The State of Ohio is turning the voting system in the state inside out once more. After the 2004 presidential election in which the Dems were sure that then Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, a Republican, tortured the voting system so that George W. could be reelected.  The Dems and their willing accomplices in the media, insisted that the Ohio voting system was “broken” and had to be changed to a more modern electronic system that would be tamper proof to insure fairness and be totally 100% reliable. Well sure enough, Ohio changed over to new touch screen voting system. In Cuyahoga County alone, the citizens paid $21 million to comply with the order to step out of the 20^th century and into the 21^st.

Now Ohio has a newly elected Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, Democrat, who found herself elected with the new touch screen machines. Now she says those machines are no longer wanted.  Seems that our last election here in Cuyahoga County didn’t go the way they wanted it too and the results were too slow in coming.  It was only the second election that used the touch screen machines and the county was just getting used to them. So now Jennifer Brunner has ordered the entire State to move back to paper and #2 pencils just like grade school. The votes will now be counted by a brand new optical scanning system. This system will cost Cuyahoga County $9 million and they are ordered to scrap the $21 million investment made in the touch screen machines. What the heck it’s only taxpayers money.

Now the new scanners are to be bought in a no-bid deal from a Nebraska–based company called Election Systems & Software. (I hope someone is checking Brunner’s campaign donations to see if the Nebraska company is one of her donors.)   

This whole thing is a crock. There was nothing wrong with the original system which used the punch cards. Now Cuyahoga County has spent $30 million hard earned taxpayer dollars to get right back to where we started a year ago. But the Dems couldn’t care less. They act like they are trying so hard for a fair system when we had one all along and they knew it. They wanted change for change sake. Cost is no object to Dems when it comes to our money.  

How did the French ever elect this guy? He really seems to understand the Iranian threat. Quoted in a French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, he says "Everyone agrees on the fact that what the Iranians are doing has no civilian explanation," referring to Tehran's uranium enrichment work. "The only debate is about whether they will develop a military capacity in one or five years." 
Somehow I always had the image of the French as Big Bird with his head underground. But Sarkozy understands that Iran is a true threat not only to Israel, which Iran would wipe off the face of the earth if it had the capability, but also a threat to the stability of the entire Middle East and thus to Europe as well.  Will he be able to convince his European neighbors and others on the Security Council of the United Nations to join France and the United States in sanctions against Iran?  That may be a tall order but Jacques Chirac would have been too busy throwing stones at the United States to even notice the Iran is a threat. Sarkozy is not your father’s French president.

See my blog from Dec 10 below in which I predicted that the anti-gun Left would before the end of the week try to blame Assam for acting too rashly.  It didn’t even take 24 hours and already the anti-gun Left is trying to discredit Jeanne Assam, the hero in the Colorado Church shooting.  See Michelle Malkin's Report.  It's now reported that the gunman died at his own hand but had he not been confronted by Assam, he may have taken a lot more with him before he did himself in.  

It's so obvious that the Left has no intention of allowing Americans to protect themselves even in a case as radical as this one. Left to its own devices, the Liberals will disarm the righteous citizens and lead us all to slaughter.  It’s up to Conservatives to insist on the right of ordinary citizens, Conservative and Liberal alike, to defend themselves from criminals and lunatics.  

Mr. Chavez, we hear you have some milk shortages among other things down there in Venezuela, the land of milk and honey.  Hard to believe that the great leader Chavez would allow such a thing to happen. I suppose its Bush’s (El Diablo) fault.  Do you smell sulphur, Hugo?

Well not to worry. You can always drink that oil instead. Little oil with your coffee, Hugo baby?  Oreos are great with some #1 Venezuelan crude.  Hmmm, hmmm.  USA?  Yes, we have all kinds of milk. In fact, we bathe in it from time to time. Swimming in it, you might say.  

Don’t want to sell us any more oil, Hugo?  Well, your posse, OPEC, we’ve been talkin’ to those boys and seems like they just may make up the difference. Imagine that.  So we’ll have plenty of oil and milk.   You can keep your Venezuelan crude. Oh, by the way, we’re shutting down all your CITGO stations and will be turning them into dairy stores because we’ve got soooo much MILK to sell.

I guess that Castro model you have been working on down there hasn’t worked out so well for you.  But you know, now that Fidel is near the end, you might just want to hop the first freighter to Cuba because when those Venezuelan mothers can’t find milk for their babies, they may start getting a little testy and may come looking for your head.

President George Bush welcomed Al Gore to the White House today to honor him for being this year’s recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Bush is a much better man than I or most of us for that matter ever could be.  How many of us could ever welcome a person to your house that made statements like the following about you? (These quotes are from Gore’s address at New York University in 2004. He has ripped Bush many more times since.)
    

