Rightwinginsider37939

CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD PHONE NUMBER

2010-04-02T11:21:00.000-04:00

Recently heard that a phone number for the Capitol switchboard in Washington spells 877-SOB-U-SOB. Have not tried it yet!

2009-07-09T15:57:00.002-04:00

Barter is Better with Tradebank

THE VOICE IS BACK!

2008-01-23T01:46:00.000-05:00

Not With A Bang, But A Wimper

2008-01-23T01:41:00.000-05:00

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States," read the statement. "I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

FRED THOMPSON SOUTH CAROLINA AD

2008-01-15T00:34:00.000-05:00

RON PAUL

2008-01-13T23:30:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul said the Iranian speed boats that approached the USS Hopper posed no threat to the ship. He obviously has not heard of the USS Cole.

FDT VID

2007-12-31T22:42:00.000-05:00

RESPONSE TO MINIMUM WAGE

2007-12-30T05:42:00.000-05:00

Perhaps you should actually read what he has to say about Social Security Reform instead of what the media says he says about Social Security Reform. I would suggest you read this:

FRED THOMPSON ON SOCIAL SECURITY

MINIMUM WAGE MILLIONAIRE

It doesn't make sense

2007-11-16T21:59:00.000-05:00

"GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson caused an uproar Friday by suggesting that Social Security benefits be cut to reduce spending. The actor is in a lot of trouble. He never would have said anything so stupid if the writers weren't on strike."--Baraboo News Republic

Why do people want and expect politicians to lie to them and then get upset when they don't?

An interesting column about Mike Huckabee by John Fund in the Wall Street Journal. Some of the pull quotes:

2007-11-08T10:46:00.000-05:00

“Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of [Huckabee’s] early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." . . . "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."

“Phyllis Schlafly, president of the national Eagle Forum, . . . "He destroyed the conservative movement in Arkansas, and left the Republican Party a shambles," she says. "Yet some of the same evangelicals who sold us on George W. Bush as a 'compassionate conservative' are now trying to sell us on Mike Huckabee."

Blant Hurt, a former part owner of, and columnist for, Arkansas Business magazine. "He has zero intellectual underpinnings in the conservative movement," . . . "He's hostile to free trade, hiked sales and grocery taxes, backed sales taxes on Internet purchases, and presided over state spending going up more than twice the inflation rate."

“Rick Scarborough, a pastor who heads Vision America, attended seminary with Mr. Huckabee and is a strong backer. . . . "Mike has always sought the validation of elites." When conservatives took over the Southern Baptist Convention after a bitter fight in the 1980s, Mr. Huckabee sided with the ruling moderates.

“Paul Pressler, a former Texas judge who led the conservative Southern Baptist revolt, told me, "I know of no conservative he appointed while he headed the Arkansas Baptist Convention."

New Ad from Fred Thompson

2007-11-07T14:52:00.000-05:00

Nice spot. Well executed. Good message. But the bobbing head drives me batty!

SMOKING BANS AND SOCIALIZED MEDICINE

2007-10-19T11:17:00.001-04:00

I OFTEN WONDER IF I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO SEES THE MADNESS OF SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, WHETHER ON A LIMITED OR UNLIMITED SCALE.

HAVE OUR RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM MUSCLES BECOME SO ATROPHIED, THAT WE ARE REDUCED TO MEWLING, PUKING CHILDREN THAT MUST PERPETUALLY SUCKLE AND NURSE AT THE LEATHERY TEAT OF THE NANNY STATE?

DOES NO ONE REALIZE THAT IF GOVERNMENT PAYS YOUR HEALTH CARE, IT CAN DETERMINE HOW MUCH OF IT YOU GET; WHERE AND FROM WHOM YOU GET IT; AND WHAT BEHAVIOR YOU MUST ENGAGE OR REFRAIN FROM ENGAGING?

THOSE WHO FOOT THE BILL FOR SOCIALIZED MEDICINE WILL CLAMOR FOR MORE REGULATIONS TO REDUCE THEIR TAX/PREMIUM BURDEN. THOSE WHO CONSUME SOCIALIZED MEDICINE WILL CLAMOR FOR MORE BENEFITS.

IN THE END, THE PRODUCERS WILL BE REDUCED TO A POSITION OF RESENTFUL PENURY CHEERING ON THE COMING FASCIST STATE, JUST AS THE CONSUMERS CHEER ON THE COMING LEVIATHAN STATE THAT WILL TAKE CARE OF THEM FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE. THE FEW INTREPID RUGGED INDIVIDUALISTS WILL BE LEFT STANDING ALONE AGAINST THE TIDAL WAVE OF STATISM, MERELY WAITING TO BE SWEPT OUT TO OBLIVION, LEAVING A SOCIETY THAT IS NASTY, BRUTISH AND SHORT.

Call me paranoid, but I think our nation is under attack by more than just Islamic jihadiis

2007-09-21T10:07:00.000-04:00

• 9-11 attack
• China is building up its military and power-projection capabilities to the point where it will one day eclipse us.
• Chinese imports, bond-holding, U.S. currency reserves as well as Middle East oil and Dubai buying 20% of NASDAQ, gives them a firm hand on our economic engine;
• European nations are reluctant or absolutely obstinate about assisting with international security issues;
• The Euro and Canadian dollar are exchanging ahead of the U.S. dollar.
• Tainted foreign food threaten our food system and lead painted merchandise from China threaten our non-food items.

This looks like the scenario from Tom Clancy’s novel, “Executive Order” and “Debt of Honor.”

How many commissioners does it take to screw-up an appointment process?

2007-09-17T13:34:00.000-04:00

If you are old enough and not infected by political correctness, you probably recognize the title as the set-up for a Polish joke.

At the heart of the current Knoxville News-Sentinel lawsuit is the question of how many talking commissioners does it take to constitute a violation of the Sunshine Law. If nothing else good comes out of this falderal, that question is probably worth answering, or else we will see an endless parade of press releases whenever two commissioners decide to exchange phone calls!

Ringing Phones?

2007-09-13T02:20:00.001-04:00

Saw my face again: In a campaign video being shown in Iowa and New Hampshire; In a piece on "Inside Edition" and I'm told on CNN, too; Still no phone call; Lucky me, I still get those invitations for $1,000 a plate fundraisers!

And Now It Finally Begins

2007-09-06T01:09:00.000-04:00

Fred Thompson launches his presidential campaign via Jay Leno and the internet.

GOP BLACK OUTREACH

2007-07-08T17:45:00.000-04:00

I received a comment on the GOP Black Outreach program recently. While my initial comment was more general in nature and directed at the GOP as a whole and not just the state party, I responded by asking some more pertinent questions apropos of the state party. To whit:

Will this effort last beyond the tenure of any given party chairman?
Will this effort be afforded the resources necessary to mount a credible and sustained campaign AFTER the election?
Will this effort be seen as and embraced by party leaders as something more than just genuflecting to political correctness?
Will party leadership show courage and not cut and run at the first whiff of controversy?
Will party leadership and members make the time commitment to see the project through for ten years? Will the party leadership and members resist temporizing basic conservative principles and be willing to do what it takes to educate and advance those principles in the Black community.
Democrat/liberal-lite will not bring people into your camp. Given a choice between a pale substitute and the real thing, people will go for the real thing every time. A sharp, obvious distinction must me made between us and them. As Reagan said, “hoist a banner of bold colors, not pale pastels!”

I must say that I would like to see more Blacks in the GOP for the simple reason that I am tired of feeling like I have been going it alone for the last 25 years. I want to see a GOP that unabashedly stands up for Conservative principles. I want to see a GOP that is unapologetic for being Conservative. I want to see a GOP that believes that Conservatism benefits all people regardless of race and is unafraid to say so. I am tired of the timidity.

A Conservative message offers more to Blacks and other minorities than the feckless, soul-crushing, stupor-inducing, government dependence message of Liberalism and the Democrat Party (that's right, I said DEMOCRAT, not Democratic).

I have toiled in vineyards and mounted the parapets for too long. I now refuse to answer the call to arms unless I am thoroughly convinced that there is seriousness and commitment behind the claxon.

Be Kind to Mother Nature!

2007-07-04T12:45:00.000-04:00

AL GORE III JAILED AFTER 100MPH DUI, DRUG BUST -- IN A ECO-FRIENDLY PRIUS...

Marijuana, Xanax, Valium, Vicodin and Adderall...

If you're going to do drugs and drive like a maniac, at least be kind to the environment and do it in a Prius!

Tennessee GOP Development Council

2007-07-03T13:43:00.000-04:00

I stumbled across the "Tennessee GOP Development Council" again.

I have been aware of it since its inception, but dismissed it as yet another feeble attempt by the GOP to create the thin patina of reaching out to Blacks. I've seen it many times.

The problem with GOP Black outreach programs is the GOP won't conduct the sustained, comprehensive effort that is needed to bring more Blacks into the party. The Party seems content to charter these toothless groups with limited or no resources, appoint some titular head, and dispatch them to the hinterlands with the charge to bring more Black and other minorities into the party. This exercise usually takes place within a few months of an election cycle. It is the consummate fools errand.

I have tried to tell the Party leaders that their efforts are a waste. Not because Blacks will never join the Party, but because changing people's deeply ingrained attitudes takes more than showing up at a church two weeks before an election. It takes more than getting a few Black ministers to climb onboard your rickety wagon for a bumpy ride down a lonely, desolate road.

Republican leadership just do not understand the arduous, solitary trek one has to make to travel from the Democrat camp in which you were raised to the Republican camp that you were raised to think was Satan's lair. Republican leadership do not understand that to be Black and call yourself Republican is to open yourself to scorn and ridicule from members of your family and community. Republican leaders do not grasp the fact that being Black and becoming a Republican opens you to being a little of an outcast.

Expecting someone to make this journey on nothing more that a single speech at Black church two weeks from election day is sheer lunacy.

Over the years I have tried to get GOP leadership to understand that winning converts requires a steady, sustained, long-term program that really can take as long as a generation to bear fruit. For more than seven decades, the Democrat Party has courted the Black vote. They have demonstrated their commitment to the Black vote at every election, before the election, after the election and when there is no election. If the GOP is to lure Black voters off the Democrat plantation, they have to demonstrate that same commitment.

Unfortunately, Republicans seem to believe they can accomplish this by pandering and throwing a few bones at selected "leaders" in the Black community. They have never grasped the concept of building and nurturing a cadre of new leaders.

