My book about my dad and The Manhattan Project

I'll be closing Planet California down for a while to research and write the book I've been contemplating for twenty years: the story of my father and his involvement with the world changing Manhattan Project.

Much of the material I'm seeking is available through The Freedom of Information Act, while much more must be gathered through personal interviews. I wish I hadn't waited so long, frankly, as many of the people I need to talk to are gone now. I also plan to travel to the place of my birth, Hanford, Washington, one of the three Manhattan Project production sites, for the intense experience of feeling and knowing by putting my feet on that ground again after 57 years. My sister, who is fifteen years older than I, will go with me.

Dad wasn't forthcoming, obviously, about his job, thus, the reason for the need for so many outside questions. I admit it may sound odd to many of my readers that I have only just found out in the last few years of my father's FBI agent training at Quantico. We didn't speak of Dad's job, even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and into the Cold War years when Dad was transferred to another high security job in Kansas City, Missouri in 1949. There were many middle-of-the-night phone calls that were not discussed.

My father's story is one that deserves telling. He was the oldest of eight in a family of yeoman Indiana corporate farmers, a high school and college four-letter athlete, state champion athletic coach and beloved teacher. He had a beautiful, brilliant and educated wife (also a teacher) and two fine children. Things went swimmingly except they were absolutely without money. No one had money.

Then he made a dramatic, painful jump to private industry from the love of his life--teaching--made out of economic necessity, not choice. No more painting barns or schlepping his entire family to work in the steel mills in Gary during the summers for the man with two degrees and a nice job the rest of the year. He had to find other work. He did...in about 1939. Right down the road at DuPont, the folks who put the security into The Manhattan Project...in about 1942, when a flat organizational democracy of scientists were running riot with their loose lips and riling against the constraints of national security to the point of chaos and jeopardy. It was at this point my father became a part of the project and my entire family moved from Indiana to temporary barracks housing in Richland, Washington.

I hope to write this story such that it instructs and allows my grandchildren to grasp the greatest generations' early motivations, patriotism, hardships, dreams and sense of honor. I'm driven also by the ideal of setting the record straight by demonstrating just who was involved with this critically important phase of world history. After all, it wasn't all Einsteins, Oppenheimers, Groves, Fermis (our neighbor) and Tellers who did this deal. Real people put this thing together. My father was one of them.

Until the book, without so much as a working title, is much further along...

thanks for the read.

Dissecting the GOP; it's a filthy job but somebody's gotta do it.

I can't stop myself. We need a nasty post postmortem.

Sarah Palin
I got hate mail when I spoke about how Palin needed to study. However, I never said I wanted her for president, I don't think. I did say, IF she wanted to BE president, she needs to probably consider boning up on everything.

After all the knuckledragging sexist men and snobbish women (like they have anything to be snobbish about) finished with her, she has become something of a joke and thus likely will become another political casualty of history. There's probably little that can give Republicans added value now that she's trying her own PR.

By the way, her public relations is NOT working.

John McCain
What can I say? I believe his age was the enemy for Independents and the youth vote. Palin also became an issue.

George W. Bush
Is he drinking again? Where the hell is he?

Dick Cheney
Where is he? Where's the leadership?

Oh, I forgot. It never existed.

Mike Huckabee
This man is probably the biggest opportunist who ever came into 21st Century Presidential Republican politics. He talks the talk; but walking's another matter. He also will be a liability if we are stupid enough to be duped again by his candidacy.

Fred Thompson
Over.

Rudi
How I wish.

Mitt Romney
He's never looked so good.

As for all the new kids on the block: there seems to be an abundance of literate, attractive governors and congress people out there who have experience and charisma enough to take the lead in our party.

The governors seem to have the ability, because of their executive experience, to put programs together (except for that dolt, Schwartzenegger) which will attract the new voters that we MUST collect to win elections.

We have to change. Period. It's all in the numbers. Otherwise, we're over.

Thanks for the read.

Sarah! Take Dr. Krauthammer's advice.

"Mrs. Palin needs to go back to Alaska for two years and read everything she can (paraphrased)." Charles Krauthammer on Fox News--last week.


Dr. Krauthammer brings up a point which bears her attention, if Governor Sarah Palin wants to be president of the United States. I believe she needs to do as he suggests, and give herself over to the scholarship of international policy and leadership. Leaders are indeed born, but most success depends on knowledge of the subject matter, not luck and personality.

It may take three or four hours a day of nothing but reading think tank white papers and gobbledygook about Persian history or about the background of Poland and Russia's relationship over the past few years. She needs to know where the Fifth Fleet hangs out. She has to read Janes; she's got to see the German and French papers, Financial Times, Russia Herald everyday; Cato, AEI, American Heritage, Al Jazeera, Mhimi and so many who can give her every morsel she needs.

(How I'd love to be on the readings selections committee.)

Sometimes, just having enough knowledge, even a generalist's one, is enough to spur important questions of her subject matter experts on staff. I know this as an ex technical writer. Every interview I had with a subject matter expert was better facilitated as a result of my own prior research and knowledge of the topic. Its efficiency and success depended upon my preparation.

Her obvious abilities--her intellect, her ability to respond without being defensive, and her confidence will be enhanced and so would her image--especially to women. Sarah should have received more votes from women. I wonder if it really was the abortion issue that stood in their way...or the fact that they just didn't trust her.

It takes one to know one. I'll risk letting out a secret, but most women know that many of us fake life until the day we die. We're just good at it, as a gender, as procreators; thus, our feelings, instincts and actions come from our gut, not always from our cerebral cortexes.

Who else but a woman with five children, including a special needs one, who has worked all her life, raised her children, has run a city, then a state, changed the direction from down to up in an impossibly difficult campaign with John McCain, turned on MSM when she got out of her commitment to McCain--and has recently sent a son off to war--who else could learn the ins and outs of what used to be INACCESSIBLE KNOWLEDGE?

Palin's power is on the increase; it would behoove her to arm herself, using her best asset--her political skill and instinct--and add to that a body of knowledge that will take her to the top. Her sophistication and knowledge of policy issues will only help her in the long run. We all know she's smart. Now we want her to show it.

One of the reasons Obama won over so many of the elite, which is important--sorry, but it is to a certain degree--is by his acquaintance with varying subjects which came from reading, reading and more reading. Sarah can do this with one kid on her hip, another pulling on her to take her to her cheerleading class, and cooking dinner all at the same time.

Not to mention, she is one great looking women, which never, ever hurts.

Thanks for the read.

Palin now defines herself...and maybe the GOP

(Psst! Check my son-in-law's new video out!)


Palin's honored her commitment to the Republicans who supported her and brought her into the limelight by doing what she was told. She did it mighty well, I believe.

She's no fool; she knew neuroses when she saw it in the McCain group. I imagine the back biting in Wasilla is pretty much the same as in the lower 48 considering it is humans who reside there. Maybe she's developed an internal system to handle the grief she gets. She's very good at defending herself against the powers that be, isn't she?

She's showing her mettle right this minute by standing up to the media and making herself available to them everywhere she goes. Her interviews are insightful, real and sincerely delivered. Today, she makes no bones about how poorly she was handled, but she refuses to blame or even cite John McCain as a problem. She's smart to do that.

She's a typical winner. Her internal strength is sometimes called cockiness. If she were a man, it would be called something entirely different--the name would connote trust and admiration.

How sad that both Democrat and Republican machines still cannot cope with real women in presidential politics. Both parties do their dirty work pretty much the same, I see.

Meanwhile, I hope that the anonymous parties who are spreading rumors about Palin never receive another consultancy fee again. I am ashamed that my donation money has paid their invoices.

Thanks for the read.

Hagel says draft may be unavoidable.

This is what I was worried about when old Joe Biden dropped the bomb about needing to support our new president in the first days of his administration. I thought then he was talking about reinstating a selective service system.

If Chuck Hagel, "Republican" Senator from Nebraska becomes Secretary of Something, this is great way to start his propoganda campaign "for" a draft by slowly frontloading the "bad" news.

I wonder how the Obama kids will feel then.

Unfortunately, the world is heating up more as governments now want to test the changed America. Russia has thumbed its nose at Obama, which must say volumes about Medvedev's (Putin"s) regard for our new prez. Meanwhile, Hugo Chavez and the Russians are new best friends; Cuba's waiting to get their land back (Gitmo); and if Obama doesn't renew the free trade agreement with Colombia, the open door to socialism is bound to occur there because of the fall of their economy.

That's just the beginning.

There's also the matter of continuing Bush's plans to have anti nuclear defense missiles in Poland. Obama states he doesn't want to have them there if they're not working. (They are working.) So, what will he do when Putin starts flexing more Russian muscle? Will he back down?

He won't have to cancel that Polish facility if he can start a new military draft. He won't have to worry about the troop level problems, he thinks, and he can start anew. Too bad he want to cut 25% of the Military's budget. That may have been a campaign lie.

Today is Veteran's Day.

Thanks for the read.

McCain needs to stand by Palin publicly

He got her into this mess; now he's got to get her out of it. That is, if he wants to show his honor.

Anonymous sources in the McCain-Palin campaign, which should give you pause, have made possibly slanderous, ugly statements about Mrs. Palin. This is the poorest form of post-election behavior and against all protocol and common courtesy.

I'm hoping Senator McCain will show his vice presidential pick the same courtesy he gave President Elect Obama in his concession speech. Moreover, a similar statement should come from Obama to counter the ridiculous over animation and racist slurs by his own people towards the rest of the country, including Joe the Plumber.

Enough. Enough. Enough.

It's over. Let's move on and leave Mrs. Palin alone. She did not lose the election for us; John McCain and his feckless, incoherent campaign lost it.

Thanks for the read.

Obama's Tax Plan

The really disturbing thing is that Faux News is trying to convince Americans that $250K a year is NOT rich?? Geez if all Americans were making that kinda money then we wouldnt have a housing crisis...

Becky--on a political message board, October 21, 2008


She has a point.

Think about it. If everyone who had taken out those terrible loans was making that kind of money, there's be no crisis!

The rest of what she says infers the class warfare that really requires no other discussion.

However, the tactics which are being utilized by the Obama people are tried and true methods, and they have had the luck so far.

It's disturbing to the point of sleeplessness that a person about whom we know so little--by his design--and about whom we know too much--the Ayres, Wright and Acorn connections, is nearing the presidency. I've told myself the American people won't put up with his big plans once they figure out what he's doing, it'll just be for a short time, like Jimmy Carter.

But, with the economy in the mess it's in...I don't have a lot of faith there will be a huge number of Americans who are "willing" to see through the Obama promises, considering all the goodies they're getting for supporting the guy.

There's always an end, though. Nothing's forever.

Thanks for the read.

Open letter to General/Secretary Colin Powell

Dear Mr. Powell,

As a fellow Republican who has always trusted your leadership and strength, your instincts to place country before personality and your demonstrated ability to get the military and state departments missions successfully accomplished, I ask in all respect that you listen to me.

I understand via the media, those "Infallibles," that you plan to endorse Senator Obama this weekend.

Someone in our party has to ask the question. If this is true, why?

Is your alleged impending decision to support your fellow man of color who comes, frankly, from the other end of the political spectrum when it concerns freedom and democracy a return to an instinctual Colin Powell, a brother, rather than a father or a leader? Are you tired of the Uncle Tom routine? I thought you were bigger than that, Sir.

But I'm worried that you've changed your whole personal/political paradigm to fit a Democrat's world view. When and why did that happen? How, Sir, can you even contemplate supporting a man like Barack Obama who preaches precisely the opposite of what you have defended and even fought for?

You've seen little despots before, General. Your tours of duty while serving the United States with great honor must have encountered those who would use their cult of personality to obtain power. He doesn't remind you of one, even when you read the G2, the real dope?

Evidently not. I think you're blinded by your own bias. But then, who isn't? That's why we have political parties--to bring ideas together from disparate sources and people.

You know, General Powell, I would've voted for you almost blindly also because you represent a standard that is exemplary for kids. Now? Your ambivalence to the obvious hate speech and agitation of race music and hip hop versus the evident slights you might have felt you endured during the Bush administration must be difficult to deal with.

And I'm presumptuous to make such an assay of your life. But, I do wish to confront your involvement in Republican politics and your inability to support them. At least, Lieberman became an Independent, a fair outcome to his disagreements with the left wing of his party.

In the meantime, I respect your reputation and its accompanying honor. I certainly mean no disrespect to your freedom of choice, regardless of party. I only hope he will accept my "helpful" exhortation as a peer in the same political party to think long about your endorsement for president.

By the way, Senator Obama's stand on the issues is the reason I won't vote for him; not because he's a black man. It's sad that this point must be made over and over again.

Thank you for your service.


And thanks for the read.

Obama's first instinct: attack and destroy Joe the Plumber

It's great to be here in Miami. Florida is a must-win state on November 4th, and with your help, we're going to win Florida, and bring change to Washington, DC. We had a good debate this week. You may have noticed-- there was a lot of talk about Senator Obama's tax increases and Joe the Plumber. Last weekend, Senator Obama showed up in Joe's driveway to ask for his vote, and Joe asked Senator Obama a tough question. I'm glad he did; I think Senator Obama could use a few more tough questions.

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.

John McCain speech today at political rally.




So, let me get this straight. Ask a question of a political person who has come to your neighborhood to campaign and this is what you get? Pilloried and categorized, put down and indicted for what? For asking an uncomfortable question?

Here's the problem: the Obama campaign is simply too quick to jump on the "disagree-ers." That is a dangerous, ominous sign of a group of people who won't take criticism or questions from a common citizen. It's as if one should be aware of participating in debate lest they be called crazy people, like the average guy in Ohio who told McCain he was mad as hell or a neighbor, like Joe the Plumber.

It doesn't matter where he is in his career path. None of it matters. What matters is there appears to be an entire mechanism in place to destroy ordinary people.

As I recall, the Bush administration has also been labeled as a group who couldn't take criticism and wouldn't listen. At least, though, they left you alone if you dared to complain about them.

It's hardly a tactic our founders would have approved of. Actually, it's shockingly un-American.

Thanks for the read.

Man of the Year: Joe the Plumber

God works in the strangest and the most humorous of ways. Could this be an October surprise? One of a few?

Steps forward a young man, the great stereotypical physique of the American construction worker, an ambitious single father of one who is working on his plumber's licensing exam. When Obama chose to walk Joe's neighborhood, standing quietly, then seeing an opportunity to talk to the Senator, Joe opens a dialogue about how his economic plan will help him, Joe: the plumber, the entrepreneur who is planning to buy his boss's plumbing business.

How can Obama's tax plan help him and his business?

Well, of course, it can't and it won't. The tax plan that Senator Obama has laid on many of the unsuspecting American public will dry up small businesses and thus kill jobs. Not all corporations are General Motors. Not only that, people who don't pay taxes will be getting money from the government. In addition, the tax break at $250, 000 is not true. People who are making between 90 and 125,000 dollars will be decimated with increased taxes.

It's just so simple, Barack. Why is it you Dems put a roadblock ahead of people who are trying to build businesses? There must be a boilerplate answer for this somewhere in those manuals; regardless, for the life of me I can't understand the concept of destroying small businesses with higher taxes during a recession. It's just too dumb for discussion. The fact that Obama has even brought it up is the only reason it is being considered as an alternative. By anyone except socialists, of course.

Moreover, we're seeing how Senator Obama's ACORN distractions have cost us all money. But, that's another issue for another time.

Gallup just announced a two-point race after last night's debate. Each time we're hitting Obama, it's on the chin. We musn't stop because of the race baiting and what a bunch of uninformed or on-the-take people say about us.

This is not over yet. These horses are between the third and fourth turn in a race that can go either way.

Just wait till they hit the stretch to the wire.

ACORN? What ACORN?

Odinga? Who's Odinga?

Senator Obama's response to Joe the Plumber that we should spread the wealth around stays with many of us, kind of like that icky fish you knew you shouldn't have even tried--mostly those of us who are worried about statism and taxation.

Joe the Plumber has a good head on his shoulders. He might even get some lasting fame out of this if he's strong enough to kick off the Obama thugs.

The girls will love him.

Thanks for the read.

I'm outta here for a deserved vacation.

Wahoo, ur, I mean, yahoo!

:)

See you in a month!

Sing for Obama

Hmmm. I don't like how this feels for some reason. I'm not sure why.

Watch this!

Sing for Obama

Have a great day.

Twelve California Democrats vote no on bail out.

They are:
Bacca, Becerra, Sherman, Raybal-Allard, Sancezes, Schiff, Solis, Stark, Thompson, Watson and Woolsey.

How 'bout that? Nancy can't even control her own state caucus.

Pass this on!

So...some of you Republicans (snobs) want Sarah to bow out, huh?

Before her debate?

Why? She's had a couple of bad spots, but give her a break. She's only been at this national level for a few weeks. She's got some rough edges, but many of them appeal to the very people we want on our side, people who believe the same way most Republicans do.

I have high expectations for Sarah on Thursday evening. If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Regardless, it wouldn't look too great for Senator McCain to just dump her...and I wouldn't want him to.

John McCain's instincts are pretty good. I think he's chosen a diamond in the rough who reminds him of himself when he was that age. There's nothing wrong with that!

Thanks for the read.

The Reform message is strong as McCain-Palin return to stump

Senator McCain looks rested and confident this morning.

Sure enough, he's on the stump--in Ohio--laying Obama out issue by issue--from Obama's silly laissez faire, casual attitude during last week's bail out talk to his inability to do away with his ideas to raise our taxes during this economic mess. As Senator McCain said about it, "he said he would suspend his plans for tax increases, etc."

McCain's new vigor and aggression is a relief after Friday's debate.

Sarah Palin, traveling with McCain, meanwhile has hit the stage like she owns it sounding like she has found her voice. She made a point of "announcing" that her job in the administration will be to lead America to energy independence. She told Ohioans and the rest of coal country that coal technology is the way of the future while reminding them Obama won't even consider clean coal technology.

Her demeanor is different somehow. I think she's been hammered on an anvil that either hardens or breaks the person. She's beginning to get a burnished look and a tiny patina of experience. As she defines herself, her public presentation is significantly improving.

John McCain's gamble to go back to Washington was a winner, as I predicted. We would've had an ACORN deal in the first or second draft of the bailout if John McCain hadn't brought the MSM cameras to the Halls of Congress and to the 100 or so Republicans (and some Democrats) who felt they were being overwhelmed and muscled. McCain gave them the exposure and leadership they needed at a time that was absolutely imperative.

Meanwhile, the Dems own the House. All they have to do to "save" all of us is pass the law. If it's life and death, why not just pass the darned thing? They caused this problem; now they get to take responsibility and Republicans who believe this is impractical and irresponsible policy shouldn't have to carry Barney Frank's water.

McCain is stomping on Obama now about his inaction and laid back attitude. As he said, "I, like my idol, Teddy Roosevelt, want to be in the middle of the fight. I don't phone it in."

Thanks for the read.

Obama's pals at NBC's Saturday Night Live

I don't know if we can overcome the popular myth makers who are taking so much trouble to try to destroy the Republican Party.

Our chances of winning the election might be slimming down as a result of the very effective anti Palin movement in the entertainment industry. Saturday Night Live, the children who make more money in one hour than my father ever did in his educated, experienced lifetime have been given the no-holds-barred okay from their corrupt management to go after Senator McCain and Governor Palin.

Last night's SNL was no exception. (I had to leave the room when my husband punched it in.) The vicious characterizations of Mrs. Palin and Senator McCain indicate a very odd arrangement that these out of touch entertainers have with the rest of us. They are unabashed in their belief they have the moral right to use their programming as pure propaganda. Fair? Not at all. Mean and ugly are more like it.

The rest of us just have sit and listen to it. You and I are pretty helpless considering our place in the media food chain. But that's free speech, isn't it?

Unless something happens to change the perception that we're bungling idiots, we're going to lose. Nevermind that the problems of the melt down in the banking and mortgage sectors of our economy are directed related to the policies and immorality of the Democratic Party as they placed people who didn't have money into homes.

Then the real idiocy--Democrats trying to run the country--will take center stage. If America can survive the Left's occupation of all three branches of our government (hopefully it will be a short reign), we can start again presenting our Republican principles to a more mature and experienced public.

If you think you're frustrated now with the government bail out and it accompanying politics and giveaways, just wait until Obama and Biden have lost us our security in addition. I just hope they don't get us all killed.

Meanwhile, I am angry this morning at my party. especially George Bush and, yes, at our candidates for allowing themselves to be defined by the sexists, ageists and racists in the media, especially on the entertainment side. Providing no effective defense against this barrage is their fault.

I'm afraid I've done all I can to help.

Thanks for the read.

Rep. Darrell Issa presents a solution to bail out mess

Darrel Issa, Republican Representative, has proposed a third way.

The Issa solution to the banking and mortgage crisis may not be just the only third way or shall we say a fourth and maybe even fifth? The point is there are others ways to fix this.

Thanks for the read.

L.A. Times shows McCain had cause to demand Chris Cox's resignation

In today's L.A. Times in the business section I found the following:

SEC faults itself in Bear debacle--The Securities and Exchange Commission failed in oversight of the Bear Stearns Cos. because the regulator knew the investment bank had "high leverage" and was too concentrated in mortgage securities before its forced sale to JPMorgan Chase & Co., the agency's inspector general said.

"It is undisputable that" the SEC "failed to carry out its oversight of Bear Stearns," Inspector General David Kotz said in a report. SEC staff was aware of "numerous potential red flags" but "did not take actions to limit these risk factors," he said.

So, while Obama was again floundering and attacking to distract people from reality, John McCain made the simple statement that "he would fire Chris Cox."

So would I!

Thanks for the read.

ACORN tries to gets its covetous hand in the pig trough

Revealing the Dems' insistence on including funds for this group from the bail out may be John McCain's and fiscal conservatives' biggest coup. Let's help him with it.

Most of us want reform. We have a perfect opportunity to show that we Republicans can take back the true GOP brand, regain momentum and put on a display of reform minded action before the world's eyes.

I've watched ACORN for years and wondered how they got away with some of their stunts. Anyway, this bears looking at and asking the question if this group, or any advocacy group for that matter, should be receiving taxpayer's money. If that is true, then The Red Cross should ask for at least 20% of the proceeds from this bailout. While they're at it, there's a little faith based battered women's shelter over here in my town that could use a lift.

