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Month March 2008

Entries 5 Total

Latin American Chicken

Mar 3, 08 6:45 PM

It’s come down to a game of chicken.  Presidents Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Rafael Correa of Ecuador are apparently putting the pressure on Colombian President, Alvaro Uribe, after Uribe (rightfully) authorized a strike 1 mile (2 sites say a mile, MSNBC is saying ”deep”) inside the Ecuadorean border. The strike killed the 2nd in command of FARC, a terrorist rebel group that has terrorized Colombia and taken numerous hostages (including Americans).

Apparently the socialist nutjobs, Chavez and Correa, are incensed that Uribe took such a bold move.  Chavez is threatening war, and Correa is doing whatever Chavez tells him to do.  Nevermind that both nations are supporting a violent narco-terrorist organization that is bent on destroying Colombia’s democratic government.

Colombia earlier said it found documents in the FARC camp inside Ecuador showing evidence that Chavez gave the rebels $300 million and that the slain commander, Raul Reyes, had ties with an official close to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa.

Naturally the communist assholes deny this.  Colombia’s discovery of this information only substantiates what the US and Colombia have known for a long time.

My message to Chavez is this -

Back off, jackass.  The intrusion was on the Ecuadorean side of the border – not yours.  Your pathetic rhetoric and threats of war are aimed more at the US because they support Colombia and Colombian efforts to stand up against you, your leftist puppets and drug lords.  Want to declare war on the US?  Bring it on.  Declare war on us instead of waging a proxy war against a nation that has demonstrated that democracy can work in Latin America. Or is that the reason you hate them so much?

Chavez gets a major F-U from me for his attempts to foment discontent.  He has been waiting for a moment like this.  The fact that he does it now, at a time when Colombia blows up a terrorist hiding one mile inside his neighbor’s border is evidence that he is nothing more than an incendiary, egotistical, left wing blowhard looking for an excuse to fight.

You want a fight, Mr. Chavez?  Come fight us!  It’ll finally give us the excuse that WE have been looking for to depose your sorry ass and send it to hell.  Eat some Tomahawks, you sorry, communist bastard.

MORE:

MSNBC on Rebel Ties to Ecuador and Venezuela

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Reagan’s Wisdom

Mar 1, 08 5:50 PM

Steve and I were joking on another post about replacing the Ann Coulter quote to the right with one by Reagan (my suggestion).  So I started researching Reagan quotes.  It made me nostalgic.  His wisdom is timeless, and his words still speak to us today.  I decided to post some of his quotes that I found across the net.

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let’s not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.

We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we will always be free.

We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
How do you tell a communist? Well, it’s someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It’s someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.

I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the US Congress.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men free.

Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’

Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.’ And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this earth!

If all of this seems like a great deal of trouble, think what’s at stake. We are faced with the most evil enemy mankind has known in his long climb from the swamp to the stars. There can be no security anywhere in the free world if there is no fiscal and economic stability within the United States. Those who ask us to trade our freedom for the soup kitchen of the welfare state are architects of a policy of accommodation.

The years ahead will be great ones for our country, for the cause of freedom and the spread of civilization. The West will not contain Communism; it will transcend Communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we’ll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written

FROM REAGAN’S FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE NATION……

I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life…. And how stands the city on this winter night? … After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true to the granite ridge, and her glow has held no matter what storm. And she’s still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.”

I’m not sure there will ever be another Ronald Reagan.  His wit and wisdom is for the ages.  He will take his place with Winston Churchill, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt as a legendary icon in politics.  God bless you, Ron. 

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The VeepStakes Begins

Mar 1, 08 3:23 PM

kaybay.jpg 

It’s become a tradition every four years to engage in speculation over vice-presidential nominees.  Quite frankly, this is one of the most enjoyable, exciting aspects of the presidential races for me.  Yet, over the years this has become less predictable.  I guess that is what has made it so fun.  But it has also made all of the speculation and guesses more irrelevant.

Take the Bush choices – Quayle and Cheney.  Dan Quayle came out of left field when he was tapped to be George senior’s running mate in 1988.  And Dick Cheney was the head of W’s VP search committee before he was named the VP in 2002. 

I’m not sure that Lieberman was high on the radar when he was selected by Al Gore in 2002.  After all, the rules dictate that you select a veep who has the potential to carry a significant constituency.  Lieberman was from tiny Connecticut.  I suppose you could make the New England argument, but that region was solid Blue.  Perhaps John Edwards made the most sense in recent times.  Kerry invited him onto the ticket knowing that he needed to steal some southern states, not to mention that North Carolina offered quite a few electoral votes that could have mattered in a close race.

Here we are again, and Steve and I both will be fascinated to watch John McCain’s selection of a vice-presidential running mate.  The first name to have really made a hit (in terms of interviews and TV coverage) is Texas Senator, Kay Bailey Hutchison.  That usually doesn’t mean much, and Kay has sworn off any desire to run with McCain.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, suggested by some Republicans as a potential vice presidential candidate, said Sunday she’s not interested in the job. Hutchison appeared on ABC TV’s “This Week,” and host George Stephanopoulos played a video clip of former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes calling the Texas Republican the front-runner to be likely nominee Sen. John McCain’s running mate.

