Glenn Beck: The Hindenburg Omen, The Perfect Storm, and God

Glenn Beck explains why winning the next election is historically insignificant. 

Ezekiel 9:4 "and the LORD said to angel, “Go through the midst of the city, ...and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”


John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

What's this about a Hindenburg Omen?

It’s hard to say whether those are storm clouds gathering over the stock markets, or whether that’s just the fog that’s lifting after two long years of dizzying volatility. But what about the Hindenburg Omen?

It’s been written about, blogged about and debated over the last few days. Rick Ackerman, a trader who blogs about his investment ideas, says in a post Monday that it’s not something to ignore, but perhaps not something to completely embrace. “Sometimes, though, the canny contrarian has to allow for the possibility that ‘everyone’– i.e., the multitudes who are expecting an autumn crash — will be right for a change.”

Invented in the mid-1990s by a blind mathematician named James Miekka, the Hindenburg Omen is an indicator of a market crash. Every market crash since 1987 has been signaled by the Omen, which was named by a friend of Miekka’s after the airship that exploded over New Jersey in 1937 without warning. (They were going to use “Titanic” but someone beat them to it.) That said, the Omen has also signaled declines when no such decline occurred.

The indicator was triggered by two important statistical events in the last week or so. One, NYSE highs and lows both exceeded 2.5% — stocks reaching 52-week highs were 2.9% of stocks traded at the Big Board, while stocks hitting 52-week lows were 2.6%. And a second, there was a rising 10-week moving average for the NYSE compared to a negative indicator that shows market fluctuations (the McClellan Oscillator).

The Omen is pointing to September for the next market crash, supposedly, though that’s pretty much when most markets go into a nosedive if they’re so inclined.

What if the Omen comes true? It has been a quiet, relatively boring summer of trading compared to the swoon of late 2008 followed by the see-sawing in 2009 and earlier this year. The May 6 “flash crash” during which the Dow Jones industrial average lost and then regained 500 or so points in a matter of minutes, had everyone in a panic about the flawed equity market structure in the United States, but even that wasn’t enough to force regulators into swift action.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has a number of proposals out, but hasn’t even formally banned the controversial practice of flash-orders, as it has been suggesting it would for about a year. Single stock circuit breakers are now in a pilot phase, but there have been glitches. The SEC still has to deal with all sorts of other issues, mostly to do with high frequency trading and its effects on the markets, along with all the issues it has to tackle with financial reform. Perhaps another severe correction could push regulators to act more quickly.

(from: forbes blogs)

The "Private Sector Recession"

This graph found at the First Things blog illustrates how the recession should be called a "private sector recession." because it sure has not hit the public sector. And the graph does not even show the federal jobs, which have increased dramatically since the election of Barack Obama. There has been a half-page ad running every Sunday in the "Jobs" section in the Denver Post announcing job openings at the IRS for bilingual (fluency in both Spanish and English) agents. Hmm, I wonder why they need to be bilingual? By the way, that "Jobs" section is really tiny, except for the IRS ad. The term "private sector recession" was coined by Maetenloch at Ace of Spades.

65 years ago Japan surrendered

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.

Via Ace

Quid pro quo

Scott Ott (Scrappleface} gives us this "fairly unbalanced" report on the bailout bill just passed by the House.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, who called the House back into session this week to pass a $26 billion bailout bill to help cash-strapped states pay for 140,000 teachers, said the legislation’s price tag “may sound like a lot of money, but the value of having all of those union members on our Democrat campaign team makes it well worth the investment.”

“Most people don’t understand all of the good that these union members do,” said Rep. Pelosi. “These people make the phone calls, give the money, do the door-to-door work because they have a personal financial stake in the reelection of Democrats. You can’t get that kind of commitment out of mere volunteers. Without them, Democrats might lose their majority in Congress, as well as in many state legislatures.”

The Speaker said that once the American people understand the return they get for their investment in big public-sector unions like the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, “the only complaint they’ll have is ‘Why didn’t you give them $52 billion?’”

“It’s a quid pro quo arrangement,” Rep. Pelosi explained. “The public-sector unions make sure we get elected, and we make sure they get ever-increasing salaries, and sweet guaranteed pension deals for life, no matter what the economy does. It’s a classic win-win situation.”

The California lawmaker added that “the genius of our Founding Fathers was to establish this relationship whereby we the people of the Democrat Party are sovereign, and we negotiate mutually-beneficial collective bargaining agreements with our union supporters. It’s a system of checks and balances that protects us all from the tyranny of the public.”

This Oughta Teach Him!

From the New York Post:

In a move of stunning hypocrisy, the United Federation of Teachers axed one of its longtime employees -- for trying to unionize the powerful labor organization's own workers, it was charged yesterday.

Jim Callaghan, a veteran writer for the teachers union, told The Post he was booted from his $100,000-a-year job just two months after he informed UFT President Michael Mulgrew that he was trying to unionize some of his coworkers.

"I was fired for trying to start a union at the UFT," said a dumbfounded Callaghan, who worked for the union's newsletter and as a speechwriter for union leaders for the past 13 years.

Callaghan said he personally told Mulgrew on June 9 about his intention to try to organize nonunionized workers at UFT headquarters.

"I told him I have the same rights that teachers have," said Callaghan, 63, of Staten Island. "He told me he didn't want that, that he wanted to be able to fire whoever he wanted to.".....

You gotta love Unions whose own offices are non union and whose bosses want to fire whoever they want to. Good old American hypocrisy.

High Stakes, Tough Choices!

Michael Anton gives us more information about Iranian nuclear capabilities, and discusses the difficult choices facing Israel and the rest of the free world.

Hopefully not forever

I like Neil's version of this better than Johnny Cash's. I can't handle Johnny's sadness in his voice. Neil sings it with some hope that perhaps he will not remain solitary forever.

Obama Visits the Gulf Coast

So. Friggin'. What.

