Quote Of The Week

I should have called this "Quotes Of The Week" I have a small collection this week. The focus this week is the view of the Constitution of the United Sates from the far left.

First we have a New York Times columnist, Gail Collins, who wants to suspend the 20th Amendment: The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January...

"Thanksgiving is next week, and President Bush could make it a really special holiday by resigning. Seriously." Then Dick Cheney "would have to quit as well as Bush. In fact, just to be on the safe side, the vice president ought to turn in his resignation first. (We're desperate, but not crazy.)" That would allow House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to become President, but "she'd defer to her party's incoming chief executive, and Barack Obama could begin governing."

Then we have fellow NYT columnist Tom Friedman's solution to getting around that pesky Article V of the Constitution: The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution...when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States

"If I had my druthers right now we would convene a special session of Congress, amend the Constitution and move up the inauguration from Jan. 20 to Thanksgiving Day."

I guess we can make a special exemption for The One and suspend the Constitution just this one time. I mean, what's the harm?

Finally, if all else fails, they can follow these words of wisdom from Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Tonya Payne in the latest attempt to gut the 2nd Amendment:

"Who really cares about it being unconstitutional?"..."This is what's right to do, and if this means that we have to go out and have a court battle, then that's fine

For these little nuggets, I give these geniuses the noble Dodo bird

Happy Thanksgiving To All

I am taking a few days off. Tommorrow is Thanksgiving and I do not have to work so we are spending the day at home as a family, my wife, kids, and me. After that we are going to see both of our our parents until Sunday.

I may be on line in the morning but I want to be with my kids instead of working.

So, everyone have a good and happy holiday with your families.

Chuck

The Pride Of Michigan

Generally when one thinks of idiotic liberal journalists, cities like Los Angeles, New York, Washington, Chicago, or anywhere on the East Coast come to mind.

Well, I'm here to proudly proclaim we have our very own idiotic liberal journalists right here in Michigan.

Rochelle Riley, of the Detroit Free Press, wrote a column today calling for the impeachment of George Bush and/or Dick Chaney before they leave office.

I don't even know where to start with this column. This is primarily because I'm not even sure what the Hell it's about. This is one of the most incomprehensible pieces of garbage I have ever seen in a newspaper. She attempts to make a case for impeachment and instead spends most of the time attacking Bush.

There's something about pardons. She seems concerned that Bush has issued 171 pardons, which means he only has to issue 225 more to catch Bill Clinton. She seems to be concerned about what the people Bush may pardon have done. We have to wonder if she was a concerned about the pardons issued by Clinton?

She's worried that Bush can push through more policies that can hurt our economy and then went on to offer these examples:

He already has pushed deregulation that would allow employers to talk directly with employees’ doctors and allow power companies to build polluting facilities close to national parks.

Now, I don't care if she attacks Bush He's a big boy, he can defend himself. I just have this sense that if I had paid for this paper instead of reading the article on Drudge, I would want my money back.

Finally this passage, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the bravest member of Congress, makes it clear she needs a refill on her medications.

I don't care about attack pieces in the main stream media, they're expected. It is fun though to see what they have to offer.

The Rural Parent's Nightmare

A school bus crash sent 14 children to the hospital in Greene County, Arkansas this morning. Although the condition of the children are unknown as of this writing, fortunately there have been no fatalities. Story and photo credit here.

We live in an area in which our children ride a bus to school. We have lived here 4 years now and I still get nervous when I think about it.

I think the drivers in our district are careful and genuinely care about the safety of the children, trust me I watch them. I further I have to believe the drivers in this district in Arkansas are just as diligent.

No matter how much you trust the drivers though, they are carrying the most precious cargo you have, your children.

So as the parent of three children who ride a bus, my heart goes out to the parents of these children and I hope that none of these children are injured seriously.

Quote Of The Week

I wrote a blog earlier this week about the big three automakers using private jets to fly into Washington DC to ask for bailout money for themselves. The audacity of them spending as much as $20,000 a piece to fly in style while begging poverty was too much for me.

I have to give credit to Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY). He was able to sum up in one sentence what it took a blog for me to say.

"There's a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off them with tin cups in their hands,"..."It's almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high-hat and tuxedo."

For these words of wisdom, I give Rep Ackerman the owl


Photo credit

It's Not The Same Old Washington Elite, It's Experience

Barack Obama campaigned on "changing" Washington. He was going to be a new kind of politician (just like every President before him). It was going to be a new day in Washington.

It turns out that no matter how much things change, they still seem to stay the same. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this obvious lie. If I were to talk about Obama's lies during the campaign it would take too long and I just don't have the energy today.

What I do find interesting is the reaction in the media to this flip flop. I'm not talking about the MSM here, we expect this. He could fart at a G-20 summit while making a speech and the Chris Matthew's of the media would fall even deeper in love with him and how adorable he is.

This article is from Fox News.

WASHINGTON — For months on the campaign trail, Barack Obama promised to bring change to Washington. But now that he's president-elect, his first potential Cabinet picks indicate that he may bring more years of Washington experience to his administration than Bill Clinton or George W. Bush did.

Obama's first four likely Cabinet choices, including former first lady Hillary Clinton, have a combined total of more than 60 years of Washington experience.

By comparison, President Bush's first four Cabinet picks had a total of 30 years experience in Washington, and former President Clinton's had 58.

more.

So now it's not retreading the same old tired Washington elites. With Obama, it's bringing in "experienced" people. In fact this genius is bringing in people with twice the experience of George Bush, isn't he just amazing.

Articles from the media yet to come:

Obama wisely decides that economy is too bad to give middle class tax cuts.

Obama goes for experience, selects Bill Ayers for Education Secretary.

Gas prices of $9 a gallon keep people from driving, good for environment.

ACORN voter registration stations more successful than imagined, 110% of voters registered.

Why Do We Bother Voting?

This question is getting more and more relevant.

First we have ACORN putting the validity of our elections in question. No matter what ACORN or it's defenders (aka the Democratic party) say, ACORN's illegal registration activities have the very real potential to change an election. Look at the close races this year for the US Senate.

