Are The Poor Getting Poorer?

by Walter E. Williams - October 31, 2007 - Townhall.com

People who want more government income redistribution programs often sell their agenda with the lament, "The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer," but how about some evidence and you decide? I think the rich are getting richer, and so are the poor.

In this article it is noted that 46% of what are called poor in America own their own homes. 74% have a car and 30% own 2 or more. 97% have at least one color TV and 78% have a VCR. 76% have air conditioning. 73% have a microwave. 62% have cable.

In an earlier article about insurance it was noted that 34% of the poor smoke at least one pack of cigarettes a day . . . . which would pay for the health insurance that they don't have. However since they get free health care from the local hospital emergency room they don't bother to stop smoking. Why should they? They get free health care!

Our nation's dialogue about poverty would be a joke if it was not so corrupt. The poor in America live better than the middle class in most of the world. Why do you think so many poor pay up to $20,000 to "coyotes" to bring them to America? The poor are flocking to America while some of the poor here are waging class warfare against the people who make our economic system work. These same people who are waging class warfare are deriding the economic system itself, touting socialism, redistribution of wealth, as the panacea for everything. As if socialism has not failed everywhere it has been tried.

The primary people who are whining about the problems of the poor in America are the people who are high paid pimps for the poor. Politicians, bureaucrats and non-profit promoters who make their living insisting that poverty is out of control. No evidence will ever convince them that poverty is not getting worse because of their bias. Their high paid jobs depend on the chicken-little approach.

This is contradicted by the success of the poor. After 16 years, 95% of the poor in 1975 had not just moved out of poverty, but were in the top 3/5ths of income earners. 75% had moved up to the top 1/5th of income earners. There is no other country in the world where working hard provides such amazing upward mobility. It is the American dream.

This article compares some of the numbers above with our numbers from many years ago and proves the poor are much better off today than even 40 years ago. It is obvious, poverty in America is declining dramatically and the standard of living of our poor is better than ever. Today we have the highest paid "poor" in the world. I wonder if the poor of today will be motivated to earn the American dream?

Media Coverage is LOST

by Frank J. Gaffney Jr. - October 30, 2007 - FrontPage Magazine

Ronald Reagan rejected the Law of the Sea Treaty twenty-five years ago. We have been able to survive ever since without being a party to it, following Mr. Reagan’s direction – observing its provisions regarding navigation, with which we can live, and not being bound by those [provisions] hostile to our interests.

The latter involve, among other things, a supranational, UN-affiliated government of the seas with the power to extend its authority to our interior waters, sovereign territory and even our air. There is no justification for haste, let alone stealth, in trying to make such a treaty the “supreme law of the land.”

When I learned about George W. Bush's support for this treaty, I was shocked. Just as shocked as when this self righteous man sneered at patriotic Americans who oppose open borders by calling them vigilantes. His support for amnesty to illegal aliens who have invaded our nation and support for giving the United Nations veto power over our sovereign rights are both simply astonishing. George W. Bush is, and has been since before we elected him, an anti American global socialist more in line with the "democrat elites" than with average Americans.

"Compassionate Conservative" has turned out to be double talk for a form of socialism I call big-business socialism. It has been turned into support of the domestic agenda of the neo-conservative movement on a more massive scale than the strategic goals of either philosophy implied. I have considered myself a neo-conservative for some time, but as the implementation tactics for the domestic portion of the neo-conservative movement strategic goals have proved more and more in violation of states rights, I am moving away from my support, at least for this domestic agenda. I agree with their goals but not how they want them implemented.

I do not consider that the goals of the global business elites are of interest to true patriots of our nation. George W. Bush clearly disagrees. I think that marks his true colors. It also brings into question his own claim to be supportive of either America or the goals of the conservative-libertarian party that he is a part of. He wants to change both America, and the Republican Party, into something that the people would not recognize.

Questioning the patriotism of our President is not something that I do lightly. However what else can you believe when he is so out of touch with what true patriots believe. On both these issues (Law of the Sea Treaty and Illegal Alien Amnesty) more than 80% of Americans oppose his plans. The 20% that supports the goals of both are anti-American global socialists. Bush has chosen sides. This is the man who understands "you are either with us or against us". He is against us.

I will not concede we owe him any deference just because he has proven sound on the issue of the war against Islamo-fascism. Even on this issue he is so overly sensitive about the views of our enemies that he uses the waffling term "war on terror" so our enemies will not be annoyed.

At least one thing that confuses me is why there is such virulent hatred of this man by the liberal democrat elite with which he shares so many values. Is it the democrat view that you must support their agenda 100% or you are an enemy? I can think of nothing else that explains their hatred, and it is true they ran the neo-conservatives out of the democrat party with the same virulent hatred for not toeing the line. Can you explain it any other way?


Truly sad update as of 11/1/2007 - In a 17-4 vote, this treaty was recommmended for passage by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The following liberal Republicans voted with the democrats to approve it: Richard Lugar (R-Ind.),Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), John Sununu (R-N.H.), George Voinovich (R-OH) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

Simon Says "Protect America" - "Combating Global Terrorism"

Remember the kid's game we all played? Simon says "Protect America". Under the rules of the game that meant you could protect America. However Islam has changed the rules so paying attention to the words in the game is not enough. Today you have to deal with the fact that some of the players get to lie. They can forget to say "Simon says" and you still have to do what they say, or they get to kill you. I call these people with the new rules . . . Islamo-fascists. They are practicing a game of lies and deceit with the plan to either kill you or subject you to their sharia law system without you having a choice or knowing what they plan. George W. Bush calls them "terrorists", whatever that means. What they mean to do is destroy western freedom and culture. They openly say this (unless you call them on it) and then they deny they said what they said because they claim they get to lie. Currently the Islamo-fascists are winning this contest of cultures with the aid of one of America's two major political parties, the Democrats, along with some moderate Republicans who, like George W. Bush, cannot conceive that people would lie. This is gullible. This gullibility is going to kill you. Ending the gullibility is key to winning this war with the Islamo-fascists.




