You Are What You Eat

Check out this video that goes after Michelle O's school lunch program.

Romney Leads, Obama Follows

Romney is speaking on the Libya situation and is sounding more like a president than the current President. He's talking about strength, freedom, the White House's mistakes, and not taking anything from the press. The only beef I have is that they should have waited until after Obama spoke. Now Obama can use Romney's statement and temper his own statement to reply/flank Romney's. Transcript to come.

The media went after him and after him, asking why he's "politicizing" this when we should all stand together--in the media's estimation, regardless of how irresponsible, weak, or confusing the Obama administration is. He's politicizing? Who has a campaign stop in Las Vegas today while the Middle East explodes? Who's the one running around on late night shows and taking calls from rappers while ignoring the Israeli leader?

Guess those intelligence briefings are seeming pretty important today.

UPDATE: Wow, guess there was no reason to worry about when Romney came out. Obama just made his statement and said basically nothing. He offered condolences (of course, who wouldn't) and spoke at length about our military (mostly from the convention speech and in a desperate attempt to pander to America). But he mostly talked about himself--what he did, who he saw yesterday for 9/11 (just in case anyone missed it).

"Justice will be done," he said. What does that mean? Could we possible have a strong condemnation without being couched around his deep respect for Islam? If the situation weren't so serious, it might be entertaining to see how they get out of this one.

US AMBASSADOR TO LIBYA KILLED

Well, here we go, folks. In addition to the travesty of setting the consulate on fire on 9/11, this should be reason enough for the United States to teach these street thugs who the superpower is.

We should just get our people out of there and give them the Embassy. And then show them how well our military pilots can target buildings in urban situations.

US Ambassador and Three US Citizens Killed in Libya

U.S. Ambassador to Libya John Christopher Stevens and at least two other embassy staffers were reported killed Tuesday in an assault on the American consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Wire services and reporters on the ground said Libyan government officials confirmed that Stevens and the others were fleeing the consulate when a rocket-propelled grenade struck their vehicle. Al-Jazeera’s correspondent in Benghazi said the bodies of the dead had been taken to the Benghazi airport.

Anyone else thinking about the Carter/Iranian hostage situation in 1978? Let's see how Obama leads this one from behind.

9/11

What was that day 11 years ago?

Shock.

Confusion.

Horror.

Fear.

Destruction.

Courage.

Honor.

Resolve.

Strength.

Remember what happened. Remember that day.

But beyond the American response, remember who did it. Remember that it was an act of war against our country.

"None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world." ~ President George W. Bush, 9/11/01

History vs. Polls

Political scientists at University of Colorado Boulder have released their predictions of the election outcome--and it doesn't look good for Obama. Since 1980, this analysis has correctly predicted the outcome of every election. So, despite what the polls say this week (and probably for the next month), keep this article in mind.

According to their analysis, President Barack Obama will win 218 votes in the Electoral College, short of the 270 he needs. And though they chiefly focus on the Electoral College, the political scientists predict Romney will win 52.9 percent of the popular vote to Obama’s 47.1 percent, when considering only the two major political parties...

In 2012, “What is striking about our state-level economic indicator forecast is the expectation that Obama will lose almost all of the states currently considered as swing states, including North Carolina, Virginia, New Hampshire, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida,” Bickers said.

Read the full text from the CU-Boulder press release. 

Obama? Oh, please.

The overwhelming volume of empty words and downright lies in Obama's speech was stunning. Here's just one example:  he had the gall to say of Romney/Ryan, "They want your vote, but they don't want you to know their plan."

Really? This from the same team who had Pelosi saying on healthcare, "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what's in it."

Trying to tie his rhetoric to reality is like trying to argue with a drunkard. Thankfully, Charles Krauthammer expertly summed up the evening.

 I was stunned. This is a man who gave one of the great speeches of our time in 2004, and he gave one of the emptiest speeches I have ever heard on a national stage. Yes, it had cadence, and yes, there were deceptions in it, but that is not what is so striking about it. There was nothing in it. This is a man who believes that government can and should do a lot. There is nothing in here that tells us how he's going to go from today to tomorrow. For any of the so called goals and what government is going to do, what is he going to enact?

