NH Democrat Party Chairman Ray Buckley: "We've All Lost Things."

I first spotted this at Granite Grok, but since then This Ain't Hell picked up on it, as well.

During a debate between congressional candidates Jeb Bradley and Carol Shea-Porter, Bradley got on Shea-Porter's case for not contacting Gold Star Mother Natalie Healey back after she tried to talk with Shea-Porter, but only received standard form letters. Currently, Bradley has a radio ad running with Healey talking about the fact that she never received a return call from Shea-Porter. Debbie Lee, a Gold Star Mother herself, wrote the following e-mail to her family, friends, and members of the press:

One of the questions asked the candidates was about the importance of staying in touch with their constituents. The Bradley campaign had released a radio ad that Natalie had made exposing the lack of Carol Shea-Porter to return phone calls to Natalie after numerous attempts requesting to talk with her.

Jeb responded how important his constituents are and referenced staying in touch with Gold Star Mother Natalie Healey. Carol Shea responded that it was important to her and that she had in fact spoken with Natalie. Nat and I both could not believe what we just heard? Carol had just lied publicly on the platform.

...After the debate we approached the stage and confronted Carol about her bold faced lie. She responded that she had contacted Natalie and had just released a press release to counter the accusations in the radio ad. I told her that our sons had given up their tomorrows so that she could have her today and how dare her that she couldn't use 10 minutes out of her day to return a phone call to a Gold Star Mother. At that point she quickly went back stage.

Then, this is where NHDP chair Buckley comes in.

I turned around and in disgust commented that Carol had just lied. A man in the crowd chanted, "Where's the proof? Prove it. Prove it!" I pointed to Natalie who was speaking with media and said. "She's the proof. That's the Mother who Carol refused to call." I repeated to the man "Our son's gave their tomorrows, their futures, so that she could have her today's and she can't even return a phone call? That's disgraceful.

He then told me he had served in Viet Nam and had friends who were POW-MIA. I compassionately touched his arm thanked him for his service and told him I was sorry for his loss. I told him that no matter where you stood on the politics of the War on Terror that a Congressman or Senator out of respect should return a phone call to a Gold Star family member. He stated his disgust for what we were doing in Iraq and said "We've all lost things." THINGS????? My son is not a thing. He was a hero who stood out in the direct line of fire 3 times that day and gave his life for this man and he has the audacity to compare his sacrifice with a thing???? I was livid!!! How dare him.

At this point the man in charge of the debate came over and said we would need to take this outside. I could not believe what had just taken place. I knew I was wasting my time and started to walk away when the man I had the confrontation with told me "Your just being used by the campaign." Oh my goodness again, I can't believe the antics of this idiot. He obviously doesn't know that nobody uses me. I turn around and tell him "NOBODY uses me!" You don't raise a son to be a Navy SEAL by having a character that is used by people. Unbelievable! As I approached the other Blues Star Moms and campaign staff that was there they asked what had just taken place. I retold the confrontation with the condescending, heartless man. They asked me to point him out. I was informed that his name was Ray Buckley and that he was the Chairman of the Democrat Party in NH. I was even more appalled that the man who had disgraced my son and insulted me was a high ranking official in the Democrat Party.

And this is why I could never be a Democrat.

But wait! There's more!

Remember the part where Buckley said he was a Vietnam Vet? Well, John Lilyea of This Ain't Hell discovered that his being a Vietnam Vet would have been impossible according to his own Wikipedia page.

Raymond Buckley was born in Keene, New Hampshire in 1959, and is the eldest of nine siblings and half-siblings. He parents moved frequently to find work, and Raymond had attended a different school for each grade through the ninth. His parents divorced in 1972. By high school, his family had settled in Canterbury, where at the young age of 14, he served as the town's Democratic Party Chair (due to his young age, his mother held the post officially). He planned to go to college upon graduating high school, but lacking the finances, he accepted a job offer to work for then State Democratic Chair Joanne Symons. He has been a professional politician ever since.

Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable.

Update: I forgot that this was the guy who was accused of possessing child porn by a competitor, but was cleared of the charges. Here is a video up on YouTube that, if it had gotten wider play, might have derailed his chances at being the party chairman to begin with.

Another Radio Interview From Obama

He tries to hide it. But with so many people wanting to find out more about Obama on the internet, he can't hide the fact that he's a socialist.

