2008 Election

Sarah Palin’s OK With Me…

Tickler Leave a comment

Sarah Palin managed to convince me last night with her amazing speech and biting commentary about the state of the country and the Obama/Biden ticket. She made such a huge impression on me that I changed my mind about her. I was pretty irritated that McCain didn’t pick Romney for his VP, as I believe there’s no better person for the job than Romney, all controversies and issues aside. I immediately saw the Palin pick as shrewd and potentially election winning gimmick, but I was less than impressed with her accomplishments. She’s clearly nothing compared to Romney, but she’s far more experienced than the top seat of the opposing ticket, Messiah Obama.

The highlights…

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a “community organizer,” except that you have actual responsibilities.

I might add that in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man.

And…

I’ve noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word “victory” except when he’s talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed … when the roar of the crowd fades away … when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot — what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger … take more of your money … give you more orders from Washington … and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy … our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight … he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay … he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America … he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights? Government is too big … he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much … he promises more.

Taxes are too high … he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes … raise payroll taxes … raise investment income taxes … raise the death tax … raise business taxes … and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

and…

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They’re the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.

and…

Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.

He said, quote, “I can’t stand John McCain.” Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we’ve chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can’t stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of “personal discovery.” This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn’t just need an organizer.

Interesting how easy it is to get viewers and adoration by just being young and new. No wonder Obama gets so much traction. Now the GOP has one.

The messiah Obama losing luster with liberal base

Tickler Leave a comment

After the spanking Obama received at Saddleback, the tide seems to be turning. The silly liberals, previously blinded by the piercing glory of the Change Savior, now see in him what the rest of us have seen all along: not much.

Read this article in the Mercury News, good assessment of the DNC’s poor problem-solving skills

And here, even the DNC PR firm, MSNBC, is forced to acknowledge the issue by poll numbers

In addition to Obama falling on his face without his teleprompter net, another piece of the puzzle, the success of the surge in Iraq, has to have many of the fence-sitting Americans reconsidering the completely unified tuck-tail retreat position the liberals have held. Oh, held until recently when notice the surge working and regrouped to claim some kind of credit or at least prognostication. Just silly. If only we didn’t have it in writing, audio, and video.

Obama, Abortion Extremist

Tickler Leave a comment

Scary review of Obama’s abortion views based no on what he claims, but what he does on the record. A portion of the article follows but please follow the link after to read the entire article. It’s surprisingly sad how little regard these people have to human life.

Asked by Pastor Rick Warren when a baby gets rights, Obama said, “I’m absolutely convinced that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue.” This is a crashing banality couched as thoughtfulness. If Obama is so sensitive to the moral element of the issue, why does he want to eliminate any existing restrictions on the procedure?

In 2007, Obama told the Planned Parenthood Action Fund that the Freedom of Choice Act would be the first piece of legislation that he would sign as president. The act would not only codify Roe v. Wade, but wipe out all current federal, state and local restrictions on abortion that pass muster under Roe, including the Hyde Amendment prohibiting federal funding of abortion. This is not the legislative priority of a man keenly attuned to the moral implications of abortion.

At Saddleback, Obama said determining when a baby gets rights is “above his pay grade.” Leave aside that presidents usually have an opinion about who deserves legal rights. If Obama is willing to permit any abortions in any circumstances, he’d better possess an absolute certainty about the absolute moral nullity of the fetus.

He told Warren that he favors “limits on late-term abortions, if there is an exception for the mother’s health.” But the exception he wants is so broad it makes the restriction meaningless. Obama opposed the partial-birth bill that passed the House and the Senate, 281-142 and 64-34 respectively, and has criticized the Supreme Court for upholding the law.

It’s not just partial-birth abortion where Obama is outside the mainstream, but on the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act — the occasion for his televised accusation of lying.

In 2000, Congress took up legislation to make it clear that infants born alive after abortions are persons under the law. The National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League opposed the bill as an assault on Roe, but it passed the House 380-15. Back in the Illinois state Senate in 2001, Obama spoke out against and voted “present” — effectively “no” — on a similar bill, aligning himself with the tiny pro-abortion rump of 15 congressmen.

READ IT HERE

McCain Proves Superior At Saddleback

Tickler Leave a comment

I hope everyone had a chance  watch the forum with McCain and Barry Oblivious. If not, please do so below. While Obama was struggling to begin half of his responses with uhhh, ummm, I, I, I think…, McCain had clear ideas with conviction in them and his whole presence was much more impressive than I expected. It’s good to see the relatively unscripted side of these two (though of course they both have somewhat memorized positions on all of these issues).

