Obama’s Prize

Written : Oct. 13, 2009

Just a mention of the Nobel Peace Prize used to give me a feeling one could achieve anything if given a chance. Of course, like a lot of young people years ago, I confused “Nobel” with the English word “noble”. The prize is actually named for Alfred Nobel, a Swedish entrepreneur, who lived his entire life in the nineteenth century (1833-1896). You might be surprised to learn (as I was) that Nobel experimented with explosives like nitroglycerine, is credited for inventing dynamite, blasting caps, and various blasting powders, started his own explosives company, and as a result became quite wealthy. Nobel, the businessman, knew several peace activists in his life and specified in his final will that a peace prize be given to people or groups promoting peace.

Many previous recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize received the award out of something they did to further peace in the world. The current U.S. president, Barack Obama, was awarded the prize after only nine months in office – with no tangible measure of success for peace, at least not yet. According to the Nobel Committee’s rules one must be nominated by Feb. 1 of the current year in order to become eligible. In President Obama’s case, this would have been just after spending twelve days in office!

The questions requiring answers are, “Does Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?”, and, “Was the award given for political reasons?” For example, if the Nobel Committee were comprised of mostly liberals, was it possible they awarded the prize to Obama because they agree with his politics or policies? If so, was such action fair, or was it politically biased? Should the award only be given to liberals?

What is peace, anyway? Is it kindness? Is it the absence of war? Is it the absence of conflict of any kind? Is it the feeling of “peace of mind” one gets when one is completely protected? Is “peace” provided when someone else (or another country) will not attack you out of fear of reprisal? On Hannity, on Oct. 12, 2009, Mark Steyn said that if you define peace as the absence of American power on the world stage, then Obama definitely deserves the prize.

I used to respect the Nobel Peace Prize and its committee, but I respect them no longer. If the prize was used to take a stab at George W. Bush and /or his policies, which protected the U.S. and its citizens, then the prize is a joke. At the very least the committee should have waited until Obama had actually accomplished something peaceful in order to award the prize to him. If the committee had done it that way instead, it would have been much more respectable. Donna Brazile, a liberal commentator, was in favor of Obama being awarded the prize. Of this, her comment on “This Week” on Oct. 11, was, “Now [that he got the Nobel Peace Prize], he has to earn it!” But, doesn’t that go against the idea of a prize? First you earn it, and then after you earn it, you may be recognized for your action!

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", " Nobel Peace Prize”, “President Obama”

Conservative Blog

Where Do We Go From Here?

Written : Oct. 06, 2009

Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) gave what turned out to be a motivational speech on Oct 1, 2009 which he called, “Jumpstarting America’s Economy by Putting People First.” It was part of the American Future Fund's 2009 Conservative Lecture Series. It was televised on CSPAN on Oct. 5. You can view it at: Santorum Speech A speech on TV hasn’t made me feel this good in a long time!

Sen. Santorum pointed out that Republicans shouldn’t “believe in business” as such. Instead, we should believe in people and markets. If markets are allowed to flourish while being modestly regulated, businesses will succeed, he reasoned. “We have to believe that people can… and markets do (work)”. This is a common sense approach, which stabs at the stereotype that conservatives love business to the exclusion of all else. It’s a falsehood some want to perpetuate for political reasons.

This is partly what’s wrong with the GOP’s lost direction these days, and Santorum addressed it with finesse while hitting the nail on the head. I agree. As members of the Republican Party we need to analyze issues like this in detail and choose how to proceed. This is in no way a cover-up, but in many ways this is a struggle with semantics.

Sen. Santorum’s right, we need to do a better job of telling the people who we are. We believe in America’s can-do attitude. We believe in the middle-class work ethic. It doesn’t matter who you are and your heritage makes no difference to us. Be persistent. Don’t let the little things get you down. Work hard, stay in school, do your best, work well with others, learn, and excel at what you do and you can achieve anything in America. It does work. You can achieve great things if you try hard enough. There’s plenty of success around – enough for ALL of us! Who can argue with that? If you consider yourself a moderate or even a liberal who believes in the individual and is dissatisfied with the way things are going, seriously consider us, we may be just what you were looking for all along, but didn’t know it. We welcome you with open arms!

