The debate had it’s usual start Rudy v Mitt, but IMO Rudy lost the battle on the subject of illegal immigration by continuing to use his scripted line “Mitt has a sanctuary mansion”(referencing the illegal immigration that worked on Mitt’s lawn) and, the audience let him have it with a loud chorus of boos.

Mike Huckabee wooed the audience with his charm and folksy manner but the only hard question he had was on the death penalty and “What would Jesus do” to him this was easy as he said “Jesus would be smart enough to stay out of politics”(sic).

I think John McCain won the debate by standing strong on his convictions. I like it when he goes into his “straight talk” mode, sounds authentic. John hit Romney pretty hard for not knowing that “water boarding” is indeed torture. Romney said he had to consult with consultant  Coffer Black (that’s the man that would bring Bin Laden’s head back to the USA packed in ice and once promised to put the heads of terrorist on sticks)Mr. Black works for Blackwater. Romney did not want to answer the water boarding because it was some kind of security secret. What a lame excuse.

Mitt Romney lost the debate in my opinion because he had that “deer in the headlights” look when asked about water boarding and repealing the “Don’t ask don’t tell policy”.

Rudy Giuliani forgot he was at primary debate, because he insured the base that he would not sign a bill banning abortion, waffled on the 2^nd amendment,and,and he said he did not take the bible literally. He does hold the lead in Florida.

My man Ron Paul was booed for his anti-Iraq war stance, but he got a chance to tell the people he got the most money from the military. He used that line when John McCain attacked Ron Paul for his stance on Iraq.

This is how Duncan Hunter answered the (Clinton plant) retired General Keith Kerr's question as to why the he thinks American men and women in uniform are not professional enough to serve with gays and lesbians.

Rep. Duncan Hunter of California said: “General, thanks for your service, but I believe in what Colin Powell said when he said that having openly homosexual people serving in the ranks would be bad for unit cohesion.

“The reason for that, even though people point to the Israelis and point to the Brits and point to other people as having homosexuals serve, is that most Americans, most kids who leave that breakfast table and go out and serve in the military and make that corporate decision with their family, most of them are conservatives,” Hunter said.

“They have conservative values, and they have Judeo-Christian values. To force those people to work in a small tight unit with somebody who is openly homosexual goes against what they believe to be their principles, and it is their principles, is I think a disservice to them. I agree with Colin Powell that it would be bad for unit cohesion.”

http://weblogs.baltimoresun...

I guess liberals and Non-Christians never serve in the military.

Tom Tancredo same old illegal immigration rhetoric but he did tell the crown form Florida that sending a man to mars is waste of money.

Trent Lott announced his retirement yesterday and Dennis Hastert left today.

Trent probably wants to leave before the newly passed lobbyist bill takes effect in January of 2008. That bill requires a two year absence from office before a retired representative can work as a Washington lobbyist. Mr. Hastert did not enjoy his minority status.

The GOP insists that the 17 house members and 6 senators are just individual choices and has nothing to do with their minority status.

Whatever the reasons, losing two key senators like Trent Lott and Pete Domenici has got to hurt. Mississippi will be electing another Republican but without Trent’s clout.  Democratic Representative Tom Udall is way out in front of his GOP opponents in his quest to replace Senator Pete Domenici.

The GOP is seeking candidates with deep pockets because they are almost broke.

Compare the two parties.

Monies for    House seats         Senate seats

GOP        & nbsp;       $2.6 million         $9.5 million

Democrats       $29 million        & nbsp; $23.4 million

That’s a huge hole to climb out of since the GOP has 21 senate seats to defend.

Right the Democrats goal of turning states like Virginia, Colorado, and New Mexico purple is working. They are winning in those states right now.

If I had to guess the reason for the current demise in the Republican Party, it would be perception. Their house leaders John Boehner and Roy Blunt are still closely associated with K Street, Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay. Remember scandals, not Iraq was the reason for the Dem takeover in 2006.

http://www.washingtonpost.c...

All the GOP has to do is go back to their fiscal conservative roots and I am pulling for them because divided government works.