ACORN by its very definition. mission and nature is full of dangerous, reckless and desperate types and will go to any length to get it done. Now that the Fox and some of the MSM is finally reporting about them--finally--there can be some discussion about Obama's "lofty" career as a community organizer.

These people are socialists. I don't want them near my tax money.

Please pass this the url to your friends and ask them if this is what they have in mind for a bail out. Do it fast. We're running out of time and now is the perfect chance to expose Obama for the extremist he really is.

http://www.acorn.org

McCain-Obama Debate anticlimactic

The more I see of Barack Obama, the more I realize how little he knows.

The more I see of John McCain, the more I realize how old he is. Last night was no exception. His lackluster performance on the economic issues might be based on a possibility of one or a combination of items.

First, he is struggling with presenting the fiscal conservative's POV for some reason. It's not because he doesn't understand the discipline; it's as if he has something under his hat, maybe a deal he's made with congressional Republicans to get this bail out thing into private hands, where it belongs...but just can't talk about it yet.

I expected more revelation from Senator McCain. He missed a few opportunities to drive home the point that conservatives make on daily basis that this plan is a terrible resolution and it smells like socialism. I wish he had been more forceful in that.

Secondly, I think he's tired. His lack of energy showed at the first part of the debate. Fortunately he picked up the tempo in passion and solutions as he used the best weapon in his arsenal--experience--when he talked about foreign policy.

I also wish McCain had used the antiBush message more effectively, which I presume is the real reason he went to Washington which is to show that the "McSame" message is wrong. Have you noticed the Obama campaign has stopped that message now? It no longer works.

My suggestion to Steve Schmidt, Rick Davis and Senator McCain is to put Palin out there to take up some of the slack. She's going to get her chops busted; that's part of it. But her principles and ideas are sound and she can be confident that she's representing a vast number of Americans. It's time to turn her loose and let it happen. No one can do this alone. This is not the time to hold her back.

How can Sarah campaign and study issues at the same time? I don't know. How does she raise five children and still run the state of Alaska?

Thanks for the read.

The Sarah Palin-Joe Biden Debate

Sarah Palin is not perfect.

She has a problem with the timbre of her voice, for instance, which when she's excited becomes high and shrill. She needs to breathe from her diaphragm and bring her voice down. If Hillary could do it, she can do it.

She's got a "northern" accent which gives people the idea she's a hick. It may or may not work; she needs to round her vowels out a little, say "working" instead of "workin," and slow down.

Her malaprops are odd, but then every politician has his own. Being able to carry off a blooper successfully will come with experience and sophistication with MSM. As much as I detest this, nucular became the pronunciation even among physicists! This works in the swing states, but it won't make her job with the press any easier. Someone must correct her immediately so she doesn't keep doing it. It takes away her credibility.

She's contentious and has a tendency to pop off when she's rattled. The reason? She doesn't have the knowledge yet to handle the pop quizzes from the MSM. That's a problem. She needs to find another way than challenging the interviewer when she's stumped. Turning it around on the interviewer is tough, but it can be done. She should have said to Katie, "I'm sorry, Ms. Couric, but I know you realize I'm on a steep learning curve (like you were at CBS) and you've caught me somewhat off guard...I think I've answered you as well I can right now. Thank you for your question."

If Couric countered with "I was just a news reporter at CBS. There's a difference. You are one heartbeat away from the presidency," all she can respond with is, "Well, fortunately the inauguration is not until January 20th. I'm confident by then I'll be where I need to be for President Elect McCain and America."

Being honest is a great way to move forward. It disarms the interviewer and relieves the interviewee's stress level. Don't let the interviewer define you, I'd tell her, from now on. But nothing would have changed the direction of those two interviews as Gibson and Couric were out to get her. It also takes control back from the interviewer.

So, with these distractions and "deficiencies," does Sarah have a chance in the debate with Joe Biden on Thursday?

I think she does. I think if she handles these aspects of her presentation and uses her natural charm, of which she has plenty, she can pull off her half of the show in a satisfactory way. It may not be a journeyman performance, but she'll do well. It's her nature because she's a winner.

However, what she needs to do now is work, work, work and study her brains out. She's at a disadvantage because of her two "poor" interviews with Gibson and Couric; however, now that she's been stuck in the "no win zone," and basically lost in the eyes of MSM, she can put that behind her with the knowledge that she'll never win the MSM to her side, but it would be nice if she could find a tempo, maybe work with them a bit more. She's in "their" house; not hers, but still it doesn't take much to swoop this group off its feet. They're very superficial bunch and like pretty things...and she is one pretty thing!

With Biden, I would approach him as an interesting older gentleman with whom I would carry on a spirited political conversation. She can't muscle or bulldog Biden, but she can exploit the Senator's natural ebullience and his love of the sound of his own voice. Then when he screws up with facts, Mrs. Palin can gently correct him, not to embarrass him, but to set the record straight.

Finally, she must start wearing lighter colors. She needs winter white wool crepe or woven suits, warm light (not pastel) hues to establish her image as a bearer of light and wisdom. I think the dark tones are unflattering on her and suggest a powerful presence that doesn't stand up well.

Although I do like the cuts of her suits for all professional women, I think she'd do well in fluid fabrics, suggesting a more tolerant viewpoint, more approachable than the firm, hard, tailored things she wears now. Someone find her a beautiful gold torch brooch (Statue of Liberty) to pin somewhere! And pearls, please. Nothing more than pearls including earrings.

Thank goodness she has such a great figure; she can wear anything.

If she takes my advice, and after she establishes the high ground and momentum, God willing--and she has studied enough, she can let go in this debate, enjoy herself and take the win home.

Little girls from the country go to the big city all the time and do very, very well.

Thanks for the read.

McCain's trip to Washington: reform writ large

Actually, that is the reform I want--someone to take Washington's business-as-usual, underhanded dealing that Americans have no say over and yank the whole "arrangement" out from under them, just as we've seen the past 72 hours from Senator McCain. Part of that arrangement evidently includes funding for ACORN and LaRaza.

To review, the very folks who brought us this mess (Schumer, Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Reid) are now lying to us again. There was never a deal. I know that because the time line indicates a deal wasn't even close.

According to John Boehner of Ohio, who told the press he wouldn't be "rolled" by the White House, if there was a deal, it was their deal, not the House's. When I hear about the arrogance of the so-called powers that are really lame ducks foisting their version on the rest of us, I agreed with Boehner in that I won't rolled either by these hacks either.

Now, the major Dems are protecting themselves because of their presidential candidate's inability to navigate through Washington--which is why Obama stayed away. Obama is a teenager compared to these old pols; sure enough, Obama's presidential politics, as they called it, wasn't needed.

If there was ever a place and time for presidential politics it is in Washington, D.C. and it is right now. For Senator Obama to childishly insist upon holding the "debate" indicates one more time that he just doesn't set priorities for the country, only for himself in the context of winning the presidency. That debate could be held any time. It's interesting to watch him fight so hard for himself while allowing the rest of his party determine what's right for America. Leadership?

I predict Obama's indifference and laid back behavior will begin to haunt him when the reality of this bail out hits the American public. It is clear to me from talking, listening and watching that Americans do not want this bail out. Period. The folks in Washington are going to have to figure out something other than a deal that will cost each man, woman and child $10,000. Do the math, folks.

The other reason the major Dems are fighting so hard to embarrass the opposition is because they are covering up their party's major ethics problems within the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac connections to their respective campaigns which come in the form of houses, breaks and huge amounts of corrupt money.

I was hoping Senator McCain would really name names this time, as he promised in his reform speeches. I suppose that would be a tangential issue at this point, but I'd love to see Barney Frank and Chris Dodd in jail. Some day.

It seems the only person in the entire legislative and executive branches interested in taking a longer, more detailed look at this mess, along with asking some questions and not be bullied by Bush and the Dems is John McCain.

The Democrats' repeated effort to tell the rest of us there was a deal and that McCain screwed it up shows their disconnect from anyone's reform message whether it is Obama's naive change we can believe in or John McCain's true, demonstrated intentions to reform Washington and the way it does business.

If they call that interference, then so be it. That's part of his job description.

Thanks for the read.

Obama blinked and McCain wins this hand. It's the leadership, Stupid.

I have to laugh at the behavior of Barney Frank and Harry Reid. Oh, yes, and Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer, all of whom have assured the American public that "presidential politics" should not be infused into the melt down debate. That talking point spread fast from the Obama campaign yesterday, as they floundered and did everything BUT show leadership.

At first, Obama said, no, I can do it all. Let McCain go and have his meetings; the crisis is under control. Let's have that debate (as if the world will certainly end if they don't debate the very prescribed moment reserved by some committee somewhere last year). We're to look at the economy of Oxford, Mississippi while Rome burns? That's one of the arguments Obama uses, BTW. It will hurt people financially if we don't debate. (So, could we not debate on Monday, Tuesday, the next available date; WHAT is the big deal?)

Then the kid said later, Okay, I'll come to Washington...after Bush called and persuaded Obama.

(huge smirk)

Meanwhile, his Dem pals REFUSE to meet with McCain, Bush and even their own man! The very people who have stood squarely against regulation of the banking industry loan programs are the same who are "fixing" this mess. They clain one of their big concerns is oversight of all that money.

Speaking of foxes and chicken houses, isn't it rich that these folks are in charge and no one seems to mind, except the rest of us? Ah, Washington and its peculiarities.

Meanwhile, Obama continues his protestation that he can do all things at once, suggesting that McCain is an old fashioned, doddering idiot who can't think past one task. In my mind, I see nothing but arrogance and ignorance. He doesn't have a clue about Washington and how it works apparent today as his spokespeople fan out still talking about yesterday's "task gap" argument, still acting like the follower he really is.

Their man blinked.

Thanks for the read.

McCain takes control of his party; sticks Bush in the corner. Obama's not that concerned.

I've happy with the decision John McCain made this afternoon suspending his campaign in the interest of helping solve the financial crisis we're now in. He's grabbed the leadership role by divorcing himself from the Bush debacle in the most beneficial way possible.

Obviously, now that we know of Obama's indifference based on his ignorance, we will see exactly what the young man is made of. Not much, as it's turning out saying he's available if anyone needs him. Now that's leadership. "I'll be in the pool, while you guys work it out."

As has been said, "It's the economy, Stupid."

Thanks for the read.

Obama's Fifth Column: computer geeks

Most people in this day in age, unfortunately, don't even know what an information specialist (IS) is. Some do, because they are in corporations which use the nomenclature such as information systems expert, for example, of vague bucket words which attempt to describe what these people do in the company. They're computer geeks.

I know what some of these titles meant, at least some of them, when I was in corporate America, although there are new titles which sound as vague as the old ones. Information systems specialists were the guys who ran everyone's life by deciding whose computer system was going to be looked after that day. They were, as nerds, important and indispensable for the first time in their sorry little lives. They became proud of their nerddom because they felt emboldened by their numbers and a sudden status on the planet. Who knew?

So, when I see the sneering elitist ads which come from the Obamas about McCain's inability to use a computer, their metaphor to the average person's guns and Bibles, as well as their condescending attitude toward people who don't "get" computers, like many people, I worry.

I worry because these nerds have now become operators of huge systems and organizations which decide what kind of a day we're all going to have. No one should have that much power. In addition, some of these folks who can't carry on decent conversations due to their self-imposed isolation in front of a CRT, have become the "communications" experts.

This arcane tier in life must be extremely fascinating for them as too many of them are, as I said, important for the first time in their lives, and very young. The real problem, of course, is this Fifth Column is an arrogant bunch, as bereft of morality as seen in the hacktivism into Palin's email, and now Fox's Bill O'Reilly's account and website. They claim to be the watchers, if you will. Instead, they move in as if they're above the law and seem certainly smarter than you and me, smugly blaming the victim for being so open.

I'll remind our mostly inexperienced friends: there is a law against hacking email accounts. One fellow got ten years for hacking into his colleague's email, remember, not too long ago. It's like stealing mail out of a physical mailbox, a federal crime punishable in a nasty place like Leavenworth.

The geeks are laughing at us because most of us don't have intimate knowledge of computers and systems. They're right; we don't. Therefore, the rest of the world at an extreme disadvantage in fighting their dangerous tyranny. But we have to fight them and win.

The information specialists are actually the ones who bear watching and then prosecuting those who break the law. Many of the IS types seem to be watching each other. However, it's not enough; the bad guys are still winning.

Thanks for the read. And we'll see if I'm back online after this.

Fundamentals? Why should I make my next mortgage payment?

No one in America today can tell you what his home is really worth. Walk in to any restaurant or other public place and simply ask someone who "owns" a home what he thinks it's worth. He can't answer that question nor can the banks that hold his paper.

That's why it's not hard to understand why someone with an upside down mortgage caused by the irresponsible actions of both the banks and our government to wonder if he should even make that next monthly payment. After all, some people would argue, they've lived up to their responsibility by paying every month on time...kept their side of the bargain, while the banks, in their poor fiduciary response in its duty to protecting the investment on their end get bailed out. The banks' inability to make good loans has affected the price of other homes. In fact, not one home is worth any more than the other when it gets to this point. Ask an appraiser if this is not true. The price of a home is based on what the market will bear.

It causes one to contemplate the rest of the financial set up we have here. Something really awful is happening to America. I have to agree with those who blame it on greed; oh, yes, I saw way too many banks take loans on a matter of greed rather than on a matter of the debtor's ability to pay. Much of that activity was promulgated by those in charge who demanded home ownership opportunities for people who didn't have jobs! I remember the stacks and stacks of offers to refinance and make it easy as pie to use your home as an ATM.

One of Senator McCain's fundamentals is absolutely correct. Decent people will continue to pay an upside down mortgage because it is fundamentally the right thing to do--I guess--although I'm not sure it's the right thing to do, as is getting up and going to work even though they're spending way more than they should have to for gas to get to that job. One thing I believe is that every bit of this misery is caused by huge numbers of people not doing, fundmentally, the right thing.

Now that the George Bush and the Congress wants to bail out these banking imbeciles, in the meantime forgetting those long-gone mortgage brokers, they also want to increase our taxes to pay for this mess. They hold the D word over our heads and in the meantime hold America hostage, saying the U.S. must save AIG.

Let's see. Fannie and Freddie, AIG shenanigans should cost all of us about about $800,000,000,000 (billion).

On second thought, maybe I'm not into fundamentals these days. Maybe we Americans who in good faith placed our money in the hands of these scheisters should stop paying our mortgages for a while. What are they going to do? Kick everyone out? Let's see where that puts these boobs, their golden handcuffs, their zillion dollar houses and royalty lifestyles that were gained off the backs of people like you and me. Enough already. Enough.

Thanks for the read.

Tina Fey: she's off the Cool Broads list forever

I wrote a protest email to NBC regarding the Saturday Night Live attack on Palin, which was what they say was satire about the overkill media coverage and unfairness to Palin.

It seemed to me to be a disguised attempt at ridiculing people who didn't think like them, just another way of introducing doubt into peoples' minds about the fitness of Sarah Palin, by somehow suggesting she is what they term "trailer trash." NBC's response to huge criticism reminded me a lot of those at the New Yorker whose cover about Michelle in combat fatigues and Barack dressed in Arab garb was "meant" to be parody and if you didn't get it, as one of their spokespeople said, you're an idiot. SNL basically has made the same statement. You're an idiot if you don't get this.

Thanks.

An awful lot of entertainment types are calling people like me "idiots" these days. I don't like that. I don't like their corporate assumption that everyone who is not a Democrat is a bad person, that if I am a Republican, I am somehow substandard in their view. It's become tedious , unenlightening and not very entertaining.

I probably would've cut SNL more slack but while we're talking about creative judgment here, since when is it okay for a nominated candidate for U.S. Senator to write a stealth skit (Al Franken, an SNL ex-writer)? Who knew it would turn into nothing more than an offensive assault on McCain-Palin? Please, Lorne, you know better than that. Equal time, anyone?

Fey stated that she would be glad to not have to play "this lady" again after November 5th during the trade's award show last night. I'll add here that the Emmys were the lowest rated in history and likely most politically themed. Ironically, if SNL and the rest of these morons keeps it up and continues to beat on us, we simpletons out here in fly over country will probably react and vote for Sarah Palin in bigger numbers than ever before and thus, Fey will be playing Palin for longer than she could have ever imagined--eight years, maybe more.

Some people will do anything for money.

Meanwhile, I'll never watch little ole Tina again. She's off my list of Cool Broads forever.

And Sarah Palin? She continues to amaze me with her ability to simply work through the media in the manner in which she's done it with poise and grace. I like the example she sets and I think it's good for American women in particular and for America all around.

Thanks for the read.

Words, just (a few) words for Pakistan on Obama's website

This morning I awoke to the news that the Marriott in Islamabad was hit by a truck bomber, presumably an al-Qaeda terrorist; the large death toll climbs as recovery teams search. This is the fourth such bombing in a very short time.

Read the Obama Plan to keep people safe from such attacks. It was written in August of 2007, which is odd because there has been tremendous change in Pakistan since. A person would think with all those advisors--I heard there were 300--one of them could have come up with a paper or two related to the assassination of Benezir Bhutto, the downfall of Musharraf and the rise of Bhutto's husband as president and their official stand as to these huge changes. Not even when the lawyers were jailed, nothing. Not even a sub-paragraph.

But those small changes are not as important as the Big Idea, the Words-Just-Words aspect of Barack Obama, which is something people may be slowly coming to and realizing--this guy doesn't say anything, let alone have a plan!

Obama's schtick is about doing things on the fly (it's been that way his whole life--his adaptability being one of his major life skills) since he's had no real experience in nearly anything except, of course, that organizing thing in Chicago where all he learned is how to fit in so he'd feel better about himself. As the real world screams by him, he has to start standing up for statements which belie his new "American MOR-style conservatism," which is clearly seen in this unfortunate position paper Obama puts out on his website. The more I read on the website, moreover, the more I realized the people who are working with him sound like winners of essay contests, not much experience, but a lot of naivete.

Obama calls Pakistan a "failed country." In that respect he may be right, but it is our failed country in that U.S. interests continue even through the unpleasant knowledge that terrorism which is unchecked anywhere, especially in Pakistan where the availability of it nukes remain in question, leaves us with no options. However, it's nothing new in politics and gamesmanship and the amateurish attack on this subject is almost embarrassing.

American presidents have propped up many governments for security. When liberals get nuts over that, I just have to shrug my shoulders and have them look toward South America and the events in socialist Bolivia and Venezuela. They will see the future when we capitulate to the hate Oliver North/IranContra/Hwood leftist crowd and those they represent and end up doing our weak willed, subordinating hands-off number with dictators and leftist regimes--those who contemplate war games with Russia in the Caribbean and buy and sell strange and exotic "hardware" from places like North Korea.

Just words, just words, Senator Obama?

Pakistan deserves more than what you've given us. What is your current, I mean this week's, view on Pakistan, Senator Obama?

Thanks for the read.

Hillary, you're nuts to skip the anti Ahmadinejad event!

Update 9/20/2008: Shockingly, now Sarah's invite has been yanked.


Senator Clinton! It looks like the old femmies are back in charge of your life and you've taken your tired, old, tinny, walk-like-a-man feminism which states you won't even try to be nice to other women who might be as big and bad as you.

That shows no class, Hill--none, zero, or as the Barackians say, NADA.

For that reason, I have to take you off my list of extremely cool broads. Sorry. You blew it.

There is a way for you to get back on, BTW. Say you were wrong and accept the invite. Show young women it's all right to make a wrong decision and to change your mind, and do the right thing before it's too late.

Thanks for the read, the rest of you cool broads and dudes.

Obama, can we afford these bail outs?

I mean, 80 billion dollars here, 450 billion dollars there?

I'm stunned that we're seeing the three-month Treasury Bill falling to 50-year lows, as well as 450 point drops in the stock market. Meanwhile, I'm listening to the news waiting for some explanations from those in our government, not from pundits, that will give me some more understanding.

This is a dangerous place for both candidates.

But I think Palin is coming at this from the most pragmatic point of view, and the world's oldest one, frankly. We must have oversight because we cannot be trusted to oversee ourselves. What a fundamental and profound acknowledgment of man's inability to handle power, sex and money on his own. Every organization knows that!

Fish rots from the head down
I've always felt public trust was compromised permanently the day under oath Bill Clinton shook his finger at every American and lied through his teeth. It was at that moment those who entertained a shady side decided they could slip a little...after all, the prez does it...every one does it. When little boys asked their dads what sex really was, what the meaning of is is.

Everyone does it. That's what I've always heard.

It's not true. Everyone doesn't. Everyone shouldn't be asked to pay for the excesses of a bunch of spoiled boys and girls who can't handle themselves in public. BTW, what do you bet Senator Obama will ask for even more taxes to help pay for this latest bail out, which he wholeheartedly supports?

Thanks for the read.

Where is Bush's leadership on this financial mess?

Sorry, but George Bush has run out his string with me. I've waited for him to step up and speak in a prime time address about what's happening in our financial markets.

You see, I don't understand all of it myself. I'll bet there are a few others who don't as well. I'm just asking for the man to come out and speak for a bit about what's going on. Is that too much to ask? I think he probably should have been doing a lot of PR for a lot of years, but that's water under the Katrina bridge, now, isn't it?

I know it's not his style, being an MBA and all, that he likes to delegate like he did with "Brownie" at FEMA and with Rumsfeld and the war after McCain told him to get more troops and all, but maybe this time, he could get his ass out of his office or his room or where ever he is and speak about what's going on.

He doesn't know what's going on?

Oh.

Nevermind.

Thanks anyway for the read.

Dear Oprah, From Sarah

Want my advice?

Never, ever, EVER give a man money; it makes him weak...especially if he's a Chicago politician.

Your friend,

Sarah Palin

Obama, Metrolink, Streisand Fund Raiser, Brolin, Stone, "W", Ike: What idiots

Bring it on, Babs. While you're at it, get your stepson, Josh Brolin, and roll him out so he can let everyone know about his new movie, "W," which sounds like an outrageous, covetous piece of envious crap from Oliver Stone about one of his peers, an inside joke--it's gotta be--because no one with a real soul would step on stage during this time of tragedy, drink champagne, eat a bunch of arugula and raise money for a penny ante Chicago politician.

Oh, I forgot, except in Hollywood...where it's all about the look of it.

Pray for the victims of both tragedies.

Thanks for the read.

