Four days in Denver.  That was
how much time wasted by the
DNC.  During it's national con-
vention, the Democratic Party
had the spotlight to accomplish
several key goals.  Most impor-
tantly, to rebuild the momentum
the Obama campaign had lost
since March.

March was his last good month.
Obama won a series of small
state caucuses and along with
the primary in his own home
state of Illinois, put him well out
in front of Hillary Clinton.  A lead
she came close to closing.

After March, a series of set
backs occured.  Hillary won
key victories in Texas and in
Ohio, keeping her campaign
alive.  Hillary had doen very
well in state primaries, where
actual votes mattered.  Then,
shadows from Obama's past
appeared.  Reverend Wright
and his inflamatory sermons.
Old friends like Bill Ayers and
Antoin 'Tony' Rezko.  All began
to cast doubts about Obama's
much lauded judgement.

It was his judgement that put
him in the lead.  He claimed
to be the only ONE of the DNC
presidential candidates who
was against the War in Iraq.
Clinton, Edwards and Biden
all voted to authorize the use
of force to make Saddam
Hussein comply with those
19 UN mandates.  Remember
those???  Obama did not cast
a vote.  He wasn't a US Senator
at the time.  But he did make a
speech as a Illinois state sena-
tor someplace, and that justi-
fied his position.

In the summer and autumn of
2007, the Far Left wing of the
DNC was rabid over Iraq.  They
saw the war as a lost cause.
They saw the proposed troop
surge to stem the violence as
doomed before it started.  They
saw America had already lost
and wanted an immediate
withdrawl.  Obama was the only
ONE who they believed could
deliver the goods.

But a funny thing happened on
the way to the Parthenon in
Denver.  The surge worked! It
now seems clear that irregard-
less of who wins in November,
American combat forces will
be removed from Iraq by 2011,
if not sooner.  Between the
improved situation in Iraq, the
past acquaintences of Obama,
and other issues rising to the
fore front (such as the econo-
my, gas prices, etc.), Hillary
began performing better.  She
had found her voice with Joe
Six-Pack, demonstrating her
bowling and drinking skills in
Pennsylvania.  Despite all of
this, she did lose the nomi-
nation, thanks to the rules of
the Party machinery.

In Denver, a major objective
was to unify the Democrats.
While the delegates, mostly
party hacks, did appear to do
so, it remains unclear how
well the staged event will now
play in middle America.  The
nation in between Washington
and Hollywood.  Hillary, who
still has some ambitions, did
what she had to do, as did her
husband.

Obama had selected Joe Biden
to run with him to add some
gravitas to his campaign.  After
all, what has Obama ever done?
Where is the body of legislative
achievement?  What battles has
he won?  I suppose in some
corners, passing laws in Illinois
that prohibits gang-related killers
from being executed or allowing
babies born by accident from
botched abortions to dies in
trashbins is considered a good
thing.  But not so in middle
America!

So the One who would bring
change used his incredible
judgement to tie his fortunes
with the quint-essential Wash-
ington Insider, Joe Biden. Not
exactly a daring, bold move.
It's about as safe as milk
toast, and just as exciting!

Obama appeared in Denver
at his Parthenon Thursday
night.  A speech that was
promised to be styled for the
Average American, based on
past speeches of JFK and
Ronald Reagan, turned out to
instead be 51 minutes of
McCain bashing, vague pro-
mises, and more of his usual
lofy rhetoric.  No details, no
specifics.  No red meat.  It
was a salad bar of speeches.

Oh sure, his cacklers at
MSNBC described the Great
One's speech as a symphony.
But steadier minds like the
AP's Charles Babbington and
Maureen Dowd took it to
task.  Even some on the Far
Left, like Dr. Cornell West,
a civil rights advocate, admo-
nished Obama for "running
away" from the legacy of
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Meanwhile, John McCain was
plotting!  Word was floating
that he would short-circuit
Obama's post-convention
news cycle with his pick for
a Vice Presidential running
mate.  Instead of playing it
safe as Obama did, McCain
selected a true reformer, a
woman with a real track record
of accomplishments!  Alaskan
Governor Sarah Palin was his
selection.  The Old Maverick
chose a Young Maverick!

