The Media Misses a BIG One!

Received this as an e-mail from TrekFriend PokErica:


Please read this, then send it to everybody you know.

They'll thank you as they forward this to others as well.

Denzel Washington, and Brooks Army Medical Center

Don't know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio,Texas (BAMC) the other day.

This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States, especially burn victims. There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses.

The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers' families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time.

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build. He took his checkbook out and wrote a check for the full amount right thereon the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it.


The question I have is why does:

Brad Pitt
Madonna,
Paris Hilton
Tom Cruise

and other Hollywood fluff make front page news with their ridiculous antics and Denzel Washington's Patriotism doesn't even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the Local newspaper in San Antonio.









A true American and friend to all in uniform!

This needs as wide a distribution
as we can create.
GOD BLESS YOU DENZEL


The TrekMedic adds:

This story, verified by Snopes, is actually several years old (but what do you expect from a veterinarian?) but its still relevant at this time of the year to remind us of the sacrifices our military makes every day and that not all Hollywood types are leftist, selfish a**holes (just most of them!)

12 Politically-Correct Days of CHRISTmas!

Awesome ditty from Jonathan at Crush Liberalism:


How about a little "generic nondenominational" carol?

-------------------------------------

On the 12th day of the Eurocentrically imposed midwinter festival, my Significant Other in a consenting adult, monogamous relationship gave to me:

TWELVE males reclaiming their inner warrior through ritual drumming,

ELEVEN pipers piping (plus the 18-member pit orchestra made up of members in good standing of the Musicians Equity Union as called for in their union contract even though they will not be asked to play a note),

TEN melanin-deprived testosterone-poisoned scions of the patriarchal ruling class system leaping,

NINE persons engaged in rhythmic self-expression,

EIGHT economically disadvantaged female persons stealing milk-products from enslaved Bovine-Americans,

SEVEN endangered swans swimming on federally protected wetlands,

SIX enslaved Fowl-Americans producing stolen non-human animal products,

FIVE golden symbols of culturally sanctioned enforced domestic incarceration, (NOTE: after members of the Animal Liberation Front threatened to throw red paint at my computer, the calling birds, French hens and partridge have been reintroduced to their native habitat. To avoid further Animal-American enslavement, the remaining gift package has been revised.)

FOUR hours of recorded whale songs,

THREE deconstructionist poets,

TWO Sierra Club calendars printed on recycled processed tree carcasses, and

ONE Spotted Owl activist chained to an old-growth pear tree.

Merry Christmas.
Happy Chanukah/Hanukkah.
Good Kwanzaa.
Blessed Yule.
Oh, heck! Happy Holidays!!!! (unless otherwise prohibited by law)

Unless, of course, you are suffering from Seasonally Affected Disorder (SAD). If this be the case, please substitute this gratuitous call for celebration with a suggestion that you have a thoroughly adequate day.

Even the Sports Guys Think It's ENOUGH!!!!!

Posted on Thu, Nov. 29, 2007

David Aldridge | Time to stop all the dying

By David Aldridge
Inquirer Columnist

If you want to debate which quarterback is best for the Eagles, please, go read somebody else. This morning, I don't give a damn. My concern today is not whether Donovan starts Sunday but whether Dontae down the block is going to be alive in a year.

Black men, I need your attention.

This means you, Jimmy Rollins.

Mr. Cosby, give me a minute.

I'm talking both to Beasley Reece and the guy who drives the downtown bus. Will Smith and the electrician fixing the wiring at City Hall. The pastor at the Baptist church. The waiter at the Capital Grille.

The pilot behind the stick of the USAirways flight this morning.

The teacher in West Philly.

The barber in the first chair.

Mayor-elect Nutter.

The 14-year-old who thinks no one believes in him.

The painter.

The convict.

The gay guy.

The sergeant just back from Iraq. The lieutenant who is going next week.

All of you. Listen up.

I'm tired of seeing young black men go into the ground.

Tired of seeing lives ruined by guns, and by drugs, and by bad choices, and by people like me who sit idly by while it happens, because it isn't happening to us.

Rich men, poor men, athletes, beggars, journalists, L.A., D.C., Detroit, Chicago, it doesn't matter. We are dying.

I've just spent two days with the Redskins, who are trying to deal with the fact that one of their best players and team leaders, a young, complicated black man named Sean Taylor, is dead at 24, because someone broke into his home at 1:30 in the morning Monday and murdered him.

There are those, including colleagues I respect, who say they're not surprised, and infer that Taylor had it coming, because he had had a beef with some bad people two years ago that led to brandished guns and cars shot full of holes. And, thus, it was inevitable that he had to die, like life is a Shakespearean play or something. A Montague is dead; a Capulet must follow. It's in the script.

No, no, no. That is wrong.

As black men, we cannot allow ourselves to be defined by anyone - by the media or by ourselves - and accept the premise that one beginning means only one possible ending.

Sean Taylor, while no saint, was not a "thug." He didn't grow up in the 'hood. He went to private schools before college. And even if he was a thug - whatever that is - or embraced that culture during one part of his life, that doesn't mean he deserved to die in front of his child and fiancée, in his home, bothering no one.

I'm angry that people cry about Sean Taylor's death because he was an outstanding football player, as if his death has extra meaning because he had great closing speed. This is not about sports.

We have buried 200 Sean Taylors in this city this year. We don't know what would have come of their dreams and hopes. They deserve our tears, too, for they may have been anonymous to you, but they weren't to their mothers and fathers, their best friends and lovers, their teachers and mentors.

I'm angry that, as of 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control, homicide is the No. 1 cause of death among black men ages of 15 to 34. I'm angry that the Justice Policy Institute found more black men in prison than in college.

I'm angry that young brothers who like school and want to learn are accused of "acting white," and have to make the awful choice of sticking with their education or sticking with their boys. It happened to me when I was 5. I've never gotten over it. How does one mend a heart broken by those who look most like him?

I'm tired of nodding in agreement as I did yesterday when Brian Westbrook talked about how he has to be extra careful these days, because he knows that, all-pro or not, he's a target when he steps off the field, and his celebrity provides no shield.

"I feel as though everybody's vulnerable, to a certain extent," he said. "You have to watch the company that you keep. You have to watch the situations that you put yourself in. . . . You can't put yourself in a situation where your friends are doing dirt or bad things, and then you hang around those people. 'Cause at some point, karma catches up with you."

We can continue to throw our hands up and blame others or we can stop this genocide and deal with the recriminations later.

In an otherwise demagogic campaign advertisement in 1964, Lyndon Johnson said, "These are the stakes. To make a world in which all of God's children can live or to go into the dark. We must either love each other or we must die."

What's it gonna be?

Contact staff writer David Aldridge

at 215-854-5516 or daldridge@phillynews.com.


Sadly, the TrekMedic must add this to the mix:

The Liberals Blame the Gun, the Rest of Us Know Otherwise,....

Posted on Thu, Nov. 29, 2007


Youth, 15, arrested in shooting of boy, 5

By DAVID GAMBACORTA
Philadelphia Daily News

gambacd@phillynews.com 215-854-5994

The hunt for Kevin Fletcher ended almost as quickly as it started.

Fletcher, 15, was arrested by plainclothes police officers shortly before noon yesterday, just a day after he allegedly shot a 5-year-old boy in the buttocks in the Fairhill section of the city.

