Common_Sense's Blog

This is a very powerful video.  It;s the Dutch Geerd Wilders video that has the Muslims all in a snit.

http://www.4shared.com/file/42341512/7859bc2b/Fitna
_the_Movie_Geert_Wilders_film_about_the_Quran__English_
.html

Ah HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  The balefully boneheaded bureaucrats in the Phoenix city government are actually signing on to this idiotic, pointless leftwing propaganda exercise?

First we see Mayor Gordon sucking up to illegal aliens, and now this idiocy.  When are the people of Phoenix going to send Flash Gordon and his den of thieves packing???

Phoenix to join world cities in hourlong "lights out" effort

Last Edited: Saturday, 29 Mar 2008, 12:40 PM MST Earth Hour By TANALEE SMITH
Associated Press Writer

SYDNEY, Australia (AP)  --  Workers in Phoenix will turn out the lights in all downtown city-owned buildings for one hour Saturday night, and officials and hope the city's residents will do the same.
  
The nation's fifth-largest city is among more than two dozen across the world participating in Earth Hour, an international effort to promote conservation and awareness of climate change. Phoenix is the flagship city for the Mountain time zone.
  
The World Wildlife Fund is promoting the event and hopes it makes people more aware of their impact on the environment, not just for the appointed hour between 8-9 p.m. but all the time.
  
Turning off the lights for an hour sounds easy, but organizers say it's tricky when dealing with tall buildings, ballparks and convention centers.
  
The shutdown began in Sydney with the Australian city's Opera House and Harbour Bridge going dark.
  
World Wildlife Fund spokeswoman Leslie Aun calls it a logistical challenge, especially because large parts of the major electrical systems aren't designed to be shut down.

This article offers a different perspective on Obama's speech that blamed white people for Jeremiah Wright's racism and anti-Americanism.  The mainstream media is singing Obama's praises for the speech that should be condemned for racism.

A Brief for Whitey
by Patrick J. Buchanan

03/21/2008

How would he pull it off? I wondered.

How would Barack explain to his press groupies why he sat silent in a pew for 20 years as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered racist rants against white America for our maligning of Fidel and Gadhafi, and inventing AIDS to infect and kill black people?

How would he justify not walking out as Wright spewed his venom about "the U.S. of K.K.K. America," and howled, "God damn America!"

My hunch was right. Barack would turn the tables.

Yes, Barack agreed, Wright's statements were "controversial," and "divisive," and "racially charged," reflecting a "distorted view of America."

But we must understand the man in full and the black experience out of which the Rev. Wright came: 350 years of slavery and segregation.

Barack then listed black grievances and informed us what white America must do to close the racial divide and heal the country.

The "white community," said Barack, must start "acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination -- and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past -- are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds ... ."

And what deeds must we perform to heal ourselves and our country?

The "white community" must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with "ladders of opportunity" that were "unavailable" to Barack's and the Rev. Wright's generations.

What is wrong with Barack's prognosis and Barack's cure?

Only this. It is the same old con, the same old shakedown that black hustlers have been running since the Kerner Commission blamed the riots in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities on, as Nixon put it, "everybody but the rioters themselves."

Was "white racism" really responsible for those black men looting auto dealerships and liquor stories, and burning down their own communities, as Otto Kerner said -- that liberal icon until the feds put him away for bribery.

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America.

Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.

This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.

Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks -- with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas -- to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?

Barack talks about new "ladders of opportunity" for blacks.

Let him go to Altoona and Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for "deserving" white kids.

Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America's fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?

Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?

As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?

Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?

We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.

Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.

As a continuing public service informing people of Arizona's traffic laws, today I'm going to touch on window tint.

When I stop a car for having illegally dark window tint, I'm invariably told that they weren't aware that Arizona has a law regulating tint.  I don't know if they're lying, or if they really are unaware that Arizona's tint law is the same as California's.

Arizona Revised Statutes 28-959.01.A.1 specifies that window tint on the front passenger compartment windows cannot have a light transmission specification of less than 33%.  33% window film is not very dark, and you can see clearly into the vehicle.

The rear side windows and rear windows can be as dark as you want as long as you have side mirrors.

We DO issue citations for violations of this law.  I carry a small, hand-held electronic tint tester that shows the amount of light transmission on an LED display.  The tester is calibrated and holds up in court.

I see loads of cars with "limo black" tint.  It's only a matter of time until they get tickets and have to scrape the tint off.  Scraping off window tint is a royal pain.  It's better to get legal tint in the first place.

