Those of you who were foolish enough to NOT vote Republican this time around have a new God. It's called the Supreme Court. And Nancy Pelosi intends to see to it that you all abide by its dictates. In particular, the Kelo Decision:

Q Could you talk about this decision? What you think of it?

Ms. Pelosi. It is a decision of the Supreme Court. If Congress wants to change it, it will require legislation of a level of a constitutional amendment. So this is almost as if God has spoken. It's an elementary discussion now. They have made the decision.

Q Do you think it is appropriate for municipalities to be able to use eminent domain to take land for economic development?

Ms. Pelosi. The Supreme Court has decided, knowing the particulars of this case, that that was appropriate, and so I would support that.

There seems to be enough idiocy around this year, that this latest doesn't surprise me. I can't believe how the lunatic masses voted. Talk about nuclear option. Blowing a hole in the Republican tent may have made you feel good, but look at the damage you caused. You practically blew yourself to smithereens in the process. And you didn't even remove the individuals responsible for the spending and the immigration policies. Your scattershot method spent all your ammo, you didn't achieve your objective, and now you're setting back your agenda by at least a dozen years.

Hello, target the right individuals next time you fools. Now you've removed Santorum and Allen, and you left McCain and Hastert. Incredibly dumb. And you turned over control of the House and Senate to people who will use it against you..
Next time use a recall vote and target individuals, instead of blowing yourself up in a suicidal jihad. 

Please get a brain and use it.

I was baking a batch of cookies the other day, and they weren't quite brown enough.

So I took them out of the oven and put in some cookies that would teach the other ones a lesson.

Every few years, conservatives start to get a wave going. But some of them decide they can do more as individuals than they can as a group.
I have seen this pattern once again but this time on a much bigger scale, and with more at stake.

I expect this sort of thing at grassroots level, I was in the American Party as a young man, and saw how those independents did themselves in over and over.
Now that I'm much older and wiser, I've put on my blinders as we sail past the Siren's call. Some of my fellow conservatives, however, dropped behind to have a listen, and are now crashing on the rocks.

But they are optimistic that there next ship will be stronger and more sturdy.

Good luck with that.

It was a divisive vote. The conservatives have shot themselves in the foot.

The election went to people who voted what was best for THEMSELVES, and to hell with anyone else. It was an amalgam of people who put their hand in the till, (minimum wage), people who wanted to "punish" the Republican party, (but not the Democrats who were even more worthy of the punishment), and hatred of having to defend the nation against her enemies.

And the enemies of America can take heart, while America contemplates her navel and passes herself another slice of pie.

When the Democrats have John Kerry to do it for us?

We'll let him snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Meanwhile, here in VA Beach, I will be holding the Republican fort down - It's Senator Allen ALL THE WAY !

That fiction writer, Webb, should go back to writing sleazy novels. Come to think of it, the Democrat Party has been specializing in sleazy fiction since before Clinton.

I don't listen to WNIS radio in Virginia Beach much. Not when radio personality Tony Macrini is on. I wait for more thoughtful people to appear.

Today he is claiming that Iraq doesn't want to be democratized. And that means we shouldn't be there.
Sorry, Tony, you are wrong on so many levels that you should not even be listened to.
Firstly, Iraq DOES want to be democratized. Are you kidding me? Given a choice between an evil, bloodthirsty, raping, unscrupulous, and murderous dictator who finances terrorist activities around the globe, and a representative democracy, EVERYONE ON THE PLANET would choose a democracy. Except for EVIL people who want to keep the little people down. Anyone who doesn't want democracy ultimately wants whats best for them at the expense of what is best for EVERYONE. But even if you don't buy the philosophy, you should at least listen to the Iraqis, most of whom are GLAD they are being democratized.

Secondly, whether the individual citizens wish to be democratized or not is beside the point. It's necessary in the grand evolutionary scheme for democracy to replace older more antiquated forms of government - despotarianism, totalitarianism, and tribalism. Democracy is what is next for these people to fully evolve. Don't be a troglodyte.

Why was the Wild West so wild? Because lawless thugs wanted to get away with landgrabbin', rustlin', hangin', and shootin' up the town on a Saturday night. They didn't want democracy either. Fortunately, greater minds saw the pitfalls of allowing a small band of cowboys terrorize the citizenry at large, and the West was DEMOCRATIZED.

So, Tony, take your anti-American philosophy to some third world country and preach it there. See if you enjoy broadcasting from Al-Jazeera.

I'm going to get a rubber stamp made, with the word REPUBLICAN in big bold letters on it,  Bush is so good at making the Democrats look bad.

I will take my rubber stamp with me to the polls, and wave it in the faces of the election officials. Heck, I should get extras made, we might as well pass em around for the avalanche we are going to cause.

If you don't study hard, you may end up in Vietnam on a swift boat.

