So, this is "free speech" in West Hollywood, California?

"A mannequin portraying U.S. Republican vice-presidential nominee Alaska Governor Sarah Palin hangs by a noose as a mannequin portraying U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain protrudes from the chimney of a private residence in West Hollywood, California October 27, 2008. Part of a Halloween display, the likenesses drew complaints on Monday, but local officials said the homeowner was covered by free speech rights. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni (UNITED STATES) US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2008 (USA)"

Now, I am all for freedom of speech, but who else believes that if this were a scene depicting Barack Obama and Joe Biden that the owners of this home would have been forced to remove it immediately? I mean, can you even IMAGINE how the democrats and the liberal media would react to something like that?

Outrageous.

Just so ya know...

My Sarah Palin post experiment has been inconclusive. I didn't get a spike in visits, and have averaged only slightly higher than "normal" traffic to my blog. Drat. I was hoping to prove something. (What that something is, I don't really know, but....). At least I can say I tried.

The more I read, the more I like...

Ann Coulter. I know she's sort of abrasive, and that she isn't above sounding downright mean. But I like her. (Maybe because I'm sort of abrasive at times, too)

I just read this article online, and thought I'd share it with you. If you aren't a Republican, if you ARE a fan of Michael Moore, you DON'T like George Bush, and you would rather see a guy who's middle name is HUSSEIN (for Pete's Sake!) than a military veteran and a smart, witty hockey mom who isn't afraid to buck the system in the White House, you may wish to stop reading now. I'm just sayin'.

BUSH 7, TERRORISTS 0

By Ann CoulterWed Sep 10, 7:58 PM ET

Morose that there hasn't been another terrorist attack on American soil for seven long years, liberals were ecstatic when Hurricane Gustav was headed toward New Orleans during the Republican National Convention last week. The networks gave the hurricane plenty of breaking-news coverage -- but unfortunately it was Hurricane Katrina from 2005 they were covering.

On Keith Olbermann's Aug. 29 show on MSNBC, Michael Moore said the possibility of a Category 3 hurricane hitting the United States "is proof that there is a God in heaven." Olbermann responded: "A supremely good point."

Actually, Olbermann said that a few minutes later to some other idiotic point Moore had made, but that's how Moore would have edited the interview for one of his "documentaries," so I will, too. I would only add that Michael Moore's morbid obesity is proof that there is a Buddha.

Hurricane Gustav came and went without a hitch. What a difference a Republican governor makes!

As many have pointed out, the reason elected officials tend to neglect infrastructure projects, like reinforcing levees in New Orleans and bridges in Minneapolis, is that there's no glory when a bridge doesn't collapse. There are no round-the-clock news specials when the levees hold. You can't even name an overpass retrofitting project after yourself -- it just looks too silly. But everyone's taxes go up to pay for the reinforcements.

Preventing another terrorist attack is like that. There is no media coverage when another 9/11 doesn't happen. We can thank God that President George Bush didn't care about doing the safe thing for himself; he cared about keeping Americans safe. And he has, for seven years.

If Bush's only concern were about his approval ratings, like a certain impeached president I could name, he would not have fought for the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq. He would not have resisted the howling ninnies demanding that we withdraw from Iraq, year after year. By liberals' own standard, Bush's war on terrorism has been a smashing, unimaginable success.

A year after the 9/11 attack, The New York Times' Frank Rich was carping about Bush's national security plans, saying we could judge Bush's war on terror by whether there was a major al-Qaida attack in 2003, which -- according to Rich -- would have been on al-Qaida's normal schedule.

Rich wrote: "Since major al-Qaida attacks are planned well in advance and have historically been separated by intervals of 12 to 24 months, we will find out how much we've been distracted soon enough." ("Never Forget What?" New York Times, Sept. 14, 2002.)

There wasn't a major al-Qaida attack in 2003. Nor in 2004, 2005, 2006 or 2007. Manifestly, liberals thought there would be: They announced a standard of success that they expected Bush to fail.

As Bush has said, we have to be right 100 percent of the time, the terrorists only have to be right one time. Bush has been right 100 percent of the time for seven years -- so much so that Americans have completely forgotten about the threat of Islamic terrorism.