The John W. Pope Civitas Insitute in Raleigh held a seminar last night on "Combating Global Terrorism" for that purpose, ending gullibility. Other than their use of the questionable term "global terrorism" in the title, it was an excellent event with two of the leading experts on Islamo-fascism there to help understand the problems we face. Steve Emerson is a national treasure for his long time efforts (more than a decade before 9/11) to make us aware of the dangers these people pose to our way of life, especially with his award winning film, "Jihad in America". Here in North Carolina, U.S. Representative Sue Myrick is the leader in promoting awareness of the dangers Islamo-fascists present and fighting for legislation that will help to stop them, such as the "Protect America Act". Civitas could not have picked anyone better qualified than these two to help us understand what we face.




Like many Civitas events, the evening started with a social hour that allowed for people to meet Sue and Steve face to face and get to know them. A number of state leaders and our citizens took advantage of this opportunity.




Civitas chose an outstanding moderator for the event, Marc Rotterman. Marc is one of the few intellectual leaders on the right to have correctly pointed out the flaws in the implementation strategy of the movement called neo-conservatives. They were essentially trying to solve some domestic problems that should have been dealt with at the local and state level through "big government conservatism", an oxymoron if there ever was one. It was a pleasure to meet all three, Steve Emerson, Sue Myrick and Marc Rotterman (shown above).




As the social hour wound down, the crowd gathered in the seminar room for the big event. As you would expect from people drawn to an event with this theme the attendees were already knowledgeable and worried about the threat that Islamo-fascism presents (discovered as I went around the room listening to conversations). I learned a lot before the event started. The event was still important. Winning this battle requires that people be better prepared to explain exactly what is happening in our nation. This is especially important because of the duplicitous and deceptive nature of the enemy.




When the formal event started, Jeff Mixon, Legislative Analyst for Civitas, acted as Master of Ceremonies and introduced the format. He talked about the schedule of activities for after the moderated discussion, and also explained future events of the Civitas Institute, including their popular "poll" luncheons.




He was followed by Civitas Vice President Francis De Luca who introduced the panel of experts for this night and its moderator, Marc Rotterman. Sue Myrick, Marc Rotterman and Steve Emerson (shown below) were our guides in understanding how to wake up America from its gullible acceptance of this insidious threat. Before Marc Rotterman asked his questions, both Sue and Steve made opening statements. Both covered a great deal of material and provided some great stories. As usual Civitas gave us a really great evening with more information than we could have hoped for. The questions were great and at the end, audience questions were allowed as well. Everyone came away impressed and much better informed.




I came away with three key points I feel are important:

1. The carrot as well as the stick. The Islamo-fascist movement has an element that is not trying just to beat us militarily but subvert us as well. The trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development members and leaders provided overwhelming proof that the Islamo-fascist movement is insinuating itself into our society while hiding its goals. They are using a fifth column effort of pretension they are just "civil rights" and "social welfare" organizations, selling their movement to the public with seemingly high minded goals. Like the communist movement, they use duplicity to sell their message. Their's can be more powerful since it is also openly religious while still a campaign of infiltration and misdirection. It relies on fear of the radical element to keep "fellow travelers", moderate Muslims, in line and unwilling to expose the true goals or turn in those who perpetrate the violence against us. Steven Emerson's organization, the Investigative Project has much more information about this effort on their web site:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/

2. Duplicity is constant. We must understand more about the networks of liars, both the subversive and the violence components, and how they are related. Key to winning this war will be to understand the ties between both elements. The subversive portion of this movement is using the communist tactic of infiltrating our education establishment. This uses both the madrassas funded by the Saudis, as well as tactics insisting that exposing public school children to Muslim faith is cultural, not religious. It is thus not subject to the separation of church and state efforts normally practiced by liberals. In addition, the subversive movement is insinuating itself into our religious community by joining groups promoting inter-faith harmony and using them to promote the premise that Islam is a religion of peace. Mosques are funded by the Saudis to widen religious exposure and Saudi funding assures that Imams in each Mosque are supportive of the radical Muslim efforts of the Islamo-fascists. There is an organization dedicated to documenting the ties between the violence and subversive elements so that people can more easily understand the true motivations of the players and the powerful links that exist. They document what they have discovered (so you don't have to) on the web site:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/

3. Wake up America. We must educate more people about the duplicitous nature of our enemy, especially about the brainwashing that happens on college campuses. Understanding the links between these elements and all of the subversive efforts that are being funded to perpetuate the violence and perpetuate the infiltration cannot and should not remain the knowledge of a few experts like Steve and Sue. Because we are a representative democracy, the average American must be aware of their tactics. We need to spread the understanding of the nature of this movement and interfere with their efforts to spread their propaganda. With a great deal of their focus on college campuses, one group that is helping is Campus Watch. You can learn much more about their efforts on the web site:
http://www.campus-watch.org/

Many in our government do not understand the war or the nature of our enemy. Sue told a story of how during World War II a wide range of tactics and information projects were organized to motivate people to fight the Nazi efforts. A group she was a part of went to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and their key aids in National Security to try and sell a similar plan for this war against the Islamo-fascists, modeled on that earlier war. The response from all was an incredible, "We don't want to scare the American people." We are at war and our President is afraid the American people will notice. How bizarre.

