ValKyrie

Possessing a passion for history, I don’t remember when I first became aware of Claus Philipp Maria Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg. I remember him for who he was for what he attempted to accomplish. A German officer during World War II, he was central in German resistance to Nazi rule. He was also Catholic. I write this one day after release of the movie Val Kyrie, Hollywood’s version of events.

Although I haven’t’ seen the movie yet, it appears propagandists still exist. Take Roger Friedman’s review for example. It seems , as if on cue, Friedman has reacted to the movie from a parochial viewpoint. He believes the movie “opens the door to a dangerous new thought: that the Holocaust and all the other atrocities could be of secondary important to the cause of German patriotism.” He is concerned that the movie’s’ characters, “heroes” he calls them, tongue-in-cheek, were aware of what was going around them. Curious reaction from Friedman given the topic of the movie.

Also forgotten in the movie is another central theme of the war, Germany’s attempt to crush the Communist Party government of Moscow’s Joseph Stalin. Like Germany’s Nazi Party, communists killed millions of their own citizens to further their end cause.

Freidman is upset because not once in “Val Kyrie” do any of the movie” “heroes” mention what’s happening around them, “that any of them is appalled by or against what they know is happening or has happened: Hitler has systemically killed millions in the most barbaric ways possible to imagine.”

Val Kyrie is an attempt to bring Von Stauffenberg and his co-conspirators into the light of history. We all know of Nazi atrocities to Jews. However, among those of the Holocaust were others, such as Catholics like Von Stauffenberg. What occurred in Nazi Germany was not solely put upon Jewish people.

If anything, this movie does not appear to be an attempt to de-Nazify Germany. Rather, it is an attempt to cast Germany into proper historic light. Germans have had enough guilt imposed on them. Many theorize World War II would not have occurred if Germany had not suffered the huge remuneration penalties that burdened them after World War I.

Most German soldiers, like German civilians, had been dragged into events they had no power over, the web the Nazi Party was casting. Val Kyrie is, through this writer’s eye, a long-overdue postscript to World War Two and those who sought to change things.


Sullivan, an avid military historian, is an internationally-published writer residing in northeastern Ohio.

BAILING OUT SYNCHRONICITY

Back in the 80s the trucking industry was deregulated. What occurred was the collapse of poorly-managed trucking companies that had been supported by collective rate making. Management and union at the time were in synchronicity with each other. Rate increases were routinely approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission so union wage demands could be met. Teamsters unions were smart. If a national strike was called they didn't strike ALL the trucking companies, they would just choose one of them. Kind of like the UAW.

The safety net of collective rate making went out the door with deregulation. Those companies who had been riding along were forced to close their doors. Thousands of union truck drivers and support personnel were forced onto the streets. No bailout then. Fast forward to 2008.

President Bush has bailed out our automotive industry. We can't close them down, of course. However, I accuse management and labor to be in synchronicity with each, just like pre-regulation trucking in the 80s.

U.S. car makers had it all. When quality was introduced, and the American people began to buy foreign-made cars, the American auto industry woke up. They made giant strides in putting out better cars but they lost one invisible item - MOMENTUM. Kind of like a football team that fumbles the ball on opening drives and allows the opposition to get one or two up on them. It becomes pretty hard to regain any pretense at composure. Unless you have referees who give you the ball back.

President Bush has given the U.S. auto industry the ball back. My prediction is the UAW and American automobile executive management will continue to fumble. The question will then be, who's going to kick the referees out to make sure the rest of us witness an honest game?

WHEN BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY RAN AMERICA

It is extremely popular for political writers and elected officials to demonize american business. If one believes Plain Dealer writer Dick Feagler, "Business Leaders Show Ignorance." He, too, demonizes American business. The fault is not entirely theirs however.

If one has followed the path of the fines to our businesses, e.g., EPA and SEC to name a few, the figures number into the hundreds and hundreds of millions. It is as if government entities have the luxury of time to explore us under a microsope. Eureka! We have found an area where we can extract money from them.

