PYY's Depraved Bastard Of The Week

Meet Gerald T. Meyers.

Old Gerald decided to break into a house where he knew a teenage girl lived, with the purpose of raping her. He knew where the girl slept, because his uncle owned the house and was renting it to the family.

But Gerald was in for a surprise.

You see, the father of the girl heard her scream and went to investigate the clamor from his daughter's room. Now, poor Gerald cannot collect his Depraved Bastard of the Week award. Dead men cannot collect any awards, that is, personally.

Dad didn't need to shoot the intruder making a bloody mess all over the carpet. He didn't need a foreign object capable of causing blunt trauma injuries. He did it with his bare hands.

Now, there is some question of whether or not the late Mr. Meyers was killed by dad, or had a heart attack. The article reports that he had a bad heart. Regardless of which is the case, he now must be awarded this honor posthumously.

I am anxiously awaiting a statement from the ACLU condemning the father for his bravery in protecting his daughter, saying that Mr. Meyers' civil rights were violated.

NObama 08 Blogburst

I cannot ever remember a time in my lifetime, where the stakes in a Presidential election have been any higher. With radical jihadists seeking to kill innocent Americans and a banking crisis that has not been seen since the stock market crash of 1929, there is no time in my life where we have been in such dire need of quality leadership.

This November, we will have two viable choices to fill this void. And as this campaign had unfolded from the first votes in Iowa, it has become clear that there is one choice that poses as high of a risk, as putting your life savings on green at a roulette table.

One candidate has actively put up smoke screens. He has exaggerated and embellished qualifications. He has actively lied about his past associations and affiliations. And he has triangulated and reversed his positions solely for political purposes, specifically to win an election and no other reason.

His name is Barack Hussein Obama, who the mainstream media has openly and lovingly embraced as a saviour of epic proportions, while ignoring the serious questions that many Americans have about him.

For this reason, Political Yen/Yang joins with several others in a NObama 08 blog burst each Tuesday of the week until Election Day. If we cannot obtain the truth about our politicians from an unencumbered press, then we’ll form a cooperative to distribute information independently.

Stanley Kurtz is a journalist and senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Mr. Kurtz’ article in the Wall Street Journal explains why Barack Obama is untrustworthy for the office of the President of the United States. He lacks integrity … and if it is one thing we do not need in the White House, it is yet another dishonest politician.

Mr. Kurtz writes:

Despite having authored two autobiographies, Barack Obama has never written about his most important executive experience. From 1995 to 1999, he led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists.

The CAC was the brainchild of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground in the 1960s. Among other feats, Mr. Ayers and his cohorts bombed the Pentagon, and he has never expressed regret for his actions. Barack Obama's first run for the Illinois State Senate was launched at a 1995 gathering at Mr. Ayers's home.

The Obama campaign has struggled to downplay that association. Last April, Sen. Obama dismissed Mr. Ayers as just "a guy who lives in my neighborhood," and "not somebody who I exchange ideas with on a regular basis." Yet documents in the CAC archives make clear that Mr. Ayers and Mr. Obama were partners in the CAC. Those archives are housed in the Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago and I've recently spent days looking through them.

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created ostensibly to improve Chicago's public schools. The funding came from a national education initiative by Ambassador Walter Annenberg. In early 1995, Mr. Obama was appointed the first chairman of the board, which handled fiscal matters. Mr. Ayers co-chaired the foundation's other key body, the "Collaborative," which shaped education policy.

The CAC's basic functioning has long been known, because its annual reports, evaluations and some board minutes were public. But the Daley archive contains additional board minutes, the Collaborative minutes, and documentation on the groups that CAC funded and rejected. The Daley archives show that Mr. Obama and Mr. Ayers worked as a team to advance the CAC agenda.

One unsettled question is how Mr. Obama, a former community organizer fresh out of law school, could vault to the top of a new foundation? In response to my questions, the Obama campaign issued a statement saying that Mr. Ayers had nothing to do with Obama's "recruitment" to the board. The statement says Deborah Leff and Patricia Albjerg Graham (presidents of other foundations) recruited him. Yet the archives show that, along with Ms. Leff and Ms. Graham, Mr. Ayers was one of a working group of five who assembled the initial board in 1994. Mr. Ayers founded CAC and was its guiding spirit. No one would have been appointed the CAC chairman without his approval.

The CAC's agenda flowed from Mr. Ayers's educational philosophy, which called for infusing students and their parents with a radical political commitment, and which downplayed achievement tests in favor of activism. In the mid-1960s, Mr. Ayers taught at a radical alternative school, and served as a community organizer in Cleveland's ghetto.

In works like "City Kids, City Teachers" and "Teaching the Personal and the Political," Mr. Ayers wrote that teachers should be community organizers dedicated to provoking resistance to American racism and oppression. His preferred alternative? "I'm a radical, Leftist, small 'c' communist," Mr. Ayers said in an interview in Ron Chepesiuk's, "Sixties Radicals," at about the same time Mr. Ayers was forming CAC.

CAC translated Mr. Ayers's radicalism into practice. Instead of funding schools directly, it required schools to affiliate with "external partners," which actually got the money. Proposals from groups focused on math/science achievement were turned down. Instead, CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or Acorn).

Mr. Obama once conducted "leadership training" seminars with Acorn, and Acorn members also served as volunteers in Mr. Obama's early campaigns. External partners like the South Shore African Village Collaborative and the Dual Language Exchange focused more on political consciousness, Afrocentricity, and bilingualism than traditional education. CAC's in-house evaluators comprehensively studied the effects of its grants on the test scores of Chicago public-school students. They found no evidence of educational improvement.

CAC also funded programs designed to promote "leadership" among parents. Ostensibly this was to enable parents to advocate on behalf of their children's education. In practice, it meant funding Mr. Obama's alma mater, the Developing Communities Project, to recruit parents to its overall political agenda. CAC records show that board member Arnold Weber was concerned that parents "organized" by community groups might be viewed by school principals "as a political threat." Mr. Obama arranged meetings with the Collaborative to smooth out Mr. Weber's objections.

