the court aware of a few extenuating circumstances.
He met the woman, who by the way changed both her first and last names and used to date a novelist whose only readable book was about cocaine, at a bar.
A bar in New York City.
He never really loved her. So somebody else must have knocked her up.
And although my client stipulates that his wife does indeed have cancer, it was in remission, Your Honor, when he started tagging the woman he didn’t love whom he met in a bar in New York City.
Yes, he did visit her early in the morning in a hotel in Beverly Hills, and he did run away from the National Enquirer reporters, and he has been lying about the whole tawdry third-rate romance low-rent rendezvous for almost a year now, but actually he’d like the record to reflect that overall he has been “99 percent honest.”
In other words, you can trust Sen. Edwards. He’s not like the others.
The Case Of The Six Severed Feet - None Were Wearing Crocs!
Last year two severed size-12 right feet washed ashore on Gabriola and Jedediah islands in British Columbia. The feet were still in their running shoes. A third foot was found on the beach in February on Valdez Island. Police were mystified.
In late may Another right foot wearing a sock and sneaker was discovered washed ashore near Vancouver. It was wearing a sock and a running shoe.
This past weekend a shoe with a human foot inside it washed up on a beach near Port Angeles, WA.
The shoe is an Everest brand, size 11. The sock is a Levi’s brand tube sock.
The sixth foot turned up Wednesday — a right foot in a man’s size 10 black Adidas athletic shoe, police said. As in the previous cases, however, immediate answers as to the foot’s origin eluded detectives.
Investigators are hoping that releasing the photo will yield some clues into the deepening mystery of now six severed feet to wash ashore across southwestern British Columbia and now Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
Conservative Hollywood Redux
Well, it seems that there is a NEW new voice for conservativism in Hollywood: David Zucker. That’s right, the man behind the stellar films Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, Police Squad, Naked Gun, Naked Gun 2 1/2, Naked Gun 33 1/3… Baseketball… Scary Movie 3… Scary Movie 4… OK, maybe the last 15 years haven’t been so great, but he’s still got it, right?
The set jumps to life. Two young men–both terrorists–enter the station. They are surprised to see a security checkpoint manned by two NYPD officers. “I’ll need to see your bag, please,” says one of the officers. The lead terrorist glances nervously at his friend and swings his backpack down from his shoulder to present it to the cops. Just as the officer pulls on the zipper, however, a small army of ACLU lawyers marches up to the policemen with a stop-search order. The cops look at each other and shrug their shoulders. “This says we can’t search their bags.”
The young men are relieved. They smile fiendishly as they walk toward the crowded platform. As the lead terrorist once again slips the backpack over his shoulder, he mutters his appreciation.
“Thank Allah for the ACLU.”
Conservative humor is alive and well. This is satire worthy of Mark Twain, I tell you!
The holiday in An American Carol is not Christmas and the antagonist is not Ebenezer Scrooge. Instead, the film follows the exploits of a slovenly, anti-American filmmaker named Michael Malone, who has joined with a left-wing activist group (Moovealong.org) to ban the Fourth of July. Along the way, Malone is visited by the ghosts of three American heroes–George Washington, George S. Patton, and John F. Kennedy–who try to convince him he’s got it all wrong. When terrorists from Afghanistan realize that they need to recruit more operatives to make up for the ever-diminishing supply of suicide bombers, they begin a search for just the right person to help produce a new propaganda video. “This will not be hard to find in Hollywood,” says one. “They all hate America.”
….
Zucker had originally hoped to cast Dan Whitney (aka Larry the Cable Guy) as Malone, but a timing conflict kept him from getting it done. After briefly considering Frank Caliendo, a fellow Wisconsinite, a colleague passed him a reel from Kevin Farley, the younger brother of the late Chris Farley, and Zucker, who recalled seeing Kevin Farley in an episode of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm, was interested.
Yeah… this will suck and suck HARD. You know you’re in trouble when Larry the Cable Guy decides to pass and you wind up with the second-rate family member of a second-rate John Belushi. I’m surprised to hear that Dennis Hopper and James Woods are on board, less so by Jon Voight. Even less by Kelsey Grammer. His last foray into the world of sketch comedy wasnt exactly his finest hour.
Behold, a Child is born!
