Thursday, July 31, 2008
Annie on John (Mr Pure) Edwards and his love life!
A BABY DADDY FOR BOTH AMERICAS
by Ann Coulter
July 30, 2008
The mainstream media really seem to imagine they can prevent Americans from knowing information by refusing to mention it in newspapers or on TV.
For those few Americans without an Internet connection and to whom I have not faxed the National Enquirer stories: Evidence is accumulating that John Edwards is right -- there really are "two Americas." There's one where men cheat on their cancer-stricken wives and one where men do not cheat on their cancer-stricken wives.
To put it another way, it would appear that ambulances aren't the only things John Edwards has been chasing lately.
Last year, the National Enquirer broke the story about New-Age divorcee Rielle Hunter, formerly Lisa Druck, telling friends she was having an affair with Edwards and that she was pregnant with his "love child."
Who knew that "my father was a mill worker" could be such a great pickup line? In his defense, Edwards had to do something to kill time between giving $50,000 speeches on poverty.
I guess the Enquirer is lucky Edwards isn't a trial lawyer! A sleazy carnival sideshow trial lawyer wouldn't even need to start channeling unborn children before a jury -- as Edwards did in the junk-science cases that made him a multimillionaire -- to win a defamation case if these charges are false. The "love child" allegation could be easily disproved by DNA testing.
Which brings up a fascinating legal question: Would it be admissible for Edwards to channel the very love child at issue during such a proceeding? Reminiscent of his performances in medical malpractice cases, he could say: She speaks to you through me and I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you, she's saying: "John Edwards ain't my daddy!"
When the National Enquirer story first broke last year, the Edwards campaign denied that Edwards was the father, pawning the affair off on an apparently very loyal Edwards campaign official, Andrew Young. Like Edwards, Young was married with children, but also like Edwards, Young is a Democrat, so it was possible.
Except that, not only has Young's wife not left him, but she was perfectly copacetic with her husband's mistress moving into their gated community for the duration of her pregnancy, and even joining her, Andrew and the kids for dinner.
Back on Earth, that doesn't happen. The Edwards campaign better start looking at its backup plan of claiming Nathan Lane is the father.
It also didn't smack of innocence that the Edwards campaign stripped Hunter's videos from the Edwards Web site when the story broke.
Soon after Edwards met Hunter in a bar in New York, the Edwards campaign began paying her more than $100,000 to make "hip" videos of him for the campaign Web site. Unfortunately, Edwards' hair stylists ate up most of the budget.
As Herculean a task as it would be to make John Edwards look hip, the videos can't be worse for the campaign than the Edwards staffer who said of the Catholic church's position on birth control: "What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?" So why did they take down Hunter's videos?
With the MSM still pretending the Internet doesn't exist, last week the Enquirer staked out the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles after receiving a tip that Edwards would be going there to visit Hunter and the love child, who reportedly has her mother's eyes and her father's dramatic flair in front of a jury.
According to the Enquirer, Edwards entered Hunter's hotel room around 9:45 p.m. and left at 2:40 in the morning. Seeing reporters as he left Hunter's room, Edwards sprinted to a hotel bathroom and blockaded himself in until hotel security came to rescue him. Even more suspicious, while Edwards was barricaded in the bathroom, no one reported hearing sounds of a blow dryer.
When asked about the Enquirer story at a press conference a few days later, Edwards looked as flustered as Rep. Robert Wexler did after being asked if he really lives with his mother-in-law in Florida while running for office in that district.
First Edwards pretended to be unfamiliar with the story, a preposterous pose even if the story were false. Then Edwards dropped eye contact and said: "That's tabloid trash. They're full of lies. I'm here to talk about helping people." He couldn't have looked more guilty if he had broken into a cold sweat and lit a cigarette. Britney Spears has responded more credibly to questions about tabloid stories.
Meanwhile, the only way consumers of the old media might ascertain that Edwards is embroiled in some sort of scandal is that, starting last Thursday, his name was summarily dropped from lists of possible vice presidential candidates.
If only Republican Larry Craig had been in the bathroom, the MSM might have covered it.
by Ann Coulter
July 30, 2008
The mainstream media really seem to imagine they can prevent Americans from knowing information by refusing to mention it in newspapers or on TV.
For those few Americans without an Internet connection and to whom I have not faxed the National Enquirer stories: Evidence is accumulating that John Edwards is right -- there really are "two Americas." There's one where men cheat on their cancer-stricken wives and one where men do not cheat on their cancer-stricken wives.
To put it another way, it would appear that ambulances aren't the only things John Edwards has been chasing lately.
Last year, the National Enquirer broke the story about New-Age divorcee Rielle Hunter, formerly Lisa Druck, telling friends she was having an affair with Edwards and that she was pregnant with his "love child."
Who knew that "my father was a mill worker" could be such a great pickup line? In his defense, Edwards had to do something to kill time between giving $50,000 speeches on poverty.
I guess the Enquirer is lucky Edwards isn't a trial lawyer! A sleazy carnival sideshow trial lawyer wouldn't even need to start channeling unborn children before a jury -- as Edwards did in the junk-science cases that made him a multimillionaire -- to win a defamation case if these charges are false. The "love child" allegation could be easily disproved by DNA testing.
Which brings up a fascinating legal question: Would it be admissible for Edwards to channel the very love child at issue during such a proceeding? Reminiscent of his performances in medical malpractice cases, he could say: She speaks to you through me and I have to tell you right now -- I didn't plan to talk about this -- right now I feel her. I feel her presence. She's inside me, and she's talking to you, she's saying: "John Edwards ain't my daddy!"
When the National Enquirer story first broke last year, the Edwards campaign denied that Edwards was the father, pawning the affair off on an apparently very loyal Edwards campaign official, Andrew Young. Like Edwards, Young was married with children, but also like Edwards, Young is a Democrat, so it was possible.
Except that, not only has Young's wife not left him, but she was perfectly copacetic with her husband's mistress moving into their gated community for the duration of her pregnancy, and even joining her, Andrew and the kids for dinner.
Back on Earth, that doesn't happen. The Edwards campaign better start looking at its backup plan of claiming Nathan Lane is the father.
It also didn't smack of innocence that the Edwards campaign stripped Hunter's videos from the Edwards Web site when the story broke.
Soon after Edwards met Hunter in a bar in New York, the Edwards campaign began paying her more than $100,000 to make "hip" videos of him for the campaign Web site. Unfortunately, Edwards' hair stylists ate up most of the budget.
As Herculean a task as it would be to make John Edwards look hip, the videos can't be worse for the campaign than the Edwards staffer who said of the Catholic church's position on birth control: "What if Mary had taken Plan B after the Lord filled her with his hot, white, sticky Holy Spirit?" So why did they take down Hunter's videos?
With the MSM still pretending the Internet doesn't exist, last week the Enquirer staked out the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles after receiving a tip that Edwards would be going there to visit Hunter and the love child, who reportedly has her mother's eyes and her father's dramatic flair in front of a jury.
According to the Enquirer, Edwards entered Hunter's hotel room around 9:45 p.m. and left at 2:40 in the morning. Seeing reporters as he left Hunter's room, Edwards sprinted to a hotel bathroom and blockaded himself in until hotel security came to rescue him. Even more suspicious, while Edwards was barricaded in the bathroom, no one reported hearing sounds of a blow dryer.
When asked about the Enquirer story at a press conference a few days later, Edwards looked as flustered as Rep. Robert Wexler did after being asked if he really lives with his mother-in-law in Florida while running for office in that district.
First Edwards pretended to be unfamiliar with the story, a preposterous pose even if the story were false. Then Edwards dropped eye contact and said: "That's tabloid trash. They're full of lies. I'm here to talk about helping people." He couldn't have looked more guilty if he had broken into a cold sweat and lit a cigarette. Britney Spears has responded more credibly to questions about tabloid stories.
Meanwhile, the only way consumers of the old media might ascertain that Edwards is embroiled in some sort of scandal is that, starting last Thursday, his name was summarily dropped from lists of possible vice presidential candidates.
If only Republican Larry Craig had been in the bathroom, the MSM might have covered it.
Dimocrats bury vote on bill to ban 'Fairness Doctrine' !
Just when you thought there was no further mischief that the Dimocrats wreak on America before vacation, the Dim Majority Leader blocked any vote this session on a pending bill which would permanently ban re-birth of the so called Fairness Doctrine.
Don't be misled by the name --- the Fairness Doctrine is one which prevents privately owned radio and TV stations from broadcasting what their listeners want to hear, and what the program sponsors want to pay for. It makes the Feds the Arbiter of what we will hear on the public airwaves......
“With th
e support of Speaker Pelosi and the majority leader for a return of the archaic legislation that, combined with the support of Senator Durbin, Senator Kerry, and Senator Feinstein, it seems very clear to me that should the next Congress remain in the hands of the Democrats, there will be an effort to restore the content regulation of the so-called Fairness Doctrine to the airwaves of America,” Congressman Mike Pence (R) told CNSNews.com.
Pence further noted that when he added an amendment to temporarily ban the Fairness Doctrine to an appropriations bill in June 2007, 113 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment. But now that that he has organized a discharge petition that would force his bill (which permanently bans the Fairness Doctrine) to the House floor, not one Democrat signed on.
Don't be misled by the name --- the Fairness Doctrine is one which prevents privately owned radio and TV stations from broadcasting what their listeners want to hear, and what the program sponsors want to pay for. It makes the Feds the Arbiter of what we will hear on the public airwaves......
“With th
e support of Speaker Pelosi and the majority leader for a return of the archaic legislation that, combined with the support of Senator Durbin, Senator Kerry, and Senator Feinstein, it seems very clear to me that should the next Congress remain in the hands of the Democrats, there will be an effort to restore the content regulation of the so-called Fairness Doctrine to the airwaves of America,” Congressman Mike Pence (R) told CNSNews.com. Pence further noted that when he added an amendment to temporarily ban the Fairness Doctrine to an appropriations bill in June 2007, 113 Democrats voted in favor of the amendment. But now that that he has organized a discharge petition that would force his bill (which permanently bans the Fairness Doctrine) to the House floor, not one Democrat signed on.
So much for the integrity of the International Olympic Committee and it's lackeys.....
...from the International Herald Tribune;IOC agrees to Internet blocking at the Games
By Andrew Jacobs
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
BEIJING: The Chinese government confirmed Wednesday what journalists arriving at the lavishly outfitted media center here had suspected: Contrary to previous assurances by Olympic and government officials, the Internet would be censored during the upcoming games.
Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages - politically sensitive ones that discuss Tibetan succession, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown of the protests in Tiananmen Square and the sites of Amnesty International, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.
On Wednesday - two weeks after its most recent proclamation of an uncensored Internet during the Summer Games - the International Olympic Committee quietly agreed to some of the limitations, according to Kevan Gosper, chairman of the IOC press commission, Reuters reported.
Gosper said that he regretted the limitations but that "IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related."
A government spokesman initially suggested the problems originated with the site hosts, but on Wednesday, he acknowledged that journalists would not have unfettered Internet use during the Games, which begin Aug. 8.
"It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet," said Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "I believe our policy will not affect reporters' coverage of the Olympic games."
The Chinese government and the IOC had repeatedly suggested up until two weeks ago that the 20,000 journalists covering the games would have full Internet access. Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic committee president, declared that the foreign media would be able to report and publish its work freely in China and that the Internet would be uncensored. [.......]
Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages - politically sensitive ones that discuss Tibetan succession, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown of the protests in Tiananmen Square and the sites of Amnesty International, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.
On Wednesday - two weeks after its most recent proclamation of an uncensored Internet during the Summer Games - the International Olympic Committee quietly agreed to some of the limitations, according to Kevan Gosper, chairman of the IOC press commission, Reuters reported.
Gosper said that he regretted the limitations but that "IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games related."
A government spokesman initially suggested the problems originated with the site hosts, but on Wednesday, he acknowledged that journalists would not have unfettered Internet use during the Games, which begin Aug. 8.
"It has been our policy to provide the media with convenient and sufficient access to the Internet," said Sun Weide, the chief spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "I believe our policy will not affect reporters' coverage of the Olympic games."
The Chinese government and the IOC had repeatedly suggested up until two weeks ago that the 20,000 journalists covering the games would have full Internet access. Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic committee president, declared that the foreign media would be able to report and publish its work freely in China and that the Internet would be uncensored. [.......]
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
It appears to Ole' Pecoz that Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens' biggest mistake...
..... was not moving to New Jersey for his financial shenanigans! In New Jersey, what Stevens did would be called doin' business as usual..... or even a parlor game....!A WRIST-SLAP FOR SHARPE
July 30, 2008 --
Former Newark Mayor Sharpe James was looking at as many as 20 years in prison when he walked into US District Court Judge William Martini's courtroom yesterday.
He got 27 months.
No wonder Jersey's a national joke when it comes to political corruption.
Sentencing guidelines called for a 12- to 15-year term, though a sentence of about eight years was expected.
But Martini pronounced himself "shocked" at prosecutors' request for a hefty sentence, calling that an "extreme injustice" and adding: "I'm supposed to throw out the history of a man's life for misconduct he committed at age 69?"
Well, yes.
"Just because a mayor pushes for a friend," he said, "is that corruption?"
Yes again.
The "friend" was James' mistress, whom he allowed to purchase nine parcels of city-owned land for the cut-rate price of $46,000. She then resold the lots, most of them just weeks later, for a total of $665,000 - without making a single improvement.
Yet Martini declared that James' only crime was not telling the public that the woman who was buying the lots was his mistress - and then all but excused the deception, noting that James "did not want to embarrass his wife, he did not want to embarrass his kids."
Quick, somebody pin a medal on him.
For two decades, Sharpe James lorded over Newark, secure in the belief that the normal rules of propriety and accountability did not apply to him.
And as Judge Martini made abundantly clear, they didn't.
Welcome to New Jersey Senator Stevens, your sins were minimal!!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I ain't sure which is weirder -- the pregnant prostitutes or the 'over the hump' Johns!
Pregnant Prostitutes To Face Charges
Pregnant Prostitutes Arrested
Pregnant Prostitutes Sell Sex Online, S
ay Police
Two women were charged with prostitution in Camden County on Thursday after they were arrested in a sting operation at a Lake Ozark hotel last week. Two other women were also arrested, and three of the women are pregnant.
Alexandra Wells and Allysia Waldrop were both charged on Thursday. Waldrop is pregnant, but is not known if Wells is also. The undercover bust went down at a Lake Ozark area hotel after the sheriff's department received several reports that pregnant women were advertising prostitution on an internet advertising site.
One of the women arrested was eight months pregnant, another six months pregnant, and another was three months pregnant. They ranged in age from 18 to 22 years old.
A whole lotta things in this ole' life I still don't understand Pilgrims! What about you?
Pregnant Prostitutes Arrested
Pregnant Prostitutes Sell Sex Online, S
ay Police Two women were charged with prostitution in Camden County on Thursday after they were arrested in a sting operation at a Lake Ozark hotel last week. Two other women were also arrested, and three of the women are pregnant.
Alexandra Wells and Allysia Waldrop were both charged on Thursday. Waldrop is pregnant, but is not known if Wells is also. The undercover bust went down at a Lake Ozark area hotel after the sheriff's department received several reports that pregnant women were advertising prostitution on an internet advertising site.
One of the women arrested was eight months pregnant, another six months pregnant, and another was three months pregnant. They ranged in age from 18 to 22 years old.
A whole lotta things in this ole' life I still don't understand Pilgrims! What about you?
In my youth, we had a neighbor lady that folks said was "Teched in the Head"....cause she rambled with meaningless talk.. and hollered at walls....
Now I ain't sayin' that about this Pelosi woman (lady don't work here), but sometimes I think a brick or two might have fallen off her balcony!! Yesterday's quote from Ms Peolosi:
“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she says impatiently when questioned. “I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy.”
“I respect the office that I hold,” she says. “And when you win the election, you win the majority, and what is the power of the speaker? To set the agenda, the power of recognition, and I am not giving the gavel away to anyone.”
Lord have mercy - do you realize that she is only two heartbeats away from being Presidentress of this Great Land of ours. I pray for the health of Bush & Cheney!!!! Won't you join me??? Please??
“I’m trying to save the planet; I’m trying to save the planet,” she says impatiently when questioned. “I will not have this debate trivialized by their excuse for their failed policy.”
“I respect the office that I hold,” she says. “And when you win the election, you win the majority, and what is the power of the speaker? To set the agenda, the power of recognition, and I am not giving the gavel away to anyone.”
Lord have mercy - do you realize that she is only two heartbeats away from being Presidentress of this Great Land of ours. I pray for the health of Bush & Cheney!!!! Won't you join me??? Please??
There is no humor like "Brit" humor - and this lad's editorial nails it!!
From The London Times
July 25, 2008
He ventured forth to bring light to the world
The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers Gerard Baker
And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.
The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.
When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”
In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.
And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.
He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.
And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.
From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.
And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child's very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.
And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.
From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.
In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.
As word spread throughout the land about the Child's wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.
And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child's journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.
The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.
And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.
Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.
And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.
Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.
But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.
And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.
Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.
On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.
And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”
Monday, July 28, 2008
Mr Everyman (aka Mr Liberal) shows his well armed side....
From Page Six of the NY Post:
SCARED BY HANKS' HIRED GUN
July 28, 2008 --
SCARED BY HANKS' HIRED GUN
July 28, 2008 --
HAS Tom Hanks metamorphed from liberal peacenik into gun-loving yahoo?
That's the question being posed in rural Idaho, where the superstar actor has installed a pistol-packing security guard to patrol his posh Sun Valley getaway.
As Page Six reported last month, Hanks has warred for six years with Storey Construction, which built his spread in 2002. The star and his actress wife, Rita Wilson, withheld the final $3 million payment, claiming "shoddy construction," but were later forced to pay up. They're now appealing to get back $2.5 million.
The lawyer f
or contractor Gary Storey, who has the right to inspect the site to gather evidence for his defense, says his workers are spooked because Hanks, who won Oscars for "Forrest Gump" and "Philadelphia," has a guy with a semi-automatic and two clips of ammo eyeballing them."It's as hazardous a condition as you can have," lawyer Miles Stanislaw told us. "The other day, the guard tripped and fell on a piece of plywood with his gun on him. It could have gone off and had fatal consequences. It is inconceivable a person like Tom Hanks, who claims to be the voice of the little people, could tolerate this."
Hanks' rep, Leslee Dart, responded: "One security guard had to be hired after Storey tried to force his way onto the Hanks' property at 7 a.m., unannounced, with five pickup trucks full of his cronies. The one guard that was hired is an off-duty police officer who, by Idaho law, is allowed to carry a gun." Stanislaw called Dart's dawn raid allegation "a total fabrication."
Meanwhile, the security guard himself, Shane Gilbert, told us: "I'm very well-trained and capable. Security guards don't pack heat just to go around shooting people." But he added he thinks the ongoing Hanks-Storey war is "a ridiculous battle. It's a big pissing match."
This kinda, sorta, reads like Rosie O'Donald railing for gun control while she and her kids are being protected by a gun carrying personal bodyguard..... Guess these folks are the original believers in two sets of rules -- one for us -- and a whole 'nother set for them!!
Egads! A true 'citizen legislator' in the Senate!!
As the Washington Post reports - he is serving us all:
Senate's 'Dr. No' Spurs Showdown Over Spending
By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2008;
Instead of a keepsake photo of a political hero or his family, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has a large framed picture next to his desk that serves as a constant reminder of his political ideology. Inside the black frame and matting is a single word, in large white letters: "No."
Coburn has become best known as the lawmaker who says no -- no to increased funding for unsolved civil rights crimes, no to creation of a national registry for victims of the disease ALS, no to more money for child pornography prosecutions.
Using every parliamentary tactic at his disposal, Coburn has tied the Senate in so many knots that Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has decided on an extraordinary tactic: He will devote most of the Senate's time this week to breaking the one-man stranglehold.
Rolling 35 bills into one omnibus package, Reid will try to leap all of Coburn's parliamentary hurdles at once and win approval for dozens of programs worth more than $10 billion.
"For those of you who may not know this," Reid told reporters recently, "you cannot negotiate with Coburn. It's just something that you learn over the years . . . is a waste of time."
Most of the bills, including a child pornography law that passed the House 409 to 0 in November, are so noncontroversial that they would normally sail through on voice votes, with no roll call taken.
But not while "Dr. No" is in the Senate.
Coburn, an obstetrician and gynecologist elected to the Senate in 2004, believes that many lawmakers propose duplicative programs without any way of measuring their effectiveness. His negotiating stance with the other 99 senators is fairly straightforward.
"If we pass a new program, we either ought to get rid of the old program or we ought to make it to where it blends with this other one so it's effective," Coburn said in an interview last week. "Almost everything that they've offered has a duplicate program out there that they're not either eliminating or changing."
Coburn has turned his office into its own accountability unit. Aides must comb every piece of legislation headed to the floor for potential government waste.
His staff estimates that waste and fraud costs taxpayers $300 billion a year. Next month, for example, Coburn will release a report on alleged Justice Department waste, accusing the agency of spending $312 million on conferences this decade.
Coburn said his colleagues have lost appreciation for the broad national interest and instead hope to pass legislation in their names so they can win reelection. "When you take that oath, it doesn't say anything about your state," he said. "The parochialism needs to die."
Inevitably, his stance has created conflict with some colleagues. While most senators say the 60-year-old Oklahoman is personally gracious, some contend that he is confused about the legislator's role in government.
"What do the constituents in your state expect of you? I believe they expect me to get some things done. I don't believe they're looking for 'no.' They're looking for 'yes,' " said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who fought Coburn last year over an earmark for a Nebraska-based military contractor.
"We all have our different interests, our different styles," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who backed Coburn's primary opponent in the Senate race.
A self-proclaimed "citizen legislator," Coburn was elected to the House in the GOP landslide of 1994 but imposed a six-year limit on himself. In 2001 he returned to his medical practice in Oklahoma until he won the 2004 race.
Coburn quickly learned the complex rules of the Senate, which is sometimes called the "cooling saucer" of the legislative process. Unlike the House -- where the majority can rule with an iron fist even with a one-vote edge -- the Senate acts on a vaguely accepted concept of "unanimous consent."
Without all 100 senators in agreement, it can take a series of deliberative actions and votes to move ahead on legislation.
Consider the Emmett Till Unsolved Crimes Bill, named after the 14-year-old black child from Chicago whose 1955 slaying in Mississippi remains unsolved. The bill, which the House approved 422 to 2 last year, would create a post for a new prosecutor in the Justice Department to investigate unsolved killings from the civil rights era.
Coburn supports the idea of creating a new federal prosecutor -- but only if there are other cuts in spending within the Justice Department to finance it.
Because of Senate rule changes in the 1970s, Coburn is not required to stage an old-fashioned filibuster, which once required personally occupying the floor and talking a bill to death. Instead, he can play a different stalling game that makes leaders reluctant to eat up a week or more of floor time to debate noncontroversial legislation.
For Reid to get around Coburn's hold, he would need to file a motion to proceed to the bill; if at least 60 senators vote for that motion, it would take another two days of debate before Reid could call another vote on a motion to close off debate, called cloture. If at least 60 senators support that, a final vote on the bill is scheduled, but only after another 30 hours of floor debate.
Since January 2007, Coburn has used his senatorial "hold" to block more than 80 pieces of legislation, which means Reid knows that Coburn will object to unanimous consent on those bills.
So instead of filing all those motions, Reid leaves it up to the legislation's sponsor to try to negotiate with Coburn. But the normal legislative give-and-take has no appeal to him. Coburn does not accept earmarks, the spending for pet projects that lawmakers insert into bills. And because of a self-imposed two-term limit, Coburn has no aspirations to become a committee chairman or party leader, so he does not need to do any favors for colleagues.
Senators who have negotiated with Coburn said successful entreaties appeal to his small-government principles, his strong Christian faith or his medical background.
"He has been awfully helpful on some very difficult legislation. He believes in it passionately, and he fights for it," said Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who sits on a human rights subcommittee with Coburn.
Coburn cites several pieces of legislation that he endorsed, including a $50 billion health-care fund that is designed primarily to fight AIDS around the world, and a measure to prevent suicides among military veterans, as examples of compromise. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who greeted Coburn with a hug on the Senate floor earlier this month, co-authored government spending transparency legislation with the Oklahoman.
Faced with a backlog of more than 80 bills, Reid selected 35 for the "Coburn" omnibus legislation -- all approved by the House -- hoping to appeal to a broad swath of the Senate.