What we don't want to happen is wake up one day to discover our nation has been taken over by a culture that despises our freedom and has the power to say, "Simon says go to the mosque or we will cut off your head!" They don't see this as a game and it isn't. We have to spread the word about how serious they are. Because of flaws in our system of government (flaws like the selection of juries allowing gullible members of our society on them) miscarriages like the hung jury in trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development members are setbacks that harm the defense of our society from this insidious threat and lull some into a false sense of security.

This is going to be a long war and the amount of information known by the American public is key to who wins. Don't be gullible. Spread the word, Protect America.

OLF Process Is Flawed

The public in Northeastern North Carolina is primarily Democrat and to a great extent liberal. As a result they believe passionately in public demonstrations to determine public policy. A very large portion of this public is antiwar also. Which means they are hostile to anything the military wants to do. This area also has a larger than normal percentage of environmentalists, the extreme kind. One example is we are home to the socialist group PETA, whose founder was sterilized, and who believes strongly that all humans should be sterilized because she considers mankind the scourge of our planet. Because there are so many parks in our area, due to the swampland nature of our region, it is easy for these extreme environmentalists to get excited about the idea of anything in our area that is not "natural".

The Navy has already lost round one when their plan to build the OLF they want in Washington County was stopped by large public protests. That victory has whetted the appetite of liberals in this area to hand the Navy a complete defeat. As a result some patriots are determined to support building an OLF just because these extreme liberals are active in the opposition to an OLF.

That is the background to a battle that has been going on for a few years. To understand this battle it is necessary to understand why the Navy needs an OLF.

One of the Navy's primary Air operations is at Oceana, in Virginia Beach near Norfolk. Using that field, and another training field nearby in Chesapeake called Fentress, the Navy conducts major training and preparation activities for the powerful Navy air capability that projects American power around the world from our awesome Aircraft Carriers. This power is critical to maintaining peace in the world and dissuading foreign powers from attacking us. Due to the growth of the area around these two fields, the Navy wants another airfield to back up Fentress as (the term they use) an OLF, or Outlying Landing Field. This allows for them to train pilots on aircraft carrier operations without the costs and dangers of actually landing on the expensive aircraft carriers.

The Navy have therefore started a process to buy land and build an OLF, and they do not want it near any city that is likely to grow on its own. In addition, they want it to be a minor facility that does not cause military driven population growth in the area that constrains their operations and creates public opposition to their activities, many of which occur at night and thus annoy some people greatly. Both Oceana and Fentress are subject to these problems. Making it a minor facility means they have no financial incentives to entice local government and local people to support the OLF.

The primary need is Oceana, but Oceana is near a state line. The only convenient area with low population is southwest from Oceana, and that is in our state, North Carolina, not Virginia where Oceana sits. Though North Carolina has a base at Cherry Point that also has operations that can use an OLF, there is strong evidence that the only real need for an OLF is to support the Virginia based operation at Oceana.

The Navy OLF process was started with a plan to buy land and build a new facility. The Navy seems insensitive to the idea that their goal is politically questionable in the modern age, where a great number of our population are actually hostile to the idea of having a military. It is also ultimately a problem with the courts having such a great say in environmentalism in an area so environmentally sensitive as Northeastern North Carolina. The Navy process has to deal with this complex and burdensome obstacle and they have developed specific court dictated steps to follow to assure they are ultimately successful. These steps are slow and cumbersome.

The inflexibility of the goal to build something new, the slow motion process as driven by environmental studies, and the interstate nature of the political problem, has created a process that is flawed. The Navy is by its nature secretive, and yet building this OLF is dependent on a political solution that demands the Navy be more open and flexible. The Navy process does not allow this.

For those of us who care about tax dollars, there is a related issue that is truly annoying. The campaign to reduce the number of military facilities has resulted in the closing of many facilities across our nation that we will need in future wars. In many cases the savings were trivial. However many facilities already exist that are paid for, and where the purchase of the land has already been accomplished, thus avoiding the battles for eminent domain. Some have become National Guard facilities and are still available for military use. For the Navy to be fighting to take people's land if there is an existing facility nearby, is intolerable.

There is a facility. Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia. Governor Timothy Kaine (D) and Senator John Warner (R) from Virginia have offered this existing facility southwest of Petersburg, Fort Pickett, that is nearly perfect for the Navy's purpose. It is 120 miles from Oceana, which is 15 minutes for the jets that will use the facility. The facility is 45,000 acres which is nearly twice the land area the Navy wants to assure local growth near the OLF is discouraged. There are existing aerial bombing facilities and two paved landing strips. Other unpaved strips are on the facility, and could easily be paved to the exact requirements of the Navy, or completely new strips created.

That it is not perfect is not the point. A process that continues to grind on, alienating people already inclined against the military, and even frustrating those of us who support the Navy, is a flawed process when an existing facility exists. Any reasonable process must look at cost benefit. The millions being spent to try and force the construction of an OLF in North Carolina, when a nearby facility is being presented in a bipartisan offer by the State of Virginia, simply does not make sense. Take the offer, use Fort Pickett , and stop wasting our tax money.

This is not about the military and its needs. This is about bureaucracy and its inflexible nature insisting on finishing a process once started no matter how flawed the process.



Click on the title above or here to read about the State of North Carolina OLF Study Group hearings to provide input for the Governor to make his decision about the OLF.