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Senator Santorum, Rick Santorum

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Conservative Blog

Investigative Reporting

Written : Sep. 21 and 23, 2009

Remember Watergate? Investigative reporters were hailed for bringing down a U.S. president. A movie, “All the President’s Men”, was made to celebrate their persistent and diligent search for the truth. Remember the TV show “60 Minutes”, and how their reporters grilled rip-off artists and corrupt politicians in an attempt to be an American watchdog? I recall a “Saturday Night Live” spoof starring Martin Short portraying a nervous, cigarette-smoking target. He stated/asked while visibly shaking, “It’s not me, it’s them, right?” Hilarious, great stuff.

Things are different today. Have you heard of ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)? ACORN is an organization on schedule to receive 8.5 billion dollars of stimulus funds, and it defines itself a “grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people… committed to social and economic justice”. To be fair, check out their own page: ACORN Of course, ACORN has a right to exist and to aim for change it deems necessary; it’s the American way.

At the same time, ACORN is an organization in deep trouble. Accusations arose in 2008 from ACORN’s alleged registration of people not eligible to vote. They have been accused of falsifying documents, and registering underage and deceased voters. In addition, I’ve seen a story claiming that they used all the names of the Dallas Cowboys football team to register voters illegally. Even I, an ordinary citizen, know from personal experience that some people think it’s legitimate to stop at nothing to elect candidates they believe in. That’s just plain wrong.

Some may not know that recently several of ACORN’s offices were visited by two young, investigative reporters, James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles (remember the bold Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, the ones who uncovered Watergate?). Today’s truth digging reporters exposed ACORN employees who encouraged illegal activities (prostitution) and offered suggestions for the reporters, who were posing as a pimp and a prostitute, to evade taxes and the law. These bold, young reporters released videotapes to prove their allegations are true. To learn more, see: ACORN exposed. ACORN’s leaders eventually fired the employees in question. Their CEO, Bertha Lewis, has ordered an independent investigation into the story. Ignoring President Obama’s many ties to ACORN for the moment, shouldn’t the government suspend all funds going to ACORN and shouldn’t the government itself investigate the group in a rigorous manner for the purpose of reducing fraud?

In addition, where’s the “60 Minutes” report? Why is the mainstream media so relaxed about this particular investigative story? If the national media are so concerned about law breaking and corruption in businesses, shouldn’t they be jumping on this story and publicizing it, as they did for the Watergate investigation? Shouldn’t your local newspaper or local TV station be exposing the truth about ACORN on their front page and as their top story? Why have you not heard more about this?

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Investigative Reporting, 60 Minutes

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", " Investigative Reporting”, “60 Minutes”

Conservative Blog

Rep. Joe Wilson’s Apology

Written : Sep. 15, 2009

In case you haven’t heard about this yet, Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted “You Lie” during President Obama’s speech to both branches of Congress last week. He was wrong to do so and privately apologized to the president sometime afterward. The apology was graciously accepted. After the apology the president reportedly said, “Now, let’s move on.”

The Democratic Congress was not done, however. After all, Joe Wilson gave the Democrats something to rail against. Therefore, they jumped on the chance to punish Wilson. They did so by censuring him. The measure involves a vote by the governing body for a resolution showing displeasure toward the politician. The House of Representatives voted 240-179, passing it.

You know, there’s video which was shot during President Bush’s speeches to Congress showing the opposition (the Democrats) rudely booing, moaning, and shouting. No video has emerged revealing anyone calling him a liar during the speeches, at least not yet. There’s video of members of Congress stating that President Bush was a liar. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid outwardly showed anger toward him while speaking about his plan to rescue Social Security. Did any of them ever apologize? There was a movie made and people were urged to assassinate President Bush but was anyone called out for it in the mainstream media? No. It was awful, shameful, disgusting, embarrassing, boorish, immature, hateful, etc. - you have to admit it - what the media and many celebrities did to our last president.

