Obama: too busy for his job

Obama, asked why he refused to eat with French President Sarkozy (who is, shockingly, more conservative than our current President), laughingly said:

“I have a very tough schedule and I would love nothing more than to have a leisurely week in Paris, stroll down the Seine, take my wife out to a nice meal, have a picnic in Luxembourg Gardens,” Obama said, pointing out that he was caught up in dealing with the pressing financial crisis at home.

Of course, last week his "tough schedule" didn't preclude him from taking a day off to spend tens of thousands of our tax dollars to take his wife to a broadway play in New York, inconveniencing thousands of New Yorkers in the process, all of whom probably had tough schedules of their own that were ruined by the President.

Not that Obama really understands schedules, as he is late for everything.

But he had to rush home to do his job, after all. Except within 90 minutes of arriving back at the White House, he was rushing off to his next pressing financial engagement -- a leisurely round of golf.

Of course, it would have been fun to watch Obama walk on water, so I wish he had taken the time to "walk down the Seine".

Is Obama using Control of Chrysler to pay off political donors?

The internet has been buzzing with the discovery that many of the Chrysler dealerships that were shut down were owned by Republican supporters who opposed Obama. However, this didn't seem like a solid argument to me at the time. First, I presume that most entrepeneurs who have to work for a living would oppose Obama, so maybe most all of the dealerships are Republicans. Second, we were told that the list of closures was generated by Chrysler, so there was no chance for Obama to interfere.

However, tonight Gateway Pundit is reporting new information that blows a hole in that theory, and strongly suggests that Obama is in fact using the power of the presidency, and the control he has over the car companies because of OUR TAX DOLLARS, to reward democratic donors and Obama supporters while driving better dealerships run by Republicans out of business.

From the Gateway Pundit:

Now there's this...RLJ-McLarty-Landers is owned by three men.One was the former Chief of Staff for President Clinton.One is the founder of Black Entertainment Television and a huge Obama supporter.All 6 of their Chrysler dealerships will remain open.And, get this... Their local competitors have been eliminated!
...
More... The decision to close the dealerships was made by Obama officials and not Chrysler.

I dislike major stories reported from blogs. It is a shame that the major media outlets refuse to even investigate this story, as it could be a bigger scandal than Watergate, a greater abuse of presidential power than the teapot dome scandal.

Terry McCauliffe -- Bad for Virginia

OK, so it's not my party's primary. And it would be fun to attack McCauliffe in the general election with his record.

But what lesson have we learned from the 2008 elections? Once the Democrats pick their candidate, it won't matter even if we catch him with a dead girl AND a live boy in his bed, the Democrats will vote Democrat, and some independents will totter along if the candidate has enough money to sway them.

And McCauliffe has tons of money, which according to the Washington Post, he earned in the way that Obama says is evil.

The Post in fact deflates the bubble that is McCauliffe's ego, showing that his claims of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and launching dozens of companies, ALL SUCCESSFUL, is just one more of Terri McCauliffe's lies:

Yet McAuliffe's business pedigree is not so simple. He is a dealmaker who made millions from investments. And many of his biggest deals came in partnership with prominent donors and politicians, creating a portrait over the years of a Washington insider who got rich as he rose to power within the Democratic Party.
...
But they belie the complexity of a business career built mostly on intricate land deals and dot-com investments, often with wealthy political donors -- and sometimes with no jobs to show for it.

The Post details deal after deal which were little more than Terri paying off political allies in exchange to access. And it mentions a case where Terri seems to have taken advantage of the unions:

The pension fund put up virtually all the money -- about $40 million compared with McAuliffe's $100 -- even though McAuliffe would own a 50 percent share in the partnership. This detail would become a point of contention in a lawsuit filed against the fund trustees by the Department of Labor, which regulates the management of pension funds and which determined that it had not been a good investment for the electrical workers. In 2001, after two years of litigation, the trustees, including Moore, settled in U.S. District Court.

Terri had 5 companies in Virginia which he touts, but none had any employees:

And at a candidates' forum in December, in response to Moran's claim to be the only candidate who had run a business and raised a family in Virginia, McAuliffe boasted of launching five businesses in Virginia. It turned out that all five are investment partnerships, with no employees, registered to his home address in McLean.

