A COMPACT VOTERS' GUIDE

Courtesy of Dan Sorkin, some of the accumulated wisdom of prominent Democrats you should consider before voting. These are actual quotes. Peruse each carefully.

Barack Obama: "I've now been in 57 states? I think one left to go?"

John Kerry on the troops: "You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Howard Dean: "We know that no one person can succeed unless everybody else succeeds."

Rosie O'Donnell: "Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."

Congressman Hank Johnson on Guam: "My fear is that the whole island will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize,"

Nancy Pelosi on the economy: "every month that we do not have an economic recovery package 500 million Americans lose their jobs."

Bill Clinton on ordinary Americans: "African Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do."

Barack Obama on a tornado that killed twelve people: "In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died - an entire town destroyed"

Joe Biden on the economy: "The number one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S."

Joe Biden on History: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television said, 'Look, here's what happened." (For the history-challenged, TV didn't even exist at that time.)

Marion Barry, former mayor of Washington, DC: "If you take out the killings, Washington actually has a very very low crime rate."

California Senator Barbara Boxer: "Those who survived the San Francisco earthquake said, ‘Thank God, I'm still alive.' But, of course, those who died, their lives will never be the same again."

Senator Chris Dodd, while on the campaign trail: "Eight more days and I can start telling the truth again."

Jerry Brown, former governor of California, and current candidate for the same position: "The conventional viewpoint says we need a jobs program and we need to cut welfare. Just the opposite! We need more welfare and fewer jobs."

Al Gore on zoology: "A zebra does not change its spots."

Congressman John Dingell on freedom: "It takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people."

Radio personality Ed Schultz on elections: "If I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times ... Yeah that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. Because that's exactly what they are."

John Kerry on health care: "I'm going to be honest with you -- I don't know a lot about Cuba's healthcare system. Is it a government-run system?"

Congresswoman Maxine Waters on socialism: "Guess what this liberal would be all about? This liberal will be about socializing...uh, um...Would be about, basically, taking over, and the government running all of your companies."

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on national security, after a man attempted to blow up a commercial airplane with a bomb in his panties: "The system worked."

....and, last but not least, the immortal Nancy Pelosi on legislation: "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

These are the people Democrats have chosen to lead the country. Please DO pass it on to everyone you know.

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Bernie Schwartz, a/k/a Tony Curtis, had a fabulous career, including an Academy Award nomination. His immortality was probably sealed with a line from a movie early in his career when his Bronx accent was still pronounced. In the movie “Son of Ali Baba”, he uttered the words, “Yonduh in duh valley of duh sun is my fadduh's castle.”

RIP, Tony. You were a movie star when there WERE stars.

* * * * *

Reader Todd reminds us of the timeless wisdom of P. J. O'Rourke: “Giving money and power to the government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”

CONSTANTLY TURNING LEFT: NASCAR DRIVERS AND BARACK OBAMA

White House power-status report...

Moving out: Rahm Emanuel as Chief of Staff.

Moving up: Valerie Jarrett, longtime Obama insider who is so leftist, she makes Emanuel look like Calvin Coolidge.

* * * * *

A Texas couple shot, the husband killed, by illegal border-crossers who attacked them on a lake IN TEXAS. Have you heard one word about this outrage from the anti-American fool in the White House … a lunatic permanently obsessed with telling us -- and the world – that all the problems of that sewer south of the border are OUR fault?

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Rich = smart? Not always. Take media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, among many other media outlets. He thinks law-abiding illegal aliens should be given amnesty, BUT accompanied by tighter border controls. The whole idea is foolish, because any granting of amnesty will only encourage MORE illegal entry, border controls (which won't happen, anyway) be damned. He also dredges up the old liberal lie that it's impossible to deport illegals. If the already-existing laws against HIRING them were enforced, and giveaway social programs stopped, they'd deport themselves. Witness the Arizona example, where the illegal population has thinned considerably.

There's more depressing news for Big Media, but it's a sign of the continuing education of the American public.

According to the Gallup Poll, seldom on the cutting-edge of reporting trends in public opinion, 57% of Americans now say they have little or no confidence in Big Media to report the news completely and fairly. That's a record high and the fourth straight year a majority expresses such a lack of confidence. Conversely, the number of trusting consumers of big-media reportage has shrunk to a new low of 43%. No wonder liberals would like government censorship of the internet and talk radio, which have undermined them with truth.

