'Tis the season for looking back and making lists. Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air, one of the leading political blogs in the country, has been posting the Top 50 stories on their blog for 2010. This is based on the amount of traffic each story generated.
The top story covered polling conducted by democrat firm Public Policy Polling [PPP] that showed Sarah Palin and Barack Obama were tied at 46 points a piece.
From Ed:
The only Palin post in the top 10 this year, this post reviewed the data from a Democratic-leaning pollster, Public Policy Polling, from July. Not only did this poll find Palin locked up with Obama, but also found that Obama trailed the other major would-be contenders from the GOP. The sample even had a +5 Democratic advantage, and still Obama couldn’t do any better in head-to-heat matchups than 46%.
Although any polling two years out from an election should be taken with a huge grain of salt, it must be noted that people who think Sarah Palin can't beat Barack Obama in 2012 will be in for a rude awakening!
Here's a poll heavily weighted with democrats [+5] and at best, it's a draw, and Sarah Palin hasn't even started campaigning yet.
In case you are wondering, the number two most read story of 2010 was the one about democrat Congressman Hank Johnson, who was concerned that overpopulation in Guam might cause the tiny island to capsize! BTW, Johnson is one of the smart ones!
No other potential 2012 presidential candidates made the Top 10. Only Sarah Palin.
It's not every day when one of the old line Washington columnists starts their latest off with “Sarah Palin deserves an apology”, so this in itself is pretty newsworthy!
As you know the talk of the week has been the Obama regime sneaking paid end of life counseling into the Medicare system. This deal pays doctors to counsel old folks on their options when their time is near.
Now, before I go further, I have a beef with those who continually miss-characterize what Sarah Palin was calling “death panels” when she so brilliantly coined the term. She was not talking about end of life counseling, per se, though incentivizing doctors to engage in it is troubling in itself.
It bothers me that many pundits and politicians [who SHOULD know better] consistently get it wrong!
Sarah was talking about the unelected, unaccountable, and unknown government drones who will determine whether or not anyone, not just grandma, “deserves” certain treatments. This is all based on what we already know about massive health care rationing in every nation that has a government controlled health care system, and the writings of Barack Obama's very own Dr Mengele, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel. The brother of former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.
Dr Emanuel [Dr Death, if you prefer] penned what come to be known as the “Complete Lives System” a truly cold and disturbing document that says the life of a child, who hasn't lived a “complete life,” meaning they have yet to contribute to society, and an older person, whose days of being productive are fewer, don't deserve the quality of care, and range of treatments “productive” members of society do. Young, by the way means under twenty, and “old” starts in one's 50s!
This very disturbing document makes no consideration of a young person's future potential to “contribute” to society, or an older person's life time of contributions. In Dr Zeke's world, if you can't contribute to the collective NOW, you are dead weight. One more facet of communism people often forget. The collective looks down on “useless eaters.” They take resources away from those who feed the government machine.
This is as evil of a document that has ever been written. The scenarios coming from it are a cross between one of those cheesy late sixties, early seventies sci-fi flicks were those no longer useful were dutifully marched to their death in some sort of high tech disintegration device, and the Nazi death camps.
The actual title of this horror story is “Principles for allocations for scarce medical interventions” and you should read it. To understand this, is to understand why so many millions of Americans fought so hard to keep ObamaCare from becoming law, and why most Americans want it repealed now.
The tales are too numerous to list, but one doesn't have to search hard to find thousands of horror stories from Great Britain, and their National Health Service, which is so bad, moderately ill, but bed ridden patients have died of thirst, because there wasn't enough staff to even look after their most basic needs. We've read stories of desperate patients drinking the water out of plants at their bedside, trying to hold on! [And still ultimately dying of thirst!]
The mortality rate for major ills in Great Britain are many times higher than in the United States, under our current system.This is because care is severely rationed. There is simply not enough tax dollars to go around. Never will be.
Dr. Donald Berwick who will run ObamaCare, is in love with the failed British system, and has said he has a “romantic feeling” about it! He also openly calls this health care scheme a great way to “redistribute wealth” Something Ronald Reagan warned was the REAL goal of socialized medicine, when he spoke out 50 years ago! Berwick is very much on board with Dr Zeke's Complete Lives System as well. These are evil men.
This is not to take away from Cal Thomas' great column, which gets to Dr Berwick in due time, but I had to get the above off my chest first, and clarify exactly what sort of evil or as Sarah called it “downright evil” she was calling “death panels.”
Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to "death panels" deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed.
Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- the New York Times -- that she was right. Under a new policy not included in the law for fear the administration's real end-of-life game would be exposed, a rule issued by the recess-appointed Dr. Donald M. Berwick, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, calls for the government to pay doctors to advise patients on options for ending their lives.
These could include directives to forgo aggressive treatment that could extend their lives.
This rule will inevitably lead to bureaucrats deciding who is "fit" to live and who is not. The effect this might have on public opinion, which by a solid majority opposes Obamacare, is clear from an e-mail obtained by the Times. It is from Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who sent it to people working with him on the issue.
Oregon and Washington are the only states with assisted-suicide laws, a preview of what is to come at the federal level if this new regulation is allowed to stand. Blumenauer wrote in his November e-mail:
"While we are very happy with the result, we won't be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren't out of the woods yet. This regulation could be modified or reversed, especially if Republican leaders try to use this small provision to perpetuate the 'death panel' myth."
Ah, but it's not a myth, and that's where Palin nailed it. All inhumanities begin with small steps; otherwise the public might rebel against a policy that went straight to the "final solution."
All human life was once regarded as having value, because even government saw it as "endowed by our Creator." This doctrine separates us from plants, microorganisms and animals.
Doctors once swore an oath, which reads in part: "I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan; and similarly I will not give a woman a pessary to cause an abortion."
Did Dr. Berwick, a fan of rationed care and the British National Health Service, ever take that oath? If he did, it appears he no longer believes it.
Do you see where this leads? First the prohibition against abortion is removed and "doctors" now perform them. Then the assault on the infirm and elderly begins.
Once the definition of human life changes, all human lives become potentially expendable if they don't measure up to constantly "evolving" government standards.
It will all be dressed up with the best possible motives behind it and sold to the public as the ultimate benefit.
The killings, uh, terminations, will take place out of sight so as not to disturb the masses who might have a few embers of a past morality still burning in their souls. People will sign documents testifying to their desire to die, and the government will see it as a means of "reducing the surplus population," to quote Charles Dickens.
When life is seen as having ultimate value, individuals and their doctors can make decisions about treatment that are in the best interests of patients. But when government is looking to cut costs as the highest good and offers to pay doctors to tell patients during their annual visits that they can choose to end their lives rather than continue treatment, that is more than the proverbial camel's nose under the tent.
That is the next step on the way to physician-assisted suicide and, if not stopped, government-mandated euthanasia.
It can't happen here? Based on what standard?
Yes it can happen in America, and it will if the new Republican class in Congress doesn't stop it.
Chilling, isn't it?
Thomas makes the point well that government run health care, with a bunch of insane progressives at the helm is dangerous beyond anyone's wildest dreams.
Please don't take our word for it though. Do you're own research. There is no shortage of horrific stories from the UK, the exact system Berwick wants to create here, the one he has “romantic feelings” for.
Once your research is done, hit the phones and hold the new 112th Congress's feet to the fire and make sure the repeal of ObamaCare is job one, and stays job one, until they are successful.
Liberal pundits mock the rough and ready style of conservatives like Reagan, Bush or Palin in world affairs, but what they fail to realize is that the over-educated naivete, trendy cosmopolitanism and buzzword rich approach of a Kerry or Obama come off as laughably pathetic on the world stage. Republicans might be hated, but they can’t be ignored. Democrats on the other hand are catspaws and pawns, fools who are so sure of their cleverness and determined to embrace every culture in the way that only the graduates of Ivy League institutions can, that any Third World vendor could twirl them around his fingers.
~ Daniel Greenfield
Writing for Eurasia Review, Daniel Greenfield has written an absolutely devastating take on Barack Obama's inability to lead and his status as a joke on the worldwide. Greenfield also points to Sarah Palin, along with Presidents George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan as the sort of tough leaders who garners respect on the world stage.
Greenfield is a columnist born in Israel and currently living in New York City. He is a contributing editor at Family Security Matters and writes a daily blog column on Islamic Terrorism, Israeli and American politics and Europe's own clash of civilizations which can be found at Sultanknish.blogspot.com.
