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					  <title><![CDATA[Hail and Farewell to the Colts]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1465/Hail-and-Farewell-to-the-Colts.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; I used to be a fan of the Baltimore Colts. &#160;Note that I said Baltimore, not Indianapolis. And fan is too weak a word.&#160; For those who were there at the beginning we were not just fans. &#160;We were adherents in a secular religion where devotion was expected, and attendance at the services was mandatory. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;My grandfather was an executive of MeCormick &#38; Co., and a civic servant, including chairman of the Parks Board. &#160;He was part of a group of men who bought the new franchise to town with 10 players from the St. Louis Browns in 1953.&#160; They were a poor team. &#160;Y.A, Tittle, quarterback of the previous incarnation of the Colts, was also unsuccessful in completing passes and winning games.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;As Tittle said with sad self-awareness, &#34;You can&#8217;t complete many passes flat on your back with a lineman on your chest.&#34;&#160; Then came Johnny Unitas. &#160;For the 90-cent cost of a long distance call, Baltimore acquired this gangly, crew-cut quarterback from a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Cut to the chase:&#160;I&#8217;ve seen magic on the football field. &#160;I was there in 1958 in Yankee Stadium when the Colts played the Giants for the championship.&#160; With !:42 to go in the game, the Giants led by three points.&#160; They were stopped on their own 42 with a yard to go. They decided, logically, to kick the ball deep into Baltimore territory. &#160;On that stop, defensive tackle Gino Marchetti&#8217;s leg was broken.&#160; He refused to leave the field until the game was over.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In that final drive to tie the game and send it into overtime, four times Unitas completed passes to Raymond Berry. &#160;Here&#8217;s how that was done: Berry went downfield ten yards, turned straight toward the sideline. At the line, he fell forward like a cut tree, just his toes in bounds.&#160; Unitas put the ball in his hands on the way down. &#160;There was no defense.&#160; In overtime, the Colts stopped the Giants, and marched down the field to win on a touchdown by Alan Ameche.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Even bad results are still memorable.&#160; In a down period for the Baltimore Colts, we were at Memorial Stadium in December in the snow when the Chicago Bears came to town. &#160;The Bears beat the Colts 60-0.&#160; We stayed to the end. &#160;As my father said, &#34;You do not desert your team.&#34;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Child psychologists will tell you that events in adolescence, for getter or worse, burrow in and stay in the psyche for life.&#160; I was 15 when the Colts beat the Giants in overtime in &#34;the greatest game ever played.&#34; &#160;It was also a great game for the future of pro football.&#160; The nation&#160;saw the broadcast of that first, overtime championship game.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Then came that horrible day in March, 1984, when the air-conditioning magnate from Indianapolis, Robert Irsay, snuck the Colts out of Baltimore in a snow shower in the dead of night. &#160;For decades after that, I would see the &#34;Colts&#34; on television and get a shudder to see those white helmets with blue horseshoes, but on the wrong heads and in the wrong place.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Were we supposed to root for these strangers in a strange land?&#160; Still, they were the Colts, weren&#8217;t they?&#160; As time passed, the various sports reporters and announcers ceased their occasional Freudian slips in calling the team the &#34;Baltimore&#34; Colts.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;This year&#8217;s Super Bowl was finally the turning point. &#160;I was able to watch a group of men, wearing those ever-so-familiar blue and white uniforms, lead by a quarterback who had the ability to perform miracles with a football, and yet be dispassionate about the results.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;From a sense of poetry, this year&#8217;s crown belonged to the Saints.&#160; No one gave it to them.&#160; They went out and took it, with hard work, and with great heart.&#160; I have affection for New Orleans. &#160;I had my chance to go there for college.&#160; Full tuition, board, and expenses.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;But going to college that close to the French Quarter, with the music, food, and lifestyle that I so love, it would have taken me at least seven years to complete a four-year degree. But that&#8217;s a story for another day.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Politics are my game, as you well know. &#160;One last comment about the difference between football and politics.&#160; As my wife said yesterday, several times, &#34;Why take that seriously? &#160;It&#8217;s only a game.&#34;&#160; True enough.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Imagine what politics would be like if it were run like football. &#160;Six cameras with playback and slow-motion capacities on you at all times. &#160;A team of honest referees watching every move. &#160;Under those circumstances, how many men would be doing time in the Big House rather than &#34;serving&#34; as members of Congress?]]></description>
					  <author>John Armor</author>
					  <pubDate>Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[White Racism]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1464/White-Racism.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;
&#160;














White Racism&#160;(Part 2)&#160;Nancy MorganRightBias.comFebruary 7, 2010 


