Monday, August 25, 2008

John Edwards, Lone Wolf

Here's a neat story about John Edwards, and how no one wants to talk to him anymore.

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John Edwards calling former staffers asking for forgiveness

Updated Monday, August 25th 2008, 3:41 PM

DENVER - John Edwards is burning up the phone lines, begging former aides and backers to forgive him for lying about his affair - but hearing their rage instead.

As Democrats kick off their convention Monday, the onetime presidential contender is a man without a party - or a political future - trying to rebuild bridges through dozens of remorseful phone calls.

It's proving a hard sell with onetime true believers.

Many are bitter and disillusioned after swallowing his lies about his affair with a campaign staffer and vouching for his credibility with friends and journalists.

Some ignore his plaintive phone entreaties and don't call back - even when Edwards leaves follow-up messages. A few return his calls - and give him a piece of their angry minds.

When Edwards reached one longtime confidant asking for advice, he was cut off with a terse: "I don't want you to call me again."

The conversation ended abruptly.

"I let you down, and I'm sorry," is a common refrain of these messages, said another top ex-assistant on the receiving end of one of the calls.

"It was kind of pathetic, to tell you the truth," said the ex-aide, who said he didn't return the call and doesn't expect to speak to his former boss again.

For months, the former North Carolina senator and John Kerry's 2004 running mate vigorously denied National Enquirer reports of an affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, who since gave birth to a child.

On Aug. 8, Edwards admitted the 2006 affair with Hunter in an ABC interview - when his wife Elizabeth's cancer was in remission - but insisted he isn't the father of her son.

One source who compared notes with other former colleagues said Edwards makes no attempt to justify or rationalize his behavior in these desperate phone conversations. He simply expresses his regret for deceiving them and asks for their understanding and forgiveness.

Many think he's still not telling the truth.

"As painful as it will be for him, he needs to come clean," one of them said. "There's an overwhelming view that he's still lying."

With Kenneth R. Bazinet

Illegal Immigration Costs U.S. More Than Iraq War

I received this via e-mail, and I think you should check it out:

WHAT COSTS MORE PER YEAR THAN THE IRAQ WAR?

Answer: Illegal immigration!
I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until They
are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have
included the URL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year.
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as
food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school
Education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!
Http://transcripts.CNN.com/TRA! NSCRIPT S/0604/01/ldt0.HTML

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born
children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare And
Social Services by the American taxpayers.
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.html
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused
By the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts! CNN.co m/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.01.HTML
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's
Two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular,
Their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US .
Http://transcripts.CNN.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.01HTML
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens
That crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens
From Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth,
Heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border
Homeland Security Report.
12. The National Policy Institute, 'estimated that the total cost of
Mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average
Cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually! Over a five year period.'
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportation.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to
Their countries of origin.
Http:/ /www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. 'The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes
Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States '.
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!
If this doesn't bother you then just delete the message, but on the
Other hand, if it does raise the hair on the back of your neck, then forward it.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Come Watch the Circus

In Denver, Police and Protesters Try to Prepare for Each Other

By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 24, 2008; A06

DENVER -- To the uninformed visitor, it has become difficult to tell whether Denver is preparing for a Democratic National Convention or the institution of martial law. Helicopters filled with armed commandos swooped over downtown in a training exercise earlier this summer. A warehouse was converted into a temporary jail with chain-link fences and signs threatening the use of electric stun devices. Travel agents sold getaway packages to locals, with one company imploring residents to "escape town while you still can."

Hosting a convention necessitates preparing for the worst, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper said, and his city has accomplished that with gusto. The possibility of protesters hurling buckets of feces? Denver proposed an ordinance to prevent it. The threat of crowd violence? The city spent $2.1 million on "personal protection equipment" for police.

More than 50,000 visitors will descend on the Mile High City this week, and Denver has spent the past year plotting ways to avoid public embarrassment. The city studied previous convention disturbances and negotiated with several groups that are planning to protest. With an international audience of media members, delegates and the Democratic Party elite expected to arrive this weekend, Denver hopes to capitalize on a chance to re-image itself as "more than a second-tier town," Hickenlooper said.

"The nice thing about hosting one of these conventions is that you can show off," said Hickenlooper, a Democrat who will speak on the opening night of the convention. "We don't want some traffic jam, protest or unfortunate incident to become the big story, because there's too much good stuff going on here. We have the infrastructure to be prepared to handle anything."

Denver worked hard to procure such a visible moment. The city submitted convention bids in 2000 and 2004 but didn't advance deep into the selection process, in part because it lacked enough hotel rooms. After another four years of growth -- Colorado is one of the 10 fastest-growing states in the nation -- Denver submitted a bid for the 2008 convention.