How Government Expansion Worsens Hard Times

by Michael Medved - October 24th, 2007 - Townhall.com

In 1931, in some of the darkest days of the great depression and the middle of the Hoover administration, the national unemployment rate stood at 17.4%. Seven years later, after more than five years of FDR and literally hundreds of wildly ambitious new government programs, after more than doubling federal spending, the national unemployment rate stood at --- 17.4%! As economist Jim Powell, author of the devastating book “FDR’s Folly” points out: “From 1934 to 1940, the median annual unemployment rate was 17.2%. At no point during the 1930’s did unemployment go below 14%. Even in 1941, amidst the military buildup for World War II, 9.9% of American workers were unemployed. Living standards remained depressed until after the war.”

In his celebrated Inaugural Address of March 4, 1933, FDR unequivocally declared: “Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.” For the President and his economic planners, the task of putting people to work did remain an unsolvable problem –until world conflict led to sixteen million Americans leaving the work force for the military, and others finding new jobs in humming defense plants. Considering Roosevelt’s self-proclaimed priorities, the persistence of devastating unemployment rates (in an era when the typical family relied on only one wage earner and women for the most part remained uninvolved in the work force) should alone identify the New Deal as a wretched, ill-conceived failure.

Since the New Deal success is based on lies, it is not unreasonable to suggest that the Democrat propensity to lie is based on recognition that everything they believe is a lie. It is certainly true that Democrat love for socialism is based on lies. I frequently hear hard core Democrats argue that socialism has never been tried. It has, and it has failed every time. Rejection of this is simply rejection of reality.

This article by Michael Medved is an important history lesson that more people need to understand.

Promises, Promises

by Michael Reagan - October 19th, 2007 - Townhall.com

Democrats chortle over the president’s dismal 24 percent popularity rating, but they have to look up to see it from their own popularity rating of a tiny 11 percent.

I recently got a chance to meet Michael Reagan at the Civitas Institute Leadership Forum Dinner. It was a great experience. In an ad hoc answer to a question, he expressed more optimism about our nation than any leader I have recently heard speak. I know one influence in that optimism was his father. As I learned that night, another influence was his mother, Jane Wyman.

I had occasionally read Michael before that meeting. Since that time I make sure I read all of his columns. This one is great . . . . unless you are a Democrat.

The Last March Of The Dinosaurs: The Death Of Network News

by Hugh Hewitt - October 18th, 2007 - Townhall.com

Howard Kurtz is the Washington Post's media critic and host of CNN's Reliable Sources. Kurtz is also the author of the just published Reality Show: Inside The Last Great Television News War. This is a detailed and often riveting account of the unexpectedly rapid and often dramatic transition from the network anchor era of Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather to the new "big three" of Charlie Gibson, Brian Williams and Katie Couric. From the high point of the first big three to the week just finishing, the networks lost about 30 million viewers, and now welcome a combined audience of less than 25 million each night. Reality Show is a chronicle of decline, long on the details of what happened, not so long on the why.

[snip]

There are many themes in Reality Show, but only one conclusion: The nets can't change their DNA, and that DNA isn't meant for the world of new media. They are slow when the new media is fast. They are hyper-liberal in an era where the center-right can shop for news and the radical left won't accept even the hyper-liberal as other than sell-outs.

The Network News is dying but that does not mean that they don't have influence. However a key point is that 25 million may be less than half their earlier audience but it is at a time when the population has doubled. That 25 million is 25% of their former influence and they hate it. That is one reason the Nework Newws (and all of the MSM) reports in a fashion to stir up the partisan wars that are going on in America.

They sneer at conservatives and libertarians. They encourage their audience to sneer at conservatives and libertarians. Then they turn around and wonder why there is a strong audience for Ann Coulter and her attitude of sneering back?

There will be no end to the current state of perpetual hate between Democrats and Republicans as long as the MSM and the network news continue to foment a war against conservatives, libertarians, Christians, patriots and anyone who is not a committed socialist. The MSM does not seem all that concerned about the war against the Islamofascists since they are already committed to a war they see as much more important.

What really confuses them is that their hatred is returned by over half of America. This they don't understand. There was a time when if they banished you, you went away. Losing that power has left them frustrated beyond belief.

Some Firms Replace Offshoring With Onshoring

by Peter Pae - October 21st, 2007 - Los Angeles Times

CORSICANA, TEXAS -- Gary Richardson left this boomtown-gone-bust in 1996 for a computer job in Dallas, the big city 60 miles north.

"I didn't think I would ever come back," Richardson recalled recently, "because there were no jobs like mine here." Not until this year, when Northrop Grumman Corp. opened an information technology center in town and began recruiting IT specialists and software engineers.

In a twist on offshoring that Northrop has dubbed onshoring, the global defense and technology corporation has been shipping computer work to small-town America, shunning India's Bangalore and Mumbai.

The Inner Banks is one of the best places in America for us to start emphasizing "ONshoring". Great climate, beautiful nature, low cost of living. Only two things needed. Schools that can teach and homes that will attract.

Here is a comparison that will excite anyone in rural America about the tremendous future we can have.




How about it County Commissioners? Lets get going.

Tough Going For Antiwar Republicans

by Noam N. Levey - October 21, 2007 - Los Angeles Times

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — The Crystal Coast Republican Men's Club faithful were all smiles as they gathered at a restaurant to listen to their candidate for North Carolina's 3rd Congressional District.

But the warm reception wasn't for the Republican who since 1995 has represented this stretch of coast from the Virginia state line to the sprawling Marine base at Camp Lejeune. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., a soft-spoken, deeply religious man who two years ago turned against the Iraq war, was not there.

The GOP activists dining on fried fish were cheering Joe McLaughlin, a county commissioner and retired Army major who has launched a hard-charging bid to dispatch Jones in next year's primary by highlighting Jones' votes against the war.