Yes, as I said, business leaders have only themselves to blame. But government, through its voracious appetite for extracted money, has forced industry to locate outside of our borders. We are not a place to invest capital. That only leaves a void for government to look for money within the borders. And that ain't much honey.

How does one create an atmosphere for investment? One can begin by looking at the Republic of Ireland where the tax rate for industry is low. Ireland donates money abroad without having to borrow. Contrast this with the tax rate in the British political entity called Northern Ireland and it becomes clear. And we must begin to pay down our national debt.

The incoming Obama administration has only one option. Oh yes, there are others, but they won't have the courage to create an environment for investors, both local and international. The place they want to take us is called socialism.

Profit is now a bad word in America, aided and abetted by government and media. Add the guilty in corporate America to the mix and we're ripe for "change". No, the option they exercise will be to print more money, exactly the same thing that has gotten us to this point. And, at some point, the American dollar will fall. I mean, utterly fail. No socialist government will accept the American dollar. For socialism to "work", every nation's government must be socialistic. Until they are, moral capitalism will be the only entity that creates wealth.

If we don't want wealth, what do we want?

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S GONNA DO BUT HE'S GONNA DO SOMETHING"

Those words were spoken by a black man on WHK Radio news, 1420am, Cleveland, Ohio, on the morning following Obama's election. And, in those words one finds the reason many voted for Obama.

The quest for the White House by the Democratic National Committee was crafted to look as either-or. In other words, blacks voted for another black. Many "white" Americans voted for Obama to show that they are not prejudiced.

I don't know about others, but this has never been my case. I will vote for who I believe to be the right man or woman....I just haven't seen that person emerge yet.

In all this, I believe liberal Americans voted for Obama for the wrong reasons and some, witness the radio interview referenced above, only voted for him because he's black. We'll now give it four years to see what damage is done.

Redistribution of Income or Payment for past injustices

We have learned this week that Senator Obama, in a NPR Interview in recent years, said the Supreme Court did not go far enough with Civil Rights. In an allegory he said the Court should have addressed paying for the meals at the lunch counter.

What Americans can expect from a Democratically-trolled House, Senate and White House will be the words - REPARATIONS. This is their justification for the evil of slavery.

Many other ethnic races and nations, particularly the Irish and the Poles, could rightly claim REPARATIONS from England and Germany/Russia respectively.

An Obama presidency scares the hell of me.

Muslims in America

by

JC Sullivan

I just read that 100 employees of JBS Swift & Co meat packers, Grand Island, Nebraska, were recently fired. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer on 09/22/08,
"The firings occurred after the Somali Muslims observed Ramadan prayers at sunset while still at work." What's wrong with this picture?

I have questions. What the hell are Somali Muslims doing in Nebraska? Shouldn't they be in Somalia? Why are Americans not working there? What policies of the US Government have permitted this to occur? Folks, it's outta control.

Answers, please.

The Confession of One Who Discriminates

Ah yes, I do it everyday. In my choice of music, television shows, coffee, wine, food and, yes, even in whom I vote for.

If I don't like your politics, I discriminate by voting against you.
If I don't like you personally, for whatever reason, I vote against you.
If I don't like you personally, I do not choose to have you as a friend.
If I don't like you because you're a man, I vote against you.
If I don't like you because you're a woman, I vote against you.
If I don't like you because you're Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, Agnostic, Australian, black, or whatever, rightly or wrongly, IT'S MY RIGHT!

So, is there something wrong with discriminating?

VERB: Inflected forms: dis·crim·i·nat·ed, dis·crim·i·nat·ing, dis·crim·i·nates

INTRANSITIVE VERB: 1a. To make a clear distinction; distinguish: discriminate among the options available. b. To make sensible decisions; judge wisely. 2. To make distinctions on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit; show preference or prejudice: was accused of discriminating against women; discriminated in favor of his cronies.
TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To perceive the distinguishing features of; recognize as distinct: discriminate right from wrong. 2. To distinguish by noting differences; differentiate: unable to discriminate colors. 3. To make or constitute a distinction in or between: methods that discriminate science from pseudoscience.
ETYMOLOGY: Latin discrminre, discrmint-, from discrmen, discrmin-, distinction. See krei- in Appendix I.

