The Wright Mansion

If you go back to a previous post I had about Trinity United Church of Christ, where Rev. Jeremiah Wright is the former pastor and Obama is a regular attender you should recall something that is part of the church's basic mission "Economic parity". If you don't understand PC terms, that means they believe in Marxism (basically). Rev Wright preached for years how people should avoid the ills of materialism.

But, Fox News did a little homework and found out that they Rev isn't TOTALLY against some materialism. Well, maybe that's not fair, does a $1.6 MILLION dollar home really count as a material possession?

According to the pastor's words on the web page:
"The fortunate who are among us combine forces with the less fortunate to become agents of change for God who is not pleased with America’s economic mal-distribution!"

I guess that's good news for the rest of the members of Trinity! Get in line guys! Who wants the next 10K square foot house?!

Of course there was a $10 million dollar line of credit opened up against the property too... hmm... is that the rest of his retirement package? Or just some really nice furniture for the house?

Obama's Plan: Higher Taxes and MORE Government Regulation

Ben Smith at politico.com has the transcript of the interview.

Not just increasing capital gains taxes, but nearly DOUBLING them. Nice. You aren't supposed to pay attention to what he will TAKE from you, but rather what he is going to do with that money. After of course Congress pays for their pork barrel projects and the fed highers some more government workers to manage all of that extra money. Of course the bureaucrats at the top will need some raises and bonuses because they are doing such a good job.

After that, don't worry he will use that extra money to give tax breaks to lower and middle income Americans. Of course, if any of them get any stock options or make an investments, he'll rob them blind on capital gains, but... hey they'll get 10 cents on the dollar back in tax cuts.

(warning: the following paragraph is dripping with sarcasm)
I just can't imagine a BETTER plan to re-invigorating the stock market than nearly doubling the capital gains taxes. What a genius! Of course, the stock market is just for the ultra rich people, you know the ones that have a 401K or an IRA or some other type of retirement account because they know they can't bank on Social Security.

PAY ATTENTION: This is the CHANGE that Obama is selling. I know, it may look like typical LIBERAL tax and spend, but that's just because it is. The funny thing is, that this might actually be what Obama is talking about when he says that he is a uniter and someone that can bring the country together. You know, like when the country came together to elect Reagan and get Carter out of the White House. Let's just save Sen Obama the trouble of making two moves in four years and just elect McCain now(granted, McCain ain't no Reagan... but that's a different post).

Splenda No Buena

In my effort to lose weight I tried to make the switch to artificial sweeteners. I have always hated the after taste from aspartame(Equal) and saccharin(Sweet n Low), so I decided to try sucralose (Splenda).

I have to admit that it didn't taste quite like sugar, but it was a lot better than the others, so I started using it in my coffee. To get use to the taste I started with half Splenda and half sugar, then eventually shifted to all Splenda or Splenda and Hershey's Syrup (okay, if you have ever tried this, especially with French press coffee... you KNOW why... oh yeah!).

Anyway, I'm not the most calm person in the world and occasionally can get irritated with more than just politics, but I found myself being EXTREMELY edgy, especially after I had my coffee, which is really strange because that is normally 'happy time'. Well, it was getting worse and worse. Not only that but I was getting this shaky feeling a couple of hours after I had it. I would also break out sweating in ridiculous amounts and generally feel horrible.

So... I went on-line and started looking at adverse affects to Splenda. I was really surprised by some of the things I found. People have had all kinds of reactions to this stuff, everything from skin irritations to rheumatoid-like symptoms. After reading all that my shakiness and irritability didn't sound too bad.

I have been off the stuff for about a week. I've had no shakiness and no extreme irritability (although my wife might dispute that). For the most part I have been feeling a lot better and post coffee time has turned back into 'happy time'.

Anyway, I just thought I would share. Hopefully you all either don't use it or don't have the same type of reactions, but it is something to be aware of.

Thanks.

Vision vs Pandering

There is a great piece at HumanEvents.com talking about what Obama should have done to distance himself ideologically from Rev Wright and the ills and evils of Liberation Theology(read Marxists hiding a gun behind a picture of a Bible).

It really supports something that has been bothering me for quite some time and was echoed in a section I read from The Downing Street Years last night. In the book PM Thatcher talks about Jimmy Carter, not that I have been thinking about Jimmy Carter, but rather look at Carter as the quintessential mold of a naive liberal. I am amazed at how perceptive she is and how insightful her views into American politics are. Her impression of President Carter was that he was a very kind and genuine person, she actually liked him a lot. However she was disappointed at his lack of vision for his own country. Rather than knowing where he wanted to take the US he was more concerned with fighting fires and dealing with individual issues. This is a huge contrast to PM Thatcher and her clear goals when she came into office. Truly everything she did and all of her interactions as the PM of England were based on her vision for where her country needed to go. It was inspiring.

It emphasizes what we AREN'T hearing from the candidates right now, particularly on the left. All we hear is pandering. It's all about what they are going to do for this group, or that group, or for EVERYBODY! The speech that McCain made yesterday comes the closest to someone actually trying to cast their vision for the country. Unfortunately I didn't like all of what he was trying to envision. But, at least he seems to have A vision.

Useful Idiots of Saddam

If you haven't heard the story yet, here it is. To sum it up, three Dem congressman took a trip to Iraq right before the Iraq war to make a statement that the US should not invade and oust Hussein.

Well, it turns out that they made this trip at the request of a Saddam Hussein operative. Of course, they didn't actually know that he was working for the Iraqi dictator and illegally collecting 2 million barrels of oil for his services (through the corrupt UN Oil for Food program), but they didn't look into it either, or even question the motives of the man.

The fact is that they were stupid. Very stupid. Personally I think they should resign for sheer incompetence.

