Chicago is the murder capital of America.

In the past year alone, over 400 homicides have been committed in the city where Obama has his "experience." 400 lives have been stopped short in a town which has been served forever by a Democrat mayor, city council and governor.

Of course, the most recent murder was of the mother and brother of singer Jennifer Hudson.

But why is it, I have to ask?

Chicago, in many ways is a beautiful, cultural town with the finest parks, museums and entertainment. The city overlooks the very picturesque Lake Michigan and aside from New York, has the most vibrant downtown in America.

I believe I know one of the reasons why, but unfortunately the mayor and the others in charge are too blind to agree.

Gun control.

Speaking in regards to the Hudson's murders, Mayor Daley once again used this moment to exploit his unyielding commitment to Chicago's seemingly unconstitutional gun ban. According to the Mayor, if we could only get guns off the street, murders like this would cease to happen.

As reasonable as that seems on the surface, it is beyond foolish. From the Wall Street Journal:

The alleged perpetrator of the triple-murder has a well established history as a trouble maker. At the time of the murders, the suspect in the case was out on parole for earlier convictions for carjacking and attempted murder. Published reports indicate that the alleged perpetrator was arrested in June of 2008 for drug possession. Amazingly, he was not sent back to prison for parole violation. Had he been locked back up, he would not have been able to commit the triple murder for which he is now being held.

Does the Mayor believe that this criminal would not have found a gun? As the old saying goes, if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will own them.

Murder is already a crime. Do you think for a minute that if we pass an anti-gun law that this animal would stop and say, "whoa, I can't shoot someone. That would be breaking the law!"

In what universe does the Mayor live in?

By outlawing guns, we are making our citizens sitting ducks. If this murderer knew that if he pulled a gun on someone, It was likely someone would put one right back in his face, he would think twice about committing the crime.

The same goes for school zones.

Look, I'm not advocating that every student pack heat. But in school gun-free zones, NO ONE may carry a gun. Therefore - as has been seen over and over again - any lunatic that decides to break the law (gee, why would he do that?) and start shooting up a school has the clear advantage that no one is shooting back. By the time the police arrive, even more students (and teachers) will have fallen victims to not just the animal with the gun, but the unbelievably short-sighted, and criminally negligent politicians who approved these asinine measures.

If you need to see an example of this, look no further that at the State of Israel. Almost every adult has served in the IDF and each have been taught how to use a gun. Gun ownership is almost universal in Israel. Could you imagine the carnage that would transpire should the Israeli government pass a gun-ban? How many lives have been saved (think back to the two bulldozer attacks recently) because Israeli citizens are armed?

Does this mean that there will never been another gun related crime again? Of course not. But this isn't a zero-sum game. Simply put, in the long run the number of lives saved will clearly more than offset the number lost.

Barack Obama knows this. I would think Mayor Daley knows this. Why do Democrats not accept this?

Tell us, Senator Obama. Where is the change that we can believe in?

I think tonight is a good time for a little Carlos Santana:

Don't rush me just this once
I want to make this moment last
Slow down the pace, there's no hurry
I can't let another pass me by again
Let me be the one to say when I've had enough

Just let me close my eyes, memorize
The way things are this minute
So when you're gone I can go on
If memory can hold within it what I'm feeling
Should time try fading or stealing something away

Hold on, nothing's the same
Tell me why I feel this way
Life wouldn't be worth living without you
All along I've been the pretender
But now that's gone forever
Nobody's ever loved me like you do
Nobody's broken through

Got to concentrate, file away
Every last detail
Don't want to lose what's going down
I want to remember everything I'm feeling
Should time try fading or stealing something away

To listen (and view) this song, click here.

Here's an excellent, well-stated and intelligent essay written by talk-show host Neil Boortz:

AT LEAST KNOW WHO YOU'RE VOTING FOR -- A CHALLENGE

The election is now eight days way. If you've made up your mind for Obama; or if you're trying to noodle through some of the things he's been saying on the campaign trail, this should help. I've taken four statements that The Chosen One repeats at almost every campaign rally. Now these statements are pretty powerful ... if unchallenged ... and we know that the MoveOn Media isn't exactly what we would call "eager" to challenge God's Candidate on any of these issues.

So, here we go again .. this simple talk show host (right wing, hate-filled shock jock, I believe they call us) is going to use some basic logic and the ability to actually read newspapers to catch you up to speed on just what the Big BO is saying here. Now if you're educated in our wonderful government schools you may find this challenging. Stick with it. In spite of what the government has done to you, you can generate some new brain cells that will help you deal with this stuff. It would also help if you got your campaign news from somewhere other than Saturday Night Live.

Here we go, front and center with Barack Obama!

"I'm going to cut taxes for 95% of Americans."

This Obama promise has already been pretty much debunked in the media. The problem is that it hasn't been debunked on the Black Entertainment Television network or on Inside Edition or Entertainment Tonight. Until these television outlets bring forth the facts most of Obama's supporters won't know the truth.

And what is the truth? The truth is that almost one-half of working Americans eligible to vote don't pay federal income taxes in the first place. This brings forth the interesting question of how do you cut taxes for people who don't pay taxes. What Obama has done here is change the definition of "tax cut."

It used to be that when the government walked up to someone who had just received their paycheck and said 'Gimme some of that," and the government then gave that money to someone else who had not earned it; that was called welfare. Now apparently you can't get welfare if you're working ... so we'll just call it income seizure and redistribution. Under Obama a couple earning, for example, $70,000 and owing no federal income taxes at all will get several checks from Obama's federal taxpayer-funded treasury. These checks will be called "tax cuts."

So .. for those who don't pay taxes, here are some of the "tax cut" checks you'll be getting from The Chosen One. I'm taking some literary license here and replacing the words "tax credit" with the word "payment." That literary flourish brings us much closer to the truth. Here are your goodies; come and get 'em:

• A $500 "make work pay" payment.
• A $4,000 payment for college tuition.
• A payment equal to 10% of your mortgage interest
• A payment equal to 50% of the amount of money you put into a savings account up to $1000.
• A payment equal to 50% of the amount of money you pay for child care up to $6000.
• A payment of up to $7,000 if you purchase a "clean car." By that Obama means an environmentally correct car.
• Plus ... an expansion of the earned income tax credit .. increased payments on top of your earnings if the government doesn't feel you are earning enough.

There you go ... Obama's "tax cuts." Sounds pretty good, doesn't it. Well, I guess it is, if you're not too successful it IS pretty good. Remember, the harder you work the lower these payments get. Barack Obama's tax plans are all about punishing success and rewarding failure. He understands that if it weren't for failures, Democrats would be scrounging in the alleys for votes.

It's rather ironic that the Obama campaign will go to the mat with critics over the definition of "socialist," but feel absolutely free to change the definition of "tax cut" to anything that suits them.

"95% of small businesses won't pay any more taxes."

Once people started hearing that the very people that Obama wanted to raise taxes on are the people we depend on for jobs, The BO campaign had to come up with a line to neuter the "small business" argument. Barack Obama knows he's in trouble if the voters find out that 70% of all extant jobs are in the small business sector and that 80% of all new jobs are coming from small businesses. So, Obama comes up with this line about 95% of small businesses not paying any more taxes under his plan.

