According to The New York Times, President Bush may be able to oppose investigations into his administration after he leaves office.  Wait a minute.  We have an economy crashing, terrorists overseas wanting to kill us, no energy bill, and a failing education system, and Congress wants to spend its time investigating President Bush (you remember him–the man who has kept this country safe from attack for seven years).  This is by far the stupidest idea I have heard in a long time.  Barack Obama won the election.  It’s time for Barack Obama to do things that will move the country forward–not go over everything in the past with a microscope.  I have no idea what is the matter with Congress, but if they can’t do something for the country other than take money away from the people who work for it, it’s time for them to go home and try to live under their own laws.  We need to pay close attention to how Congress spends the next two years and remove anyone from office who has not been a force for progress–energy independence, honest elections, a strong economy, etc.  This is a very partisan investigation attempt–where is the investigation of ACORN and election fraud?

In America, as a free country, we depend on our media to give us the whole story,  That seems to be one of the things that did not happen in the last election cycle.  The New Haven Independent reports on an interview that Tom Scott did with Chris Dodd (which he taped on October 29 of this year) dealing with the sweetheart mortgage Chris Dodd got from Countrywide (as head of the Senate Banking Committee he was supposed to be regulating Countrywide) which was never aired.  When Clear Channel’s regional manager was asked why the interview never aired he declined to comment other than to say, “That’s something that happened behind closed doors.”  To hear the interview, follow the link above.  The link to the interview is about half way down the story.

There is a lot of discussion right now about bringing back the ‘fairness doctrine’.  It seems to me that if the media does its job, the fairness will take care of itself.

It has been reported in Power Line and various other places that there were secret meetings between Barack Obama’s staff members and Hamas during the presidential campaign and that Hamas was asked to keep those meetings secret.  This is a bit troubling.  I am also concerned about articles that I have read about meetings between Bill Ayers and FARC in Columbia (FARC is a revolutionary group funded by Hugo Chavez trying to overthrow democracy in Columbia).  The relationship between Barack Obama and FARC is discussed in an The American Thinker article in April of this year.  This becomes even more troubling in view of the Senate’s refusal to ratify a trade agreement with Columbia to strengthen its government and help it stand against Chavez.  I hope that this is just a naive attempt on the part of Barack Obama to be on good terms with everyone.  However, Osama Bin Laden didn’t get the message.  He is threatening a major attack on America in the coming months.  It is my hope that Barack Obama has the judgment to deal with the different faces of terrorism active in our world today.

I linked to the video on YouTube “Burning Down The House” in the last month or so, but I think it needs to be out there again.  The policies of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Congress got us into this mess by pressuring banks to issue loans that would not be paid back.  This is the trigger for creating worthless paper to shift the financial risk away from those responsible for the problem.  The video explains it well.  Please watch it, and remember it when you hear the debate about bailing out General Motors.

Thank you, veterans.  It is because of you that I am free to write this blog.  It is because of you that people in America are free to protest any law, politician, or legal decision they disagree with.  It is because of you that people in Iraq are no longer being sent through chicken shredders feet first.  It is because of you that there are no longer rape rooms in Iraq.  It is because of you that the Concentration Camps in Germany were liberated after World War II.  It is because of you that England is a free country and France is a free country and Europe exists as many free nations.  It is because of you that Japan is a free and prosperous country.  It is because of you that South Korea is free and prosperous.  Thank you for your sacrifice, your dedication, and your service.

President Bush is honoring veterans at the USS Intrepid today according to Yahoo News.  The Intrepid has just returned to New York City to be part of the USS Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum after having some repair work done.  My husband served on the Intrepid during the late 1960’s.  He was with one of the air wings stationed on the ship.  It is a museum worth visiting.  The ship is huge (although small by current standards) and quite imposing.  Along with the Intrepid, the museum also features the destroyer USS Edson, submarine USS Growler and over 25 aircraft.  I have been aboard the Intrepid and the Growler, but I have never been aboard a destroyer.  I hope to get there in the near future.

According to The Minnesota Star Tribune, Norm Coleman’s lead over Al Franken is now down to 206 votes.  Wednesday morning, Norm Coleman had a lead of over 700 votes.  There are some real questions as to the origin of Al Franken’s new votes.  The Coleman campaign has questioned the validity of changes. Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has responded that the revisions are typical and that no fraud is being committed.  I just hope that when this is finally over, the election will have been won honestly.

