Monday, March 31, 2008

CONGRATULATIONS, HYNSIE!

Oh yes, and congratulations Senator McCain. It's a terrific article and testimony to the burgeoning power of the blogsphere.

But I cannot help but be reminded of the late governor of Ohio, James Rhodes, who didn't know the Young Republicans existed, except when he was running for office! Here's hoping Senator McCain has a better memory.

Pat Hynes was one of the earliest voices encouraging me to start my own blog. So this recognition of him is doubly pleasing to me.

Thursday, March 27, 2008


IT ISN’T AS MUCH FUN AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!

Watching the Dems eat their own is not nearly the fun I imagined it would be. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a certain sick fascination as their various outright lies and evasions are revealed. And there is also the stupendous revulsion when so-called newsmen like Chris Matthews make the most offensive, sexual insinuations about his reaction to one of the candidates. And finally, I simply find it amazing that any Democrat is taking either of these two, horrendously unqualified candidates seriously!

I have to question Barack Hussein Obama’s judgment when he continues to attend a church with a [now former] pastor as indefensibly racist, intolerant and anti-American as Rev. Jeremiah Wright. What’s even more offensive to me is that Senator Obama is making excuses for his pastor’s hate-filled rhetoric and those excuses don’t stand up to even the most cursory scrutiny. You have been a member of Rev. Wright's congregation for 20 years, Senator, and you didn't know that he was a race-baiting anti-Semite? Give me a break!

Senator Obama’s views on race relations come into question when he does not hesitate to throw his white grandmother “under the bus” while in defense of someone who is, plain and simple, a race-baiting and hate-filled megalomaniac. Why do Jewish Democrats support Barack Obama when he continues to attend a church that was, until recently, led by an avowed anti-Semite?

Our Hillary is in the habit of making grandiose claims about her background and experience that don’t stand up to scrutiny for even a day. Does anyone really believe that she didn’t know about her husband’s frolics with “that woman . . Ms. Lewinsky” until a few days before he finally fessed up to the rest of America? Did anyone really buy that story that she has “always been a Yankees fan”? Did anyone really believe that she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary – five years before he successfully climbed Mount Everest? Has anyone with a functioning brain cell ever bought into her claims to have foreign affairs experience?

Why don’t we question Hillary’s judgment when she is photographed kissing Sufa Arafat, the wife of terrorist leader Yasser Arafat after a 1999 speech where just Mrs. Arafat made the incendiary claim that Israel has poisoned Palestinian children????

Senator Obama’s legislative resume is virtually nonexistent, but then on that score, he and Hillary Rodham Clinton score a virtual tie. Other than running for President practically non-stop since November 2006, what legislative accomplishments can either point to? Almost none.

The fact is that both these candidates are running for the Presidency not because they feel they can best preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, but rather because they have decided that they are entitled to the office. What is frightening to me is that one of them will be nominated and at that point, one of them might be elected.

Pray for our nation and campaign to keep both of these fatuous, leftist goons out of the White House.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

THE EXCELLENT BENEDICT WILL BE IN

WASHINGTON, D.C. NEXT MONTH!

The excellent Pope Benedict XVI will be in D.C. next month and will celebrate Mass at the new Washington Nationals stadium during his visit. I very much suspect that he will draw a crowd far larger than will the baseball team – and rightly so.

Pope Benedict garnered headlines during Easter observances when he very publicly baptized with his own hands, and publicly, one Magdi Allam, who chose the baptismal name “Christian”.

As the inimitable and brilliant Anchoress put it:

“Magdi Christian Allam — or Christian Allam, however this very brave man wishes to style it — told reporters, after receiving baptism, confirmation and his first Holy Communion, “this is the happiest day of my life,” and he also had a few words to say about the current state of Islam.

Christian Allam knows that he is now a target, that in some extremist quarters his conversion is seen as justification for his death.

But Christian Allam is now justified by Christ.