I did a post about one radio interview he did in 1995. But the blogosphere is going nuts over this one. This interview is from 2001, where Obama talks about how he is disappointed that the Constitution is so limiting to the courts in the area of wealth distribution.



Our country was not set up to "spread the wealth." I don't want someone else's money, I want to earn my own pay. Charities are set up to help those in need.

If this doesn't sink him, then our country is in real trouble.

Some Weekend Funnies

First, Glenn Beck on the press worship of Barack Obama.



Next, "Boston Legal" gives the solution on whether it is more important to be Democrat or for gun control.



Saturday Night Live decided that the Democrats needed equal time in mocking. This first skit is the cold opening featuring Sen. Joe Biden and Rep. John Murtha.



And now, "The Barack Obama Variety Half-Hour!"

Where is the MSM When You Need Them?

Oh, that's right...kissing Obama's rear end and worshipping him.

Well, I guess it's up to us in the blogosphere to pass this along to everyone else so that they are informed.

This is an interview that Barack Obama did in 1995 where he talks more about distributing the wealth. If yo listen to it carefully, he's talking about "spreading the wealth around" to the African-American communities.



Pass that along to everyone you know.

(h/t Stop the ACLU)

This Week's Roger Ebert Reviews - 10/24

This week, Roger Ebert reviewed the following films.

Happy-Go-Lucky -- 4 stars
Changeling -- 3 1/2 stars
Filth and Wisdom -- 2 stars
Pride and Glory -- 2 stars

Also opening this week: "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," "Saw V," "Synecdoche, New York" in limited release, "Passengers," "I've Loved You So Long" in limited release, "Let The Right One In" in limited release, and "Peur(s) du Noir" in limited release.

NH McCain Rally

I was at the door at 4 AM this morning. Then went back to my car 15 minutes later because it was FREEZING!

Around 6 PM I headed back to the door with my son. I had taped some signs to his infant carrier that read "Christopher The Future Plumber, Please Help Me Achieve The American Dream!" From those that were able to see them, they got a huge kick out of them.

I found myself talking with a nice couple who let me stand under their umbrella while we were waiting to get in. I explained that my goal was to get Senator McCain to sign Chrstiopher's onesie so that I had a matching set of signatures. He wasn't wearing it at this point -- after taking a look at it, it was stained with spit-up from the week before, but I didn't want to wash it because then Palin's signature might have gotten washed out or smeared. So I had him in something warmer while I just kept the onesie in my bag.

While I was waiting in line, a young kid who couldn't have been more than 14 years old approached us. He asked if we were moms, then told us that if we wore special hockey jerseys than we could get preferred seating for the rally.

I was up for it.

Of course, I thought it meant being closer to the stage. That wasn't the case.

There were two types of jerseys that were being handed out. One just said "hockey mom" on the back. The other had "Hockey Mom 4 McCain/Palin". I somehow ended up getting the latter. One of the staff people told us that our job was to yell and cheer as loud as we could, in particular if we heard a protestor in the audience. There were none, but we started practicing ahead of time with chants of "USA!", "John McCain!" and (inspired by someone's sign in front of us) "We need a leader, not a great debater!"

At some point during this, we saw the eight shirtless college students come into the arena with their chests painted. Because of the angle I couldn't tell what it was that was painted on their chests, but when they got up onstage it was obvious that it was the word "Maverick." The cheerleader of the Hockey Moms made attempts to engage them in a "Gimme an M!" type cheer.

The one big mistake I made was bringing Christopher's travel system in with me. I had to take it down in order to maneuver the stairs, and store it to the side of the stage and pick it up later. Most of the time I had to hold Christopher during the rally. For a baby surrounded by noise, he did pretty good, only crying during the worst of it. Most of the time he was either asleep or just looking around.

And then McCain came on. It was probably one of his best speeches to date. I think with Joe The Plumber successfully getting Obama to admit that his tax plan was just another form of socialism, it's really energized him into attacking him where it hurts the most -- the current economical issues.

After he was done and he started going through the crowd, I got one of the girls closest to the stage to at least try to get a signature on the onesie -- I had attempted to ask staffers if it was possible, but they couldn't guarantee me anything. So, I waited.

He passed right by the girl, and didn't sign it. Probably thought she was just waving a sign at him. Oh, well. I made one last attempt to ask a staffer, but she said he had already left.

My original plan was to go home after the rally. I opted instead to go back to my mother's house and feed Christopher and myself since I hadn't eaten anything since yesterday, and Christopher was crying as soon as I put him in the car and started driving.