At least Romney had a five point plan. What we heard from Obama was a vision. And he pulls numbers out of a hat. 100,000 new math and science teachers. 600,000 more people working in natural gas. Two million more trainees, and he doesn't say how we get from A to B. It's a vision. I have a vision of an America where there is no disease and everybody has a private airplane, but unless I tell you how we get there, I’ve said nothing. And what is so surprising, is that - all he had left - he can't speak about his record on the economy, and it's not a good one. As we heard, he didn't speak about achievements, the one that's liberals like, ObamaCare, stimulus and etc… they're unpopular.

One Nation Under...

They'll follow anyone except God.

While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. ~2 Peter 2:19

Ratings Roulette

It will be interesting to see the ratings numbers from night two of the DNC convention. They put potentially their most effective speaker--Bill Clinton--up against the opening night of the NFL.

And night three, featuring Obama, is pitted against the MTV Video Music Awards, which could draw the 18-24 crowd. Obama's endless talk of student loans (as if that's the biggest problem out there) could fall on deaf ears as his targeted youth vote tunes out politics for entertainment.

Now, the VMA's could turn into an Obama love-fest, which isn't totally out of the question. And I think the youth vote is perpetually overrated in elections.

But I think the campaign is quickly learning that this isn't 2008. And whether it's the half-empty campaign kick-off or a poorly scheduled convention, not even Obama will be able to fill a stadium or warrant the undivided attention of the public this time around.

Clinton Speaks...And Speaks...And Speaks

I'd like to say I saw the entirety of Clinton's speech last night because, whatever your politics, there's no denying Clinton is a great speaker. He had some pretty convincing lines in the first part about working together, and he brought that "Don't Stop Thinkin' About Tomorrow" vibe to the place.

But then he spiraled into blaming Bush for the economy Obama created. And by the fourth or fifth subject change, I had completely lost interest. Good speech from a good speaker--if only it had been half as long!

Listener fatigue can suck the energy from the best of speeches.

I'm guessing anyone who was not a devoted Democrat felt the same way last night. If you have six hours to spare, here's the transcript and video.

Random Thoughts on the Democrats...

1)  Did it strike anyone else that they're running this convention as though Obama's not the incumbent? They're attacking and Bush and Limbaugh and talking as though there's no record or history of the last four years.

They want to reinvent the Obama administration--without admitting to what they've done during the current administration.

2) Why is it a bad thing to want someone successful to be president? Being successful--and having parents who were also successful--should not be a disqualification to hold office. I'd rather have a responsible and proven leader at the helm than take a chance on an unknown, unqualified, empty chair.

DNC--Do Not Complain

Watching the DNC Convention tonight was surreal, infuriating, and at times incomprehensible. The prime time speeches showed glimmers of the people we've come to know and loathe during the past four years. But for the most part, they were trying so hard to wrap themselves in the flag that they've previously wanted to burn that I couldn't even recognize them.

For sanity's sake (mine, and yours!), I'd like to point out one particularly galling idea in Michelle's speech. 

She said:

"And as president, you get all kinds of advice from all kinds of people. But at the end of the day, when it comes time to make that decision, as president, all you have to guide you are your values, and your vision, and the life experiences that make you who you are."

She mentioned this in the context of having a devoted family and dedicated guardians. She spoke of the humble lives she and her husband enjoyed, and the hard work that their parents and grandparents did on their behalf.

  

But what is the subtext of these stories now in the "new normal"--that hard work is to be rewarded and a better life is open to all who work for it?

No. The truly insidious subtext is this:

"Yeah, things suck now. But your parents and grandparents went to work and lived their lives without complaining, you selfish Americans. You should just take these hard times. We're all equal in our suffering."

Every generation should not have to start back at square one. 

That's exactly what our parents and grandparents were working against.  A new college graduate should not have to take a bus to her secretarial job because she couldn't find a better position available in her field. A young man should not have to work three jobs because he can't find one full-time one out there that can pay the bills for his family.

But that's the way it is in Obama's country today.

There are lots of nations out there where each generation starts in exactly the same position as the previous ones. But that's not this nation.

Michelle, you talk about how the people you grew up with shape who you and your husband are today.  And it's great to talk about your parents and grandparents. But you can't skip the others influencing your thoughts and beliefs during the formative years of early adulthood.

Like Rev. Wright.

Like Bill Ayers.

Like Frank Marshall Davis.

Why did all the frosted memories and sweet reminiscences only include childhood and the White House? What happened in those years during which you incurred that much-touted student debt?

Don't sanitize your past when you want to control our future. And don't lecture us about what true success is when, after four years, the best job you can give us is "incomplete."