And then you'll have to marry a rich lady in order to keep yourself from a life of dumpster diving.

 "Ask Nancy Pelosi to describe herself," says Stahl, "and the first thing out of her mouth is that ..."


"I'm a grandmother," Pelosi says. "It's great. It's fabulous. It was my goal in life and now I've achieved it."

It continues....."The gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of special interests, and now it will be in the hands of America's children." says Pelosi.

"Mr. Speaker, as we leave for this Christmas recess, let us say, `God bless you' to the American people by voting against this Republican budget and statement of injustice and immorality, and let us not let the special interest goose get fat at the expense of America's children."

Grandma Pelosi - if you do nothing else for us - please ensure that the gavel of the speaker of the House is in the hands of America's children.

Our former moralist-in-chief had this sage wisdom to impart to us the other day:

Clinton, who recently made fundraising stops for Democrats in Minnesota and New Jersey, also said he was embarrassed by the recent immigration debate.

He noted that Mexico had become one of the U.S.'s top 10 creditors.

"These people are our bankers," Clinton said. "Doesn't it embarrass you that these poor people are trying to sneak over the Rio Grande River to find a living in this country and we want to stop that? But we're only too happy to turn around and say, 'Don't spend your own money on those poor illegal immigrants to give them an education and get a job in Mexico. Loan it to us.'"

I don't want to delve into the obvious ironies here, but this is rich. Here's a man who is NOT embarrassed that he told the most grandiose lies to our faces while we had entrusted him with the greatest power in the world, who is NOT embarrassed that he was caught being unfaithful to his own wife and family in a most visible way, who is NOT embarrassed to use the famous lawyerly phrase ever, "It all depends upon what the meaning of the word IS is", nor embarrassed that several women had told credible stories of his raping and molesting them.

Now he appears as our country's Great Moral Voice of Authority to insinuate that we haven't been charitable enough to our southern neighbors; that the entire point of the immigration issue is to impoverish people or to keep them impoverish, rather than about national security and about the corrupt Mexican government providing economic opportunity for their OWN people rather than foisting that burden upon the US.

If nothing else, we, the baby boomers of the US, need to wake up from the delusional worldview that Clinton, and those like him have encouraged us to adopt. The stakes are too high for us to be wallowing in greed and false charity. How easy it is to be charitable with other people's money. Clinton obviously feels no remorse or shame about waltzing into your pocketbook and balancing Mexican economic problems with YOUR hard earned dollars.

What kind of creep would act the way he has, and then come and lecture us that we are too greedy to share our wealth in the way HE sees fit?

My personal opinion: he's despicable beyond words.

Note to Barb:  As FoxNews reports, you swore at a heckler who didn't appreciate your George Bush impersonator. You state that the artist's role is 'to disturb.'  Actually, the role of the artist is to manifest beauty and increase our appreciation of it.

I just thought you might like to be reminded of that. Some of your work has been beautiful. Your Broadway album was deeply moving. I loved your portrayal and the soundtrack of Yentl. Those were the good times.

As time passes,  you would think the Democrats would wise up.
BUT NO!
In response to Pres. Bush's speech where in he characterized the opposition as not having the stomach for the fight against terrorism, DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney had this to say:

"On his watch, five years after 9/11, he not only has failed to capture Osama bin Laden, but as the (National Intelligence Estimate) indicates, his failed policies have made America less safe and spawned terrorism, not decreased it," said Karen Finney, spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee. "Democrats will be tough and smart, and will actually fight the terrorists, not leave them to plan future attacks."

For the record, I don't think Democrats will be tough and smart, they will be strong and wrong, like they always are. Strong rhetoric, and wrong assessments.

But let's pretend for a moment, that they are being truthful. (It's pretend, after all). Let's pretend that they could actually fight the terrorists, not leaving them to plan for future attacks.

WELL WHERE THE  H. E. DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS HAVE THEY BEEN? WHY HAVEN'T THEY SPOKEN UP BEFORE NOW? It's a little late to come to the party ready to fight after 5 freaking years, isn't it? So what's your plan? Tell us what you are going to do now, that you've woken up to the threat. You evil, cunning, lying, politicising, no-good, hateful, spiteful, manipulative liberal politicians! Show us your valor and determination and your commitment to this country and her ideals, rather than grandstanding, namecalling, and criticizing.

And by the way, no you're not patriotic. If your form of dissent equals patriotism, you might as well demonstrate your commitment to yourselves by uniting with America's enemies overtly, rather than merely being philosophically sympathetic.

And that's the way I see it, after 5 years of careful observation of your public sentiments and actions.

Democrat minds are fool of mischief. Misspelling intentional. I suppose that when you have no idea of what is in the best interests of the country, your every obsessive compulsive thought must be about tripping up your political enemies.