However, all of the Democrats’ nastiness doesn’t excuse Joe Wilson. No one should boo or shout down a President of the United States – ever. No citizen should. No representative should. It’s bad behavior, it’s against the rules, and it’s inappropriate. Sure Wilson made a mistake. I disagree with most of Obama’s policies. I support the Tea Parties and the rallies against the current health care bill. But, Rep. Wilson interrupted a president’s speech inside the walls of Congress. He apologized to the president, but didn’t he owe an apology to the Congress as well? It wouldn’t have hurt to apologize to the Congress as well as to President Obama.

At the same time I wonder, would the Democrats have been as fair and as respectful to President Bush and/or a Republican Congress? Somehow, I doubt it. Take a gander at this, an article from the NY Daily News online by Albor Ruiz: Yet another biased, hateful article in the mainstream media

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Conservative Blog

Conservatives OK with Content of Obama Speech to Kids

Written : Sep. 8, 2009

A long time ago a young Democrat who happened to be the President of the United States urged the American people to, “Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.” It was part of the kind spirit and greatness of John Fitzgerald Kennedy to ask Americans to help America in a unique way.

The other day the current president announced he had an address prepared for the school children of this country. Great. JFK and other presidents did it. However, many parents believed the Obama Administration would make this a partisan speech. Why did they think such a possibility existed? The contents of the lesson plan, which was sent to the schools ahead of time, suggested it. The lesson plan asked the teachers to suggest the children write something (to themselves) describing what they could do to help the president! Help the president? What happened to “help America?” Such an idea to help the president stands in stark contrast to what John F. Kennedy said at his inaugural.

Conservatives are ok with the content of Obama’s speech to the school kids. Really. What ticked off many was the over-zealous lesson plan. Excuse some of us for thinking, but the lesson plan’s objective made many ask, “Help the president? Help him with his agenda? Help him ‘spread the word’ about how great his Congress’ Health Care Reform package could be? Help him by reporting those who don’t agree with him to the special web site he setup for such insanity?” You tell me, could asking the children how they would have helped him have been perceived as a partisan tactic, or not? What if President Bush had done the same thing? In that situation could liberals have guessed he would have been asking them to support his policies?

The icing on the cake was the way Thomas Friedman, author and NY Times correspondent, went nuts over the parents’ and others’ objections over the speech on the Sep. 7, 2009 edition of “Meet the Press”. He repeated over and over in a loud voice and angry demeanor, “It’s flat out stupid!” Of course he was telling us that thinking carefully about the matter is stupid. He and other liberals believe people are against the president because they are against the man himself. My local TV station repeated such an opinion at least twice this morning. Such a take is misguided, as is the racist angle, and the ridiculous argument that conservatives will never support him. We are just astounded how partisan the lesson plan sounded. Remember, our elected officials work for us, and not vice-versa. Asking the children to think about how they might help him is ludicrous. In fact, “It’s flat out stupid!”

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Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", " Demagoguery”, “Obama Speech to Kids”

Conservative Blog

Health Care Plan (HR3200) Made Simple

Written : Sep. 1, 2009

It's a Government Run Program - and they never work properly -

- for instance, Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office, etc.

- and which seeks to save lots of money

- saves money one way by cutting Medicare re-imbursements

+ adds end-of-life counseling for old people

- reimburses Doctors for said counseling

= causes choices which favor only “efficient” operations with high success rates

= which is rationed care and goes against the Hippocratic oath and

= old people are encouraged to take meds and cross their fingers instead of getting life-saving procedures.

also = a change in values in America favoring death over life = scary!

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Conservative Blog

More On Health Care (no pun intended!)

Written : Aug. 25, 2009

Proponents of HR3200 (the health care bill proposal) say that there are “myths” being propagated “out there”, implying that falsehoods are deliberately being spread by the bill’s opponents on the alternative media. They are mischaracterized as “myths”. They are in reality, concerns.