A simple project that the GOP can institute that would make inroads into the Black community is a program of training and mentorship of entrepreneurs. Scratch any Black person and underneath you will find an entrepreneur aching to break out.

Republicans are always labeled the party of the rich. It is a label that they are hard-pressed to shed. Republicans are widely regarded as prolific political fundraiser and successful business people. If the GOP truly wants to court the Black vote, go into the Black community and teach them about starting, building, financing and managing a small business. Teach them how to write a winning business plan. Dispatch the fundraising leaders to the community organizations, non-profits, and fraternal organizations and teach them how to make their organization more financially stable. Become a mentor to these groups and guide them to the financial success that will empower them to make great changes in their communities.

I know that it is a long process. I know that it will not immediately pay great dividends. But it has the long term potential of an IRA paying 30-percent annual return. I have floated this idea to GOP leadership. They nod agreeably and then set about the task of finding a sympathetic Black preacher in the next election cycle.

Another small plan is to partner with the Boy Scouts. I recently met a district director who says they are pushing to create inner-city Boy Scout troops. This is an excellent opportunity for the Party to adopt a troop, provide resources to help teach them about America, patriotism, entrepreneurship, self-reliance, hard work, and perseverance. It would be a chance to free a generation from the cynicism, depression, and hopelessness that the Democrat Party relies on to hold its members.

The Republican Party is a party of great resources. A modest effort to deploy these resources in pursuit of the Black vote would pay greater dividends, be more successful and be more beneficial to the country than the current effort to throw open wide the borders in the vain hope of corralling a few of the Hispanic vote. If the GOP really wants to get a larger percentage of the Black vote, or at least be competitive for the Black vote, my plan should be the beginning.

TWO GREAT VIDEOS!

2007-06-29T09:20:00.000-04:00

Two great patriotic videos staring two well-known character actors, James McEachin and David Huddleston.

Old Glory and Reveille

FDT Newsweek Article

2007-06-16T21:51:00.001-04:00

Newsweek posted an online version of their magazine article on Fred Thompson and a audio round-table discussion with their reporters.

NEW POLLS FROM DRAFT FRED'08:

2007-06-06T11:46:00.000-04:00

SurveyUSA poll of likely Republican primary voters in California

Giuliani 28 percent,
THOMPSON 21 percent
McCain 21 percent
Romney 11 percent
543 likely Republican primary voters and has a margin of error of 4.3 percent.

Public Policy Polling survey of likely South Carolina voters:
Thompson 27%
Romney 16%
McCain 15%
Giuliani 14%
Gingrich 11%

NATIONAL: Rasmussen among likely Republican voter, Thompson up 5 points from last week.
Giuliani 23%
Thompson 17%
Romney 15%
McCain 14%

Strangling Oil

2007-05-31T00:09:00.000-04:00

The dangers of economic ignorance.

"....Not enough fuel, with growing demand (estimated to be 30% greater by 2030) and higher prices. And Congress proposes imposing price caps and breaking up Big Oil.

But it's all been tried. In the 1970s, Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter all kept price controls on oil. As a result, drillers had no incentive to find new supplies, and prices — along with OPEC control over our energy future — increased."

Fred Thompson and Memorial Day

2007-05-26T19:46:00.000-04:00

Citing Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

"..it’s our liberties that have made us prosperous and there's no reason the rest of the world couldn't be just as well-off -- if they embraced freedom as well."

2007-05-15T22:14:00.000-04:00

"Documentary" film-maker Michael Moore takes a shot at FDT.

The confrontation over Cuba continues. Michael Moore has challenged Fred Thompson to a health care debate. At issue -- Moore's trip to Cuba and Thompson's criticism of that trip. Moore noted Thompson's evident favor for Cuban cigars as a possible violation of the trade embargo. Now, Thompson responds. Cigar in hand.

"Given that it has been publicly reported in The Weekly Standard, a leading neo-conservative publication, that you [Fred Thompson] support Fidel Castro and the Cuban regime by being a purveyor of fine Cuban exports despite the trade embargo, I was surprised to see your [Fred Thompson] recent op ed in a more traditional conservative outlet, The National Review, regarding my trip to Cuba (I suspect you [Fred Thompson] choose The National Review in an effort to pander to an outlet that had criticized you [Fred Thompson] for your opposition to medical malpractice legislation)." Michael Moore

"While I will leave it up to the conservatives to debate your [Fred Thompson] hypocrisy and the Treasury Department to determine whether the "box upon box of cigars" violates the trade embargo, I hereby challenge you[Fred Thompson] to a health care debate." Michael Moore

New internet interview with Fred Thompson

2007-05-06T12:42:00.000-04:00

BRIETBART EXCLUSIVE: Fred Thompson — ‘I’ve never casually run for anything

Fred Thompson Lincoln Club Speech

2007-05-05T21:52:00.000-04:00

Fred Thompson addresses the Lincoln Club in Orange County, California

Adam Smith!!!

2007-05-05T02:05:00.000-04:00

When was the last time you heard a Presidential candidate invoke the name of Adam Smith? Go Fred Go!

"Let's talk about the issues here at home, first. A lot of folks in Washington suffer from a big misconception about our economy. They confuse the well-being of our government with the wealth of our nation. Adam Smith pointed out the same problem in his day, when many governments mixed up how much money the king had with how well-off the country was."

SMOKING BAN

2007-05-02T20:18:00.000-04:00

Liberty is a precious and fragile commodity that is hard won and easily destroyed. It is not destroyed, however, in one blow by the sledge hammer, but is chipped away by the chisel over time by a government who neither respects nor recognizes it.

To protect individual liberty and maintain a robust free market, the founders of our state and nation designed a government to be restrained, provided the people who populate the government respects those restraints.

The founders wanted government to be restrained to doing those things that the free market can’t do or can’t do well. A smoking ban is one of those issues that really separate those who believe in smaller-government-enforcing-their-own-biases from those who truly believe in smaller government and private property rights.

A ban on smoking in businesses and by government fiat is a rejection of the concept of limited government. It embraces the concept that public policy can be based on whatever naked power the government wants to exercise for the ephemeral notion of “the public good.” On that path lie the gallows and the gulag. We don’t always like the results of freedom, but the alternative of oppression– even well-meaning oppression– is equally unacceptable.

The marketplace can and does achieve the goal of banning smoking and it does it every hour of every day. The marketplace has demonstrated in this area its ability to address the desires of non-smoking public as each day another business or restaurant adds to the burgeoning list of non-smoking venues. In just two minutes on the internet, I compiled a list of nearly 500 restaurants across Tennessee that are smoke-free.

It was not that long ago that totally non-smoking restaurants and work places were a rarity; now they the exception that has become the rule. More importantly, it was done without government intervention.
·Where once smokers and non-smokers co-mingled in the same space, they are now segregated;
· Where once the size of smoking and non-smoking areas were on equal footing, now smoking sections are significantly smaller and relegated to the least desirable portions of the restaurant and even those areas are on borrowed time.

The number of completely non-smoking restaurants and work places grows each minute without the heavy hand of government. Indeed a state law is a solution in search of a problem—and headlines. A statutory ban on smoking tramples the right of a private business owner to decide how he or she wishes to cater to potential customers. It is now a point of competitive advantage for a restaurant to say it is smoke-free! If an individual is offended by tobacco smoke he has a multitude of alternative locales available to him.

If a business owner sees his clientele dropping off because he allows smoking, he can make his business smoke-free and get those clients back.

Going smoke-free pays off for restaurants; which raises again the question of why we need a one-size-fits-all government ban, when customers are fully capable of sending signals to entrepreneurs.

If you wish to create some new social norm that discourages people from smoking, it is already there.

But in a state and country that champions the individual, freedom of choice and personal responsibility, a statutory smoking ban is ample evidence that politicians don’t trust citizens and business owners enough to make the right choices.

If government wants to ban smoking, it can. It can ban smoking on those areas over which it has direct control or ownership. Government is well within its authority to ban smoking in government buildings and government property. But to ban smoking on private property is an assault on private property rights. If government wants to ban smoking on private property, it should be intellectually honest and buy the property at fair market value.

Some of the arguments offered in support of the ban strain logic.

· I have heard legislators say a ban is a compromise. That is indeed a new definition of compromise. You win, I lose. You win more power, I lose more liberty. Lord spare us from many more such compromises. A real compromise would require businesses to post signs giving notice of its smoking policy. A real compromise would repeal the law that requires smoking areas in all buildings—oh wait, there is no such law. A real compromise would make allowances for the owner, the employees and the customers all to agree that smoking should be permitted.

· I have heard it said that the ban is no different from health regulation such as sneeze guards and inspection. Health standards and inspection are about protecting the public from food-borne illnesses and illness from poor sanitation practices—both of which have incubation periods of hours or days—not years. Those regulations are to address illnesses that can affect large numbers of people in a very short time.

While some of you may think this to be a small positive step in stamping out smoking, as a smoker I have to ask what is the next step? More and more public officials are warming up to the idea that the full force of the state should be brought down on people making unhealthy choices.

· California, so often the first state to reach new frontiers in silly public policy, was an early adopter of smoking bans, and it shows the direction the pro-ban forces may take us.

·After driving smokers out of bars, anti-smoking activists there have sought, with considerable success, to drive them off the beaches, the sidewalks, and other outdoor public spaces.

· San Francisco city officials, having recently banned smoking in all public parks, moved to ban chewing tobacco at all city athletic fields (is the concern there "secondhand spit"?). Antismoking activists have recently turned their attention to restricting smoking on private property.

· Anti-smoking activist urge legal action to ban smoking in condominiums and apartment buildings

· At a town hall meeting held Washington, DC, somebody raised the question of what to do when noise complaints skyrocket because every smoker up and down the downtown streets is forced out on the sidewalk. And the answer? Crack down with anti-loitering laws.

That is the slope onto which you are taking your first small step.
“As a Knoxville News-Sentinel Editorial put it: The smoke-free adherents share at least one thing in common: Smokers annoy them. Trying to pass legislation based upon mere annoyance, however, is not politically expedient. So the tactic is set forth to protect the vulnerable nonsmoker from secondhand smoke.

The very same arguments used against smoking in the workplace could be applied to smoking outside in public or in your home. Smoking on a public sidewalk endangers other citizens within 25 feet of secondhand smoke. Smoking in your car or in your home could endanger other adults or children in those environments.

This is a freedom issue. Restaurants and bars are free to choose whether they want a smoking or nonsmoking establishment. The public is free to choose where to eat. Smoke-Free would like to outlaw that freedom to choose. They say it's for our own good.

