According to The Washington Times, The Washington Times, N.Y. Post and Dallas Morning News -- three newspapers that recently endorsed John McCain -- have been kicked off Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's plane in the final days of his campaign.  These papers have covered his campaign from the beginning, but because they have had the audacity to endorse John McCain, their coverage is no longer welcome.  This is amazing.  This man has no respect for freedom of speech unless the speech totally agrees with his ideas.  Hang on to your hats if this man is elected--we will be in for the fairness doctrine, a heavily policed internet, and a civilian 'military' force inside our borders to do who knows what.   I am beginning to wonder if anyone is paying attention to what Barack Obama is doing.  I heard someone at a rally after his infomercial on Wednesday saying that she would not have to worry anymore because when she voted for Obama, she would no longer have to worry about filling up her gas tank or paying her mortgage--he would help her.   We really need to take a deep breath before we vote on Tuesday.

Your 401k is in immediate danger if the democrat party takes control of the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.  There was an article in The Online Wall Street Journal on October 23 about a hearing of the House Education and Labor Committee held earlier this month.  The article links to an article in Workforce Management detailing plans to end tax breaks for people contributing to their private 401k accounts and to take over those accounts (similar to the way Social Security accounts are managed (managed?)).  The plan would introduce 'security' into 401k accounts, but would limit their positive growth (and prevent negative events like the recent market crash). 

Since the Social Security money has essentially been stolen since Congress opted out of it in the 60's, I think we would have to be totally insane to give the government the money we have personally put aside for retirement.  If you run the numbers for Social Security out about fifteen years (look at the number of retirees versus the number of workers), you realize that the plan in its current form cannot survive.  The ratio of workers versus retirees will be such that the system will collapse under its own weight.  Since the money in the Social Security 'lockbox'  was stolen long ago, there is nothing there to make up the difference in income and outgo.  When the system was designed in the 1940's, the average lifespan was not much more than 65, and the system only had to support people for a year or two.  We live longer now, and therein lies the problem.  It is possible that today's retirees will still be alive to collect Social Security in forty years.  The system was not designed for that.  Congress is not under Social Security, so they have no incentive to fix it, and there are hoping to be out of office by the time it collapses.

  Again, it matters how you vote.

There is a site run by the PUMA's (Party Unity My A__), women who supported Hillary Clinton, but were upset at the way Hillary was treated by Barack Obama.  It's a bit of an edgy site, but it is interesting.  Posted there right now at Hill Buzz is a comment entitled "Confessions of an Obama Blogger."  The lady who writes the article lists the tactics of the Obama campaign.  When you read the tactics and think about some of the events in the campaign, it is chilling.  For example--

"The internal campaign idea is to twist, distort, humiliate and finally dispirit you.

We pay people and organize people to go to all the online sites and "play the part of a clinton or mccain supporter who just switched our support for obama"

We do this to stifle your motivation and to destroy your confidence.

We did this the whole primary and it worked.

Sprinkle in mass vote confusion and it becomes bewildering. Most people lose patience and just give up on their support of a candidate and decide to just block out tv, news, websites, etc.

This surprisingly has had a huge suppressing movement and vote turnout issues."

The article is an amazing read.

Barack Obama has called for a Civilian National Security Force.  There is an article at Little Green Footballs quoting what Barack Obama has said about this force.  He wants to force to be as well funded as the US military.  He wants to force to achieve 'national security objectives'.  After seeing the article at Hot Air detailing how far the Obama campaign was willing to go in its search for negative information on Joe the Plumber, I really don't want to let these people form a civilian national security force.  Take a look at the smear campaigns against opponents, the illegal contributions, the illegal voter registrations, and the questionable associates.  We need to think about what an Obama presidency will do to the freedoms we all value.

September 11, 2001 seems a million years away.  The war on terror doesn't seem like a reality.  Unless you lost someone on September 11 or in the wars that have followed, it all seems very distant.  We don't need to dwell on September 11 or the war on terror, but we do need to remember that the people who brought us September 11 are still out there plotting.  There is a slideshow of images of September 11 at Little Green Footballs under 'slideshows' in the left hand margin of the site.  It's not a bad idea to look through the slides every now and then to remember what happened, the bravery of many people on that day, and what we are up against.

Just a note, Charles Krauthammer on Special Report the other night commented on the US raid into Syria.  He pointed out that if your objective is to kill a terrorest leader, you use a predator drone.  If your objective is to bring something out--a person, computer, or something else, you send in people.  I wonder how many attacks on our troops and possibly on our country will be stopped because of that raid.

When America began, only property owners were allowed to vote.  Today, that would be seen as horribly discriminatory.  The theory was that only people who had a stake in the country should be allowed to make decisions about governing it.  I think that position is more than a bit extreme, but I think we now have found the other extreme.

The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that a Federal judge in Ohio has ruled that homeless people must be allowed to list park benches and other non-buildings as their addresses so that they will be able to vote.  This is the reason judges matter.  The potential for fraud in registering people without valid addresses is amazing. 

I don't want to see any group of people disenfranchised, but I question the wisdom of this decision.  Isn't it more important to find a way to bring these people back into society rather than to send them to the polls to vote?  What things influence the votes of this group of people?   Do we have any way of checking their citizenship?

Again, I'm not for discrimination, but this seems a bit extreme.

I've been hearing about this tape since the weekend, but I didn't print the story because I wasn't convinced the tape actually existed.  Well, evidently it does.  According to Little Green Footballs, the McCain campaign has asked the LA Times to release the tape, and the newspaper has refused.

The videotape is alleged to be of Barack Obama toasting former PLO spokesman Rashid Khalidi, at a party attended by radical Palestinian activists and former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.

The LA Times excuses for not releasing it--

* "We did report on it. Why aren't you happy with that?"

* "There are ethical problems with releasing the tape."

* "No comment."

In another story about the LA Times, Variety reports:

"Another 75 editorial staffers were let go at the Los Angeles Times on Monday, including numerous reporters and editors involved in arts and entertainment coverage."

The media has made its choice for President, regardless of the cost.  Many Americans have seen through the game and are getting their news from other sources--hence the growth of the internet.  It remains to be seen if the average American (is there any such thing?) will do his own thinking about the candidates or will assume that the media is showing him both sides of the story.  The bottom line is simple--we all need to pray for our country and its election process.

 

The American Thinker has an article today talking about a New York democrat activist who has registered to vote in Ohio (a swing state) rather than New York.  If you follow the link in the article, it will lead you to the website of Dr. Warren Throckmorton who evidently has been following similar stories.  At present, there are approximately 150 people registered to vote in Franklin County, Ohio, with dubious residency.  According to the article:

"No telling how widespread this is. Vote Today Ohio and similar groups are in major Ohio cities and at large state universities. I have reported on this before. Obamatravel.org helps fund people to make these trips. Here is the mission of Obamatravel.org:

Welcome to OBAMAtravel.org. This site is designed to help volunteers from non-swing states get to crucial swing states by connecting them with the resources they need."

Dr. Throckmorton is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Grove City College and Fellow for Psychology and Public Policy at the Center for Vision and Values which is a part of Grove City College. For more about him and his work, go to DrThrockmorton.com.

There is nothing wrong with working for a political campaign in a state other than your home state; however, registering to vote in a state where you do not meet the requirements of residency (or registering to vote in two states) is illegal.

It is my hope that anyone found guilty of this type of manipulation of the electoral process would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

 

 

The following information is taken directly from The League of Women Voters website:

Ballot Question 1

"A PROPOSED LAW TO ELIMINATE THE STATE INCOME TAX"

This proposed law would eliminate the state personal income tax for all tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2009.  The personal income tax applies to income received or gain realized by individuals and married couples, by estates of deceased persons, by certain trustees and other fiduciaries, by persons who are partners in and receive income from partnerships, by corporate trusts, and by persons who receive income as shareholders of "S corporations" as defined under federal tax law.  The proposed law would not affect the tax due on income or gain realized in a tax year beginning before January 1, 2009.  The proposed law states that if any of its parts were declared invalid, the other parts would stay in effect.