In a contest like what is going on in Minnesota with Norm Coleman and Al Franken, ACORN would only have to facilitate the illegal voting of 200 or 300 voters to change the election results in that state. Anyone that thinks this is unlikely needs to remember that some of the improperly registered voters have reached the thousands in some state. If ACORN were to misregister 20,000 people in Minnesota, not at all out of the range of possibility, only 1% of them would have to slip through and vote to possibly change the election.

Then there is Minnesota itself in which, against all statistical probability, election officials "found" 500 votes for Franken. See John Lott's blog here. If Al Franken manages to win Minnesota, there will never be a way to make his win appear legitimate.

Finally, we have this. The California Supreme Court is going to hear an appeal by gay rights activists to overturn proposition 8 that was voted on by the people of the state. Without discussing the merits of the law, this is an affront to democracy. This passage here sums up the arrogance of bringing the suit. (emphasis mine)

Opponents of the ban argue that voters improperly abrogated the judiciary's authority by stripping same-sex couples of the right to wed after the high court earlier ruled it was discriminatory to prohibit gay men and lesbians from marrying.

Government has no authority without consent of the people, this is what defines a democracy.

We see this type of thing in Michigan a lot from the libs. Fight the good fight for your cause but that's OK if you lose, just go to court to have the will of the voters overturned.

Further, it should be noted that conservatives lost on two propositions in Michigan this year. I have yet to hear any talk of suing to get the provisions overturned and I can promise if they do, I will be there to criticize them for it.

The irony here is no one can figure out why so many people sit on the sidelines and don't vote. While I will never quit voting, one could rightly wonder at times, what's the point?

Now For Something Out Of This World

Something I have yet blogged about is that I have an absolute fascination with space. I Tivo the series The Universe on the History Channel. I profess I don't always understand the physics but for the most part can follow along and understand it. With my nursing degree I had to take physics, chemistry, and biology so I do have a better than average understanding of science.

Part of what I like is the unbelievable vastness of space. The late Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhikers trilogy, described it best when he said:

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space."

It's humbling to think of how insignificant we are in our small portion of an arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Thinking of infinity is 'mind-boggling'. If you think of the farthest imaginable distance, there is still an infinite distance past that. Isn't that a cool thought?

What I like most though is the images of space. I have a six inch telescope that I am only learning to use but I can still get great shots of the moon, Jupiter with usually 3 or 4 of it's moons, Saturn with it's rings, among other things. I particularly like Jupiter. We look at it and the simple wonder is that this is another planet, and we can see it.

We have an observatory within driving distance of our house and the amateur astronomy club there is great. They have public viewing nights occasionally in which members bring out telescopes and set them up and let visitors use them. They also set up their large observatory telescope and let visitors view selected objects with this. I took my kids out there and they had a good time. We saw several nebulae and Jupiter far better than I can get with my scope. The people of the club are great and patient with answering questions from the kids.

We would see an image of a star cluster that appeared to be no bigger than about 3 or 4 inches across and we would find out this had a million stars in it. The cluster was 10 light years wide. This means the light from a star on one edge would take ten years to get to the opposite edge.

One of the nebulae we saw was 1200 light years from Earth. The kids were fascinated by this. This means that what we were looking at happened 1200 years ago. That was a cool thought. To put this into context, 1200 years ago the Mayan civilization was declining, the Holy Roman Empire was getting it's start, and Charlemagne is Emperor.

The point of this other than to take a break from politics and share a passion is, we need to step back sometimes and realize that what is happening in the world right now is only temporary. The election of Obama sucks. He's going to ruin the country. We still have people that want to do us harm just for the sake of unreasonable hatred. The economy is in the crapper.

I care about all of this, I think my blogs bear out the fact that I am quite passionate about it. Sometimes though, we have to step away from it all and recognize that there is something bigger than all of this. Just setting outside at night and staring at the sky can humble you. It does me.

I leave you with some incredible images from the Hubble Space Telescope courtesy of Fox News

The Sombrero galaxy, photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2005.

Spiral galaxy M81 as seen from NASA Hubble Space Telescope in 2007.

NASA, ESA and M. Livio (STScI)
A pair of interacting galaxies called Arp 147 photographed by Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.

Big Three Bailout, No?

I live in Michigan and though I have been against bailing out the big three automakers, my opposition has not been overwhelming because it could be devastating to our state. That is until now.

Reading this article, I think I have finally had enough and am leaning heavily towards no assistance. Let them sink and let someone else take their place. It could even be good for Michigan in the long run. For decades we have been on a seesaw with the auto industry. Up for awhile then down with them. We need a more stable job market in our state.

Back to the article though. Keep in mind that these companies are worried that they could run out of money this year. They won't have enough to pay their employees or suppliers. So what did they do to show their concern:


The CEOs of the Big Three automakers reportedly flew private luxury jets to Washington to plead for a $25 billion taxpayer bailout to save their debt-ridden industry — ringing up tens of thousands in charges even as they cried poverty.

Recipients of eight-figure bonuses in 2007, the corporate cowboys used their executive perks — which for GM's Rick Wagoner include the run of a $36 million Gulfstream IV jet — to arrive in style as they went begging before Congress.

Wagoner, whose flight reportedly cost $20,000 round-trip — about 70 times more than a commercial airline ticket — told Congress he expected about $10-$12 billion from the requested bailout.

Rick Wagoner has made it clear he has no intention of stepping aside from the company he has run into the ground. What is far more likely is he will get a bonus this year and Heaven forbid they should fire him, this would cost the company millions.

The arrogance of these Sons of a Bitches is overwhelming. Especially this: Wagoner...told Congress he expected about $10-$12 billion from the requested bailout He expected? What the Hell?

I think if we do bail them out, it should be under the condition that they clean house in Dearborn (Ford), downtown Detroit (GM), and Auburn Hills (Chrysler). Fire everyone. Start over. No big perks, sell the jets, bonuses for success only. If not, then no money.

So It Begins

In what is likely the first of many similar incidents, Vice President Dick Chaney and former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez have been indicted in a case in Texas. Chaney for his investment in a prison company and Gonzalez for a conflict of interest as AG. Story here.