The teen was hiding out in a house on the same block of Huntingdon Street near 6th where the shooting occurred, said police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore. He was unarmed and taken into custody without incident.

Fletcher was to be arraigned at 5 a.m. today. Fletcher was also wanted for a shooting Nov. 2 on 10th Street near Dauphin, North Philadelphia.

"Our position about the incident that occurred Tuesday morning is that it was completely accidental. [Fletcher] had no intention to hurt a 5-year-old child," his attorney, Doug Dolfman said.

Investigators said Fletcher stole two handguns from his uncle earlier this month. One, a .380-caliber, was used to wound the unidentified 5-year-old. The other, a .40-caliber, was found by police in the van taking the boy to the hospital.

Charlene Stallings, 29, the mother of the wounded boy, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child. She was at a cocktail lounge while her son and other youngsters were outside unsupervised when the shooting occurred about 1 a.m., police said. Police said Fletcher and other youths have been roaming unsupervised over the past several weeks, and several of the youngsters have been accidentally wounded playing with guns. *


From an earlier version:

The 5-year-old's mother, Charlene Stallings, is charged with endangering the welfare of a child. According to police, she was at a lounge when the boy was shot. A 2-year-old sister and brothers ages 9 and 11 also were in the house at the time.


Of course, its somebody else's fault:


Aisha Meggett, Stallings' cousin, said the police have the story all wrong. She was babysitting at the home yesterday and helping to clean up; clothes were strewn around the living room following the police search the night before.

"They're trying to make it seem like my cousin is a bad mother, but she takes care of these kids," Meggett said, opening the refrigerator to show that it was stocked with food. She said Stallings was not at a lounge at the time of the shooting, but visiting friends nearby, while a 19-year-old cousin of the injured boy was babysitting. The incident happened about 10:30 p.m., she said.

"There's no gun in this house, no drugs, nothing," Meggett said. "My cousin wouldn't jeopardize anything." She had no idea how Fletcher obtained the gun. "Kids find guns and they play with them. If they [police] found a gun here, they set us up."

Other relatives, too, decried the ready availability of guns.

"What do you think? Guns are all around," said a teenage cousin of the victim, who declined to give his name. "Go over there, go in there, and you'll find a gun in a couple of minutes," he said, indicating a vacant lot across the street. (TM - Note that none of those guns in the 'vacant lot' are legally owned!)

After the shooting, the boy was taken by private vehicle to Episcopal Hospital and then to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, where he remained yesterday. His three siblings were taken into custody by the city's Department of Human Services, which is also investigating.

The TrekMedic's take:

Let's see: read the story and what sticks out in your mind?

Yup,...a lack of a father figure in the household. But that's a typical liberal situation, right?

Liberals see this story as "Guns are evil, families mean nothing, we'll raise the children for you."

Right-minded people see this as "A lack of a two-parent home and an inattentive mother has lead to a child being hurt and more children becoming wards of the state at taxpayers' expense."

Captain America Checks In Again!

Cross-posting Captain America's excellent piece on the NRA:

RACISM FUELS PA'S. LIBERAL ANTI GUN AGENDA

Gun cultures clash, & 'Pa. lost'
John Baer
Philadelphia Daily News

PENNSYLVANIA'S diversity showed itself again yesterday in votes against gun-control bills in a state of hunters, sportsmen and the National Rifle Association.

Despite a reasoned, impassioned, at times accusatory 40-minute appeal by Gov. Rendell in a rare appearance before a legislative committee, efforts to limit handgun sales, to give Philly its own gun laws and to require owners to report lost or stolen handguns all failed.

The third measure was withdrawn after the first two were voted down.

Its chief sponsor, Rep. Jewell Williams, D-Philly, tells me, "The yahoos win again."

The yahoos, I ask?

"Yeah," he says, "the old boys with the boots and the guns."

Some "yahoos" say that Rendell's grandstanding for the old hometown.

And so it goes. The great divide, the state's cultural clash between its vast rural populace and urban areas, continues.

LINK

I came across this gem while looking for another story. Apparently if you are a supporter of Second Amendment rights in Pennsylvania, you are a "Yahoo" "An old boy with boots and guns" according to Rep. Jewell Williams. I'm actually quite stunned. I'm not stupid, I know what Rep. Williams is saying, what his between the lines meaning is. "Old Boy" is code for "White Male". Yahoo is derisive. So this lawmaker is expressing contempt for people like me, based on our political belief and the color of our skin. Plain and simple. He should immediately disavow these comments and apologize. Ordinarily using language like this in modern day America is enough to get you fired and sued. Except one thing: Jewell Williams is black and therefore he gets a free pass from the reporter who interviewed him.

It doesn't help that John Baer's whole reason for writing this piece was to decry the legislatures decision NOT to consider worthless, possibly unconstitutional gun laws. As a liberal reporter when this lawmaker made veiled, racially derogatory remarks, he didn't call him on it. He just repeated the term. He didn't ask him who he was referring to and what he meant by those words. But those of us who were targeted don't need him to ask. We know racism when we hear it.

It's especially disgraceful for the media to engage in this sort of irresponsible journalism. There is a strong racial component to the gun control argument as in every other issue in America today. Firearm violence, especially handgun violence is at epidemic proportions in the urban black communities. That is an indisputable fact. Most of the murder and mayhem is drug related, but much of it is just a byproduct of a broken culture that glorifies crime and violence. A relatively small cadre of repeat offenders are responsible for an astonishing amount of crime and the judicial system is either unable or incapable of coping.

These facts are not lost on our State Lawmakers. Many of their districts are rural where there are plenty of firearms, but the culture is vastly different, both socially and racially. It's a plain fact that suburban and urban whites just don't blow each other away four or five times a day despite being well armed. They are fanatically defensive of their rights when it comes to gun ownership. Their belief is that criminals don't obey the laws we have now and they won't in the future. Disarming suburban whites will have no effect on urban black homicides because suburban whites aren't doing the killing. So there I said it. The question is why didn't John Baer say it?

Bitch, Slapped (Brothas Gotta Stand Up to Da Bitch!)

Obama in Iowa: Gloves Off!
As Caucuses Near, Illinois Senator Goes After Hillary on Credibility, Electability and the Clinton Record
by TERRY MORAN, JULIA HOPPOCK and MELINDA ARONS

Nov. 26, 2007 —

With a little more than a month until the Iowa caucuses, Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is out to show voters that he can take a punch -- and throw a few, too.

Over the course of a long day on the campaign trail in rural, western Iowa, Obama seemed to relish the chance to mix it up on policy and personalities with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the national front-runner. The two -- along with former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards -- are locked in a tight, rollicking and increasingly acrimonious race in first-in-the-nation Iowa.

Last week, Clinton -- apparently feeling the heat -- took one of her sharpest jabs yet at Obama, mocking his claim that his childhood years in Indonesia provide him with unique insight into foreign affairs. "Now voters will judge whether living in a foreign country at the age of 10 prepares one to face the big, complex international challenges the next president will face," Clinton said.

Obama fired back in an interview with "Nightline" co-anchor Terry Moran: "You know, we must be doing pretty well in Iowa. She wasn't paying much attention to what I said before then." (CLICK HERE to read the transcript of the interview)

And then, Obama went out of his way to belittle Clinton's experience as first lady.

