Category: Republican

Sullivan on Hillary

An interesting assessment, although a bit over blown, I believe.

Quote:

Senator Clinton did all she needed to do: thanked everyone and unequivocally endorsed and supported Barack Obama. One theme stuck out to me: she essentially said that even though she was careful to avoid ever saying that she was running because she was a woman and that people should vote for her because she is a woman, that’s what she believes in private. That’s the theme she spoke of most compellingly. She is Ellen hwave Malcolm’s spiritual sister. In the end, Clinton remains wedded to the identity politics of her generation and her time. It’s a powerful message  after so many long decades and centuries in which women have been denied full equality in law and society. It’s a necessary message and a moral message. But it becomes circular and self-defeating when it becomes its own rationale.

I think history will show that she didn’t quite have the talent to do it on her own steam, but that she made it much easier for another woman to become president one day. Her two biggest problems: She first married a man who was her political superior and was then defeated by one. She is a very talented politician but it was her fate to find her career hemmed in by two even more talented ones: Bill and Barack. She made up for it all with enormous hard work, diligence and ruthlessness. At any other moment, she would have won. But this is history and politics at the highest level. You cannot defeat such a moment if you are a Salieri. And she had to deal with two Mozarts.

Buh-bye – "Yes She Did" – (Via The Daily Dish By Andrew Sullivan)

I somewhat agree with this, But I wouldn’t compare Hillary to Salieri or even her competitors to Mozart. The reason Hillary’s campaign failed is because of the abject idiots who were running the show. Mark Penn, Patty Solis Doyle, the factions within the campaign, the leaks of the infighting, and the list goes on and on…

The honest truth is that Hillary Clinton somehow or another thought that because her husband was the former President, that she somehow was just going to waltz into the nomination for President, however when Barack Obama jumped out front, and beat Hillary in a few of the primaries, Hillary’s campaign had zero clue as to how to deal with it.

Not to mention the fact that Hillary’s campaign, when threatened, began to play the feminist card, the race card, the fear-mongering card, the “Obama is a Muslim” Card, and every other damn card out there, only to see it fly back in their face and hurt their campaign.

Lastly, Hillary Clinton lost for a very simple reason. Because of what she represents, and that is old politics. The Clintons are yesterday’s news, the old kind of Politics, the “slash and burn” style of elections, and people saw that, (I say this in a honest tone and not mockingly….) they really want change, hope, and a new direction, and I am afraid that Hillary was seen as someone from the old school of Politics. She, as some felt, represented the 1990’s era of Liberalism, and people wanted something new. 

Oddly enough, it sounds to me like Sullivan is delivering a final swift kick in the rear, rather than offering an object Political assessment……..and he gets paid for this? Quite bizarre, if you ask me.

Others: PoliGazette, Outside The Beltway, Corrente, Cliff Schecter, Fumbling Toward Divinity, About.com US Politics, Power Line, Comments from Left Field, Taylor Marsh and Crooks and Liars (H/T Memeorandum)

Keith Olbermann’s Worst Person in the World.

 

Silver: AP for Publishing Biased Articles

Bronze: Bill O’. for using NewsBusters Articles for his show.

Gold: Senator Joe Lieberman for referring to the Democratic Party as the Democrat Party.

Mary Katharine Ham does her last HamNation…..

I must confess, I am a distant admirer of Mary Katharine Ham.

The first thing I really thought, when I first laid eyes on MKH was, “What the fuck is a hot looking woman like that doing writing about Politics?” I mean, Politics is a damn sewer. Not the usual place you’d find hot women, like MKH hanging around.

If she happens to read this, I wish her the very best on the new gig. I hope that she puts up a personal Blog or something.

I guess this means that I won’t get the free townhall magazine anymore. *pout*

Too damn Beautiful for Politics! Hubba Hubba!

Others: Comments from Left Field, NewsBusters.org, No More Mister Nice Blog, Hot Air, BLACKFIVE and Jonathan Martin’s Blogs

From the “WTF?!?!?!?!?!?” File……

This is seriously messed up…

Muslim Extremist’s Web Site Stirs Mixed Emotions in Charlotte, N.C. (via FOXNews.com)

 

The Video:

 

In a quiet, upscale neighborhood in Charlotte, N.C., rows of custom-style homes and neatly landscaped lawns represent the American dream.