Dem Crossover Votes for McCain

There is some pretty interesting stuff happening in this primary. It looks like the Dems are pretty bitter and split about this whole battle. Kind of funny considering there is really zero difference between the candidates on anything OTHER than personality.

Rush Limbaugh and other talk show hosts have been doing what they can to add fuel to the fire. Limbaugh is working what he calls "Operation Chaos" to get Rep voters to cross over and vote for Hillary in order to prolong the whole nomination process. The good news is that it appears to be working.

In the meantime, some Dems are actually threatening to sue Limbaugh for "Operation Chaos", while they are also trying to get Reps to vote for their candidate. Are they going to sue themselves next? The whole thing is a mess, which is of course what Limbaugh wanted in the first place.

I know a lot of people don't like the man, but quite frankly, he's a genius when it comes to this stuff.

At this point it's pretty entertaining.

Great Quote from the Federalist

I found an interesting quote while reading the Federalist, actually I’ve found multitudes of them. The genius and wisdom of these men was far beyond their years and far beyond themselves.

As a background, the Federalist is actually a collection of essays published in various newspapers throughout the country during the late eighteenth century. It was an attempt by Publius (actually Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison) to convince the people that the newly created Constitution was the best solution for the country. Up until that time the infant country had been loosely governed by the ineffective and remarkably deficient Articles of Confederation. At the time of the drafting of the Constitution, all options were on the table, including breaking up the fledgling country into separate confederacies. The authors sought to convince the people that what was needed was a stronger union of the states, hence the preamble of the Constitution, “…in order to form a more perfect union…”

Great stuff.

In any case, here is the quote.

“On the other hand, it will be equally forgotten that the vigor of government is
essential to the security of liberty; that, in the contemplation of a sound and
well-informed judgment, their interest can never be separated; and that a
dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the
rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the
firmness and efficiency of government. History will teach us that the former has
been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the
latter, and that of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics,
the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the
people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”

You are probably shaking your head at this point. Really to understand the writing as it is you have to read it for a while, then you don’t get so hung up on the language and the highly educated verbage of the day.

In essence it says that you have to listen to what a politician is telling you and what he is doing. People pandering to groups of individuals are usually the ones that you need to fear, rather than the ones that are trying to build a fair and efficient government. “The former has been found a much more certain road to the introduction of despotism than the latter…”

Now turn on your TV and listen to the presidential candidates.
Are they talking about helping out low income families?
Are they talking about paying for your child’s college?
Are they talking about the plight of those who have fallen prey to corporate greed?
Are they talking about delivering people from the current “tyrant”?
Are they talking about saving families from their mortgage mess?

Do you hear anyone talking about improving the efficiency of the federal government?
Do you hear anyone talking about speeding up the judicial process?
Do you hear anyone talking about cutting taxes and decreasing government spending across the board?
Do you hear anyone talking about limiting government’s roll in your life?

So my question then is, what kind of politicians are we setting ourselves up with?
Are we creating despots or securing our liberties?

Victim Status for Minorities, breeding anger instead of hope

There is a great article at the American Thinker concerning the differences between blacks and other minorities and how they have succeeded or failed.

It supports what I said earlier about Black Liberation Theology and how it actually does more damage than good to everyone, but especially to those who follow it.

It is very sad.

It makes me wonder how many people out there fail to achieve their potential because they are harboring hatred and animosity towards others?

How many people live their lives as victims of their situation?

America truly IS a land of opportunity. That doesn't mean that the world will be handed to you on a silver platter. It merely means that you have the CHANCE to dream and to work you butt off to see that dream come true. The American Dream isn't the promise of a government check, but the chance to make your future what you want it to be.

CAIR part 1

I had to laugh when the email came out about Obama being educated as a Muslim and the dangers of a Manchurian Candidate scenario.

The truth is that Islamic fundamentalists are absolutely working to influence our government and I do believe that their greatest proponent would be Obama, not because of his background, but because of his unrealistic view of groups like Hamas. Lately he has been trying to say that he is pro-Israel, but his actions and other statements contradict him repeatedly. Especially when it comes to choosing his advisers. Samantha Power in particular, who just resigned over some insulting comments about Hillary, was actually sought out by Obama. Her comments about Israel and the "peace process" in the middle east are disturbing at best.

I wonder how much of an influence groups like CAIR would have over an Obama administration and their approach to Israel. Any approach that doesn't acknowledge that #1 Israel is our greatest allie in the middle east, if not the world and that #2 there are forces that are actively engaged in trying to destroy Israel both here and in their own backyard, is misguided and wrong.

Check out this piece on CAIR and their founders. Very enlightening.

Hillary Clinton, evidently she did gain experience being first lady

She got to watch every day as a first rate liar performed his magic.

Evidently it rubbed off.

Surprisingly enough the media actually chronicled it. Oops.

Don't lie in the YOUTube generation, it WILL come back to haunt you. Usually in your own words.

After week 7

Today is the first day back from vacation. I'm just digging out of the deluge of email and scraping the surface of the political news. I thought about not doing this update today, but instead waiting until tomorrow... but, I thought it would be an interesting data point.

Okay, my goals for vacation included:
- Cleaning out the garages (DONE: I even got BOTH cars in! Very exciting)
- work on the laundry room (DONE: with some help from B, SO much better)
- take kids to pool. (Too cold, but B took them to a movie while I worked on the garages. I may squeeze this one in this week since it is MUCH warmer)
- Take B on a date! (DONE: Always good to spend time with my amazing wife who puts up with quite a bit from me.)
- Write 20 pages ( No bueno. No progress. I left the laptop in the bag except for a couple of days)

So to make up some headway on writing I am going to add a writing night this week.

