Sarah Palin For President Bumper-Stickers

Hat Tip To Mal Contends, another Madison blogger!  This one made me almost choke as I was munching away at the computer.

Then there was this idea….though smaller sized it is a hoot.   After all, if you are Sarah Palin would you let Jesus top the ticket?  I mean what about her ideas and skills…………let Jesus be VP for a while and learn the job duties……

And then from my files as I have not posted this before, and it fits with the humor here, is this Palin gem.

PHOTO: President Obama Greets Michaele And Tareq Salahi

This is just unbelievable to me.  There has to be some good answers as to how this could have happened.  The Secret Service dropped the ball, and there is NO way in heck that President Obama, given the level of angst among deranged elements in this country, should ever be in a vulnerable situation.  Yet that is what happened at the State Dinner this past week.  This royal screw-up must be addressed.  And I think someone needs to be held accountable.

 

Nearly Hiding From The World

This little bird in the middle of the picture was so cold today and huddled all alone for the longest time in the limbs of a bush.   Trying to hide from it all, but still being found by the lenses of the camera.

What Did The First Family Eat On Thanksgiving?

I always like these types of details.  Though I have never eaten hucklebery pie, I am sure it is wonderful.  This just means there is a new recipe about to be tried here soon……

The White House Press Office provided pooler Emily Cadei of CQ-Roll Call Group “with the following details about the First Family’s Thanksgiving dinner: They are hosting about 50 guests including family, friends and staff. POTUS’s favorite Thanksgiving dishes are turkey and pumpkin pie. Menu: turkey, honey-baked ham, cornbread stuffing, oyster stuffing, greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, banana cream pie, pumpkin pie, apple pie, sweet potato pie, huckleberry pie, cherry pie.”

Sadness About Black Friday, And What Is Happening To Thanksgiving Day

Let me cut to the core of how I feel.  Thanksgiving Day has been lost to mindless merchandising.   It makes me sad, and I think many share my sentiment around the nation.   Too many say nothing about what is happening to our national holiday, so I have a few words to share, suspecting they reflect many of my fellow citizen’s thoughts today.

When I awoke  Thursday morning to start my holiday with family, Walmart stores nationwide were already open with countless workers needing to adjust their family time and meal for the ‘need’ of this humongous company to make a few more dollars.  Fact is Walmart nationwide would be open 24 hours on Thanksgiving.  There was no consideration by Walmart for the family values of their workers, much less for the higher ideals of  what the national holiday stands for.  Instead the national day of reflection and appreciation was used as a better way to advertise and grease the bottom line of a company without a conscience.  If we think about what we are allowing to happen for just a moment we will recognize all this for what it is.  Many in this country are giving up an American holiday to chase a sale in order to buy something cheap from China. 

Is it worth it?  I think not.

Many of us are old enough to recall not so many years ago when Thanksgiving was a day for being at home with family while the juicy turkey roasted in the oven.  Halloween had taken place several weeks before, and Christmas would follow in a month.  There was a distinct feel and attitude about Thanksgiving.  I recall one year about 15 years ago when my family all said one thing we were thankful about  before we started to eat.  The day was spent at home, with lots of laughter, some board games, and then more food.  Thanksgiving had a traditional routine, an American feel.  It was modeled on what the day was meant to be about.  I think my memories about Thanksgiving are average ones for the nation as a whole.  It was not just ‘another day’ for shopping, or preparing for a blow-out sale.

But today in this nation the reason for Thanksgiving has been lost.  Perhaps I should say it has been replaced.  What has replaced it is the crass merchandising of every item imaginable.  There are no lines that will not be crossed to lure shoppers into stores.  From dawn on Thanksgiving at Walmart to the malls in large cities opening doors at midnight, to other retail stores opening early Friday morning there will be near hysteria to get the bargains and deals.  For days even television newscasts were evaluating the various stores and the deals that awaited customers.  Special websites had been created to alert shoppers to where the bargains were located, and where sitting in line for hours may prove to be a better deal than if the wait in line had taken place at a competitor.  If one watched this stuff with any degree of detachment it was impossible to not laugh at first, and then get sad.

Laugh because it is just amusing to see so many people act like lemmings because Madison Avenue created a gimmick.  Sad because undermining a national holiday is rather serious business.  Large stores around the nation are doing something that no terrorist could ever achieve.  We are taking a national moment where we pause to be grateful about our lives and share it with family, and instead marshall our attention and focus on the needs of making larger companies even richer. 

The way to combat the greed from these stores is just to not participate.  I for one can not image leaving the good mood I am in after spending most of Thanksgiving with 18 relatives to race anywhere for a sale with the unwashed masses.  To slip away from the smiles and laughter from what was a huge part of our Thanksgiving is not something I am willing to give up.  The mood I am in from Thanksgiving should linger.  And it will.

