Many visitors to townhall.com are probably familiar with Mary Katharine Ham's blog.  If you have never visited, please do so here.  Scroll down a bit until you come to her Ham Nation video blog(but read everything else as well...lol).  She does these once a week and they are always great.  But, this weeks was an instant classic!  If I only had half the creativity. And, yet another example of why conservatives have the best women!! Mary, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham vs. Helen Thomas, Barbara Streisand, Rosie O'Donnell...nuff said) Check it out and enjoy!

Just to follow up on my previous post about Fred Thompson, a ton of credit to vodkapundit.com for showing a ready made campaign flyer for Fred.  You can view it here.  It comes from one of my favorite movies, The Hunt for Red October.  Yes, I know Alec "Im leaving the U.S. if Bush is re-elected" Baldwin is in the movie, but it doesn't change the fact that it is a really good movie.  I could tell you what the potential flyer says, but you really need to see it for yourself.  So click the link and get ready for a good chuckle!

As some of you may know, the idea that former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson may throw his hat into the ring for 2008, has many conservatives intrigued.  Hot air has a link to an interview he did with Laura Ingraham.  You can hear it here.  Take a listen and let me know what you think.  As I've stated before, I am not hitching my wagon to anybody, just because it is still so early.  But, I will admit that Fred has my ears perked up.  A couple of things I do like: when asked if he could be the next Reagan, he rightly states that there was only one Reagan.  In addition, he has a very straight-forward, plain speaking style, which is refreshing.  No catchy phrases or talking points stuff.  Could he be the one we've been looking for?  Listen and judge for yourself.  He's got me thinking, though...and that is a good thing.

I remember after last November's elections, it seemed like too many conservatives were in dispare.  But a funny thing has happened.  While we are no longer the majority in the House or Senate, we have found a Republican with a backbone, someone who will stand up to the libs.  His name is Mitch McConnell.  While the Democrats offer amendment after amendment, Senator McConnell has flat out been beating them.  When the Senate voted last Thursday on a binding resolution, that would include a timeline for withdrawal, not only did Senator McConnell keep them away from the 60 votes needed, but he flat out produced a victory!  Dispite being in the minority now, the resolution was defeated 50-48.  Rush Limbaugh has been calling Senator McConnell the most powerful man in Congress, and I think he is right.  Not only is McConnell getting victories in the Senate, but he is also willing to call the Democrats out on their stupidity.  He went to the floor of the Senate awhile ago and pointed out all of their differing positions.  To date, they are at 17!  So why is this important?  It's important because for quite awhile now, the conservative base has become frustrated with the Administration and leaders in Congress not fighting back.  Senator McConnell is a refreshing change from former majority leader Bill Frist.  They push, and he pushes right back.  And the President has not been doing enough of that.  When this whole non-issue of the 8 U.S. Attorney's being fired came up, the President should have gone before the press and simply stated: "These people serve at the pleasure of the President, and it is my constitutional right to fire an appointee of mine.  Shut up Chucky!!!"  But instead, he admits mistakes?  Then he goes to Mexico and sits there and listens to Calderone bemoan the building of the boarder wall.  He should have told Calderone to fix his own damn economy!  I admire the hell out of President Bush.  He has stood his ground on the War on Terror, Iraq, and tax cutting.  But, there have been too many times when he just hasn't fought back against the Democrats.  And that is frustrating to those of us who have supported him.  Now, finally we have someone showing some backbone.  Thank you Senator McConnell for standing up for us and taking the fight to the Democrats.  We need less of the Hagel's, Snowe's, Collins' and Sununu's, and more people like Mitch McConnell!

Once again, Senator John McCain has snubbed his nose at conservatives.  Senator, drop out of the race, now!  Who the hell is running this second-rate campaign, anyway?  Typically, candidates in the primary season run to their right or left, then move to the center when the general election campaign starts.  Not John McCain.  No, apparently, it make more sense to tick off the people who will be voting in the primaries.  Smart move?  Not so much.  Look at the polls Senator.  You are floundering.  I know you like the msm (main street media) kissing your butt, but you have no chance of winning over the people who vote in primaries.  Straight talk express II?  Your straight talk express is providing no help.  You are the one who gave us McCain-Feingold.  You are the one who wants to give U.S. rights to enemy combatants.  Who the hell are you appealing to in this early primary season?  You are done!  You will not be president.  And the simple reason is your are ticking off the people who could help you get to the general election.  I have made NO decision on who I'm supporting (Fred Thompson, Newt....possible dream team?), but I can guaren-dam-tee you that I will never support Senator McCain.  Why would I support a person who spits in our face?  Senator McCain, you're offending the people who could help you.  Smart move!

