Every page in Mike Huckabee's 'Do the Right Thing' from Sentinel Publishers, convinces me of the gigantic mistake we've made this election cycle. We are talking a contrast as potentially stark as Carter vs. Reagan. Can you guess who I think is the next Carter and who would be Reagan??
The first sixty pages emanates more common sense than I heard from all the other candidates this election cycle. Mind you, these aren't talking points. No democratic or republican pollsters are speaking through this man. Huckabee expresses his core convictions about our country and its future with a surprising honesty I've almost assumed doesn't exist anymore. It's certainly been strong enough to energize me towards 2012 after a bitter loss this year.
Huckabee, like Bush, is a man of deep personal conviction. Huckabee, unlike Bush, has strong CONSERVATIVE principles. For "Huck" there is no wishy-washy open border policy to buy Hispanic votes, or letting Congress appropriate funds for anything they want. No government inspired solutions to our economic problems either. All of which were George Bush solutions. It was this avoidance of core conservative principles, demonstrated all to often by Mr. Bush and his wimpy friends in Congress, that tossed our butts back to the political sidelines.
What does Mr. Mike describe in these first sixty pages compelling enough for me to write about? The radical notions of self-government and respect for life. Such radical concepts they've become it almost seems too good to be true when the words leap off at you as you're reading. With each turned page, I've become more encouraged that sanity still exists in the USA. And Huck is the politician who articulates its message best right now.
Deep down, don't you dream wildly about what the good ole USA could be if it reverted back to the crazy notion of personal responsibility? We are still a prosperous nation despite the claims of liberals and our media. But how much higher could we go?? Isn't it almost delicious to conjure up images of people actually owning up to mistakes, apologizing for them, and working to not repeat them? You would vote for such a man in a minute wouldn't you? Even if you didn't agree with everything he said...Crazy ideas aren't they?
If you've dreamed about returning to this paradise, then Huckabee's book is for you. Stick around for my next posting and I'll share with you how Huckabee's radical blueprint could bring our country back from its continued nose dive off the cliff of prosperity and civility. Plus, if you've read anything lately you think is a must read, drop me a line and let me know because I seem to have this thing for books!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Are You Ready for the Insanity?
Remember Joe the Plumber? Remember the liberal media's angst over his $1,200's IRS bill and the swarms of media sharks descending on his home to investigate? The story had to be told! What about our incoming Treasury secretary, have you heard about him?? You know, Mr. Obama's change pick, Mr. Geithner? It seems as though our new IRS chief skipped out on $35,000 in social security taxes? How does this same angst ridden media, their democratic friends, most Republicans, and Barack Obama respond? It apparently is a 'hiccup' and an honest mistake. Mistake? Hiccup? Or liberal double standard like you couldn't believe. Say what you want about Bush, but the man has principles.
Want more????????????
Incoming Attorney General, Eric Holder, recommended pardoning a group of terrorists a few years back and this apparently won't hurt his confirmation, but Democratic senators voted against John Ashcroft's confirmation as Bush's AG citing his radical support of laws limiting abortion. So, pardoning America haters is okay, but sticking up for unborn children is wrong?
Carol Browner, our future leader in charge of 'dealing with climate change' is currently a member of a foreign group (Commission For a Sustainable World Society)whose sole goal is world wide socialism. Trouble is, these socialists have now changed the dialog from global warming to 'climate change' because of in case you haven't noticed it, here in Ohio as I type, it is minus 10 degrees outside.
Surely, the insanity stops at the door of our next President???? I mean some of his nominees are kind of nutty but since associations don't affect character, Mr. Obama is straight forward, right?? Think again. Barack "change" Obama is projected to spend between $80 million and $150 million on January 20th while celebrating his new White House bedroom. Interesting. So, change is spending $100 million on frivolity during the midst of this "Great Depression" as Barack continually tells the electorate? Never mind that during the actual Great Depression unemployment was 25% and most people were just trying to get food while today a weekend trip to your local steakhouse means an hour wait. But, this rhetoric is probably just a hiccup or mistake, right?
What is Barack's stated first order of business after January 20th?? Closing Gitmo where hundreds of terrorists wanting to kill us all reside. His second executive decision?? That would be spending over $800 billion to prop up our economy by giving tax rebates to folks who don't pay federal income tax while increasing taxes on the only people with enough money to create jobs. Have we all gone mad?
Finally, our government is prosecuting Bernie Madoff for taking money from one investor to pay another while pocketing a lot along the way ($50 billion). A great big Ponzi scheme. A scheme he should go to jail for! Yet the US government continues the biggest Ponzi scheme in the world's history- social security. Let's take money from Tom's paycheck to pay for someone else's retirement and then hope thirty years from now to reimburse Tom out of the pocket of another person. Seems pretty similar to me, how about you?
