Go Get'em Vice-President Cheney!

Yesterday (Thursday) the former Vice-President and President Obama had dueling speeches about national security. Here is the text of Cheney's speech. Everyone interested in the security of our country should take the time to read it. Cheney's arguments have been so compelling that his approval rating increased by 8 percentage points over last week. Obama, on the other hand, was defensive and presented a nuanced narrative instead of the clear definitive arguments of Cheney. You can read the text of Obama's speech here. Calling waterboarding torture is disingenous since it is not a crime. Cheney presented clearly that the Bush administration's policies kept the country safe for 7 years. The waterboarding of 3, yes 3, was so successful that the administration was able to learn about plots for more attacks and stop them. We'll probably never know the extent of those successes since the Obama administration has refused to release those documents. But they certainly didn't have any problem releasing secret memos about the enhanced interrogation techniques used to get vital information about future attacks. It is like Obama put out the welcome mat to terrorists. If they know everything that we do, what do they have to fear from carrying out more attacks on our land? The President called Gitmo a recruiting tool for terrorists, but how were they recruited before executing attacks on our land and property on foreign land? Are we more or less safe now? We'll see.

American Idol

We have a new American Idol. Kris Allen won a shocking victory Wednesday night. Kris was as shocked as anyone since the night before the judges had all but proclaimed Adam Lambert the victor. The two of them had vastly different styles. Lambert is probably the best all-round contestant Idol has ever had and he will have a huge career. Probably a bigger career than Allen. If you happen to watch the finale Wednesday, Lambert's number with Kiss was fantastic. And he simply out-sang Kris when they sang with Queen. In fact Lambert reminded me of Freddy Mercury all season when he sang rock songs.

I, however, was happy that Kris Allen won. I usually root for the underdog and I liked that Kris was not as theatrical as Lambert. I liked his quiet laid back style. And as Paula told him he always stayed true to himself, but one could say that about Lambert as well. Why did Allen win? I believe he won all the Danny Gokey votes. Perhaps Adam's fans thought it was in the bag so they didn't vote. We'll never know for sure.

Allen and Lambert presented themselves as good friends - they had been roommates from the beginning - and humble. Kris was so surprised in fact that he said Adam should have won and I think he was right. I think Allen will have a great contemporary Christian music career, but Lambert will be a rock star.

One downside to Kris's victory is while 3 of the judges gave Kris a standing ovation, which he certainly deserved for winning, Simon Cowell sat. He was snarky and appeared a bit resentful that the people had chosen Allen. It was a disappointing moment.

Congratulations to Kris. Best wishes to Adam.

Saddling Debt On Our Children

During the Bush administration when Republicans forgot who they were & spent like a drunken sailor - I mean a drunken Pelosi. They were roundly criticized over & over by Democrats for saddling the next generation with the debt.

Well, hello, Obama! A $2 trillion budget with promises to add more & more. Now Democrats deny that the national debt will saddle our children & grandchildren with massive debt. Obama & the Democrats have promised so much to so many that by 2012 we will have a debt of at least $10 trillion when interest on the debt is factored in. So how can Obama say that he'll have cut the deficit in half by 2012? He can say it all he wants, but it will never happen. UNLESS Republicans are able to elect a majority in the House and/or the Senate in 2010. It will take a Republican majority to stop Obama's reckless spending. Obama's spending in the first 100 days in office has been more than every president from George Washington to George W. Bush put together. Quite impressive.

He projects that universal health care will cost $700 billion. Let me remind you that when LBJ & the Democrats passed Medicare in 1965 the cost was estimated to be $500 MILLION total. And now we know Medicare will go bankrupt in 2016-2017. Universal health care will end up costing trillions that we don't have.

China has been loaning the US money for years and now even they are pulling back. The Federal Reserve could just keep printing money, but that will send inflation sky high as we've seen in the past; most recently when Jimmy Carter was president.

Republicans in elected office are the only ones who can stop this irresponsible growth of government spending. It has never made a country more prosperous, just poorer.

RUSH RESIGNS!

Today on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh announced that he was resigning...as the titular head of the Republican party! "It was an office I did not seek, I did not desire and it was thrust upon me by the mainstream media." He handed over the reins to Colin Powell who of late has been giving his unasked advice to the party and anyone else who will listen. He says the party needs to move more to the center, but what he means is that it needs to move more to the left.

I will miss Rush as titular head of the party, but I'm sure Colin Powell will do a much better job in telling us what we need to do.

(This was a hilarious bit and it has already been reported on MSNBC or as Rush calls it PMSNBC.)