Today was supposed to be the big protest in Washington, DC on the 4 year anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.  There was supposed to be 30,000 plus at the event.  Not so much.  Only several thousand showed up.  But, more important, was the presence of counter-protestors.  Led by the Gathering of Eagles and Move America forward, whose sites you can visit here and here, the moonbat protestors were not the only ones to get a message out, and more importantly, our memorials, in particular, our vietnam memorial, were protected.  While it is true that the country wants to see progress in Iraq, every poll shows that America DOES NOT support defeat.  The only people who support defeat are the far, far left and Democratic Senators and Congress people (oh, yeah...Chuck "I'm announcing that I'm not announcing" Hagel).  But today was a great day for those of us who want to win.  Those who showed up to show support for our troops, and to protect our memorials, are nothing short of great Americans.  You can read more about the event in DC by visiting this site and this one.  It will be interesting to see what happens on UAlbany's campus Monday, when the Green Party leads an anti-war protest.  With about 20 inches of snow on the ground, will they still do their "die-in?"  Regardless, we of the evil College Republicans will be there to counter them.  God Bless our troops and God Bless America!!!

As the UAlbany game got out of control today (the Danes still rock!)...I made the mistake of tuning into to the "Valerie Plame" crap on C-Span.....what a waste of time....Henry Waxman is loser...so is Rep. Watson from California....period...this was a pathetic example of NOT looking for the truth....Valerie Plame Wilson is a victim.....NOT!!!!....Victoria Toensig hammered these losers.....why is it so hard for these pathetic losers to understand the crap.  Oh, my bad....politics before truth.....who cares that the woman who helped write the law would contridict Mrs. Wilson?.....Apparently, anything Mrs. Wilson says is true.....so lets go from there....she DIDN'T recommend her husband for the trip to Niger....lie....Vice President Cheney recommened him for the trip...lie...his report contradictied the administration.....lie.....his report to the CIA said one thing, including the administration was right,...his op-ed to the NY Times said something different....poor Valerie was outed....despite the fact she wasn't covert....despite the fact that Andrea Mitchell knew she was CIA....her neigbors knew she was CIA....everybody in Washington knew she was CIA....and her HUSBAND told everbody who would listen that she was CIA....and hey, here's a really simple question.......when the hell is somebody going to bring up a really simple fact....this includes poor Valerie, poor Joe, Waxman and the rest of the House losers......ARMITAGE?????!!!!!!....oh, sorry...didn't mean to bring up a fact!

President Kennedy knew it.  President Reagan knew it.  And President George W. Bush knows it.  Cutting taxes spurs economic growth.  Raising taxes stifle's it.  Greg Kaza of NRO has a great article proving this simple theory once again.  Guess I won't be moving to Michigan when I graduate.  Enjoy!

