SamSaid!

PATRIOT

When it comes to current day American Patriots. John McCain stands at the head of the list. We need more leaders like him. He is a candidate for the Presidency, but I don't think he will make it onto the Nov 08 ballot. John just doesn't seem as energetic and motivated as he was 4-8 years ago. I guess his time has come and gone.
No matter what happens in the primary elections, McCain has left his mark on the Iraq War controversy with one telling comment when he said, “When we set a withdrawal date, we also set the date of surrender”. He understands that and so do many others. But the looneys of the left do not. They are still trying to convince themselves that there is an easy way out.

If ever we had a guy who has “been there, done that” it is John McCain. I don't think Arrach Omega (Sp ?)can pick up his shoes.

BONDS

ON AUGUST 7TH, BARRY BONDS HIT HIS 756TH HOME RUN AND BECAME THE ALL-TIME HOME RUN HITTER IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL HISTORY. HE BROKE THE RECORD PREVIOUSLY HELD BY HENRY AARON OF THE ATLANTA BRAVES AND HE NOW BECOMES THE RECORD HOLDER…. WELL, SORT OF. IT SEEMS THAT THERE IS A HUGE QUESTION ABOUT BONDS AND HIS HOMER HITTING —— THAT BEING HIS USE OF PERFORMANCE ENHANCING DRUGS FOR SEVERAL YEARS. A SIMPLE TRANSLATION IS THAT BONDS CHEATED TO GET HIS HIGHLY SOUGHT RECORD.

BY VIRTUALLY ANY YARDSTICK, BONDS IS ONE OF THE TOP TEN HITTERS IN BASEBALL HISTORY. HE DIDN'T HAVE TO CHEAT TO WIN THAT STATUS. BUT BEING THE HOME RUN KING IS ANOTHER MATTER. AARON HAS BEEN GRACIOUS, BUT THE BASEBALL MOGULS HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM ON THEIR HANDS. DO THEY IGNORE THE CHEATING BY BONDS AND RECOGNIZE HIS RECORD, OR DO THEY NEGATIVELY LABEL A BLACK ICON AS THE DRUGGIE THAT HE IS?

BONDS IS STILL PLAYING AND WILL NO DOUBT HIT MORE HOME RUNS. BUT NO MATTER HOW THE DRUG ISSUE IS SETTLED, THERE WILL ALWAYS
BE A DARK CLOUD HANGING OVER BONDS AND THE WAY HE INGESTED DRUGS TO GAIN HIS OBJECTIVE. HE CHEATED AND GOT CAUGHT. THAT DARK CLOUD WILL NOT GO AWAY AS LONG AS BASEBALL RECORDS ARE KEPT AND DISCUSSED.

LITERATURE HAS THE “SCARLET lETTER” — “A”. NOW BASEBALL HAS IT'S OWN “SCARLET LETTER” — “C”.

PHOTO ID

IN THE HUGE HASSLE OVER ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, THE QUESTION OF A NATIONAL PHOTO ID CARD HAS COME UP TIME AND AGAIN, BUT FOR REASONS HARD TO UNDERSTAND, IT JUST DOESN'T GET MUCH TRACTION AND MOMEMNTUM. CIVIL LIBERTARIANS AND VARIOUS OTHER INTEREST GROUPS ARE ADAMANTLY OPPOSED TO THE NOTION, BUT MOST OF MY FRIENDS SO NO PROBLEM WITH SUCH A CARD WHEN WE HAVE 12-20 MILLION PEOPLE HERE IN THE COUNTRY WHOSE NAMES, WHEREABOUTS AND IDENTITY ARE UNKNOWN TO US. THAT'S AN AWFUL LOT OF STRANGERS IN OUR MIDST. AND ADD TO THAT THE MANY SITUATIONS WHERE WE CITIZENS ALREADY ARE REQUIRED TO PRODUCE IDs WITH PHOTOS ATTACHED. WHEN WE THINK OF SOCIAL SECURITY, DRIVERS LICENSE, BOARDING AIRCRAFT, LIBRARY CARDS, LISTING A TELEPHONE,OPENING A BANK ACCOUNT ETC., ETC., THIS WHOLE NOTION OF SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFO ALMOST SEEMS SILLY. RIGHT NOW, I HAVE TO DISCLOSE THE MAIDEN NAME OF MY DECEASED MOTHER JUST TO DEPOSIT OR CASH A CHECK AT MY OWN BANK.

GRANTED, THERE WOULD BE PROBLEMS WITH A NATIONAL PHOTO ID CARD FOR EVERYONE. BUT WE ALSO HAVE PROBLEMS — BIG PROBLEMS — WITHOUT ONE. SO, IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH ACKNOWLEDGING UP FRONT THAT PROBLEMS WILL PLAGUE BOTH APPROAHES? AND THEN TRY TO SETTLE FOR THE LESSER OF 2 EVILS?? IF THERE IS NO FOOTPROOF SYSTEM, WHY NOT SETLE FOR THE BETTER OF THE TWO.

DO YOU THINK THAT OUR LEADERS CAN GRASP THIS SIMPLE APPROACH??

SOMEHOW, THE BASIC IDEA OF 12-20 MILLION UNIDENTIFIED STRANGERS IN OUR MIDST IS NOT COMFORTING. WHAT KIND OF A DISASTER WILL IT TAKE
TO REGISTER ON THE TERRORIST RICHTER SCALE??

