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Thursday, January 31, 2008

The Outrage of Patriotism















by Roger W. Gardner. Cross posted from Radarsite.
http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/01/outrage-of-patriotism.html


As some of you may know, I have written many articles critical of many things. Most often, of course, I've been critical of that dangerous Religion of Peace, called Islam. However, I have also found time to criticize feminists, liberals, Mexican-Americans, and even the Queen of England. But, no other article I have ever written has generated more angry hate mail, nor more malicious personal attacks than a short piece I wrote earlier this week.

No, it wasn't that one about those deadly Mohammad cartoons; and it wasn't that piece about the Jews and anti-semitism -- which I was certain would receive all kinds of objectionable comments, but actually received none.

The article that generated the most vicious and hateful responses -- even more than any of my anti-Islam pieces -- was that short essay I wrote in praise of America, A Brief Message to America. Even some of those people who had previously been generally acceptive of my point of view got upset enough to let me know about it. In sum, the common theme of these protests was that the article in question was "disgusting" and made them "sick". A lot of jokes about running to get the bucket. One angry commenter accused me of "never having written anything of value since I first started posting". I had, till then, never experienced real unmittigated visceral hatred for something I had written.

Evidently, the subject of patriotism is even more inflammatory and controversial than the subject of anti-semitism. What, I wonder, does this say about us here, today, in America? What does this tell us about ourselves that we don't already know? Do you find this as revealing as I do?

In general, I am being accused of two major personal faults: either being a "phony" or a "fool". To me, a phony is someone who says things that they don't really mean; therefore I am not a phony. As to being a fool, I suppose that's for others to decide. Some ninety per cent of the hate mail came from right here in the U.S. -- although, surprisingly, some of the most disturbing came from -- of all places -- New Zealand.

However, I am also happy to report that this little article unapologetically extolling the virtually-ignored virtues of America and Americans also garnered some of the warmest and most genuinely supportive comments I have ever gotten for any other piece (including, to my surprise, Fox News). The most fulsome praise for that article's praise of America came -- not surprisingly -- from our loyal allies in Australia.

The article is just an article -- but the reactions are significant. Significant and disturbing. This is the nature of our current and growing 'civil war'. These are the enemies we face.

For me, being patriotic is as natural and uncomplicated as loving your parents.
Are our parents without fault? Do they sometimes make mistakes? (although, I must admit, the older I get the less mistakes they seem to have made) The answer to both is of course, Yes. But they are our parents and we love them, don't we? We love them and we honor them, because they are good and they are decent and they have raised us up and nurtured us and protected us from harm to the best of their ability. And, again, the older I get, the more I appreciate how much they sacrificed for me so that I could have a chance at leading a free and productive life.

When I was an adolescent, I thought as an adolescent, and I was more than eager to find fault with them and with all of their 'phony values' and with the way they looked at this world. And I rebelled against them, as I rebelled against all authority figures and all of those loathsome symbols of The Establishment. In this way I was, of course, being a perfect conformist; conforming to the expectations of rebellious adolescence.

Thankfully, and finally, I've grown up now. After September 11, 2001, I've grown up even more -- as I'm sure a lot of us here have.

Over these past years, something has become increasingly apparent to me, a little theory of mine, which I can of course in no way corroborate with facts. It is simply this: the people I have known in my life who seem to be the most productive, the happiest, the most at ease with themselves and this world, are those people who speak of their parents with simple, unreserved affection, loyalty and love. Whether these were attributes which had always been present, or whether they were learned later on through life's experience -- as mine were -- they were almost invariable present and obvious.

I pity our enemies, for I think that they are unhappy and empty, I pity them as I pity all of those current rebellious adolescents who, for the sake of conforming to some perceived convention, have turned on their parents and their country and learned how to despise them and everything they stand for.

Maybe, if they live long enough...


A Brief Message to America
http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/01/from-radarsite-to-america-brief-message.html

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Death of Reagan Conservatives?

I know. I know that there are a great many of you who are disheartened out there in Conservativeville. I know that there is great disheartenment in the Conservative world, great discouragement, great disgust.

The battle is not lost. We live to fight another day. WE WILL ENDURE. We will endure because we have the ultimate weapon at our disposal, and that weapon is our minds.

We are not dead, nor are we a lost cause.

I told someone the other day that I never thought that I would live to see the day where I felt like I was the product of a bye-gone era. I am constantly amazed and bewildered by the general apathy among the twenty-somethings I know in regards to things political and to the work ethic. It very simply boggles the mind.

Yes, that's the word, and that's part of the problem. The mind.

I don't think that the upcoming generation really knows how to think.

A few years back I did a piece, which I posted originally here this past year, called Thought and Modern Man that dives into this issue. Sometimes a article is of such depth and magnitude (yes, I've been told I have a huge ego) that it needs to be reposted for emphasis, and I am doing so below.

I don't think conservatism is in it's death throes. We are taking a beating, true, but we are an ideology based in thought, and in reason, rather than based in feeling. Rationality and reason will always triumph, ultimately, over emotion; virtue based in the value of human achievement trumps virtue based in the sacrifice of self. Man alone of all animals is given the ability to reason and to function as a thinking being; we do not rely on sheer instinct for our survival. To rely upon instinct rather than thought is to offer ones self up for destruction.

So, to paraphrase the bard, "Read on, MacDuff," and take heart. While thinking men and women still live, so will live the ideology of conservatism to battle liberalism.

Thought and Modern Man

In the generations following the New Deal era of the FDR administration, and the free love culture of the flower child generation, we find ourselves today in a situation in which thought, reason, and rationality have found themselves having been replaced by feelings and emotions. Rational thought is no longer taken into account when one is dealing with the situations that face modern society, what has become more important than the reason behind what motivates the individual is not the thought process of the individuals mind, but the feelings that the individual experienced while in the process of performing an act, be it for the benefit or detriment of self or others.

Our society is driven now by feelings, speed, and convenience than by reason or thought. In our quest for convenience, we have made for ourselves, as a society, a culture of drones who work in jobs that require no thought, no reasoning skills, only the ability to press a few buttons with not words, but pictures upon them when ringing up a sale at a fast food restaurant. And somehow, the order the customer places invariably winds up to be incorrect even with the ease and convenience of having the job all but done for the workers running the machinery. It is only in the higher quality and higher caliber restaurants that one can find the service that is both well planned and the waitresses and waiters seem to take pride in their ability to remember a customers order with few mistakes, and the chefs able to complete an order on time without it not being prepared in a manner not to the customers ultimate satisfaction.

We have taken this fast food industry approach in regards to our fuel and transportation needs, as well. The garage with the attendant who is there to fill the gas tank of the customer, check the air in the tires, wash the windows, and check the oil is rarely to be found anymore amongst the quick marts, 7-11’s, mini marts, and such. Even the major fuel distributors in large cities have abandoned the full service gas station in favor of the convenience store, a place where the customer can fuel up their car, pick up a soft drink, a snack from the deli, a pack of cigarettes if (gods help them should the politically correct elitists see them) the customer happens to need a fresh pack. But woe unto the traveler who has a fan belt or radiator hose to break or rupture while on their journey, for the gas station is no longer an option, the driver will have to find an automotive specialist to do the repair work, after scheduling an appointment and having to wait for the wrong part to be sent, returned, and the right part to arrive. And please, don’t expect the staff at these stores to be happy to see the customer come in and do business; after all, someone owes them these jobs, but that doesn’t mean that there should be any work involved, or at least that seems to be the attitude of a great many.

