I'll be the first to admit that I was no big fan of Mike Huckabee when the 2008 primaries kicked off... Once I saw him on Tyra I liked him a bit more--he seemed to have some decent ideas and he wasn't above utilizing daytime TV. And now that he has his own show on Fox News, I really like him. I'd vote for him even. We had that a little of that "getting to know you" phenomenon with Journeys with George. It was evident from that Andrea Pelosi documentary that Bush was immenantley likable (but that may have been released after the 2000 election).
I have been mulling over a post about this growing need... About the fact that we should be able to actually get to KNOW a potential President and Commander in Chief. They should all have their own talk show or reality show BEFORE we walk into the voting booth. What if Ross Perot would have won? If he would have had his own show people would have known he was a loon. And what if Americans would have seen Hillary hurling Mimi Van Buren's china at her Secret Service agents heads? One of the things the founders talked at length about was an INFORMED electorate...and since kids don't seem to learn about government and the Constitution anymore, we could present it in a package they understand: reality show.
In harmony with my thoughts about this, an article at Newsmax suggests that leaving the Governorship and possibly doing a show for FNC might be the best thing Sarah Palin could do...I might agree. I'd like to see what she's like in that setting...interviewing people, fielding questions from brilliant guests and just being herself.
In an ideal world constituents would do their homework and read about the candidates' ideology and policy proposals...but we don't live in an ideal world, so maybe until then we should get to see them all in their natural habitat before we elect them to the highest office in the land.
Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about my Dad flying out of Philly today for a reunion of the Ivy Dragoons 3/8 4th ID (I think that's right)... The guy he was most looking forward to seeing recently lost his job and can't make the trip, but he's excited to see who else is there and I'm excited for him.
He recently got a book written by one of the guys in his battalion: Stars and Stripes and Shadows: How I Remember Vietnam and, much to his surprise, found himself in the book! (To his credit, he told me how much he loved the book BEFORE he discovered his name on the pages!) He says that Tim Haslam's writing is taking him back in time...
So with this departure on my mind this a.m. I happen to see a story about another Vietnam reunion that made me tear up over my egg white omelet:
"In their Army unit, the two men had been almost inseparable until July 12, 1967, when Perricone, after an intense fire fight, was captured near Cambodia, and disappeared into North Vietnam's prisoner of war gulag.
"We got ambushed, and we got hit pretty hard, then one of the sergeants yelled out that Perricone was missing," said Thompson, whose eyes welled often during an interview in his living room. "I've lived with this for 42 years - flashbacks, nightmares."
Until Sunday, neither man - now in their mid-60s - knew whether the other had survived the war.
"I called out to my wife in the kitchen and said, 'Tina, Perricone is alive!' " Thompson said. "I was shaking and crying. I looked him up and called him right away. My wife said it's too early to call, but I said I've been wondering about this man for 42 years." (Read the whole story)
"I wanted to be president of the United States. I really did. The older I get, the less preposterous the idea seems." ~Alec Baldwin
"...A native New Yorker, [Alec] Baldwin said he has been approached by an unnamed Democratic law firm who wanted him to run for governor of Ohio, and he has also considered moving to New Jersey or Connecticut to run for office. "I'd love to run against Joe Lieberman," Baldwin said of the Independent Democratic senator who is no favorite of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
Asked if he had ever turned down a sketch on Saturday Night Live, because it was too outrageous, Baldwin responded, "Probably a few. It's hard to remember. I'm often asked if I think about going into politics. If I do, these guys will have a field day. I've given them so much crap to use against me… If I run for political office, they'll have a forest of material to kill me with." (source)
Ya know, I'd love to say this is ridiculous...that they man has too crazy of a past (hello, emotionally abusive father)...no political experience...and that too many people respect the hell outta Lieberman and the position of Congressional leader to make a mockery of it. But we have a novice in the White House. We have an SNL comedian getting sworn into the Congress today. And the Democrats already have Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Jerry Springer...Baldwin might just fit right in...
By now everyone knows that political lightning rod, Sarah Palin, has resigned as Alaska's Governor. Though speculation is rampant, her explanation concerning ethic charges and personal attacks costing the state and her family too much money seemed quite feasible to me... (Not surprisingly the slimy Blogger that has been fabricating stories about Palin --even the FBI came out to set rumors started by this blogger straight--writes for HuffPo. And Shannyn (with a "Y") Moore's catalog of "articles" shows an exceedingly unhealthy obsession with Palin...)