The latest ABC poll indicated that 74% of Americans thought this country is going in the wrong direction. So change will be the number one issue in this year’s presidential campaign.

The two major parties have distinct differences. The GOP by 75% wants a strong and experienced leader ,while the Dems by 75% want a leader that will have new ideas. A change candidate.

With the president’s approval at 30% and congress even lower, change is defiantly what American wants.

Barack Obama is warning us not to go back to the days of Bill Clinton’s war with the right-wing or George W. Bush’s hardheaded diplomacy. Meanwhile Hillary is saying “Change is just a word without the experience to change things”. (sic)

Compromising without giving up core principals is the key.

Iraq

Senators Graham and McCain were on the Sunday talk shows wanting praise for General Petraeus stabilization of Iraq. He should be giving praise, but with caution because we have been down road before. (Mission accomplished) Now let’s hear the truth. What do we do now, Keep the 160,000 until April or draw down as many troops as possible to force the central government to start acting like a government? This is without saying that 62% of Americans say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake.

Iran

Send Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, James Baker and Kissinger for a sit down, drag out meeting to find out how we can avoid another costly war.

Tax Cuts

Let’s try a different approach, let’s target the forgotten middle-class.

This just a start and it should be easier to negotiate with the GOP, since Trent Lott is stepping down. Why are so many Republicans leaving office?

Patrick Fitzgerald  go get a new grand jury and reopen this case but, this time include the others that were not implicated the first time. Remember they threw sand in the umpire’s eyes, so he could not see what was happening.

Patrick Leahy and Congressman Henry Waxman set up some hearings.

For those of you unfamiliar with the recent events, former white house spokesman Scott McClellan blamed the president and vice president for misleading the public in the CIA leak case.

In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, McClellan recounts the 2003 news conference in which he told reporters that aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby were “not involved” in the leak involving operative Valerie Plame.

“There was one problem. It was not true,” McClellan writes, according to a brief excerpt released Tuesday. “I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president’s chief of staff and the president himself.”

Bush’s chief of staff at the time was Andrew Card.

The excerpt, posted on the Web site of publisher Public Affairs, renews questions about what went on in the West Wing and how much Bush and Cheney knew about the leak. For years, it was McClellan’s job to field—and often duck—those types of questions

http://www.nytimes.com/apon...

We heard from conservatives on the rule of law but to date only Mike Huckabee thinks that the administration should have an answer for this new information. They can no longer stand behind Libby and say he could not recall because McClellan said he and five others lied.

With people going around saying “These are scary times”, what does a person do?

Ignore them or follow their lead. I say neither but try to set aside a small part of your time to check out the potential threats. This being observant will not cut it.

Just today outgoing Homeland Security Adviser Frances Townsend told CNN that al Qaeda may target the presidential elections. She said that while there is currently no “specific information,” “we know that Al Qaeda views these periods as being a particularly vulnerable period.” What good is this vague information?

Another example In this morning’s White House gaggle, spokeswoman Dana Perino admitted they’re making civilian employees fear for their jobs as a way to “remind Congress” to pass a bill, despite the fact the funding has passed the house and is being blocked by Republicans in the Senate. Why, the Dem’s do not have the 60 votes to pass their legislation. Upsetting the civilian employees over the Thanksgiving holiday is absurd.

Now the Democrats are not without blame, because they are saying that the president does not want poor children to have health insurance when this bill has bipartisan support and will eventually pass. In the past they have told the elderly that the GOP wanted to take their social security away.

I do fear an administration that wields too much power, just because it can. For example this administration wanted to rewrite the Geneva Convention, legalize torture, bypassed the FISA court and conducted warrant-less surveillance on its citizens.

Some might say I am paranoid but several have left this White house as dissenters. For example former white house press secretary Scott McClellan reveled this from a forthcoming book. ““I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the seniormost aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby,” McClellan wrote.

“There was one problem. It was not true.”

McClellan then absolves himself and makes an inflammatory — and potentially lucrative for his publisher — charge.

“I had unknowingly passed along false information,” McClellan wrote.