Stay tuned, my conservative friends for a treasure trove of hypocrisy, broken promises, and even more debt than we have now. I'll be here talking about it along the way, and I invite you to drop me a line with topics along the way!
I just checked the temperature outside and it is now minus 12 degrees...someone tell Al Gore.
Want more????????????
Incoming Attorney General, Eric Holder, recommended pardoning a group of terrorists a few years back and this apparently won't hurt his confirmation, but Democratic senators voted against John Ashcroft's confirmation as Bush's AG citing his radical support of laws limiting abortion. So, pardoning America haters is okay, but sticking up for unborn children is wrong?
Carol Browner, our future leader in charge of 'dealing with climate change' is currently a member of a foreign group (Commission For a Sustainable World Society)whose sole goal is world wide socialism. Trouble is, these socialists have now changed the dialog from global warming to 'climate change' because of in case you haven't noticed it, here in Ohio as I type, it is minus 10 degrees outside.
Surely, the insanity stops at the door of our next President???? I mean some of his nominees are kind of nutty but since associations don't affect character, Mr. Obama is straight forward, right?? Think again. Barack "change" Obama is projected to spend between $80 million and $150 million on January 20th while celebrating his new White House bedroom. Interesting. So, change is spending $100 million on frivolity during the midst of this "Great Depression" as Barack continually tells the electorate? Never mind that during the actual Great Depression unemployment was 25% and most people were just trying to get food while today a weekend trip to your local steakhouse means an hour wait. But, this rhetoric is probably just a hiccup or mistake, right?
What is Barack's stated first order of business after January 20th?? Closing Gitmo where hundreds of terrorists wanting to kill us all reside. His second executive decision?? That would be spending over $800 billion to prop up our economy by giving tax rebates to folks who don't pay federal income tax while increasing taxes on the only people with enough money to create jobs. Have we all gone mad?
Finally, our government is prosecuting Bernie Madoff for taking money from one investor to pay another while pocketing a lot along the way ($50 billion). A great big Ponzi scheme. A scheme he should go to jail for! Yet the US government continues the biggest Ponzi scheme in the world's history- social security. Let's take money from Tom's paycheck to pay for someone else's retirement and then hope thirty years from now to reimburse Tom out of the pocket of another person. Seems pretty similar to me, how about you?
Stay tuned, my conservative friends for a treasure trove of hypocrisy, broken promises, and even more debt than we have now. I'll be here talking about it along the way, and I invite you to drop me a line with topics along the way!
I just checked the temperature outside and it is now minus 12 degrees...someone tell Al Gore.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Revisionist Media History, Part 1
Well, it hasn't taken long for our friends at the NY Times to already start backpedaling on Barack Obama's promise to close Gitmo as soon as he is President. This after grilling President Bush for years about how unfair Gitmo was. Notice these files have been open since 2006, but you are just now hearing about this.
For those of you who don't want to read the whole article, I've emboldened the revelations from our friends in NY. It won't be long before the media suddenly reveals gas prices have dropped 50% and we are coming out of the terrible depression we are in.
Search All NYTimes.com
By WILLIAM GLABERSON and MARGOT WILLIAMS
Published: November 2, 2008
They were called the Dirty 30 — bodyguards for Osama bin Laden captured early in the Afghanistan war — and many of them are still being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Others still at the much-criticized detention camp there include prisoners who the government says were trained in assassination and the use of poisons and disguises.
One detainee is said to have been schooled in making detonators out of Sega game cartridges. A Yemeni who has received little public attention was originally selected by Mr. bin Laden as a potential Sept. 11 hijacker, intelligence officials say.
As the Bush administration enters its final months with no apparent plan to close the Guantánamo Bay camp, an extensive review of the government’s military tribunal files suggests that dozens of the roughly 255 prisoners remaining in detention are said by military and intelligence agencies to have been captured with important terrorism suspects, to have connections to top leaders of Al Qaeda or to have other serious terrorism credentials.
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have said they would close the detention camp, but the review of the government’s public files underscores the challenges of fulfilling that promise. The next president will have to contend with sobering intelligence claims against many of the remaining detainees.
“It would be very difficult for a new president to come in and say, ‘I don’t believe what the C.I.A. is saying about these guys,’ ” said Daniel Marcus, a Democrat who was general counsel of the 9/11 Commission and held senior positions in the Carter and Clinton administrations.