How about you?  Are you ready to trade in your Thanksgiving mood for a product made in China?

Happy Thanksgiving To My Readers!

Lou Dobbs May Challenge A Hispanic (Again)

A role for Lou Dobbs right out of central casting, given his xenophobic mindset.

His name was quickly floated as a potential challenger in 2012 to United States Senator Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat, an ardent advocate for immigrants’ rights and the chamber’s only Hispanic member. (Mr. Dobbs, 64, lives on a horse farm in rural Wantage, N.J.)

“I think Lou is realistically saying, that’s a long way off, but if he did run for office there’d have to be an intermediary step, such as the Menendez seat,” said the spokesman, Robert L. Dilenschneider. He said Mr. Dobbs was impressed by Republican gains in New Jersey in November and by President Obama’s sinking popularity.

Mr. Dobbs’s two biggest assets in a Senate race would be name recognition and his fortune. But it is less evident that he has a political base of support, even in Sussex County, where he lives, and where Republicans dominate every level of politics.

Richard Zeoli, a former Sussex Republican chairman who was just elected a county freeholder, said he did not know whether Mr. Dobbs would energize Republicans on a full range of issues or focus too much on a few subjects. “Beyond immigration, there’s a lot of things that party leaders would want to ask,” he said.

Virginia Littell, a former state Republican chairwoman, said Mr. Dobbs and his wife, Debi, had been only “peripherally involved” in the community. “I don’t even know anything about him politically,” she said. “I know he was a Republican and now he’s an independent. So, say he comes back to be a Republican. Is that really who he is?”

Asked whether Mr. Dobbs would run as an independent or a Republican, Mr. Dilenschneider first ventured that it would be “highly unlikely” that he would return to the party, given how much he had done to brand himself as an independent. But after getting through to Mr. Dobbs, he reported back that the former anchor would not rule out a Republican candidacy. “It’s just too early to come to a conclusion on that,” he quoted Mr. Dobbs as saying.

Mr. Dobbs’s past outspokenness could also complicate his return to the Republican fold. Last year, he ripped into Christopher J. Christie, then the United States attorney in New Jersey, over immigration enforcement, calling him “an utter embarrassment.” He also briefly considered a primary run against Mr. Christie in the governor’s race.

And in late October, Mr. Christie’s aides took notice when Mr. Dobbs gave an independent candidate, Christopher J. Daggett, air time on his CNN program when it appeared that Mr. Daggett’s candidacy was damaging Mr. Christie.

Mr. Christie, now the state’s governor-elect, will presumably have something to say about who should be the party’s nominee for the Senate in 2012.

Prediction For Time Person Of The Year 2009

It is that time of year when I step my feet into the shoes of Nostradamus and make a prediction about the person that will grace the cover of Time magazine as the Person Of The Year 2009.

As I look at the world landscape the person who seems to be generating the most debate, both cerebral and heated, is the one who rightfully requested and will receive more troops for Afghanistan.    The  military scenario that this man will develop and employ in the war in Afghanistan will not only impact foreign policy, but will also leave a huge fingerprint on the life of President Obama.  The stakes are great, and the nation is watching.  All eyes this year were riveted on the war in Afghanistan, and the same will be true next year as even more soldiers are to be sent to fight a needed war, one that we must win.  The Taliban must not control that nation, or be allowed to nest in the mountains ready to undermine Pakistan.

Therefore I predict that Time Person Of The Year 2009 will be…..

General Stanley McChrystal

 

Double Flybys In Night Sky Nov. 25th-26th

For all my readers without clouds tonight…….

Space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) this morning at 4:53 am EST.  Their separation sets the stage for  double flybys of many towns and cities on Wednesday evening, Nov. 25th, when Atlantis and the ISS will soar through the night sky side by side–a fantastic sight. Atlantis is not scheduled to land until Friday morning, Nov. 27th, so the double apparitions will continue on Thursday, Nov. 26th, Thanksgiving in the United States.  Check the Simple Satellite Tracker for flybys: http://spaceweather.com/flybys .

SPACESHIP SIGHTINGS: Would you like a call when the space station is about to fly over your backyard? Sign up for Spaceweather PHONE.

 

Abortion-Rights Activists Need To Fight Stupak Amendment

There is an old saying that applies to those who wish to turn the pages backwards on women’s reproductive rights.  “Give them an inch, and they will take a mile”.  The abortion issue that has been needlessly injected into the health care debate in Washington, and  is a clear example of how the phrase applies to politicians.  While conservatives already had a law on the books that prohibited federal funds from being used for abortions, they had to try and grab for more control of the rights over women’s bodies.  Typical.