&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Although I didn't vote for Barack Obama, I welcomed the election of a black man to America's highest office.&#160; I assumed his election signaled that white America had finally atoned for the sin of slavery. &#160;I assumed that Martin Luther King's dream of judging a man by the content of his character instead of the color of his skin had become a reality.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; No more would I have to spend my life proving a negative, as in ''I am not a racist.'' No more would I have to automatically lower my voice when issues of race entered the conversation.&#160; No more would I have to censor my thoughts and actions when dealing with people whose skin color differed from my own.&#160; Alas, I was wrong.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;America's elites seem intent on continuing to identify citizens by their skin color instead of their character or achievements.&#160; Case in point: This February has been designated by President Obama as National African American History Month, sending the clear message that black history is separate from the history of everyone else. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Hispanics also have their own Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15) in which they focus on their own cultural achievements, as distinct from American culture.&#160; Even American Indians have their own Native American Heritage Month.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;With all this focus on celebrating multiculturalism, whites, especially white Christians have gotten a bum rap.&#160; For the last 40 years white Americans have been blamed for all of the world's ills.&#160; Possessing white skin is automatically associated with oppression, slavery, paternalism and colonialism.&#160; And everyone knows that's bad stuff.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; No-one has dared point out the absolutely phenomenal achievements of White Americans.&#160; That would be considered racist, under the faulty assumption that any white achievement necessarily demeans or excludes black achievements. &#160;This premise, however, doesn't apply when touting black progress, or Hispanic progress, or progress of any group not burdened with white skin.&#160; 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Last week, the city of Farmington, New Mexico, unanimously voted not to participate in any event celebrating a proposed &#34;white history month.&#34;&#160; As a white American, this tells me that whites are still not allowed to celebrate their own achievements.&#160; The media backed, self anointed race hustlers have decreed that whites are still the oppressors and blacks are still the victims, despite all the evidence to the contrary.&#160; Whites must still atone for the sin of being white.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;NBC is currently being lambasted for the sin of offering fried chicken on the menu of a special NBC Black History Month lunch spread. How dare they point out that blacks like fried chicken! &#160;I guess its a good thing they didn't offer watermelon on the menu, as that might have triggered a national boycott. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; No-one, however, is questioning the overt paternalism and outright racism evidenced by billionaire Bill Gates. &#160;His Millennium Scholarship Project specifically excludes whites from participating.&#160; That kind of racism is OK. &#160;After all, it perpetuates the myth that whites are the ones with all the power. Tell that to the increasing number of whites displaced under the racial spoils system that operates under the benignly named ''affirmative action.''
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; If Obama were truly a 'post-racial' president, I would be allowed to comment on the fact that blacks dominate the NBA.&#160; I wouldn't give a thought to mentioning the overwhelming percentage of blacks working for the postal service. &#160;I could, without fear, comment on the fact that most blacks dance a heck of a lot better than whites.&#160;
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; But no, for a white to dare mention cultural differences between blacks and whites is verboten. But when blacks set aside a whole month to celebrate these very differences, it is somehow acceptable.&#160; What's wrong with this picture?&#160; And how much longer will whites have to atone for the sins of their ancestors?&#160; Inquiring minds want to know.White Racism: Part 1]]></description>
					  <author>Nancy Morgan</author>
					  <pubDate>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[Stone Soup:  What Liberals Are Cooking Up for 2010]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1463/Stone-Soup--What-Liberals-Are-Cooking-Up-for-2010.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Most of us have heard the fairy tale, ''Stone Soup.''&#160; This children&#8217;s story in its many versions gives an account of a hungry traveler in a time of economic hardship who enters a village with nothing more than a cooking pot and a stone.&#160; Through creative manipulation, the villagers are made to believe that a simple stone can produce a wonderful soup. &#160;Little by little, the villagers add vegetables and other tasty tidbits to the stone soup until finally, and almost magically, they have a bountiful, scrumptious pot of soup to eat.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Now, many that tell this story attempt to dig up a positive moral to what transpired around the bubbling pot. &#160;Some say that the people came together and shared resources and that this story shows that by ourselves, we may be able to nibble on a single vegetable, but working together, we can enjoy tasty soup. &#160;However, the truth is much darker and speaks of manipulation and trickery. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Think about it for a moment. &#160;If we are to find a fundamental truth in the story, ''Stone Soup,'' it is that there is a sucker born every day. &#160;Yes, the people of the village were tricked, duped, hoodwinked, bamboozled. &#160;Taking this story to its truthful conclusion, the shyster of this story was probably wanted in several counties for soup fraud and conspiracy to market false condiments. &#160;The deeper lesson from this story is that deception has almost no limits, or places that it cannot flourish, if it is crafted well. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Liberal Democrats are about to hit some very hard political times.&#160; I have a feeling that votes are going to be about as hard to find in many political races as food was in this story. &#160;So, as was the case with the trickster that worked to fill a pot with the labors and fruits of others, the American people are going to be offered bowl after bowl of good liberal cooking all the way to the mid-term elections in 2010. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; This dish starts with the rejection of the current reality that Democrats will most certainly lose their majority in the House and many seats in the Senate.&#160; From USA Today on down the line, liberals are attempting to slice and dice the historic loss of Ted Kennedy&#8217;s seat in Massachusetts by saying that Scott Brown has a liberal aroma which mitigates the national implications of the Democrats&#8217; defeat in one of the bluest of the blue states.&#160; This crushing defeat becomes part of a series of losses including elections in New Jersey and Virginia&#160;that Democrats said were nothing more than local discontent.