Here's the trick. Let me illustrate reality with a simple comparison. Let's say that we have 1000 small businesses. About 950 of them, that would be 95%, employ one or two people each for a total employment figure of 1,200. Now let's assume that the other 50 businesses employ anywhere from 20 people to hundreds of people for a total of about 250,000 workers. If someone comes along and says 95% of small businesses won't be affected by his tax increases, how do you feel? You know that the tax increase is going to slam those businesses that employ 250,000 workers, while leaving the 95% of businesses that employ just 1,200 people alone. Quite a deal, huh. Aren't you impressed?

The point here is that it's not the percentage of small businesses your tax increases hit, it's the percentage of small business employees. Unfortunately that nuance is lost on the majority of voters educated by the government, and the MoveOn Media sure isn't going to take the time to explain it to you. Obama's tax increases are going to hit the small business owners who employ the most people. They are the ones that make the most money. These business owners are going to respond to the tax increases one of two ways. They'll increase prices -- which hit all of us -- or they'll cut expenses. Their number one expense? Personnel. Vote for Obama, say TTFN to your job. Makes perfect sense to me, but then I was government educated too.

"John McCain voted with George Bush 90% of the time."

First of all, George Bush doesn't cast votes in the U.S. Senate, though McCain and Obama do. The best way to judge how they vote is to see how often they vote with their respective parties. You might want to get those nuisance resolutions proclaiming the need for a colonoscopy every once in a while out of the way. That would leave some key votes for you to consider. The Congressional Research Service did the work. They looked at votes for Obama and McCain on KEY issues. The results? Barack Obama voted with Democrats 97% of the time. John McCain voted with the Republicans 79% of the time. Now .. just sit on your hands and wait for the MoveOn Media to report that one. Sit on your hands, but for God's sake don't hold your breath.

"John McCain wants to tax your health insurance benefits."

He's right, but here's the rest of the story. Let's say that you and your brother work for different companies. Your company provides you with health insurance. Your brother has to buy his own. Your boss gets a tax deduction for the cost of your health insurance. Your brother does not get a tax deduction for the cost of his health insurance. In effect, he is paying much more than you are for the same policy. Not fair. There's a reason for this. For decades government has wanted to coerce you into getting insurance through your employer. This gets you acclimated to the idea of someone else -- someone besides yourself -- is responsible for your health care. The end result is that the government, in effect, subsidizes the cost of your health insurance, but not your brother's. Now McCain has this idea of a $5,000 tax credit for every family to pay for their own health insurance policy. To make this work everyone has to start from the same starting line. Remember, you're subsidized, your brother is not. So McCain takes away the tax deduction your employer gets for your health insurance. There ... now we're all of equal standing when the $5,000 tax credits start coming out.

Now that wasn't too hard, was it?

Now .. just in case you've read something here, heard something on my show or gathered some information from some other source that might cause you to switch your vote from Obama to McCain ... just remember. You're a racist. There is only one reason NOT to vote for Barack Obama, and that's if you're a robe-wearing, cross-burning Klansman. Just so you know. You're going to have that on your conscience.

REDISTRIBUTE THE WEALTH

Now that brings again to Obama. You've heard, haven't you, that a 2001 Chicago Public Radio interview of then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama has surfaced. In that interview Obama says that it was a tragedy that during the civil rights era the Supreme Court didn't pursue "redistribution of the wealth." Here's the relevant portion of the interview if you care to hear it for yourself.

We've really made some progress here. Well, I guess that the left has really made some progress. We now have a presidential candidate who talks openly of increasing taxes not because the government needs the money, but because the people who do have the money don't actually deserve it and there are other people out there who need it more. Sorry folks, but facts is facts. Redistribution of the wealth is a basic tenant of Communism. To whatever degree you support a forced redistribution of wealth you are a Communist. Simple as that.

The warning signs have always been there. In his book Dreams from my Father Obama writes of a relationship he had in is late teens with someone named "Frank." For some reason Obama doesn't include his last name. Obama refers to Frank as "a poet" who was full of "hard-earned knowledge." He also says that Frank had "some modest notoriety once." Yeah, I'll say. Frank was Frank Marshall Davis was a member of the CPUSA. For those of you who don't like acronyms, that's Communist Party of the United States of America. Frank Marshall Davis ... some mentor, don't you think?

For all of you suburban housewives and country clubbers who think that you are just so, like, enlightened for voting for Obama, it's time for your wake up call ... though I don't know if it will help:

Barack Obama's core belief is that we belong not to ourselves, but to government. We are tools that the government is free to use to bring about what Obama calls "economic justice." The fruits of our labor belong to government ... and government can do with them what it pleases.

Now if this is your philosophy, then vote for this guy. Then every time you draw a paycheck why don't you drop him a line and ask him how much of it you can keep to care for your family and plan for your own future and how much he would like to have to redistribute to someone who sat on their butt while you were busting yours. After all, you voted for him.

10 Great Songs from One Great Year

1998

Ten years ago. Where has the time gone?

For me, 1998 was a bittersweet year since it was the year my dad died, but also the year my twin sons were born.

The Denver Broncos finally win the Super Bowl and Bill Clinton was caught with his pants down. Dale Earnhardt finally wins the Daytona 500 after 20 tries, “Titanic” is the big winner in the Oscars and George Michael comes out of the closet after his arrest in a Beverly Hills bathroom.

This was the year that India went nuclear, the Catholic priest scandal hits the fan, Tony Blair becomes Britain’s Prime Minister and Jesse “the Body” Ventura becomes Governor of Minnesota. But perhaps 1998 will forever be remembered for two men – Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa.

Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) – Green Day

Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong wrote this when his girlfriend moved to Ecuador. He tried to be levelheaded about it and wrote this song when they were producing Dookie, but to show his anger, he named the song "Good Riddance" and made "Time Of Your Life" the subtitle. The song shows us about life, how we are not to question it and keep moving on. The album version begins with guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong playing a wrong note. He begins again, repeats the wrong note, and proclaims "f--k!". Then the actual song begins. Radio versions, of course, omit this.

Zoot Suit Riot – Cherry Poppin' Daddies

Although the band has experimented with many genres throughout their career, mostly rock, swing, funk, and ska, they are best known for their contributions to the swing revival movement in the late 1990s, namely their multi-platinum album Zoot Suit Riot and its title track, their first (and only) hit single. They are also known for their Oregon-based cult following and lively stage shows. The Daddies almost immediately gained considerable notoriety in their hometown of Eugene, due in part to their uniquely wild, over-the-top stage shows, often featuring frontman Steve Perry (no relation to the former lead singer of Journey) and the other band members dressing in drag or wild costumes, dancing with a giant phallic pickle statue, gyrating with scantily-clad female dancers, and other such lewd acts. This stirred some controversy in the band's community, resulting in hate mail, threats, and even protests outside of their concerts. The group eventually gave into community pressure and temporarily performed under a number of names in the Eugene area, including "The Daddies" and "The Bad Daddies"

Uninvited – Alanis Morisette

Released off of the soundtrack from “City of Angels” (starring Nicolas Cage), this was the first song Alanis released since her 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, which sold over 16 million copies. The wait created a lot of anticipation for this song, which was leaked to radio stations a few weeks before it was officially released. “Uninvited" was nominated for three 1999 Grammy Awards: "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance", "Best Rock Song" and "Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television". It won in the former two categories, and it also won an ASCAP Film and Television Music Award for "Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures". It received a Golden Globe nomination for "Best Original Song - Motion Picture".