The group has targeted secondhand smoke as a threat to public health, but it is concerned only with removing smoking from workplaces, specifically restaurants and bars.

That qualifier exposes Smoke-Free Tennessee as an organization willing to deceive as a means to an end, so it will settle for a ban on restaurant smoking - for now. If you think the buck stops there, you're kidding yourself. And that is definitely annoying.”

While getting people to stop smoking is a desirable goal, government has no right to promote it by restricting the freedom of business owners to set the rules for the premises they own. And they have no right to push adults out into the cold and outside the protection of the law for the sin of indulging in a perfectly legal product. You may think smoking is a nasty habit and secondhand smoke is unpleasant. But what's truly obnoxious is the drive to make us all healthier people through the coercive arm of the law. That's the impulse behind the smoking ban, and it has no place in a free, tolerant and diverse state. Please, let’s just say no to the nanny state.

I have just one more thing to say in closing. It is a poem from by a German pastor about another effort to deal with undesirable elements of society:

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out,Because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the Jews,and I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the sick, the so-called incurables,
and I didn't speak up,
Because I wasn't mentally ill.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists,and I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Next they came for the Catholics,and I did not speak out,
Because I was not a Catholic.
Then they came for me,and there was no one left,
To speak out for me.

There will surely come a day when something legal you enjoy becomes the target of the Nanny State. Who will be left to speak for you then?

FRED THOMPSON ON FEDERALISM

2007-04-24T20:52:00.000-04:00

Republicans have struggled in recent years, because they have strayed from basic principles. Federalism is one of those principles. It is something we all give lip service to and then proceed to ignore when it serves our purposes. During my eight years in the Senate, I tried to adhere to this principle. For me it was a lodestar. Not only was it what our Founding Fathers created — a federal government with limited, enumerated powers with respect for other levels of government, it also provided a basis for a proper analysis of most issues: “Is this something government should be doing? If so, at what level of government?”

25 years murder-free in 'Gun Town USA'

2007-04-20T21:05:00.000-04:00

Crime rate plummeted after law required firearms for residents.

In March 1982, 25 years ago, the small town of Kennesaw – responding to a handgun ban in Morton Grove, Ill. – unanimously passed an ordinance requiring each head of household to own and maintain a gun. Since then, despite dire predictions of "Wild West" showdowns and increased violence and accidents, not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting – as a victim, attacker or defender.

Not Easy Being Green

2007-04-20T15:10:00.000-04:00

Feeling a bit smug about owning that hybrid? Better rein in that contempt for those who still drive primitive conventional cars. It seems that a Hummer is more ecologically friendly than a Prius.

RE: VIRGINIA TECH

2007-04-19T01:09:00.000-04:00

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms ... disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one." - Thomas Jefferson, Quoting Cesare Beccari's "On Crimes and Punishment"

Worth Looking At

2007-04-13T11:26:00.000-04:00

Draft Fred Thompson Rally
Saturday, April 28
3:30 to 5:30 Central
Dogwood Park, Cookeville, TN
www.ThompsonRally.org

More Fred Thompson Hilarity

2007-04-12T15:42:00.000-04:00

TOP TEN FRED THOMPSON FACTS
1) Fred Thompson has two speeds: Walk and Kill.
2) Fred Thompson once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger, by yelling, "Bang!"
3) Fred Thompson has counted to infinity. Twice.
4) Fred Thompson is the only man to ever defeat a brick wall in a game of tennis.
5) The opening scene of the movie "Saving Private Ryan" is loosely based on games of dodge ball Fred Thompson played in second grade.
6) When Fred Thompson goes to donate blood, he declines the syringe, and instead requests a hand gun and a bucket.
7) Fred Thompson’s house has no doors, only walls that he walks through.
8) When taking the SAT, write "Fred Thompson" for every answer. You will score a 1600.
9) The show Survivor had the original premise of putting people on an island with Fred Thompson. There were no survivors and the pilot episode tape has been burned.

10) Fred Thompson ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.

MORE FRED THOMPSON FACTS

1. The U.S. Military once created a Fred Thompson submachine gun. They were unable to use it since firing it on the battlefield violated every single article of the Geneva Conventions (and common sense).
2. Unlike fire, Fred Thompson can melt steel.
3. If you took Chuck Norris, Jack Bauer, Optimus Prime, a .50 caliber Desert Eagle, a samurai sword, nachos, the lobby scene from the move Matrix, the computer game Doom, and a DVD set of the complete A-Team series and somehow took all their awesomeness and compressed into one thing, you'd still only have something half as awesome as what Fred Thompson flushes down the toilet after taking a crap.
4. Fred Thompson washes down his morning steak and eggs with a big mug of jet fuel.
5. Polls show that, in a presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Fred Thompson, the result would be that Hillary would vomit up her own heart and die.
6. The myth about the twelve labors of Hercules is loosely based on Fred Thompson Boy Scout career.
7. Fred Thompson can kill you just by thinking about you. Luckily, you're far too insignificant for him to think about.
8. Physicists say that nothing can escape a black hole or Fred Thompson.
9. Fred Thompson appears human sized because he is actually standing a million miles away.
10. According to Sura 8 verse 65 of the Koran, Allah told the Prophet Muhammad, "O Prophet! Urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve... but if you're up against Fred Thompson, you're totally screwed and I can't help you."
11. Inexplicably, Fred Thompson receives a copy of tomorrow's newspaper at his doorstep every morning. He uses it to wrap fish since Fred Thompson doesn't care about either today's or tomorrow's liberal slant on the news.
12. A short but accurate biography of Fred Thompson can be found in Jane's Tank & Combat Vehicle Recognition Guide.
13. While he is opposed to gay marriage, Fred Thompson is very compassionate towards gays since, in comparison to him, every man is a flaming homosexual.

Declaration of War

2007-04-06T10:20:00.000-04:00

I was surfing the net and ran across blog entries where people still critize the government for not asking for a declaration of war. Those of you who simultaneously clamor for a formal declaration of war and decry Administration exercise of power should understand what really happens when war is declared and understand what you are asking.

A declaration of war automatically triggers many standby statutory authorities conferring special powers on the President with respect to the military, foreign trade, transportation, communications, manufacturing, alien enemies, etc. In contrast, no standby authorities appear to be triggered automatically by an authorization for the use of force. When the U.S. declares war, the following standby statutory authorities which are exercised with very limited restrictions:

A declaration activates statutes that:
•Automatically extends enlistments in the armed forces until the end of the war,
•Empower the President to interdict all trade with the enemy, Trading With the Enemy Act
•Order manufacturing plants to produce armaments and seize them if they refuse,
•Gives control of transportation systems in order to give the military priority use
•Order communications systems to give priority to the military.
•Trigger the Alien Enemy Act, which gives the President substantial discretionary authority over nationals of an enemy state who are in the United States.
•Authorizes use electronic surveillance for purposes of gathering foreign intelligence information without a court order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
•Can make the Coast Guard part of the Navy,
•Gives the President substantial discretion over the appointment and reappointment of commanders,
•Allows the military priority use of the natural resources on the public lands and the continental shelf.
•Authorizes control of the Tennessee Valley Authority in order to manufacture explosives or for other military purposes
•Authorizes condemning land for military uses
•Gives the President full power over agricultural exports.
•Gives power to “apprehend, restrain, secure, and remove” enemy aliens, “natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects of the hostile nation or government fourteen years and upward in the United States and not naturalized.”
•Empowers the government to investigate, regulate, or prohibit, any transactions in foreign exchange with any banking institution
•Forbids foreign nationals from importing, exporting, hoarding, melting, or earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion, currency or securities
•Conveys to the government complete control over any property in which any foreign country or a national has any interest.

If you fear a president who exercises power with a war authorization, how much would you fear him with a full declaration of war? Declaring war is not a matter of rhetoric. It has serious consequences that conveys upon the president almost plenary power.

Great FDT vid!

2007-04-02T21:57:00.000-04:00

Half of America will not vote for Hillary

2007-03-28T09:57:00.000-04:00

A Harris Interactive poll released yesterday Half of voting-age Americans say they will not vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she becomes the Democratic 2008 nominee for president as well as one in five Democrats.

The poll indicates 36 percent say they would vote for Clinton and 11 percent are unsure. Forty-eight percent of independent voters said they would choose another candidate over Clinton. The poll surveyed 2,223 potential voters

More FDT Poll Numbers

2007-03-27T21:04:00.000-04:00

Gallup and Zogby Results Show Third Place Changing

More FDT polls

2007-03-27T10:16:00.000-04:00

Quinnipiac University Poll

Can you say Atlas Shrugged?

2007-03-26T22:26:00.001-04:00

Is Halliburton's Move the Beginning of More Corporate Exodus from America?

Thompson running third in Zogby poll

2007-03-26T21:46:00.001-04:00

American Research Group has Thompson running 4th in Texas, 3rd in Iowa.

FROM USA TODAY:
"Chosen by 12% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters, Thompson is third in the Republican field, jumping ahead of a half-dozen contenders. He trails former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, at 31%, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, at 22%. Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is at 8%.
One reason for Thompson's fast start is name identification, says Republican strategist Rich Galen. "More people watch him every week on TV than will vote in total next Feb. 5," he says, the day of primaries in about a dozen states."

"Galen also notes, however, that neither Giuliani nor Clinton can yet claim the allegiance of a majority. "In both parties, at least two-thirds of the members are looking for alternatives or at least options," he says. That provides an opening for contenders such as Thompson or Gore who aren't running — at least so far."

"Thompson gained ground as Giuliani lost it. In the USA TODAY Poll taken March 2-4, Giuliani was at 44%, 13 percentage points higher than in the new survey. McCain had been at 20%, 2 points lower than now."

Other Polls

2007-03-23T22:44:00.001-04:00

Thompson Tied with Clinton, Trails Obama

2007-03-23T21:47:00.001-04:00

Rassmussen Poll

Nice Draft FDT Vid

2007-03-22T14:55:00.000-04:00

Hillarious Comments About FDT

2007-03-22T14:25:00.000-04:00

Hillarious comments seen on IAMO blog:
Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson.

Though Fred Thompson left the Senate in 2003, Harry Reid still hasn't stopped wetting his pants

The actual cause of global warming: Fred Thompson's burning rage.

Fred Thompson once stood on our south border and glared at Mexico. There were no illegal immigration for a month.

