One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other...

Sen. Barack Obama has been a proud member of Trinity United Church of Christ for 20 years, and he happily signed the Black Values System in order to join.

For twenty years, sermons were given--apparently frequently--like the one given by Fr. Michael Pfleger this weekend.

When the videotape hit, Fr. Pfleger said this:

"I regret the words I chose on Sunday," he said in a statement. "These words are inconsistent with Sen. Obama's life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Sen. Clinton or anyone else who saw them."

Uh, if Fr. Pfelger's comments, which echoed what is regularly preached at TUCC, "are inconsistent with Sen. Obama's life and message," why did Sen. Obama spend TWENTY YEARS there? If I were a member of a group who kept offending my "life and message," I'd quit. Who wouldn't?

Other than Barack Obama, that is...

They Shoot 4th Graders, Don't They?

Many 96.9 WTKK listeners have been emailing me on behalf of a 10-year-old suspended from a Winchendon, MA elementary school for five days after taking an empty shell casing to school. The casing--from a blank fired at a community Memorial Day ceremony--was given to the boy by a uniformed veteran. The kid didn't know it was against the rules. The mom didn't know. There was no potential harm (what--schoolkids suffering from a BRASS allergy?).

Why kick the kid out for five days?

“Massachusetts General Law gives principals absolute authority in their schools. She (Mrs. Peterson) has no obligation to notify anyone else because it is expected that she has enough authority under the Massachusetts Educational Reform Act to make these decisions,” said School Committee member Christine B. Philput.

OK, so the principal has the right to kick a kid out of school for any reason, no matter how dopey, and never has to even notify anyone else? She doesn't have to answer questions from, say, elected representatives of the citizens who PAY for the schools...and her salary?

Try treating your customers that way in the private sector, Mrs. Peterson.

Here's the contact info for Toy Town Elementary if you'd like to get involved to. Speak out! Speak up!

Remember: Guns don't kill people. Empty shell casings from blanks fired at Memorial Day services do.

The Natural Truth Invades Sharon, MA!

If you don't have access to Sharon TV, you can watch my appearance on Ari Taube's excelelnt "Power Politics" show online using this link.

If You're Near A TV Thursday Night at 7pm...

I'll be guest-hosting the Glenn Beck show on CNN Headline News. If you think I'm clueless on radio....just wait until you see me on TV!

More Taxpayer Love From Dollar Bill Deval

Here’s your economic quiz question of the day: What’s gone up more in the past year, the cost of gas, or the cost of the governor’s office?

If you guessed Gov. Patrick - you’re right! Or at least you’ve been paying attention.

Read the rest of my column on Gov. Patrick's $9 million money grab in the Boston Herald today.

And Where, Sen. Obama, Did They Bury The Survivors?

Addressing a Memorial Day crowd Monday, Sen. Barack Obama made an interesting observation:

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

That's right: Sen. Obama sees "fallen heroes" attending his speech. At least, I think it was Sen. Obama. It could have been Bruce Willis.

Now, the senator obviously misspoke--something I do on the air everyday--so it's no big deal...in and of itself. But something is happening to Barack Obama and it's starting to be a trend. He's getting a reputation as the "one-man gaffe machine."

I first heard this from Michelle Malkin a couple of weeks ago. Then Jake Tapper jumped on it for ABC this weekend. Now the audience full of dead people, and the trend is starting to take on a life of its own.

Yes, George W. Bush is at least as bad, if not worse. But this could end up being a significant problem for Sen. Obama if it amplifies the "ready on Day One" issue. The fact is, Sen. Obama clearly isn't ready to be president. Most voters know that, but they either really like him and don't care; or they really hate the GOP and care even less.

Constantly misstating your positions and not knowing what town you're in don't inspire confidence. Right now they're just kind of funny. But if they continue, fewer voters will still be laughing.

Remembering The Victories, Too

In the current media climate, every day is Memorial Day--a day to count up the tragic costs of war. And war, by definition, always involves a terrible, terrible cost.

But is our war in Iraq truly a war of all costs and no benefits? Check out this timeline from the guys at PowerLine. And then ask yourself if it isn't finally time to give our soldiers and Marines the credit they deserve.

The Good News/Bad News From The US Border

The good news is that 270 illegal immigrants were sentenced this week to five months in prison for using fake IDs to work in the US.

Despite claims by pro-open-borders boneheads that crimmigrants haven't done anything actually criminal because immigration law violations are civil violations only, this case makes the point I keep repeating: You cannot stay and work in the US without committing numerous criminal acts.

There are 270 crimmigrants who've just figured that out. Let's hope Barack Obama and John McCain eventually do as well.

Speaking of bad news...