“George W. Bush promised us a foreign policy with humility. Instead, he has brought us humiliation in the eyes of the world.”
 

“He promised to ‘restore honor and integrity to the White House.’ Instead, he has brought deep dishonor to our country and built a durable reputation as the most dishonest President since Richard Nixon.”

“He has created more anger and righteous indignation against us as Americans than any leader of our country in the 228 years of our existence as a nation -- because of his attitude of contempt for any person, institution or nation who disagrees with him.”

“He has exposed Americans abroad and Americans in every U.S. town and city to a greater danger of attack by terrorists because of his arrogance, willfulness, and bungling at stirring up hornet's nests that pose no threat whatsoever to us. And by then insulting the religion and culture and tradition of people in other countries. And by pursuing policies that have resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children, all of it done in our name.”

“The unpleasant truth is that President Bush's utter incompetence has made the world a far more dangerous place and dramatically increased the threat of terrorism against the United States.”

"So today, I want to speak on behalf of those Americans who feel that President Bush has betrayed our nation's trust, those who are horrified at what has been done in our name, and all those who want the rest of the world to know that we Americans see the abuses that occurred in the prisons of Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and secret locations as yet undisclosed as completely out of keeping with the character and basic nature of the American people and at odds with the principles on which America stands."

Rather than honor this lunatic, I would have had him arrested. But that’s just me. Bush, however, and to my own personal embarrassment, has turned the other cheek too many times to suit me. He should have fired back against attacks such as these and made his case to the American people.  He’s had good cases to make but has not done a good job of it. This has been a failing of the Bush Administration.  But to bring the man into the White House and honor him is far greater than he deserves.

Things I’m Thankful For:

I’ve managed to avoid evening network TV for the last 8 consecutive years. 

I’ve also avoided most of the left wing Hollywood movies over the last 8 years. 

Alternative media’s break of the left wing stranglehold of MSM on the psyche of America. 

Conservative talk radio.  

The strong and diverse candidates that the Republicans have put forth for president in 2008.  

The pathetic shrill-toned candidates that the Democrats have put forward for president in 2008. 

That the likes of Murtha, Pelosi, Reid, Kucinich, Dodd, Biden, Boxer, Byrd, Durbin, Feingold, Conyers, Obey and Rangel are all Democrats. 

Joe Lieberman standing strong against the far left wing of the Democrat Party and standing firmly behind the effort in Iraq and most importantly our troops. 

Our brave and strong men and women of our armed forces especially those who are fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan.  

President George Bush and his firm resolve to achieve victory in Iraq. 

God's blessings of my wonderful family, friends, good health and life in the greatest nation on the earth. 
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

Does Hugo Chavez remind anyone of Il Duce? He does to me. Such bombast, all thunder and no rain.  He really thinks that he can rally OPEC to start an Oil War to fight the big bad Imperialist, USA. Chavez is a pimple on an elephant’s butt and if he tries anything like that the U.S. Navy would blockade his little tin pan country and squeeze him until the fat little man begins to look like Ghandi.  And I hope he doesn’t think for a minute that his so-called staunch allies in OPEC would support him. They would turn on him in a Riyadh Minute to get the extra oil revenues left on the table by Baby Hugo.

Obviously, Chavez feels emboldened by our liberal media who says nothing at all about his dictatorial style in Venezuela which has suppressed free speech, nationalized the Venezuelan oil industry, and made a mockery of national elections.  We even let him make speeches in our own country at the United Nations that mock and deride our own President. Again, he is emboldened by the hate speech coming from the far left and even leading Democrat candidates for President.  

Today's speech by President Nicolas Sarkozy of the French Republic was heart warming. For years now, French leadership, followed by its people, has stuck its collective finger in the eye of the United States of America. With the exit of Jacques Chirac comes the appearance of new leadership and a fresh new approach to French- American relations.  Imagine, if you can, the French President calling the United States the “greatest nation in the world”. Unimaginable one year ago.  Even more startling is Sarkozy challenging his own people saying “nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned”.  In effect, he tells the French people to get off that 30 hour work week and get back to work.  I for one very much appreciate Sarkozy’s expressions of “eternal gratitude” to the United States for all its effort in the two world wars.  

This is a good first step to repair the damaged relations of our two countries. However, it has to be followed up with future supportive actions. I have reason to believe that Sarkozy will act as a friend to the United States but will he have the support the French populace?  We have seen a full generation of America bashing by the French (excepting the two week period after 911) and it will take more than just one speech to change the hearts and minds of the French toward America.  

We will be watching the French very carefully going forward but I sincerely hope that Sarkozy has begun a positive trend that could sweep through all of Europe.  If this continues, I just may take that vacation to France that I have been avoiding all these years.  