At least he didn't try to claim a grass-cutting business. But he sure likes to "exaggerate", which is the Democrat's euphamism for "lie":

McAuliffe's tendency to exaggerate his successes adds to that perception. Describing the apartments he purchased with the union fund, McAuliffe said he "went through every apartment myself, like 1,600 of them, to make sure the toilets worked" -- but then added: "Well, I didn't go through 1,600. But I went through every property exhaustively. Sure I did! I owned them!" McAuliffe then claimed that his home-building company built 1,300 homes at its peak, but an adviser later clarified that the figure was closer to 800.

The post story is a must-read, which is something I very rarely say.

Train Show

One reason for light blogging is that I am lazy.

Another is that I am working on an exhibit for the 15th annual Manassas Railway Festival, to be held June 6, 2009 at the Manassas Rail Station.

I did this back in 2006, when I had my back problems. This year has been a lot easier, since I am not in constant pain. Also, the tables were already built, and I still have most of my models.

So of course, I took the opportunity to make it bigger and badder. I've added a full 2nd level, with an extra wing, so instead of an "L" I now have a "U". I'm also working on intermediate levels, giving a more "3-dimensional" look.

So here's hoping for a sunny, cool day on June 6th. It should be a lot of fun. There will also be live music and games for the kids.

You know you want to have fun, and you know you can't afford to travel this year, so come on out and spend a day with your neighbors looking at trains. You can also see the big empty lot where they don't have an annoying sign.

Sad fact: when I did the last train show, I was right next to that property, and I have pictures of the house that used to be there before they burned it down and made it into a neighborhood eyesore.

Still here.

I'm still around. Just don't have anything to say that isn't being said somewhere already. Anyway, in the era of Obama, it seems clear the best course of action is to hide under a rock.

You certainly don't want to say anything against what he's doing, because he seems quite willing to use the power of government against people who displease him. I figure if the guy can take over two car companies, what chance do I have?

It is interesting to note that a couple of months ago, we were all told how bad the economy would get by the end of the year if we didn't pass Obama's idea of a "stimulus package". But now that we DID pass Obama's bill, we've already reached all the milestones that were expected by the end of the year. Which would suggest that rather than "stimulating" the economy, Obama actually made it worse.

We have lost more jobs since Obama took office than he promised to "save or create". I once joked that when Obama promised to save 4 million jobs, that the other 100+ million jobholders better watch out. But we won't lose 100 million jobs, because Obama isn't going to cut any government positions. He'll probably hire people to help him run the car companies.

Gas prices dropped like a stone when we got rid of the stupid ban on offshore drilling. But now that Obama seems to be re-imposing the ban by dictatorial fiat, prices are shooting up again.

The problem with the Stimulus bill is that most of the money went to state and local governments. I was in Fair Oaks mall last saturday, and I looked all around, but I didn't see government shopping. If you give money to real people, they go spend it, which means businesses stay open and hire people who spend their earnings which means more business.

If you give money to the government, government doesn't go to the shopping mall, they generate new programs to waste the money where it will do no good. Oh, and they take forever to do no good, apparently after all the rush to enact the stimulus package, only about 15% of the money has been spent.

And when you are trying to figure out who to thank for the federal stimulus money we are getting, thank me. I'm a taxpayer, and it's my money they are giving out. And yours, if you are a taxpayer. Some people are thanking Connally, or Obama, or Webb/Warner. Sorry, they aren't giving you their money, they are giving you MY money. Might as well thank the robber who gives you money he just stole from the guy in the alley.

In 2007, Democrats promised change. Hope you are happy.

I was cleaning out my e-mail, and stumbled across an article from mid-2007 written by Larry Kudlow. He was commenting on the new Democratic Majority's promise to change things. As he pointed out, at the time the market was at an all-time high, housing values were up 200%, unemployment was at near-historic lows, oil prices were dropping, and our deficit had been cut in half.

And he asked the obvious question -- what exactly where the Democrats going to change?

