Thanks to three American Senators.....
|
Posted:Sep 18, 2008 1:40 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:44 am 4153 Views
|
The Weekly Standard
No Oil for Blood
Thanks to three American ( Dems ) senators,
China will be pumping Iraqi oil.
by Frederick W. Kagan
09/16/2008 3:15:00 PM
This morning, I had the honor of testifying before the House
Budget Committee on the situation in Iraq. The discussion was
polite and civilized, and was a reminder that even now it is
possible for people who disagree about what to do in Iraq
to argue without raised voices and disagreeable language
( apart from the Code Pink women, yelling for those who
think that shouting opponents down is preferable to arguing with them ). Congressman Brian Baird once again
demonstrated that it is possible even for those who bitterly
opposed the war to recognize the importance of doing the
right thing now--as well as the possibility of crossing the
Republican-Democrat sectarian divide on this issue. One
question came up repeatedly in the hearing that deserves
more of an answer than it got, however: Why, after all the assistance we've given to Iraq over the past five years, was
the first major Iraqi oil deal signed with China and not with
an American or even a western company? The answer is,
in part, because three Democratic senators
intervened in Iraqi domestic politics earlier
this year to prevent Iraq from signing short-term
agreements with Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total, Chevron, and BP.
The Iraqi government was poised to sign no-bid contracts with
those firms this summer to help make immediate and needed
improvements in Iraq's oil infrastructure. The result would have
been significant foreign investment in Iraq, an expansion of
Iraqi government revenues, and an increase in the global supply of oil. One would have thought that leading
Democratic senators who claim to be interested in finding
other sources of funding to replace American dollars in Iraq,
in helping Iraq spend its own money on its own people, and
in lowering the price of gasoline for American citizens, would
have been all for it.
Instead, Senators Chuck Schumer, John Kerry,
and Claire McCaskill wrote a letter to Secretary of State Rice asking her "to persuade the GOI [Government of Iraq]
to refrain from signing contracts with multinational oil companies
until a hydrocarbon law is in effect in Iraq." The
Bush administration wisely refused to do so,
but the resulting media hooraw in Iraq
led to the cancellation of the contracts, and helps to explain why Iraq is doing
oil deals instead with China.
Senators Schumer, McCaskill, and Kerry claimed to be
acting from the purest of motives: "It is our fear that this
action by the Iraqi government could further deepen
political tensions in Iraq and put our service members in
even great danger." For that reason, presumably, Schumer
went so far as to ask the senior vice president of Exxon
"if his company would agree to wait until the GOI produced
a fair, equitable, and transparent hydrocarbon revenue
sharing law before it signed any long-term agreement with the GOI." Exxon naturally refused, but Schumer
managed to get the deal killed anyway. But the ostensible premise of the senators' objections was false--
Iraq may not have a hydrocarbons law, but the central
government has been sharing oil revenues equitably and
there is no reason at all to imagine that signing the deals
would have generated increased violence ( and this was
certainly not the view of American civilian and military
officials on the ground in Iraq at the time ). It is certain
that killing the deals has delayed the maturation of
Iraq's oil industry without producing the desired
hydrocarbons legislation.
Nor is it entirely clear what the senators' motivations were.
Their release ( available along with their letter to Secretary
Rice at the New York Observer quoted Senator McCaskill
as follows: "'It's bad enough that we have no-bid contracts
being awarded for work in Iraq. It's bad enough that the
big oil companies continue to receive government handouts
while they post record breaking profits. But now the most profitable companies in the universe--America's biggest oil
companies--stand to reap the rewards of this no-bid contract
on top of it all,' McCaskill said. 'It doesn't take a rocket
scientist to connect these dots--big oil is running Washington
and now they're running Baghdad. There is no reason under the sun not to halt these agreements until we get revenue sharing
in place,' McCaskill said." So was this about what's best for
Iraq and American interests there or about nailing
"big oil" in an election year?
Either way, like Barack Obama's asking the Iraqi foreign minister
to hold off on a strategic framework agreement until after the
American election, it was nothing but harmful to American
interests and our prospects in Iraq.
Frederick W. Kagan, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise
Institute, is a contributing editor to THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
John McCain campaign tries to quell 'Troopergate'
|
Posted:Sep 18, 2008 1:24 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:42 am 4144 Views
|
I think this story makes it very clear!
