Category: News

Clinton to announce new envoy for the “AfPak” Theater

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This looks like it could be a big mess.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has chosen a new special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, after months of delay and disagreements between the White House and the State Department over the parameters of the job that became vacant with the December death of Richard C. Holbrooke, senior officials said.

Retired diplomat Marc Grossman is expected to take over as the administration is facing a crucial year for its war strategy in Afghanistan, where it plans to begin U.S. troop withdrawals this summer and to move toward a political settlement including negotiations with the Taliban before the end of 2011.

In Pakistan, a key partner in the strategy, the situation has become even more fraught with peril, as U.S.-Pakistani relations have plummeted to their lowest point in years over Pakistan’s rejection of U.S. demands to grant diplomatic immunity to a U.S. official accused of murder there.

The administration has suspended high-level official contacts with the Pakistanis, and senior members of Congress have warned Islamabad that it risks a cutoff of U.S. aid.

via Washington Post:  Clinton to announce new ‘AfPak’ envoy.

Wow, I was not aware of all these problems. Looks like Hillary Clinton has her work cut out for her. Two things that stand out here:

  1. Why do we keep sending over retired people to handle these situations? Cannot Hillary Clinton or President Obama find anyone who is not at retirement age to handle this problem? Just a thought there, not trying to criticize it; because I doubt John McCain would be able to handle this any better.
  2. This situation with the murder charge just looks bad all around and will most likely hamper our efforts to combat the war on terror and will hinder us from capturing or killing Osama Bin Ladin. Because you cannot capture the bad guys; if you cannot get along with the people where they are hiding.

Again, I have said this a million times here, and I will say it again. Bush handled this whole thing wrong after 9/11. Bush should have went after the Countries that financed the attacks on 9/11. Instead he went after their training grounds, with the assumption that it would be a cakewalk to catch them; and then he went into Iraq, on what we now now to be bad intelligence and also assumed that would be cake walk too — and Afghanistan was left to neglect.  As of a result that poor leadership, we now have this mess to contend with. I pity Hillary and even President Obama to a point, they inherited this awful mess and now, they have to make gold, out of a steaming bag of crap. What a mess! I would not want to be in their shoes at all. 🙁

But, that is what happens, when you elect Neo-Conservatives who are on a so-called “Mission from God.” Let this be a lesson to America and to the Republican Party and all who supported and voted for the man. Say what you want, but between the bailouts and his poorly planned war on terror — we find ourselves in a awful mess; both with debt and with foriegn diplomacy.

Condoms? There’s an app for that.

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Oh nice….:

Finding a free condom in the Big Apple is now a click away.

The city Health Department is unveiling a free iPhone application on Monday – Valentine’s Day – that allows New Yorkers to input an address and find five nearby places to grab a free condom.

“We are trying to reach everyone having sex,” said Monica Sweeney, the agency’s point person for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control. “The younger generation uses their iPhone and we want to make it convenient for them to access condoms.”

Since Valentine’s Day often inspires couples to get frisky, it was a fitting launch date, officials said. “A lot of people’s minds turn to matters of the heart on Valentine’s Day and matters of the heart often lead to matters of the body, so we think a lot of people use them that day,” Sweeney said.

New Yorkers can also download the application on the Android or go to www.nyc.gov/health and type in their zip code to find locations with free NYC Condoms. They’re available at many community centers, health clinics, neighborhood stores – even tattoo parlors and barber shops. With the aid of GPS, the app will give walking, driving and subway directions to the site.

via Health Department unveiling free iPhone application that allows New Yorkers to find free condoms.

Oh wonderful, let’s just encourage teens to screw before marriage, why don’t we? 🙄

….and now for the politically incorrect comment of the day….:

On the other hand; it brings a whole new meaning to the saying, “Dickin’ around with the phone…” 😮 😉 😛 😀 😆

Oh Great: Muslim Brotherhood applies for Political Party Status in Egypt

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First the Video:

The Story via CNN: (H/T The Gateway Pundit)

Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood will apply to become a political party, it announced Tuesday.

The Brotherhood “envisions the establishment of a democratic, civil state that draws on universal measures of freedom and justice, with central Islamic values serving all Egyptians regardless of colour, creed, political trend or religion,” it said in the statement.

Although officially illegal, the Muslim Brotherhood is regarded as one of the most organized groups in Egypt.

As Jim Hoft does rightly point out; The Muslim Brotherhood does want Sharia Law in Egypt and everywhere else in the World. The question is, will they get it? Some say that it is highly doubtful this would actually happen, and some say yes, it could in fact happen. The truth is, nobody really knows; which has Conservatives and the truth be told; everyone in the Pentagon, The White House, and in many Governments in the Arabian peninsula — not to mention Israel.

Noted Evangelical turned Apostate says Gay Marriage is just fine

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This is unreal…

Via some gay Magazine that I would never directly link to, we have this: (H/T WorldNetDaily)

In a cover story for gay glossy The Advocate, Rev. Ted Haggard now says he favors gay marriage.

Ted Haggard - Likes his little boys smooth -- What a waste of human life!

Haggard is the evangelical pastor who ran afoul of his Denver congregation after admitting to a three-year pay-for-sex affair with male prostitute Mike Jones. Immediately after Jones reveled their sexual association in 2006, Haggard denied being gay, saying only that he had committed “sexual immorality.” Since that time, Haggard has said he’s undergone intensive counseling. On February 6, 2007, Tim Ralph pronounced Haggard “cured,” adding that Haggard is “completely heterosexual.”

The married father of five says everyone – including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people – is welcome at his church, St. James in Colorado Springs.

Haggard supported the 2006 ballot question that placed a gay marriage ban in Colorado’s Constitution, but he now says he favors allowing gay couples to marry.

“The word marriage is a big deal to people of faith,” Haggard told the magazine. “We’ve made it sacred. That’s why I believe that churches, synagogues, mosques and temples should have total freedom to have whatever types of unions they believe is godly.”

