Catherine Patricia Salter

We honored her on the other blog as part of the Project 2996, honoring each victim of September 11, 2001 attacks. Seeing as no one else had picked up the baton, we thought it would be appropriate to do so again.

Catherine Patricia Salter was one of the 2,996 Americans who went about their normal business on that Tuesday, never realizing that it would be their last day on earth, their lives snuffed out by an evil almost unprecedented in human history.

On the P.O.W. Blog, you can read a discussion about Catherine Patricia Salter between Charles Franklin and Cathy’s brother, Bud, recollecting personal memories and the impact of that horrible day on those left behind.

Here’s the memorial to Cathy in Wellsville, Ohio, her hometown:

You can also check out the Remembering Cathy Salter Facebook page here.

Budweiser 9/11 Commercial

Found this on YouTube this morning. It’s a Budweiser commercial made to honor the victims of 9/11. It aired only once, since Anheuser-Busch wanted to avoid the impression of making money off the 9/11 attacks:

I Was There

This was a brilliant, touching, moving production in the days following the attacks of September 11, 2001.

A moving narration of the voice of God set to the haunting melody of Mannheim Steamroller:

Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning?

Alan Jackson’s moving 9/11 tribute:

Hello Captain Obvious!

This falls into the No Shit Sherlock category.

Our Lord and Savior Barack Hussein Obama described the floundering national economy and alleged recovery as “painfully slow.”

Well, duhhhhhhhh! We’ve had 21 months of tax increases and spending binges. Porkulus I and now coming soon to a special interest group near you, Porkulus II. We’ve had TARP I, Son of TARP, Grandson of TARP. Nationalized banks, financial institutions and automakers. Imposition of government-run, nationalized health care.

Of course, The Anointed One is never to blame. It”s all the fault of Republicans and President Bush (emphasis mine): 

WASHINGTON (al-AP) – Facing big Democratic losses in November, President Barack Obama blamed Republicans and election-year politics Friday for thwarting his efforts to do more to spur a listless national economy. He challenged Congress to quit squabbling and quickly approve “what we all agree on” – a reprieve for expiring tax cuts for the middle class.

“Let’s work on that. Let’s do it,” he told a nationally broadcast White House news conference, his first since last May.

Obama said his economic programs were helping, but “the hole the recession left was huge and progress has been painfully slow.”

Squabbling? Whose party has been in dominant control of both houses of Congress since January 2007? News flash: Democrats have controlled Congress since then, with sizeable majorities since Januar 2009. Obama didn’t need one Republican vote to pass anything He wanted.

And guess what? He’s gotten almost everything He wanted in this legislative session. He got the government takeover of the health care system. He got Porkulus, a $1.3 trillion bailout of a Democrat special interest; i.e. government employee unions. He got the nationalization of banks, financial institutions and Wall Street. Congress has bailed out teachers union thugs in the guise of a bailout for gummint-run skoolz.

Spare me. We were told that if Porkulus was passed, unemployment wouldn’t go above 8 percent. It’s been at or near 10 percent almost ever since the bill was passed. Real unemployment runs over 17 percent when taking into account the underemployed and those who have simply given up looking for work.

Plus, the American people are staring at the brink of the largest tax increase in American history: the expiration of the tax rate reductions of 2001 and 2003, which end on December 31, 2010. Starting January 1, 2011, tax rates will go back up to the Clinton-era.

What’s the Chocolate Jesus doing now? Playing class warfare based politics on extending the Bush-era tax cuts. He only want certain rates extended:

Obama pressed his case for Congress to renew most of the tax breaks enacted in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush that are set to expire at the end of this year. But the president and Democratic congressional leaders want to end the cuts for the nation’s wealthiest – households earning over $250,000 a year, or over $200,000 for single filers.

Republicans want all the cuts extended, saying the economy is too fragile to be raising taxes for anyone, and some Democrats have suggested a compromise – extending all the cuts but just for a year or two.

Obama suggested he might be open to “further conversation” down the road with Republicans, but “my position is let’s get done what we all agree on” first – the tax cuts for everyone but the wealthiest.

“Why hold it up? Why hold the middle class hostage in order to do something that most economists don’t think makes sense,” he said.

News flash: the $200,000 for single filers and $250,000 for households are the job creators, Mr. Community Organizer. These are the small business owners who file as individuals or Subchapter-S corporations. Know what this is? Just another income redistribution scheme. Raise taxes on people who actually play taxes to give money to people who don’t pay taxes.

I hope the 41 Republicans in the Senate can hold firm on this, but I doubt it. With all the squishes in there — Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, George RINOvich, etc. — who don’t have to face angry voters in November, one of them is bound to vote with the Democrat-Progressives to advance this latest Marxist ploy.

Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft asks:

Is this guy nuts or intentionally trying to sink the economy? It’s hard to tell sometimes.

Christie Vs. A Teachers Union Thug

Watch New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie go toe-to-toe with a thug from the New Jersey teachers union and prevail.

There’s a reason why Christie is a rising Republican star. While I disagree with him on some issues, the GOP needs more leaders like him with the gonads to act rather than play pattycake with the people who are out to destroy America.

He’s right, too. There would not have been the need to lay off anywhere near as many teachers if the state teachers union had agreed to a wage freeze and to contribute to their benefits package. New Jersey teachers don’t pay a dime toward their benefits; it’s all provided by state taxpayers.

We have major economic issues. People are losing their jobs and homes and these union thugs believe they are entitled to a 5 percent salary increase annually as well as having their entire benefits package being paid for by the decreasing number of people employed in the real world — as opposed to the fantasyland known as the government sector.

Besides, as long as the state teachers union refuses to refudiate comments by one of its leaders that he will pray for Christie’s death, Christie is entitled to speak his mind clearly and plainly.

Imagine the outrage if it had been a member of the Christie administration that had said he was praying for the death of the head of the state teachers union …

The Wisconsin Governor’s Race

Over the weekend, we wrote about the Lieutenant Governor’s race on the Republican side. Voters have a choice between a RINO in Rep. Brett Davis and a conservative in Rebecca Kleefisch.

The Republican primary for governor features Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and former Rep. Mark Neumann. The latest Rasmussen Reports poll shows both candidates running just slightly ahead of the Democrat, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Walker leads Barrett 47% to 44%, while Neumann leads Barrett 48% to 44%.

Those are interesting numbers. In the previous Rasmussen Reports survey, Walker held an eight-point lead over Barrett at 49% to 41% while Neumann held a slim lead over Barrett, 45% to 43%.

What happened? What does the change foreshadow?

Obviously, Barrett’s usual supporters are coming home and his support is solidifying. But what about the Republican side?

In May, Scott Walker was endorsed by the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s state convention. Walker has picked up endorsements of most of the state GOP officials as well as elected officials.

What’s happened across the country may very well be affecting this race. All over the United States, voter discontent has been directed at anything connected to incumbency and political insiders. Neumann has been running on the notion that, because Scott Walker has been the Milwaukee County Executive since 2001 and before that was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, that somehow makes him part of political insider class and — gasp! — a career politician.

Neumann should look in the mirror. If it weren’t for a narrow loss to Sen. Russ Feingold in 1998, he’d no doubt be running for his third term in the U.S. Senate now. Count his runs for the House of Representatives in the 1st Congressional District in 1992 (loss), 1993 special election loss), 1994 (win) and 1996 (win), and he’s been involved in politics as a candidate often enough himself.

The dynamics of this race may be changing. What looked like a certain Walker victory may turn out to be a nailbiter because of the national anti-incumbency sentiment and the vicious attacks against Walker, not by Neumann himself, but by Neumann supporters.

First, the anti-incumbency sentiment. Should Neumann pull off arguably the largest upset in Wisconsin politics since Lee Dreyfus beat Bob Kasten in the GOP primary in 1978, it will be no doubt due to his success in painting Walker as a political insider and career politician. Face it, folks. 2010 is not the year of the incumbent or anyone part of the political class. Any of those who survive will be as a result of holding a safe seat or dumb luck. This is almost as much an anti-incumbent year as it is an anti-Democrat year.

The second point bears closer watch as well. The Neumann campaign has attracted most of the progressive Republicans, not conservatives. That’s odd, since Neumann is attempting to run as a conservative in part on his record from his days in Congress. But Neumann has also consumed the green Kool-Aid, in no small part because his business benefits from environmentalist wacko garbage, not because what’s spewed from the green crowd is true (it’s not).

Neumann has also crawled into bed with the maggot-infested rodents from One Wisconsin Now to parrot attacks against Walker. OWN, part of the Hate Left in Wisconsin, suffers from an advanced case of Walker Derangement Syndrome. While Neumann himself has not parroted the hate and the lies, his supporters have been more than willing to do so.

To wit:

• Neumann supporters have repeated the lie that Scott Walker raised taxes as Milwaukee County executive in comments sections of blogs, on Facebook and on Twitter.
• Neumann supporters have labeled Walker a “college dropout” and snarkily suggested he finish his college degree before he thinks about being governor of Wisconsin.