The Way – Fastball

This song is based on the true story of Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple from Salado, Texas who drove to a nearby family reunion and kept going. She had Alzheimer's disease and he was recovering from brain surgery. When they disappeared, a reporter from the Austin American-Statesman wrote a series of articles about the missing couple. Fastball bassist Tony Scalzo came up with the idea for the song after reading the articles (the band is from Austin). He says, "It's a romanticized take on what happened" - he "pictured them taking off to have fun, like they did when they first met." However, he found out after writing the song that the couple had died. They were found at the bottom of a canyon in Arkansas about a 3-day drive from their destination. At the beginning of the song, it plays a radio scanning through the FM stations, and one of the songs is Jewel's 1997 song "Foolish Games," another is Madonna's 1990 song "Vogue."

Brick – Ben Folds Five

On Ben Folds Live, Folds explained: "People ask me what this song's about... I was asked about it a lot, and I didn't really wanna make a big hairy deal out of it, because I just wanted the song to speak for itself. But the song is about when I was in high school, me and my girlfriend had to get an abortion, and it was a very sad thing. And, I didn't really want to write this song from any kind of political standpoint, or make a statement. I just wanted to reflect what it feels like. So, anyone who's gone through that before, then you'll know what the song's about." This was not released as a single in the US. It got it's chart position due to airplay.

Flagpole Sitta – Harvey Danger

This song is about how our society can drive people crazy and the effects of what happens when you are driven crazy. It's also said to be about masturbation. Harvey Danger began in 1992 with University of Washington classmates Lin and Huffman deciding "it might be fun to start a band." Taking their name from a phrase graffitied onto the wall of the UW student newspaper office, the duo played house parties and bars as they were until the following year, when they invited Evan Sult to be their drummer. Despite his complete lack of drumming experience, Sult agreed, bringing along his own similarly-inexperienced classmate Sean Nelson. This song was featured in the movie “American Pie” but the song was not listed on the movie’s soundtrack. The band still performs together and their last studio release was 2005’s Little by Little…

How's It Going To Be – Third Eye Blind

Formed in the early 90’s, Third-Eye Blind rode the wave of popularity generated by alternative bands, like Nirvana, Green Day and he Gin Blossoms. After hitting the big time with the mega hit “Semi-Charmed Life,” they continued to reap success of their eponymous album with this follow up single, which (like “Semi-Charmed Life”) reached the top 10. According to vocalist Stephan Jenkins, the song deals with the trauma of the ending of a relationship and how the transition from friends to acquaintances is a brutal one. It is one of the few songs by the band to feature an autoharp. The follow up single, “Jumper” also reached #4 and was their last top 10 hit. The band also still performs together and their latest studio release is Ursa Major – due out in February 2009.

Adia – Sarah McLachlan

Generally vague about the specific meaning, McLachlan did admit in an interview that one of several inspirations behind this song is her relationship with her best friend. Their relationship was rocky for a period of time after Sarah started seeing her current husband, who her best friend had dated in the past. In another interview, Sarah describes this as being about "My problems in dealing with feeling responsible for everyone else." In a radio interview, she stated that it was inspired by the way her father always felt responsible for making sure everyone was happy. This was nominated for the 1999 Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In a 1999 interview on The Rosie O'Donnell Show, McLachlan explained that this song was originally called "Emily," but she picked another name because of the Simon & Garfunkel song "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her."

You Get What You Give – New Radicals

Singer/Songwriter Gregg Alexander wrote this about people who aspire to be famous, and his cynicism toward the world of "celebrity." He's saying that people should just be themselves instead of aspiring to be someone else. The closing lyrics of this song caused controversy as they accused Marilyn Monroe, Beck, Courtney Love and Hanson of being fakes and that the New Radicals will "kick their ass in." Apparently not all of these artist held a grudge: Hanson collaborated with Gregg Alexander on their song "Lost Without Each Other" on the Underneath CD. The video was shot at a shopping mall in New York because Gregg Alexander said it epitomized society's fake culture of encouraging people to spend. Since disbanding the group in summer 1999, Alexander has written songs for the likes of Sophie Ellis Bextor, Ronan Keating, Mel C and Enrique Iglesias. His most well known composition is probably "The Game Of Love" by Santana and Michelle Branch, which earned a Grammy in 2003. In the September 25, 2006 edition of Time magazine, U2 guitarist The Edge said that this is the song he is most jealous of.

Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve

Lead singer Richard Ashcroft wrote the lyrics, which are a somber look at the ennui of everyday life: "You're a slave to money, then you die. This samples an obscure orchestral version of "The Last Time," a 1965 song by the Rolling Stones. This was recorded before they got permission from the Stones to use the riff, so the Verve had to sign away most of the royalties from this in order to release it. The publishing rights to this went to Allen Klein, The Rolling Stones' former manager. The Stones signed a very lopsided contract with Klein early in their career, and had to make huge concessions in order to get out of it. Part of the deal gave Klein the publishing rights to all of the Stones' songs through 1969. He made, and continues to make, far more money than anyone else from this song. This was the only hit for The Verve, who never released another album. Their previous albums were A Northern Soul, which was released in 1995 and featured a darker side; A Storm In Heaven, released in 1993 was a psychedelic rocker; and No Come Down is a collection of the B-sides from A Storm in Heaven. After Urban Hymns, Their lead singer, Richard Ashcroft, launched a successful solo career.

Bonus Track

The Couch – Alanis Morisette

Completely knocked off my feel by Jagged Little Pill, I was more hesitant to feign interest in her follow up CD, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. After only listening to the song “Thank U”, which I enjoyed very much, I simply placed the CD back into my case and left it alone for a spell. In a moment of inspiration, I finally took it back out (maybe a month or two later) and decided to give it a listen to. What I heard was brilliance. From beginning to end, this double-album did not disappoint, and in fact was very inspiring in it’s own right. The one track that completely blew me away was “The Couch.” This song means different things to different people, but everyone I know who’s listened to it agrees that it is a true classic, and perhaps the most ambitious lyrical masterpiece of her career. I generally only put one song per artist in each of these lists, but I decided to add this track as a bonus. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Very powerful article by the New Republic's James Kirchick that touches on the theme of my earlier post. Again I will say it - it does not matter whether or not the writer is a conservative or a liberal. The truth is the truth is the truth.

Who are the left-wing haters to point fingers at John McCain?

In his endorsement of Barack Obama last week, former Bush administration Secretary of State Colin Powell said that "I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, 'He's a Muslim and he might be associated [with] terrorists.' "

This is a serious accusation to level, and Powell ought to have had the courage to name names.

Nonetheless, the notion that the McCain campaign, and conservatives more broadly, have stooped to an unprecedented level of "sleaziness" with negative, nasty and mendacious campaign tactics has become the accepted media narrative over the past several weeks. "Smear" is the word you most often hear nowadays next to "Republican." But while it may be true that some in the conservative fever swamps have resorted to ugly tactics, they don't hold a candle to the left's rhetoric over the past eight years.

Liberal pundits are attempting to outdo one another in describing just how unscrupulous conservatives have become. In The New Yorker last week, Hendrik Hertzberg referred to McCain-Palin rallies as "blood-curdling hate-fests." Frank Rich went one step further in The New York Times, decrying the "Weimar-like rage" of the Republican Party base, evidenced by a few attendees at a Sarah Palin rally who shouted "terrorist" and "off with his head" when she mentioned Barack Obama. Rich's fellow Times columnist Paul Krugman remarked that attendees at GOP gatherings have been "gripped by insane rage" at the prospect of an Obama presidency. Ascribing the oafish behavior of a handful to an entire political party, The Nation magazine slams the "GOP's machinery of hate" in an editorial patronizingly entitled, "Waiting for the Barbarians."