Swift Boat Politics: the Dem's final "victim" argument

They've even given it a name.

Obama mentioned "Swift Boat Politics" this morning in his reactionary speech defending his usage of lipstick on a pig in the context of this election.

BTW, does this guy EVER say he's sorry? That's really all he had to do. But no, his arrogance and tin ear when it comes to women, won't allow his ego such a failure. He just defends no matter what he says...or changes his position without apology. Strange guy.

Anyway, I looked up the term in Wikipedia and found this.

Of course the left's reaction to the legitimate practice of character testimony for a candidate is puzzling to me. Are they saying that regardless, it is wrong for the candidate's acquaintances to say what they know...ad hominem?

I don't think so. I think people are just passing on information. What should the Swift Boaters have done...say Kerry was a great leader, when they knew he wasn't? That was not up for debate--the man failed as a leader.

The usage of Swift Boat Politics is an interesting tactic, although it's nothing new. It's basically the 21st Century version of using McCarthyism as an excuse for revelations of bad behavior in the past. It is also simply a victim hood response which is what these Dems are about anyway. When the going gets tough they cry Swift Boat Politics.

Nothing new.

Thanks for the read.

The only pig in this fight is Obama...and a sexist one at that!

Obama's phony outrage to McCain's "phony" outrage was well, outrageous.

Obama knew exactly what he was going to say; in fact, the "lipstick" motif had already been introduced in a speech earlier. This is obviously a Hail Mary to keep Obama's base fired up. Their donation figures are looking grim and I've been reading small pieces of doubt into every surrogate I hear.

What's most outrageous to me, though, is the fact Obama would actually use a sexist joke--in light of the context of his nomination--and alienate even more women.

I'm calling Senator Obama on his sexist pig remark.

Thanks for the read.

Voters trust McCain's instincts; accept Palin

Not that John McCain didn't have great talking points and Sarah's great looks and phenomenal family and work ethic, there comes a time when there's no other explanation.

Troops trust their leaders after a time...Grant's, Washington. You just gotta go with your leaders.

I'm there. I trust John McCain to have figured out that this girl can handle what's going on. She deserves our support.

What's the alternative? A Chicago machine politician with really leftie, weird ideas or someone like John who's been there, done that, said that, denied and proved he was right that, chose that, claimed that, lived and still wants to REFORM that.

I'm learning to trust again. Reform requires trust, I think.

Thanks for the read.

Obama's doing the same thing to Door Mat Hillary as husband Bill!

Why is Hillary Clinton on the campaign trail for Obama? Hasn't she had enough of the people who put her down, insulted her and made her a laughing stock?

Now that's we've discussed the media...

Why would she put anything toward Barack Obama?

She is the epitome of the door mat.

Sorry, Hillary. You let your husband ruin your career after he publicly humiliated you. Now you want to let Obama do the same?

I don't get women like you, Hill. I just don't. Nothing is worth your loss of dignity.

Thanks for the read.

Finally, MSNBC's grown ups take over: lose Olbermann

This is a win.

I got a huge response from my editorial of August 1, 2008 about MSNBC's terrible coverage. The increase was 500% in a period of one hour. I wonder sometimes if someone at the network read what I said and took it to heart: they're idolizing not analyzing.

Regardless, our collective criticism across the board made a difference.

Now that Tom Brokaw and some other veterans have stepped up to stand for their profession, the higher-ups are listening. The heads of the networks are evidently too scared, too entrenched (read my article) or not really news people--just entertainment executives.

Thanks for the read.

McCain and Palin: the Republican's Team of Mavericks whose message is REFORM

The team of McCain and Palin are starting to coalesce into their reform agenda-driven duo, but it's not as quickly as the media would like.

Many of us Republicans are already seeing reform as we watch the McCain campaign stick it to the media. Instead of kowtowing to its elite who have shown they want to destroy our new candidate, Sarah Palin, Davis, Schmidt and company opted to keep her under wraps until they're good and ready.

This approach drives even Chris Wallace nuts, as was clearly displayed today on Fox News Sunday in his interview of McCain's guy, Rick Davis. Wallace pressed over and over for a date Sarah would be debuted to the "press." Davis answered, broken record-style, "when the campaign thinks it's a good time."

Rick Davis and John McCain decide when it's time for the hyenas will pick apart their girl, not the hyenas.

They must continue to be aggressive because the Obama people consistently use the old leftist campaign styles which have thrown more than one unsuspecting, sometimes illiterate electorate somewhere in the world onto their side. Distort, deny, distract, obfuscate and attack...did I miss any?

The Do Not Touch list in my Obama's Do Not Touch book grows. We must use every one of those untouchable items, except for his children, to stay alive because of the Dems huge increases in registered Democrats, mostly the young voters.

But it must be remembered that reform and change is our message, the most powerful one we have domestically.

Hallelujah
This change can now come about because the Republican Party of the last few years is finally over and gone. I'm am a centrist who has felt powerless to change the old boys who couldn't keep their pants zipped, or their hands off easy money and in the meantime help destroy our Party. I've watched the corruption in my own state, on both sides, and have felt powerless to do anything about it. What an inspiring message Sarah Palin has brought. Reform is possible and change is real when you've got someone to lead you!

I was never for Bush, was a McCain supporter forever. It hurt me to see how Bush treated him in 2000. But, I forgave him because I thought nothing would have been worse than Al Gore. I knew back then Dubya was the pleasure-bent son of a good man, which is one reason he didn't appeal to me as a candidate, but eventually I came to think perhaps his character would come out once people took him seriously.

I was right about a couple of things where George Bush, the Younger, is concerned. He is tenacious and quite brave. But his strengths turned into weakness. He showed that he wasn't equipped to handle leadership. Sweet karma, some of his opponents would say. Without that strong example and vision, our party floundered. Of course, there were a few other set backs, like the comportment of Republican Speakers (the fish rots from the head down), as well as the pay back aspect of the Democratic congress and an impossibly hostile press; however, part of leadership is dealing with such issues.

Our other new issues
While I write this morning, a new axis of evil is gearing up to literally surround America with dangerous problems. Iran is busy in the testing business today; Venezuela is working with Russian sailors this morning in the war game game off the coast of Venezuela. In addition, North Korea, those little devils, have reinstated nuclear program, again thumbing their noses at the West. I'll brighten your day a bit here by reminding you that Pakistan is in chaos as we speak, which causes a person to wonder who will get his hands on those nukes first, the new reform government or Al Qaeda. And then there's Georgia.

Team of mavericks
Leadership and vision, reform and change, led by a Team of Mavericks. That's good; now let's see how the campaigns match up in these brand new life and death challenges, not the least of which is the Republicans resisting capitulation to a press corp that resemble the dogs that used to chase me on my runs. This is the same media, by the way, who stood in the way of progress in Iraq and distorted our foreign policy positions. So far, so good.

Of course, the McCain campaign won't turn his other maverick loose yet. Why would they? Leaders decide when and where, not the other way around.

Thanks for the read.

O'Reilly coaxes and jostles Obama into submission

The first part of the O'Reilly Obama interview provided me with some respect for Bill I thought he'd never earn. When watching his past "exposes," he never failed to disappoint in that he never quite got to the meat of the issue. I've attributed it to his general lack of sophistication politically--or he's really a great Devil's Advocate.

However last week, he was able to coax the truth out of Obama re: the surge. In so doing, along with the his body language, Obama managed to come off like a little boy trying to persuade his history professor that he really did read the assignment.

As I've watched Obama for the past year or so, I've noticed he is a cauldron of anger...and when it's tapped (when things aren't going well in the campaign), he loses his temper. Moreover,I believe that "temper" they talk about with McCain is pretty measured by now. An older man probably has learned how to direct it. But in Obama? It's not becoming.

I'm not at all sure Obama and, more importantly, his PEOPLE can tolerate the political reality that there are those who disagree with them. Note: the knee jerk press release from them when Mrs. Palin was announced. What did it say? Something about her being a hick? Something about having zero experience? That reveals tremendous arrogance backed by anger.

I shouldn't be so hard on them, I suppose. They never learned to appreciate that opposition is not often seen in the thuggish machine politics of Chicago. Listening to your opposition is a learned trait.

Obama's interview with O'Reilly confirmed to me our little boy is not nearly ready. Not yet. Maybe never. Real men don't treat women the way he does. Neither are the bunch behind him who want a black man elected no matter what it does to our country...how women have been belittled and disenfranchised for the "dream."

We watched how little girls saw Hillary get planted in the back row regardless of those 18 million, just like any good ole boy network; how little boys get to see their daddies mistreat and insult women and have that ideal reinforced; how a professional woman like Michelle Obama was forced by the good ole boys to dumb down her speech; how a group of so called Democrats have pulled off the most undemocratic nomination modern America has ever seen.

Of course, the other big story that has been completely missed by MSM is the fact that a small group of nerds can rearrange the entire Republican introduction strategy based on a lie--Dailykos.com told a whopper, but no one looks at that--they just jump on Palin and the "vetting" process.

Until the real stories, like the ones above are asked about of the candidate, people like O'Reilly simply fill in some blanks. In other words, I don't expect much, unless Obama loses his temper.

Thanks for the read.

Hey, Dems. Bottom line is you didn't put a woman on the ticket. You had your chance.

There is no greater joy in my political junkeedom than what has occurred over the past week.

First of all, I got my wish; I got a woman as VP. I wanted Condi, as you know. But when Sarah Palin was announced I jumped back to the years I was her age and also wanted to be taken seriously.

Then, after the thunderous welcome to Sarah in Dayton, it was the very next morning the DailyKos, without any proof, began the rumor that Sarah was actually the Down's Syndrome child's grandmother, and she was hiding that Bristol, her daughter was really the mother. Bristol's pregnancy went national as a result of an astute eye from a Dailykos person who probably will be embarrassed that he tried to ruin a family--someday--when he's old enough and matured and hurt enough to finally get it.

Anyway, Governor Palin was forced to announce the pregnancy of her daughter, Bristol...although everyone in town knew it anyway.

I have to admit I was shocked--probably more angry than shocked--that she had put us in the position of dealing with a scandal. But then, I thought that someone had messed up.

Well, someone did. It doesn't really matter to me how the vetting was done; I'm sure it was sufficient. It may be that Governor Palin didn't know how she was going to break it to Senator McCain. From what I understand, he thought about the "dirty" laundry (according to the liberal media), this is a little child, after all, and the daughter of a mother and father...I can only imagine when Bristol told the folks that she's pregnant.

I'm surprised at the current crop of feminists who resent Governor Palin...obviously, they do...and how they got EXACTLY what they wanted, except for the Republican part! It's so sad they can't forget the ideology for one minute to congratulate a fabulous woman.

Instead we got attitude from urban, elite fems like Dowd and Quinn. What their attitude displayed is they're no different than anyone else...they could have pushed the Democrat Party to accept Hillary, but instead one of them made fun of her...and the other forsook her.

No wonder they feel funny about Sarah.

I found the fact that she was forced to disclose her daughter's pregnancy as vulgar as any of her critic's charges against her.

I realized then how much I like her.

Women who aren't outdoorsy types (I was raised on a farm and followed my gentleman farmer father across every acre, learned to shoot, ride, dig post holes) maybe don't understand that women like Sarah Palin have a kinetic energy that their city mouse sisters will probably never attain. She's had this fabulous learning childhood, like mine, from which she actually believes she can do anything she wants...regardless.

I come from a long line of women like Sarah Palin...I won't belabor the point but I think most strong Americans do. Men and women, those who moved through the middle of the country. Some stopped and put down roots, while the others, probably a little more energetic than their relatives, moved on westward. They left their pioneer footprints all along the way, from North Carolina to Alaska, the same one's we're seeing in their great-grand children's yearning to be understood and respected by the rest of the nation.

This woman is the real deal and she deserves our respect. She'll do very well in the "foreign" policy areas as time goes along. Her instincts are protection at all costs; well, she is a hunter for Heaven's sake! Maybe that's what we need for a while.

Thanks for the read.

News Flash: Palin didn't get a passport until 2007 and Meg Whitman says there's no sexism in coverage!

I don't have a current passport either. My old one expired in 1985.

But according to hack David Gergen on CNN, one can't possibly know foreign policy unless one has a passport! This coming from the same man who stated that the use of Moses in McCain's ads was code for Negroes becoming too uppity. Gergen knew that for sure, he said, because he's from the south.(?)

Gergen comes from the same group of twits who are trying to tell us Mr. Obama really does has more experience than Palin. Gergen said today to use the current arguments hailing Palin's experience is laughable. Laughable, huh?

CNN. Meanwhile, GOP spokespeople Amy Holmes and Leslie Sanchez let him get away with it!

Gee, now a person not only has to be an easterner from an eastern school, but you gotta have a freakin passport.

This is ridiculous. Blow back, people. We're losing our country because of hacks like David Gergen, a guy who doesn't have a real job.

BTW, I only watch MSNBC and CNN because I want to see how they're handling this stuff. They are incapable of asking questions that don't speak to their own opinion and agenda. There are not many left who are interested taking their journalistic roles very seriously.

Later, on Fox, Meg Whitman, adviser to McCain, actually used the successful white woman executive schtick (many women CEOs pull this crap once they "make" it) from which she responds to Chris Wallace about sexism in the campaign.

"No, I don't think there's been any. " She's kidding, right?

Meg, you obviously have never worked anywhere except for Romney, who you said was your first boss (in government? when?) and now for McCain. I suggest you talk to the rest of us before you make ridiculous statements about the average woman's experiences in the workplace.

You wuz lucky, Meg old girl.

Meanwhile, shut up about sexism, please. Please? You know nothing about it. Go back to the economics room, where you belong and stay off camera. You hurt the party when you make stupid statements like that. Of course, the media's practicing extreme sexism.

Geez, these money types drive me nuts with their delusions about real life. Kinda like Phil Graham and his "whining" remark.

Thanks for the read.

Sally Quinn and other elite hypocrites join the smear campaign against Palin

Well, well, well.

Sally Quinn's snobbery is beyond insulting.

Here we are at the place where I have to again paraphrase Orwell: "Everyone's created equal. It's just that some people are more equal than others."

Sally Quinn, the granddaughter of a signer on the Declaration of Independence, graduate of Smith College, married to Ben Bradlee, ex publisher of the Washington Post, reminds all the already guilt ridden women in America that Palin just doesn't pass Sally's muster. Who does Palin think she is working with all those children, especially the special needs one?

Sally's mad, she says, and insulted--mad that McCain would make such a calculating choice, cynical I think she called it, as choosing a woman to become Vice President. So, Obama's selecting Biden wasn't calculated, just a cover up for the foreign policy inadequacies of the Boy Wonder (who really doesn't have executive experience)?

While Sally, this married-to-get-where-she-is has been, rotates in and out of four or five mansions, I wonder if she for a second worries about the next payday. Probably not. She's more concerned about what the other elites are thinking and saying...not to mention getting that dinner party together for next weekend to they can all tsk tsk about how they're losing their country to the people.

More to the point, perhaps Sally should get a reality check and read up on the ascension of the newly widowed Katherine Graham, the woman with NO experience who took over the Washington Post when her husband died...before Bradlee got to it.

She might also want to research before she pronounces to the rest of us what is appropriate for young mothers. She after all, didn't have her only child until she was 41, a fact which could be construed by some as irresponsible, considering the high incidents of birth defects. I won't go any farther, but let's get real while we're throwing around the judgment.

Sally Quinn is enamored with her own east coast family and elitism, an unbecoming and transparent display of snobbery, to be of any help to the rest of America. On the contrary, Governor Palin has more demonstrated ability and results than Quinn could ever dream of producing. Palin was elected by the people, not self appointed. Elites like Quinn insist on forgetting that tackier, more pedestrian aspect of our democracy.

Sally Quinn, after all, is only a writer and not a very good one at that, who's shown herself to be an out of touch, miserable old hypocrite.

Thanks for the read.

"Palin's not a real feminist, you know. She's just a token."

Or how about this one?

"She's not a real mother; after all, who could leave a 3-day baby at home and go to work?"

I got this one from that bunch at the children's table at DailyKos.

"She's actually the grandmother of that child. The Down's Syndrome baby is really her daughter's."

Here's a good one written by a Brit that I pulled from the Times online site:

"It figures you dumb Americans would pick someone from Hicksville, USA."

These quotes are a compilation of the Left's sludge I went through this morning. Even at this point in the election, I'm amazed at the venom and vituperation of our opposition in the blogosphere.

Most interesting is their preoccupation with experience. Since these people are incapable of carrying on a conversation with actual points and rules (they have no background), it is silly to debate the experience issue by comparing their presidential candidate with our vice presidential candidate. Their tiny minds don't and won't understand the differences.

First of all, unlike these bloggers, these citizen journalists, most of whom are totally inexperienced in delivering news and commentary, Governor Palin was elected to her post, not self-appointed. I have to laugh at the temerity of them calling the Governor inexperienced--like they're all Edward R. Murrows.

Even I--coming from a career of corporate and legal writing--don't take myself that seriously!

Secondly, the feminists who believe McCain is trying to win them over by using the Governor? No. What he's doing is trying to win over the women and men in the rest of the country who can't bring themselves to vote for Obama and Biden, not because Hillary didn't get on the ticket, per se. It may be because many swing state voters don't like what they see on the Democratic side in any case: that the Left has hijacked their party. At least with Hill on the ticket they trusted somehow the Left wouldn't be as prevalent. Not many feminists in that group, maybe. Women for Hillary are not the target.

Frankly, we've been hoping some feminists can see their way clear to acknowledge there are different kinds of feminism, not the strident, ball-breaking, family-destroying mess that they foisted on women in the 70s. The old feminists are the tanks, the dinosaurs who can't believe that today's women do things quite differently which might be the reason people will actually vote for Governor Palin.

I worked for women who hated women who"made" it, especially if they thought those women got there because they were lucky. These bloggers, many of them young males, remind me of them. They show a unpleasant, unwarranted disregard and hostility for women in their party. I find it odd that the younger Democratic Party power males are allowed to be so conservative and blatantly sexist. Maybe this is a backlash from the feminist ideals of their mothers whose lives didn't include a father to help them learn manners and respect.

Then I remember the dumbed down speech given by Michelle Obama, a lawyer in her own right, someone who is successful on her own. She allowed these boys to make her stupid because they were afraid to show her for what she really is while we listened to her husband tell us anything was possible...except for that pesky part about being president and that were just kidding with the 18 million cracks.

So, really, the feminists should have a beef with the Democrats, not us. At least we put our money where our mouth is.

A token?

I'd say this is just another case of Democrats' sour grapes. The big fems couldn't get it done in their party, could they? But like the woman scorned, they're not going to allow any other woman to do it. Hypocrites.

Thanks for the read.

Let's compare apples (Obama) and apples (McCain); not apples and oranges (Palin)

Want to know how to handle our Democrat friends who are talking trash about Governor Palin?

Keep the Democrats on the defensive about Obama's inexperience. Governor Palin has a thousand times more than he. Remember what counts are the comparisons between the two Presidential candidates.

It's tough for Dems to stay on track because they're so full of emotion. Don't let them put you on the defensive about Palin. Apples and oranges. Refuse to have the discussion, but if they insist, which they will--just have them look at the resumes and compare them.

Meanwhile, my thanks to a friend with the engineer's mind who compiled the following data. It's nice to have cheat sheets to fall back on.

2008 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE COMPARISON TALKING POINTS ISSUE JOHN McCAIN BARAK OBAMA Favors new drilling offshore US Yes No Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it Yes No Served in the US Armed Forces Yes No Amount of time served in the US Senate 22 YEARS 173 DAYS Will institute a socialized national health care plan No Yes Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy No Yes Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately No Yes Supports gun ownership rights Yes No Supports homosexual marriage No Yes Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase No Yes Voted against making English the official language No Yes Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals No Yes CAPITAL GAINS TAX MCCAIN 0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax. OBAMA 28% on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.) DIVIDEND TAX MCCAIN 15% (no change) OBAMA 39.6% - (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president. The experts predict that 'Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.') INCOME TAX MCCAIN (no changes) Single making 30K - tax $4,500 Single making 50K - tax $12,500 Single making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 60K- tax $9,000 Married making 75K - tax $18,750 Married making 125K - tax $31,250 OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts) Single making 30K - tax $8,400 Single making 50K - tax $14,000 Single making 75K - tax $23,250 Married making 60K - tax $16,800 Married making 75K - tax $21,000 Married making 125K - tax $38,750 Under Obama, your taxes could almost double! INHERITANCE TAX MCCAIN - 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax) OBAMA Restore the inheritance tax Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes. NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren't high enough already) New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not least....New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries!!! You can verify the above at the following web sites: http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/election/2008/index.html http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.taxes.html http://elections.foxnews.com/?s=proposed+taxes http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_ on_taxes.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/ http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/

We can't afford an Obama administration.

But then, keeping this corrupt Chicago political machine going, now that they've gone global, takes lots and lots of the people's money. Or as they say in Chi-town, "So many voting suckers, so little time."

Maybe we need to work harder to get this message out. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the read.

Fox's Juan Williams compares Palin choice to Affirmative Action

On Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, Juan Williams could barely contain his anger as he flatly told the white people on the panel he didn't want to hear complaints about affirmative action ever again, now that this woman has been selected. This woman is Governor Sarah Palin.

Not only does Williams continue comparing apples and oranges (Obama for president, Palin for vice president), he arrogantly dismisses Governor Palin as a totally unqualified person to be where she is, as if her accomplishments were nothing.

It will be fun to watch the Governor take these media egos farther down as she continues to win the hearts and votes of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, Indiana...

Gee. I'm amazed they can get up in the morning now that reality is hitting them--Obama may not win.

Thanks for the read.

McCain's rope-a-dope pick of Governor Palin

John McCain picked a nobody--someone like us--to walk beside him to the White House.

Predictably the mean pundits are out in force to destroy Governor Palin and in so doing probably alienate the very people they are trying to win over, the undecided voters in the swing states.

Let's see how long Obama's surrogates will tug on these ropes.

Roping the dope
Did you know she only has a minor undergraduate degree from a small college in Idaho?

It's odd that the twit who made this ridiculous statement failed to mention Governor Palin's degree is in Journalism and she's a graduate of the University of Idaho.