Supported by Committee for Small Government at http://www.smallgovernmentact.org

Opposed by June Michaels, Fiscal Policy Specialist, Coalition to Fight Income Tax Initiative. 
         978-546-3863, macluj@comcast.net 

 

Ballot Question 2

"AN ACT ESTABLISHING A SENSIBLE STATE MARIJUANA POLICY"

Summary: This proposed law would replace the criminal penalties for possession of one ounce or less of marijuana with a new system of civil penalties, to be enforced by issuing citations, and would exclude information regarding this civil offense from the state's criminal record information system.  Offenders age 18 or older would be subject to forfeiture of the marijuana plus a civil penalty of $100.  Offenders under the age of 18 would be subject to the same forfeiture and, if they complete a drug awareness program within one year of the offense, the same $100 penalty.

For further information see:

http://norml.org/

http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_index.php?page=4

http://www.darema.org/

http://sensiblemarijuanapolicy.org/

 

Ballot Question 3

"AN INITIATIVE FOR AN ACT TO PROTECT GREYHOUNDS"

Summary:

This proposed law would prohibit any dog racing or racing meeting in Massachusetts where any form of betting or wagering on the speed or ability of dogs occurs.  The State Racing Commission would be prohibited from accepting or approving any application or request for racing dates for dog racing.  Any person violating the proposed law could be required to pay a civil penalty of not less than $20,000 to the Commission.  The penalty would be used for the Commission's administrative purposes, subject to appropriation by the state Legislature.  All existing parts of the chapter of the state's General Laws concerning dog and horse racing meetings would be interpreted as if they did not refer to dogs.

For further information:

·       http://www.grey2kusa.org/
·       http://www.protectdogs.org/
·       http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x875593895/Keeping-the-fight-vs-dog-racing-on-track
·       http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/01/13/race_to_the_ballot/?page=2

Please see the League of Women Voters website for further information.

There are good reasons for votes on both sides of all of these questions.  Please consider the issues carefully before you vote.

There is an article and video posted at the American Thinker of an interview that Barak Obama did on Public Radio station WBEZ-FM in 2001.  He talks about the need to break free from the 'constraints' of the Constitution in order to redistribute wealth to the black poor.  We have been giving money away to both black and white poor since the 60's, and all we have done is destroy the families of the poor in the process.  Will these people ever realize that we have lost the war on poverty.  We need to declare defeat and go home.  I don't mean that we should not help the poor--we should.  We need to do it in a way that does not foster generational poverty.  If money can be given to the poor at the local level, the local authorities know who is able to work and who is not.  They also know who is spending the money on drugs and alcohol and other addictive behaviors and who is using the money as a bridge to get out of poverty.  We were much better off when a neighbor would quietly leave a bag of groceries on someone's front steps because they knew that the head of the household was out of work.  We were better off when the chuch fulfilled its mission to take care of the poor--not depend of the government to subsidize them.  Giving people money without asking them to earn it or without holding them accountable for their behavior is neither wise nor effective in fighting poverty.

Scott Johnson of Power Line Blog has written an article for The New York Post detailing his findings on the lack of security controls on credit card donations to the Obama campaign.  The controls that were lacking on the Obama website were not lacking on either the McCain or Hillary Clinton website.  Noted in the article--

"According to journalist Kenneth Timmerman, the Obama site did not ask for proof of citizenship until just recently - in contrast not just with McCain but also with Hillary Clinton. Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign required US citizens living abroad to fax copies of their passports before it would accept donations. By contrast, foreign donors to Obama can just use credit cards and false addresses."

Unfortunately, if Barack Obama is elected, this type of fraud will not be investigated and will probably become a standard feature of some future campaigns.  Does anyone actually believe that if Barack Obama is elected, the investigation of Tony Rezko, ACORN, and the Chicago political machine will be allowed to continue? These are things we all need to consider.

There is some bad news to report today.  Dean Barnett has passed away at the age of 41.  He had cystic fibrosis and had been in the hospital in Boston for a few weeks.  If you are not familiar with Dean, his work at the Weekly Standard often appeared at Robinson and Long  and he occasionally guest hosted for Hugh Hewitt.  He was a serious red sox fan and was very quick to state how fantastic a team they were (in any circumstances).  He was a gentleman, and I am sure he will be missed.  There is more about him at Hot Air.  Heaven has gained a really good political commentator.

The following letter to the editor appeared at the American Thinker blog today.  I must admit I was rather surprised at the content.  I wonder how many more democrat party members there are who are thinking that way.

letter to the editor
As to the inevitable claim of either "racism" or "fraud" or both, the Detroit newspapers reported this week that  98% of eligible voters in Michigan are registered. This simply isn't possible. As to why we have reached such a stunning level of involvement, the papers reported that the new registrations were, surprise, in heavily-Democratic areas.

I know people who still believe that Bush shouldn't have won in 2000 (possible, I guess) and had Ohio stolen from Kerry in 2004, although even Rolling Stone debunked that. As to ACORN or unlikely registration levels elsewhere...not to mention Obama personally threatening tv stations that run ads he doesn't like...no mention.

By the way, I am not only a lifelong Democrat, I am a former party activist--precinct delegate, state platform committee, county party committee, etc. And I'm voting for McCain. I'd like to tell you that people in certain groups I belong to respond that well, they disagree, but I'm making a choice rational, intelligent, decent people can make. I'd like to report that, but you can just guess what the response actually is.

Best,

Alex Bensky (Detroit)

What appears below is directly quoted from Mark Steyn at National Review Online:

Tamping down enthusiasm   [Mark Steyn]

I've been getting a bunch of emails from readers at Governor Palin's rally in Florida, which appears to be of zero interest to the press:

Another reader tells me Governor Palin called him "Barack the Spreader". You go, girl!

Do you believe there is a war on terror?  If so, and you live in Southeastern Massachusetts, you may not want to vote for Barney Frank.  There is an article at SouthCoastToday.com  about a meeting Barney Frank had with their editorial board and the comments he made.  He calls for a twenty-five per cent cut in military spending and an increase in income taxes for people he thinks can afford to pay more.  One of the quotes I found interesting--

"Also, he said, "we'll increase the federal share of medical care so states won't have to lay off people." Unemployment insurance benefits won't increase, he said, but the period of collecting them will, and eligibility requirements might be relaxed."

The boldface type is my addition.  Why would you relax eligibility requirements on collecting unemployment?  Generally speaking, when the government subsidizes something, we get more of it.  Why do we want more unemployment?  Also, just a note, historically when you raise the minimum wage, umemployment rises.  That is part of what is feeding into the current jobless rate.  Even in good times, if the cost of hiring an employee goes up, a company is more likely to hesitate before doing it.  Companies realize that if they lay off a person, they will pay a penalty to the state unemployment fund, so rather than take a chance on incurring an extra expense because they can't afford to keep an employee, they won't hire one.

Aside from his role in the current crisis with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Barney Frank has ideas that will not protect our country from terrorists who want to destroy it.

There are two seemingly unrelated stories in the news right now that are interesting to look at for a preview of what a Barack Obama presidency would be like.  The first is from the American Thinker dealing with what happened when a reporter asked Joe Biden hard questions.  The reaction of the Obama-Biden campaign was fairly typical of Democrat political machines, but it's interesting in light of the fact that the questions were not all that out of line with questions an average American would ask.  The second has a great deal of irony surrounding it.  The story is from The Columbus Dispatch stating that government computers were used to gather background information on Joe the Plumber.  It's amazing to me that the party that was going to protect us from the Patriot Act because they objected to ordinary citizens possibly being investigated without proper legal procedures has taken the time to do just that to someone who asked the wrong question.  They were willing to give terrorists more privacy rights than they themselves have given to an ordinary citizen.  Enjoy your freedom of speech--the people who would like to run this country do not see the First Amendment as applying to everyone equally.

Mark Steyn has a post over at The Corner on National Review Online with an update on the credit card donations to the Barack Obama presidential campaign.  Evidently, when ficticious names are used with valid credit card numbers, the donations go through, and the cards are charged for the amount of the donation.  In order for the campaign to get this to happen, there are security features on the credit card acceptance programs that have to be manually changed.  The amount of "Chicago-style politics" in the Obama campaign is not surprising, but it is amazing that the press seems to be ignoring the story.

