Happy Thanksgiving...

The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621, to commemorate the harvest reaped by the Plymouth Colony after a harsh winter. In that year Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving. The colonists celebrated it as a traditional English harvest feast, to which they invited the local Wampanoag Indians. Days of thanksgiving were celebrated throughout the colonies after fall harvests. All thirteen colonies did not, however, celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time until October 1777. George Washington was the first president to declare the holiday, in 1789. By the mid–1800s, many states observed a Thanksgiving holiday. Meanwhile, the poet and editor Sarah J. Hale had begun lobbying for a national Thanksgiving holiday. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, looking for ways to unite the nation, discussed the subject with Hale. In 1863 he gave his Thanksgiving Proclamation, declaring the last Thursday in November a day of thanksgiving. In 1939, 1940, and 1941 Franklin D. Roosevelt, seeking to lengthen the Christmas shopping season, proclaimed Thanksgiving the third Thursday in November. Controversy followed, and Congress passed a joint resolution in 1941 decreeing that Thanksgiving should fall on the fourth Thursday of November, where it remains. Although President Roosevelt's actions in moving the holiday back one week for commercial reasons was undone by a joint resolution of Congress in 1941, it is still a good idea to reflect on the true meaning of the holiday which was best described by President Lincoln in his proclamation of 1863 which was written by the then Secretary of State, William Seward..

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

William H. Seward, Secretary of State

Many families will gather together this holiday at a grand meal and, more often than not, individual family members will speak about the Pilgrims and the Indians to their children and remark to the others as to what they are "thankful" for this holiday. President Lincoln's speech did the same as he enumerated the myriad of blessings that our country should be grateful for. But if you read his speech carefully, President Lincoln also specifically indicated who we should be thankful to - "to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. "

As for me, I am truly thankful that the politically correct progressive left has not yet attempted to secularize and otherwise usurp this grand national holiday as they have done with the celebration of Christmas!

My sincerest wishes to all of who who stumble across this blog for a truly happy Thanksgiving.

Media Bias?

"Promote then as an object of primary importance, Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened."

George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

As George Washington was leaving office, he specifically addressed the importance of an unbiased media as a means of providing a balance to the information provided the general public by its' government. I do not think that George could have envisioned our current national environment where this country's main stream media , or as George would have said, "Institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge", blithely tossed away the objectivity of professional journalism and jumped into bed with that structure of government which gives force to public opinion.

The mainstream media's support for Barack Obama's presidential campaign was so biased that even major insiders are now admitting they were shocked by its depth and depravity. Of course, they waited until after the election to be "shocked!"

Last week, Time magazine's Mark Halperin called the media's performance during the campaign simply "disgusting." He added, "It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage."

According to the Web site Politico, Halperin, who edits Time's political site "The Page," zeroed in on two New York Times articles near the end of the campaign that profiled both Cindy McCain and Michelle Obama.

"The story about Cindy McCain was vicious," Halperin said. "It looked for every negative thing they could find about her and it cast her in an extraordinarily negative light. It didn't talk about her work, for instance, as a mother for her children, and they cherry-picked every negative thing that's ever been written about her." But the Times gave Michelle Obama red carpet treatment, "like a front-page endorsement of what a great person Michelle Obama is."

Halperin, a former ABC News political director, allowed that some of the press coverage simply reflected the extreme efficiency of Obama's presidential campaign. During the campaign, conservatives criticized the pro-Obama coverage, but it had little effect. columnist David Limbaugh noted: "Never has that been clearer than in the 2008 presidential election, during which they are covering up rather than covering Barack Obama's shady past and alliances, his knee-deep involvement in corrupt practices threatening the very core of our democratic system, and his many policy misrepresentations."

Limbaugh noted that the press went into a tizzy over Sarah Palin's wardrobe, but ignored extravagances like Obama's Greek million dollar coliseum mirage and his flip-flop on public financing of his campaign.

Now that the election is over, Halperin is not alone in admitting the bias. The Washington Post's ombudsman recently conceded that the paper’s coverage was skewed strongly in favor of Obama and against the McCain-Palin ticket.

