“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”       -- -- Dwight D. Eisenhower -- --

Falling Oil Prices: Useful Lessons from the Slump at the Pump

by Ben Lieberman


Last summer's record-breaking oil and gasoline prices—exceeding $140 per barrel and $4 per gallon—received plenty of attention in Washington and sparked a host of proposed responses from Congress. However, the real lessons are to be learned by studying the dramatic drop in prices since then. These lessons, if incorporated into the nation's energy policy, could help prevent prices from going back up to record levels in the future.

Lesson 1: Blaming Big Oil, Wall Street Speculators, or Other Scapegoats Is a Waste of Time

Anger at high prices last sumer led to the usual push for politically convenient scapegoats. The public was told that major oil companies and Wall Street speculators were responsible by manipulating prices to their benefit, and in response Congress proposed all manner of punitive taxes and regulatory crackdowns. However, the current drop in prices should throw at least some cold water on these claims.

Such allegations are made every time energy prices go up. They..... [more]

It's Not the Economy; It's the Media's Economic Agenda
New special report shows how journalists turn major issues of the day to the left.

America 2012

Journalists have spent the 2008 Presidential race promoting liberal economic policies. From bureaucratic health care to increased energy costs to higher taxes on the “wealthy,” the media are pushing for bigger government – and less individual freedom – in America, 2012. [More]

Political Corruption ‘Major Factor’ in Financial Crisis, Poll Shows

CNSNews.com -

Though not an issue in the 2008 campaign as it was in 2006, a significant majority of Americans think political corruption is a problem in Washington, D.C., according to a recent poll, and they point to it as major cause of the financial crisis.

The Zogby International poll of 1,211 likely voters, commissioned by the conservative public interest group Judicial Watch, showed that 81.7 percent of Americans agree that political corruption played a “major role” in our nation’s financial crisis. [Read more]

Obama advisor praises Iran in Globe op-ed

American Thinker Blog:
Ed Lasky

Well, is it that hard to believe in this day and age that a major American newspaper offers up an op-ed filled with praise for Iran? This would be today's Boston Globe in an op-ed written by Lawrence Korb and Laura Conley, both of whom work for the liberal minded Center for American Progress.

By the way, the fact that Korb has been identified as a key foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama is completely unmentioned - a major journalistic lapse but not a surprising one by the New York Times-owned Boston Globe.

[Read on]

McCain Camp: Obama Will Tank Social Security

Newsmax.com –

As Barack Obama waxed on about the economy before 35,000 cheering fans in Indianapolis, Ind., Thursday, John McCain surrogates were on the phone with reporters warning direly that Obama’s tax plan will help torpedo Social Security by giving Americans credit for their payroll tax liability.

Former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats and Doug Holtz-Eakin, the senior policy adviser for the McCain-Palin camp, said during a telephone news conference that Obama’s plan to relieve Americans of payroll taxes would “rob Social Security indirectly,” because payroll taxes finance Social Security, as well as Medicare..............

Obama-Led Foundation Funded A Group Led by Former Chair of 'Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)'
A foundation chaired by Barack Obama that was designed to improve Chicago public schools gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Small Schools Workshop, an organization led by former Weatherman Bill Ayers and by Michael Klonsky, a former chairman of both Students for a Democratic Society and, according to The Washington Post and New York Times, a group called the “Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist).”

Obama Justified in Votes Against Born Alive Infant Protection Act, Say Democrats
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was justified in opposing legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would have ensured that a child who survives a failed abortion was treated as a "person" and received medical attention, two Democratic leaders said.

As Obama era looms, Gates drops 'Islamist' from characterization of terrorism

World Tribune

The Folly of Obama’s Tax Plan

The American online magazine has an article by Alex Brill and Alan D. Viard that was posted on August 8, 2008 about Senator Obama’s proposed ‘tax cuts for the middle class’ which they say are actually marginal rate hikes in disguise.

Click on the graph below to make it larger.