I have offered to accept a job with Fox 10 writing headlines.  Again and again headlines on the board are rife with misspellings, incorrect words, and/or grammatical atrocities.  Make me an offer.

Oh, by the way, the plural of crisis is "crises."  There's no such word as "crisises", although I'm sure that the literate members of the board got a laugh out of it.

This was in the London Times today.  I have to wonder why this story is being completely ignored by the American "news" media.   If this was Bush or even McCain, it would be the lead story on the evening news.  It would be on the front page of the Arizona Repugnant.  Instead, not even Fox is carrying it.

I can't think of any election in my life in which the media has so clearly supported one candidate over the others.

Mansion 'mistake' piles the pressure on Barack Obama

The London Times

February 26, 2008

A British-Iraqi billionaire lent millions of dollars to Barack Obama's fundraiser just weeks before an imprudent land deal that has returned to haunt the presidential contender, an investigation by The Times discloses.

The money transfer raises the question of whether funds from Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain’s wealthiest men, helped Mr Obama buy his mock Georgian mansion in Chicago.

A company related to Mr Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr Obama's bagman Antoin "Tony" Rezko on May 23 2005. Mr Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

Three weeks later, Mr Obama bought a house on the city's South Side while Mr Rezko's wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15.

Mr Obama says he never used Mrs Rezko's still-empty lot, which could only be accessed through his property. But he admits he paid his gardener to mow the lawn.

Mrs Rezko, whose husband was widely known to be under investigation at the time, went on to sell a 10-foot strip of her property to Mr Obama seven months later so he could enjoy a bigger garden.

Mr Obama now admits his involvement in this land deal was a “boneheaded mistake”.

Mrs Rezko’s purchase and sale of the land to Mr Obama raises many unanswered questions.

It is unclear how Mrs Rezko could have afforded the downpayment of $125,000 and a $500,000 mortgage for the original $625,000 purchase of the garden plot at 5050 South Greenwood Ave.

In a sworn statement a year later, Mrs Rezko said she got by on a salary of $37,000 and had $35,000 assets. Mr Rezko told a court he had "no income, negative cash flow, no liquid assets, no unencumbered assets [and] is significantly in arrears on many of his obligations."

Mrs Rezko, whose husband goes on trial on unrelated corruption charges in Chicago on March 3, refused to answer questions about the case when she spoke by telephone to The Times.

Asked if she used money from her husband to buy the land next to Mr Obama's house, she said: "I can't answer these questions, I'm sorry."

Asked how long she and her husband had known Mr Auchi, she replied: "I will not be able to answer this question."

Mr Auchi's lawyer, asked whether the Fintrade Services loan was used to buy the land which became Mr Obama's garden, stated: "No, not as far as my client is aware."

Mr Auchi's links with Mr Rezko are a new political headache for Mr Obama, the charismatic Illinois senator vying to become America’s first African-American president.

Hillary Clinton has sought to make Mr Rezko, who has bankrolled Mr Obama's political career since his first run for the Illinois state senate in the mid-1990s, into an election issue by calling him a "slum landlord" in a televised debate. She has repeatedly suggested that Mr Obama has effectively not been "vetted" by media scrutiny and will not withstand "the Republican attack machine".

Bill Burton, a spokesman for Mr Obama, told The Times: “The bottom line is Obama does not recall ever meeting him [Mr Auchi].”

The house-and-garden deal raised questions about whether Mr Rezko, a property developer and fast-food restauranteur, made it possible for the Obamas to purchase a mansion they could otherwise not afford.

Mrs Rezko paid the asking price for the garden but the Obamas bought the house for $1.65 million, - $300,000 less than the asking price. The sellers deny they offered the Obamas a discount on the house because the garden had fetched full price from Mrs Rezko.

Mr Rezko has since been indicted for allegedly scheming to pressure companies seeking business with the state of Illinois for kickbacks and contributions to the governor Rod Blagojevich's campaign. He goes on trial on March 3.

A prosecution document filed last month alleged that a "political candidate" - identified by the Chicago Sun-Times as Mr Obama - received a $10,000 campaign contribution from what is said to be a $250,000 kickback in the corruption case. That means Mr Obama's name could figure in Mr Rezko's trial, although he is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Mr Obama insists he never used his office to do favours for Mr Rezko but admits that, as an Illinois state senator, he once wrote letters to housing officials urging them to provide money in support of a proposed apartment building for elderly people which Mr Rezko wanted to build.