Although I haven’t read the health care bill, and probably never will read it in its entirety, I will concede “Death Panels” and illegal immigrant coverage are not included in the bill. A mandatory requirement that employers be forced into the public plan is probably not directly mentioned either, and I’m sure abortions are not stated as automatically covered in the bill’s language. However, concessions I've made in no way impede my ability to use critical thinking with regard to the bill.

Critical thinking. Something we all must have to make sure we use so we are not oppressed by our government (or others). Something the Democrats were screaming about during all of George W. Bush’s two terms in office. Something I was taught by my wonderful - and radical - parents to protect me against future tyrants who might erode my freedom later in life. So let’s get to it!

The bill begins by talking about “acceptable” requirements for health care. These are: affordable coverage, essential benefits, and consumer protection. Nice ideals. But don’t we have the obligation to ask how those ideals will be paid for? Which programs will legislators cut? We should consider it. Our officials say we will be allowed to retain our “current” health care plan. But what if our employer, looking to cut costs for its own benefit, forces us to a cheaper solution? I’ve seen it happen every single year since I’ve had coverage! And, that’s with a couple of large companies! Such a track record leads me to believe that each employer will choose the cheapest option, and we will eventually not have a choice. As a consequence, we will be left with only the public option and private insurance companies will go out of business. What about all the jobs which will be inevitably lost as a result?

If every employer chooses the cheaper option as I predict, the private companies are done for, right? I know, I know, it doesn’t specifically state such a thing in the bill, but isn’t it the logical conclusion? This is only one point and there are dozens more. We need to watch out for proponents of the bill brushing aside our concerns by stating that our sensible conclusions concerning HR3200 are “not in the bill”. We realize they probably are not in the bill. However, critical thinking tells us about the huge problems which might result from the bill’s passage.

Health care for everyone is a nice idea. But, with the same number of doctors and infrastructure, how will we cover 40+ million more people without sacrificing quality of care? Are we not supposed to ask such questions? Are we home grown terrorists (Timothy McVae types) if we come to the town halls to make our voices heard? So, ok, call me a radical.

I invite you to read the entire bill at: Read H.R.3200 . CSPAN will have a debate (happening now) hosted by Rep. James Moran (D-VA) and former DNC Chairman Howard Dean from Reston, VA shortly. Watch it here: Watch the debate

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Conservative Blog

The Least Important Affair

Written : Aug. 18, 2009

Senator John Edwards (D-NC) was caught in an illicit affair in 2007-2008 just after Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the Republicans a “culture of corruption”. The media, with the exception of the National Enquirer in July of 2008, knew that a story was brewing with Edwards, but looked the other way. For me this matters only because Edwards was a public figure. But we’re all human. Anyone, given the right circumstances can be guilty of such a transgression. Such matters belong to no political party. And, no two situations are the same, but the media has an obligation to treat each instance in a similar manner.

Early in 2009 Governor Mark Sanford (R-SC) was caught in an illicit affair. No one covered it up, and the media jumped all over the story. Sanford was a public figure and therefore the story was important. It can happen to anyone, of course. In politics, the list could include Congressmen, Senators, Governors, Presidents, etc.

On “The O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly within the past couple of days, Linda Stasi argued vehemently that Sanford’s affair was a more important mistake – even though Edwards’ affair occurred while he was running for the U.S. presidency. In fact, Edwards was a more prominent figure than Sanford. Stasi dismissed Edwards’ affair while correctly pointing out he was a former Senator at the time. A sitting Governor was more important to highlight, more prominent than a former Senator. I disagree, but ok. This may be a bit of a stretch, but it struck me as funny how just last year the media fell in love with a Senator (Obama), while they attacked a Governor (Palin). Whichever is more convenient if it fits your political ideology, I guess. We, the public, have an obligation to be skeptical about all the pundits we watch, to think for ourselves, and to ask pertinent questions.