Down in central Mexico, a local group is making money by charging people $10 to experience what it's like to sneak into the US illegally:

Gunshots ring out and sirens shriek, mixing with the ragged breath of muddy, panting humans. Suddenly, the full moon sweeping the ground like a searchlight
reveals a disturbing scene: a group of illegal immigrants being handcuffed and led away by U.S. Border Patrol agents. But the U.S. border is 700 miles from this rugged municipal park in Hidalgo state, a three-hour drive north of Mexico City.

The spectacle unfolding here isn't an actual border crossing attempt but a live simulation-adventure that attempts to give participants a taste of what it's like for the thousands of Mexican and other Latin American undocumented migrants trying to enter the promised land of "el norte."

Dubbed the "Caminata Nocturna" (Night Hike), the three-hour simulation is a combination obstacle course, sociology lesson and PG-rated family outing.

You gotta love the Mexican "family values" on display in this story. My favorite quote from this story comes from a Mexican school teacher:

"It [sneaking into the US illegally] is part of our culture, and it's important to know it."

Breaking into the US, stealing a job from a legal immigrant and committing identity fraud on some US taxpayer's Social Security number--that's not a crime. It's a culture.

I feel much better about it now.

Another "Profile In Courage" From Beacon Hill

Then....

MARCH 27, 2008: The state's top leaders vowed yesterday to use their combined political might to take on powerful police unions by limiting construction details, a longstanding cash cow for police officers that critics for years have called a waste of taxpayer dollars....A Herald review found that state transportation agencies in 2006 spent more than $44 million on police details at construction sites statewide. -- The Boston Herald.

And now...

MAY 25, 2008: Confronted with a withering lobbying blitz by police officers, meanwhile, key lawmakers inserted legislative language in a transportation bill that would protect municipal union contracts and, with those contracts, the construction details that boost police salaries by thousands of dollars...

The performance by the state's politicians - quickly retreating from a plan that is popular with fiscal watchdogs and reformers - once again demonstrates the political might of police unions and the inability of elected leaders to make significant changes in a practice embedded in police contracts across the state.

It is a not a retreat the officials are eager to discuss. Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi did not respond to requests for comment on Friday. --Boston Globe-Democrat.

Military Veterans For Obama! Well, One Anyway...

His name is Captain James Yee, and he is an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Here he is, in his own words, telling you why he supports Sen. Obama.

And here's the CNN story on James Yee's arrest after a US Customs official found he was carrying lists with names of detainees and interrogators when he left Guantanamo Bay and arrived in Florida. A Muslim chaplain serving at Gitmo, he eventually pleaded guilty to adultery and downloading porn onto a military computer (one of those observant Muslims, apparently) and left the Army.

But even better is this video of Obama delegate and disgraced military chaplain Yee attacking the US military on TV...in Syria. He repeats the now-debunked accusation that Korans were thrown into toilets at Gitmo and makes other accusations of bad behavior that he admits he never actually saw.

He just assumes the military is bad and America is guilty. Sounds like an Obama supporter to me.

One More Note On The US Military

They are still kickin' Al Qaeda ass in Iraq.

The Al Qaeda terror group in Iraq appears to be at its weakest state since it gained an initial foothold in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion five years ago, the acting commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East said Wednesday in an Associated Press interview.

Army Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who assumed interim command of U.S. Central Command on March 28, acknowledged that Al Qaeda remains a relentless foe
and has not disappeared as a serious threat to stability. But he said an accelerated U.S. and Iraq campaign to pressure Al Qaeda has paid big dividends.

"Our forces and the Iraqi forces have certainly disrupted Al Qaeda, probably to a level that we haven't seen at any time in my experience," said Dempsey, who served in Iraq in the initial stages as a division commander and later as head of the military organization in charge of training Iraqi security forces.

"We Support The Troops...Unless They Run For President"

Does his military background make John McCain too "dangerous" to be president?

That's what US Senator and former Democratic presidential contender Tom Harkin says.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain's family background as the son and grandson of admirals has given him a worldview shaped by the military, "and he has a hard time thinking beyond that," Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Ia., said Friday."I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

The Des Moines Register goes on to note, without additional comment: "Neither of the Democratic presidential candidates served in the military."

Berkeley liberals attack a Marine recruiting office and even try to cast spells on it. Cambridge shuts down a Boy Scout drive collecting gifts to send to soldiers in Iraq. Harvard chased the ROTC off campus during the Vietnam War and still won't allow them back.

But whatever you do...don't question the Left's patriotism!

My question is, was this a trial balloon by the Obama campaign? Was Harkin just firing off ill-considered comments, or are Democrats testing the idea that McCain's military background could be used as a liability?

If so, it wouldn't be the first time. Watch this TV ad run by the Adlai Stevenson during his 1952 campaign against Eisenhower. The Stevenson campaign raised questions about Ike's candidacy because of his military background, too.