For his thanks, President Bush has been the target of almost unimaginable calumnies -- the sort of invective liberals usually reserve for seniors who don't separate their recyclables properly. Compared to liberals' anger at Bush, there has always been something vaguely impersonal about their "anger" toward the terrorists.

By my count, roughly one in four books in print in the world at this very moment have the words "Bush" and "Lie" in their title. Barnes & Noble has been forced to add an "I Hate Bush" section. I don't believe there are as many anti-Hitler books.

Despite the fact that Hitler brought "change," promoted clean, energy-efficient mass transit by making the trains run on time, supported abortion for the non-master races, vastly expanded the power of the national government and was uniformly adored by college students and their professors, I gather that liberals don't like Hitler because they're constantly comparing him to Bush.

The ferocity of the left's attacks on Bush even scared many of his conservative allies into turning on him over the war in Iraq.

George Bush is Gary Cooper in the classic western "High Noon." The sheriff is about to leave office when a marauding gang is coming to town. He could leave, but he waits to face the killers as all his friends and all the townspeople, who supported him during his years of keeping them safe, slowly abandon him. In the end, he walks alone to meet the killers, because someone has to.

That's Bush. Name one other person in Washington who would be willing to stand alone if he had to, because someone had to.

OK, there is one, but she's not in Washington yet. Appropriately, at the end of "High Noon," Cooper is surrounded by the last two highwaymen when, suddenly, his wife (Grace Kelly) appears out of nowhere and blows away one of the killers! The aging sheriff is saved by a beautiful, gun-toting woman.

Just doing a little experiment...

Well, I was checking out my visitor stats, and I noticed that in the days after I posted about Sarah Palin the number of people who checked out my blog increased nearly ten-fold. I'd love to think that it's because of word-of-mouth and that people are recommending my blog to their friends and family...but I DO live in the real world and have the feeling that it was because I posted about Sarah Palin.

So, as a little experiment, I decided to post again about Governor Palin, and include different things about her to see if it causes another upswing in the number of visitors.

Governor Palin has a son named Trig, who has Down Syndrome.

Bristol Palin, Sarah's 17 year old daughter, is pregnant and engaged to the father Levi Johnston.

Governor Palin and her husband were high school sweethearts and have five children. (All with pretty unusual names...Piper and Bristol were the only ones I had heard used as names before)

Todd Palin is apparently a REALLY REALLY good snow machine racer, having won the Iron Dog snow machine race something like four times.

Governor Palin is an AWESOME choice for Vice President, and I'm glad John McCain picked her.

Now...let's see if that "ups" my stats!! It will be interesting to see if it does. I'll probably add more tidbits of info as I think of them, but right now it's dinner time!!!

More about Sarah Palin

My mother in law sent this to me - it is from a friend of my sister in law's mother, a friend who just happens to live in Alaska. Here's her take on Sarah Palin:

Feel free to agree or disagree, but here is an Alaskan's viewpoint on our new VP candidate (and it is an opinion shared by the vast majority of Alaskan residents). :-)

Sarah Palin is the US's answer to Margaret Thatcher! Anyone who thinks she cannot handle the job or deal briskly and efficiently with ANY issue, including foreign governments... well, they haven't met our Sarah . She is not "just a woman", she is not "just a way to get votes" and if anyone expects her to smile, simper and be sweet - they don't know Sarah. She is *more than* qualified for the job and the best possible choice McCain could have made.

As an Alaskan resident as well as a resident of Wasilla, AK, where Sarah Palin was at one time Mayor... I can speak with confidence. Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska is exactly what she portrayed during her introduction this morning and exactly what our US Government needs. She is ethical to a fault (if there is such a thing), a refreshing change to the status-quo and as smart and determined a PERSON (gender really isn't an issue here as far as I'm concerned) as anyone could ask for at the head of government.