If you purchase a weather radio, it will wake you up with an alarm to warn you when Fred Thompson is pissed off.

An abortion doctor tried to kill Fred Thompson when he was still in the womb, but he cut off the man's hand with the scalpel while shouting, "Do you know who I am? I'm Fred Thompson.

Only two things can kill Superman: Kryptonite and Fred Thompson.

I heard Fred Thompson was the man who taught Leonidas to beat up persian faggots.

If Fred Thompson was at Thermopylae the movie would have been called One.

Charles Schumer's scrotum shrivelled up anytime Fred Thompson appeared.

When Chuck Norris goes to bed he wears Fred Thompson pajamas.

Fred Thompson was originally going to be a character in Street Fighter 2, but every button made him give his infamous Death Glare of Doom. When asked if he wanted the programmers to fix that glitch, Thompson replied "What glitch?"

The Rebel Alliance had nothing to do with destroying the Death Star, It cast a shadow over Fred Thompson, and self-destructed.

One look from Fred Thompson can:
1. Strike Chuck Shumner speechless for a month
2. Shock Ted Kennedy into soberity
3. Make Henry Waxman's balls turn blue and fall off

Great Obama video!

2007-03-18T22:40:00.000-04:00

"I've heard that bear steaks are tough, but maybe if you marinated them in beer, they'd turn out all right

2007-03-18T22:38:00.000-04:00

So, Chris Rock Thinks Being Black is One Step Up From Being Retarded

2007-03-17T23:35:00.000-04:00

"Is this country ready for an African American president?" "It's ready for a retarded president, why wouldn't it be ready for an African American president?" Chris Rock, March 16, 2007

The Coming Liberal Crack-up?

2007-03-09T15:10:00.000-05:00

Here is an example of the clueless crowd that Dem congressmen listen to!

It's a Prez cycle and that means a Fred Thompson boomlett.

2007-03-09T13:21:00.000-05:00

Michael Silence and The Hill reports on his blog that Howard Baker is lighting the fuse on a Fred Thompson for Prez boomlet. Like tulips in spring, every Presidential cycle someone floats the idea that Fred Thompson will run for president.

"BREAKING NEWS: Baker confirms Thompson push
WASHINGTON — Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker Jr. said today he is urging his friend Fred Thompson to run for president and encouraging others to convince him.

Baker, R-Tenn., in a telephone interview with The News Sentinel, said: "I'm planting the seed that he might run or might be convinced to run." Baker also was White House chief of staff to President Reagan and most recently served as U.S. ambassador to Japan."

My skeptic senses are tingling! If it happens, I will be the most surprised person in Tennessee!

Does this mean we will finally get serious about the border?

2007-03-09T12:58:00.000-05:00

Officers outgunned on U.S. border

Violence along the U.S.-Mexico border is undergoing what U.S. law-enforcement authorities call "an unprecedented surge," some of it fueled by weapons and ammunition purchased or stolen in the United States.

In a recent report, ICE noted that border gangs were becoming increasingly ruthless -- targeting rivals, along with federal, state and local police, including the U.S. Border Patrol agents, who have faced an increase in assaults as the agency seeks to bring operational control to the border.

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents all 11,000 of the agency's non-supervisory agents, said violence by gangs battling to control smuggling routes into this country has increased dramatically and is spilling into some U.S. communities.
Mr. Bonner said that while much of the violence is directed at rival gang members, there is an "inevitable spillover that touches innocent civilians and law-enforcement officials on both sides of the border."

He said assaults against Border Patrol agents have more than doubled over the past two years, mainly by drug cartels "far more inclined to utilize violence as a means of achieving their goal of successfully smuggling contraband and people."

Buy Gold Bullion and Guns Now!

2007-03-09T12:38:00.000-05:00

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, BUY GOLD BULLION NOW!
The Dems are pressing for a withdrawal in Iraq by Fall 2008 and plan to place a measure on the war funding bill to achieve the goal. If this happens, it could be catastrophic for the country.

A newly-emboldened enemy will likely step-up up its operations here sowing chaos and mayhem over the next ten years, placing enormous strain on our economy. This will cause a rise in gold prices as the stock market declines from the uncertainty created by their actions in various economic sectors.

Once again, Dems demonstrate they are not just inept at leading the country. They are dangerously stupid. Every man and woman in the nation should immediately arm himself.

Shocking, disgusting, insulting, purile!

2007-03-05T09:59:00.000-05:00

Words fail me on how utterly offensive this is. Hillary must go! It is such a tragedy that Midwesterners have no accent and Yankees have such an offensive accent that both Hillary feels compelled to feign a Southern accent just to appear civilized.

Interesting connection that escaped me

2007-02-21T00:35:00.000-05:00

Columnist Robert Novak wrote on July 12, 2001, that FBI and Soviet Mole Robert Hanssen had served as his main source for a 1997 column criticizing Janet Reno, then the United States Attorney General, for allegedly covering up aspects of the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, (being investigated by Fred Thompson), which involved allegations that the People's Republic of China attempted to influence U.S. elections by illegally donating money to the Democratic National Committee and President Clinton's campaign.

Robert Hanssen is the subject of a new movie now out "Breach" with Chris Cooper playing Hanssen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hanssen

More thoughts on Iraq and the War on Terrorism

2007-02-20T13:51:00.000-05:00

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Stuart Mill.

The American Anti-war faction loves to say they support the troops but oppose the war. Let's take a look at how they support the troops:

• Senator John Kerry "joked" last fall smart people who work hard become successful, but uneducated sluggards "get stuck in Iraq."
• Washington Senator Patty Murray explained in 2002, Osama bin Laden is beloved by Muslims for "building schools, building roads . . . building day-care facilities,", while Americans only show up to "bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan."
• Illinois Senator Dick Durbin took to the Senate floor to equate US military interrogators in Guantanamo Bay with "Nazis, Soviets in their gulags," and similar mass-murderers, such as "Pol Pot or others."
• Barack Obama declared that the lives laid down by troops in Iraq were "wasted,"
• ROTC is banned on elite college campuses.
• An Ivy League professor prays for "a million Mogadishus."
• San Francisco bars a historic battleship from its port.
• Signs at antiwar protests urge troops to "shoot their officers."
• Michael Moore compares Iraqi insurgents who kill Americans to the Minutemen of Revolutionary New England.

In each one of these instances, the condemnation by Democrats has been tepid or silent. With support like this, who needs al Qaeda?

The Continuing Jihad Against Smokers

2007-02-20T13:44:00.000-05:00

Not content to push smokers out into the elements and to the margins of society, the Tennessee Legislature, at the behest of Governor Bredesen, is considering a state-wide ban on smoking in public spaces.

Few things get my blood boiling like this continuing war against smokers waged by the New Puritans and health Nazis!

Is there no area of human activity that the government believes is off limits for regulation?

Are Tennessee business owners so benighted that they can't make those decisions themselves?

Considering a smoke-friendly building is a rarity, is a ban a solution in search of a problem?

Does this mean I cannot smoke in a tobacco store?

Where is the small, limited government that I was promised by Conservatives if they got the majority?

If big-government nanny state is what I have to look forward to, I might as well vote for Democrats. At least I know up front that they are going to screw me.

When considering the utility of a smoking ban take a look at your own experiences. How often have you encountered a public environment or entered a public building where smoking is allowed compared against similar venues where it is not. You could probably list individual places and a few categories where smoking is allowed in less than five minutes (in fact, you would have to strain to fill the allotted time), but there is not enough time in the day to make a similar list for non-smoking.

Once again, a smoking-friendly location is such a rarity that it stands out in your mind because it is such an anomaly. Quite frankly, I am always shocked and suppressed when I find a place that allows smoking. Non-smoking is the default position. Smokers know that and do not violate the prohibition. The number of places a non-smoker can go and not encounter smoke is unlimited: (restaurants, hotels, stores, theaters, sports stadiums, schools (and surrounding grounds), auditoriums, individual homes, office buildings (for some, including their parking lots), hospitals, pharmacies, some parks, beaches, public transportation, rental cars, the list goes on. The number of places that accept smoking is severely limited: bars, limited specifically designated areas, cigar stores, your individual home/car.

Don't let yourself be sucked-in by the new Puritans. This is not about protecting non-smokers. It is about stamping out smokers. A smoking ban is a solution in search of a problem.

Death by 246 undercuts: House Democrats vote for slow exsanguinating bleed before cut and run

2007-02-19T21:03:00.000-05:00

Assisted by 17 Republicans, House Democrats passed a non-binding concurrent resolution to oppose President Bush’s new Iraq policy.

After years of Democrat carping over the need for more troops, a different strategy, increased Iraqi involvement and more diplomatic efforts, the President conceded to them and gave the Democrats what they wanted, only to be rebuffed and rebuked.

Once again, Democrats demonstrate that they cannot be trusted to defend the nation.

The anti-war factions love to paint Iraq as another Vietnam. With this vote they got their wish.

The 1968 Tet Offensive was seen as a costly military failure by the North Vietnamese. Their attempt to spark a “general uprising” against the South Vietnamese government in the wake of what was to be a successful offensive did not work. Unfortunately, the media and the anti-war factions spun a North Vietnamese defeat into an American Defeat.

The North Vietnamese were ready to sue for peace, however, as North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap said in his 1985 memoir about the war, if it weren't for organizations like Kerry's Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Hanoi would have surrendered to the U.S. The rest, as they say, is history.

It may be too soon to accurately assess the impact of this vote. To be sure, one can make a credible argument that it emboldens the enemy and undercuts our troops. The Democrats have codified their policy of cut and run or cut and walk or cut and crawl into bleed out support and leave.

Gene Patterson v. Mike Ragsdale

2007-02-19T16:39:00.000-05:00

Mayor Ragsdale took extreme umbrage at Gene Patterson's accurate portrayal of the Sheriff's report regarding the Mayor's veracity. For those who have not read the report, here are four statements from it that directly called into question Mayor Ragsdale's truthfulness:

"Ragsdale,with knowledge that Tyler Harber had obtained and delivered Chad Tindell's ernails, stated on March 16, 2005, that he did not know the origination of the e-mails. If Ragsdale's intent in issuing the false statement was to protect Tyler Harber, then Ragsdale was obstructing or hindering, at that time, the location of a person suspected of committing a crime."

"During the course of this investigation, a number of inconsistent statements were made. Mayor Ragsdale not only contradicted himself, some of his statements appear to be inconsistent with those of his fellow office workers and employees. Todd Cook told investigators information with full knowledge that the statements were at least misleading, if not outright false."