And we all know how THAT worked out.

Newton Taxpayers To Davey Cohen: "We're Not THAT Crazy..."

Hey, Newton--You are the change you've been waiting for!

For every Massachusetts resident who thinks that the state is lost, that the Left is too strong, that common sense can never prevail, I offer the voters of uber-elite, obnoxious, "we deserve a $200 million high school" Newton, MA.

The largest override request of the year, $12+ million, was shot down by the taxpayers by a whopping 55-45%. That's impressive anywhere, but in Newton it's positively historic.

So don't give up, my fellow Bay Staters. Stay and fight! Don't give up the ship!

The Natural Truth From Iraq

While Sen. Obama prepares to declare defeat in Iraq and abandon a developing democracy to Al Qaeda, Iran and the Sadrists, something has been happening that this Harvard lawyer cannot comprehend: Victory.

It's not just former Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters who sees it, though he does an excellent job of reporting the current state of Iraq.

And it's not just our friend Michael Yon, the best on-the-ground reporter in Iraq today.

It's also the enemies of America who are conceding an American victory is within grasp.

First there's this email from an Al Qaeda ally doing an analysis of their efforts in Iraq. He notes with alarm that Al Qaeda managed about 300 attacks last May, but just 16 so far this month--part of a drastic drop-off that has followed the success of the surge. (The Al Qaeda analyst does NOT point out that Sens. Clinton, Kennedy and Obama all opposed the surge.)

Then there's this story from--believe it or not!--the Boston Globe-Democrat:

BAGHDAD - Some 10,000 Iraqi troops fanned out in Baghdad's Sadr City yesterday, taking positions on main roads, rooftops, and near hospitals in an attempt to establish government control in the Shi'ite militia enclave for the first time since Saddam Hussein's ouster.

Success relies on whether a truce holds with fighters loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr....

The move, code-named "Operation Peace," is the latest by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to impose government authority in areas controlled by armed groups. Besides the Basra offensive, an ongoing sweep launched a week ago in the northern city of Mosul aims to uproot Al Qaeda in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents.

But the fragile truce's survival could depend on how forcefully the troops try to reduce the Mahdi Army's long-unquestioned domination of Sadr City, home to 2 million Shi'ites.

Already, Sadr supporters were complaining of the heavy deployment.

"We were surprised by the size of the force," said Sheik Salman al-Freiji, director of the Sadr Movement office in the district. "But their entry in such size has sparked fears that there could be violations of mosques and homes. There must be respect."

The elected government of Iraq and its Shi'ite president once again confronting Shi'ite militias, and with a "surprising" show of force. When the Boston Globe-Democrat can't avoid the story, maybe it's not too late for Sen. Obama to catch up, too.

Gov. Patrick Discovers The Law of Unintended Consequences

So which Democrat will Deval Patrick appoint to replace Ted Kennedy, should the senator be unable to serve?

Thanks to the Democrats of the Massachusetts legislature, the answer is: nobody.

Horrified by the possibility of Gov. Romney replacing John Kerry with a Republican in 2004, the Massachusetts legislature passed a bill stripping the governor of the power to make an interim appointment. The same legislature that hasn't been able to get rid of the "temporary" income tax hike in 20 years passed this new law in about 2 days. Gov. Romney vetoed it, the legislature overrode it...and Kerry lost.

As a result of that forward-thinking action by the legislature, Gov. Patrick is now denied the right to make any appointment, should Sen. Kennedy be forced to leave office. Instead, the state will hold a special election no sooner than 145 days and no later than 160 days of any vacancy.

So instead of a Patrick ally running as an incumbent, there will be a wide-open Democratic primary to replace Sen. Ted. According to a spokesperson in the Massachusetts Secretary of State's office, any primary would be held after the 145 day deadline, with a general election six weeks after that.

There's a long list of potential Democratic candidates: Rep. Ed Markey, AG Martha Coakley, former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II, perhaps former gubernatorial candidates Tom Reilly or Chris Gabrielli, and even Vicki (Mrs. Ted) Kennedy. Given the rarity of an open US Senate seat in Massachusetts, a big-time primary battle is almost certain.

[My colleague, Jim Braude, says that if a Kennedy runs, everyone else will step aside. Didn't they say the same thing about Hillary Clinton a year ago?]

This is significant because Gov. Patrick is struggling here in Massachusetts and he could use both an ally in Washington and a victory here at home. An interim appointment who went on to win the next election would give him both. Instead, the Mitt-o-phobia of Massachusetts Democrats leaves him with nothing.

Speaking of Mitt, Republicans can forget any hopes of another Romney bid for Kennedy's seat.
Not even Mitt's millions could win such a special election because:

a) this is a one-party state;
b) 2008 is a lousy year for Republicans;
c) there's no way the Lefties of Massachusetts are going to let Ted Kennedy's replacement be a Republican.