Here's a taste of what he has to say:
After the 2010 elections, it’s not exactly news that Obama has lost America. But in a less public referendum, he also lost the world. Obama’s cocktail party tour of the world’s capitals may look impressive on a map, but is irrelevant on a policy level. In less than two years, the White House has gone from being the center of world leadership to being irrelevant, from protecting world freedom to serving as a global party planning committee.
Even the Bush Administration’s harshest critics could never have credibly claimed that George W. Bush was irrelevant. He might have been hated, pilloried and shouted about– but he couldn’t be ignored. However Obama can be safely ignored. Invited to parties, given the chance to show off his cosmopolitan sophisticated by reciting one or two words in the local lingo, read off a teleprompter, along with some cant about the need for everyone to pull together and make the world a better place, and then dismissed for the rest of the evening.
As a world leader, he makes a passable party guest. He has a broad smile, brings along his own gifts and is famous in the way that celebrities, rather than prime ministers and presidents are famous. On an invitation list, he is more Bono than Sarkozy, Leonardo DiCaprio not Putin. You don’t invite him to talk turkey, not even on Thanksgiving. He’s just one of those famous people with a passing interest in politics who gets good media attention, but who has nothing worthwhile to say.
The only countries who take Obama seriously, are the ones who have to. The leaders of Great Britain, Israel and Japan– who have tied their countries to an enduring alliance with America based on mutual interests and values, only to discover that the latest fellow to sit behind the Oval Office desk no longer shares those values and couldn’t give less of a damn about American interests. It’s no wonder that European leaders ignore him as much as possible. Or that Netanyahu visited America, while Obama was abroad. Or that Japanese politics have become dangerously unstable.
On the enemy side, the growing aggressiveness of China, North Korea, Iran, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda can all be attributed to the global consensus that no one is at home in the White House.And if no one is at home in the White House, then that’s a perfect time to slap the big boy around the yard. China is doing it economically, the rest are doing it militarily. They’re all on board with Obama’s Post-American vision of the world. But unlike him and most liberals, they have a clear understanding of what that means. The America of some years back, which actually intimidated Libyan dictator Khaddafi into giving up his nuclear program, without lifting a hand against him is long gone. So is the Cedar Revolution. Syria and Iran are back in charge in Lebanon. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban are laughing at our soft power outreach efforts.
Obama’s soft power approach emphasizes the ‘soft’ and forgets the ‘power’. It neglects even Clinton era understandings about the role of America in the world, and reverts instead to a Carter era sense of guilt that bleeds into hostility toward American interests and allies. While the rest of the world puts their own interests first, they act like a cog in some imaginary global community, turning and turning toward the distant horizon of international brotherhood. While China, Russia and most of the world walk down their backs and up their jellyfish spines, laughing all the way. And America’s allies gird themselves and prepare for the worst.
Greenfield is spot on. Obama is more like an international jet-setting "playboy" than the President of the United States, a position that was also formally known as the Leader of the Free World. Obama is just the opposite. His ideology, a socialist-communist mix that centers around being a victim in need of "social justice" is a poor fit for the position of leader [in any capacity] but most especially the leader of all free peoples.
Obama doesn't even grasp the fundamentals of our own Constitution, one of the most important, and enduring documents ever created. He has professed on may occasions that it is a "flawed document." If this man finds our Constitution, a covenant between the people and government, guaranteeing our God given rights to Liberty and Freedom from an oppressive government, how can he be expected to lead the entire world, standing up for Freedom and Liberty everywhere?
We've talked a lot about Michelle Obama's crusade on fat. The reason being is it is the perfect example of the totalitarianism progressives believe in. The entire progressive philosophy centers around a command and control centralized government that has total domination of it's citizens, down the the most minute levels. It's no wonder Obama seems to identify more with our enemies, who run brutal regimes where their people have absolutely no freedom. They are so close to the progressive utopia that Obama and his fellow travelers envision for America.
We watched in horror as Obama stood by and did nothing while Freedom and Liberty seeking Iranians, finally summoning up the courage to protest their tyrannical and oppressive government, were slaughtered in the streets. After years of President George W Bush telling the Iranian people our quarrel wasn't with them, but with their leaders, and we would support them, when the time came for America to stand with these brave Iranians, Obama hid out, and then when he finally surfaced, he sided with the Iranian regime, not the Freedom and Liberty seeking Iranian people.
It was a pathetic performance by an even more pathetic man.
Sarah Palin has long spoken out about Obama's inability to lead. She talked about this during her Vice Presidential nomination acceptance speech in 2008, and has since written policy papers and op-eds dissecting the Obama foreign policy disaster. What she calls enemy-centric, is quite simply, Obama's want to coddle our enemies, while dismissing our allies worldwide. In my opinion, it's because Obama admires our enemies more than our allies, but that's just me.
Sarah Palin has demonstrated that she knows the difference between friend and foe, and has a solid grasp on how to deal with them. Her latest was taking Obama and most of Congress to task for wanting to sign the START treaty, a horrible document that ties our hands.
Obama and Senate leader Harry Reid jammed that treaty through the advise and consent process without a single hearing or meaningful discussion. It was so "important" that it just HAD to be ratified before Christmas, no matter how terrible it is. We NOW know the Russians are still going through the process of vetting and approving it. Who would have ever thought the Russian Parliament would be more careful and thoughtful about things than the so-called "world's greatest deliberative body" the United States Senate!
Sarah is right, of course. She had been speaking out against START since Obama took office. She was one of the only ones who saw the dangers. As we all know, Sarah, as Governor of Alaska, had the care and feeding of America's missile defense system on her plate. She took the Obama regime on as they tried to gut that system. Some "comedians" make jokes about Sarah and Russia [which she's taken to embracing, just to tweak the libs] but the fact is, Alaska and Russia are incredibly close to one another. The Alaska Territory was actually part of Russia until it was purchased at the urging of Secretary of State William H. Seward in 1867.
The Alaska Air National Guard, of which Sarah Palin was Commander-in-Chief, routinely escorts Russian aircraft out of Alaskan air space. In fact, on Sarah's watch, the 176th Wing received the United States Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for, among other things, maintaining North American air sovereignty and prosecuting 22 Russian bomber intercepts. These would be the Tu-95 "Bear" bombers.
Sarah knows first hand the dangers the United States and our allies face on a daily basis. She also understands the real evil that exists in the world, while Obama and his ilk tend to assign a moral equivalency to it all.
We look around, and Sarah Palin is the only potential presidential candidate that is standing up and speaking out on foreign policy. She's the only one of the bunch who seems to get it. It's not for nothing that Greenfield places her alongside tough leaders like Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, who had solid foreign policy.
Reagan won the cold war without firing a shot. The Soviet Union went bankrupt as they tried to develop countermeasures for a defense project that only existed in Reagan's head!
As Greenfield pointed out, thanks to Bush's no nonsense policy, taking out the leadership in Afghanistan and Iraq, Libya's Khaddafi, a big sponsor of worldwide terror himself, was so afraid he was next, he gave up all of Libya's nuclear weapons without protest. This was the direct result of the U.S. invading both Afghanistan and Iraq.
So far the only thing Obama has managed, is weakening our own nuclear capability, while allowing rogue states like Iran and North Korea to run wild.
Thanks to Obama's lack luster ability, Iran is shipping nuclear capable medium-range missiles to Venezuela. Not only will this destabilize the entire region, these missiles are capable of reaching targets within the United States.
It's the Cuban Missile Crisis on steroids, and we have no indication that the Obama regime is even trying to stop this. Nukes in Venezuela, with a crazed dictator in charge, would be a disaster for the entire world. But Obama's golf game is improving, and really, isn't that all that matters?
Sarah Palin has the temperament, experience, and good old fashioned common sense that we as a nation need in a Commander-in-Chief. Under Obama's inept presidency, exactly like under Carter's, the world has become a much more dangerous place. We needed Ronald Reagan to take charge after Carter. He was the only logical choice for that time. Today we need Sarah Palin to take charge, as she is the only logical choice for our time.
Online real estate marketer Zilliow.com surveyed American adults asking them who they would like to have living next door to them. As it turns out, Sandra Bullock and Sarah Palin topped the list coming in first and second respectively. The cast of Jersey Shore were voted "worst neighbors" in the polling.
From Reuters:
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans would most like to live next door to actress Sandra Bullock in 2011, but the cast of the reality show "Jersey Shore" made the most undesirable neighbors, according to a poll released on Tuesday.
Bullock, who has won huge audiences with her All-American, girl-next-door image, earned more than a quarter of the vote in the annual poll on the most desirable celebrity neighbors, conducted by online real estate marketplace Zillow.com.