The continuing trend is ... gold going up in price ... the dollar going down in value compared to both the shiny metal and other currencies such as the Euro and the Swiss franc. And what does it tell you about the state of the American economy when the U.S. government is in a continuous campaign to make the dollar worth LESS compared to those foreign currencies? I submit it means our country is run by idiots whose mismanagement has led to this chaotic mess. Put fools in positions of power -- starting with the top position -- and it is unreasonable to expect a different outcome.

* * * * *

Local government officials of Anytown, U.S.A., would be well advised to take note of this. Schaumburg, Illinois, a booming western suburb (pop. 70,000+) of Chicago that once claimed as one of its residents ... me ... is reported by NBC/Chicago as LOWERING property taxes by 4.4%, abolishing the local vehicle sticker fee and including garbage pick-up in the services covered by the (lowered) property tax. Care to bring this up for discussion at your local City Hall? Maybe if they unloaded a few payroll parasites, they could do the same!

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If Republican House leader John Boehner, who aspires to the Speakership after the election, will not straightforwardly pledge to eliminate money-wasting earmarks, who could possibly believe he's seriously dedicated to reforming the utter mess Demos and RINOs have made? You know the saying: “If you aren't part of the solution...”

A second chef has committed suicide after submitting himself to the abuse built into the format of the TV cooking show starring the hideous Gordon Ramsay. What kind of ghouls watch such an exercise in sadomasochism, anyway? Are participants in the "show" screened to make sure they don't include someone with the will or ability to pound the host to a pulp?

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Tasteless but funny.... A man is dying of cancer, but tells everyone he's dying of AIDS.  His son asked him, “Dad, why are you telling this lie?” “So when I'm gone, nobody will sleep with your mom.” ….Thanks, Sheila!

It's difficult not to be amused by a flailing, clueless Barack Obama berating his 2008 supporters for being insufficiently excited by his ruinous policies as he simultaneously exhorts them to join him for another ride on his CrazyTrain. What will he offer them next? Free dope?

It will be interesting to see if the November youth vote even approaches the turnout of that demographic in 2008 or, more likely, returns to the traditional pattern of showing up for the free rock concert at a campaign event, but not showing up at the polling place.

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Having had almost two years to consider the catastrophic result of their fervent support of the Kenyan Marxist, one might wonder whether America's idealistic but easily-fooled young voters have yet figured out that the real world doesn't work like an Obama poster. He's a failure, kids. He was/is totally unqualified, with only Alinsky's leftist bible to prop up a weak-kneed and immature political philosophy.

It's not entirely your fault that you got led off a cliff by this poseur, kids. Both major political parties failed you. The conscience-less Democrats in offering an even bigger nothing than poor ol' lost Jimmy Carter; the Republicans for offering a faded RINO who probably reminded you of your grandfather on a bad day. They did it before with Dole, so evidently they're incapable of learning from their own stupid mistakes. Given that shabby performance by both parties, it's little wonder furious and fed-up Americans have gathered under the banner of the Tea Party in all its variations. With rare exceptions, the nation would be better led by 535 people selected at random off the street than the current congressional incumbents. And Obama has, in the minds of most Americans, cemented his place in history as the most incompetent--and dangerous-- president ever. He has presided over the destruction of our economy and the U.S. dollar with his silly socialist policies and his kowtowing to avowed enemies has been an embarrassment.

Let it not be forgotten, by the way, that a Democrat-controlled Congress started the downward spiral of the economy during the last two years of the Bush administration with their spending spasm.

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It's a monument to endemic silliness in California that Jerry Brown is on the ballot for governor of that poor benighted state.

Is it possible that the only cure for the chaotic, failed California economy is for the state to become such a disaster area that the illegal aliens who burden the taxpayers return to their homes south of the border and their brethren who reflexively vote Democrat become swamped by sane people who don't want a re-run of the antique loony as governor?

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American forces in Afghanistan take fire from the Pakistan (Pahk-ee-stahn, for the Obamunists) side of the border ... retaliation ... and howls of protest come from our "allies", the Pakistani government. Just how long will we be able to continue pursuing this fantasy that Muslim Pakistan is an ally?

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So the supercilious Rick Sanchez got whacked by CNN. Can America possibly survive with one less left-wing propagandist in the media???

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A friend will loan you his car. A REAL friend will let you hide your cocaine in his butt.