Yet we love our modern conveniences, and rightly so. Technology has brought about such marvels as high definition television, high speed digital communications, and a great deal of other things for modern people to use for their personal enjoyment. It has improved modern medicine to the point where it is no longer a Stone Age practice of divination, but a science. Technology has also enabled the world of production to increase it’s output to a point unheard of during the industrial revolution, and has eased the workday of the modern factory worker considerably from the conditions of early factories, making the speed and efficiency of modern production a thing that modern industrialists should view with pride and a sense of accomplishment when running a line to produce their products. Yet government regulations have so choked the production industry, and taxation has so struck the profits of such industries, that corporations have begun to move their manufacturing outside of US borders in order to find cheaper labor, therefore insuring that the stockholders and owners of these companies can insure their profits, profits that are the expected right for the fruits of one’s labor.

Our government, while not exactly going to the same measures as the government in Atlas Shrugged, has, in the past century or so, managed to become something strikingly similar TO the government that exists in Atlas. The number of regulations and standards that exist today are enough to discourage the would-be ambitions of modern inventors from developing new products and then manufacturing them. What research IS done today is done by existing companies within their laboratories, but with contracts signed by the developers that any product of the researchers mind belongs to the company, a company that would just as soon pay a gifted chimpanzee, in many cases, as to pay for the worth of man’s mind, thus discouraging the brightest of researchers and developers to fall to a point of mediocrity, for they rest in the knowledge that their best efforts will be rewarded the same as the most ludicrous of others who surround them.

The root of this crisis of thought, this lacking of ideas and reason, can be traced to our public education system, in which competition for grades has become a thing of the past, but an atmosphere of making a student feel good even though he or she is not capable or willing to produce the same level of work as a student who gives entire devotion and dedication to study and success. The earliest examples of this are to be found in the elementary years, where children are taught that there are no differences in any of us, individualism is not important but is dangerous, and it is more important to do something for the benefit of everyone than to ever do something strictly because it is what the individual desires to do. Individualism is also broken down and destroyed in the middle and high school years with the introduction of the school uniform.

The ideal of rugged American individualism is in danger of becoming a thing of the past; however, we have not gotten to the point yet where the American people, and indeed, the people of the world, are beyond hope. The political system of the 1900’s needs to be revamped and retooled, as a large government is a thing of waste and a burden to the public for which it strives (pretends) to work. This is not the call for revolutionary activity, and I speak not with the fervor or vehemence of the extremist militia, but merely as a thinking man who sees that this could be accomplished by taking the existing system and returning it closer to a form of government as existed in the days before the administration of Woodrow Wilson, after which time a great many things have been introduced as legislation that are in direct violation of the wording, meaning, and spirit of the United States Constitution. It is time to abandon the notion Lincoln forwarded in the Gettysburg Address that all men are created equal, Lincoln was a racist, and all men are not created equally, for we each are created with our own unique gifts and talents. The application of these talents, or lack of application, is what identifies us as either productive citizens or as a burden to others.

The greatest sin to be committed by man is the sin of failing to think.

The Government of the United States has become, as was foretold in Atlas Shrugged, the welfare state, a term used by critics of today’s government. This term is not used loosely, however, when one considers farm subsidies, corporate subsidies, and the general welfare program itself, which is overrun with abuses that go unchecked by social workers whose caseloads are so full that they often cannot put a face to a name when filing their reports to the larger cogs of the wheels of a government that has overstepped it’s authority and purpose in its attempt to become both mother and father to the generations of welfare recipients who are stuck in a cycle of poverty that is supposed to be a temporary state, but winds up binding its members with regulations so stringent that the incentive to work is all but killed out of those who are able bodied and willing to do so, with threats of loss of benefits to those who make an amount that the government deems too much in any given month. This is not a system that is designed to help people, it is a system designed to make a generation dependent upon the government for support and livelihood.

So often in the news today, especially during election years, politicians running for office moan and decry the state of the government systems, and promise to do something for change, while offering no solutions, no remedies, no repeals of the over reaching fingers of the government and it’s numerous agencies which, while in theory are established to serve the common good, are nothing more than machinery that is fed by the tax system, robbing the individual of his or her income by imposing a tax system that is unfair and inequitable, in the name of fairness to all. The individual is better judge of what his income is spent on than the federal government, yet the politicians that are elected, while paying lip service to tax reform to their constituency, seldom do more than token efforts to maintain the status quo rather than to do what common sense and reason deem the only logical choice of action: the elimination of redundant government programs, the elimination of government waste, and the reduction or elimination of the income tax system.

With these thoughts in mind, I close this offering of the thoughts of my mind, after years of seeing these things come to pass, and having only recently discovered Ayn Rand’s works and her incredible vision.

MT

17OCT2002

Postscript: It’s been roughly five years since I first set these thoughts down as “record.” I find myself, in reviewing them, considering a few things in retrospect. I haven’t changed my mind on anything that was said that evening these years gone by now when I first wrote this piece; if anything, I’m more convinced in rereading over it now that I’m correct in my observations. At the time of the original writing, I was “teaching” history and government classes at a juvenile justice facility. Since that time, I’ve walked away from the public education system in absolute dismay at the overwhelming apathy of school administrations that are more interested in the bottom line (money) than in the education of our children and in ensuring that students have learned to THINK.

Mind you, I’m in no way, shape, or fashion opposed to making money. I’ve stated fairly recently to those I work with that I’m VERY mercenary in regards to my work, and will go where I can make more money when and if the opportunity presents itself. However, as John Galt made clear in the book Atlas Shrugged, my mind IS my own, and I will use it as I see fit, rather than being forced to use it without proper recompense for the fruits of my thought and my labor.

“Who is John Galt,” Rand asks in her novel. The man who set out to stop the engine of the world, and succeeded. If things continue on the course that we currently travel, as a nation, as a people, I think that we may see the answer to another question asked the other day of “Where is OUR John Galt?” As one who DID as John Galt did, one who walked away from a system that had no appreciation for my intellect or talent, one who walked away from a system that strives to squelch independent thought, I can truthfully say there was more than a little John Galt in me when I left the public education system. A move which opened the floodgates in the system where I worked and saw several others walk away as well, choosing to take employment where their minds and talents WERE better appreciated and recompensed.

"I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of
another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

Check out my Random Thoughts, as well...

Once and Always an American Fighting Man

2JUL2007


.

The Well Is Dry

~Snooper~

Remember the Dust Bowl? McRomniani is that well - that Modern Dust Bowl - of ideological dishonesty and betrayal of the Conservative Movement. This piece has been inspired by an article emailed to me by Stormin' Norman. The article is entitled;


A very grand question that. The article deals with the term "growth" being tossed about and we all know that people, places and things can only grow so much...there are limitations to growth. It is a great read but that is not what this piece is about. This piece is about how dry the theoretical political conservative leaders have become - how so far out in their own little world they have stepped out into.