Sarah is no naïve "small town mayor" - she just *started out* there. Btw, as Mayor of Wasilla, she brought this "small town" through a lot of GOOD changes and left it at the end of her term having grown to the 4th largest CITY in Alaska - a lot of growth and a stronger economic base than ever before. She has EXECUTIVE experience *running a government* (something NONE of the other candidates can actually boast, even John McCain) as Governor of Alaska and got there by defeating the *incumbent* Republican Governor, who was definitely part of the "old school" and who WAS very much in the pocket of the big oil companies.

We in Alaska wanted change - and we got it in the person of Sarah Palin! Sarah Palin is everything she looks to be and more. Her approval rating as Governor of Alaska has been as high as 95% and is currently leveled out consistently in the upper 80th percentile throughout the state (and in both parties) - the HIGHEST approval rating of ANY sitting Governor.

Sarah has been turning around corruption in the Legislature of Alaska -turning things on their ear for that matter; cutting spending in spite of the increased income the state is currently receiving due to the high oil prices - she has insisted on putting a huge amount of the "windfall" into savings for the future rather than spending, spending, spending - and has insisted from the get-go on what she refers to as "honest, ethical and transparent governing" - no more closed door meetings and dealings - the big oil companies thought she would be a pushover and have learned better to their chagrin.

She understands the "real people" and the economic issues we all face (Alaskans along with the rest of the country) - she was one of "us" not long ago. Rather than passing useless "laws" or throwing money at pet projects, she (most recently) temporarily suspended the state gas tax (on gasoline at the pumps, fuel oil and natural gas for homes, etc.) and has ordered checks issued to ALL residents of Alaska this fall in an attempt to assist with the burden of high fuel costs for the upcoming winter.

I could go on and on, but that's enough for now . She isn't doing these things to be popular - she is doing it because her constituents are HURTING financially and she is in a position to help. She became Governor of Alaska by defeating the Incumbent Republican Governor and doing it *without* the money or the support of the Republican Party, which was amazing in itself - and she won by a landslide. The "powers that be" at that time totally underestimated Sarah and learned better the hard way.

Let's hope Obama does the same.

Sarah has done exactly what she claimed she was going to do when elected and is just as popular today as the day she was elected - perhaps more so since even the Democrats up here seem to like her - she works well with both sides in the Legislature here. Sarah "belongs" to us (Alaskans)... and although we are going to be terribly sorry to see her leave before she finishes the job she started here (two years ago) straightening out OUR State ... we understand she is needed for a bigger purpose and hopefully her Lt. Governor will be able to fill her shoes here and continue the job.

As for worrying about what would happen if McCain were to die or step down or whatever... here in AK we've only been wondering how long we would be able to KEEP Sarah in Alaska and have seen her as our first woman President of the USA from the start. It's always been a matter of whether she would wait until the end of her TWO terms as Governor (no doubt at ALL that she would be re-elected if she ran for a second term at the end of her current term)... or end up in Washington sooner. She could do the job TODAY.

Personally, I feel a lot better about McCain now that I know he has someone as savvy, as strong, as ethical and as steady as Sarah at his back. She will be an excellent Vice President... and my guess is will be our US Republican Presidential candidate in four years - AND by then the country will KNOW her - will love and respect her as we do here - and she'll win by as much of a landslide as she did here in Alaska. I only wonder if McCain has a clue what he is unleashing on the US of A . She is going to be a fresh wind, but also a strong wind.

Is that enough of an endorsement? If not, I'll add this ... Jerry and I have for many years felt the best "vote" was to vote for the lesser of two"evils" and hope they didn't do too much damage. Two years ago during our State Governor's race was the first time EVER that we actually asked for not just a little sign to put in our yard showing our support of our candidate (something we've never felt the desire to do at all before) - we asked for a full 4' x 8' "SARAH PALIN FOR GOVERNOR!" sign and were proud to have it. She hasn't let us or Alaska down. She will do the same for the USA if given the opportunity. Feel free to pass this on to anyone who may be interested (and spam those who aren't!).

-Deb in Alaska-

Deb Frost / Snowgoose
Spring Promise Pygmies, Wasilla, AK
http://www.springpromisepygmies.com/snowgoose@mtaonline.net

Well, if Sarah Palin is only HALF the leader she appears to be, she'd be a great person to have in the White House!!