Before I give you my weight for the week, remember yesterday was Easter, and for our celebration I experimented and smoked a turkey, and a 20 pounder at that. For my first go, I would say it was pretty good. Not too much smoke flavor, but VERY juicy. It was eaten much better than the ham that was also available. There were at least four desserts there, two of which were made by my talented wife. She also made fresh chala bread with cinnamon, honey butter. Oh my. People were practically eating that stuff by the spoonfull. Just to be fair I also had a piece of my sister-in-law's Butterfinger cake. Very good. Just keep that in mind. :)

Weight: 240.5 lbs. 70.5 lbs to go.
Writing: 0 pages. :( 3 total.

Kwame has got some problems, but Detroit is about to get rid of one

This guy is done. The scandals revolving around him are immense. At this point, if the only thing they nail him on is perjury, he better count his blessings. He is as crooked as crooked can be and has cost Detroit literally MILLIONS of dollars. The two officers mentioned in this article settled for millions of dollars paid out from the city. He also is accused of using city funds to buy an SUV for his wife so that she would not go public with his affairs. There is even a homicide investigation going on because an exotic dancer performed at a party for the mayor and was later gunned down in her car. They would call it a random shooting, but her boy friend who was right next to her only got shot once, she was shot 18 times.

Looks like Detroit is trying to compete with Chicago and New York for who has the dirtiest politicians.

BTW, he gave a State of the City speech a couple of weeks ago where he was saying that this whole thing was a racist attack against an innocent, young, black family. Huh?

Just an FYI, the officers in the case, that he also accused of being racists, are also black.

Elvis has LEFT the building

I was a little surprised, but mainly pleased that Elvis got voted off last night. I think in someway she was glad too, although she seemed almost angry in her song.

I don't think her heart was in it anymore, or maybe she just ran out of scarfs.

In either case Kristie Lee Cook is running out of people to get voted off before her. Unless she pulls out something phenomenal next week, or one of the other nine just really tanks, she's going to go.

Failed Public Education and War Protesters

Kind of a funny title, I know. Just read the sign below and you'll get it. Cindy Sheehan is second from the left. Protesters are great. Illiterate protesters are even better.

I don't know who Many is, but hey, I'm a good sport I'd say ten more years to Many!

Black Liberation Theology and How it Encourages Racism

We have all been watching on the news, the internet and blogs like this as Rev Jeremiah Wright decries the evils of white rich people, white America and even America itself. As an active citizen of America I am deeply offended and even more disturbed by the teachings of this man and by the vehement defense that he has received from many members of the black community. Black callers to radio programs have been defending Rev Wright’s teaching as something that white people in America can’t understand because we are part of the white oppression.

The teaching or rather perspective from which Rev Wright is teaching is called Black Liberation Theology. The premise of the theology is that your view of God and Christ is affected by your status in life. The idea is that blacks see Christ differently because they are or perceive themselves to be, oppressed. A rich white person may see God as a loving God who bestows love, mercy and blessings upon his followers, who must use those gifts to help others. A black person who lives in a poorer black neighborhood would look around and see the world from a perspective of being oppressed. They are not living in the blessings of God, but rather living under the oppression of Satan revealing himself through the perceived racism of white America. Jesus is their savior from Satan and from white oppression, because Jesus himself was a poor black man, living under the oppression of white people.

I won’t begin to approach this from a theological or biblical perspective because truly any rational and legitimate student of the word would be able to point out the cavernous holes in the philosophy. Surely Jesus went to the poor and the downtrodden, as well as to the sinners, the prostitutes, the rich tax collectors, the farmers, the tradesmen and even the well educated doctors. The beauty and the incredible grace of Christ is that he is for all people of all races, all walks of life, for all time.

The real problem with Black Liberation Theology is the victim mentality behind it and the crippling, rather than enabling effect that it has on its followers. By blaming rich white people for the ills and deterioration they see in their own lives and their own communities they deny themselves the power to change it. Someone who lives their life blaming others for their position will never be able to change it because it is something that is beyond their control. It truly becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. By blaming someone else, you give that person power over you. Whether or not it is a power that they accept, or perceive or even weald is completely irrelevant. The victim becomes a slave to the person that they perceive as their master. This whole situation is bizarre because it is a slavery created, maintained and reinforced by the victim themselves! It is a dream killer, a motivation crusher, an ambition stopper, and the mentality itself saps the strength, energy and will of the person to do anything but complain about their own victimhood.

Those who would think differently are outcasts. Their ambition, drive and motivation to do more and achieve is perceived as a denial of the oppression. They are perceived as giving in or becoming a part of the system that is dominating their people. By following their dreams and proving that the victim status into which they were born is actually reversible and that people have the power to change their condition, they are in some way a traitor to their own people. They become “more white” or “aren’t black enough”. As Michele Obama revealed in her own senior thesis at Princeton, it actually can create a sense of guilt in those who have improved their condition because they feel that they have somehow abandoned their own people.

More than forty years ago Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. taught that the world would only be free of racism when there was equal opportunity for all people. His dream was that people wouldn’t be judged by their race, but by their character. Under his vision those who chose to excel would be celebrated and held up as roll models, not cast aside as turn coats. Blacks who have achieved great positions through hard work and tremendous discipline, like Colin Powell and Condi Rice would be congratulated, not denigrated.

The effects of this dangerous and self deprecating philosophy are obvious. 70 percent of black children are born out of wedlock. There are more black men in prison than in college. Victimhood strips away responsibility, accountability and even self respect. Mistakes are blamed on the system, on their oppressors, on anyone but themselves. There has a disastrous effect on young black people to engage in dangerous and irresponsible behavior because after all, they were put into this situation by their oppressors.

Black Liberation Theology is dangerous. Not to the “rich white oppressors” but to those who see themselves through the prism of victimhood. This actually makes them vulnerable to the teachings of men like Saul Alinski who taught that power could be obtained by convincing people that they are miserable (or victims), give them an object of their misery (rich white people) and then present yourself as their savior (socialist politicians who want to perpetuate the victimhood because it preserves their constituency).

