We set aside politics for a moment and take note of the more important issue:
Almighty and Eternal God,
You are the everlasting health of those who believe in You.
Hear us for Your sick servant Madelyn Payne Dunham
for whom we implore the aid of Your tender mercy,
that being restored to bodily health,
she may give thanks to You in Your Church.
Through Christ our Lord.
This is as bad as Hillary being unable to choose between the Cubs and the Yankees…
How desperate for votes is he that he has pander so blatantly?
Michele Bachmann is being raked over the coals and skewered by democrats and their willing media accomplices. For what? Why, for telling the truth about democrats, of course:
REP. BACHMANN: It’s important because we look at the collection of friends that Barack Obama has had over his life, and usually we associate with people who have similar ideas to us. And it seems that it calls into question what Barack Obama’s true beliefs and values and thoughts are — his attitudes, values and beliefs with Jeremiah Wright on his view of the United States —
MR. MATTHEWS: Okay —
REP. BACHMANN: — which is negative; Bill Ayers, his negative view of the United States. We’ve seen one friend after another. It calls into question his judgment, but also what is it that Barack Obama really believes? And we know that he’s the most liberal senator in the United States Senate, and that’s just after one year after being there. He’s the most liberal. Joe Biden is the third most liberal. You’ve got Harry Reid who’s liberal, Nancy Pelosi who’s liberal.
MR. MATTHEWS: Right. What’s the connection?
REP. BACHMANN: You have a troika of the most leftist administration in the history of our country.
MR. MATTHEWS: If you have liberal views, does that mean you have anti-American views? What’s the connection? I don’t get the connection. What’s the connection between liberal and leftist and anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: Anti-American is the point, because —
MR. MATTHEWS: I mean, if you’re liberal, are you anti-American?
REP. BACHMANN: Well, the liberals that are Jeremiah Wright and that are Bill Ayers, they’re over-the-top anti-American. And that’s the question that Americans have. Remember, it was Michelle Obama who said she’s only recently proud of her country. And so these are very anti-American views.
And so Bachmann gets called on the carpet for stating the obvious. To be fair, it was Chris Matthews who brought the term, "anti-American" into the interview, but so what?
Congresswoman Bachmann, you owe no one an apology. What we need is an apology from a biased mainstream media who carries no compunction against serving up a three-day long intensive anal exam against a common citizen known as "Joe the Plumber," yet for the past two years has refused to do even a cursory examination of the life of a man who wishes to be President of the United States.
What we need is an apology from a biased media, who supposedly thrives on the First Amendment, who turn the other way when their candidate, rather than answer critics, sends goons out under the guise of "truth squads" to silence them.
What we need is an apology from a Party whose financial malfiesance in the name of "fairness" got us into a behemoth financial disaster the likes of which made Enron look like a parking ticket.
My fear is that fellow Republicans, if not Michele herself, will go weak-kneed and try to distance themselves from the truth, when the truth itself is needed, now more than ever. Truth is a great disinfectant, and you can tell that the truth is being told when democrats scream, complain, and scurry for cover like so many cockroaches running after the kitchen light is switched on.
It’s about freaking time that anti-American democrats were called out for just what they are, Anti-American.
And you’ll get no apology from me for saying that.
I will be upgrading our blogging software tonight. I don’t anticipate any problems but things may be a bit flukey as the upgrade is going on.
UPDATE, 8:11 PM EDT: Upgrade complete…
The media is making a big deal about Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama… but I wasn’t surprised… not one bit. I am sure this is something Obama was saving for the best possible moment, and with polls tightening Barack saw that the time was right to roll this out.
But will it matter? I say no. Powell is no Republican, he was never on board with Iraq. Powell “says” the endorsement is not about race… but I don’t believe it. Rush says it all here:
So I fire up the Drudge page, and I see Colin Powell has endorsed the Most Merciful Barack Obama. And then I see some of the things that Powell said. He said it wasn’t about race, and he said he would have difficulty with any more Republican Supreme Court appointments. So I’m making notes of this and out of the blue comes an e-mail from Jonathan Martin at The Politico. “Hey, Rush, you got anything to say about this?” I wrote him and said, “Jonathan, look, I’m here in Green Bay with the Colts and the Packers, I don’t have a lot of time.” I just fired off a couple little thoughts, couple little paragraphs.
