The Vail Spot

Buycott Israel

2012-01-30T06:30:00.001-05:00

IsraellyCool has come up with a great Buycott poster highlighting companies which do business with Israel and which deserve our support.

Please support those companies who support Isreal...after all, Israel is the ONLY functioning democracy in the middle east. Additionally, they are the only ally we have who supports America in the region.

Newt Against The Media

2012-01-22T21:58:00.002-05:00

The MSM is against conservatives in a visceral fashion...here's a great example...

The MSM has a hatred of conservatives...and will do what ever than can to ensure that their preferred GOP candidate, Mitt Romney, wins the GOP primaries...but...Newt has the balls to fight back. I"m not a very big fan of his, but he has the stones to kick the media in the teeth. That's why he won the South Carolina primary.

via Newsalert.com

Media Bias: Duh!

2012-01-22T21:23:00.001-05:00

Via Lucianne.com

2012-01-22T18:42:00.003-05:00

Here's why Mr. Romney will not be the next president of the United States...

He's NOT electible. Despite the media's and GOP establishment's desires, he can't poll above 25%. The "base" of the GOP just doesn't trust him.

Via 1389 blog.

Why Newt Won South Carolina

2012-01-22T11:29:00.000-05:00

All the "elite" pundits and columnists can't really explain why Newt won yesterday's GOP South Carolina primary. What it comes down to is simply this:

Here's another reason why Newt got the roars,

And where did the crowd roar? They roared when some premise of liberalism or some particular liberal was taken apart. No Republican on Republican crime was rewarded. Even Mitt, no favorite of the red meat crowd, got his loudest moments when he finally decided to support capitalism with some fervor. Newt of course got the big reaction over the week by attacking liberal members of the media who were either attacking conservative beliefs on the whole (Juan Williams and the race card) or protecting Obama by attacking Republicans' personal lives (John King)].[Ed, emphasis is mine]

Republicans and conservatives are tired of being labeled as stupid, racist bigots by the heavily biased media and hypocritical Liberals. That's why Newt won. He's the only candidate who knows who the "enemy" is and is willing to attack them head on. That's why his compaign keeps rising from the dead...because, paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, "...we can't spare this man, he fights..."
But more importantly, Newt won because while he was campaigning, he talked to the voters on substance, not the empty platitudes that Romney and the rest used. Additionally, Newt was smart enough to use the anger to the GOP "elites" that Romney embodies, and

Gingrich's success here in South Carolina shows more than just a skepticism toward establishment Republicanism. It also shows a hunger for real substance in the campaign, for a candidate who will talk to voters and give them more than phrases like "I believe in America." Mitt Romney's team of seasoned campaign professionals may not think Newt Gingrich has any business playing a deciding role in the race. But they better believe it, and they better take seriously what the Gingrich challenge represents -- before it's too late.

Something none of the other candidates have picked up on. If 60% of the electorate, in the Republican party are picking "Not Romney" you'd think the GOP Establishmen would stop trying to ram the son of a bitch down our throats. After all, except for a bried 4 day period, Romney hasn't polled above 25% for SIX LONG YEARS!!!!!

Why I hate BLogger...

2012-01-22T09:42:00.000-05:00

Why do I hate blogger? This week it won't let me update my blog roll. I can't understand why...but the past couple of days, when I'm trying to update-add, it won't allow it. I've been trying to add this blog {http://monoblogue.us/} to my list, but the FUBAR system that is blogger, won't let me.

2012-01-21T10:31:00.000-05:00

The following comes from Hillsdalle College's Imprimis news letter. I don't often repost whole articles by other writers, unless they submit it to me and request that I post it. In this case, the author makes points far better than I.
_____________________________________________________

January 2012

Charles Murray
American Enterprise Institute

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Do We Need the Department of Education?

Charles Murray is the W.H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He received his B.A. in history at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written for numerous newspapers and journals, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Weekly Standard, Commentary, and National Review. His books include Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950-1980, What It Means to Be a Libertarian, and Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality. His new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010, will be published at the end of January.The following is adapted from a speech delivered in Atlanta, Georgia, on October 28, 2011, at a conference on “Markets, Government, and the Common Good,” sponsored by Hillsdale College’s Center for the Study of Monetary Systems and Free Enterprise.

THE CASE FOR the Department of Education could rest on one or more of three legs: its constitutional appropriateness, the existence of serious problems in education that could be solved only at the federal level, and/or its track record since it came into being. Let us consider these in order.

(1) Is the Department of Education constitutional?

At the time the Constitution was written, education was not even considered a function of local government, let alone the federal government. But the shakiness of the Department of Education’s constitutionality goes beyond that. Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution enumerates the things over which Congress has the power to legislate. Not only does the list not include education, there is no plausible rationale for squeezing education in under the commerce clause. I’m sure the Supreme Court found a rationale, but it cannot have been plausible.

On a more philosophical level, the framers of America’s limited government had a broad allegiance to what Catholics call the principle of subsidiarity. In the secular world, the principle of subsidiarity means that local government should do only those things that individuals cannot do for themselves, state government should do only those things that local governments cannot do, and the federal government should do only those things that the individual states cannot do. Education is something that individuals acting alone and cooperatively can do, let alone something local or state governments can do.

I should be explicit about my own animus in this regard. I don’t think the Department of Education is constitutionally legitimate, let alone appropriate. I would favor abolishing it even if, on a pragmatic level, it had improved American education. But I am in a small minority on that point, so let’s move on to the pragmatic questions.

(2) Are there serious problems in education that can be solved only at the federal level?

The first major federal spending on education was triggered by the launch of the first space satellite, Sputnik, in the fall of 1957, which created a perception that the United States had fallen behind the Soviet Union in science and technology. The legislation was specifically designed to encourage more students to go into math and science, and its motivation is indicated by its title: The National Defense Education Act of 1958. But what really ensnared the federal government in education in the 1960s had its origins elsewhere—in civil rights. The Supreme Court declared segregation of the schools unconstitutional in 1954, but—notwithstanding a few highly publicized episodes such as the integration of Central High School in Little Rock and James Meredith’s admission to the University of Mississippi—the pace of change in the next decade was glacial.

Was it necessary for the federal government to act? There is a strong argument for “yes,” especially in the case of K-12 education. Southern resistance to desegregation proved to be both stubborn and effective in the years following Brown v. Board of Education. Segregation of the schools had been declared unconstitutional, and constitutional rights were being violated on a massive scale. But the question at hand is whether we need a Department of Education now, and we have seen a typical evolution of policy. What could have been justified as a one-time, forceful effort to end violations of constitutional rights, lasting until the constitutional wrongs had been righted, was transmuted into a permanent government establishment. Subsequently, this establishment became more and more deeply involved in American education for purposes that have nothing to do with constitutional rights, but instead with a broader goal of improving education.

The reason this came about is also intimately related to the civil rights movement. Over the same years that school segregation became a national issue, the disparities between black and white educational attainment and test scores came to public attention. When the push for President Johnson’s Great Society programs began in the mid-1960s, it was inevitable that the federal government would attempt to reduce black-white disparities, and it did so in 1965 with the passage of two landmark bills—the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and the Higher Education Act. The Department of Education didn’t come into being until 1980, but large-scale involvement of the federal government in education dates from 1965.

(3) So what is the federal government’s track record in education?

The most obvious way to look at the track record is the long-term trend data of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Consider, for instance, the results for the math test for students in fourth, eighth and twelfth grades from 1978 through 2004. The good news is that the scores for fourth graders showed significant improvement in both reading and math—although those gains diminished slightly as the children got older. The bad news is that the baseline year of 1978 represents the nadir of the test score decline from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. Probably we are today about where we were in math achievement in the 1960s. For reading, the story is even bleaker. The small gains among fourth graders diminish by eighth grade and vanish by the twelfth grade. And once again, the baseline tests in the 1970s represent a nadir.

From 1942 through the 1990s, the state of Iowa administered a consistent and comprehensive test to all of its public school students in grade school, middle school, and high school—making it, to my knowledge, the only state in the union to have good longitudinal data that go back that far. The Iowa Test of Basic Skills offers not a sample, but an entire state population of students. What can we learn from a single state? Not much, if we are mainly interested in the education of minorities—Iowa from 1942 through 1970 was 97 percent white, and even in the 2010 census was 91 percent white. But, paradoxically, that racial homogeneity is also an advantage, because it sidesteps all the complications associated with changing ethnic populations.

Since retention through high school has changed greatly over the last 70 years, I will consider here only the data for ninth graders. What the data show is that when the federal government decided to get involved on a large scale in K-12 education in 1965, Iowa’s education had been improving substantially since the first test was administered in 1942. There is reason to think that the same thing had been happening throughout the country. As I documented in my book, Real Education, collateral data from other sources are not as detailed, nor do they go back to the 1940s, but they tell a consistent story. American education had been improving since World War II. Then, when the federal government began to get involved, it got worse.

I will not try to make the case that federal involvement caused the downturn. The effort that went into programs associated with the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 in the early years was not enough to have changed American education, and the more likely causes for the downturn are the spirit of the 1960s—do your own thing—and the rise of progressive education to dominance over American public education. But this much can certainly be said: The overall data on the performance of American K-12 students give no reason to think that federal involvement, which took the form of the Department of Education after 1979, has been an engine of improvement.

What about the education of the disadvantaged, especially minorities? After all, this was arguably the main reason that the federal government began to get involved in education—to reduce the achievement gap separating poor children and rich children, and especially the gap separating poor black children and the rest of the country.

The most famous part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was Title I, initially authorizing more than a billion dollars annually (equivalent to more than $7 billion today) to upgrade the schools attended by children from low-income families. The program has continued to grow ever since, disposing of about $19 billion in 2010 (No Child Left Behind has also been part of Title I).

Supporters of Title I confidently expected to see progress, and so formal evaluation of Title I was built into the legislation from the beginning. Over the years, the evaluations became progressively more ambitious and more methodologically sophisticated. But while the evaluations have improved, the story they tell has not changed. Despite being conducted by people who wished the program well, no evaluation of Title I from the 1970s onward has found credible evidence of a significant positive impact on student achievement. If one steps back from the formal evaluations and looks at the NAEP test score gap between high-poverty schools (the ones that qualify for Title I support) and low-poverty schools, the implications are worse. A study by the Department of Education published in 2001 revealed that the gap grew rather than diminished from 1986—the earliest year such comparisons have been made—through 1999.

That brings us to No Child Left Behind. Have you noticed that no one talks about No Child Left Behind any more? The explanation is that its one-time advocates are no longer willing to defend it. The nearly-flat NAEP trendlines since 2002 make that much-ballyhooed legislative mandate—a mandate to bring all children to proficiency in math and reading by 2014—too embarrassing to mention.

In summary: the long, intrusive, expensive role of the federal government in K-12 education does not have any credible evidence for a positive effect on American education.

* * *

I have chosen to focus on K-12 because everyone agrees that K-12 education leaves much to be desired in this country and that it is reasonable to hold the government’s feet to the fire when there is no evidence that K-12 education has improved. When we turn to post-secondary education, there is much less agreement on first principles.

The bachelor of arts degree as it has evolved over the last half-century has become the work of the devil. It is now a substantively meaningless piece of paper—genuinely meaningless, if you don’t know where the degree was obtained and what courses were taken. It is expensive, too, as documented by the College Board: Public four-year colleges average about $7,000 per year in tuition, not including transportation, housing, and food. Tuition at the average private four-year college is more than $27,000 per year. And yet the B.A. has become the minimum requirement for getting a job interview for millions of jobs, a cost-free way for employers to screen for a certain amount of IQ and perseverance. Employers seldom even bother to check grades or courses, being able to tell enough about a graduate just by knowing the institution that he or she got into as an 18-year-old.

So what happens when a paper credential is essential for securing a job interview, but that credential can be obtained by taking the easiest courses and doing the minimum amount of work? The result is hundreds of thousands of college students who go to college not to get an education, but to get a piece of paper. When the dean of one East Coast college is asked how many students are in his institution, he likes to answer, “Oh, maybe six or seven.” The situation at his college is not unusual. The degradation of American college education is not a matter of a few parents horrified at stories of silly courses, trivial study requirements, and campus binge drinking. It has been documented in detail, affects a large proportion of the students in colleges, and is a disgrace.

The Department of Education, with decades of student loans and scholarships for university education, has not just been complicit in this evolution of the B.A. It has been its enabler. The size of these programs is immense. In 2010, the federal government issued new loans totaling $125 billion. It handed out more than eight million Pell Grants totaling more than $32 billion dollars. Absent this level of intervention, the last three decades would have seen a much healthier evolution of post-secondary education that focused on concrete job credentials and courses of studies not constricted by the traditional model of the four-year residential college. The absence of this artificial subsidy would also have let market forces hold down costs. Defenders of the Department of Education can unquestionably make the case that its policies have increased the number of people going to four-year residential colleges. But I view that as part of the Department of Education’s indictment, not its defense.

* * *

What other case might be made for federal involvement in education? Its contributions to good educational practice? Think of the good things that have happened to education in the last 30 years—the growth of homeschooling and the invention and spread of charter schools. The Department of Education had nothing to do with either development. Both happened because of the initiatives taken by parents who were disgusted with standard public education and took matters into their own hands. To watch the process by which charter schools are created, against the resistance of school boards and administrators, is to watch the best of American traditions in operation. Government has had nothing to do with it, except as a drag on what citizens are trying to do for their children.

Think of the best books on educational practice, such as Howard Gardner’s many innovative writings and E.D. Hirsch’s Core Knowledge Curriculum, developed after his landmark book, Cultural Literacy, was published in 1987. None of this came out of the Department of Education. The Department of Education spends about $200 million a year on research intended to improve educational practice. No evidence exists that these expenditures have done any significant good.

As far as I can determine, the Department of Education has no track record of positive accomplishment—nothing in the national numbers on educational achievement, nothing in the improvement of educational outcomes for the disadvantaged, nothing in the advancement of educational practice. It just spends a lot of money. This brings us to the practical question: If the Department of Education disappeared from next year’s budget, would anyone notice? The only reason that anyone would notice is the money. The nation’s public schools have developed a dependence on the federal infusion of funds. As a practical matter, actually doing away with the Department of Education would involve creating block grants so that school district budgets throughout the nation wouldn’t crater.

Sadly, even that isn’t practical. The education lobby will prevent any serious inroads on the Department of Education for the foreseeable future. But the answer to the question posed in the title of this talk—“Do we need the Department of Education?”—is to me unambiguous: No.