Palin is the ideal running mate
for McCain.  She completely
turned Alaskan politics upside-
down within her first weeks in
office, passing sweeping ethics
reforms.  Her conservative
credentials are in tact, even
border-line Libertarian!  She
immediately won the favor of
talk-radio guru, Rush Limbaugh!
If she won over Rush, she'll
win over the rest of the GOP
and conservative movement.

Obama is back on the defen-
sive.  He's been there practi-
cally since March.  While it's
still his game to win or lose,
given the mood of the nation,
winning just became much
more difficult.  His bottom-
heavy ticket now must con-
tend with a pair of mavericks
who have both the experience
and moral fortitude to be
genuine agents of change.
As Bill Clinton said on Monday,
who do you vote for?  Candidate
X who you agree with but does
not appear able to get the job
done?  Or Candidate Y who
you may not agree with com-
pletely, but has proven himself
to have the ability?

All early indicators are that the
addition of Joe Biden to the
Obama campaign has not de-
livered any zing to the ticket.
In fact, some polls actually
show McCain inching ahead!
It is still too soon to tell, but
all in all, it would seem that
selecting Biden was more
fizzle than sizzle!

The choice was an odd one.
Already, the McCain campaign
released new ads featuring
Biden being very critical of a
very inexperienced and smug
looking Obama during the
early debates.  One segment
even had Biden praising his
old pal, McCain!

Biden only earned a meager
9,500 votes during the entire
primary process.  Even Dennis
Kucinich blew him away!  As
for Hillary Clinton and her 18
million+ votes, they, and she
do not matter much in the
World According to Obama!

I have not watched much of
the DNC convention.  I am
taping Tuesday's antics to
see how Hillary behaves.
The opening ceremony did
make me laugh.  A group of
children sang the national
anthem, and the last scene
was a close-up of a young
Oriental girl, with braces. I
guess the DNC are not as
picky as their pals in China.
LOL!

The buzz this afternoon was
all about Bill.  Bill Clinton
gave a speech where he more
or less diss'd the presumptive
nominee.  Bill's upset that the
Obama campaign is trying to
restrict his speech for this
Wednesday.  Rumors are now
also flying about whether the
proposed deal to permit a roll
call vote on Wednesday will
still take place.  The DNC may
just use a written ballot and
read the states in such an
order as to make certain that
Hillary never is shown to have
a lead in delegates.  Talk
about being petty!!!

In other news, Nancy Pelosi
has decided to challenge the
Catholic Church.  She told
Tom Brokaw last Sunday that
she is a qualified theologian
(just kidding) and that the
Church is just plain wrong
about it's stance on abortion.
This prompted two major
bishops/cardinals to public-
ly denounce her remarks.
More, I'm sure, will follow.

The funniest moment I've
thus far seen is that of old
Chris Matthews, having to
contend with rowdy Far-Left
kooks while doing his "Hard
Ball" broadcasts.  They were
sining and shouting and bang-
ing drums.  Poor Chris had
to nearly yell with his guests
just to be heard.  Matthews
looks like he needs some
oxygen, too, his face was
getting pretty red.  Maybe
Keith Obermann will give him
some mouth-to-mouth if
needed?  LOL!

The Obama Campaign has
officially gone ugly!  They
may have been ugly before,
but now it's official.  A clear
sign that the wheels are
falling off!

The most recent event, the
"Civil Forum" at Saddleback
Church sponsored by Pastor
Rick Warren.  Following a
clear victory by John McCain
for the evening, the Obama
Camp began floating the
story of accusing Warren for
allowing McCain to have the
questions posed in advance.

The schedule, determined by
a coin toss days before, had
Obama appearing first.  The
plan originally was for both
to arrive together before the
start and meet with Warren.
While Obama was on stage,
McCain would be in a green
room and have no know-
ledge of what was happen-
ing.  At the broadcast's
opening, Warren joked that
McCain was backstage in
a "cone of silence".

But in reality, McCain was
still in his limo en-route. He
arrived roughly twenty minutes
late and was whisked into the
green room.  McCain claims
that he had no knowledge of
the questions nor of Obama's
answers.  Warren admitted that
he had intended to give both
one question before-hand, but
since McCain was late, only
Obama knew what one ques-
tion would be!!!