&#160; I can hear the falsehoods clanking at the bottom of the pot, and soon you will be asked to submit your contribution.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; The largest of these salt-covered lies will be that Americans have given the president a mandate to do whatever he wants with this country and will not hold him or supporting members of Congress accountable at the polls for the atrocious actions that have been heaped upon this nation from Washington. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The president&#8217;s State of the Union address in all its arrogance and condescension has more than filled the nostrils of the nation with the truth of the distasteful dishes this president still wishes to place on our plates.&#160; Only the &#8220;Stone Soupers&#8221; fail to smell what the &#8220;Barack&#8221; is cooking at this stage of the game. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The question is whether people are going to order something better for this country or simply lie back and leave it to the cooks that are currently in the kitchen.&#160; If voters decide to go with the latter, they had better be prepared to relinquish everything they hold precious into the bottomless bubbling pot of a new American reality.&#160; 
&#160;]]></description>
					  <author>Paul A. Ibbetson</author>
					  <pubDate>Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[Hello There, Mr. President!]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1462/Hello-There-Mr-President.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; I&#160;did not watch your State of the Union speech.&#160; I already know the state of the union. &#160;It is at the point where the &#8220;lipstick on this pig&#8221; analogy is looking more and more apropos. &#160;I did not watch your speech, because quite frankly I am tired of the 365/24/7 campaigning. &#160;I suspected that it would be more of the same. &#160;It was--basically.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;You already have the job.&#160; Do it. &#160;Making speeches, although necessary, is not the raison d'&#234;tre of the office.&#160; I did read and hear excerpts of your speech, and I did not get a &#8220;thrill up my leg.&#8221;&#160; I experienced a shiver down my spine, which I suspect you do know, is an entirely different sensation. &#160;If I may be so bold, allow me to offer some suggestions for you to bring back the thrill for your disciples. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#34;With all due deference to&#34; the office of the president, it was unseemly for you to use the forum of the state of the union, to bash the justices of the United States Supreme Court, while they sat there--captive.&#160; It suggested a lack of class, and unfamiliarity with the word &#8220;dignity.&#8221; &#160; 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#34;With all due deference to&#34; the office of the president, you are giving&#160; a good impression of being unfamiliar with the meaning of the word &#34;lie,&#34; as in not telling the truth. Are you applying the precedent of &#8220;it depends on the meaning of the word is&#8221;? &#160;That has been discredited.&#160; I have no great love for most politicians because the joke about knowing when they lie because &#8220;their lips are moving,&#8221; is a snug fit for far too many.&#160; But, I will point out lies when I hear or read about them. &#160;&#34;Leaving a mountain of debt,&#34; is quite ingenious. You inherited a &#8220;molehill&#8221; of debt and promptly turned it into a &#8220;mountain.&#8221; &#160;Your tripling the federal deficit fits the bill.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;How can you convince me that, every time your lip moves, that you are not lying?&#160;Go to your favorite venue, in front of the cameras, without your favorite companion, the Teleprompter,&#160;and confess that you knowingly and deliberately lied to us.&#160; While you are at that venue, bring out a box of personal papers and hold them up to the camera, and make the papers available for impartial scrutiny.&#160; No, I am not a &#8220;birther.&#8221;&#160; My personal opinion of the birth status of a president is as follows. &#160;I do believe that the president of this republic should have been born of parents, who are both native born citizens of the U.S., with no first generation ties to another country, in order to prevent possible situations of divided loyalty. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The papers that I am talking about are the school records and work records.&#160; Your actions do not suggest those of someone with the required experience to run this country. When reports continue to come in that you have spent almost $2 million to forestall scrutiny, you are leaving an inescapable impression that you do have something to hide.&#160; Oh, you can also toss in the records of all of those who contributed to getting you elected, all for the sake of transparency, which you did promise.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;How else can you make me experience the &#8220;thrill up the leg&#8221;?&#160; You could declare that we are in a war against fanatics of the Muslim religion, who want to kill us.&#160; You could &#34;man up&#34; by telling them to stop killing your fellow citizens, or they will be killed.&#160; Follow through. You would convince them that there are no 72 virgins.&#160; Part of that &#8220;manning up&#8221; demeanor and action, would be to cease and desist in granting foreign terrorist killers the same rights as American citizens, while persecuting U.S. troops relentlessly. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I am tired of the jokes about only tax cheats being able to be hired for your administration.&#160; Tighten up that criterion.&#160; Get rid of the sycophants with whom you appear to have surrounded yourself.&#160; You need men and women who can look you in the eye and tell you: &#8220;Mr. President, that is a crock of (definitely not stew)!&#8221; &#160;One qualification for the possible replacements should be total familiarity with, and the devout practice of telling one truth, not variations of the &#34;same truth.&#34; &#160;You may want to set the example.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Please go into counseling for your spending habits, spending of the people's money from the U.S. Treasury. &#160;The descendents of today&#8217;s toddlers should not be made to work to support 21st century excesses. &#160;Please stop saying &#34;Let me be clear.&#34;&#160; Please promise to never again accuse &#34;we the people&#34; of &#34;not getting it,&#34; and therefore causing you to make more speeches.&#160; We get it.&#160; We the taxpayers are&#160;adults.