Archive for September 11th, 2008

From the “You Gotta Be Kidding Files” congress is voting on an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill for an “alien” project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence.  Yep, that’s right!  We’re not talking border crossers, we’re talking “E.T. phone home”.  Unbelievable!

From Congressman Burton’s congressional blog:

Pork Platter Menu : $1,000,000 for alien research

In the first installment of the Thursday Pork Platter we’ve got $1,000,000 of your tax dollars served up for “alien research.

As you will agree, efficient and effective operation of the Department of Defense (DOD) is critical to ensuring the security of our nation and the safety of our troops. Thankfully, because of the efforts of a few of my colleagues and I, from FY2006 to FY2007 the number of pork barrel projects decreased. But that didn’t stop a Representative from California from adding $1,000,000 to the DOD appropriations bill for an “alien” project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Nonsense like this provoked me to pledge not to request any earmarks for the 2009 fiscal budget. While Federal dollars can be used properly to support local areas, I had to set an example for my colleagues and pledge against a single cent of pork until the system is reformed. Would alien research get approved in an up or down vote on the House floor? If I were a betting man I’d say it wouldn’t.

Thanks for checking this week’s platter, and we’ll serve up another peice of pork for you next week.

Michigan Messenger » Lose your house, lose your vote: “Vote suppression: Not an isolated effort
Carabelli is not the only Republican Party official to suggest the targeting of foreclosed voters. In Ohio, Doug Preisse, director of elections in Franklin County (around the city of Columbus) and the chair of the local GOP, told The Columbus Dispatch that he has not ruled out challenging voters before the election due to foreclosure-related address issues.

In Macomb County, the figure was one household in every 285, meaning that 1,834 homeowners received the bad news in just one month. The Macomb County foreclosure rate puts it in the top three percent of all U.S. counties in the number of distressed homeowners.”

I have seen some biased and ridiculous articles in my time but this is just plain dumb. I am not speaking on behalf of the GOP or any of our state parties here.

It not suppression you moron, it is making sure that only eligible voters get to vote. Every year the Republican Party has reams of documented evidence that illegal ballots are cast from abandoned homes and or vacant lots.

Maybe a better question is why a city run completely by Democrats has such a high foreclosure rate? Maybe someone might want to ask why these, so called, community groups have to turn to incendiary tactics like some bogus story of voter intimidation? ACORN has a comment??? Give me a break, how many ACORN organizers have been charged with voter fraud this year? 5, 10, 20?

How many documented cases of GOP voter suppression are there? The silence is deafening…

But how many times do we have to prove that organizations like ACORN are taking advantage of disadvantaged voters before the press gets a clue?

Also, The Michigan Messenger is not a legitimate “news” source. It is run by the Center for Independent Media which is run by an Obama donor…go figure.

Obama Banks on the Ground Game - TIME: “The Obama campaign has placed an emphasis on expanding the electoral map. They say they will have staff in all 50 states, even if those states are not even remotely in play. In Texas, where McCain leads Obama by 11 percentage points, they already have 15 paid staff, which they insist is an investment for the future. ‘We certainly don’t think it’s a waste of money to be there,’ Hildebrand says, ‘There’s a potential House seat we could pick up there and there’s a real shot at winning back the State Senate this fall. With redistricting coming up it’s very important as to who controls the legislative body there.’

Not surprisingly the Obama campaign takes issue with that assessment. Over Labor Day weekend, while waiting for Obama to finish an event, David Axelrod, the nominee’s top strategist, noted their strategy is broader than McCain’s, and therefore requires a lot more leg work, but has more potential pay off. ‘We’re going into November 4 with many different scenarios to get to 270 electoral votes,’ he says, squinting at airplanes buzzing overhead, part of Cleveland’s annual air show. ‘I think their path is very, very narrow, as is their thinking.’”

They sure seem pretty confident. Thats ok. It will make it funnier when they lose.

At the RNC behind a dark curtain you can hear the sinister laugh of Michael Beach. He is hunched over reams of information from many states that says we will be just fine.

I had arrived at work a little later than normal this particular morning taking the Red Line in from Silver Springs, Maryland. I had just started my job as the Deputy Chief Clerk for the congressional Government Reform Committee, chaired by Congressman Dan Burton, not even two weeks earlier. This was my first real job after college and it took me away from my home state and comfort zone of Indiana. Little did I know that leaving home to work in Washington, D.C., our nation’s capitol, a place I had wanted to work my entire life, would invite me into a world that changed forever that fateful morning.

It was 9:17 by the time I had sat down at my desk in the Rayburn House Office Building. The TV was on, which I found odd. My co-worker and office mate Bob Briggs hadn’t yet arrived so I wondered who had turned it on. I turned to see on the TV a building that had a large black hole in it. The TV was turned to Fox News and it had the letters “WTC” underneath the picture. I know this sounds a little dumb, but never having been to New York and not really giving it much thought I had no clue those letters meant the World Trade Center. Not really getting what was occurring, I started my computer when I heard the replay of the second plane hitting the second Trade Center tower. I was stunned. The press office was next door to my office and that is when I first heard the accusations that Arab terrorists were behind this. There was mass confusion. People were running outside the hallways saying that we needed to get out, but no one really had any answers as to why. We just needed to leave. But if we weren’t yet convinced we needed to evacuate the building, we were about to be.

