A teacher in Elmira , New York asked her 6th grade class how many of them were Obama fans.

Not really knowing what an Obama fan is, but wanting to be liked by the teacher, all the kids raised their hands except for Little Johnny.

The teacher asked Little Johnny why he has decided to be different.

Little Johnny says, 'Because I'm not an Obama fan.

The teacher says, 'Why aren't you an Obama fan?' Johnny says, 'Because I'm a Republican.'

The teacher asks him why he's a Republican. Little Johnny answered, 'Well, my mom's a Republican and my dad's a Republican, so I'm a Republican'.

The teacher asks, 'If your mom was a moron and your dad was an idiot, what would that make you?'

With a big smile, Little Johnny replies, 'That would make me an Obama fan.'

YOU COULD HAVE HEARD A PIN DROP!

When in England , at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building' by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return." You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying ' Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?' A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?' You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S. , English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French? 'Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.' You could have heard a pin drop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. Then you should know enough to have your passport ready. 'The American said, ''The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it. 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France !' The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hardlook. Then he quietly explained, ''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to. ' You could have heard a pin drop.

Move America Forward and Hot Air Teaming Up to Support Our Troops



Announcement by Michelle Malkin:

"I’m excited to announce a very special event Hot Air will be participating in on June 26. Save the date. We’re teaming up with Melanie Morgan’s Move America Forward and UStream to present an 8-hour web-a-thon with the goal of sending the largest single shipment of care packages to U.S. troops in American history." LINK

Please go to the link and get all the information on this wonderful endeavor.

New York Times Resorting to Extortion?

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has released a story about how low the New York Times has evolved. The Times has told the McCain camp that if they are not included in the pool of reporters that will get a glimpse of McCains medical records, they will go negative on the story:

Gray Lady fighting dirty against McCain campaign? Update: NYT Ethics Policy

posted at 6:30 pm on May 21, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

Does the New York Times leverage access to campaign events through threats of negative news articles? According to one source at the McCain campaign, the answer is yes...........

All of that brings us to today. It’s no secret that the McCain campaign believes the Times to be dishonest in its reporting on the candidate, and they decided not to extend an invitation to the Times for the media pool at the release of the medical records on Friday. According to my source close to the part of the campaign that deals with these issues, they have invited a variety of media outlets, including national-reach newspapers, wire services, and cable-news networks into the pool, but told the Times that they would not receive any credentials for the event.

This prompted a conversation between one Times editor and the campaign staff. Again according to the source, the editor told the campaign that the Times would take a negative view about the release of the records if an invitation was not forthcoming. It was clear that an invitation to the pool would change the nature of the coverage. READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE.

The New York Times posted this story today at their political online site:

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain is set to release 400 pages of medical records, including documents related to his melanoma surgery in August 2000, to a tightly controlled group of reporters on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

On Friday, the campaign will allow a small pool of reporters access to the records from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pacific time in a conference room at the Copper Wind Resort in Phoenix, near the Mayo Clinic Scottsdale. The reporters will be allowed to take notes but not remove or photocopy the records. Campaign officials said they were imposing the restrictions to prevent the actual records from wide dissemination.

The news organizations in the pool, selected by the campaign, include ABC News, The Arizona Republic, The Associated Press, Bloomberg, CBS News, CNN, Fox News, NBC News, Reuters, The Washington Post and, possibly, a newsmagazine. LINK

Rovinsworld posted in comments at the Hot Air post:

Perhaps if the New York Times had agreed to talk (view) the information “WITHOUT PRECONDITIONS” they may have been included in this release.

It will be interesting to see how they follow up on their threat to go negative. I’m guessing an AP or a Reuters writer will go ugly enough that the Times can just copy the text while hiding under the covers.

From MrLynn:

" The NY Times (”the paper of record”) still wields enormous influence on other newspapers around the country, and also on the newsrooms of hundreds of TV stations. Most people still get the bulk of their news (if they get any) from TV first, and local papers secondarily. So what the Times says becomes de facto gospel.

