Food for Thought

This white paper from the Alliance Defense Fund makes very interesting reading. Maybe it is time for Christians to stop "turning the other cheek on this issue". If the government can't get it right on this subject, then its one more point where it has ceeded its legitimacy and authority, and if we accept it, then we deserve to have a country the founding fathers would fail to recognize.

Next time you hear Obama talk about failed economic policies...

...be prepared with a few "inconvenient facts" to present to him and his followers:



Worth every minute spent.

Another Reason Why Obama Is a Clownshoe.

Yeah, like we needed another reason, like the ones we have aren't good enough already. Apparently, he is once again sending the cease and desist letters to TV stations that are playing the current NRA ad that uses Obama's words against him. I know he has a truth problem, that being that the truth troubles him, but when he sends the letters, there is only one purpose in mind: itimidation. Now everyone knows that you an only be intimidated if you give someone the right to do so, and you are a fool to withhold that right from your betters, but Barry Obama isn't better than anyone. This is the guy who wants to be President, so he holds a press conference to say about the financial crisis "Call me if you need me." Yeah Barry, way to exhibit that "leading from behind" leadership.

And speaking of the financial crisis, I'm a little leary of letting the largest insurer in the nation fail, but I think they could do more with less of our money by taking the cap gains rate to zero for the next ten years and capping the corporate income tax rate at 10%, with serious requirements for corporations to conduct most if not all of their operations (manufacturing, accounting, distributing, etc.) here in the U.S. for the most favorable tax treatment. It'll never happen, of course. Spending our money is much more fun.

Wheeww.

Trial's done. We got it done in one day. Yea!
I liked the fact that the judge was paying attention. He actually had to stop testimony halfway through and get another note pad. I like it when they pay attention. Non jury trial, so he also asked a fair amount of questions himself. The best part? He complimented counsel (both) on doing an excellent job in presenting their respective cases, and stated that he thought every witness presented themselves well and were credible. He also noted that fact that our witnesses admitted when they could not remember, as the pertinent events took place four years ago.

No ruling today, but he confirmed at the end the points that he heard made clearly. While my client recognizes that we could still lose, they cannot say that they did not have their day in court.

Tired

Election crapola, and willfully blind leftists,
Financial Bailouts and Democrats with their hands out,
Mounting debts, and troubles on the wing,
These aren't a few of my favorite things.

I have a trial tomorrow and clients who need things,
I am just tired and the fat lady sings (at least until Rostta pushes her down),
These are a few of my least favorite things.

And Now, Its Time for the Carnival of "WRONG!"

Such an exciting week. We lead off with the Whatsisface Palin ticket making gains still, and in fact, making a strong showing the polls everywhere, including, of all places, New Jersey! The official Obama spin on this was, predicatbly, racism, specifically, white flight from the state. No explaination was given for why, exactly, this hurts Obama. Of course, this doesn't stop there. In addition to the usual "Shout 'em down because we can't fight 'em on substance" moves being made by the Obamabots, I was shown this, courtesy of the Rott:



The "your attitude provokes attacks" line was especially infuriating. Don't tell me that the sun is shining when the rain is running off my nose. It only pisses me off.

Then the Huff Poo printed a column by new-age charlatan Deepak Chopra about how Palin is all wrong for us, or some such crap. It was pretty difficult to read, and if I really wanted to read through nearly incomprehensible, self-righteous, hit pieces filled with flowery prose intended to disguise the odor of rotting pretzel logic which are utterly devoid of any semblance of reason and logic, I would simply read opposing counsel's trial briefs. However, whether or not the new age sage realized it, he exposed the fact that he simply doesn't get it with this gem:

Look at what she stands for:
--Small town values -- a denial of America's global role, a return to petty, small-minded parochialism.
--Ignorance of world affairs -- a repudiation of the need to repair America's image abroad.
--Family values -- a code for walling out anybody who makes a claim for social justice. Such strangers, being outside the family, don't need to be heeded.
--Rigid stands on guns and abortion -- a scornful repudiation that these issues can be negotiated with those who disagree.
--Patriotism -- the usual fallback in a failed war.
--"Reform" -- an italicized term, since in addition to cleaning out corruption and excessive spending, one also throws out anyone who doesn't fit your ideology.

Keep in mind that he finds the characteristics to be wrong for the country, he also fundamentally misunderstands what these traits say about us.

Small Town Values means that you look to your family first...you care about each other, you look out for each other, and again, you are an individual, but you are still part of something larger than yourself, and how you participate effects how things go for everyone.

Ignorance of world affairs is provably wrong, but since he is an "intellectual", he need not be bothered by such trivial matters as inconvenient facts that monkey up a carefully crafted assessment of how he would like things to be. (See Gore, Al, and "Global Warming")

Family Values, meaning you believe in the family as the primary source of values and as a resource for assistance, knowledge, personal growth, and a way to ensure that the lessons learned by older generations are not simply lost before they are imparted to the younger ones. Families are to be cherished and protected, not torn asunder and supplanted by ersatz simulacrums seeking to usurp the family's legitimacy by insisting that they be recognized as the same them when they clearly are not.

Rigid stands on guns and abortion? Well, the Second Amendment means what it says, regardless of the most fevered wet dreams of Obama and the left, and that is a good thing, because it is truly what stands between keeping the nation I was born into and the one the Left would love to replace it with. As for abortion, a sane and civil populace does not slaughter its unborn children for any reason, let alone selfish desires that focus on the "ME", when the "ME" took a back seat to charge and responsibility of a life the "ME" helped to create.

Patriotism? You mean the belief that this country really is better than the rest, and a public recognition of the fact that this is true, because so many people from everywhere else in the world are trying so hard to get here. As for the "failed" war, NotSoDeep? Your guy was negotiating with the Iraqis to keep them from coming up with a withdrawal plan until after the election. If they are ready to talk about a withdrawal, that means that things are significantly better than they were a year, or two, or three ago. That isn't a "failed" war.

Reform. Yes that means roting out corruption in your own party. It also means naming the names of the esteemed members of government who have forgotten that government serves us, not the other way around, but in light of the deepening financial crisis, and the more information that comes out daily it, I can see where the Junior Senator from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae would be concerned. With all the democrats making millions of dollars in mad money running the institutions into the ground, causing real pain in bailouts from the government, I'd be scared of the public knowing my name and role in it too.

Such a cockeyed world view can only seem normal to a "citizen of the world", who doesn't understand that our greatness didn't come from what we did for the world, in an attempt to make the world love us, but what we did for ourselves, and showing the world that freedom and prosperity go hand in hand. For some reason, the left, and the media (but I repeat myself) think that there is freedom in slavery and will try everything they can to enslave us. But enough of the Huffington Poo. Which brings me to the "So disgusting, I really would beat this person within an inch of his miserable life" moment.

Unfunny comedian Doug Stanhope and his truly revolting internet screed and offer. Using "Arrogant" when referring to the Left is truly redundant, but this letter to Bristol Palin offering her money to abort her child, because he is convinced that she really wants to do it, but her evil Christofascist Mother is preventing her from exercising her "Constitutional right" to do so. Breath taking? Absolutely. Utterly wrong? Absolutely. Do you want to see a face to face meeting between Todd Palin and Doug Stanhope over this? Absolutely. An excerpt:

Never in history has a woman been under more pressure to keep an unwanted pregnancy than Bristol Palin. She is the teenage daughter of Alaska Governor & Vice-Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin - a conservative, Creationist Christian power-vampire and pro-life huckster who has put Bristol and her un-welcomed fetus at the center of a politico-religious crusade to stop her exercising her constitutional right to terminate the pregnancy.

