Jack & Jill Politics

Ever hear of Claude Castonguay? Maybe not, but those who follow the health-care debate have certainly heard of his creation. Castonguay fathered the single-payer system in Quebec that locked out private insurance, the one which advocates of nationalized health care in the US love to cite as a success story. However, Castonguay has reached a far different conclusion about his creation:


Back in the 1960s, Castonguay chaired a Canadian government committee studying health reform and recommended that his home province of Quebec — then the largest and most affluent in the country — adopt government-administered health care, covering all citizens through tax levies.



The government followed his advice, leading to his modern-day moniker: “the father of Quebec medicare.” Even this title seems modest; Castonguay’s work triggered a domino effect across the country, until eventually his ideas were implemented from coast to coast.



Four decades later, as the chairman of a government committee reviewing Quebec health care this year, Castonguay concluded that the system is in “crisis.”



“We thought we could resolve the system’s problems by rationing services or injecting massive amounts of new money into it,” says Castonguay. But now he prescribes a radical overhaul: “We are proposing to give a greater role to the private sector so that people can exercise freedom of choice.”



Castonguay has realized — a little late — that socializing medicine creates a shortage-management system. It limits the resources available, which drives down the level and the quality of service. Without free-market competition and under a burdensome regulatory scheme, there are no incentives for investment, and not even “massive” amounts of government spending can solve those core problems.



What does Castonguay suggest for Canada? He wants the immediate legalization of private insurance. Since the government now owns all caregiving facilities, Castonguay recommends that they lease space to entrepeneurial physicians and care-giving companies to get more services available to Canadians. Right now, the Canadians actually pay Americans to see their citizens, those whose urgent needs cannot be addressed in a timely manner. Not only is that a gigantic hypocrisy — the state system paying private-sector providers in another country — but it also sends money outside of Canada that would remain in Canada if they had private sector health-care options.



IBD walks through a couple of the horror stories that Castonguay has seen his brainchild produce, but the bottom line is that the Canadian experiment has failed so badly that even its creator recognizes it. Castonguay’s epiphany should serve as a warning to America, and those who oppose the nationalization of health care should make themselves familiar with his new efforts to reform the Canadian system while nationalization advocates hail it as a shining example.

b,


The off shore areas are being explored but if seismic surveys do not show huge reserves, it is best to look elsewhere, rather than spend $80 million drilling a 'dry hole.'



Also discovering vast deposits today, drilling and bringing the oil to the market in the future will buy more time for the transition to alternative fuels.



According to the NYT:



"Only about 20 percent of the continental shelf is open for drilling, providing about 27 percent of domestic oil production and 14 percent of natural gas production. Republicans say that modern seismic work and drilling in deep waters in the central Gulf of Mexico have meant a sixfold increase in estimates of the oil there, and they believe that would happen again if exploration were expanded.



Representative John E. Peterson, Republican of Pennsylvania, is leading the House forces in favor of offshore drilling. He said opening more areas would cut down on fear and speculation in the oil markets.



Most oil companies support the Republican position and are particularly eager for access to the eastern gulf, noting that the water in some parts of it is shallow and drilling would be easy.



“These areas have potential, and we really need to find out what is out there,” said Stephen J. Hadden, senior vice president for exploration and production at Devon Energy, a major gulf producer. “We’re encouraged the dialogue is now occurring, and people are asking the hard questions as to why this is off limits.”



Supporters of the Republican position put estimates for potential oil production from new areas at 1 million barrels a day or more. That would be a notable improvement in domestic production, of about 5 million barrels a day. The United States consumes more than 20 million barrels of oil a day, importing most of it."

d.


You still haven't answered why the already leased 40 million acres off shore aren't being explored? 10 yrs minimum...why not invest in windmills offshore, alternative energy offshore...? Hmmmm I wonder if Halliburton, Exxon, etc have windmill factories..lol

It's a good political tool, especially since part of the 2006 dhimmicrat platform was actually making gas prices lower.


Guess what....didn't happen.