But, if speculation is true and she's doing this to get ready for a 2012 run...I don't know how I feel about that. I think Palin needs more experience and quitting the job that most qualifies her to run a country may not have been in her best interest.
Speculation about 2012 is a tough one because, as of yet, I am not jazzed with any of the anointed ones and I think I know that was a major problem in our last election. I like Palin, but unfortunately the blood in the water after the last campaign has raised questions about her (fair or not the accusations from McCain's campaign staff lingers...) If she's planning on the 2012 run she has A LOT to do in preparation...
Speculation...? Thoughts...?
Oh, and to give credit when credit is due...big time lefty Bob Beckel openly admitted this morning on FNC that Palin was treated with a double standard by the press and that if any Democratic woman was treated like this...there would have been high level firings...
"Public debt [is] the greatest of the dangers to be feared. We shall all consider ourselves unauthorized to saddle posterity with our debts, and morally bound to pay them ourselves."
"May you and your contemporaries preserve inviolate the Constitution, which, cherished in all its chastity and purity, will prove in the end a blessing to all the nations of the earth."
"If a monarchist be in office, anywhere, and it be known to the President, the oath he has taken to support the Constitution imperiously requires the instantaneous dismission of such officer."
"The way to have good and safe government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to [perform best]."
"The true theory of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the states are independent as to everything within themselves, and united as to everything respecting foreign nations." Benjamin Franklin
"The more the people are discontented with the oppression of taxes, the greater need the prince has of money to distribute among his partisans, and pay the troops that are to suppress all resistance, and enable him to plunder at pleasure.
"Whenever an office, through the increase of fees or otherwise, becomes so profitable, as to occasion many to apply for it, the profits ought to be lessened by the legislature."
"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt an vicious, they have more need of masters."
James Madison
"It is impossible for the man of pious reflection not to perceive in it [the Constitution] a finger of that Almighty hand which has been so frequently and signally extended to our relief in the critical stages of the revolution."
"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood."
Alexander Hamilton
"The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority."
"Inequality would exist as long as liberty existed….It would unavoidably result from that very liberty itself."
John Adams
"I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth."
"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people."
Samuel Adams
"The Utopian schemes of leveling [re-distribution of the wealth] and a community of goods [central ownership of the means of production and distribution], as visionary and impractical as those which vest all property in the Crown."
Even Michael Jackson Turns Into A Race Debate...!?
Someone had said it would, but I didn''t believe it... How could anyone make this about race...?
And then I heard a professor from right here in Philly making the claim: (paraphrased) When BLACK celebrities die the media focuses on what they did wrong (pedophilia and drug use) but that's not the case for WHITE celebs. He then went on to say that because Michael was Black everyone was talking about Demerol and the alleged molestation, but no one every did that to Elvis, Johnny Cash or Heath Ledger. He really said that. When I think of any of the three of them I think of selfishness, drugs and excess...and Elvis was indeed a pedophile...how old was Priscilla when they got together, 13?
Someone said that "the Black community has so few heroes" that focusing on a little thing like possible pedophilia just isn''t fair.
First of all, whomever said that should crack a history book. The Black community has plenty of role models--and men/women that did a hellava lot more than moonwalk with a good voice. Possible heroes that weren''t man-children. ...have you ever read about Benjamin Banneker?
And I just don't get why the Black community would even look to claim someone who was maiming himself so he wouldn''t look like them. How many surgeries on his nose did he have? I know people with vitiligo...none of them turned white. And the most telling piece of evidence? The sperm donor for his kids was white--you would have thought he'd realize they should be half and half if he wanted top pretend they were his...but no, he so obviously thought of himself as white--and therefore made his kids white. Sick? Yes. But true.
So to make some big racial issue seems more than absurd.
I hoped that the "Era of O" would usher in a less racially charged America...now that we have definitive proof that Americans are still way more sexist than they are racist...but, I swear, I feel like it's been worse since he won...and that sucks.
I'm no fan of Helen Thomas. I think she's crass and rude and she looks like a crazy cat woman... (Though I have to admit to finding the HBO documentary about her, Thank you Mr. President, Helen Thomas at the White House, quite interesting...)