It has been reported lately that a lot of Republicans have recently switched their party allegiance and are voting for Barack Obama.  CNN recently ran a story on a "lifelong Republican" who would be voting for Barack Obama.  American Thinker did its own research on the subject and came to some rather interesting conclusions.

According to an article in  Hot Air The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that opium production in Afghanistan will plunge by almost one third this year.  That's good news for the U.S. troops, bad news for junkies, and bad news for the Taliban.  Hopefully, we will be able to help the Afghanis come up with other ways to make a living.

Mark Steyn has an interesting post at National Review Online this weekend about the upcoming election.  Mark is a transplanted Canadian and always has an interesting perspective on American politics.  It's an interesting piece.

Despite record fund raising in his presidential campaign, Barack Obama isn't staying within his budget.  According to Boston.com, a website not known for its conservative views, the Obama campaign is spending amazing amounts of money on TV--in Florida running almost 16,000 ads to McCain's almost 5,000.  Keep in mind that this media blitz as well as the money behind it are the result of a broken campaign promise--to fund his campaign with public funds.  There is so much question about fraudulent credit card donations, foreign donations, and fraudulent voter registrations, I hope after the election is over, we have a President honest enough (who cares about the future of the country enough) to do some serious investigation into this campaign and election.

After Jack Murtha and Barack Obama began calling a lot of us rednecks, I got curious about exactly what a redneck is.  Actually, I'm not at all sure I have the answer (I live in Massachusetts, which may be part of the problem.  There may be a cultural divide here that I am not able to overcome.)  Anyway here is a link to a song called  Redneck Date on www.Amaze.fm.  You may actually have to register and login to get the link, but please do, it's worth it.  I may live in Massachusetts, but I may be a redneck. 

Real Clear Politics has an essay today by Charles Krauthammer on the reasons why he is voting for John McCain.  I like Charles Krauthammer because he has a way of cutting through the noise and fluff and getting directly to the point.  In this article he does exactly that.  At the end of the article, he contrasts the reactions of McCain and Obama to the crisis in Georgia.  Obama talked in terms of moral equivalence, McCain knew who the bad guys were.  Who would you rather have in the White House?

When I saw this article yesterday, it didn't register.  On closer examination, maybe it should have. Power Line Blog is reporting on the nationalization of retirement accounts in Argentina.  Doesn't sound relevant, does it?  Look again.

This is from Investor's Business Daily on Thursday, October 23.

"Yet U.S. Democrats in Congress are mulling like-minded moves to scrap 401(k)s and transfer them into government-managed "guaranteed retirement accounts" with a 3% return, according to James Pethokoukis of U.S. News & World Report (full disclosure: Pethokoukis is a former IBD reporter).

Before they charge ahead, they should look at what happened since Argentina's announcement: Its stock market lost 23% of its value in two days, for a 57% loss since January. The losses spread to other markets in Brazil, South Africa and Spain.

Markets don't like expropriation of private property -- including savings. And this takes away a key source of private capital. Moreover, one quarter of private pension assets were by law invested in Argentine stocks, making up about a quarter of the bourse's value. So the seizure of pensions amounts to government ownership across the entire private sector."

Do you really want the people who have thoroughly robbed the Social Security Fund to be able to do the same to your 401K (or 101K as things are right now!).  Even if they do not take them over, there are committees in Congress now discussing taking all 401K related tax breaks away from worker who contribute to them and employers who sponsor and match employee contributions.  Be careful how you vote--a Democratic Congress without a Republican President to keep it in check would be a disaster for the country, the economy, and private enterprise.

There is a new website on the internet.  It's called www.amaze.fm

Amaze.fm is a community of music makers and lovers hoping to restore some of that lost quality to what we call "popular" music.

Artists upload their music to be listened to, rated, reviewed, and tagged

Fans choose the songs that make it to the radio by listening to and rating songs weekly

Each week the highest rated songs from Amaze.fm gets played on nationally-syndicated radio.

Join as an Artist
or
Join as a Fan

According to Scott Johnson at Power Line, John Galt is someone who made a credit card contribution to Barack Obama's campaign.  If you read ATLAS SHRUGGED by Ayn Rand, you might have a different opinion.  You might also check out Mark Steyn's post at National Review Online which explains that the organization taking credit cards has to modify the security settings in order for these donations to get past security checks on the cards.  The amount of campaign finance fraud and voter registration fraud in the Obama campaign is staggering.

At a further post from Mark Steyn at National Review Online:

As the Powerline reader has noted, if "John Galt" of "Ayn Rand Lane" attempts a contribution at the McCain campaign, it gets rejected. Which is just as well. If the Republican candidate's website were intentionally set up to facilitate fraudulent donations, it would be on the front page of The New York Times. But, as it's King Barack the Spreader, we can rest assured the crack investigative units will be too preoccupied with Governor Palin's shoes over the next two weeks.

We have two weeks to decide whether we want the Chicago political machine to take over the entire country.

For those of you trying to figure out how Barack Obama is going to give refunds to 95% of taxpayers when only 60% actually pay taxes, the American Thinker has the answer.  The report of the dialog that occurred between the writer and an Obama supporter making campaign calls is amazing.  It would be funny if it were not so sad.  What we need is an informed electorate--not idol worshippers with no idea on issues.

I didn't support Campaign Finance Reform the way in was legislated under McCain-Feingold.  I think a much simpler system would be simply to publish the names of all donors at some internet website--that's all donors--large and small.  Even if someone does not have a home computer, they can go to their local library and be shown how to log on to get any information they may want.  What has happened to campaign finance reform in this election is a travesty.  There is an article at National Review Online listing some of the irregularities in contributions to the Barack Obama campaign.  There are questions of fictional donations (just like fictional voters), foreign donations, and people giving over the legal limit.  I just hope this election does not teach politicians how to buy an election.  (Not that that lesson hasn't been learned before!)

I just found a new website (new to me) for all you political junkies out there (myself included).  It's called Thomas and it is the site containing legislation information from the Library of Congress.  It allows you to look up bills before Congress, Congressional schedules, find out what bills each Congressman has sponsored and generally to become more informed about what is going on in our government.  Below is the summary of what the site does:

THOMAS was launched in January of 1995, at the inception of the 104th Congress. The leadership of the 104th Congress directed the Library of Congress to make federal legislative information freely available to the public. Since that time THOMAS has expanded the scope of its offerings to include the features and content listed below.

• Bills, Resolutions
• Activity in Congress
• Congressional Record
• Schedules, Calendars
• Committee Information
• Presidential Nominations
• Treaties
• Government Resources
• For Teachers
• Help and Contact

What a fantastic resource for all voters!!

Years ago, about the time dinosaurs roamed the earth, I read a book called HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS.  I'm not even sure the book is still in print, but if you can find it, read it.  I mention this in relation to all the polls you are hearing about that predict a landslide for Barack Obama.  Obviously, I do not know who will win this election, but I do want to mention some of the things that pollsters do to skew an election.  This year the media does not seem to be particularly objective and these tricks are totally in evidence if you know how to look for them.

Pollsters need to keep their credibility in order to continue getting business.  No one remembers what the polls say three weeks before the election.  They can be as far off as they want with minimal consequences.  How do you skew a poll?  You sample more people from one party than from the other.  You control the area of the polling and the number of people sampled.  As we get closer to the election, the polls will tighten because it is a tight race and no one wants to be horribly wrong.  They need their credibility to do the same thing next year!  If the pollsters can convince you that the election is lost, you may not vote, and in that case, it may be.  My final word is--TAKE HEART!!!

The Wall Street Journal Online has an article detailing Barack Obama's tax plan and how it would work.  The bottom line is that it wouldn't.  You can't give tax cuts to 95 per cent of Americans when only 44 percent of Americans pay taxes.  It's like going to the local car dealership and asking for the current rebate without buying the car.  The dealership wouldn't be in business long if they gave out rebates to people who didn't buy cars.  Barack Obama's tax plan is not good for any of us.

According to an article in the American Thinker, Senator Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) has added wording to the recent bailout bill that will make it more difficult for Democrats to funnel money to ACORN.  This provision will not allow money to be distributed to any organization that has been indicted for a violation of Federal election law.  The article also links to National Review Online where the implications of this law are discussed.

