“We must not revert to isolationism and unrestrained economic egotism… Excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state’s omnipotence is another possible mistake. True, the state’s increased role in times of crisis is a natural reaction to market setbacks. Instead of streamlining market mechanisms, some are tempted to expand state economic intervention to the greatest possible extent… In the 20th century, the Soviet Union made the state’s role absolute. In the long run, this made the Soviet economy totally uncompetitive. This lesson cost us dearly. I am sure nobody wants to see it repeated.”

- Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin
Opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
January 28, 2009

It seems a shame that everyone in the world but us can recognize that the United States, under the leadership of the Democrats and their Messiah, is slipping ever further into the clutches of socialism. Why is it that we’re the only ones who still refuse to admit the truth? Even when our own newspapers and magazines are declaring, “We’re all Socialists now!”, so many people still refuse to believe it, refuse to acknowledge it. Perhaps what’s worse, the few that do see it, are still saying, “What’s so bad about socialism?”
Putin, of all people, just told us what’s so bad about socialism! Look at history, look at what became of the Soviet Union. Look at the horror it inflicted upon its own people, the people of Europe, the Middle East, and the entire world. The former head of the KGB is warning us not to slip any further toward socialism, or it will eat us alive, as it ate his country alive. Please, let’s listen before it’s too late.
If he can see it, why can’t we?

(hat tip to my friend Joey for sending me the link, and to Gateway Pundit for the info.)

Courtesy of our good friends at Rock The Facts:

I hope you all had a truly wonderful Christmas!

Oh, Britain, Britain, Britain… when did you decide to jump in bed with Islam? And like most one night stands, how can you possibly expect anything good to come of it?
This doesn’t even sound real as I type it, but the UK’s Channel 4 has announced that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will deliver their annual Christmas address this year. For quite a long time now, Channel 4 has relished in choosing a somewhat controversial alternative to the annual Queen’s Christmas address, delivered every year on Christmas day by the BBC. But no previous year possibly compares to the choice for 2008, and no previous choice seems so outlandishly stupid. Because hey, nothing portrays the spirit of Christmas quite like a Muslim leader raving about how much he wishes he could exterminate the Jews, right?

But of course, none of that was quite as disturbing as the tease that was given about what Ahmadinejad will be discussing this Christmas. What’s his message going to be? According to the AP, “In his message, Ahmadinejad says that if Jesus was alive in modern society he would likely fight to reform the world’s economic and political systems.”
Yes, Mahmoud, and if Christ were alive today, I think you might want to be just a tad bit concerned, given all the things you’ve said about His Chosen People. Remember, Christ may have been truly peace loving, but never forget the money changers He threw out of the temple; there is such a thing as righteous indignation, and since there was none more righteous than He, the indignation can be truly terrible and truly justified.
But more importantly than that, how dare he preach to us about our Lord on our high holy day! What do you think the outrage would be if a Christian went to Mecca on Eid ul-Adha to preach to all of Islam about what the Prophet Muhammed would have to say if he were alive today? Somehow I doubt all we would be met with was a barrage of angry blog entries. No, there would be blood running in the streets; our streets, our blood.

I sincerely hope that the UK will wake up to what their multi-cultural, politically correct, and ultimately naive atmosphere has done to the rest of the West. By allowing monsters such as Ahmadinejad into your country, into your homes, into your very way of life, you are giving terrorism a foothold in the west. You’re giving them precisely what they desire, everything they need to wipe every last infidel off the face of this Earth, i.e. you, me, and everyone else who isn’t a Muslim. Or have you not noticed that so many terrorists have been born and raised right in your own British backyard?
Wake up to what you’re doing to all of us. And on Christmas no less.

Merry Christmas, everybody.

According to Ahmad Yousuf, a political advisor to the leader of the terrorist Islamic group Hamas, Barack Obama’s campaign held secret meetings with Hamas during the Presidential race. But Obama’s representatives made sure to let Hamas know to keep quiet about these meetings, for fear that the American people might not like this so much and it might harm his electoral prospects.
Hmm, ya think?!

Click “more” to check it out.