Copyright © 2012 Hillsdale College. The opinions expressed in Imprimis are not necessarily the views of Hillsdale College. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided the following credit line is used: “Reprinted by permission from Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College.” SUBSCRIPTION FREE UPON REQUEST. ISSN 0277-8432. Imprimis trademark registered in U.S. Patent and Trade Office #1563325.

33 East College St. Hillsdale, MI 49242

• Tel: +1 517 437-7341 • Fax: +1 517 437-3923

"Dutch" Ruppersberger, MD-2 (D)

2012-01-18T19:06:00.000-05:00

I just tried to contact my Congressman, C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger. According to the Baltimore Country, Maryland supervisor of elections, I'm in his district. You can tell he's a Democrat because he's set up his website to refuse any and all zip codes. I tried several times to enter various zip codes + 4's, to send him an email...protesting his support of SOPA, but couldnt' get through. When I called his office to voice my objections...I got voice mail. Feel free to call this elected scoundrel, who hides from his constiuents at any of the numbers below. I plan to do so all day long tomorrow.

Washington, DC
2453 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2002
Phone: 202-225-3061
800-877-8339 (voice/TTY)
Fax: 202-225-3094

Timonium, MD
The Atrium
375 West Padonia Road, Suite 200
Timonium, MD 21093
Phone: 410-628-2701
800-877-8339 (voice/TTY)
Fax: 410-628-2708

DC Staff List:
Tara Linnehan Oursler Chief of Staff
Cori Duggins Deputy Chief of Staff
Ann Jacobs Legislative Director
Walter Gonzales Senior Policy Advisor
Deborah Haynie Director of Special Projects
Jaime Lennon Press Secretary
Lauren Gring Military Legislative Assistant
Justin Brower Legislative Correspondent

District Office Staff:
Tara Linnehan Oursler Chief of Staff
Cori Duggins Deputy Chief of Staff
Jennifer Riggs District Director
Carol Merkel Scheduler
Michael Baker Outreach Director
Lynn Yates Constituent Liaison
Walker Coale Constituent Liaison
Jessica Facini Constituent Liaison
Danielle Akwara Constituent Liaison/Staff Assistant

Blogger Assistance Needed...

2012-01-17T18:59:00.000-05:00

Zilla of the Resistance needs help. I hope that you can help her. Having been on the receiving end of someone else's generosity, I hope that you, out there in the interwebs, will hit her tip jar as hard as you can.

Newt Gingrich: Working Isn't Racist

2012-01-17T06:38:00.000-05:00

Slam dunk: via LegalInsurrection & Instapundit

DNC Chair Blames Tucson Shooting On Tea Party

2012-01-12T12:43:00.001-05:00
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), whom I'm ashamed to admit is Jewish (as am I) blames the Tea Party for the Tucson shootings last year.
“We need to make sure that we tone things down, particularly in light of the Tucson tragedy from a year ago, where my very good friend, Gabby Giffords — who is doing really well, by the way, — [was shot],” Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair said during a “Politics and Eggs” forum this morning. “The discourse in America, the discourse in Congress in particular . . . has really changed, I’ll tell you. I hesitate to place blame, but I have noticed it take a very precipitous turn towards edginess and lack of civility with the growth of the Tea Party movement.”
Video here:

Ms. W-S, has forgotten a very basic fact of the Tucson shootings...Mr. Lougher was a DEMOCRAT!!!!!!! How often in the OWS "encampments" were there rapes, assaults and murders? Dozens? How many assaults, murders and rapes were there at Tea Party gatherings? The only assaults came from union thugs assaulting Tea Partiers...Debbie, wake up and stop being stupid.

A very good friend of mine, JP Bender knows this woman, and has said in the past she's "dumber than dog shit". Actually, he said much,much worse, but I figured that wouldn't offend as many people. He was working on a lengthy story, when he became very ill, not too long ago, and couldn't finish it. I hope that sometime, in the near future, I can finish it for him.

Yard Sign...

2012-01-11T18:58:00.002-05:00

Social Justice, Explained

2012-01-10T23:41:00.000-05:00
Here, via SmallDeadAnimals & Instapundit is a great video that explains what "Social Justice" really is:

Tax Plan Comparison of the 2012 Presidential Candidates

2012-01-10T23:06:00.000-05:00
Via YidWithALid is a great graphic comparing the tax plans of all of the 2012 presidential candidates.

The Newt vs The One...

2012-01-09T06:19:00.005-05:00
While many of those who read this blog know, I'm not a big supporter of Newt Gingrich, because of some of his actions in the past, I do greatly admire that thus far, he's not participated in much of the GOP candidate bashing that some of the other Republican candidates have. I do admire him for that. He has kept in mind that the real opponent is the man who currently occupies the office of the Presidency...so, a reader who doess supports Mr. Gingrich has taken the time to gather some information on him and sent it to me...though she asks for annonyminity, I'll publish her information here with her name...
I saw your comment at DaTechGuy's blog, brought there in an Instalanche.
At first, I , too, thought that there was no one in the Republican field whom I could support. I have spent the last year or so watching Newt's speeches. I now support Newt, and I actually will be voting FOR him, enthusiastically, and not just against Obama, if Newt is the nominee in the general election.
Each of us must make up our own mind. I hope it's ok that I'm taking the liberty of sending you the links below to speeches by Newt. It took me ages to find all these speeches, wading through YouTube. So I want you to have them in one convenient place, in case you are interested. I offer these links to you in case you would like to know what there is to support about Newt.
I have been a student of Quality Improvement for many years, and I love the idea of applying Lean Six Sigma methods to create continuous improvement in government. I think Newt is right when he says that we have turned the economy around twice before, with Reagan and in 1994, and it is actually not that hard to do -- lower taxes to the "sweet spot" on the Laffer curve, simplify regulations and make them fair, make government use common sense and quite scaring our business owners half to death, and also praising people who display the work ethic and actually create jobs! I also agree that we need to enforce the 10th Amendment and send power back to local communities. I also agree with re-balancing the power among the three CO-EQUAL branches of government, and reining in the courts when they make rulings like, it's unconstitutional to say "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. I also agree that we should have an Environmental Solutions agency to replace the EPA, which most recently has been promulgating rules against dust on Iowa farms and in Arizona, and I think OSHA needs to become a helper to our builders and display some common sense for a change.
So -- anyway, I SO agree with you about Romney and his unelectability. I think the current administration is hoping and planning for Romney to be the nominee, and they are going to run over him with a tank. That's what OWS is all about. I think Romney is all set to be overwhelmed by the money they have raised. I am infuriated by the Republican Establishment. All of the Republicans who have ignominiously lost to Democrats in recent years have now endorsed Romney!! At Conservatives4Newt I saw a comment: "The one who couldn't beat McCain has now been endorsed by the one who couldn't beat Obama!"
I hope these links turn out to be of some value to you. If you like them, having them in a list will save a lot of time.
Newt's proposals in these speeches have given me hope that we can take our country, that we love, and restore constitutionally-based rule of law with integrity, accountability and transparency (all government spending except for national security made public on line; committee meetings on C-SPAN). Newt wants to make the government responsive again to the will of the AMerican people. Newt's plans all require the active participation of the American people. Newt is trying to awaken and help focus the power and genius of the American people, as happened with Reagan. (To me, the astonishing thing has been to watch the Republican Establishment trying to destroy Newt's candidacy; including some people I would never have expected it from. What a wake-up call this has been for me.)
NEWT GINGRICH SPEECHES AND INTERVIEWS

1. Dec. 2, 2011 -- Polk County Iowa GOP dinner -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQxturElvxI

2. June, 2010 -- "MICHIGAN MUST CHANGE OR DIE" Mackinac Policy Conference - 45:51
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nyi5JsYeY6E

3. Dec. 3, 2011 -- Staten Island TEA Party -- PART I, PART 2, PART 3 Q & A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7_WmL_qOQ8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXH6uYGYOfM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXH6uYGYOfM

4. Oct. 27, 2011 -- The College Board -- http://mrctv.org/videos/newt-gingrich-college-board-october-27-2011

with Paul Gigot and Joel Klein "The Future of American Education."
5. Nov 1, 2011 -- NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFACTURERS FORUM at VERMEER CORPORATION - 18:04 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv_F2MBW_OI
6. August 17, 2011 -- 24:57 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zedJex4vjUY "Strong America Now"

7. 2009 David Horowitz Weekend "Liberty or Death" -- http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=horowitz+%2C+newt+gingrich%2C+2009

This link takes you to parts 1 - 5 of the speech. The meaning of the 2004 election, the 2006 election, the history of the beginnings of America and the sacrifices of George Washington and other Americans.
8. GINGRICH 21ST CENTURY CONTRACT WITH AMERICA, IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY --- OCTOBER 4, 2011 -- 14:48 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=bi28IcZhjUE

9. SOUTH FLORIDA CONSERVATIVE ON YOUTUBE -- about 24 minutes -- September 24, 2011 -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pixfcIY88Kw (This video stops rather abruptly. I can't find a part 2 if there is one. Gingrich is speaking to conservatives in South Florida, including people with Cuban heritage.)
10. VALUES VOTERS SUMMIT -- October 26, 2011 -- 22 minutes -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uACeiQzHGnE
11. IOWA FAITH AND FREEDOM COALITION FALL BANQUET -- October 22, 2011 -- 27:27 minutes -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBfTtFHZtwg
12 C-PAC in 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoYDMLluvrA

C-PAC in 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoYDMLluvrA
So, feel free to follow the links posted here. I'm not completely comfortable with Newt...mainly because of some of his stands in the past. On the other hand, he's never really pretended to be someone or have positions that are different today from what he's said, done or supported in the past. Like many of the other candidates this time around have. On the other hand, in aa historic election that will literally change the direction this country is going in, this has to be the weakest field of candidates that the GOP has fielded in decades...I just wish a real leader had come forward in stead of the group of...idiots and morons that we have to choose from this time.

Media Bias...

2012-01-08T18:18:00.000-05:00
Newt brings up a valid point...something the media aides and abets in often...

via The Other McCain

Alice Gate: Is Obama Clueless? Edition 932

2012-01-08T18:09:00.000-05:00
In yet another example of just how much the Obama Administration care little about the rest of the country, in 2009, they threw and extraordinarily elaborate "Alice In Wonderland" costume party in the White House. But, they tried to keep it secret from the public.   They should have understood that things like this will always come out.
A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all.
“The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests.
....
“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” the book says.

More pictures here...
However, the White House made certain that more humble Halloween festivities earlier that day — for thousands of Washington-area schoolkids — were well reported by the press corps.
The elaborate parties, the excessive vacations...these things are begining to show just how tone deaf this President really is...
“Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar. Burton’s own Mad Hatter, the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a table to welcome everyone in character.”
This was a time when the unemployment rate was nearly 11%...and they spent money like this? But then, this was before the Spanish vacation, or the Martha's Vinyard and Hawaii vacations. I guess this man is really entitled to this...but what is even more gaulling is that the media hasn't covered this at all. You have to get British media for a clear and evenhanded coverage.
As is tradition, the Obamas handed out treats to Washington, D.C. school children earlier in the day, and while that event was covered heavily by the press, their later festivities were very actively kept secret.
This isn't the change voters were looking for...but oddly...here's the subhead in the British Daily Telegraph: The White House covered up an Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween party staged by film director Tim Burton and actor Johnny Depp for fear of creating the wrong impression during a recession
This man must go
Obama
Must
Go
Photo via BigJounalism.com

Goldbrand Custom Trailers

2012-01-08T15:02:00.000-05:00
I posted a link some time ago about a boat builder from Sweden, who lived here in the US for a while. He caught the motorcycle touring bug and after he moved back to Sweden, decided to build his dream motorcycle touring trailer. In his own words...
Hi my name is Tony Guldbrand and I live in Sweden and are currently riding a 1999 GL 1500 Goldwing. I get the question WHY in regard to my trailer, Why have a trailer behind the bike? Well the idea for the camper was born back in 1991 when I was in Snyder TX, USA. I bought my first Goldwing in Lubbok TX. a maroon GL 1100 1980. I had only race bikes until then, but when my wife and I was going to FL on a motorcycle the Honda CB 900 was NOT an option. I soon found out after buing the Goldwing, that the packing space on the bike was NOT only for me, the wife found out real soon that she could pack A LOT OF THINGS, so we needed more packing space. Due to our job back then in Yachting the trailer had to wait but the idea was born.

Basically, he's taken his boatbuilding skills and applied them to his trailer. It's a great little vehicle. It has a small electrical motor to raise it and lower it. I has a double bed..and a great deal of room in a very small package.

Here's an interior view, this folds down into a double bed...there's storage beneath the benches:

Planned features INCLUDED in the target weight of 100kg (220 lbs) is.
Wheels
Axle
Lights
Hardwere like hinges, doorhandle, nuts and bolts, electrical wiring, interrior lights, switches, vents
Hydraulic or pnumatic "expanding" with manual override feature
12 Volt Battery
Toilet with foldable hardwalls that will be automaticly raised with the rest of the walls and roof, custom cabinet in "bathroom" with mirror and make up lights for the lady :-)
12 volt floor heating
1 table inside that will be used as support for bed at night
1 outside table that will be intergrated in wall and folded down when needed with custom downlight to light up table. Table is NOT movable to "eat" 20' away from the camper. ALL due to wheight saving.
1 dvd/tv approx 10'' display that can be vieved outside OR inside without moving it. Uniqe solution is planned.
MP3 player
AM/FM radio with 2 speakers used either with tv, radio or MP3 player.
A safe just inside the door for wallet, keys, mobilephone etc.
Under the safe there will be shelves for shoes, just to get them of the floor. 3-5 pair
Refridgirator with a freezer. The fridge can be acessed from the outside and the inside. I want to be able to get my breakfast easy while allready sitting down outside
Overhead cabinets with curtains behind to cover windows, front and back in camper
Outside showerhead (just to get that road grime off and to wash my hair) I can either carry 1-2 gallons of water with me or fill it from a lake once I arrive on site. It all depends on how much extra weight I want to haul around. It adds up fast :-( some way of heating the water is in planning stage. propane/12 volt, candles, solarpower???
Showercurtain with removable "bracket"
Slide out stove on the side of the trailer with drawer for silverwere, plates, glasses etc.
Enough plates, glasses, cups, cutlery, pots for 2 people (possible 4 people)
2 chairs (possible 4) to be stored under the trailer, double floor so the chairs don't get dirty
skylight (bigger than on #2)
Storage in the front "wind deflector" for helmets, leather and boots. I might install a 110-230 volt dryer to dry wet clothes. depends on wheight. In any case I want to store "BIG" clothes outside the trailer.
Cabinet with 3-5 drawers for clothes
Hamper
Trash can
The interrior is going to have a luxury feeling. I have built many "yacht interiors" that are low weight so I want the same in the camper.
under bed storage that can be accesed from the outside too so the bed can be made even if something is needed, central locking on outside doors
Burglar alarm with battery backup.
8-12 support legs under the camper. I'm looking in to making them hydraulic due to weight. Regular "legs/jacks" are to heavy
Matress 130-140 cm (51-55'') x 2-2,10 meters (78-82'')
Linnen, pillows
I've been talking to the owner for a couple of years now...if I could get enough interest, I'd liscense build his design here...so let me know if you're interested.