The salvation is through ownership. Look around you and realize that you have opportunities and then take them. America is the land of opportunity for those who would see them. It is the land of the free for those who are willing to take responsibility for it. Stop living as a victim and enjoy the salvation that Christ has already delivered.

Hill-Billy

Support the Fence, Secure the Border

Sign up at www.completethefencenow.com and support the efforts of Senator DeMint.

There will be reports, as there always are, that this is about racism; white people verses brown. As Senator DeMint explains, it's really about crime, drugs, human trafficking and sex trafficking that is coming across our border. Young girls promised jobs and when they get here they are told they have a debt to pay and are forced into prostitution to pay their coyotes. It's horrible. These are young girls, 12-15 years old.

Our church is actually working with a ministry called Vision Abolition which is seeking to eliminate the sex trade industry around the world and they have been meeting with local officials in AZ to start getting these girls off the street. The average age of a prostitute in PHX is 13 years old. This whole thing is atrocious. Vision Abolition is working to rescue girls from this industry and working on educating men to dry up the market.

Let's make it harder for these coyotes (read that as human trash) that bring these girls up from Mexico, Central and South America.

Finish the fence. Enforce the border.

You gotta try these!

Kind of funny to follow up my weekly weigh in with a post about potato chips, but really these are KILLER and our entire group at work is hooked on them, so of course they keep bringing in these HUGE bags for everyone to share.

But if you haven't tried them, they are the perfect combination of a little spice, a lot of salt, great crunch and a little cheesy flavor. Wow.

Poore Brother's Three Cheese Jalepeno.

The Jalepeno flavor use to be my favorite, but move OVER, this is the BEST.

After week 6

It was a better week. Not great but better. Of course, you add in the intestinal/stomach thing that I had where I dropped four pounds in one day, and it's looking pretty good!

The fact that I managed to keep most of that one day loss, to me, is a success.

I also spent part of Wednesday evening writing! Yeah! Go me! Of course, I only got three pages written, but I made progress. I was a little frustrated during that time with the way things were going. I didn't like the dialog, it came across pretty cheesy. Fortunately I had a good idea yesterday while getting ready for church on how to change it up.

I'm on vacation starting tomorrow and won't be back at On until NEXT Monday (SWEET). I have a whole list of goals to achieve on my vacation. The first of all is cleaning out the garages. Way over due. But I am also shooting for 20 pages of writing!

It's forced vacation, but I'm trying to make the most of it. So:

Weight: 235.5 lbs. 65.5 lbs to go
Pages: 3 pages.

More Wright that's just WRONG

Here is another YOUTube compilation that Fox News put together.

BTW, the 'anchor man' that you see is actually Alan Colmes. He's the liberal guy on the Hannity and Colmes show.

Word of Warning: language gets a little rough toward the end.

New Revelations from Wright:
- Pearl Harbor was a lie (huh?)
- The government intentionally infect black men with syphilis

More video: Obama praising his friend...

Maybe Obama just sleeps through the sermons a lot.

Sounds like Rev. Wright is more of his adopted mentor (i.e. PASTOR) than he is his crazy uncle.

Obama the Ilusionist!

Obama is trying his best to say that he never heard Rev Wright saying the kinds of things that are all over the news and YOUTube. In fact it's racially divisive for the media even to be bringing these sermons up and playing them.

WHAT!?

Please, Senator, do we look THAT stupid!?

In the meantime Obama is trying to get everyone to watch the pocket watch as he quickly and quietly removes any remembrances of Rev Wright from things like his website. I love the internet age, where techno-geeks like the bloggers over at LittleGreenFootballs, keep this stuff around. Classic.

Obama's mentor

A great article today in the WSJOnline about Obama and his lack of denunciation of Jeremiah Wright and his audacious allegations. So far the ones that you can here on YOUtube, out of the man's own mouth include the following (but are not limited to):
- It's America's own fault that 9/11 happened
- America is racist
- God should condemn America (okay I cleaned up the language on this one)
- Luis Farrakhan is a great man (leader of the Nation of Islam who has said that white people are the skunks of the earth and repeatedly blatant anti-Semitic statements)
- America created AIDS
- The US of KKK A

The list goes on. I advise you to listen to the tapes, but I do warn you about the language.

Even IF Obama distances himself from Wright and his comments, which he has NOT done yet, how much credit does that get him? After all, he has been a close friend, mentor, pastor, sounding board and confidant to Obama for 20 years.

This isn't new information. This isn't something that came as a sudden revelation. He's been sitting and listening to this man and his racist hatred, of white people and of America, for 20 years. The fact is that Rev Wright and his racism is apart of who Obama is.

Do we really want someone with that perspective in the White House?

Here is the Earmark Moratorium Vote

How did your senator vote.

From the Senate website.

Kyle and McCain, as well as Obama and Clinton all voted in favor. Out of fear that one or more of the others would have something to hold against them, I'm sure.

The rest of the Senators need to understand that we hold it against THEM.

The Budget Mess

This is a shining example of what is headed our way if we fail to get out and vote this November.

There are three very important things that have influenced me to absolutely support John McCain for president.

#1 He is BY FAR (as Romney would say the BIG DOG) the best qualified of the three remaining candidates to be our commander in chief.

#2 He has pledged to USE his veto pen and purge the PORK! ABOUT TIME!

#3 He has pledged to appoint constructionist judges on the order of John Roberts.

However, even if you choose not to vote for McCain (as some conservatives have pledged), you still need to get out and vote for conservative Senators and Representatives. Send a message that we are tired of the politicians using our tax dollars like it was free money.