“And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice president, the president’s chief of staff and the president himself.”

McClellan says he was in that position because he trusted the president: “The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.” Remember what the president said what he would do if he caught someone who leaked?

First the Republican Party because it is still in sate of disarray since they don’t have a candidate that hits the 30% nationally. Giuliani is on top at 28% approval in the GOP primary.

Rudy Giuliani is the ultimate campaigner but Bernard Kerrick scandal may doom him.

But he is running a risky campaign of losing Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina and relying on Florida and Super Tuesday to propel him to the nomination.

Mitt Romney is taking the tradition route of spending heavily in the first two primaries thinking it will have a domino effect. Might work.

John McCain is relying heavy on New Hampshire and South Carolina if he is to have a chance and lately his poll numbers are creeping up but if he loses those two states he is a goner with no money.

Fred Thompson was on ABC Sunday and I have to agree with Nixon, this man is as dumb as a fence post. He wants to stay a close second and pick up the scraps as people start bowing out.

Mike Huckabee is one of this years surprise and he just might win Iowa but what then?

Not a lot of name recognition or money or the Evangelicals would have put their support behind  this candidate.

Ron Paul will have a good Iowa but if Hillary wins Iowa his chance is doomed because the New Hampshire voters will not expect Paul to beat Hillary in the general election.

Duncan Hunter? Less than 1% in some polls

Tom Tancredo is a one trick pony (illegal immigration) and he is at 1% using this campaign as his platform.

The Democratic Party

Their top tier candidates beat their GOP counterparts in just about all the head to head match-ups.

Hillary Clinton is the front runner and it shows on her stump speeches and debates.

Barack Obama falls farther behind when he tries to attack Hillary because that is simply not his style. He is the “Audacity of Hope” except when it comes to debates.

John Edwards is falling like a rock because he is in his trial lawyer mode instead of the populist candidate that made him John Kerry's choice for VP.

Bill Richardson playing his cards for VP.

Joe Biden has won all the debates IMO but cannot get the air time nor the money.

Chris Dodd excels in education but little else.

Dennis Kucinich see him run again in 2012 and get that 1%. He just wants the air time.

That’s how I see it.

If you wanted a bout, the first ten minutes or so was devoted to Obama and Edwards taking their best jabs at Hillary. If facial expressions count, then IMO her makeup did crack with all the pressure of her frowns, but, she was well rested and it did not seem to take her off her stride. Obama and Edwards tried to attack Hillary later in the debate but, they were booed which did seem to take the boys off their stride. For the remainder of the date it was about the issues.

Obama really confuses me because he can bring so much excitement and hope at a 10,000 seat fundraiser but in a debate he doesn’t bring that same fire in the belly. An example of that was how he answered the “driver’s license to undocumented immigrants” question. I couldn’t believe it because he answered that question the very same way Hillary fumbled that question two weeks ago.Obama did have a great moment when he challenged Wolf Blitzer for being a pessimist.

John Edwards was my initial favorite because of his populist stance. Edwards is letting the poll numbers drive him away from being the candidate of 2004 when he continued delivering a positive message and being above the fray.

The pundits said Hillary won the debate, in fact the Des Moines Register ran this headline “That’s why the lady is a champ”.

My one big disappointment was Hillary’s response to fixing social security. I turned 62 last Saturday and will be getting my first check in January so now it’s personal.

Anyway her reasoning for not raising the $97,500 FICA payroll amount to say $200,000 ....because it would be raising taxes on the middle class. That’s a GOP answer. A single taxpayer making $200,000 who is properly maxing out his/hers 401K won’t get my tears.

In the end all the candidates want to pull out the troops in Iraq, some sooner than others and all are for appointing Supreme Court judges that would not abolish Roe v Wade.   

I am usually a private person and I seldom share a personal story but in this holiday season I will make this one exception.

Mother passed away this past July; probate was a couple weeks ago and now it the time for getting the house ready for sale.