If my inbox is to be believed, there are certainly people on the right who believe that Barack Obama is a secret Muslim lying in wait to foist jihad upon the United States. And there are people who oppose him because of his name or his race. But one has to have been asleep during the Bush years to think that nuttery is exclusively a conservative phenomenon.

What about the left's conspiracy theories? A not insignificant portion of liberals in this country believe that a small group of Jews, er, the "neocons," took control of the government following 9/11 to fight wars on behalf of Israel. Is not this slander as odious as the Internet rumors about Barack Obama?

Time columnist Joe Klein fits the profile of the liberal hypocrite beset with disappointment over McCain's alleged degradation. He recently apologized to readers for writing earlier that John McCain was "honorable." This from a man who just a few months ago alleged that "Jewish neoconservatives" were disloyal Americans because their "plump[ing]" for war in Iraq and now Iran "raised the question of divided loyalties: using U.S. military power, U.S. lives and money, to make the world safe for Israel."

Rich's use of the term "Weimar-like rage," ironically in a column decrying Republican scare tactics, is but one example of the left's careless usage of Nazi allegories to describe people and policies they don't like. Since 9/11, major anti-war rallies have included people holding signs and puppets comparing President Bush to Adolf Hitler. Leftist writer Naomi Wolf, who has expressed fears that the feds were monitoring her children's letters from summer camp, recently published a book titled, "The End of America," which likens the Bush administration to a fascist junta.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann spews over-the-top, hateful rhetoric in his "Special Comments" on a regular basis. He has said that the Bush administration threatens America with a "new type of fascism," referred to the GOP as the "leading terrorist group in this country" on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, and has said that Fox News is "worse than Al Qaeda" and "as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was."

Have the journalists now bemoaning the low tactics of the McCain campaign and its supporters never set eyes upon the wildly popular Huffington Post? That Web site hosts countless angry rants, many examples of which are too vulgar to document in a family newspaper. In 2004, Nicholson Baker wrote a novel imagining the assassination of President Bush. Last week, Fox's "Family Guy" depicted Nazis donning McCain-Palin buttons.

If these fringe (and most of them are hardly fringe) individuals don't speak for American liberalism writ large - as most "respectable" liberals will tell us when confronted by the examples enumerated above - then the stray hecklers at McCain-Palin rallies cannot represent American conservatism.

By imputing the crazy views of a few right-wing extremists to all conservatives, Obama supporters cut off legitimate concerns about their candidate's positions and qualifications for office. Anyone troubled by the Democratic presidential candidate's years-long association with unrepentant terrorist William Ayers and his dismissal of that individual as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood" becomes a right-wing lunatic. Anyone who raises the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is answered with an eye roll.

To be sure, the McCain campaign has made its fair share of exaggerations and distortions about its opponent's record. But nothing he or his surrogates have done is any more egregious than the lies, hysteria and ad hominem attacks that have poured from the mouths and keyboards of the left. So pardon me for being a little skeptical about the pundit class' selective indignation over gutter-ball campaign tactics. It would have been nice if they paid attention the last eight years.

Courtesy of Gateway Pundit

The truth told by a Democrat, no less (whoda thunk it?). Say what ever you want about the source (Little Green Footballs), but the truth is the truth no matter who says it.

Editor's note: Orson Scott Card is a Democrat and a newspaper columnist, and in this opinion piece he takes on both while lamenting the current state of journalism.

Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
By Orson Scott Card

An open letter to the local daily paper — almost every local daily paper in America:

I remember reading All the President's Men and thinking: That's journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn't come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It's a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can't repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can't make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It's as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn't there a story here? Doesn't journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren't you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefiting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

I have no doubt that if these facts had pointed to the Republican Party or to John McCain as the guilty parties, you would be treating it as a vast scandal. "Housing-gate," no doubt. Or "Fannie-gate."

Instead, it was Senator Christopher Dodd and Congressman Barney Frank, both Democrats, who denied that there were any problems, who refused Bush administration requests to set up a regulatory agency to watch over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and who were still pushing for these agencies to go even further in promoting sub-prime mortgage loans almost up to the minute they failed.

As Thomas Sowell points out in a TownHall.com essay entitled "Do Facts Matter?" ( http://snipurl.com/457townhall_com] ): "Alan Greenspan warned them four years ago. So did the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers to the President. So did Bush's Secretary of the Treasury."

These are facts. This financial crisis was completely preventable. The party that blocked any attempt to prevent it was ... the Democratic Party. The party that tried to prevent it was ... the Republican Party.

Yet when Nancy Pelosi accused the Bush administration and Republican deregulation of causing the crisis, you in the press did not hold her to account for her lie. Instead, you criticized Republicans who took offense at this lie and refused to vote for the bailout!

What? It's not the liar, but the victims of the lie who are to blame?

Now let's follow the money ... right to the presidential candidate who is the number-two recipient of campaign contributions from Fannie Mae.

And after (Franklin) Raines, the CEO of Fannie Mae who made $90 million while running it into the ground, was fired for his incompetence, one presidential candidate's campaign actually consulted him for advice on housing.

If that presidential candidate had been John McCain, you would have called it a major scandal and we would be getting stories in your paper every day about how incompetent and corrupt he was.

But instead, that candidate was Barack Obama, and so you have buried this story, and when the McCain campaign dared to call Raines an "adviser" to the Obama campaign — because that campaign had sought his advice — you actually let Obama's people get away with accusing McCain of lying, merely because Raines wasn't listed as an official adviser to the Obama campaign.

You would never tolerate such weaselly nit-picking from a Republican.

If you who produce our local daily paper actually had any principles, you would be pounding this story, because the prosperity of all Americans was put at risk by the foolish, short-sighted, politically selfish, and possibly corrupt actions of leading Democrats, including Obama.

If you who produce our local daily paper had any personal honor, you would find it unbearable to let the American people believe that somehow Republicans were to blame for this crisis.

There are precedents. Even though President Bush and his administration never said that Iraq sponsored or was linked to 9/11, you could not stand the fact that Americans had that misapprehension — so you pounded us with the fact that there was no such link. (Along the way, you created the false impression that Bush had lied to them and said that there was a connection.)

If you had any principles, then surely right now, when the American people are set to blame President Bush and John McCain for a crisis they tried to prevent, and are actually shifting to approve of Barack Obama because of a crisis he helped cause, you would be laboring at least as hard to correct that false impression.

Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That's what you claim you do, when you accept people's money to buy or subscribe to your paper.

But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie — that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad — even bad weather — on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.

If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth — even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.

Because that's what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don't like the probable consequences. That's what honesty means . That's how trust is earned.

Barack Obama is just another politician, and not a very wise one. He has revealed his ignorance and naivete time after time — and you have swept it under the rug, treated it as nothing.

Meanwhile, you have participated in the borking of Sarah Palin, reporting savage attacks on her for the pregnancy of her unmarried daughter — while you ignored the story of John Edwards's own adultery for many months.

So I ask you now: Do you have any standards at all? Do you even know what honesty means?

Is getting people to vote for Barack Obama so important that you will throw away everything that journalism is supposed to stand for?