Here's his web site Goldbrand Trailers. and Facebook page...both have a large number of pictures of all three of his prototypes.

Mitt Romney & 25%

2012-01-08T10:21:00.002-05:00
I've held off commenting on the GOP candidates for a while. Its not that I don't have very strong thoughts on them, but I wasnted to see what voters had to say before I actually put my 2 cents in. Ok...with Iowa under our belts and New Hampshire looming...here are my thoughts.

While he may have won the Iowa Caucuses by a slim 8 votes (there are doubts about that as well), Mitt Romney has a 25% problem. He can't seem to rise above that level of approval...out side of New England. In New Hampshire, he's at 40% according to recent polls, but that doesn't really mean much. He's been campaigning in NH for almost a decade, and spent upwards of $100 million dollars in that time.

Yet, he can't get above 25%. That should have alarm bells going off with the Republican "elite" leadership in and out of Washington. But it doesn't. He's the annointed favorite. Look at it from the opposite view, 75% of GOP voters don't like him. That's shocking. For over a year, we've been flailing about, flitting from one candidate to the next, tryiing to find, NOT ROMNEY. In DC...they don't see that. But, it could be the "elite" party leadership is sadly out of touch with the base. They keep talking about "electability", yet that's a myth.
But if 75% of GOP voters want someone else as the nominee, doesn't it follow that Mitt will have trouble getting that all vote in the fall if nominated? ...
That's from Mike's America blog.and goes to the heart of the issue. Most of the rank and file don't like him, don't want him and won't vote for him, because at heart, they just don't trust the flip-flopping SOB. Mike Walsh in NR said recently,
As I said on the most recent NR cruise, if Romney is the nominee, he will lose. He has no idea what Axelrod & Co. are capable of, nor of the depths to which they will stoop to destroy him. They will attack him as a flip-flopper, as a panderer, as a rapacious and heartless one percenter, and, yes, as a Mormon. They will damn him with faint praise as a liberal accomodationist, as the spiritual father of Obamacare. He’s a gentleman in a mug’s game, and this is no time for gentlemen.
He hasn't yet taken an issue that he's not flipped in since he was governor of Massachusetts, one of the MOST LIBERAL STATES IN THE COUNTRY. A conservative there is a liberal pretty much everywhere else (excepting the West Coast or NY).    Another Micheal (Greene this time from the Boston Herald, Romney's back yard).
I’m ready to sell out, too. Like you, I’m ready to abandon my conservative principles, ignore Mitt’s big-government legacy and his obvious disdain for the right — if it means a guaranteed winner in November.

But before I lift my conservative skirts for another H.W. Bush/Dole/McCain moderate because I’m supposed to suck it up and “back a winner,” is it asking too much to expect the guy to, you know, win something first?
...
No, Mitt did not “win” Iowa. Winning is not getting eight more votes than a guy who, until recently, was best known as the victim of a campaign on Google to turn his last name into a disgusting sexual reference (trust me — you don’t want to know).
Winning is not spending 12 months and $10 million in Iowa in 2008 to get 30,021 votes, then campaigning another four years, spending another $2 million . . . and getting just 30,015 votes.
Four years ago, Romney could blame his lackluster 25.1 percent on the fact that he’d never run before and faced formidable opposition: a longtime U.S. senator, a successful two-term Southern governor, a Tennessee movie star.
But this year, Romney is running against the cast of a bad TLC network reality show — and he’s still at 25.1 percent!
How do you go from running against McCain, Huckabee, and Thompson to running against Perry, Bachmann and Paul and getting fewer votes? When one foe is an angry former speaker who’s been married three times, took money from Freddie Mac and shares a name with a Star Wars villain, you should be running up the score.
And no, don’t say “it’s just Iowa.” Have you checked the latest polls? Less than 48 hours after Iowa, Rasmussen’s national poll had Mitt at just 29-21 over Rick Santorum. In South Carolina — which has picked every GOP nominee since Reagan — Romney’s stuck at 20 percent and he’s losing in Florida, too.
No doubt newer surveys will reflect rising Romney strength. But the fact is that Mitt vs. The GOP Klown Kar should be a cakewalk.
He was for health care before he was against it...and that's a huge problem. While I support his stance purely on 10th Amendment grounds alone(the states have the constitutional power to enact such legislation), the fact that he was the architect of the MA health care debacle (and steeply rising prices there), it will be difficult for him defend his position nationally. I'm predicting today, that if Mitt Romney is the GOP nominee, he will lose in November's general election.

From Mike's blog,
Republicans have the unfortunate habit of nominating the guy who came in second in a previous contest. That's how we got Bob Dole and John McCain. Neither of which had the stuff it takes to fight it out with the political thuggery that will be headed our way in a few months. Apparently, I am not the only one who worries whether Mitt would be the best nominee just because he came in second last time around! But I'm glad to know that guys named Mike seem to be making a lot of sense!
...and that's the problem, instead of picking winners, we in the GOP tend to go with last round's loser. Mitt Romney will lose

Riding Home To Skye...

2012-01-07T17:50:00.002-05:00
Incredible video...amazing riding...and some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. Edinborough to Skye...

Steven Crowder's Top Political Debacles of 2011

2012-01-07T08:59:00.000-05:00
Here's video of Steven Crowder's top political debacles of 2011.

I really like Steven, he's funny but at the same times offers up insightful views of current political events. If he were anything but a conservative, he'd have his own TV show...a la "Bill Maher"...but since he's not, he's stuck on FoxNews and"> youtube.com.

Hat tip: The Other McCain

Happy New Year: IDF Style

2011-12-29T22:45:00.000-05:00
via LegalInsurrection

ObamaNomics

2011-12-29T10:18:00.000-05:00
Here are some startling facts about our current president's policy effects...
Every day, the U.S. government takes in $6 billion and spends $10 billion. This means that every day the federal government spends $4 billion more dollars than it has.
The real unemployment rate is a jaw-dropping 11 percent.
Every fifth man you pass on your way to work is now out of work.
College graduates are now 34% less likely to find a job under Obama than they were under President George W. Bush.
Every seventh person you pass on the sidewalk now relies on food stamps.
The ravages of the Obama economy now mean that more Americans live under the federal poverty line than at any time in U.S. history since records have been kept.
Under President Barack Obama, every fifth child in America now lives in poverty.
I don't know about you, but I've had just about enough of this man. I'm barely keeping my head above water, financially. My wife can't find full time work. No one is hiring...yet, the MSM tells us "things are getting better." For whom? Not me...

Obama
Must
Go!

It's time for a change...but those choices we have so far in the GOP primary process aren't the ones that can do the job. Here's a comment I mad on Powerlineblog's endorsement of Mitt Romney:
John, despite your endorsement…Romeny ISN’T electable. He’s not won an election of any sort since he narrowly won the gubenatorial election in Massachusetts. He chose not to run for reelection because he would have been solidly defeated, just as he was soundly defeated by an even worse candidate in 2008 named John McCain. As the GOP “elite’s” chosen “front runner” he wouldn’t represent those of the base.

He has soundly rejected the Tea Party movement and what that movement stands for. He’s a big government Republican…and those have just about ruined our party. He can only be called a “conservative” in Massachusetts…his continual flip-flopping, and defacto support of universal health care are repugnant to the principles upon which the Republican Party stands…as does his “big government” beliefs. This man are only marginally a Republican anywhere outside of California (which has ZERO chance of winning in the general election) or New England…which hasn’t gone Republican since Reagan.

Unfortunately for our party, the best candidates have chosen not to run…when we needed real leadership, we’ve gotten Romney and Newt or Paul…who will be just as disasterous as G. W. Bush (whom, while I greatly admire him personally, his “Big Government” policies have helped drive us to the brink of economic disaster).

It’s time for a change all right, but Romney’s not it. He’s more of “go along to get along…” that’s been the hallmark of the GOP Congressional Leadership & “elites.”…their “good intentions” have paved the way to economic hell.

I’ll choose someone else…Mickey Mouse, perhaps, he couldn’t do any worse than our “elite leadership” already has…
Rich Vail
Pikesville, Maryland
I believe that choosing Mitt Romney will be just as disasterous for the Country as it was for the Party to choose John McCain in 2008. Once the Chicago political machine gets in gear...they will tear Romney a new asshole and we will in fact have 4 more disasterous years of "Hope & Change" that will be so bad, I don't think we'll be able to repair the damage that man can and will do to the fabric of our great Republic.

Obama is a Hypocrit: Chapter 934

2011-12-28T10:39:00.000-05:00
In 2007 and 2008, Senator Barack Obama called George W. Bush unpatriotic for wanting to raise the debt ceiling.

During the campaign debates with John McCain, he promised a net spending cut...yet since then, he as president has added more than $5,000,000,000,000.00 to the national debt.

Now, in late 2011, he wants another $1,000,000,000,000.00...Mr. Obama, WHERE DID THE MONEY GO? The Democratic party's economic agenda has failed. Our national debt has passed 100% of our GDP. We've run out of other's people's money, and it's time to not just balance the budget, but cut it to the bone. Across the board spending cuts to ALL line items. 40% minimum to just balance the budget. That doesn't mean we'd be able to pay down the debt, just to service it. To service it we'd need to raise government income either by raising taxes (that would throttle the economy even worse than now) or by eliminating whole-sale governmental regulations that are killing the ability of businesses to grow.

Eliminate several of the government departments that really have no use other than as jobs for SEIU members...Education, HUD, HHS, Commerce, "Homeland Security" (isn't that the province of the Dept of Defense?); as well as various agencies that are killing the economy through bureaucratic regulations, EPA, DEA, ATF, etc. Most of these agencies have vastly over-reached their mandates and are actively injuring the ability of our economy to expand.

The Time has come for Congress to be swept clean. Pass constitutional amendments that limit the time Congress may sit in sessionas well as term limits. If we can limit the number of terms any president may hold office, why in the hell don't we treat Congress the same way. Many of the bullshit bills passed these days are done by Congressmen and Senators trying to justify their inflated salaries and to pay of political constiuencies (See ObamaCare, TARP and the "Stimulus Package" that wasn't--right there is $3 trillion dolllars in wasted spending alone)...Mr. Obama, Mr. Reid and Nancy Pelosi are all responsible for the past four years of wasteful spending...but as Harry Truman once said, "the buck stops here" and here is Barack Obama's desk.

Inflating the Higher Education Bubble

2011-12-26T14:07:00.000-05:00
A short video by the BlogFather, Glenn Reynolds...

via Instapundit

Conservative Bloggers, the Chopped Liver of the Right...

2011-12-26T07:21:00.000-05:00
Over the past several weeks, a number of bloggers have pointed out just how well our Liberal counterparts are recompensed by the "progressive" movement, while we often slog along scrambling to make ends meet. Zilla of the Resistence joins an ever growing list of conservative bloggers who self fund their blogs...often to the detriment of their own personal bills.
Did you see the list of bloggers who were struggling in Jimmie's post from this past summer? Well most, if not all of them, are still battling to keep their heads above water. Jimmie's idea for a Great Tip Jar Rattling was a stroke of genius, because the politicians and those who donate the big bucks to them care nothing for the hard working bloggers whose work they benefit from, we are little more than doormats to them, if they deem to notice us at all. We are chopped liver; PACs and the politicians, even when they are unelectable losers, are kobe beef to them. Which is why Conservative Bloggers so very badly need support from their readers, because nobody else appreciates the work that we do. It is a much different story on the left, which is why they have the advantage, as The Lonely Conservative addressed HERE.
Most conservative bloggers have other jobs and other responsibilities. We do this because we believe the United States is the last best hope on earth, and we want our kids to grow up with the same opportunities we’ve had. Most don’t do this out of some love of the 1%. We do it out of love of freedom. We lose sleep, and work at night and on the weekends.I’m not whining, I just want people to realize that the conservative new media is doing a heck of a job without any help from the likes of billionaires like George Soros. Imagine what we could do with funding. RTWT

The truth of the matter is that the Left has a tendency to use it's propaganda tools far better than the Right does. They have long since systematically funded bloggers who work so hard to further their causes (as wrong-headed as they are), while the Right just bribes politicians (i.e. "campaign donations"). Jimmy Bise makes the point that just what Charlie Christ, who is a GOP elite favorite, yet lost disasterously to Marco Rubio in Florida in 2010, brought in campaign donations in 6 months, would fund...
Charlie Crist, who will be a continual thorn in conservatives’ sides if he’s elected to the Senate, raised $4.3 million in just one quarter this year. That much money could fund a good conservative news site for at least five years, if not more like eight. Do you know how much good reporting we could get with a budget of just $500,000 a year? Think about it. Play with the numbers. You think I couldn’t land Vadum and McCain for 70 grand a year, plus add in Ace and Moe Lane for blogging power at the same amount? That’s only $280,000. Set aside fifty grand for tech stuff (hosting, design, troubleshooting) and advertising, another 60K for expenses (to pay reporters to go on the road and for freelancers), 60K for an editor, and 50K to me for supervising the whole operation and there you go. There’s $500,000 a year. And that doesn’t count any potential income the site might get from outside advertising, which you know it’ll get. As the site grows, the budget can creep up, but only for people who will add direct value to the site, but we add on as advertising revenues warrant the increase.

Divide $500,000 into $4.3 million. That’s how long I could run a hypothetical conservative news site with the money dunderheaded conservatives gave Charlie Crist in just three months. Meanwhile, Stacy had to rattle the tip jar so hard his teeth ached to get just a few hundred bucks to do some original reporting in rural Kentucky. That’s ridiculous.

Now, how many scoops will that buy you every year, Mr. Rich Conservative? Four? Five? How do you like the idea of Stacy McFreakingCain prowling Capitol Hill five days a week and writing until 5 AM? How about having Matthew Vadum on ACORN’s ass all the time? You want traffic numbers? Ace and Moe will bring you crazy traffic and you can be damned sure that Rush and Mark Levin will be reading the news they report on their radio shows. We won’t be without contacts.