"I think the fact of the matter is that Sen. Clinton is claiming basically the entire eight years of the Clinton presidency as her own, except for the stuff that didn't work out, in which case she says she has nothing to do with it," Obama said, and added, referring to his relationship with his wife, Michelle, "There is no doubt that Bill Clinton had faith in her and consulted with her on issues, in the same way that I would consult with Michelle, if there were issues," Obama said. "On the other hand, I don't think Michelle would claim that she is the best qualified person to be a United States Senator by virtue of me talking to her on occasion about the work I've done."

With this line of attack, Obama is openly calling Clinton out on one of the basic arguments of her candidacy and her career -- that her experience at Bill Clinton's side in the White House and before, make her the most qualified person in the race.

Obama continues to paint himself as the most "authentic" candidate whose real life experiences distinguish him from his democratic rivals. He claims that his experience living abroad, traveling the world, witnessing poverty and even facing racism as a black man has given him a perspective that some of America's best presidents have also possessed.

"Our most successful presidents have been people who were successful not because of their wealth of Washington experience," Obama said, "but because of the life lessons and schools of hard knocks that they had gone through."

Obama often makes the argument that these "hard knocks," in addition to his outsider status in Washington, give him the unique ability to change U.S. politics. "I think this whole argument about 'He speaks well, he's got good ideas, but he needs more experience,'" Obama said to a crowd gathered in a School in Western Iowa. "What they really mean is I haven't been in Washington long enough. They want to boil all the hope out of me."

He is hammering on the theme that he is the candidate with fresh ideas--the real "change agent" to take on the status quo in Washington.

"If you think that we've got to do things fundamentally differently, restore a sense of trust in out government, and have greater transparency--then I might be your guy," Obama said.

No Media Bias, Huh? (More Proof)

CNN Debate Team Comes Up Lame
by Steve Kornacki Published: November 20, 2007

This article was published in the November 26, 2007, edition of The New York Observer.

As soon as last Thursday’s 128-minute Democratic presidential debate concluded, CNN called on two analysts—part of what the cable channel has dubiously and incessantly branded “the best political team on television”—to interpret what had just transpired for the several million viewers at home.

Not surprisingly, James Carville, one of Bill and Hillary’s closest friends, and David Gergen, a Clinton (and other) White House alum, agreed that it had been a winning night for Hillary Clinton. Apparently, Harry and Linda Bloodworth-Thomason weren’t available.

The use of Mr. Carville, and to a lesser extent Mr. Gergen, provoked some criticism, with watchdogs griping that CNN didn’t properly disclose its conflicts. But disclosure isn’t really the issue. The question is why, given the endless supply of eager political pundits who are unaffiliated with the Clintons and every other campaign, CNN ever offered such a prominent spot to Mr. Carville and Mr. Gergen in the first place.

Not that it was the only insult to viewers last Thursday.

Once the gold standard for all-news television, the Cable News Network used the night to make a convincing argument that it should never again be entrusted with a presidential debate.

The network’s journalistic crimes are legion, starting with how the debate—which, at least in theory, is supposed to serve as a public service to voters—was promoted. In full-page ads, CNN cast it as pure sport, a boxing match in which “the gloves will come off.” Really? How would CNN know ahead of time that that this would be a contentious forum, especially after most of the previous debates had been tame, unless they were planning to force conflict?

There was also the warm-up act, a full-hour of Lou Dobbs fulminating against illegal immigrants and reading letters from adoring and sycophantic viewers, all presented by CNN as some sort of debate preview. This is the same Mr. Dobbs who has done little to quell talk that he himself wants to run for President next year. (Not that this came up on CNN, either.)

It got worse when it was time for the actual debate. First, CNN persisted with the prize-fighting motif, with moderator Wolf Blitzer playing the Michael Buffer role and calling the candidates to the stage individually, like boxers entering the ring. Then Mr. Blitzer introduced Campbell Brown, John Roberts, and Suzanne Malveaux, fellow CNN personalities who would join in the questioning.

“They are part of the very best political team,” he informed viewers.

As the candidates were fitted with their microphones—shouldn’t that have been done backstage?—Mr. Blitzer awkwardly handed off to analyst Gloria Borger, who stuck with the boxing imagery as she told viewers which candidates could be expected to come out “swinging” in the public policy forum they were about to watch.

If CNN was intent on giving America a fight, it could have at least tried to put on a fair one.

But the audience at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas was slanted heavily in favor of New York’s junior senator. One of the first questions of the night, from Mr. Blitzer, sought to incite a tangle between Barack Obama and Mrs. Clinton. Mrs. Clinton used her turn to criticize Mr. Obama’s health care plan, but when Mr. Obama began, loud shouts from the audience distracted him and viewers at home.

So pro-Clinton was the crowd that Mrs. Clinton needed only to pause for a beat during an answer and the audience would fill the vacuum with raucous cheers. Meanwhile, when Mr. Obama and John Edwards sought to engage Mrs. Clinton, they were shouted down.

Conspiracy theorists will say that CNN had packed the crowd for its old friend. But the audience imbalance, like the inclusion of Mr. Carville and Mr. Gergen, was more an indictment of CNN’s incompetence. The network farmed out the distribution of tickets without insisting on any kind of balance. The resulting Clinton rah-rahing was both distracting and misleading to viewers.

Similar incompetence was at work in the framing of questions. Time and again, candidates were presented with simplistic hypothetical scenarios and told to pick one side. They were invariably presented false choices—human rights or national security?—but if they failed to provide direct answers, they risked looking like typically evasive politicians.

And nothing but incompetence can explain why CNN decided to end on a “cute” question, prodding a UNLV student—who had hoped to quiz the candidates on the Yucca Mountain issue—to inquire if Mrs. Clinton preferred diamonds or pearls.

Knockout stuff.


The TrekMedic adds:

Mr. Kornacki rightly calls CNN "The Clinton News Network."

Chicken Little - The Sky is NOT Falling!

On November 18th, Inquirer columnist and left-leaning, anti-Bush, perpetual defeatist Trudy Rubin wrote in her column:

Radical Islam is on the rise, U.S. influence on the wane, the agenda uncertain.

The United States and its Sunni Arab allies are worried stiff about Iran's growing clout in the Middle East - and the rapid decline of U.S. influence. So is Israel.

The popularity of radical Islamists, both Shiite and Sunni, is on the upswing throughout the region. This rise is fueled by America's invasion of Iraq and its hapless occupation, by Israel's failed war on Hezbollah last year, and by the unresolved Palestinian conflict.


Really, Trudy? If that's the case, then explain this news blurb from the Middle East (of course, in true MSM fashion, is was at the very bottom of the international news page and published on Thanksgiving Day - not exactly a news-reading day):

Allies of Jordan's King Win Elections

JAMAL HALA
The Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan - Supporters of King Abdullah II, a close U.S. ally, handily defeated the country's Islamist opposition in parliamentary elections, dropping their number of parliament seats by nearly two-thirds, final results showed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, it was widely expected that King Abdullah would appoint a new government in the next few days, since Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit's mandate ended with Tuesday's election.

Supporters of the king, mainly tribal Bedouin and centrist politicians, secured a majority of the seats in the 110-member Chamber of Deputies.

Their victory was widely expected and attributed to the strong influence of family and tribal links on voting in Jordan and the inability of the Islamists to deliver on long-standing promises to improve the economic lot of country's poor.

The Islamic Action Front, the country's largest opposition group, fielded 22 candidates and won only six seats, down from 17 in the outgoing parliament, according to final results announced by Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez.