"Senator Barack Obama declared recently that he wants to “reform our tax code so that it rewards work and not just wealth.” We think that is a great goal if it means a simple tax system with low marginal tax rates. Unfortunately, a close inspection of Obama’s proposals reveals something disquieting: he would raise marginal tax rates for many middle-income taxpayers, a bad move for anyone seeking to promote economic growth.

Although Obama is offering a new series of tax breaks, they undermine rather than improve economic incentives." Go here to read more. (Tip of the cap to Jeremiah Films)

This also is illustrative and comes from Americans for Tax Reform:

McCain vs. Obama on Taxes
Which April 15 would you rather have?

(click to make chart bigger)

The first $5 million ($10 million for a surviving spouse) of an estate would be death tax-exempt

The “marriage penalty” refers to a married couple paying a higher amount of combined income tax than if they each filed taxes as single

The “alternative minimum tax” (AMT) requires taxpayers to calculate their taxes two ways, and pay whichever method results in a higher tax owed

Self-employed taxpayers pay both ordinary income tax and self-employment tax (Social Security and Medicare)

The U.S. corporate income tax is currently the second-highest in the developed world. The average European corporate income tax rate is about 25%

It takes larger businesses several years to deduct machinery and equipment, even though they purchase the business asset in year one (e.g. a computer must be slowly-deducted over six calendar years).

(Hat tip to Jeremiah Films, MyMcCainBlog, Three Sources, PaWaterCooler ) Whew!!

What is the impact of tax increases? The Heritage Foundation comes up with these numbers:

1. $2.4 trillion dollars for the overall tax increase the American families and businesses face if the tax cuts are allowed to expire.
2. $1716 is what the average tax increase will be for over 100 million Americans if the tax cuts are allowed to expire.
3. $2034 is the average tax increase that will hit 17 million seniors if the Bush tax cuts expire.
4. 8.3 million is the number of jobs created after the tax cuts of 2003.
5. $91 billion will be the cost of reinstating the Death Tax.
6. $17.2 billion is the amount of our tax dollars Congress spent in 2008 on frivolous pork projects to reward special interest and pressure groups.
7. 44 million is the number of married couples affected by the Marriage Penalty before it was reduced by President Bush. These families will be hit hard once again if the Marriage Penalty is allowed to be reinstated once again.
8. $1480 The average cost in in the year 2000 for couples punished by the Marriage Penalty.
9. $108 billion is the reduction in the federal deficit in 2005 thanks to economic growth sparked by tax cuts.
   

Biden's Warning

IBDeditorials.com:

Campaign '08: Like many others, we took it as another gaffe when Joe Biden said he expected Barack Obama to be "tested" shortly after taking office. But when he repeated it, we wondered: What's he trying to tell us?

Glib, voluble and unscripted, Sen. Biden is liable to say anything on a given day. That's why it pays to listen carefully to what he repeats — because it's obviously something he's thought about.

"Mark my words," Biden said in San Francisco last Saturday. "With the next, first six months of this administration, if we win, they're going to — we're going to face a major international challenge. Because they're going to want to test him, just like they did young John Kennedy. They're going to want to test him."

Then, the very next day in Seattle, he said: "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy . . . Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the metttle of this guy."

And just what would a "generated crisis" be? Could it be as former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton said Wednesday — that "leaders around the world see Obama as soft, untested and weak, and they will react accordingly?"

If so, Biden is right: Some aspiring....[more details]

Was Joe referring to Barack's earlier pledge to neuter us and make us defenseless? And that's why he is asking for their supporters to stand by them in the event of this "test in the first 6 months"? Because their strategy (of waving the white flag) may not be apparent at first?


Ed Morrissey asks, "Was Biden talking about Obama’s plan for unilateral disarmament?"

FRED THOMPSON SPEAKS UP

See what he has to say about the election.

Can we survive this economic meltdown? YES WE CAN!! Sorry Obama but you don't have copyrights on this phrase.

How Capitalism Will Save Us - Forbes.com

by Steve Forbes
Forbes Magazine

..........Even in recent years the much-maligned U.S. did well. Between year-end 2002 and year-end 2007 U.S. growth exceeded the entire size of China's economy.