The Daley documents show that Mr. Ayers sat as an ex-officio member of the board Mr. Obama chaired through CAC's first year. He also served on the board's governance committee with Mr. Obama, and worked with him to craft CAC bylaws. Mr. Ayers made presentations to board meetings chaired by Mr. Obama. Mr. Ayers spoke for the Collaborative before the board. Likewise, Mr. Obama periodically spoke for the board at meetings of the Collaborative.

The Obama campaign notes that Mr. Ayers attended only six board meetings, and stresses that the Collaborative lost its "operational role" at CAC after the first year. Yet the Collaborative was demoted to a strictly advisory role largely because of ethical concerns, since the projects of Collaborative members were receiving grants. CAC's own evaluators noted that project accountability was hampered by the board's reluctance to break away from grant decisions made in 1995. So even after Mr. Ayers's formal sway declined, the board largely adhered to the grant program he had put in place.

Mr. Ayers's defenders claim that he has redeemed himself with public-spirited education work. That claim is hard to swallow if you understand that he views his education work as an effort to stoke resistance to an oppressive American system. He likes to stress that he learned of his first teaching job while in jail for a draft-board sit-in. For Mr. Ayers, teaching and his 1960s radicalism are two sides of the same coin.

Mr. Ayers is the founder of the "small schools" movement (heavily funded by CAC), in which individual schools built around specific political themes push students to "confront issues of inequity, war, and violence." He believes teacher education programs should serve as "sites of resistance" to an oppressive system. (His teacher-training programs were also CAC funded.) The point, says Mr. Ayers in his "Teaching Toward Freedom," is to "teach against oppression," against America's history of evil and racism, thereby forcing social transformation.

The Obama campaign has cried foul when Bill Ayers comes up, claiming "guilt by association." Yet the issue here isn't guilt by association; it's guilt by participation. As CAC chairman, Mr. Obama was lending moral and financial support to Mr. Ayers and his radical circle. That is a story even if Mr. Ayers had never planted a single bomb 40 years ago.

But this alone is not enough to solicit my active participation in this activity. If Barack Obama would just openly admit his past associations honestly and transparently, or the mainstream media would accurately report them, I may not have felt compelled to be a part of this anti-Obama movement. I say this because, if this were the case, I firmly believe the American people would soundly reject him and his ideology as being the solution to the problems this nation faces.

But now, we have learned that "so-called" truth squads have been formed in Missouri . These have been formed for the specific purposes of curbing free speech and debate on these serious questions that have arisen about Sen. Obama and intimidating people to stay silent. These tactics are reminiscent of the Black Shirts of Mussolini's Italy and the Hitler Youth of Nazi Germany, because these so called truth squads have prosecutors as members. These kinds of maneuvers severely undermine freedom and liberty and I am not willing to sit passively by, allowing this to happen without some active resistance.

So if this is something that you, too, are not willing to allow unchallenged, if you are not too keen on having this nation evolve into the People's Socialist Republic of America or the Union of Soviet States of America, join PYY and these other fine bloggers every Tuesday until the election:

Always on Watch

And Rightly So

Big Girl Pants

Confessions of a Closet Republican

Farmer’s Letters

ForeLeft

GeeeeeZ

Has Everyone Gone Nuts?

Papa Frank

Paleocon Command Center

Pondering Penguin

Social Sense

The Amboy Times

The Crank Files

The Jungle Hut

The Logic Lifeline

The Merry Widow

Monday AM QB

The good news for Colts fans this weekend is they did not lose, because they did not play. Next week they are slated to be in Houston. For those that want to get Greg riled up, too bad. The Pats were off too.They are at SF next.


Tampa Bay 30 - Green Bay 21

I was able to see most of the battle of the Bays. For as good as the Bucs' defense played, Brian Griese tried like hell to give it away on offense. The TB defense played very well against the run and gave Aaron Rodgers fits, sacking him three times and putting pressure on his throws countless other times.

Normally, when a team has a QB with a rating of 36.0 for a game, the team loses. But thanks to the running game, the Bucs were able to grind out enough offense to overcome Griese's inept play. If I were a TB fan, I'd be calling for his head.

The neat thing about this game was the play of the TB kicker, Matt Bryant. His infant son was tragically found dead earlier this week and still, he came back and kicked three FGs. I am sure Gruden and the entire Bucs management would have understood if he had taken the weekend off to grieve, but he didn't. Sometimes work can help heal some pain, but it takes a lot of guts to come back so soon after such a huge loss like this.

Next Week: TB travels to Denver, GB gets to recover against Atlanta.


Kansas City 33 - Denver 19

Not being a Broncos fan, I like seeing that Denver has been humbled a bit by the Chiefs (who could be the worst team next to Cincinnati, and maybe Atlanta). Not that I am a Chiefs fan either, but it keeps some verbose Broncos fans I know from spouting off too much through the coming week. Actually, Denver is lucky to be 3-1. For as much as I share some major disdain for SD, they should have won their game against the Broncos in Week 2.

Next Week: KC travels to Carolina


Tennessee 30 - Minnesota 17

Meanwhile, the Titans keep rolling over easy teams. So far, Jacksonville is the only quality team they have beaten, and to tell the truth, I wonder how good they are. The Jags had their trouble with Houston.

I think the reason they have played well so far, besides their physical defense, is the play of QB Kerry Collins. He is a cagey veteran that makes smart plays, when they need them. He isn't flashy, like Manning (when he is on top of his game). But he gets the job done and I have to respect that kind of work ethic.

Next Week: TN has a big test next week at Baltimore (this will tell me if they are a force to be reckoned with, or not). Minnesota travels to New Orleans.


Washington 26 - Dallas 24

The best game of the day, I was able to see most of it. Washington gave a gutsy performance and it's apparent, they are for real. The difference was Washington's running game and Dallas's lack thereof. Clinton Portis really took it to the Dallas defense. If there was any criticism for Washington, it would be penalties; they had two TDs called back because of them.

The NFC East is easily the toughest division out there and it'll be interesting to see who comes out of it. It will be a competitive division, but I still think the Giants are still the team to beat, there.