Somehow I was appointed executor and all the work that goes with it because ,I am about the only one that did not leave for life in the big city. Rule number one leave the utilities on because if you are going to do inventory, you need to take your time. Remember the old savings passbook? Her writing was not that terrific but her addition and subtraction was right on the mark. Now I will have to go all over town withdrawing the $77.00 here and $212.52  there to make sure the heirs get everything down to the exact penny. Post and document.

My mom was a pack rat she kept everything like wedding and funeral announcements to little league game summaries if a family member was involved. Need an old TRS-80 or a 1960 car repair manual? It seems like all the grandchildren hit mom up for magazine subscriptions and we found all those birthday and Mothers Day cards from them.

If time is important to you, get a professional mover. The first day was about the family looking at old pictures and school year books. We were putting more things aside rather than loading the pickups. I was put on the heavier items, when my sister noticed I had put old quilt scraps in the trash can. My nephew said every dresser or piece of furniture was a valuable antique. I told him to give me $100 for each piece and he could make a fortune. He helped me load it for the Goodwill.

Goodwill has a no scratch rule on furniture before they will accept it and the Community Chest has no wobble rule, so we put the left over furniture on the curb for trash pickup. Neighbors came by and picked up the remaining furniture. They didn't have a rule.

We exchanged cell phone numbers and emails addresses because we know that we won’t be seeing each other as much anymore, because mom was the glue that kept it all together .

To me, it’s like water and oil they just don’t mix.

Let me clarify that statement. Politics by nature is about making back room deals and for the most part it is sleazy. On the other hand religion is about standing on principals for the good of mankind.

David Kuo wrote an interesting book called “Tempting Faith” that describes how the Bush administration lured in the conservative evangelicals by promoting faith-based agendas. In the end they money that was budgeted for the poor and other compassionate social programs was $20 million less than what the Clinton administration spent. David said Karl Rowe and others called the evangelical leaders “nuts”. To be fair the administration did appoint Justices Alito, and Roberts to the Supreme Court and Bush did veto two embryonic stem cell research bills. Quid Pro Quo?

The USA Today stated the Catholic Bishops just approved a slogan “faithful citizenship” it hammers home the “intrinsic evil” of abortion and reminds Catholic voters that their choices in the 2008 elections “also may affect” their salvation. It does not stop there because it is supposed to offer a “theological” not “ideological” framework for the voting Catholic. They go on to say that Catholics should not vote on a single issue but must also consider the candidates stances on the poor, heath care, education, environment, war in Iraq, and support for traditional marriages. They also say none of Catholic presidential candidates followed the Pro-Life stance. This what makes it difficult because as far as social issues, the parties are definitely split?

I quoted the Catholic stance but the evangelicals are no different.

Should religion have a say in the political process? Yes to a point, but some are at the edge where their tax exemption is at risk. If they want a seat at the table they should give up their tax exemption and register as a lobbyist.

That’s why my politics are secular. I look for intelligence first, and then does he/she support most of  my issues. This intelligence makes them seek like minded people for their administration. You avoid incompetence and everything falls in place.

If we don’t have a problem invent one and blame it on the far left, it’s like living in a world full of Bill O’Reillys or Billo wannabes.

I chuckle every time some one comes up with a story about an incident in let’s say Walla Walla, Washington and immediately place the blame on the far left. What were the abortion clinic bombings? Were they from the far right or a sick individual? I will go with the latter.Strange people on both sides of the spectrum and kudos for the MSM for not giving them airtime. I learned this in my early childhood "It's the exception rather than the rule".

I pick on Billo because these past two weeks he has been blasting movies such as Rendition,Redacted, and Lions for Lambs calling them anti-war and saying these movies embolden the enemy. Yet he is for torture, wonder how well that plays. Billo blames the far-left crowd. Now I have seen plenty of Vietnam movies and westerns that did not portray our military as knights in shining armor. Didn’t cloud my thinking. I would like to think that we are not that vulnerable to brainwashing?

The far-left Code Pinks, actors and others do say some out outlandish things but so did Pat Robertson and Jerry Farwell, a chuckle or two and we go on with our lives.