The Liberal congress is already at it, striking down tax cuts that have boosted the economy. Granted our economy has some major problems right now, not because of tax cuts, but because of an attempt to micromanage the market.

What is going to happen now is that, as the market softens and corporate sales go down, they will have to cut back on their work force to cut costs. Then you throw on tax increases and what will happen... they can't just ABSORB this extra cost like it was nothing, they have to compensate for it some how. Higher prices(which is VERY tough in a soft market) and/or reduce costs (i.e. cut jobs).

This whole thing is a recipe for a disaster.

If you want to increase revenue to the federal government you CUT taxes rates. It gives people and companies more money to invest. Companies re-tool, expand, higher more workers and upgrade. More people have jobs and are getting taxed less, so they go out and buy the things they've been wanting. The whole things builds on itself. Tax revenue actually INCREASES because the market is healthier and people are buying more stuff and making more money. The revenue to the government DOUBLED in the 8 years that Reagan was president. Revenue to the feds was a RECORD amount last year. Of course our elected officials acted like they just won the lottery and handed it out like drunken pirates, but that's beside the point.

What congress REALLY needs to do right now is make the current tax cuts PERMANENT. Look for ways to cut taxes on companies who KEEP factories in the US, make it pointless for companies to move their head quarters off shore. Demand a 20% decrease in all federal government programs across the board (except the military). The president needs to smack the federal reserve in the head and put some different people in charge who will stop acting like the economy is their own little puppet show that they THINK they can control. Move out of the system and let the market run itself. Watch the dollar come back up. Yes, interest rates will also come back up but that will ENCOURAGE investment in American dollars (hello!). Demand responsibility and ACCOUNTABILITY from ALL Americans. Mortgages are PRIVATE contracts that the government has NO BUSINESS involving themselves in. If we don't take a market correction now and get our hands out of it, then we will be looking at an all out meltdown.

Wow... sorry, I didn't even have my french press coffee this morning. Just think if I had!

Earmarks

Why wouldn't EVERY SENATOR come out and vote for a bill banning earmarks at a time when everyone acknowledges that congressional spending is grossly out of control?

First of all it's an election year. Senators want to make sure that their constituents and their campaign contributors know that they can bring home the pork, or make good on promises that they have already made.

Second of all, there has been little or no retribution for taking this position.

There needs to be. Remember they are YOUR Senators, they are YOUR congressman. Call them up and tell them that this is important to you.

Elvis has GOT to go!

I can't help it. Every time I watch this poor girl perform I SEE Elvis. I don't know if its the stance, the scarves, the outfits, the crooked lip, the way she holds her arms or the microphone or that gravely voice. She is Elvis.

And she needs to go. My wife is tired of seeing my Elvis impersonation every time she performs.

So if you are voting for her, please stop.

Thanks.
-K

Jeremiah Wright (Obama's Pastor) and Racism

Jeremiah Wright has been the pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ for the past 36 years. You can read his bio from the church's website here.

I've mentioned before that the man is a racist. You can see a shining example of what I am talking about here as he 'preaches' from the pulpit of TUCC about how Obama is qualified because he's black and Hillary isn't. The IRS is currently investigating this same video to see if TUCC has violated their tax exempt status.

Obviously everyone at some point in time has associated with someone of questionable character. That's fine. Of course if you know that this person is a racist because you have been listening to him preach for OVER 20 YEARS, and you call him your spiritual mentor, and one of your most famous speeches and your second book, The Audacity of Hope was actually INSPIRED by this person. That' s a different story all together.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, racism is wrong, whatever color it takes or favors. You cannot sit back and say that it is okay, because he is just trying to encourage or reach out to those of African heritage. If the wording was reversed and you were talking about a presidential candidate who attended a "white" church who preached about and encouraged members to hold onto their Aryan roots and how a presidential candidate was inferior because they weren't white, would you consider them a racist?

What if they had associated themselves with this group for more than 20 years?

Would you consider that person a racist?

Would you consider that person for president?

Wouldn't it be racist to hold whites to one standard and blacks to another?

UPDATE: Another SHOCKING example of what I am talking about.

When you gotta go... sometimes it takes a while

Okay, well, maybe this is a bit extreme.

I mean, when your backside grows AROUND the toilet seat and your legs atrophy... that's probably too long. Good grief, you think the boyfriend would have pulled her out of the bathroom after the first DAY or even an hour or two. I mean come on!

(can you hear it coming...)

Poop or get off the pot!

Marxists, FARC and the American Left

A great article on the American Thinker about the difficult and troubling situation in South America. Of course Hugo Chavez is at the center of it, but it is encouraging to hear about the progress and the incredible gains that Uribe has made in Colombia.

This whole situation is one more scary illustration of the fact that liberals just don't get it. They don't look at history, they don't really examine what works and they don't pay any attention to the fact that there is good and there is evil in the world and we have a moral obligation to stand on the side of what is right.

Hillary/Spitzer Bumper Sticker

I got it here.

Fairness Doctrine - Equality vs Liberty

Thankfully President Bush has pledged to veto this piece of garbage legislation.

It's the old political trick. Pick on the politicians and they will change the rules and put you out of business.

This is a concept that liberals(socialists) just don't seem to get. It's not about everyone being equal, it's about everyone having the liberty to make their own choices. Of course people won't always DO the same things with those opportunities. That's why you have thousands of rags to riches stories. People who saw an opportunity, worked their tail off and got ahead. If they would have slacked off they wouldn't have made it. If they have a different idea of what they want their life to be, they could have done that as well. The fact is that there are an infinite number of opportunities out there. Not everyone will take advantage of them. Not everyone will even seek them out. It's no one else's job to find them and hand them to you on a silver platter. It doesn't work that way.

This country was founded on Liberty. Freedom. People can choose what they want to do and in so doing they choose where they want to live, how much money they will make, who they will marry, how many kids they will have, what they are going to eat... the list goes on and on. You are responsible for your OWN life.