The United States Marine Corps was founded on November 10,1775 as the Continental Marines.  A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore.  
As the first order of business, Samuel Nicholas became Commandant of the newly formed Marines. Tun Tavern’s owner and popular patriot, Robert Mullan, became his first captain and recruiter. They began gathering support and were ready for action by early 1776.  
 
Each year, the Marine Corps marks November 10th with a celebration of the brave spirit which compelled these men and thousands since to defend our country as United States Marines.

This information was taken from the Marine Corps website.  You can read more at Marines.com.

Happy Birthday to the Corps and all who serve and have served.

There is an article in the global addition of The New York Times detailing a classified order written in the Spring of 2004 allowing American troops to target Al Qaeda in countries other than the ones where we are actually fighting a war.  I have a few questions.  Remember the scene in the movie THE PATH TO 911 where our military had Bin Laden in their sights and no one was willing to or had the authority to pull the trigger.  The order will prevent that from happening again.  Evidently, it streamlines communications so that we can attack enemy  leaders in ‘real time’ and not attack a place an hour after they have been there.  I guess my other question is “Why in the world is the Times releasing classified information?”  “What are they thinking?”  “Has it ever occurred to the news media that they too can be targeted as civilian casualties in a terrorist attack?”  We need to work together as a nation in order to end terrorism.  Revealing classified information is not working together.  It needs to stop.

The New Orleans Times Picayune is already talking about the future role of Bobby Jindal in the Republican Party.  Bobby Jindal will be the featured speaker next month at the Iowa Family Policy Center in the state that holds the first presidential primary.  On a personal note, I actually met Bobby Jindal at the “Scarium at the Aquarium” one year.  I was going into the elevator with my daughter and two of my grandchildren and he was coming out wheeling a stroller with one of his children.  He comes across as a very polite, humble, and gracious man.  I have been impressed with the changes he has made in Louisiana and would love the see him on the national stage.  He is obviously a man of integrity and is a great asset to our country as well as the state of Louisiana.  If you would like to learn more about this man, the information is on Wikipedia.  Just for the record, Wikipedia is not always totally accurate, but on general biographical information (date of birth, education, etc.), you can generally trust it.

There are four treaties standing in the wings that would change the final word on American laws from the Constitution of the U.S. to governing bodies from the U.N. picked by such wonderful people as Russia, China, and Cuba (those great champions of human rights).  According to Power Line Blog by way of a National Review article not available online:

“In the November 17 issue of the National Review (not available online to my knowledge), John Fonte of the Hudson Institute identifies four “transnational power grabs” that Obama is likely to push for They are: the Law of the Sea Treaty, the Rights of the Child Treaty, the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the International Criminal Court. Agreement by the U.S. to these arrangements would make us more popular with foreigners, but only at a cost to our national security, our right of self-governance, and our rights under the Constitution.”

Passing these agreements would definitely make us more popular around the world, but we would lose our national sovereignty in the process.  America is a force for good in the world–we have helped end genocide in many places, fought for freedom in other countries, provided humanitarian aid, and done many other positive things.  We are able to do these things because we are a free people.  Our national sovereignty is important.  Please read the article on Power Line and make a decision to write your congressman or congresswoman when these items come up for a vote.  Pay attention, because they may be voted on when congress thinks you are not looking!

There is a story on the ABC New Website about the Taliban holding a wedding party hostage and firing on US troops in the hope of our troops firing back so that we could be accused of firing on said civilian wedding party.  It makes sense.  From a propaganda point of view, it’s a good move.  You can read the story for the details.  But wait a minute.  Think about how this story would have been reported a year ago–if at all.  Now that we elected Barack Obama are we the good guys in the war on terror?  Is the war on terror real now?  I hate to be cynical, but I believe that story was printed for a reason.  I believe we are going to see the media change their tune on the war on terror now that Barack Obama has been elected.  I also believe that when this war is won (probably a generation from now), they will try to give credit to Barack Obama.  Pay attention.  History is about to be revised.