The strength of the evidence is difficult to assess, because the government has kept much of it secret and because of questions about whether some was gathered through torture.
When the administration has had to defend its accusations in court, government lawyers in several cases have retreated from the most serious claims. As a result, critics have raised doubts about the danger of Guantánamo’s prisoners beyond a handful of the camp’s most notorious ones.
But as a new administration begins to sort through the government’s dossiers on the men, the analysis shows, officials are likely to face tough choices in deciding how many of Guantánamo’s hard cases should be sent home, how many should be charged and what to do with the rest.
The Pentagon has declined to provide a list of the detainees now being held or even to specify how many there are beyond offering a figure of “about 255.” But by reviewing thousands of pages of government documents released in recent years, as well as court records and news reports from around the world, The New York Times was able to compile its own list and construct a picture of the population still held at Guantánamo Bay.
Much of the analysis is based on records of Guantánamo hearings for individual detainees, which have been made public since 2006 as a result of a lawsuit by The Associated Press. The Times has posted those documents on its Web site arranged by detainee name.
The analysis shows that about 34 of the remaining detainees were seized in raids in Pakistan that netted three men the government calls major Qaeda operatives: Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Al Hajj Abdu Ali Sharqawi. Sixteen detainees are accused of some of the most significant terrorist attacks in the last decade, including the 1998 bombings at American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the 2000 attack on the destroyer Cole in Yemen, and the Sept. 11 attacks. Twenty others were called Mr. bin Laden’s bodyguards.
The analysis also shows that 13 of the original 23 detainees who arrived at Guantánamo on Jan. 11, 2002, remain there nearly seven years later. Of the roughly 255 men now being held, more than 60 have been cleared for release or transfer, according to the Pentagon, but remain at Guantánamo because of difficulties negotiating transfer agreements between the United States and other countries.
Two of those still held, government documents show, were seen by Mr. bin Laden as potential Sept. 11 hijackers. The case of Mohammed al-Qahtani, whom the government has labeled a potential “20th hijacker,” has drawn wide notice because he was subjected to interrogation tactics that included sleep deprivation, isolation and being put on a leash and forced to perform dog tricks.
The other detainee deemed a potential hijacker, whose presence at Guantánamo has gone virtually unmentioned in public reports, is a Yemeni called Abu Bara. The 9/11 Commission said he studied flights and airport security and participated in an important planning meeting for the 2001 attack in Malaysia in January 2000.
The Guantánamo list also includes two Saudi brothers, Hassan and Walid bin Attash. The government describes them as something like Qaeda royalty. Military officials said during Guantánamo hearings that their father, imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, was a “close contact of Osama bin Laden” and that his sons were committed jihadists.
Walid bin Attash is facing a possible death sentence as a coordinator of the Sept. 11 attacks. Hassan bin Attash was accused of having been involved in planning attacks on American oil tankers and Navy ships.
For those of you who don't want to read the whole article, I've emboldened the revelations from our friends in NY. It won't be long before the media suddenly reveals gas prices have dropped 50% and we are coming out of the terrible depression we are in.
Search All NYTimes.com
By WILLIAM GLABERSON and MARGOT WILLIAMS
Published: November 2, 2008
They were called the Dirty 30 — bodyguards for Osama bin Laden captured early in the Afghanistan war — and many of them are still being held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Others still at the much-criticized detention camp there include prisoners who the government says were trained in assassination and the use of poisons and disguises.
One detainee is said to have been schooled in making detonators out of Sega game cartridges. A Yemeni who has received little public attention was originally selected by Mr. bin Laden as a potential Sept. 11 hijacker, intelligence officials say.
As the Bush administration enters its final months with no apparent plan to close the Guantánamo Bay camp, an extensive review of the government’s military tribunal files suggests that dozens of the roughly 255 prisoners remaining in detention are said by military and intelligence agencies to have been captured with important terrorism suspects, to have connections to top leaders of Al Qaeda or to have other serious terrorism credentials.
Senators John McCain and Barack Obama have said they would close the detention camp, but the review of the government’s public files underscores the challenges of fulfilling that promise. The next president will have to contend with sobering intelligence claims against many of the remaining detainees.
“It would be very difficult for a new president to come in and say, ‘I don’t believe what the C.I.A. is saying about these guys,’ ” said Daniel Marcus, a Democrat who was general counsel of the 9/11 Commission and held senior positions in the Carter and Clinton administrations.
The strength of the evidence is difficult to assess, because the government has kept much of it secret and because of questions about whether some was gathered through torture.