He even swims! In the water! EXCEPT...he goes swimming in a bay that was NOT affected by the oil spill. And the part of the Gulf just outside Alligator Point is OUTSIDE the fishing ban that still exists.

If you wanted to prove your point, Mr. Obama, go just a bit further west, near the Alabama/Florida border. Where there is still a ban on fishing...are you going to eat the fish there? Or the shrimp? The local delicacy is mullet...my family had many a fish fry with that delicious gift from the sea. But we can't now because the mullet is a bottom-feeder...and all the oil that ISN'T floating on the surface is on the sea-floor.

Or keep heading further west still, Mr. Obama. To the Louisiana coast, where the marshes are STILL affected by the oil. To the oyster beds that were coated with dispersed oil.

So swim away, Mr. Obama. Far away. Far away from the areas that were really affected. Just as you are ideologically far away from the common folk to whom you promised such great things.

I pray for you: Psalm 109:8. Amen.

Old lessons for a new time

Sometimes it helps to look at other times to learn the lessons for today. In my daily readings I came across the book of 1st and 2nd Kings, which tell of the wars and transitions of leadership of Israel and Judah. I found a story which seems to parallel our times. It is the story of a transition from one great leader to another, and the turmoil surrounding it.  


We are in an Elijah-Elisha shift of leadership. And just as when the fifty prophets insisted to look about for the lost Elijah after he had been taken up by the Lord, now is the season of many rising and claiming to be Elijah, giving people what they want in the form of old promises re-worked and old forms  and strategies, while Elisha has clearly been seen by the fifty prophets as the next leader in line. 

But since he looks different, and brings different messages and giftings, people prefer to run off to see if they can find Elijah because of the weakness of preferring familiarity. 

2Kings 2:14 Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over. 

2Kings 2:15 ¶ Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him. 

2Kings 2:16 Then they said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” ¶ And he said, “You shall not send anyone.” 

2Kings 2:17 ¶ But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send them!” Therefore they sent fifty men, and they searched for three days but did not find him.

2Kings 2:18 And when they came back to him, for he had stayed in Jericho, he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

“Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

The fifty prophets sought for three days for Elijah until they came to the realization that they needed to go back to Elisha, who they saw clearly receive the mantle of Elijah.

Elisha is the fulfillment of Elijah. The problem with Elisha is that everyone remembers when he was just a servant of Elijah. We remember that he was just the guy you walked by to get to the prophet Elijah, but now he is the prophet. Elijah just showed up one day out of nowhere, seemingly, but Elisha was a guy that everybody knew growing up. Think Moses and Joshua, or even John the Baptist and Jesus, or possibly Barnabas and Paul.  

There is new opportunity and possibility in seeking the simpler ways of leadership. A return to basic teachings is required to rid the entire system of plans and promises based on opinion and faulty logic; thinking that had the appearance of being powerful, prophetic or timely, but were mixed blessings at best. 

Could it be that the Lord himself  is requiring the leaders he is raising up now to be more wise in the ways of the world than their predecessors? They are to instruct people to seek the Word rather than "words" for their own sake. When you draw near to the Lord, He draws near to you, and how could He not speak to His children? 

After God had set in motion the changes from Elijah to Elisha as spokesman for the Lord, a new government was instituted and new leaders came to prominence. Jehu, a commander and general was made king in Israel, and dealt with the evil Ahab and Jezebel, and reversed their evil acts and made sure that the victims of their cruelty were compensated and proper restitution employed.  

As those with insight, what part are we to play in this transition? I really believe times of prayer, though seemingly weak, humble, and ineffective, are the true power of our day to make this transition happen. Asking the King of Heaven to give us wise and kingly leadership, and to restore the character and core strength of our nation, which is faith. 

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2Chronicles 7:14 

We must understand how Obama operates

The Washington Rebel blog once again knocks one way out of the park with a post entitled Death of a Strawman. I reprint it here in its entirety,because it is just so relevant and important for us all to understand how Obama operates.

08/13/2010
Death of a Strawman

You know you’re making a difference when Obama views you as enough of a threat to start launching his Alinskyite smear tactics on you, by name.

I am one who can appreciate the art of the debate. It is in my nature to turn a thing backwards and forewards trying to find the crack in an argument that will let me win. This comes up many times in writing and quite often in business negotiations. It is all a matter of keeping one's head in an argument, of creating an image of right and wrong. I don't have to explain this to the contributors of this page, but it does strike me odd that the president is unable to argue without killing a fair amount of strawmen. This is something I detest about his style of debate. So, for a moment I'd like to deconstruct one of his latest speeches and point out his technique.

"And they don't have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are."

Okay, let's start here. First of all, it doesn't take a heck of a lot of investigation to know who started this group. It probably wouldn't be hard to get a list of members, but that isn't the question for Mr. Obama, he wants to create an illusion of mystical, dangerous and perhaps criminal (foreign entities contributing to American campaigns is illegal) elements to this accusation, a bit of sophistry the media will allow him without challenge.

"You don't know if it's a foreign-controlled corporation."

No, the fact is, we do. The insinuation he wants is one of criminality. He likes that a lot, though he never comes out and makes that charge, because he knows it is false. Koch Corporation and it's founder run AFP and Barack Freaking Obama knows it. But, that wouldn't put the boogieman in the closet, would it?

You don't know if it's a big oil company or a big bank.

This relies on the ignorance and blindness of his intended audience. Even a supporter would have to reconcile the facts that Obama has had a big hand in both Big Oil and Big Banks since stepping into the shoes of the President. He took BP money during his campaign and to a degree greater than any other candidate, but when someone else takes the money, there is something implicitly wrong with it. He helped support AIG. The TARP program he alternately takes credit for and distances himself from, continues to fund AIG, now 21st Century, but you wouldn't know that from these accusations. With his rhetoric, he seems to be against these entities he has relied on for funding.