These post-election epiphanies and subsequent admissions on the part of the mainstream media that they all but abandoned their journalistic principles during the recent presidential campaign will amount to nothing unless they heed the cautionary words of our first President and those abandoned principles are embraced once again.

William Ayers [3]

Undercover agent Larry Grathwohl, who had infiltrated and joined the Weather Underground, described their post-revolution governing plans for the United States in the 1982 documentary "No Place to Hide." The Weather Underground openly discussed exterminating 25 million Americans who refused to be "re-educated" into communism. Here's a transcript of his interview:

"I bought up the subject of what's going to happen after we take over the government. We, we become responsible, then, for administrating, you know, 250 million people. And there was no answers. No one had given any thought to economics; how are you going to clothe and feed these people. The only thing that I could get, was that they expected that the Cubans and the North Vietnamese and Chinese and the Russians would all want to occupy different portions of the United States. They also believed that their immediate responsibility would be to protect against what they called the counter-revolution. And they felt that this counter-revolution could best be guarded against by creating and establishing re-education centers in the southwest, where we would take all the people who needed to be re-educated into the new way of thinking and teach them... how things were going to be. I asked, well, what's going to happen to those people that we can't re-educate; that are die-hard capitalists. And the reply was that they'd have to be eliminated. And when I pursued this further, they estimated that they would have to eliminate 25 million people in these re-education centers. And when I say eliminate, I mean kill! Imagine yourself in a room with all these people who have graduate degrees from Columbia and other well known educational centers, and hear them figuring out the logistics for the elimination of 25 million people. And they were dead serious." -- Larry Grathwohl, former member of the Weather Underground

Now this is something we didn't read too much about in the main stream media during the recent Presidential campaign! Apparently Mr. Ayers and all his friends actually thought they could overthrow the United States government as a means of establishing a socialistic state with open invitations for the North Vietnamese, Russians and Cubans to come in and occupy different regions of the country. And of course there would "re-education" camps for those of whose who were deemed salvageable and for the 25 million of us die hard capitalists, they planned on killing us.

And sadly, today Mr. Ayers is a respected academic whose professorship allows him to shape the minds of young men and women who, had the Weather Underground Organization been successful in its' mission, might not have even been born had their parents been among those 25 million unredeemable capitalists who were slated for extermination!

Big Three Bailout - It's Not Our Money?

A Republican congressman seeking a $25 billion bailout of the troubled U.S. auto industry made a stunning statement about taxpayer funds to benefit Detroit, claiming, "It is not your money."

Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., made the remark during a discussion with Fox News anchor Neil Cavuto this past Friday as the pair debated sending billions of federal dollars to prop up the Big Three car makers.

Anyone who is still scratching their heads wondering why the Republicans crashed and burned during this past election need look no further than the likes of Congressman Knollenberg. I am sure that he regretted making statement as soon as the words were out of his mouth but, nevertheless, his impromptu remark speaks volumes about the GOP's grossly excessive spending habits over the past eight years which has served to alienate that party's conservative base.

In some sense, Congressman Knollenberg is right...by the time the politicians are finished handing out billions of tax-payer dollars in an attempt to save failed businesses that should have otherwise filed for bankruptcy and reorganized or simply go out of business, it won't be our money! They will have thrown it away and the businesses will go belly-up anyway!

William Ayers [2]