But I did get a cool hockey jersey out of the deal. You know how much one costs normally?

Once I get home and can go through the camera, I am going to post some pictures.

BREAKING: Palin's Travel Expenses In Alaska

I could be wrong, but the way I read the story, she did nothing wrong.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.
The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
In all, Palin has charged the state $21,012 for her three daughters' 64 one-way and 12 round-trip commercial flights since she took office in December 2006. In some other cases, she has charged the state for hotel rooms for the girls.

If you read further into the story, Alaskan law allows for family expenses to be paid as long as it is official business. The amending done to the records sounds like a case to clarify any expenses before the accounting was done.

Personally, if I wanted to spend more time with my kids while running a state, I'd take advantage of this. But if this was going to be an issue, why now? Just to find a way to embarass Gov. Palin, an "October Surprise?"

How Seriously Can Jack Thompson Be Taken These Days?

He's about to be disbarred in 4 days, yet wanker Jack Thompson is still filing motions complaining that the video game industry is out to get him.

So what is Thompson complaining about this time? That sites such as Kotaku, GamePolitics, and video game companies have been colluding to get him disbarred.

Yeah, right.

The court filing is here. As you will notice, it has a lot of pretty pictures. Maybe he can get a career as a children's storybook writer. But, I digress.

I have a feeling this will get thrown out as soon as it crosses the judge's desk -- Thompson can't file anything without the signature of another attorney.

An Interpretation Problem

I'm staying with my mother overnight tonight so that I can go to the McCain rally at St. Anslem's College tomorrow morning. I was just going to play a clip of Gov. Sarah Palin when my mother walked in.

"I don't like her," she said.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because she's a stuck up bitch," she told me.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, she calls everyone Joe Six-Pack, and I'm not Joe Six-Pack."

"Yes, you are."

"No, I work for my money!"

"That's what a Joe Six-Pack is, Mom. Someone who works for their money."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"No, Joe Six-Pack is someone on welfare who lives in a trailer park!"

"No, it isn't, Mom. It's someone who works for a living. We're all Joe Six-Pack."

"Well, that's not how I interpreted it."

"Well, that's what it is."

I should point out that my mother doesn't vote, and really doesn't care about politics. Last time I talked with her about Sarah Palin, in order to engage her in any discussion with her I had to point out that her husband was hot.

It's times like this that I miss having my dad around, because I am sure that he would have some interesting things to say about this election.

Chevy Chase: Not a Good Idea To Let Sarah Palin On...

(unless Lorne Michaels lifts the ban on me guest hosting first...)

I've seen this at a few places, and my first thoughts were 1) who listens to Chevy Chase anymore?, and 2) No one at the show likes you, anyway, so just shut up.

As a former cast member and “Weekend Update” anchor, Chevy Chase knows something about “Saturday Night Live” – and he wasn’t impressed by what he saw this Saturday night, when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin made a much-hyped appearance.

“Quite frankly, it’s a big mistake to let her go on,” Chevy told Access Hollywood at the Give Food a Chance benefit in New York. “What was brilliant about [‘SNL’ chief] Lorne [Michaels] was that he had nothing written for Sarah and that apparently she cannot improvise herself out of a paper bag!”

Palin appeared in two sketches – the opening scene, and a second performance in the “Weekend Update” segment where she bobbed her head to an Amy Poehler rap song.

“On ‘Weekend Update,’ that was her big chance,” he said. “Nothing.”

But Chevy was critical not only of Sarah’s comedic chops, but of the political campaign of her running mate, Sen. John McCain.

“The management behind McCain’s campaign has been dumb. This has only helped accentuate the problem of his judgment in choosing, in such a cynical way, a candidate like Sarah Palin for vice president. I think the last thing that they would want right about now is to have the rest of America knowing all that… to have her be seen on ‘SNL,’ certainly never there. If anything, you just want her to be seen just from a distance.”

“I’m sure she’s very bright,” he added. “But so is the Butterworth woman.”

Normally I wouldn't comment on what washed up actor-comedians have to say, but considering the source, I had to this time.

The woman is a class act. And you aren't.

How else to explain the fact that producer Lorne Michaels has banned you from hosting the show since 1997 because you pissed off so many cast members?

My advice to you, Chevy -- keep your mouth shut, because no one is listening.

John McCain Rally Details

Okay, I am able to go to this one. So expect a post on this rally late on Wednesday.

