Prince Harry Fighting on the Front Lines in Afghanistan

And look what he's wearing.

Nice hat, Harry.

The Puppet Comes to Power

Medvedev is getting ready for his eminent "election" victory. Hand picked by Putin himself, Medvedev is a guarantee to take over when Putin leaves. Or rather when Putin runs the government as the Prime Minister. He can't run it as President anymore because of a constitutional limit on the number of consecutive terms he can serve. Granted after this term concludes, Putin can have his puppet re-appoint him.

Nice, eh?

Medvedev acts a lot different than Putin. A lot more laid back, almost cheerful (for a Russian). This really isn't that surprising, considering he was hand picked by Putin. Obviously Putin would avoid putting a strong president as his successor. What would be the advantage of that?

He'll be elected as Putin's choice and when it's Putin's "turn" again, he'll be shown the door and quietly ussured back to private life.

At least he seems to be a happy puppet.

I wonder if Putin will let him make good on any of his moderate, pro-western positions... I wouldn't gamble on that one.

The Weathermen and Obama

Read about the Weathermen here.

A name of particular interest is Bill Ayers.

Ever heard of him?

Obama has.

Again... just gives you insight into the people with whom Obama associates.

I think the idea that Obama will change things and that he is as pure a politician as there ever was is out the window. He's an old style liberal, as entrenched with the corruption of politics as any.

Fiscal Conservative McCain comes out

This was actually one of my favorite topics in the Republican debates and I am very curious why you NEVER hear anything substantive about this in the Democratic debates.

Earmarks. Pork barrel spending.

They are strangling us.

McCain hits the nail on the head when he says, “We lost in 2006 not because of Iraq but because spending got out of control.” Amen.

When Republicans stop acting like conservatives and start spending tax money like it was theirs to spend, they lose elections. If McCain can rally Republicans around this point, he will bring in a good portion of the conservative base.

Great article from... Time (of all places)

Political correctness never makes sense to me.

Talk to people and explain things, that's always the best policy. Be open, honest, and frank. Don't apologize for things that need no apology. Don't let other people define you, your name, or your actions. Define yourself and throw it back on them. Someone says that you are being devisive because you used someones middle name, explain to them that they are stupid :). If someone puts out a picture of you wearing "ethnic" clothing, explain to them that you were in Africa visiting YOUR FAMILY and that this was simply being gracious to your host.

Forget PC. Try honesty. People are reasonable.

Anyway, a good article here.

Reporter gets zapped by the ray gun

I love it when reporters are willing to endure pain for the sake of their careers. It's classic. I still remember a video from a few years ago where a reporter got tasered on film. Kind of sadistically entertaining.

This one gets it from the army's new ray gun. Too cool.

I mentioned this thing a couple months back.

There's no weapon like a creative weapon. :)

Healthcare and the Constitution

I keep hearing people use the phrase, "the right to healthcare".

I'm sorry, if you would like to read the Constitution, you can do so here, or you can request your own free pocket copy from the Heritage Foundation here.

Please read through it. Several times would be good.

Please let me know where you find the "right to healthcare".

Is healthcare a good thing? Absolutely. Have I made choices in my life to assure that my family and I have healthcare coverage? Of course, it is a priority for us.

At the same time, if states want to supply medical coverage for people who can't afford it, I think that's great and they should absolutely be able to do that. That's part of the Federal system; the states have the power and authority to do these things. It works.

It has come to my attention

It has come to my attention that I may sound judgemental about people who accept state sponsored insurance. Thes programs are designed for people who qualify and financially are unable to purchase their own insurance or work for a company or organization who cannot afford to pay them insurance as part of their compensation. Churches especially fall into this category. If I have come across this way, I apologize. That has never been my intent.

This is also NOT what Clinton and Obama are talking about when they say Universal Healthcare. What they are looking for whether immediately or incrementally is a single payer system. In this system all of the medical insurance companies would be out of business. You can't purchase more coverage if you want it. This is the same system that they currently have in Canada. That's why you have wealthy Canadians coming to the United States so that they have the opportunity to purchase medical devices and proceedures that they physically cannot obtain in Canada. This was something that was talked about extensively when I worked for Medtronic. There are limits on the number of devices that the government will ALLOW to be installed in their system. So, some people take their own money and come to the US. No waiting lists, no quotas, no being pushed to the back of the line because you don't NEED a pacemaker as much as your neighbor. What a crock! If I need a pacemaker so that I can have a better quality of life, then I want to be ABLE to get it.

The programs that BOTH democrats have put forward would immediately discourage people who can afford to purchase insurance from doing so. Even people who are able to acquire affordable insurance through their employer may be tempted to leave their insurance in order to obtain the "free insurance" from the government. Meanwhile taxes to pay for this new system increase and the economy plummets. It's a mess.

The end result is that you immediately have millions of Americans who had, or could afford their own insurance, but instead they have signed on to another government entitlement that will continue to grow, unchecked and unmonitored until it accelerates the US down the road to bankrupcy that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have already started us down.

Obama and his anti-Israeli ties

I mentioned previously that Obama is not getting a lot of support from pro-Israeli and Jewish groups. Not because they're racist, but because they've looked at his record and his associates and rightly questioned how the US/Israel relationship will be affected by an Obama presidency.

More concerns about it here.

A president needs to know not only who are our enemies, but who are our allies. One more test Obama has not proven he can pass.

SF, let the whole place drop into the ocean

I have to say that we are doing some great things here in AZ to make sure that our illegal immigration problem at least heads in the right direction. Here in this state we have this novel concept that we should actually uphold federal laws. Edgy, I know.

In San Fran they've adopted a slightly different policy on immigration. Obviously everyone knows that they are a "sanctuary city"... well, I shouldn't say everyone knows. But after their new ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN, a lot more people will.

These people are insane.

Some good quotes...

I have been enjoying the reliving of memorable moments and quotes from the life of WFB today. He had such a smooth and velvet like voice that he can say some down right obnoxious things and sound so suave doing it.

The vocabulary makes you break out the dictionary sometimes, but his stuff was always a good read.

Ann Coulter has some good stuff on him this week.

I think my favorite quotes came from the court room when Buckley's National Review was being sued.