I say the first of many because several high ranking Democrats, including our new Vice President Joe Biden, have expressed a desire for charging George Bush and Chaney for, something.

Barack Obama has gone on record as saying he doesn't want to do anything like this until his second term which not only makes him petty and small for wanting to do it in the first place, but also chickenshit for not wanting to face the voters after pulling something like this.

So the question is, if we are going to charge a former Vice President for conflict of interest on an investment in a company that broke the law, when will it be Obama's turn? Why don't we charge him with any felonies that are brought against ACORN? He invested in them to the tune of $800,000+ so I would think he is similarly responsible for any felonies they may have committed. Furthermore, they may be charged under RICO statutes which will make him face stiffer penalties.

So I just want to be the first to go on record calling for the indictment of Barack Hussein Obama for the crime of voter registration fraud.

Your Public Schools At Work For You

The Grand Rapids Press carried a story, Southeast Career Pathways alternative school called 'out of control', about an alternative school that has essentially been taken over by the students.

This is obviously not a unique story. It is one that can be found in virtually every medium to large city. Familiarity is not comforting though. Further, with disgraceful graduation rates, it's a problem that is way overdue for a fix.

I will not go into a lot of detail here but I can tell you that the Grand Rapids Public School system is an absolute joke. The school board meets and typically the overriding concern is ensuring diversity. They do not appear to have time left over for things like assuring the children are actually educated.

A student highlighted in this article appears to be trying to make as much as possible out of a second chance but she is finding the atmosphere hard to learn in

"I chose to come to this school because I thought there would be less kids in the classes and none of the drama," she said. "But it's hard to do your work if people are screaming and throwing things around the room."

The article does not say how this young lady found herself at this school and, quite frankly, I personally find it irrelevant. I believe kids make mistakes and I am all for giving them a second chance if they are willing to take advantage of it.

The tragedy here though is that the school officials are less concerned about fixing the problem and ensuring the kids get the education they need and more interested in finger pointing and petty arguments.

One teacher had their car stolen but the public safety director blamed the teacher for leaving the keys in the car. While leaving your keys in the car is stupid, isn't this blaming the crime victim for the crime?

There are ongoing arguments about the teachers using security concerns in a labor dispute. This may or may not be true but there is violence in these schools and the administration is ignoring it and saying it is overblown by the teachers.

The likelihood is that the problem in this school is isolated among a few kids and I believe the solution is to get them out of the school. As I said earlier, I believe kids make mistakes and I am for a second chance if they make the chance count. For the kids that cannot behave in an alternative school, kick them out. If they want to get their selves together and come back let them try, if they do not, tough on them.

Letting a few kids ruin the chances for the entire student body is inexcusable. "I want to learn, and I've learned some stuff," she said. "But I feel I could have learned more." Too bad the adults responsible for her learning can't be as responsible.

The Fix Is In

I can't help but wonder if Al Franken doesn't know something the rest of us have only suspected so far.

It seems Mr. Franken is traveling to Washington to meet with Senate leaders. Story here.

Is this wishful thinking or do they know they already have come up with enough "found" votes to put him over the top.

Either way, Norm Coleman and the Republican Party are going to have to watch this one closely and likely have the courts intervene. Al Franken, along with the assistance of the Minnesota and national Democratic parties are doing all they can to steal this election.

Quote Of The Week

With Veteran's Day falling in the past week, this week's quote was an easy choice.

Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody became the Army's first female four star general.

I would like to congratulate Gen. Dunwoody and thank her for her 33 years of service to our country.

Finally, as the father of an 8 year old girl, I would like to thank the general for being a role model to all, especially young girls. Lord knows we need positive role models for our children.

"Thirty-three years after I took the oath as a second lieutenant, I have to tell you this is not exactly how I envisioned my life unfolding," she told a standing-room-only auditorium. "Even as a young kid, all I ever wanted to do was teach physical education and raise a family."

"It was clear to me that my Army experience was just going to be a two-year detour en route to my fitness profession," she added. "So when asked, 'Ann, did you ever think you were going to be a general officer, to say nothing about a four-star?' I say, 'Not in my wildest dreams.'

"This promotion has taken me back in time like no other event in my entire life," she said. "And I didn't appreciate the enormity of the events until tidal waves of cards, letters, and e-mails started coming my way.

"And I've heard from men and women, from every branch of service, from every region of our country, and every corner of the world. I've heard from moms and dads who see this promotion as a beacon of home for their own daughters and after affirmation that anything is possible through hard work and commitment.

"And I've heard from women veterans of all wars, many who just wanted to say congratulations; some who just wanted to say thanks; and still other who just wanted to say they were so happy this day had finally come."

Source for quotes.

So in honor of her accomplishment, I give Gen. Dunwoody a well deserved Eagle




Photo credit

Is This The Next Beneficiary Of A Bailout Package?

We as consumers are loving the huge drop in fuel prices but it is not as popular in some quarters. The countries of OPEC are losing a lot of money right now. They are starting to panic and have been meeting to discuss cutting production for the second time in the last couple of weeks to attempt to drive up prices. Things have gotten so bad there are rumors that Iran may have to halt it's nuclear weapons, oops I mean it's strictly for peaceful purposes only, plan.



Article on OPEC meeting here.



So the question is, is this the destination of our next bailout package? It's easy to get accusatory and say that Barack Obama will help out his terrorists friends in the Middle East, and I think he will. The truth is though, I wouldn't put it past Bush at this point to beat him to it. These days one can never be certain what the Hell Bush is going to do. The latest is that he is considering bailing out the big three automakers.



Don't for a minute think we will not do this either, we send a lot of foreign aide to the Middle East.



So after spending the summer being hosed at the gas pump to make these people rich, my bet is now that they can't get as the pump, they will just get their money the old fashioned way. Have their bought and paid for politicians in America send them the money.

Are The Congressional Democrats Having Their Power Diluted?

Just an idle thought for the day. There will be at least 7 new Democratic Senators in the new term, 5 from election turnovers, 1 to replace Barack Obama, and 1 to replace Joe Biden. There are still several elections undecided so the count could change. Finally, Obama is rumored to be looking at Congressional members for his cabinet. One specific example is the rumors surrounding Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. Further, there are at least 20 new Democratic House members.