AL QUEADA - DON'T THEY HAVE FAMILIES TOO?

Any civilian death in a war zone is unfortunate. American and international media, however, seem to forget that when we target enemy combatants they might just have their families with them.

Enemy combatants should realize that if they are picking up arms against us they shouldn't expect to be able to safely hide amongst their family and friends. Let's see now.....did they distinguish between women and children when the knocked down the twin towers?

The Domino Theory

Youngsters today don't know what dominos are. Those of us old enough to remember them know that when you stood them up in a line and then knocked one down, the rest were then knocked down.

In the Americas we saw Nicaragua go the route of communism. Now, a man with a pocketful of oil money, is in power in Venezuela. He has invited the Russians to establish a presence there.

Regardless of what is said of the "Cold War", it has never really ended. They have only repositioned themselves while they tried to figure out what happened to the old Soviet Union. The fact is, they're forming a new one - in the Americas.

If we apply the domino theory we can expect the nations of Brazil, Columbia and, yes, Mexico, to become Soviet satellites. What does that translate to?

If anyone remembers allied involvement in Korea and Vietnam they will know that the Russians supplied arms to dissatisfied people to overtake government. Those arms killed, and continue to kill, America's best.

We have been too quick to jump into the fray while neglecting our own yard. Our allies have not stood up to help with money and other measures of support. Oh yes, they've been only too glad to take it. What happens when we don't have it anymore to give to them? We're fast arriving at that gate.

Chasing wealth out of America - the problem of government.

Writing in The American Spectator, Pete Ferrara has detailed the Left's tax plan under Barack Obama. The following website is an eye-opener.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13769

What most Americans don't care to know is these policies only serve to chase capital (uh, like money) out of investment in America and off to other shores. It's popular to blame the Bush Administration. Or China. Or who ever else. How about we blame ourselves?

During World War II we were the richest nation on the face of the earth. Why? Because investors world wide trusted us. We were stable and strong. Their money was safe from invaders and from their mistrusted, unstable governments or the governments of neighboring nations who had a history of invasion. They knew government was the problem, not the solution. That truism still exists.

American media has become infiltrated by those who support the views of the Left. Not good for free enterprise and nations who support the concept of freedom.

China has deported eight Americans who were detained in Beijing last week after a wave of pro-Tibet protests coinciding with the Olympics

by

JC Sullivan


China, the communist nation, has not allowed a small number of protesters to disrupt the Olympics and grab the world's television headlines. Good for China! Never mind what they're attempting to protest. The point is the Chinese are controlling western media attempts to portray to the world the lack of some individual rights. Just like they attempt to control the import of pornography via the Internet. Let's compare this to the Democratic National Convention opening this week in Denver.

We're already seeing them gather with their costumes and choreographed actions. Network cameras are right there, broadcasting to the world how bad it is here in the U.S. I've always wondered who pays these folks for their antics.

It's too bad we aren't more like the Chinese in this case.

An Argument for Admission to NATO

by

JC Sullivan

The Russian Bear has awakened from its hibernation. Declaring a defense of Russia, they have begun a war that threatens to expand and involve the United States, a terribly risky venture. Russian apologists would have us believe that Russia is fearful of being "surrounded" by nations that look to the West, rather than to the East. They have good reason to believe it. Those of Eastern European heritage know what "Katyn" and "Ukraine starvation" and "Gulag" mean. Moreover, they know it can happen again.

In 1940, in the Katyn forest, Russian communists executed an estimated 22,000 Polish military officers, police officers and civilians taken prisoner in the 1939 invasion of Poland by both the Third Reich and Russia. Included in this figure is the execution of prisoners of war at Starobelsk, Ostashkov and in Kalinin (Tver) and Kharkiv, Moscow.

