Basic Budgeting for Political Candidates

With the bridge collapse in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the politicians have come out of the woodwork demanding new and bigger spending for infrastructure. The federal government sets standards which the states are supposed to monitor and maintain for a variety of public works from electrical grid, levees, water supply and roadways. While the bridge collapse is certainly a tragic and dramatic example of system failure, does pointing fingers and laying blame based on a political model help at all? There are those in our legislatures that want the federal government to basically seize control of every issue. Do we really want to have to petition Washington to have a street widened or turn lanes installed? I ask that because that is what many in Congress claim to want. In essence, this would take local bond issue improvement funding and revert it to federal control. If you want an example of what that is like, consider that the state of Texas, for all of its highways, bridges, dams and such only gets back around 70% of the money sent to Washington in the form of fuel taxes. With larger populations and related larger numbers of Congressional members, more populous states would get the lion's share of funding under a federally controlled system,leaving states like Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Arizona with minimal attention. That is virtually the system now in place for federally funded programs, the results being things like "The Bridge to Nowhere" and "The Big Dig" both programs earmarked by well connected Congressmen.

The problem is WHERE do we spend our money? If your family income is say, $2000 a month-your first needs are shelter,food, utilities, transportation,clothing. Beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets are in that frill area of "want" over "need". If your family has problems making determinations about what is necessary over what is a frill, then you probably have serious cash flow problems. Ramp that up to a federal level, and unless the government creates new and bigger taxes, there is only so much money to go around. Yet we have Congresspersons and lobbyists that place pet projects in the way of real and necessary improvements. And that can come from a whole plethora of sources. Dams and levees can be almost permanently delayed by lobbying from environmental groups. Educational funding can be diverted for free lunches and ESL programs over books and computers. Highway funding can be delayed years, even decades, over silly internal squabbling such as we are seeing on the Trinity River parkway fiasco. And the list goes on and on and one.

With finite resources, the federal government CANNOT pay for everything. Right now, voters are being hit with a number of campaign proposals such as National Health Care, Infrastructure Improvements to highways, dams, power plants and water resources, Educational reform that would cost billions to implement and programs that we can't even begin to detail here. I know different people have different needs,but when you look at these promises, please stop and ask yourself from which pocket of income the funding for such programs will come. It has to come from somewhere. And the last big wave of corporate taxation is what led to massive offshoring of critical industries. Perhaps, like many families out here, the federal government needs to live within its means and allow a free citizenry to define their own priorities and pay for their own needs rather than taxing everyone and giving us back only a fraction of services in kind.

Read this first:

" The following editorial appeared in Saturday’s Washington Post:

There was a time when many people in Oakland, Calif., admired Your Black Muslim Bakery, a neighborhood enterprise founded in 1968 by a charismatic African American known as Yusuf Bey. Community members, politicians and the local media hailed the bakery as an example of black self-help in an otherwise dispiriting environment of urban poverty.

For years, they tended to ignore or play down reports about the more violent side of Bey’s operation, or about such disturbing events as a political rally at which Bey remarked that Jews “are not worthy of being hated.”

Among the many who were a bit soft on the bakery was a reporter for the Oakland Tribune, Chauncey Bailey, who doubled as news director for a television channel that Bey paid to broadcast his sermons.

But in 2002, the East Bay Express, a local alternative newspaper that had praised the bakery, ran a penetrating series of articles on the activities of Bey’s minions, including the alleged torture of a Nigerian immigrant. That series earned reporter Chris Thompson threats from Bey’s group.

Bey’s arrest in 2003 on 27 counts of raping four girls further damaged both Bey’s image and that of his organization, though most of the charges were dropped and he died before his trial.

Bailey began to take a second journalistic look at Your Black Muslim Bakery. Having become editor of the Oakland Post, a small weekly newspaper focused on the African American community, Bailey probed the bakery’s murky finances — until the morning of Aug. 2, when a masked man approached and fired a shotgun at his head.

According to police, a 19-year-old employee of the bakery has confessed to the murder, saying he carried it out because of Bailey’s reporting. The suspect denies he confessed and claims he is innocent.

Job-related murders of journalists are extremely rare in the United States: The last one took place in 1993, and there have been only 13 since 1976 (including Bailey’s), according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. Yet this murder is a reminder of the need for reporting by professional journalists, even in an era when amateur video of war zones can be had at the click of a mouse. Aggressive journalism is still a vital part of every community’s defenses against corruption and crime. It can save lives.

Chauncey Bailey died doing his duty as a reporter. That duty is not only indispensable in a democratic society; it’s also risky. Now that the police have raided the bakery, confiscating weapons and arresting six people in addition to Bailey’s alleged assassin, there is some hope for a safer Oakland. That would be the most fitting memorial for Chauncey Bailey."

Now-We live in a nation where we are blessed with freedom to say and write what we want. Not all nations have that privilege. In fact many nations subject those who dare to question authority, demonstrate a lack of religious conformity such as carrying a Bible, or refusing to bow to social limitations such a wearing a hajib or purdah to jail, to beatings, to whippings or worse. As a free nation, writers are able to express their opinions in what used to be news. But I question the wisdom of adhering to politically correct imagery on certain ethnic groups while overlooking more sinister and serious issues. In this case, the writer did a fluff piece on the main character showing his positive side. But when the same writer found out about major criminal activity associate with this same person, the writer was killed. That's not supposed to happen in the United States. But it does happen in many of the nations whose egregious behavior is being whitewashed by a media that seeks to control the vote through only the most politically correct presentation of groups that seek to do us harm. You can see it with certain radical elements within domestic Islamic beliefs, you can see it with the refusal to site the resident status of known offenders, you can see it in the way they show people involved in a crime based more upon their perceived minority or ethnic status rather than on the heinousness of the offense. This cannot stand. We can't allow people to corrupt us from within. Somewhere there must be judges and juries who are not blinded by the polling of an issue. I think the location of this event also is telling since that area of California is one of the most willing to accept people precisely because they oppose the concepts that make the United States what is it today. Please consider this issue and discuss it with your kids. They need to know what they are up against.