Obviously China's growth rates were higher, but China was coming off a much smaller base.

The world is flush with cash. It's frozen because of fear, but the cash is there. Productivity gains are burgeoning........

We are experiencing the devastating consequences of a chain of major economic policy errors, which, to use a current cliché, created the perfect storm. These government blunders temporarily paralyzed the global credit system and are now sending the U.S. and Europe into recession, while sharply cutting back Asia's growth rates.

Left to its own devices, the credit crisis, which began in August 2007, would have crushed economies as severely as did the Great Depression.

Belatedly, but thankfully, governments recognized that the only way to get... (more details)

AMAZING. SLOPPY. FRAUDULENT. WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED?

(1) “John Galt” donating to Obama this year too, apparently; Update: RNC files new complaint with FEC; Update: Foreign credit cards being accepted too? Update: Ruffini cries fraud

(2) NBC: Obama spending $293,000 an hour in October: Wow how can this be? How can he afford this? Where is all this money coming from?

Oh silly me. I forgot about the first story.

Playing by the rules - when it is convenient: bending them when they aren't

Military Ballots Tossed In Fairfax
by Marc Ambinder

The patchwork problem of federal and state election regulations strikes again.

Military ballots are being tossed in Fairfax Co, VA because of a "technicality." Not a lot of them compared to the size of the electorate, but more than a few.

The registrar of voters in a Democrat. He thinks it "stinks," but the law is the law. [more details]

Well, at least in this case.....

Now, if you are a non-resident college student in the state of Virginia, the Democrat registrars are more than willing to "ease the rules" (read "break" the law) and allow them to vote even though they are to have a permanent residence.

Hat tip Right Nation.

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character...”

-Noah Webster

SOCIALISM, OBAMA-STYLE

By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

Published on DickMorris.com on October 24, 2008

"The perfect storm combining the vast expansion of government's role in the American economy, a looming Obama triumph and likely huge Democratic gains in Congress augur the most serious threat of the onset of socialism the United States has faced since the New Deal. But while it became obvious that FDR's goal was to save capitalism, not to replace it, it is by no means clear that Barack Obama is similarly inclined.

As alarm bells ring incessantly, demanding government action to prevent the conflagration of our most important companies and markets, the Federal Reserve and Treasury rush to extinguish the flames with hoses filled with money. But this massive and needed public-sector intrusion into private enterprise begs the key question: After the fires are put out, will the government firefighters leave, or will they move into the companies they saved and evict their former corporate owners?

The current crisis makes it clear that the government will be invited inside the management and ownership of our top financial and corporate institutions. But it is unclear whether it will ever withdraw after the crisis has passed."

That is exactly right. Read more here.

Related:
White House ‘Trusts’ Treasury – No Timeline to Sell Bank Stocks Back to Private Sector
White House (CNSNews.com) – The Department of the Treasury is set to buy $250 billion in stock in nine major banks and hundreds of smaller banks across America, with no timeline as to when (or if) those stocks will be sold back to the private sector. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson plans to leave his post in January 2009, at the end of the Bush administration. A new secretary will come in with the new administration.

Conspiracies

I am having a "black helicopter" moment. Is someone manipulating the stock market?

A New Welfare State

Ken Blackwell:

Thanks to Joe the Plumber, we now know for sure that Barack Obama wants to "spread the wealth around." But the Democratic candidate still hasn't come clean on just how much of a European-style socialist he is.

Look at the "tax cut" he says he'll give to 95 percent of Americans. In fact, this is simply a government check he'd hand out - including to millions who don't pay income taxes, since each year 38 percent of Americans already get a full refund.

In other words, his "rebate" is a welfare plan, plain and simple.

When called on this, Obama's answer is ....[read more]

Boot Murtha: The Change America Deserves

Michelle Malkin :

A real referendum on hope and change is taking place in western Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. If the change agent in the race were a Democrat and the status quo defender were a Republican, this battle would be all over the nightly news. The challenger would be heralded as a maverick and photographed with halo effect and angel wings. Instead, the national media have ignored him.