At least, that's the story Raymond Roberts told sheriff's deputies in Manatee County, Florida, after a traffic stop revealed a strong aroma of marijuana. A baggie of the evil weed was the first thing they found in the crack of his ample posterior. Then the coke. He admitted the grass was his, but said he was hiding the white stuff (which is subject to stronger legal penalty) for a friend. Wonder if that kind of search is included in the law enforcement training syllabus?

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The wisdom of THOMAS SOWELL -- "Politicians often act as if you can create costs without creating consequences. Force insurance companies to cover more things and then act surprised when the premiums go up. Mandate more benefits for employers to provide for their employees and then act surprised when they don't hire as many workers. It is great political theater but lousy economic policy.”

“How anyone can read history and still believe in political messiahs is beyond me. The fact that it has become possible to graduate from even our most prestigious colleges and universities, still fundamentally ignorant of history, may have much to do with our electing a political messiah to the White House-- for which we, our children and grandchildren will pay dearly.”

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From reader Peter, this quote from a Baltimore sportswriter, Peter Schmuck (?!) regarding the indictment of baseball's Roger Clemens: “Isn't it great to live in a society where the penalty for lying to a congressman can be up to thirty years in jail, but the penalty for a congressman lying to you is another two years in office.”

MAKES YOU PROUD TO BE A TAXPAYER

The lunatics who run your government will spend a quarter-million of your tax dollars on a grant to the University of Washington for a study of the sexual activities of gay males as young as sixteen. Question: Is there a male of any age above puberty who DOESN'T know what they do? I'm told it's vividly displayed on certain websites.

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The five poorest cities in America, based on their poverty rates, are Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Milwaukee and St. Louis. What do they have in common? They all have Democrat mayors and city administrations. The same applies as you move down the list of poverty-ridden cities. Yet, the locals in each never seem to learn.

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Re the vicious New York governor's race between Cuomo and Paladino: has anyone yet used the term from the Godfather movies (I was in #3 -- the weakest of the lot) ... "going to the mattresses"?

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Challenge to any & all liberals who leap to charge that this-or-that conservative "isn't ready to govern". Please make for me a compelling case that Barack Obama, who never ran anything other than a taxpayer scam as a "community organizer" and studiously avoided controversial votes as a state legislator and short-term Senator was ... "ready to govern". His aloof attitude and totally unjustified superiority complex have caught up with him, hence his desperate flailing in a fruitless attempt to connect "with the people".

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Anybody heard of -- or from -- "progressive" Air America lately?

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Notice that the leftist slobs who had their small gathering in Washington left behind an utter mess of trash and junk … totally unlike the earlier Beck-sponsored rally? But … what would you expect of a bunch of stupid pigs? Also … it seems that TV, including C-SPAN, used shots of the Beck crowd, represented as these goofballs, to pad the apparent attendance. Wonder how many leftist clowns would've shown up had socialist-minded unions not provided free transportation?

* * * * *

Two predictions about Jon Stewart's rally for liberals coming at the end of October: (A) Attendance figures will be wildly inflated by the liberal media, and (B) even so, the number will be obviously and overwhelmingly eclipsed by the recent Beck rally.

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This nation has welcomed immigrants of many backgrounds, races and religions. Only in the case of Muslims have we welcomed people whose basic creed, the Quran, orders their commitment to the destruction of their hosts. This has been done in the sacred names of "diversity" and "tolerance". We will live -- or die -- to regret this foolish display of naivete, as parts of Europe are already learning.

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New York newspapers report that every street sign in the city will be changed because the federal government burocrats don't like the font used on the present (and long-standing) signage. The cost is estimated at $27.5 million – and when was the last time a government project like this EVER came in on-budget? The city's appropriate response would've been, "Feds, go to hell!" But Mayor Bloomie isn't the guy to do that, is he? Perhaps he should consult Arizona Governor Jan Brewer or Sheriff Joe Arpaio on the proper way to deal with Washington bullies. It consists of two words, a verb and a pronoun.

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Anybody want to bet that the man who blew up the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, and was released from prison on grounds that he was terminal with cancer (he's alive and well in Libya) didn't have his release greased by the passing of substantial sums of money by a large international oil company doing business in his native land?

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I'd never considered writing an autobiography, anyway, but any small need to do so has now been resolved with a chapter in the new book by Burt Prelutsky. Burt is the longtime Hollywood writer who put the words in the mouths of the actors on such hit shows as “Mary Tyler Moore”, “Newhart”, “MASH”, “Family Ties” and many more.