Now that it is pre- War on Christmas season on Bill O’Reilly, that show is getting pretty racy, with Bill having to show the smut to prove his point…lol.

My advice lets keep an eye on the bigger things that will affect our lives and use the things I wrote about for entertainment value. Speaking of that, I wish the writers would come back because Jon Stewart would put all this in its proper place.

Robertson endorses Giuliani

When I first heard this, I couldn’t stop laughing.

The man who agreed with Falwell when Falwell stated that the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks were caused by “pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays, lesbians, the American Civil Liberties Union and the People For the American Way.” Now he endorsed the mayor of that evil city. lol

I would love to see the look on Pat Robertson’s face when Moveon.org makes that commercial showing Rudy in a dress. Underneath the caption will read" is this the man you want to protect your country”?

Today Fred Thompson got the endorsement of the National Right to Life even thou he did work for a pro-choice group. Thompson has said it was wrong for the congress to intervene in the Terry Schiavo case, I agree with him but it was the National Right to Life who were protesting this case. Go figure.

That leaves Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney eagerly awaiting Dr.James Dobson endorsement. A Mormon and a bottom tier candidate.

The evangelicals will not endorse Ron Paul because of his anti-war stance. Can you believe that?

Oh well, I will watch the heathen party (lol) debate tomorrow night to see what my candidates will do when they become president. One thing for sure I will cast my vote proudly and not resort to holding my nose giving all kinds of excuses of why I voted for Rudy, Mitt, or Fred.

 I met a long time friend of mine who happens to be a self proclaimed social conservative. After 30 minutes of the usual catching up, he hit me with a statement I wish the Democrats would answer aggressively and with clarity. I knew he got his talking point from the right wing blogs but it gave me the opening I wanted. He said “Now that the surge is working why don’t the Dem’s admit they were wrong”. First of all we cannot judge this surge on one months decline in body counts. Secondly this has been the deadliest year and we still do not have a political resolution.  Everyone expected that additional 28 thousand troops would help quell the violence until the parties regrouped. Does the decline in deaths include the ethic cleansing by the Shiite Militia or the 2 million Iraqis that have fled Iraq? Probably not. Iraqi recruiting is down in Iraq so can our troops leave the cities they stabilized? Probably not.

Kudos to our military I never doubted them.

Texas senator John Cornyn is calling on the Dem’s to acknowledge that the surge worked. Fine ,draw up a resolution claim victory and let’s bring some of our troops home and send the rest to Afghanistan, where they are needed.

Did I change the mind of my friend? No, because he said since I am retired I have more time to come up with answers. I took that to mean he didn’t want to discuss Iraq anymore; we ordered some drinks and continued our conversation, but this time about the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.

The FairTax is basically a federal consumer sales tax of 23%.  The FairTax proponents say it is inclusion, which means it is included as one price. This is the debate comes in. George Bush’s Panel on Tax Reform disagrees with the FairTax people saying it is more like a 34% rate. More on that later. The panel concluded that this system favor those making more than $200,000.

The argument

FairTax proponents say if that familiar widget sold for $100, the $23 would be sent to the tax authorities. Most would say hold on a minute.  because that would make the wholesale price $77($100-$23=$77) so take out your calculator and input $77 X 1.23 =$94.71 so that is going to leave you a little shy. That is the reason the panel said the inclusive rate is more like 30%. ($77 X 1.30). We use the exclusive method when we buy items.(price+salestax).I

The FairTax does eliminate the dreaded income tax return and payroll taxes for indivuals ,leaving the business owner paying for it’s employees FICA and Medicare taxes.

Conclusion

First the FairTax would have to be revenue –neutral, meaning it would have to bring the same amount of revenue as our current system does. We the FairTax proponents did their calculations’, it was based on a 100% compliance. Dream on.

Right now they need to give the Feds an exemption or a 23% discount or this tax will just be another category for federal spending.

The FairTax will exempt those making less than $15,000 and pay each household a prebate  at the first of every month. The prebate formula is 23% multiplied by the family consumption rate divided by the family consumption rate divided by the 12 months in a year

Example a family of would get $6205/12 or $517 per month (23%X $26181 consumption rate).

