Oklahoma's "F" On Abortion Is a Good Thing

Oklahoma getting an "F" from the baby killer crowd is a good thing. Anytime you have bloggers upset over what they call womens reproductive rights (code for prenatal homicide) you know you are on the right track. Local Pro-Prenatal Homicide Peace Arena Blog is furious over Oklahoma attempting to reduce the number of women killing their babies and refers to it as "butting into a woman's business" while claiming that Oklahoma seeks to restrict education and information to women about their "choices".
In reality it is the pro-baby killer crowd (like Peace Arena and Planned Parenthood) that seeks to restrict education and information to women about their true choices.
They seek to deny women the right to see an ultrasound image of their baby and deny that the "choice" women make is BEFORE they get pregnant not afterwards. Their only "choice" is abortion and all other choices are virtually ignored by these groups and supporters.
The new laws in Oklahoma do NOT restrict a woman's access to birth control, condoms or information about her body and how to track her cycle to avoid getting pregnant which is where these people claiming to be about "womens reproductive rights" should be focusing their attention if their goal were actually about womens reproductive choices, but it isn't... their focus is ONLY on abortion.
There is NO effort on their part to educate women to avoid abortion, no that would be wrong in their eyes because abortion is their goal, not educating women or providing "choices".

Oklahoma should be proud of this "F" rating.
If terrorists, murderers and thieves rank Oklahoma, I hope we get an "F" from them too.

Military Wish List and Duncan Hunter

Services seek $30B in additional funds

The Airforce Times

By William Matthews - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Feb 14, 2008 20:18:54 EST

Just four days after asking Congress the largest defense budget since World War II — $705.7 billion to be spent in 2009 — the U.S. military services each sent wish lists worth billions more.

In all, the services say the big budgets they just delivered to lawmakers leave them $30 billion in “unfunded requirements.”

The Air Force lays claim to more than half that amount, submitting an 11-page, $18.7 billion list of items it wants, ranging from more F-22 stealth fighters and C-17 cargo planes to trainer aircraft shelters and vehicle barriers.

The Navy requests $4.6 billion more, the Army $3.9 billion and the Marine Corps $1.3 billion.

The services submitted these wish lists in response to an invitation from Rep. Duncan Hunter, the senior Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. Hunter released the lists Feb. 14.

In a Jan. 15 letter to each of the service chiefs, Hunter said, “It goes without saying that the fiscal year 2009 defense budget will not include full funding” for everything the services say they need.

But he said the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism make it “more important than ever that Congress be aware of these unfunded requirements.”

Chiefs of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps each sent Hunter a reply thanking him for the opportunity and enclosing one to three pages of requests.

The Air Force sent a shopping list expensive enough to boost its 2009 budget by 13 percent. The list includes:

* $3.9 billion for 15 C-17s.

* $1.1 billion for four F-22s plus advanced procurement funding for 24 F-22s.

* $1 billion for to hire aircraft maintenance workers.

* $380 million for five Joint Strike Fighters and advanced procurement for six others.

* $616 million for five Global Hawk unmanned spy planes.

* $668 million to speed up depot maintenance of aircraft and engines.

* $643 million to buy seven C-37B and one C-40 aircraft.

* $438 million for F-15 modifications.

* $748 million worth of base construction.

The Navy wants $1.7 billion to buy an additional LPD-17 amphibious ship, $941 million for an additional T-AKE cargo ship and $548 million for improvements to maritime patrol aircraft.

The Marine Corps wants Humvees, helicopters, howitzers and other battlefield gear.

And the Army, similarly, wants $1.6 billion worth of Humvees; $625 million worth of “driver vision enhancement” equipment; and $489 million worth of heavy trucks, trailers, palletized loading systems, night vision goggles and other combat gear.

If past unfunded requirements lists are any indicator, the services have a good chance of getting much of what they are asking for, said Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate staffer and defense budget specialist.

The lists make budget analysts cringe because the items “are totally unevaluated,” Wheeler said. “They have not been vetted by the Office of the Secretary of Defense or the Office of Management and Budget.” Instead, they go straight from the service chiefs to members of Congress.