He's assembled the stories of several dozen folk in fields as varied as politics, business and media in a new book called ”PORTRAITS OF SUCCESS”. I'm both surprised and pleased to find myself in such stellar company.

It's available at Amazon and elsewhere.

About the Michelle Obama campaign, subsidized by Disney, telling people what to eat: as the small boy said, "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it!"

THERE ARE LEADERS ... AND LOSERS.

Leader. Winston Churchill. "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be; we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender."

Spineless nothing. Barack Obama. "We can absorb a terrorist attack."

Think this country has a future under the walking Messiah Complex inhabiting the White House?

Democrats: figured it out yet? Wonder Boy holds you in utter contempt. Suckers.

A sure sign of desperation is the Big O's latest outburst about "freeing the slaves". Mr. Lincoln beat you to it, community organizer. Worse, he was a ... REPUBLICAN!

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“Post-racial president”? Oh, really? Gallup Poll finds... 91% support among blacks, 36% among whites. Just what you'd expect with racial identity emphasized by race-preference policies.

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BILL GATES, Microsoft founder, wants the world population reduced. Okay, dude -- you first.

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Americans are still being killed in Afghanistan at a rate of more than one a day. This in a war Obama has vowed to downscale and end next year. Killed ... for ... WHAT??? To increase the price of heroin for useless American junkies?

Liberals' contempt for the constitution is now so common, they need to be force-fed a commonly-used sports analogy to clarify their muddled thinking. It's as if they want to play a ballgame whose rules are constantly being changed--for the benefit of their whim of the moment. It's a spoiled-brat mentality, writ large.

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There is a cautionary note in the recent news from Ecuador. A cautionary note for people who get caught up in the fantasy of buying either a vacation home or a fulltime residence in a foreign country. Be VERY careful about WHICH foreign country. Learn something about its politics and record of stability. Americans in the thousands are not only being ripped-off by unscrupulous overseas developers (many of them American, by the way); they also fail to recognize their fragile legal standing and ownership rights in a foreign country where governments can be overthrown overnight. Even a place with a long record of stability like Costa Rica is not without risk. A friend who just went property-shopping there reports that foreign buyers are being increasingly herded into gated communities because of a rise in the influence of the Latin American drug cartels. And one can be sure that, whatever the salary paid to the guard at the gate, it can easily be surpassed by drug-money if the bad guys want to get it.

Switzerland still looks good! -- along with a few other places.

* * * * *

Russia announces plans for a private-enterprise space station. China sends a rocket on a mission to further explore the moon. Meantime, NASA falls into disuse with an assigned mission to make Muslim nations feel better about their contributions (??!!) to space exploration. Such is the state of the nation under a president who can only be described as (A) a bungling fool or (B) virulently anti-American.

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Words to live by...from Milton Friedman. “If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand.”

PACK IT IN, STAN

How much longer can the government of Pakistan walk the tightrope, helping the U.S. out of fear of losing the country to Taliban extremist control on the one hand … and fear of the backlash by the Muslim (huge) majority population on the other. Hence the blocking of supplies thru Pakistan to American forces in landlocked Afghanistan over U.S. cross-border raids on attackers targeting our people in Afghanistan. There is no prospect of a happy ending for this situation, complicated by Pakistan's possession of nukes.

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Now that the dust has settled on the latest Schwarzenkennedy brainstorm, loosening up the dope laws … California voters, so you STILL believe you elected a Republican governor. As if the state weren't already dopey enough...

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Hillary is outraged over U. S. government-sponsored medical experiments done in Guatemala in the period 1946-1948. Fine. Must've been Bush's fault, right? Ooops!  Truman was president at the time.

* * * * *

The U. S. government is sending money (it doesn't have) to Brazil for further development of oil resources there … an industry largely run by … China. At what point does stupidity become criminal behavior?

A serious thinker, probably smarter than the last four presidents combined (including the current White House occupant), but can he win in 2012? Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton. Are American voters that mature? Think about it.

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“But he's a Stanford man!” Could Tiger Woods really have been so stupid as to make a sex tape with a porno actress/hooker?

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One more time for Rahm Emanuel, ballet danseur, before he disappears in the muck of Chicago politics: Elton John's “Tiny Dancer”. And he hurtles from D.C. to Chicago in a faaaabulous grand jete!

