We have come a long way, not sure it is in the right direction. During WWII many Japanese citizens were put into camps, not being trusted after the attack on Pearl Harbor. A radical move that didn't please anyone but at least we knew that our government realized who the enemy was. I am not saying we should lock up all Muslims, but I am saying we don’t need to become a doormat either.

Now on the other hand, Allah is breaking new ground in our school systems. A good friend of mine is having a bad experience her 7th grader came home with a copy of the Koran and speaking of the deity in terms of Allah.   Correction this is a quote "The Quran was passed around by a muslim speaker so the children could see the Quran.  It wasn't taken home.  It was passed around along with a muslim prayer mat and various worship materials that muslims use.  The 5 pillars of Islam were brought home.  Page after page of the 5 pillars."

How could this happen? Our school systems are not even allowed to pray as was once the custom , a very innocuous prayer that didn't offend anyone, didn't praise Jesus that made my mother very happy, for we are Jewish. I grew up with a fine set of moral values despite such a despicable act, for shame starting the day with a prayer.

Although it will be costly and time consuming, I fear not that my friend will eventually win. At this point her concerns have been poo-pooed at the school level but escalated to the Superintendent, then I assume the school board and then court if necessary. She has done quite well on her own, but of course I offered advice for what ever that may be worth. Personally, if I had to watch my school department everyday to insure they were not indoctrinating my child, I would pull them out in a New York moment and home school. Truth be know, that is much better anyway. Now a days there is a whole social order to home schooling that includes field trips and sporting events for a well rounded child.

This problem is bad enough from a pure Constitutional level, if it is good enough for atheist to change our schools, we sure should be able to save our children from the wrath that is Islam. Most exported Islamic dogma is Wahhabi with a Saudi Arabian twist. Wahhabi at its root isn’t terrible, some of our closest allies in the Middle East such as Kuwait and Qata are mostly Wahhabi. But the House of Saud has a twist that includes hate and terror in their brand of Wahhabi. Which in the final analysis is going to bring the House of Saud down like a house of cards. The estimates range from about $70 billion to about $500 billion has been spent on exporting this vile doctrine to Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa and most probably the USA.

It is hard to say the source of what is being taught to my friend’s daughter but whatever it is, it isn’t very American at a time when a radical sector of Islam is trying to destroy us. Saudi dogma isn’t the only Islamic subset that is bent on regaining their world domination. Iran embraces the 1400 year old Shi’ite dogma about the return of the Twelfth Iman. Without getting into detail it basically is apocalyptic and from the ashes(which Iran will gladly supply), this Iman will reappear. What seems to separate this from some other religious dogma is that Iran is quite willing to induce this apocalyptic condition.

I am assuming this will be one of many posts on this subject. We will welcome any insight on how to navigate these waters. Not sure if a letter campaign would help. If my friend thinks it will help, maybe we can try that. I suggested that she give the story to every news outlet, radio show and internet news provider. That can’t hurt. Any advice legal or otherwise will be appreciated

Yet another Republican of high rank thinks Hillary will win the 2008 election.  Dick Armey has weighed in, he has written many articles but none have been so blatant in their prediction.  He states that she is smarter and meaner than any Candidate on either side of the political spectrum.  This will make the circle complete that started in the late 1920’s with a progressive movement that put into play the socialist government that we have today and if Hilary gets even 4 years it will be closer to the world as Marx saw it.  Karl Marx never thought that Russia was a place for his ideas, but rather a country that first was totally capitalistic and then flowed to communism.  In this way I think he thought that the wealth would be built by the capitalist and the socialist would make sure it got distributed to people that were either not smart enough or too lazy to earn it.  This started in a not so little way in 1932 when Roosevelt was elected, though his NRA failed,  he found that bribing with their own money political groups (something the government has gotten real good at) he could ensure his reelection on the back of business.  One would wonder how great this country could be if left to its own free market plan without intervention.  More and more businesses have been pushed off shore, yes some due to greed but many just to survive.


We went through a small period of the appearance of  gaining our country back in the form of trickle down under Ronald Reagan and a pro business environment, but one President can’t undo the years of government misuse.  Now we face the most serious of challenges,  a self professed Progressive that has all intentions of finishing the job Started by FDR and his new dealers.  The problem is that in the early 30’s it wasn’t entrenched, but it sure is today.  We will be facing majorities in the Congress and a Progressive (socialist) President that after elected could just pull the plug on our National Defense backed by the Congress.  Leaving us with a country with little business and no way to defend ourselves.  The American people marching entranced to the fate of a third world country.  Can you say “It takes a village to bury a country”.