“But I think that we as a democratic society, as a constitutional republic – if we don’t respect individual civil liberties, then we’re making a horrific mistake. The church is in the early stages of another ‘the Earth is flat’ crisis. I say to all religious people that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry on the subject. Or we’re going to be embarrassed in another 10 or 20 years,” he added.

Haggard, however, has previously said no gay or lesbian couples will be allowed to marry in his church.

I remember hearing about this phony years ago and thinking that something was up with him. He was just too perfect; if you know what I mean. The truth is that the Bible says that the homosexual lifestyle is a sin and those to practice it will not see God.  See here if you have a problem with that.

My simple question is this; when will the Christian community finally take a stand and say, “Homosexuality is wrong and those who advocate it are apostates!” When?!!

Of course, because I am a realist; I know that this will never happen. Evangelicals never take the tough stands, they never have, it is not in their DNA. They always take the path of least resistance; they always have, since the days of their founding.  It is a sad fact, but the truth is that only the Fundamentalists like myself; are the only ones who dare to take the stand against such apostasy — and we have paid a horrible price for it too. Sadly today, many of the old institutions of old Fundamentalism in the Detroit area have either sold out to modernism or stand half empty. That is because people just do not want to hear the truth anymore. They want their ears tickled:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5 KJV)

Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.

Sorry White Nationalists

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But, I am not going to allow people from that forum, that I will not link to here in a blog entry; to come to my site and leave sock puppet comments — especially when the IP addresses on the comments are the same as the man who came and tried to argue with me.

I swear, those people are just straight up vermin and those actions prove that beyond a shadow of a doubt with me. 😡

References:

Video: Young CPAC attendees send career racist jerk running for his car

I do believe that I hit a nerve!

President Barack Obama loses Andrew Sullivan??!?!?!?!?

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He might as well have lost Walter Cronkite!

The Thrill is Gone for Sully!

But the core challenge of this time is not the cost of discretionary spending. Obama knows this; everyone knows this. The crisis is the cost of future entitlements and defense, about which Obama proposes nothing. Yes, there’s some blather. But Obama will not risk in any way any vulnerability on taxes to his right or entitlement spending to his left. He convened a deficit commission in order to throw it in the trash. If I were Alan Simpson or Erskine Bowles, I’d feel duped. And they were duped. All of us who took Obama’s pitch as fiscally responsible were duped.

The cynical political calculation is obvious and it is well put by Yglesias and Sprung. If Obama backs Bowles-Simpson, the GOP will savage him for the tax hikes, while also scaring the wits out of the elderly on Medicare. The Democratic left – just look at HuffPo today – will have a cow. Indeed, if Obama backs anything, the GOP will automatically oppose him. He has to wait for a bipartisan agreement which he can then gently push ahead. But that’s exactly why we are in this situation today. Because no president has had the balls to deal with it, and George W. Bush made it all insanely worse. Sprung says the proposal on corporate taxes is a trial balloon

via Obama To The Next Generation: Screw You, Suckers – The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.

I will not really get into all this; all I know is, we are in a crap load of debt, which is more then out entire Gross Domestic Product.  Now, like some Right-Wing blogs, I am not going to sit here, like a chump and tell you it is all the Democrats fault. The truth is both parties are guilty of this nonsense of spending money we do not have; and now both parties are acting like total buffoons, instead actually trying to get it down. Which is not totally surprising.

However, I do find it mildly amusing that the same blogger, who was essentially Barack Obama’s poodle dog during the 2008 election cycle is now the first blogger to come out swinging against him.  Which proves my theory entirely of the fact that liberals, which is what Sully is, not a Conservative; are just not much loyal to the one’s that they elect. My opinion? Sure, that is what I do here. However, based upon what I have been seeing in the left wing media in this day and age; my opinion not that very far off.

Having said all of that….. CUE THE MUSIC! HIT IT B.B.!

Others: The Moderate Voice, Hot Air, xpostfactoid, Outside the Beltway, Ballot Box, The New Republic, National Review, Doug Ross, AmSpecBlog, Wall Street Journal, Washington Wire and Chicago Boyz via Memeorandum

Speaking of Racism: The Sons of Confederate Veterans want Mississippi to issue a specialty plate honoring the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan

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This one is for the “Ugh” file… Via MSNBC:

The Sons of Confederate Veterans proposed that Mississippi issue a specialty plate honoring General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who many historians say was the first Grand

Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, the white supremacist group that terrorized blacks in the South after the Civil War.

Forrest is the only individual they want to commemorate. All the other plates would be in remembrance of battles that took place in Mississippi or Confederate veterans as a whole.

The proposal must be approved by the state legislature and signed by Gov. Haley Barbour.

Needless to say, the NAACP, rightfully so, is not too happy about this:

(CNN) — The Mississippi NAACP has called on Governor Haley Barbour to publicly denounce an attempt by a Confederacy group to honor a Ku Klux Klan leader, the organization said Monday.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans has launched the campaign to recognize Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on a specialty license plate.

Forrest, a popular and controversial figure, is best known as a leader of the KKK, the white supremacist group known for terrorizing blacks in the South after the Civil War.

He is also praised and criticized for an 1864 raid at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, where hundreds of black Union Army members were killed during the war. The controversy over whether Forrest conducted or condoned the massacre is still a matter for heated debate.

Mississippi NAACP leaders feel a state-sanctioned license plate honoring a man with ties to the KKK sends the wrong message to people in the state and across the country.

“Any individual who was a traitor to our country and our Constitution should be treated as such,” said Derrick Johnson, president of the state NAACP chapter.

Forrest was a “terrorist” whose acts were “immoral and unconstitutional,” Johnson said. Honoring him or anyone who promoted racial hatred or violence would be offensive, he said.

The NAACP isn’t alone in its protest against the SCV. More than 1,700 Mississippians have joined a Facebook group called Mississippians Against The Commemoration Of Grand Wizard Nathan Forrest.