“The real value of the lists is that they give members of Congress who want to plus up spending a reason to do it,” said Christopher Hellman, a defense budget analyst for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

Armed with a service chiefs’ requests, lawmakers can battle more forcefully for spending that creates jobs in their districts, he said.

AMTAC Fair Trade Act

USA : AMTAC to participate in USTR anti-currency manipulation press February 14, 2008

The American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC) will participate in a press conference hosted by U.S. Representatives Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Duncan Hunter (R-CA) where they will press for passage of their anti-currency manipulation legislation, H.R. 2942, the Ryan-Hunter Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act of 2007. Consistent with the World Trade Organization’s provisions, H.R. 2942 would discourage currency manipulation by China and other countries by giving U.S. producers and workers the right to seek a remedy for injurious export subsidies or dumping under the U.S. countervailing duty (CVD) or antidumping law. The press conference will be held on the same day as the U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to release its year-end trade figures for 2007. The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2007 is expected to be a record $260 billion, and more than 50 percent of the expected $500 billion U.S. trade deficit in manufactured goods in 2007 will be with China. Moreover, the cumulative U.S. trade deficit with China in manufactured goods has ballooned to $1.1 trillion since that country joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001. These deficits are a key factor why the United States has lost more than 3.4 million manufacturing jobs since 2001. The press conference will be held: DATE: Thursday, February 14, 2008 TIME: 12:00 PM Eastern Time SITE: Room HC-7 ADDRESS: United States Capitol CITY: Washington, D.C.

Oklahoma Exodus Maximus

Reports show that between 25,000 and 50,000 illegals have left Northeastern Oklahoma, not counting the rest of the state. The Chicago Tribune wonders about the impact without really considering the principal of obeying the law first over profit, business whatever. Typical of those in favor of having no enforcement of any border or citizenship laws which would result in economic and social chaos in this country if actually implemented... the Chicago tribune wonders,

Where Have The Illegal Immigrants Gone?

Oklahoma law targeting illegal workers had some unforeseen results

By Howard Witt |Tribune correspondent

10:08 AM CST, February 10, 2008

TULSA - The splintered trees, downed branches and piles of wood still littering nearly every neighborhood of this sprawling city two months after a devastating ice storm stand as a testament to something more than the ferocity of nature.

The debris is also a sign of the effectiveness ofOklahoma's new law intended to drive illegal immigrants out of the state -- the strictest such statute in the nation.

The branches are still here, many of the law's critics s ay, because the undocumented workers who would have cleaned them up are not."You really have to work hard at it to destroy our state's economy, but we found a way," said state Sen. Harry Coates, the only Republican in the state Legislature to vote against the immigration law. "We ran off the workforce."

Frustrated by the federal government's failure to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and to address the status of the estimated 12 million already here, state and local governments across the nation have been enacting immigration crackdowns. Oklahoma's new law, which cuts off undocumented immigrants from most government programs and mandates felony charges against anyone who transports or shelters them, has emerged as Exhibit A in the struggle.

Three months after the law took effect Nov. 1, anecdotal indications are mounting that many of Oklahoma's estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants have fled the state. But so are indications that the new law is triggering unforeseen consequences.

Construction companies that relied on undocumented laborers are having trouble completing jobs. Thousands of undocumented children have been dropped from the state's Medicaid program. And business is down sharply at the stores, groceries and restaurants that serve a Hispanic clientele.

To the law's supporters, who contend that illegal immigrants cost the state more than $200 million each year in extra health, education and welfare spending, those indicators are cause for rejoicing.

"The state of Oklahoma ought not be in the business of subsidizing the presence of people who are here illegally," said Republican state Rep. Randy Terrill, sponsor of the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007, also known as House Bill 1804.

"HB 1804 proves that attrition through enforcement works," Terrill added. "All you have to do is enforce the law, deny them the jobs, deny them the public benefits, give state and local law enforcement the ability to enforce federal immigration law, and the illegal aliens will simply self-deport. And it will solve the problem."