The Democratic candidate in this race has devoted his public career to back-scratching, logrolling and self-aggrandizing Beltway politics as usual. The... [read more]

Democrats' Phony Plans

Mike Gallagher :

The headline on the front page of most of America’s newspapers this week screamed the latest Republican “scandal”: $150,000 spent on Gov. Sarah Palin’s wardrobe!”

Get ready for a stream of complaints from Democrats who love engaging in the class warfare rhetoric for which they’re famous.

I can hear Barack Obama now:[read on]

"That wise Men have in all Ages thought Government necessary for the Good of Mankind; and, that wise Governments have always thought Religion necessary for the well ordering and well-being of Society, and accordingly have been ever careful to encourage and protect the Ministers of it, paying them the highest publick Honours, that their Doctrines might thereby meet with the greater Respect among the common People."

-- Benjamin Franklin

The Most Extreme
By Albert Mohler

Professor Robert P. George of Princeton University has been looking at the record of Senator Barack Obama. His verdict? Obama is, "the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of president of the United States." Further: "He is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress."

Those are huge claims, but Professor George backs them up with solid evidence. The fact is that Senator Obama has never failed to support abortion rights in any form and he has never voted even one time to accept any restriction in any form on abortion on demand.

In the last debate, he stated his clear support for Roe v. Wade. He has opposed even the Partial Birth Abortion ban. This is abortion extremism--and its out for all to see.

Obama 'Wealth Redistribution' Plan - CNBC.com

CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE

IS THIS THE KIND OF CHANGE WE WANT?

Police: McCain volunteer robbed, mutilated
Woman claims beaten, face carved with 'B' after assailant saw McCain bumpersticker
--Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

UPDATE: 20 Year old makes up story about robbery and attack
What the hell is her problem? Sheesh!!

GOP headquarters manager's home shot up over McCain signs
'It says this campaign is getting vicious'
--WKMG-TV, Orlando

WND's Corsi probing Obama's Hawaiian birth

Unraveling evidence in questions over citizenship

WND senior investigative reporter Jerome Corsi, who recently returned from a trip to Kenya with revelations about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's participation in a foreign nation's internal politics, now has been dispatched to Hawaii to uncover the truth of the senator's Hawaiian birth.

The issue has been raised multiple times during the 2008 presidential campaign, with a number of court cases already being launched that demand documentation about Obama's birth place. One prominent Pennsylvania Democrat, Philip Berg, has alleged that Obama was born not in Hawaii at all but in Kenya.

Corsi reported that when he was in Kenya he was told that Obama actually was born not in Honolulu but in Mombosa, on the Kenyan coast. He also said he was told by government officials there all those records were sealed and nothing could be released. [READ MORE]

Obama 'admits' Kenyan birth?

Campaign doesn't respond to claims in lawsuit over birth certificate

Pennsylvania Democrat Philip J. Berg, who filed a lawsuit demanding Sen. Barack Obama present proof of his American citizenship, now says that by failing to respond Obama has legally "admitted" to the lawsuit's accusations, including the charge that the Democratic candidate was born in Mombosa, Kenya.

As WND reported, Berg filed suit in U.S. District Court in August, alleging Obama is not a natural-born citizen and is thus ineligible to.... [READ ON]

Democrat: Obama's grandma confirms Kenyan birth

'This has been a real sham he's pulled off for the last 20 months'

The Pennsylvania Democrat who has sued Sen. Barack Obama demanding he prove his American citizenship – and therefore qualification to run for president – has confirmed he has a recording of a telephone call from the senator's paternal grandmother confirming his birth in Kenya.

The issue of Obama's birthplace, which he states is Honolulu in 1961, has been raised enough times that his campaign website has posted an image purporting to be of his "Certification of Live Birth" from Hawaii.

But Philip J. Berg, a former deputy attorney general for Pennsylvania, told.....
[CONTINUE READING]

WND ELECTION 2008 Newspaper shows Obama belonged to socialist party

Democrat's campaign denied allegations, but new evidence indicates membership

JERUSALEM – Evidence has emerged that Sen. Barack Obama belonged to a socialist political party that sought to elect members to public office with the aim of moving the Democratic Party far leftward to ultimately form a new political party with a socialist agenda. Several blogs, including Powerline, previously documented that while running for the Illinois state Senate in 1996 as a Democrat, Obama actively sought and received the ........ [read more]

TO ENLARGE, CLICK PICTURE

Endorsements keep rolling in.......