The Associated Press
Edward O'Callaghan, left, and Megan Stapleton,
spokespersons with the McCain campaign, answer
questions concerning the firing of former public safety
commissioner Walt Monegan during a news conference
in Anchorage, Alaska Monday Sept. 15, 2008. Lawyers
for Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin have released e-mails detailing
what they say is the real reason she dismissed Walt Monegan,
the public safety commissioner whose firing prompted
the "Troopergate" controversy.
John McCain campaign tries to quell 'Troopergate'
By GENE JOHNSON - 1 day ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska ( AP ) - The presidential campaign of
Sen. John McCain is trying to put to rest the ethical controversy
that's come to be known as "Troopergate," releasing e-mails
supporting Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's contention that she
dismissed her public safety commissioner over budget
disagreements, not because he wouldn't fire her ex-brother-in-law.
And, the campaign says, Palin is unlikely to speak with an
investigator hired by the state legislature to look into the matter.
Among the e-mails released was one of farewell written by the
public safety commissioner himself, Walt Monegan, when he
was fired in July. In it, he suggested the governor had reason
to believe she had lost his support, and urged his former
colleagues to communicate better with her.
"For anyone to lead effectively they must have the support
of their team, and I had waited too long outside her door for
her to believe that I supported her," he wrote. "Please,
choose a different path."
The controversy erupted in the weeks following the firing,
as it emerged that Palin, her husband, Todd, and several
high-level staffers had contacted Monegan about state trooper
Mike Wooten, who had gone through a nasty divorce from Palin's
sister before she became governor. While Monegan says no one
from the administration ever told him directly to fire Wooten, he says
they didn't have to: There was nothing subtle about the repeated contacts.
In July, the four Democrats and eight Republicans on Alaska's
Legislative Council voted unanimously to investigate the
circumstances of Monegan's dismissal. Although Monegan was
an at-will employee who could be fired for almost any reason,
lawmakers wanted to see whether Palin tried to use her office
to settle a personal score with Wooten.
The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted Friday to issue
subpoenas to 13 people, including Palin's husband, to compel
cooperation with the investigation. The campaign said it didn't
know if Todd Palin planned to challenge his subpoena.
The governor has not been subpoenaed, but the investigator
hired by the legislature, Steve Branchflower, said Friday he is
nterested in speaking with her. Campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan
said that was unlikely as long as the investigation "remains tainted."
Though the governor initially said she'd cooperate, after she became
McCain's running mate. In late July, her lawyer sought to have the
three-member state Personnel Board take over, alleging that public
statements made by the Democratic chair of the Judiciary Committee,
Sen. Hollis French, indicated the probe was politically motivated.
French had said the results of the investigation could constitute an
"October surprise" for the McCain campaign. He later apologized.
The campaign also insists that French, Branchflower and Monegan
are friends, even though the men say they only know each other
professionally and have never socialized.
Democrats charged that the McCain campaign was trying to
stall the investigation.
"Rather than cooperating with the investigation, the Republican
presidential campaign is doing everything it can to stall and smear,"
said Patti Higgins, chairwoman of the Alaska Democratic Party.
McCain campaign spokeswoman Meg Stapleton denigrated Monegan
at a news conference Monday, accusing the three-decade cop of
"insubordination," "obstructionist conduct" and a "brazen refusal"
to follow proper channels for requesting money.
When Monegan was fired, the governor offered to let him head the
state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. Asked why someone with a
history of insubordination would be given such a position, Stapleton
said that without having to deal with a budget, Monegan would be
able to focus on alcohol abuse issues.
The governor "respects the fact that he was respected in
the community," she said.
Thomas Van Flein, a lawyer for the governor's office, cited the newly
released e-mails Monday in asking the Personnel Board to find no
probable cause for an ethics investigation.
In an interview Monday night, Monegan said Palin never raised concerns
about his management. In fact, at an event in May, she singled him out
and praised his efforts to reduce violence against native women.
"In my time as a commissioner, the governor has never talked to me
about complaints about my efforts," Monegan said.
He said all he meant to convey in his farewell letter was that because
he was being fired, the governor must have believed he didn't
support her, and to the extent his communication skills were to
blame, others should avoid his mistake.
The e-mails made clear that some Palin staffers believed Monegan
and the Department of Public Safety worked outside normal channels.
One was written in May by Randy Ruaro, then a special assistant to
Palin, to the governor's budget director, and concerned efforts to
pay for and build a crime lab.
"I FEEL YOUR PAIN! DPS is constantly going off the reservation,"
he wrote.