There is an article posted at American Thinker today analyzing what actions some of the people in the world who don't particularly love us would take if they perceived that America had a weak President. 

We need to look at this in the context of history.  After being judged as weak by Nikita Khrushchev, John Kennedy was faced with the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missle Crisis, and all matter of aggravations by the Russians.  After Carter was judged weak because of the lack of response to the Iranian hostage taking, the Russians invaded Afghanistan.  Remember that as soon as Ronald Reagan was sworn in, the hostages were released.  There was a fear that Reagan would not hesitate to attack to free the hostages.  It really doesn't matter whether he would have or not, we just needed to have the perception that he would.  During the Clinton years we had Somalia, the Embassy bombings, the first World Trade Center Bombing, and the USS Cole bombing.  When George Bush took office, we had September 11, 2001.  We have not been attacked since.  That is not because the terrorists love George Bush--hardly--they saw what he did and don't want to pay the price of another attack.  The only way terrorists will attack in a George Bush administration is if they can be sure that we will not be able to retaliate.  That brings up all kinds of scary thoughts.

Anyway, what Joe Biden says is true--a new President will be tested.  How severe that test is will be determined by how strong an image he has projected to our enemies.  If I were a terrorist, I would feel safer attacking a country ruled by Barack Obama than a country ruled by John McCain.  That may or may not be true, but in this game, perception is reality.

The New York Post has an article today detailing the working conditions of being an ACORN employee.  The people working for this organization were paid low wages and pressured to get people registered.  The Obama campaign may begin to use this pressure as an excuse (almost a justification) for the number of fraudulent voters registered.  The fact remains that the people signing up Mickey Mouse knew he wasn't going to show up in person (if he does, can I have a picture?).  This is corruption and should be dealt with as such.  To check voter registration is not voter suppression--it's making sure that every voter has the right to participate in a free and honest election.

Power Line has an article on the cover-up of the relationship between Barack Obama and William Ayers.  In the last debate, Barack Obama denied that he made his political debut in William Ayers' living room.  The evidence that he was lying was on the internet, but it soon disappeared. 

The invaluable Patterico responded with a link to an online account by Obama supporter Maria Warren dated January 27, 2005:

When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the livingroom of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. They were launching him-introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.

Now, Patterico reports that the above blog post has been deleted. However, it's still on the Wayback Machine, and Patterico, anticipating the cover-up, preserved a screen shot.

I am uncomfortable with a candidate who plays fast and loose with the truth, and this one seems to.

 

You can watch Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live at Hulu.com.  She was in two skits, and she did an awesome job.  She is a class act, and her class showed.

There is a post at Power Line reminding us of some of the attacks on Joe the Plumber.  This is amazing.  This is a picture of how Barack Obama will deal with anyone who has a differing opinion if he becomes President.  Do not vote for Barack Obama unless you are willing to watch Americans slowing have their free speech rights taken away.  The House and the Senate have already pledged to do away with secret ballot union elections if Barack Obama is elected.  Their next target is the reinstatement of the so-called "fairness doctrine" which is anything but fair.  This will cripple the free speech on talk radio, which has been a problem to the Obama campaign from the beginning--it was talk radio that brought out Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers, and the Annenberg Challenge.  Please think before you vote.

There is a post at Power Line stating that we have seriously cripped Al Qaeda's computer communications.  Evidently four of their five communication sites have gone dead since September 10.  This is great news, but don't get too comfortable.  Al Qaeda has been weakened by the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, but they are still out there and they still hate us--not for what we have done, but for who we are.  The goal of Al Qaeda is a worldwide caliphate under their chosen Muslin leaders.  We need to remember that.  Thank God we have made their communications more difficult, but I don't believe we have taken the threat of a terrorist attack away.  They will attack as soon as they put the pieces together.  What may be holding them back now may be not knowing what effect an attack would have on the American presidential election.  What effect an attack now would have on the election is anyone's guess.  I believe that sometime between the election and the inauguration we will be attacked.  If that does not happen, I will be convinced that we have made progress in limiting Al Qaeda's ability to attack us in America.  If you remember, their recent attacks have been on American interests around the world, but not in America.  We have the policies of George Bush to thank for the fact that we have remained safe for the last seven years.

In his column in The Boston Herald yesterday, Howie Carr had some suggestions as to how Deval Patrick could help cut state spending in order to decrease the budget deficit.  He mentions the fact that neither Mitt Romney nor his lieutenant governor collected a paycheck in their four years.  I didn't know that.  I guess sometimes people very quietly put their money where their mouth is (and others don't).

There is a short article at Power Line making the point that if Barack Obama believes in spreading the wealth around, maybe he should share some of his campaign money with John McCain.  An interesting idea!  But the serious note is this--if Barack Obama broke his promise to rely on public campaign financing, how many of his other promises can we expect him to keep?

I found this on Little Green Footballs.  I love it.

Iowahawk: I Am Joe

I hope you will join me in expressing a simple bit of solidarity with this guy, Spartacus style. I AM JOE. I am a Wal Mart schlub in flyover country who changes my own oil and unclogs drains without a license. I smoke and drink beer and toss the football in the front yard with my kid, and I figure I can fend my way without handouts from some Magic Messiah's candy bags. Most everyone in my family and most everyone I grew up with is another Joe, and if you screw with them, you screw with me.

Are you a Joe? Say it proud. Leave it on every @$*$#@* newspaper comment section and online forum. Let these pressroom and online thugs know you won't stay silent when they try to destroy the life of a private citizen for speaking his mind -- because for every one of them, there are a million Joe Wurzelbachers. And for that we should all be thankful.

There will be a debate between John Kerry and Jeff Beatty on 20 October 2008, 8-9 pm on New England Cable News with hosts Jim Braude and R.D. Sahl. (We all understand  the Monday night Football Patriots versus Denver starts at 830pm.)

There will be a second debate is Monday October 27^th at 1pm on 96.9 WTKK F.M. talk (if you cannot pick 96.9 up they stream live on the internet).

Please take the time to listen to these debates.  As voters, we all need to be informed. 

There is an article in Breitbart.com this morning that Hawaii is ending universay child health care.  Sounds cold and inhuman doesn't it?  Let's look at the reasons behind the decision.  Why in world would anyone pay for something they can have for free?  That is the question.  The people who were paying for health care for their children simply stopped paying and enrolled in the free health care program.  The program went way over budget and had to be cut.  There is an interesting bit of information at the end of the article:

"Families with children currently enrolled in the universal system are being encouraged to seek more comprehensive Medicaid coverage, which may be available to children in a family of four earning up to $73,000 annually.

These children also could sign up for the HMSA Children's Plan, which costs about $55 a month.

'Most of them won't be eligible for Medicaid, and that's why they were enrolled in Keiki Care,' Diesman said. 'It's the gap group that we're trying to ensure has coverage.'"

To me that says that the state will no longer pick up the tab for many of Hawaii's children--the federagl government will.  Great.  A family of four earning up to $73,000 annually may be eligible for Medicaid.  I know the cost of living in Hawaii is very high, but that seems excessive to me.

I have a few thoughts about the fuss surrounding Joe the Plumber.  Here they are.

1.  Joe's question is not particularly important.  Barack Obama's answer is.  Did you catch the phrase "spread the wealth around"?  Where is that in the Constitution?

2.  Is the research the Obama campaign is doing on Joe an attempt to distract the American people from Barack Obama's answer?

3.  The next attack on Joe will be that he was a Republican plant.  This should be good.  Think about that for a minute.  If that were so (which I don't believe it is), the Obama campaign is so predictable that the McCain campaign knew how Barack Obama would answer the question and that they would go after Joe the Plumber personally.  The second part of that idea bothers me a great deal.  How many people have the Obama campaign (with media allies) gone after?  There seems to be something odd about the way the Obama campaign views free speech.

4.  If you look at the rise of Barack Obama, his political history is one of removing his opponent from the playing field--he is a Chicago machine politician to the core.  I really don't want to move the Chicago political machine into the White House.  I don't believe that will be good for the country.

This is what Senator McCain had to say about Joe the Plumber in Miami on Friday, Oct 17:

"The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house. He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks."

One more comment on Joe the Plumber--there is an article in The American Thinker that beautifully sums up what has happened to this average citizen who simply asked a question that was not appreciated.