The answer is now clear. The question is why anybody who actually had any money saved would ever have voted for the Democrats or Obama -- and whether anybody who used to have money before the Democrats took over would make that mistake ever again.

Obama may be a good President for the unemployed and those who spent money they didn't have. Democrats are good at supporting their constituency, which apparently are a mix of people who don't invest, people who don't work, and people who have money but never had to work for it and have it protected. Oh, and I forgot tax cheats.

But, to paraphrase Margaret Thatcher, socialism is great for the have-nots, until they run out of "haves" to steal from. Which Obama is taking care of in record fashion. At some point, maybe Obama will realise that if the nation is bankrupt, the Russians and the Chinese and the Palistinians aren't going to come bail us out. And you can't give away health care if you don't have it to give. And, well, all of us really did want to retire some day, even if Obama is too young to give a damn.

Holder: Guantanamo's great, but we'll close it anyway.

Leave it to the new Democratic administration to realise that Guantanamo bay is nothing like what they thought, but still stick to their stupid plan to close it.:

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday the Guantanamo detention center is a well-run, professional facility that will be difficult to close — but he's still going to do it. Holder visited the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Monday and spoke to reporters about his trip during a news conference Wednesday.

In what world does that make sense? The fantasy world of the Obama Administration. If a federal program has failed miserably, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, he wants to spend billions more on it. But a "well-run, professional facility?" Shut it down, and use the money for programs that don't work.

Holder said his visit to the site was instructive. He met with military officials and toured the facilities, including the court setting where military commissions were to be held until Obama suspended them.

He said he did not witness any rough treatment of detainees, and in fact found the military staff and leadership performing admirably.

"I did not witness any mistreatment of prisoners. I think, to the contrary, what I saw was a very conscious attempt by these guards to conduct themselves in an appropriate way," he said.

The attorney general said none of those impressions alters the administration's goal of closing Guantanamo by January 2010.

My guess is that Guantanamo is run better than most of the in-state prison facilities where we will end up sticking these terrorists, until they get out on technicalities and launch new attacks on our country.

And when they do, Obama will no doubt blame Bush for "making them hate us". Obama would be a one-trick pony if he had any tricks at all.

Relative Lack of inexperience

Obama is one of the least experienced presidents we have ever had. As my wife said after watching him a little last night "He was like the head Cheerleader", rather than a President.



The local paper thought the most important quote from Obama was "The time to secure our future is here". The only thing more trite would be if he said "The time to secure our future is now" -- which at least would have had the advantage of showing the President knows how to use English. Really: The time is HERE? And I guess he is now.



But Obama is trying to look more experienced by appointing inexperienced, unqualified people to his cabinet (in retrospect, Clinton as Secretary of State looks positively golden, and she had never held a single position working with foreign issues before her appointment).



But the Democrats in congress will cover for him. I loved this comment about Carl Levin from Defense Daily:

{Carl} Levin says he “can’t foresee” opposing nominee for top Pentagon procurement post, but adds it’s “perfectly legitimate” to question Carter’s lack of acquisition experience at upcoming confirmation hearing.

Thanks, Carl, for suggesting that it's OK to ask why the nominee has never done the job he is being nominated for. Was there NO person in the aquisition department that was ready to take over the top job?



For Commerse, we now has former Governor Locke, who apparently has no commerce experience, but is another lobbyist. Remember when Obama was opposed to lobbyists, back when he was trying to get elected? Now it seems that lobbyists are the only people qualified to work in his administration.



When Obama DID nominated a qualified person for Commerse (Senator Gregg), he then drove him off by taking away all the department's responsibilities and essentially explaining that Gregg would be the "token experienced person".



Don't forget the Treasury secretary who didn't know how to do his taxes. That's good for a laugh, except then he had no idea what his plan was for saving the banks -- way to go, yes we can, ruin the economy.



When Obama said yesterday that he had never been in a helicopter, so he didn't know why he would need new Presidential copters, someone had to explain to him that the beanie with the propeller on his head wasn't the real Presidential copter, and that the real ones were fine except for the getting old and falling apart thing.

The hazard of overreaching

My column this week in the Manassas Journal Messenger is about overreaching in the illegal immigration policy debate.