The group’s website says they “are united in sending a message to the state government of Mississippi that WE WILL NOT STAND for the public glorification of one of the original leaders of the Ku Klux Klan.”

The proposal by the Sons of Confederate Veterans seeks to honor Confederate generals.

“If we can’t hold him up to where he’s supposed to be, then nobody else is gonna do it,” group member Greg Stewart said. Forrest is being “unfairly maligned,” he told CNN.

Most historians agree that Forrest left the KKK after less than two years because the small pockets of groups were growing rapidly, were unorganized and violent.

Forrest felt “they had the right idea, but went about it the wrong way,” said Mike Martinez, a part-time political science instructor at Kennesaw State University. Despite his short stint with the Klan, Martinez said Forrest’s affiliation with the organization gave it credibility.

Stewart said Forrest was chosen to be recognized not because of his time with the KKK, but for his spirit and leadership during the Civil War.

His image is one in a series of five that will have to be approved on a year-by-year basis by the state legislature, Stewart said.

Other Confederacy symbols to be used on license plates are Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library, the battle for Vicksburg, the battle of Shiloh and Confederate soldiers.

“unfairly maligned” by ass. The man was racist and should be remembered as so. Screw him and rest of those damned racist assholes. Like this guy here. 😡

I do believe that I hit a nerve!

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I guess my posting about the career racist getting told to hit the road by the young CPAC’ers has hit a nerve!

Look at what just popped into my moderation Que!

Author : federica (IP: 72.45.7.188 , 72-45-7-188-dhcp.gsv.md.atlanticbb.net)
E-mail : fgn23@libero.it
URL    :
Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=72.45.7.188
Comment:
Fuck off you jerk. What are you a parasite jew or something?

Whoa! 😮 I guess them rats don’t like having the spotlight on them! 😆

Such ignorance, such stupidity, such liberals. 🙄

Eh, screw ’em. They knew what their game is; and I am on to them. Think ya’ll gonna scare me? Think again. 😡

I gotta glock with your name on it, ya damned bastards. Bring it. 😡

For the record: No, I am not a Jew. I am a Michigan redneck that could and would be more than happy to stomp one of you racist dickheads into the ground. So, you wanna dance motherfuckers? Again, I say, bring in on —- BRING IT THE FUCK ON!

Hope and Change?: FBI doesn’t need court’s OK to get phone records, Obama’s Justice Department claims

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Well, isn’t this just a lovely story to pick up on a Sunday Morning?

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration’s Justice Department has asserted that the FBI can obtain telephone records of international calls made from the United States without any formal legal process or court oversight, according to a document obtained by McClatchy.

That assertion was revealed by the department – perhaps inadvertently – in its response to a McClatchy request for a copy of a secret Justice Department memo.

Critics say the legal position is flawed and creates a potential loophole that could lead to a repeat of FBI abuses that were supposed to have been stopped in 2006.

The controversy is a legacy of the Bush administration’s war on terror. Critics say the Obama administration appears to be continuing many of the most controversial tactics of that strategy, including the assertion of sweeping executive powers.

For years after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI sought and obtained thousands of telephone records for international calls in an attempt to thwart potential terrorists. The bureau devised an informal system of requesting the records from three telecommunications firms to create what one agent called a “phone database on steroids” that included names, addresses, length of service and billing information.

Go read the rest here

Which proves to this old school, Paleoconservative, Fundamentalist Christian one thing and one thing alone. That the only difference between a Neo-Liberal; like President Obama and a Neoconservative like President Bush is this —- One loves big Government and the other loves big Government as long as they are the one’s controlling it.

I remember how doing the Bush era, people like Keith Olbermann,were wailing to the top of their lungs about how darned horrible of the Bush Administration to allow such stuff to happen; and now that the Obama Administration is in power, what do you hear?

(click to play)

That is right, absolutely nothing about it at all. That is because the socialist liberals do not give a damn about personal liberty, all they care about is winning elections. All of the attacks against the Bush administration about everything; Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, Iraq —- everything  —was just partisan politics. It never was about the people; because socialists do not give a darn about the people! All they care about is power – governmental power — everything else to them is just second nature.

Which pretty much sums up why I stopped voted for the Democratic Party.  I am pretty much on to their game anymore. They try to come off as the party of the people; but anymore, they are all about the party of the state.

Joshua Goldberg — R.I.P.

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I hate having to blog about stuff like this; because it is so damned sad.

It seems that Jonah Goldberg’s brother Joshua died.

The sad news via The American Thinker:

Joshua Goldberg, son of Lucianne, brother of Jonah, and husband of Chantal, died long before his time, following injuries resulting from a fall. Although he was less well-known than his mother and brother, Josh quietly edited the sites Lucianne.com, BlogsLucianneLoves, and The Connection, working mostly behind the scenes. That was his way. Following 911, Josh was one of those New Yorkers who put on his work boots and walked miles to the WTC site to help go through the rubble looking for survivors and victims’ bodies. That was the kind of man he was, quietly doing the right thing, and never seeking public credit for it.

For reasons only God knows, Lucianne, Jonah, and his wife Chantal, have suffered deep grief that will never go away. Our thoughts are with them, and with Josh, who is now with God. May they find some degree of solace in the condolences of the many, many people who have been touched by their kindness and by their untiring work.

Remembrances can be left here.

I will be the first to admit; that I do not agree with Mr. Jonah Goldberg on politics; especially when it comes to foriegn policy. However, politics is one thing and real life is another. Let us all say a quiet prayer for the Goldberg family today. 🙁

May God Bless the Goldberg family during this horrible time.

Quotes of the Day

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Nine Eight House Republican freshmen and three inaugural members of the Tea Party Caucus voted against a proposed extension of three Patriot Act provisions Tuesday night, blocking the measure from passage under fast-track rules.

