BACKLASH IS A BITCH!

I am very fond of looking for the “law of unintended consequences” to kick in and I see two instances where that is either already happening or could soon happen.

First: Oprah Winfrey’s endorsement of Senator Barack Obama. Her fans (site pests?) are being very vocal on her website (by the thousands) in their opposition to her endorsement. I just spent a fascinated 15 minutes reading through opinions offered by Oprah’s fans and couldn’t really get a clear focus on what upsets them the most: Oprah’s money or the fact that she has an opinion, or something else altogether – but the fact remains, they are upset with her over the endorsement. All the posts were interesting, some of them even bordered on literate, but I must ask – the poster on the discussion board who said that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich were the most qualified candidates is either demented or kidding, right? The unintended consequence could, however, be a voter stampede to another candidate.

Second: The death of Benazir Bhutto yesterday has generated a great deal of emotional intensity in that very volatile part of the world. Nuclear weapons and excessive, unreasoning emotion are NOT a particularly healthy mix!

The naysayers vis-à-vis the former Prime Minister’s character and point of view are already weighing in and several articles I have read have likened her to a Pakistani version of Hillary Rodham Clinton: leftist, corrupt, money-grubbing and utterly unable to speak the truth under any circumstances. Then there are the columnists who point out that Mrs. Clinton met Benazir Bhutto ONE TIME and that Hillary's claim to have known her for “years” is therefore utterly unbelievable and crass. Seems like textbook First Grifter behavior to me! How do they sleep at night? (Probably very well is my guess.)

AS TO THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES, beloved of me if nobody else. When Al Qaeda attacked us on September 11th, they expected a certain response from the U.S. They had an imperfect understanding of our national character and, worse yet, a complete misunderstanding about who the new United States President really was. It has always been clear to me that Al Qaeda read far too many DNC talking points memos and Al Qaeda truly did believe that our President was stupid. It seems clear to me that they expected our national response to be just as trifling as it had been all the other times they had attacked us. They had not counted on an actual man being Commander in Chief. The unintended consequence was, of course, ultimately the destruction of the Taliban-run government in Afghanistan and the toppling of Saddam Hussein.

The violence being fomented in Iraq by Al Qaeda, rather than giving them added power, turned off the Sunni Muslims who are now doing everything possible to eject Al Qaeda from Iraq.

Now the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Whatever her past governing skills, or lack thereof, Al Qaeda has claimed “responsibility” (I hate that phrase more than you can imagine) for her death. They should be claiming shame and guilt! It is possible that the people in the provinces wherein the terrorists have traditionally been given sanctuary will be so utterly enraged by this claimed assassination that they will emulate their brethren in Iraq, reject the terrorists and drive them out of their hiding places and – hopefully – into the waiting and welcoming muzzles of American or Coalition weapons!

Well that’s my take on things, at any rate. How accurate? Who knows. Time will tell.

RIP BENAZIR BHUTTO

She was an intelligent woman, so I'm sure she knew that returning to Pakistan was a life-threatening risk. Hugh Hewitt at Townhall.com described her as a woman of uncommon courage. As always, Mr. Hewitt's assessment is entirely accurate.

PREDICTION: Even though Al Qaeda has "claimed responsibility" for the death of Benazir Bhutto, the left idiots will STILL not be willing to acknowledge that WE ARE AT WAR WITH THESE 7th CENTURY MANIACS!

And how on earth does ANYONE think that it's possible to "make nice" with a group of murderous lunatics who are PROUD that they have killed 21 people - 22 if you count the homicide bomber!

A SUPPLEMENTAL RANT!

Something has been imitating fingernails on the blackboard of my mind and it's time to let it out - for my own sake.

What's with the unkempt look that is creeping into the sports and entertainment world. Baseball players with major stubble on their faces. Singers as well. Josh Groban, much as I adore his talents, needs to learn to use both a hairbrush AND a razor. And just a hint to the VERY handsome Steven Cousins - shave before a skating performance!

Female entertainers and skaters - if you're going to color your hair DO YOUR DAMNED ROOTS more than once every 6 months or don't do it at all! Tanith Belbin, you know I absolutely adore you and Ben Agosto - but still, dark roots don't fly chica!