Obama's team went into full
overdrive, shouting foul!  But
the truth is that Obama sucked
because he simply does!  With-
out cued questions and a tele-
prompter, Obama's lack of
experience, and lack of any
moral certainty leads to long-
winded, incoherent answers.
One fellow Democratic said
this weekend of Obama's
appearance, "...he needs to
talk to folks at Walmart and
give them 10-word answers...".
LOL!!!

Instead, Obama tries to pretend
to be knowledgeable and intelli-
gent, but winds up bumbling
through regurgitations of the
usual hack-kneed opinions of
the Far-Left Democrats.  His
comments about Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas
were word-for-word quotes of
Nevada's senior senator, Harry
Reid, from 2005!  Obama can
only recited old talking-points
to any issue when cornered
and delivers them poorly.

McCain, a seasoned veteran
of politics and campaigning,
responded quickly and suc-
cinctly.  Some of his answers
were even less than 10 words!
He showed that he does in-
deed have his own opinions
on nearly every subject and
was very comfortable saying
them out loud.

While Obama and his minions
try to muddle their way past
this debacle, they have also
been on the defensive for weeks
now thanks to the Jerome Corsi
book, "Obama Nation".  The
website set-up to debunk any
and all anti-Obama statements,
FightTheSmears.com, issued
a 41-page document rebutting
every minor error and fact Corsi
wrote.  The effect of this was to
give Corsi even more publicity
than his book warranted!

In the past month, the Obama
camp has also been playing
the old race-card more frequent-
ly.  Obama, himself, played it
three times in one day while
campaigning in Missouri!  The
essence of which was that
he would be attacked since he
"does not look like other presi-
dents on dollar bills."  I'm sure
he wasn't referring to not wearing
a white wig or having a beard!

Corsi was accused of being a
bigot, as well, during the counter-
attacks from Obama-friendly
blog sites, such as The Daily
Kos.  Howard Dean, former
candidate and current head of
the DNC gaffed during an appear-
ance on NPR exchanging the
Republican Party for the "White
Party".  LOL!  Dean, of course,
has used the race card before
during speeches.

With gasoline prices, a new
war in Eastern Europe, and
other major issues facing the
country, Obama has been
loosing ground to McCain all
summer.  His efforts to court
the Evangelical voters looks
like it will be a dud now that
Obama's support for partial-
birth abortions as well as his
opposition to a bill banning
the killing of infants mistaken-
ly left alive during an abortion
when he served in the Illinois
State Senate.  Obama says
that he does not want his
daughters to be "punished
with a baby" because of a
crisis pregnancy.  Not exactly
a view shared by Evangelicals,
nor more than half the country!

Ever since the long primary
fight in Pennsylvania, where
Obama's "bitter" statements
and outrageous rantings of
his pastor of 20 years had
become issues, Obama has
been coasting towards free-
fall.  Anticipating being able
to raise $100 million a month
before the DNC convention
prompted Obama to fore-go
public financing of his fall
campaign.  Thus far he's
barely raised half the money
he had hoped to have.

While some polls had him
up by fifteen percentage points
over McCain, the daily tracking
polls rarely showed more than
a five point lead.  McCain has
actually had a few good days
where he was out front!  Polls
in key states like Minnesota,
Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio
Michigan, Nevada and even
Colorado show Obama not
doing as well as he had hoped
for.  A recent poll for New York
state even shows McCain clos-
ing the gap!

There seems little doubt that
from here on out, the Obama
campaign will go negative and
do so frequently.  The ship is
sinking and he's running out
of family and life-long friends
to throw overboard and shift
the blame.  Tactics which had
served him well back in good
old Chicago are not going to
work nationally.  He can not
have McCain removed from
ballots by challenging petitions,
a trick Obama played many
times in Illinois.  How far and
fast he'll fall will be interesting
to watch.  Perhaps he should
have tried out for the Olympic
diving team?  LOL!

With the Democratic Nation-
al Convention in Denver only
a week away, there is much
to keep an eye out for.