If this country had been founded on Equality (like some of our socialist buddies... i.e. France), then you would have a different system. You may choose a lot of things, but when it comes down to it, the government is going to try and level the system. If you manage to make more money, they will take more and more of your money and redistribute it to the poorer people. It's socialism. It's government control, regulation, and when it all comes down to it, it's not government raising everyone up to a higher standard, but rather government LIMITING how far you can go.

The fairness doctrine was tried. It failed because the system will level itself out. If the only people that want to listen to talk radio are conservatives, then more conservative stations will pop up. If people WANTED, or better stated, if there was a market for liberal radio, then Air America would have been a success. "Progressive" radio will catch on, if there is a market for it. Rush Limbaugh isn't the most listened to radio personality in history because he's the only person on the radio, but rather because people LIKE to listen to him, or like hating to listen to him. Basically, if people turned off their radios, or turn the station, the market would determine that there needs to be a change.

The fairness doctrine never worked, because it was never needed. The market will determine what shows should and should not be heard, not just politicians.

And remember when people say the market, I mean you. I mean your friends, neighbors, pastors, co-workers... you know "the people".

Big Brother in America

One of the chief principles of conservative thought is that people can run there own lives. The less the government intervenes, the better. People should rely on themselves, friends, family, churches and communities to take care of issues, not the government.

Liberal thought is exactly the opposite. Government should take care of all of the people, answer all of the questions, make up for any deficiency, redistribute wealth, right any perceived social wrongs and is the final authority in all situations.

A lot of people will say that this isn’t an issue. After all, we live in the United States. It’s a free country, right?

It won’t be. Please educate yourself. You might be frightened at what you find. Yes, right here in the good old US of A.

BTW, ignore Republican and Democrat labels and look at what the people are actually DOING and SAYING. Anyone can call themselves a Republican or a Democrat, that doesn’t say what they actually ARE.

I kid you not, laws to regulate how much toilet paper restaurants have to have in the bathroom. Quite frankly if the eating establishments I frequent aren’t taking care of their bathrooms, I will either hold it, or go somewhere else. Does government have NOTHING better to do?

Landfill odor regulation. That’s right. Trash stinks… amazing. But if it stinks too much then they need to fix it because after all, I built my house next door and I don’t like it.

You aren’t fit to educate your own kids. That’s right Big Brother knows best. No homeschooling if you aren’t a certified teacher. Now does anybody think that the teacher’s union had ANYTHING to do with this? Who cares about rights when we are protecting the jobs of bad teachers!

I understand the mom’s perspective. The police didn’t.

Okay, this one isn’t the US, but the principle still applies, this is where things are going.
Prison for not vaccinating your kids. The state knows better than you do.

I found all of these within the couple of days.

Nice eh?

Democrats and Race

With all of the blustering the Democrats due about Republicans being racists, it's stories like this that are a shining example of where the real racism lies.

Color blindness is ALWAYS the best policy. People should advance based on their talents, abilities, hard work and ambition, not on their race or their sex.

Affirmative action had it's time and that time has passed. The only contribution it makes now is stoking the very fires it was meant to quench.

When Susan Estrich gets nervous, it's a good thing

Well, not a good thing for Dems but a REAL goo thing for Reps.

It can go a couple of ways from this point. If things get more and more buddy/buddy on the Dem side, that would be bad, really bad. If they did have an Obama/Clinton ticket (I highly doubt it and if I was Obama I would REALLY be watching my back on that one) that would be disastrous. But, it's either going to go that way, or the Dem part will have somewhat of a meltdown. Obviously this is the preferred scenario.

Right now, this is bothering me. Not too much, yet. Mostly because neither Obama or Clinton has had to deal with debates and questions from people that actually disagree with their arguments and the premise behind those arguments. I think once we get to that point, they will lose ground quickly.

Hopefully :)

Eliot "Client #9" Spitzer

Ouch. That had to hurt.

Spitzer campaigned as someone who was going to end corruption in Albany. As a prosecutor (hello, aren't those guys the ones that BUST prostitution rings) Spitzer was supposed to be this tough guy.

Guess he got tired of being on the right side of the law.

I've obviously never been a big fan of the guy because, #1 he's liberal, #2 his most notable achievement was proposing driver's licenses for illegals, which ended up being a question at a Democratic debate where the moderator pinned Hillary down and wouldn't let her get away without an answer. Spitzer dropped the whole thing immediately after.

Just think, your whole political career going down to being caught as "Client #9" in a high profile prostitution ring and being the impetus for a question in a debate.

Nice.

Liberal LIE about supporting our troops. I'm sorry there is NO other way to say that.

I've been following the anti-military actions by people in Berkley and Toledo for weeks now. Combine that with a whole slew of high schools and colleges that are trying to ban recruiters and you have a lie by the left that needs to be exposed. I haven't heard of a single liberal politician who didn't say "I support the troops". But the actions that they support, condone, remain silent about and the campaign dollars that they accept from anti-military groups, tell a different story.

Michelle Malkin has a great collage on it here.

After week 5

It was a bad week, which is why I needed the refocus at the end of it. Too many bad weeks in a row. The refocus was good. I had a productive weekend. I was pretty grumpy for a good part of it. But I finally came down to what I considered an interesting realization.

While I was a student, I always felt like I was working toward something. Well, now that I've graduated (I know, it's been like a decade), I'm been working in an engineering job where I will probably NEVER have any ambition, I'm happily married to a wonderful wife, I've got four awesome kids and a house and all that. I feel like I've stagnated. Don't get me wrong. I have a wonderful life. I even took a day off last week and took the older three up to play in the snow. Wow, what a GREAT time. But I don't feel like I'm working toward something.