During one round of questions, WFB said, "I decline to answer that question; it's too stupid."

Bold, straight forward and very humorous.

Every once in a while he surprises me...

Do I agree with him? Of course not. But Ted Rall has a good article today. I hope every bleeding heart liberal reads and meditates on it. I hope they can't get it out of their heads as they walk into the booth in November.

True left wingers have their candidate - Ralph Nader.

Sounds good.

Personally, I love it when that guy runs. I just hope that he gets as much publicity as he can. If he can suck up 5% of the vote (hey, I can dream can't I), that would be fantastic!

You gotta read this

Talk about thinking outside the box...

Doctor's were able to restore a good portion of a mans vision using his son's...

... tooth.

No kidding. Here it is.

A good one from Redstate

Redstate has a great piece on the Top Ten Reason Republicans Shouldn't Fear Barack Obama in November.

They make some great points. Number 9 is my favorite: "9. The Barack Obama is My Shiny New Bicycle." Classic.

I am very interested to hear how Obama will do in a debate with someone when it is about issues and there is a difference between himself and his opponent. As I was watching Hillary fall to pieces in a whiny fit the other night in a pointless debate about the differences in HER massive healthcare tax burden and HIS massive healthcare tax burden went on and on for 16 minutes, I couldn't help but scream (to myself since the other five members of my family were sleeping) WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE THINKING! WE CAN'T AFFORD THIS AND DON'T NEED IT!

I can only hope that McCain shows JUST ENOUGH of his rough side in the debates to make Obama look like the starry-eyed little fifth grader that he is... no offense to fifth graders.

Great piece

The American Thinker has a great piece on Obama and his desire for interventionism all around the world. Of course, not by Americans, but rather by our "middle power" allies (I'm sure they would all love that designation).

This is Obama's idea of leadership. You see the downtrodden and those in need of help and you go to the UN and demand that other member nations pitch in and help out, while denying any US aid.

Brilliant.

That will definitely improve our reputation around the globe.

Soros and the economy

There is a great article on the American Thinker about George Soros, his history and his goals.

This is a power hungry multi-billionaire who is neck deep in Democratic politics. Thanks to McCain/Feingold and the 527 groups that have sprung up since, Soros has been able to purchase his own political party. Nice.

Groups funded by Soros bucks include: MoveOn.org, Center for American Progress, USAction and Americans United for Change

Obama the most Liberal Senator in 2007

This was brought up in the debate last night, but since I'm sure nobody but political junkies (me) watched it, I thought I would mention it.

The ratings for lawmakers in 2007 are out, and the winner is... Senator Obama.

According to the National Journal, which has been performing this ranking based on votes for the last 27 years, Barack Obama is the most liberal US Senator out there. That's right, he beat out both senators from Massachusetts, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy.

'Nuff said?

I do have to say that the moderating of the debate was pretty good. Tim Russert in particular hammered away at Hillary pretty good. That's kind of unfortunate, since I would really rather have him hammer on Obama, but he got some good licks in there.

I thought Hillary did particularly poorly. She looked edgy and irritated through the whole debate. Her posture and demeanor looked very uncomfortable and she was down right whiny at times. This was really her last shot to try and stop the Obama avalanch, and I'm afraid she failed.

I did like the fact that as soon as Farrakhan's endorsement came up, Obama got all flustered. Obama has a lot of fire coming right now from pro-Israeli and Jewish groups right now for his pro-Palestinian positions. Endorsements from two antisemitical leaders like Farrakhan and his own pastor Jeremiah Wright dont' help.

Around the world

If you aren't paranoid enough about global terrorism... check this out.

I have no idea how accurate or authentic it is, but on the surface it looks legit. Click on a few of the incidents and check them out.

It's a rough world out there.

Sad day

One of the pillars of the conservative movement and a giant in political, intellectual and intelligent thought passed away today at the age of 82.

William F. Buckley was a brilliant and entertaining writer, but more than that he was was a greater thinker.

Here is a quick bio on Buckley.

He will be missed.

This should scare EVERYONE

If you happen to be a national defense minded conservative or you happen to like living in a strong and prosperous nation, this should scare you.

If you are going to be starry-eyed about something, don't pick national defense. If you think for one second that Obama actually believes that America has real and dangerous enemies you are kidding yourself.

That's the man's name!

If the man doesn't like his name, then he, like the rest of us, is welcome to change it. However, currently his name is Barack Hussein Obama.

So what is wrong with saying it?

If McCain is going to go out there and apollogize for saying the man's name, he better get ready because the people actually fighting this campaign (which evidently doesn't include John McCain) are going to say much harsher things than that.

And like his name, they will be factual things.

Funny

I was sitting watching the debate, which was incredibly painful. I mean, come on people the reason that it took 16 minutes to try and differentiate the Universal Healthcare entitlement fiascos of Obama and Hillary is because there really isn't any difference. Both plans will shaft us with larger and larger entitlement spending until they eat up the ENTIRE national budget.

So, I was surfing around and found this great video from SNL. I never watch the show, but this one must have been recent. He wasn't the best candidate in the world, but the Huckster definitely has a sense of humor.

One more reason

Just one more reason why we DO NOT watch horror movies.

Of course, this wasn't one of my original reasons, but it's pretty high on the list now!

15th Anniversary of the first WTC bombing

Amazing. I remember being at ASU and watching the news about this. It was unbelievable. The pictures of the giant gaping hole in the parking garage. I was just amazed that it didn't bring the whole building down. The whole thing seemed very impressive.

Now it just seems sad.

Check out the video that someone took riding the elevator all the way to an observation level on one of the towers. A different perspective that I had never seen before. It's kind of long with some tripee music. Once it loaded I did a manual fast forward. The last seconds show the video at the top.

Wow.

Rezko, Auchi, Obama and Hussein... as in Saddam

I'm trying to find out more on the story of Antoin (Tony) Rezko and his arrest and pending court trial. I'll probably be following that one pretty closely.