It's a constant strawman with this guy. "Some people don't like me, they think my name sounds funny." "Some people would like to go back to the policies of the past."

Well, let me just say to Mr. Obama: Some people would help fund a Mosque on the graves of American citizens killed by Islamist Jihadist. Some people would prefer to see grandma die a peaceful, morphine-laden death than to give her medical treatment. Some people would let the economy melt down rather than use supply-side economics.

Is Israel counting down?

Will Israel strike Iran's nuclear facility in the next eleven days? That is one conclusion that might be drawn from reading this Newsmax story quoting John Bolton.

News that Russia will load nuclear fuel rods into an Iranian reactor has touched off a countdown to a point of no return, a deadline by which Israel would have to launch an attack on Iran's Bushehr reactor before it becomes effectively "immune" to any assault, says former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John R. Bolton.

Once the fuel rods are loaded, Bolton told Fox News on Friday afternoon, "it makes it essentially immune from attack by Israel. Because once the rods are in the reactor an attack on the reactor risks spreading radiation in the air, and perhaps into the water of the Persian Gulf."

A redneck birthday party

Today is my birthday. Colleen asked me what I wanted to do. Then she asked what ELSE I wanted to do. I said I would like to go to a mountain stream. Because she had to pick up some farmer dude at the airport tonight, we decided to go someplace relatively close, to our old stomping grounds, the magnificently beautiful town of Golden. I just love Golden. It is surrounded on all sides by mountains. Coming down from the west is a roaring stream called Clear Creek. It really does run right through the Coors Brewery.

Golden has really changed in the three years we have been away. Yuppy college-age people throng to Clear Creek. These are the kids who would never think to volunteer to fight for our country. They will be running the corporations and government agencies that will employ the returning vets, and probably treat them badly.

The males ride down Clear Creek in inner tubes. Each time they go over a small water fall, dropping two feet at the most, they give themselves two-thumbs up. The females have no body fat whatsoever, and wear something called bikinis, which cover just enough of their bodies to prove my point about the lack of body fat.

Our redneck family also went to the Clear Creek. We fished for a while, and skipped rocks. But the family member who stole the show was Jon (Huck). Jon was standing on a rock right in the middle of the roaring stream, casting out his fishing line. Coming downstream behind him was a large Igloo cooler (minus a lid). We yelled at him to try to catch the cooler (our oldest two boys had confiscated our cooler earlier in the summer and kept it in their man-cave they live in in a Denver suburb called Wheat Ridge.} Jon snagged that cooler with one quick motion, and brought it safely to shore. About a half-hour later Jon came excitedly running up to us (he had wandered downstream). In one hand he had the lid to the cooler. In the other hand he had a four-foot-long snake! I persuaded him to let the (smelly) snake continue to live near Clear Creek, but that dang cooler no longer belongs to the college yuppies.

Jon and Greg spent the rest of the time diving into the roaring current and riding it downstream. No inner tubes needed thank you very much. Then we all went to the local pizza joint and pigged out.

Do you prefer wide open spaces? Colleen does. I like the protective quality of being surrounded by mountains. Durango, where I lived in southwestern Colorado in the 1980s, is like Golden, except it does not have Golden's proximity to a large city. Golden and Durango are two of my favorite places on earth.

My Healthcare has Obamaitis

The Obama healthcare plan has hit us much sooner than I thought it would. We have to make a choice about how we want to continue our healthcare...to the tune of several thousand dollars...on top of our insurance premiums.

How can this be, you say? Isn't Obamacare supposed to be affordable for everyone? Of course it is...if you choose to become one of the multitudes who will be among the thousands in line for your 'affordable' healthcare. Where the doctor is only allotted a limited amount of time for each patient. Which means 'cattle calls' for healthcare.

Our physician has told us he has pondered long and hard about his future practice. He is a very thorough doctor, and both my husband and I are very happy with him because of his attentiveness to all our concerns. But the good doctor faced the problem of having his practice turned into a 'drive-by' medical service, with huge numbers of patients being rushed in and out of the office (as deemed by Obamacare).

So the doctor has turned to an alternative that is allowed under Obamacare. His practice will be associated with a company that offers 'personalized healthcare'. For adults, there is a yearly cost of $1,500.00 and a full and complete physical (it's quite exhaustive). We get same or next-day appointments when we call, and get 24-hour physician availability by phone. Appointments are scheduled so that you have plenty of time to ask the questions you want. The number of his patients will go from 3,000 to 600. After he reaches 600, that's it...he takes no more 'adult' patients after that. He will see our children without the yearly fee...and hopefully our insurance will still be affiliated with him.

So...the choice is...do we stick with a doctor we trust but have to pay an extra several thousand dollars per year? Or do we leave it to chance and the cattle-round-up...and the costs go up next year, with health benefits becoming taxed and the Bush tax-cuts ending?

Because of Obama(un)care, how many people will take home even less...and start going without? How many families will go without adequate and affordable healthcare, without money to pay for housing and food and transportation... You think the economy has taken a downturn recently? Wait till next year...Obama's audacity of ego can quite possibly lead this country down an ever-spiraling path of economic destruction, making us vulnerable in ways recent generations could never have imagined.

Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.
Thomas Paine

Our basic rights are being eroded away, one intolerable 'feel-good' policy at a time. I hope (not Obama's self-aggrandizing kind of 'hope'), that this November's election will be a sign-post of change (not Obama's country-destroying 'change'). Our country doesn't deserve its president and Congress attempting to destroy it from within. We, the people, don't deserve to be raped and pillaged of our basic rights.

If we do not hang together, we shall surely hang separately.
Thomas Paine

We, the people, need to now act to form a more perfect Union. Vote for real hope, vote for real change. Doc Utopia and his ilk are NOT the physicians we need.