The House clearly backed the measure, voting 277 to 148 to extend the provisions, and most Republicans stuck by their leadership and supported the extension. But enough defected, joined by most Democrats, to keep the measure seven votes shy of the two-thirds majority required for passage under the fast-track procedure.

The House is likely to bring the extensions back up before the end of the month under regular procedures, when a simple majority would suffice to send it to the Senate.

Attention immediately swung to whether House members sympathetic to the tea party had decided the matter, especially after Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) said Monday that the vote would be “the tea party’s first test.”

******

The vote was a blow to President Obama, who had asked Congress to extend the PATRIOT Act’s surveillance authorities — which are due to expire February 28 — for three years.

House Republican leaders weren’t willing to go that far in removing meaningful congressional checks and balances on the surveillance authorities that both the Bush and Obama administrations have used to conduct “roving surveillance” of communications, to collect and examine business records, and to target individuals who are not tied to terrorist groups for surveillance. But they did propose a one-year extension of the authorities.

Most House Republicans — including supposed defenders of the Constitution such as Michigan Congresswoman Michele Bachmann — went along with their leadership. In so doing, they failed to address fundamental concerns, raised by conservatives and liberals, about Patriot Act abuses of the very Constitution that theyread aloud at the opening of the current Congress.

But House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California, led the vast majority of House Democrats in opposing any extension. In all, 122 Democrats — roughly two-thirds of the party’s House caucus — voted “no” to extending surveillance authorities that the American Civil Liberties Union warns “give the government sweeping authority to spy on individuals inside the United States and, in some cases, without any suspicion of wrongdoing. All three should be allowed to expire if they are not amended to include privacy protections to protect personal information from government overreach.”

*****

Today, Dennis Kucinich and the Tea Partiers were on the same side. If Obama wants to be on the wrong side of this issue (as he seems to be on the wrong side in nearly every aspect of the ‘War on Terror’), then so be it. But the House of Representatives has shot down (perhaps only temporarily) a measure to extend the three most grievous portions of the Patriot Act from 2001 (the ‘lone wolf’ provision, the roving wiretaps, and the unchecked powers to seize records with little-to-no probable cause). It has been beyond disheartening to watch Barack Obama more or less carry the mantle of unchecked police powers and indefinite detention that highlighted George W. Bush’s reckless and counterproductive ‘War on Terror’ strategy. More importantly, the apparent approval and continuation of such policies by the Obama administration has turned what was once a bitterly divided series of issues into something resembling bi-partisan consensus. Quite frankly, there is much that the likes of Rand Paul and Dennis Kucinich can indeed agree on. Perhaps this may be the start of the genuine liberals in Congress joining with the genuine conservatives in order to attempt to stop much of the genuinely un-American activities that have occurred post-9/11 on our watch and in our name. It is a pipe dream, but it is a goal worth advocating none-the-less.

*****

As Members of Congress, we are obligated to protect the rights and civil liberties afforded to us by the Constitution and to exercise our oversight powers fully.  Despite years of documentation evidencing abuse of these provisions by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, they may extended without any meaningful debate or opportunity to implement common-sense reforms to ensure that the privacy and civil liberties of all Americans are fully protected. Our failure to do so makes Congress complicit in these violations of basic constitutional rights.

****

The three provisions, incidentally, were for surveillance of non-citizens, roving wiretaps of multiple phones owned by a suspect, and the “library records” provision giving the FBI access to, among other things, medical and business records, which apparently was the sticking point for many Republicans voting no. Those three will lapse at the end of the month unless they’re extended; as with the Bush tax cuts, because the issue is contentious, Congress is in perpetual “temporary” extension mode instead of reaching a permanent resolution on any of them. Frankly, if there’s any tea party angle to all this, it’s that there wasn’t more opposition among the GOP freshmen: After months of rhetoric about government intrusion and hand-wringing on both sides about Obama’s expansion of Bush’s counterterror powers — to the point where U.S. citizens like Awlaki are now marked for death by presidential decree — they had some political cover to draw the line on extending parts of the Patriot Act further if they wanted to. (Ron Paul was among the 26 no’s, of course.) Nope.

Video: Michael Vick is still an unrepentant A$$hole

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This comes via HotAir.com, it’s obligatory as hell; but you know what? This self-consumed prick has it coming:

Please note: I used the dollar signs, because I really do not like the idea of my personal swear words appearing on someone else’s blog. It is just a personal editorial decision of mine.

Either way, Michael Vick has not changed a bit.

Video: Don Rumsfield on 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, and More

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Some good video here:

The Story via ABC NEWS:

More than four years after leaving public life, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continues to believe the war in Iraq was worth the effort, and has no apologies for his decision-making in leading the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Rumsfeld concedes that “it’s possible” that decisions on how many troops to send into Iraq marked the biggest mistake of the war.

“In a war, many things cost lives,” Rumsfeld told Sawyer.

Pressed on the fact that President Bush has written that cutting troop levels in Iraq was “the most important failure in the execution of the war,” Rumsfeld called that “interesting.”

I do not much care for the man. He is, in my humble opinion, an ignoramus. But he does have his opinions and he is a human being.

Get the Book:

I also highly recommend George W. Bush’s book as well:

Noted Socialist Filmmaker Michael Moore sues for supposed lost profits

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Now this is a laugh! 😆

Via the Hollywood Reporter:

I guess he needs more Pizza or something

Filmmaker Michael Moore has sued Harvey and Bob Weinstein, accusing the brothers of “Hollywood accounting tricks” and “financial deception” that cheated him out of at least $2.7 million in profits from the hit documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.

In a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles Superior Court, Moore says the Weinsteins and an affiliated entity called the Fellowship Adventure Group agreed to split profits from the film 50-50 but then diverted monies to hide them from Moore.

The suit for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and constructive fraud claims that in 2008 Moore conducted an audit of the 2004 film, which grossed $222 million worldwide, and “discovered substantial irregularities in the accounting” that resulted in a “gross underpayment to [Moore],” the lawsuit says.