In February, Monegan signed a public letter of support for a
$3.6 million project designed to keep troubled teens off the
street in Anchorage - even though the governor had vetoed
the project last year and hadn't included money for it in
her budget this year.
"I am stunned and amazed - do you know anything about this?"
budget director Karen Rehfeld wrote to two other high-level
staffers when she learned of the letter.
"Think about that: one of the governor's own cabinet members
publicly contradicting her veto decision," Stapleton said.
Monegan acknowledged he shouldn't have signed the letter,
because it put the governor in the awkward position of
defending her veto decision. But he said he thought of the
letter as simply making another run at getting funding
for a worthy project.
The last straw, the McCain campaign said, was in July,
when Monegan planned to travel to Washington to seek
federal money for a plan to assign troopers, judges and
prosecutors who could exclusively handle sexual assault
cases - one of the state's most intractable crime problems.
In a July 7 e-mail, John Katz, the governor's special counsel,
noted two problems with the trip: The governor hadn't agreed
the money should be sought, and the request was "out of
sequence with our other appropriations requests and could
put a strain on the evolving relationship between the
Governor and Sen. (Ted) Stevens."
Four days later, Monegan was fired. He said he had kept others
in the administration fully apprised of his plans to go to Washington.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
The Real Culprits In This Meltdown
|
Posted:Sep 18, 2008 1:07 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:40 am 4009 Views
|
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY |
Posted Monday, September 15, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Big Government: Barack Obama and Democrats blame
the historic financial turmoil on the market. But if it's
dysfunctional, Democrats during the Clinton years
are a prime reason for it.
Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking
new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the
free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down"
economics of the Bush administration, which he tried
to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.
But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed
with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage
lenders could lend, and originally helped create the
market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting
like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of
Wall Street's most revered institutions.
Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk
areas where they had no choice but to lower lending
standards to make the loans that sound business
practices had previously guarded against making.
It was either that or face stiff government penalties.
The untold story in this whole national crisis is that
President Clinton put on steroids the Community
Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law
designed to encourage minority homeownership.
And in so doing, he helped create the market for
the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats
now decry as not only greedy but "predatory."
Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging
in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis
mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street.
But the seed was planted in the '90s by Clinton
and his social engineers. They were the political
catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.
And it was the Clinton administration that mismanaged
the quasi-governmental agencies that over the decades
have come to manage the real estate market in America.
As soon as Clinton crony Franklin Delano Raines took the
helm in 1999 at Fannie Mae, for example, he used it as
his personal piggy bank, looting it for a total of almost
$100 million in compensation by the time he left
in early 2005 under an ethical cloud.
Other Clinton cronies, including Janet Reno aide
Jamie Gorelick, padded their pockets to the
tune of another $75 million.
Raines was accused of overstating earnings and
shifting losses so he and other senior executives
could earn big bonuses.
In the end, Fannie had to pay a record $400 million
civil fine for SEC and other violations, while also
agreeing as part of a settlement to make changes
in its accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.
But it was too little, too late. Raines had reportedly
steered Fannie Mae business to subprime giant
Countrywide Financial, which was saved from
bankruptcy by Bank of America.
At the same time, the Clinton administration was pushing
Fannie and her brother Freddie Mac to buy more mortgages
from low-income households.
The Clinton-era corruption, combined with unprecedented
catering to affordable-housing lobbyists, resulted in today's
nationalization of both Fannie and Freddie, a move that
is expected to cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
And the worst is far from over. By the time it is, we'll all
be paying for Clinton's social experiment, one that Obama
hopes to trump with a whole new round of meddling in the
housing and jobs markets. In fact, the social experiment
Obama has planned could dwarf both the Great Society
and New Deal in size and scope.
There's a political root cause to this mess that we ignore
at our peril. If we blame the wrong culprits, we'll learn
the wrong lessons. And taxpayers will be on the hook
for even larger bailouts down the road.
But the government-can-do-no-wrong crowd just doesn't
get it. They won't acknowledge the law of unintended
consequences from well-meaning, if misguided, acts.
Obama and Democrats on the Hill think even more regulation
and more interference in the market will solve the problem
their policies helped cause. For now, unarmed by the
historic record, conventional wisdom is buying into their
blame-business-first rhetoric and bigger-government solutions.
While government arguably has a role in helping low-income
folks buy a home, Clinton went overboard by strong-arming
lenders with tougher and tougher regulations, which only led
to lenders taking on hundreds of billions in subprime bilge.