Next Week: Washington is at Philly, Dallas gets to host Cincinnati.

Nobody Warned Them? No One?

If you want to see who dropped the ball in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, just watch this startling video.




These people are on the record as saying there was no problem at all. (This was in 2004 and today, we see that there was.):

Maxine Waters (D-CA)

Gregory Meeks (D-NY)

Lacy Clay (D-MO)

Artur Davis (D-AL)

Barney Frank (D-MA)

Why will these people still have a job after the election? Because to call these people out on this blatant dereliction of duty would be decried as racist. With the exception of Barney Frank, all of these Representatives are black. And to accuse them of impropriety is guaranteed to get yourself called a bigot, almost instantly.

These elected officials and financial institutions were in bed with ACORN, which spelled out is: The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Did you get that? Community Organizations, as in community organizers. And we all know that the words community organizers are code for race-based groups that seek special treatment for the people they claim to serve, right?

ACORN is the same organization that is under investigation for fraudulent voter registration. they have a long history of fraudulent actions in several states and yet, the Democrats were trying to slip in a provision for padding ACORN's pockets with some of this bailout money.

And who do you think ACORN is supporting for President? Barack Obama, the man that will save Washington from itself. That's who. Every fraudulent voter registration will be another vote for Obama, so the deeds of ACORN can be covered-up further.

Well, if you ask me, it's BS. And every American voter needs to know this is BS.

If Obama wins this election and has a Democratic Congress to rubber stamp his every move, you can safely bet that this country will look ten times worse than it does now, after just two years of this arrangement. I give it TWO YEARS and you will not recognize this country.

Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Louis Farrakhan, and organizations like ACORN will have free reign to race-bait and seize more of your money by force, channeling it to people that have their hands out waiting for it already. The money that you work your asses off for will be going to people, who supplement their illegal drug sales incomes with government checks as a way of life. And ACORN will be doling it out from this $700 billion that these crackpot socialists have agreed to provide for companies that have behaved badly with our tax dollars. They may be written out of this deal, for now. But who will stop it when Obama sits in the White House signing every piece of crap legislation the legislature sends him?

Some of you people sitting on the fence better think long and hard about this vote you are going to cast, in November. Because it will effect you and your family for years to come, if you don't. Don't say you were never warned like this worthless bunch of crooks you have just seen in this video. Because if you have read this post through, you can now consider yourselves appropriately warned.

Obama's Bracelet: What The Media Won't Tell Us

From NewsBusters comes this story:

Barack Obama played the "me too" game during the Friday debates on September 26 after Senator John McCain mentioned that he was wearing a bracelet with the name of Cpl. Matthew Stanley, a resident of New Hampshire and a soldier that lost his life in Iraq in 2006. Obama said that he too had a bracelet. After fumbling and straining to remember the name, he revealed that his had the name of Sergeant Ryan David Jopek of Merrill, Wisconsin.

Shockingly, however, Madison resident Brian Jopek, the father of Ryan Jopek, the young soldier who tragically lost his life to a roadside bomb in 2006, recently said on a Wisconsin Public Radio show that his family had asked Barack Obama to stop wearing the bracelet with his son's name on it. Yet Obama continues to do so despite the wishes of the family.

It's a situation that needs to be sorted out by reading the entire NB article. For more on the subject, you can read this one.

Apparently the mother (who is divorced from the father) is an Obama supporter and gave it to him. But, she asked him not to use it for media purposes. But regardless of the circumstances, he didn't even know the name on the bracelet without looking. That just shows how committed he is to veterans and further demonstrates he cares nothing about what he claims. How utterly sad it that?




(Crisp Military Hand Salute to Mustang, who sent this info to me via e-mail.)

A New Presidential Election Process

Mustang calls this presidential race a beauty contest. This is some disturbing imagery painted by my good friend and not very healthy for holistic health purposes. Why? Because I find the thought of either of these two candidates in a swimsuit to be excruciatingly nauseating, to the point that many of us could fail to reach self-actualization as a result of such putrid thoughts.

What I am willing to call it, though, is "a popularity contest". And with that in mind, I have a proposal that will help the American people by shortening future races greatly, so we do not have to endure another lengthy process that has our neurons fried and our neural synapses severely compromised to the point of incoherent babbling. I can settle this thing in a time span of 12 weeks, as opposed to two years.

We start out with 12 candidates. Each week they meet to tell us why they should be chosen. The show is held live in Disneyland on Tuesday nights, with voting commencing immediately after the show. On Wednesday nights, we have the results show in which one candidate is eliminated and voted off of Space Mountain.

We do this until there is one candidate left standing. He or she will then be crowned America's Presidential Idol and awarded a nice house in the middle of Washington DC to live in, a meager salary with a open expense account, and allowed to make decisions that affect the entire world.

Repeat every four years. Limit one term.

May God bless America and thank you for your support.

Another Blast From The Past

There are some bands that cannot have any justice done to them, in just one installment of Another Blast From The Past. This weekend PYY features one such group. They have so many great songs, not all of them can be used in one sitting. So naturally, some have to be saved for another time, somewhere down the road. And as you may guess, it's a difficult decision as to which ones to use and which ones to save.

One of the top ten rock acts of all time, the Moody Blues forged one of the most unique and versatile sounds in a career that spanned over three decades. And every so often, you can still catch them on a tour and re-live some of the greatest musical moments of a lifetime.

This first song is one that includes one of the more powerful videos I have ever seen on You Tube. I am not too sure if this is the original video or one that was created by a user. But I am sure that (unless you are incapable of human emotion), you'll feel something when you watch it. Take a listen to this cut off of their 1972 Seventh Sojourn album, it's called Isn't Life Strange:



This next song is off of the Long Distance Voyager album, which reached #1 on the US album charts. It's release marked something of a comeback after a three year lay-off. Here is The Voice:



Probably the best known Moody Blues song came from the 1967 masterpiece Days of Future Passed . A beautiful mix of classical and rock, this song best exemplifies the band's name. Here is the immortal Nights In White Satin:



From the same album comes this tune, here is Tuesday Afternoon - Evening: Time To Get away:



Finally here is a recent live version of a song about a lost love. This one was released in 1986 and is called In Your Wildest Dreams:





Enjoy.