Read the transcript at: Read Stasi on O’Reilly There’s a link there entitled “Click here to watch the debate!” or, watch it now: Watch the debate

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Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "Governor Sanford”, “Governor Palin”, “Senator Edwards”

Conservative Blog

1984 - All Over Again

Written : Aug. 11, 2009

In 1948, George Orwell wrote his frightening novel, 1984, which suggested government would be meddling in our lives in ways we could never have imagined before. By the way, to come up with the title, Orwell simply reversed the last two digits of the then current year.

I can tell you Orwell’s book scared my politically radical parents to death. They envisioned a scenario in which right-wingers would conspire to craft sneaky ways to revise history and modify the English language for their own sinister purpose. One method for suppressing the people was to limit deep thought and personal expression by the forced substitution of certain words for others. Tight-fisted laws regarding word usage would be put in place to weaken the people and to make them more submissive. My parents hated the idea of censorship and my left-wing dad always told me I’d notice the first hint of a totalitarian regime in America when I notice people’s freedoms being reduced as we’re told what we can and cannot say or think.

Surprise! It’s the left, instead, which has implemented the policy my parents feared most. Fast forward to 2009. Textbook companies are being lobbied by left-wing groups to change the lingo in their tools of learning for the purpose of influencing social policy.

Tucker Carlson appeared on Fox & Friends (not on CNN, on Fox News Channel!) on July 29, 2009 and on August 6, 2009. In two different segments, he outlined the words and some phrases which will soon be forbidden. Big brother is coming.

The first is “Founding Fathers”. Instead we must use, “The Founders” or “The Framers”. This is because the first phrase is too male oriented! You’ll notice there’s a common theme to all of this censorship. Carlson said we wouldn’t want to suggest the men who wrote the Constitution were men! It would be historically accurate – but SCARY!

We must not use the words chairman and chairwoman. Those are sexist. Instead please say that they are pieces of furniture, or chairs. Do not say or write the word Congressman, in its place we’ll use “Member of Congress”. Examine the other words, fisherman, brotherhood, fellowship, freshman, workmanship, caveman. Notice the similarities – see how they suggest “male” and leave out “female”? - They actually don’t, those words were used without objection while I was growing up and their use was generic (the words meant male and/or female – the same words were never perceived as sexist before. Changes such as these are proposed because some people are horrified by generic words, such as “actor”! They want to sterilize our language of words they misperceive as insults. Be careful, this is censorship, or at least an attempt to change the way people express themselves in order to influence our sense of fairness and equality concerning the sexes. It strikes me as silly and petty. Why are people so sensitive these days, really?

You can watch one of Tucker Carlson’s appearances on Fox & Friends at the following link: Tucker Carlson on Fox & Friends E-mail me at mark.marj57@comcast.net to tell me what you think. If I get enough responses I’ll post them next week. If not, ok, but you know this is censorship and it shouldn’t be happening.

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, censorship, 1984, Orwell

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", " censorship”, “1984”, “Orwell”.

Conservative Blog

Health Care vs. The Health Insurance Debate

Written : Aug. 1, 2009

The health care debate is about insurance for health care, or coverage, it's not about health care itself. We have the best health care in the world in the U.S., bar none. This is not disputed, and the evidence is apparent. For instance, if anyone goes to the emergency room they are treated right away, regardless of who they are and regardless of which insurance they do or do not have. People flock to this country to be treated but few Americans travel to countries which feature socialized medicine for care.

House of Representatives' Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) has a daughter, Jackie Kucinich, who appeared on CSPAN's Washington Journal on July 29,2009. Ms. Kucinich works for Roll Call, which professes to offer unbiased online and print coverage of American national politics. The appearance by Ms. Kucinich on CSPAN on July 29 also appeared to have been unbiased, kudos to her. Libby Casey, a member of Alaska Public Radio was the guest host on July 29. While I do not yet understand the relationship between each state's public broadcasting network (ex. Colorado Public Radio) and National Public Radio, or NPR, I do know from personal experience that NPR appears to be unbiased, but it leans to the left.