From what I have read so far, Obama actually interviewed with Rezko's business right out of law school. Rezko's firm was involved in several real estate ventures and fast food businesses. In some cases they would buy up slum housing and then lobby the government for funds to renovate the buildings or in some cases actually develop new housing for the elderly on property he owned. Of course instead of actually using the money to fix up the buildings or build new ones they would pocket the money or exact exorbitant “finders fees” from the money. One of the government investors that they were lobbying heavily was the Teachers Retirement System, which is a pension fund for Illinois teachers. Of course Rezko had a “business partner” on the TRS board who was secretly splitting kickbacks with Rezko in exchange for his influence on the board.

Well, it turns out that Obama turned down the job and accepted one with a law firm that Rezko’s company hired.

During news interviews Obama claims that he barely knew the man, that he had lunch with him a few times over several years, but very limited contact. Of course Rezko’s wife actually owned the lot next to the Obama’s and purchased it on the same day. He claims that the timing was up to the seller. Rezko’s wife paid market price. The Obama’s paid $300K less than asking.

Obama claims that while his law firm was working for Mr. Rezko’s company that he did no more than 5 hours of work on the case. So far Obama’s law firm has failed to disclose actual time reporting.

Meanwhile Obama becomes more politically active and runs for office. Mr. Rezko quickly becomes one of Obama’s biggest contribution “bundlers”. Meaning that he not only contributed to Obama’s campaign but that he strongly encouraged others to as well. As part of this activity Mr. Rezko hosted at least one Obama fundraising event at his house, which included other investors currently being investigated, and was part of the host committee for several others. In all he brought at least $150K into Obama’s campaigns.

Nice.

All the time these things are going on, Rezko is receiving “loans” from a corrupt business man named Nadhmi Auchi who was convicted of fraud in France and is listed as an undesirable alien by the US State department. Rezko received these loans in exchange for ownership or opportunity in land deals that Rezko was putting together.

Auchi seems to be as dirty as they come. He had extensive dealings with Saddam Hussein going back before and up to the first gulf war, even after Saddam killed Auchi’s brother.

Nice.

This whole thing keeps getting thicker. Obama seems to be downplaying it and his involvement with Rezko, but there seems to be quite a bit tying them together. Considering Rezko was one of the most influential people in Illinois for some time and had such a large impact in fundraising for Obama’s Illinois congressional and US Senate campaigns it seems hard to believe.

So far no one is directly implicating Obama in wrong doing, only that he has involved himself with some very shady characters and even continued interactions with them after it was known that Rezko was being investigated by the FBI.

From what I can see Obama did not have too much interaction with Auchi, other than a possible meeting at a fundraiser.

Considering he paints himself as someone above the normal political and fundraising fiascos, this all looks a little murky.

Sources:
http://i.abcnews.com/Blotter/story?id=4111483&page=1
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/124171,CST-NWS-obama05.article
www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/017121.php
http://rezkowatch.blogspot.com/
http://www.redstate.com/blogs/rick_moran/2008/feb/26/will_dirty_chicago_politics_be_the_undoing_of_obama

wow, she was right

One of my favorite movies of all time is A Christmas Story. It's a classic.

Every year on Christmas Eve I sit in front of the TV and watch it while I wrap presents. This year I actually caught it twice (there was a LOT to wrap).

Anyway, there is a part in the movie after he shoots the infamous BB gun (against the metal target) and ALMOST shoots his eye out, then steps on his glasses and makes up a story that an icicle fell off the garage and hit him and busted his glasses, where his mom says, "... those icicles have been known to kill people!"

Okay, I live in AZ and I always laugh at that part.

Evidently I shouldn't.

Free FOOD!

A friend of mine who is notorious for finding deals and "free stuff" forwarded me this one.

http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/eat/features/mcskillet_burrito.html

I've never had one. Don't know if they are any good. I must admit I'm a sucker for most of the stuff on the McD menu, but I've never tried one of these.

It's on the way to work...

I probably will pick one up.

Getting caught up still... lots of good stuff

Great article on the American Thinker.

This is probably my favorite quote of the piece. Powerful, in your face truth. I love it.

The left invents injustice and crisis, injects it into the public psyche and then promises salvation, like a child manipulating a distracted parent. In that perpetually adolescent relationship, Obama calls for change for change's sake, criticizes all that came before, carefully ignores recent history, fudges the facts and with predictable frequency, calls America broken. He steals the words of Martin Luther King, but he does not have the righteous cause, he postures in a battle already won. Obama is a polished huckster, a used-ideology salesman, a slick fraud. He offers failure, not hope, simple slogans and easily remembered rhymes to confront a dangerous world.

Polls and elections

Great post at Redstate about polls and primaries.

This Global Warming is so bad people are freezing to death!

Classic.

If you haven't caught on yet that this whole Global Warming thing is a crock, then you obviously aren't paying attention.

I remember as a kid listening to a little news program in school (I forget what it was called) but they were talking about another ice age. Global Cooling was a serious issue.

I can tell you as resident of the Valley of the Sun, I'm all for the Global Cooling phenomenon!

BTW, evidently Senator Obama is among those not paying attention. Read S.1389 introduced by the Senator that would REQUIRE Global Warming to be taught to school children as fact because, at the time, there was a "consensus". Personally I would rather see a BIG FAT PILE OF DATA than a steaming pile of government funded scientist spouting opinions, but hey, that's just me.

I think science should be about things that you can prove, not things that you get a group of grant winners to agree on over coffee.

Why not write a law where kids have to learn things like... reading, writing and math! What a concept!

Great post from the White family in Texas

Great thoughts from some home schooling, down home, Texas parents (formerly AZ residents :)

Good stuff.

We definitely have some strict drug policies at our house!

After week 3

The first part of the week went pretty good.

The last part... not so good.

The weekend was so, so.

I didn't exercise much and I really think this is what got me into trouble. I ran into a couple of days with UNBELIEVABLE cravings just to stuff my face with everything in site. Not a good feeling. Of course, the more you give into the feeling, the worse the cravings get. Nice like that, eh?

I've read all the books that talk about the blood sugar levels and how the spikes and valleys cause you to crave food more, even though you just ate... blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

The fact is it comes down to self discipline and whether or not you have it. I don't yet. I'm working on it. It sounds like it should be easy. Of course if it was, they probably wouldn't call it discipline.