"On March 16, 2005, Mayor Ragsdale stated that he found, in his inbox, the emails upon Mr. Ragsdale's return for lunch on Monday, March 14,2005 and did not know where the emails had come from. This statement by Mr. Ragsdale is obviously a lie. It is in direct contradiction to the March 23, 2005 memorandum generated by Mike Arms."

"On August 16, 2005, Ragsdale continued to disavow knowledge ofthe emails when he stated that the emails ended up in the front office but was not sure how they got there."

I grant you it was a shame that Gene did not have these quotes at his immediate disposal before offering them up to Mayor Ragsdale for comment. I guess we could give Mayor Ragsdale the benefit of the doubt and chalk it all up to faulty memory.

Thought for the Day

2007-02-13T13:52:00.000-05:00

For all those who criticize the military and the Iraq War:
"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - Winston Churchill

Global Warming: The Utility Infielder of Explanations

2007-02-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

Too hot: Global Warming
Too Cold: Global Warming
Too Wet: Global Warming
Too Dry: Global Warming
Too many hurricans: Global Warming
Too few hurricans: Global Warming
Polar ice caps too thin: Global Warming
Polar ice caps too thick: Global Warming
My wife is stepping out on me: Global Warming
My kids are brats: Global Warming
My kids are hyperactive and have ADD: Global Warming

It's easy. Anything and everything can be explained by Global Warming! Try it yourself!

Support Our Troops

2007-02-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

Send our Troops a Message of support. They need support not just for them as fighters, but especially support for their mission. They need your gratitude for what they are doing in Iraq.
www.americasupportsyou.mil

With this kind of trash floating around the Washington toilet bowl, they need it.

Is there a son of York who will make our winter of discontent a glorious summer?

2007-01-24T22:59:00.000-05:00

Surveying the 2008 Presidential field is a maddening depressing exercise.

On the Democrat side we have: John Edwards, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Bill Richardson, Mike Gravel of Alaska, former governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa, and Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich.

For Republicans, we have: Senator Sam Brownback, Mitt Romney, John McCain and maybe Ron Paul.

I hope someone worth fighting for appears soon!

Brief comment on 9-11 Conspiracy Theories

2007-01-24T22:33:00.000-05:00

Academics who study conspiracy theories say they meet a basic human need to make sense of major catastrophic events. It is the notion that great events spawn from great origins. Thus 9-11 could not be the result of 19 determined men on a mission who met with the good fortune of a nation asleep at the wheel; it must be the result of a grand conspiracy. Much like a president can be killed by a determined man with a gun; a popular princess can't die in a routine auto accident; and world wars can't start because of the assassination of a minor monarch or one country's successful duplicity over another. It must be the result of something greater or life truly is random, unpredictable, and uncontrollable. A world in which tiny causes can have huge consequences feels scary and unreliable. Therefore a grand disaster like Sept. 11 needs a grand conspiracy behind it.

Envy is so passe'

2007-01-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of screaming about the severance package size of Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli and indeed the compensation package size of many departing CEO’s. I grow weary of their protestations. These same people see nothing wrong with paying top athletes and entertainers millions of dollars to profusely sweat during a cardio workout.

Nardelli’s compensation/severance package was negotiated by the Home Depot board of directors as an inducement for him to COME to Home Depot—not LEAVE Home Depot. Nardelli was a a talented former executive at General Electric who came within a whisker of being its CEO. During his tenure, Home Depot posted sales of $90.4 billion, almost twice the sales figure of $45.7 billion recorded for fiscal 2000. During that same period, net income rose 130%, from $2.5 billion to $5.9 billion. Also during his tenure Home Depot's return on average invested capital stood at 16.8% for fiscal 2000, peaked at 19.5% in 2005, and will be 17.4% for fiscal 2006 and left Home Depot OWNING $25 billion worth of DEBT-FREE property.
Operating Income increased to $9.363 billion in 2006 from $5.830 billion in 2003. These are not numbers to be dismissed. Additionally, the severance package is not $210 million in cash. The bulk of it, as in most cases, is stock, stock options, retirement benefits, etc., and represents about 8% of Home Depot’s net income and .2% of its gross sales (revenue), and 3% of the operating revenue.

Now, as to the outrage expressed by members of the public who own no stock in Home Depot, are not employed by Home Depot, are not a vendor to Home Depot, do not sign the checks for Nardelli’s (or any other Home Depot employee) compensation, are not on the board of directors for Home Depot, and have no connection to Home Depot other than being a customer, knowing its name, knowing its location, and knowing what it does for business—BUTT OUT! It’s not your concern! The only reason you are exercised over this is your own envy and class hatred! If you don’t like the severance package for Home Depot’s CEO: don’t shop at Home Depot, don’t buy Home Depot stock, don’t work for Home Depot, don’t get appointed to its board of directors!

I venture to say, if any of you were in Nardelli’s situation and doubled the sales, quadrupled the net income of Home Depot you would be asking for more than the 8% that he is getting! As it is, Nardelli’s severance is the result of negotiation for labor compensation between him and the board of directors at Home Depot. It is the board of directors who will have to answer for their decision—for good or ill.

To put things into perspective consider the salaries of top entertainers:

Steven Spielberg $332 million
Howard Stern $302 million
George Lucas $235 million
Oprah Winfrey $225 million
U2 $110 million
Jerry Seinfeld $100 million
Tiger Woods $90 million

Now, look at top athlete salaries in football and basketball in relation to their percentage of revenue and value of the team:

BASKETBALL ($mil)
Team Player Salary VALUE OPREV %VALUE %OP REV
Miami Heat Shaquille ONeal $20.00 $362.00 $119.00 5.52% 16.81%
Phily 76ers Chris Webber $19.10 $351.00 $110.00 5.44% 17.36%
Minn. T-wolves Kevin Garnett $18.00 $303.00 $101.00 5.94% 17.82%
Ind. Pacers Jermaine ONeal $16.40 $324.00 $108.00 5.06% 15.19%
NJ Nets Jason Kidd $16.40 $271.00 $ 87.00 6.05% 18.85%
LA Lakers Kobe Bryant $15.00 $529.00 $156.00 3.01% 10.19%
San Ant Spurs Tim Duncan $15.80 $350.00 $121.00 4.51% 13.06%
NY Knicks Anfernee Hardaway $15.70 $543.00 $181.00 2.89% 8.67%
Dall Mavs Keith Van Horn $15.60 $403.00 $124.00 3.87% 12.58%
Houst Rockets Tracy McGrady $15.60 $422.00 $141.00 3.70% 11.06%
Orlando Magic Grant Hill $15.60 $247.00 $ 82.00 6.32% 19.02%

FOOTBALL
PLAYER-TEAM SAL VALUE REV OP INC %VAL %REV %OP INC
Ty Law N.E 9.60 1,176 250 43.6 0.82% 3.84% 22.02%
Brett Favre G.B. 9.53 911 194 22.3 1.05% 4.91% 42.74%
Jonathan Ogden Balt. 9.10 946 201 27.8 0.96% 4.53% 32.73%
Randy Moss Minn. 8.63 720 167 16.3 1.20% 5.17% 52.94%
John Tait Chi. 8.54 945 201 51.5 0.90% 4.25% 16.58%
Chris Samuels Wash. 8.35 1,423 303 108.4 0.59% 2.76% 7.70%
Samari Rolle Tenn. 8.31 886 189 48.3 0.94% 4.40% 17.20%
Peyton Manning Ind. 8.30 837 167 25 0.99% 4.97% 33.20%
Marvin Harrison Ind. 8.08 837 167 25 0.97% 4.84% 32.32%
Michael Vick Atl. 7.89 730 170 6.6 1.08% 4.64% 119.55%
Patrick Surtain Mia 7.88 912 194 33.4 0.86% 4.06% 23.59%
Donovan McNabb Phi. 7.86 1,024 218 54.2 0.77% 3.61% 14.50%
Isaac Bruce St. L. 7.64 841 179 33.2 0.91% 4.27% 23.01%

SALARY=ANNUAL SALARY IN MILLIONS
VALUE=TEAM VALUE IN MILLIONS
REV=ANNUAL REVENUE IN MILLIONS
OP INC=OPERATING INCOME IN MILLIONS
%VAL=PERCENTAGE OF VALUE
%REV=PERCENTAGE OF REVENUE
%OP INC=PERCENTAGE OF OPERATING INCOME

When compared against professional sports, who manage nobody or nothing but their own careers, Nardelli is a piker in terms of compensation as a percentage of revenue/income generated!

Apologies for my indolence

2007-01-21T15:48:00.000-05:00

Quite a bit has happened since my last post. It has been nearly a month since my last missive and I apologize for being so lethargic with my postings.

The post-holiday season always seems to drag me down for an extended period and this post-holiday is no different. I have been preoccupied with some business dealings and have not been inspired to deal with much else.

Since my last posting a new year has dawned; James Brown and Gerald Ford have died; the Democrats began and ended their first 100 hours in the majority; and President Bush announced his troop surge in Iraq; the Knox County Charter was ruled valid and term limits were upheld; Barack Hussein Obama has emerged as a presidential “rock star”; All of this in less than thirty days!

My New Year’s Resolution is to be more diligent about this blog.

Dems Can't Be Trusted With National Security

2006-12-25T11:22:00.000-05:00

I know it not a very pleasant thought for Christmas Day, but what will these clowns say if we withdraw from Iraq and the terrorist inevitably follow us back home for attacks on our homeland.

Message to our troops overseas

2006-12-23T12:23:00.000-05:00

While your spirits may be somewhat low because you are far from home during this holiday period, know well with full confidence and certainty that you are loved, respected and held in the highest esteem by your not only your family and friends back home, but also prayed for and supported by legions of ordinary people you may never meet.

This legion is comprised of people who rightly understand your mission and its consequenses.

We will steadfastly stand by you with full devotion. Let no craven defeatist deter you in your commitment to bring freedom and liberty to an oppressed people.

May God, the Grand Architect of the Universe, hold you, sustain you and protect you while you are in harm's way.

Sursum Corda

Crazy Research Project III

2006-12-15T22:14:00.000-05:00

My search for the Six Degrees of Separation has landed me in Maybole, Scotland outside of Glasgow, Dumfries and Edinburgh.