Vision = Optimism

In my musings lately, I have been wondering if the current political situation could be termed in nothing but the word "bleak." I have read of those who imagine that the next election and the one after that will automatically set the clock back or magically make things better, but that is not so. Too much has happened that must be dealt with. Just removing one leader and replacing him with another will not tackle the serious problems we face. It seems that the "misery index" of the Carter era is back in full force and that the temptation to despair is almost irresistible. But, I remind you that it is just such times as these that cause a serious rethinking to occur, a kind of return to sanity, a repentance, if you will. And through the fog there begins to form a vision that is not just the way to win the next election or get on the Network News, but a true vision intended to be a way of life, a challenge to stay the course and do the hard things that must be done. This vision must include a prophetic picture of a preferable future that is strong and simple at the same time. Not devoid of details, it must point to a time of a future and a hope for our times. Mere finger wagging and smear tactics will not make this happen. Someone must lead, and lead well. My prayer is for that person, or persons to come to the task and do so quickly. Who will rise up and restore us to a place of optimism? The ones with a true vision.

Amazing!

Christian TV's All-Time Worst Fundraising Gimmicks - J. Lee Grady

Let's stop the hypnotism, the guilt manipulation and the high-pressure gimmicks. It's time to reclaim our lost credibility.

Normally I'd rather go to the dentist for a root canal than watch a telethon. But while channel surfing a few nights ago I tuned into PBS and discovered that Aretha Franklin, the legendary Queen of Soul, was hosting a fundraiser for the network. Seated at a piano, she was offering a 5-CD collection of classic rhythm and blues hits in exchange for a donation to public television.

It was simple. There were no gimmicks, no games and no strings attached in Aretha's offer. If you gave the suggested gift, she explained, PBS would mail you a big slice of American pop culture—including songs by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Smokey Robinson, the Four Tops, Al Green and Aretha herself, singing her classic "Respect."

My respect for PBS was still intact when the telethon ended, thanks to this low-key, no-pressure approach to fundraising. I can't say that for some Christian networks, which have shamelessly extorted money from viewers over the years using heavy-handed guilt manipulation, hypnotic control and bizarre Scripture-twisting.

During the PBS telethon I wondered why Christian networks couldn't simply offer music, books or other premiums instead of resorting to the typical arm-twisting and tear-jerking that we've come to expect. We need an overhaul in this area. Somebody needs to lead the way in pioneering a new style of on-air fundraising that doesn't treat people like brainless zombies.

Here are five of my least favorite fundraising tactics. I wish all of them could be banned from the airwaves.

Gimmick #1: The magic Bible verse. You know the drill. The evangelist quotes Psalm 37:37 and then announces that if you will send $37.37 ("No more, no less!") God will unleash all the blessings of King David upon you. (Hint: The phones seem to ring more frequently when the number seven is included in the Bible reference.)

Gimmick #2: The urgent, time-is-running-out plea. Before the preacher asks you to reach for your wallet, dramatic music is piped in. Then "Reverend Cheatem" talks about how the crippled man waited by the pool of Bethesda, hoping that the angel would trouble the waters so he could be healed. "God is troubling the waters right now, my dear friend," the preacher says with his eyes closed. "Go to the phones now, before it is too late. Only those who give in this holy, anointed moment will receive a supernatural blessing in return."

Gimmick #3: The memorialized gift. One popular evangelist announced on-air that she needed thousands of dollars to build a prayer room. She promised that those who funded this noble effort would receive recognition with special brass nameplates that would be mounted on the wall of the facility. The implication was that people could buy prayer coverage, sort of like a spiritual insurance policy. (I'm not surprised—since this woman offered her loyal followers the status of  "spiritual son" or "spiritual daughter" if they paid a $1,000 annual fee.)

Gimmick #4: The debt-breaking anointing. One preacher who specializes in telethons has raised millions by telling audiences that they are just one donation away from eliminating all red ink. All they have to do is give a sacrificial gift (usually four figures) to the TV network in the next few minutes. If they do this, God will wipe out their debts, no questions asked. No lifestyle changes necessary. (This technique was especially popular before the mortgage crisis.)

Gimmick #5: The Day of Atonement offering. This particularly odd strategy has been popular in the last couple of years, especially among gullible Christians who believe God blesses anything and everything that has the word "Israel" attached to it. The preacher announces that if you write a check to their network, and wave it in the air before you mail it (preferably while wearing a Jewish prayer shawl), God will forgive your sins, restore your health, bring back your wayward children, provide angelic protection and bless you with more than a dozen other special favors.

I still don't know what is more outrageous: That programmers allow such insanity on Christian television, or that gullible Christians fall for it year after year. Hopefully, emerging leaders in the religious broadcasting industry will restore our lost credibility by insisting on integrity, authenticity and good taste.

J. Lee Grady is contributing editor of Charisma and author of the new book The Holy Spirit Is Not for Sale. Follow him on Twitter at leegrady.

(from charismamag.com)

How do you know you are shopping in Texas?

from the wonderful House of Zathras blog

Tornado footage

Via Powerline

Herding Cats

from Boinky at Finestkind Clinic and fish market

Fruits of the Journey

Every day I try to get in a bike ride or game of basketball (or both) with the kids. Today it was a bike ride. Sarah looked exasperated. "Dad, I can't believe you are stopping in the middle of a bike ride to cut flowers!" "Well, Sarah, I guess I just can't help myself. I love these sunflowers, especially in vase arrangements on our kitchen table."

Mary Carillo's Badmitton Rant

from Vanderleun

What are the intentions of those who propose to build a mosque at Ground Zero?

How do you feel about the Muslims' plan to build a thirteen story mosque and community center near Ground Zero? This blog post gives us an historical perspective that may shed light on the true intentions of those who are planning it.

