Long time Facebook friend Tamar Shermadini stars in this video.

Power Line Blog contest winner

Your votes are worth $2,000 to Don Brookins, the creator of “Doorbell,” who may have launched a second career with one of the year’s most popular political videos.

Nothing will change without you voting. If you cannot vote for a candidate, then vote against one. Remember that Americans don’t elect politicians for life so voting out an incumbent is always a good idea.

Our picks:
Governor – Carl Paladino (R) (and we ARE holding our nose)
Lt. Governor – Robert Duffy (D)
Comptroller – Harry Wilson (R)
Attorney General – Dan Donovan (R)
Senate 2 yr term – Joseph DioGuardi (R)
Senate 6 year term – Jay Townsend (R) (oust entrenched incumbent)
Congress 28th district – Jill Rowland (R) (oust entrenched incumbent)
State Senate – Mary Wilmot (D) (oust entrenched incumbent)
State Assembly – Mark Scuderi (R) (oust entrenched incumbent)

On the BACK of the ballot – vote NO on all propositions

The word “gerrymander” means

to divide (a territorial unit) into election districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible

according to the Merriam Webster dictionary. New York’s 28th Congressional District was carefully crafted to illustrate that definition. Actually, it was crafted to ensure that the inner cities of Buffalo and Rochester would always be able to elect a liberal Democrat.

New York's gerrymandered 28th Congressional District

The current occupant of this Democratic seat for life is Louise Slaughter. We have criticized Louise in the past for her ultra-liberal views and anti-military stances. And, for the fact that she retains her Texas accent after have been an area resident for decades.

The New York Republican Party routinely offers sacrificial lambs for Louise to slaughter in each Congressional election. We’re hoping that the current candidate can do much better.

Jill Rowland is a practicing dentist, wife and mother. Her name will be appearing on both the Republican and Conservative Party lines on November 2.

Jill Rowland - Click image for more information.

Jill Rowland for Congress

Twitter: @JillforCongress
Facebook: Jill Rowland
Website: http://jillrowland.com/

Here’s the story: More Than 1,000 Gather in Protest at Rochester’s 2010 Anti-Tax Tea Party

The Rochester Tea Party organizers have scheduled another outing for all of us that oppose the big spending, high taxing, big government. There was a hugely successful gathering last year and they hope to make this year’s even larger and louder.

Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010
Time: 11:30 am EDT to 1 pm EDT

Location: Genesee Crossroads Park

The park is located in downtown Rochester, NY, on the west bank of the Genesee River north of Main Street and south of Andrews.

Further information can be found at the Rochester Tea Party website.

Photos from the April 15, 2009 Rochester Tea Party

As much as I loath Harry Reid, he’s being slammed for saying something that ought not to draw any criticism.

CNN:

“He (Reid) was wowed by Obama’s oratorical gifts and believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama – a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one,’ as he said privately. Reid was convinced, in fact, that Obama’s race would help him more than hurt him in a bid for the Democratic nomination,” they write.

Barry Obama is half white, thus he is lighter skinned than many black men. He does not have an accent when he speaks, unless he chooses to use one – much like Rev. Jesse Jackson. Both are facts and not subject to dispute.

I cannot provide proof that a light skinned black man would do better in an election than a dark skinned black man. It is a moot point since Obama did win the election and his race was indeed a factor.

A 2004 article about the play “Yellowman”, by Dael Orlandersmith, explored the issue of color within the black community as seen in the play.

From The People’s News:

Leeds is among the millions of blacks trying, for the first time, to enunciate clearly and properly use all the words they speak. This attention to language actually is a return to their roots. Until the mid-1960s, blacks, including groundbreakers like Jackie Robinson and Malcolm X, spoke in a cadence that sounded whiter than someone asking for Grey Poupon.

“If Malcolm walked up behind you and started talking, you would think ‘What white man has come in here?’” the late black nationalist’s friend, Elliott Saffron, told The Peoples News. “What Malcolm was saying was black, but how he was saying it was white.”

There was a paradigm shift, however, in the late 1960s when the speech patterns of blacks like Stepin Fetchit and Buckwheat—who had previously been considered buffoons—became a favored way of speaking. ‘Talking white’ became an insult.

New Black Man blog:

The notion of “talking white” and “acting white” have long been bandied about in black communities, but for a nation that has historically chosen to be oblivious to the inner dynamics of Black life in America, such a discussion elicits a fresh focus. It was just last year that perennial protest candidate Ralph Nader accused then Senator Obama of “talking white” as part of Obama’s effort to assuage white voter fears that he might be cut from the same cloth of traditional Civil Rights leaders. Nader’s comments would have been offensive, if not for the fact that there quite a few Black Americans who also read diction as an index of racial authenticity.

