Obama's Big Loss

I finally got around the watch the Presidential debate the from the other night. I thought it was pretty clear that McCain won the debate on the content, but admittedly, I could be a little biased, since I'm clearly supporting McCain/Palin in this election. Even so, I felt like McCain really had it together, much more than Obama, but, losing the debate proper wasn't really Obama's big loss of the night.

According to some of the people on the news, who claim to have inside information from some people in the Obama campaign, it was his goal for the debate to make McCain lose his temper during the course of the debate. I hadn't been sure if this was true or not, until watching the debate, and I could see that Obama was clearly trying to get under McCain's skin. He spent the whole night talking over Senator McCain, and trying to interrupt him, and saying things designed to get a rise out of McCain. The problem for Senator Obama is that McCain didn't bite.

It was a huge failure for Obama, but nobody seems to want to talk about it in the media. For the most part they will admit that McCain won the debate, but they don't seem to want to talk about the fact that Obama failed to get McCain to blow up.

For his part, McCain kept it very level, was ready to answer the questions that were asked and really had it all together. He behaved in a very Presidential manner, and showed that he can lead, and can very much be in command. For me, the debate really didn't tell me much of anything that I didn't already know, since I've been following all of this stuff quite closely, but I was impressed by how John McCain handled himself, and how on the ball he has was for all of the questions.

I guess the funny part of all of this for me is that the people on the Obama side keep wanting to point to McCain's age and say that he can't be up to being President because he's so old. But when you take a look at them both, every time you see McCain, he looks spry, on the ball, Presidential, and never tired. Obama on the other hand tends to looks haggard half the time. You can see that the campaign is taking quite a toll on him, and doesn't that make you wonder how exactly he's going to bear up under the pressures of the office of the President? Clearly McCain can handle that part of it with no problem, but if Obama can't even handle a campaign, I'd have to conclude that he can't handle the Presidency either.

The arrogance that Obama showed in the debate is certainly nothing new for him, but it did show through very clearly, and I hope that those who hadn't seen it before will have seen it now, and start to understand the nature of the man that they are considering voting for.

My Weekend (In Pictures)

Saturday we tried someplace new, to us anyway, called Wonder Works in Orlando. They have a ton of Interactive exhibits, for not too bad of a price. It cost about as much for four of us to get in there as it would have cost for one of us to get into one of the big theme parks. We had a lot of fun.
They even have a bed of nails that you can lay down on, which was cool. You could have seen it better, but Amy didn't get the picture when the nails were all the way up.

I guess even that was worse of some of us than for others.
After Wonder Works we did some mini golf, and then went to dinner. Now, Friday night, we went to Sonny's Real Pit BBQ, which I thought was my Birthday Dinner... I was wrong. Saturday night the plan was unveiled and we went to Texas De Brazil Churrascaria (Brazillian Steakhouse), which is awesome... expensive, but awesome. I have a new favorite Restaurant... now I need to get a second job so I can go back within a few years... but seriously, it's awesome.
Sunday we went to Kennedy Space Center, as this weekend was the free weekend for Brevard County residents. Of course, we would have done much better if we had gotten there earlier, but instead, we got there about the same time as everyone else, so it was pretty crowded which made it pretty hard. This Picture is of one of the crawlers that they use to transport the Shuttles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the Launch Pads, a three mile trip, which takes about 8 hours.
This is the Vehicle Assembly Building, a massive structure where they put all the parts of the shuttle together and onto the crawler so that they can be taken to the launch pads.
This is one of the shuttles currently on the pads, though it has a shroud around it, so you can't see much, but it's still pretty cool. Right now there are Shuttles on both pads, which is pretty cool. This is not the first time that there have been two shuttles on the pads at one time, but it is the first time that one has been being prepped for an actual mission, while the second one is being prepped for a possible rescue mission, in case something goes wrong with the mission of the first shuttle.


In all it was a great weekend, and we all had a really good time.

Let Me Explain

I have been pretty heavy into politics here on my blog lately. I had thought that I wanted to turn away from Politics for awhile and focus on other things, but alas, I guess this is just a really bad time to try to do that. I think that the direction of the Country is very important right now, not only in the Presidential election, but also in the Congressional, State and Local races. I think that after the Election I may be able to tone things down some on the Political front, but not disappear entirely, as there will still be many important issues to explore. Hope you'll all stay with me for the ride.

Don't You Love It?

This was just after my last eye exam, where they blew up my pupils. What a grand load of fun that is!

30

I guess this is something of a monumental day, but honestly, I really don't feel any different than I did yesterday.  At the stroke of midnight, I didn't suddenly feel the shifting from one decade of life to the next.  To avoid any confusion, it's my birthday.  I am now 30 years old.  It is just a little odd to say that, since I'm no longer in my 20's, where I spent the last 10 years of my life.  I guess as long as I was still in my 20's there was some feeling that really, that's not so far past the teens, so, I was still young.  But let's face it, I'm still young... just not as young.

Of course, to my kids, I'm old, but hey, I can't blame them, I remember when I thought 3o was old, really, it wasn't that long ago.  

I was trying to think of what great milestone comes along with turning 30, and all I could come up with is that now I'm old enough to serve in the US Senate.  Of course, I could never run for office, I'm too blunt, and too honest for politics.  Couldn't you just see me (for those of you who know what I look like) looking some reporter right in the eye and saying, "Are you kidding me?  You're a freaking MORON!"  Or looking at an opponent during a debate of forum and saying, "That has got to be the most idiotic thing I've every heard, you pathetic little dummy."  Somehow, I can't see too many people voting for me.  So, that being the case, I guess there are no great milestones for me at 30, except to say... yup, I'm 30.

They're Not Saving Us!

This Seven Hundred Billion Dollar bailout for the mortgage industry is NOT saving us or our economy.  

A caller to the Mark Levin show last night said that we have to have this bailout, because, if you're neighbors house is on fire, you have to do something to save it.  Mark correctly pointed out that this is totally the wrong analogy, what we should be saying is that if you're neighbor is an arsonist, and burns his house down, you don't rebuild the house for him and then give him another box of matches!  That is what is going on here.  This bailout amounts to enabling, making it just that much easier for all of this to happen again, but on an even larger scale next time.

Some Congressmen are giving lip service to putting some regulation on these companies, but none of that regulation would serve to stop this from happening again, it would just stop the CEO's from walking away with millions when it did.  I'm not saying that this would be a bad thing, but it won't solve the problem.  Congress and other agents of the Government put in place regulations that forced lenders to give loans to people who couldn't afford them, and they have no intention of changing those regulations, and that will be a huge problem.  These are the policies that caused the mess now, and will re-cause it going forward.  Like I said though, next time it will be even bigger.

September of 2008 will go down in history as the month when Socialism gained it's first major foothold in the United States of America.  All of the steps of Socialism that have come before could have been reversed over time, but that might not be possible with these bailouts and takeovers.