It's Illegal Immigration, Stupid.

To paraphrase a quote from past elections, most of the problems we are currently dealing with on the domestic front have at least some small part of the immigration issue within them. Follow my thinking:

-Environment-Water and resources are finite in number. Add more users without comparable building of water treatment, reservoirs and sewage and you end up with a serious health issue. Clean water is one of the things our population has come to expect as a given. If you think Collin county suffered during the last drought, imagine how much worse it will be if illegal immigration continues unchecked.

-Education-Schools by law cannot ask a student's legal status. We have students who are living with distant relatives. They are getting an education at our expense and quite often their parents are not paying commeasurate taxes via rent or mortgage since many homes have been subdivided by absentee landlords or sublet by legitimate residents who rent to multiple families in single family units. This is to the detriment of other residents. By having multiple families living in one residence they are not paying their share of school taxes. Many of these children have special needs, and those are federally mandated to be provided by the district.

-Insurance-With 25% uninsured and unlicensed drivers, the rates of insured drivers goes up. Instead of tolerating this skirting of the law, drivers without licenses should be arrested then turned over to Immigration for deportation if they aren't here legally. Cars involved in moving violations, drunk driving, or not having insurance should be impounded. And this goes for EVERYONE. It's just more serious with someone who has a false identity because you can't ever find them to make them pay for the damage they do.

-Health and Welfare-Public hospitals by and large will not ask status. A person having no insurance can get care that a normal person isn't able to afford simply by waiting. Parkland is funded by taxes. Wages must be paid, supplies must be purchased, and bills reconciled. If someone uses a false identity, or has one courtesy of the matricula consulare-which cannot be verified-and skips on their payment, who do you think ends up paying?

-Security-We already know that drug cartels have placed personnel in this country through the sieve that acts as a border. West Texans have known two-legged coyotes to abandon their cargo of people, drugs or other smuggled goods in the middle of ranches. There are not enough law personnel to monitor or cover the vast area between Del Rio and El Paso. As a consequence, there is the possibility that some very serious contraband has already entered our nation. Is this not a serious issue? And don't those who deny the problem in fact exacerbate it by their ostrich attitudes?

-Wages-Because of workers willing to work for lower wages off the books, we have wage erosion. And raising the minimum wage will only result in inflation as a result. The myth that these are jobs that "Americans won't do" is simply that, a myth. Instead what we have is companies large and small getting away with pocketing taxes as profit. And in return, we have young people who cannot get important first jobs because they are taken.

-Identity Theft-This is the most serious issue. The news shows something on this at least twice a week. But what is using someone else's social security number, but identity theft? It is simply wrong that people are screwing around with a program that some people have paid into for fifty years only to find it misused and abused by those who forge documents and by the employers who look the other way.

-Crime-Look at any city on the receiving end of the immigration train and you will find neighborhoods that accept crime and violence as a way of life. Trying to avoid getting caught in Immigration's net, they allow gang violence, drug distribution (Cheese, anyone?), and a slew of other criminal activities to continue. Areas that used to be middle class are now criminal and gang war zones. And those residents who own homes there are stuck because they often can't afford to move, but they also cannot sell. This is why towns such as Farmers Branch and Hazelton and now University Park are seeking to find ways to keep single family homes for single families and to require criminal background checks on potential tenants. We have had several instance of people being attacked by offenders with criminal histories. How many drunk drivers,domestic abusers, pedophiles or rapists do we have to accept? Dont' we have enough of our own criminals here already? How can police keep up with the flow other than arrest and release programs that make situations worse?

-Health Care-This is the issue the Democrats are trying to cloud the voting population's brain with. But even for health care, there are huge issues regarding illegal immigrants. Most Democrats will blindly say to give them aid. But at what point do we cut that off? Do we only give aid to Canadians and Mexicans? Or to the hemisphere? Or how about the whole world? As I have already stated, some countries take taxes as much as 68% to pay for comprehensive programs. And their success rate on anything over basic care is not as good. Plus there are delays. If we do not have some sort of permanent biometric identification system, then it is very possible that Aunt Tillie in Milwaukee will have cataract surgery while her doppelganger in San Diego has her third child. We simply cannot run into this issue without some safeguards. But the Democrats are offering none.

Solutions:

-Fines for employers the first time they knowingly hire. Jail time the second time and denial of access to local, state and federal bid lists.

-Deportation for the illegal. NO return allowed for any purpose for ten years.

-Identity Theft-County jail time then deportation.

-Enhanced border security-more personnel. No catch and release of anyone, especially OTM's
.

Nationalized Health Care: Disaster in the Making

In their misguided attempts to steer the American Publics view away from the truly serious impact of Illegal Immigration, the Democrats are trying to dazzle their political base with talk of nationalized health care. Whoever wins their nomination can expect this to be the centerpiece of their platform. Let me outline some of the reasons that this is a BAD IDEA.

1. Americans are naive. They look at loosely organized documentaries and rather than questioning the validity of this idea or that, they accept it even at its most outrageous. "Sicko" glossed over many of the more egregious problems with Canadian national health. Those problems have led their court system to allow private insurance because of the failure of citizens to receive adequate care in a timely manner. In one example a Canadian was denied services over 40 times for a hernia operation. In the end he came to....you guessed it...The United States and got surgery. Likewise many Canadians find themselves without doctors due to the many doctors who feel compelled to leave Canadian health care systems due to lack of income as well as lack of truely adequate care. Nobody in the healthcare field likes to see people suffering needlessly. But that is what happens when you ration care.
Americans, being the idiots we often are, will demand the same type of care that they recieve now, which is impossible when you are giving care to anyone that walks in the door. We don't have the capacity, we don't have the staffing, we simply do not have the money. Democrats like to veil this as a deficiency of action, but you cannot force people to become doctors or nurses, nor should you. If the income for these rigorous careers goes down due to federal limitations and ever higher malpractice insurance rates, do you think you will see a spike in applicants? Didn't think so.