The recent Democratic debate brought out the fact that Dennis Kucinich, who would if elected president, would create a Dept. of Peace, is among the 14% of the people that claim to have seen a UFO.  My guess is that the UFO he claims he saw probably appeared a week before the day he claims to have seen it because Dennis has always had tremendous hindsight.  When he was actually on the job he was elected to do in Cleveland, he often would protest the closing of a major, high profile businesses such as LTV Steel or one of our local hospitals, St. Alexis, on the eve of their closings just to get his mug on the local TV and the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Always a "Dennis come lately" for area workers and businesses, he was always on time for the 6:00 news.  Tim Russert's efforts to reveal Kucinich as the loon that he is at the last debate will bear no fruit, however, as Dennis does not care about the welfare of the Democrat Party, he only cares about Dennis. Dennis will hang on to the bitter end trying for more face time nationally and when he finally gets shunned off the stage by the national media, he will cry fowl.

The Republican Party has its own version of Kucinich, Moonbat Ron Paul. Paul tries to come off as the conservative's conservative but his actual voting record is to the left of John McCain, who many conservatives have had problems with. But Paul's far right, libertarian ideas would vault us back into the late 1800s almost as fast as Kucinich's ideas would.  Now Ron Paul has another problem in that Nazi sympathizers seem to have drawn a liking to him and have made contributions to his campaign. Calls have been made for Paul to distance himself from these wackos and return the money but so far Paul has been silent. Paul is also known for his statements, once during recent debate, that 911 was the result of United States interventionist policies. 

It's good that America gets to see these people on stage for who they are at these debates. They do take precious time away from the legitimate candidates but it gives good prospective to the serious candidates. Both parties have their "Black Sheep ". But the weeding out must take place soon. The early primaries are nearly upon us and Kucinich and Paul, rather than being on stage at these debates ought to be out in their natural habitat baying at the moon. 

Get ready for a knock down, drag ‘em out brawl that will make the Immigration Bill and the Iraq War funding bill combined look like a session of “Patty Cakes”. I’m not talking about the next Republican candidate debate. I’m not talking about Dick Cheney ripping Nancy Pelosi for her foreign policy faux pas; I’m talking about the Senate confirmation hearings should one of the Supreme Court Justices retire at the end of June as is the current speculation. We will not have seen fire works like this since the shock and awe of the Iraq War invasion or even better, since the John Bolton confirmation hearings. Bush, getting hungry for a legacy, just might try to get a justice appointed who will overturn Roe v. Wade, but this is where the Dems bring out the brass knuckles. The Dems, never eager to risk American lives securing our own national defense, are ready to fight to their own deaths in order to protect the right of a woman to kill her own child. Highly ironic, but true.

This will send the Iraq War and the War on Terror, the Immigration Bill and yes even the Paris Hilton story , to the far back pages of the daily papers. There will be more bruises, hair pulling and eye gouging than a midnight brawl at the Old Alibi Saloon. Getting one of his nominees out of the judicial committee hearings for a vote will be excruciating for Bush. But this is what worries me the most. The way Bush has been acting of late, he is likely to cave in once again on his conservative principals and nominate a justice that he thinks will be acceptable to the Dems rather than get into an all out fight. I hope not but if an opening appears on the Supreme Court this summer, the blockbuster we are used to seeing at the Cinemark Theaters in the summer will this year be on Capital Hill.

How is this for a theory? Rather than being locked in an ideological battle in the war on terror, the Republicans and the Democrats are actually forged at the hip in the battle against it.

Many, including myself, have scratched their heads and wondered why in the world have we not been attacked again as we were on 9/11? Yes, we have taken many steps to increase our security in the years since that attack but it surely would not take much for a suicide bomber to strap himself with explosives and detonate in one of our shopping malls and thus create chaos and another economic freefall in this country. So why hasn’t it been done? I have felt for a long time that the terrorists see our divisiveness in this country as one of their main goals in this war. They see how we battle each other and beat each other up in Congress on a daily basis. However, if another attack were to occur, many of the moderate Democrats would no longer support the far left stance against this War in Iraq and the War on Terror and the view that the Republicans efforts to keep Americans safe is over reaching. Instead, it’s much more likely that the Democrats would form an alliance with the Republicans and unleash against the terrorists the full force of American military might and utterly crush them.

Bush has long said that we need to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here. Could it be that the War in Iraq was a necessary element for our two political parties to have plotted a scheme to make it look as though we are bitterly squabbling among ourselves but in reality we are doing so only to make the terrorist think we are squabbling and divided so that they will not commit any more acts of terror in this country? It would be hard for anyone but the most hardened conspiracy theorist to imagine that we could actually pull this off, but it’s just a thought.