The Latest News...My Take

First and foremost on people's minds is the current state of the American and world economy. Everyone is in a panic and thinking that we are on the verge of a new depression. I say, "Calm down!"

John McCain was right. The fundamentals of our economy are still strong. However, some very big financial institutions were very careless in their pursuit of outlandish profits and personal gains of the suits in charge. Some of those suits that have personally gained from the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failures are include the very democrats pointing fingers at Bush. What people are not looking at is the fact that Barack Obama personally benefited from the two housing lenders' failures.

The bail-out of Freddie and Fannie, as well as AIG and the other companies being saved, will help keep our economy strong. While the bail-out will temporarily impact our tax budget, there is a real possibility that much of the $700 billion can be recouped, if not see a profit turned. If only we get the greedy democrats out of power.

Barack Obama and Chris Dodd and hundreds of other democrats personally pocketed millions of dollars from these institutions. Why don't they stand up and do the right thing and give back that shady money? Because it is easier to blame George Bush, the same practice that liberals have been doing since early 2002, when they first started blaming Bush for 9/11, and then it just continued from there.

This bail-out is, sadly, needed to prevent a deep recession, if not a complete depression. My hope is that America will elect McCain and McCain will let an economic whiz like Mitt Romney take charge of the economy.

Outside of that, we again are feeling even more pain at the gas pump. Why? We have no alternatives!!!!! We have no alternatives thanks to the do-nothing Democratic Congress. What happened to their promises of lowering energy costs? What happened to their promises of changing everything? They have done nothing! They went to break instead of voting on energy solutions. Nancy Pelosi forced the House of Representatives to summer recess instead of hearing Republicans who had requested floor time. She ordered the cameras off, the lights turned down, and the doors locked.

What kind of leader is this? She would rather go on vacation that do her job and find solutions for problems facing her constituents. And we are still painfully close to $4 a gallon with no hope in sight.

What has this heroic Democratic Congress done in two years? They were elected with promises of the sun, moon, and stars. They have done nothing of substance. They spent the first year of their time in power voting on non-binding resolutions to force withdrawal from Iraq. They have spent more time voting on resolutions that had as much legal power as a post-it note found on the floor of the Capitol Building than on finding solutions to American problems.

So, we have democrats with their hands in the crumbling cookie jar of Freddie and Fannie and Countrywide and all these other institutions. We have a do-nothing Democratic congress that has accomplished nothing, with the exception of a single-digit approval rating, setting historic records for disgust with accomplishment. Yet, sadly, nearly 50% of Americans support this same party?

Even worse, look at the kind of trash and low-life attacks that democrats are slinging at the McCain-Palin ticket. The left is not going on facts and issues, instead they are taking very mean-spirited, low, uncouth, dirty, disgraceful, and tasteless swipes at John McCain and Sarah Palin.

How many times do we have to hear that John McCain is going to die in office? The loud-mouths on "The View" implied and said it at least 6 times in the 30 minutes McCain was on their sofa. "God-forbid, something might happen to you..." McCain is a tough cat. He has smirked and walked-through and survived events and catastrophes that civilians could not fathom. Running the nation he has served for over 40 years will be a cakewalk compared to some of the travesties McCain has dealt with.

For a party that supposedly fights for women, they sure cannot handle a woman with a shot at the Vice Presidency. They constantly question Sarah Palin and her ability to be a family person and a VP. They never question a man, yet they attack a woman. Why? She is a conservative. If Sarah Palin was pro-choice and wanted to raise taxes and have government take over health care, these nut job feminazis would be 100% for her. Yet, because her fundamental beliefs are different, her gender is no longer worth promoting. And don't get me started on the complete garbage and classless attacks against Todd Palin and their children.

The children are not campaigning. They are CHILDREN, you sick, twisted, soul-less morons. We have left-wing media people and left-wing politicians who attack the Palin family on a daily basis. Charlie Rangel called Sarah Palin "disabled." Media have implied that Todd Palin is "doing those girls," referring to the Palin daughters. There are attacks out there claiming that Trig, the precious youngest Palin child, is actually the product of an incestuous relationship between Todd and the 15-year-old daughter.

