TOPICAL GUIDE TO AMERICAN POLITICS
THE NEW MEDIA RETURN TO 110-100 TOPICAL GUIDE AMERICAN POLITICS
10/19/07 Rush Limbaugh, Harry Reid, and the 2 million dollar letter. On this one, Rush is right. Reid's letter, also signed by 40 other Democrat Senators, was an arrogant abuse of power in an attempt to browbeat a private citizen regarding his 1st Amendment rights; indeed his very livelihood. Only a foretaste of what we could generally expect if the Dems prevail in 2008. Rush's auction of the Reid letter on eBay was brilliantly executed on several levels. No doubt the Marine Corps-Law Enforcement Foundation will put the proceeds to good use. Meanwhile, may the 41 signatories of this letter all hang their heads in shame, suck alum, and look forward to the attention of their constituents in the next election. Good job, Rush. JES
12/07/06 Pearl Harbor Day. Ask young people you know if they know what it was all about, or where, or when. Perhaps I am optimistic. Do you, yourself, know the answer to these questions? JES
09/10/06 Finally, finally, somebody in the mainstream media has the guts and the gonads to stand up and say "enough is enough!". It is reported that ABC will air the five hour "docudrama" miniseries The Path to 9/11 on 09/10 and 09/11. Bob Iger, Chairman, Walt Disney Company, most profound thanks to you for your courageous decision. The true friends of the First Amendment understand the battle you have joined against the certain Statist forces of darkness; we will be with you in the court rooms and in the political battles likely to follow. It is now time for CBS, NBC and the rest of you media airheads to straighten up and fly right; shed the political agenda and just report the news based on properly sourced and documented facts. That is all Conservatives have ever asked for. Three cheers for the First Amendment! JES
05/02/06 Rush Limbaugh seems to have settled his battle with south Florida persecutors over the issue of "doctor shopping" for pain killing medicine prescriptions. At the time this story originally broke in the Fall of 2003. I made comments here in the Mountain Observer that I would revisit the issue ( MO 125 03-08) point future, after matters had settled out. Today I am as skeptical of Rush on a personal level as ever, but it is now clear that for all these months he has been pursued, not as a legal target, but a political target. In context, this entire story is much more about the pursuers, than Rush, in the same category as a Dan Rather de-ja vue. JES
04/19/06 Before the perky Katie Couric even starts her new assignment at CBS, the "Shirts" are running away from her as a solo act. It has now been revealed that they want Katie paired with anchorman Bob Schieffer. JES
04/09/06 The perky Katie Couric takes over at CBS. Watch their numbers continue to plunge. JES
05/11/05 The Mountain Observer needs to extend recognition of the fact that of all the radio talk show hosts out there, (and the Mountain Observer is able to, and does, monitor dozens) Rush Limbaugh remains the most effective, articulate and intellectually collected one on the air, compared to anyone else. This is not to say he is always articulate and intellectually collected; it is to say that within the genre, he is the best. I make this point because his communicative skills may very well make the difference in a battle being played out in the Senate. This week, Rush is spending a lot of time not talking to you and me, but directly to a handful of Senators much in need of being out-gassed of personal ego.
This week, in the Senate, the political tensions of the not-so-submerged American Civil War II are focused like a laser on the matter of the "Constitutional option" (as Conservatives see it), or "nuclear option" (as Liberals see and report it). At issue, to cut to the chase, and given the political balance in the Senate between those of Conservative vs. Liberal inclination, is the issue of whether or not to allow the full Senate an opportunity to vote up or down on the President's nominees for federal judges. The outcome of this fracas is likely to have consequences in the balance of political power in Washington DC for years to come, which is the cause of the contentiousness. Both sides are heavily invested. JES
04/28/05 Air America, as you may know, is the sputtering far left effort to counter "right wing" talk radio, funding not entirely clear. As reported by Matt Drudge (www.drudgereport.com ) on 04/27/05, apparently on Monday 04/25/05, Air America's Randi Rhodes engaged in some inflammatory rhetoric against the President that was so out of line, legally and otherwise, that it aroused the interest of the Secret Service. As I have previously alluded, at some point the far left may very well precipitate a crises, and the seeds planted here need to be nipped before they bud. JES
MO 05 01 Tony Blankley, there you go again, wrecking the language. In a recent column in the Washington Times: ....."Keep in mind, the Pentagon has not denied the story; it has merely said that some of the facts are inaccurate." ...... Damit! if the "facts" are inaccurate, they aren't "facts", they're allegations, or alleged facts, or worse. This constant butchering the the word fact by a lot of people who should know better is driving me to distraction. My own theory is that this is a byproduct of post modern deconstructionist relativism, and it seems to me that those who consider themselves Conservatives should know better than to facilitate their ideological enemies, which is why I think its an issue. JES
11/30/04 Having accomplished election results generally favorable to the political right, a word of caution is advised. For starters, be advised that these days there are a lot of people running around claiming conservative credentials who are really more opportunistic than seriously consistent. It was disturbing to me a couple of days ago, listening to an also ran "conservative" talk show host who seems to have frequent serious bouts of PMS, rant on about the immigration issue and stumbling into an almost racist reaction to the President's nomination of Carlos Gutierrez as Secretary of Commerce. His complaint was incoherent. Now this web site has loudly complained about the President's posture on border issues, immigration, and political correctness; I need not repeat it all here. However, what this web site has never done, and will never do, is to fail to welcome to our shores genuine victims of statist regimes who come to us in peace, prepared to become productive American citizens. Few people fill the bill as does Carlos Gutierrez. As for his qualifications for the job, his tenure with Kellogg's is pretty impressive. Did he close a plant? Yes, and probably saved the company, and a lot of American jobs as a result. Does this talk show host know who I am talking about? I'm sure he does, and my advice to him is that he needs to stop acting like a woman from Brooklyn and cool his jets. We have a hard struggle ahead of us in developing sound immigration and border control law and policies; conservatives do not need to shoulder the burden of improper and incorrect accusations of racism. Carlos Gutierrez, welcome to America from a very Conservative American. JES
11/30/04 Listening to a different talk show out of Chicago this morning, the subject revolved around the question of inaction by school administrators, and boards of education, in instances of bullying students effectively terrifying other students. I'm sure that parents and students frequently have legitimate complaints. What was entirely missed, however, in this radio discussion, was the fact that the real problem is that the teachers, administrators and board members themselves are afraid of the same thug students, and terrified of the legal shields that have been erected to protect them. School thuggery and gang behavior is only going to continue to get worse until the legal trends of the last few years are reversed, and discipline re-allowed in the schools. Meanwhile, bring on the vouchers. JES
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