Both sides are guilty of it. Mr. Sign Guy might be learning that by flouting the law, he does his cause great disservice. The HSM folks may someday learn that by pushing draconian rules that can't in the end be enforced and which eventually are revoked, they just make things worse.

The most recent example is Bob Marshall's attempt to put into law a requirement for proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. Unfortunately, because Bob was smart enough to know we couldn't retroactively force millions of Virginia citizens to re-register with proof of their citizenship, the anti-illegal crowd falsely labelled him "pro-amnesty", and joined forces with the pro-amnesty folks to defeat his bill.

The fact is that if the anti-illegal folks had their way with this bill, in a year they would have so many people mad at them that it would greatly hurt the cause of the anti-illegal movement, much like the overreaching on the local business license rule has led to gutting the rule and leaving us worse off than before.

Because, make no mistake about it, even those who hate the idea of illegals voting would have been pissed off at having to take time out of their own busy schedules to prove to the government that they were legal citizens.

If we had passed Marshall's bill, we would have stopped illegals from registering. Then we could have taken the next step, which would be to allow the registrar to revoke registrations when it was found that the registrant was not a legal resident. We didn't need to force everybody to prove their innocence -- over time, it all would have settled out.

But because of their stupidity, we have no bill, and illegals can still register to vote, so long as they are willing to say they are legally here.

Who is Obessed with Race?

This past week Attorney General Eric Holder proclaimed that, when it comes to race, we are a "nation of cowards".

While it is unfortunate that our country's AG is so quick to generalize and stereotype, it is certainly true that a good number of people in our country are scared to death when it comes to race.

And incidents like this week's flare-up over a New York Post cartoon attacking the stimulus package are a good reason why.

See, over the past two months, the Democrats in the House of Representatives, led by Congressman David Obey, have crafted a horrible attack on the foundations of American Society, which they called the "stimulus" bill.

And the New York Post knows that this bill is a piece of garbage which will do little if anything to help our economy, except for the general good that spending an extra trillion dollars would do to ANY economy.

And also this past week, a woman was mauled by a chimpanzee, which had to be killed. And a New York Post cartoonist noticed that, much like the woman was mauled by a chimpanzee, our nation has been mauled by the democrats who wrote the stimulus package.

And since the chimpanzee was shot to death by police, the cartoonist drew a picture of the chimp being shot by two police, with a caption suggesting we needed someone else to write the NEXT stimulus bill.

Now, if this were 2004, with republicans controlling government and Bush in the white house, such a cartoon would be well-accepted. Heck, people drew all sorts of cartoons with chimps, and baboons, and other animals to depict various members of the republican party, including Bush, Powell, Rice, and other members of the administration.

But now we have a "Black President". And apparently, some dimwits think that this "Black President" actually wrote the "stimulus package", when in fact he had nothing to do with it. And further, these people (who supposedly are the "enlightened" people) equate black people with monkeys, so when they saw a monkey in a cartoon, they immediately thought of Obama, even though he is neither a monkey nor the author of a stimulus package.

And then they attacked the cartoonist for "being racist", when it was these people who were the racists for thinking Obama was a chimpanzee, and idiots for thinking he wrote the stimulus package.

So, when Eric Holder says we are cowards when it comes to race, he should look at this incident, and realise that no white person alive is "comfortable" with ANYTHING having to do with race, since anything a white person does will be misconstrued as "racist".

We will NOT have a proper colorblind society so long as people define themselves by their color, expect to be treated special because of their color, think that acheivement should be measured by their color, want handouts and laws favoring them because of their color, and so long as any person of color feels comfortable launching vile, unprovoked and unwarranted attacks on white people's character simply because they are white.

We could start with the notion that black people need blacks representing them in politics. It's time to stop drawing congressional districts to ensure "black people" get elected. The nation, which is 80% NOT BLACK, just elected a "Black Man" as president. If blacks can't be represented by white people, then how are 80% of the people of this country represented by a "Black Man"?