Market failure? Hardly. Once again, this crisis has
government's fingerprints all over it.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Is Socialism Coming To America?
|
Posted:Sep 18, 2008 12:52 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:39 am 4364 Views
|
Don't miss the lower half ! ! !
09.16.08 From Rush Limbaugh
Discouraging poll news for Obama:
Swing states are moving to McCain due to the Palin effect.
However, a warning: The Democrats and Drive-Bys will do
anything to win this election. Their sights are set on destroying
Palin with Troopergate. There's nothing there, but that
won't stop them.
Pearl of Wisdom: "The Drive-By Media are gearing up for an
October Surprise. This phony trooper issue in Alaska is
their focus now."
Bad News for America, Good News for Democrats: CNN says
the financial crisis is just what the Obama campaign "hoped for."
Joe Biden promises that if Obama is elected, Americans
will get a new toaster. Rumors persist that Obama will
dump Biden in October.
We've been playing audio of Biden telling a man in a
wheelchair to "stand up" so much that CNN had to
cover the incident and praise Biden as
a "master of a quick recovery."
McCain advisor Carly Fiorina blames President Bush
for not regulating the mortgage business. Even former
Clinton cabinet member Robert B. Reich admits
Democrats share blame. Democrats and Clinton cronies
got rich on Fannie and Freddie and gave mortgages
to people who couldn't afford them.
Pearl of Wisdom: "Obama's close to raising $400 million,
an all-time record. What depression? What recession?
What bad economy? Who is the candidate of the rich?"
A caller says Rush inspired him to enlist in the armed forces.
On the Senate floor, Dick Durbin blames Rush for the credit crunch!
In the process of denying it, the Obama campaign has
confirmed Amir Taheri's story: On his trip to Iraq, Obama
tried to delay the withdrawal of American troops.
9.17.08
Landmark Rush Monologue: "We are on the verge of
becoming a socialist country.
This election puts the private sector directly at odds
with the public sector and we are about to find out
which will control the vast majority of jobs and
wealth creation in this country. Barack Obama is
not just the most liberal senator in the country.
Barack Obama is a committed socialist."
Democrats are in panic mode. They can't understand
why Obama isn't ahead and cry racism,
just as Obama did in Hollywood.
Pearl of Wisdom: "If you're worried about your 401K
and retirement account, vote Obama. He says he'll fix it.
What? You mean that doesn't inspire confidence?"
Rush does a stop-start analysis of Obama's two-minute ad.
This attack on capitalism sounds like an address to
the nation by a dictator.
Pearl of Wisdom: "Obama is desperate. That's what
this ad is all about. He's desperate to make everybody
think we're on the brink of economic ruin and the
reason we're on the brink of economic ruin is
there hasn't been enough government."
Barack Obama ripped his country again at his
Hollywood fundraiser. He said that if he loses
this election, the country will get "meaner."
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
LESSONS FROM THE FIRE
|
Posted:Sep 16, 2008 6:30 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:34 am 4208 Views
|
HAVE YOU KNOWN A PERSON FOR SOME
TIME, AND SUDDENLY THEY DO OR SAY
SOMETHING THAT REALLY MAKES YOU QUESTION
THEIR FAITH OR BELIEF. YOU WONDER TO
YOURSELF, ARE THEY REALLY SAVED AND
BORNAGAIN??
NONE OF US IS PERFECT, BUT IN
THE PROCESS OF BEING PERFECTED.
THIS COULD BE LIKENED TO THE METAL
BEING BROUGHT TO THE FIRE SO THE DROSS
MAY COME TO THE SURFACE. THE DROSS IS
THE IMPURITIES BEING ROOTED OUT FROM
THE PURITY OF THE METAL.
Websters Dictionary:
DROSS noun; the scum that rises
to the surface of molten metal//
anything worthless.
WE CANNOT LOOK AT WHAT PEOPLE DO OR
WHAT THEY SAY. THE LORD LOOKS AT THEIR
HEARTS. EVEN IF I DO SOMETHING FOOLISH
OR WRONG, JESUS DOES NOT BANISH ME FROM
HIS PRESENCE OR HIS LOVE. HE CLEARS THE
DROSS AND PURIFIES ME UNTIL HE CAN SEE
HIS REFLECTION IN THE SMOLDERING HOT
METAL THAT HE HAS FORMED ME FROM.