I said, “Secretary Powell says this endorsement’s not about race. Okay, fine. What I’m doing now Jonathan is researching Powell’s past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal white candidates that he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.” Then the next paragraph I sent to Jonathan Martin of the Politico said, “As for Powell’s statement of concern that he would have difficulty with two more Republican Supreme Court nominees, I was unaware that he had dislike for John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, and Antonin Scalia. I guess he also regrets Ronald Reagan making him a four-star general. I guess he also regrets George Bush making him secretary of state. I guess he also regrets George H. W. Bush naming him chairman of the Joint Chiefs. I guess he’s also upset that a Republican appointed his son to head the FCC. Yeah, let’s hear it for transformational figures,” because Powell had said Obama’s a transformational figure, and yet Colin Powell is who he is and is a household name because of Republicans.
This endorsement says more about Powell than it does about Obama… and what it says about Powell is not good.
But we have something better – John McCain:
..this is a transformational election year, not a base election year, says Carney. Victory depends on “swingers,” those who have yet to decide, those who will ask themselves on Election Day: “Do I trust my future, my family, to the charismatic, dynamic public official who has yet to put a concrete idea on the table? Or do I go with the man I know will be tough enough — even if he’s not really willing — to change completely where the country is going?”
Their conclusions — not the antics that both campaigns engage in for an attentive political punditry poised over their scorecards — will determine the election’s outcome.
And until Election Day, McCain will not change. He is who he is and, under the weight of his personality, his stubborn determination and his dedication to country, he always has found a way to prevail, even in the face of defeat.
“One thing that is in John McCain’s favor is that he is John McCain,” says Pennsylvania Republican strategist Charlie Gerow. “Add on the fact that McCain always polls poorly and Obama’s primary polls have been consistently inflated, and there is a silver lining to the dark cloud that has become the narrative around this race.”
Gerow thinks this a 5- to 6-point race that Obama still has not won, although he says you’d never know that from the media coverage. “I base my opinions on listening to people,” he insists. “The deal has not been closed yet.”
Not closed at all, I’d say – and God willing it never will be. The only thing against McCain is the narrative – and what we’ll find out on November 4th is whether or not the narrative will convince GOPers and Independents to stay home in large enough numbers to give the victory to Obama. That is, from what I can see, the real plan is – just keep putting out poll after poll and story after story saying its all over and hope that this plus negative ads will drive down the GOP/Independent turnout, thus allowing Obama to get a slim majority of votes, which the MSM will then translate into a massive landslide and a mandate for massive, leftwing change. I don’t think it’ll come out like that.
I think that “Joe the Plumber” has uncovered Obama’s Achilles Heel and that it is steadily eating into whatever appeal Obama had to independents, while the nasty way Obama and the MSM have gone after Joe is making the GOP base seethe with anger and thus getting them willing to crawl on their knees over broken glass to vote for John McCain. Time will tell, of course; but I feel really good about our chances.
A former employee of Mutual Bank Corp. seeks $4.2 million in damages, claiming he was wrongfully fired after alerting his superiors to concerns involving a loan given to felon Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
In a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Kenneth J. Conner, a graduate of Benedictine University in Lisle, says his bosses at Mutual Bank in south suburban Harvey terminated him after he spoke up about a missing report regarding a South Side Chicago parcel belonging to Rezko, a fundraiser for Illinois politicians who was convicted in a multimillion-dollar kickback scheme.
Rezko’s wife, Rita, in June 2005 closed on purchasing the parcel for $625,000, aided by a $500,000 loan from Mutual, the lawsuit states.
A portion of the property – 10 square feet – was eventually sold in January 2006 to Barack and Michelle Obama.