Those irregularities include an alleged secret deduction of $2.5 million in revenue that the Weinstiens claimed was paid to acquire an interest owned in the film by a predecessor company called Icon Entertainment International; a 7.5% “override” fee on advertising costs in the amount of $1.2 million, “despite the fact that [the Weinsteins] did not incur the advertising costs and the [deal] did not permit [them] to deduct these costs”; as well as additional improper deductions of fees paid to distribution consultants, accountants, residuals, foreign taxes and travel expenses, including what Moore says are the “grossly excessive and unreasonable” costs of hiring a private jet to carry a single passenger to Europe.

But of course, the Weinstein’s deny this:

Weinstein lawyer Bert Fields dismissed the claims in an interview.

“The Weinsteins have paid everything they should have paid,” Fields tells THR. “Mr. Moore has received a huge amount of money from this film and we believe he is overreaching. He should be ashamed of himself”

There seems to be much more to that and I suggest that you go read it. The ironic part is that this is the same clown, who fawned over Cuba’s healthcare system and is totally into the idea of “share the wealth.” So, it strikes me as ironic that this socialist twit would be whining about his profits from his movie, that basically promotes the tenants of socialism; have been stolen. I mean, what’s wrong with a little wealth sharing? Right? I know what you’re thinking… “That’s stealing!” Well, guess what? When you say “Share the wealth,” you are basically saying take money from those who have worked hard to earn their money and give it to those, who have not worked for it at all. In other words: Legalized Stealing.

The Morning Mental Health Break: Thin Lizzy

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This one is dedicated to the memory of Gary Moore, who we lost yesterday:

The renowned rock guitarist Gary Moore has died in a hotel room while on holiday in Spain.

Moore, 58, originally from Belfast, was a former member of the legendary Irish group Thin Lizzy.

Thin Lizzy manager Adam Parsons told the BBC he was found early on Sunday.

Moore was originally drafted into Thin Lizzy by its late frontman Phil Lynott. He later gained acclaim for his solo work and was a former member of the Irish group Skid Row.

The Northern Ireland guitarist was only 16 when he moved from Belfast to Dublin in 1969, to join Skid Row, which featured Lynott as lead vocalist.

He was later brought into Thin Lizzy by Lynott to replace the departing Eric Bell, another guitarist from Northern Ireland.

Lynott died in 1986 but a new line-up of Thin Lizzy continues to tour.

Bell told the BBC on Sunday he was still “in shock” at Moore’s death in the Costa del Sol.

“I still can’t believe it,” he said.

“He was so robust, he wasn’t a rock casualty, he was a healthy guy.

Urbanrounds Remembers:

This news is very sad personally, being about the same age and growing up with his music from his days with Skid Row and Thin Lizzy. However, it was his guitar virtuosity that appealed to me the most, as it did to many others.

Thus another person and a piece of my youth has departed this mortal plane. As one commenter on another site stated, “God needed a lead guitarist for a new band.” If that is so, he couldn’t have chosen any better.

Godspeed Gary Moore. Your talent and passion will be missed greatly.

Greg over a Greg’s Opinion sums it up rather nicely:

One of the many guitar players I learned from, ripped off, and wished I could play half as good as. Much of the appreciation for melodic solos can be heard in a lot of his early-mid-80s solo work.

I believe that about sums it up. I also play guitar; and when I saw the headline, I let out a gasp and a “Oh no!”

Gary Moore joins the line of great guitar players that we have lost — Hendrix, Terry Kath, and many others.

I am also a guitar player and this one was a shock 😮 and so very sad. 😥

BREAKING NEWS: AOL to buy The Huffington Post

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It is official — AOL has gone liberal.

Via the old Gray Lady:

The Huffington Post, which began in 2005 with a meager $1 million investment and has grown into one of the most heavily visited news Web sites in the country, is being acquired by AOL in a deal that creates an unlikely pairing of two online media giants.

The two companies completed the sale Sunday evening and were expected to announce the deal Monday morning. AOL will pay $315 million, $300 million of it in cash and the rest in stock. It will be the company’s largest acquisition since it was separated from Time Warner in 2009.

The deal will allow AOL to greatly expand its news gathering and original content creation, areas that its chief executive, Tim Armstrong, views as vital to reversing a decade-long decline.

Arianna Huffington, the cable talk show pundit, author and doyenne of the political left, will take control of all of AOL’s editorial content as president and editor in chief of a newly created Huffington Post Media Group. The arrangement will give her oversight not only of AOL’s national, local and financial news operations, but also of the company’s other media enterprises like MapQuest and Moviefone.

By handing so much control over to Ms. Huffington and making her a public face of the company, AOL, which has been seen as apolitical, risks losing its nonpartisan image. Ms. Huffington said her politics would have no bearing on how she ran the new business.

The deal has the potential to create an enterprise that could reach more than 100 million visitors in the United States each month. For The Huffington Post, which began as a liberal blog with a small staff but now draws some 25 million visitors every month, the sale represents an opportunity to reach new audiences. For AOL, which has been looking for ways to bring in new revenue as its dial-up Internet access business declines, the millions of Huffington Post readers represent millions in potential advertising dollars.

“This is a statement that the company is making investments, and in this case a bold investment, that fits right into our strategy,” Mr. Armstrong said in an interview Sunday. “I think this is going to be a situation where 1 plus 1 equals 11.”

Ms. Huffington and Mr. Armstrong began discussing the possibility of a sale only last month. They came to know each other well after they both attended a media conference in November and quickly discovered, as Ms. Huffington put it, “we were practically finishing each other’s sentences.” She added: “It was really amazing how aligned our visions were.”