The details: it's going to be at St. Anslem's College in Goffstown. Doors are opening at 7:30 AM. My mother lives in nearby Manchester, so Christopher and I will be staying with her overnight and will probably leave for the rally at around 4 in the morning.

And yes, he will be wearing the onesie. And I am going to try to get Sen. McCain to sign it.

But I am also going to try to get the local Repubilcans to get on board, too, to either sign it or take a picture with him (or both!).

The Conservative Manifesto

Written by Matt Helm, it's something we should all remember as we go into the final days of this election.

The Conservative Manifesto

If the Communists can have a Manifesto, then we conservatives can have one of our own. Conservatism...

Embraces as its core the concept of the individual as an abstract, rational entity possessing liberty and freedom as natural and inalienable rights.

Believes that all should enjoy an equal opportunity to succeed—or fail—based upon their individual choices, talents, abilities, and the will of Providence or Fate.

Believes in the right of all citizens to participate and vote in open, free, and fair elections in a secret ballot unfettered by intimidation or threats for the candidate or candidates of their choice.

Rejects the notion of equal outcome. While all are born equal, one rises or falls as a result of their own actions and/or the whims of Fate or the will of God.

Rejects the concept of the "social" and its accompanying notions of group rights and collective identities as being a pernicious notion inimical to individual liberty and freedom.

Believes strongly in the freedom of conscience to worship or not worship as one chooses both privately and openly.

Embraces the culture of life in all of its manifestations and rejects the culture of death in all of its manifestations.

Embraces the sacrosanctity of private property and the right of the individual to make use or not make use of the natural resources on his or her own land as he or she deems fit and proper.

Embraces the free market as the ideal vehicle and driving force behind the American economy and calls for a return to the laissez faire principles that made the American economy the greatest in the world.

Believing in the principle that "the government that governs best...governs least" calls for limited government with a true separation of powers between the three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

Accepts the need for a strong national defense to protect this nation, its people, and their individual rights from enemies both foreign and domestic.

Believing that the right to self defense and to individual liberty is a natural and inalienable right, embraces the rights of all free citizens to keep and own firearms.

Does not oppose the entry into this nation and community of those individuals from elsewhere coming into this land to join us in our peace and prosperity and love of freedom, but we do insist that those immigrants enter this country through the legal procedures as enacted constitutionally through our governing institutions and representatives.

While conservatives do not wish for newcomers to give up all of their old traditions and customs, we do expect those coming to our shores to accept, adapt to, and follow our laws and to participate fully in American society as Americans. As conservatives, we reject the concept of "hyphenated Americans" as divisive and instead embrace the concept that all who are citizens of this great land are truly Americans regardless of race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, or sexual orientation.

Opposes any sort of "open border" policy that would allow free and unfettered access across our borders to those who might seek to do us harm.

Accepts that with rights comes responsibilities. As Americans and conservatives, we have the responsibility to exercise our rights in respectful manner and to recognize and respect the rights of our fellow citizens. As Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once stated, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic." We accept that, in order for society to function, there must be certain circumscriptions on our rights. However, as conservatives, we maintain that those circumscriptions must be as limited as possible and only to the extent necessary to preserve the rights and properties of others.

Believes that the American experiment is a unique and special one and, while taking pride in the accomplishments of our ancestors, are also humbled by the enormous legacy they have bequeathed to us. As conservatives we are determined to ensure that our progeny have the same opportunities to enjoy their lives in the same freedom and liberty that we and our ancestors have had the good fortune to enjoy.

This is the Conservative Manifesto...or Credo...or Declaration...or whatever you choose to call it. It is who and what we are.

So How Did Palin Do On SNL Last Night?

I thought she did an excellent job. See for yourself.

McCain Is Supposed To Be Coming Back To NH

So far it's not listed, but I'm guessing that they haven't finalized anything yet. But hopefully I'll get an e-mail soon on it. If he does, consider this another "Original Content Alert" notice, and I will announce when I am going.

Again, the cute little Christopher will come with me. His unwashed onesie is now waiting in his baby book to be worn again (if I wash it, everything will disappear), ready to have McCain sign, also. Hopefully I can get a picture of him holding the baby, as well.

One thing I didn't think of at the time when Palin was in Laconia was having other local Republicans sign it, as well as having pictures taken with them. So before I leave this rally I'm going to see if I can get them to sign and get their pictures taken, as well.

NRSC Ad: Who's To Blame?

If it weren't too long for television, I would suggest this get played on every station in the country leading up to the election.