And, as for the lie that these institutions are too big to fail, well, that's obviously not true, because they are failing!  If they fell, it would hurt, but it would not be the end of the world, other Companies, some existing, some new start ups, would move in to pick up the slack.  It would be a tough time, possibly with a real recession, but not a full fledged depression, and we would work through it, and be all  the stronger for it.  Instead, by bailing them out, we are adding a couple more floors to the house of cards, so that it can all fall in again.  

The reason that so many Americans are willing to swallow this is because they are so scared.  We need to realize that we need to be ready and willing to take care of ourselves and our fellow man, and suffer through the short term, and we will make it through this, but we can't put a band aid on it and expect that to make everything better for all time.  Please people, don't let them scare you into giving up your freedom, and that is what this will lead to, you must understand that.

This bailout is NOT a good thing.

Right And Wrong

First, let me say, I haven't seen today's developments yet, but I want to talk about what happened yesterday. This is my impression of what happened yesterday.

John McCain announced that he would suspend his campaign so that he could go to work in the Senate on some sort of better plan on the proposed bailout, and challenged Obama to do the same. As far as saying, hey something big is going on and we are sitting US Senators, and therefore we need to get to work, he was 100% right on. It is the job that we are currently paying them for, and so they need to get to work. And of course, that goes for Biden too. The only problem is that he then said that he was going to stop running campaign adds and cancel fundraisers, and wanted to put off the debate. Now, obviously, if he's on the floor of the US Senate, he can't appear anywhere, but Palin still can, and his staff can still do some things, and there's no reason why he can't still run ads and such. And the debate has been planned for so long that it's not right to put it off, and he can easily fly to the debate and get back to the Senate Saturday morning if needed. Basically, we have a great idea that has been pushed over the top.

On the other hand we have Obama saying, no, I'm not going, A President needs to be able to do two things at once. But he's not doing two things at once, he's running for President, and that's it, he's not going to work in the Senate. That's not multitasking, that's naked ambition at the expense of all else. At least, that's how I see it, and I'm an expert on my opinion. He and Biden are also sitting US Senators, and need to get to work at the jobs that they are currently being paid for.

On the same token, if there were some big emergency in Alaska, I would fully expect that Gov. Palin would go there to deal with it.

This bailout is still a terrible idea, and I fear that it will pass, but let's keep writing and calling our Senators and Representatives and even the President, and ask them not to do this to us.

Just Another Trillion Bucks

It's kind of amazing to me how easily the worlds "700 Billion Dollar Bailout" rolls off the tongue of politicians and media talking heads. They say it as if it's not even a big deal. Normally not even mentioning that this comes hot on the heals of hundreds of billions of dollars of bailouts for AIG and Lehman. So, once this thing with the $700 Billion goes down, we will have blown over $1 Trillion dollars on this mess. And most of it we'll never get back.

The bailouts of the big companies, in the form of loans, was bad enough, as it amounts to a Government takeover of a private sector company, not something that is supposed to happen in our system of Government. But what is worse is this new $700 Billion bailout, because this one is literally just throwing money away. The Government is talking about buying $700 Billion in bad mortgages from financial institutions to free up money in those companies to issue more mortgages.

OK, let's see, we're talking about buying bad mortgages, which are bad for a reason, which means that the money won't be coming back from them, otherwise, these companies wouldn't be looking to get rid of them. So that means that the money is just going down the drain.

What's even worse is the point of this is to free up money for more mortgages, which means that the companies can make even more of these same kinds of mortgages so that they will end up right back in this same mess in a few years. And don't think that they have learned their lessons and won't do this again because they don't have a choice in the matter, policies and regulations in place by the Government are what forces them to make mortgages that shouldn't be made, and we can't count on Congress to change those regulations, because they don't want to.

Congress wanted to look good by making it easier for more and more people to own their own homes, even if it meant that people were buying homes and getting mortgages that they couldn't afford. Keeping this trend going into the future certainly isn't going to help.

So, on top of all of the other problems that present themselves with the huge bailout is that it actually ensures that things will get worse in the future, and not solving anything.

We've got to get some good people into Congress and end this madness.

********************************
Update: 5:15PM

I have written to both of Florida's Senators, and my Congressman, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The text of my message was as follows:

Senator Martinez (Nelson, Rep Weldon/Pelosi Respectively),
As a citizen of the United States, and Florida in particular, I implore you to vote, and fight, against this $700 Billion that is being proposed to be sent swirling right down the drain, as I'm sure you know as well as I do that this is money that will never be seen again, otherwise, the banks would not be looking to unload it.

What we need to do is to stop the bailouts and let the free market take the hit and recover on it's own. Yes, I am aware that this will cause pain, but I would rather have some pain now, and stability down the road, than alleviation of a little pain now, and a total collapse down the road, which is what this proposed package will cause.

Please vote NO!

Thank you,
Matt Wiser

The Problem With Fair And Balanced

I complain a lot of the crazy media bias in this Country. Of course, I usually watch Fox News because, even though that network has it's own issues, it's generally better than the others. Still, something has been bothering me about Fox News for quite some time, and I finally figured out what it is. The problem not that they don't live up to their claim to being fair and balanced, but rather that they do. They equally represent the spin and distortions of both sides. But what good is it if you are being fair and balanced about lies? I want the truth, isn't there someplace where we can get some of that?

So, the other media outlets tend only to represent the lies and spin of the left, usually trying to make sure people buy it as truth, at least fox news doesn't do that, but they do still represent the lies. I guess my point is simply this, a balance of lies and spin from both sides, isn't worth much more than just the straight lies of the left, leaving me to wonder, why can't we have even one network that makes honestly reporting the truth the number one objective?

I want some truth, darn it!

Is God A Republican?

Have you seen any of those bumper stickers that proclaim, in huge letters "God Is Not A Republican" and then in much small print say, "God Is Not A Democrat Either." Obviously this is laid out to be an attack on the Republican party, otherwise, whichever came first, the print would be equal sized for both parties, and not so tilted. Beyond that though, this implies that God is not interested in human Politics.

This is probably a pretty common opinion in this day and age, but is it true? Well, the short answer is, no. It's not true. The fact is that God is has an acute interest in all human activity, including Politics. He is the Creator, and the Sovereign God of the Universe, and the Bible makes clear that he is very interested in what people do. We see throughout Scripture blessings and judgements from God based on the actions, some of which we might consider to be Political actions.

So, I don't think the correct question is whether or not God is interested in our Politics, because I think that clearly He is, but rather, does he take sides in human politics. Actually, I don't think that this is nearly so complex a question as it might seem. Instead of starting with worrying about specific issues, let's start with the classical Christian view of right and wrong, and let's face it, as a Christian, it's the God of the Bible that I'm talking about here, because He's the One I believe in, and I wouldn't even be addressing this question without a specific view of God in mind.