I am sure the timing of this baptism was no accident. And I have read more than a few comments suggesting Christian Allam go into hiding, somewhere. But I doubt he will. He seems made of tough stuff.

Christian Allam now feeds on the Body and Blood of Christ - through his veins the blood runs both royal and supernatural. If Christian Allam is now killed for his faith he knows his place in eternity; he knows, too, that anyone stupid enough to murder him for his faith will speed Christian Allam’s way to heaven wearing a martyr’s crown - and a true martyr eats not the golden raisin nor plunders the numerous virgins; he becomes a saint in heaven, and an inspiration. He also becomes an intercessor-in-prayer for the rest of us.”

As an American, and more than that as a Catholic American, I am looking forward to at least being in the same city with this remarkable and holy man!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

According to Jake Tapper on ABC News, a Democratic Party Official Claims that Hillary Clinton Will Soon Be Pursuing 'The Tonya Harding Option'

March 25, 2008 3:44 PM

l just spoke with a Democratic Party official, who asked for anonymity so as to speak candidly, who said we in the media are all missing the point of this Democratic fight.

The delegate math is difficult for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, the official said. But it's not a question of CAN she achieve it. Of course she can, the official said.

The question is -- what will Clinton have to do in order to achieve it?

What will she have to do to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in order to eke out her improbable victory?

She will have to "break his back," the official said. She will have to destroy Obama, make Obama completely unacceptable.

"Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the 'Tonya Harding option.'" the official said. "Is that really what we Democrats want?"

The Tonya Harding Option -- the first time I've heard it put that way.

It implies that Clinton is so set on ensuring that Obama doesn't get the nomination, not only is she willing to take extra-ruthless steps, but in the end neither she nor Obama win the gold.

Despite the fact that this primary campaign has gone on for far too long, it’s starting to get fascinating at long last!

TUESDAY MORNING RUMINATIONS

Hillary Clinton: In order to be a really great liar, you have to have a really good memory. Hillary? Not so much! If she had remembered that CBS News accompanied her to Bosnia, she would have embroidered the truth a whole lot less. Then again, maybe she was counting on the press to cover her back as it used to do in the PB (pre-Barack) days?

Kwame Kilpatrick is due to be arraigned this morning on the various charges being asserted against him and due to that arraignment, I actually heard a Democrat say something that made me stop in my tracks. CBS News was interviewing the prosecutor who will be handling the case and without prompting she opined: “It isn’t just about sex, it’s about lying under oath, obstruction of justice and misuse of government resources.” HUH? Isn’t that what Republicans were saying way back when Bill Clinton was being impeached?

Monday, March 24, 2008

WORLD FIGURE SKATING CHAMPIONSHIPS

To say that the results were a major disappointment for our country is understatement. On the other hand, that we (or any nation for that matter) would expect our athletes to ALWAYS bring home gold medals is both unfair to the athletes and also unrealistic in the extreme. That said, here’s my assessment, such as it is:

Ladies:

Despite imperfect short and long programs, the victor was Japan’s Mao Asada. She is a charming sprite of a young woman who, with maturity, may remain a force to be reckoned with. Carolina Kostner, a skater who does not impress me, won the silver. Both Mao Asada and this year’s bronze medalist Yu-Na Kim of South Korea, who is 20 days older than Asada, sat out the 2006 Olympic Games because they were both three months too young. But I can’t help but consider that three U.S. skaters, all too young to compete at Senior World’s (including U.S. Champion Mirai Nagasu) just finished going 1-2-3 in the World Junior Championships. What concerns me is that there seems to be some serious burnout going on with the ladies, none of whom seem to have the staying power (perhaps because of the too-much-too-soon syndrome) of say, a Michelle Kwan. One can only wait and wonder. But the bad news is that because of how poorly the U.S. team performed, the U.S. can only send 2 ladies to next year’s World Championships.

Men:

Jeffrey Buttle skated brilliantly in both his short and long programs to win gold. He is the first Canadian world championship since the days of the extraordinary Elvis Stojko.