If we announced tomorrow morning that we were opening up as much land and offshore areas as possible to oil exploration, the price of a barrel of oil would drop, driving down the price of gas. Now, it would creep back up since, admittedly, it would take a while for the supply to hit the markets. But once it did, wouldn't the drop in prices be worth it?



Yes, it won't help now. But it would be a damn good start.

d.


That's not WHY it's being thrown around though. They are using it as a political tool...even McCain admitted it probably won't do anything, but it will be good psychologically for the American people..., huh? As Chaz answered better than I...energy companies are not even drilling or exploring the millions of acres currently open to them..so why the need to open more? Then saying in speeches it's gonna help the poor people with the $4 a gallon gas....give me a break.

chaz,


Democrats complain that millions of acres of OCS leases have hardly been touched by the oil companies, but the industry disputes that characterization as a deception. They have to do a number of surveys, which can take years, to determine whether to drill even test holes — and where to put the drill if they do. The technology has vastly improved over the last two decades, but even then the cost of a dry hole is still $80 million. Oil companies want to get it right as often as possible. Here's the key: If there isn't any oil, the oil companies won't drill for what's not there.



But if there are vast deposits off-shore, bringing it to market buys more time for the transition to alternative fuels, and any discoveries would bring down the price at the pump.



A bipartisan commitment to use the oil at our disposal would send a sharp and clear signal to futures markets, but the Democrats don't want to do that. The big divide between McCain and the GOP and Obama and the Democrats is that the Democrats have long favored high gas prices as a instrument of no-growth environmentalism.



Obama and the Democrats could work with the GOP to bring down gas prices. They just don't want to.

b,
I got these stats from one of VA's representatives. Just some generic energy stuff:





-Only 3% of the United States’ 1.76 billion acre outer continental shelf is leased for oil and gas exploration and development. (Minerals Management Service).



-Currently 175.28 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 1.127 trillion barrels of oil are off-limits. (Department of Energy/Department of Interior).



-According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) mean estimate, ANWR would provide 1 million barrels of oil per day for 30 years.





That represents a 20% increase in domestic production.

That’s equivalent to what the entire state of Texas produces daily.

That’s equivalent to 30 years worth of imports from Hugo Chavez.



Even a tiny effect is better than no effect at all, which is what the dhimmicrats have given us. Wait: there has been an effect-gas prices have actually gone up (gasp!).



And if it's gonna take years.....I say we get started.

d,


We already drill off our coast. There are already leases in the gulf that are unexplored. My initial point was that we don't need more areas open to drilling when current leases are not being developed.



Second, I think off shore oil drilling is environmentally problematic. But we do it.



Also, to be exact China is not drilling in American waters. And we're doing it. I just don't think there is a viable solution in us drilling more when we consume so much. The problem is supply but our demand is just to high and our ability to add to supply too limited. The idea that we can really change global supply and demand is laughable, our own department of energy's projections display this.



If Republicans could introduce an idea that wasn't so weak and obviously a land grab by special interest I'd listen, but the facts aren't there. Because if I'm wrong about the supply side the one thing that is true is that energy companies are not drilling or exploring the millions of acres currently open to them so I don't buy this sudden "need" to open up even more land to them.

d,


The worldwide demand for fossil fuels is increasing and the US is the only country not searching for new sources. Hopefully, Congress has turned a corner on opposition to drilling, as I noted earlier.



McCain is out in front of Obama on domestic drilling while seeking to preserve ANWR. Obama may be a little too cozy with Illinois corn-ethanol producer ADM and the environmental lobby to alter his position on domestic drilling even though the public clearly now supports it.

Um...it's STILL not being done. And even if WE could...it would make no difference in gas prices for at least 5 to 10 yrs and even then tiny.

While the president does not have the power, as craig points out, to introduce gun laws in local jurisdictions, there is little doubt that Obama would appoint liberal judges who would agree that a person who rapes a child is ineligible for the death penalty, but a father who, with a handgun, kills someone who raped his child is eligible.


I don't think this type of Supreme Court will sit too well with gun owners.

Um, actually......