Now they are all about planting a poison pill in current legislation. They don't care a fig about fighting terrorism, they only want to appear to be sufficiently engaged that they can then get back into power and tell us all what we should believe.

Quote from the DAILY KOS:

The Democrats could accomplish three things with a poison pill amendment:

1.)  Really, really p*s off all Republicans,
2.)  Show that they are "tough on terror," and,
3.)  Show that they aren't going to get screwed again.

Yeah, that's right, the main goal of Democrats is to really, really p*s off all Republicans.

Whatever happened to majority rule? Sounds like the Democrat totalitarians aren't committed to representative government. Unless it represents only their point of view.

What a sham party.

When overeducated fanatics fail to understand the philosophy of freedom and democracy, totalitarianism results. Wow. What a perversion of the truth, put in a plausibility capsule so easily sold to those whose souls resonate to an anti-American, anti-Bush vibration.

One must truly wonder what goes through the minds of these self important baby boomers.

A quote -

The Bush administration, representing the last gasp of imperialist unilateralism in an interdependent world, is perversely teaching us one such isolated truth: that firm enforcement of international law is needed in a dangerous world.

Sorry, no. What you should have learned from this event that is that the United States stands on a firm philosophical footing, and is the only nation pragmatic enough to realize that at the end of the long tunnel of words, behavior must change, or be changed.

To wit, if we hadn't had the guts to confront the Iraqi dictator, no one would have. It's not a question of law enforcement. It's a question of liberty and justice, and the might to enforce it should it be ignored.

 The majority of anti-war protestors are also pro-abortion. On the one hand, it is the EVIL BUSH ADMINISTRATION indiscriminately murdering innocent civilians, but none of the 1.2 million fetuses per year are getting any notice. And these people claim they love the Constitutional rights of all people? WHAT ABOUT THE UNBORN?  

Good thing I made it past the cutoff point so I can be a voice for the others.

 

Do you want to have more influence over people? Would you like to write persuasively? Do you have a point you are trying to get across but your audience does not seem to respond? Are you a reasonable, intelligent, even articulate person, but your impact is limited in some way? This article is an attempt to help you find greater satisfaction in your dealings with your fellow human beings.

 Maybe you are trying to convince some dinosaur brain to drop his/her radical belief system, and see things the right way, YOUR way. Will this happen if you charge right in with your blog and blow his arguments to smithereens and show them how utterly misguided they are?

Do you understand your opponent? Do you empathize at all with their point of view? Are you clear about it? If you want to bridge the gulf between their viewpoint and yours, you must firstly understand it, and that not merely on a shallow level. To be effective in such circumstances, you need to get your hands dirty and see things from your opponents point of view. To be influential with them you must demonstrate that you understand the situation to their satisfaction, not just your own.  Truth is a great thing, but it's hard to share when the sharee is not willing to receive it.  

Two things may help you here. One is a book called, Writing With Power, by Peter Elbow. This book and others like it can make your writing come alive.

The other thing that will help you influence others is to understand them intimately. You need to understand their value system and why they are behaving as they are, or you will find them very confusing. What you need is a guide to keep you on track when the world behaves bizarrely. What you need is Spiral Dynamics .

Things have changed a lot in the last several years. Liberals have gotten more liberal, conservatives, more conservative. Religious people are more religious, crazy folks more crazy, etc. Politicians are more political. You get the point. But these are all natural developments;  predictable and understandable. Even tolerable. But to be able to tolerate these seemingly huge gaps between different groups of human beings will take courage, selflessness, and understanding at a much higher level than we are accustomed to.

 The right-left paradigm is a limited view. There are far more categories of people than this . There is an underlying structure to the many different memes we see unfolding. Those who understand that structure may be able to act more wisely in today's turbulent world. Proverbs 4:7 ....with all thy getting, get understanding. Your influence will be limited to people who already agree with you unless you find a way to appeal to more than those who are members of your team. Understanding the stages of human development will give you an inside look at what each meme is and where it is going.

 We all want to have power and influence with others. This requires that we understand them. We must know what makes them tick, how they see the world. We need to see that all they are trying to do is to contribute to a better world. Remember the saying, one man's contribution is another man's poison? I don't either, but that describes what's going on in the political world around us. The 'lefties' are 'contributing' in their way, and the righties are contributing in theirs. Both 'sides' need to realize we are no longer in a left-right world. We are now more like 2 of the 5 fingers in your hand, as opposed to two arms opposing each other.

 In general, the left prefers the external world in politics. They think conditions can be changed entirely by changing the government, the state, the environment, and so on. They don't emphasize internal characteristics much.

 The right on the other hand prefer the internal realm. Individuals can rise above conditioning and change the world by changing themselves. The answers are within.

 As a result, solutions from the right appear as problems to the left, and vice versa. We all need to slow down and understand each other on a deeper level than we have heretofore done. And we need to write in such a way as to forward the conversation.

Comments appreciated.