It's easier than you think......

Ever wonder how to say thank you when you see a military person in uniform? See a simple way to do it from across a room or as you are passing by.

http://www.gratitudecampaign.org/fullmovie.php

Please pass it on to family & friends!

Thanks Y'all!!

Good news drives the Main Stream Press nuts.....

...after repeating the recession mantra day after day after day --- the numbers came out yesterday and much to the chagrin of the liberal press, the news was good and we aren't in a recession! How did they shout it..? NOT!

Economy grows at only 0.6 percentage point rate
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Wed Apr 30, 8:38 AM

The bruised economy limped through the first quarter of this year at a six-tenths of a percentage point growth rate as housing and credit problems forced people and businesses alike to hunker down.
The country's economic growth during January through March was the same as in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday — but not the kind of statistic that economists define as a recession. Although the economy is stuck in a rut, it is still managing to keep growing — however slightly.

By the way Pilgrims --- in macroeconomics, a recession is defined as a decline in a country's real gross domestic product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year.

Growth is not a decline - but I won't tell Ms Aversa and the AP if you won't! Hey, do you reckon Ms Aversa gained her negative attitude because that contrarian last name she's had to wear all her life?

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall - Who is the Biggest Hog of All?

Apparently Ms Bubba Clinton wasn't satisfied just trying to loot the White House when they filled their carpet bags and moved to New York! Now she's trying to empty the American Taxpayer's pockets and stuff over TWO BILLION TAX DOLLARS into corn cribs around her adopted state. This from the Hill:

Clinton: $2.3B in earmarks
By Manu Raju and Kevin Bogardus
04/28/08

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) has requested nearly $2.3 billion in federal earmarks for 2009, almost three times the largest amount received by a single senator this year.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s staggering request comes at a time when Congress remains engaged in a heated debate over spending federal dollars on parochial projects.
It also has gained traction on the campaign trail. Presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), a longtime foe of earmarks, has called for eliminating what he dubs “wasteful Washington spending.” Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) has spurned earmarks, seeking no funds for pet projects in the upcoming fiscal year.
Yet Clinton is continuing to request billions for earmarks, most of which will go to her home state.
The money is needed for homeland security, emergency response and health projects throughout New York, according to documents provided by her office.
The total amount Clinton requested greatly surpasses the $837 million secured last year by Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee who took home the largest dollar amount of earmarks in the current fiscal year’s spending bills. In those bills, Clinton secured $342 million in earmarks.
Clinton’s huge earmark requests have some speculating that the former first lady is preparing for a soft landing should she lose the Democratic primary to Obama and refocus her energy on winning a third Senate term.
“There’s a decent chance that she is going to remain the senator from New York, and she needs to do what she can to stay the senator from New York.

As 'Dirty Harry' used to say - "You got to ask yourself -- Are we better off letting her purloin $2.3B and go back to New York or let her become Pres and grab for the whole damn treasury?" By the way, for those of you who have already forgotten that earlier class 'Billion 101' - here's what it looks like; $2,300,000,000!!!

If you told your better half to go spend $1000 per day and come back after she/he spent $2.3B, she/he wouldn't be back for 2,300,000 days or or more than six thousand years!!!

Lost in Space? or Obama the Space Cadet?

(click on pic for close-up and then hit return arrow to come back)

I ain't even gonna comment ... almost!

...some of us have been callin' this scam a scam for years -- and still he gets treated like a Nobel winnin', Oscar suckin' up hero!.... Give me a break! That $683m looks so innocent until you spell it out...... $683,000,000! As in more than a half Billion $$$$$

Gore investment body closes $683m fund.

by - Fiona Harvey in London

The investment vehicle headed by Al Gore has closed a new $683m fund to invest in early-stage environmental companies and has mounted a robust defence of green investing.

The Climate Solutions Fund will be one of the biggest in the growing market for investment funds with an environmental slant.

Guess that's how he pays the utility bill on that mansion in Tennessee!! And for for all the limo's, private jets, hotel presidential suites! He doesn't worry about 'Carbon Offsets'... the great unwashed just send him money ---- Ponzi was a piker compared to these folks!!

Tell you what Pilgrims - send me $10 and I'll send you a certified 'Carbon Offset' ....But wait there's more!!--- send me the money in the next thirty minutes and I'll double it and send you a certificate for $20!

Whoa Nellie -- call right now and I'll triple it to $30 worth of carbon offsets!!
Won't you feel plumb proud then......!

(Just in case you think I am whistling Dixie -- Google "carbon offset scams" right now Pardners......

Maryland Taxpayers are super generous with convicted felons....

.... I wonder if they know --- or they are just more frogs boiling in the same pot as the rest of us?