Obama

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6

McCain

Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5

Related articles…

Barack Obama, Abortion Extremist by Rich Lowry

Good for Voight!

Tickler Leave a comment

Here’s a link to his op-ed piece in the Washington Times that started all of this. Here’s an excerpt…

The Democrats have targeted young people, knowing how easy it is to bring forth whatever is needed to program their minds. I know this process well. I was caught up in the hysteria during the Vietnam era, which was brought about through Marxist propaganda underlying the so-called peace movement. The radicals of that era were successful in giving the communists power to bring forth the killing fields and slaughter 2.5 million people in Cambodia and South Vietnam. Did they stop the war, or did they bring the war to those innocent people? In the end, they turned their backs on all the horror and suffering they helped create and walked away.

Those same leaders who were in the streets in the ’60s are very powerful today in their work to bring down the Iraq war and to attack our president, and they have found their way into our schools. William Ayers is a good example of that.

Thank God, today, we have a strong generation of young soldiers who know exactly who they are and what they must do to protect our freedom and our democracy. And we have the leadership of Gen. David Petraeus, who has brought hope and stability to Iraq and prevented the terrorists from establishing a base in that country. Our soldiers are lifting us to an example of patriotism at a time when we’ve almost forgotten who we are and what is at stake.

Thank you for speaking out John!

The Poor, Unions, and Barack’s Socialism

Tickler 2 Comments

If unions existed to actually do what they claim, it wouldn’t be so bad. But the fact of the matter is that, these days, they exist simply to extort and postpone the inevitable free market.

Scary thinking about wealth redistribution and removing self-reliance from the poor to make them dependent on the government (from March ’08)…

John Mistress-and-Love-Child-As-Cancer-Treatment-Comfort Edwards: “People want to know why I continue this campaign for president, why Elizabeth and myself are so committed to this cause, to this crusade. I’ll tell you why. Because I want everybody in this country to have the same chances that I’ve had. I came from a place of having nothing, to having everything. And in today’s America, it is so hard for people to work themselves up. People no longer believe that their children are going to have a better life than they’ve had.”

Sanity break: Uh, if he “want[s] everybody in this country to have the same chances that [he’s] had.” then his subsequent comment “I came from a place of having nothing, to having everything” doesn’t make the case. Did he have systematic hand-outs, socialist healthcare, and union bargaining when he was struggling through law school? Didn’t think so. Much as I think he’s an idiot and a hillbilly, Edwards coming from nothing and being filthy rich now very likely took some doing, and I’m surprised he doesn’t value or subscribe to the path of hard work and determination in crafting a person for success. I think it would be hard not to if you truly went from nothing to everything on your own sweat and hand-built resources. It seems to me that there can be only two reasons why a nothing-to-everything would want others to get a government instituted shortcut (and handouts in the mean time, even if you never get off your tail and take the shortcut).

  1. Now that they have money, they want more power than just money can give. They want political power over people. And rounding up the poor and middle class by pandering to their fears and anxieties, even though it contradicts the politician’s own experience, is easier (over the heads of the poor they think) and more vote-lucrative  than collecting a handful of the rich. Yes, I’m saying Edwards doesn’t give a rat’s tail about the poor. He cares about money, power, tacky houses, and tail on the side, NOT the poor.
  2. Second, perhaps they actually didn’t succeed by their own sweat and effort, but were given a significant shortcut themselves in one way or another. Self-loathing is a very rampant condition among the undeservedly rich (just look at Hollywood), particularly liberal rich.

If he succeeded so much from ambulance-chasing to have a mansion where 14 families could live, I’m not sure where he gets the stones to preach to others about giving to the poor.

For the sake of a rounded argument… here are my reasons not to give shortcuts to the poor…

  1. Andrew Carnegie (read post here)
  2. I shouldn’t live on another man’s work, if I’m able to do my own. This creates self-reliance and self-respect. Give a man a fish, feed him for a day, teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime, etc.
  3. The joke that is government bureaucracy shouldn’t be the one transacting/handling the sharing.
  4. And last, but certainly above all, is the self-respect one earns from doing it themselves. Give a child a fragile toy and it will be broken in minutes. Make the child earn the toy or help pay for it, and it will last. Simple concept, but Obama is clueless about even these basic principles.