At that time, Poland’s “draft” required university graduates to become reserve officers. Russian communists included them in their round up of Jews, Ukrainians, Georgians and Belarusians of Polish citizenship. In Smolensk was the headquarters of the NKVD (Narodny Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del. Here the Soviet secret police murdered “political prisoners” from West Belarus and West Ukraine.

The Russians also operated forced labor camps for those they did not murder outright. The late Russian exiled author Alexander Solzhenitsyn liked them to a chain of islands, the “Gulag Archipelago.” An estimated 29 million people passed through them between 1929 and 1953. They were imprisoned for being absent from work, petty theft or by telling a joke about the government, just like American late show hosts David Letterman or Jay Leno say today. Those sent to the Gulag were mostly there without any trial.

From Prague, Askold Krushelnycky wrote about the Communist-generated “…famine deliberately engineered by the regime…claimed millions of lives, mostly in Ukraine but also in some other parts of the Soviet Union. Today it is considered one of the worst atrocities of the Communist regime and a terrifying act of genocide. Even so, the famine of 1933 is relatively unknown." Krushelyncky writes "Estimates of how many people died in Stalin's engineered famine of 1933 vary. But they are staggering in their scale -- between seven and 11 million people."

Given this history, one is only left to conclude that former Soviet "Republics" have more to fear from the Russian Bear than the Russians have to fear from them. Does anyone not understand why Ukraine and Poland wish to join the NATO family?


Sullivan is an internationally-published writer and US Army veteran who served in Europe with NATO forces. He resides in northeastern Ohio. His website can be found at http://www.geocities.com/osuileabhain2000/Index.htm

ELECTION 2008

It began when John Kennedy was murdered. Up to that time, America was in a positive mode. Since that time, however, American media has fed us with European-style communist propaganda. You know what I mean. On the other hand, depending on your age, maybe you do not.

If you are too young to know, look at old film or newspapers of France. Labor unions led the way, carrying caricatures of their leadership, ridiculing them. It has been exported to America.

Democratic Party leadership, i.e. its Central Committee, with its roots in our working class, has been taken over by leftists. The agenda is straight out of post-WWII Europe.

With the possibility of an American leftist becoming the next American President, it will be business as usual. We will continue to hear how bad America is. The domino-theory will continue to operate with friends being overtaken by kooks. Our American media will ignore it (how about Lebanon, Iran or Venezuela and Nicaragua).

The change has been slow and insidious, culminating with leftist judges changing law in spite of the will of Americans. A court just ruled our military "don't ask, don't tell" policy to be unconstitutional. The door was opened a crack and it's now been kicked open. Those discharged for being homosexual, excuse me, "gay", can now sue the military? Need another recent example?

A federal court just ruled that gay marriages are legitimate. With more leftist judges being appointed by an American leftist President, who knows what other door will be opened a crack, only to be kicked open when we least expect.

Just this week I heard an African-American elected official in Washington attempting to intimidate American oil executives. She could not spit out the words she wanted to, a sad spectacle. She ended up by blurting out "Nationalization", referring to the American oil industry. That's what Venezuela has done,under their leftist leader Chavez.

It is unfortunate that many do not know how it was up until November 1963. They are only going to learn about it through their own initiative.

Fathers Day

http://www.mayoalive.com/Mag0696/SulEye04.htm

I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR IT

Cleveland's left wing newspaper, the Plain Dealer, has finally said it - "Democrats fear black backlash if Obama's denied the nomination." Doesn't that have a totally negative connotation - as if he DESERVES the nomination? And what are African-Americans going to do - pull out their gun stash and attack white voters who backed Clinton or McClain?

The problem with the vast majority of American Democratic black voters, as I see it, is their narrow focus. They don't see things in black and white - they see them in black only. And vote black.

Folks, we don't live in a democracy. This is a REPUBLIC - representative government. Popular vote doesn't win elections. And black America forgets there's others who vote. And, judging from the Plain Dealer, we better vote the way black Democrats want us to vote or else.

Senator Obama initially defended his former pastor. When his campaign finally realized that middle America didn't take too kindly to the inflammatory remarks, Obama finally changed his tune. That's what chameleons do. And maybe it's why some of us don't trust him to be President.