If we in the blogosphere, a relatively small coterie of news and political junkies, can keep shining a bright light on this roach-infested kitchen where the NY Times serves up its daily menu, maybe some customers will gradually start looking elsewhere for more fulfilling news and commentary." MrLynn on May 22, 2008 at 8:22 AM

Longtime commenter and colleague Keemo also states the obvious:

"Wonder what it must be like to be a stock holder of the NYT; watching as this dinosaur sinks in the quick sand of corruption and unethical behavior. Liberalism, a mental disorder…"
Keemo on May 22, 2008 at 9:05 AM

definably developing............

The Mockery of the Democratic Party.......by John McCain




Sounds a bit like the "old man's" ready to eliminate the competition?

"Rare Success" in Iraq

New resident Ed Morrissey (from formally Captain's Quarters) at Hot Air has posted another success story that involves the progress in Iraq:

Mahdis sign over Sadr City to Maliki, victory celebrations in media pending

Get ready for more celebrations of Moqtada al-Sadr in the American media. Earlier today, he signed over control of Sadr City to the Nouri al-Maliki government in Baghdad, effectively ending his grip on any territory in Iraq. In the document, the Sadrists recognize the elected government as the sole legitimate authority in Sadr City and everywhere else in Iraq:

“We have signed the agreement today,” said Khalid al-Attiyah, the deputy parliamentary speaker from the main Shiite political bloc, United Iraqi Alliance.

Al-Attiyah said the cease-fire went into effect on Sunday and Iraqi forces will be allowed to enter the area as early as Wednesday and “take over the security there.”

The statement said “the government will decide on the number of Iraqi forces to be deployed in Sadr City to achieve security, in order to refrain from asking help from foreign forces,” a reference to the U.S. military.

“Any attack against residential areas, government offices and the Green Zone are prohibited from Sadr City or from another area,” the agreement said.

The cease-fire stipulates that Iraqi forces have the right to “impose the law and to pursue illegal situations.”

The government will allow the Mahdis to retain personal small arms, but anyone with anything heavier will be subject to arrest or attack. Those efforts continued today to clear Sadr City of splinter elements who have not accepted the cease-fire, with several more radicals killed by Iraqi and American forces. The agreement will not keep Maliki from imposing his will on the Baghdad suburb any more than a similar capitulation did in Basra, where Maliki uprooted the Mahdis from control after several years.........Link

Meanwhile the New York Times gets around to recognizing this piece of history calling it a "rare success":

Three hundred miles south of Baghdad, the oil-saturated city of Basra has been transformed by its own surge, now seven weeks old.

In a rare success, forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki have largely quieted the city, to the initial surprise and growing delight of many inhabitants who only a month ago shuddered under deadly clashes between Iraqi troops and Shiite militias....... Link

Earth to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the anti-war left nutcases: We are winning this war in Iraq and the Iraqi people are stepping up while our troops are close to claiming VICTORY! This will bring our troops home much quicker than passing meaningless legislation or the media's obsession with reporting only the setbacks while ignoring real success that gets RARELY REPORTED.

The Players Championship
(Classless sportwriter misses the fairway by a mile)

Any golf enthusiast (those who loves the game and the competition that even percolates on a Sunday afternoon between friends with 15 handicaps) who saw the drama unfold this past weekend in the Players Championship, couldn’t help but appreciate the “game” of Paul Goydos and the story behind his unexpected accent to the top of the leaderboard for most of the weekend. In fact, Goydos’ three bogys in the last five holes and a clutch par saving putt by Sergio Garcia on the 18th, (that was playing to a 4.9 stroke average) made the sudden death return to the famous seventeenth island hole almost anti-climatic.

But surely one thing the sport doesn’t need is a low-life senior sportswriter who decided to inject “class” into the story. According to Cameron Morfit---- Senior Writer, Golf Magazine----a Paul Goydos victory would have some how made the tournament a “classless” or “second-class” event:

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — A gust of wind won the 2008 Players Championship on Sunday. Pete Dye won the Players. And ultimately, to the great relief of everyone who hoped for a first-class winner at the "fifth major," Sergio Garcia won the Players. (Link)

Morfit goes on in his story about the lack of “class” players in the tourney that included top players in the world rankings with talent like Mickelson, Els, Furyk, Olgilvy, and now #10 Garcia. To insinuate that a Goydos victory against this field of world class talent would make the victor some one other that “first class” speaks volumes about the writers solipsism and classless journalism.