IMMIGRATION AND KATRINA

This whole issue over illegal immigration is a very prickly problem. Tackling it is about like embracing a suguaro cactus, squeezing it hard and then trying to pick it up. Those familiar with these Arizona cacti would not recommend such a fond embrace. So now we have all of our Washington DC braintrust in a stalemate, mustering all of their political power to do nothing, presumably with the hope that the issue will go away. After all, the problem was not always 12 Million Illegals. It grew to be that big over 2-3 decades , and will no doubt get bigger. From this vantage point, it is my judgment that NOBODY in our leadership is qualified or capable of handling a problem this big. Think of it — a three generational socio-eco-politico problem of 12 Million people, headed for 20 Million. And this will fall to half baked politicians pandering for votes??

Maybe our politicios should look to the experience of Hurricane Katrina. It was a disaster for New Orleans for sure, with all kinds of problems vying for attention. In the last analysis, after the urgent life threatening matters were addressed, the main effort was to fixed the damaged dikes and stop the flood waters from pouring into the portions of New Orleans that are under sea level. With the dikes repaired, the process of pumping flood water out of the city and re-building the city could begin. Doesn't sound all that complicated to me. It makes sense that the problems couldn't be fixed until the flood was stopped.

Is that so different (conceptually) from the illegal immigration issue? Shouldn't we stop the in-flow to control the size of the problem(s)and then tackle the problems of how to handle 12 million people who are already here? Let's stop the flood and then pump out the city.

One thing at a time — in the right order.

NUMBERS AND STATS

Nowadays, there is plenty to read. Lots of authors on every subject at hand, and they all refer to statistics or numbers to buttress their views and authorship. It seems that when it comes to opposing views, each writer has his/her own set of numbers to prove they they are right. Thus, I generally few these “numbers” with a bit of skepticism. But sometimes, a number just jumps out — begging to be challenged or explained. Here are a few, for example.

. I70,000 Americans killed in auto accidents in the past 4 years. US Military deaths in Iraq during the same period 3500.
Who is protesting what?

. In 3rd generation homes of Latin immigrants, English is the preferred language by a marguin of 96%. As far as assimilation is concerned, maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. Long tunnel, but light!

As far as immigration and English are concerned, I attended secondary school with kids whose parents couldn't speak english. But the kids, while trailing for 2-3 years, came on strong and did very well for themselves in this english speaking society. One of my former Macedonian classmates is now my stockbroker.

His familty got here legally!

A THOROUGHLY DISGUSTING FOUL-MOUTHED BROAD

The caption is not simply a statement nor a comment. It is the answer to a question — i.e., what (who) is Rosie O'Donnell? If there is a time to question the validity of the First Amendment, it is now. We'll never have a better example of what excess can to to good intentions. Viewed from the front, her mouth is twisted into a gross configuration suggesting a rooftop gargoyle eagerly anticipating a thunderstorm, and from the rear it looks like two cats fighting in a gunny sack. She knows about as much in public affairs as a pig knows about Sunday.

But trust the left wing liberals — nary a critical word from any of them. Barbara Walters sitting there in stony silence that refects the shallowness of her well rehearsed words on TV. Sure, Babara. Come June, RO'D will be TV history, and what better place to consign her. Too bad she can't take Barbara Boxer with her.

SECULAR PROGRESSIVES

Religion has played a major role in our country since the days of our Founding Fathers, and evidence of it can be seen in our buildings, monuments, codes, oaths, currency, and sacred documents. But that doesn't deter the Secularists who are bound and determined to eradicate religion from our public life. I thought about all this a few weeks back while watching the formal ceremonies associated with the burial of former President Gerald Ford. The trappimgs of religion were visibly displayed for the whole country to see — references to the Deity, God, Our Father, Jesus Christ, the Bible, Scripture readings, and prayers from several religious figures.
While watching all of this, and thinking about this holy war over separation of Church and State, how can we justify and honor this kind of religious based ceremony over 2-3-4 days, and at the same time ban prayers by a group of football players before the kickoff? Or gut the pledge of allegiance to delete a reference to God. What kind of devious judicial opinion has gotten us to this point. Where is our compass, when these aberrant individuals say in effect, “Yeah, we know all about your laws and customs, and beliefs, but we are here now — so change them. And compliant secular judges say “Sure, buddy!” The SPs (Secular Progressives) say that nothing is sacred, and religious based belief has no foundation in our society. Translated, that means there is no such thing as right and wrong, and the days of silly moralizing are long gone.
They will never try to amend the Constitution — rather, they will simply find Judges to do their dirty work and decent people will see their world of beliefs crumble. It is happeneing every day.
I am no religious zealot, but I'm not at all sure that our universe and its myriad of life forms came about through evolution alone. And I'm less sure that a prayer before kickoff will damage someone's life.

NON-BINDING RESOLUTION

The new Democrats are foundering on their own shoals or hanging on their own petards when it comes to the Iraqi War. They voted for it and funded it. Now they are saying that it isn't going well, we don't like it, we don't support it, we don't like what you are doing,but we don't have any better ideas or plans. A simple translation seems to be, “We don't care what happens afterwards, just withdraw, retreat, or surrender”. What a truly sad state of affairs. And what an incomparable sense of history coupled with political myopia. Nancy Pelosi is probably hoping that Nicole Smith will stay on the front page for another month.

They are so enamored with the prospect of winning the White House in 2008, that they are incapable of eny cogent thinking about what we shoud do or not do about Iraq. Above all, avoid risky votes!

No doubt, their primary agenda is to reverse the Bush Tax Cuts, protect earmarks for loyal Ds to dispense, and pursue fund raising.

Was it Nero who fiddled while Rome burned??