Crazy Research Project II

2006-12-15T18:50:00.000-05:00

More info on my 6-degrees quest: She is from Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Palma is the major city and port in the island of Mallorca and capital city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of the island on the Bay of Palma. As of the 2005 census, the population of the city of Palma proper was 375,773, and the population of the entire urban area was estimated to be 474,035, ranking as the 12th-largest urban area of Spain. Almost half of the total population of Mallorca live in Palma. Palma (Palmaria) was founded as a Roman camp upon the remains of a Talaiotic settlement. The turbulent history of the city saw it the subject of several Vandal sackings during the fall of the Roman Empire, then reconquered by the Byzantine, then colonised by the Moors (who called it Medina Mayurqa), and finally established by James I of Aragon

Crazy Research Project

2006-12-14T17:41:00.000-05:00

I know this may seem crazy, but I am participating in an experiment with Columbia University called the Small World Project to test the 6-degress of separation theory. I heard about this from an ABC News PrimeTime special on the topic. The project was one of their links/sources for the story.

I am supposed to find some connection to a receptionist at a women's clinic in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. So far I have found some friends who have connections in Spain and one with the hotel chain where this person once worked.

It's going to be interesting to see how this ends. I will keep you posted.

Meanwhile, if you have any connections to:
Palma de Mallorca, Spain,
Balearic Islands, Spain;
Dublin, Ireland;
Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare, Ireland;
León, Spain; or
Kells, Co Meath, Ireland

drop me a note. It may be cheating to use my blog, but if I can establish a connection with you, then I guess it is okay.

For more info: go to ABC News PrimeTime and the Small World Project at Columbia University

Ponder this

2006-12-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

There is a hypothesis regarding the function of the human brain that says the human brain is a sophisticated recording device with a somewhat unsophisticated retrieval/cataloging system.

We actually record and file every thing we ever see, hear and/or experience, but our ability to retrieve the recordings is spotty.

Take that concept and dovetail it with the notion that we are spiritual beings in a human experience. What if, by design, the information is encrypted and the encryption key is held by a divine being who unlocks the accumulated information of a life upon the termination of that life and adds it to the storehouse of knowledge in the cosmos?

A soul is dispatched to learn and experience and to return to the cosmos upon death. Ponder that.

State Legislature Leadership Elections

2006-12-12T17:01:00.000-05:00

I was VERY disappointed to see that Bill Dunn lost his minority leader post in the State House and Frank Niceley lost his bid for a leadership post.

Both Bill and Frank are old and dear friends of mine. Bill and I go back to our undergraduate days at UT when we both served on the residence hall staff. I attended his wedding and watch his family grow over the years. I have known Frank since my grad school days. Both Bill and Frank are and have always been warriors for conservative causes. No one can match Franks's grasp of the interplay of American history, Tennessee history and Tenness politics. The House Republican Caucus will be a feckless and flaccid group without their leadership.

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE PASSING PARADE

2006-12-11T17:21:00.000-05:00

The passing of Jeane Kirkpatrick has got me to thinking again about who now carries the torch of traditional Conservatism.

What has happened to the Conservative Movement? I mean the Conservative Movement that I grew up with. What happened to the Conservative Movement that was focused on limited government, fiscal responsibility, individual rights and responsibilities? Where is the Conservative Movement that had as its basic tenet if it's not in the Constitution, it is automatically suspect? Where is the Conservative Movement that wanted to beat back the ravenous government beast? Where is the Conservative Movement that, while recognizing the problems, also saw the opportunities?

Like many people, I became a Conservative (or more accurately recognized that my beliefs fit into the category of Conservative) because of the things I was against: libertine lifestyles, criminal coddling, unchecked Communist expansion, gun rights assaults, abjectly-failing education system, and a soul-robbing welfare system. Then Ronald Reagan appeared on my political radar screen.

He brought a message of conservatism overlaid with hope and optimism. Reagan's message was that we can and should defeat Communism abroad and over-reaching government at home because both are threats to the fundamental principles of individual liberty.

There was this almost unspoken idea that if you want to see the face of the ultimate, logical conclusion of expanding central government, you need look no further than the governments of Communist countries. These authoritarian and totalitarian governments rise because the people were led to believe that if they just surrender a little of their liberty, they will get greater security. This notion was a clear danger to Americans (at the micro level) at home and (at the macro level) to mankind across the globe.

Reagan recognized that free people are productive, healthy, creative, and prosperous. Enslaved people are non-productive, sickly, pedestrian and poor. Totalitarian regimes almost have to be expansionist and brutal because people who are subject to their tender mercies will not realize their full individual potential and thus the full national potential. Communism could only work if everyone across the globe were equally poor and enslaved.

Conservatism used to grapple with these ideas. However, with the fall of Communism abroad and during the intervening years between Reagan and now, we seem to have lost sight of these fundamentals. It was not until Newt Gingrich's 1994 revolution brought these ideas back to the forefront that we again had a national discussion on the role, scope, depth and breadth of government, once again overlaid with that optimism of the limitless potential of free men. Bob Dole (though no rock-ribbed movement conservative) picked-up the clarion call by resurrecting the memory of the oft-forgotten Tenth Amendment: (rights not specifically delegated to the federal government belong to the states and the people); which brings me back to my original question. Where is my Conservatism? Conservatism today seems to be following the well-worn path of Liberalism: captive to a single political party whipsawed between competing interest groups and is losing sight of those fundamental principles that used to hold it together. Instead of discussing what is the proper role of government and how much liberty should be ceded to the government, we argue over which of our favorite causes should be championed by government.

We ask government to reward people and policies we like and punish what we don't like through tax policy, regulation, or law. We ask government to slather money and power on the most vocal and highest profile interest group, or erect artificial barriers to the consequences of our own bad decisions. In one way or another, we have all become wards of the state. There is almost no independence from the hand of government. By our own actions we have traded the liberty to order our own lives for the security and money that comes from government. We have taken the kings coin and now we are all his men.

At one time the Republican Party embraced the concept of constitutionalism and was the home of traditionalist Conservatism. Now, Republicans seem just as comfortable with a plasticized and rubberized Constitution as are the Democrats and Liberals--so long as the Constitution is being stretched in their direction.

Republicans rose to majority status in Congress because of my old Conservatism. The leaders took it and wore it like a warm cloak to shield them during the dark, cold days when they were on the outside. It appears now that they have made it inside, they have cast off the cloak that served them so well during the dark times in favor of a bright, new cloak called Power.

Power looks enough like the old Conservative cloak to deceive those who rally around the old Conservatism, but it is different in that it gives the wearer access to the treasury where he can bribe with greater efficacy. Unfortunately, Power is a poor substitute for Conservatism, because wearing Power leads you down a dark and dangerous path of financial ruin and hubris. I hope someday soon that leaders (both Conservative and Republican) will find that old reliable Conservatism and put it back on. Meanwhile, If anyone should come across my old Conservatism while walking down a dark, abandoned street, please drop me a note. I will race to retrieve it.

Sooners and Later

2006-12-10T12:55:00.000-05:00

Great comment from a reader of American Spectator that really sums up the Iraq Study Group’s leader, Jim Baker. Who says Sooners usually get it later?:

"Thanks for the excellent analysis of the Iraq Study Group's report by Philip Klein (Realist Fantasies). I have little to add except to remind readers that this is the same James Baker who left Saddam Hussein in power after the first Gulf war, then refused to help the Kurds and Shia when Hussein began to slaughter them by the hundreds of thousands. He's the same Baker who tried to prop up Gorbachev in order to keep the USSR from falling apart. He's a loser in international relations and recruited like-minded losers for his study group. It's no wonder he recommends the same losing strategy that he used to worsen the Israeli/Palestinian situation. -- Roger D. McKinney, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma"

More Flying Imams Revelations

2006-12-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

THE FAKING IMAMS -- Pajamas Media Exclusive: Police Report, Passenger Reveals That Flying Imams Were Up to No Good

Apparently more than meets the eye!
Witness: “They didn’t look like holy men to me. They looked like guys heading out of town for a Vikings game.”

Another passenger was an Arabic speaker sitting near two of the imams in the plane’s tail. That passenger pulled a flight attendant aside, and in a whisper, translated what the men were saying. They were invoking “bin Laden” and condemning America for “killing Saddam,” according to police reports.

The pilot consulted a federal air marshal, a U.S. Airways ground security coordinator and the airline’s security office in Phoenix. All thought the imams were acting suspiciously.

All six imams had boarded together, with the first-class passengers - even though only one of them had a first-class ticket. Three had one-way tickets. Between the six men, only one had checked a bag.

One thing that no one seemed to consider at the time, perhaps due to lack of familiarity with Islamic practice, is that the men prayed both at the gate and on the plane. Observant Muslims pray only once at sundown, not twice.

Bomb-sniffing dogs were used to sweep the plane and every passenger was re-screened, the airline spokeswoman confirmed.

Tucked away in the police report is this little gem: one of the imams had complained to a passenger that some nations did not follow shariah law and his job in Bakersfield, Calif. was a cover for “representing Muslims here in the U.S.”

A parody video about the dean of the Columbia University Business School, Glenn Hubbard.

2006-11-30T18:34:00.000-05:00

The business students at Columbia Business School made this video when their professor was passed up for the chairman position at the FED.

Every Breath You Take

Witless, Nitwits and ner-do-wells!

2006-11-29T22:47:00.000-05:00

From time-to-time, I receive a missive from family and friends with the witless statement, "African Americans are the only group of people who require PERMISSION under the United States Constitution to vote!"
How many times do I have to say This is flat-out untrue!

The basic right of all American citizens to vote, regardless of race, is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights and can't expire with the Voting Rights Act.

The Voting Rights Act DOES NOT grant us permission to vote. Our right to vote is granted by being born in the US and being citizens of the United States. The Voting Rights Act creates enforcement mechanisms to assure that our right to vote is not abridged by certain common past practices, i.e. poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, etc. We have ALWAYS had the right to vote by virtue of being born here. However it has only been since the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (1865-1870) at the end of the War Between the States when this right was recognized, protected and enforced.

Amendment XV (1870)
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. (Done during Reconstruction and also decades later by the Voting Rights Act.)

The basic prohibition against discrimination in voting contained in the Fifteenth amendment and in the Voting Rights Act does not expire in 2007 — it does not expire at all; it is permanent.

To say that we need "permission" to vote is to accept the despicable notion that we are less than human beings and less than citizens in this nation. I, for one, will NEVER accept that premise, nor will I ever beg for my God-given rights or try to assert them from a kneeling position. I will ALWAYS assert my rights standing upright on my own two feet like a proud man!