I have always been super critical of Johnny Weir, less for his flamboyance and more for his lack of focus and self-discipline. For the entire past season, Mr. Weir has been displaying none of his previous behaviors, he has been training seriously and has been entirely focused on his skating. His infatuation with all things Russian led to him changing coaches to the extremely successful Tatiana Tarasova and her son in law Viktor Petrenko, and it has worked. He definitely earned his bronze medal and I foresee many and better things ahead for him. More important than even Weir’s bronze medal (the only medal earned by any American), is the fact that because he placed third and Steven Carriere placed 10th, three men will be able to represent the U.S. at the 2009 World Championships. Brian Joubert skated surprisingly well considering his recent and very serious encounter with a most resistant virus which wholly sapped his strength for many weeks, rendering practice impossible. And let’s face it, Joubert is definitely the sexiest male skater in the world today! Next year, if Evan Lysacek is healthy, the men's event should be really exciting!

Pairs:

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany won the pairs title at the World Figure Skating Championships, and given the unending controversy surrounding their coach, Ingo Steuer which must cast a pall over their training, I cannot begrudge them their victory in any way. I was, however, sad to see China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao beaten. Canada's Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison won the bronze. America’s Rena Inoue and John Baldwin and Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski, skated competently but I do believe that our chances next year (only 2 pair may compete in 2009) will be markedly improved if Inoue and Baldwin retire (and they should) and our U.S. Champions who were too young to compete this year, Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker and Castile and Okolski represent our country.

Ice Dance:

Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder won the gold medal. I’m happy for them. Maybe now they’ll go away! I have never liked their skating. At least this year her rather severe patent leather hairdo reflected the chilly reserve they have always exhibited in competition – technically precise and utterly removed from both the emotion of their performance and the audience for whom they are supposed to be skating.. Clearly, skating together for 18 years has paid off for them on a technical level.

On the other hand, I cannot say enough good things about the beautiful skating of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir of Canada who won the silver medal. They are exquisite and technically brilliant. I am underwhelmed (and then some) by the overly flamboyant, technically deficient pair of Jana Khokhlova and Sergei Novitski, who won the bronze. If they are the future of Russian ice dance, it’s in big, big trouble!

Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto disappointed themselves and their fans by placing 4th. And maybe that’s a good thing. Belbin and Agosto have made no secret of the fact that they are pacing themselves toward the 2010 Olympics. Better a setback of this kind now, than next year in the run-up to the Olympics! And U.S. ice dancers will have three 2009 worlds spots, with up-and-coming Meryl Davis and Charlie White finishing sixth.

It was a great, self-indulgent weekend of enjoying figure skating! And next weekend the “special performances” will be broadcast, and that’s enjoyable. I recorded all of the action and can replay it when the temps outside are 90° to create the illusion of cooler climes!

Congratulations to all who competed. To even make it to the World Championships is an amazing achievement. And to all of you who’d like to see next year’s World’s in person – they are in Los Angeles and you can start planning your trip now by going to www.dashtours.com where I am also exploring the possibility of being there in person – blogging live!

Friday, March 21, 2008

DO NOT EVER DO BUSINESS WITH DIRECTTV!


When I first moved to Virginia, I had DirectTV installed at my new home. The service was appallingly bad (every little breeze seemed to whisper "no service") and the costs, rather than the amount promised, were always at least $20-$30 higher than agreed. Finally, in frustration, I canceled the DirectTV Service and went with Cox Cable.

Imagine my surprise when I checked my bank balance this morning and discovered that the money needed to pay for my car repairs which had been resting quietly in my bank account, was suddenly GONE due to DirectTV, without authorization and without my foreknowledge, raided my bank account for $257+!

I did not have a contract, but DirectTV is claiming I did. There is absolutely nothing I can do about it at this juncture except to warn everyone that they are SCAM artists who can deliver POOR SERVICE and still collect more than was originally agreed to on a regular basis!

DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO DIRECTTV. Let my experience with these hucksters be your warning!

Thursday, March 20, 2008

BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA - BLAH, BLAH, BLAH!


Apparently the foaming-at-the-mouth hate-filled sermons of his pastor of 20 years aren't supposed to make us wonder about the true beliefs and intentions of candidate for the Democratic nomination, Barack Hussein Obama, 1st Term Senator representing the State of Illinois (when he can be bothered to show up and when he can be persuaded to do more than vote “present”).

Recently, the Candidate gave a lengthy speech that was intended to calm the furor over some of the Rev. Wright’s more incendiary sermons, many of which appear to me to be somewhat more political than religious in content. Where is the IRS in all of this and shouldn’t they be dealing with Rev. Wright’s church’s tax-exempt status?

Once again, despite his stated aims of keeping race out of the conversation, Senator Obama’s actions and associations inject the subject directly into the political process. And, despite the Senator’s attempts to blame us nasty old conservatives for this latest brouhaha, this one’s on you Senator. All on you!

First your lady wife opines that only IF you are elected President will she be able to feel proud of America. What a condescending, not to mention asinine point of view for someone whose husband aspires to lead this nation! Michelle Obama grew up privileged (despite her protestations to the contrary) and is still living a very privileged life. She is better off than at least 90% of her fellow countrymen, be they black, white, Latino or Asian and she’s got the unmitigated gall to play the VICTIM card? That’s chutzpah, lady!

As for you, Senator, you were raised in extreme comfort in Hawaii of all places, by two loving WHITE grandparents who saw to it that you had the best of everything. So of course you thank them by spouting the inevitable bullshit victim line of gab! I’m sorry – if you went to Harvard, you ain’t no victim, Senator!

Here’s the deal, Senator: You aren’t a dewy eyed kid and your treacle-laden rhetoric is starting to wear thin with a lot of people – even some of those who have been slavishly adoring you for no discernible reason. Time to come clean because these are not times for taking a chance on insubstantial clouds of obfuscation. The American people have the right to know precisely what they’re buying if they choose to vote for you. I don’t give a rat’s eardrum how well you speak, I want some content, dammit!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORONS MARCHING, COME TO THE DISTRICT!

Today our Nation’s capital is being treated to the more-than-questionable joys of multiple protests being held all over the place by anti-war/anti-capitalism/anti-who-knows-what protesters. I don’t know what bonehead issued permits for protesters to bedevil sane, hard-working, law-abiding citizens during the work week, but the person in the District’s bureaucracy who is responsible should have his/her derriere kicked by every single citizen who was irritated or inconvenienced by this asinine rabble.

This, from the protesters' website:
"Twenty-four hours from when we began, we will gather at the Reflecting Pool on the West side of the Capitol at 5:00 PM and march with pots and pans in a cacophony of resistance to the Democratic National Committee Headquarters. Here we will make it clear that we hold them accountable for the death, destruction and lies and that we will . . . continue to take action and intervene in their business until our call for peace is honored and all of our troops come home."

So they started at 5:00 p.m. yesterday, which means they have screwed up TWO return trips home for people who have worked hard all day and who have usually endured a wretched commute IN and will, thanks to these self-involved morons, enjoy a similarly unpleasant commute home. My only comfort is that this time the ignorant horde is pissed off at the Democratic Party! What unbelievably sanctimonious arrogance!

I’m sure taxicab drivers are quickly reaching critical mass, since these petulant idiots are doubtless impairing the taxicabs’ ability to earn a living as well! What we'll face heading home is anybody's guess. Hopefully the pinheads won't create any problems for our progress home.

Why do these offensive twits all show up in our Nation’s capital looking like unmade beds? Do they EVER bathe? Do they believe it makes their activities more persuasive if nobody dares get downwind of them? Do they think that those of us who earn the money that makes it possible for them to be parasitical nincompoops deserve no basic courtesy?