So the question is, are the Democrats diluting their clout in Congress? I am not trying to imply that they will not be in control, they clearly will. The question though is how will the infusion of as many as 9 - 10 new Senators and 20 or more new House members effect the way they function.

Some of the Democrats leaving, Obama, Biden, Clinton possibly, among others, are old line liberals. A lot of the replacements are more moderate, this is how they got elected. In none of the states in which Democrats took over a seat did they do it by running a true liberal.

Further changing the dynamic of Congress are the members elected in 2006. Many of these are moderate Democrats with some of them actually tending conservative.

This rapid change over in the last two years will effect the way the Democrats rule in two ways.

First is the more moderate/conservative outlook of the new members. This will make it hard for the old hard left leaders to push ultra liberal legislation. This has been apparent in the House. Nancy Pelosi, about as far left as they come, has had a hard time getting these new members to fall into line behind her. She has had to negotiate and compromise on some legislation to get it passed. This will likely be the same scenario in the Senate with Harry Reid. There has even been talk although very unlikely, that one or the other could be challenged for their leadership position.

The second way the new members could effect the dynamics is because of lack of seniority and the clout that comes with it. While clearly the sheer numbers will give the new members significant clout, there is no substitute for being able to twist arms and make deals with old friends. Like it or not, this is how our Congress is run.

Finally, these new members may not let their arms be twisted as easy. A lot of them know they got in because of the arrogance and ingrained power hunger of the Republicans they defeated or replaced. They may be more likely to be independent and more mindful of hewing to the wishes of the voters in their respective state or district. Additionally, they have yet to have any debts or favors to repay among their peers so this could make them more likely to stick to their guns.

The popular thought is that if the Democrats got to 57 or 58 members in the Senate, they could effectively have a filibuster proof majority with some defections from liberal leaning Republicans.

The same is true of the House. There is a thought that they are getting close to a super majority in which they can push through legislation without much of a fight.

It is possible that this may be an oversimplification.

We may see 3 or 4 delicately put together ideological coalitions in both the House and the Senate that will cause some consensus building on the part of the leadership to get legislation passed. We saw this in the bailout package. The Democrats had enough members to pass the legislation but they could not get all of them to sign on to it, they needed Republican votes to pass the bill.

The point is, this may not be the far left Congress that the Democratic leadership and Barack Obama hoped for and that we feared. Time will tell.

Is 2010 The Year Of The Republican?

Let me say up front that I have always thought that Karl Rove is a brilliant man. I realize he is reviled by the left as a partisan hack. This is not true at all. He clearly is conservative and I doubt many people spend much time wondering who he votes for. With this said, he is an analyst and he takes that seriously. If people would have watched him closely throughout this election, they would see that he takes Republicans to task just as much as he does the Democrats. While he is partisan in his views, he is brutally honest and nonpartisan in his analysis.

Further, the obvious comparison for Rove is with his Democratic counterpart, James Carville. If one takes away the media hype of him being a genius and examine his record, he doesn't have nearly the track record of Rove.

Karl Rove advised two successful Presidential campaigns, the second one when Bush's popularity was slipping. Carville won one. He is falsely credited with Bill Clinton's second campaign and he did not work on it. Further, he worked on two losing campaigns. He was a last minute adviser to John Kerry and an adviser to Hillary Clinton's losing campaign for the Democratic nomination.

The Republicans one 3 of 4 Congressional campaigns during the time Mr. Rove was advising the party. Two of the campaigns bucked historical trends for the sitting President losing Congressional seats. Mr. Carville helped President Clinton keep control of Congress in 1992 after which he stopped advising.

The point of all of this is that Karl Rove does not get the credit he deserves as a political analyst and adviser, primarily because of the media. I think the most likely reason is because as much as the left hates him, they fear him more. He has been effective and he has spent most of the last 8 years frustrating them.

All of this, in my mind lends credibility to this article by him. In the article History Favors Republicans in 2010, Mr. Rove makes a good case for the GOP having a good year in 2010, with the obvious caveat that it depends on how they proceed from here.

I will let the words of Mr. Rove speak for themselves and just say, the fight is not lost, we just lost a skirmish. So keep up the good fight and do all you can to assist the GOP in righting the ship.

The A Team?

This is the best Obama can do?

There has been considerable discussion about who will be on President-elect Barack Obama's team.

One can only hope he is saving the best for last because what has been leaked so far does not bode well for the country.

What I have heard so far, and I may not be hearing everything.

Rahm Emanuel has already been named the Chief of Staff, reportedly to help Obama with bipartisanship. This is beyond ridiculous. This man is one of the most partisan hacks in Washington. His nickname is Rham-bo and not because he is ripped and manly and speaks with a mumble. This appointment pretty much puts to rest that whole nonsense about reaching across the aisle.

Jennifer Granholm has been mentioned as serving in some capacity as an economic adviser. Ms. Granholm is the Governor of my home state of Michigan and is half way through her second 4 year term. She took over a state which had enjoyed several years of economic stability and growth and turned it into a state with the worst economy in the country. Fortunately we have term limits in Michigan and she is done after this term. Unfortunately, she may soon become not just Michigan's problem, but the entire country's.

John Corzine has been mentioned as a possible Treasury Secretary. Mr. Corzine is the Governor of New Jersey, the state with the third highest debt in the country. This, in a twisted way, makes sense. Obama has made it clear he will grow the national debt. If this is your plan then you certainly want someone who knows what they're doing. For a brief but good discussion of this, go to All American Blogger.

Jamie Gorelick has been mentioned as a candidate for Attorney General. She gets the single distinction of the group of being someone who's appointment is silly for, not one, but two reasons. First, she was an executive at Fannie Mae and not only walked away with over $25 million but also left with a cloud of suspicion hanging over her. This will be convenient if she is AG because one of the most important early tasks for the incoming AG will be to investigate the financial meltdown. How deeply do you think she will dig into Fannie Mae's activities? Second, Ms. Gorelick has a less than stellar history of serving in the Justice Department during the Clinton administration. Her claim to fame for this is her role in walling off the separate intelligence agencies, preventing them from effectively sharing information. For the results of these actions, see 9/11. Her role may have been the single most significant factor in the United States' inability to prevent the 9/11 terrorists attacks. For a good whitewash of her history and qualifications, see this article from The New York Times.