And can we talk about dirty skates - boots AND laces? Flopping laces on those skates? Both Kimmie Meissner and Sasha Cohen are guilty in this area. And Kimmie - you are pretty much all grown up - time to start being "Kim" - you aren't 6 years old and maybe if you started SEEING yourself as an adult, you'd start skating like one? I'm just saying.

Here's the deal: If you are a performer or a sports figure or that delicious combination of the two that is known as figure skating - part of your JOB is good grooming. It shows that you RESPECT yourself and your RESPECT your sport.

Nothing less is acceptable.

WHY DOESN’T THIS SURPRISE ME?

PARIS -- Didier Gailhaguet, one of the main players in the judging scandal at the Salt Lake City Olympics, has his old job back as president of the French skating federation. Gailhaguet was elected president of the French Ice Sport Federation on Saturday, receiving more than half of the votes and beating out, among others, disgraced judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne. Gailhaguet also was federation president from 1998 to 2004.

This creep should have been banned from the sport for the rest of his LIFE. Yet here he is again, back doing business at the same old stand. One can only hope and pray that the rule changes instituted since he was poisoning the well back in 1998 are sufficient to keep this slimey toad straight!

Only the French (or the Russians, or the Italians or the - - - well you get my point)!

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM MY HANDSOME AND BRILLIANT COUSIN ERNIE

The purpose of fighting is to win.
There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either.
The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental."
-- John Steinbeck

≈≈

1- Don't pick a fight with an old man. If he's too old to fight, he'll just kill you. [Note from Gayle: This also applies to old WOMEN. As my estrogen decreases, my fuse shortens!]
2- If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.
3- I carry a gun 'cause a cop is too heavy.
4- America is not at war. The U.S. Military is at war. America is at the mall. (Ain't this the gospel truth!)
5- When seconds count, the cops are just minutes away. (shoot first - then call 911).
6- A reporter did a human interest piece on the Texas Rangers. The reporter recognized the Colt Model 1911 the Ranger was carrying and asked him "Why do you carry a 45?". The Ranger responded with, "Because they don't make a 46."
7- An armed man will kill an unarmed man with monotonous regularity.
8- The old sheriff was attending an awards dinner when a lady commented on his wearing his sidearm. "Sheriff, I see you have your pistol. Are you expecting trouble?" "No Ma'am. If I were expecting trouble, I would have brought my rifle."
9- Beware the man who only has one gun. He probably knows how to use it.

≈≈

Memo to Reid, Pelosi, Murtha, Kucinich, et al.:
If you can't stand behind our troops, try standing in front of them!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

MAYBE MY LAST PRE-CHRISTMAS POST

(or not)

"The congressional leaders ran in the last election on a promise that they would curb earmarks. And they made some progress and there's more transparency in the process. But they have not made enough progress. "The bill they just passed includes about 9,800 earmarks. Together with the previously passed defense spending bill, that means Congress has approved about 11,900 earmarks this year."

President George W. Bush, 12/20/07

***

Lawmakers finally came to agreement Wednesday on a spending measure to hand Bush a partial victory over Iraq War funding, allotting $70 billion in emergency war funding. Democrats had pushed to strip out all money for combat operations in Iraq, but Bush had asked for nearly $200 billion.

***

Democrats are attempting to claim that they had LESS earmarks than in the prior, Republican-led Congress. It isn’t true and of course, they know that but math, as we’ve had cause to discover is not their strong suit. Bear in mind the “thousands” of scientists who support Gore’s global warming fiction? Turns out there are 53 of them. Hyperbole, thy residence is on the left!

Tax and spend is what the Dems know. Playing the race card is what the Dems know. Bold-faced lies – Dems do it out of REFLEX these days.

Counting properly – this the Dems do NOT know how to do!

Here’s the deal, folks – the Dems do NOT want to win in Iraq and they do NOT (regardless of what they SAY) support the troops. How much money was involved in those self-serving piles of pork they approved? Probably enough to give the President (and the troops) a more suitable amount of funding. But then, that wouldn't suit their BDS-driven agenda, would it?