Now having the opportunity to see the debates and even better the capacity to watch C-span.  For me this is a remarkable event, I will be able to see things first hand not subject to second hand opinion.  I know how crucial this can be, after watching for instance a Presidential speech and then having someone tell me what I just saw.  In many cases that wasn’t what I saw or heard, I interpreted it quite differently and would always want to throw a shoe at the TV, but then decided to turn it off.


As I watched the Democratic debate I was shocked by the statements that have to do with our National Security specifically Iran and Iraq.  Hard to believe that they actually believe what they say.  It further irritates me that people like Hillary who should know better having been a first lady should attack the character or our President.  I certainly don’t agree with all that the President has done, but I believe him to be an honorable man unlike Hillary’s husband.  Having said that when Bill Clinton took office, I was willing to support him totally, he wasn’t my choice but he was the President and deserved our support.  This changed dramatically,  scandal after scandal and finally the worst of all, seducing a young starry eyed girl in the Oval office, wow.  So I don’t count Hillary as a great judge of character.

They attacked GWB accusing him of planning a war with Iran and claimed he wasn’t taking any diplomatic action to prevent a war , which is a lie and they  very well know it.  I know that keeping up with every committee hearing in Congress is impossible.  But I did watch Dr. Condolezza Rice  explain before a House Committee what was being done diplomatically and economically to discourage Iran from Nuclear weapons and supplying weapons to kill our troops.  Hillary and company must know this work is being done, it is right at the place where they supposedly work.  The difference between Dr. Rice and Mrs. Clinton is remarkable, it doesn’t make Mrs. Clinton look very informed or intelligent.  I know there roles are different.  Dr. Rice made a good point that if strong words from the White House are not used while backroom diplomacy being strongly perused, the results may be less than desirable.  Ronald Reagan and his administration worked very hard on diplomacy, but that didn’t stop him from holding firm and willing to state what could happen if diplomacy didn’t work.  I am not saying GWB is RR but I think them both honorable and hard working to the best of their  Presidential powers within their  personal and political limitations.  I am really starting to think that Newt was wrong, Mrs. Clinton could be very easy to beat if we get the right candidate nominated nd it might not even be her that gets the nomination, she is starting to look very weak to me.  Having said that, I don’t know who that candidate is. Diplomacy is slow, Jets with bombs are quite fast.  Personally I think the diplomacy in the end isn’t going to work and we will need to take care of Iran  militarily with surgical strikes.  BTW there are already two UN resolutions being ignored by Iran, sound familiar.


I am a broken record on this issue.  The Congressman for the most part were too old to pay attention and too bored when they got answers even to their own questions.  Most of them didn’t come back after the break, the only ones that stayed were the ones that hadn’t had a chance in the sun to ask a question.   We really need to get serious about term limits, the work that they do is important and should be done by people that have the wisdom, strength and health to get the job done.    There were two people escorted from the room, holding up signs, one of them said LIAR on a pad of paper turned in the landscape orientation.  I don’t know what the other persons crime was.  Nice to see these meeting are still witnessed by the general public.  I didn’t find a sign that said LIAR terrible objectionable, she was entitled to her opinion.  I thought it was very 60ish, she flashed the peace sign as she left.  I don’t think  Dr. Rice is a liar.  She is a very .......very hard working public servant, doing what I feel is a terrific job, the responsibilities are overwhelming.  She had no notes and answered every question spontaneously with knowledge and authority.  One of the congressman in a moment of flattery compared Dr. Rice to Margaret Thather , she was a little flustered by that comparison but flattered, one could tell.

It is a shame the political process has come to this.  Clinton especially, lying about her vote to use military force in Iraq, claiming she thought it was to support inspections. When questioned on why she didn’t read the intelligence estimate she went on the say all the hard work she had done to make her decision.  Someone should have been in that audience with the sign that said LIAR.  Claiming no diplomacy is being done with Iran effectively calling President Bush a cowboy looking for a fight, which I find objectionable.  Her job was to separate herself from the Democratic pack, she didn’t do that she mentioned Bush 25 times, more than all other candidates combined.  I think this debate may have canceled her lead in the polls,  we will have to see.  It certainly must have caused a problem for clear thinking independent voters.


