Not sure exactly which sense of the word ‘conviction’ applies. But it is amusing nonetheless. Without a teleprompter, a political cartoon will do. It brings out the ’empty suit’ in the candidate.
related links: Obama borrows line from Tom Toles cartoon | Editor & Publisher: Obama Uses the Anti-McCain Words of a Tom Toles Cartoon
In response to an article in the Pensacola News Journal, citing a survey of the ‘quality of life’ in Pensacola, there are plenty of places worse than Pensacola to live. And that’s not to run down Pensacola, that’s just a fact.
We moved here in ’82 and love it. Sorry if I appear to be out of touch with the younger crowd that was surveyed, but IMHO, Pensacola isn’t all that bad. What is bad, and what gets all the negative vibes going, is all the political friction in the city and county governments here. It’s kind of like scrapple, if you knew what goes in it, you probably wouldn’t want it. And it tends to stoke the frustration of the younger, characteristically impatient, set.
FWIW, our family has lived in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Louisiana, and now (and lastly) Florida. And in each state, our kids would lament, why do we have to live here? There’s nothing to do. There are no jobs. There are no girls. (we have 3 boys) They always seem to feel like the grass is greener over there, or there, or anywhere than where we are living at the time.
It would be nice, and convenient, if everyone who grew up here could continue to work and live here. But to expect that is being a little selfish, if not unrealistic. There are only two ways to get a job. Create your own by starting a business, or work for someone else who did. And to do the latter takes some initiative, some guts, and some determination. On second thought, that’s what it takes to do either. All the ingredients of a success story in the making. It may even include moving away from home and making your own home in a city or place where your job takes you. Having been there, done that, I can attest to the fact that America is full of nice places to live with nice people living there. Human nature being what it is, nice people will gravitate to nice people. Miserable people will gravitate to miserable people. The choice you make is the path you take.
In Pensacola, the weather is great, hurricanes notwithstanding. Being from the Jersey shore, hurricanes don’t bother me. But more than that, the people here are great. Compared to people in the northeast, there is a discernible difference in attitude. A little more laid back, a little more friendly. There is a reason that people are not migrating to the north as fast as they are moving south. That is something that the people in Florida, Pensacola included, can be proud of.
link: What’s your quality of life? by Rebekah Allen
Since about the time the Democrat(ic) party decided to change their mind on the war in Iraq, which took all of about 4 months after it started, what has been their complaint? After the ‘he lied to get us into war’ and ‘there were no WMD’s,’ Democrat’s main concern was its cost. We can’t afford it. It will break our economy.
True, the cost of the war is great. Unfortunately, the cost of losing it is greater. Early on in their chorus of the immense cost of the war, I suspected that they were basically looking at the ‘cost’ of the war as opportunities lost for all sorts of entitlement and other socialistic programs that build (read ‘buy’) voter constituencies.
Today, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) just proved my suspicion was well founded. Apparently, Obama and his party have gotten used to spending $10 billion a month on the war, and they have seen that the country is still here, and still growing, despite all the obstacles and challenges that have happened to us since the war began. They are no longer saying that we can’t afford it. Instead, in responding to President Bush’s announcement to draw down troops in Iraq, and to put more troops in Afghanistan, Obama is saying that he has better uses for that $10 billion a month.
It’s time to change our foreign policy. I will succeed in Iraq by responsibly removing our combat brigades and pressing Iraqis to stand up for their future. I will rebuild our military. I will finally have a comprehensive strategy to finish the job in Afghanistan – with more troops, more training for Afghan security forces, more development resources, more anti-corruption safeguards, and more of a focus on eliminating the Taliban and al Qaeda sanctuary along the Pakistan border. And I will stop spending $10 billion a month in Iraq so that we can invest in our economy here at home.
What is the answer to the enormous cost of the war? When it ends, the cost also ends. Who knows, we might need it again some day.
Olbermann? Matthews? Too opinionated? No. Do you think? There’s no problem with either of these libs with having strong opinions. The problem is they are cast as ‘news anchors.’
MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign.