“I don’t want to be vice president,” Hutchison said. She said McCain “has a lot of options” for a running mate.

Hutchison has previously said she was not seeking the job but wouldn’t turn it down if offered. She is also considering running for Texas governor in 2010.

Hutchison didn’t endorse McCain until after he won most of the delegates in the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests, which virtually sewed up the nomination for the Arizona Republican.

Both senators support the war in Iraq but have been criticized by conservatives over domestic issues. Hutchison has come under fire for supporting legalized abortions, embryonic stem cell research and her vote in favor of a children’s health insurance bill that President Bush vetoed.

I love Kay.  Don’t get me wrong.  The very first election I voted in was a special election where she was elected to fill a Senate term.  I love me some Kay Bay.  And Texans love the woman too.  She’s a little stiff when speaking, but she has been so reliably conservative.  And now she is in the Senate GOP leadership.

I’m a little mystifyed about the pro-choice claims though.  I went and did some research.  Yup, she did make several pro-choice statements (as recently as 2006).  Then I went to NARAL’s website to see what the abortion nazis had to say about her.  They hate Kay.  She has a 7% rating.  She’s targeted by all the the pro-abortion harpies. I honestly never knew about her pro-choice statements until a few days ago because she hasn’t voted that way.  Her past record on abortion make any other supposed moderate on the issue, like Giuliani, look like an actual abortion doctor.  I think her statements reflect a personal way of thinking.  But her voting record on federal funding for abortions, partial-birth abortions, parental notification, etc. are 100% in line with Texas. You can check her record here.

The American Conservative Union gives her a 90.4% rating.  If she didn’t have that, she wouldn’t get reelected here (our other Senator, John Cornyn is at 94%).  I see her as a solid conservative.  I just don’t think she will be a VP.  She has been at the forefront of women’s causes (from a conservative perspective), and she might draw some women voters in the absence of Hillary.  But she has strongly insisted that she doesn’t want to run, and I think she has her eyes on the Texas Governor’s Mansion in 2010.

Let the games begin.  Several other names have been tossed around in print.  We’ll see if those surface to the top. This is just the first installment in a series of many to come, I’m sure.

PS:  Just a side note – I actually interviewed for a place on Kay’s congressional staff when I moved to the DC area after I left grad school.  I got a call-back later on after I had already accepted another job.  I adore the woman.  She would be a good choice.

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Hmmmm…

Mar 1, 08 12:11 PM

hilldevil.jpg

This Reuters picture is priceless.  The tag line for the photo merely said something about Hillary smiling at a campaign event in Ohio, but you have to believe that some photographer was having an orgasm over this shot.  I don’t think the humor was lost on anyone.

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Keeping ‘Em in Servitude

Mar 1, 08 12:05 PM

Michelle Obama is a firecracker just like Theresa Heinz Kerry.  And she may end up being a liability for her husband if she doesn’t shut her yap.  I predict that the Obama folks may have to reign her in if Obama is in the general election.  Take this for example:

I have a new story today about Michelle Obama’s visit to Zanesville, Ohio, where she met with a group of women at a local day care center.  According to the U.S. Census, Muskingum County, where Zanesville is located, had a median household income of $37,192 in 2004, below both the Ohio and national averages.  Just 12.2 percent of adults in the county have a bachelor’s degree or higher, also well below the state and national averages.  About 20 percent don’t have a high school degree.  Nevertheless, Mrs. Obama urged them to foreswear lucrative professions like corporate law or hedge fund management and go into the helping industry, even if the sacrifice is great…

 “Don’t go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we’re encouraging our young people to do that. But if you make that choice, as we did, to move out of the money-making industry into the helping industry, then your salaries respond.” Faced with that reality, she adds, “many of our bright stars are going into corporate law or hedge-fund management.”

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this?  Rather than urging less-fortunate citizens to make the best of their lives and strive for high paying jobs, she counsels these women to aim a little lower.  I’m not bashing cops and teachers and social workers.  Lord knows we need them.  But if someone has the talent and ability to be a lawyer or financial analyst, they shouldn’t just shrug off their aspirations because some liberal hack tells them to do it. Of course, we need to consider the source.

What she doesn’t mention is that the helping industry has treated her pretty well. In 2006, the Chicago Tribune reported that Mrs. Obama’s compensation at the University of Chicago Hospital, where she is a vice president for community affairs, jumped from $121,910 in 2004, just before her husband was elected to the Senate, to $316,962 in 2005, just after he took office. And that does not count the money Mrs. Obama receives from serving on corporate boards.

She and Barack don’t exactly have a tear-jerking life story of poverty and destitution.  To me, this is a typical liberal mindset.  And this is just one of the more benign things to come out of this woman’s mouth.  She really could cause a headache for Obama’s handlers.  The gaffes and ultra-lib platitudes won’t serve his campaign well.

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