Topping the blog lists!

You made Thinking Out Loud one of the top ten conservative blogs on "Top Political Blog" site (on April 28, 2012) with an international audience. On February 18, 2013, we hit in the top 50 of ALL political blogs. (This changes all the time, so keep reading.) Thank you.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Jennifer's Mask
Adjustments must be made in any transition. Sometimes the littlest things can put a spark to hidden frustrations. Sometimes a mask can do it.
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Thursday, October 21, 2010

The Great NPR Debate

Juan Williams was a senior news analyst at NPR (National Public Radio). He is also a news commentator on FOX News. He took his usual position on the liberal side of things while on the Bill O'Reilly show the other night. That evening, NPR announced it was terminating Williams' contract because "his remarks on 'The O'Reilly Factor' this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR."

One would think Williams did something totally horrific to deserve such a summary dismaissal. However, all he did was speak the truth. He said "I mean, look, Bill, I'm not a bigot. You know the kind of books I've written about the civil rights movement in this country," Williams said Monday. But when I get on a plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they're identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous."

He then went on the attack to get O'Reilly to stop characterizing all Muslims as jihadists and told him to "be careful." To which Bill said he would not be careful anymore. He stated that the liberals would have you believe it is a "small" number of the Muslim population that are terrorist but that, in truth, it was "nations; Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan . . ."

The contention of NPR was that his comments about being "nervous" on a plane with Muslims was not professional and "inconsistent" with their "editorial standards."

Many people, including Sarah Palin (whom I have an immense deal of respect for) are calling for the immediate defunding of NPR and PBS.

I disagree with defunding NPR and PBS. They are very important. The initial concept of funding public radio and television was to give a clear unobstructed voice to everything from news to education, entertainment and information, and to expand higher education to people who would not normally have access. It began with the Morrill Act in 1862 and was expanded (with matching public funding) by the Educational Television Facilities Act of 1962.

To defund them would be to give into the "controlled" media and education. NPR and PBS have a rich history of free education and speech. However, I agree that they have gone too far left and socialistic. Some regulating needs to be done, and it is within the right of the government and the people to do so. But these regulations must be Constitutional in nature and reflect the open dialogue they MUST represent, left and right and center. These entities have become far too political and must be de-politicized. If they are unwilling to do so, then by all means, it is within our rights to end their funding. To silence them all together would be a disservice and wrong. They in turn were wrong for silencing Williams and should be brought to task.

Many who would defund this public institution would argue that they have leaned too far to the left, and as is exemplified by the firing of Juan Williams, are stiflinmg the very freedom that allows them to exist. These same people, faced with the history and need for public radio and television, express a lack of hope that any regulation would work.

Therein lies the carrot and the stick. WE fund them. WE decide they have lost their way. If THEY don't correct their lean, WE sink the ship and move on. But to simply defund, we allow those who would control ALL media and education (regardless of their leanings) to win. In a sense, the publicly funded venues of NPR and PBS are our hedge against the age old adage that the victors write the history books. With publicly funded NPR and PBS doing their jobs correctly, we get all the good history with the bad. Thus, we learn not to repeat. And don't lose hope, as it has been the benchmark of the resiliency of America to weather ALL its past storms.

You may agree or disagree with me and that, by the very founding of this country, is your right. But if you have continued to read thus far, and have begun to let at least a little new thought to creep in from what I have been saying, then I will have considered my time well spent and my job done. Think for yourselves and stop listening to every bit of rhetoric, from right or left, and taking it for gospel fact and truth. But hey, this is just me, Thinking Out Loud.

Have a great day.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Finally, truth in advertising

Harry Reid (D-NV) is finally telling the truth. At least as he sees it. Maybe more Democrats should speak up, as Harry did recently in Sparks, NV, and tell the people exactly why they should be re-elected / elected to office. Then the American public will have the stark reality that is today's Washington political machine thrust into the light of day.

Speaking before his constituency, Reid told people that he felt it was his "constitutional duty" to spend, spend, spend. He said that the money flowing to the state was due to his "powerful position" in the Senate. In other words, he is too big to fail.

This is so pervasive as an attitude of those in power, all the way up to the President, who believes that he just didn't "explain things" properly to the American people. They all think we are stupid and just don't understand all the "good" they are doing for us. It is something that many Americans are finally coming to realize.

And now Reid has actually come out and told people that he should be re-elected because he is responsible for bringing all the bailout money and earmarks into the state, that he is too big to fail and that Nevada (and America) need him to keeping spending lots of money, put us deeper and deeper into debt and expand government. He took his jab at his opponent with the "constitutionally duty" comment, since Angle believes we should reduce the size of the Federal government and only let them have the powers enumerated by the Constitution.

Reid shows his ignorance of both the Constitution and the American people.

On the other hand, Sharon Angle, who is climbing rapidly in the polls against Reid, has many fiscally conservative ideas for government. Ideas that are in keeping with an American public who find themselves having to tighten their collective belts and wallets during theseharsh economic times. She actually makes sense.

It is high time for politicians like Reid, who think they have a "constitutional duty" to be compelte jackasses and irresponsible with the power we gave them in the first place, to find their way in the world without the public dole. It is time for Reid, and all like him, to find new jobs.

Maybe if they are among the unemployed, they might think twice about what they have been trying to do to this country.

But then again, not only do his kind never learn, they will just tap into their own bank accounts from all the graft (oops, donations) they have accrued over the years.

Agree with me that Nevada needs Sharon Angle and America needs to dump "Prince" Harry Reid (and all the politicians in Washington who have lost touch with this country and ideas it was built upon). Or you can disagree and beleive that we just have to have government holding our hands, telling us what doctors to see and when to pee. Either way, it makes no difference to me. If I got you to just think for yourselves, then I have done my job. But hey, this is just me, Thinking Out Loud.