I just heard about how ILLEGAL aliens, that pay taxes(??) are going to get their "fair share" of the non-stimulus stimulus package "refund/rebate". Compassion, as growth, can only go so far. The Talking Dolt - a socialist political hair-ball - said that this measure is supported by "Democrats", "Republicans" and "The White House" so, "What is the problem with this?" "It is bi-partisan." And? So what? Because our CONgress Critters and our Compassionate Conservative(?) President says so, it is so? We The People, say no and We The People, in accordance to the United States Constitution, call the shots and dictate TO those that rule us - by our consent - and not the other way around.

The problem, cur, is this: the American people spoke up not all that long ago and said HELL NO to Shamnesty and we said HELL NO for a reason...We The People - the CITIZENS - of this country DISAPPROVE of and wholeheartedly reject the notion of rewarding ILLEGAL aliens anything that a CITIZEN does not receive. What part of this is not understood? We do not care if they "pay taxes". If they "pay taxes", we have their personal data and know where they live...deport them IMMEDIATELY! They are here ILLEGALLY, making them CRIMINALS.

This is but a mere facet of the Modern Ideological Dust Bowl...where is the Constitutional Authority in rewarding ILLEGAL aliens that which American citizens are barred from? What is wrong with this picture? I have referred to such utter nonsense as the Cultural Jihad, not to be confused with the Global Cultural Jihad by the members of the Religion of Pieces, led by the murderous Thug, Moe and his cult god known as allah.

The Conservative Movement has been betrayed by the likes of the McRomniani Trio and the Huckabee Mole and the Ron Paul Space Cadet Academy drop-out. The only true-to-form but not quite up to true par conservatives were, in my humble opinion, in this order, Gilmore, Hunter, Thompson. All three, creating great fear within in the Drive By Media and fellow socialists in this nation, were set aside as dross much to the chagrin of the citizens of America. What we have now are Obama, a socialist; Hillary, a budding Leninist; Romney, a liberal conservative that sold out to win a "conservative" governorship in Socialistchusetts; McCain, a RINO; Huckabee, with socialistic tendencies. All five current Presidential Aspirants are Big Government advocates, plain and simple.

Gilmore is now running for the Senate in Virginia. There are rumors that Hunter may make a bid for Governor of Kaliphornia. Thompson, also as rumor holds, may make a bid for Governor of Tennessee. As I see it, the Conservative Movement War being waged here at home must be fought for and won in the Congress and at the State and Local levels of government. Should the Conservative Movement be reasserted at these levels, any socialist or socialistic President will be a powerless and moot point and will lead by Figurehead only.

The Conservative Movement is not dead much like the FDR liberal mindset is not dead. Unlike the FDR liberals, the conservatives were too busy working and providing for their families and fell asleep at the wheel - were not paying attention to the Creeping Liberal Fascism as it came springing to life with the advent of the Clintonistas. We need to awake from our deep sleep of inaction and inattentiveness and renew the Conservative Movement and move it into prominence once again as we did in the Reagan years.

Perhaps, as was overwhelmingly obvious even to the oblivious, as it was presented in the aftermath of the Carter years, the Conservative Movement will take the helm. Perhaps that is what American Conservatives need at this point - another Carter-like quagmire because that is where we are heading with placing either of the remaining Presidential Aspirants into the White House. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for.

On an upbeat swing (I don't dwell in the realm of pathetic doom and gloom), Chris at MVRWC does have some "good news" in that no matter the GOP Big Nod recipient, the DNC hasn't a prayer and I agree. The reasons I agree vary but the end result is the same:
Polls are showing a major butt kicking at the hands of the democrats this year. Everywhere you look, they are telling of peril and republican banishment to the void. I know that some will disagree, but I don't think that this year you can read a lot into them. For the first time in 80 years, we don't have an administration member running for president. The closest is Hillary who was there 8 years ago. We don't really know who the nominees will be. Yeah, we have an idea, but until 2/5 anything can happen. Let's face it, we have a divided electorate and it's going to be close no matter who gets the nominations. In the last 2 elections, the polls have bounced like crazy. [...]
They have the states listed and the delegate counts and the potential delegates yet to be dispersed. It isn't all doom and gloom. After all, we aren't emotionally unhinged like the socialists are on as regular basis now, are we?

A Hear here! to Blackfive at this time is appropriate:
This goes out to Michelle Malkin, Hugh Hewitt, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of those who now have the peasants all pitch-forked and torched up ready to take out the Maverick.

Since I am not a Republican or a conservative my advice may not mean all that much to you, but c'est la vie. Heck if Sarkozy can help the French make nice with the US, maybe a libertarian-leaning hawk can roost with true movement conservatives.

I am asking all of you to chill out and quit fanning conservative hate of John McCain. You can feature reader email outraged that the shamnesty King will destroy us all, but you all have spent months stoking those fires and made sure he was damaged goods.

So time to decide what's important to you, ideological purity or making sure we are not subjected to 8 years of President Obama. You can complain all you want about McCain's shortcomings, but how does he shape up against a true movement progressive. Obama's policies would be right at home here in the Mad City and unless Republicans field a candidate who can beat him, we will watch the socialism train travel around the country. [...]
There is some semblance of reason there...I don't 100% agree but the point is made just the same. That which I disagree with in the post from Blackfive is inconsequential. At this moment in time, anything presented by the GOP is a far cry better thing the opposition has to offer.

Stephen Maloney sees better than most in areas of politics and may or may not get his wish:
McCain: Choose Sarah not Mike!

The American Thinker, always on the cutting edge of causing folks to say, "Harrumph!":
At the end of the Bush administration conservatives need to clear their heads and think about the future. It's time to do some serious political philosophy. [...]
Ya think? Hell, I did that back in 1999! The only reason I voted for GWB TWICE is because I was assuredly not voting for Al Gore or John Kerry. I have been hoping that the RINOs in the RNC and the GOP would get their collective heads out from their collective buttocks but apparently, that isn't going to happen all too soon. I won't be voting for Hillary or Obama either by default by staying home or by physical vote.

Rasmussen match up:
Rasmussen: McCain 48, Hillary 40; McCain 47, Obama 41

American Power asks: Can McCain Unify the GOP? That remains to be seen. This is January...still. Perhaps the reasonable but sometimes salt-in-wound voice of Don Surber can lend some semblance of order amid the chaos: John McCain
Conservatives need to use this as a learning opportunity.

With his decisive win in Florida, following his decisive win in South Carolina, following his decisive win in New Hampshire, perhaps the candidate many of us did not want is about to become the Republican nominee. [...]

[...] I decided last summer to leave the decision up to the Republican Party, and then back the candidate.

My wise counsel in this is the philosopher who pens under the pseudonym Basil.

Bush was not his first choice in 2000. Dole was not his choice in 1996. Reagan was not his first choice in 1980.

I can do him one better: I voted for Carter. Maybe I should wear a T-shirt: "What do I know? I voted for Carter." [...]
Yeah. Me too. I voted for Carter. However, there is hope. Out in Kaliphornia, conservatives and Liberals alike outright rejected the socialist health care program and it went down in flames. As we witness 40+ years of Identity Politics came to a blood curdling crescendo, it is time for the Conservatives to once again "settle for" and work on that 218 Constitutionalist House Caucus thing. After all, even McCain knows the Global Threat of Islamic Jihad; mid-eastern illegal aliens nabbed in Mississippi aside. Even I don't think that McCain would go as far as tolerating that but the Leftinistra will, in the name of detente with the murderers of Islam.