She was followed by conservative Republican politician, Sarah Palin. That may bode well for people in Arizona as on Monday, headlines trumpeted the news that her daughter, Bristol Palin, had bought a home in the state.
President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha dropped three places to No. 4 on the list after coming out on top last year. They were proceeded by talk show hosts Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia DeRossi at No. 3. Rounding out the top five was talk show host Conan O'Brien.
This comes on the heels of Sarah Palin being named to Gallup's "Most Admired Woman" Top 10 for the third year in a row. For the ninth consecutive year, Hillary Clinton was chosen as the "Most Admired Woman" with Sarah Palin being chosen second for her third consecutive year in a row.
The Gallup poll asks those surveyed to choose both the most admired man and most admired woman living anywhere in the world.
You can see the full results of that polling here.
We've said this before, but get used to seeing "Sarah Palin was right and [fill in the blank] was wrong" a lot in the many years to come.
Though he comes at it from a different angle, the editors of National Review Online highlight prominent New York University obesity-policy scholar Rogan Kersh's take on the obesity issue. Our take is the First Lady and Huckabee are Big Government, Nanny State progressives who are a direct threat to personal Liberty and Freedom. Kersh comes at it from the medical angle and scientific angle.
From NRO:
One key ingredient in Sarah Palin’s political dynamite is the cheerful scorn with which she regards Washington, a small but zesty serving of which she recently dished up for First Lady Michelle Obama and her anti-obesity crusade. During an episode of her reality show, the once (and future?) candidate cooked up a mess of hot s’mores and a side of even hotter politics, declaring: “This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert.”
Palin was being over-generous in her paraphrase. What Mrs. Obama in fact said was considerably more worrisome: “We can’t just leave it up the parents.” Her particular target was unhealthful school lunches, which parents presumably require help from distant federal authorities to improve; it is clear from this and much else that the first lady envisions a very broad role for the federal government in menu planning. If her vision leaves any room for limitation on government interference in family affairs, it is impossible to detect it. Palin, responding specifically to this boundless license for federal meddling, later expanded on her views: “Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us, according to some politician’s — or politician’s wife’s — priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us, as individuals, to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions.” (There is something particularly delicious in Palin’s tone when she pronounces the words “politician’s wife” — if there should be such a thing as a Palin administration, we are confident that the apparently easygoing Mr. Palin will not evolve into the first scold.)
As is the case with practically all things Palin, this latest statement has led to a predictable chorus of harrumphing nanny-staters, not every one of whom is obviously qualified to lecture the body politic on healthful eating. CNN’s fulsome Roland Martin declared Palin’s observation “so stupid that it defies logic,” and added that the former governor is too ignorant to “understand how devastating obesity is to the future of the United States.” Defying logic, Mr. Martin, along with practically all of Mrs. Palin’s critics on the issue, is missing a piece in his argument: specifically, even a smattering of evidence that busybody campaigns of the sort in which Mrs. Obama is engaged are likely to do more good than harm when it comes to extraordinarily complex issues such as obesity — which is indeed positioned to impose significant costs, both financial and human, on the American people.
The evidence is, in fact, to the contrary, suggesting that well-intentioned government policies will make the problem worse: To the extent that political action has thus far affected American obesity, it has been a thumb on the wrong side of the scales, subsidizing the worst kinds of foods through the farm-subsidy and school-lunch programs, and often giving out precisely the wrong kind of dietary advice.
Obesity is, in truth, among our least tractable public-health problems. It is an absolute Gordian knot of nutrition, behavior, genetics, child-rearing environments, hormonal biology, economics, and other factors too numerous and too subtle to catalog. As New York University obesity-policy scholar Rogan Kersh has noted, the problem “has proved impervious to clinical treatment or public-health exhortation,” and it is by no means clear what, if anything, public policy can accomplish, or what the best avenue for reform is, if indeed there is one. For an administration prone to smug castigation of its predecessors for their allegedly insufficient deference to scientific expertise, the Obama team is here shockingly cavalier about a scientific question of substantial depth and complexity. If Mrs. Obama, between her undergraduate major in sociology, her minor in African-American studies, and her law degree somehow managed also to acquire a great deal of expertise regarding a medical issue that has proved remarkably difficult for actual scholars and learned authorities, she has not seen fit to share how and where she acquired it.
Mrs. Obama’s “eat your veggies” crusade is at once a remarkably shallow response and a remarkably ambitious one: She may know next to nothing about the deeper issues, but she has adamant faith that the transformative quality of political power will allow even the most ignorant politician — or politician’s wife — to ameliorate any problem, even one that has thus far proved “impervious to clinical treatment.” By the same token, Mrs. Palin’s dismissal of that conceit contains more wisdom than is understood by political entrepreneurs of the Obama variety or by their factota in the media. Advantage: Palin.
First ladies have their causes, the general rule of which is that they do less damage the farther away from public policy they stay. If the Obama administration should happen to win the wars (and keep the won wars won) and balance the budget, head off the looming fiscal crisis, and present the American people with the head of Osama bin Laden, perhaps at that time it can get back to us about the broccoli. Until then, we have more of an appetite for Mrs. Palin’s healthy skepticism of governmental ambition than for Mrs. Obama’s overegged federal pudding: Washington has enough on its plate.
Dr Kersh is right, of course. Now granted there are lazy people who just eat too much and won't exercise, but for every one of those there are dozens who have real problems maintaining "approved weight." These issues are indeed complex. One can simply lose the genetic lottery, or there can be a combination of problems. Since science and medicine haven't found cures, it's reasonable to think no government intrusion in our lives can.
In the end, it all boils down to Freedom and Liberty. Of course, with Freedom and Liberty comes personal responsibility. This is something progressives can't tolerate. A free people, left to make their own decisions, good or bad, doesn't NEED government's help. That puts the progressives out of business, since their entire reason for living is telling others how to live their life. [No matter how poor of a job they have done living their own!]
The government already has problems fulfilling it constitutional requirements, only a fool would think having government take even MORE control of our lives will turn out well.
An inspirational Christmas address from Ronald Reagan's first Christmas at the White House. A wonderful speech filled with joy, hope, and Reagan's undying optimism.
God Bless Ronald Reagan, God Bless America, and may everyone experience the miracle of Christmas this glorious season.
Special thanks to Whitney Z for sending this video our way.
If you are still looking for a cause to donate to this Christmas, allow me to make a suggestion. Todd, Bristol, Greta Van Susteren, and I recently traveled to Haiti to witness first hand the amazing work done by Rev. Franklin Graham’s organization Samaritan’s Purse. Bristol wrote about our experiences on her Facebook page here.
In an effort to fight a deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti, Samaritan’s Purse has flown over a dozen flights carrying vital medical supplies to the two cholera treatment centers it has been running since the start of the outbreak. These centers, run by medical volunteers from the U.S., Canada, and the UK, have helped save the lives of nearly 5,000 patients.
The cholera treatment centers are part of a larger Samaritan’s Purse effort aimed at restoring the human dignity and economic independence of the Haitian people. Since the disastrous earthquake in January of this year, Samaritan’s Purse has spent $29 million on relief, helping more than half a million people by building 10,000 shelters (more than half of the shelters built in Haiti to date have been put up by Samaritan’s Purse); providing non-cholera related medical assistance (including 250 surgeries) to a total of 43,000 patients; providing clean drinking water to more than 75,000 people; and clearing the rubble from 179 building sites.
None of this would have been possible without the generosity of countless small donors. With all the blessings bestowed upon us in this great country of ours, we also have an opportunity to share those blessings with people who are less fortunate. Samaritan’s Purse is doing exactly that – saving lives one person at a time.
If you’d like to support the great work Samaritan’s Purse does in Haiti and around the world, please visit their website.
The people of Haiti are in real trouble. The cholera outbreak is killing them off left and right. The conditions after the earthquake are deplorable. To make matter's worse, their government is in complete turmoil. This is a good lesson in my depending on government isn't the best course of action. Even though this is one of the things governments should try to help with, depending on them can be hazardous to your health.
Samaritan's Purse is doing God's work down there. They are making a real difference. If you are looking to give to a worthy charity that will actually make a difference, this is the one.
Both Sarah and Bristol have a bunch of photos from their trip to Haiti, taken by shutterbug Greta Van Susteren. They are both heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. Visit Sarah's page here and Bristol's page here to check them out.
Recently a couple of Washington elites, Republican “strategist” and Fox News talking head Karl Rove and columnist and Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer have decided to weigh in on all things Sarah Palin.