This week when I get the cravings I'm going to:
#1 -> Pray for strength
#2 -> Exercise

Weigh in for the week. Down one pound (not too bad considering).
237 lbs. 67 lbs to go.

What does Obama stand for, according to the record

After drilling down a bit through the Senate website you can do a search in the THOMAS system on different bills, motions, and amendments and their sponsors.

Well, being the uber-political geek that I am, I have been performing this activity on Mr. Obama.

Interesting.

There are 113 bills, amendments and motions that he has sponsored. The system does not currently supply information for 29 of these because they are amendments or additions that are only made available at specific times (strange). From reading the titles or summaries of all of the available items, I would say that the top priorities for Obama have been (in no particular order):

- Veterans benefits (very admirable and much needed)
- Education (I'm really torn on this one because there is only one other country that spends more MONEY on education than we do, yet we fall short of progress. Most of Obama's measures go to support low income and underperforming students)
- Limiting the approval of military spending and actions
- Bills to recognize or aid African Americans specifically (10 of them)

I've downloaded several of these bills and have been digging through them and will probably post more later.

Some things that concern me are:
- His solutions to education problems seem to focus at throwing more money into the system. I am personally in favor of supporting the voucher system and cutting out the beauracracy that is the Department of Education and start focusing on educating kids. John Stossel has a great article on wasteful school spending here. I think Obama does what all liberals do. Take a failed system and throw more money at it... and where do they get that money? Oh yeah, my paycheck.

- He tries to play commander in chief, but he's only a Senator. How much control will he relinquish to this same body if the rolls are flipped?

- Most of the things that he has legislated are either handouts or pandering to certain groups and many of them are racial in nature.

One thing that has come up recently, that really concerns me is the whole idea of racial preference. I started researching Obama's religion when I got the whole email chain about Islamic schooling. What I found really concerned me.

Here is an excerpt from their webpage:

A congregation committed to ADORATION.
A congregation preaching SALVATION.
A congregation actively seeking RECONCILIATION.
A congregation with a non-negotiable COMMITMENT TO AFRICA.
A congregation committed to BIBLICAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to CULTURAL EDUCATION.
A congregation committed to the HISTORICAL EDUCATION OF AFRICAN PEOPLE IN DIASPORA.
A congregation committed to LIBERATION.
A congregation committed to RESTORATION.
A congregation working towards ECONOMIC PARITY.

Very strange 10 point vision for a church. I've never seen a church that mentions Africa twice, but never God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. Is this really a church or some African Cultural Center? "Economic Parity"? What on earth does socialism have to do with worshiping God?

I also read an article about Obama's spiritual mentor and HIS mentor. You can read that here.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I am anything but racist. I hate racism. I hate racism of anykind. I truly wish that this country and this world would live the dream that MLK had, where people would not be judged "by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". But racism goes both ways. Hating me because I'm white, or just as bad, giving someone else preference OVER me because I'm white and they're anything else is just as wrong as holding someone down because they aren't white.

I've heard all of the arguements for afirmative action and quite frankly, I think they had a place at one time. But that time is gone. Long gone. It's time to move on.

Class rhetoric and race baiting should have no part in a presidential election. Unfortunately those are the only two things that are repeated over and over by ALL of the Democratic candidates. Sad for them. Sad for us.

VDH makes some GREAT points

This is a great article that points out the utter hypocrisy being preached by Obama and Hillary both. Not to mention the liberal mantra of blame the government and big business.

Personal accountability in this country is a huge issue.

Are you SERIOUS!!!

So at what point do you lock the guy up and throw away the key? When someone has enough disregard for the lives and well being of others that he has 19 DUIs, he obviously doesn't care about anybody and has endangered the lives of hundreds if not thousands of other drivers.

I think 8 years is too little.

Sadly he isn't the worst in his state. Two other people have 20 DUIs. They are getting really tough on this in AZ. First offense you have to pay to have an interlock device installed on your car for one year.

Life? Flogging? Something... this is ridiculous.

Number three

Keep B in your prayers, she is having her third and hopefully final epidural shot tomorrow.

We are praying that this will be a good long term fix and that within a week to ten days she will be returned to full or very near full mobility.

Thanks.

My favorite right now

Being the pen FREAK that I am, I have tried just about every kind of pen that you can imagine under $50. While my Cross Gel Rollerball is one of my favorites for ink flow, I don't like the fact that they don't sell a 0.5 tip.

For a while I was in love with the Pilot G2 05, which is great, if you get a good one, but I have found that the quality can be a little hit and miss. I still like the overall design of the pen, but it would be nice if the clip was a little more snug and the quality a lot more consistent.

So... my current favorite it the TUL gel rollerball. Very nice. The design isn't quite as ergonomical as the Pilot G2, but the writing is smooth, consistent and gives a constant width even towards the end of the pen (the G2 05 starts to feel like an 07 about a quarter of the way through its life). Again, the clip isn't as good as it could be, they tend to loosen up pretty quick, but they do stay together (so far). A little pricier than the G2, but if you calculate the percentage of bad pens that you get in a pack of G2s, the cost is a wash if not a bargain.

For the money, I would say the TUL is the best 'every day use' pen on the market.

Like I said, I'm a freak, and you probably could care less.

Ouch!

Ouch for Hillary on the election yesterday. Losing WI by 17%, that's gotta hurt. Obama is now 10-0. Hillary has to win something and soon. Ohio and Texas are the next heavy hitters where Clinton still holds a small lead in the polls... but will it last.

So... forget the gloves... here come the brass knuckles.

I love it when the democratic attack machine turns against itself!

At least Ted Kennedy is pronouncing it right now...

Even if the workers over at Hardball didn't quite get the memo that it's "Obama" not "Osama".

Innocent mistake.

Bet you didn't know I worked on the Hardball set :)

You gotta see this one...

If you haven't seen it before... here it is. I did run this by snopes.com and it is REAL, confirmed TRUE by a police department in Utah. Wow.

Look at this one:

Read this one:

Look at the picture above and you can see where this guy broke through the guardrail, right side where the people are standing on the road (pointing). The pick-up was traveling from right to left when it crashed through the guardrail. It flipped end-over-end, across the culvert outlet, and landed right side up on the left side of the culvert, facing the opposite direction from which he was traveling.