With the obvious racists and bigots "on the other side" of the coin called fascist liberalism, we don't need to be equated with such shallow-minded individuals...do we? With the cool, calm and collect Right Wing Sparkle chatter, who can resist? With Redstate opining about Electile Dysfunction...again...I cannot help but noticing the calm before the storm.

Sure, it has been said that McCain is the Democrat Party's favorite Republican but, at this pint, have they defeated themselves? Stranger things have happened. Others have said that the liberals wanted to have McCain as their opponents and the reasonings for this were numerous. It could be that perhaps, the enemies within would say, "Well McCain isn't a liberal but he acts like one so if you want a liberal, vote for Obama or Hillary." Now, there's a thought! Only time will tell.

I hope you like roller coasters.

Edwards Quitting Race:--Thoughts on the Florida Primary

CNN and the AP are announcing that John Edwards is dropping out of the Presidential race.

The numbers were announced here last night and today, of course, the buzz is that McCain and Clinton took Florida, Giuliani has decided to drop out and he is planning on endorsing McCain sometime today.

Because the Florida primary was earlier that the rules allowed it did affect the delegate count, which as it stands now, 57 went to McCain and 0 went to Clinton.

(The DNC stripped the delegates from the Democratic party because of Florida breaking with their rules.)

20 percent of McCain's votes in Florida came from non GOP voters, 3 percent from Democrats, 17 percent from Independents and the rest Republican voters, this is explained by Captain Ed.

The people who have dropped out recently, Fred Thompson, Dennis Kucinich, Giuliani, last night and now John Edwards, have all done so because they realized that the time had come, they understood that for whatever reasons, their campaigns were not catching fire and no matter the support you get online, or the money collected, sometimes it just does not translate into the votes needed to win the nomination for your party.

It is called realism and it is time Ron Paul, who took only 3 percent in last nights Florida primary, to face reality and do the same.... drop out with some dignity instead of being forced out. Of course he has no plans to do so, but some can face reality and some cannot I guess.

The field is set, the top tiered candidates are, for the GOP, McCain, Romney and Huckabee and for the Democrats, Clinton and Obama.

Super Tuesday, my birthday, will be a hell of a ride....

.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Florida Primary Results

UPDATE 11:00 pm CST

100% of precincts reporting in:

Democrats

Clinton 50%

Obama 33%

Edwards 14%

Republicans

McCain 36%

Romney 31%

Giuliani 15%

Huckabee 13%

Paul 3%

[UPDATE 9:15 pm CST]

79% of precincts reporting in. Giuliani will withdraw from the campaign and is reported to announce tomorrow that he will endorse John McCain.

Democrats

Clinton 50%

Obama 33%

Edwards 14%

Republicans

McCain 36%

Romney 31%

Giuliani 15%

Huckabee 13%

Paul 3%

[Update 8:30 pm CST]

64% of precincts reporting in. Romney concedes Florida to McCain, Giuliani's concession speech sounds like the precursor to a pending withdrawl. Speculations are floating about that he will endorse McCain.

Democrats

Clinton 51%

Obama 32%

Edwards 15%

Republicans

McCain 36%

Romney 31%

Giuliani 15%

Huckabee 13%

Paul 3%

7:15 pm CST

Post will be updated as results come in. Florida isn't really much of an issue for the Democrats tonight, as Florida had it's delegates stripped due to moving their primaries ahead against the wishes of the DNC. Hillary Clinton (49% is currently leading Barack Obama (29%) and John Edwards (15%) with 29% of precincts reporting in. Why Edwards is hanging in is anyone's guess at this point.

On the Republican side

McCain 34%

Romney 33%

Giuliani 15%

Huckabee 13%

Paul 3%

Snooper's Bloggers Round Table Show!

~Snooper~

Tune in Tuesday, TODAY, 1/29/08, on American Truth Warriors as Ray Robison joins us to discuss his book, Both In One Trench.
In 2003 the United States invaded Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. Subsequently, the U.S. government collected millions of the Iraqi regimes documents and media items. These Arabic documents have been translated and for the first time reveal the amazing secret support Saddam provided to Islamic terrorism.
We will, time permitting, discuss his recent post:


More confirmation that Putin is a double talking KGB piece of crap out to destroy America.
And Folks say The List of 45 doesn't mean anything?

Time: 1900 hours, 7PM EST.
Call in #: 646-652-2670.

Come one and come all!

The Seventh and Last SOTU By President Bush

~Snooper~

OK. I watched the 7th and last SoTU Address by President George W Bush and I have mixed emotions. The text of the speech is at The Drudge Report and I did read along as the President spoke.

In regards to the Stimulus Package...give me a break. Pandering for votes by the RNC and the DNC is criminally laughable. It originated in some minor semblance of logic and it quickly morphed into the usual socialist crap and giving to those that don't deserve it by taking it from those that do. This is totally unacceptable, to me.

And now, some select excerpts:
[...] And together, we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government. [...]
Wrong. We showed the world what a laughing stock this 110th CONgress is. I wonder if the dwellers of CONgress have visited the foreign discussion forums. They laugh that THIS CONgress whines and complains about the political situation in Iraq yet our pols here stateside are dumber than a box of turtle turds. What have they accomplished, exactly?

[...] All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. And it remains our charge to keep. [...]
When are ya'll going to START doing that? This next one is a killer...

[...] The actions of the 110th Congress will affect the security and prosperity of our Nation long after this session has ended. In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them. And let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time. [...]
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGG!! It is a good thing that I only have one TV left. The only "cooperation" we are going to get out of the socialists is more Dhimmi stupidity and we had better submit or else! That isn't the cooperation I am willing to perform. You?

[...] To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy. As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty. America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months, but jobs are now growing at a slower pace. Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas. Exports are rising, but the housing market has declined. And at kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future.


In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth. But in the short run, we can all see that growth is slowing. So last week, my Administration reached agreement with Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader Boehner on a robust growth package that includes tax relief for individuals and families and incentives for business investment. The temptation will be to load up the bill. That would delay it or derail it, and neither option is acceptable. This is a good agreement that will keep our economy growing and our people working. And this Congress must pass it as soon as possible. [...]
The "concern" has been fabricated because of the Iraq War Surge and the successes thereof. There MUST be a point of contention from the socialists so they can appear to be on the correct side of an issue...for once. It will be overloaded with earmark and pork crap...mark my words.


The President did say that he would veto such items but that remains to be seen. Too little too late in my estimation. He did say that earmarks and pork spending should be openly debated and in the public eye instead of in committee meetings where they go largely unfettered. This would be a good thing. Murtha? Hillary? Are you listening?