Clearly, from the Christian standpoint, there is a very clearly delineated right and wrong, and this can be determined with a pretty good amount of certainty on most issues. I don't think it's a stretch, in the least, to say that God is on the side of the right, and firmly set against the wrong. I guess at this point it's a good time to bring up the age old philosophical question, which goes something along the lines of, are things good because God decrees them, or does God decree them because they are good. Of course, the correct answer is neither, but rather, God decree's them because He is good, and so he decree's the good out of His own goodness. In effect, we really aren't looking nearly so much to see which side God might be on, but rather to see that we are on God's side.

As I said before, in any given issue, God would have a position, and we shouldn't take a side and then try to argue for why God is on that side, but rather we should look to the Bible, and try to ascertain what is right, and therefore, what is the position of God on that issue.

Now let's see if we can apply that reasoning to Political Parties. When you look at the platform of any party, you find an amalgam of positions on a multiplicity of issues. It's probably safe to say that some of those positions would be in the true right, and some would not. Also, with each specific issue, it's pretty safe to say the two major parties will have different positions. It is possible that one party will hold the right position, while the other will be wrong. It is also possible that both will be wrong, but with opposing positions, it is impossible for both to be right. This is known as the law of non-contradiction, two opposing positions cannot both be true at the same time.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the issues and whether or not my positions are right, and whether or not I'm on God's side. So, to answer my initial question, is God a Republican, of course not, all of God's positions are perfect, while the Republican party clearly has flaws, but I do think that the Republican party is, by and large, closer to God's positions than the Democrats are, and I'm more than willing to discuss this point on an issue by issue basis, any time.

What's more, if God were voting in our upcoming Presidential Election, would he vote for John McCain? Honestly, I don't know if He would or not, but it's obvious to me that He would not vote for Barack Obama, because many of his positions are very contrary to what is right, by God's standards.

So, as far as those bumper stickers go, technically, they are correct, but you have to really wonder, do the people who put those bumper stickers on their cars think things through this much? Or do they really believe, as I assumed at the begining, that God doesn't care about our Politics? This is one of those cases where a technically true statement is mis-applied and therefore becomes a false statement.

Someone could disagree with me regarding my conclusion that the GOP is in a more righteous position than the Dems, but I'm happy to discuss that, and I really don't think you can hold a Christian Worldview and disagree with my premise that God is indeed on a side with any given issue. What say you?

Quote Of The Day

"If the unborn is not a human being, then no justification for abortion is necessary.
However, if the unborn is a human being, then no justification for abortion is adequate." -- Alan Shlemon of "Stand to Reason"

Wasilla Bible Church

I had seen a few supposed news stories that talked about Governor Sarah Palin's Church, the Wasilla Bible Church, in Wasilla Alaska. I only phrased it that way because it's how you'll find it in the news media, but it would be more accurate to say, the Local Church where Sarah Palin is a member (or at least an attendee). These news stories were trying to call this at least a somewhat radical Church, obviously trying to create a moral equivalency to Obama's problems with the church he attended. You remember, the one with the America hating, anti-semite, racist, heresy preaching pastor? The problem is they are worlds apart.

Having seen some of the stories starting to pop up, I decided to check it out for myself. As a Palin supporter, I felt it to be my duty to make sure that there was nothing hinky going on up there. It was pretty easy, the Church website is www.wasillabible.org and they have the Sermons posted going all the way back to January of this year. I have listened to around ten of them so far, and while you might not have a 100% complete picture from that, you can get a pretty good idea. I did not find any political activism, or even and political talk in any of the Sermons I listened to. I didn't hear any radical talk, or any attempt to stir up trouble. What I did find was sound Bible teaching. I was quite impressed with this Pastor (Larry Kroon).

If my impression so far holds up, which I expect that it will, this is your average Bible believing, Christian Church. So, they can argue with Palin's stances on the issues, but when they attack her Church, they are attacking all Bible believing Christians everywhere. We need to make clear that this is off the table.

Truth

There has been so much talk in the media regarding all the activity on Wall Street, and Government bailouts and such, that it's hard to tell what might be true, and what is just more clutter. Well, if there is one thing we are accustomed to in the media, it's clutter, so, let's see if we can cut through some of it.

First, with Obama and Biden hurling accusations at McCain about some of the people in the McCain campaign having once lobbied on behalf of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This is true, but all it means is that some of the people that now work for McCain were once hired (or possibly not even them personally, but just the lobbying group they worked for) by Fannie and Freddie to present their wishes to members of Congress, not that their actions actually caused any of the problems with the giant psudo-companies. On the other hand, besides the fact that Obama has lobbyists in his campaign also, two of his top advisers used to be top executives at Fannie Mae, one of them having been the CEO who personally put in place the policies and procedures that lead directly to the failure of the past month or so. And he made over $90 Million during his tenure with the company.

Second, Obama keeps trying to lay the blame for the fall of these two giants at the feet of John McCain, even though Obama himself never took any action to try to head off a crisis, probably because of one of two reasons, either the money he was getting from them, or the fact that Democrats were deeply involved with these two, and, unlike McCain, Obama has never taken a stand against his own party, but I digress. The fact is that John McCain introduced legislation, and made speeches on the floor of the Senate to encourage action, that would have averted this disaster, but it was blocked by the Democrats... in this case, I'm not even sure Barack Obama was "Present," but it's certain he didn't do anything to protect us from this mess.

Third, the media keep saying that both candidates have received money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which is true, but it's not a complete truth. Out of the 535 Members of the Congress (House and Senate) Obama is number 3 in total amount of money received, McCain is around 325 or so. Somehow I think the media is not being completely honest... what a shock!

And, still on the topic of the money, they also fail to mention that there is only one person in the race who hasn't received any money from these companies, and that is Governor Sarah Palin. That's right, McCain has received just a little bit, Obama has received a ton, and Biden quite a hefty sum, but Palin, none. That's because Palin really is an outsider, and someone with an actual record of taking on the establishment and making people in Government work on behalf of the people, and not for their own interests.

There is also more talk in the media about Gov. Palin and the "Abuse of power scandal" in Alaska, I had hoped that they would finally learn how to be a little bit honest, but I guess they won't, so I'll have to explain what is going on there one of these days really soon.

Obama's Plan B?

I made a reference in a recent post regarding Obama's days as a Community Organizer, and how you really can't get any answers, and are castigated just for asking the question. I'll give you a little part of it today.

Obama was once a Lawyer for ACORN, the extremely radical Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. I realize that this doesn't mean a lot to most people, but there is something very interesting at play here. You see, many members, or former members, of ACORN are now, or have been in the past, in prison for voter fraud! That's right, a group that is a very large part of Obama's past are well known for being involved in voter fraud.

Is that why he doesn't seem to be worried about this election? He knows he doesn't need to actually win the most votes because he has a plan B in place to win by fraud if he can't win by actual election?

I'm not saying I have proof of this, but I'd say a preponderance of the evidence sure points that way, wouldn't you?

The Danger of Government Guarantees

The Danger of Government Guarantees--By Fred Thompson

I’ll bet it came as a surprise to most folks that the financial stability of the world as we know it depends upon the survival of a couple of outfits called Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yet that’s what the so-called experts are telling us. Moreover, we taxpayers are now being asked to guarantee Fannie and Freddie’s tab, one that could make the $124 billion S&L bailout of the late 1980s look cheap.