2. The cost of nationalized health care is staggering. If you enjoy paying more for less care, then it probably won't bother you. But some of the tax rates for the role model nations are truly more than I think the American public realizes. The Democrats are doing their best to make this seem like something which can be cheaply and easily funded. One of the nations they love to trot out is Denmark. Denmark has cradle to grave service. And for that they pay 68% of their income in taxes. That is more than double what the top wage earners pay right now. So look at your pay stub, look at the withdrawals for Social Security and taxes and DOUBLE IT. Can you live on that income? Most people cannot. While other nations like to trot our their comparative "bang for the buck" with nationalized care, they don't have any way of accounting for what amounts to health care rationing. Likewise, treatments that are pretty much an on demand issue, such as hernia surgery or gall bladder surgery is sometimes postponed, causing those who can afford it to go somewhere else, or to acquire private insurance, which according the Democrats, we can't afford anyway.

3. There is NO SECURITY IN OUR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM. And by that I mean that we MUST have rock solid individual identification in order to get service. If American taxpayers are footing the bill, they aren't going to be too happy if the 12 to 20 million illegal immigrants jump in line. Likewise, as identity theft is causing economic havoc for individuals, how can HIPPA laws be adequately addressed on a national level if you have NO IDEA WHO THE PATIENT REALLY IS? If we have the vaunted national system, that would include a databank that would have everyone's medical history. If you are a retired secretary in Michagan going in for reconstructive bladder surgery, it's going to be difficult to reconcile that you just left the maternity ward in San Diego. And that, is part and partial of why this is an amazingly draconian task.

4. Americans live in a very mobile and open society. If we don't like our doctors, dentists or PA's we find others that suffice. That may not be the case with a nationalize plan. In fact, to be truly effective the plan would have to resemble the Kaiser program rather than the conventional HMO or PPO programs we have now. In fact to be truly efficient, they would create regional centers at hospitals and assign people to specific gateway physicians. I am not sure that that will work for many people who are used to going to the doctor they like the best.

5. I am not sure that the medical stats in terms of personal expenditure are all that accurate. I know people who take plastic surgery, the meds associated as well as other loosely attached medical procedures off taxes as medical expenditure. If that is the amount people are using to demonstrate our expenditure per citizen, then I am not sure how accurate that truly is.

6. The cost of drugs has risen along with the rise in lawsuit payouts. While I understand that when people get harmed or die as the result of bad medicine, it's a tragedy and they deserve compensation, our legal system has gone too far addressing this making trial lawyers into millionaires while the true victims get a mere pittance. You have seen the ads and so have I for trial lawyers looking for cases to force a class action suit. That's wrong, but it's happening. In the end what this has done is force malpractice insurance rates through the roof, forcing some specialties virtually out of business. Likewise the factories that make drugs are forced to downsize, close their doors and move to Europe or China or somewhere where their existence isn't under attack. Do you really want medications made in China or some other nation where their is little or no oversight? Yet during the last Great Flu Pandemic Scare, flu vaccine had to be imported because our remaining factories could not generate vaccine quickly enough. People seem schizophrenic in this regard-they want total safety in everything all the time BUT they want the newest medication off the line. You can't have it both ways. But Americans have become critically dumb on this topic.

7. The media has to shoulder a good deal of the blame for the way Americans panic in reaction to every medical whim or fancy. Every day on the news there's some other food that will make you healthy, make you die, make you fat, make you thin, counteract Alzheimers or raise your IQ and there is absolutely NO AGREEMENT ON ANY OF THESE "FACTS". I think reporters on slow newsdays cruise the latest medical journals for obscure trivia they can milk for air time. Think back to Bird Flu, or Legionnaires Disease, or Lyme Disease or any of countless number of syndromes, diseases or problems that the media in its curiosity likes to flaunt as "common and could be coming to your home." Oh please. I know people have these diseases, but the hype is overdone and the result is an American public that doesn't think it can eat anything safely, and so eats EVERYTHING because when you are faced with certain death, What the Hell does it matter that you had a cheeseburger WITH FRIES.

What I find especially worrisome is that attitude that our health is just in our hands. And by that I mean the attitude that whatever your flaws-asthmatic, smoker, overweight-you are to be punished for it. I am one of those people who has struggled through various diets, programs and drills for years in order to lose weight. Now I hear that there's a company in Indiana that will fine people such as me, further condemning and confiring society's opinion of how those of us that are overweight are simply stupid and lazy. If I were of a minority race or religion I would have legal support to sue the pants off such obvious bigotry. But with a rampantly liberal nationalized system, I could see that happening on a national basis. Fat taxes, smoker taxes, drinker taxes....frankly it is far more scary than anything I read in "1984." And the zeal with which the Democrats are approaching this issue should cause all kinds of warning bells to go off in your head. Unless you are just another one of the drones that would prefer to have the government control your life cradle to grave.

America You've Got Problems

America has a problem. We are bunch of garage saling, bargain chasing cheapskates. And while frugality in itself isn't bad, when you do so and end up with merchandise that is poor quality, dangerous or simply inoperative, it sort of defeats the purpose. So we have China. China likes to bill itself as a poor little third world country. They undercut pricing of domestic producers of food, clothing and other products. American wholesalers always liked to think it was simply a matter of lower pay-so many companies moved manufacturing to China. Well guess what, when you don't have a factory in the United States, you also don't have inspectors that can assure high quality of the products. So we end up with killer pet food, possibly dangerous toiletries and now, toys made with outlawed lead based paint. There's a message here for manufacturers AND for consumers- First of all-Cheaper is not always better. In fact many times it is far worse. Secondly-People who aren't paid very much, don't really give a darn about quality. Thirdly-You really do get what you pay for.

We've become a nation of consumers. And a nation that largely doesn't know basic maintenance on any of its own products. My sons and husband did most of the work on all of our cars, but there are kids out there gifted with a better car than I have ever owned, who barely know how to put gas in. I had a student show up late one day because she didn't understand the oil idiot light was important. She burned up an engine on a brand new Honda-a Sweet Sixteen gift. I know kids who have super computers, but don't know how to change their type fonts. C'mon folks, there's more to life than just buying things and throwing them away. That is TRUE environmentalism-and true conservatism as well.