As for housing issues. Why should the federal government bail out stupid people and greedy financiers? What about personal responsibility? Isn't that how Capitalism works? If you make good business decisions, you reap the reward. If you make bad business decisions, you lose your ass. And? Is it up to the The Fed to change our diapers? I think not.
[...] To build a future of quality health care, we must trust patients and doctors to make medical decisions and empower them with better information and better options. We share a common goal: making health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. The best way to achieve that goal is by expanding consumer choice, not government control. So I have proposed ending the bias in the tax code against those who do not get their health insurance through their employer. This one reform would put private coverage within reach for millions, and I call on the Congress to pass it this year. The Congress must also expand health savings accounts, create Association Health Plans for small businesses, promote health information technology, and confront the epidemic of junk medical lawsuits. With all these steps, we will help ensure that decisions about your medical care are made in the privacy of your doctor's office -- not in the halls of Congress. [...]
I can go along with that for the most part.


Dump the No Child Left Behind garbage. 'Nuf said.

I liked the trade tirade. He is correct on that one and I will wait with baited breath to see if the socialists will agree. In part:
[...] Trade brings better jobs, better choices, and better prices. Yet for some Americans, trade can mean losing a job, and the Federal Government has a responsibility to help. I ask the Congress to reauthorize and reform trade adjustment assistance, so we can help these displaced workers learn new skills and find new jobs. [...]
To me, this is what a conservative does. A conservative "helps" someone in need but doesn't give them anything. They too MUST work to make better of themselves.


The Nanny didn't like this one at all:
[...] On matters of justice, we must trust in the wisdom of our Founders and empower judges who understand that the Constitution means what it says. I have submitted judicial nominees who will rule by the letter of the law, not the whim of the gavel. Many of these nominees are being unfairly delayed. They are worthy of confirmation, and the Senate should give each of them a prompt up-or-down vote. [...]
I bet McCain was squirming as well. Can't have Constitutionalist Judiciary and Judges across the land, now! That would curb the Creeping Fascist Socialism sweeping across this nation for decades.


Read the rest at The Drudge Report and you decide. President Bush was Spot On in regards to the threats we face in regards to the Islamo-Fascists but I don't like the Big Government spending deals he proposed.

Catch the wave here at memorandum...
mm.com
Libtard Digressive Thinking
more libtards here...

Politico LiveBlog here
Heritage Foundation
Q & O
Flopping Aces
Gateway Pundit
Democrat Response...SOCIALISM NOW!
Hot Air
MacsMind
Pajamas Media
Right Truth
NY Sun
Political Animal
Power Line
Sister Toldjah
My Pet Jawa...why does Nanny blink so much?
Atlas Shrugs
Skye
Vodka Pundit
Jenn of the Jungle
Jules Crittenden

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Democrats Putzed Around Until the Last Minute, Yet Again

The Democrats because of their incompetence has putzed around on the FISA bill once again, until the last minute and now they and their supporters are whining because the Republicans will not pass a one month extension and Bush has said he will veto a simple extension, as well he should.

Democrats have the majority in the Senate and the House which means they have been the ones in control of setting the agenda.

When they passed a six month temporary FISA bill so they could go on their August vacation, they came back and putzed around with everything BUT the FISA bill they knew would sunset on February 1, 2008.

NOW, they want the Republicans to help them pass a one month extension to "give them time".....why should they?

The Democrats in control wasted their time and our taxpayers money on countless bills they knew would not pass and ignored the FISA bill, to protect our country, until the last possible second.

Their supporters are pissing and moaning about how those nasty Republicans won't help them pass a simple extension without bothering to tell their readers that it is the incompetence and horrible leadership of the Democrats that put them in this bind to begin with by not working on the FISA bill for the last six months.

Poor idiots cannot even be honest to their own readership.

So the Democrats didn't do their job, FISA might just expire, they and their supporters will try to lay it at the Republicans feet but that won't fly because it was the Democrats inability to the job they were given that will endanger our country because they were too lazy, too incompetent and too stupid to do their job in a timely manner and the Republicans have no reason to pull their asses out of the fire or help them dig themselves out the hole they have dug for themselves..

The Corner
has a preview of what the State of Union will entail and I sincerely hope the President makes it clear that the Democratic leadership has not done their job, pissed away six months when they could have been working on FISA and points out how unprepared they are to keep our country safe, once again proving why they have been known to be the weak ones regarding National Security.

The have earned that reputation and it is for the reasons stated above that they continue to show how deserving they are of it.

Due to my move this week, I wasn't able to be here to update the whole day about what has happened and when, but Michelle Malkin kept everyone apprised so you can head over there and see how things went down.

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Socialized Medicine--- By the numbers

In 2005, (latest government data available)nearly 47 million Americans had no health coverage. 16 percent of the population, which in October 2006, hit 300,000,000 people, have no healthcare or has spent at least half a year without health insurance.

Healthcare in America is a problem. A growing problem. No one questions this, so the challenge then becomes, what do we do about it?

We hear our politicians speak of healthcare for all. State funded health insurance that will cover everybody and no American would be without health insurance.

Sounds good.

Working people that pay taxes would pay additional taxes and lower income families or even those with no income could be covered.

Once you conclude that the goal is worthy, the next logical step would be to look to those that already have socialized medicine, state funded health care, so that we can learn what will work, what won't and make improvements from the lessons others can teach us and in doing so, the next logical questions become, is it sustainable and is it feasible and will it, indeed, actually provide ample health care to more people than are covered now, which is approximately 84% of America's population.

Starting with the above mentioned "first logical step", we look to the UK and a very interesting piece in the Telegraph today.

England has the NHS (National Health Service) which is their publicly funded health care system.

England also has private health insurance, which is used by less than 8% of their population and the costs of running the NHS (est. £104 billion in 2007-8) and is paid directly from general taxation.

That means approximately 92 percent of England's population is on NHS.

The National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect on 5 July 1948.

60 years ago. So we have 60 years of their system to look at and use as a guide to gauge how well socialized medicine works, what problems they have, (quality of care, quantity of health care professionals, quality of health care facilities, etc....)and properly judge the two next logical steps named above about sustainability and feasibility.

Doctors in the UK are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from smokers, the obese, drinkers and the elderly.

Smokers, heavy drinkers, the obese and the elderly should be barred from receiving some operations, according to doctors, with most saying the health service cannot afford to provide free care to everyone.


Needless to say, these comments have become quite controversial across the pond.

Among the survey of 870 family and hospital doctors, almost 60 per cent said the NHS could not provide full healthcare to everyone and that some individuals should pay for services.

60 years into their health care system and if you read that whole article, while many disagree with those doctors, almost everyone agrees that the country cannot continue to care for "everyone" and there is much talk of incentives, programs and personal responsibility vs the government being responsible for everything as well as those being taxed to pay for everything.

It is not sustainable over the long run, but has run so long that now 92% of their population is on NHS.

Now lets take a look at our numbers, percentages and current data available and see where that brings us if we were to embrace a state funded health care system as they did.

Elderly:

Starting with the elderly, at this time elderly citizens sixty-five and over constitute over thirteen percent of the United States’ population. In thirty-five years the number of elderly will increase to twenty two percent.

Obesit
y:

We then come to the problem of obesity in America which some are already calling an "epidemic" as the numbers grow at an alarming rate.

According to Health Watch, issue number 52, release in May of 2006, (PDF file here and HTML of that file here)

The obesity epidemic is one that warrants great attention. An estimated 44.3 million Americans (two out of every three people) are overweight or obese.