When you are parroting snarky comments and lies from the likes of Mathias, Folkbum and Capper, I don’t want anything to do with you. You lost all street cred as a conservative in my book. You are a progressive, whether or not you want to admit it.

Facts are stubborn things, and while the Neumann supporters are entitled to their own opinions, they are not entitled to their own set of facts.

• Scott Walker did not raise taxes as Milwaukee County Executive. That is flat-out false. While taxes have increased, those tax hikes came directly as a result of the insider-controlled Milwaukee County Board, which overrode Walker’s vetoes on all tax increases.
• While Walker did not finish his bachelor’s degree, he left school to enter the workforce, not because he couldn’t hack it. What’s with the obsession that everyone have a college degree anyway? A bachelor’s degree today is worth about as much as a high school diploma years ago. Given how easily one is obtained by virtually anyone, there’s nothing special about it, and it’s no proof you are educated. Take a look at the narcissistic Man-Child in the White House. A constitutional law professor adjunct law instructor. How’s that working out for us? As William F. Buckley once said: “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”

How’s this going to play out? I heard Mark Belling opine the other day that he thinks 60 percent of the voters have made up their mind, which leaves 40 percent undecided.

It might explain why Walker, who’s been ignoring Neumann all along, went negative on his primary opponent, with a mailer and a TV ad pointing out that Neumann, while in Congress voted for a pork-laden transportation bill … as did Bela Pelosi. While it’s a stretch to — say the least — that Neumann = Pelosi, the Neumann campaign’s whining in light of the mailer and ad is too self-serving. The Neumann minions have been doing far worse than that leading up to now to be calling “Unfair!” See my point above about the lies that Scott Walker raised taxes as Milwaukee County Executive.

What’s going to happen? Right now, I believe the race is too close to call. Neumann, as Belling pointed out the other day, has invested a significant amount of his own personal money in his campaign. You don’t do that if you don’t have realistic expectations of winning. Some sort of internal polls have to be telling Neumann he has a legitimate chance of pulling the upset. I haven’t seen a poll in this race since June, which had Walker ahead by a wide margin. Remember: the poll that had Lisa Murkowski wiping out Joe Miller by 30 points was six weeks old by the election. Six weeks in politics is an eternity. 10 weeks, even more so.

I will be voting for Scott Walker next Tuesday, and I believe you should, too. However, if Mark Neumann sneaks out a narrow upset win, I won’t be surprised.

Will I vote for Neumann if he is the GOP nominee? In all honesty, I will not. Nor will I be voting for Tom Barrett, for obvious reasons. He’s Jim Doyle’s third term. Jim Doyle is America’s Worst Governor. But after the attacks out of the sewer against a good man like Scott Walker that have carried out by Neumann minions, I cannot validate that sort of conduct. I don’t care to ever speak to any of these people again. This time, it’s personal. I absolutely condemn that sort of behavior, and yes, it’s typical of progressives, who are motivated almost exclusively by hatred of conservatives.

‘Beat Whitey Night’ Not Raaaaacist!

Yes, you read that right.

A racially motivated rampage at the Iowa State Fair was ruled by authorities not to be racially motivated, and the police officer who intially suggested it was has been demoted and disciplined for even suggesting it.

Groups of maurauding black teenagers singled out white patrons at the fair and essentially beat the tar out of them, yelling “It’s Beat Whitey Night” while doing so.

“We don’t know if this was juveniles fighting or a group of kids singling out white citizens leaving the fairgrounds,” Sgt. Lori Lavorato said. “It’s all under investigation, but it’s very possible it has racial overtones.”

Officials announced last week that they were stepping up security outside the fairgrounds after a series of attacks Aug. 14 that included a pair of stabbings. Investigators are still investigating those assaults and victims intend to pursue charges …

Sgt. David Murillo stated in a report on Friday night, “On-duty officers at the fairgrounds advise there was a group of 30 to 40 individuals roaming the fairgrounds openly calling it ‘beat whitey night.’ “

Jammie Carroll, 36, of Polk City, was seriously injured in the 3000 block of East Grand Avenue Friday night after a group of people beat him up, causing severe injuries to his eyes, cheekbones and nose, Murillo wrote. Carroll is white, and many of the suspects are black, police said.

Guess what? It all disappeared down the rabbit hole. Sgt. Lavorato has been demoted and disciplined and the politicians who run the Des Moines Police Department dismissed any racial overtones.

Des Moines Police Chief Judy Bradshaw reassigned her department’s spokeswoman Thursday, two weeks after Sgt. Lori Lavorato said it was “very possible” fights near the Iowa State Fairgrounds had racial overtones.