Have a great day.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Polls, Tolls and Touchdowns

A CNN poll asking the question, is Obama better than Bush? If you believe the rhetoric and the "it's Bush's fault" swift reply from the Obama Administration and liberals around the country, you would think the answer was pretty clear.

But not really. It might surprise some (but not too many) that the poll revealed that 47% think Obama is the better president, while Bush garnered a whooping 45%.

Obama's declining approval rating is not all unusual for a President. But his sharp drop from a year and a half ago highlights the deflating excitement of American's who had high expectations is deafening. As of 10/10/2010 Rasmussen shows Obama with a -13 rating (meaning 29% strongly Approve and 42% Strongly Disapprove). RealClear Politics poll of 9/28-10/10/2010 has the overall approval/disapproval favoring the later by a -3.1 rating (45.6% approve, 48.7% disapprove). And according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup poll, showed an overwhelming disapproval of how the President and Congress are running the country (I mistyped it at first and said "ruining"), with sixty percent saying the Federal government has too much power. And an asstonishing 50% believe that "(t)he federal government poses an immediate threat to the rights and freedom of ordinary citizens."

So why am I ranting about something that has become obviouos to all but the most oblivious of Americans? Two reasons.

The first being that the mainstream media is so comfortably among those who are oblivious. Although they have been more critical of late, they still refuse to cover the dissent among voters as nothing more than a few loud minorities and nothing of any serious consequence, allowing Nancy Pelosi and others to vent that these people are nuisances, un-American and everything from bigots to hate-mongers. I feel it is high time for the media to actually do its job as being the check on the government instead of being the TASS-like arm of the Administration's liberal agenda.

The second being the fact that despite his low approval and the aweakening of the public to the dangers his agenda pose, he still feels the right to keep meddling in places he does not belong. Who is he to determine pay scalle? Or even advocate it? WHo is he to say what the market should or should not do? Who is he to think he can step into a local dispute in Massachusetts, or disparage law enforcement for doing their job? Who is he to level charges against a group opposed to his agenda, let alone do so without any proof?

Obama is supposed to be the President of the United States of America. Yet he constantly shows weakenss in the face of our enemies. he constantly takes a back seat to everyone else in the world and proves his complete lack of real world experience as it relates to doing his job. The economy. The unemployment issue. National Security. Illegal imigration. Environmental issues. Intereference in States doing their own internal business. One after another, he is failing miserably. One after the other he is looking to other world leaders for his course. We should have socialized medicine like (fill in the blank). We should apologize for our emissions to (fill in the blank).

Enough is enough and it is high time the President realizes he has lost his charm. It is high time he realized the honeymoon is over with the American people. And in November, the people WILL speak. And it will be a much more representative body he must deal with come January 2011.

Speaking of coming to terms with the reality of the situation, I am forced to speak to two college programs and their fans.

#1 Alabama Crimson Tide lost to #19 South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday. It was a harsh and brutal game that was played before the packed William-Brice Stadium and the world at large on CBS television.

To Alabama and its supporters, I simply remind them that 1) this is the SEC and everyone knows it is hard to predict what will happen. And 2) the Tide did not play their best game. Perhpas it was the exhaustion of coming off three strong games against a team that had a bye week to rest up. Perhaps it was the overwhelming crowd they played before (I was there and it was indeed crazy). No matter, you still have a strong team, program, coach and leader in McElroy. Move on and keep strong.

To the South Carolina Gamecocks and their fans. Yes, celebrate. you played well and supported strongly. You werr hungry and it showed. You have every right and reason to celebrate your win over the best team in college ball. But don't get (if you'll pardon the intended pun) cocky. You still have a season ahead. If you want to stay in the top 10 and work toward a respectable Bowl game, you need to shake off the celebrations and get back to work, remembering that Saturday is history and you have many teams to go against that are now out to gun for you.

Thats all I have to say and you can agree or disagree with me over anything I've said here. But remember, it doesn't matter. So long as I got you to stop listening to the extremists and start thinking for yourselves, I've done my job. But hey, this is just me, Thinking Out Loud.

Have a great day!

Friday, October 1, 2010

Here's hoping!

Rahm "Dead Fish" Emanuel is leaving the White House to go and be the corrupt mayor of Chicago. Headlines say "Jokes and Tears as White House cheif of staff leaves." I say GOOD RIDDANCE, go back to the land of Chicago-style politics and may he be the first of many leaving DC!

This man is the very epitome of what is wrong in Washington politics and there is no way that any promise of "change you can believe in" had any chance of being accomplished. Hopefully he won't still be a little voice in the President's ear any more.

Now that he is gone I hope this starts a trend. More worthless political hacks need to vacate our nation's capitol. From the lobbysits who weren't supposed to be there (according the POTUS' own promises before being handed the keys to the liquor cabinet) to the slimey Cass Sunstein (who is head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, who has suggested we be able to shut down the Internet in cases of national emergencies).

Come November the American public (I pray) comes through and brings balance back to the halls of government so that all these social agenda policies and ballooning debt and wildly expanding government can be brought under some control. We need to remove all these fools that pass laws without even reading the damn things. Unless this country is under attack or is about to collapse from its too top heavy administration, there is no law too important that it cannot be reviewed by every person voting on it and every American citizen whom it affects. LIKE THEY PROMISED!

If these people cannot do this, they do not deserve to be there representing us. And if they think they can insult us and ignore us, they should not be allowed to continue to speak for us.

Rahm needs to be the first in a long line of Washington residents that need to be asked to leave, sent packing or given the hint that they are not wanted or welcome.