Cuba & Energy: A news chronology



More specifically, in 2005:



January 31: Cuba and China signed a contract in Havana providing for the Asian giant's participation in extracting oil from a deposit off the island's north shore, the press reported. The deal is between Cubapetroleos and the Chinese oil company Sinopec, said the official daily newspapaer Granma. In December, Fidel Castro announced discovery of oil at a site offshore from Santa Cruz del Norte, some 55 kilometers (33 miles) east of Havana. The deposit is believed to hold some 100 million barrels of "light" crude, or the equivalent of 14 million tons. (EFE, Prensa Latina, 31/1/05)

June 13, 2008 - 1:15am
By H. JOSEF HEBERT

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Vice President Dick Cheney's office acknowledged on Thursday that he was mistaken when he asserted that China, at Cuba's behest, is drilling for oil in waters 60 miles from the Florida coast.

In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Cheney said on Wednesday that waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, long off limits to oil companies, should be opened to drilling because China is already there pumping oil.

"Oil is being drilled right now 60 miles off the coast of Florida," the vice president said. "We're not doing it, the Chinese are, in cooperation with the Cuban government. Even the communists have figured out that a good answer to high prices is more supply."

He cited his source as columnist George Will, who last week wrote: "Drilling is under way 60 miles off Florida. The drilling is being done by China, in cooperation with Cuba, which is drilling closer to South Florida than U.S. companies are."

Congressional Democrats pounced on the vice president's remarks and were backed up by independent energy experts, who called the assertion hyperbole at best and a falsehood at worst.

Cheney's office said in a statement to The Associated Press that the vice president had erred.

"It is our understanding that, although Cuba has leased out exploration blocks 60 miles off the coast of southern Florida, which is closer than American firms are allowed to operate in that area, no Chinese firm is drilling there," according to the statement.

Cuba clearly is interested in developing its deep-water oil resources, estimated at more than 5 billion barrel, including areas within 60 miles of Key West, Fla., energy experts said.

Jorge Pinon, a senior energy fellow at the University of Miami specializing in Latin America, said Cuba has awarded offshore oil leases, or concessionary blocs, in its offshore waters to six oil companies _ none of them Chinese _ and soon may announce an agreement with Brazil's state oil company, Petrobras.

"But no one is currently drilling in any of those concessions," said Pinon in a telephone interview. Pinon, who supports drilling in the eastern Gulf and believes it can be done without hurting the environment, said China is being raised as an unnecessary "boogeyman" by drilling proponents.

"There is no actual drilling yet. ... There is exploration," said Johanna Mendelson-Forman, a senior fellow on energy and Latin America at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

She said China's oil company, Sinopac, has conducted exploratory drilling on a lease on land in western Cuba, but is not involved in the offshore development.

But talk of China drilling in waters within 50 miles to 60 miles of Key West has been a common theme among Republicans. They are clamoring to open more of the country's offshore waters to energy development, including the eastern Gulf where drilling is strongly opposed by Florida officials.

"China, thanks to a lease issued by Cuba, is drilling for oil just 50 miles from Florida's coast," Rep. George Radanovich, R-Calif., recently wrote in The Modesto Bee in California, arguing for opening waters that have been off limits for 25 years to U.S. companies.

Radanovich's office said the congressman was in transit and not immediately available Thursday.

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, calling for more domestic oil production, declared, "right at this moment some 60 miles or less off the coast of Key West, Fla., China has the green light to drill for oil."

"Even China recognizes that oil and natural gas is readily available off our shores, thanks to Fidel Castro," complained Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, a leader of a GOP energy task force.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., accused the Republicans of pushing oil development by "scaring up the ghosts of communism and xenophobia" and "perpetuating a myth that China is drilling off the coast of Florida."



http://www.wtop.com/?nid=116&sid;=1421167#

EXACTLY....
"Cheney's false comment on oil drilling attacked"



http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwl7MBs14OAtZbu1YJe8l-X7O8vAD91906B80

b. said:


"d."

"China and other countries are drilling on our coasts, really? Where you getting that from?"



-Dick Cheney.

d.
China and other countries are drilling on our coasts, really? Where you getting that from?