The Debate On The Debate: Round One

After watching the debate in its entirety last evening, I really am wondering if these are the best two candidates we could find for the job. Naturally, I know it isn't.

I fully understand there are several other fringe parties that run "in name only" campaigns that we can throw our votes away on, but these are the two from which we must choose to lead our nation into an era of troubled times and certain uncertainty. It only further reinforces what many of have thought and said for so long: The best people for the job, do not want the job.

If I were to grade the candidates on style and performance, I thought both were boring to hear. I could have had as much fun at an insurance or real estate seminar.

Without his faithful teleprompter, Obama stuttered his way through and McCain had several moments where he just repeated himself too much. Face it folks, McCain has never been a dynamic speaker and Obama's strength has always been reading a speech that has been carefully written and crafted for him.

In the substance department, I thought McCain had a reasonable edge against someone that has spent the last two years being groomed as the "golden child". In both experience and vision, he outlined some stark differences between himself and Obama.

I think McCain clearly demonstrated that he had an exponentially greater knowledge of foreign policy. Not only does he understand the situation in the war against radical fanatics that seek to kill Jews and Americans, just for being Jews and Americans; he demonstrated that he has a far greater understanding of the situation we are facing with Putin 's Russia. His words rang loud and clear, when he said we need to keep our eyes on the the Ukraine; because this is precisely where the Russians will be looking to undermine and interfere next. And he told us why.

The economy was billed ahead of time as one of Obama's stronger areas. But from what I heard, he doesn't really get it and I was not impressed.

Neither one of them out-shined the other when asked about what they would be willing to give up in order to accommodate this record bailout, now coming down the pike from the halls of Congress. Obama answered the question with what he wanted to spend money on, while McCain just said we had to cut spending. He may have been short on specifics, but to me it showed that McCain at least knows something has to go, while it is overtly apparent Obama still has plans to to spend us into oblivion.

Obama spent the night blaming Bush for everything. John Kerry spent his entire campaign doing the same thing and couldn't win with that very same strategy - when he was actually running against Bush. I cannot understand what makes Obama and his advisors think it will be especially effective, now.

Bush is not running. Trying to tie McCain to Bush, is useless and futile at best.

It is true that in some areas McCain did agree with the President. But there were enough instances where he did break with Bush in policy stances, to make his case as an independent thinker. All Obama's strategy does is rehash the 04 campaign, by creating a litany of complaints with no clear solutions. We know where things went wrong, we cannot change the past.

Did Bush mishandle Iraq? Yes and McCain said so. He said it then and he said it last night. But Obama wanted to one up McCain by saying we never should have gone to war with Iraq, which essentially beating a dead horse. Did Bush drop the ball on this banking crisis? Yes. McCain never defended Bush on this. But he did offer some simulation of a better plan, by emphasizing the need to cut government spending.

The debate for the American people to take up now is not the reasons for going to war, but where we go from here. The debate should not point fingers about the banking crisis either, since both Democrats and Republicans are guilty of wasteful spending.

Obama's camp has repeatedly said this campaign is not about the past, but the future. If so, then can anyone explain why Obama spent the evening complaining about the past eight years? We need a conversation not on failures, we need a discussion on the next four years that will dig us out of the mess we are in.

All in all, to use a boxing metaphor, both candidates were feeling each other out in the first round. Neither scored a knockout, neither knocked the other one down. McCain landed some quality blows, but did not counter-punch as effectively as he could/should have. When looking at the film, he will no doubt see some huge openings where he could have taken command of the fight early and possibly scored a standing eight-count.

One thing about boxing is, you really do not want to leave the decision in the hands of the judges, if it can be helped. You must take the opportunity to exploit the weaknesses of your opponent as early as possible, to get into your opponents head. Even if you do not knock the other guy out early, you must dictate the pace of the fight and dominate him so that he becomes frustrated, and makes a mistake that may land you that knockout punch later.

The judges, in this case, will be the countless pundits and pollsters that will debating this debate for the entire week ahead. They are not always kind, nor are they always fair.

I remember the Leonard-Hagler fight in the 80s, where Hagler was robbed by the judges because he didn't show his usual aggressiveness and ring generalship . Leonard did not win that fight and at best, it was a draw (which should have kept the title with the champion). Instead, the subjective nature of boxing turned a sporting event into politics and awarded the match to Leonard, who never really dominated in convincing fashion.

It is clear that the liberal media wants Obama to win, so McCain must take charge of the fight in the next round and leave no doubt in the American people's minds. He can do that and still look Presidential, he just needs to take advantage of the openings Obama leaves him. We know he can take a punch but he cannot be afraid to counter-punch, making Obama pay for his impulsiveness when it counts.

In this fight, there is no champion, no incumbent to retain the belt in the case of a draw. Both are fighting for an open title. I score the round 10-9 for McCain. How about you?

Bill Clinton Campaigning For Obama

I won't dump on John McCain......

John McCain is a fine American....blah blah blah.....

I can see why Sarah Palin is so hot.....blah blah blah.........

John McCain gets it on Global Warming........real American hero........

Great man that John McCain.........blah blah blah

I just disagree with him on a few things.......blah blah blah........

Obama should win though........

John McCain.....John McCain......John McCain.........blah blah blah.

A Thursday Thought

In my midweek busy stretch, I sometimes don't have time to write out a long piece or even read others (just to have something to recommend to readers). So, I want to put out something out to think about and discuss, if anyone should desire to do so:

My aim is not to minimize or underplay the current banking crisis in any way, shape, or form. This is a serious crisis, it has been for some time now. But in the scheme of things here, I wonder just how much of this is coming to head now, because of the election year. By this I mean, has the media driven this to near panic levels, when just being gravely concerned would be enough?

Like I said, this is not intended to minimize this situation, not in the least. I just see so much fear in the countenances of people I work with, I just have to wonder if the media isn't trying to drive this election by using the emotions of people, to effect their desired response.