Most of us on the right blogosphere are stuggling to get by. Personally, for 50k a year, I could do this full-time and actually be able to get to a lot more political events...something I've had to stop doing since early summer. For $75k a year, I could cover all of Maryland as well as parts of northern Virginia and Delaware...PLUS, I could actually afford to get cable television and watch what's being said on news networds beyond ABC, CBS and NBC. I would love is FoxNews would start broadcasting their 6PM evening news on their local affiliates, just as the 1st three do...

We in the Conservative movement just aren't spending our money wisely. Bloggers are doing yeoman's work getting the message out, but, as Glenn Reynolds says, "something that can't go on, won't go on..." Those with the funds available, really should hit tips jars around the web on a regular basis...
That's my two cents...

Where Ever You Are...

2011-12-25T14:31:00.002-05:00
The Military Wives Choir of the United Kingdom

via GatewayPundit

Merry Christmas & Happy Chanukah

2011-12-24T18:09:00.002-05:00
Cheri and I would like to thank all those who have donated to us this year. Your generosity has helped us get past some rough spots.Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah to one and all. May the coming year be better than the last...

Taurus Judge

2011-12-24T14:46:00.000-05:00
This is probably the best personal defense, conceal carry pistol available today. You can either load it with .45 Long Colt shells, or 3" Magnum .410 shot gun shells.

I WANT ONE! no, TWO! One for me and one for Cheri.

SOPA

2011-12-24T13:32:00.000-05:00
Here's a list of most of the corporations who want to criminalize the interwebs...

SOPA

Light Blogging...

2011-12-24T13:27:00.000-05:00
Sorry blogging has been so light...I've been taking care of my wife following her cancer surgery and honestly just haven't been in the right frame of mind that past 10 days...thanks for all of your patience.

The Waiting...

2011-12-14T08:52:00.001-05:00
The Waiting...it was very early in the morning when I started writing this. Didn't know how to say what I wanted to say. I've been up most of of a long and sleepless night with...the waiting...

You see, my wife is going to have cancer surgery again. Hopefully, the third time pays all. So I sit here, listening to the clock tick for the seconds to pass by and merge into minutes, finally to hours. Waiting for the time to leave for the hospital...the waiting...

The worst part of all this is feeling helpless as my wife goes through an ordeal I can do nothing about...as we wait for the surgeon's sharp knife to descend...the waiting...

Hoping that finally, this will be the last time, while the bills roll in and not much left for them...the waiting...

Wishing it were me instead, but knowing that the world isn't how I'd wish it to be, but how G-d, B''H, intends...the waiting...

Just For Laughs....

2011-12-14T08:30:00.000-05:00

Thanks Linda!

A Democrat Ladder Fail

2011-12-14T07:38:00.003-05:00
Via the LookingSpoon...

Rich Perry: A Great Interview The Media Won't Show You

2011-12-14T05:47:00.000-05:00
via Moe Lane, here's a excellent interview of Rich Perry.

2011-12-12T18:02:00.002-05:00
Here's a independent candidate for president...he just might win.

via daley gator

Tea Party Manifesto...?

2011-12-11T06:43:00.001-05:00
The other day Glenn Beck made a statement that voting for Newt Gingrich for president would be only because you're a racist. He made this broad-brush statement because he contends that Newt is a "Progressive" in the same way that Mr. Obama is. Mr. Beck, this time you go too far.

I've never been a big fan of Mr. Beck, because I believe that most of his showmanship is in the same character as that of a used car salesman. From beginning of the Tea Party movement, Mr. Beck has promoted himself as a leader of the "movemment." Unfortunately, I have to disagree...it's not often that I come across something that really explains what many of us who call ourselved "Tea Party" members would like to see happen. Darkstar, one of the commenters on Legal Insurrection blog has done it. Here's his comment from Professor Jacobson's blog entry on Mr. Beck's stupidity.

Darkstar58 | December 10, 2011 at 5:46 pm
“If you’re against him but you’re for this guy, it must be about race. I mean, what else is it? It’s the policies that matter.”
Oh, I don’t know Beck, maybe stuff like…
Day 1:
Executive Order 1. Eliminate the thirty-nine White House “Czar” positions created during the current administration. The president does not have the authority to appoint bureaucrats to power who are not accountable to the Congress
Executive Order 2. “Mexico City Policy” of Respect for Life. Reauthorize President Ronald Reagan’s policy – also known as the “Mexico City Policy”— to stop tax payer dollars from being used to fund or promote abortions in foreign countries.
Executive Order 3. Restore conscience clause protections for Healthcare Workers. No American working in a medical environment should be forced to perform any procedure that he or she finds morally or ethically objectionable based on religious teaching. This protection should include, but not be limited to abortion. Existing conscience clause protections need to be strengthened.
Executive Order 4. Respect Each Sovereign Nation’s Choice of its Capital. Each sovereign nation, under international law and custom, may designate its own Capital. Accordingly, the U.S. State Department should be instructed to respect the choice of each sovereign nation and place the American embassy in their Capital. (Israel is the only country the United States discriminates against in this regard. The people of Israel have designated Jerusalem as their capital. Yet the United States retains its embassy in Tel Aviv.)
Executive Order 5. End the Attorney General’s Assault on the States. Instruct the Attorney General to withdraw all immigration-related lawsuits against states immediately, including those pending in Arizona and South Carolina. The Obama Administration refuses to enforce federal immigration laws, and instead sues states who are merely trying to enforce the laws that the federal government neglects. The Gingrich Administration will secure the border by Jan. 1, 2014 by any means necessary.
(Republicans may trick Obama into allowing this, but in case they don’t…)
Executive Order 6. The Keystone Pipeline Unleash American Energy by Approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. Instruct the State Department to approve a Presidential Permit immediately for the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that will send 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Great Plains and Southwestern states to Gulf Coast refineries lower staggering energy prices, and create up to 120,000 American jobs.
add to all that, his “21st century Contract with America”:

1. Repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement that saves lives and money by empowering patients and doctors, not bureaucrats and politicians.
2. Return to robust job creation with a bold set of tax cuts and regulatory reforms that will free American entrepreneurs to invest and hire, as well as by reforming the Federal Reserve and creating a training requirement for extended federal unemployment benefits to encourage work and improve the quality of our workforce.
3. Unleash America’s full energy production potential in oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels, wind, nuclear oil shale and more, creating jobs, stimulating a sustainable manufacturing boom, lowering gasoline and other energy prices, increasing government revenues, and bolstering national security.
4. Save Medicare and Social Security by giving Americans more choices and tools to live longer, healthier lives with greater financial independence.
5. Balance the federal budget by freeing job-creators to grow the economy, reforming entitlements, and implementing waste cutting and productivity improvement systems such as Lean Six Sigma to eliminate waste and fraud. Pass a balanced budget amendment to keep it balanced.
6. Control the border by January 1, 2014 and establish English as the official language of government; reform the legal visa system, and make it much easier to deport criminals and gang members while making it easier for law abiding visitors to come to the US.
7. Revitalize our national security system to meet 21st century threats by restructuring and adequately funding our security agencies to function within a grand strategy for victory over those who seek to kill us or limit American power.
8. Maximize the speed and impact of medical breakthroughs by removing unnecessary obstacles that block new treatments from reaching patients and emphasizing research spending towards urgent national priorities, like brain science with its impact on Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson’s, mental health and other conditions knowledge of the brain will help solve.
9. Restore the proper role of the judicial branch by using the clearly delineated powers available to the president and Congress to correct, limit, or replace judges who violate the Constitution.
10. Enforce the Tenth Amendment by starting an orderly transfer of power and responsibility from the federal government back “to the states, respectively, or to the people,” as the Constitution requires. Over the next year, state and local officials and citizens will be asked to identify the areas which can be transferred back home.

That’s Tea Party principles put into actions, perfectly. Its exactly what we have been looking for, and exactly what we should be championing… Yet when someone outlines exactly what we want, we are to dismiss it or we are racist?
Copy this and send it to every single GOP candidate for President...maybe they'll get a clue.

On The Rocks: The Picture Says It All...

2011-12-08T07:01:00.001-05:00

Thanks Linda

Merry Christmas: From HMS Ocean

2011-12-07T05:21:00.001-05:00
Brilliant video!

If you have the time...take a look at the rest of the videos from the Daily Caller.

French Night Club Act...

2011-12-04T11:12:00.001-05:00
Now here's a great act....

An Entrepreneur?

2011-12-04T11:05:00.001-05:00

Here's something interesting...

Lets get the players straight before we go on with this.
interpretation of data not verified but...

LARMONDO "FLAIR" ALLEN
His Companion:Kawanner Armstrong
His Sons : Christian Allen
Kwan Allen
Larmondo Allen, Jr.

His Daughters: Deidra Allen
Larmenshell Allen
Lamonshea Allen
Larmomdriel Allen
Larmerja Allen
Korevell Allen

AT AGE 25 - He had 9 Children.
(CouldKawanner Armstrong Possibly Be The Mother Of All Of His Kids?)

His Father: Burnell Thompson
His Mother: Esther Allen
His Stepfather: Bruce Gordy

His Brothers: Burnell Thompson
Edgar Thompson
Wil Willis
Danta Edwards
Reshe Edwards
Mattnell Allen
Burnell Allen
Lester Allen

His Sisters: Shannail Craig
Lekiksha Thompson
Gwendolyn Carter
Jessica Willis
Katina Gordy

Grandparents: Delors Allen
J.C. Allen
Anna Laura Thompson
Will Thompson

So, lets see now....

His Father, Burnell Thompson, fathered his brothers Burnell,Edgar and his sister Lekiksha.
His Stepfather, Bruce Gordy, fathered his Sister Katina.
His Mother, Esther Allen, must have been unwed when she gavebirth to: Larmondo, Mattnell, Burnell and Lester.
We don't know who fathered Wil Willis and Jessica Willis, or Dante andReshe Edwards.
Lets hope sisters Shannail Craig and Gwendolyn Carter are married.

GOT THE ABOVE ALL STRAIGHT?
********************
NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY

He was 25 and had 3 sons and 6 daughters. NINE welfare recipients collecting $950 each.....That equals $8,550 a month !!! Now add Food Stamps, Free medical, Free schoollunches, and on and on Do themath... $102,000+/year. Anyone outthere, sittin' on their butt while reading thise-mail, making A HUNDREDGRAND doing nothing? Now that, to me, is a realEntrepreneur.

(ALSO,BECAUSE OF THEIR FATHERS DEATH, ALL OF THE KIDS WILL COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY UNTIL THEY ARE 18) EVENBETTER...IF "FLAIR'S" THIRTEEN BROTHERS & SISTERS FOLLOWEDHIS ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGY--THAT'SAN ADDITIONAL $1.3MILLION PER YEAR BUTWAIT...THERE'S MORE!

IF ALLTHIRTEEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS CAN DUPLICATEHIS FEAT OF 9 WELFARE STRATEGISTS THAT BREEDS 117 NEW RECIPIENTS COLLECTING$100,000/YR!!...OR AN ADDITIONAL $11,700,000PERYEAR...&THAT'SONE DAMN FAMILY (Anddemands 100% the Taxes Paid by 1,000 avg. taxpayers)   And THAT is why this oncegreat country is

BANKRUPT!! ANY QUESTIONS?

Obama's Record

2011-12-04T10:51:00.001-05:00
Here's a graph that's an excellent illustration of just what Mr. Obama has manged to accomplish in three short years...

Not a terribly distinguished list of accomplishments. No wonder he's trying to go "populist" with his class warfare rhetoric. He just doesn't have anywhere else to go. The only place he can get support if from his own party since independents and moderates have abandoned support of him in droves.

News You Can Use...Shucking Corn

2011-12-04T10:45:00.001-05:00
How to shuck corn without any hassle or silk..

Obama's Political Career Launch

2011-11-30T06:27:00.001-05:00
On October 15, 2011, Bill Ayres admits that Obama's political career was launched with a fund raiser at his house. If you remember, on October 15, 2008, Robert Gibbs following a debate with John McCain, catagorically denied to Chris Matthews during the "spin room" after debate that this event occured.

Who is lying? Bill Ayres? Or Robert Gibbs. Why would Ayres lie about something like this? When you take all of the other questionable associations of this president...ones that the MSM refused to cover, it begins to boggle the mind. When is the media going to do their job? They've already begun smearing every single GOP candidate, from Michelle Bachman to Mitt Romney (I'd link, but a simple google serach will give you far more info than I ever could)...that the MSM shows just how deeply in the tank for Obama they are, after all, they refused to cover his pastor of 20 years' inflamatory statements, even though Obama was clearly influenced.

Hat Tip, The BLog Father...

The "Super Committee"s Failure...

2011-11-29T05:44:00.001-05:00
Here's an interesting video of Chris Chritie, governor of New Jersey commenting on the failure of Obama's "Super Committee."

Write In Candidates...

2011-11-27T15:42:00.001-05:00
I have decided that since I really don't like any of the current crop of GOP candidates for President, I'll write in someone else instead. Either Paul Ryan or Sarah Palin. Since I live in Maryland, it doesn't really matter during the primary season who I vote for, my vote really won't count in the great grand scheme of things. BUT! I would dearly love to send a message to the "elite leadership" of the Republican Party, that I am very deeply unhappy with them and the direction they are taking the party.The time of "going along to get along" ends now. No more bi-partisanship...in other words no more going along with the Democrats and giving them everything they want, withough regards of the consequenses to the country. Every time our Congressional leadership "goes along" with the bi-partisan deals they cut, the [Social] Democrats renig...It's time to send a message to the party, that we the base have had enough.

Mitt Romney

2011-11-27T08:18:00.001-05:00
Via Don Surber, the Cartoon of the week.

What Do You Do With A Drunken Pumpkin?

2011-11-25T22:05:00.001-05:00

What OWS & The Democrats Really Want

2011-11-25T09:58:00.001-05:00
Here is the real message of OWS and the [Social] Democratic Party:

This is what the Liberal left has come down to...they want everyone to be dependent upon what scraps the goverment can give them. That way they can control pretty much every aspect of life. That's called "Liberal Fascism" (i.e. what the National Socialists in Germany and the Fascist Party in Itally wanted to do in the 1930's). Also, it's a book, oddly enough. I'd love to read it, but I can't afford it this year.

Hat Tip Powerline.

Obama's Kabuki

2011-11-24T16:56:00.001-05:00

Via IBD

Thick As A Brick

2011-11-23T06:56:00.001-05:00
Jethro @ their very best...