Bradshaw, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, raised concerns about statements Lavorato made after a series of fights outside the fairgrounds last month.

Police commanders later said they found no credible evidence the fights were racially motivated.

“I had some real concerns with us making that leap and making a remark like that publicly,” Bradshaw told The Des Moines Register in an Aug. 26 interview. “That’s a huge statement that, quite frankly, can provoke emotions on both sides of the issue.

“People are very sensitive to remarks like that, so I had some real grave concerns about us stepping out and I wanted to make certain that we were right to message the State Fair events that way.”

I have long believed that police chiefs are nothing more than politicians with fancy uniforms. Bradshaw is proof of that assertion. She handled this exactly as a politician would have in the Obama Regime’s post-racial America.

In other words, black thugs cannot be racist even though they openly shout about beating “Whitey” and anyone who suggests they are needs to be punished. Reminiscent of the Obama Regime’s Injustice Department and the New Black Panthers.

Says Moonbattery’s Van Helsing:

No doubt Murillo’s report has gone down a memory hole now that top brass has declared there to be no evidence the assaults were racially motivated. This should be obvious, when you remember that only white people can be racist. If you disagree, then you are a racist.

Having been reassigned to the lowly traffic division, Lavorato is losing her take-home unmarked police car and the extra pay she got for always being on call. She can be thankful she wasn’t banished to Siberia.

Son Of Porkulus

What was it Albert Einstein said about the definition of insanity? Oh yeah, that’s right:

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

The Obama Regime is set to unveil yet another round of infrastructure spending in another attempt to jump-start the flatlining economy weeks before the midterm elections.

Brings to mind another quote, this one from Mama Gump:

Stupid is as stupid does.

In Porkulus I, we had over $100 billion set aside for infrastructure projects. You’ve all seen these signs:

They’re all over. Promoting porkulus money. Cost over $200 million in porkulus money to make all these signs and put them up as propaganda pieces to promote the Worst. Congress. Ever. and the Obama Regime in hopes of getting votes.

Get ready for another round of self-promoting signs and ripped up roads and bridges. Folks, this doesn’t put people back to work in long-term, permanent jobs. We’ll get more guys in fluorescent yellow vests and hard hats waving flags in front of a group of guys leaning on shovels with another guy talking on a radio and another flag waver.

Welcome to Obamamerica, where the goal is to get everyone a temporary, make-work government (or government-funded) job.

This is Porkulus II, or Son of Porkulus. The first one was an Epic FAIL and this one will be as well.

Our Lord and Savior as well as his minions in Congress see the writing on the wall when it comes to the November midterms, and they are desperate. It’s the last act of a desperate man, and the voters appear to be ready to quote Howard Johnson in Blazing Saddles:

We don’t care if it’s the first act of “Henry V,” we’re leaving!

Says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

The original Porkulus had $105 billion in so-called “infrastructure investments,” and none of it produced any economic growth.  Transportation accounted for $48 billion; energy infrastructure and R&D got the same amount of money.  Housing got $10 billion.  Front loaded or not, the money got allocated and borrowed, and we’re back to flatlining economic growth just eighteen months later — only now we have a lot more debt on top of the other problems we had.

Front-loaded spending will create little economic development and what it does create wil be temporary.

The real piledriver to the American economy comes January 1, 2011, when the tax rate reductions enacte by Congress in 2001 and 2003 expire and the Mother of All Tax Increases hits every American retroactive to January 1, 2010.

If the Obama Regime and Democrats in Congress were really serious about real economic growth and job creating, they’d extend the Bush tax cuts and roll back the stifling tax increases and regulatory expansion already foistered on the private sector under their rule.

But they aren’t. All they are interested in is growing government. And in this case, tossing even more pork around to congressional districts critical in their flailing attempt to maintain control of Congress in the midterm elections.

Pure politics.

Not to mention another $50 billion borrowed. But when you are running $1.4 trillion deficits, what’s $50 billion?

Brings to mind the legendary quote from Sen. Everett Dirksen:

A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.

Bristol Palin On ‘Tonight’

Bristol Palin appeared on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and was very impressive. She handled Leno’s questions about Levi Johnson very well. Even Leno appeared to be impressed.

She will be an asset on the campaign trail in 2012.

 

The lovely — and smokin’ hot — Conservative Girl (H/T The Other McCain) With A Voice was equally impressed.

Those of us who know people close to Bristol will be the first to tell you that she is not the diva that she is being portrayed to by the slimy lamestream media. The Bristol you saw last night is an example of this. Bristol is a down-to-earth, all-American girl who loves her son and family. Like her parents, her family is the most important thing in the world to her.