For those in New Hampshire, the bit about the Senate Republicans on the banking committee trying to do something while the Democrats on the same committee wouldn't let them should resonate a bit more, considering that senatorial candidate Jeanne Shaheen is trying to use the fact that John Sununu was on the banking committee against him, even though he was one of the senators on that committee who wanted more regulation.

So What Has Joe The Plumber Taught Me?

That if you ask a question of Barack Obama that hints at not being the least bit favorable to the Anointed One, you will be vetted by the press on anything and everything in your past.

Joe Wurzelbacher, now known nationally as "Joe The Plumber" thanks to last night's debates, dared to ask Sen. Barack Obama a question on his tax plan, stating that the plumbing business he is planning to buy from his boss would make over the cutoff point for the tax breaks, and he had issues that he would get heavily taxed. Obama's answer: "It’s not that I want to punish your success. … I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody."

The answer screams of socialism. Because that's what it is -- socialism.

But we can't have that, oh no. Since he became a major talking point in the debate, "Joe the Plumber" has had the press go through everything in his life.

Just for daring to make Obama look bad.

If Obama were to win the election (and I don't think he will because of several factors) his supporters will be very hard for me to deal with. And I would worry for the safety of my family if I were to let an errant syllable slip out of my mouth that went against him. If McCain were to win the election, they will still be unbearable because the idea of the election being "stolen" will follow John McCain like they did Bush, and I would still fear for my life because these nutjobs would see me as the embodiment of all that they hate because I didn't vote for Obama. We'll call it McCain Derangement Syndrome.

And the thing that gets me is that, if Obama were to win, it would still be four more years of Bush because a lot of their policies are the SAME when it comes to certain issues. If it didn't work for Bush, why in the HELL would it work for Obama? The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.

It's getting late for me, but I'll be making sure to prepare myself for November 4th by boarding up my windows and saying a prayer for the safety of my family.

This Week's Roger Ebert Reviews -- 10/17

This week, Roger Ebert gave "W" four stars. Why am I not surprised?

Otherwise, here are the rest of his reviews for this week.

The Secret Life of Bees -- 3 1/2 stars
What Just Happened -- 2 stars
Sex Drive -- 2 stars
Toots -- 3 stars
Moving Midway -- 3 stars
Tru Loved -- 1 star

Also opening this week: "Max Payne," and "Morning Light" in limited release.

Who's The Bigger Gaffer?

Some site are making way too big of a deal over this. Even though I was right there up front, I wasn't paying attention because I was tending briefly to my son -- I heard the cries of "Northeast!" coming from my end, and had to ask someone what she said.



Compare that to Joe Biden's collosal blunder the same day (h/tHot Air):



Biden has been making these throughout the campaign. And no one has bothered to call him on it. Palin's is relatively minor (although I knew as soon as I heard what she actually said that it was going to be jumped on). The only one making a comment on the latter is the right wing blogs.

But then again, what else is new?

Another Proud Moment In My Family

This is my brother Shawn. He is currently training in New Mexico to be a border patrol agent.

Shawn has always wanted to be involved in law enforcement in some way or another. He started out wanting to train dogs for police officers, but ended up going into the Navy. Towards the end of his time in the service he did security at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

This is a first time picture of him in his border patrol uniform. He will be training for 15 months, then he will be stationed in Vermont at the Northern border keeping the terrorists out of the country.

We are all very, very proud of him.

Follow-Up To Palin Rally

Instead of adding them to the previous post, I decided to put some further observations here. I realized that I wrote the thing so fast just so I could have it up that I left out some fun details.

First of all, to the person with the video camera who took a really good shot of my son wearing his onesie just before Palin started to speak -- what agency are you with? I want to know if the footage was used and where it was seen, if at all.

Okay, some further observations...

-- Here's Granite Grok's take on the event. I am not surprised by the MSM members' reaction to the speech -- they are trying to find anything on her that would be considered an embarassment. But I just remember when I was a reporter and having to cover several Democratic events keeping my tongue in my mouth so that I didn't show any type of bias to my subjects or in my writing.

-- The Citizen of Laconia has their take, too. Reporter Gail Ober said there were about 50 protestors there, but as I was leaving I only saw five -- if it was 50, most of them probably left. Even before I actually introduced myself to Mark Steyn he happened to be walking along with me and a few other people making cracks at the protestors.