The prevalence of morbid obesity increased nearly fivefold from about one individual in 2000 to one in 400 from 1986 to 2000.

Moreover, the problem is endemic in all age groups. In 1999, a national survey found that 16 percent of high school students were overweight and nearly 10 percent were obese.

It is likely the rates are even higher today, meaning that projections for future health care expenditures must account for obesity-related costs through- out the life span of very young individuals

Smokers:

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (PDF file) latest report, in June of 2007, 20.8 percent of American adults are smokers.

Important to note that studies have shown that households at or below poverty levels are two and one half times more likely to smoke.

Poverty Levels:

Real median household income in the United States climbed between 2005 and 2006, reaching $48,200, (PDF file)according to a report released on August 28, 2007, by the U.S. Census Bureau. This is the second consecutive year that income has risen.

Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate declined for the first time this decade, from 12.6 percent in 2005 to 12.3 percent in 2006.

The report is called "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2006 report [PDF]. The data was compiled from information collected in the 2007 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC).

The number of uninsured, as well as the rate without health insurance, remained statistically unchanged in 2006 for non-Hispanic whites (at 21.2 million or 10.8 percent). For blacks, the number and percentage increased, from 7 million in 2005 to 7.6 million and from 19 percent in 2005 to 20.5 percent. The number of uninsured Asians remained statistically unchanged, at 2 million in 2006, while their uninsured rate declined to 15.5 percent in 2006, from 17.2 percent in 2005.

For the purpose of this article, I am not even going to deal with drinkers and will simply use the numbers given from the various reports on elderly, obesity and smokers as well as the uninsured, but what I will factor in, because it is an important part of the equation, is the quality of healthcare in systems, such as the UK, that runs state funded healthcare for the majority (92%) of their population.

Quality of Healthcare under socialized healthcare systems:

UK:

70,000 Britons will travel abroad for medical treatment to escape the NHS this year.

And by the end of the decade 200,000 "health tourists" will fly as far as Malaysa and South Africa for major surgery to avoid long waiting lists and the rising threat of superbugs, according to a new report.

The first survey of Britons opting for treatment overseas shows that fears of hospital infections and frustration with NHS waiting lists are fuelling the increasing trend.

More than 70,000 Britons will have treatment abroad this year – a figure that is forecast to rise to almost 200,000 by the end of the decade. Patients needing major heart surgery, hip operations and cataracts are using the internet to book operations to be carried out thousands of miles away.

India is the most popular destination for surgery, followed by Hungary, Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, Poland and Spain. But dozens more countries are attracting custom. Research by the Treatment Abroad website shows that Britons have travelled to 112 foreign hospitals, based in 48 countries, to find safe, affordable treatment.


The UK's Telegraph did some case studies on those that needed life saving treatments that were forced to travel abroad to get those operations, such as heart bypasses, or wait for what they called an agonizingly long period.

Case 1: Russ Aiton

'I'm sorry to say that Third World standards are what we now find in British hospitals'

When Russ Aiton was told he had the choice of an agonisingly long wait for a heart bypass on the NHS, or a bill of between £17,000 and £24,000 to have it done privately, he turned to the internet in frustration.

Within minutes Mr Aiton and his wife Joy had found a company that would get him the surgery within weeks for a fraction of the cost, 5,000 miles away in India.


Read the rest of those case studies to get an idea of not only the long waiting periods for life saving procedures, but some of the diseases and infections that are becoming more prevalent in the NHS state funded hospitals.

France:

French experts detail the system failures in France and compares their health care system to the US, as well as pointing out that France's socialized health care is growing faster than its economy. Workers pay about fifty percent of their paycheck each month into healthcare, retirement and unemployment and more companies are outsourcing jobs to avoid those costs.

Canada:

In Ontario, patients in need of brain surgeries are being outsourced to the United States because of shortages of neurosurgeons and hospital beds.

Quebec is following Ontario's lead in treating some of its cancer patients. It's sending them south of the border.

Quebec's Health Minister Pauline Marois says sending patients to the U.S. is the only way to ease a backlog in the province's hospitals. Marois says 285 cancer patients in Quebec have been waiting for radiation treatment for more than eight weeks.

Two months is widely regarded as the maximum acceptable time between diagnosis and treatment of breast and prostate cancer.


The examples of poor quality, lack of qualified doctors, substandard treatment facilities, in multiple countries that all have socialized medicine as the system the majority of their population utilizes, go on and on, but I think we have provided enough examples to understand.

So the numbers are here in this article, the examples are shown clearly and when one compares 16 percent of our population that is uninsured right now, having no health care coverage, with the percentages of elderly, obese and smokers that would be the first to be denied treatment when the country has bankrupted itself, as all the previous examples have shown it will, because that system as the UK and France have shown it is unsustainable..... there will be almost three times the amount of individuals not covered and that would not be given adequate treatment than we have now, if we were to adopt socialized medicine.

Coverage for all sounds wonderful. When our politicians say it, it is a feel good moment, they care. They want to cover us all.

The problem here is that they know it is a promise that cannot be kept, they understand it is unsustainable and not a feasible option and our citizenry cannot afford to pay half their paycheck into the system and still be able to pay their bills, buy their food and live their lives.

Look at France. Look at the UK. They are the models for socialized medicine and they are showing us that the system breaks down.

Once again, we have a problem in our country. 16 percent of our population has no health coverage and we need a plan that will work.

It would behoove us to tell our politicians to stop making promises that they cannot keep and that we, the taxpayers, the country, cannot afford and to start dealing with that reality and coming up with a plan that is feasible and can be sustained.

.

Update on Lionheart: January 28, 2008










by Roger W. Gardner.
Update to previous article posted on Wake Up America:
http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/01/today-it-is-me-but-tomorrow-it-is-you.html



Just received this email from Lionheart. He is going to be seeking Political Asylum in the U.S. This is a crazy world we are living in.

Hi Roger,

... I am just working out the steps to take political asylum.

God bless

Paul


Please send him your good wishes and support. We must stand behind him.
http://lionheartuk.blogspot.com/


Cross posted from Radarsite:
http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/01/update-on-lionheart-january-28-2008.html

[Email posted with permission]

Sunday, January 27, 2008

A Brief Message to America










by Roger W. Gardner. Crossposted from Radarsite.
http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/01/from-radarsite-to-america-brief-message.html

America -- it's time to stop what you're doing for a minute and take a good long look in the mirror.

You have allowed other people to delineate your image for too long now. You have uncritically accepted their skewed portraiture as truth and bought into their self-serving lies. You have been bullied by cold-hearted cynics and wrong-headed critics into believing that you are something that you are not, and never could have been.

It's time to stop all that now, America. It's time to remember who the hell you are. In the words of our late great Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, "Americans need to face up to the truth about themselves, no matter how pleasant it is."

You seem to have forgotten that the world is weak and envious of your strength. They want what you have and deride you because they need you. But your detractors are small and petty and vicious; and you are great and beautiful.

You are nothing less than the light of the world, and the hope of all its people. Without your stalwart protection and the selfless sacrifice of your courageous fathers and sons who have fought and died on foreign soil to protect other people's liberties, the glorious achievements of this whole wondrous Western Civilization would have long ago crumbled into dust and been trampled under the feet of the barbarians.