So best wishes to Sen. Kennedy and a speedy recovery.

Mass Insanity

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different
results. "

This quotation is attributed to Einstein, but whether he said it or not, it absolutely applies to Massachusetts politics in general, and the Boston Globe-Democrat in particular.

The BG-D has been a big-time proponent of Gov. Patrick's $1 billion boondoggle to corporations involved in the thriving life sciences industries. This sector of the high-tech economy is booming, both in Massachusetts and across America, and without taking a single tax dollar from guys working construction in Dorchester.

But Gov. Patrick and his Globie lapdogs never saw an opportunity they couldn't screw up. Patrick proposed giving $1 billion in tax dollars to an industry that doesn't need it, the BG-D cheered him on and the bill was sent up to Beacon Hill for those responsible, trustworthy pols to work their magic. The result?

"Backers Cry Foul on Science Legislation," is the front-page headline in the Globe-Democrat today. "Say measure weaker, laden with earmarks."

Wait--are you telling me a legislative body that is 95% Democrat and 100% Massachusetts took a billion-dollar spending bill and loaded it up with goodies and giveaways? Wow, who could have seen THAT coming? (Other than every Massachusetts taxpayer, that is). So the "high-tech, life-sciences, cutting-edge" bill will be paying for, among other things, a sewage plant in Framingham and a highway interchange in Andover.

Roads and sewers? Golly, what will those science wizards on Beacon Hill think of next?

But wait--there's more! Proving that Massachusetts politicians are impervious to both experience and reason, today's Globe-Democrat--the same one reporting the "big business boondoogle turns into BIGGER boondoggle" life science industry story--has a favorable article on Gov. Patrick's plan to give $100 million to "clean-energy research and business development, an expensive wager on the future of companies that produce and institutions that research solar panels and biofuels." We need those tax dollars, of course, because with heating oil and gasoline around $4 a gallon, there's absolutely no interest in alternative energy from the private sector at the moment.

I say "Spend the $100 million tax dollars!" What could possibly go wrong...that already hasn't?

"Will The Last Taxpayer To Leave Massachusetts Please Turn Out The Lights?"

My take on the ongoing Mass exodus is in the Boston Herald today.

Does it make sense to flee just because the Legislature shafted voters on the income tax rollback? Or because Beacon Hill denied voters the right to have their say on same-sex marriage? Or because our pols welcome and reward illegal immigrants? Or because double-dipping public employees are rolling in tax-funded dough?

Taken individually, the answer is no. But collectively, they reflect the stream of petty abuses heaped upon the average Bay Stater by an elitist and adversarial political culture.

Gov. Deval Patrick can preach “Together We Can.” But unless something changes, the motto of his administration may well be “Massachusetts: I’m Outta Here.”

Watching Out For The "O" Word

OK, am I missing something here? I've read this entire statement by President Bush about a dozen times, and I still can't find the magic word:

There are good and decent people who cannot fathom the darkness in these men and try to explain away their words. It's natural, but it is deadly wrong. As witnesses to evil in the past, we carry a solemn responsibility to take these words seriously. Jews and Americans have seen the consequences of disregarding the words of leaders who espouse hatred. And that is a mistake the world must not repeat in the 21st century.

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is--the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

Some people suggest if the United States would just break ties with Israel, all our problems in the Middle East would go away. This is a tired argument that buys into the propaganda of the enemies of peace, and America utterly rejects it.

OK, where is Senator Obama in this statement? The only senator it references, Borah of Idaho (a prominent pre-WWII appeaser) is a Republican. Meanwhile, the attitudes President Bush is bemoaning are held by thousands of American liberals. So why did Sen. Obama leap forward to seize the insult?

I think it's a calculated political move. Sen. Obama's position on Iran is dumb, and he knows it. It's just boob bait for the bubbas of MoveOn.org. But picking a fight with President Bush is a great political strategy. An Obama vs. McCain race is close. But an Obama vs. Bush race is a Democratic landslide.

In other words, this is all politics.

But there is one profound question raised by this story: What part of the statement above does Sen. Obama disagree with?

The Links You've Been Looking For

My apologies for taking so long to get these links up to stories we've been talking about on the show.

Here's that columnist in Australia knows more about America's greatness than Michelle Obama.

And there must be something in the water in Australia because this surge of common sense about/appreciation of America is growing.

Those of you who want to know more about what's really going on with the polar bears and "global warming" than the Boston Globe-Democrat does--congratulations, you already do! Because, as they demonstrated on the front page this week, they know nothing.

Here's Professor Roy Spencer--an actual climate scientist--on the polar bear issue. There are more polar bears alive and thriving today than any other time since we've been tracking them.