This is the link to the You Tube Video of John McCain speaking at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Dinner.  If you haven't heard it yet, it is very funny.  Enjoy.

The Wall Street Journal has an article on its opinion page today detailing what a Democrat supermajority would mean to this county if Barack Obama wins the Presidency and Democrats elect a supermajority to Congress.  Keep in mind that it takes 60 votes to pass anything (or confirm a judge) in the Senate.  This article lists some of the legislation that the Senate has blocked in the 110th Congress.  These things will not be blocked if the Democrats have sixty senators.  Keep in mind that card check will end the secret ballot in union elections, pouring money into Democrat coffers, and making it very difficult for a shop to remain non-union if it chooses to.  Think also, based on his associations, about the kind of people Barack Obama would appoint to the courts and the Senate would confirm.

The Supreme Court has backed the Ohio Secretary of State in not forcing her to set up a system to verify voters in the state by checking with motor vehicle registrations and social security numbers.  The reason given for not forcing voter verification was the fact that the suit was filed by the GOP and probably did not comply with the law.  At any rate, according to Breitbart.com about 200,000 voters of the 666,000 who have registered since January 1 have names that do not match up with other records.  Needless to say, a lot of these voters were registered by ACORN.  That number means that one out of every three votes cast in this election by new voters in Ohio may be fraudulent.  I hope we can take some serious steps to remedy this sort of situation if not before this election, before the next one.  I think we have reached the point in time where some form of voter identification system is necessary.

The following is taken from the website the Massachusetts GOP has set up to bypass the media bias on the part of the press in this state.  There are a couple of really good articles on the site, Scaling The Hill.  Enjoy.

BUDGET WATCH - Senator Tisei's statement on Governor's 9C cuts.

Senate Minority Leader Richard R. Tisei today released the following statement on Governor Patrick's proposed 9C cuts to address the state's fiscal crisis:

With the announcement of today's 9C cuts, it's clear that the spending spree is over on Beacon Hill. In the two years he has been in office, Governor Patrick has expanded the state budget by nearly $2.5 billion, or 9 percent, created two new executive agencies, and added close to 2,000 new positions to state government. These expansions were unsustainable when they happened, and are even more so now that we are in the midst of a worsening economy.

It's unfortunate the Governor now has to resort to layoffs and other drastic measures to balance the budget. Every Republican member of the Legislature voted against the budget that was passed last July. At the time, we pointed out that we were spending beyond our means. Clearly, the situation we find ourselves in today has been made much more severe by the Patrick Administration's refusal to heed the warnings of fiscal watchdogs.

The year ahead will be a very difficult and challenging one for the Commonwealth. Moving forward, we must continue to hold the line on spending, identify ways to reduce costs by streamlining programs and promoting efficiencies, and implement the reforms that are needed to preserve essential services and protect the taxpayers of the Commonwealth.

The lawyers at Power Line have a fantastic ability to analyze what candidates say. They took the time to research two of Barack Obama's statements in last nights debate and print their findings.  Please check the link above.

Amanda Carpenter went on a search to find out how much of our taxpayer money goes to ACORN.  Her findings are listed at Townhall.com on one of their political blogs.  Most of the money is channelled through Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through various programs that were set up to help lower income people buy houses.  Her preliminary research came up with a figure of roughly $51 million dollars to ACORN and its related organizations.  We need to put a stop to this.  We are supporting voter fraud through our tax dollars.

Joe the Plumber is the man who said, "The Emperor has no clothes".  All this talk about tax policies and financial policies by the candidates is enough to make your eyes glaze over.  However, Joe the Plumber understands how Barack Obama's tax policies will impact him.  He does not make $250,000 a year, but he plans to.  With Barack Obama as President, those plans may have to be modified.  For further notes on Joe the Plumber, see Littlel Green Footballs.  This man understands what tax policy means to him.  We need to be aware of what tax policy means to us before we vote.

Hot Air has an article (including a video) about George McGovern's opposition to 'card check' (the practice of taking the secret ballot out of union votes).  I used to be a liberal, and I voted for George McGovern.  This statement almost makes me feel vindicated.  I disagree with the man on almost everything, but at least he has the strength of character to speak out when he knows something is bad for the country.  It is good to know that there are still some politicians out there with principles.  The importance of card check is that it would essentially take away the freedom to vote against the unions and it would add considerable sums of money to democrat party coffers.  Every union member would be paying at least $500 a year in dues with no input in how that money would be spent politically.

Yahoo News is reporting that the number two leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq has been killed in Mosul.  There had been a lot of terrorism in Mosul recently aimed against the minority Christian population, and many of the Christians were fleeing the city in fear.  Evidently, one of the tactics of Al-Qaida in Iraq has been to pit minority religious groups against each other in order to destabilize the country.  These attacks have decreased dramatically since the surge, but they have continued.  With the death of Abu Qaswarah, these attacks should decrease.  It is believed that his death will cause serious disruption in Al-Qaida activities in northern Iraq.

If you haven't seen the video of the Ohio plumber, please check it out--it is included in the link to The New York Post listed below.   Obama said he would raise taxes on the plumber in order to 'spread the wealth around'.  Keep in mind that this is an average working man, this is not Donald Trump.  There is an article at Power Line that discusses the history of America's relationship with taxes.  There is also an article in The New York Post that includes the video of the plumber talking to Barack Obama.  Remember, a lot of the people Obama is saying he will cut taxes for don't pay taxes.  What he wants to do, essentially, is redistribute wealth without poorer people having to work for it.  What is the lesson taught in that?  If you don't work very hard, eventually you will get more money from someone who does.  If you do work very hard, you will not be able to keep what you earn.  If you go back to the history of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts, you will read that originally the pilgrims had a situation where all the land was held and farmed in common.  They almost starved to death before they allotted every family a plot of land and allowed them to prosper in accordance with their efforts.  After they began individual ownership, the people grew more crops and prospered.

The danger point in all this is that at some point the number of people not paying taxes who receive money from the government will be greater than the number of people who are working and pay taxes. 

Just for your information, this is the current situation. The overwhelming majority of federal income taxes are paid by the very highest income earners. The top 1% of income earners pay about 32% of all income taxes. The top 5% pays 51.4%. The top 10% of high income earners, pay 63.5%. The top 20% of income earners pays 78% of all federal income taxes. 

Since the people who do not work have the same right to vote as the people who do work, this could lead to some very ugly things.  Please read ATLAS SHRUGGED.  My parting words are "Who is John Galt?".

The Buckeye Institute has filed a state RICO action against ACORN in Ohio.  There is an article posted by Michelle Malkin detailing the suit.  The action is filed in Warren County by two people charging that ACORN's fraudulent acitivity deprives them of their right to participlate in an honest election.  It will be interesting to see where this goes.  In a related story, The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that Mickey Mouse was registered in Orange County, Florida (his registration had an ACORN stamp on it).  I want to be there when he shows up to vote!  The Dallas Cowboys starting lineup is registered in Nevada.  My, how some people get around!  I hope we have some way of identifying legitimate voters before election day comes.

Jesse Jackson spoke up today in France concerning how Barack Obama would treat Israel.  Power Line has summarized the statements Jackson made at the first World Policy Forum.  Basically what he said was that the Zionists have controlled American foreign policies and there will be massive changes in those policies.  Israel has been one of our strongest allies in the Middle East and may eventually be the country that deals with the problem of a nuclear Iran.  I would also like to say that it may be a safe bet that if Barack Obama is elected, Israel will bomb Iran before January 20.  They will probably assume that even thought the Bush administration will not support the attack, an Obama administration will react against it much more forcefully.  We really need to consider what the foreign policy of a Barack Obama administration would be like.

Power Line has a post dealing with 'card check' (a process that takes the secret ballot away in company employees deciding whether to unionize).  The conventional wisdom is that if Barack Obama is elected president, the secret ballot in union elections will disappear, as will free speech (the fairness doctrine will be reinstated and talk radio will be seriously threatened).  Michael Barone at National Review has a column detailing all the anti-free speech moves made by the Obama campaign--from silencing critics (Stanley Kurtz on WGN) to screaming racism every time he is criticized.  Please think before you vote.