As early as today, Reid hopes to begin the first procedural vote on the package, with passage possible by week's end.
Coburn, who already has used some tactics to delay consideration by several days, said he does not mind losing as long as the fight prompts a fair and open debate about the size of the federal government.
He explained that the "No" framed on the wall next to his desk was a gift from a liberal priest in Upstate New York who read about his efforts recently, providing him new found inspiration.
"He sent me that to say: Keep saying no until we get the problems solved," Coburn said proudly.
By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2008;
Instead of a keepsake photo of a political hero or his family, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has a large framed picture next to his desk that serves as a constant reminder of his political ideology. Inside the black frame and matting is a single word, in large white letters: "No."
Coburn has become best known as the lawmaker who says no -- no to increased funding for unsolved civil rights crimes, no to creation of a national registry for victims of the disease ALS, no to more money for child pornography prosecutions.
Using every parliamentary tactic at his disposal, Coburn has tied the Senate in so many knots that Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has decided on an extraordinary tactic: He will devote most of the Senate's time this week to breaking the one-man stranglehold.
Rolling 35 bills into one omnibus package, Reid will try to leap all of Coburn's parliamentary hurdles at once and win approval for dozens of programs worth more than $10 billion.
"For those of you who may not know this," Reid told reporters recently, "you cannot negotiate with Coburn. It's just something that you learn over the years . . . is a waste of time."
Most of the bills, including a child pornography law that passed the House 409 to 0 in November, are so noncontroversial that they would normally sail through on voice votes, with no roll call taken.
But not while "Dr. No" is in the Senate.
Coburn, an obstetrician and gynecologist elected to the Senate in 2004, believes that many lawmakers propose duplicative programs without any way of measuring their effectiveness. His negotiating stance with the other 99 senators is fairly straightforward.
"If we pass a new program, we either ought to get rid of the old program or we ought to make it to where it blends with this other one so it's effective," Coburn said in an interview last week. "Almost everything that they've offered has a duplicate program out there that they're not either eliminating or changing."
Coburn has turned his office into its own accountability unit. Aides must comb every piece of legislation headed to the floor for potential government waste.
His staff estimates that waste and fraud costs taxpayers $300 billion a year. Next month, for example, Coburn will release a report on alleged Justice Department waste, accusing the agency of spending $312 million on conferences this decade.
Coburn said his colleagues have lost appreciation for the broad national interest and instead hope to pass legislation in their names so they can win reelection. "When you take that oath, it doesn't say anything about your state," he said. "The parochialism needs to die."
Inevitably, his stance has created conflict with some colleagues. While most senators say the 60-year-old Oklahoman is personally gracious, some contend that he is confused about the legislator's role in government.
"What do the constituents in your state expect of you? I believe they expect me to get some things done. I don't believe they're looking for 'no.' They're looking for 'yes,' " said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who fought Coburn last year over an earmark for a Nebraska-based military contractor.
"We all have our different interests, our different styles," said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who backed Coburn's primary opponent in the Senate race.
A self-proclaimed "citizen legislator," Coburn was elected to the House in the GOP landslide of 1994 but imposed a six-year limit on himself. In 2001 he returned to his medical practice in Oklahoma until he won the 2004 race.
Coburn quickly learned the complex rules of the Senate, which is sometimes called the "cooling saucer" of the legislative process. Unlike the House -- where the majority can rule with an iron fist even with a one-vote edge -- the Senate acts on a vaguely accepted concept of "unanimous consent."
Without all 100 senators in agreement, it can take a series of deliberative actions and votes to move ahead on legislation.
Consider the Emmett Till Unsolved Crimes Bill, named after the 14-year-old black child from Chicago whose 1955 slaying in Mississippi remains unsolved. The bill, which the House approved 422 to 2 last year, would create a post for a new prosecutor in the Justice Department to investigate unsolved killings from the civil rights era.
Coburn supports the idea of creating a new federal prosecutor -- but only if there are other cuts in spending within the Justice Department to finance it.
Because of Senate rule changes in the 1970s, Coburn is not required to stage an old-fashioned filibuster, which once required personally occupying the floor and talking a bill to death. Instead, he can play a different stalling game that makes leaders reluctant to eat up a week or more of floor time to debate noncontroversial legislation.
For Reid to get around Coburn's hold, he would need to file a motion to proceed to the bill; if at least 60 senators vote for that motion, it would take another two days of debate before Reid could call another vote on a motion to close off debate, called cloture. If at least 60 senators support that, a final vote on the bill is scheduled, but only after another 30 hours of floor debate.
Since January 2007, Coburn has used his senatorial "hold" to block more than 80 pieces of legislation, which means Reid knows that Coburn will object to unanimous consent on those bills.
So instead of filing all those motions, Reid leaves it up to the legislation's sponsor to try to negotiate with Coburn. But the normal legislative give-and-take has no appeal to him. Coburn does not accept earmarks, the spending for pet projects that lawmakers insert into bills. And because of a self-imposed two-term limit, Coburn has no aspirations to become a committee chairman or party leader, so he does not need to do any favors for colleagues.
Senators who have negotiated with Coburn said successful entreaties appeal to his small-government principles, his strong Christian faith or his medical background.
"He has been awfully helpful on some very difficult legislation. He believes in it passionately, and he fights for it," said Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), who sits on a human rights subcommittee with Coburn.
Coburn cites several pieces of legislation that he endorsed, including a $50 billion health-care fund that is designed primarily to fight AIDS around the world, and a measure to prevent suicides among military veterans, as examples of compromise. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who greeted Coburn with a hug on the Senate floor earlier this month, co-authored government spending transparency legislation with the Oklahoman.
Faced with a backlog of more than 80 bills, Reid selected 35 for the "Coburn" omnibus legislation -- all approved by the House -- hoping to appeal to a broad swath of the Senate.
As early as today, Reid hopes to begin the first procedural vote on the package, with passage possible by week's end.
Coburn, who already has used some tactics to delay consideration by several days, said he does not mind losing as long as the fight prompts a fair and open debate about the size of the federal government.
He explained that the "No" framed on the wall next to his desk was a gift from a liberal priest in Upstate New York who read about his efforts recently, providing him new found inspiration.
"He sent me that to say: Keep saying no until we get the problems solved," Coburn said proudly.
When the Washington Post can write an even handed article about a conservative Republican --- he must be doing something really right. Wouldn't it be great if we could send 99 like minded folks to join him in that room full of liberal president wannabe's?
Sunday, July 27, 2008
More green extortion from the Dimmocrats.....
The Carbon Credit Scam and the Democratic ConventionPosted by: Erick Erickson
Sunday, July 27, 2008 at 08:34AM
The eastern Colorado wind turbine tapped for the Democratic National Convention's carbon-offset program has one problem: It doesn't generate any electricity. Convention organizers are now being questioned for their eagerness to market those credits to delegates.
The DNC has contracted with Vermont-based NativeEnergy to offer delegates "Green challenge" carbon offsets to soften the environmental impact of convention travel. That money is then invested in carbon-free "green" energy sources around the country, including a wind turbine installed this year by the Wray School District RD-2. But a Face The State investigation reveals the district's turbine has never produced marketable energy due to massive equipment malfunctions.
The Democrats encouraged people to participate in carbon offsets. One of the programs listed was this wind turbine. It does not work. But, on the bright side, the school system is getting lots of money even though it cannot deliver its part of the offset.
Carbon offsets are a scam. They always have been. They always will be. This is just another example. But you know what? Let's not be surprised. The Democratic Party is used to operating like a third world kleptocracy.
At least this time they are only screwin' their own folks. For the full article - and a good laugh -- go to:
'Sure am proud when I see other folks have noticed too!!
Barack's Obama-isms
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Media: The gaffes Barack Obama has committed would have crushed the typical Republican politician. But the reporters who can't get over Dan Quayle's misspelling of "potato" have little to say about their man's slip-ups.
Sometimes it's hard to tell if Obama is really fouling up or simply puffed up when he tries to live up to his media-fed image as a leader ready for prime time.
Consider his claim during a news conference Wednesday in Israel that "just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my c
ommittee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran."
His committee? Obama isn't even a member of the Banking Committee, let alone its chairman. So was it a self-promoting lie or a misstep? Only he knows.
In other cases, however, it's clear the junior senator from Illinois has erred. It was Obama — and not a too-old-to-serve John McCain or a too-dopey-to-take-serious George W. Bush — who once said he'd visited 57 states, not including Alaska and Hawaii, and still had "one left to go."
It was also Obama who said Tuesday from Amman, Jordan: "You know, it's always a bad practice to say 'always' or 'never' " — a statement only Yogi Berra could fathom but which those aboard O-Force One seemed to regard as incontestably profound.
While the media have ensured that Obama's communication skills are now widely viewed to be impeccable, it's obvious that when the man doesn't have a teleprompter in front of him, he tends to mangle both facts and language.
How else to explain his "Face The Nation" comment that the leaders he would meet in the Middle East and Europe are the ones "who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years"?
Had a Republican candidate said that, he'd have been suspected of some dark plan to shred the Constitution and institute martial law.
A few days later, Obama goofed again, asserting that "Israel is a strong friend of Israel's." Sure, he meant America is a good friend of Israel. And sure, he knows the difference. But he's also sure the media will cover his howlers even as they ridicule Republicans when they are just as "inartful."
Maybe the media kept quiet because they know Obama's no better when it comes to geography. Surely they noticed how he confused Sioux Falls, S.D., with Sioux City, Iowa, claimed that Arkansas is closer to Kentucky than to Illinois, and called Iran — with population bigger than France's and a land mass four times that of Germany — "a tiny country."
Even worse, he claimed Iran doesn't "pose a serious threat to us," then somehow recalled the next day that he has indeed "made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave."
Could it be that Obama is even worse with figures? It was in the spring of 2007, long before he could blame campaign fatigue for causing him to stumble, when he reckoned that tornadoes had killed 10,000 people in Kansas even though the real number was 12.
Obama's tendency to lapse into some rainbow world has apparently infected his staff. In discussing Obama's Berlin speech, a senior adviser first promised "it's not going to be a political speech." But then he added: "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."
The staffer had to be reminded: Obama isn't president — yet.
Or does that kind of thinking — that his coronation is a mere formality — start at the top? Earlier this month, it was Obama himself who reminisced about a time "when I was a United States senator."
Space won't allow a full list of Obama's blunders to date. But somehow we get the feeling we haven't heard the last of them.
But it's a damn shame the Main Stream Media is too busy sucking up instead of reporting the news to us!
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Media: The gaffes Barack Obama has committed would have crushed the typical Republican politician. But the reporters who can't get over Dan Quayle's misspelling of "potato" have little to say about their man's slip-ups.
Sometimes it's hard to tell if Obama is really fouling up or simply puffed up when he tries to live up to his media-fed image as a leader ready for prime time.
Consider his claim during a news conference Wednesday in Israel that "just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my c
ommittee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran."His committee? Obama isn't even a member of the Banking Committee, let alone its chairman. So was it a self-promoting lie or a misstep? Only he knows.
In other cases, however, it's clear the junior senator from Illinois has erred. It was Obama — and not a too-old-to-serve John McCain or a too-dopey-to-take-serious George W. Bush — who once said he'd visited 57 states, not including Alaska and Hawaii, and still had "one left to go."
It was also Obama who said Tuesday from Amman, Jordan: "You know, it's always a bad practice to say 'always' or 'never' " — a statement only Yogi Berra could fathom but which those aboard O-Force One seemed to regard as incontestably profound.
While the media have ensured that Obama's communication skills are now widely viewed to be impeccable, it's obvious that when the man doesn't have a teleprompter in front of him, he tends to mangle both facts and language.
How else to explain his "Face The Nation" comment that the leaders he would meet in the Middle East and Europe are the ones "who I expect to be dealing with over the next eight to 10 years"?
Had a Republican candidate said that, he'd have been suspected of some dark plan to shred the Constitution and institute martial law.
A few days later, Obama goofed again, asserting that "Israel is a strong friend of Israel's." Sure, he meant America is a good friend of Israel. And sure, he knows the difference. But he's also sure the media will cover his howlers even as they ridicule Republicans when they are just as "inartful."
Maybe the media kept quiet because they know Obama's no better when it comes to geography. Surely they noticed how he confused Sioux Falls, S.D., with Sioux City, Iowa, claimed that Arkansas is closer to Kentucky than to Illinois, and called Iran — with population bigger than France's and a land mass four times that of Germany — "a tiny country."
Even worse, he claimed Iran doesn't "pose a serious threat to us," then somehow recalled the next day that he has indeed "made it clear for years that the threat from Iran is grave."
Could it be that Obama is even worse with figures? It was in the spring of 2007, long before he could blame campaign fatigue for causing him to stumble, when he reckoned that tornadoes had killed 10,000 people in Kansas even though the real number was 12.
Obama's tendency to lapse into some rainbow world has apparently infected his staff. In discussing Obama's Berlin speech, a senior adviser first promised "it's not going to be a political speech." But then he added: "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."
The staffer had to be reminded: Obama isn't president — yet.
Or does that kind of thinking — that his coronation is a mere formality — start at the top? Earlier this month, it was Obama himself who reminisced about a time "when I was a United States senator."
Space won't allow a full list of Obama's blunders to date. But somehow we get the feeling we haven't heard the last of them.
But it's a damn shame the Main Stream Media is too busy sucking up instead of reporting the news to us!
As I was watching the British Open (golf) last week.....
being held at Royal Birkdale Golf Course in Central England --- I couldn't help but notice the golfers were all bundled up in jackets instead of polo shirts, wool pull down caps instead of baseball caps, and the fans were even wearing scarves. Highs were in the mid-fifties to low sixties. Summers weren't that cool when I lived there 50 years ago..... especially mid July!
Then today I noticed this article from the Anchorage Daily News:
Gloomy summer headed toward infamy
CHILLY: Anchorage could hit 65 degrees for fewest days on record.
By GEORGE BRYSON
gbryson@adn.com
(07/24/08 00:10:35)
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say.
Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.
That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.
This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.
National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Albanese, a storm warning coordinator for Alaska, says the outlook is for Anchorage to remain cool and cloudy through the rest of July.
"There's no real warm feature moving in," Albanese said. "And that's just been the pattern we've been stuck in for a couple weeks now."
In the Matanuska Valley on Wednesday snow dusted the Chugach. On the Kenai Peninsula, rain was raising Six-Mile River to flood levels and rafting trips had to be canceled.
So if the cold and drizzle are going to continue anyway, why not shoot for a record? The mark is well within reach, Albanese said:
"It's probably going to go down as the summer with the least number of 65-degree days."
MEASURING THE MISERY
In terms of "coldest summer ever," however, a better measure might be the number of days Anchorage fails to even reach 60.
There too, 2008 is a contender, having so far notched only 35 such days -- far below the summer-long average of 88.
Unless we get 10 more days of 60-degree or warmer temperatures, we're going to break the dismal 1971 record of only 46 such days, a possibility too awful to contemplate.
Now, I ain't no meteorologist, or even a local weatherman - but it sure does make Ole' Pecoz wonder where all this whinin' about global warming comes from when two locations of about the same longitude 10,000 miles apart are suffering from some of the coldest July weather in years. But I'd bet a nickel to a horse droppin' that if I posed this question to Gorebot or some other carbon crazed zealot - they'd just look at me and say something brilliant like: "See, there's proof that automobiles are screwing up the worlds weather"!, or somethin like that.
Then today I noticed this article from the Anchorage Daily News:
Gloomy summer headed toward infamy
CHILLY: Anchorage could hit 65 degrees for fewest days on record.
By GEORGE BRYSON
gbryson@adn.com
(07/24/08 00:10:35)
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say.
Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.
That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.
This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.
National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Albanese, a storm warning coordinator for Alaska, says the outlook is for Anchorage to remain cool and cloudy through the rest of July.
"There's no real warm feature moving in," Albanese said. "And that's just been the pattern we've been stuck in for a couple weeks now."
In the Matanuska Valley on Wednesday snow dusted the Chugach. On the Kenai Peninsula, rain was raising Six-Mile River to flood levels and rafting trips had to be canceled.
So if the cold and drizzle are going to continue anyway, why not shoot for a record? The mark is well within reach, Albanese said:
"It's probably going to go down as the summer with the least number of 65-degree days."
MEASURING THE MISERY
In terms of "coldest summer ever," however, a better measure might be the number of days Anchorage fails to even reach 60.
There too, 2008 is a contender, having so far notched only 35 such days -- far below the summer-long average of 88.
Unless we get 10 more days of 60-degree or warmer temperatures, we're going to break the dismal 1971 record of only 46 such days, a possibility too awful to contemplate.
Now, I ain't no meteorologist, or even a local weatherman - but it sure does make Ole' Pecoz wonder where all this whinin' about global warming comes from when two locations of about the same longitude 10,000 miles apart are suffering from some of the coldest July weather in years. But I'd bet a nickel to a horse droppin' that if I posed this question to Gorebot or some other carbon crazed zealot - they'd just look at me and say something brilliant like: "See, there's proof that automobiles are screwing up the worlds weather"!, or somethin like that.
What do you think, Pilgrims?
Saturday, July 26, 2008
We all have tried to learn "Women's Rules" even though they keep changin'
.... but apparently now we have to learn the new rules for campaigning in this great country of ours. Here is a great item I received from GOPUSA...
The Rules For Democrats And Republicans
By Doug Patton
July 21, 2008
During his days doing stand-up in the 1960s, Bill Cosby recorded a track for one of his comedy albums about the American Revolution. As only Cosby could tell it, he spun a hilarious version of "the rules" for how the war for American independence was to be fought. The British, Cosby said, had to wear red and march in slow, straight lines, making them targets for the colonists, who were allowed to wear drab clothing that blended into the landscape and who could hide behind hills, trees and rocks as they took aim. It is a bit like this year's presidential race, with Republicans playing by the British rules and Democrats in the role of the colonists.
Like the hapless British soldiers in their bright red uniforms, today's Republican candidates for office are marching toward their doom with "shoot me" written all over them. Consider the following rules for the two parties and see if they don't sound like what is happening this year:
The Rules for Democrats
Democrats (and liberals in general) are allowed to say, write and publish anything they want, regardless of how offensive it is or how much it degrades our political discourse. They can lie, cheat, steal, plagiarize and berate conservatives whenever they like. This is allowed because, of course, liberalism is correct and conservatives are not just wrong, they are evil.
Barack Obama is allowed to take both sides of any issue. As a new type of candidate for president of the United States, he is allowed to talk movingly about "change" and "hope" while offering no specifics of any kind. He can send his wife, Michelle, out onto the campaign trail to spew foul, negative diatribes against America. He can disavow friends, family members, pastors, mentors and other supporters should any of them become an embarrassment to his campaign. And he can use his family as cute campaign props on national television whenever he likes.
Obama is allowed to make outrageous claims about the racist tendencies and tactics of his opponent and his opponent's surrogates. Because he is half black, he does not have to justify these comments in any way.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, all members of the U.S. press corps are required to serve as surrogate press secretaries for the Obama campaign. This will necessitate that when the candidate travels within or out of the country, the media - including the "big three" television anchors - are required to accompany him, reporting positively on his every utterance.
The Rules for Republicans
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, his wife, Cindy, the Republican National Committee, any and all of the fifty state Republican Party organizations and all other McCain surrogates are strictly forbidden to mention Obama, his wife, his blasphemous, anti-American former pastor, his radical supporters, his Muslim father, his Muslim step-father, his education in a Muslim school or his middle name on the campaign trail.
Conservative talk radio hosts will be threatened by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, with a return to the days of the "Fairness Doctrine" whenever they mention Barack Obama, his wife, his blasphemous, anti-American former pastor, his radical supporters, his Muslim father, his Muslim step-father, his education in a Muslim school or his middle name.
Any criticism - in fact any negative mention - of Obama, his wife, his blasphemous, anti-American former pastor, his radical supporters, his Muslim father, his Muslim step-father, his education in a Muslim school or his middle name will be considered racist.
Members of the mainstream media are forbidden to cover stories that are negative to Barack Obama or which present him as inexperienced, unprepared or out-of-the-mainstream of American political thought. Any negative coverage of Obama's health care plan, plan for withdrawal from Iraq or any other position taken by the Democrat presidential candidate is strictly prohibited.
And finally, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is expected to help monitor and enforce these rules as he has always done in the past.
The Rules For Democrats And Republicans
By Doug Patton
July 21, 2008
During his days doing stand-up in the 1960s, Bill Cosby recorded a track for one of his comedy albums about the American Revolution. As only Cosby could tell it, he spun a hilarious version of "the rules" for how the war for American independence was to be fought. The British, Cosby said, had to wear red and march in slow, straight lines, making them targets for the colonists, who were allowed to wear drab clothing that blended into the landscape and who could hide behind hills, trees and rocks as they took aim. It is a bit like this year's presidential race, with Republicans playing by the British rules and Democrats in the role of the colonists.
Like the hapless British soldiers in their bright red uniforms, today's Republican candidates for office are marching toward their doom with "shoot me" written all over them. Consider the following rules for the two parties and see if they don't sound like what is happening this year:
The Rules for Democrats
Democrats (and liberals in general) are allowed to say, write and publish anything they want, regardless of how offensive it is or how much it degrades our political discourse. They can lie, cheat, steal, plagiarize and berate conservatives whenever they like. This is allowed because, of course, liberalism is correct and conservatives are not just wrong, they are evil.
Barack Obama is allowed to take both sides of any issue. As a new type of candidate for president of the United States, he is allowed to talk movingly about "change" and "hope" while offering no specifics of any kind. He can send his wife, Michelle, out onto the campaign trail to spew foul, negative diatribes against America. He can disavow friends, family members, pastors, mentors and other supporters should any of them become an embarrassment to his campaign. And he can use his family as cute campaign props on national television whenever he likes.
Obama is allowed to make outrageous claims about the racist tendencies and tactics of his opponent and his opponent's surrogates. Because he is half black, he does not have to justify these comments in any way.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, all members of the U.S. press corps are required to serve as surrogate press secretaries for the Obama campaign. This will necessitate that when the candidate travels within or out of the country, the media - including the "big three" television anchors - are required to accompany him, reporting positively on his every utterance.
The Rules for Republicans
Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, his wife, Cindy, the Republican National Committee, any and all of the fifty state Republican Party organizations and all other McCain surrogates are strictly forbidden to mention Obama, his wife, his blasphemous, anti-American former pastor, his radical supporters, his Muslim father, his Muslim step-father, his education in a Muslim school or his middle name on the campaign trail.
Conservative talk radio hosts will be threatened by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, with a return to the days of the "Fairness Doctrine" whenever they mention Barack Obama, his wife, his blasphemous, anti-American former pastor, his radical supporters, his Muslim father, his Muslim step-father, his education in a Muslim school or his middle name.
Any criticism - in fact any negative mention - of Obama, his wife, his blasphemous, anti-American former pastor, his radical supporters, his Muslim father, his Muslim step-father, his education in a Muslim school or his middle name will be considered racist.
Members of the mainstream media are forbidden to cover stories that are negative to Barack Obama or which present him as inexperienced, unprepared or out-of-the-mainstream of American political thought. Any negative coverage of Obama's health care plan, plan for withdrawal from Iraq or any other position taken by the Democrat presidential candidate is strictly prohibited.
And finally, presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain is expected to help monitor and enforce these rules as he has always done in the past.
This stuff is so close to the facts that it's not even humorous! Scary part is, if the Republicans comply, just like the Women do --- these folks'll change the rules. Sure as shootin'!!
Friday, July 25, 2008
Do you have a gambling problem?
One way to know is to determine if you have 'laid' your shekels down on this latest nest of Paddy Power's. Paddy power is one of the biggest bookmakers in Britain -- and now you have the opportunity to wager which egg of 13 laid on July 14th will hatch first. Hope they ain't Easter Eggs. or they might grow up looking like these!!
To find out 'eggzactly how it works go to this site! You can watch them 24/7 'til they hatch on the EggCam...
Best of luck Mates.....
More of Annie's straight shootin'
BUT WILL THEY RESPECT HIM IN THE MORNING?
by Ann Coulter
July 23, 2008
Back before the Republican Party was saddled with John McCain as its nominee, The New York Times called him "the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe." The paper praised him for "working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation" and predicted that he would appeal to "a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field."
At the same time, the Times denounced "the real" Rudy Giuliani as "a narrow, ob
sessively secretive, vindictive man" and Mitt Romney as "shape-shifting," claiming it's "hard to find an issue on which he has not repositioned himself to the right since he was governor of Massachusetts."
