Today's Special

And on the local scene, today’s issue of the Pensacola Independent News caught my attention. The cover story, ‘Eat, Drink, and be Merry Guide. ‘ Restaurants and various eateries are nicely laid out geographically for the whole market area. Must be hundreds of establishments listed there. It would be hard to get them all.

Anyway, being the cheesesteak lover that I am, I looked for cheesesteaks and found two places in the area that have cheesesteaks. Lenny’s Sub Shop on North Davis, and Sidelines on the beach. I haven’t been to Lenny’s yet, and I went to Sidelines for their wings, so if you’re like me, you might want to try them out.

In the Pensacola area, I can add another restaurant, and another place to get a cheesesteak. That would be Philly’s at 3900 Creighton Road and our family business. If you haven’t had a cheesesteak from Philly’s, you haven’t had a cheesesteak. Well, that’s my opinion of course.

This is a great opportunity also to thank my customers, who are also my friends and neighbors, for supporting Philly’s since 1999. Out-of-towners longing for a cheesesteak so far from Philly should make plans to stop at Philly’s while in the Pensacola area. We are located near the Pensacola Regional Airport (PNS).

Philly’s website and menu

Phone & FAX 850-969-0087

Sen. Obama, You Want Bitter?

This long campaign is the best thing that could have happened for the country. And we can thank the Democratic party for it. For without it, we may not have learned half of what we know about the first-term senator from Illinois, Barack Obama. Barack isn’t going to tell me that I’m bitter. Especially when I’m not. But look how casually and effortlessly he dissects, divides, and insults Americans.

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years. … And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

The good thing about this incident is that he is exposing his true beliefs and motivations with every passing day. And the more he does that, the more we learn about just who Barack Obama really is and the less palatable he is becoming to people looking to select a President.

In his multiple explanations and non-apologetic apologies regarding his characterization of the regular folk who are bitter, and who cling to religion and guns, Barack just keeps on digging. Now he says that no, not all ‘these people’ are bitter. Those that aren’t bitter are simply out of touch, he says. So, if you’re not one of the bitter ones out there, like I was, then you must be out of touch. OK, now I’m bitter.

So here’s how the uniter works his magic on the American people. You are bitter. And if you’re not bitter, you’re out of touch. This is just another glimpse of where this man is coming from, who he is, and what he thinks of you. And the more we know about him, the better. In this political race, time is not on his side. And, momentum is a two-way street.

related links: A Living Lie by Thomas Sowell | Bitter? You Bet at Nailing Jello to the Wall

Progressive News, Truth Deficit Disorder

Given the circumstances days before Gen. David Petraeus’s progress report to Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) laid down a pre-condition that there better not be any good news, no sugar coating in his report, especially regarding recent fighting in Basra, I was pleasantly surprised to see some unanimity in the reporting of the conclusions of his appearance before Congress. With one exception, the ‘premier’ outlet for progressive news, GoLeftTV.

GoLeftTV says the story was ‘Petraeus’s admission that we are not making headway in Iraq.’ This is about 180 degrees from what I heard of the two days Petraeus spent on Capital Hill. I heard Gen. Petraeus say that much progress has been made in the last year and since his last report to Congress. Pressed for an answer as to when our troops can come home, he said that we have not turned that corner yet, we’re not at the point yet where we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. The bottle of champagne is pushed to ‘the back of the refrigerator.’ But, there is every expectation that the end game is achievable if we and the Iraqi government keep at it, and every expectation it will be an utter failure if we were to leave prematurely.

To settle this dichotomy from what I saw and what Farron Cousins saw, I sought to get the left’s perspective on the Petraeus report. I did what any good liberal would do. I watched PBS’s NewsHour program Saturday night where Mark Shields and David Brooks were on the panel with Jim Lehrer discussing news of the week, including the Patreaus testimony as relates to the war in Iraq. They were honest enough to interpret the Petraeus testimony exactly the same as everyone else. Everyone else except GoLeftTV, the progressive news source. It was good to see that I had seen the same testimony as David Brooks and Mark Shields.