In a related matter, have you ever heard of the term "oven-walkers?" I heard it said by one of the parents of a person who was killed by the Islamists on September 11. He was referring to Mayor Bloomberg's lack of interest in knowing the motives and financing behind the proposed mosque. It is a reference to those Jews who just could not believe that evil like Hitler and the Nazis could possibly exist, and to prove it, those who denied the existence or possibility of such evil allegedly willingly walked into the ovens.

Is it hard to believe that such evil exists? It better not be, because such evil does exist in our world today.

Is it time for a third party?

Victor Davis Hansen has a new column, in which he gives us his valuable insights into current events. He notes that in 19 months Obama has blown a 70% approval rating, and is now headed under 40%, which George W. Bush took six years to get to.

Yes, the "proverbial" people are angry. I, for one, as someone who prides himself in being an independent thinker and actor, do not feel represented by either political party. Although the time for a third party may be right, the problem with starting a third party, though, is that, as Fred Brown writes in today's Denver Post, "centrists don't have much passion going for them." The Republican Party is being led to its fringes by the passionate participants in their primaries, and the Democrats, under the finger of puppet master George Soros, have long since gone over the left cliff.

Those of us who find ourselves being left behind by both political parties, are scolded by those who have blindly followed and cheered on one or the other of those parties as they lost relevance. Yet, will third party candidates like Tom Tancredo articulate a positive platform in which they tell us what they are for? Or, will they, as Brown believes, tend to be defined by what they are against, rather than what they are for?

A blog worth reading!

The Washington Rebel blog has really captured my attention. When someone speaks the truth with strength and clarity, it has a way of capturing my attention. Here is a post on Barack Obama, his mother, Stanley Dunham, (yes, that was her name) and his "puppet master," George Soros.

In another post, the Reb observes that "avoidance of core truth is an Obama specialty." The title of that post is "When the Father is Dead," because he asserts that "we are living at a time when there is no Father." He notes that "it is a sign of our times that our "elite" is more concerned about fitting an ideological strait-jacket over the English language than in engaging life at life's level, with all it's incongruencies."

In yet another post, entitled "The Quickening," the Reb confesses "to being startled whenever I hear someone express sincere convictions about Christianity, because the feeling of our time is that there are three impending fates for the Chartres Cathedral: (1) it will be allowed to deteriorate to the status of ruin; (2) the Muslims will erect a bloody crescent over it; or (3) it will be converted to a Wal-Mart. The general ambiance of our time is not that there is a God. There is a God vacuum, filled, by some, with dope; by others with consumerism; and by insane people with Leftism and Islamgruities."

Need a ride? Who ya gonna call?

Via The Cook Shack

An Obama offer I can support

The inimitable Scott Ott has some inside information at Scrappleface about a White House job offer for Andy Stern.

Andy Stern, the former chief of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is said to be “giving serious consideration” to an offer from President Barack Obama to appoint him “special ambassador to al Qaeda” with a mission to foster establishment of collective bargaining units among decentralized clusters of contract workers.

The organization’s associates, scattered around the global, reportedly work for low pay, in a hostile environment under the constant threat of sudden termination.

One White House source said the president is “moved with compassion for the plight of front-line Qaeda staff, who labor in abysmal conditions until their often-untimely demise — typically from exposure to hazardous materials at work.”

“They’re treated like parts in a massive machine,” said the unnamed Obama adviser. “They’re disposable.”

Republicans in Congress ordinarily resist government efforts to increase unionization. However, sources close to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH, indicate the GOP may actually support this presidential initiative.

“If you consider what unionization has done to American industry, and is doing to our own city, state and federal governments,” said an unnamed Boehner aide, “we can only hope that collective bargaining will have the same effect on the jihadis.”

What size are your balls?

Every Wednesday VW BUG posts some jokes at her One Happy Dog Speaks blog. Here is one she posted yesterday.

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.

2 The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.

3 The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.

4 The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL.

5 The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

and…
.
.
.
6 The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

THE AMAZING CONCLUSION:

The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become.

Heartfelt words about love and family

One of the very best writers on the web, in my humble opinion, is Joan of Argghh!. Her niece's funeral was today. Joan writes about grief, sorrow, and family in several recent blog posts. These words rang so true to me.

I know that the modern thing is to “celebrate the life” of the beloved, but I shall thoroughly entertain the mercies of Grief and Sorrow. I should like to feel their ministrations to the edges of suffering, and having exhausted myself, submit to their tender rest and release. I need to be with family so that we may cry together and curse and argue and laugh and wonder at it all only to return home and smolder with the fires of deeper love, tender new scars, and as is more likely, renewed umbrages.

It doesn’t matter. It’s family and it’s what families do, good or bad, that saves us a seat at the midnight circus of the incongruent: Life, in all its presentments and cruel consequences, is still worth the price of admission.

Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto

Via Webutante

Party of the Rich

We all know that the Republicans are the party of the rich, right? Roger L. Simon begs to differ. Another myth shattered.

1939-1943 in color!

The Denver Post has published on the internet the first color photos I have ever seen of the years 1939-1943. The photos were taken by the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information. Here are three of the seventy photos to encourage you to click on the link.

Low Volt-age by Jonah Goldberg

The Chevy Volt is a vanity car for the well-off, and the government is subsidizing it.

Let us compare the Volkswagen and the “Voltswagen.”

The original Volkswagen was intended as the “people’s car” (that’s what Volkswagen means). The idea of a cheap, safe, reliable car for the working man was popular before Adolf Hitler embraced it, but as a self-proclaimed man of the people, he made the idea his own. Whereas industrialists and aristocrats didn’t think the common man needed a car (“The people’s car is a bus” was their refrain), Hitler sided with one of his heroes, Henry Ford, arguing that everyone deserved his own ride. He ordered the German Labor Front, the union arm of the Nazi party, to start building a people’s car. When it looked like the car might be too expensive, the Labor Front created a savings program that promised a car for even the poorest workers.

