I missed this piece by Dr. Sowell which was published at Townhall on Friday.

This was among one of the most powerful arguments I have read as of yet as to why the GOP must find their way through this muddled mess we are experiencing to find a candidate for President around whom we can coalesce.

What is wrong with this year’s candidates?

The short answer is that most of the Republicans are questionable and all three leading Democrats are dangerous.

The only real conservative candidate is former Senator Fred Thompson but his low vote totals in all the Republican primaries thus far make him a one-man endangered species.

If he doesn’t get some serious voter support in South Carolina, it is hard to see how he can become a viable candidate. And, if he drops out, it is hard to see who conservative Republican voters will support — either in the primaries or in the general election in November.

That raises the very serious possibility — and the very dangerous possibility — that Hillary Clinton will become President of the United States if conservative Republicans stay home on election day.

While Barack Obama and John Edwards have been irresponsible demagogues, the Clintons have a record of lawless and ruthless corruption that goes back not only to their White House days in the 1990s but even back to their time in the governors’ mansion in Arkansas.

Nor is this simply a matter of domestic politics. It was Bill Clinton who ignored the advice of military and intelligence officials when he gave China the technology that can be used to enable their nuclear missiles to hit American cities.

Also, this post authored by Tom Panion at American Thinker drives home a very important point as we look toward electing our next Commander in Chief:

Everyone looks for Solomon, but we need David

The election coverage I see in the mainstream media seems to be covering the search for the next Solomon. Solomon was wise. He was a charmer. He grew his nation’s wealth by expanding his borders and trading with other nations…and raising taxes. Why, he practically snapped his fingers and tributes, both monetary and otherwise, poured in to the coffers.

Neighboring nations and those to the south and west and east of his kingdom were literally in awe of this man. At the time of his reign, his was the most prosperous nation on earth.

And he didn’t have to lift a sword to accomplish any of this!

His weapon of choice was the motivational speech and the king’s decree. Yeah, Solomon could really knock ‘em dead.

But how did he get there? Why was everyone so anxious to deal with the man from Jerusalem? How could one man wield such power without sending out an army like Alexander and other conquerors?

Solomon had a mighty predecessor in his father, David.

David was the warrior. He was the one who secured the borders. David was the ‘man after God’s own heart’. He never forgot where his strength came from and where his enemies were…and they were all around him.

Both Solomon and David had faults. David acknowledged his sins publicly and got right with God. Then he governed with quiet strength and humility. He also used his army to thwart attackers and kept them ready.

Read more.

The buzz today will surely be Barack Obama taking on the former President of the United States.

Sen. Barack Obama says he’s ready to confront former President Bill Clinton, calling his advocacy on behalf of his wife’s presidential campaign, “troubling.”

In an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts to air Monday on “Good Morning America,” Obama, D-Ill., directly engages Bill Clinton on a series of issues.

Will this tactic work? In all honesty, I would love to see it set the Clinton’s back on their heels, but they are ruthless, determined individuals who have never allowed anyone or anything to get in the way of their perceived entitlement to power.

The GOP will be faced with the same dilemma should the Clinton’s be the Democratic nominee. And yes, I say Clinton’s. Why else would a former President inject himself into a campaign to the extent Bill has? What other President can you point to who has gone to the lengths he has to promote not only a candidate but his wife?

Barack is right, he needs to stay on the attack. He will do the electorate a tremendous favor if he can prevent another co-presidency. Then perhaps we will never again be subjected to this:

Did we all pay attention in Nevada? Barack receives the endorsement of a powerful union, well let’s just run to the courts. Better yet, when the outcome of the caucus was still in doubt a
former President runs to the press with this story:

Today when my daughter and I were wandering through the hotel, and all these culinary workers were mobbing us telling us they didn’t care what the union told them to do, they were gonna caucus for Hillary.

There was a representative of the organization following along behind us going up to everybody who said that, saying ‘if you’re not gonna vote for our guy were gonna give you a schedule tomorrow so you can’t be there.’ So, is this the new politics? I haven’t seen anything like that in America in 35 years. So I will say it again – they think they’re better than you.

to which the union responded:

“This is ludicrous,” Culinary Workers political director Pilar Weiss told Politico. She said the union is “aware that some workers aren’t going to vote our way” and doesn’t engage in intimidation.