As many of you probably know, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice-President Cheney's former Chief of Staff, was convicted on 4 of 5 counts today.  Essentially, he was convicted of lying and obstruction of justice.  I won't go into the whole details, because you can get great coverage and insight here, and here.  I want to address a couple of other things.  First, is the response of the leaders of the Democratic party.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid(D-NV) said in a statement, "I welcome the jury's verdict.  It's about time someone in the Bush Administration has been held accountable for the campaign to manipulate intelligence and discredit war critics."  Huh?  Isn't this the same party that refers to the 9-11 commission as gospel?  And isn't the 9-11 commission the group who concluded there was no hyping or manipulation of intelligence before going into Iraq?  Symantecs, I guess.  Then their is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi(D-SF) "This trial provided a troubling picture of the inner workings of the Bush Administration.  The testimony unmistakably revealed - at the highest levels of the Bush Administration - a callous disregard in handling sensitive national security information..."  Excuse me?  Where was madame Speaker's outrage at the New York Times for revealing our "sensitive national security information" of listening into known terrorists making phone calls in or out of our country?  It's getting to the point, where everytime a leading Democrat opens their mouth, they instantly become hypocrites.  My second point is goody, too.  Where is the outrage that Richard Armitage, the man who has admitted to being the original leaker, is going to pay no price?  Special prosecuter Patrick Fitzgerald knew almost immediately that it was Armitage who leaked Valerie Plame's name to Robert Novak.  But, Armitage is clear and fine?  What?  Over three years of taxpayer money to investigate something that was known almost right off the bat, is ridiculous.  That leads to a question.  Should President Bush pardon Scooter Libby?  Yes!  Harry Reid's statement went on to say, "Now President Bush must pledge not to pardon Libby for his criminal conduct."  Really?  Did Reid demand former President Clinton not to pardon Marc Rich, who was one of the justice departments most wanted?  Of course not.  Could the fact that Denise Rich was a major contributor to the party, and the Clinton library, a reason?  Nah, couldn't be.  The President should pardon Scooter Libby (not to mention the boarder agents who were railroaded by our own government, but that's a whole other story).  Oh, yeah, one other thing.  Where is the liberal outrage over Sandy Berger not being given the lie detector he agreed to take?  Symantics, I guess.

While the campaigning for the 2008 presidential election is off and running, I'm already a little concerned about something.  I'm starting to hear this more and more.  Because of who the three leading Republican contenders are, I'm hearing how social conservatives may sit home.  Now, first of all, I have not hitched my wagon to anybody yet.  It's March 6, 2007 for goodness sake.  But I would like to remind any of these social conservatives who may read this of a couple of things.  First, it was because over 4 million of you stayed home in 2000 that we all had to endure Al Gore's thumb sucking, foot stomping, temper tantrum in Florida (just a note to Mr. Gore, the Electoral College has always chosen our president...it's called Article II of that document you may have heard of, the U.S. Constitution).  Secondly, if you decide to sit out the election in '08, do not start complaining when President Hillary or President Obama raise your taxes, change our foreign policy back to sticking our heads in the sand, force socialized health care on all of us, and appoint far left justices to the Supreme Court who will continue to rule against the values and beliefs our great country was founded on.  I have issues with all of the three leading contenders.  McCain kisses our butt one day, then thumbs his nose at us on the next day (CPAC anyone?).  Not to mention the disaster that is McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform and that whole giving U.S. rights to enemy combatants.  Rudy is liberal on social issues, including abortion, gay marriage, and gun control.  Romney has flipped so much, he's starting to make John Kerry (who served in Vietnam, by the way) look stable on issues.  Personally, I'm kind of waiting to see if Newt will throw his hat in the ring.  While I'm not completely sold on him, and he brings baggage, he is a true conservative.  Any of you younger conservatives who haven't gotten a proper education on him from school, you can learn more about him by visiting his website.  But, again, I haven't decided yet.  There is one thing though, that I have decided.  I won't sit it out.  The alternatives are too scary.  If my options are voting for one of the three Republican contenders, voting for a liberal, or staying home, I will suck it up and vote for the Republican candidate.  If you don't participate, you shouldn't complain.  Heck, as much as I really like President Bush, I don't agree with him on everything, his comprehensive immigration reform, er, amnesty, as an example.  Look, the bottom line is if you're unhappy with the candidate and you stay home, it's just like a vote for the other side.  Just like my vote for the little, wacky guy from Texas in '92 (Perot) essentially helped elect Bill Clinton.  Sorry Dad, you tried to tell me.  We still have a long way to go.  Stay informed, stay active and when it comes time to vote in '08, follow Nike's advice....Just do it!