Ripple effect in state

But to the law's opponents, including Hispanic activists, religious leaders and many small-business owners, HB 1804 is wrongheaded and immoral.

"These are hardworking people who have been here for 10, 20 years, who have contributed to this economy," said Jose Alfonso, senior pastor at Tulsa's Cornerstone Hispanic Church. "These people are not criminals."

Alfonso said he has seen his congregation of 425 shrink by more than 15 percent, an exodus fueled by stories of illegal immigrants caught in the crackdown. One man was arrested by police as he changed a tire, Alfonso said, while a woman was seized at a mall when her toddler bolted away and she sought the help of security guards to find him.

Not far from the church, Emilio Gutierrez, manager of TacosSan Pedro, is feeling the strain as well.

"If you had come here at lunchtime just a few months ago, every table would have been full," Gutierrez said as he sat in his nearly empty restaurant on a recent weekday. "We laid off half our employees. If this continues, we will probably have to close."

No one knows for certain how many undocumented immigrants have left Oklahoma, or where they've gone. But immigration activists suspect some have returned to their countries of origin, while others have moved to neighboring states in search of work -- a development that has prompted nearby states to consider their own Oklahoma-style crackdowns.

"The dominoes have been flicked," Terrill said. "The folks in the surrounding states got the message. What was our problem has now become their problem."

More than 1,500 pieces of legislation related to immigration were introduced in the nation's 50 state legislatures last year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But immigration experts say Oklahoma's law goes further than any other. Among other provisions, the law makes it a felony to knowingly "transport, move ... conceal, harbor or shelter" any illegal immigrant; mandates that government agencies verify the legal status of any applicant for public programs; requires many employers to participate in a federal verification system to confirm a job applicant's immigration status; and expands the ability of state and local police to enforce federal immigration laws. .... page2

Russian Flyovers of US Warships

I noticed this week watching on several of the major networks that one guy was the leading expert on the subject of the Russian Flyovers of US Navy warships.
It wasn't Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or even John McCain...

Rep. Duncan Hunter, California Republican, said the Navy responded "appropriately by scrambling fighters to intercept" Russian bombers. (Allison Shelley/The Washington Times)

U.S. assessing Russian flyovers

By Sara A. Carter
Washington Times
February 13, 2008

U.S. military officials are assessing whether Moscow is returning to its Cold War tactics when it flexed its muscle this weekend by sending Russian bombers to fly at low altitudes over U.S. ships.

Gen. James Cartwright, who testified before the Senate Budget Committee yesterday, said the U.S. military is trying to gauge how it will respond to the incident and what the Russians intended to accomplish.

"Now what we're concerned about is, what are the indications of this return to a Cold War mind-set," Gen. Cartwright said. "What are the implications of that activity, and how do we best address that? It is free and international airspace, and we're just trying to now go back and look what message was intended by this overflight."

U.S. forces detected two Russian Tu-95 Bear aircraft on Saturday morning, flying south of Japan in the vicinity of and over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which was on a scheduled deployment to fill in for the USS Kitty Hawk as it undergoes routine maintenance in Yokosuka, Japan. American fighter jets were scrambled to intercept and escort away the Russian bombers.

It is standard operating procedure for U.S. planes to escort aircraft flying in the vicinity of Navy ships, one Pentagon official said.

The last time a Russian bomber flew over a U.S. aircraft carrier was in July 2004, when a bomber flew over the Kitty Hawk in the East Sea/Sea of Japan, a Pentagon official said.

Since July, however, there have been at least eight instances where Russian aircraft have been intercepted near U.S. airspace. U.S. aircraft deployed from Elmendorf Air Force Base off the coast of Alaska handled the eight documented interceptions, according to a U.S. official familiar with the situation.

The latest incident was on Sept. 5, when six U.S. F-15 fighters from the base intercepted six Russian bombers on the northwest coast of Alaska.
Page2

---

Appeasers Destiny

The Lessons of Appeasement

by Cal Thomas

2/13/08
As Americans begin a two-year celebration of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, another anniversary approaches with far more significant and immediate implications.