Anthony Lake has been named as a possible Director of the CIA. I do not know a lot about Mr. Lake but a couple of items in his experience are interesting. He worked for the State Department under Jimmy Carter. I didn't find a lot of info on his time there but one thing to note is that, other than the Camp David Accords, the Carter Presidency had what was likely the most incompetent foreign policy record of any ever. Under Bill Clinton, Mr. Lake was the National Security Adviser. Mr. Clinton, the second most incompetent foreign policy President ever, had such a horrendous record on national security that terrorists practically had to take a number and wait in line to attack us. He definitely gets my vote as CIA Director.

Chin up, maybe he will nominate some good people. I mean there are so many appointments that statistically speaking he would have to, right. Gulp.

Pause A Moment to Honor Our Men And Women in Uniform

We have all been busy lately with the election and all. We have been blogging about the election, about the economy, and even how the election will influence the economy.

Today though is Veterans Day. So in the middle of all of the hustle and bustle make sure to stop and take some time to recognize the men and women, past and present, who have served in the armed services. These people have given their time, and some their lives, to insure we have the right to vote and the right to speak in opposition to it.

I never served and I regret it now. I considered it when I was of age, I even went and talked to a recruiter, but I did not follow through. My brothers both have served in the Army and one has done a tour in Afghanistan and now is in the Honduras, the other is currently in Iraq for another 2 weeks in which time he will return home.

I think the most fitting tribute I can give to the men and women of the armed services, other than a heartfelt thank you, is the words of Mike Huckabee. This is from his speech at the Republican National Convention and he was telling the story of a teacher's tribute to veterans. This excerpt caused grown men to cry at the convention and sent a chill down my spine. I have used this video before but it is well worth using again.

Watch and remember those who have served.

One final note. Let's also pause to remember those from our allies who have fought and died beside American troops. Today is Remembrance Day in Australia and Canada and Armistice day in France. For a good article on Armistice Day, a day of remembrance for those who died in WWI and the origin of Veterans Day, read this article.

I Told You So

I just wanted to try to be the first to say it.

I posted in this blog that President Obama's fuel policies were going to be a hidden tax on the public that will be just one part of a general dilution of his middle class tax cut, if he gives the tax cut at all.

According to this article John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, has said that Obama will quickly issue executive orders to bring "change" to Washington.

President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.

John Podesta, Obama's transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush's executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.

Now, two things about this statement.

First, it did say he is reviewing it so it is not written in stone that he will reverse the domestic drilling policy of Bush. With this said, his comments on the campaign trail along with opposition from almost all leading Democrats to domestic drilling makes it likely he will do this.

Second, I am not being critical of him issuing executive orders, Bush did it as did others before him. I do have to wonder though if the Democrats in Congress will be as critical of Obama's use of Executive orders to circumvent them as they were of Bush?

Keep in mind that Bush's executive order to allow domestic drilling was what reversed the Democratic increase in gas prices. Let me remind people of the last time the Democratic party promised change in fuel prices, it was when they were working to retake Congress in 2006. This "change" they brought about was a doubling of gas prices to over $4.00 a gallon. The only thing that started reversing this slide was Bush's executive order to allow drilling.

Finally, notice they are looking at natural gas drilling also. The US has the sixth largest natural gas reserves in the world, the five above us are Russia and Middle Eastern countries. Do you think not drilling here won't make your home heating prices skyrocket?

One thing to watch for are catch phrases. You will hear about things like "Environmentally Sensitive Areas". Obama and the Democrats will use this phrase or something like it to justify their opposition to drilling. This is just a cover for them, they can name any area as environmentally sensitive. They do not want to drill in the US because they don't want cheaper oil. They think more expensive oil will keep you from driving and thus prevent global warming, another Democratic myth we will have to save for another day. Obama himself made this statement during the campaign about gas prices 'I think that I would have preferred a gradual adjustment.' So he didn't have an issue with the price of gas, he just felt that we deserved a more gradual increase.

I could go on and on about Obama bringing change to America and be careful of what change means but I think John Podesta said it best, "We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set."

Mr. Podesta is right, we can no longer tolerate these $2.00 a gallon gas prices. Thank God we have the Democrats here to change them again.

Further, we need to let the Middle East sell us oil, there are starving terrorists over there that need our support.

I'm going to take a nap, wake me in 2012.

The Quote Of The Week

Picking a quote for this week was harder than I thought because with the Presidential election, there were so many to choose from.

We had John McCain's concession speech. We had John McCain's staff attacking Sarah Palin in an attempt to blame their blatant incompetence on her. We had Sarah Palin's response.

We had Barack Obama's acceptance speech. We had Barack Obama's idiotic attempt at humor at the expense of Nancy Reagan. The Dems have a list of Reagan jokes to draw from if they want to impress their friends.

Curiously, we haven't heard much from Joe Biden. My suspicion is Obama threw away the key to the muzzle he put on Biden a month or so ago. I think we've heard the last of Joe.

So, feel sorry for me, this wasn't an easy choice.

I think this quote from Michael Steele, out of all of them, gives one of the best analysis of where the GOP needs to go from here. Source here.

"Ronald Reagan made it cool to be a Republican, for God's sake,".... "It was the package we presented to the American people: We love fresh ideas, we love the back and forth of debate, we relish reaching out and welcoming people to be part of this effort. That's what we need to re-establish."

Michael Steele, former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, current Chairman of GOPAC.

Michael Steele is on my short list of people I would like see head the RNC. He's smart, articulate, well spoken, and an unabashed supporter of the GOP.

For Mr. Steele's words of wisdom and continuing support of America, I give him the Eagle

Its Déjà vu All Over Again

From the here we go again department, the big three automakers are asking the federal government for a bailout. They are seeing the financial sector get this governmental windfall and, like a bunch of hogs, they want a spot at the trough. Article here.