Mr Obama has publicly sought to atone for his closeness to Mr Rezko, paying $150,000 to charity to distance himself from a man accused of political corruption.

The spotlight fell on Mr Rezko's ties to Mr Auchi last month when the Chicago businessman was thrown in jail for violating his bail terms by failing to declare a different $3.5 million loan from the British billionaire, made in April 2007. Prosecutors feared Mr Rezko, who travels widely in the Middle East, might flee to a country without an extradition treaty such as his birthplace of Syria.

Mr Auchi was convicted of corruption, given a suspended sentence and fined £1.4 million in France in 2003 for his part in the Elf affair, described as the biggest political and corporate scandal in post-war Europe. He, in a statement from his media lawyers, claims he is appealing against the sentence.

Mr Auchi founded his Luxembourg-based General Mediterranean Holding (GMH) in 1979, a year before he left Iraq. He says that he did business with his native country when it was considered a friend of the West but ceased to trade with the late Saddam Hussein's regime once sanctions were imposed after the invasion of Kuwait.

Mr Rezko has told a court that Mr Auchi is a "close friend." Mr Auchi's lawyer told The Times: "It is untrue that my client and Mr Rezko are 'close friends'. Mr Auchi first met Mr Rezko after the 2003 Iraq war and they have a business relationship."

Mr Rezko and Mr Auchi have been partners in a pizzeria business in the Mid-West and a major 62-acre land development in Riverside Park in Chicago.

According to court documents, Mr Rezko's lawyer said his client had "longstanding indebtedness" to Mr Auchi's GMH. By June 2007 he owed it $27.9 million.

Under a Loan Forgiveness Agreement described in court, Mr Auchi lent Mr Rezko $3.5 million in April 2005 and $11 million in September 2005, as well as the $3.5 million transferred in April 2007.

That agreement provided for the outstanding loans to be "forgiven" in return for a stake in the 62-acre Riverside Park development.

A posting last week on a GMH-owned website, middle-east-online.com, portrayed Mr Auchi as a Middle Eastern "Donald Trump" with a global business construction empire.

Mr Auchi visited the United States in 2004. Pictures show him meeting Emil Jones, the president of the Illinois state senate, an ally of Mr Obama, a former state senator.

Both Mr Auchi and Mr Obama say they have no memory of meeting each other. But, according to a source, the two may have had a brief encounter at the Four Seasons Hotel in Chicago where Mr Auchi’s visit was being honoured with a dinner attended by the Governor when Mr Obama, coincidentally in the hotel, dropped in.

An aide to Mr Obama said he did attend an event at the Four Seasons at which Mr Rezko was present but does not remember meeting Mr Auchi. "He shook a lot of hands and met a lot of people," the aide said. "We do not remember individual people."

Prosecutors say that, after Mr Auchi was unable to enter the United States in 2005, Mr Rezko approached the US State Department to get him a visa and apparently asked "certain Illinois government officials to do the same." Mr Obama denies he was approached. Mr Auchi's lawyer has emphasised to The Times that it would be entirely false to imply that money had been lent by GMH to Mr Rezko in return for Mr Rezko seeking to assist Mr Auchi to obtain a visa. The two men's relationship, the lawyer stressed, was a busines s one.

Mr Auchi's lawyer said the purpose of the Fintrade Services loan was to "assist the financial position" of a pizzeria company called AR Pizza, in which GMH held a shareholding. He said the loan had since been repaid in the form of a greater stake in the Chicago 62-acre land project.

AR Pizza has since become a defendant in a civil lawsuit by the Papa John's pizzeria chain, which alleges that it continued to operate a string of former Papa John's franchises under the name "Papa Tony's" without permission.

Mr Auchi's lawyer said: "My client played no part in the management and/or day to day running of AR Pizza, the GMH Group being an entirely passive investor in the company. Further, there was no need as a mimimum return on the investment was guaranteed. As to the court proceedings, my client is not a party to these. He denies any wrongdoing in relation to his involvement in AR Pizza."

Mr Rezko was also a major fundraiser for Governor Blagojevich. The governor's chief fundraiser Christopher Kelly, who also served as his gambling adviser, is fighting tax charges related to betting losses. The Associated Press reported that last month Mr Auchi's conglomerate also gave a loan to Mr Kelly secured on a Nevada land deal which the governor’s bagman was involved in.