GoLeftTV decided instead to report that we are not making any progress in Iraq, and, Bush lied. According to Farron Cousins, Bush’s description of progress was contradictory to the message carried by Gen. Petraeus. This interpretation is patently deceptive and dishonest and proves that truth deficit disorder is not limited to the Clintons as this video will attest. The Petraeus analysis, thankfully, is the first minute and a half.

related links: GoLeftTV video | Speaker Pelosi’s Petraeus Prebuttal

NewsBusted 4/11/08

In this edition: –Hillary Clinton running for NY governor? –New York Times hires a former Saddam Hussein soldier as a reporter –Weird voter registration gimmicks in Indiana –Heidi Montag endorses John McCain –Jogging for homeless people? –A man stops traffic in LA by taking wheelchair up freeway ramp –Pamela Anderson and Rick Salomon finalize their divorce

related link: Trailer Park Lawmakers Don’t Ask Questions

United Nations Warns Of Food Fight

Nine months ago, the United Nations warned that they could no longer afford to feed the worlds hungry to the same extent as before because of rising prices of the basic foodstuffs. The alleged solution to alleged man-made global warming, more bio-fuels, is drawing focus to the unintended consequences of higher cost of all food world-wide.

Giving new meaning to the phrase ‘food fight,’ Sir John Holmes, the undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs at the United Nations says rioting could spread around the world over food, as has happened in Egypt. Egypt? Who knew that Egypt is a poor and undeveloped country?  He told a conference in Dubai . . .

that rising prices would spark unrest across vulnerable nations. Average prices have risen 40 per cent across the world in less than a year.

The security implications should also not be underestimated as food riots are already being reported across the globe.

Current food price trends are likely to increase sharply both the incidence and depth of food insecurity.

related links: Food riots could spread, UN chief warns | Biofuel, A Liberal Record Of Failure

New Photo Gallery Inside

Technical update to The Lunch Counter blog.

I’m happy to inform you that the old photo gallery software that was on phillysonline.com has been replaced with a WordPress plugin called NextGEN. The photo albums can be found under the Pages tab located at the top of the page.

This represents the best integration of photo gallery software into the WordPress platform that I’ve seen in the several months that I’ve been looking to replace the older ‘Gallery’ software.

Just hover over the Pages tab and move on down to any of the 6 photo albums you’ll find there. More albums may be added as appropriate.

You can browse pages full of thumnails, click on them to enlarge, or view the album in slideshow mode.

Enjoy!

Speaker Pelosi's Petraeus Prebuttal

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third person in line of succession in the United States,issues a prebuttal, some say warning, to General Petraeus concerning his upcoming report of the war in Iraqand Afghanistan. Feeling her testosterone rise again, Nancy is out front trying to frame the General’s report in a way that there better not be anything good reported or else the report will just be Bush’s report. Just the same as she did last year in September 2007.

Speaking directly to the recent offensive in Basra, Pelosi wants to make sure that that is ignored.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Army Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Thursday not to “put a shine on recent events” in Iraq when they testify before Congress next week.

“I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra,” said Pelosi, referring to a recent military offensive against Shiite militants in the city led by the Iraqi government and supported by U.S. forces.

related link: Sept. 2007, Democrats Question Petraeus Report | April 2008, Pelosi warns Petraeus on Iraq testimony | Progress In Iraq Ignored

Sen. Obama Demagogues Big Oil On Windfall Profits

One only has to see this campaign ad that Sen. Barack Obama is running in Pennsylvania to get an idea of his grasp on economics as it relates to the price of gasoline. Obama labels oil company profits as ‘windfall profits’ and something that needs to be taxed, ostensibly, to gain ‘energy independence.’ The fact that Sen. Obama calls a modest 10% profit margin a ‘windfall profit,’ something to be attacked with the tax hammer, calls to attention his ignorance in economic principles, running a business, and capitalism. It also shows his willingness to mislead and misinform Pennsylvanians.

Increasing taxes on a corporation to, ostensibly, bring prices down is not only wrong thinking from an economic perspective, but to characterize Exxon’s 10% profit margin as ‘windfall profits’ is dishonest and/or shows his ignorance where economics is concerned. Playing to the dumb masses is what liberals do. It is named appropriately though, ‘Nothing’s Changed.’

Given the chance, both he and Hillary would only make gas prices at the pump higher and the country more dependent on foreign oil than ever before.  Increasing supply is not on their agenda. That is one thing you can count on.

Criminal Safe Haven Endorsed By SCOTUS

The SCOTUS decided to allow a safe haven for Rep. William (Dollar Bill) Jefferson (D-La) to conduct illegal activity by refusing to hear an appeal by the FBI.

Hiding behind the ’speech or debate’ clause of the Constitution creates a safe haven for criminal behavior. Who thinks that was the intention of the founding fathers?

related link: The Godfathers In Congress | Court Declines FBI Jefferson appeal | Best Defense Is A Good Admission?