Democrats Squelch Honest Vote

Just a few video highlights of how the Democrats are enacting their alleged "fair and transparent non-partisan" control of Congress. They are pretty much in the order that they occurred. In explanation-members of Congress opposed to the trampling of citizen rights through the hiding of social security benefits for illegal immigrants in the Agriculture bill, had the votes to return it to the committee for redrafting. In a curious and somewhat suspicious coincidence, the electronic vote system went offline-send what was a victory for citizens into defeat at the hands of the Democrat leadership. Is this "transparent?" Or is this taxation without representation since our elected representatives were denied their action due to political chicanery. I am very concerned about the validity of voting and voters in the next election because this is just the tip of the iceberg. I predict we will see numerous illegal fitted out with voter registration cards and ID's with the sole goal being to control the election. I am also concerned that our military personnel overseas will be denied their right to vote, as they were in the last election due to an Al Gore fiat. People, wake up. You should be far more concerned than you are. And you should be online letting these usurpers know that it is not business as usual to so cavalierly manipulate the vote.

Questionable Earmarks (Pork Barrel Spending)

Request for Rollcall Vote

Political Maneuvering (Breaking the Rules)

Outrage on the House Floor (Immigration Bill Fiasco)

Reaction to the Fiasco

Political Accounting

Once again the allegedly "open and transparent" nature of the Democrat controlled Congress, escapes me. Last night, an Agriculture bill was tabled, although the Republicans tried to return it to committee for rewriting WITHOUT the perq's hidden inside for illegal immigrants. Instead of accepting the fact that most Americans are very bitter about the porous nature of our borders and the blind acceptance of them by the political Left, the presiding chair called it a tie and recessed Congress. Interesting side note: Who was paid to pull the plug on the monitor recording votes? Talk about a situation that needs investigation.....

The following senators voted Against making English the official language of America :

Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Dayton (D-MN)
Dodd (D-CT)
Domenici (R-NM)-His state is so impacted by this and he has no idea that there is an end at some point to political subsidies.
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (D-CT)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Obama (D-IL)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Now, the following are the senators who voted TO GIVE ILLEGAL ALIENS Social Security benefits. They are grouped by home state. If a state is not listed, there was no voting representative. Republicans who knuckled under due to pressure from political action groups, unions and general cowardice are in red. The comments are mine.

Alaska : Stevens (R)
Arizona : McCain (R) -note to self-never elect this man
Arkansas : Lincoln (D) Pryor (D)
California : Boxer (D) Feinstein (D)
Colorado : Salazar (D)
Connecticut : Dodd (D) Lieberman (D)
Delaware : Biden (D) Carper (D)
Florida : Martinez (R)-Make sure the national committee denies funds
Hawaii : Alaska (D) Inouye (D)
Illinois : Durbin (D) Obama (D)
Indiana: Bayh (D) Lugar (R)
Iowa: Harkin (D)
Kansas: Brownback (R)-Go ahead and jump parties now, not later
Louisiana: Landrieu (D)
Maryland: Mikulski (D) Sarbanes (D)
Massachusetts: Kennedy (D) Kerry (D)
Montana: Baucus (D)
Nebraska: Hagel (R)-Are you so in bed with corporate farming that you will sell your national security?
Nevada: Reid (D)
New Jersey: Lautenberg (D) Menendez (D)

New Mexico: Bingaman (D)
New York: Clinton (D) Schumer (D)
North Dakota : Dorgan (D)
Ohio : DeWine (R) Voinovich(R) -If you are going to let unions make the call, you might as well jump to the other party.
Oregon : Wyden (D)
Pennsylvania : Specter (R)-I guess it's easy to make these votes when your cities aren't paying the tab. I betcha walk out of the restaurant before the bill comes, don't ya?
Rhode Island : Chafee (R)-sell out Reed (D)
South Carolina : Graham (R)-I will never support you for any national office
South Dakota : Johnson (D)
Vermont : Jeffords (I) Leahy (D)
Washington : Cantwell (D) Murray (D)
West Virginia : Rockefeller (D), by Not Voting
Wisconsin : Feingold (D) Kohl (D)

Send this list to all you know. The entire population of the UNITED STATES needs to know this information, UNLESS they don't mind sharing their social security benefits with ILLEGAL foreign workers who are NOT paying into Social Security!!!

Here's Why Our Bridges Haven't Been Repaired.

I am sure all the major media outlets will have editorials whining about the lack of funding for infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water treatment and such. They will point their fingers at the Iraq War and accuse the Bush Administration of failure. Never mind that the national association of civil engineers has been telling Congress for over TEN YEARS (for those of you that are time impaired-that's back when Bill Clinton was in office) Instead he funded social welfare programs that only hit some targeted and politically desirable groups at the expense of an entire nation of citizens who drive every day, who drink water every day and who pay their taxes. The taxes in question are those that are tacked on to every gallon of gas. And Texas doesn't get dollar for dollar project back. Instead much of the money goes to densely populated cities and to political porkbarrel programs. Below is just one egregious example. Keep in mind that the engineer from the NTSB said it would cost only $65 billion to repair bridges that needed repair. Compare that to the cost of the boondoggle below. And then think about the countless other programs that are hidden inside every bill this Congress sends to the Oval Office. Earmarks matter. And so does transparency and honesty-something that Congress is sadly lacking.

From the Boston Globe......

Big Dig costs may rise by millions US memo says total could reach $14.7b

By Raphael Lewis, Globe Staff | December 24, 2005

The US Department of Transportation's inspector general has drafted an internal memo that says the Big Dig's cost may rise by tens of millions of dollars, according to state, industry, and federal officials.

One of the officials pegged the estimated increase at $75 million. If the estimate proves accurate, the project would cost $14.7 billion instead of the current $14.625 billion, an increase that Massachusetts taxpayers or tollpayers would have to absorb, because the federal government has capped its contribution to the controversial megaproject.

A spokesman for the inspector general's office emphasized that the document is a draft and may change.