To Walter Jones the people who are opposing him are all about "party" versus his antiwar love of "country". He is not being a defeatist. He is standing up for principal. And he will tell you what that principal is. George Bush lied to him. He opposes the war because he is convinced that the democrats are right. George Bush lied. Jones is a good person and if you oppose him you are evil. Doubt that? Just listen to him some time.

Walter Jones spouts his religion with every other breath. Note how he has even persuaded the Lost Angeles Times to point that out in their article. He never misses the opportunity to tell you how pious and good he is. Disagree with him and he will immediately start talking about his faith and how he is sure God is on his side. However the Bible decries such sanctimony.

Jones has become antiwar, whatever that means. No one is pro-war. That does not mean war is not necessary sometimes. Sometimes you are attacked. Jones doesn't believe this and has even said on occasion (though he is more careful now) that we started the war. From 1979 until 9/11 the Islamofascists attacked us, but in his mind Jones is convinced we started this war . . . . and we have to end it. You will not change his mind. If you try to discuss the issue with him, he will get mad and walk off accusing you of being unwilling to talk, as he did last year with me. Jones does not want to talk. He wants you to shut up and agree with what he says.

Now the Los Angeles Times is writing an article defending him. Check out the pompous quote from Jones on the left side of the article talking about how if you disagree it is only because you put "party" above "country". This is the essence of both Walter Jones and the liberal antiwar factions that want us to admit defeat and end the war. You are either antiwar or you are a partisan bigot.

How can you disagree with him? How dare you? Don't you know what that makes you?

"Black" Republican Wins Louisiana Governorship

by Melinda Deslatte - Oct 21st, 2007 - Associated Press (commercialappeal.com)

Jindal wins Louisiana governor's race



Bobby Jindal

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal became the nation's youngest governor and the first nonwhite to hold post in Louisiana since Reconstruction when he carried more than half the vote to defeat 11 opponents.

No runoff! Bobby Jindal carried more than half the vote in a race with twelve contestants. Two of them were wealthy representatives of the limousine liberal wing of the socialist, er excuse me, Democrat Party. This is the same wing of the party that produced the incompetent Kathleen Blanco, former Louisiana Governor who failed at everything she did during the Katrina crisis except persuade the liberals in the press to blame that state crisis in fraud and mismanagement on the federal government. That she managed.

The people of Louisiana were not amused. They saw the Democrat corruption and its impact on their state up close and personal. Their response? Try a Republican.

[One of the funniest parts of the coverage of Bobby's victory is the way liberals in the press cannot call him "black" any more. Before he won he was "black" and they predicted Republicans would not support him. Now that he wins he is "non-white". ROTFL!]

Bobby Jindal is one of the new group of young Republican super stars like Ken Blackwell, Treasurer in Ohio, Michael Steele, Lt. Governor in Maryland, and J.C. Watts, Congressman from Oklahoma, who are "black" yet get elected with no black support. Not even the votes of black conservatives.

Liberals in the black community have so intimidated black conservatives by insulting them with the "Uncle Tom" label that there are few willing to stand up and vote for any Republican. Even in our secret ballot process. You therefore get the bizarre situation where black leaders claim that some secret cabal of Republican power brokers are making the white community in some states vote for "token" blacks even though the voters there are racists. They even call people like Juan Williams "Uncle Tom" if they dare disagree with the Democrat Party on any issue. Juan Williams an "Uncle Tom"? They reviled Bill Cosby and called him an "Uncle Tom" when he complained about glorifying the rejection of education.

This idiot accusation, that white Republicans are voting for a black Republican even though they are racists, is still believed by a majority of blacks even when a huge majority of white voters vote for an intelligent person who happens to be black. I would love to be able to ask the black leaders who make this asinine claim, just who is being racist here?

Congratulations to Bobby Jindal. I hope this moves us towards the day that we really can make these voting decisions without concern for what color the candidate is and strictly on what is best for our society.

Black conservatives belong in the Republican Party. I wonder when they are going to get past the accusations of "racism" expressed by liberal-progressive-socialist black leaders and see that?

Democrats Are Unbelievable Liars

by Neely Tucker - October 20th, 2007 - Washington Post

"Limbaugh Spins Reid's Letter Into Charity Gold"

The letter in question is an Oct. 2 two-pager from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to Clear Channel Communications CEO Mark Mays lambasting the syndicate's Rush Limbaugh, who had recently criticized U.S. troops who were against the war in Iraq.

Neely Tucker, you are a liar! Or as Power Line interprets it here, you are at the least a "phony reporter". You just repeated in your article the LIE that Harry Reid originally made against Limbaugh in the letter at the center of this controversy. The actual statement by Limbaugh (published widely in newspapers and on the Internet and therefore not reasonably distorted into the belief Tucker states - see below for links) clearly indicates he was NOT talking about U.S. troops who are against the war. He was talking about a specific gentleman WHO NEVER SERVED IN IRAQ and was not a veteran, but who lied and claimed he had gotten a purple heart in Iraq. You cannot claim to be a journalist and get something this wrong.

To equate Limbaugh's criticism of this one man with a claim it was criticism of troops who have served is not reasonable or honest. It is a LIE. Having been caught in a lie, Democrats act like if they just keep repeating the LIE it becomes true. That is what Neely Tucker is doing in his article. It is the major reason there is no longer any reasonable possibility of having a civil dialog with Democrats in America. Democrats claim Ann Coulter is beyond the pale. Coulter has never done anything as despicable as Harry Reid did here, and Democrats don't care!

Truth is truth. Lies are lies. It was the Democrats who believed they had a right to their own truth 150 years ago when they tried to claim that secession was a state's right. 500,000 Americans died in the resulting civil war over the Democrat belief that they could have their own version of truth. The truth they proclaimed then was that black people were not the equal of whites and slavery was their proper role in society. To end the Democrat lie about slavery nearly tore this country apart.