Now check this out:

According to the police department, the guy ended up 12 inches from the edge of the drainage culvert.

Talk about mercy.

Dirty Nomination Process = Dirty Party?

Is this whole nomination process telling us something about the party?

Surge critism disappears

Page on Obama website saying how the surge is doomed to failure suddenly gets removed.

That's okay, because in the blogosphere... nothing disappears.

I love it!

She said WHAT!?

I have heard people go on and on about how smart Michelle Obama is (although I thought Hillary was supposed to be the smartest woman in the world) and what a great speaker she is, but this was either a REALLY rookie move or she is just THAT pathetic.

Enjoy.

I really can't stand people that are highly educated, highly paid and have been milking this country their whole life, yet still don't seem to actually LIKE where they live.

First lady material indeed.

McCain vs. Hillary vs. Obama (and a BILLION bucks)

Now this would truly be a crazy senario. But, truly beautiful in my opinion.

The whole thing is outlined here.

This is the short version. Hillary hoses Obama out of the Dem nomination using law suits over MI and FL, and shmoozing superdelegates. Obama jumps out of the Dem party and brings Bloomberg (NY mayor, former RINO, now Independent) onto the ticket along with a BILLION bucks of Bloomberg's own money (don't worry he's loaded).

What would happen then?

It might actually be McCain's best bet.

Hmmmm....

Excellent piece

Great piece at Boston.com about the picture that shows a Cuban flag with a picture of Che Guevera hanging at an Obama campaign office.

Frightening that these people know so little about history.

Or are so willing to deny it.

Even worse, that they seem to side with it.

Disgusting.

Psychos mourning one of their own

Hizbullah (however you actually spell it, I've seen at least three ways now) is in mourning over their lost comrad who went down to a well placed car bomb last week.

This story is just another example of the INSANITY that is absolutely rampant (maybe a job requirement) in the Iranian government. He refers to Israel as a cancer that will be removed.

Nice.

Don't worry, once Obama is president he'll sit down and negotiate with the psychopaths.

Good plan.

Obamania goes on

HumanEvents.com has an interesting piece on him.

People like this guy.

They have NO IDEA what he stands for, but they like him. Personally I don't get it. B was watching him on Oprah a while back she said he's just creepy. I listen to him and all I hear is classic Alinksi tactics of class warfare and a head in the clouds idealism that leads to extreme vulnerability for the country.

Quite frankly this guy just scares me.

After week 2

I was very determined this week. I did really good not snacking. With Valentine's Day it was kind of hard to control portion size, but I still did pretty good. Brandi did make this massive batch of her INCREDIBLE home made spaghetti and garlic bread. The fact that I didn't gain 15 pounds this week was, to me at least, very impressive.

And actually, it turned out to be a good week.

Weigh in: 238 lbs. 68 lbs to go.

Now this is remarkable

Truly amazing stuff. The applications of this are far reaching.

Can you imagine the American flag in your house helping out with your electric bill?

Nice.

Entitlements and promises

This whole mess is really starting to come down on our heads.

This is more reason, why now, more than ever, we need to NOT have a fiscal liberal in the Whitehouse combined with a liberal congress. How much worse would this be if you through in a Universal Healthcare Package.

If you are my age (30s) and you think that Social Security will be a part of your retirement. Think again. We can't afford it now and once the boomers are in it, it's done.

We can't afford this.

The problem is that you have people that have paid into this system their entire lives and now they expect the government to make good on their promises. Can you blame them? This is the huge, enormous problem with government entitlements. People come to depend on the government, rather than themselves. Meanwhile the government takes a bigger and bigger percentage of their paychecks and promises to manage this whole mess better next time.

Their shouldn't be a next time.

Their shouldn't be a this time.

I've heard stupity defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

We've got to say no at some point.

Primary fairness

The more I learn about the Democrats and how they run their primary, the more I have to laugh. These people are ridiculous. The whole concept is insane. The Dem party members vote and think that they are picking the nominee, but really they are only giving that nominee part of the delegates available. After all of the states either caucus, primary or convention only a portion of the delegates are actually decided. The rest of the delegates (800 of them!) are just faithful party 'elites' who get to pick whoever they want, regardless of who people voted for. So very reasonably, someone could lose the primaries of 'the people' but win because they paid off the "superdelegates"... oh, did I say 'paid off'... yup, okay good, that's what I meant.

Check this out.

Oh yah, the Dems are definitely the party of the common man. Of course they also believe that the common man is too stupid to make decisions for himself, that's why the superdelegates need to decide. In fact, that's pretty much the way it is with everything. People can't and shouldn't take care of themselves, just give your money to the government and they'll work everything out. Classic.

Glad to see they are putting our security first

Right.

I don't know, but I have a significant issue with law makers getting contributions from people who benefit directly from the outcome of a vote by the law maker. You know what I'm saying.

Obviously the trial lawyers are making bank on this whole deal. Typical fees are at least 40% of the pot, which is just outrageous in the first place.

So... how much money do you think will be donated to the Obama Presidential Library or to his re-election campaign if he vetoes a bill that would involve tort reform?

Think about that one the next time he is reading from a teleprompter and talking about "change" and "hope".

Yah, he's hoping things don't change so that he can clean up in a Clintonesque fashion.

Shocking

In a surprise move, the Republicans in the House are showing signs of having spines.

Very shocking.

Glad to see Grandma Pelosi is doing such an effective job as speaker.

I think next she should follow the Berkley example and send a letter from her office to the Marines kicking them out of DC. That would be right up her alley.

We need to watch this guy

If you are under the impression that Obama is just a lovable, feel good kind of guy, you need think again and look at what he is doing. One of his advisors is Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was an advisor to the Carter administration on the middle east. Yes, the same Carter who stood by and did NOTHING while Iran was overrun, the US embassy (considered US soil) sacked and Americans held hostage for over a year. The same people advising one of the WORST presidents in history on one of his worst failures as president, is now advising Obama on the SAME THING.

And oh yeah, he's not waiting for an election. Zbigniew Brzezinski is already on his way to Syria to talk with Assad, whom the US government considers one of the biggest state sponsors of terrorism in the world.