Anyone else wonder about this?

The Acorn Never Falls Too Far From The Tree

If you want to see what depravity begets, look no further than this Indianapolis Star article.

Like other mothers in her Eastside neighborhood, Nancy Swallow warned her young son, Christopher, about getting near the Reese home.

To protect him, she tried to scare him: If he went in, she told him, he might not come out.

That was more than two decades ago, years before Brian Reese stood accused of shooting a police officer and killing three other people within a five-day span this summer. His father, Paul Sr., faces charges in one of those killings, and his mother, Barbara, is accused of helping Brian flee police in her van the night of the officer's shooting.

As you may recall from an earlier post, Brian Reese is the same scumbag that shot Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer Jason Fishburn in the head, in July. Here is the Reese family tree's list of civic accomplishments:

Five of the six Reese children -- Paul Jr., 38; John, 37; Brian, 36; Jeremy, 35; and Jenny, 34 -- have been convicted a combined 39 times and have been sentenced to a total of 65 years in prison.

Paul Sr., 66, has nine convictions, for which he has been sentenced to 45 years.

I am not trying to turn this into a theological discussion here, but there is a passage in one of the Gospels that clearly states the kind of seed that is sown is the kind that will grow. If you plant corn, it grows corn. If you plant wheat, you grow wheat. If you plant weeds and thistle, you get weeds and thistle.

Having knowledge of that scripture and this particular criminal case, it easy to see this is as evidence of an immutable truth. Better yet, let's just say: The family that commits crimes together, competes for a bunk in the prison system.




(Note-To see the family album of mugshots click on the article and scroll down to the comments section. The officer who was shot, is home but still undergoing outpatient rehab. He was honored at halftime of the Colts game thia past Sunday and awarded the Police Department's version of the Medal of Honor.)

A Short Lesson In Pathology

By now, most people know about Joe Biden's arrogance and legendary status in his own mind. Just ask him.

In this 1988 clip he tells the story of how his IQ surpasses that of a questioner:



He pulled out very shortly after it was learned that he had plagiarized work and was not in the top half of his Syracuse University law school class, but was in fact 76th out of 85. Maybe the good Doctor of Jurisprudence Joseph Biden had simply forgotten, as he sometimes is prone to do.

Now, let us consider one of his more recent statements.

"When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed," Biden told Couric. "He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"

As Reason's Jesse Walker footnotes it: "And if you owned an experimental TV set in 1929, you would have seen him. And you would have said to yourself, 'Who is that guy? What happened to President Hoover?'"

A mind is a terrible thing, when it has wasted away in the midst of lies and deceits. I am sure he had to take an American history class or two as part of an accredited pre-law curriculum, in order to qualify for a spot in SU's law school. But I am sure he has just forgotten, like he did his class ranking.

You see, a pathological liar can always be identified fairly easily. They often forget their own lies or tell them so many times, they actually start to believe them.

Do we really need a pathological liar a heartbeat away from the Presidency?

Obama Still Can't Close The Deal

After a week of hammering John McCain on the economy, Obama still cannot pull away from his rival. The dice has rolled his way with the banking crisis and the bailouts, but he has not been able to capitalize on an issue that experts say leans in his favor.

In some instances, he is not drawing the crowds that were once used by the liberal media as a sign that he was going to walk away with this election.

“You all know that you hold this election in your hands,” Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat who said he worked on ethics legislation with Obama, told a crowd of about 6,000 cheering Obama fans in the arena next to Lambeau Field. “We just barely won this state for Al Gore in 2000 and we just barely won this state for John Kerry in 2004.”

The numbers in Wisconsin and Minnesota are getting close enough that the Obama campaign closed its 11 campaign offices in North Dakota and moved the 50 staffers there to these two states.

Just a week ago, John McCain and his vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin — who can bring out crowds the way Obama can — appeared in this same stadium, Resch Center, to a crowd of 10,000 fans. There were an uncharacteristic amount of empty orange seats for Obama’s rally.

In their defense, Obama's backers note their rally was held on Monday at noon, compared to a Thursday night rally for McCain and Palin.

I think there is some truth to that excuse because many of Obama's supporters are seldom up out of bed at noon. Some of them are staying up late removing smear videos, which they posted on You Tube to destroy Sarah Palin. Others stay up late playing video games in their parents' basements, with no other meaning or purpose in life.

I'll tell you folks, the dreams of many are dissipating before their very eyes, so no dirty deed is deemed to be too callous or underhanded. No amount of lies and deceits have been able to sway decent people from realizing that Obama is just another corrupt Chicago politician that has duped the naive masses into believing he is the only agent of change, worth considering.

I submit that he is an agent of change, but not the kind of change he claims to promote. The only change he is successfully selling is "changing his positions".

Take a look at this list of flip-flops Obama has performed during this campaign. See what you think about this and wonder with me in amazement, how anyone can truly believe the MSM is objective in this Presidential race. If they were, they'd be looking long and hard at this list and pressuring him for some answers.

Even more amazingly, after all of this positive coverage from elitist media organizations, all of this demonization of the McCain-Palin ticket, and all of the Obama campaign's dirty tricks, he is still in danger of losing this election. Can we imagine how far behind he would be, if only the deck was stacked fairly?

Good News For Dante Love

Ball State's wide receiver Dante Love has emerged one lucky young man after that "heart in your throat" moment - a helmet to helmet hit that likely ended his career - on Saturday night. From the Indy Star comes the story.

School officials said Love is expected to live a normal, healthy life after breaking his spine and sustaining a spinal cord injury during Saturday's victory over Indiana, although he'll likely have to give up the sport that turned him into an NFL prospect.

Here is the play and the BSU players' reactions after the game:



If you want to see just how talented and fast this kid was, take a look at this play:



I have no doubt this kid would have been an excellent NFL player.

Love is a senior, so his scholarship will pay for his degree. My hope is that he takes advantage of it, stays involved with the game, and coaches someday. He won't get rich, but he will make a living. In one way it's a sad thing, when you look at it from football eyes. But when you take a look at it from life's eyes, he will not need a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

There are a whole lot of things more important than sports, and this is one of them.