No one with any brains can believe anyone who is a Democrat about anything they say simply because they LIE and then pretend they haven't LIED. Since arrogantly lying is once again standard practice for Democrats, how can we communicate?



For those who would like to see more of the details of this controversy, here are links to the Media Matters attack on Limbaugh that started the controversy and a link to Rush Limbaugh's transcript of his show which includes the discussion of his views on "phony soldiers" and one specific soldier, Jesse MacBeth.

First the Media Matters article with the heavily edited version of what they claim Limbaugh said:
mediamatters.org

Now Limbaughs discussion with the comments as he originally made them:
rushlimbaugh.com

The most interesting issue is to compare how much of Rush's comments are about Jesse MacBeth and how Media Matters never even mentions his name!

“Gored” By the Nobel Prize

by Harry R. Jackson, Jr. - October 15th, 2007 - Townhall.com

. . . . . . in the spring of 1975 Newsweek published an article on climate change. The following words were written by sensationalistic journalists:

“There are ominous signs that the Earth’s weather patterns have begun to change dramatically and that these changes may portend a drastic decline in food production – with serious political implications for just about every nation on Earth. The drop in food output could begin quite soon, perhaps only 10 years from now.”

According to many news reports, the Earth was moving into another ice age.

Just 30 years later, not only did the ice age not appear, but now we are told the world is on the verge of unprecedented global warming.

The irony is that the same political group that predicted catastrophe from the coming (back then) ice age is the group now predicting catastrophe from the coming (very soon) global warming. It has been the pro government, lets turn control over to the politicians, socialist oriented, left wing extremists who have once again determined that unless they get control right now, the world is doomed.

What does the article say about that?

In an interesting study of the media’s coverage of “climate change,” R. Warren Anderson and Dan Gainor examined how major media outlets covered the issue of climate change over the last 100 plus years . What they discovered was that there have been four climate change scares; a concern over global cooling beginning in 1895, followed by fears of global warming in 1929, only to be replaced by alarm over global cooling; now we are back to global warming. With each succeeding crisis, the call for a government solution has grown louder and louder.

You can be sure that none of the people calling for a "government solution" were of any political persuasion except socialists, the same people still calling for you to trust them, please. They insist "Maybe we were wrong before but this time the world really is doomed if we are not permitted to fix things!" Al Gore is their leader.

The only thing you can be sure of is that whatever they do it will be a disaster but that it will NOT BE THEIR FAULT!

The socialist planners for the Soviet Union were wrong year after year. Like all government bureaucrats they simply explained why it was not their fault food did not grow last year and planned for a better year NEXT YEAR. This is how government bureaucrats always do it.

Anyone who thinks that man is causing global warming is a socialist They are also an idiot.

Beware The Lame Duck

by Lou Dobbs - October 17th, 2007 - CNN.com

Bush campaigned for the Republican Party's nomination eight years ago, styling himself as a compassionate conservative. He's amply demonstrated that he is neither.

Although many conservatives refuse to accept the reality, George W. Bush is a one-world neo-liberal who drove budget and trade deficits to record heights while embracing faith-based economic policies that perversely require only blind allegiance to free markets and free trade, without regard for consequence.

This president pursues a war without demanding of his generals either success or victory and accepts the sacrifice of our brave young men and women in uniform while asking nothing of our people or the nation at a time of war.

This is a pretty interesting assessment of George W. Bush, a one-world neo-liberal. A great number of Republicans would sum Bush up with about the same assessment. Except it is hard to really argue that Bush supports either free markets or free trade nearly so much as he supports any big business initiative that allows for corporations to move factories to foreign countries and outsource American jobs. He certainly is the first President in our history who found it unacceptable to ask for our people to support a war and meet the sacrifice of our soldiers.

Dobbs goes on to berate Bush for his support for the Law of the Sea Treaty. I am equally incensed that Bush supports this treaty. Reagan killed it. Clinton brought it back. Between those two, why on earth would Bush support Clinton?

I have been unhappy with Bush for some time. Now I am getting unhappy with conservatives who still try to argue he has been a good President. He and Hastert have smeared the Republican party with the accusation that we do not care about fiscal restraint but are provably the most corrupt party in history. It is hard to argue based on their track record.

I oppose the Law of the Sea Treaty and cannot conceive of any reason to be in favor of it.

How The New York Times Fell Apart

by Michael Malone - October 18th, 2007 - ABC News

As you may have read, yesterday brokerage giant Morgan Stanley dumped its entire stake -- $183 million worth -- in the New York Times, in which it was the second largest shareholder. Not surprisingly, Times stock immediately slumped, bottoming at a nearly 3 percent drop to $18.28 -- the lowest it has been in a decade.

[snip]

Over the last few years, we've seen a number of newspapers find themselves in deep financial distress as they've failed to deal effectively with the challenge posed by Cable News and the Internet, and particularly (on the editorial side) the blogosphere and (on the business side) Craigslist, Google, and eBay.

There are a number of words that describe the New York Times. Liberals. Traitors. Liars. Arrogant. Those words apply to other MSM (main stream media) but not to the degree that they apply to the "Times". Newspapers are in trouble. Unless and until they stop being propaganda machines for the socialists in the Democrat party, the MSM will not return to having the respect of anything but a small minority of socialist true believers.

NASCAR Is Contagious?

Democrats are something else.


Double click arrow in center of video to start.





What a great commercial.

