R.I.P. Tony Snow

The contrast between President Bush's previous 2 press secretaries (before Dana Perino) couldn't be more marked. When Tony Snow stepped in to clean up the mess left by the incompetent Scott McClellan, it was like a breath of fresh air. Finally, someone who could actually communicate the positions of the Bush administration with intelligence and flair. He was articulate, witty, and extremely good at defending policy.

He earned the respect of the press corps when the vast majority of his audience were biased against the administration he was representing. Compare that to the idiot that was his predecessor, and well, there is no comparison. The reason Tony Snow was such a success in his postion is the same reason McClellan was such a failure. Tony Snow actually believed in the policies he defended. He was passionate in his belief in conservatism as the best hope for this nation, and that drove his desire to persuade others who didn't believe.

Unlike McClellan, he wasn't simply spouting the talking points handed down from the higher-ups. He had a genuine desire to defend the administration because he honestly believed in the job it was trying to do. Tony Snow will be missed by those of us who long for articulate defenses of conservative principles in the public arena.

Slow 'Persons' At Work

This has to be one of the silliest things I've ever seen.

"Across Atlanta they stood, orange signs with black letters that read 'Men At Work' or 'Men Working Ahead.' Sometimes, the signs stood next to women working alongside the men. [Cynthia] Good demanded Atlanta officials remove the signs and last week, Atlanta Public Works Commissioner Joe Basista agreed."

Somebody has way too much time on their hands. Political correctness has become more than a nuisance when someone can be offended by a generic "men at work" sign. I realize that many women aspire to reach that pinnacle of employment: a job with a roadside work crew, and those who are fortunate enough to have done so should be given the respect they so richly deserve, but are feminists so devoid of purpose these days that this is all they can find to fill their time?

So now the taxpayers get to purchase new signs that read "Workers Ahead", replacing the existing monuments to mysogyny that currently dot the landscape of Georgia highways - well thank God someone has corrected this horrible afront to womanhood. And who was it that complained to the powers that be? A female member of a roadside crew? Nope. A magazine editor who has to look at those reminders of her oppression every day on her way to her cushy office in downtown Atlanta - that's who. And get this - she was previously confronted by police after a complaint that she had spray painted "wo" in front of the "men" on a sign. What is she, 14? You gotta love feminists.

But seriously, can we just go back to the whole burning bras thing. I liked that much better.

Wii Now Have a Wii

After the serious Wii shortage that has been ongoing since before Christmas, we'd pretty much given up hope of being able to find one at a retail store. I was resigned to purchasing one through ebay for our daughter's birthday in August. Two weeks ago, we were at Walmart getting groceries when we happened to cruise through the electronics section. As we walked past the video game consoles, I spotted a single white box on the bottome shelf. I asked the sales lady if that was, in fact, a Wii console - not one of those $500+ bundles you have to buy on Walmart.com - and she said yes, they had just received a shipment of 12, and this was the last one.

Well, of course I grabbed it, thinking there wouldn't be another chance like it any time soon. As we were checking out, a guy walked up asking if they had any more in stock...One hour later, we were in Blockbuster renting a movie, when I spotted another console for sale. This past weekend, we were back in the same Blockbuster and they had 4 units on the shelf - all for $249. Have they finally produced enough to satisfy demand? I quick search online suggests that it's still difficult to find anything other than a high-priced bundle, but obviously not impossible.

As for the game system itself, so far I've been very impressed. I had played the Wii Sports games before, and knew what to expect, but was a little wary of how the standard Super mario type adventure games would work with the unusual Wii configuration. I was pleasantly surprised, and have really enjoyed every game i've played so far. It was well worth the purchase price!

He's Big, He's Red, His Feet Stick Out the Bed!

The latest news from across the pond is that Liverpool's towering striker is leaving the north of England for Pompey's sunny south coast. The 6'-7" tall Crouch was a player I always admired. He had a knack for scoring some spectacular goals (as in the photo), and a pretty decent strike rate for England as well. He could be frustrating to watch at times - I never understood how such a tall player could be so lacking in ability to head the ball - and he certainly wasn't the speediest fella on the pitch. But he had very good ball skills for such a gangly frame, and could hold the ball up as well as anyone on the team at the time.