Even before she's out of the gate the left media has attempted to turn her into a insignificant individual--kind of like the rest of us, who obviously doesn't know anything about anything, minimalizing the people who are also part of this country. The media can't even relate to a journalism degree, which seems odd considering their core profession.

Oh, and by the way, state universities provide educations for the "rest of us." This elitism is soooo tedious. and it's only a matter of time before people get a belly full of it.

Roping the dope
Did you know she was just a mayor of a small town in ahem Alaska? How could that be anything special; why would we elect someone whose resume is so thin?

Well, the facts are she's run a company, run a home, run a small (icky) town government, then threw out some bad guys in her own party as she rose the the Governor's office. Let's see, compared to Barack Obama's 143 days in the senate and his never having had to at least meet a payroll, it's quite amazing the Dems would even bring it up.

Obama's never so much as run a lemonade stand. He's seems like he's a mama's boy who has been taken care of his whole life by women like his grandmother, his mother, when she was around, Oprah, Michelle, women: the people he and his campaign have insulted for the last two years.

Obama is just another fatherless boy who's seeking to ameliorate his inadequacy about his own masculinity. Like Bill Clinton. Like so many dysfunctional men in the Democratic (and Republican) party who evidently are frightened by a woman like Sarah Palin.

Hey, Dems, in fact, do bring it on; let's discuss the actual accomplishments of the two candidates. Of course, Obama's lack of experience is fine for the presidency, but Governor Palin's, which consists of practical application and executive experience isn't enough for the vice presidency.

Roping the dope
She's appointed herself as the poster girl for the Right to Life. She is nothing more than a shill for the murderers of the extreme right who hate women.

Interesting that people would go after her in such a wantonly vindictive manner, as if her dedication to her family of five, including her Down's Syndrome child can somehow be construed someone's shill. That takes a lot of years and experience, if that's true. I suggest women who are so fearful of Governor Palin take a look at themselves and stop throwing the word "murderer" around. That can get a Pro Life person in trouble every time.

People watch this and see how crazy the Left is. It will backfire in swing states because it's insulting to a woman who is head and shoulders above those in dignity and in personal action. and is a powerful testament to her. The Left had better be careful as they try to demonize this good woman.

Roping the dope
She has no foreign policy knowledge; how can she be expected to step into the job without that?

Well, she does manage a state that is bordered by two countries. But that's probably not the foreign policy experience they're griping about.

My hunch is Governor Palin will take the podium and go toe to toe with Biden. At least she didn't lie about her "thin" resume and serially plagiarize large and copious "papers."

Biden, of course, will try to hurt her personally. That's just the kind of man he is.

Roping the dope
The Republicans chose her because they're pandering to the woman vote.

No kidding. I like being pandered to for a change!

Roping the dope
She has some baggage, I hear...something about corruption in her own administration...getting her brother in law fired?

The event has been vetted and vetted and vetted. I'm not worried about it, and I think the corruption within Alaska's politics are what people will talk about. Mavericks have enemies, especially big fat senators who build bridges.

Roping the dope
Well, then she's just another woman who doesn't deserve the job. She's like Hillary who thought she could skip up the ramp to the Oval Office by being the president's wife. She's just like most of those women who kick in young guys' balls and act like their mother. Yeah, just another woman getting a break who doesn't deserve it. How many middle aged women who have given their lives to a corporation have heard those very words from the Young Turks who push them aside.

It seems to me that the skipping the Dems are talking about also included some nifty side stepping from a little boy who wants to be president and won't wait till he's ready. The argument still plays. There is no comparison between the two situations and two candidates. Apples and oranges.

Roping the dope
She's a member of the NRA which is a front for (fill in the blank) ______ and Americans hate guns...

Except for the Americans who hunt with them and are proud to own them, who live in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado and Alaska. They're also very concerned and cling to those guns and Bibles when progressive Dems come around, and still happily cling to the Second Amendment, just in case.

And finally, the best rope a dope yet
McCain's too old to be president...look at how the two of them look like Father and Daughter.

This is what I expected. Either sixty is the new forty, or it isn't. People can't have it both ways in their personal lives by trying to look hopelessly young and attractive and then personally insult the candidate who is older by calling him bumbling. Andrea Mitchell with her new mouth, the MSNBC preoccupation with youth, and their empty whining to each other, listening to a sportscaster, Keith Olbermann as if he has anything important to say. That's bumbling and incoherent.

Gosh, there are a lot of dopes out there who can't leave these ropes alone!

Senator McCain has picked a vice presidential candidate who's an awful lot like who we are or want to be. Governor Palin's story appeals to our sense of American character, grit, courage and know how. Senator McCain is appealing to Americans' better nature by selecting her. He must have a lot of faith in her.

She really is kind of like us--only better.

I'm guessing the old jet jockey saw a sortie that was risky but worth every ordnance he had on board. As it turned out, he fired and hit the target dead on. Let's see how far this choice goes in flushing out and exposing the facts from the rhetoric that stands for what Obama offers: that is, nothing, just words.

Good move, Senator McCain. You've roped these dopes into telling the truth about themselves and about their ideas. They can't hide anymore.

Thanks for the read.

Pray for God's will...

because according to the media, and in my opinion, candidate Obama is about to overwhelm the McCain candidacy by sheer showmanship.

What I personally pray for is his sincerity.

Regardless of my plans to shape God's will, I would like to publicly offer a pray for Senator Obama and his family. His achievement is fabulous and we mustn't let our differences stand in front of our unanimity of progress.

Let us keep the Obama family in our prayers. We must not allow those who would use the Senator's ethnicity against him so as to stay in the good graces of individuals who have ideals that transcend some of the rhetoric of the day. We must come together in trust and unanimity.

Barack Obama is making history tonight as he accepts the nomination for president from the Democratic Party.

I'll allow him his glory. He's earned it. And if he wins? Well, he's growing, just as JFK did. Let's see where his true heart lies. After all, that's all that matters in my WASP eyes. (I love meritocracy, don't u?)

Thanks for the read.

Bill Clinton: Will the Old Lion forget their betrayal and make nice?

(Fox News story down below)

I have the feeling we will see a Bill Clinton who attempts to keep control while he delivers his "make nice" speech tonight.

But underneath I think what might happen is the old adrenaline will start flowing, as it does with rock stars who hear the masses cheering, and he will lose control. I don't think the old Bill would've; I think a post-quad bypass Bill might.

I watch for him to slap the wrists of those who betrayed him during this campaign, insulted his wife and forced him into a position of having to defend his honor regarding civil rights. Bill may be a philanderer, but I do think in all honesty he was always driven towards the African-American goal of equal opportunity. President Clinton's sense of having been betrayed must be horrific personally and politically. I can't imagine how I'd feel under similar circumstances.

I wouldn't be surprised if Bill Clinton finally lets them have it. He's not a team player sometimes. Tonight might be his night, not Barack's.

After all, the Old Lion has to teach the young lion upstart a lesson--in public.

As a fellow Leo (both Bill and Barack are also Leos), I can't wait. What a drama.

Thanks for the read.

How much did Hill get for the acclamation?

(Fox News story follows below)

We'll see how much of Senator Clinton's campaign debt gets paid back now that the Obama people and the Clintons have come to an real understanding.

My bet is Hill gets every vendor, including herself, paid off now that Bill can say what he wants and she motions to bring the roll call vote to close and affirm whassiname as the nominee. She would've made a hell of a president for the Democrats. Sorry, but it's true.

So, was it about money all along?

Pride and ego?

Self-respect.

The future?

It's probably all of the above that moved Hillary and Bill to hold the line against the kid. And why not?

Thanks for the read.

Fox News caves in to Obama's Ayres ad intimidation

http://www.americanissuesproject.org/

If you think it's bad now, just wait till the Obama group is in charge. You've seen how they steamroll others. Why would they change when they get real power?

My link above is to the ad Obama's lawyers are trying to shut down...like none of what took place in the 60s ever happened. The Democrats again are rewriting history. Barack Obama announced his political career in the home of Bill Ayres, the American terrorist, whose murderous accomplice-wife sat back and reminded everyone again how they hate America as recently as a year ago. Barack calls them mainstream.

By the way, the Ayres weren't convicted because of a legal technicality. Meanwhile, these people are receiving money from tax payers as professors instead of languishing in Leavenworth where they both belong.

Regardless, the media refuses to run this ad, even Fox News.

Roger Ailes's inability to do what's right must come from racial intimidation and fear put out by the Obama campaign. Otherwise, what? There's no other reason that comes to mind that he turned this ad down other than pressure.

I don't like people who try to take away my right to free speech. Not in any way, in any form.

It's time to get real about Barack Obama's intentions for those who don't agree with him and fight back with all we have--beginning right now.

Thanks for the read.

Rick Warren's presentation is everything

Religious charlatans are not new. Americans have been preached at by some of the best showmen in the world. The practice started in the upper part of the northern hemisphere the day they stepped foot on a rock in Massachusetts and continues to this day. In fact, it started with Native American shamans.

I won't mention names because they know who they are.

When I first attended Rick Warren's Saddleback tent not far from where I lived in about 1998, I was impressed with its organization. I thought the staff did a great job--the parking challenge was horrendous, but I had been so hurt in other big evangelical churches with their spiffy pastors (even the word, pastor, is really too evangelical for this mainline Protestant) that I just couldn't bring myself to really listen critically to Rick Warren. I was pretty much done with all of them.

I had heard so many of these guys who just didn't get it as far as I was concerned.

Southern Baptist Convention
Who knew? Today, they have legitimacy.

Now that the president of the Baptists can flap on TV about their own personal go-to guy for God; perhaps, flap he should. This is not a criticim. This is a suggestion that you all listen and learn and judge by the fruits of his labor.

Something new, since I've been to Saddleback is they're out of the tent and into a nice church...with lots of parking and a staff to handle all of it. Their co-missions seems to keep rolilng on, one which is close to my heart.

Saddleback doctrine-wise is just like the first baptist church in any town; they believe the exact same thing about salvation--being born again through Christ--the part that everyone who isn't goes so nutty over.

Rick Warren is no charlatan from what I'm seeing these days. Like many other great unnamed preachers before him, he knows you get more with honey than you do with vinegar. His delivery is not new. From the sounds of him, he would be the first to say any "success" he has is because God placed him where he is. After all, he comes from a line of Southern Baptist preachers, so he probably knew his Bible very, very well before he presumed to stand behind the pulpit.

Add to his obvious ability to select capable people to surround himself with, Rick Warren is a true magnet of the typical Orange County upper level technocrats. They help him deliver the message with their expertise. That's what it takes, you know--people who know what they're doing. Where else but the OC?

Rick Warren, someone whom I thought once might be another circuit preacher with a bunch of weird, ego drivenideas, as I have found out is hardly a phony. His sincerity and lifestyle actions speak as loudly as his motivational sermons. He appeals to real men and women who need a church home or something like that and have a belief in something, maybe in Jesus, but for sure in something. He has them walking in the door in droves with their kids, stopping at the desk to sign up for their own purpose driven lives.

The other more persistent, some call less tolerant Christians, including those in his same brotherhood, who have turned people off by their "demeanor" in evangelizing might take a lesson from Pastor Warren. When churches stay relevant in people's busy lives by toning down the rhetoric and turning up the concern, attracting people to Christ and His Gospel becomes its own message.

How does that happen? Well, obviously the man has to smarter than the dog, as my mother used to say. Rick Warren, son and grandson of men of God, is a leader because he qualifies as one and first knows his Bible, doctrine and understands and lives his own faith. You can't teach it if you don't live it.

The rest, Saddleback, came later.

And now that Pastor Warren is participating in history with this evening's presidential forums with Obama and McCain, I expect he will maintain his equilibrium. I'll pray for God's guidance as Warren brings more souls to Christ. His way.

Thanks for the read.

Why would Putin choose now to invade Georgia? Why wouldn't he?

It's perfect.

There appears, from the world media fed by the infotainment distributors that Americans are thoroughly against all involvement in foreign wars. Could be.

Communists have never been so pretty as they are these days. Just look at them in Moscow (as it dresses well and drinks well, while it removes what we Americans take for granted, basic rights such as freedom of the press, as it "re-nationalizes" those private industries which Putin so desperately wanted to be "private" back in the early years when he really wasn't a Communist, and now...if we look closely, there's some sick 21st century logo that looks benignly like a scifi channel video on the tanks that rumble towards the Black Sea.

Besides, look at all them purty Olympic thingies. They seem like such nice people...

So, as the new Russians, aka Putinists regain territory with their imperialistic war--by the way, when someone mentions the imperialist US "invaded" Iraq and it's the same as Russia invading Georgia?

It isn't. America's leaving Iraq and will probably be out of the country by 2012; Russia has not only gained Ossetia it has taken over Georgia explaining there are no more boundaries. Russia got land.

All we got was a bunch of crap from a bunch of whiners there in Iraq, here in America and all over the world.

Anyway, I suppose Putin is counting on the antiwar sentiment of Americans ala pre WWII, ala pre Pearl Harbor, thinking Americans won't do anything so he can flex his muscles and take territory while he can. Again, he may be right. But then that was then. Now?

He may be also depending upon a black white election dynamic that was never in play before to put America on the defensive. That is why it's so important for quick response from the state department and Israel. The Bush administration obviously are not deterred from that reality.

Of course, our friends in Israel's only alternative is to hit Iran immediately while Russia is on the offensive. Obviously we cannot allow Russia to continue to supply Iran with nuclear materials during this time of Russian aggression. I would hope the president would gather his credits with Merkel of Germany and Sarkozy of France, not to mention his pals in the Independent States--Poland, et al., and stand strong. I say "obviously," but those of us who remember the Cold War also recall the intractability of those who said we could contain the U.S.S.R., that evil empire.

The evil empire that Reagan called out. Containment.

The McCain response has been perfect, by the way.

Barack Obama's response, quite too late and tepid (typically) it seemed to me and weak, would have given Putin another three or four days to kill another two-thousand people.

Madeleine (I-had-my-stage-debut-with-Kim-Jong Il) Albright insists Bush should send Rice to Russia immediately. I don't quite know what they'd talk about considering the situation.

Secretary of State Rice

Hey, Vlad, you've killed a few people down in Georgia.

Vlad "Kissface" Putin
Well, I am trying to rebuild my Soviet state. Can you blame me? It's in my blood, Kondikuska ...my Marxist, Soviet blood.
(beat)
Nice leggings...you do gymnastics too...and play piano.
Cabbage and sherry?

At least President Bush has acted by sending Secretary Rice to Tbilisi (they wouldn't dare kill Rice) and placing missiles in Poland pointed east so that there could be some damage control.

Meanwhile, while Obama studies real, real hard, reads his Cliff Notes and tries to figure out ancient Russian bear politics, which he can't do because he wasn't there and can't just jump into the middle and know it all because he read it, Vladimir Putin has a plan: it starts with C and it ends with r.

Why? Because Russia's hungry and drunk. Their production of food is down thanks to the new free markets in the old satellite bread baskets and there's a huge increase in alcoholism among its men. They have internal problems besides just the old Russian imperialistic urges. Russia has big problems. Check out the recent writings on American Enterprise Institute from the experts. You'd be surprised what the western press ignores.

I discovered something today which I find absolutely phenomenal that it has not been reported: Vladimir Putin's grandfather was the personal chef to both Lenin and Stalin. Why that has not been a feature story in the western press is beyond me. It is not as if I hadn't done a lot of research on Putin for other articles; I had years ago and no where did I see this information until today.

I have to remember the reason we might not have access to data; the dissembling of our own intelligence agencies by the Clintons; and the leftist-ridden state department policy changers and bureaucrats in Washington and Russia's redesign, reconstituting and reassembling a new, more responsive KGB. Moreover, there is an increased ability to capture information now more than ever.

Next thing he'll be admitting to is his involvement in laying the first block at the Berlin Wall. Hey, great things begin small.

It's a perfect time to invade another country--when your core enemy seems weak and its people silly. Let's hope he's wrong.

Thanks for the read.

The Chinese Olympic Commies can sure put on a show, can't they?

Gee. This must be how Rome, ancient Egypt, the 3500 southern American slave owned plantations and all those other places that utilized slave labor to build their grandness became so fabulous.

They almost had me.
Great ceremony, the bird's nest, the pretty girls, the warmth, everything perfect. Right up until the time the Chinese soldiers took hold of the Olympic flag. Then I felt a chill down my spine. The pili on my arms stood up like I was still in the caves of France as a bear approached...no, nothing's really changed.

These people in so much red mean business.

Khrushchev, Hu, Putin, Medvedev
Meanwhile, Russia still looks like it's still full of the same old Commies of 1968 when they rolled tanks into Prague as yesterday and Friday Medvedev sent warplanes and 500 tanks into the country of Georgia and killed 2000 civilians.

Vladimir (when will we ever learn not to trust guys named Vladimir?) Putin's the same KGB guy I wrote about five years ago, only's he's got Armani clothes and great shoes and big old wifie's got a personal trainer and bleached her hair and got a bunch of Botox. Didn't work, though; I noticed he also has his own personal Party Concubine, a gymnast, which brings all sorts of imagery to my nimble mind.

Let's hear how Prince Barack handles the real world aspect of 21st century style Communism, pretty and not so pretty. Don't expect much, considering most of our young people don't get it. Communists just love people like Barack. They eat them for breakfast. In fact, now that the Prince has established his leftist bona fides he should talk easily with these folks...live and let live and all.

The world has not changed even if people like the new Democrats say it has.

There is little real people alone can do but wake up and remember the horrors of this system then protest the ridiculous and barbaric attitudes of these bad men.

One might pray for the persecuted. Look in the sidebar for the organization, Voice of the Martyrs, that I've been working with for a few years. It's a excellent start. They give many choices and ways to help the persecuted around the globe. One of my favorites is to write letters to imprisoned Christians like the ones who possess Bibles in their homes in China or who provide secret worship services in "house" churches.

As I watched the birds nest, I had to wonder how many Christians paid with their lives to give Mao his glory. It was very Nuremberg, wasn't it. If only Leni Riefenstahl had been there to see the grandeur and precision; she and Speer would have been in absolute orgasmic Nirvana, although the Left in this country doubtless will laugh at my simplistic pairing of the two.

Thatcher, Reagan, Bush, Solzhenitsyn
There is however, MUCH governments can do, which Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were able to show to the world by their immense ability to determine right from wrong.

President Bush also displayed his scruples and principles in Thailand by speaking directly to China about their human rights abuse and again today by attending a Christian "church." Of course, since there are no Christian churches, I'm not sure how all that occurred.

Just a few hours ago, Christian protesters were removed from the infamous Tienanmen Square for peaceful praying. That pretty much says it all. Of course, we don't know where those folks were removed "to." But then, no one cares, do they? Unless they're Tibetans or live in Darfur. I have to respond immediately to the people who are nuts over Darfur, "Where were you during Somalia and Rwanda?"

That's right. Nowhere. Silent. Nevermind. We Republicans took care of it while you played in Hollywood.

God bless Alexander Solzhenitsyn for his near martyrdom. Is it a coincidence that the next generation of Russians produced a man named Serge who worked with Communists to help place a foundation of totalitarian success such as we are seeing today? I wish I could have spoken to Mr. Solzhenitsyn on this subject.

I wish also I could have spoken to him about the shameless exposure America was given by President Clinton of its nuclear secrets to China for money during the 90s. Again, we are speaking of the chickens returning, as Reverend Wright said so clearly that day in his church, to roost.

Those who are oppressed understand chicken roosting.

BTW: you can order those bracelets above by clicking on the link in VOM link. They're cheap and make quite a point. Cool, too...lots cooler than those China Dolls, I think, that will serve as nothing more than a front for the Chinese Communist Party.

Have a nice day in your freedom while you watch the 100-yard dash and try to remember those people all over the world who don't have any.

While you're at it, you might want to lay off President Bush. His irrational, illegal, bully policies have given a few people--about 80 million of them in Iraq and about 28 million of them in Afghanistan--a little bit more freedom than they've ever had in their lives.

But then, he's a Bush. Everyone hates the Bushes. After all, he's a Republican. We Republicans have no hearts. Actually, just ask Daily Kos and Move On, all those people who got the money for Obama and Clinton and that fine, upstanding gentleman, John Edwards. They'll tell you we're just a bunch of bastards.

Thanks for the read.

I wish Edwards hadn't used a "supermarket tabloid" as the culprit for his misdeeds.

But he did anyway in his mea culpa.

It seems that nobody can ever really can just say I'm sorry.

It's hard to do when everyone gives you so many excuses and all you want to do is just get it over with and move on. But he had to give find a way to save face, I guess.

Too bad. Guess he's still not done lying according to the new stuff coming out. Darn lawyers.

Thanks for the read.

Whoever approved the McCain Paris Celebrity ad needs to be fired. Today.

Damage control, boys.

Proactively speak out, take care of this. You have to and make a huge deal of it and apologize immediately. This is turning into an awful mess. It wasn't even a poor joke gone bad. It was just a bad, bad ad.

Whoever designed, whoever wrote it, whoever approved that stupid, stupid piece showing Paris Hilton should be taken off the campaign and let go.

That was the dumbest, most incoherent thing I believe I've ever seen. I said I didn't like it when it came out; now I hate it. The pride and amateur aspect of it shocks me. The campaign acts shocked at the kid's lack of respect for them.

Well, get over it. They will fight back in kind and they will kill using their only source of news and communication other than each other personally: You Tube.

First of all, did the writer not remember who the market was?

Now Paris has her own personal Obama endorsement ad in which she mocks and hurts McCain badly. Very, very badly. That l8-year old new voter market? Kiss it goodbye. They love this response...

Good thing Barack talks about things like tire pressure, because with the Hiltons now so angry , and buying air by the hour, we could very well lose this thing by a bleached blonde airhead.

Way to go, campaign. You maybe have one more of these mistakes left. Maybe.

Are you people nuts in the McCain camp? Absolutely nuts? You NEVER use another living person in ads like this. NEVER. Especially rich ones who are your contributors. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Especially in the You Tube era. Remember they don't read, they just You Tube each other...and that's all they do, just talk to each other...and motivate each other...and tell each other lies...and talk to each other...and send each other Paris's ridiculous new anti McCain ad...

So, dumb. So damn dumb. God, I just wanna scream.

Thanks for the read.

August 8 update: The original ad in which Paris was used has been taken down by McCain's people and replaced by cogent, effective and hard hitting issues ads which at the same time use the celebrity angle. Someone threw the old one in the trash.