Aiight y'all I am down with Barack...been down with Barack. My man has flip flopped on the FISA bill...and he needs to be checked about it. I've already called his campaign and voiced my opinion...what y'all think?


http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/26/olbermann/index.html

The McCain campaign expressed amazement at Obama’s flip-flop on the DC gun ban today, calling it either “an incredible flip-flop or incredible inexperience”. The entire debate on the DC gun ban has focused on whether the 2nd Amendment was a collective or individual right. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) says Obama is simply an opportunist who is moving to the Right in order to compete in the general election.


He also warned that the next flip-flop will probably be on Iraq. Brownback notes that he himself didn’t support the surge, but acknowledged his error and John McCain’s wisdom when it succeeded. Why can’t the Democrats do that? Obama talks bipartisanship, but his actions don’t match his words.



Obama didn’t sign the amicus brief despite several of his Democratic colleagues joining McCain. He has supported gun bans in the past that resembled the DC version. Obama, Scheunemann says, has established that he holds no position that he won’t change for political opportunism. NAFTA, FISA, Jerusalem, and many other positions have changed, and sometimes rather rapidly. Obama was wrong on the surge and wanted firm timetables for withdrawal, and the McCain campaign figures that another flip-flop may be coming.

Lawmakers vow to execute child rapists


And good for them. Obama included.

"Let them cling to their guns, vote for McCain and remain in hell."


I agree.

Let them cling to their guns, vote for McCain and remain in hell.


What's with the "remain in hell?"

The guns issue is exactly what Barack spoke about in his infamous bitter comment.


The Supreme Court has upheld a liberal interpretation of the Second Amendment. No matter what Barack feels about gun control, it doesn't really matter all that much anymore. He won't be able to take anybody's guns away from them anyway.



I don't think Presidents introduce gun legislation in local jurisdictions, do they?



And since he can't, there's no reason for any gunowners to be afraid that he would try to.



But, if this decision puts Guns above the economy and gas prices and healthcare in the minds of those who own guns, but live in poverty with no way out, well, then...



Let them cling to their guns, vote for McCain and remain in hell.

Chaz,
Are you alright with China and other nations being able to drill for oil of our coast, when we can't?

S,


Sorry, but the Republican "drilling" bills are little more than a land grab. Of the millions of acres already leased to energy companies around 3/4 are not being exploited. Why give them more land to drill when they aren't drilling?



Our own energy department projects that drilling will have nominal affect on the price of oil and at best not for years to come. A country with 2-3% of the world's oil that consumes about a quarter of the supply really can't expect drilling will help.



The only thing that would make sense is opening up more natural gas fields. But guess what. Current leases out west and in other areas are perfectly viable. Just last month I visited a new field opening up in central Utah. This whole "increase" explorable lands is a farce.

Elephants,
My personal was that we should toss "Alex" off a cliff.



Who, exactly, would you suggest that we've forced ourselves on?

D -


I am a huge fan of 300. Love the power of the wife...and the sweaty men. But, it was a movie!!



I'm afraid that the U.S. are not the Spartans in this real life drama. More often than not, we're the Persians attempting to force ourselves on others...when it suits us...like when there's oil involved.

An avalanche of criticism is headed Obama's way:


Jim Geraghty@NRO:



"Despite Barack Obama’s claims that he believes in the Second Amendment, is a friend to gun owners, never supported a complete ban on handguns (despite a questionnaire from early in his career stating he did), etc., those claims are hard to balance with his approval of Chicago’s effective ban on handguns. In Obama's entire time in the city, there’s no record of him ever objecting to it.



Obama’s audacity on this issue goes even further.



Obama was named a director of the Joyce Foundation in late 1994, and remained in that position until late 2002.



During Obama’s tenure with the Joyce Foundation, donations to anti-gun groups increased dramatically. For example, in 1997 and 1998 the Violence Policy Center received $221,000 and $360,000 from the Foundation; those grants and donations increased to $1 million in 2000 and $800,000 in 2002. In all, during Obama’s tenure, the group received $15 million from the Joyce Foundation.