I thought I would mention this, so you understand what kind of area I live.  We did our usual get ready for Halloween, bought a nice big bag of Reeces Peanut butter cups, fill a nice big bowl and set it by the door and waited.  The usual results, we still have all the candy we started with.  I don't know why we still go through the ritual, now Barbara is going to bring them to work and give them away. 

I finally got broadband, it just came available in my little area of the boonies of Maine.  So while most people might have been watching the Democratic debate, I was watching the Republican debate from October 21, 2007.

I don’t see a floundering Republican party as was being reported, each candidate had a message for better or worse, I don’t see a broken party, too bad people see it that way.  I also don’t see a candidate rising above all others,  so high that they will never be beaten, even from the second tier.  The money raising issue, I think you will see money pour into the RNC once a strong candidate emerges.  Too bad that money is the yard stick for measuring a candidates effectiveness as a campaigner,  starting at the bottom can be a fatal flaw, while more unknown but more capable leaders are passed over because they are less known.

Ron Paul is a bigger nut than I had thought from the reports.  He wants to close down the military and use the money for social programs, I know what I heard, don’t argue, you Ron Paul groupies.  He sounds more like a Democrat than most of the Democrats, this is a Libertarian?   He is a complete isolationist of the caliber I have never seen before.  Although once in the fray he does act like he has some  life, maybe more so than any other candidate.   His supporters are apparently very radical extremist groups, very active, like a guy in Iraq on a bike with a bomb strapped to him, a few of them make a lot of noise, fortunately nobody gets killed.  Not last night but on one of the debates he had a one on one with Huckabee and had him for breakfast, although I suppose that is a matter of style, once president your not doing much debating.  Huckabee had the stronger position but didn’t defend it very well.


Romney made a great point about Hillary not having management experience, even a candy store on the conner, I think he said grocery store.  She has absolutely no management experience.  I do agree with him that a Governor or Major or just a Billionaire businessman has more of the skills needed to run this country without an apprenticeship, a pretty good point I thought.  But his sights for the moment should be on the other Republican candidates, like the football team that looses to a lesser team because they have their eye on the next important game.  I could live with Romney, although he was less impressive than the reports and things I have read about him.  I go hot and cold on Romney, but will take him if he can win, would like to see him a little more Jefferson, actually that could be said for almost all the candidates.  I think that all the candidates don’t realize how important an issue this is for most Republicans and are playing to the larger audience for the general election, not so sure that is a great strategy.

Rudy looked better than I thought he would, but I just don’t like or trust him, down deep he  really isn’t a Republican and I don’t think he would be in office too long before it would become evident.  Unlike Ron Paul supporters, nobody defends him, so I am not sure where his base is, it doesn’t seem to be on Townhall.com.  He is one of only two candidates that I really don’t want to see get elected.

I also saw yesterday as much Huckabee and Hunter material as I could find other than the debate, knowing less about them.  I found good interviews and speeches from both.  I like both of them.  I might favor Huckabee for his management skills and strong religious beliefs, I am usually not a big fan of people who wear their religion on their sleeve, but he comes across as sincere.    I do like Hunter for his great stand on illegal aliens(and he isn’t afraid to call them aliens) and actually has a plan to protect our borders, both north and south.  Which means he isn’t part of the Illegal Alien profit machine, which is a good thing.  I also like his ideas on trade and it is in our National Security interest to bring back the companies that build the things we use to protect our country and be as protectionism as countries with whom we do  business.  This  has issue has raging since Japanese Protectionism(actually almost from the start of our country)  came of age in the 70’s which still exists but add  China to that list.  How stupid are we to let this happen, just so some wall street billionaires can make more money.  I am not a conspiracy kind of guy but this just might be one.  I am all for capitalism but not when it threatens our National Security.    In the end all these social issues are miniscule if all of a sudden Chinese/Isalamic/Russian becomes our national language.  Hunter seems to be a two issue guy, never a word about National Defense as such but borders are sure a National Defense issue indirectly or domestic issues.  Need to learn more about Hunter, but so far I like him.

Thompson looked ever so slightly better than the reports, but still asleep at the wheel, constantly referred to notes and stumbled through answers, I don’t want this man as my President, and I once thought I did.  He was asked a question and gave an answer to another question, Chris Wallace gave him another 30 seconds to answer the real question, not sure if he ever really answered it.  