This fall will mark the 70th anniversary of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s accord with Adolf Hitler at Munich, a bargain with the devil that sought to buy “peace for our time” but cost Czechoslovakia its freedom and led to World War II, which cost even more in freedom and blood.

Some elements in modern Britain apparently refuse to learn from the past and what happens when human nature is misdiagnosed.
Continued

Red, White and Blue

Thanks to Kilo over at Spark it Up and to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
I saw the band several times back in the 1970's including once here in OKC where I had a close encounter with guitarist Allen Collins who later died in 1990 following a car accident that had left him paralyzed in the late 80's.

They were my favorite band in the 1970's.... and now are my favorite band again. I've had enough of the anti-American musicians out there. Make mine Red, White and Blue.

Duncan Hunter Demands Fence Be Built in 6 Months

From Borderfirereport.net

Representative Duncan Hunter Demands Feds Install Border Fence

by Jim Kouri. CPP
Representative Duncan Hunter, R-Calif, author of the fencing provisions of the Secure Fence Act of 2006, has introduced new legislation in the House of Representatives to require the construction of double-layered fencing along the U.S. border with Mexico within six months, according to a memo sent to the National Association of Chiefs of Police.

As previously reported, the language of an amendment submitted by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, into the Fiscal Year 2008 Department of Homeland Security funding bill, H.R. 2638, specifically exempts DHS from having to build any fence at all.

The Hutchison amendment reads, in part, " … nothing in this paragraph shall require the Secretary of Homeland Security to install fencing, physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors in a particular location along an international border of the United States, if the Secretary determines that the use or placement of such resources is not the most appropriate means to achieve and maintain operational control over the international border at such location."

"While these lawmakers living in their Ivory Towers in Washington continue to play political games with one another and collude with the Mexican government in repeated incidents of violation of US sovereignty by armed Mexicans, the American people are being victimized by illegal aliens some of whom are using fully-automatic assault rifles and other state-of-the-art weaponry, "claims Lieutenant Steven Rogers, a police commander in New Jersey.

Lt. Rogers heads the board of directors of a police-counterterrorism organization called AmeriCop.com. <>

According to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office -- an entity that reports to the legislative branch of government rather than the executive and judicial branhes.-- the increase in the number of incursions is staggering"

17 documented, illegal border crossings into America by armed Mexican soldiers in 2006

29 documented, illegal border incursions of all kinds by Mexican forces in 2006

253 documented, illegal border crossings by Mexican soldiers and policemen to assist drug and weapons traffickers in the past decade

1000 attacks against US Border Patrol agents in 2007

"And who knows what dangerous contraband and materials may have crossed our borders in the absence of a secure southern border?" asks New York police officer Edna Aguayo.

"These politicians must restore the $3 billion dollars to the Department of Homeland Security budget and build the fence demanded by the American people, RIGHT NOW!" she addeded.

Violence on the border increased 31% from 2006 to 2007, and attacks on agents jumped 44% over the same period, according to the recent GAO report.

The result of the Hutchison amendment was to give DHS total discretion to build a fence or not to build a fence in any particular location, removing from the Secure Fence Act the requirement that 700 miles of double-layer fence be built on the border with Mexico.

"When the Secure Fence Act was enacted more than one year ago, the American people were pleased to see the necessary steps were finally being taken to secure the dangerous and problematic smuggling corridors that exist along our border with Mexico," Congressman Hunter said.

Sadly, he recently dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination because his message was ignored by the news media establishment, according to several political observers.

"Liberals will ramble on-and-on about the issues and the news media feverishly cover their stories... most of them filled with psycho-babble and nonsense," says former NYPD detective and US Marine Sidney Francis.

"Instead of adhering to the law and building the prescribed fencing, the Department of Homeland Security began to immediately retreat from the mandates of the bill, indicating its intention to build 370 miles of fence and not the required 700 miles," Hunter continued.

Hunter pointed out DHS has built approximately 75 miles of new fence along the border, of which only five miles is double-layered.

"The reality is that single-layered fencing and vehicle barriers do little, if anything, to stop illegal immigration and the 'virtual fence' alternative being aggressively pursued by DHS remains ineffective and unusable," Rep. Hunter emphasized.