"BUT HE KNOWETH THE WAY THAT I TAKE:
WHEN HE HATH TRIED ME, I SHALL COME
FORTH AS GOLD." Job 23v10
WITH GREAT LOVE,
HIZ4EVER †
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Michael Reagan, of Ronald Reagan, on Sarah Palin
|
Posted:Sep 11, 2008 1:49 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:29 am 4368 Views
|
As posted on "Real Clear Politics"
September 04, 2008
Welcome Back, Dad
By Michael Reagan
I've been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we'd never see his like again because he was one of a kind.
I was wrong!
Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's a she.
And what a she!
In one blockbuster of a speech, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resurrected my Dad's indomitable spirit and sent it soaring above the convention center, shooting shock waves through the cynical media's assigned spaces and electrifying the huge audience with the kind of inspiring rhetoric we haven't heard since my Dad left the scene.
This was Ronald Reagan at his best -- the same Ronald Reagan who made the address known now solely as "The Speech," which during the Goldwater campaign set the tone and the agenda for the rebirth of the traditional conservative movement that later sent him to the White House for eight years and revived the moribund GOP.
Last night was an extraordinary event. Widely seen beforehand as a make-or-break effort -- either an opportunity for Sarah Palin to show that she was the happy warrior that John McCain assured us she was, or a disaster that would dash McCain's presidential hopes and send her back to Alaska, sadder but wiser.
Obviously un-intimidated by either the savage onslaught to which the left-leaning media had subjected her, or the incredible challenge she faced -- and oozing with confidence -- she strode defiantly to the podium and proved she was everything and even more than John McCain told us.
Much has been made of the fact that she is a woman. What we saw last night, however, was something much more than a just a woman accomplishing something no Republican woman has ever achieved. What we saw was a red-blooded American with that rare, God-given ability to rally her dispirited fellow Republicans and take up the daunting task of leading them -- and all her fellow Americans -- on a pilgrimage to that shining city on the hill my father envisioned as our nation's real destination.
In a few words she managed to rip the mask from the faces of her Democratic rivals and reveal them for what they are -- a pair of old-fashioned liberals making promises that cannot be kept without bankrupting the nation and reducing most Americans to the status of mendicants begging for their daily bread at the feet of an all-powerful government.
Most important, by comparing her own stunning record of achievement with his, she showed Barack Obama for the sham that he is, a man without any solid accomplishments beyond conspicuous self-aggrandizement.
Like Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin is one of us. She knows how most of us live because that's the way she lives. She shares our homespun values and our beliefs, and she glories in her status as a small-town woman who put her shoulder to the wheel and made life better for her neighbors.
Her astonishing rise up from the grass-roots, her total lack of self-importance, and her ordinary American values and modest lifestyle reveal her to be the kind of hard-working, optimistic, ordinary American who made this country the greatest, most powerful nation on the face of the earth.
As hard as you might try, you won't find that kind of plain-spoken, down-to-earth, self-reliant American in the upper ranks of the liberal-infested, elitist Democratic Party, or in the Obama campaign.
Sarah Palin didn't go to Harvard, or fiddle around in urban neighborhood leftist activism while engaging in opportunism within the ranks of one of the nation's most corrupt political machines, never challenging it and going along to get along, like Barack Obama.
Instead she took on the corrupt establishment in Alaska and beat it, rising to the governorship while bringing reforms to every level of government she served in on her way up the ladder.
Welcome back, Dad, even if you're wearing a dress and bearing this time around.
Mr. Reagan is a syndicated radio talk-show host and the of former President Ronald Reagan.
The Power Packed Speech Sarah Palin
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
The Power Packed Speech... Sarah Palin
|
Posted:Sep 11, 2008 1:29 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:27 am 4261 Views
|
By GOV. SARAH PALIN | Posted Thursday, September 04, 2008 4:30 PM PT on IBD editorials.
Following is the speech Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin delivered Wednesday night in St. Paul, Minn., in accepting the Republican Party's nomination for vice president.
Mr. Chairman, delegates and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for vice president of the United States.
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America. I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against confident opponents at a crucial hour for our country.
Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin waves at the GOP convention Wednesday night. The Alaska governor's acceptance speech won rapturous applause from attendees.
Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin waves at the GOP convention Wednesday night. The Alaska governor's acceptance speech won rapturous applause from attendees.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions and met far graver challenges and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost - there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.