Sullivan is an internationally published Irish-America writer residing in northeast Ohio. His website can be visited at http://jcsullivan.net/

ELECTING A LEFTIST AMERICAN PRESIDENT

The consequences of America's continual drift left will peak with the election of a socialist president. The federal courts, already tilted left, will then crash left with the appointment of their favorites. A federal judge in Ohio, for example, has already gerrymandered the political boundaries of a Cleveland suburb so that a minority can sit on the town council. The boundaries had been set up since 'day one' but it was ordered. The city affected could hardly afford to fight big brother in this case.

We have been reading about the loss of jobs in America. We can truly blame both the democrats and republicans for it. They've been asleep at the switch. But its not simply about jobs - its about capital, or the lack thereof. It is fleeing the coop. It has no flag, it goes where it gets. With a leftist President, its gonna get worse.

Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer targeted those American industries he could sue for umpteen millions. Other states followed suit, literally. Cleveland's Sherwin Williams, for example, is being attacked for manufacturing lead-based paint. A kid left unsupervised on a porch ate the paint chips that were coming off it. While the story is indeed a tragedy, apparently its the fault of Sherwin Williams. These stories and countless others are forcing investors to find other areas in which to invest.....and apparently many of them are not within the boundaries of the United States.

Since Ohio Governor Strickland took office, overtime for has topped over $1,000,000. In one year the state payroll rose 116 million dollars. What's the state's payroll? Only 3.6 billion, an increase of 16%.

This trend will only increase with the election of a leftist President. More "jobs" will flee as federal and state tax and spend policies continue to dominate. Federal and state judges from the left will incerase. We can expect other federal mandates and state expenditures to creep into our lives and change the landscape of a free enterprise system. It's soviet style folks, and it used to be called communism.

AT THE CROSSROAD OF SACRIFICE

Prior to WWII, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin traveled to Germany in the hopes of avoiding war. He returned to England proclaiming "Peace in our Time." Not long afterward they were drawn into war.

Adolph Hitler led the German people into WWII with catastrophic results, despite Chamberlin's erroneous read of the situation.

George S. Patton, American Army WWII General in Europe, prayed for spiritual and corporal guidance each day. He sacrificed the few to save the many.

As we move forward in time, I look at the young children across the street playing on their lawn. I see my grandchildren and do not want to see them in harm's way. What decisions are we to make that will insure the peace?

WWII restored peace. However, it is known that had England, France, Poland and others stood up to Hitler early on, there would still have been sacrifice but it would, in all probability, been far less than what the eventual casualties of WWII were.

The crossroads we face now is one we could call unity. While I am fearful of giving power to Muslim radicals I am also fearful of nuclear explosions in this world we inhabit. Do we continue to act now and hope our sacrifices are relatively small, or do we withdraw and hope for "peace in our time"?

American Failure

There has been much bashing of the American president by both the Left and the Right in this great nation. Some blame the Democrats, others blame the Republican Party. As I see it, the problem is a reflection of all of us.

Congress appears to be reading newspapers instead of reading the American people.

Linked to this is the American people's inattention to what their elected leaders have been doing, or rather not been doing.

In other worlds, we're all to blame.

"A Man Without A Country" - Philip Nolan and Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's "Spiritual Adviser"

Readers may well remember the movie of the same name about a fictional U.S. Naval Officer who cursed “Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!” Thus was the Philip Nolan court-martialed. (http://www.bartleby.com/310/6/1.html)

Senator Barack Obama's so-called spiritual adviser said the same thing last week. Only he invoked the name of God. We all saw the video on television. Mr., I'll not call him Reverend, Wright was obviously reading the lines. They must've been written by Moscow. I'm calling for Mr. Wright to become a non-fictional Man Without A Country.

Question - shouldn't that particular church have its tax status revoked because of using the pulpit for politics?