 

 

 

I've been following the story on WKYC about Hope Steffey, the woman who was arrested and "strip searched" (according to WKYC). WKYC's slogan is "Report the Facts. Respect the Truth." Yet, they are doing neither in this twisted, slanted story. They are pandering to the plantiffs in a civil lawsuit, and they are smearing the Sheriff's Office. I hope the sheriff sues WKYC.

The FACTS and the TRUTH: Police were called regarding a family fight. When they arrived, they began to interview the parties.  Hope Steffey then provided the officers with "her" indentification...which was determined to be her dead sister's driver's license.  Providing false ID is a crime.  When the officer refused to return the license, Steffey ATTACKED him and tried to take the license from him.  She became abusive and hysterical.  She refused to calm down, and was arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Upon reaching the jail, Steffey continued to scream and shout demands.  As is routine, deputies asked Steffey if she had thoughts of hurting herself.  Steffey replied something to the effect of "now or later?"

As is policy in virtually EVERY jail in America, if a prisoner even hints that they may be thinking of harming themselves, they are put on "suicide watch."  "Suicide watch" means that their clothing is removed, and they are put into a special cell with absolutely nothing they can use to jarm themselves.  They are then observed every few minutes and the visits are logged.  This policy has reduced jail suicides to virtually none.

Steffey was asked to disrobe.  She refused.  Women deputies then attempted to disrobe her.  Steffey violently resisted to the point that the female officers asked for assistance from male officers.  Steffey was then placed into the suicide watch cell.

WKYC continues to claim that Steffey was "strip searched."  That's a complete lie.  WKYC continues to call Steffey a "victim."  Steffey changed her status from victim to suspect when she provided a fake ID and then attacked a police officer.

WKYC quotes Steffey, her husband, and their attorney as if their word is gospel...while brazenly accusing the sheriff's office of lying.  Thanks to the support of WKYC, the Steffey's and their ambulance-chasing lawyers are hoping to profit from Steffey's tantrum via a lawsuit against the county.

WKYC's reprehensible twisting of this story is why in polls people put the integrity of the news media below even that of personal injury lawyers.  This is pure sleazy sensationalism coupled with lies being foisted off on the public by WKYC. 

In order to keep the "story" going and cause as much damage as they can, WkYC is trying to get the U.S. Justice Department and the state Attorney General involved.  I call that "creating the news."  Pure sleaze.

Here's yet another example of Fox 10's liberal bias for those bozos who claim Fox is "conservative."  This is a tear-jerking propaganda piece, a lead story on New Year's Day, about an illegal alien family that was properly deported.  The piece is clearly designed to invoke sympathy for the woman who was driving a vehicle without a driver's license or insurance.

Furthermore, the article describes Derechos Humanos, the group that reported the non-story, as a "human rights group."  Derechos Humanos is an anti-America Marxist group dedicated to the "repatriation" of the Southwest United States to Mexico.  It's a seditious group of traitors who fabricate and lie to make American authorities look bad.  Yet, Fox 10 repeats their lies and calls them "a human rights group."  Pathetic.

Finally, the article makes a big deal of the "three U.S. children."  These children were born to two Mexican nationals.  They are only "U.S. children" by virtue of a loophole in the law that says if a pregant illegal squeezes out her baby on U.S. soil, that baby is a U.S. citizen.  That loophole, known as the "Anchor Baby Law" is costing U.S. taxpayers billions in welfare benefits.  This law needs to be repealed.

Why Fox kowtows to hate groups like Derechos Humanos and accepts their press releases defies logic.  85% of Americans are fed up with illegal aliens and WANT them deported.  Why does the media feel compelled to be the propaganda arm of those who want to allow illegal immigration?

Whoever is the Grinch Who Steals Christmas at Fox 10, write this 100 times:

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

"It's not 'holiday spirit', it's CHRISTMAS spirit"  "It's not 'holiday lights', it's CHRISTMAS lights!"

 

Come on, Grinch 10, the "holiday" people are shopping for is CHRISTMAS.  Would it really pain you so much to say so?  I thought you were supposed to be the "conservative" station?  Why are you so obsessed with not offending a handful of atheists and Muslims...but willing to thumb your nose at 90% of your viewers who are offended by the generic "holidays" crap?

Does the management of Grinch 10 read these blogs?  Easily 90% of the bloggers (who are your loyal viewers) have stated in these blogs that they are offended by your "happy holidays" jingles, "holiday lights" articles, and "holiday shopping" articles.  Yet, you persist. 