“The fact that they lost a lawsuit aimed at suppressing workers’ votes, and that now they’re trying to hold on to these baseless claims is ridiculous,” she said.

Funny, now that Hillary took home the prize from Nevada, this has become a non-story. Would the press ignor such behavior from the GOP? I think not. That is neither here nor there though.

Volumes have been written on the past indiscretions of the Clinton’s. Is it possible Obama will be the one to finally put this chapter in our history to rest?

If I were a betting person I would not put my money on the challenger but I would do so hoping I would lose.

For those who like to follow primary election news,here is a link with information on the New Hampshire recount.

I took a look after this was emailed to me and found the site to have lots of info not only in the main post but on the right sidebar.

There are a few interesting facts I suppose. Most of what I read are incidents which possibly could take place in any major recount in America.

This little bit of information did jump out at me however:

The sensitive memory cards containing the programming and tabulation from the Diebold optical-scanners are apparently “missing in action” for the moment. Those cards, as viewers of HBO’s Hacking Democracy know by now, may be used to hack an election, such that only a proper hand-count of the paper ballots afterwards will reveal the hack. (See the video of that hack for yourself right here. The same exact machine being hacked in that film was used across the state to count 80% of the ballots in NH in last week’s primary.)

And yet, says Bonifaz who spent time today speaking with New Hampshire Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy Attorney General, nobody seems to have any idea where those cards are and what has become of them.

He says he was told by Secretary of State William Gardner that his office doesn’t get involved in tracking what happens to those memory cards. Some have reportedly been returned to LHS, and may have had their memory erased already.

“When you have a private company counting 80% of the votes, and you later learn that the memory cards are unaccounted for, you have a serious question about the transparency and accountability in that process,” Bonifaz said.

He notes that federal law requires all materials from elections be preserved for 22 months after the election. So if those materials have already been lost, destroyed, or over-written, there are legal questions that must be addressed.

Not being a conspiracy theorist, or an expert on voting machine mechanisms, I would not know if this memory card issue would be enough to call into question the validity of the NH Primary.

As for the endorsement made by ~J~ today, I do happen to agree that Fred Thompson is the best of the candidates available for selection in South Carolina.

That being said, after reading this post it answered a question I have asked of myself many times.

What is it that I am looking for and not finding this time around that convinces me these folks are fit to be Commander in Chief?

After watching debates, (on both sides of the aisle), listening to stump, concession and acceptance speeches, and generally observing all candidates, I have been left feeling uninspired. Worse yet, I find myself weary of the entire process.

After reading Rick Moran’s piece containing some of the finest words ever spoken by such a diverse group, I think I found the answer to my question.

What’s missing is patriotism. Not the rah-rah kind. And no, I am not infering that any one of these individuals is not a patriot. I don’t want someone to wrap themselves in the flag and sing God Bless America at every campaign stop.

Listen to these candidates. Not just right or left, conservative or liberal. Where is the spirit in any which has the ability to unite an entire population not only in this Presidential race but well beyond?

What has happened to promoting America’s strengths and not just harping on her weaknesses? Why in the world is there so much negativity constantly spewn by these men and one woman? I have to fix this, I have to fix that. This is wrong, that is wrong. No answers to any of the negatives of which they speak..just empty words.

We’ve all heard this phrase in most all presidential elections, “When I am elected President………..I will……….Nice words..but just that. Showing you have the ability to affect those ideas once elected..whole different ball game.

For me, I think I am still searching for that genuine patriot. The one who puts this country above his or her own politics.

Right now, Fred Thompson is the closest I can find. He, at least attempts to show the United States of America in a positive light, problems and all. Hope and Change are nice words. Congress will have much to say about either.

Believing in this country and its population are quite another.

Please consider voting or caucusing for Fred Thompson. He is the most conservative candidate in the race and we need to give his campaign a lift.

Check for when the polls open and when the caucuses begin and please give serious consideration to voting for Fred.

There’s not much more to be said at this late hour. You know where he stands on abortion, taxes, national security, and you know he has been a conservative all his adult life.

If that’s not enough to make you consider voting for Fred, then I don’t know what will. What I do know is if Fred doesn’t come in at least second in South Carolina we might as well say good-bye to his candidacy. This is our stand to take or not. It’s up to us to put him back on the right track in this primary race.