Power Line Blog has the update on the mysterious growth of Al Franken’s vote totals in Minnesota.  Unfortunately, the fox is guarding the hen house on this one.  The person in charge of the recount has strong connections with ACORN.  There are a number of questionable incidents.  This is my favorite so far:

“UPDATE: Hot off the press, the first apparent evidence of fraud. Last night at around 7:30, a precinct in Mountain Iron, St. Louis County, mysteriously updated its vote total to add 100 new votes–all 100 for Barack Obama and Al Franken.

Mountain Iron uses optical scanning, so the Coleman campaign asked for a copy of the tape documenting the ballots cast on election night. St. Louis County responded by providing a tape that includes the newly-added 100 votes, and is dated November 2–the Sunday before the election. St. Louis County reportedly denies being able to produce the genuine tape from election night, even though Minnesota law, as I understand it, requires that tape to be signed by the election judges and publicly displayed.”

Pay attention.  The way this turns out determines more than who will sit in the Senate.  It gives us a clue as to whether we can expect anything resemblying an honest election in the future.  We need to pressure the legislators that we have for laws to protect us from voter fraud.  I think voter ID’s would help, but I’m not sure that would have made a difference in this situation.

Just a note–two of the writers of Power Line Blog live in Minnesota, so I suspect they will have continued updates on the situtation.  Since their votes will be the ones nullified by any fraud committed, I also suspect they may have an opinion or two.

Change has already come!  Positive change, actually.  According to Little Green Footballs Barack Obama has already changed the rules on mandatory community service.  My biggest fear with this mandatory program was that it would also involve some sort of reeducation for our children.  We need to be very cautious about any changes involving our children and their education–remember this man cut his teeth on Saul Alinsky’s RULES FOR RADICALS, and I am not quite sure how far away from that book his philosophy has wandered, if at all.  (Just a note–Saul Alinsky was the original ‘community organizer’ and his book was a guide on how to over power quietly without alarming anyone).

According to Little Green Footballs:

“They’re going through the site and cleaning up the places where it said “require community service,” but they missed a spot on this page: Service | Change.gov.

Require 100 Hours of Service in College: Obama and Biden will establish a new American Opportunity Tax Credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.”

 

 

Norm Coleman had a 700+ vote lead Thursday.  That lead is now down to 236 votes.  That’s interesting.  Newsbusters has an article that points out that the people overseeing the recount are deeply involved with ACORN. 

The quote to keep in mind is from an article the original article links to.  The concept is very simple.

“The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.” – Joseph Stalin

I wish I could say that I was fully confident that the recount would be handled honestly, but I am not.  I expect to wake up one morning in the near future to hear that boxes of ballots mysteriously appeared, and Al Franken is now a Senator.  It would be a national disgrace to put that man in the Senate, but if the people of Minnesota cast enough votes for him to make it even close, they deserve whatever they get!

Kimberly Strassel has an article in The Wall Street Journal Online about the coming battle in Congress over Barack Obama’s legislative ideas.  The article sites the work of Mitch McConnell who was reelected.  It states:

“Mr. McConnell’s strength has been putting up a principled opposition, without earning the reputation for Tom Daschle-like obstruction. And from the sounds of his opening statement this week, his game plan is the same, only with higher stakes. Mr. McConnell “stands ready” to hear Mr. Obama’s “ideas for implementing his campaign promises of cutting taxes, increasing energy security, reducing spending and easing the burden of an immense and growing national debt.” Note he is not standing ready to negotiate on eliminating union secret ballots, nationalizing health care, enacting a climate program, or over-regulating the financial industry.”

The end of the union secret ballot can be stopped, as can some of the extreme environmentalism.  The trick is to do it in a way that offers a viable alternative and sheds light on the heavy handedness of the original idea.  We need to mind our manners over the next four years, but we don’t need to give an inch of ground on principles.  Let’s show the crazies that vicously attacked George Bush for eight years how a loyal opposition is supposed to act.  Civility needs to be the word of the day.

This is a link to a You Tube video of Barney, President Bush’s dog, biting a Reuters reporter.  Dogs are really good judges of character!

One of the issues that was very important to me in this past election was our country’s continued support of Israel.  There are many reasons that our continuing support of that nation is important both to us and them.  I was not optimistic that Barack Obama would be a strong supporter of Israel, but I am ready to be convinced that I am wrong.  The suspicion that I may be wrong has to do with the appointment of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff.