Hat Tip: Moe Lane

Sen Schumer Blocks Tea Party Debt Commission

2011-11-22T05:46:00.001-05:00
Senator Charles Schumer, an early supporter of the Occupy Wall Street groups, blocked the Tea Party Debt Commission from meeting in the Capital building in Washington DC.via The Other McCain, but then, that's what Liberals do when they are afraid of your speech. Do do their damndest to supress it. "Free speech for me, but no for thee." If this was a "political" meeting, then why does Congress allow Congressman Conyers to hold his bull-shit "commission" meetings on Capital building grounds? Yet another intellectually bankrupt Democrat stopping the 1st amendment rights of others.

Disenchantment With The Won?

2011-11-20T09:36:00.001-05:00
Has Chris Mathews lost that "tingle" with the Won?From this interview it sure looks that way.Via Newsalert.com

Music Video

2011-11-19T08:18:00.001-05:00
The Blow -- True AffectionVia VodkaPundit

Ron Paul Won't Rule Out 3rd Party Run

2011-11-19T07:59:00.001-05:00
Texas Congressman Ron Paul won't rule out third party run.If he does so, he will ensure an Obama second term...which would be disasterous for the country.

It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty

2011-11-18T15:08:00.001-05:00
How often do you run across a bond trader, stock broker or financial manager who is...shockingly honest? Most often we hear about the Bernie Madoff's of the world. Here's a letter from the exception to the rule.
Dear Clients, Industry Colleagues and Friends of Barnhardt Capital Management, It is with regret and unflinching moral certainty that I announce that Barnhardt Capital Management has ceased operations. After six years of operating as an independent introducing brokerage, and eight years of employment as a broker before that, I found myself, this morning, for the first time since I was 20 years old, watching the futures and options markets open not as a participant, but as a mere spectator. The reason for my decision to pull the plug was excruciatingly simple: I could no longer tell my clients that their monies and positions were safe in the futures and options markets – because they are not. And this goes not just for my clients, but for every futures and options account in the United States. The entire system has been utterly destroyed by the MF Global collapse. Given this sad reality, I could not in good conscience take one more step as a commodity broker, soliciting trades that I knew were unsafe or holding funds that I knew to be in jeopardy. The futures markets are very highly-leveraged and thus require an exceptionally firm base upon which to function. That base was the sacrosanct segregation of customer funds from clearing firm capital, with additional emergency financial backing provided by the exchanges themselves. Up until a few weeks ago, that base existed, and had worked flawlessly. Firms came and went, with some imploding in spectacular fashion. Whenever a firm failure happened, the customer funds were intact and the exchanges would step in to backstop everything and keep customers 100% liquid – even as their clearing firm collapsed and was quickly replaced by another firm within the system. Everything changed just a few short weeks ago. A firm, led by a crony of the Obama regime, stole all of the non-margined cash held by customers of his firm. Let’s not sugar-coat this or make this crime seem “complex” and “abstract” by drowning ourselves in six-dollar words and uber-technical jargon. Jon Corzine STOLE the customer cash at MF Global. Knowing Jon Corzine, and knowing the abject lawlessness and contempt for humanity of the Marxist Obama regime and its cronies, this is not really a surprise. What was a surprise was the reaction of the exchanges and regulators. Their reaction has been to take a bad situation and make it orders of magnitude worse. Specifically, they froze customers out of their accounts WHILE THE MARKETS CONTINUED TO TRADE, refusing to even allow them to liquidate. This is unfathomable. The risk exposure precedent that has been set is completely intolerable and has destroyed the entire industry paradigm. No informed person can continue to engage these markets, and no moral person can continue to broker or facilitate customer engagement in what is now a massive game of Russian Roulette. I have learned over the last week that MF Global is almost certainly the mere tip of the iceberg. There is massive industry-wide exposure to European sovereign junk debt. While other firms may not be as heavily leveraged as Corzine had MFG leveraged, and it is now thought that MFG’s leverage may have been in excess of 100:1, they are still suicidally leveraged and will likely stand massive, unmeetable collateral calls in the coming days and weeks as Europe inevitably collapses. I now suspect that the reason the Chicago Mercantile Exchange did not immediately step in to backstop the MFG implosion was because they knew and know that if they backstopped MFG, they would then be expected to backstop all of the other firms in the system when the failures began to cascade – and there simply isn’t that much money in the entire system. In short, the problem is a SYSTEMIC problem, not merely isolated to one firm. Perhaps the most ominous dynamic that I have yet heard of in regards to this mess is that of the risk of potential CLAWBACK actions. For those who do not know, “clawback” is the process by which a bankruptcy trustee is legally permitted to re-seize assets that left a bankrupt entity in the time period immediately preceding the entity’s collapse. So, using the MF Global customers as an example, any funds that were withdrawn from MFG accounts in the run-up to the collapse, either because of suspicions the customer may have had about MFG from, say, watching the company’s bond yields rise sharply, or from purely organic day-to-day withdrawls, the bankruptcy trustee COULD initiate action to “clawback” those funds. As a hedge broker, this makes my blood run cold. Generally, as the markets move in favor of a hedge position and equity builds in a client’s account, that excess equity is sent back to the customer who then uses that equity to offset cash market transactions OR to pay down a revolving line of credit. Even the possibility that a customer could be penalized and additionally raped AGAIN via a clawback action after already having their customer funds stolen is simply villainous. While there has been no open indication of clawback actions being initiated by the MF Global trustee, I have been told that it is a possibility. And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism. Remember, derivatives contracts are NOT NECESSARY in the commodities markets. The cash commodity itself is the underlying reality and is not dependent on the futures or options markets. Many people seem to have gotten that backwards over the past decades. From Abel the animal husbandman up until the year 1964, there were no cattle futures contracts at all, and no options contracts until 1984, and yet the cash cattle markets got along just fine. Finally, I will not, under any circumstance, consider reforming and re-opening Barnhardt Capital Management, or any other iteration of a brokerage business, until Barack Obama has been removed from office AND the government of the United States has been sufficiently reformed and repopulated so as to engender my total and complete confidence in the government, its adherence to and enforcement of the rule of law, and in its competent and just regulatory oversight of any commodities markets that may reform. So long as the government remains criminal, it would serve no purpose whatsoever to attempt to rebuild the futures industry or my firm, because in a lawless environment, the same thievery and fraud would simply happen again, and the criminals would go unpunished, sheltered by the criminal oligarchy. To my clients, who literally TO THE MAN agreed with my assessment of the situation, and were relieved to be exiting the markets, and many whom I now suspect stayed in the markets as long as they did only out of personal loyalty to me, I can only say thank you for the honor and pleasure of serving you over these last years, with some of my clients having been with me for over twelve years. I will continue to blog at Barnhardt.biz, which will be subtly re-skinned soon, and will continue my cattle marketing consultation business. I will still be here in the office, answering my phones, with the same phone numbers. Alas, my retirement came a few years earlier than I had anticipated, but there was no possible way to continue given the inevitability of the collapse of the global financial markets, the overthrow of our government, and the resulting collapse in the rule of law. As for me, I can only echo the words of David: “This is the Lord’s doing; and it is wonderful in our eyes.” With Best Regards- Ann Barnhardt
Please take the time to hit the link and drop Ann a line. Hopefully, once things are back on an even keel, she'll return to trading.

Congression Budget Office: Stimulus Hurts Growth

2011-11-17T18:35:00.001-05:00
According to the CBO, Obama's "stimulus" hurts economic growth in America.Via Newsalert.

2011-11-17T18:32:00.001-05:00
No explanation necessary...just watch the video:via Newsalert.com

Obama's Unceasing Hypocrisy, Pt 337

2011-11-17T06:33:00.001-05:00
Here's a video that highlights Mr. Obama's hypocrisy when it pertains to executive compensation. Over the past several years he's propounded that American executives who work for companies who received bailout funds were being over-compensated...but, when it comes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac...crickets
.“Barack Obama has exhorted supporters to object to large bonus payouts at financial institutions that took TARB bailout money. The House Oversight Committee and its chair, Rep. Darrell Issa, want to know why Obama hasn’t objected to the ridiculous levels of compensation at the two largest bailout recipients — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In a new report (embedded below) titled ‘Government-Sponsored Moguls: Executive Compensation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,’ Issa and the Oversight Committee detail executive compensation at the two GSEs, who — unlike their private-sector counterparts who have either fully repaid or are in the process of repaying their bailout funds — still demand more bailout money from Congress.”
via the blogfather...

Obama: Increasing US Debt Unpatriotic

2011-11-17T06:25:00.001-05:00
During the 2008 campaign, candidate Obama called George Bush, "unpatriotic" for increasing the US Debt by $4 trillion dollars over 8 years
...“The problem is, is that the way Bush has done it over the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children,” Obama complained, ”driving up our national debt from $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents, [and] number 43 added $4 trillion dollars by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have now to pay back.”
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/17/obama-gop-unpatriotic-for-spending-and-for-not-spending/#ixzz1dxeDQYc7...but what does candidate Obama have to say to the hypocrisy of President Obama increasing the federal debt by $6 trillion dollars in under 3 years...crickets...

Lazy Americans

2011-11-16T06:23:00.001-05:00
In yet another first, Barack Obama roundly criticized Americans as lazy...while that in itself isn't a first, doing so before an international audience outside the borders of the United States is...here's a cartoon by Michael Ramirez,

Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS

2011-11-15T06:05:00.001-05:00
Amazing video from the ISS..time lapsed.
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
via instapundit of course.

Fear the Boom & Bust

2011-11-13T23:50:00.001-05:00
Here's a humerous video about the differing economic principles of F A Hayek and J M Keynes.
In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there’s a “boom and bust” cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it. Get the full lyrics, story and free download of the song in high quality MP3 and AAC files at: http://econstories.tv
as well as this one,via 1389 Blog

Newt Gingrich Gets "It"

2011-11-13T22:56:00.001-05:00
There's something that so far, only one of the GOP candidates for President get..."thou shalt not slam another Republican." Newt gets it:

...and he's the only one. I'm not a support of Mr. Gingrich, nor do I think that he should top the GOP ticket. Would he be an improvement over the current incumbent? Certainly, I would be an enormous improvement over Mr. Obama. That doesn't mean I should top the ticket. On the other hand, I would like to see Newt as the #2...he would then be able to advise the president on "how things work" in the corrupt DC political atmosphere...That being said, I've come to the conclusion that Mitt Romney isn't the one to top the ticket either. His reputation is such, that I believe he would be ObamaLite...and that's not what America needs right now.

USS Constitution is 214 Years Old

2011-11-13T18:17:00.001-05:00
On October 21, 2011, the USS Constitution celebrated it's 214 birthday.
BOSTON (Oct. 21, 2011) USS Constitution fires a 17-gun salute toward the United States Coast Guard Station Sector Boston to celebrate its 214th launching day anniversary. Constitution is the world's oldest commissioned warship afloat. She defended the sea lanes against threat from 1797 to 1855, much like the mission of today's Navy. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kathryn E. Macdonald)

Obama Votes Present on Job Creation

2011-11-13T17:47:00.001-05:00
This week Mr. Obama had the opportunity to launch a huge job creating business...instead he voted present. An oil pipeline is being proposed to extend from Canada to Texas oil refineries. This would create thousands of jobs...instead, Mr. Obama, voted present by booting'>http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2011/11/obama-votes-present-oil-pipeline">booting the decision on this until 2013.

President Obama faced a tough political decision this week on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada. He could order the State Department to approve it, thus alienating his environmental activist supporters, or he could kill the pipeline, thus angering his union allies.

Obama chose to do what he had done 130 times while he was in the Illinois state Senate. He voted present.

The State Department announced Thursday that it would begin developing a second, redundant environmental impact statement for the 1,700-mile pipeline that traverses six states on its route from Alberta, Canada, to Houston, Texas. This buys Obama time well past November 2012. The first environmental assessment, three years in the works, was completed in August. This second assessment will take at least as long the first.

This president isn't serious about changing the dire economic situation this country is in. Instead he's trying to raise a billion dollars so buy the 2012 election.

Obama Says America Is Lazy

2011-11-13T17:31:00.001-05:00
While on a foriegn trip to China, The Won tells the world that America is lazy. Here is our head of government telling the world that America sucks...There is something seriously wrong with this picture. Here is a man who really doesn't like our country. He can't stop himself.
President Barack Obama told an international audience that America’s economic difficulties are caused, in part, by laziness, and the cure is more centralized government...In September, Obama told a Florida interviewer that “this is a great country that had gotten a little soft, and we didn’t have that same competitive edge that we needed over the last couple of decades.”
.This is wrong on so many levels. If he wins the election next November, we will deserve everything that happens to us.

Terrorism Is War: Newt Is Right

2011-11-13T08:53:00.001-05:00
From last nights debate:Newt is right.

here's another video...

2011-11-12T17:17:00.001-05:00
From Geoff Downs and Trevor Horn...who replaced Jon Anderson and Rick Wakeman on the 1980 Yes album "Drama".

Music VIdeo: Song From My Mispent Youth

2011-11-12T13:41:00.001-05:00
here is one of my favorite all time songs...

Occupy Wall Street: What Would Friedman Say?

2011-11-12T12:51:00.001-05:00
via Legalinssurection:

Now If Only We Had Politicians Like This...

2011-11-12T12:09:00.001-05:00
Here's a refreshing voice from the EU Parliament.

Cartoon of the Day: OWS, What the MSM Sees

2011-11-12T10:16:00.001-05:00

Occupy Wall Street: A Failure to Communicate

2011-11-12T09:49:00.001-05:00
The MSM is making another huge mistake. They are continually presenting the OWS movement in a 'positive' light...while all across the country, there have been rapes (Boston, NY, Baltimore, SF, SD...), murders (SLC, SF), racist rants (NY, LA...etc) and assaults (pretty much all of them)...while over the past two years, the Tea Party has been painted as violent, racist whites who hate poor people...yet, the OWS crowds are demanding that vendors give them free food and drink and get their stores and food cards damaged or destroyed.The vast majority of Americans are peacable, law abiding citizens, who don't look well upon those who want something for nothing. That seems to be what the OWS movement wants. They want a free ride, without having to be resopnsible for their own short-sightedness. At first, they seemed to want forgiveness for taking on massive student loan debt...but not accepting responsibility for studying course work that would lead to a useful career. There are numberless blogs that are responding to this, but here's the deal, if you major in social science, you need to be prepared to work in retail and the hospitality industry. It's that simple. There are very few jobs in the NGO/Government that you are prepared for...and only so many jobs for the thousands of useful idiots who want the "life of Reiily" without having to work hard for it...Capitalism works...while the welfare/regulatory state will eventually bankrupt itself. Just take a hard look at the EU...the PIIGS are bankrupt, and taking down the entire EU with them...that's our fate in a few short years (2015 is my guess). So...quit freeloading and get a damn job.

Occupy Wall Street: Anti-Semitic?