Karl Rove “The Architect” [of WHAT I have no idea] has stated that writing books and having a so-called “reality show" just doesn't display the proper “gravitas” befitting a United States President. Note these GOP elites, just like the dishonest media, refer to Sarah's travelogue as a “reality show” in the pejorative. It's a dishonest attempt to compare a show about the beauty and magnificence of Alaska, with a look into the Palin family's life, with Jersey Shore, or the Real Housewives of wherever.
It's pretty sad. But it's all these people have. No ideas, no substance. Just petty snark. Here's a hint for ya Karl. Snark doesn't equal gravitas either pal!
Charles Krauthammer, the very epitome of the Beltway elite, who has no idea what life outside the Washington bubble is about, has recently said Sarah's two best selling books, and her mega-hit TLC show are “distractions” and if she wants to be taken serious she needs to “study up.” I guess that's an improvement from last year when, after framing the ObamaCare debate with two powerful words,[death panels] Charles declared that Sarah should “leave the room.”
Nothing elitist about that at all. Nope, no way.
With those two little words Sarah changed the entire debate. And while ObamaCare was passed, it was the fight of Obama's life, took multi-billion dollar bribes to get votes, and will be repealed before it ever takes full effect. Thanks to Sarah Palin firing people up, and keeping them fired up, more people now than ever are demanding this dangerous legislation be repealed. The direct result of her unrelenting campaign against ObamaCare, and other dangerous initiatives, are the recent historic elections.
But Charles is the smart one. Don't you DARE to forget that.
I guess Charles can't lower himself to read the dozens of op-eds in many of the nation's largest and most influential newspapers Sarah has written, on ever major issue of our time. I'm sure it's beneath Charles to go over to Facebook and read the hundreds of notes, read by millions, on serious issue. Why the man might have to rub elbows [if only online] with us commoners.
For her part, Sarah was invited on Bill O'Reilly’s show, the night after Krauthammer once again made a fool of himself. She was brilliant in her refudiation of these little Washington elites.
In case you missed it, the occasion of Krauthammer's appearance on the O'Reilly Factor was to handicap the 2012 GOP field. Predictable, for an elite, Charles declared Mitt Romney the front runner, but admitted he was not going to be successful because of RomneyCare. [yeah, that took some real genius to figure out!] So when pressed, Krauthammer professed him man crush on Mitch Daniels.
I haven't written much about Mitch Daniels, because it's hard to stop laughing long enough to type anytime he is mentioned as a serious presidential contender.
Daniels was George w Bush's Director of Budget Management. [let that sink in a minute] Recently, when asked about this by Fox News' Bret Baier, in the context of how fiscally irresponsible the Bush years were, Daniels kinda did the “wasn't my job man” dance. You know, because the Director of Budget Management for the President of the United States has nothing to do with all that money stuff!
Daniels has also famously called for a “truce” on all social issues. [because the democrat's social engineering NEVER costs us any money] Daniels is strongly in favor of a European style value added tax [VAT] on all goods and services. This national tax would be in addition to the income tax.[let THAT sink in a moment]
Just the other day Daniels also said we should ignore the abortion issue, because it gets in the way of the money stuff. I don't know about you, but to me, the right to life is the most basic human right there is. It's a fight we should never give up, not for one second.
In other words Mitch Daniels is not a serious candidate. But he's “smart.”
I'm still trying to figure out why Charles Krauthammer's opinion, especially on what and who is “presidential” even matters. Krauthammer's biggest claim to fame is he used to be a speech writer for far left presidential candidate Walter Mondale. [and yet, Charles is allowed to pass himself off as a Conservative]
Mondale was Vice President to mega-failure President Jimmy Carter. He ran against President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
How formidable was Krauthammer's man, Mondale? Ronald Reagan won 49 states and 525 electoral votes. [out of a possible 538] Mondale won his home state of Minnesota and it's 13 electoral votes by only 0.18%, and the District of Columbia. Literally a hand full of votes going Republican in Minnesota could have given Reagan a 50 state sweep!
That Krauthammer sure can pick em, huh!
These elites who are constantly sniping at Sarah Palin do so, not because they honestly think she isn't “presidential,” [whatever the hell that means] but because they have an agenda. The Republican establishment fears Sarah Palin. Not the lady, as much as what she represents. Like Ronald Reagan before her, Sarah is a movement Conservative. She doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk. She is the real deal and has put the principles of Reagan Conservatism into practice every day of her 20 year career as a public servant.
Sarah is also a reformer. Has been since her earliest days as a member of the city council in Wasilla. The GOP elites know she sent a bunch of dirty Republicans to the hoosegow over the massive corruption she uncovered. The fact they were members of her own party mattered nothing to her. This scares both parties in Washington, but scares the Republican establishment the most. When Sarah Palin says she would go to Washington to “shake things up” she means it! [and they know it]
Sorry to ramble on, I promised this would be about Sarah Palin's Alaska, and it is.
You see, I laugh at these little elites like Rove and Krauthammer, who think doing a wonderful show about Alaska, and life living in what is truly the last frontier, is somehow beneath a serious person.
I guess these two idiots never heard of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom!
When I was a kid growing up, millions were glued to the TV on Saturdays to watch this adventure show hosted by Marlin Perkins, of the St Louis Zoo, and sponsored by the Omaha, Nebraska based insurance company. Every week we watched as Perkins and his crew showed us another adventure. Much like Sarah's show, there was a bit of a “reality” component, as well. These were great shows.
I wasn't a big fan, but millions also watched the many Jacques Cousteau underwater adventures that featured as much, or more , family interaction [“reality”] as does Sarah Palin's Alaska.
For the life of me, I can't recall a single human being questioning whether Marlin Perkins or Jacques Cousteau were “serious people”.
Look, times change, and styles change. OF COURSE Sarah Palin's Alaska may have a slightly different style than the two celebrated shows mentioned above, but so what? Everything gets modernized and updated for current times. Nothing in the media is like it was 40-50 years ago, including the news media where these nay-saying pundits get to spout off!
I for one greatly enjoy seeing Alaska in high definition!
As for being a serious outdoors woman somehow not being “presidential,” if that was true, why is it “serious candidates” like Mitt Romney and John Kerry [who served in Vietnam] go through such ridiculous kabuki theater to pander to the American people by pretending to be “life long hunters”?
Who can ever forget the pathetic attempt by John Kerry [ a Vietnam vet] to look “with it” when he walks into a shop asking: "Can I get me a huntin' license heyah?"
These guys, Romney and Kerry, who aren't sure which end of a gun to point at the target, are “serious people” but Sarah Palin, who has hunted, fished, and lived the frontier life since childhood is not?
Give me a break.
Someone else who might give Rove and Krauthammer's notions a pretty strong rebuff, if he were with us today, is President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt is just as well known for his love of the outdoors, and his adventures as a hunter and fisherman, as he is for his exploits in Cuba during the Spanish-American war, or as President.
Like Sarah Palin, Roosevelt loved the land and all of the wildlife. Not sure how many people today even know that the “teddy bear” all children grow up loving, was named for President Roosevelt, after an incident involving a bear cub, while the President was in Mississippi to resolve a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. You can read that wonderful little story here.
I doubt Sarah and Teddy would see eye to eye on most politics. Roosevelt was a progressive who believed in big government, and overstepped his authority on many occasions, and Sarah, of course, is a Conservative. But the two share a love for the great outdoors, and a penchant for reform.
I can imagine the President who created the concept of a nation parks system would enjoy the notion of a President today who shares his love and respect for the great outdoors, even if that President happens to be a girl!
Sadly, I doubt little elites like Rove and Krauthammer will ever get it. That's all right, the American people do.
Let me leave you with this:
Larry Johnson wrote this over at No Quarter. I think it speaks well to the impact of Sarah Palin, and Sarah Palin's Alaska:
A Sarah Palin Christmas
Don’t kill the messenger. I’m just reporting what I saw. Last night we hosted a Christmas Party at our house for the nurses who work for my wife. My wife is a nurse manager and has a staff of 67 (the fact that no human being should have to write fitness reports on 67 people is another matter for another time).
Among the more than 50 people crowded into our house were a small group of teenagers, boys and girls. I have a pool table in my basement alongside a nice 50 inch flat panel TV. Playing eight ball and watching some tube. Life is good. It is a sort of man cave environment. Three of the teenage boys were eager to play billiards and I obliged them. A fourteen and fifteen year old tandem of Irish twins played me and a ten year old boy.