The "Why" of Harry Potter

People who aren't parents are quick to dismiss the Harry Potter series as fluff. They think of it as juvenile fiction whose sole purpose is to entertain. But let us look at this from the perspective of literature. Great art, whether written, painted or performed, is a reflection of the era in which and FOR which it was created. Shakespeare had some horrible puns designed for the groundlings to giggle at. In a similar fashion, seemingly innocuous rhymes such as "Ring Around the Rosy" and "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" were veiled commentary on the news items of the day. "Mary" was Mary Queen of Scots, later beheaded as an usurper. "Ring Around the Rosy" was a song based on the symptoms of the plague. Even other nations had their versions of childhood literature that was designed as morality plays or commentary. "Sur Le Pont D'Avignon (On The Bridge at Avignon) made reference to "on y danse" or everyone dances, never mentioning that they "danced" because that was the location where public executions were carried out. Even Grimm's Fairy Tales, a childhood classic in its original unDisneyfied form, was a very serious look at expected behavior and the very serious consequences for those who fail. Read the originals sometime for a better feel of how serious life was during those dark days. In Victorian England, Dickens showed the cruel division of classes and the depth of poverty. America's Mark Twain, showed Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer as the relatively new "classless" Americans who could attain greatness regardless of their backgrounds. So now we come to the present. Look carefully at the world around us. Although bad things have happened to children throughout history, no generation has been made more aware of the dangers of drugs, pedophiles, poverty, homelessness and war. A host of fates are often seen as inevitable. So when you are confronted, as these children are, with a world that appears consummately evil, isn't it nice to think that an average decent kid can turn the tide? We have Lord Voldemort, absolutely Evil. And we have Harry, not a genius, but instead a consequential hero who does what he has to simply because it is the right thing to do. This is totally a concept of western thought. And although Rowling is British, Harry in his demeanor and his tone is just as "American" in his attitude as Tom Sawyer. In a world filled with danger and menace, I find it a very hopeful thing that so many children seek out a hero who does the right thing, simply because it IS the right thing to do. So please, when you hear children, or college kids, or even adults like myself discussing Harry Potter and his world, don't be so quick to dismiss us. We are indulging in fantasies and as with all literature, Potter's world has some lessons to teach us. I hope we are learning.

Fourteen Reasons to Deport Illegal Immigrants or Illegal Immigration and the National Debt

I have to admit that a friend of mine sent this to me, but having gone to the links, I must admit that is it staggering the amount of debt that these people are placing out our economy. Please read....

Reasons to Deport Illegal Aliens...
1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens
each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77
2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs
such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens.
http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
>
3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal
aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html
>
4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school
education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of
English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0
1.html
5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the
American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0
1.html
6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0
1.html
7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0
1.html
8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for
Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers.
http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01.ht
ml
9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American
wages are caused by the illegal aliens.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/ldt.0
1.html
10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's
two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular,
their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in
the United States .
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/ldt.0
1.html
11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens
that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal
aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine,
meth, heroine and marijuana, crossed into
the U. S. from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report:
http://tinyurl.com/t9sht
12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of
mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average
cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period."
http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/deportati
on.pdf
13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back
to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex
Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States ".
http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml
So using the LOWEST estimates, the annual cost OF ILLEGAL ALIENS is
$338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! So if deporting them costs between
$206 and $230 BILLION DOLLARS, get rid of em', We'll be ahead after
the 1st year!!!
Please pass this on. Americans need to wake up!

Vipers In Our Midst: Islam in the U.S.

Read this article

Then, Read this article (Okay, I know its from PBS, but that doesn't make it any less alarming)

For those who persist in saying that Fox News is simply a mouthpiece for the current administration, please note that one of these articles is from the Associated Press and the other is an excerpt from a PBS related program. The letter below is one that was sent to the DMN blog from a Muslim student at SMU. There is no question that there are elements in the world who through their delusional religious or cultural tendencies seek to destroy what is loosely labeled as "The West" but which is in reality, the United States. Too many ignorant people in this country have what amounts to a very silly and dangerous conciliatory attitude. Forgiveness and negotiation are western concepts. They are the foundations of Judeo-Christian religious texts and filter through our Constitution, our Bill of Rights and our daily lives. These precepts aren't accepted in the East and especially not accepted by those who follow the most violent and dangerous versions of Islam.

In reading an assessment on the relative lack of security surrounding such features as our railways, our water supplies and chemical storage facilities, I have to admit I am worried. Add to that porous borders where it is estimated on 15% of the incursions are stopped. I look at my community with a mosque in an industrial area near a railroad and another across from the water treatment plant-where chlorine and other chemicals are stocked by the train car, and I become very concerned that in our western attitude of bending over backwards to accommodate those of other cultures and other faiths we are slitting our own throats. I am not a naturally suspicious person, but when we admitted Atta and his merry band, they came to learn to fly. They used that knowledge to kill our citizens. Are we currently teaching the very people who will turn and kill our own children? Too many "students" are coming to America on visa, getting grants to do so, and returning to foment war against us. Is our hubris, our fatal flaw, to be our openness to diversity allows vipers in our midst?

Driving and Cell Phones

Today, during what is laughingly known as Rush Hour, I had to take my husband to DFW airport. Now I expect traffic. I even expect delays. What I didn't expect was the cast of seemingly thousands of idiots on the road going out of their way to force other innocent drivers to the brink of Road Rage. Here's just a sampling:

-To the young lady driving the white Nissan Murano (although after watching you drive we began calling it a Morono...) Did you realize that THERE ARE OTHER CARS ON THE ROAD? I ask this because you whipped in and out of lanes without a signal, without a clue and pretty darned near no space. And you didn't do it just once, but numerous times as you headed down Geo. Bush towards I-35.

-To the lady in the blue Taurus, who at the north exit of the airport simply drove totally in front o me without warning. It would have been bad enough if you did that just to get in my lane, BUT YOU DID THE SAME THING THREE TIMES TO GET TWO LANES OVER TO THE EXIT! Clue to the Clueless-if you miss an exit-THERE'S ANOTHER ONE DOWN THE ROAD! YOU CAN GO BACK!!!