The Violence Policy Center, despite its name, never seems all that concerned with beatings, stabbings, immolations or explosions. No, they’re completely focused on gun violence, and they can effectively be called an anti-gun or pro-gun control organization.



Lest anyone think I’m mischaracterizing their objective analysis, note that their web site touts themselves as “the most aggressive group in the gun control movement.” Also note studies like their one from 2000 entitled, “Unsafe in Any Hands: Why America Needs to Ban Handguns,” which declared the idea that the Constitution would forbid a national handgun ban a “pure myth.” Also note the organization’s subtly-titled book, Every Handgun is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns.)



It’s not just the VPC. The Joyce Foundation also provided several large grants to the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, which can also be safely described as an anti-gun or pro-gun control organization. Besides their role in “litigation designed to change the way guns are designed, marketed, distributed, and sold,” the center perpetually argued that guns in the home were more dangerous than protective.



In 1996, the foundation Obama directed approved $662,525 in grants to the Johns Hopkins Center, and by 2001, they gave another $600,000.



In the wake of today’s ruling, you’re going to hear Barack Obama claim passionately that he believes in the Second Amendment and that he is a friend to gun owners. It will be interesting to see how he can rectify that with his efforts to fund books like Every Handgun is Aimed at You: The Case for Banning Handguns."

S,
That's harsh.

The Supreme Court today released the final three opinions of the term, including its decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290) that held the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.


Via hotair.com:



"Suddenly, with the general election looming, Obama discovers that his campaign’s statement was inartful. This seems rather puzzling, because before he ran for public office, Barack Obama was supposed to be a Constitutional law expert. One might expect the “inartful” excuse on wetlands reclamation or some other esoteric matter of public policy, but the Constitution is what he supposedly studied at Columbia and Harvard. One has to wonder whether Obama has any competence even in his own chosen field to have seven months go by before realizing that he got the Constitutional question wrong.



McCain, ABC notes, has been utterly consistent on this issue. He even filed an amicus brief with the court expressing his opinion that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to own guns, and that the DC ban was unconstitutional. Unlike McCain, Obama has refused to make a categorical statement since last November, which rather clearly shows that he was well aware of his “inartful” statement.



We used to call John Kerry a flip-flopper for his embarrassing quote on his opposition to Iraq war funding. Obama has now changed position on almost every key position in this election, and exposed himself as incompetent as a Constitutional law analyst as well. Democratic superdelegates may want to rethink their position on this nomination before Obama changes his party registration, too."



Ouch.

Elephants,
The interesting thing is that you don't have to join the armed forces to serve your country, and McCain made mention of that.



Of course, I'm biased towards the military, but any service-either in uniform or working for the government-is good service.



However, since you invoked MoveOn's ad, I feel obliged to post this:



"Because only Spartan women give birth to real men." The People who Fight for Civilization, and Those Who Seek Its Destruction

The New York Times reports that both Democrats and Republicans have turned the corner on offshore drilling and will now try to move their strategies into law. Clifford Krauss notes that the Democrats favor a mandate-laden bill that would force oil companies to expedite their work on existing leases, while Republicans want to expand the territory available to oil companies on the outer continental shelf.


Congress is responding and yet

Obama, in his interview with Fortune's Nina Easton:



"Asked what single economic concern worries him most and will be uppermost on his mind if he steps into the Oval Office next January, Obama said energy supplies. "It's not a problem I think we can drill our way out of," he says. "It can be a drag on our economy for a very long time unless we take steps to innovate and invest in the research and development that's needed to find alternative fuels, to make our transportation system more energy efficient, retool our industry and our buildings."



One impact of expanded research would be the creation of jobs and a big boost to the economy.



We have been warned about the supply crisis while India and China expand their energy needs, and after 9/11, when everyone should have understood the national-security implications of the vast transfers of American wealth to overseas oil producers. Had we taken action then, we would already be bringing that oil on line.



But Obama seems to favor policies that will make energy more expensive:



"To encourage a transition toward alternatives, Obama favors legislation that would make fossil fuel more expensive. Doesn't that mean more pain to come under an Obama presidency? "There is no doubt that in the short term, adapting to this new energy economy is going to carry some costs."