That being said, she's been a member of the White House press corpse since Washington was president and (even though she's an avowed Lefty) is pretty consistent about posing tough questions regardless of the political affiliation of the current administration. At the beginning of the era of O it looked like there was a Prez that might have smitten even Helen...
But yesterday, in light of the fact that Obama's latest "town Hall" meeting was STAGED (and chessmom, even the NYT says so!), Helen Thomas actually challenged the administrations claims of transparency (along with CBS's Chip Reid).
"Following a testy exchange during today’s briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press.
“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.
“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.”
Thomas said she was especially concerned about the arrangement between the Obama Administration and a writer from the liberal Huffington Post Web site. The writer was invited by the White House to President Obama’s press conference last week on the understanding that he would ask Obama a question about Iran from among questions that had been sent to him by people in Iran.
“When you call the reporter the night before you know damn well what they are going to ask to control you,” Thomas said.
“I’m not saying there has never been managed news before, but this is carried to fare-thee-well--for the town halls, for the press conferences,” she said. “It’s blatant. They don’t give a damn if you know it or not. They ought to be hanging their heads in shame.” (source)
As would be expected, the Kos Kids are turning on her for daring to throw the Nico Pitney (HuffPo) controversy into the mix...
Who would have thought that it would be ol' Helen Thomas that would have ignited a tiny spark of respect for journalism in the Era of 'O'...
Every one of Obama's stump speeches that I heard had the claim somewhere in it that NO new taxes would be levied on the middle class.
He often made the charge that McCain was going to do the unthinkable and tax the health care coverage people have through their employer-- the unions ran with this and used it in mass mailings to scare their members. ...AND NOW? Barack has taxing heath care on the table. That would indeed turn out to be a tax on the middle class.
(I keep thinking of jobs that pay pretty crappy but people take for the great benefits...like firefighters...) Speaking of that, you can read Obama's Top Five Health Care Lies over at Forbes.
And Cap -N-Trade? Does "O" think because it's hidden in 1300 unread pages of a climate change bill, that the politicos out here don't realize that this is going to kill the middle class family in utility bills and outrageous gas prices...?
I been trying to get through to Congress and voice my displeasure on both proposals...to no avail thus far. I'm hoping this is a good sign and tons of you are calling too!
What can we do to reclaim our government (...of the people, by the people, for the people?) And our tax dollars? Well, the "cash for clunkers" initiative goes into effect today--so we can all get a $50 car at our local junkyard and then trade it into Barack for $4,500.
We can call our Senators and Reps and fax them this story. We can demand our Congressmen read that report by EPA analyst Alan Carlin IN ADDITION to every word of the bill BEFORE they let Cap&Trade go through the Senate.
I know I'm "nagging", but we can also FIND A TEA PARTY in our area and GO! The powers that be (and even the MSM) can not ignore us if we're out in huge numbers....
Obama Administration Supports Dictator in Honduran Power Grab
Via the Washington Post, the Obama administration has come down on the wrong side of the troubles in Honduras recently.
"President Obama said yesterday that the military ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and could set a "terrible precedent.."
The facts do not support Mr. Obama's statement.
As seen in the Miami Herald, the Army arrested President Manuel Zelaya, as he was making an unconstitutional power grab.
"His actions have been repudiated by the country's supreme court, its congress, its attorney-general, its chief human-rights advocate, all its major churches, its main business association, his own political party (which recently began debating an inquiry into Zelaya's sanity) and most Hondurans..."
The Army acted on the Supreme Court's orders - and there aren't many in Honduras who would disagree with what they did, morally OR legally.
Obama has joined with Castro and Chavez in condemning the act of the Honduran people - the act of defending their constitution. Although what Obama has said doesn't surprise me, I knew he was a raving leftist, but it does really piss me off.
As Mike points out - Obama didn't have much to say in support of the Iranian people courageously standing up to a despotic and brutal government.
He was pretty quick to condemn Hondurans for exercising their duty to uphold their constitution.
Charles Krauthammer weighs in saying that Zelaya is acting extra constitutionally to dismantle a democracy and establish a dictatorship.
I am sick to death of being embarrassed by my president - he's a disgrace. Link
Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals: "We recognize that lines have to be drawn, and we choose to draw the line in such a way as to give the maximum possible protection to speech, which is protected by the express words of the Constitution."