Monday AM QB

I didn't get to see much football yesterday, but what I saw wasn't pretty.

But I did see a college game Saturday evening.

I watched Ball State make the case for being the best team in the state of Indiana, by beating IU 42-20. Sadly, one of the best receivers in the college ranks was hurt badly and may never play the game again, due to a cervical and spinal injury. Dante Love is his name and he underwent a long surgery, Saturday night. The good news is, he can move all of his extremities.

BSU's QB is one to watch, he has one of the best arms I have ever seen on a college player. He's a junior and if he stays healthy, he may be one of the best ever before all is said and done. Nate Davis is his name, watch for it coming soon to a sports highlight show, near you.

Now to the pros, yesterday:

Jags 23 - Colts 21

The Colts deserved to lose this one, the defense could not make a play in the second half. Rabid Colts fans will point to the officiating as less than deplorable and they would be right. The late flag that would have sealed the game was criminal and the refs should be fined. But in the end, the Colts defense looked like a bunch of college freshman. It is incredibly important to note that the offense isn't playing up to snuff just yet, and it is up to the defense to take some of the pressure off of them.

They didn't. Now they have two weeks to look at a 1-2 record and decide whether they want to play football or call it a season now.

Dolphins 38 - Pats 13

Talk about a defense not showing up? There is no way this loss can be blamed on the loss of Tom Brady. Had the game been close, come down to a drive in the last minutes of a game, and Cassel throwing an interception, maybe one can make the case. But, it didn't happen that way. If it had happened at the hands of a good team, one would surely understand this one. But this was Miami and this probably doesn't set well with NE fans.

Why Rachel Maddow Is Irrelevent

Liberals have assigned instant relevance to a new show, purely based on some early numbers. Over at Washington Monthly, Steve Benen has posed a question as to why McCain has not appeared on MSNBC's 3-week old Rachel Maddow Show to answer questions about Sarah Palin.

I'm reminded of last fall, when most of the Democratic presidential candidates decided not to participate in a debate hosted/co-sponsored by Fox News. A variety of mainstream news outlets and major figures were indignant about the decision, with many publicly asking whether Democrats could trusted to stand up to al Qaeda if they were "afraid" to answer questions from Fox News.

We can assume, of course, that similar questions will be asked of the McCain campaign now, right? After all, if McCain and his team are ready to take on a world of serious challenges, why are they afraid of a smart, highly-rated talk-show host?

First, let me say that although I disagree with him more than I agree and have the utmost respect for the civil way he presents his arguments, I think Steve has it wrong here. And here's why:

MSNBC is the lowest rated cable news channel on TV. Since it's inception almost three weeks ago, Maddow's show has topped Olbermann's Countdown once (which consistently has been beaten soundly with very large margins, by O'Reilly) and CNN's Larry King.

On Thursday September 18, she drew an estimated 1,971,000 viewers, compared to Larry King's 1,855,000. That's a net difference of only 116,000.

But when we look at Fox's numbers that very same night on the Hannity and Colmes Show, we see quite a difference. For the same night's time slot for Maddow, H&C drew an estimated 4,589,000 viewers, for a difference of 2,618,000 between the the two shows. H&C even drew 763,000 more viewers than Maddow and King, combined.

The reason a Democratic candidate needs to appear on Fox more than a Republican needs to appears on Maddow, is simple. The race is close and by all expert accounts, they should be miles ahead in the polls. But they are not.

Fox has far more viewers on a consistent basis. And if I had to register a guess why, it's because independents (like myself) see Fox as far more objective than its competitors. So when a race is this close, a campaign needs the indie vote. Partisans already have their candidate picked and the undecided voters are the only ones left to win over.

That being the case, why would anyone waste time on a "Jenny-come-lately" show like Maddow's? Her base is made up by and and has followed her from, the failed Air America network. Knowing this, how objective is she likely to be and how many of the target audience will be watching? Answers: Not very and very little to none.

Let's just put it like this, McCain going on Maddow (or even Olbermann) would be like Obama going on Hannity, Limbaugh, or Beck. How utterly likely would this be?

No folks, McCain has been on hostile ground with some of the major network shows, many times before now. He's not a bit afraid. In fact, recently, he allowed the clueless hacks that sit on ABC's The View to hammer him mercilessly. Why would he need to give access to one more?

Another Blast From The Past

This weekend is a good time to feature some various sundry songs that always bring back some great memories as a young boy and a teen.

I used to listen to this first one on KFXM 59 and KMEN 129 on the AM dial in San Bernardino, on an old stereo console we had in the family room, which was an off-shoot of the living room. From 1968, here are the Foundations and their 1968 smash hit Build Me Up Buttercup:



With a brass-driven melody and the gravitas behind it, I thought this was Blood, Sweat and Tears when I first heard this next one. It came out just about the time FM was beginning to take hold in the radio industry. Songs were recycled in a regular rotation, but the sound quality was so much better. This is one most will certainly remember, they are a bit older in this clip, but they sound every bit as forceful as they were in 1970. The band was known as the Ides Of March, the song was simply named Vehicle:



Neil Diamondesque is the best way to describe this next song. If ever there was a doubt of how much Neil influenced the modern music scene in the 60s and 70s, one only need to hear this one. This guy even looks a little like Neil. Here is Andy Kim and his 1974 #1 hit, Rock Me Gently:



This is one my parents both liked and listened to a lot, and just by happenstance I liked it too. This may not bring much of a walk down memory lane for the younger readers, but I wouldn't be at all be surprised if Mustang becomes reminiscent (and maybe a little sentimental) listening to it. This one is by Roger Miller and it's called King Of The Road:



And if that song doesn't get him all choked and teared up, here's another one my parents liked that surely will. For those my age and older, you know this one. But to those that don't, allow me to introduce you to the Jimmy Rodgers classic, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine:



Enjoy.