I need to catch up on Tancredo.  They gave him very little time during the debate.  I did find a good speech and I haven’t found anything I don’t like about him yet.  He looks and speaks very presidential, that is important.  Will have to see more of this guy. 

_______________________________________________________________________________________
In the interest of fairness I watched the Democratic Debate that I could find, the one last night was available yet .  This was from 6-03-07

Although I must admit I didn't watch the whole thing the way I did the Republican Debate, it got a bit repetitive. 

I do think the Dems don’t realize at the moment they are in a fight to separate  themselves  from the Democratic field, not fight George Bush, Bush isn’t even running. 

A couple of quick observations.  Oboma is a bright and articulate young man, a little misguided but nobody is perfect.  All but one of them refuses to see the war in Iraq as their war as George Bush’s.  I am not understand this strategy, and why everyone is playing the blame GWB.  Half of the people on the stage had as much intelligence data available to them as GWB did and they voted accordingly.

I thought the most comical part of the night was when Hillary, said she was voting to continue inspections not for a military action.  I heard her speech, Hannity played it, she clearly says inspections didn’t work it is time to take action.  This woman is a super snake among snakes, makes her the Queen Snake.

That is pretty much all I got out of the debate, but in fairness I don’t see my self voting in the Democratic Primary or for one of them in the general election so I had less interest than in the Republican Debate.

Charlie Seng, sent me the following post. I tried to find out who the author was so I could get permission to use all or part of it. He thought it had been around the internet and he didn't know the author. I hadn't seen it so others may not have as well. It offers a very interesting perspective and all too true.

President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII. It is not. Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they Still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.

 Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.   And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war. Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old, pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort. Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.

 You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.

And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops! Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies. A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being"tortured" by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.

 There were a lot of things different back then. We werenot subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crackheads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.  No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.  It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorra and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 911, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.

We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty, to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.  So...we either win it - or lose it - and you ain't gonna like losing.

Let me say right off, I am admittedly opposed to amnesty as it has been defined in the bill most recently rejected by the congress.  But I am starting to understand a little why some important people think it is a good idea.


It has baffled me why representatives from  states that are the most likely to loose from illegal immigration, support amnesty for illegal Mexican aliens.  That is people like  President Bush and John McCain and many others.  They are from states closest to the Mexican border. I think I may have uncovered at least some of the reason.  I am reading Grant’s autobiography(a fascinating book, very well written).  Grant’s fame was of course from the Civil war that he contents would have never happened if it were not for the previous war with Mexico.  He started the Mexican war as a graduate from West Point as a second lieutenant.  The Mexican war may be the only time in our history that we were the aggressor to obtain properties that rightful belonging to another country, Mexico.  

The Mexican war for good reason has been played down in our history, it was not pretty,  what we did to a weaker country.  Without getting into great detail that would take several pages I will try to paint a simple picture.  Under the administration of James Polk, a southerner which is important.  The southern Democrats pretty much controlled both the executive and congressional branches of government during that time.  What they didn’t have in number they were always able to get their way by northern Whigs that didn’t want to upset the apple cart(Reference: Twenty years of congress 1861-1881 but covers more than that).  It goes without saying that Slavery was their hot button.  Through the kindness of the Mexican people and government, our citizens were allowed to homestead on Texas property rightfully owned by Mexico, along with parts of CA and New Mexico and Arizona.  It was as simple as the Southern Democrats wanted Texas to be brought into the union  as a Slave state giving them even more power and obviously more territory to grow.

Knowing this I think back on my childhood and how Mexicans were portrayed.  The Cisco Kid was a likable enough personality and his side kick Pancho, but even then they were really stupid.  But most of the depictions of Mexicans were at the Alamo, where are heroes were fighting off these terrible Mexicans.  Many pictures and TV images I remember were of evil looking Mexicans with mustaches, ribbons of bullets on their chest and a knife in their teeth.  Even after more than a 100 years they were still portrayed as either very dumb or very aggressive or both.  


I am starting to think that without the words actually being said, these important political people have somewhere in the back of their mind that amnesty will some how give back to the Mexicans a portion of what was  taken.  