-- I had to change Christopher's diaper twice while I was there -- once outside the event, and once inside (in which I pulled a neat trick and managed to do it while he was in the car seat portion of the travel system). While I was doing that, Skip Reilly (owner of a gun shop in Bristol and one of the people in the previous post that I mentioned that I knew from my reporting days) jokingly made the suggestion to keep the diaper to throw at the protestors later. (I had to keep it with me, anyway, just because there were no trash cans nearby I could toss it in -- thank god for freezer bags!)

-- While we were waiting for the event to start, they had this instrumental music on a constant loop. It got so sickening that we asked a staffer to do something about the music because by then we knew it by heart. They changed it to more uplifting, modern music that I found myself singing and dancing to (and got Christopher laughing and smiling). One of the songs was "We Are Family" -- because I was "dancing" with Christopher (I had my fingers in his fists and moving his arms around), I changed the lyrics to "We are family/I got all my babies and me!" I tried it again this morning at home after I fed him, and he was still laughing and smiling when I did it with him.

-- I forgot to mention that security didn't thoroughly check my diaper bag when I entered. I had put my water bottles and tangerines on top just so they could see them and do with them what they wanted. They kept them in the bag. Other than a tangerine coming out of the bag when I grabbed his burp cloth, they stayed in the bag for the most part. The water from the bottle I was sneaking everytime the secret service lady turned her back. I didn't have any money to go get water from the pizza parlor that was still open for the day -- they probably made a killing, along with all the people selling McCain/Palin merchandise.

On The Barnyard

Got this from my uncle. After the question that the plumber posed to Barack Obama recently, I decided that this was rather apprapoe.

Once upon a time on a farm, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat.. She called all of her Democrat neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"

"Not I," said the Democrat cow.
"Not I," said the Democrat duck.
"Not I," said the Democrat pig.
"Not I," said the Democrat goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain.

"Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen.
"Not I," said the Democrat duck.
"Out of my classification," said the Democrat pig.
"I'd lose my seniority," said the Democrat cow.
"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the Democrat goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did.
At last it came time to bake the bread.

"Who will help me bake the bread?" asked the little red hen.

"That would be overtime for me," said the Democrat cow.
"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the Democrat duck.
"I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the Democrat pig.
"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the Democrat goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen.
She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see.
They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said,
"No, I shall eat all five loaves."

"Excess profits!" cried the Democrat cow. (Nancy Pelosi)
"Capitalist leech!" screamed the Democrat duck. (Barbara Boxer)
"I demand equal rights!" yelled the Democrat goose. (Jesse Jackson)
The Democrat pig just grunted in disdain. (Ted Kennedy)

And they all painted "Unfair!" picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities. Then a government agent came. He said to the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy." "But I earned the bread," said the little red hen. "Exactly," said the agent. "That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle."

And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, for now I truly understand." But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the "party" and got her bread free. And all the Democrats smiled. "Fairness" had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared...so long as there was free bread that "the rich" were paying for.

IS THIS A GREAT BARNYARD OR WHAT

The Palin Rally

I left the house around 8 a.m. to make the rally. I knew that I was going to have to get there early in order to get a good spot. Of couse, like I said, Christopher came with me. And this is what I put him in.


I thought it was cute. And since he is my son, it automatically is. :D

Anyway, we got there around 8:30 AM and waited in line. Several people who were around me commented on the onesie, because they all agreed with me that he looked cute in it.

While I was in line, I ran into Skip from Granite Grok, and we talked a little bit about bloging in general and the local news scene. At that point they weren't even letting press in yet, so it gave us a chance to talk a little bit. I got some ACORN jokes my way with those who had seen Christopher with me.

Before we could go in, security went over the rules of what we could bring in with us -- no bottles, no hard fruits such as oranges and apples. I asked him quick about baby bottles, and he said those were okay. Which was a relief since I knew that he was going to want a bottle at some point when we were inside.

Once I got in, I got right up front. I ran into a couple of people I knew from my reporting days from when I used to cover their area. It had been awhile, so they didn't know that I was no longer working for the paper or that I had Christopher.

It was a long wait -- on the ticket, it said that the event was going to start at 1 PM. Well, it ended up being more like 2:15 PM when they actually started because she was delayed in Dover (the location of the first rally). By the time she arrived, my back was killing me, I had fed (or tried to feed) Christopher at least two or three more times, and my feet were achy.

But it was worth it.
The crowd was pumped throughout her speech. They were shouting, cheering, and excited to see her. It was like a rock star had shown up to perform at the Weirs.