But one local resident has shattered that image, calling for the death of American troops in Iraq and supporting Al Qaeda through his Web site, which he reportedly runs from his parents’ home.

Samir Khan is the man behind Revolution.Muslimpad.com — a radical Islamic site that praises Usama bin Laden and asks for Allah to “curse more American soldiers.”

The site posts videos of U.S. Humvees being blown up by roadside bombs in Iraq. It aims to inspire young Muslims to wage war against the West.

Terrorism experts say the Web site, written in English, is one of the premiere sites for Western audiences to get access to radical Islamist propaganda.

Khan, 22, declined requests for an interview, even when approached outside his home with cameras rolling. When asked if the messages on his site represent Islam, Khan would say only that “they represent Muslims.”

In an e-mail sent to FOX News, Khan lashed out at the "arrogance" of the media, saying it should focus instead on converting to Islam. "When you go down in to the earth six feet deep, nothing will matter except what Religion you died upon," he wrote.

Following a FOXNews.com report last month profiling his Web site, Khan railed against "the Kuffaar" — non-believers — who wrote the article and affirmed his belief that jihad is "an Islaamic obligation" rooted in Muslim texts.

Words like those stir mixed emotions in Charlotte, among the general public and among the 8,000 Muslims who live there.

Imam Khalil Akbar, a religious leader in Charlotte, condemned Khan’s site, saying its views do not reflect “mainstream Islamic thinking” and do not represent the Muslim community at large.

“I would reject categorically those kinds of encouragements to look up to people like bin Laden,” Akbar said.

Neighbors described Khan — who immigrated to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia when he was 7 years old — as “friendly” and “reserved.” They said he launched his Web site while taking classes at Central Piedmont Community College and selling Cutco knives.

Abdullah Mahmud, an acquaintance of Khan’s who attends the same mosque, the Islamic Center of Greater Charlotte, defended Khan’s viewpoints, saying his anger stems from the United States’ foreign policy and occupation of Iraq.

Mahmoud said the blood-drenched videos Khan shows of U.S. soldiers injured in combat “serve the purpose of making the reality of the Iraqi scene visible to people.”

“Those videos are not much different than videos involving American soldiers targeting Iraqi civilians,” he said. “You have to look at both sides here.”

One of Khan’s neighbors, Ron Williams, also defended Khan’s right to free speech.

“Our actions (in Iraq) were interpreted broadly in the Muslim world as an attack on Islam,” Williams said, “I defend his right to speak out.”

But Jarret Brachman, director of research at West Point’s Center for Combatting Terrorism, said Khan’s call for violence takes his anti-American views one step further.

“To be unhappy with U.S. foreign policy is one thing, but to advocate violence by promoting Al Qaeda is another,” he said.

“This is the most sophisticated and aggressive Web site in English that really puts out bin Laden’s ideology and the message that’s promoted by Al Qaeda,” he added.

Brachman said Khan’s site "raises the threshold for what it means to be a good, pro-Al Qaeda Web site" and is "the best in English."

A graphic prominently displayed on the site shows a picture of Abu Yahya al-Libi, a prominent Al Qaeda spokesman whom Brachman calls “Bin Laden 2.0.”

“He’s the guy poised to take over the movement after bin Laden fades away,” Brachman said. “The fact that Khan would display him like he does means he’s trying not only to show he’s an insider, but also to model himself after him.”

The exact dangers his site poses are difficult to assess, experts said.

“It doesn’t necessarily move someone to action immediately, but it primes the pump,” Brachman said. “It gets somebody motivated to think more about Al Qaeda and so over the long term this is a very threatening message that he’s promoting.”

This is so screwed up, it’s not even funny.I know what I’m thinking, but because I don’t want to go to jail. I shall refrain from posting it here…

Who am I voting for?

Yesterday, I said that I was withdrawing my support for Chuck Baldwin. I also announced it in the “Chuck Baldwin” for President forum.

Needless to say, I was not prepared for such a response. I got the normal, “What? Are you crazy?” e-mails. I also got a few from a couple “Ron Paul” nut cases, telling me the Chuck Baldwin was Ron Paul 2.0. I also got a couple vulgar e-mails as well, and these from so-called “Christians”.