&#160; We no longer need scolding from a &#34;father.&#34;&#160; Stop with the head tilted and jaw thrust out stance.&#160; It suggests &#8220;posturing,&#8221; as in theater.&#160; Don't ever say again, &#8220;I took my share of blank.&#8221; That is not presidential or prudent.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I almost forgot.&#160; Stop with healthcare reform, fondly labeled &#8220;ObamaCare,&#8221; even if you generously decide to share in the pain of the same plan.&#160; Keep in mind that your &#34;Cadillac,&#34; more like a Lexus plan, along with the other perks of the job, (170 parties?), are being paid for by the sweat, blood, and tears of&#160;us the taxpayers.&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I have laid out a blueprint.&#160; Make the necessary corrections, so I can take baby steps and learn to respect you. &#160;I so want to experience the thrill of being proud of a president who has a &#8220;muscular&#8221; foreign policy, and listens to &#8220;We the people.&#8221;&#160; As you have stated, it is not about you.&#160; Prove it. ]]></description>
					  <author>Ercille I. Christmas</author>
					  <pubDate>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[Marriage:  It&#39;s Complicated]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1461/Marriage--Its-Complicated.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; My wife took me to see Nancy Meyers&#8217; new movie, &#8220;It&#8217;s Complicated,&#8221; which stars Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin.&#160; She had seen it a day or two before and wanted to see it with me, saying, &#8220;It would be good for us.&#8221;&#160; Honestly, I do tend to like what is typically labeled &#8220;chick flicks&#8221; but don&#8217;t like director Nancy Meyers&#8217; perfect world, perfect rich characters, perfect looking people, dressed and coifed just perfectly.&#160; But, for the sake of marital harmony, I agreed. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I didn&#8217;t expect what followed.&#160; Throughout the movie, my wife was jabbing me in the ribs whenever she wanted me to notice a point being made that she felt related to me or us.&#160; So, I left with bruised ribs, which ached even more toward the end of the movie during the one, truly hilarious scene.&#160; I really enjoyed laughing that hard, in spite of the pained ribs, which I&#8217;ve totally exaggerated for sympathy.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Without a doubt, the best thing about the movie is that comic scene near the end.&#160; &#8220;It&#8217;s Complicated&#8221; is also that rare movie title that really works and has so many other relevant meanings related to life, marriage, raising kids, and even a Facebook status.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;There&#8217;s a definite reason that second marriages fail more than first ones, and third marriages fail even at a higher rate.&#160; Our lives are that much more complicated the further we progress into them.&#160; Add to the mix children, aging parents, job changes and losses, menopause, weight gain, and other health issues, and you tend to wonder how we can get along at all as we get older and these things crop up.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;There were countless marital clich&#233;s in Ms. Meyers' movie, like how couples &#8220;drift apart,&#8221; &#8220;don&#8217;t work hard enough at it&#8221; or wind up &#8220;living separate lives,&#8221; none of which were necessarily exact quotes from the movie though all were spiritually in tune with the script.&#160; My wife wanted me to see how this couple allowed their relationship to aimlessly drift apart, even though they had terrific chemistry and three wonderful kids.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;This was a familiar scenario, but it made us wonder in discussion afterward, how often couples do give up on each other, don&#8217;t put in the effort to keep things vibrant, or as in the case of the movie look elsewhere for affection and love, thus fatally damaging the marriage. &#160;Should an affair end a marriage? Well, we&#8217;ll address that another time as I have some strong opinions on that subject. &#160;In our marriage, we&#8217;ve just remained stubborn, set in our ways, and unwilling to change.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;That admission notwithstanding, we are equally willing to recognize and own our faults, occasionally admit them out loud, and try to change them.&#160; The &#8220;try&#8221; part is the operative word and a mutual challenge.&#160; I am very stuck in my habits and patterns.&#160; Further, as a couple we&#8217;ve become a bit stuck in a cyclical pattern where one of us has hurt feelings and retreats from the relationship with various excuses such as being tired, having work to do, or other equally lame and childish efforts to avoid what is really on our minds.&#160; I&#8217;ll speak for myself in saying that it&#8217;s cowardly and I hate when I&#8217;m doing it. &#160;I&#8217;m actually ashamed of myself, but I&#8217;m too stubborn to back off.&#160; It&#8217;s a classic lose-lose, but I&#8217;m right in my mind, even when I&#8217;m sleeping on the couch.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I know I&#8217;m not alone in these sorts of interactions as I hear examples of them every Monday night in my men&#8217;s group.&#160; I thank God for these men as they remind me how often it is my reaction that aggravates the situation when my wife says something I find upsetting.&#160; To take a phrase from our group, how I &#8220;show up&#8221; makes all the difference in whether a small incident escalates to a fight or I can &#8220;let it go,&#8221; maybe give my wife a hug even when I&#8217;m irritated with her, and move on vs. hanging on.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In a recent therapy session, our therapist had&#160;these wise words.&#160; He said that in the vast majority of marital arguments, both sides are right to some degree or another.&#160; But, what difference does it make?&#160; What good is being right if your partner, whom you supposedly love, is upset?&#160; Frankly, it&#8217;s childish. &#160;I stand by my rightness far too much and I lose as a result, let alone that I&#8217;ve hurt the woman I love and chose to share my life with.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Yes, relationships are complicated.&#160; But it takes two to make them work or fail and I&#8217;m grateful that I have a partner who is willing to admit her mistakes as readily as I will admit mine.&#160; Where there&#8217;s that kind of communication, there&#8217;s hope and every chance to have a beautiful nurturing relationship.&#160; Stay tuned.