A handful of known sympathizers of the Islamist bloc who ran as independents also were defeated. Even popular IAF female candidate Hayet al-Musaymeh, who held a seat in the previous parliament, also lost her bid.

Seven other women, both liberals and conservatives who ran as independents, won seats.

IAF leader Jamil Abu-Bakr blamed his group's defeat on government "fraud" in the election, including what he described as state "collusion" with some candidates who allegedly bought votes from the poor , a charge the government strongly denied.

However, officials acknowledged that 17 people were arrested on charges of tampering with the election process Tuesday, including two who allegedly were involved in vote buying.

Yeah, Ms. Rubin,...your column sounds like the kind of hysteria you accuse the Bush administartion of whipping up to support the GWOT.

Because You Just Can't Make Stuff Up Like This!

Swedish Women Go Topless to Protest Swim Wear Rules

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

STOCKHOLM, Sweden — A group of Swedish women is making waves by taking their tops off at public swimming pools in a protest against what they call gender-biased rules on swim wear.

About 40 women have joined the network and staged topless protests in at least three cities, said Sanna Ferm, 22, one of the founders of the group called Bara Brost, or Bare Breasts.

"The purpose of the campaign is to start a debate about why women's bodies are sexualized," Ferm said Wednesday.

She said the fact that men can be bare-chested in public swimming pools but not women is "a concrete example of how women have fewer rights than men."

Reactions from other swimmers have ranged from support and encouragement to anger and even indifference, she said.

The network was formed after two women who were swimming topless in a public swimming pool in Uppsala, north of Stockholm, were asked to cover up or leave.

Women can sunbathe topless in the summertime at beaches around Sweden, which is known for its relaxed attitude toward nudity, but they are required to wear tops at public swimming pools.

Inger Groteblad, a manager at the swimming facility in Uppsala, said it was a matter of security.

"We want to make sure that girls don't get subjected to sexual harassment," she was quoted as saying by tabloid Aftonbladet.

The women have filed a complaint against the facility to Sweden's Equal Opportunities Ombudsman.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Happy Thanksgiving to all and may your blessings be many!

Feel free to post what you are thankful for this year in the comments!

Jimmy Rollins Gets the MVP!

11/20/2007 6:45 PM ET
Rollins nabs NL MVP Award
Shortstop backed up talk this season with big performance
By Ken Mandel / MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Considering the amazing gallops for the teams whose uniforms they wore, the National League MVP race had to be this close.

There could be no other finish.

In the end, Philadelphia shortstop Jimmy Rollins, all 5-foot-8 of him, stood taller than Colorado's Matt Holliday and Milwaukee's Prince Fielder, earning the NL MVP from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

"It's exciting. I've always said that I never thought about being an MVP player," Rollins said. "Winning the Gold Glove to me was winning the MVP for shortstop, and that's as far as I went. But to be blessed with the 2007 MVP ... ."

Rollins was named first on half of the 32 ballots submitted by two writers in each league city, second on seven, third on four, fourth on four and fifth on one for a total of 353 points. Holliday received 11 first-place votes, 18 seconds, one third, one fourth and one sixth for 336 points.

The 17-point differential made the 2007 election the ninth closest in the NL since the current format was adopted by the BBWAA in 1938.

Rollins wasn't the only Phillie to show up in the voting. Teammates Ryan Howard, the 2006 NL MVP, finished fifth with 112 points, receiving as high as a third-place vote (he got two). Chase Utley finished eighth with 89 points and Aaron Rowand received three points for an eighth-place vote.

This is the seventh MVP award for a Phillie, as Rollins joins Chuck Klein (1932), Jim Konstanty (1950), Mike Schmidt (1980, 1981, 1986) and Howard (2006). With Howard, the Phillies become the first club with back-to-back MVPs since San Francisco's Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds in 2000 and 2001.

Tuesday's announcement should spark debate about which player meant more to his team, the .340-hitting middle-of-the-order bat who carried the Rockies, or the diminutive shortstop who excelled at every aspect of his game. While Phillies manager Charlie Manuel didn't have a vote, his bias was clear.

"Holliday had a great season, but every part of J-Roll's game stood out," Manuel said. "I like it man, well deserved. He was the guy who made us go. I'm happy [for him]."

Everything Philadelphia accomplished in 2007 focused on Rollins, starting with his January boast that the Phillies were the "team to beat" in the NL East. That disregarded the Mets, who captured the division the previous season and the Braves, who won it seemingly every year before that.

"Once he popped up, he put his intensity where his mouth was," Manuel said. "He likes the stage. Jimmy has what I'd call a good cockiness."

Rollins acknowledged that his boast may have helped earn him the recognition.

"I don't think people would have paid half as much attention as they did [without the statement]," he said. "I made the statement because I believed in my team, not to draw attention to myself. I did want to put pressure on the team and have us go out there and perform because we've come up a game or two short every year and we needed to get an edge to us. That was the point of me saying that."

Despite taking flack after Philadelphia's 4-11 season-opening stumble, Rollins remained at the center of the Phillies' resurgence. He batted .346 (28-for-81) with six homers, 15 RBIs and 15 runs in 18 games against those Mets and started all 162 games at shortstop, playing all but 17 innings. Batting in the leadoff spot for most of the season, he kept the offense churning.

A defensive whiz as well, Rollins committed just 11 errors, enough for his first Gold Glove, though his fielding percentage was second to Colorado's Troy Tulowitzki.

When closer Brett Myers hurled his glove in the air following a called strike three against Washington's Wily Mo Pena -- securing a 13-4 finish that earned the Phillies their first postseason appearance since 1993 -- Rollins' MVP credentials were cemented. He began that game by singling, stealing two bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly.

"If Jimmy doesn't win the MVP, there's something wrong with the system," left fielder Pat Burrell said on the final day of the season. "This guy, he took us on his shoulders from Day 1, and did things in this game that never happened."

Burrell got his wish. The voters on the NL Most Valuable Player Award committee filed ballots after the regular season, and most took the option of waiting until the Rockies' one-game playoff win over the Padres.

Rollins became the first player in history to collect at least 200 hits, 30 homers, 15 triples and 25 steals in a season. Overall, the switch-hitter batted .296, with 38 doubles, 20 triples, 30 homers, 94 RBIs, 41 stolen bases, 212 hits and 139 runs scored.

The 139 runs scored and 88 extra-base hits were league records for a shortstop. He also set a Major League record with 716 at-bats, and became the third shortstop in history to have at least 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season, after Barry Larkin in 1996 and Alex Rodriguez in 1998. Rollins is the fourth NL shortstop to win, and the first since Larkin in 1995.

Holliday, meanwhile, captured the league's batting and RBI titles, and led the Rockies into the postseason for the first time since 1995. The left fielder was the focal point of the team's 15-1 run to get there, batting .442 with five homers and 17 RBIs. Overall, he batted .340, with 50 doubles, 36 homers, 137 RBIs, 216 hits and 120 runs scored. He also led the league in hits, total bases, doubles and extra-base hits.

"I called Matt Holliday and congratulated him on having a great season and told him how much he inspired me to play," Rollins said. "You never know which way it's going to go. He had a spectacular season. I had a strong season. I didn't know which way the writers were going to vote."

The statistics told part of the story. The voters went with the player who backed up a bold prediction. On a team with Howard and Utley, who Rollins said would've won if not for a broken right hand, Rollins simply was the team's most valuable.