Thanks to my friend at POW in CA, I have additional information for you regarding the video I posted previously under the headline, “Your Taxes at Work”. The teacher in the video is Ms Diantha Harris, who is employed at Mary McArthur Elementary School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. For those of you not familiar with the military, that school is located near Fort Bragg.
As the daughter of a military veteran, I’m completely outraged at her treatment of that poor little girl. I know at least a portion of the fears that little girl must be going through, as I saw my father being sent off on military duty many, many times as a young child. To have a teacher ream into her like that, it’s reprehensible. There is no excuse for that behavior, none whatsoever. In my opinion, no amount of re-training can ever make up for what she’s done in this video. But what makes this worse, is she knew she was being video taped. What has she done outside the scope of a camera? What else have these poor children been subjected to under her tutelage?

Thankfully the school superintendent is aware of the situation, has already begun an investigation, and has pledged to take “appropriate action.” I hope that “appropriate action” is having that woman fired. No other consequence would satisfy the scope of her offense.

If you’d like to see what the superintendent had to say, click here. I’ll also be hosting a copy of the response, just for the sake of archiving it. To see it, click “more”.

This is what Obama had to say during his victory speech:

“In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let’s resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.”

Obama chose his Chief of Staff, a man by the name of Rahm Emanuel. This is what he had to say:

“I’ll tell you this, the Republicans may have the 72-hour program. But they have not seen the 22-month program! Since my kids are gone, I can say it: They can go f*%k themselves!”

Ahh, can’t you just feel the liberal love that will soon be emanating from the White House, bringing about all of that wonderful hope and change? I can already tell this is going to be one classy, professional, and bipartisan administration. Huzzah.

It seems that if the editorial department of your newspaper decides to endorse McCain, Obama wants to pack up his toys and go home. Shortly after the Washington Times, Dallas Morning News, and New York Post each endorsed John McCain, they were kicked off of Obama’s campaign plane.
Does that seem fair to you? What do you think the reaction would be if John McCain had kicked the New York Times & Washington Post off his plane? Don’t you think the MSM would be all over that, decrying John McCain for being intolerant? That’s precisely what they were doing when Sarah Palin decided to give her first interview to ABC over the other networks, that in so doing she was being intolerant and unprofessional. Did anyone else say the same thing about Joe Biden refusing to speak to the local networks who had asked him tough questions, and then tried to have their ad revenue depleted? Of course not! Cause fair is fair, so long as you’re playing by Obama’s rules.

This is what the Washington Times had to say about it:

The Obama campaign informed the newspaper Thursday evening of its decision, which came two days after The Times editorial page endorsed Senator John McCain over Mr. Obama. The Times editorial page runs completely independent of the news department.

“This feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars covering Senator Obama’s campaign, traveling on his plane, and taking our turn in the reporter’s pool, only to have our seat given away to someone else in the last days of the campaign,” said Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon.

“I hope the candidate that promises to unite America isn’t using a litmus test to determine who gets to cover his campaign.”

This just keeps getting more and more ridiculous. It seriously disturbs me that the Obama campaign is attempting to punish entire newspapers for their editorial department’s dissenting opinions. It’s a very dangerous precedent, as this will only lead to further yellow journalism. These papers have been completely denied access, which is astounding to me. This leaves them with two options – report some of the facts in a favorable light or completely lose their ability to report any news whatsoever. Again, is this fair? Is this the kind of “change” we need in our nation’s media? I hardly think so. We need less yellow journalism for goodness sake!
But, of course, this sort of behavior always ticks me off. Throughout this entire election process, all four freaking years of it since our last election ended, I’ve been thinking to myself, What the hell happened to our ability to maturely agree to disagree like adults?! If we can’t do that, if we can’t agree to disagree, we’re completely doomed. All discussion will end, the constructive exchange of ideas will cease, and we’ll be stuck in stagnant pools of thought, unable to move forward in any positive manner. I can’t tell you how truly frustrated I am with attitudes like these. Our own fear of being offended has trumped our desire to learn! If we don’t grow up and realize that in any exchange of ideas there will inevitably be disagreement and offense, we will never learn anything new, we will never be exposed to points of view previously unimagined, we will never grow as a society! Suck it up, people, and realize that we’re never all going to be able to agree about everything! Until we can grasp that concept like mature adults, truly meaningful change will be impossible in this country.