According to The Corner at National Review Online Rahm Emanuel is Jewish and pro-Israel through and through and wears it on the outside for everyone to see.  If this is true, it is great news.  Israel cannot afford to give away any more land in a false hope of peace and should not be forced to do so.

I have had my radio on most of the day, and I have learned a few things and reached a few conclusions.  Here are some:

1.  The oldest political trick in the book is to repeat personal attacks from ‘anonymous sources’.  You never have to prove they are true, and if the charges are repeated often enough, they will be believed.  Think back to your younger years when you heard some juicy bit of gossip about someone you knew–did you believe it?  Apply whatever you learned from that experience to what has been done to Sarah Palin since John McCain lost.  The trashing of Sarah Palin is cruel, stupid, and unnecessary.  None of the rumors have names or actual information around them, and the attacks are personal–not political.  I voted for John McCain because of his choice of Sarah Palin.  I would like to see her on the presidential ballot in 2012, and I believe the attacks on her are from more liberal republicans trying to prevent that from happening.

2.  This is the chance for the republicans and conservatives to show that we have more class than the opposition had after the 2000 election.  We have different ideas than Barack Obama, and there is nothing wrong with expressing those ideas, but we need to remember to fight ideas–personal attacks are tacky.  There is no reason or excuse to attack Barack Obama personally, but we will probably need to debate his policies on a regular basis.

3.  We are a nation at war.  We need to remember that.  We need to pray for and support our troops in every way we can.  If there is any move to cut or limit funding to our armed forces, we need to oppose it with everything we have.

4.  What we do now matters.  We can learn from our mistakes.  What are our policies that are successful and what pollicies do we need to get rid of?  There are things in this country that need to be fixed or improved, it is up to conservatives to be part of the dialogue that fixes or improves them.

1.  When you run a ‘democrat light’ against an actual democrat, the actual democrat wins.  The conservative movement was not defeated last night, the Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller wing of the Republican party was defeated.  Hopefully, they will go away and let us find another Ronald Reagan.

2.  The stock market has tanked today (according to Yahoo Finance).  That really does not mean all is lost–it’s been very volatile lately–but I suspect it is Wall Street’s vote on the election results.

3.  Israel launched its first attack on Gaza since June (see The Jerusalem Post) in response to Kassam rockets fired into Sderot.  Hamas fired dozens of rockets into Israel (according to Reuters).  Generally the ‘cycle of violence’ continues–it is not a cycle of violence–Hamas has stated that they want to drive Israel into the sea, and Israel is attempting to defend itself.  All of the money western countries have poured into Gaza to help them create infrastructure has been spent on weapons and terrorism.  This will only get worse until someone tells Hamas to behave.  I am extremely doubtful that Barack Obama will support the survival of the state of Israel–and their survival is exactly what is at stake.

4.  Barack Obama is obviously an ambitious man.  Chances are that he does not want to be a one-term president.  He remembers Jimmy Carter (or at least has read about him at some point).  His ambition may prevent him from doing anything totally awful.  I suspect that over the next four years Nancy Pelosi will actually be running the country.  That is actually a very scary thought, but we will see what happens. 

5.  The people to watch over the next four years?  Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney and Rudi Giuliani on the republican side.  Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, and Daval Patrick on the democrat side.  I don’t believe we are rid of the Clintons.  I believe Hillary will be working very quietly behind the scene to totally undermine an Obama presidency so that she can step in and be the savior in 2012.

6.  This will not end the charges that America is racist.  If one admits that America has finally overcome its racist past, a number of people who love the spotlight will be put out of business–this will not be allowed to happen.

7.  Take heart.  Remember–we would not have had Ronald Reagan without Jimmy Carter!!

Obviously, I am not happy about the election results.  I suspect that within six months there will be many people not happy with the election results, but that will come later.  It’s one thing to be criticized for a policy that does not work or a bad decision–that is understandable and should be part of the political dialogue, but we need to stop personally attacking our leaders–regardless of which party they belong to.  The good news is that the media will be much kinder to Barack Obama than they were to George Bush–which brings me to an article in today’s Wall Street Journal Online.  It should be remembered that our enemies during the cold war felt that they could destroy a country by destroying its leader.  We may be in danger of falling into that trap.

This is quoted directly from The Onion:

Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job

WASHINGTON–African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation’s broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, “It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can’t catch a break.”