So how did we get stuck with this bill? Well, Congress wanted to “do something” about what it saw as a “housing problem.” To them that meant that they should create an even bigger problem.

So Congress passed laws that made it easier for hopeful home-buyers to buy houses … even when they couldn’t afford them. Then the Fed and other regulators helped, in the form of easy money and loose credit standards for mortgages.

Not surprisingly demand for houses grew, home prices rose, lenders financed additional questionable mortgages, fueling even higher prices and so on. You get the picture. This is called a bubble.

Then an amazing thing happened – apparently impossible to foresee. Home prices did not continue to rise forever! Home prices came down and easy money dried up, causing the above mentioned cycle to reverse. In other words, the bubble burst.

So you’d think the in-over-their-heads homebuyers and the mortgage bankers would take the hit, and the market would right itself. No reason for an international meltdown here, right?

Not so fast my friends. Years earlier Congress established Fannie and Freddie as purchasers of these mortgages, which they could bundle up, repackage and sell to investors, freeing up more mortgage money. As government creations tend to do, the two companies grew until they either owned or guaranteed about half the nation’s $12 trillion dollars in mortgages.

Fannie and Fred were “government sponsored enterprises” which means heads they win, tails you lose. If they make money stockholders, creditors and Fannie and Freddie employees – some making millions annually – get the benefit. But now that mortgages have hit the skids, with mounting losses, the taxpayers potentially face trillions in exposure. This is because there is an “implicit” (read “actual”) government guarantee of Fannie and Freddie’s obligations and both are now too big to be allowed to fail. This is called the “bailout phase,” which will probably lead to a bigger bubble in the future.

Lost in this immense, complex mess is the root problem most people are missing: the government is gradually becoming the guarantor of seemingly every important aspect of American secular life, creating incentives and bureaucracies that cause failure and invite fraud.

In Fan and Fred’s case, it was in no one’s interest to turn off the bubble machine. Just the opposite. The system induced borrowers to take on financial obligations they could not afford and lenders to lower lending standards. Fannie and Freddie went along because their managers’ compensation depended on the firms’ short term financial performance. And investors continued to buy complex security packages they didn’t understand, because the securities were viewed as government-backed.

Heavy campaign contributions by those benefiting from this scheme induced Members of Congress to avert their gaze from the ugly mess that was unfolding.

You’d think we’d have learned by now: when the backstop of the federal treasury makes it easier for politicians, lenders, borrowers, welfare recipients, government contractors, or anyone else, to serve their own self interest at the expense of the taxpayer, many will do just that.

That is why we continue to see self-dealing, moral lapses, outright fraud and lack of management and oversight in a wide array of programs and government-sponsored entities, from housing to Medicare, education and the Small Business Administration, all costing taxpayers billions, even trillions of dollars.

Our Founding Fathers knew more than a little bit about human nature. It is one reason why in the Constitution, the federal government was given certain delineated powers and no others. I hate to burst another bubble, but our government simply doesn’t have the authority or the capability to be the guarantor or insurer of our every need or desire. Isn’t it time we started sending that message loud and clear to the big enablers in Washington?

To read more of Senator Thompson's writings, please visit us on the web at www.fredpac.com

A Little Too Late

More speculation on the news today that Hillary Clinton might go on the campaign trail to be Obama's attack dog against Sarah Palin. Of course, they don't consider that it's too late for something like that, if there ever was a time that it really would have mattered.

The fact is that, as I have said before, McCain is not playing identity politics by picking Palin, he's playing smart politics, going after Conservative voters, like myself. It has been my feeling from the day that McCain announced that he had selected Palin as his running mate that he was only going to get a slight bump from the hardcore democrat supporters of Hillary, so, even if she were able to go out there and take all of them away, it would be minimal. Obviously someone like Hillary would never be able to convince voters like myself to vote for Obama, but she might not even have all that much luck with those few of her former supporters who have switched over. I say that simply because it's been so long. I know that two weeks doesn't seem like such a long time, but with a heated election like this one, two weeks can be an eternity. If someone has indeed gone over tho the McCain camp, they have spent the last two weeks immersing themselves in the McCain campaign, getting comfortable with the idea of voting for, and supporting the McCain/Palin ticket, and opposing Obama. Getting them to turn back could end up being an insurmountable task, even for Hillary. All of that, though, like I said, is probably not an issue for the small number of people that we're really talking about here.

The big thing though, that the media seems to be missing, in their own self interest, is that there is nothing that Hillary said that can be taken as an indication that she is planning to be an attack dog against Palin. Everything that she has said has been about getting the focus back onto the issues, because there are serious differences between McCain and Obama, and that the Obama campaign should get it's focus off of Palin and back onto McCain. I heard her say that, and my first thought was along the lines of, wow, she's right, and she smarter than Obama's whole campaign staff.

It's about time someone with a loud voice came forward and said, this campaign needs to be about the issues. I want it to be about the issues, because I think McCain's stances on the issues are better than Obama's, and I am ready, willing, and able to argue the issues, but nobody seems to want to. I am also happy to see that there is at least one democrat who is willing to talk issues. If they hold these positions, they should be willing to discuss them, and defend them as needed.

Who would have thought that I would have been the one to say, Hillary was right. Man, things really don't make sense in this election.

Utterly Constant

I'm sure that a great many people are already really sick and tired of the constant barrage of media coverage of the Presidential election. I pay a lot of attention to politics, and this election is very important to me, and I'm getting sick and tired of it.

I'm sick of having to sift through the information and checking multiple sources and spending a lot of time pondering what is out there in order to figure out what the truth is. I'm sick of the majority of the media being in the tank for Obama, and acting as though we are too stupid to realize that they are trying to campaign for him instead of reporting news. I'm sick of Fox News flopping back and forth from side to side so you never know if you should believe them or not. I'm sick of the constant lies coming from the Obama campaign. I'm sick of Obama spouting Marxism and thinking that we are too stupid to see it for what it is. I'm sick of the McCain campaign putting out silly commercials that capitalize on non-issues. I'm sick of McCain's positions that are not good and not reasonable.

Also, I'm really sick of the media, all of it, telling us what we are supposed to think. I want them to report the news and stop telling me what it means, I can figure that part out on my own.

Above all though, I'm really sick of not having any intelligent debate about the issues. There seems to be no clear thinking out there. It's all about the cloudy, oh we don't know what to think, nonsense that just keeps people from being able to make intelligent choices. That is, of course, the way they want it, because they want to keep their ratings high, even if it means that the people can't actually get the information that they need. Of course, as I said before, at least some of the media is committed to getting Obama elected, so clouding the issues really works well for them, because, if things were seen clearing, virtually no one would vote for Obama.