So listen up now, America. The world needs you once again. Take a good hard look at yourself. And stand tall and be proud. You are quite simply the bravest, most noble, most generous, most high-minded and judicious nation the world has ever known.

And we love you.

Space: the FINAL frontier...

Sir Richard Branson is commercializing the space industry. His Virgin Galactic division has announced this week the design for a suborbital spaceliner that would carry passengers into the upper stratosphere of planet Earth.

Future thrill-seekers will ride a sleek spacecraft berthed under a massive, twin-boom mothership to the fringe of space in a design unveiled Wednesday by Virgin Galactic.

The SpaceShipTwo spacecraft and its WhiteKnightTwo carrier will begin initial tests this summer to shakedown the novel spaceflight system designed by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan and his firm Scaled Composites.

"2008 really will be the year of the spaceship," said British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, who unveiled a 1/16th-scale model of the new spacecraft here at the American Museum of Natural History. "We're truly excited about our new system and what our new system will be able to do."


Perhaps this will be the precursor for future regular flights to the first international space station, or other such stations that may be used as a layover for connecting flights to lunar or Mars colonies.

In the earliest records of our history, man has relied upon the oceans and seas for his livelihood. Our earliest ancestors were fishermen and sea farers, braving the high seas in craft that by our modern standards are considered to be very crude, yet it was in these crude vessels that they circumnavigated our world, charting new lands, discovering new continents, and establishing routes for later travelers to wander, either for pleasure or commerce. Man fishes the seas, makes war and love at sea, farms the sea, and explores it for energy resources, such as petroleum or aquatic power. The seas have been and will be, for the foreseeable future, very important to the existence of the human race as a species.

But of course, it has not been an evolution of travel without risk. Since man put the first crude watercraft to water, there have been accidents. Through the centuries, mankind has lost members to the waters; many are the tales of ships lost at sea, of pirates treasures sunk in old hulks at the bottom of the Caribbean, stories like Moby Dick and the romanticizing of the wreck of the Titanic are an ever present part of our society today. Poetry has been written with the sea as its topic, books about ships at sea and their crews and adventures and misadventures, and at some point in time most small boys have daydreamed about sailing the high seas in search of adventures on distant lands, even in this century.

Millions of dollars a year are spent on oceanic research in modern times. Marine biology, geology, meteorology, and oceanography are but a few of the sciences involved in researching this vast and mostly unexplored part of our world. Tragedy accompanies this research from time to time, as it has accompanied the earliest days of the exploration of the seas. It has become something that is to be expected, even anticipated, on the high seas. There is even a certain tradition of death to go along with this, for every school child knows that the captain is expected to go down with his ship when it sinks. And yet when tragedies at sea occur, no one ever forwards the notion that oceanic research should be stopped, that it is too dangerous, and that it is too costly to continue funding. Our commercial bases, globally, are based upon moving freight across the high seas from one point to another, and it has been thus for so long that we accept and expect tragedy to follow ocean travel, therefore it is never even suggested that we stop our trade and travel on the seas in order to save lives or money.

How, then, is the exploration of space any different, when thinking on a universal level, than the exploration of the high seas? It is different because it is still a new concept, different because mankind is accustomed to the confines of his planet, different because it involves taking a step towards the unknown. It is different because religion has taught us that we are supposed to be earthbound creatures, and that the skies and the stars and the heavens belong to the gods, and we, for all of our technological advances and scientific thinking, are still by and large a superstitious species that can barely grasp the concept of what lies beyond the confines of this island Earth.

Our world is reaching a point of near crisis, yet we barely notice because we have grown comfortable listening to our governments telling us what to think about things through their mouthpieces in the media, who tell us where the problems are and we accept the things that we are told because we are conditioned to do so. The media doesn’t report to us the overpopulation of countries like India and China other than in the form or raw data and statistics, nor of the famines and plagues that cover the continent of Africa, other than as a side note that goes along with the latest happenings in Washington and in New York at the United Nations. We are presented with what is wanted to be seen, not an entire picture of things that are happening to us globally, as a people, as a race, as a species. While it is true that cures need to be found for the ills that torment us physically, and something needs to be done to resolve the starvation that accompanies overpopulation, we, the human race, must not limit our focus to things only of this planet.

Industry will, eventually, become a key player in space exploration, for one simple reason: it will become economically feasible to do so. Our world is limited in the amount of raw material that can be produced over a period of millennia, it takes eons for the earth to reproduce itself, through volcanic activity, and to recreate the ores, minerals, and metals which are important to the day to day lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet. The metal industry, indeed even the food industry, one day will be forced to look beyond our own limitations of atmosphere and gravity on this planet and seek answers beyond our borders of gravitational pull. Perhaps the cure for AIDS lies in the stars, or other viruses and diseases, in places we have not even dreamed of visiting. Geologists have assayed samples of materials taken from the moon and, in fact, from meteor fragments found here on Earth and collected in space travel, and have determined that these fragments, these small samples taken from debris from other worlds that have, for whatever reason, exploded, contain minerals and rocks of the same or similar composition to those we find here on our world. It is a commercial necessity, or will become one, that mankind explore space.

There is, of course, one other option we, mankind as a species, can make: the collective decision to allow ourselves to become extinct. Even with the colonization of the sea in underwater habitats and dwellings, eventually we will run out of room on this planet for us to survive. We can cave in to those who say that space exploration is too costly, too dangerous, and to those who say that we need to spend our research money on things planet side. We can ignore the beckoning of the stars for our exploration and simply remain a primitive planet in the backwater regions of our galaxy, and refuse to take our place among the stars. We can ignore whatever other peoples that might be out there awaiting us to come of age as a species and join them in their triumphs and tribulations, their confederations, their wars, their hopes for the universe and for whatever the future holds for all creatures who have ever looked to their skies and wondered what lies beyond their atmospheres. Or, we can reach up, reach out, and accept and embrace the change that will come with taking our species and trying desperately to evolve and change into something better than we are now. In the end, it is our choice, and our decision; do we dare defy the gods of our ancestors and seek out the unknown, or do we remain here, alone, isolated, and adrift in our orbit around a sun that will, one day, burn out and die?

In memory of the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and the Columbia and their vision “to boldly go where no one has gone before” in their quest for our “last, best hope for peace,” and in salute to Sir Richard Branson for being visionary enough to venture into commercial space exploration...


Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


.

Resurrecting Camelot

It starts with the endorsement gained from the daughter of the late JFK. Caroline Kennedy has given her support to Barack Obama for the Democratic Presidential nomination, as recorded in her OP-ED piece at the New York Times:

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.


It continues with the endorsement of her uncle:

Senator Edward M. Kennedy will endorse Barack Obama
for president tomorrow, breaking his year-long neutrality to send a powerful signal of where the legendary Massachusetts Democrat sees the party going -- and who he thinks is best to lead it.

Kennedy confidantes told the Globe today that the Bay State's senior senator will appear with Obama and Kennedy's niece, Caroline Kennedy, at a morning rally at American University in Washington tomorrow to announce his support.

That will be a potentially significant boost for Obama as he heads into a series of critical primaries on Super Tuesday, Feb. 5.