Now you’re asking, I'm sure, what the hell does this have to do with Sarah Palin?
When the billiards match concluded (yes, I beat up on the 14 and 15 year old boys) the boys decided to sit down and watch some tube. It is not your normal system and the remote is not easy to figure out so I offered to get them the channel they wanted. Imagine my shock when all three–the ten year old boy, the fourteen and the fifteen year old–requested SARAH PALIN’S ALASKA. I have HBO, Showtime, Encore and NFL Network. Although I do not subscribe to the Playboy channel it was late enough at night that I’m sure Showtime had a nude fest on somewhere.
Yet, despite all of those options, the boys wanted to watch Sarah Palin’s show. Hell, I did not even realize it was on. These guys knew where and when the show was on. That tells me something about the Sarah phenomena. She is resonating with a segment of society I never imagined would have a clue about her.
One of the boys did confess that he found Sarah’s daughter, and I’m quoting here, “HOT.” I found that reassuring in that one would expect teenage boys to be thinking about girls.
Democrats beware. All of your attacks on Sarah Palin and your attempts to demonize her or demean her intellect are likely to backfire. You know Sarah is a genuine phenomena when you are confronted with the fact that three boys with a chance to watch anything on TV choose to watch Sarah.
How’s that for a Christmas story?
For those not familiar with Johnson, here's his bio:
Larry C. Johnson is a former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, who moved subsequently in 1989 to the U.S. Department of State, where he served four years as the deputy director for transportation security, antiterrorism assistance training, and special operations in the State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism.
He left government service in October 1993 and set up a consulting business. He currently is the co-owner and CEO of BERG Associates, LLC (Business Exposure Reduction Group) and is an expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, and crisis and risk management, and money laundering investigations. Johnson is the founder and main author of No Quarter, a weblog that addresses issues of terrorism and intelligence and politics. NoQuarterUSA was nominated as Best Political Blog of 2008.
This is someone who's career has been based on making observations and analyzing trends. While Johnson doesn't say it here, I think we can all see the obvious:
Sarah Palin's Alaska [and Sarah Palin herself] are more relevant [an influential] than Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer.
Andrea Pedregon, wife of two time NHRA Funny Car World Champion Tony Pedregon, has created a cool 2011 calender featuring the wives of 12 of the National Hot Rod Association's top drivers.
Help Support Melanoma Skin Cancer Research
Andrea’s Friend Angi, husband Brian, daughter Brooke & son Hunter This full color calendar featuring the NHRA Wives and Driver Husbands is an effort by the Andrea Pedregon Charity Foundation to raise funds to support Melanoma research.Driven by the loss of a childhood friend due to Melanoma, Andrea Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Team Manager and wife of two time NHRA Funny Car Champion Tony Pedregon pledged to make a difference by helping raise funds to defeat the terrible skin cancer disease.
Andrea’s friend Angi’s story and photo will be included on the calendar, along with the 12 NHRA Drivers Wives and Husbands who are helping with this fundraiser. You too can make a difference by purchasing a calendar or multiple calendars.
The wives featured on this calender, which will most certainly be a prized collectable, are:
Kim Anderson (Greg Anderson – Pro Stock Car)
Tracey Bernstein (Brandon Bernstein- Top Fuel Dragster)
Billie Brown (Antron Brown- Top Fuel Dragster)
Shelley Capps (Ron Capps – Funny Car)
Ali Dixon (Larry Dixon- Top Fuel Dragster)
Samantha Kenny Coughlin (Jeg Coughlin – Pro Stock Car)
Adria Hight (Robert Hight – Funny Car)
Annemarie Krawiec (Eddie Krawiec – Pro Stock Bike)
Cindy Line (Jason Line – Pro Stock Car)
Andrea Pedregon (Tony Pedregon- Funny Car)
Connie Worshan (Del Worsham – Top Fuel Dragster)
Pam Johnson (Allen Johnson, Pro Stock Car)
This is a worthy cause. Skin cancer is a serious disease. You can help out and get a neat calender at the same time.
Order your 2011 Real Housewives of NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing from Tony Pedregon Racinghere.
Who among us can contain their excitement? The GOP presidential primary season has begun!
By my count, there are 24 people who are beneficiaries of nontrivial presidential buzz: Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, John Thune, Tim Pawlenty, Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence, Rick Santorum, Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Paul Ryan, David Petraeus, Ron Paul, Jeb Bush, John Bolton, Bob McDonnell, Jim DeMint, Chris Christie, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Judd Gregg, Marco Rubio and Rick Perry.
And, with a heavy heart, I take it upon myself to winnow the field down for you.
~ Jonah Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg has penned one of the more interesting pieces I've read on the 2012 Republican Presidential field.
Two things struck me though. One of them about Mike Huckabee:
Also, there's growing buzz that Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and a fierce defender of his top-tier contender status, may not run at all because he's got a big new contract with Fox News in the works.
This is not surprising. Huckabee is a media darling because his support is a mile wide, but an inch deep. The Conservative base wants nothing to do with him, especially when he pulls stunts like this.
Huckabee's fund raising ability is comical with HuckPAC, his political action committee, doing all it can just to stay afloat. As we get closer to 2012, Huckabee's record as a Big Government tax and spend progressive is not going to play well. Not in this political environment.
It's always struck me as a bit hypocritical. The left, their media partners, and the GOP elites always try and label Sarah Palin as “just a celebrity” and “not a serious candidate” and yet, she's the one out there raising millions of dollars, helping get over 60 Republicans elected to office, and releasing important policy statements on every pressing issue of our time.
Meanwhile Huckabee's the one with the weekly TV show that's a cross between Oprah and a 21st Century version of Hee-Haw! If Goldberg's sources are right, it's Huckabee, not Sarah, who is just in it for the money.
Tell me, who is the “serious” one is again?
Speaking of Sarah, Goldberg after narrowing things down, and coming up with an interesting field of contenders, has this to say about Sarah Palin:
Palin probably has the most devoted following among actual voters.
That one sentence says it all. While the media has their favorites [the ones who they know will lose to Obama] and the GOP establishment has their boys [who will make sure it's all business as usual] the American people, the ones who will actually decide the elections, prefer Sarah Palin.
Why not buy a loved one a gift this holiday season that they really need!
~ Betty Cockrum president and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Indiana
'Cause nothing says: “Hey, let's celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior!” like murdering some babies.
Planned Parenthood, the organization founded by racist and eugenicist Margret Sanger, who called Negroes, and other ”undesirables,” “human weeds,” has found a new low to sink to. Sanger, a darling of Klan rallies everywhere, worked tirelessly to legitimize abortion, to make it palpable to Americans as a “women's health issue.” The real agenda was to use abortion as a way to eliminate the Negro population in America.
If you've never visited the website BlackGenocide.org, it's a true learning experience as you delve into the evil that is the progressive moment in America.
Life Newsreports an affiliate of Planned Parenthood: Planned Parenthood of Indiana, is offering gift certificates that can be used to purchase, among other things, abortions.
Indianapolis, IN (LifeNews.com) – In what could easily become the most offensive Christmas offer ever a Planned Parenthood affiliate is offering Christmas gift certificates. Purchasers can use them to give the gift of abortion even though the group claims that’s not its purpose or intent.
"Looking for an unusual, yet practical gift this holiday season? Planned Parenthood of Indiana (PPIN) is now offering gift certificates for services or the recipient’s choice of birth control method," the abortion business says.
The gift certificates can be purchased in increments of $25 online at the group’s web site or for any amount at some of PPIN’s 35 statewide facilities.
While PPIN president and CEO Betty Cockrum says they can be redeemed for contraception, birth control and legitimate medical services like breast exams and Pap tests, they can also be used to pay for abortions.
"Why not buy a loved one a gift this holiday season that they really need," Cockrum says in a press release LifeNews.com obtained. "The gift certificates are also a wonderful idea for that person in your life who puts everyone else first."
"Please join Planned Parenthood of Indiana and give the gift of health this holiday season," she adds.
According to Chrystal Struben-Hall, PPIN’s vice president, buyers of gift certificates can give the gift of death, too.
She confirmed to WISH-TV that they can be used for abortions, even though that’s not the intended purpose.
"They really are intended for preventative healthcare. We decided not to put restrictions on the gift certificates so it’s for whatever people feel they need the services for most," she said.
Indiana Family Institute President Curt Smith told the television station he is"appalled" by the gift certificates and thinks a better way to help women is to provide financial support for the dozens of pregnancy centers around the state.