“WASHINGTON (with a date which must have been late in 1807).
“SIR—You will receive from Lieutenant Neale the person of Philip Nolan, late a lieutenant in the United States Army.
“This person on his trial by court-martial expressed, with an oath, the wish that he might ‘never hear of the United States again.’
“The Court sentenced him to have his wish fulfilled.
“For the present, the execution of the order is intrusted by the President to this Department.
“You will take the prisoner on board your ship, and keep him there with such precautions as shall prevent his escape.
“You will provide him with such quarters, rations, and clothing as would be proper for an officer of his late rank, if he were a passenger on your vessel on the business of his Government.
“The gentlemen on board will make any arrangements agreeable to themselves regarding his society. He is to be exposed to no indignity of any kind, nor is he ever unnecessarily to be reminded that he is a prisoner.
“But under no circumstances is he ever to hear of his country or to see any information regarding it; and you will especially caution all the officers under your command to take care, that, in the various indulgences which may be granted, this rule, in which his punishment is involved, shall not be broken.
“It is the intention of the Government that he shall never again see the country which he has disowned. Before the end of your cruise you will receive orders which will give effect to this intention.
“Respectfully yours,
“W. SOUTHARD, for the “Secretary of the Navy.”

RACE AN ISSUE IN OHIO PRIMARY?

The Cleveland Plain Dealer today (Sunday, March 9th, 2008) reports that race played a major role in Barack Obama losing Ohio and Hilary Clinton winning. Are readers supposed to be surprised that racial politics played a role in the Ohio Primary? While the Plain Dealer writers spun it to be whites voting against a black candidate, the fact is that virtually ALL African-Americans voted for Senator Obama. Doesn't the pendulum swing both ways?

Hiram College Professor Jason Johnson, evidently an African-American, dismissed the Obama loss as hardcore white folks voting against a black man. White voters I know only voted against this particular black man. They're ready to support the right man or woman, regardless of religion, marital status or color. This far-left candidate just isn't the one.

University of Maryland Professor Ronald Walters, apparently another African-American, put Reagan Democrats in a group he calls "economically sensitive." And these guys are teaching young Americans?

Seems to me the narrow-minded bigots here aren't white guys.

Visit Sullivan's website at http://www.geocities.com/osuileabhain2000/Index.htm

What You Get With State Control of the Internet

According to Fox News on 03/04/08, "Several million users will not be able to follow political news or access Web sites operated by political parties during the largest Internet blackout in the nation's history, reported the Tribune.

Iranian officials offered differing public explanations for why the republic would restrict private access to the Internet, according to the Tribune.

"Shutting down the Internet service will depend on security plans and on the Ministry of Telecommunication," Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi told an Iranian daily quoted by the Tribune.

Another election official told the Iranian press that an Internet blackout would ensure that government online service would operate without interruptions despite recent upgrades to its lines."

Can we expect the same thing in the America of the future? When the door is opened a crack by the Left, it always follows that it is then kicked wide open.

My Fear of African-American in Political Office

We're seeing a phenomenon in American politics with the candidacy of Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama for the office of President. As individuals, I don't fear either. However, I've long thought that African-Americans (A-As)are black first and American second.

There's a joke about having Irish Alzhemers - one forgets everything except the grudge. The fact that Senator Barama does not wear the American flag in his lapel signals to me that me has a grudge - he's a member of an African-American nation and is not one of us.

Speaking of the Irish, we are proud of our Irish roots. However, I don't know any who are Irish first, American second. The majority of us came to America better equipped - we had a shirt on our back, our strong faith, and we spoke English. That's about it.

The ancestors of most Americans did not arrive on these shores as slaveholders or with gold in their pocketbook. Neither did they have the economic value that slaves had. Southeners will tell you that, in the case of the Irish, they were given the jobs that blacks wouldn't be given. Why? Slaves had value and Irish laborers did not. I've also read accounts about Civil War era slaves who were obviously better fed than the soldiers in both camps.

What could we expect from an A-A President? Let me leave that to your imagination. However, the American Left has rarely taken issues head-on. They can't win them with a direct approach. But, when they've been able to open the door to a political issue just a crack, it has then been kicked open. What would happen with an A-A President? The first thing that comes to my mind is the issue of reparations.

