Thompson is talking the talk ... the type of talk true conservatives like to hear.

LINK: http://fredfile.imwithfred.com/2007/on-federalism/

Also, leaving out McCain, Ginrich also said that the GOP will have three "formidable" choices in Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, said Gingrich, who is considering whether to get into the race.

LINK: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070729/D8QMAVNO0.html

I think the hypocrisy argument has gotten muddled by some who try to make it seem as those of us who criticize Edwards are attacking his right to use his money as he sees fit. That couldn't be farther from the truth. Jonathan Darman, of Newsweek, says it best:

"But fundamentally, the problem caused by the house and haircut is not the appearance of hypocrisy. Rather, it is the perception that Edwards will pay any price to maintain his flawless veneer.

For RFK, authenticity also meant impulsiveness. Touring poor areas of the South, Kennedy would sometimes order his caravan to halt so he could chat with poor children he passed on the roadside. Edwards seems uncomfortable deviating from an established script. Touring a struggling Cleveland neighborhood last week, he walked slowly, letting the TV cameramen set the pace."

It's not that John Edwards has money, it's that he comes across as less than genuine when he says, "I care about poor people."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886671/site/newsweek/

... is to turn the American middle class into the poor.


The linked article details the upcoming minimum wage increase. I never realized that just 1% of American workers make the minimum wage. It seems like we have a natural bell curve going on with the highest salaries also representing around 1%.

The article also states that John Edwards wants to raise the minimum wage to $9.50 (Presumably to bolster incomes so that people can afford his tax increases). Increasing the minimum wage to $9.50 would rationally do one of two things: either 1) create a cascading effect through the economy that raises wages for everyone and just ends up leaving us in the status quo after the prices adjust to increased labor costs or 2) squeezes out hardworking middle class workers who would say, "why am I working in a hard job where education is required when I can just work at McDonald's for almost $10 per hour?"

Either way, the end result is nothing but more power in the hands of government, less capitalistic force in the marketplace, and the same amount of people in poverty.

When will the socialist wing of the party of Truman and Kennedy admit that they don't care about the "average American" because they are too busy trying to push that average person to the shallow end of the pool where the government can control them?

LINK: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19889276/

NOTE: While John Edwards is staking out positions somewhere left of Karl Marx, darling Obama stays in the grey area between silence and saying absolutely nothing at all. Obama is more worried about eliminating words and phrases from the lexicon ("working poor") than he is about doing anything.

... now, the vegans and vegetarians are going to be coming out of the woodwork. The bright side, maybe, is that Algore will lose some weight!

"Producing 2.2lb of beef generates as much greenhouse gas as driving a car non-stop for three hours, it was claimed yesterday."

LINK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/19/nbeef119.xml

... and John Edwards is still a novice that got lucky when he served his one term in the Senate.

"Responding to Elizabeth Edwards' suggestion that Senator Clinton feels she has to 'behave as a man and not talk about women's issues,' Bill Clinton said on ABC'S 'GOOD MORNING AMERICA': 'I don’t think she's trying to be a man. I don't think it’s inconsistent with being a woman that you can also be knowledgeable on military and security affairs, and be strong when the occasion demands it. I don't consider that being manly. I consider that being a leader.'"

That's called getting hit in the mouth by a heavyweight champ.

"Edwards wants to set aside $100 million to help school districts implement economic integration programs."

Faced with the fact that they aren't giving enough entitlements out to enough people to buy their vote, Democrats are aiming to buy halfway up the middle class to get elected. At what point will Americans reject the socialist tendancies of the new Democrats?

Wait until the private healthcare industry is created when the Democrats finally socialize medicine!

"Louisiana became the first American state Friday to outlaw a controversial abortion procedure that involves partially removing the fetus intact from a woman's uterus, then crushing or cutting its skull to complete the abortion.

The new law allows the procedure in only one situation at any time during pregnancy: when failure to perform it would endanger the mother's life. The procedure would be a crime in all other cases, even if the pregnancy is expected to cause health problems for the mother."

It looks like anti-abortion proponents have learned how to read SCOTUS opinions and are tailoring their laws to conform with new post-Roe precedent.

The untitled movie by LOST creator, J.J. Abrams has a lot of people excited. Could it be a LOST movie? Could it be Voltron? Could it be a whole new character and franchise? Whatever it is, I like it.

LINK: http://www.vh1.com/movies/news/articles/1564178/20070705/story.jhtml?rsspartner=rssMozilla

This movie is more than meets the eye.

I want a golden eagle so bad right now. It's like a DNA-based cruise missle. Maybe we could use this as a missle defense system.

This may be the worst lawsuit I have ever heard of.

"An office worker for the US city of Detroit is suing for her colleagues to be banned from wearing perfume which gives her such severe headaches, nausea and coughing fits that she must leave work.

Now she is seeking a jury trial to make the city force fellow employees to come to work un-scented, citing disability discrimination laws. She is claiming unspecified damages for 'pain, suffering, humiliation and outrage' suffered."

"If Giuliani were to become the GOP nominee for president, he might look to New Jersey as a place to pick up electoral votes that have gone to Democrats in recent elections. A Bloomberg candidacy, however, might siphon off more support from Giuliani than Clinton. New Jersey hasn't supported a Republican for president since 1988. But the new poll has 61 percent of the state's voters holding a favorable view of Giuliani, higher than any other presidential contender."

LINK: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8Q6MQ900&show_article=1

... the perception police have finally hit at the global warming hysteria.

"The public believes the effects of global warming on the climate are not as bad as politicians and scientists claim, a poll has suggested."

You mean algore is an exaggerator?!?! I just bought land 36 miles from the shore based on his personal guarantee that it would be the new site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse when "the warmin'" hit. What am I going to do with a rocky ridge in Goldsboro?

LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6263690.stm

Answer: the same thing Bush just did - commute Libby's sentence.

"President Bush commuted the sentence of former aide I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby Monday, sparing him from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak case.Bush left intact a $250,000 fine and two years probation for Libby, according to a senior White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced."

LINK: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usbush0703,0,3656692,print.story?coll=ny-top-headlines

Today's NY Times article, purported to be a piece that would hurt Fred Thompson's bid for the presidency, actually shows how principles Thompson is regarding issues and his ability to build partnerships that last. As to Thompson's sons being lobbyists, the article itself states:

"Senator Thompson was sensitive to the potential appearance of favoritism to his sons’ clients and sought to keep a distance. Rather than relying on his father, Tony Thompson relied mainly on political contacts in Tennessee he had made campaigning for his father, Mr. Mathews said."

Moreover, the Thompson boys did their lobbying almost exclusively in Tennessee, where Senator Thompson had no actual authority. Profiting off of perception is the American way - how else could Hillary Clinton be elected to represent NY or even be considered as a legit candidate for President (people think she has Bill Clinton's ear).