Now, he has the hardware, six weeks after the regular season ended. After a semi-sleepless night, Rollins said he calmly waited for the phone call from BBWAA secretary/treasurer Jack O'Connell.

"When I woke up, I was trying to be nonchalant about it," Rollins said. "At about five [a.m. PT], I jumped up and looked at the clock and was like, 'OK, I hadn't missed a phone call yet. At about nine, I was like, 'Oh man, I didn't get the phone call,' but it wasn't supposed to come for another hour and a half. When the call finally came, it was a great thing. I was thinking not to think about it, but you can't help but think about it in a situation like this."

Ken Mandel is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


The TrekMedic adds:

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but the TrekMedic was tied up rendering care to a patient in North Jersey. In a wonderful twist of events, however, it was delightful to hear WBCS Radio practically choke out the phrase "Phillies' shortstop Jimmy Rollins is the 2007 NL MVP!"

Shh-hh-hh! There Are Republicans in Hollywood,....

HT to MataHarley at Sea2Sea:

Closet Conservatives in Hollywood:


It's interesting how the Hollywood machine works. Being from that business, I'm well aware it's a liberal/progressive stronghold.

Prominent stars have the ability to scream loud and proud of their liberal/progressive views without career repercussions... unless you're the Dixie Chicks, that is. Don't mess with the country crowd. But even they ultimately rebounded.

Contrast that freedom of liberal expression with the cloaked secrecy and silence of conservatives in Hollywood. Obviously the cast and crew of 24 can only include so many. So what's a working conservative in LaLa Land to do but keep their tongues, speak with their cash, and plug on?

Joseph Curl talks of how some Hollywood stars do just that... express their views with donations, but refuse to do the talk show rounds and publicize their conservative views.

While Democrats enjoy very public support from Hollywood's top actors and musicians, who often hold lavish events for their favorite candidates, Republican supporters in Hollywood try hard to keep their political views quiet.

"They learn very quickly, if they know what's good for them, to donate to the Democratic Party," said Andrew Breitbart, co-author of "Hollywood, Interrupted." "If they were to donate to the Republican Party, they would be exposed to career-ending ridicule, period."



J.R. Dunn has an oddly linked piece in the American Thinker today. - unintended, of course.

Maybe it's me, but as Dunn meanders thru his well documented piece on Hollywood's Red Decade, it's easy to overlook his exemplary point.... and that is we shouldn't quash the recent spade of anti-military/anti-war films Hollywood is churning out, one after another.

By publicly demeaning the film industry for their anti views, we merely empower them, elevating them to victim status. And as we all know, victim stuff sells in a self-perceived liberal world. Afterall, everyone likes to believe we support the underdog, which by Hollywood standards makes us their companion liberals. In the progressive's view, a conservative is incapable of caring for his fellow man.

Dunn uses the Red Decade as an example:

No better example of the intellectual and artistic bankruptcy of the left exists than these films. They should have been allowed to make as many as they wanted. No blacklist, no Congressional hearings, no interference whatsoever. A couple dozen more like these and Hollywood communism would have been relegated to comic relief. Left alone, they'd have knocked themselves out.

Instead we got the legend of martyrdom, and hundreds of hours of foul ideological exercises, unto the present day.



It's rather bizarre that the liberal leaning try to claim loss of free speech as their own. I've never had a problem hearing their anti views since March of 2003, so where's their loss of voice? In reality, those persecuted are those that support the war. From Beverly Hills cocktail or wrap parties, to casual friends in suburban American. Speak up about Iraq in a positive way, and watch your friends turn on you like Cojo.

Perhaps the closet conservatives in Hollywood can take a cue from Dunn's let-'em-open-their-mouth-and-incriminate-themselves attitude. They should start making some movies about the plight of closet conservatives... the professionals who are forced into silence, quashing their free speech, because they actually support the foreign policy of aggressively going after global Islamic jihadists.

Let's see if the viewers financially reward that kind of a movie

Religion of Peace??

19-Year Old Saudi Rape Victim Ordered to Undergo 200 Lashes

Thursday, November 15, 2007

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A 19-year-old female victim of gang rape who initially was ordered to undergo 90 lashes for "being in the car of an unrelated male at the time of the rape," has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail for telling her story to the news media.

The new verdict was handed down by Saudi Arabia's Higher Judicial Council following a retrial, the Arab News reported.

The court last year sentenced the six heavily-armed men who carried out the attack against the Shiite woman to between one and five years for committing the crime.

But the judges had decided to punish the woman further for "her attempt to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media," a court source told the Arab News.

The new verdict issued on Wednesday also toughened the sentences against the six men to between two and nine years in prison.

Saudi Arabia enforces a strict Islamic doctrine that forbids unrelated men and women from associating with each other, bans women from driving and forces them to cover head-to-toe in public.

The case has angered members of Saudi Arabia's Shiite community. The convicted men are Sunni Muslims, the dominant community in the oil-rich Gulf state.


The TrekMedics adds:

Rarely is GWB slammed on this blog, but,..why, George, why? Why are we still counting this pack of backwards camel jockeys as allies????

The Hunt for a Red November,...

Marie drops her Two Cents again with this video. It should be the pimp post for the Red November Initiative Blog!

20,000!!!

Yay! The TrekMedic finally had his 20,000th visitor. And the winner is,....


JoeCool1013.

I have nothing to give him/her. Unfortunately, Joe doesn't have a blog of his/her own, so I can't even link to it.

And a special thanks to Wyatt for this pic:



Which apparently was good enough to attract over 60 views today!


On to 30000 hits! (Hey, if I nag Wyatt enough, I might hit that by New Years!!)

Its Coming,....

Sometime within the next 7 days, Is This Life? will celebrate its 20,000th view.

Who will it be?


11 November Update - 162 to go,....

12 November Update - 123 to go,...

13 November Update - 101 to go,...

15 November Update - 54 to go,...

16 November Update - Success!!!

What Part of "ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Don't Liberals Understand??

As a follow-up to the TrekMedic's LODD post about Officer Chuck Cassidy, this post by Captain America is offered as both proof that the left lives in denial of what's really going on, and what most of us right-minded folks think in return:

Jill Porter is one of Philly print media's biggest lunatic liberals. She is once again contorting hysterically about the need for more gun laws in the wake of recent police shootings. I decided to take her to task line by line for the record. As usual my writing is in red.


HEARTSICK THAT COPS HAVE BECOME TARGETS OF GUNMEN IN THE CITY

BY: Jill Porter

Philadelphia Daily News
NOW, do we get it?
Yes most of us do, but you don't.

Now, are we ready to abandon the notion that we're safe from gun violence because of our ZIP code or our color or the heft of our pocketbooks?
You can check the maps here Jill, there is much to be learned.

Two more Philadelphia police officers were shot yesterday, even as this city barely began recovering from the murder of Officer Chuck Cassidy.

It is currently illegal for a sixteen year old to be in possession of a handgun, let alone shoot two police officers dear.

We're heartsick all over again.

Some of us are STILL heartsick from Officer Cassidy's shooting.

This time, thank God, the shots weren't fatal. The police officers, who were serving warrants, were recovering last night.

Yes they are recovering because they are forced to KNOCK and ANNOUNCE their presence while serving a FELONY warrant, thanks to liberal judges.

But every gun fired at one of them is a gun fired at each of us, a shot fired through the protective barrier of civility and law and order they provide.

How liberally eloquent.

And each time it happens, it seems, it makes it easier to happen again.