We have worked hard to create a decent financial situation, we are not rich but comfortable and would never accept anything from anyone. Thankfully we have never had to. I was forced into retirement for medical reasons(I would rather be working) and Barbara still works but at a fraction of what she once made, it is a long story but now she works at the local supermarket at the courtesy counter primarily but also works on a register for additional hours. As you can imagine she doesn't make a large hourly wage nor work full time hours, it is good honest work. She really likes the job and the people she is working with, but for one thing that comes up almost nightly. What I would have to call welfare fraud. At first glance I don't want it to look like I am against poor people while other waste goes on, I am well aware it is just the tip of the Iceberg. But it is one that is quite visible, some of the others are harder to find.

She knows many of these people from her work at the town office and the vast majority of them are not married, but the man makes a decent income and they have kids. The woman usually works part time and doesn’t make too much and can still take advantage of all the welfare benefits. The dishonesty comes in when the mans decent wage is not computed as income to the household.  These people don't need our help and unfortunatly they are in the majority rather than a minority.  I would like to know what happened to food stamps or the equivalent today being used for food.  Most of these people really don't need our help and  buy cigarettes, magazines, beer, wine, snacks, lottery tickets and if that doesn’t work for them, they can take good old fashion cash.  No way for Barbara to really have accurate numbers but she is guessing that 2% of the people come in and actually buy nutrious food, for the most part these are older people that probably really need the help.  What am I missing, does this seem right to all of you?

It wouldn't be hard to catch these people. Cross reference welfare recipients with IRS addresses and when they are the same there is the likely hood that there is fraud. Of course the method has to be kept secret or they will all have post office boxes. It wouldn’t take much, some clerks,  a computer program(I will volunteer to write the simple program) and a stamp that says denied.

So just like Ronald Reagan, I go looking for answers and go right into the belly of the beast. The money spent this fiscal year for this program was 600 Billion that is with a B. People are always complaining about how much Iraq is costing us at 160 million a day, guess what that is 5.84 Billion for something constitutionally mandated. Most of which goes to pay people that are getting shot at and die each day to protect our freedom. What is wrong with this picture. I know that there must be people that have already done the research so I don’t have too and I found a good source. Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. I bought his "The Myth of widespread American Poverty". The news is actually good for the poor people, there are not that many of them and bad for us because we help the "Phony Poor" people who buy things that we may have to pass on because we are responsible with money and they don’t have to be because someone else is paying for it. I mean this literally, it happens almost daily to Barbara. A good example: Barbara wanted to buy me a Red Sox shirt, but they are somewhat expensive, she passed. But during the last couple of days several people that she knows of and she is only one of many, bought said shirt with a plastic sweep and a thank you very much taxpayer.

A couple of facts that might amaze you, Rector’s report is full of them but just a few for your consideration.  Btw, all numbers are from government statistics they are not just mad up numbers.

Statistics are a little old so compensate for inflation from 1995

41% of "poor" households own their own home(All households 65%)

750,000 own a home over $150,000

200,000 own a home over $300,000 (that is nicer than my house)

And sure you have to live somewhere.

Most poor households have cable, we don’t, I don’t want the payment.

The list goes on and on, the report is September 1998, so it only gets worse, you can download it for $1.50 from Amazon.com as I did.

http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Widespread-American-Poverty/dp/B000062XWI/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7676522-3477249?ie=UTF8&qid=1193266805&sr=8-1

I know there are people that need help, but as Ronald Reagan said in his second state of the Union. The truly needy suffer as funds intended for them are taken not by the needy, but by the greedy. Although I think that was a misstatement, we paid for both.

Yes there are plenty of people that need help. But when people with Children don’t get married because they will loose benefits that is just wrong. If there is truly a one parent family that needs help so their children get what they need and are properly nourished by all means we should help. Should a mother be home with her children, absolutely. The most profound influence and the best teacher a young child should have is a parent, if not two. Do others need help, absolutely. Am I an uncaring conservative bigot, I don’t think so. I would just be a lot happier if the budget were a lot less and people helped them self more and helped them self to our money less. The real problem is this system creates more poverty or at least more perceived poverty. Here is the real deal, like all huge government agencies they don’t want you to know that most of the people don’t need help and are just addicted to the system because they would loose power and the votes that go along with dependency.

This post is not so much an informational post as it is a plea, can someone help me understand this? Do I just not get it?