But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself - the determination, resolve and sheer guts of Sen. John McCain. The voters knew better.
And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.
He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight. And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief.
I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way. Our Track is 19. And one week from tomorrow - Sept. 11 - he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf. My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five .
In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between - my strong and kind-hearted daughters Bristol, Willow and Piper. And in April, my husband, Todd, and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig.
From the inside, no family ever seems typical. That's how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys. Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And with special needs inspire a special love.
To the families of special-needs all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.
Todd is a story all by himself. He's a lifelong commercial fisherman, a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope, a proud member of the United Steelworkers Union and world champion snow-machine racer. Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package. We met in high school, and two decades and five later, he's still my guy.
My mom and dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town. And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity. My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the of Chuck and Sally Heath.
Long ago, a young farmer and haberdasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people. They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, run our factories and fight our wars. They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America.
I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my ' public education better. When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.
I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening. We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man.
I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment. And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion - I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good and to leave this nation better than we found it.
No one expects us to agree on everything. But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions and a servant's heart. I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States.
This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies and the good ol' boys network.
Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve. But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order, we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay. I also drive myself to work. And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef – although I've got to admit that sometimes my sure miss her.
I came to office promising to control spending - by request if possible and by veto if necessary. Sen. McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest - and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works. Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.
I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks" for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves.
When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska.
And despite fierce opposition from oil-company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher. When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies, or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries, we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.
Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already. But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines, build more nuclear plants, create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources.
We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent. Maybe you have, too. We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers. And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform - not even in the state Senate. This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign.
But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed,when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot, what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?
The answer is to make government bigger, take more of your money, give you more orders from Washington and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.
America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight; he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America; he's worried that someone won't read them their rights. Government is too big; he wants to grow it. Congress spends too much; he promises more. Taxes are too high; he wants to raise them.
His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific. The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.
My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business - like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio, or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia, or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota. How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?
Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election. In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers. And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change. They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things. And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk, the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America.
Sen. McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency - from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd. He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party. A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either.
Harry Reid, the majority leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man.
Clearly what the majority leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House.
My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer. And though both Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you - in places where winning means survival and defeat means death - and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country. It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
But if Sen. McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made. It's the journey of an upright and honorable man - the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God, the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome.
A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pin-hole in his cell door as Lt. Cmdr. John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day. As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up," as if to say, 'We're going to pull through this.' "
My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds. If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
Thank you all, and may God bless America.
Michael Reagan, of Ronald Reagan, on Sarah Palin
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
Skinny Dipping
|
Posted:Sep 10, 2008 9:57 am
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:24 am 4390 Views
|
*
*
*
*
*
> Skinny Dipping...
An elderly man in
West Virginia had
owned a large farm
for several Years.
He had a large pond
in the back. It was
properly shaped for
swimming, so he fixed
it up nice with picnic
tables, horseshoe courts,
and some apple, and peach trees.
One evening the old farmer
decided to go down to the
pond, as he hadn't
been there for a while,
and looked it over.
He grabbed a five-gallon bucket
to bring back some fruit.
As he neared the pond, he
heard voices shouting and
laughing with glee. As he
came closer, he saw it was
a bunch of young women
Skinny-dipping in his pond.
He made the women aware
of his presence and they
all went to the deep end.
One of the women shouted to
him,'we're not coming out
until you leave!'
The old man frowned, 'I didn't
come down here to watch you
ladies swim naked or make
you get out of the pond
naked.
Holding the bucket up he said,
'I'm here to feed the alligator.'
Some old men can still think fast.
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
YUMO.....5 Min Chocolate mug Cake
|
Posted:Sep 8, 2008 9:28 pm
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:23 am 4815 Views
|
5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
From the kitchen of Mary McNeill
4 tablespoons cake flour(that is plain flour, not self-raising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips(optional) a small splash of vanilla essence
1 coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well.
Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla essence, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).
And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!
If You Don't Laugh at thisYou're Dead
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
GENUINESS
|
Posted:Sep 8, 2008 9:13 pm
Last Updated:Nov 20, 2008 9:19 am 4295 Views
|
Politics aside: The real George Bush
Donʼt expect to see this on your news show
The Value of Service....
Lt. Col. Mark Murphy, 354th Maintenance Group deputy commander.