Agreed.

The shootings of police have come in dizzying, infuriating succession: six Philadelphia cops shot in seven weeks.

Is this another taboo that, once violated, no longer has the power to restrain society's ugliest impulses?

Quite possibly, that is if we don't decide to get tough on the FELONS who are committing the crime and not law abiding citizens, or do you distinguish between the two?

Will we, God forbid, get accustomed to it the way we've accustomed ourselves to the equally unthinkable slaughter of civilians?

Or will we get it now?

Some of us have "Got it" all along. Maybe you should be directing these comments toward the judges. They are the ones who don't seem to be "Getting IT"

Will we abandon the racist smugness that dismisses the violence as a problem of black youth in poor neighborhoods?

Racist smugness? Do you really want to discuss race in relation to violence as it impacts Philadelphia? It's certainly not a problem of elderly white ladies shooting each other execution style at the drop of a hat. Don't go there honey unless your ready for the ugly truth: 56 out of 339 were white according to the interactive map.

And will we demand a crackdown on the guns that have turned this city into a bloodied battlefield that threatens the men and women in uniform every day?

Um no. You see Jill it's not the guns that create the violence, so taking the guns away won't stop the violence. The violence will continue, it will just manifest itself in a different form. We understand you irrational hatred of firearms and your rabid efforts to assign blame to an inanimate object. But the fact is that every single study refutes the liberal mantra about guns killing people. Guns are tools especially of the drug trade that flourishes in the "Inner city" (Read Ghetto). So are cell phones (used to order the hits) and cars (that convey the assassins to their prey) and cash (that buys everything else). Trying to "Get guns off the street" has been a failure administration after administration. Ironically you focus on firearms as the cause of this violence yet never criticize the Mayor or Police Commissioner for the incompetent job they have done in fielding a police force that is up to the task.

Are our legislators willing to - finally - pass sane legislation to stem the violence?

And no, I don't mean with feel-good responses like the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone who shoots at a cop proposed last week by state House Speaker Dennis O'Brien and Gov. Rendell.

Oh so if it's not a law you like or if it isn't the one you want (regardless of it's proven effectiveness) it's "Feel good legislation" I see...
How do you feel about wiretapping terrorists? Would that be feel good legislation too?

I mean real change, the kind that O'Brien has spent his career blocking, the kind that Rendell has been pushing without success so far in the Legislature.

I mean the bill to end straw purchasing by limiting sales to one gun a month, and the bill to require the reporting of guns that are lost or stolen.

I hope not. I am the NRA and a concealed carry permit holder. I am a firearm owner. I have never killed, robbed, assaulted anyone or otherwise committed any violation of the law. What legislation do you propose that will not impact my rights as a law abiding citizen? You actually think you can come up with MORE law's that will somehow NOT be violated by these super predators? They will do little more than inconvenience not stop our brand of felons and leave the rest of us at their mercy. No thanks Jill. Rather be judged by twelve then carried by six.

As longtime chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, O'Brien never let those bills see the light of day.

Rightfully so. They will do little to stop the violence in this city.

And even last week, with the city in crisis after Cassidy's slaying, the Philadelphia Republican still refused to support them, endorsing the 20-year prison sentence instead.

Good for Denny!

Laws like mandatory minimum sentences only provide cover for the likes of O'Brien and his equally NRA-owned colleagues in Harrisburg. Judges find a way around them, and research shows they don't act as deterrents.

Minimum sentences provide cover? They are necessary because as you admit the Judges won't do their job. Find a way around them? There's not supposed to be a way around them! Thats the real issue!

An FBI study of 52 police officers attacked in the line of duty showed that 77 percent of them were shot with a handgun.

Meaning what exactly? To hear liberals rant and rave I would have assumed they were shot with those evil "ASSAULT WEAPONS"

Is there any mystery - except to the boneheads in Harrisburg - as to what needs to be done?

You mean BONEHEADS in the MEDIA!

Incarcerate the criminals, support the police, give them the tools they need to do the job efficiently and safely, and force the JUDGES to do their jobs!

How many cops - how many civilians - have to be shot before legislators stop defying the sentiments of police and the majority of citizens who support gun limits?

So you want majority rule all the time or just on issues you can't get your way on? And liberals say that Republicans want to take your freedom away.

In a sad irony, a coalition of anti-gun-violence groups held a news conference yesterday to implore Rendell and O'Brien to convene a special session of the Legislature to vote on those two bills.

Say they passed. What exactly will have changed in the wild west, badlands, gangster rap world of Philadelphia where all life is cheap and the only thing that matters is money? NOTHING! That just goes to show how out of touch these people calling for "More gun laws" are.

A letter to the two leaders urged "swift and direct action" and noted that 15 other city residents were killed by handguns while the city mourned Cassidy's death.

The groups had waited until a respectful time had passed after Cassidy's murder to put the pressure on.

But there's no reprieve, it seems, from the assault on our city's cops.

Maybe they should be carrying shotguns and blackjacks like the old days.
(The TrekMedic intervenes here to say that it has been discussed, and only half-jokingly, that we arm the Philly PD with MP5s or weapons with similar stopping power!)

And now there should be no reprieve on our demand that state legislators pass these bills.

In the name of the cops who serve us.

In the name of all of us.

I think both we citizens and the police are capable of speaking in our own names Jill. The NRA speaks for me and millions of other citizens on this issue. Hear OUR voice loud and clear!
(Linked at OTB's Beltway Traffic jam.)

E-mail porterj@phillynews.com

Well said, Captain! You speak for most of us in Philly that have had enough of this!

The Latest TrekPoll Results

Well,..after a few days, only 11 voters total (just about that many Republicans in Philly anyway!)

So, without further ado,...

DID YOU VOTE TODAY?

1 - Yes! Straight ticket Republican - 5 votes - 45%

2 - Yes, but I voted for the best candidates - 5 votes - 45%

3 - Why bother? The Dems have the city locked up! - 1 vote - 9%


Its nice to see that even in a town overrun by liberals, we still exercised our right to vote! Good going everyone!

Shrillary - Hiding Behind Slick WIllie Again?

All pics courtesy Jenn, the Conservative Chic:

Bill Clinton Says 'Those Boys' Tough on Wife

Monday, November 12, 2007

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. — Former President Clinton said Monday his wife can handle the criticism from her presidential rivals even though "those boys have been getting tough on her lately."

Clinton's comment comes amid debate as to whether the Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign's complaints about her rivals' "piling on" suggest the criticism is directed at the lone woman in the presidential race or the Democratic front-runner. Last week, Bill Clinton. in defense of his wife against political critics, cited the "swift boat" television ads of the 2004 presidential campaign that questioned John Kerry's patriotism and the campaign commercials in 2002 that suggested Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia was soft on terrorism.

Several Democratic candidates said they were surprised by the analogy.

"It's a great time to be a Democrat," Bill Clinton told more than 800 students and supporters at Trident Technical College. "Even though those boys have been getting tough on her lately, she can handle it."

Clinton said he loves campaigning for his wife and paying back for all those years she campaigned for him for governor of Arkansas and president.

"She says I have to work hard because free campaign help is hard to come by," Clinton quipped.

Clinton said that his wife's positions on education, health care, the economy and international affairs make her the best qualified candidate to be president.

The United States needs to get out of Iraq, but "we have to do it in a way that doesn't leave it worse than it is now," he said. "Hillary was the first to ask the Pentagon for a plan for orderly withdrawal."