One of The Huffington Post’s strengths has been creating an online community of readers with tens of millions of people. Their ability to leave comments on Huffington Post news articles and blog posts and to share them on TwitterFacebook has been a major reason the site attracts so many readers. It is routine for articles to draw thousands of comments each and be cross-linked across multiple social networks. and

Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Huffington say that AOL’s local news initiative, Patch, and its citizen journalist venture, Seed, stand to thrive when paired with the reader engagement tools of The Huffington Post.

AOL’s own news Web sites like Politics Daily and Daily Finance are likely to disappear when the deal is completed, and many of the writers who work for those sites will become Huffington Post writers, according to people with knowledge of the deal, who asked not to be identified discussing plans that are still being worked out.

I got one thing to say about the above. I give it a year; and Huffington Post and AOL will both be gone. The truth is, that Huffington Post was swirling the drain, according to some of my well-placed sources and Huffington was looking for a buyer. She finally found a sucker, with deep pockets. The problem is that AOL is quickly becoming a relic of the old days of the internet; as in Pre-web 2.0. AOL has tried to keep up; but the majority of internet users, like myself; recoil in horror, when people say, “I am on AOL!”

Again, I give it a year.

Update: Ed Morrissey, always the nice guy, says:

It should be an interesting transition to watch, though.  None of these oddities takes away from Arianna’s success, either, in building a blogospheric empire and realizing a fortune from it.

Yeah, she built an empire of wealth; because she was already damned wealthy, because she supposedly “unknowingly” married a guy, who was involved in politics and he turned out to be gay. Further more, the Huffington Post exists for one reason and one reason alone. To propagate socialist Liberal propaganda  and make a mockery of Conservatism. In other words; that marble-mouthed socialist got rich off of disparaging American values and our capitalistic system in this Country —- All the while getting rich off of it — or in her case, richer.

Again, it is pathetic and straight up hypocritical. But then again, we are talking about American socialist liberals, are we not?

Update #2: Roundups by MediaGazer, TechMeMe and Memeorandum

UPDATED: Open Left Ceases Operations

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I know it is a liberal Blog; but you know what? It’s a blog and when one goes down, I believe the Blogosphere suffers.

Sort of a shock to me; I used to read this blog quite a bit.

Anyhow, here’s the sad news:

I have some sad news. After nearly four years in operation, today will be the final day Open Left publishes new content.

The site will not disappear, and all published content will remain online, but after today we will cease producing new content.

As the people who founded the site, myself included, moved on to other projects, we have gradually run out of money to maintain operations. It is a difficult decision, but we kept going for as long as we could.

I am, and always will be proud of the work we did here. I am, and will always be grateful to everyone who supported, visited, and participated in the site.

No matter what, the inside-outside fight we engaged for progressive change at Open Left will continue in other venues, even though this blog is about to close. The movement is much bigger than one blog.

Farewell posts will run throughout the day. Thank you, so much, to everyone.

Centrist Blog Donklephant is not buying it:

Wait…what?

Open Left is run on Soap Blox, which is a blogging platform and hosting service. The blog platform appears to be free and the most expensive hosting costs $40 a month. Sure, there are add ons, but Open Left doesn’t get a ton of traffic. They say they’re going to keep the website up, so it’ll cost $480 at the most every year. If you add in extra storage and overages every month, maybe it costs $1,000 a year…maybe.

So the idea that it was too costly to maintain the site is hard to swallow. Why didn’t they just throw a fundraiser? Think they could get 100 people to pitch in $10…or more? This is, after all, some of the same readers who rocketed Howard Dean from obscurity to the national stage because he was able to raise a ton of money online.

Bottom line…if they really cared about their readers they’d simply tell them that they can’t pay their writers anymore so content contributions will go down. And that’s assuming they paid their writers in the first place. Many political blogs simply invite people to blog and pay them zip. The platform, readership and communication is enough compensation. Also, I’ve been frank with all of you about content dropping in the down years between elections…and our hosting costs more than what they were paying. Do you see us going away?

Just saying…Chris Bowers and crew could easily keep that site up and post to it when they want to. But they’re not making any money. That’s the reason they’re quitting. Not very “open” if you ask me.

Ben Smith over at politico opines:

There’s been a bit written recently on the death of blogs, and while there will — I hope — remain space for some, there’s little doubt that the online world of politics is no longer limited to this form.

And here’s another harbinger of the shift: Open Left, founded in 2007 campaign by bloggers who often challenged Obama from his left, including Chris Bowers and Matt Stoller, announced today that it’s shutting down.

“No matter what, the inside-outside fight we engaged for progressive change at Open Left will continue in other venues, even though this blog is about to close. The movement is much bigger than one blog,” Bowers writes.

Some of the older blogs on right and left are still thriving, while others — like TPM and the Hot Air bloggers — have worked to turn themselves into broader news platforms. But the form now feels a little quaint.

I will not be your typical partisan — um, pardon the french — asshole and say, “Ha ha! progressive writing is not popular!” No, I will not do that. The truth is, that this economy just sucks wet socks. Because of this, start-ups are feeling the heat. The reason why I feel it, every time a blog goes down is this. I believe in a full rage of political discussion — whether I agree with it….or not.  Open left has been around for a very long time. I remember reading it back, when I was still rooting for the other side. That is, before it became rooted in stupidity.

As a Christian; I say to Chris Bowers; I wish you the best.

Hopefully, my readers will understand, that I take no pleasure in, nor do I get any joy about knowing that someone that I disagree with has had to throw the towel in on something that they enjoy.

Update: It seems that they do not feel the same way about me:

Shortly after Kerry’s loss in 2004, at MyDD, Chris wrote “Conservatism is our enemy” which I think is the first time I ever encountered a direct ideological assault on conservatism itself.  Along with Phil Agre’s rightly famous essay on the subject, it began me on a road and mission to better understanding this beast.  Everything I have learned to date from then continues to bolster Chris’ original thesis.  Conservativism is still the primary enemy of progress, justice, fairness and widespread happiness for humanity.  It remains a destructive and corrosive force on the institutions of democracy and the single biggest obstacle to world peace.