At the 1934 Berlin Motor Show, Hitler proclaimed: “It is a bitter thought that millions of good and industrious people are excluded from the use of a means of transport that, especially on Sundays and holidays, could become for them a source of unknown joy.”

And then there’s the electric-gas hybrid Chevy Volt, a.k.a. the “Voltswagen.” At $41,000, about as much as the average American makes in a year, this is no people’s car. GM, owned by the government and the labor unions, is pitching it to affluent hipsters who don’t need a lot of space for a family. Deloitte Consulting says that the demand for such cars is from “young, very high income individuals” from households that make more than $200,000 a year, which is why the Volt will be rolled out in upscale, trendy urban markets. (Meanwhile the Chevy Cruze, the gas-only version of the Volt, has more room inside and is a mere $17,000.)

Because the Volt’s sticker price might be too high for even that crowd, the government is offering a federal subsidy of up to $7,500 (Californians have a state subsidy, too), which means that working-class people will be helping to pay for playthings for upper-income people.

“Like the EV1 that GM tried to peddle in the California market,” Kenneth Green, an environmental scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, says, “the Volt is a vanity car for the well-off that will be subsidized by less well-off taxpayers at all stages, from R&D to sales and to the construction of charging stations.”

Indeed, the Volt’s price is $41,000, but the cost is much higher. “Government Motors” is already selling the car at a loss. According to the blogger Doctor Zero, if you apply the subsidies that have gone directly into the car to just the first 10,000 vehicles, the cost is more like $81,000 per car.

Of course, electric-car boosters say this sort of thing is necessary to get the industry up and running. (Green responds: “Supporters claim that electric cars need subsidies because they’re still in their infancy. Electric cars have been around for over 100 years. That’s some infancy.”)

But would it be a good thing if we all switched to electric cars? The point is to reduce CO2 emissions, right? But in some regions, we get our electricity from CO2-spewing coal. The more electricity pulled from the grid, the more coal is burned, essentially replacing dirty oil with dirtier coal (which is why some coal backers see much promise in electric cars). Studies confirm that China — which is allegedly “beating us” in the race to a green economy — would produce vastly more greenhouse emissions if it switched to electric vehicles.

The expected response to that is that we need stuff like CO2-free windmills to generate electricity. Don’t get me started on the Volkspropeller.

Regardless, no matter how you crunch the numbers or the science, there’s no disputing that this is a political car, designed to meet the demands not of an economic market but of an ideological one, directed by the collusion of big business and big government. In this sense, the Volkswagen and the Voltswagen have a lot in common.

If the government weren’t taking taxpayer money and spending it on toys for upscale urban liberals (Obama’s strongest base of support outside of black voters and labor unions), there’d be no reason to care about the Volt. If rich people want to be “early adopters” and buy expensive gadgets that help them preen the plumage of their political sanctimony, that’s great. It’s not so great when the government gets involved in wealth redistribution, and it’s outrageous when it involves redistributing wealth upwards.

— Jonah Goldberg is editor-at-large of National Review Online and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. © 2010 Tribune Media Services, Inc

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Christopher Hitchens on his cancer and God

Author and atheist apologist Christopher Hitchens talks with Anderson Cooper about his experience of cancer, chemotherapy, his mother's tragic death, God and prayer for his recovery.

"A few magic words"

Thomas Sowell has a way of making his point with few words:

"If you could spend vast amounts of other people's money just by saying a few magic words, wouldn't you be tempted to do it? Barack Obama has spent hundreds of billions of dollars of the taxpayers' money just by using the magic words "stimulus" and "jobs."


It doesn't matter politically that the stimulus is not actually stimulating and that the unemployment rate remains up near double-digit levels, despite all the spending and all the rhetoric about jobs. And of course nothing negative will ever matter to those who are part of the Obama cult, including many in the media."

Read the rest of his thoughts on the subject here.

Desert Song by hillsong

Desert Song by hillsong

Federal Judge Overturns California's Same-Sex Marriage Ban

A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a California ban on same-sex marriage, ruling that the Proposition 8 ballot initiative was unconstitutional.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Vaugh Walker, one of three openly gay federal judges in the country, gave opponents of the controversial Proposition 8 ballot a major victory.

Gay couples waving rainbow and American flags outside the courthouse cheered, hugged and kissed as word of the ruling spread.

"Our courts are supposed to protect our Constitutional rights," lead plaintiff Kris Perry said as Sandy Stier, her partner of 10 years, stood at her side. "Today, they did."

Despite the favorable ruling for same-sex couples, gay marriage will not be allowed to resume. That's because the judge said he wants to decide whether his order should be suspended while the proponents pursue their appeal in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The judge ordered both sides to submit written arguments by Aug. 6 on the issue.

Supporters argued the ban was necessary to safeguard the traditional understanding of marriage and to encourage responsible childbearing.

California voters passed the ban as Proposition 8 in November 2008, five months after the state Supreme Court legalized gay marriage.

"Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage license. Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California Constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples," the judge wrote in a 136-page ruling that laid out in precise detail why the ban does not pass constitutional muster.

The judge found that the gay marriage ban violates the Constitution's due process and equal protection clauses.

"Because Proposition 8 disadvantages gays and lesbians without any rational justification, Proposition 8 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," the judge ruled.

Both sides previously said an appeal was certain if Walker did not rule in their favor. The case would go first to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, then the Supreme Court if the high court justices agree to review it.

In America, we should uphold and respect the right of people to make policy changes through the democratic process, especially changes that do nothing more than uphold the definition of marriage that has existed since the founding of this country and beyond," said Jim Campbell, a lawyer on the defense team.

Walker heard 13 days of testimony and arguments since January during the first trial in federal court to examine if states can prohibit gays from getting married.

The verdict was the second in a federal gay marriage case to come down in recent weeks. A federal judge in Massachusetts decided last month the state's legally married gay couples had been wrongly denied the federal financial benefits of marriage because of a law preventing the U.S. government from recognizing same-sex unions.