Here’s my bottom line: These activities will accomplish not one blessed thing because however many pathetic losers show up to “march with pots and pans in a cacophony of resistance” they are a negligible percentage compared to the Americans who understand the reality of the world as it is – not as these brain dead cretins imagine the world to be. We cannot defeat radical Islamo fascism by joining hands and singing “Kumbaya”. All yesterday and today’s activities will accomplish is to once again send the wrong message to our enemies who fail to grasp the true workings and nature of the American Republic, not to mention pissing me off!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

SPITZER HAS RESIGNED

There is now a lot of conversation along the lines that this entire Spitzer situation will be detrimental to a huge extent to the presidential aspirations of Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clearly she is down one superdelegate – but how else should this harm her? She didn’t give Spitzer the money during the past ten years in order for him to patronize whores, nor did she encourage him to do so. Ergo, how is it something that should cause harm to her campaign? I’m just saying.

While I will grant that one cannot help but hearken back to the peccadilloes of Madame’s erstwhile horndog spouse, I find myself somewhat offended by the entire notion that the actions of a third-party should be considered a black mark against a presidential candidate. Hold Hillary responsible for her actions, positions, agenda and speech, absolutely. Do likewise with both Obama and McCain, as well.

Likewise, Democrats seem to be willfully misunderstanding what Geraldine Ferraro said about Obama. Am I the only one who understands that what was said is that, given Obama’s rather miniscule resume of public service and non-existent knowledge of foreign affairs (ala the disastrous Jimmy Carter), not to mention his not-even-one-term as U.S. Senator – and the fact is that he is completely unqualified on any objective basis for the office he seeks and the only reason he IS being considered is BECAUSE he is the “flavor of the month” – that is, an exceptionally skillful public speaker who happens to be half black and half white? The problem is that Mrs. Ferraro didn’t go far enough in what she said. I don’t think HILLARY would be considered qualified either, based on HER resume, were it not for the fact that she’s a woman! And former first lady.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

SHAME ON YOU, ELIOT SPITZER!


Given your sanctimonious mien over the years, people can and should be forgiven for finding your current predicament more than a little delicious! That being said, shame on you!

When you marry, current cultural nonsense aside, you make certain VOWS (aka solemn pledges) to your spouse and one of those is fidelity. Now I realize that situational ethics are a big deal to Democrats – but to most women fidelity means you keep your woo-woo in your trousers unless you are planning to indulge in spousal conviviality!

Already it is clear from the various news sites that Democrats are going to fall back on that old standby that they think has served them so well in the past – it’s just sex! Guess what folks – that probably isn’t going to work in this case. Here’s the deal. It is NOT just about sex. It is about violation of Federal law on a number of important levels – let’s start with the Mann Act since you caused your illicit booty to be transported across state lines. Then there’s the matter of engaging in prostitution activities as a “john” – that’s also illegal. And from the indictment (which I have read in its entirety) and the various news reports, you were a repeat offender!

You have not yet resigned and you should – forthwith. And that trifling excuse for an apology needs some serious expansion and sincerity. As to your wife – she doesn’t need to accept your apology and I hope she doesn’t! The example that you have set for your three daughters is appalling. And you are indeed fortunate that you aren’t the spouse of any of the women in my car pool – you’d have been giving your “apology” from an emergency room where doctors worked feverishly to remove a cast iron frying pan which has justifiably been embedded in your head!

Wednesday, March 05, 2008

HAS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY COMPLETELY LOST ITS MIND?

That would be my guess as I contemplate the latest infamia brought to us by the moronic twits at the RNC! Bad enough that the Republicans in Congress were such spineless wimps that they blew their first real majority in both houses so completely, leading to the debacle of the 2006 election. It's bad enough that the Republican majority allowed the Democratic minority to basically remove their cojones pretty consistently over the past 7-8 years. And of course, the now-assured nomination of RINO John McCain hasn't exactly warmed the cockles of conservative Republican hearts.

Now, this!

I'm telling you folks, it's enough to make me retch!