One of the few things I have taken along with me since my days as a Democrat in the 60’s and early 70’s are strong feeling about Social Injustice.  Hard to believe all these years later we still see blatant examples of things that should never be.  This is not limited to the plight of the black man in our society but it sure is the most egregious of all.  Enslaving a whole race because of their national heritage it doesn’t get any worse than that in our country and this was done and condoned by many of our founding fathers.  It doesn’t cancel out all the great things they did but it sure detracts from them a bit.   Thomas Jefferson writing “all men are created equal” was the holder of slaves until just before his death.  A bit of a hypocrisy but to discredit all the great things that Jefferson accomplished would be a misjustice  to history. I had been thinking we have made some good progress and most of the issues are now leadership problems in the black community, which is an obvious problem.  But today I saw Bigotry still lives and it still stinks up everyplace that it exist.  

There are many examples of black men and woman rising above their perceived station in life.  Clarence Thomas who should be a beacon of hope for advancement of our country to a place of healing and forgiveness.  Is hated for reasons to long for this blog, by both the Black and white communities.  I have just finished his book,  no white man would want to trade places with Thomas but he has risen to great achievement in spite of all efforts to keep him down mostly by his own people but not exclusively.  This is an issue because his book is being widely read and I am happy to say I have read this excellent autobiography.

I like reading the feature articles on TownHall.com and when I feel I have something to contribute I will make a comment.  Today was not a good day. I only made comment on two articles and found myself in a fire fight on both, but I will only discuss one here.  The article was about CTs book.  My comment was rather innocuous just stating I had read the book and how much I admired how his grandparents raised him under very difficult circumstances.  Not only was I attacked but everyone that had a positive comment was by two or three, I think you might call them Liberal Bigots.  I should not have gotten involved and ignored it, as I would normally do, but I was grumpy this morning and found myself in a full fledged fire fight.  I was so mad at myself, because there is no winning in this kind of situation.  I reflected how just a few minutes during this day I was attacked and how bad it felt.  I then jumped to people that endure this their entire life.  It then struck me we have not come nearly as far as I thought and a sadness came over me.  For all its outward signs of prosperity this country is imploding.  Government expanding exponentially, almost half the people want to close their eyes to what is going on in the world and think they can still be isolationist....  blah.... blah.... blah.... and bigotry from those still fighting the civil war because they don’t like the outcome.   I hope tomorrow is a better day, today is pretty much ruined.   

As all of you know I have been bouncing from candidate to candidate trying to find out as much as I possible can about each one by one. The only problem with Romney is the religion thing, I am convinced now he can win the south in the primary and in the general election no matter what the surveys say about voting for a Mormon. Same things were said about Kennedy, I was there and he was elected. But today the balance of power shifted with this article and the very logical arguments for his nomination. Please read this article by a highly respected member of the Religious Right, it is excellent.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WayneGrudem/2007/10/18/why_evangelicals_should_support_mitt_romney

I will give this a couple of days but I think my money is on Romney, as in writing a check for his campaign not just a saying. Rudy is a good manager but not a true conservative, not even close, more like an opportunist Republican trying to get elected(God knows whey he would want the job, I wouldn't). We need a candidate with true ideals. I have been all over these candidates and at this moment I think Romney can win, I can’t find any negatives. We need someone that is as smart or smarter than Hillary, and as much as we might not like her, she is a very smart woman, but Romney is at least equal to the task. I know everyone was looking for another Ronald Reagan, think of Romney as a more well read Reagan and a whole lot smarter. I am not taking anything away from Reagan, I love what he did for the country both in spirit and in action. Let us not forget this a Republic not a Dictatorship there is only so much a President can do.

The school board elected by the good people of Portland Maine passed an ordinance(I guess that is what it is) that allows middle school kids as young as 11 to ask for and get contraception, even prescribe dangerous digested pills, these can make a grown woman sick and without the knowledge of their parents, wow.  Now this is the dilemma, but I think our free will and the constitution solves our dilemma.

Conservative radio was all over this one today, with indignation.  But in this case they might be wrong.