And that's another problem, we live in a day and age where telling the truth is called racism, or some other such harsh name that no one wants to be labeled with. Think about it, just asking what exactly a community organizer is will get you called a racist. But what if you just want the answer to the question? Beyond that though, even if you already know, generally, what a community organizer is, it seems that you're not even allowed to ask what kinds of things Obama worked for in that capacity. You can't seem to get specifics on what he worked for, or what he supported, though, if his voting record is any indication, most people wouldn't be very happy with what they found out, which is probably why we can't get that information.

I'm just sick of it.

Even Biden Doesn't Trust Obama

I almost feel bad, this one is so easy... almost.

Speaking at a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Democratic VP Nominee, Joe Biden said, "Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice-president of the United States of America. Let's get that straight." So far, this isn't too huge of a gaffe, but he didn't stop there, he goes on, "She's a truly close personal friend...quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. But she's first rate, I mean that sincerely, she's first rate."

Now, let's look back at what Obama said when he announced the Biden pick, "For months, I've searched for a leader to finish this journey alongside me and join me in making Washington work for the American people. I searched for a leader who understood the rising costs confronting working people and will always put their dreams first, Today, I've come back to Springfield to tell you I've found that leader."

Clearly, Obama felt that he had made the right selection, picking the best person for the job, or, at least for the campaign, but Biden doesn't even trust Obama's judgement when it comes to picking him for Vice President! But we're supposed to trust him to be President?

Really what this shows is that Biden is an idiot, you never go out in one of these things and say that someone else would have been a better choice than you, but you still want people to vote for you. And what kind of judgement (which is what we keep hearing Obama has) does it take to pick someone as dumb as Joe Biden for a running mate? And this is far from the first dumb thing that Biden has said.

On another subject, Obama stated in an interview recently that he "had to" register for selective service when he graduated from high school. The only problem with that is, he graduated in 1979. The selective service requirement was suspended in 1975, and not reinstated until 1980. Honestly, we don't know if he registered at all, but clearly, if he did, he didn't have to, which means, he lied. Not an attack, a statement of fact.

Oh yeah, and one thing I forgot to mention the other day, about the "Bridge to Nowhere," did you know that both Obama and Biden voted for it in the US Senate? So how is it that they get to make an issue out of it exactly?

Pickens' Natural Gas Nonsense

Pickens' Natural Gas Nonsense

By Steven Milloy
September 11, 2008

"Get this one," says billionaire T. Boone Pickens in his latest TV ad, "Iran is changing its cars to natural gas and we're not doing a thing here. They're doing this to use less oil and sell it for $120 a barrel. We can switch our cars to natural gas and stop sending our dollars to foreign countries."

Readers of this column know better than to take at face value the marketing of the so-called "Pickens Plan."

So what's the full story behind Iran's move, and what would be the impact of switching our cars to natural gas?

Although Iran is a major oil and gas producer, it lacks oil-refining capacity and must import about 50 percent of its gasoline. To be less vulnerable to international pressure concerning its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided to reduce Iran's reliance on imported gasoline.

He started with rationing in May 2007. But that quickly led to violent social unrest.

Ahmadinejad then decided to convert Iran's new car fleet to natural gas. So 60 percent of Iran's car production this year -- about 429,000 vehicles -- will be dual-fuel-ready, capable of running on both gasoline and natural gas.

But contrary to Pickens assertion, Iran isn't trying to use less oil:; It's trying to use less imported gasoline -- and only to thwart a possible international gasoline embargo.

Though hardly a role model for energy policy, should we nevertheless follow Iran's lead with respect to natural-gas cars? Just what would that mean to you and to our economy?

While the natural gas sold for auto fuel is as much as 50 percent less expensive than gasoline -- at least for now -- the cover charge to get into a natural-gas vehicle can easily erase any savings.

A new natural-gas-powered car, such as the Honda Civic GX, for example, is almost 40 percent more expensive than a conventional Civic ($24,590 versus $17,700).

While tax credits can reduce the cost by thousands, somebody -- either you and/or taxpayers -- will be paying the difference.

If natural gas fuel saved you, say, $2 per gallon, then you'd have to drive 124,020 highway miles or 82,680 city miles to break even on fuel costs against the $6,890 purchase price premium.

You can convert an existing car from gasoline to natural gas, but the costs are daunting.

Converting a car to dual-use (as in Iran) costs between $6,000 to $10,000. Converting a car to run on natural gas only is about half as expensive.

Even so, the conversion has to be done correctly or, in the worst case, you risk leaks that could turn your car into an improvised explosive device. And if your car is altered without proof of EPA certification, you might not get any of the all-important conversion tax credits.

Then there's the inconvenience. Though their fuel tanks are larger -- which, incidentally, reduces trunk space -- natural gas cars have less range.

While a new Honda Civic can go as far as 500 miles on a tank of gasoline, the GX's range is less than half of that -- and, currently, there are only about 1,600 natural-gas refueling stations across the country, compared with 200,000 gasoline stations.

If your home uses natural gas, you could buy a home filling station at a cost of about $2,000 plus installation. While home filling stations can further reduce fuel costs to substantially below $2 per gallon, the devices take about 4 hours to replenish the fuel consumed by only 50 miles of driving. So much for gas-and-go.

Moving past the personal expense and inconvenience, the broader implications of natural-gas cars are worrisome.

The U.S. currently uses about 23 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year. Like all commodities, the price of natural gas is supply-and-demand dependent.

Switching just 10 percent of the U.S. car fleet to natural gas would dramatically increase our consumption of natural gas by about 8 percent (1.9 trillion cubic feet) -- an amount that is slightly less than one-half of all current residential natural gas usage and one-quarter of all industrial usage.

The price ramifications of such a demand spike would likely be significant. The current cost advantage of natural gas over gasoline could easily be reversed. Our move toward energy independence could also be compromised.

Domestic production of natural gas has not kept pace with rapidly increasing demand. Consequently, about 15 percent of our natural gas must now be imported.

Without more domestic gas drilling, additional demand will need to be met with natural gas imported by pipeline and in liquefied form from the very same foreign sources that T. Boone Pickens rails about in the context of oil.

In its most recent annual outlook, the U.S. Department of Energy projects that the U.S. natural-gas market will become more integrated with natural-gas markets worldwide as the U.S. becomes more dependent on imported liquefied natural gas -- causing greater uncertainty in future U.S. natural-gas prices.

The natural-gas supply problem will be additionally magnified if significant greenhouse-gas regulation is enacted.

Here's how: Currently, when natural gas gets too expensive, electric utilities often substitute coal or cheaper fuels for power generation.

Under a greenhouse-gas regulation scheme, however, inexpensive coal might no longer be an alternative because of the significantly greater greenhouse-gas emissions involved with its combustion.

Utilities, and ultimately consumers, could easily find themselves at the mercy of natural-gas barons -- like T. Boone Pickens himself, a large investor in natural gas.

Is that the real "Pickens Plan?"

Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com. He is a junk science expert, and advocate of free enterprise and an adjunct scholar at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

May We Never Forget

May we never forget the horrors of that day. May we never cease to be vigilant in the ongoing struggle against evil. May we never be taken by surprise again. May they not have died in vain.

"Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)"
By Alan Jackson

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Out in the yard with your wife and children
Working on some stage in LA
Did you stand there in shock at the site of
That black smoke rising against that blue sky
Did you shout out in anger
In fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry

Did you weep for the children
Who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below

Did you burst out in pride
For the red white and blue
The heroes who died just doing what they do
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself to what really matters

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Driving down some cold interstate
Did you feel guilty cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone
Did you call up your mother and tell her you love her
Did you dust off that bible at home
Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Speak with some stranger on the street
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Go out and buy you a gun
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watching
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns
Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
Stand in line and give your own blood
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith hope and love are some good things he gave us
And the greatest is love

The greatest is love
The greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day

Lies, Lipstick, And Bull... uhhh, dogs... yeah, dogs

I've been hearing from most of the liberal media about how Sarah Palin was in favor of the "Bridge To Nowhere" that we hear some much about, even though she says that she killed the project. The fact of the matter is that, yes, initially, she was in favor of this bridge to a small community, which is, by definition, not "nowhere." As time went by, and she learned more about the project, and the Alaska State DOT told her that this project was very low priority for them, she did, indeed, kill the project. Now, I understand, she brought it up, and it's totally valid for people to ask about, but how about some honesty in the reporting of it? They will go on to say that she still sought "earmarks" for other road projects in Alaska, claiming that this proves that she is not serious about reforming Washington and lowering wasteful earmark spending. The truth, though, is that the roads are one of the legitimate area's that the Federal Government is supposed to spend money on. These same liberals don't seem to care at all when money is wasted on all kinds of things that the Government has no business, nor even authority, truth be told, being involved in, but, since a Republican is involved in this one, they have to make it sound like it's such a terrible thing.

And, since I'm on the topic of the "bridge to nowhere," let's take a look at it. The Federal Government was allocating $250 Million to the project, which is a lot of money, at least to you and me. This bridge has become the poster project of wasteful spending, and it is presented as though projects like this are why our Federal Budget is such a mess, leaving the distinct impression that if we got rid of these earmarks, everything would be ok. The fact is that the cost of this project, and others like it, besides being legitimate Federal expenditures, are absolutely dwarfed by wasteful spending on entitlement programs, and pet social programs, which cost literally Trillions of dollars. I'd take a hundred "Bridges to Nowhere" if they would cut these crazy, way out of control, social programs.

On the lipstick front, Sarah Palin had a great ad lib line in her Convention Speech, right after she said that she was a Hockey Mom, she stated that the difference between a Hockey Mom and Bulldog was lipstick. It was a pretty funny line, as delivered, and a lot of people really liked it. Then, this week, Barack Obama was trying to say that McCain doesn't plan to bring any real change to Washington, and stated that you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. This started a lot of squealing (pun intended) that he had called Gov. Palin a pig.

Let's break this down a little bit. The statement that Obama made here is a very old adage, and has been used many, many times over the years, even by John McCain himself. Personally, I don't think that he meant what is being implied here. I think he just used this old adage, in a very classic way, and was just very absent minded about the fact that it was going to be taken as an attack on Sarah Palin. That doesn't say much for his judgement, or for his being very politically astute, I mean, honestly, do we really want someone speaking for us on the world stage who will make absent minded statements without realizing that he could be offending some other nation or world leader?

More telling though, to my mind, was the crowds reaction. They went wild, obviously taking this to be an attack, calling Gov. Palin a pig. This tells us how the mind of the far leftist really works. Now, if they disagree with Gov. Palin on the issues, that's fine, they don't have to like her, but to cheer when they think someone has called her a pig? That's really disgusting. I think this reflects far more on the type of person who supports Barack Obama, than it does on Obama himself, with regards to this specific instance.

********************

Update:
Obama has now made a statement about the Lipstick Controversy. And what does he do? He blames the McCain campaign for making too big of a deal about it. He's saying that nobody should have even mentioned it, and basically, how dare they question him on anything.

This man is utterly incapable of just coming out and saying, look, I didn't think that line through before I spoke, I shouldn't have used that phrase at that time and I certainly didn't mean to call her a pig. Then he could have just moved on. Instead, he has to come out and be indignant, and talk about special interests and stuff.

I'm also really sick of Obama calling the American people a special interest. Whenever something happens that is good for the regular, hardworking people in this country, Obama calls it pandering to special interests. We are NOT a special interest. As far as our Government is concerned, we are the ONLY interest!

The Shifted Scale

It is almost impossible to miss, in this day and age, people talking about the left and the right. In fact, I do it quite a bit myself. There is, however, a big difference between when I say it, and when someone in the media says it. You see, I'm using the true scale, while they are using their own version of the scale, which shifts ever leftward.

On the true scale, I land just a little right of center, while many democrats of old end up just a little left of center. From those positions there can be compromise, and reasonable people in either of those positions can have real conversations with each other about what works and how things ought to be. The problem is that according to the ever shifting scale, those Democrats of old are now considered to be right wingers, and people like myself are considered to be far right extremists.

This is totally untrue, of course. I believe that governments are essential, but need to be controlled, as the Declaration of Independence states, "Deriving their just powers from the consent of the Governed." That is a just right of center position. Actual far right extremists are the anarchists, that think that there should be no Government at all. Many of the neo-Nazi groups (the real ones, not just the ones that are called such by the left) fall into the far right category. These people are easily as bad as those on the far left, and have nothing in common with those of us in the Conservative camp. Personally, I'm pretty darn sick of being grouped in with those people.

The shifting scale is also how people like Bill O'Reilly get called right wingers by the media. That guy is about as centrist as you can get, but according to the shifting (maybe I should say distorted) scale, he's considered to be on the right.

This has another effect though, by distorting the scale, and claiming the center to be way farther to the left than what it really is, the true far left extremists can be seen to be just a little left of center. This is how Barack Obama is seen to be just a little left of center, and John McCain is considered to be on the far right. The fact of the matter is that John McCain is a little left of Center, while Barack Obama is a far left extremist. Sarah Palin is much closer to being a little right of center, like I am, though she seems to be just a hair to the left of me, which is why I'm voting for her, and thereby, John McCain.

Now, for those who would see that I called Obama a far left extremist, and take exception with that, let me take a moment and explain. On the issues, after you cut throught the clutter, which I have, you find his stances to be in line with Marxism, which is a far left extreme position. But you don't have to take my word for it, look up the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx (hence, Marxist) and read it. Other than the fact that the language is old, you will think that you could be reading Obama's campaign platform. And those are the facts.

MSNBC Plays Musical Chairs

The ultra-far-left cable news outlet, MSNBC, well known to be deeply in the Obama camp, has decided that two of their own have gone too far. The network has officially fired Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from the Anchor desk, at least as far as election coverage goes. But does it mean anything?