They are dishonest, corrupt and on their best day self-serving.

Those Republicans and Conservatives who “sat on their hands” to “teach the Republicans a lesson” in 2006, may you burn in hell for loosing these maggots on our nation.

***

And to whoever is responsible for the outrageous intent of the NYT vis-à-vis Senator John McCain (and I think their nicknames are OINK and BOINK), you definitely will be burning in hell!

Got a question – is it possible that Bubba is showing early signs of Alzheimer’s? I'm just saying.

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED!

Gee Aaron, I hardly know what to say at such a munificent gift!

1. Wrapping or gift bags?
Gift bags - I am wholly incompetent in the gift wrapping department!

2. Real or artificial tree?
Because of the cat (whose curiosity is legendary but whose agility is somewhat lacking), a small, prelit, artifical tree that can be put up out of reach. It is decorated with a multitude of cat-related ornaments because cats are one of my passions.

3. When do you put up the tree?
When I feel the urge to do it. Probably this Saturday afternoon.

4. When do you take the tree down?
January 6th - "little Christmas" as my mother used to call it. We're Byzantine Catholic and that's REALLY our Christmas.

5. Do you like eggnog?
I detest the stuff! Now I could really GO FOR a Bloody Mary any time!

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Ice Skates - my first pair, which led to thousands of dollars being poured into the sport over the next 12-14 years because once I tried it - I was HOOKED, I tell you, HOOKED!

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
We Catholics have the nativity scene to remind us of the REASON for the SEASON.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Always was grateful for anything I received. My parents weren't encouraging to relatives who wanted to spoil me rotten - extravagant gifts were firmly DISCOURAGED but something as simple as a pair of knit gloves from Aunt Ida Kiplinger were treasured - especially because she always stuck a few pennies in the fingers and a few wrapped peppermints in the thumbs!

9. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I send cards to people who send me cards. And I will be getting my cards out this weekend, I swear!

10. Favorite Christmas movie?
A Christmas Carol (love that Scrooge!)

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I tend to pick up (and give) gifts throughout the year and don't really give Christmas gifts per se. Instead, I cook or bake things for people.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Dear Linda's lasagna and my own stuffed cabbage. Coincidentally, that's what each of us is making this year. I'm going to her house where we'll eat, watch DVDs and relax with the menagerie - then split the leftovers and each take half. [I will post the recipe for my stuffed cabbage this weekend on my blog if friend Michael can get my home computer modem replaced.]

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
I'm so over the clear or white lights. Not cheerful enough - give me multicolored every time. And remember those BUBBLE LIGHTS? If I could get my hands on some of those, I'd even consider getting a bigger [fake] tree for next year!

14. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night and Silent Night - both were my late mother's favorites as well. Oddly enough, whenever I hear anyone singing Silent Night in any language, I HEAR IT in Hungarian! How odd is that?!

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.

3. Tag random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Moving right along, I am tagging: The Anchoress, Sissy and Laura Lee

VISCOUNT MONCKTON ON THE "GLOBAL WARMING" CONFERENCE IN BALI

Don't you just love a lucid commentator? Following is an excerpt from Viscount Monckton's report on the goings-on at the global warming conference in Bali:

"As with the 35 errors in Gore’s movie, so with the 50 in his speech to the zombies in Bali, comfortably exceeding his personal best – all the errors tend towards an extreme and scientifically-unwarranted exaggeration of the imagined threat posed by “global warming”. The zombies, of course, lapped up every word handed down from on high by Baron Thursdi (Gore), for Bali was a science-free, fact-free zone, question-free zone. The probability that all 43 of Gore’s latest errors could have pointed by mere accident and ignorance in the direction of excessive alarm is less than one in a million billion.