Hugh Hewett has an article on his blog Hugh Hewitt at Townhall.com relating what an Obama presidency would mean.  He lists five problems with Obama as president. 1) Based on his associations, who would he put in Cabinet positions? 2) Because of his lack of understanding of the victory in Iraq and its fragile nature, he would endanger the future of both Iraq and America in relation to that war. 3) Along with a Democratic congress, he will promote isolationist trade policies and higher taxes (both of which caused the "Great Depression"). 4) The American military will be defunded and demoralized. 5) He will bring back the death tax, which is nothing more than a redistribution of wealth. 

If you support the list above, vote for Obama.  If we elect Obama and we have a democrat congress, we will not recognize our country in two years.

Power Line has an article detailing a Stanley Kurtz investigation into the relationship between ACORN, Obama, and the mortgage crisis.  The story goes back to the mid 1990's and ends with the following quote:

"Read it all. One of the common themes of modern American history is that liberals will create a problem by ill-advised government action, then benefit from it politically by proposing ever more intrusive government action to solve it. That appears to be happening again in connection with today's credit crisis."

Consider this as you begin to decide who you will vote for in three weeks.

 

The Wall Street Journal has the best article I have seen so far about Barack Obama's tax proposals (it even has a graph!).  It explains why the policies would discourage people from working extra hours to earn more.  Generally the policies would discourage lower income working families from working hard to advance.  Because they would begin to lose their tax breaks as their income rose above $40,000 a year, there would be no reason to strive for higher wages.

Power Line has a short article noting that if Barack Obama is elected president, America will have the most left-wing leader present at the G7.  We might not like to policies that come out of the G7 at that point--they will not favor America and could damage our country.  Remember, this is not a man who believes in 'American exceptionalism'.

There is an article on Little Green Footballs detailing ties between Barack Obama and ACORN.  Now that people are becoming aware of the voter fraud charges against ACORN, Barack Obama is adding them to the crowd already under the bus.  It must be getting pretty crowded under there (his racist grandmother, Reverend Wright, Bill Ayers, etc.).  The Barack Obama website is being quietly edited as the connection with ACORN becomes harder to deny.  Also, from the article:

Wikileaks.org has an article from the Winter 2003 edition of the magazine Social Policy (whose website has gone offline sometime in the past few days), making it very clear that  Barack Obama's ties to ACORN are extensive.

I'm not sure you can incite rage (I know you can incite violence), but if it were possible, it may surprise you to see who is doing it.  Remember the best way protect yourself from an opponent accusing you of something you are actually doing wrong is to accuse him of it first.  That totally blunts the attack.  With that in mind, I would like to direct you to a Mark Steyn post at The National Review.   I need to put a warning label on this post.  The language on the videos is not anything I need to listen to, I just need to be aware that it is happening.

When I want the truth on something that has legal overtones, I go to the lawyers at PowerLineBlog.  This is the money quote from their article on the Sarah Palin 'troopergate' scandal:

"It is also not entirely clear (at least to me) that the efforts of Gov. Palin and/or her husband were intended to gain a personal benefit. Wooten seems to have been a genuine menace. Among other things, he tasered his young stepson and apparently had a drinking problem. If a governor concludes that a state trooper is a miscreant, the governor should have the ability to discuss that trooper. The report does not convincingly show that the Palins were driven by the desire to obtain a personal benefit, as opposed to the desire to rid the police force of a bad apple about whom they had personal knowledge. However, Todd Palin's persistence suggests that, at a minimum, there he, at least had a personal agenda."

I would like to point out that Todd Palin is not running for Vice President.  I would also like to point out that if someone in a position of power is aware of the kind of behavior on the part of a policeman that her ex brother-in-law engaged in, they have a moral responsibility to make as much noise as needed to have the person fired.  A policeman with a drinking problem who tasers his stepson is not my idea of the poster child for law enforcement.  I wonder if part of the flack she is getting is because she was (in a sense) taking on a very powerful union.

The Washington Post ran an article on Wednesday regarding John Kerry's involvement with insurance giant AIG.  He and Ted Kennedy blocked legislation from John McCain that would have cut thousands of dollars off the cost of the Big Dig.  The story is fairly complex, but there was a vacation trip, a campaign donation, and a fairly large stock holding involved, and it really does not look ethical.  I would also like to remind any Massachusetts readers that if you go to OpenSecrets.org and look at the campaign donations that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made to politicians, John Kerry is one of the top three recipients of campaign donations from these organizations.

This morning I was fortunate to be part of a group of people who met with Senate candidate Jeff Beatty, who is running against John Kerry.  In the thirty years I have lived in Massachusetts, I have considered it a one-party state (with occasional Republican governors).  But it may be time for that to change.  Jeff Beatty came across as a natural leader with business, military and personal experiences that have prepared him well for the job of Senator.  His work with the military and government agencies has allowed him to see up close and personal how Washington works (or doesn't work)  and to understand how to change it.  He was interested in hearing what issues our small group was interested in, and was knowledgeable in those issues as well as several others he brought up.  This man definitely has leadership qualities that we could use in Washington.  There are two debates scheduled between John Kerry and Jeff Beatty before the election.  I will post reminders as they get closer.

When I first looked at this, I thought it might be serious.  It's an indication of where we are.  There is an article at Little Green Footballs stating that ACORN has filed a voting rights suit on behalf of imaginary Americans.  I love it.

There is a website called Hillbuzz run by a group of democrat supporters of Hillary Clinton that now support John McCain.  That site has an article on RICO charges being brought against ACORN.  Clinton supporters are sharing information with the people investigating the voter fraud charges against ACORN.  It's an interesting website--it deals with caucus irregularities and strongarm tactics used by the Obama campaign during the primaries.  Remember, however, that this site supports the Clintons, who in the past have not been totally honest in all their dealings either.  However, I don't believe that they were ever guilty of voter fraud. 

If this were not totally pathetic, it would be funny.  Do you remember the Carter years--gas lines, 18 percent mortgages, unemployment, the invention of the "misery index" because things were so bad that they had no way to measure them?  This is rich.  The article is at Reuters.  Meanwhile as we speak, the price of oil has dropped to $80 a barrel.  As we watch OPEC cut production to raise the price, we may remember why we need to be energy independent.  Just a note, a vote for Obama is a vote to relive the Carter years.

We have pretty much won the war in Iraq.  Where is the thank you to our troops?  Where is the celebration of the fact that people are no longer being sent through chicken shredders feet first?  Where is the celebration of the fact that children are no longer tortured in front of their parents or put in prison?  Where is the celebration of the end of the rape rooms?  Where is the celebration of the end of the mass graves?  Does anyone remember that Saddam Hussien violated the treaty that ended the first Gulf War umpteen times and would probably continue to do so?  Part of this war had to do with human rights.  If the UN were worth anything at all, they could have dealt with it and cleaned it up.  Does anyone remember that the UN left Iraq as soon as the situation became difficult?  I say all this to remind anyone who is willing to listen that the picture that has been painted for us by the press has left a lot out.  Please keep that in mind and THANK A SOLDIER TODAY!!!

Investor's Business Daily posted an editorial yesterday about the future of the alternative media (that's what you are reading right now!) under an Obama administration.  It lists some of the anti-free speech actions taken by the campaign to squelch opposing ideas.  The alternative media (talk radio and the internet) have played a role in recent presidential and congressional elections, and it has not been a role appreciated by the democrat party.  Their lives would be easier without pesky internet people checking their facts.  (Remember the Dan Rather scandel--that was uncovered due to the blog Little Green Footballs.  The photoshopped pictures of the Iran rocket launchings were also exposed by the internet--I think that was Little Green Footballs, also.  The phony pictures of damage to Lebanon in the war with Israel were also exposed on the internet).  Factcheck.org is a poliltically neutral organization, but it exposes democrat as well as republican lies.  We need a media that reports both sides of any issue, and right now the mainstream media is not doing that.

There is an article in The New York Post about someone who took part in the ACORN voter fraud scam.  It's important to know what is going on with ACORN and voter fraud.  The Obama campaign has given money to ACORN for voter registration, but claims not to be involved in any of the voter problems.  ACORN is saying that any problems are due to employees not understanding the rules--that it has no responsibility for the fraud.  The talking point is "we are only trying to register more voters".  There are also counties in some of the swing states that have registered more voters than people who actually live there over the age of 18.