]]></description>
					  <author>Bruce Sallan</author>
					  <pubDate>Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[In Maine, It Doesn&#39;t Pay to Be a Man]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1458/In-Maine-It-Doesnt-Pay-to-Be-a-Man.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Practically everyone in town knows Amy Dugas is a serial batterer.&#160; But the Maine criminal justice system keeps finding ways to keep her from facing the music.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In 2004, Amy assaulted her husband Mark in their home in Waldoboro.&#160; When the police officer came to arrest her, she kicked him in the groin.&#160; The judge released her on bail, ordering her to refrain from using weapons.&#160; Four months later she stabbed Mark with a foot-long kitchen knife, fatally severing his pulmonary artery. &#160;At the trial, she got away with the trusty ''I-feared-for-my-life'' alibi.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Two years later, Dugas spent 125 days in jail following an attack on a male friend. &#160;In 2007 she was arrested again, this time for assaulting Brian Pelletier, her new husband of three weeks.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Each time, Amy Dugas was let off the hook with a chivalrous slap on the wrist, even though many were demanding that she do hard time at the state pen. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;No doubt about it: Maine&#8217;s domestic violence industry has friends in high places.&#160; One of them is Mary Kellett, assistant district attorney for the Bar Harbor area.&#160; Think of her as Michael Nifong on steroids.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Inspired by feminist Catherine Comins&#8217; sneer, &#8220;Men who are unjustly accused of rape can sometimes gain from the experience,&#8221; Kellett has taken to prosecuting every allegation of sexual misconduct, often ignoring glaring inconsistencies in the woman&#8217;s account or clear evidence of consensual activity: http://www.fillerfund.com/marykellett.htm 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In one case, Kellett summed up the case to the jury with this comment, &#8220;There has been no evidence presented to you as the jury that would suggest that a sexual act hadn't occurred on those dates,&#8221; revealing a sad ignorance of the legal principle that the burden of proof falls on the plaintiff. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In another trial, Kellett did not present a shred of physical evidence, prompting the defense attorney to comment: &#8220;We were just very surprised with the only evidence the state had, that they brought these charges at all.&#8221;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Unfortunately for her prosecutorial victims, none of them play lacrosse at an exclusive university or have wealthy parents to hire high-powered attorneys. &#160;As a result, many have spent months in jail awaiting their trial.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It gets worse.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Maine now has a law enforcement policy that says, in effect, if a woman punches the living daylights out of her husband, somehow it must be the man&#8217;s fault. &#160;&#8220;Identifying Predominant Aggressors in Domestic Violence Cases&#8221; is a training guide put together by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy: http://www.maine.gov/dps/mcja/docs/Mandatory-Law/Predominant%20Aggressor.doc 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;A little background: It is well known that many domestic violence incidents are mutual in nature: she slaps him, he shoves back.&#160; One study by Centers for Disease Control researcher Daniel Whitaker reported fully half of all incidents of partner aggression are mutual. &#160;More often than not, it&#8217;s the woman who instigated the incident. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;So when the police arrive on the scene, they need to decide who to stick in the Paddy Wagon. &#160;For years, police used the commonsense yardstick, ''Who started the fight?'' But feminists don&#8217;t cotton to that approach because, truth be told, too many women were getting arrested.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;So they reached into their bag of tricks and--abracadabra--&#8220;Predominant aggressor&#8221; magically appeared in the law enforcement lexicon.&#160; Any guesses who the predominant aggressor might be?
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Before I give away the punch line, you may want to see for yourself the Ms.-Information that the Predominant Aggressor curriculum bandies around:
1. The idea that abuse can be mutual is a &#8220;misconception&#8221; (I say so, it must be true.)
2. &#8220;DV is the leading cause of injuries to women between the ages of 15-44 in the U.S.&#8221; (It&#8217;s also a proven fact that the moon is made of Swiss cheese and the 9/11 attacks were masterminded by the CIA.)
3. Even if the violence is mutual, it&#8217;s bad to arrest both parties because the &#8220;batterer gains more power.&#8221;&#160; (Don&#8217;t ask to see the research. I&#8217;m the one with the mike and I&#8217;ll give you the boot if you start to ask questions.)
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Then the curriculum goes on to enumerate the types of violence that it whimsically classifies as defensive:
1. Face scratches
2. Eye gouges
3. Bites to arm
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Go ahead, ladies, scratch his face and gouge his eyes out. You can always say it was in self-defense--and now they&#8217;ll have to take you at your word.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Patrick Henry College professor Stephen Baskerville has recently issued a stunning indictment of our contemporary criminal justice system, lambasting it as a &#8220;Feminist Gulag.&#8221;&#160; Now in Maine, a man can be killed in cold blood without consequence to the perpetrator, prosecuted for rape with the flimsiest of evidence, or framed in a partner dispute on account of his sex.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;And whatever happened to the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution?