For starters, will Obama make
his VP pick this week?  And
who will it be?  The betting
line favors Joe Biden and Evan
Bye, both sitting senators.
Governor Tim Kaine of Virginia
is also rumored in the running,
but most see him as a weak
choice.  Too inexperienced.
Former senator Sam Nunn is
also discussed as perhaps
the most experienced choice
available.  Obama even men-
tioned him last night as one
he trusts and listens to during
the appearance at Saddleback
forum.

But, all eyes are really on the
Clintons!  Hillary will speak on
Tuesday followed by Bill on
Wednesday.  After much de-
bate, the Obama campaign
caved in and will allow for a
roll call vote on Wednesday
with Hillary on the ballot.
Will she announce on Tuesday
that she is withdrawing her
name as a show of party
unity?  Will she get more
applauses than Obama?

Obama has moved his pre-
sumptive acceptance speech
to Denver's Investco Stadium,
which seats some 76,000.
An earlier promise to allow
half of the seats for locals has
been replaced.  Those who
want a seat must now volun-
teer at least 6 hours of their
time to his campaign!  The
original reason for moving the
event there was to limit any
damage when nearly half of
the delegates are Hillary sup-
porters.

Speaking of which, the PUMA
(Party Unity My @ss) crowd
will be attending and stirring up
trouble.  They are still bitter
about Hillary losing and the
games the DNC played during
the primaries.  

Polling data shows the race still
a dead even tie.  Recent events
in Georgia may move the bar in
McCain's favor.  A new book by
'swift-boater' Jerome Corsi called
"Obama Nation" came out a few
weeks ago and made Number 1
immediately.  This week, the
Obama campaign released a
41-page counter to Corsi's al-
legations.  Most of the errors
cited were minor details.  But,
as usual, the actual effect of the
counter-attack was to keep
Corsi in the media spotlight
longer, and sell more books.

A number of protest groups,
such as "Repeat '68", will be
attending as well.  As will
Detroit's 'tethered' mayor,
Kwame Kilpatrick.  What im-
pact these nusances will
have is sepculative, but I'm
sure they'll add unwanted
distractions to the corona-
tion.  The biggest nusance
of all, John Edwards, is being
nice and staying home.

I'm looking forward to watch-
ing the spectacle.  It may not
be as orchestrated as the
openning ceremony for the
Bejing Olympics, but then
the DNC, while socialists,
fall flat when it comes to pul-
ling off any totalitarian moves.
They can barely keep Nancy
Pelosi from making a fool
of herself!  Poor Nancy, no-
body is buying her book!
It's rated at 219th place on
Amazon's list for books
written by female Speakers
of the House.  LOL!!!

As if intended to mask their
moves with the start of the
Olympic Games in Beijing,
Russia sent several armored
battalions into Georgia on
Friday, August 7th.  After
a week of fighting, a cease
fire has been proposed, but
it remains to be seen if the
Russians will honor it.  They
did not honor an earlier one
two days ago.

The issues at hand are the
status of two provinces with-
in Georgia's borders, South
Ossetia and Abkhazia. Both
provinces have large separa-
tist movements, supported by
Russia.  The conflict is an old
one going back to 1991 when
the Soviet Union collapsed
and Georgia became an inde-
pendent nation.

Georgia was originally com-
prised of two kingdoms from
ancient times, Iberia and
Colchis (home of the Golden
Fleece from the story of Jason
and the Argronauts).  In the
11th Century, Georgia was
unified under King David the
Builder.  For several hundred
years, the land prospered
until pressures from both
the Ottoman and Russian
Empires led Georgia to
become part of Russia in
1801.  After World War One,
Georgia enjoyed a brief period
of independence, which it then
lost in 1921 when conquered
by the Red Army entered the
capital of Tbilisi.

Additional territory was assign-
ed to Georgia for administra-
tive purposes by Moscow in the
1930s.  No doubt a gift from it's
favorite son, Josef Stalin, who
was from Georgia.  When the
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991,
Georgia became independent,
but was in great turmoil for
several years.