Felons tap into fund for victims
Loopholes allow convicts to apply for state money
By Ruby Gonzales, Staff Writer

Almost every state has a fund to help victims of crime with medical, funeral and other expenses.
In California, anyone who is on felony probation, parole or serving time in prison or jail isn't eligible for the Victim Compensation Program. But the law doesn't technically ban those who have been convicted and served time.
One state that allows felons to apply has recently run into controversy.
The Baltimore Sun discovered that the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund paid about $1.8 million since 2003 to 217 offenders in Baltimore. This group of beneficiaries included a gang member shot by another gang member and the family of an inmate stabbed to death while in prison.
Now, a Maryland state senator has proposed an amendment that would ban felons from getting such aid.
Sen. James Brochin, a Democrat from Baltimore County, said his state's victim compensation fund is more lenient. He said he has no sympathies for serious felons dipping into a fund created to protect people who have been victimized.
He doesn't think anyone convicted of crimes such as murder, armed robbery, rape or a sex offense with a child should get a penny from the fund. His amendment will be voted on this week.
"I don't care if you did it 20 years ago. In my mind, the money should go to innocent victims," Brochin said.
The Maryland Department of Public Safety & Correctional Services at this moment isn't doing anything to review procedures, according to Mark Vernarelli, director of information for the department.
"That would be up to the Maryland legislators to change the law," he said.
Vernarelli said the board that approves the applications follows the law, "looks at each case very very carefully," and doesn't give money to anyone injured while committing a crime.
"The vast, vast majority of people that the board helped have been victims of crime," Vernarelli said.
In California, Los Angeles County turns in the most number of applications and gets a big chunk of the state compensation funds.
Miles Bristow, spokesman for the California Victims Compensation Claims Board, said of the 48,812 applications received in the last fiscal year, about 20 percent, or 9,703, came from Los Angeles County.
He said the state paid out about $75 million to victims of violent crime for fiscal year 2006-07. Los Angeles County received $25.9 million of that.
Aida Sherow, assistant program administrator for the county, said they get everybody applying for the program. She doesn't know how many applications her office receives.
She said felons have applied. But it doesn't mean these applicants are eligible or even get approved.
"Knowing policy, anyone incarcerated or on probation or parole when applying their case will not be approved," Sherow said.
California's Victim Compensation Program has paid more than $1.7 billion to victims since it started in 1965. Most of its funding comes from fines and fees paid by offenders.
Applicants must be the victim of a crime involving physical injury, threat of such injury or death.

With state income taxes in Maryland and California as high as 6% and 9% respectfully, their happy taxpaying citizens must be delighted to read these reports..... When does the madness rise to the point where the citizens say ENOUGH!!!!

Good Night, Sleep Tight, Don't let the Bedbugs Bite! --

---- has taken on a whole new level of importance in the New York Tri-State area apparently!

Bed Bug-Sniffing Dogs Pinpoint Pests In Seconds
'K-9 Detectives' Cost Thousands Less Than Exterminators
Kirstin Cole NEW YORK (CBS)

― Bed bug infestations have hit epidemic proportions in the tri-state area, so much that earlier this year New York City health officials created a bed bug "task force" after receiving thousands complaints about the microscopic critters. Now there's a new weapon in the fight against bed bugs, and its barking up a storm where the bed bugs bite. Smaller than a poppy seed, beg bugs nest in just about everything – not just beds – which makes it very hard to get rid of them.

New York resident Cindy Vaccaro thought her house may be infested with bed bugs after finding tiny red bites that itched on her legs – a souvenir, perhaps, froma recent vacation. "We went to, St. Thomas in March. So I started to get a little suspicious," she told CBS 2. Vaccaro is one of thousands whose concerns are growing in the area.

In 2007, New York City logged almost 7,000 bed bug complaints, and experts say they can't keep up with all the calls. Many are doing whatever they can to try and keep their house steer clear of the bugs. "I've heard stories where they actually put plastic all over the whole house and fumigate," Vaccaro said.

Carl Massicott is a professional bed bug fighter who knows the pests are nearly impossible to get rid of. Homeowners, he says, will spend a tens of thousands of dollars to combat them, with no guarantee they'll be gone for good. Massicott has a weapon of a different kind to battle bed bugs. Unlike exterminators, he doesn't use high-tech devices to locate the bugs. Instead, he relies on "Radar," one of the specially-trained bed bug-sniffing dogs called the Advanced K-9 Detectives used to sweep homes, hotel rooms, and apartments. It's Radar's nose, Massicott says, that knows just where to find the nesting bugs. "Radar's found them in telephones, clock radios. We've found them everywhere," he said. "I'm booked for the next month solid."

So where did Radar pinpoint the bugs a the Vaccaro residence? After putting his nose to the test, Radar found four areas where bedbugs who'd hitched a ride to the household were hiding. The bugs were found nesting in an X-Box game system, in their daughter's recent shipment of clothes from college, and in her husband's computer bag that's been on the road. "To find them in a case like this is virtually impossible because they get behind the lining," Massicott said.

And Vaccaro was very thankful for Radar's accuracy. "If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it," Vaccaro said. Radar sweeps a room in about 20 seconds, versus several hours for his human counterparts. So instead of fumigating her whole home, Vaccaro now just need to treat or toss the four items where the bugs were found. "There is no way a human would have found any of those spots," Vaccaro said.

Radar and his friends are always 100 percent accurate and trained, say their handlers, to work for food and love. A sweep from Radar starts at about $175, but experts say it can save homeowners thousands because of the dog's accuracy.

Charlie Brown would have been plumb proud of that little beagle - wouldn't he!

Ms Pelosi is either startin' to feel her oats ---

--- or else Cindy Sheehan's intent to run against her in the election this fall has sure gotten her attention! We're all gonna hear a lot more about this topic in the months to come.