And if you're afraid that all the polar ice is melting, you might be surprised to learn that, in some key areas, we have the most sea ice in 15 years. There are also the new findings from NASA and independently reported in the journal Nature as well (but not reported by the Boston Globe-Democrat) that the somewhat higher than normal melting at the poles--you did know that water melts every summer and freezes every winter, right?--is entirely unrelated to "global warming."

In October 2007, NASA announced the results of an in-depth study of Arctic sea-ice melting and found that what has caused the unusually large melting seen in the last eight years was not greenhouse gas-induced global warming. In the press release describing the study, team leader Son Nghiem explained that the warming of recent years was, in fact, caused by a change in wind patterns.

"Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic," he said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters.

One final link, on the economy. The next time you hear someone whining that we're entering the next Great Depression, give them these facts to ponder. Not that it will do any good.

Hillary Clinton: Can't Win For Losing

The CBS headline makes its message very clear: "Little Gain In Big Win For Clinton."

The presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Obama, just lost to a woman who cannot get the nomination by almost 40%(!); in a state, West Virginia, that every Democrat who made it to the White House has won since 1916; and the relentless, insistent "reporting" from the Mainstream Media is...."Nothing to see here, folks. Move along."

Question: Are Democrats stinkin' insane?

MSNBC, Time and the Washington Post can continue to openly insult every white person to the right of Michael Moore if they want, but it won't change the Natural Truth for Barack Obama: You can't beat the math.

Forget actually winning white Democrats in a primary. Sen. Obama hasn't gotten above 40% of his fellow Democrats who are white to vote for him since February 19th. In West Virginia Hillary--the most unlikeable politician this side of Newt Gingrich--trounced Sen. Obama among white voters both with college degress and without.

Among any group of rational people, the question of the day would be "What's wrong with our candidate?"

But these are not rational people. They are MoveOn.org liberals and members of the media (redundancy alert!). And so they are asking "What's wrong with you ignorant voters?"

Those "ignorant" voters are trying to teach you something, my Democratic friends. Are you determined not to hear them?

If so, you could very well be learning this lesson the hard way. In November.

The Witches And The B...er, Other Liberals

I was asked by a fellow passenger flying out to San Francisco this weekend why the Democrats hadn't nominated some moderate, middle-of-the-road candidate for president. "[Clinton and Obama] are the only two Democrats who could lose!"

The reaason, I told him, is that the Democratic Party nominating process is dominated by its left wing in the way that the press has repeatedly (and erroneously) told us the GOP is dominated by "right-wing evangelicals." In the GOP, candidates like Pat Robertson and Allan Keyes run. But in the Democratic Party, they win.

I got a glimpse of these true believers here in the Bay area watching coverage of--I kid you not--a self-declared group of "witches, crones and sirens" protesting the Marine recruiting office in Berkeley. They gathered with their brooms and cauldrons to cast spells, invoke the spirit of Gaia, and generally confirm America's belief that 1/3 of the American Left is, in fact, certifiably insane.

You can find more coverage and video here.

The good news is that folks like Melanie Morgan and her friends at Move America Forward are willing to take the time to confront these morons and make sure people notice just how anti-American and anti-rational their views are.

In fact, I am in San Fran to give a speech at a Move America Forward fundraiser, and I am certainly proud to be a part of their efforts to support out troops and mock the Left.

Journalists: Liberals With Notepads Who Can't Do Math

Attention media morons! Could you please get just a couple--a COUPLE-- of facts right about the Democratic presidential primary.

Fact #1: Sen. Obama will NOT have enough pledged delegates after Oregon to give him 2025, the number needed to become the nominee. It isn't possible, because if Sen. Obama won all of the remaining pledged delegates in all the states, he wouldn't have 1900.

What you are doing, you super-genius elites who hate talk radio, is conflating pledged delegates and superdelegates. Superdelegates are better known by their original title (are you paying attention Mr. Olbermann?) "unpledged" delegates.

Pledged delegates are bound to their candidates by the votes cast back home (theoretically, anyway, though Sen. Clinton has even challenged that idea). Superdelegates cannot--I repeat, CANNOT--cast a vote for anybody until the convention, and until their votes are cast, Obama has zero unpledged delegates in his column. As superdelegates are proving every day, they can change their minds.

This is why Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is proposing a rule change to create a "superdelegate primary" in June. He wants to force the unpledged to cast their votes well before the convention, because he--unlike the entire CNN political team--understands what I just said. Until they vote, the unpledged delegates remain...unpledged. Why is this so hard for the Boston Globe-Democrat to understand?

Fact #2: While it can be argued that Obama's victory is a political, if not technical, done deal, many observers agree that, should Mrs. Clinton take the lead in popular votes, it could have an impact on how unpledged delegates end up voting. And, as Jay Cost points out, it is still possible for Sen. Clinton to do just that--take the popular vote lead without Michigan or Florida.