The plaintiffs in the California case presented 18 witnesses. Academic experts testified about topics ranging from the fitness of gay parents and religious views on homosexuality to the historical meaning of marriage and the political influence of the gay rights movement.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Theodore Olson delivered the closing argument for opponents of the ban. He told Judge Walker that tradition or fears of harm to heterosexual unions were legally insufficient grounds to discriminate against gay couples.

Olson teamed up with David Boies to argue the case, bringing together the two litigators best known for representing George W. Bush and Al Gore in the disputed 2000 election.

Defense lawyers called just two witnesses, claiming they did not need to present expert testimony because U.S. Supreme Court precedent was on their side. The attorneys also said gay marriage was an experiment with unknown social consequences that should be left to voters to accept or reject.

Former U.S. Justice Department lawyer Charles Cooper, who represented the religious and conservative groups that sponsored the ban, said cultures around the world, previous courts and Congress all accepted the "common sense belief that children do best when they are raised by their own mother and father."

In an unusual move, the original defendants, California Attorney General Jerry Brown and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, refused to support Proposition 8 in court.

That left the work of defending the law to Protect Marriage, the group that successfully sponsored the ballot measure that passed with 52 percent of the vote after the most expensive political campaign on a social issue in U.S. history.

Currently, same-sex couples can only legally wed in Massachusetts, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Washington, D.C.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

(from foxnews.com)

After seeing this dance video...you will NOT want a Chevy Volt

This is your stimulus dollars at work my overly-rich friends!

The freedom we once knew

from the Washington Rebel blog

Where we are headed?

Billions of whose dollars?

Rockstar? I prefer Neil Diamond

If you don't want to know the answer, don't ask the question!

This weekend the Denver Post showed us some polling results. It compared Constitutional Party candidate Tancredo with the two Republicans, and found them about even, although Tancredo has been in the race less than one week and the other two have been in it for over one year. It also compared the two Republicans with Democrat Hickenlooper. One thing it failed to ask: what happens in a two-way race between Tancredo and Hickenlooper? Don't ask when you don't want to know the answer!

"The Politics of Grievance"

In my post comparing Rush Limbaugh and Peggy Noonan, I forgot to mention that one of the points Rush consistently makes about liberals is that they are advocates of the "politics of grievance." Rush notes that there is nothing productive about hate, rage, victimhood, anger. In the end it is only destructive. So, you see, Rush and Peggy agree after all!

50 States Grateful To Almighty God

AMERICA!

YOUR GODLY HERITAGE IS BEING STOLEN FROM YOU

BY WICKED POLITICIANS. THROW THEM OUT!

50 State Constitutions Acknowledge Almighty God

Our National Anthem Acknowledges God

Our Money Says “In God We Trust”

Our Declaration of Independence

Calls On Him For Aid, But

Our Foundations

Will Soon Be

Gone!

Alabama 1901, Preamble. We the people of the State of Alabama , invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution.

Alaska 1956, Preamble. We, the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land.

Arizona 1911, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution...

Arkansas 1874, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government...

California 1879, Preamble. We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom.

Colorado 1876, Preamble. We, the people of Colorado, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe.

Connecticut 1818, Preamble. The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy.

Delaware 1897, Preamble. Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshiping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences.

Florida 1885, Preamble . We, the people of the State of Florida , grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution...

Georgia 1777, Preamble. We, the people of Georgia, relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution...

Hawaii 1959, Preamble. We, the people of Hawaii, Grateful for Divine Guidance, Establish this Constitution.

Idaho 1889, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freed om, to secure its blessings.

Illinois 1870, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
Indiana 1851, Preamble We, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to choos e our form of government.

Iowa 1857, Preamble We, the People of the State of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of these blessings establish this Constitution.

Kansas 1859, Preamble . We, the people of Kansas, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges establish this Constitution.

Kentucky 1891, Preamble. We, the people of the Commonwealth are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties...

Louisiana 1921, Preamble We, the people of the State of Louisiana, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy.

Maine 1820, Preamble. We the People of Maine acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity. And imploring His aid and direction.

Maryland 1776, Preamble We, the people of the state of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty.

Massachusetts 1780, Preamble We, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe .. In the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction ..

Michigan 1908, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Michigan, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom establish this Constitution.

Minnesota, 1857, Preamble . We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings:

Mississippi 1890, Preamble. We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Al mighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work.

Missouri 1845, Preamble . We, the people of Missouri, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness, Establish this Constitution .

Montana 1889, Preamble. We, the people of Montana, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty establish this Constitution

Nebraska 1875, Preamble . We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom . Establish this Constitution.

Nevada 1864, Preamble . We the people of the State of Nevada, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom establish this Constitution

New Hampshire 1792, Part I. Art. I. Sec. V . Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience.

New Jersey 1844, Preamble. We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors.
New Mexico 1911, Preamble . We, the People of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty ...

New York 1846, Preamble. . We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings.

North Carolina 1868, Preamble . We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those ...

North Dakota 1889, Preamble . We, the people of North Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, do ordain ...

Ohio 1852, Preamble . We the people of the state of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and to promote our common

Oklahoma 1907, Preamble . Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessings of liberty establish this ...

Oregon 1857, Bill of Rights, Article I. Section 2. All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences..

Pennsylvania 1776, Preamble We, the people of Pennsylvania , grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance ...

Rhode Island 1842, Preamble. We the People of the State of Rhode Island grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing ...

South Carolina, 1778, Preamble. We, the people of he State of South Carolina grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution.

South Dakota 1889, Preamble . We, the people of South Dakota , grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties ...

Tennessee 1796, Art. XI.III. That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience...

Texas 1845, Preamble . We the People of the Republic of Texas , acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God.