I prescribe a good beating, followed by a good beating.

Today's Pearl of Wisdom

On my way to Cub Scouts with Heir No. One, we were discussing the planets. He was pontificating about life on other planets. He thought we might find life on the moon. I said "Not much chance of that sport, unless we took it there." Undaunted, he kept going through the list. "What about Mars, or Saturn, or Jupiter?" I told him "I don't think Jupiter, buddy. Once you got to a part you could stand on, the gravity would probably kill anything that lives."

It got really quiet in the back seat for a minute. Then he said "Do you know what, Dad? You're not the Boss of my imagination."

He's right about that.

A Revealing Question

I have been thinking about the Charlie Gibson interview with Sarah Palin this last Thursday, and the question he asked her about the "hubris" in accepting John McCain's invitation to become his running mate. Many people have registered objections regarding the question, especially since it was coupled with questions that implied that she didn't have the experience necessary to do the job, and it was asked in a somewhat condescending manner. I would be remiss if I failed to acknowledge the fact that Gibson also asked the question of Obama several months ago. It wasn't asked with the same tone at all, nor did Gibson question the "community organizer's" experience when he asked the question. Don't take my word for it. Nice Deb has already helpfully compiled both clips here.

Like many conservatives, I was less than pleased by the question. However, the obvious bias is not really the reason for my displeasure. I have simply come to accept that the major media outlets and many in the 'entertainment' industry are in the tank for Obama, and the Democrats, even though I still cannot fully grasp why. No, the reason for my displeasure with the question, around which the rest of the interview was framed didn't immediately come to me, and yet it irritated, much like a grain of sand stuck in my shorts after a trip to the beach. This morning,while ironing my shirts, it came to me. The very question itself said more about the person asking it than the answer ever could. A person not just willing to ignore the other governors who had been elected President, but to ignore the lack of experience in the leader of the opposing ticket, who is actually running for the job.

Charlie Gibson, according to Wikipedia, was born in the midwest, in the town of Evanston, Illinois. His family later moved to Washington. D.C., where he attended a private college prep school, Sidwell Freinds, and then went on to Princeton. Because his grades weren't good enough to get him into a top-tier law school, he decided to go into journalism instead. As a practicing attorney myself, I found this to be a curious turn. It isn't necessary to go to a top tier law school to become an attorney, or even a good attorney. What going to a top tier law school can accomplish for you is landing you a high-paying job at a prestigious law firm, and can frequently be a stepping stone to other careers noted for their wealth and power. However, if you have friends who by virtue of their upbringing, may have become wealthy and powerful on their own, knowing them can aid your career as a journalist, and you may find your own star starting to rise. If you were part of that world to begin with, you might start to think that others from it have the very same right to live and work in it. With his Columbia and Harvard pedigrees, Barack Obama is part of "the Club". With the favorable treatment in the media, that skirted any real investigation into who Barack Obama really is, and why its ok for a Presidential candidate to chum around with unrepentant terrorists, it was looking like the cypher with the fresh young face and unparalleled speech-delivery ability was going to sail into the White House on a tide of media adulation buttressed by enthusiastic idealists delighting at the prospect of finally being absolved of "white guilt" that was never theirs to bear, or those seeking to congratulate themselves for their state of enlightenment in voting for the first black President of the United States, people like Charlie thought it was all sewn up. And then the apple cart was upset. The war hero selected the hockey mom, and the backs of the elite were raised up.

Sarah Palin, not Barack Obama, symbolizes the American promise come to life. Her past is a story of her own making, not a path charted for her by others. She did not train herself in order to one day walk the corridors of power. She grew up, like so many, being told that she could one day become President, but unlike many whom she so discombobulates, she did not grow up believing that the Presidency was her own best destiny, either. Nor will she wear it, like a heavy and prestigious cloak, when she walks away from office, either. She will go back to charting the course of a life that is not scripted, accepting the bad with the good, and doing so as herself, not former governor/VP/President.

Charlie's worldview has been shaped by his experiences. He can't help seeking the result that he does. He sees the upper echelons of power filled with people like him. The best families, and the best schools. And when a woman who is only temporarily a politician, but always a mother, a wife, and a person of faith placed in close proximity to the White House, he, like so many others, had to act. Such a person simply could not be worthy without the training, and all it entails. Charlie's question about hubris was his way of asking her why she felt it was ok to tread on sacred ground...proximity to the Presidency...without first paying her dues. Charlie's question about hubris was a display of hubris. A moment when his job took a backseat to his role as one of the chosen. Charlie doesn't believe in the equality of opportunity. Charlie confuses ability with pedigree and credentials. Charlie doesn't believe in the average American, because the message he has been bathing in since his youth is that he is something more than them. in another era, we might have called Charlie a royalist, since he seems to believe only a certain select group is capable and has the right to lead. His question showed a frustration with a group in this country who recognize a leader when they hear one, a group that understands that understands that a new perspective isn't a bad thing, and refuse to be lead to someone else's choice and be told that it is the only reasonable one.

I don't begrudge Charlie his 8 million dollars a year. Ideally, I'd like to make that kind of money myself. That is what America is about. Doing the best you can for yourself and your family. I hope he'll understand when I don't buy into the world they way he wants it to be, as I vote for the candidates I believe in, largely because they believe in America.

Void On Delivery From Void Between the Ears

It has been entertaining and disheartening to watch the "entertainment" community melt down in the wake Sarah Palin being named to the ticket with John McCain. I know that there is no reason to expect that many of these people are overly bright. I mean, let's face it. We would be hard-pressed to see many of them in jobs requiring great technical skill, like surgeons, and no one is likely to confuse them with rocket scientists, nor are any of them being recruited for jobs that require a keen intellect and an ability to use reason and logic. Nope. No, in the scheme of things, these mental giants we keep enriching with our money are most akin to liberal academia: convinced in the superiority of their own intellect because of their time to "consider" matters, yet completely lacking in the necessary real world experience to know that their brilliant plans are nothing but complete and utter crap. No, these people are attention whores, and if they were even reasonably intelligent attention whores, then they'd have a different gig altogether. Its called Congress. What do we expect from our "entertainers"? We want them to entertain us.

That means, if you are a musician or singer, play the music or sing. If you are a good actor, than act. If you are a mediocre actor, then be a model who talks, and if you are a bad actor, make us laugh. If you are a comedian, then stick to the jokes. But for the sake of all that is holy, quit climbing up on your soapboxes and and talking down America, and displaying your stunning ignorance to all who hear. Really. Think about this. You have reached a point of stupid that is beyond your means to convincingly sell any longer. It will have career ramifications for you. Don't believe me? How's airplay on your new songs, Dixie Chicks? What, for many attempts, you just can't seem to come up with an anti-Iraq war movie that sells tickets, Hollywood? And the announcement of Palin really brought them out of the woodwork. Not only have "Hip Ones" been proclaiming their ignorance, the has-beens have been cashing in any modicum of credibility they might otherwise retain in keeping their mouths shut, or at least thinking before speaking by guest authoring at the odious left-wing excrement wiping cloth known as the Huffington Post.

A running sample of entertainers determined to Bring The Stupid in just the last two weeks:

Annette Benning: “But the idea that people, who voted for Hillary, who tend to be Democrats, would change and vote for McCain because of Sarah Palin seems to me bizarre.”

Ummm, prolly because the dems threw all semblance of belief in feminism and equality when they started attacking Palin?