The black community as a whole does not recognize all their black brothers and sisters as equal. Being human, they have the same mix of prejudices and stereotypes as any of us. The notion that Harry Reid was being racist for recognizing two true facts about then candidate Obama and concluding that they would help his candidacy is plain stupid.

Or so says a Washington Times columnist when viewing the 2010 Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute’s Great American Conservative Women Calendar.

Speaking of blondes, no roster of Republican hotties would be complete without the irreverent Ann Coulter, who precedes Miss Prejean in the calendar as Miss September.

True to form, Miss Coulter bucks tradition by being the only calendar girl not in a white button-down shirt; she is photographed in a simple white t-shirt with her signature cross pendant dangling from her neck.

Other women in the calendar, which is distributed free to publicize the institute, include former Virginia Republican Party Chairman Kate Obenshain, who looks seductively into the camera for her glamour shot, political strategist Kellyanne Conway and columnist Michelle Malkin, who both sport shirts unbuttoned to reveal a hint of decolletage — but not a micrometer more than befits a conservative pinup girl.

Go on over to the Institute’s site and order several today!

Do you believe that people are basically good, or are they bad and in need of salvation? Curiously, that philosophical debate is at the crux of the political struggle in this country and the world today.

Humans can be amazingly generous, selfless, and willing to sacrifice for a greater good. They can also tolerate dictators, mind numbing regulation and the loss of even the most basic freedoms.

Glenn Beck is devoting a great deal of air time on his radio and television shows to the proposition that there is a conspiracy to take the freedoms that Americans enjoy away from them. Call the plotters Communists, Socialists or Liberals, they have formed a multitude of groups for the sole purpose of enslaving Americans and destroying our way of life.

The politicians of the Democratic and the Republican Parties in the United States are guilty of acting in their own self interest. American voters are, as well. Politicians use their power to bribe the voters and the people who give money to campaigns. voters re-elect politicians based upon what they can bring to their districts.

It’s all very venial and not anything to be proud of. By electing politicians, the voters are saying that they prefer that others take care of them and provide governance and direction.

Let’s talk about speed limits on the highway. Speed limits, the laws that enforce them and the police who enforce the laws exist because SOME PEOPLE cannot be trusted to do the right thing and drive at a safe speed. You and I always drive safely. We may speed just a little, but that is because we are very busy and have important things to do. SOME PEOPLE need to be controlled because they interfere with that. SOME PEOPLE also think that they’re special and act like it, so they ought to be punished.

Replace speed control with any other legal issue and you see the problem. Self-centered thinking. It drives everything in politics.

Are their groups that are actively promoting the destruction of the United States? There are. However, most of what Glenn Beck and others see as a Communist plot is merely people acting as is their nature, to ensure their own comfort and lack of responsibility and self importance.

Ideology and theology have little real say in American politics. Sorry, Glenn, but the driving forces behind the people and groups you see as a threat is selfishness. They need speed limits so that they can speed. They need limits on speech so they can be heard. The threat is not from an overarching conspiracy but from human nature and a wish to never have responsibility.

One list can be found by clicking on the image in the upper left or by going to Tea Party Patriots.

A second list may be found at Tea Party Day.

Be sensible. These parties are both a grassroots movement and the efforts of a number of regional and national groups with agendas. The followers of Ron Paul are heavily involved in some areas. The Libertarian Party is also an organizer in places. If Barry Obama’s “real” birth certificate is not something you worry about, or the actions of the Tri-Lateral Commission bore you, you might find some of the people at a Tea Party just a little off-putting.

A large number of people with a variety of beliefs are joining together for this movement. Bite your tongue or keep it firmly planted in your cheek if you must, but the overarching message of the movement must come through to the media and those undecideds. We are tired of graft, corruption, taxation and the lack of control over our own lives and our own earnings.

Play nice for the cameras. If interviewed, be concise and direct. Taxes, pork and government out of control. A, B and C.

Just as she did when they were deployed to Iran, Sarah Palin is visiting Alaskan National Guard troops deployed in Kosovo.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took time to pose for photos with military policeman at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo. Palin traveled to Kosovo to visit Alaska Army National Guard troops stationed in the region as part of the Kosovo force peacekeeping mission. Photo by Sgt. Adam-David Pepper

Soldiers from the ‘Land of the Midnight Sun’ got a huge morale boost when Alaska’s governor, Sarah Palin, and the state’s adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, trekked the approximately 5,000 miles to see their National Guard troops from the 49th state and to show their support for the service members of the Multi-National Task Force-East KFOR 11 mission.