Show the pollsters they can be as wrong with Republican voters as they were with Democratic voters in New Hampshire last week.

This is my endorsement only and does not necessarily reflect how Sue feels about this candidate.

Chinese take-out meals will never be the same:

Some 3 billion fortune cookies are made each year, almost all in the United States. But the crisp cookies wrapped around enigmatic sayings have spread around the world. They are served in Chinese restaurants in Britain, Mexico, Italy, France and elsewhere. In India, they taste more like butter cookies. A surprisingly high number of winning tickets in Brazil’s national lottery in 2004 were traced to lucky numbers from fortune cookies distributed by a Chinese restaurant chain called Chinatown.

But there is one place where fortune cookies are conspicuously absent: China.

Now a researcher in Japan believes she can explain the disconnect, which has long perplexed American tourists in China. Fortune cookies, Yasuko Nakamachi says, are almost certainly originally from Japan.

Who could have known? Balance of the story here.

Congressman William Jefferson appeared in court yesterday:

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A Louisiana congressman accused of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes told a judge Thursday that FBI agents who interviewed him back in 2005 were so overbearing that they followed him inside the bathroom of his own home.

Testifying under oath for the first time in his bribery case, Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., contradicted the testimony of multiple FBI agents who said the Aug. 2005 interview was cordial and friendly.

Poor man graduated from Harvard Law School and had no knowledge of basic Miranda Rights:

But under cross-examination, Jefferson acknowledged that he spoke to the agents voluntarily, out of a desire to cooperate. Prosecutor Mark Lytle also pointed out that Jefferson, a congressman since 1991 and a graduate of Harvard law school, presumably well understood the right to remain silent.

Jefferson disagreed, and said his experience was primarily in business and tax law and that his grasp of criminal law is fleeting.

[Emphasis, mine]

As they say..Rrrrrright.

This is very, very good news indeed:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iraq’s army and police could be ready to take over security in all 18 provinces by the end of this year as the U.S. military moves toward a less prominent role in the country, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

“We look at it every month. We make recommendations. I think that if we continue along the path we’re on now, we’ll be able to do that by the end of 2008,” Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, the No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, said when asked when Iraqi forces could take the lead in all provinces.

He said that a joint operation under way led by Iraqi troops and supported by U.S. troops against al Qaeda militants in the northern city of Mosul was a model for the future.

“That’s how I see our role frankly in the future here,” he told Pentagon reporters via videolink from Baghdad.

Fingers crossed.

Finally, a few posts from around the sphere which either had humor, human elements and emotions or just plain common sense.

Even when it has not been considered wise by many, or the President has made decisions which make me go, “geez, why did you do (or not) do that,” I have remained a steadfast supporter of both him and his administration.

DJ Drummond has too.

You might enjoy this post at Winds of Change which incorporates the following,

One of my best friends spent years as a community organizer for parks in New York City. She is a fountain of funny stories and ‘on-the-ground’ political wisdom, and one of her truisms is: dog doo ends all meetings.

into a wonderful post on the issue of race in America.

Jules Crittenden has designed a“Playoff” system of his own. Good stuff.

All together now..TGIF.

It appears the Nevada caucuses will proceed as originally agreed upon by the DNC and the Nevada Democratic Committee:

Just minutes ago, District Court Judge James Mahan rejected the lawsuit that contested the nine at-large Strip caucus sites.

He cited case law that “recognizes the parties have the right to determine how to apportion delegates.”

Attorney Mark Ferrario for the state teachers’ union and five party activists who brought the lawsuit said he didn’t know whether they would appeal, but “probably not.”

One wonders if this suit would have been promoted if Clinton has received the Culinary Workers Union endorsement.

The following video is the ABC News report explaining exactly what it was that was being contested. The Former President seems to believe that the Vegas caucus participants votes will weigh 5x heavier than any others.

Not so fast say those supposedly in the know:

Greetings from snowy South Carolina! Yes, we have an inch or two of the fluffy stuff, which is supposed to turn into sleet and freezing rain by noon. What’s the difference between sleet and freezing rain anyway?

Well, that’s not the topic of this post. I have been innundated with political literature from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and now our phone is regularly ringing for other candidates, the latest being a live call at least, from the John Edwards campaign.