On a day where the conditions on the course brought most of the field to its knees, the performance of Paul Goydos was nothing but first class. The only classless performance was committed by Morfit and his pathetic article that failed to see the drama all golfers appreciate----the best in the world and the highest handicappers. Morfit definitely hit this one out of bounds.

Last Stand in Sadr City

Ed Morrissey has posted a story on the upcoming (and hopefully) final clash between Sadr's militias and Maliki's Iraqi government:


Big push coming in Sadr City

Iraqi soldiers have begun evacuating families from portions of Sadr City, a sign that a large offensive will start shortly against the Mahdi Army militia that have long controlled the sector of Baghdad. Two stadiums have been secured for sheltering the evacuees as the government of Nouri al-Maliki attempts to break Moqtada al-Sadr’s last stronghold and end mortar attacks on the Green Zone. Maliki also wants to end Iran’s influence in Iraq, which caused Iran to cut off security talks with Maliki and the US:

Iraqi soldiers for the first time warned residents in the embattled Sadr City district to leave their houses Thursday, signaling a new push by the U.S.-backed forces against Shiite extremist who have been waging street battles for seven weeks.

Iraqi soldiers, using loudspeakers, told residents in some virtually abandoned areas of southeastern Sadr City to go to nearby soccer stadiums, residents said. UNICEF says about 6,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Sadr City, most of them from the southeastern section.

U.S. forces have increased air power and armored patrols in an attempt to cripple Shiite militia influence in Sadr City, a slum of 2.5 million people that serves as the Baghdad base for the Mahdi Army led by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The U.S. military is trying to weaken the militia’s grip in the slum and disrupt rocket and mortar strikes from Sadr City on the U.S.-protected Green Zone, which includes the U.S. Embassy and key Iraqi government offices. Link

The reporting by our esteemed left-wing media will be interesting to watch in the days ahead.

Gary Mayor Predicts Possible Indiana Shocker

Updated 11:12 p.m.By Alec MacGillis

As the fate of a nailbiter Indiana primary -- and possibly the course of the Democratic race -- hung on his city, Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said just now that it might take a while yet to finish counting the vote in Lake County, which includes Gary, and said tonight his city had turned out so overwhelmingly for Barack Obama that it might just be enough to close the gap with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Let me tell you, when all the votes are counted, when Gary comes in, I think you're looking at something for the world to see," Clay, an Obama supporter, said in a telephone interview from Obama's Gary headquarters. "I don't know what the numbers are yet, but Gary has absolutely produced in large numbers for Obama here."

Clay said the results were late coming in from Lake County because of the large numbers of absentee ballots that had to be counted -- about 11,000. Under local practice, all of the cartridges from voting machines in Gary and nearby East Chicago are first collected at the local airport before being driven to the county headquarters to be tallied with the results from the rest of the county, he said. He said there were no major technical problems holding up the count.
"It takes a little time. We want to be sure that every vote is counted fair and right," he said. "I just talked to the director out there and they are working like junkyard dogs to get that done as soon as possible. They are taking some time but I told them to do it right. That's what taking the time."

Is anyone still up at CBS?

Democrats Final "Big State" Races Coming to a Close

What may look like the last chance for either Democratic candidate to move substantially ahead of the other Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton head into today's two primaries in North Carolina and Indiana hoping to make a "statement" that this race should be over.

RCP Polls this morning put Barack Obama at +8 in North Carolina and Hillary Clinton up by +5 in Indiana, which looks like if the polls are close, these two primaries will be pretty much another wash. With the exception of the obviously skewed (weighted) CBS/New York Times poll that shows both Clinton and Obama leading John McCain by double digits, the RCP shows Obama up by +1 and Clinton by +3. Throw out the CBS/NYT poll and McCain leads Obama and is dead even with Clinton. With 115 delegates up for grabs in No. Carolina and only 72 available in Indiana, Obama may very well come out of the day with a net gain in pledged delegates.

By tomorrow morning we, (the American electorate) may very well see the waters of the Democratic Party still just as muddied as the previous day. Look for the MSM to do their best to spin the results that will best fit their agenda, and ramp up their negative stories on John McCain.

I will leave this post open to additional script as the day progresses and the media rhetoric develops.........

Update: Drudge is reporting that Obama may have as much as a 15% lead over Clinton in NC. This will most likely over-shadow Clinton's percieved win in Indiana.