She hit the points of her commitment to special needs children, the economy, energy, and voter fraud. It was exciting to listen to her in person, and the crowd was pumped to hear her. If this crowd was any indication, if McCain doesn't win, Palin should definitely run for office.

After her speech, my goal initially was to ask her to hold Christopher and have her picture taken with him. Seeing how things were going to work, I had a feeling that it wasn't going to happen that way. So, I had another tactic -- I was going to ask her to sign his onesie.

She took one look at Christopher, and her face just melted.

"Awww, he is the cutest baby!" she said to me. "How old?"

"Two months," I said.

"And what's his name?"

"Christopher."

I asked a staffer to take a picture while she signed it.
I couldn't believe that I got her to sign his onesie!

I had to stay where I was for awhile because I knew that with the number of people pushing to the front to get her to sign I was having some difficulty in getting out. It was a good thing that I had his travel system with me or he might have gotten crushed by the crowd, as well (Secret Service were also telling people to step back because of Christopher). When I was finally able to get through, I headed for the press area so I could show Skip that I got his onesie signed.

While I was there, I also talked with Doug from Granite Grok, as well. We also talked blogs, then he pointed out someone to me that was standing near us.

"Do you know who Mark Steyn is?" he asked.

I did.

"He's standing right over there," he said.

I was impressed. Writers I tend to get impressed with.

On my way back to the car, I found myself walking with Steyn and a few other people. As we approached the drive-in, we talked about the baby, writing and blogging, film, and a few other things. Really nice guy. It wasn't until I looked at his Wikipedia page that he actually lived in New Hampshire.

So I got home later than I thought I would -- my husband was home before I was. He thought it was funny when I told him about my new souvenir.

The onesie is going to get framed. Along with the above picture. It's definitely one for the baby book.

Original Content Alert!

I just got word in my e-mail that Gov. Sarah Palin is going to be in New Hampshire on Wednesday for three rallies. One of those rallies -- Laconia -- is fairly close to me, so I RSVPed and printed up the ticket for the event.

After the rally, I will be posting my thoughts on what happened, and any pictures that I was able to get. I'm going to try to get there early so I can get a good seat, and since I plan on bringing Christopher with me I plan on trying to get a picture of her holding the baby, if I can.

Recession Causing Baby Boom?

In England, the sale of maternity clothes and baby items has gone up because more people are staying in and making their own entertainment.

Sales of maternity clothes and baby gear have shot up with lovers getting busy between the sheets.

And experts say it is all because of the global financial meltdown. Brits have taken to spicing things up at home in a bid to save money.

Instead of heading to the pub or out for a meal, many of us are having steamy nights in – causing a surge in pregnancies.

Chemists across the country have reported a rise in sales of pregnancy testing kits, while Mothercare says sales have gone up by more than 20%.

And baby chain Mamas And Papas has reported a hefty 46% increase in sales of maternity dresses.

Miranda Levy, editor of Mother & Baby Magazine, said: “What’s cheaper and more fun than making babies?

“The trouble is, when they come out they are really expensive.”

These days, anything involving babies gets my attention.

Christopher was planned, so that's not the case for us. And any "baby boom" story I tend to take with a grain of salt, although there seems to be one among my family -- I had one cousin who was pregnant around the same time I was and had her son a week after me, and a cousin and a cousin's wife who are due to have their babies in November. And only one of us was expecting a girl - all the other babies are/will be boys.

This Week's Roger Ebert Reviews 10/10

This week's reviews are mostly smaller films.

Rachel Getting Married -- 4 stars
Body of Lies -- 3 stars
The Express -- 3 stars
A Thousand Years of Good Prayers -- 3 1/2 stars
City of Ember -- 2 1/2 stars
Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer -- 3 1/2 stars

Also coming out this week: "Quarantine," "RocknRolla" in limited release, "Happy Go Lucky" in limited release, and "Nights and Weekends" in New York City only.

"An American Carol" -- Fraud at the Box Office?

Ten theaters are being investigated for selling people the wrong tickets purposefully in order to take money away from the box office of "An American Carol" this weekend.

The folks at the movie's website are asking people to check their tickets to make sure that they were, in fact, sold a ticket to "An American Carol" instead of another film. If you find that you were sold a ticket to a movie other than "An American Carol," report it here.