Here are a few issues I found that Romney hadn't switched positions on, and it wasn't "hard": tax cuts, health care, same-sex marriage, illegal immigration and the surge in Iraq. The only issue on which Romney had changed his position was abortion, irritating people who would prefer for Republicans to refuse to run in places like Massachusetts and New York City in order to preserve their perfect pro-life credentials.
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof echoed the editorial page in early February with a column titled: "Who Is More Electable?" In the very first sentence, Kristof concluded that McCain is "the Republican most likely to win the November election." Kristof touted McCain's "unusual appeal among swing voters" and cited polls that showed McCain would do "stunningly well" in a general election.
Also in February, CNN produced polls showing McCain doing better than "generic Republican" in a general election, which Jeffrey Toobin said was a tribute to how "well respected" McCain is. Hey, is it too late for us to nominate "generic Republican"?
And on MSNBC's "Hardball," from the way Chris Matthews carried on about McCain, you'd think he had caught a glimpse of Obama's ankle. Matthews said that McCain was "the real straight talker ... a profile in courage ... more seasoned than the current president, a patriot, of course ... honest and respected in the media. He has all the pluses in the world of a sort of a, you know, an Audie Murphy, if you will, a real war hero."
I guess the party's over.
Now the Times won't even publish McCain's op-ed. I wouldn't have published it either -- I've read it twice and I still can't remember what it says -- but I also wouldn't have published McCain's seven op-eds in The New York Times since 1996.
Since McCain has gone from being a Republican "maverick" who attacks Republicans and promotes liberal causes to the Republican nominee for president, he's also gone from being one of the Times' most frequent op-ed guest columnists to being an unpublishable illiterate.
I looked up McCain's oeuvre for the Times, and if you want unpublishable, that's unpublishable. In one column, McCain assailed Republicans for their lack of commitment to the environment, noting that polls -- probably the same ones showing him to be the most "electable" Republican -- indicated that "the environment is the voters' number-one concern about continued Republican leadership of Congress."
McCain concluded with this ringing peroration: "(O)ur nation's continued prosperity hinges on our ability to solve environmental problems and sustain the natural resources on which we all depend." That's good writing -- I mean assuming you're writing hack press releases for an irrelevant environmentalist think tank.
The rest of McCain's op-eds in the Times bravely took on -- I quote -- "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending." It's that sort of courage and clear-headedness that tells me we're going to be OK this fall.
In coming out four-square against "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending," McCain threw down the gauntlet to those who favor "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending." Actually, I think there's a rule that says you're not being brave if there is not a single person in the world who would publicly disagree with you.
While the media are busy telling McCain that "It's not you, it's us," Al Gore, a recent Democratic candidate for president, has become certifiably nuts. Gore's increasingly bizarre public statements are a reminder of the dangers of going off carbs cold turkey.
On "Meet the Press" last weekend, Gore called on America to be carbon dioxide-free within 10 years. In the same spirit of pointlessness and futility, I call on America to be 100 percent oxygen-free within 10 years.
Say, how do "hot lap dances" affect global warming? Last week, a Gore supporter, Louis Posner, enraged over the result of the 2000 presidential election and founder of the Democratic voter organization Voter March, was arrested in New York on charges of prostitution and money laundering.
According to the police, in addition to sponsoring events with Vincent Bugliosi about Bush stealing the 2000 election, Posner ran a prostitution ring out of his club, the Hot Lap Dance Club, where employees say they were required to have sex with Posner in order to work there. No wonder Posner was so testy about the 2000 election -- he wanted to preserve the glory of the Clinton years.
Imagine the important reporting we could have gotten on the Hot Lap Dance Club story if only the entire American media weren't with the Messiah on his "Ich Bin Ein Berlitzer" Tour!
But a two-week vacation in Europe is just what B. Hussein Obama needs to polish up his speech about how all our geopolitical challenges are due to American boorishness and stupidity. That ought to make for a boffo op-ed in The New York Times.
by Ann Coulter
July 23, 2008
Back before the Republican Party was saddled with John McCain as its nominee, The New York Times called him "the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe." The paper praised him for "working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation" and predicted that he would appeal to "a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field."
At the same time, the Times denounced "the real" Rudy Giuliani as "a narrow, ob
sessively secretive, vindictive man" and Mitt Romney as "shape-shifting," claiming it's "hard to find an issue on which he has not repositioned himself to the right since he was governor of Massachusetts."Here are a few issues I found that Romney hadn't switched positions on, and it wasn't "hard": tax cuts, health care, same-sex marriage, illegal immigration and the surge in Iraq. The only issue on which Romney had changed his position was abortion, irritating people who would prefer for Republicans to refuse to run in places like Massachusetts and New York City in order to preserve their perfect pro-life credentials.
Times columnist Nicholas Kristof echoed the editorial page in early February with a column titled: "Who Is More Electable?" In the very first sentence, Kristof concluded that McCain is "the Republican most likely to win the November election." Kristof touted McCain's "unusual appeal among swing voters" and cited polls that showed McCain would do "stunningly well" in a general election.
Also in February, CNN produced polls showing McCain doing better than "generic Republican" in a general election, which Jeffrey Toobin said was a tribute to how "well respected" McCain is. Hey, is it too late for us to nominate "generic Republican"?
And on MSNBC's "Hardball," from the way Chris Matthews carried on about McCain, you'd think he had caught a glimpse of Obama's ankle. Matthews said that McCain was "the real straight talker ... a profile in courage ... more seasoned than the current president, a patriot, of course ... honest and respected in the media. He has all the pluses in the world of a sort of a, you know, an Audie Murphy, if you will, a real war hero."
I guess the party's over.
Now the Times won't even publish McCain's op-ed. I wouldn't have published it either -- I've read it twice and I still can't remember what it says -- but I also wouldn't have published McCain's seven op-eds in The New York Times since 1996.
Since McCain has gone from being a Republican "maverick" who attacks Republicans and promotes liberal causes to the Republican nominee for president, he's also gone from being one of the Times' most frequent op-ed guest columnists to being an unpublishable illiterate.
I looked up McCain's oeuvre for the Times, and if you want unpublishable, that's unpublishable. In one column, McCain assailed Republicans for their lack of commitment to the environment, noting that polls -- probably the same ones showing him to be the most "electable" Republican -- indicated that "the environment is the voters' number-one concern about continued Republican leadership of Congress."
McCain concluded with this ringing peroration: "(O)ur nation's continued prosperity hinges on our ability to solve environmental problems and sustain the natural resources on which we all depend." That's good writing -- I mean assuming you're writing hack press releases for an irrelevant environmentalist think tank.
The rest of McCain's op-eds in the Times bravely took on -- I quote -- "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending." It's that sort of courage and clear-headedness that tells me we're going to be OK this fall.
In coming out four-square against "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending," McCain threw down the gauntlet to those who favor "unnecessary regulation" and "pork-barrel spending." Actually, I think there's a rule that says you're not being brave if there is not a single person in the world who would publicly disagree with you.
While the media are busy telling McCain that "It's not you, it's us," Al Gore, a recent Democratic candidate for president, has become certifiably nuts. Gore's increasingly bizarre public statements are a reminder of the dangers of going off carbs cold turkey.
On "Meet the Press" last weekend, Gore called on America to be carbon dioxide-free within 10 years. In the same spirit of pointlessness and futility, I call on America to be 100 percent oxygen-free within 10 years.
Say, how do "hot lap dances" affect global warming? Last week, a Gore supporter, Louis Posner, enraged over the result of the 2000 presidential election and founder of the Democratic voter organization Voter March, was arrested in New York on charges of prostitution and money laundering.
According to the police, in addition to sponsoring events with Vincent Bugliosi about Bush stealing the 2000 election, Posner ran a prostitution ring out of his club, the Hot Lap Dance Club, where employees say they were required to have sex with Posner in order to work there. No wonder Posner was so testy about the 2000 election -- he wanted to preserve the glory of the Clinton years.
Imagine the important reporting we could have gotten on the Hot Lap Dance Club story if only the entire American media weren't with the Messiah on his "Ich Bin Ein Berlitzer" Tour!
But a two-week vacation in Europe is just what B. Hussein Obama needs to polish up his speech about how all our geopolitical challenges are due to American boorishness and stupidity. That ought to make for a boffo op-ed in The New York Times.
McCain States the obvious.............
McCain jabs at media McCain opened up his Columbus, Ohio, town hall meeting with Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong by taking a well-crafted shot at the media.
You have billed this event as a Presidential Town Hall, and I sincerely hope that the next president is here this evening. My opponent, of course, is traveling in Europe, and tomorrow his tour takes him to France. In a scene Lance would recognize, a throng of adoring fans awaits Senator Obama in Paris -- and that's just the American press.
I'm told that he punctuated the punch line with something of an awkward laugh.
When he ran for president, fellow Texan Ross Perot spoke of, "That giant sucking sound......". I reckon today that same phrase could be used about the main stream media and their sucking up to Obamanation! It's now beyond obvious --- it's blatant.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Arrogant or Ignorant- -- Dimocrats don't even hide their agenda!!!
Here are two of today's headlines from World Net Daily --
#1:
Reid: $5-a-gallon gas is no problem Senate majority leader says: 'We will have to wait and see'
Posted: July 24, 2008
12:00 am Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. WASHINGTON – Asked if he thinks he has the votes to block legislation lifting the moratorium on offshore oil drilling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "We will have to wait and see."
Wait and see? Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi oppose lifting the ban on domestic oil drilling – and they are hoping the American people will just quietly accept gas prices topping $5 a gallon or even higher.
They say the key to lowering the price is conservation.
#2.
Why Democrats don't want to lower gas prices
Senator lets cat out of the bag on Bloomberg TV show
Posted: July 22, 2008 10:22 pm
Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. WASHINGTON – A Democratic senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee inadvertently explained why her colleagu
es have no intention of ending the moratorium on offshore oil drilling or increasing the areas open for exploration and production – no matter how popular the idea might be with gas prices soaring.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV's "Money and Politics" last night, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., explained Democrats don't want to increase supplies of oil and gasoline because they want to wean Americans off of petroleum products. Asked point-blank if Democrats in the Senate would consider how increasing the supply of oil would lower the prices that are pinching U.S. consumers, Cantwell replied: "Oh, we definitely want to move beyond petroleum.
And so there will be a supply side offered by the Democrats and it will include everything from battery technology to making sure that we have good home domestic supply, and looking, as I said about moving faster on those kind of things like wind and solar that can help us with our high cost of natural gas."
In other words, no.
You tell me Pilgrims --- Arrogance or Ignorance? Or do you still believe these charlatans remember who they work for?
#1:
Reid: $5-a-gallon gas is no problem Senate majority leader says: 'We will have to wait and see'
Posted: July 24, 2008
12:00 am Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. WASHINGTON – Asked if he thinks he has the votes to block legislation lifting the moratorium on offshore oil drilling, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "We will have to wait and see."
Wait and see? Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi oppose lifting the ban on domestic oil drilling – and they are hoping the American people will just quietly accept gas prices topping $5 a gallon or even higher.
They say the key to lowering the price is conservation.
#2.
Why Democrats don't want to lower gas prices
Senator lets cat out of the bag on Bloomberg TV show
Posted: July 22, 2008 10:22 pm
Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. WASHINGTON – A Democratic senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee inadvertently explained why her colleagu
es have no intention of ending the moratorium on offshore oil drilling or increasing the areas open for exploration and production – no matter how popular the idea might be with gas prices soaring.In an interview with Bloomberg TV's "Money and Politics" last night, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., explained Democrats don't want to increase supplies of oil and gasoline because they want to wean Americans off of petroleum products. Asked point-blank if Democrats in the Senate would consider how increasing the supply of oil would lower the prices that are pinching U.S. consumers, Cantwell replied: "Oh, we definitely want to move beyond petroleum.
And so there will be a supply side offered by the Democrats and it will include everything from battery technology to making sure that we have good home domestic supply, and looking, as I said about moving faster on those kind of things like wind and solar that can help us with our high cost of natural gas."
In other words, no.
You tell me Pilgrims --- Arrogance or Ignorance? Or do you still believe these charlatans remember who they work for?
Inquiring minds want to know.......
...... not about John (the Breck boy) Edwards' alleged love child and blond 'side' kick. No, that relationship has been outed by the National Enquirer. What Ole Pecoz and a passel of other folks wonder is - how come the same press and late show comics who were so quick to jump all over Senator Craig's alleged impropriety in an airport stall because of his supposed hypocrisy....... how come these folks aren't layin' a hand on pretty boy's holier than thou hypocrisy in having playmates while his dutiful and campaign supportive wife is being treated for cancer. Even the left leaning e-zine 'Slate' asks the question? Go to:
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Except for the occasional Dimocrat rantings -----
... I am not embarrassed to be a veteran and an American --- but then there are stories of the arm band wearing, neo-nazi, post 9-11, former grade school drop out hall monitors at the airport gates ---
Fliers Complain About X-Rated Security Screenings
TSA Agents Forced Woman To Remove Nipple Rings, Pulled Pants Off Disabled Man
Reporting Pam Zekman
Fliers Complain About X-Rated Security Screenings
TSA Agents Forced Woman To Remove Nipple Rings, Pulled Pants Off Disabled Man
Reporting Pam Zekman
When travelers go to the airport, they know what kind of security to expect: luggage searches, metal detectors and shoe inspections.
It's all part of our post 9-11 reality enforced by the Transportation Security Adminstration. But as CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman reports, thousands of travelers have complained that some of these screenings can become abusive and even x-rated.
For arguing with a TSA agent, Robin Kassner wound up being slammed to the floor. She's filed a lawsuit.
"I kept begging them over and over again get off of me ... and they wouldn't stop," Kassner said.
And it wasn't enough for another woman to show TSA agents nipple rings that set off a metal detector. The agents forced her to take them out.
Mandi Hamlin said, "I had to get pliers and pull it apart."
In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone
"It's humiliation," Perry said.
Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.
"He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said.
At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.
"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
"It makes you feel like you have no rights," Perry said.
Perry said he always alerts TSA agents about his metal knee and wonders why they can't just check his leg.
"If somebody told me that I would save the people on the airplane by taking my pants off out in public out there, I wouldn't mind doing it, but this was not necessary," Perry said.
TSA officials said that when the metal detectors go off, their agents must resolve what caused the alarm. But experts have said it's important to use common sense when balancing security and customer service.
Carlos Villarreal, former director of security for the Sears Tower, said proper training is crucial. "When you're wanding somebody and you can identify wh
ich part of the body set of the alarm, that should be sufficient to clear a person," Villarreal said.
But all too often, it's not enough for 16-year old Michael Angone. She frequently flies as a member of the Chicago Children's Choir.
"I've had to completely take my pants off and show them like my entire leg," Angone said.
As a baby, Angone was diagnosed with cancer. Her parents, both Chicago police officers, had to have her leg amputated. She said she always warns TSA security agents that her prosthetic leg will set off the metal detector, but many insist on doing an embarrassing full body pat-down.
"I feel like I'm being felt up in public," Angone said.
Her father Bob Angone wanted to know, "What's the reason for all the feeling up, you know the groping at the back of the neck, the chest, underneath the bra, all the groping on her body, her buttocks?"
CBS 2 News asked the TSA those questions, but got no answers.
"The key word here is reasonable, and they have gone off the track. They are not reasonable," Bob Angone said.
The TSA declined to comment on the Angone and Perry cases, but the agency has announced that soon, passengers who set off an alarm that cannot be resolved will have a choice: Agree to a physical pat-down or what some believe is an even worse invasion of privacy.
This fall, O'Hare International Airport will get its first advanced digital x-ray machine. It allows TSA agents to see through clothes and discover any hidden weapons. Critics have likened it to a virtual strip search.
A spokesman said that out of 2 billion passengers screened nationwide since 9-11, there have been only 110,000 abuse complaints.
As for the nipple ring case, TSA did change its procedures regarding body piercings.
It's all part of our post 9-11 reality enforced by the Transportation Security Adminstration. But as CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman reports, thousands of travelers have complained that some of these screenings can become abusive and even x-rated.
For arguing with a TSA agent, Robin Kassner wound up being slammed to the floor. She's filed a lawsuit.
"I kept begging them over and over again get off of me ... and they wouldn't stop," Kassner said.
And it wasn't enough for another woman to show TSA agents nipple rings that set off a metal detector. The agents forced her to take them out.
Mandi Hamlin said, "I had to get pliers and pull it apart."
In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone
"It's humiliation," Perry said.
Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.
"He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said.
At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.
"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.
"It makes you feel like you have no rights," Perry said.
Perry said he always alerts TSA agents about his metal knee and wonders why they can't just check his leg.
"If somebody told me that I would save the people on the airplane by taking my pants off out in public out there, I wouldn't mind doing it, but this was not necessary," Perry said.
TSA officials said that when the metal detectors go off, their agents must resolve what caused the alarm. But experts have said it's important to use common sense when balancing security and customer service.
Carlos Villarreal, former director of security for the Sears Tower, said proper training is crucial. "When you're wanding somebody and you can identify wh
ich part of the body set of the alarm, that should be sufficient to clear a person," Villarreal said.But all too often, it's not enough for 16-year old Michael Angone. She frequently flies as a member of the Chicago Children's Choir.
"I've had to completely take my pants off and show them like my entire leg," Angone said.
As a baby, Angone was diagnosed with cancer. Her parents, both Chicago police officers, had to have her leg amputated. She said she always warns TSA security agents that her prosthetic leg will set off the metal detector, but many insist on doing an embarrassing full body pat-down.
"I feel like I'm being felt up in public," Angone said.
Her father Bob Angone wanted to know, "What's the reason for all the feeling up, you know the groping at the back of the neck, the chest, underneath the bra, all the groping on her body, her buttocks?"
CBS 2 News asked the TSA those questions, but got no answers.
"The key word here is reasonable, and they have gone off the track. They are not reasonable," Bob Angone said.
The TSA declined to comment on the Angone and Perry cases, but the agency has announced that soon, passengers who set off an alarm that cannot be resolved will have a choice: Agree to a physical pat-down or what some believe is an even worse invasion of privacy.
This fall, O'Hare International Airport will get its first advanced digital x-ray machine. It allows TSA agents to see through clothes and discover any hidden weapons. Critics have likened it to a virtual strip search.
A spokesman said that out of 2 billion passengers screened nationwide since 9-11, there have been only 110,000 abuse complaints.
As for the nipple ring case, TSA did change its procedures regarding body piercings.
ONLY 110,000 ABUSE COMPLAINTS? ONLY? Give me a break!! But whatever you do, don't profile young middle eastern looking gentlemen - lest their lobbying lawyers bring a lawsuit!
My Oh My, the Gray Lady suffers her just desserts!
New York Times 2Q profit drops 82 percent
Jul 23 09:13 AM US/Eastern
NEW YORK (AP) - New York Times Co. says its second-quarter earnings fell 82 percent from the year-ago quarter boosted by a one-time gain. Meanwhile, print advertising revenue continued to shrink.
The New York-based newspaper publisher says its quarterly net income dropped to $21.1 million, or 15 cents per share, which included 11 cents per share in buyout costs.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected income of 22 cents per share in the latest quarter. Analyst estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenue dropped 6 percent to $741.9 million, missing the average Wall Street estimate for $754 million. Ad revenue slipped down 11 percent, hurt mostly by fewer classified ads.
Chief Executive Janet Robinson says business was hurt by the "U.S. economic slowdown and secular forces playing out across the media industry."
Lord have mercy! How folks in ivory towers can bury their heads in the sand and blame their difficulties on others. Look at the last sentence again: "business was hurt by the U.S. economic slowdown and secular forces playing out across the media industry."
Their losses aren't caused by poor editing, plagiarizing staff reporters, earning the reputation as Osama Bin Laden's morning intelligence briefing on America's secret plans, or political bent so obvious they reject any OpEd which does not carry their left wing garbage. Yeah Right!!
I remember fifty years ago when the Times was the paper of record in this country --"All the news that's fit to print".... now folks won't even use it to wrap their fish for fear that it might add a liberal and anti-American stink that makes the fish inedible.
The tip of the iceberg -- or - "How elitists suck us dry!"
DNC host's tax-free gas
Angry reaction brings a halt to use of city pumps
By Daniel J. Chacon and Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News
July 23, 2008
The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention has used the city's gas pumps to fill up and apparently avoided paying state and federal fuel taxes.
The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes.
However, Publ
ic Works spokeswoman Christine Downs told City Council members just hours before that host committee members were fueling up at the city pumps. The city does not pay taxes on the fuel for its fleet, and Downs said the host committee would not either.
The disclosure brought immediate scrutiny. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said the practice "would seem" to be illegal and referred the matter to the state Department of Revenue.
Nonprofits, such as the host committee, are subject to state and federal gasoline taxes, according to the Department of Revenue.
The issue arose during the regular weekly meeting of Hickenlooper and City Council members. Downs requested authorization for a contract so the Public Works Department could be reimbursed by the host committee for use of "fueling facilities, fuel and car washes."
Downs said the contract with the host committee started in March and that $9,700 in fuel and services had been purchased from the city so far. But the committee has yet to be billed. The city anticipates $466,125 in total revenues from the contract, Downs said.
City Councilman Charlie Brown raised the question of whether the host committee would be paying fuel taxes, and Downs said it wouldn't.
"There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them," said Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz.
Hickenlooper said the practice isn't unique to Denver.
"I do know for a fact that they're doing the same exact thing in Minneapolis," Hickenlooper said, referring to the city that along with St. Paul is hosting the Republican National Convention.
But Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee, said its members are getting their gas at public pumps.
"We're not getting a tax break on fuel," she said. "That's not the setup at this end."
In Colorado, consumers pay 40.4 cents per gallon in state and federal fuel taxes.
"We're a nonpartisan, nonprofit committee, but certainly, if the city feels that taxes are applicable, we will pay those, too," said Chris Lopez, spokesman for the host committee. "So we would pay all applicable taxes on any of the fuel."
The host committee, which is responsible for raising money to put on the convention, is using the city's pumps "for safety and security reasons," Lopez said.
"We know the gas is not tainted," he said. "We use it as a safety and security measure."
Angry reaction brings a halt to use of city pumps
By Daniel J. Chacon and Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News
July 23, 2008
The committee hosting the Democratic National Convention has used the city's gas pumps to fill up and apparently avoided paying state and federal fuel taxes.
The practice, which began four months ago, may have ended hours after its disclosure. An aide to Mayor John Hickenlooper released a statement Tuesday evening saying that Denver 2008 Host Committee members would pay market prices for fuel and would also be liable for all applicable taxes.
However, Publ
ic Works spokeswoman Christine Downs told City Council members just hours before that host committee members were fueling up at the city pumps. The city does not pay taxes on the fuel for its fleet, and Downs said the host committee would not either.The disclosure brought immediate scrutiny. Colorado Attorney General John Suthers said the practice "would seem" to be illegal and referred the matter to the state Department of Revenue.
Nonprofits, such as the host committee, are subject to state and federal gasoline taxes, according to the Department of Revenue.
The issue arose during the regular weekly meeting of Hickenlooper and City Council members. Downs requested authorization for a contract so the Public Works Department could be reimbursed by the host committee for use of "fueling facilities, fuel and car washes."
Downs said the contract with the host committee started in March and that $9,700 in fuel and services had been purchased from the city so far. But the committee has yet to be billed. The city anticipates $466,125 in total revenues from the contract, Downs said.
City Councilman Charlie Brown raised the question of whether the host committee would be paying fuel taxes, and Downs said it wouldn't.
"There's something there that just doesn't seem right to me because, in a sense, you're saying then that the officials who pass the laws are not willing to live by them," said Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz.
Hickenlooper said the practice isn't unique to Denver.
"I do know for a fact that they're doing the same exact thing in Minneapolis," Hickenlooper said, referring to the city that along with St. Paul is hosting the Republican National Convention.
But Teresa McFarland, a spokeswoman for the Minneapolis-St. Paul host committee, said its members are getting their gas at public pumps.
"We're not getting a tax break on fuel," she said. "That's not the setup at this end."
In Colorado, consumers pay 40.4 cents per gallon in state and federal fuel taxes.
"We're a nonpartisan, nonprofit committee, but certainly, if the city feels that taxes are applicable, we will pay those, too," said Chris Lopez, spokesman for the host committee. "So we would pay all applicable taxes on any of the fuel."
The host committee, which is responsible for raising money to put on the convention, is using the city's pumps "for safety and security reasons," Lopez said.
"We know the gas is not tainted," he said. "We use it as a safety and security measure."