The Sleeping Dragon is now awake. You feed it. No. You feed it.

John McCain's "Don't make waves!" request to President Bush when he goes to China for the Olympic Summer Games leaves me cold. I don't like that kind of response to nearly anything unless it has to do with compounded interest.

But then I realized we're listening to a former POW who realizes what the effects of the President's words have on China's dissidents and its politically oppressed from a physical standpoint. He's protecting them. Then, there's the N. Korean thing.

That meaningful concern of Senator McCain's notwithstanding, I understand the phrases and words that the President of the United States utters are desperately important. What he does is as profoundly felt as anything that moves on the planet ala "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" considering where these events are about to occur and under what rule.

There could be Texas-style grand and not so noble gestures by a president who may end up with the legacy of actually forcing people into freedom...having it punctuated by an in-your face visit to a Christian house church meeting or a "drop by" at a small meeting of democrats...in a Communist country...at the end of his term. Really. It would be too sweet for words.

Wishful thinking? I wouldn't put it past him.

In the meantime, McCain's front loading the president's trip with marching orders about what to do and say is typical of why Senator McCain is not popular with Christian Evangelicals right now, I suspect.

I'm afraid I have to agree on this one with all respect.

Even though I know why Senator McCain said what he did, which I think happens anyway, I wish he hadn't said a word. But he already has. And I think he's just dead wrong. I'm real disappointed in that.

On the other hand, Obama's answer which is to not attend the Olympics at all, is a little like ignoring the elephant in the room, typical when one thinks of Obama's entire rather strange post race stance, post everything: running away from Beijing as he would've Baghdad is not the answer to tyrants.
Gentle but unswerving and unmistakeable confrontation(s) by the most powerful man in the world against the massive regime which in the 21st century still remains the major oppressor of a billion people sends a monumental message.

Even if it's come later than I think it should have, I'm pleased President Bush has decided to show some true leadership in this regard. Let's see if he follows through.

Thanks for the read.

Quit minimizing Obama's Elitist label, MSNBC. Then? You might get it.

For those of you who truly believe you're doing a bang up job there at what you do, don't read any farther. It'll just make you mad and I'd like to have you back some time.

Here's the problem as I see it
You're idolizing not analyzing. You're drowning in the wake of Obamania to the point that it is painful to watch you grasp for a life ring of reality. You're instead trying to grab onto something unreal.

Someone has to slap you out of it. Guess I'll give it a try.

Maybe you should think about your roles as journalists, not act like sycophants.

Think of your roles as public servants because as journalists that is what you are.

Think of your roles as truth tellers no matter where the truth leads you. Whether it is to the painful end or to the glorious heights, it is none of your concern because you are journalists, not results oriented individuals. It is by choice you have become journalists regardless of what it says on your business card, for most of you, anyway.

It is not in your best interest to decide how you feel about how anyone sees John McCain or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or andrea hall from your point of view.

It is only in the best of interest of this democracy that you take the full observatory and objective (interesting words) from their point of view and then tell this democracy's people about it.

That is not happening and it's killing us. You are telling us from your point of view everything that is occurring in the world.

Why are you doing this?
Why are you consciously avoiding that which you know in your hearts is at the center of The Fourth Estate?

Have some of you been taken up by the emotion, by a repressed anger, by a sense of powerlessness that will soon be unfurled and thus ameliorated? Have you lost all of your center?

Is it about money and the industry's golden handcuffs? Do some of you have more dang money than you've ever seen in your life and you just don't want it to stop? Or your spouses won't let you? You're compromised?

Are some of you scared of what your friends will think if you don't tow the company line? Or are some of you just too damned lazy to do the work?

Or are some of you in over your head because your really don't know what the hell you're talking about. I'm seeing lots of historical error and data screw ups. Sorry, guys. I'm too old to miss them. (By the way, I've seen you old guys let them go by the wayside uncorrected. Stop that. You owe the country the correction. Journalism is also about instruction.)

Maybe some of you "pros" need to dive under and come up alongside and tread water awhile. Catch your breath. You've been riding in that wake a long, long time now, and it gets pretty bouncy especially when Obama tacks; some of you are turning blue.

Some of you have forgotten your roots. And you feel kinda guilty every time you cash that huge paycheck because you come from people who are not college educated most likely. I say that because statistics tell me you do. You're from blue collar families, you're very self conscious about that. You act guilty about having money.

Some of you don't handle that well. You make fools of yourselves over it, in fact and it's time you got over it. You overcompensate or miss the point or do something to show that you aren't ready for prime time. So what!

You're just so star struck and in love. With yourselves, where you are, where you want to be someday. Most of that comes from not being used to being where you are. It's fun being rich and on TV, getting face time and it's probably pretty easy to get used to it. Gosh, a person could become, well, an elitist, especially if she/he married well and moved in the right circles or had the right job.

Most of that comes from not remembering who you are.

What do I want?
Real analysis. Not your hopes and dreams. Leave those with your pals at the bar after hours. Use your youth, brains and energy to get into the scene to hear what the candidates are really saying and the people are really saying then report it without your hopes and dreams.

Here's the type of question you could be asking yourselves instead of what you can do to get people to understand how to like Obama better:

Why Berlin?
What was the pull? Was it the past? Who's past? Obama's or America's? Don't glorify him based on the melodrama of someone's idology?

I'm still pressing for that answer. Without a psychological profile in addition to a complete personal investigation of the man's past we can guess why Obama would choose such an odd venue. I don't get it. What is the attachment? There's so much news to cover with Obama.

There are overtired, retired and tired working men and women who vote right here in America. There's another story.

What's going on with this huge shift in African-American demographics vis a vie post race politics? That's a huge story you at MSNBC are actually afraid to discuss, it seems, openly. Dismissing Jesse Jackson's remarks so quickly was a mistake, especially when you had children talking about it.

Better pay attention. It's a long way and time until November. Seriously.

Hardball?

Why don't you analyze not idolize?

Thanks for the read.

Don't be coy, Barack. "They'll say I've got a funny name"?

I think "hot" words are thrown around too easily by people who really don't know what they mean, especially people who shouldn't be using them.

For instance, I'll bet many people don't even know what xenophobia actually means. Correctly used it describes an irrational fear of foreigners.

So when Obama called our swing staters xenophobes, was he slipping, Freudian-wise? I'm just sayin...what with the birth certificate thing and all.

Relax, folks; it's a joke.

Then there's the word racist--one who practices discrimination or antagonism towards other races. That word's tossed around like a gamecock. What is a gamecock, anyway? (It's a male game bird, not a thing that flies over a badminton net, like I first thought. That's a, a...poppycock. No, that's foolish talk or a popular snack.)

And now for my personal favorite, the politically correct, irrationally coined noun racism: (how this reconciles intellectually with science and anthropology I'll never know; but we do live in the land of Lewis Carroll): the belief that there are characteristics, abilities or qualities specific to each race.

I was taken to the mat on that one by my ex-friends (I have many, hard as it is to believe) whose contentious and obnoxious nature argued such things, e.g., taking exception to the sun rising in the east. He refused to exhibit any sophistication as it related to DNA and tendencies to genotypes. It made me laugh to watch this idiotic liberal make his PC point to protect his ideology. Of course, his SOP was to attack me personally when he was losing his political point, which was all the time.

Words. Just words.

Mulatto. It's the new N word. Watch out. Don't use it. I found that out when I read an article in the Washington Post online magazine by a M word person who suddenly is self consciously--get ready--taupe! So he and the rest of the taupe people in this world have declared that in addition to Obama being the patron saint of taupe, there will be no more M word usage. Then he ranted militantly about Sally Hemmings and leaving her door unlocked for the president.

Exhausting, isn't it?

By the way, do you know or care what a Mulatto is? After all, that's all we've ever heard in this culture, Mulatto this, Mulatto that. A girl from Kansas hears Mulatto, oh probably ten times every one-thousand years or so.

Obama is a Mulatto, a black person's and a white person's offspring. But you can't say that anymore. It's on the Do Not Touch List in Obama's Do Not Touch Book.

Reminder to self: write a note to Barack and tell him that the big fat race cards he just played 3x yesterday? Risky strategy. They work with other Dems. Not with the opposition. And time for another memo to the minions to tell 'em to stop the payback thing, ala Ludacris--read Radio One Mayo's study on modern African-Americans. http://www.blackamericastudy.com/

Better lighten up in swing states with the race thing.

Update to memo: Barack, bad news about Bebe in Israel, huh? Your worst nightmare, kiddo, because he'll take Iran out before you can print up that meeting agenda with Khomeni or whatssiname.

Later update to memo: check with econ advisers on how to re-spin good econ news today about growth and lower unemployment rate...revise "economy in tank" remarks. Find other ways to scare people, etc. Read Clinton's class warfare playbook. Stick with old man remarks--they resonate with kids. You better hope and pray they sober up and vote.

Thanks for the read.

California earthquakes make me nerve-e-ous. I needed leadership.

I'm not only a crack reporter waiting for an imaginary press pass to cover the imaginary come back by Hillary Clinton at the Denver convention, I'm also a seamstress. More on that later...

I was just inserting the needle into the corner of my California patio pillow when the quake began. I jumped up, grabbed it and looked around then wondered what to do.

Yes, your intrepid twit, panicked. I panicked.

I can't believe that I--so strong, so able, so advanced and evolved--who actually once saved another person's life (well, I pulled the table away so the guy could give my friend the Heimlich)--panicked.

How many years had it been since I had ever asked what to do? I was amazed at my fear. How long ago? At least since the night on a 32-foot boat in the middle of the south Pacific in the middle of a 60-knot gale at night, when we had big foresail up--and I had to take the helm of the boat. Somehow we had to get that sail down.

I was so scared. I gasped at the skipper as I struggled to pull the yellow all-weather gear over my sweaty body, "I don't know what to do." I hated how the rubber felt on my salt rubbed skin.

"Head her into the wind," he called back as he raced up the companionway. Easy for him to scream, I thought.

When I finally hooked myself to the boat, I took control of the helm. I stared at the sail in awe of the force of the wind. It looked like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. We were heeled over port about...eh...39? degrees? Not sure...the keel wasn't out of the water--yet--the very event we trying to avoid. That was the good news. It's a blur sometimes when I think back.

Which way was the wind? Where was the wind, for God's sake? I do remember wondering that. In a storm so raging it's sometimes hard to figure where the wind comes from.

The skipper hung with his mate, their harnesses hitched to the boat like my own so they wouldn't get thrown overboard and he pointed starboard. I turned the wheel and turned and turned and turned and finally the sails luffed. I could barely see through the rain and wind.

"Hold her there." Did he say hold her there? I could barely hear him and could only pray what I heard was correct. Hold her?

I watched the compass and watched the wind, hoping I was "holding her there." Was I?

I thought it took every muscle and everything I had to keep her headed into that 6o-knot wind, but somehow we all did it. The sail came down and we were safe. But it was really easier than it seemed, I'm sure. The romanticism of it was must be greater than the actual deed itself. I don't talk about it much. But it does bring to mind tonight the importance of trust and leadership.

Once the sail came down, the skipper took over and my responsibility was over.

I just needed to know what to do. Instruction. That's all we need I guess. Leadership.

Today? In the earthquake, I thought the house was going to fall on me. Our ceilings are 20 feet. The two-story stairs were before me and my husband was up in his office.

I screamed the same darned thing I did 30 years ago, "I don't know what to do!"

My husband came down immediately and asked me why was I so afraid, you know what to do. That's not like you.

I told him Lucy Jones from Cal Tech said not to get in door jambs anymore, the LA Times article said so, last week. (At least I'm respectful of science.)

No, he said, after he calmed me, that's stupid. Look at this strength, as he pounds on the door jambs.

I looked. He was right. It is the strongest place in the house!

So is the place under the stairs. It's the strongest place in the house!

I hate the media. It's my fault. I should have checked it out myself.

I finished those fab pillows and am still waiting for the press pass into the Clinton pacs or some fab media group for Denver.

Oh. And the pillows? They really are California pillows. They're a screen print of a stylized map of Southern California featuring our favorite places ala the famous New Yorker Manhattan cover but using Santa Monica, Laguna, Riverside, Temecula, Orange County, San Diego. It's perfect for California dreaming and remembering! I have to laugh considering our temblors today.

It shows us, among other things, that there are lots of things that are not under our control.

Thanks for the read.

Announce Condi or Rudi for Veep today. This ain't brain surgery, Boys.

Enough. Obviously the McCain people are clueless.

Here's what they need to do to win.

First hire the best PR/Election firm in the world. Whatever or whoever they're using? It's not working. Just like the first five years of Iraq...not working. Just like Katrina...not working. Just like the other things that people kept saying were pissing them off (uncontrolled bureaucracy, Larry Craig staying in office--of course, that takes clean hands, unengaged leadership, out of control spending, now Ted Stevens)...not working!

This is our problem, people: the Republican TIN EAR.

And it's by golly happening again. And I can't seem to stop it, no matter how many times I jump up and down, take my clothes off, yell obscenities, put my clothes back on, throw things, send money, take away money, nothing works, nothing.

Then:

1. Get Condi Rice or Rudi (unless they've been waiting for the war to wind down to make this announcement so Condi looks good? Yeah, right. Way to keep the faithful crazy.)
   
2. Woo the legal Latino vote by giving them security and reinstill family reasons to become Republicans.
3. Get our act together on homeland security, in other words, destroy Obama using his obvious weakness and vulnerability.
4. Go for all out drilling on and offshore.

Jeez. What do you people need--a barn to fall on ya?

And no, I will not take my clothes off again.

Thanks for the read.

The Old Lion , Bill Clinton, places a call to his pride

On speaker phone:

Uh, Hillary...hello, Darlin!


Hi, Bill. Is it really you?!


Yep. Is Chelsea there?


I sure am, Daddy. Right here.


Are you laughin yet, Bill? We're about to pee our pants here!


*riotous laughter in the background on both ends of the phone*


Are you kiddin' me?


*more riotous laughter*


We can't stop,Daddy. I wish we'd known how dumb he really is earlier! We could've taken him out!


*laughter*


Did you like how he acted in front of the Israelis? Bebe called and said he was an total dumbass. You know Bebe!


*Hillary lets loose with her crazy laugh*


"We're sorry we water board people. Gollll-ly, we're just dumb Americans trying to save your butts."


Or. Or, then in Berlin. "You Europeans are sure smart takin' down this wall and all. United they stand. DUHHH."


*they can't get enough*


Can't wait to see that little twerp squirm...like he's been elected already...never seen anything like it.


*throat clearing*


It ain't right, Hill. 'Least Jesse came back.
(beat)
Chelsea, Honey, you okay?



Yeah, I'm always good...fine, Dad.



Okay,Sweetie. I luv you. Well, you know to call when you need...Hey, honey, I got this beautiful little gold bracelet for ya next time I see ya, I'll give it...



I always do, Dad. Love ya.



*silence*



Hey, Bill.

Off speaker.

Yeah, Honey?



Tell Jesse thanks for bringin' our people back home.
(Beat)
You still think this thing is do-able?




It's a done deal, Baby. I mean, Madame President.




I knew you'd come through.
(Beat)
Thanks, Bill.
(Beat)
You always were the king of the lions.


Night, Hilliry.

Bill winces when he presses the off button.


The Old Lion licks that hurt place on his paw which is very close to being completely healed over, but not quite.

He figures he'll be needing it for the perimeter fights he has ahead of him this August.

Strangely he's no longer as concerned about the young lion.

He silently prays for forgiveness of his many, many sins and then for the stamina and energy to do what he needs for Hillary, for Chelsea, for his country--and for this funny little coalition he's built the last six or so weeks to just hold.

Just hold.Please God, just hold.

We live in fascinating times. Watch as these two people change history. But what do I know? I'm just a little girl from Kansas.

Thanks for the read.

You silly Europeans. Stop insulting me already.

Regarding Obama's trip to London:

Michelle Henery, reporter for Times of London, gushed with another black reporter on Fox News this morning that Europeans and the English could "...finally feel really, really good about themselves again..." after the past eight years of George Bush.

Excuse me? She had insulted an entire nation and didn't even realize it. Her arrogance and her youth had precluded any reality or judgment from seeping through that vast ego of hers down to whatever cortex she might happen to have inherited.

I want to scream at the arrogance of the media today. And so, with that said, I will continue my own blogosphere callout at those like Michelle Henery, Andrea Mitchell and all of them who pretend to send me their news.

Would Ms. Henery rather feel dead after the last eight years of terrorism caused by the unchecked build up of al Qaeda in the Middle East?

Would she like to experience a fear that she surely would have had to endure after eight years of unchecked corruption caused by her pals Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schroeder who basically kept the barbarous Saddam Hussein in business? Oh yes, unchecked corruption which brings more terrorism. Bush stopped that.

Would Michelle like to live in the land of unchecked nukes that would have come from not only Iran but from North Korea because of the business dealings from France and Germany, and those peaceful really, really "eastern" Europeans, the Russians? Iran's real close, you know, and oil's king. Bush stopped that.

After all, remember, the reason France and Germany weren't coalition supporters wasn't ideological; it was pure economics--and cover up for bad deeds. Good old Jacques and Gerhard had been breaking the rules for years with Saddam and thumbing their noses at the rest of the world. Their reason for not invading Iraq and allowing Saddam's reign of terror to continue was pure D money and personal aggrandizement and greed.

The French weren't fazed by their graft. Kiss our frog behinds and while you're at it, stay away, Americans; we've always thought you were tacky.

Thank God for Tony Blair, by the way, the only Brit since Margaret Thatcher who has a conscience plus the courage of a lion. He's paid for it in an existential way, but he will be seen favorably in history for what he's done, as will George Bush.

So, preach to me, dear old Europe about unity and peace at your own risk. However, since half of Europe's populations now seem to be Muslim and as far from my own Judeo-Christian value system, I can't imagine we'd have much to talk about anyway these days, Sharia Law being what it is.

I'm getting--to use the words I heard this morning--really, really tired of little girls and boys barely past puberty preaching to me about good times and good feelings while the rest of us grown ups looks like horse's rear ends for keeping theirs safe.

I'm almost as tired of watching the Prince make gaffe after gaffe and not be called on them by anyone.

Go tend your hair and your make up, Michelle. And when you're a big girl, like Andrea Mitchell you can have your lips done like hers and be on NBC and ask the really, really tough questions. Of course, you'll be talking with a veil over your face, so it won't matter what your lips look like.

Silly Europeans. Don't insult me anymore.

Thanks for the read.

Katie? Kate? Follow through is everything, Sweetheart...Just do it, Baby!

I'm waiting...

on the west coast for your broadcast for your follow through on the Obama rhetoric...

Katie, I was disappointed that you didn't follow through last night. You should have. You looked like a shill. You didn't need to please the big boys. Please. If you don't follow thorough with the big questions tonight--in about ten minutes or so--I'll just give up on your fraction of The Fourth Estate.

I think you may have something there, Kate (ie). I'm self conscious. I don't know what to call you.

I honestly believe in that sexism thing, having lived through it most of my life. I'd like to try to make a difference. But I don't like having to convince women who make so much money--like you. I worked for women like you who were impatient with my problems and my needs. They considered me neurotic, I guess. And addictive.

I considered them spoiled. And addictive.

What a joke.

If we could've got together they would've hated me because I would've had their kids in bed at 7:30 every night. Sorry.

We definitely have our political differences but I'll be damned if I'll let some dumb guy come between right and wrong.

I'll check with all of my readership either later in the evening tonight or tomorrow after Katie's extremely tough interview with Senator Obama.

Will she do it? We'll see.

From what I saw last night I think Katie was just kidding around.

Thanks for the read.

Post Script post show: Kate reverted to Katie but I do give her credit for bucking the alphabet network mentality and asking one or two tough questions and keeping at it. Maybe she'll do it again and earn her "Kate" back.

Barack's minions in the Fourth Estate: the most dangerous part of all

A gentleman, very close to me, a 70s publisher of a high-budget liberal college daily (he was 20 at the time) and later the proud holder of golden handcuffs who was maybe headed to a major publishing job in one of the big dailies, left the industry because of people who run the major dailies...and those who wrote OpEds. They were crazier than pet coons.

But then, back then, he sort of was too. I'm glad he got over it. Once he made $500, as the joke goes, he became a Republican.

Today's media has evolved into a force of nature brought about by imagery and imagination reinforced by words. That is all there is to it. Add some music and you're off to a new reality. If it worked for Hitler; it'll work for you.

What makes them so craven, so callow, and unrealistic? Why would they come up with an idea that their own country, known for its goodness to them as well as to others, is such a horrid place? Because they've had to relinquish nothing. They've given up nothing. They have no stake in this country. Moreover, many of them are part of large group of people who are here for the very reason to disrupt things.

Look around you. We are not in a recession or a depression, yet we sound and act as if we are.

We have 98 percent of our homeowners still living in their homes, yet we are to think that we have millions upon millions, ala the Great Depression, living on the streets.

Because there are scads of press people and the world watches, Senator Obama has got away with saying that America tortures people. No one has called him on it. He says it as if he is an official representative of my country. How dare he. Yet the Fourth Estate, who is charged with protecting my democracy from reckless accusatory fascist speech, does nothing. We dare not for if we do our politically correct media will cast us as bigots. Fascists that they are.

We are told over and over that this war which many of us approved of was illegal. It has yet to have been shown that it is indeed illegal. And the press and media continue to allow spokespeople from different persuasions to perpetuate this lie. The fact is it is a legal war.

We must remember what The Fourth Estate by definition is meant to do: protect democracy, not to protect and or practice fascism tactics which has been and is on display before our very eyes--yesterday, today and tomorrow--until Prince Barack returns to the United States.

The whole world is seeing and some are even commenting on said disgraceful display. Following is an example of someone who still has critical thinking abilities.

Read it and weep (from laughing at all of the sycophants of whom will be written en masse decades later, "they were so corrupt they knew little of reality and others outside their realm.").

Then pray real hard that Rupert Murdoch and other freedom lovers like him don't die. Copy and paste.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article4392846.ece

Thanks for the read.

Obama skipped the troops in Germany. How odd.

Because the trip is paid for by campaign funds, Robert Gibbs, the spokesman for the Obama campaign claimed Obama didn't visit the troops as previously planned "out of respect for the men and women in the military."

What an odd thing to say. How is it in any way disrespectful to use campaign funds to visit our wounded troops? I don't follow the logic at all.