The nation must restore its standing in the world, something Clinton said has been damaged during the Bush administration.

"They think we act alone whenever we can and cooperate only when we have to," he said, adding that his wife will seek to cooperate first and have the United States act alone only when necessary.

The reason the nation can't enforce tough trade regulations with the Chinese is because they are now America's banker, Bill Clinton said.

"When was the last time you got tough on your banker?" he asked the crowd.

A Belated Happy Birthday!

The TrekMedic, of all bloggers, should have known better, but Captain America reminded him of an important birthday this weekend:




Just sit back and enjoy this:

Veterans' Day,....

To All of the Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces:

Thank You!



And don't forget,...for those who don't come back whole, Project Valour-IT needs your help.

Give until it hurts!

Buy stuff to show your support!


That is all!

Hoo-ahh!

Voting Poll

OK,..so you're a conservative in the blue state hell we call Philadelphia.

What did you do today?

This poll is closed. You can view the results here!

Bitch, Slapped (Liar! Liar! Pantsuit on Fire!)

Clinton Campaign Confirms Planting Town Hall Question, Says It Won't Happen Again

Friday, November 09, 2007

By Major Garrett

SIOUX CITY, Iowa — Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s campaign admitted Friday that it planted a global warming question in Newton, Iowa, Tuesday during a town hall meeting to discuss clean energy.

Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elliethee admitted that the campaign had planted the question and said it would not happen again.

"On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum,” Elliethee said.

“However, Senator Clinton did not know which questioners she was calling on during the event. This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again.”

In a state where the caucus is held sacred and the impromptu and candid style of the town hall meeting is held dear, Clinton’s planted question may come as a great offense to Iowans.

According to a report on the Grinnell University Web site, the Clinton campaign arranged for some of the questions for the candidate to be asked by college students:

"On Tuesday Nov. 6, the Clinton campaign stopped at a biodiesel plant in Newton as part of a weeklong series of events to introduce her new energy plan. The event was clearly intended to be as much about the press as the Iowa voters in attendance, as a large press core helped fill the small venue....

"After her speech, Clinton accepted questions. But according to Grinnell College student Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff ’10, some of the questions from the audience were planned in advance. 'They were canned,' she said. Before the event began, a Clinton staff member approached Gallo-Chasanoff to ask a specific question after Clinton’s speech. 'One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask],' she said.

"Clinton called on Gallo-Chasanoff after her speech to ask a question: what Clinton would do to stop the effects of global warming. Clinton began her response by noting that young people often pose this question to her before delving into the benefits of her plan.

"But the source of the question was no coincidence — at this event 'they wanted a question from a college student,' Gallo-Chasanoff said."

The tape of the event shows that the question and answer went as follows:

Question: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming How does your plan combat climate change?

Clinton: "Well, you should be worried. You know, I find as I travel around Iowa that it's usually young people that ask me about global warming."

The campaign's admission that it planted the question may be another blow to the New York senator's image as a trustworthy politician.

Clinton's critics have accused her of being a double-talker who refuses to answer tough questions specifically. Now her campaign has acknowledged planting at least one question.

Already her rivals have begun to criticize Friday's revelation.

“In light of a weak debate performance, not to mention a persistent inability to answer the tough questions, it appears the Clinton campaign has adopted a new strategy of planting questions,” John Edwards’ Communications Director Chris Kofinis said.

“It’s what the Clinton campaign calls the politics of planting.”


The TrekMedic chuckles:

Ah, yes,..the vast left-wing conspiracy comes home to roost!

Good Night and Godspeed, Chuck!

Katey's Kafe has a great tribute posting about Officer Charles "Chuck" Cassidy on her blog.

You can see her photo tribute here.

You can hear the homily for Ofc. Cassidy here.

Vive La France?

The more this guy speaks, the less I dislike France,...

Bush and Sarkozy declare Iran aim

US President George W Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said they will work jointly to convince Iran to give up its nuclear programme.

After talks at Mount Vernon, near Washington, Mr Bush praised his French counterpart as "a partner in peace".

Mr Sarkozy earlier received a standing ovation during the first address in more than a decade by a French leader to a joint session of Congress.

He pledged to US lawmakers that France would support the US in Afghanistan.

But he also urged Americans to do more in the fight against global warming and complained that the Bush administration had allowed the dollar to plummet against the euro.

'Unacceptable'

In a press conference later following talks at Mount Vernon, the historic home of inaugural US president George Washington, Mr Bush said the pair had agreed to "work jointly to convince the Iranian regime to give up their nuclear ambitions for the sake of peace".

"The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is dangerous and therefore now is the time for us to work together to diplomatically solve this problem," he added.

Mr Sarkozy told reporters: "It is unacceptable for Iran at any point to have a nuclear weapon."

But the French leader emphasized that Iran was entitled to develop civilian nuclear energy, which Tehran argues is the sole aim of its programme.

The BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says Mr Sarkozy has taken on the mantle of the former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in the affections of the US.

It is a stark contrast to the frosty relations under Mr Sarkozy's predecessor, Jacques Chirac, he adds.

'Eternal debt'

At Congress earlier, the current resident of the Elysee Palace was cheered for more than three minutes before he even began his 45-minute address.

He delighted his audience by saying: "Let me tell you solemnly today, France will remain engaged in Afghanistan as long as it takes, because what's at stake in that country is the future of our values and that of the Atlantic alliance."

Mr Sarkozy, 52, who was elected in May, said he wanted France to "resume its full role" in Nato's military command structure after several decades outside it.

He also urged Americans to "stand alongside Europe in leading the fight against global warming".

And he raised concerns over the dollar's fall against the euro, warning "monetary disarray could morph into economic war" and "we would all be its victims".

Mr Sarkozy devoted much of his speech to expressing gratitude for US heroism on French battlefields in World War II, and to praising American values, spirit and culture.

"America liberated us. This is an eternal debt," he said, adding: "I want to tell you that whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France."

'L'Americain'

Analysts say Mr Sarkozy's warmly-received visit went a long way towards achieving his promise to "reconquer America's heart", which he declared upon his arrival on Tuesday.

Relations were strained in 2003 when France opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq - and French fries were renamed "freedom fries" on Congress canteen menus.

At a White House dinner with Mr Bush on Tuesday, Mr Sarkozy said differences over Iraq should not weaken their alliance and Mr Bush agreed.

The French leader, who spent the afternoon with Mr Bush while on holiday in New England in August, is widely known back in France as "l'Americain" for transatlantic leanings.

In 1996, many US lawmakers boycotted an appearance by Mr Chirac at the US Congress to protest against France's nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

This Election is Just Getting Crazier By the Minute!

HT to Big Dog for this story:

Maybe Ron Paul Really Has Supporters

The news was out yesterday that Ron Paul raised 4.2 million dollars in one day. For a guy polling at 1% that is pretty good. I guess there must be something to this idea that he has an Internet grass roots thing going on. Perhaps these folks will be sleepers and show up on election day and make him a big winner.

It would be something if this guy won. I could just imagine the look on the faces of the front runners who have spent millions and are polling well ahead of Paul.

I also imagine that either the Ron Paul spammers are rich or he really does have a lot of support on the Internet polls.

Good luck to him, he will need it and congrats to his supporters. This is really amazing.

Source:
Breitbart

Bitch, Slapped (By Her Own Supporters!)