This is absurd. Peter Wallsten, a reporter from the LA Times, apparently is in possession of a video from an event Barack Obama attended in 2003. At this event, Barack Obama delivered a toast. This video could be quite important and, in my opinion, voters deserve to see it. Why?
Because this 2003 event was hosted in honor of Rashid Khalidi, a critic of Israel, advocate for Palestinian rights, and quite frankly, a hate-speech-spewing Jew-basher. Coincidentally, he is also a best friend of Bill Ayers.
There’s been a lot of speculation and talk, claiming that Barack Obama is very familiar with Rashid Khalidi, that they went to events together all the time, that they were close friends, and that they often shared long family dinners where they discussed Palestinian rights. Of course, Barack Obama denies this, because Rashid Khalidi doesn’t exactly have the nicest track record.

Well, apparently this video would show just exactly how whitewashed this relationship is. According to Wallsten, this video features a toast delivered by Barack Obama, where he discusses his many talks with the Khalidis. Obama said, these talks had been “consistent reminders to me of my own blind spots and my own biases… It’s for that reason that I’m hoping that, for many years to come, we continue that conversation — a conversation that is necessary not just around Mona and Rashid’s dinner table,” but around “this entire world.”
Additional portions of the dinner are also on the video tape, showing Obama participating in the many discussions at the event about Jews, Israel, and the problem they present to Islam. According to Wallsten, “During the dinner a young Palestinian American recited a poem accusing the Israeli government of terrorism in its treatment of Palestinians and sharply criticizing U.S. support of Israel. If Palestinians cannot secure their own land, she said, ‘then you will never see a day of peace.’ One speaker likened ‘Zionist settlers on the West Bank’ to Osama bin Laden, saying both had been ‘blinded by ideology.’”

This has been a side of Barack Obama that many people have speculated about, and many former colleagues from Chicago have expounded upon. Hell, even Rashid Khalidi himself has talked very openly about the relationship he and Barack Obama shared.
Yet the media’s still choosing to ignore this issue, instead decided to believe Obama 100%, despite the vast array of evidence stacked up against him.

THIS is the media bias everyone’s been talking about, right there. Do you honestly think that if any reporter had such damning evidence about John McCain or Sarah Palin, do you honestly think they’d refuse to release it? If it was John McCain attending a dinner in honor of someone who supported and promoted hate crimes, where the entire event devolved into a relentless bashing of a minority, and then McCain proceeded to deliver a toast in honor of such a man, that it wouldn’t be all over the news every minute of every day until the election? Seriously, we heard all about the completely made up claims about Sarah Palin supposedly attempting to ban books, yet stuff like this is ignored? The claim against Sarah Palin was completely false, yet here we have absolute evidence that shows Barack Obama openly bashing Jews and supporting hate speech, and that’s what ends up getting buried?

Seriously, if we don’t wake up, we’re going to end up going to hell in a hand basket. If we don’t wake up and start demanding responsible journalism from our nation’s media, we will have invited our own destruction. When we have such little regard for the truth that we will allow such behavior to continue, we are indeed hopeless.

(The best summary of this issue is from Gateway Pundit. Just so you’re aware, they are a conservative blog. As you know, I try to find as moderate a source as possible, but in this case, the reason I’m linking to them is because the blogger actually had direct contact with Peter Wallsten and detailed the conversation they had about the tape. It’s honestly the best and most direct synopsis of the situation. So please, check it out.)

I’ve been awake all night, feeling miserable, so I won’t really have too much to say, but I just saw this and it seriously makes me want to cry. Will they really stop at nothing?

SONORA, CA – The California Republican party is asking the secretary of state to investigate an organized voting campaign involving developmentally disabled adults in Tuolumne County.

As many as ten clients of the Thumbs Up! adult care center have already cast absentee ballots under the supervision of center director David Simerley, and nearly all of them were for Barack Obama.