When the administration has had to defend its accusations in court, government lawyers in several cases have retreated from the most serious claims. As a result, critics have raised doubts about the danger of Guantánamo’s prisoners beyond a handful of the camp’s most notorious ones.
But as a new administration begins to sort through the government’s dossiers on the men, the analysis shows, officials are likely to face tough choices in deciding how many of Guantánamo’s hard cases should be sent home, how many should be charged and what to do with the rest.
The Pentagon has declined to provide a list of the detainees now being held or even to specify how many there are beyond offering a figure of “about 255.” But by reviewing thousands of pages of government documents released in recent years, as well as court records and news reports from around the world, The New York Times was able to compile its own list and construct a picture of the population still held at Guantánamo Bay.
Much of the analysis is based on records of Guantánamo hearings for individual detainees, which have been made public since 2006 as a result of a lawsuit by The Associated Press. The Times has posted those documents on its Web site arranged by detainee name.
The analysis shows that about 34 of the remaining detainees were seized in raids in Pakistan that netted three men the government calls major Qaeda operatives: Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Al Hajj Abdu Ali Sharqawi. Sixteen detainees are accused of some of the most significant terrorist attacks in the last decade, including the 1998 bombings at American Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the 2000 attack on the destroyer Cole in Yemen, and the Sept. 11 attacks. Twenty others were called Mr. bin Laden’s bodyguards.
The analysis also shows that 13 of the original 23 detainees who arrived at Guantánamo on Jan. 11, 2002, remain there nearly seven years later. Of the roughly 255 men now being held, more than 60 have been cleared for release or transfer, according to the Pentagon, but remain at Guantánamo because of difficulties negotiating transfer agreements between the United States and other countries.
Two of those still held, government documents show, were seen by Mr. bin Laden as potential Sept. 11 hijackers. The case of Mohammed al-Qahtani, whom the government has labeled a potential “20th hijacker,” has drawn wide notice because he was subjected to interrogation tactics that included sleep deprivation, isolation and being put on a leash and forced to perform dog tricks.
The other detainee deemed a potential hijacker, whose presence at Guantánamo has gone virtually unmentioned in public reports, is a Yemeni called Abu Bara. The 9/11 Commission said he studied flights and airport security and participated in an important planning meeting for the 2001 attack in Malaysia in January 2000.
The Guantánamo list also includes two Saudi brothers, Hassan and Walid bin Attash. The government describes them as something like Qaeda royalty. Military officials said during Guantánamo hearings that their father, imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, was a “close contact of Osama bin Laden” and that his sons were committed jihadists.
Walid bin Attash is facing a possible death sentence as a coordinator of the Sept. 11 attacks. Hassan bin Attash was accused of having been involved in planning attacks on American oil tankers and Navy ships.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
What Do Conservatives Do Now?
It is day one after the glass ceiling was shattered, and US markets are down 5%. I thought a forward looking stock market would be jubilant that six months from now Obama's policies are going to kick in and the economy will jump to life next year? Finally, a way out of the Great Depression Two, right? Finally, an end to unemployment that is half of what it was 30 years ago. Finally, a rapid decline in gas prices once greedy Cheney is gone. Geesh, I would think investors would be giddy at the money individuals will have available to throw back into our economy with their soon to be new purchasing power?
WHAT SHOULD WE THINK NOW?
Let's call today the "Great Awakening" for conservatives. With John McCain, Republicans looked in their "maybe if we elect a moderate, more tolerant leader, independent voters will like us" playbook and they've lost again. This after eight years of George Bush who I would argue played like a conservative to get elected but really hasn't been much of one. Oh, he is a Republican, but not a conservative.
We seem to have the mindset as Christians Jesus would want us to play nice with the other side. Jesus would ask us to speak out softly for our ideals and then go away when we are steamrolled. The whole "turn the other cheek" mindset. THIS IS A LIE and will cost us elections every time. Jesus also told his people to actually make war against disobedient enemies of God's people, but we always seem to forget this side of our Saviour. We are the only thing holding this culture together. As our values continue to get pushed out of the marketplace of ideas, we continue to see things run amok.
Oh, I know, you can't legislate morality many Christians say, even though we legislate lots of things like murder and stealing to name two big ones. Even if you can't legislate morality what about voting to protect our rights as Christians? If we don't vote this way, who is going to?? Why do we keep having to be so soft in the face of people who really, at their core, hate us and our ideals? They aren't going to stop hating us because we sit in the corner meekly extending our hands in bi-partisan support while they are never bi-partisan themselves.