The states will not give up their sales tax so imagine buying a brand new car with a 31% added on.

I really don’t see why Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee think this is a good deal. Someone will have to collect the taxes at the federal level so why not keep the IRS? As complex as our current progressive tax system is ,I think it is better than the FairTax.

Am I wrong?

I got most of  my material from   

http://www.factcheck.org/ta...

The Judiciary Committee advanced Attorney General designate Michael Mukasey’s nomination to the Senate floor Tuesday by a vote of 11-8.  Chuck Schumer’s excuse “he will probably be better than the one the president will choose on a recess appointment”.

How can a nominee view water boarding as torture one day ,but the very next day he

doesn’t know? IMO Mukasey’s silence is based on a concern that it could increase the potential liability for those who have engaged in this practice or authorized it.

This form of torture was used in the Spanish Inquisition as far back as 1478.  It makes a person feel as thou they are drowning when a rag is placed on their face while someone pours water over the face.

ABC World News reported that in 2004 then-acting assistant attorney general Daniel Levin was so concerned about the administration’s use of water boarding that he went to a military base near Washington and underwent the procedure himself.

Levin took over former Office of Legal Counsel Jack Goldsmith’s job when he resigned and immediately began reassessing the administration’s interrogation techniques.

Opinion polling in Europe and South Asia last year, including surveys by World Opinion.org and Public Diplomacy.org, found that majorities believe the United States engages in torture and disregards international treaties on the treatment of detainees. Overwhelming majorities in Germany and Britain, our closest European allies, condemn America as doing a “bad job” on human rights.

http://www.washingtonpost.c...

If you don’t care what our allies think then perhaps you will believe our own FBI that says water boarding will not bring good results.

I only hope the newly confirmed Attorney General will bring our nation back to it’s roots.

I bet several social conservatives are jumping up and down

saying “they are  pinko commie, Peta,ACLU,anti-American

Hollywood, Godless wimpy lefties”. Basically they are saying

they are everything I am not.

In politics I really don’t know the definition of a progressive or

liberal. Certainly can’t accept the conservative’s answer.

By definition Liberalism is “A political theory founded on the natural goodness of humans and the autonomy of the individual and favoring civil and political liberties, government by law with the consent of the governed, and protection from arbitrary authority”.

Like the definition of conservative these ideals are great, but how do we govern

by these ideals.

IMO, liberals are more open to reform and new ideas for progress (going green)

I think they are more broad-minded and more tolerant of the ideas and behavior

of others. A good example of that, is being for Roe V Wade, embryonic stem

cell research, CHIP expansion, and accepting the harm of global warming. They vary

on gay-marriage but are for civil unions and are against a constitutional ban

on gay marriage.

This is not saying being resolute is a bad thing, nor is the act of fighting for the

rights of the unborn. Wanting to maintain the lifestyle of the 1950’s can be problematic.

While it was a simpler time, it also was exclusive.

I can remember when it was the conservatives that wanted civil liberties, detested

circumventing the constitution and were appalled when someone lied under oath.

I remember they were know for having a tight grip on the purse strings and borrowing

to sustain a war was out of the question.

I don’t recall a liberal calling for rule of law or paying more attention to the

constitution than their counterparts. Things have changed.

Obviously that is a rhetorical question.

Watching the GOP debates you could come away with several different answers as each candidate tried to out do each other on conservative principals.

I ran across an article yesterday, and I will try to summarize the authors thoughts and sprinkle in some of my own. This is the link to the article.

Http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/10/30/ne w_conservatism/print.html

Personally I do not think any ideology is instant credibility as a lot of posters seem to think. How many times have you heard “ I am a conservative” and left thinking so.

IMO conservatives fall into four categories’ and sometimes they cross.

(1)Social conservative….the one that makes the most noise abortion, gay rights etc.

(2)Fiscal conservatives …those that left the GOP because of the economic polices

     of George W. Bush.

(3)Defense conservatives …those that believe in a limited government but a strong

     defense no matter what the cost.