I wish Jesse Jackson and the rest of the race hustlers would pick-up a copy of the Constitution every once in a while and actually READ it and stop spreading this scurrilous LIE!!

There are essentially only one way that Blacks can have their votes legally stripped away: Amend the Constitution to do so. That requires either 2/3 affirmative vote of both the House and Senate plus ratified by 3/4 of the State legislatures or a constitutional convention called by 2/3 of the state legislatures and the amendment ratified by 3/4 of the states.

We’re so vain, we probably think this sectarian strife is about us

2006-11-25T18:57:00.000-05:00

Iraq Options
Are victory and defeat the only alternatives?

Connected Dots

2006-11-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

Six imams removed from a US Airways flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix are calling on Muslims to boycott the airline. According to press reports witnesses also said that the imams were talking about Saddam Hussein, and denouncing America and the war in Iraq.
A US Airways manager said three of the men had only one-way tickets and no checked baggage. Once on the plane, the six did not sit together. One of the imams was heard saying that he would do whatever is necessary to fulfill his commitment to the Qur'an.

Considering airport, government, security and intelligence members were roundly criticized in the wake of 9-11 for failing to "connect the dots", one has to wonder why there is such a uproar when obvious dots are connected and acted upon. Given the totality of the circumstances, I think US Air acted prudently.

6 imams removed from Twin Cities flight
Muslim Imams: The New Rosa Parks?
What Can I Do to Make Your Flight More Comfortable?

Send That Outrage to the Back of the Bus: In praise of discrimination.

Where's the News?

2006-11-20T17:40:00.000-05:00

WHAT'S MISSING HERE?

Sheriff announces at County Commission that suspect in attempted robbery of County Commissioner to be charged with murder in shooting 10 hours earlier.

News Blackout

2006-11-20T17:12:00.000-05:00

So far, no mention of Lumpy's role in the capture of this aleged killer from WNOX, WVLT, WATE or WBIR. WNOX mentions the shooting saying the Sheriff's Office has new information on the incident. Knoxville News Sentinel has story.

Lumpy Lambert Vindicated

2006-11-20T15:36:00.000-05:00

Sheriff just announced this at County Commission: Guy who tried to hold up Lumpy to be charged with murder in shooting 10 hours earlier.

"Lambert has His Lumps All Right: The commissioner puts them on display in his show-off behavior" says MetroPulse.

Now that Lumpy Lambert's assailant has been charged with murder and Lumpy is vindicated, will MetroPuke be offering an apology for its scurrilous editorial?

Ronald Reagan Redux

2006-11-20T05:49:00.000-05:00

"Our people look for a cause to believe in. Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and revitalized second party, raising a banner of no pale pastels, but bold colors, which make it unmistakably clear where we stand on all of the issues troubling the people?"

Party of the Rich?

2006-11-20T05:45:00.000-05:00

Interesting analysis from Thomas Edsall's "Building Red America" s reported in "Human Events"."

"Between 1994 and 2000, 88 congressional seats shifted from Democratic to Republican control, while another 46 flipped from the Republicans to the Democrats. The demographic profile of those new Republican seats may surprise you: Incomes were below the national average in two-thirds and the percentage of those with college degrees was below the national average in three-quarters. Two-thirds of the newly Democratic seats, in contrast, report incomes above the national average.

In the recent midterm elections, this trend continued with a vengeance. In the East, where Democrats picked up the overwhelming majority of their new seats, 57% of voters in households with incomes above $100,000 and 67% of those with post-graduate degrees favored Democratic House candidates. This decisive advantage among the most “privileged” one-quarter of the electorate helps to explain Democratic gains in affluent enclaves outside New York City, Denver, Boston, Philadelphia, Palm Beach and the razor-thin victories experienced by Republicans who represent high-income suburban districts such as Representatives Chris Shays (Conn.) and Jim Gerlach (Pa.)."

So much for Republicans as the party of the rich.

Hilarious Site!

2006-11-15T20:15:00.000-05:00

Cyclical Non-Uterine Dysmenorrhea

Staff Salaries

2006-11-15T18:58:00.000-05:00

If you ever wanted to know what the staff of your Senator or Congressmen makes, it is now on the internet at this site.

If you wanted to know the reported costs of various travel for members and staff, go here.

Prior to this you had to trek to Washington and pour over mounds of documents.

You Call This Leadership!?!?

2006-11-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

Leadership elections are underway in Democrat caucus. Here is the line-up:

Senate Democrats: Mr. Reid majority leader; Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois majority whip; Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, campaign committee chairman caucus vice chairman; Sen. Patty Murray of Washington conference secretary; Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan steering committee; Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., Senate president pro tempore.

Not a conservative or moderate and only one Southern Dem (if you count W.Va.) among them: (So much for being conciliatory and bi-partisan). Durbin, Schumer and Murray are the three most rabidly partisan Dems in the Senate. Durbin compared American soldiers in Iraq to Hitler and Pol Pot. Schumer is chairman of the Democrat Senate Campaign Committee and recently his staff illegally obtained the Social Security number and credit report of Maryland Republican Senate candidate Michael Steele. Murray received more than $40,000 in contributions from out-of-state Indian tribes represented by lobbyist Jack Abramoff. What a line-up.

Senate Republicans:Sen. Mitch McConnell, (R-Ky.) is in line for majority leader. Trent Lott and Lamar Alexander declared their bids for minority whip. Heaven forefend. I guess if you are going to have one of these two in a leadership position, Whip is the one where you would do the least damage.

House Democrats: Nancy Pelosi is the presumptive Speaker with John Murtha and Steny Hoyer vying for majority leader. Rep. James Clyburn, (D-S.C.,) to be whip and Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, (D-Ill.,) who ran the House Democrats' campaign committee, is to be chairman of the House Democratic Caucus.

House Republicans: Mike Pence of Indiana and John Shadegg of Arizona are the two conservative candidates for House Minority Leader and Whip, respectively. Jack Kingston (R.-Ga) and Dan Lungren (R-CA) and Marsha Blackburn (R, TN)are making a bid for House minority conference chair. Current Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and current Majority Whip Roy Blunt of Missouri are looking to stay on in the face of their crushing losses at the polls.

RNC: Once again, the GOP heaves Blacks over the side in favor of Hispanics as former senator Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) will replace Ken Mehlman at the Republican National Committee. Martinez was elected to the Senate just two years ago. Martinez is expected to serve as a part-time party leader in a party that needs constant supervision. Martinez was the Senator who “inadvertently” passed a copy of the 'Terri Schiavo talking points memo' to Democratic Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa. The memo from one of his staffers outlined how the Terri Schiavo case could benefit the Republican running against Sen. Bill Nelson in Nelson’s re-election bid. He also blamed one of his staffers for calling federal agents in the Elian Gonzalez affair “armed thugs”.

DNC: No word to offer on DNC changes.

WHAT’S NEXT?

2006-11-12T18:11:00.000-05:00

Crisis=Danger and Opportunity

The old saying that the Chinese character for crisis is a combination of danger and opportunity applies here. Nowhere is this truer than at this time with this Congress. In previous mid-term elections, George W. Bush dodged the historic mid-term election losses that most presidents experience. Perhaps this was the accumulation of those historic losses that did not previously materialize.

If Republicans had to lose an election, this was the one to lose. This gives them two years to get their act together and two years for Democrat and Liberal pratfalls. The radical Left in the Democrat party will not go quietly. The national Democrats were able to push the Liberals in the closet and nail the door shut. However, with the exuberance that goes with gaining a majority, they will need to deploy more and longer nails in the door because those folk have not gone into permanent hiding.

Democrats have to lead now and with leadership come responsibility. Democrats will have to take responsibility for ALL that happens—the good, the bad and the ugly.

THE BAD: Look for a flood of investigations under the guise of “oversight”. The Liberals in the Democrat party are salivating for the opportunity to grandstand on some of their pet issues: Katrina, intelligence estimates, Halliburton, gasoline prices. Historically, they have been incapable of not being intemperate in these matters. Charles Rangle, slated to be chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has already said the tax cuts will not be made permanent. In the Senate Judiciary Committee, look for an end to judges who adhere to judicial restraint and originalism. Of course you will see the steady increase in the welfare state as Liberals increase the percentage of the population that is beholden to the government especially behavior modification through the tax code. More people will be made wards of the state through tax preferences and exemptions.

THE UGLY: The 2008 Presidential Campaign started two days after the mid-term elections when Democratic Governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa took the initial step in his long-shot bid for the White House Thursday by establishing a presidential campaign committee and seeking an early jump on 2008. John McCain is tapping his presidential snare drum to begin the media’s marching cadence to elect him president. George W. Bush has already said he is going to resume his fight for “comprehensive immigration reform,” read: amnesty for illegal aliens.

THE GOOD: After this election debacle there might actually be new GOP leadership coming from the ranks of conservatives, signaling a return to the REAL Conservatism that was the heart of Reagan and Gingrich Revolutions. U.S. Congressman Mike Pence, R-Ind., formally announced his campaign for Republican Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. Spence sent a letter to his colleagues, “we didn't just lose our majority, I believe we lost our way .... Our opponents will say that the American people rejected our Republican vision. I say the American people didn't quit on the Contract with America, we did. And in so doing, we severed the bonds of trust between our party and millions of our most ardent supporters....” Apparently he gets it. Other potentially bright spots include Mitch McConnell from Kentucky running for Senate Minority Leader. McConnell was on the front lines leading the battle against the despicable McCain-Feingold campaign finance “reform”. Marsha Blackburn, appears to get it also. She is running for House Republican Conference chairman saying, “We lost because we didn’t trumpet our ideas enough and we didn’t stick to our core beliefs enough. We have the better vision for America, we just have to get back to that vision and share it with voters more effectively.”

Perhaps all is not lost. The Democrats who got elected ran as moderate, centrist and, dare I say, conservatives. No doubt they will come to like being in the majority and hopefully they will mightily strive to match their actions with their rhetoric, since the days of talking conservative at home and voting Liberal in Washington are gone.

In truth, the path back to majority status for Republicans can be found in the words of Barry Goldwater forty years ago: “I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents "interests," I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can.”

If Republicans embrace this philosophy and govern accordingly, conservatives will return and the put them back in power. If enough Republicans and Democrats wrap their arms around it, conservatives can enjoy a working majority that will restore the republic.

Why Did This Happen?