"The legislation I am introducing reinstates the most important elements of the Secure Fence, which were wrongly amended under the omnibus spending bill," Hunter noted. "If we truly hope to bring some sense of security to our southern land border, then we must begin building the appropriate infrastructure in the timeliest manner possible."

Hunter's bill also would eliminate the "consultation" language in the omnibus appropriations bill which required DHS to open for discussion with landholders and residents on the border the wisdom and necessity of building a two-layered fence.

Hunter noted that provision potentially opened fence construction to endless challenges.

President Bush signed the Secure Fence Act of 2006 on Oct. 26, 2006.

Hunter's new legislation has been referred to the House Homeland Security Committee for further consideration.

Violence along the border with Mexico will likely increase this year as the administration bolsters Border Patrol staffing and adds more fencing and technology to catch illegal immigrants, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Tuesday.

On Saturday, US Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar, 32, was killed in California's Imperial Sand Dunes recreation area, run over by suspected drug smugglers as he was laying down a spike strip to stop their fleeing Hummer.

Aguilar's death has drawn attention to escalating violence on both sides of the US-Mexico divide, which Chertoff and other administration officials attributed partly to heightened border security measures.

"Experience shows that the more successful you are in putting pressure on criminal organizations, the more violent they will become in fighting back," said Chertoff, who wore a pin depicting a Border Patrol badge draped in black. "The sad, tragic fact is that the increase in violence is very consistent with other metrics we've had that show we're getting increased success with stopping the flow across the border."

In an interview with The Times and the Associated Press, Chertoff and Border Patrol officials said the agency considered the agent's death a murder -- the first since 1998 of a Border Patrol agent -- and was working closely with Mexico to investigate. The Hummer's driver appeared to swerve not just to avoid the spike strip, but to "hit the agent intentionally," one witness told investigators.

Mexican officials reportedly found the Hummer, empty and burned, in Mexicali.

Chertoff and other officials said Aguilar's death highlighted a need to continue such initiatives as a fence.

Several border groups have sharply criticized Homeland Security's plan to build a border fence on private land. Many residents, mayors and business owners also object to Chertoff's announcement that if necessary, his agency will seize land from unwilling property owners in order to continue construction.

"I know it gripes some people; they don't want it on their property," Chertoff said.

But, he continued, "if the [Border Patrol] chief says to me building a barrier, building a fence would make it safer in this particular area . . . I'm going to use every available tool, including the courts."

Meanwhile, conservatives critical of President Bush's policies on illegal immigration have cited Aguilar's death in renewing calls to pardon Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The two were Border Patrol agents, sentenced in 2006 to more than 10 years in prison after shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler in the buttocks as he fled to Mexico. (They were found guilty of violating his civil rights and trying to cover up their actions.)

"Obviously, Aguilar didn't know if he could use his gun to shoot at this car coming at him," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) said on Fox TV.

Border Patrol officials strongly disputed that.

"It's not a fair comparison, and it diminishes our shock and heartbreak," said National Deputy Chief Ron Colburn.

During a Washington DC press conference, Chertoff said there was no indication that Aguilar had time to defend himself.

Both Colburn and Chertoff stressed that Border Patrol agents are allowed to use force to defend themselves. Chertoff said that agents have been attacked with firearms, knives, bats, steel pipes, vehicles, boats and slingshots.

Border officials say the burgeoning violence is rooted partly in criminal organizations' turf battles and lawlessness on Mexico's side.

Some 2,500 Mexicans died in drug-related violence in 2007, and the nation's president, Felipe Calderon, has made combating drug cartels his government's priority.

Chertoff linked the jump in violence to an array of U.S. enforcement measures, including fencing.

He said that his agency had built about 170 miles of pedestrian fencing and 130 miles of vehicle barriers.

He also cited increased Border Patrol staffing -- which now stands at 15,000 -- and policies in which illegal immigrants are deported and not released.

The administration has set up protocols that allow Homeland Security to coordinate with Mexico when violence crosses the border.