1.  Why haven't we heard anything about the war in Iraq?  Have you read that Iraq will be holding parliamentary elections in January and the groups that boycotted last time have agreed to take part?  Did you know that Iraq has worked out its oil revenue sharing program?  Did you know that public opinion polls in the Middle East (there's a strange concept) have shown that suicide bombing is not as popular as it used to be?  Evidently it is now considered a destructive but not particularly effective tactic.  I think that's good news.  Have you read anywhere that freedom in Iraq is as much a destabilization problem for Iran as Iran has tried to be to Iraq?  Hmmm

2.  Have you read that the crowds for McCain-Palin are getting larger while the crowds for Barack Obama are shrinking?  I have no idea what that means, but I find it interesting.  I listened to part of a McCain-Palin rally in Wisconsin today, there are some angry voters out there.

3.  Why are we asking the Congress, whose policies caused the demise of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, to fix them?  Why is Henry Waxman investigating the financial meltdown when it was a democrat problem?  See previous post "Follow The Money" on September 16, which links to opensecrets.org which shows campaign donations by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

These are the things we should be seeing in our newspapers.  Have you seen any of them?

There is an article at MediaCircus.com showing the information on a lawsuit filed in 1996 against Citibank charging Citibank with rejecting loan applications of minorities.  This is essentially the type of lawsuit ACORN used to get banks to issue subprime mortgages.  Why hasn't the media reported anything about Obama's relationship with ACORN (now being charged with voter fraud and well as strong arm tactics to get banks to issue subprime mortgages)?

There is a list at Power Line detailing the states and incidents of voter fraud.  We need to fight this wherever we can.  Voter ID is rapidly becoming necessary.  I need an ID to rent a DVD; I should need one to vote.

Thomas Sowell has posted an article at National Review Online reviewing the current financial crisis and how we got here.  He shows the insanity of electing those who created the mess to clean it up.

The New Party was established in 1992 too move the Democrat Party left.  There is an article on the American Thinker which gives a brief history of the party and what was discovered about Barack Obama's relationship with it.  If you follow the links in the article, you can get an idea of what an Obama presidency would mean.

I though I'd heard it all, but this statement floors me.  It's from an article on The Campaign Spot at National Review.

ACORN: Look, We Can't Weed Out Fraudulent Voters. It's What We Do.

Please click on the link and read the entire article.  It's amazing.

I am not a devout Glenn Beck listener, but I do get to listen to about a half hour of his show on Wednesdays during my ride home from work.  Today he was talking about the repercussions of the financial crisis we now face.  I don't necessarily agree with all of what he says, but it does give me something to think about.  Hopefully it will do the same for you.  Here is the link Glenn Beck - Current Events.

Yesterday I posted a video of Halloween with the Clintons because I thought the day needed a little humor.  Well, I couldn't find the video I wanted to post, which was the Saturday Night Live version of the bailout press conference.  I didn't think anything of the missing video until I read Hotair.com this morning and realized that that skit on Saturday Night Live had evidently caused quite an uproar, then disappeared on the internet.  You can find the skit (at least temporarily) at YouTube.com.  I'm not sure how long it will be up there.  It skewers everyone equally, and that may have been the problem.  There may be lawsuits involved.  Evidently, one of the couples named in the skit are big democrat party donors.  That also might be part of the problem.  Anyway, enjoy.

UPDATE:  The video is no longer available on YouTube.  I found it somewhere else.  THIS IS THE NEW LINK Hulu.com.  There is some editing, but it is minor.  It has to do with the couple who sold their portfolio to Wachovia Bank.

There is one more part that was edited.  It's not so minor.  I got this information from HotAir.com.

an interview with Gold, the show's executive producer, Lorne Michaels, said the Sandlers were distraught but had not demanded the changes. He noted the "People who should be shot" line was deleted as was a reference to their "corrupt activities."

But a comparison of the two versions shows that actually a little more than that was cut. What also was excised was any mention of the involvement of Massachusetts' Rep. Frank in the Sandler subprime mess...

In the original skit Sandler addresses Frank, saying, "And thank you Congressman Frank as well as many Republicans for helping block Congressional oversight of our corrupt activities."

To which Frank replies enthusiastically, "Not at all!"

 

An ACORN office in Las Vegas was raided as part of a voter registration fraud investigation.  This article was posted at Brietbart.com at one o'clock this afternoon.

There is a story on Power Line that reminds us that the relationship between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama does matter.  It is the story of child whose father was a judge in one of the Black Panther trials.  Their house was firebombed one night.  Needless to say, he still carries that memory.  Do you want a person who is friends with people who dislike this country (also friends who condemn this country from a church pulpit) filling staff and cabinet positions in our government?  That is the relevance of these friendships.  What type of people will be in a Barack Obama government?

American Thinker has an article today discussing the bailout and what it does and does not do.  The money quote is, "Let's be frank. This bailout legislation is the first step in an effort to socialize debt -- while it attempts to keep profits private."  The article offers a much more reasonable plan than the one passed.

We need a little lightness today, so I am providing a link to the Saturday Night Live Skit they did last year at Halloween.  The setting is a Halloween party at the Clintons with Barack Obama and John Edwards as guests.  The link is Hulu.com.  Enjoy.

There is an article on The Power Line Blog talking about what is going on with our economy right now that does actually show a positive aspect.  There is one school of thought that the downturn is fueled by fear of what Barack Obama would do to the economy as president.

Sometimes it takes me a while to find things.  This time I had help.  On September 28, The Boston Globe ran an article by Jeff Jacoby on the current financial crisis.  (You may have to register if you follow the link, but it is free).

Barney Frank was very quick to blame the Republicans for this mess and to misquote Ronald Reagan in the process.  In fact, the roots of the crisis go back to Jimmy Carter.  When you apply pressure on banks to issue loans to people who cannot afford them (earning money for the banks that sell the mortgage paper, the mortgage brokers, the lawyers doing the closings, and the real estate agents), you set up a situation that has to eventually fail.  There will be people (both principled and unprincipled) who will make money in the short term, but it's a bubble waiting to burst.  If you add to that the ability to mix good mortgage paper and bad mortgage paper in commodities without anyone knowing which is which, you have the recipe for a mega disaster.  The private sector did not give us this--the article shows the real culprit.

I received the following email this morning.  I am passing it on to anyone who reads this blog who may live in Massachusetts.

We need your help to be a representative for Jeff Beatty.  Jeff's name recognition is rising as he continues to travel and meet voters across the state. However, your power to inform your friends and local community is a necessity for success this November.  Below are a few reasons as to why the voters of Massachusetts will vote Jeff Beatty.  Use these reasons as a guide to write to your local paper and talk with your friends and neighbors. 

 

Jeff Beatty is the most qualified candidate to address issues for Massachusetts. As a former Delta Force Officer, FBI agent and CIA counter-terrorism officer, he has the leadership experience needed to address the national security challenges facing America today. As a small business owner Jeff  knows the most important issue facing this country today is putting people back to work.

 

John Kerry lacks this experience having never run a business, having never had to make payroll, insure employees made a decent wage and a good healthcare program. Jeff is painfully aware of the cost of living today and the impact fuel costs and home heating cost have in our part of the country, Unlike Kerry, Jeff has to write out those checks to his fuel company to keep warm. Jeff supports drilling HERE, drilling NOW, to free us from mid east oil dependence and would use the oil in this country as a bridge into the future getting new technologies on line to make us truly energy independent!

 

This campaign is poised and ready to defeat John Kerry.  We have thousands of volunteers and more than 40 thousand contributions, Jeff  has what it takes and will do whatever it takes to bring new and solid leadership to the Senate this January.

 

We've seen this movie before.  Putting John Kerry back in the Senate will only usher in a new era of higher taxes, slower growth and failed liberal policies.  How do we know?  We've seen the John Kerry prequel right here at home.  It doesn't matter if it's energy independence, a strong national security policy, or reviving our sluggish economy.  John Kerry has not lead America.  Jeff Beatty is ready to step up to the plate and make change you can trust happen on day one!.