Prior to getting into specifics about William Ayers, I have posted a short overview of his terrorist organization, the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), originally known as "Weatherman." Weatherman (known colloquially as The Weathermen) was a political faction elected in 1968 to lead the radical group Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). The organization took its name from a line in the Bob Dylan song Subterranean Homesick Blues ("You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"). Emerging in 1969 as the most militant wing of the SDS's Revolutionary Youth Movement, the fledgling Weatherman issued a "manifesto" eschewing nonviolence and calling instead for armed opposition to U.S. policies; advocating the overthrow of capitalism; exhorting white radicals to trigger a worldwide revolution by fighting in the streets of the "mother country"; and proclaiming that the time had come to launch a race war against the "white" United States on behalf of the non-white Third World. Grounded in identity politics, Weatherman ideology and rhetoric rebelled against what later came to be known as America's "white skin privilege." Weatherman opposed the strategy of a rival SDS faction, Progressive Labor, which rejected the sexual and drug excesses of the counter-cultural movements of the 1960s in favor of a purer, Marxist-Leninist popular front movement aimed at developing student-labor alliances. FBI files from 1976, recently made public under the Freedom of Information Act, confirm the connections between Weatherman, Havana, and Moscow. Weatherman leaders like Mark Rudd traveled illegally to Havana in 1968 to engage in terrorist training. There, camps set up by Soviet KGB Colonel Vadim Kotchergine were educating Westerners both in Marxist philosophy and urban warfare. At a 1969 "War Council" in Flint, Michigan, Weatherman leader Bernardine Dohrn (currently a law professor at Northwestern University and a Board member of the ACLU) praised the serial murderer Charles Manson and his accomplices: "Dig it. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them. They even shoved a fork into the victim's stomach. Wild." She then proclaimed that the time had come to launch a war against "Amerikkka" (Weatherman always spelled "America" this way, to convey the group's belief that the nation was ineradicably racist to its core). Toward this end, Dohrn advocated the formation of an even more radical "Weather Underground" cult to carry out covert terrorist activities rather than public acts of protest. By early 1970, her wish would be realized. Weatherman's first public demonstration was its October 1969 "Days of Rage" protest in Chicago, timed to coincide with the trials of the Chicago Seven (a group of radical leftists led by Tom Hayden), who had fomented a riot at the Democratic Party nominating convention in that city the previous year. Advertised with the slogan "Bring the war home," "Days of Rage" sought to create enough chaos to shock the American public out of its alleged complacency vis a vis the Vietnam War. The opening "Days of Rage" salvo, designed to glorify the anarchist movement, was the October 8 demolition of a statue dedicated to the memory of eight policemen who had been killed in the Haymarket Labor Riot of 1886. Thereafter, some 300 people -- both members and supporters of the Weatherman agenda -- ravaged Chicago's business district, smashing windows and destroying automobiles. Six people were shot and seventy were arrested. The violence continued, though on a smaller scale, for each of the next two nights. As Sixties historian Todd Gitlin observed, however, no popular uprising was sparked by these events, much to the group's dismay. Notable "Days of Rage" leaders included Bill Ayers, now a Professor of Education at the University of Illinois, and Mark William Rudd, currently a mathematics professor at a New Mexico community college. Weatherman was further radicalized by the December 1969 shooting death of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton by Chicago police. Hampton was a street thug who, in his much-heralded "morning education" programs, taught black youths that violent opposition to the U.S. government was a worthy goal. He was quoted in a 1969 Chicago Sun-Times article as saying, "I am at war with the pigs," and forecasting an armed struggle between blacks and whites. He routinely carried weapons and instructed his subordinates to do the same. For Weatherman, Hampton's death provided one more excuse to pursue a revolutionary agenda. In March 1970 the organization issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government, using for the first time its new name, the "Weather Underground Organization" (WUO), adopting fake identities, and pledging to pursue covert activities only. Shortly after that Declaration, three members of the Weather Underground accidentally killed themselves in a Manhattan townhouse while attempting to build a powerful bomb they had intended to plant at a social dance in Fort Dix, New Jersey -- an event that was to be attended by U.S. Army soldiers. Hundreds of lives could have been lost had the plot been successfully executed.The Weather Underground went on to claim credit for some 25 bombings over the next several years, detonating explosives at the rebuilt Haymarket statue, a bathroom at the Pentagon, the Capitol barber shop, the New York City police headquarters, and a variety of other targets. The Weather Underground also (for a fee of $25,000) helped psychedelic drug guru Timothy Leary break out of a California prison and arranged for his transport to Algiers. When Leary was re-arrested in 1974, he cooperated in the FBI investigation of WUO in exchange for a lighter sentence.By the time the U.S. withdrew its military forces from Vietnam in 1975, the Weather Underground was clearly losing vitality as an organization, having failed to invigorate a new radical movement in the U.S. or to inspire an all-out war against the government. In the wake of President Jimmy Carter's amnesty for draft dodgers, members of the group began to emerge from hiding. Many were never prosecuted; others had their convictions overturned. Some, like Rudd, Dohrn, and Ayers, claimed places for themselves in academia, while others attempted to return to the mainstream. On October 20, 1981 -- long after the Weather Underground had ceased to exist -- former Underground member Kathy Boudin and her soon-to-be husband, David Gilbert, were accomplices in the robbery of a Brinks armored car in Nyack, New York. In the course of that heist, one Brinks guard and two Nyack police officers were murdered. Also involved in the robbery was Judith Clark, who had served a prison term for her participation in the "Days of Rage." Boudin hired attorney Leonard Weinglass, a law partner of her father, to defend her in the case. Weinglass arranged for a plea bargain whereby Boudin pled guilty to one count of felony murder and robbery, in exchange for a prison sentence of twenty years to life. She was paroled in 2003, however, over strong opposition from New York State police. Gilbert remains in New York's Attica State Prison, having refused to bargain.In 1985, former Weather Underground members Susan Rosenberg (who also was implicated in the Nyack robbery) and Linda Evans were apprehended while transporting 740 pounds of explosives which they both acknowledged were slated for use in additional bombings. Rosenberg was sentenced to 58 years in prison, Evans 40; President Bill Clinton pardoned both women in January 2001, along with several members of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Terrorist organization, FALN.