Now the scariest, transparent, and most flatly dishonest lie I’ve heard Obama spew to date…

Barack Hussein Obama: “We are at a crossroads in this country. We are facing some challenges as great as any generation has faced. And we have some fundamental decisions to make about the kind of America that we’re going to build for, not just us, but for our children and for our grandchildren. The notion that we have no responsibilities towards each other, they call it the ownership society in Washington. But in our past there’s been another name for it, it’s been called social Darwinism; every man and woman for him or herself. And it allows us to say that, you know what, if your health care or your tuition rises faster than your wages life isn’t fair. It’s a bracing idea, it’s a tempting idea, it’s the easiest idea in the world to say that we’re all on our own. But here’s the problem, it doesn’t work. It defies our history. It ignores the fact that it has always been government research and investment that’s made advances possible in this country from the railway to the internet. It’s been the creation of a massive middle class through decent wages and benefits, and good public schools that’s allowed us to prosper. It’s been the ability of working men and women to join together in unions that’s allowed our rising tide to lift every single boat.”

You are a very scary human Obama… totally clueless and very very dangerous. We’re sorry for your messed -up childhood and your lack of any sort of identity, but trying to persuade the country toward an irresponsible end is reprehensible…

He says “It’s the easiest idea in the world to say that we’re all on our own. But here’s the problem, it doesn’t work.” Let me take that in two parts…

1. “It’s easy.” Really!? What’s easy is to rob from the upper-middle class and give to the poor and take credit for it in the form of political power. Just a little clue on the taxation in this great land for Obama’s audience who might read this pulled together by Glenn Beck’s researchers…

According to the Tax Foundation, the top 1% of wage-earners in this country pays nearly 40% of the burden (an 11% INCREASE over 1999, when WHO was President? Oh that’s right…Bill Clinton). Not fair? Well, you may be saying, ‘that’s because they have ALL the wealth!’ Wrong again. The top 1% of earners account for just 21% of the total adjusted gross income. Hmm. Come to think of it…you’re RIGHT! That really isn’t fair. They’re paying DOUBLE what they should be. By the way, the top 10% of earners pay 70% of the load. When you get all the way down to the top 50% of earners, they account for 96.4% of the entire tax burden. The next 10% pays 3.6%. And the bottom 40% of wage earners…pay NOTHING. That’s right, nothing. In fact, they pay nothing, and then often get a “refund” (handout) at years end.

2. It doesn’t work.” Regardless of what distorted ideas free-loving mommy and green-card-seeking free-education aspiring daddy instilled, it doesn’t make it true. The free market is what works. Socialism does not, and can not, without a unification of religion. Even then the people must be extraordinarily interdependent and mature. They ALL must be interdependent and mature or it doesn’t work. We’re so far from that (particularly most of the people currently on welfare) that I’d consider it impossible until the Savior returns to round up and take names. Should we try to recreate the Soviet Union in the mean time, thinking maybe it’ll work this time? Let’s not. I guess you were asleep in your Ivy League classes (or simply spoon-fed by radical liberal professors while you were there) but hand-outs create an entitlement society, not accountability. These principles are so basic I can’t seem to wrap my head around how unbelievably ignorant someone would have to be to not understand them. I feel sorry for Obama. He’s truly blind and in the wilderness. Hillary and Edwards are just political opportunists who polarize for power. They manipulate intentionally. I think Obama genuinely thinks he’s right about these things and that makes him most oblivious and dangerous, because his sincere stupidity is going to persuade some of those who don’t think for themselves.

Ludacris? Certainly. Funny, and more than a little sad.

Tickler Leave a comment

Not that I ever pay attention to so-called “urban struggle” music*, but I thought the Ludicrous performer** Ludacris*** was supposed to be cutting edge. Instead I read the attempt at lyrics to this recent track about Obama “painting the White House black”.

* I say “music”, not to disparage the medium but because “awkward rhythms, the odd attempt at melody, with terribly juvenile rhyming and schizo-syllabic partial sentences cussed and yelled over them” is too long to write frequently.

** Had to think about that too for a minute because he’s not an artist, he’s not a musician, he’s not a singer, and he’s certainly no writer, but he does perform as I understand (like a two-year-old in a toy store).

*** Wow, clever, the pinnacle of hip-hop “talent”, integrate your name into some random word or phrase, and certainly don’t look it up, why would you want to know what ludicrous means?

We should encourage him to continue trying to write, no matter the subject. After all, 1) writing leads to thinking and education, 2) he may someday realize that lyrics should include meter as well as rhyme, and 3) that rhyme, too, should actually be considered and not just desperately grasped in the first word you can think of that sounds similar. This is a common practice that seems to be a rampant hip-hop standard.