However, Conner claims when bank officials asked him in either late 2005 or early 2006 to appraise the property, he concluded the parcel was overvalued by at least $125,000. He said his report was included in a file kept by the bank.
The lawsuit then states on Oct. 19, 2006, the bank received a subpoena from a Chicago grand jury asking for that bank file while federal officials investigated Rezko. The lawsuit alleges the file turned over to FBI officials failed to include Conner’s report and instead reflected an appraisal dated June 15, 2005, stating the value of the parcel was $625,000. Conner claims when he discovered his report was removed, he went to his bosses who fired him in October 2007, not wanting attention from a high-profile case.
Very screwy – the property is valued at 500K, that is how much the Rezko’s obtained from Mutual Bank; where did the other 125K come from and go to? Chicago politics is, of course, corrupt from top to bottom and Chicago business is hip deep in it – this wasn’t done out of altruism but because the people involved were a well-connected wire-puller and a up-and-coming Democratic politician. Juxtapose this with the stories that Rezko has started to sing, and we can see a spreading scandal which laps ever closer to Obama.
You really want to help elect this guy, liberals?
Want national health care? Well, be careful what you wish for:
Dozens of incentive schemes have been uncovered which allow GPs to profit by slashing the number of patients they refer for hospital care.
Under one scheme, GPs stand to gain £59 for every patient not referred to hospital, if they cut an average referral rate by between two and eight per cent.
Torbay care trust in Devon will pay up to £15,000 to the average-sized GP practice if it hits a swathe of targets, including reducing hospital referrals.
NHS managers say referral rates, which rose 16 per cent nationwide during the first quarter of this year, have to be cut to save money. They claim many patients can receive equally good care from community NHS staff, such as physiotherapists and nurses.
But critics fear that patients could suffer if GPs’ decisions are swayed by the prospect of a cash bonus.
A leading surgeon said that patients’ cancers had already gone undiagnosed after they were denied specialist care under two such “referral management” schemes.
Orthopaedic surgeon Stephen Cannon, former president of the British Orthopaedic Association and a consultant surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, described the cases as an “absolutely terrible” warning that decisions by non-specialist doctors could have devastating consequences.
He said: “I recently encountered two cases in which patients referred to physiotherapists later turned out to have a malignant tumour. If they had been sent to a consultant the outcome may have been very different.
“In one case a young man was referred to a physiotherapist because of sudden knee pain. Had he come to a specialist the symptoms should have been recognised and he should have been urgently referred to an oncologist. In this case, after the delays, the outcome was amputation. It was devastating for the patient and his family.”
If we could find a way to staff a national health service entirely with Saints, we’d be ok – but as we’re going to staff any health service with human beings, we’re going to have to deal with the fact that human beings will act, well, like humans.
Think of it like this: the bureaucrat in charge of budget matters wants to find a way to cut costs because the government is pleased when costs are kept low and money is freed up for new initiatives which make it look like things are constantly advancing – now, the bureaucrat can cut costs by cutting bureaucracy, or by cutting services to patients. Which way do you think the bureaucrat will go? Cutting the bureaucracy means you’ll have a bunch of people you work with shouting at you and threatening to go out on strike, which will make your elected bosses look bad, and they won’t like you as a result…cutting patient care means that people you don’t know won’t receive treatments you don’t know about with results you’ll never be made aware of. Its a no-brainer – unless the bureaucrat is a Saint along the lines of Francis of Assisi…and just as soon as the socialized medicine people find thousands of Saint Francises to staff our health care system then I’ll find it in my heart to support such a scheme.
We’re getting back into the region of a statistical dead heat:
Democrat Barack Obama’s lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race has dropped to 3 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday.
Obama leads McCain by 48 to 45 percent among likely U.S. voters, down 1 percentage point from Saturday. The four-day tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points.
Pollster John Zogby said the numbers were good news for McCain, and probably reflected a bump following his appearance in the third and final presidential debate on Wednesday.