Senator Fred Smith Visits Pitt County On BBQ Tour

Tuesday night the Senator Fred Smith 100 County BBQ Tour came to Pitt County. Fred Smith is a candidate for Governor of North Carolina and is using this tour to get out and talk with people all over our state. This event was held at J. H. Rose High School on Arlington Blvd. in Greenville.




Bill Fields (standing on left in photo above) and DeVan Barbour (seated) register some early arrivals from the Kappa Alpha fraternity at ECU who came out to hear Fred Smith this night.




The crowd grew quite quickly as they started to fill up the facility.




Fred arrived from an earlier fund raiser at Wayne Holloman's and spent some time talking with people and signing his autobiography, "A Little Extra Effort".




One highlight of this night was Stephen Roebuck (shown on right above) bringing an old year book from the Methodist Orphanage where he and Fred grew up. Stephen is one of the boys from the orphanage that Fred talks about in his story on his parents. Stephen said he remembered Fred though ". . . he was pretty young then . . . ", but was really fond of "Mr. Smith", Fred's father, who he admired greatly.




Kim Hendrix (shown below), Chairman of the Pitt County Republican Party opened the event, and gave welcoming comments to the crowd as master of ceremonies.




Kate Cannon (shown below) gave the invocation and blessed the food.




Lindsey Cannon (shown below on right) led the crowd in the "Pledge of Allegiance". (Not picking on Lindsey but he seemed a little uncertain about which hand to hold the mic in and he finally just placed his left hand over his heart.)




Deidre Jersey (shown below) then led the crowd in singing the National Anthem.




One last act before we ate this night was to introduce Ginny Smith (shown below) to the audience. Ginny is a "local" since ECU is where she got her degree, and she said she couldn't miss the Pitt County BBQ. She still loves Greenville.




One of the more amusing aspects of recent BBQs has been the proof that Democrats are getting scared of Fred's momentum. Tonight's Democrat spy (shown below) showed up to video tape the event. He had a name tag that claimed he was Paul Smith. I could not help but wonder if it was his real name. Other than trying to push in front of other photographers he was not completely rude. When I found out who he was I asked one of Fred's staff if they wanted me to ask him to leave and they just laughed and said no. They said "Fred doesn't care. He isn't going to say anything different because they are here!"




Fred (below) waits patiently to be introduced.




Todd Siebels (shown below), former candidate for Congress and a long time friend, introduced Fred this evening.




Fred gave his comments with his usual sincerity and consistency. After watching more than a dozen, the speech is very familiar and I could use my comments from earlier BBQs stories. Instead I am going to share the comments from a local reporter instead.




The local newspaper, "The Daily Reflector" covered the event and summed up Fred's speech with these comments:

North Carolina citizens are disillusioned with the Democrat-dominated government in Raleigh, Smith said. He offered policy prescriptions on a range of issues: a $2 billion highway construction bond, repayable with money currently transferred out of the state's highway trust fund; wider empowerment of local police agencies to enforce immigration laws; and a constitutional amendment limiting a government's ability to take private property to boost economic development. Smith said one of his top priorities as governor would be to strengthen the state's laws against child sexual abuse.

The net effect of those and some government-shrinking measures would be to build a state government that reflects its constituents' values, Smith said.

Always interesting to get someone else's take on something I have covered. Read the entire article about Fred's day by clicking here.






The crowd (shown above from both ends) this night was over a hundred people, good turnout.




Fred's wife Ginny Smith (shown above) sang "God Bless America" to close the event. Ginny has a great voice. I also like to remind people that she was last year's "Woman of the Year" for North Carolina.




The usual aftermath to the event was Fred taking time to talk with everyone who wants to meet him face to face. He signs copies of his autobiography for anyone who wants that as well. It is really interesting to see people wait patiently to meet this man and get a chance to talk with him. Fred always stays as long as people want to see him. Before I took the picture above, several people have already spent time with Fred and left. The line is still pretty long as I headed out to get back to Colerain.

Fred Smith Plays Innsbrook Hole 17

This is my first video (done with a borrowed video camera since I don't own one). I made two mistakes. I did not notice that the camera was on night mode so the color came out grey-green. If I had noticed . . . one click on the button and the camera would have produced brilliant color. I won't do that again. And when I was panning the camera to follow the ball I tried to zoom at the same time. I won't do that again either. I lost the ball and the simultaneous zoom and pan made the video very erratic. We were rushed for time at the press conference and had to leave immediately so I didn't have time to check things out the way I should have. Just shoot the video and leave. It was only later when I got to review the video that I found the mistakes. However Fred did his job and I didn't do mine.

I hope Fred will forgive me for posting this anyway, but this is still pretty cool video.

This 17th hole at Innsbrook is going to be a famous golf hole some day, and Fred Smith was the first person to play the hole, and the first person to par the hole. Good job Fred.

The Innsbrook course is not completed and they only put the cup on the one hole Fred was going to play for this special event. Until Arnold Palmer (the course designer) plays his round next spring they will not be putting cups on any of the other greens. In fact they removed the cup from this hole as soon as we left. A special thanks for letting us use the hole for our press conference and the visual statement about having the courage to take risks. Playing this tough a hole for the camera shows Fred Smith is not afraid to take risks. Then again he has proved that many times.

Senator Fred Smith Visits Northampton County On BBQ Tour

The second BBQ of the day (and the 33rd so far) in the 100 County BBQ Tour of gubernatorial candidate Senator Fred Smith was held in the Gaston Lion's Club in Northampton County. You can read about the first stop in this related article on the Bertie County Patriot here .

After finishing up the Bertie County BBQ we convoyed up to the Roanoke Rapids area where Fred made a stop at the Roanoke Rapids Daily Herald for an interview with John Moeur, the Editor.