You might want to remember the way the National Organization of Women threw away their integrity by supporting Bill Clinton despite his well-known pattern of sexual exploitation of powerless women. Who listens to NOW anymore? We know they stand for nothing; they have no principles.

That's where you are right now.

It's not too late. You know that if the situation were reversed, and the truth would damage McCain and help Obama, you would be moving heaven and earth to get the true story out there.

If you want to redeem your honor, you will swallow hard and make a list of all the stories you would print if it were McCain who had been getting money from Fannie Mae, McCain whose campaign had consulted with its discredited former CEO, McCain who had voted against tightening its lending practices.

Then you will print them, even though every one of those true stories will point the finger of blame at the reckless Democratic Party, which put our nation's prosperity at risk so they could feel good about helping the poor, and lay a fair share of the blame at Obama's door.

You will also tell the truth about John McCain: that he tried, as a Senator, to do what it took to prevent this crisis. You will tell the truth about President Bush: that his administration tried more than once to get Congress to regulate lending in a responsible way.

This was a Congress-caused crisis, beginning during the Clinton administration, with Democrats leading the way into the crisis and blocking every effort to get out of it in a timely fashion.

If you at our local daily newspaper continue to let Americans believe — and vote as if — President Bush and the Republicans caused the crisis, then you are joining in that lie.

If you do not tell the truth about the Democrats — including Barack Obama — and do so with the same energy you would use if the miscreants were Republicans — then you are not journalists by any standard.

You're just the public relations machine of the Democratic Party, and it's time you were all fired and real journalists brought in, so that we can actually have a news paper in our city.

This article first appeared in The Rhinoceros Times of Greensboro, North Carolina, and is used here by permission.

Courtesy of LGF

The words of Joe Biden as he warns us that Obama is not ready to lead:

"Mark my words," the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. "It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy."

"I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate," Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. "And he's gonna need help. And the kind of help he's gonna need is, he's gonna need you - not financially to help him - we're gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it's not gonna be apparent initially, it's not gonna be apparent that we're right."

Not only will the next administration have to deal with foreign affairs issues, Biden warned, but also with the current economic crisis.

"Gird your loins," Biden told the crowd. "We're gonna win with your help, God willing, we're gonna win, but this is not gonna be an easy ride. This president, the next president, is gonna be left with the most significant task. It's like cleaning the Augean stables, man. This is more than just, this is more than – think about it, literally, think about it – this is more than just a capital crisis, this is more than just markets. This is a systemic problem we have with this economy."

Sounds to that this warning is something we should heed very carefully. What kind of decisions is Senator Joe talking about? Might it have to do with sacrificing the one true ally in the region, Israel? How about pulling unconditionally out of Iraq?

What does he mean, "systematic problems with the economy?" We know that Obama prefers to slice the pie more "fairly" - as opposed to the Republican plan to make the pie bigger. And just who is to decide what's fair? Obama? Nancy Pelosi? Would anyone trust them to decide what is best for you and your family?

The Obama plan smacks of wealth envy and class-warfare. Unless you have your head in the sand, or are an Obamabot (sorry, didn't mean to be redundant), anyone can see what's really going on here.

Answer me this. Why has the media spent so much time vilifying Joe the plumber, digging so deep into what Sarah Palin's daughter did for prom and yet when it comes to Obama's relationship - and the fact that he lied about it - with William Ayers, or his 20 years being influenced by Reverend Wright, all you hear is crickets chirping.

Does it not strike you as frightening that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are in favor of reestablishing the failed "Fairness Doctrine?" For get the lofty title. The Fairness doctrine is - for lack of a better description - the way for the left to silence the one medium left for conservatives. Renewing this doctrine - which was finally abolished under Ronald Reagan - would be similar to the Republicans silencing the mainstream media, NPR and Hollywood. As much as it would be something they wouldn't mind doing, they would never consider such an anti-American thing seriously.

Does it not concern you that it was the Democrats who forced the sub-prime mess on banks and then tried to reassure Americans that Fannie and Freddie were strong investments? Does it not concern you that Congressmen Dodd and Frank received millions of dollars in sweetheart loans and that in 2 years Barack Obama received the second highest amount of money from Freddie and Fannie?

Does it not concern you that a large number of Obama supporters consider him to be the Messiah? What has he ever done in his life to deserve such worship? He worked with Bill Ayers, an unrepentant terrorist, in putting in place very far-left propaganda lessons in the Chicago Public School district, he represented a district were his pal Tony Rezko was a slumlord (and a convicted fraud) right under his nose, he sat in a Church where the Pastor - who damns white folks and said that the CIA spread AIDS in the black community - spewed anti-American, anti-white racist speeches, he is considered to be he most liberal member of the US Senate and has spent twice as much time running for President than representing the state he was elected to represent.

Does it not concern you that if Obama were a regular guy he would not pass security clearance to work in the government? Does it concern you that he has admitted to drug use, including cocaine? Does it concern you that even though he has stated his positions so eloquently, his voting record is vastly opposite what he says he stands for?

When you can't judge a man by his record, you must judge him by his character. Senator Obama has done very little to deserve where he is. Joe Biden admitted all too well that should America face a challenge (which apparently he knows will happen - isn't that another red flag?) - he is not the man to lead us.

Seriously, Hillary Clinton said it best. When that call comes in at 3 am, who is best suited to handle the situation? A neophyte senator with no record of achievement, or a 26-year Senate veteran who is also a war hero?

It really is an easy choice when you think about it.

10 Great Songs from One Great Year

1965

1965 is credited as the year Rock and Roll grew up. Moving from more innocent pop standards to emotionally driven lyrical compositions as Bob Dylan, the Moody Blues, Jefferson Airplane, Donovan and the Yardbirds hit the stage.

Nationally, it was a time of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and police clashes in Alabama. The Vietnam War escalating and the death of Winston Churchill. The Astrodome opens in Houston as the “Eighth Wonder of the World” and Pope Paul IV exonerated the Jews in the death of Christ.

Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers

This first appeared in the 1955 movie "Unchained," starring Former football player Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch. The movie takes place in a prison, and the song was written for the movie to reflect the mood of the prisoners as they wait for time to pass. The Righteous Brothers version was a huge hit, but it was released as a B-side. The single had "Unchained Melody" (with no producer credit on the label) as the B-side to Gerry Goffin's and Carole King's "Hung on You," but many DJ's preferred to flip the single and played this instead. This infuriated Phil Spector, who subsequently left no doubt as to which side of a Philles single was the A-side. This returned to both the US and UK charts in 1990 after it was included in the motion picture Ghost.

My Girl – Temptations

This was written by Smokey Robinson and Ronald White, who were both members of The Miracles. Robinson wrote the lyrics, which were inspired by his wife, Claudette. In a 2006 NPR interview, Robinson explained that he wrote this with David Ruffin's voice in mind. It was the first Temptations single to feature Ruffin on lead vocals (Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams sang lead on previous Temptation's singles), and it led to a greater role for Ruffin, as he became their primary lead singer. Robinson went on to write many more hits for The Temptations, who were considered the most talented vocal group at Motown.

I Got You Babe - Sonny and Cher

Sonny Bono was an up-and-coming record producer when he got Cher a job with Phil Spector as a session singer. They started dating and moved in to their manager's house. Bono would write songs on a piano in the garage. He came up with this tune and wrote the lyrics on a piece of cardboard. Cher didn't like it at first, but Sonny changed the key in the bridge to fit her voice and she loved it. This wasn't an anti-war song, but it went over well with the Hippie crowd because it stuck up for guys with long hair when Cher sang, "Let them say your hair's too long, I don't care, with you I can't go wrong.”