-To the guy with the grossly overloaded Giant Toyota Truck and Trailer-going slower than the speed limit doesn't insure that the overloaded trailer hitch won't snap off in traffic. Next time make TWO loads and try going the minimum speed limit rather than virtually parking in the middle of 121.

-To the snazzy dude in the black BMW-it is NOT ACCEPTABLE for you to wave after nearly shearing off my front bumper. Merge means MERGE-not speed up to the front of thenext lane and cut off everyone else. AND YOU DID IT TWICE!!!!

While I was noticing the manners and consideration or lack thereof of Dallas drivers, I noticed something else-every single driver that was doing something dangerous or stupid was ON THEIR CELL PHONE. When you are in a car or truck you are driving what can be a two ton weapon of death. Is that one message, or that one phone call really worth someone's life. Many states are taking a stand and making severe penalties for those who text and drive. But we can also set insurance standards where drivers who are in accidents while on their cell phones are fully financially liable for damages. I am tired of seeing ditzy people wandering around the road taking other people's lives and safety for granted just so they can stay connected.

NOBODY IS THAT IMPORTANT.

(Once again, the exception would be if you are transplant recipient in waiting or the surgeon performing the transplant. Other than that you calls can wait until you stop the car.)

These selfish, distracted people are costing us in lives, in money and in time. Pay attention. Stop being so self-centered and realize that there are a whole world of things that you can impact by your dangerous behavior. Below are some links to current stories that played out due to cell phone use while driving.

Distractions Can Be Deadly

It Causes Accidents

Lives Are Destroyed

Families and Communities are Ripped Apart

Why Are Muslim Men So Weak?

I am confused that a society that hides its women away from view considers itself morally strong. What kind of culture cannot withstand the view of a woman's arm or leg or face or hair without trembling? Are Islamic men so morally weak that they cannot control their lust? Are they so easily swayed that they insist on imposing virtual invisibility upon their mothers, wives and daughters? I am not advocating immodest behavior or dress, but for every female advocate that claims the hajib and veiling "protects" her dignity, there are crowds of other women silent because the society doesn't permit them the freedom to speak their mind. They are jailed for petty crimes of nail polish, makeup and "westernized values". They are allowed to seek education as second class citizens, forced to enter back doors to mosques, schools and colleges and made to submit to daily inspections worthy of the most austere Catholic grade school. What kind of society thinks so little of its citizens personal control that they have to clamp down with a heavy vise of fatwas and edits on the people that DO follow the Quran? And then they have the gall to try to impose that will on other nations, because make no mistake about it, this is the patient hundred year plan of the Islamists. Already English towns have been approached about being permitted to apply sharia law over and above British common law. And yet the leftists and the liberals want us to believe this is a war of greed. If holding onto freedom, if keeping a war out of the American and European nations is greedy, then count me as such. Instead we are seeing the type of vindictive behavior that has been an earmark of The Partition between India and Pakistan. Half a century later, this is still a shooting war where the hostilities run deep. If you think the Israelis are wary of Muslims, ask the Hindus and Buddhists forced to leave Pakistan of their views. This returns us to the topic, what kind of people are enforcing this hateful and suspicious type of rule? They are tribal warlords who have used treachery and guile to win their way to public support. They hold a viselike grip on their own people and seek to control the rest of us whether through oil price manipulation or outright terror. And make no mistake, the new friendship between Iran and Venzuela is one of convenience. How better to create madrassas within close striking distance to the American mainland? Leftist refuse to see, but this is far more serious than the Cuban Missle Crisis. And with porous borders and blind and self-serving politicians, we are in a heap of trouble.

And Now....A Candidate for All Seasons

Here's a candidate we can all support because like all good candidates, he stands for everything and says nothing of substance.

After The Love Has Gone: Global Warming After Live Earth

After the crowds have gone home. After the celebrities have boarded their individual private jets and headed to Gstaad for a toddy. After the approximately one third of the trash from Wembley stadium that can be recycled has been carted away-what then. Well here's an idea. How about some truth? Al Gore and his band of merry men and women have ridden this big wave quite long enough. As stated before in this blog, the sampling for such far reaching conjecture was far too small. And now that celebrities have gotten on board, our mindless star worship has led too many people to believe that The End is imminent. Hogwash. Sure maybe Iran will nuke us, but the possibility of the seas rising in tidal wave proportions and swallowing Los Angeles and Nueva York ( a bow to the multiculturalism that is becoming not just accepted but required in my part of the world...) Previously people who have questioned the validity of the theories presented by the quasi religion that is Global Warming have met with serious consequences. Jobs have been lost, tenure denied, elections lost. And now we are looking at a wildly liberal Democrat party that has for all intents and purposes been hijacked by the European Green Party. Go ahead, look at the Green platform and compare it to the Democrat proposals. It is socialism. And one of its key planks is ecology and environmentalism. Those are not bad things necessarily, but when you have to make up facts to panic a population in order to gain power, I am not sure that you are playing the game within the rules. So now this Doubting front has traveled the steering currents to become a serious storm of backpedaling. And the more the scientists start looking at facts rather than junk science, the shriller the religionists of the Global Warming church will become.
(The link is in the headline....)

Liberal Canonizations and other Perils of Modern Education

The education hierarchy, in its ever changing position as arbiters of what is Right and what is Wrong with American society, was once again fooled. Linked in the headline above is an article discussing the misleading fabrication of the book I, Rigoberta Menchu, a tome that is hailed by some womens' studies and Hispanic studies programs as an prime example of the exploitation of native peoples by the "evil" Europeans. Let me stop here and note that there was unbelieveable cruelty on both side of the issue. The superiority of European technology and weapons is what permitted Europeans to dominate the much larger, but poorer equipped native tribes. However, in this day and time we are bombarded by repeated leftist assaults via what is called literature, and much of it is foisted upon our college students as FACT over FICTION. I am tired of people using their ethnicity, their gender or whatever human frailty they possess to manipulate society and to be pushed by professors who have an agenda to sell.