Update II: Zogby's latest telephone poll has Obama ahead in both states:

"The pair of surveys of the Democratic presidential contests shows Obama with a significant 14-point lead in North Carolina, winning 51% support to Hillary Clinton’s 37%. Another 12% said they were either favoring someone else or were as yet undecided. In Indiana, the race is clear as mud, as Obama holds a statistically insignificant lead of two points, winning 45% support to Clinton’s 43% support, with 12% either undecided or favoring someone else."

(it will be interesting to see where Zogby comes out here with his tele-polls)

It's the Economy Stupid --- Part 23

The New York Times may have put a little damper on CNN's producer’s agenda-driven economic tactics. CNN's "Issue # 1"----- ("it's the economy stupid") ----- that projects the doom and gloom of the nation’s economy might not have as much juice in the upcoming general election. Of course, when the "housing crisis" hit, (after four straight years of booming construction and inflated home prices finally hit it's ebb), the liberal mainstream media rode the mantra of economic doom praying for a market crash that would send us into their already proclaimed recession. Along the vain proclamation of Harry Reid’s "THE WAR IS LOST", the media's crescendo of economic disaster seems to have fizzled to the natural market forces:

Economic Clouds? Wall Street Sees Signs of Sunshine

By VIKAS BAJAJ

Published: May 2, 2008

Main Street may be struggling, but Wall Street is on a bit of a roll.
Despite a drumbeat of bad economic news, the stock market is up — almost 11 percent in the last few weeks. Junk bonds, those risky corporate I.O.U.’s, are rallying. The value of financial shares, bank loans, tricky credit derivatives — up, up, up.

Many on Wall Street, the epicenter of the credit mess, seem to think that the worst is over. For the first time in months, analysts and executives sound upbeat again. Many of them see a broad, sustained recovery in both the economy and the financial markets coming in the second half of this year, a prediction some market strategists call hopeful at best.

Of course these "strategist" could just as well be all those retired generals the MSM located that also said the war is lost.

"Financial stocks and the broader market surged on Thursday as the dollar strengthened and oil prices fell for the third day in a row. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed up 1.7 percent, to 1,409.34 points; the Dow Jones industrial average notched a 189.87-point gain, to 13,010; and the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.8 percent. Another day or two like that, and those market benchmarks will be in the black for the year."

"It is a remarkable reversal in attitudes from just a few months ago, when the broader economy seemed relatively healthy but Wall Street was traumatized by billions of dollars in mortgage-related losses. Now, bankers and investors appear ready to look past the crisis to more profitable times, while consumers find themselves in a more precarious position as the job market weakens and banks make it harder to borrow money."

With the prime rate down to 2.0% it may be a bit difficult for the banks to restrict lending nor would they want to, but the Times writer here has to remain "bogged down". And as a general rule, employers cut their labor forces during the first quarter because, (also as a general rule), the volume of sales is usually at its lowest point. It’s a financial fact.

While the media's frenzy and over-reaction when an over heated economy (that left the MSM totally silent for the better part of three years) finally leveled off and corrections and profits were taken, the strength and wealth of this nation under the Bush administration policies of lower taxes and a "hands off" approach to natural market forces proves that an economy works best when the government stays out of the game. Yes, government spending policies have run amuck and need to be frozen. But if we put either Clinton or Obama into office, 800 billion in entitlement expansion and Hillary's "yes, I will raise your taxes" mentality will surely send this nations economy into a tail-spin.

While the remaining two democratic candidates march around the country proclaiming that "they will create jobs and put more people to work", neither of them realize that it is BUSINESS'S THAT CREATE JOBS THAT PUT PEOPLE TO WORK. And both them have policies they plan to enact that will be hardly business-friendly. Hillary plans to raise capital gains taxes to 39% and will not even commit to not raising payroll taxes. Both candidates plan to enact government sponsored health care plans that offer no explanation on how they are to be paid for. GUESS WHAT! ----- BUSINESSES AND AVERAGE SHAREHOLDERS OF "BIG BAD CORPORATIONS" WILL PAY FOR IT! Barack Obama claims he’s not slept since October on the Letterman Show. Putting either of these two into the White House will guarantee the people of this nation will go to bed with less money in their pockets while their socialist and redistribution of wealth policies become real nightmares.