William Ahers [1]

Now that the election is over, there is little attention being paid to William Ayers and his connection/relationship with Senator Barrack Obama. During the recent campaign, the main stream media (MSM) continually ignored Mr. Ayers' history as a member of the 1960's radical terrorist group, the Weathermen, and paid little credence to the questions that had arisen concerning the extent of his relationship with Senator Obama.

Although Mr. Ayers had assumed a decidedly low profile during the campaign when Senator John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin began talking about his connections with Senator Obama, with the election over he is now, once again a very public figure.

In addition to his job as a Professor of Education at the University of Illinois, he is also very busy marketing a new edition of his book Fugitive Days and speaking out in his own defense in the pages of a democratic socialist newsweekly, In These Times. Recently, Mr. Ayers told a Manhattan panel discussion audience that he was tired of being used as cannon fodder in America's political wars.

By choosing this vehicle, Ayers is skillfully engaging in his own sanitized rewriting of history. His effort is to paint himself as just another honest dissenter, a man whose valiant socialist principles have caused the media to unfairly demonize him as a terrorist. All he did in his memoir, he writes, is to go back to those of “exhilarating and difficult years resistance against the American war in Vietnam".

In light of the above and as a means of countering Mr. Ayers attempt to whitewash his own misdeeds I intend to use my next several blogs to document a few things regarding Mr. Ayers and his friends that you would not otherwise hear about from the MSM.

Prior to starting this series of blogs, and as a matter of due diligence, I need to inform you that I do share a personal issue with Mr. Ayers. On June 9th, 1970, Mr. Ayers, as a leader of the "Weather Underground Group", participated in the bombing of the New York City Police Headquarters located at 240 Centre Street (between Centre and Grand Streets) in Manhattan's Little Italy neighborhood. At that time I was a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps assigned to the Fleet Marine Force Pacific's 17th Counterintelligence Team, however, my Father, a New York City Police Officer, was assigned to the New York City Police Department's Communications Division at Police Headquarters. Fortunately, he was not on duty at the time of the explosion. When I recently heard Mr. Ayers describe his terrorist actions with the Weather Underground during this time as "exhilarating", I thought to myself, "this is still a dangerous individual" despite the facade of his self professed and twisted version of his history with this group. Mr. Ayers is also well respected by the academic liberal icons of Chicago society who state that his involvement in education and his professorship at the University of Illinois are evidence of his "rehabilitation." According to his friends, Mr. Ayers' past is simply a footnote of history and should not only be forgiven but also forgotten.

I have a specific disdain for Mr. Ayers for several reasons. Obviously, as far as I am concerned, he attempted to murder my father with his bombing of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, one of a myriad of terrorist acts for which Mr. Ayers was never brought to justice. The case against Mr. Ayers was mishandled by the FBI and thrown out. In later years Mr. Ayers remarked about this screwup on the part of the FBI - "Guilty as sin, free as a bird! What a great country!" , Mr. Ayers' subsequent metamorphosis into a liberal socialist with academic credentials and an avowed interest in the education of our nation's children also scares me. To think that this man could have the ear (either directly or indirectly) of a sitting President of the United States is something I find incomprehensible.