Terrorists across the globe want their man to win. Obama is the choice of America's worst enemies.

Let's see now.... the most recent endorsement is: Iranian parliament speaker says Iran prefers Obama. Oh isn't that special?

If he is still of this world, Hollywood's hero - Fidel Castro - is in Barack's corner.

Let us not forget, he has the support of Muammar Gaddafi.

We also have FARC, the violent left wing terrorist group in Columbia that has incited the new war in South America, also attempting to acquire nuclear material, is hoping for an Obama win. Earlier this year when Columbian forces (LePoint) raided a FARC terrorist camp, Raul Reyes, FARC leader, was killed and two FARC laptop computers were recovered. A treasure trove of information, naturally, was found on the computers including FARC allies and sympathizers.

CAPTURED FARC COMPUTERS NAME BARACK OBAMA!

FARC terrorists wanted Obama to win the next U.S Presidential election because "he was most aligned with the Colombian Marxist group."

Also, we have the unrepentant domestic terrorist William Ayres who "has a friendly relationship with" Mr. Obama and has helped him kick start his political career, and according to WND:

While many defenders of Weather Underground co-founder William Ayers have sought to minimize his bomb attacks on the U.S. Capitol and other landmarks because they purportedly did not target people, a former FBI informant who penetrated the group claimed he witnessed a meeting in which members discussed a future communist takeover of America in which some 25 million "diehard capitalists" would need to be killed.

Larry Grathwohl recalled his experience in the 1982 documentary "No Place to Hide," noted the weblog Confederate Yankee.

Mr. Ayers to this day does not regret setting off bombs in New York and at the Pentagon and regrets they did not do more.

The Communist Party of America says: "A broad multiclass, multiracial movement is converging around Obama’s “Hope, change and unity” campaign because they see in it the thrilling opportunity to end 30 years of ultra-right rule and move our nation forward with a broadly progressive agenda."

So they are strongly in Barack's corner. What an impressive list of supporter's thus far.

Oh and lets's not forget ..... we have The Black Panthers. They have their own nice little spot on Barack's website.

Hamas is rooting for Obama. Let's not forget their endosement. In mid-April, Hamas adviser Ahmed Yousef said, “We like Mr. Obama, and we hope that he will win the elections." Barack even had to sack adviser who met with Hamas.

I would not want this list as a list of my supporters.

Affordable Health Care

By Walter E. Williams -

One of the campaign themes this election cycle is “affordable” health care. Shouldn’t we ask ourselves whether we want the politicians who brought us the “affordable” housing, that created the current financial debacle, to now deliver us affordable health care? Shouldn’t we also ask how things turned out in countries where there is socialized medicine?

The Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute’s annual publication, “Waiting Your Turn,” reports that Canada’s median ..... [more]

One thing you can be sure of.......

House Panel Focuses on Reasons, Remedy for Financial Meltdown

It will be wasted time, and they will come up with a preconceived and an ill conceived conclusion.
Something so provocative and unexpected ..... like ..... It's Bush's fault.

Now that will knock your socks off.

Nahhhhh... Can't be

ACORN Submitted ‘Thousands and Thousands of Phony’ Voter Registrations, County Registrar Says
(CNSNews.com) – The Association for Community Reform Now (ACORN) submitted nearly 90,000 voter registration applications to the registrar’s office in Clark County, Nev., this year, among which were “thousands and thousands and thousands of phony and duplicate applications” that ACORN did not mark as suspicious, Larry Lomax, Clark Country registrar of voters, told CNSNews.com. Matthew Henderson, ACORN’s regional director for Southwest Nevada, said that a few duplicate and falsified forms may have slipped through ACORN’s vetting.

How I redistributed the wealth...

Subtitle: From Philosophy to Practice

Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.