“Our Soldiers are America’s heroes and I want to do whatever I can do to show them support and take the time to do so, to travel and to see them,” said Palin, who became Alaska’s 11th governor in November 2006 and the first female to be elected.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was presented an Alaskan flag encased in a plaque; the flag was flown over Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, where Alaska Army National Troops are currently stationed as part of a peacekeeping mission to the region. Photo by Sgt. Adam-David Pepper

The 130 troops, assigned to 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, who wear the patch depicting the stars of the Big Dipper and the North Star, form the bulk of Task Force Arctic Eagle, who’s main contribution to keeping the peace in the Kosovo region is commanding the skies with their UH-60 Black Hawks.

“I truly appreciate you from the bottom of my heart. I have such a sincere, great appreciation for all that you are doing to serve your state and your country,” said Palin.

Camp Bondsteel Soldiers welcomed with smiles, flash bulbs and a whirlwind tour. That evening she met with senior leadership hosted by the commanding general of MNTF-E, Brig. Gen. Keith Jones, and was briefed on the current situation in the eastern sector. The next morning Palin was treated to a unique breakfast of pancakes and smoked salmon by her fellow Alaskans and to hear what the rank and file had on their minds.

“[The governor] is real down-to-earth and as a mother of a teenager, she is someone I can relate to,” said 1st Lt. Sarah Payeur, Task Force Arctic Eagle, aviation liaison officer, 1-207th Avn. Regt. “With her son in the Army, serving in Iraq, she completely understands what we are going through and to me that is important when it comes to knowing what family support is all about,” said the Eagle River, Alaska native.

Following a meet-and-greet opportunity, interested service members at the CBS theater, Gov. Palin and the Alaskan delegation were whisked away to visit a Task Force Arctic Eagle adopt-a-school program in the nearby town of Ferizaj/Urosevac.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin poses with children that the Alaska Army National Guard teach English to at the Ferizaj/Urosevac community center, Kosovo. The Alaska troops are currently deployed to Kosovo, as part of the United Nations Kosovo force mission bringing stability to the region. Photo by Sgt. Adam-David Pepper

“I think it is great what our troops are doing in helping these students learn English,” said Palin, who took a sidewalk tour of the town with one of the students, Albana Mani, who explained what the program is all about. The teenagers learned more about her during an exercise that involved reading and answering questions about her biography.

“We are very proud of our program and to show it off to the governor was an honor. It was important to let her see how we interact with the local community, to let her know the impact we are having with these students,” said Spc. Robert Sapp, a chaplain’s assistant with the 1-207th Avn. Regt., from Anchorage.

The tour of her short visit wound down when she returned to the flight line of CBS and took part in the pinning of newly promoted Soldiers and awarding achievements.

“The characteristics that you all embody; your self-determination and self-sufficiency, combined with teamwork that is needed in order to get the job done. You embody that. You have that discipline and tenacity and that patriotism that I pray our younger generation will adopt. Our country will be better off if we have more of you out there serving something greater than self,” concluded Palin.

“It was an honor to host Gov. Palin for her visit to Camp Bondsteel. The Soldiers were elated to see her and appreciated that she made the long trip from Alaska to show her appreciation for their service,” said Maj. Matthew Schell, the 1-207th’s acting battalion commander.

DVIDS
Story by Sgt. 1st Class Paul Wade

The Centers for Disease Control have reduced their reporting of pandemic swine flu / novel H1N1 cases to once a week, on Friday. We will attempt to keep our readers updated during the week by posting data from various state sites.

States reported in this color have either stopped publicly reporting pandemic flu case numbers or the data has proven difficult to locate on their sites. States with this color in their data have a lower reported total than the CDC reports.

Pandemic Novel H1N1 or Swine Flu trend based on CDC numbers for 6-25-2009. Click on the graph for a larger version.

States marked in this color are those which have stopped posting their pandemic flu case numbers on line, or the numbers are not easily found at their site.

Here are the eight Republican congressmen that went against their party and all common sense to vote for the largest tax increase in history.

Bono Mack (CA) (202) 225-5330
Castle (DE) (202) 225-4165
Kirk (IL) (202) 225-4385 (And he’s seriously considering running for Senate!)
Lance (NJ) (202) 225-5361
LoBiondo (NJ) (202) 225-6572
McHugh (NY) (202) 225-4611
Reichert (WA) (202) 225-7761
Smith (NJ) (202) 225-3765

Michelle Malkin