(4) Neoconservatives…these are the dangerous ones that have a firm belief that

      Democratizing the world with our military is in our own best interest.

The article

The author stated that Bush’s war of choice, expanding the the powers of the executive Branch, torture, and warrentless wiretapping represented a radical departure from the principles of American conservatism.

Conservative ideals are laudable but they somehow think they have ownership of morality, freedom, and strength. They have trouble when they try to base a government on ideals alone. They forget this country is a diverse country. Those three examples may mean something else to others.

Coverservatives need to learn the meaning of compromise for the common good without giving up their principals.

The “free market” has been given a bad name when you have no bid contracts it amounts to a rigged game. Donate to my party in lieu of a no bid contract.

The Republicans that voted against the Civil Rights Act aligned this party with the south. Proof of that came in the November 2006 when only one congressional seat was won in the northeast. Howard Dean was right in the south it is about the three “Gs” God, guns, and gays but they have now added illegal immigrants.  This will change because younger voters are moving to the left on these issues.

I agree with this author that the old labels like “liberal” and “conservative “ mean less and less in this world of capitalism. Example what label describes globalization or protecting the homeland?

My questions. If the so called conservatives hate government, why are they running? If we keep cutting taxes, who will pay to repair the infrastructures?

That’s enough for this week end .

A few days ago ShureleeUJest’s blog had a picture of Barack Obama

without his hand over his heart during the “Star Spangle Banner” with references

to his patriotism and his worthlessness as commander-in-chief.

I knew this was untrue, because the incident never made MSM.

As as I normally do to correct the myths, distortions, and outright

lies I waited for documentation.

In the future I hope Mr. Obama finds the flag and gives the proper

respect. I  know I have been at events where it took me sevral

minutes to find the flag.

The Facts

The photograph was taken on September 16, 2007, at Senator Tom Harkin's annual steak fry festivities in Iowa, an important ritual for Democratic presidential hopefuls. Contrary to the e-mails attacking Obama for disrespecting the flag, the candidates were not reciting the pledge of allegiance. They were standing for the national anthem.

As far as we can ascertain, the photograph first appeared in Time Magazine on October 1. Visit Time's website for a larger version. It was then picked up by the NewsBusters blog (Motto: "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias"), and from there made its way into all those in-boxes.

To his credit, the NewsBusters blogger does not try to pretend that the photograph had anything to do with the pledge of allegiance. Instead he cites Title 36 or the U.S. Code, which states the following:

During a rendition of the national anthem, when the flag is displayed (A) all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart; (B) men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold the headdress at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart;

By that standard, everybody in the picture (Obama, Richardson, were not facing the flag.

***, Washing tonPost Fact Checker******

I was going to post a couple of pictures of Barack

facing the flag and hand over heart  but you get the

picture (no pun intended).

So posting from right –wing blogs trying to pass for facts?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts

Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Trust but verify

Ronald Reagan

Truth is generally the best vindication against slander

Abe Lincoln

Its open season on Hillary, as it should be because she is the frontrunner. The right says take it like a man Hillary, as Sean Hannity likes to say “If she cannot deal with a primary crisis how can she be commander-in chief”. (sic) purely exaggerated as usual on Mr. Hannity’s part.

On the hand many women ( 60% of primary Democratic voters) might identify with Hillary saying “ I have been in that position many times”.

Now she is that position because she gave a confusing answer to

Tim Russert’s question as to whether she supports New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s proposal to issue driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. She tried to be evasive but this

gave the needed ammo to her opponents but not for her yes answer but for non decisive answer. Barack Obama,John Edwards, and Bill Richardson support Mr. Spitzer. Now is after knowing that 72% of New Yorkers are against the proposal. All in all ,this questions had conditions and could not be answered intelligently with a yes or no answer. As a guest on Hannity & Colmes last night Bill Bennett said her yes answer would hurt her in the general election. He went on to say that Independents would turn away from her just on that statement.  Hello Bill the Independents would look at 160,000 troops still in Iraq before considering her siding w