At the beginning of CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference) the main thing being talked about was Senator John McCain's snubbing of it.  Unfortunately, that would not continue to be the main thing talked about.  Ann Coulter's comment about John Edwards dwarfed McCain's non-appearance.  You can see or read about it here.  Aside from the obvious fact of using a derogatory comment like faggot is just idiotic, it also tarnishes all of us conservatives who try and fight the good fight.  One of the amazing things that I've noticed over the years, is that Republicans usually debate ideas and facts.  Liberals debate emotions.  Another thing that seperates us from them, is we generally stay away from the name calling game.  How many times have you heard President Bush equated to Hitler?  The 9-11 Truth group on the UAlbany campus always have flyers up doing just that.  What Ann did this weekend brought us down to their level.  And that is just a shame.  Another problem, is as a conservative, I'm constantly having to battle the stigma of being hateful...or racist...or a bigot.  Ann's comment will only continue that wrong perception.  What do you think will be the first thing I hear when I go to campus on Monday?  I'll be asked about Ann's comment!  Most of my day will be spent telling people that I do not condone what she said.  And most people will probably not believe me.  Ann's comment served absolutely no purpose.  There was no reason for it.  I like trying to use humor just as much as anybody else.  I'm one of Dennis Miller's biggest fans.  But the comment by Ann was not humorous.  It was stupid and there was no reason for it.  And do you think the Edwards campaign will try and capitalize on it?  The answer is of course yes!  Look, I am a big Ann Coulter fan.  Her book Slander: Liberal Lies About The American Right is one of my favorite books.  I have all of her other books as well, and really like them.  I read her column all of the time.  But this was an instance where she was just wrong to use a comment like that.  It tarneshed all of us.

As we all know, Senator John McCain is running for president.  He sort of, officially announced it on the Letterman show last night.  At times, he tries to appeal to the conservative base, at other times he ignores them.  An example of the latter, is the Senator's no-show at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), currently being held in Washington, DC.  The Senator is trying to link himself, or portray himself as being a Reagan conservative.  His website for 2008 proves this.  However, would President Reagan give U.S. Constitutional rights on enemy combatants captured on the battlefield?  Not so much.  Would President Reagan blow off CPAC?  Not so much.  As the worlds best blogger, Michelle Malkin points out, President Reagan visited CPAC 12 times!  Michelle also has portions of one of his speeches that is just great.  Now, I want to point out one thing.  Senator McCain is a patriot.  He served his country proudly.  He endured being a POW for over five years, all the while people like Kerry and Fonda were betraying them.  He has consistently stood up for our soldiers.  And for that I thank him.  But, President Reagan's qoute on the Cold War shows where the difference is.  "Here's my strategy on the Cold War: We win, they lose."  President Reagan would never give U.S. rights to people who tried to kill our soldiers on the battlefield.  And he also would not alienate true conservatives.  Senator, you are no Ronald Reagan.

As some of you may have heard, there is a new documentary airing on the Discovery Channel that proclaims they have found the remains of Jesus, Mary, and their child.  Christians have rightfully come out against this claim which is not backed up by any evidence at all.  But, what is more interesting is the difference you see in the reactions of christians, who seem to always have to defend their religious beliefs, and the reactions of muslims when their religion is brought up.  One only needs to remember the reaction to the Danish cartoons that depicted the prophet Mohammed.  When Christianity is assaulted by cartoons or this ridiculous documentary, Christians do not take to the streets, burn things and kill people.  Remember, when the Danish cartoons were shown in the middle east, thousands took to the streets to denounce the cartoons, and at least 15 people ended up being killed.  When the religion of Christianity is assaulted, christians do not take to the streets.  They simply answer the charges with calm and reason.  This also brings up another question.  Why is it ok to attack Christianity?  This has become the favorite past time of hollywood snobs.  But yet this same group of people hide in fear of saying or doing anything that might upset muslims.  Tom Clancy's book, The Sum of All Fears described Islamic extremists detonating a nuclear bomb at the Super Bowl.  When it came time for the movie, the people detonating the device where white supremicists!  Rumor has it the next Rambo movie will feature the same.  I want to make one thing as clear as I possibly can.  I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS!  In fact, the overwhelming majority of muslims are peace loving people, just like Christians.  There is a small store that I visit frequently that is run and owned by a family of muslims from India.  They are extremly nice people and I refused to hold them responsible for what happened on 9-11.  But the simple fact is there is a double standard when it comes to how these two religions are portrayed.  Why?  This country was founded on Christian values.  If you doubt that, let me remind you of what it says in the Declaration of Independence......"WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights..."  There is room in this great world for different religions and different beliefs.  But it is troubling that there seems to be a double standard when it comes to what is allowed or not allowed when it comes to questioning these two great religions.  Bashing Christianity is fine.  Bashing any other religion?  Not so much.