Pay attention now! Because this is one of the things that Obama is talking about when he says that he is going to talk to our enemies. It is a very naive, liberal mindset that says all people have good intentions we just need to sit down and negotiate. In Barack's world, nobody wants to kill us, there are no governments who want to destroy us and we just need to be the world's best buddy and everything will be fine. It is this same stupidity that put us behind the eight ball in the seventies with negotiations with the solviets. Carter wanted an image as a peacemaker and what he got was a lot of empty promises from people that had NO intentions of living up to them. The whole SALT treaty negotiations were a disaster! Now you have the same people telling Barack the same thing they told Carter and he is already trying to go out and follow their advise.

You can only negotiate with people when you can do so from a position of strength. If they have the upper hand, then you get nothing and you look even weaker for negotiating.

"Trust but verify" and the fact is that these people have proven time and again that they will not live up to what they negotiate, just ask the Israelis.

Barack is a disaster and we need to stop him now before he does even MORE damage than Carter ever dreamed of.

Another bad guy down

Hezbollah is blaming Israel and says that they will be unleashing thousands of attacks on the Zionists in retaliation for this one.

Likely though that US coverts were involved in some aspects. This guy ain't popular around here. $5 Million bounty on his head. Quite frankly we have been trying to get this guy for decades and finally... somebody got him.

Mom sent me this one.

And I think it ROCKS!!!

I couldn't upload it for some reason, but I found it on Youtube.

Here it is. Monday saves the flag.

Just one way

Just one way we spend hundreds of millions (I've actually heard it is now 1.4 BILLION) of dollars of your tax money.

It's pretty amazing how we can't seem to build the fence on our own southern border, but we will give money to corrupt politicians in Mexico so that they can inforce THEIR southern border and improve their immigration policies and equipment.

Does this make ANY sense?

This is the bad news...

Hillary's done. All the crying in the world isn't going to pull her out of this one.

The Obamania (I just made that up:) is going to roll over her like a freight train right down to the wire. He swept the weekend and has all the momentum that she ever hoped for.

The worst part is that he will only excite the Dems. I have been hearing the same STUPID thing from Republicans over and over, "well, I'm not voting for McCain... I might even vote for Obama!"

THAT'S MORONIC!!!

I totally understand people saying, we'll let the Dems ruin the country and it will swing the pendulum back to the conservatives. Which, sounds like a great idea, until you think of the immense and immeasurable DAMAGE that can be done with a Democratically controlled House, Senate and one of the most LIBERAL presidents (if not THE most) in history.

How do you stop Universal Healthcare once you have it? That's one of the biggest and primary things on Hussein's agenda.

Do we go back into Iraq in four years after Al Queda has been using it as a training base for four years when he pulls ALL of the troops out?

Is anybody actually LISTENING to this guy? I understand the Republican party needing a lesson in who they are. And I understand the country needing a lesson in what is good and bad, but how many people have to DIE for a lesson to be learned?

Where would the next terror target be?

What would Hussein do if Iran nuked Israel?

For that matter, what would he do if Iran invaded Iraq? How many millions would die in that one?

What about the government funding of abortions overseas? Something that Bush cut off when he came in. How many babies have to be killed with American tax dollars before we get the point?

For that matter, what if Stevens, Kennedy and Ginsberg all retire or die while he's president and he nominates three of the most liberal, pro-abortion judges the court has ever seen? I'll bet he would be going for younger justices. Just like Bush did. They are life time appointees, so how long would we have to live with abortion on demand in this country? How many MILLIONS have to die for this lesson?

The economy will suffer... I understand that, but that is the least of my concerns. The amount of LIVES LOST is what gives me nightmares... literally.

I'm sorry, I just don't think we can chance learning this one. I'm not a McCain fan, but for goodness sake, we've got to put him in there, if nothing else to avoid the alternatives.

In the meantime we better be finding the true conservatives and putting everything behind them. Get the REAL conservatives in the congress.... NOW!!

After week 1

Well, this is the first weigh in here of trying to lose weight. I have to say "trying" is a pretty loose term. I had one day where I ate 7 twinkies. I polished off close to two dozen oranges for the week. It wasn't real good.

Then yesterday we had an extra kid for the day, so after church we went to the park and played some flag football. It was a great time! We came home and played some Mario Cart and then I kicked back and watched the kids play for a while.

Then I tried to get up.

Evidently while I was resting some invisible elves came and beat my right foot with a pick axe, or at least that's what it felt like. Just killing me! Every step.

I have bad feet anyway, well, at least I've had bad feet since I've been fat. I have issues with my plantar fascia and also tendonitis in my Achilles tendons... that's right, both of them. Nice, eh?

I'm taking it as motivation, my body's way of saying, "do you really think you were MEANT to be this fat?!" I mean, really, I should be able to play football with my boys without hobbling around like some decrepit old man!

Looking at the various charts and things I should probably be in the 160-180 range. So I'll shoot for 170.

So... after my weigh in this morning... 242.5 lbs I only have 72.5 lbs to go.

Ouch! No, not the weight, just my foot again. I just keep thinking... MOTIVATION!

Walking Death... lives, that's right, leprosy

Not just in India.

Try Arkansas.

Everyone who says that the immigration debate is about racism better think again. One BIG concern is safety.

Scare yourself here.

He never fails to irritate... although on some points I agree

Ted Rall actually has an interesting piece that he wrote a couple weeks back. You can check it out here.

He makes the completely valid point that Barack is all hype, no substance. Comparisons to Kennedy are far fetched and inappropriate. Very good points considering Obama doesn't say how he would fix things or what he would do.

Why are people throwing money at this guy?!

This is one crazy election.

At the end of the piece, Ted goes off on his socialist rant where if he were president he would wreck the economy, open us up to unlimited terrorist attacks from free havens all over the world, all while handing the keys to the White House over to the U.N. or some communist dictator so they could be the next Stalin (one of Ted's heroes). It was a pretty good piece up until that point.

This group is different, they really seem to CAIR

Sorry for the pun.

I heard a rep from this group tonight on the radio. Amazing really. A group of moderate Muslims who are TRYING TO BRING ATTENTION TO THE REAL THREAT OF ISLAMOFACISM!!! Amazing.