Both of them would be a better fit with the rabid Air America Radio crowd, which if it was ever surveyed, was probably the majority of their audience anyway.
related links:MSNBC Drops Olbermann, Matthews as News Anchors | Meltdown at MSNBC | pMSNBC Libs Ignite On Scarborough
It’s no secret that playing on Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) age has become a talking point, albeit ‘winning’ strategy on the Left. Obviously, those that do this have not met McCain’s ninety-six year old mother. This is how it goes, ‘yea, he has military experience, but because he is so old, if he dies in office and Palin takes over, then where will we be? She has no experience.’
This strategy works well with the unsuspecting masses because it takes no thought whatsoever. First of all, it presumes their new nemesis, Sarah Palin, has no experience. Actually, she has more executive experience than both men on the Democratic ticket combined. And as an added bonus, she is not part of the Washington crowd. She is the one who is ‘in touch’ with Americans and their ‘values’ that the Left would like you to believe they have. And the Left will exploit those at the bottom of the barrel to ‘prove’ it.
Secondly, this ‘what if’ strategy acknowledges that there is a war going on and that the world is a dangerous place that requires the United States to be and to stay strong militarily. This flies in the face of the mantra of McCain’s opponents, who have been saying for years that our military should come home and just get out of the zones of conflict where we are currently engaged, then our enemies will not bother us. In other words, quit.
If you’re going to be using the mortality of a candidate to make a judgment, then you can’t ignore this one. The real kicker in this ‘what if’ strategy is, it totally ignores what will happen to our country if Obama becomes President and lives. To me, that would be worse for our country than if McCain becomes President and dies.
It is a good thing that Boeing dropped out of the controversial air tanker project. Hopefully, they had national security in mind when they found their union was behaving badly. The union leaders were more concerned with respect than a three-year contract offer that includes bonuses totaling at least $5,000 and averaging $6,400, raises averaging 11 percent, pension increases and a 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment – $34,000 in average pay and benefit gains per employee.
Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists District Lodge 751, declared in a statement Friday that Boeing had “disrespected the finest aerospace workers anywhere on the planet” by failing to meet machinists’ expectations.
‘Failing to meet machinists’ expectations?’ Ignorant of anything but gimme gimme gimme, it would be helpful for unions to learn of the consequences of what the union is asking for. Ask any employee in the auto industry what biting your nose to spite your face will get you. Unemployed.
“We’re not greedy, we just want a piece of the pie,” said Scott Daniels as he helped make picket signs late Friday. “They offer us bonuses. We don’t want bonuses.” Machinists want an improved 401k and improved vacation, he said.
It has been three or four decades since raises of 11 percent were remotely considered reasonable. 11% then is like 5% today. Unions need to do something different. Instead of trying to trade roles with management, they should start a new company to their liking. Maybe call it Paradise Inc.. The all-pay and no-work company, where they can get everything they want, whenever they want. Oh, and dues will be 100% of their pay. And as part of their orientation, they get a free CD of Aretha Franklin’s single, R E S P E C T.
The Republican National Party’s convention ended on a much different note than last night. Last night was for the base with the introduction of Gov. Palin, a conservative by most peoples definition. She also answered her critics, primarily Obama himself, with a smile and in a humorous way. Tonight, John McCain gave us his life’s story, putting into context his theme of America first. He pointed out some differences between what Obama wants and what he wants which were issues characteristic to the parties, not attacks of a personal nature.
McCain spoke of his record of reaching out in order to serve Americans of all parties. He asked for the support of democrats, independents, and undecideds, promising to fight for them all. I thought it was unusual to go there at a party convention, but then, that’s John McCain. And, I think he was somewhat successful in his attempt to enlarge the political tent.
McCain also hit on specifics that most Americans want and need to know about like education, the economy, security and the war, freedom, jobs, trade, and the size and role of government. Voters now have a clear choice.