The world-renown brain surgeon and philosopher, Shirley MacLaine: “I think the idea of nominating her to commandeer some of the disenfranchised Hillary voters just because she wears a skirt is ridiculous,” MacLaine said, adding that critics who say she should stay at home with her infant son, who has Down syndrome, and her teenage daughter, who is pregnant, might be right."

Uuhhh, Shirley? Do you know who you're defending?

The washed-up Wilson sisters, f/k/a Heart: Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.

US Weekly, model of good journalistic practices: Us Weekly, which unlike People and OK!, chose a rather caustic cover line (“Babies, Lies and Scandal”) is said to have lost thousands of subscribers in just the first 24 hours following the printing of the issue.

Whoopi "Discerner of Truth" Goldberg: This girl is dangerous to me. This is a very dangerous woman, because I believe for her intents and purposes, she’s OK if everybody lives a certain way, that is to say, the way God ordained men and women to be. Well, already she’s breaking that because she’s the daddy. She’s going to run the country and the husband is going to take care of the kids. I just found the whole thing sad and very musty and very much like a Bund rally, but maybe that was just me.

Wow. A breathtaking "I feel" analysis, and invoking Godwin's Law. I marvel at her superior intellect.

Alec "Listen to me you thoughtless pig" Balwin decided to join the ranks of also rans posting for the Huffington Poo: I thought McCain was the next Bush. I said so, like countless others, on this blog. … But McCain is not Bush. No matter what you think of McCain, you can’t pin that on him. Now Palin? Palin is Bush.

No, Alec. You fail politician identification. Bush is Bush. Palin is your worst nightmare. Carry on.

Albert "I haven't been funny in years" Brooks refused to be outdone at the HuffPoo: "I like Sarah Palin’s public speaking ability. I think she is fun to look at, certainly the hottest vice presidential candidate in history. But I looked up some facts. The United States has 10,000 nuclear weapons, 100 aircraft carriers, 3,000,000 people in the armed forces, and ten trillion dollars of debt.

I am now hearing from the Karl Roves of the world that having a 17-year-old daughter pregnant out of wedlock will make Palin sympathetic to millions of Americans who know the pain of that situation. But my question is WHERE WAS THE ADVICE? Do we want a president who cannot communicate to their own child that possibly having a baby a year after you get your driver’s license is not the smartest thing to do? Is this the new way for women to break the glass ceiling? To have their daughters throw their babies at it? I want my president to control their children, then they can tell the Navy what to do."

Unknown "comic", Russell Brand came from England to host the MTV VMAs, displaying the kind of attitude that made us kick the Brits in the ass. Twice.: “Some people, I think they’re called racists, say America is not ready for a black president.

“But I know America to be a forward thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be president for eight years?

“We were very impressed. We thought it was nice of you to let him have a go, because, in England, he wouldn’t be trusted with a pair of scissors.”

Then back to the HuffPo, for a new serving of incisive condescension from Jamie Lee Curtis: "I couldn't hold my own for one minute in a debate on any issue with someone like a Barack Obama or Joseph Biden and neither can Sarah Palin. When the call comes at 3AM I want a mind who was at the top of their class, who has gravitas and a real intellect. I want a leader who is a scholar who can hold the history of civilization in his head and will read and learn from the past as he charts the future."

And yet, you're in the tank for Obama. I guess you're not too terribly bright, Jamie.

Unfunny comedian Bill Maher: “She snarls.” “It was like, wow, I will send (Obama) whatever I have to to keep this snarling bitch out of the White House.”

Project much, Billy?

Matt "I know Ben Affleck" Damon: "I think there is a very good chance that Sarah Palin could be President. I don't know anything about her. And that's scary. And I don't think we are going to learn anything about her in 8 weeks."

Matt? Do you read? Watch television? Idiot.

Roger "I'm a freaking film critic" Ebert: "I trust the American people will see through Palin’s facade, and save the Republic in November. The most damning indictment against her is that she considered herself a good choice to be a heartbeat away. That shows bad judgment."

So what does that say about Obama? I mean, I know we aren't supposed to talk about him or he will look at us sternly, but he has been the freaking poster-child for bad judgement since his entry into the race.

Lynda Carter, trying to resurrect a long dead career in the HuffPoo: I like John McCain. But this woman — it’s anathema to me what she stands for. I think America should be very afraid. Very afraid. Separation of church and state is the one thing the creators of the Constitution did agree on — that it wasn’t to be a religious government. People should feel free to speak their minds about religion but not dictate it or put it into law.

Uhh, Lynda? No one has dictated anything to you. As for that whole separation of church and state thing? You might consider digging a little deeper into the history of that.

Speaking of dead careers, Paul Reiser felt the need to weigh in on political matters above his pay grade: Am I just losing my friggin’ mind? Seriously. I keep looking around the room to see if I’m living in some suddenly altered state where everything we know is now called the opposite, and nobody notices. Or can stop it.

“I wish I didn’t have to take your lunch money, but you should’nt of hadda brung it.”

We’re in the 3rd grade again. The skinny, smart kid who just moved in to the neighborhood is getting roughed-up by the asshole bully.

Call the Waaaaaaambulance. Clearly, another 'star' has been mugged by reality.

And again, Whoopi "No Behavior Too Boorish" Goldberg weighs in on "The View", with John McCain, and when the discussion turns to McCain's desire for strict constitutionalist judges, she interrupted with a statement/question "Do I need to worry about becoming a slave again? Because a lot of that document called for me to be a slave."

McCain, to his credit, did not reach over and punch her in her mouth. I doubt I could have shown the same restraint.

Charlie "I'm a reporter. No, really." Gibson, and his half quote designed to make Sarah Palin look as if she was making the war out to be a holy crusade. When she started to question the question, he replied "exact words". Only they weren't, and the question went down the memory hole on the west coast broadcast.

I'm sure that there are many, many more examples. My thanks to Dirty Harry's Place for dutifully documenting the celebrity dumbdown. But my point is that Hollywood's desire to lecture to us poor dumb rubes as they talk down a country that they didn't build and do not maintain is going to bite them in the ass. We know who we are. We are the people who build things that the country needs. We are the ones who grow the food. We are the ones who get the water and electricity to the homes. We are the ones who take the garbage away. We are the ones who treat the sick. We are the ones who make the law, keep people safe, and rescue them from bad situations. We are the ones who make scientific breakthroughs. We know what this country is capable of. We know what it can do. We know that we aren't just good people, but given our capacity for charitable giving, volunteering, and helping those who have just been laid low by disaster...anywhere in the world, and even if people hate us, we really are the best people in the world. And if you are going to continue to talk this country down, in ways that demonstrate how little you understand about the world, and about us, then we just might stop providing you with a lucrative career that enables such dangerous and insulting naivety. We make you, and we can break you. Keep that in mind when you keep trying to get my attention because you believe you have something to say. Because I am tired of being talked down to by someone either too lazy or too incapable of getting a real job.

I Couldn't Write It Better Myself

I got in the car and heard the news on the Mighty Hugh Hewitt. It would be an understatement to say the Dems had a bad day. Having been outmanuvered with the appointment of Sarah Palin, they have determined to offend and alienate every other group that they have not already honked off. And on the heels of Olberdouche's interview with The Anointed One Himself™.