"I think the way to help family planning is to give the money where there’s no agenda. So if somebody wants to help a woman at a time of crisis, they can support the life centers throughout Indiana," he said.
How cosmopolitan.
So enlightened.
By the way, your tax dollars fund these abortion mills.
How anyone with good conscience can market the wholesale slaughter of children, in the same manner Wal-Mart markets housewares, is beyond comprehension.
Abortion is one of the most barbaric activities humans engage in.
Of course, these are the same people who lose their minds when someone hunts a caribou to fill their freezer for the winter, or stuns a big halibut with a club before preparing it for market.
You have to wonder what sort of mind processes information in this manner.
There's a lot to be said for demanding a prohibition of local, state, and federal dollars being used to fund abortion factories like Planned Parenthood, but until we address the diseased ideology that thinks it acceptable to murder an other human being, just because it's an inconvenience to the mother, [or father … whatever] we will never be the nation we are supposed to be.
A people are judged by the way they treat the least among them. Sadly, when the time of reckoning occurs, we are going to be judged quite harshly.
I saw this little nugget over at Hot Air. At first I was going to let it go, but thought it merited some actual commentary, rather than Allahpundit's inane musings about potential web hits.
For those unfamiliar with this little back and forth, Michelle Obama has been out there shilling for a “food safety bill” that would all but destroy independent farmers, and even has the ability to restrict [or eliminate] home gardens. In other words it's another Big Government power grab that destroys a significant amount of Freedom and Liberty. It limits choices, and in a pinch, could even prohibit one from growing their own food for their own consumption.
As part of this Freedom and Liberty destroying package, there is an initiative that would try and force “children” to eat so-called healthy food, while banning everything else. I put “children” in quotations because depending on what democrats are selling, “children” can mean anyone up to 30 years old!
This program of oppression, for those keeping score, has a price tag of around $4.5 billion, to start. [just for Michelle's little pet project] By the way, thanks to Republicans from states where Big Agriculture makes generous campaign donations, this monstrosity, the “food safety bill,” is now the law of the land.
Here's the deal. This is one more situation where Big Daddy government, [or should I say Big Nanny] is going to tell you how you MUST live your life.
Rather than allowing parents to educate their own kids, and control what they eat, some little elite in Washington is going to control yet one more part of your life, and there will be nothing you can do about it [unless you are wealthy and send the kids to a private school or home school them]
This is where Sarah Palin comes in. While Michelle Obama has been out there preaching her nonsense, Sarah has been having fun with her. There was talk of banning school bake sales, so Sarah shows up at a school where she was giving a speech, cookies in hand! She's been tweeting about this stuff for some time, just wearing MO out.
This really got going though after this past Sunday's airing of Sarah Palin's Alaska. While getting ready to do a bit of camping, after some white water rafting, Sarah is looking for the goodies to make s'mores, and dedicates them to MO because the First Lady “says we aren't supposed to have desert”
It was hilarious!
Bear in mind now, SP'sAK was filmed in the summer, months ago, when the debate was in full swing.
Of course, there was some buzz around the “cookie incident” at the time, but it seems Sunday's episode turned into an international story. All one has to do is search Bing to find stories from around the world, mostly progressives losing their minds.How DARE Sarah Palin be against totalitarian rule!
That's what makes Huckabee's little “me too” so sad.. This isn't exactly fresh ground.
Look, childhood obesity is a real problem. But it's not because we have stupid or lazy parents who can't teach their kids to eat right, and don't control what they eat at home. The school cafeteria food is no worse than it was when I was in school over 40 years ago. It was crappy then too.
The problem isn't calorie intake, or “self control.” At least not for most of these kids. The problem is the schools. When I was in school we had exercise every single day. In grade school we had “recess” but that went from kinda hanging out and running around, to playing organized games like baseball and daily calisthenics. By the time we got to Jr High, we were running our butts off, and sweating in gym class every day, lifting weights, playing baseball, basketball and so on. This was everyone, not just those on the organized school teams. Where I grew up, the many Jr High's were basically a farm system for the city's one high school, and it's football team, which was a powerhouse.
In most schools, this is gone. With progressives in control of education …. recess, PE, whatever you care to call it … is a thing of the past. They are much too busy with social engineering and indoctrination to have even the most rudimentary forms of exercise available.
Now I also know video games and other “sit on your ass” activities are an issue as well, but parents are the ones to kick Jr out of the house and tell them to do something physical, not Big Daddy Government.
Probably wouldn't hurt the parents to get out there as well.
What Sarah Palin was mocking Michelle Obama for was not about wanting to do something about fat kids. Sarah was wearing Michelle out for daring to suggest the federal government take control, stealing Liberty and Freedom, [and spending billions of our dollars] to achieve her goals.
As someone who values Freedom and Liberty as much as life itself, Sarah, like most of us, simply cannot fathom anyone allowing government to continually encroach on our basic, God-given right of self-determination. We have the God-given right to live our lives as we please, as long as we aren't interfering with someone else's God-right to do the same.
Now as parents, we are responsible for our children. We do have the right [and responsibility] to control what they do, as we teach them right from wrong, and impart life's wisdom on them. This is the right of parents, not the federal government. In fact, reaching into someone's home, and taking over these most basic rights, by force, is as big of a usurpation of the Constitution as it gets.
Will parents screw up and feed their kids junk food instead of whatever is deemed healthy this week? Sure they will. But it's their right to.
Now if MO and Big Nanny Huckabee were talking about spending money on an eduction initiative to teach parents and children about healthy choices, that would be a whole 'nuther ball game. Same is true if they were going to double down and require all schools to have a serious physical exercise program available to anyone who wanted to participate. I'm talking requiring schools to offer, not students to participate. Parents could opt their children out at their discretion. I could get on board with that.
But that's not what MO and Big Mike support. No, these two, and many more progressives like them, think you are too stupid to live your life without the government telling you every move to make. What to eat. What to wear. What to drive. What kind of light bulbs to use. The list of government intrusion into our lives is endless.
Of course, this is not new territory for Mike Huckabee. He's been trying to sell himself off as a “conservative” for some time now, both on the 2008 campaign trail, and on his lame Fox News talk show.But it's all an act.
He talks the talk, at times, and has a lot of people fooled, but his record as Governor of Arkansas is one of a Big Government Statist. A Nanny Stater who makes New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, look like a piker.
Michael D Tanner, of the CATO Institute. wrote a scathing assessment of Huckabee called “The Biggest Big Government Conservative.” Besides pointing out his poor record, scoring a “F” on fiscal issues, Tanner delves into Huckabee's progressive tendencies. What Karl Rove would call “Compassionate Conservatism” …. but on steroids.
This needs to be a warning to anyone thinking Mike Huckabee should be anything but a talk show host with a talent for so-so base playing.
One of the wonderful things about Sarah Palin is she has a knack for exposing phonies like Mike Huckabee.
I don't think she actually tries to do this, BTW. Sarah is just someone who walks the walk. She's also someone who says what she thinks. It's just her nature as she goes about doing her thing.
It's the reactions that Sarah causes, to her just living life, that are telling. People constantly expose themselves as less than desirable when they react to her. I can't explain why this happens so often, but it's fun to watch, and someday it will be interesting to write an essay cataloging all of the folks who were exposed by Sarah just being Sarah. The piece would be quite long.
The bottom line is this: The federal government has absolutely no right to reach so deeply into one's life, and control so much of it. Every time they do, a big old chunk of Freedom and Liberty are gone. Gone forever. Liberty lost never returns. [at least not without drastic action]
Sarah Palin, in her own wonderful style, is out there advocating for maximum human Freedom and Liberty. The Freedom and Liberty to enjoy life to it's fullest, without Big Daddy Government looking over your shoulders and questioning your every move, and sometimes outlawing moves altogether.
When government gets so deeply involved in the minutia of our lives, we loose our Freedom to choose how we live our lives. We lose all of our personal Liberties.
Sarah knows this well, and cautions against runaway government on a daily basis. She advocates daily for personal Freedom and Liberty.
On the other hand, here is Mike Huckabee not being able to help himself. He is a life long Big Government progressive, a Statist, and has the record tom prove it. He, along with most progressives, think the average person is too stupid to care for themselves, and Big Daddy Government must step in and do everything for you, lest you make “bad” choices. [as determined by them] It's an insult to our Founding Fathers, and the American people.
On a personal note, when it comes time to take advice on fitness and healthy eating, I'd listen to Sarah Palin, a superb athlete whose running prowess landed her a cover story in Runners World [a story so popular it crashed their website] and someone who eats healthy, organic food most of the time, rather than a couple of con artists who, when told to “haul ass”, need to take two loads!