EUROPE: SUPINE ... OR SERIOUS?

European nations have long had a policy of accommodation rather than confrontation in dealing with militant Muslims who hate the very western civilizations to which they nevertheless migrate. One wonders if that tolerance is about to be stretched to its limits -- and beyond -- by the latest threats of mass murder in public places. The threats are enough to not only strike terror in the local populace but also undermine the tourism industry that is a major part of most European economies. If the terrorism being threatened does materialize, maybe it will awaken a long-overdue response.

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It's a mark of the simple-minded economic silliness of so many Americans, products of our wretched school system that they have never learned the lesson embodied in the logical answer to the question, "Who pays?"

Economist Arthur Laffer answered that question years ago, but many (most?) Americans have been brainwashed for so long they found it incomprehensible despite the obvious logic. He stated it thusly: "Business doesn't PAY taxes ... business COLLECTS taxes for the government."

So it was; so it still is. The thoughtless who believe government's financial troubles can be solved with "more taxes on businesses" are clearly unable to make the connection between the costs incurred by business, including taxes, and the necessity to charge more for the product or service involved in order to cover those costs. American "educators", take a bow. Responsibility for this widespread ignorance falls largely upon your doorstep.

* * * * *

Let's see if these dots connect. The government is about to pump another $155 million into sex education programs, the stated objective being to decrease teen pregnancies. A noble goal, but correct me if I'm wrong about this. Despite all the money poured into such programs for all the years they've been around, has or has not the teen pregnancy rate shown a steady increase, with single motherhood now at its highest level ever? I rest my case.

* * * * *

Survey says ... about 90% of Pakistanis disapprove of American attacks on Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists operating from their territory. Let's be clear. This means they think it perfectly okay for those terrorists to run across the border to attack Americans in Afghanistan, then return to Pakistan with no expectation of retaliation by U.S. forces. This is beyond stupid or delusional; it's a choice of sides in a war the terrorists have repeatedly declared. We are dealing here with crazed savages and should respond accordingly.

* * * * *

Obama, in his desperation as he faces a cataclysmic election, is trying to peddle the line, "we can't go back." If Republicans are still looking for an answer to that campaign tactic, try this: "Let's DO go back. Back to a time when the American economy produced jobs and prosperity with less hassling by an ignorant government burocracy ... and back to a time when America was feared by its enemies -- for good reason."

* * * * *

Mortgage foreclosures bring pain to all parties -- except the fortunate buyer of foreclosed properties who gets housing at a reasonable price. Perhaps it's time to re-learn a fundamental lesson about borrowing to make a purchase, whether it be a new TV or a McMansion. It's this: If you haven't paid for it ... in full ... it isn't "yours".

A POTPOURRI OF MINUTIAE

Iran's President Ahmadenijad has called for the death and burial of America's leaders. That Obama "open hand" policy really worked, didn't it?

* * * * *

Dictators never change. Hugo Chavez, the thug who keeps Venezuela under his thumb, was evidently annoyed -- or frightened -- by opposition that appeared during his latest rigged election. So ... now he wants his civilian "militia" armed. Whatever he calls it (it seems to be named for Latin American hero Simon Bolivar) the historical lineage is clear. It runs in a straight line back to Hitler's SS & Gestapo and the personal goon-squads of other tyrants.

BTW, to return briefly to a previously-discussed issue, Chavez's latest round of expropriation of foreign-owned property should be a reminder of the hazards of buying that retirement home or vacation home in another country. It is vital that serious research be done on WHICH country.

* * * * *

Speaking of Latino dictators... The utterly failed economy of Communist Cuba has forced the Castros and their henchmen to fire a half-million employees of the government, which runs all business in Cuba. Cuban people, raised on Marxist nonsense, are in a panic. What to do, what to do?! The government has helpfully put out a short list of approved private enterprises that may be pursued. One occupation leaps from the summary: that of masseuse. Masseuse? Does that not raise a suspicion that, like the Batista government that preceded it, today's Cuban power structure is either legalizing or overlooking an open return to rampant prostitution? So much for "power to the people"!

* * * * *

Is it possible to become a tech-wreck? First, a disclaimer: I am not technology averse. I am an instrument-rated pilot, which indicates a fair command of complex devices and systems. I use (or co-exist with) three computers in my home; two desktops, one laptop. In today's world, they are indispensable. I do, however, still maintain that if automobiles were as trouble-prone as computers, we'd all still be using horses for transport.