Fact is, white people learned long ago that the "Black Man" could well represent them. And given that the Democratic Party can only find it in it's heart to allow ONE "Black Man" to sit in the U.S. Senate (and they may be trying to throw him out now), I'm thinking the minorities in the Democratic Party are quite used to being represented by rich white fools.

God will not condone taking innocent life

Today Barack Obama made a statement that is true, even though Obama doesn't appear to understand the truth of what he said:

We know there is no God who condones the killing of an innocent human being.

Here is the video:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The One True God does not condone the taking of innocent life (as this is not a religious discussion, we will gloss over the inconvenient truth that "none are righteous, no not one").

But surely there is none as close to "innocence" as those humans who have yet to breathe their first independent breath -- and these are the very ones who Obama has worked so hard to kill.

Further, it is interesting that he invokes this claim as a way of suggesting that all religions are good. But in fact we KNOW that there are people who, in the name of their religion, kill innocent people, and who even use their scriptures to condone this.

So Obama is using his imperfect concept of God and innocence and religion to espouse a world view that is false. And he seems to be formulating a foreign policy based on his misguided, religious notion of the basic goodness of humanity.

If this were a conservative Christian, the ACLU and the anti-religious forces would be up in arms over a President who used his misguided religious beliefs to guide his actions.

The truth is that there are religions which want us dead. And Obama, like it or not, is our President, and as our President he has an obligation and a duty to protect us from those people who follow religions which want us dead.

And, like it or not, President Obama, it is your constitutional duty to wage war against those forces of religions which seek to destroy our country -- not to try to play nice under some dangerous and naive notion that "people of faith" can't possibly do us harm.

How many of us will have to die before Obama wises up? Fortunately, we are still relatively safe in our country. Unfortunately, allies like Israel may suffer tremendously at the hands of those anti-innocent religious fanatics who will kill them, while Obama tries to make nice.

I feel like I'm in one of those movies where people are being killed left and right, and the poor misguided non-hero is standing there in the middle of it all, looking around in bewilderment, and saying "but they are a PEACEFUL PEOPLE".....

Summary: Obama knows that the one True God will not condone killing the innocent. But in his misguided naivete, he will refuse to protect the truly innocent unborn children from the evil hands of doctors who will torture and brutally murder them with the permission of their ignorant mothers, while he makes nice with "people of faith" who will seek to do the same to the rest of us.

Should a president be burned out after two weeks?

I realise these are trying times. However, a young, well-fit President like Obama should be able to last more than two weeks, even if he wasn't taking time off for super bowl parties and roasts.

Sometimes I get burned out at work, and just use a half-day of vacation to get out and get some fresh air. But I'm pretty sure I didn't do this two weeks after I started the job.

But today, exactly 14 days after taking the oath of office, Obama had had enough of all the pressure of defending democrats who failed to pay their taxes, so he and his wife ran off to read books at a local elementary school.

Oddly, no news media made fun of him for doing so, not at all like they treated Bush when he had a scheduled elementary school reading that was interrupted by the 9/11 attacks.

Obama of course is in a critical time for his new administration, trying to figure out if government can do anything right for the economy. But already he's managed to pick 3 nominees that had to quit, he's made fun of the DC school system for not risking it's children on icy roads, and held a super bowl party while millions of hard-working americans were losing their jobs.

He also found time to attend a private comedy roast.

And now, to escape the heat of the oval office, he hid with a bunch of school kids, who were rightly happy to have him.

And when Obama was asked why he was there, and not doing his job, Obama said:

"We were just tired of being in the White House."

I know a lot of people who are tired of Obama being in the White House. But my goodness, it's only been 14 days. I think Clinton lasted longer before he threw up his hands and said he had never worked harder but he just couldn't keep his campaign promise and give a child tax credit.

And it's not like Obama has been working 24/7. One day he was just wandering around and stumbled into the press office, only to leave after they had the audacity to ask him why he was there. And he threw a grand Super bowl party, which the media spun as showing how much better he was than Bush, since Bush would have gone to bed early instead of spending taxpayer dollars on beer and pretzels.

OK, I don't know if they had beer and pretzels.