2011-11-09T05:37:00.002-05:00
then there's this...and this...then this...

Occupy Wall Street: More Violence In Portland

2011-11-09T05:35:00.003-05:00
here's video of a man in the OWS Portland Edition, assaulting a film crew.
A citizen uploaded a video to YouTube on Tuesday documenting extended verbal harassment of a KGW news crew as the crew attempted to report from the downtown Occupy Portland encampment during Tuesday’s noon newscast. The video shows a kerchief-wearing man who repeatedly shouts epithets at the crew, and pushes and shoves KGW employees trying to stay between the man and KGW news reporter Art Edwards. News Director Rick Jacobs said KGW employees have been cursed at, pushed and shoved several times during their efforts to cover the Occupy Portland movement. Last week, reporter Art Edwards was seen live on the air being physically pushed and shoved by a masked protester.
Hat Tip: Instapundit

Governor Palin's Speech at the "Restoring America" Tea Party of America Rally in Indianola, Iowa (Video and Transcript)

2011-11-07T20:22:00.005-05:00
Here's video and transcript below of Sarah's Speech on Sep 3, 2011....Mickey Kaus says it's the best speech of the year.Thank you, Iowa. Thank you so much. The sign that says, “Thank you, Sarah,” no, I thank you. You are what keeps me going, keeps so many of us going. Your love of country keeps us going. Thank you so much. Iowa, you are good people. You are all good people who are here. Thank you. It is an honor to be in the Heartland sharing this Labor Day weekend with you. And I thank you so much for the invitation, to these organizers who put so much work into all this. It’s so good to see the O4P and C4P people here today. Last night was fun – getting to run into some of you at that restaurant and to see so many different demographics represented and so many different states all across our great nation. We got to gather together last night – different demographics, different political parties even represented – and Todd reminded me as we walked out of that room, he said, “See, we’re not celebrating ‘red America’ or ‘blue America.’ We’re celebrating red, white, and blue America.” So, what brought us here today out in this field? Why aren’t we catching a Cyclones game, or watching the Hawkeyes perhaps, or grilling up some venison and corn-on-the-cob, maybe some caribou with some friends on this Labor Day weekend? What brought us together is a love of country. And we see that America is hurting. We’re not willing to just sit back and watch her demise through some “fundamental transformation” of the greatest country on earth. We’re here to stop that transformation and to begin the restoration of the country that we love. We’re here because America is at a tipping point. America faces a crisis. And it’s not a crisis like perhaps a Midwest summer storm – the kind that moves in and hits hard, but then it moves on. No, this kind will relentlessly rage until we do restore all that is free and good and right about America. It’s not just fear of a double dip recession. And it’s not even the shame of a credit downgrade for the first time in U.S. history. It’s deeper than that. This is a systemic crisis due to failed policies and incompetent leadership. And we’re going to speak truth today. It may be hard-hitting, but we’re going to speak truth today because we need to start talking about what hasn’t worked, and we’re going to start talking about what will work for America. We will talk truth. Now, some of us saw this day coming. It was three years ago on this very day that I spoke at the GOP Convention where I was honored to be able to accept the nomination for vice president that night. And in my speech I asked America: “When the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away….what exactly is [Barack Obama’s] plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.” I spoke of this, but back then it was only my words that you had to go by. Now you have seen the proof yourself. Candidate Obama didn’t have a record while he was in office, but President Obama sure does, and that’s why we’re here today. Candidate Obama pledged to fundamentally transform America. And for all the failures and the broken promises, that’s the one thing he has delivered on. We’ve transformed from a country of hope to one of anxiety. Today, one in five working-age men are out of work. One in seven Americans are on food stamps. Thirty percent of our mortgages are underwater. In parts of Michigan and California, they’re suffering from unemployment numbers that are greater than during the depths of the Great Depression. Barack Obama promised to cut the deficit in half, and instead he turned around and he tripled it. And now our national debt is growing at $3 million a minute. That’s $4.25 billion a day. President Obama, is this what you call “winning the future”? I call it losing – losing our country and with it the American dream. President Obama, these people – these Americans – feel that “fierce urgency of now.” But do you feel it, sir? The Tea Party was borne of this urgency. It’s the same sense of urgency that propelled the Sons of Liberty during the Revolution. It’s the same sense of urgency that propelled the Abolitionists before the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement during the 20th Century. The Tea Party Movement is part of this noble American tradition. This movement isn’t simply a political awakening; it’s an American awakening. And it’s coming from ordinary Americans, not the politicos in the Beltway. No, it’s you who grow our food; you run our small businesses; you teach our children; you fight our wars. We are always proud of America. We love our country in good times and in bad, and we never apologize for America. That is why the far left’s irresponsible and radical policies awakened a sleeping America so that we finally understood what it was that we were about to lose. We were about to lose the blessings of liberty and prosperity. So, the working men and women of this country, you got up off your couch, you came down from the deer stand, you came out of the duck blind, you got off the John Deere, and we took to the streets, and we took to the town halls, and we ended up at the ballot box. And as much as the media wants you to forget this, Tea Party Americans won an electoral victory of historic proportions in November. We the people, we rose up and we rejected the left’s big government agenda. We don’t want it. We can’t afford it. And we are unwilling to pay for it. That victory, remember friends, was only one step in a long march towards saving our country. We sent a new class of leaders to D.C., but immediately the permanent political class tried to co-opt them – because the reality is we are governed by a permanent political class, until we change that. They talk endlessly about cutting government spending, and yet they keep spending more. They talk about massive unsustainable debt, and yet they keep incurring more. They spend, they print, they borrow, they spend more, and then they stick us with the bill. Then they pat their own backs, and they claim that they faced and “solved” the debt crisis that they got us in, but when we were humiliated in front of the world with our country’s first credit downgrade, they promptly went on vacation. No, they don’t feel the same urgency that we do. But why should they? For them business is good; business is very good. Seven of the ten wealthiest counties are suburbs of Washington, D.C. Polls there actually – and usually I say polls, eh, they’re for strippers and cross country skiers – but polls in those parts show that some people there believe that the economy has actually improved. See, there may not be a recession in Georgetown, but there is in the rest of America. Yeah, the permanent political class – they’re doing just fine. Ever notice how so many of them arrive in Washington, D.C. of modest means and then miraculously throughout the years they end up becoming very, very wealthy? Well, it’s because they derive power and their wealth from their access to our money – to taxpayer dollars. They use it to bail out their friends on Wall Street and their corporate cronies, and to reward campaign contributors, and to buy votes via earmarks. There is so much waste. And there is a name for this: It’s called corporate crony capitalism. This is not the capitalism of free men and free markets, of innovation and hard work and ethics, of sacrifice and of risk. No, this is the capitalism of connections and government bailouts and handouts, of waste and influence peddling and corporate welfare. This is the crony capitalism that destroyed Europe’s economies. It’s the collusion of big government and big business and big finance to the detriment of all the rest – to the little guys. It’s a slap in the face to our small business owners – the true entrepreneurs, the job creators accounting for 70% of the jobs in America, it’s you who own these small businesses, you’re the economic engine, but you don’t grease the wheels of government power. So, do you want to know why the permanent political class doesn’t really want to cut any spending? Do you want to know why nothing ever really gets done? It’s because there’s nothing in it for them. They’ve got a lot of mouths to feed – a lot of corporate lobbyists and a lot of special interests that are counting on them to keep the good times and the money rolling along. It doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen this kind of crony capitalism before. It’s is the same good old boy politics-as-usual that I fought and we defeated in my home state. I took on a corrupt and compromised political class and their backroom dealings with Big Oil. And I can tell you from experience that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power-brokers. So, please you must vet a candidate’s record. You must know their ability to successfully reform and actually fix problems that they’re going to claim that they inherited. Real reform never sits well with the entrenched special interests, and that’s why the true voices of reform are so quickly demonized. Look what they say about you. You are concerned civilized citizens and look what they say about you. And just look what happened during the debt-ceiling debate. We’d been given warning after warning that our credit rating would be downgraded if politicians didn’t get serious about tackling the debt and deficit problem. But instead of making the real cuts that are necessary, they used Enron-like accounting gimmicks, and they promised that if they were just allowed to spend trillions more today, they’d cut billions ten years from now. By some magical thinking, they figured they could run up trillion dollar deficits year after year, yet still somehow avoid the unforgiving mathematics that led to the downgrade. Well, they got a rude awakening from the rest of the world, and that’s that even America isn’t “too big to fail.” When we finally did get slapped with that inevitable downgraded, the politicians and the pundits turned around and blamed us – independent commonsense conservatives. We got blamed! They called us un-American and terrorists and suicide bombers and…hobbits…couldn’t understand that one. And what is the President’s answer to this enormous debt problem? It’s just spend more money. Only you can’t call it “spending” now. Now you got to call it “investing.” Don’t call it “spending.” Call it “investing.” It’s kind of like what happens with FEMA and some of these other bureaucratic agencies that don’t really want to refer to our centralized federal government as “government.” Now it’s called the “federal family.” Am I too old to ask to be emancipated? Never thought I’d say it, but I want a divorce. No, the President’s answer to our debt problem is: Incur more debt. Spend more money (only call it “investing”). Make more folks even more reliant on government to supply their every need. This is the antithesis of the pioneering American spirit that empowered the individual to work, to produce, to be able to thrive and succeed with fulfillment and with pride; and that in turn built our free and hope-filled and proud country. He wants to “Win The Future” by “investing” more of your hard-earned money in some harebrained ideas like more solar panels and really fast trains. These are things that venture capitalists will tell you are non-starters, yet he wants to do more of them. We’re flat broke, but he thinks these solar panels and really fast trains are going to magically save us. He’s shouting “all aboard Obama’s bullet train to bankruptcy.” The only future that Barack Obama is trying to win is his own re-election, and he has shown that he’s perfectly willing to mortgage our children’s future to pay for it. And there is proof of this. Just look closely at where all that “green energy” stimulus money is “invested.” See a pattern. The President’s big campaign donors got nice returns for their “investments” in him to the tune of billions of your tax dollars in the form of “green energy” stimulus funds. The technical term for this is “pay-to-play.” Between bailouts for Wall Street cronies and stimulus projects for union bosses’ security and “green energy” giveaways, he took care of his friends. And now they’re on course to raise a billion dollars for his re-election bid so that they can do it all over again. Are you going to let them do it all over again? Are you willing to unite to do all we can to not let them do it again so we can save our country? Now to be fair, some GOP candidates also raised mammoth amounts of cash, and we need to ask them, too: What, if anything, do their donors expect in return for their “investments”? We need to know this because our country can’t afford more trillion-dollar “thank you” notes to campaign backers. It is an important question, and it cuts to the heart of our problem. And I speak from experience in confronting the corruption and the crony capitalism since starting out in public office 20 years ago. I’ve been out-spent in my campaigns two to one, three to one, five to one. (And, by the way, I don’t play that game either of hiring expert political advisors just so they’ll say something nice about me on TV – if you ever wonder. You know how that game’s played too I’m sure.) But the reason is simple: It’s because like you, I’m not for sale. It’s because we believe in the free market. I believe in the free market, and that is why I detest crony capitalism. And Barack Obama has shown us cronyism on steroids. It will lead to our downfall if we don’t stop it now. It’s a root that grows our economic problems. Our unsustainable debt and our high unemployment numbers and a housing market that’s in the tank and a stagnant economy – these are all symptoms. Politicians are so focused on the symptoms and not the disease. We will not solve our economic problems until we confront the cronyism of our President and our permanent political class. So, this is why we must remember that the challenge is not simply to replace Obama in 2012. The real challenge is who and what we will replace him with. It’s not enough to just change up the uniform. If we don’t change the team and the game plan, we won’t save our country. Yes, we need sudden and relentless reform, and that will return power to “We the People.” This, of course, requires deeds, not just words. It’s not good enough for politicians to just be throwing our way some vague generalities, talking about some promises here and there. It’s time that we hold them accountable. It is amazing to me that even some good conservatives run away from being honest and straight up with us about what needs to be done. They don’t want to rock the boat. They can’t hurt future election prospects evidently. They just talk vaguely about cuts and then they move on. They’re too busy saying what they think we want to hear, but instead they should be telling us what needs to be said and what needs to be done. So, let us today in this field have that adult conversation about what needs to be done to restore America. Let’s do that now. In five days time, our President will gift us with yet another speech. In his next speech he’ll reveal his latest new super-duper “jobs plan.” It will have more lofty goals and flowery rhetoric, more illogical economic fantasies and more continued blame and finger-pointing. But listen closely to what he says. All of his “solutions” will revolve around more of the same – more payoffs for his friends and supporters. His “plan” is the same as it’s always been, and that’s grow more government, increase more debt, take and give more of your hard-earned money to special interests. And this is such a problem. But you know what the problems are. We could go on all day about the problems caused by the status quo in Washington. Status quo I think is Latin for “more of the same mess that we’re in.” That status quo won’t work any more. We could go on all day about the problems, but you know them because you live them everyday. So, let’s talk about real solutions. I want to tell you what my plan is. My plan is a bona-fide pro-working man’s plan, and it deals in reality. It deals in the way that the world really works because we must talk about what really works in order to get America back to work. My plan is about empowerment: empowerment of our states, empowerment of our entrepreneurs, most importantly empowerment of you – our hardworking individuals – because I have faith, I have trust, I have respect for you. The way forward is no more politics as usual. We must stop expanding an out-of-control and out-of-touch federal government. This is first: All power not specifically delegated to the federal government by our Constitution is reserved for the states and for we the people. So, let’s enforce the 10th Amendment and devolve powers back locally where the Founders intended them to be. Second, what happened to all those promises about staying committed to repealing the mother of all big government unfunded mandates? We must repeal Obamacare! And rein in burdensome regulations that are a boot on our neck. Get government out of the way. Let the private sector breathe and grow. This will allow the confidence that businesses need in order to expand and hire more people. Third, no more run away debt. We must prioritize and cut. Cancel unused stimulus funds, and have that come to Jesus moment where we own up to the debt challenge that is entitlement reform. See, the reality is we will have entitlement reform; it’s just a matter of how we’re going to get there. We either do it ourselves or the world’s capital markets are going to shove it down our throats, and we’ll have no choice but to reform our entitlement programs. The status quo is no longer an option. Entitlement reform is our duty now, and it must be done in a way that honors our commitment to our esteemed elders today, while keeping faith with future generations. I don’t think anything has irked me more than this nonsense coming from the White House about maybe not sending our seniors their checks. It’s their money! They have paid into Social Security all of their working lives; and for the President to say, “ah, we may not be able to cut their checks,” ah, well, where did all their money go, politicians? It’s like the Commander-in-Chief being willing to throw our military under the bus by threatening that their paychecks may not arrive. But the politicians will still get their checks and their secure retirements, and he’ll still get his posh vacations. Aren’t you just sick to death of those skewed priorities? It’s all backwards. Our seniors and our brave men and women in uniform being used as pawns – I say it’s shameful, and enough is enough. No more. Fourth, it is time for America to become the energy superpower. The real stimulus that we’ve been waiting for is robust and responsible domestic energy production. We have the resources. Affordable and secure energy is the key to any thriving economy, and it must be our foundation. So, I would do the opposite of Obama’s manipulation of U.S. supplies of energy. Drill here, drill now. Let the refineries and the pipelines be built. Stop kowtowing to foreign countries and dictators asking them to ramp up production and industry for us, promising them that we’ll be their greatest customer. No, not when we have the resources here. We need to move on tapping our own God-given natural resources. I promise you that this will bring real job growth, not the politicians’ phony “green jobs” fairy dust sprinkled with wishes and glitter… No, a hardcore all-of-the-above energy policy that builds this indestructible link between made-in-America energy and our prosperity and our security. You know, there are enough large conventional natural resource development projects waiting for government approval that could potentially create more than a million high-paying jobs all across the country. And this is true stimulus. It wouldn’t cost government a dime to allow the private sector to do these. In fact, these projects will generate billions of dollars in revenue. Can you imagine that: a stimulus project that actually helps dig us out of debt instead of digging us further into it! And these are good-paying jobs, and I know that from experience. For years my own family was supported (as Todd worked up on the North Slope) by a good energy sector job. America’s economic revival starts with America’s energy revival. Fifth, we can and we will make America the most attractive country on earth to do business in. Here’s how we’re going to do this. Right now, we have the highest federal corporate income tax rate in the industrialized world. Did you know our rates are higher than China and communist Cuba? This doesn’t generate as much revenue as you would think, though, because many big corporations skirt federal taxes because they have the friends in D.C. who right the rules for the rest of us. This makes us less competitive and restrains our engine of prosperity. Heck, some businesses spend more time trying to figure out how to hide their profits than they do in generating more profits so that they can expand and hire more of us. So, to make America the most attractive and competitive place to do business, to set up shop here and hire people here, to attract capital from all over the globe that will lead to an explosion of growth, instead of chasing industry offshore, I propose to eliminate all federal corporate income tax. And hear me out on this. This is how we create millions of high-paying jobs. This is how we increase opportunity and prosperity for all. But here’s the best part: To balance out any loss of federal revenue from this tax cut, we eliminate corporate welfare and all the loopholes and we eliminate bailouts. This is how we break the back of crony capitalism because it feeds off corporate welfare, which is just socialism for the very rich. We can change all of that. The message then to job-creating corporations is: We’ll unshackle you from the world’s highest federal corporate income tax rate, but you will stand or fall on your own, just like all the rest of us out on main street. See, when we empower the job-creators, our economy will soar; Americans will get back to work. This plan is a first step in a long march towards fundamental restoration of a strong and free market economy. And it represents the kind of real reform that we need. And, folks, it must come from you. It must come from the American people. Real hope is in you. It’s not that hopey-changey “stuff” that we heard about back in 2008. We’ve all learned that. And real hope isn’t in an individual. It’s not in a politician certainly. And that hopey-changey stuff that was put in an individual back when Barack Obama was a candidate – that hopey-changey stuff didn’t create one job in August, did it? That’s the first time that’s happened in the United States since World War II. Real hope comes from you. Real hope comes from realizing that we the people can make the difference. And you don’t need a title to make a difference. We can get this country back on the right track. We can do it by empowering the people and realizing that God has richly blessed this most exceptional nation, and then we do something about that realization. Don’t wait for the permanent political class to reform anything for you. They won’t. They can’t. They can’t even take responsibility for their own actions. Our credit is downgraded, but it’s not their fault. Our economy’s in turmoil, but it’s not his fault. It’s the tsunami in Japan or the Middle East uprising. It’s Irene. It’s those doggone ATM machines. Folks, the truth is Barack Obama is adrift with no plan because his “fundamental transformation” is at odds with everything that made this country great. It doesn’t make sense. He doesn’t make sense. Unbelievably our President declares that he “believes in American Exceptionalism… just as the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism.” Well, the path he has us on will make us just as “exceptional” as Greece, alright – with the debt crisis and the stagnation and the unemployment and uprisings and all. Friends, you are better than that. Our country is better than that. We’ve got to unite. We’ve got to stand together. We can confront the problem and we can achieve lasting reform. And I can tell you from hard-earned experience with bumps and bruises along the way, that the road ahead is not easy. You will be demonized. They’ll mock you. They’ll make things up. They’ll tell you to “go to hell.” But we’ll bite our tongue, we’ll keep it classy, and we won’t respond—as tempting as it is—to anyone who just has such disdain for our free market economy and for individual initiative and responsibility. We won’t say, “No, you go to hell.” No, we won’t say that. You know why we don’t have to say that? Because when we have time-tested truth and logic on our side, we win. And when we refuse to retreat because we know that our children’s future is at stake, we win. No, the road isn’t easy, but it’s nothing compared to the suffering and sacrifice of those who came before us. A few weeks ago, after my visit to the Iowa State Fair, I took my daughter Piper and my niece McKinley with us to the World War I Liberty Memorial in Kansas City. And standing in the rain, reading the inscriptions on the Memorial about the honor in one’s dedication to God and country, I thought of all those young patriots who suffered and died so far from home. And revering our vets there with the next generation by my side, there was such clarity – clarity in our calling, patriotic Constitutionalists. We have a duty not just to the living, but also to those who came and died before us and to the generations yet to be born. Our freedom was purchased by millions of men now long-forgotten throughout history who charged the bayonets, and they charged the cannons; they knew they were going to die, but it was worth it for them sacrificing for future generations’ freedom. They’re the ones who prayed in the trenches and suffered in the P.O.W. camps. They gave their lives so that we could be here today. You and I are blessed to be “born the heirs of freedom.” As President John F. Kennedy said, “We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution.” We are the heirs of those who froze with Washington at Valley Forge and who held the line at Gettysburg, who freed the slaves to close a shameful chapter, and who carved a nation out of the wilderness. We are the sons and daughters of those who stormed the beaches of Normandy and raised the flag at Iwo Jima and made America the strongest, the most prosperous, the greatest nation on earth forever in mankind’s history – the greatest, most exceptional nation. America, we will always endure. We will always come through. We will never give up. We shall endure because we live by that moral strength that we call grace. Because though we’ve often skirted a precipice, a Providential Hand has always guided us to a better future. So, let us seek that Hand once more. Our Ronald Reagan said, “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, we will be a nation gone under.” Yes, He shed his grace on thee, America! We will not squander what we have been given! We will fight for freedom. We will fight for America. We are at the tipping point. United we must stand. And we shall nobly save, not meanly lose, this last best hope on earth. So, God bless you, Iowa! God bless the United States of America!