When Congress allowed more drilling in the Gulf, we discovered six times the reserves that we had once thought existed there. Exploration of the OCS could produce similar finds, or perhaps even greater reserves than that. Brazil has found fields that rival the Saudis off its coast, and we have much more coastline than Brazil. Right now, estimates of the banned areas of the OCS say that it holds 17.8 billion barrels of oil, and over 75 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Even without finding more reserves, that could seriously lower our need for foreign oil and help resolve the supply crisis as well as calm speculation in the oil markets.



We need to make sure that we implement a strategy that gives us the greatest flexibility, one that identifies our actual resources and attempts to access them and not continue to put blinders on our energy industry.

D -


Thank you for posting McCain's essay on patriotism. You saved me from tracking it down.



I tried to remain objective and agreed with much of what he said. But, I have to say that ultimately I was not particularly inspired by his words.



The closing remarks just felt cynical and the call to join the armed services reminded me of the MoveOn.com ad that's running. If vengance and oil profiting are the purpose of the war...you can't have my son either.

I find it revealing that all these hot button issues, you know - God, Gays, and Guns - are being adjudicated during an election year.


What I can't wait to see is that when the FISA bill is heard by the Supreme Court as I believe it will, will the Court also uphold the Fourth Amendment.

From that Obamacon article:


"The Republican Party is a dead rotting carcass with a few decrepit old leaders stumbling around like zombies in a horror version of 'Weekend With Bernie,' handcuffed to a corpse."



Wow.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com... the comments -- specifically the 4th one down from Buckeye.

d,


Yet another Obama statement reaching its expiration date.

And in a return to topic:


Obama's Switcheroo on the DC Gun Ban"

d,


As a supporter of the Second Amendment, I'm glad. Gun control laws, as written, only protect the criminals.

OT: The 2nd Amendment does protect the individual right to possess a firearm.


At least the Supreme Court got that right.

rikyrah,


Obama is being accused of arrogance these days for remaking the Presidential Seal. It has less to do with self-confidence and self-respect and more to do with not realizing that it might come off as egotistical to debut his very own presidential seal.

Rikyrah,
Joe Watkins is bad, but Larry Elder, and Erik Rush are far worse.



Esp, Erik Rush! who proudly on his homepage, splitscreen with Sean Hannity, brags of how he broke the Jeremiah Wright Story.

This link
"http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0826,recent-examples-of-awesomely-non-racist-political-discourse,478666,9.html">Recent Examples of Awesomely Non-RacistPolitical Discourse
explains a picture is worth a thousand words.

The other half of the Time interview above:


A Cause Greater Than Self

by John McCain



Patriotism means more than holding your hand over your heart during the national anthem. It means more than walking into a voting booth every two or four years and pulling a lever. Patriotism is a love and a duty, a love of country expressed in good citizenship.



Patriotism and the citizenship it requires should motivate the conduct of public officials, but it also thrives in the communal spaces where government is absent, anywhere Americans come together to govern their lives and their communities — in families, churches, synagogues, museums, symphonies, the Little League, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army or the VFW. They are the habits and institutions that preserve democracy. They are the ways, small and large, we come together as one country, indivisible, with freedom and justice for all. They are the responsible exercise of freedom and are indispensable to the proper functioning of a democracy. Patriotism is countless acts of love, kindness and courage that have no witness or heraldry and are especially commendable because they are unrecorded.



The patriot must not just accept, but in his or her own way protect the ideals that gave birth to our country: to stand against injustice and for the rights of all and not just one's own interests. The patriot honors the duties, the loyalties, the inspirations and the habits of mind that bind us together as Americans.



We are the heirs and caretakers of freedom — a blessing preserved with the blood of heroes down through the ages. One cannot go to Arlington Cemetery and see name upon name, grave upon grave, row upon row, without being deeply moved by the sacrifice made by those young men and women.



And those of us who live in this time, who are the beneficiaries of their sacrifice, must do our smaller and less dangerous part to protect what they gave everything to defend, lest we lose our own love of liberty.