Between 1991 and 1995, a
series of civil wars and coup
d'etats, some very bloody,
shaped the present situation.
Former Kremlin foreign mini-
ster, Eduard Shevardnadze,
became Georgia's first elected
president to last a term in
office.  During his reign, the
trouble in both Abkhazia and
South Ossetia turned into
ethnic cleansing, with some
250,000 Georgians violently
forced out of Abkhazia and
another 50,000 forced out from
South Ossetia.

Shevardnadze won re-election
in 2000, but was himself forced
out of office under charges of
ballot fraud and corruption in
2003.  The "Rose Revolution",
essentially a bloodless revolt,
was led by Mikheil Saakashvili,
who was elected president in
2004 and leads the nation now
during the current crisis. Edu-
cated in the United States,
Saakashvili instituted a 12%
flat tax rate which helped spur
economic development and
international investment.

Under Saakashvili, many eco-
nomic and political reforms
have been initiated.  Georgia
had a growth rate of nearly
8% of it's GNP in 2007, de-
spite a trade embargo from
Russia.  In addition to oil and
natural gas, Georgia is known
for producing some 500 vari-
eties of wine.  The nation was
on the brink of being accepted
into both the European Union
and NATO in 2009, when the
Russians invaded.

On August 6th, President
Saakashvili ordered a military
force into South Ossetia to
attempt to restore political
control of the province.  The
very next day, Russian tanks
and armored personnel carriers
numbering over 500, crossed
into South Ossetia to intervene
on behalf of the separatists.
Several days of intense ground
battles and air strikes followed.
As of the August 15th, the
Russians have essentially
split Georgia in half, advancing
deep enough, beyond South
Ossetia, to cut the only East-
West highway and railroad.
Abkhazia also rebelled at the
same time, allowing Russian
troops to attack the Black Sea
port city of Poti.

On August 12th, Russian Presi-
dent Medeved met with French
President Sarkozy to work out
a cease-fire deal.  The initial
plan was not carried out.  On
the 14th, Medeved met with the
de facto leaders of the separa-
tist movements in both seceding
provinces and acknowledged
them as presidents of new na-
tions.  A new cease-fire plan
submitted on the 15th makes
it clear that Russia will not
recognize the two provinces as
part of Georgia's territory.

Also on the 15th, Saakashvili
met with U.S. Secretary of
State, Condolesa Rice, and
during a joint press conference,
made it clear that he sees the
Russians as the aggressors.
He claims, and probably with
very good reasons, that they
instigated the separatists,
and were prepared to invade
before events unfolded.  He
also warned the West, and
the rest of the world, that
the old Russian Bear is back
and is hungry for power and
lands to conquer.  He stated
that had Georgia been allowed
to join NATO sooner, the inva-
sion may not have happened.

On another front, Russia de-
clared it's displeasure of an
agreement signed today by
Poland and the United States
for the U.S. to deploy an anti-
missile defense system in
Poland.  Russia said that they
now consider Poland as a
viable target should war break
out between Russia and the
United States.

The missile defense system
proposed is a limited one,
with only ten interceptor
missiles to be placed in
Poland.  Their position is
ideal for intercepting and
missiles launched from the
Middle East or Iran at Europe
or the United States.  But
the position is too far south
to be useful in intercepting
any missiles Russia may
launch at America.  Such
missiles would take a polar
route over the Arctic Ocean,
well beyond the range of
the Polish base.

Russia feels threatened by
the growing prosperity of
it's former republics and
old satellite states, like
Georgia and Poland.  They
are very concerned that
the Ukraine will soon be
admitted to both the E.U.
and NATO.  Thanks to
the new wealth from oil
and gas sales, Russia has
gone from economic and
political chaos of the 1990s
to a strong, reinvigorated
nation.  Military spending
has been rising sharply
the past few years.  

Russia's actions in Georgia,
especially if allegations of
wide-spread looting and
destruction of infrastructure
are true, shows that they
no longer intend to play
a secondary role in world
affairs.  They are willing to
use their military, and eco-
nomic force (in shutting
off oil and gas supplies to
Europe) as tools to re-assert
themselves on the global
stage.  The death toll in
Georgia is unknown, but
estimated in the thousands.
Over 100,000 people have
been displaced and are
now homeless refugees
from the fighting.  The march
of freedom in Eastern Europe
may have hit a brick wall.
A wall now stained red with
blood!