So I need to.

My goal now, which will be the best thing for me, my wife and my kids, is to be able to work from home. I've been thinking about it for a long time. Now I need to work towards it.

So.

Either I need to win the lottery, get a different job that allows me to work from home (like writing), or ... I don't know. Any ideas?

So, this is my deal. I like writing. Fiction writing actually. Kind of funny because I don't really read fiction, a lot of non-fiction, but not much fiction. Anyway, I've been thinking and talking about this for a long time and I just need to get going on it. My goal is to write one chapter in the next two weeks. That means that next week's report will have my weight AND how much of my chapter I've completed.

238.5 lbs. 68.5 lbs to go.

It's long but you've GOT to read it!

A GREAT post from Michael Yon. Man, reading about these Kiowa pilots, it's like reading about the wild west and Wyatt Erp and... wow! That's all I can say is WOW! Neck deep in combat, flying an over sized motorcycle with a blade and some missiles, getting shot up like crazy, then you manage to land THAT one, IMMEDIATELY hop into another one and get back in the fight. Wow. Guts galore!

Classic. 12 minutes from Guitar Heroes to dead bad guys. Nice.

Should she stay or should she go now?

Well, there are people on either side here. Some saying Hillary should pull the plug and others pleading with her not to.

Of course Hillary has a different idea of what to do. Now if she thinks that he is going to take her up on it, she has got to be dreaming. Why on EARTH would Obama sign on as her VP? All it would do is make it impossible for him to run in 2012 and "taint" him by associating himself with the Clintons. Not that he doesn't have his own Chicago baggage that he is dragging along. It also ignores the fact that he is actually AHEAD in the delegate count. You have to admire the arrogance of the Clintons to even make the suggestion.

McCain needs to be pushing forward right now. Put his solutions out on the table every chance he gets. Grab the cameras and pull them over, then actually give them something of substance to report.

With all of this joint ticket talk from Hillary, I'm concerned that she's desperate. I'm concerned that her SS have gone out and haven't found enough dirt on Obama to make him look dirtier than her (granted, that would take quite a bit). I'm guessing that he is just going to laugh in her face, pull out his pocket watch and go back to hypnotising crowds while he steals their wallets. If he entertains the idea AT ALL it would mean that the SS dug up something REALLY big and REALLY stinky and it's got Obama's name all over it and they are using it as leverage to get him to take a back seat. But, I'm afraid that is probably not going to happen. For all intents and purposes, the Superdelegates are going to majoritively sign with Obama and Clinton will go back to being a Senator from NY.

If I was Howard "mean scream" Dean(head of the Dem Party), I would be pulling all of the Superdelegates together and tell them all that if they want to save the Dem party that they will all look at who won the most delegates and 'gently persuade' them all to vote unanimously behind that candidate. But then again, that would probably take Hillary to scratch together some humility and a smidgen of character to do what is best for her party... that won't happen.

Refocusing on Priorities, Evaluating New Year's Resolutions

I am going to minimize the blogging for the next couple of days in order to get some things done around the house and the office.

Every once in a while you need to read through the New Year's Resolutions and gage how well you are doing and quite frankly, I'm not doing that good :) So I need a couple of days to refocus and get back on track.

So, I will probably limit it to one or two posts a day.

Just temporarily. :) That's about as much as I can hold off.

FYI, for those of you who have commented about it, mentioned it, called my wife about it... I have been looking into what it takes to run for public office. I don't think that I'm ready for it at this point in time, especially from a financial and family situation. I do appreciate the support and it is definitely something that I will pray about and consider in the future.

Thanks!

-Keith

Obama, FARC, and Chavez

We already know that Obama's advisers have been in communication with foreign governements(i.e. Canada, Syria...)

Could they also be communicating with the FARC rebels in Colombia and Hugo Chavez?

Check out the last line in this interesting article concerning information on a laptop that was recovered after Colombia took out Reyes.

Hillary, "Yes we will!" and my 200th post!

I knew it was coming. I busted up laughing when I heard it.

The whole "Yes we can!" is just too inviting for someone to be assertive and say "Yes we will!"

Well... Hillary did it last night. Kind of pathetic, but you had to know it was coming. It's at about 3:40 into the speech. Classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNc88RSsVc

Also, thanks for reading.

This is my 200th post to this blog. :)

Sue Al Gore for Fraud

What a concept! I love it!

As the fraud of Global Warming marches on and companies sell "carbon credits" to guilty people so that they think they are helping the environment. Someone is actually calling the former VP on the carpet. He has some credentials in this area, after all, he founded the Weather Channel.

This is classic, I love it.

Put the Global Warming fiasco to bed. It's done. And so is Al Gore.

Take your trophies and go home Al, the gig is up.

Obama, Hamas and Iran

Obama has been saying for months that he will hold talks with Iran and thinks that the Bush administration has been wrong to hold them at a cautious distance.

Yet he says something different about Hamas. Now let's not forget that Hamas is the democratically elected government of the Palestinian territories. They have also most recently seized military control of the Gaza strip by fighting and murdering other Palestinians, but is this any worse than Iran? How many student protests have they put down in a violent manner? How many times has Ahmenejad (sp?) said that Israel should be wiped off the map, that they shouldn't and WON'T exist, and even insisted that the hallocaust was faked.

I completely agree with him that the US shouldn't be discussing anything with Hamas that doesn't involve them denouncing their previous assertions, cracking down on their own terrorist insiders and putting them on trial, halting all rocket attacks on Israel, and actually establishing the peace that the Palestinian Authority promised to bring, but never attempted to stop.