From a sociological standpoint, I have both serious questions and a deep aversion to the so-called "social media". Have millions become so careless of their privacy that they want to destroy even more of it by deliberately making themselves vulnerable via such websites as Facebook? Do not the already-demonstrated dangers of such exposure, beyond a concern for one's privacy, make it a questionable practice? And then there's Twitter, which I can interpret only as a form of exhibitionism and egotism, inviting people to "follow" you. Which leads to a further question: why would anyone find his/her own life so empty as to hang onto every activity of another, however mundane, somehow fulfilling? Above and beyond all that, who has the TIME for this wheel-spinning nonsense? Your own life is essentially just a piece of time, indeterminate in quantity. Why would you want to waste part of it in such pursuits? If I'm missing something, please feel free to so advise me.

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A curse to be used only in circumstances of the most extreme hostility: "May your next daughter look like Eleanor Clift!"

WISE UP, OR GIVE UP

Americans, I'm sorry to say, have a generalized belief that, aside from spasms of terrorism like 9/11, we are immune to the madness that afflicts other countries -- especially the self-inflicted kind. There is a reason the wisest man of the 20th century, Winston Churchill, observed that "democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others."

Democracy does not make any population, including our own, invulnerable to the madness of mobs. Germany in the 1930s was populated by probably the best-education citizenry in the world and, lest we forget, the political party that gave dictatorial power to Adolf Hitler won a Democratic election. In fact, won it with a higher percentage of the vote than received six decades later by Bill Clinton.

Thus we observe with dismay a U.S. body politic that has made itself susceptible to the blandishments of a crypto-communist in the White House and allows itself to be reassured by people named Clinton, Bush and Obama that we are "not at war" with Islam. This in the face of loud proclamations from Muslims that they ARE at war with us in the name of their faith! This is the ostrich-with-its-head-in-the-sand mentality, for which it is easily predictable that we are going to pay a hideous price.

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Note to gun-grabbers. Despite a constitutional provision much like our own Second Amendment, as a practical matter Mexican citizens are forbidden to own guns; that choice is foreclosed by a government burocracy which can grant or withhold permission. Got that? Mexican citizens can't own guns. Notice just how effective that's been in preventing crime south of the border? Are you gun-grabbers capable of learning ANYTHING from real-world experience?

At some conscious or even subconscious level you may be aware of this, but the election season calls for a timely reminder for listeners of call-in talk shows. Both major political parties, especially the Democrats, set up organized campaigns to call such shows and use them as a vehicle for free advertising. The usual tip-offs are callers who use the same talking-points, often phrased in near-identical ways. As a longtime host on major stations in major cities, I long ago became aware of these schemes, and in my own listening today almost instantly spot them. That was one of several reasons why I long ago stopped using callers, over the objection of management. The objections ceased when the ratings doubled virtually overnight. To this day, I maintain that the use of callers -- and "use" IS the proper term -- is a crutch for hosts who either don't have much to say themselves or don't want to do the preparation work necessary to provide three or four hours of real content.

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After the election, congress will re-convene. Votes will be cast on serious issues by people who have already had their careers terminated by the voters. This is called a "lame duck" congressional session. Make up your own poem ...

IF IT WERE YOUR MONEY ...

Here is a key question each voter should ask him/herself at voting time in November. Consider the entire Democratic leadership, from Obama downward, and ask, "Would I hire ANY of these people to run a business in which I had invested substantial money?" Consider a government drowning in debt, and the answer becomes obvious.

Youth tends to devalue experience: "Look what a mess they've made of the world, etc." But those who accept that accumulated years of observation and knowledge does have value cannot help but notice that, with each rise in the age demographic, disapproval of Mr. Hope & Change rises. That is especially true when it comes to public opinion of his health plan. Might it not occur to younger folk that the longer you've been around, the more exposure you've likely had to the health care system?

(Recommended listening: the classic Alec Wilder song, “Young and Foolish”.)

With all its flaws, there remain some immutable facts. First, more and more people come from overseas (if they can afford the trip) to avail themselves of the world's best specialists in the U.S. Secondly, the much-admired (by leftists) Canadian system keeps U. S. hospitals filled with patients from the Great White North. Except for the usual wild-eyed leftist loonies, how many Congress members do you see campaigning for re-election on a boast that they voted FOR Obamacare? Those who did -- and they are many -- are now trying desperately to disassociate themselves from it as more people belatedly realize the whole scam was based on a false premise: the idea that more people could be given health care ... those already covered could retain that protection ... and all this could be done for less money. Yet there are still those who believe in this form of alchemy.