 

My Friend Jeff Beatty is the right person to help lead America through these tough times. He is uniquely well-qualified to help bring tough, visionary leadership to national security issues and to help restore the U.S. economy.

 

Jeff will fight to identify waste no matter who is responsible and bring those responsible to the light of day. Jeff will be a no-nonsense reformer whose experience will help ALL the citizens of Massachusetts, not just the power elite. Jeff desires to be the individual to represent you and will usher in an era of true change and meaningful reform.  Please visit www.jeffbeatty.com to read all about Jeff and his stands on the issues of the day and PLEASE consider my friend on November 4^th  

 

Thank you

 

 

 

In my 'humble' opinion, this is the money quote from the Thursday night debate.

PALIN: Oh, yeah, it's so obvious I'm a Washington outsider. And someone just not used to the way you guys operate. Because here you voted for the war and now you oppose the war. You're one who says, as so many politicians do, I was for it before I was against it or vice- versa. Americans are craving that straight talk and just want to know, hey, if you voted for it, tell us why you voted for it and it was a war resolution.

And you had supported John McCain's military strategies pretty adamantly until this race and you had opposed very adamantly Barack Obama's military strategy, including cutting off funding for the troops that attempt all through the primary.

And I watched those debates, so I remember what those were all about.

This says it all.  It was taken from the entire transcript of the debate posted by The New York Times today.

John Fund has an article in The New York Post talking about voter fraud in the upcoming election.  He has written a book entitled "Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy."  Voter fraud is something we need to deal with as a country,  Voter identification can be handled in a way that does not discriminate against any group of voters.  We need to put this in place.  It's easier to vote illegally than to rent a video!

My husband and I attended at concert by David Grisman and John Sebastian tonight at the Showcase Live in Foxboro tonight.  First, my comments on the place.  The Patriot Place people have done a fantastic job on creating the Showcase Live venue.  It was an intimate dinner concert.  The food was very good, the service was excellent, and the seating was comfortable and very close to the stage.  There was a small glitch as we were leaving.  We were in a line of traffic that stood still for ten minutes, but once the traffic began to move, we were on Route 1 within five minutes.  That's pretty good considering that the soccer game let out at the same time as the concert.  Second, my comments on the show.  David and John are veteran performers with a wealth of experience and talent in various types of music between them.  They don't need light shows and smoke, they just need some mandolins, guitars, banjos, harmonicas, and an autoharp.  They came out, sat in their chairs, picked up their instruments, and off we were.  Their music program was varied and interesting and a joy to hear.  They even paid tribute to the Carter family and their role in bringing us country and folk music.  The sound was loud enough to be heard clearly, but not overly loud.  The sound mixing was great--not a lot of effects, just clean music.  We were thoroughly impressed.

This article is in two parts.  It shows the negative effect a careless, ignorant statement by one of our congressional leaders can have.  Have you seen it in your newspaper?

Part 1 of this story from The Weekly Standard relates the story of what was said and how it effected the markets. 

Part 2 of this story from The Weekly Standard relates the story of denying the quote and ignoring the damage it caused.  Stocks declined 3% that day, but insurance stocks declined 10%.  Is the cause of that decline not worth reporting?

Joe Biden's comments on the Vice Presidency are discussed at Power Line Blog by John Hinderaker.  He is definitely qualified to comment (see below).

John H. Hinderaker is a lawyer with a nationwide litigation practice. For fifteen years Hinderaker has written with his former law partner Scott Johnson on public policy issues including income inequality, income taxes, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, welfare reform, and race in the criminal justice system. Both Hinderaker and Johnson are fellows of the Claremont Institute. Their articles have appeared in National Review, The American Enterprise, American Experiment Quarterly, and newspapers from Florida to California. The Claremont Institute has archived many of their articles here.

Mr. Hinderaker lives with his family in Apple Valley, Minnesota. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. He is listed in The Best Lawyers In America and was recognized as Minnesota's Super Lawyer of the Year for 2005. John can be reached by phone at (612)245-8043.

Admittedly, this is a campaign ad, but it is interesting in that it shows footage from hearings on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae where the alarm was sounded and squelched.  We need to unelect the people who caused this financial mess.  Here is the link to Power Line Blog, which ran the video.

To do what?  Power Line Blog has posted a YouTube Video showing some Obama youth that is just plain scary.  He also has a picture of the new "Che" look sweeping Paris.  Some looks ought to be swept (under the carpet quickly)!

Is it a commentary on our society that we are so willing to put our faith and hope in one man we (mostly) have never met rather than in ourselves and our God?  Do we still have a God left, or have we gone strictly to made-up gods?

This article is from The New York Post today.  Obviously we have no idea if this is a singular idiot or if he is grouped with other idiots, but thank God for the work of the New York police.

There is an article at The American Thinker today has an article on voter registration fraud in Wisconsin by ACORN.  The update in the article also states that Professor Michael Krauss, writing for NRO, reviews the student voter registration feature on the Obama website, believes it misstates the law, may be an attemtp to manipulate the elctoral college system of elections and can create problems for students who follow its suggestions. Hugh Hewitt wrote a book in 2004 called IF IT'S NOT CLOSE THEY CAN'T CHEAT.  We really need to pay attention this year and make sure every legal vote counts.

This is the link to the video on Little Green Footballs showing what Joe Biden actually has said about supporting clean coal vs what he stated during the debate.

There is a post at Little Green Footballs stating that David Kay, former head of the Iraq Study Group thinks that we should not move against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.  He feels that a nuclear weapon for Iran is two to five years away and we shouldn't strike until one of our cities is hit.  I really don't want to do 911 again (only nuclear), and I wonder what this man is thinking.  Keep in mind that it's been four months since Mohamed ElBaradei said on Al-Arabiya television that Iran could have a nuclear weapon within six months.

This is taken from the Ace of Spades website.  It was posted last night.

Biden's 14 Lies

Fresh from the McCain people.

JOE BIDEN'S 14 LIES TONIGHT

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted "the exact same way" as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, "Drill we must." But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to "raping" the Outer Continental Shelf."

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it's passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he's always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain's record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people's health insurance coverage -- they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it's not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was "dead wrong on Iraq", because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn't see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn't meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of "part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20."

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won't pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

Mark Steyn has the following post at The Corner at National Review Online:

 

Arrow collared   Mark Steyn

Rich, your Capitol Hill pals should give it up. That last justification ("We have to stick it into this bloated 450-page bill that's got nothing to do with wooden arrows because we're correcting an error from the previous 450-page bill that had nothing to do with wooden arrows") only makes my point - that responsible government is impossible under this system. How many Senators read the bill they voted for or against? And, if they don't, how can our representatives give us the Burkean judgment Peter Robinson was hymning the other day? Instead of one George III, we now have hundreds of George IIIs reliant on swollen retinues of courtiers to fill 'em in on what they're signing off on.

A reader adds:

Not only does wooden arrow tax relief not belong in the Armageddon-Avoidance Act, it actually makes a mockery of the whole premise for the bill in the first place.  A week ago I was reluctantly willing to go along with the Armageddon Avoidance Act.  But the more these porkers load it up with junk, the less convinced I am that Armageddon was really a threat at all.  

Old mantra: When General Motors sneezes, America catches a cold.

New mantra: When Wachovia sneezes, the entire planet catches the ebola virus.

Hmm.

Investor's Business Daily posted an opionion piece on Tuesday about the financial crisis we are going through.  I hope the investigation that has begun in New York State into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not stop there.  It should continue to include those politicians in Washington who blocked reform on the reckless lending while taking large campaign contributions and entering into sweetheart mortgage deals.  I really think we need to throw anyone out of office who was part of this fiasco--not give them more money to play with.

One of the problems to be aware of in this year's election is voter fraud.  ACORN is already being investigated in seven states for fraudulent voter registration.  Unfortunately, according the an article by Michelle Malkin, there are already numerous voting irregularities in Ohio.

The moderator of the Vice Presidential debate not only supports Obama, she is planning to release a book about him on Inauguration Day.  Watch the video at Breitbart.tv or read the lead story on the DRUDGE REPORT.  You can also go to Amazon.com and preorder the book.  Are we supposed to believe that she will be objective?  If he is not elected, her book sales will be markedly down.