Therein lies a danger that Gore has not yet seen. For he failed, yet again, to declare his financial interest before whipping up worldwide alarm with his trademark errors and exaggerations in Bali. He is a director of Lehman Brothers, a global finance house that wants to control the worldwide managed market in carbon-emissions trading. He founded his own “green” corporation, Generation Investment Management. He is a paid member of the Board of a renewable-energy company. In the UK, if he made a speech containing so many deliberate and unidirectional errors as he did in Bali, and if he failed to declare his financial interest, he would be committing a criminal offence. It is surely only a matter of time before a complaint is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, alleging that, through the numerous, extreme and scientifically-unwarranted exaggerations which Gore has relentlessly continued to peddle notwithstanding the warning in the UK judge’s verdict, he is in effect fraudulently promoting a false prospectors to potential investors. Indeed, his exaggerations are on such a scale, and have commanded such attention, and have done so much damage, that he may even have committed an offence under the Federal racketeering statute. I wanted to ask Gore about his failure to disclose his financial interest, but – as usual – he does not dare to take questions."

[emphasis Gayle's]

Viscount Monckton handles the “zombies” (his word – and a good one) in the best ways possible – with FACTS, ACCURACY and HUMOR.

There is nothing, nothing on earth, more dangerous than a messianic do-gooder with questionable intelligence and faulty research – and that would be your basic Albert Gore, Jr. – a man whose grades in college were LOWER than those of George W. Bush (as were John F. Kerry’s – so who is the dumb one) and who FLUNKED out of divinity school. Clearly, this is his only “respectable” means to fulfill his visceral need for adulation! Al Gore is both pathetic AND dangerous!

AMAZING UPDATE: Go to Townhall.com where you can read about how President Bush's intransigience on Kyoto has actually turned our nation into one of the least polluting nations on the planet! But don't expect the sheeplike MSM to publicize THAT!

Pelosi: Republicans `like' Iraq War

In an article written by Associated Press writer Charles Babington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi opined thus, yesterday:

Dec 13 02:23 PM US/Eastern

By CHARLES BABINGTONAssociated Press
Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lashed out at Republicans on Thursday, saying they want the Iraq war to drag on and are ignoring the public's priorities.

"They like this war. They want this war to continue," Pelosi, D- Calif., told reporters. She expressed frustration over Republicans' ability to force majority Democrats to yield ground on taxes, spending, energy, war spending and other matters.

"We thought that they shared the view of so many people in our country that we needed a new direction in Iraq," Pelosi said at her weekly news conference in the Capitol. "But the Republicans have made it very clear that this is not just George Bush's war. This is the war of the Republicans in Congress."

Asked to clarify her remarks, Pelosi backed off a bit. "I shouldn't say they like the war," she said. "They support the war, the course of action that the president is on." "And that was a revelation to me," she said, "because I thought the American people's voices were so—and still are—so strong in this regard."

Mrs. Pelosi, you ignorant leftwing dope, the American people didn’t vote the Democrats into the majority with a mandate to make this a nation of seditious cowards, trembling in a corner for fear the big bad wolf would huff and puff and blow our houses down. Americans were frustrated with the rampant spending of the previous Congress and at the atmosphere of shrill discord existing in our Nation’s Capitol.

Americans support our troops. Americans support SUCCESS in Iraq – something that is happening in spite of the cowardly cowering going on in our Congress.

Also, Mrs. Pelosi, where is it written that just because YOU and your looney cabal of leftwing zealots think something should be so, everyone should follow in lockstep? There's a REASON we have a two-party system, you dimwit! You are NOT the second coming of anything or anyone!

Madame Speaker, you seem to have no idea that every time you open your big fat, stupid yap, you give aid and comfort to those who would destroy our entire way of life. It is my earnest wish and prayer for 2008 that the American people have had enough of you and your ilk (and the poll numbers seem to say that they have) and will boot your sorry asses out of the U.S. Congress.

Stupid twit!

HERE FOLLOWS A LIST OF THINGS THAT CHAPPED MY HIDE IN 2007:

*All people throughout the country, in the mainstream media and in the political world, who are afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome. You are ALL demented loons and should be given lip gloss laced with Krazy Glue! Now and in perpetuity.

*The strong and pervasive scent of anti-Semitism in this “land of the free, home of the brave”, coupled with the distinct addition of a very anti-Christian attitude in public life and in the mainstream media.