What I suspect Mr. Gibbs really meant to say is this: Senator Barack Obama did not visit the troops out of respect for the men and women who sent the campaign funds.

Doesn't that make much more sense, considering the Obama supporters and how they feel about the men and women in our military?

How I would've loved to have heard that phone call.

Thanks for the read.

Little Katie Couric is now Kate, thank you. Even Prince Obama calls her that.

Katie Couric deserves a big girl name after the way she grilled The Prince on his flip flopping over the success of the surge and his absolute inability to say he is wrong, a character flaw that is becoming more unattractive by the hour, by the way. The more the Americans see this intractability the more people say...eh, I'm not sure about a guy who can't say he's wrong.

His "elegance" I've heard mentioned--usually by other men--completely escapes me. In fact, as he bounds down the airliner steps, fists up, he looks like a Muhammad Ali fixing for a good donnybrook with the next man, woman or child who stands in his way. No, that's not elegance. The man is dancing to get out of the way.

I'm bothered that he will not put his arms at his side and walk like a gentleman. That's elegance. The bounce pisses me off.

The kid's been dancing all his life. He's a born salesman, as was his father and grandadday who could "sell the legs off a couch." That's what bouncers do: sell legs off of couches.

Meanwhile, Katie decided she wants her job. She already turned a few heads a couple of days ago when she mentioned she thought there was much more sexism than racism going on in our society; and then I thought she might be talking about the Democratic primaries.

It will be interesting to see if she'll follow through on her hard nosed questioning of Obama, especially as her ratings rise. That is, if her CBS management lets her.

She's probably an angry Clinton supporter. Maybe she could be the WH press secretary.

Go get him, Katie...er, Kate!

The only problem? Think about it.

Funny how life works. God sure does have a great sense of humor, doesn't she?

*smirk*

Thanks for the read.

The NY Times didn't "agree" with McCain editorial, so they didn't run it.

And the newspapers wonder why they're going out of business.

Such arrogance is one reason.

"...the other (Obama's) editorial worked for me..."and "...I would have accepted it (McCain's) if the timelines were the same..."

Those are basically the words of David Shipley, a DEPUTY editor of the NY Times to Senator McCain as to why "he" would not use the Senator's editorial which come from an email.

At the outset, the words, "worked for me," that overused Hollywood writers and directors term indicates the man thinks about style more than substance.

The point here is clear: he, Mr. Shipley, a man I can only presume by virtue of his title has no real demonstrated knowledge of military things, has taken it upon himself to demand an entire change in strategy to reflect and "mirror" those of the Democratic front runner for president. Oh, all right, let's assume he passed this by an editorial board.

But then, all of our young people who have really no reason to carry all this angst about things military because after all we do have a volunteer military, seem to have these marvelous ideas about strategies nonetheless, kinda like those games they play on their computers. That's makes them real men, you know.

It causes me to wonder if they really, deep down, wish they were called up. So they can be heroes too.

Grow up, Boys. Worked for me, indeed.

Thanks for the read.

It's a regular Obama coup! Psst! You gotta get elected first, Barack.

How'd you like the last post? Not a lot? Me either.

You shoulda' been on this side, writing it! It was pretty uncomfortable.

Did I have you goin?

Interesting, isn't it, how lightening-fast news travels across the world? Nanoseconds.

Why, in a matter of seconds, a green kid from Hawaii who hadn't so much as visited the business end of a military rifle was already talking to a bunch soldiers in Afghanistan--on a basketball court--while some tin-horn Shite like al-Maliki was "communicating" with said kid through his "Internet" feelers about when they were going to "move" troops out of country.

Yah, and withdraw after John Wayne came in and figured it all out years before they even showed up. The hard sh*t has been done, Dudes.

Naturally the troops love the guy. I suppose. Charisma. WHATever.

Yep, they love him. What's not to love? He's what they'd like to be. Out of the service and free, I guess, after what the congress does to repay them, that's how they feel.

Why do I always feel like the bad guy?
I may as well come clean and tell you why I don't like idol worship. Because of guys like this.

Tin horns are all alike, aren't they? Arrogant as hell. They see those things like taking troops out at an appropriate time as "details."

Did you get my point? Big mouths and small wallets.

The point is don't sell them short. They will talk and talk and talk until they make their wrong points.

Thanks for the read.

Time to pull 'em out, President Bush. Enough already.

The Iraqi Prime Minister has the nerve to call on the U.S. to pull out our troops immediately, while Obama is in Afghanistan and again embarrassing the president of the United States.

It's tempting, very tempting to pull them out.

Immediately. That was al-Maliki's word today. Immediately. Urrgh.

Meanwhile, Christian Churches all over Iraq are closed and my fellow Christians are being persecuted and killed. I don't like that, President Bush. Not at all. And neither should any other American reading what I say today. Do you realize that a Christian cannot worship in Iraq today? No one speaks of it. Not one news outlet speaks of this atrocity.

Do you also realize that America will not receive any profit from the oil in Iraq? No one speaks of it.

I've had it. You other Americans should be fed up as well. This is the best it gets?

And they still hate my guts?

Sorry. This isn't good enough. I'm really, really, really tired of it all.

Pull the troops out. Let the chips fall where they may.
Do it while Prince Barack is still shooting hoops with the same men and women he put in jeopardy just eighteen months ago while the rest of the world was gaga with his charsma. Let's see how it all plays out for the charmer and the snakes he's with now.

Let's see how many night's sleep he gets later on once he realizes how many lives his magical mystery ego tour cost because of the pressure it put on the military to do other things. But that's later, after the election. He made that deal with his ego.

After all, he isn't in charge yet. Let's just move forward. Pre-emptive is the name of the game for Obama's campaign. You can't beat him. You have to beat him to it.

Of course, once we leave, the Israelis will destroy Iran, something everyone is aware of.

Something's very wrong with this administration, i.e., Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia. Talking to Iran, suddenly. Now this? There's nothing left now for me to feel bad about now. They have screwed up.

We need to get our people out, let Israel have it and begin in earnest alternative energy development AS WELL as copious off shore drilling (way off shore) and ANWAR . We can do this and quickly.

I'm sorry; I've lost my faith. Why would I want to lose one more American life for an Iraqi this afternoon after what al-Malaki has done to us?

Even Grandmas get the blues.

Thanks for the read.

It's about time the Republicans got loaded for bear

John McCain's new video about Obama's stunning and shameless flip flopping below:

http://www.johnmccain.com/videolanding/documentary.htm


Try it; if you're a Republican, you'll like it.

It documents more of Barack's arrogance on parade.

Meanwhile, I keep smelling the Old Lion's mane as he circles the camp. Is it me...?

Or have Jesse and Bill made that deal to bring back the real Negro via Hillary? The big one they made over the phone while Bill lolled on his rich friend's yacht last month? The one I talked about a couple of weeks or so ago after the primaries when I told you Bill was nursing his hurt paw that slapped out at the top cat cub who thinks he's hot stuff.

This move to the center where Barack sits and looks like Bill Cliff Huxtable Cosby who raises the class issue with all kinds of outraged people who aren't wearing nice lookin' suits. Why, just two months ago, Barack was talkin' all black and moving around the streets like he actually was black and really, honestly grew up--ahem--black.

Now he's the poster boy for get up and get goin for the man. Today he's the Reagan-style get along to get along man who looks more like Ann Dunham from Kansas, duhhhhhhhhhhh, whurrr's muh pitchfork?

Yessirree, Barack is made of great political stuff. He's finally admitting to and found out who he is. He has broken the code to greatness.

He's a politician.

He will be a statesman of some sort; whether he becomes a great one will depend upon how he handles the next few months of his campaign. I feel there must be much riding on his candidacy but I can't in my small, isolated capacity do much more than psychic readings to determine who is behind this man, this gift to the world who pulls it on a string downhill.

Something or someone has determined his fate which is artificial. Someone or something has bought our dollars, has bought capital in all our companies, has determined this strange economy. I have no doubt there is a manipulation, plus another perfect storm of corruption throughout our business community. Enron is likely only the tip of an iceberg; we'd be heartsick to know more.

We now have a systemic problem caused by the getaway with it attitude. It's always been that way. Nothing's new under the sun, as the Bible must say somewhere, probably in Proverbs.

My manicurist said her ten-year old son informed her that the president said oral sex was not sex so girls could do it to him...I caught my breath when I heard it then--it seems like hundreds of years ago.

I hear more today--the progression of that child's mindset now that he's a young man--that I had predicted so many years ago when the relativists and those who accused me of being a Clinton Hater wouldn't listen to the importance of our role models staying exemplars for good...it is no use. We are seeing it in the behavior of our people.

Now we have Senator Barack Obama, the man of the hour. He who says a black man must take responsibility for his children. And they all act as if they have invented this new morality of theirs. I want to scream.

When the pop star, Michael Jackson, grabbed his crotch, a teacher friend of mine didn't find anything objectionable about that. That was the early nineties...it all starts somewhere I said to her...since when is all right for a grown man to grab his crotch? She shrugged, didn't want to commit, I guess. I want to scream.

I guess they all have to invent it themselves, come to their morality on their own. Okay.

Tomorrow I will write about this great national catharsis created by Barack Obama's candidacy to become president. Have black Americans become blinded by color and just ignored politics?

I'm not sure about that. I'm researching and looking for answers because I want it all to work out. But I have to look at some strange things on the other side too. They're screamable offenses. White men acting like asses, for instance, cause me to want to open up my airways.

I just wish we Republicans had got to Obama sooner! But then, he'd just be called a plantation black like Lynn Swann, JC Watts, Condi Rice, Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, et al. What's the difference? Put each of them next to Obama and they'd take him down.

Guess I'll just scream.

Meanwhile, we hope the cathartics will excuse the grown ups while they secure and defend the country.

*scream*

Thanks for the read.

NAJEE ALI: An open letter to Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.

I found this on Newsweek's online edition, from the Comments Section July 17, 2008. It's a doozy.

July 10, 2008

*Rev Jackson, your vulgar tirade caught on tape by Fox News where you said you wanted to cut Barack Obama's nuts off and accusing him of talking down to Black folks by giving moral lectures at churches is the last straw for me and a growing number of African Americans who are outraged at your comments.

There are many Blacks across the nation, myself included, who are appreciative for the work and contributions you have made in your civil rights career. But at this point, you're hurting Black America and Obama.

In September 2007 it was clear that you were frustrated by Obama, when you stated in an interview in South Carolina that Obama needs to stop acting white, because you felt he was not engaged in the Jena 6 movement enough to your liking.

Rev Jackson your continued verbal attacks on Obama are unwarranted it's as if you're jealous that Obama has eclipsed you and both your campaigns for the Democratic nomination by actually preparing to win it as the 2008 presumptive nominee.

Jesse Jackson & Barack Obama

For years you have been criticized as an ambulance chaser and opportunist. Many of Dr. King's insiders and aides say that King did not trust you. 40 years ago in Memphis as King lay dying from an assassin's bullet your first thought and action was to smear your shirt with Dr. King's blood.

You then proceeded to appear in Chicago the next day on several news programs wearing the same shirt you deliberately smeared with his blood as if you were the heir of King's movement. Obama's recent comments about Black fathers not abandoning their children and accepting moral responsibility in our lives is a lesson you apparently needed to learn when you were younger. If you had, it may not have caused you to cheat on your wife and father a child out of wedlock with a former staffer.

Maybe that's what really bothered you about Obama's message to the church that Black fathers should be responsible for their children; you certainly haven't been.

Jesse Jackson and daughter Ashley

Living in Los Angeles I have watched your ten year old daughter Ashley Laverne Jackson grow up. Over the years I have had the pleasure to spend several holidays with your daughter including Christmas, her birthday parties and other milestones in her life. I will never turn my back on Ashley her mom and their family. It's about providing friendship, support and love to them while you have been missing in action.

Your daughter has never traveled or taken a trip with you, you have an annual birthday party in Beverly Hills every year where your entire family is welcome but your youngest child has only attended it once. She has had very little contact with her siblings and has never even met her big brother Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr, who apparently doesn't want anything to do with her. And allegedly (I believe it to be true ), he was the one to leak the scandal to the media concerning your affair. Now don't get me wrong, Obama is not above reproach. He is a politician and is fair game to be fairly criticized by you or anyone else. But to personally attack Obama is crossing the line. Obama is not talking down to Black people; he wants you and other dead beat dads to spend time and care for your children properly. The destruction of the Black family and absentee fathers is a major problem in our community.

It's a problem that King spoke out and fought against. 40 years after King's murder I can see why King didn't trust you. If you can't and won't sincerely help Obama in this historic run then at least stop attacking him. Listen to Obama's message of being a responsible father and start taking care of your daughter Ashley.

Najee Ali

Gosh, she's mad.

Thanks for the read!

The New Yorker Obama cartoon. My gosh, Barack. Lighten up!

The New Yorker's editor, David Remnick, who says they are a liberal publication, explains the cover is an attempt to lampoon the lies about Obama's background. He hopes to help the senator. He said so.

However, the man on the street said the most offensive thing was the American flag burning in the fireplace. LOL.

See, Barack, this isn't really about you. It's about America.

Chris Matthews and Company and other liberal cable news outlet programs are half nuts because they're afraid he'll be derailed by things like this. If he's got the right stuff, he'll make it.

Lincoln was made to look like an ape in some of the more yellow papers. But with this media, Obama going to need armor and Michelle's going to have to keep her mouth shut, I suppose

BTW, if I were the editor of the New Yorker, there's NO way I'd have published that cover. It's a terrible decision. Terrible. I fail to see the satire from the left's point of view, only from the right's. It's extremely offensive to Senator and Mrs. Obama.

Sorry, New Yorker staff, I think you need to look inside yourselves and ask what Messrs Conde and Nast would do. Oh, wait. They are Conde Nast. With liberal friends like you Senator Obama might ask who needs enemies?

Maybe they need to call their buds at Salon and meet for a drink. I think their white guilt and fear that they're not helping Obama enough has screwed them up; in other words, they've lost their judgment. I can't imagine any other reason someone who is a friend of Obama would run such a terrible cartoon and think this would help.

It only perpetuates every negative image from the absent flag pin to the Osama sound alike name to the AK47 to the Muslim thing. I guess it's their arrogance on parade that shocks me so. I mean, ask yourself this question.

Not that the idiom is the same (I can't think of a magazine editor right now) but would Ben Bradlee allow such a thing?

Okay, Henry Luce? Do you see where we are in America? Do you see where we're headed if we don't think of something fast? No judgment. Now the Lefties are eating their own.

Do you see how dumb these kids are? Huh?

Huh?

And they're running our newspapers! Thank the journalism schools run by the radicals of the 60s.

*sigh*

Thanks for dropping by for the dumbass barometer of the day.

And thanks for the read.

Not Carly Fiorina, for crying out loud. For Veep?

They just don't get it.

They just won't get it.

They just continue to not get it.

I don't want another business person running a war--or the country, thank you. We saw how Bush with an MBA delegates (Brownie with FEMA, Rumsfeld, the folks in early Iraq,). I'm over the business model. Thanks. It doesn't work. Obviously.

Now I know McCain's people are senile.

I just don't know what to do anymore. I'm about to give up.

Thanks for the read.

Good grief. Obama's becoming Ronald Reagan!

Suddenly, a rumbling of middle class black Americans has said bye bye to all their sisters and brothers in the hood and moved on up to the east side, which is what they've wanted to officially do for thirty years now, thank you.

Great God Almighty, they're free at last.
It is fascinating how many regular, real African-Americans, not entertainers or sports icons who make zillions of dollars a year and live outrageous life styles describe their approval of the way Barack is dealing with "black" issues lately in addition to describing Jesse Jackson and his type as bitter, old racists.

Until just recently, no one would dare say such a thing about Jackson and others like him, the civil rights movement's last sacred cows. Barack finally has given permission to slay them, put them down, and put the rest of us out of our misery with these fools who have made a living off of underclassing an entire generation of Americans. The civil rights movement no longer is represented by this man who has gone beyond MLK's dream.

I can see black commentators, political scientists, lawyers and educators are practically giddy with relief and pent up emotion. God bless them, they can finally say what they've been thinking for years now. This is wonderful news for all African-Americans. As this freedom grows, so will the thinking of the individuals, which of course is good for America and both political parties.

I'm also interested in the irony that it took an "inauthentic" Mutlatto man, educated in British and upperclass American private schools to get this group to give them permission to move on.

Of course, that's why Jesse wants to cut Barack's parts off and serve them to him and Michelle in their next Salads Nicoise. Finally, the day has come that Jesse's and Al's been worried about: someone's come along to make it okay for the 75 percent of those black men who aren't in jail and who support their families to say adios to those people who refuse get their lives together. See ya, sucker. Your problems are your problems, not mine.

Barack might be tired of apologizing for the behavior of the dysfunctional black community, supported dysfunction, fostered by crazy stuff, romanticized by inappropriate rap groups and self-appointed black bosses who have hurt people, not helped them. It looks like he's willing only to use their help and support if they fall into line behind him his way.

Interesting to see a formerly rather aggressive Obama rap bunch jump to attention and suddenly become respectable. He's sent the memo that says xnay on the victimhood and anger evidently; maybe the same one he sent to Reverend Wright.

Deep down we all like to feel respectable, I think. These young black gansta rap entrepreneurs see that nothing succeeds like success--and excess. They're going for the brass (diamond) ring while using Obama's commodity of optimism and change as their currency to make things better, and so far, it's working. Welcome to civil society, Boys! Now take that gd chip off our shoulder and get with the program.

What about the black comedians? Are they going to continue the hate whitey skits?

Now if Barack can just keep the festering underclass like that stupid woman in Denver from screwing it all up for him. Or if he can keep himself from uttering idiotic things like we all need to speak Spanish--very revealing--and he might want to move a bit further right and get off the universal health care kick.

But then, that is always the problem for those who govern. They will learn that it's not as easy as it looks. I believe I mentioned that when Pelosi and Company took over a couple a years ago. Their approval rating topped 9% last week, the lowest in history.

Yep, nothing succeeds like a nice lookin' suit, a Midwestern accent and a handshake that comes from the heart.

Promising the little dog for the kids will work too. Muslims hate dogs. That makes a lot of people in America feel better about Barack's middle name.

If the mean streets of the ghetto can get over this "betrayal," and if Hillary doesn't pull any funny stuff, he'll have a chance of being president.

Also, if Barack can convince the rest of us that he's strong enough and knows enough about "things" to keep those pesky terrorists away from my grandkids and the Middle East from exploding into nuclear war, my taxes down, the government off my back and give a break or two for small business, I'd be happy. Shoot, I'd probably vote for the kid, if I thought he'd actually do it.

But, I don't think in his heart or mind Barack is even close to doing what Ronald Reagan would do. Wasn't it just last month he was calling for the end of the war in Iraq?

All in all, though we're much, much closer together than the media would have us think, regardless of our politics. That the good news, brother.

Thanks for the read.

Phil Gramm takes the GOP down with another tongue disaster

Well, I guess we Republicans will have to just ride this latest tongue disaster out, as if there's recovery from this stupid language. Not when gas is five bucks a gallon. And the public is absolutely convinced we're close to recession, hang the real numbers. Perception is reality.

We may not have Hoovervilles, but people don't remember those. They know 21st century style poverty...everything is relative to experience, Mr. Gramm. The folks you're accusing of whining are losing everything. Do the math, Mr. Gramm. Nothing from nothing is relatively nothing. They're going to whine about it. People are funny that way.

This is like talking to deaf people. This is so frustrating and why the Democrats will win--if the country is not attacked which makes the election a whole different game.

*twirls head *

I've said what I've had to say about the Republican Party and our awful, inept leadership. I've not seen anything like this in my lifetime. Why has no one in the party stepped forward? Where are the leaders, the women? It's as if everyone is tongue tied, or away. What's happening?

This is frightening that we're letting the country slip away. And we're going to lose in a big, big way if we can't get it together fast. People and things have changed in this country, we must try to catch up and help them become Republicans.

I've written about it at least five times over the year. Of course, no one listens. They never do, they never will.

Oh, sorry; there I go again. Whining.

Tone deafness
Phil Gramm, the McCain "advisor" who let everyone in the country know that Americans are just a bunch a whiners, can come down and pay my upside mortgage payment, if I promise not the whine.

Also, if Mr. Gramm would like to help me fill up my gas tank for $79.00, while our clients hold our invoices for 90 days before paying them, I honestly promise I'll stay quiet. We'll just borrow money to live and keep the business's doors open--the banks will do fine. I bet they aren't whining as borrowing money is expensive sometimes.

Just for your information, did you know that the legal usury rate in California is 437%? No kidding. Banks charge huge interest rates of 27.5% because they can. Our lawmakers let things like that happen, you know. Lawmakers like Phil Gramm.

Since my husband has his own business and we have to cover our own insurance premiums for nearly $8000 per year for single coverage for basic major medical $5000 deductible, I'll try not to whine as I shell out $500 a month for drug coverage for my husband and me. No whining.

And no, universal care would NOT solve that problem

We need to get these old Republican men out of the business of running for president or we're going to lose. Can it be any clearer this morning? Can it?

Is there anyone in that group that doesn't take statins or have a pacemaker? Enough already.

Hey, old dudes, if you have the guts, just ask around.
This is what you'll hear: "McCain's people look like old, doddering fools."

My husband heard that from his one of his 40ish Republican clients. Most of his clients are about 40ish and new Republicans. I don't think they're very impressed.

That's trouble, friends. Trouble, especially as we watch Obama tack center.

Oh. And, stop being so offended about being called old. You are old. I'm old too. It's time to let go and give the 50-year old kids a chance. Jeez.

Thanks for the read.

At least Hillary will fight for civil rights, Jesse says.

I told you Obama's not authentic.

Much more of this and Senator O may have a bigger problem than just electability with white people and independents. He just said, I'm not kidding, that "Iran is a grave threat." No, I'm not kidding.

Will he lose his base and blacks as he goes center? Looks like he's already lost his first black bosses.

Now, Jesse Jackson's admitting he's mad that Obama doesn't have the foggiest idea about 'hood living saying off mike he "cut his n--ts out," in essense, forgetting the struggles of the black community, explaining later that it was out of a social context, of course.

Jackson's right, of course. Inauthentic. Living in Hawaii is not feeling their pain.