Back to the debate. The political left tells us there are 50 million uninsured in the U.S. It's their right to have insurance, so how will we cover them? It's a matter of fairness at any cost for the left. The issue as seen from the right questions why we need to spend $1-2 trillion or more in future taxes or "stimulus" to clean up health care insurance issues since there are many other ways to do it. The right also questions the 50 million number (it's usually stated as 47 million) and brings to a part of the debate the question of whether or not the millions of people here illegally in the country (estimated from 7-20 million) should be counted as uninsured. The right wonders if the millions of people who do not pay for insurance should be covered, or paid for, by the tax payers?

Libby Casey, the host, referred to the issue several times as "health care". When it's framed that way, conservatives can appear to be the 'bad guys', especially when they are accused of being against "health care". The issue should be referred to by any of its' rightful names instead, such as "health care reform", "health care debate", or "the health care insurance bill". As Ms. Kucinich pointed out in a fair and unbiased manner, Republicans DO NOT want to kill "health care", since we all have great health care already. The Republicans, or conservatives, just take a different approach to reform. Their version is based on tax cuts - the opposite of taxes imposed - and making the industry healthier via cleaning up waste in the system. Conservatives in general look at the public insurance option and think it will undercut private health care insurance, thereby eliminating it in the long run. They also look at the long wait for service in other countries and are put off by the idea that a calculation is usually made as to whether or not it's cost effective to treat patients based upon the estimated survivability of a patient.

Please be careful how you refer to the debate. It's not about health care. It's about insurance.

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Talk Radio

Written : July 14-15, 2009

Do you listen to talk radio in your car or elsewhere? If you're a regular reader, you'll know I do. I listen to both sides and enjoy the debate.

On progressive talk on July 10, 2009, I heard a tirade by Ed Schultz which was more intolerant than most I'd heard before. He said he hated bipartisanship! Basically he claimed the Democrats won the last presidential election, and therefore they deserve to get everything they want, without opposition! Republicans should just get out of their way, because as he put it, he "don't trust 'em". Interesting what happens to some opinions when the shoe is on the other foot! For example, when the Republicans were in power Schultz among others were loud in their opposition! - Hey, Ed, there's nothing wrong with that! - Even now!

Schultz called Bill Frist, who was the Republican majority leader until he left office in 2007, "a dork". Referring to conservatives, Schultz said, "I hate them." While laying down his reasons he angrily postulated that "they" gutted the middle class. There's the popular "class warfare" argument again. Why does the left like to pit people against each other? Republicans want all people to get along. "They" listen in to our conversations. Who wants to listen into Schultz' conversations? BORING! And, the government doesn't have the resources to listen into all of our conversations! However, we do want to know if terrorists are conversing with their counterparts in hostile countries, right? Then he screamed that the Republican party should be wiped out, replaced with nothing - just wiped out. And Rush Limbaugh gets the bad press! This shows the mainstream media has got its collective hands over its collective ears.

I think Schultz is living under a blanket of anger and operates out of a set of inaccurate assumptions. Republicans are not evil. They want everyone to succeed (not just Republicans, but everyone). They think people make better decisions with their own money than government. In addition, government is full of waste - among other things. It's not true that half of us want to be taxed at a higher rate, but it is true that half of us want someone else to be taxed at a higher rate! - Ask yourself if that's fair. You're right, it's not! Who'll want to succeed if success means one's money will someday go to support some Joe who won't match your level of effort? More working people will get ahead if we allow them to keep more of their own money. It's such a simple idea: I don't understand why more people don't see it that way.

On The Ed Schultz Show on the same day, a caller from Manhattan stated, "People have been making money on the internet since… Clinton [so] they have to be taxed!" What a silly idea! Why tax use of the Internet to simply increase the size of the bureaucracy of our government? Why be jealous of others who succeed? Be happy for them! Let business people on the Internet keep their income. It's common sense that those who make larger profits and want to increase their business will hire more help. Job growth equals a bigger economy. Hmmm…

We need more open-mindedness and tolerance in this world, not less. Schultz is giving us less. What a pity.