This morning, Joe Biden told us that any one who does not support stem cell research cannot care about special needs children. As a parent of a young man with Aspberger's Syndrome and one who is speech delayed due to hearing impairment, I have every right to tell Joe Biden the following:

Hey Joe, take a long walk on a short pier. You have no f'ing clue what you are saying, and you are pissing me off. You didn't impress me before, but now you are making me mad. I think it is time for you to go back to your long, fruitless career in the Senate.

Not to be outdone in sheer stupidity by his running mate, the Little Messiah said the following at a rally this afternoon, where, in between the stops, starts, and stutters, he babbled about change when talked about anyone who isn't him isn't really change, and that we can put lipstick on a pig, but he isn't really a pig. Within this same rhetorical tour de force, he also made reference to people talking about the "same old thing" as change, but it was really an old fish wrapped up in fish wrap. This was coming off a weekend of crying racism when not one word was uttered regarding his skin color, and making a 3 am call to Hillary to beg her to campaign for him. And then last night, he told the nuanced K.O. that the American people were smart and they know what is going on. It makes it difficult to try to spin these remarks as any thing other than a slam against Sarah Palin, saying that she is ugly, and, oh yeah, she's a girl,and of course, the slam against the age of a man who is his better in every sense of the word. It almost makes me wonder if they are trying to lose the election. Maybe they are. He's not been afrad of the race card so far. Losing will empower him to cry racism for the next four years. Legitimacy in making the charge hasn't stopped him so far. Don't underestimate his willingness to whine against what he is clearly incapable of fighting. Substance be damned. It is good to be a conservative right now.

I think we learned Sarah's shade of lipstick today: Nobama.

Sunday Afternoon Bitter-Clinger's Post

Last night, I was at Dirty Harry's Place, and on the thread, we were discussing the Left's irrational attacks on Sarah Palin and why they might be occurring. A topic I have been considering for a while now, and I tossed the following out:

Well, my take was that they started to compare Jughead to the Barracuda from the gate because her entry made it about culture and when you’re all about feelings, you have to address culture. They looked at her and saw sacrifice, devotion to family, the idea that duty can be larger than the individual, and the concept of submission to an authority other than yourself. In otherwords, she represents a life knowing the difference between right and wrong as defined by someone other than man. They had to attack her, because that philosophy leaves no room for the prevarication and the hedonistic pursuits that occupy the “Grey Areas” where the ‘nuanced’ among us live their lives. The only things Obama ever fought for…the redistribution of wealth to those who didn’t earn it and the right to kill babies who had the temerity to survive their mother’s attempts to kill them simply cannot survive in such a world. He had to try to marginalize her or neutralize her. Had. To.

Of course, I had to keep churning this concept over and over in my mind, and while sitting in church this morning, more of it came to me. You can thank my pastor for some of the incorporated scripture.

Soon after the announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate, the attacks started. Not the attacks on her record. That would be fair game, and ignore the fact that she is who she is, and that the life she has lead is going to make some people very uncomfortable and insecure about the lives they have chosen to lead. The nature and vigor of the attacks have made this clear. First, the attack on her 17 year old daughter, Bristol, and the claim that Governor Palin's son Trig was actually Bristol's son, and the Governor was covering this fact up. These fevered attacks were "supported" by all many of coincidence and innuendo. By the time the Palins announced that Bristol was actually pregnant now, and was going to marry the father of her child, the left and the press (but I repeat myself) fell all over themselves with concern for the welfare of her children, insinuating that by being a working politician, she was neglecting her son Trig, because "his Downs' Syndrome required extra care and effort" on her part, and that since her 17 year old daughter got pregnant, she had obviously failed as a parent. As a parent myself, I take issue with this. You raise your children, you try to teach your values and ideals, but eventually, your children make their own choices. Some choices will be worse than others. Sometimes picking what's behind door number three means getting some further options limited, but as any student of character tells you, its what you do when things go wrong that end up saying more about you than any smearing expose'. The left isn't upset that Bristol Palin got pregnant. They are upset that she decided to not to kill her baby.

They also implied that Bristol's pregnancy some how makes the Governor a hypocrite because she is a Christian, and doesn't support sex education that borders on pornography for school kids. In so doing, they exposed their own bias, in make such sexist, and paternalistic statements and implications. If it had been Hillary with a 17 year old daughter, and her daughter got an abortion with Mom's consent and approval, both would have been lauded for their finely nuanced enlightenment and her incredible parenting skills. But now the nation can see what many of us have suspected for a long time, that is that tolerance, gender equality, and high-mindedness are ideals the Left will fight for, but only for one of their own.

Later in the week, we saw the religion attacks, the attempts by way of edited remarks to paint the Governor as a religious fanatic who views the war in Iraq as a holy crusade. This was indeed the weakest part of the attack. Some had also taken note of some remarks made by her pastor, which he may believe, but do leave some room for some criticism of making partisanship a religious issue when it is more properly one of conscience. And in the light of examination of Reverend Wright, and all of the bile that flowed from his mouth and down the altar while Barack Obama and his family sat for years, listening, and returning week in and week out. The content of some of Governor Palin's pastor's statements, if correctly cited, does cross my personal line of things that should not be said, because preaching who to vote for exceeds the legitimate charge of exhorting what to consider when voting. Ironically, it is another 'nuance' lost on the those so in favor of invoking them.

But the biggest question is "why?" Why did the left and the press immediately attack a Vice Presidential candidate by going after her children, her parenting, and her religion, instead of comparing her record, qualification, and abilities to those of her counterpart, the Smartest Man in the Senate-Just Ask Him, Joe Biden? The answer is simple. By having the beliefs she does, and by living the life she has, she revived the "culture wars" that were so prevalent in the 80's and 90's in this country, but then eased into a semi-tense detente without a principal standard bearer on the right. Put simply, Christianity is a belief that there is a right and a wrong. The left knows this, the knowledge infuses their every act. Their snide condescension demonstrates this knowledge, but also that they misunderstand the message of Christianity. They look at it and see the concepts of right and wrong. They see the judgement of God when he is disobeyed, and extrapolate these to mean that when Christians fall short, they are to be mocked for failing. And because it is easy to fail, God must be wrong for expecting the conduct he does. This misses the point that Christians are not perfect, nor do they believe that they are. They understand that sin is part of life, but they also understand that the price for the sin has already been paid, so to paraphrase the bumper sticker, Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven. But Christians also understand that forgiveness isn't a license to sin. Knowledge and acceptance of the sacrifice means that you are expected to aspire and live for a higher ideal. You will never get it all right, and there may be a period of discipline, but if there is discipline, it is to help you get it right and, like reproof from any parent, it is done in love. My proof? Hebrews 12:5 and 6: And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart because he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son."

These attacks against the Governor and Christianity are being leveled because those attacking see Christianity as a judgmental religion, and they fear that judgement. Christians know how to deal with the world around them: Love the sinner, hate the sin. While Christianity itself has sectarian differences demonstrating very different ideas of what that means, much of Christendom knows that means that we do not have to quietly accept sin, and grant our sanction to its lifestyle. Contrarily, it is this fear of judgement on the left which has lead to the denial that there is such a God. Their misunderstanding underlies a belief that the only consequence of being human and committing sin is judgement, but if they reject that God, and his rules, then they are free of the inevitability of a terrible consequence. And in a stunning display of confidence in the lack of such a God and his rules, they continue to try to make their lifestyles and beliefs mainstream. They confuse a legal and mainstream legitimacy with a moral one, and that is why they fight so hard for the approval of the rest of us, even if they have to force it from us. These are the people who looked at Sarah Palin and said to themselves "We cannot let her succeed. A person with her beliefs and her life in a position of power will lay bare our reason for being. She embodies sacrifice. Children require so many things of a parent. Our time, our attention, our concern. She loves her children and her family, and would clearly fight for them. She has been married for over two decades. Anyone who has been married for very long understands that staying married requires work and dedication. All of these things demonstrate service to others, and ideals beyond the narrow frame of "ME" that is force fed to us in the media today. It is the antithesis of so much of what the left has come to embody and defend. They could not ignore her. Unfortunately, the attacks available to them end up bloodying themselves in the process. I look at it with a curious fascination. It is like watching a ferral animal try to eat itself, and it may be exactly what was necessary to shift the cultural wars back toward preserving a culture that has something to offer.