In the London Times, Gerard Baker writes a satirical report of Obama’s European tour, further mocking the Obama press coverage. Well worth a read.
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
1st Nevada & First Heritage= FAIL
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.
On Teachers and Their Improprieties
Some time ago, I wrote a post concerning some allegations of “sexual assault” involving a high school teacher and his 17-year old student. In the ensuing comments, the case of Kevin Ponis was raised. Someone named Bradley claims to have known Mr. Ponis when they were in high school, and added some comments on the issue. Kevin’s sister and I responded, Bradley fired back and got support from Dr. Pat, who apparently has a PhD, and the battle has been joined.
Where to begin?
First, some pertinent facts regarding the Ponis case: The accuser was a 17-year old who had relentlessly pursued Ponis. At the time they eventually had a relationship, she had already graduated from high school. The relationship was not only consensual, but by all accounts was mutually beneficial … UNTIL Ponis met another woman whom he was going to marry. Enveloped in a fit of fury and unable to derail Ponis’ marriage, the accuser then lashed out at the man who scorned her.
Bradley makes the statement that most demonstrates the disconnect on this issue:
Has Kevin, or have any of you, ever given a moment’s thought to the damage he caused to those girls’ lives?
She was a highly sexually active college woman who successfully seduced a man. The notion that he somehow caused damage to her life is outlandish in the extreme!
It is the most comfortable and intellectually lazy position to blithley condemn such a man to life in prison. It is the position that your wife wants to hear, that your church wants to read, the one that reassures your students and their parents. It is the lazy-man’s position.
I am asking our esteemed contributors to demand more from their brains and their hearts than merely the predictable, textbook response. The reality is this: Because Kevin Ponis slept with a college freshman, he lost his career, he lost his family, and he lost his reputation forever. But for Bradley and Dr. Pat, that’s not enough. Not nearly enough. For these men, they actually advocate — apparently with a clear conscience — that the penalty for succuming to a college woman’s advances should also include life in prison.
They are smug in asserting that this is the moral position to take. I contend that it is profoundly depraved. Bradley and Dr. Pat sincerely believe that they are bathed in goodness and righteousness, I assert that they are unknowingly promoting a malevolent abuse of power.
Please, gentlemen, give more serious thought to this than you have offered so far.
Only sheep will accept socialism
It is my job to make the sheep think, and therefore not be sheep anymore….
A fun Obama video
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John Edwards Caught With Mistress and Love Child!
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 Top Ten Reasons Obama Should Not be President
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.
Tony Snow: Dead at age 53
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.
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?
IndyMac=Fail
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.
Alice Cooper’s America
Most everybody knows that the incomparable Alice Cooper has gone from outlandish shock jock to suburban family man. And with his radio show, Nights With Alice Cooper, he has become a well known wit, kind of a 21st century Will Rogers, only with goth makeup and a big snake.
What some people may not know about Alice is that he’s a scratch golfer, a baseball fanatic (and life-long Tigers fan), a Republican, a supporter and friend of John McCain, and a born again Christian.
Here, for your Independence Day enjoyment, is Alice Cooper’s “I Love America.”
Happy Birthday America!
“It ought to be commemorated as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Day’s Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.”
- John Adams, in a letter to his wife on July 3, 1776
As we celebrate and commemorate the birthday of the United States of America it is my honor to defer to a man both wiser and more eloquent than myself to express the proper sentiments for this country on this day. We are still a beacon of hope; a generous and strong people who abide in that city on the hill showing the world that there is a better way. Much of the world’s population still lives under the iron fist of fear, totalitarianism, oppression and terror where the right to worship God or to openly express one’s thoughts and feelings is forbidden and often results in severe persecution.
Liberty and Justice still exist in this great nation of ours, and I for one am proud to call myself a free citizen of this country. It is worth fighting for and the principles it has stood for over the last 200 plus years have changed the world, liberated hundreds of millions from the boot of tyranny, and created unrivalled opportunity and hope for countless people. We may take it for granted the rest of the year, but on this day it is important to stop and reflect on how blessed we are to be Americans. Every July 4th I take the time to thank God for my country and having had the privilege of being born an American.
It is an honor that I do not take lightly and every day I do what small part I can to make her a better place to raise my children and improve the lives of my fellow citizen. I am proud to say I am an American on this day and sincerely hope that the generations of free and proud Americans that follow me that will share that same feeling. God bless America, and may America bless God.