Pardners, this article was much longer, and I tried to keep it short, but I just had to include those last couple of lines -- if it smells like horse poop, looks like horse poop ... guess what! The third line from the end starting with "We're" really says; "If you catch us and expose us- we'll pay!
The Dimocrat mayor's statement, equivalent to a six year old caught stealing cookies and pointing and saying, "They did it too!" BTW, Ole Pecoz understands the good Mayor is known as 'Lickenpooper' by Colorado conservatives.....
God Bless a couple of upstanding Denver city council members that had the courage to rise up on behalf of the taxpayers and say no!
On it goes!
It takes courage and commitment .....
.. for an insurance salesman or real estate agent to publicly post their political beliefs and risk offending potential customers.......
Here's a feller that has that courage and commitment!! Good on ya Lad!!
(a tip o' the hat to an old Air Force Bud for forwarding this pic to me)
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
'Give them to me as children......."
A Nightmare Vision For Education
By Michael Medved
By Michael Medved
The new head of the national teacher’s union describes a dream for education that sounds more like a socialist nightmare.
Randi Weingarten, incoming president of the American Federation of Teachers, wants schools to become community centers for medical care and social services as well as classes. She called for a “federal law” promoting “schools that are open all day and offer after-school and evening recreational activities, child care and preschool, tutoring and homework assistance”, plus “medical dental and counseling clinics.”
In other words, she sees schools as big city versions of all-encompassing collective farms, with students their prize crop. Maybe such schools should also offer barracks for the kids, eliminating any need at all for parents or home. Ms. Weingarten forgot to mention that her vision involved a huge expansion of government and a crushing burden for taxpayers.
I don't know about you Pilgrims, but Ole Pecoz couldn't dream up any scarier scenario than turning our nations children over to the prying arms of the government, the American Federation of Teachers or NEA! There have already been horror stories in Massachusetts and other blue states of children being questioned in school about firearms their parents might have and other personal, family habits and topics.
Realizing of course, that NOW and other feminazi organizations would like very much to get the 'sperm donor' out of the child raising picture as soon as he has performed his function, this makes a heck of a lot of sense. Big Brother is on the march ---- and in the guise of national teachers unions and government policy wonks - - - be vewy vewy afraid!
Michelle Malkin's Update on Obamanation's Tour De Farce
Cliff Notes version of Obama press conference in JordanBy Michelle Malkin • July 22, 2008 11:10 AM 1.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.”
2. As commander-in-chief, er, rather, when I’m commander-in-chief…
3. The surge I opposed is working.
4. The architect of the surge, Gen. David Petraeus, is going to waste money on electricity projects, so I must be there to stop him.
5. “Ummmmmm.”
6. Now, stop asking me questions and take pictures.
And 7. “Israel is a strong friend of Israel.” (I missed this one, but commenter Jim M. and other readers report that Obama actually said this. Gaffe-tastic!)
The Tour de Farce continues…
Hurricane gathers steam to cross the Gulf...
Here it is only Tuesday Morning and the storm isn't due 'til Wednesday. But I can already hear the voices in the wind as the good citizens of parched South Central and South Western Texas line up across the State on Interstate 10, linking hands hands and singing together: 
Well Hello Dolly
Say, Hello Dolly
It's so nice to see you are comin' round!
Hello Dolly,
You're looking swell Dolly,
Just hope you'll visit all our Texas towns.....
Don't be too harsh Dolly
Don't make a marsh Dolly
Just turn us green again instead of brown.
........
Well Hello Dolly
Say, Hello Dolly
It's so nice to see you are comin' round!
Hello Dolly,
You're looking swell Dolly,
Just hope you'll visit all our Texas towns.....
Don't be too harsh Dolly
Don't make a marsh Dolly
Just turn us green again instead of brown.
........
Monday, July 21, 2008
The Boston Globe, a liberal Eastern paper speaks of Obamanation...!
The audacity of ego
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist July 20, 2008
By Joan Vennochi, Globe Columnist July 20, 2008
JUST LIKE the Obama girl, Obama has a crush on Obama.
Barack Obama always was a larger-than-life candidate with a healthy ego. Now he's turning into the A-Rod of politics. It's all about him.
He's giving his opponent something other than issues to attack him on: narcissism.
A convention hall isn't good enough for the presumptive Democratic nominee. He plans to deliver his acceptance speech in the 75,000 seat stadium where the Denver Broncos play. Before a vote is cast, he's embarking on a foreign policy tour that will use cheering Europeans - and America's top news anchors - as extras in his campaign. What do you expect from a candidate who already auditioned a quasi-presidential seal with the Latin inscription, "Vero possumus" - "Yes, we can"?
Obama finds criticism of his wife "infuriating" and doesn't want either of them to be the target of satire. Tell that to the Carters, the Reagans, the Clintons, and the Bushes, father and son.
There's no such thing as a humble politician. But when Obama looks into the mirror, he doesn't just see a president; he sees JFK.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy accepted his party's nomination with an outdoor speech at the Los Angeles Coliseum. But he waited until he was elected before going to Germany to declare "Ich bin ein Berliner."
The fashionistas have already noted Michelle Obama's affinity for chanelling Jackie. And it's hard to watch the Obama daughters "Access Hollywood" interview and not think about Caroline and John F. Kennedy Jr. back in the days of Camelot.
So far, Dad is only promising to get the kids a dog, not a pony named Macaroni.
Republican John McCain has the opposite challenge. As a candidate, he's shrinking, thanks to a series of gaffes, stumbles, and generally uninspiring speeches.
But McCain has one thing going for him: the appearance of modesty.
Part of it is physical. McCain is stiff and awkward, the result of age and injuries from his years as a prisoner of war. That, too, is a contrast to Obama's sleek physique, the consequence of youth and a George W. Bush-like passion for working out.
But with McCain, there's also the sense of a man who made mistakes in life and acknowledges them.
McCain's humility comes through in his book, "Faith of my Fathers," which he wrote at age 63, after completing a career in the US Navy and moving onto politics. Obama wrote the more self-reverential "Dreams from My Father," after he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review.
The McCain campaign is beginning to jump on the ego issue. "I don't know that people in Missouri are going to like seeing tens of thousands of Europeans screaming for The One," a McCain aide quipped in response to Obama's upcoming visit abroad.
The conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh regularly ridicules "The Messiah also known as Obama." And "The Audacity of Obama" is turning into a ready-made take-off on the title of the Democrat's second book, "The Audacity of Hope."
The downside for Obama is how much his ego stands to resonate beyond the political right.
Last January, the online Slate Magazine debuted "The Obama Messiah Watch."
In February, a blogger for the left-embracing Mother Jones commented on his uneasiness over the candidate's messianic complex: "Does this post play unhelpfully into the pernicious and growing Obamaism-as-cult . . . that we'll likely see repeated over and over by the right wing if Obama gets the nomination?" blogged Jonathan Stein.
"It does. Sorry. But Obama's rhetoric makes an undeniable suggestion: that his election, not an eight-year administration that successfully implements his vision for America, would represent a moment in America of the grandest, most transformative kind. And that's a bit much," Stein wrote.
When the Obama Girl video first surfaced, Obama told the Associated Press, "You do wish people would think about what impact their actions have on kids and families."
That's good advice. He should think more about the impact of his ego on voters.
A presidential candidate is supposed to get bigger on the national stage. That doesn't mean his head should, too.
Ole Pecoz ain't sure what's scarier? That Obamanation is truly this narcissistic or that the real people holding his strings are that confident of the ignorance of the American Voter!!
Two folks in this country cost us Trillion$ of Ga$ Dollar$ !!!
If two Dimocrats; Queen Nancy Pelosi of the House and evil little Prince Dingy Harry Reid of the Senate would hold a joint press conference today and announce that in concert with President Bush, the United States was going to make an immediate, emergency type, all out effort to take advantage of all of our natural fossil fuel resources - - to include;- coal shale oil production (we have more shale oil reserves than the Arabs have liquid oil)
- oil drilling in Alaska and off shore
- further use of our 2000 year supply of coal for energy plants
- fast track approvals of nuclear plants and refineries with financing guarantees from the Feds
you can bet your best Stetson that oil prices would plummet around the world immediately!! Prices at the gas pump would be back in the $3.00 per gallon range by Labor Day and $2.50 by Christmas.
But they won't --- don't ya' kinda wonder why Pilgrims? Shouldn't folks be askin' 'em why not?
(thanx *& a tip o' the hat to Lem over at Hillbillywhitetrash for the thought and to RedPlanet for the 'toon)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
It's getting scary out there Pilgrims --==
Winnie the Pooh and Ahmadinejad Too!
From the UK Telegraph:Barack Obama aide: Why Winnie the Pooh should shape US foreign policy
Last updated: 2:04 AM BST 17/06/2008
Winnie the Pooh, Luke Skywalker and British football hooligans could shape the foreign policy of Barack Obama if he becomes US President, according to a key adviser.
Richard Danzig, who served as Navy Secretary under President Clinton and is tipped to become National Security Adviser in an Obama White House, told a major foreign policy conference in Washington that the future of US strategy in the war on terrorism should follow a lesson from the pages of Winnie the Pooh, which can be shortened to: if it is causing you too much pain, try something else.
Mr Danzig told the Centre for New American Security: “Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”
He spelt out how American troops, spies and anti-terrorist officials could learn key lessons by understanding the desire of terrorists to emulate superheroes like Luke Skywalker, and the lust for violence of violent football fans.
Mr Obama’s candidacy was given an early boost by his opposition to the Iraq war and he has repeatedly said the US needs to rethink its approach to the Middle East.
Mr Danzig spelt out the need to change by reading a paragraph from chapter one of the children’s classic, which says: “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump on the back of his head behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming down stairs. But sometimes he thinks there really is another way if only he could stop bumping a minute and think about it.”
Mr Obama’s approach will be popular in Europe, where President George W. Bush has spent the week on a farewell tour, arriving in Britain yesterday for meetings with the Queen and Gordon Brown.
In a subtle break from Mr Bush’s belief that the war on terror can be won, Mr Danzig, who is a Pentagon adviser on bioterrorism, warned that while the West can defeat individual terrorist groups and plots, it can never entirely remove the threat posed by nuclear proliferation or the prospect of bioterrorism.
In a briefing which will inform Mr Obama’s understanding of terrorists, Mr Danzig said he learnt much from recent interviews with jailed Aum Shinrikyo terrorists who released sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo underground in 1995.
He said that even people who are relatively well off and successful can feel like failures and become alientated from their societies. He said one terrorist told him: “We have been raised on a theory of superheroes. We all want to be like Luke Skywalker.
"When we’re doing mundane things, we lose track of our ambition but when someone comes along, like Asahara, the head of the cult, and presents himself as a messiah and gives us a picture of progress that is ordained by heaven and that we are carrying out a saintly mission on earth that is for us extraordinarily evocative.”
Mr Danzig added: “The parallels with al Qaeda are obvious.”
He said that another lesson about terrorists can be learnt from studying violent football fans. “One of the best books I’ve read on terrorism in recent years was not about terrorism at all,” he said. “It’s Bill Buford’s book Among the Thugs, which is a description of soccer violence in Britain.
“Buford became absorbed by soccer violence. He describes the most appalling examples of soccer violence by fans against fans. But he describes with relentless honesty how he finds sickening things attractive. He says violence lets the adrenaline flow; it’s like sex, you live in the moment.”
(A tip o' the hat to Michelle Malkin for pointing to this news item)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
What's wrong with this picture ----?
The Daily News ran a story today regarding Obamanation's folks being upset 'cause McCain mused out loud about his trip itinerary. Their head line looked like this:
This would be all well and good and the indignation almost plausible until you look at the big color trip itinerary map the Daily News published along side it. What am I missing here Pilgrims? What secret itinerary? Why is no one mad at the Daily News?
Obama's aides furious at McCain for blabbing about Dem's Mideast trip
By KENNETH R. BAZINET in Washington and and DAVID SALTONSTALL in New York DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Saturday, July 19th 2008, 12:08 AM
For weeks now, Barack Obama has closely guarded the details of his planned fact-finding trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, citing security concerns.
But Friday, the Democratic presidential hopeful's Republican rival, John McCain, may have let the secret out of the bag - infuriating some Obama supporters and putting Camp McCain on the defensive.
"I believe that either today or tomorrow - and I'm not privy to his schedule - Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon. "I am sure that Sen. Obama is going to arrive in Baghdad in a much, much safer and secure environment than the one that he would've encountered before we started the surge," McCain added.
While refusing to confirm or deny anything about Obama's schedule, his aides were furious with McCain's comment. They noted every major news outlet has resisted speculating on the timing or location of Obama's war-zone maneuvers out of safety concerns.
As of late Friday, it remained unclear if McCain's information is correct.
Former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam vet and big Obama backer, said he was "surprised" by McCain's apparent breach of protocol.
"I've been around enough of these trips to know that I'm leery of saying anything for security reasons. End of story," Kerry told the Daily News.
By KENNETH R. BAZINET in Washington and and DAVID SALTONSTALL in New York DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Saturday, July 19th 2008, 12:08 AM
For weeks now, Barack Obama has closely guarded the details of his planned fact-finding trips to Afghanistan and Iraq, citing security concerns.
But Friday, the Democratic presidential hopeful's Republican rival, John McCain, may have let the secret out of the bag - infuriating some Obama supporters and putting Camp McCain on the defensive.
"I believe that either today or tomorrow - and I'm not privy to his schedule - Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon. "I am sure that Sen. Obama is going to arrive in Baghdad in a much, much safer and secure environment than the one that he would've encountered before we started the surge," McCain added.
While refusing to confirm or deny anything about Obama's schedule, his aides were furious with McCain's comment. They noted every major news outlet has resisted speculating on the timing or location of Obama's war-zone maneuvers out of safety concerns.
As of late Friday, it remained unclear if McCain's information is correct.
Former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a decorated Vietnam vet and big Obama backer, said he was "surprised" by McCain's apparent breach of protocol.
"I've been around enough of these trips to know that I'm leery of saying anything for security reasons. End of story," Kerry told the Daily News.
This would be all well and good and the indignation almost plausible until you look at the big color trip itinerary map the Daily News published along side it. What am I missing here Pilgrims? What secret itinerary? Why is no one mad at the Daily News?I was surprised to learn that former Dimocrat presidential nominee, Gorebot, was a Vietnam war vet - - I don't reckon I've ever heard about that before ----! Oh, as an aside - in case you was wonderin' if Obamanation's campaign funds were used to pay for this trip, cause you knew he wasn't paying for it --- forget it -- you the taxpayers are picking up the tab ..... 'cause he's a Senator - dontcha know!
Heads up Pilgrims....
...if you've been having troubles sleeping lately, tune into Meet the Press tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Al Gorebot will be Tom Brokaw's only guest -- gonna 'splain how and why we should spend twenty trillion dollars in the next ten years so there will be enough energy to run the lights in his Tennessee mansion I reckon.
Should be good for a fine one hour nap -- ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz......... never thought I'd miss Russert so soon.
Just 'tween you and me, I ain't never understood how come it is that so much attention is given to the weird science utterings of a proven national failure. Born the son of a rich Tennessee senator, a life of privilege, failed to win the nomination for President, so served as a little rich kid version of 'Steppin Fetchit' to Bubba's white trash presidency for eight years -- and then failed to win the presidency again --- and yet all those Left & Right coast pencil necked, pointy toed liberals still hang on his every word. Shuck -- I guess the Dimocrats just love losers....... Go Figger!
Friday, July 18, 2008
When a left wing daily like the Washington Post sees smoke....
anywhere in the Dimocrat party --- you can bet the fire is obvious to everybody!
3 Anchors to Follow Obama's Trek Abroad
By Howard KurtzWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 17, 2008;
The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama's trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza.
Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play.
John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the past four months, all unaccompanied by a single network anchor.
Obama has "proven adept at generating excitement," says David Folkenflik, media correspondent for National Public Radio. He said the anchors hope "a little bit of that excitement will rub off on their newscasts if they can convey an American phenomenon abroad, if that's what it turns out to be. Senator McCain is not as magnetic a figure in that way."
Jim Geraghty, a columnist for National Review Online, said Obama's paucity of foreign travel as a presidential candidate makes the trip a natural draw for news organizations, while "McCain has been around forever, and he's probably been to all these places before." But, he says, "the networks will be acting as a PR wing for the Obama campaign if they treat any of these photo ops as truly newsworthy breakthroughs."
The plan is for Williams, Gibson and Couric interviews to be parceled out on successive nights in different countries, giving each anchor a one-day exclusive. (Correspondents could have done the interviews instead, but a certain competitiveness sets in once one or two anchors agree to go.) The Washington Post is withholding the scheduled locations for security reasons.
3 Anchors to Follow Obama's Trek Abroad
By Howard KurtzWashington Post Staff Writer Thursday, July 17, 2008;
The three network anchors will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week for Barack Obama's trip, adding their high-wattage spotlight to what is already shaping up as a major media extravaganza.
Lured by an offer of interviews with the Democratic presidential candidate, Brian Williams, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric will make the overseas trek, meaning that the NBC, ABC and CBS evening newscasts will originate from stops along the route and undoubtedly give it big play.
John McCain has taken three foreign trips in the past four months, all unaccompanied by a single network anchor.
Obama has "proven adept at generating excitement," says David Folkenflik, media correspondent for National Public Radio. He said the anchors hope "a little bit of that excitement will rub off on their newscasts if they can convey an American phenomenon abroad, if that's what it turns out to be. Senator McCain is not as magnetic a figure in that way."
Jim Geraghty, a columnist for National Review Online, said Obama's paucity of foreign travel as a presidential candidate makes the trip a natural draw for news organizations, while "McCain has been around forever, and he's probably been to all these places before." But, he says, "the networks will be acting as a PR wing for the Obama campaign if they treat any of these photo ops as truly newsworthy breakthroughs."
The plan is for Williams, Gibson and Couric interviews to be parceled out on successive nights in different countries, giving each anchor a one-day exclusive. (Correspondents could have done the interviews instead, but a certain competitiveness sets in once one or two anchors agree to go.) The Washington Post is withholding the scheduled locations for security reasons.
Ain't ya' glad you live in an age where you don't have to depend on these three main stream media prostitutes for your evening news. There are other, honest news networks on our TVs, the Internet, radio, the blogosphere who don't see themselves as PR flacks for the Dimocrats and their new arrogant messiah!
Hell Pilgrims, we were so naive in our youth that the uber-liberal Walter Cronkite was thought to be an even-handed honest journalist. I reckon the phrase of the time was "The most trusted man in America". Pssshaw - it was years before we discovered that the so called "Tet Offensive" in Nam was a major US victory --and if followed up on, could well have ended the war in a positive fashion. But oh no, Uncle Walter sat their, pulled off his glasses look sadly into the camera and pronounced solemnly --- "The war is unwinnable." - or words to that effect - and we believed him.
The more things change - the more they stay the same.
'Tis better to remain silent..........
Yesterday, I questioned the House Queen - Nancy Pelosi's intelligence. I was premature in my pronouncements I fear -- 'cause danged if she didn't outdo herself once again just yesterday. She picked the day that the latest polls show Congress's approval rating at an ALL TIME LOW and ten points lower than the President's to say:
"You know, God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States, a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi replied. She then tsk-tsked Bush for "challenging Congress when we are trying to sweep up after his mess over and over and over again."
Her dimwitted Senate counterpart - Dingy Harry -- added something brilliant like, "What she said!"
Let's see now, when the Dimocrats took over both houses of congress - banks weren't failing left and right, gasoline cost $2 a gallon, the real estate industry was sound, inflation was non-existent, and interest rates were low.
In two (very long) years, we have returned to the years of Jimmah Carter -- he told us to turn down the heat -- and now Obamanation wants us to turn off our air conditioners in July. Fifteen federal judge seats go unfilled, the house has not passed a single money bill this session (only continuing resolutions hoping to out wait Bush and for Obamanations assent to the White House) , has done not one positive thing about our energy problems.
Lord luv a duck.... the only thing worse than being stupid, is opening your mouth and removing any doubt in peoples mind about your intelligence!!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Annie draws her weapon, aims and fires!!!
This is Not a Drill
Ann Coulter Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or as she is called on the Big Dogs blog, "the worst speaker in the history of Congress," explained the cause of high oil prices back in 2006: "We have two oilmen in the White House. The logical follow-up from that is $3-a-gallon gasoline. It is no accident. It is a cause and effect. A cause and effect."
Yes, that would explain why the price of oral sex, cigars and Hustler magazine skyrocketed during the Clinton years. Also, I note that Speaker Pelosi is a hotelier ... and the price of a hotel room in New York is $1,000 a night! I think she might be onto something.
Is that why a barrel of oil costs mere pennies in all those other countries in the world that are not run by "oilmen"? Wait -- it doesn't cost pennies to them? That's weird.
In response to the 2003 blackout throughout the Northeast U.S. and parts of Can
ada, Pelosi blamed: "President Bush and Rep. Tom DeLay's oil-company interests." The blackout was a failure of humans operating electric power; it had nothing to do with oil. And I'm not even "an oilman."
But yes -- good point: What a disaster having people in government who haven't spent their entire lives in politics! That explains everything. A government official with relevant experience or knowledge about an issue is obviously a crisis of gargantuan proportions.
This must be why the Democrats are nominating B. Hussein Obama, who finished middle school three days ago and has less experience than a person one might choose at random from the audience of "American Idol."
Announcing the Democrats' bold new "plan" on energy last week, Pelosi said breaking into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "is one alternative." That's not an energy plan. It's using what we already have -- much like "conservation," which is also part of the Democrats' plan.
Conservation, efficiency and using oil we hold in reserve for emergencies does not get us more energy. It's as if we were running out of food and the Democrats were telling us: "Just eat a little less every day." Great! We'll die a little more slowly. That's not what we call a "plan." We need more energy, not a plan for a slower death.
But there's more! Pelosi announced that the Democrats also plan to push for "an historic investment in biofuels, efficiency, conservation and the rest." The "rest" is apparently what she called our "important and essential" investment in alternative energy.
That certainly would be historic: We would make history by throwing our money away on unproven energy boondoggles that have eaten up untold billions since the 1960s without producing a single net kilowatt of power while we all starve to death.
The proposal to use energy sources that don't yet produce any energy is like the old New Yorker cartoon with Obama in Muslim garb -- no wait, that was a different cartoon. The cartoon is: A scientist has written out his extremely complicated theory on a blackboard and is showing it to another scientist. The theory consists of numbers and characters and takes up the entire blackboard. About two-thirds of the way across, reading left to right, appear the words, "then a miracle happens," followed by more numbers and characters.
That's the Democrats' plan to run cars on biofuels, solar and wind power: Then a miracle happens. The current Democratic mantra on energy is: "We can't drill our way out of this problem." Apparently their plan is to talk our way out of this problem.
Democrats are also alleging that the oil companies are sitting on millions of acres of oil but are refusing to drill -- presumably because oil company executives hate the American people and perversely don't want to make money. Manifestly, those acres are being explored for oil or have already come up dry.
If the Democrats really wanted oil companies to find more oil, they'd allow oil companies to drill offshore and to drill in ANWR, which we happen to know is bursting with oil.
But they don't. They don't want drilling. They don't want more oil. They want humans to ride bicycles and then to die. We deserve it: We were mean to the polar bears.
It's good to know that in the middle of a crisis, the Democrats are still liars. As long as we're fantasizing about "alternative" energy sources, what we really need is a car that runs on Democrats' lies.
Ann Coulter Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, or as she is called on the Big Dogs blog, "the worst speaker in the history of Congress," explained the cause of high oil prices back in 2006: "We have two oilmen in the White House. The logical follow-up from that is $3-a-gallon gasoline. It is no accident. It is a cause and effect. A cause and effect."
Yes, that would explain why the price of oral sex, cigars and Hustler magazine skyrocketed during the Clinton years. Also, I note that Speaker Pelosi is a hotelier ... and the price of a hotel room in New York is $1,000 a night! I think she might be onto something.
Is that why a barrel of oil costs mere pennies in all those other countries in the world that are not run by "oilmen"? Wait -- it doesn't cost pennies to them? That's weird.
In response to the 2003 blackout throughout the Northeast U.S. and parts of Can
ada, Pelosi blamed: "President Bush and Rep. Tom DeLay's oil-company interests." The blackout was a failure of humans operating electric power; it had nothing to do with oil. And I'm not even "an oilman."But yes -- good point: What a disaster having people in government who haven't spent their entire lives in politics! That explains everything. A government official with relevant experience or knowledge about an issue is obviously a crisis of gargantuan proportions.