Then there is Charlie Gibson with his very condescending attitude and disrespect for Sarah Palin. She handled it well, but Gibson was so rude and slanted in his interview with Palin. It is just part of a pattern of the left trying to tear her apart, not just politically, but personally.

I just hope, and I do have hope, that the rest of the country can see through the garbage. There are no real attacks on McCain's policies or Palin's strengths. Instead, there are personal attacks and attempts to personally destroy the children, who have nothing to do with the campaign.

So, people, please, see through the smoke and mirrors. Research and find the truth. If you think for yourself, and truly find the truth, you will have no choice but to vote the correct ticket come November 4.

Hurricane Ike

First and foremost, my thoughts go out to the people who's lives will be immeasurably impacted, changed, and lost in the coming weekend. I hope for the best possible outcome for the families who are being displaced by this storm, many of them on a permanent basis.

This storm is shaping up to be one of historic impact. I cannot put into words my fears for the people of Texas. There is no way to say something of encouragement when there is nothing to be done. It is cheesy and almost facetious, but I do sincerely wish everyone the best of luck in the next 72 hours.

The only thing to do is run. Evacuate. Get out. Find a new location to hunker-down until the skies clear and the waters recede. That is the only option for anyone in the path of this monstrous storm.

Sadly, and stupidly, despite the warnings, there are many people who are thumbing their noses at the National Weather Service, their concerned families, and the word of every official with a microphone. They will not get out. In fact, a bar called the "Poop Deck," which is located about 50 feet from the raging waters of the Gulf of Mexico, is full of partiers getting drunk and ignoring the coming storm. I do hope they survive, but their chances are very limited. Sadly, their ignorance may not only affect themselves, but might very well cause harm or death to first responders and emergency personnel who may have to save their stupid selves.

In cases such as these, perhaps it is time to follow the teachings that so many "educational leaders" want to teach in public schools. We should follow the teachings of the "Survival of the Fittest" and "Evolution." Perhaps, these people are the weakest and are not fit for survival. Why should we risk our limited and overworked EMS workers to save them after they put themselves in such danger? If they survive, praise be to God for sparing them, in spite of their ignorance. If they do not make it, they are the ones who took the risk, and got drunk, and stayed in harms way.

I know that is morbid to think, even more morbid to say publicly. However, I think it needs said. We always hear how evolution is the way, and that species move forward in the evolutionary cycle because only the fittest survive. Its time to put the money where their mouths are at.

I do not want any harm to come to anyone in Galveston, TX, or anywhere else for that matter. However, I have no sympathy for idiots who party and ignore warnings as issues by the NWS, who warned that those ignoring the evacuation pleas would face "Certain Death."

My next problem with Hurricane Ike is the gas stations today. Today in my little neck of the woods, we saw price gouging of historic proportions. Gas was hitting $5 and $6 today in anticipation of Ike. As high as gas was already, for them to gouge it so high BEFORE the storm, it is just ridiculous. I drove 1.5 hours round trip today to save $.75 a gallon before the trend swept all the way from Beckley to Wytheville, VA.

All I can say is: "Drill, Baby, Drill!!!"

Remembering What Today Is...

Each of the past six years, on the anniversary of September 11, 2001, I have posted a blog, either on MySpace, Xanga, or have written a newspaper column. In those columns, I have posted my support of the troops, President George W. Bush, the families and friends of victims of the attacks, and I have taken to pointing out the shortcomings of those that opposed President Bush in fighting the War of Terror.

I sit here, 7 years and 12 hours after the attacks commenced, and wonder. I wonder how different the world would be had the attacks never occurred. Where would we be? Would we be better off? Would we be worse?

We will never know, and there is no way to answer those sorts of questions. All we can do is play the hand we are dealt and hope to be able to guess what the other players are holding, and hope for what is yet to be dealt.