Tomorrow's expected endorsement comes after a week of the Clinton camp taking hits from key Democrats for their campaign tactics, and the involvement of Bill stumping for wife Hillary.

This comes as a hard blow for Team Clinton, as they were hoping for the coveted Kennedy clan's backing. The Clinton's, one will recall by going back to the first Presidential campaign for Bill in the 90's, was based on the concept of his being the heir apparent for the JFK legacy. And thus the attempt was made. I'll refer back to my analogy from last night: JFK could be said to have ridden into office on the back of a gleaming white stallion, Bubba rode in on an Arkansas ridgeback mule. JFK was a charming, intellectual, appealing gentleman, Bubba was...a bubba. Jackie was the epitome of the first lady: classy, charming, and intelligent; Hillary was the antithesis of Jackie: brazen, brassy, bossy, and with an agenda of her own.

I dare say we are seeing the blooming of that agenda into fruit today.

I don't agree with Obama politically. I disagree with his views on the war, on our troop deployments, and a host of other issues. I will say, however, that I do find him to be a likable individual, and that goes a long way with winning the hearts and minds of the American public. Hillary has always been challenged with a likability deficit. Obama doesn't have that problem.

There is much back and forth about the involvement of Bill Clinton in Hillary's campaign. I've heard more than a few commentators on both the right AND the left making comments about how that Bill is not acting as a former President should. On the one hand, I can definitely agree with them, he's NOT acting in the manner of a former President. On the other, we have no precedent for which to determine this situation, other than the back and forth husband then wife then husband administrations of the Governor's Wallace in Alabama some years back. That's hardly the same thing, as former Governors are expected to slip into the sidelines and play the part of consultant and goodwill ambasadors instead of active participant as former Presidents are.

I don't think there is any doubt that all Bill Clinton has done is show that he himself is licking his chops hungrily at the prospect of returning to reside in the White House. His barrage of assaults on Obama, the bringing up of the race card (Bill DID run on the concept of being the first black President, after all. Obama will actually TAKE that title should he gain the Presidency, although he was leaving race OUT of the equation). It is obvious from South Carolina that this did nothing to help the Clinton campaign, but hurt her badly in Saturday's Democratic primary there.

The Kennedy clan endorsement means a huge boost for the Obama camp and a bitter blow for Team Clinton. It's almost like a Papal nod to a crown prince in medieval Europe. What remains to be seen, as with the Papalcy of Europe throughout the centuries, is exactly how much influence the Kennedy endorsement actually brings to the Obama camp today; how much power do the Kennedy's still wield. THAT is going to make a difference at the convention.

Until then, it's still looking to be a slugfest for both front running Democrats, with John Edwards in the background far enough behind so as not to have his hair ruffled by the wind of swinging punches.

All in all, it's going to be interesting.

Popcorn, anyone?

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Obama takes South Carolina? UPDATED: Caroline Kennedy Endorses Obama

Updates below.

I just walked in the door from work and turned on the news. South Carolina's polls have just closed and Fox News is declaring, based on exit poll data, that Obama has won a significant victory over Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.

I think the suggestion of Hillary's "inevitability" has just crashed and burned for certain.

Hillary Clinton has already departed South Carolina and is en route to Nashville to stump for Super Tuesday at a town hall event.

Hold on to your wallets, Tennesseans...

[UPDATE 9:00 pm CST]

Obama takes South Carolina by storm, and the speculations continue on whether former President husband Bill Clinton hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign by going on the stump for her. Notice, if you will, the use of the term "rout" used in so many media sources:

href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/us/politics/26cnd-carolina.html?_r=1&ex=1359090000&en=bd5825e71e9fbd5f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin" target="_blank">Senator Barack Obama won a lopsided victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, drawing widespread support from a high turnout of black voters in the first Southern contest of the presidential campaign.

His chief rivals for the nomination, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, were in a race for second place as returns continued to trickle in from the state’s precincts.

The rout for Mr. Obama, who trailed in polls here just weeks ago, reinvigorates his campaign after a series of second-place finishes behind Mrs. Clinton, whose campaign had sought to lower expectations for her performance in South Carolina.


(...)

Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.


(...)

Barack Obama crushed top rival Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday, in a decisive victory that could reinvigorate his campaign after suffering back-to-back losses to the New York senator.


Their front pages proclaims "Obama Routs Clinton in South Carolina."

(...)


A vast wave of support from African-Americans lifted Barack Obama to victory in South Carolina's Democratic primary. But his showing among white voters suggests an uphill battle in the upcoming primaries where blacks play less of a role.

Blacks accounted for a majority of voters in South Carolina, 53 percent -- the highest turnout among African-Americans in any Democratic presidential primary for which data are available. And a huge proportion of them, 80 percent, supported Obama, compared with 18 percent for Hillary Clinton and just 2 percent for John Edwards.


(...)

Bill Clinton's aggressive campaigning in South Carolina in the days leading up to the state's primary may have had a net negative effect among South Carolina’s Democratic primary voters, CNN exit polls indicate.

Roughly 6 in 10 South Carolina Democratic primary voters said Bill Clinton's campaigning was important in how they ultimately decided to vote, and of those voters, 48 percent went for Barack Obama while only 37 percent went for Hillary Clinton. Fourteen percent of those voters voted for John Edwards

Meanwhile, the exit polls also indicate Obama easily beat Clinton among those voters who decided in the last three days — when news reports heavily covered the former president's heightened criticisms of Obama. Twenty percent of South Carolina Democrats made their decision in the last three days and 51 percent of them chose Obama, while only 21 percent picked Clinton.


It should be noted before it is forgotten by public that Obama wasn't the one to pull out the race card. America's "First black President" and his candidate wife did that. It seems to me that it backfired for team Clinton in South Carolina.

One can only wonder what comes next from team Clinton out of their bag of dirty politics in the days before Super Tuesday. Personally, I'm expecting anything at this point in the Democratic Party race.

Maybe they'll blame it on a vast black-wing conspiracy?

On another note, Hillary is still leading in the number of delegates for the Democratic nomination. It will be interesting to see what happens to the Democratic Party if the popular vote rules in favor of Obama but the delegate vote supports Hillary.

Tighten up your cinch straps, ya'll, and hold on to your hats. Trails about to get a mite bumpy...

[UPDATE]

No sooner said than it happens. The first next bump.

Camelot has endorsed Obama.

Over the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.


Thus begins Caroline Kennedy's OP-ED at the New York Times.

Now, let's follow the thinking here. Bill Clinton rode in on an Arkansas razorback mule in the 90's trying to emulate the stallion riding entry of John F. Kennedy (hey, it's MY analogy, just laugh and nod your heads, damma). Now we see the DAUGHTER of the late President Kennedy endorsing the neoCamelot's opponent...

Things that make you go HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

COULD this be the beginning of Camelot endorsing someone other than the former "heir apparent?"

COULD THIS BE the first death knell of the Clintonistas?

COULD IT BE POSSIBLE that one day Jimmy Olsen will look at Clark Kent and suddenly realize that a pair of glasses just aren't an adequate disguise? Ok, that last question popping into my head tells me that I've been awake for WAY too long.

More tomorrow.

Once and Always, an American Fighting Man


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