The John Edwards adultery
scandal is very typical of how
the Main Stream Media func-
tions in our country.  As they
like to say, "what did you
know and when did you know
it?"

By most accounts coming
out now, the affair between
former-Senator John Edwards
and Rielle Hunter began very
early in 2006.  Much sooner
than the October '06 date
Edwards is admitting to. It
seems that quite a few of
the journalists who were cov-
ering his campaign knew all
about it, nearly from the
start.  Again, certainly before
the date he admits to.

Why, then, was it not made
public?  A man, of some
national prominence, is en-
gaged in adultery, and run-
ning for the presidency of
the United States.  Umm,
gee, haven't we been down
this road before?  Did not
the lack of scrutiny from that
episode teach us a lesson
in distracting a nation and
paralyzing it?

Shame, shame!!!  I saw Bill
O'Reilly state last night on
his TV show that he and Fox
News "had the story", but
they elected not to run with
it as a courtesy to the wife,
Elizabeth Edwards.  After
all, didn't the poor woman
have enough on her plate
with cancer?

While that may be gallant,
it does not serve the public
good.  This story just proves
that Edwards is a FLAKE!
He has played fast and loose
with the facts all his life, and
so too in his personal life.

Just look at the kind of woman
he chose to associate with!
Hunter is widely known as a
New Age party-girl.  While in
New York City, she was never
known to turn down an offer
of sex or cocaine.  In talking
with her pals, she openly ad-
mitted to having an affair with
a powerful, married man, whom
she thought would be the next
Ghandi!  LOL!!!

Her reluctance now, to have
her baby's DNA tested, stems
from the false hope that one
day Elizabeth Edwards will
die and Ms Hunter will marry
Johnny Boy.  In emails to
friends, Hunter rails against
Mrs. Edwards, citing her for
her negative energy and more.

I'm sure part of the reluctance
also has to do with the stream
of $15,000 checks flowing her
way each month from Fred
Baron, a Texas lawyer and
close friend of Edwards.  Fred
may also have bought a $3
million dollar home for Hunter
and child, plus helped move
her and the alleged father,
Edwards staffer, Andrew
Young.  As THEY say, follow
the money!

Edwards claims he knew no-
thing about any payments to
Hunter.  However, Baron did
send the Edwards For Presi-
dent campaign a bill for some
$200,000 in private aircraft
rental fees.  Was this invoice
legitimate or a means to com-
pensate Baron for helping his
buddy out?

There are many questions to
be raised and another major
one is what impact on the
Democratic primaries would
have been had Edwards been
forced to withdraw sooner?
Did the Media cover up the
affair to keep Senator Hillary
Clinton from gaining any sup-
port from Edwards backers?
While some are attempting
to make a point that Obama
would probably still have won
in Iowa, who can really say
for certain?

The Media failed to report
what they did know about
John Edwards.  They have
failed to fully vet Barack
Obama.  They deliberately
beat the drum against
Hillary.  Journalism is sup-
posed to be about reporting
the "Who, What, Where,
When and Why".  Just the
facts and leave opinions to
the editorials.  If they can-
not serve their function
under the First Amendment,
then they have no business
using it as a defense.

Senator Barack Obama and
his surrogates often make hay
about how they raise money
from 'the little people', the
average Americans, with small
contributions.  According to
an article published in the New
York Times on August 5th,
about half of all contributions
are of $200 or less.

But of the other half, most are
of a $1,000 or more.  And even
more curious is the fact that
nearly a third of all of the
money Obama's campaign has
raised comes from a group of
some 500 'bundlers'.  Folks
who raise large sums from
various big donors.

Of the $112 million dollars that
the bundlers have raised for
Obama, 36 individually raised
over $500,000 each, six raised
over a million, and two raised
over $2,000,000!  Obama began
cultivating big donors back dur-
ing his 2004 U.S. Senate cam-
paign.  All totalled, Obama has
raised some $340 million so far
this campaign, giving him the
confidence to break his promise
and fore go public financing.