They also want people to report any other irregularities, such as an R rating being reported on the film (it's rated PG-13), no posters being up, not showing on the marquee, bad sound or picture quality, etc. I don't recall there being posters up at the theater where I saw it, but it was advertised everywhere else.

Okie Campaigns reported the "R" rating irregularity on his website when his group went to see it this weekend. Little Miss Atilla is also reporting that she had to check her local theater because it was playing four movies, but only listed three in their message.

Check your tickets. Document everything you can. And remember to go see the movie!

The SNL Skit Everyone's Talking About

No, it is not the Vice-Presidential debate skit with Tina Fey playing Palin yet again. Although that one is worth mentioning in that it is getting obvious watching her how much Fey hates her.

The one I am talking about is a skit that got pulled from NBC's site as well as Hulu yesterday that focused on the bail-out.

On Sunday, the blogs were going crazy over this particular sketch, which put the blame on the mess on both parties as well as deadbeat buyers and greedy house flippers. It also made fun of billionaire George Soros as well as the Sandlers, who sold their portfolio of what would become bad deals to Wachovia before it went bust.

But mysteriously, the skit is now no longer available on the NBC website or through Hulu.

So why did it disappear? No one knows. There is a copy available on YouTube, but who knows how long that will be up there.

For a site that is probably going to be a little more permanent if you want to check out the sketch itself, Pat Dollard has it up for viewing.

Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters thinks that there isn't really much to it, with Terry Ann Rendon thinking it has nothing to do with politics.

According to reports, though, the Sandlers were not too thrilled with the skit. Is that why it was pulled? I wonder how many people watching the skit realized that they were a real couple? And I thought SNL was braver than that.

Update: The skit is now back online, but edited. The edits, I think, were made to cover their collective butts -- the chyron where it had the Sandlers names with the subheading "People who should be shot" was removed, along with the line where Sandler turns to "Barney Frank" and thanks the government for allowing him to get away with their "fraud."

Which Media Outlet Has Been Kinder to Obama?

The Media Research Center -- the people who gave us Newsbusters -- are running a Sweet 16 bracket tournament with journalists and news agencies as the participants.

Dubbed the "Sweet on Obama 16," you can vote for which reporter or agency has been the most biased for Obama. It's pretty fun to make the determination on who you think has been the most biased. Especially since it is such a tough choice.

Go ahead and vote.

"Obama and Friends" -- A Hannity's America Special

This is video of all six parts of a Hannity's America special on Obama's connections and poor choice of friends. Normally, I would just put up one of the videos and link to the rest, but I think this is a little too important to do that this time around.

Obviously I knew about some of the connections -- William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright, for example -- but even I was shocked as to his associations with people who would want to kill us.

"An American Carol" -- A Review

The only disappointment is that director David Zucker didn't take it further in the humor. But other than that, I wasn't disappointed.

This is Zucker's attempt to show that conservative movies can do well in Hollywood. I hope it does.

As we all know, it's a version of "A Christmas Carol," where in this case the holiday is the Fourth of July that is threatened. Filmmaker Michael Malone (Kevin Farley) wants to get rid of the Fourth of July holiday, and he is visited by the spirit of John F. Kennedy, who tells him that three more spirits will be coming to visit him to show him the error of his ways.

This is a brave film for Zucker to make. Not only does he make of the liberal elite in this country, but he also dares to make fun of terrorists and call them what they are. A lot of the jokes are squarely aimed at liberals, from making fun of academia to protesters to Hollywood itself.

One of the moments in the movie, however, is not played for laughs. Malone is greeted by the spirit of George Washington (Jon Voight), who brings him to Ground Zero soon after the Twin Towers was destroyed. It's a sobering moment in a comedy, but is probably a representation of Zuckers own conversion from liberalism to conservatism.

Overall, a good movie. Whether it will attract a large enough audience remains to be seen, but I hope it does. We need more movies like this.

This Week's Roger Ebert Reviews -- 10/3

I skipped last week's list unintentionally. I won't make that mistake this week. So here are this week's reviews.

Flash of Genius -- 3 stars
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist -- 2 stars
Religulous -- 3 1/2 stars
Appaloosa -- 3 stars
How To Lose Friends and Alienate People -- 3 1/2 stars
Blindness -- 1 1/2 stars

Also being released this week: "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," "The Express," "Rachel Getting Married" in limited release, "An American Carol," and "Ballast" in limited release.

I will be putting up my own review of "An American Carol" sometime this weekend. I plan on seeing it this afternoon.