Chertoff said that Mexican officials reacted promptly after Aguilar's death, and that he had discussed with them additional steps they might take "to turn up pressure on cartels."

Chertoff added that the violence would require continued close cooperation, including joint intelligence-gathering and investigations on both sides of the border.

Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org).

Huckabee Not Quitting

(CBS)

From CBS News' Joy Lin:

KANSAS CITY, KAN. -- Just because John McCain has 700 of the 1,191 delegates needed to get the Republican nomination - and Mike Huckabee only has 163 - Huckabee says there are many reasons why it's still realistic for him to get the nomination.

"Let's say we get to the convention and [Mitt] Romney releases his [158] delegates. They can come towards me. There's also a lot of factors that can happen. Any given day, a candidate can say one word and it gets YouTubed and his campaign's done," he said, perhaps not coincidentally the day after 2006 YouTube victim, former Sen. George Allen, R-Virginia, endorsed McCain.

"The one thing -- I know -- isn't it a very complicated process for you to win? The answer is yes. But, you know, it's a very simple way to lose. I can just quit. I've spent my whole life fighting from the bottom. I've never been at the top. I've always started from the bottom. I know what its like to be the underdog. I still believe in the impossible. If I didn't, I wouldn't be in this race."

"Six months ago, would any of you here said the two guys still on his feet in February be Mike Huckabee and John McCain? John McCain's campaign had imploded, he had run out of money, he was deep in debt, he had fired his staff, it looked like well he's done. Mike Huckabee wasn't even much more of an asterisk in the polls. And everybody was talking about the next president of the United States. It was either Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney. It certainly wasn't me and wasn't even John McCain. Here we are."

Romney Drops Out

Mitt Romney shocked a lot of conservatives when he announced he was suspending his campaign for President at the CPAC conference today.
You can be sure there is a lot of arm twisting going on between Mike Huckabee and the Republican party muckity mucks right now and he may withdraw before I can get this posted.
I hope not, for even with as much concern as I have had for Mike Huckabee he is considerably more conservative and better suited to be President than John McLiebercain and/or Hillary Obama-mama.

Hang in there Mike Huckabee... you're all that's left.
-red

Romney/Huckabee Time is Now

Mitt and Mike need to get together and flip a coin or draw straws... whatever and team-up to defeat John McCain. As it stands, Mitt and Mike are splitting the conservative voters and leaving McCain with a majority of liberal or so-called moderate conservatives. A Romney-Huckabee Ticket will pull conservatives together.

I am calling on the Romney and Huckabee campaigns to contact each other to discuss such a venture. It is virtually their only hope as opposed to beating each other up over the same voters and thereby helping McCain secure victory.

Teamwork can produce a true conservative in this race, Huckabee/Romney or Romney/Huckabee with Duncan Hunter in a prominent cabinet position could be the combination conservatives could get behind, first to defeat John McCain/Joe Lieberman then to defeat Hillary/Obama.

The time is now for Romney and Huckabee to suck it up and take advantage, or forever wonder... what if?

Vote Huckabee Oklahoma, Yes, Even Romney Fans !

I think Michael Bates and Get Right OK has in fact gotten it right.
To defeat McCain, conservatives in Oklahoma need to vote for the 2nd place polling candidate and that has been Mike Huckabee.
Defeat John "The Maverick" McCain and the Kennedy/Lieberman/Gore/Kerry wing of the Republican party.... vote for Mike Huckabee Oklahoma.

Move-On Obama, Just move on...

From Engram at BackTalk Blog...
(Engram is a research professor liberal by most standards rightwing compared to his peers and registered Democrat.)

Moveon.org's Endorsement of Barack Obama

By Engram;

As Barack Obama closes the gap with Hillary Clinton, it's worth remembering two screen shots from the Moveon.org web page:




Moveon.org wants Barack Obama, and that's enough for me to oppose Barack Obama.

Is this guilt by association? If some odious organization like the KKK endorsed John McCain, and if John McCain distanced himself from it by renouncing that organization, then the KKK's support for him would be irrelevant. Same goes for Moveon.org's endorsement of Barack Obama. However, a quick search suggests that, in the past, Obama has embraced the ultra-liberal organization that slandered our top commander in Iraq:

In a letter to MoveOn members, Obama praised MoveOn's efforts, saying, "You and millions of others, working through MoveOn, have helped change the way politics works in this country."