To which I say the following:

Eh, God Bless ’em. The awesome thing about America is the fact that everyone can have an opinion about Politics and other such subjects, without being worried about someone getting their head peeled. (So to speak…) Not that I agree with that at all. But there was a time, when I felt the same way.  Although, I was not quite as vocal about it. Nor did I put my feelings in such terms. Rigid ideologies of that sort get nothing done. Nor are either of the major political ideologies perfect either.

So, again, I say, eh…. God Bless ’em. 😀

It is official: Keith Olbermann is under my bus

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I have been meaning to write about this for a few days; but there were other things to write about and this one got cast aside.

I was going to put this one under the whole “Living Proof that liberals are classless assholes” banner. But this one just was just too great, too awful, too nasty.

It appears that Keith Olbermann has some sort of inbred hatred of our United States Military. Now why would I make such a wild accusation as that? For this reason:

Ed Driscoll, who is a Vietnam Vet wrote the following about Keith Olbermann in the Boston Globe:

I AM very happy that Keith Olbermann is no longer on MSNBC. I participated in more than 10 combat missions in Vietnam, so I know a mission is not a war. Someone should have told that to Olbermann, as he demonstrated his ignorance by equating the two for years on his show.

He would end by saying it has been so many days since President Bush declared “Mission Accomplished’’ in Iraq. Bush never said that. Olbermann was referring to a sign on an aircraft carrier that said “Mission Accomplished.’’ The president declared an end to major combat operations, and therefore the aircraft carrier was headed home.

In Bush’s speech, he said that much work has yet to be done. The sign was for the brave people who had completed their mission.

Olbermann can take the money and run. I don’t care where.

A gentle ribbing towards someone who, if anyone, had the right to say that; after all he was a military officer. Well, not to Keith, who hates anything remotely Military — this was his response: (H/T Nice Deb)

How Keith REALLY feels about our Military

That’s right, Keith believes that people that serve in our Military are dumb. This goes along with the whole mentality that whole idea, by the so-called enlightened liberals that most Military people are simple minded Conservatives who are too stupid to think for themselves. You see, Keith does not have his network bosses to answer to any longer, so, now he can spew his far leftist hatred of all things American; including our Military.

As some of you know and you can know this by searching this blog; I used to hold Keith Olbermann in very high regard. I was, at one point, a regular watcher of Keith’s show. That is, until he started with the intellectual dishonesty and straight up lying about everything under the sun. Well, writing about something is not enough, one must put their money where their mouth is.

So, as of this morning. I have removed the one book that Keith Olbermann wrote off of my Blog’s Bookstore. Unfortunately, I could not remove the one book itself. I had to remove the sections about George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Most of it was filled with Anti-Bush and Anti-Cheney books anyhow. I realize that it might not be that big of a deal, not many people buy anything from my Bookstore anyhow. However, with me. It is a personal decision; that I just will not support someone, who is taken to insulting our Military. This is a personal issue with me; it always has been, as I have had family members who served. This is why I have “Lost my shit”, so to speak, in the past, when people have insulted the Military in the Paleo-Conservative circles.

So, Keith, if you happened to even read this; You sir, are history in my book. You just do not insult Military officers, whether active or inactive. Not around me at least. You sir, are no better than the anti-war protesters in the 1960’s who spat upon and mocked the soldiers coming out of Vietnam.  In fact, your little smart-assed tweet was, as far as this writer is concerned; was in fact, a virtual spit in the face of a Solider who served proudly in our Military.

For this sir, you are remanded to dustbin of history, as far as I am concerned. You sir are just another Anti-American socialist, who happened to get rich by spewing your lies and bigotry — all the while railing against the very capitalist system that made you rich. Which is a picture perfect example of the blatant hypocrisy of the liberal left. I do hope that you enjoy that money, that in all honesty, you do not deserve to own; and if you just happen to get lucky enough to land another job as a talking head somewhere else. I will be here to blog against your idiotic nonsense. Because as a former “Left of Center,” I am appalled to where you and your communist-lite friends have taken the party that my grandparents and parents voted and still do vote for.

Further more, I find your attacks against our Military sickening and I will be one of many, who will continue to attack you, for your idiotic political viewpoints; until you finally retire and eventually die relieving this Nation of your moronic bombast and empty headed pontifications.

I may be only a small cog in this machine that we call America; but I am a damned good one!

Video: A Patriot Act Update from Ron Paul

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This comes via The Daily Paul:

For the record, I never supported that so-called “law to keep us safe…”

Campaign for Liberty website.

Gold and Silver rise after Bernanke says Government will continue path to ruin

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This is not very shocking…but, it’s news:

Gold and silver prices rose Thursday after the chairman of the Federal Reserve said the economy won’t recover fully until more jobs are created.

The economy likely will grow more quickly this year as companies and consumers spend more, but it will take several years for unemployment to fall to more normal levels, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in prepared remarks to the National Press Club.

His speech suggested the Fed will continue its $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program aimed at bolstering the economy.

Earlier Thursday, European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said inflationary pressures in the 17 nations that use the euro are in check despite rising prices due to higher energy and commodity costs. The bank’s governing council decided unanimously to leave the main interest rate unchanged at 1 percent.

CPM Group analyst Carlos Sanchez said the combination of Bernanke and Trichet comments prompted more investors to buy gold and silver, which often are seen as safer assets to hold during uncertain economic times.

Sanchez said he expects gold prices to continue to rise in the next several months as global economic issues are addressed.

via News from The Associated Press.

You can expect prices on Gold and Silver to rise, as long as this Government continues to buy it’s own debit. As I have said before, this is a good time to get into Gold.

Please, check out GoldSilver.com and protect your nest egg today!

Video: The Reality Report: Bypassing the Obama Kill Switch

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Please Note: The posting of this video does not constitute an endorsement of views presented in this video. It is simply posted for information purposes only.