After Saturday I’ll be able to tell the Democratic candidates I’ve already voted since the Republican primary is the 19th of the month and the Democratic primary is the 26th.

I got a call Tuesday evening asking which candidate I intend to vote for in the primary. It was a recorded message but I answered “Thompson”. I was then innundated with some of the most disgusting campaign tactics I have ever been personally subjected to.

“If you knew that former Senator Fred Thompson worked for a law firm that worked for the pro-abortion lobby and Mike Huckabee has consistently been in favor of pro-life, would you change your vote?” “No.”

Several questions were put to me in that way always saying Huckabee had a better record. At the end of the recording it was said quite quickly who sponsored the call, but I didn’t understand it.

Wednesday afternoon it was the Edwards campaign’s turn to call us to harass. “Hi, this is Susan from the John Edwards campaign..” at which time I cut her off and told her hell would have to freeze over before I voted for Edwards and politely thanked her. That’s not exactly the words I used but you get the idea.

Later Wednesday I got a call from the Ron Paul campaign telling me how wonderful he is and how he would protect the second amendment and blah, blah, blah.

If this is how they treat people in South Carolina I would certainly have hated to be a voter in Iowa or New Hampshire, but somehow I think those people crave that attention every four years.

My mind is now made up and although I am going to vote for Fred Thompson I am not going to formally endorse him on this site.

He may not have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning the nomination but I believe he best represents my political views and I will be true to myself in the campaign.

Oh, yeah, one of the campaigns, either Ron Paul or Huckabee, asked if I approved of Lindsey Graham. My answer was no.

A must read “Letter to the Candidates” from Sgt. Hook.

HT:Lone Wolf at Blackfive where he writes:

Sgt. Hook has a Letter to the Candidates that should go to every politician, not just those running. It is well worth reading, and well worth sharing. It also echoes a message that I was asked to send by multiple enlisted soldiers this last embed. Note, enlisted: not officers, not senior NCOs, but enlisted. Grunts, line animals, the guys on the sharp end. The guys who are walking among and working with Iraqis every day and helping them not just rebuild, but build new and better lives and communities.

Sgt. Hook is active duty and currently serving his second tour in Iraq.

While we may not be exactly his target audience, I agree with Lone Wolf. This letter is definitely worth sharing.

If you have a spare moment, please take a look.

When you discover a form of art which has its own natural beauty, it has the ability to mesmerize and sometimes astound you.

Here is a bit of background on the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe.

In the 15 days after Spring Festival, Tai Lihua, a dancer with the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe, accepted interviews from 85 various media outlets. On her busiest day, Tai met with 15 media.

What brought the 29-year-old dancer so much media attention was her performance in “The Thousand-handed Goddess of Mercy,” a dance routine presented by 21 deaf and mute dancers during CCTV’s popular Spring Festival Gala Show on February 8. Tai was the lead dancer of the piece. Because of the nature of the dance, most of the time Tai’s face was the only one the audience could see.

As lead dancer and captain of the team, Tai has become a representative of the troupe and her fellow dancers.

“I hope people can still look at me with ordinary eyes,” Tai said. “I hope instead that more attention can be given to disabled people who need help.”

When Tai uses sign language to answer questions with an interpreter, she can also be heard murmuring common spoken language. And part of what she says can be understood.

The interpreter explained that ordinary people hear sounds at about 15 decibels, Tai can hear sounds at 95 decibels, classifying her as seriously hearing impaired.

“Apart from not being able to hear, my life is just like any other person’s,” Tai said. “What’s more, I can better concentrate when I do things. No matter how chaotic the outside world is, my world is as still as water.”

Here is their beautiful performance.

Not only did this article produce what I thought was the best lead paragraph of the week:

WASHINGTON — Democrats promised big changes when they took power on Capitol Hill in 2006, and they delivered — when it comes to making over the cafeteria.

but, also my two favorite quotes thus far in a very slow news week:

“This is silly feel-good crap by a bunch of do-gooders. … We should be worried about the housing crisis, the unemployment rates and the national debt,” one high-level Democrat said.

“I really don’t like Nanny Nancy telling me what I can and cannot eat for lunch,” one Republican aide said via e-mail. “If I want to eat unhealthy, I should have that choice.”

Taxpayer dollars, hard at work.

I really like this ad. No personal attacks, no talking “at me.” Just good old conservative values and thoughts.