Another Biden Boo-Boo

Here's an interesting article where Biden puts his foot in his mouth again. The quote that takes the cake is as follows:

"We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said. Of those who would pay more, he said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."

The first thing to note is how he says he wants to "take" money. I believe him when he selects that particular terminology. It's a very fitting choice, when considering the very nature of government.

Secondly, I will take every check the government gives me, because I know I have paid them far more than they will ever rebate to me. But, I don't think it's particularly fair to snatch it out of the man's hands who can create jobs with that money, or will cut a job because the government took just enough to cause a layoff or two at that man's company.

Lastly, have we returned to the strategy of FDR, who painted those that opposed his unreal tax rates as "unpatriotic"? It would appear that we are. Remember, the Mellon tax trial?

An Obamination

Here's an an interesting story, with an even more interesting quote that I would like share:

"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face," he said.

It's nice to be young, idealistic, and healthy. But let me make something very clear. If any of these people get in my face, they will find out just how good their health insurance is.

The Ultimate Solution To Congressional Corruption

Not much time to pen my thoughts right now. Work, lawn care, and other things seem to get into the way of blogging sometimes, and this is one of them.

I wonder how many people have seriously thought about the utter incompetence and overt corruption that exists in the US Congress. Much of our attention has been focused on the Presidential race, how can it not when so much is at stake?

When we have career politicians that take money from almost anyone to keep getting re-elected, no term limits, and lucrative pensions and perks, just what does it say to us when we get no return on our investments? The Democratically controlled Congress has done absolutely nothing in the time they have wielded the gavels, which is not much different from when the GOP did it. Yet, what would you bet that Nancy Pelosi, Charlie Rangel, and the merry host of others get re-elected and reappointed to their positions? How much would you wager, William Jefferson gets back in?

I hear the cry for term limits and it's one that could be looked at a bit. But how many really think Congress will vote in a limit on their own careers, when the perks are so lucrative? When we think about it, we already have term limits. If the people would only exercise their rights to vote the bums out.

The only litmus test the American people need when casting their votes for Congressional candidates this fall is, whether a candidate is an incumbent or not. I don't care who it is, what they have done in the past (good or bad), or what party they belong to. All of the incumbents need to be voted out, so as to send a message to all those (gag) public servants (present and future) will get the message who they work for.

The Blame Game

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and now AIG are dominating the financial news. Naturally, the blame placers are looking to finger everyone, other than themselves.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when asked Tuesday whether Democrats bear some of the responsibility regarding the current crisis on Wall Street, had a one-word answer: “No.”

Pelosi (D-Calif.) ripped President Bush’s “mismanagement” of the economy and a lack of regulation that led to the current situation.

“I think the American people have had it with this situation where the middle-income people in our country are not protected from the ramifications of the risk-taking and the greed of these financial institutions,” Pelosi told MSNBC.

When asked whether the Democrats “deserve some responsibility” regarding the economic crisis, Pelosi responded: “No.”

Ms. Pelosi has to be in the biggest state of denial, since the dawning of time. In the election of 2006, the Democrats promised to clean up "George Bush's mess", if only the American people would give them a chance. They have had almost two years to get things done, and so far nothing but some hearings on baseball steroid use. They also promised to make this Congress the most ethical in the history of the institution. They have had almost two years to clean up the vile stinking culture of Congress, and yet, tax-cheat Charlie Rangel still has his committee chair and William Jefferson still has his seat. Some ethical reform that was.

Additionally, Obama has been a member of the US Senate for almost four years and has been running for President for 19 months, now. That has been ample time to warn the people of the impending doom. But until today, he has essentially been silent. In fact, it is very interesting to note that he has benefited greatly from Freddie and Fannie.

When Reid Pelosi or Obama are asked about what this major debacle, all they do is blame the policies of George W. Bush. If you ask them what can be done about the entire mess, all they say is elect them so they can change directions from the "failed policies of George Bush".

Democrats running Congress into the ground further than it already was and Barack Obama standing idly by until it gives him campaign fodder. Can anyone fathom the damage that will be done if these imbeciles control both the legislative and executive branches of the US government?

Personally, I don't think government should do anything about these greedy companies that make bad business decisions. I think the government should allow the market corrections to take place, unabated. At some point, we must stop the bailouts and ride this thing out. But as you can see, I am not in Washington and have no plans to ever be, unless it's a sight-seeing tour.

Politicians should stop trying to insult my intelligence by telling me that this someone else's fault (usually the opposite party and its leadership). It's not government's job to control the economy, it's their job to get the hell out of the way and allow the market to cleanse itself. Anything else just sets the market up for failure, another day.

Think of it as resuscitating a terminal cancer patient, only to have the patient die next week.

Richard Wright Dies

From the LA Times comes this story:

Richard Wright, the founding member of Pink Floyd whose piano and synthesizer work played a critical part in the pioneering British psychedelic rock band's ethereal sound, died Monday after a short battle with cancer, his spokesman said. He was 65.

Coming to grips with one's mortality is often difficult enough. Losing a parent usually helps facilitate this stage of human development. When entertainers, athletes, and one's own peers pass, it only serves to reinforce it.



He will be missed.

"Race" For The Presidency - Part II

(You can read part one here, if you haven't already.)


In her op-ed piece from September 2, Fatimah Ali said this:

If McCain wins, look for a full-fledged race and class war, fueled by a deflated and depressed country, soaring crime, homelessness - and hopelessness!

These are her exact words. But now, she wants to try and tap dance her way out of them in today's follow-up column.

I stand by the column - but after all of that backlash, I realize I was dead wrong. We don't have to wait until after the election for a race war. We're in one now.

I know that putting the words "race" and "war" together is like hurling an incendiary device. But I wasn't issuing a call to arms, it was a metaphorical prediction.

As you may guess, this column generated some backlash. She goes on to give multiple examples of some pretty nasty responses, all of which are offensive and uncalled for, to say the least. And suffice it to say there are always going to be hateful people that are ugly and inappropriate, especially when one writes inappropriate material for human consumption. But nowhere does she give examples of those that take her words to task appropriately, with good cause.