They Just Don't Get It!

The CEOs of the big three automakers flew to the nation’s capital yesterday in private luxurious jets to make their case to Washington that the auto industry is running out of cash and needs $25 billion in taxpayer money to avoid bankruptcy.

The CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler may have told Congress that they will likely go out of business without a bailout yet that has not stopped them from traveling in style, not even First Class is good enough.

All three CEOs - Rick Wagoner of GM, Alan Mulally of Ford, and Robert Nardelli of Chrysler - exercised their perks Tuesday by flying in corporate jets to DC. Wagoner flew in GM’s $36 million luxury aircraft to tell members of Congress that the company is burning through cash, asking for $10-12 billion for GM alone.

We want to continue the vital role we’ve played for Americans for the past 100 years, but we can’t do it alone,” Wagoner told the Senate Banking Committee.

While Wagoner testified, his G4 private jet was parked at Dulles airport. It is one of eight luxury jets in the GM fleet that continues to ferry executives around the world despite the company’s dire financial straits.

“This is a slap in the face of taxpayers,” said Tom Schatz, President of Citizens Against Government Waste. “To come to Washington on a corporate jet, and asking for a hand out is outrageous.”

Wagoner’s private jet trip to Washington cost his ailing company an estimated $20,000 roundtrip. In comparison, seats on Northwest Airlines flight 2364 from Detroit to Washington were going online for $288 coach and $837 first class. After the hearing, Wagoner declined to answer questions about his travel.

Ford CEO Mulally’s corporate jet is a perk included for both he and his wife as part of his employment contract along with a $28 million salary last year. Mulally actually lives in Seattle, not Detroit. The company jet takes him home and back on weekends. Mulally made his case Tuesday before the committee saying he’s cut expenses, laid-off workers and closed 17 plants. “We have also reduced our work force by 51,000 employees in the past three years,” Mulally said.

Yet Ford continues to operate a fleet of eight private jets for its executives. Just Tuesday, one jet was taking Ford brass to Los Angeles, another on a trip to Nebraska, and of course Mulally needed to fly to Washington to testify. He did not address questions following the hearing.

“Now’s not the time to do that sort of thing,” said John McElroy of the television program “Autoline Detroit.” “Now’s the time to be humble and show that you’re sharing equally in the sacrifice,” McElroy said.

GM and Ford say that it is a corporate decision to have their CEOs fly on private jets and that is non-negotiable, even as the companies say they are running out of cash. Private jet travel is perhaps the greatest perk of all for CEOs, who say it allows them to travel more efficiently and safely, even in a recession.

Adding insult to injury, AIG, despite their $150 billion bailout, still operates a fleet of corporate jets. The company says it has put two out of its seven jets up for sale and is reviewing the use of others. Though there are no such plans by GM or Ford.

And our elected representatives want to keep throwing our money at these guys?

NOTE: I received an email from my sister shortly after I posted the above blog which said...

"Did you listen to the head of Ford yesterday? When asked about his salary/bonus/etc…of $21 million….his answer was something like you have to reward people for doing work well done…the reporter should have shot back…Well then why, if the jobs are well done, are you asking for a bailout?"

Couldn't have said it better!

Politicians "Out-House" Award - Barney Frank

I am sure that by now we are all aware that Fannie Mae is the nation's largest underwriter of subprime home mortgages and has been the subject of what amounts to a takeover by the Federal government with a huge cash (read that as your tax dollars) infusion in the hopes of keeping Fannie Mae afloat. Basically, a subprime mortgage is a loan made to an individual who your neighborhood bookie would not do business with.

Over the recent past, damaging accounting scandals, questionable management, inadequate capital reserves and a crashing residential real estate market proved too much for Fannie Mae. During an election year, in which the housing market meltdown has become a central issue, the market lost confidence in the government-sponsored mortgage entities and their financing costs rose to unsustainable levels.