“We all registered to vote and we all sat together as a group and went over our ballots and voted,” Simerley told News10.

Among those voting was Michael Rascon, 56, whose father described him as having the mental capacity of a 5-year-old.

“What kind of people would do this to somebody like that,” asked Sam Rascon, who discovered his son had registered and voted only after seeing him with an Obama button last Thursday. “He wouldn’t know one candidate from another.”

News10 spoke to Michael Rascon at the Thumbs Up! center about the election. When asked which candidate he’d voted for, Rascon answered “the black man.” He was unable to remember Obama’s name.

Simerley said the absentee voting followed field trips to both local Republican and Democratic party headquarters.

“When we register people to vote, we try to be totally non-partisan,” Simerley said. He insists he exerted no influence over his clients despite the fact nearly all of them voted Democratic in an otherwise Republican county.

“I think maybe Obama would appeal to people with disabilities,” he explained.

Clients interviewed by News10 agreed that Simerley had allowed them to choose their candidate freely although Simerley filled out the ballots for those who can’t read or write. One client said he voted for McCain.

Simerley said his voting campaign also involved developmentally disabled adults not directly under his care. Tuolumne County clerk Deborah Russell confirmed Simerley took out 25 voter registration cards in January, but she could not say how many had been returned.

Russell said she’s asked the district attorney to investigate the specific complaint by Sam Rascon that his son was manipulated.

California Republican party leaders are calling on Secretary of State Debra Bowen to conduct a broader investigation of Simerley’s activities, according to the party’s communications director Hector Barajas.

When asked about it on Tuesday, Bowen had not yet heard of the complaint. “The situation’s never arisen,” Bowen said.

She explained there is no prohibition against developmentally disabled adults voting without a court order declaring them incompetent.

Simerley defends his actions despite complaints from Sam Rascon and other parents of his adult clients. One parent actually tore up her son’s absentee ballot before it was mailed.

“Our mission is to help these people become valued, respected citizens,” he said. “And one of the most important things is to vote.”

This is absolutely appalling. These poor disabled people were taken advantage of by ruthless political profiteers. It doesn’t sink any lower than taking advantage of the weakest, most helpless amongst us, just to attain power.
Remember, this was done without the consent of their families! Their families are the ones who have the legal right to make decisions on their behalf! Not the director of that facility, not the employees; the families.
This is hideous, beyond hideous. Do Obama supporters really believe that they cannot win based solely on the merits of their ideas, but rather they must trample upon the most helpless amongst us just to get ahead? Power attained via treachery and deceit will never be exercised with wisdom and benevolence. It never has and it never will.

This is a clear and obvious case of absolute voter intimidation, manipulation, and outright fraud. I sincerely hope the families of the individuals who were victimized in this situation will stand up for their rights and hold these people accountable for their hideous actions. I hope those who speak on the behalf of these people will speak up now, because let there be no doubt, the people under the care of that home were manipulated, victimized, and utterly extorted. This is not the behavior of a democracy, this is not in the spirit of a democratic election. This is hideous and it must be stopped. This wrong must be righted immediately.

Because I’m currently disabled, I’m allowed to vote early by absentee so that I don’t have to wait in any lines on November 4th. So this evening I went to my poling place, made sure to vote by paper, and cast my vote! I’m so excited and glad to have that done and out of the way.
There’s a reason for this post, however, beyond just announcing that I got to vote early (neener, neener! Hehe ) I don’t know about you, but in my state I was offered the choice between electronic and paper voting. I just want to remind everybody, if you have the choice, please, please, please, choose a paper ballot! There are SO many questions and concerns about the reliability of electronic voting machines. Not only can many of them register your vote incorrectly, but if for any reason the voting machines are disabled or tampered with, more often than not there’s simply no paper trail of your vote. If any evidence arises at all that the electronic voting machine is tampered with, I believe that all the votes cast on that machine are then thrown out.
Please, please, please, do NOT let this happen to your vote! All the while I’ve been trying to remind everyone that their vote is precious, that it deserves to be backed up with solid facts and research. Well, your vote is also precious enough that it deserves to be counted. So please do everything you can to ensure your vote is counted: vote paper!