I'll be honest.  I did not watch the Oscars on Sunday night.  There were two reasons for this.  One, did I really need too?  Everyone knew Al Gore was going to win an Oscar for his propaganda film, An Inconvienent Truth.  Secondly, Foxnews had better programming that night.  Reel Politics, the replay of the 1/2 Hour News Hour, and the debut of It's Out There, a new show hosted by Michelle Malkin and Kirsten Powers about the blogesphere.  I was already thinking that Al Gore and the hollywood/music industry were hypocrites.  Am I the only one who remembers how much the music industry hated Tipper Gore for trying to get warning labels put on their music?  But now they love the Gore's because of his global warming crusade.  Hypocrites!  Now, an article has surfaced saying that Al Gore uses more energy and fuel for his mansion in one month, than the average American household uses in an entire year!  This is why the "marriage" of Al Gore and hollywood/music is a perfect fit.  They are all hypocrites.  Anyone ever seen pictures of Barbara Streisand's mansion?  How about all of the private jets these people fly around on?  It is the typical, do as I say, not as I do mentallity.  All of these overpaid snobs, run around lecturing you and me about how we should live our lives, all the while they continue living their extravagent lives.  That is fine for them to do, but how dare christians try and tell people how to live better, moral lives.  It is hypocrisy at its finest.  Al Gore and the hollywood/music industry deserve each other.  Hypocrites deserve each other.  You can see the cold hard facts of Al Gore's hypocrisy at this link.  http://www.tennesseepolicy.org/ 

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is at it again.  "I think that Iraq is going to go down in history as the greatest disaster in American foreign policy."  I'll deal with her comments in a second, but take a guess where she made this riculous comment.  That's right!  At the Carter Center with good ole, Jimmy "everything is Israels fault" Carter at her side.  For those who do not know, Albright was actually a part of Jimmy Carter's national security team in the 1970's.  And didn't they do a wonderful job with foreign policy.  They allowed the fall of the Shah in Iran, which allowed the rise of the Islamic extremists, and in turn led to 52 American's to be taken hostage for 444 days.  When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, their answer was to boycott the Moscow summer Olympics in 1980.  Wow, that really worked to get the Soviets out!  Ugh...thank goodness for Ronald Reagan!  Lets fast forward to the foreign policy of our country in the 1990's under President Clinton.  The first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.  Six dead over 1000 injured.  Response?  Nothing.  Not only nothing, but Clinton never visited the site and wouldn't call it terrorism.  Mogidishu, Somalia in October 1993. 19 dead soldiers and over 70 injured.  Response?  To pull out (with help from John McCain, thanks John!).  This led Osama Bin Laden to refer to America as a "paper tiger."  June 1996, 19 killed in the Khobar Towers attack in Saudi Arabia.  August 1998, our embassies were bombed in Kenya and Tanzania where 224 died and hundreds injured.  October 2000, the USS Cole was bombed and 17 sailors were killed.  Our response to all of this?  To bomb an aspirin factory in Sudan.  All of this inaction on forgein policy of course led to September 11, 2001, where we lost over 3,000 innocent people.  Thank goodness for President George W. Bush!  Talk about a complete failure of foreign policy!  The Clinton administration (of which Albright was a part, first as U.S. ambassador to the Useless Nations, then as Secretary of State) did nothing.  That is the foreign policy we should return too?!  I don't think so.  And remember, we aren't allowed to question the Clinton administration (despite Hillary's shreiking that we have the "right to debate and disagree with any administration).  And by the way, Albright wasn't done.  She also went on to say that we "have lost the element of goodness in American power, and we have lost our moral authority."  So freeing 50 million people in two countries and giving them a shot at freedom and democracy is not a good thing provided by America?  Lost our moral authority?  I didn't realize it was us who beheaded people, did it on video, and then posted it on websites.  Does anybody else remember that picture from 6 months ago?  The one where an unarmed drone got a picture of like 170 taliban fighters gathered for a funeral.  Did we blow them away?  No.  Why?  We don't attack funerals or graves.  But yet, we have lost our moral authority.  I really suggest Madeleine Albright go back and watch Path to 9-11.  She might learn something.  Like how the foreign policy under her fomer boss was THE worst ever.  With the exception of Jimmy Carter's foreign policy, of course.