As soon as Fannie Mae went belly-up, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) immediately blamed the Republicans for the mortgage giant's failure. However, this is where things get interesting. Barney Frank sits on the House Banking Committee which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae. Back in 1991 Barney Frank worked to loosen regulations for two and three family homes even though those mortgages were defaulting at twice and five times the rates of single homes respectively. At the same time, Mr. Herb Moses, a Fannie Mae executive was also championing the relaxation of these regulations.

In 1994, the Department of Housing and Urban Development recommended imposing tougher regulations on Fannie Mae to ensure that lender's liquidity but, once again, Fannie Mae (Herbert Moses) and Barney Frank made sure no such regulations were imposed.

Whoops, I almost forgot to mention that Barney Frank and Herbert Moses had been lovers since 1987. Can anyone say conflict of interest?

In 1999, Barney Frank's House Banking Committee allowed Fannie Mae to further reduce restrictions on loans in an effort to increase home ownership among minorities and low income customers. At that time even the New York Times reported that if Fannie Mae fails, "...the government will have to step up and bail them out..."

During a July 2008 interview, when the handwriting was on the wall, Barney Frank, as the head of the House Banking Committee, stated "I think this is a case where Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under..." Unfortunately, not only for Barney but for the rest of us as well, less than two months later, Fannie Mae went belly-up!

So now, after years of providing essentially no governmental oversight for Fannie Mae while maintaining a long term relationship with an executive of that company and continually blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing stricter regulations on this mortgage giant, Congressman Barney Frank has the audacity to blame the mortgage giant's failure on the Republicans. The fact that this poor excuse of an elected representative of the American people does not have the backbone to admit any responsibility in this train wreck earns him the "Politicians Out-House Award" by this writer.

"Stop Thinking like an American..."

The anti-everything organization The World Can't Wait recently staged an anti-war protest in Berkeley, California and I came across this picture of a protestor attired in an orange jumpsuit ostensibly portraying a prisoner being held in Guatanamo Bay, Cuba. I was immediately struck by the the message taped to the back of the protestor's jumpsuit which read "Stop thinking like an American and start thinking like someone who cares for the whole planet!"

It has been my experience that when you run across the machinations and propaganda of far left organizations they are, for the most part, not prone to disavowing their country in order to push their agenda(s) on others but, in the case of The World Can't Wait, they come right out and say it -- "Stop thinking as an American...!"

The National Director of the World Can't Wait group, a Ms. Debra Sweet, not only wants President Bush indicted for war crimes, but she is also clearly not confident that the recent President-elect, Senator Barrack Obama, will be any better than Bush. Apparently she is worried about the "Chosen One" nuking Iran and trashing Afghanistan!

Recently, Code Pink activists ended their year long demonstrations at the the United States Marine Corps Recruiting station in Berkeley when it became obvious they could not find a legal remedy to have it removed from the community. That didn't bother World Can't Wait activists who moved right in and started their own demonstrations. According to the group's director, the recruiters "...have no right to be in our communities (or anywhere else) - since their right to recruit is in conflict with the right of the Iraqi peope to live, and to be free from unjust occupation. So we have to decide: Do we think American lives are worth more that Iraqi lives...Which right do we respect?"

In addition the above, the World Can't Wait organization responds to the question of "Regardless of how you feel about the war, don't you have to support our troops?" as follows...

"NO! The cliche 'support the troops' is nothing but war propaganda intended to paralyze people and prevent them from taking action to stop what the troops are actually doing. Yes, young people are lied to and manipulated into joining. Yes, veterans are treated poorly when they get back. But no, the troops are not doing anything honorable - they are part of a U.S. military machine that is committing war crimes - and they should not be supported. If you were living in Nazi Germany, would you have said 'support the troops' ."

For all their ant-war rhetoric, I could not find any article by the World Can't Wait organization or its Director, Ms. Debra Sweet, commenting on the issue of Islamic Fundamentalist terrorism. No statements about either of the two World Trade Center terrorist acts, the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, the London subway bombings, the Madrid train bombings, the bombings in Beriut and Lebanon, etc. Sadly, in the "I'm so far left I am off the map" of both Ms. Sweet and her organization, the only fault to be found in the world today lies solely at the feet of the United States of America.