I realize that if one or more of the automakers went under it would be disastrous for the economy. I live in Michigan. If anyone knows the effect of the big three on an economy, it’s the citizens of Michigan. At some point though we have to ask, when are we going to stop bailing out private companies?

In this case though, the more appropriate question is when are we going to stop bailing out private companies with a long history of incompetent management?

For those who have not followed the auto industry for the last 30 years, let me give you a brief history. This is an industry who:

Had horrendous hierarchal employee structures. Now, a little clarification here, I am not anti-union and we cannot make a blanket statement about bad employees. I know a lot of GM and Ford workers and retirees and they are all hard working, good people. With this said, there were rules in place in which a production line would shut down waiting for a skilled trades worker to perform some menial task that any of the people on the line could have done but were not allowed to. I know of one specific skilled trades worker, my late uncle, who would be on a weekly bowling league or golf league while he was punched in and getting paid. He would tell me this was done commonly. It appears that they have fixed some of these problems but they took so long in doing it that the damage was done.

They had a top heavy management style, especially GM. For decades GM loved management people. They would have multiple layers of management and a lot of their corporate decisions would be done by committee. This was an incredible waste of money and because of the committee system, it would take too long to make decisions, making them slow to adapt to changing market conditions and customer tastes. One prime example is the SUV. The automakers could not see that the public as a whole were rejecting SUV’s because of fuel costs but they stuck with them anyways and did not have a back-up plan. This is incredible because the American public has always been fickle about keeping the same style of car for too long. Just look at the history of the automobile. Types of vehicles (big cars, full-sized vans, economy cars, mini-vans, etc.) only stay hot for a decade or so. Yet they never seem able to get ahead of this and have a new plan in place.

There was significant duplication. All three automakers had multiple divisions making the same car with different trim packages. This would often cause the different divisions to compete with each over for a limited market. Also there was significant duplication of management and factory costs making for a cumbersome, grossly inefficient system.

They went through a period in which they were, quite frankly, making crap. For all of the anger over foreign cars (and for the record, I buy only American), the foreign market made a toe hold in part because for awhile they were building better quality cars. The US automakers developed an attitude that it was more cost efficient to save money making cars with less money and therefore higher profit margin and paying for the occasional recall or lawsuit. This likely was a decent financial decision but the foreign car market, assisted by their own predatory pricing and governmental subsidies, were able to come in and take a share of the US car market that they have never relinquished.

Job outsourcing. While they are by far not the only corporation to send jobs out of the country, the automakers practically invented it and are one of the big proponents of the practice. Whichever side of this argument you come down on, there is one inescapable fact; if you eliminate good paying jobs and send them out of the country, you are cutting the number of people that can buy new $20,000 to $50,000 cars. The US automakers essentially eliminated their own customer base and now cannot understand why no one is buying their cars.

So now, after decades of running their companies into the ground, they want us to foot the bill for their mistakes. I say no, but then this was also my preferred approach to the financial industry. We need to let them sort it out themselves.

Finally I have a couple of other observations about this article.

First, I couldn’t help but notice that Nancy Pelosi is trying to push Bush to make a decision now. I find this curious because a lot of the issues they want to deal with, they want to wait until January to let a more compliant Obama make the decisions. They know they will get what they want. This is an issue though that has existed for over a month. Why it is a burning issue now, right after the election? Political cover. They know this will be an unpopular decision and they want the “bipartisan” label on it. You know, blame Bush. Bush needs to tell them to get stuffed. They want to bailout the auto industry, let them take the heat. This will be their trick throughout the next two years. They will get a couple of the liberal “Republicans” in the Senate and a dozen or so Republican House members to vote for one of their bills and proclaim it a bipartisan bill. The Republicans in Congress need to watch this and not allow it to happen. If they want to press their socialist agenda, let them we can’t stop it right now anyways, but do not give them political cover. Make them own it. If they are so convinced that the public has given them a mandate to make change, let them put their money where their mouth is.

Second, I assume everyone saw our Governor of Michigan Jennifer Granholm at Obama’s first press conference. She is listed as one of Obama’s economic advisers. Keep in mind she is six years into her position as Michigan’s Governor and we have the worst economy in the US. If this doesn’t tell you something about Obama’s economic plan for us, nothing will. Be afraid America, be very afraid.

Wow, This Was Shocking

In a shocking new development, The Washington Post has come out and said they were biased towards the Obama campaign during the election.

Of course the fact that they were biased is not shocking, we knew that, but to admit it is a surprise. They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step so maybe we can hope they are going to change their ways. Nah.

The story I am speaking of is here. It is an editorial by Deborah Howell, ombudsman of the Post. The very fact that the ombudsman is doing the article is in itself a trick also used by The New York Times. The Times will run an article that is, ahem, factually incorrect, and then later let the ombudsman come out and say that it was inaccurate. The difference is that the original story gets considerably more play than the ombudsman "clarification" does. Further, they let the story run for awhile and then run the ombudsman's article later. This lets the story percolate long enough to become truth in the mind of the reader and the correction is later ignored because people's minds are made up.

Ms. Howell shared with us some statistics that will not surprise anyone and then discussed the specific candidates and how they were covered in the paper and online, here are a couple of the better passages.

But Obama deserved tougher scrutiny than he got, especially of his undergraduate years, his start in Chicago and his relationship with Antoin "Tony" Rezko, who was convicted this year of influence-peddling in Chicago. The Post did nothing on Obama's acknowledged drug use as a teenager.

And:

One gaping hole in coverage involved Joe Biden, Obama's running mate. When Gov. Sarah Palin was nominated for vice president, reporters were booking the next flight to Alaska. Some readers thought The Post went over Palin with a fine-tooth comb and neglected Biden. They are right; it was a serious omission. However, I do not agree with those readers who thought The Post did only hatchet jobs on her. There were several good stories on her, the best on page 1 by Sally Jenkins on how Palin grew up in Alaska.

This is nothing more than the usual press mea culpa that they do on a regular basis. They run articles about their biases occasionally and then go right back to business as usual. It's almost a confessional for them. They seem to have the impression that they can admit they were wrong and that makes everything ok.