GOP fears Pelosi power grab on Iraq

Martin Kady II April 29, 2008

Republicans are howling over what appears to be Nancy Pelosi’s plan to bypass the House Appropriations Committee on the upcoming Iraq war supplemental, complaining that the move will be the beginning of the end of the usual appropriations process and will further consolidate power in the hands of a speaker who already has a lot of it.
Democrats will meet throughout the week to hash out their strategy, and they insist that Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have not yet made any final decisions about how to handle what’s likely to be the last Iraq funding debate of the Bush presidency. But Republican and Democratic appropriations staffers say Pelosi’s office is seriously considering skipping over their committee to take a $178 billion war funding bill — $70 billion more than the president wants — straight to the House floor.
Although it wouldn’t be the first time Pelosi bypassed one of the most powerful Democratic chairmen in her caucus — last year, the speaker circumvented Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-Mich.) by creating a special global warming subcommittee outside the authority of his committee — sources say Pelosi won’t bypass the Appropriations Committee unless she has the blessing of its chairman, Rep. Dave Obey (D-Wis.).
Neither Pelosi’s office nor Obey’s would comment on the plan Monday.

I reckon we won't have the usual Beltway doldrums this summer...

Ole' Pecoz is almost embarassed to share this long time question with y'all....

...almost ---- but not quite!

Why did the chicken cross the road?
BARACK OBAMA: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
JOHN MC CAIN: My friends that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
HILLARY CLINTON: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......
DR. PHIL: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems
OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
GEORGE W. BUSH: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.
COLIN POWELL: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
ANDERSON COOPER - CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
JOHN KERRY: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
NANCY GRACE: That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
PAT BUCHANAN: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
MARTHA STEWART: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
DR SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain. Alone.
GRANDPA: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
BARBARA WALTERS : Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
JOHN LENNON: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
BILL GATES: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ......... reboot.
ALBERT EINSTEIN: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
BILL CLINTON: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
AL GORE: I invented the chicken!
COLONEL SANDERS: Did I miss one?
DICK CHENEY: Where's my gun
And there y'all are - - the true answers to an age old question....!

Supremes finally get something right!!

... for the first time in several weeks, the Supremes came down with a righteous ruling. Today they opined that it is perfectly okay for States to pass laws which require would-be voters to be kind enough to identify themselves with a photo ID before they give them a ballot! From Townhall.com:

Supreme Court upholds photo ID law for voters in Indiana

MARK SHERMAN April 28, 2008

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can require voters to produce photo identification without violating their constitutional rights, validating Republican-inspired voter ID laws.
In a splintered 6-3 ruling, the court upheld Indiana's strict photo ID requirement, which Democrats and civil rights groups said would deter poor, older and minority voters from casting ballots. Its backers said it was needed to prevent fraud.
It was the most important voting rights case since the Bush v. Gore dispute that sealed the 2000 election for George W. Bush. But the voter ID ruling lacked the conservative-liberal split that marked the 2000 case.
The law "is amply justified by the valid interest in protecting 'the integrity and reliability of the electoral process,'" Justice John Paul Stevens said in an opinion that was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy. Stevens was a dissenter in Bush v. Gore in 2000.
Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also agreed with the outcome, but wrote separately.
Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented, just as they did in 2000.
More than 20 states require some form of identification at the polls. Courts have upheld voter ID laws in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, but struck down Missouri's. Monday's decision comes a week before Indiana's presidential primary.

Wheee Doggies!! Next thing you know, they might prevent illegal aliens from voting, getting free schooling, medical care and food stamps.....! Nahh -that'd be too much to ask!

Another example of the law of unintended consequences...

.... can be found in this instance. The Italian government agreed to let the original marble statue of David, the slayer of Goliath, sculpted by the famed Michaelangelo, go on a twelve week whirl-wind tour of the United States recently!

Unfortunately - money for the tour was tight so the 'posse' traveling with this ageless star had to stay in cheap hotels and eat in American fast food joints all across the Country.

The results should have been expected!

Here is a headline you won't see on the evening news....

..... or on the front page of your paper today! From CNS News:

Reenlisting Reservists Will Help Fight 'War on Terror'

By Penny Starr CNSNews.com

One hundred men and women gathered on the West Lawn of the Capitol last week to reenlist in the Army Reserve, a patriotic action that represents the changing face of the U.S. military, according to Reservists."Today's Army Reserve soldiers play a vital role in the Global War on Terror by applying specialized civilian capabilities to a wide range of missions in Afghanistan and Iraq," a statement issued by the Reserve before the ceremony said.

The Army Reserve grew out of the Medical Reserve Corps, which was created by an act of Congress in 1908, and was first composed of 160 civilian physicians who served during times of war. "Throughout the 100 years, as the Army has changed, the Army Reserve has changed," Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stutlz, chief of the Reserve, said on April 22. "Most significantly, I would say, is after Sept. 11, after we've gotten into an extended conflict in the war on terror, the Army Reserve is in the midst of the biggest transformation we've ever had."

Stutlz described the 100 reenlisting troops - and the 100 who enlisted in a ceremony in Baghdad in January - as "I know what I'm getting into" soldiers. Sgt. Melleny Cotton, 28, had been in the Army Reserve for eight years. On Wednesday, she signed up for three more years."I think all of us who reenlisted today share the common belief that anything that defends our freedom we are willing to do," Cotton told Cybercast News Service ."I'm glad that I will get the chance to actually participate in defending my country," Specialist Anecio Muniz, who signed up for six more years, told Cybercast News Service.

The Army Reserve press office said approximately 190,000 Army Reserve soldiers have been mobilized in support of the "War on Terror" since Sept. 11, 2001, with 26,000 currently on active duty, 19,000 deployed overseas and 7,000 supporting homeland security missions in the United States."