Downtown - Petula Clark

This was Petula Clark's first hit in the US. She was the first female singer from England to hit #1 in the US during the Rock era (after 1955). This won a Grammy in 1965 for Best Rock & Roll Recording, making Clark the first British singer to win a Grammy. In 2003, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. After the words, "And you may find somebody kind to help and understand you," there is the drum roll from Little Peggy March's #1 version of the French tune "Chariot." In 1962 Petula had a big continental hit with the same song, which was also known as "I Will Follow Him."

Tell Her No - The Zombies

In this song, a guy knows that his girl is likely to cheat on him, and he's telling someone else to reject her advances. He's pretty emphatic about this, as the word "No" is repeated 65 times in the song. This was written by Zombies guitarist Rod Argent. "Tell Her No" has been described as a "standard Beatles" cut, and has also been called "harmonically and melodically more complex than the best Beatles stuff, and just as catchy and emotional." The Zombies featured Argent, who went on to form his own band and had the 1972 hit “Hold Your Head Up,” and Colin Blunstone, who sang the hit, “Old and Wise” for the Alan Parsons Project in 1982.

It's Not Unusual - Tom Jones

Tom Jones' real name is Thomas Jones Woodward. He was spotted supporting Mandy Rice-Davies by the manager Gordon Mills who suggested the name Tom Jones and secured him a deal with Decca. After a succession of hit singles in the UK and US he moved to California in 1969, performing regularly in Las Vegas. This was written by the classical music arranger and conductor Les Reed along with Tom Jones' manager Gordon Mills. They wrote it for the British singer Sandie Shaw, but she turned it down. Tom Jones saw the song's potential, recorded it, and it became his first hit single.

I Fought the Law – Bobby Fuller

The song is about a guy who goes to jail after a robbery spree. The phrase "I fought the law" caught on, and has remained in the American lexicon ever since. Both the song and the saying have appeared in many movies, TV shows, video games and other commercial enterprises. It's also been parodied a great deal, notably by Bob Rivers on his track "I Fought the Lawn.” Barry White, who went on to become a famous soul singer, played drums on this track. Although he was known for his distinctive bass voice, White could play a variety of instruments and was a session musician for a while. Fuller was found dead in the front seat of his mother's car a few months after this was released. He was beaten up and had swallowed gasoline. His death was ruled a suicide, but it was rumored to be the work of mobsters - he may have been having an affair with someone's wife.

Do You Believe In Magic – Lovin' Spoonful

This was written by John Sebastian, who formed The Lovin' Spoonful with his friend, Zal Yanovsky. Sebastian and Yanovsky were in a group called The Mugwumps, and made a name for themselves playing clubs in Greenwich Village. When the other Mugwumps - Mama Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty - moved to California and formed The Mamas And The Papas, they formed the band and Sebastian began focusing on songwriting. The Lovin' Spoonful started playing electric instruments to get away from the folk music sound and attract a younger contemporary rock audience. This has been featured on the soundtracks to the movies Parent Trap, Disney's Return To Neverland, Gulliver's Travels and One Trick Pony, to name just a few. As the '60s drew to a close, The Lovin' Spoonful disbanded and Sebastian started working on a variety of projects. He wrote music for the Care Bear series, published children's books, made harmonica instruction videos, and was a guest star on the TV show "Married With Children." In 1976, he wrote the theme song to the TV show "Welcome Back Kotter," which was a #1 hit.

What The World Needs Now Is Love – Jackie DeShannon

This was written by the songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was offered to Dionne Warwick and Gene Pitney, who both passed on it. Bacharach (from Record Collector magazine): "Dionne (Warwick) rejected that song. She might have thought it was too preachy and I thought Dionne was probably right. Hal pushed me to play it for Jackie De Shannon who we were gonna record. Otherwise I would have let it be and it would still be in the drawer. Once I heard Jackie sing four bars of it, I thought 'this is great.' Jackie had such a great voice. Love her voice. Whether it's a song she wrote herself or singing 'What The World Needs Now Is Love,' she's special. I wish we could have repeated that success with Jackie but the material we gave her on the next session wasn't as good. DeShannon has been a successful songwriter in her own right as well, composing the 1969 smash, “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” and the 1981 Kim Carnes’ mega hit, “Bette Davis Eyes.”

You Won’t See Me – The Beatles

No collection from 1965 is complete without at least one song by the Beatles. The song is about a crisis in McCartney's relationship with his then-girlfriend Jane Asher. She was rejecting him by not returning phone calls and ignoring him — for once, he was in a vulnerable position. The more biting tone of the song marks a change away from his earlier, happier love songs. "You Won't See Me" was recorded during the last session for Rubber Soul. At 3:22, the song was the longest that the Beatles had recorded to that point and marked a trend by Bob Dylan and others at the time to start writing longer songs. In 1974, Canadian singer, Anne Murray, had tremendous success with her cover of this song, going to #8. John Lennon is said to have told Murray that her version of "You Won't See Me" was his favorite Beatles' cover ever. Murray herself is a confessed Beatles fanatic and later covered several others of their songs as singles, including "Day Tripper" and "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You."

From his own mouth.

This says so much more about Barack Obama then I could ever hope to. How many plumbers can he insult and laugh at? Disgusting.

I am simply amazed at the narrative coming out of the media these days regarding John McCain and Sarah Palin. I mean, how stupid do they think we are?

A few lunatics shout "kill him" at a rally and the press calls out the McCain campaign for an "escalation of rhetoric" or, as Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne says, it’s a mass movement of GOP crowds “gripped by insane rage?"

Are you freaking kidding me???

For the last 8 years, all we have heard is the raving lunacy of the left screaming every vile, slanderous and horrendous epitaph at George Bush, Dick Cheney and everyone else to the right of the political spectrum. Between the unhinged rantings of Keith Olbermann to the abhorrent rants from the Democratic Underground, Moveon.org and the Daily Kos, it is shocking to say the least that anyone would dare criticize the McCain camp of festering violence.

Where was the mainsteam media when pprotesters were shoving "Bush=Hitler" signs in our faces? Where were they when a small number of McCain supporters were harrassed by a menacing horde of New Yorkers who displayed their disapproval with a barrage of jeers and vulgar gestures?

Although I have known, as most everyone else in America has learned, that the mainstream media is in the tank for the Obama-Messiah, I really never believed they would go this low and this comtemptous.

Of course, these are the same folks who are digging through the garbage dumpsters to find a trace of dirt on Sarah Palin, yet say nothing about the fact that Obama has more secrets than a KGB agent. Absolutely disgraceful.

Even when Dan Rather's memos proved to be fake, the rest of the media reported it. Nowadays, I realize nothing matters to them if it shows Obama in a negative light. It's no wonder FOX News is rated number one in this country. It's also no wonder why the newpaper industry is dying as well. The sad truth is that these mediums are necessary for a thriving democracy.

But no matter. When the Democrats hold the cards - as in a filibuster-proof House and Senate - with a extremely liberal President, the one medium the right has left will be taken away as well. All in the name of the "Fairness Doctrine" - which hardly seems fair at all.

For more on this travesty, read Michelle Malkin's column here. If you value a free press as much as I do, you will read it and feel as disgusted as I do.