As for the Obama Campaign, they seem to have been taken off message because the only thing I’ve heard Obama talk about for the past week is John McCain. His war room is sending out campaign contribution emails making up stories about the McCain campaign. Obama is touting his role as a community organizer as one of his qualifications to run the country. And about Sarah Palin, Obama is claiming that being a mayor is no qualification to be vice president. So last night, in explaining the difference between a community organizer and a mayor, Gov. Palin was responding to Obama’s claim when she pointed out the obvious, the difference is responsibility.
So the Obama campaign immediately sends out emails saying that by her explanation, Gov. Palin does not care about the jobless, the homeless, and the hopeless. It is as though they were looking at a different show last night than I did. By responding in this way, and buttressed by the media-wing of his campaign, Obama is beginning to look like a whiner by making up stories about his opponent. All the while he is not getting a positive message out to the voters. And to that, I say to the Obama campaign, keep it up.
UPDATE 9/10/08: One week later, the addition of ‘Sarah Palin’ makes this post still current. As for the Obama Campaign, they seem to have been taken off message because the only thing I’ve heard Obama talk about for the past week is John McCain and Sarah Palin.
I tuned to CNN last night to watch the speeches of Thompson, Huckabee, Guiliani, and Palin since FOX, for whatever reason, only carried Palin’s speech live. Watching CNN turned out to be an added bonus for me.
The three men that preceded Gov. Palin all gave good speeches. And the enthusiasm seemed to build on the previous speaker as the program continued, and Gov. Palin’s performance topped them all. Prior to last night, no body knew who Sarah Palin was, where she came from, and what she believes government’s role should be. Answering those questions was her mission last night, and as they say, she hit it out of the park.
The bonus? Immediately after her speech, the camera returned to Wolf Blitzer and his panel, and every one of them looked stunned at what they had just witnessed. They were in fact, speechless. For me, it was one of those ‘priceless’ moments.
Then I checked in on MSNBC, or as Rush affectionately calls the network, pMSNBC. Chris Matthews had a similar panel at his side and were assessing Palin’s speech. Much to my surprise, well, not really, Matthews leads the discussion with this, ‘how are we going to get her?’ Meaning of course, how are we going to take her out? Will the McCain campaign protect her from a reporter asking a question that can, in their mind, end her campaign?
Reporting news, reporting on a campaign, is not the objective of the Media of 2008. It is clear by this MSNBC panel, and the front pages of the New York Times, that the McCain-Palin ticket is not just running against Obama and Biden. The McCain-Palin ticket is running against the mainstream media as well. Which is why I especially liked Palin’s comment about the media.
‘Here’s a little news flash for those reporters and commentators. I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion, I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.’
The speech she gave tonight was terrific, and John McCain was right, the more we see of Sarah Palin, the more we’ll like her. For this conservative, she did very well. And as good as Romney, and Huckabee, and Guiliani were with their speeches, she topped them all.
Immediately after the speech, watching Wolf Blitzer and his panel at CNN said it all. They were speechless.
Earlier in her speech, Palin told the story of the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull. Lipstick. There were many good points that Palin made. One of my favorites was when she derided the media for saying how she was not qualified over the last few days. Her response was priceless. It went something like this . . .
‘Here’s a little news flash for those reporters and commentators. I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion, I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.’
The crowd was on their feet. For all intents and purposes, she told the media, ITS ON!
The very last thing that the United States should be involved with is giving aid to the hemisphere’s idiot, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Especially in the form of tapping 250 thousand barrels of oil from OUR Strategic Petroleum Reserve to feed its Citgo Lake Charles, La. refinery. This because supplies to its refinery were cut off when the Calcasieu Ship Channel is temporarily closed.
Citgo will be allowed to pull 250,000 barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve because of its inability to secure crude in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav. The U.S. Energy Department granted the request late Tuesday, so far the only request for fuel from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
You may be wondering why tapping our emergency reserves for Citgo would be to our national interest. Well, apparently it doesn’t have to have anything to do with our national interest. Then again, with Chavez nationalizing U.S. oil companies in Venezuela, (Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips) and threating to use his oil as a weapon against us, why does Citgo fuel have to be on our Navy bases?
related links: U.S. grants Citgo 250K barrels of oil from reserve | Hugo Chavez | Citgo