A Brief History of the Democratic Party

2011-11-07T05:57:00.003-05:00
Here's a excellent video on Democratic Party histoory...

Occupy Wall Street: The Real Difference Twixt OWS & The Tea Party

2011-11-07T05:20:00.000-05:00
While reading a post on instapundit last night,
I saw this comment (all emphasis is mine, Ed.): “Democratic commentator Bob Beckel recently compared the disparity between the Tea Party’s treatment by local governments and the Occupiers’ to one person getting a better deal on a car than another. Imagine an America where basic equalities and a God-given right to public self-expression are reduced to clearance-sale status, depending on the agenda and whims of the ‘bosses’ on duty at a given time.” That example — government as used-car salesman — captures both the ethos and the performance of Beckel and his ilk. The truth is, these people get a pass because, as client groups of the Democratic Party, they’re exempt from the enforcement of the law. This may make people who aren’t so favored wonder why they should pay taxes to, or obey the commands of, a system that doesn’t follow the law itself. Well: Why should they? Where’s the legitimacy?
That's the real problem. Neither the MSM nor the Democratic Party controlled municipalities are holding the OWS "movement" to the same level of responsibility that they have held the Tea Party to...when nearly 1,000,000 people showed up in Washington DC for the largest Tea Party rally, not one rape occured...yet in the past 6 weeks, dozens have happened in New York's Zuccotti Park. It's so bad, they've had to erect a "women's tent."
Zuccotti Park, the home of the "Occupy Wall Street" protesters, is so overrun by sexual predators attacking women in the night that organizers felt compelled to set up a female-only sleeping tent to keep the attackers away.The large, metal-framed "safety tent" -- which will be guarded by an all-female patrol -- can accommodate as many as 18 people and also will be used during the day for women-only meetings, organizers said Friday."This is all about safety in numbers," according to Becky Wartell, 24, a protester from Portland, Maine.The safety measure came amid a terrifying spree of sexual assaults -- including an alleged rape -- in the Zuccotti Park camp.
Because the OWS "protesters" are a Democratic client, they are permitted to act in any manner they desire. For all the ranting the MSM did about the Tea Party movement...I've come to the firm opinion that it was all about liberals projecting their thoughts and desires and actions on what they would do in similar situations...and that's whats actually occuring now all accross the country. If the Tea Party movement had acted in the horribly irresponsible and lawless manner that the OWS "movement" is, the MSM would be shrieking for it to be suppressed in the most violent manner...

Occupy Wall Street: Democrats Storm Troopers? Or Media Hypocirisy In Action?

2011-11-06T07:15:00.000-05:00
If you pay attention to the liberal media...the Tea Party movement was filled with rage and violence...yet none actually occured, except against Tea Party supporters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPQjnPhIvDo http://rightwingnews.com/uncategorized/update-sacramento-union-thug-attacks-tea-party-er-and-lies-to-local-tv/http://thestir.cafemom.com/in_the_news/125773/union_thugs_destroy_private_property http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTXBOgPCh9wWhile in the OWS "movement" violence, rape and sexual assault are rampant.http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7107890#editor/target=post;postID=855747416721706187 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2011/11/03/BACM1LQ5FU.DTL&object=%2Fc%2Fpictures%2F2011%2F11%2F03%2Fba-occupy02_0504484216.jpg http://www.theblaze.com/stories/violent-vid-occupy-protesters-caught-in-morning-brawl/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2049137/Occupy-Wall-Street-Violence-erupts-police-clash-protesters.html http://gothamist.com/2011/11/05/occupy_wall_street_erects_women-onl.php http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2057370/Occupy-Wall-Street-kitchen-worker-charged-sex-abuse-suspected-rape-protester.html http://www.theblaze.com/stories/teenager-claims-she-was-raped-at-the-occupy-cleveland-protest/http://www.theblaze.com/stories/emotional-interview-alleged-occupy-baltimore-rape-victim-says-activists-refused-to-help/http://conhomeusa.typepad.com/therepublican/2011/11/raping-civilization-occupy-wall-street-attacks-social-norms.html...as something of a historian, the OWS movement seems a hell of a lot like what the NAZI's and communists were doing in the 1920's as they battled for control of Germany in the Weimar Republic era. This picture series is especially aliterative of this. Are we watching the rise of the (Social) Democratic party's new storm troopers? If you take in the possibility that the OWS movement is being bankrolled by a number of leftist organizations, this is a distinct possibility.More importantly, is how the media is portraying OWS versus how they portrayed the Tea Party Movement. Here in a nutshell is how it's being presented by the MSM
I know I'm not the only one who's noticed this hypocrisy in action. These people are demanding in part, that their massive student loans be forgiven...my answer is rather blunt---HELL NO! If you're stupid enough to get a degree in psychology (which prepares you to flip burgers) or in anything that has the word "studies" in it, and you paid highly inflated tuition rates for it, you deserve what you've done to yourself but I digress...Media coverage of the two movements, one a true grass roots movement, and the other an astro-turfed insta-movement is very telling. The media is attempting to divert attention away from the disaster that Mr. Obama's policies have inflicted upon America. That's the main difference.

Newt In 2012?

2011-11-05T11:17:00.000-04:00
While I am unabashedly NOT a support of Newt Gingrich...he's turning into the only adult in the room in the GOP field right now. So far, he's the only candidate who refuses to figuratively attack any of his fellow candidates. That alone, in my opinion has risen his stock. Here's video via Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion of his speech in Iowa yesterday that got the only standing ovation.It may be, that he ends up on the ticket of whoever wins, as the VP candidate...that wouldn't be a bad thing, at this point. He would make a hell of an attack dog, wouldn't he?

OWS Violence in Washington, DC

2011-11-05T11:09:00.000-04:00
The real face of OWS in Washington, DC..

Nancy Pelosi's Conflict of Interest

2011-11-04T19:40:00.001-04:00
Here's video of Nancy Pelosi trying to defend her conflict of interest in introducing "credit card reform" after she was given preferential treatment in a stock offering by VISA.

How to end Illegal Immigration

2011-11-04T19:35:00.000-04:00
There is constant argument on how to eliminate the huge problem we have with illegal immigrants in this country. This post stems from a comment on made on a Daily Caller article. You want to end illegal immigration?   There are five simple steps to do so:

1. One year manadatory jail term and $10,000.00 fine for each illegal worker who is found in your employment.
2. Revoke business license for 1 year for each illegal worker who is found in your employ
3. On third violation...sieze all property owned by that company...
4. Eliminate the "anchor baby" citizenship loophole...by stating that those children born to parents who are here illegally do not have citizenship.
5. Eliminate ALL federal funding to municipalities and counties that are "santuary" areas. (If you don't wish to enforce federal laws...then you don't get federal dollars.).

Those five simple steps would eliminate any and all insentives for hiring illegal workers.

Graph That Sinks Obama

2011-11-03T06:44:00.001-04:00
Here's a very simple graph that very well could sink Obama's reelection campaign...but only if enough of us on the right side of the political spectrum get the message out. After all, the MSM is in the tank for Obama and has been from the very start. Does anyone believe that POLITICO.com would have published an unsourced story that could hurt Obama....????

Just one simple graph that not just argues against his failed economic agenda, but absolutely shouts down his arguments for his "jobs plan" which is only a smaller version of the "stimulus" that wasn't.

The "Debt Commision"

2011-11-03T06:08:00.000-04:00
from a reader...
Dear Alan,Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. Here's a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Montana ... I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is! "Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight..
1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.
2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).
3 My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud..
4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.
5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.
6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again.
Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money.
Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" on your incompetence.
Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.
1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?
2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?
3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?
4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?
It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the"greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.And you can take that to the bank, youmiserable son of a bitch.
Rather eloquent, I'd say.