Just as Ronald Reagan once denounced an "evil empire" and looked forward to a time when communism was left on the "ash heap of history," we should look forward to a future where the twisted ideology and aggressive will to dominate of Khomeini and his successors are consigned to history's dustbin.
~ Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin has penned a strong op-ed for USA Today laying out the case we need to get serious with Iran:
Iran continues to defy the international community in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons. Arab leaders in the region rightly fear a nuclear-armed Iran. We suspected this before, but now we know for sure because of leaked diplomatic cables. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia "frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program," according to these communications. Officials from Jordan said the Iranian nuclear program should be stopped by any means necessary. Officials from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt saw Iran as evil, an "existential threat" and a sponsor of terrorism. If Iran isn't stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons, it could trigger a regional nuclear arms race in which these countries would seek their own nuclear weapons to protect themselves.
That wouldn't be the only catastrophic consequence for American interests in the Middle East. Our credibility and reputation would suffer a serious blow if Iran succeeds in producing its own nuclear weapons after we've been claiming for years that such an event could not and would not be tolerated. A nuclear-armed and violently anti-American Iran would be an enormous threat to us and to our allies. Israel in particular would face the gravest threat to its existence since its creation. Iran's leaders have repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, and Iran already possesses missiles that can reach Israel. Once these missiles are armed with nuclear warheads, nothing could stop the mullahs from launching a second Holocaust. It's only a matter of time before Iran develops missiles that could reach U.S. territory.
Even without nuclear weapons, Iran has provided arms used to kill American soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran is also the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. It has shielded al-Qaeda leaders, including one of Osama bin Laden's sons. Imagine how much worse it would be for us if this regime acquired nuclear weapons.
This is just the warm up. Read the entire op-ed here.
Sarah goes on to take President Obama to task for not taking a strong and principled stance on Iran. She also notes we must stand behind those in Iran who seek Freedom and Liberty from the oppressive regime.
As we all remember [and watched in horror] as the Obama regime actually stood by the Iranian government, while it slaughtered protesters who attempted to rise up and gain a little Freedom and Liberty for themselves. Not exactly one of America's finest hours.
Taking tough, decisive action against Iran is a must. We simply cannot allow the current situation to continue. Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terror, and now they are sending nuclear capable missiles to Venezuela. Missiles capable of reaching the United States. Mad man Hugo Chavez will most certainly use these missiles to destabilize the region, and they could be used as first strike weapons against the U.S.
Look, there is no doubt President Sarah Palin would be just as tough on Iran as Ronald Reagan was on the Soviet Union. There wouldn't be any missiles heading to Venezuela, that's for damned sure!
The problem is, we can't wait two years for President Palin to take office. We need action and we need action now. The Obama regime doesn't exactly instill much confidence, but we can most certainly put pressure on Congress to in turn pressure the regime to act. If you don't already have your Senators and Congressmen on speed dial, now is the time to hit those phone lines and create a stir.
This is not just an issue of our national security, it's an issue of world security.
Anna Mahjar-Barducci with the Hudson Institute reports Iran is supplying Venezuela with medium-range missiles capable of reaching the United States:
Iran is planning to place medium-range missiles on Venezuelan soil, based on western information sources, according to an article in the German daily, Die Welt, of November 25, 2010. According to the article, an agreement between the two countries was signed during the last visit o Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Tehran on October19, 2010. The previously undisclosed contract provides for the establishment of a jointly operated military base in Venezuela, and the joint development of ground-to-ground missiles.
At a moment when NATO members found an agreement, in the recent Lisbon summit (19-20 November 2010), to develop a Missile Defense capability to protect NATO's populations and territories in Europe against ballistic missile attacks from the East (namely, Iran), Iran's counter-move consists in establishing a strategic base in the South American continent - in the United State’s soft underbelly.
According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an "emergency". In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for "national needs" – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers
Venezuela has also become the country through which Iran intends to bypass UN sanctions. Following a new round of UN sanctions against the Islamic Republic, for example, Russia decided not to sell five battalions of S-300PMU-1 air defense systems to Iran. These weapons, along with a number of other weapons, were part of a deal, signed in 2007, worth $800 million. Now that these weapons cannot be delivered to Iran, Russia is looking for new customers; according to the Russian press agency Novosti, it found one: Venezuela.
The author goes on to say these missiles will be capable of carrying a nuclear payload. Continue reading this shocking report here.
Obviously this is very troubling. Hugo Chavez was just given powers by the Venezuelan Parliament to rule by presidential decree for 18 months. In other words, Chavez, a Communist, has been made a dictator. Anyone think he'll surrender that power in 18 months?
While the U.S. Might not be in immediate danger, Venezuela's neighbors, many of them our allies most certainly would be. The U.S. Is one of oil rich Venezuela's biggest customers. Meaning we are helping fund the placement of these missiles that could be used to destroy our allies and cause serious destruction here.
One more reason we need to become 100% energy independent, but another discussion for another day.
The missile story is troublesome, but the fact Chavez [ a really unstable man] has now been made a dictator with absolute power to do anything he wishes, is the real story here. The backstory is different, and the histrionics not so dramatic, but we are possibly seeing history repeat itself. If folks remember March 23, 1933, and the implications of what happened on that date, they will understand the concern.
Chavez has already made attempts to destabilize the entire region, and has Communist allies in neighboring countries. With these new weapons, the conquest of our allies would be made much easier.
Of course, as we ponder what to do with Iran, we must remember that even though we are Venezuela's biggest customer, when push comes to shove, Chavez will support Iran, and use his missiles as first strike weapons. His nuclear capable missiles.
This is as bad or worse than the situation Kennedy faced with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Frankly, it's worse. When the Russians attempted to place nuclear missiles in Cuba, America was in grave danger, but ultimately the threat of the destruction of the Soviet Union by a nuclear strike from the U.S., was a sobering thought. In the end, the Russians wisely backed down.
Iran is a different animal. The theocracy is ruled by some who have no fear of dying in service to Islam, or even seeing their entire nation reduced to ashes if that's what it takes. In fact there is a group led by Iran's President Ahmadinejad who believe apocalyptic destruction would be a good thing. In fact, they believe it's desirable, as it would pave the way for the Twelfth Imam's appearance.
This is a situation the Obama regime needs to be all over. Sadly we are hearing nothing. Obama is no Jack Kennedy, and the United States is in big trouble. Once these missiles are in place, the time for talk will be over.
The lesson: When Mama Grizzly roars, maybe the Beltway know-it-alls should listen.
The editors over at Investor’s Business Daily have penned an editorial praising the wisdom of Sarah Palin, and how she made the right choices of candidates to back during the primaries and general election:
Palin's Vindication
Congress: The GOP establishment — and some conservative pundits — ridiculed Sarah Palin for backing rough-edged Tea Party challengers over establishment figures. Recent congressional votes prove her right.
Even though those mentioned: Christine O'Donnell and Sharron Miller, lost [thanks to the GOP elites, in our opinion] and who knows how the Miller/Murkowski contest will shake out, Sarah made bold choices to back principled Common Sense Conservatives.
Of course, Sarah backed 94 candidates for local, state, and national office, 63 of which won. That's a record anyone would envy.
As for the Republican leadership, especially the Senate leadership, well, let's just say their record of success was nil. The Republican group responsible for recruiting and backing candidates picked the wrong horse in almost every primary. Thankfully most were defeated before they had a chance to join pathetic RINOs like Mike Castle and Lisa Murkowski.
The GOP would do well to seek Sarah Palin's council in the future, on pretty much every issue. Their batting record would improve greatly.
Michael Prell over at American Thinker has penned a great read talking about Sarah Palin and how both she, and her TLC show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, are a celebration of American exceptionalism.
Watching "Sarah Palin's Alaska" is like stepping back in time -- not to a time when Americans lived off the land and the sea, but to a time when our desire to be #1 was celebrated and not scorned.
A recent episode of "SP's Alaska" was about Sarah Palin's oldest son Track trying to prove to his father Todd that he was worthy of taking over the #1 fishing site in Bristol Bay. As Sarah Palin said, "Todd has the #1 site in this area...so Track has to work very, very hard and prove to Todd that he deserves to fish the #1 site."
Let us pause for a moment to take that in. A young man working hard to prove that he is worthy of being #1.