Liar, Rigobert Menchu

"Private Jets for Climate Change"

The headline above is a quote from some of the bands who saw through this little political escapade disguised as benefit and did not participate. It is estimated that the one day at Wembley used as much energy as 3000 Britons FOR A YEAR!!! Live Earth is probably one of the most delusional, self-serving bits of propaganda to come along in awhile. While the likes of Madonna and The Pussycat Dolls pat themselves on the back, only one third of the trash generated is recyclable.

LONDON, July 7 -- "If you want to save the planet, I want you to start jumping up and down!" Thus Madonna revealed her plan to combat global warming.

In fact, Madonna's estimated personal carbon footprint is estimated to be 300 times the average British family. Not all groups were persuaded to closing rank. In fact, none other than The Who, refused to participate noting that the travel of celebrities to the event was more disastrous than the average workaday world. The timing itself could have been better, as it was on the anniversary of the British bus bombing. Below are a few quotes.

"It's an inconvenient truth, but mixing rock with recycling is awkward. In a TV interview earlier this week, Matt Bellamy of the band Muse mocked the event as "private jets for climate change."

Go here for a really scary image of Madonna

"John Buckley of Carbon Footprint, an organization that helps companies reduce their carbon dioxide emissions, said Saturday that Live Earth will produce about 74,500 tons of the gas.

"We would have to plant 100,000 trees to offset the effect of Live Earth," he said, speaking by telephone. But, he added, "if you can reach 2 billion people and raise awareness that's pretty fantastic."

Want to find out your carbon impact? http://www.earthlab.com/carbonProfile/LiveEarth.htm,

On National Health Care

If the Democrats are to be believed, the biggest issue in the next presidential campaign after the Iraq War is national health care. While I agree that due to the lack of tort reform and the sometimes ridiculous payouts garnered by the likes of John Edwards and his fellow trial lawyers, they are shutting the barn door after the horse has run away. The problem with our public health system is not simply the precipitous rise in costs, but the very reason that clinics, hospitals and healthcare providers have had to raise the prices on those of us who pay through the nose for health insurance. And that reason is the illegal immigrants who are accessing our public clinics and hospitals for medical care, including the birth of "anchor babies" that will help insure their residency. Advocates for those here illegally like to say that via sales taxes and property taxes derived via rent, that immigrants pay their "fair share". But exactly how fair is that? If they are being paid off the books, as so many are who work in day labor, then no income taxes, no medicare, no disability payments are removed. Yet when they enter into most public hospitals, they can claim a full amount of service and since many of them use false identities via fraudulent documents or matricula consulare-which are virtually untraceable-they can walk out of the hospital and never pay. Try that if you have insurance. And healthcare is just the tip of the iceberg. It's no secret that schools are struggling to stay ahead of their budgets, largely because of federal programs such as ESL, free lunch, free breakfast, etc. Nobody wants to see a child go hungry. I don't want a child to go hungry. But I also think charity begins at home. Are there not enough poor folks born and raised here that need such services? Would more of the working poor and their employers be able to afford health insurance if the burden of paying for those who use public medical services but DO NOT PAY were out of the system? It is a simple fact of supply and demand that when additional costs are added into the system, in order to survive, the system MUST pass along those costs to those individuals and companies that CAN PAY. So when you get a bill for that three dollar Tylenol or that twelve dollar ice pack, it is because of the six or seven other people who simply will not pay. When we talk about mandates there is a certain amount of personal ethics that has to ensue. While we should take care of our poor and needy, we are not mandated to care for the poor and needy of all other nations.

From the Dallas Morning News(excerpt from link on the title)

"In 2004, the hospital spent $70.7 million delivering 15,938 babies but ended the year with a $7.9 million surplus in obstetrics.

The positive bottom line resulted from a hefty infusion of Medicaid funds, about $34.5 million, to cover the delivery costs for the undocumented women. Dallas County taxpayers also kicked in $31.3 million, or about 40 percent of the total obstetrics costs, and the federal government paid an additional $9.5 million to make up for the hospital's high percentage of patients on Medicaid, the state-federal insurance program for the poor."

Here's the math:
(from Insurance .com.)
"Typical costs: According to Dr.Spock.com the cost of having a baby depends on where you live. The average ranges from $6,000 to $8,000 for a normal vaginal delivery and $10,000 to $12,000 for a cesarean birth (in some parts of the country, the costs can reach $14,000). Care with a nurse-midwife may cost less; a complicated pregnancy will cost more; and some practitioners and hospitals offer a sliding scale based on family income."

(from Fastcompany.com)
"Look instead to the bursting-with-life corridors of Parkland Memorial Hospital, a remarkable place that delivers more than 16,000 babies per year -- more babies than any other hospital in the country. That's more babies, in fact, than are born in 10 of America's states."

So let's do a little simple math based on the lowest numbers. Please realize that these are rounded numbers for the last year available, 2006, which means that the number are probably higher NOW.

16,000 total births at Parkland Hospital x 70% of the births to illegal immigrants=
11,200 deliveries to illegal immigrants at Parkland Hospital

11,200 deliveries to illegal immigrants x $6000 per for vaginal birth
(I figured that there were a few good souls that did pay and there were some women who had ceasarians or complications that were higher and that would somewhat account for the general ballpark figure)
=$67,200,000

Yes folks you read that right-Sixty Seven MILLION dollars and some change. And that is just at one hospital. I hesitate to even think exponentially how that balloons when you consider ALL the public hospitals across the nation. So those of you who blindly follow the Clintonian concept of free health care for all, please remember why we can't afford health care now. And it's not greedy Big Pharma-that's due to lack of tort reform, and it's not the Doctors because they are snafu'd in their own medical liability insurance hell, and it's not the hospitals which are paring down services and rapidly becoming specialty hospitals to accommodate special needs-it's the number of people here who use our medical system as a social stopgap for the problems they have left behind in their home countries.

Fish or Cut Bait, Gore

From Wikipedia:

"Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was an American committee formed in 1985 by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore; Susan Baker, wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker; Pam Howar, wife of Washington realtor Raymond Howar; and Sally Nevius, wife of Washington City Council Chairman John Nevius. They were known as the "Washington wives" — a reference to their husbands' connections with the federal government. The Center eventually grew to include 22 directors.