Next there was a private meeting with some business people from Roanoke Rapids who are enthusiastic about promoting their area and see Fred as the best candidate to support that. Finally we got to the Northampton County BBQ around 6:30 PM after what had already been (as usual for Fred) a long day.




In the last two weeks Fred Smith has gained significant momentum in the Governor's race, even getting recognized by one of the leading Democrat Party web sites, bluenc.com. They spoke of Fred's surge as being the first serious movement of any candidate since the announcements by the major players earlier in the year.

Some of that movement is attributable to the enthusiastic endorsement of Senator Smith by Lee Greenwood, a man some call America's number one patriot. Greenwood is famous for his song, God Bless the USA.

The formal event in Northampton was kicked off by Danny Tolbert (shown below), Mayor of Gaston and Chairman of the Northampton County Republican Party who acted as master of ceremonies.




I was asked to provide the invocation and Deidre Jersey (shown below) sang the national anthem.




Then we ligned up to eat. The BBQ was, as it usually is, really great. (North Carolina seems to have at least one or two great BBQ restaurants in every county and Fred's people are good at finding them.)




While we ate, Fred spent his time talking with the people. Fred is really good with people and it is interesting to see how people react to him.





John Woods (shown above on right) was the person invited to introduce Senator Fred Smith to the gathering this night, since they went to high school together and played baseball on the same team.





Before Senator Smith came up, a video was played that introduced people to Senator Smith's family including his wife, Ginny, and mother, Eudell, and which ended with the campaign song "Good To Great", written and performed by Lee Greenwood (double click arrow above to hear song).





Senator Fred Smith spoke of his love for our State of North Carolina, and his belief that government is out of touch with what the majority of people want. He talked about the things that make us great and the things that help us enjoy the freedom of our great nation America. These talks are always a great dialogue, and in Northampton County there were a number of questions about illegal immigration and its impact on the future of our nation and state. This issue seems to be getting more and more focus.

Though I have seen Fred make a powerful speech in a more formal environment, these talks are always low key, personal and sincere. It is part of what makes them such a great connection between Fred and the people who come out.





The meeting was closed by singing "God Bless America", led by Deidre Jersey. This is the traditional way that Fred closes his BBQs and it is always a great ending.

Afterwards Fred always takes time to finish signing autographs and talking with those who came to meet him. Fred really lives the theme of his autobiography, "The difference between good and great is a little extra effort."

The Northampton County stop on the Fred Smith Statewide BBQ Tour was a resounding success thanks to all the great people who came out.

The Plan To Rein In Free Speech

Editorial - October 11, 2007 - Investor's Business Daily

A manufactured flap over Rush Limbaugh has stirred talk of new "fairness doctrine" hearings in Congress. That's just what Media Matters, the flacks behind it, were after. Their agenda is worse than it looks.

Media Matters, David Brock, George Soros, Henry Waxman, Mark Malloch Brown, Open Society Institute, Center for American Progress, Bill Moyers, Schumann Center for Media and Democracy; the role call of socialism advocates is growing daily. In addition their determination to control free speech is growing daily. Those of us here in the Inner Banks who do not work to spread the word are risking our futures and the future of liberty in America.

It is ironic that Ronald Reagan's victory against communism has been so short lived. Reagan proved that communism was a failed system and brought down the Soviet Union. What he did not do was convince many of the socialism advocates that their dream system was the reason the Soviet Union failed. To most advocates of socialism the failure of the Soviet Union means nothing. They see that as a failure of communism and reject the idea that the problem was the financial system of socialism that underpinned the failure.

It has long been said that man is a rationalizing animal, not a rational animal. The ongoing popularity of socialism is certainly proof.

Because of this, we are currently in a very complex situation.

World War III, the war against communism may not be over. The war against socialism and its tyranny goes on. It has returned as an internal war against the Democrat Party and their left wing extremist groups who continue to advocate socialism, the economic underpinning of communism. The global movement within the U.N. to advance socialism means these internal groups have major external elements supporting them too. Both these groups, internal and external, claim they are opposed to Islamofascism.

However World War IV, the war against Islamofascism, is related to this earlier war, as the Islamofascists accept socialism as their favored economic system as well. That means on one level they are partners despite the socialists and Islamofascists claim they are at war with each other too.

It is possible to argue that in some ways all recent wars are ultimately wars against socialism. It is important because socialism is still the greatest threat to freedom because of the flaws of democracy. Many people forget that the founders of our nation were well aware of the tendency of democracy to deteriorate into tyranny. We are on that road today and only by talking about it and fighting it do we have a chance to change directions.

The role call of socialists with which I started my comments are not concerned with the tyranny of socialism. They embrace it and promote the end of free speech. They want government bureaucrats to tell you what you can say, and to stop anyone who says anything they disagree with. They call it the "fairness doctrine". It is really merely government control of your thoughts and the end of liberty.

If we do not start to resist we face a dark future. So let's fight for freedom!

How Long Do We Have?

I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it. This is an email going around the Internet. You may have already seen it in your Inbox!

How Long Do We Have?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

'A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.'

'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.'

'From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.'

'The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years'

'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence back into bondage'

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Number of States won by:
Gore: 19
Bush: 29

Square miles of land won by:
Gore: 580,000
Bush: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by:
Gore: 127 million
Bush: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Gore: 13.2
Bush: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: 'In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country.

Gore's territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare...'

Olson believes the United State s is now somewhere between the 'complacency and apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's population already having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase.

Don't get discouraged. History does not always repeat itself. Stand up and join the fight. There are plenty of us who have not and will not give up. If we can get a significant percentage of the American people to decide that freedom is worth fighting for, we will win.