[As a matter of full disclosure, my pastor did not preach on any topic even remotely political this morning, lest anyone get the wrong idea.]

Something For the Vets I Know...

****UPDATED****

Because some people are unmoved when they find themselves in a hole, and simply keep digging:


I was over at one of my new favorite sites earlier today, and caught an eye full of "I can't believe that they actually said that." on a thread about the DNC throwing away all the flags after their combination pep-rally and circle jerk in Denver two weeks ago.

First, the "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?":

Outlaw 13, do you really fight for a flag? Surely what you fight for are things like family and loved ones, ideals you believe in.

Flags are inanimate objects, they don’t need to be defended and aren’t worth killing for. Normally in our society when people get all worked up over material things like cars and money and clothes we say they’re superficial, that they have their priorities wrong. How is a flag different?

And my reply, even though he wasn't talking to me:

Rusty, once again, you demonstrate enough reasoning to get to your point, but then you stop, I believe disingenuously, because completing it would bring you to the realization that you are defending the indefensible.

We do fight for ideals like family, loved ones, the Constitution and all the promise that it portends…but symbols and images, like words, have meaning and power. Just like a picture being worth a thousand words, a symbol says so many things without being a word or ideal at all. The flag is just such a symbol, and people have known this for centuries. There is a reason why we know Betsy Ross’s name. There is a reason why the national anthem is The Star Spangled Banner, and it has the stirring line “…was proof through the night that the flag was still there.” There is a reason why there is a section of the United States Code dedicated to it, and there is a reason why it is the subject of so many ceremonies of significance.

It symbolizes US. The United States of America. The nation that changed the game, politically speaking. The nation that other nations STILL, Obama’s self-serving statements to the contrary, is respected by persons world wide, and feared by tyrants worldwide. The flag is the embodiment of the our nation’s constant march toward rising above the worst that the human condition has to offer, and as such, you would be hard-pressed to find any other inanimate object that so many people have willingly shed their own blood and sacrificed their own lives to defend. I can guarantee you that you cannot come up with another symbol/inanimate object outside of religion that has inspired more people. That is why its care and treatment is enshrined in law, and those who would disrespect it cause so much controversy.

And THAT is why it is different from cars, and clothes, and money.

Why can't they see that their "dissent" and "questioning authority" is pretty hollow when they demonstrate that they have no understanding of what they are "dissenting" from or "questioning"? It hurts me deeply when we have to explain to our fellow citizens what being American means.

And round two:

@ “Just like a picture being worth a thousand words, a symbol says so many things without being a word or ideal at all. The flag is just such a symbol[…]”

That’s pretty much my point. The flag is a symbol. One of them can go up in flames but the ideas it represents remain intact.

I don’t know where any of you stand on anti-flag desecration laws but for me that stuff’s beyond the pale for exactly this reason. They desecrate the ideals of our country (free speech) to protect the symbol of those ideals.

And my reply:

That’s pretty much my point. The flag is a symbol. One of them can go up in flames but the ideas it represents remain intact.

Again, missing something important. For those who fight, for those who find themselves under fire, in a landscape of sound, fury, smoke, and explosions, who may involuntarily banish all other thoughts from their heads other than how to stay alive and “What am I doing here?” can be galvanized in an instant, with just a glimpse of that symbol, can do extraordinary things, can ignore danger and wounds that would otherwise drop them to their knees or their back, because that symbol communicated those ideals in but a second. Assuming it is “just” a symbol, and nothing more is an insult to every person who has had a moment like the one I just described, and especially to those who have come home, enshrouded in silence and that symbol, to be laid to rest in gardens of stone.

I don’t know where any of you stand on anti-flag desecration laws but for me that stuff’s beyond the pale for exactly this reason. They desecrate the ideals of our country (free speech) to protect the symbol of those ideals.

I think that there is something fatally ironic about living out your life in freedom paid for in blood under those who rallied under that symbol, and paying homage to that legacy by desecrating that symbol with flame and a contemptuous attitude. Having said that, I would like to see Congress address an awful lot of things before focusing on “anti-flag desecration” laws, but unless or until such legislation is debated and passed, I am perfectly willing to look the other way as men and women who have made such sacrifices “express their displeasure”, even in unpleasant physical ways, with those among us who have problems with adequately expressing their gratitude for their sacrifices. After all, freedom of expression cuts both ways, does it not?

Let's Not Forget To Have Fun With It...

Ok. I have been more than a little serious this last few weeks. Politics does have that effect on me. So let's loosen up and play a game. I was talking to the Lady Lenore this evening, and entertained ourselves by playing a little game called "Who would you appoint in McCain/Palin administration?

I'll go first, but feel free to jump in:

1. Fred Thompson, Press Secretary
2. John Bolton, Secretary Of State
3. Mitt Romney, Secretary of Commerce
4. Joe Liberman, Secretary of Defense (yeah, I know. No one will be happy with that.)
5. Hillary Clinton, Ambassador to the UN.
6. James Inhot, Secretary of the Interior
7. Victor David Hanson, National Security Advisor
8. JC Watts...Don't Know Where Yet, but the opportunity to make the heads of race-pimps spin...

How To Destroy Decades of Brainwashing

I was right. The Left is scared to death. Every imaginable attack, and a few that might otherwise be inconceivable are being waged against Governor Palin. Honestly, it seems like an awful lot of fuss for someone who was dismissed as a "bad choice", and "a small town mayor". I guess the Left's strategists never heard "When your enemy makes a mistake, get out of his way." Either that, or they don't believe their own propaganda. I don't know whether to be impressed at the effort or disgusted by the methods that the Left is leveling at her right now. Awww, Hell. I'll take both for $2000, Alex.

Let's start with the sisters of Heart, who decided that having their song identified with the most electrifying woman politician in this country since Jeanette Rankin was something to be offended by.

Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.

Of course, they ostensibly have a right say to how their product is used, but I wonder if they think it will rehabilitate their careers, or if they are more of the "Feminists, but only for women of the right political persuasion" type. [H/T to Dirty Harry's Place]

Dr. Rusty at the Jawa Report introduces us to the basest form of "political speech" it has ever been my misfortune to witness. The person or persons behind it better pray that they never run into myself, or any other parent in a dark alley.

The Greg Knapp Experience compiles the top five sexist attacks on Governor Palin.