I dropped my support for Chuck Baldwin after reading his very silly idea of doing away with Taxes. Baldwin supporters tried telling me, that I don’t understand the Tax system in America. In the contrary, I understand it perfectly. It is the Chuck Baldwin and Ron Paul supporters who do not understand it, or don’t care to and would rather listen to the fairy tales of old fools who claim to be the hidden “Last Hope” for America, but rather in all reality, couldn’t save the broad side of a barn in a hail storm.

Now, back to the tax issue, this is how the tax system works in America. There are three different Taxes that are collected; they are Federal, State and Local.

Federal Taxes go to support Federal Projects, Paying Federal employees, and social programs, which I do not have an issue with, at all, as I am a Christian and I believe in giving to those in need. Unlike some, who claim to Christians and don’t wish to see any help given to the poor. How they can serve Christ and believe this way, is beyond me.

State Taxes Go to just that, The State, for fixing highways, paying state employees, and the like.

Local Taxes, Same deal as above. But for Local level…

Now here are some examples as to why we need a Federal Tax, State Tax and a Local Tax:

Your local city has a big road project, that they cannot afford to do themselves, so, they petition their State officials, “Hey, we need some HELP down here!”, and so, the local representative pushes a bill through to get assistance for the local city and the money comes down to them.

Your State has a road project, and there’s not enough money in the States funds to pay for it, your State officials contact their representative in Washington D.C. and says, “Hey! We need some help down here!” and they put through legislation to get some money down to the people at the state level. It is called, “Taking up the slack”, as most States and local cities, do not make the revenue from Taxes to pay for city and state projects and to pay the salaries of their employees.

Now that’s the truth, and please no more e-mail from the idiotic Ron Paul supporters, as I do not wish to read your idiot pipe dream garbage no more.

Yes, I pay my Taxes, Yes, I do know that it goes for the proper things. (like the huge road construction project happening near my house)

As to whom I am voting for in this election? No sure, at all, really. I may not vote at all, as I am not really happy with anyone running.

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A telling story about this war

You know, I have always been a Independent voice in the Blogging world. I don’t answer to either side. But there is one thing, even as a Conservative/Libertarian/Constitutionalist, or in just plain terms, a center right type of person. I cannot and will not gloss over this kind of a story.

This my friends, is Bush’s true legacy:

Seven months after Sergeant Christopher LeJeune started scouting Baghdad’s dangerous roads — acting as bait to lure insurgents into the open so his Army unit could kill them — he found himself growing increasingly despondent. "We’d been doing some heavy missions, and things were starting to bother me," LeJeune says. His unit had been protecting Iraqi police stations targeted by rocket-propelled grenades, hunting down mortars hidden in dark Baghdad basements and cleaning up its own messes. He recalls the order his unit got after a nighttime firefight to roll back out and collect the enemy dead. When LeJeune and his buddies arrived, they discovered that some of the bodies were still alive. "You don’t always know who the bad guys are," he says. "When you search someone’s house, you have it built up in your mind that these guys are terrorists, but when you go in, there’s little bitty tiny shoes and toys on the floor — things like that started affecting me a lot more than I thought they would." – America’s Medicated Army – (via TIME Magazine)

All that, because Bush acted on some very admittedly now, false intelligence and did not properly prepare for it. Unlike many of the Iraq War’s planning, these guys have to live with the scars, both mental and physical.  

This extremely sad story continues:

"In a Total Daze"
And yet the battlefield seems an imperfect environment for widespread prescription of these medicines. LeJeune, who spent 15 months in Iraq before returning home in May 2004, says many more troops need help — pharmaceutical or otherwise — but don’t get it because of fears that it will hurt their chance for promotion. "They don’t want to destroy their career or make everybody go in a convoy to pick up your prescription," says LeJeune, now 34 and living in Utah. "In the civilian world, when you have a problem, you go to the doctor, and you have therapy followed up by some medication. In Iraq, you see the doctor only once or twice, but you continue to get drugs constantly." LeJeune says the medications — combined with the war’s other stressors — created unfit soldiers. "There were more than a few convoys going out in a total daze."