When I first entered the Army Reserve (after) leaving active duty in 1979, our mantra was 'one weekend a month, two weeks in the summer - that's all we ask,'" Stultz said. "Our mantra right now is 'When called upon, you're expected to mobilize, deploy and defend your nation.' And if you're a member of the Army Reserve, then it will occur during your career, and it will occur in multiple locations."

Stultz's senior enlisted advisor, Command Sgt. Maj. Leon Caffie, said that the "summer camp" era for reservists is over and that today's soldiers have been deployed up to four times."The combat experience of the Army Reserve soldiers is phenomenal," Caffie said. "Today's Army Reserve force is by far the best-led, skilled, and equipped Army Reserve I have ever been associated with."

In January of this year the federal government-appointed Commission on the National Guard and Reserves released its third and final 448-page report, which included six major conclusions and 95 recommendations. But the gist of the report can be surmised from its brief subtitle: "Transforming the National Guard and Reserves into a 21st-Century Operational Force.""Now (the Army Reserve's) combat support, service support has to be mobilized on an extended or persistent basis," Stultz said. "That means the Army Reserve is no longer strategic; it's operational."

God Bless them -- every one!!!

Obama's racist preacher just won't go away....

...quietly and give Obama some wiggle room! He has discovered his '15 minutes' and he is by God going to revel in it. Great column by James Lewis on the AmericanThinker.com today:

April 28, 2008
The Moment of Truth for the Left has Arrived

By James Lewis April 28, 2008

If you haven't listened to Jeremiah Wright's hate sermons at Hugh Hewitt's website, you must do so. Every American with open eyes and ears has to listen to the voice of racial hatred, coming not from the Klan but from a clergyman of the Christian Left. Reading his words isn't enough, because you won't hear the unmistakable meaning of his vocal intonations. If you are a person of good will you will feel upset. But it's of the utmost importance to understand this moment of truth.

Because Jeremiah Wright -- the respectful word "Reverend" seems grotesquely out of place now -- is shouting out the slander catechism of the Left. His sermons say exactly what other Leftists say in calm voices, over and over again. Mr. Wright just does it with real, raw hatred, and every new slam is cheered on by his jubilant congregation. His is not a lone voice. He just sings the music to fit the words.

We have been nursing a viper in our national bosom. Seven years after September 11, 2001, this is the moment of truth, when the Left must finally decide what side it's on. Wright's sermons may signal the end of the Obama campaign, and they may mean the breakup of the Democratic Party as we know it. I don't see how any centrist Democrat can still belong to this partyif Obama is its nominee. Jeremiah Wright may mean the historical end of the Civil Rights Era, because fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Left's presumption of victimhood and innocence is now gone.

The Rev is only the visible bulge of this lethal political tumor. This is Saul Alinsky's sociopathic teachings on display, and this is what Hillary Clinton learned back at Wellesley College. It is the voice of feminists who hate all men, and of radicalized blacks who hate all whites.

Hate mongers collect injustices. If you and I did that, we could collect an endless laundry list about all the bad things somebody did to us. Maybe we have been hurt by men, or by women. Maybe we have been hurt by rich people, or by the angry poor. Maybe we have been hurt by Jews or blacks or whites, and we can put all our built-up rage on their heads. It's been done many times in the human past; that's exactly the psychology we see at work in Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka, and various Muslim nations (among others), when explosive massacres take place. Mob psychology has been manipulated by demagogues throughout history. This is simply the another version of the Kluxers and Jim Crow lynch mobs. Today I see that psychology clearly enough on the Left, but outside of the ranting rooms of verifiable paranoids I don't see it many other places in this country.
Selectively collected injustices can keep us on the boil for a lifetime, because we ruminate on and on in all our waking hours about all the terrible things people have done to us. That is what the Left feeds itself in an endless stream; it is not a healthy thing to do. But it's what Jeremiah Wright has done to himself and to his congregation -- and who knows to how many thousands of other people? -- for almost all of his adult life. This is the Grand Inquisitor's view of America, the enraged prosecution case, without even imagining the possibility of innocence. This is what demagogues and witchhunters have always done, but I had never thought I'd see it in my lifetime.

Most of us take a more balanced view on our lives; we've had undeserved good fortune some of the time, and we've suffered undeserved pain at other times. That's life. If you look at the facts of Jeremiah Wright's life, he has been a child of good fortune -- excellent schooling well into graduate school, privilege and money, the support of a community of believers, vast political clout in Chicago. But hate mongers don't think that way. They just collect more and more injustices as they go through life, and load it all onto some enemy. They are constantly reading the minds of the enemy -- whites and especially Jews, in the case of Mr. Wright -- and all they see there is malevolence. Evil is what evil sees.
For Jeremiah Wright, the enemy comes with a white skin. He has taken historical injustices and turned them into a lifelong call for vengeance. This is the official doctrine of Black Liberation Theology, and it is freely supported by powerful institutions on the religious Left. BLT's founder, Dr. Jim Cone, is a professor of systematic theology at the Union Theological Seminary. It's utterly bizarre but true.

So it's not just Senator Obama who is stuck with Mr. Wright today. We are all stuck with a rageful Left, which really wants to destroy rather than to build. They mentally rehearse perceived injustices over and over again, and they blame this country for all the evil in the world, including AIDS in the black community. They never look at another side. Many have no honest conception of other countries, other cultures, or other points of view. They are not balanced people.