The funny thing is, they're right. The analogy is the old caricature of the wife who has the husband that comes home late all of the time from carousing and drinking and then says "baby I'm sorry, I will never do this again". Like the caricature wife, we believe them and all is forgiven until the next time. For a real life example, see Hillary and Bill Clinton.

We know that the reality is most women are not like this, they would throw the bum out and let him sleep at his girlfriends house. So why aren’t we doing the same with the liberal media? Why don't we throw the bums out.

Based on recent earning reports and loss of circulation and revenue of every single liberal news outlet, the public may finally be starting to have enough. It appears that finally there are households all over the country turning off the liberal news media, canceling their newspapers, and not reading the weeklies.

We need to stop letting them getting away with this. Turn off the nightly news on ABC, CBS, or NBC. Don’t watch MSNBC. Refuse to read any newspaper or magazine that does not commit itself to balanced reporting. Anybody that subscribes to The Washington Post, cancel them, I would. They will either change when the economic costs become too great or go out of business. I personally am ok with either one.

Does Anyone Else Think This Is Weird?

Sometimes it's the stupid little things that catch our attention. What caught my eye was this story from Fox News.

The story is about Barack Obama getting his children a puppy for when they move into the White House.

Now I realize this story is not very relevant and, quite frankly, I really could care less if they get a dog. His children are small and dogs can be good pets. If the dog makes them happy, I am happy because I like to see children happy.

The thing that strikes me about this though is, why now? If his concern was his children's happiness, then why didn't he get them one before?

I can't help but thinking, hopeless cynic that I am, that he feels a need to get one because he is the President now. There is a long history of Presidents having dogs. One notable exception was the Clinton's having a cat but this was not that unusual if you think about it. It was no secret that Bill liked, oops, I try to keep this blog PG-13.

I can't help but think though that Obama getting his children a dog tells us something about him that is not very flattering.

I doubt I am breaking any new ground by saying that Obama is a cold calculating person who is essentially no substance, only style. He is nothing more than a fabrication of left wing power players, manufactured to run for the Presidency. He has no accomplishments in his short career to point to. He has no firm stance on anything other than pushing a far left socialistic agenda. Quite frankly, there is no there there.

I think his getting a dog is a way for him to appear Presidential. The perfect White House family. There is already talk of them being the new Camelot.

This would be laughable if people would stop and think what the Kennedy's stand for. They were all nothing more than adulterers, drunks, and at least two of them, murderers. One would be hard pressed to find a Kennedy without a substance abuse problem. They are effectively white trash with money.

Keep in mind though that the Democrats idolized Bill Clinton also, so I think it is easy to infer that these types of people are the ideals for the far left.

It would be nice if we could hope that Obama would attempt to appear Presidential by being a strong and decisive leader but I think it's clear that this is too much to hope for. So, on to plan B, get a dog and appear Presidential, at least 52% of the people in the country are stupid enough to buy anything.

Chris Matthews Has A New Job

Chris Matthews of MSNBC has declared that it is now his job to ensure that the Obama presidency is successful according to this story from News Busters.

Here is a sample of the exchange between Matthews and Joe Scarborough also of MSNBC.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: Yeah, well, you know what? I want to do everything I can to make this thing work, this new presidency work, and I think that --

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Is that your job? You just talked about being a journalist!

MATTHEWS: Yeah, it is my job. My job is to help this country.

SCARBOROUGH: Your job is the make this presidency work?

MATTHEWS: To make this work successfully. This country needs a successful presidency.




So, it's nice to see that the media is going to continue it's fair and balanced reporting that it used all throughout the campaign. Funny how Mr. Matthews hasn't shown the same concern about the country over the last 8 years.

Actually, forget the fake sarcasm. This man, along with most other so called journalists on MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, AP, the New York Times, etc are absolutely full of shit. I personally don't care if they are biased, they can be want they want. We as a country need to turn them off if they cannot start being journalists and not far left propagandists for the Democratic party. I will not watch any of these networks. I have not watched a network news program in years.

The only thing that will eventually work is a total boycott. All of the news outlets above are bleeding consumers. Their ad revenue is plummeting. We need to keep not watching until they either begin to show some balance or they go out of business. I, for one, am OK with either outcome.

Finding Our Way Out Of The Wilderness

Reading some of the blogs today, I am struck by the despair. What happened in the election last night was a blow to us and more importantly, it will likely be a blow to the country. As I said in my post last night, we need to not look at the election as the end of the world but as a new beginning. One thing most of us have agreed on is that the Republican Party has lost it's way. Well, look at last night as a big kick in the seat of the pants. We've had cold water thrown on us. The alarm clock is ringing and it's our wake up call.

One election and one man cannot do permanent damage to our country. America is too strong and it will remain strong long after anyone president has departed the White House. We survived Jimmy Carter. This country survived disco, with this you could say we've been to Hell and back.

Here are a couple of examples of what is in store for us.

First we have this article from the Wall Street Journal on where the GOP goes from here. The article discusses the coming fight for the soul of the Republican party. There are some good names listed here and while there is a battle looming, I think it's a battle that we need to have. Further, I think that what comes out of this battle will be much stronger and cohesive and will be ready to retake the country.

Then we have this video. I actually caught this interview live last night on Fox and must admit I did know this congressmen before then. His name is Paul Ryan and he is a Republican from Wisconsin. He is discussing the possibility of cleaning house in the House of Representatives and instilling new GOP leadership. He won't directly say this is what is looming but his denial is answer enough. He may be one of the smartest men you have never heard of.



So, keep up the good fight. We lost a battle last night but the war for determining the direction of the country is far from over.

A New Beginning

As I write this Barack Obama has been projected to win the Presidential race. I'm tired and I have to get up in 7 hours for work. Before going to bed I have some final thoughts on the 2008 Presidential election as it draws to an end.

I still hold that electing Obama was a mistake and a potentially disastrous one for America. With this said, the electorate has spoken and we need to respect that. This is a great country and a great system of government. We may not agree with the results, but they are what they are. Finally, even though I cringe at the thought of an Obama presidency, I can still appreciate the historic election of a black President.