About a third of soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq say they can’t see a mental-health professional when they need to. When the number of troops in Iraq surged by 30,000 last year, the number of Army mental-health workers remained the same — about 200 — making counseling and care even tougher to get.

"Burnout and compassion fatigue" are rising among such personnel, and there have been "recent psychiatric evacuations" of Army mental-health workers from Iraq, the 2007 survey says. Soldiers are often stationed at outposts so isolated that follow-up visits with counselors are difficult. "In a perfect world," admits Nash, who has just retired from the Navy, "you would not want to rely on medications as your first-line treatment, but in deployed settings, that is often all you have."

And just as more troops are taking these drugs, there are new doubts about the drugs’ effectiveness. A pair of recent reports from Rand and the federal Institute of Medicine (iom) raise doubts about just how much the new medicines can do to alleviate PTSD. The Rand study, released in April, says the "overall effects for SSRIs, even in the largest clinical trials, are modest." Last October the iom concluded, "The evidence is inadequate to determine the efficacy of SSRIs in the treatment of PTSD."

Chris LeJeune could have told them that. When he returned home in May 2004, he remained on clonazepam and other drugs. He became one of 300,000 Americans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffer from PTSD or depression. "But PTSD isn’t fixed by taking pills — it’s just numbed," he claims now. "And I felt like I was drugged all the time." So a year ago, he simply stopped taking them. "I just started trying to fight my demons myself," he says, with help from VA counseling. He laughs when asked how he’s doing. "I’d like to think," he says, "that I’m really damn close back to normal."

That which I just quoted, is President George W. Bush’s true legacy. How that man sleeps at night, knowing full well, that he has caused this, is beyond me.

I just truly hope, that the Republican Party has learned it’s lesson. I thought that they would have after Nixon. I guess, that I was wrong.

God Bless our suffering troops and those still in actions overseas now.

Others: VetVoice

From the Dept of “Ya Think?”

Senate Panel accuses Bush of Iraq Exaggerations.

Go read the story, and the go read the right wing spin, like from Jack Moss and the rest of Bush Cheerleaders.

The problem all that up there? Bush’s own Administration admitted that there were mistakes made. 

Reality bites, so bad for some, that they would rather live in some altered state of reality. It is truly a sad thing to watch, really. Some people just cannot admit, that their fearless, chickenhawk leader screwed up.

Not only is John McCain a bought out Political hack, but he’s also a thief.

This sad, very sad….

Is John McCain trying to be the older, whiter, more conservative Barack Obama?

On Tuesday, the Senator co-opted the slogan that has come to personify Obama’s candidacy, taking the Illinois Democrat’s "Change You Can Believe In" and altering it into "A Leader You Can Believe In."

The line donned McCain’s lime-green backdrop as he addressed supporters in Louisiana. During that speech, moreover, the Arizonan took his Obama-posing a step further, uttering the word "change" more than 30 times. Not that Obama can claim sole ownership of the word or idea, but still…

Now there is this. On Wednesday, the McCain campaign put out a new homepage, featuring his new, Obama-like slogan, and an image that seems uncannily similar to Obama’s trademark campaign logo – the red and white stripped valley under what appears to be a blue sun (or in McCain’s case, blue sun rays). Take a look. – McCain Rips Off Obama’s Slogan And Logo (via The Huffington Post)

I really have to wonder, what’s next? A theme song like this?:

Others: Daily Kos, Nukes & Spooks and Threat Level

In Short: Obama Clinches, Hillary does her swan song, and Grandpa McSame told a bedtime story.

My take on it all:

Obama sounded very Presidential, Hillary did the swan song thing…  She’s not making any decisions tonight. 

Grandpa McSame told another bed time story……Even the Conservatives/Republicans hated it! 

Of course, in the General, you can expect the attacks on Obama to continue.

Should be an interesting race, come this November.

I will be away tomorrow, Me and my Father will be out doing some work. So, I will be posting later in the afternoon. Until then….