From the magnificent wisdom of Mark Steyn:

Speaking personally, I’m not looking for a messiah in the White House. My favorite Presidential heritage site is the Coolidge homestead in Plymouth Notch, Vermont: I have seen the mausoleums of mighty kings, but none compares to the row of headstones on a snowbound hillside cemetery, seven generations of Coolidges lined up in a row, all buried under simple, bald granite markers with only an all but imperceptible small American eagle to distinguish the 30th president from his forebears and descendants. The American ideal: the citizen-president.

Or so I always assumed. But let’s be bipartisan here. If I were a Democrat, I’d salute Harry S Truman, the Missouri haberdasher who — whoa, “haberdasher!” There’s a word you don't hear too much nowadays, and, if you did, it’d probably be because the Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee are on cable TV standing on the steps of the Capitol announcing a 700 gazillion-dollar bipartisan haberdashery bailout package because the global haberdashery sector is too big to fail and if we don't act now there’ll be a massive planetary ripple effect that could take down ladies’ lingerie, if you'll pardon the expression.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Citizen-presidents: Who needs ’em? The day after the debate I bumped into two Obama supporters in St Johnsbury, Vermont who said isn’t it great that he's on course to win. Well, they were cute chicks, and I know an obvious pick-up line when I hear one, so I stopped to chat. God Almighty, it was like reverse Viagra: After ten minutes of Babes For Barack, I never want to meet a female woman of the opposite sex for the rest of my life. Their basic pitch was:

How do you solve a problem? Like, Obama!

How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand?

That’s John McCain's problem. Traditionally, when an unknown politician emerges on the national scene, it’s a race to define him. Governor Palin is a good example: within days, the coastal sophisticates were mocking her as a chillbilly ditz with a womb that spits out inbred kids faster than the First National Bank of Welfare Swamp issues subprime mortgages. That’s politics as usual: Define your opponent. But Obama is defined by his indefinability. When I pointed out to my Vermont gals that he lives in a swank pad that was part of some shady real estate deal with a convicted fraudster (Tony Rezko), that he entrusted his daughters’ entire religious education to a neo-segregationist anti-American nut who preaches that the government created the AIDS virus to kill black people (Jeremiah Wright), that he attended fundraisers with a political patron who’s an unrepentant terrorist proud of plotting to blow up young ladies just like them at a dance at the Fort Dix military base (William Ayers), when I pointed all this out, they looked at me as if I’d brought a baseball bat to a croquet match. Mere earthbound politicians are defined by their real estate deals and sleazy buddies, but Obama is defined only by his vibe. As his many admirers in France would say, he has a certain je ne sais quoi. And, if you try to pin down quoi precisely, then they don’t want to sais.

Besides, said one of the cuties, it’s racist to try to link him to unsavory white men (Ayers). And black men (Wright). And Arabs (Rezko). And, just to be on the safe side, any dodgy Uzbeks or Papuans who might have been lurking around the greater Chicago area for the last quarter century. The ladies weren’t exactly covering their eyes and going, “Neee-neeee-na-na, can’t hear you,” but the other cutie did begin waving at me her Obama sticker — the one with the giant blue-frosted O embedded in a manicured candy-striped upland — like the villain in the movie trying to hypnotize you with his pocketwatch. I began frantically looking around in hopes that a passing Hare Krishna or Scientologist type could get me out of there. But, no: Gaze into the giant zero of the Obama logo, the hole in the star-spangled donut, the vast fathomless nullity that is the gaping keyhole to the door of utopia. To a sad shriveled Republican cynic, there’s nothing there but the wide open spaces of Obama’s blank resume. But a believer will see therein the healing of the planet and the receding of the oceans. The black hole of Obama will suck you in through the awesome power of its totally cool suckiness.

Most Americans, of course, are not cute co-eds or Hollywood celebrities or guilt-ridden white liberals. But they react to Obamania like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn faced with Sidney Poitier in Guess Who's Coming To The Inaugural? We don't know much about this chap but he seems very well-spoken and nicely turned out — “articulate and bright and clean,” as Joe Biden said. Obama himself has eased up on the “I am the one you've been waiting for” shtick because he’s running out the clock. He was monumentally boring in last week’s debate because, at this stage, boring wins. The man who used to say he doesn’t look like all the other presidents now looks like all the other presidents: the calm, plausible, reassuring man in the sober suit. This is no time to frighten the horses.

But the thing is: the horses are frightened. The Dow’s nose-diving, stocks are looking at their worst year since 1937. Last Tuesday, we were offered the curious spectacle of two candidates both of whom essentially take the same line on this stuff — Wall Street greed, special interests, lobbyists, the usual populist boilerplate. And yet for a pair of guys who both believe in big-government solutions everything they said seemed small and tinny. Epic events swirled all around, but the two men fighting to lead the global superpower could only joust with cardboard swords: Why, Obama was such a bold leader on this issue that only two years ago he “sent a letter” to somebody or other. Why, long before Obama sent his letter, McCain “issued a statement.” Rarely has the gulf between interesting times and the paperwork of “big government” yawned so widely.

The Republican candidate’s tragedy in this election is that he’s chosen to fight on Obama turf, to share so many of his assumptions. At a McCain rally in Wisconsin, a fellow in the crowd announced he was mad as hell and got a standing ovation. What was he mad about? Obama, Pelosi, and “the socialists taking over our country.” McCain listened politely and then pledged to get back to Washington to reach across the aisle to work on some gargantuan bipartisan cure-all. Not the answer that chap wanted to hear, I’ll wager.

If the more frightening polls are correct, America is about to elect the most left-wing government in history: an Obama Oval Office, a Pelosi House of Representatives, a filibuster-proof Senate and a year or two down the road maybe three new Supreme Court justices. It would be a transformational Administration that would start building (in Michelle Obama’s words) “the world as it should be.” That big empty hole in the heart of the Obama logo will not stay blank for long.

An interesting take on today's loss by the Dallas Cowboys from the biggest Texas Rangers fan there is, Jamey Newberg:

Eventually, in most sports, including the one I prefer to write about, a team takes on the personality of its coach, for better or worse.

The Cowboys achieved that 11 months ago. They’re satisfied with the press clippings that say they are as good as anyone in football (and Wade Phillips’s season-ending gloat last year that they’d gone further than they had the season before since they had a bye that preceded their one-and-out playoff loss). Never mind the fact that Dallas’s last playoff win was in the same year as the Rangers’ last playoff win.

This team makes excuses instead of plays. They show up unprepared, uninspired, undisciplined. Underachieving. Comfy.

In football and in baseball, the ultimate measure of a head coach or manager, as far as I’m concerned, is not how they call a game or when they pull out a trick play or how they manage a bullpen. It’s whether they get their players to play for them. Whether they bring out the best in the multi-millionaires who suit up, whether they bring to work an intensity and an accountability and a level of character that rubs off on the guys who have to make plays.

Are there renegade personalities on the roster? Sure. But that’s even more reason for a stronger personality under the headset than the Cowboys have right now.

I can’t wait to hear Phillips acquit his team’s effort tomorrow in his chronically defensive manner. I can’t think of one reason he shouldn’t be fired before that press conference ever takes place. This team should be so much better than it is. Instead, he’s instilled a personality that seems to have everyone on the field convinced that they’re a lot better than they are. Wade Phillips isn’t going to turn that around.

Apologies for the self-serving, off-topic rant – my football therapy for the day.

Full-blown Newberg Report tomorrow morning.