All this mega-loot is coming pri-
marily from Hollywood, Invest-
ment bankers and those nasty
hedge-fund brokers that Michelle
Obama complains about so
much.  LOL!  I'm sure that my
favorite 'bundler', Jodie Evans,
California cause-celeb who runs
Code Pink and other loon orgs,
is right up there in the top eche-
lon.  After all, if she can raise
$600,000 for the Al Sadr militia
to kill American G.I.s, I'm sure
she'll have no trouble raising
bigger bucks for Obama!

Meanwhile, Obama this week
launched an attack ad on TV
against Senator John McCain,
critical of him receiving some
$2 million from the oil industry.
Somehow, McCain getting a
paltry $2 million from them
doesn't seem to have the same
weight as $112 million from
three industries that want fa-
vors from Obama should he
get elected.

Some who read my blog may
think I'm a Republican.  Or
even a McCain supporter. The
truth is, I'm not!

I am a CAPITALIST!  Some
may try to argue that Capi-
talism is merely an econo-
mic system.  Oh contraire!
Capitalism is about choice.
It's about freedom.  It's about
the free exchange and flow
of products, services AND
ideas!  Most importantly,
Capitalism is about the
VOLUNTARILY entry into
a mutually binding contract.
Such contracts are a form
of political system, as
politics is an extension of
ethics from a personal to
a group interaction.

A lot of people being polled
these days say America is
going in the wrong direction.
I have to agree.  We've been
sliding down the slippery
slope of Socialism for quite
some time.  The most vile
aspect of which is how our
politicians steal our money
and then use it to buy our
votes and keep them in
office.  It's gotten so bad
that America's political class
is becoming more and more
hereditary.  The children and
grandchildren of past mayors,
governors, Congressmen and
Senators are getting elected
to office more and more.

In taxing us, and backing up
the taxes with force, they
create new ways of redistru-
biting the money, such to en-
courage their own re-election.
The only favor they are doing
is sinking us deeper into
debt, stifling growth and free-
dom and enslaving us. We
have become willing partici-
pants in bringing about a
totalitarian state.

No, this didn't start with
George W. Bush, nor
Clinton or even George H. W.
Bush.  It didn't even start
with F.D.R., though he did
do a great deal to speed up
the decline of our political
machinery.  Abe Lincoln
did quite a bit to push the
limits of power in his time
as well.  Even Mr. Limited
Government, himself,
Thomas Jefferson, acted
outside of his Constitu-
tional powers when he did
the Louisiana Purchase!

Our fundamental problem is
buried within our Constitu-
tion.  Which makes me laugh
when politicians these days
complain about the slow
pace of the Iraqis in forming
their new government.  Maybe
they don't want to make the
same mistakes we did?

The Swiss certainly did not!
As they wrote their constitu-
tion, after the Treaty of Vienna
guaranteed their right to form
an independent government,
the Swiss took their sweet
time.  Not eating chocolates,
either.  They did a very serious
study at our Constitution, and
came up with a grave concern.

They saw that our system
allows for too much power to
be centrally located.  Most
specifically, the power to
TAX!  This is why the Swiss
opted to NOT give their poli-
tical class that power!  Any
new tax or increase in rate
of an existing tax, is decided
by the taxpayers themselves.
The People hold the Power
of the Purse!  Which is where
it should be in a
"true democracy".

The end result, you ask?
Well, Switzerland has about
the most stable economy on
the planet.  They haven't
been at war with anyone for
nearly two centuries.  And
their currency actually ap-
preciates at a higher rate
than your average savings
account at a bank here. It
even does so irregardless
of the price of gold, though
it does help that the Swiss
Franc is still partially tied
to gold.  While our Yankee
Dollars lose value, the
Swiss Franc does very nicely.

Government is a human inven-
tion.  We can pretty much
have whatever government we
want.  All it takes is the desire
to have one better than the
rest.  In Switzerland, their
president rides to work every-
day on a trolley car!  This
form of quaintness is no
accident!  Somebody came up
with a good idea and ran with
it!