It's fine for Obama to feel that way about this malicious ultra-liberal organization, and it's fine for that malicious ultra-liberal organization to embrace Obama. My only point is that this is enough to put me firmly in the anti-Obama camp. He's a nice guy who means well (and speaks well), but he is not presidential material. Recent polls suggest that many Americans disagree with me, though I'm still guessing that Hillary Clinton will come out of tomorrow's spate of primary contests in the best shape. We'll know soon enough.

Fox-onomics?

Hat tip to Jenn at OPNS
Monday, February 04, 2008

Have You Ever Wished Oklahoma's Economy Could be More Like Mexico's?

If so, Vicente Fox is coming to a venue near you, to share the secrets of his "success." The Oklahoma Department of Commerce reports:

Fox will make his presentation, "Bringing the New Economy to Latin America," at the Oklahoma City Civic Center, from 10 to 11:30 a.m., and at the Mabee Center in Tulsa, from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

Some Oklahoma citizens are using the opportuntity to publicly protest the North American Union, and the North American Free Trade agreement.

An interesting question for the former Mexican President: What was the inspiration for Mexico's brilliant strategy to export a large portion of it's criminal element as well as a large part of its unemployed population?

AABM Almost Anyone* But McCain (*except Ron Paul)

Okay Oklahoma conservatives, let's talk.
We may not have our "ideal candidate", but we should know who we don't want and can't afford by now. We cannot afford to put Ron Paul in charge of the Republican Party much less the free world. Paul seeks to pull the Republican party toward the Libertarian/Populist side of life to the extreme. His foreign policy is to mind our own business and wait for the attack. But don't worry in the event of an emergency, there won't be any government to get in the way as Paul would seek to abolish most or all government agencies.... except of course his job.

John McCain seeks to pull the Republican Party to the left toward the Democrat party.
Any candidate... especially a so-called conservative who considered running on the Democrat ticket with John Kerry in 04 (as McCain did) and currently has the 2000 Democrat VP candidate campaigning with him (as Joe Lieberman is doing) cannot be seriously considered by any voter calling himself/herself "a conservative Republican".

So, for goodness sakes Oklahoma, please vote for Mitt or vote for Huckabee, but don't vote for "The Maverick" tomorrow.
One could argue (as Mark Mosier on KTOK 1000AM has) that since Huckabee is the only candidate who has polled higher than McCain here, that therefore a vote for Romney is wasted and thus a vote for Huckabee actually ends up helping Romney nationally or at least hurting McCain.
Whatever... vote and vote AABM... Almost Anyone* (*except Ron Paul) But McCain !!!!

My Les Paul Connection To Rock N Roll

There is one common thread connecting almost each and every one of my favorite rock bands over the years. I loved the style of Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon, Allen Collins and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Marshal Tucker Band, Pink Floyd, Led Zeplin and that certain sound in great blues tunes.
They all used a lot of Les Paul and the sound of a Les Paul guitar is unmistakable.
So I went out this weekend and bought one (with thanks to my better half).

Yeah it's just a 1997 Epiphone Gibson Les Paul... but it's a big slice of Americana heaven to me.
Sure I know a lotta guys like the Stratocasters, but make mine a classic Les Paul.
I haven't played much in years... but did play in a little rock band in Highschool here in Oklahoma and now I'm gonna learn to play the blues. Just for fun.
It's like a Harley Davidson that doesn't fall down and go boom... It's like a classic musclecar that you can drive indoors... wow, it's cool.
-red

McCain, the Anti-Conservative

McCain, the Anti-Conservative

by David Limbaugh

Posted: 02/01/2008

It's true that McCain is unpopular with Reagan conservatives because he decidedly is not, on far too many issues, a Reagan conservative.
But it's more than that. He is the anti-conservative.
He instinctively sides against conservatives and relishes poking them in the eye.
...more.