There was a time in America when young people were taught that being #1 was a good thing, and that anyone could grow up to be president, which is the #1 position of power in the world. Now America is led by a president who bows down to the world and apologizes for America's power, while criticizing powerful and successful Americans at home, scorning them as "fat cats," and saying that "at a certain point, you've made enough money."
Contrast President Obama's attitude about success to that of his biggest challenger, Sarah Palin, who said in TLC's "Alaska" that "[i]t's very important to remember that the more successful fisherman is going to be the harder-working fisherman. The harder you work, the more money you're going to make, the more fish you're going to be able to pick. That, again, is a life lesson that so many should, and could, be learning."
Prell is right, of course. Growing up, we sort of took American exceptionalism for granted. I mean it was common knowledge that Americans had a strong work ethic and a desire to be the very best they could be. It's was something that seemed to be embedded in our DNA.
We celebrated the great baseball players, the championship race car drivers, the fastest runners, and so forth. American life was all about competition. All about the desire to continually improve one's personal best, whether it be in sports, at work, or just life in general. We found satisfaction in this. Just knowing we had done as well as we could. It's this sort of spirit that built America and made it great.
Thanks to those who seek equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity, it's became almost taboo to speak of American exceptionalism. Our own President downplays it at every turn. He appears almost ashamed of it.
It's the progressive [read communist] mentality that seeks to make absolutely everything equal. Everyone gets an equal share of money, food, possessions, and so on, in the progressive's utopian dreams.
The problem is, there is no way to give everyone equal talent.
Our Founding Fathers realized this, and sought to create a system that guaranteed everyone an equal start. Everyone an equal opportunity. A level playing field. That's as good as it gets. It's the most one can hope for.
It's why for over 200 years people have risked death itself to come to America and take part in this grand experiment. This uniquely American experience. These immigrants have only added to the great American exceptionalism.
Of course this distresses progressives. There is something in their DNA that causes them to have unrealistic goals. Their ideology demands that everyone must have an equal outcome, even as they steal everyone's right to an equal opportunity. Their entire psyche is backwards.
By allowing man to have an equal opportunity, a level playing field, you allow him to have the Freedom and Liberty to succeed against all other odds. You allow the individual to independently have the opportunity to reach the highest levels their talent and desire will allow.
The story of America is filled with men and women who grew up poor, and had only the most basic of education, if that, who went on to become some of the most successful in society. Some of our greatest leader and captains of industry stared out at the lowest levels of every measure. Through nothing more than hard work and a desire to succeed, despite all odds and obstacles before them, they chose to persevere. They never let anyone tell them they couldn't do something. Never let anyone put artificial limitations on them.
These success stories, though common in America, are quite rare elsewhere. The equal opportunity America affords one and all is what makes the difference.
Contrast that with the progressive ideology that says every one gets a trophy for showing up, and we shouldn't keep score. What progressives are doing, early on, is creating the feeling that one can't compete. One can't succeed, so why even try.
It's a cynical, and frankly, a pretty cruel thing to do to our children. This nonsense trains them to want, even demand, equal outcome all through their life, whether they work their tails off, and constantly improve their abilities, or stand around and take up space.
The real evil behind this mentality though is that, instead of building less than successful people up, encouraging them to reach higher and higher, it tears successful people down. It brings the successful down to the level of those who, for whatever reason, are not.
By demonizing the successful, and seeking to redistribute the fruits of their successes, in order to make sure everyone has an equal portion of success, you literally de-incentivise the very success you wish to take from some, and give to others. [in a completely arbitrary fashion]
Seriously, why would someone work as hard as they could, only to have a portion of the fruits of their labor forcibly taken away and given to someone else? Pretty soon, even the most ambitious person looks around and realizes that working harder than anyone around you, or just showing up and keeping a seat warm, pays
exactly the same.
There's a lot to be said for doing your absolute best every single day, for no other reason than personal satisfaction, but at some point even the most highly motivated get to thinking: “What's the point?”
This sort of thing is why other nations, and their people, have failed. Collapsed.
We've been here before. History always repeats itself because most people fail to study it, and learn from their mistakes. For all of the American exceptionalism that is very real, Americans have the attention span of a gnat, with a collective memory to match.
The downward spiral in America started in the late 1960s, when the radicals who now run government, and shape policy, were nothing more than a bunch of nuts protesting in the streets. Although it started with Johnson, from Nixon through Carter we really lost faith in government, and to a large extent, ourselves. By the time radical progressive Jimmy Carter came to power, America was in a malaise. People figured America's best days were behind us. Sad sack Carter did everything he could do to reinforce this feeling, as did Hollywood. We were in real trouble.
Then came an exceptional man. A man who celebrated America and it's exceptionalism. A man who came to embody it. A man who saw America as that Shining City on a Hill. Ronald Reagan, a man who was born of modest means, and didn't go to the “right” college, worked his way through life to become one of our greatest leaders.
Reagan's exuberance, his love for not only America, but the American people as well, inspired us all. Reagan reminded us all of why America has always been the most successful nation the world has ever known. His love and celebration of American exceptionalism inspired the entire nation to pick itself up, dust itself off, and get to the job at hand.
It wasn't easy. Through Reagan's first term, things were dicey. But his optimism [and hard work getting the right policies in place] kept everyone inspired and focused. In the end, America would see the longest period of economic growth in our history.
Today America is in the doldrums once again . This time it feels more deliberate though. Carter was and is a radical ideologue, but his incompetence caused a lot of our problems. Now the case can certainly be made that Barack Obama's incompetence, which is a product of inexperience as a leader, as well as immaturity, is at the bottom of all of this, but that wouldn't be entirely true, or even fair.
No, our problems started when the democrats took control of Congress in 2007. The leadership chosen are the most radical of what is already a radically leftist group. Their overreaching laws, and desire to spend trillions we don't have, as well as their communistic tendencies to make everyone “equal” have got us where we are. Obama is just the ribbon and bow around the horrific package.
America has once again lost confidence in government, and even now, after a serious political re-alignment, wonders if the new Congress will be much different than the old. If what we are seeing out of the GOP Senate leadership, that WON'T be changed in the new Congress, the fears that it will be business as usual, seem pretty well justified.
That brings us back to Sarah Palin and her celebration of American exceptionalism. Her knowledge that
“We the People” [not government] are the cause of American greatness.
America, and the American people are successful and exceptional not because of government, but in spite of it!
Of course the media, and others who have their own agendas, will try and tell you it's “corny” at best, or motivated by her desire to make money, at worst. Pretty much the same thing was said about Ronald Reagan in his day. How could someone simply love America and just want the best for all concerned? That doesn't fit the template the progressives and corrupt media created.
One doesn't have to spend more than a few minutes watching Sarah Palin, reading Sarah Palin, or listening to Sarah Palin, to understand her love for America and her faith in the American people is real.
Sarah also sees America as that Shining City on a Hill. She understands that longing in the American spirit to be the best that you can be. You hear it in her speeches and see it as she lives life. You feel it deep down when she talks about her son, Trig, who faces many challenges that most will never know. She has faith that, challenges be damned, her son will lead a full and successful life.That he will meet the challenges head on.
There's a reason why Sarah inspires so many. Like Reagan before her, she simply refuses to believe America, and Americans are anything less than the cream of the crop. She understands that indomitable spirit that made America the greatest nation on earth, and the American people so successful.
The desire to be the very best of the best, and for all Americans to be the same, is in HER DNA.
Of course, as a nation, we need more than someone who believes in us. We need someone with the temperament and ability to lead. As we search for a new elected leader, we need someone with the executive experience, and record of accomplishment befitting the highest office.
Thankfully, Sarah Palin has always practiced the American exceptionalism she speaks of. Like Reagan,Sarah comes from a modest background and went to the “wrong” college. But as we see weekly on Sarah Palin's Alaska, she was, and is, surrounded by those who are grounded in solid principles and themselves the very embodiment of the American spirit.
Sarah started out as a working mom who just wanted to be involved in the local PTA to make sure her kids had the best education possible. That simple act, one that millions of moms have made throughout our history, has taken this remarkable woman to the top of the charts as a national leader. Someone on equal footing with the President of the United States, when it comes to influence and profile.
We aren't sure what the future holds for Sarah. [Though we know what we want it to!] But as an inspirational leader for our time, no one can compare. By celebrating the American spirit and American exceptionalism in everything she does, Sarah Palin is making America better and inspiring others to do the same.
As we celebrate American exceptionalism, much to the chagrin of progressives everywhere, let's also celebrate our Founders, who gave us a wonderful system where the cream can rise to the top, and exceptional leaders can come from the most unlikely of places, like the last frontier, Alaska.