High Speed Photography

2011-11-02T19:13:00.001-04:00
From Linda...superb high speed photography:

Redneck Halloween!

2011-10-29T23:00:00.000-04:00

History: Eisenhower Was Right!

2011-10-29T15:58:00.000-04:00
From a reader...and this is sadly...true.
When I was a kid, I couldn't understand why Eisenhower was so popular. Maybe this will explain why.
General Eisenhower Warned Us.
[ It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.He did this because he said in words to this effect:'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'
This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while many in the world looked the other way!Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.[This e-mail is intended to reach 400 million people! Be a link in the memorial chain and help distribute this around the world.How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Centre 'NEVER HAPPENED',
because it offends someone???

President Obama Is Doomed....BUT,

2011-10-24T21:25:00.000-04:00
There's a terrific article in Forbes today by John Tamny. His premise is that Mr. Obama will be a one term president, but only if the GOP candidates can figure out why. He argues that having a soft dollar will doom Obama because he's not done anything to defend the currency. Mr. Tamny make many valid assertions, at leas in my opinion. BUT, yes, that horrible word, Mr. Tamny doesn't take into account the following, which I added to the comments:
The One Big Thing you miss is presuming the GOP candidates are smart enough to catch on. After all, the leadership of the GOP in congress promised real spending cuts...and delivered "cuts in future spending." As if that means anything (since no Congress can restrict what a future Congress can do...without a Constitutional amendment.).

That being said, the media anointed "front runner," Mitt Romney is Obama "Light"...see RomneyCare, the blueprint for ObamaCare (not that I object of Massachusetts having a state mandated health care system...that's covered by the 10th Amendment). Rick Perry is faltering, and I don't really think that he has what it takes to puts things back on track. Herman Cain, has a clue, but I'm not certain he has the political experience to get things done either.

Soooo...never under estimate the ability of the GOP to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The real problem with the GOP currently is that it's current leadership, has "gone along to get along" for so long, that they just don't know anything else. They've compromised (i.e. sold out to) with the Democratic Party on every item that's been passed through Congress over the past 50 years. I don't think they have what it takes to...right the vessel of state.

Congress if they really wanted to could pass a genuine austerity budget, and derail the Obama attempt at growing government by fiat and through the regulatory agencies (EPA, alphabet soup offices) by simply NOT FUNDING THEM...they can't pass new growth chocking regulation if they have no funds.

The GOP needs to pass a budget, a real budget and send it to the Senate and watch the Democratically controlled Senate, choke on it. 23 Democratic Senators are up for reelection...let them explain to their constituents WHY THEY VOTED AGAINST A BUDGET THAT WOULD MOVE THE COUNTRY FORWARD...unfortunately, Mr. Boehner doesn't have the courage, or character to do this...and the country will continue to suffer because both parties are playing politics.
If we could actually get the GOP in Congress to actually deliver on what they promised BEFORE the election of 2010, when the country gave them a majority in the House of Representatives, and near parity in the Senate.
Vote to repeal ObamaCare...and send it to the Democratically controlled Senate so they can choke on it.
Vote on a budget that either cuts funding altogether, or severely reduces funding on the alphabet soup regulatory agencies...as well as those useless cabinet level departments that simply waste money and provide employment to bureaucrats...and send it to the Democratically controlled Senate so those 23 Dem Senators would have to explain to their constituents WHY THEY VOTED AGAINST reducing the size and scope of government.
Live up to the promises you gave in 2010...
Pass a balanced budget amendment and send it to the states.
Really screw the Senate and pass and send to the States an amendment repealing the 17th Amendment (direct election of Senators, instead of them being selected by the various state legislatures, and immediately remove a huge crutch of federalism)
If they GOP would do this...the Democrats would be painted into a corner they can't get out of...just looking at the meltdown in Europe and pounding home the simple lesson that what is happening there will happen here within 5 years if we don't do something NOW...would give us super majority in both houses of Congress as well as a president with a mandate to commit America to real change...change that would guarantee a return to prosperity for at least 20 years.



The Anschluss: How It Really Was...

2011-10-22T13:28:00.000-04:00

The following was sent to me by a long time reader. It's worth reading the whole thing.

_____________________________________________________________

Kitty Werthmann is 85 years old This is a piece of HISTORY Read & perhaps learn something new from HISTORY and "CHANGE"

America truly is the Greatest Country in the World.
By: Kitty Werthmann

What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.

I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote.. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force. In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates.

Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.

The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other.. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted.

We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy.

We wanted the same way of life in Austria. We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.

We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed.

After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.

Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education.
Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me.

They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.

Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men.
Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries.
As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income.
Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.

We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control.
We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.

"Mercy Killing" Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness.
As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration.. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily.
No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
"It's true..those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.

Obama Occupies Wall Street

2011-10-21T18:10:00.001-04:00
From BKeyser:

Republicans in Congress Betray The Tea Party & GOP Principles

2011-10-19T05:56:00.001-04:00
We, in the heartland have long lamented that the GOP's "elite leadership" in Washington are clueless imbeciles, who regularly "go along to get along." But as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Very nearly all the current membership of Congress has spent the vast majority of their political careers as a minority party in either their state house, or in Congress.

Once upon a time, the GOP stood for things like keeping down taxation, regulation and the reducing the size of blouted federal government. But like all things political, GOP politicians who said they were for this, were only paying lip-service for the masses. Most recently, GOP opposition to ObamaCare was that it was beyond the purview of the federal government both in the Commerce Clause as well as the 10th amendment, which limits the scope of the federal government. Then came politics...
Among other things, S.197 sets a statute of limitations for claims, caps damages and creates standards for expert witnesses. These may sound like great ideas, but they are not within the constitutional powers granted to the federal government for the very same reasons Obamacare is not.

The law’s own justification for its constitutional authority should be chilling to anyone committed to limited federal power. The bill’s findings state that health care and health insurance are industries that “affect interstate commerce,” and conclude that Congress therefore has Commerce Clause power to regulate them — even when it involves an in-state transaction between a doctor and patient, governed by in-state medical malpractice laws. Is there any industry that couldn’t be found to have an effect on interstate commerce? The agriculture and manufacturing industries, long considered the paradigmatic areas not covered by the Commerce Clause, certainly fall under federal power under this broad analysis.
Now, the Senate GOP is for big government, because it's something that they want...for political jockeying. So, which is it? They have no principles that matter, and should adhere to, or they're just political hacks who say one thing one day, and something diametrically opposite the other? This is hypocrisy that is often laid at the feet of Congressional [Social] Democats...and a bat that should be used to beat the GOP political leadership.
No wonder Rush Limbaugh took to the airwaves at the close of last week, an advance copy of this article in his hand, to say in essence -- and sadly -- that he was coming to the conclusion that in fact there were a number of Republicans who were on the other side -- as in those who once supported the conservative argument having jumped the fence to play in some fashion for Clark Clifford's old team

Making them, as we will call them here, "Clark Clifford Republicans."

"Clark Clifford Republicans" defined as those who really don't believe in the Reagan/Coolidge view -- the conservative view and once upon a time the Republican view -- of the world at all. Even if they give good lip service to the idea in public, it is clear from this piece that in the quiet corners of this or that Washington bistro they are muttering their equivalent derogations for Tea Partiers that match in some fashion Clifford's "amiable dunce" derisive. Although, it appears, they have dropped the "amiable."

It's not simply that they have a Thomas E. Dewey/Nelson Rockefeller view of the world or, to use Barry Goldwater's pithy description, they favor a "dime store New Deal."

The real problem here is that all of Clark Clifford's friends across the decades have so rooted Big Government in the psychology of Washington that "Republican Elites" have elected to accept the whole premise -- and for reasons having to do with self-preservation simply cannot bring themselves to get seriously Reaganesque or Coolidge-like because to do so gnaws at their own economic vitals and capacity for influence. Both now hopelessly entangled with the concrete boxes of bureaucracy that literally litter the Washington landscape. [Emphasis is mine, Ed.]
This is a bad bill and should never have been written this way. You can't scream about a massive government over-reach in one minute...then try and extend the reach of government in another. This is what DEMOCRATS DO...and is a gross betrayal of core principles of the Republican Party.

X-Factor: Australian Edition

2011-10-16T23:41:00.000-04:00
My wife and I watch the US version...here's a great story of a guy from Iraq...

I hope he does well....great big brass balls.

It's All Bush's Fault; Part 428

2011-10-16T18:41:00.000-04:00
During his speech inaugerating the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument (which was made in China by slave labour), he spent most of the speech pushing for "redistribution of wealth" and blaming his predecessor for the country's economic woes.
Barack Obama bashed Bush and pushed “change” and redistribution of wealth during his speech today at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. What could have been a unifying moment turned into a campaign speech. Nice work, Barack.

Transcript:
Nearly 50 years after the March on Washington, our work, Dr. King’s work, is not yet complete. We gather here at a moment of great challenge and great change. In the first decade of this new century, we have been tested by war and by tragedy; by an economic crisis and its aftermath that has left millions out of work, and poverty on the rise, and millions more just struggling to get by. Indeed, even before this crisis struck, we had endured a decade of rising inequality and stagnant wages. In too many troubled neighborhoods across the country, the conditions of our poorest citizens appear little changed from what existed 50 years ago -– neighborhoods with underfunded schools and broken-down slums, inadequate health care, constant violence, neighborhoods in which too many young people grow up with little hope and few prospects for the future.
Our work is not done. And so on this day, in which we celebrate a man and a movement that did so much for this country, let us draw strength from those earlier struggles. First and foremost, let us remember that change has never been quick. Change has never been simple, or without controversy. Change depends on persistence. Change requires determination. It took a full decade before the moral guidance of Brown v. Board of Education was translated into the enforcement measures of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, but those 10 long years did not lead Dr. King to give up. He kept on pushing, he kept on speaking, he kept on marching until change finally came. (Applause.)
And then when, even after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act passed, African Americans still found themselves trapped in pockets of poverty across the country, Dr. King didn’t say those laws were a failure; he didn’t say this is too hard; he didn’t say, let’s settle for what we got and go home. Instead he said, let’s take those victories and broaden our mission to achieve not just civil and political equality but also economic justice; let’s fight for a living wage and better schools and jobs for all who are willing to work. In other words, when met with hardship, when confronting disappointment, Dr. King refused to accept what he called the “isness” of today. He kept pushing towards the “oughtness” of tomorrow…{All emphasis is mine, Ed.}
Eventually, Mr. Obama will realize that this isn't what the country wants...that "Class War" just doesn't sell very well in America. Here's the new face of the [Social] Democratic Party.

Liz Cheney said on FoxNews this morning that,

“In terms of President Obama, what he’s doing politically he may think makes sense. I think it’s actually scarier than that, though. I think he really believes it. I think that he’s not put forward so many policies that aren’t working economically and that are not working for him politically that you’ve got to at some point it must be ideology. It must be that he really believes in redistribution of the wealth. He really believes in increasing capital gains tax even if it means lower revenues to the treasury. It’s something new that we’ve seen from a president in a long time and I think it’s very concerning.”
When Mr. Obama was confronted by Joe the Plumber in 2008, he was merely saying what he really believes...that the only way to economic prosperity for this country is to take away from those who do the work, and give it to those who won't work.

Cain Gets Grilled On Meet The Press

2011-10-16T18:16:00.000-04:00
Herman Cain's interview on Meet The Press this morning took on aspects of a prosecutorial grilling. As The Other McCain points out, when Democrats are invited to the show, they're generally treated with kid gloves, but when a GOP politician appears, they get the 3rd degree...and then some.
When Democrats go on Meet the Press, it’s like Justin Bieber sitting down for a hard-hitting interview with Tiger Beat. (“Do you like puppies?”) When conservatives go on Meet the Press, it’s like Hans Frank on trial at Nuremberg, except without benefit of a defense lawyer.David Gregory just got through interrogating Herman Cain and grilled him relentlessly until, as Alex Pappas reports at The Daily Caller, the guilty perp finally confessed his crime:
Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain admitted Sunday that “some people” would pay more in taxes every year under his “9-9-9” tax reform plan. “That’s right. Some people will pay more,” Cain told David Gregory of NBC’s Meet the Press. “But most people will pay less, that’s my argument.”

Does anyone think the The Won has treated this way...he would never have been elected in 2008.

Occupy Wall Street's Message

2011-10-16T11:31:00.000-04:00
Here's what "Occupy Wall Street" is all about.

This is what the various atroturfed protests around the country are all about.

2011-10-16T07:41:00.000-04:00
Here's how the left wing liberals feel about America:

http://www.youtube.com/v/ZKzGbgSe8lg&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true">http://www.youtube.com/v/ZKzGbgSe8lg&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="360">

Then, there's this video of the OWS "movement" in Portland.

Makes you wonder just what they really want? Liberal facism perhaps?

Obama Needs More Power?

2011-10-16T07:13:00.001-04:00
While most of the time, I find Glenn Beck to be a buffoon of the worst sort, every once in a while, he does get things right. Please watch this video.

If he's right, then literally, the fate of the Republic is at stake. I'm hoping he's wrong. In "Liberal Facism", Jonah Goldberg talks about totalitarian aspects of Liberal ideology...and now, we have mainstream liberal politicians calling for dictatorship. Congress isn't broken, what's broken are Liberal's desires to dictate what you can and cannot do, not just publicly, but inside your home.

It's bad enough that on average, every single American commits (however unknowingly) 3 serious felonies a day...but, now, leading liberals are calling for the suspension of the Constitution and rule by executive fiat. What's next? Punitive arrest of those who oppose the will of The One? This is a very slippery slope that we're heading for...

UPDATE: Jackson is being pounded on both the left,
Debbie Halvorson, his likely 2012 primary Democratic challenger, said their shared district’s residents do not want “a do-nothing politician who is looking to get a quick headline.”

“In Rep. Jackson’s entire congressional career, he has never introduced a single jobs bill,” Halvorson said. “Now, he’s calling on the president to suspend the Constitution? As a representative of the people, you don’t give up when you hit a roadblock and throw the Constitution out the window — you keep working to get something done.”
and the right,
Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh issued a similarly harsh rebuke. On his Facebook page, Walsh wrote, “Jesse Jackson Jr., you asked Obama to declare a jobs state of emergency, bypass Congress, and take action by himself? If you want a dictator and state run jobs program, you might be happier living in North Korea with Kim Jong Il.” “Contact my district office if you need to expedite your passport,” Walsh snarked.
Sometimes...being stupid just doesn't pay.

Bogger & Video from YouTube

2011-10-15T20:51:00.001-04:00
does anyone know why blogger won't publish YouTube videos?

UPDATE: I've figured it out...I have to past them in HTML mode...not in compose.