Will it work? Is it effective enough? Will the former Senator continue his run for the Presidency following the South Carolina primary?

We’ll know soon enough.

These newly released pictures of Lincoln’s Second Inauguration are fascinating.

From the Library of Congress:

Details of Abraham Lincoln’s second inauguration come into clearer focus with the recent discovery at the Library of Congress of three glass negatives that show the large crowd gathered at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for the president’s address on March 4, 1865.

These negatives had been labeled long ago as being either the Grand Review of the Armies or the inauguration of Ulysses S. Grant. Carol Johnson, a curator of photography at the Library of Congress, spotted the misidentification on Friday, Jan. 4, while checking old logbooks and finding the annotation “Lincoln?” in the margin. Only two other photos of Lincoln’s second inauguration were previously known, but a careful visual comparison confirmed that these three negatives portray the same event.

“These negatives add to our knowledge of this special event,” said Johnson. “They show what that wet Saturday looked like with the massing of the crowd. They also convey the excitement of the people.”

How wonderful to be given the opportunity to get a glimpse of such an important part of the history of the United States.

HT:Hot Air

The sixty four dollar question.

While watching the endless pundit blather on TV tonight after the Republican Michigan Primary and Democratic Nevada Debate and reading the various opinion meisters commentaries online, I had one of those rare zen moments of simplicity. It all comes down to a simple question:

Who would you like to be in the White House if Pakistan fell to al Qaeda and the Islamists gained control of its nuclear arsenal?

Read the rest here.

Someone was a bit red in the face last night:

LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan Republican Party mistakenly sent out a news release Tuesday night congratulating John McCain for winning the state’s GOP primary.

It quickly issued a second statement praising Mitt Romney for his win.

“Heading into tonight, this race was too close to call, so we prepared a release for either scenario,” state GOP spokesman Bill Nowling said. “We simply pushed the wrong button.”

The Associated Press named Romney the GOP winner when polls closed in Michigan’s western Upper Peninsula at 9 p.m. EST.

As fluid as all of these races have been, something like this was bound to happen.

Now let’s see, we have had Mitt, John, and Mike each take a prize. Maybe next, Fred, followed by Rudy? This is a real horse race at the moment.

Here is a terrific site for comprehensive results from the Michigan Primary.

Other than perhaps the Super Bowl, I don’t have many memories of terrific television commercials..until now.

This is by far one of the best advertisements I have seen in years. What fun! (I don’t want to spoil it for those who choose to take a look, so I’ll say no more.)

I find this piece of music to be very inspiring, no matter the rendition.

Here’s hoping you will too.

No matter your religious preferences, this statement by Mike Huckabee should be enough to make you take a step back and ask if you can support someone who would not be a President to all, but rather to those who have only his Christian beliefs.

Thanks to Rob at Say Anything for providing the video.

He offers these thoughts:

Now, I understand that Christians believe the word of God (as defined by the various denominations) is the ultimate truth. And I understand that Christians want to incorporate that truth as they see it in our laws. But what we need to remember is that while Christianity dominates America’s spiritual landscape not everyone in America is a Christian. We’ve got Jews and Muslims, Buddhists and atheists too. And they may not want the Constitution to reflect the word of God as Mike Huckabee sees it.

This is why our founding fathers put, in the very first amendment of the Constitution, a clause ensuring that our national government would be a secular government. They realized that all Americans should be free to practice the religion of their choice.

Do I believe that Mike Huckabee has a deep and abiding faith? Absolutely. I think the same of President Bush, but as President you must govern all equally.

Your thoughts?

Those residing in South Carolina have no doubt already seen this new ad from Fred Thompson.

There was so much emphasis put on Iowa and New Hampshire but for the GOP, Saturday’s primary could be pivitol.

HT: Macsmind

John Murtha has certainly distinguished himself well as a US Congressman, don’t you think?

America’s youngest Governor has assumed his office:

BATON ROUGE, La. - Republican Bobby Jindal was sworn in Monday as Louisiana’s 55th governor, and moved quickly to make good on a campaign promise to clean up the corrupt image of this hurricane-battered state.

“We have the opportunity _ born of tragedy but embraced still the same _ to make right decades of failure in government,” Jindal said in his inaugural speech, referring to hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005.

Jindal,