Does that mean I think this is right to encourage 11 year olds to have sex, of course not.  But this is  what we conservatives are fighting for and you can’t have it both ways.  The local autonomous school board made a decision, the people of Portland can protest or even put in a new school board that would rescind the ordinance. Or if that doesn’t work people that are disenchanted can move.  If I lived there  and had a child in school, I  would be outraged, I would demand a special session and have the school committee come up with any good argument on why this is a good idea, to which I would shot every argument down, but I would most likely loose in Portland because it is just like that down there.  So I would put my house up for sale and move somewhere that the community shared my values.  Although I must ask  where are the parents when these kids are having sex.  I had a daughter, she got off the bus and we did things until it was time for her to do homework and I would go back to work.  We always made sure there was someone for her to come home to, don’t tell me it can’t be done,  I worked days and Barbara worked nights.  Even at a young age, I was so involved in my daughters up bringing, we played, learned and gave her a bath and she went to bed, a happy child.  I would then stay up and wait for Barbara and would be exhausted the next day and she would have to get up and be a mother, this was preschool and for few years until I could get myself in a position to work from home.    Don’t tell me about two working parents we did it.

I live in Maine, not Portland, couldn’t give me a house and $1,000,000 a year to live there, it is left wing.  Not all Maine is, it is recognized and someone coined the expression “Two Maines” , most of the small towns where I live are very patriotic and very conservative.  Every small town has what they call the village, town office, fire station and general store normally.  Each of the small town villages has as many flags flying as there are telephone poles and sometimes more than that.  You get the picture, where as in Portland your lucky you get a smile and a hello.
 
I know this is going to cause a stir, but I think I can ride this one out, your can’t fight for local control and then complain when decisions are may locally that you don’t agree with.
 
Sorry about the multiple publishing, but preview doesn't work or it doesn't work for me locks up my browser.

I came so close to writing a check for Thompson’ campaign but something stopped me.  I still toyed with the idea after he announced but still didn’t know and  I held off.  Now I  don’t even think I would vote for him in the primary.  I don’t know how people have their minds made up already about the primary and about the general election.

Ok, then I go off for a second hero.  Not Rudy, can’t win South completely although a good manager but he is really a Democrat down deep, hasn’t gone through the conversion that Reagan did .  Romney is by far the smartest of all the candidates but not sure how he will play either, only a couple of  Southern primaries will tell. I have waded through his glitzy policy statement, took forever to download, not because it has more content but more fluff, that bothered me.   Everyone is waiting for NH and Utah and the early states, I want to see a couple of  Southern state primaries that is where the election will be won or lost.

Huckabee is not considered one of the front runners but with Thompson not having the energy or intelligence to make to the primaries never mind being POTUS, Huckabee could break into the front and that would be a good thing.  I just got finished reading his policy statements and unlike the rumor mill, he will be tough on illegal Aliens and strong on supporting our borders, which was a concern for me.  So I will give it a bit of time, see how the man plays, you never know, he might get the check that was rightfully Thompson’s.  Best of all he is a Southerner, which is what it might take to win this election.  This would be less so if there were really a very strong candidate, which I don’t see.  But you know, I can’t remember there ever being a strong candidate.  Someone is always willing to pick you apart.

So save me, if you think that Huckabee is a bad choice, tell me why.  I don’t want to hear why your candidate is better,  that is for another day, I am simple, can only handle one candidate at a time, this isn’t easy staying informed.  Or you may have information about Huckabee that is very positive that we might not know.

I don't want to get cynical but, what if all these policy statements are all lies and the truth is what is repeated on the street.  I have a tendency not to believe the rumor mill or conspiracy theories, the proponents of these always land up being nut cases.  It reminds me when I was a kid, I was all excited, I told my father we had heard there was this perfect 1953 corvette, in a garage that had never been driven and it could be had for very little money(I forget how much).  My dad tried to be patient with me and said that was highly unlikely and when he was my age it was a Duecenburg (sp I am sorry).  Well he never found his car and I never found my corvette.  I did like the first designs of the corvette, but never did own one, not so crazy able them after they got huge.  What does that have to do with politics, not much.

Rush is unbelievable, talk about making lemonade from a sour situation.  Rush somehow got a hold of the original letter that Harry Reid and 41 Senators signed to the CEO of Clear Channel.  He put it on Ebay  and presently it is at $100,000 and Rush is going to match what ever final bid is and it all goes to the  Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation, assuming it is one of his favorite charities.  

I have a copy of the letter, you can download a pdf file from Rushlimbaugh.com.  I have been listening to Rush for many years and I know what ever gaff he may have made, he is the strongest supporter of our troops in the country.  This letter is disgusting.  Fred Thompson put it best.
 