Write this 100 times and maybe you'll remember:

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

"it's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!" "It's not 'the holidays', it's Christmas!"

Keep going.......

I thought Fox 10 has dispensed with the offensive and demeaning "holiday lights" crap.  Apparently, someone failed to notify your pandering, liberal story editor. Please let this misguided person know that the ONLY holiday for which people decorate their houses is CHRISTMAS.  Please stop offending the majority of your viewers. These are CHRISTMAS lights.  Thank you.

Updated 5:55pm Hidden Danger of Holiday Lights

Last Edited: Tuesday, 11 Dec 2007, 5:56 PM MST Created: Tuesday, 11 Dec 2007, 5:56 PM MST

 

- A lot of you may have put up holiday lights to get more into the spirit. But while they look great, you need to be careful when you have them up... especially outside. FOX 10's Marc Martinez talked with one expert, who has some advice on how to keep you and your family safe

Jonathan Livingston Obama

I ’ve caught Obama fever! Obamamania, Obamarama, Obama, Obama, Obama.

 Only white guilt could explain the insanely hyperbolic descriptions of Obama’s “eloquence.” His speeches are a run-on string of embarrassing, sophomoric Hallmark bromides. In announcing his candidacy, Obama confirmed that he believes in “the basic decency of the American people.”

And let the chips fall where they may! Obama forthrightly decried “a smallness of our politics” — deftly slipping a sword into the sides of the smallness-in-politics advocates. (To his credit, he somehow avoided saying, “My fellow Americans, size does matter.”) He took a strong stand against the anti-hope crowd, saying: “There are those who don’t believe in talking about hope.” Take that, Hillary!

Most weirdly, he said: “I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness in this — a certain audacity — to this announcement.” What is so audacious about announcing that you’re running for president? Any idiot can run for president. Dennis Kucinich is running for president. Until he was imprisoned, Lyndon LaRouche used to run for president constantly. John Kerry ran for president. Today, all you have to do is suggest a date by which U.S. forces in Iraq should surrender, and you’re officially a Democratic candidate for president.

Obama made his announcement surrounded by hundreds of adoring Democratic voters. And those were just the reporters. There were about 400 more reporters at Obama’s announcement than Mitt Romney’s, who, by the way, is more likely to be sworn in as our next president than B. Hussein Obama. Obama has locked up the Hollywood money.

Even Miss America has endorsed Obama. (John “Two Americas” Edwards is still hoping for the other Miss America to endorse him.) But Obama tells us he’s brave for announcing that he’s running for president. And if life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

I don’t want to say that Obama didn’t say anything in his announcement, but afterward, even Jesse Jackson was asking, “What did he say?” There was one refreshing aspect to Obama’s announcement: It was nice to see a man call a press conference to announce something other than he was the father of Anna Nicole Smith’s baby. B. Hussein Obama’s announcement also included this gem: “I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”

As long as Obama insists on using Hallmark card greetings in his speeches, he could at least get Jesse Jackson to help him with the rhyming.

If Obama’s biggest asset is his inexperience, then if by the slightest chance he were elected and were to run for a second term, he will have to claim he didn’t learn anything the first four years.

There was also this inspirational nugget: “Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what’s needed to be done. Today we are called once more, and it is time for our generation to answer that call.” Is this guy running for president or trying to get people to switch to a new long-distance provider?

He said that “we learned to disagree without being disagreeable.” (There goes Howard Dean’s endorsement.) This was an improvement on the first draft, which read, “It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

This guy’s like the ANWR of trite political aphorisms. There’s no telling exactly how many he’s sitting on, but it could be in the billions.

Obama’s famed "eloquence" reminds me of a book of platitudes I read about once called “Life Lessons.” The book contained such inspiring thoughts as: “When was the last time you really looked at the sea? Or smelled the morning? Touched a baby’s hair? Really tasted and enjoyed food? Walked bare I can’t wait for Obama’s inaugural address when he reveals that he loves long walks in the rain, sunsets, and fresh-baked cookies shaped like puppies.

The guy I feel sorry for is Harold Ford. The former representative from Tennessee is also black, a Democrat, about the same age as Obama, and is every bit as attractive. The difference is, when he talks, you don’t fantasize about plunging knitting needles into your ears to stop the gusher of meaningless platitudes.