It sounds like Rafa offered to extend his contract, but Crouchie is understandably not thrilled at the prospect of another season playing second fiddle to the boy wonder Fernando Torres. The system Rafa now seems to favor would again limit his playing time, and you can't fault him for seeking out a regular place in a starting eleven. Good luck, Crouchinho!

Warning to "Obamacons"

For all those "conservatives" out there who are supposedly warming up to Obama since his recent shift to the right, let's remember one little thing. He's changed his positions before - what's to stop him from changing again?

And we're not talking about little issues here - or little changes for that matter. He's turned 180 degrees on a host of serious issues within the last few months. Let's take a look at the flip-flop count thus far (H/T to the folks at Redstate):

1. Gun Control - pandering to the left during the primaries led him to state his unequivocal support for both the D.C. and Chicago gun bans. Now that he's trying to appeal to the general public, he's suddenly pro-second amendment.
2. FISA - this one has the lefties in an uproar! First he shouted down the prospect of immunity for telecom companies that helped the government (when it helped him politically), then he voted for it - and now claims to support it.
3. Public Financing - After going on the record in support for public financing of presidential campaigns, and stating that he would use the public financing system for his own, he changed his mind.
4. Death Penalty - First he was adamantly against it in all cases (even Osama bin Laden), now he supports it for both homocide and child rape.
5. Iraq - For months he promises the nutroots that he'll bring troops home beginning day one; now he's going to "refine" his position after talking to commanders on the ground (what a novel idea...)
6. Abortion - Obama has always supported abortion on demand - he even voted against the legislation that protects infants born alive! Now he's suddenly "personally against it" - I get so sick of this spineless answer from Democrats who are trying to appeal to evangelicals - and would support a state's right to limit/prohibit all late-term abortions.

The bottom line is that this guy has changed his mind on multiple important issues, and any so-called conservative who trusts this latest "moderate" version of Obama, well, you'll get exactly what your naivete' deserves. He was one person to the lefties in his own primary, when it helped him win the nomination; now he's a completely different person when it will help him win the general election. What's to stop him from morphing back into ultra-lib once elected? How can anyone trust someone who has such an obvious lack of personal standards and values? His decisions are based only on what his audience wants to hear.

Sounds like a pretty run-of-the-mill politician to me. Whatever happened to Hope and Change - a new kind of politician? Nothing. They never existed.

Hysterical!

This has to be one of the funniest things I've seen in a while...and according to Bill O'Reilly there was MUCH more (and much worse) that we didn't get to hear!

Help Dr. Dobson

Dr. Dobson ticked me off many months ago when he stated that he wouldn't support John McCain in the general election. It was a childish reaction to the reality that we as Christians live in a democracy with many who don't think as we do, but I still have tremendous respect for what he has done to expand God's Kingdom. He has deservedly been nominated for inclusion in the Radio Hall of Fame, and needs our help. Few have had as much of an impact on radio as he has, and he continues to draw millions of listeners every day.

A group called Truth Wins Out is trying prevent him from being included based on the fact that they disagree with his ideology. That's right - a liberal group is trying to ban someone from inclusion in the hall of fame because he doesn't believe what they do. That champion of tolerance and diversity, the American Left, is discriminating against someone based on their religious beliefs. This only confirms what we all know to be true - tolerance and diversity of thought is only okay when it doesn't involve conservative Christians and their beliefs.

Go vote for Dr. Dobson today, and help defeat this hypocritical nonsense.

Obama the Moderate

While Obama makes his abrupt ideological U-turn, a move that pretty much any serious presidential candidate knows he has to make in the general election, those in the left hemisphere of cyberspace are not happy.

Anyone who follows presidential politics closely is aware of the post-nomination shuffle. It's a little ditty that any serious presidential candidate has to learn if he/she is going to win a national election. During the primary, you court the party base - those who are faithful supporters of your particular party - these people want the red meat. In Obama's case, he had no problem with this part of the process. What little record he has is extremely liberal, so he had no problem convincing the very liberal base of the Democratic Party that he was one of them.