This must be why the Democrats are nominating B. Hussein Obama, who finished middle school three days ago and has less experience than a person one might choose at random from the audience of "American Idol."
Announcing the Democrats' bold new "plan" on energy last week, Pelosi said breaking into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve "is one alternative." That's not an energy plan. It's using what we already have -- much like "conservation," which is also part of the Democrats' plan.
Conservation, efficiency and using oil we hold in reserve for emergencies does not get us more energy. It's as if we were running out of food and the Democrats were telling us: "Just eat a little less every day." Great! We'll die a little more slowly. That's not what we call a "plan." We need more energy, not a plan for a slower death.
But there's more! Pelosi announced that the Democrats also plan to push for "an historic investment in biofuels, efficiency, conservation and the rest." The "rest" is apparently what she called our "important and essential" investment in alternative energy.
That certainly would be historic: We would make history by throwing our money away on unproven energy boondoggles that have eaten up untold billions since the 1960s without producing a single net kilowatt of power while we all starve to death.
The proposal to use energy sources that don't yet produce any energy is like the old New Yorker cartoon with Obama in Muslim garb -- no wait, that was a different cartoon. The cartoon is: A scientist has written out his extremely complicated theory on a blackboard and is showing it to another scientist. The theory consists of numbers and characters and takes up the entire blackboard. About two-thirds of the way across, reading left to right, appear the words, "then a miracle happens," followed by more numbers and characters.
That's the Democrats' plan to run cars on biofuels, solar and wind power: Then a miracle happens. The current Democratic mantra on energy is: "We can't drill our way out of this problem." Apparently their plan is to talk our way out of this problem.
Democrats are also alleging that the oil companies are sitting on millions of acres of oil but are refusing to drill -- presumably because oil company executives hate the American people and perversely don't want to make money. Manifestly, those acres are being explored for oil or have already come up dry.
If the Democrats really wanted oil companies to find more oil, they'd allow oil companies to drill offshore and to drill in ANWR, which we happen to know is bursting with oil.
But they don't. They don't want drilling. They don't want more oil. They want humans to ride bicycles and then to die. We deserve it: We were mean to the polar bears.
It's good to know that in the middle of a crisis, the Democrats are still liars. As long as we're fantasizing about "alternative" energy sources, what we really need is a car that runs on Democrats' lies.
Just when you think Pelosi couldn't top her last dumb statement....
.... She goes right ahead and does it! "Let them eat cake...!"
Pelosi Says Drilling for More Oil “Not the Answer”
presentatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said calls by Republicans to drill for more oil “is not the answer America needs.”“Making gasoline more affordable would be the exact opposite of what we need to do,” Pelosi asserted. “We need to wean the country off of its dependence on fossil fuels. We can only do this if we discourage Americans’ love affair with their cars and put an end to the frenzy of excessive and senseless driving.”
In support of her contention that Americans’ driving habits are “excessive” and “senseless,” the Speaker pointed to a recent study showing that rising fuel costs were linked to declining highway fatalities. The study by two university professors looked at fatalities and fuel prices over the 1985-2006 timeframe and concluded that fatalities dropped by two percent for every ten percent increase in gasoline prices.
“The fact that the peak gasoline price in 2006 was $2.50 a gallon tells me that at today’s $4 a gallon we’re saving even more lives,” Pelosi conjectured. “Rather than undermine this salubrious trend by attempting to reverse the rising costs of fuel we should be celebrating our good fortune.”
I reckon when you are married to a multi-millionaire using undocumented labor without cars in his California vineyards and are you are personally chauffeured around in gov'mint SUVs and Limo's -- the more of the little people that you can force out of their cars -- the clearer the road ahead..... for you and your equally privileged friends!
And she is the Speaker of the "People's" House --- Wheee Doggies - we are in a peck of trouble in this country!
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
A misdemeanor or a medal - which to you think he ought to get?
Judge: Bradenton Man, 94, Entrapped In Prostitution Sting
Photo courtesy of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Frank Milio, who has dementia, was unable to get into a care facility while his case was pending.
Published: July 16, 2008
BRADENTON - A 94-year-old man whose arrest in a prostitution sting here caused an international buzz will not be prosecuted. A judge ruled Tuesday that Frank Milio was a victim of entrapment.
Milio, who has dementia, was unable to get into a care facility while his case was pending.
The undercover Manatee County Sheriff's Office detective on the street corner that afternoon in November took 30 steps to go chat with Milio, who authorities say had honked his car horn at the woman to get her attention.
Milio, who turned 94 this month, stopped his car in a parking lot about 60 feet away from the woman, who was standing in an area where authorities regularly set up stings to nab johns. Milio did not flash his lights or say anything to lure the woman over. The woman opened his passenger side door and leaned inside.
"Do you want to party tonight?" the woman asked Milio, who replied that he wanted to think about it for another 15 to 20 minutes. The officer asked about money. She asked whether Milio wanted sex. Milio replied: "Huh?" Milio eventually offered to pay for oral sex.
Manatee County Judge George K. Brown Jr. weighed in Tuesday, tossing the misdemeanor case, in a six-page order that questions the extent to which the detective controlled the nature and direction of the sexual conversation.
"This particular 93-year-old man was encouraged and/or enticed to proceed with the police officer's direction of conversation," Brown wrote.
For Milio's attorney, Donald E. Grieco, the judge's decision vindicated an elderly man whose arrest made news across the nation and landed in the late-night monologues of David Letterman and Jay Leno. The Drudge Report picked up the Herald-Tribune's story on the case.
Milio, the attorney said, is an old man who enjoyed flirting with a pretty woman. Milio never had any intention to pay for sex.
Grieco did not blame the authorities, saying he applauds the efforts police take to combat prostitution. But the attorney criticized the state's decision to file a charge against Milio, who lives alone in Bradenton and suffers from dementia.
"I'm very disappointed how the state attorney's office handled this case," Grieco said Tuesday. The facts, he said, did not support prosecution.
In June, Grieco filed court papers challenging Milio's arrest, and Brown presided over a hearing in which a video of the sting was played on a giant screen in court.
A prosecutor, Jared M. Monahan, said in court that Milio was well aware of what he was saying and requesting. Monahan dismissed the claim that Milio was enticed to offer money for sex. Milio could have driven away at any point, he said.
The judge's order, however, says the sequence of actions and conversation by the undercover officer "carried with it a substantial risk" that Milio would commit a crime.
After Milio's arrest, prosecutors declined to file a charge against another elderly Bradenton man accused in a solicitation sting in Bradenton -- his second charge in 20 years.
That 93-year-old man promised to return several hours later with $30 to seal the deal. A prosecutor said the state was unable to prove the man intended to return.
The pending charge against Milio blocked him from getting into an assisted living facility, Grieco said. That now may change.
"I am happy for Frank and his daughter that they can finally move on with his life," Grieco said. "He deserves it. Justice was served, in the end, for Frank."
A warm fuzzy from a friend?
....or a warning shot across our bow? See comments following this excerpt:
Nobody will voice the fact that if Kennedy had access only to the kind of health care provided under national schemes -- he wouldn't have survived the first month. Or do believe that you'll be flown across the country on two days notice to the best facility available in such an instance? Yeah right! Just like the gov'mint and the US Navy will spend a million of your tax dollars to bury your nephew at sea!
My Brit in-laws have shared some of the horror stories of their system. You thinking Pilgrims might want to do some homework to prepare yourself for the onslaught to come.
Mark my words, those silver haired thieves inside the beltway will hurt themselves piling on a Kennedy Memorial Health Bill!! The only objection will be from Hellary if her name isn't on it as well. Wonder if such a health care plan would have helped Mary Jo?
You've been warned - keep your powder dry Pardners!
Across the aisle, a ballad to Kennedy
GOP's Hatch pens tribute
WASHINGTON - Senator Orrin Hatch, the conservative Utah Republican, has written hundreds of songs on patriotic themes - with such titles as "Freedom's Light" and "I Love Old Glory" - as a way of paying tribute to his country.
But his latest trip down Tin Pan Alley had an even more personal resonance: Hatch said he was asked by several colleagues to put down his feelings about a very close friend who is facing a serious illness. The friend is the legendary liberal Ted Kennedy, and the colleagues are Democrats who envision having the song played as a tribute to Kennedy at next month's Democratic convention - and as a living example of a brotherhood that transcends party lines.
The result, "Headed Home," is a lilting ballad that even its author can't repeat without tearing up. The lyrics, he said, refer to Kennedy's heroic return to the Senate where Kennedy has served for almost 46 years and Hatch for 32.
Sailing home, sailing home. America, America, we're headed home at last
"He's a special person to me. I want to honor him this way," Hatch said in an interview, his eyes welling up slightly as he listened to a demo tape of jazz and soul singer Tony Middleton perform the song in his signature deep baritone.
"Just honor him, honor him, and every fear will be a thing of the past," Middleton croons in the demo tape, which Hatch played for the Globe.
The gesture - extremely unusual in a Congress that has become increasingly polarized along party lines - reflects the close relationship between the two veteran lawmakers, whose friendship and alliance on healthcare issues has baffled and maddened activists in both parties. The 76-year-old Kennedy, said the 74-year-old Hatch, "is like a brother to me."
Ole Pecoz is watchin' all this hand wringing over Teddy (the chauffeur) Kennedy's health problems and is beginning to worry that when he loses the battle to cancer -- if folks in that same Senate chamber will take advantage of his passing and rise in bi-partisan unity to pass some zillion dollar omnibus health care bill in his name.. Who would be man (or woman) enough to stand up and try to stop it?Nobody will voice the fact that if Kennedy had access only to the kind of health care provided under national schemes -- he wouldn't have survived the first month. Or do believe that you'll be flown across the country on two days notice to the best facility available in such an instance? Yeah right! Just like the gov'mint and the US Navy will spend a million of your tax dollars to bury your nephew at sea!
My Brit in-laws have shared some of the horror stories of their system. You thinking Pilgrims might want to do some homework to prepare yourself for the onslaught to come.
Mark my words, those silver haired thieves inside the beltway will hurt themselves piling on a Kennedy Memorial Health Bill!! The only objection will be from Hellary if her name isn't on it as well. Wonder if such a health care plan would have helped Mary Jo?
You've been warned - keep your powder dry Pardners!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
New York, California and D.C. can't get it right...
...but apparently even the United Kingdom, the land of 'no guns' has finally figured it out. From the London Telegraph:
Home owners and “have-a go-heroes” have for the first time been given the legal right to defend themselves against burglars and muggers free from fear of prosecution. They will be able to use force against criminals who break into their homes or attack them in the street without worrying that "heat of the moment” misjudgements could see them brought befo
re the courts.
Under new laws police and prosecutors will have to assess a person’s actions based on the person’s situation "as they saw it at the time” even if in hindsight it could be seen as unreasonable.
Until now people have had to prove in court that they acted in self defence but the changes mean police and the Crown Prosecution Service will decide on cases before this stage.
In practice, householders are seldom prosecuted if they harm or even kill an intruder but the Act will give them greater legal protection.
Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: "This is a typical Labour con – it will give no greater protection to householders confronted by burglars because it’s nothing more than a re-statement of the existing case law.”
"The Government strongly supports the right of law abiding people to defend themselves, their families and their property with reasonable force. This law will help to make sure that that right is upheld and that the criminal justice system is firmly weighted in favour of the victim.
"Dealing with crime is not just the responsibility of the police, courts and prisons; it’s the responsibility of all of us. Communities with the lowest crime and the greatest safety are the ones with the most active citizens with a greater sense of shared values, inspired by a sense of belonging and duty to others, who are empowered by the state and are also supported by it – in other words, making a reality of justice.
"These changes in the law will make clear – victims of crime, and those who intervene to prevent crime, should be treated with respect by the justice system. We do not want to encourage vigilantism, but there can be no justice in a system which makes the victim the criminal."
It came as it emerged that homeowners could have to wait up to three days after reporting a crime to see a police officer, according to a leaked draft of the Policing Green Paper.
The paper says that this will be "within three hours it if requires policing intervention or three days if there is less immediate need for a police presence."
However, the Home Office would not comment on the plans.
'Have-a-go heroes' get legal right to defend themselves
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent and Chris Hope, Home Affairs Correspondent
16/07/2008
By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent and Chris Hope, Home Affairs Correspondent
16/07/2008
Home owners and “have-a go-heroes” have for the first time been given the legal right to defend themselves against burglars and muggers free from fear of prosecution. They will be able to use force against criminals who break into their homes or attack them in the street without worrying that "heat of the moment” misjudgements could see them brought befo
re the courts.Under new laws police and prosecutors will have to assess a person’s actions based on the person’s situation "as they saw it at the time” even if in hindsight it could be seen as unreasonable.
For example, homeowners would be able stab or shoot a burglar if confronted or tackle them and use force to detain them until police arrive. Muggers could be legally punched and beaten in the street or have their own weapons sued against them. However, attacking a fleeing criminal with a weapon is not permitted nor is lying in wait to ambush them.
The new laws follow a growing public campaign for people to be given the right to defend themselves and their own homes in the wake of a number of high profile cases.
In 2000, Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer, was sent to prison for manslaughter for shooting an intruder in his home. Earlier this year, Tony Singh, a shopkeeper, found himself facing a murder charge after he defended himself against an armed robber who tried to steal his takings. During the struggle the robber received a single fatal stab wound to the heart with his own knife.
The Crown Prosecution Service eventually decided Mr Singh should not be charged.
In 2000, Tony Martin, the Norfolk farmer, was sent to prison for manslaughter for shooting an intruder in his home. Earlier this year, Tony Singh, a shopkeeper, found himself facing a murder charge after he defended himself against an armed robber who tried to steal his takings. During the struggle the robber received a single fatal stab wound to the heart with his own knife.
The Crown Prosecution Service eventually decided Mr Singh should not be charged.
Until now people have had to prove in court that they acted in self defence but the changes mean police and the Crown Prosecution Service will decide on cases before this stage.
In practice, householders are seldom prosecuted if they harm or even kill an intruder but the Act will give them greater legal protection.
Nick Herbert, the Shadow Justice Secretary, said: "This is a typical Labour con – it will give no greater protection to householders confronted by burglars because it’s nothing more than a re-statement of the existing case law.”
"The Government strongly supports the right of law abiding people to defend themselves, their families and their property with reasonable force. This law will help to make sure that that right is upheld and that the criminal justice system is firmly weighted in favour of the victim.
"Dealing with crime is not just the responsibility of the police, courts and prisons; it’s the responsibility of all of us. Communities with the lowest crime and the greatest safety are the ones with the most active citizens with a greater sense of shared values, inspired by a sense of belonging and duty to others, who are empowered by the state and are also supported by it – in other words, making a reality of justice.
"These changes in the law will make clear – victims of crime, and those who intervene to prevent crime, should be treated with respect by the justice system. We do not want to encourage vigilantism, but there can be no justice in a system which makes the victim the criminal."
It came as it emerged that homeowners could have to wait up to three days after reporting a crime to see a police officer, according to a leaked draft of the Policing Green Paper.
The paper says that this will be "within three hours it if requires policing intervention or three days if there is less immediate need for a police presence."
However, the Home Office would not comment on the plans.
Do you reckon that Britain, the home of 'no gun' laws, will one day have a 'concealed carry law' as well? Lord Luv a Duck...............
Remember those special days of your youth?
.... the sun is shining, you've got the top down --- it's gorgeous and "By Golly, ain't nothin' gonna ruin it for you!!"
And then Bam! The S**t hits the fan!
And then Bam! The S**t hits the fan!
I reckon I've discovered the appropriate Presidential Candidate Seal for Obamanation!!
Surge meets purge The McCain campaign is poking fun at Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for a report in today's New York Daily News that he had cleansed BarackObama.com of past criticism of the surge strategy in Iraq.
"BARACK OBAMA "REFINING" IRAQ POSITION ON OWN WEBSITE," blares the McCain release, which helpfully links to the former versions of the site.
The Daily News report by James Gordon Meek says: "Barack Obama's campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S. troop ‘surge’ in Iraq, the Daily News has learned. The presumed Democratic nominee replaced his Iraq issue Web page, which had described the surge as a ‘problem’ that had barely reduced violence. ‘The surge is not working,’ Obama's old plan stated, citing a lack of Iraqi political cooperation but crediting Sunni sheiks - not U.S. military muscle - for quelling violence in Anbar Province. …
"Obama's campaign posted a new Iraq plan Sunday night, which cites an "improved security situation" paid for with the blood of U.S. troops since the surge began in February 2007. It praises G.I.s' ‘hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics and enormous sacrifice.’ Campaign aide Wendy Morigi said Obama is ‘not softening his criticism of the surge. We regularly update the Web site to reflect changes in current events.’ ”
Seems like every time they had a tough few years back in the USSR (you remember the "Evil Empire" I hope), the Kremlin would call in the historical revisionists to re-write their history books. Do you suppose they have all immigrated to the U.S. and signed onto Obamanation's team?Or have they just renamed his campaign headquarters - 'Waffle City'!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Annie...... on Jesse Helms.
THE NEW YORK TIMES VS. HELMS, PART 529,876
by Ann Coulter
July 9, 2008
Last Friday, on the Fourth of July, the great patriot Jesse Helms passed away. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson also went to their great reward on Independence Day, so this is further proof of God.
Helms is now the second great American patriot I've always wanted to meet and never will, at least in this lifetime. The only other one is the magnificent Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger. (Wikipedia quote: "I sometimes lie awake at night trying to think of something funny that Richard Nixon said.")
After a week of hundreds of Helms obituaries -- one or two of which were not completely dishonest -- I will mention just a few items that were not addressed or given sufficient attention.
The two most obsessively discussed topics among Senate staffers are: (1) Who is the stupidest senator? (Sen. Barbara Boxer pulled into the lead when Sen. Lincoln Chafee retired), and (2) which senators are beastly and which are wonderful to their staff?
When I worked in the Senate in the '90s, the two senators famous for being absolute princes to work for were Sen. Helms and -- it pains me to tell you this, so you know it has to be true -- Sen. Teddy Kennedy. (He was so nice to his staffers, he frequently offered them rides home in his car after parties.)
I never knew -- and you never knew, unless you read one of the two honest obituaries this past week -- that in 1962 Helms and his wife "Dot" adopted a 9-year-old orphan with cerebral palsy. They already had two daughters and Helms was 41 years old at the time. But it was Christmastime and they read about Charlie in a newspaper. He said all he wanted for Christmas was a mother and father.
In the 1976 North Carolina Republican primary, Helms engineered Ronald Reagan's upset victory over Gerald Ford, the sitting president. That victory carried Reagan to the convention and made him the front-runner in 1980. The night Reagan won the 1980 presidential election, Helms famously uttered the beautiful words: "God has given America one more chance."
In 1984, Helms' re-election campaign was the then-most expensive Senate race in history. His Democratic opponent, Gov. Jim Hunt, received campaign contributions from the usual dotty liberals: Barbra Streisand, Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas, Paul Newman, Woody Allen -- all, no doubt, steeped in North Carolina politics.
Shockingly, Hunt also received a donation from Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the nonpartisan, totally objective, straight-down-the-middle New York Times. Which I guess explains the nasty obituary last week.
Meanwhile, Helms received contributions mostly from America's two most dangerous fringe groups: housewives and businessmen. His few celebrity supporters included Gene Autry and Ellin Berlin, wife of composer Irving Berlin, the patriotic Jewish immigrant who wrote "White Christmas" and "God Bless America."
Other Republicans loved to run in years when Helms was up for election because, like a Marine exposing himself to enemy fire to let his comrades escape, all the Hollywood money would be dedicated to defeating Helms.
On election night 1984, a friend of mine was at a Republican victory party in Michigan when suddenly a group of Hasidim broke out in cheering and dancing. Was "Fiddler on the Roof" being made into a major motion picture? He looked up at the mammoth TV screen. It read: "Jesse Helms Wins North Carolina."
Helms was viciously and falsely portrayed as a racist -- including in the totally objective New York Times obituary last week. In January 1963, a decade before Helms would run for office, he editorialized about Harvey Gantt, the first black student to be admitted to Clemson University in South Carolina.
Helms praised Gantt to the skies, saying he had "stoutly resisted the pose of a conquering hero" and had "turned away from the liberal press and television networks which would glorify him." Gantt, Helms said, just wanted to be an architect and "Clemson is the only college in South Carolina that can teach him how to be one."
Funny how that little tidbit didn't make the Times obituary. They must have cut it for "space."
Helms was for integration; he was simply against "movements." He would later hire James Meredith, who was the first black to attend the University of Mississippi -- with the assistance of federal troops. By 1989, Meredith's views had come around to those of Helms, not the other way around.
After years of reading and studying and attending law school at Columbia University, Meredith concluded that blacks had been better off when they worked for themselves and not for white liberals. (Having worked for white liberals myself, I couldn't agree more.) Meredith claimed Helms fired him as domestic policy adviser after a year because he was too right-wing for Helms.
Which reminds me: I'll have to try to meet Meredith before the next Fourth of July.
Liberals discount Helms' hiring of Meredith on the grounds that Meredith had wandered off the reservation. (Blacks are allowed to have only one set of political views.) It just shows you how stupid liberals are: Blacks don't live on reservations; Indians do.
It's pretty much the same thing liberals are accusing B. Hussein Obama of right now. In its July 4 editorial, the Times harangued Obama for his diversions from the liberal line on Iraq, the domestic surveillance bill, capital punishment and guns. I believe the editorial was titled something like, "Get in Line, N-word."
To paraphrase Dan Quayle, to be called a racist by these people is a badge of honor. Rest in peace, Jesse Helms: New York Times stock was recently lowered to a notch above junk bond status.
Well done and well said Annie....
by Ann Coulter
July 9, 2008
Last Friday, on the Fourth of July, the great patriot Jesse Helms passed away. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson also went to their great reward on Independence Day, so this is further proof of God.
Helms is now the second great American patriot I've always wanted to meet and never will, at least in this lifetime. The only other one is the magnificent Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger. (Wikipedia quote: "I sometimes lie awake at night trying to think of something funny that Richard Nixon said.")
After a week of hundreds of Helms obituaries -- one or two of which were not completely dishonest -- I will mention just a few items that were not addressed or given sufficient attention.
The two most obsessively discussed topics among Senate staffers are: (1) Who is the stupidest senator? (Sen. Barbara Boxer pulled into the lead when Sen. Lincoln Chafee retired), and (2) which senators are beastly and which are wonderful to their staff?
When I worked in the Senate in the '90s, the two senators famous for being absolute princes to work for were Sen. Helms and -- it pains me to tell you this, so you know it has to be true -- Sen. Teddy Kennedy. (He was so nice to his staffers, he frequently offered them rides home in his car after parties.)
I never knew -- and you never knew, unless you read one of the two honest obituaries this past week -- that in 1962 Helms and his wife "Dot" adopted a 9-year-old orphan with cerebral palsy. They already had two daughters and Helms was 41 years old at the time. But it was Christmastime and they read about Charlie in a newspaper. He said all he wanted for Christmas was a mother and father.
In the 1976 North Carolina Republican primary, Helms engineered Ronald Reagan's upset victory over Gerald Ford, the sitting president. That victory carried Reagan to the convention and made him the front-runner in 1980. The night Reagan won the 1980 presidential election, Helms famously uttered the beautiful words: "God has given America one more chance."
In 1984, Helms' re-election campaign was the then-most expensive Senate race in history. His Democratic opponent, Gov. Jim Hunt, received campaign contributions from the usual dotty liberals: Barbra Streisand, Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas, Paul Newman, Woody Allen -- all, no doubt, steeped in North Carolina politics.
Shockingly, Hunt also received a donation from Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of the nonpartisan, totally objective, straight-down-the-middle New York Times. Which I guess explains the nasty obituary last week.
Meanwhile, Helms received contributions mostly from America's two most dangerous fringe groups: housewives and businessmen. His few celebrity supporters included Gene Autry and Ellin Berlin, wife of composer Irving Berlin, the patriotic Jewish immigrant who wrote "White Christmas" and "God Bless America."
Other Republicans loved to run in years when Helms was up for election because, like a Marine exposing himself to enemy fire to let his comrades escape, all the Hollywood money would be dedicated to defeating Helms.
On election night 1984, a friend of mine was at a Republican victory party in Michigan when suddenly a group of Hasidim broke out in cheering and dancing. Was "Fiddler on the Roof" being made into a major motion picture? He looked up at the mammoth TV screen. It read: "Jesse Helms Wins North Carolina."