Love of country is another way of saying love of your fellow countrymen — a truth I learned a long time ago in a country very different from ours. Patriotism is another way of saying service to a cause greater than self-interest.



If you find faults with our country, make it a better one. If you are disappointed with the mistakes of government, join its ranks and work to correct them. I hope more Americans would consider enlisting in our armed forces. I hope more would consider running for public office or working in federal, state and local governments. But there are many public causes where your service can make our country a stronger, better one than we inherited.



The good citizen and patriot knows happiness is greater than comfort, more sublime than pleasure. The cynical and indifferent know not what they miss. For their mistake is an impediment not only to our progress as a civilization but to their happiness as individuals.

Did he really teach the constitution at Chicago U.? If so, how can he support this FISA bill? If folks dont start putting pressure on BO now, once he gets into the WH it will be over. He can govern as he pleases!


Is his acceptance of the FISA bill a foretaste of how he's going to govern and lead? because if so, he'll find himself wanting!

The decision in DC v. Heller, the 2nd Amendement case, is supposed to be announced today.

There is a gentleman on Morning Joe who during a discussion about N. Korea turning over nuclear program information who shut Scarborough down about negotiating with Iran. He stopped all the loud talking and interuptions to make the point that if it could be done with N. Korea, it could be attempted with Iran.


He went further to say that there would be no peace or stabilization of a government in Iraq without the cooperation of Iran.



He must have been someone that Joe respected because Joe conceded his point.



Then Romney came on talking about the need for fuel efficent cars and how McCain's whitehouse would work toward that goal.



Now correct me if I'm wrong, every position or idea that Obama has it is stolen by first Clinton and now McCain all the while the media is pushing meaningless stories about his race, Michelle and any other nonsense that they can come up with.



The other thing I've noticed is that whenever an Obama surrogate (who is black) is interviewed by the likes of Scarborough and Matthews, they aren't taken seriously at all. It seems they are interupted and talked over and not allow to make their points and then dismissed with laughter.

Joe Watkins is a clown. A Sambo Clown.

Time Article on Patriotism - Obama:


A Faith in Simple Dreams

By Barack Obama



When I was a child, I lived overseas for a time with my mother. And one of my earliest memories is of her reading to me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence, explaining how its ideas applied to every American, black and white and brown alike. She taught me that those words, and the words of the United States Constitution, protected us from the brutal injustices we witnessed other people suffer during those years abroad.



I've been reminded of this recently as I've followed the brutal injustice surrounding Zimbabwe's so-called elections. For weeks, the opposition party and its supporters have been silently hunted, tortured and killed. They have been dragged from their homes in the middle of the night and strangled while their children watched. The wife of a newly elected mayor was so badly beaten that her own brother only recognized her by the skirt she wore on the day she was killed. Even voters suspected of disloyalty to the President have been herded together and thrashed for hours, all for the simple crime of casting their ballot.



We are a nation of strong and varied convictions and beliefs. We argue and debate our differences vigorously and often. But when all is said and done, we still come together as one people and pledge our allegiance not just to a place on a map or a certain leader but to the words my mother read to me years ago: "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."



That is the true genius of America — a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles. It's the idea that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm; that we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe; that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution; and that our votes will be counted.



For me, it is the love and defense of these ideals that constitutes the true meaning of patriotism. They are ideals that do not belong to any particular party or group of people but call each of us to service and sacrifice for the sake of our common good.



I write this knowing that if previous generations had not taken up this call, I would not be where I am today. As a young man of mixed race, without a firm anchor in any community, without even a father's steadying hand, this essential American ideal — that our destinies are not written before we are born — has defined my life. And it is the source of my profound love for this country: because with a mother from Kansas and a father from Kenya, I know that stories like mine could only happen in America.

We're back to the Obama is UPPITY - memo from the Media.




Saw that clown, Campbell Brown.



Is Obama ' Arrogant' was the name of a segment.



Any Black person with self-respect and self-confidence, has been called arrogant.



As I said below,



Been there. Done that.

Who did Laura Richardson piss off at CNN? This is the second report that I know of in three weeks. They are on her ass.