It's a long shot, involving wins by 20%+ and 30+ margins in West Virginia and Kentucky, but as Jay points out, those are two of the states where Sen. Clinton has the best shot of doing just that. Will she? Probably not.

But what happens if Sen. Obama does lose 70%-30% in West Virginia and then 65%-35% in Kentucky, and then loses by 300,000 votes in Puerto Rico? Are Democrats going to ignore those numbers completely? Maybe. But the press, their legs tingling at the very mention of Obama's name, are declaring all these outcomes irrelevant.

This isn't journalism. It's fortune-telling.

I have said since March 1 that Sen. Obama is going to be the nominee. That's my prediction and it always has been. But I don't report it as fact, I've just been giving my best guess based on the facts at hand. Sen. Clinton could have changed those facts with an upset win in North Carolina. That's why I refused to stick the Kerry Healy Election Fork in her.

She didn't, but I respected the fact that she could have. And I am respecting the fact now that Mrs. Clinton could still change the dynamic of this race.

As a result, I--a radio talk show host and opinion-spewer--am being more objective that the arrogant, self-important "journalists" of the MSM.

Dewey Defeats Truman?

Despite the fact that he's clearly the weaker candidate, I sure hope so.

Gore, Kerry And Obama: Wrong Again!

When was the last time the Left got something right?

Cold war? Wrong.
Reaganomics? Wrong.
Welfare Reform? Wrong.
Gun control lowers gun violence? Wrong.
Appeasing North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Yassir Arafat? Wrong, wrong, wrong...

We will soon be adding "global warming panic" to that list, but first, here is yet another glaring error by the "we're so much smarter than you" wing of American politics: Ethanol and biofuels.

Poor families in Mexico and Haiti are going hungry right now so that pompous Prius-driving libs can feel better about themselves. And, as usual, the go-green goofballs on the Left lack that most vital element in their undying support for ethanol mandates, a.k.a. "the facts."

To create just one gallon of fuel, ethanol slurps up 1,700 gallons of water, according to Cornell's David Pimentel, and 51 cents of tax credits. And it still can't compete against oil without a protective 54-cents-per-gallon tariff on imports and a federal mandate that forces it into our gas tanks. The record 30 million acres the U.S. will devote to ethanol production this year will consume almost a third of America's corn crop while yielding fuel amounting to less than 3% of petroleum consumption.

In December the Congressional Research Service warned that even devoting every last ear of American-grown corn to ethanol would not create enough "renewable fuel" to meet federal mandates...Now scientists are showing that ethanol will exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions. A February report in the journal Science found that "corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings, nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years . . . Biofuels from switchgrass, if grown on U.S. corn lands, increase emissions by 50%."

Hungry people, more pollution, higher taxes and less energy. Why, the Left has done it again! It's the trifecta of terrible public policy!

I mention Gore, Kerry and Obama because they all support this stupidity, just as they all opposed welfare reform, supported detente with the Soviet empire, got Reaganonics wrong, etc., etc. And--coincidence or something more?--they are the three most recent Democratic nominees for president.

But Sen. Obama deserves a special place on this list because, not only does he support the idiocy of ethanol, he has actually proposed mandating 65 billion gallons a year of alternative fuel by 2025! To put that in perspective, if every ear of corn in the entire country were used for ethanol, it wouldn't be enough to hit that target.

And, if anyone at Obama HQ cares, the actualyresult of this policy would be more starvation and pollution.

Hey--who needs facts when you've got "change" and "audacity!" If only Barack Obama had the "audacity" to "change" his economically irrational, scientifically indefensible position on ethanol.

"Juan" McCain Rides Again!

Coming as a surprise to absolutely nobody, Sen. McCain is already back in the "Banana Hammock" on the issue of border security. With McCain, it's always "Amnesty or Bust!"

His pro-amnesty allies believe legalizing crimmigrants will be on one President McCain's highest, and most immediate, priorities. They probably believe this because he keeps saying it, over and over again.

And now he's agreed to speak to the National Council of The Race (La Raza), an openly-racist advocacy group supporting illegal immigration into the US.

Everything you need to know about the National Council of The Race is covered by Michelle Malkin. Read it, and then weep for the future of the Republic. After all, McCain is currently the TOUGHEST candidate for president on the issue of crimmigration.

Yikes.

Your Photo Of The Day

This is unrepentant terrorist and Obama ally Bill Ayers...in 2001. What else was he doing in 2001, besides stomping on the American flag? Why, serving with Barack Obama on the board of activist organizations and giving Barack campaign money--which Sen. Obama was happy to collect.

My Respect For Jeff Jacoby

On those rare occasions I read something on the Op-Ed page of the Boston Globe-Democrat that is actually worth reading, the byline is almost always Jeff Jacoby.