Change Has Come!

Obviously they couldn't wait for "change" so they took matters into their own hands.

A gaggle of leftist pranksters, allegedly including three NY Times staffers (unidentified), couldn't wait for the "Chosen One" to take office on January 20th next year so they published and distributed over a million copies of a faux "Special Edition of the New York Times" and distributed it for free yesterday on the streets of New York proclaiming to the world (or at least those in Manhattan who were able to get a copy) that change has already taken place! This very same group released the above video yesterday to document their journalistic endeavor.

Among the stories contained in this "special edition" of the NY Times were articles proclaiming the end of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the indictment of President Bush for treason, a pay-cap for CEO's, free college education at public universities, A U.N. sanctioned global weapons ban, the offer of church sanctuary for Iraqi refugees, etc., etc., etc. One article in particular cited "Iraqis around the World Celebrate U.S. Withdrawal and Rebuilding plan."

In the video, several readers were apparently unaware the the publication was bogus and one young gentleman remarked, "I knew change was coming to America I just didn't expect it would come this fast." One young woman opined while reading the paper, "This is a deep, positive, potential thing!" I am still trying to figure out what a "deep, positive, potential thing" is.

I have no idea what the cost of this prank was, but if they actually printed, bundled and distributed a million and a half copies of this paper, it had to have been considerable. I guess they were "spreading the wealth around!"

To the group's credit, at least they cited the New York Times as the newspaper in question so no harm is done. At this point in time, they are very few of us who beieve anything that is printed in that particular fairy tale!

More to the point, I believe that the concerted effort required to realize the publication and circulation of over a million copies of a "Special Edition of the New York Times", replete with fabricated stories taken directly from the left's "wish list" of agenda items they hope to realize under the newly elected "Chosen One", does not bode well for any hope that this new administration will make any attempt whatsoever to govern from the center.

On Sarah Palin: "They don't know their asses from their elbows."

"How dare Palin not embrace abortion as the ultimate civilized ideal of modern culture? How tacky that she speaks in a vivacious regional accent indistinguishable from that of Western Canada? How risible that she graduated from the University of Idaho and not one of those plush, pampered commodes of received opinion whose graduates, in their rush to believe the worst about her, have demonstrated that, when it comes to sifting evidence, they don't know their asses from their elbows..."

The above quote is from a marvelous article by Camille Paglia, a Professor of Humanities and Media Studies at of University of Arts in Philadelphia. I came across her article, Obama Surfs Through, dated November 12, 2008, while reading the postings on one of the more liberal websites, Salon.com.

An avowed feminist (some would describe her as a dissdent feminist), Ms. Paglia is a lifelong Democrat who, although possessed of some very liberal views, does not tow the party line and has no problem speaking her mind on any subject.

Ms. Paglia, a staunch Obama supporter, is still is able to sit back and upon reflection note that "Yes, it's true we know relatively about Barrack Obama, and his triumph is a roll of the dice...No one knows whether Obama will move to the center or veer hard left. Perhaps even he doesn't know...In the closing weeks of the election, however, I became increasingly disturbed by the mainstream media's avoidance of forthright dealing with several controversies that had been dogging Obama - even as every flimsy rumor about Sarah Palin was being trumpeted as if it were engraved in stone on Mount Sinai...As for the Democrats who sneered and howled that Palin was unprepared to be a vice-presidentail nominee -- what navel gazing hypocrisy! John Edwards, with vastly less political experience than Palin, got John Kerry's nod for veep four years ago. And Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, for whom I lobbied to be Obama's pick and who was on everyone's short list for months, has a record indistinguishable from Palin's."

I found Ms. Paglia's article to be a forthright, refreshing and surprisingly honest assesment of the mainstream media's bias which was so obvious during this past presidential campaign. I urge all of you to read it in its entirety here. Additionally, you can read more about Camille Paglia by visiting her website.

Merry Christmas -Why believe in God?

The American Humanist Association has spent $40,000 on an advertising campaign that will start next week in Washington, D.C. just in time for the coming Christmas season. Oops! Did I write Christmas? Of course I meant to say the upcoming Winter Festival season. The ad states "Why believe in a God? Just be good for goodness' sake."