Just after 9:45, I went out to the front of the office where the TV, set to CNN, had just cut to an image of the Pentagon after it was hit. Then reports started coming in that another plane was heading towards the Capitol Building. Mass evacuations all around DC were in full order. I tried to call home from an office phone, but either the lines were jam packed or dead. I hadn’t yet purchased a cell phone so I had no way of contacting my parents. Hearing that the Blue Line that ran through Pentagon had shut down, I hoped to make it back to the Red Line before the entire Metro shut down.

(Read more below the fold) (more…)

President Franklin Roosevelt once declared December 7th as “a day that will live in infamy” after the Japanese attack against the US Naval base at Pearl Harbor. Even FDR couldn’t imagine what happened almost 60 years later on September 11th, 2001 in New York, Washington DC, and in a rural Pennsylvania field.

In the category of “What were you doing when….”, my grandparents talked about what they were doing when the announcement was made on the radio (remember, no TV back then) that Pearl Harbor was attacked. Grandmother was up and about cleaning the house and my Grandfather was asleep after working nights at Pullman Standard in Hammond. Grandmother woke him up to tell him Pearl Harbor was attacked. He knew he was going to get called back to the Army soon.

My mom tells me on November 22, 1963 she was in school and the principal came over the loudspeaker announcing the death of President John Kennedy and school was immediately dismissed. School was not open until after the funeral.

On September 11th, 2001 I was at work for an internet provider and trying to figure out why the internet was so slow, and nobody could get to news sites (CNN, Fox News, Drudge, etc.) I had no idea what had happened until a co-worker told me to set up the TV and turn on the news. Watching Matt Lauer describe what was happening as it happened - Towers collapsing, the Pentagon, United Flight 93. That day nothing happened. Phones didn’t ring. People didn’t come into the office. Everyone was just captivated by what occurred. Then the unusual happened - a customer came in and said there was a rumor going around town that gas stations were running out of gas. Having a pretty good idea who was responsible for the attacks, people panicked and soon gas lines of up to one mile long formed at every gas station in town. One gas station raised its price to $4.00 per gallon, when a few hours before the price of gas was about $1.40 to $1.50. All but one station ran out, and people were following tanker trucks. It was literally a scene out of “Mad Max”.

Good Morning, Hoosier Access readers.

It’s no secret Matt Tully is in the tank for the Left. He’s not quite as obvious about as say, She Who Is Never Mentioned By Name Here By Me, but it’s pretty obvious. Of course with the exception of Gary Varvel the Rag is with little uncertainty a mouthpiece for the Liberal Left.

So what deserves a mention here on the favorite blog of Indiana Conservatives? This column blasting Mayor Greg Ballard.

“Mayor Greg Ballard is tired of putting his foot in his mouth” - He’s not. He’s tired of you twisting the words.

“Ballard’s administration has not been the most communicative in history.” - And you’re upset over it? Oh right he’s not playing mother-may-I and floating trial balloons in the media like the last clown that occupied the 25th Floor.

“But he’s a big boy, and if he doesn’t want to talk anymore, that’s his decision.” - Granted I don’t speak for The Colonel, but more than likely it’s not that he doesn’t want to talk. He just don’t want to talk to a bunch of moonbats at the Indianapolis Star that twist his words and take things out of context to suit an agenda. Then again this was the same Indianapolis Star that issued endorsements without talking to all of the candidates.

We just had a half hour podcast with Mayor Ballard last weekend - it’s available right here on Hoosier Access Radio. And Josh and myself will tell you we were not given a list of topics to discuss, nor did we edit any of the audio. Considering during the 2008 Marion County Slating which was also covered by Hoosier Access Radio, the Mayor stopped by the table to say hello. Josh invited the Mayor to sit down and we ended up doing an impromptu 20-30 minute interview with the Mayor. Wouldn’t that just blow chunks if you were Matt Tully and the Ryerson Rag? A bunch of bloggers having access to the Mayor and the Rag doesn’t? HA!

Let’s face it - the last person anyone - especially the Mayor of the nation’s 13th largest city - wants to talk to on a long airline flight is a political columnist who doesn’t really like his policies or stances on the issues in the first place. So what does Matt Tully do? Writes an excoriating column against the Mayor.

You’ve heard the saying - “Never pick an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel or owns the broadcast tower”. Well we’re picking that argument with the ink folks. Frankly the age of the newspaper is fading. The blatent bias of newspapers - namely the Gannett chain - is clouding its journalistic objectivity. But what do we know we’re just a bunch of stinking bloggers. Never mind how several blogs including one now defunct blog helped spread the word the MSM never reported upon, exposing the Democrats for what they were and helping elect the Mayor into office.

If you subscribe to the Indianapolis Star, cancel your subscription. If you buy it at the corner Stop-and-Rob, save your money. No use feeding the Gannett propaganda machine any longer.