Once in the restaurant my server had on a "Obama 08" tie, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference -- just imagine the coincidence.

When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside.

The server angrily stormed from my sight.

I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.

At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.

I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.

TURN OUT THE LIGHTS

In a rare editorial in the World Tribune, "Democrats will be known for Iraq surrender; Time now for homeland defense", they acknowledge that there still are journalists with integrity out there doing there jobs - jobs as real newsmen, but that "something has gone horribly wrong with the American newspaper profession, which has long served also as the brains behind the electronic media."

There used to be real competition and more than one newspaper in the cities with noticeably different viewpoints.

The rise of pack journalism has given way to a disease we call "consensual totalitarianism" which afflicts the media, the academe, and the federal bureaucracy.

They are not the first to notice that during this 2008 presidential campaign the press corps has "abandoned all pretense at objectivity, balance and aggressive reporting on both sides of the partisan divide."

It was evident to me in the 2004 Kerry vs Bush campaign as well, but this time around it is extraordinary and remarkable the degree to which they openly support Obama. They have lost all and any degree of credibility they had left. They have become one giant PR firm for the Democrat party.

All of this might not matter except for the fact that the world's most powerful nation, which has served as the "city on the hill" for the global community, is about to participate in an election in which its free press has willingly concealed information the American voters need to know.

Then the editorial mentions an article that says it all. They claim it to be a "must reading for any U.S. voter trying to find his/her way through the fog of dissemblance that passes for 21st century news reporting." It is written by columnist Orson Scott Card (a Democrat.....he will most likely need to go in hiding) and can be read here:

Would the last honest reporter please turn on the lights?

McCain Promises No Compromise on Supreme Court, Will Visit ANWR

By John Gizzi
HUMAN EVENTS

ABOARD “Straight Talk Air” (between New York and Miami) -- Sen. John McCain would “absolutely” not compromise on Supreme Court nominations if elected and would continue to nominate strict constructionist judges if any of his Supreme Court nominations were defeated by a hostile Senate.

McCain said that and much more to..... [continue]

Iran, Russia announce plan to set up 'Gas OPEC'

World Tribune —

NICOSIA — Iran, Qatar and Russia said the three nations have agreed to establish a natural gas cartel.

Both Iran and Russia said a so-called gas OPEC would be established. They said Qatar has agreed to the ..... [continue reading]

U.S. Treasury sanctions Iran bank, 3 offshoots including one in Venezuela

World Tribune —

WASHINGTON — The United States has identified and sanctioned an Iranian bank used to evade previous sanctions against another Iranian bank used in the procurement of components for weapons of mass destruction.

The U.S. Treasury Department said the Export Development Bank of Iran supplies financial services to the Iranian Defense Ministry and military. Treasury said Iran has been ...... [continue reading]

16 pirates died after handling substance on captured Iranian ship

World Tribune —

LONDON — An Iranian ship captured by Somali pirates carried sealed containers of a powdery substance believed to be nuclear or chemical weapons agents.

Western intelligence agencies have been monitoring the capture of the Iran Deyanat, seized by Somali pirates on Aug. 21. The cargo ship, owned and operated by the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, or IRISL, contains sealed cargo thought to be linked to the death of 16 pirates.

Industry sources said the ship's crew of 29, about half of them Iranians and... [continue reading]

THE POPULISM DIVIDE

By DICK MORRIS


As the election enters its last two weeks, social populism wars with economic populism to become the major outlet for American anger and angst and to satisfy the demand for change. In his book The Populist Persuasion, Michael Kazin articulates the difference between these two types of populism: economic and social. Economic populism, the staple of the Democratic left, demonizes... [read more]

Be Prepared to Be Tested

—Hugh Hewitt

"Senator Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for Vice President, has warned the country that if his running mate Barack Obama is elected president, our enemies will "test him" within a few short months.

We aren't sure what motivated Biden?s candor--but we are sure he is right. Young and untested presidents are pushed hard early in their terms. Khruschev did it to Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis resulted. Biden is right to warn that the Iranians or the Russians or the North Koreans will decide that the exit of George Bush will be the perfect time to advance their goals in the world, expecting the untested Obama to flinch.