As for me, in order to avoid getting too upset over polls and predictions that turn out to be false, I am listening to election coverage at WNTP 990AM Philadelphia (you can stream it on the internet).  Hugh Hewitt is on now and is the perfect voice for the night.  He is calm, knowledgeable, and well-focused.

I received this in my email today.  I wanted to share it.

Caleb from Rehoboth. -24

I’m voting for Senator John McCain because he believes in America and what our country stands for. He has demonstrated this throughout his life both serving in the military and the US Senate.

Barrack Obama on the other hand has made some very bad choices which are questionable at best. Starting with never proving where he was born, to 2 years ago announcing his candidacy for president in a KNOWN domestic terrorist living room by the name of Bill Ayers (famous for his participation in the Weather Underground, which conducted a campaign of bombing public buildings during the 1960s and 1970s), to going to a church for many years where hatred for anyone other the black people was preached by Rev. Wright from the pulpit, to saying in a radio interview in 2001 “The U.S. has suffered from a fundamentally flawed Constitution”.

Flawed Constitution??? How could I vote for someone who does not agree with the Constitution of the United States and potentially will not protect it?

When it comes down to it I don’t agree with everything that McCain believes in but I have far more disagreements with Barrack Obama and his lack of judgment in which he spends his time with and chooses to share his ideas with.

I will be casting my vote for McCain on Tuesday.

Caleb from Rehoboth. -24

Sources: The Chicago Sun Times

               969 WTKK

               World Net Daily 

My final pre-election post comes from the New York Post–you remember, the newspaper that was kicked off Obama’s campaign plane.  From that editorial:

“Barack Obama‘s record is as devoid of substance today as it was when his campaign began. Behind his soaring eloquence lies a tissue-thin resume and some disturbing personal associations.

Moreover, he and his running-mate, Joe Biden, represent a Democratic Party overly obligated to special interests like trial lawyers and rapacious public-employee unions.

Even as the economy is being rocked, Obama advocates a fundamental rewriting of the tax code that – far from cutting taxes for “95 percent” of Americans, as he promises – would dramatically raise tax rates, coupled with $650 billion in tax-credit-driven hikes in entitlement and other spending.

And that is likely just the starting point – with the Nancy Pelosi-Harry Reid Congress pushing hard to enhance the handouts while raising taxes further and slashing defense spending.”

It’s up to America to decide what we want.  That’s what democracy (actually, we are not a democracy–we are a representative republic) is about. 

The kids, (my 9 year old step-son and my 3 year old son), were looking over their Halloween haul after dinner tonight.  They spread the candy across opposite ends of the table and began to compare their favorites.  The 3 year old took every lollipop he could; most of the time he graciously refused when offered an additional piece of chocolate by a house that thought a mere lollipop wasn’t enough.  But he knew what he wanted.  The 9 year old is all about the chocolate bars – Snickers, Milky Way, Baby Ruth…

So I asked my step son if he would like to take the candy back to his mother’s house.  Why not?  It’s his candy!  He said no, he would like to leave it at our house to enjoy over the coming weeks.  It seems that his mother dumps all of the candy from all of the kids into one bowl and anyone is free to take what they want when they want.  I suppose that leaves only a few bags of pretzels and boxes of milk duds at the end of a few days.  You have to gorge yourself to get your favorites before someone else does.

“That’s candy socialism”, I cried.  “You walked to those houses, you rang those doorbells, you picked out your favorites.  You are free to walk through any neighborhood you want to, even the ones you know have the good candy.  Why should you have to give your favorites to someone that didn’t want to go to as many houses or go to a better area?”

“We are a free market capitalism candy household.  It is your candy to do as you please.”

My husband than chimed in, “I’ll be taking a few pieces of your candy from your bag.  That’s called taxes.  I’m the government.”

A few minutes later, in an attempt to drive home the lesson, I asked him, “So tell me, what is free market capitalism?”

He said, “You get to keep what you get”, then he paused a minute and said, “No, you get to keep what you earn!”

I was so proud.

Then my 3 year old walked over and offered me a snack size bag of Cheetos that he had gotten.  “Here mom, you like these.  You don’t have a candy bag.”

I said, “That’s charitable giving and that’s important too.”

If a 9 year old can get it, why can’t the rest of the nation get it?