So the entire American body politic has a festering sore on its hands. This will not go away by itself. It will not be bought off by more money. It must be repudiated by the sensible Left, if it is still there. Just as William F. Buckley denounced the anti-Semites on the right, and sensible Americans rejected segregation and the Klan, just as American unions expelled Stalinist unions from the AFL-CIO, the time has come for the decent Left to draw a bright line in the sand, and keep the hate mongers out.

For forty years, we have been constantly told that Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton were the Black 'leaders' in this country -- never did hear when the Blacks elected or appointed them to that position, but that's a title they claimed. Apparently Jerimiah Wright, another large mouth with a chip on his shoulder and a 'reverend' in front of his name - has decided to join this self appointed group!!!

What goes around..... comes around......

Some folks accuse Ole' Pecoz of being anti-goverment...

... but I ain't! I'm just anti-career politician!!! Case in point -- read this article from this weeks Gob'mint Watch in Parade Magazine.....

Why Congress Ignores Your Retirement

You may be worried about saving for retirement—but Congress isn’t. Only 50 percent of all American employees can sign up for a 401(k) or other plan at work, and only 35 percent of senior citizens currently receive income from a pension. But members of Congress have a pension and the option for a 401(k)-type plan.

“If you’re a Congressman who retired in 2006 after 20 years, you’d get a $55,000 initial yearly pension, as well as your 401(k) savings and Social Security benefits,” says David John of The Heritage Foundation. “Many members of Congress don’t understand how hard it can be for the average person to save. They address retirement with their ‘leftover’ time. It’s not a high enough priority for them.”

Just stop and think about it -- once elected these gob'mint hogs feed at the trough as long as they like -- incumbent reelection rates are near 100%, they let the taxpayers pay for all the perks, let the lobbyists pay for all their meals and vacations, and steal what they can on the side.

Then they retire, double their pay as prostitutes for special interests, sit on boards of directors for thousands, and strut around the barnyard claiming to have sacrificed as a 'public servant' for twenty years...... Give me a break!!!!

And I ain't even gonna mention that the vast majority of them are lawyers, and never wore a military uniform, or signed a payroll check as a business owner!! It's interesting that each succeeding congress has fewer members with military service as we get further and further from the end of the draft in '73! So much for volunteering and patriotism!

Y'all remember 'Dollar Bill' Jefferson, Dem of Louisana...

.....and his freezer full of money? He wins -- we lose!! From Judicialwatch.org:

Supreme Court takes a dive on Dollar Bill
Tom Fitton, Washington, D.C. -

Congressional crooks received a gift recently when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving an FBI search of Louisiana Democratic Rep. William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson's congressional office.
Thanks to this ruling, members of Congress will continue to have a "law enforcement free zone" in which to conduct corrupt and criminal activity – their taxpayer-funded congressional offices.

According to the March 31st edition of The Wall Street Journal:
"The Supreme Court declined to intervene in a dispute between the Justice Department and Congress over the 2006 criminal raid of Rep. William Jefferson's Capitol Hill office…Last August, a Washington-based U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a court order barring prosecutors from using evidence gathered in the office raid. When the government asked the D.C. Circuit to reconsider the stay, it voted 5-4 to leave the restrictions in place."
In a one-line order, without comment, the Supreme Court ruled that it would not hear the case.

Here's a bit of the back story. Jefferson was nabbed in a sting operation accepting a $100,000 bribe from an FBI informant to broker business deals in Africa. (During his conversation with the informant, who was wired, Jefferson famously remarked, "All these notes we're writing to each other, as if the FBI is watching.") Well, the FBI was watching (and listening) and during a subsequent search of Jefferson's home, investigators found $90,000 in cash stuffed in the congressman's freezer.
Jefferson allegedly intended to use the money to bribe a Nigerian official over a business deal that would have enriched himself and his family.

The FBI then obtained a search warrant and took its investigation to Jefferson's Capitol Hill office collecting thousands of pages of documents and computer files. That's when the trouble started. In a rare display of solidarity, leaders of Congress from both parties complained that the search somehow violated the separation of powers.
A federal judge rightly rejected this argument. However, the D.C. appellate court did not, ruling that the evidence collected was inadmissible. (A jubilant Robert Trout, Jefferson's lawyer, said, at the time, the court decision clearly shows that every member of Congress has an "absolute right to review his records first and shield legislative material from review.'')

The appellate court ruled that the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause prohibited the FBI's review of records in Jefferson's office. The Speech or Debate Clause prevents congressmen from being questioned in any other place (such as a criminal court) about their legislative activities.
The Clause was designed to protect congressmen from intimidation from the other branches of government for simply engaging in their legislative duties. It is a shame the courts turned this limited protection into an outright immunity from police searches for congressmen.

Trying to look at the bright side of this foolishness -- it appears that the DC Court (jesters) of Appeals and the Supremes have agreed that congressional offices are designated crime areas protected by the constitution --- so proceed at your own risk!

She's baaaaaaack!!!

.... apparently Cindy Sheehan's first fifteen minutes wasn't long enough --- now she wants fifteen more!

Anti-war Cindy Sheehan files to take on Pelosi
John Wildermuth, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, April 26, 2008

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan wants to snatch House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's congressional seat from her in November, but first she's going to need the help - and signatures - of 10,198 friends and supporters.
Sheehan was at San Francisco City Hall on Friday to take out papers for her independent run for Congress, but without those signatures from voters in the district, her name won't show up on the ballot.
"It's an uphill battle," said Sheehan, who vowed to run against Pelosi in July after the speaker refused to start impeachment proceedings against President George Bush. "But I'm excited about the signature-gathering process. It's going to be an opportunity to talk to people about our campaign."
The 50-year-old Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed while serving in Iraq in 2004, became the public face of the anti-war movement when she mounted a demonstration outside Bush's Texas ranch that lasted from 2005 to 2007.

