While signature trolling this morning at a local coffee shop, I asked a woman for hers, upon which she asked me how I felt about a bill presently on Boston’s Beacon Hill about nurse staffing. She felt the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should tell hospitals how many patients nurses should be responsible for, while adding that hospital CEOs make too much money.

At some point, after I officially make the ballot, I’ll have to bone up on more state issues like this one. The woman, who it turns out is a nurse, kind of threw me for a loop and I had to think quick.

I responded that I didn’t feel the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should be telling any business how it should staff. Once you open that door, it’s very hard to close it later. Also, I don’t believe the Commonwealth of Massachusetts should be regulating the pay of a CEO, or minimum wage worker for that matter.

I’ve previously argued that just because one is a politician, doesn’t make one an instant expert on any given topic. I’m sure a lot of you remember Hillary Clinton’s personal crusade to institute universal health care nationally. One would think she would know all about the topic, given the size and scope of her undertaking.

But contrast her apparent expertise on the subject with her highly publicized visit last summer with Michelle Estrada, a nurse at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in Henderson, Nevada.

According to Susan Page of USA Today,

The nurse's 12-hour shift at the hospital's Siena campus started as usual at 7 a.m. but at mid-afternoon Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived. The New York senator spent more than two hours shadowing Estrada in the fourth-floor medical/surgical ward before heading to Estrada's home for dinner with her and her three children.

"I'm following Michelle around today to see what a nurse does," Clinton explained to the patient in Room 471.

Now, I may have missed something here.

Save for the fact she’s a politician, is thereby granted expert status on every topic, and was very close to crafting legislation for every hospital, medical school, insurance company, and patient in the United States, if she was THAT qualified to do so, why did she need to follow a nurse around all day just to find out what she does?  Continued...

I sincerely doubt Hillary actually sat through the testosterone-slug fest, because if she did, she may have chosen another movie. Rocky Balboa loses to Apollo Creed, coincidentally a black man.

But as I listened to her little speech, I heard something curious. You see, I heard Hillary say, “Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never get up. And neither do the American people.”

Anyone who knows anything about boxing understands that a fighter always wants to “get up” after being knocked down. Hillary clearly said, “I never get up.”

I wanted to use that as my “Quote of the Day”, however when I went online to find the transcript of her comments, something was very wrong. It was obvious I misheard Hillary’s quote. Or did I…?

According to the Associated Press in the Times of London online, Hillary said, "Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing a fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people.”  Continued...

Remember back in 2000? The Democrats accused Republicans of stealing the presidential elections for not wanting repeated recounts using ballots that were deteriorating by the touch. Let’s not forget, those same Democrats so poorly designed those “butterfly” ballots, that voters ended up becoming “confused” and cast for the wrong candidates. What was humorous was the fact that the same ballot was presented to elementary schoolers as an experiment, and they had no trouble at all voting for whom they wanted.

Allegations flew, numerous investigations were made, and the stolen election conspiracy was deemed false, although the accusation is still repeated to this day. Also curious is how few people mention that voting problems almost always seem to happen in Democrat districts, under Democrat handling. How a Republican could just walk in and successfully perform some kind of mischief is beyond me.

But the slogan remains, “Count every vote.”

Last year in an effort to achieve some electoral relevance, Michigan and Florida decided to change the dates of their primaries, against the protestations of Howard Dean and the party brains. As punishment, those two states were stripped of their delegates, and the candidates declined to campaign there.

Well almost all the candidates….

According to Canada’s National Post,

“In a bid to respect the party's decision and maintain support in Iowa and New Hampshire, Democratic candidates including Ms. Clinton agreed not to campaign in Florida or Michigan.

 “The major Democratic candidates -- with the exception of Ms. Clinton -- went so far as to have their names taken off the ballot entirely in Michigan.

 “Ms. Clinton has subsequently, however, touted her victories in both states as legitimate.

 She won 50% of the vote in Florida's Jan. 29 primary, compared with 33% for Mr. Obama. The former first lady won 55% in Michigan's Jan. 15 vote, while 40% of the votes were for "Uncommitted."

So now that the race has become a bit more competitive, complete with perceived momentum shifts, the Clinton campaign is arguing that those votes be counted (or cast again), while Barack Obama and the other candidates who were alive at the time and played by the rules, don’t want them tallied.