—-

In this issue of the reality report: The Egyptian Revolution triggered a government shutdown of the web. Could it happen here? Is the internet kill switch back on the congressional table? If the Feds shut down the web in the United States how could “We the People” get around the internet blackout? Gary Franchi reveals what tools you need to bypass a Government sponsored internet blockade. In this edition, Ron Paul explains the how the Federal Reserve works outside of congress’ constitutional framework. We also look at Senator Chuck Schumer failing miserably while explaining the three branches of government. Beautiful words are uttered from the lips of the Florida attorney general about Obamacare. President and founder of Freedom Law School, Peymon Montehedeh, gives us the details on this years’ Freedom Conference, and we announce a new action taking place in March. We’ll take a dip into the mailbag, deliver the results of last week’s poll, a viewer brands a new Enemy of the State… and Nina returns to deliver the Headlines from the new Reality Report News Room.

http://RTR.org | http://RealityReport.TV

BREAKING NEWS: Shooting in Alabama Courthouse

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Oh Boy, here we go again….

Via WSFA.COM:

GOODWATER, AL (WSFA) – WSFA 12 News has a crew en route to the small city of Goodwater in Coosa County were numerous reports are indicating someone has been shot inside a courtroom.

A person inside Goodwater City Hall, which is connected to the municipal courthouse, said they heard two gunshots and saw a man being taken away on a stretcher. The person said people came from next door for paper towels to wipe up blood.

The worker, who did not wish to be identified, said authorities are making everyone who was inside the courtroom at the time of the shooting to stay.

The Coosa County Sheriff’s office and Alabama State Troopers are not saying much at this time. The Alabama Bureau of Investigation would only say it was responding to Coosa County by request of local officials.

Goodwater, a city of approximately 5,000 people, is just a short distance from Alexander City.

I will be scanning twitter and the wires for more info as it becomes available.

Update – 4:15 EST: WKRG-TV reports:

The Alabama Bureau of Investigation says a defendant attacked a Municipal Court judge and tried to grab a gun from a spectator. He was shot by a Goodwater police officer who was providing courtroom security.

State Trooper Chad Joiner says the wounded man was in court on a domestic violence charge. He was taken by helicopter to UAB Hospital in Birmingham. There’s no immediate word on his condition.

End of Story…

Is Speaker Boehner having an affair with a lobbyist?

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Stark Reports and Boy Culture have the story.

Yeah, I know, it is the Enquirer; but they were not wrong about John Edwards!

Yes, I also know that they guy reporting it, is a liberal. But if there is misconduct; I believe the American people have a right to know.

Stay Tuned.

Video: Living Proof that George W. Bush never was a true blue Conservative

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But rather a big Government Rockefeller Neo-Conservative; which is essentially a Democrat in GOP clothing.

Besides the Iraqi Invasion; Besides the bailouts…. there is this:

First the Video: (H/T HotAir)

That’s George W. Bush’s daughter Barbara, legitimizing the Sodomite lifestyle.

Not only this, there is this quotable quote from President George W. Bush — Sodomite lifestyle enabler — himself from Associated Baptist News:

In discussing a meeting he had with Texas evangelist and one-time Southern Baptist leader James Robison, for example, Bush reportedly confided in Wead, “I think he wants me to attack homosexuals.” But, the future president said, he told Robison: “‘Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I’m not going to kick gays, because I’m a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?’”

Bush also expresses concern over an aide’s report from a Christian Coalition meeting, according to the Times article. Reading from the report, he told Wead, “‘This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It’s hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however.’”

“This is an issue I have been trying to downplay,” Bush continued. “I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays.”

That quote alone; proves to this Fundamentalist Baptist Christian, who is also a Paleo-Conservative — that George W. Bush was never a true-blue Conservative. But rather a liberal in G.O.P. clothing.

Here is the story via the NYT:

The Bush dynasty is no stranger to generational conflict: father and son differed over deposing Saddam Hussein, raising taxes and the role of the United Nations.

Now it is father and daughter who find themselves at odds over a weighty issue.

Barbara Bush, one of the twin daughters of George W. Bush, will endorse same-sex marriage on Tuesday, publicly breaking ranks with a father who, as president, pushed for a constitutional amendment banning such unions.

Ms. Bush, 29, has taped a video calling on New York to legalize gay marriage. A bill to do that was defeated in the state in 2009. She describes the issue as a matter of conscience and equality.

“I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality,” she says in the brief message, sponsored by an advocacy group. “New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.”

The video ends with Ms. Bush, who lives in Manhattan, imploring the state’s residents to “join us.”

Ms. Bush is the latest child of a prominent Republican leader to embrace same-sex marriage, long considered anathema to the conservative movement. Gay rights advocates have been quick to seize on the generational split as evidence that the acceptance of same-sex marriage is blind to party affiliation and family values.

I think it would be wise for the Conservative Christian movement to rise as one and say, “Never Again!” to electing a man based upon family pedigree and to elected someone who does not pass muster or a good vetting by the Conservative Christian movement.

Further more, let me say this; this movement of the Conservative Republicans away from traditional family values is troubling. I say this without shame at all; I am a Conservative Christian, in the sense that I do support traditional family values. However, I do not believe in the use of any sort of Government of imposing my beliefs on anyone else. That is what Muslims do with Sharia Law — and I do not support that at all. However, for the daughter of a so-called “Conservative Republican” to come out and support a law such as this, is totally repugnant and should show all parties concerned, just what sort of a Conservative that the Bush dynasty really was. In this sense; and only in this sense, Pastor Chuck Baldwin was absolutely correct.

I believe that all Conservative Christians in the 2012 elections should really prayerfully consider the persons running in the Republican primaries and if the persons running for President do not pass muster; do not vote for them, at all.

We as Conservative Christians must decide what our allegiances are to; to the Republican Party or to the the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word. There is no middle ground, choose your side today.