Sister Toldjah’s blog is 4 years old today. Stop by and wish her a happy blogiversary.

Congratulations, and here’s to many more years of great reads.

From a family of fans who are so happy to see a:

Tide of red and white pride

Go Phillies!!

Please take a moment to visit Wide Awake Cafe where Mrs. Donoho has allowed us to share in the homecoming of her son.

While there take a moment to scroll through the pictures where you will find one of the young son of this brave soldier alone with his flag.

Priceless, absolutely, priceless.

Thanks for including us in this wonderful family moment.

The National Defense Authorization Act passed the Senate yesterday but with no assistance from the front runners in the Presidential race on the Democratic Side.

I had not realized that the Senate passed the Defense Department authorization yesterday until the Standard commented on it this morning. The spending bill passed overwhelmingly, 92-3, with only Robert Byrd, Tom Coburn, and Russ Feingold in opposition. Tellingly, the Democrats running for office from the Senate all managed to miss the vote — Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, and Joe Biden.

Maybe they were just to concerned with condemning Rush Limbaugh.

On Monday, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) stepped onto the floor of the Senate and strongly denounced talk radio host Rush Limbaugh for what have proven to be out of context statements made by the conservative personality on his program last Wednesday.

It appears however, that those 41 Senators who signed this document will be disappointed as according to this letter the CEO of Clear Channel has no designs on removing or even disciplining Rush Limbaugh.

Perhaps Mr. May will also be worthy of a condemnation by what used to be the most deliberative body in Washington. I say used to be because in so many cases now, they appear more like kindergarten than grown, intelligent men and women.

Or maybe they should look back and see what one of their own said about those who purchase and wear medals which they have not earned:

“Shame on those who claim credit for acts of courage they did not commit, their lies are criminal” said Salazar. “Medal recipients are often too humble to parade their honors. By letting the phonies continue their masquerade, we diminish the honor of our true heroes. Federal law enforcement agents are willing to go after these frauds, Congress needs to provide the tools necessary to get the job done.”

So let’s see, those running for the highest office in the land would not commit themselves on a vote for the Defense Appropriations Bill, as that vote, be it yay or nay might harm them politically. But they can find the time to condemn a conservative talk radio host for a comment which has been well explained and as noted in this article has not even become a favorite target of the MSM.

I have my own opinion on which issue assists the voters in making their choice next November. Rush Limbaugh is just another voice on the radio, but the defense of our country is something on which I would like to know the stance of each individual candidate. If running for political cover is more important than convictions, then personally, I do not want to see any one of these Senators achieve their goal of CIC.

We haven’t heard very much talk about Hillary Clinton’s plan to give $5000 to each new baby born in the United States, but she has announced it.

Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune has an editorial about it too.

Vote for me, a candidate might say, and I’ll cut taxes or boost school spending or protect your embattled industry from foreign competition. But Hillary Clinton is taking a more direct approach to parents. Vote for me, she said the other day, and I might just give you $5,000. The proposition, of course, was not so direct as to constitute a bribe, but it proved that in the realm of audacity, Barack Obama has some serious competition. She told an audience at a forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus, “I like the idea of giving every baby born in America a $5,000 account that will grown over time, so that when that young person turns 18, if they have finished high school, they will be able to access it to go to college or maybe they will be able to make that down payment on their first home.”

That’s right — a $5,000 bonus just for coming into the world….

…The idea pleased Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), a Clinton supporter who was there. Said she, “Every child born in the United States today owes $27,000 on the national debt; why not let them come get $5,000 to grow until they’re 18?”

But Jones inadvertently highlighted the big flaw in the concept. It would be expensive — about $20 billion a year — and Clinton offered no way to pay for it. Absent a funding source, the cost would simply be piled on to the existing federal budget deficit, which is another way of saying it would be paid for by future taxpayers.

So instead of owing $27,000 each on the national debt at birth (actually, it’s now above $29,000), newborns would owe even more. They’d get the gift at birth — and the bill a little later….

…Her suggestion brings to mind the comment of the 19th Century French economist Frederic Bastiat: “The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else.” In the end, as the purported beneficiaries of her proposal would eventually find out to their sorrow, nothing comes for free.

This hair-brained idea is only a ploy to get the votes of people who don’t look past their noses. It’s just one more step toward cradle to grave socialism and a slippery slope it is.

How long before Big Brother decides when it’s time to terminate a person’s life because it’s a drag on the economy?

This woman is calculating, dangerous and a devout socialist. We need to make sure she is not our next president or we will regret it for the rest of our lives, friends.

According to an anonymous source in this article the United States will admit 12,000 Iraqi refugees by this time next year.

“Our plans for FY (fiscal year) 2008 include processing enough Iraqi refugees to admit 12,000 during the fiscal year,” which began Monday, the US official said on condition of anonymity.

The official’s comments came as US President George W. Bush told US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in an official memorandum that the United States looked to welcome a maximum of 80,000 refugees over the next 12 months.

As of September 19, when it named a special coordinator for Iraqi refugees to help break the bureaucratic red tape that has held back thousands from entering the country, the US government had admitted about 900, well short of the target number of 7,000, according to official US figures.

I’m sure they will be thoroughly vetted. It seems only right to allow those who have helped us to get out of the country so they can be safe.

I would expect these to be mainly interpreters and people who have worked for the US interests in Iraq.

Once they are here I hope they like and assimilate to their new country. I also hope they bring some of their beautiful children with them.

I thought once Rosie O’Donnell was off “The View” the show would be a better show. Maybe it is. I don’t watch it so I don’t know, but it seems to me from this report it’s at least raunchier than it was before.

Whoopi got the pleasure of introducing Speaker Pelosi, who she noted is the first woman speaker of the House who, somewhere along the way, managed to raise five children.

But Walters was still stuck on Mr. Pelosi, unfortunately for Mr. Pelosi. And this is where a little blushing turned to a Code Red alert, four-alarm fire.

Trying to shout over Whoopi and her other gabbing co-hosts and excited audience members, Barbara turned to Guest Pelosi and said she has heard Whoopi say before that she’d “do Paul Newman.”

“And I think she’d like to do your husband as well,” Walters deadpanned in that quintessential accent that made her the subject of late-night lampooning over the decades.

Of course, Whoopi being Whoopi, she couldn’t let that one go, which is where the speaker begins blushing.

Yes, Whoopi implicitly acknowledged, she’d like to do Mr. Pelosi - but she might take his wife while she’s at it. “I would do her as well. But we should wait on that because you’re still in office, I don’t want to cause a problem.”

Now I know why I haven’t watched TV on a regular basis for several years.