The suckers ... uh ... believers also ignore the fundamental reality that making things more difficult than the imposition of the already-present government meddling and paperwork discourages young people from becoming doctors. I have previously cited the case of my nephew who, since early childhood, always wanted more than anything to become a doctor. In pre-med at a prestigious school, he -- and about half of the entire class -- have quit pursuing that career because of the specter of Obamacare hanging over the profession. He's switched to law school, specializing in medical law, anticipating that as it comes to full flower, government-run health care will open the floodgates for lawsuits over abuses and the cry, "Sue the bastards!" will ring out over the land more than ever.

* * * * *

Further, re Obama policies and tax plans, note the irony: foreigners used to come to this country to make their fortune. Now, increasingly, successful Americans are leaving for tax havens so they can KEEP more of their fortune. And the immigration inflow increasingly consists of folk from desperately poor countries who are equipped only for the most menial jobs, adding nothing to the national supply of educated, highly-skilled workers.

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Recommended reading: an internet search on Franklin Marshall Davis, young Obama's mentor and dedicated communist. If you wonder where Wonder Boy got some of his wacko leftist ideas, this is a good place to start.

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Irony! I just noticed. The spell-check feature on my computer does not recognize the word ... internet!

Idle thought ... Wonder how many congressional Democrats would vote today to make Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of the House? If a miracle unfolds and her prediction that her party will retain control of the House, what are the chances she'd be re-elected to her post? This takes for granted that the lunatic population of her district, San Francisco, WILL re-elect her to congress. As a former resident of twenty-five years, I tell you with confidence that the image of SF held by the rest of the nation is a mere shadow of the reality.

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It's a poor sales tactic for conservatives to bemoan the fact -- and it IS a fact -- that younger generations will be paying our ever-growing national debt. Conduct your own survey or friends or relatives or acquaintances under the age of, say, thirty. Ask them how THEY think they will deal with that burden. The most likely answer you'll get, if you get one at all, will relate to increased taxes. That is one possibility, but not the most likely. Far more likely will be the use of the usual tool of demagogic politicians: inflate the currency, the more easily-concealed form of taxation. If you doubt that it's going on already, compare the trend of the dollar's value vs. the most solid, inflation-proof major currency in the world, the Swiss franc. Sixty years ago, one dollar bought more than four francs. As recently as four years ago, a dollar was worth about 1.25 francs. Today they trade almost even; one dollar, one franc. That's not because the Swiss currency has gained in value; it's a measure of the reduced value of the dollar as money is being created out of thin air by a spending-crazed government.

Ironically, even the Euro, the European money that's been battered by financial crises and near-collapses, notably in Greece and Spain, has nevertheless GAINED in value versus the dollar in recent months. The ancient saying applies to governments as well as individuals: "If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall."

If you've worked and saved, the Obama policies are deliberately aimed at reducing the value of what you've accumulated in order to buy more votes from society's parasites.

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Memo to showbiz lefties. If your hero, dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, is so beloved by his people, why does he employ CUBAN bodyguards?

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Has there ever been a more appropriately-named lawyer/political activist than Gloria ALL-RED?

And ... if Democrats are so concerned about the illegal alien housekeeper being (unknowingly) employed by California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, wonder how long it'll take the Obama regime to have the adorable Nicky Diaz deported?

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The American Medical Association, "the union" to the approximately 30% of U.S. doctors it represents, jumped early onto the Obamacare bandwagon, leading the public to believe theirs was the universal voice of American medicine. Now, many of the doctors who bailed out of the AMA over that management-level decision have become some of the biggest supporters of Tea Party opponents of socialized medicine.

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Attorneys in Chicago say election law makes it illegal for Rahm Emanuel to run for mayor; he hasn't lived there at least one year before the election. I'd recommend he get a place ASAP; say, something around 63rd and Cottage Grove on the South Side. And walk to-and-from the nearest bus stop. And update life insurance as well.

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There's been talk of White House spokesparrot Robert Gibbs as next chairman of the Democratic Party. With his track record of evasion, obfuscation and denial of plain facts, who better?

I'm sidelined for a few days, dealing with a medical matter. Please check this space daily for my return and your daily dose of vital vitriol and vituperation!