Utah 1896, Preamble. Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we establish this Constitution.

Vermont 1777, Preamble . Whereas all government ought to enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed on man ...

Virginia 1776, Bill of Rights, XVI Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator can be directed only by Reason and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other ...

Washington 1889, Preamble. We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution.
West Virginia 1872, Preamble. Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God ...

Wisconsin 1848, Preamble We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, domestic tranquility ...

Wyoming 1890, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Wyoming, grateful to God for our civil, political, and religious liberties ... establish this Constitution.

(from Charles Carrin Ministries)

Choosing whom to listen to; choosing whom to read

One of the benefits of being a consumer is that you can choose! In deciding whom to read or whom to listen to, I can choose whomever I want, even if the two I choose do not like each other! For example, I choose to listen to Rush Limbaugh and read Peggy Noonan. I don't think they like each other, but I thoroughly enjoy them both.

Peggy emphasizes love. She says that is the most important virtue. She is right. She points out that the man she wrote speeches for, and whom she greatly admired, Ronald Reagan, was a man who attracted voters because of his genuine love for America. Rush Limbaugh also loved Ronald Reagan. Rush saw the same virtues that Peggy saw in Ronald Reagan. Rush is obsessed with resisting and exposing liberals. Ronald Reagan was obsessed with fighting and exposing communists. Peggy writes that our leaders need to be people of principle, but also people of grace and goodwill toward fellow Americans with whom they disagree. Rush would probably see that as being mushy. He believes in exposing and fighting liberals and articulating for us the principles that made this country great. No one does it better.

Who do you ask to fix the problem?

This morning I got to listen to Peter Boyles on KHOW radio. He made some points I liked. In talking about Tom Tancredo's candidacy for Colorado governor, he used the word resistance... that Tancredo resists the politically correct ways of doing things. I find that appealing. Boyles also quoted Einstein, who said that you don't ask the people who caused the problems to fix the problems! George Washington did not cause the problem. Thomas Jefferson did not cause the problem. Abraham Lincoln did not cause the problem. Ronald Reagan did not cause the problem. They were, however, exactly the right men to fix the problem, and lead our country to greater accomplishments.

GOP implodes, loses best opportunity in history

As I said back in the early summer, we are headed for a two year stint of serious misery. Palin, Crist, and now Tom Tancredo, have stepped into a vacuum of leadership without a clear call or sense of vision, and while suffering the very derangement syndrome that Obama has, namely Charisma Over Character Personality disorder, which after the results of this next election will definitely be added to the DSM V. Third party break away candidacies NEVER WORK! EVER! Ross Perot gave us our only two term President never ever to have gained a majority of votes in an election. Tea Party angst is not enough to build a country on, and not enough vision to lead America into anything but the crapper for the next six years. We are setting ourselves up for defeat in 2012 if we don't knuckle down and begin to put forth a consistent vision that is proven with actual deep experience and accomplishment. When will the Republican party regain its place of intellectual and moral strength? When they cast off the lazy rhetoric of Obama hatred and begin to look to and fashion a future plan based on real world experience with solving real world problems. The current crowd of loud mouths are ruining the chances of a true comeback for Conservative causes because they can't see where they are going. They are the blind leading the frustrated into a ditch that will lead all of us down the road to ruin. Ideas, energy, experience and focus is what we need to lean on right now, not epically charged egos running into a dark, visionless void.  

How Much Will Tancredo Hurt Colo. GOP? -WSJ

Former Congressman Tom Tancredo’s third-party race for Colorado governor has the potential to split the conservative vote and torpedo the GOP’s efforts to take back the gubernatorial mansion after four years of Democratic rule.

Former GOP congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado during a July 23 interview at KDRV-TV in Denver. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

But will it affect other Republicans up and down the ballot?

Dick Wadhams, chairman of the state GOP, fears it will. The reason: Tancredo has proved that he has quite a flair for the provocative statement and the dramatic gesture – and a knack for grabbing media attention.

Several years back, Tancredo said the U.S. ought to threaten to bomb Mecca and other Muslim holy sites. More recently, Tancredo expressed longing for a “civics literacy test” to be administered to all citizens before they earned the right to vote. He’s also big on impeaching President Barack Obama, whom he has repeatedly declared to be the biggest threat to the U.S., more dangerous even than al Qaeda.

During his short-lived run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, Tancredo made a splash with a TV ad depicting a bomb planted by illegal immigrants exploding in a mall and the slogan, “Tancredo – before it’s too late.” (He also put together a derisive video that portrayed his fellow Republican candidates wearing sombreros and attending cockfights, in an effort to slam them as soft on illegal immigration.)

Such tactics could win Tancredo a disproportionate share of media time as the fall campaign revs up, Wadhams said, crowding out the messages of other GOP contenders across the state – even, perhaps, in the pivotal race for U.S. Senate.

“He can’t contain himself,” Wadhams said. “This guy has such an unquenchable thirst for national media attention, at any cost.”

If Tancredo becomes identified first and foremost as an immigration candidate – and if voters see him as Republican, despite his new affiliation with the American Constitution Party — that could hurt down-ballot GOP candidates. The Colorado electorate in general doesn’t put a priority on the immigration issue, said Katy Atkinson, a Republican political consultant who isn’t working for any candidates in the gubernatorial race.

“Then again,” Atkinson added, “Tancredo might make rank-and-file Republican candidates look downright moderate” – a plus in Colorado, where about a third of the electorate is unaffiliated with either major party.

Tancredo says he plans to revive his seal-the-borders message as a key plank of his gubernatorial platform; as he puts it, he’ll be arguing that he can “keep Colorado secure against the illegal alien onslaught.” But he also says he’ll be running on several other issues, including courting businesses and slashing the size of the state government.

The details of those pledges? Stay tuned, Tancredo says with a laugh. He just got into the race. He’s working on it.

(from wall street journal)