Oh, and last week he had a coctail party. This is supposedly part of his plan to "return the white house to the people". Of course, we aren't invited to his parties, only elected politicians and people he can try to bribe into supporting his agenda. Somehow this is more "open" than the Bush policy of actually living in his house.

A President has to have a social life as well, and I don't begrudge a man the superbowl. But 3 parties, a half-dozen fluff interviews, and a reading trip all in the first two weeks?

For Gene Robinson, "Gay" means more than "Christian".

How else to interpret his comments about being chosen to lead prayer at the We are One event:

"It is also an indication of the new president's commitment to being the President of all the people. "...[I]t will be my great honor to be there representing... all of us in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community" Robinson said.

I'm betting Rick Warren, who has been castigated for being chosen to give an invoation, would never say he was representing "the heterosexual community". Real Christian pastors know that they represent Jesus Christ to the world. That Gene thinks his job is to represent a sinful lifestyle is more indication of how incompatable his prediliction is with his so-called calling.

Lest we misunderstood his statement, Gene makes it clear that he has no intention of representing the Lord Jesus Christ:

"I will be careful not to be especially Christian in my prayer.'"

Since he makes it a point not to be especially Christian in his life, it's not surprising his prayers won't be Christian. And of course, it's also clear his prayers will be meaningless.

Some people seem to think that the mere act of "prayer" provides some efficacy. They are sadly mistaken. Prayer is only useful to the degree it provides supplication to the One who created us, through the one who died to save us. There is no such thing as a non-christian "prayer", at least not in a useful sense.

Better to not have public prayer at all, then to make a mockery of the act by inviting a man who has so little faith in his own "God" that he neither trusts God to save him from his sin, to help him turn from his sin, or to suffer the slings and barbs by openly professing his faith through his prayer.

28,636 Christmas Lights.

I've finished installing my christmas lights for 2008. I believe I have 28,636 lights this year, although I could have lost count somewhere so I could be off by a few hundred one way or another.

I guess I could demand a recount.

Coming to Kings Dominion

One side-effect of being a theme park junkie is that new rides are not always so new.

In 2007, we spent two days at Geauga Lake in Ohio. It was a lovely little park -- I even wrote a column about it.

At the end of that season, Cedar Fair Properties (which owns many parks) shut down the Geauga Lake theme park, leaving only the Wildwater Kingdom water park.

They actually had been sending rides from Geauga to other parks even before they shut it down, but in 2008 Kings Dominion got the "Dominator" roller coaster, which we had already ridden in GL.

This year, Kings Dominion will get, for the first time ever, a ferris wheel. When Kings Dominion first opened, they vowed to never have a ferris wheel, which they associated with country fairs. I love ferris wheels, so I always wished they had one.

This spring KD will get the ferris wheel from Geauga Lake, along with another interesting ride shaped like a huge Cadillac.

Here is a picture I took of the ferris wheel when we visited GL:

How the Democrats will steal the Minnesota Senate seat.

It seems that the recount in the Minnesota Senate race will conclude with Norm Coleman still up by a couple hundred votes.

Further, while the Al Franken team will make a big deal about absentee ballots, it is unlikely the courts will agree to count ballots which clearly do not meet the legal requirements for acceptance.

But I don't think Franken really cares. I mean, it would be easier for the Democrats if he could manufacture enough votes in the recount to win, but they have a plan which will work in any case.

The first part of the plan has already succeeded. Al Franken got a judge to violate the sacrosanct rule of the "secret ballot", providing the Franken campaign with the names, and addresses of every absentee ballot that was rejected.

Franken's team has now contacted all those people, asking them if they were Franken supporters. No doubt they are finding Coleman people, but they will be ignored.

The next step will be for Franken's team to get every Franken voter to sign an affidavit asserting that they voted for Al Franken in the election.

Simple probability suggests that about half the rejected ballots will be Franken supporters, so they should easily be able to find over 3000 people to sign.

Normally, this wouldn't be any help. I mean, you could also call registered voters, and ask if they voted, and if not, get them to sign affidavits that they WANTED to vote and WOULD have voted for Al Franken. The courts still wouldn't accept them as actual votes.

But that's not the point. See, the Democrats have control over the Senate. And the constitution puts the Senate as the final arbiter of elections for the Senate.