In its pitch, Denver highlighted the Rocky Mountain region's potential to include several swing states. Once solidly Republican, Colorado has a Democratic governor and a Democratic majority in the legislature for the first time in half a century. Nevada and New Mexico also could flip from red to blue in the coming election.

The Democratic National Committee announced that Denver defeated New York City to win the bid in January 2007. DNC Chairman Howard Dean cited "recent Democratic gains in the West" as the primary motive for his decision. By coming to Denver, Dean said, Democrats hoped to signal their intent to compete for votes in the Mountain West.

It was a significant victory for the Mile High City, which has always suffered from something of an inferiority complex. Even though it ranks as one of the country's top 20 metropolitan areas, with a thriving tourism industry and four major professional sports teams playing downtown, Denver residents say their city is often misrepresented as a cow town stuck in the middle of flyover country.

"We've always had to overcome this idea that we're not big enough or important enough to even be part of the national political landscape," said Elbra Wedgeworth, president of the convention's host committee. "That was part of the idea behind wanting to get the convention in the first place. If people see Colorado and the Western spirit, they'll get past all of that."

But the past year also has provided a long and painful lesson in the downsides of hosting a convention, Denver officials said. The city struggled to raise the $50 million it promised to convention organizers. It received a $50 million federal grant for security, but that money has disappeared quickly, officials said.

Downtown office buildings have hired extra security and rehearsed evacuation plans. The Secret Service established 18 working groups in Denver, with assignments to coordinate air security, crisis management and more. The local host committee recruited, trained and organized 20,000 volunteers. Highway officials restructured traffic patterns to accommodate major road closures.

"There are some security measures in place that will be seen, and some that will be unseen," said Malcolm Wiley, spokesman for the Secret Service. "We have a subcommittee to address any possible thing that can happen."

What, exactly, can Denver expect this week? That's difficult to predict, experts said. Conventions have transpired without major unrest since riots broke out at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Four major protest groups -- one called Recreate '68 -- plan to demonstrate in Denver, mostly to demand more rights for immigrants and an end to the Iraq war. Organizers said they expect more than 25,000 protesters to participate, with the stated goal of derailing convention proceedings.

Denver already has experienced a few security scares. Sen. John McCain's area headquarters here received an envelope containing white powder last week, and four employees went to the hospital for examination before officials determined the powder was not lethal. Earlier in the summer, a marijuana advocacy group gathered downtown and started beating people with bats. Police rushed to the scene -- only to realize the protest was staged and the bats were inflatables.

In the local newspapers, Denver officials have outlined several worst-case scenarios: Protesters might chain themselves together with chicken wire, use quick-setting cement to block streets or threaten delegates with violence. One city councilman said anarchists had rented a house in Denver and stocked it with urine, which would be sprayed on crowds as they entered the Pepsi Center.

Protesters denied all of the above.

The protest groups responded by outlining a worst-case scenario of their own. Law enforcement officials might arrest nonviolent demonstrators and use aggressive force whenever necessary, protesters said. The groups described an arsenal of high-tech weaponry they expect to encounter: guns that shoot sticky film and rubber bullets; machines that emanate ear-piercing sound waves; microwave devices that create a burning sensation on the skin.

Denver said it will not use any of the above.

"Basically, what's happening is a cat-and-mouse game," said Adam Jung, organizer of a protest group called Tent State University, which plans to demonstrate in a 50,000-foot "freedom cage" outside the Pepsi Center. "The city keeps coming up with new restrictions on us, and we figure out ways to get around them. That's how it's going to go, until one of us gets the last word."

The Republican Fisherman

Got this through e-mail, wish I'd written it!

The Republican Fisherman

A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, 'Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am.'

The fisherman consulted his portable GPS and replied, 'You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.'

She rolled her eyes and said, 'You must be a Republican.'

'I am,' replied the man. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' answered the balloonist, ' everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me'

The man smiled and responded, 'You must be a Democrat.'

'I am,' replied the balloonist. 'How did you know?'

'Well,' said the man, 'You don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now you think it's my fault.'

Saturday, August 23, 2008

So Much for 'Change'

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has chosen Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware to be his running mate.

Consider this:

(1) Obama's whole 'change' campaign is turning out to be bogus. Change? I hate to be the one to have to tell Obama, but change means 'something different,' and you don't get 'different' in someone who's been in the Senate for 30-plus years.

The legislature is broken, and it's been broken by most of the people that have been in it for the past few decades. Biden, Dodd, Lieberman ... these are the guys who have had an integral part in making this country what it is today -- a big mess.