A bit of a quandary, if you ask me.  Continued...

One would think, after all the years of being lectured to by the left when it comes to social decorum, that the Democrat presidential campaign would be conducted with the utmost in civility. However, reality is another thing.

Campaign 2008 has all the dreamed-of, potentially historical, liberal elements. On one hand, we have a woman. On the other hand we have a Black (African-American) man. Of all the possible candidates that have made it to the primary finals, we have representatives of two of America’s premier oppressed classes. Under normal circumstances, this would be a golden opportunity for progressives to show us all how it’s done. No gender bias; no racism. Just a campaign run on the issues.

However, that’s far from what we’ve gotten to date.

The Woman

After all the years of being instructed how women should be respected, how women can do whatever a man can do, how women can compete with men, how women are strong, Hillary Clinton has done little to support these long-standing protocols.

Hillary Clinton entered the race with beaucoup negatives. Many in America have still not forgiven (or forgotten) her declaration that a “vast, right wing conspiracy” sought to bring down her husband’s presidency, while knowing all along that he was guilty of almost all he was accused of. With that, half of the nation’s voters polled said they’d never vote for her under any circumstances. So any slip-up would be used against her, and they were.

When her campaign decided she needed to be humanized, we got “the cackle”. Yes, many made fun of her laugh as it just didn’t come off as sincere. When that didn’t work, she committed a big time, feminist faux pas: she cried… more than once. We’ve been told women are strong. Crying is a stereotypical sign of effeminate weakness, even though there are some in our society who think it revealing and sympathetic when men publicly sob.

We’ve been told that women don’t need the assistance of any man. When Hillary began her campaign, she was out there all by her lonesome. Her candidacy was considered “inevitable”. But when she actually found that this wasn’t going to be a cakewalk, she was told to utilize her greatest asset: her man.  Continued...

One of the themes of this year’s presidential election is “The Economy”. The economy is sliding into recession here, the economy is tanking there. The problem is, Wall Street seeks positive outlooks. Any talk of negativity plays havoc with portfolios.

Many people have lost huge amounts of their retirement nest eggs over the last few months, primarily because of the prognostications of the Democrat presidential candidates. If you remember, as recently as last fall, our economy was rolling along like a freight train. But in order to be able to bribe the American people, the economy had to be targeted so the candidates could offer us their benevolent assistance.

Remember, you can’t offer relief to people who don’t need it.

Things do happen that create market uncertainty. The whole sub-prime mortgage fiasco has become a looming financial mushroom cloud that has claimed a few corporate victims. An oil refinery fire didn’t help either, but our economy has always been the envy of the world. We’ve managed to grow, despite natural and manmade calamities. We’ve also shown we can grow the economy no matter how much federal and state government forcibly extracts from the family and business bottom line.

But if someone running for president badmouths something (or someone) enough, it starts to stick.

To understand the sophistry of the Democrat presidential talk-down, if the economy was so bad, how could Obama and Clinton raise over $70 million combined in campaign monies (from “ordinary people”) this month alone? Disposable money seems to be coming from somewhere….

But here’s where the rubber meets the road.  Continued...

Let’s not be too idealistic here. One would hope the media would be fair, but reality is another thing. The New York Times is supposed to be journalism’s crème de la crème. Maybe she once was, but the recent hit piece on John McCain is a clear illustration of the Gray Lady’s coming role in the 2008 Presidential Election.

As I said, that is, until yesterday. Remember the damage an unleashed Teresa Heinz Kerry did to her husband’s campaign. Yesterday, Michelle Obama may have started down that same road, and did so sober.

In front of 600 or so adoring supporters at the Capitol Theater in Madison, Michelle Obama said…

“For the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction. And just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment I've seen people who are hungry to be unified around some basic, common issues and it's made me proud.”

Because of the delicate elements involved, the press has been asking what she meant more than why she meant it. It’s obvious she’s caught up in the historical nature of her husband’s candidacy, as many Blacks and/or liberals felt they’d never see this day in “racist America”. Judging from the history of the Democrat Party, I don’t blame them, but I’ll not get off topic at this time.  more...