So next January, when it's time to seat the new Senators, the Senate Democrats will note "irregularities" in Minnesota, and will bring the question up for a vote. And then the affidavits will be presented. And the DEmocrats will note that, while the law in Minnesota didn't allow those votes to be counted, it is CLEAR that those votes WERE cast and were for Franken.

And since the Senate doesn't have to abide by the Minnesota law, the Democrats will vote to count the extra ballots, and award the election to Franken. It won't matter that nobody checked the OTHER absentee ballots. The Media will go along with what the Democrats do, so there won't even be an outrage.

It's happened before -- the Democrats once refused to seat a republican House candidate winner, putting in the losing Democrat instead. And nobody batted an eye.

I suppose the Coleman camp could try to counter this by calling all the absentee names and getting THEIR supporters to sign affidavits. But there's no reason to suspect the Democrats in the Senate would accept them.

Twilight

I'm just back from seeing the movie "Twilight". I'm not going to give away the movie or the book plot, but if you don't like people commenting on the nuts and bolts, you can skip this anyway.





I didn't think I'd like the Bella character after watching the trailers, but I liked her in the movie.

I also liked Alice, and we didn't see enough of her. If there are "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" (and apparently a warped "Team James"), I'm definitely "Team Alice".

Characters weren't very developed in the movie. One of the things I liked about the book was the character development -- it wasn't deep, but I felt like I got the essense of the characters. That was not well-translated to the movie. I don't feel like I really know any of the people based on the movie.

They ignored Jasper, which given how little development any other characters got isn't so surprising, but I would have hated to have been given that role hoping to make it into something.

I don't like spinning camera shots. I got dizzy a couple of times in the movie -- in both cases NOT during "action" sequences, but when the characters were basically standing or lying still.

In general, I felt the book survived the movie. My son, who has not read the book, said he got lost in the movie, and I guess there are times where having read the book is probably necessary to really understand what is happening.

Sparkling Edward could have used some better CGI or something. I know I'm a guy, but my daughter agrees that he looked worse sparkling, when it was supposed to be "magnificent".

In general, I think they could have spent more money on makeup. The vampires too often looked like people with way too much makeup. I actually think Powder made the guy white better than they did in this movie.

There were a few things that simply didn't match what my mind had imagined when reading the book. The two biggest are that I pictured Bella's house to be in the woods a bit, not on a street with curbs; and I pictured the school as being out on a plain and being a bunch of small buildings you had to walk outside to get from one class to another -- not an urban-looking building in the heart of the "city".

They did catch the essence of the "dreary small-town" otherwise. I loved the logging truck.

I thought Edward's car was sufficiently cool, but my daughter did not.

Vote McCain -- Obama 1.5 hours late for his rally.

McCain is no conservative, and I disagree with him on a lot of issues. He loves to work with Democrats, and to compromise, and to do all those things that the media always tells us are important in a good leader.

I disagree with Obama on everything, and he's a liberal who never works with Republicans on anything, and would if he was republican be dismissed as a far-right extremist.

But because the media wants a Democrat, they pretend McCain is out of the mainstream and they hide everything about Obama so people might think Obama is just an ordinary moderate.

Vote McCain.

I'm stuck here within a mile of Obama's "final rally", I've had to listen to their music, and all their speeches. Obama was supposed to be here at 9pm, but it's 10:30 and he's not there yet.



Obama can't even show up on time for his own rallies. He is no way ready to be President.

Minutemen get it.

Unlike some people who seem too full of themselves to understand what is at stake in the November elections, the Minutemen show that they know exactly what needs to be done for the good of the country. From an e-mail alert:

Fellow Patriots,

Early in the presidential race we announced our intentions not to endorse anyone for president. And we’ve strictly adhered to that policy throughout this long and arduous process.

But . . .

What we did NOT announce is any intention to refrain from opposing a particular candidate for president! It has been clear from DAY ONE that we have in Sen. McCain a potential president who -- at the very best -- would be indifferent to the dire need to secure our borders.