*Mike Huckabee, you retracted the foul canard you directed at Mitt Romney’s religion – but it was still in your mind or you wouldn’t have said it in the first place. Any slight possibility that I would consider you as a Republican presidential candidate (we don’t need another Arkansas governor as president, thank you very much – especially not one who is a clearly-bigoted Baptist minister) vanished in a heartbeat.

*Hillary Rodham Clinton and her consort the former horndog in chief – how can I count the ways? Let’s start with their habit of rewriting history every 12 seconds. Bill Clinton SUPPORTED the Iraq War when it was going well, opportunistic liar that he is, but NOW he says that he didn’t. William Jefferson Clinton wouldn’t know a truth if it came up and bit him on his nose!

*Mayor Bloomberg of NYC and all other politicians who think that Americans need a “nanny” to tell them what to eat, what not to eat and everything in between. GET OVER YOURSELVES!

*Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Jack Murtha, Ted Kennedy and all the Democratic members of congress (and some Republicans – you know who you are Voinovich, Specter, et al.) who give them free rein to be anti-American seditious cowards on a regular basis, and dishonest with it which is the ultimate crowning insult! As always, I except the excellent Senator Lieberman from this condemnation. But the rest of you? You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves! You daily betray the country you swore to preserve, protect and defend.

*The mainstream media who give EVERY Democrat a free pass – particularly Hillary Rodham Clinton, aka The Spawn of Satan. This evil, dangerous leftwing presidential wannabe does, I think, literally get away with murder and nobody – nobody at all – calls her on it.

*Bill O’Reilly for being a bloviating gasbag who has taken sucking up to dishonest hucksters in public life almost an art form. Bill you’re 6’4+ – you’re going to pop a disc bending over to kiss all those butts! I notice that your pal Al Sharpton is finally getting the scrutiny he so richly deserves. It's a start.

*Albert Gore, Jr. for ramming his global warming hysteria down everyone’s throat to the detriment of third world citizens whose lives will be materially diminished due to ill-conceived, poorly executed efforts to avert a crisis that doesn’t exist.

*All the people who have been treating Albert Gore, Jr. like a demigod as he pedals his global warming religion throughout the world. Ever heard of critical thinking you morons? Clearly not.

*The secularists, one and all, who tried once again to ruin Christmas for the 94% of us who profess to believe in God. Here’s the deal – read the Amendment. All that it says is that no law shall be made regarding the “establishment” of a religion. Nothing whatsoever is said about this country being devoid of religious beliefs. In fact, an open minded study of the history of the times will clearly inform you that none of the Founding Fathers ever intended this to be anything other than a faith-based country.

*All those in this country illegally, GOODBYE! We didn't invite you into OUR HOME and we certainly didn't offer you MORE RIGHTS AND BENEFITS than are available to those of us who are here legally. You have the right to demand NOTHING from the citizens of this country. You do, however, HAVE THE RIGHT TO GET OUT! Take your drunk drivers, your gang members, your unwilling-to-speak English INVADERS who are not only too stupid or lazy to learn the language of this nation, but arrogant with it! If you don't like the country the way OUR COUNTRY is run, go back where you came from and reshape your own land to suit your requirements!

*Once again, although it is not politically correct to say this, to those immigrants who want to impose the standards and customs of their former countries on ours, I have only one thing to say to you: GET OUT! We do not need or want you in our country. If it was so peachy keen where you came from, why the hell did you leave and impose your sorry selves on US? This is AMERICA you ignorant morons. We speak ENGLISH. We respect each other (at least the vast majority of us do). We do not indulge in honor killings. We do not expect our women to walk 10 paces behind us, nor do we expect them to wrap themselves in burkas. In this country, it is a CRIME to beat up on your wife, your child, your neighbor or any person who happens to incite your wrath. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, in our Constitution or Bill of Rights that gives you a right not to be offended, nor is there anything that gives you any right to commit mayhem on anyone else!