Take a gander at this YouTube Video:

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Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", "From The Left to the Right ", "conservative blog", "conservative blogs", "Ed Schultz", "Air America", "bureaucracy"

Conservative Blog

Sarah!

Written : July 7, 2009

Driving to work one day this week I was listening to The Mike Gallagher Show, but he went into commercial. I switched to our local “Air America” affiliate. The folks there did a ten-minute, non-stop barrage of attacks against “America’s Governor”, Sarah Palin. I wasn’t shocked because I’d heard it all before, but the meanness and constant negativity was striking. It makes one wonder why these radio “professionals” were so angered, so upset, and so unprofessional.

I heard a caller cursing out the Governor’s daughter and I can understand his anger. He’s another one who is ticked off by those who engage in bad behavior, but only if they are conservative. I don’t force my beliefs on anyone else, but I certainly wish people would use less foul language. My personal belief is that everyone (and not just liberals) should curse less often. This statement alone will offend some people, as they will think I'm judging them, but I'm not. Cursing doesn't bother me, I'd just rather hear less of it.

Does reaching for a higher moral plane (by Palin) make it right to hold the governor accountable for her daughter’s behavior? If one aspires to be a person who upholds his values does it become more proper to insult him/her for a single mistake? If the left is so sensitive about being judged, should they be so judgmental of others? Call me a hick from NYC, but this is something I just don’t understand.

Sarah strikes me as a wonderful person who has great leadership ability and plenty of experience. She had guts to run for governor, run for VP after only a couple of months’ notice, and to stick with her daughter and support her through a surprise teen pregnancy. I’m disappointed that the left goes out of its way to paint her as an idiot because she’s far from it. Her chances to become president may have been damaged by the mainstream media, but she’d make a terrific Secretary of Anything.

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Governor Palin, Sarah Palin.

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", “From The Left to the Right “, "conservative blog", "conservative blogs”, “Governor Palin”, “Sarah Palin”, “foreign policy”

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The Sanford Affair

Written : June 30, 2009

We look at South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and wonder what he was thinking. He had a shot at the presidency; his actions were not logical. It’s a shame. We contrast this one to other “scandals” and realize this one is wrong, too, but it pales in its comparison.

True, Sanford (R-SC) is a powerful, sitting Governor, but he’s come clean while others in similar situations did not. Senator John Edwards (D-NC) campaigned for president during his affair and lied about it to all of us by hiding it. He was caught “red handed”, in the middle of the night while trying to sneak a visit to his ‘other woman’ through a back alley (creepy). Edwards was even rumored to have fathered a child with his mistress. He appeared to have used his wife, who had cancer, to garner sympathy. And, of course, all coverage of his affair was hushed and covered up as much as was possible by the mainstream press until The Enquirer broke the story.

President Clinton (D-AR) wriggled under oath, lying about having sex with an intern, wagging his finger at us and telling us he didn’t have sex “with that woman”, Monica Lewinsky. He even implied the meaning of the word “is” would have changed the meaning of his deed. Come on.

Sanford definitely screwed up. But as I said in a recent post, Republicans do not preach to others – they just aspire to a high (high, not “higher”) set of morals. Sometimes they fail. It’s amazing to me that some point their finger and say Sanford didn’t “practice what he preached”, as Michael Eric Dyson robotically repeated this past Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”. That’s misuse of an old, tired stereotype; a distortion and a tactic Democrats use against conservatives. Sanford didn’t preach to anyone, did he preach to you?

Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, President Obama, Barack Obama, foreign policy, weakening of America.

Keyword Phrases: "Conservatism", "Conservative", "blog", "politics", "political", "Mark Cohen", "Mark A. Cohen", “From The Left to the Right “, "conservative blog", "conservative blogs”, “President Obama”, “Barack Obama”, “foreign policy”, “weakening of America”.

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