And -- at the worst -- McCain would be a rubber stamp for a blanket amnesty program from the leftist Congress led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Despite McCain’s recent proclamations regarding securing the border as a first priority -- as the saying goes -- his actions speak so loudly, we can’t hear a word he’s saying.

. . . So an endorsement for McCain is absolutely out of the question!

That said, recent and VERY ALARMING DETAILS have surfaced about Sen. Barack Obama’s plans for our country, should he be elected president on Nov. 4th.

HELP US DEFEAT BARACK OBAMA'S SECRET AMNESTY PLAN! Click here!

These radical socialist plans include the following:
*Giving drivers licenses to ALL illegal aliens in the U.S.
*Passing a sweeping amnesty program, giving citizenship to 12 million illegal aliens
*Giving a tax rebate [i.e. free money] to illegal workers here in the U.S.
*Dialoguing with terrorist nations and regimes without precondition
*Forcing banks to lend money to illegal aliens
*Registering illegal aliens to vote in EVERY state of the union

. . . And those are just the details we know about so far!

My fellow patriots, we CANNOT afford an Obama presidency! Barack Obama’s unapologetic association with known terrorists, racists, criminals, and the politically corrupt may be the final nail in the coffin of our once great republic.

BUT WE ARE NOT GOING TO STAND BY AND LET IT HAPPEN! NOT ON OUR WATCH!!!

The Minuteman PAC has already invested key independent expenditures (IEs) in several of the battleground states to aid efforts to inform voters about Obama's true socialist agenda.

AND, we are making serious headway! Polls have suggested that Obama’s approval rating is set to drop back down in the days preceding the election! That’s why we need your help! NOW!!!

HELP US STOP THE SOCIALIST MARCH TO WASHINGTON! Click Here!

It’s hard to imagine the United States under an Obama administration. But, make no mistake! Barack Obama will stop at nothing to throw our national sovereignty and security under the bus...

If Obama is elected:
-We can say goodbye to secure borders . . .
-We can forget any last vestige of national sovereignty . . .
-We can expect more terrorist attacks on our own soil . . .
-We can kiss away our individual freedom and free enterprise . . .
-And we can toss the 10th Amendment into the dust bin of history . . .

In short, when Barack Obama leaves the White House, the U.S. will resemble France more than the republic for which our founders sacrificed their “lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.”

In fact, everything the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord fought for will be lost!!!

That’s why in these last weeks and days before the election, we need your help more than ever! Many of you have given to the Minuteman PAC efforts time and again, just as the Minutemen patriots of 1776 fought battle after battle.

HELP US MAKE A STAND AGAINST OBAMA'S ANTI-AMERICAN AGENDA!
FIGHT WITH US! Click Here!

We have to stand firm against the forces of the left, just as our forefathers stood against the tyranny of the Red Coats!!!

Nothing less than the future of our republic is at stake! THERE ARE LESS THAN 3 WEEKS LEFT!

Please stand with us now and fight alongside the Minuteman PAC! We MUST put everything on the line NOW!

For America,
Brett Farley
Executive Director
Minuteman PAC

P.S. Barack Obama’s radical agenda of open borders, drivers licenses to illegal aliens, free money to illegal aliens, sweeping amnesty, and appeasement for terrorists is marching toward victory on Nov. 4th. But we’re already engaged in an entrenched battle to stop him! We need your urgent help to reveal the truth about Obama to voters in key battleground states.

EVERYTHING is at stake this election. Please join us now!

They are right. You don't have to like McCain's position on Illegal Immigrants to know that Obama will be worse. in 2006, too many voters decided to turn their back on conservatives and republicans and elect Democrats, figuring the republicans needed to be taught a lesson.

Now we can look back at the last two years, and see all the "lessons" we taught -- to our selves.

Now is no time to teach any more lessons. We cannot afford 4 years of Barack Obama with a Democratic congress.

Temporary Blindness

Well, not quite.

I had a minor tear in my right retina. I noticed the blood on Wednesday, and they lasered it Wednesday night (Wonderful doctor). It tore a tiny bit more Friday night, and I got a little more laser treatment Saturday morning.

I'm not allowed to do computers much at all, so I've dropped off the net. I hope to be back by this weekend.