Commentary by Lt. Col. Mark Murphy
354th Maintenance Group deputy commander
8/15/2008 - EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- I learned a big lesson on service Aug. 4, 2008, when Eielson had the rare honor of hosting President Bush on a refueling stop as he traveled to Asia .
It was an event Eielson will never forget -- a hangar full of Airmen and Soldiers getting to see the Commander in Chief up close, and perhaps even shaking his hand. An incredible amount of effort goes into presidential travel because of all of the logistics, security, protocol, etc ... so it was remarkable to see Air Force One land at Eielson on time at precisely 4:30 p.m.--however, when he left less than two hours later, the President was 15 minutes behind schedule.
That's a big slip for something so tightly choreographed, but very few people know why it happened. Here's why.
On Dec. 10, 2006, our , Shawn, was a paratrooper deployed on the outskirts of Baghdad . He was supposed to spend the night in camp, but when a fellow soldier became ill Shawn volunteered to take his place on a nighttime patrol--in the convoy's most exposed position as turret gunner in the lead Humvee. He was killed instantly with two other soldiers when an IED ripped through their vehicle.
I was thinking about that as my family and I sat in the audience listening to the President's speech, looking at the turret on the up-armored Humvee the explosive ordnance disposal flight had put at the edge of the stage as a static display.
When the speech was over and the President was working the crowd line, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see a White House staff member. She asked me and my wife to come with her, because the President wanted to meet us.
Stunned, we grabbed our two sons that were with us and followed her back into a conference room. It was a shock to go from a crowded, noisy hangar, past all of those security people, to find ourselves suddenly alone in a quiet room.
The only thing we could hear was a cell phone vibrating, and noticed that it was coming from the jacket Senator Stevens left on a chair. We didn't answer.
A short time later, the Secret Service opened the door and President Bush walked in. I thought we might get to shake his hand as he went through. But instead, he walked up to my wife with his arms wide, pulled her in for a hug and a kiss, and said, "I wish I could heal the hole in your heart." He then grabbed me for a hug, as well as each of our sons. Then he turned and said, "Everybody out."
A few seconds later, the four of us were completely alone behind closed doors with the President of the United States and not a Secret Service agent in sight.
He said, "Come on, let's sit down and talk." He pulled up a chair at the side of the room, and we sat down next to him. He looked a little tired from his trip, and he noticed that his shoes were scuffed up from leaning over concrete barriers to shake hands and pose for photos. He slumped down the chair, completely relaxed, smiled, and suddenly was no longer the President - he was just a guy with a job, sitting around talking with us like a family member at a barbeque.
For the next 15 or 20 minutes, he talked with us about our , Iraq , his family, faith, convictions, and shared his feelings about nearing the end of his presidency. He asked each of our teenaged sons what they wanted to do in life and counseled them to set goals, stick to their convictions, and not worry about being the "cool" guy.
He said that he'd taken a lot of heat during his tenure and was under a lot of pressure to do what's politically expedient, but was proud to say that he never sold his soul. Sometimes he laughed, and at others he teared up. He said that what he'll miss most after leaving office will be his role as Commander in Chief.
One of the somber moments was when he thanked us for the opportunity to meet, because he feels a heavy responsibility knowing that our died because of a decision he made. He was incredibly humble, full of warmth, and completely without pretense. We were seeing the man his family sees.
We couldn't believe how long he was talking to us, but he seemed to be in no hurry whatsoever. In the end, he thanked us again for the visit and for the opportunity to get off his feet for a few minutes. He then said, "Let's get some pictures." The doors flew open, Secret Service and the White House photographer came in, and suddenly he was the President again. We posed for individual pictures as he gave each of us one of his coins, and then he posed for family pictures. A few more thank yous, a few more hugs, and he was gone.
The remarkable thing about the whole event was that he didn't have to see us at all. If he wanted to do more, he could've just given a quick handshake and said, "Thanks for your sacrifice." But he didn't - he put everything and everyone in his life on hold to meet privately with the family of a Private First Class who gave his life in the service of his country.
What an incredible lesson on service. If the President of the United States is willing to drop everything on his plate to visit with a family, surely the rest of us can do it. No one is above serving another person, and no one is so lofty that he or she can't treat others with dignity and respect.
We often think of service in terms of sacrificing ourselves for someone in a position above us, but how often do we remember that serving someone below us can be much more important? If you're in a leadership capacity, take a good look at how you're treating your people, and remember that your role involves serving the people you rely on every day.
**Wake Up America **
|
|
|
0
Comments
|
|