Good Night and Good Luck

Chuck Baldwin: "In Praise Of Marriage And Parenting"

Taken from Here:

My wife Connie and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary yesterday. Outside of the decision to trust Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, my marriage to this wonderful woman was the best decision I ever made in my life. Connie has given me three terrific children, and they have given us six spectacular grandchildren. None of our kids has been hooked on drugs or alcohol. They have not been arrested or jailed. (Although, with the way our government is passing laws contrary to the principles of liberty and decency, it is getting increasingly more difficult for any of us to stay out of jail.) They are polite, respectful, and courteous Christians. Our daughters-in-law and son-in-law are absolutely magnificent. We are all as close as any family can possibly be. As far as I am concerned, no matter what else I achieve–or fail to achieve–in this world, the family that God has given me makes my life a success. Anything else pales in comparison.

In addition, it seems to me that far too many people in our country overlook the importance of child rearing. Many seem to feel that just about everything else–job, career, money, "success," etc.–occupies a higher priority than raising honest, God-fearing children. However, Connie and I decided years ago that raising our children would be a priority in our lives, and boy, we are glad we did!

I’ll say it straight out: it does not take a village to raise kids; it takes loving and courageous parents. Parents who are not afraid to discipline their children (yes, Martha, I mean old fashioned spanking: applying the board of education to the seat of knowledge); parents who are willing to spend time teaching their children right from wrong; parents who will take–not send–their children to church; parents who will pray with their children; parents who care more about truth and right than they do about being well-liked or politically correct; parents who will teach their kids to say "Yes, Sir," and "Yes, Ma’am"; parents who are not afraid to say "No" to their children; dads who think it is more important that they be a father to their sons than a "buddy"; and moms who would rather their daughters had pure hearts than popular friends.

How is it that when it comes to leadership expectations, most people ignore a man’s leadership at home? It is almost as if parental leadership is a complete non-factor in judging a person’s fitness for anything. Now, please do not get me wrong: I am not suggesting that bad children cannot come from good homes. Goodness, no! I have seen very vile young people come out of some of the most righteous homes, and likewise, I have seen some of the most wonderful and Godly young people come out of the most wretched homes. I am only saying that real leadership is established and proven in the home first. Yet, it does not appear that too many people give parental leadership a second thought anymore. Perhaps this explains much as to what has gone wrong in our society.

Yes, I am aware of the various and sundry political and societal attacks against marriage and parenting. I see the many battles in the "culture war." I see the attempts to redefine the meaning of marriage, to wrestle control and authority of the home away from the parents, and to bombard our children with ideas and philosophies that will ultimately ruin their lives. And, yes, it could come to a point that decent families will be forced to make the same kind of choices that our Pilgrim forebears had to make.

That said, however, the power of marriage and parenting is still the greatest force in the world. Good families can stem the tide of humanism, socialism, fascism, globalism, or any other "ism" that seeks to enslave us. Good families can preserve liberty and independence, fight off totalitarianism, resist corporate elitism, and promote faith and virtue. Good families are the backbone of our country’s greatness, and the lack of good families will be the cause of our country’s fall from greatness.

Greedy, power-mad politicians are no match for a generation of strong marriages. Young people with character and courage trump purveyors of pretension any day. One principled champion–trained and equipped by strong, stalwart parents–will put a thousand moral weaklings to flight.

While Pharaoh built his monuments, a humble Hebrew mother taught and nurtured her son, a little boy miraculously drawn forth from the watery reeds. That little boy became the deliverer of his people. It was a Godly mother and father that produced the prophet who would anoint the greatest king of Israel. It was a Spirit-filled mother and father who produced the forerunner of the Messiah. And it was a virtuous, principled mother–not a government agency, educational institution, or commercial enterprise–whom God chose to bring the Savior of mankind into the world.

Furthermore, while the potentates and governments of the earth gazed steadfastly upon the might and power of the British Empire, no one noticed the humble homes of Colonial America, where mothers and fathers worked by the light of hearth and candle to discipline, teach, and inspire a generation of patriots unlike the world has ever seen.

Strong, committed, principled parenting has done more to change the course of history, depose despots, promote righteousness, protect virtue, and secure liberty than all of the colleges, corporate boardrooms, and presidential palaces combined. And who knows? At this very moment, mothers and fathers across America could be nurturing and training the next generation of patriots who will rise up and restore the principles of liberty and greatness to our land? I will tell you this: if parents do not do it, no one else can.

Chuck Baldwin’s Personal Website

Chuck Baldwin for President Official Website