Jamey

Well, I don't believe Jerry Jones will fire Wade Phillips any time soon. It's just not historically Jerry's way. However, aside from the obvious deficiencies that this team has, this was just a road loss to a hot team. Knee-jerk reactions never play well in sports.

But I think Mr. Newberg is not alone in feeling that this team is unmotivated and undisciplined. These are the traits of a team poorly coached. For example, look at the Atlanta Falcons. They clearly do not have anywhere near the talent of most teams in the league. But they have discipline and they play with a passion that is missing in Irving.

The team came out today looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car. While the defense played inspired, you knew that the Cardinals were too explosive to be kept down forever. I credit the talent of the Cowboys players for the fact that they never gave up. But teams that are Super Bowl bound simply do not play as poorly as Dallas did today. Only because Arizona decided to shoot itself in their own collective feet was this even a close game to begin with.

I still have faith that these Dallas Cowboys can do great things this year. However, unless they start to take each game as meaningful as they need to be taken, they will find the road to another lost season.

10 Great Songs from One Great Year

1980

What started out as a year of malaise and terror – with the 53 American hostages in captivity in Iran (yes, we’ve been dealing with this problem for 29 years now (thanks, Jimmy!), turn into a brighter future with the landslide election of Ronald Reagan.

Musically, disco died a rather ignominious death and new wave was all the rage. While Urban Cowboy, Xanadu and Fame brought Hollywood into mainstream radio and into the mass market. Glory returned to the American sports scene at the Winter Olympics – “Do you believe in miracles” being ingrained in all of our souls.

Thousands fled Cuba and thousands fled Mount St. Helens – both on the same day. Both the Phillies (victorious) and the Eagles (runners-up) brought championship opportunities for Philadelphia. On the other hand, the year brought us Rosie Ruiz, Robert Mugabe and Pac-Man.

The end of the year brought more sadness with the death of former Beatle, John Lennon.

Him – Rupert Holmes

The follow up to the mega hit, “Escape (the Pina Colada Song),” This is a song about a menage a trois. The guy demands his mistress chose between him and her steady boyfriend: "She's gonna have to do without him, or do without me."Written in the same “tongue and cheek” style as his other songs, this song was the last top 40 hit for him. However, Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book, Best Music and Best Lyrics for the Broadway production of “Drood” – a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. The musical won five Tony Awards out of eleven nominations, including Best Musical. Currently, Holmes is writing the book of a musical theater version of the film "The First Wives Club," which is scheduled to play in San Diego prior to a Broadway engagement. The score is by Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland and Eddie Holland, the songwriters of most of the Supremes hits of the 60’s.

Fire Lake – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Seger planned to release "Fire Lake" for his 1975 album, Beautiful Loser, but the track did not make the final cut. In fact, the song had been partly written years before, in 1971. It was finally released in 1980 on Seger's classic, Against the Wind and reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Seger and colleagues decided to make "Fire Lake" the first single from Against the Wind because it was "totally and unequivocally unlike anything I'd ever done before.” Although the Eagles (who had worked with Seger a number of times over the years) broke up in late 1979, Timothy Schmitt, Don Henley and Glenn Frey lent their backing vocals to the single. They did this as well to the Boz Scaggs hit late that year, “Look What You’ve Done to Me” – although this was only on the single release. On the original recording (made for the movie Urban Cowboy) Skaggs used contract studio singers.

99 – Toto

Legend has it that the title refers to Agent 99, Barbara Feldon's character in the 1960s TV series Get Smart. However, according the band, it was inspired by George Lucas' movie THX-1138 (1971). This movie is set in the future where names have been replaced by numbers. Lucas used THX as the name for his movie theater sound system. Toto made the video for the song look like a scene from the movie. In a particular scene, the main character (THX-1138) is being taken into prison. His cell is completely white, and everyone is wearing a white suit. Toto copied this in the video where everything was in white as well.

Lookin’ For Love – Johnny Lee

This was originally written by two school teachers - Wanda Mallette and Patti Ryan - about a classroom of second grade children. They sent the song to songwriter Bob Morrison who did a "high level editing job" on the track and started to try to find someone to record it. The song was turned down at least 23 times before record executive Irving Azoff got nightclub singer Johnny Lee to put it to disc. His recording then found its way onto the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, where it ended up becoming the number one country song of the year. Aside from now being a hot commodity on the charts, Lee married Charlene Tilton, of Dallas fame in 1982. The marriage lasted 2 years.

Romeo's Tune – Steve Forbert

Even though it states that "Romeo's Tune" is "dedicated to the memory of Florence Ballard" on the sleeve of the album Jackrabbit Slim, the song is not really about the Supremes singer who died in 1976. The song was actually written about a girl from his hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, but was dedicated to Ballard because, as Forbert explains, "That seemed like such bad news to me and such sad news. She wasn't really taken care of by the music business, which is not a new story." Forbert never recaptured the success he had with “Romeo’s Tune,” but he has recorded over 20 albums and released his latest CD in 2007.

All For Leyna – Billy Joel

After two wildly successful LP’s, Billy Joel continued to evolve from a pop-singing piano man to a harder-edged lyricist and rock singer. His 1980 release, Glass Houses featured a number of tracks that played upon this theme ("You May Be Right", "Sometimes a Fantasy"). In addition, the former opens with the sound of a glass window shattering. "All for Leyna" is another example of Joel’s metamorphosis. With a charging piano and a frantic, passion-driven lyric, the song tells of a young boy’s obsession with a woman who uses him, but clearly doesn’t love him back. Wow, where have I heard that before?

Do Right - Paul Davis

Although mostly known for writing soft-rock songs, this track, off of his fifth album is noteworthy for it’s strong Christian undertones. “Do Right” was the third consecutive top 40 single for Davis (and his 4th overall to date), who was riding a bit of a hot streak around this time. After completing his follow up album – and releasing his last three charting singles (“Cool Night”, “’65 Love Affair” and “Love or Let Me Be Lonely”), Davis fell off the charts for good. Unfortunately, Davis died of a heart attack this past year, just shy of his 60th birthday.

You Can Have me Anytime – Boz Scaggs

One of the most beautiful songs ever written, this tune was the third single from Scaggs’ multi-platinum Middle Man LP (the other two were “Breakdown Dead Ahead” and “Jojo”). 1980 turned out to be a big year for the singer-songwriter as he was also nominated for a Grammy Award for his song “Look What You’ve Done To Me”, from the Urban Cowboy Soundtrack.

Keep the Fire – Kenny Loggins

Perhaps the least known single and certainly the most under-appreciated song of Loggins’ distinguished career, this title track from his third solo album was the follow up to his most successful single, “This is It.” Starting out as a contract songwriter for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Loggins joined with Jim Messina and together they charted with two huge hits, “Danny’s Song” and “Your Momma Don’t Dance.”After ended that partnership, Loggins became one of the more prolific artists in the soft-rock field, recording 26 top-40 songs, as well as 13 studio albums – the latest, 2007’s How About Now.

Pilot of the Airwaves – Charlie Dore

A classic one-hit wonder, this ode to an unnamed DJ was a monster hit for London born singer-songwriter Charlie Dore in 1980 reaching #13 on the US chart; unsurprisingly it also received heavy airplay in the UK, although it didn't do nearly as well. Dore, who also had some minor success as an actress in London, returned to the charts as a songwriter for the Sheena Easton hit, “Strut.” Currently, she still performs from time to time and still records. Her latest album, Cuckoo Hill was released in 2006.