*I believe in profiling. Those 19 murderers (let’s call them what they were, folks) were not from Sweden. They were swarthy, Middle Eastern men of a certain age bracket who had specific behavior models and heavy accents. They were believers in a specific religion, mired in the 7th century and its savagery, that has, over multitudinous centuries, waged war against the West and anyone whose values and beliefs are different than their own. Am I Islamaphobic? You bet! I think anyone who has even one functioning brain cell ought to be!

*HAPPY 2008!

PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA TO PISS OFF YOUR LOON-INFESTED BASE!

"We felt betrayed by the very people we helped to put into office. We have a particular break with the leadership of the Democratic Party," Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin said.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

AT LAST - SOME COMMON SENSE ON GLOBAL WARMING!

In an article in the Daily Mail (London) today, it is reported that the excellent Pope Benedict XVI is essentially saying “not so fast” to the ersatz global warming prophets of doom and suggesting that extensive scientific inquiry might be warranted before declaring impending doom. How refreshingly sensible and intelligent of him! How very adult!

While the prophet of doom (aka Albert Gore, Jr., high priest of faux science) seems to accept as “settled” his conclusions about the threat of global warming, I have been skeptical from his first utterance on the subject. This is a man who is on a “mission” and like many false prophets, he and his slavish devotees allow no discussion of alternative views.

I have repeatedly expressed total doubts about the threat of global warming, most especially because I well remember some 30 years ago when an impending ICE AGE was being predicted by the same nutbars and half-assed scientific types that now are screaming “Chicken Little – the sky is falling” to credulous buffoons who are too lazy to think for themselves, or incapable of doing so.

I have been a fan of Benedict XVI since his election as Supreme Pontiff and as a devout Catholic, I have followed his writings and speeches (get yourself a copy of his address at the University of Regensburg – the one that caused such a ridiculous fuss – it is astounding in its lucid research and reasoning - brilliant work) with great interest. It is my belief that, in his unique way, Benedict XVI will go down in papal history as a GREAT pope. Completely fitting for a Pope who loves both cats and Mozart!

DICK CHENEY IS RIGHT!

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says a swipe that Vice President Cheney took at Democratic House leaders is “beneath the dignity of his office.”

Capitol Hill was abuzz Thursday with discussion of the vice president’s assertion in an interview with Politico that House Democratic leaders had been surprisingly supine: “They are not carrying the big sticks I would have expected.”

Cheney added that when he served in the House, “We would not have had a Speaker who, from my perspective, is that far out of the sort of mainstream — she is a San Francisco Democrat, certainly entitled to her views, but able to dictate policy as effectively as she apparently does to the rest of the caucus.” "

So what, exactly, did the Vice President say that was so offensive, you whiney leftwing ineffective troglodyte? You have taken over the House of Representatives, Mrs. Pelosi, imposed your San Francisco, un-American values on the entire body which is supposed to represent the rest of us who do not SHARE your values. You have had the hubris to declare yourself "the most powerful woman in the world" - and I'm surprised that that statement didn't activate Hillzilla's "hit squad".

Let me put it another way, Mrs. Pelosi, I have a 28-pound cat who could lick any one of those wimpy-assed, seditious, idiotic "yes" men in the Democratic caucus and I'd be delighted to arrange for him to prove it! Sam has teeth and he has both the knowledge and the will to use them. Can you say the same for your "pets"?

DECEMBER 7, 1941 - A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY

My father and mother were moving the last of her possessions from Pittsburgh to Cleveland. They had just married in September of the previous year. They had stopped for gas when the news about the bombing of Pearl Harbor came across the radio. Since I was born in July of 1942, it's entirely possible that I was already a little bun in the oven!

Both my parents were conservative Republicans and neither liked FDR even a little bit - but they always said that his speech to Congress was the best they'd ever heard. And give the politicians of that time full credit - NONE OF THEM were the quisling, defeatist cowards that our current crop have proven to be! Americans were just that - AMERICANS. We weren't hyphenated Americans in those days. And certainly none of them were demented enough to suggest doing cartwheels in the U.S. Senate! I always knew Harry Reid was a questionable patriot but until this morning I didn't know that he was dopey as well!