I left that last line in there just in case there is anybody on the planet that doesn't know that her son died in Iraq - they would be in the same group of folks that didn't know John Kerry served in Vietnam - or that McCain was a POW - or that Hellary was married to Bubba - or that Obama sat in Rev Wrights church for twenty years and never heard him say anything negative about white folks or America -

This sure pins the face on the donkey......

First year cadets at the Air Force Academy are allowed to resign the Academy without penalty up through the end of first-year Christmas break. Those who came back were assigned to write a paper on why they chose to return. Here is one young cadet's masterpiece, which has begun to be widely publicized...Remember, he is only 18 or 19 years old.


Essay by:

Joseph R. Tomczak Cadet, Fourth Class
United States Air Force Academy


Why return to the Air Force Academy after Winter Break?

So after our sunburns have faded and the memories of our winter break have
been reduced to pictures we've pinned on our desk boards, and once again we've
exchanged T-shirts and swim suits for flight suits and camouflage,there still
remains the question that every cadet at U.S.Air Force Academy in Colorado
Springs has asked themselves at some point: Why did we come back? Why, after
spending two weeks with our family would we return to one of the most demanding lifestyles in the country?

After listening to our 'friends' who are home from State or Ivy League schools
chock full of wisdom about how our war in Iraq is unjust and unworldly, why
would we return? And after watching the news and reading the papers which only
seem to condemn the military's every mistake and shadow every victory, why would we continue to think it is worth the sacrifice of a normal college life? Is it because the institution to which we belong is tuition- free?

Anyone who claims this has forgotten that we will, by the time we graduate, repay the US taxpayer many times over in blood, sweat, and tears. Is it because the schooling we are receiving is one of the best undergraduate educations in the country? While the quality of the education is second to none, anyone who provides this as a main reason has lost sight of the awesome responsibility that awaits those who are tough enough to graduate and become commissioned offic ers in the U.S. Air Force.

I come back to the Academy because I want to have the training necessary so that one day I'll have the incredible responsibility of leading the sons and daughters of America in combat. These men and women will never ask about my Academy grade point average, their only concern will be that I have the ability to lead them expertly; I will be humbled to earn their respect. I come back to the Academy because I want to be the commander who saves lives by negotiating with Arab leaders... in their own language.

I come back to the Academy because, if called upon, I want to be the pilot who flies half way around the world with three mid-air refuelings to send a bomb from 30,000 feet into a basement housing the enemy... through a ventilation shaft two feet wide.

Becoming an officer in today's modern Air Force is so much more than just command; it is being a diplomat, a strategist, a communicator, a moral compass, but always a warrior first.

I come back to the Air Force Academy because, right now, the United States is fighting a global war that is an 'away game' in Iraq - taking the fight to the terrorists.

Whether or not we think the terrorists were in Iraq before our invasion, they are unquestionably there now. And if there is any doubt as to whether this is a global war,just ask the people in Amman, in London, in Madrid, in Casablanca, in Riyadh, and in Bali.

This war must remain an away game because we have seen what happens when it becomes a home game... I come back to the Academy because I want to be a part of that fight.

I come back to the Academy because I don't want my vacationing family to board a bus in Paris that gets blown away by someone who thinks that it would be a good idea to convert the Western world to Islam.

I come back to the Academy because I don't want the woman I love to be the one who dials her last frantic cell phone call while huddled in the back of an airliner with a hundred other people seconds away from slamming into the Capitol building.

I come back to the Academy because during my freshman year of high school I sat in a geometry class and watched nineteen terrorists change the course of history live on television. For the first time, every class currently at a U.S. Service Academy made the decision to join after the 2001 terror attacks.

Some have said that the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan only created more terrorists... I say that the attacks of September 11th, 2001 created an untold more number of American soldiers; I go to school with 4,000 of them. And that's worth more than missing a few frat parties.

Joseph R. Tomczak Cadet, Fourth Class

United States Air Force Academy "

(U.S. Senator Wayne Allard (R-Colorado) had Cadet Tomczak's essay read into the Congressional Record)

Kinda' restores your faith in the generations comin' up through the ranks, don't it?

Couple of months ago - I shared some thoughts about $1 Billion Dollars -- --

---- this feller spells it out pretty durn good too! Thought I would share his thoughts:

What is a billion ?
This is too true to be funny.
The next time you hear a politician use the word 'billion' in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the 'politicians' spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.

A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate of government spending.

While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at New Orleans It's amazing what you can learn with some simple division :
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number, what does it mean?
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman and child), you each get $516,528.
B. Or if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington, D.C . HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken??

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Perm it Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Tax
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service charge taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Tax
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?

Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What happened? Can you spell 'politicians!'
And I still have to "press 1"for English.

What the heck happened?????

I reckon that fella about says it all -- did he mention a city $15 tax on yard sales ???

As my Grand Daughter would say......

.... here is a big "DUHHH!"

Top House Democrat denounces Clinton campaign tactics

WASHINGTON - “Scurrilous” and “disingenuous” were among the words a top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives used on Thursday to describe Hillary Clinton’s campaign tactics in her bid to defeat Barack Obama for their party’s presidential nomination.
House Democratic Whip James Clyburn, of South Carolina and the highest ranking black in Congress, also said he has heard speculation that Clinton is staying in the race only to try to derail Obama and pave the way for her to make another White House run in 2012.