This is a Clinton/Old Black Civil Rights Movement chess move. Frankly, it took a little longer than I thought, but Bill showed the old bosses what a mistake this Obama is for the black community. They've been waiting for this moment for about four weeks now.

And a great move it is. It calls Obama out on the mark. I like it! Perfect, kids. I couldn't have done it better.

Flush him out. Just in time.

Now, Hill can start building up the supers delegates in time for the convention.

(Interesting. I know...you think I'm nuts. But just watch. When will you learn to trust your pal, Andrea?)

Meanwhile, I see Hillary's in the corner in her red/white/blue fight pantsuit, doing kneebends. Somethin's happenin. Watch. Look.

Now.

Do you Democrats see why I don't want to squander the most monumental moment this nation has, that of electing a African American to the presidency on a fake--a set up by a bunch of power mad, local amateurs? It's bad enough when it happens to the white community, sometimes. Not often. Sometimes.

For the Democrats to survive this it's way too important for all of us, especially to the children of this country, because of the failure of leadership both in government and in media circles to promote what we hope will be a post race culture. But first you have to tell us what that--post race--is.

Perhaps today that's unrealistic. A little too soon maybe? As long as any generation breathes who recalls the humiliation of separate facilities, it remains the responsibility of the current generations to help remember or at least recall.

FYI, I remember seeing black and white restrooms in Miami and Montgomery and Little Rock. They happened.

I, a little girl from Kansas City, was pretty darned shocked at how they treated black folks down there in the south back on that vacation. I thought it was awful and I didn't quite get it but I went along with it which I don't like about myself. White guilt.

K.C. was a liberal town. I didn't know any better. I was 12-years old. All I knew about black people was the Kansas City Athletics, and KC jazz, Lucille, our cleaning lady who loved me and William, our neighbor's man who helped her through thick and thin and everyone seemed happy, the men on the trolly who tooks us downtown. I didn't know about segregation. I was just a kid. Black people were part of my life.

When we moved to the country I was shocked at the acceptance of the N word and the bigotry that was displayed by these farm people, country people--my classmates-- who had probably never ever seen a black person. I never understood it. Where had such an attitude come from? I realize now we lived on the border of Kansas and Missouri and a lot of those folks had kin with southern sympathies.

I always had to laugh at these small farm town "aristocrats." And vice versa, I assure you. I was the city kid. I was never accepted. Of course, they were all related to each other so you could never say anything about anyone.

My family's religious background, Methodist, Quaker and Disciples of Christ provided our understanding of human relations and civil rights, so I guess I came by it naturally. Still. I had a hard time understanding the shocking outward display of racism in this middlewest classroom. I can't remember if anyone stopped it. They must have.

Jesse Jackson and the bosses and it is for me to ever, ever be that stupid. I can't help it. I didn't know any better. It was 1958. But I found out what it was about later because of the MLKs, Jesse Jacksons of the world. Not people like Obama.

I even shook Martin Luther King, Jr's hand when I was 17.

Post race? Is it the language that is objectionable to Reverend Jackson and the old guard? It may be. I don't really understand what post race means. Does that mean Barack's just going to drink white wine or whisky (Kentucky so it's without the e) from Waterford which he learned from his nouveau rich black friends who haven't even seen a dirty American ghetto street?

So, if the old black men and women feel they've been abandoned, who can blame them if the Obamaites use these stupid expressions? For the rest of us, it's downright impossible to join the discussion in good faith when you've got a bunch of Islamic terrorists breathing down your neck, you've got a guy whose Dad comes from Kenya and whose background is so complicated you can't even talk about it without being called a warmonger or racist, who sounds like such an effete and seems so untested and is running as their candidate for president.

All around, it just seems like a gyp for the American people, somehow. I understand how they feel. Maybe this is about age.

It's really nothing personal about Senator Obama. I've figured that out, by now.

I just feel like we're being duped somehow. The more I research the more I know this isn't what America really wants. Somethin's happening. I don't like how it feels. It's the psychic thing this time.

Thanks for the read.

Christie, will they still love you when you're 64?

Everyone who says that she should be acting like a martyr or that she should be feel shame for allowing their "dirty linen" to be exposed, why should she put her children through the public shame?

I have to be honest; I'm just not sure which position is right in this case. I'm ambivalent depending upon how many looks I've had at this sad but all too human mess caused by way too much money, too much vanity, too much public exposure, and too little maturity.

Is there an adult in the house?
Certainly Christie, arguably whose brain/emotional age of 54 and her body/face apparent age of 32 (kind of like when you're sailing--there's the real wind and then there the apparent wind--keep this 'un behind the wind, Mates), realizes her children will read the tab headlines the next time her new nanny stops at the Circle K for a pack of cigarettes and a six-pack, depending upon which coast they're on. It's just a matter of time before they "find out" that Mummy and Daddy are actually splitting up.

We may be in for a few years of this where as baby boomers age--the "54 and fighting"* groups versus the shameless, exhibitionist MTV whorettes who try to take things away from them, like husbands, jobs, prestige, jewelry, MONEY (which is all they really want) become like sporting events. People love to watch even though we already know who wins--the one with the most money. Too bad the real prizes are always little kids.

One can only imagine the discussions Christie's already had with ex Billy Joel who likely is none too thrilled right now. I'll bet he's downright mad.

Billy Joel
Don't press this, CB, just give the jerk some money and make him go away. God knows you've got it.

Christie
That, that, n-n-nnanny's long, black hair was in my bed, Bill!
(beat)
I have to make him pay. She's so gross. Look what she has on.
Brown with black for God's sake.

Maybe when Christie saw the social sex networks, she just lost it. People do that, you know. Even perfect ones. And the participants knew who Mr. Brinkley was and probably everything about Christie. Now, that's pretty humiliating.

Is it that she just wants revenge?

Revenge for being 54, maybe?

I wanted revenge too, I guess, plus a little help.
I was thirty-two. I felt that he had destroyed my life. With a little of my help, but mostly it was my feeling that he engineered the entire thing (he did, you know).

Unlike Brinkley, who has lived on the earth 24 years longer than when I got divorced in 1976 (that's a verrrry long time body wise) all I had to do to look good in the morning was get up. That's what girls do when they're 32. It's heaven. Enjoy it while you've got it, Girls, because you usually don't realize you had it, till it's gone.

Yeah, Brinkley looks great with a lot of personal sacrifice, work, work, work, did I mention work? Pain? There's a lot of that. Vanity? At what point does she say enough? When are there enough homes? Enough.

Realizing she's not 32, she's not even 42. Why do you think she's angry?

Anyway, I wanted to decimate my ex-husband in front of my children, but I didn't. I was sick with anger, literally sick for two years from the anger and guilt I felt over the what I perceived as the betrayal in my marriage which involved my daughters. Hospital sick such that I was nearly gone. So I truly understand her grief and rage, along with her feelings of wanting to lash out any way she can.

However, I wanted my girls to trust so that they could find mates they could trust. I had such a wonderful father, and such wonderful role models in my family. I wanted that for my girls. You have to have good expectations to get what you want in life, right? I just thought it was best for them. I felt like a martyr which is what probably got me through raising my children, as selfish and wrong as that sounds now. We do what we can I guess.

Well, as it turned out I finally rebuilt my life without his help. It worked out. Besides, I still had great skin, lots of energy and wasn't fighting nature.

It makes me wonder, though. If Christie had had a boy with this man (she did with another husband), would she had kept his behavior quiet? Would she have made him a good example of a who at the time I thought was a bad example? Depends on lots of things.

But as for her daughters, maybe Christie thinks she should use her husband as an example to make certain they'd avoid anyone like him in the future, although it is difficult to believe anyone would put their kids through this for any reason. There's much about families we never know, isn't there? All we need to do is look inside our own to realize that.

About this Peter Cook, her soon-to-be ex husband: cheat on Christie Brinkley? Right there, you've got a red flag.

But then that might be propaganda too. Ask Billy Joel. Maybe Billy knows something about CB's maturity the rest of the world is just now finding out.

And Peter Cook is the father to one of her children. He has rights as long as he has not hurt them. So, there we are. She must, ethically and by law do what is right by him as well.

Those darn stars. Can't live with em; can't live without em! But they're sure fun to write about for a change, instead of the other ones we can't live without--those darn politicians.

Meanwhile, 54 and fighting is hard place for a lot of women. That was nine years ago for me. I'm glad it's over.

Thanks for the read.

*I didn't make up 54 and fighting by the way. It came from the owner of my local book store, Morris, a hard bitten, old fashioned liberal guy from Portland, Maine who I talk with about society and politics. He's 89. I'll probably never know if he was describing me. If he was, I've learned from it.

Football Stadium?! My, my. What a big ego you have, Senator Obama!

I don't know who's more obnoxious: Obama planning his convention speech in a football stadium or Ringo Starr imagining that all of us are breathlessly awaiting the moment we can celebrate his birthday by simultaneously thinking, whispering or passing wind which sounds like "peace".

What is it with these people and their insatiable adoration appetites?

All this jumping the gun by our newbies friends in the changing Democratic Party is proving to be a bit tedious for this small d democrat, for whom a little pageantry goes a long way, especially when it revolves around a lone figure like the two-year wonder Obama.

What's next? Spectacular parades of people holding candles with all the lights out, Barack? We've got your cameras rolling for history, Barack. Just remember to look noble and statesmanlike.

It gives me the creeps. But then, I never really had idols. When all my girlfriends were going gaga for rock bands and singing stars, I thought it was stupid. I still do.

I always thought that whole idea of worshiping another person was goofy. I could never get past the imagery of their using a bathroom or clipping their toenails.

It's just who I am, I guess. No one really impresses me, except for Christ, of course...and my dad and mother. And they just scared the hell out of me.

*shrug*

I think most thinking Americans--not kids--don't like this king stuff really, especially during conventions and political functions. Lots of Americans, particularly we stupid ones who cling to our guns and bibles, we swing staters and us hard-to-read Westerners don't like big old horsey events that look like coronations and end up embarrassing the stones out of us. We're kind of self-conscious and we always end up taking our shoes off anyway, so what's up with this, Barack? Stop already.

One guy, all this hoopla in a stadium? That's too weird, Dude. Don't get too English, or European, especially German, or Evangelical on us. Or even try to disguise it as a gospel deal or a new black deal or a Motown deal or, as I suspect some black sports deal to get all the white guys to like you. That's pushing it to a new level that some people might really resent because it's pandering.

(Then you're speaking in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin? Oh come now. You can do better than, Barack. Too bad you've not cleared your foray into German with its Chancellor. You are a nervy little person. Why not go straight to The White House; demand that George Bush get the heck out of your office and sit down and just get to work? Why wait for a vote? What war? Oh, you mean the one we're winning that you said was a disaster, Barack?)

I can tell the Dems right now that if this is their kind of change, like the quick change that we just saw in Denver when the woman who contracted with the city to sing the National Anthem burst forth instead with her own version of the "Black" National Anthem...it's probably not going to fly with most Americans.

Does anyone know if she got paid? If so, the taxpayers got it the backside again because I'll bet anything she was contracted to sing The National Anthem, not to express herself. If the city controller cuts her a check, every Denverian should be outside City Hall screaming for his job. But if Denver wants it that way, they deserve to pay the taxes for it. There will be many more oportunities if this was any indication of how things will "change."

Such repressed anger and self-expression from Obama's fans will provide plenty of fuel for Obama's ego state, which will only grow in time as it is fed by those around him as well.

As I've stated before, he' a Leo, like me. It takes one to know one. This will be good.

Thanks for the read.

It's way past time for General Clark to fade away.

What's the point? Does he want to be Vice President?

I guess there's a lot to gain when you've got an impotent looking kid running for president who's trying to move center, but who just can't handle the "American" thing. It was bad enough to have to wear that darned flag.

When was Vietnam again?
Of course, Obama can't say what Wesley Clark attempted to say about war hero and Senator John McCain yesterday--that basically he was nothing more than a jet jockey who got himself into a mess that he deserved and such an event certainly doesn't make him any better qualified to be president. After all, a Top Gun never ran operations, like he (Clark) had. Today his criticisms are sharper, more focused with a hewn message that he has no diplomatic skills--one which fits nicely with the Obama template of no war.

General Wesley Clark is the guy who got screwed by NATO and Washington (Secretary Bill Cohen and President Clinton during Kosovo) when they unceremoniously canned him for doing what they sent him there to do: fight and win a war without casualties.

I might add that's what has happened to every modern general since WWII who has had to deal with the new war paradigm, i.e., they're asked to act like they're going to win the war, get ready for it, do some war type things, but win it without blood. If they get much blood...we go home. (Somalia, Beirut, ad infinitum) After all, we don't have those huge families anymore and we're not going to just send our sons off willy nilly like we used to. (I've finally got thought through my thick skull. If only the rest of you would! It fits their perfectly selfish world view. I don't know why I didn't get it earlier.)

Volunteer army? That's beside point and it doesn't fit into our world view. War? No real war. Washington is very patient when it comes to keeping people in the field.

Of course, Clark never believed any of that. So he got his Army up and ready to actually win a war in Kosovo. He knew what Dems don't realize and by serendipity, regardless of the negotionations in Dayton which showed the usual weakness, by virtue of Clark's opposite actions his readiness sped up the conclusion and success of the war (in spite of everyone being against it). But in so doing he stepped on the diplomat's, Richard Holbrooke's toes, NATO's and the Pentagon's toes. He also accomplished to irk the White House and made himself the general horse's rear end that he became known for: a jerk, hard to deal with, a micro manager who can't along with anyone.

He's a loner, known as the "lone warrior." His bios make him sounds like another fatherless boy making up for a lost something in his life. It's a sad state of overcompensation. Clark may have thought to himself on his lone daily laps in the pool: people maybe don't like me, but by God, they'll at least know me and respect me for what I can do.

Clark is a good organizer and a heck of a logistics and operations and ordnance guy and I respect his service to the country. But for a self serving reason that I can't respect, he is trying to take down a Navy Commander who spent five plus years in a nasty prison camp, someone who declined because of his position as son of the Pacific Naval Commander, early release. It was John McCain, not Wes Clark who also flew 23 sorties over enemy territory (taking fire), saved a man's life while on another carrier during a horrific fire and then came home and became a U.S. Senator. Yeah, McCain's career was rather short, but his capture by the VC proved rather long, even by this general standards, I would think.

Also, I think General Clark sees Barack Obama as a tabula rasa. Clark has shown himself to be more than a good politician in the past as far as keeping the NATO group together long enough to effect the end of the war. So he might think he can handle Obama and that might be why he's cozying up. Anger makes a person do strange things sometimes.

Meanwhile, I'd say General Clark has eaten at least a bushel of sour grapes and he's paying for it now. I believe I can understand that, but no good can come from his words as they seem so obviously based in envy.

What's more shocking to me is that there is not more outrage. There was a time when this was simply not socially accepted. Instead there is piling on from the shameless left. But I'm not as shocked maybe as I thought I was at the first. I did go through the sixties, remember--those horrible years. I hated every minute of them, and am flashing back.

It makes me wonder what guys and gals in the field think of their commanders and if they wonder if they think they're a bunch of jerks too, like Clark does McCain. Just a bunch of patsys who can't really do anything. Jeez.

Rant Alert
But that's where we are as a country. We are being inundated with careless, thoughtless, illiterate, unbelievably stupid adoles-adults who do not get it. Here I am spending $79.00 to fill my gas tank, while we are all sitting on zzillions and zzillions of God's own oil. Al Gore owns a zillion square-foot house and rails at the rest of us about energy usage. Little. tiny children in Africa die while millionaire farmers sell corn for bogus science. Think on that a while. Not the bogus science--the children.

I don't care about the science. Their "data" is already starting to unravel, a fact they're desperately trying to cover up, and no, I do not believe that global warming is man made. Do you think the liberals will put me in jail? They would like to, you know. Farm aid, Willie Nelson? That hypocrite. Send your money to Africa and World Vision so real people can eat. They're the ones who are really suffering. (I'm sorry, I'm just trying to stay real.) Alert over.

Back to Clark.
What's really going on here, I suppose, are the emerging differences between the two candidates. Only Obama isn't ready to admit it yet. Neither is the media, I'm afraid. While Obama doesn't admit it, he winks, winks, nudges and says Clark's statement was shocking. The Obama supporters simply believe what I state above: we are not going to send our sons and daughters off willy nilly. Period. No blood. All the better if they have someone who's mad at the system like Clark. That seems to be where a big part of the country is, but I'm not so sure of that. We'll find out.

Democratic Senator Jim Webb, another military guy chimed today about McCain saying something condescending about McCain needing to "calm down." Again, they're subtlety bringing up McCain's age. So much for their change in politics.

Perhaps this will backfire in some small way. I hope it does. Anyone who tries to take out a guy who spent time in a POW camp deserves whatever he gets.

Fade out, General Clark. Go work out your anger somewhere else.

Thanks for the read.

"Obama can kiss my ass" says President Clinton whose heart is really in the USA with Hillary

He must have convinced himself oh, why not--I'm off to Europe! After all, Ben Franklin spent years there. So did Adams. Obviously, Jefferson, the namesake. Heck, I may not come back till the elections. I'll even swear a little and speak my mind.

Indeed, Hillary must have thrown rose petals on the brick of her Chattaqua breezeway as she paraded Bill out to his waiting limo headed to NY.

For there he is these days, across the pond in Europe attending chic birthday parties for his pal, Nelson Mandela, sunning himself with his friends along the coast of Italy or on Fantasy Island enjoying soy gelatina. Maybe he's sipping a low-fat latte on the bow of the yacht of one of those zillionaire best friends of his. It must be heaven cruising the blue Med this time of year, just loverly, tres bon, cool as a moose and life as a former president, this former president is fast lane plus plus plus plus.

Even for this carefree, hedonistic ex-President, however, I'll just bet...

Life isn't all beer and skittles
Not when you've been through as much as the Clintons, self-induced as some of it was.

The recent damning Vanity Fair article, Chris Matthews and his preoccupation with making Hillary a laughing stock, then trying to make up by giving her my Thathchership Award and MSNBC in general, CNN and Bill O'Reilly notwithstanding, in addition to the gossip columns, I too can't help but wonder about the institutional side of things. In addition to their political aspirations and motivations I often wonder about their humanity, their daughter and their lives. They are interesting forces of nature. Besides, I'm a snoop.

Do they have separate but equal lives? They must. Of course, she works! I am amazed at the woman's energy.

Are they married in the biblical sense? A lot of people are but aren't if you know what I mean.

Do they love each other? I think they must. Even the cynic in me says so. There are aspects of our partners that regardless of their habits we still adore if we've hung long enough to get over the bad parts! I love that!

Bill Clinton and his honor
Meanwhile, if I were Bill Clinton, I would be so outraged at the way my wife was treated, I'd probably bring the power of all I had (which is a lot) down on those who betrayed me-first-and then on the kid. But then, I'm a Leo, just like Bill Clinton. If there's one thing we Leos hate it's betrayal.

By the way, so is Barack. A Leo, I mean.

This isn't over; not a by a long shot. Watch the Old Lion. As he plays and lolls in the shade and looks longingly at the lionesses, he's thinking about how to fix this for his own pride at home. He's mad and his paw hurts, judging from what he said about calling Barack and supporting him.

Political theater at its best!

Thanks for the read.

Yeah, Barack Obama. Your daughters can do anything "that the boys can do" and "in heels"... except, of course, become PRESIDENT of the United States!

Good heavens, he sure did sound like the stereotypical Republican, huh?

Except real Republicans give women real opportunities and always have! The first woman rep was a Republican (Jeannette Rankin) and the first woman senator was a Republican (Margaret Chase Smith from Maine) and they didn't inherit their positions either like the Democrats seem to do. They were actually elected.

Come to find out, the Dem heir apparent was simply offering the usual surround sound for some of the most blatant, public, most embarrassing and most obtuse sexism we've ever seen sans comments from the press, i.e., the selection of the Democratic Party's candidate for the President of the United States.

Absolutely unbelievable. I can't believe our young women can even see it because they're so wrapped up in the black man having his time in the sun. I can now see our work has gone for nothing. I wish I had saved my breath and my pride. I hope my peers feel the same way. I'm ashamed of my younger sisters as they sit and listen to these outrageous sexist statements. They're like falling stars on a summer night.

Save the babies!
So I won't worry if no one covers up the ears and eyes of my granddaughters. I just hope they don't get a mixed message through his condescending, cheap statement, "we need them."

Oh yes, he actually said it.

This is ridiculous. I've never seen a more grandiose, self-conscious, uninformed exercise in my life as the Unity, New Hampshire make nice fellowship with Obabbba and Clinton.

Following is the conversation between my granddaughters and me:

"Grandma, why does that nice lady in the teally pantsuit suddenly like that nice black man?"

"Well, Sweetie, it's because the nice black man said she had to, and so did a whole bunch of a lot of other turncoat people for the good of their party."

"Oh, is it because he's a man who has more power and he won the game?"

"Yes, Honey, sort of."

"Oh."

"What's wrong, Honey."

"Nothing, Grandma. It's just my black girlfriend told me I was lower than her because her man won the game and the white lady lost. And my white girlfriend said that the white lady won more popular votes. So I don't know what to think. And because my parents are Republicans I'm a loser anyway."

"Talk to your mommy and daddy, Sweetie. You might consider getting a horse."

My roses need planting
Yes, I know I'm extremely late this year...I'm about to leave my mind for the garden now. The strangeness of American politics gets to be this way around June--especially during presidential years. Perhaps if I just think of gardens and frogs and beautiful flowers

Did I tell you about the bumper crop of hibiscus I was having? They really are beautiful.

Some things, thankfully, never change.

Thanks for the read.

Face it, Barack. I'm just not that into you.

The Obama surrogates keep saying as an old white woman I can't get past the race thing. By the way, that's what Obama's surrogates automatically respond with when people say anything about race. "Well, they are older, you know. That's something they learned in the old days." Thanks.

That is the "post race" rant they've decided on. The argument is ridiculous to the point of madness in its lack of depth as it refuses to acknowledge there is value is discussing the differences and the past, what drove the behaviors of bigotry and the expressions of hatred. Instead, the new generation, with it's government education wants to proceed with: blinders on, past is past and let's move on, unless we're talking about Republicans, who are mired in the past, cannot grow up and can be forgiven to a certain point.