In the world today, we face
many adversaries, both home
and abroad.  We have less
and less control over our own
destinies.  Energy dependence
from OPEC and others.  The
Chinese own much of the
'paper' on our nation's debts.
We cannot tell them very
much anymore.  They do
not have to listen to us.
We are becoming more and
more under their thumbs
Domestically, our ruling
class is more hereditary
and we have fewer options
with each new election
cycle.

One party or the other, one
candidate or another, is not
going to solve the problem.
It will take a grassroots move-
ment.  And the best place to
start is a Constitutional Amend-
ment to take away the power
of the Congress to tax!  They
have been abusing the privi-
lege for many decades.  It
will only get worse.

At 11:23AM, EDT, Speaker of
the House, Nancy Pelosi, the
Democrat from California,
banged her gavel and called
the Congress to adjourn till
Labor Day.  While no energy
bill was passed, she and her
fellow Democrats felt the need
to take a five week break from
doing 'The People's' business.
After all, they work so hard
and those 2.5 day work weeks
are real killers!

But all did not go smoothly.
A group of Republicans who
are determined to try to pass
legislation to help bring relief
to the price of gasoline, de-
cided to stay after the ad-
journment.  When they refused
to leave, Speaker Pelosi or-
dered that the lights, air con-
ditioning and C-SPAN TV
cameras be shut off! Perhaps
Nancy is upset that her new
book is a flop, not even break-
ing the 1000th place mark on
Amazon.com (it's ranked at
1427th place, LOL!).

The group of Repblicans
then grew from six to thirty.
Outraged by Pelosi's deci-
sions and the lack of co-
operation from the Demo-
crats.  A compromise bill
proposed by a bipartisan
group of ten Congressmen
will not be voted on until
after Labor Day.  The bill
includes tax increases on
oil companies and allows
for drilling in previously
restricted areas in the
Gulf of Mexico.

The mayhem finally ended
at 5PM after police had
escorted out all public vi-
sitors.  The Republicans
sand "God Bless America"
and departed.  Mike Pence
from Indiana said their pro-
test was the equivalent to
the Boston Tea Party. A-
nother Republican Con-
gressman serving Texas,
led in chants of, "Madame
Speaker, where art thou?"
and "Where of where has
Congress gone?"!  LOL!

If it wasn't for the fact that
Americans will still be pay-
ing $4+ a gallon for gasoline
through the rest of the sum-
mer, this would be funny.
A whole lot of people are
being squeezed and are
forced to make serious bud-
get decisions due to the
price of gasoline.  I'm sure
they are as happy as I am
that Pelosi and her pals
will be enjoying their vaca-
tion while the rest of us
suffer.

The vast majority of Ameri-
cans have made it very
clear that the high cost
of gasoline and oil are a
major issue now in this
election year.  A solid
75% from several polls
consistently show they
are in favor of more dome-
stic drilling.  While many
are still concerned about
drilling in the Alaskan
ANWR area, most do sup-
port drilling on the outer
continental shelf off shore.

Even Barack Obama is
beginning to shift his posi-
tion.  After a week of watch-
ing his tracking numbers
fall from a nine point lead
over John McCain to a
dead-even split of 44% each,
Obama today said he may
reconsider his objections
over drilling off shore.  A
vote in the Senate yester-
day, sponsored by the GOP
to tie lifting off shore restric-
tions based on the price of
gasoline was blocked by
Senate Majority Leader,
Harry Reid (D-NV).  Some
say the main reason he
did this was to spare the
candidate Obama from
having to cast a vote on
the matter, which could be
used by McCain against him.

Obama, who advised us
all to inflate our tires to
save gas, is now propos-
ing to give everyone a
stimulus check for $1000
paid for by new taxes on
oil companies.  The only
problem with that scheme
is A) it would divert the
money they spend on
exploration and develop-
ment (over $7 Billion last
quarter alone from just
Exxon-Mobile) and B) even
if they confiscated all of
the profits it would not pay
for the Obama stimulus
checks.  It wouldn't even
pay a third of the cost!

So the politics of change
that the Democrats preach
turns out to be politics as
usual.  In other words,
Cover Thy @zz!  When in
doubt, adjourn, and let
somebody else make the
hard decisions.  In the mean-
while, we keep paying and
paying and paying....