&#160;]]></description>
					  <author>Carey Roberts</author>
					  <pubDate>Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[The Great Green Land-Grab]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1457/The-Great-Green-Land-Grab.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;All across America, various environmental organizations have been engaged in schemes to deter development such as housing, new energy plants, or the horror of a manufacturing facility that might actually employ people. &#160;In some states, the attack has been on farms and ranches, finding ways to punish their owners for improving their land in any fashion such as digging a drainage ditch. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Property rights were deemed so essential, so important to the economic future of America that the Founding Fathers wrote an amendment to the Constitution to protect those rights, ensuring that private property could not be taken for public use &#8220;without just compensation.&#8221; 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;As far as environmentalists are concerned, private property rights are an impediment to the &#8220;protection&#8221; of what they always describe as &#8220;pristine&#8221; forests, deserts, or some horrid wilderness such as the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve.&#160; ANWR is unfit for human habitation, but it does have countless thousands of caribou and several billion barrels of untapped oil beneath a &#8220;pristine&#8221; surface.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In a small state like New Jersey, land and its proper use has been a major concern from its earliest years.&#160; The state got its moniker, &#8220;the Garden State,&#8221; from the many farms in its southern half, although there are some in the north.&#160; One can drive up Route 78 through the northern portion and see horse farms and even cattle being raised.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Beyond its urban centers, there are large, verdant areas in which one can find small, picturesque suburbs and one of those areas is known as the Highlands. &#160;It is a 1,400- square-mile region, some 860,000 acres, extending from the northern border with New York and including land in Sussex, Warren, Passaic, Morris, and Hunterdon Counties. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act was enacted in 2004 and signed into law by former Governor James McGreevey whose lamentable and mercifully abbreviated term in office was cut short when, in the wake of a scandal concerning a young man whom he had put on the state payroll, he announced he was a homosexual and resigned.&#160; 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Put into motion in 2006, the state&#8217;s largest daily newspaper, The Star-Ledger, editorialized that &#8220;Development controls are so sweeping that perhaps less than 20 percent of land in the region is left available for construction, even in the half of the region lawmakers had targeted for future growth. &#160;That small amount of buildable acreage could be cut further when additional rules, such as new regulations for septic systems, are completed.&#8221;
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The area in question is a watershed and the environmental claim was that any further construction or use of it posed a threat to water quality and that the area, home to abundant wildlife, needed to be subject to all manner of regulation and restrictions to protect it against the humans who had been living there since before the American Revolution. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;There never was a need for the Highlands Act. &#160;Existing environmental laws were and are sufficient, but the objective was to render the huge tract of land beyond any development, to reduce the value of its homes and other structures, and generally put it off limits.&#160; This kind of green gangsterism is part of the reason why, along with high taxation, and senseless spending, more people leave New Jersey than move here.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; In 2007, northern New Jersey farmers and landowners affected by the Highlands Act made plans to contest it in court to protect their loss of equity and private property rights. Consider if you owned a home in this vast region and wanted to sell it.&#160; Who would buy it knowing that you could not add a porch, a swimming pool, or even some swings for kids to play on?&#160; If you were a farmer almost any normal act of tillage or harvest could be ruled a danger to the environment.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;As a Star-Ledger columnist, Paul Mulshine, pointed out in July 2007, &#8220;The purpose of the plan was not to redistribute development, but to stop it entirely. &#160;And the way the law was written is positively Machiavellian.&#160; The Highlands law amounts to an ingenious effort by the state to grab as much land as possible without leaving the state open to a court challenge under the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment.&#8221;
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I was reminded of this appalling piece of environmental chicanery when a story appeared in The Star-Ledger in late January. &#8220;A report by Gov. Chris Christie&#8217;s transition team calls the Highlands Council &#8216;a disaster on multiple levels&#8217; and recommends cutting the water-protection agency&#8217;s powers over local zoning or eliminating it.&#8221;
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It has taken six years of suffering by the many landowners of the affected area and frustration among the many local officials in towns affected by this hideous land grab to finally reach a point where something might begin to be done to repeal the act and return the legislatively stolen property rights. 
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;All around America, similar actions have been occurring, spurred on by various environmental groups, and all intended to drive out farmers and ranchers, to kill any development of any kind, and to abrogate the constitutional protection of private property in every way possible.
&#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It is part of a vast matrix of efforts to destroy the nation&#8217;s economic growth and it is too often successful.&#160; Given their antipathy to all human activity, if the Greens had their way, they would put up signs everywhere that would say, &#8220;Keep Out!&#8221;]]></description>
					  <author>Alan Caruba</author>
					  <pubDate>Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[Not-So-Famous Last Words]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1456/Not-So-Famous-Last-Words.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;This weekend I&#8217;m going to be at Carter Hall in Millwood, Va., presenting a lecture on message development for candidates and elected officials. &#160;It&#8217;s part of the University of Virginia&#8217;s Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The Institute is a high-minded outfit that &#8220;seeks to improve political leadership in Virginia, thereby strengthening the quality of governance at all levels of government.&#8221;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I&#8217;ve always wondered why Sorenson risks damaging its reputation by associating with a disreputable character such as I, but after looking at the my day&#8217;s agenda, I suspect I&#8217;m comic relief brought in to liven up the proceedings after a few hours of lectures on campaign finance and ethics.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Media consultants can always rely on video to recapture the audience&#8217;s attention, even if you have to speak during the after-lunch siesta that has been my slot for years.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The Sorenson sessions are a genuine bipartisan gathering brought together by an extremely tolerant executive director, Marc Johnson.&#160;&#160;That means that&#160;I have to watch what I say so as to only mildly offend the Democrats in attendance.