Sunday, he absolutely nailed the stooges at the Boston Firefighters Union, and worse (from a jealous, competing columnist standpoint) he did so hilariously.

[I]n the wake of last week's raucous firefighters rally at the State House, I'm changing my attitude about their attitude. Did you see the rally? There were hundreds of firefighters, marching up from the Common in their red union T-shirts and chanting: "What do we want? Respect! When do we want it? Now!" And there was Robert McCarthy, president of the Professional Firefighters of Massachusetts, bellowing, "We're not dogs! We won't be treated like dogs!"

Well, how can you argue with that?

Boston firefighters earned an average of $92,756 in 2006 - $103,817 if health benefits are included. According to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau, 55 percent of the city's firefighters have a compensation package worth $100,000
or more.

You call that respect?

And that doesn't include pension benefits: According to the research bureau, the average pension for a retiring firefighter is nearly $67,000 a year. And if he retires on a disability claim, he gets it tax-free. (Would you believe that nearly 75 percent of all Fire Department retirements in recent years have been based on "disabilities?" Probably just a coincidence.)

Read my not-nearly-as-lucid thoughts on the clueless clowns of the firefighters union in the Boston Herald.

Appeasement By Another Name

The "must-read" piece today for anyone who cares about the survival of Israel and the defeat of Islamist whackjobbery is Caroline Click's column in the Jerusalem Post. (h/t Andy McCarthy).

It's also vital reading for anyone still naive enough to believe media reporting on the so-called "Mideast Conflict," more accurately known as "Israel's War For Survival." As Click writes:

The most interesting aspect of these [false, anti-Israel] media reports is that for the most part, the news agencies reporting Hamas's wild allegations don't even have correspondents in Gaza. Hamas's habit of kidnapping Western -even pro-Hamas - reporters caused most Western media outlets to remove their correspondents from Gaza more than a year ago. The Israeli media have not had correspondents on the ground since Israel withdrew from Gaza in September 2005.

Yet the same media outlets that realized Hamas is too radical to be trusted to respect their own reporters' lives refuse to question the veracity of Hamas's stories and are more than willing to credit these stories as fact well past the point of professional embarrassment. Indeed, no media outlet - either Israeli or foreign - has ever asked whether it even makes sense to run Hamas's propaganda in the first place. They have certainly not bothered to inform their audiences that the source of their stories is a genocidal terror group that is currently waging a missile campaign against Israeli civilians whose goal is to terrorize and kill them just because they are Jewish.

Click also writes about politics determined to "do business with" (a.k.a. "appease") Hamas. This group, unfortunately includes more than Jimmy Carter and the American Left. It also includes President Bush and Secretary of State Rice.

I've been to Israel and walked along the security fence. I've waved at a Hezbollah fighter along the Lebanon/Israel border. (One finger only, of course). It's a beautiful country and I hope to go back and take my children, too.

But what really stood out for me is how normal Israel appeared, even as it suffered levels of terrorism and murder that would never be tolerated for 60 minutes in the US, much less 60 years. Can you imagine what, for example, Quebec would look like today if its government fired a daily salvo of missiles into New Hampshire and Vermont for even a week? The smoldering ruins of Montreal wouldn't be habitable. Americans would demand it.

Israel has suffered daily missile attacks for a year, and still shows restraint, still refuses to blow Gaza to smithereens. Missiles and mortars pour from Iran, through Egypt and land on the streets of Israel, but Israelis limit themselves to targeted, military strikes...and then are condemned for it by the world.

Can you imagine? Concord, NH and Burlington VT and getting hit by MISSILES... and the US government did nothing more than target a few military leaders? It's an impossible scenario.

After 60 years of fighting for their own lives against baby-killing, anti-Semitic, genocidal lunatics, Israel is still considered illegitimate by much of the world, and in particular by a large percentage of the American Left. What sort of anti-Semitism does it take to watch a Tel Aviv pizza parlor destroyed by a suicidal terrorist with a backpack full of explosives, nails and rat poison--and side with the killer?

Next time you run into a MoveOn.org liberal--ask him.

What A Friday!

The smokin' hot, always provocative Ann Coulter is our guest this morning on the Natural Truth. Her latest column, on Sen. Obama and Rev. Wright, is a classic.

And if you missed the Undercover Economist, Tim Harford, explaining why Sen. Clinton is clueless about oil and gas prices, you can check out his website, or listen to the podcast at the "On Demand" page of WTKK.com.

What Are You Doing Saturday Night?

Please join me in supporting our US Marines this Saturday, May 3rd at the Toys For Tots of Massachusetts 1st Annual Honoree Gala and Fundraiser Ball. I have the honor of being the emcee for this terrific event, and I'm delighted to do my part to support the Marines and the Toys for Tots program.