(2) Biden doesn't think Obama should be president. Biden, when he most recently was trying to get the presidential nomination himself, told ABC a year ago that Obama was not ready to serve as president. As well, after dropping out of the race for the nomination, he told Fox News, "I am not running for vice president. I would not accept it if anyone offered it to me. The fact of the matter is I'd rather stay as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee than be vice president." I guess he changed his mind on both issues; or, he decided that it's better to get into the White House on the coattails of someone inferior rather than not get into the White House at all.

Obama is turning out to be a joke, a tool of the liberals to appeal to the masses designed solely to gain power for the party rather than get a the best person in the Oval Office.

I have news for the 'Obama Nation' -- He's not going to change squat -- at least not for the better. The only thing you'll see in an Obama presidency is higher taxes, the destruction of the middle class, the propping up of those who don't deserve it, and a continuation of the decline of a society that embraces hedonistic individualism and moral bankruptcy.

Maybe this country can also go back to the Clinton days of ignoring terrorism, which the terrorists really appreciate because it gives them the ability to blow up things here rather than in their own sandpit hellhole countries.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

More Race-Baiting from the Liberals

For a party that seemingly prides itself on being so diverse and tolerant, Democrats sure are hung up on race.

Watch this video -- Howard Dean refers, "accidentally," to the Republican Party as the White Party as he talks about how people of color are drawn to the Democrats.

He nay be right, though. The left is so full of white guilt that most of the Caucasian libs seem to despise anything to do with their own heritage, or anything to do with non-brown people. They don't seem to care much about Asians, but Hispanics and blacks -- of any origin, as long as you're technically "black" -- can get the lefties to promise them anything.

It's no wonder that self-sufficient middle-class heterosexual Christian white males seem to fill the GOP -- that's the only way they stand a chance to be anything more than a funding source to the Democrats.

Think about it -- if you fit in the above category, the Dems offer you nothing in return for all they take from you, other than increasing the number of places you're not safe going to, and making sure you don't have enough money to go anywhere better.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Vote Obama -- Dead Babies for Everyone!

I'm pro-choice. I think if a woman does not want to have a baby, she has the right to an abortion.

I don't necessarily like it, but I think that's the way it has to be.

But, I am against partial-birth abortion, which is an abortion done late enough in the pregnancy that the "fetus" could potentially live on its own. In this procedure -- and I'm not trying to be graphic -- the doctor has to kill the baby in the same manner that you can kill an adult, by crushing its skull or by piercing the skull with a fork and removing the brain.

So I think that's a fair stance. If you are contemplating abortion, you'd better make the decision sooner rather than later. Once the "fetus" (why can't I just say "unborn baby"?) can feasibly live on its own, it's a baby that hasn't been pushed out yet. It has a brain, and eyes and all that. It's just as functional as a severely disabled adult, after all, and we can't just kill them because they're inconvenient to deal with.

Anyway. Long story short: Obama is a proponent of late-term abortion. That's all you need to know -- Obama and his disgusting liberal ilk won't let society punish criminals or terrorists, but if you're a month shy of being born, watch out, because until you're out of the womb Obama and pals consider you fair game.

The more I learn about Obama, the more I realize that the "change" he keeps talking about is BAD change, and the "hope" is the hope that you don't realize it until after you pull the lever for him.

Typically Liberal -- Follow Us Or Die

One of the things I hate most about liberals is the way they'll turn on each other at the drop of a hat if someone steps out of line, or fails to blindly adhere to whatever the far left decides is the proper opinion to have.

Here's a neat little story about Nancy Pelosi threatening Joe Liberman because Lieberman dares to disagree with "the Party."

Joe Lieberman is a Democrat. He's more in favor of defeating enemies rather than sucking up to them, like most of the libs do, and the left hates him for it. Before the war in Iraq, Lieberman was the golden child for the Dems, he was beloved. But at the first sign of dissent from the tyrannical Party's insane groupthink, they dumped him for one-trick pony Ned Lamont, who basically is just a wealthy guy who convinced liberal simpletons that he could "end the war."

Well, Lamont may have won the primary, when only Dems could vote, but when rational people were allowed to weigh in, they chose Lieberman, who ran as an independent in the general election.

And that just kills the left each and every day. They need Lieberman to keep the majority, so they'll kiss his ass 90% of the time. But as soon as he opens his mouth and offers an opinion differing from the Party line, they gripe about him as if he were Dick Cheney's brother.

It's amazing to watch, because libs treat each other like they treat this country -- they're loyal as long as you do what they say and can be useful to them, but once they don't need you, you're the enemy.

I just wish liberals were as hostile toward Muslim terrorists, rapists and murderers as they are against Americans who disagree with them.

The Most Sham-eful Olympics

I think this year's Olympic Games will really show the world just how screwed up China is.