And while we're piling on,..what's with Miss "I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar" now? She has to hide behind Bill to keep Tim Russert away from her?

Clinton Charges Through Iowa, Bill Clinton Likens Attacks on Hillary to 'Swift Boat' Ads

AMANA, Iowa — With less than two months until the Iowa caucuses, Hillary Clinton is charging through the early-voting state in an attempt to widen a lead that was recently imperiled when her Democratic opponents stepped up their game of hardball against her following last week's candidate debate.

The frontrunner's worries that opponents Barack Obama and John Edwards could outflank her in the heartland have set her to hiring 100 new staff in Iowa and possibly doubling that army by election night on Jan. 3.

It also has led to a back and forth about fair play that has even dragged husband Bill Clinton into the fray.

The former president has denounced attacks on his wife, likening criticism of her positions on issues to the attack ads by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that helped sink John Kerry's White House hopes in 2004.

"We saw what happened the last seven years when we made decisions in elections based on trivial matters. When we listened to people make snide comments about whether Vice President Gore was too stiff. And when they made dishonest claims about the things that he said that he'd done in his life. When that scandalous Swift Boat ad was run against Senator Kerry," Bill Clinton told some 3,000 members of the American Postal Worker's Union at a convention in Las Vegas on Monday night.

"I had the feeling that at the end of that last debate we were about to get into cutesy land again," he continued. "I think it's fine to discuss immigration. We should. ... But not in 30 seconds, yes, no, raise your hand. This is a complicated issue."

Hillary Clinton has let her husband do the talking in her defense, instead taking the high road and telling Iowa voters she's running a "positive campaign." Her strategy of turning the other cheek plays to Iowa's long-running antagonism toward negative campaigning.

Clinton is leading in Iowa by a narrower margin than she has been polling nationally, but even her national numbers have slipped in the last week. A Rasmussen poll taken of 750 likely voters between Nov. 1 and 4 showed Clinton with 41 percent support, down from the 49 percent she earned in a similar Rasmussen poll taken two weeks earlier. Her closest opponent, Obama, has 22 percent, the same number he held in the earlier poll.

In Iowa, an American Research Group poll taken between Oct. 26 and 29 of 600 likely voters put Clinton 10 points ahead of Obama, with 32 percent support. A University of Iowa poll taken a week earlier only gave her a two-point lead.

Trying to widen the gap in Iowa, Clinton has visited 33 Iowa cities this week to speak about her plan to increase biofuels production, achieve energy independence and create so-called "green" jobs.

But her pledge to stay positive has done little to silence her opponents, who scoffed Tuesday at her husband's raising the specter of the Swift Boats ads.

Democratic candidate and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd called the Clintons' response to the debate "outrageous."

"To have the former president come out and suggest this is a form of swiftboating ... is way over the top in my view," Dodd said.

Edwards, the former North Carolina senator who in recent days has led the charge against Clinton, continued the barrage, releasing a statement challenging Clinton to answer five "simple questions" on Iraq and claiming she has provided no plan for ending the war.

Asked in New Market, N.H., if he was piling on the Democratic frontrunner with the rest of the all-male field, Edwards said, "No."

"I think everyone who is running for president should be held to the same standard, and I have enough respect for all voters, including women voters in America, who know they have to evaluate every single one of us on the merits," he said.

Obama, the Illinois senator, chuckled in an interview with The Associated Press when he said he "was pretty stunned" by Bill Clinton's statement. He added that all the candidates need to have a thicker skin.

"I mean, I think it's assumed that we are running for the presidency of the United States of America and that we've got to answer tough questions," he said, adding that Hillary Clinton's contradictions attract criticism.

"How you would then draw an analogy to distorting somebody's military record is a reach," Obama said of Bill Clinton's comparison.

A Clinton spokesman on Tuesday urged the New York senator's Democratic opponents to tone down the anti-Clinton rhetoric and join forces with her against attacks from the Republican Party.

"While Senator Obama copies John Edwards by spending his days attacking other Democrats, Senator Clinton is talking about how she'll address the nation's energy crisis," said spokesman Jay Carson. "Senator Obama is well aware that the former president was saying that the Republicans will do anything to play politics with a serious issue. So instead of launching another attack against the Clintons, Senator Obama should join with them in working to prevent all Democrats from being attacked by the GOP."

Obama's spokesman Bill Burton didn't let that notion rest.

"The only person playing politics today is Senator Clinton. It's absurd to compare a simple yes or no question about immigration that Senator Clinton still won't answer seven days after the debate to the despicable Republican attacks against John Kerry. ... Senator Obama believes that to truly stand up to the Republican attack machine, we have to be honest and straightforward about where we stand on the major issues facing America," Burton said.

Clinton is headed to New Hampshire next but plans to return to Iowa Saturday. The packed schedule in Iowa appears to be wearing on her, as she frequently makes reference to her raspy voice.

"My voice is getting a little worn down. I've been talking for about 10 months. Especially the last four days," she said Tuesday in Amana. (TM - You would lose your voice if you weren't changing your positions every 20 minutes!!)

FOX News' Serafin Gomez, Major Garrett and Aaron Bruns and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Signs of Hope for 2008?

GOP dominates suburban races

By Anthony R. Wood

INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Withstanding strong challenges from the Democrats, Republicans have retained control of all the open seats on the Delaware County Council, and appeared to have won key races elsewhere in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor and fellow Republican Jim Matthews - with almost half the vote in - were leading in the county commissioners race, with former Democratic congressman Joe Hoeffel coming in third.

Republicans Carol Aichele and Terence Farrell were leading in the commissioners's races in Chester County.

In the Bucks commissioners' races, Republican Jim Cawley was leading, followed by Democrat Diane Marseglia and Republican Charles H. Martin.

Meanwhile, an $87 million open-space referendum in Bucks County was winning by a 3-to-1 ratio.

Overall, turnout was light.

Former Republican congressman Mike Fitzpatrick said Democratic turnout was light in some party strongholds. "A suppressed Democratic turnout is not good for the Democratic county commissioners," he said.

The situation was similar in Delco.

"As far as I can tell the turnout has been incredibly light and that does not bode well for Democrats in Delaware County," said Frank Daly, 58, the former Media mayor who was holding a slight lead in his run for a Common Pleas judgeship.

The Democrats, perennial minorities in the suburbs, entered the campaign season with high ambitions. The party had made big gains in suburban registrations, and was looking to capitalize on public dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's conduct of the Iraq war.

The Republicans were banking on what surveys showed to be a general satisfaction with the quality of services.

A Democratic victory in any of the suburban counties would be considered historic. Democrats have not had majority power in Montgomery County in 138 years, and have been shut out in Chester County for 148.

The light turnout, however, did not bode well for the challengers.

The Democratic party has made big gains in suburban registrations, and was looking to capitalize on public dissatisfaction with the Bush administration's conduct in the Iraq war, while the Republicans banked on what surveys showed to be a general satisfaction with the quality of services.

Democrats had big ambitions in Delaware County. David Landau, 54, had been given a good chance of winning one of the three council seats up for grabs. No Democrat has had a seat since 1980, when a charter change ended guaranteed minority-party representation.

That tradition will continue.


The TrekMedic adds:

Many pundits and political wonks (like that loser George Stephanopoulis, who could barely contain his glee tonight while reporting that Shrillary is leading some polls), saw this as a preview of the 2008 election. Well, let's hope it stays this way next November!