Helms was viciously and falsely portrayed as a racist -- including in the totally objective New York Times obituary last week. In January 1963, a decade before Helms would run for office, he editorialized about Harvey Gantt, the first black student to be admitted to Clemson University in South Carolina.
Helms praised Gantt to the skies, saying he had "stoutly resisted the pose of a conquering hero" and had "turned away from the liberal press and television networks which would glorify him." Gantt, Helms said, just wanted to be an architect and "Clemson is the only college in South Carolina that can teach him how to be one."
Funny how that little tidbit didn't make the Times obituary. They must have cut it for "space."
Helms was for integration; he was simply against "movements." He would later hire James Meredith, who was the first black to attend the University of Mississippi -- with the assistance of federal troops. By 1989, Meredith's views had come around to those of Helms, not the other way around.
After years of reading and studying and attending law school at Columbia University, Meredith concluded that blacks had been better off when they worked for themselves and not for white liberals. (Having worked for white liberals myself, I couldn't agree more.) Meredith claimed Helms fired him as domestic policy adviser after a year because he was too right-wing for Helms.
Which reminds me: I'll have to try to meet Meredith before the next Fourth of July.
Liberals discount Helms' hiring of Meredith on the grounds that Meredith had wandered off the reservation. (Blacks are allowed to have only one set of political views.) It just shows you how stupid liberals are: Blacks don't live on reservations; Indians do.
It's pretty much the same thing liberals are accusing B. Hussein Obama of right now. In its July 4 editorial, the Times harangued Obama for his diversions from the liberal line on Iraq, the domestic surveillance bill, capital punishment and guns. I believe the editorial was titled something like, "Get in Line, N-word."
To paraphrase Dan Quayle, to be called a racist by these people is a badge of honor. Rest in peace, Jesse Helms: New York Times stock was recently lowered to a notch above junk bond status.
Well done and well said Annie....
Obama takes umbrage,,,,,,,,,
New Yorker mag's 'satire' cover draws Team Obama's ire
Sunday, July 13th 2008, 11:08 PM
Barack and Michelle Obama in extremist roles."> Cover of July 21 issue of The New Yorker depicts Barack and Michelle Obama in extremist roles.
Barack Obama's campaign lashed out Sunday at the editors of The New Yorker magazine for a cartoon cover that depicts the Democratic candidate and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists.
The magazine's editor described the cartoon, called "The Politics of Fear," as satire. The Obama campaign called it "tasteless and offensive."
The Illinois senator is depicted in traditional Muslim garb in the Barry Blitt illustration set in the Oval Office.
His wife, Michelle, is in fatigues, sporting an Angela Davis-style sky-high Afro, an AK-47 slung over her shoulder.
A portrait of terror kingpin Osama Bin Laden hangs above the fireplace, in which an American flag is set ablaze.
Gee, I can't figure out why he got upset....!!!!!!
Sunday, July 13, 2008
An old Air Force pal sent this to me - I thought I would share it here....
NEW PREAMBLE TO THE CONSTITUTION'We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden, delusional, and other liberal bed-wetters. We hold these truths to be self evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so dim they require a Bill of NON-Rights.'
ARTICLE I: You do not have the right to a new car, big screen TV, or any other form of wealth. More power to you if you can legally acquire them, but no one is guaranteeing anything.
ARTICLE II: You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone -- not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; but the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be.
ARTICLE III: You do not have the right to be free from harm. If you stick a screwdriver in your eye, learn to be more careful; do not expect the tool manufacturer to make you and all your relatives independently wealthy.
ARTICLE IV: You do not have the right to free food and housing. Americans are the most charitable people to be found, and will gladly help anyone in need, but we are quickly growing weary of subsidizing generation after generation of professional couch potatoes who achieve nothing more than the creation of another generation of professional couch potatoes.
ARTICLE V: You do not have the right to free health care. That would be nice, but from the looks of public housing projects, we're just not interested in public health care.
ARTICLE VI: You do not have the right to physically harm other people. If you kidnap, rape, intentionally maim, or kill someone, don't be surprised if the rest of us want to see you fry in the electric chair.
ARTICLE VII: You do not have the right to the possessions of others. If you rob, cheat, or coerce away the goods or services of other citizens, don't be surprised if the rest of us get together and lock you away in a place where you still won't have the right to a big screen color TV or a life of leisure.
ARTICLE VIII: You do not have the right to a job. All of us sure want you to have a job, and will gladly help you along in hard times, but we expect you to take advantage of the opportunities of education and vocational training laid before you to make yourself useful.
ARTICLE IX: You do not have the right to happiness. Being an American means that you have the right to PURSUE happiness, which by the way, is a lot easier if you are unencumbered by an over abundance of idiotic laws created by those of you who were confused by the Bill of Rights.
ARTICLE X: This is an English speaking country. We don't care where you are from, English is our language. Learn it or go back to wherever you came from!
ARTICLE XI: You do not have the right to change our country's history or heritage. This country was founded on the belief in one true God. And yet, you are given the freedom to believe in any religion, any faith, or no faith at all; with no fear of persecution.The phrase IN GOD WE TRUST is part of our heritage and history, and if you are uncomfortable with it, TOUGH!
If you agree, share this with a friend. No, you don't have to, and nothing tragic will befall you if you don't. But I guarantee a nice warm feeling will occur if you do! I just think it's about time common sense is allowed to flourish.
I reckon that #IX ought to be posted in a zillion public places.... what do you think?
No International borders for political correctness stupidity!!!
Here is a report from the London Daily Mail which needs no introduction......
Advert for new air traffic controller says 20/20 vision is essential... then offers application form in BRAILLE
An advertisement for an air traffic controller is being offered in Braille – although 20/20 vision is a requirement for the job.
Bosses of St Mary's airport on the Isles of Scilly say they are simply adhering to equal opportunity guidelines.
The advert for the post, which carries a salary of between £34,000 and £36,000, states that as well as having excellent vision, the applicant needs to be highly qualified to fulfil the demanding role of guiding aircraft safely into the hilltop airport, which is often fogbound.
Equal opportunities: St Mary's Airport, above, advertised for a new air traffic controller and said a Braille application form would be available
Yet at the bottom of the advertisement is the note: 'If you require this document in an alternative language, in larger text, Braille, easy read or in an audio format, please contact the Community Relations Officer.'
The move was welcomed by Bill Alker of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, which works with blind and partially-sighted people.
He said: 'We applaud the Isles of Scilly Council's good practice and would hope more employers do the same.'
But Keri Jones, the controller of Radio Scilly, said: 'People generally find it quite funny.
'It would certainly be something for Scilly to have the world' s first blind air traffic controller.'
Compulsory: Guidelines mean employers must offer the Braille option to applicants even when anyone with problem eyesight could not hope to get the job
A spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority, said all air traffic controllers have to meet international standards and pass a medical, including a stringent eye test.
'They would have to meet the same medical requirement as a commercial airline pilot,' the spokesman added. 'I would say that, with glasses or contact lenses, they would need good 20/20 vision.'
An insider on the island's aviation sector said: 'It's just common sense that you would not employ an air traffic controller who is blind or partially sighted.
'It's just one of those things they have got to put on forms. It's got to go on everything these days whether it's relevant or not.'
A spokesman for the Council of the Isles of Scilly said the wording was included on all job adverts 'to ensure that potential job applicants know that they can access information in a format to suit them.'
Is this a wonderful world or what??From his lips to God's ear.......?
Robert Redford, the old timey, old fashioned tree huggin' Hollywoody star -- was in Ireland to receive an honorary degree in exchange for a speech.... and decided to wax politically in that foreign land ...... as reported by the Irish Times:
On the other hand, if the American Voters were to rise up and throw out all Senators with more than two terms, and Congressfolks with more than four terms .... Well now, that would be whole 'nother thing. Just think of the possibilities!
IF BARACK Obama doesn't win November's presidential election in the United States, "you can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye", the actor and director Robert Redford told an audience in Dublin last night.
Speaking at 
a public interview in Trinity College in advance of his conferral with an honorary degree by the university today, Redford said he hoped Obama would win because while John McCain "represents yesterday", the Democrat embodied the sort of change America needed.
Asked by Michael Dwyer, film correspondent of The Irish Times , if he was looking forward to "regime change" in the US, Redford said: "Yes. Where my country is at the moment, I'm not confident of anything. I'm hopeful.
"I think Obama is not tall on experience . . . but I believe he's a really good person. He's smart. And he does represent what the country needs most now, which is change.
"I hope he'll win. I think he will. If he doesn't, you can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye. I think we need new voices, new blood. We need to get a whole group out, get a new group in."
Seems to this Ole' boy that 'getting the whole group out and getting a new group in' was how Bubba Clinton got elected. Then to remove the stains he left on the Washington carpet, it seems George W was elected for the same reason. Not a really deep thought, is it? But then, nobody ever accused Redford of having any of those...On the other hand, if the American Voters were to rise up and throw out all Senators with more than two terms, and Congressfolks with more than four terms .... Well now, that would be whole 'nother thing. Just think of the possibilities!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
New Arizona Quarter --------
I visited my bank today to get the just released new Arizona Quarter.......
Fortunately --- this design was not the final winner............ or unfortunately, depending on your sense of humor....! Grinnin' at cha!
See also: http://www.filmsite.org/trea.html
Fortunately --- this design was not the final winner............ or unfortunately, depending on your sense of humor....! Grinnin' at cha!
See also: http://www.filmsite.org/trea.html
About George "W"s War......
No one likes war. War is a horrific affair, bloody and expensive. Sending
our men and women into battle to perhaps die or be maimed is an
unconscionable thought.
Yet some wars need to be waged, and someone needs to lead. The citizenry
and Congress are often ambivalent or largely opposed to any given war. It's up to our leader to convince them. That's why we call the leader Commander in Chief."
George W.'s war was no different. There was lots of resistance to it. Many
in Congress were vehemently against the idea. The Commander in Chief had
to lobby for legislative approval.
Along with supporters, George W. used the force of his convictions, the
power of his title and every ounce of moral suasion he could muster to
rally support. He had to assure Congress and the public that the war was morally justified, winnable and affordable. Congress eventually came around and voted overwhelmingly to wage war.
George W. then lobbied foreign governments for support. But in the end,
only one European nation helped us. The rest of the world sat on its hands and watched.
After a few quick victories, things started to go bad. There were many
dark days when all the news was discouraging. Casualties began to mount. It became obvious that our forces were too small. Congress began to drag its
feet about funding the effort.
Many who had voted to support the war just a few years earlier were
beginning to speak against it and accuse the Commander in Chief of
misleading them. Many critics began to call him incompetent, an idiot and
even a liar. Journalists joined the negative chorus with a vengeance.
As the war entered its fourth year, the public began to grow weary of the
conflict and the casualties. George W.'s popularity plummeted. Yet through
it all, he stood firm, supporting the troops and endorsing the struggle.
Without his unwavering support, the war would have surely ended, then and
there, in overwhelming and total defeat.
At this darkest of times, he began to make some changes. More troops were
added and trained. Some advisers were shuffled, and new generals
installed.
Then, unexpectedly and gradually, things began to improve. Now it was the
enemy that appeared to be growing weary of the lengthy conflict and losing
support. Victories began to come, and hope returned.
Many critics in Congress and the press said the improvements were just
George W.'s good luck. The progress, they said, would be temporary. He
knew, however, that in warfare good fortune counts.
Then, in the unlikeliest of circumstances and perhaps the most historic
example of military luck, the enemy blundered and was resoundingly defeated.
After six long years of war, the Commander in Chief basked in a most
hard-fought victory.
So on that historic day, Oct. 19, 1781, in a place called Yorktown, a satisfied George Washington sat upon his beautiful white horse and accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
And a 'Tip o' the hat' to INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
our men and women into battle to perhaps die or be maimed is an
unconscionable thought.
Yet some wars need to be waged, and someone needs to lead. The citizenry
and Congress are often ambivalent or largely opposed to any given war. It's up to our leader to convince them. That's why we call the leader Commander in Chief."
George W.'s war was no different. There was lots of resistance to it. Many
in Congress were vehemently against the idea. The Commander in Chief had
to lobby for legislative approval.
Along with supporters, George W. used the force of his convictions, the
power of his title and every ounce of moral suasion he could muster to
rally support. He had to assure Congress and the public that the war was morally justified, winnable and affordable. Congress eventually came around and voted overwhelmingly to wage war.
George W. then lobbied foreign governments for support. But in the end,
only one European nation helped us. The rest of the world sat on its hands and watched.
After a few quick victories, things started to go bad. There were many
dark days when all the news was discouraging. Casualties began to mount. It became obvious that our forces were too small. Congress began to drag its
feet about funding the effort.
Many who had voted to support the war just a few years earlier were
beginning to speak against it and accuse the Commander in Chief of
misleading them. Many critics began to call him incompetent, an idiot and
even a liar. Journalists joined the negative chorus with a vengeance.
As the war entered its fourth year, the public began to grow weary of the
conflict and the casualties. George W.'s popularity plummeted. Yet through
it all, he stood firm, supporting the troops and endorsing the struggle.
Without his unwavering support, the war would have surely ended, then and
there, in overwhelming and total defeat.
At this darkest of times, he began to make some changes. More troops were
added and trained. Some advisers were shuffled, and new generals
installed.
Then, unexpectedly and gradually, things began to improve. Now it was the
enemy that appeared to be growing weary of the lengthy conflict and losing
support. Victories began to come, and hope returned.
Many critics in Congress and the press said the improvements were just
George W.'s good luck. The progress, they said, would be temporary. He
knew, however, that in warfare good fortune counts.
Then, in the unlikeliest of circumstances and perhaps the most historic
example of military luck, the enemy blundered and was resoundingly defeated.
After six long years of war, the Commander in Chief basked in a most
hard-fought victory.
So on that historic day, Oct. 19, 1781, in a place called Yorktown, a satisfied George Washington sat upon his beautiful white horse and accepted the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, effectively ending the Revolutionary War.
And a 'Tip o' the hat' to INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
About that T Boone Pickens plan we been hearin' about...
... I found a short but very understandable video 'splaining his plan. He doesn't offer it as a panacea for all our woes, more of a short term tourniquet to stop the flow of money from US to the Middle East until we can find and cause other solutions --- Check it out:
Friday, July 11, 2008
Touch not a leaf on yon green bush....
Lest by mistake you bare some Gay dude's tush! !!!
Work on the beauty spot has been temporarily delayed while talks with gay rights groups take place to try and break the deadlock.
The area of the Downs sits at the top of the Avon Gorge, in the upmarket Clifton suburb of Bristol and is home to various species of rare plants and wildlife.
But councillors said it had become overgrown over the past 20 years.
Thick bushes cover the secluded area next to a street known Circular Road which has become a mecca for gay men and couples cruising for sex.
The area hit the headlines last year when four firemen who disturbed an outdoor gay sex session were reprimanded and fined after they shone torches into the undergrowth.
The Downs Committee commissioned a report as part of ongoing improvements to the shrubland and have proposed cutting back a lot of the undergrowth.
The move was strongly backed by local residents who complained about "inappropriate sexual activity" and safety concerns in the area.
But during the consultation period last year "equality" concerns were raised by the council's Rainbow Group - an action group of lesbian, gay and bisexual council employees - about the threat to gay rights.
A report on the plans states: "As part of the consultation, concerns were expressed by the council's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group (and a small number of other consultees) that this action was potentially discriminating against gay and bisexual men, whose activities on this part of the Downs were objected to by other members of the local community and Downs users."
Council officials have been forced to consult with the police and gay rights group the Terence Higgins Trust to ensure there was no discrimination.
Peter Wilkinson, the council's Head of Parks, said: "The general public are unhappy about people taking part in lewd behaviour in public spaces, whether it's between men and women or people of the same sex.
This from the UK Telegraph regarding some difficulty being encountered by the City Council of the City of Bristol in the U.K.
Plans to clear undergrowth from gay sex spot branded discriminatory
By Richard Alleyne
A council has been accused of discriminating against homosexuals over plans to clear undergrowth from a notorious gay cruising spot.
Bristol City Council wants to prune bushes and remove cover from an area known as the Downs to improve the landscape and encourage rare wildlife.
But its own gay rights group has opposed the move, claiming that cutting back the bushes was "discriminating" to homosexual men who used the area for late night outdoor sex known as dogging.
By Richard Alleyne
A council has been accused of discriminating against homosexuals over plans to clear undergrowth from a notorious gay cruising spot.
Bristol City Council wants to prune bushes and remove cover from an area known as the Downs to improve the landscape and encourage rare wildlife.
But its own gay rights group has opposed the move, claiming that cutting back the bushes was "discriminating" to homosexual men who used the area for late night outdoor sex known as dogging.
Work on the beauty spot has been temporarily delayed while talks with gay rights groups take place to try and break the deadlock.The area of the Downs sits at the top of the Avon Gorge, in the upmarket Clifton suburb of Bristol and is home to various species of rare plants and wildlife.
But councillors said it had become overgrown over the past 20 years.
Thick bushes cover the secluded area next to a street known Circular Road which has become a mecca for gay men and couples cruising for sex.
The area hit the headlines last year when four firemen who disturbed an outdoor gay sex session were reprimanded and fined after they shone torches into the undergrowth.
The Downs Committee commissioned a report as part of ongoing improvements to the shrubland and have proposed cutting back a lot of the undergrowth.
The move was strongly backed by local residents who complained about "inappropriate sexual activity" and safety concerns in the area.
But during the consultation period last year "equality" concerns were raised by the council's Rainbow Group - an action group of lesbian, gay and bisexual council employees - about the threat to gay rights.
A report on the plans states: "As part of the consultation, concerns were expressed by the council's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group (and a small number of other consultees) that this action was potentially discriminating against gay and bisexual men, whose activities on this part of the Downs were objected to by other members of the local community and Downs users."
Council officials have been forced to consult with the police and gay rights group the Terence Higgins Trust to ensure there was no discrimination.
Peter Wilkinson, the council's Head of Parks, said: "The general public are unhappy about people taking part in lewd behaviour in public spaces, whether it's between men and women or people of the same sex.
There are sooo many comments Ole' Pecoz could make here, but I reckon I'll pass and let you make your own whilst I just sit here and grin !!!
I do gotta wonder who those "Consultee's" are that they need to talk to. Looks to me like all that's left are the Beastie Boys........Ain't it Amazin!!!
... what happens to the attitudes and votes when public opinion makes itself heard? Do you remember how Hellary and Obamanation and Kennedy and the rest of those nattering nabobs of the left wing of the Senate piled on General Petraeus when he testified before them last year? And the Moveon.BS ad calling him "General Betrayus"? Seems like Hellary was casting doubt on the 'truthiness' of his testimony... the words "suspension of belief' come to mind.
Guess what happened in the Senate yesterday? Here's the story as told by AP:
Senate OKs promotion of Petraeus
Gen. Petraeus confirmed on 95-2 vote
The Associated Press
Gen. Petraeus confirmed on 95-2 vote
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Senate has confirmed Gen. David Petraeus as the top commander in the Middle East and Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno to replace Petraeus as the chief military officer in Iraq.
The Senate voted 95-2 in favor of Petraeus and 96-1 for Odierno.
Last year, Petraeus helped to tame growing opposition to the Iraq
war in Congress by providing measured assessments of progress and warning that an exodus of U.S. troops would result in chaos. In the meantime, he advocated a buildup of some 30,000 troops in Baghdad and other hot spots, which eventually proved vital in tamping down violence.Odierno, who implemented much of the strategy as Petraeus' deputy in Iraq, is slated to receive a fourth star and will report to Petraeus in his new job.
Sooooo... after twenty-five left limpin' Dem Libs refused to join the rest of the Senate and condemn the ugly 'Betrayus' ads just last September, all of 'em except 'Sheets' Byrd and 'Harpin' Harkin voted for his promotion to this higher post yesterday!! Obamanation was AWOL agin'!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Now, here is a tapdance Obamanation is doing right now!
(You many have to click on it to see the small writing...)
ABC-TV wins Pecozbill's recognition as the....
....best example of the week of the left-tilted, news filtering, slanted Main Stream Media new reports. Found this at Redstate.com:
This from Major General (ret) Buckman.
My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain’s recent trip to Iraq.
Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they’d see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn.
Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn’t a glimpse
of Katelyn, but got a hell’uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain’s trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI’s being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton .. No mention of the 54 for McCain.
Ah, the irony of American Patriots protecting the press from harm while the reporter prepares a completely misleading story about which candidate the soldiers prefer. The reporter obviously thought her escort was comprised of brainless morons who wouldn't see what was going on in front of them. Wouldn't be the first time a reporter in the MSM turned out to be the brainless moron.
Support the troops. Share this with your friends...
This from Major General (ret) Buckman.
My niece, Katelyn, stationed at Baluud , Iraq was assigned, with others of her detachment, to be escort/guard/watcher for Martha Raddatz of ABC News as she covered John McCain’s recent trip to Iraq.
Katelyn and her Captain stood directly behind Raddatz as she queried GI’s walking past. They kept count of the GI’s and you should remember these numbers. She asked 60 GI’s who they planned to vote for in November. 54 said John McCain, 4 for Obama, and 2 for Hillary.
Katelyn called home and told her Mom and Dad to watch ABC news the next night because she was standing directly behind Raddatz and maybe they’d see her on TV. Mom and Dad of course, called and emailed all the kinfolk to watch the newscast and maybe see Katelyn.
Well, of course, we all watched and what we saw wasn’t a glimpse
of Katelyn, but got a hell’uva view of skewed news. After a dissertation on McCain’s trip and speech, ABC showed 5 GI’s being asked by Raddatz how they were going to vote in November; 3 for Obama and 2 for Clinton .. No mention of the 54 for McCain. Ah, the irony of American Patriots protecting the press from harm while the reporter prepares a completely misleading story about which candidate the soldiers prefer. The reporter obviously thought her escort was comprised of brainless morons who wouldn't see what was going on in front of them. Wouldn't be the first time a reporter in the MSM turned out to be the brainless moron.
Support the troops. Share this with your friends...
I was afraid this morning that I would be stuck talking about Jumpin' Jesse's faux pas...
... but the Dallas city council saved me from that. Besides you've already been saturated with Jive'n Jesse's mumbled rhetoric regarding surgery on Obamanation.
Apparently to some. A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.
County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.
Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.
Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."
That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.
Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term.
No - this little tidbit of the level of insanity and racist hair triggers comes to us from the City Council of Dallas Texas as related to us in the City Hall Blog of the Dallas Morning News:
Is "black hole" a racially insensitive term?
Apparently to some. A special meeting about Dallas County traffic tickets turned tense and bizarre this afternoon.
County commissioners were discussing problems with the central collections office that is used to process traffic ticket payments and handle other paperwork normally done by the JP Courts.
Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, who is white, said it seemed that central collections "has become a black hole" because paperwork reportedly has become lost in the office.
Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is black, interrupted him with a loud "Excuse me!" He then corrected his colleague, saying the office has become a "white hole."
That prompted Judge Thomas Jones, who is black, to demand an apology from Mayfield for his racially insensitive analogy.
Mayfield shot back that it was a figure of speech and a science term.
The science guy from the Houston Chronicle had this to offer:
Judge Jones should be very glad that the central collections office has not become a white hole, a theoretical object that ejects matter from beyond its event horizon, rather than sucking it in. It wouldn't be fun for Dallas to find itself so near a quasar.
Judge Jones should be very glad that the central collections office has not become a white hole, a theoretical object that ejects matter from beyond its event horizon, rather than sucking it in. It wouldn't be fun for Dallas to find itself so near a quasar.
Do you reckon those Dallasites are sleeping better knowing that they have these intellectual paragons of adult maturity working on their behalf. Nah...........!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
The Good folks over at "AmericanElephant" have done...
.... some good work laying out the picture of John (the flipper) Kerry passing his spatula to Obamanation. To emphasize the passing of this symbol of the high office of Congress's great Flipper -- Kerry concluded his term in this office by seriously dissing John McCain as totally unqualified to serve as president! This being the same man of course, whose leg Kerry clung to in an attempt to get him to run as his own Vice Presidential candidate four short years ago.Is that going out in a blaze of hog fat or what?
For the full article, go to: http://americanelephant.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/the-passing-of-the-spatula/
Obamanation's children join the fray...
BUTTE, Montana --In an Access Hollywood exclusive interview, Senator Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, along with daughters Malia, 10 and Sasha, 7 open up about rules, what it is like for friends to meet dad, communicating on the trail, potential plans for moving into the White House and more.