"We conclude that [the Westboro Baptist Church] is likely to prove any interest the state has in protecting funeral mourners from unwanted speech is outweighed by the First Amendment right to free speech." (source)
As heinous as Reverend Fred Phelps(D) and his "church" (aka children) are, we must not be tempted to strip away the freedom of speech.
...That being said, I hope the Patriot Guard Riders continue to act as guardian angels for the families of these fallen soldiers and marines and shield the families from the hateful messages the Westboro Baptist Church continues to display!
"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." ~George Washington
Could conservatives say anything in regard to Obama's decisions during his time in office that wouldn't be perceived as racist? This facebook page really got me in a bad mood this morning. Obama has made quite a few radical decisions since he's been in office and many have been scrutinized by his own party. How far into the Presidency do we have to get before complaints become valid? Should I post the picture of me walking door to door with Lynn Swann each time I levy a criticism at our new CIC...has it come to that?
"WE ARE IN THE YEAR 2009 AND STILL WE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE MEDIA ONLY COVERING THE NEGATIVES OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. CALLING OUR FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESIDENT A SENATOR. NOT GIVING HIM THE PROPER COVERAGE AND SUPPORT. TRYING TO PIN ALL THE BLAME ON HIM AND HE HAS ONLY BEEN IN OFFICE FOR 100 DAYS. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. WE SHOULD HAVE BOYCOTTED FOX AFTER KATRINA WHEN THEY CALLED OUR PEOPLE LOOTERS AND RUFUGEES (SIC). THIS IS THE GROUP WERE WE STAND UP AND SAY NO MORE!!!!!"
I know, I know, I just said I don't have time to be here in front of this screen...but the baby is sleeping and I am watching this Mark Sanford press conference and finding it hard not to cry.
I know women cheat too, but...
Do men have any idea what damage they cause when they do this?
Sanford could have had it all. I just don't get that. I'll never get it.
Not to be crass but if you close your eyes...I imagine one is pretty much the same as the other. A bit of strange was more enticing than the Oval Office?! Why destroy your life and the lives of all those around you? The person your cheating with will one day become just as annoying as the one you're about to destroy...
Maybe someday I'll eat my words and offer up all the hollow justifications that others do...but right now my opinion is to watch a few episodes of Intervention before you decide to stray. 99% of addictions start with a parental divorce/infidelity...
Can I just start out by asking...how the hell is there a such thing as a "mommy blogger!?" Now that the baby is almost 9 months old, and no longer a lump, I don't have time to breathe...let alone maintain an online persona... Now that I am reminded how much work an infant is--I am thinking "mommy bloggers" might be a good starting point for bored DHS workers...
But I digress.
My lack of posting has been making me feel incredibly guilty-which is insane I know. With the baby trying to walk everywhere, the boys home from school and the never-ending projects at our house (biggest one of finishing the old stone basement for the older two is thankfully about a week or two from completion) I need about 4 more hours in the day. ...If I could dictate to the blog everything would be good as I walk around ranting to myself all day anyway...it's just finding a moment to SIT in front of the computer...
Right now I am multi-tasking--typing this as I pedal furiously, but get nowhere on my stationary bike. A metaphor for my life lately I think...
Aside from no time (I used to do posts at night when the kids went to bed, but now that time is rightfully spent with The Man), I haven't really felt compelled to write about anything...which is unusual.
Everyone knows how I feel about "single payer healthcare" aka a "public option" --and people don''t seem to care what the founding fathers thought of it (did you know they wanted to make socialism/communism outlawed by the Constitution!?) But maybe Roe V. Wade will come back to bite them in the ass...
As for Iran, truthfully, I don't know what to think. At first I was annoyed that the Right was practicing in the manufactured indignation I so often accuse the left of engaging in. I had no issue with Obama's response (eh, I hate even saying that) and I thought the admonishments from the GOP were just partisan blathering. I mean Mousavi is pretty much as bad as Ahmadinejad --and both were hand-picked by the Mullah's anyway. Though...now that the people seem to want top ditch the entire theocracy, well that's a bit more interesting (but still not compelling enough for even ONE of our soldiers/marines to die IMO).
So there isn't much else to say other than Jon and Kate are BOTH a-holes, right?