The entire event is going to be great, and there are some very cool auction items, too (like a day of military flight training!). All the details are at their webpage, www.toysfortotsma.org

There will be a great live band, dancing, a casino room, great food and lots of fun, all at the beautiful The Boston World Trade Center Seaport Hotel. Tickets are still available--including $35 tickets just for the band and casino room, a great deal!--so please visit the Toys for Tots of Massachusetts website and order yours today!

Cambridge, The City Of Peace, Love And Anti-Israeli Terrorism

As the manholes continue exploding and the city streets are engulfed in flame this morning, the People's Republic of Cambridge reminds us that running a city this stupidly doesn't come cheap.

We already know that the Cambridge City Council and its mayor are the most expensive elected government in America. The city also has a taxpayer-funded co-called "Peace Commission," who's head recently organized a trip to the West Bank. Their strategy for promoting peace?

Hide the gays and Jews.

• "Being openly gay or lesbian is outside the cultural norms of Palestinian life..."
• "It is best that you not raise the issue of being gay or lesbian with Palestinians.."
• "It's best not to practice your Hebrew with Palestinians even if someone uses it with you."
• "It is better not to wear a kippah or yarmulke in Palestinian communities. Again, while our hosts are glad to meet Israelis and Jews, there are many eyes and ears watching for collaborators."

These are just a few of the tips the Cambridge Peace Commission gave local folks participating in their fact-finding trip to the West Bank. Or should I call it a "fact-making" trip.

Here are a couple of directives from the Peace Commission to the participants:

"It carries great weight to be able to say, 'I've seen with my own eyes the suffering that the Israeli occupation causes. Our government's support for it compounds it.'"

"With care and permission, photos of the effects of the occupation are good; a family standing in front of its bulldozed house; people who have been hurt, etc."

There's much more in this outstanding article by Hillel Stavis. The story--particularly of the elderly Jewish liberal offering to do what she calls her "'I escaped from Nazi Vienna and am unhappy with what Israel does' schtick" shows just how anti-Israel the Left has become.

It reminds me of Green Party lunatic Grace Ross running for governor here in Massachusetts in 2006, while simultaneously attending an event commemorating Black September, and attending pro-Hezbollah rallies. The Boston Globe-Democrat declined to write even one story about. Apparently it's no longer newsworthy when the Left public associates itself with anti-Semitic terrorism.

Will elected officials in the city of Cambridge be held responsible for supporting and funding this blatant propaganda? I believe so.

I predict their poll numbers will immediately go up.

Where Have All The Illegals Gone?

Just returned from the "No Worker Is Illegal" May Day Rally on Boston Common (sponsored in part, ironically, by the School Bus Driver's Union, an organization that considers every non-union bus driver "illegal"). And here's my report:

Cue the crickets.

Two years ago, Boston Common was covered with thousands of pro-open borders, anti-immigration-enforcement protesters. The shouts of "Si, Se Puede!" could be heard all the way to Beacon Hill.

Today, so few people were in attendance and so few of those actually spoke Spanish, that the chant died after a few anemic rounds.

Boston PD was on duty, but they had nothing to do. A couple dozen pro-border-security activists were just about able to shout down the entire "No Worker Is Illegal" contingent. They certainly out-argued them.

I'll be playing some fun audio from the event on my radio show Friday morning, including an interview with a real, live member of the Sacco and Vanzetti Commemoration Society! Yes, she exists! She insists that the two Italian anarchist murderers were innocent (the latest scholarship suggests otherwise, by the way). And you'll be stunned to learn that she had "no comment" on Alger Hiss, believes Ethyl and Julius Rosenberg were "persecuted," and she's not really sure what happened on 9/11, either.

On tomorrow's show, I'll also ask this question: Where are the illegals and their advocates? Did they stay home this year because previous rallies have been viewed as counterproductive; or have they realized that all three presidential candidates are amnesty supporters and, therefore, their work is done?

Let me know your answer at michaelgraham@969wtkk.com

Know Your Nuts!

Here's the website of the loonies holding the "No Worker Is Illegal!" rally on Boston Common later today. Counterprotesters are gathering at 3:30pm on the Common across from the McDonalds if you want to speak out on behalf of common sense.

Something You Should Know About John McCain

I'm still on fan of "Juan" McCain, advocate of open borders, expanded government, limits on free speech and overreaction to so-called global warming. However, there are some things to like about Sen. McCain, and his greatest strength is his toughness.

If you haven't read this piece from the WSJ, you need to. Here's a highlight:

Mr. Day [a Vietnam POW] relayed to me one of the stories Americans should hear. It involves what happened to him after escaping from a North Vietnamese prison during the war. When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."

The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.

But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.

Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.

Is Barack Obama this tough? To ask the question is to answer it.