I find it sad that Obama's grandmother passed away the night before the election. May she rest in peace and may Obama be comforted in the knowledge that she is watching him as he achieves his goal.

We need to maintain our support for America. We cannot fall into the trap of many on the left who threatened to move out of the country both times George Bush was elected. This is my country and I am staying here and will continue doing my small part to make it the best country in the world, bar none.

Before any think that I have gone soft, don't believe it for a minute. I will use my blog to call this man on every misstep he makes and I believe he will make many. I am an unapologetic partisan and that will never change. I am first though an American and agree with our President or not, respect the man or not, I will always respect the office of the President of the United States.

This is not the end of the world. The sun will come up tomorrow, I will wake up and go to work, and the United States will persevere. As I said in the title, this is not the end, it is the beginning.

The Republican party is a rudderless ship with no one steering it. While I have no pretense of being the one to steer it, I and everyone reading this has a duty to assist with righting the ship. The Republican party, when it is at it's best, is a grass roots party. We are a part of the grass roots. Watching coverage of the election tonight, I see leaders in the party that appear willing to step up and resurrect the party, Sarah Palin being one of the more obvious ones.

The Democratic party now controls the Presidency and both chambers of Congress. They have a monumental task. They have the lowest approval rating of any Congress ever, they have a newly elected President who made a lot of promises that he will not likely be able to keep, and more importantly, they will not have George Bush to hide behind. The onus is on them to perform and there is no evidence as of yet that they know how to. Finally, they have painted themselves into somewhat of a corner. They have a party base that expects big things from them and a still right of center country that is going to look dimly on some of the things their base will want them to do. The bottom line is, someone is not going to be happy with the actions of this new ruling party.

This is where the opening is for a rejuvenated Republican party.

Our job is to use what influence we have, no matter how small to help with spreading the word about conservatism and assist with the resurrection of the Republican party. I am only one and, as of yet, do not reach a lot people but together we can be a force to reckon with.

So cry yourself to sleep tonight if you feel the need, I do not, but awaken tomorrow and be prepared to continue the fight. I am. Good night and God Bless America.

Don't Let The MSM Suppress The Vote

We have had something going on for awhile now but it is most important today. I believe there is a chance the liberal media has been trying to suppress the Republican vote.

There is no small coincidence that often the more liberal an organization, the bigger Barack Obama's lead in the polls. This can be explained by several different biases.

The most likely of which is an inherent bias for Obama and thus skewing the sample to reflect a larger lead for him. This is done by how polls are conducted.

Polls are not just a matter of calling 1000 random people and asking who they are going to vote for, this would not be accurate because of the variability of people called. This variability can be skewed if there is a disproportionate sample of people based on political affiliation, geography, education, age, or a million other variables.

So pollsters weigh their results to attempt to overcome these variables. The problem is that this in itself introduces a bias because the pollster decides what the proper balance would be to properly reflect the nation's makeup. So, if they believe that the country is comprised of 45% Democrats and 35% Republicans, they take a sample that reflects that and gets their poll results from this. Therein lies the problem, what is the proper balance?

This is largely why there is such a variability in polls. This is also where the inherent bias comes in. A liberal, or conservative, organization may have a distorted view of the makeup because of their own personal bias.

Further, we are seeing an increase in articles in the media that are attempting to portray the race as being over, Obama has won, we are just going through the motions today. Some articles are not as blatant, some are worded as to ask if McCain can win, but there are few that do not already give the election to Obama. Now this is partly because Obama does appear to be in command but even most of the more liberal outlets are saying that the results are not carved in stone yet.

Finally, while the notion that the MSM is trying to influence an election likely would have been considered laughable 15 or 20 years ago, I think the discussion about media bias in this election is over. There is more than ample evidence that they are highly slanted to Obama. This has been going on for the last few elections, CBS even going as far as promoting known forgeries as documents to attempt to embarrass George Bush in 2004, In this election, though, the MSM has embarrassed themselves.

So back to the original point, is the MSM attempting to suppress the Republican vote? I believe yes. It may not be an orchestrated attempt and they may not even be doing it intentionally but I believe it is there.

With all of that said though, and read carefully because this is important. If it happens, it's not their fault.

If they are attempting to get you to stay home because they make you think it is over and your vote won't matter, and you listen and stay home, it is your fault.

The election is not over, McCain has made some movement in the last couple of days and is within striking distance, get out and vote.

Only The GOP Play Dirty In Elections

Sometimes blogs write themselves. This is nice since I am, by nature, a fairly lazy man. Read this article and see how many instances of Democratic dirty tricks you find. It makes you feel horrible as one of those sleazy Republicans.

Blog Burst Pre-Election, Get Out And Vote

OK, America, it's decision time. We have a clear choice tomorrow for where we want our country to go. We can maintain our national security and work to renew our economic health under a John McCain Presidency. Alternatively we can cut our military 25%, weakening our security, and instill a socialist style government in the United States. While I feel that the choice is clear, I just as strongly believe the choice is an individual one. With this said, I will vote for John McCain and unabashedly urge others to do so also. I do though, irregardless of candidate choice, implore all who are reading this to vote. It is a right we take for granted and far too many people do not take advantage of.

For an excellent narrative on the choice, read this from Social Sense:

As we count down to the remaining hours of this election, Social Sense urges its readers who have not yet voted to continue listening to what the candidates are saying; feel free to question their rhetoric.



If it is true that most Americans are worried about the economy, then there is no reason to vote for Barack Obama. None. If readers need a quick review, they will find an excellent crib-sheet of the Obama/McCain platforms at Jus’ Sayin'; check it out.



Ultimately, American voters and the Electoral College will make the final decision as to which candidate will serve as our next president. This is not the time to be lulled into accepting false promises and sugar coated solutions to serious challenges. We hope (and pray) Americans will select the one candidate who will best serve the interests of our Nation. Chose wisely, America.

The Quote Of The Week

What else could the quote of the week but his priceless gem from Barrack Hussein Obama saying that people who do not want to pay more in taxes are selfish. Of course Joe Biden would say they are also unpatriotic. Source.

"John McCain and Sarah Palin they call this socialistic," Obama continued. "You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.

For this quote, I give Obama the Turkey:




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