Many things on the American landscape have changed, some of them even for the better, but I'm not sure our national CHARACTER is even close to being equal to the character of those who comprised "the greatest generation" - among those fabulous people were my cousin Eddie Chupick and my Uncle Jumbo. My father served as a troubleshooter in defense plants (he was an engineer and thus uniquely qualified to be on the lookout for sabotage and stupidity). He later said that stupidity was much more common, so in that respect I think probably we haven't changed a great deal.

Even all these years later, those who died at Pearl Harbor and in World War II which followed are and should be honored and mourned by all of us. In my family, we do have one cause for celebration. My mother's nephew Ernie met a beautiful and utterly charming British woman named Lucy while he was stationed in England. He married her and brought her home to us and she was a gift to us then and "at a certain age" she is still a gift to our entire family. And thanks to Ernie and Lucy - I have my 3 beloved cousins Debbie, Ernie and Scott and their wonderful families.

DID HE HAVE ME AT "HELLO"?

Maybe not at "hello" but Mitt Romney's speech yesterday showed me a man who has a lot more going for him than his looks. While I may not be fully ready to support his presidential ambitions, he HAS convinced me to study the man and his record more closely, something I was disinclined to do before yesterday.

So Pat - I'm still on the fence - McCain isn't totally out of the picture, but Mitt is growing on me. I do not like or trust Huckabee. And do we really need another ARKANSAS politician in the White House? I think not.

BE PREPARED TO LAUGH!

Head on over to Lifelike Pundits but be sure to have your earphones on and be prepared to laugh while a brilliant video makes its point with totally appropriate, rib-tickling humor! As always, Aaron displays succinct and intelligent judgment in posting this hysterical video!

RIGHTS vs. RESPONSIBILITIES

It’s December and we’ve had nearly a year of the Democratically controlled Congress. Reid and Pelosi proclaimed that they were going to reverse all the Bush Administration “abuses” within the first 100 days. They proclaimed that Congress would be in session five days per week, all day! They proclaimed a great many initiatives that would be accomplished during that time frame.

None of that has happened.

Despite a plethora of ill-conceived attempts, nothing major in the way of legislation has been accomplished. This, to my mind, is a good thing. Most of what the Dems proposed was witless, lacking in foresight and thoroughly un-American, informed as it was by multiple advanced cases of Bush Derangement Syndrome.

You know the interesting thing is, while the Dems were flapping about and making overly ambitious plans to redesign the American landscape as we have known it (for over 200 years), the President went about his business quietly and now what do we have?

Pollsters report that the approval rating of the U.S. Congress is at 11%. And while the President’s poll numbers (about which he does not care – refreshing in and of itself) are still in the high 30s, the economy, contrary to almost daily dire predictions of doom, just keeps ticking along. People have made the statement to me, as recently as this past weekend, that “the economy is in bad, bad shape” and I have asked for specific examples – which they cannot give. What it boils down to is that these incurious dopes have read something negative in the Washington Post (aka Pravda on the Potomac) or the New York Times (“All the news fit to line your trash can – don’t be unkind to your bird!”) and have accepted it as gospel. DON’T DO THAT!

Last night in the car pool, there was a heated discussion of the news media and the perception of the other riders in the car pool that we have freedom of speech and freedom of the press and the media can do what it likes! My rejoinder was simple. No, damn it, they cannot. Just as freedom of speech does NOT allow you to yell “Fire” in a crowded theatre, freedom of the press does not permit falsehood being marketed as news. Marketing OPINION under the guise of NEWS/FACTS is an egredious offense. But until (a) more people understand the RESPONSIBILITies that accompany the RIGHTS afforded the news media and (b) start raising hell at the top of their lungs in MASSIVE numbers (whilst refusing to patronize the offending media outlets) when those responsibilities are not honored – nothing is going to change.

Oh yes, and just in case you believe Harry Reid (why believe him about anything when he is incapable of speaking the truth), here’s a news flash for you, free of charge: THE FREAKING SURGE IS WORKING! President Bush and General Petraeus were RIGHT and Senators Reid and Clinton were WRONG (although they are wrong so often, it hardly merits a comment).