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;This is not all that hard, even for me.&#160; Message development--as opposed to actual messages--concerns the process of constructing a message rather than any particular content.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;One of the most useful segments for Republicans and Democrats is the section on the 7-Step Message Filter.&#160; When applied correctly, the steps should result in a message that resonates with the public and results in victory.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Of course, the first six are useful enough, but number seven is absolutely crucial: do you have evidence that the message is effective?&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;There is always room for operator error in any political communication operation, but I&#8217;ve always thought this point would be obvious.&#160; If the message is not working, it&#8217;s time for a new message.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;At least among my Sorenson alumni, this is not a controversial observation.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;But this concept does not appear to be the prevailing opinion in the Obama White House, where they are preparing to double-down on ObamaCare.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The president believes three consecutive defeats for Democrat statewide candidates by conservative Republicans--in states that voted for him last year--is no reason to consider sending his health care &#8220;reform&#8221; to the nearest death panel.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Although I will admit that it was difficult to make out his exact words over the roar of Democrat House members overturning the furniture as they fled for the exits.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In an effort to reinforce the dissemination of a losing message, he&#8217;s brought back David Plouffe, his 2008 campaign manager, to advise his communications shop. &#160;Plouffe wrote Sunday that the key to winning in 2010 for Democrats is voting for ObamaCare and holding your breath until you pass out.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Oxygen deprivation could be a useful strategy compared to Obama&#8217;s actual plans.&#160; In an interview with ABC, he declared: &#8220;The one thing I&#8217;m clear about is that I&#8217;d rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president&#8230;there&#8217;s a tendency in Washington to think that the job description of elected officials is to get re-elected.&#160; That&#8217;s not our job description.&#8221;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Translation: I&#8217;m holding a suicide pact signing party and I expect all the Democrat House and Senate members to join me.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It is difficult to think of a more discouraging motivational speech for your closest supporters unless it&#8217;s Joseph Goebbels offering to share his pills with you in the F&#252;hrerbunker.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Often after a defeat you&#8217;ll hear a candidate complain: &#8220;We didn&#8217;t get our message out.&#8221; &#160;This at least recognizes that&#160;there was a defeat, but Obama isn&#8217;t even doing that.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It&#8217;s growing increasingly obvious that Obama has never had to deal with real adversity, particularly at the hands as someone as insignificant as voters. &#160;Rather than admit that his ObamaCare message has been rejected, he claims the defeats were caused by voters angry about failure to enact the plan, so they vote for a Senate candidate who has pledged to vote against the plan.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;This is delusional thinking.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Now it appears Obama and the rest of the White House staff consider themselves and their drive to pass ObamaCare analogous to Dutch Resistance fighters in World War II. (He prefers international debacles to the domestic analogy.)&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;They are modern-day heroic little Dutchmen bravely preparing to dynamite the dikes and flood the landscape with heath care bureaucrats in an effort to create a political terrain the dreaded Nazi-GOP will be powerless to clear.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The only downside for his party is the flood will also wash a great number of fellow Democrats out of the House and Senate this November.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I don&#8217;t know how you reach a group of Ideologues so firmly committed to their own destruction. &#160;Maybe I should ask the Sorenson folks to offer them a seat in Millwood.]]></description>
					  <author>Michael R. Shannon</author>
					  <pubDate>Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[Mr. President, You Are Blocking the Sun]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1455/Mr-President-You-Are-Blocking-the-Sun.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; &#160;It is said that when Alexander the Great visited the philosopher Diogenes he asked the wise man if there was anything he could do for him.&#160; Diogenes is said to have replied, &#8220;Yes.&#160; Stand a little less between me and the sun.&#8221;&#160; 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I thought of Diogenes as I read portions of the president&#8217;s speech from Cleveland, Ohio.&#160; The New York Times reports that the president used the word fight or some version of it more than 20 times.&#160; 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Mr. Obama vowed to fight for jobs; he promised to fight for quality education; he promised to fight for health care; fight for transparency in government.&#160; He promised to fight! Fight! Fight! And never stop fighting. &#34;So long as I have some breath in me,&#8221; he said, &#8220;so long as I have the privilege of serving as your President, I will not stop fighting for you.&#34; 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Such pronouncements of chivalry no doubt came as a surprise to the parents and children of the opportunity scholarship program.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; Also known as the D.C. voucher program the OSP was started in 2003 as a program to provide children from low income families scholarships of up to $7500 to attend non-public K-12 schools within the district. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;During the 2008-2009 school year, there were over 1,715 D.C. OSP students attending 49 non-public schools of their choice. The average annual income for these families is around $23,000. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;The program was a bargain.&#160; The D.C. public schools spend $14,400 per pupil on average, among the most in the country.&#160; More importantly the program was successful. According to an evaluation conducted by the department of education, &#8220;After 3 years, there was a statistically significant positive impact on reading test scores&#8230;&#8221; as well as a &#8220;positive impact overall on parents' reports of school satisfaction and safety.&#8221; &#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;And yet when this program came under attack from the teachers union Obama &#8211; the people&#8217;s champion &#8211; was, along with his white horse, missing in action.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Which begs a few questions:&#160; Exactly who is the dragon preventing quality education?&#160; Job creation?&#160; Transparency in government?&#160; &#160;This just in:&#160; Dragon last seen on Pennsylvania Ave. The dragon is big government! 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Is Obama preparing to battle the ever encroaching and expensive hand of paternalistic government?&#160; Hardly. Since taking office last year he has expanded government spending, tripled the deficit and added substantially to the national debt.&#160; He is ideologically predisposed to believe the solutions to all our social and economic problems lie in an expansion of the administrative state.&#160; He continues to believe that money taken from one part of the economy and injected into another part will somehow create jobs.&#160; Even after the drubbing Democrats took in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts he is determined to pass a healthcare reform bill that most Americans do not want.&#160; &#160;