A CNN bubblehead tries to make her name by declaring she is with Stupid. You would think a working woman might, just might, give some thought to what she is trying to take away from herself. After all, she is one of the journalistic intelligentsia. [H/T again to Dirty Harry]

And apparently NARAL and Planned Parenthood are so scared of a potential VICE PRESIDENT that they have decided to fund a 30 Million Dollar Campaign against her. 30 Million Dollars! Against someone who isn't on the top of the ticket! That is FEAR. FEAR of a woman with a career and children? FEAR of a culture of life? FEAR of losing their profitable eugenics program? This one will be a "Get you popcorn!" fight. [H/T Stephanie,commenter at Dirty Harry's Place] After the attack ads start, I think the perfect response is a short rebuttal that goes like this: The scene opens with the Sarah somewhere on the campaign trail, and maybe kissing one of her kids before sending them off to play/do homework/something similar, then she looks at the camera, smiles, and says "Unless you have been in a coma, and have no idea who I am, I am Governor Sarah Palin. I am the Governor of Alaska, and recently, John McCain nominated me as his running mate in the race for the White House.*at this point, we see an aide enter the frame and say something about a change in plan and John needs her to make an appearance in Columbus, with her nodding in agreement, and then making eye contact with the camera again.* After I was chosen, the Democrats and their lapdogs in the press tried every means they could to convince the American people that I have no important or relevant experience and I was a bad choice. Yet Planned Parenthood and NARAL recently decided to start a smear campaign funded with 30 Million dollars of their own money. *At this point we hear a crying Trig, and she reaches out to hold him. Upon placing him on her shoulder, and gently rubbing his back, he immediately stops crying, and she looks back at the camera* 30 Million Dollars? Can you believe it? I guess killing babies is good business." *fade to black.

I was listening to the mighty Hugh Hewitt on the way home this evening. He was reporting that Bill Maher was going to make a joke tonight on his HBO cable show in which he referred to the Governor as the Stewardess. Simply.Epitiomizing.Class. Time was, I enjoyed the original 'Politically Incorrect" when it was on Comedy Central, but it really had more to do with the strange mixed up panels that he used to get, than it did his sparkling wit. Sweet justice would be his inability to pay an escort to spend time with him, let alone actually score a date any time in the next decade.

The Oprah meltdown has been entertaining also. Again, her show, so she can pick the content, but it doesn't ring true when a 'model' career woman refuses to interview someone of the governor's calibre. I'm not sure if she just didn't like the idea of interviewing a guest stronger and more engaging than herself, or she just doesn't want her chosen candidate shown to be lacking when compared to the VP candidate of the other party. Either way, the backlash on her site from the former faithful has been a thing of beauty. She's thrown herself under the bus for Obama.

And speaking of Obama, what was The Anointed One Himself(TM) up to today? Trying to paint himself as a sympathetic figure, of course. The Racism Card. It is never too stale or too inappropriate to play. Especially when it is all you have:

"And I know that the temptation is to say, 'You know what? …The guy hasn’t been there that long in Washington.,' You know, 'he’s got funny name,' You know, 'we’re not sure about him,'" Obama continued. "And that’s what the Republicans, when they say, 'This isn’t about issues, it’s about personalities,' what they’re really saying is, 'We’re going to try to scare people about Barack. So we’re going to say that you know, maybe he’s got Muslim connections or we’re going to say that, you know, he hangs out with radicals or he’s not patriotic.'

Vicitmhood. Its the Chicago Way. Maybe if he is really lucky, his wife can spare him an aspirin.

Some Thoughts...

The three of you who read this probably have realized that I have been in a pontificating mood lately. Today is no different.

I just got done listening to McCain's speech. But I'm not ready to talk about it yet. Instead, I am considering the flavors and overtones of the campaign thus far.
The Dems whittled down to a field to two, courting history by putting either an African-American or a woman in the White House. Of course, seeing as they generally appeal to a victim mentality, this was setting the Democratic House against itself; in choosing one, they are going to be officially racist, or officially sexist. Eventually, they chose a sneering African-American elitist with no discernible experience who is a millionaire and who keeps telling us we can't have our lifestyle, that we are essentially bad, that we have failed our historical promise, and that we have to look to the rest of the world for leadership instead of providing it for the world.

Eventually, they chose to be officially sexist. This was considered by the party to be favorable to choosing a candidate who comes across as a haranguing harridan who is willing to wreck the economy to bring mediocre healthcare to all. History indeed. And how did they come to select the male candidate? A liberal dose of "Hope and Change".

This cuts to the very silliness that underlies the true core base beliefs of the Democratic Party. These are people who have become convinced that government should be doing so many things that it should not. They have trouble even seeing that they have become dependent on the government and are incapable of understanding why that is a bad thing. They are blissfully ignorant slaves.

In the grips of this mindset, it is easy to be convinced that government does not do enough. Enter "The One". I'll spare you the hype. If you have been paying attention at all, you are fully aware of the audacity of arrogance that the Senator who votes "present" has been foisting on the American Public for months now. All he has had to do was step out and tell you that government needs to give you more, and to do more for you. The slaves see this as "Hope", completely missing the point that if you look to government, or a politician for "Hope" with a capital H, you are not living up to your heritage as an American. That isn't to say that hope shouldn't be a component of politics. Sarah Palin gives me hope with a small H that we will get someone in government who truly is "one of us", that is to say a person who goes to work, knows what it means to pay bills, and deal with real family issues. But the Hope in my life, the capital H hope is not rooted in politicians or government. That's what faith is for. And "Change"? How does one get change from a man with a non-existent resume who's greatest accomplishment is two memoirs before age 45, and being taken seriously because he reads a speech well and he is black?

Yes. I said it. I am more qualified to be the President, that is to say, not very, but no one would give me a second look because I'm just a young conservative white guy. But, when you think that government doesn't do enough, and you have someone telling you that you deserve more from your government, that he will make sure that it does what it does for you better, and he will make it do even more, then you start to think that he offers change.

Other people, the ones that know that the pursuit of happiness is different than government almost meeting your needs, look at this and see a guy who says we need to raise taxes and redistribute wealth. Old ideas. Failed Ideas. Pushed by a guy who's known past shows him to be a tireless self-promoter. No change there.

So how does such a man attempt to get the support of those outside the ranks of the party faithful? By making them the problem. Make racism the issue. Usurp their voice to make fun of the sound of your name. Make it sound like America fears you "because you don't look like other Presidents". Push your wife out to make it sound like you alone can cleanse America of its sins, and that America has nothing to be proud of until they elect you. And when that doesn't work, and frustration sets in, you talk to a friendly audience about how they are bitterly clinging to their Bibles and guns because they don't want to buy what you are selling. And the capper? End the convention with an address from "The One", trumpeting how "historic" it is to have the acceptance speech from the first African-American Presidential Candidate on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I have a dream" speech, never once stopping to consider that on the anniversary of a speech focusing on a dream of a nation where a man is judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. It was hopelessly ironic, and insulting to the legacy of Dr. King to have advanced a candidate who so routinely talks America down, who associates with terrorists, who accepts favors from convicted felons, and who has little to commend his candidacy other than the color of his skin. The end goal became about the identity, and not about the merit, which pretty much sums up the aims of the modern left.

Contrast that with this week. The introduction of the woman many conservatives and true middle Americans can absolutely see as the first female President. A woman who simply by the virtue of living her beliefs has brought the cultural divide in this nation front and center. The Left and their friends in the press knew this. Just as we could just know she is one of us, they knew it too. They knew immediately that she is the Anti-Left. Pride. Pride in Family. God. Country. Guns. Real life pursuits and real life problems. Conservatism, both social and fiscal. And they savaged her for it. The party of inclusion and the philosophy of tolerance dropped the mask and showed a sexist and vicious streak a mile wide in an attempt to silence a message that they cannot counter, in no small part because they do not understand it. It backfired. Marvelously. She stood up at the appointed time and reminded us that we ARE Americans, and we do not have to be ashamed of that. She reminded us that we don't lose until we stop trying. And she told the press that she isn't going anywhere, sparking a wildfire of "We are Sarah" that no amount of nay saying by the left will be able to extinguish. And tonight, McCain appealed to those less conservative than I, by telling them that he knows there is a divide, and that his lifetime of service to this country, and proven record of reaching out, even when right-wing death beasts such as myself believed it was wrong, shows why he, and not "The One", is best able to really bring some change to Washington and start to get us talking as Americans rather than shouting at each other.