In the House debate earlier this month, an amendment offered by Congressman Stupak stated that the health bill’s publicly run health-insurance plan couldn’t cover abortions. But then it went even further into areas not  entered before and forbid anyone who receives a federal health subsidy under the health bill from buying an insurance policy, even if with mostly their own funds, that would allow for abortion coverage.  Then in a slap to women in almost every state these members of the House allowed people to purchase a rider covering abortion with their own money, knowing damn well that such abortion riders are available in only a handful of states.

Needless to say it is time for abortion-rights activists to rally to the cause of  common sense and work to stop this regressive action in the Congress.

Activists plan to rally in Washington and lobby on Dec. 2, during the week that Senate floor debate begins on health care. The Center for Reproductive Rights has aired television ads criticizing the reckless restrictions.  A new group, the Coalition to Pass Health Care Reform and Stop Stupak, a network of more than 30 groups will be announced next week.

Will you write a letter to the newspaper, or call your representative in Congress to make sure that women’s reproductive rights are not made into yet even more political football?

This is 2009, after all, and we are still fighting about the rights women can have over their own bodies!

34,000 More Troops To Afghanistan

It will be interesting to see how President Obama presents this case to the American public and to Congress.  The mission in Afghanistan is worthy of our involvement, and the strategy vital to be understood by the public for success.  I have faith in Obama and his team in getting this job completed.  The stakes in this region of the world are too great to fail.

Pentagon planners expect orders to send about 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan, a defense official told CNN, a day after the president’s final meeting to decide the next moves in Afghanistan.

The military has planning under way to send three U.S. Army brigades, totaling about 15,000 troops; a Marine brigade, about 8,000 troops; a headquarters element, about 7,000 troops; and between 4,000 and 5,000 support troops — a total of approximately 34,000 troops, according to a defense official with direct knowledge of Pentagon operations. CNN reported last month that this was the preferred option within the Pentagon.

Pentagon planners have been tasked with preparing for this option with the expectation that is the number the president is leaning toward, said the defense official with direct knowledge of the process. The official insisted Tuesday there is no final word yet.

The troops would be divided up in various locations around the country, mainly focusing in the south and southeast parts where much of the fighting is.

Currently, brigades from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Campbell in Kentucky are among those that are next in line to deploy.

President Obama, The Shy Golfer

Keep this thought in mind as you read this post.  How many of us would really want our antics on the golf course to be seen by the whole world?  Not me!

Which all serves to deepen a mystery that has surrounded the presidency: Why has Barack Obama forsaken basketball for the links?

On the campaign trail, Mr. Obama played a mean, frequent and public game of hoops. He played outdoors and in, with pols, pros, troops in Kuwait and university kids half his age. “For people our age, it was like watching Clinton on ‘The Arsenio Hall Show,’ playing the saxophone,” says Alex Podlogar, a 34-year-old sportswriter at the Sanford Herald in Sanford, N.C.

But as president, Mr. Obama has neglected the court. He has played only seven known games of basketball since taking office, compared with 25 rounds of golf, a sport he picked up about a decade ago when he was an Illinois state senator. That’s more golf than former President George W. Bush played in two terms, according to CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who tracks presidential trivia. (In 2003, Mr. Bush quit golf, saying he did so out of respect for the troops serving in Iraq. Since leaving office, he has returned to the sport, an aide says.)

And where Mr. Obama’s basketball game is showy and often televised, his golf is furtive and off-the-record. He plays with junior aides and discreet longtime friends. There’s no press allowed onto the course with him, no cameras — and few witnesses. A foursome of loyal staffers often plays out ahead of him, clearing the way and trying to ensure no one spies.

The frequency and secrecy of the president’s golfing has infuriated some of his basketball fans. This love of the links can’t be for keeps, they moan, for he who plays secretly must surely play badly.

How badly? His score is a matter of “national security,” deflects David Axelrod, political adviser to the First Duffer. White House aides said playing golf gets the president outdoors more, but declined to comment further on why he appears to be favoring golf over hoops, or why members of the press haven’t been allowed to watch him tee off.

Postings by golf observers on the Web site Baller-in-Chief, which is primarily devoted to the president’s basketball game, posit a brutal answer: Mr. Obama has a golf handicap in the mid-20s, considered weak to average, and a cramped swing that’s not so pretty.

A recent anonymous posting on Golf.com comes from a golfer who claims to have caught some of the action: “I had the misfortune of being stuck in a group on the same course as the Prez and his buddies and watching them play one hole in the time it took our foursome to play 3 was painful. The only thing stopping us from telling them to pick it up was the incredibly large security detail he had with him.”