The hand we were dealt included a brutal attack on America and Americans, as well as many others representing nearly 100 other nations. That hand included a few, brief shining months of unity and respect for our own country, only to be followed by more division and vitriol than this country has ever had, including during the time of the civil war.

So, tonight, I only wish that the memories of the fallen might not be tarnished by continued hatred and anger and despisement of each other. I wish we would stop letting the TV tell us how to think. I wish we would continue to work for a better America by doing what is right, and not what sounds good in a 5 second soundbite.

WE cannot do that, though, because we have, overall, forgotten what happened in New York, PEnnsylvania, and Washington, D.C., that day. We have such ADD and a short term memory in this country. We have already blocked out and or forgotten everything this day means.

I ask...no, I plead with you, do not forget this day. Do not let the memories of the fallen go to waste. Remember the day. Remember the freedoms that those creatures tried to take away. Remember the fear they inflicted, and then do what you need to do IN SPITE of the fear and in spite of them.

America is such a wonderful, great country. We should not hurt our nation by forgetting the depth of the attacks on our country on 9-11-01.

In closing, I want to say thank you to the George W. Bush administration for not forgetting what 9-11-01 tried to take away from us, and making sure it did not happen again. I want to thank the men and women of the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement who have worked tirelessly, and sacrificing everything, to keep our country safe from attacks. I want to thank the families and friends who lost so much on 9-11-01 for being strong, and for carrying on their lives, showing that America can be knocked down to one knee, but, by God, we will rise again.

God bless America.

The Lipstick of Doom

"The difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull...Lipstick."

The famous, oft-repeated joke that Sarah Palin made in reference to herself, and other Alaskan hockey moms, at the Republican National Convention last week. The comment has been played, repeated, looped, and Youtubed a million times over. There is no way on Earth that his campaign did not hear and understand the comment.

Yet, Barack Obama, as he paused, stammerred, and "uh"-ed his way through a campaign stop in Virginia yesterday, he made a very snide remark and went below the belt on the McCain-Palin ticket.

His comment, which is an old saying, was that "You can put lipstick on a pig...{dramatic pause as he allows the crowd to 'get it' and laugh}...but it's still a pig."

For me, I have to conceed that it is in fact an old saying. However, his decision to use it, and then include the long pause for the crowd to get the joke, shows just how rattled he and his campaign really are.

There has been a 23 percentage-point swing in the last 10 days in a crucial area of Obama's demographic. Women, scorned by Obama being the nominee and then not even vetting or considering Hillary for his VP, are flocking to the energy, family-values, and inspiring story of Sarah Palin.

And Obama blatantly calls her a pig on the campaign stump.

For conversation's sake, let me pose this hypothetical, despite the fact that the likelihood of this being fact is minimal. Let's just say that Obama was not taking a swipe at Palin. Let's just say the "lipstick on a pig" comment was meant at face value and not a play on a largely famous comment from just one week prior. Let us say the comment is innocent in nature and not a swipe. Let's just say that.

So, now, we see just how poorly Barack Obama's judgement is working. Knowing the sensitive situation he is in with the way the media has lashed out and attacked Palin, he had to have known how his lipstick comment would be recieved. He HAD to have known that saying such a thing would be taken hard by many people. He HAD to have known.

Yet, he showed his typical poor judgement. The same poor judgement he used in choosing his pastor of 20 years. The same poor judgement in the people he has been closly associated with. The same poor judgement he used in talking about how the surge has been a failure. The same poor judgement, and possibly poor intelligence, he showed when talking about visiting the 56 or 57 states.

Either way, it shows the simple fact most people can already see, despite the attempts of NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MTV, and the left-wing blogosphere to smear and destroy the Republicans, that Barack Obama does not have the judgement, intelligence, and leadership ability to lead our country.

He called Palin a pig. Plain and simple. He refuses to focus on the issues alone, instead he takes cheap, below-the-belt swipes at the VP candidate and not his opponent. He will not tell us his solutions, other than he won't repeat what George W. Bush has done. So, he calls the VP candidate a pig. Well, I think he just showed that he is a chicken.