China's cheating ways began at the start of the event, with doctored photos of the stadiums and fireworks, then led to the "fake" singing of their national song because the real singer wasn't "pretty enough" to represent China, but the pretty girl couldn't sing as well, so China just cheated in order to puff up it's chest at the rest of the world.

Now, it's reported that one of the gymnasts is a couple of years shy of being eligible to compete in the Olympics, but she's good at it so China just cheated again and falsified her age.

But, I guess it doesn't matter, because China won, and from what I can tell, "winning" beats "pride" any day in China.

Amazing. And ignorant -- Does it matter how many medals the country wins if the rest of the world is mocking it for having to cheat in order to get those medals?

Really, it's funny, because China's attitude in the Games seems to follow its attitude in manufacturing -- cheap, flimsy goods that look nice but aren't of very high quality. They'd rather sell crap than sell less.

Keep an eye out, everything they do in these Games should be suspect. I hope the country's leaders are happy with their decision to conduct things this way, because it's not doing wonders for their global image.

I guess all we can hope for is that treat their military the same way, because then the guns will fall apart and we'll find out that images of the army are doctored and there's really only half that many soldiers.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

ACLU = EVIL

Ark. city neighborhood under 24-hour curfew

Associated Press - August 10, 2008 8:34 PM ET

HELENA-WEST HELENA, Ark. (AP) - Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley says he ordered a round-the-clock curfew and heavy police patrol in a ten-block section of town because the neighborhood was "under siege with repeated gunfire, loitering, drug dealing and other general mayhem."

Valley ordered the emergency curfew Thursday, effective immediately. It was still in place today. He said it would remain in place as long as the problems persist or until the city council can come up with a long-term plan at its August 19th meeting.

Thursday night, 18 to 20 police officers carrying M-16 rifles, shotguns and night-vision scopes patrolled the "curfew zone." They arrested about eight people and confiscated drugs and loaded weapons.

Under Valley's order, officers do not tolerate loitering or "hanging out." Officers can stop and investigate all foot traffic, bicycle, horseback, moped, motorcycle, riding mower, golf cart or other means of transportation.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas says the curfew is "blatantly unconstitutional" and has demanded that Valley lift the order immediately.

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I think the ACLU should go away. The mayor is not imposing the curfew for fun and giggles, he's doing it because there are too many bad people in that neighborhood. That's what happens when lots of bad people get together and behave badly -- eventually someone has to lock the door to the cage.

It's happening it Hartford, Conn., too, and the ACLU is up in arms about that as well. Hartford may have nice parts, or some nice streets, and a lot of history, but face it -- Hartford is a crime-ridden, violent, dangerous place because there are too many bad people there.

New Haven has some nice streets, a lot of history ... and it, too, is a hole. Too many bad people, someone needs to lock the door to the cage.

The ACLU is so unnecessary that it has to search for things it can claim are "blatantly unconstitutional" -- but the same liberal crybabies refuse to let society treat misfits like misfits, and instead coddle them and allow them to multiply and grow, until entire neighborhoods are held hostage by the criminals.

That's one of my big beefs with liberals -- they force society to allow the misfits to live among us, and then when the misfits are so out of control that even the liberals have to admit there's a problem, they then refuse to allow us sane people to deal with the problem in an efficient, timely manner.

Instead, liberals, once finally admitting that a neighborhood has gone to hell (which usually occurs once enough liberals become victims of misfits), will explain how all the problems of the misfits can be blamed on conservatives' policies, and how they just know if will be much better if you'll just give them your vote -- and your wallet. If you let them take all your money and spend it on the misfits, the liberals seem certain that in 10, 15 or maybe 20 years you'll see a "new generation of hope."

It's ridiculous. What will really happen is that the liberals will take your money, give it to misfits who will use the money to become even bigger misfits, maybe even making additional, more screwed-up misfits. Misfits squared.

Meanwhile, since you have no money, you are pushed closer and closer to the misfits, until you are forced to live among them and be nothing more than prey for the misfits and cash cows for the liberals.

I say close the door to the cage. The truly good people will appreciate it. I'd rather have a cop stop me and ask me where I'm going, because then at least I can walk down the street without some punk scumbag kid on a bike -- for all you liberals, I mean a "disconnected, unengaged youth suffering the strains of a fatherless household and a drug-addicted mother, while still trying to smooth away the scars of slavery and discrimination" -- robbing me at gunpoint because he's too stupid and lazy to get a job like the rest of the us have to.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Attention All RISK Fans

Anyone who likes the game Risk will love K-Dice, a free online game based on Risk. Even if you've never played before, try it out, you might like it, it's a good mix of strategy and chance.

www.kdice.com