I think we as conservatives need to gain some perspective on what has just happened. John McCain couldn't truly articulate conservative values because he doesn't share them. George Bush is a Republican but not a conservative. Very few of his policies were based on solid conservative ideas. He spent money like a Democrat, he left the border unprotected, the judges he appointed are moderate, he left social issues up to the states, and he couldn't articulate why conservative tax policy is the only way to lift all boats. John McCain is far more to the center-left than the right. Mr. McCain just got defeated by independents 60%-39% last night. I thought independents were going to be attracted to this new open-minded, tolerant Republican?? It didn't work. Despite what the media tells you, Sarah Palin was the only excitement Republicans had this election cycle.
What should we do now? First of all, don't call the other side stupid or ignorant. This degrades our real arguments and is the same thing they do to us. Don't be Ann Coulter. She may be right, but she makes us all look bad by being so mean spirited with her rhetoric. Second, don't root for Obama to put us back in the 1970's when inflation and unemployment were double digits. I would rather be blatantly wrong about this election and see folks succeed and prosper than sit around rooting for things to blow up so we can be proven right. Third, if and when things do implode, and I think they are going to, be ready to articulate your viewpoint with fervor. Be passionate about it. Don't shrink from the fight. Don't be afraid. Always remember that God eventually withholds his blessings from nations that turn from him. Our clock is ticking and we need to develop courage rather quickly before it is too late. We are called 'salt and light' to those around us. Without us, make no mistake the country's superpower status will crumble. Not because we are special, but because we serve the God of the Earth. Finally, pray and remember God is in control. Don't use this as a crutch to justify doing nothing, but keep it in your heart to remember we serve a King who is all powerful and will one day hold everyone accountable for their actions.
WHAT SHOULD WE THINK NOW?
Let's call today the "Great Awakening" for conservatives. With John McCain, Republicans looked in their "maybe if we elect a moderate, more tolerant leader, independent voters will like us" playbook and they've lost again. This after eight years of George Bush who I would argue played like a conservative to get elected but really hasn't been much of one. Oh, he is a Republican, but not a conservative.
We seem to have the mindset as Christians Jesus would want us to play nice with the other side. Jesus would ask us to speak out softly for our ideals and then go away when we are steamrolled. The whole "turn the other cheek" mindset. THIS IS A LIE and will cost us elections every time. Jesus also told his people to actually make war against disobedient enemies of God's people, but we always seem to forget this side of our Saviour. We are the only thing holding this culture together. As our values continue to get pushed out of the marketplace of ideas, we continue to see things run amok.
Oh, I know, you can't legislate morality many Christians say, even though we legislate lots of things like murder and stealing to name two big ones. Even if you can't legislate morality what about voting to protect our rights as Christians? If we don't vote this way, who is going to?? Why do we keep having to be so soft in the face of people who really, at their core, hate us and our ideals? They aren't going to stop hating us because we sit in the corner meekly extending our hands in bi-partisan support while they are never bi-partisan themselves.
I think we as conservatives need to gain some perspective on what has just happened. John McCain couldn't truly articulate conservative values because he doesn't share them. George Bush is a Republican but not a conservative. Very few of his policies were based on solid conservative ideas. He spent money like a Democrat, he left the border unprotected, the judges he appointed are moderate, he left social issues up to the states, and he couldn't articulate why conservative tax policy is the only way to lift all boats. John McCain is far more to the center-left than the right. Mr. McCain just got defeated by independents 60%-39% last night. I thought independents were going to be attracted to this new open-minded, tolerant Republican?? It didn't work. Despite what the media tells you, Sarah Palin was the only excitement Republicans had this election cycle.
What should we do now? First of all, don't call the other side stupid or ignorant. This degrades our real arguments and is the same thing they do to us. Don't be Ann Coulter. She may be right, but she makes us all look bad by being so mean spirited with her rhetoric. Second, don't root for Obama to put us back in the 1970's when inflation and unemployment were double digits. I would rather be blatantly wrong about this election and see folks succeed and prosper than sit around rooting for things to blow up so we can be proven right. Third, if and when things do implode, and I think they are going to, be ready to articulate your viewpoint with fervor. Be passionate about it. Don't shrink from the fight. Don't be afraid. Always remember that God eventually withholds his blessings from nations that turn from him. Our clock is ticking and we need to develop courage rather quickly before it is too late. We are called 'salt and light' to those around us. Without us, make no mistake the country's superpower status will crumble. Not because we are special, but because we serve the God of the Earth. Finally, pray and remember God is in control. Don't use this as a crutch to justify doing nothing, but keep it in your heart to remember we serve a King who is all powerful and will one day hold everyone accountable for their actions.
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