I wasn't as fired up as last night. I don't love McCain. But I do not doubt him when he says country first; I would not believe it from Obama's lips. And I think he will be strong in dealing with those who would hurt us. Obama has already told me that he will make us weak, and negotiate from weakness. Not something you want to tell a man with a family. And McCain understands that more government will not solve the problems that our nation faces, and will be facing. Obama has already told us government is the solution to every problem. So yes, I will vote for McCain/Palin in November. It is the obvious choice in this year of stark contrasts.

Listen to the Squeals!

Sympathy note to the main stream media:

It sure sucks when someone shows the world how hypocritical you have become and how repellent you find it to actually do your job, doesn't it? You should put some ice on that, and have a nice long think about it.

Eagerly awaiting your demise,

BiW, IAP.


news
–noun (usually used with a singular verb)
1. a report of a recent event; intelligence; information: His family has had no news of his whereabouts for months.
2. the presentation of a report on recent or new events in a newspaper or other periodical or on radio or television.
3. such reports taken collectively; information reported: There's good news tonight.
4. a person, thing, or event considered as a choice subject for journalistic treatment; newsworthy material. Compare copy (def. 5).

I seem to remember a time when journalists reported the news. I'm not a fool. As an attorney, I have examined the human condition in detail. You simply cannot hope to be persuasive if you do not understand that enlightened self-interest is the most powerful force in the universe, even eclipsing other favorite contenders like gravity, and stupidity. This being the case, I think a certain amount of bias is probably unavoidable. The problem is that print journalism and television have embraced that bias with ever fiber of their being, and real reporting has suffered for it.

I'm not really sure when the worm turned, but unless you've pulled a Rip Van Winkle lately, you surely must have noticed that reporters and the major news outlets have been cherry-picking stories, and if the story they have tried to ignore gets out despite their studious inattention to detail, then they grudgingly cough up a piece that is likely to make a reader/viewer dizzy from the spin they put on it, or to lean so far to one side that ingestion as part of a balanced diet is impossible. The examples abound. Iraq. Remember when all they could tell us was bad news? They were in orgasmic excitement at the prospect of influencing policy by showing us how we were losing and were bad people to boot. No stories about the good things like a freed people, free elections, the US building schools, restoration of order, making the average Achmed safer and more secure in his neighborhood and in his home, and when the attacks and deaths started to trail off, so did the reporting. Collectively, they simply could not bring themselves to report what is instead of what they want to be. A person waking up from a 12 year coma and watching the news today might not even realize there is a war in Iraq. This is not the only example. The main stream press purposely avoided even investigating the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter story. Would. Not. Touch. It. But, let a deranged leftist slander artist publish a "diary" of how a female Vice Presidential Candidate's 6 month old son is really her oldest teen aged daughter's child, on the weakest of conjecture alone, and everyone climbs on the bandwagon of innuendo and false reporting, suddenly making the reproductive organs of a teenage girl who is not running for office the subject of fevered hand wringing and conjecture in newsrooms across the country. When discussing the experience and qualifications of this VP with the Presidential candidate of the opposing party, the discussion focuses on mayoral tenure with nary a nod to the more recent multi-year gubernatorial experience. And when that VP tells the Fourth Estate in her acceptance speech that she does not and will not serve at their pleasure, the spastic fits, frothing at the mouth, and childish cries of "Meanie!", "Elitist!", and my personal favorite, "Condescension!" echo from the lips of the carefully coiffed and made-up anchors of the various programs.

How did this happen?

I hope that some day, this will actually be carefully examined by someone capable of drawing objective conclusions, but for the purpose of this post, I will share my theory. As the holder of a political science degree from the University of Michigan, I can safely say that the Democrats have, since the 1930's, tried to make themselves out as the party of intellectuals. They recruited from the halls of academia, and they have always tried to establish their bona fides as the ones with better grades, or the ones who are smarter than the other candidate. Remember the discussion of W's grades? And the more important, but largely unspoken undertone is that they are smarter than the people they purport to represent. Don't take my word for it. Ask Joe Biden. He'll tell you all about it. Oh, wait. He already did.

How does this link into the main stream media's bias? They got access. They were made to feel as if they were part of the club. The Democrats could look out the windows of their offices at the hoi poli that they successfully hoodwinked into dependency on them, and demonstrate how smart they were for the press with their measured responses, and their eleventy seven flavors of nuance, which when distilled through a critical filter of logic generally came down to being no answer at all, which as every observer of politics knows, is the safest answer any politician can give, because when the political winds shift, they cannot be held to having actually taken a position. And in the meantime, the press ate it up. The Dems cast their spell by talking down America, by exaggerating problems, by pretending that the rest of the world gets a say in what we do, and by feeding the vanity that is the Doctrine of Diversity. And because it was all so interesting, and would make such and interesting story, the main stream press got lazy. It shelved critical thinking, and asking difficult or uncomfortable questions of their peers, because it was seduced into the club. And membership has its privileges. Making sure your friends stay in power gives you a degree of power. Constant coverage of these intensely interesting subjects and people makes you smarter by association. Pretty soon, explaining the events morphs into trying to make the stories rather than report them, with little or no accountability, because after all, the public needs us to tell them what is and isn't news, and they are woefully under equipped to discern what the truth of anything is without our gentle and nuanced guidance. These are the same people, who when faced with real competition on the radio and on the internet, claim that things are no longer fair, and despite more choice than ever before in the sources of news and commentary, there is an urgent and pressing need for the return to the Fairness Doctrine.

Last night, a hockey mom from Alaska, who just happens to have been a "small-town" mayor, and oh yeah, governor, with "a speech written by someone else" exposed their foolish public fornication with the least qualified Presidential Candidate in my memory, and with a poised and classy delivery, shamed them for their biased treatment of her and her family. And this morning, they finally found their long-absent fact checkers, who with queasy stomachs and spinning eyes, set their sharpened pencils to work on her speech, wishing that it were her, still avoiding any meaningful inquiry into BHO, his criminal friends, his stubborn insistence on peddling the Politics of Lowered Expectations(TM) for the common man, and why America should slink away into the twilight in favor of other nations not guided by our freedom our promise. They simply refuse to acknowledge that we are on to them, and their days are numbered.