“I heard something, the first time yesterday (in South Carolina), and I heard it on the (House) floor today, which is telling me there are African Americans who have reached the decision that the Clintons know that she can’t win this. But they’re hell-bound to make it impossible for Obama to win” in November, Clyburn told Reuters in an interview.
Obama holds a sizable lead in delegates won in state-nominating contests which could be hard for her to overcome.
The purported theory is that an Obama defeat in November against Republican presidential candidate John McCain would let Clinton make another presidential bid in four years, Clyburn said.

Well -----DUHHH! Who'da guessed? Surely, he ain't hinting that a Clinton might be politically devious....... Duhhhh!

I reckon it's just INCONVENIENT to answer....

as seen in this Newsbusters.org comment, Prince Albert has his telephone on 'call screening' this week because the world is waking up to riots and chaos because of the grain shortages caused, in part, by his stupid - stupid bio-fuels programs and recommendations.

Gore Ducks Questions About Food Crisis, Ethanol and Climate Alarmism
By Noel Sheppard April 25, 2008

A remarkable thing happened Thursday: a press member wanted to ask Nobel Laureate Al Gore about the
growing international food crisis and how it relates to ethanol and global warming hysteria.
Not surprisingly, the man who
cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate fourteen years ago mandating the use of ethanol wasn't available, and a spokesman for his hysteria-driving Alliance for Climate Protection declined to comment.
Isn't that convenient?

Regardless, the good news is that press outlets continue to recognize this unholy connection, and that someone, even at the conservative New York Sun, would deign to
report it (emphasis added throughout):

I found it even more interesting that his co-Nobel recipient stepped up to the mike this week and opined that perhaps -- ethanol might be a mistake and we might should, oughtta back off.......!

Finally -- an answer to the gas price problems....

..... Gas has finally reached the point....

Want a cold bucket of water in your face during Tax Month?

Well then Pardners, just Check out Schlafly's latest column. I tried to trim (edit) it but couldn't find any fat:

How the Government Spends Taxpayers' Money
by Phyllis Schlafly, April 23, 2008

Are you having a hard time paying your bills, making your mortgage payments, or putting your kids through college? You need to know how much of your hard-earned income the government is skimming off and diverting into handouts to immigrants and illegal aliens.
You can read the depressing details in the new 70-page document called "

The Economic and Fiscal Impact of Immigration" written by Edwin S. Rubenstein. A Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow with a mile-long scholarly resume, he has been doing financial analysis ever since he directed the studies of government waste for the prestigious Grace Commission of 1984.

The bottom line, which you need to know for your own bottom line, is that U.S. taxpayers are giving more than $9,000 a year in cash or benefits to each immigrant, a third of whom are illegal aliens. That's $36,000 for each immigrant household of four.
Since the U.S. has 37 million immigrants, legal and illegal, the national cost was more than $346 billion last year, which was twice our fiscal deficit. The cost of immigrants is so high because, as Rubenstein writes, "Immigrants are poorer, pay less tax and are more likely to receive public benefits than natives."

Big Brother hasn't told you this bad news, perhaps because the government doesn't want you to know why your paychecks are shortchanged. Even the huge amnesty bill that was defeated last year didn't contain one word about its budgetary consequences.
The financial burden that immigrants impose on education starts with the 3.8 million K-to-12 students enrolled in more-expensive classes for the non-English-speaking. When we add up the costs of hiring specialized teachers, training regular teachers, student identification and assessment, and administration costs, the total amounts to an estimated $1,030 per pupil, or $3.9 billion.
Of the 48.4 million pre-K through 12 public school children, 9.2 million or 19 percent are immigrants or the children of immigrants. In the next few years, immigration will account for virtually all the increase in public school spending.
Look at the $1.5 billion cost of incarcerating 267,000 criminal aliens in federal prisons. That's not the worst of it; prison capacity is limited, so 80,000 to 100,000 other criminal aliens have been prematurely released to prowl our streets.
Criminals also impose heavy private costs on their victims. Rubenstein estimates the losses of income and property, hospital bills, and emotional suffering at $1.6 million per assault- or property-crime offender.

Rubenstein's report includes all sorts of costs that other observers conveniently ignore, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit. EITC gives an average cash payment of $1,700 per year to 1 in 4 immigrant households.
The emergency medical treatment given free to illegal aliens is another enormous cost, causing some hospitals and emergency rooms to close. Emergency means any complaint from hangovers to hangnails, gunshot wounds to AIDS.
Even after some restrictions were imposed in 1996, 24.2 percent of immigrant households receive Medicaid, whereas the figure for native-born Americans is 14.8 percent. Rubenstein calculates that Hispanics account for 19.2 percent of Medicaid enrollment, while they are 13.7 percent of the U.S. population.