The four-part interview will air on Access Hollywood, Tuesday, July 8th,Wednesday, July 9th and Thursday, July 10th.
Access Hollywood’s Maria Menounos caught up with the Obama family on the campaign trail in Butte, Montana to celebrate Malia’s 10th birthday and Independence Day.
Now that the Primary is over, the Obamas manage to get more family time together explains Michelle. “Barack is home at least once a week. We’re really doing family stuff. We are going on bike rides, going swimming and playing tennis.”
The girls also give advice to their dad about everything from etiquette to fashion. One time when a friend of Malia’s came over, he shook her hand to say hello. Malia recalls telling her dad, “You really don’t shake kids’ hands that much…You just wave or say hi.”
For months, all I've heard from Obamanation is that his mouthy Ms and his kids are 'off limits'! Do you reckon he's flip-flopped on that position as well, or he arrogant enough to think that he can display his happy little tykes in a controlled interview -- run 'em past our faces on four nights of TV and then declare --- "OK, show time is over - nobody is allowed to mention my wife or kids again'!
Reminds me of that old Robin Williams movie when in a shooting battle, he ran out of ammo and shouted "Time Out Time Out! Let's all reload....... "
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Just thought I'd share a couple of recent quotes with y'all!!
.... from a couple of our better known rocket scientists!
The pride of Ridgemont High
I see dead people---
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors it's unbroken line of fallen heroes - - and I see many of them in the audience here today - - our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."
--BARACK OBAMA
(CNN)
"I hope that he will understand, if he is the nominee, the degree of disillusionment that will happen if he doesn't become a greater man than he will ever be."
-- SEAN PENN, offering campaign advice to Barack Obama
(Daily Telegraph)
(Daily Telegraph)
Oh Lord, keep an eye on us please - we need help down here!
-- Pecozbill
Where are the TV talking heads on this news report?
.... in a small blurb in the Washington Post buried in the "Around the World" column, this little item appeared yesterday:
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program -- a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium -- reached a Canadian port Saturday, completing a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a long ship voya
ge.
The removal of more than 600 tons of yellowcake, the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment, was a significant step toward closing the books on Hussein's nuclear legacy. It also relieved U.S. and Iraqi concerns that the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions
Yellowcake Shipped Out
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program -- a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium -- reached a Canadian port Saturday, completing a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a long ship voya
ge. The removal of more than 600 tons of yellowcake, the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment, was a significant step toward closing the books on Hussein's nuclear legacy. It also relieved U.S. and Iraqi concerns that the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions
This news of this removal of 550 metric tons of yellowcake from Iraq to Canada has been all over the blogosphere - but I sure ain't seen any stories on the front pages of my MSM newspaper or on my TV evening news programs.. Do y'all remember all the the front page and lead story screaming about the 'lack of WMD's" in Iraq. The hand wringing over that jerk (with the big hair and the whiny blond wife), Wilson's report that Hussein hadn't tried to buy yellowcake from Niger.
Headlines read; "Bush Lied - People Died!" -- where are all those newspaper columnists and TV talking heads now? Bush's administration could have made a public spectacle of this whole adventure (God knows, Bubba woulda!) but they played it low key for the sake of security in the transfer.
When you get a moment - Google "Iraq, yellowcake" and glance through all the hits! I'll leave it up to you to reach your own conclusions, Pardners!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
A few words about "Fairness"......
I came across this essay on current efforts to resurrect the "Fairness Doctrine" and it is so well written thought I would just present it for your review == as is:
This Broadcaster Wants Freedom
Martha Zoller
Monday, July 07, 2008
This Broadcaster Wants Freedom
Martha Zoller
Monday, July 07, 2008
On my desk is a book of the hundred greatest political speeches in American history. I am always struck by how harsh they were. The speeches were rough-and-tumble and politically incorrect by today’s standards.
In those days, candidates could react to criticism and tailor their speeches to the audience. If a speech was reprinted in a newspaper, it would take weeks to publish and even longer for the words to be picked up across the country. In addition, newspapers acted autonomously and had very little interaction or accountability for what they wrote.
Until recently, America had a large and robust variety of newspapers and other printed media, but a smaller amount of broadcast availability due to limited frequencies. The Fairness Doctrine came about during the age of Communism and argued that since the airwaves were limited, there should be balance or “fairness” in the points of view that were presented. It applied only to radio and while in place, radio stations avoided controversial topics altogether in order to avoid any problems with the FCC.
In 1984, due to new technologies, the Supreme Court decided the scarcity argument no longer applied and lifted the Fairness Doctrine. And that was before the Internet allowed for limitless voices. There wasn’t much resistance at the time, because radio was thought to be old media.
The end of the Doctrine allowed the explosion of talk radio, saved AM radio and created thousands of new jobs in the broadcast industry. It was one man, Rush Limbaugh, who at the time showed ailing Top 40 AM radio stations they could flourish and be profitable as news/talk stations. Since then, the left has hated the power of talk radio and has made noises recently that they want a return of the Fairness Doctrine. If that happens, talk radio as we know it will cease to exist.
It’s not enough that liberals control all the major TV news bureaus and most newspapers. They want to control the one free-market component of broadcasting in America: the radio airwaves.
Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) has been one of the leaders in the movement to repeal the Fairness Doctrine permanently. For the last several weeks, he has partnered with talk radio hosts from across the country, members of Congress and media watchdogs to encourage the House of Representatives to sign a discharge petition that would call for an up or down vote on H. R. 2905, the Broadcaster Freedom Act.
The do-nothing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said last week that she supports reviving the Fairness Doctrine. At a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor, John Gizzi of Human Events asked Pelosi if she would allow the Pence Broadcaster Freedom Act to come to the floor without a discharge petition, and she said no. When pressed further on whether she would allow the Act to repeal the Fairness Doctrine permanently, Pelosi said, “No … the interest in my caucus is the reverse.”
The Pelosi Way is to limit competition and free trade. Whether it’s bringing up a vote on free trade with Colombia or protecting speech with the Broadcaster Freedom Act, Nancy doesn’t get it.
The marketplace doesn’t want liberal talk radio. There have been some shows that have done well, but the numbers are not in their favor. This year at the Talkers New Media Seminar, there were more liberal/progressive/independent hosts represented, but the bread and butter still goes to conservative talk because conservatives are so under-represented in the rest of the media market.
Liberals know they can’t win on this issue in a free market, so they want to regulate conservative talk radio out of existence. Their answer to competition is to make the playing field uneven. If advertisers weren’t buying time on Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or Martha Zoller, we wouldn’t be around.
Over the next few weeks, Congress will be out of session more than they will be in session. This is the opportunity for you, the voter, to let them know how you feel about this issue. Let them know you want to end the Fairness Doctrine permanently by demanding the Broadcaster Freedom Act be brought to the floor and given an up or down vote. We must protect the free market everywhere it is being assaulted, and talk radio is a free speech market that should be left alone by regulation.
Even though I know my second generation Yellow Dog Democrat Congressman uses my correspondence to clean up after his chihuahua guard dog, you can bet Ole' Pecoz will share some thoughts with him on this topic! How about you Pilgrims?
Sunday's Washington Post carried a story .....
..... purporting to paint a picture of the faith based journey of one Barack Hussein Obama. I said purporting because it is two pages of pap and horse droppings.
With even that little that us in the unwashed public arena know about the real Obamanation, we know that no story that totally omits twenty years of church going in a forty-three year old man, could possibly be called accurate, complete or even an attempt at same.
Here is an Obama quote in the piece: "In my own life," he said, "it's been a journey that began decades ago on the South Side of Chicago, when, working as a community organizer, helping to build struggling neighborhoods, I let Jesus Christ into my life. I learned that my sins could be redeemed and that if I placed my trust in Christ, that he could set me on the path to eternal life when I submitted myself to his will and I dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works."
Isn't that nice? Don't that just warm the cockles of your heart as the final statement for the week in which Obamanation has tried to paint himself as the long lost son of Billy Graham? Who, by the way, was the ONLY preacher named in the piece.
Well guess what Pilgrims --- in this entire long article (which I'll try to link you to) you WILL NOT FIND ONE WORD ABOUT HIS PREACHER OF TWENTY YEARS, JEREMIAH WRIGHT OR EVEN THE NAME OF THE CHURCH WHICH HE ATTENDED AND WHERE HE WAS MARRIED AND HIS KIDS BAPTIZED! TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST of Chicago!!
Ain't that a kick in the head -- I guess the Washington Post -Obamanation's newest public relations arm for the DC area just didn't realize that his church and his minister would naturally be a part of a word picture painting what the Post calls - 'his spiritual journey'!
Ole' Pecoz has also heard that Obamanation gained his education as an "Organizer" at the feet of Saul Alinksky trainees, Chicago's original communist organizer, but that's a whole 'nother story for another day.
Shucks, if we thought Bubba and Hellary left a trail of bodies, that pile of bodies that Obamanation has thrown under the bus is sure growin' fast!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/05/AR2008070501854_pf.html
A picture worth a billion words.....
They say a picture is worth a thousand words -- here is a satellite picture of the night scape of this planet of ours which speaks volumes. Compare the brightness of the democratic, capitalist countries of the world with the darkness of the socialist, communist and tyrant driven countries -- what a contrast........ The US is obvious, then look right to Western Europe, then skip over to Asia and see how quick Japan, South Korea and Taiwan stand out. Compare India with Afghanistan. A real eye opener....
For a clearer view of this picture and other pictures continent by continent - go to:http://geology.com/articles/satellite-photo-earth-at-night.shtml
(sorry - it won't link - you'll have to cut and paste)
http://geology.com/articles/satellite-photo-earth-at-night.shtml
For a clearer view of this picture and other pictures continent by continent - go to:http://geology.com/articles/satellite-photo-earth-at-night.shtml(sorry - it won't link - you'll have to cut and paste)
http://geology.com/articles/satellite-photo-earth-at-night.shtml
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Don't know if you every noticed 'Sparky' the wonder dog...
... on the top of the front page of this blog, (or the explanation over to the right) but I'll be damned if Hellary don't look like she's doin' his kind of number on ole' Obamanation in this cartoon. The cost of peace in the Democrat Party?
Where is Al Gorbot when you need him.....?
From
July 6, 2008
Smog in Beijing five times over safety limit as Olympics nears
Pollution around the Olympic stadium in Beijing could be five times worse than levels deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.
Chinese officials admit they can no longer guarantee that the air quality will match international standards as pollution tests by The Sunday Times revealed the full extent of the challenge facing British athletes.
With just five 
weeks to go before the start of the Beijing Games, tests conducted outside the national stadium — known as the Bird’s Nest — and at Tiananmen Square, the starting point of the marathon, showed the air is thick with particulate pollution.
Even the Chinese government’s official air pollution index — which monitors a range of pollutants, including carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide — is running at double the level recommended by the WHO.
Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Environmental Protection Bureau, said: “We made a commitment to ensure air quality for the Olympic Games . . . as for whether we have reached the goal, that will be examined after the event.”
The British team is taking no chances and will train in Macau on the southern coast until the last minute to minimise athletes’ exposure to Beijing’s smog.
Haile Gebrselassie, the world’s leading long-distance runner, who suffers from asthma, has already pulled out of the marathon.
Last week The Sunday Times used an industrial hand-held air monitor to measure the number of particles in the atmosphere, which include car emissions and coal dust from factories. The particles are considered the biggest polluting factor.
The average reading at the stadium was 780,000 particles per litre of air. Even factoring in a 25% margin of error for humidity levels exaggerating the readings, this is more than five times the amount deemed safe by the WHO. The organisation considers 105,000 particles per litre of air a health risk.
Average readings at Tiananmen Square were lower — but still four times worse than the WHO standards when factoring in the humidity.
“Anything over 300,000 would be very worrying if you were using the same equipment in London,” said Professor Frank Kelly, a pollution expert at Kings College London.
I don't know why they don't just buy six zillion 'Carbon Credits' from Gorebot's extortion, conscience balming, and Wonderland Looking Glas
s company. The smog would disappear, the dinosaurs would once more roam the earth instead of the Beltway, the whooping cranes would bathe in the downtown fountains of Beijing and polar bears would be saved all over the world!
Loose nuts with lawyers win again.....
"Unfortunately, Northwestern University is not able to do anything to mitigate the sun's effect on the vision of the pitcher, so we have made the unfortunate decision that we can no longer safely host these games."Thus spake Scott Arey, assistant athletic director for facilities at Northwestern University when he announced that that local youth baseball league teams will not be allowed to use the university fields. The decision was made after the parents of one of the young pitchers filed a law suit against the University because when on the mound, depending on the time of day and cloud formations, that evil sun could shine into their child's eyes. And they were concerned for his health. Ole' Pecoz feels sorry for the University, for all the kids who will not get to play and even finds a little empathy for that poor young pitcher with the loose nut parents --- can you imagine how his team mates - as well as the rest of the league are treating him this week?
NY Times 'damns with faint praise' ....AGAIN!!
.... in it's usual fashion, the New York Times manages to push it's liberal candidate to the front while pretending to be reporting news.....
What is the subliminal message in this whole report? -- that McCain is an old, inept, dwarf-like candidate who cannot even read from a teleprompter with ease, no matter that he speaks well off the cuff because he knows the subject matter!
Obama however is young, intelligent, tall, articulate, and a great orator when he has a teleprompter in front of him. It matters not that Obamanation has no message, no meat, and nothing to offer but platitudes and cannot speak extemporaneously--- after all, he is their candidate (as well as the rest of the socialist-liberal puppet masters).
McCain works hard to polish skills as orator
LAS VEGAS - While unveiling his energy plan here recently, Sen. John McCain was performing relatively smoothly.
He managed to limit the mechanical hand chops and weirdly timed smiles that can often punctuate his speeches. He delivered his lines with an ease that suggested a momentary peace with his longtime nemesis, the teleprompter. (He relied on a belt-and-suspenders approach, with text scrolling down screens to his left and right, and on a big TV set in front of him.)
But when McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, came to the intended sound bite of his speech -- the part about reducing America's dependence on foreign oil -- he hit a slick.
"I have set before the American people an energy plan, the Lex-eegton Project," McCain said, drawing a quick breath and correcting himself. "The Lex-ing-ton Proj-ect," he said slowly. "The Lexington Project," he repeated. "Remember that name."
In a town meeting in Cincinnati the next day, McCain would again slip up on the name of the Massachusetts town, where, he noted, "Americans asserted their independence once before." He called it "the Lexiggdon Project," and twice tried to fix his error, before flipping the name ("Project Lexington") in subsequent references.
McCain's battle of Lexington is part of a struggle he is engaged in every day. A politician who has thrived in the give-and-take settings of campaign buses, late-night TV couches and town meetings, he now is trying to meet the more formal speaking demands of a general election campaign.
By his own admission, McCain is not a great orator. He is ill-suited to lecterns (which often dwarf his small stature), and he tends to sound as if he is reading his lines, not speaking them. His shortcomings have been accentuated in a two-man race, particularly because the other man -- Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee -- can often dazzle on stage.
McCain and his advisers know that Obama's ability to excite huge crowds will make for an inevitable podium mismatch for the older, softer-spoken Republican. "We're going up against a guy who is off the charts," said Mark Salter, McCain's longtime Senate chief of staff and campaign adviser.
To better compete, McCain is undergoing a subtle but marked transition as a political performer, said aides and people who have watched him. As part of a staff shakeup announced last week, he brought in a new adviser -- Greg Jenkins, a former White House official and Fox News producer -- who will oversee the producing and staging of McCain's events.
Jenkins, considered an expert at political stagecraft, oversaw many of President Bush's appearances and served as executive director of the 2004 inaugural committee.
McCain is working closely with aides like Brett O'Donnell, a former debate consultant for Bush, to improve his speech and performance. He is working to limit his verbal tangents and nonverbal tics. He is speaking less out of the sides of his mouth (which can produce a wiseguy twang reminiscent of the Penguin, from the Batman stories), and he is relying less on his favorite semantic crutch -- the phrase "my friends" -- which he used repeatedly in his campaign appearances.
McCain also appears to be trying to exercise restraint, advisers and campaign observers say, when speaking off the cuff, wisecracking in town meetings and criticizing his opponent. In recent weeks, for example, McCain seems to have reined in the sarcasm he has directed at Obama. (In May, for example, he said of his opponent, "With his very, very great lack of experience and knowledge of the issues, he's been very successful.")
Alan Schroeder, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, said, "There's a danger of sarcasm becoming nastiness, and McCain seems to be conscious of that line."
Some McCain loyalists say he needs to be left alone and not burdened by his staff's calculations about how he should be acting or what he should be saying.
"I think the depressingly self-absorbed McCain campaign machine needs to get out of the way," said Mike Murphy, a longtime friend and media adviser who has no role in the current operation but who still talks to McCain every few days. "They need to just let McCain be McCain."
The more careful McCain, said by some to be overly scripted, has received some withering critiques. "His rhetorical style can best be described as 'tired mayonnaise,'" comedian Stephen Colbert declared on "The Colbert Report," before inviting viewers to enter something called the "Make McCain Exciting Challenge."
Dan Schnur, McCain's communications chief during his 2000 presidential campaign, said, "Besides his convention speech, the only time I would even put him behind a podium at all between now and the end of the campaign is when he's announcing a policy position."
McCain's advisers, who bristle at the idea that they are trying to transform the candidate, say his lack of smoothness merely reinforces his authenticity.
"Voters are looking for credibility and are wary of polish," said Mark McKinnon, a former consultant to McCain's campaign. "At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter which candidate can more deftly read a teleprompter."
Obama however is young, intelligent, tall, articulate, and a great orator when he has a teleprompter in front of him. It matters not that Obamanation has no message, no meat, and nothing to offer but platitudes and cannot speak extemporaneously--- after all, he is their candidate (as well as the rest of the socialist-liberal puppet masters).
Saturday, July 5, 2008
A California question I reckon.......
... for right now at least, but will probably soon be one asked in a lot of our states the way things are agoin' in this country!!
2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President...
Welcome to Toastmasters, June 13, 2033. That's right: 2033.
Today Rick Campbell, one of our senior members at age 87, is here to reminisce a bit and give us a history lesson. He says he is so old that he learned to drive an internal combustion engine car (remember those) with a manual transmission. He once owned a typewriter. He remembers when bicycles had one speed, phones had two-party lines, and cameras had something called film. As incredible as this may seem, he says that when he was young, it was common for people to smoke in restaurants and public places. He is from a different time; almost a different world.
I'm sure all of us are far too familiar with the tragic events of 2010, so Rick is not going to plow that fertile field again. Instead, he is going to give us a personal look back at the conditions which led up to that fateful year, in a speech titled "2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President."
"2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President"
Yes, 2010 was long ago and far away.
As we look back on history, it appears that some Presidents had an easy ride- times of growth and stability. Teddy Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton come to mind. Those were good years to be President.
Others were elected just when the Republic was facing terrible crises:
Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush. They rose to the occasion, even though they were controversial and widely hated while in office. Not such good years to be President.
Just a few years prior, in 2008, the country began foundering. We were in the sixth year of the Iraqi Occupation, and the economy was flat. The mainstream press clearly wanted a Democrat elected.
Although we didn't know it until some years later, oil producing nations had colluded to secretly buy their own oil on the open market, driving oil prices to shocking levels above the true demand price- reaching a high of $162 a barrel in October, 2008, just before the general elections.
Their purpose was simple: to effect regime change in the United States.
And of course, the U.S. Economy was already in a real estate slump and also suffering the curse of stagflation; slow growth and high inflation.
There were a million home foreclosures.
Independent truckers went under by the thousands.
Airlines failed. Airlines with names now long-forgotten: United, Delta, Northwestern, American. All now merged, of course, into the one lone U.S. Carrier we love so much: Southwest.
Against this backdrop of weariness of the war on terror, and economic distress, the American people were ripe for a demagogue, and they certainly got one in Barack Hussein Obama.
He and his running mate Kathlene Sibelius inspired them with vague notions of hope and change; of a world in which diplomacy settled all international problems, of free universal health care, of abundant alternative energy, of peace and love.
It was a vision too good to resist.
The Republican nominee, a name you probably haven't heard in years anyone?
Yes, it was John McCain, an obscure Senator from Arizona had no clue how to run a national campaign, and a platform nearly as liberal as Obama's.
The selection of Condoleeza Rice as his running mate looked brilliant at first. Unfortunately, black voters viewed her as white, and women voters viewed her as one of the guys.
Even so, the McCain/Rice ticket would have won the election if it weren't for the fact that 16 percent of conservative Republicans voted for ...
Anyone remember? That's right, Bob Barr, another name that's a footnote in history.
After Obama's narrow win, thanks to recounts in Broward County, Florida, the country was positively giddy. A Democrat House, Senate, and President. At last an end to gridlock in Washington.
Camelot!
When Congress convened in January, 2009, the 44th President of the United States did something unique in history: he made good on his campaign promises.
Certainly most Americans never really thought he was serious during the campaign. But whether because of inexperience, idealism, or simply incompetence, he followed through.
In Obama's first One Hundred Days, the Congress passed his initiatives, and he signed them into law as he said he would.
He repealed the Bush tax cuts, and increased capital gains taxes.
He enacted a windfall profits tax, and instituted price controls on
Gasoline and diesel fuel.
He passed universal health care, which added an additional 10 percent tax increase on all working Americans.
He signed the Immigrant Amnesty bill which created 12 million new citizens instantly, each with entitlements.
He closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and summarily released all the detainees.
He repealed the Patriot Act, and cut funding for espionage, and eliminated all terrorist listening and wiretaps.
Most important, he began the complete and immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.
He ignored the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wanted to retain bases in Kuwait and Qatar. Instead, he went with the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Dennis Kucinich, and ordered all troops back to U.S. soil.
Viola! In One Hundred Days, by May of 2009, it was all done, and the vision was complete. He did exactly what he said he would do.
And so it was in the summer of 2009 that things began to unravel for Obama.
Of course, the economy needed a tax cut, not an increase, and unemployment quickly rose to 12 percent. Even attorneys and economists were put in the bread lines. Hard times!
Price controls on gasoline immediately led to shortages and gas lines.
The global cooling trend we have seen for the past 25 years first became obvious in 2009, exposing the CO2 global warming fraud.
People were justifiably angry.
Federal deficits increased massively because thousands of baby boomers, facing job loss and much higher taxes, simply gave up and took social security.
Although the superb U.S. health care system was thrown into disarray, the bright spot was the creation of the Federal Department of Health care, and the immediate hiring of 250,000 administrators, inspectors and auditors, the only job growth in any economic sector in 2009.
By February 2010, the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was complete. It was a very expensive undertaking.
And then in March, the gradual Shiite insurgencies from Iran turned into a true Iraqi civil war. In May, Iranian tanks crossed the border and quickly took Baghdad. Although the exact number is not know, at least 230,000 Sunni Iraqis died as we stood by.
Iran also quickly moved into undefended Kuwait.
President Obama did exactly what he said he would. He sent Secretary of State, Maria Cantwell, to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. After two weeks of high level talks, the United States agreed to allow Iran to retain Iraq and Kuwait to create stability in the middle east, with the understanding that Israel would not be disturbed.
Cantwell returned to Washington, and explained the agreement in her famous speech, in which she proudly noted that the Obama administration had finally achieved "peace in our time" in the Middle East.
So there was some surprise at the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv on August 14th.
President Obama said, "This is not the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad I knew."
The Obama administration decided it would be destabilizing to take sides in the conflict, and approximately 29,000 Israeli civilians died during the summer and fall.
American Jews were appalled at the inaction. Yes, in 2010 most American Jews were Democrats, but because of 2010, they are solid Republicans today.
As awkward as it was, everything might have turned out all right for the Obama administration going into the fall mid-term elections of 2010, if it hadn't been for the dirty bomb in the Port of Long Beach.
The administration had cut funding for the inspection of containers,
because they felt it showed a "lack of trust" in the international trading community.
It wasn't really a very big bomb, and thank goodness, not a real nuclear device, but nonetheless it contaminated some expensive real estate - Newport Beach, Palos Verdes Estates - and ultimately caused the death of 14,000 Americans. People were especially annoyed that Disneyland had to be closed for decontamination.
And so, in the midterm elections, Republicans regained control of both the House and Senate, and the rest is history.
The impeachment proceedings against President Obama for "failure to protect and defend" were swift and nearly unanimous. Vice President Sibelius resigned. Newly elected Speaker of the House, J.C. Watts, became the 45th President of the United States.
But you know the rest of the story well.
Republicans finished the war on Islamic fundamentalists, largely by aiming ICBM's at Mecca and Medina.