Each year I promise myself, to no avail, that I will not allow politically correct liberal attempts to denigrate the Christmas season annoy me and each year I find my blood pressure going through the roof right around this time.

One could argue that the intent of the ad is well meaning as it simply puts forth the argument that people should be good. I would argue that if that were the case, why involve a question that makes suspect an individual's belief in a higher power? The ad could have been just as compelling if it simply said "Just be good for goodness' sake."

The organization's web site greets each visitor with a banner proclaiming "Join us and help promote progressive, dynamic values!" I have always been amused by the fact that, over the past several years, the left has abandoned the term "liberal" for the more palatable "progressive" descriptor.

Oh yes! As an aside, in the spirit of the Christmas season, perhaps the $40,000 could have been better spent in these tough economic times? A donation to a charity, a women's shelter, a homeless outreach organization...?

Notwithstanding the above, in closing I wish the Humanist "progressives" of this world a Merry Christmas and I will keep them in my prayers!

Air America: "Ignore Fox News!"

I just came across an interesting article posted on Air America's website by Tim Einenkel titled "Our Job as Progressives." Mr. Einenkel writes that many "bloggers, readers, journalists, media figures..." are now asking what the liberal/progressive community should do now that they have a democrat in power. Dismissing the notion that the job of the progressive community should be to protect Obama when he is attacked by right-wing pundits, talk-show hosts, etc., Mr. Einenkel states that "Our first job in the progressive community is to stop right wing media organizations from switching their political agenda to fit the country's political agenda. So, I have a suggestion: Stop watching, paying attention, reporting on, and/or referencing media organizations like the Fox News Network." In the heady etherial vapors of the liberal post-election alternate reality wherein exists Air America, Mr. Einenkel is of the opinion that because Senator Obama won the election, many of the conservative organizations throughout the country will now assume a more liberal/progressive stance in order to maintain relevance. If Mr. Einenkel is correct in his assertion that the conservative right in America is in complete "disarray" and is left with no option other than joining the liberal/progressive movement in order to maintain relevance, then I cannot understand why Air America is, at the same time, so interested in implementing the "Fairness Doctrine" in order to shut these conservative media outlets down. Obviously, I take issue with Mr. Einenkel's view of the political landscape at this time. In light of the recent election results, I feel that now is the time for all true conservatives to take stock of themselves and the Republican Party and work tirelessly towards restoring those core principles of conservatism that we seem to have misplaced - smaller government, a strong national defense, lower taxes and common sense values.

The President-Elect

With Senator Barrack Obama's historic election as the 44th President of the United States and the first African-American to be elected to that office, we now must sit back and await the inauguration of a Commander in Chief of whom we know very little about. The week prior to the election, Tom Brokaw was interviewed by Charlie Rose on PBS and both stated that they knew very little about Senator Obama's world views. It should be kept in mind that Mr. Brokaw covered Senator Obama's campaign for 18 months as a reporter for the mainstream media so he obviously wasn't asking any probative questions of the candidate!

In light of the fact that this presidential campaign has been the most lengthy and expensive in our nation's history, the simple fact that this man has come so far and so quickly while revealing so little specific information about himself speaks volumes of his political acumen. His campaign speeches were more like those of a motivational speaker than those of an experienced politician who presents as an individual well versed in matters of foreign policy and domestic issues. Often times during his speeches I felt that I was watching a Tony Roberts infomercial.

To give credit where credit is due, Senator Obama conducted an exceptional campaign, spending millions of dollars and many hours in front of a teleprompter convincing the majority of American voters that he is the long awaited "agent of change", the "One" who would change, for the better, the course of not only this country but the world as well! Of course, we never quite found out exactly what changes he was speaking about but apparently, for the majority of the voting public, the promise of "change" was enough!

Although I did not vote for Senator Obama, I wish him well in the hope that he provides a positive symbol of leadership, evidences more of a concrete leadership style beyond that of his proven ability to deliver inspirational speeches and, most importantly, proves capable of discharging those specific duties charged to him under Article II of the United States Constitution to wit: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."