But electing Senator McCain sends the signal of strength and resolve that our enemies would never misinterpret and never challenge--another reason to consider carefully who you are voting for on November 4."

PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS, PROBLEMS

My internet connection has been quite slow the last few days (my provider is Comcast). Accessing my email was even worse - excruciatingly slow. For the last two days I could not even access my email. I think Comcast has been dorking around with maintenance and changes (enhancements?)

Things seem to be running better this morning and I can even access my email. What a nice feature to have. **dripping with sarcasm**

Funny thing though. Every time they do this and it screws you up for awhile - I never see any improvements at the end of the day. So what is the point, I ask you.

Radical Loon When Obama Was Only 47

By Ann Coulter
HUMAN EVENTS

The media are acting as if they completely and fully vetted Obama during the Democratic primaries and that's why they are entitled to send teams of researchers into Alaska to analyze Sarah Palin's every expense report.

In fact, the mainstream media did no vetting. They seem to have.... [more]

Will closet racism derail Obama?

BBC NEWS

Two decades ago, Douglas Wilder watched as a 9% lead in the polls in the race to be Virginia's governor slipped to just one-tenth of 1% when the ballots were counted.

He still won the election - becoming the first African-American to be elected a US state governor - but the narrowness of his victory led analysts to speculate that he had been a victim of a white hesitancy to vote for a black man.

The theory goes that some white voters tell opinion pollsters they will vote for a black candidate - but then, in the privacy of the polling booth, put their cross against a white candidate's name. [read more]

It is not racism as much as it is afraid of being labeled a racist. For those who are true racists, and there are some to be sure, they would have no problem telling a pollster that they are voting for (in this case) McCain.

But there are a lot of people who will be voting for McCain for a number of good (in their opinion) reasons but are afraid of being called racists so they tell the pollster one thing and vote differently. This is not racism.

A WHOLE NEW GAME:

PLUMBER'S GIFT TO MCCAIN
By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

Ronald Reagan's most important contribution to the American political dialogue was his ability to move the tax issue from an economic-populist issue into a populist, blue-collar one. Under George W. Bush, however, the issue has switched back to one of class warfare, as increasing numbers of Americans have paid no taxes at all and the rates on those who did pay taxes fell. Now, a chance encounter with "Joe the Plumber" has afforded the Republicans the chance to use taxes as a blue-collar issue.

The opening Joe provided and John McCain skillfully exploited in the third presidential debate gives the GOP ticket its......

Obama funded foreign thug who promised Islamic state

Agreement with Muslims pledged to protect terrorists, throttle Christians, impose Shariah

A controversial Kenyan leader for whom Sen. Barack Obama not only campaigned, but raised almost $1 million during the run-up to that nation's 2007 presidential election, had concluded a written agreement with Muslim leaders stipulating that, if they delivered him the Muslim vote, he would in turn, once elected, convert Kenya into an Islamic state governed by Shariah law, protect terrorists from prosecution, and effectively ban Christianity.

[DETAILS]

“Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis warned, ‘The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.’ The freedom of individuals from compulsion or coercion never was, and is not now, the normal state of human affairs. The normal state for the ordinary person is tyranny, arbitrary control and abuse mainly by their own government. While imperfect in its execution, the founders of our nation sought to make an exception to this ugly part of mankind’s history. Unfortunately, at the urging of the American people, we are unwittingly in the process of returning to mankind’s normal state of affairs. Americans demand that Congress spend trillions of dollars on farm subsidies, business bailouts, education subsidies, Social Security, Medicare and prescription drugs and other elements of a welfare state. The problem is that Congress produces nothing. Whatever Congress wishes to give, it has to first take other people’s money. Thus, at the root of the welfare state is the immorality of intimidation, threats and coercion backed up with the threat of violence by the agents of the U.S. Congress. In order for Congress to do what some Americans deem as good, it must first do evil. It must do that which if done privately would mean a jail sentence; namely, take the property of one American to give to another... There is no question that if one were to ask whether we Americans are moving towards more liberty or more government control over our lives, the answer would unambiguously be the latter—more government control over our lives.”