No Democrat has been elected President since.
Republicans have held both Houses of Congress.
History of Western Civilization and Economics are now taught in all public schools, and in English only.
Marriage is defined as one man and one woman.
And there are border fences, north and south.
We old codgers remember the ancient Confucian curse: "May you live in interesting times."
Well, 2010 was an interesting year, but it was not a good year to be president."
I received this from an old Air Force Bud this morning. Seems to be an appropriate line of thought the day after the 4th of July and exactly four months before election day in November.. Hopefully enough folks will read it to make us stop and really listen to the candidates and examine their words, associates, and past records!
Today Rick Campbell, one of our senior members at age 87, is here to reminisce a bit and give us a history lesson. He says he is so old that he learned to drive an internal combustion engine car (remember those) with a manual transmission. He once owned a typewriter. He remembers when bicycles had one speed, phones had two-party lines, and cameras had something called film. As incredible as this may seem, he says that when he was young, it was common for people to smoke in restaurants and public places. He is from a different time; almost a different world.
I'm sure all of us are far too familiar with the tragic events of 2010, so Rick is not going to plow that fertile field again. Instead, he is going to give us a personal look back at the conditions which led up to that fateful year, in a speech titled "2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President."
"2010 Was Not A Good Year To Be President"
Yes, 2010 was long ago and far away.
As we look back on history, it appears that some Presidents had an easy ride- times of growth and stability. Teddy Roosevelt, Warren G. Harding, Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton come to mind. Those were good years to be President.
Others were elected just when the Republic was facing terrible crises:
Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush. They rose to the occasion, even though they were controversial and widely hated while in office. Not such good years to be President.
Just a few years prior, in 2008, the country began foundering. We were in the sixth year of the Iraqi Occupation, and the economy was flat. The mainstream press clearly wanted a Democrat elected.
Although we didn't know it until some years later, oil producing nations had colluded to secretly buy their own oil on the open market, driving oil prices to shocking levels above the true demand price- reaching a high of $162 a barrel in October, 2008, just before the general elections.
Their purpose was simple: to effect regime change in the United States.
And of course, the U.S. Economy was already in a real estate slump and also suffering the curse of stagflation; slow growth and high inflation.
There were a million home foreclosures.
Independent truckers went under by the thousands.
Airlines failed. Airlines with names now long-forgotten: United, Delta, Northwestern, American. All now merged, of course, into the one lone U.S. Carrier we love so much: Southwest.
Against this backdrop of weariness of the war on terror, and economic distress, the American people were ripe for a demagogue, and they certainly got one in Barack Hussein Obama.
He and his running mate Kathlene Sibelius inspired them with vague notions of hope and change; of a world in which diplomacy settled all international problems, of free universal health care, of abundant alternative energy, of peace and love.
It was a vision too good to resist.
The Republican nominee, a name you probably haven't heard in years anyone?
Yes, it was John McCain, an obscure Senator from Arizona had no clue how to run a national campaign, and a platform nearly as liberal as Obama's.
The selection of Condoleeza Rice as his running mate looked brilliant at first. Unfortunately, black voters viewed her as white, and women voters viewed her as one of the guys.
Even so, the McCain/Rice ticket would have won the election if it weren't for the fact that 16 percent of conservative Republicans voted for ...
Anyone remember? That's right, Bob Barr, another name that's a footnote in history.
After Obama's narrow win, thanks to recounts in Broward County, Florida, the country was positively giddy. A Democrat House, Senate, and President. At last an end to gridlock in Washington.
Camelot!
When Congress convened in January, 2009, the 44th President of the United States did something unique in history: he made good on his campaign promises.
Certainly most Americans never really thought he was serious during the campaign. But whether because of inexperience, idealism, or simply incompetence, he followed through.
In Obama's first One Hundred Days, the Congress passed his initiatives, and he signed them into law as he said he would.
He repealed the Bush tax cuts, and increased capital gains taxes.
He enacted a windfall profits tax, and instituted price controls on
Gasoline and diesel fuel.
He passed universal health care, which added an additional 10 percent tax increase on all working Americans.
He signed the Immigrant Amnesty bill which created 12 million new citizens instantly, each with entitlements.
He closed the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and summarily released all the detainees.
He repealed the Patriot Act, and cut funding for espionage, and eliminated all terrorist listening and wiretaps.
Most important, he began the complete and immediate withdrawal of all American troops from Iraq.
He ignored the advice of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who wanted to retain bases in Kuwait and Qatar. Instead, he went with the recommendation of Secretary of Defense Dennis Kucinich, and ordered all troops back to U.S. soil.
Viola! In One Hundred Days, by May of 2009, it was all done, and the vision was complete. He did exactly what he said he would do.
And so it was in the summer of 2009 that things began to unravel for Obama.
Of course, the economy needed a tax cut, not an increase, and unemployment quickly rose to 12 percent. Even attorneys and economists were put in the bread lines. Hard times!
Price controls on gasoline immediately led to shortages and gas lines.
The global cooling trend we have seen for the past 25 years first became obvious in 2009, exposing the CO2 global warming fraud.
People were justifiably angry.
Federal deficits increased massively because thousands of baby boomers, facing job loss and much higher taxes, simply gave up and took social security.
Although the superb U.S. health care system was thrown into disarray, the bright spot was the creation of the Federal Department of Health care, and the immediate hiring of 250,000 administrators, inspectors and auditors, the only job growth in any economic sector in 2009.
By February 2010, the U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq was complete. It was a very expensive undertaking.
And then in March, the gradual Shiite insurgencies from Iran turned into a true Iraqi civil war. In May, Iranian tanks crossed the border and quickly took Baghdad. Although the exact number is not know, at least 230,000 Sunni Iraqis died as we stood by.
Iran also quickly moved into undefended Kuwait.
President Obama did exactly what he said he would. He sent Secretary of State, Maria Cantwell, to Tehran to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. After two weeks of high level talks, the United States agreed to allow Iran to retain Iraq and Kuwait to create stability in the middle east, with the understanding that Israel would not be disturbed.
Cantwell returned to Washington, and explained the agreement in her famous speech, in which she proudly noted that the Obama administration had finally achieved "peace in our time" in the Middle East.
So there was some surprise at the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv on August 14th.
President Obama said, "This is not the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad I knew."
The Obama administration decided it would be destabilizing to take sides in the conflict, and approximately 29,000 Israeli civilians died during the summer and fall.
American Jews were appalled at the inaction. Yes, in 2010 most American Jews were Democrats, but because of 2010, they are solid Republicans today.
As awkward as it was, everything might have turned out all right for the Obama administration going into the fall mid-term elections of 2010, if it hadn't been for the dirty bomb in the Port of Long Beach.
The administration had cut funding for the inspection of containers,
because they felt it showed a "lack of trust" in the international trading community.
It wasn't really a very big bomb, and thank goodness, not a real nuclear device, but nonetheless it contaminated some expensive real estate - Newport Beach, Palos Verdes Estates - and ultimately caused the death of 14,000 Americans. People were especially annoyed that Disneyland had to be closed for decontamination.
And so, in the midterm elections, Republicans regained control of both the House and Senate, and the rest is history.
The impeachment proceedings against President Obama for "failure to protect and defend" were swift and nearly unanimous. Vice President Sibelius resigned. Newly elected Speaker of the House, J.C. Watts, became the 45th President of the United States.
But you know the rest of the story well.
Republicans finished the war on Islamic fundamentalists, largely by aiming ICBM's at Mecca and Medina.
No Democrat has been elected President since.
Republicans have held both Houses of Congress.
History of Western Civilization and Economics are now taught in all public schools, and in English only.
Marriage is defined as one man and one woman.
And there are border fences, north and south.
We old codgers remember the ancient Confucian curse: "May you live in interesting times."
Well, 2010 was an interesting year, but it was not a good year to be president."
I received this from an old Air Force Bud this morning. Seems to be an appropriate line of thought the day after the 4th of July and exactly four months before election day in November.. Hopefully enough folks will read it to make us stop and really listen to the candidates and examine their words, associates, and past records!
Here's an item for those of you who still don't get it....
.... and don't understand how important it is to get a President in office who appoints conservative, constitution reading Federal judges instead of liberal proactive sorts.... from World Net Daily, 2 July 08:
WEAPONS OF CHOICE Owner of broken rifle surrenders for 30-month sentence'
The conviction of David Olofson is a gross miscarriage of justice'
A Wisconsin man today surrendered to federal authorities to begin serving a 30-month prison term for having a broken rifle, prompting the Gun Owners of America to issue a warning about the owner's liability should any semi-automatic weapon ever misfire.
"A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt, executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions."
Officials with Gun Owners of America told WND they met with Olofson today before he surrendered to federal authorities for his prison term.
"It didn't matter the rifle in question had not been intentionally modified for select fire, or that it did not have an M16 bolt carrier … that it did not show any signs of machining or drilling, or that that model had even been recalled a few years back," said a commentary in Guns Magazine on the case against Olofson, of Berlin, Wis.
"It didn't matter the government had repeatedly failed to replicate automatic fire until they replaced the ammunition with a softer primer type. It didn't even matter that the prosecution admitted it was not important to prove the gun would do it again if the test were conducted today," the magazine said. "What mattered was the government's position that none of the above was relevant because '[T]here's no indication it makes any difference under the statute. If you pull the trigger once and it fires more than one round, no matter what the cause it's a machine gun.'
"No matter what the cause."
"David Olofson is a victim of BATFE abuse," Pratt said. "He has been railroaded by an agency that is out-of-control."
An appeal is being assembled by a legal team at the William J. Olson, P.C., law firm, supplemented by attorney Bob Sanders, whose career stretches from being assistant director of criminal investigations at BATFE to many years in private trial law, officials said.
Constitutional expert Herb Titus also is counsel to the Olson law firm.
WND reported earlier when Olofson, a drill instructor in the National Guard, was convicted in a federal court for illegally transferring a machine gun.
The verdict came in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
An expert witness said then the decision was filled with problems.
"If your semiautomatic rifle breaks or malfunctions you are now subject to prosecution. That is now a sad FACT," wrote Len Savage, a weaponry expert who runs Historic Arms LLC.
"To those in the sporting culture who have derided 'black guns' and so-called 'assault weapons'; Your double barreled shotgun is now next up to be seized and you could possibly be prosecuted if the ATF can get it to 'fire more than once,'" he wrote in a blog run by Red's Trading Post.
"Hey, but don't worry," Savage said. "The people testing it have no procedures in writing and the testing will be in secret."
He said during an
"Mr. Olofson was nice enough to accommodate him," Savage said. So the student, Robert Kiernicki, went to a range and fired about 120 rounds. "He went to put in another magazine and the rifle shot three times, then jammed."
He said the rifle, which was subject to a manufacturer's recall because of mechanical problems at one point, malfunctioned because of the way it was made.
Savage said once the government confiscated the gun, things got worse.
"They examined and test fired the rifle; then declared it to be 'just a rifle,'" Savage said. "You would think it would all be resolved at this point, this was merely the beginning."
He said the Special Agent in Charge, Jody Keeku, asked for a re-test and specified that the tests use "soft primered commercial ammunition."
"FTB has no standardized testing procedures, in fact it has no written procedures at all for testing firearms," Savage said. "They had no standard to stick to, and gleefully tried again. The results this time...'a machinegun.' ATF with a self-admitted 50 percent error rate pursued an indictment and Mr. Olofson was charged with 'Unlawful transfer of a machinegun.'. Not possession, not even Robert Kiernicki was charged with possession (who actually possessed the rifle), though the ATF paid Mr. Kiernicki 'an undisclosed amount of money' to testify against Mr. Olofson at trial," Savage said.
Now then, back to my headline above -- let me point out that the federal judge for the Federal Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin is the honorable U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert , appointed by none other than the poster boy for ethics in government, President Bubba Clinton, in 1996!!
Who do you want appointing the two new Supremes and filling all the Federal District Court vacancies that the Dems are now holding empty until President Bush leaves office!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Dan Cook, Rest in Peace....
...We lost a friendly face here in San Antonio last night. Dan Cook, Sports Columnist and CBS Affiliate station Sports Anchor for fifty-one years before he retired, passed away. I
f you never passed through this fair town, you still knew him by six degrees. He was the feller that coined the phrase. "The Opera ain't over until the fat lady sings!"
That phrase has now slipped into the lexicon of Americana, so just hearing the phrase "the fat lady ain't sung yet" indicates there is still hope. As a matter of fact, this mornings Houston Chronicle led with the story; "The fat lady sang for Dan Cook last night...."
He did the daily s
ix and ten pm news sports cast for forty years, plus five columns a week for the local major daily paper. Back in the '70's, the station brought in a team of consultants to identify problems and help them avoid slipping into second place. After two weeks of watching, listening and visiting around this town, their out going report said; "Dan Cook is too old, too wrinkled and his voice is too reedy for broadcast journalism. Further, he injects too much of his personal opinions in his sportscasts.
They concluded their report by saying; "But whatever you do, don't let one of the other stations steal him away from you, they'll kill you in the ratings book inside thirty days!"
Rest In Peace - Dan Cook - a True Gentleman!
f you never passed through this fair town, you still knew him by six degrees. He was the feller that coined the phrase. "The Opera ain't over until the fat lady sings!"That phrase has now slipped into the lexicon of Americana, so just hearing the phrase "the fat lady ain't sung yet" indicates there is still hope. As a matter of fact, this mornings Houston Chronicle led with the story; "The fat lady sang for Dan Cook last night...."
He did the daily s
ix and ten pm news sports cast for forty years, plus five columns a week for the local major daily paper. Back in the '70's, the station brought in a team of consultants to identify problems and help them avoid slipping into second place. After two weeks of watching, listening and visiting around this town, their out going report said; "Dan Cook is too old, too wrinkled and his voice is too reedy for broadcast journalism. Further, he injects too much of his personal opinions in his sportscasts.They concluded their report by saying; "But whatever you do, don't let one of the other stations steal him away from you, they'll kill you in the ratings book inside thirty days!"
Rest In Peace - Dan Cook - a True Gentleman!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
You just can't make this stuff up......!
Here are the lead stories - in 1,2,3,4 order, immediately following each other down the left hand column of this mornings "Drudge Report":
Due to pending disasters predicted because of global warming, government scientists are urging the creation of a new Earth Systems Science Agency -- by merging the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Geological Survey... 'The United States faces unprecedented environmental and economic challenges in the decades ahead,' the group warns. 'Foremost among them will be climate change, sea-level rise, altered weather patterns, declines in freshwater availability and quality and loss of biodiversity'... Developing...
A Pop Quiz question now students, ---- which headline seems out of place with the others?
If you answered #4, go to the head of the class, any other answer, send buck$ to Gorebot!
How to succeed in the Army without really trying....
.... is this year's counterpart to that stage play of yesterday, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'!
WASHINGTON — The Army's march to overhaul its tarnished contracting system has been slowed by an unlikely foe: the White House.
The Office of Management and Budget, President Bush's administrative arm, has shot down a service plan to add five active-duty generals who would oversee purchasing and monitor contractor performance.
The boost in brass was a key recommendation from a blue-ribbon panel that last fall criticized the Army for contracting failures that undermined the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, wasted U.S. tax dollars, and sparked dozens of procurement fraud investigations.
As the Army's contracting budget ballooned — from $46 billion in 2002 to $112 billion in 2007 — it had too few experienced people negotiating and buying equipment and supplies, according to the panel. Worse still, there wasn't a single Army general in a job with contracting responsibilities. That meant the profession had little clout at a critical time.
Senior officers are needed to make sure past mistakes are not repeated, said the panel, chaired by former Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler.
"If a contracting person has to say to a general that they have to follow the rules, it's easier if you have your own general who will back you up," says David Berteau, a panel member and a former Defense Department official.
Having generals in contracting jobs also will build the talent pool by showing junior soldiers that contracting is a promising career path."
On June 23rd, (as in last week, Pilgrims) after months of study, the Office of Management and Budget refused an Army request for five additional general officer positions! Here is how the news item read;
"White House denies Army's pitch for more brass
Jun 23, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Army's march to overhaul its tarnished contracting system has been slowed by an unlikely foe: the White House.
The Office of Management and Budget, President Bush's administrative arm, has shot down a service plan to add five active-duty generals who would oversee purchasing and monitor contractor performance.
The boost in brass was a key recommendation from a blue-ribbon panel that last fall criticized the Army for contracting failures that undermined the war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan, wasted U.S. tax dollars, and sparked dozens of procurement fraud investigations.
As the Army's contracting budget ballooned — from $46 billion in 2002 to $112 billion in 2007 — it had too few experienced people negotiating and buying equipment and supplies, according to the panel. Worse still, there wasn't a single Army general in a job with contracting responsibilities. That meant the profession had little clout at a critical time.
Senior officers are needed to make sure past mistakes are not repeated, said the panel, chaired by former Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler.
"If a contracting person has to say to a general that they have to follow the rules, it's easier if you have your own general who will back you up," says David Berteau, a panel member and a former Defense Department official.
Having generals in contracting jobs also will build the talent pool by showing junior soldiers that contracting is a promising career path."
So, this (Army selected and charged) Blue Ribbon panel recommended five new general slots to help clean up it's own incompetence and OMB shot it down. The Army appealed the decision, and in less than one week - the OMB decision was reversed. Today's (July 3) headline reads:
"Army gets OK to add five generals.
They'll oversee purchasing, contractors in wake of procurement fraud scandals."
A new contracting command created with a two star commander, a new two star liaison position authorized in the pentagon, and three one star staffers, all with staff of course.
Now y'all have to wonder, if the Army have no officers with the necessary experience to fill the positions, where are these five new generals going to come from? And how will they gain the twenty years experience they'll need overnight? Oh, and one other question;
Anybody out there surprised when you read that the 'Blue Ribbon Panel' was headed by Jacques Gansler, the 'former Pentagon acquisition Chief' ? You can almost hear the back scratching all the way down here in Texas. Just thinking of the number of civilian and military staff positions this will create boggles the mind. Not to mention the promotions as military and civilians alike move up the Army's corporate ladder!
Come on down, Mr Klein, and spend the summer in San Antonio...
.... without air conditioning! It's your idea -- come join us. This week in Time Magazine, columnist Joe Klien suggests we should be 'SWEATIN' LIKE THE OLDIES' !
Time political columnist Joe Klein's article in the magazine this week was titled "Kill Your Air Conditioner." Klein detests the quality of air-conditioned air, and thinks everyone in America ought to live to his tastes: "The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease." Air-conditioning is "bad for the planet," he wrote, but "unfortunately, it is not as bad as I'd like it to be." He sided with Jimmy Carter and the "dreadful cardigan sweater" over the Bush-Cheney policy of "malignant neglect." Klein advocated breaking out the thermostat police as a presidential campaign issue: "I'd like to see both candidates call for an immediate 5deg.F thermostat adjustment, just to get the conservation ball rolling."
No one should ever suggest that liberals always believe "If it feels good, do it," at least when it comes to consumer comforts. How does Klein foresee checking up on every American's thermostat adjustment? Air-conditioning cops? Klein began his lecture by lamenting how an innkeeper had to keep the AC on for a 75-degree day:
'The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease. It seems to have gotten worse over the past few years, with thermostats routinely set at 68deg.F, and sometimes even 65 deg., in the (far too many) hotel rooms I've suffered on the campaign trail. "Americans seem to keep their houses cooler in summer than they do in the winter," muses Edward Parson, an environmental expert at the University of Michigan Law School. But it's hard to know for sure, since there are no comprehensive studies that measure air-conditioning trend lines.
I will confess a bias here. I love warm weather, even when it slouches toward humidity. I detest the harsh, slightly metallic quality of the air forced through even the fanciest AC systems. The only air conditioner I own sits, unused, in my car; my home is happily unrefrigerated. But given the energy mess we're in, I can now gild my personal preference with a patina of high-mindedness: air-conditioning is bad for the planet, and for national security, and for our balance-of-payments deficit.
Unfortunately, it is not as bad as I'd like it to be -- in part because not all of our electricity is provided by fossil fuels (although coal does predominate). And also because air-conditioning represents a relatively small slice of our energy use, an estimated 4%.' "
Time political columnist Joe Klein's article in the magazine this week was titled "Kill Your Air Conditioner." Klein detests the quality of air-conditioned air, and thinks everyone in America ought to live to his tastes: "The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease." Air-conditioning is "bad for the planet," he wrote, but "unfortunately, it is not as bad as I'd like it to be." He sided with Jimmy Carter and the "dreadful cardigan sweater" over the Bush-Cheney policy of "malignant neglect." Klein advocated breaking out the thermostat police as a presidential campaign issue: "I'd like to see both candidates call for an immediate 5deg.F thermostat adjustment, just to get the conservation ball rolling."
No one should ever suggest that liberals always believe "If it feels good, do it," at least when it comes to consumer comforts. How does Klein foresee checking up on every American's thermostat adjustment? Air-conditioning cops? Klein began his lecture by lamenting how an innkeeper had to keep the AC on for a 75-degree day:
'The unnecessary refrigeration of America has become a chronic disease. It seems to have gotten worse over the past few years, with thermostats routinely set at 68deg.F, and sometimes even 65 deg., in the (far too many) hotel rooms I've suffered on the campaign trail. "Americans seem to keep their houses cooler in summer than they do in the winter," muses Edward Parson, an environmental expert at the University of Michigan Law School. But it's hard to know for sure, since there are no comprehensive studies that measure air-conditioning trend lines.
I will confess a bias here. I love warm weather, even when it slouches toward humidity. I detest the harsh, slightly metallic quality of the air forced through even the fanciest AC systems. The only air conditioner I own sits, unused, in my car; my home is happily unrefrigerated. But given the energy mess we're in, I can now gild my personal preference with a patina of high-mindedness: air-conditioning is bad for the planet, and for national security, and for our balance-of-payments deficit.
Unfortunately, it is not as bad as I'd like it to be -- in part because not all of our electricity is provided by fossil fuels (although coal does predominate). And also because air-conditioning represents a relatively small slice of our energy use, an estimated 4%.' "
That last paragraph says it all - like most liberals - Klein is disappointed that the Air Conditioning bill isn't harder on the environment than it is! That tells a story in itself!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Newsweek actually hits a home run.....
.... with it's current issue cover story about Cindy McCain. I read it, fully expecting the usual Newsweek slant, damning with faint praise..... trotting out little innuendos. But no!! It's a straightforward article sharing her strong points with her weaknesses. And they actually point out that there are damn few weaknesses.I was truly amazed by this woman's story - her goodness and her strength. She doesn't want to go to Washington like Hellary did, or as Michelle lusts after -- but she will go if her husband is elected President of this Country. And then return to Arizona just as fast as she can. Much the same attitude as Laura Bush -- true citizens interested in helping others in the role of First Lady, but not looking for permanent power or position..
The authors of our constitution would be proud of both Cindy and Laura! The article is too long to paste in here, but when you have a few minutes --- you ought to link to it and skim a few pages. You'll have a whole new perspective of this fine lady!
There ought to be a law.....
"Truth in Advertising" sure takes a hit at Burger King! Here is a picture of their Burger King Steak House Sandwich as advertised in magazines world-wide and on their menu board........ Pretty scrumptious and mouth watering, 'eh?
.....and then the moment of truth! Here is the Burger King Steak House Sandwich delivered in my bag....... Arghhhhhh!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Well Pilgrims, I reckon I found just the place for Obamanation to go....
.... after November's failed run for the White House! Apparently there is a city in Japan that is named "Obama"! What a perfect fit.... learn a little Japanese, teach the little wife a modicum of modesty and humility --- and who knows - he might be Mayor there. Or at least a "Community Coordinator" what ever the hell that is.
They already love him there! (click on photo's for closeup)
They already love him there! (click on photo's for closeup)
Never have to make stuff up for this column....
.... as long as we got situations like this to talk about!
District of Calamity (That would be Washington, D.C., Luke)
District of Calamity (That would be Washington, D.C., Luke)
Washington, D.C., police chief Cathy Lanier decided in May to rehire
17 cops who had been fired for misconduct. The cases against the officers were solid, she noted, except that their hearings before a police trial board had not been held within the required 55 days after the charges were filed. D.C. courts and arbitrators had previously reinstated officers where the 55-day deadline was not met, and Lanier felt she had no choice. (However, the following week, Lanier announced she was beginning the process of re-firing the 17 officers, this time because they would be unable to perform their jobs since they could not be credible witnesses in criminal cases because of their records.) [Washington Post, 5-20-08, 5-24- 08]
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