“For the first time in the polling McCain is up above 45 percent. There is no question something has happened,” Zogby said.
He said the Arizona senator appeared to have solidified his support with the Republican base — where 9 out of 10 voters now back him — and was also gaining ground among the independents who may play a decisive role in the November 4 election.
Obama’s lead among independent voters dropped to 8 points on Sunday from 16 points a day earlier.
‘RED FLAGS’
“If that trend continues, it is something that has got to raise red flags for Obama,” Zogby said. “It suggests to me that his outward look of confidence may be as much strategy as it is real.”
I agree with that – while Obama and his MSM cheerleaders are trying to convince all and sundry that the race is over, the actions of Obama are telling a different story. Obama’s money, time and staffing are going in places which indicate a need to thread the needle, especially if it turns out that Pennsylvania is falling to McCain (the time in the “red” States can be a sign of victory, or a sign that Obama realizes that to get to 270 he’ll have to peel off more “red” States than he originally anticipated – Murtha calling western Pennsylvanians a bunch of racists will not help Obama in that State). Ten days from now, if McCain is back in Michigan and Obama is right behind him, then anticipate a long night for Obama on November 4th.
The hometown paper – and while newspaper endorsements are usually not all that big a deal, in the very closely divided State of Nevada, any small thing can make a big difference:
…Sen. McCain has a proven record of battling the drunken sailor culture so pervasive in our nation’s capital. He has been an outspoken advocate for fiscal restraint, angering many of his colleagues by embarrassing them over their penchant for pork. Sen. McCain vows to veto any bill that includes earmarks and says he will freeze spending in many areas of the budget.
That would represent real change.
Sen. McCain opposes any tax hikes, recognizing that in these troubled times leaving money in the hands of those who earned it offers the best hope for encouraging the creativity and entrepreneurship that defines this nation’s legacy. He would be far more likely to appoint judges who respect freedom and individual liberty and who recognize the restraints our Constitution imposes on the federal government.
On energy, Sen. McCain — while acknowledging the importance of developing alternative sources — understands that for the foreseeable future the nation must continue to harness its domestic supplies of clean coal and oil. This is in stark contrast to Sen. Obama, who falls in line behind the greens and advocates a radical and massively expensive economic upheaval in order to build more windmills and solar panels.
But while the economy has jumped to the fore in this campaign, the United States remains engaged across the globe in a struggle to establish democracy in Iraq and cripple the Islamic extremism that led to 9/11. We are winning — and Sen. McCain is best prepared to ensure we continue on that course.
No, Sen. McCain’s service as a Naval aviator in Vietnam — including his five years in a POW camp, during which he was mentally and physically tortured — don’t automatically qualify him for the presidency. But his experience certainly offers a snapshot of the man’s character, honor and sense of duty.
Sen. McCain realizes the long-term ramifications for failure in Iraq and is prepared to make the difficult decisions that will no doubt confront our next commander in chief. His military background and foreign policy expertise project an image of strength, decisiveness and determination, in stark contrast to Sen. Obama, who has voted to cut and run in Iraq and was spending time as a “community organizer” in Chicago while Sen. McCain was distinguishing himself on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Our national security would be in good hands with Sen. McCain in the White House.
“Hope is necessary in every condition,” wrote Samuel Johnson. And even during these trying months, Americans retain the sense of optimism and conviction that have served as pilot lights for this nation’s very survival over the past 230 years. Regardless of who is elected this November, we will emerge from these times stronger in spirit. But one man is uniquely qualified to guide us through any coming storms, both domestically and overseas.
That man is John McCain.
Couldn’t have said it any better, myself – leaving aside Obama’s connections with the corrupt and the anti-American, the hard facts of Campaign ’08 clearly indicate that only Senator John McCain has the experience, judgment and courage to be President of the United States in these hard times. On the economy, War on Terrorism, military policy, foreign policy, social issues and right on down the line, McCain has staked out the positions which are common sense and entirely in line with mainstream American views. The man and the hour have truly met, and John McCain is that man and this is his hour.
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