2006-11-11T17:23:00.000-05:00

You really don’t have to look far to explain why Republicans lost their majority in Congress. Democrats did not win, Republicans lost. Since the 1995 government shut-down, the departure of New Gingrich and the election of George Bush, the House and Senate Republican leadership have been on a steady diet of accommodating the Democrat and liberal agenda under the guise of setting a new tone.

The Republicans came into power with an agenda of controlling runaway spending, fiscal responsibility and eliminating the Department of Education. Instead, government has doubled in size, discretionary spending has doubled, federal education control and spending has doubled under the guise of leaving no child behind; illegal immigration is out of control; we have a new Medicare entitlement program; they gave up on tax reform (settling for tax cuts and jiggling the current code); gave up Social Security reform, gave up on the overarching domestic them of the Ownership Society, ran from the fight on ending Democrat judicial filibusters —and that’s just on the domestic side.

On the international side/defense/national security side: The Iraqi front on the War on Terror is sliding into chaos after a brilliantly-executed shooting war because we are more concerned about political correctness than victory. They added to the withdrawal drumbeat with the Frist-Warner alternative that demanded quarterly reports on the war's progress. The Republican leadership ran from the fight when the New York Times published national security secrets; ran from the fight on the trial and treatment of terrorists and terrorist wiretapping and, with the Democrat majority, running from Iraq.

While the Administration has done a masterful job in fighting terrorist activities here at home, its communications colossal ineptness vis Iraq and terrorism has empowered war opponents to spin the effort so that it is unrecognizable. What does it say about a White House communications operation when you have people within government and out saying 9/11 was an “inside job?” and the terrorism risk is overblown? It won’t be long before the media will say the reasons for no terror attacks are not because of increased vigilance, but because there was no real threat.

The Republicans worked very hard for this defeat. They've earned every lost seat.

More to come.

Love This Article!

2006-11-10T16:33:00.000-05:00

"Fat guys kick ass"

If I ate less, I'd lose weight. But I don't, because I love food.

That the world is run by fat guys is no secret (more on this later), yet Americans devote a tremendous amount of time, effort and money to losing weight without ever stopping to consider the advantages of obesity.

Barry Goldwater

2006-11-09T23:04:00.000-05:00

Two important Goldwater (AuH2O) quotes to guide Republicans back to the majority:

"For the past twenty-five years the apostles of the welfare state, some Republicans, some Democrat, have been busy transforming that stern old gentleman with the top hat, the cutaway coat, the red, white, and blue trousers, from a symbol of dignity and freedom and justice for all men, into a national wet nurse, dispensing a cockeyed kind of patent medcine labeled "something for nothing," passing out the soothing syrup and rattles and pacifiers for grateful votes on election day."

"I have little interest in streamlining government or in making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size. I do not undertake to promote welfare, for I propose to extend freedom. My aim is not to pass laws, but to repeal them. It is not to inaugurate new programs, but to cancel old ones that do violence to the Constitution or that have failed their purpose, or that impose on the people an unwarranted financial burden. I will not attempt to discover whether legislation is "needed" before I have first determined whether it is constitutionally permissible. And if I should later be attacked for neglecting my constituents "interests," I shall reply that I was informed that their main interest is liberty and that in that cause I am doing the very best I can."

it’s a great day in America

2006-11-09T22:21:00.000-05:00

I'm still digesting the results of the mid-term election and will have more to say over the weekend, however it must be said that it’s a great day in America. Democrats received a majority because there was no voter fraud; no Diebold voting machine malfunctions, no long voter lines patrolled by ultra-rightwing Republican death squads with vicious dogs intimidating Black voters; Don Rumsfeld is no longer prowling Faluja killing American soldiers; and there is an end to the stream of bad news from Iraq. No we have not passed through the looking glass. We just had an election and because the Democrats got a majority, obviously, none of the usual Democrat excuses for Democrat loss apply.

The short version of why the GOP went down in flames is we are seeing the results of a post-Gingrich revolution period the way we witnessed a post-Reagan revolution period when the conservative reform agenda was betrayed. It is the accommodation of Democrat/Liberal agenda by putative Conservative Republicans and the accumulation of multiple privations by the GOP. The Republicans worked very hard for this defeat. They've earned every lost seat.

Perhaps purged of the feckless Mike DeWine and the spineless Lincoln Chafee, not to mention the departure of the impotent Bill Frist, something good will come of this.

Already, Mitch McConnell, defender of free speech and warrior against McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Gag, is moving to head the GOP in the Senate. And Lamar Alexander, for a while the most conservative (!?!!?!) Senator from Tennessee is making a bid for Whip.

Bush continues his betrayal of conservatives by gleefully expressing his optimism for open-border immigration reforms while choking the border fence baby in the cradle.

More to come later.

It's Ugly

2006-11-08T00:38:00.000-05:00

As I predicted, it looks like the GOP will hold on to the Senate by the barest of margins--at least as of this posting.

Unfortunately, my hopes of holding the House were not fulfilled. It looks like Speaker Pilazy--I mean Pelosi.

Stacy Campfield, after fending off the GOP establishment and the shrill, humorless Sheree Pettigrew, will be returning to Nashville.

Unfortunately, Randall Parker and David Massengill will not be joining him, but Jimmy Matlock will.

I looked at the exit polls on the Senate race and from it emerges a profile of the typical Ford voter. She is un-married, non-white, childless, non-religious woman who never attends church and is between the ages of 18 and 29 or over 60 and lives in Memphis.

She has no college degree, makes less than $50,000, voted for Kerry and Bredesen, disapproves of how Bush is doing his job and does not want Frist for president. She comes from Memphis and decided on who to vote for within the last two weeks.

She considers terrorism, illegal immigration, government corruption/ethics to be of low importance.

The profile of a Corker voter is a married, white, conservative, church-going, evangelical Christian Republican, male between the ages of 30 and 59. He is a college graduate with children and earns over $50,000 per year and lives in suburban east Tennessee. Approves of Bush’s job performance and considers terrorism, illegal immigration, government corruption/ethics to be of high importance.

Given a choice between the two for the task of deciding who will run the country, I'd but more faith in the latter voter.

Today's Interviews

2006-11-06T19:24:00.000-05:00

Interviews today with Sen. Lamar Alexander, fmr. Sen. John Breaux, state Sen. Jim Bryson, Congr. Lincoln Davis, and Bob Corker. Go to the link above and click on archives.

Tomorrow, listen to Southern Roots Radio's "The Voice" for an interview with Brigitte Gabriel of Amerian Congress for Truth. She is a Lebanese journalist who grew up as a Christian in the Middle East and will discusses the threat radical Islam poses for the Western world.

RE: Deval Patrick

2006-11-05T09:36:00.000-05:00

While writing the previous post, I kept being nagged by the question of who is Deval Patrick because the name sounded familiar beyond his governor's race. A quick search reminded me that he was the Clinton administration's civil rights head in the Justice Department. (I thought he as a US atty. in a high-profile case somewhere in the back of my mind).

The amusing part about Patrick's bio can be found in Wikkipedia which says, "Patrick wrote frequent and detailed letters to prisons regarding the treatment of incarcerated criminals, to the extent that one warden called him a "zealot".[7] Among his complaints: tuna sandwiches were served too warm in a tiny jail in Dooly County, Georgia; meals at a Mitchell County, Georgia, jail were served too cold in styrofoam or plastic containers not designed to maintain proper food temperatures; only 1 operative basketball hoop at another prison; under inflated basketballs at another."

Why Does Race Matter Only in the South?

2006-11-05T09:12:00.000-05:00

I was just reading an article in the Tennessean about the U.S. Senate race here and was somewhat taken aback by the article's tone that HFjr could lose because he is Black and that it indicative of Southern racism. A curious linkage that somehow the pundit class has not extended to the Maryland senate race (Michael Steele); the Pennsylvania governor race (Lynn Swann); the Ohio governor race (Ken Blackwell), the Massachusetts governor race (Deval Patrick).

Why do the punditry insist on charging racism if Tennesseans do not elect HFjr, but think racism does not exists if Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Massachusetts, do not elect Steele or Swann or Blackwell or Patrick?

Five African-Americans are running for statewide office this year. Yet the only one were race is the preoocupation is Tennessee. Neither Maryland or Pennsylvania have elected Blacks statewide, but of course, they are Northern states and racism does not exist in the North. LOL!

A Message for My Right Wing Brethren

2006-11-03T23:31:00.000-05:00

I remind you of the campaign slogan during the Barry Goldwater campaign. "The stakes are too high to stay at home." Cut and run is NOT an option. It is surrender.

I understand your frustration with the national GOP. On more than a few issues it has been feckless, weak, disappointing and craven. It is unfortunate that we are faced once again with the lackluster options of voting for the lesser of two evils. But lesser it is.

Let us band together once more. And one more go into the breach.

GOP performance has been unremarkable and infuriating. But it is the vehicle that we have. While I would rather ride in a powerful, fuel efficient, brilliantly bright automobile with all the options available, I have to settle for a car that meets my bare reqirements for transportation because the only other option is walking or waiting for hours on end for the bus.

While I hate to go through yet another election cycle voting for one guy because the other guy is so unreliable, it is what it is.

So cinch up your belt one more notch. Suck it up one more time. And vote Republican because you know that at the very least, they will confront national security with the cold, clear eyes that are required.

Not much of an endorsement, but there it is.

Obsession: Radical Islam

2006-11-03T20:40:00.000-05:00

I just watched the YouTube version of Obsession: Radical Islam. It is a chilling and sobering vision of the un-confronted future.

It will be broadcast on Fox this weekend and I recommend everyone who cares about this country and its future to watch it.

Without a doubt the MSM will denounce it as propaganda designed to whip people into a pro-Republican frenzy. They are wrong. We have been too complacent about the threat that surrounds us for much too long. While the MSM sees Iraq as separate from the war against radical Islam, the jihadiis see it as just another front in their war against Western ideals and Western nations.

The Left is eager to dismiss this threat as just another right-wing propaganda scheme to scare the public into submitting to authoritarian government control. As usual, they are WRONG.

We are witnessing the same complacency about radical jihadism that we saw with Nazism.

It is time to accept and call this threat EXACTLY what it is: Islamic Fascism.

Great Interview on John Kerry

2006-11-03T19:49:00.000-05:00

Great interview with Carlton Sherwood today on “The Voice”, WVLZ 1180, Southern Roots Radio. Sherwood is the producer of the documentary “Stolen Honor” about John Kerry's anti-war antics. Worth listening to.