First of all, it's funny that they are finally worried that they might lose credibility because of these two buffoonish Obama cheerleaders. I hate to have to be the one to break it to them, but, that ship has sailed. Any semblance of credibility was smashed several months ago when an MSNBC reporter told the panel that it was hard to be objective when listening to Obama talk, and Matthews called him courageous for saying that, or after hearing an Obama speech, when Matthews said that he felt a chill running up his leg. And, of course, Olbermann is a liar and far left extremist bomb thrower, and never really did deserve any attention.

Of course, this attempt at getting themselves some credibility really doesn't go very far in that direction. You see, even though they will no longer be anchoring the coverage, they will still be there as commentators. How many people do you really think are going to notice that they've moved over a couple of chairs? It's nice that MSNBC is giving some lip service to trying to be a real news outlet, but it would have been nice if they had done something meaningful, like firing both of them outright.

Of course, let's also be clear, this really didn't have anything to do with them being too liberal, the network itself is still committed to the Obama Campaign. No, what this is really about is ratings. The powers that be apparently are getting sick of being dead last in the ratings, and are hoping that they can trick some viewers into thinking that are a serious new outlet. Personally, I really don't think it will work.

And lest you worry about this being the first post this month where I haven't mentioned Sarah Palin... well, there you go.

Seriously though, I make no pretense here at being impartial. My intention is to always be honest and truthful, and so, in the interest of full disclosure, in case you were sleep reading and have missed it: I am a Conservative Republican. I am a supporter of the McCain/Palin ticket, and an unabashed fan of Gov. Palin in particular. My biggest hope is to make people who read here think about the issues. Of course I hope to bring people around to my opinion on any of the issues that I talk about here, however, failing that, I will be satisfied if I can make people take a hard look at the issues and facts and really think about them in an honest manner.

AP Thinks Obama Is Messiah

I was checking out some stuff on Google today, and found the following headline: "Obama Rebukes Palin On Earmarks."

According to dictionary.com, rebuke means: "1.to express sharp, stern disapproval of; reprove; reprimand."

To say that one person rebuked another is to imply that the person doing the rebuking has some basis of authority to issue a rebuke. Basically, just by using that word, they are trying to say that Obama is at a higher plain than Palin, and has the right to rebuke her. On top of that, it implies that she is wrong and he is right. When McCain or Palin say something about Obama, they call it an attack, or a shot, but when it's their man, it's a rebuke.

Further, for those of us that are people of Faith, we recognize the word from Scripture. At times we have read about Jesus rebuking people, through his own authority as the Second Person of the Godhead (or Trinity). At times we see an Apostle rebuking someone by the authority they have received from God, but always, the authority behind the rebuke, is God Himself.

Clearly, the AP is saying that Obama has the authority to "rebuke" Sarah Palin. Further, they are clearly showing that they are siding with him, saying that he is right, and she is wrong. Beyond that, by choosing that word, they are saying that he is something even more than that, a Messianic figure even.

It's really disgusting when a supposed news organization, like the AP, is so far in the tank for one political candidate that they are willing to make such statements, both the explicit and the implicit ones, but what's even worse is when they try to pass it off as a hard news story, and then think that the public is too stupid to see what they are doing.

I actually don't care about what Obama had to say here, he is a political Candidate, in the middle of a big campaign, of course he's going to attack the other side. He's spinning it, and he's full of it, but you have to expect that in these things. No, what is disgusting here is the inappropriate actions of the, so-called, mainstream (but really very far left) media in this country.

Obama is not God, or the Messiah, but I think someone needs to tell the AP.

Small Town Politics

The Democrats and the media all seem to be making a big deal of the fact that Gov. Palin was once the Mayor of a small town. They seem to be saying that this somehow makes her unfit for the office of the Vice President of the United States, always skipping over the fact that she is, even now, a Governor. Their reasoning escapes me.

I have been thinking about this for the past few days, and it seems to me that what really doesn't make any sense is that we don't demand that people have experience in local politics before we elect them to high office. My point is, as a Mayor of a small town, you have to make decisions, and quite a few of them, on a regular basis. What's more, you can't hide from the decisions you make, you have to live with them. Even more than that, you see, day in and day out, how your decisions have affected the people in your town. If you make a bad decision, you can't escape it. Every time you go to the grocery store, or the bank, or for a walk, you will see the people directly affected by what you have done. And, you are affected by your own decisions. Also, your office is not somewhere far away, or hard to find, so people come and see you with ideas, or when they are unhappy. You literally live what you do.

Too often people begin their political careers in Congress or State Houses, far away from the people they represent, and don't really have to live the decisions that they make, at least, not the way a small town Mayor does. This makes it far too easy for them to be out of touch with the voters, and with the lives of the people.

There is something to be gained from being a Small Town Mayor that you really don't get from any higher level of politics, and I suspect that this stays with you.

I believe that Sarah Palin understands full well that what she does, if elected to go to Washington, will affect the people, and don't we want someone that understands that?

Is her time as a Small Town Mayor something that works against her? I certainly don't think so. In my mind, we should demand it from any who seek a higher office.

The Palin Speech

Last night, Gov. Sarah Palin gave an outstanding speech to the Republican National Convention. You will hear from people that, well, she didn't actually write the speech, but the truth is that early in a persons political career at this level, you get to see the most of that persons own words, because the speech writer doesn't know the person well enough at that point to write a speech for them, without their input. Karl Rove also stated that you don't get a speech this outstanding without the Candidate working with you.

This was an outstanding speech, Gov. Palin not only hit a home run, she knocked it right out of the park.

And now, the speech:

SARAH PALIN: Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens, I will be honored to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America. And I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election against confident opponents at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions, and met far graver challenges, and knows how tough fights are won, the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost, there was no hope for this candidate, who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war. But the pollsters…

(APPLAUSE)

The pollsters and the pundits, they overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off. They overlooked the caliber of the man himself, the determination, and resolve, and the sheer guts of Senator John McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

The voters knew better, and maybe that’s because they realized there’s a time for politics and a time for leadership, a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.

(APPLAUSE)

Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by. He’s a man who wore the uniform of his country for 22 years and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who now have brought victory within sight.

(APPLAUSE)

And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander-in-chief.

I’m just one of many moms who will say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm’s way. Our son, Track, is 19. And one week from tomorrow, September 11th, he’ll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.

My nephew, Casey (ph), also enlisted and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.

My family is so proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform.

(APPLAUSE)

AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

So Track is the eldest of our five children. In our family, it’s two boys and three girls in between, my strong and kind- hearted daughters, Bristol, and Willow, and Piper.

(APPLAUSE)

And we were so blessed in April. Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig.

You know, from the inside, no family ever seems typical, and that’s how it is with us. Our family has the same ups and downs as any other, the same challenges and the same joys.

Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge. And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special-needs…

(APPLAUSE)

To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message for you: For years, you’ve sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. And I pledge to you that, if we’re elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

And Todd is a story all by himself. He’s a lifelong commercial fisherman and a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska’s North Slope, and a proud member of the United Steelworkers union. And Todd is a world champion snow machine racer.