Ford ran as a Democrat in Republican Tennessee and almost won — and the press didn’t knock out his opponent for him by unsealing sealed divorce records, as it did for B. Hussein Obama. Yet no one ever talks about Ford as the second coming of Cary Grant and Albert Einstein.

Maybe liberals aren’t secret racists expunging vast stores of white guilt by hyperventilating over B. Hussein Obama. Maybe they’re just running out of greeting card inscriptions. I’ve caught Obama fever! Obamamania, Obamarama, Obama, Obama, Obama. (I just pray to God this is clean, renewable electricity I’m feeling.) foot in the grass? Looked in the blue sky?” (When was the last time you fantasized about dismembering the authors of a book of platitudes?)

by Ann Coulter

What's wrong with the management of Fox 10 and 99.9 KEZ??  Why do they insist upon offending their viewers and listeners this way?  This board proves that 95% of people HATE the way that liberal handwringers are obsessed with destroying Christmas.  I'm ashamed of Fox 10 and 99.9 KEZ for jumping on the anti-Christmas bandwagon.

"Holiday lights"?  WHAT are "holiday lights"?  Does anyone put up lights for New Years?  None of my Jewish friends put up lighted trees and colored lights on their houses for Channukah.  Do you put lights on your house for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day?  Groundhog Day??

No, there's only ONE day that's observed by decorating trees and houses with colored lights.  That day is CHRISTMAS.

There's only ONE official and traditional national holiday in the month of December.  That holiday is CHRISTMAS.

So, what is Fox 10 and 99.9 KEZ afraid is going to happen if they dump the political correctness and acknowledge that they've posted a map of CHRISTMAS LIGHTS?

"Holiday lights" my rosy-red BLEEP.  Those are

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!

Have the guts to say so.

What IS it with so many Valley drivers who refuse to turn on their headlights when it's pouring rain??  Nevermind the fact that it's required by law, it's the SMART THING TO DO.  Do these morons think they're saving gas or something?  This illustrates my point, once again, that about 20% of the people on the road have no business having a driver's license.

While we're on the subject of rain and incompetent drivers, how about SLOWING DOWN when it rains?  Slow down and leave more room between your car and the car ahead. 

Do you ever wonder why collisions increase ten to 20 times when it rains?  The answer: idiotic incompetent drivers who think they can drive the same way in the rain as they do when it's dry.  Today I saw a rear end collision from following too close,  a guy who lost control of his pickup truck when he made a left turn too fast and spun out of control, a collision caused by a schmuck who stomped the gas when the traffic light turned yellow...and lost traction, and a guy in a big Dodge Ram coming sideways right at me after making a right turn (from a stop sign, no less) too fast.  And this is just a small fraction of the idiocy that took place in the Valley today.

So, what have we learned?

1.  TURN ON YOUR HEADLIGHTS when it rains and at any other time that visibilty is reduced (parking lights don't count.  You should ONLY turn those on when you're parked).

2.  SLOW DOWN when it rains or snows (yes, it has been known to snow in Phoenix in the winter).

3. LEAVE MORE SPACE BETWEEN CARS.

These three simple tips will help keep you safe and alive for Christmas and into 2008.

St Jude's Children's Hospital is the finest charity I know of.  Virtually 100% of your donations go to help terminally ill kids.  St. Jude's turns no sick child away, regardless of their ability to pay.  Numerous children have been cured of leukemia and other diseases that would have meant sure death but for St. Jude's. AutoZone and other Valley stores allow shoppers to donate a dollar or two to St. Jude's when they make a purchase this Christmas season.  When asked, please say "yes." Thank you and Merry Christmas. Marlo Thomas Urges Hospital Donations Sunday, November 25, 2007 4:54:56 PM

Marlo Thomas wants holiday shoppers to set aside a little of the money they're spending on holiday shopping and donate it to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded by her father, Danny Thomas.

"So many moms and dads come up to me and say that their child wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for St. Jude. Not just because of the research that we're doing there, but because they couldn't have afforded it," Thomas said in a segment recorded for "This Week" on ABC and aired on Sunday.

"When people go out shopping, they should look for the green magnifying glass. It signifies that we never stop looking for cures. And when the associate at the store says, 'Would you like to add something for the kids at St. Jude?', add something. Add $1, add $2. Add whatever you can afford," she said.

Thomas, 67, is married to Phil Donahue. She starred in the 1960s TV series "That Girl" and had a recurring role on "Friends."