“Congressional Democrats are trying to divert attention from insulting our military leader in Iraq and pandering to the loony left by attacking Rush Limbaugh. He is one of the strongest supporters of our troops, yet Democrats claim he is not being strong enough. I wonder who General Petraeus and his troops think is most supportive?”

I sure love that, every time I learn something about Thompson, I like him better.  I still have no idea who I am going to vote for in the primary.

Rush again has shown why he is the Godfather of Talk Radio.  Long live the king.

Current bid with 21 hours to go $131,325.00

19 hours to go and the bid is at an unbelievable  $851,100.00


Incredible, this letter is going to go for more than a Van Gogh right now at 2,000,100  that isn't a misprint, 2 million  and 10 hundred dollars.  Basically 2 bidders, I mean bidders, wow.  7 hours left , I was thinking that the $851,100 bid wouldn't be topped, I wonder who these people are, Rush yesterday was saying, some of his listeners thought it may happen that someone would want to break him, by bidding that high because of course Rush is matching, but I don't think 2 mil is going break him, but it sure would put a dent in his bank account.

Latest updat, Rush might have to sell one of his houses  US $2,100,100.00  and these are all pre approved bids that is Rush or his people have to approve you before your bid is accepted, in other words can you actually pay the 2 mil if you win and I guess the answer is yes, boy these people have some money.

I have to giggle, free shipping.  I would think it would get hand delivered by Rush with a 6 course catered dinner.

This is where many of you may differ from the view I have on Social Security.  Yes I think that private accounts may be a good thing, most smart people seem to think so.  The reason most people in government don't want to do that is  because it is pay back time.   For many years the government has been writing them self a loan from this account, rather than investing, they used it in all the ways the government can waste money, then put in an IOU, and now it is time for pay back.  Many think that the hard working people that put into this account for so many years are not entitled, in fact it is called an entitlement, which lumps it in with some other boondoggle entitlements.  

I did some rough calculations and my figures are low if anything.  Most tax payers that earn $40,000 or less pay more in SS than in federal income tax.  The average recipient received $900 a month, folks try living on $10,000 a year with fuel at $3 a gallon for both car and heating oil, food for two  is about $100 a week, if your lucky.... etccc.  Etccc......

So $50 average paid in for a 45 year period seems reasonable, but low.  Or $111,240 with a modest 3%,  I compounded the interest not monthly but yearly which would make it more.  The average recipient gets $900, into 111,240 or 123.6 months or 10.3 years.  Using my very low figure the average recipient if they live that long would have 10.3 years before they touched a penny that they hadn’t contributed.  This doesn’t take into account, people that died and didn’t collect a penny and people that don’t live out the 10.3 years.  I suspect the real figures are almost twice what I have done.  A recipient would have paid in more and there were times when the prime was at 10%(We sure hope it never happens again).  A more realist figure would be more like 15 to 20 years.  Now people are going to complain because we are taking their tax money, when the FED has taken our money and now paying  it back with our own money and yours.

It all comes back to the mantra “Smaller Government huuuuummmmmm”.  If the government had not over extended and the money invested wisely.  There wouldn’t be a problem.  Lets say it again....  the Federal Government is out of control.

The first time I heard the term new media was in Laura Ingraham's book "Power to the People" and excellent book .  The term means the Internet and talk radio.  The popularity of both run parallel. Neither are actually that new, I remember talk radio shows when I was a kid in the Boston area and for 10 or more years before the Internet got popular I was involved with message boards.

Laura in her book gives a couple of examples of the power of the new media and how it changed decisions in Washington.  Another such example happened this week.  The foolishness of the Pelosi crowd trying their end run to alienate Turkey against us,  so we would no long have a way to bring supplies to our troops failed.  The indignation was immediate and strong and now the resolution has been stopped.  But ever vigilant, they will try something else if we are not paying attention.

Good Bless America and the new media.

Thanks for dropping by,
Barry

I was just doing some research on MSNBC.com and Foxnew.com.

MSNBC had an article, The thing scary about Ann Coulter is that so many people agree with her, two which I say, God Bless American.

Foxnew's new saying is "Fair and Balanced" although they are not perfect they are light years better than MSNBC and all the Networks.  The same Radio stations that carries Rush and Sean also does Fox news (it is pretty much the only broadcast news I get), it didn't seem all that great but I guess when you compare them to the competition they look like Mother Teresa  telling a story.