What prigs. They just continue to piss me off on a daily basis. Good grief, they're ignorant; and, no. I never was that ignorant, of which they are so quick to accuse me and in a general way anyone with whom they disagree.

It's Obama and his arrogance. But immediately, another attack on Obama is registered in the Do Not Touch column of the Do Not Touch Book. It's not his color. It is so insulting to hear that. It's his politics and mostly him. The way he treats people. The way he acts. Kind of like THEM. How quickly they assume it is about race. Politics. Left-wing politics. Are they crazy? Does anyone in the room not think the GOP would love a guy like this in our party?


However, I've noticed his people are making him all nice and sweet now. Trying to make him a real, sweetheart to old broads like me. The cross and Obama's likeness across it may show up in a hologram somewhere soon.

Divine intervention might bring Obama into the hearts and minds of a few grown ups, but I doubt it. Go to MSNBC.com and watch the life story in the right hand sidebar, if you can stand it. It absolutely JFKesque, even down to the second to last slide with the 3/4 pensive face shot.

I told ya it would be a Kennedy summer. This is the beginning of the wave if, and it might be a really big IF, Obama succeeds as the nominee. I still don't believe it. And because I don't I'm a racist...follow that logic, if you want. It's very strange, I'll admit.

Meanwhile, the rest of you can join us on Planet Earth. If McCain can play off Obama's freightening foreign policy inadequacy, even more frighteningly sparse resources in that area, the Fairness Doctrine issue, among a few others, the polls will drop Obama quickly before the Dem Convention and then the Hillary Machine will crank up.

So. Where's Bill? He's got a campaign for co president to run! Watch for the deus ex machina for Hillary. I just...I just feel it. Don't you? Kinda? Maybe?

This is a woman who runs on power and her engines are revved up. She's got something up her pantsuit leg.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch house
I see Republican men are still stumbling around wondering what to do. They'll go and bomb something, I'm sure, which always works. They gotta be careful as to the timing. Of course the big problem is McCain's got no pals. So they've gotta get some boys into position. That's the problem with being a maverick, you don't get to make the big calls when you need them.

After they settle on the who, what, where, when, they pick the nominee and if McCain lives long enough...

They'll have a drink, cigar and talk about women and then golf, compare their drivers, then go home to the wifie. Just like they did fifty years ago...and fifty years before that.

That's called power and machismo. When asked why they do it every time, they answer the same way: "Because we can." They said "yes we can" lots earlier than old Barry. And they're much better at it.

We'll see if either of them needs Viagra. I don't know who'll win this man contest. Hillary or the guys with the army. Meanwhile, Barack is kind of weak, if you know what I mean.

*sigh*

Thanks for the read.

Tim Russert is my kinda guy. I loved him and I'll miss him.

He died on Father's Day weekend, the exact same time thirty years ago as my own dad's passing...Father's Day was never the same again.

Oh. Gee...I just realized that.

Nevermind. I'll write something more about my feelings about Tim tomorrow or the next day maybe.

I'll just mention Tim didn't have the same personality as my dad, but he did enjoy the same spirit. I can't write any more without crying. What a lovely man Tim was. A sweet, lovely man.

Later.

Thanks for the read.

Hillary to the 63-year old woman who said "I don't count:" Don't go there.

They're right. Both of them, I mean.

So where does she want women to go, for crying out loud!?

Jeez. Young and rude Democrats, men and women don't listen to older women in their party either. Look at the choo choo train that railroaded Obama into the nomination he's in before the convention long before the swing states showed the...well...swing.

How disappointing. How undemocratic. How human. How unavoidable and fixable and unreasonable. How stupid.

Eighteen million voters in the swing states? Are you kidding me? I am embarrassed. Senator Clinton's magnificent speech had even my Republican brain wondering why I wasn't a registered Democrat, not to mention causing me to yell at my poor husband for hours last night. I wonder how many others like me there were...who felt so badly.

It's not about republican, democrat, liberal, conservative.

As my 32-year old daughter says, it is what it is.

It's just the way it is. It's about being a woman, a mother, a female. It sucks. But it is biblical and cosmic.

All those little ingrates who don't even know what women like my sister and my mother and I went through to even get a business card, let alone a freakin office. Now they believe it's their right...which it is...but where's the gratitude? Why were they so quick to dismiss Clinton? Why did they just run to the black man so quickly? Why? What a betrayal.

And they're so mean. Well, you have to remember they're all interviewing for jobs. And they need to have those jobs so they can feed the children they will spawn because they will attract all kinds of mates.

But maybe that is our job as elders, to protect the youngers, to provide an ideal that they understand will be theirs later. Who knows? Meanwhile, I feel dissed.

This must be how the guys who fight for our country feel when the Left basically asks them to stick it where the sun don't shine as they talk in arrogant doublespeak and so blithely about the future of Iraq and our troops. Like they're not even there...like they can't hear. The rest of us do the same.

I'm sick of us. Frankly.

Mrs. Clinton's speech hit the nail on the head and brought home to me the fact that nothing worked to get her the nomination, eighteen million cracks notwithstanding. The party's own rules mess her up. But the super delegates could have made the difference and given Clinton the nomination.

Yes, Senator Clinton, we've faced up to reality and we, as our mothers before us have moved on. I guess. I'm still working on it. I watched the tears in her eyes, by the way, of Mrs. Rodham. She also gets it.

Wish I didn't hate Mrs. Clinton's politics. But I do like what she's shown me.

Which puts me in a bind with right wing Republican women...like Laura Ingraham who couldn't give Mrs. Clinton a decent break even once, or my representative Darrell Issa's aide who didn't even take my name when I called his Washington office to tell him how I felt about House Committee Res 342 (the second time that's happened). I'd love to have a Malkin-Ingraham luncheon. Oh, how I'd love to host that one. Throw Coulter in and we'd have a fourth for bridge, now, wouldn't we?

I'm also real tired of the women in this party who are shocked, shocked that other people have problems and then let GOP men get away with ridiculous behavior like trying to throw elections (Limbaugh)...and can't be real or get their hands dirty with real women who have tremendous problems that are not of their own making in blue collar states. Because there is a disconnect, I wonder sometimes if I should bail the GOP.

But I've never forgotten it's real women who've made up the real GOP, like my mother who said of Gerry Ford when he "reticently" accepted the veepship after Agnew's resignation, "What a phony; he's about to wet his pants." Those are the kinds of Republicans we need to hear from! I'm tired of the same old same old.

And the party does have a good local base with Mary Bono Mack, whom I support, so I take heart. Surely someone uses her brain around here!

So, it's too bad some of us have felt we've been put out to pasture. It seems to go with the territory. I'm trying like hell not to go there, Hillary, but it's awfully tough what with all the messages the world is sending these days.

Wonderful speech, old girl. Those silly kids will be sorry. For what it's worth...

Thanks for the read.

High Noon-Thirty in Washington (the Clintons are always late).

This is theater or rather a movie, Bill's favorite, I'm told.

This is made for America's need for drama.

I still don't believe she'll drop out even if she says so. She's in. Till the last dog is dead. Her presidency is coming in a few years in any case.

Later...

She's graduated from politician to statesperson. Her speech today was stupendous and full of emotion and exhortation to the faithful.

Get the presses ready, Boys.

Thanks for the read.

Email to Hillary: Friends of Obama give millions to Kenyan PM cousin, Odinga

An October surprise can't wait. It's already June and Hillary has serious presidential campaigning to do.

You notice there's no real "pulling out." Oh, there are public "secret" meetings at friend's houses and there are definitely surrogates making nice and others explaining her motives but none of the principals--Bill, Chel, or Hill herself have said it's over.

Because it's not over, not really. Something is up over in Chattaqualand. Something other than a farewell soirée. Hillary is entirely too happy. Entirely too confident. Something big has happened or is about to happen. Like...

My cousin, Barack, and I speak daily
It could be something entirely out of the blue like maybe related to the email someone forwarded to her from a friend's missionary buddy in Kenya which only a few know about so far, but it's percolating on the back burner:

Thanks for sending out an alert about Obama. We are living and working in Kenya for almost twelve years now and know his family/tribe well. They are the ones who were behind the recent Presidential election chaos here. Thousands of people have been displaced by election violence(over 350,000) and I don't know the last count of the dead. Obama under "friends of Obama"gave almost a million dollars to the opposition campaign who just happened to be his cousin, Raila Odinga, who is a socialist trained in east germany. He has been trying to bring Kenya down for years and the last president threw him in prison for trying to subvert this country! December 27th elections brought cries from ODM (Odinga Camp) of rigged election. Obama and Raila speak daily.As we watch Obama rise in the US we are sure that whatever happens, he will use the same tactic, cyring rigged election if he doesn't win and possibly cause a race war in America .What we would like you to know is what the american press has been keeping a dirty little secret. Obama IS a muslim and he IS a racist and this is a fullfilllment of the 911 threat that was just the beginning. Jihad is theonly true muslim way. We have been working with them for 20 years thisjuly! He is not an american as we know it. Please encourage your friends and associates not to be taken in by those that are promoting him. It is world wide jihad.All our friends in Europe are very disturbed by the mulsim infiltration into their countries. By the way. His true name is Barak Hussein Muhammed Obama. Won't that sound sweet to our enemies as they swear him in on the Koran!God Bless you. Pray for us here in Kenya . We are still fighting for our nation to withstand the same kind of assult that every nation, including America, is fighting. Takeover from the outside to fit the new world order. As believers, this means we will be the first targets. Here in Kenya , not one mosque was burned down, but hundreds of churches were burned down,some with people in them, burned alive. Jesus Christ is our peace but the new world order of Globalism has infiltrated the church and confused believers into thinking that they can compromise and survive. It won't be so. I will send you a newsletter we sent out in February documenting in a more cohesive manner what I've tried to say in a few paragraphs. Love, (missionary and church's name withheld by Planet)

Copy and paste this link into your browser for more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm

The American press owes us all the news.
These are the politically incorrect issues the American electorate need to discuss. The situation in Kenya is germane to what's going on everywhere in the world considering the origins of the prime minister and the possible president of the U.S. It's a fascinating story there and it has geographically everything to do with Al Qaeda and the Middle East. The media's neglect of it is shocking to me.

I've investigated this email and am satisfied at its veracity. I've held on to this for two weeks and have decided to publish it today.

I hope and pray that Senator Obama is not a part of anything unusual. If he is, we Americans have a right to know about it. Regardless, the connection between the two men is newsworthy. It is that dilatory press which keeps such vital and important information from us. We should all be up in arms about such an outrageous conduct by so-called professionals.

Besides, why don't we know more about Obama? I think he's a wonderfully interesting man and I don't' understand why we can't know more. I don't get any of this.

Thanks for the read.

McCain can choose anyone he wants for VP--as long as she's black ...

plays a mean, almost naughty Warsaw Concerto...

loves pro football as much as I do...

and can take Obama to the cleaners and back on foreign policy.

Oh my goodness, could you contain yourselves?

I have nothing more to say other than exhort the Republican males to look at the Obama juggernaut before them.

This is like it was in the JFK-crazy 60s. If they ignore it they do so into oblivion.

And then there's Hillary comin' round the mountain when she comes. The fat lady has yet to sing, if you know what I mean.

Thanks for the read.

Scott McClellan to O'Reilly "I wasn't quite born yet, I don't think."

That's the response to Bill O'Reilly when mentioning the title of an Elvis book as similar to Scott's: What Happened.

Just as Scottie said this I grabbed my remote and stopped the show. Suddenly I came to a realization. Is it all about age? Not war, not taxes, not culture. Age? A generation gap again? Has Hillary become what they all hated? After all, things really aren't that bad.

What is it the Dems have to say? What is it we're doing so wrong?

Obama
The black intellectual whose mother and father abandoned him. He's pure Alinsky.

Ironic. Saul Alinsky was Mrs. Clinton's mentor, a thought that almost caused me to jump at a possible debate point. Then I'm let down and nearly nauseated at how the Left always comes full circle. It's sickening to me. Their foundational philosophy doesn't seem to progress. Is it feeding on its own? Are the Democrats blaming Mrs. Clinton for Bill Clinton's excesses? Yes, they are. And yes. She deserved most of it.

So. Hillary's old and out of it. Hillary's not what Obama's voters want now that he's in the race. It's about age.

Obama thinks we've got a bad economy. And the war's bad. Plus other things. Unemployment is at 4.5%.

(smirk)

The surge is working and the Iraqis are starting to take hold of their country, slowing but surely.

(smirk)

The other things are, well, we're not sure yet what they're so upset about because they haven't told us yet.

(smirk)

Kos of www.dailykos.com
Typical of the youth vote?

The American/Latin revolutionary, the one who has lived in war. And yells at people about war. And forgets that George Bush the Elder saved his butt from war in El Savador, but he's so young I can forgive him. Nevermind. He can't forgive me. He must be heard at all costs. He's another dangerous one because he is entitled and obnoxious and doesn't respect his elders. Maybe his only exposure to elders is people who make war. But I doubt it.

He's angry and young. Maybe he just needs a good woman. Oh, he's married? Maybe the Internet is his biggest problem...and another revolutionary who keeps handing him a bundles of cash, George Soros. Someone get him out of here, please.

Ditto on the war and the economy from even from Kos's POV. What's the beef, really? I still can't figure out what everyone's so mad about. It's gotta be about age.

Sorry. They just weren't that into you, Scott.
My vote for the most dangerous one of them all because he was so close, oh so close to power and pretty stupid.

And because he was so close to power he's been attributed more influence than he actually had as it turned out.

Scott really didn't know that much. He was likely on an unwritten Republican man's probation. Rove, et al thankfully knew early on he wasn't that great...and because they're Republicans (remember, I worked with them and am one so I know how we think--almost, because I'm a woman, so it's not a complete fit) they didn't want to hurt his parent's feelings. Besides, they were contributors, after all. And Republicans are gentlemen...

Poor Scott. He burned a bridge that he'll never, ever, ever, (how many evers are there in the Republican dictionary?) rebuild, poor boy. His major problem is he comes from the Republican mindset that because is white and middle to upper class he is also entitled, which he might be. However, since he turned on his own, it probably will not be a happy outcome for him and the Mrs. I certainly hope Mrs. McClellan has her china registered at Home Depot because that is where she will be able to afford her dinnerware from now on.

Captain Courageous says it's about age too. Those old guys actually "sold" a war. Can you imagine using "propaganda" in a war? What a concept. What an imbecile.

Of course the question is would any of them actually hold and also shoot a rifle if push comes to shove?

Thanks for the read.

Obama's 3/5ths of a man? Is that what the Florida and Michigan Primary voter count turned into?

What an embarrassing development for a bunch called The Democratic Party at a time when they're about to either nominate a woman named Hillary Clinton or a black man named Barack Obama.

Thanks for the read.

Hey, Dems! Nice display of pseudo fascism at the Florida-Michigan DNC meeting.

Nevermind that most of you ignored the votes of a couple of million people. They didn't sign on to your stupid rules.

Your "unity" is on review, along with your organization. You're beginning to look more like a group that is not as happy as the old Democratic Party, the inclusive, more accepting one.

Let's count the ones you've disenfranchised in your party so far in this primary:

1. The 2.5 million in Michigan and Florida;
2. The many huge numbers of white women voters in the swing states;
   
3. The blue collar swing state white voters; and
   
4. The rural swing state white voters.
   

Those are millions. Those are an awful lot of people that Mrs. Clinton says is a popular majority.

What is the party thinking?

Poor Democrats. Now that Obama's black liberation consciousness-raising pastors are popping up again, their party leader has got another fire to put out. What's next? An emir from Indonesia, for Allah's sake? No. I can't take it! When can he start establishing himself?

If it isn't a pastor it's the bitter remark reminding people he's a such snob. If it isn't an angry old white woman like Ferraro whom he dissed because she said something unacceptable to the fascist new party leaders--wow, is she miffed--it's another flareup from someone like an old radical hippie couple like Bill Ayres and Bernadette Dohrn for cripes sake. I mean, no one hangs out with them. Try to explain that to the guys at the VFW Hall who lost a leg in Nam.

All of this reminds folks of Obama's rather radically eclectic and mysterious connections. That's not all it does. It causes folks to wonder, one more time, what's up with this guy? Now people are starting to know Obama. Hillary and I have known him for ages now, by the way.

Even Oprah's gone off the deep end getting herself into some New Age weird religion thing and at the same time endorsed Obama. She lost some 2 or 3 million viewers immediately. Again, a hint at a decline in both images...

After initial or second impressions, independent people start thinking critically. Enough "bad" "negative" Obama news might be enough one day that in November, old guy with a young running mate might look pretty darn good to them. The drum beat...

It just a matter of time before voters hear that Obama helped Father Phleger get $300 thousand for his Peace Center from the government. They were buds back when Obama was an organizer in South Chicago--there's that nervous word again--which recalls words like union, left wing, socialist.

But the Democrats are stuck with Obama because they're all successful lawyers and acting like Republicans and suddenly the rules rule in a party that is not very rulable. All at once they hear no evil, see no evil in their their fantasy political club.

Personally, I can't imagine squandering Dr. King's dream on the likes of Obama.

The problem is no self-respecting Dem can live with any of this once they get their blinders off. I agree with Harold Ickes who said they simply don't know what they're doing. They must be out of their minds. Some worm has entered their brains. They are 30 people who are speaking for 2-1/2 million people about the destiny of a popular vote in a primary...a hugely different application than a national electoral vote.

Poor Harold, hung over from a late night arguing with these intractable pols who could not, would not give up the ghost and do the right democratic thing by seating all delegates. Does it seem to anyone strange they would seat half, but not all? What an odd group of people these Democrats are.

(smirk)

I don't know what the Democrats will do since they have before them an unelectable candidate in Obama. Fortunately, they do have a choice, a nuclear option in the Super Delegates.

I do know what Hillary's going to do, however. She'll see everyone in Denver...just like I said months ago. I wonder if she'll go to Disneyland first.

You gotta love her!

We'll see if the Republican male leadership will respond to Items 1 through 4 above. Don't hold your breath; they are Republican white males after all.

Thanks for the read.

Hey, Scottie McClellan. Face it. You weren't that important!

In the old days when people valued character, memoirs were written years after the person "served" in the White House, not a couple of months. Even then they were written discreetly.

The sudden release of this book by the ex-press secretary to George W. Bush, What Happened, gives me pause to think that maybe the kid is nothing more than a opportunistic, greedy ingrate who doesn't want to work anymore if he can do the rest of his life on the backs of the men and women in the White House.

Follow the money; that's where the trouble usually starts.

You just think you know, Scottie, my boy.
George W. Bush is an MBA, a businessman from Texas. I believe I understand his management style. I takes a while to get on the inside of the "group." That may be why Scottie is so upset. He had to show more loyalty of more than a couple of years to get in. Maybe he just wasn't in the loop and all this is sour grapes.

I started working for this management style of closed doors in the 70s when they didn't "act" like yayhoos, they were yayhoos. Women were out, except for coffee bringing and extreme copying and clerical activities. An occasional confidant/assistant slipped in, but she was hardly ever ever a communications person and usually was a background and support. That was then. And she was me.

Before that, I had gone to college in Texas. was a "Yankee" and had been introduced to Texas boys and I found out how they do things early on. So, when I became an assistant to a couple of "important" men in a Texas oil company later in my single-mother life I fit right in. I also dated one of them for a little while, although he was not a Texan. (He was the only boss I ever dated in my long career. I found it so uncomfortable that I had to stop. He said he understood and was a gentleman about it.) I was a regular Della Street. I knew everything about the other executives, their wives. It was exciting and fun while it lasted, especially with the sales room right next to my office. Communications was five floors down.

Later, I wrote some occasional copy for a major Orange County ad agency and was assistant to its CEO president in the 80s. That was a big enough job. I still knew everything the partners did and everything about every employee but hardly fulfilling. My copy was about a client, not us.

Then as I became a better writer and more a confident person, I had some other high level jobs including working for the legal department for a major motor cycle manufacturer. They wouldn't let me know a thing about corporate issues even though I worked directly for the exec vice president for legal counsel.

Communications was a major part of that job. Like Scottie's. So...the trend is clear.

Not once did I get too involved in policy or was asked to. Not once was I told how things actually came to be. Not once was I privy to the actual ins and outs of the situation. I was given an assignment, asked for an opinion once in a while, and always asked to follow through on a task by their direction. I didn't get to be in on their meetings very often.

The real meetings
The ones where they drink bourbon and talk about the real stuff...after I went home at seven or eight in the evening...after I finished the drafts they wanted or the copy they wanted me to write. Oh, I was close to all of those men--and a couple of women. But not that close.

Never, I repeat, never was I asked to take responsibility for any part of a decision that was made by others. That was way above my pay scale. Nor was I consulted nor did I have all the facts of the problems before me. They never told me. They made sure not to. There's a reason for that, by the way. Communications is a special place. The less you know the less you can say.

For McClellan to flatter himself into thinking he had the total poop is the biggest laugh in Washington or any other big city. Just like the other little girls and boys running around with half truths about the war, about power, about money, about big companies, they are all FLAT wrong about how it all works. Where they get their ideas and notions is beyond me. I think a grown man who works in the White House, frankly, should know better.

Scott just thinks he knows and is acting out because of his disillusionment that maintaining power isn't as neat as he thought maybe it should be and running a country isn't as fun as Mama and Daddy said it might be.

Well, Scottie didn't stay long enough to see anything, to make any judgments worth making. (One thing I do know about guys like the president is they move methodically. There's no rushing them, and they're going to do what they do. But they're not slow. They have their own rhythm.)

But then that's the hallmark of the 21st century employee: moving on to the next opportunity and staying at that job for only about two years on the average, just enough time to take a quick look at something. In the executive suites it requires a few more years of camaraderie and friendship and maybe some trials by fire to see how one another reacts just to see who you can trust. Obviously, something told em they couldn't trust Scott.

Looks like they were right.

The painful truth is Scott McClellan wasn't very good at this job. I worried about his abilities when I first saw him in action. I thought he was too passive, not fast enough on the uptake. I watched the White House press corps walk on him. It was clear to me he didn't understand the basic argument of why we were in Iraq. No, from the sounds of the excerpts of his books he is contemptuous of the president's outrageous and naive restructuring of the middle east in the democratic model. How dare the president, McClellan seems to ask, as if democracy is as filthy a system as the old Stalinist communism.

(sigh)

Thanks for the read.