Shouldn't we DEMAND the same from Iran? They should halt all aid to terrorist organization in Iraq, Syria, and Lebannon. They should seek out the terrorist organizations that exist in their own country including the president himself. Elect a new pro-SANITY government. Halt all rhetoric against our allies, including Israel. Make reforms inside their own country that demonstrate a respect for basic human rights for all citizens, including women. Get rid of their religous police that regularly beat people on the street or drag them off to prison for what they were wearing, where they were eating, or who they were eating with.

Let's be consistent here, Obama, let's treat all terrorists like terrorists.

Of course, he could be just saying that in order to win over Jewish and pro-Israeli voters. Let's see if any of his Middle East Policy Advisers hold closed door meetings with Palestinian representatives any time soon.

An Iraqi on the Baathists and Al Qaeda

Painful but necessary information on the how the war on terror has progressed and how it needs to be pursued. Al Qaeda's effect on the Sunnis in Iraq and the brutal techniques taught to Al Qaeda by Baath torturers.

Unthinkable things have happened in Iraq.

I wish all of the anti-Americans out there would read this stuff. Not foreigners, but our own uneducated people who say that America is torturing prisoners. I don't think they really understand what torture is. I don't think most of us do.

Thank God.

There is all kinds of good news coming in tonight

So far Hillary won Rhode Island and Ohio (by double digits) and we are looking at returns from Texas that look marginally in her favor. I'm down right giddy. I can't take the excitement.

Finally it looks like Obama is starting to get... can you believe it... actual question at a press conference!

Will the wonders never cease!

Even if Obama takes Texas (which looks doubtful), the fight goes on! This is really good news for McCain. The longer this fist fight goes, the better. I really want Hillary and her team of henchmen to have as much time as possible to probe EVERY aspect of this Rezko and Auchi story. I think there is a lot more dirty Chicago politics there to dig up.

Obama and Canada

First it was Pakistan, remember, Obama would go into Pakistan with or without the government's permission to get Osama if he had actionable intelligence.

Now it's Canada.

No, not invading Canada. NAFTA. Granted I've never been that big of fan of NAFTA, at least on the enforcement side, we seem to get the short end of the stick in most cases. As far as Canada is concerned, I'm not so sure that's the case. You see Canada has oil. Lots of it and they export a great deal of it to their friendly neighbors in the south. As part of NAFTA we have an agreement with them that they will not reduce their export of oil to us, unless they rationed it to all of their citizens. It's a good deal for us, especially with all of the crazies that are in charge of other oil reserves around the world.

Well, if we dropped or re-negotiated NAFTA, the Canadians have already indicated that the oil part is something they would like to dump (naturally).

In case you weren't one of the caffeinated political junkies watching the debate, Obama said that he wants to re-negotiate NAFTA, or pull out if Canada and Mexico are unwilling to discuss new terms.

Well, that obviously was a little surprising to our friends and Obama knew it. Of course he didn't want to come out FOR NAFTA in Ohio who has had a hard time with the treaty and what it has done to manufacturing jobs. So he did a little talking out of both sides of his mouth. He had one of his advisers in Illinois talk to the consulate and explain to them that he was just sucking up to the voters in Ohio and that he didn't mean it.

Nice eh?

Is this part of the CHANGE that Obama is going to bring? Because, quite frankly, we've had politicians lying to us for years, I'm not sure what's so new about that.

Update: Obama might want to have his advisers mention that his website is lying too. We would hate to confuse anybody.

Questions for Obama

NRO has some substantive questions that Obama needs to answer.

Good stuff. Read it here.

Right now Rush is pulling for Republicans in Texas and Ohio to hold their noses and vote for Hillary in the primaries. His reasoning is that Hillary is willing to beat up on Obama and that's good for us. Unfortunately John McCain's camp has already said that they will not pursue an attack campaign against Obama. Great.

How about a question campaign? How about pressing him for real answers?

You don't have to sling mud, but you should definitely push him for solutions and real math to explain the payments for those solutions. Hope, change, unity, leadership... they are all great, but lets talk nitty gritty here.

After week 4

This was a bad week.

Just bad.

My feet are killing me. We had a father-son flag football game on Friday night to finish up the flag football season. It was a blast.

Until Saturday morning when I could barely walk.

No bueno.

Stats for the week:

239 lbs (up 2... ouch) 69 lbs to go

Gloria Steinem... it couldn't get much lower than this

Wow, if you thought she was annoying before, she has reached new lows.

I'm not a big McCain fan, although I definitely will be voting for him. But of all the things to pick on him for, you CANNOT, SHOULD NOT even contemplate, picking on his military service. The man is untouchable in this arena. To even make suggestions about this should have you tortured for a day, like he was for years and years and years.

Atrocious. Read it here.

The funny thing is that she further belittles her own candidates by saying that Americans are only pulling for Obama because they care more about righting the wrongs of racism than they do of sexism.

What an idiot.

Please, keep talking, you are only helping us.

Angelina makes some good points

Yes, THAT Angelina. I never thought I would say that.

Some of you may know that in addition to shooting bad guys in skimpy outfits, Mrs. Jolie or Pitt or whatever you want to call her also does volunteer work for the UN as a goodwill ambassador. Most recently in Iraq.

See her most recent write up of the refugee situation in Iraq. Just think, someone in Hollywood saying good things about the troops and Iraq. It must be going EVEN BETTER than is being reported over there.

Perfect example

This is a perfect example of the Democratic mindset. It is an arguement FOR superdelegates. The basic idea that he is putting forward is that if the voters can't come to an overwhelming majority opinion of who they want to be their candidate, then the 'party elites' can step in and help vett out the right candidate that has the best chance of winning the election.

What is really behind it is this: the average citizen is just not smart enough to pick the candidate that is going to be the best person for the position. Democracy is great, but sometimes the elites need to make the decision and the Democrats obviously just don't trust the common man to do it.

The people just aren't smart enough to make their own decisions.

We're the Democratic leadership... trust us. ;)