This is the type of Muslim group that we have been expecting to hear from for the last seven years, I'm glad to see that they are finally coming to light.

I'm also glad to see that they actively opposed the imams and CAIR in their ridiculous case against the airline.

Romney... out

Romney gave a speech at CPAC(Conservative Political Action Conference) where he announced that for the good of the country and the party he was pulling out of the race so that the party could unify and get the jump on the democrats.

His withdrawl was not met with a positive crowd response.

It is the right thing to do and I think he will be the formidable candidate in 2012 after the dems wreck the country...

Unlike some of the other conservatives I have been hearing from, I will definitely be voting for McCain come election day. As bad as he is he is light years ahead of the alternative.

Look for Huckabee to get the VP nod. He appeals to social conservatives and is able to bring in some of the southern states where McCain lags.

The Canadian Model

Mark Steyn has a great article in Imprimis right now that talks about the pitfalls of the 'Canadian Model' that is touted by the left concerning universal healthcare.

Probably the best line is: "But here is the absolute logical reductio of a government monopoly in health care: the ten month waiting list for the maternity ward."

Classic stuff, a good read, very humorous and very informative.

It's nice to get the perspective of a Canadian on this whole Universal Healthcare scam and a good look at Canadian economics as a whole.

A subscription to this publication is free. :)

WOW

If our family was under different circumstance right now I would probably pack them all up and head off to Charlotte for Elevation's 2 year anniversary. God has taken this group from 121 to 4000 people in attendance in two years. Wow! Amazing! 1300 people came to Christ last year at Elevation!

Mind boggling. Inspiring.

The first question of any president... are they a moral person?

Barack Obama (D)
Background: Current U.S. senator from Illinois (2005-2008)
Candidate declares himself: Pro-Choice
NARAL Pro-choice America Ranking: 100%
"Abortions should be legally available in accordance with Roe v. Wade."
- 1998 Planned Parenthood surveyAbortion: Wants Roe v Wade UPHELD.
Voted AGAINST the Partial-birth Abortion Ban.
Voted AGAINST the Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which requires medical care for aborted fetuses that survive abortion attempts.
CO-SPONSORED “The Freedom of Choice Act” that would have codified Roe v Wade into federal law
Human Life Amendment: AGAINST ratifying a human life amendment
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: Voted FOR expanding embryonic stem cell research, Co-sponsored the 2005 Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act
Anti-life Public Funding: Voted FOR public funding of some abortions

Hillary Clinton (D)
Background: Former First Lady 1992-2000,
U.S. Senator from New York; elected 2000; reelected 2006
Candidate declares herself: Pro-Choice
NARAL Pro-choice America Ranking: 100 %
“Our core beliefs and values can guide us through our goal of keeping abortion safe, legal and rare through the next century.” - Remarks to NARAL Pro-Choice America Rally, 1999
Abortion: Wants Roe v Wade UPHELD.
Voted AGAINST the partial-birth abortion ban.
CO-SPONSORED “The Freedom of Choice Act” that would have codified Roe v Wade into federal law
Human Life Amendment: AGAINST ratifying a human life amendment
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: FOR expanding embryonic stem cell research
Anti-life Public Funding: FOR public funding of some abortions and embryonic stem cell research

John McCain (R)
Background: U.S. Representative from Arizona, 1983-1987
U.S. Senator from Arizona, elected 1986; reelected 1992, 1998, 2004
Candidate declares himself: Pro-Life
NARAL Pro-choice America Ranking: 2%
“I pledge to you to be a loyal and unswerving friend to the right-to-life movement. The pro-life movement appeals to the best instincts within each and every one of us.” - Address to the 35th annual March for Life in Washington D.C.
Abortion: Wants Roe v Wade OVERTURNED. Opposed to abortion but believes it should be available in the case of rape or incest.
Voted FOR the Partial-birth Abortion Ban.
Voted FOR parental notification of minors seeking an abortion
Human Life Amendment: FOR a Human Life Amendment, but with exceptions to allow abortion in the case of rape or incest (from a 2006 interview with George Stephanopolous)Embryonic Stem Cell Research: FOR embryonic stem cell research
Anti-life Public Funding: Voted AGAINST public funding of abortions,
Voted FOR funding embryonic stem cell and fetal tissue research

Mitt Romney (R)
Background: Former governor of Massachusetts from 2002-2006
Candidate declares himself: Pro-Life
Candidate described as “anti-choice” by NARAL Pro-Choice America"
I am pro-life . . . the states, through the democratic process, should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate." - Mitt Romney, Boston Globe, Op-Ed, July 26, 2005
Abortion: Previously declared a pro-choice position prior to 2002. Now wants Roe v Wade OVERTURNED. In December of 2005 he ordered all public and private hospitals in Massachusetts to make emergency contraception, or the “morning-after pill,” available to rape victims
Human Life Amendment: "Would be delighted" to sign a federal ban on all abortions (November 2007 GOP Youtube Debate), previously stated he would not call for a federal ban on abortions.
Embryonic Stem Cell Research: AGAINST embryonic stem cell research or human cloning, FOR research using surplus embryos from IVF clinics
Anti-life Public Funding: AGAINST public funding of abortions and VETOED funding of embryonic stem cell research in 2005

Find more info here.

This one is great

FYI... Second shot was yesterday

Brandi did have her second epidural steroid shot yesterday. Everything went very well and Brandi did great. She will have one more in a couple of weeks and that will be the last of the shots for at least 6 months (hopefully/prayerfully MUCH longer).

And, just in case you were wondering... no, I did not make her go out and vote yesterday. :)

Interesting stuff

Some really interesting stuff happened last night. It did not bode well for Hillary or Mitt (even though he got MY vote :)

An interesting thing on the exit poll demographics though, hispanics broke for Hillary and pretty much bailed her out in CA.

Very interesting.

Where did all those hispanic votes come from? Why didn't they break for Obama like other minorities?

Like I said

Someone brought oranges in to work. I thought, well, that's a healthy snack, even though I shouldn't be snacking. Six oranges, some popcorn, a package of Gem donuts, a strawberry milk, two chocolate chip cookies and a handful of shredded cheddar cheese later (why am I fat?)

