I will be on the Allman & Smash in the Morning show this (Tuesday) morning at 8:30 AM Central.

This will be my 20th time to appear on the show.

…oh, and in case you forgot…

526 Days and counting…

The campaigns are getting harder to tell apart.

On healthcare

Hillary Clinton:

“We’re going to have universal health care when I’m president — there’s no doubt about that. We’re going to get it done.”

Hugo Chavez:

The Cuban-supported Barrio Adentro Mission (Mission Into the Neighborhood) —launched in April 2003 with 58 physicians—is one of several social welfare missions initiated by the Chávez government. It aims to bring healthcare, dental care and physical training to the most marginalized in Venezuela. Barrio Adentro is an attempt by the government to use the nation’s oil wealth to fund the provision of universal healthcare, which is guaranteed in the consitution.

On the oil industry

Hillary Clinton:

“I wanna take those profits and I wanna put them into a strategic energy fund that will begin to fund alternative smart energy, alternative and technologies that will begin to actually move us toward the direction of independence.”

Hugo Chavez:

Chávez has pledged sembrar el petróleo–to sow the oil. That is, to invest its profits in a way that transforms the very structure of Venezuela’s economy.

On taxes

Hillary Clinton:

“Many of you are well enough off that … the tax cuts may have helped you. We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.”

Hugo Chavez:

President Hugo Chavez announced plans to slap taxes on luxury property including second homes, expensive cars and art collections on Sunday, targeting the rich to help fund his drive to remake Venezuela as a socialist society.

I think they’re just re-using old templates by now. Here comes another strongly worded letter from the U.N.

The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted Saturday to impose additional sanctions against Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium _ a move intended to show Tehran that defiance will leave it increasingly isolated.

This should definitely do the trick.

Iran immediately rejected the sanctions and said it had no intention of suspending its enrichment program, prompting the United States to warn of even tougher penalties.

…or not.

Let me get this straight. The U.N. is warning a country that wants to be all alone in ruling the world that it’s actions will leave it isolated? Was this supposed to scare them or encourage them?

And these latest proposed sanctions ban Iran from exporting weapons, but doesn’t ban them from importing weapons.

That ought to finally do the trick.

Here’s the text of the House Surrender Bill that just passed.

It includes:

$140,000,000 to pay farmers for livestock and fruit destroyed in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

$120,000,000 to research “the consequences of Hurricane Katrina on the shrimp and menhaden fishing industries.”

$25,000,000 to “growers and first handlers, as defined by the Secretary, of fresh spinach that were unable to market spinach crops as a result of the Food and Drug Administration Public Health Advisory issued on September 14, 2006.

$74,000,000 for “the payment of storage, handling, and other associated costs for the 2007 crop of peanuts.”

$400,000,000 for domestic “wildland fire suppression activities.”

$200,000,000 for “low-income home energy assistance.”

…and a provision to raise the minimum wage to $7.25.

I get it now, the Democrats’ war plan is to create so much pork, the muslim terrorists will be forced to leave us alone. It’s the perfect plan!

UPDATE:
Rep. Mike Spence sums it up well: “Spinach, shrimp, peanuts and shellfish? That’s not a war funding bill, that’s the salad bar at Denny’s.” (hat tip: Michelle)

UPDATE 2:
Bush responds… I’m glad to see the President Bush I voted for finally showing back up…

I don’t really care about the actual story, I just thought it was ironic that someone from Ireland was named “Falmouth“. The only other more appropriate name for an Irishman would’ve been “McDrunkenly”…

March 13, 2007 marked the four year anniversary of this blog. It all began with a message to the Dixie Chicks. In that spirit, and to show my appreciation to you, I am going to give away an iPod Shuffle… and no, no Dixie Chicks music will be pre-loaded.

Just leave a comment or trackback to this post and I’ll pick one at random to award the prize.

Just wanted to say, “Thank you.”

UPDATE:
Bumped to give all the lurkers one more chance to get in before I select a winner. (And yes, Canadians are eligible)

UPDATE 2:
And the winner is… Commenter #24. It was a random drawing of numbers and in a show of bipartisan support, the winner is Forrest - one of our resident libruls. I will have some other contests in the near future so don’t worry. Forrest (and everyone else that visits regularly) - thank you for visiting my humble blog regularly. Without you, this would just be a place for some guy to rant uncontrollably to himself.

This is why I love Tony Snow as White House Press Secretary. He doesn’t mince words, he doesn’t look like he’s trying to think too hard about saying just the right nuanced phrasing… he lays it out and doesn’t take any crap from the biased MSMers.

Here’s the video.

Transcript:

SNOW: The perception is you’re trying to badger me into creating a fight between the White House and the, the legislative branch. And what we’re trying to do is something pretty extraordinary. The legislative branch has no oversight responsibility over the White House, and what we’re –

SMITH: Tony, here’s what it looks like is that these, these people who are, certainly serve at the, at the will of the president, or the pleasure of the president, have been kicked out for undue political influence. Even on the front page of your “Washington Post” today you have the lead prosecutor in the big tobacco case saying that the Alberto Gonzales Justice Department, quote/unquote, “political interference is happening at justice across the department. When decisions are made now at the Bush attorney general’s office, politics is the primary consideration. The rule of law goes out the window.”

SNOW: Harry, you’re sounding like a partisan rather than a reporter here. Let me — please permit me to try to explain what’s going on. Because if you take a look also,reporting in the “New York Times,” what they’ve said is a look at the documents indicates that there is no political interference. When people have looked at the available documentary evidence in the case of the US attorney, zippo. So I think what you need to do is to stop trying to make a break for political interference and maybe do what we’re asking members of Congress to do, which is figure out what the facts are.

We need more spokesmen like Tony Snow.

It appears John Edwards may be suspending his campaign due to the health concerns of his wife…

Democrat presidential hopeful John Edwards focused on the health of his wife, Elizabeth, and his political future on Thursday, his personal and professional life inexorably linked.

The couple planned a news conference in Chapel Hill, N.C., to discuss their plans Thursday—a day after visiting doctors who are monitoring Mrs. Edwards’ recovery from breast cancer.

It’s not a way I’d want to see any candidate, whether I agree or disagree with their policies, go out.

My thoughts and prayers are with the Edwards family.

UPDATE:
Edwards has announced that his wife’s cancer is back, but “The campaign goes on. The campaign goes on strongly.”

So why the press conference? Why not just mention to the press pool following you what’s going on? This almost gives the appearance that he’s using the news about his wife’s health to re-energize his slow-moving campaign. It smacks of a focus group-driven, calculated p.r. stunt. I truly hope I’m wrong.

UPDATE 2:
Looks like I was right.

Republican representative Tim Walberg is taking some heat for allegedly comparing Detroit to Iraq. Although his quote is being twisted to make it seem worse than it was, I’ve worked up in Detroit for the better part of 2 years and I can honestly say that’s exactly how I’ve described it to folks who’ve never been there.

First, here’s what Walberg said:

He said most of Iraq “is reasonably under control, at least as well as Detroit.”

He’s referring to the fact the corrupt Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has a show of force on the streets, but the city still ranks among the top cities for crime.

But when I refer to Detroit as a war zone, it’s not so much because of the crime, but rather the way downtown looks. Anyone familiar with Detroit knows that one trip on the People Mover and you’ll get off feeling like you’d just taken a tour around the Green Zone.

See if you can figure out which pictures below come from downtown Detroit or downtown Baghdad (answers at the bottom of the post):

Answer: They’re all from downtown Detroit.

Isn’t it amazing how the radical Left is made up of so many “unrelated and isolated” bad acts?