WIN! As demonstrated by Governor Sarah Palin

What I said yesterday about clear choices? Yeah, someone really did some fine tuning on the picture tonight...without any 'nuances'. Just plain speaking and resolve. That weezing sound? That's the air escaping from the Obama victory bash balloons. She just ate their lunch and peed in their ice cream, and because they are like the guest that never knows when to leave, they will throw themselves on the ground and deny it, they will continue to attack her directly, and employ sly innuendo, and generally cast the stink face over the campaign for the next two months. There will be lows, name calling, sexism, and race-baiting. Obama will bear his teeth publicly, or let others do it for him as he plays the victim and continues to race-bait his way through the campaign. Either is a mistake, but lacking good judgment or character, he will claw forward, by any means he deems necessary, to finally land a real job. It doesn't matter. While his campaign whines, tells us America is broken, and resist all attempts to fix it, and insists that only HE can heal our souls, McCain and Palin will show us that hard work, character, belief in America, and its inherent goodness will guide this nation and her people through good times, and bad. We got that look tonight, from a "rookie" politician, wife, and mother, who rose above the slanders and slights heaped upon her by those who cannot or would not be as good as she is, and it was delivered with class, directness, and facts laid out to contrast the half-lies and distortions advanced recently. She embodies real change, real effectiveness, and understanding that public service is not self-service. She reminds us that sincerity is just that, and unlike the Democrats appear to believe, it cannot be faked. The speech was brilliant, and was delivered with confidence and poise, and the content illustrates that there is no real culture war, because the other side can only succeed if the rest of us stay silent and do nothing. Without adulteration, emphasis, or asides, here is the best speech I have heard in a very long time...and Obama? Take notes. Its called substance. You might try it sometime.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin

Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for Vice President of the United States...

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.

ADVERTISEMENT

With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.

But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.

They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.

And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.

He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.

Our son Track is 19.

And one week from tomorrow - September 11th - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.

In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.

And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.

That's how it is with us.

Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.

And children with special needs inspire a special love.

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.

I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.

He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.

Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.

We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.

And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and habber-dasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.

A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people.

They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.

They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.

I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.

When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.

And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.

We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.< br> And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.

The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

No one expects us to agree on everything.

But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.

I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network.

Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.

And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.

That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.

I also drive myself to work.

And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary.

Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.

Our state budget is under control.

We have a surplus.

And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.

I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.

I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.

If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.

As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher.

When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.

Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already.

But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more nuclear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources.

We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.

Maybe you have, too.

We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.

And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.

Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.

Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.

Congress spends too much ... he promises more.

Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.

The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses.

How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.

In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.

And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.

Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.

And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.

He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.

A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.

He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.

There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.

It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.

It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.

As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" - as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.

For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Thank you all, and may God bless America.

Leftist Campaign Strategy, Part 2743

Nico Putney and Sam Stein from the Huffington Poo have stumbled on the item sure to bring Sarah Palin down. They breathlessly tell all in their article about her absurdly radical and highly UnAmerican faith: Christianity.

A complete fisk might be in order, but honestly, spending that much time with something so unforgivably dense would likely cause brain atrophy, so I'll simply hit the highlights, and leave it to you wade through the whole thing.

The headline alone informs you that the Stoopid is Strong in these ones:

Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial World View

Controversial world view? Like fetuses are people, too? or "Family Values" like standing up with your kid when they make a mistake and affirming a culture of life? Ohhh, Ohhh, I know! That whole "People look to leaders to help solve problems, not create them" thing.

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

What??? Praying for those charged with securing and maintaining our safety??? How...how...radical of her!!! Praying for our leaders, and that they be guided by the hand of the Almighty??? That is soooooooo Founding Fathers of her. Who does she think she is? But the horror doesn't stop there:

Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin's foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

Praying about a policy issue that would effect many who lived in her state? Taking her concerns and petitions before the Lord in prayer? That brazen Bible-thumper!!! How dare she live her faith!!!

To be fair, the choice quotes from her pastor that they outline go a little farther over the line than I tend to feel comfortable with, but
a) When compared in tone and content to Reverend Wright's Greatest Hits (God Damn Amerikkka!!! Whitey Made AIDS to kill the black folks!!!), they do not denigrate the nation or society; and
b) I still find them less offensive then the churches that turn over the pulpit to the Democrat pimping for the African-American vote every election.

Here are the statements as set forth in the story:

The church runs a number of ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. But Pastor Kalnins has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war "contending for your faith;" and said that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode."

The political stuff? As I said, a little bit more than I am comfortable with. The other stuff, well, to each his own. Do I think the terrorists are evil? Yes. Do I think Islam is evil? Yes. I think any religion that demands others conform to its precepts or die, and preaches deceit as a legitimate means to battle the "nonbeliever" is evil. I know the Left's fevered fantasies are populated by jack-booted Christofascist thugs seeking to impose a "theocracy", and therefore, they will actively seek to exile Christianity from where ever they encounter it, and instead choose to directly or indirectly support other religions that really do harbor such aims, but the fact is we aren't like that. What makes Christianity different is the concept of free will. You can believe or not believe; either way the sun still rises in the east tomorrow morning, and no Christian is going to uuuulate and chop off your head with a rusty scimitar.

Much of the rest of the article is composed of their highlighting of the pastor's statements, but, being the good little leftist errand boys that they are, the authors couldn't resist an attempt at moral equivalency:

And if the political storm over Barack Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright is any indication, Palin may face some political fallout over the more controversial teachings of Wasilla Assembly of God.

Of course, ignoring the fact that Barry's pastor seems to really dislike America, and clearly wants his parishioners to share his views, this pastor's remarks reflect a concern born of a love of this nation and its people. For people so enamored with nuance, they fail to see what they aren't stridently advocating for.

Of course, no leftie hit piece on religion and faith would be complete without smug condescension:

He also claims to have received direct "words of knowledge" from God, providing him information about past events in other people's lives. During one sermon, he described being paired with a complete stranger during a golf outing. "I said, I'm a minister from Alaska and I want you to know that your wife left you -- you know that your wife left you and that the Lord is gonna defend you in a very short time, and it wasn't your fault. And the man drops his clubs, he literally was about to tee off and he dropped his clubs, and he says, 'Who the blank are you?' And I says, 'well, I'm a minister.' He says, 'how do you know about my life? What do you know?' And I started giving him more of the word of knowledge to his life and he was freaked out."

Yeah, because God couldn't possibly have a message for an average individual. He only speaks to the Anointed One Himself(TM), through the mouth of a racist preacher who hates America, no less. Except it really does work like that. I have seen it. I have experienced it. Again, I'm not asking anyone to believe what I believe. I can only tell you that it took a lot for God to get my attention. I was once young, and knew it all, just like the authors of this story. Then I grew up.

This story further illustrates that Sarah Palin scares the left. The deft combination of confidence, humility, competency, and class, she was thrust upon them like holy water and a cross in the face of a vampire. Like a creature suddenly faced with its own mortality, the Left keeps thrashing about, and slinging whatever it can grip in its grubby little fingers. Each attempt tells something about their character. It isn't her baby, its her daughters!!! they shrieked. Even if true, they didn't take her to get an abortion...that life is precious, and gee, just who are you attacking here? Oh, her daughter's pregnant now!!! And? Her folks have addressed it with love and compassion, and she's marrying the Daddy and having the baby. Oh, and somehow, that isn't a "punishment" to them. Aren't you guys the ones who keep glorifying teenagers having kids anyway? I guess you guys surrendered any sincere authority to affix a scarlet letter, here. But, but, but...She's a Christian!!! And She Prays!!! About Real Stuff!!!

Understanding faith has never been the Left's strong suit. These are the geniuses who after demonstrating that they have no understanding of it all in past elections, determined that "We need to get the God thing." The words are still true today. If they honestly believe this latest smear attempt is going to have legs with voters they just can't seem to connect with, then they are headed for yet another disappointment. You can't berate us as bitterly clinging to our guns and Bibles, then expect to "educate" us about the superiority of your empty suit candidate, any more than you can print an article like this, and expect it to be greeted favorably by anyone other than other leftie pundits, talking heads, and acolytes who clumsily mock what you do not understand. I pity you all.

Train's A Comin'...

You hear that, Barack? That's the sound of an elected official with integrity.
I guess you can always go back to a long and fruitless career in the Senate, just like your running mate.