Then dinner.

This is why I have to cut out the snacks.

No bueno.

Enough Politics... it's time for something even less encouraging

I have to lose weight.

No, I mean really.

It's sadly pathetic when you go to get out of bed and it feels like someone has been beating the bottoms of your feet with a hammer all night ( I did ask Brandi about this and she confirmed that she is not the culprit). Then while you are hobbling across the floor you realize your knee is hurting as well... no NOT the one with the torn ACL, but the OTHER one... you know... your GOOD one! Nice. This is ridiculous. I'm only 31, right?

I've read all the books. I've zoned, South Beached, Ab-ed, YOUed, Slimmed Slowed and even BREATHED my way thin... or not.

I'm trying to think back to when I was a kid and had a metabolism. What did I do back then? How did I eat? Naturally the fact that I was still growing (not out but UP) helped a bit, but that couldn't be everything.

The nice thing is that I have learned a lot about myself.
- I've learned that I'm not good at the "snack all day" plan, because once I start eating... well, let's just say I injest any food in sight.
- I find some personal satisfaction in actually getting hungry. I think there is something to be said for that.
- I'm NOT good at planning my meals for the day. Sure a sandwhich and a V8 sounds fine the night before, but the pulled pork sandwhich (Tennessee style OF COURSE) sounds so much better when it's lunch time and I just need to leave work.
- I struggle with "moderation" but I'm pretty good at cutting stuff out entirely (no candy, no ice cream in 2008!)

So...where does that leave me.

I think the best thing for me is three square meals a day. No snacking. Not too restrictive at the meals, but no seconds. Get a good portion and enjoy! Try and be healthy about the selections, or... at least not too unreasonable.

Hmmm... I wonder how that will be.

As a sword in the back... I'll weigh in every Monday morning and report it here. Not saying anyone will actually see it, but I'll at least feel like I had to admit it to somebody (or at least to the computer :)

So... all time worst weight was 1/1/07 = 251 lbs.

This morning was 245 lbs. Ouch. That hurt.

Part Three

Part 3 of 3
Now let’s take a look at Mitt Romney
Social Conservatism:
- The only firm candidate on this subject, that had any reasonable prospect was Huckabee. He hasn’t changed on this issue, ever, as far as I can find. Romney has. Romney campaigned for the governorship of Massachusetts as a pro-choice candidate. He now says that he is pro-life. The question is, does he mean it and what does it matter. The main things that the next president will do to get rid of, or advance abortion in this country will be in two areas. The first would be rolling back the limitations and funding cuts that Reagan put in place, Bill Clinton rescinded and George Bush put BACK in place. All of the democrats have pledged to do this. The second would be to appoint constructionist judges of the same type as Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas, justices who know the Constitution and the Federalist interpretation of the Constitution and don’t put things into it that simply aren’t there. They don’t pull from international law and they don’t view the Constitution as a living/evolving document. This will be crucial. Romney has pledged to appoint such men. It is worth noting that the next president will probably get to pick two more Supreme Court justices in addition to numerous appellate court justices. If you can remember back (before I was born), once upon a time Ronald Reagan was not only a democrat, but himself changed on the life issue. He changed firmly, decisively and never went back. Do we trust Romney to do the same?

Fiscal Conservative:
- Romney has signed a pledge NOT to raise taxes. He has been highly critical of government spending. He has a long history of running business and running them well. He bailed out the Olympic debacle and turned it around. All good things. I think of all of the candidates he would do the best in this area and the main issue in this election has become the economy. I don’t know that he would make serious progress, but I think he would push us a little further in the right direction.

National Defense Conservative:
- Romney seems to have a firm grasp on the issue of who are enemies are and how they need to be treated. Contrary to what the McCain camp has been saying about him, he has been solidly behind the surge in Iraq and seems to have an aptitude for cleaning up organization messes. He has a firm grasp on the illegal immigration issue and is pushing heavily for border enforcement. All in all, pretty solid.

Over all:
- Romney has a problem with his image and comes across as “too perfect” or even “plastic” and so some people don’t like him. To me that makes about as much sense as voting for McCain because his wife is pretty. The fact is that while he hasn’t been the most consistent candidate over his entire political career, he has governed and he has led and he has done both well. He knows the economy and his stance on most issues is inside the walls of the conservative spectrum. Is he a 100% conservative? No (I would say Reagan was a 95%), but neither is McCain. I would give McCain about an 80% and Romney about a 88%.

When it comes down to the final straw, quite frankly I think that Romney is the better hope for something better. I think he would handle the economy better than Bush has and I think he would be just as tough on AQ, Iran and all of the other bad guys out there that hate America. He's not a Reagan. He doesn't have the charisma, the poise or the presence the RR did.

McCain is lacking in all of these areas as well. He does have a certain charm and roughness, but it's just as likely to tick people off as it is to make them laugh. McCain is a centrist in the truest sense of the word and regularly likes to jab his fellow Reps just for spite.

As you can see, I'm not really thrilled with either of the choices this time around. I have heard and understand the idea that maybe we need a Jimmy Carter so that we can get another RR, but I'm concerned that a Democrat President with a Democrat Congress could do an almost immeasurable amount of damage to our economy, healthcare system and national defense. Obama and Clinton would both take us further down a socialist track. Universal Healthcare will bankrupt this country and destroy a highly functional system. Once you go down that track, it's almost impossible to come back, i.e. Social Security.

Ugh. I think either Romney or McCain can beat Hillary. I'd rather it be Romney, but having Hillary on the ticket would be enough to energize the Rep base to get out to vote against her. Obama is a different deal. He scares me. If it's even possible, he is MORE liberal than Hillary but infinitely more charismatic and magnetic. People aren't looking at his ideas, they are listening to his dribble and watching Oprah fawn all over him. They think he is JFK re-incarnated, but ignore the fact that he is the polar OPPOSITE of almost everything JFK stood for. JFK asked "not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". Obama asks, what do you want this country to go bankrupt to give you?

Democrats are following the Saul Alinski playbook. Tell people they are miserable. Give them a target for their misery and then tell them that you will save them. Class envy/warfare at it's worst.