—Walter Williams

“A bureaucrat is the most despicable of men, though he is needed as vultures are needed, but one hardly admires vultures whom bureaucrats so strangely resemble. I have yet to meet a bureaucrat who was not petty, dull, almost witless, crafty or stupid, an oppressor or a thief, a holder of little authority in which he delights, as a boy delights in possessing a vicious dog. Who can trust such creatures?”

-- Marcus Tullius Cicero --

Intimidation by ObamaNation

By Mark Hillman :

Barack Obama says Republicans "are going to try to make you afraid of me." Well, it's hard to imagine how the GOP could conjure up a more fearsome specter of an Obama presidency than the one created by the tactics of his own campaign.

Responding to those who dare commit blasphemy against The One, Obama's campaign has unleashed lawsuits and urged prosecution by no less than the Justice Department, enlisted elected officials to threaten and intimidate his foes, and deployed its vast internet e-mail list to silence bloggers and radio talk shows.

In Missouri, Obama allies, from a U.S. Senator to a local sheriff, threatened criminal proceedings against...... [continue reading]

Obama's Infanticide Lie

By Amanda Carpenter :

Newly discovered documents from the Illinois state archives prove Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has lied about his opposition as an Illinois state senator to legislation requiring health officials to provide care to babies who survived abortion.

Obama has repeatedly claimed he would have voted for..... [continue reading]

The Case Against Barack Obama, Part 1

By Larry Elder :

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama promises to "cut taxes for 95 percent of American workers." That's not possible.

Why? More than 30 percent pay nothing in federal income taxes. Obama comes up with this number by.... [continue reading]

Time to Use the "C" Word

By Laura Hollis :

Obama’s colleagues are shrewd; they know that they have little chance of taking over all of private enterprise by force. Instead, they want the public to hand it over to them, bit by bit.

Even the briefest study of Communist Party ideology dating back to the 1930s reveals a concerted campaign to infiltrate and destroy the United States from within, by gaining control of the universities, of the media, of primary and secondary school, of the courts, and ultimately the entire government. Joseph McCarthy’s monumentally bad rap notwithstanding, dozens of former spies have come forward, as have the documents, attesting to the Party’s intentions. When the Soviet Union fell in 1989, those ideas pretty much went the way of the dodo in Russia, but they have been alive and well in this country for 80 years. People like William Ayers are proof.

Continue reading.

Obama's Plan to Spread Your Wealth Around

By Hugh Hewitt :

Thanks to the now famous Joe the Plumber, all of America has been served notice of Barack Obama's plans for the American economy.

Obama intends to spread the wealth around: From your accounts to those of his friends and supporters.

Rarely have we had candor from Obama in this long ..... [READ ON]

Record Versus Rhetoric

By Thomas Sowell :

Apparently there is something about Sarah Palin that causes some people to think of her as either the best of candidates or the worst of candidates. She draws enthusiastic crowds and provokes visceral hostility in the media.

The issue that is raised most often is her relative lack of experience and the fact that she would be "a heartbeat away from the presidency" if Senator John McCain were elected. But Barack Obama has even less experience-- none in an executive capacity-- and his would itself be.... [READ MORE]

Why The Left Always Resorts To Brute Force

By Kevin McCullough :

After Barack Obama got rhetorically bludgeoned this week with the consequences of his own words to a working class guy from Toledo, the nation got a peek into his soul. It was not pretty and it should serve as a preview of what we can expect from Barack Obama towards those who disagree with him. It has been unattractive, unbecoming of someone running for President, and certainly riddled with hypocrisy and double standard.

Think about it. Just two days before Barack Obama eagerly walks up to a working "Joe," fields a question about his policies, and gives his answer.

Only two days later Obama, Biden, the DNC, and many in the mainstream leftist establishment (you call them the media) go wall to wall on the attack against... the man who asked the question, not the one who gave the answer.

Of course it was one of the worst answers ever given by.... [READ MORE]