I guess we should count our blessings, …anything to keep a little scratch in his pocket to keep one more self-proclaimed “gangsta” somewhat off the streets.

From the BBC UK News service…

“Ludacris is a talented individual but he should be ashamed of these lyrics,” said Mr Obama’s spokesman Bill Burton.

The rap star’s publicist initially declined to comment, reported the Associated Press.

‘Great talent’

The musician used a misogynistic term to describe Mrs Clinton and urged Mr Obama against appointing her as his running mate, saying that she “hated on you”.

Mr McCain, the Republican candidate for the presidency, does not belong in “any chair unless he’s paralysed”, according to the rapper.

Mr Burton added: “As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to.”

During my own reading of the lyric, I imagined Chris Bridges (his name) sitting on the floor of a studio, a fully clenched fist wrapped tightly around a crayon connected to a sheet of construction paper, and tongue straining against the corner of his mouth, toward a grape jelly stain on his t-shirt. Subject matter aside, it’s perhaps the worst writing I’ve ever read. I kept reading because I thought it must be a parody of inner-city educational systems, as an argument for electing Obama, who will drive more social welfare programs that keep inner-city families from the difficulties of self-reliance and accountability.

Hmmm…. maybe it was a parody after all. Did he sneak it by me? Very subtle satire of “where he at” and “where he come from”, delivered in character. Now I’m actually impressed. Or not.

The Dust Will Settle on King Barack Hisself Obsessa

Tickler Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but all of this fawning over the sock puppet makes me snicker. I’m not the least bit concerned about it frankly. The dust will settle and the many and varied analyses will be done on the dangerous positions his ill-informed and naive statements have taken, and reality will set in as we near November.

The intelligent, good folks of these United States will thoughtfully consider the issues and matters at hand.

  • They’ll ponder the implications of a having a socialist, and an inexperienced freshman socialist, as president (as opposed to getting one who has actually had some responsibility, like running the people’s lemonade stand).
  • They’ll ask themselves what this guy has done to justify running for president, letting completely alone getting my vote.
  • They’ll ask themselves what justifies all of the premature ticker-tape parades the networks and newspapers have thrown him, tipping their crooked slant clearly into daylight in their eagerness, after years, to sell a “democrat” candidate (ok, non-republican) that anyone is excited about.
  • They’ll consider why the warm reception B.O. got in places like Jordan and Germany are anything but a warning in and of itself.
  • Black people will ponder the relevance of skin color in a country where it’s supposed to be irrelevant and still vote black (because, “well, short of Satan, he’s alright with me. And, oh yeah, O.J. was framed.”)
  • White people too will ponder the relevance of skin color in a country where it’s supposed to be irrelevant (but certainly still be required to ignore it for openly racist causes and organizations such as Affirmative Action, the NAACP, Congressional Black Caucus, BET TV, Essence/Ebony Magazines, etc.) and still likely vote white, but feel better about it because at least they agree with 40% of McCain’s policies (which is simple math over 0% for O.B.’s)
  • The black Christians will disregard all policy positions and vote for the sock puppet for the same black reason.
  • The white Christians will consult absolute truth and find B.O. to be guilty of gross obliviousness and malicious intent to open the U.S. to destruction from both outside and inside, and vote McCain.
  • The dirt-worshipers will be content to praise the nearest shrub, extolling the wonderful possibility of having an 82% ACLU Scorecard pinkster as POTUS.

With any luck…

  • The informed on both sides will all turn up to vote. Fair’s fair.
  • The many colors of racists, and the self-loathing, will all sleep through it
  • The fence-sitters (who have, sadly, decided the last few elections) will continue to waffle until November 4th, waiting to be persuaded to one side or the other by wind-direction and speed, indigestion, planetary positioning, or a maybe just a stimulating conversation in the car on the way to the voting center (these are the luke-warm people Jesus warned us about by the way), and find themselves hopelessly lost in the woods, as they tend to get, and die of exposure.
  • Good people from sea to shining sea will consider each side’s values and weigh them carefully against everything we’ve built up since our founding (and some have started to tear back down).

Rest assured, both very good and very bad things will be said and done between now and November, but I choose to have faith that God still blesses this country and that we’re not too far gone to merit the promise of prosperity. I believe enough good people will actually consider the issues and vote like it matters. Because, while the democrats who want any ignorant vote they can bribe with food, illegal voter registration, and a drive to the voting center, for very different reasons I DO care who you vote for. I wish knowing the issues was a requirement to punch the card (as well as biometric IDs for all to prove citizenship). But so goes hope, oh, and desire for change!