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;If we penny stinkers must take what we do not want it is unclear for whom he is doing all this fighting.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It is unlikely that Obama will pass Cap and Trade so instead he will direct the EPA to enact regulations restricting the production of carbon dioxide and other green house gases by private industry.&#160; The additional costs to businesses will hinder their ability to create jobs.&#160; Don&#8217;t take my word for it.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;In 2006 California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB-32 &#8220;a comprehensive program of regulatory and market mechanisms to achieve real, quantifiable, cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gases.&#8221; &#160;The bill has mostly succeeded in reducing the population of California as people and jobs have left the State in droves.&#160; Unemployment in California is far above the national average and the highest in the states history in more than 40 years.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Who is he fighting for when he brings terrorists to New York to be tried in civilian courts?&#160; Undeterred by America&#8217;s outcry, the Christmas day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutalleb, was interviewed by the FBI for less than an hour before he was given his Miranda rights and an attorney, whereupon he promptly stopped talking.&#160; I feel safer already.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;With such a champion it is difficult to comprehend America&#8217;s apprehension or why some might smile pleasantly and ask, &#8220;Please Mr. President, can you move a bit to the side; you are blocking the sun.&#8221;]]></description>
					  <author>Joseph C. Phillips</author>
					  <pubDate>Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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					  <title><![CDATA[Sex, Lies, and the State of the Union]]></title>
					  <link>http://www.chronwatch-america.com/blogs/1454/Sex-Lies-and-the-State-of-the-Union.html</link>
					  <description><![CDATA[&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; &#160;I&#8217;m just a semi-retired lawyer, living on a gravel road in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But I am also an avid consumer of news in all forms. This is a test. I read none of today&#8217;s analyses of the State of the Union speech. Here are the obvious lies I saw, off the top of my head.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 1: &#34;one in ten... cannot find work.&#34; Government statistics show that unemployment is almost double that; 17% are out of work. But the &#34;official&#34; rate ignores the 7% who have given up looking for a job.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 2: &#34;to get a government that matches [Americans] dignity.&#34; Is he totally unaware of the members of his administration, or of his supporters in Congress, who are currently under investigation as tax cheats, perjurers, or other felonies?&#160; Or, does President Obama assume that they will all beat the rap?
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 3: &#34;we made the [financial recovery] program more transparent and accountable.&#34; &#160;Is he unaware that Congress is currently trying to find out where the now-$850 billion bailout money went?&#160; Who got it, and why, and how?
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 4: &#34;There are about two million Americans... who would otherwise be unemployed... because of the steps we took.&#34; His own experts said the stimulus program would &#34;keep unemployment below 8%..&#34; His own people released a claim of jobs saved, district by district. &#160;That report listed more than a dozen congressional districts that don&#8217;t exist. &#160;The press has also gone into the gross inflation of many of the individual claims.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 5: &#34;Guard against the same recklessness [of the banks] that nearly brought down our entire economy.&#34;&#160; He cannot claim ignorance of the laws promoted by Barney Frank in the House and Chris Dodd in the Senate, which forced banks to make loans to people unlikely to repay them.&#160; He can&#8217;t claim ignorance, because as a lawyer in Chicago he went to court to force banks to make such bad loans.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 6: &#34;the overwhelming scientific evidence on climate change.&#34; He must know that leading scientists claiming the sky is falling because of global warming are being exposed and investigating for hiding and faking the data. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 7: &#34;National competition to improve our schools.&#34; He cannot be so isolated and ignorant not to know his strongest possible supporters--the education unions--fight every possible effort to fire bad teachers, provide incentive pay, and allow real competition from private and charter schools and home schooling. 
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 8: &#34;According to the Congressional Budget Office... our approach [to health care] would bring down the deficit by as much as $1 trillion....&#34;&#160; A week after the CBO issued its first analysis, it issued a correction. &#160;It had made a half-billion dollar math error.&#160; Unless he and his entire staff were asleep at the switch, he knows his claim of deficit reduction is false.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 9: &#34;Starting in 2011, we are prepared to freeze government spending for three years....&#34; This starts late and covers only one-fifth of the federal budget. &#160;This is fiscal bulimia; gorge yourself, then throw up a little, then claim you are being responsible.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 10: &#34;I&#8217;ve called for a bipartisan Fiscal Commission.... the Senate blocked a bill to [do that]... so I will issue an Executive Order... to go forward.&#34; Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the Constitution knows that presidents can&#8217;t force money to be spent on this Commission, or any other purpose, without approval by Congress. Regardless of what he thinks, we are not a dictatorship. Yet.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;Lie 11: &#34;Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests--including foreign corporations &#8211; to spend without limits in our elections.&#34; That case did not lay a finger on the long-standing prohibition of foreign money in American elections, nor the general barrier to corporate contributions. Either he was lying when he said this, or he should return his diploma to Harvard Law because he didn&#8217;t learn how to read and understand a Supreme Court case.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;I skipped various lies about national security, because even casual readers of the news understand why it was wrong to let the attempted Christmas plane bomber to lawyer up and clam up.&#160; The same goes for attempts to negotiate an Iranian nuclear stand down, when Iran has made clear its intention to proceed, and to use those bonds once the are available.
&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;It will be interesting to see whether the press does any kind of research to challenge any falsehoods in the president&#8217;s State of the Union address.&#160; I hope that I have encouraged them in that direction.
&#160;]]></description>
					  <author>John Armor</author>
					  <pubDate>Fri, 29 Jan 2010 00:00:00 EST</pubDate>
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