The PMRC claimed that popular music, and especially rock and heavy metal music, was partially responsible for the contemporary increase in rape, teenage pregnancy, and teen suicide. The group's mission was "to educate and inform parents" about "the growing trend in music towards lyrics that are sexually explicit, excessively violent, or glorify the use of drugs and alcohol," and to seek the censorship and rating of music."

Look at this weekend's slate of performers and ask yourself, at what point does the end justify the means? Either Tipper was wrong in attacking rock music and setting up parameters to free speech OR the whole Global Warming crowd is bowing down to an appeal from those who should be squelched. I would assume Mrs. Gore would want the religion of Global Warming widely spread, but if we condemn ministers for using questionable material to lure new converts to the fold, then is this any different? Does an internationally televised series of venues not "glorify" rock lyrics and concepts that should be otherwise condemned? You really want people to believe that the "family centered music" of Madonna, Pussycat Dolls and some group called Rip Slyme is a positive musical statement? Don't get me wrong, personally I like many of the performers on the slate, but when you look at the condemnation of rock music by Mrs. Gore and then see this magic flip to using the same type of music to push a political agenda, then there's something fishy.

PS. I think that this series of broadcasts should be labeled for the political programming that it is. And as such, I think that equal time needs to be enforced.

Why Marriage Matters

For too long, marriage has been considered optional. We see celebrities and average people pop out babies without any sort of commitment at all. And for some people, a minority of them, it works. But for too many young people, they see this as an option and it ends up being an anchor that weighs them down economically and educationally for the rest of their lives. If, as stated by The Smartest Woman in the World, it takes a village to raise a child, then perhaps we should get all of our villages to restate the standards of behavior, such as not getting pregnant when you haven't the will or means to take care of a child. I have kids in my school who see getting pregnant and living on public dole as a viable career path. And I teach in an upper middle class school. Movie stars notwithstanding, most single women who have children without the benefit of a spouse wind up on welfare. They remain poor and their children remain poor. Shouldn't we want more for our kids? And why aren't more people within the community outraged at the media that promoted promiscuity to kids without fully disclosing the possible outcome?

From the Economist magazine) There is a widening gulf between how the best- and least-educated Americans approach marriage and child-rearing. Among the elite (excluding film stars), the nuclear family is holding up quite well. Only 4% of the children of mothers with college degrees are born out of wedlock. And the divorce rate among college-educated women has plummeted. Of those who first tied the knot between 1975 and 1979, 29% were divorced within ten years. Among those who first married between 1990 and 1994, only 16.5% were. At the bottom of the education scale, the picture is reversed. Among high-school dropouts, the divorce rate rose from 38% for those who first married in 1975-79 to 46% for those who first married in 1990-94. Among those with a high school diploma but no college, it rose from 35% to 38%. And these figures are only part of the story. Many mothers avoid divorce by never marrying in the first place. The out-of-wedlock birth rate among women who drop out of high school is 15%. Among African-Americans, it is a staggering 67%. Does this matter? Kay Hymowitz of the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think-tank, says it does. In her book "Marriage and Caste in America", she argues that the "marriage gap" is the chief source of the country's notorious and widening inequality. Middle-class kids growing up with two biological parents are "socialised for success". They do better in school, get better jobs and go on to create intact families of their own. Children of single parents or broken families do worse in school, get worse jobs and go on to have children out of wedlock. This makes it more likely that those born near the top or the bottom will stay where they started. America, argues Ms Hymowitz, is turning into "a nation of separate and unequal families".

Judge One President, Judge Them All

While I don't fall in lockstep with some of the decisions made by President Bush, I am sick to death of the way the media whips him on every move. Look at the list and compare the pardons and commutations made by other presidents. Some will surprise you.

PARDONS AND COMMUTATIONS

George W. Bush (2001 - )
Pardons -- 13
Commutations -- 4

Bill Clinton (1993-2001)
Pardons -- 396
Commutations -- 61

George H.W. Bush (1989-1993)
Pardons -- 74
Commutations: 3

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)
Pardons -- 393
Commutations -- 13

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)
Pardons -- 534
Commutations -- 29

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)
Pardons -- 382
Commutations -- 22

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)
Pardons -- 863
Commutations -- 60

Lyndon Johnson (1963-1969)
Pardons -- 960
Commutations -- 226

John F. Kennedy (1961-1963)
Pardons -- 472
Commutations -- 100

Dwight Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Pardons -- 1,110
Commutations -- 47

Harry Truman (1945-1953)
Pardons -- 1,913
Commutations -- 118

Tony Blair/Terrorism & Tiny Minds

Tony Blair seems like a decent enough chap. He has a nice family, he's polite and he's articulate. But the British press pilloried him for allying with the United States in what is truly a War Against Terror. Blair had read the insider information and seen what the potential was for violence spreading outside of the Middle East and into Europe and the US. And even though Mr. Blair is what is known as a liberal, he cared more about doing the right thing, than doing the politically expedient thing. The British press hounded him. The spread rumors, lies and disinformation with their goal, as with most western press, to pry another ally away from the United States and gain control over whatever political puppet was put in place. Today there were three open attempts at terror on British soil. Two car bombs, thankfully detected and defused, in London and another in Glasgow. The changeover from Blair to the new PM was today. I talking to experienced terror experts, all were agreed that the attitude of appeasement has made it easier for terrorists to infiltrate British mosques and recruit British subjects to attack their own country. Is this not EXACTLY what President Bush said would happen if we appease terrorists by giving in? And yet our press is doing to President Bush exactly what the British press did to Tony Blair. What do you think will happen if someone whose appeasement attitudes such as Hilary, or John Edwards or Barak Obama get in office? How long do you think it would be until we had a serious attack on American soil? Wasn't 9/11 enough? If I were Tony Blair, a man far more gracious than I am, I would hire out a series of prominently displayed billboards with these words:

I TOLD YOU SO!