“And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and gentile, we are one nation under God; that black and white, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.”
— President Ronald Reagan
Aboard U.S.S. John F. Kennedy (CV-67)
New York Harbor July 4, 1986
Random Youtube Video of the Day
A Christian themed presentation that is remarkably unique and innovative. As for the message; Amen, which means “so be it”.
The Perfect Gift
by Hugh HewittIn a stunningly short time, Barack Obama has gone from complete unknown to presidential front-runner – largely by capturing the imagination of America’s young people. Never before in the history of the country has the youth vote become such a critical factor in deciding a national election.
But author and radio host Hugh Hewitt argues that young Americans are being misled by Obama; underneath his veneer of exceptional rhetoric and youthful hipness lies a conventional liberal who is moreover thoroughly unqualified to be President of the United States.
In a time of intense crises at home and abroad, Hewitt argues, we can ill-afford a president who lacks experience in either foreign or economic policy, and frequently demonstrates a shocking naiveté about the threats we face.
In a heartfelt appeal directed to America’s young people, as well as to their parents, Hewitt pulls back the curtain on Obama, making clear what an Obama Administration would really mean in practice. Buy it for the young Obamaniac in your family!
Dave’s Quote of the Day
“Even if you agree with their bottom line, do Justice Kennedy and the justices in Kennedy v. Louisiana have a clue about how offensive it is to write this line in rationalizing why a man who has savagely raped his eight-year-old step-daughter should not be executed by the humane process of lethal objection: ‘Evolving standards of decency must embrace and express respect for the dignity of the person’… And as for their ‘proportional’ punishment argue, I think it’s silly on its face—read the almost unreadable (because it’s so excruciating) account of the rape and ask yourself whether it is really ‘disproportionate’ to administer lethal-objection execution to a man who committed this type of barbaric a sexual assault on a child. But let’s give him that one for argument’s sake. The Eighth Amendment talks about punishment that is cruel. First, punishment does not become cruel just because it’s disproportionate. And second, are we really striving here for proportionality? If a crime is cruel—as it clearly was in this case—wouldn’t a proportionate punishment also have to be cruel, and thus in violation of the Eighth Amendment?”
Our own little baby boom
In an attempt to repopulate the country with brilliant good looking people such as myself my family has undertaken a successful campaign to multiply en masse. Above is my beautiful new niece Emma who is one of 4 new babies my family has been blessed with in the last month and a half. Both of my brother’s wives, one cousin and one cousin’s wife managed to get pregnant within a remarkably short period of time last year and yours truly was deathly afraid to drink the water at Christmas dinner for fear that this thing was contagious. Unfortunately I do not yet have digital photos of Aris, Vivianna, and Sophie but I am sure there are many to come. Sidenote: I need to get a scanner one of these days.
All are healthy and happy and I feel like God is smiling down upon us right now. Life is indeed a sweet sweet gift and we all get reminded of that every now and then. As for me you haven’t been able to wipe the smile off of my face for months.
Dave’s Quote of the Day
“No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms.”
—Thomas Jefferson
Constitutionality of light bulb ban questioned
Congressman doubts China imports answer to U.S. energy crisis
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, says his objection is very basic – the Constitution doesn’t authorize Congress to do anything remotely like banning a product that has been used safely and efficiently for more than 100 years in favor of Chinese-imported compact fluorescent light bulbs that pose considerable health and safety risks.
Poe cited the dangers associated with CFLs, which carry small amounts of mercury that can enter the environment through breakage and disposal. He also objected to reliance on the CFL alternatives when, currently, all are made in China.
Personally….
Liberal Humor - George Carlin (1937-2008)
I remember when I was in junior high/high school, I was really into new comedy records like Chris Rock and Adam Sandler. Don’t know how many times I played those. Then I started looking further into it, and Carlin wasn’t far along. Gotta say that he had an influence on me, and it’s hard not to. Very few people have done a better job of pointing out the absurdities of life. Dozens of similar comedians came along that tried to do the kind of social commentary he did, and they all couldn’t hold a candle to him. It really says something when a comic can still keep fresh and insightful social commentary over the course of over 30 years.
RIP, George. Hope you still manage to find a good seat. Here’s one of my favorite bits that showed how i