The FHA has had a policy of increasing home ownership among low-income immigrants and therefore approved FHA mortgages on homes with a down payment of only $200 to $300 and marginal income. Since mortgagors have so little invested in the house, they can walk away from it when they can't meet the payments, and this has resulted in neighborhoods of abandoned, boarded-up housing.
Refugees are a large and growing fiscal burden because they become immediately eligible for generous taxpayer-paid benefits. Evidence shows they stay dependent on these programs and start chain-migrating relatives under the "family reunification" law.
The Interior Department spends millions of dollars to clean up the mountains of trash discarded by illegal aliens crossing into California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
Some immigration advocates peddle the notion that immigration will solve the future financial burdens of Social Security. Rubenstein shows how foolish is this prediction because today's low-wage workers will surely become tomorrow's expensive retirees.
Another cost that few talk about is that immigrant workers depress the wages received by native-born Americans, and that causes a $100 billion shortfall in federal tax revenue. Harvard University Professor George Borjas found that each 10 percent increase in the U.S. labor force from immigration reduces wages of native-born Americans by 5.25 percent.
Some liberals are trying to tell us to fight a recession by bringing in more immigrants, but that would only raid the pockets of U.S. taxpayers to support more millions of non-taxpayers. It's hard to say which is more outrageous: the diversion of Americans' personal income into cash handouts to foreigners, or the federal government's policy of concealing the fiscal impact of immigration.

And on and on and on it goes Pilgrims!!! And now we have a RINO running against a choice of two uber-lib Dem's.. Lord luv a duck!

Who do you reckon we ought to vote for this fall....?

When analyzing the upcoming election -- here are the basic issues...

On the Democrat side -- no matter which candidate wins -- we get a lawyer married to a lawyer, both of whom have been sucking on the public teat all their adult life!

On the Republican side -- although not a McCain fan --- he is a war hero married to a well endowed blond who is a millionairess and owns a Budweiser distributorship....

I've never cared for lawyers, particularly politician lawyers.

I admire war heroes, well endowed blondes, and Budweiser (all for different reasons).

Hmmm --- guess that kind of decides it .......

Lay down on the couch Pilgrims.....

...... and these fellers will help you through your crisis.


Several psychotherapists told The New York Times in February that treatments are being developed for people who are excessively worried about their own carbon emissions being responsible for "global warming." More than 120 therapists are now listed as specialists in the field on Ecopsychology.org, and schools such as Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore., have created courses on counseling such patients. [New York Times, 2-16-08]



If my ole' horse has serious 'flatulence' problems, does that count against my carbon emissions or is it just God's way of taking pressure off his creatures? Do I have to send any money to Gorebot or does PETA pick up the tab?
Just wondering..........

For you young Pilgrims, who have heard romantic comments...

... about the 'Weathermen', read this excerpt from Ann Coulter's column this week:

[...........]
"Asked why he would be friends with the likes of Weatherman Bill Ayers, Obama said: "The notion that ... me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8 years old, somehow reflects on me and my values doesn't make much sense." That's a slick answer -- even "Clintonian"! -- but the problem is, Ayers and his Weatherman wife, Bernadine Dohrn, won't stop boasting about their days as Weathermen. It's not simply that they haven't repented.

To the contrary, those were their glory days! And Ayers isn't just someone who lives in the neighborhood: He and Dohrn were there at the inception of Obama's political career, hosting a fundraiser for Obama at their home back in 1995. Besides wanton violence, including a dozen bombings of buildings such as the Pentagon, the U.S. Capitol, historic statues and various police stations, the Weathermen's "revolutionary" activity consisted primarily of using the word "motherf-----" a lot, dropping LSD, coming up with cutesy phrases -- like "the Weather Underground" -- and competing over who could make the most offensive statements in public. (I also believe Dohrn may have set the North American record for longest stretch without bathing.)

At one rally, Dohrn famously praised the Manson family for murdering Sharon Tate and others, shouting: "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into a victim's stomach! Wild!" In a better country, just saying "Dig it!" in public would get you 20 years in the slammer.

Dohrn has recently tried to clarify her Manson remarks by saying it was some sort of "statement" about violence in society and, furthermore, that she said it while under sniper fire in Bosnia. Also recently, the members of the Manson family have distanced themselves from Ayers and Dohrn. At other rallies, Dohrn said, "Bring the revolution home, kill your parents -- that's where it's at."

After a Chicago Democratic official, Richard Elrod, became paralyzed while fighting with a privileged looter during the Weathermen's "Days of Rage," Dohrn led the Weathermen in a song sung to the tune of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay":

Lay, Elrod, lay,
Lay in the street for a while
Stay, Elrod, stay
Stay in your bed for a while
You thought you could stop the Weatherman
But up-front people put you on your can,
Stay, Elrod, stay Stay in your iron lung,
Play, Elrod, play
Play with your toes for a while

Only because of a merciful God is the author of that ditty, Ted Gold, not teaching at Northwestern or the University of Illinois now, alongside Dohrn or Ayers. That's because Gold is no longer with us, having accidentally blown himself up with a bomb intended for a dance at Fort Dix for new recruits and their dates. While trying to assemble the bomb at an elegant Greenwich Village townhouse that belonged to one of the revolutionaries' fathers, the bungling Weathermen blew up the entire townhouse, killing Gold and two other butterfingered revolutionaries. Leave it to these nincompoops to turn their glorious Marxist revolution into an "I Love Lucy" sketch. So in addition to being stupid and violent, the Weathermen were also incompetent terrorists.

Would that Timothy McVeigh had been so inept! If he had only said he bombed the building in Oklahoma City to protest American "imperialism," McVeigh, too, could be teaching at Northwestern University, sitting on a board with and holding fundraisers for presidential candidate B. Hussein Obama."

Famous proverb: "You can judge a man by the company that he keeps." Current application of this old proverb - Hellary and Carville, McCauliffe, et al and of course, Obama and Jeremy Wright, Ayres, Dohrn, et al!

(For Ann's complete column - go to: www.anncoulter.com)