The tricky part comes after you've secured the base. Neither candidate can win nationally as a hardcore liberal or conservative. There are just too many squishy apathetic types who don't pay any attention to politics, and want a candidate who at least appears to be moderate. The trick is to appeal to these moderate voters without angering the base. Obama seems to be having a bit of trouble with this, as he's clearly been moving to the center over the last few weeks...

During the primary, Mr. Obama was a fire-breathing critic of free-trade deals, condemning the North American Free Trade Agreement as a job-killer that he vowed to renegotiate or scrap. He opposed renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which would give telephone companies immunity from lawsuits when they help the government tap phone lines.

He was a leading gun-control advocate as an Illinois state senator and backed the District's gun ban. He was a sharp critic of President Bush's faith-based services program to help the poor that was blocked by Democrats. He told Planned Parenthood he "would not yield" on abortion and denounced a Supreme Court decision upholding a ban on partial-birth abortion.

But in the past few weeks, Mr. Obama has, at a minimum, nuanced if not outright flip-flopped on all of those positions in a race to the political center to reposition himself for the general election. He told Fortune magazine he believes in free trade and does not want to overturn or pull out of NAFTA. He endorsed the pending FISA bill, saying "the issue of the phone companies per se is not one that overrides the security interests of the American people."

He's also come out in support of the Supreme Court's decision striking down the D.C. gun ban, despite his previous positions. It'll be very interesting to see how the fruit-loops react as he continues his rightward turn. They're already beginning to see that their "messiah" is just another politician. It just goes to show how naive liberals tend to be - not just about the viability of their socialist policies, but about the way most people in this country think.

King of Spain

It's a little late - I havn't had much time to post lately - but I have to give props to the Spanish national team for their victory in Euro 2008. Ever since Rafa Benitez began the Spanish revolution at Liverpool FC, I've supported Spain in international competition. Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty patriotic, but soccer in America is pathetic. I usually support England as well, but they spectacularly failed to qualify for this last tournament.

It's too bad. This has largely been recognized as the best tournament in many years, and I would've been very interested to see how Engurland's finest stack up against the best in Europe. Fernando Torres, who has haunted the nightmares of English Premier League defenders since his debut season, had an average tournament...until the final. A tally of only 2 goals is not all that impressive for a striker of Torres' stature, but the last goal he scored in Euro 2008 was a typical El Nino strike:

Torres' best asset is his speed and ability to make something happen out of nothing, and this is a prime example. I can wait to see how he performs for the Reds next season!

Election Consequences

The last few decisions from the seemingly all-powerful panel of Supreme Court justices have given conservatives all the reason they need to get over their distain for John McCain this November. We can see, from the contrast in two of the more recent decisions, the delicate balance on which the nature of this court now rests. First, we have the irresponsible, dangerous, and downright illogical decision to allow terrorist prisoners access to the American court system. More recently, the decision to uphold the Constitution's 2nd Amendment provides some encouragement that they all haven't completely wandered off the reservation.

At least 4 of the men and women on the panel have evidently managed to throw off the shackles of common sense, permanently overcoming its influence over their reasoning. Justice Souter continues to defame the reputation of the president who appointed him, while the other 3 produce exactly the type of decisions expected of liberals with an agenda. Justice Kennedy remains the only wild card at this point, sometimes allowing common sense and respect for the Constitution to prevail, while other times, well not so much...

What does this have to do with McCain? Well, I don't even want to think about the kind of judges a president Obama would nominate for this delicately balanced court. We need judges who will rule on the constitutionality of laws based on the Constitution itself. Despite what many of these judges believe, the Constitution does not change unless amended, and public opinion and the practices of foreign nations should have no influence in their decisions whatsoever. McCain has promised to produce judicial nominees who recognize that. Of course, there's always the risk of another Souter, but I'll take that risk any day over the certainty of what Obama would produce.