(APPLAUSE)

Throw in his Yup’ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package. And we met in high school. And two decades and five children later, he’s still my guy.

(APPLAUSE)

My mom and dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town. And among the many things I owe them is a simple lesson that I’ve learned, that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.

And my parents are here tonight.

I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath (ph).

(APPLAUSE)

Long ago, a young farmer and a haberdasher from Missouri, he followed an unlikely path — he followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency. And a writer observed, “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity,” and I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.

I grew up with those people. They’re the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food, and run our factories, and fight our wars. They love their country in good times and bad, and they’re always proud of America.

(APPLAUSE)

I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.

(APPLAUSE)

I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.

(APPLAUSE)

So I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids’ public education even better. And when I ran for city council, I didn’t need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and I knew their families, too.

Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska…

(APPLAUSE)

… I was mayor of my hometown. And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involved.

(APPLAUSE)

I guess — I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

(APPLAUSE)

I might add that, in small towns, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they’re listening and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren’t listening.

(APPLAUSE)

No, we tend to prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.

(APPLAUSE)

As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes and whoever is listening John McCain is the same man.

(APPLAUSE)

Well, I’m not a member of the permanent political establishment. And…

(APPLAUSE)

… I’ve learned quickly these last few days that, if you’re not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

But — now, here’s a little newsflash. Here’s a little newsflash for those reporters and commentators: I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I’m going to Washington to serve the people of this great country.

(APPLAUSE)

Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reason and not just to mingle with the right people. Politics isn’t just a game of clashing parties and competing interests. The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.

(APPLAUSE)

No one expects us all to agree on everything, but we are expected to govern with integrity, and goodwill, and clear convictions, and a servant’s heart.

And I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

This was the spirit that brought me to the governor’s office when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys.

Suddenly, I realized that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power-brokers. That’s why true reform is so hard to achieve.

But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up. And in short order, we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.

(APPLAUSE)

I came to office promising major ethics reform to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is a law.

While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor’s office that I didn’t believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over-the-top.

(APPLAUSE)

I put it on eBay.

(APPLAUSE)

I love to drive myself to work. And I thought we could muddle through without the governor’s personal chef, although I got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her.

(APPLAUSE)

I came to office promising to control spending, by request if possible, but by veto, if necessary.

(APPLAUSE)

Senator McCain also — he promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest. And as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.

(APPLAUSE)

Our state budget is under control. We have a surplus. And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending, nearly $500 million in vetoes.

We suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress, “Thanks, but no thanks,” on that Bridge to Nowhere.

(APPLAUSE)

If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves.

(APPLAUSE)

When oil and gas prices went up dramatically and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged: directly to the people of Alaska.

(APPLAUSE)

And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way that they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources. As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.

(APPLAUSE)

I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.

And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.

(APPLAUSE)

That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are open, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

The stakes for our nation could not be higher. When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we’re forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve. And families cannot throw more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.

With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.

(APPLAUSE)

To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of the world’s energy supplies, or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia, or that Venezuela might shut off its oil discoveries and its deliveries of that source, Americans, we need to produce more of our own oil and gas. And…

(APPLAUSE)

And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: We’ve got lots of both.

(APPLAUSE)

Our opponents say again and again that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems, as if we didn’t know that already.

(LAUGHTER)

But the fact that drilling, though, won’t solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.

(APPLAUSE)

Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we’re going to lay more pipelines, and build more nuclear plants, and create jobs with clean coal, and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal, and other alternative sources. We need…

(APPLAUSE)

We need American sources of resources. We need American energy brought to you by American ingenuity and produced by American workers.

(APPLAUSE)

And now, I’ve noticed a pattern with our opponent, and maybe you have, too. We’ve all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers, and there is much to like and admire about our opponent.

But listening to him speak, it’s easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or even a reform, not even in the State Senate.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word “victory,” except when he’s talking about his own campaign.

(APPLAUSE)

But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot…

(APPLAUSE)

… when that happens, what exactly is our opponent’s plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he’s done turning back the waters and healing the planet?

(APPLAUSE)

The answer — the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions.

Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.

(APPLAUSE)

Government is too big; he wants to grow it. Congress spends too much money; he promises more.

Taxes are too high, and he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan.

And let me be specific: The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, and raise payroll taxes, and raise investment income taxes, and raise the death tax, and raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars.

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

My sister, Heather, and her husband, they just built a service station that’s now open for business, like millions of others who run small businesses. How are they…

(APPLAUSE)

How are they going to be better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you are trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or in Ohio…

(APPLAUSE)

… or you’re trying — you’re trying to create jobs from clean coal, from Pennsylvania or West Virginia.

(APPLAUSE)

You’re trying to keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.

(APPLAUSE)

How are you — how are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy?

Here’s how I look at the choice Americans face in this election: In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers, and then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.

They are the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners or on self-designed presidential seals.

(APPLAUSE)

Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speech- making, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things, and then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things.

(APPLAUSE)

They’re the ones who are good for more than talk, the ones that we’ve always been able to count on to serve and to defend America.

Senator McCain’s record of actual achievements and reform helps explain why so many special interests, and lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.

Our nominee doesn’t run with the Washington herd. He’s a man who’s there to serve his country and not just his party, a leader who’s not looking for a fight, but sure isn’t afraid of one, either.

(APPLAUSE)

Harry Reid, the majority of the current do-nothing Senate…

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

… he not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee. He said, quote, “I can’t stand John McCain.”

Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we’ve chosen the right man.

(APPLAUSE)

Clearly, what the majority leader was driving at is that he can’t stand up to John McCain and that is only…

(APPLAUSE)

… that’s only one more reason to take the maverick out of the Senate, put him in the White House.

(APPLAUSE)

My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of personal discovery.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

This world of threats and dangers, it’s not just a community and it doesn’t just need an organizer.

And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they’re always, quote, “fighting for you,” let us face the matter squarely: There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you.

(APPLAUSE)

There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you in places where winning means survival and defeat means death. And that man is John McCain.

(APPLAUSE)

You know, in our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world, the nightmare world in which this man and others equally brave served and suffered for their country.

And it’s a long way from the fear, and pain, and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.

But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made. It’s the journey of an upright and honorable man, the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this great country, only he was among those who came home.

To the most powerful office on Earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless, the wisdom that comes even to the captives by the grace of God, the special confidence of those who have seen evil and have seen how evil is overcome. A fellow…

(APPLAUSE)

A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio…

(APPLAUSE)

… Tom Moe recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway by the guards, day after day.

And the story is told, when McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn towards Moe’s door, and he’d flash a grin and a thumbs up, as if to say, “We’re going to pull through this.”

My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through the next four years.

(APPLAUSE)

For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words. But for a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.

If character is the measure in this election, and hope the theme, and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.

Thank you, and God bless America. Thank you.