Here some good responses to her race-baiting threats that she chose not to use, because they take her to task for her weak and faulty claims:

There is a lot of hyperbole going around here. Pols in both parties have benefited from this administration's policies. But I agree that the threat of a "race war" is over the top and I am sure the author regrets writing it and maybe should do a follow-up column apologizing. With friends like these, Obama needs no enemies.

Sorry I'm late to the discussion. I just got out of the soup line, and man...it was around the block. See if you can spot all of the Democratic talking points in this story...Whoo boy!! I think she hit them all: The Republicans have "brutalized the economy" (which actually grew by 3.3% last quarter, still no sign of the long-promised recession)If the Republicans win, the race struggles will continue, but Obama can unite us all. This lady has seen (and bought into) too many movies. Remember when Clinton was in the White House, and a 5.5% unemployment rate was seen as good news? How amazing is it that 8 years later that same unemployment rate is the indicator of how far this country has fallen. Hypocrisy, thy name is Fatimah Ali.

This may be one of the most ignorant articles I have ever read and I am considering stopping my print subscriptions. Taxing the hell out of the wealthy corporations will do nothing but drive more jobs overseas.Second, you have to remember the top 1% of wealthy people pay 27 times the national average in taxes. These people pay more than enough. Obama would bring in nothing but a semi-communist regime.

This is probably the most radical and overtly disgusting op-ed I have EVER read in my life!

all out race war if obama loses? what have we learned about the author from previous columns? she's a 'black' woman who lives in an all white neighborhood, who's greatest fear is that her son will be killed by white policemen. (her words, not mine) she won't live among fellow blacks, but sees herself as their spokeswoman. who's side does she take in the upcoming 'race war', the people she looks like, but is too good to live among, or the one's she chosen to call 'neighbors'? lol.

Of course there will be race and class wars...because this election is built on race, not who is better to serve this country. And if obama doesnt win, then people will riot of course because thats what they always do. Guess what, i know people who are close to foreclosure and unemployed, and guess whats going to happen if Obama wins...absolutely nothing, are my friends going to get their house back and a good job...no they arent..you know why there is soaring crime, because kids arent going to school (i.e. detroit has a 12% high school graduation rate), and illegal immigrants are committing crimes all across the country and nobody is doing anything about it. Is it George Bush's fault kids arent going to high school? No its not, people need to quit pointing the finger at politicians and take a little responsibility for whats going on...

I could go on and on, the entire comment section is full of comments that address her irresponsible prose and most of them are not racist, but honest opinions of why the commenters think her words are divisive and flat-out wrong. They are no more offensive than the columnist's own words.

I see it like this:

The accepted establishment of black elitists are behind a black man with corrupt Chicago roots and if the rest of the country fails to elect him President, it's evidence (in their narrow world) that America is a racist nation. Furthermore, that very same establishment is already planting seeds of discord among the many disaffected black people that have been kept down - not by "whitey" - but by those that need them kept down so they can get votes or some other secondary gain as a result.

Fatimah Ali appears to be just one member of that group. She probably would not have any audience at all, if there were no Jesse Jacksons, Al Sharptons, or other national race baiters that seek to use every perceived injustice as a means to justify their own existences.

Despicable, they are. But even more troubling, it says they want a race war if Obama loses.

Never mind that Obama is not a mainstream Democrat, nor is he one that will do all of the miraculous things we are being led to believe he will do, if elected. Never mind that many people feel he is too inexperienced, too much of a proponent of class warfare, and too much of a tax and spend liberal, America is racist if they refuse to buy into his deceptions and facades, because the candidate is a black man.

If Bill Cosby were running for President, I'd seriously give him a look. But make no mistake, based on some of the speeches he has given over the years, I would be willing to bet that he would NOT be embraced by Ms. Ali and her fellow race-based rhetoric producing peers. In their clique, there is only a certain kind of black person that is fit to represent, and one who talks anything about personal responsibility does not meet the criteria.

Discovery

Saturday, I was giving Charlie Gibson the benefit of the doubt. I try to be fair. I still firmly believe that Gibson had every right to ask some of his questions. Equally, we the people had the right to hear the answers. But since the time I wrote the post I am referencing, we have learned some things:


1. The interview was cut and spliced to show an inexperienced religious fanatic.

Most of us have seen the interview by now, perhaps most of us have seen the claims made by Mark Levin. And although I am still not ready to pin this completely at the feet of Gibson, it's clear that someone probably gave the order to hammer her and made the conscious decision to doctor the footage to attain this objective.


2. ABC very likely used trick photography in the interview.

Thanks to AICS at Logic Lifeline, we can look at some compelling evidence made by someone that claims he works is a director in Hollywood. Who he says he is, is not as important as what he is saying right here.

I caught a commercial teaser for the Charlie Gibson interview of Sarah Palin and something caught my attention as a Director immediately: The use of the position and choice of lenses to minimalize Governor Palin.

I am no expert in cinematography, but I would have little trouble believing there is something to this.


3. We do know that Charles Gibson twisted her words.

All you have to do is listen to video here at Newt Gingrich's site. In fact, we know the entire premise of the question was designed to portray Palin as a right-wing Christian zealot. So in one sense, it really shouldn't come as any big surprise. But as Newt's videos also show, Sarah Palin is not the first person to invoke God into a political conversation.

The real key to focus on is not what the media makes her out to be. Focus on her record. There is no evidence she ever used her positions to legislate her personal beliefs. Not only this, but we simply cannot lose sight of the fact that Sen. McCain is the candidate for President, not Gov. Palin.

I am not a member of mainstream Christianity and do not meet the criteria for political evangelical, in any way, shape, or form. As most of you know, I march to a different drummer than most on that topic.

I am a values voter, but never have I supported a political ideology being legislated directly out of a church of any kind. So, I realistically cannot be painted with that brush. But it does seem to me that the secular world is taking this anti-God and anti-Christian crusade way too far. And from the way things are looking today, it would appear that Gibson has played right into their strategy.

It's amazing what you will learn, once a thing can be scrutinized and analyzed, for greater understanding and clarity.