So, someone investigate how those feisty little mommy bloggers manage to do so much without locking their kids in a closet and take heart...America has persevered through many a misguided President and survived...
I admit it... I'm a part of a seriously commitment-phobic generation. "I'll call you," I quip when the doctor's office receptionist wants to make my next appointment. "Can I let you know" when the school wants to know which committee I'll help with next year...and I've actually been toying with the idea of taking my young heathens to church --because I found one that has no membership...
But this fear of being tied down has lead to the illusion that we on the Right aren't as passionate about our country plummeting into irreparable debt and demise as they on the left were about a supposed war for oil.
The MSM and Janine Garafolo tried to frame the Tea parties as "racist events" --this is because the right was finally taking to the streets with placards --and action the left thought was owned by them. Anyone that attended a tax day tea party knows that any claim of organizing against a Black President, and not that President's ACTIONS, couldn't be further from the truth. These gatherings were in the spirit of the first tea parties...frustration over the misuse of tax payer dollars and the irresponsibility of ALL members of Congress -D's AND R's! If people stopped playing politics and actually looked at what is happening with the "stimulus package", ACORN and the census, health care, GM, Chrysler dealerships, etc, etc, etc...there would should have been mass movements from within BOTH parties.
There is another wave of Tea Parties on July 4th. Many I have read about are combining the Tea party with family picnics. I know it's asking a lot to COMMIT to something two full weeks in advance, but this is the only way we can take the power back. Not from Left to Right, but from the government to the PEOPLE.
For information on a Independence Day tea Party near you, go to ReTeaParty.com where you can find or start a Tea Party. The Philadelphia Tea Party III is even having a contest for the best sign this time... last time the "Honk if I bought you a Flat Screen" would have had my vote. :)
Since I have been trying on the "Libertarian" label and prancing in front of the mirror a bit...I don't want anything to sully it up more than its abortion stance and 9/10 isolationist mentality already does...and Bill Maher could find a way to defile Hugh Heffner...
So, aside from getting annoyed that blatantly far-left maher is constantly labeled a Libertarian (I think he needs to do a bit of reading over at the Cato Institute), this clip is interesting... It elucidates the Left's growing frustration with Obama, but their reluctance to really make it His fault. After all their hero worship, the buyer's remorse seems to be a painful, confusing process for them:
(You know it's a moment of turmoil if Bill Maher is saying McCain was right about something during the campaign and that Obama needs to be a little more like GWB...)
I'll be the first to admit that I was no big fan of Mike Huckabee when the 2008 primaries kicked off... Once I saw him on Tyra I liked him a bit more--he seemed to have some decent ideas and he wasn't above utilizing daytime TV. And now that he has his own show on Fox News, I really like him. I'd vote for him even. We had that a little of that "getting to know you" phenomenon with Journeys with George. It was evident from that Andrea Pelosi documentary that Bush was immenantley likable (but that may have been released after the 2000 election). 
Over the last few weeks I have been thinking about my Dad flying out of Philly today for a reunion of the Ivy Dragoons 3/8 4th ID (I think that's right)... The guy he was most looking forward to seeing recently lost his job and can't make the trip, but he's excited to see who else is there and I'm excited for him. 
"...A native New Yorker, [Alec] Baldwin said he has been approached by an unnamed Democratic law firm who wanted him to run for governor of Ohio, and he has also considered moving to New Jersey or Connecticut to run for office. "I'd love to run against Joe Lieberman," Baldwin said of the Independent Democratic senator who is no favorite of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
Every one of Obama's stump speeches that I heard had the claim somewhere in it that NO new taxes would be levied on the middle class. 
Via the Washington Post, the Obama administration has come down on the wrong side of the troubles in Honduras recently.
Could conservatives say anything in regard to Obama's decisions during his time in office that wouldn't be perceived as racist? This facebook page really got me in a bad mood this morning. Obama has made quite a few radical decisions since he's been in office and many have been scrutinized by his own party. How far into the Presidency do we have to get before complaints become valid? Should I post the picture of me walking door to door with Lynn Swann each time I levy a criticism at our new CIC...has it come to that?
I know, I know, I just said I don't have time to be here in front of this screen...but the baby is sleeping and I am watching this Mark Sanford press conference and finding it hard not to cry. 