I'm not writing this because I'm anti-black - I'm pro-American. The big issue in the upcoming Presidential race should be about investment in America. Our national economic policies continue to force capital to flee our country as fast as water over Niagara Falls. What is now disappearing is the industrial backbone of this nation - the American working class. No, not unions, Democrats or Republicans - American jobs. And our bankrupt American government, which would have been called "Red" in the old days, is the cause.

If you believe the Democratic candidates for President, Republicans are the problem. I you believe Republicans, Democrats are the problem. Both say their style of Government is the answer. However, Americans who incorrectly perceive this are the problem - they elect people who would like us to believe that Government is the answer. It is not. Americans are the problem.

Quit treading on me.

American News Media - How to Speak With A Forked Tongue.

A man went berserk in Kirkwood, Missouri this month, killing several people. The dead included police officers and citizens who held political office. A picture in the news showed the killer to be African-American.

I suppose those killed were all white as there was no mention in any reports of their racial background. If they had been black, and the shooter white, American news media would have applied a different standard and certainly would have spun the story in a different fashion, e.g. it would be portrayed as a racial event. And we would see the City Hall protests. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson et al would be flown in to give the outcry of injustice a sense of legitimacy in the eyes of the press.

However, because the shooter was black, this story does not further the agenda of the American left.

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

I've always been puzzled by the fact that Ohioans can go to West Virginia, Michigan, Canada, New York and elsewhere to gamble, yet Ohio has successfully fought it.

I picked up the Plain Dealer this morning and saw the headline "CAN THIS NUMBERS GAME HELP FIX OHIO'S BUDGET?" State-run Keno, they profess, could raise $73 million smackeroos in a year. This is occurring five months after Ohio outlawed video gambling games in bars and taverns. They stuck it to veteran's clubs too. How can the State of Ohio have their cake and eat it too? Well, here's their fork-tongued, crafted answer.

Governor Strickland opposes casino gambling. State-run Keno is not a casino game, it's a lottery game. Well, thanks for pointing out the difference to me. I thought for a minute there you were trying to take over the gambling trade in Ohio.

This past December Governor Strickland launched another program called "Connect Ohio." According to lw.pennet.com, Strickland says it "will help expand broadband services across the state by working with local communities and providers to map gaps in access and facilitate local technology planning teams that will encourage adoption of broadband and other technologies."

Does anybody else think this is akin to the attempt by the state to, degree by small degree, eventually control the Internet in Ohio (read $$$), just like the attempt to have state-controlled gambling?

If the Gov. was smart he'd say it's all to benefit Education. That's worked in the past.

"It's time for....."

Senator Ted Kennedy has spoken his mind in support of his candidate. "It's time for Barack Obama" What gives? Is it "time for" Hilary Clinton because she's a woman? "Time for" Barack Obama because he's an African-American? Time for John McCain because he was in the Hanoi Hilton?
Sorry folks but I don't wear the cape of "time for" and the generalization that it assumes. It insults what's left of my intelligence. If I like a candidate's ideas, and that candidate has no legs, I'll vote for that candidate. If my candidate is female? Black? I'm listening to their ideas and how they would manage the issues I deem to be important to Americans. I'll cast my vote based on this, not because I'm supposed to feel one way or the other.
This crafted appeal to the feelings of the American voter is nothing more than a manipulation. And lots of folks continue to fall for it.

EARLY IN THE RACE

Americans have just witnessed the 2nd state to host a presidential primary with "winners" being John McCain and Hilary Clinton. What hoopla!

Iowa was touted as Senator Obama Barack's rise. Does Iowa even count?

In New Hampshire, less than 200,000 people turned out to vote. And the pollsters were surprised at the outcome. Way to go New Hampshire! Turned those folks on their pinheads.

It's interesting, however, to see that faith, religion and color don't seem to matter anymore. Nor do issues. The outcome of this election will be interesting. Women will vote for Clinton. African Americans will vote for Obama. Who will "white" men vote for?